My Love is in the Air Exchange Piece for Donna

Donna posted that she received her exchange piece, so I can now show it to you!!



"Lovebird"
Designer: Midsummer Night Design (complimentary from her blog)
Stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Fields linen
Fibers: GAST & WDW (Conversion found on Glory Bee's blog)

Design can be found here.
Nancy's conversions can be found on the February 14, 2007 post on her blog.

More Ice Storm Pics (part 2)

Here's a few more pics from our big ice event. (I'm laughing at that!)

Frozen rain gauge. When it melted, we ended up with about 1/2" of the wet stuff.



Icy tree tops over my neighbor's roof in the early morning light.



Frozen droplets on my Savannah Holly Tree.



Frozen water droplet on a leaf.



This is how Callie spent her morning inside with me. I put an old toilet lid cover on the wooden stool by my computer and she's adopted it as her spot when I'm on the computer in the mornings. I love this cat!!

The "Great" Ice Storm of 2009 (Lots of Pics)

We had some freezing rain throughout the day yesterday. The weather gurus forecasted a very heavy band of freezing rain, sleet, and snow to hit mid-late afternoon. After discussing with the managers of 2 other stores in the area, we decided to close at 4pm. Of course, the bad weather decided to slow down and not show up until mid-evening. We still would've had to close early, but we probably could've stayed open until 6pm.

As the storm moved closer, the freezing rain turned to sleet which is supposedly better than freezing rain because it doesn't accumulate on the power and phone lines. Late last night, the sleet arrived. This is what it looked like out my front door around 10pm.





Sleet continued to fall throughout the night, but it had stopped by the time I woke up this morning. This is what it looked like early this morning, just before the sun came up.







But wait! The sun was coming up!



Once the sun came up, it was much easier to see just how bad the streets were. That's solid ice, baby!!

From my front porch, looking across the street. Doesn't that look like something you'd like to drive on??



The driveway, flower bed, and part of the street.




The view down my street before the sun started melting everything.



So today, I've been staying inside and doing various things around the house. Took a nice little nap and have been enjoying the extra time with my kitties. I have been stitching on my LHN piece, which is almost finished, and watching the ice melt and drip off the roof of the house. What a great way to enjoy a cold day!!

I'll post more pics in my next post.

Love is in the Air Exchange Piece Received!

I mailed my piece off to Donna yesterday, so I should be able to post a picture of it soon. I can't wait as I really am pleased with the way it turned out!

In the meantime, I received my piece from Robin. She chose "Friends", an older Heart in Hand complimentary design. As always, Robin's stitching is perfect as is her choice of pieces. This is stitched on 28 ct. Pearl Gray linen using Crescent Colours fibers.



She also included a package of Piecemaker's needles (woohoo!) and a piece of Sassy's Sugared Coffee linen. I'll have to find something to stitch on that soon!

Again, thank you for all the get well wishes. After making it for almost half a day at work yesterday, I came home and went to bed. Didn't pass go. Didn't collect $200. Didn't even eat lunch!! (You know I must've been feeling really bad if I didn't eat lunch!) I woke up about 4 or 5 hours later, feeling much better. I've started using my Neti pot again to rinse out my sinuses. Not sure it's getting anything out, but I'm trying to do some proactive things. I tried the prescription nasal spray, but it makes me sneeze. Maybe that's a good thing?!? The husband made me (us) some homemade chicken noodle soup the other night. It was quite tasty, even if I my taste buds have taken a vacation. I also made myself a rice sock to help alleviate the pressure in my sinus cavities. Just took one of my husband's old socks, filled it with some dry rice (used brown rice that's been in the pantry for who knows how long) and then tied the top off. Put it in the microwave for about 1-2 minutes then apply to forehead or wherever the congested feeling is. It works great! Anyway, I'm on the road to recovery, but it's very slow going.

The weather has turned nasty. We've had drizzle since yesterday and now the temp has dropped below freezing with some kind of weather system moving in that's going to bring us ICE. I really don't like icy weather, but we get at least one ice storm a year. Totally traumatizes the entire area and everything shuts down. The evening news will talk about it for 30 minutes and show the same stuff over and over and over again. Really sad when the weather is the only newsworthy item worth talking about.

I stitched for about 2 hours last night on my January 1st piece, LHN's The Busy Needle. I really am loving the way it's turning out on the Blue Dynasty linen from Silkweaver. Maybe I'll have a finish to share in the next couple of days!!

I've posted a couple of new recipes over on my food blog, so check 'em out if you're hungry!

(c:

Not a Whole Lot of Stitching Going On :(

But there has been a whole lot of coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose going on! I went to the doctor on Thursday and she confirmed that I have a sinus infection. I believe she said that I had a "textbook case of sinusitis. Open the medical dictionary, look up sinusitis and we'd see your picture". I'm glad she agreed with my own diagnosis! LOL She gave me the big guns (Augmentin, 875 mg 3X a day!) and sent me on my merry way. She also told me to take my cough syrup (hydrocodone, guaifenesin, and something else) if I felt I needed it. I broke down last night and took some. I'd forgotten how loopy it makes me! I can't even concentrate enough to stitch, so no stitching for me last night or today.

My precious husband, also not feeling too great, has been taking excellent care of me. He got up early this morning and made me a wonderfully healthy breakfast of eggs, hash brown potatoes, served rolled up in a flour tortilla. He's been making sure I take my medicine at the right times and he's been encouraging me to get lots of rest. He's taken over the care of the cats, even scooping the litter box. He hates doing that, so I know he really loves me. (c: I did have to go to work today because my boss has left for a 2 week vacation to Disney in FL, and he brought me a nice lunch from Jason's Deli. Absolutely yummy!! We split a California Club with fruit and a humongous salad.

I'm hoping by tomorrow, I'll be in my right mind, less congested, and able to concentrate on my stitching. Stay tuned!!

A Little Progress & Other Updates

I've been stitching on LHN's "The Busy Needle" this week and have really been enjoying myself. Here's where I was before I started on it this week:



And this is what I've accomplished in the last 2 days:



The pictures are really dark, so it's even prettier in person.

Thank you all for your well-wishes for a speedy recovery. I went to the doctor today and lo and behold, I have a sinus infection. I get at least one of these a year due mainly to allergies caused by the crazy weather in Texas. See, today it was 84º and the wind was blowing from the south. In South Texas, this is cedar season, so all the cedar pollen blows up here. (When I lived in south Texas and people get sinus infections, they called it cedar fever.) Tomorrow, it's going to be another warm day, but then a cold front is moving through and our temps will drop 40º in a very short period of time. The winds will change and blow from the north. This brings a whole new set of allergens. My body cannot tolerate these drastic weather and allergen changes every other day or so. My nose retaliates by getting sinusitis (sinus infection). Hopefully in a couple of days I'll feel totally new and the pressure in my head will be gone!

The husband's feeling much better, but still coughing and running a low-grade fever. The doctor's called in medicine for him. Yea!

Off to watch Grey's Anatomy and do a bit of stitching! Have a good evening all!

My January Ornament & Other Ramblings

Snowman's Quaker Christmas
Design by Midnight Stitching
Fabric~32 ct. Vintage Autumn Blush
Fibers~DMC, GAST, and Crescent Colours' Cool Azul

I put the final stitches in this while waiting for my load of laundry to dry so I could have a shirt to wear to work today. This was such a fun stitch. The main change I made to this was the color of the Quaker motif. The original color was supposed to be a weird shade of green, and I changed it to blue. I also left off the 4 stitches in the middle of each "flair" on the sides of the motif.

Today marks day 4 of a sinus headache. I had this same problem a month ago and went to the doctor. He prescribed a course of antibiotics, which obviously didn't do a very good job. The pressure is centered smack dab in the middle of my forehead right between my eyes. My top teeth hurt, my ears are ringing, my nose is stuffy but running (figure that out!), my throat hurts a bit, and I'm generally miserable. The good news is I'm not running a fever and I'm not coughing!! For now, taking Tylenol dulls the pain enough to endure it. A nice steamy shower feels really good, too, but I can't stay in the shower all day long! LOL

Mark's not feeling well at all either. He's got a massive sinus infection (discovered by the MRI he had earlier this month), wheezing, terrible coughing, very runny nose, drainage, stuffy head, and a low-grade fever. I've told him that if he's not better by Thursday I'm calling the doctor and making an appointment for him. I will go with him if I have to because he claims he "just has a cold". Uh-huh. He also thinks the doctor doesn't know what else to give him since he gets these upper respiratory infections/bronchitis/sinus infections several times a year. He's so exasperating sometimes!!

I'll head off to work today and leave the husband here at home to rest and tend to the cats. Good thing they know how to wake him up to get fed, or he'd probably sleep until tomorrow and they'd be half-starved when I got home. LOL Once summer gets here and the weather calms down, we'll all feel better!!

A Bushel & A Peck is FINISHED!

After stitching for 4.5 hours today, I managed to finish La-D-Da's "A Bushel & A Peck". Woohoo!! Stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Fields using Crescent Colours' Belle Soie silks.



I've not decided whether or not to stitch my initials and date in the space on the left between the inside border and flower's stem. I am SO glad to have this one finished!!

Updates

It's been a productive stitching week for me. Getting back on my rotation has really helped me stay focused and be more productive in my stitching.

If you've been reading my blog, I started my January ornament mid-week. Here's what I had accomplished as of Friday evening.



Not much more to go to get a finish, so I'll probably work on that next week to 'get her done'!

Last night was Saturday Night Stitch. I pulled out LHN's "Sweet Little Berries", my designated SNS project until it's finished. I got in about 2.5 hours and made some good progress. (Laura...wherefore art thou??)

Here is my before pic:



And after last night's stitching time:



In other things, I'm working on setting up my Facebook page! Everyone at work has a Facebook page, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. We'll see how long I last there! LOL My husband has been feeling puny the past 2 days, so I'm trying to be patient with him. I certainly don't have the gifts of compassion or mercy!!

Today, I'll be working on La-D-Da's "A Bushel and a Peck", so be looking for a progress pic late tonight or tomorrow!! Have a great day today!

My Favorite Stitching "Tool"

I have 2 of these little things. One has a copyright of 1990 and the other is copyrighted 1994. They've been around since the advent of online fabric calculators and pre-cut fabric. On the flip side of my chart, is a DMC checklist and a how to stitch guide. It's convenient for me to use and easy for me to store.

A couple of years ago, while surfing the net, I stumbled across the Designs by Gloria & Pat website. Much to my surprise, I discovered the stitcher's Compucard! There's even a PDF document you can download and store on your hard drive or print out to keep with your stitching supplies.

Head on over to the links above and grab you a copy!

(c:

Thursday's Progress on my Snowman

I spent over 2.5 hours stitching tonight. Thank goodness for decent TV on Thursday nights! LOL Here's my progress.



Hopefully I'll get to stitch on it during my lunch break tomorrow and then again tomorrow evening and will get close to finishing it before moving on to my SNS project.

(c:

Something New!

I finished my Love is in the Air exchange piece last night, so I started on my ornament for January. It's a little freebie from Midnight Stitching entitled, "Snowman's Quaker Christmas". I changed the color of the Quaker motif to CC's Cool Azul. It's just a little start, but it's a start!



It's stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Blush linen using DMC, GAST, and Crescent Colours.

(c:

Just Checking In

This past week was absolutely crazy! I've been stitching like a mad woman on my Love is in the Air exchange piece. It's so cute, if I do say so myself! However, I won't be able to share my finish with you until it's been received by Donna.

Last night, I didn't have much time to work on my piece for SNS, so I continued on my exchange piece. I've only stitched for about 30 mins. today on my former incentive piece, so there's not much progress there either.

I have posted a recipe for Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread on my food blog. Take a peek! I also made a pretty labor intensive dinner for us tonight. (What was I thinking?!?) We had oven fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and cranberry fluff. Everything was very yummy, but I'm pooped!

On the cat front, Hannah is back on Zenequin for her bacterial infection. In addition to the antibiotic, she's on a nasal drop antibiotic, Genticin. She loves medicine time because she gets cheese treats, but she's not real excited about those nose drops. Her little nose is so tiny that it's hard to get the drop in each nostril with 100% accuracy. I think she's got to be on the Zenequin for another 20 days. We have to call the vet about that because there was mass confusion about the prescription.

Callie has been extremely feisty and playful the past couple of weeks. I don't know what's gotten into her, but I'm glad it has! I love to see her playing and acting like a little kitty. She's been jumping up on my lap and walking all over my computer desk, batting at my pens, and dragging the string toy off the desk. I was trying to make notes during a phone conversation but was unable to because she kept biting the top of the pen! I'm so proud of my little girl and how she keeps coming out of her shell.

Here she is playing with the string on my desk.



And here's her sweet little self after playing in the hole in the paper.

Taco Soup & Cornbread

If you'd like to make this tasty cold-weather meal, head on over to my food blog!

Hannah's Still Sick

Yup, the little girl went for a recheck (reculture) of her nasal passages and she's still got that nasty pseudomonas bacterial infection. Ugh! The good news is that she's much better now than she was 6 weeks ago when she had her fist culture done. She's sneezing less, she has less nasal discharge, she's less congested, she's more energetic, more feisty, and getting into more trouble. :o) So, now we wait a few more days until the sensitivity test results come back to determine what drug she'll be on next. The sensitivity test is where they (the lab people) inject various antibiotics into the bacteria and see which one is most successful at attacking it and eradicating it. As I've mentioned before when discussing this, pseudomonas is one of the most resistant bacteria out there, so finding out that she still has the infection doesn't completely surprise me. Pray for the little pest to get well, please. Here she is enjoying the sunshine a couple of days ago.

A Bushel & A Peck Won the Screaming Match

I decided to work on BAAP more so because I've already got one LHN in my rotation and sometimes too much of a good thing gets really boring. So in between making banana bread with the really,really ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter, taking a nap, then waking up to make dinner of taco soup & cornbread (yummy!), here's my progress. Tomorrow, I return to my exchange piece!



In other news, I have started a food blog. I felt like I was posting too many food posts here, so they have a new home. You can visit it by clicking on the link to In the Kitchen With Stephanie in the sidebar. I posted my Lemon Pound Cake recipe with pics this morning.

My First SNS Progress Report for 2009

I've decided to work on LHN's Sweet Little Berries as my SNS project until it's finished. I've only had this thing in my WIPs pile for about 3 years and I'm ready for it to move out!

Here's where I started:



And here's where I stopped after almost 3.5 hours of stitching.



Tomorrow, I'll be working on another LHN chart, City Stitcher, Country Stitcher, but I really hear my La-D-Da piece screaming at me. We'll have to see who wins the screaming contest! LOL

:o)

Stitching Goals & January Rotation

Every month on the OOE board, we are encouraged to post our stitching goals and self-challenges. Seldom do I accomplish what I start out to do, and I'm thinking it's because I don't keep a copy of them. (Ya think?!?) So, here are my goals and self-challenges for January.

Goals:
1. Start January 1st piece (The Busy Needle) and add to rotation.
2. Start and finish 1 ornie.
3. Finish Love is in the Air exchange piece for Donna and mail.
4. Start LHN Threadpack.
5. Participate in SNS as able.
6. Stitch on former incentive pieces on Sundays.

Self-Challenges:
1. Record daily stitching time.
2. Stick to rotation.
3. Make annual ornie list.
4. Make annual project goals list.
5. Start my winter sowing project (gardening related).

As you can see, one of my self-challenges is to stick to my rotation. I think that I've recovered from the holidays enough to do this. I also think that for SNS and my former incentive piece Sunday projects, I'm going to stick to one project each month so I can really see some progress. Of course, top priority of my weekly projects is anything with a deadline, which this month is my Love is in the Air exchange piece. If I don't get it finished during its scheduled week, then I'll continue with that the following week. Of course, this will totally upset the apple cart, but I'm learning to roll with the punches.

Here's my January rotation plan:

Basic Weekly Rotation:
Mon-Fri~project
Sat~Saturday Night Stitch (LHN's Sweet Little Berries)
Sundays~Former Incentive SAL piece (undecided as of now)

Here's how it'll (hopefully) pan out for the entire month:
1st & 2nd~The Busy Needle
SNS
Incentive SAL piece

Week 1
Mon-Fri~exchange piece
SNS
FI SAL

Week 2
Mon-Fri~ornie (Quaker Snowman possibly)
SNS
FI SAL

Week 3
Mon-Fri~begin LHN Threadpack (maybe the saltbox series)
SNS
FI SAL

Week 4
Mon-Fri~The Busy Needle
SNS
FI SAL

Now that it's in writing for all the world to see, perhaps I'll get a few things finished and out of the way. Once I get my ornie list and yearly project list finished, I'll post those as well.

January 1st Piece Progress

I spent almost 4 hours on my January 1st piece, The Busy Needle by Little House Needleworks. Now I remember why I don't particularly like monochromatic designs! LOL Here's what I got done today.



Tomorrow, I return to work, so my stitching time will be limited, but I'll continue working on this. Saturday is Saturday Stitch Night and I think I'm going to work on LHN's Sweet Little Berries.

It's 2009!!

As for me and my husband, we spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", snacking, and I stitched on my exchange piece. Today, I'll bake a lemon pound cake and start my Jan. 1st piece. Look for an update later on this evening!

May blessings abound to you and your family in 2009.

:)