House and Garden Sampler

Due to the fact that I have been busy with the Quaker Huswife stitching on the front panel and then working on the Assembly and creation of the parts that comprise the inside panel with the pincushion, needlebook and several pockets -- I have not had much time to spend stitching on my other WIPs, which include the House and Garden Sampler. This project did get some time in early February as I had to go to the car repair shop and spend several hours waiting. I took this project because it had had no time in my lap for a good while. Here is where I stopped...and hopefuly will be getting back to this in late February, early March and doing a whole lot more stitching on this piece. This tree has taken a good while to stitch as you have to keep changing floss colors, and doing a lot of counting. I'll be very glad when I get past that and on to working on the other parts of the houses, hills and fence that comprise the remainder of this first row on my Sampler. Here's a pic of my work thus far.... If you click on it, you can see the stitching up close...

AS much as I love this piece, it has taken me a long time to get on with the stitching. This year I am 'determined' to get more of the stitching accomplished on this piece. I have two other projects that I have put together from my own designs as well as some published designs and I am really wanting to get to them...here is one of the designs....

I have another one that is Winter and Autumn designs in a sort of collage..and that too is one I would love to get started on this year. They're both pretty intense stitching so neither will be completed in a short period of time. THe joy is in the journey as they say

Have a great February!

Cathy

Resolutions and Goals for 2006

Every year I put together a list of things I wnat to accomplish. Since this year started off a bit strangely for me -- lots of health issues -- I have not had time to sit down and think about my plans and goals for the year. Though some of them are 'sort of' formed in my brain, and I wanted to just post the things that are uppermost in my list right now.

Needless to say, life presents us with many challenges. I have had some serious challenges in mine since my husband became paralyzed after our first 10 months of marraige. We will be celebratingn 15 years of marriage in April, so we've had a few 'crazy' times with hhis health issues in the past, and I think due to the stresses and deamnds it has placed on me, and alsothe fact that I took care of my Mom for 7 years before she passed away, I have ha dno time to spend on myself taking care of me. A lot of the demands I had to deal with in my life, seemed to make me eat more. As a result I gained a substantial amount of weight in the last 15 years. This has caused some problems for me recently and I am currently working at losing weight. I've lost 30 pounds to date, and working to lose 8-10 pounds a month until I am at my correct weight. This means I will be working at this for a good part of this year. My goal is to get down to 140 pounds, which for my large bone structure and height of 5'8" makes me fairly thin . I don't look good if I lose any more than that generally, start to look frail and emaciated if I go down too much more than that. So that is my primary goal this year.

One of the ways I am accomplishing the goal of losing weight is adding exercise, 1 hour per day almost every day of the week. I do skip now and then because my life isn't always consistent in the time available to get things done, and there are times when I run out of day before I get to do the exercise. In a week or two I should have a treadmill to use and that will definitely make a difference for me as far as what I can accomplish in exercising, as it won't matter what time of day I get it done. I don't like walking late at night, even in my 'safe' neighborhood, so having a treadmill will definitely help.

I'm also dealing with blood sugar issues, and that is due to the weight issues. When the weight is gone, the blood sugar issues will also go away. So I am determined to get that under control. As of this time, my measurements have been excellent, and I can see that stress can raise the meaurements, so I am trying to keep my life calm as much as possible. This also means changing some of what I do with my time and how many people I can say "YES" to as far as offering help and volunteering for things at church. I do a lot of work for my church, gratis, and I think between that and my responsiblities at home, I was just stretched too far.

THe exercise I am glad to say has become an enjoyable part of life for me. I am getting accustomed to it, and enjoying the way I feel when I am done. So that is a real blessing -- I never liked spending my time exercising because I was always thinking about what I could be doing as far as getting some of my work or responsiblities accomplished. Right now, I am just enjoying the process, and I guess that is a good thing. I'm realizing that exercise is important to my life and health and I will continue to exercise even when I am down to an appropriate weight for my height. Having equipment, videos to work with, also are very helpful and I am using the 'beginner's' version of the Billy Banks Taebo Video, and well, for me, it seems more than beginner level, but I am still managing it okay.

Other resolutiosn are to uncomplicate my life, which means thinking about who I say yes to as far as volunteer work, and maybe hiring out some of what I do so that it will free up my time to exercise, or just to enjoy life a little more. Work is enjoyable, but too much of it at once can really up the stress level, and that impacts how your body handles everything else. I am learning it is not a good thing to live each day packed to the hilt with 'things to do'. Generally, in the past, that is how I lived my life....and it was not a smart move on my part. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say, but I am learning to change. So uncomplicating my life means I am cutting out some of the things I volunteer for. As of this date, I am curtailing my church volunteer work until I am feeling better, and may not go back to it until April. I am also dropping a moderator position on line for a group that is needlework related...and I am finishing up the Quaker Huswife SAL so that will be another group that is disappearing when I am done with the assembly portion of it. I won't be doing another SAL that requires assembly for a long time I think . I enjoy it, but it is work to some extent for me.

My other resolutions are to keep on top of life issues...letting things slide or ignoring them until they are demanding my attetnion is not a good way to approach them. So I am learning to do what I can with an issue immediately...plan for how to continue working with it until it is resolved....and not letting things pile up. Doing that has and will continue to help me reduce the stresses in my life. We all have things we don't enjoy doing, or prefer to put off becuase they aren't easy to deal with...well I'm learning to do something/whatever that might be -- right away is better than to ignore it until it turns into a nightmare. Live and learn, right?

Every year I make some spiritual goals as well...to read the bible through this year....to study at least one day a week for a few hours (2-4) -- depending on whether I am teaching classes or not. To continue a daily prayer time, to pull away from my work and responsiblities to be alone with God. These are all very important to me, and something that helps me keep my life in order.

I had a reaction to some medication I was prescribed, and am now on something else and so far it looks like it will work for me. Hopefully I will be off all these meds in a couple of months as th eweight dropsoff, and I can get back to normal living. This has made me appreciate the importance of exercise, and of balancing your life and work, and play, and just paying attention to your own personal body and its needs. I often leave myself for last, and am learning that that is not a smart thing to do if you intend to live very long .

Hope you have a super healthy 2006 filled with good things, like love and friendship, family and reaching new heights in your goals and pursuits, as well as finding time to unwind and relax and rejuvenate...all these are important. Above all, don't forget that God is supposed to be first and center in your life, and if you keep that in order, the rest will fall in line. Keep an open ear (spiritually speaking) as the Lord is always wanting to provide you wisdom for every day.

Hugs and God bless,
Cathy

Another Pic of the Quaker Huswife Pincushion - Close Up

Here is the picture I tried to upload in the last post...it finally posted. Not sure why it happens, but it seems that there are times when it doesn't want to load a picture, for no apparent reason.

If you click on the picture you can see it really close....

I love the contrast of the Duponi silk with the darker Organza ribbon -- now that I see it together, I am really glad that I went this direction with the silk Duponi fabric. Initially, I was trying o so hard to get an exact match, and couldn't find Duponi silk dark enough to match the fiber and ribbon. Finally decided to go with this one, which was the darkest color I could find. BTW, if you are looking for good deals on Duponi silk try denverfabrics.com -- great place or this type of fabric, and many others. They are quite reasonable too.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my updates. I have one more, but need to upload the pics to my computer, so will post the House and Garden Update later this week.

Have a great day and hope you find time to stitch and spend some special time with those you love on Valentine's Day.

Cathy C

2006 and beyond

HI all,
Well, I haven't been on line here for a while but the end of the year is always a whirlwind for me. Prepatatiosn for the Christmas holidays, church events, and Family Reunion at my home is enough to keep anybody running for weeks . I come from a large family, 12 brothers and sisters, and I make 13 ...and well, since I'm 3rd from the last, and 53 1/2 -- there are also lots of children in our family as well. We had a great time again this year, and it seems every year it gets bigger and better -- but that's a good thing. Love spending time with my family. We all live in the same general area in New Mexico, and it makes it much eaiser for us to be together -- though we all lead pretty busy lives.

Since 2006 has started, and I might add, at a running pace, despite my resistance -- I have a few updates to share. I have been busy, but unfortunately some of it has been with doctor appointments for health issues. I am getting things under control here, so hopefully life will begin to feel al ittle more normal before long. That said, it has not kept me completely from my stitching and that is a good thing. I have been working diligently on my Quaker Huswife, which needed to have the front panel finished by the end of February so we can put the whole piece together. I am also working on the inside parts (the lining and the pockets, needlebook and pincushion) that have to be finished before I can assemble the front and back together. The Pincushion was my first attempt at putting this piece together, and thankfully (whew!) it did come out nicely. I'll be sharing a picture with you here in a second .....I'm setting up the next part of the assembly process on the Legacy Embroiderer's Quaker Huswife SAL section tonight, and will be working on it between Tuesday and WEdnesday (14th/15th Feb.) and posting pictures, so I will also update my Blog, so you can see my progress. It has been a great project overall, and challenging in some respects. Pushing foam through silk dupoini fabric is not the easiest thing of all to do. Tends to want to grab onto the silk and not budge . So you have to be persistent..that too can cause fraying ..so you also have to be careful . Needless to say it could make a person a little frustrated as you try to put things together. I'm learning though that using a serger can be very beneficial with this project . Thankfully I have one, so will use it in the remainder of the assembly. For now, here is a picture of the Pincushion I put together, and I hope to add more pics soon.
This is a picture of the pincushion and the photo from the chart that shows how the inside portion of the huswife will look...and also a small portiono f my stitching on the Quaker huswife. You can see that the ribbon matches the thread. I had it specially dyed by Vikki Clayton, the Silk and organza ribbon as well. She does a great job of dyeing and I love using her silks.





Below is an update of my Marquior Sampler. I hope to finish the 5th Block, start and finish the 6th block (the bottom corner) this month and finish all three of the top row in March. My commitment to myself is that this piece will be taken in for framing on March 15th this year. It means a lot of stitching in March, but well worth it!

I've tried posting a close up of the pincushion for you to see, but it won't seem to load, so I'll try another post and see if I can get it to work .

Have a Very Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Cathy