Sunday, July 5, 2009

Missing Stitching Mojo and Dad in law...

WARNING...this is a LONG post!!!

Boy I've been MIA for quite awhile...Thank you to Sadie for her email checking up on me...you don't know how much that meant to me to hear from a stitching friend across the pond that hadn't seen hide nor hair from me here or on the stitching groups in a bit...

In my last post about the auction I mentioned about a family member being ill...well, let me tell you that was an UNDERSTATEMENT...

The Monday before that last post (Memorial Day here in the states) my father in law was admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital to their neurological intensive care unit. He was on that unit for over 3 1/2 weeks and here we are at the brink of six weeks when he was admitted and we still don't have a definitive diagnosis. It all played out like a BAD episode of the tv show "House". One day we'd have one diagnosis, then the next it was ruled out because some of his symptoms didn't line up with the day before's diagnosis. At one point we thought we were going to lose him and another we were given a 50-50 chance that he'd survive. The good news is he began improving as fast as he had gone downhill. On June 19th he was transferred to a Rehabilitaion center (through this whole ordeal he's lost over 40 pounds as well as muscle strength and coordination) and even better news is he was discharged from there to his home on July 3rd! He still has to do some outpatient rehabilitation to continue regaining his strength but he is now home in comfortable surroundings. It has been a roller coaster of a month for sure!!

Well, while all this was going on with him health wise it had put quite a damper on my stitching mojo. Between worrying about him, worrying about my husband and his dealing with his dad (and mom's state of mind- she doesn't deal well with doctors, hospitals, etc) and keeping my kids calm as well as dealing with keeping my house going and making theirs look lived in, I just couldn't get my self in the swing of things to stitch. Even sitting in the hospital with my mother in law, I figured I'd get a lot of stiching done but truthfully only a minimum of stitches went into anything during that time.

Well, in the last week I seem to have made up for some lost time...

I got bored with the alphabet blocks I was working on, so I switched back to Blackstone Fantasy Garden.




At this point I estimate I have only about a quarter of the backstitching/blackwork to go and I'll be finished with it! I'm challenging myself to get it finished before we go on vacation to the shore at the beginning of August. That gives me a little over 3 weeks to finish what I've got left, do you think I can do it?? I do...

And once I do finish it then the big decision...do I start in true ernst Cirque de carreaux (which I'm going to try doing over one- and I've cut the material to that size already) or do I go back to working on the Patchwork Sampler by Catia Crafts (catiacrafts.com) that I started last summer and but to the side to finish Boink and do Blackstone??? Such decisions to be made...and of course I have those alphabet blocks to finish too (they are almost done with the stitching and then it is a matter of assembly)...

Until the next time (and I plan on it not being such a long time between posts!!)...

7 comments:

Carolyn NC said...

Glad to see you back! Sorry that it's been so hard with your FIL, but at least he's better now. Did they ever decide what the exact diagnosis was? As to the stitching, I'm very bad....I say go with the Cirque!

Sadie said...

So lovely to have you back :-)
Of course you will finish Blackstone before your vacation, think positive!
I think that after the month you have had that you should 'reward' yourself and start cirque.
Have a great week x

Anonymous said...

Your Blackstone piece is absolutely gorgeous! I'm sure you can finish it in time. Good luck.
Marcy

Ellen said...

Love your Blackstone, it's beautiful. Glad to see you back online.
Take care,

Shelley - ILCS said...

So wonderful you are back and stitching up a storm!! Sorry to hear about FIL, but happy to hear he is home again. Good luck deciding what to stitch next, lol!!

Carol said...

That's got to be a relief for everyone now that your f-i-l is out of hospital. I hope he gets fully well soon.

Blackstone is looking wonderful and I am going to be totally biased and vote for starting Cirque Des Carreaux (since I'm already working on it).

Thanks for the comment you left at my stitching blog.

5 Foot Runt said...

What a great support you are. Even with your plate overflowing. I am so glad things have gotten better for you and your family. Nice stitching, you should stitch whatever brings you the most joy at the moment.