On Another Note....

This blog will have nothing to do with cupcakes or sewing.  I have had a lot on my mind and need to get it down.  Most of you are aware that I have been struggling with thyroid problems for many many years.  I have gotten quite sick of my doctor who rarely ever even knows why I'm there to see him.  I have been taking medication for years and not felt any better. They have increased my dosage over and over to no avail.
With my thyroid problem, I am exhausted and my joints are very achy. I get irritable quite easily and it is very difficult for me to lose weight.  I miss time with friends and family because I am just too tired or in too much pain.  It affects my hobbies, some days my hands ache so bad I can't even think of picking up a needle and thread. Frosting cupcakes hurts my hand and shoulders. Enjoying the outdoors is basically miserable. I want to feel good, more than anything.
I recently decided to look into other ways to treat thyroid dysfunction, mainly, diet and lifestyle.  I went to Redriver Health and Wellness a few weeks ago, they are endocrine specialists, and got some blood work done. They have started to pinpoint exact problems that I'm having and we have discussed treatment that is specific and made just for me.
This treatment is not cheap, it's not covered by insurance, and it will not be easy.  I wouldn't be so sure about doing it but, I have a friend who has gone through their program for her health issues and she said it is the best thing she has ever done.
Tom and i have been weighing the pro's (feel better, be happier) and con's (mostly cost) and we have decided that this is the best option for me.  I have to get a few more tests done but, I will soon start on an anti inflammatory diet.  Most, if not all, of my aches and pains are caused by severe inflammation. The anti inflammatory diet basically cuts out everything that has been known to increase inflammation (gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, etc.) and after a while you slowly start adding these foods back in to see which ones affect you negatively.
I have some adrenal and liver issues as well but, need one more test to figure out exactly what the problem is there.  The test mainly showed that I have a severely high amount of reverse T3. The medication I was on basically just turns into more reverse T3 so, for years I thought I was treating the problem and it was really just becoming worse.  I won't get into the exact science but reverse T3 basically makes one of the hormones your thyroid releases completely useless.
As I said above, I was very leery about doing this because of the cost. My husband has been incredibly supportive (he also has to do the diet with me since, we'll have to eat at home).  The thing that finally made me decide is when my mom said, "people spend that much on plastic surgery and this could make your whole life better."  My family and the few friends I have been talking to about this have been very supportive and have out up with me talking about it, a lot!! I'm a very lucky lady!
So this is the next chapter in my life, I'm taking control and treating my illness the way I want to treat it.  In a natural and healthy way! Bear with me while I'm on this journey, I could be cranky and I won't be able to go out to eat with my friends as often but, I'm doing what's best for me so hopefully you all support me!
Here goes nothing! One foot in front of the other! Just keep swimming and other random anecdotes!

Model Stitch

I finally got my model stitch kit from Gecko Rouge!  Say hello to Hope by Simona Candini.  How cute is she?  I love all of Simona's art it's all so cute!  I couldn't wait to get started on this piece (it has a deadline anyway so that gave me even more drive)

Let me show you why I love the Gecko Rouge kits so much.

This is how the thread comes all pre sorted with the color's number written on the tags.  This saves so much time and while it's convenient you can still set it up your own way.  

This piece has a fairly large amount of black!

The kit also comes with these sweet pre punched cards to sort your thread onto.  I draw the symbol (as best I can) and put the number for each color near the hole for the thread.

This is one page of the pattern.  It seems like a lot but they make it large so you can see very clearly what each symbol is.  This chart has 16 pages and 53,000 stitches. Daunting right?!  

This is how far I've gotten so far only one row done.  My eyes are still a little blurry but they're getting a tiny bit better every day (at least in my head I think they are) so I'm definitely moving slow on this one but hopefully I can get going a little bit quicker.  This row is the beginning of the top of the anchor and part of her necklace.  Cross stitches take a while for the picture to actually become visible but when they do it's so great!

Discouraged

I decided today to start a new cross stitch, I'm waiting for my model stitch to arrive and am still uncertain about my vision so I picked one that I'm not going to be upset about if I completely screw it up.  I came away not feeling very great.  It was incredibly difficult for me to even thread the needle let alone see the squares on the fabric to get the needle through.  What if in exchange for having better vision I am no longer able to do this thing that I love?  I know that this is probably not the situation and I just have to be more patient but I am admittedly an anxious person and paranoid that this will end up being the case.  I can get needle threaders and giant magnifying glasses but if it's such an incredible hassle will I still enjoy it?  Anyway I won't know for a while I guess so why worry about it.  I'll show you my new project.

I documented this step by step in case anyone is interested in how you actually start a cross stitch.

This is one comes in a cross stitch kit.  The pattern has symbols on it representing certain colors and types of stitches so you also get a key.  A fabric, the thread, and a needle complete the kit.

Here is a better shot of the fabric, this is 18 count aida the count means how many stitches are in an inch, generally I work with 14 so this is a bit smaller and may be why it was more difficult (I hope).

Here is all the thread, I'm not a huge fan of it being packaged this way.  It's nice that it's already sorted but kind of a pain to keep tangle free.

Next I grid the fabric out, the pattern is in 10 x 10 squares so it's easier to figure out where you are if you mark the squares onto the fabric.  The ink is water soluble so when the project is done you just run it under water and it disappears.  Otherwise it would show up under the lighter colored thread.  I just learned this a few months ago and it has made me a much speedier stitcher!  You also find the center of the fabric (which is also marked on the pattern) and start there.  It's the big plus sign shown in the picture.

Last thing before you can start is hoop it up.  They make hoops in all sizes or shapes.  Some people use lap frames those are really nice as you don't have to hold the hoop in one hand and stitch with the other the frame just sits in front of you.  Another thing I've got that I'm going to try is Q-snaps, which are actually quilting frames but I've heard they work well for cross stitch as well.  This piece was too small for the Q-snaps I have though so it's on my smallest hoop.

This is as far as I got today :(  this took me a half an hour which is kind of ridiculous.  I'm really hoping it's just me getting used to the 18 count and that my eyes will get better in the next little while!

This is how it will looked when finished, if it ever gets there.  Let's face it between my two other WIP's and my model stitch I'm still waiting for this one might never get done.

Sorry that this blog is a giant pity party for myself but I am pretty discouraged at the moment.

Page 2 of Skull by Madart

Well I spent more time than I should have on this and less on things that actually needed to be done but I have officially finished page 2 of my current WIP just in time for two things. 1-my PRK is being done Thursday and I have no idea how long it will be before I can see well enough to stitch (hopefully not too long) and 2-my model stitch is being sent tomorrow and I can't wait to start on it!!!  Here is 2 pages done of Skull the first picture is a more accurate depiction of how large this piece is and the second picture is a little more closeup so you can see the detail a bit better. This is definitely the largest piece I have ever worked on, I still have 10 pages left can you believe that?!  Yikes!  The piece is really neat though and I am loving it.

I am loving that you can finally start to really tell that it's a face, at least I can lol.  I am super nervous about my surgery Thursday but hopefully everything goes well and I am back to stitching as quickly as possible!!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!  Hopefully 2012 was good to you and 2013 is even better!  I made delicious margarita cupcakes for our new year's get together!

 Key Ingredients, salt, tequila and lime juice!

Here is the finished product so tasty!

I'm trying really hard to finish my second page of Skull by Madart before I get my LASIK done in a week and a half. so hopefully I can do that!!  Here is where I currently am, there is a lot of confetti in this piece and so it goes a little slower than normal but keeps things interesting!!!

Obviously there is still quite a bit to be done before that second page is finished but I'm a little over halfway done with it!!!

I wish you all a safe and fun New Years Eve and a great 2013, here is a great New Year greeting from one of my all time favorite authors!

Firsts

Look what I found at my parents house today!  One of the first ever cross stitches I ever made.  This was probably around the time I was 14 or 15.  I'm betting it took me a long time to do and it doesn't even look like I did it quite right.  

Other news, I'm going to do a model stitch for Gecko Rouge and I'm pretty stoked.  I can't wait to get it in the mail.  Basically this means I will stitch it up and send it back to them, they will frame it and put it in an exhibition!  I think that's pretty neat-o!  The piece I will be doing is a Simona Candini work called Hope and it's one I have loved since I first saw it, it will be very difficult to give it back when it's finished!  

Isn't she adorable?!  I seriously can't wait to get this and get it started!!

My first blog!

Here I am, I have decided to create a blog.  I live in Utah so it's normal right?  This blog will be dedicated to the two hobbies that take up most of my free time, baking and cross stitch.  I am 24 years old with some old lady hobbies!  I currently have two WIP's in the cross stitch area of my life.   Seeing that my hobby is generally reserved for older women it is sometimes difficult to find more modern patterns that are more enjoyable (for me) to stitch than the typical animals, angels, and little home quotes.  Thank god for the creation of Etsy!!!  Both my current WIP's (and a lot of other patterns I have waiting for me in my cross stitch cupboard) are from Gecko Rouge http://www.etsy.com/shop/GeckoRouge?ref=ss_profile  They have incredible pieces available and I wish I had the time and money to make them all!

This is what Tut Tut Tut will look like when he is finished.

This is what he looks like as of today. Halfway done, two pages left to do.

That is just my first WIP my other WIP is Skull by Madart and will look like this when finished.

It looks like this as of today. One page done out of 12...sigh lots left to do.  I have been flying through this one pretty quickly.  I did something I have never done on a cross stitch before, I drew a grid to match the pattern onto my fabric and it helped immensely.  I can stitch so much quicker with it!

Just in case you think I never finish anything and just have a bunch of WIP's lying around.  Here are two finished projects!

I made this zombie pillow for my husband for our 1 year anniversary.  Pretty simple piece but I still love it, the picture is not great but it has quite a few colors in it.

I did this one for my mother.  Every single thing inside that thin green border is stitched.  It took an incredible amount of time and is so full of detail!  It looks gorgeous with the matting and frame my mom picked out!

I didn't forget about cupcakes, don't you worry!  My most recent ones were for the annual Beagley Thanksgiving.  I made gingerbread cupcakes with a brown sugar/cinnamon buttercream.  I had tons left over so I sent some with my sister and my husband to take to work!

That's it for now,  I'll try and keep this up to date but unfortunately I'm pretty slow at stitching and I've been so consumed with stitching that I haven't been baking a whole lot!