Tale of a Shooting Star…

Whew! I figured that instead of writing each of you individual emails, I’ll just respond in one lump sum and get today’s post out of the way while I’m at it. 🙂

Kim – Thanks for visiting my blog! I just recently discovered yours and am sorry you’ve stumbled across mine during such a bad time. You’re welcome for the chuckle, but you should really thank Lelia for that pick-me-up.

Lelia – Has Martha Stewart, er Tori, gone back to school now? I hope that you had a lovely visit with her, even if it was brief and busy! I know that girl is very special to you, so you probably cherish every moment you can get with her. I took your advice, BTW, and stayed home an extra day from work and stitched and relaxed. I’m feeling a bit more like myself now, thanks.

Isabelle – You dear friend. Thank you for the umpteen million hugs flying over the pond, as well as all of your kind thoughts. It has been a difficult time for me, but it can only get better from here, right? 🙂 And thank you for your comments on the ornament that I stitched for Ashleigh. It was my commute project for several weeks and I really enjoyed stitching it. Terry liked it so much that he has requested that I stitch it again for us. I was very pleased with how it turned out, since I was making up the finishing. You are so sweet, thank you for all of your kind words.

Jo – Thank you for the hugs and sympathy. I have been taking it easy and am starting to come out of my slump, thanks to all of you!

Christine – Thank you, too, for the hugs and sympathy. While I truly wish that I could take a vacation from life, the beauty of it is that time waits for no man (or woman!). The Christmas spirit will be infused into my soul any day now and I’ll be back to my happy, excited, bubbly self, though I’m not sure that comes out in my blog. Oh, and thanks for the lovely comments on the ornament!

Barbara – Thank you for the compliments on Ash’s ornament! It was a fun stitch, though I was nervous about how well I did, since Ash is such an accomplished hardanger stitcher herself. I’m grateful that it met with her approval. 🙂 And thank you for the well wishes!

Anne – My twin in headaches, though it turns out that Isabelle is plagued, as well. I would so dearly love to drop everything and come out to Australia for a visit right now. I need a couple of years of saving up funds plus some medication to knock me out for the long plane ride and then I’ll be over! And you’re right, staying away from the computer for most of yesterday really did help. We’ll see how I do today now that I’m back at work.

Von – Thank you for the get well wishes. I’m sorry to hear that cold affects your muscles and then your head like it does me. I think I’m still trying to get rid of the chill. 😆

And finally, last but not least…
Cathy – Thank you for the condolences and more wishes to get well soon. I think they worked!

Hugs going out to all of my wonderful cyberfriends. I’m still catching up on blogs – 89 posts left to go! So, you’ll see some scattered comments from me as I’m reading through the backlog.

Oh, and one more thing before I go. I had to scan my model stitching progress last night to send an update (it’s coming along swimmingly, if I don’t say so myself!), so while I was at the scanner, I captured my M Designs Peace Tree ornament WIP for you. I was going to do the Chatelaine Tiny Rose Mandala Garden, as well, but it didn’t scan well on the scroll bars and I’m not taking it off until it’s done! 😉

So, here’s the Peace Tree, which is just an “E” tree right now (to steal the phrase from Christine). I think this is my first full project done over 1 and the frogging that I’ve already had to do was a real bear! However, doing both sides at the same time is really duplicating the color changes perfectly.

Okay, in truth, I’m still recovering, but I am currently headache-less for the first day in a week. I hope to keep it that way, but won’t hold my breath. 😉 I’m staying home from work again today. I figure I have the vacation time to burn and there’s no point in going back until I’m ready. I need a little bit of a rest before I have a mental break-down.

So, I didn’t get much stitching done while I was away. I’m not sure why I was thinking that I’d be able to take a project with me to work on during the viewings, but… anyway, I knocked out a few colors on my Chatelaine Tiny Rose Mandala Garden. I didn’t bring the model with me because I didn’t want to run the risk of screwing anything up. It was cloudy and dark on the ride up, so I was unable to stitch in the car. On the way back, I was able to stitch for a little while before the light started fading away on me. That’s the bummer of this time of year – it gets dark so early!

We had miserably cold weather in my hometown while we were visiting. It started snowing about 20 minutes before we pulled into my parents’ driveway. It snowed all night, then through a good portion of Thanksgiving and it stuck around, so we had a white Thanksgiving, which was odd. Thanksgiving night saw temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit, down into the negative numbers with wind chill. I’m talking COLD, people! Pap’s viewing times were on Friday and the funeral home wasn’t warm enough, so I think the chill messed up my shoulders, causing yet more headaches. Saturday was the service and burial and it was still very cold, with a bit of a chilly breeze on top of it. When we left on Sunday, of course, it started to warm up into the 40’s. So, needless to say, I developed a cold and now so has Terry. Surprised? 😆

I have not managed to catch up with everyone’s blogs, so be patient with me. I’m trying to be aware of the amount of time spent on the computer right now, since a lot of the headaches seem to be related to eye fatigue. That means limited stitching time, too. I hope to be back to normal soon, though! Thanks to all of you for your loving thoughts and comments. I appreciate each and every one of them and am thankful to know each and every one of you! *hug*

At least, to my American friends. My Canadian friends have already celebrated and I hope that those of you in other countries will at least take a moment to give thanks for everything that you hold dear in life. 🙂

Thanksgiving this year has been a bit low-key, as my grandfather passed away yesterday. That’s the 3rd family member in about as many months, so it’s been a rough autumn for us around here. As a result, this weekend will be busy with all of the things that surround a major life event such as this. I’m sure I’ll be happy to return home on Sunday or Monday, just for a little peace and quiet!

Not surprisingly, I had a migraine yesterday afternoon into today. Thank goodness I was finally able to get rid of it this morning. Yeesh! I’m starting to think that Anne and I are long-lost twins living in two different hemispheres! 🙂

As far as stitching goes, I’ve been working on my Chatelaine Tiny Rose Mandala Garden. It’s looking nice, though it seems to be so labor intensive sometimes. I’m enjoying it now that I’ve finally forced myself to pick it back up. I’m also working on a second copy of the Victoria Sampler Baby’s 1st Christmas ornament for another coworker. And, of course, there’s the model stitching that I’ve been doing. And, Anne caught me by seeing the third photo in my lineup of most recent finishes on my sidebar. Ashleigh was the recipient of the ornament that I stitched for the SBEBB Christmas Ornament exchange and she emailed me on Tuesday to let me know that she had received it, so I finally unhid it in my photo gallery and posted a thumbnail in my sidebar. Of course, I then proceeded to not post about it! 😆 So, yes, Anne, it is a new-ish piece. New to you guys, at least! You can click on the thumbnail in my sidebar and/or go to Ashleigh’s blog to see a bigger picture of the ornament. I neglected to take a final photo before sending it off, so what you’ll see in my gallery is a scan of the front and back pieces. I then stitched the two together with fiberfill in between them. The chart only had the front piece, but I repeated the outer motifs to give me some space to personalize the ornament and made it all up from there! Terry liked it so much that I have make another one for us to keep! 😉

Okay, well, that’s a brief catchup on what’s happening with me. I need to limit my computer and stitching time in order to keep the headaches at bay and the top of my head is already starting to feel funny, so it’s time for me to go! I don’t know when I’ll have time to blog again, so I may be silent for a few days.