Speed Bump

Miss Raegan visits her brother post surgery 
and eats HIS snacks.

2023 started with a bit of a bump.   First, my grandson had an emergency appendectomy.  No worries, all is fine, kids are so resilient and CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) was beyond great.  Talk about resilience.  Admitted at 8 pm on a Saturday, scheduled for surgery at 9 am on Sunday and home by 3 pm Sunday.  It was more stressful for the adults than the child.

I attended Camp WannaStitch in OCMD for an annual EGA get together and came home not with purchases, but apparently picked up Covid.   Five years ago I would have thought nothing of it but a bad head cold.  However attendees were notified someone at the event tested positive upon returning.   Since I had what I thought was  head cold,  I tested.   And yes, I have had all my vaccines and boosters.  Thank goodness it seems that Covid is not as serious as it was when it first made the rounds three years ago.  I do have to say that when you don’t feel good that last thing you want to deal with is the difficulty of trying to remove the over-wrap on the cough syrup and then trying to open the child-proof top on it.  I'm not a violent person or one who slams drawers or doors but I could have launched that cough syrup into next week and not thought twice about it.

Even with a week of Covid isolation and no desire to stitch, I feel like I am keeping on track on several fronts so far in 2023.   But let’s not get too excited as we are not very far into the year. 

My first finish for 2023 was this bag I stitched for my sister’s birthday.   The bag is from “It’s Sew Emma” and the pattern is from Shepherds Bush stitched in perle cotton.   My kind of project…..started after lunch one day and done by dinner the next day.  

I have made the most wee amount of progress on The Eternal Flame from Jackie DuPlessis.   It is slow going and tedious due to some dry eye issues.   I am taking it painstaking slow on purpose being careful with this one.  

I am happy with progress on  a new start which was part of January WIPGO 2023.  One WIPCO task was to start the Shaker sampler,  To Emeline from Violets and Verses.   It was from my Shaker Retreat in Enfield last November.  I was breezing along until I hit the over one.   It is not too bad on this linen count though.

My other WIPGO project was also accomplished.   My task for the month was to chart the initials and make progress on  Our Lasting Friendship from Blackbird Designs. I met the challenge so I can also mark this as a success.  I am not stitching the entire sampler but rather I pulled out the center cartouche and have personalized it with the initials of some stitching buddies.  I would have like to have made more progress but other irons were in the fire.   

There are a few days left in January and maybe I can get in a few more stitches....maybe not.

My main focus for January was to complete  my Guild’s year long SAL.   The deadline for completion was to be completed in January and I made it with four days to spare.    I generally kept up until November when I put it aside because, well,  November and December are just too busy to be adding the stress of meeting a deadline to your life.   I’m happy this one is completed which will free up a lot of stitching time.  This is Garden of Stitches by Samplers Not Forgotten.   It is a pretty piece with a bunch of specialty stitchers.  

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.