Kali's Creations

Today's SBQ is: After you stitch a pattern or kit, what do you do with it?

Usually keep it. I have no idea why as I have no intention of stitching most things again but I have a whole collection of finished designs. When I was getting ready to move I actually sold some of them when I was reducing my stash but the needlepoint designs in particular, I figure I can go back to them for ideas if I buy a painted canvas that has no stitch guide to get ideas on stitches. Since I seldom part with finished pieces I can also look at those to see how the stitch looks completed instead of relying on a photo.

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I have been doing a bit of stitching but at the moment I believe my camera is at work so I can't take a photo for an update. I will grab it when I'm in today and get photos for next week. I got a bit more done in the Jim Wurth project as well as Black Work Fantasy Garden. I'm going to have to start a smaller project that doesn't use so many different threads so I can take it along in the car with all the little weekend trips we take.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Loretta and is: Do you have any projects that you have scrapped and started over? What made you start over from scratch?

Hmm... I actually had to think about this one. I can honestly say I've never done this though I have gotten part way into a few and just plain didn't like the piece or did not enjoy stitching it and I've given it away to another to finish or just plain tossed it. If I don't like how a project is working up I'm not likely to enjoy it anymore on a different fabric or with a different thread. My dislike comes more from not liking the look of the project so new thread materials isn't going to help much.

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I would love to say I've been stitching up a storm here but have you ever tried stitching with a puppy and another dog in the house injured? Not an easy task let me tell you. Maggie thinks the treads are toys and actually tried to make a snack out of Twister, had she managed I might have cried considering the number of hours in that project but thankfully Jay caught her in time and Twister is now moved out of the reach of curious noses. Indiana is doing better I'm happy to report, he's on his last week of crate rest although I've been bad and let him out a bit more than I probably should. You can see the full story on that over on my other blog The Cave along with a snippet of video as well :) Hope everyone is doing well and I will try to get around to all your blogs, I've missed so much with all I've had going on lately.

And hopefully I will stay with some regular stitching. I can't believe what a loop I've been thrown with the holidays and Indiana's back injury. Add in the new job which is pretty demanding of my time in comparison with the last job I had and it equals not much stitching.
Here is my progress so far, this is yet another of Jim Wurth's dodecagons, no clue what the name of it is as the pattern is at home and I am not. This is one of the designs in the original ad that I saw which I've been waiting for. I loved the pastel colors in this one which might be some of the motivation to finally get one out and work on it.
Indiana is slowly healing, but its slower than I would like. He's starting to try to stand but the nerves in his back legs aren't working yet or aren't working correctly so he isn't flipping his paws to stand on them, hopefully that will improve with a bit more time.

I realize I have been awful about keeping up my blog here. Truth is I haven't put more than a dozen stitches in anything since the move because everything else has kept me so busy. I got a new job which is very demanding on my time for now and with all the places there are to see here we haven't stayed home on the weekends much at all. Living here has also not been without its problems... First Lizzie had her dental surgery when I last posted, she lost 16 of her teeth, she healed up fine and still eats dry food and crunchy treats much to my amazement even though several people told me it would happen once she healed. Then there was a day a few weeks ago, I was driving to visit a prospective client and saw the sign big as life "PET STORE" Pet stores here sell all pets for the most part; there is one particularly nasty smelly one that sells dogs that are obviously from puppy mills if you watch the odd behavior and see the number that are sick. I of course had to check this place out, I have to look... this place had an entire litter or puppies. After a few more visits one somehow followed us home, I can't imagine how that happened...
She's 12 weeks right now and a complete mental case, running around playing on the other pups and all around disrupting the peace :) Just when things were starting to settle down, however, Indiana started showing signs of a problem. At first we thought he'd gotten to something he shouldn't have had and had an upset stomach, not unheard of for him, but by the end of the evening it was obvious there was something far worse happening so we took him to the E-vet. Turns out my little man has a slipped or herniated disc in his back which is causing him an incredible amount of pain. Now he's on a good cocktail of meds to help him heal and complete cage rest except for potty breaks for a minimum of 2 weeks, possibly longer until his back can heal. If nothing else, at least I know what he's going through. I've herniated a disc in my back twice not too many years ago and I know how miserable it is. Your back hurts, as the disc rubs on the spine it messes up the nerves so you think other parts of you hurt when in reality its just the nerves being confused. I thought I had a pulled hamstring for a week before the pain receded into my lower back and announced what the real problem was. Right now his prognosis is good, if the meds do their job and his restriction followed everything should heal up and he'll be ok... he'll have a good number of restrictions that I'm sure will make him mad but he will be able to walk and play so he'll just have to deal with the rest of it :)

Things are finally starting to settle down around here, and its about time too :) I still have not put a single stitch in anything since we've moved here but I did manage to add a bit more to the stash pile.
Mind you, I haven't finished the LAST dodecagon and I have this one and another arriving shortly. Barroness Edie which is not really screaming at me to stitch. I would have loved these colors in the spring, but fall is here so I'm in the mood for some fall colors... I guess I could get Arcadia out, that one had some gold in it...
Stitching aside things are well, Lizzie had her dental surgery and lost most of her teeth. From anyone I know who's had to remove most of their dog's teeth apparently the gums will harden up and she'll be able to eat fine but getting there is going to be a bit of work for her, today she was being stubborn about taking her meds so she's in more pain than she needs to be. :( On a more postive note I got all my study time logged and passed my final licensing exam on Saturday so I start the new job on Monday *YAY* Hopefully the training schedule won't be so much that I can't relax at home at night... I might actually find time to stitch *gasp* In the mean time I'm adding a new tab on the banner to my flickr page where we've been regularly uploading photos from the places in the state we've visited.

Don't you? :) Things have been so busy since I've gotten to Oregon I STILL have yet to pick up a needle and do any stitching, although I did manage to make it to a few of the LNS to see if there was anything I didn't need to buy *evil grin* I got a job, I absolutely hate it so I started looking and found a new one that is contingent on me getting a few more licences that I didn't need to have for my old job so much of my free time is split between studying and then on the weekends driving off to some new place to see. We are living about 1/2hr - 1hr from a lot of very cool things (to me) waterfalls, parks, one of these days we'll get to visiting the volcanoes *big grin* Then if I wasn't having enough fun over the weekend Lizzie started having problems. She's always had bad teeth having spent her first 5 years in a puppy mill. I left them be, trying to keep them clean as best I could without causing her more discomfort but they are finally giving up and she's got a nasty abscess that made its appearance on Saturday so now she's going in for some surgery to have the bad ones removed.
You can see bits on the places I'm visiting here over on my other blog The Cave as well as my album on Flickr and I will hopefully find some time to get some stitching done soon.