Stitching or Pixelated Vision?

The Flowerpot Kitty piece is done! One of my guild members had the right black floss to finish the back stitching. We had a meeting at her home on Wednesday and she happened to have the floss in her stash. She very much wanted me to finish a project. I guess my habit of having multiple projects going at once scandalized her. (She never starts a new project without finishing the one she's already started.)
I will be framing this and the Dalmation puppy over the weekend.

Next up is my mother's birthday gift. I started it on Monday of this week and had the stitching done Wednesday afternoon. The framing was put off until Thursday due to a lack of acid free adhesives in the house. A quick trip to the scrapbooking store fixed the issue and framing was a breeze.
I should note that the decorative mat and frame were part of the kit. It's part of the Daydreams collection by Dimensions.

Third we have the project I started to keep my hands busy while I looked for replacement thread for the kitty. It's also a Dimensions kit and meant to have a surname and year stitched in the middle. I'm not sure if I'm keeping this one or giving it to my in-laws, but I can figure that out once I get to the year.

Last is the old Frank Lloyd Wright piece I started last year. It was supposed to be a Yule gift for my dad, but I got distracted when Uncle Will died. The goal is to finish this up and get it framed for his 90th birthday next weekend.
Luckily I had gotten quite a bit done before life got in the way. The only cross stitching left is the light green blocks around the left side and bottom. Then it's all back stitching.

Lull

Life has been doing its level best to get in my way lately.

I've been sick for the better part of a month now with no real idea of what it wrong. Blood tests have been attempted, but really all that happened was I became a pin cushion. I'll get whatever results from whatever tests they were able to get blood for sometime soon.

There are more color problems on the Flowerpot Kitty. There wasn't enough black floss to finish the back-stitching and the DMC black is has a duller sheen. So I'm pondering what to do about that.

Castor had a seizure in the wee hours of the morning. His thrashing woke FH and I up around 4:40am. He'd been having little seizures for a while, but they were only little tics. This was a full blown, spittle covered, thrashing seizure. It took him a little while to come back to himself when it was over and then his back legs didn't want to work correctly. The vet took blood today and we'll know more tomorrow morning.

One of our young nephews (aged 12) had his appendix burst three weeks ago... the problem wasn't caught for two days due to flu being present in the house to confuse the symptoms. He survived that, survived the abscess that followed, and battled his way through the surgery when they finally took the pieces of ruined organ out. Now however he's spiked a dangerously high fever and is red over most of his body...and has been that way since Friday. His parents are going to switch hospitals tomorrow if no progress is made in diagnosis/treatment.

FH got the desktop PC fixed with the help of his friends over the weekend, so I've been getting all of my pictures in one place again and organizing them. Next comes backing things up. At least I can do that while resting.

I'll hopefully have something interesting to look at soon. Right now I"m just concentrating on being able to attend a wedding this weekend.

Time for Backstitching

All of the cross stitches on this piece are complete. Time for celebratory tacos and ice cream.

More FH Culinary Creations

Thursday Night-
Homemade tomato sauce over Campanile pasta: Sauce made from Black Krim and Better Boy tomato (from FH's garden), seasoned with fresh garlic, Vidalia onion, and Italian seasoning, served with black olives, mozzarella cheese, and fresh parsley.

Friday Night-Sesame Pasta Salad: Spaghetti, cucumber, chicken, cashews, parsley, green onion, and Vidalia onion. Sauce made with lime juice, lime zest, soy sauce, sesame oil, organic apple cider vinegar (substituted for rice wine vinegar 'cause we were out). Topped with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes.

Tonight's Culinary Delight

Tonight's dinner: Campanile topped with beets and heirloom tomato from the garden that were simmered in beef broth. Toppings on that are feta, ripe olives,prosciutto, and pistachios.
Another fantastic meal by FH!

Dinner and A Warning

I'm still feeling unwell, so this week I'll be blogging on and off about the various noms that come out of FH's kitchen. Yes, the kitchen is mainly his territory.

First dinner provided by the ever lovely and eternally fuzzy husband:Cucumber stuffed with prosciutto and a mixture of ricotta, feta, and dill, served alongside a cheddar-bacon bratwurst.

Now the warning:

In case the overly corpulent, buck-toothed, sneak-thief, and lastly CHEEKY whistle-pig that resides in our neighbor's yard is stealing internet access in addition to our tomatoes and my flowers is able to read this, your days are numbered. I find myself in need of groundhog pelts to line a cloak hood for winter Rendezvous season and FH has discovered that he may lawfully help your mortal coil shuffle off provided he speaks to the neighbors, get this year's hunting license, and uses his bow. Your days are numbered you wannabe Phil.

The Difference Two Days Make

Here's where I left off on Saturday night:

Here's where I stopped Sunday night:There are just three smaller flowers, the roots/dirt, and some leaves remaining.