Catching up April and May

April

Needlework

I received this in the Virtual Threads scissor case exchange from Lucy.

I finished the blanket for my niece's baby Eleanor who was born near the end of April. I'm still working on the one for my nephew and his wife.

I finished the second page of Psalm 23 by My Big Toe. It was a very happy dance. I've been working on it for a number of years now.

This is Little Hedgie by Just Nan. The finished picture is below under the May section.

Other hobbies

I had a great idea for making oatmeal bath bombs. I cut up some nylons and stuffed them with oatmeal. They've been working great but I keep running out of nylons. I just found a recipe for them using coffee filters instead so I'm going to try that next time.

 I had only one iris bloom again this year but here it is. I'm giving my mom some of the bulbs when she's done with her moves and settled. They need to be divided again this fall so there will be lots.

 May

Needlework

Here's the finished Little Hedgie by Just Nan. He's now safely in my china cabinet where Bob can't get at him.

I also took part in the Embroidery Association of Canada's scissor fob exchange. Here is the lovely one I received from Marie. Marie and Lucie were my roommates at Seminar 2015. It was pretty remarkable that they both ended up sending me things in the exchange.

I've gotten back to my WIP rotation toward the end of May. I chose 7 projects, some from this year and some older ones. They're each assigned a day and that's what I work on during my needlework time. Monday I'm working on Psalm 23 but I didn't take a progress picture.

Tuesday is one from this year, Pacific Rim Sampler by Jeannette Douglas. I was stalled on it for awhile as I was having trouble matching up band one with band two. I've finally gotten it where I want it and I've also stitched band three.

Wednesday is an older Virtual Threads class piece I fell behind on and then put aside. Floral Tranquillity by Heartfelt Designs. I finished the large leaf on the right this week and started the veins in the leaves.

Thursday is Lavender Sparkle Butterfly by Alison Cole. It's another VT class project I fell behind on. I'm really not comfortable with surface work but I'm slowly working at it. I started the long and short stitches on the left wing this week.

Friday, I'll be working on another VT class project from Alison Cole that took place recently - Dragonfly Brooch. It's more goldwork but it should be beautiful when it's done. Saturday, I'm working on my Stitcher's Village Christmas in July exchange piece and Sunday, I'll be knitting which for a few weeks means working on Beau's baby blanket.

I have a VT Executive meeting this weekend and I'll need to decide if I'll stand again for office. I'm thinking not until my health improves some more.

Hatch day Celebration

We celebrated the boys hatch days in May. We don't know when either of them actually are since they're adopted but we do know Mal is 18 since he came from his original family and they knew how old he was. 

Bobby got a bag of toys from the toy box in a new bag. He was very interested in it. 

After Bobby was safely locked up with a little extra birdseed, Mal got his turn. He's not interested in bags so he got a little extra birdseed and some popcorn. He wasn't too sure about the camera so I tried to hold a piece of popcorn for him. He wanted nothing to do with it either.

Later Bobby came back out for his popcorn and Mal's. Here he is showing Mal what you're supposed to do with it. I was hoping to get a picture of him holding it in his foot and eating but as soon as he saw the camera, he ran towards me saying "pretty bird". What a ham. I had to hide the camera until he went back to eating to get this picture.

Health

My leg is fully healed and I'm doing very small walks around the block. I'm finished seeing the community nurses now.  I had a couple weeks set back when I came down with the flu. I'm feeling better now but still getting meals on wheels for another week. Then I'm back on my own.

I have a few appointments with the Complex Chronic Disease Program nurse and social worker in June. I'm happy to be finally starting some progress with that. I'll be talking about sleep and rest with the nurse next week and then hopefully getting some help with my finances from the social worker towards the end of the month and then another follow up appointment with the nurse after that. I had my lab tests this month and my A1c is still good but it looks like I'm still going to need iron pills. I'll find out for sure when I can see a doctor.

My search continues for a family doctor but I have a few more promising leads to follow up with this week. Unfortunately, they're further away from home so I'll need the HandyDart to get there. In the meantime, I'll probably be going to a walk in doctor at the clinic for prescriptions in the next couple weeks and I may be able to go over the test results with that doctor.

That's it for this time. A longish post but it does cover two months.

Two months into the New Year

This blog is going to cover January and February since I'm very far behind on my writing. I'm going to blame this nasty infection I've had in my leg which is finally on the mend.

January stitching

In January, I (barely) started a Canadian stitchalong with Jeannette Douglas's Pacific Rim Sampler. Here are the lovely fabric and threads ready to go.

And this is still all the progress I've made on it. Row 1.

I think this is square #2 of the first baby blanket.

 Square #3? I think my memory is going.

Health

At the beginning of January cellulitis started on my leg and I went to the Dr. My leg didn't improve and when I went to the Dr. she sent me to emergency for IV antibiotics. While I was waiting for the Handydart, I decided to book my next appointment and had another blackout while standing at the desk. Luckily, I didn't hurt myself this time but I got another ambulance ride to the emergency. After several more visits to ER and another oral antibiotic, I was referred to the community nurses to continue care on my leg. After a couple weeks, I was put on a negative pressure vac which means I've been carrying machinery around with me everywhere I go. Another swab still showed bacteria so I was put on a third antibiotic and we're making rapid progress. I'm hopeful I'll soon be off of this machine.

February needlework

Another square for the baby blanket

And another

Scissor case made for an exchange - front and back

Messy top before I "fixed" it and the "fix".

Here's a scissor fob for another exchange before and after assembly. The colour on the left is closer to the actual colour.

Here's the start of a needlepoint rose I'm doing for the EAC travelling exhibit.

Pets and Home

Bobby decided to help me file one day. Mal, the cockatiel (not shown), behaved himself.

 Our hedgehog, VanGogh, passed away at the end of February. We miss him but we'll wait to adopt another.

I made sushi salad one day. The small dish was for Bobby but he only ate the vegetables.

For Lent, I started a study. I've read it before, many years ago, but I keep thinking of it so I decided this year I would read it again. It comes with some delicious bread recipes. I'm making bagels from it today.

And finally an update on my health besides my leg. I've started the assessment process at the Complex Chronic Disease Program at BC Women's Hospital. It sounds like I will finally get some help for my fibromyalgia and that the report they generate from the assessment is what my LTD is looking for. I've rented a walker from the Red Cross while I wait to see if I can get funding for a new one as mine has been declared unsafe. It doesn't have a basket though so I'm going to check those out on Tuesday.

Enjoy your March and I hope the end of winter is good to you.

What happened to Spring?

Just when I thought Vancouver was in for an early spring we got another dump of snow.  Luckily it didn't last and now we're back to rain again.  I've seen some crocuses starting so Spring is on the way.  It's a good thing I haven't gone out to do more planting.  I repotted the rose bush last week and a couple weeks ago, I cleaned up the irises.  I should start my carrots soon but the rest will have to wait until we aren't getting any more frost.

Project updates

VS Spring Box: I had this out with the intention of working on it but then I got a bad flu and was coughing so bad I couldn't hold my needle to stitch so it went back into the rotation for the next go around.

Central Park Hoodie: This project, on the other hand, got some extra time in because I could knit while I was sick.  I decided to make the body a little longer so it's not quite up to the armhole shaping now.  It probably only needs another pattern repeat.  I'm also going to make it short-sleeved now.  I'd thought about it before but now that I'm adding the extra length I may have to so I don't run out of yarn.  I LOVE the colour.  I'll get pictures the next time it's out.

Psalm 23 by My Big Toe: I've been working on this the last week, this is the before picture.  I've got more of the left hand and top border done now.  I'm planning on working on it a little more today before I take it to work for the week.  I'll take another picture when I'm done the second week.  It feels wonderful to be working on such an intricate pattern that is only two colours and only cross stitch.  I'm hoping my mom will like it for Christmas.

L&L Celtic Summer: I've had this at work this week and managed to get some more of the beading done on the left border.  Here's a before picture.  This is another one I'm really loving though the beading and gold thread takes a bit of patience.

Tatting: This week I took my first beginner's tatting class.  We were given a fantastic pattern for a bird that I can't wait to try.

For the coming week, I'm going to work on the backstitching of Mrs. Tiggywinkle so I can get it sent in for the charity quilt and I'm going to make a start on some bookmarks for the literacy challenge.

New Stash:

I ordered the last of the L&L Celtic patterns so I have Spring done, I'm working on Summer and I have Autumn, Winter and Christmas patterns now.  I managed to find them on Ebay.

I also ordered a tatting shuttle and some yarn for my beginner's class.

Seminar 2012 registration, class fees and optional tour of the RBCMuseum needlework collection has been paid for and I've booked my dorm room at UVic.  I'm getting very excited about the trip.

Books:

I bought two physical books from Amazon this month.  The first was A Guide to Quaker Parakeets as a reference book for Bobby.  The second is One Year to Organised Life, you can probably guess what that one is for.

For my Kindle I bought the following books: Savor, The Incredible Slow Cooker Cookbook, A Tale of Two Cities, Stupid History 2012 calendar, Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis, Face the Winter Naked, The Grind Show, Unicorn Bait, State of Mind, Cold Lonely Courage, His Last Duchess, Cleopatra and Antony: Power Love and Politics in the Ancient World, The Lady Queen, Tyburn.  Most of the Kindle books were inexpensive suggestions from Goodreads.com

I finished reading Gwenhwyfar early in the month and returned it to the library.  It was an excellent King Arthur tale in the Welsh tradition from Gwenhwyfar's point of view.  You can read my Goodreads review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/253838716.

I also got through a couple more chapters of Pillars of the Earth before I had to return to the library.  I just got the notice that it was back on hold for me so I'll pick it up again this week.

Mostly I've been reading Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey.  I'm about 1/2 way through and really enjoying it.  It's about her life from childhood to when she ascends the throne.  I've read quite a bit of non-fiction about her in the past but it just touched on her early life so this has been a really good change.  It's a novel so there's a lot more detail.

I had my Bird Talk and Knits magazines in this month and read those fairly quickly.

I've also been hired as a book reviewer.  I get paid by the book but it will be a little extra money.

Fids

Bobby is fitting in really well.  We're still working on getting him to eat good food.  He eats some veggies and fruit now but still not too keen on pellets.  The cockatiels are pretty much ignoring him.  Hawk seems to sometimes panic when Bobby comes to visit on my chair but Bobby hasn't paid any attention to going over to their cage and I'm feeling a little more trusting of him.  He's decided I'm his favourite now so I at least have one fid that prefers me and I'm not getting bitten as often.  He's started biting Bill now though so we're working on that.  I'm not sure what he's going to be like with the bird sitter yet.

Llew the hedgehog is his usual self and enjoying the tunnel we bought for him.  He's been enjoying his ball again too and spent quite a bit of time rolling around the floor in it the other night after the birds were locked in.  Bobby wasn't too sure about the whole thing but Llew had a good time.

New Addition to the Family

I've got lots of news to tell you since my last blog post and so I wouldn't forget anything, I've been making notes in a notebook as I go along.

Projects:

This month I've worked on several projects.  Now that Christmas is over, I've got things back in a regular rotation again to work on them and with fewer demands on my attention I'm actually making some progress.

Central Park Hoodie is coming along and it's been nice to work on a sweater that's for me this time.  It has some very simple cabling and has been very quick to knit.  Other than having to rip out 1/2 a pattern repeat because I'd crossed my cables the wrong way, I haven't had any problems with this pattern.  I started last July while I was on vacation and haven't worked on it until now.  I'm almost to the armhole shaping on the back.

I did some more work on Victoria Sampler's Spring Box early in the month.  I've 3/4 of the way through cutting the threads in the hearts for the top.  I haven't taken any pictures of this project yet but I'll be working on it again this week so I'll remember to take some pictures when I'm done.  It helped being on vacation for the first two weeks of January.  I liked it, next year I'll be taking a couple weeks in January again to go on a cruise to the Western Caribbean.

Here's a progress picture of Lavendar & Lace's Celtic Summer.  I've almost finished her face.  I've been beading as I go on this one which I like a lot better than putting the beads in after all the stitching is done.  I'm quite happy with the progress I've made.

I also started a new project that is a gift for my mom.  It's Psalm 23 by My Big Toe.  It's actually a pattern I've had in my stash for awhile and it was one of the projects I kitted up this summer.  I substituted two DMC floss colours for the specialty ones they had in the pattern and I really like the colours.  I started this one on the top left since it has a border around the words and I've got the corner of  the border done and I'm starting on the lettering in the middle.  It's still at the office where I've been working on it so I'll get pictures when I bring it home on Monday.

Stash Enhancement:

I received my Just Cross Stitch Magazine and the Piecework Knitting Issue as well as the EAC newsletter this month.  I've been getting JCS from my online stitching store but I realized how much I've been paying for it so I'm going to get my own subscription to it.  More money I can spend on stash :).  I also got the first part of Loose Feathers new seasons pattern (this one was Summer) and the fabric for all three parts.  The second part should be in soon and she's sending the floss with it.  I also got some new cards from Cranky Crows studios.  It's not really stitching related but it was a fundraiser for Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary and I'm going to use them for the birthday floss exchange I'm in for one of my online groups.  They're really nice cards, I'm sorry to be giving them away.  The rest of the stash was the flosses for the floss exchange, I think they're very interesting variegated threads, newer DMC colours.

Books:

I've gotten quite a bit of reading done.  It's so good not to have school books to read.  I read two books on Conures and a book about Quakers.  I started By Slanderous Tongues (Mercedes Lackey) but realised it was the third book of a series so I took it back and got the first book.  That's what I get for actually browsing the library shelves.  I have several books out of the library and in various stages of progress, that's why I've decided this week is going to be reading week.  I need to get some of them finished.  First up, is Byzantium by Judith Herrin.  It's an older non-fiction book that we were doing as a group read on Goodreads.  I've fallen behind as usual but it's a good book so I'm going to keep reading.  It has to go back to the library this week so I don't know if I'll get it finished.  I may have to put it on hold again.  I'm almost finished Dreaming Anastasia and Fauna.  Both of them are from my bookshelves and they've been on the go for awhile.

Bird News and the Latest Addition:

Mal seems to be gradually getting over his obsession with the mirror.  He's more willing to leave it for awhile and go back to his explorations.  Hawk is being his usual self but he often sits next to me on his "porch" now while Mal is out on his explorations.  I made a batch of Chop for them a few weeks ago with carrots, celery, cabbage and kale.  I've frozen it in weekly portion sizes and I've been giving them some every morning.  Hawk is actually eating it.  Mal does occasionally but still prefers his whole leaves.

And ... Bobby has arrived.  He's a four year old quaker from Greyhaven, formally called Bubba.  He's a bit of a handful right now.  I've had a few bites already but we had a good training session of step ups yesterday and he's been better behaved today.  He loves my husband to pieces and will do pretty much anything for him but needs to work on his manners a little with me.  Yesterday morning I was wondering if we'd picked the right bird but after our training session, I think there's hope for him.

New Beginnings

Jan 3rd was my first vacation day even though my office has been closed since before Christmas.  My plan was to catch up on my reading and stitching.  We went to my mom's for Christmas so I got a couple books read on the way to and from her house (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9182478-hourglass and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14003.The_River_s_Gift)  and a bit of back stitching done on Mrs. Tiggy-winkle while we were there.

My 3 yr old nephew lives next door and spends a lot of time at Grandma's, especially when his auntie is there, so there wasn't much time for stitching.  We made a trip to Christina Lake on Boxing Day.  It was beautiful but very snowy.  I got a bread machine for Christmas so I've made a few loaves of bread since we've been back and I've been getting the birds' area ready for another bird or two I'll be adopting this year from the bird sanctuary.

My cockatiels, Mal and Hawk are now sharing one cage so we took down the second cage to make room for the new one.  That involved moving and cleaning toys, perches, and playstands.  Mal has decided he likes kisses so he's a bit more sociable now.  We had our Christmas with them yesterday.  The birds got a new foraging toy, a preening/puzzle kind of toy and one with lots of bells on it.  I also bought them some Nutriberry popcorn.  Mal had a few nibbles from the ones I put in the foraging box but Hawk hasn't looked at them yet.  The other toys went in the drawer for later, since they have to look at them several times before they decide they're safe to go close too.  Llew, the hedgehog, got a new tunnel and some more mealworms.  He hasn't been in his tunnel yet but I gave him a few worms early since I had to clip all his nails.  I also bought some toys for Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary Empty Stocking fund for the parrots in their care.

I should be able to do more stitching this year anyway.  I'm not taking the last payroll course until September and I'm dropping one of my volunteer positions and cutting back on the other one in 2012.  I did a little stitching on L&L Celtic Summer last night and I've ordered Celtic Christmas.

recent books

It's been awhile since I've written.  Things get in the way!

High on a Windy Hill: the Story of the Prince of Wales Hotel by Ray Djuff

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Although the subject is interesting to me after having visited the area this summer, I didn't enjoy the book. It wasn't very interesting. It was formatted in columns like a newspaper which made the typeset very small and hard to read. The book also wasn't very well edited, I found several spelling and grammar mistakes in the first chapter which is the only one I read.

View all my reviews

I've been doing a lot of other reading too.  I'll add the reviews as I finish them.

Needlework news:

I finally finished the Victoria Sampler Winter Box I've been working on and I've started the Spring Box.

I've also finished stitching Victoria Sampler's Butterfly Lace Sampler.  I did the hydrangea version and I'm going to do the daisy version before I frame them, probably together.

I also finished a cute little bookmark that I got as a birthday present.

I've finished one sleeve of the Sherwood sweater I'm making for Afghans for Afghans, got the pattern material and most of the threads together for a Mrs. Tiggy-winkle square I'm doing for Solak.  I also started on another hoodie, for me this time, while I was on vacation.

Bird news

I've got sad news in this area.  We took all three boys in for a check up 2 weeks ago and while they were there Coco started bleeding.  We left him there in hospital and I went to visit several times.  He seemed to be improving and then a week ago Friday we got an emergency call from the vet that he was having breathing difficulties.  We rushed over there but he was gone by the time we arrived.  We got to hold him for a little while and then had to make some decisions.  The vet is going to do a post mortem since other than the bacterial infection, she hadn't been able to figure out what was going on.  Then his body will be donated to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum for future research into birds.

We all miss him a great deal.  Mal especially is having a rough time of it without his buddy.  He has a mirror to keep him from getting lonely but he's gotten very nippy and territorial now.  I'm trying to wean him from the mirror and to get him to spend more time with us and Hawk.  I'm hoping he returns to his sweet self soon.

We were scheduled to go on another vacation to Quadra and Vancouver Island but had to cancel the trip when Coco got sick.  We've spent the week at home rearranging the bedrooms and tidying up some and baking.  Our bedroom is now in the smaller north room with the balcony and the spare room and Llew have been moved to the big south room.

Happy New Year

I should start with an introduction to my family but I won't.  Let me just jump in here with both feet and you can meet people as we go along.  I've never written a blog before and I'm not sure if anyone is going to read it but I enjoy writing anyways.

Today is New Year's Eve and I'm almost finished my Christmas holiday from work.  The first part was mostly spent studying for my final exam in my Payroll Legislation course but that's all over with now.  I'm spending the day canning.  My beets are boiling and the pears are in the oven processing.  I still have to get to the apples.  I have this wonderful book on preserving that I bought from Amazon called "How to Store your Garden Produce" by Piers Warren.  It's a British book so there's a few differences in some of the terminology.  For example canning is called bottling in Britain, which when you think of it makes more sense.  It's been very useful, it not only tells you the best way to preserve each type of produce but explains each method as well.

I bought a Victoria Sampler pattern and the material for it just before Christmas.  It's called Winter Box and it's part of the Beautiful Finishing series.  I'll be starting it on Sunday as well as working on a few other VS patterns I have on the go Butterfly Lace Sampler and Happy Hearts Sweet Bag and Smalls.  I hope to get a lot done Sunday and Monday before I have to return to the office.

I've also been spending time looking through a couple cookbooks.  They were both recommended to me by the instructor at a food sustainability workshop I went to.  The first one is "A Good Catch" by Jill Lambert.  It has some excellent recipes for SeaChoice best choices fish and seafood.  I really enjoyed looking through it and I added it to my Amazon wish list for my next order.  The second one I'm still looking through but it's already been added to my wish list.  It's "The Flexitarian Table" by Peter Berley, a wonderful guide to cooking for vegetarians, carnivores and everybody in between without having to make separate meals.  I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes before I have to take it back to the library.

I hope you enjoyed this first posting and let me know what you think.