Monday, April 6, 2015

What's new in your life, Karen?

I'm still catching up on all my stitching pictures, so those will come in another post. I thought, however, that you might want to know what has changed in my life since July of 2013.

Where to start? Hmmm. One of the biggest things to hit me and my family is that I was diagnosed with a form of Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is an auto-immune disorder called, get this, sero-negative inflammatory polyarthropathy. Say that three times fast. It has definitely changed my life. There is so much now that I can't do. I simply can't. I can't bellydance anymore. The smallest everyday activities are huge tasks for me. Cooking, cleaning, laundry are all taxing and/or painful. Grocery shopping is a tremendous undertaking, and I need at least a day to recover from it.

Yes, I am on medication, and it has helped somewhat. But if I get any kind of infection or need to take antibiotics for any reason, such as oral surgery, I need to stay off of the arthritis meds. Even if I'm only off of them for a week, it takes me several weeks after restarting the meds before I start feeling better.

I do not mean to make you feel sorry for me. It is what it is. I am still learning my limitations and how to live with this. But, I have been lucky with a very supportive husband, family, and group of loving friends.

Enough about that.

You may remember all those cute fur babies of mine that would pose for TUSAL pix with my ort jar. Since you last heard from me, we lost Bubba the cat in Feb. 2014. Sweetest kitty-boy ever. We also lost Teddy, our beloved Wheaten terrier. That was in July of 2014. I still miss them both so terribly.

About six months after the loss of Teddybear, around Valentine's Day of this year, we brought a new puppy into our lives. Her name is Slipper. She is a pit bull mix. She is so pretty and adorable and funny. And, she is a holy terror. The cats do not like her. Not yet, anyway. She likes to chew and destroy the kids' toys, and they have not caught on to the idea of putting them in safe places. Not yet, anyway.





Did I mention she's a digger?
And a bit of a goofball?




















Last year I began sewing for some stash cash. It started with q-snap covers, and project envelopes, and quickly snowballed into hundreds of orders and lots of other bags and things. In December, though, I began feeling more pain, and other conditions kept piling on top of my arthritis. I haven't been back to the sewing machine yet. That was never my intention, but I'm still working out how to deal with constant, daily pain. I truly hope to start back soon, and catch up on all my outstanding orders.

I am still stitching when I feel up to it. I have been doing fewer and fewer round robins, though I have two starting soon. I participated in a crazy January "15 in '15" SAL, in which I started a new project every day of the first 15 days of the new year. It was fun, but now my WIP count is at a depressing and embarrasingly high count. I will share pix and plans with you all soon.

What else? What else? Let's see...the Girl-Child is 5, nearly 6. She is in regular Kindergarten. The autism has presented some challenges, but I'm still very proud of her progress, and head-over-heels in love with her cuteness and affection. The Boy-Child will be 13 soon. Gulp! With all that age entails. Puberty is kicking off with a bang. Ugh! He has acne, body hair, and, OMG, he's growing a mustache! And, he seems to be under the impression that he is quite grown up and knows everything. Bless that boy. He may not survive to his 14th birthday.

That's all I can think of for now. Next time, stitchy pictures, I promise!

Hugs and Stitches,
Karen



Thursday, March 26, 2015

Wow! Took a little break there, did ya, Karen?

My last post was in July of 2013. Yikes!

Since then, all my pictures have disappeared. I don't know why, but perhaps it has to do with my getting a new computer.

Over time I will attempt to link my pictures where I can. I don't know about the hunks, though. I may not have kept all of those.

Can I promise that I will keep up with this blog? Not really, no. Life has been tough and thrown me a couple of curveballs since I last posted. I needed to sacrifice some things to be able to manage my life. My blog was one of those things. :(

I will keep it around though, because I still do love to stitch (when I can), and want to share the things that I love.

Perhaps in my next post I will let you know what things have changed in my life since last we spoke.

Until then...

Hugs and stitches,

Karen

Sunday, July 14, 2013

A quick catch-up post


I'm so sorry, dear followers. It seems I needed a bit of a blogging break. I think I was starting to put too much pressure on myself to keep up with things like reading your blogs, WIPocalypse posts, TUSAL posts, Theme-a-licious, and even Hunky Friday. I may trim things back a bit, now, so that I can enjoy doing this without quite the pressure. I hope you don't mind. (You've probably all been through this a bit on your own blogs, I imagine.)

I'm just going to pop in a few pix of what I've been stitching since I last posted.


Mirabilia Large RR - Andie's Piece

Mirabilia Large RR - Jo's Piece


Joan Elliott RR - My Piece

Joan Elliott RR - Kaye's Piece

Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL 2013


Pick a Pixie SAL


Red Lady Pirate SAL



I'm sure I'm missing a few little things. If I think of them, I'll post another time.

I'm glad to be catching up a little bit. Thank you for sticking with me. I'll write again soon. :)

Sunday, May 19, 2013

All I can say...







I promise I'll get back to blogging again. One of these days...

Friday, April 5, 2013

Business, Then Pleasure

Hi all!
It's Hunky Friday, and I actually remembered!!! I know, you're shocked.

But before the eye candy, I want to share with you a blog that I'm intrigued by. This is a designer that I hadn't heard of before. In fact, Kevin at Cabbages and Kings has introduced me to a goodly number of designs/designers that are new to me. Thanks Kevin! (BTW, Kevin is getting close to a follower milestone, so head on over there, and say HI for me.)

The designer is Beth Ann Seal of Summer House Stitche Workes. She is having a blog giveaway if you want to check it out, But, hurry! The deadline is April 7.




Okay, now that the business is out of the way, here is the pleasure...

I am bringing back an old favorite from early last year, but you shouldn't be disappointed at the repeat, because it's SHEMAR MOORE!

Let the drooling begin.










Monday, April 1, 2013

The Lucky Winners!

I've done the drawing. I found an easy-to-use Random Number Generator.

For all the winners: Please message me with your mailing information. Thanks!

Prize #1: RNG = 12
And the winner is...Ginny!
SW 16 ct Aida Solo       












Prize #2: RNG = 18
And the winner is...Isabellii!
SW 28 ct Cashel Solo










Prize #3: RNG = 11
And the winner is...SouthpawStitcher!

SW 28 ct. Pink Waterfall Lugana










Prize #4: RNG = 12
And the winner is...Linda (Stitchin with my Furbabies)
Charts and misc. fibers


















And the winner of Squish is....ME! I'm going to go give her a squeeze. :)

Congratulation to all the winners! I hope you enjoy your prizes.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Show a little love

In preparing for my 100-follower giveaway, I have been checking out a lot of your blogs. I noticed a blogger that has some really beautiful stitching, but not a lot of followers.

I thought I would show a little love and give her a shout out. Perhaps you might check out her blog at A Stitch of This...A Stitch of That. Tell her I said "Hi!"