One petal done...

I've found a bit of time to stitch over the past week, but it took me a while to learn that I need to take a picture of my stitching before actually sitting down to stitch, because I'm usually putting my needle down quickly to take care of a certain someone!

I took the opportunity yesterday to take a couple of pictures of my progress on Judy Souliotis's Floral Rondel. I've finished one entire petal of the center flower. The flower petals are stitched in Soie Ovale from Au Ver a Soie. Soie Ovale is a filament silk with a very slight twist, so it's essentially the same as flat silk. If you've ever stitched with flat silk, you know it's pretty important that your hands be VERY smooth. The silk can and will snag on any little rough patch of skin. Trust me, I know. It's something I'm continuing to struggle with as my hands recover from winter and as I continuously wash my hands after every diaper change!

As a result, between snagged silk and minimal stitching time, this is going pretty slowly. The shine of the silk is SO worth it!



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Erin update: It's hard to believe, but Erin will be two months old this weekend! I'll be heading back to work part time on April 6, after 4 months of not being there. In some ways, I'm looking forward to it, but it's certainly going to be a change of pace!

A very special post

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Blogoversary to me!

And, to top it off, this is my 300th post!

True to her name, Erin (though she's only 1/4 Irish - thanks to MIL), got into the spirit of the day.Winnie-the-Pooh came by to celebrate, but Erin was already asleep!Mom's going to celebrate by trying to finish the first petal on the middle flower of Floral Rondel. Maybe I'll have an update in the next day or so.

Some progress

I know. I haven't taken time to post lately. I have, however, found a bit of time to stitch. The second flower on Floral Rondel is finished, thanks in part to the members of my ANG chapter. I took Erin to the meeting this week, and had about 25 eager babysitters (including MIL/Grandma), so I took the opportunity to stitch!

I'm now moving on to the center flower. Off to stitch for a bit while Erin is sleeping!

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Erin update: We're making progress, at least in sleeping for longer periods at night. There have been a couple of nights this week where I've been able to sleep for as long as 3 hours at a time. The respite is welcome! Three more weeks to continue working on a sleeping/nursing routine before I go back to work and have to get us out of the house at a regular (early) hour each day!

Just 15 minutes

Thank you, Mary Corbet, for reminding me that I don't need to have hours of time to actually see progress in my stitching. Just 15 minutes of stitching can mean some progress. Right now, it seems that 15 minutes is all I can find in a given day. Yesterday, I didn't even find that, but the day before, one of the flowers on my Floral Rondel went from this:To this:It isn't much, but it is progress. Tonight, I think I've even got a bit more time, if I don't spend too much time blogging!

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Erin continues to grow. Yesterday she was up to 6 lb, 7.5 oz! Unfortunately, at that doctor's visit, we found that the doctor is not encouraged that the brace on her hips will do anything. We'll get another ultrasound in two weeks to check, but it's likely that at that point we'll discontinue use of the brace. In most cases like this, the doctor says he's able to rotate the hips into position and then they just need to be held there, but in Erin's case, he's unable to get the hips into position. This likely means that she'll need surgery at 3-4 months of age to reposition the hips, and then she'll need to be in a cast from chest to knees for another 3-4 months to hold everything in place. I don't want to think about the logistics of diaper changing in this situation, but it's a means to an end, as DH keeps reminding me.

Thanks again to all who have commented and emailed, especially those who have experienced hip dysplasia with their own kids! It always helps to know the success stories!

I decided to test my camera tonight when she was waking up and not crying. :-) Here are some of the results.