Slow Sunday Stitching

Despite a very stressful week for a variety of reasons that I will briefly explain at the end of this post, I managed to make a whole lot of progress on several projects.

First, I have started working on the birth announcement.

 Working from the center wasn't going to work, because that is where the baby's name goes and he isn't due until June. I realized that this piece of Zwiegart 14 count was plenty large enough start working from one end. I have been working on the border. Three sides are completed. It uses a whole lot of floss as the pattern calls for 3 strands of floss. I do like the thick coverage though.

I have decided to continue working on the stocking as the birth announcement is working up quickly and I enjoy stitching the stocking. I have been adding stitches to the tree to the left of the bear.

I stitched the final log of the 10 quilt blocks that I am working on. 

Now I just have to war through adding each log to the blocks. It takes some time....at least for me...to get the seams to match up even with pinning. I am always thrilled when it happens on the first try.

I have completed 24 of 198 rows on the baby blanket. I can only give you a peak as I want this to be a surprise.

 I have adjusted the way I hold the crochet hook so that I keep my thumb more stationary and I have found that I can comfortably stitch 3 rows each day. 

Now for a brief synopsis of my story. I am supposed to be informed of any changes to the schedule of aides that take care of my mom. I wasn't informed that there would be a different aide Christmas day, New Year's day and this past Sunday. On Monday, I called the agency to complain that I hadn't been informed of the changes. Too bad that the agency didn't know about them either. The aide that is normally scheduled for Sundays had clocked in for all those shifts, but had someone she knew taking care of my mother. Now this person seemed very nice when I met her, but it is unclear whether she was even certified for home health care. Needless to say, the aide who did this has since been fired and I now have several new aides covering her shifts. This is difficult at this time as my mother also reentered Hospice care this week as she is barely eating anything any more. The pureed foods that I was making for her are now too thick for her to eat. We have had to thin everything with broth. Somedays she is too week to even use a straw. I am stressed, mad and sad all at the same time. It has been one heck of a week to say the least. 

When I am stressed I not only craft, but I bake. This week I baked a Buttermilk Banana Bread. I thought it was very tasty and a nice way to use up leftover buttermilk and over ripe bananas.

I also baked a Homemade Buttermilk Bread.

This recipe was just average. I found the bread to be heavy and fairly bland. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site and see what other bloggers are stitching. My crafts have been my saving grace this past week. They allow me to slow down and take a breath and think. 

I am also linking with Kate at Life in Pieces for 15 Minutes to Stitch. I have no problem doing that each day lately. 

Thanks for stopping by!