February Stitch in Time

[Aral]

Dearest Eva the answer to your question is another question Are we getting older Glad you are feeling slightly better... perhaps even better tomorrow..

Thank you guys for your concern I will try to look after myself. Promise

Anyway here is the thing ready for shearing and slight trimming but that will be done to tomorrow

[blestlady]

Just dropping in to say hello to everyone. I had my WW weigh in today, big deal, lost 1/2 lb. I do think it was their scale (I know, likely story, right?) because it is always 1/2 lb heavier than my scale and when I weighed on my scale there was almost a 2 lb difference. Anyway, it will even out and I'm sticking to my program.

Oh, Sigrun, so sorry you are having so much pain. I hope you can get someone else to do the stand up work soon.

Eva, I am really sorry you are still having the panic attacks, but glad you weren't having them today. Hope you are otherwise feeling better now.

Margo, the Valentine's project sounds nice.

Going to bed shortly, almost 11 p.m.

[DrDebby]

Margo, so glad your studio is coming together for you. Really want to see pictures of your scenery. Yup, another book to be made soon. Now, if only I had a house elf or two to do the housework.

Sigrun, the rug looks 3D. I assume it's reasonably flat, being a rug, but it looks great. How do you shear a rug? Like a sheep? Yes, please take care of yourself.

Bonnie, congrats on the weight loss. Even 1/2 a pound is a victory.

More house work today. It never seems to end! Next on the agenda is a baking experiment, gluten free, of course. I'm going to try a nut bread that looked interesting. Then, I will get back to book binding. Good thing we decided paper was a fiber product.

[Aral]

Eva to you

Bonnie every pound counts

Some pictures soon Margo ???

Debby paper is fibre for sure

We use a special machine "shearing machine" to do the job as the photos show.



I have been resting since last night and will continue to do so tomorrow... I can also plan to take the first half of next week easy.... all helps and I am already feeling better.

[EvaJ]

That is a very pretty piece, Sigrun.

I am doing better today. Was able to get out this noon and get my bills mailed and get a few groceries. It seems we are always running out of something and this time it was cat food.

[DrDebby]

Sigrun, now we can see the size of this rug. It was hard to tell from the frame pictures. I assume that's your partner down on her knees on that hard floor. I'm so glad you are resting.

I'm working on another book today. I'm also having fun looking at paper making. Ran across some interesting information and ideas. I'm so bad, going from one thing to another. It's just I'm so bummed about the candy thing. I really can't eat any milk products. I bought a box of cereal that said gluten free on the outside. Silly me, I didn't bother to read the ingredients. There was milk in it. I was feeling worse and worse. Thought maybe that since I'd been avoiding the most obvious food triggers that something else had manifested. The next thing that might be a culprit is corn. So, I pulled out the box as part of the "is there corn in this" question and read that there was milk. *sigh* I've been feeling better again now that I stopped eating the stuff. But, a lot of my candy is made with dairy products. Primarily cream and butter. Now, the milk on the ingredient list was pretty far down the list. It was after the cocoa and the sugar, so there wasn't much there. But, it affected me a lot. So, I really can't taste my candy anymore. DH doesn't have discerning enough taste buds to be my taster and besides he tends to say everything I make is great. So, this break from candy making may be permanent. I know that will disappoint a lot of folks, but how can I be sure of the quality of my candy?

[Aral]

Yes Debby it is my partner on the hard floor.. I was there too few moments before and both my knees are sore.. so no more working like this and the rug was moved onto my two tables so now we can finish it standing up.

I am so sorry to hear about your candy making but if it helps you then that is what really matters.... no fun in making something you can not taste control !! Rod is totally bias as Finn is when I ask him about my art work hahaha he always says it's good !!! hahaha that's no good it is hahaha... They are so lovely supporting us all the way.

[DrDebby]

Eva, seems we cross posted earlier. I'm glad you are feeling better. I don't like going out so much. So, I tend to do without until I can make a big trip and hit everything at once, bank, post office, grocery, hardware store, whatever.

Sigrun, it is lovely our guys support us. Yes, I was thinking about sore knees when I looked at that picture.

Making only one book at a time, it's a matter of waiting for the glue to dry. So, I'm back to reading my marketing book and cruising the internet for information. And, not so incidentally playing computer games.

[rue d'oak]

Hi all! Group hug time, it seems. Meds and Eva, milk and Debby, knees and Sigrun, diet and Bonnie.

I've sorting extended family memorabilia again. Fascinating yet time consuming.

Skied a bit today. Poor snow and even weaker legs.

Got a bunch done on projects last week. Much more to come.....

Hang in there, all!

Jen

[BeyondTheNineSquares]

Hey, all. Just a quick message to let you know that i am alive and my computer is not. It crashed 2 weeks ago and both the hard drive and mother board are gone so it cannot be repaired as it is too old. Not sure yet what I will be able to do but am using a 7 year old barely functional borrowed computer just now and thus am somewhat enabled and researching and pondering solutions. Meanwhile I could not sign onto WC and it took about 10 days to finally receive a "reset." Sometimes, my friends, you just have to laugh at life and then some days you have to thumb your nose at it. It is never dull though! On my way out, but just wanted to check in and let you know I'm thinking about you all.

[poochemio]

Well...glad most of us are doing better.

Sigrun that rug is starting to look very cool, and definitely shearing on table tops sounds the way to go to me.

Debby I'll be joining you in bookbinding this week. I got some more paper at the art supply store on Saturday. I want to try a variety of bindings and make a few put in your coat pocket sketchbooks so I can go on sketchwalks around the property etc. I'm going to recycle some boxes etc for the boards on those. I also got a stack of crazy cool duck tapes that are screaming at me from across the table "Use us", and they aren't saying please either.

I got some very warm boots and some boots with deep tread for walking on snow and ice this weekend. Dillards was having their major winter clearance sale. I won't burden you with the list but...I did manage to replace a couple of pairs of pants etc.

We went to a fabulous show of Santeros work at the History Museum, carved Santos, and lots of painted pieces. I bought a stack of books on the topic as I'm interested in...collecting or even possibly producing some of my own line, both the traditional Catholic images and possibly some Buddhist as well, we shall see how that goes.

It has been snowing for the last 24 hours, and it is amazingly beautiful out. Fortunately it didn't start until we had unloaded the car in our own driveway. The sky was so foggy white we couldn't even see the top of the mountain (it's not even that tall). The sun is out now, so I may not get to make that snowman I've been wanting to make this winter. This is okay cause maybe the UPS guy can get down my driveway to deliver my order from Daniel Smith today!

So for today, finding a home for recent purchases, a bit more work on studio, setting up a binding area, and completion of several sketchbooks. I realized how many I had going and it is SCARY! Time to get to a more managable number methinks.

So have a lovely day all of you and I'll start taking some pictures of my lovely home as each room becomes more photo friendly, may even have a walk and show you pictures in the beautious snow.

[DrDebby]

Jen, good to hear you are skiing. It doesn't sound normal if you aren't.

Martha, sorry to hear about your computer melt down. Zero fun. Hope you find a solution soon.

Margo. Lucky girl, you got snow. I'm still waiting on snow. Would love to see your books when you are done binding. Or maybe even a few photos along the way...

Well, no book binding here. The lovely satin embroidery floss I picked up last week at JoAnne's will not work for sewing the endbands. It's too, too slippery. I really should have known better, but it was so shiny! I was hoping to get to the little local fabric/quilt store here in town. It changed hands last month and I need to see what, if anything has changed. But, such was not to be. After doing the "have to" errands, my knees decided they'd had enough of the cold, thank you very much and one too many "ouches" said as I got in the car prompted DH to drive me home instead. He's really very sweet and it isn't like we are out of a vital food stuffs. It is just something I'm doing for fun. But, the fun has stopped until I find some suitable thread. I'd use cotton embroidery floss, but that is not recommended as it shows wear too easily. (Think fading denim jeans wearing out.) Tho' I may try it anyway since this book is just for me.

[EvaJ]

It is very windy and chilly here today and cloudy. We are suppose to have rain off and on the next three days. You know what that weather is doing to me so I won't comment. I want my warm and sunny weather back.

Have that indoor show to do next week and I hope with fingers crossed that I can get everything done and in there. I have so much stuff and will have to decide what I want to take. It is the antique show so that are things I can't take and that helps me decide what goes and what stays.

Sorry Martha about the computer. Hope you find a good solution.

Debby, the knees ouchy and no snow. Not good for you.

Jen, glad you could get a little skiing in.

Margo, want to see pictures of your place when you finish.

[poochemio]

Well Debby don't feel too bad about the snow. 20 minutes after I posted the sun came out and it got in the high 40's there is no snow left except in shady areas.

I took some pictures of the snow and I'll try to remember to take photos as I bind, we shall see.

Debby one thread that I had great luck with was crochet thread, go figure, tried some of my lovely silk threads no luck with them at all, may be that my awl made too big of holes...but since I frequently use watercolor paper, the old saw of using the same kind of thread as your fabric rings in my mind, so cotton crochet thread works pretty good. I've also tried sashiko thread cause I had it, I don't think I'd use it again, it's plenty strong but just too fat, seems harder to get it tight.

I got my sewing table moved and kitchen cleaned, but then we ran to town to get water, and the oil changed in my Jeep, and then T took me for Valentine's dinner a day early, I'll make him my famous pork chops creole for the real day. It's always amateur night on vday and the wait is just not worth it to me. Oh I did finish the last 5 pages in my sketchbook and the last portrait of my book was the best quickie portrait to date. Yippee, and that was in a 3.5"x5" book, so I'm on cloud nine.

The cat is here purring and head butting and saying lets go draw, so nighty night girlfriends.

[EvaJ]

I didn't want you to think I forgot how to sew so here are the dolls I did last week. One a heavily weighted 18 inch, 1997 Cititoy doll and a 15 inch Unitoy 1993 doll with a music box in her tummy. I finally got around to getting pictures today.