an exchange received

Anna from Poland reported yesterday that she received her HoE Christmas ornament. I stitched her an ornament from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue. I used 40 count Lakeside Linen's Vintage Maple Sugar with DMC and WDW floss. I finished it as a pinkeep. I tossed in a few holiday treats also. :-) I'm so glad you like it Anna! I had fun stitching it for you.

Small finis - part 12 of BoINK

Yesterday I finished up Part 12 of Book of Ink Circles. This is my least of all the parts so far. I just don't think it match enough with the other sections and my two blues that comprise most of this part are just too close together so you can't see the flow to the knots. Well that is if I had been able to find the flow to the knot. This was a tough one to make work from many levels. The next release is December 2nd and then were will be four more parts to go after that. I wish Tracy would give us a holiday gift of all the remaining sections so I can get this over and done with. I'm ready for it to end.

This is where I left off on St. Reatham. I'm hoping to re-start by the weekend. I still want to complete the BBD LS mystery (I started part four on the train this morning but since I did so little I did not take a photo) and the Papillion Creations Mystery. I'm way behind on that one and I'm expecting any day to get the next release so I'll be two behind instead of one if I don't get my act together.

Aoife is well on the road to recovery. I figured it would be Sunday before she was feeling back to her old self and I was correct. She woke up yesterday her usual spunky pug for the first time since her surgery and I'm having to hold her back so she doesn't rip out any stitches. I have a three day agility trial in Merriville Indiana starting on Friday and at some point I have to find time to get her to the vet and have her stitches removed.

just two more dogs

I decided to continue down the bottom of the piece and my goal is to finish the last two dogs by the time I go to bed tonight. They really take a long time and when I work on them I never see much progress. Then I'm going to put the piece up for a week or so. In the meantime, I'll work on my three mysteries, BoINK, Papillion Creations and Blackbird Designs as well as stitch the current Loose Feather. That should take a week or so then back to St. Reatham. I really want to finish this piece this year. I am saving the bunny in the lower left hand corner for last. Two years ago, when I was searching for a BAP to do, that little bunny is what put me over the edge to stitch this piece. I just think it's the cutest little thing, outrunning all those dogs. :-)

On Wednesdays I received my Hooked on Exchanging Christmas Ornament from Hazel in the UK. She sent me an ornament from this year's Just Cross Stitch Christmas issue. I love it and it was one of the ones on my list to stitch for me. She did an absolutely wonderful finishing job. And she sent along some goodies too! Thanks so much Hazel! I love it.

Aoife is getting around a little better at three days post op. The pain killers the vet sent me home with are really helping I'm sure and they are also helping keeping her quiet. And that is a huge help. By Monday I'm sure she'll be almost back to her old self.

and the last beastie is done

I finished up the last beastie Monday on the way home from work as predicted. But rather than stopping in the direction I was going and moving back up to the biggest motif of the piece, I decided to continue down to the corner of the piece. No special reason other than it was the piece of chart that I had with me. So I'll finish up the dogs on the bottom and then evaluate what to do next. My new Loose Feathers chart should arrive today and I think I want to stop St. Reatham for a couple of days and work the two charts on the pattern (the trinket box and part 4 of the mystery). I'm not going to do my box in the silk that is called for but convert mine to Weeks and Crescent Colours - I'm sure it will look just as nice for more than half the price.
What do you do when your puppy is feeling under the weather? Why you take pictures of course! I picked up Aoife at 9:00am this morning and she sure does look pitiful. I didn't know they were going to cone her so I didn't have a better alternative on hand. But I took care of that and a soft sided cone will arrive tomorrow. The power of overnight shipping.

Here is a close up of her plastic surgery. Widening her nostrils will really make a difference in her ability to get air quickly. And the stitches are such a pretty purple. :-) Everyone loved her at the clinic and I have to agree, she is a very special pug. :-)

Aoife is fine :-)

:-) Yeah, the doctor just called and Aoife is doing well and recovering nicely. The did the elongated soft palate surgery, removed the glands on either side of her palate and widened her nostrils. However, he did say he was not able to fix the problem entirely. I'm taking that to mean that she is still breathing loud. He said that she must have a structural issue that he can't see so he can't repair it. I'll get further details when I see the surgeon tomorrow.

They have visiting hours and owners are allowed to visit their pets twice a day for twenty minutes. It just about killed me to leave her this morning so I'm not sure if I'm going to visit her tonight or not. If her recovery goes well, I can pick her up tomorrow.

another beastie

I'm almost finished with the last beastie of the piece. :-) I know I got a ton done this weekend but I really wanted that last one complete before I went to bed Sunday night. Oh well, he will be completed by the time I get home from work tonight as I stitched on the train this morning and I only have part of a leg left. Then where do I go? I keep looking at the big hole on the top right that I created and I'm leaning toward starting that before I continue to move down the right corner. It's all one really big motif and will take most of the week to stitch I'm thinking. But if I finish it before I put this away for a little while, I'll have five out of the eight pages totally complete and that would be very cool.

wee beastie finished

I got a ton stitched yesterday - wee beastie #3 is finished. :-) I'm going to stitch down the entire right side until I get to the corner and then I'll start to move in. After than I'll tackle one of the big motifs somewhere. There are several left.

Wee beastie number three

I really enjoy working on St. Reatham. It's a mystery to me why I go so long between sessions. I have started work on the beastie in the upper right hand corner. That little curvy thing at the end of the flower is his tongue. :-) I'll have to take a small break from this over the weekend. I want to complete the latest Book of Ink Circles installment that came out yesterday. I really like the new block but I don't think it will pop as much as it has on other because my two blues are fairly close to each other. But who knows. Maybe it will be just fine.

I mailed my Hooked on Exchanging ornament for the exchange today! Yeah!

A whole weekend gone and this is all I have to show

I did everything this weekend but stitch on St. Reatham. :-) I guess that is just the way it turns out sometimes.

Last Thursday I purchased a treadmill. A really nice one, a True PS500. It's the most current discontinued model and I was able to get a floor model at a huge discount. It even has a built in LCD screen that is cable TV/DVD ready. Why I mention this? It's being delivered next Saturday and it's 35.5 inches wide by 82.5 inches long. This baby is huge. I had to make room for it. So I spent the bulk of the weekend clearing out, tossing out and reorganizing everything I own. I didn't want to tuck it out of the way too much because I don't want to forget it's there and I want it easy enough to get to so I have to walk past it to remind me what it is there for. So I spent the weekend looking at my stitching as I walked past with another load of stuff going to the trash or the Good Will box.

It's so nice to lighten the load and I gained a ton of shelf space from where I tossed old books and other crap. I don't mean to be such a pack rat, it just happens.

update on Aoife

I still don't have any stitching to show since I'm working on two holiday exchange pieces. I should be done with those however today and then I'll move onto something I can share. :-)

On Thursday Aoife and I went to see the surgeon recommended by my vet. It just so happens that the surgeon is an expert at Elongated Soft Palate surgery. He did his surgical residency at the Univ. of Georgia who’s mascot is a bulldog. He told me he did an ESP surgery every day he was there as this is even more common in bulldogs than it is in pugs. Also while he was there, he participated in a trial for a new tool for doing ESP surgery and did his research paper on how much better it works than the older ways of cutting and stitching. And he is getting the tool next week! He says it cuts down on post op bleeding and swelling and it was his recommendation that we wait until the equipment is in his hands. So Aoife came home with me and I have scheduled her surgery for the 18th of November.

Beyond My Heart finis

Beyond My Heart - Blackbird Designs

32 count Silkweaver Antique Gold

Recommended fibers

I finished up Beyond My Heart yesterday. Pretty piece for sure. Much more subtle in colors than a lot of their recent pieces have been. I like it. :-)

I started on my ornament for the HoE exchange so I can't show you what I did on the train this morning. It's from last year's ornament edition of Just Cross Stitch. It was designed to be an over one on 40 count piece but I just suck at over one on 40 count so I'm doing mine over two on 40 count. I did give it a go this morning but after about 40 stitches I pulled it all out. It looked like crap and I'm glad I did. It was so much better looking over two. I'll be done with it by tomorrow I'm sure and then I have to start a Quaker ornament for the Quaker Lovers exchange. Then it's St. Reatham November. Mostly. :-) I'll toss a few other small things in the mix just to keep it interesting.

So close

I'm almost finished with Beyond My Heart. Maybe by tonight? That would be super. It will give me a finish for November plus give me tons of time to work on St. Reatham. I also have an ornament I need to finish up before the 15th for the HoE ornament exchange but that's just an afternoon to put it into ornament form. For the month I also want to stitch the Book of Ink Circles for November which is going to be released next Tuesday and get caught up with the Papillion Creations Mystery (I'm behind one month). Both of those are just a couple of hours. But I'm thinking the rest of the month will be all about SR!

I had a wonderful birthday on Friday! Thanks for the comments and lovely emails. I took some time out of the day to take Aoife to the vet to have a consultation. I think she has an elongated soft palate and my vet concurred. Her breathing is very labored after activity and her normal breathing is loud and she snores a lot. It turns out that the surgery and post-op care is much more complicated than I had understood and my vet referred me to a board certified surgeon. So on Thursday we have another appointment with him and if all goes well, she will have surgery later that day. She will have to stay overnight and no agility for at least two weeks. Poor baby. Please keep us in your thoughts on Thursday.