I have a few crafts I have been doing lately to tell you all about,..the first is this desk. Ian's parents brought down a disassembled toddler desk (and a chair that was already redone). So we had to strip, sand, poly, and assemble it. As you can see here A. took right to it when we put it in her room. She went to go get each book that you see and brought it back to the desk to read.
More tomorrow...
I have not been crafting AT ALL these past couple of weeks.
There has been this house project... Our house is very non-circulatory. Often it is cooler than the daytime temperature, but then in the evening our house is very warm and the outside air is cooled off and we waste AC cause we cannot get the outside air in...Well we decided we need a whole house fan. one of those in the ceiling jobbers that sucks all the air into the attic . So the project involved creating a new attic above the garage and moving the attic stairs and moving EVERYTHING in the attic across the entire house and into the new attic. This involved alot of sorting, reorganizing etc. which took up all my time...and now i am finding it difficult to get back into stitching.
Currently in progress is a series of Alphabet blocks (pictured above) that I was working on for A, but I haven't put a stitch in in 2 weeks. BUT tomorrow (my birthday by the way) I am cleaning my craft room and may find a new profect to stitch on...that always gets me going again....
Hard to believe that almost 2 years ago today I gave birth to a squishy faced baraccuda...and now she is the cutest thing ever.
Her little quirks are numerous and fun to note but what I find astounding everday is how much she feels like an extension of me, I am requently shocked at how looking at her is like looking back in time at myself as I never knew me. Hmm that makes little sense. But I bet the parents out there understand it.
She is still not walking independantly and after a couple of PT visits and another Neurologist visit the consensus is....she can/could walk...she just doesn't want to/is scared to try. Basically the current consensus and hypothesis is that her cognitive awareness of the world and herself as a person who could fall and hurt occured before she could physically walk...now she is all but terrified to fall and clings to you for dear life. Let go and she drops to a crawl. So what we need is an injection of bravery...I know some of you with little boys probably have some to spare.
Before I left the neurologist i wanted to ask him when he thought she would walk...but instead I asked when I should start to worry..."call me in 3 months if she isn't walking " was his reply.
The other little quirks include calling everything "ba" (we have a definitive vocab of only about 10-15 words...which worries me ...me alone apparently) AND we are going through huge amounts of stranger anxiety (not seperation anxiety though interestingly enough). So much so that her visiting grand parents (my parents last week, Ians this week) have had to reintroduce themselves for 10 minutes after every sleep including naps. It makes me very anxious to try to have her pictures taken for this year...It could end in disaster.
that is the update
So I am stitching along on Quaker turtles one color over one Right? and my mind keeps wandering to a pattern I bought about a year ago, nothing special about it, not on my yearly list so I push it out of my head. But it would not go away kept butting its head in mine saying "I'm small" "Won't take long, I bet im cute when all finished", "I'm colorful, stitch me!". So after 2 days of harrassment I yell " Fine! I'll stitch you already!" much to the dismay of my husband who-already-knows-I-am-crazy-but-is-wondering-how-long-till-he-has-to-check-me-in-to-a mental-hospital-and-raise-a-non-walking-toddler-all-by-himself.
So I go get the pattern and thread (DMC of course, cause I did not have all the called for overdyed and this thing was not waiting!) and stitch it up in 2 nights.
Heart in Hand 's Wee one Birds...I made the worm crawl up the B...not sure what it is doing in the model.
But all done, cute? yes, easy ? yes, now....it will sit in a drawer untill a suitable frame can be found . I hope it is happy.
Here is the back of the scissor fob, I am about halfway through the next one, (pinkeep top?) but I haven't really been stitching lately. So therefore I haven't been blogging much.
School is slowing down, Ian and I are busy in the evenings doing house projects (finished painting the doors in the kitchen, building borders in the yard, installing a new set of attic stairs. OK the last two are mostly him, but i do assist and hand ou my opinion liberally.
I got a pay cut from the state for the rest of the fiscal year (read 2 months) and my lecture class that I was scheduled to teach has been cancelled. Not really that big a deal (I still have a job) it just will not be as challenging only teaching labs i have taught a lot.
In Annabeth news, I called the neurologist last week to confirm that I was being a ninny about her not walking yet...an lo and behold the doctor was NOT happy about that news...and wants to see her as soon as possible. This being the modern medical world that will be the 22nd of May, and you all know this means i have confirmed my daughters walking date as MAY 21st. Meanwhile he signed off on physical therapy for her, but i have yet to hear about scheduling that.
Yes, I know it has been a while, and no, I have not been stitching.
Ok maybe a little bit in the past few days...I will post some of those WIPS soon.
But for a change of pace here are a few hotos of A for your enjoyment. Hmm really....does anyone want to see these? Oh well tough, I am posting them anyway.
Pigtails!
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist
First up we have our first attempt at pigtails. this takes some yelling and squirming (she does not seem to understand that she is the one pulling her hair when she struggles) and it does not last very long, but it is very cute.
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Easter 2009
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist
a second photo of her on Easter inspecting a jellybean filled egg. ( which we like!). As you may of gleaned when you noticed she is not wearing pants, we don't do anything big for Easter...Ian works and we have no family close by. (no fancy easter dresses or posed portraits here!) So we did a mini egg hunt after daddy got home from work. Next year if she is walking it will be a bit more fun.
Yes I said IF she is walking. I think Ian and I have given up on having a normal walking child any time soon. We have 1 1/2 months till the neurologists predicted date for walking. and while there is progress it is torturously slow. She will walk well if you hold both her hands. But she seems to have an aversion to using the walls or furniture to hold on to (in parentese: she does not cruise alot) and of course she would rather walk than crawl so that means you have to be at her beck and call if you want her to go anywhere.
It is particularly challenging cause the weather is so nice now...now is when you want to take her to a park and let her run around. I am predicting she will take her first independant steps on the first day it is over 95 degrees and the mosquitos come out
(Thank you to all who suggested a 2nd opinion on this issue, but she is progressing and doing as predicted...it is just so tiring I have to vent)
I think her version of the terrible 2s has begun this month let me know what you think:
1. acute aversion to anything new...swimming, photos taken, extremely shy around strangers. etc. all of which brings on screaming, crying jags that last until the next meal.
2. screeching at crystal shattering levels when you do not read her mind.
ie walking in the right direction, not bringing her food quickly enough.
All of it makes me want to smack the next person who asks me " So when are you having another?"
I know ...boring photo...this is Home of a Needleworker by LHN, I actually ripped out the brown roof you see here and restitched it with 3 threads cause all the white showing thru was just irritating.
So yesterday I took Annabeth to go see her first play. My school was puting on an hour production/adaptation of P.D.Eastman's Go, Dog, Go (appropriate for ages 3 to 12). I know she is only 22 months old but I did it for 1 main reason...SHE LOVES Go, Dog, Go. and I mean we read it 2-3 times a day every page.... and She can sit thru an hour of engaging TV (Elmo, Baby einstein, Signing Time, Buscuit Brothers) with out moving, so I figured I'll give it a try.
I took my husband ( the book we read was his. It is so cute on the front page where it says This Book Belongs To: after his name it says " I LIKE THIS" in the big caps of a first grader) We got there right at 2 when the play was to start. they were still selling tickets so we waited a bit and sat down right before they began. Now our seats were right in the middle of a row (giant rows of 50 folks or so)and right in the middle of the theater front to back). She was good right untill the lights go off --not fade to black mind you--and bam she begins screaming at the top of her lungs...like you stabbed her, I knew I could not calm her there in the theater, so I stepped on a few toes running out of there and into the lobby where I got her calmed down in under a minute or so. At this point I am thinking they are going to kick me out for bringing a not quite 2 year old to a play....but I decided to try it once, I was able to get just inside the doors with her quiet so she could see the 1 "dog" on the stage. she jumped a couple of times when the audience laughed...but did not make a peep. There was NO way I was heading back to my seat but standing for 50 minutes was not my ideal. I snuck a look around the corner, and right there back row the last seat was open. She sat in complete rapture for the entiire show UNTIL the lights went out at the end..then the screaming started again...I think A. is afraid of the dark.
Poor Ian was stuck in the middle of the theater wondering what we were doing.
Thank you all for your comments on Miss Mack, the button border took FOREVER to finish, so yess I have been stitching, but that one has been worked on maybe twice a week while I did other stuff .....LIKE.....Quaker Turtles by WIth my Needle. I got this as a full kit and have started it, but it is going take me forever cause 1) over one is not my favorite technique (unlike Sara who LOVES it) and 2) all one color is going to be a bit boring. This is one of the smallest circles to do of the 8 for the set.
Completed 3/24/09 on rose linen with black DMC
Thinking of finishing as a pillow
So I have been stitching, I swear. I had Spring Break last week but didn't get alot done cause, well lots of reasons but truly they are all boring. My mom came to visit, and Ian and I went to a B and B for a day and a night to enjoy ourselves for maybe the last time for a long time cause his job is not looking up, but mine is now and I think i will be renewed for at least another year...but there are changes coming in my department (read- bigger classes and less lecturers needed). What I really want is like 2 days to just shop for clothes and things for me, but i never have 1)time and when I have time i am out of 2)money.
Annabeth is walking with more confidence but not without holding on for dear life to mom or dad, Her day care is starting to ask if we need physical therapy and making me question if the doctor is right about PT, that it will not help speed things up. His prediction of 21-24 months for walking is here and we wait with bated breath (usually from luging around her 25? pound body)
Oh the stitching..it is something not on my list but a quicky...Lizzie Kate "Cross stitcher in residence", on 28 count Navy Bean by Lakeside linens, with most of the threads called for WW and GAST and some scavenged.
gotta go teach cat anatomy...
Finished yesterday. Although Sue Hillis' Designs aren't my usual style, i could not pass this one up. Should I hang it up in my office at school? or at home? An easy stitch (4 days or so) using 28 count khaki evenweave and DMC floss.
This morning was a rare morning in that Annabeth was not awake by the time i came into her room, in fact she was so asleep I was able to take a few photos with a flash!...How often does that opportunity come along?
Hey folks, sorry for the messed up photo but i took it in a hurry the other day to post for you my progress...I am actually down to the word morale as of yesterday evening.
In other totally random news. I heard that a classmate of Annabeth's was potty trained already...and she is one month younger (19 months) than my baby. My gut reponse...after i stopped sputtering (cause I know the realistic average age for girls is like 30 months)...Let's get the walking down first. UPDATE: we started walking holding on to one hand this week...but not with confidence
Potty training is so far from priority for us it is closer to graduate high school on the lifetime goal list. I guess it just took me by surprise.
All DONE! So this is my 2nd finish of 2009. and I really like it. I would love to frame it in the same frame as the cover model. (Hmm I never noticed it was spelled punkin not pumpkin on the pattern!) I have started a quick Sue Hillis item, but Annabeths birth sampler is calling me from a drawer (I started it and messed up on the placement...so I need to wake it up from its nap and rippit.)
Hello everyone. I am so close to finishing Pumpkin Patches I can smell it ...and then I run out of Maple Syrup (the Gast color not the pankake topping).Oh well...soon maybe.
Here is my finished secret project for my sisters wedding that i had done in the final months of 08 that I could not tell you about. It is the Tie that Binds By La Di Da. I did it in the called for DMC in evenweave. I did it by Christmas so my mom could get it framed for my sister ...but due to unforseen issues it didnot make it back from the framers till a couple of weeks ago. So there you go. the colors look more intense in the photo then they are in real life. it is much more muted.
I stitched last night to an old movie "The Black Hole" Yeah... see...I was like 5 when that came out and remember the posters but never saw it. I am trying to catch up on all the old movies you were supposed to see but never did (like Tron...saw that a couple of months ago for the first time). Hmmm is 1979 considered old? It is in special effects certianly an antique. I had higher hopes for this movie. But the music...the music was horrible. I HATE it when the music doesn't go with the emotional tone of the scene. If you notice the music it is the wrong music for the scene...and the acting was a bit on the lazy side too. and Ernest Borgnine...what is it with him? why is he always the guy who screws it all up...in every movie he is in!
Oh well it was cool to see Arthur Petrelli (from Heroes) in his young self
Hey there loyal followers. (I say loyal cause well at least you are checking on me once in a while). I finished up a 2 sided ornament last week and wanted to show it off. Here is Jeanette Douglas' purple Christmas ball ornament for the 2008 JCS ornament issue, on the back is the one from the preview issue that was put out in november. I kinda like the blue one better it seems better defined.
Currently I am working on Pumpkin Patches and Miss Mary Mack... On patches I have the Border almost done and have the 2nd pumpkin and backstitching yet to do. On Miss I have finished the wording and have to do the border...no need to check the pattern type of border that goes on forever!
In other news...I don't usually get very personal on this blog and I do not speak about politics... But the economy has finally hit us. Back in October when all the fiancial institutions were crashing, I listened but noted that we were not involved in any of them so we were ok. We have some retirement funds but they were not affected....until the stock market started to plumet..then we listened to the stock market experts and did not pull our money..we kept our contributions the same and are still contributing today even into our daughters high risk/high yield (supposedly) 529 account. We have just stopped opening the statements that arrive by mail or email...we would just get depressed at the negative numbers. But I still trust that what Money magazine has to say...that it will turn around, and that our money is currently purchasing cheap stocks that will someday rise.
Ian and I are young and we have no debt other than our house, which we bought well within our means and refinanced a year ago for a fixed rate. And we know we have some time to make up for those neg numbers that arrive in our mailbox. But I think we continued on as usual spending as we would until About 1 month ago. Ian started to come home from work early...or told not to come in at all...some week he gets in a full 40 hours, others barely 10. So we slowed our spending, we cut back our grocery budget, and stopped talking about new furniture for the living room. Yesterday he comes home saying they are officially fuloughing the entire hanger half time..What? It works like this: Ian works 1 week then is off 1 week....they are trying this for 1 month...but i think it will be for much longer. So he is unemployed every other week. We think he can file for unemployment...but it seems kinda wierd to do so.
And since it took us 5 months to feel the effect of the recession I think it will take at least 10 months for us to feel the recovery (whenever that might be) .
I listen to the debates over what caused all of this and how to fix it and I have no idea ...BUT I do know how to keep it from happening agian: Fiscal responsibility is not taught and it needs to be. Seriously. My generation (X) was not engaged about how to save, or spend wisely, or not to use credit cards, and encouraged to purchase houses beyond our means (mainly cause we don't understand credit) Ian and I qualified for a home loan that was out of our reach...and we only bought a home that we could afford. People are yelling we shouldn't help those who bought houses that were too big...but I find more fault with the educational system that did not teach them to say no to the offer and fault with the offers in the first place. THIS will fix the system. NJ is on the right track...this is the stimulus the country needs. is it immediate, no, but seriously I do not think anything in the actual stimulus package now is or could be anyway. So until my generation trains the younger about how to properly use and respect money ....this will happen again.
April said she got it but hasn't posted a photo yet,so I think it is ok if I do. I stitched this Valentine Heart by Dragonfly Stitches on some nice white linen with overdyed DMC, and finished it as a pinkeep. First time I tried that...I am pretty happy with it.
I have more stitching for you this week...I might post tomorrow!
