Beagle Puppies Have Arrived

Well y'all Lacey went into labor yesterday morning at 12 am and had two pups by 2:30 am. Then she proceeded to have nothing for the next several hours. I ended up calling the ER vets here roughly 2 hours after her last pup was born. They told me I could either bring her in there and see what was up or I could wait until my regular vet was open. Needless to say I waited until my regular vet opened up as I know that an ER visit is expensive for a dog just like a human. I called mom and dad at 7 am my time as it would be 9 am there I think..it could have been earlier I'm not sure. Dad told me to wait to see my regular vet also.

At 8 am (roughly 6 hours now) I called my regular vet and was there by 840 via my next door neighbor. My regular vet's partner was there and she gave a dose of Oxytoxin to induce labor. Within 5 or 10 minutes I could see that Lacey was having active contractions now. After 15 minutes from the 1st shot the vet gave her another. Needless to say after an hour of waiting Lacey still had not had another pup. So the vet prepared me for her to have a C-section (had already thought it would happen). I left with my neighbor and came home and crashed. I got a call from the vet at roughly 11 yesterday morning just as they were going to prep her for the surgery she had 3 puppies. 2 were stillborn and 1 was alive. Yay, so they opted to let nature take it's course even more as need be. Well at roughly 2 pm yesterday vet calls again and she said nothing had happened so they were definitely going to prep her for the C-section. They did the C-section and she had another 4 puppies in her. 2 were alive. While the vet was preforming the C-section she found out that Lacey had a tear in the uterus and it was irreparable and went ahead and spayed her too. So she ended up with 5 puppies, 1 male and 4 females.

I went to pick her up with my neighbor and got a call from the vet Lacey's not coming around from the surgery like they like and they would like to keep her over night to monitor her. I went and saw her anyways as we were close to the vet. I get there and she looked so sad and doped up. I then proceed to tell the vet about a pup I had sold that had been bred once and then spayed herself, didn't do well with the medicine and needed to have a blood transfusion. The vet assured me that all this was, was shock from the surgery (I had a feeling it wasn‘t but went along with her). So off I go home. Bam I get home and I get a call from the vet, "We checked Lacey's blood and she's in the 12% range and should be in a 30 - 45 % range on blood count. She needs a transfusion." So they transferred her up to the ER vet and they kept her overnight. Gave her the blood transfusion and the would call me if anything went wrong. I didn't sleep a wink last night in anticipation of a call. Well no call came and we headed up the freeway to find the ER vet. Found them and then took her back to the vet so that they could monitor her a little today. I just called my vet and she gets to come home today. I'm so happy. I've seen it all with my dog's pregnancies.

I'll post pics of the pups as soon as I can on my blog.

Blog Giveaway Opportunity

Kathy of Kathy's Stitching and Other Comments is having a Giveaway. If you click on the link and leave a comment your name will be entered into the drawing. If you blog about it she'll give you an extra entry into the giveaway. Go have a look at her blog she has the cutest new furbaby. An Irish Setter pup named Rory.

So I thought I'd show a couple of pictures of my own furbabies.

Here's Hunter's Rusty Buttons:



Here's Miss Lacey Bloomers:



Keep On Stitchin'....

Bookmarks Have Been Received In Canada

Tara informed me today that she received her bookmarks and silk thread today, so I thought I would show a picture of the bookmarks I made for her.

Here they are:

The one on the left is a design from Dumani Designs. It's the flower design one and of course I changed the colors and added beads. I used Caron's Impressions Baby's Breath and Spruce. In the center of each flower I put a small gold sequin and gold bead. I finished the bookmark off in a Nun's Stitch and fringed it.
The bookmark on the right is a Victoria Sampler Freebie. I used the color scheme that was set forth in the pattern for this one as I liked the colors myself. It was a bonus that Tara likes that softer palette too, lol. The only thing I really changed on this pattern was the edge. I made it complete buttonhole around it and it was supposed to be done in the Nun's Stitch. Included in her package was a floss card of Rainbow Gallery's Splendor in a nice soft pink color.

Tara, I'm glad you like the bookmarks I made. I hope you will treasure them as I treasure yours.

Keep On Stitchin'....

Free Chocolate Anyone?

The company Mars is mailing people coupons for free chocolate. It's amazing. Who doesn't need chocolate? Or for that matter something free in this economy. You have to sign up on fridays to receive the mail 6 weeks later but it can be done :-). Here's a link to what they are calling the Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act. Just click on that and it will take you to the page.

So get some free chocolate and too remember....

Keep On Stitchin'....

Bookmarks...........And Needles That Needle Us, Lol

Well I signed up for a bookmark exchange on one of my Yahoo groups. The group is I Love Cross Stitch. My partner was Tara from Canada. She and I are both fairly new and we actually were exchanging with each other. I got the bookmark she was to send me a few days ago, I would have blogged sooner about it but life got in the way\.. To my delight, there were 2 bookmarks in the package. I love them both. Here's a picture of the two of them together:


Thank you so much Tara. The day your package arrived made my day.

Now, on to the second part of my title. Today while helping my mom with her CQ Round Robins, I stepped on a needle and half broke off in my right baby toe. :-(. So, off to the urgent care for mom and I. We got there and waited in the lobby for about 40 minutes. We went back to the room that the nurse took us to, and the doctor came in fairly quickly. He started to poke and prod me with his fingers and boy did he hit me just right at one point. He said he could definitely feel something in there. He shot me up 3 times with Lidocane to numb me up. That was nice, no pain after about two minutes. Then he had the X-ray technician come in and wheel me away to X-ray. She took three pictures and I laughingly asked her after the third, "Is there a foreign object in my foot?" She laughed with me and said, "Yes, definitely." She then wheeled me back to the room my mom was in and I waited for the doctor for a few minutes.

The doctor came back in and said there was a needle in my foot. He then proceeded to poke and prod me yet again :-o. However, since I was numb all I could feel was the pressure no pain. Yeehaw. He began to prep the area to make a small incision into the top of my foot. He gathered his tools, covered my foot with some blankets, and left only the area to be cut exposed. He sliced me open, not feeling it I didn't care. He then began to maneuver the needle part to where he could see it and clasp it with the clamp. He managed to get the needle out of me, boy am I glad he did. While he was pulling the needle out the nurse was giving me a Tetanus Shot. Here is a picture of the needle that was in me:


The part on the right is the part that was in me. It's amazing, it was only in me for roughly 2 hours but it changed colors quickly. We brought it home to show my nieces and nephew as to why they need to be careful in this house and not shuffle their feet.

My mom figures the only reason that the needle was on the floor is because she had broken the eye of a needle and thrown it away. When my dad took the trash out on our trash day he dumped their bedroom trash. Unbeknownst to him and everyone else, that needle missed the trash bag and landed on their floor. Then it landed in my foot. But I'm glad I went to urgent care to take care of it. I highly doubt that I would be walking on my right foot now if I hadn't.

Now we're trying to figure out a good way to dispose of needles. Any ideas?

Well, I think that's all. Until next time.

Keep On Stitchin'....

My PIF Arrived

Yay. My PIF arrived. It is so pretty and is just delightful. Here is a picture of it:


It is hanging in a place of honor in my home.

I still have 3 places for the PIF I must send out. Here's the date of mine April 27, 2009 post. Click the date to jump to the post to sign up :-).

I will be posting soon as I have some finishes to show. One's a Mother's Day present and as my mom reads my blog I can't show it yet >.<. Until then remember...

Keep On Stitchin'...

Daffy Cat Giveaway

It's Daffycat is having a giveaway of fabric on her blog. She hand dyed it herself and let me tell you the colors are simply beautiful. Clicking on her name at the beginning of this post will take you to her blog and the entry for the contest.

Good Luck everyone and as always

Keep On Stitchin'...

Pay It Forward

Well I just realized something. I signed up for a Pay It Forward on Beatrice's Stitching With A View Blog. I did this more than a month ago. I just re-read the rules and noticed that I was to blog about it on my blog. My apologies to you Beatrice for my oversight on this matter. So here are the rules for the PIF from Beatrice's blog:

This is the way it goes...
The first 5... yes five... people to comment on this post only...Will receive a gift stitched by me.

There is a CATCH.. PIF

1-You MUST do the same... post this on "Your blog" and pass on to FIVE folks as well.
2-You will receive this gift within the year...mind you mine will be ready soon.
3- I'm getting ready to start stitching my gifts to the 5 people.
4- If you don't want to Pass It Forward please leave the space for someone who would like too.
5- It MUST be something hand made by you. Your choice of course! No pressure!

Keep On Stitchin'...

Hmm....Almost the end of March

Well it's almost the end of March and I've only blogged once this month. Oh dear! I've got another finish under my belt and no it didn't take the whole month to finish. Just the month to figure out what to do, lol. It's another Biscornu. I found the pattern at Le blog de Louison. She has several patterns there. Check them out you might like one. I've liked them all myself, but then again I'm easily pleased. :-).

I stitched it on a 28 count evenweave (I believe it's Jobelean but not 100% sure), the color is a bronzey brown stitched with Fiesta from Rainbow Gallery (it's their rayon) #F727, the buttons are just from my stash.

I have before construction and after construction.

Here's the before:



Here's the after:




It was a rather uneventful month. My nieces and nephews were off school for Spring Break this past week. I truely believe in my heart of hearts that this was a test to see who would last through the summer. I think we all will at least no one got seriously hurt this week.

Keep On Stitchin'....

Craft Gossip -- Craft Blog Network

So I like to visit this site called Craft Gossip -- Craft Blog Network. It's a cool site with different categories on it. I love to look at the needlework category myself. They just redid their website and are having what they call a "March Madness Giveaway". So I thought I would tell all of you on blogger about it, if you don't already look at this site yourself. Just click March Madness to go to the site and look around and remember to enter the contests as there are more than one and many prizes.

Keep on Stitchin'....

Some Finishes

I've done it. I finished cutting out the Hardanger piece I previously blogged about. I was truely scared as I was cutting it out that I might cut a thread that wasn't supposed to be. Whew am I glad that didn't happen, lol. But here is a picture of the piece now.

This is the overall view of the piece. Sorry for the crooked look of the picture.

This is a picture of the center. Look at all those Dove's Eyes.

Here is a picture of one corner. Sorry for the crookedness of the picture.

Now onto another finish. I've fallen in love with biscornu, so much so that I had to make one to see if I could. Well I did, lol. The pattern I got at The Floss Box. The pattern I chose reminded me of the Colorado state flower if you were looking directly at it. The colors speak of the Columbine.

This is a picture of the front of the biscornu.

Here is the back of the biscornu.

I thoroughly enjoyined stitching and making this piece. I like things I can finish on my own. Saves me money on a finisher.

Keep on Stitchin'....

Well I've done myself proud. I completed a stitchery project in the year I started it. This hasn't happened in a long time, lol. I take that back my previous Hardanger project I blogged about I'm done stitching it completely, including the Woven Bars and Dove's Eyes. I'm now cutting it out along the buttonhole, when that's done I'll post a picture of it. But I ramble :-).


This is a Freebie from Stickfee. I loved the design of it, but I changed the verse, lol. I didn't stitch with DMC #498 Dark Christmas Red it called for , I used Au Ver A Soir #946 a similiar Dark Red color. I also didn't do the backstitch in the red I used DMC #3371 a nice Chocolate Brown. Heck I just like to change patterns to suit me sometimes, lol. Who doesn't? Now my mother and I have to figure out what to make out of it. I'm open to suggestions. I thought a pillow would be nice, my mom thinks a box top or needle book cover. Hmmmmm....I really don't want to frame the piece as I think it needs to be felt to be appreciated.

I hadn't been in the stitching mood recently. However, when I got onto Blogger and began to find all of the stitchery blogs..I got inspired again. So thank you to all those blogs out there that are inspirations to us that might not stitch as fervently as you do and remember to

Keep on Stitchin'....

Flower Language

glitter-graphics.com

Since this is one of the biggest months for floral bouquets, it is time to read up on what flowers mean. In the picture above there are Morning Glorys. They mean affection. A very appropriate meaning if you ask me :-).

It intrigues me that flowers have a language all of their own. Everyone assumes that roses mean love but the color of the rose itself also means something. For example a white rose has the meaning of eternal love, innocence, heavenly, secrecy and silence. While the red rose, depending on the deepness of color, has different meanings. This goes for all colors of the rose.

I wish the guys I know today would look up what the meanings were. Have you ever seen Kate & Leopold, a movie starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman. Well in this movie Mr. Jackman plays a duke from the 19th century pulled into the present and falls in love with Ms. Ryan's character. During one of the scenes Mr. Jackman helps out Ms. Ryan's brother to pick out flowers, for his love interest. The proper gentleman (Mr. Jackman) from the Victorian Age proceeds to tell the brother what all the meanings of the flowers are in the store bunch that the present guy picks up. After telling the brother that, Mr. Jackman puts down the store bunch and puts together a bouquet that in a couple of scenes later you find out the brother's love interest just loved the bouquet because it spoke to her. Just imagine getting the perfect bouquet that says to you "I love you eternally" from that special guy in your life.

Here are a few links to sites that have the meanings of the flowers on them:

The Language of Flowers - What they mean
The history and language of FLOWERS and herbs - origins and meanings!
The Language of Flowers

Well there's another reason I wanted to write about this subject. For all the cross-stitchers, embroiderer's, and crazy quilters out there be careful of the flowers you put onto a project, you don't want to convey the wrong meaning. Lol. Just kidding. You can put any flower you want into your work. Maybe this will intrigue you enough to look up what a flower means for fun. If you are doing a round robin you could include that in the journal that may come around with the piece. Just think of all those pieces from long ago done by young ladies and what hidden meanings may be in them just from the flowers alone.

I still love flowers no matter what one may mean.

Keep on Stitchin'....

Beads -- The Ultimate Eye Candy

Well I must say I do like to do many different types of needlecrafts, for example, Hardanger, Cross Stitching, Needlepointing, and Beading. My mom was kind enough to foward me an email in January regarding an online store that was discontinuing it's beads. I went gun ho on what I wanted to order and wound up with a whopping $600+ order. What can I say, I had fun looking at the beads and what I might want. Needless to say I didn't buy that cartful, lol. I whittled my order down to a much more reasonable price for me. I ordered on January 11 and I realized then that with this sale they were doing it would take a few days to process the order and mail it to me. I didn't expect it to take until now to get my order though. However, I am happy with what I got today in the mail, hehe. Not only did I buy for myself, I also bought some beads for my mom.

These are the only seed beads I got.

I can see doing a variety of Christmas ornaments or using them in Crazy Quilting. It's a nice deep pink that could go as red if you choose to see it that way. I'm picturing in my mind the ornament I want to create with them, lol.

This is the 1st dolphin I purchased.

This was the last of this type of dolphin this company had. I can honestly say I wish they had more. I purchased this for my mom. She is thinking of doing a Crazy Quilt with an under the water theme. I love the colors of this dolphin.

This was the 2nd dolphin I purchased.

I love the colors on this dolphin also. Also purchased for my mom in regards to her under the water Crazy Quilt.

The red Sea Horse I purchased.

He's not as colorfully as I might have liked but I do like his colors. Also purchased for my mom for her Crazy Quilt.

The blue Sea Horse I purchased.

As with the first dolphin that is pictured on here, this sea horse was the last of it's kind that the company had. I wish they had more because this bead has colors on both sides that you really could have a hard time deciding which side should be up and which should be down. Purchased for my mom but I may keep him and make a suncatcher out of him with beads to pull in the colors that he has so that we don't have to make the decision of which side not to show.

One of the moons I purchased.

Now if you haven't figured out yet, I LOVE moons. In fact, I like all things celestial with an emphasis on moons. I mean I collect moons. I have a lot of bookmarks that feature the moon or sayings for the moon. So I supposed it was appropriate for this comapny to have moon beads, muhahahaha. Yes, this is what I purchased for myself. My mom may only touch them if she puts them onto a Crazy Quilt for me. A celestial themed one of course, lol . The pictures really don't do justice to the bead. They are simply gorgeous.

The other moon I purchased.

Keep On Stitchin'...

Hardanger Doily

I started this Hardanger doily 2 weeks or so ago. I've finished the stitching that the chart called for and it's ready to go into the wash. I'll do the cutting, Needlewoven bars and Dove's Eyes after it is cleaned. After that is done I will cut out the doily along the Buttonhole.

I thought I was working on a piece of white 28 count evenweave. Boy, was I wrong! I think my eyesight is going :-(. I know it happens with age, lol. Anyway, I did all the Klosters and Buttonhole in DMC White #8 Perle Cotton. My mom pointed out to me that my cloth was off-white and if I were to do all the stitching in white it would always look dingy. We put our heads together and decided that the Tulips/Ships and the Cable Stitch should be in a very light taupe . I chose DMC 822 #8 and #12 Perle Cotton. The needleweaving will be done in DMC White #12 Perle Coton.

This is a close up of one of the corners.

You might ask why my mom and I wash our Hardanger pieces regardless of what they are going to be used for. In fact, you might ask why we wash them before we cut them as this is not what all the books tell you to do. This is why: My mom did a beautiful Hardanger dresser scarf one time and completed it with everything done, the Klosters, the Tulips/Ships, Eyelets, Buttonhole, and Woven bars (to have this step done in Hardanger you will have cut the cloth and removed threads to weave bars out of those threads that are left). Following the instructions for washing after completion my mom threw the dresser scarf into the washer. Unfortunately, my mom had unknowingly used a poor quality of evenweave for this project. After it came out of the dryer it appeared shredded and ragged along the cut Buttonhole edges and in some areas of the cutwork where the Woven bars were located. My mom was devestated. (A very small piece of that dresser scarf can be seen on my Dottie Doll in another post from January 25, 2009). She took the seemingly ruined piece to a friend of ours that is a great stitcher of Hardanger, in fact one of her mentors. Our friend explained that the cloth had shrunk OUT OF the Kloster blocks by almost 1/8" and she would not be able to fix the piece. My mom said to me, "From now on no cutting gets done on a Hardanger piece before it's washed, to ensure that the cloth is shrunk." So that's a little reason behind why we wash our Hardanger pieces. Another reason is no matter how hard you try to keep your hands clean, dirt and body oils will always appear on cloth. It's just nice to start with a clean slate so to speak before any cutting gets done. Then, if you get the piece dirty again while cutting you are assured in your own mind that it won't shrink anymore when you throw it into the washer and dryer.

Below is a picture of the dresser scarf. My mom was able to save it and turn it into a panel on this bag.



I'll post another picture after I do the cutting on it so that you can see the finished piece.

Keep on Stitchin'...

Beading It's The Sane Thing To Do.........Or Is It?

Some might say that beading is addictive, I would have to agree. Last year I went on a beading frenzy. Here are a few things I beaded:

Here are two beaded Christmas ornaments that I worked on last year and they were put onto the tree to hang for the season. I was able to get a picture of them before putting them away for the year. The purple ball is covered in light Lilac colored glass beads and a mottled purple natural stone I believe.



The gold ornament is covered with pink and gray opaque beads. I believe this turned out rather nice as it let the ornament underneath shine. I'm going to put some dangles on this ornament to spice it up. It needs a bit of length to it, not much but some.

I also made the above ornament for my nephew's Christmas gift to his teacher as a flat piece. It is a very versatile pattern to use.

I made a ornament for my 4 yo niece's teacher also. It was a bit more colorful, lol. This is called a Mandala stitch.

I enjoy all types of beading and stitching. I think they are great complements to each other. Be it cross stitching and adding beads for sparkles, or if it's on a sewn piece for a doll such as my Dottie doll I beaded for a challenge for my local EGA guild. We had a piece of fabric that we needed to make into something then take back to the first meeting after our summer break which would have been September 2008. My cloth was a red paisley and my mom made the doll form for me and I stuffed her and then beaded her. Her front had very few beads on it but it did have a piece of Hardanger which my mom did but I also enjoy doing. Her back was a better place to put the beads because there was more places to bead. I also had these long bugle beads that are 1 1/2 inches long or so. They made for a great skirt which I laddered stitched so that they wouldn't fall off easily.

Well as you can see I have had some fun for now. I will be back with more later :-)