Small Finish

Well, I finished 5:00 Somewhere (number 1, still have a second one to do). I left the charms off. The charms I bought, which I thought were small enough, were just too big. And I didn't really like the way they looked, so I think I'm just going to do without them. I'm happy with the way it turned out. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the letters are beads with backstitching.

Our latest progress report on Anthony (my nephew) is that he's having surgery (again - poor baby!) tomorrow morning. They think the cancer is "Stage 3" because they've found some in his lymph nodes. So, rather than waiting and trying to shrink it with chemo, they want to try to get as much of it as possible as soon as possible. As scary as "cancer" and "Stage 3" sound, I did poke around on the internet, and even Stage 3 has something like a 90% survival rate. So, even though there is that scary 10%, and any surgery is scary, it isn't nearly as horrible as it could be. One of the gals on one of my stitching boards (Dr. Steph) told me that if a kid has to be diagnosed with cancer, this is one of the better ones, if that makes sense, so .... we're keeping positive thoughts!!!!

Now it's late, and time to get ready for bed.

Thanks for looking, and thanks for all the prayers!

Monopoly (and personal) Update

Well, I did make some progress on my Monopoly board...three more properties (well, two properties and the dreaded INCOME TAX) done!! I put a bit more time in on it this week because I finished up my flatfold stitching on Thursday, and I didn't want to pull out what would have been my normal rotation project for just Friday and Saturday. So, instead I stitched on my Monopoly project Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week. Next week I'll go back to my "normal" rotation, which means Christmas this week.

On a more personal note...I got a call from my Mom (which I shared on most of the stitching boards I'm on) about my great-nephew Anthony. He is my niece Stacey's youngest child (she has four). He has had some odd health issues off and on, and was just diagnosed with "Wilm's Tumor" - as I understand it, it's a tumor in the kidney, and it begins to form in utero when the cells that "grow into" kidneys don't split off correctly. I spoke with my sister (Anthony's grandmother) this evening, and they are going to wait until Tuesday to do the surgery because the hospital wants to do a better CT scan. That surgery is to do two things. First they are going to insert a port for the chemotherapy and other medications, and secondly they are going to at least biopsy the tumor. IF it turns out that the tumor is easily removable, they will remove it tomorrow. If not, they will most likely wait and take one entire kidney out the next day. If both kidneys are involved, they will have to remove both, which would mean dialysis. The biggest concern they have is the possibility of it having spread to his lungs. He was having some difficulty breathing, but there is a possibility that it's because the tumor is pressing on his lungs, not that the cancer is in his lungs. The surgeon didn't think it had spread to the lungs, the radiologist wasn't as sure. If it has spread to his lungs, the prognosis is not good at all.

So...please continue to pray. This niece has two sons and two daughters, and her oldest daughter was our miracle baby - she was very premature, and only weighed 2 lbs. 2 oz. at birth. She is now a happy, healthy 10 year old girl....so there is a family history of medical miracles!!!

Flatfold Class Project

I finished my project for my flatfold class. I'm happy with the way it turned out, it was nice to stitch something quick and simple (no confetti stitches, only five colors total).

This is a Lizzie Kate "Snippet" pattern. I actually bought two of them figuring I liked it, and might want to stitch it for myself, but also figuring the pattern itself would make a good exchange item. In fact, I used it last week for our So Cal get together. So, Gail, if it looks familiar, that's why.

I did make one color change with the flower centers. There are two different burgundy colors in the pattern (one surrounding the heart and one of the flowers, the other is the lettering). The pattern called for stitching the flower centers with the same burgundy as the lettering, but it wasn't enough of a difference from the burgundy flower to show. So, instead, I did each flower's center in the same color as the other flower, if that makes any sense.

Monopoly Board Progress - 6/8/06

I got another square and a half done on my Monopoly board yesterday. So as long as we just roll snake eyes we can play!!! LOL

Cross Stitchers Gather - LOOK OUT!!!

The So Cal Stitchers Group got together for a LOVELY brunch gathering at the Corner Bakery in Anaheim Hills, and then we meandered across the parking lot to Velona where we shopped for stash!!! It's so nice now to have faces and voices to put with the names when we see folks post.

From left to right, we have Gail, Kathy, Peggy, Mayte', Cristin, and Cyndi. (Sorry Mayte', I know that's not the 100% correct way to do the accent above your name, but I don't know how to do it right! LOL).

We did a little stash exchange, which was nice. I got some lovely flosses in my favorite colors - purples and blues - so Mayte' couldn't have done better if she had shopped specifically for me!!! All it all, it was a fun get together, and I'm sure we will plan another one soon! Hope those of you who couldn't make this one can make the next one.

Monopoly Board is Started!!

Well, I started on the Monopoly board SAL yesterday. I'm working on it just on Sundays because I didn't want to give up a whole week of my rotation. I'm not normally a "back-stitch as you go" kind of gal, but I'm doing it on this project because there is quite a bit of it (all the property titles, etc) and I want to break up both the border stitching and the back stitching, if that makes any sense. I'm happy with it so far, although the lettering on the "Go" square is a bit shaky for me....I've checked it a couple of times, and it's "right" but I'm not 100% happy with how it looks....

And no, inflation has not struck Monopoly - it should be $200.00, but since I can't do French Knots, I'm going to go back with a tiny black bead for the decimal place.

And it's not the lighting that's making it look green - I'm stitching it on a light seafoam green fabric to be similar to the background color on the real board.

Well, here is my progress on "Walking to Town". I have finished all of the regular stitching, except for one small part (if you look REALLY hard you can probably see it, it's in the bottom right corner area, right below the second row of the fence) where I ran out of the floss. It's been a little frustrating, it's the third time I've run out of floss. I don't THINK I'm wasteful when I stitch, and I keep barely running out, but still!!! And Dimensions has been good about sending me more, so I can't complain too much. Now it's on to back stitching and beading. It calls for French knots for snowflakes, but I can't do them...so rather than aggravating myself, I'm going with beads.

And I completed another week on Angel of Cross Stitch. It's coming along pretty well. Now it will be a few weeks before I pick it up again. Today starts my one day a week SAL (well, I'm stitching one day a week, don't know what anyone else is doing) on the Monopoly board. I got my fabric Thursday. I think it's about as close to perfect color wise as I was going to find. It's a light seafoam green aida. I think it should be a fun stitch!

Oh well, that's it for me - hope everyone has a great week!!!