Butterfly Fairy WIP

Stitchy weekend.  Looking good!

WIP: Butterfly Fairy

Butterfly Fairy by Joan Elliott

Just realized I need a finish on linen this year for the state fair, so picked up this one that I’d just barely started a year or so back.  Good progress for the weekend.  🙂

Also inspired my butterfly nail polish!

New Finish

Just completed this one for a United Way fundraiser auction at work.  Only had 2 weeks to do it, and man my hands ache!  Most stitching I’ve done in one go since my surgeries.

Coca-Cola Girl series #2, from the 1911 Hamilton King calendar. Stitched on 32 ct Confetti from Picture This Plus.

 

Still alive!

Not stitching much right now, though.  First surgery went well and finished 6 weeks of PT for the hand.  Had the surgery on my right hand last week, and will get stitches out and start PT for that one next week.  So I should be back stitching in just a few more weeks.

Currently working on Stone Roses as a memorial piece for my mother.  Don’t see that one stitched often, but she is very lovely.

Also, planning on attending the Under the Sea Fabrics on the High Seas cruise in November, which should be a blast.  Hope to see some of you folks there!

Adia completed!

Adia the Garden Fairy from Mirabilia.  Stitched on 28 count Enchanted Queen from Polstitches.

Those leave at the bottom were killer, as I had to finish them with one hand entirely useless, since it is all wrapped up from my carpal tunnel surgery.  Will be bringing this girl to the Mira retreat next week, soooo excited!  Especially since I get the bandages off and the stitches out the day before the trip.  😀

 

     

Update on me

Nearly finished with Adia, just have the leaves along the bottom left.  Which is good, since I am going in for carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand tomorrow.  Won’t be able to use that hand for anything for 2 weeks afterwards, so I will need to stitch the leaves one-handed.  At least the hand will be somewhat workable for the Mira retreat!

Will also be having surgery on my right hand in a couple months, after the left hand recovers.  That will be interesting since I am right-handed, but I will manage.  🙂

WIP: Adia

Have not been able to stitch much in the last couple of months due to some partially numb fingers.  Turns out, I have carpal tunnel syndrome.  So much fun.  Still, the stitching must go on!  Here is my current WIP, which I hope to have finished in the next month so I can take a new project to work on at the Mirabilia Retreat in Ohio.

Also, I entered a couple of pieces in the Florida State Fair this year, and took home 2 blue ribbons and a Best of Show (my first!), so very excited about that.  🙂

End of Year Musings

I would have never guessed that I would have such a difficult ending to a year for the second year in a row.  In the space of 13 months, I lost two very dear people.  Half my immediate family, gone so quickly and unexpectedly.  So I have learned some very important lessons.

Never take your loved ones for granted.  Tell them you love them.  It really is such an easy thing to say, and there’s not a person alive who doesn’t like to hear those words.  When you get angry, don’t let it fester.  Forgive.  Let things go.  In the grand scope of things, is that $50 someone never paid back, or the party you weren’t invited to really that big a deal?  Cherish every moment with your family and friends (even the ones where they drive you mad!), because you never know when your time with them will be over.

And when that time is over, it’s so much easier to carry on when you are left with memories that can make you smile, than it is when you have guilt and regret over things that were said and done.  I’m so very grateful that the last words I said to both of those I lost were “I love you”.  I can’t imagine how hard this would have been if my last memories of them were hurtful and angry.

So I say farewell to the old year, and welcome in the new, and I look forward to sharing many more happy/crazy/frustrating moments with all the people in my life.

Pretty Siren

Got my Siren back from the framer’s today (lovely job by Cathy at Needle Craft World!) and she will be heading to the state fair next month!

Siren & Shipwreck completed!

Love how that chandelier settled right over the only aqua spot on the fabric.  She’s so pretty!!