Rooted in Mississippi

I am already starting to feel better, thanks to the medication, but just going to the grocery store was enough to sap all of my energy. I was debating doing a little stitching, but wound up online instead. I decided to get out the camera so that I could show you all the inside of the stitch ottoman. This is a really nice solution for storing the things I need while working on a project.

What does not really translate in the photo is that the top has three really large pockets for magazines and books. I am very happy with my settee and ottoman, they are working out great.

Speaking of working out great, I was compelled to take a picture of my little dog pack. Everyone is doing well and figuring out their place. There are still a few dust-ups, but not many, and they usually involve Oscar. Everyone knows that Louie is the alpha, but Oscar is struggling for rank. Princess is spending more and more time interacting with the boys. She loves it when Rudy plays baby and flops over to show me his belly, because that means she gets to sniff him without fear.

Now, I need to get cracking on some much needed housework. Who knew I would miss having a maid so much? Well, probably petty much everyone who has ever met me or read this blog. LOL

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But whining is still whining!

Last night, I woke up every two hours with spastic coughing that left me struggling to breathe. I thought I was better this morning, but I got the the store and had another attack, so I finally caved in and went to my family practitioner. He was not happy when he put the stethoscope to my chest. I wish I could say that I was surprised, but for the last few days, the rattle in my chest was so pronounced that my husband could feel it. My doctor prescribed an inhaler, an antibiotic, and two cough medications (one for daytime and one for the night.)

At least maybe I won’t scare my mom when I am in Atlanta. She gets very upset when I am sick, especially when it is respiratory stuff, because she has no firsthand experience with it. Not too long ago, I had an acute allergic reaction in front of her and I thought SHE was going to pass out. She even dragged her ex-husband (a retired ENT) into the room to watch over me until my medication kicked in and I was breathing normally. She did some impressive hand-wringing and spent hours trailing after me, making sure I was all right.

Anyway, y’all can relax, I finally went to the doctor and am taking real medication, not just vitamin C and echinacea.

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I got a summer cold after Chicago, but I finally got over it, then had a relapse that was worse than the original cold. It got worse and settled in my lungs and I have been puny for about a week, but really miserable for the last few days.  The fast for Yom Kippur was probably a bad idea, I should have kept drinking fluids.  I have been coughing like a mad woman and had a couple of episodes where I was choking and it got scary.

Anyway, my throat is raw and miserable, so I thought I would grab one of those sugar daddy’s out of the deep freezer, thinking it would be soothing.  When I got out there, the circuit had been tripped and it was hot inside the freezer.  It looks like we lost everything in there except for the non-perishables that I use to keep the freezer full.  The smell was unbelievable and now my poor husband is out there tossing the rancid food.

Needless to say, this has been an inauspicious start to the new year!

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OK, so I thought this one was interesting, in part because it is a little spooky in how accurate some of it was, except for lying awake contemplating my place in the world part. Mostly, I don’t care about my place in the world as much as my place in the dog pack. That probably says a LOT about me.

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you’re apt to keep very unusual habits.Whether you’re a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence – you like to experiment with your lifestyle.Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it.You enjoy staying home, but that doesn’t mean you’re a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

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My nest has arrived. I now have a place to stitch downstairs with the dogs, without taking over the whole sofa and coffee table. I hit a few snags along the way, like when I knocked over a large aloe vera plant and it broke on the tile. Also, there was a lunatic screaming at invisible people in the yard next door. He worried the delivery people and kept the dogs stirred up all day, but ostensibly he was there to do yard work for my neighbor. I never did manage to clean up all of my mess, but at least I did clean up the dirt and broken pieces of aloe.

Of course, I had to take pictures of Rudy getting to know the new settee. I thought it was was funny that he matched the fabric! Princess is the only other dog who has been up there exploring. She is getting along better all the time; she is not snarling as much and she is finally playing with toys. She prefers Rudy’s toys to her own and the baby loofah dog is one of her favorites. Unfortunately, she tends to drop the toys when she sees me coming with the camera. She likes me more and more, but Daddy is still her favorite.

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I have been shopping for furniture, working on the magazine, trying to work through the details of online classes, and cleaning up a little before my new chair is delivered. To make things worse, my stupid summer cold came back with a vengeance last night. Oh, well, enough whining for one post!

My friend Lisa has been trying to get people interested in taking the Group Correspondence Course Gracie, before it retires. Gracie is a fun stumpwork goldfish and was the first GCC I ever finished and submitted for teacher evaluation. She has been sitting neglected for some time, but all this talk got me interested in finding a place to display her. I am trying her out in the little glass topped able that has been gathering dust for the last five years. Of course, I had to fix and clean the table first.

If I decide to leave her in the table, I will need to come up with a more permanent solution or at least get the wrinkles out of the fabric!

They just called to tell me they are delivering my chair and ottoman this afternoon. It was already on clearance at a discount place, but there was a problem with one of the arms (they damaged it while delivering it to another customer), I talked to the owner and he agreed to drop the price another $300 and have someone fix it before they delivered it to me. We still desperately need a new sofa, but until I find the right piece at the right price, I will just have to make due.

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Although fewer people than I expected came out to stitch, we had a nice time and most of our visitors completed one pillow top during the event and took home additional kits to be returned at a later meeting.  It was nice to have so many people stitching in one room…it reminded me of some of the better attended MSNA meetings.  I sure wish we bottle that kind of energy and enthusiasm.

We will have plenty of pillows to donate the Yellow Rose Chapter, who will give them to soldiers and their families.  I need to get out the directions again and try to assemble one of them.  I am sure once I get it sewn up, it will make sense to me, and I will be able to do several at once.  The patriotic fabrics were probably the most expensive part of the kits, so I would hate to make any mistakes!  This is also the type of outreach project we can keep going, since there will always be soldiers deploying for service.

Anyway, it was a success; we got a lot of stitching done and we met several new people, any of whom we would welcome into the chapter with open arms!

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Today is a special meeting day for Mississippi NeedleArts. We had to postpone the meeting by a week, because 3/4 of the board were at seminar, but that is not why it is so special. Tomorrow is our big Outreach stitching event and we have invited the general public to come help us make remembrance pillows for the loved ones of deployed soldiers. I have no idea how many people will come, but I did get quite a bit of email regarding the project. I put together over thirty kits, even though that is probably more than we will need. I am sure they will all get stitched eventually!

Hopefully, I will have good news to report before the weekend is over.

I also wanted to share the second Quaker Bookmark. See the earlier post for details about the pattern.

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We did get a chance to do some sight-seeing while we were in Chicago during my free days. We took a very long walk from the hotel on the Magnificent Mile to the Sears Tower, then through town and across the parks to the Field Museum of Natural History.

On another day, we strolled through Lincoln, Millennium, and Grant parks doing the tourist thing. On this trek, we also went to the Chicago Institute of Art Museum (which was incredible) and the Museum of Science and Industry (which is sort of geared toward children).

We also went to the Navy Pier, but I did not take pictures there. When I get copies of my husband’s photographs, I will share a few more here. This last one was taken on the trip home. I was surprised by these folks in the Chicago O’Hare airport; they moved the chairs over, set up cots, and made themselves at home. It just seemed odd enough to merit a picture!

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My friend Celeste, also a member of CyberStitchers, started asking questions about working on linen and pointed to the Quaker bookmarks on World’s Greatest Collection of Smalls. She finished hers and they are lovely, even if she is not so excited about counted work.

Anyway, in predictable fashion, I got out some linen and some Needle Necessities and decided to make one for myself. Since there is no telling where I put the Spinster after doing the twisted cord and tassel demo at the last MSNA meeting, I finally gave up and decided to make the cord the old fashioned, way with a clamp and a chop stick. It turned out surprising well. I think the blue I added to the main color for the cording really worked.

The angel on the reverse is my the personal cipher I worked out on the plane ride home from EGA National Seminar in Chicago. There is more to come on that later, but you will have to wait for the next issue of CQMagOnline.

Tomorrow I will share some more tourist pictures of Chicago, but for now, I am going back to the sofa to stitch and watch the Burn Notice marathon on USA Network. It is kind of an odd way to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, but it works for me.

Edited to add:

I forgot to credit the pattern! It was a freebie from My Aunt’s Attic.

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