The Silver Sloth Award

After reading through 3 days of blog posts this morning, I came to the conclusion that I will be named the first recipient of the Silver Sloth Award.

Although I think it's quite cute, it's probably not the most prestigious award for one to receive.  However, if it has been determined that one has earned it, I guess it's only fair for one to accept it.    

Two or three of the owners of blogs I follow posted about their truly amazing progress on at least one, even more than one, stitching project during the past 2 weeks. These projects included some hefty designs! We're talking HAEDs here folks!  Do you want to see what I managed to accomplish during the past 2 weeks?

Pitiful, isn't it.  No wonder I am the first recipient of the Silver Sloth.  It was probably created just for me.  It will probably be nicknamed "the Shirlee" by some late night TV talk show host.  Not only is it obvious how simple, quick, 1-2-3 this design is, but you may notice that I didn't get the design centered correctly!  I don't know what happened with that.  You may also notice that the design is not as L*K intended it to be.  It is not technically finished.  There is supposed to be a kind of decorative border here & there along the edges but I think if I add the border on the bottom, it will bring the design too close to the edge & then how will my poor finisher ever be able to finish it comfortably?  So yes, I think this design is now as finished as I'm going to make it.  Does it look too blah?  I hope not.  Perhaps it can be spiced up during the finishing process if that's the case.  

Two weeks.  Two weeks of stitching & this is what I've got to show for it.  It's true, I have had to endure a multitude of physical therapy visits which after 8+ weeks I'm getting awfully tired of even though Bo is a very nice therapist.  Then there's the blasted home exercise program which Bo has given me to do 6 days per week (I felt pretty good about this at first ... now it's kind of a chore), cardiac issues, & oh joy, something new. Strange boil-like eruptions on various areas of my body.  I was seriously considering changing my name to Job for a while.  Not really boils.  My Bible translation calls them "loathsome sores."  That's about right.  I finally got an appointment with my doctor who insists I have contact dermatitis.  I think she would put her career on the line regarding her certainty that I have either (A) worn a ... GASP! ... cheap watch or bracelet; (B) bought a new brand of bath soap, hand cream, washing liquid, etc; (C) took a stroll through a forest, meadow, or weed infested side of a country road; (D) allowed an animal roaming about outdoors to brush against me; or (E) allowed poor, poor Sophie ... a totally innocent indoor cat from the time I brought her home from the shelter in 1999 ... to go out into the yard & drag in heaven only knows what kind of horror to transfer to my body.  It is a strange sort of rash. Red, itchy, & not distributed with any particular rhyme or reason.  It is concentrated on my right forearm & left thigh for the most part ... large, red, itchy "loathsome sores."  There is a different sort of dispersion on my tummy, chest, & lower back ... sort of resembling a bunch of insect bites.  Anyway, I responded with a resounding "no" to all Dr. Know-It-All's explanations as to how this rash came to be on my body & she looked at me like I was an idiot.  In fact, she went so far as to state I must have worn, brought home, strolled through, rubbed against, or allowed poor Sophie to escape into the yard without realizing it ... not believing my protestations that none of these scenarios took place! Thankfully before I stood up to belt her one, she stated she would write me 2 prescriptions to heal me & stop the itching & suggested a cortisone cream for extra relief. I am thankful for 2 things.  No, make that 3. First of all, I have medications which seem to be working.  Secondly, the rash has not gone anywhere near my face.  This is an ugly, red, itchy mess, my friends.  Not my face ... the rash.  And thirdly, it is not contagious which brings up an interesting point.  How did it get from my right forearm to my left thigh, or vice versa?  If the truth be told, I don't really care anymore.  I'm feeling better & it's slowly going away.  Hooray!  Maybe I can get some real stitching done now   : )

I neglected to mention that the above L*K design came to me as a traveling pattern.  I am not a L*K sort of person but something about this design called to me.  Therefore, I threw my name in the hat for a chance to have it travel from our own Poodle Princess, Vickie ... A Stitcher's Story ... to me, & my name was chosen!  So it is now my turn to offer this design to someone else.  I will do this in a separate posting so as not to cause confusion so bear with me for that posting to be made ... undoubtedly tomorrow.  I sadly do not know from whence this traveling pattern originated ... just that Vickie had it before me.  If anyone can fill me in on the travel order, I'd really appreciate it   : )

I now must open myself to ridicule & embarrassment.  Remember in my last post ... I think it was my last post ... I told you about how excited John & I were to see a baby hummingbird feasting on the flowers in one of our hanging baskets on the front porch? Today there were 3 of them feasting on the rather sad looking remaining butterfly bush blooms at the side of the porch.  I went into the house & grabbed my camera.  I took a dozen or so photos & here are the 3 that best show the baby hummers.

I showed the photos to John & said "I don't think these are baby hummingbirds.  They have big antennae on their heads & are kind of furry like a bee."  He answered "But look how their wings beat like hummingbird wings & how long their mouth is!"  I then replied "A hummingbird's mouth doesn't curl up like you can see in that last photo!"  We did an online search & I guess we were kind of in the ballpark with our baby hummingbird guess.  Kind of.  In our defense, we didn't see that one I wrote about in my last post at close-up range.  These little creatures are actually hummingbird moths!  Who would've known!  Well, my friend in North Dakota would've known.  She studied entomology.  I have no idea how we became such good friends but I'm sure there are things about me that she has turned a blind eye to just like I turned a blind eye to her love of bugs. I'll have to send her these photos.  She will probably get all excited & tell me everything there is to know about hummingbird moths. Hmmm ... maybe I'll keep the photos just between us bloggers.  Mary doesn't read blogs   : )

Remember ... if you are going to want to try for a chance to have the L*K traveling pattern travel to your home next, watch for my next post to sign up   : )