Sept 26/09

Mandibular tori----a new to me medical condition. My dentist saw me yesterday morning and told me that it is a benign, bony growth that is not treated unless the growth starts to interfere with the function of one's mouth. Apparently it is rather a common thing as my dentist showed the growths in his own mouth and a couple of my friends have also revealed that they have them as well.

Not much stitching has been going on here, but tonight looks like a good stitching night. We had a true frost last night so we are all complaining about the cold here. I had thought about sitting out by the fire this evening, but I feel the cold when I am tired (just worked 9-6 and then went to the funeral home to pay respects to friends of mine from the high school orchestra) so I think that I will wrap myself in my sweats and take up the position in the stitching chair.

Poor Hayes may have to go to the vet after all. She has a large cyst under her upper left eye lid that has been getting worse despite the antibiotic/steroid drops I have been using when she lets me put them in her eye. It looks like it is pressing on her eyeball and I am not 100% sure that she can see much out of that eye because the cyst is so big. At least she has gained 3 pounds this past week so I am in no danger of being accused of animal neglect any more. She is now soft and fluffy again although at 8 lbs she is still rather boney.

Alright, time to change out of this dress and into some comfy wear. Bring on the stitching!!

Sept 24/09

Stitching has been therapeutic for me this week. Besides having Hayes curl up with me and snuggle while stitching, I have also enjoyed having my mind taken off a little medical issue that has developed. I have a bump on the inside of my jaw on the right side. It has been there for a while (i.e. several months), but it recently got really inflamed. My family doctor looked at it this morning and she suggested that I get my dentist to look at because she had no idea what the bump could be (no open sores like a cancre and no pus when inflamed) so I am going to see my dentist in the morning. The next stop after that will be an ENT if my dentist is not sure what it might be. My doctor agreed with me that it is definitely more than my jaw bone not being symmetrical, but she could not come up with any idea as to why the bump would be where it is.

The problem for me is that I am in health care so I already have visions in my head of needing surgery and chemo. I go whole hog when it comes to imagining medical bogey men! In reality, at most, it will be a day surgery procedure to remove what is probably some weird calcification thing from my jaw bone.....

One other reason that stitching has been therapeutic for me-----a little boy from our town moved to Toronto recently with his family because he needs a double lung transplant. News came yesterday morning that he was in surgery and I read his mom's blog this morning that said he is now in recovery and will be sedated for the next 48 hours while his new lungs settle into his body. The whole town was on edge yesterday as we were waiting for updates from his family. He is only 11 years old and is so brave that he told the nurses to look after his parents while he was being wheeled into the operating room.

Sept 22/09

Here is my little darling Hayes at the beginning of her de-fleaing, lots of eating and treatment of her eye infection. Since then, she has gained 2 pounds, had flea medication smeared on her head and her eyes are looking much better. The upside of her being so tiny now is that my bed pillow can hold both my head and her when she makes herself comfortable (and me, not so much) in the middle of the night. The downside is that she is a kitty bag of bones at the moment. She is no longer my "Fat Cat" as I have lovingly called her for years, but she has not lost any of her attitude so I figure that she has increased her attitude to pound ratio by quite a bit recently!

Sept 19/09

I have been stitching on some ornaments all week and they will be posted when I have finished stitching all six! They are not that big and take on average one evening to stitch each one. The other night as I was dropping threads into my ort jar, I realized that the jar is starting to overflow so I decided to photograph it for posterity before I throw out its contents. How does everyone else deal with their threads? Do you pile them up beside you while you stitch and then promptly throw them out when you stitching session is over? Do you have a little container that you keep like I do and empty when full? Just curious.

My friend Janet stopped by the pharmacy yesterday to thank me for the breast cancer card I sent her this week. She said that it was nice to get something in the mail that was not a bill! She starts her chemo regimen in just over a week and is going through 8 cycles in two months time. Her mother and her 2 sisters are glued to her side so she has strong family support and I told her that I will do whatever I can to make things easier for her at the drugstore. I felt so bad that I had to tell her that her copayment for one of her drugs will total around $4 000 for this chemo cycle. Yup, that is her COPAYMENT. Even in the land of Medicare, becoming sick can be very expensive. Anyhow, the main point of this paragraph is that we should all make an effort to reach out to those around us. Even the small effort of mailing a card to let someone know that we are thinking about them in good times and in bad can mean so much.

Here is a little miracle for you all. I announced the other day that Hayes the kitty was gone. The other cats had gone into mourning and Hayes was gone longer than she had ever been before. Last night, I had gone into the city to do some shopping. When I came home, I was greeted by one of the other cats. Then, I heard Hayes' meow behind me. I was in shock for hours because I really had thought that she was dead. She is two pounds lighter (and probably ate her weight last night!) and her eyes are a terrible mess, but she claimed her spot on my pillow last night and has not left my side since she came home. She is terribly thin and has no fat on her whatsoever. Stroking her back makes me shiver because her spine is so prominent now. She was gone for 19 days this time.

Sept 13/09 part deux

I just finished the back stitching on the Bear card and assembled both cards! They are kits from a company called Design Works Crafts. I picked them up for a song when the Lewiscraft store in Saint John was closing out. At the time, I think I bought 10 or 12 of them and these are the last two cards! A few more things completed and done for Christmas and a few less things sitting in my stash!

Sept 13/09

Here is my breast cancer card. The design is found in JCS October 2009. I stitched it on a 28 count scrap of linen and inserted it into a card frame that I found at Michaels in the sale bin a while ago. I did not have DMC899 so I used DMC 894 for the word "Cure". Now, to get it into the mail to my friend to let her know that I am thinking of and praying for her.

Sept 12/09

No piccies to post today so far. After I come home from shopping and have a chance to stitch a bit this evening, I should have some photos of two Christmas cards that I have been working on this week. Then, I plan to stitch a breast cancer card that reads "Faith, Hope, Cure" for a woman who grew up next door to me and who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her cancer is in the milk duct. In my job, I deal with people everyday who have cancer, but this hits a little too close to home. She and I used to make mud pies together in her front yard and sit together on the school bus. She and her sister were the first two friends I made at age 4.5 years when I moved to New Brunswick.

Life truly is a precious gift and the days where everything is going well and our health is intact are rare gifts that we should treasure. A 80 year old woman taught me a saying the other day which I can not remember verbatim, but it was essentially that if you are feeling bothered by old age, remember that there are those who will never reach old age.

Sept. 10/09

This Daydreams kit was bought and stitched for a friend of mine as a joke. One day, I was at work and ran into this friend. He has lots of bird feeders so I told him that I had recently been seeing a cardinal at my bird feeder. Cardinals are not a common bird to this area, but this past winter/spring there were a couple of pairs seen in the area and I was blessed with one of them! Now, what I know about birds and their names is really not worth knowing, but it was bien evident even to a bird dummy like me that the bright red bird at my feeder was a cardinal. My friend asked me, "Was it a male or a female? Males are brighter than females." Now, he just happened to realize at that moment that he was surrounded by three women who all burst out laughing when he said that! We all said variations of "Oh really?!!" while we were laughing! Then, he tried to dig himself out of that gender landmine hole, much to our great amusement. The hole just kept getting bigger no matter what he said and we women just kept laughing harder and harder. We knew full well that he was referring to the colour of the cardinal feathers and not the intelligence levels of males and females!

My friend's wife called the store a few days later and I happened to answer. She said to me, "Now Virginia, could you not give my husband such a hard time when he comes in!" as she burst out laughing. He had gone home and told the story to her much to her great amusement as well! He has also gone on to amuse his extended family with the story as well. So, when I saw this kit in the Mary Maxim catalogue recently, I could not help myself! I am off this morning to sneak it into his mailbox. He will know immediately who it is from!

Sept 8/09

Not much stitching to show as I just spent a 3 day holiday in a little village called Cocagne on the southeastern shore of New Brunswick. The sea air and quiet of the area had me catching up on sleep when I was not reading! I devoured "The girl who played with fire" by Stieg Larsson and made a big dent in "The Australian Trilogy" by Bryce Courtenay. The inn was lovely, but I was the only guest there for 2 of the 3 nights which was a bit spooky. On the other hand, I was not disturbed by other people so I could blissfully sleep and laze about! My room was the best bedroom in terms of the view as I could see the ocean out of the window and the patio door.

One afternoon, I drove to the Irving Eco Centre just outside of Bouctouche. The dunes and the boardwalk were gorgeous!

I have only seen a few blue herons in my lifetime in the part of the province where I live. Blue herons nest in the Bouctouche region and this is one of several that I saw in the marshes there.


Some very sad news to report. My long time stitching companion, Hayes the kitty, has gone to the happy mousing grounds. She used to spend her evenings either curled up beside me or behind me on the back of the couch while I stitched. She is known to go walkabout for several days at a time, but she left home over a week ago and not one sign of her has been seen by me or any of the neighbours. The other two cats suddenly became very clingy and needy a day after she left which is unusual behaviour for them when she goes walkabout so I am 99.9% sure that she has passed away. She has not been well for a while with a 6-7 pound weight loss in the past year, but she was still as cantankerous and full of character as always despite the arthritis that was slowing her down a bit. I know that they can not live forever and that she would leave me sooner rather than later, but I was kinda' hoping for much later. I have 15 years of great memories so the tears are tempered with smiles as I remember all of her little quirks and attitudes. I had many nicknames for her that sum her up: Fat Cat, Fuzzybutt, the Punkinator, Mrep Mrep (her meow was kind of bizarre), Chumba (short for "big fat chubby cat"), Miss Moo and more recently, The Old Lady.

Sept 2/09

Not much stitching to show just yet although I am working on 2 Christmas card kits that I found in my basket beside the couch. Gabby was being helpful last night as I was surfing the net. In this photo, she was letting me know that her ears needed scratching. A few minutes before, she was sleeping with her head on my hand that was moving the mouse around. Annoying, yet adorable at the same time!

Aug 30/09

This weekend my cats have been amusing me with the weird spots they using as sleeping spots. Apparently, sleeping on top of the kitty litter box is comfy:

and so is wedging oneself into the shoe box that used to contain papers in the end table in the living room:

Last night, the other cat was sleeping on the back of the couch with her head on my shoulder while I was watching movies and cross stitching. That was before she decided to sleep on my pillow in bed. Unfortunately, my head was also using that pillow and now I have a stiff neck!

Aug 28/09

The first of my Ebay purchases has arrived. My mother likes Nativity scenes so I would like to stitch this one up for her some day. There is one more booklet called "The Shepherds" which has a shepherd, some sheep and the angel who calls them to Bethlehem.


Still working away at the Teresa Wentzler booklet of celtic knot bookmarks. Here are 2 more of them that I finished as recently as last night.

Another gorgeous day here! Yesterday I had lunch at the Vintage Bistro here in Hampton and then toured Credo project which is a memorial to John Peters Humphrey, the man who wrote the UN Declaration of Human Rights. It was a very fitting place to visit as over lunch Victoria, a past Rotary exchange student from France, and I were talking about human rights issues in countries that we have each visited. We are so fortunate to live in peace and freedom here in Canada. So fortunate.

Aug 25/09

Meet "Heartfelt Harvey" from the JCS 2008 ornament issue, designed by Imaginating Inc.. I did not have enough thread in my mystery thread box to stitch the design in its intended redwork style so I played around with the thread and fabric colours to end up with this finished ornament! The blogs all seem to be pretty quiet these days. My visitor count is way down and I see that few people have been posting to the Ornament SAL. Perhaps once the cooler weather hits the Northern Hemisphere, more people will come indoors and have more time for blogs.

Aug 23/09

Now I remember why I avoid Ebay. There are 5 more patterns coming my way. Well,there is always my next life time or perhaps the one after that to stitch these ones! I am bidding on 2 more and thinking about 2 more. The selection is smaller this time of year, but it makes it easier to look through. There are also fewer bidders, it would seem, so I have managed to win more auctions at lower prices.

Good thing my youngest brother does not read this. He would just roll his eyes if he knew I had just bought more patterns just like he did the other day when he came over to help me move my desktop. He looked around the room and announced that I have become just like Mom with my rooms full of stuff that I will never use. Ahem! Mom no longer does crafts, but she hangs onto the stuff where as I still stitch like a maniac!

Aug 22/09

The other night while I was sitting out on my deck, enjoying the summer weather that has finally come to this region of the country, I looked down to see this:


She freaks me out when she lays like this because I always have to check to make sure that she is still breathing as I think that she looks dead!

Once I ascertained that the cat was still alive, I tucked into this:


The tomatoes are the result of my first foray into vegetable gardening. I am inordinately proud of them as they are my first produce. As I chowed down, I thought about where I can grow more vegetables next year in my yard. Variables I have to consider: areas that get full sun that are not under the two clotheslines that cut across the corner of my property, that are not likely to be trampled by the neighbours kids (we do not have fences so 5 yards all open onto each other) and what I would to grow!

I have been working on some more bookmarks by Teresa Wentzler in the evenings because I would like to finish that set of projects. One of my little obsessions is to clear things out so when it comes to cross-stitch, that means using up as much thread as I can. I know that this sounds weird, but I actually get excited when I finish a skein while working on a project and have to go fish another one out of my enormous skein stash. Eight years ago or so, the drugstore I work at was clearing out the inventory from its venture into craft supplies so I bought up the DMC floss. Hey! It cost me about 20 cents a skein so at $1 000 later you can well imagine how many skeins I have in my craft room......I have made a dent in the stash over the years in between friends needing a skein, giving bags of skeins away to charity auctions and all of the stitching I do. Part of my obsessiveness stems from the fact that I am mulling over the idea of building a small cottage style house on my country property and all of my stuff has to fit into that house along with my three cats and the dog that I want to have when I move there. This little side line is related to the TW introductory sentence in that I have used up several skeins of thread in stitching all of the bookmarks in the booklet and a couple of pieces of fabric from my fabric stash!

Aug 18/09

These photos could be called "Variations on a theme" I suppose. I stitched up all four of the kits that I bought called "Kindness", but discovered on the first kit that there was not enough green so I dug out my mystery thread box. Does any one else keep threads from kits and such just in case or am I the only one? Most serious stitchers probably do not use kits so perhaps that is a dumb question. I am such a "could be useful someday" kind of person although I try to keep a lid on keeping stuff just because. Anyhow, each piece is slightly different in the stems. These little kits have come in handy as one finished piece is now in British Columbia and another one will be going to Cuba this week with a professor friend who comes here from Cuba every summer to teach.

Aug 17/09

I was checking out the Christmas Ornament SAL blog that I post to and I was very pleased to see that the designer of the last ornament I had stitched complimented me on my ornament! How awesome is that?! Thanks to Brooke Nolan for designing "Elf In a Box" and for her kind words!

Aug 11/09

This little cutie will be winging its way to Fort St John, British Columbia tomorrow with my friend Dave to share with his family. He was home to NB for a week and we met for a big greasy feed at the local diner this morning which is where I took this photo. I have 4 of this same kit so it will be variations on a theme of green for the next while as the kits do not have enough green in them so I am playing around with the stem colours.

Aug 9/09

Summer has finally arrived here on the East Coast of Canada! I spent the afternoon out in the woods, clearing poplars and birch trees from around my apple orchard. The woods are really wet for this time of year, but the mosquitoes were mercifully held at bay by the insect repellent.



And another shot of the orchard.


Yesterday was so beautiful and sunny that I went to St Martins to sit by the ocean and read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. The sun shining on my face, the waves whispering and crashing against the rocks, few people on the beach.....Heaven!

Aug 8/09

I stole these questions from this blog just for fun:

1)Why do you stitch?

I have always done handwork of some sort ever since I can remember. It is a way of life for me to make stuff.


2) On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being least important and 10 being most important what is your cross stitch passion level?

10 does not even begin to describe my passion for stitching.


3)If you're only option for cross stitch supplies and patterns happened to be the major chain craft stores would you just walk away from the little X? Kiss it goodbye?

Nope. That is pretty much my only option at the moment. Fortunately, my stash is so big at the moment that I do not have to rely on the chain stores for materials.



4)Also are you so passionate about cross stitch that if indeed your only option was the major chain craft stores, would that inspire you to create your own cross stitch pieces because you have to stitch and you've stitched your way through the whole of Dimensions catalog--because you must stitch and the thought of life without a relationship with the little X leaves you feeling empty?

I am stitching on mosquito netting at the moment to add cuffs to a bargain jacket I bought a while ago. Need I say more?


5)Finally what do the cross stitch magazines on the market offer you? Do they relate to you as a cross stitcher? Do you look at them and think to yourself, who do they think buys this magazine? I guess what I'm asking, when you see the current cross stitch magazines do they make you feel like they know their readers or do you find it's more of the same? What could they do to be ambassadors for the art of cross stitch other than putting a sampler on the cover with "F-U" on it? What are we missing on a PR level that could change the opinion of cross stitch itself?

I think that cross stitch magazines have come a long way from the cutesy (*gag*) country style patterns that used to predominate to the more artistic and varied styles of patterns that I see now in the magazines I come across. I still buy alot of magazines, mostly for inspiration as I have a couple of life times of patterns already at home. Do the magazines represent me as a reader? Sometimes. How can magazines change the opinion of cross stitch itself? Perhaps more smalls and more tutorials and techniques for current stitchers to share their skills and passions. I have never joined a stitch and bitch group because I can not fit one more activity into my schedule, but my blog reading fulfills that part of me that wishes to socialize with other stitchers because I can see what they are stitching and get a glimpse into their lives.



6) And finally, finally, do you do other crafts and if so what are they and why do they pull you away from cross stitch?

I dabble in other crafts from time to time, but my "talents" lie in cross stitch. All the other crafts went by the wayside once I discovered the little x twenty years ago.