A Tribute to Bear

Born March 26, 1999, passed over the Rainbow Bridge March 18, 2011. Because of his story, he was a very special kitty - a beloved kitty.
On Monday, March 14, he was fine early in the morning. By about 10:00, he was sick, not himself at all.I called my husband, who is out of town Monday through Wednesday and told him. He said to make him a vet's appointment for Thursday when he was home to help me. I watched him throughout the day, and he was very droopy. I made an appt. for him. The next day, he couldn't hold up his head. I knew something was terribly wrong. I called the vet's office and asked if I could bring him in on an emergency basis. Of course. I put him in his carrier, and he was too weak to object - just a pitiful little mewling. I was desperate. I got him there as quickly as I could, and they took him right in. After telling me this could cost some big money, I told the lady vet that as long as there was hope, I would pay whatever it took. I was in love with this gentle giant. After taking him away for blood tests, I was informed of what the vet expected. He was in ketoacidosis from diabetes. I had no idea... had only had him for a bit over a year and had nothing to compare his behavior to. I was told that kitties can be sick for a very long time before they let you know it, so that possibly he was diabetic when my sister-in-law had him. He was dehydrated and his blood glucose was 651, with normal being in the human range - 80-120. I nearly fainted on the spot. They admitted him right away and started treatment of IV fluids and insulin. His blood glucose dropped to 321 that evening. I thought he was on the way to recovery.

The next day I called and was told that he had vomited and couldn't be given his insulin. I went with my mom & dad to see him and was shocked to see how bad he looked. I was literally sick myself. My mother said, "I hope he makes it," and I realized how grave it was. I told them I didn't want him to suffer, but was told it would be a couple of days before he came out of his "funk." I called later, and they told me his sugar had gone back up but was down from very high back down to 321 which was better. My husband came home Wednesday night in disbelief at how sick he was. We went together Thursday to see him, and I said I didn't want him to suffer. Jackie (one of the office girls who we hire to take care of our cats when we're gone) told me that the doctor would discuss it with us if she thought there was no hope. We both sobbed when we visited him. He opened his eyes in recognition once but was otherwise lifeless. That evening we went out to eat. We had recently had our land line terminated but had a safety line for call 800 numbers, 911, and we could receive any calls, just not call out. We had also lost our caller ID and voice mail but had hooked up an answering machine for incoming calls. We weren't good at checking the machine though. At 8:00 the next morning, the phone rang. I knew it was the doctor, and I knew what had happened. She said she had left two messages for us the night before telling us that Bear's kidneys were not handling fluids. She found him in the morning, and he had passed in the night.

We're devastated and heart-broken. There is no replacing my "Baby Bear" as I called him. Nothing can replace this terrible void in my heart. I'm eaten up with guilt that I wasn't there to answer the call; that I wasn't there to end his misery; that I wasn't there to be with him as he died. I've posted to my Yahoo groups about Bear, and I've been overwhelmed with the outpouring of stories of their own animals, well wishes and heartfelt sympathy. I was embarrassed, with all the disaster in the world, the catastrophic illnesses, and the loss of human beings, to post this crisis when I put him in the hospital and asked for prayers. I was desperate though and needed help to get through it. I have always thought that stitchers were great people, and now I know for certain that there are no better people in the world to lean on for support - so selfless, caring, and giving.

One lady (who never posts) contacted her daughter who has a diabetic kitty. She wrote to me and got me in contact with a website and message board, all about feline diabetes. I had registered and was ready to take on the challenge of caring for Bear when he died. I had to write her and tell her how grateful I was for her support but that it was too late for my Baby Bear. She wrote to me telling me how sorry she was for me, then said: "Fly away, sweet Bear... fly high, and fly wide, and may you have a soft landing."

An Ornament Stitched

Though I have a pile of things to either get framed or finish into various items, such as ornaments, including this one, I thought I'd show a shot of my ornament stitching for February. I'm trying to do an ornament a month. Though the fabric appears muddy in the photo, it's a beautiful green that the pattern calls for - Dove 30ct linen by Weeks Dye Works. It looks great with the Crescent Colour hand-dyed thread, Spinach, which is used for the tree in the ornament.

I have other WIP's I've been working on but haven't yet taken pix of them. I've acquired stash from my LNS' Super Bowl sale that I have yet to get on this blog, though I'm such a slow stitcher I'm not sure why I buy more. It's already been determined that my stash will outlive me by many, many years! I guess by buying more, I think it will extend my good stitching years, LOL!

My Sunday SAL

I started a new SAL on Sundays only with my oldest Yahoo group: Stitching_Sisters. Here is my first progress pic. It's "Haunted House" from the book 'Tis Halloween' by Blackbird Designs. This SAL is for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or autumn designs.

I spent Sunday watching 3 Lifetime movies as I stitched and did other things, like joining a new Yahoo Group for fans of Diana Gabaldon, the PhD author of the Outlander series and other books. The group is called OutlanderGathering, and it's fascinating, but you definitely have to love the books that are so involved they take 2.5 years for her to write. I just recently acquired the last of her books.

Last week was a stitching bust, as I'd taken out a UFO to work on, and a couple of days I didn'r get to stitch at all, but any progress I made except finishing a goldfinch has to be frogged because of being one stitch off, and there's no way I can make up for it. So much for a week's time. I've discovered I can no longer count!

Stitching Group

On the 2nd Tuesday of every month, a group of 12 stitchers meet at our LNS and eat dinner together at different local restaurants, then we go to the shop and stitch and share local newspaper stories, TV programs, movies, books, etc., with a little gossip thrown in for good measure, LOL! It has been a rough winter here, so the group these last couple of months has been smaller. At Christmas, we don't go to dinner away, but bring in finger foods made at home and a wrapped handmade ornament. The girls who own the shop put numbers on the packages, and we draw numbers that match the ornaments. It's a really nice time each and every month. Here are a couple of pix of the last stitching meeting in February. I should have taken more pix of the actual shop. It's a large, really nice shop, full of goodies for every stitcher!

A Finish

This one was fought for! I don't know what it was about this little design, but I started it before Christmas and it would have gone by the way of my other UFO's if I hadn't persevered and finished it. I simply couldn't count on this one and kept making the same silly mistakes over and over. It was like I could not count. It's Little House Needlework's "Winter Wonderland." The smaller design is just a smaller portion of the same. They're each sewn to Mary Kathryn's Impie, Hattie, and Bea products.

This last picture is on the inside of the pin notebook. I just love how this set looks finished togeher! Too bad it's not going to be in season much longer, or is it? I've had enough winter to last the rest of my life!

I'm currently working on another Little House Needleworks design, "Winter Sampler." It's a UFO of mine, put away a year ago, and not knowing why, I soon found out. All you see in the link has had to be frogged and done over. Yes, I was heavily drugged when I started this one, so I have had to forgive myself for stitching what I did with one stitch off. I also stitched it with the Belle Soie Crescent Colours overdyed silks with one strand, and I saw it in my LNS with two strands and liked it better, so I'm using two strands now.

I'm thinking of using a rotation and have been asking a small Yahoo Group for their suggestions on how to rotate five projects---2 UFO's, an ornament a month, and two new projects. I'm up for suggestions. Two suggested a project each day, a couple of others suggested I'd get more progress done on a project for a week, then onto the 2nd, etc. Any ideas of yours? Please? If you have your own rotaion that works for you, would you kindly email me with ideas?

Winter Storm of 2011

There is a definite beauty to a severe winter storm, especially when there's been ice. Last night, before the snow, which is not nearly what was forecast for this East Central IL area, it was so beautiful, as I looked out into the darkness, it nearly took my breath away. The little light there was shone on the crusty snow from all the sleet and freezing rain, and the driveway was a glare of ice. Treacherous, yes, but I didn't have to go out because I had planned well in advance of the storm. It was worthy of beautiful photography, but I just don't have the knack, so I did my best with these shots:

This is looking out my back screened porch to the east. The screens were covered with ice. Only the youngest kitty, Annie, ventured onto the porch this morning. They're all indoor kitties, but she's unafraid of the elements. Normally, one can see the eighth green of the golf course from these windows.

In warmer weather, this is the eighth green, just east of our house. It's the raised part in the upper right of the picture.

Our house from the road in front across from the ninth fairway. Too bad I didn't capture the beautiful ice on the trees. There is a Japanese Maple near the front door that's just gorgeous with the ice.

A shot from the garage yesterday before the snow, just after the ice and sleet.

Standing outside of the vehicle, I got this crappy shot of the near end of fairway 9. There are houses along both sides and one of the many ponds up the left behind the houses. It's hard to see anything with my photography.

This is (in warmer weather) the number nine tee box with the backs of houses (our closest neighbors across the street) along the ninth fairway.

This is the top of a hill going along number 14. My best friend lives at the bottom of the hill. She's also a cross stitcher. Notice how the evergreens are drooping with the weight of the ice. but aren't they pretty?

This is the ninth green looking back down the fairway to the tee, a dog leg to the left. It was fun driving around the neighborhood to see the beauty of our winter storm. We built the house 21 years ago and have lived amidst the beauty of the changing seasons all that time, encountering many forms of wildlife (snakes and mice in the house - we have farmland behind our house) such as foxes, turtles, geese, beavers (a creek runs throughout the course), coyotes, tons of different birds, etc. I'll miss all that, but I'm ready to leave it all and live in a smaller house, all on one floor. Our basement is mostly finished, with an unfinished portion for storage, but there are 14 steps to our computers, my sewing room, a big family room, and a 3rd full bathroom. It's a lot to clean and is getting to the age that things need to be either done over or replaced. DH has a bad back and his golfing has seen better days and we both have osteoarthritis. I just recently had to have a knee replacement, and I'm so afraid of banging up my new knee. Besides all that, we're retired and on a fixed income, and property taxes are very high here. What we'd both like to do is to move into a certain neighborhood in town and buy a smaller, all brick (little maintenance) home on one level. We'd have to sell our golf cart and a whole lot of my stuff too, and I love it all. I can't bear to think of getting rid of any of my stuff! Maybe we'll hold out till we're ready for assisted living and sell the whole household of stuff. I can't even stand to think about it! I've bought a load of space bags to store all my Boyds Bears (and cats, and a multitude of other critters) because they're not in style any more, but I love 'em all so much, I can't stand to think of them stored in airtight plastic bags. So I keep them out, decorating my house. No one understands me, but they don't need to. I'm harmless..... and my house is a home.

My 12-Year Old, Bear

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Bear. He has been uprooted 4 times in his 12 years. He was owned by a family who had triplets, and they no longer wanted him, so my sister-in-law took him. He lived with her for most of his adult life, then she moved from her apartment to a duplex she purchased in August of 2009. She worried about having to uproot him once again, but he adapted just fine. Very sadly, she was unwell and died in December of 2009, only 4 months after buying her duplex. Bear just slept on her bed and friends went to feed him till DH and his only other sister went 3 hours to pick him up and bring him to our home. There was definitely an adjustment period, as he hadn't been with other cats since kittyhood. We already had 4 females. You can see by the pictures that he has it made here now and has captured our hearts. He's too heavy in the middle and is pigeon-toed, but he's a dear, a love, and has me totally wrapped around his little paw. He follows me around the house and is my constant companion. I'm crazy about him! The pictures tell the whole story.

2nd UFO Finish of 2011

I'm so sorry for the blurry photo but I have -0- skills in photography, I'm just happy to have this one finished. I don't know how far back I put this one into hiding.

Just like magic, when I spread out this piece on the table with my camera, here came one of the cats: This one is Amber, who poses like those I see in TV commercials.

S.A.B.L.E. Which Means....

Stash Acquisition Beyone Life Expectancy. At 63, even though I've heard that it's the new 43, I've got way more than I can ever use. I was given some money by DH before Christmas and told to buy whatever I wanted, so I bought more stash! I know, it's crazy! These pix lack photographic experience, but I'm terrible with a camera in hand, so I've had to repeat photos of the same things in the first picture to explain what they actually are because you can't tell with my photography.

The first on the left in the picture is Rosewood Manor's "Quakers and Quilts" shown without so much glare in a photo below. The 2nd phot is The Stitching Parlor's "Pumpkins For Sale" with its button pack sitting on the bottom. Next are two patterns I love that I've also pictured below. On the bottom left is Lizzie Kate's "Winter Fab Fob" kit, then Sheep At Night needle minde by Kelmscott. Last is a new pair of Sullivan scissors.

This is Rosewood Manor's "Quakers and Quilts" that I saw made up and it was love at first sight. I notice that Vikki Clayton has a conversion of her silks that would do this pattern very well!

These are the patterns I just discovered and dearly love, With Thy Needle and Thread. They have detailed instructions as to how to get the pieces to look exactly like the ones on the front of the chart pack. There is "St. Noel" and "Snow Day." Very nice!

This is Country Cottage Needleworks' "A Place We Call Home" that I have kitted, ready to go, but WHEN?

And this one I kitted also. It's Country Cottage Needleworks' "Snowflack Serenade" that I saw done up at my LNS and had to bring it home. It's a "must do." Aren't they all???

The good news is that I'm organizing and cleaning my sewing room and going through stash that I will never do. The bad news is that I have an order of more stash coming from a New Year's sale at J.J.'s Collectibles! It was shipped yesterday. I was striving for free shipping so I added a couple of things to get it up there. Spend more to save a little... doesn't make any sense at all, does it?

First Finish of 2011!

 

This is my first UFO for the "up for a challenge" group. It's going to be framed and given to DH for Valentine's Day. Now I have my next UFO pulled out and ready to stitch on for a week. I'm a slow stitcher, but it would be nice to get at least half of my listed 15 UFO's done this year. Don't know about my BAP's though. I'm skeptical about those.

Here is my next project to work on: "The Promise" by Just Nan (terrible photo).