Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you grateful for? I am grateful for my family, my health, friends, and the fact I live in America, as a free person. We are so blessed. Have a great day!

I am a nerd

Spending time tonight trying to copy files from my moldy oldy laptop. So far, no such luck. XP and Windows 7 aren't that compatible. Thank you Microsoft.

Other happier topics: BYU 57 UNLV 7. At last, the Cougars put a complete game together.

Utes 7 TCU 47. Um, what a wipeout. The Utes are exposed for the posers they are. Go TCU to the title game.

I started stitching a Christmas ornament for an ornament exchange on Friday, Dec 7. Very pretty and classic. (I'll post the picture after the exchange.) I should finish it this week, then I can get on with the other stitching I am going to do for Christmas.

I have figured out gifts for Christmas for everyone. woo hoo. Now, just to finish them by Dec 25.

This is a short work week, I have Friday off. It's going to be hard to go back to regular vacation time next year.

Well, back to nerd-city.

P.S. I added labels to the posts I haven't labeled yet. I now have a sticky note to remind me to put labels on my posts. Like I said, such a nerd.

Elizabeth Smart

Woo hoo. 10 District Court of Appeals has denied Brian David Mitchell's appeal for a change of venue. The trial will resume Monday morning at 8:30 am. May this 8 1/2 year nightmare finally come to an end for Elizabeth and her family.

Oops! New background and maybe new fonts

I just spent the last hour trying to change the font on my title. It didn't work. I'm done for the night.

I also changed the background. I like it a lot. I'll be fiddling with the look for the next while though, I'm still a long ways off.

No news. Still working and stitching. Off the oxygen except at night. I see the pulmonologist on Monday. Hopefully I can get rid of the tank and the portable oxygen unit.

Oh. I did vote yesterday. Woo hoo and congratulations to all the winners. I did want the Republicans to take the Senate, but they didn't. Perhaps in 2012. Congress now has an opportunity to listen to the American people and change some things.

2 more pictures

I forgot! I also bought the new Shepherds Bush Christmas stocking at the retreat. fun one. It is called Sadie and there is a story about their great-aunt Sadie. I just love their Christmas stockings.

 And as promised, a picture of my progress on the Halloween Quaker sampler. It might be done by Halloween 2011. :)

This is actually an old photo. I am down to the white bar at the bottom. Woo hoo! 1/3 of the way done. Here we come, Halloween 2011. :)

And for my next collection of patterns, I want the Jenny Bean samplers. Theresa of Shakespeare's Peddler has designed several samplers and ornaments for Jenny Bean. And now there are Jenny Bean and friends. Sigh. Belle Pepper from Little House Needleworks, Winifred Sue from Crown & Thistle, etc. Very clever idea.

Shepherds Bush retreat pictures

I did take my camera to the retreat, but it never made it out of my suitcase. So... here are pictures of the pieces we received in class.

The first day at about 2:00 pm we registered. We received a neat bag and a kit to make a button to go with the bag. Here is my bag with the button attached. I did change the style of the letter, I wanted something a little more elegant and nostalgic.

 Here is a picture of the alphabet from the pattern we were given. Just a matter of personal preference.

 

On Thursday night, we received our first project. It is a small sampler that is called Shared Stitches. All of the designers/teachers contributed something to this sampler. Teri of Shepherds Bush designed it, Charland of Charland Designs created the JOY charm, the fabric was by R&R Reproductions (Pat and Ann), the thread by Thread Gatherer (CeCe). There is a blackbird motif for Blackbird Designs, a gold needle and skein of floss for Jeannette Douglas designs, and of course, a sheep for Shepherds Bush. Also, there is a crown for R&R Reproductions (Crown & Thistle is their name for the designs they create.) 

 Here is a close up of the 'Dear to my heart', and also my big start on it. (not)

 

I also bought this thread caddy (floss holder?) It has a magnetic needle holder too. I put the floss for the "Dear to my heart" sampler in it. Fun, fun, fun. 

On Friday morning, it was the Shepherds Bush class. Tina designed a fabulous sampler. We learned the specialty stitches in right side of the sampler, which confused me. I always must start at the upper left hand corner. I plan on stitching the top border over to the upper left hand corner and working from there. LOL.

What I like about this sampler is that it will go with several of the other Shepherds Bush designs. And the colors are my favorite colors to boot. :)

And I did find a picture of the Blackbird Designs project. I didn't have an opportunity to purchase the kit, but on their blog, they say they are releasing class projects in Feb or March 2011. 

I also purchased Jeannette Douglas's kit. It is gorgeous and I can't wait to stitch it. 

I found a photo of the R&R Reproduction design. It is big, but it is stitch on 20 count linen, over 2 threads (so 10 count essentially.) We also received the fabric and magnetic button for the clasp. This is a UFO bag for all of our unfinished projects. Snicker. I might be able to get a few of my projects in there. 

The last class we took was by CeCe the owner of Thread Gatherer. Her flosses, ribbons, etc are fabulous. She put together a kit for us to do a fabric scrapbook. I think I am going to tat some stuff for it and maybe make it a memento of the weekend. (Big dreams, big dreams.)

Unfortunately, due to my lack of camera dexterity, I don't have any more pictures. I will figure out the camera and post more later. 

 

 

Supplemental oxygen is da bomb!

Yep, my oxygen levels are bottoming out. So I am back with the canula up my nose and the oxygen set at 1.5 litres per hour. My oxygen level stays at 93-94, so that makes me happy (and my lungs very happy.) I need to get R2D2 filled again and pick up some pristine canulas. My exciting life.

I see Dr Clark on Friday, we'll talk then about all my lung issues. I get a cold and it goes viral on me, I can't afford to miss a week of work a month due to illness.

I do see Dr Campbell the first week of November too. He is my lung doctor and maybe by then my lungs will be better. Hope springs eternal!

Sinus infection and oxygen

Blech. Another sinus infection. I started feeling icky on Sunday afternoon (slept through the last session of General conference.) Went to the doctor on Tuesday, yep, a sinus infection with lots of mucus. He started me on Omnicef (warfarin friendly), and a saline nasal wash. Ouch, but it does help.

I'm sleeping on the oh-so-comfortable chair in the living room. Actually, it is very comfortable. The cat doesn't like me sleeping there, but that is OK.

I had to go back to the doctor today to get a permission note to go back to work (after 3 days of illness, we need a note.) The sinus infection has moved to my lungs. Lots of wheezing. Good news is that it is upper respiratory. I get to watch it very closely, all I need is another bout with pneumonia (knock on lots of wood.) My oxygen level has been fine, except for today. It dipped to 84 so I hauled the portable oxygen unit out. I don't stick the canula in my nose, it is in my mouth, which works just as well. So I will take it easy for the next 3 days. I'm just glad I have a job that is will fit my needs. Whew.

Speaking of the cat. Here are some pictures of Miss Priss who runs my life and household. I love her dearly.

I forgot to tell you that she is a nerd kitty. She loves to lay on the laptop to get warm (and post when I'm not looking.)

Off to bed, rather off to the comfortable chair in the living room. LOL.

P.S. I will post pictures of the samplers I am working on from the Shepherds Bush retreat. Lots of fun stuff.

What is it about Halloween?

Changed the blog background yet again. I just love this time of year. Fall, Halloween, my birthday, and Thanksgiving. I am still working on the Quaker Halloween, on page four (halfway done.) Woo hoo!!!

The retreat. Was wonderful. I ended up not going on Wednesday, due to a migraine headache. So Don picked me up on Thursday morning. I had sooo many bags (I didn't want to get bored, so I put many projects in said bags.) We arrived at the Canyons in Park City at noonish, after a beautiful drive up Provo Canyon. Even though the leaves were fading, it was still beautiful.

We checked in to the beautiful suite. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, an entry way with the cutest bench and hooks on the other side of the foyer. A kitchen fully stocked, a table in a small dining room, a living room with a fireplace, a love seat, a couch (with a pull out bed), and 2 window seats. And a television. Each bedroom had a tv and a fireplace. Registration was until 4 pm, the reveal of the projects was at 3:30 pm. We went to Panda Express for lunch then headed back to the hotel.

My oxygen level was lacking, shall we say. It was 79, so on went the canula. Don is so funny, it was irritating my nose and he said that all my nose callouses were gone. Ha ha ha. After a couple of hours, the level was back at 94. I took off the oxygen, then just had to wear it at odd moments when the level dipped below 89. I did adjust however, which was quite pleasing.

Back to registration. We registered, picked up our name tags, and a gift. It is a project bag. Very cute. Don had a special project bag: a man bag that was plaid instead of roses. He was pleased. The afternoon project was to stitch a button with our initial or motif, then sew it onto the project bag. Both Don and I looked at it and put it in the project bag. I was more interested in talking. (BTW, I did finish the button and sewed it to my bag. I changed the lettering to a more formal K.

Name tags were a must. We got to wear them to all classes and functions. Apparently, some people had decided in years past to bring a friend who would sit in the class and NOT pay. I'm used to wearing a name tag/badge at work, so it wasn't bad. Of course, Don had a man tag (plaid again) and I pinned it to his shirt (he really didn't want to wear it around his neck with the ribbon.) LOL.

We rested, then it was another project at 7 pm in the Kokepelli ballroom. So cute. It was a shared stitching project. All six designers made contributions to the project. Teri (Shepherds Bush) designed the piece. The lovely silk threads came from CeCe at Thread Gatherer (love her threads.) The fabric was from R&R Reproductions, the silver charm "Joy" was from Charland Designs. A blackbird was a motif in the design (Blackbird Designs), and a gold needle and thread is in the design for Jeannette Douglas Designs. There were motifs, sheep (for Shepherds Bush), a blackbird, a little skein of floss, a crown (R&R Reproductions), a heart for Charland designs. And in the pattern bag, there was the cutest needle threader by My Big Toe and a bumblebee thread holder (magnetic) from Kelmscot Designs. Way cool. I almost forgot that there was a decadent dessert too. Chocolate mousse with fruit and whipped cream on top. Since I hadn't eaten dinner yet, I didn't eat it. My blood sugar would have been horrendous and too much sugar makes me sluggish. Don said it was really good.

Then Don and I went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Yum, soup and salad bar for me. Then I read to him (politics and the news of the day). He stitched on Witches Wheel by Glendon Place. About midnight I couldn't keep my eyes open, so off to bed I went. Don usually stitches later than that, so I'm not quite sure what time he went to bed. However, at 9 am Friday morning was the first class, so he stopped stitching and went to bed.

We had bought a box of cereal and some milk for breakfast. So after that yummy breakfast, we went to the first class, which was Tina's class (Shepherds Bush.) She had told us the piece was big. It is and beautiful. It is 3 samplers in 1. I love it. We learned the specialty stitches for the piece. We started in the right hand corner, which confused me. I am going to do the border over to the upper left hand corner and work from there. I am a slow stitcher, so didn't get much done, which is OK. The gift/project for that class was a cute little flower, made from felted sweaters and a button to hold it all. Um, I still need to put it together. LOL. We also received the cutest handmade pincushion that matched our fabric and project bags from the first night. Of course, Don had a plaid pincushion.

On to lunch at Kneaders (we're so adventurous.) We were free until 7 pm. So after lunch, Don stitched and I took a nap. I only slept 4 hours Thursday night, so I was exhausted. At 7 pm, we lined up to get into the ballroom for the evening activity. Wow!!! There were six stations where we made little projects. It was a great meet and mingle that was safe (because we could be with our friends) and we made some great needlework accessories. Since everyone works at their own speed (slow for me) we met new people at each station.

The first station was to make a little pin and needle booklet. Glue them together and put the pins into the pin book and the needles into the needle booklet. The next station was to cover a pencil with the rose paper (plaid for Don.) There was a little post it note stack for us also. We made a booklet with graph paper and cute paper for the cover. Then we went and picked up our needlework boxes. Very cute. Tina's son stained 200 boxes and one of the Shepherds Bush employees decoupaged the picture on top of the box. The project from Thursday night fits exactly in the top of the box. Cool how that all works out. I have started that project, about a fourth of the way through. I think it will be a quick stitch. Then we made a thread minder, which consisted of cording with 3 needles and beads. Way cool. The last project was a tag. It has "This box was made at the Shepherds Bush retreat in 2010 by ________" I just need to sign it. Just a very fun evening. Bowls of candy at each table, which I managed to not eat, since we hadn't had dinner yet.

We took off for dinner after that. I looked up restaurants and found a Cafe Trang. Sigh. Closed. So we went to Squatter's Pub. Yum. Got back, read to Don while he stitched, and went to bed at about midnight. (See a pattern here.? LOL.)

Got up, had breakfast and went to the R&R Reproduction class. They had a big project too, a bag for those unfinished projects. The pattern was on 20 count linen, over 2 threads, so it is a 10 count piece. After the piece is stitched, then you make it into a bag with cool buttons. Very neat. Also, Pat gave us many hints about stitching. We asked for the next retreat that they teach this class on stitching hints. Pat is a great stitcher and had so much useful information. Ann, her business partner, came over and sold us on going to their retreat in Oct 2011. It is in Virginia Beach on the ocean. So fun. The teachers will be Tina and Teri, Jeannette Douglas, Theresa Vanetta from Shakespeare's Peddler and Raise the Roof designs, Pat and Ann, and a mystery teacher. I am there.

We had lunch at Squatter's again, and were late to the last class. It was quite funny. Don and I were walking in and Teri came running up. "Are you two OK?" Yes, we're just late. That is what Don gets for being the only man there. LOL. So we walked into class and I got to sing because we were late. Pffft. "Oh ye mountains high" is the song I chose. The class was fun, even though it is not my thing. CeCe from Thread Gatherer makes these funky fabric scrapbooks. So we received materials to make our own. Poor Don, I saw him nodding off. He was bored to death. I was the happy recipient of his kit. I think I am going to make a book honoring my grandma Reva who taught me to tat and whom I learned my love of needlework (inherited it from her.) We also received a cool pair of scissors with the cutest little fobs.

The gifts were great. At dinner, the banquet, was truly wonderful. There was a spinach salad, cream of tomato soup to die for, filet mignon with asparagus, potatoes and a fried something with artichoke. Yummy. Lemonade and water for the beverages, and a decadent dark chocolate cake/cheesecake. One bite and I was done.

Tradition has it that a skit of some sort happens. We learned how the Chinese New Year came about. It was a hoot. Don was in the 'orchestra' and played the horn. He received a gift for participating. The last gift was a necklace with 2 charms. Don received a pair of red plaid embroidery scissors, Gingher no less.

To bed to bed. I was awakened at 8 am by jackhammers, pounding, and vacuuming. I was so tired I rolled over and went back to sleep (I can sleep anywhere and through anything.) Don was awakened also, but couldn't get back to sleep. So he got up, had breakfast, packed, etc. He peeked at me at about 9 am and I was dead to the world. He went downstairs and picked up the pieces that had been on display in the store. Jeannette had signed them, way cool.

I was up at about 9:45 am, packed to ready, and we checked out at 11 am, right on time. Drove down the mountain and had brunch at Fiddler's Elbow (yummy.) I guess it is a hangout for the U of U students on Sunday mornings, the place was packed. We ate on the patio. Don took me home, and of course, I took a nap to recover. LOL.

I didn't spend much money up there. I did buy the new Shepherds Bush Christmas stocking (Sadie.) I also bought a thread holder in the shape of a heart with a magnetic needleminder on it. I also purchased the accessory pack to go with the R&R project bag. I wrote Jeannette Douglas to see if Don and I could get the kit for her class. There were 2 tracks and we were not on her track. Jeannette graciously brought us the kits down. It is seriously beautiful, I can't wait to start stitching on it. Jeannette is a great lady, funny and talented. I think she wants Don to be one of her model stitchers. He is an excellent stitcher and a good tester of patterns. He hopes she calls him for this job (I hope she does too.)

So that is our vacation. Don had such a good time. He told me in 2 years, we are going to go up a few days earlier just to hang out. Cool. We are going to the R&R retreat in 2011, and of course, the Shepherds Bush retreat in 2012.

Still coming....photos of all the projects, the rooms, etc.

I have a lovely sinus infection, so I will be sleeping in the chair tonight. Yuk. Oh well.

Change!!!

Change, change, change in my life.

Changed the background to my blog. A little more summery rosey blog.

Off the oxygen almost all the time (except at night.) Woo hoo!!! I'm going to Park City on Wednesday for the Shepherds Bush stitching retreat. I am getting a portable Helios system base to take with me. Thinner oxygen may give my lungs some problems. Better safe than sorry.

My right knee is getting much better. Falling on it three times in 3 months is not a good thing. :) Last Thursday I rammed my left little toe into a wooden pallet. It is really bruised, but I don't think it is broken because I can still wiggle it. It hurts to walk, so I am swimming right now for exercise purposes.

I don't know why I am so accident prone, especially this last year. I think I need to be wrapped in bubble wrap. LOL.

Tomorrow I get my hair cut and a permanent. My hair has NO body or curl. So I get a permanent, then straighten out my hair. I'm also getting a pedicure and gel toes. I think I will get the Little Miss Muffet pink sparkly again. It is glittery and pink.

I can't wait for the retreat. I am driving up on Wednesday afternoon (can't check in until 5:00 pm.) There is a farmer's marker at the Canyons every Wednesday, so I want to catch that.

We reserved a 2 bedroom suite at the Grand Summit at the Canyons. I got a killer deal for 2 bedrooms, a jetted tub, deck/balcony, full kitchen, etc. Registration starts at noon on Thursday, one class is on Friday, and 2 classes on Saturday, with a closing banquet Saturday night. I'll come home Sunday.

Don and I went to Shepherds Bush on Saturday. The projects are BIG. The Shepherds Bush project is 16" by 21". R & R Reproduction's project is 16" by 16". I did email Jeannette Douglas Designs and she is bringing 2 extra kits for Don and I. She is one of our favorite designers. There are 2 tracks of classes at the retreat. We're on the Shepherds Bush track, along with R & R Reproductions and Thread Gatherers. The other track is Blackbird Designs, Jeannette Douglas, and Charland Designs. I'm hoping the other teachers bring extra kits or I can order them for after the classes. It was hard making a choice of what track to choose, but Shepherds Bush is my favorite place and designs.

On the family front, 2 more great-grandchildren are coming. That will make 7 great grandchildren for my parents. Wow!!! Also, my nephew is getting married in December 2010 (just got engaged.) Becky and Frank found a truly cute house in North Carolina to rent. I hope they come to visit us for Christmas. :)

My dad is doing really well, much better than I have seen him in the past 2 years. He has recovered remarkably well from the last stroke. He doesn't take a nap anymore, much more energy, and doesn't have his spells. He's 79 years old, so this is great news.

Well, I had better rest up for tomorrow. Perm, haircut, toes, and stitching night. And dinner at Kneaders.