Thursday, March 08, 2018

Q1 2018 Thoughts

Initially, I had started this post in January and titled it "Beginning of the Year Thoughts". As usual, life happened and I got distracted. I've come to this page a handful of times since and have struggled with how to begin. How do you begin when you've been away from your blog for a year? I know some of you keep up with me via Facebook and Instagram but there is something about truly writing about your thoughts and feelings.

2017 was a rough year that was mostly spent planning my wedding and on July 29, 2017, I got married!

Planning a wedding is a lot of work! But the wedding was everything that I had planned in my head and everyone had a wonderful time.
I even had a little bit of my dad with me since he couldn't walk me down the aisle. I had his hankerchief as part of my bridal bouquet.

 After the wedding, we honeymooned in Fiji, moved residences, my husband got a new job which involved commuting, my mother-in-law passed away at Thanksgiving and it was our first holidays without her. It felt like anything that could happen to put stress on us and our newly married life did. Life has truly been one crazy roller coaster.

We added one more stressor to our lives. I finally succumbed to the puppy fever I was living with for years and adopted a little french bulldog puppy we named Luna.

We immediately fell in love with her and within two weeks of bringing her home, she had a medical emergency. I rushed her to the emergency clinic on a Friday night and was told that she needed to have surgery. You can just imagine my worry and confusion. Luna recovered from surgery but she had a relapse a month later which we are monitoring. It appears that she may need a second surgery but only time will tell. For now, we monitor her with the help of pet sitters and you would never know she has any issues at all. She is a happy, playful puppy that everyone falls in love with!

Despite Luna's illness, she brings us a lot of joy and our goal is to get her to be fully healthy. It's interesting because I went to the breeder adamant that I wanted a boy puppy but the boy puppy was a shy, cowering little pup...and in bounds this girl puppy who just had such a fun and wonderful personality. I often think about what would have happened if we hadn't picked her and she had stayed at the breeders. I'm pretty sure that had this all happened, they would have put her down so I feel it's my mission to advocate for her and I hope she fully recovers.

Stitching has slowed down immensely since my nights mostly consist of either cleaning up after Luna, training Luna or having her fall asleep on my arm!

At the end of last year, I finished all the stitching in Anniversaries of the Heart with the exception of the personalizations and a few stitches in the second to last block. I need to get back to choosing and charting personalizations. Here is the final block without personalizations.

And how the whole piece looks right now.

This year, I signed up for the iStitch Red Band Sampler Stitch-a-Long and I just caught up yesterday! I love how the red silk looks on the ivory banding. The next part will be released tomorrow so my goal is to stitch that right away.

Once I've done that, I will decide between working on Anniversaries of the Heart or starting Shakespeare Peddler's Ragamuffin #2.

So I have a question for those of you who have stuck it out to the end of the post and have jumped on the Flosstube bandwagon. How do I get started? I think I would like to do some videos especially since I need to practice my public speaking. Why not start with my blog readers and stitching friends! Can someone point me in the right direction? Is there some sort of tutorial? I hope someone has some ideas.

I'll be back with an update soon.

Take care,
Valerie :)

15 comments:

Jackie's Stitches said...

That photo of Luna laying down just gets me! The other one looks like the cover of Frenchie Vogue to me! I hope your darling girl is 100% soon. One thing I know for sure, she ended up in the right place!

I'm an avid floss tube watcher but I don't film myself. I would suggest watching multiple videos of multiple floss tubers and figure out who you are going to be on floss tube and what look you want your channel to have. Then jump in with both feet, do the best you can, and make improvements to things as you have time. Kind of like we all did with blogging, right? Or at least I know I did! :). Can't wait to see your first video!!!

Glenna said...

Such a beautiful wedding. Best wishes to you both, and don't let the stress get you down. Luna is adorable.

Robin in Virginia said...

Valerie, it was good to see your post. Best wishes to you and your groom as you begin this new journey. Luna is darling; I hope she fully recovers.

Terri said...

Congratulations on your wedding! Luna is a cutie! I hope she continues to do well!

Rachel S-H said...

Your wedding photos are stunning. What a beautiful couple!

Carol said...

It's so nice to see a post from you, Valerie, and how wonderful that your wedding was everything you dreamed of. You two look so happy together and now it's just the three of you :) I hope Luna recovers well--she will bring a lot of love and excitement into your lives-what a sweet looking pup :)

Lovely stitching and if you do start Flosstubing, I will watch. I watch very few as I find all but a few quite boring unless they keep them under a half-hour. Sometimes I speed up the You-tube settings to watch them--ha ha! But, good luck and let us know if you take the plunge!

Christine said...

Gorgeous wedding photos ~ adorable dog ~ and beautiful stitching! What a grand new year! I have no clue about Flosstube but I wish you well!

Margaret said...

It's lovely to see a post from you and to catch up. I do follow you on instagram, but blogs are good for a nice summary of life! Go for flosstube. it would be great! I watch knitting "flosstubers." The ones I watch tend to just start out on their phones, and use things like imovie to edit with. Nothing fancy at all. Try it and see how it goes! And post on instagram or your blog that you've started. I do watch a few floss tubers once in a while too and would love to watch you!

Margaret said...

ps: I do hope Luna recovers and becomes a happy, healthy pup. She's adorable! And of course, congrats on your wedding too! AND I love your stitching too!

Julie said...

Such a beautiful bride you were... congratulations to you both.
Luna is gorgeous.
Pretty stitching
Lovely to see a post here Valerie.
Sorry, i'm not a flosstuber.

Anonymous said...

Hi Valerie, I'm new to your blog (your newest follower), and would first like to say mazel tov on your wedding vows! Marriage is something you grow into and with so enjoy the ride! I love Luna and hope she is 100% soon! She is totally adorable! I enjoyed browsing around your blog and all your beautiful stitching projects. I'm just getting back into stitching after a few year hiatus whilst learning to spin and weave. I look forward to your future posts and updates on Miss Luna of course!
Hugs for now from still way too snowy New Hampshire...

Meari said...

Luna is a such a cute puppy... I hope she fully recovers. It's good that the first surgery hasn't hindered her 'puppiness'. Your wedding gown is gorgeous! Sounds like a great day :) Congrats! As for your stitching, remember... one stitch is better than none. Sorry, I can't help you with flosstube tips. I rarely watch them. I enjoy reading blogs a lot better.

LoriU said...

I hope Luna is doing well.
I don't know if you got an answer to your Flosstube question, but if you check out Danielle's videos (Stitcherista), she has several videos about making videos. You can search on her channel for them.

Kaisievic said...

Hi Valerie, so lovely to read this post. Congratulations on your wedding - how beautiful you look and so happy! So sorry to hear of the passing of your MIL, quite devastating after such a happy time. Lovely, lovely stitching, my dear, just stunning! I don't think that we are connected by either FB or Instagram but I would love to be. If you would like to be, too, please send me your details for each platform and I will send friend requests, follow, etc. Just email me at kayedep@gmail.com. Lovely to see you back on your blog. hugs, Kaye

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