as my hubby will tell you. It is expensive to frame things that you have stitched-- particularly if they are 20inches by 17inches. Seems to me that the other FOUR ladies I have had framed are all about that size and the price they quoted me this morning at the framing shop was nearly DOUBLE what I ever paid on those. It's a real shame too, because I really like these guys. But there's no honkin' way I'm paying that much for framing a piece of needlework.
:( now i'm sad.
I don't know how to frame things myself. And now my gorgeous lady who is finished and ready to be hung up, is not framed!!! :(
I finished the Summer design on the Friday, and added the buttons on Saturday morning. Also finished it off with my initials and the year.
Then I charted out my name and the year for stitching it onto my Winter Queen-- which is a bit more difficult. I stitch it over one thread, so it looks quite delicate and pretty. Then once I had it charted, I worked out on the fabric where I wanted it to be, and stitched it on.
Then I charted out some more names-- names of two little baby girls born recently to two ladies in church-- both born on the same day!! Katie Jo and Ruthie Grace. I had bought these two teddy rattlers for them, and the teddies have aida bibs attached to them with room enough to stitch names and small hearts on. They turned out quite cute, I must say! :)
After that I got to work on good ol' secret pressie number one. The middle bit is nearly ready for backstitch. I did quite a lot on it on Sunday and even more yesterday. Today I'm just putting in the last few stitches on the middle and I might just do the backstitch as I go along instead of waiting until the whole design is finished. Each project is different really-- most projects I start in the middle, work my way out, then do backstitching and any other fancy bits-- usually metallic threads before any beading, but sometimes if a design lends itself to a different method, I will vary things. I know-- how excitingly thrilling!! What a risk-taker I am!!! oohhwheee watch out!
Back to work for me-- need to cook some chicken soup and give my second attempt at baking bread a go! I'll report back later.
Last night I was trying to sleep and my legs just would not stop twitching! It was a feeling like I was too hot, so I would stick them out the end of the duvet, but that didn't help, so I would pull them back under, and they were still twitching like mad!
It was such a weird sensation-- I've had that happen before, but not for a while.
On a different note, I'm still recovering from my op, still feeling very sleepy sometimes. I woke up about 5am yesterday morning and couldn't get back to sleep, and ended up taking a little snooze between 4:30 and 6pm and then was up for a few more hours and went to bed about 10ish and slept through til about 3am. Woke up and was up for a few minutes, fell back asleep and slept through til 7am. Not bad considering I usually can't sleep the night after having an afternoon snooze!
I finished my Winter Queen just about half an hour or so before going down for my surgery on Monday, so I started another pattern-- a Bent Creek one, a kit of "Summer"-- a nice slice of watermelon with a checkered tablecloth below, a bumblebee buzzing around above, the word Summer, and a square dashed border. I've finished the watermelon, and now am working on the checkers, so I reckon I'll finish it today. Which would be great. Then I'm going to work some more on a secret surprise project for a friend. :)
I also might be doing another surprise kit for another friend. After that I'm stitching a birth sampler for my new neice!! Mia! The picture that I attached to the birth sampler is the closest thing I could find to what I'm going to do -- the one I'm doing will actually have her details on it.
Then I'm thinking of starting Celtic Banner... click here for a picture of it.
in an argument?
Now you can fight back with Old Testament curses from the prophets!!!
Ship of Fools has a random curse generator that claims to be straight out of the Old Testament... (she says, getting out her Bible to flip through and try and find some of these in context!)
Here's a sample!
"Behold, thou shalt be thrown into a den of hyperactive lions, thou love-child of Methuselah!"
lovely.
they'll be speechless!
(I sure was when I found this!)
I was released early yesterday morning (Tuesday) and got home just around 10:15/30 and spent the day sleeping and relaxing. Andy took good care of me, and he got some good time to study for his MCSE exams.
one thing I forgot to mention that I'm extremely thankful for-- they didn't need to use the "packing"/splints. According to all my sources of folks who have been through this surgery before, that is the most uncomfortable/painful part! Thank you Lord for your goodness to me.
Lots of folks rang and asked after me, I could hear Andy telling them I still snore-- well who wouldn't with a blocked up nose and only able to breathe through their mouth??!! Sheesh.
The doc told me I was able to take the lil bandage off my nose yesterday when it wasn't draining anymore-- which was around teatime. I put another one on for bedtime, but I'm back without this morning.
It was kind of funny looking-- like a cotton rolled moustache!
Anyhoo-- I'm home relaxing and just stitching and snoozing. Recovery-- what a great thing. Praise God.
p.s. Andy got me these brilliant balloons!!! Some flowers make me sneeze, and since I'm not allowed to blow my nose or sneeze through my nose for a week, he got balloons. The kitties loved them too.
Well, I'm back. I went into Macclesfield hospital on Monday morning for my septoplasty. Basically they put me under general anaesthetic (completely asleep!) and went in to correct the bit of cartilage that runs up the middle of my nose, separating my two nostrils-- mine was bent and was blocking my right nostril such that I couldn't breathe out of it, and my sinuses weren't draining properly. I arrived just before 8, reported to the main reception desk as I was told to do.
The main receptionist was just through the doorway, climbing on a computer chair (the kind on wheels!) to stand on top of her desk to open the window!! Talk about health and safety in action! At least she wouldn't have had far to go if she'd fallen and broken anything-- A & E is just down the hall.
She printed off my cover sheet for me, and asked me where the bed manager (nurse) had told me I was staying. It was Ward 2, so she sent me up. Upon arriving at Ward 2, there were about 8 ladies bustling around the main nurses station, but not a single one made eye contact with us!! I got someone's attention and showed them my cover sheet and she asked my name. I told her and she said she didn't know what was going on and that I must be in Ward 1. So we walked around to Ward 1. Again, lots of bustling ladies and not a single one looked up. I was beginning to worry about whether or not I was invisible!! Again they didn't have anything about me at their desk, and came to the conclusion that I *must* be in the Surgical Day Unit. So off we went around the corner to the Surgical Day Unit. Once there they said "Oh yes... you must be Mrs. Mayberry..." and I was like "ummm no, I'm Mrs. HELSBY." and then they said "is it possible they got your name wrong? Are you here for an RST?" And it was at this moment that I knew why British NHS hospitals are reknowned for screwing things up and doing the wrong operation on the wrong person!! If I'd been a little old dear with poor hearing, I'd have been admitted as Mrs. Mayberry and have had an RST (whatever *that* is!!!!).
It was at this point that Andy my dear hubby said that he saw my name written on the dry-erase board back in Ward 2. So we went back to Ward 2 and they again were fumbling a bit, so I walked over to the board and pointed and said-- "This is ME." and then things got a lot clearer. They found my paperwork and sent me over to where my bed was.
There were 3 older ladies already in the bedroom (which was divided up into six curtained off sections). And they were all having a nice little chat, so I said hello and went to sit on my bed and wait to be told what to do next. Then I realized I didn't know if I was on the morning list or the afternoon list. So I went back over to the nurses station and asked. I was the last one on the morning list-- which gave me a great sense of relief.
I got my Winter Queen stitching out and carried on. I was nearly finished with her at this point, and putting her down when I'm that close to finishing is really difficult!!! As it happens, I was able to finish her in plenty of time before going down for surgery.
Andy was kicked out about 10ish (I think) and I was taken down to the anaethetics room/operating room about 10:30ish. They took me down and were asking me all kinds of questions. The funniest one they asked was as they were taking my blood pressure just before the surgery-- it was just bang-on normal-- and they asked "Are you SURE you know you're having surgery in a couple of minutes????" I laughed and said yes, and that there were lots of folks praying for me, and that I felt really relaxed and peaceful. Then they stuck the needle in for the anaestetic (thank goodness the nurse put that cream on the backs of my hands to numb them!) and I started to feel pretty sleepy. Pretty soon I could barely keep my eyes open, and they were reaching all over me, and all around me. Then I couldn't keep them open any longer.
I woke up in the recovery room, and they were wheeling me back to the Ward. They were asking me all kinds of questions, what's my birthdate, where do I live, etc. and then we got back to the room and I got back into my bed and asked for Andy and felt well sleepy.
Andy turned up shortly after that, which was funny because the nurse had phoned him, but he'd been in the hospital and hadn't had his phone on. So we had a nice lil time and then he went about 3ish and was going to come back for the evening visiting hours.
I slept on and off for a good long time, and had my first sips of water, and at tea-time I was allowed a "light-diet" tea... which consisted of an egg-salad sandwich, a mug of veg soup, and a mini lemon meringue tart. It was just enough to fill me up.
I was so blessed the whole day-- I didn't have any fears about going in, and the anaestetic didn't make me sick at all-- (and it made two other ladies who went in that afternoon from our room very sick-- dry heaving for a while etc.)
So I'm very thankful for all the prayers and best wishes and that God was gracious and held me tight.