Finish #5 for 2024

 

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.   Finish #5 for 2024.  Dmc floss 938 on PTP Vellum 28 count lugana, one over one.  Used 10 skeins of floss.  The finished size is approx 12 x 12 inches.  The photo is not an accurate color.  If you are looking for a masculine color combination, this works.  I enjoyed stitching this, but I enjoy stitching many of her designs.  

Scarlet Letter - Peacock, Unicorn, Badger.  Back to this one again.  Filling in the right hand side.  My plan is to fill in all the things, not sure about stitching in the background.  I have a while to go before I need to decide that. 

This is what it looked like when I picked it back up again.  I seem to have last worked on it in February of this year.

Just to update on medical stuff...  I went in for a scan to check me for cancer again.  When I was in the ER, and that scan, showed I might have something on my adrenal glands.  I could not have told you where my adrenal glands even are...   My friend seemed to know.  Something about on my kidneys... looked odd....  Hey, when basically being able to breath is the problem, them telling me about adrenal glands looking slightly odd maybe..., not a darn thing I can do about that from the bed in the ER at midnight.  But that got me passed back to the chemo doctor to get another scan about 10 days later.  That next scan was the one using the radiated sugar, which makes bad things glow.  I had to wait a few hours to get the result, and the doctor said, nothing glowed, no cancer.  But  she wanted me back on the same estrogen killer pills.  Said that the estrogen killer pill does NOT have blood clots as a possible side effect.  One of them might, but not the one I am on.  So go back to the estrogen killer pill again.  Continue the 3 months of blood thinners, and they will do the ER scan again, and see what that looks like.  But my lesson... when I picked of the meds to start the blood thinners, I said, not gonna need that estrogen killer pill anymore... to the pharmacy.  That was my mistake.  Cause 10 days later, doctor says go back on it to keep the cancer away....   But asking the pharmacy, did you cancel the script?  Oh yeah, they did.  So I would need to go to the doctor again, which would be no problem to explain.  I was really convinced the blood clots had to be a side effect.  At the moment, there is no explaination for why I had the blood clots.  But the test is a sugar fasting test, so they said I'm not diabetic. It was a test that I had gotten sometime during the breast cancer stuff.  That all becomes a blur of what test was when, and at this point, doesn't matter to me.  But I do know places I have been before. But to be told, nothing glowed, no cancer...  that is nice to hear. 

18 of 20 pages completed.

 

Act of God - Long Dog Samplers.  18 of 20 pages completed.  Have almost finished the 9th skein of dmc, so it is gonna take 10 skeins for sure.  Stitching one over one, on 28 count lugana.  There have been backstitches that I not stitched, it just becomes too messy and solid.  But on a different stitch count, I might stitch those same stitches.  It is a lovely pattern, but I enjoy stitching this designer, and have stitched many of her designs. 

Filling in... 14 of 20 pages completed.

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 Long Dog Samplers - Act of God. I have 14 of 20 pages completed now.  I did a few puzzles to take a break from stitching, but I'm back to working on this again.  I am working on the horse with wings area now.  On July 4th, I ended up going to the ER, and they said I had blood clots in one of my lungs.  And possible pneumonia.  I had pain and in my chest at my sternum if I tried to lay down, and couldn't breathe.  If I just sat upright on the sofa, not a problem, no pain.  If I tried to lay down, couldn't breathe.  And it felt like somebody was squeezing my right lung intake.  I called a friend to say I wanted to go to the hospital, and I sounded like I was crying, because I couldn't breathe properly.  And since it was July 4th, at 8:30pm, and the city shoots off fireworks downtown.  Which happens to be between me and the hospital...  we had to loop around a bit to get there.  But I was fine as long as I was sitting up.  But that is the lesson, I tried to just go to bed, and oh, laying down in the bed meant not being able to breathe at all... game over, call the friend, go to the ER now.  They kept me that night, the following day, and released me on the third day.  They gave me antibiotics, and heparin.  And I get to take the pill version of heparin for 3 months.  Now the kicker...  My breast cancer, which I am now a year past the end of my treatment....  I take estrogen killer pills, because my type of cancer feed off the estrogen I produce.  I didn't get along with the first version.  At three months, I would wake up with crazy knee pain, and cry it hurt so bad.  Then be just fine during the day.  Nothing wrong with my knee.  But after several days of that, I felt I would rather die, or do that entire chemo year again, rather than continue that pill.  So I stopped taking it, and in about three days, I was fine.  I called the chemo doctor, and they saids, - let's try another version.  So I start it.  I am on it 3 months, and the heart guy says, your pressure is too high, side effect of that pill.  I am a fat chick, but I don't have high blood pressure.  But since I wasn't tracking it, it WAS possible, and I always read high anywhere near medical anything.  So I took the pressure pills, and started using my pressure cuff.  That put me at crazy low numbers, like 89/51.  And getting up to pee at 4am, I was light headed....  and scared of falling basically.  Screw that crap.  I stopped taking both pills in January.  I had a colon test at the end of March, and figured I didn't want to deal with something else screwing that up.  So the day after the colon test, I started taking estrogen pill #2 again.  Now I was at 3 months and 1 week after restarting that pill, and this happens.  So I start asking, is this a possible side effect of that stupid estrogen killer pill?  Well, it IS....   but it is very rare.   Hi, nice to meet you, I'm gonna bet I'm stupidly rare.  And see, they don't really know I took that three month break.  And they found something else for the chemo doctor to check....  So rather than seeing her in early August, I get to go back sooner.  So there is a third version of estrogen killer pills.  But so far, the pills to kill my estrogen appear to be trying to kill me.  And they just hit that 3 month mark, or slightly more, and I just have just dodge that bullet the first time with the heart guy.  But it got me the second time.  I did get a mammogram in June, things are okay for another year.  I looked at breast cancer shirts and things when I first got breast cancer, but I'm not the person to wear that shirt.  But I did find a coffee cup that said - 'Sorry your boobs tried to kill you'.  That felt like the closest version.  But now it's the preventative stuff that seems to keep trying to kill me.  I look at it that we learn from each other, and the more you know, the better off you are.  

And on July 3, I watched a lady drive off from a gas pump with the nozzle still in her car.  Yep, broke off at the nozzle, the hose was still pouring out gas like a large garden hose.  I know there are pump emergency shut offs, but I didn't know where they were at that gas station.  She tried holding up the hose, then dropped the hose, and went running towards the store with the nozzle in her hands.  She needed a better plan.  I needed a better plan.  So if this happens and you are pumping gas at the next pump over, what would YOUR plan be???   I was several cars away, parked, putting banking stuff away in my purse.  When I went to leave, she was leaving, so I was watching her leave first.... when I saw the nozzle still in her van.  And I could see her realize, and stop...  she tried, she just didn't have a plan.  We ALL need better plans.   

8 skeins of dmc used...

 Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is 8 skeins of dmc used, but again, no more pages completed.  Still at just 10 of 20 pages done.  On the upside, the border met up properly.  I have all the pages started.  There will be some backstitching omitted.  Stitching one over one, on 28 count, some backstitching just becomes too much.  It's a crappy photo, but I do look at the photos when I feel like I am not making progress. 

Used 7 skeins of dmc so far...

 Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  No more pages completed, so still 10 of 20 done, but this is the 7th skein of dmc added and completed.  The big deal was coming up on that right side, and having it actually meet above that hole in the middle.  

I did my mammogram this week, and things were fine.  The end of the month is my one year post treatment.  My hair is back, and now I can't seem to connect to the girl that used to cut my hair.  It's been two years.  She has family in other places, so she might be out of the country.  My hair started to grow back in June a year ago, so it is still less than 5 inches long.  I get to try to donate blood again once I am a year past the end of my treatment.  So I made that appointment to try.  I am O-, and they ALWAYS need O-.  Trying to get my act together.

10 of 20 pages completed

 

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is 10 of 20 pages completed.  It is also 6 skeins of dmc floss used.  My breaks from this have been to do a jigsaw puzzle, and I have done several at this point.  As I have said before, no other stitching has been calling me to pick something else up... but I just saw the photos of the Unicorn, Peacock, Badger.... and it said, hey, remember me???  Like some boy I liked and forgot about. 

8 pages of 20 completed...

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  Finished 8 of 20 pages at this point.  Finished the 5th skein of dmc.  The rows are five pages across, so I'm in the middle.  The top row shows the width of the middle page, so I have some done on several of the middle pages, where the last couple pages on each row have nothing done, except the bottom where I started at.  It certainly is a lovely design, and I am enjoying it.  I started with 12 skeins of dmc, same dyelot.  I wanna take a break from it, I never stitch something this large from start to finish.  But nothing has been calling my name. 

Six Pages of Twenty Completed.

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is 6 of 20 pages completed, and 4 skeins of dmc used.  Three corners completed.  I do like stitching on this.  It's not symmetrical, so it is something you have to watch carefully.  I had the corner of a motif that I was suddenly wrong on, so I took it out, and then restitched it exactly the same wrong way again... so it was 3 tries to get it correct.  I don't get very far before I realize I am off, but I would not want this to be the first pattern from this designer that I tried.  It is 12 inches square, stitched 1 over 1, on PTP 28 count lugana.  Actual measurements. So framing it might be easy, but I am a long way from completing it.  But I have not had the feeling that I want to stitch on something else.  But now that I have said that... all bets are off. 

Back to this one...

 

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  Went back to this one.  It is making progress, just slowly.  Still on the third skein of floss. 

Two pages completed...

 Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is two skeins of dmc used.  Two pages of twenty completed.  There are five pages across the bottom, four rows.  I like stitching it, I just needed a break so I will continue to love it.  

Friends of the Hart - Heartstring Samplary.  A random grab while I was looking for something else.  But I spent a few days on it, and added more, but it is now getting tossed back for another grab.  Where it was when I picked it back up.  This is pretty color accurate. 

If I stay with it longer I will just slow down stitching on it.  But it had been so long since I picked it up, it needed something added.  I am pleased with the stitches added.

Across The Bottom row...

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is the first skein of dmc floss 938 on 28 count PTP Vellum lugana, one over one.  This is side to side completed.  And a long way to go...