Lookie here!!

Wow, I did it! I did lots of stitching! It is so wonderful to finally feel like stitching again after about a year of struggling to do anything.

I went to the doctor about a month ago and he ordered some blood tests. Blood tests almost always come back normal for me, as what it wrong with me just doesn't show up anywhere. But this time my B12 levels came back as low and the doctor prescribed me a 3 month course of B12 shots to bump it back up. I had this once before and it really didn't make any difference, so I wasn't expecting much. But this time the change was amazing. I won't be climbing mountains any time soon, but before this I was sleeping all day when I could and struggling when I couldn't. I'm still tired now, but relatively speaking, it is so much better.

And I'm stitching again, which is so wonderful.

I was already working on "Dawn Star" and hoping to finish my fourth half page. I cut my pages in halves vertically and then taped all the top halves together to form a strip that is the width of the design (5 pages) wide and half a page high. The fifth page was all background and I just kept on stitching until I finished it. So I now have my first strip done (and only 8 more to go!). This means I am an astounding 11% completed on the design. I wonder how many more years it will take me to get it done?

All the same, I am absolutely delighted about this. It is such a great feeling, both to be stitching again and to have made such an achievement. This first strip is mostly background, so I do worry about whether the colour changes are too sharp and such, but I do know that as the rest of the design comes in, it should all come together beautifully. Since I'm the designer for this one, I'm super critical about how it is coming out. (I go for more "blockiness" in the background than some other designers to make the stitching easier for the stitcher, but I'm super conscious of how it looks.)

So without futher rambling, here is 11% of "Dawn Star". (It's clickable for a considerably bigger version.)



Next, I'm going to put "Alpine Seasons" on the frame. Hopefully I will FINALLY get part 9 finished, which will mean all the stitching that goes around the centre will be done at last.