Today is my 8th wedding anniversary.  I sure wish Tommy were here to spend it with me.  I miss you and love you so much, my darling.

 I finished the three pieces I showed a few days ago.  Here are the pics:

To this block, I added the flowers in the middle of the top and bottom.  I then added a small silver dragonfly and transparent gold beads.  I'm really happy with it.  It's now just waiting to be put on its tin.

This block also received a small dragonfly, gold this time.  I scattered green transparent beads around.

To this block, once again I added a small dragonfly and clear beads.

I am very pleased with all three of these blocks.

I also did the following two pieces.  The first one I actually thought I was finished with until I scanned it and looked at it on the monitor.  Then I realized I totally forgot three corners.  How silly.

I made this for a specific tin.  It was a little too big but I figured that as I stitched that it would shrink.  NOT!  It is still too big.  I am thinking of making this into a wall hanging when it's finished.  I did alot more silk ribbon embroidery then I usually do.  I love doing it but have always been kinda scared of it.  Not anymore. 

I do hate that the scanner squished my roses in the middle though.

This is the piece I am currently working on:

I'm happy with what I've done so far but now I'm kinda stumped as to what to do next.  Any ideas?

Isn't that piece of lace just lovely?  It was dyed specially for me by my very good friend Lesa, owner of the group CQ For Newbies.  She did such a wonderful job and it fits this block very nicely.  Thanks, Lesa.

Had a death really close to home tonight.  Sometime during the late evening, firetrucks and cop cars went down our street with sirens and lights.  Jeremy came in a little later and told us that there had been a really bad accident at the end of our street.  There had been a motorcycle/car accident (the car was driven by a 20 year old girl who fled the scene; she later turned herself in) and the young man riding the bike had died.  Made us all stop and think.  Jeremy rides a bike.  He is safety conscious but accidents happen.  He had one a couple of years ago that if it had not been for the quick thinking of a friend of his, he would have died.

A couple of hours later, Jeremy told Mom and I that the young man that died was not only someone he went to school with but is also the brother in law of Lyric's aunt.  He was only 25.  His name was Mitchell.  He left behind a wife and a year old son.

Including Tommy, this is the 7th death in the last 17 months.  Three of them were school mates of Jeremy's.

Zoie update: It's been almost two weeks since Zoie's surgery.  The vet is pleased with her progress.  She has five pins in her leg.  All of them stick out and are enclosed in what the vet calls a "cage".  It is like a bar that all the pins are held in place by.  I was really surprised that she was up and walking on it the day after her surgery.  When mom and I got there to pick her up, they told us she had just come in from her daily constitutional and they were pleased with how well she was walking.

So, I take (read that as carry) her out to the side yard three to five times a day.  She walks around a little bit and then does her business.  I then carry her back in.  She spends most of the day and all of the night on my bed.  She is to be still (as best a dog can be) except when she goes outside.  My bed is high enough that I know she won't jump off of it.  Sometimes she wants to sit in the recliner.  Have I ever mentioned how spoiled this pooch is?  So whenever I am in the room, she gets to sit in the recliner.  She jumped down from there yesterday.  I don't think she was expecting the pain.  She spent the rest of the day on the bed, cause I just don't trust her.

We go back to the vet once a week.  They will re xray in six weeks, at which time they will determine if it is feasible to begin removing pins.  Dr. Bell said he should be able to remove the last two pins in about 18 to 20 weeks.  It's gonna be a long five months...lol.

I'll post some pics once I get them off my camera.

This is my little Zoie.  She was Tommy's baby girl.  She is part jack russell and part chihuahua with the attitude of a rottweiller.  The only thing I know she is scared of is my mom's german shepard, Lady.  Lady wants to eat her.  We work very hard at keeping them separate.  Lady gets puts in mom's bedroom whenever Zoie goes out back for her daily constitutionals.  Everyone is told that under no conditions do we let Lady out of her room while Zoie is out of hers.

Well, Sunday, Zax (who by the way loves Lady) and Zoie were in the front part of the house and Lady was in her room.  Lyric, my brother Jeremy's girlfriend's (Ashley) 2 year old (3 next month) boy decided without telling anyone to free Lady.  Yes, he does know better.  It is something that has been drilled into his little head since he first set foot in this house...Lady must stay in her room when Zoie is out of hers.  He knows this.

Well, we all know accidents happen.  Before Mom, Ashley, or I even knew what was happening, Lady was on Zoie.  It took Mom and I about five minutes to get them separated....seems like so much longer.  We rushed Zoie to the Emergency Afterhours Clinic.  Her little left hind leg below the knee was crushed.  She also had puncture wounds in her scruff.    The vet (very nice man) set her leg and put a cast/splint on it.  He was able to realign the bones, but there were still splinters of bone that could slip out of place again.  She also got a pretty blue bandage on her neck. Monday morning Mom and I took her to our regular vet as per instructions.  Dr. David looked at the xray from the er vet.  She wanted to take more xrays cause he had only included one view on the cd, so we had to leave my little girl there.  After lunch, Dr. David called to tell us what the new xrays showed and what the next course of action should be. 

Tomorrow afternoon, Zoie is having surgery to rebuild her leg.  They are putting pins in it.  Dr. David said some of them will be visible.  She gives Zoie a real good prognosis.  If for some reason something goes wrong, or the leg doesn't "take" after the surgery, then they will probably have to go back in and amputate.  I was told that if this happens, she will have to relearn her center of gravity but she should be just fine without the leg since it's a rear one.

My poor baby girl.  It is going to be a long six weeks...for both of us.  I should get to bring her home Wednesday afternoon.  When I talked to Dr David this afternoon, she said Zoie had taken both food and water.  She also had her pain medication and was "feeling pretty happy".  This is the first time she has ever stayed over night at the vet's.  This is only the third time in her life that she has been away from mama overnight.  Maybe someone should give mama something so she can sleep and stop worrying about her child...lol.  Zaxie misses his sissy something awful.

This past weekend was a long one for my family.  My mom went to Texas to visit my brother Harvey and his wife Paula.  They came and got her Friday night and Jeremy went and got her yesterday afternoon.  Their truck had serious transmission problems that didn't become evident until the drive from their house and back Friday night.
So Jeremy and I had the house all weekend.  I actually got quite a bit of work done.  Here are some pics to see what I did.  All three pieces are worked on silk dupioni...which I love love love to embroider on.  None of them are totally finished.  They are all tin toppers.
The first one is round and done on yellow dupioni.

This one is eight sided for a lovely vintage tin and worked on tan dupioni.

The third one is for an altoid tin and is worked on green dupioni

I'll show more later when I have more done.

This is the picture I made for my brother Jeremy for Christmas last year.  It was actually rather difficult as he doesn't like a lot of "bling" and I had never made anything "masculine".  It was very hard not to put on some roses and such.  But I did it and he loves it.   

My brother Harvey and his wife Paula live in Diana, TX, just north of Longview.  Harvey manages a feed store there.  My mom is going to spend the weekend with them this Friday.  Harvey is taking some of my stuff back to put in the store.  I am so excited.  I hope it does well.

I mentioned in my last post, so very long ago, that I am taking an online "retreat" called Soul Restoration.  One of the activities we do is to make truth cards.  A new friend of mine from the class, waving hi to Evelyn, wants to see mine, so here they are.  And yes, I know I misspelled believe on the card, just wanted to see if anyone else was paying attention...lol

Just stopping in for a minute.  I'm still sick as a dog.  Move five feet or talk for a few minutes and I cough my head off for 20 minutes.  I do think I'm getting better though, the congestion is pretty much gone.  Unfortunately coughs seem to like to hang around for a while.  I think I might even be able to get back to my stitching tomorrow, hopefully.

On the 11th, I am taking a 6 week online workshop called Soul Restoration through the Brave Girls Club.  I am so looking forward to it.  There is still time to sign up and I'm sure Melody and Kathy will be more than happy to have you.  The art we will be making is going to be so far out of my comfort range...art journals.  But I'm going to pull up my socks and learn something new.  I can't wait!!!

I still have four bead journal pages to make and then to put them together in a wall display to hang beside Tommy's picture.  I have an idea for a couple of the pages, but a couple are still a mystery.  I am so glad I did the BJP last year.  It really helped me remember times that I'd forgotten.  It has also allowed me to make sure I never forget them again. 

Before the week is over I will have finished pictures of my mom's bible cover that I made her for Christmas.  I also have a couple of other small things I want to get done before I start Soul Restoration.

I'm going leave you with a couple pictures of flowers that we had in the yard of our house in Lafayette.

Til next time.

Late on the first day of 2011 and all I have done is sleep and watch tv.  I am so blasted sick it's not even funny.  I am trying real hard not to swallow cause that hurts the worst.  Coughing feels like I am ripping my throat out.   Yuck. yuck yuck.

I wish everyone a wonderful and blessed Christmas. 

We had a busy day even though three of the five of us are sick.  My mom and Jeremy both have what the dr calls the crud...hacking cough, stuffiness, sneezing, fever...you the Nyquil commercial.  Ashley and Lyric were also here...of course.  Lyric is sick and was running a fever.  I actually did pretty good faking being happy.  It wasn't til the presents started that I slipped and started to cry.  But we all survived it.

Lyric and Jeremy both got lots and lots of clothes.  Lyric's came from his aunt in Florida and Jeremy's came from Ashley.  Mom got two parakeets from Jeremy...which she absolutely adores.  She named them Sugar and Spice.  I got a gift certificate from Threadart.com from Jeremy.  Ashley and Lyric gave me a jigsaw puzzle and a tin of cookies.  Mom got the same.  Mom got Jeremy, Ashley and myself one of those digital frames.  I am so excited to be able to put all my pictures of Tommy in there.  Oh yeah, the babies got new food bowls from Grandma.

My gifts are still unfinished.  It has been a really hard month.  I was doing fairly good and on time until the 11th.  A dear family friend died quite unexpectedly.  We were all shocked by it.  When we went to visitation, I could have sworn it was Tommy in the casket.  His wife told me the same thing, before I told her.  It took me several days to be able to pick up a needle again.  I still haven't been able to get over all the depression and emotions.  I don't remember last Christmas at all, with the exception of getting Tommy's death certificate on Christmas Eve.

Enough depressing talk for one night, especially tonight.  God Bless each and everyone of you and yours.  Even if you don't read my blog, I am wishing it for everyone in the world tonight.

I just learned something tonight that absolutely pisses me off no end.  Did you know that it is against the law (probably just in the stupid state of Louisiana) to have a candlelight church service???  Apparently the powers that be don't trust us not to set ourselves on fire.  Every year my favorite service has been the one late Christmas Eve night where everyone gets a candle, lights it, and then sings Silent Night.  I mean come on, we are not children who need to be protected from ourselves.  I don't know anyone that would intentionally go to church on Christmas Eve to set themselves and everyone else on fire.  I mean, yes, I know accidents happen, but come on.  Next thing you know there will be a law saying we can't all leave at the same time cause someone might have a car accident or cause a traffic jam.  The really sad thing is that the people who a making these assine laws were elected by the people they are trying to protect from themselves.  Maybe we need a law prevent us from electing jackass into positions of power.  But then I'm from Louisiana...can anyone spell CORRUPTION.

Ok, I'm finished ranting now.

It's Zoe's 5th Birthday today!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, baby girl.

March 2006 3 months old

December 2010 5 years old

Vintage Yoyo Quilt Giveaway

This absolutely beautiful vintage yoyo quilt is up for grabs over at Thearica's Pigtales and Quilts.  She is giving it away on Christmas Eve for your favorite Christmas memory.  Please be sure to mention that you found it here.

I have to share this picture.  This is Lyric.  Isn't he so adorable?????

I WON!!!!!  I WON!!!!
I entered a blog giveaway over on Orna Willis' blog Ornaments.  It is an Extraordinary Giveaway.  It is the first time I have ever won a blog giveaway.  I am so excited. 
We had to leave a comment on our favorite Christmas tradition.  My favorite tradition was, of course, with Tommy.  Every Christmas Eve we would sneak away from wherever we were and go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  We would sit and talk, hold hands and just enjoy being with each other at a very special time of year.  I miss that so much.

Here is a picture of what I won....doesn't it look wonderful!!!

Here are some pictures of my latest project.  It is a cq'd bible cover for my mom for Christmas.  I can show the pics cause she has seen them and knows what I'm making.  I have the motif for the spine completed.  I may add some beading to it, but my mom will worry about damaging it, so I may just leave it as is.  What do ya'll think?  The image came from one of the antique embroidery books that Sharon Boggon talked about on her blog.

It is done on a piece of satin.  The scanner was being persnickety so the pic is not that good.  I used silk threads for the leaves and wheat sheaves.  The flowers are done in perle 8 from Threadart.com.

The motif for the front cover is a work in progress.  I have some more details to add, along with beading, etc.  I think, though, that I will go ahead and piece the cover before I do anything else on it.  It is a large bible, which is why I did these two pieces before putting it together.

The Celtic knot cross is worked on dupioni silk with perle 8 threads from Threadart.com.

I'll show more as the project comes together.  Right now I just have to find the right fabrics to use.

Today is my birthday.  This is the second one without Tommy.  I don't remember the one last year.  My mom is getting me my first cake in 7 years.  Tommy and I always celebrated birthdays by going to dinner.

 I have noticed lately that it is getting easier to think and talk about my love without crying.  I still miss him desperately, but it doesn't hurt so bad any more.  Time really does heal the hurt, but that is truly the last thing one wants to hear.  We made so many wonderful memories over the years.  I kinda look at it like a gift from God and Tommy.  The pain has lessened and now the memories are returning bringing with them smiles, laughter, and a few tears.  I am so enjoying them

More to come.  Have a wonderful memory filled day.

August BJP

Eternally Knotted Together

For Christmas in 2007 Tommy bought me an Irish wedding ring.  He had been looking for one for a few years but had not found one he really liked.  This one was found at the Irish Shoppe on Toulouse St. in the French Quarter.  This Celtic knot and the Gaelic words for Love is Eternal circle the band.

I still have four pages to make and will try hard to have them done by the end of the year.



July Bead Journal Page

Love, New Orleans Style

April 2003

October 2005-March 2008

The weekend before we got married, Tommy and I went to Baton Rouge for a workshop I was doing with the LA Ag Dept.  We checked into the hotel and headed to New Orleans, only an hour away.  We took a horse drawn carriage ride through the French Quarter followed by beignets and hot chocolate at Cafe Dumonde.  It was so romantic and wonderful.

August 29th of 2005, The Big Easy got hit by Hurricane Katrina.  The company that owns the hotel Tommy was chief engineer at in New Hampshire also had a property in N.O.  They wanted a chief with LA experience to be in charge of putting it back in order.  So in early October, we left NH for NO.  Between the time the storm happened and we were sent south, the chief at the NO property retired and a new one was promoted.  Tommy went in as Asst. Chief, which suited him just fine.  The hotel we were moving into was The La Pavillon on Poydras St.We lived here from early October til just after the first of December.  I will never forget being introduced to the general manager and then being told by him that I was not to leave the hotel for any reason unescorted.  New Orleans was under martial law.  I could not even go across the street to the parking lot where our truck was parked alone.  We had a nice room on the sixth floor overlooking Baronne Street.

Life in post Katrina New Orleans was something I hope to never experience in anyway again.  I will never forget National Guardsmen with M-16s on every corner; hundreds of "drowned" vehicles under I-10; circles with X's through them made by the searchers looking for survivors or bodies;  high water marks in the middle of buildings and homes; boats in the middle of levees, roadways, and highways; overturned cars in lawns; refridgerators lining the streets; gunshots at night; a sea of blue roofs (tarps).

There were also lots of good times.  We lived in the French Quarter on Royal Street.  There was a nice little Italian restaurant a block from us.  The owners walked past our place each day on their way to work.  They made friends with Zoe...and of course us.  Each time we would get a pizza delivered they would include a little package for Zoe filled with pepperoni and cheese bread.  She is so spoiled.  Each Mardi Gras there were atleast a thousand or more colorly costumed people that paraded past the apartment.  Tommy, Rafal, Zoe, and I would sit on the balcony and people watch for hours.  Tommy wouldn't let me go downstairs til he knew I didn't have a pair of scissors in my hands...boy those costumes were beautiful and would have look wonderful on the floor of my studio and in my work...lol.

The gentleman who lived in the lower half of the house was the retired curator of the NO Jazz Museum.  He was a great neighbor.  Each Mardi Gras he would keep a sign in list for everyone who stopped by his place.  The first year we were there, 2006, he had almost a thousand names on that list.  My inlaws were visiting and my fil sat down there with him and loved every moment of it.  He talked about it for years.

Looking back, New Orleans was a really happy time for us. 

It's been a while since my last post.  I just can't seem to get up the enthusiasm to write here or anywhere else.  I been going up and down with depression.  The last really bad bout lasted most of the summer.  Talking to my family and friends was hard enough, writing here was impossible.  I still have two BJP pages to post and four more to make.  I'm sure they will get done just don't know when. 

I have taken to setting myself short term goals and it seems to be working so far.  Mom and I are doing two shows that are coming up.  One is the Herbal Harvest Fest at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, which is just down the road from us.  This show is on October 23, the day after my brother's 25th birthday.  The second show is at the WM Moose Lounge on Nov. 6th.  My best friend, Allison, kinda signed me up for this one.  The lady in charge of finding the vendors lives 5 doors down from her and is a good friend of her mother's.  We are one of only 14 vendors at that show.

Of course right in between the two shows is the one year anniversary.  I don't know if I am going to be able to survive it.  Allison is taking the day off and coming to spend the night with me.  She says the three of us are having a sleep over party...me, mom and Allison.  Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

I have been doing better on the crying front.  I don't do it quite so often any more.  Of course it doesn't take anything to make me bawl.  But I can look at pics of my beloved without crying.  I've gotten where I can talk about memories without crying.  I know my mom is getting tired of hearing about things she already knows about but she is awesome and gets me to talk about our life together more.

We are planning on going to New Hampshire in April to clean out our storage...finally.  My brother and Allison both say they are going with us.  It will be my mom's first big vacation in just over ten years.  We spent two weeks in Colorado in 2000.  Had a wonderful time.  I am hoping this trip will be just as good.  I am, though, a little paranoid about bedbugs.  Actually I seem to be getting obsessed with fear of them...of getting them on this trip.  Who knows...just gives me something else to think and worry about.

Question:  Why are people surprised I am still wearing my wedding ring?  Is there a time limit to wear it?  Why would I take it off?  I had to stop going to grief counseling classes cause they kept telling me, 4 months after I lost Tommy, that I was to stop wearing my ring and stop telling people I am married.  They kept tellign us we are single again and to start saying it and putting it on things that ask about marital status.  That was one of the major reasons I stopped going.  That and the fact that everyone else seemed to be having just too much fun.

Ok, I'm gonna stop rambling now.