Did You Miss Me?

I sure missed all of you -- writing here is one of the joys of my days.

--and I owe those who come to visit regularly an explanation. First of all, a big bad virus came and tried to eat my computer.

Lucky for me, hubby knew just what to do ...he took it to the computer guru.
Of course, that was over a month ago. Everything is now fixed and humming along at high-speed.  But you know how life goes ... if it isn't one thing, it's another thing.

Hubby had a stroke last month - moderate, but it affected his right arm and leg which he is moving along (also at high-speed) trying to re-train. He will do it, too, I have no doubt. We get to hold hands a lot while I help that wayward, stubborn arm do its thing. You won't hear me complaining -- him either. He's been in rehab and it is an entire month from the start to now. But he's home and I can tell that is the best medicine for him -- he said "he was afraid he wouldn't ever see this place again" ... Yes, it almost made me cry, too. I'm helping him and will get more help as soon as I poop out. We had the absolute BEST team helping him at Portland Providence's PARC rehab unit -- what a wonderful, patient staff they all are. But I have him back now, and that's the best part. We are enjoying each day together and facing this challenge with a sense of humor and support for each other (I always think he needs it more).

OK, that happy eyeball face above...  Well, that's one of my newest Millefiori Brazilian dimensional embroidery designs. I was in rehab with Rich each day, learning what I needed to know and stitched while I listened. This is the result:

"Not Just Spots!!"   

      If you ever look nose to nose at a ladybug, you'll see how beautiful they really are.  Do you remember the "Rosey Posey" I earlier described here? These spots are stitched with yet another version of this easy flower, improved (in my opinion) from two previous methods of stitching the flower. This Rosey Posey is stitched with a particularly pretty dyelot of EdMar's rayon floss #327. I will probably have this design available for retail sale as a pdf file, but might also have a fabric print with photo and instructions. Since you would be stitching the same flower over plus six, stitchers might prefer a traceable design. I'll let you know down the road a bit.

 

Well, as long as you are reading here (hopefully), here's an interesting idea that most probably know about. Keep long straight stitches from sagging; make a teeny little backstitch beneath one end of the stitch.  See:

That's it for the ladybugs at the moment.  And that is a ladybug bead:

 As promised the last time I wrote here, I described the little BDEIG quilt I made and promised to share patterns and sources so you can stitch your own Original B.E. flowers.  I named it "The Olden Days - Early B.E. Flowers".  I'll share those very soon. Remember:

One other thing ...

 

With all of the other things going on this summer, I haven't updated my website except to post information here and here about my newest book, My Book of Stitches.

 

   Thank you to so many who have tracked me down through my email address or phone. I'm shipping these orders as soon as I receive them, double wrapped and shipped in a padded priority mailer. I hope you'll get your own copy soon.

Rosalie