Thursday, June 23, 2011

Exchange Piece Sent!



I stitched this for Lani for the Wonders of Stitching exchange. Last year, many of her stitched ornies were destroyed and she was heartbroken. I decided to help her replenish her supply by stitching this ornament for her. It's a free design from Plum Street Samplers and stitched on a random piece of fabric from my stash. I used the called-for DMC fibers. It was a fun stitch!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Ditching It!

Since my last post, my husband (Mark) has been in the hospital twice. They kept him overnight the Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend and then sent him home on Sunday. They sent him home with an antibiotic for his supposed fluid in the lung, thinking it was pneumonia. By the following Thursday evening, I'd had it with him not getting any better and in fact, getting worse. He was so puffy with fluid retention, was short of breath, couldn't sleep, and generally feeling miserable. Very late on Thursday evening, I gave him the choice of either going to the ER then or waiting until Friday morning. He chose Friday morning so that I could get some sleep and so we'd have less waiting at the ER.

Knowing that I'd have a wait in the ER, I decided to start a new project and take it with me. (What was I thinking?!? Was I thinking??) So, Friday morning while Mark was getting ready and while I was calling my boss to tell him I'd not be there and calling co-workers to get someone to work for me, I gathered all that I would need to start this project. Later that morning, sitting in the ER waiting for the doc to figure out what was going on, I started my project. A few days later, I figured out I was one thread off. No wonder my stitches looked horrible, my thread was all wonky, and I couldn't count properly!! Mark was eventually admitted and spent a week in the hospital. I continued to work on it thinking I could tough it out. On day 5 of the hospital stay, I decided to chunk it! I was so tired of fighting it! Here's what I got done on it.


I'm going to rip it ALL out, then start over again because I really like the fabric. It's a quick stitch when you're in the right hole! LOL I tell ya, I got so tired of ripping out stuff and being off on the count because it was difficult counting the squares. I've never had such problems. I should've just stopped when I figured out I was off a thread and started over at that point, but I was stubborn. Well! I've learned my lesson!! Count twice, stitch once.

On a more positive note, I received my Wonders of Ewe exchange piece from Robin, my non-blogging friend. She always stitches the BEST exchange pieces and sends the best packages. Always know I'm going to be so happy with any exchange piece she stitches when she has my name. She chose "May Basket" from the May Stocking leaflet from Blackbird Designs. It's stitched with a combination of fibers on 32 ct. Aerial lugana from Picture This Plus. The fabric color is a light blue and it's absolutely perfect for this project. Great job, Robin! I love it!



Not to leave you hanging about Mark...he was finally diagnosed with cardiomyopathy (weakened heart muscle) and congestive heart failure. He's been put on 2 new meds to lower his blood pressure (even though he has never had high blood pressure) and on a diuretic to be taken as needed. He has to monitor his blood pressure twice a day and weigh himself daily. He's also been put on a low-sodium diet and has to watch his sodium intake. However, he's now been told to up his sodium so it'll raise his blood pressure enough to help him feel better in the mornings. He's adjusting to the new meds and has been doing great at monitoring everything that needs to be monitored. I'm just glad to have him feeling better! In the hospital, they put him on 2 different diuretics. He lost about 25 pounds of water weight in about 3 or 4 days!!

Hannah says, "Have you seen my Cat in the Hat book?"