TINY ITTY BITTY BIT OF PROGRESS

 

A FINISH AND A START...AND A LITTLE BIT OF PROGRESS

First a finish:

And a new start (yes...she's a BIG girl):

And a tiny bit of progress on Blooming Bunny:

(Note to self...start with the head next time. Otherwise, poor BB looks like the chocolate bunnies from when I was a kid and always started by biting off their poor little heads! 😲)

Quiet day today, Dearies.  I hope you are all well and safe and happy...come tell me all about it!

MEANWHILE...ON EASTER NIGHT

 

 

TUESDAY

Thank you for all of the lovey birthday wishes, Dearies! I'm happy to report that I turned 59 with dignity and very little fanfare. There were surprise gifts of flowers and beautiful cards, as well as a re-stock of my berries and pineapple for my morning cottage cheese/fruit plate.

I don't know if I feel any older, but I do know that I have a very long list of things I'd like to do in the next year to get me ready for 60. Nothing too radical, mind you. Probably a lot of the same, but maybe with a little more enthusiasm.

I bought a few little things for myself on the amazon, but nothing too crazy. The highlight of the package was a new Yankee Candle, but in the spirit of keeping me slightly off-center, it arrived with a bit of an attitude problem.

Never fear...one call to the customer service, and a new one is on its way to me.

Last night, I did manage to finish the Stained Glass Bunny diamond painting. If I get things done around here in the next few days I might try to find a simple little frame for him so I can prop him on the table and call it Easter.

Today will be dedicated to stitching, and I hope to make more progress on the Blooming Bunny.

 That's all I have for now. I thank you again for thinking of me yesterday! I am so grateful to be part of this thing of ours! WooHoo!

 

ZEE BIRD...SHE EESE LONELEEE

I just spent a lovely few minutes in the cube room studio kitting up the Blooming Bunny companion to the Spring Songbird that I finished yesterday. Same deal...stitching this on 28ct Colour & Cotton lugana in Granny Smith, and all Colour & Cotton threads substituted for DMC (*).

And because I just can't leave well enough alone when it comes to bunnies...I'm almost finished with a cute little stained glass version (diamond painting) that I might just pop into a frame for a seasonal decoration this year.

Finally, my salad from last night. Mixed greens and veg with a grilled chicken breast on top, lots of black pepper and everything bagel seasoning with bleu cheese dressing because the chicken was flavored with buffalo marinade.

We're looking forward to the weekend, Dearies! My Lovies from Lima are coming over for the NotreDame Blue Gold Game (football Spring scrimmage), and then there's Palm Sunday Mass, brunch at Tippecanoe Place (the Studebaker Mansion), and then on Monday I turn the big bad 59 years of age...no longer allowed to act like a toddler, but not old enough to be the boss of everything.

Happy Thursday! Come tell me all about your little corner of the world!

(*) It's only taken me nineteen years, but I finally found a way to pick threads. I use my DMC color chart and find the designated color that is called for, and then I pick through my threads to find ones that are generally close to it. Sometimes I get right on the mark, and other times I go rogue...all depends on my choice of fabric.
 

ZEE BIRD...SHE EEESE FEENIE!

 

DIAMOND PAINTING, STITCHING, AND PILLOW FIGHTING....OH MY!

 

As I live and breathe, Dearies....if you would have told me that one day I would watch the Professional Pillow Fighting Championship on the TeeVee while stitching and then diamond painting, I would have told you that you were nuts.

Progress continues on the Spring Songbird, and I hope to complete him in the next day or so. Such a delightful stitch, and I might have accidentally picked up the coordinating bunny pattern as well to start once the bird takes flight. 😬

The diamond painting was another amazon impulse purchase....this one was about four bucks, I think, but the end result and the hours of peace it gave me go well beyond that.  As with stitching, I enjoy the process of creating these rather than stress over a final finish, so I'll just pop this into a portfolio with all of the other ones I've finished and move on to the next.

Early morning appointment for me today, so I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the day with needle and thread!

Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a roaring start!

 

I LOVE IT WHEN A LESSON COMES OUT OF IT

One of the things I've learned during this little for-ay into diamond painting is PREPARATION IS KEY. 

I watched a lot of the YouTube when I started doing DP, and two terms I learned were "kit up" and "kit down". (Or words similar to that effect.)  It means exactly what you'd think...before playing with a new piece, you have to take the time to organize all of the parts so that you have them readily at hand.

In DP,  you need to un-bag all of the little bits and label the colors so that you can easily select the one you need at the right time.

I've translated this into my stitchy life, and I find that it's yielding great results. By taking the time to set up my threads, I can enjoying stitching more by just selecting the one that I need. My Bitsy Bob (the thingie you see in the bottom pic with the threads in circles on it), makes things super organized and tidy.

I like that.

So, Dearies...I'm ready to start stitching for the day, and after dinner (a salad with grilled salmon on top), I'm going to see if I can finish my DP.

Happy Weekend! Do something that blows your skirt up and come tell me all about it!

GOODNESS, GRACIOUS!

We've had an interesting few days, Dearies!  Sunday brought us massive storms with devastating winds and quite a bit of destruction.  I can honestly say that there was a moment there when I honestly thought we were gonners.

The lights were out for about four hours, but like any good stitcher, I was prepared.

I think I've confused everybody with all of this diamond painting business. Imagine a cross stitch chart printed on a canvas and then covered in a light layer of stickyness.

And the symbols correspond to different colored "drills", or little pieces of acrylic (either round or square) that you attach to the canvas with a pointy-ended pen that you've put a little bit of putty or wax or sticky dots on to hold them.

Believe it or not, oftentimes the color numbers of the drills are actual DMC numbers, so there is something that feels very familiar about this!

The thing I'm enjoying about diamond painting is that a) it's something new and different and b) so far I've managed to just keep things very very simple, uncomplicated, and affordable. I figured out a very good system and have stuck with it, haven't gone crazy amassing a huge stash, and the time I spend doing this new craft has been stress free!

 On the stitching front, I am just LOVING this little bird. The chart is in the etsy: nathnolu. Please note, though that I am not following the colorway on the chart...I am using Colour & Cotton fabric and threads from my stash.

 

Dearies, I have a kinda sorta update on my ick-ness. It appears that the thyroid was causing all of those scary symptoms that kept sending me to the ER thinking I was dying. As for everything else, my liver, pancreas, and gall bladder all seem to be on the fritz. Oddly enough, I scored an S0 on the liver fatty scale, but an F3 on the liver scarring (cirrhosis) scale, which is severe. The gallbladder needs to come out, but if we can get the symptoms under control, postponing that would be preferable to undergoing surgery at this point, and the pancreas is problematic and susceptible to pancreatitis because of my kidney meds. 

BUT!

With proper meds and a massive lifestyle change (in effect since March 5), I should be able to get things a bit back in whack to the point that I will start to feel better. Fatigue and the screaming mimi's are the biggest issues I have, as well as protecting my BellyBean, but eventually all will be well once again.

Thank you for your prayers and notes and happy thoughts and wonderful cards in the mail (looking at you Robin!). Time for me to just pull up my socks and trust that the plan is good and I finally have docs in place to keep an eye on things.

If you're in the path of these darn storms again today (as we are), please don't be afraid, but stay safe and prepared! Then, when they're all over, please check in and come tell us all about your corner of the world today!