Saturday, August 8, 2009

It's About Time! - Long post

Yes, I do think it is about time that I pull out of my funk and let everyone know what has been going on the past couple of months.

In May, we flew to Oklahoma to see my baby boy marry his high school sweetheart. Soooo exciting and sooo happy to see them take this step. To make a long story short, I ended up in the hospital the night before the wedding for a stay of eight days. Back in February, I had been diagnosed with an ulcer. I finished the medication about a week before leaving for the wedding., and I still wasn't feeling "normal" (whatever that is, lol) but figured it was nerves about the impending nuptuals and if I still wasn't up to par after the wedding, then I would go to the doctor when we got home. Yeah right. Turns out it perforated and I had to have surgery. The yucky kind that leaves a six inch scar down the center of your belly =( Not that I would be wearing a bikini any time soon but I had hoped that someday.....LOL. Anyway, the wedding went on and the kids came to see me at the hospital afterwards. I tried like crazy to get myself together to go. The Doc even said that if I could, they would load me up with pain meds and let me out on a pass for two hours. I couldn't even dress myself which is funny now, but not then. I passed out during the attempt and had to be put back into the bed. See, the doc thought it was something else wrong that would "fix itself" so at that point I hadn't had the surgery. It wasn't until the day after the wedding that he decided to go in and have a look. Once I was cleared from the hospital we flew home and a few days later noticed something wasn't quite right. We went out to my favorite Vietnamese restraunt for soup and my husband asked if "that" was me or had I spilled soup on myself? By "that" he was refering to the stain on my shirt, right over my incision. I immediately went into denial and said it was soup of course. But it wasn't. We went to the hospital and had the build up of fluid around the incision, and the twenty one staples removed and I felt much better. I'm sorry, did I say I was trying to make this short? I lied. Even after that incident, I had another one before I was able to get on with the healing. And it was by far the grossest thing I have ever been through so I won't share any details. However, now I am doing much better. In two weeks I will have an EGD and then the docs will be able to see that everything is healing fine on the inside and I will feel better knowing that everything is okay too.

So, without further ado, I present a few things I have been doing. I will will share more photos later this week but decided to start with just a few for this post. I am learning to tat and this is my first doily:
Here are four more Blackbird stockings back from the finisher. I have a couple more stitched but really need to get my act together. I am supposed to lead a SAL for these with my local needlework guild and it won't be very inspiring if I can't keep up with it myself. I had already planned to stitch them all so this should really encourage me to keep up. Except that I have only wanted to tat lately.
A few weeks ago my inlaws came to visit and Sue brought me this bounty of goodies. This collection of tatting supplies came from her Aunt who passed away last year. No one else in the family tats so she asked if I could have the box of items that were now in storage. I feel so lucky to have them and will make lots of things. She saved some really neat patterns and I have already made one of them with some of the thread but it is a secret for now ;-)

The photo above shows the tatted flowers and doodles she had made and saved for note cards. The photo below shows the vast amount of tatting thread from the box and the patterns she had clipped from old Workbasket magazines. The thread was all in stationary boxes but I put it all into these plastic school boxes in hopes to keep it in really good condition so I can use it.
This photo shows all of the tatting shuttles and various tools she used. What an awesome collection!!!

Now, here is a link to the video my son made from the wedding pics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jrhgq1PNYQ
I think you will agree that they are just the cutest couple ever =)

Have a great day!

14 comments:

Daffycat said...

Holy cow, Paula...you poor thing! You certainly had a time of it! I hope you are feeling better now. Welcome back!

Solstitches said...

Are you really a beginner at tatting?
I'm trying to learn but am light years away from making anything even half as nice as this doily.
Love the way you finished your Blackbird Designs Small Token into a needle book. It looks wonderful.

Margaret

Singtatter said...

I too can't believe you are learning to tat, it's a great 1st piece of doily! How fortunate to inherit all the wonderful treasures!

Marie said...

Congrats to Doug and Erica...I enjoyed that video and can not believe that you were so sick and missed the wedding ~ glad that you have recovered.

Wow, your tatting is beautiful and your new stash of supplies is huge. :D

The BBD stockings are so pretty!!!

staci said...

You know, I was just thinking about you and that it had been a long time since you posted. I'm so sorry that you've been so ill...and that you missed the wedding! I hope you are feeling better now. {{hugs}}

Edy said...

a. Congratulations to the newly-weds.
b. OUCH!
c. Lovely work

SY said...

Oh what a bummer to miss your son's wedding! The YouTube video is so precious though and they make a lovely couple. The weather looked beautiful for an outdoor wedding.
Your tatting goodies are awesome!
God Bless and mend well.

Joy said...

I am soo glad that you are feeling better. Your stockings look very nice and I love that dainty doily. I have never tried tatting...maybe one day. Don't forget to share the "secret" doily! :-)

Roberta said...

Paula sorry about the ulcer actingup and you missing such an important event in your families life. But glad you are better.

Love the stockings and the crochet doily, but how fun to have received the tatting threads and shuttles.

Roberta

Natasha said...

sorry to hear about your trip to the hospital.Hope you are recovery nicely.

That wedding video was very nice. Looks like they had a wonderful day.

I look forward to seeing your BBD LF piece you are finishing up.

Siobhán said...

Paula, I'm sorry to hear that you were so sick!! Congratulations on the wedding--glad to hear it all went so well, even if you weren't able to be there in person. Hope you're healing well!

Beautiful tatting! Lovely stockings, too.

Einschies blog said...

Paula, did you ever try tatting??? I did and I didn´t like it, you do that for hours and can´t see any progress....but this amount of floss is amazing...I am using it for making my beaded necklaces;-))

Paula, do you have any interest in doing a RR perhaps?? With spooky houses??? By the way, a halloween RR would be great...

Gaby...from Stitching smalls with friends

Fox said...

You are just learning to tat?? Wow, Paula! That doily is just beautiful! You have a real talent.

Good - so you can take advantage of those terrific supplies!

Thanks for the visit. : ) Fox

N. Maria said...

You tat, too! ...and a beginner!? Beautiful work.
I have to make a few more of me to be able to do all the needlework things I want to do.
Maria H