Incoherent Scribblings

…At April and what I want to accomplish in May.

For April I wanted to:

1. Finish the beading on “Celtic Spring” ASAP. Yes! Happy Dance very early in the month!
2. Participate in The Robin’s Nest April SAT. Yes
3. Participate in Friends Gather Needlework Smalls April Challenge. Yes! I even made up for my March Challenge by finishing “Meow Spoken Here” into a pinkeep!
4. Finish and mail my Mystery Exchange. (Post date April 15.) Yep! And I surprised the heck out of my partner too! )
5. Start stitching my Robin’s Nest’s May Flowers Exchange. (Post date May 15.) Yes. I finished it too.

I have to say, considering what a crazy month it has been (if you didn’t know, my step-dad was in a motorcycle accident two weeks ago) I managed to get an amazing amount of stitching and finishing done in April.

Now, for May I am going to:

1. Mail my Robin’s Nest’s May Flowers Exchange. (Post date May 15.)
2. Stitch, finish, and mail Catherine-Michèle’s Birthday Exchange. (Post date May 28.)
3. Participate in The Robin’s Nest May SAT.
4. Participate in Friends Gather Needlework Smalls May Challenge. This month’s challenge is a flat-fold if you are interested.
5. Start and finish Little House Needleworks “Small House Sampler” as my piece for the NwSmCh.
6. Stitch once for an hour on “Old Waterpump.”
7. Finish “Poet’s Heart” Band #10
8. Start “Spring Queen” or work on a WIP.

That is quite a few goals, but the actual work is minimal on each. That is why they are so specific this month.

You may remember that ever since I finished “Meow Spoken Here” back in January I have been promising to make it into a pinkeep. I even designated pinkeeps the challenge for the March Needlework Smalls Challenge in the hopes that I would finally do the finishing.

Unfortunately though, I failed to complete the challenge. I attempted to complete it and even spent one whole afternoon rummaging around in my mom’s fabric stash, but I couldn’t find the right backing fabric to complement the design. So I put off finishing the pinkeep until I found the right fabric… which I just so happened to find yesterday.

Using my personal instructions, I whipped up this cute little pinkeep in less than two hours. (I even took some pictures and added them to the No-Sew Pinkeep Tutorial!) Though I could still use some practice getting the border fabric lined up, I am, in general, pretty happy with the end result.

And now, with the completion of this piece, all of the small items that I have stitched this year are finished as well! How cool is that?!

Over the past two weeks I have learned more about diabetes, blood pressure, and painkillers than I have ever known or really wanted to know. I have learned about wheel chairs, gate belts, and glucometers.

I have learned that taking care of someone that is recovering from an accident is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting. I now have a deep-seeded respect not only for people in the health care field, but all individuals who act as caregivers for parents, grandparents, or children.

I have learned that the two scariest words in the English language are “brain injury.” I have learned to be thankful that he is alive. I have learned that my mother is a strong woman but when she is at the breaking point I have to be even stronger.

I have seen the aftermath of a motorcycle accident and let me tell you… It isn’t pretty.

I received my Mystery Exchange from Leslie (who also happened to be the moderator of the exchange) on Monday or Tuesday, but I just got around to photographing it last evening. As you can see, she made me a little Quaker cushion. She also sent me a Sweetheart Tree chart and a couple of skeins of WDW.

Thanks Leslie this has been a really fun exchange!

I haven’t stitched a ton over the past few days, but I have managed to get some more time in on “Poet’s Heart.” I am getting very close to finishing this band. I have decided to backstitch this piece as I go, so once I am done with the border all I will have left to do is the backstitching for the center band. (The piece also has some beads and charms, but they will wait until last.)

After I get the band on “Poet’s Heart” done, I am going to switch over to my May Flowers Exchange as I have finally picked out a pattern. I may also make “Meow Spoken Here” into a pinkeep this weekend because I just found some fabric for the finishing today.

SAT

This weekend was SAT Weekend and I chose to work on “Poet’s Heart.” This piece is still in the beginning stages, but I think it will stitch up pretty fast. It is a band sampler, but the only specialty stitch is the Smyrna Cross.

My goal for the SAT was to finish Band #10, (It is the middle band and where I started) but unfortunately I didn’t reach my goal because of frequent interruptions. However, this evening I banned everyone from interrupting me, hid in my room, and managed to stitch long enough to achieve probably close to 2/3 of my goal.

Mystery Exchange

I am still waiting to receive my Mystery Exchange, but my partner already got hers so I can finally reveal what I was stitching and for who.

For the Mystery Exchange I chose to stitch “The Angel of Friendship” from The World of Cross Stitching and turn it into a tote bag for none other than… Dawn! I was so excited to get her name, but very worried that I would spill the beans concerning who my partner was.

Amazingly enough, I managed to get down to the wire without letting her know that she was my partner, so I decided to take the mystery one step further. When I mailed the package I typed the label (she knows my handwriting) and omitted my return address.

I guess my mysterious ways must have worked, because the subject line of the email she sent me to let me know the package arrived said “You are sneaky!”