This Winter Really Sucks

The doctor's say that it's because we keep going from mild to cold.  There are fleas, ticks, germs that aren't being killed by the cold weather.  My son works at a grocery store and handles dirty money.  And he hasn't been all that careful about cleaning up well when he comes home.  Whatever the reason, I'm sick again.  I have now been sick - in some sort of way - since December 3.  My husband had to go to the doctor this week.  His sinus was so full on one side, his eye was swollen shut.  So, I had to take him.  He saw the same doc I saw back in December.  She asked how I was doing.  I said I was now fighting off whatever he's got, but also I've had a nagging cough that just won't go away.  She nodded - lots of people are having the same trouble.  She recommended we run the humidifier.  Last night I lost the battle against the newest germ.  However, the nasal spray and the Coracidin seem to be helping me fight back.  I am just so sick of being sick.  Spring, and consistently warm weather, just can't get here soon enough for me.  Punxatawny Phil better be wrong.

We did get some snow last weekend and are supposed to get a little bit more tonite - but it will only last a day and we'll be back in the 60's again.   I pulled a huge tick out of my dog last night that wasn't there a few days ago.  Yuck!  So here's some pics of the snow.

 

So there I was, last Sunday morning, sipping my coffee and BAM!  A hawk lands on my deck railing.  POOF!  All my songbirds disappeared instantly.  Amazingly, the hawk looked straight at me inside the house and then hopped to the other railing.  That gave me the opportunity to get up and grab my camera.  First shot is of the hawk - not the best, but it was looking right in my direction and they don't call 'em Hawkeyes for nuthin.  After that picture, it was up up and away - much to the songbirds delight.  I went outside and grabbed a shot of its prints in the snow.

 

 On the sewing side of things - I've got a lot of things on the burners for clients.  Thought I'd resolved my issues with the pirate quilt and have managed to make great headway with Opus Magnusson.

Did this for a client - it's a needlepoint plaque; just a large ornament really.

I saw a piece on Fons & Porter last weekend about painting with Fabric dyes.  Finally found the dyes on a website and ordered the "Classic" colors.  Got an email today saying oops, sorry, we're out of stock, how about we send you the "romantic" colors or the "country" colors.  Well, I wrote them back and said, how about you issue me a refund and keep better track of what you're in stock of and not.  Get pissy when I'm sick.  I was just really annoyed.  I'd spent hours looking for the darned things and then thought I'd resolved my problem.  Not so much.

When I finished stitching on AotH in January, I went right into Opus Magnusson.  Remember how I really hated this tiger?

Well, to use one of Siobhan's euphemisms, I yanked up my big girl panties (because the darned thing was driving me nuts!) and did this:

I have not edited the stitching in my photo software.  I edited the stitching on my kitchen counter instead.  Yep.  I went out to Michaels and purchased a packet of orange fabric dye.  I mixed up the tiniest bit of the dye with a little salt and a little water and painted it on with a watercolor brush.  I am MUCH happier with the whole thing now.

Also, I've finished the top four blocks:

 

I have decided that I'm going off the reservation again with the recommended colors.  As noted before, Cidermill Brown is not a satisfactory substitution for orange (that's what happened to the tiger).  So, I pulled some GA orange - Pumpkin Patch.  And it turns out that it very closely matches my dye job on the tiger!  YAY!  At least that went right, right?  And then I decided that there was just too little use of the red.  So, I made the birds red with a little orange.  They make me think of phoenixes.  The bottom row is supposed to have more people in the corner, but I think that's too many people, so I'm going to make a substitution.  My husband, who has been rather blase' about this piece in the past went WOW!  when he saw it this past weekend.  I'm now back to work on the stocking for my daughter in law (no pic for now).  

I am probably late in discovering her, but in case you haven't heard about the Pioneer Woman, she's had a blog (now website) for a long time and recently went into the t.v. business on the food channel.  I made her brussel sprouts for Christmas dinner and want to make her Knock-You_Naked Brownies soon.  I just love the name!  I have to write her because she recently did something on her show that I went - wow, why haven't I been doing it like that, I'm smart, I should've figured that out!  So, gotta run!  Hope you enjoyed!