Celebrate with new Halloween releases at One Star’s Light from Periphaeria Designs and The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio!
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Place your vote for your favorite Halloween ornaments and displays from the Halloween SAL on the wXSw Yahoo! group. Check out this post on Independent Needlework News for more information.
I received not one but two surprise packages in the mail when I got home yesterday!
First was from ‘Chelle. I had completely forgotten that I asked for her Lady Violet chart when she was done with it. I guess she’s finished it now. 😆 Thanks ‘Chelle; this chart just screams “stitch me!”
Second was from Michelle. Another complete surprise; Michelle sent me a birthday package! She sent me Just Nan’s Morning Flower off of my wish list and, let me tell you, this design is more beautiful than I had imagined. I can’t wait to have some time and fewer WIPs so that I can start on it! She also sent me a beautiful needle magnet, stitched oh so delicately over one with a gorgeous, deep plum beaded edge.
I hope that you are feeling better soon, Michelle. Thank you so much for thinking of me!
Let me just say that these two ladies created a bright spot in a difficult day. The psychiatrist still won’t listen to me. He upped the dosage of the one drug that I think is causing the mixed state and when I commented that I never had a mixed state before starting this drug, he retorted that I never had any of these issues until 3 or 4 months ago. Yeah, well, I’m still entitled to my opinion. 😛 Not only did he up the one drug, but he added another one called Lamictal that’s supposed to help with the mixed state. Finally, he decreased my Cymbalta (anti-depressant), saying that it could be helping to cause the mixed state.
I’m not happy with the fact that if I listen to him, I’m now going to be on a total of 4 medications for what’s supposed to be a low-level bipolar disorder. It isn’t sitting well with me and so I called my mom last night to talk to her about it. She and Terry both have the same feeling that I do, that this is just too much and not moving in the right direction. The psychiatrist wants to see me one last time (in 3 weeks) before he moves and I think I’m just not going to make that appointment.
After my talks with Terry and my mom, I have decided to decrease the Cymbalta and try increasing the Abilify (which is what I think is causing the mixed state) and see what happens. I’m not going to go onto the new drug at all and will start looking for a new psychiatrist. Fortunately, I see Dr. Steve tomorrow, so I can bounce all of this off of him and see who he recommends I go to next. I think that I may even go so far as to not transfer my records to the new doctor. I think I’d rather start from scratch and see what a different doctor thinks, without the prejudice of another’s opinion. I’ll have Dr. Steve send over a letter so that they have some base to work from, but I think I’m just going to request my records from the psychiatrist and keep them to myself.
This not being able to focus stuff is just really getting on my nerves. Couple that with not getting a full night’s sleep and you have a recipe for failure. But, somehow, I am making it through.
I’m to the point where I’m amazed when I’m actually able to accomplish something. I feel like warning everyone that I’m absolutely useless today, but it’s not totally true. I may feel useless, but I’m pushing myself really hard to get things done, in spite of everything.
I see the psychiatrist this evening, but I’m not sure that it even matters, as I just received a letter that he is moving to another part of the country. I’m thinking that this could be a good thing. I wouldn’t mind starting from scratch with another doctor. I really don’t want to take any meds for the bipolar right now. I want to wean off of what I’m on, see if I can get my concentration, vision, weight and libido (sorry if that was TMI) back to normal and then maybe, MAYBE we can discuss trying me on a different medication.
We’ll see what the current doc says to that proposal. If he’s not amenable to my suggestion, then maybe the next one will be. It’s a good thing that I see Dr. Steve on Halloween because now I need a recommendation for a new doctor! Part of me is unhappy to have to start again, but part of me feels like I didn’t have the kind of rapport with this psychiatrist that I would have liked to have and is looking forward to trying again with someone else. Maybe I’ll find one who doesn’t feel like I have to be on meds for the bipolar, but will be willing to treat just the depression for now.
Winter Dragon, that is. I received the package containing Outi’s RR fabric and journal from Leslie on Friday and in that package was the Kreinik blending filament that I needed. Kreinik discontinued the color, but Leslie managed to find it and was kind enough to buy some for me, as well.
Since the Kreinik arrived and I no longer had any excuses to put off working on Winter Dragon on Leslie’s fabric, I spent Friday and Saturday focused on finishing it. And finish it I did. YAY!
I don’t think I’ll be starting Fall Dragon on Outi’s fabric for a little bit, to give myself a break. I just had such trouble with the blended backstitching and colors not showing up enough. I really had to focus hard to get it done.
I’m so glad that we decided to do this as a round robin and not as a SAL, because, otherwise, I think this would have become a UFO!
Poor Sharon was so worried that her package had been permanently waylaid by the USP
Sharon stitched me Dani’s Stitching Dragon by Dragon Dreams. She customized the colors to be purple, just for me, and also put my initials on the blank fabric in the hoop that the dragon is holding and added my name to the bottom. 🙂
She finished it as a cube with a beautiful purple swirl fabric and gauzy, sheer purple ribbon. All in all, it’s a perfect finish and I absolutely adore it!
She also spoiled me rotten by sending along a bunch of goodies – 3 overdyed flosses in shades of purple, highlighter tape (nifty stuff!) and two designs by Just Nan – Moon Riders and Spring in the Square.
I was so thrilled to receive this package. Sharon did a wonderful job putting it together!
I’ve apparently been rather neglectful with the photos lately. I have a couple of finishes and a finish-finish to show off, in addition to more information about my new guitar.
First, the finish-finish. I did this one more than a week ago. My short-term memory also seems to be failing me more on these meds, so I don’t remember exactly when it was and the photo date won’t tell me anything because I took at least a week to take the photo. But anyway, here is the Little House Needleworks Berries design finished as a flange pillow. I mostly winged it, but took a look at the tutorial on Focus on Finishing, just to make sure I was doing to correctly.
Next up is a tin frame necklace kit from Shepherd’s Bush that I bought when I visited their shop back in March. The designs aren’t straight in the frame, for some reason, and I’ve been unable to correct it. You have to make a sandwich of glass, stitching, cardboard, stitching, glass, smoosh it all together, hold it tightly and slide it into the tin frame, so it’s a bit tough.
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My latest finish is a kit I picked up at Enchanting Lair’s booth at CATS in Hershey last month. It’s called Twinkle, Twinkle and I left the border off that was called for. The chart is up for grabs. If you want it, please leave a comment and I’ll do a drawing if multiple people are interested.
This is my fifth finish, so, according to my 5 Finish challenge, I get to start a new design, if I so choose. The decision will be a difficult one to make, as there are lots of beautiful designs calling my name, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the Just Nan WhimZi design that I picked up at CATS. I forget the exact name, but it’s a great transitional piece as it features a snowman standing behind a pumpkin. 🙂
Finally, Anna let me know that I had indeed NOT mentioned the purple guitar before. This was the main birthday present from Terry, so I’m surprised that I’ve been so remiss. I’ll remedy that now.
Terry bought me an acoustic/electric guitar (it does both). It has a beautiful purple finish on the front, along with mother of pearl inlaid around the opening. It has a built-in tuner that I’ve never seen done before, but is really nifty! You just press a button to turn it on, then strum a string and it will tell you which note is being played and how in tune it is. Great stuff! Terry then supplemented with a stand for the guitar and a microphone and stand. I’m a bit intimidated about using a microphone. Most of the singing I’ve done in my life has been sans microphone, so it’s a little bit intimidating, but will help boost my soft voice without me losing the unique tone to my voice by trying to sing louder. Here’s a photo of the whole setup and the guitar by itself:
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Finally, I will show you a picture of the oriental-styled tops that I’m about to start making today:
If these turn out well, I may tackle a pair of the pants in black satin. We’ll see. 🙂
Thank you to everyone who left lovely birthday wishes in the comments, or emailed me separately. I really appreciate all of your thoughfulness. 🙂
I took Tuesday off from work, so we just hung around the house for most of the day. I stitched and relaxed while Terry napped, then we went to Joann for some brocade fabric for my oriental tops. Yes, I wrote tops, plural. I’m going to do one in the short sleeve version and one in the long sleeve version. I chose colors that are different enough that it probably wouldn’t strike anyone as being of a similar pattern, or so I hope. One is a dark, hot pink and the other is an ice blue that’s nearly white. I can’t wait to start one of them!
We then went to Red Lobster for dinner. Seafood is one of my favorite foods. Especially crab legs. Mmmmm…. crab legs. *drool*
But I digress. My parents are coming down to visit this weekend and hopefully are bringing my favorite German Chocolate cake with them. 😀
Other than the purple guitar (I did mention that already, didn’t I?), Terry also got me a stand for the guitar, a microphone and a stand for it. Plus, he got me a Nintendo DS lite in red. I have a thing for red right now. I have a red Razr phone, a red Ipod Nano and now a red Nintendo DS. It came with the game Brain Age 2, which I’m very into and it doesn’t take much time out of my day to do a little bit of brain training every night.
Speaking of my brain, I was supposed to see the psychiatrist today, to discuss meds and side effects, but apparently he had an emergency and had to cancel. I’ll see him on Monday and am hoping to get off of at least the Abilify. I’d almost like to get off of both of the anti-psychotics and get everything back to normal before starting another drug. I’ve gained a few pounds, which is significant for me, so one of them is definitely causing weight gain. I also have had a lot of trouble concentrating and keeping myself motivated. My self-control is nearly non-existent and I can barely even read a book. As soon as I look at a page full of text, my eyes want to cross and I have trouble focusing on the words. I feel so much less effective in my job in the past few weeks. Things that used to come easily to me are more of a struggle now. All in all, I’m still not in balance and it has to end sometime, somehow.
Okay, so you wanted pictures, of the costume, right? Here we go!
Back:
And my hair lace:
I neglected to take a picture of Terry’s costume, but I have one of the both of us. 🙂
Finally, the Renaissance costume is done. At least, mine is. Terry will finish up with his this afternoon or tonight, so we’re in good shape.
I’m heaving a ridiculously huge sigh of relief right now. And I’m also ready for my next sewing project, once Terry is done with the machine. The skort I was working on before I think I cut too small, so it’s going to be trashed. I bought a New Look pattern for an oriental-styled top with a mandarin collar and optional frog closures (if I can find them). There’s a long-sleeved version, a short-sleeved version and a side-zipper pant pattern to go with the tops. I can’t wait to dig into some sumptuous brocades that I’ve had my eye on for some time.
With this fabulous new machine (and maybe a trade-in for one that will do embroidery) and the weather maybe getting cooler sometime in the future, you may see more and more sewing on this blog. I have long arms for which it is terribly hard to find long-sleeved clothing that doesn’t look on me like it has sleeves somewhere between full and 3/4 length. What does appear to be the correct length usually manages to shrink on me, so it’s about time I start sewing my own clothing to fit.
I’ve never actually altered a pattern for length. Does anyone have any tips for lengthening a pattern?
One other finish to report. This time in the stitching arena. I finished Betsy’s Butterfly, which is a Little Leaf design by Elizabeth’s Designs. I’m not sure how I will finished it. Between this finish and another one that I’ll scan and show later, I’m getting close to being able to have a new start!
I think I experienced close to a full-blown panic attack last night with my renaissance dress. I went to try it on with the sleeves sewn onto the bodice and it was too tight. I freaked out. I thought I was going to vomit, honestly.
Fortunately, Terry has such a level head and made plans for what we could rip out and where we could shorten the seam allowances to help out. I was working with 5/8″ seam allowances, so there’s plenty of room, it just meant I needed to rip out and resew some areas.
Terry said that he would take care of it for me later (he was heading downstairs to relax and watch some TV for the rest of the night), but I’ve learned that the best way to approach a panic attack is to hit the issue head on, so I continued stitching and found the problem getting worse and worse.
Bed time rolled around and I tried to sleep, but keep laying there, with my panic growing with every tick of the clock. I just kept thinking about how I was going to be in Terry’s way so he wouldn’t be able to finish his costume… blah, blah, blah. So, I got out of bed and started ripping the seams out on the too-tight sleeves, then resewed them with just a 3/8″ seam allowance. Tried them on and it’s MUCH better. Thanks goodness! Crisis averted.
Went back to bed and still couldn’t sleep. I laid there for at least another hour before I finally nodded off for good.
So, I’m tired today and we had to drive separately into work today because we both had meetings scheduled all over the place. I think I may leave early so that I’m not driving home too tired. That way, I can get home earlier and maybe do some more work on the dress before Terry gets home and wants to use the sewing machine for his costume.
Both of us have to be costumed and ready by Saturday. Wish us luck, please!
