Looking Back to Move Forward On this Slow Stitching Sunday

The last day of January, the last slow stitching Sunday for this month and some health news updates.

On Wednesday I finally got the results of my CTA scan I had done in November,  I found out I have 3 clogged abdominal arteries which may be the reason for some of or all of the pain I have been having since March 2020. I have to have a consultation with the Interventional Radiology group to discuss stents to open the arteries or other options. It’s been 9 months since all this abdominal pain started and I still don’t have any real answers, My son gets married in less than a month and I would like to be able to enjoy the day pain free and maybe even eat a piece of wedding cake, but somehow I don't think that is going to happen. 

On Friday the doctor did another Endoscopy mainly because the report from the other doctor was either missing parts or written badly and one of the biopsy results was missing.  So my doctor let me decide now or June when it would be a year since the last one,  I chose now I want answers.  The results so far all my internal organs look good and I don't have Barrett's Esophagus (which the other doctor diagnosed). I am so glad I stopped seeing that doctor.  I will have the results of the biopsies in a short time. Now I'm waiting on the Radiology office to call me to set up an appointment.  

There will be light at the end of all this, from Jan 7th to the 21st I had two full weeks of no pain, no nausea and an actual appetite, it was like being me once again but I didn't let myself over do anything because at the start of all this after the first time in the hospital I had 2 weeks of normal and then it all started over.  I will say over the last 9 months I had a few good days but 2 weeks is the longest, so yes light at the end of the tunnel and at least so far the pain isn't bad enough to send me to the hospital, or it is but I just learned to live with it.

Here is a photo of my new glasses I mentioned in my last post. They are light weight clear blue frames, I picked them up on Tuesday, I love how they fit I wanted clear frames but all the ones I like were sold out so I ordered a second pair with clear frames, I like having backup glasses on hand.  I Purchase them from Lenscrafters.

On the needlework side of things for Slow Stitching today I'm going to put in some hand quilting on the first quilt I ever hand pieced. I began in October 1990, over the years I put off completing it and just work on it every now and then but I decided 2021 is the year to finish it. 

Every other block alternates a heart in the center and a red square center.  The heart piece was actually from patch work yardage I bought for just those heart pieces.  According to my Quilt Journal entry October 1990: The cutting and measuring is time consuming as I am using a ruler to make cardboard templates and scissors to cut my pieces (still my preferred way to cut). I spent 5 days marking the pieces and adding seam allowance and cutting all this entirely by hand.

By Thanksgiving day 1990 I have 12 blocks pieced, then put the quilt aside to do some Christmas crafting, on January 5th I had pieced a total of 15 blocks, and on January 12th 1991 all 35 blocks have been hand pieced and on January 22nd 1991 the quilt top was completed.   

Twenty years have passed since I completed the top and according to my journal entry regarding the backing fabric: Bummer my backing is 5 inches too short and I purchase 1/2 yard more than required according to the pattern book.
However, this turned out to be a road trip to the quilt shop in Allentown NJ, my late friend Sandy and I headed to Allentown to the Quilt Barn at least once a month, so the disappointment didn't last.  I did buy the necessary fabric and basted the quilt which according to the journal was my least favorite part. 

I began the hand quilting on February 2, 1991 I put it in the small standing quilt frame I had purchased at the newly opened Leewards, after two hours 1 square was hand quilted, I had the flu and a raging fever at the time. But hey it's slow stitching.

According to my journal after 6 squares I decided to quilt without the frame and just worked with the quilt on my lap, living in New Jersey at the time in a pre-WWI building (very drafty) it was nice to have the quilt on my lap while I worked.  On March 31st I added a loose binding made from strips of muslin to the quilt because the batting fibers were getting in my eyes and mouth wreaking havoc with my allergies, I have since changed to 100% cotton or wool batting.  Funny this more than anything stands out probably because even today loose fibers irritate my eyes quite a bit.  

Another memorable entry in April of 1991 I attended my first Quilt Show and loved it there were two others in April we attended.  I also put the quilt aside to begin plans to move to Florida in June 1991. There would be no other entry until June 16, 1995, My mother passed in 1991 a few weeks after I arrived and my son and I returned to NJ in December 1991 to tie up her affairs in NJ, I had packed everything in storage in Florida.  We moved back to Florida permanently in May 1994 and on June 16th of 1995 I found a quilt shop in Dade City, the one quilt shop in Ocala at the time, the Quilting Bee,  I would see it everyday on the drive to the hospital when visiting my mother had since closed. 

The quilt shop in Dade City was nearly a two hour drive which was fine with me, the shop in Allentown NJ my friend and I used to go to was a long a drive too.  In the time I went back to NJ, I had made several 9 patch baby quilts and taught my son Nick how to hand piece starting with 6 inch squares.  In 1996 I attended my first quilt show in 5 years, in 1997 I began a Joann's Quilt block of the Month, and in August 1998 there are 2 quilt shops in the county, so no long drives to Dade City.  Over the years the quilt shops in Ocala have closed, with new ones opening and then closing as well.  There is one quilt shop on the other side of town which I attended several classes including hand embroidery class in 2015 that reignited my love of hand embroidery, sadly those classes ended when the instructor moved away. My first quilt journal has no entries after August 1998, when I moved back to NJ for 2 years I didn't record anything even though I made a few baby quilts and wall hangings, there are brief mentions of them in the journal. I began keeping a stitchery journal so I record my projects in one volume when the mood strikes me.  Mostly I keep a running list of embroidery floss colors for project patterns I have, and the start and finish dates of my hand embroidery projects.  So today I will enter my first entry into the quilt journal since 1998.

I am linking my post today to Kathy's Quilts for the Slow Sunday Stitching, the link is here take a look there are so many wonderful bloggers stitching up some lovely projects and maybe with a story to share as well. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2021/01/slow-sunday-stitching_31.html

Before I go just a heads up to anyone interested The San Francisco School of Needlework and Design is having another Stitch at Home Challenge, 

Info can be found here https://sfneedleworkanddesign.org/rules-and-entry-form/

I signed up last night and ideas are swirling in my head, I also have the final touches on the February goddess for my Goddess a Month project and more embroidery has been done on the Brigid's Cross.

Happy Stitching Everyone and thank you for visiting my blog.

Reading, Stitching and New Glasses Oh MY!

 I have been keeping up with my reading challenges this month putting in a few chapters for each book I'm reading until I get to that point where it's time to finish the book.  Once I get to that point all books get put aside and I read through until it's done.

For this last book it wasn't much that the story was good and I wanted to finish it, this time it seems the book lost a few pages or chapters for that matter and it just felt chopped and then the end was rushed and it was quite disappointing.  

A friend of mine sent me the first 7 books in the series, this is number 3 which started off  with a good story and then it wasn't so good and just felt there was a chunk of the book removed, as I was reading I kept checking page numbers to see if there were missing pages.  This has happened before with other books I have read where the story falls apart and the ending is rushed to finish the book.  I often think bad editor. Oh well I'll try the next one and see what happens only because a friend sent them to me knowing I like cozy mysteries. 

I went to have my eye exam on Saturday since it's been about 4 years since my last upgrade in glasses. I picked out new frames and was told it would be up to two weeks before they were ready, well 4 hours after I got home don't I get a text message my glasses are ready to be picked up, I knew I had taken a long nap but I didn't think I slept that long.  So just now while typing this I get a call from LensCrafters my glasses are ready, I asked how is that possible when I was told up to two weeks that the lenses weren't in stock when I was there Saturday?  Needless to say she wasn't able to answer me and just said they are ready to be picked up at my leisure.  

On a stitching note here is the piece I briefly gave a peek at last week, another hand embroidery of Brigid's Cross I started last Sunday.

It's another coloring page from the Celtic Cross coloring book by Dover Publications, this one is not a free coloring page it's a page from the coloring book which I scanned and then printed onto Pellon's Stick and Wash Away. 

My progress as of last night for my slow Sunday Stitching, I'm a day late with my link up over at Kathy's Quilts https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2021/01/slow-sunday-stitching-old-friends.html

Another Reading Challenge and A bit of Stitching

 I'm trying to get my ducks in a row but some how I seem to have a wayward herd of goats going willy nilly.  After being sick for months I feel so disconnected from my life and the world around me.  I don't remember ever being so disorganized.  

I have another reading challenge I've joined, it's one I was searching for and finally found,  it's the 

2021 Cruzin through the Cozies Reading Challenge, here's the link if you are interested

https://socratesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/11/cruisin-thru-cozies-reading-challenge.html

I read quite a few cozy mysteries so I thought why not join up this gives me a chance to find other cozy mysteries I don't know.  The first book for this Challenge is by Bailey Cates Charms and Chocolate Chips, I love cozy mystery for pure escape especially when I read a gruesome mystery or when I need to relax and picking up needle and thread isn't working for me.

 

Speaking of needle and thread one of the next projects I'm going to be working on today is in the Q-snap frame and ready for my to decide what color to start with.  Here is a little peek at what I'll be hand embroidering starting today. I'll be linking to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching today 

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2021/01/slow-sunday-stitching-my-oldest-ufo.html

I am planning the February goddess for next month I have 3 designs in mind, one is the Cailleach, one is Airmid and the other is Cerridwen all 3 are Celtic goddesses oh and I've been playing around with a Kali but I keep messing up the extra arms, I've seen photos of her with 6, and 8 and sometimes 10 arms, so who knows.

First Book for Reading Challenges

 The first book I chose for one of the 2021 reading challenges I join actually will be the first book for two Challenges.

I have three of the Peter May books sitting on my shelf waiting to be read, I didn't start reading it because the first one I had was Lewis Man and I wanted to read the books in order and by the time I remembered I had the books not only had my TBR shelf, yeah it's no longer a pile, I was reading other books, many other books as it goes with many avid readers.

So this book will be the first for two challenges, European Reading Challenge 2021 and TBR 21 in '21  which is simply read 21 books in your to be read pile/shelf or in my case shelves. Does any one else keep a spread sheet on books read, books to read, authors to read well the list goes on. I have been keeping a spread sheet for more then 10 years mainly to keep track of books I have read. 

Life is short and I don't want to spend it reading the same book several years from now, I know I will never read all the books I want in my lifetime but I will give it my best shot.  There are very few books I have read more than once by choice.  And I still follow my if I'm not interest 50 pages or 3 chapters in don't keep reading it, log it on the spread sheet noting the page or chapter I felt the book wasn't for me. 

I chose the Black House because I like a mystery and it takes place in Scotland which qualifies it for the European challenge.

 

My first TUSAL for 2021 and a Few Reading Challenges

 Yesterday was the New Moon and I forgot to post my Orts for the January TUSAL report.  Well here they are, spare but every little snippet adds up.

The Orts are mostly from the January Goddess I completed recently now pressed, I am preparing for the next goddess for February.

If you are curious about what a TUSAL is check out this post here:https://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-totally-useless-stitch-long-2021.html?fbclid=IwAR3Y1BKSVZ0LSLPhrOAk5WlS7acQXD4yGn_dgrgQkou9qzIUseA-QA9PCXA

I hope to keep up with my TUSAL reporting this year and try to hit the new moon post as close as I can get, I missed it by one day this month, after planning to make the post last night.

As much as I love hand embroidery I am also a avid reader and every new year I usually join one or two reading challenges and this year is no different, this year besides the Goodreads challenge I am taking a part in the 2021 European Reading Challenge. Here is a link if you are interested in joining

https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/2021-european-reading-challenge.html

I haven't chosen my first book yet, I'll have that in a few days I have to go through my to read and want to read list.  I plan to read 5 but will probably be more (each new year one of my goals is to read 5 new to me authors).
Since my To be Read (TBR) and Want to Read list is nearly endless I have also joined the

 TBR 21 in '21 Challenge  You can find the challenge here https://www.rosecityreader.com/p/the-tbr-21-in-21-challenge.html

My Goodreads challenge this year I have 30 books as my goal so reading 21 shouldn't be a problem.

A Blast from the Past and Slow Stitching Sunday!

My son Nick and I were clearing out a few boxes and sorting through bins in the garage on Thursday mainly to unload things we haven't needed or missed since we moved in about 18 months ago.  We try to go through stuff every 6 months or so and we always manage to have a bag or two of stuff we no longer need and then I sort the stuff into donate or throw away.  Most gets donated like a huge bin full of ribbon and lace on spools that I barely touched since I picked them up at a thrift store. When I say bin I am not talking about a shoe box, It's this 56 quart large container.

 

Two of the bins had broken lids so I went through those first everything in them became a donate bins. In total I went through 8 bins and 4 bins off stuff will be donated tomorrow.  Three empty printer boxes can now go, we go through printers fast,  I usually keep the box until the next one is purchased. 

A new printer is one the way but this time to replace a defective printer we just bought in mid December.

So you may be wondering how does all this relate to slow stitching on a Sunday? A mere blast from the past while looking for several missing items that I use for embroidery (small light box and Sulky thread box) I came across one of the first hand embroideries I made before I ever knew stitches had names.

 

I don't recall the book the pattern was in, though I think it was an Erica Wilson design only because I recognize some of the animal motifs from one of her books. I had read several of her books, stitched a few of her Crewel embroidery kits in the 1970's, I believe this Garden of Eden was intended as crewel work but I did it with embroidery floss. I still do when I find a pattern I like.

When I first pulled this out of the bin I was shocked at the amount of satin stitch I did, it did bring back memories of separating strands of floss when 6 strands were too much.  Working this was such a learning experience for me and looking at it now I can see errors and bits of cleverness on my part. 

I made this a year before my son was born, he will be 40 next month. I had this hanging in a frame for about thirty years, the frame broke a few years after I moved to Florida so I packed it away. Once my son was born the hand embroidery was put on hold after making a few small wall hangings for his room. I wouldn't pick up hand embroidery again until 2014 when once again I was going through some craft bins and found a stash of embroidery floss. I haven't put my needle down since. 

Overall I love the piece, I put in hours of stitching and removing stitches, they way I transferred the design is almost comical, I traced the pattern from the book onto paper, then turned it over and retraced everything with an transfer pencil so I could iron it onto the fabric goodness I had so much to learn.

 It's in need of cleaning and perhaps be framed once again or stuffed back in the bin for another 30 years.

One other treasure I found in the bin is this piece of linen fabric from July 1964 (I was 9 years old), it measures 36x50 inches.

I suspect it was for a table cloth I have no clue whether it was to use as is or to be embroidered. Either way I knew I had to have it and I knew someday I would embroider something on it, sadly today is not that day.

In 1964 it sold for $2.20, I bought it for $1.00 at a thrift shop about 5 years ago. I have ideas swirling around in my head to embroider something on it for years I've had the idea of filling a sizable piece of fabric with embroidery so maybe it's time to pull out the sketch book.

I finished the embroidery on the January goddess, I haven't ironed out the wrinkles yet but I did wash off the stick and wash product, what a difference when all those black lines are gone.

I am linking my post today at Kathy's Quilts here https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2021/01/slow-sunday-link.html  

I am also linking here at Life in Pieces for 15 Minutes to Stitch https://kate-life-in-pieces.blogspot.com/2021/01/stitching-time-week-2-of-2021.html

After losing so much stitching time in 2020 mostly due to illness it will be nice to get some regular stitching time in, even if its only 15 minutes. 

For the record I did manage to stitch for at least 15 minutes 7days of the first week of January.

To keep me stitching I have once again joined the Facebook Group 1 Year of Stitches: 2021 and I still follow along with TAST and I joined the 2021 Journal Threaders Facebook group, I'll have a photo of my progress is a few days.  I don't stitch on the journal daily, and speaking of journals I just checked according to my stitching journal I began stitching the Garden of Eden in January 1980 completing it April 1980.

Happy New Year and Slow Sunday Stitching

 Happy New Year to Everyone!

Like most people I am not sorry to see 2020 behind me, I made enough gripes about the last year so moving on to bigger and better things for 2021.

Here is the progress on the hand embroidery for my Goddess a month personal challenge.  One of the photo is the backside to show the flow of the Coloris floss I think it changes about an inch into stitching though the way I cut the floss and how I thread the next piece makes for a break in the flow.

For the central spirals I am using a solid color floss DMC 3836 which goes well with the Coloris floss.

I have been stitching for a few days and have quite a lot of progress.  I will be linking my post today at Kathy's Quilts for the first Slow Sunday Stitching in 2021 here is the link have a look at what other bloggers are stitching  https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2021/01/slow-sunday-stitching.html

I was asked the other day what I have planned for all the goddesses when I am done at the end of the year and I have decided to sew them together into a quilt, not the one above that has been promised to someone so I will make another so I'll have 12 goddess blocks (or more).  So that's the plan in January who knows what will happen by December.