Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Lost This Picture In Las Post

Here I am with the "thing"!! Trying to hold my breath!!



Love and Hugs!!


Deborah

STINKY STINKY PRETTY and PSALM 23 UPDATE

I have been doing amazingly well with my Psalm 23 I think. I think I may get another miracle and have it done for the March 01 birthday!!
It truly is becoming very beautiful.
Several have commented that the border is not as hard as it appears. I have been giving it a lot of great thoughts as I am stitching the words yet as to how I should go at it.
Only MY mother would send my brother off to buy her a single flower bulb that cost $80!!! I just want to know how much she is going to have to pay to have her home fumigated!! This flower is called a "Voodoo Lily". It is truly exquisite to view. However, it gives off a stench only possibly compared to a houseful of dead mice!! It is horrible!! It truly stings your eyes, nose and mouth and takes your breath away!!
I took my mother supper last night and I could not stay long enough to eat with her. I felt like I was actually eating this awful stench!! She is just lucky it is so cold outside or she would have every fly in the state of Iowa in her home abiding on this thing.
And, it is no little thing either. I did not care to have my picture taken today, but mother insisted I stand beside it to show how high it truly has grown. I am almost six feet tall, however, I now can no longer stand up straight. My brother had to brace the bottom of this stalk. You evidently have to keep this dormant in your basement from the time you dig it up in your yard in the fall until early spring. After it blooms and the weather warms up you plant it outside for the summer. It does very little outside, but that is how you keep this atrocity. I for one sure would not!!
Wish I was better with camera as pictures are sideways and a bit hard to view. Mother has several small "babies" from her bulb sitting at the base of it.
Mother tells of my while my father was still alive (they had other bulbs like this years ago even, just much cheaper to buy) years ago and he forgot about this "thing". He had placed it in a large dark storage room in the basement. When spring arrived so did this terrible stench and the hunt was on to find the dead critter some where in the house. My mother had every one looking in every inch of the home before they remembered the "thing" in the storage room.
The Quad-Cities is located near us about a hour away. I recently read in the newspaper where some people owned these "lilies" there. They have a beautiful indoor arboretum in that area and they take their lilies there to display and leave them until the stench has gone away.
These lilies only bloom once a year for about three to four days, thank the good Lord!!







Love and Hugs!!

Deborah











Monday, January 23, 2012

MORE PROGRESS!!

I believe I am truly making fantastic PROGRESS!! YEAH!!

I surely do not want to chance "bragging", but I truly think this is going to be a real beauty to be treasured. I have already been assured by the Pastor's wife that she LOVES this and that the Pastor will be absolutely appreciative and also love this piece. It is almost going to be hard to give it to him.

But, I am feeling such a closeness to Max the past few days and feel he is with me with each stitch. I can only wonder if my numerous tangles in my thread is not Max wanting my full attention as he so often would do in his practical jokes on me. And, unbelievably no tears!!

I think I am well past the half way point of this piece with the exception of this border. I have been dreading this border with a passion. However, I have received many comments from people who have done similar borders of "My Big Toe" and related the borders were an easy stitch and went rather quickly. Again, only time will tell.

One stitch at a time as my life goes on!!

Here is last week's progress!!
Love and Hugs!!
Deborah

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

PROGRESS - PSALM 23

I began attending a brand new lady's circle meeting last week. It meets at our Pastor's home as his wife is leading this circle. The Pastor's wife suggested that I come early last week so as to assure me the best parking spot to try and accomodate my handicaps. Thus, I had some time with just the Pastor's wife prior to every one else arriving. I had taken "PSALM 23" along with me in hopes of getting some private time with her so she could view it for the first time. She LOVED it and knew exactly how small the fabric count, etc. was. I do not believe she stitches much as quiltting seems to be her favorite, but she sure knew enough about stitching to carry on quite a conversation about my piece.
I told her about Max's request of me to finish this piece and give it to the Pastor on this year's birthday of March 01. The Pastor spent his entire birthday day and evening with Max and my self as this was the day that Max announced "no more" and wanted us to get Hospice for him last year. The Pastor's wife assured me that the Pastor would absolutely NOT want me stressing out over having this piece finished on March 01 and that he was absolutely going to love it regardless of it's completion date. She told me she would love to be included on the finishing decisions and would be so honored to be part of choosing the frame, etc.

I am now quite relieved. I even began "My Stitch Angel" and have spent a few hours this past week on it. I also have "Proverbs" sitting next to me which is one I had backordered for quite some time and it just arrived complete with the Cashel linen for it. Thus, I am sure this one will also be calling out to me some time this week. Although, in my moments of pure insanity I think "I possibly could finish the Psalm if I truly put my total heart and soul in to it".

I am just verging on being about half way finished with the wording and pieces in center of the Psalm. But, I am also all too well aware of the border needing to be finished also as the Pastor's wife did LOVE the border on it.

Only time will tell.............., but I sure would not place any bets on this one!!
Love and Hugs!!
Deborah

Sunday, January 8, 2012

PSALM 23 and VIRTUAL STITCH-IN January 07, 2012

HAPPY 2012 NEW YEAR!!

Unfortunately, another tidal wave of grief swept over and drowned me on the evening of Thanksgiving and it is just now beginning to go away.
Yes, my friends made sure I had a "good" Christmas (have to post the lovely gift pictures as Debra Hall made me an exquisite quilted angel hanging and Kathy Kiley made me a very precious Christmas ornament), but nothing could hide I was truly alone. My entire family was Max and Miprezious and they are now gone so I have to truly try to create some other traditions for all the holidays. I am surely going to do better this year!!

The past few years I rarely left Max's bedside. There is no other place that I would have opted to be, however, those days were unbearably long and hard. Thankfully, I was blessed with my cross stitch. Max began reciting the 23rd Psalm with our Pastor almost daily. I do not believe in coinsequences!! However, just prior to this daily routine Max had started, I purchased PSALM 23 by MY BIG TOE. I do not know what possessed me to buy this originally, but I did. Once I realized I did have this chart and the fabric to stitch it on I excitedly showed them to Max. Max took great interest in my progress, which was barely nothing each day as hospital is not greatest place to try to stitch this large of a project, and he watched with great interest as I worked on it. About two weeks in to this project Max asked if I would do him a great favor and complete this project. Max truly knew my stitching ways!! I told him I would do my best, but that this project was going to take months. Max was well aware that he was in the process of passing from this earth a good two weeks prior to it actually happening. Max was rather alert the first two days of this time. In fact, it was Max (along with extensive chats with our Pastor) that decided he had enough struggles and pain and wanted to be placed on hospice. Being placed on hospice meant immediate termination of his despised dialysis and the fact he would pass within the following few days (Max clung to me for seven more days!!). Max made this decision on March 01 and the Pastor stayed with us all day and well into the evening that day to be with us. As the day progressed, the Pastor received a cell phone call that was from a large group of people singing "Happy Birthday" to him. I was so upset that the Pastor had spent his entire day and evening with us in spite of it being his own birthday, however, he kept assuring us it was where he wanted to be. During this day, Max wanted to chat with me while the Pastor was out of the room for a bit. Max asked if I would be sure and do some thing for him and I told him I would do any thing I could. Max asked me to finish the PSALM 23 and get it matted and framed the best I could do and give it to his dear friend, the Pastor, this year on his March 01 birthday. And, of course, I agreed. Max proceeded to smile the entire next hours and every one asked what he was so happy about and he kept answering he was going to get the best birthday gift ever.
Well, true to form, for me, I could not even stand to look at this project last year whatsoever. It kept coming to the top of my rotation and I would put it aside. Had it been any other piece of this size I probably would have put it in my perpetual UFO bin. I reasoned I would take it out on Christmas and get quite serious on it. Well, that surely did not happen. I still reasoned that I had three good months to do it if I restarted it on New Year's Day. And, I got it out and had every thing ready to stitch. And, big time reality hit!! I do not have a good three months as March does not count. Additionally, I am probably looking at a minimum of three weeks to have it framed. Thus, I have been stitching like a crazed driven woman the last week!!

Below, is a picture of my progress through Friday, January 06. The picture below it is my progress of a marathon ILCS "Virtual Stitch In" yesterday on Saturday, January 07.

Needless to say, I need to get my self back in to my stitching nest and have a "Virtual Stitch In" the entire rest of this month. My biggest problem is I keep falling asleep as I am too comfy in my nest! I hope the good Lord is threading each needle and taking each stitch with me!! I need a miracle!!

This piece will be beautiful, but I am only about one-third done with the main center. I will have days with that border. It very much reminds me of that horrible wedding sampler I did last May!!


And, life goes on. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .!! And, I will rejoice in it!!


Love and Hugs!!

Deborah