Take a Stitch Tuesday 2013 - Stitch 68

Here's my take on the Slipped Detached chain stitch --- three ways: 

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Twenty-One

With my new glasses (fitted on Wednesday), and the left eye still bothering me a little, I decided to do something that didn't need a lot of "focus" --- I stitched up the last seven "base" blocks for Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2103:

And I plugged away at the May block so I could squeak it in under the wire:

Still have a May Bead Journal Project piece to stitch which, clearly, given the date, isn't likely to be done on time. And "Midnight Garden" sits idle as does the 2012 Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project wall hanging and I have yet to start on the "Toll Your Own Mandala" being taught online by Tracy Horner of InkCircles. To say nothing of two more online classes I've signed up for that lurk in the near future: Janet Perry's background stitching and Linda Perrin's "Messy Beading"... Will I never learn?

WIPocalypse 2013 - May 24

This month's themes were ...

Designer – Blackbird Designs, Style – Humor, Colors – Purple and Brown

And I don't have a single project in ANY of these themes. And what with eye surgery on April 29 and May 6, and subsequent recovery time (got new prescription eyeglasses two days ago), nearly an entire month of stitching time was lost.

What did I accomplish in this full-moon-to-full-moon cycle?

Completions include:

• Take a Stitch Tuesday: Scroll Stitch , Top-Knotted Buttonhole Stitch , Buttonhole Bar , Coral Stitch  and Fancy Hem Stitch
• April Bead Journal Project butterfly

Still in progress are: May Crazy Quilt Journal Project block (basic block is together but no embellishment has been done), May Bead Journal Butterfly (fabric is selected but no beading done), the wall hanging for the 2012 Color Palette/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project blocks (the final side sashings are cut and pinned but not stitched) and "Midnight Garden" (not a single stitch put into it since last report).

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2013 - Stitch 67

Fancy Hem Stitch --- one colorway, two ways!

I think this would be fun to play with with different threads, beads, etc... but I used perle cotton because that was what was at hand.

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Twenty and International Hermit and Stitch Weekend for May 2013

My last week on drops for the left eye and an eye exam has resulted in new glasses (should be in in a week or so) which should solve any additional problems I have (except for the peripheral vision shimmer which still sometimes strikes without warning).

I really lost my stitchery mojo last week ---

I settled down on Sunday to get some stitches in on International Hermit and Stitch Weekend...

Finally finished the April BJP butterfly:

May's butterfly will be in orange and white on a yellow background. Just have to get it set up and maybe I will be able to catch up.

I got kind-of behind what with eye surgery and all but finally caught up last night with Take a Stitch Tuesday Stitch #65: the buttonhole bar:

I can see this doing a really really neat layering effect on top of other stitches! And it was fun to do! If I'd had more time, I would have tried it with different threads but getting one row done in perle cotton was good enough to learn the stitch.

I also did the Coral Stitch (#66) in a different color perle cotton:

It doesn't show up as clearly as I would like but I do like the effect...

My to-do project bag is still full but there's hope that maybe I can catch up before June is too far underway!

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Nineteen

To be honest, I can't think what I did this week:

 - The concert/luncheon with the Toledo Symphony's wind quintet was on a Tuesday, as was a post-op follow-up with my optometrist.  

- I went to quilt guild Thursday because my husband agreed to drive me (I don't trust my eyes at night quite yet so night driving was out of the questions) and I suckered and signed up for the guild retreat October 11 - 13! Oh my...

- and in payment, I helped him on Sunday pot (he dug and split), label and price over 50 hostas (and Japanese forest grass) for the upcoming Black Swamp Hosta and Daylily Society plant sale (35 or so to go...). 

Other than that...

Not one stitch. While the right eye was doing a lot better, it now had to deal with the left eye in recovery and focusing on close-up work simply wasn't in the cards. 

So I really didn't reconnect with my stitchery at all...

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Eighteen

My right eye finally began to  clear up Thursday, late in that it no longer was dilated. But I was still a little fuzzy around the edges, vision-wise and brain-function wise until Sunday. Of course, my left eye is now fuzzy around the edges (although it did return to normal dilation/constriction much faster than the right one did... but my brain is still on fuzzy function mode so no stitching until later this week.

I did manage to bead a little on Sunday night on my April butterfly. It is now officially LATE but I think I can get it done this weekend...

Take a Stitch Tuesday 2013 - Stitch 64

Given that my eye isn't at top focus yet (it was still dilated after 48 hours *and* it's flashing/shimmering when light hits my peripheral vision since the lens hasn't settled in yet), I didn't do much in the way of stitching (or posting). I did complete the TAST Tuesday night since I could do that without extra light and magnification. Here's my Top-Knotted Buttonhole:

and here is the completed "page" for stitches 57 through 64:

Re cataract surgery --- it's taking a few days for my eye to recover.. While I can see, I'm getting the occasional twinge that tells me I'm not healed yet. On interesting side effect of cataract surgery is that the "fixed" eye doesn't see color the same way the cataract eye does! It would seem that, as the lenses hardened, they also yellowed and I've been looking at the world through yellow lenses for years now and didn't know it.  Don't know if this will affect my choices of color in future but it is an interesting side effect I didn't expect! 

I won't get 20/20 vision from this --- I never had it, but my optometrist, after the post-op check-up, says I'm now near-sighted in that eye and probably won't need glasses to read or stitch. Of course, I can't see for diddly at distance (never could) and my case of adult lazy-eye means I will always need glasses to correct for that. Also, my corneas are a disaster area (something called corneal dystrophy which, in my case is related to the basement membrane which holds the cells of the cornea flat to the eye --- it's not holding, the cells are piling up instead of lying flat,and the surface of my eye looks like the surface of the moon!) and we may have to take drastic action on that front once the cataracts are taken care of. Not a pleasant prospect for someone whose eyes are crucial to enjoyment of life! But what needs to be done will be done...