Ravelry

Without going into too much detail about my politics, I want to make everyone aware of something.  On Ravelrys website they have now announced that there will be no discussion about our President or anything conservative.  You are not allowed to make any patterns saluting him or his "regime" because they feel he stands for White Supremacy.  This is the kind of  behavior I just hate to see happening in our country.  This is how it begins and what's left is not pretty to look at.  I want to share a post made on "The Federalist" from a woman who joined Ravelry and this is now her take on it and how it should be responded to.

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Leaving Isn’t Really a Solution to a Bullying Problem

We are repeatedly told that these websites and communities are free, so we can’t complain or shouldn’t expect much. While it’s true that there is no cash outlay for membership, these sites are not free.

The cost of being a Ravelry customer for the last nine years has been reasonable. I pay them my attention, my data, and a portion of the cost of patterns. I skip past the “adult” content and the hateful lefty content. In return, I get access to the pattern and yarn databases, a helpful community, and a useful crafting notebook.

As of Sunday, Ravelry has changed that equation. They have added significant costs to me. If I am to continue to be their customer, I have to accept their claims of white supremacy. I must accept their bigotry, and allow myself to be silenced.

That’s too high of a cost for me. So I will leave.

I’m under no illusions—leaving Ravelry is not even a tiny step towards a solution. This is not how one stops a bully. All I’m doing is “taking a different route to school.” I’m saving myself from the bully’s attacks, but I’m not stopping the bully.

By speaking out, I’m hoping to divert a few others from the bully’s path, but still, that does nothing to stop the bully. Still, I suppose there has to be a start—identify the bully as such, save yourself, try to save others.

It does seem that conservatives are learning, slowly, to identify these bullies a bit more quickly. That’s something.

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Tor the last coupe of days that I have felt ok, I've slowly been placing all the patterns I have purchased since I joined the website back in 2008 onto a USB stick because I can't justify belonging to a website that behaves this way.  I would feel like I am supporting their decision and that I just won't.  Everyone in this country has a voice and should be allowed to use  such voice whether you agree or disagree with someone.  They are slowly taking away that voice and it hits my heart bad.  I won't have much time left on this earth but my grand children and great-grandchildren will and it just breaks my heart that they will not know the America I grew up in.  It's slowly being taken away in the removal of monuments, our history books and anything else that can be found saying what happened in this country.  Truly I am surprised that the Lincoln Memorial is still standing.

I don't know how many of you belong to Ravelry but I assume that a lot of people do not go to the home page and that is where this information is posted.  This has made the national news so maybe they will change their minds but I seriously doubt it.  I leave it up to each of you that do belong to think about what they are allowing themselves to do and to your way of thinking.

Sorry for the long post but I think I needed to say this.
Blessings, Barbara

If you would like to read more about this, check out this website:

https://thefederalist.com/?s=ravelry

Update

Here it is Thursday and I've had my second procedure.  Yesterday went well.  They gave me a bag  of antibiotics because of my history of becoming septic which I thought was an excellent idea.  Again I was there for 5 hours for a 45 min procedure but hopefully the little rascal has been all broken up.  I have prescriptions for my pain killers and antibiotics that I'll get filled today.  I thought I would get away without having to have a new stent put in but no such luck.  I woke up this morning with quite a bit of pain so I took the last 1/2 pain pill I had with some tylenol so hopefully that will last till the drug stores open.  I just pray I don't have to have another procedure any time in the near future.  Your body fills like it been ridden and put away wet.....and for you that have had kidney stones, I pray you never get another one.

Because of these last two weeks I haven't been doing any stitching just some crocheting and knitting.  It seems to relax me more than cross stitch does so that's good. 

 Peyton had a visit with her high risk doctor yesterday and little Evelyn is going to be a good size baby.  Peyton has 2 months to go and already she weighs about 4 pounds.  She head down so now she has the discomfort of being kicked in the ribs.  The doctor did tell her that if she did go into labor early that baby should be just fine and not to have any worries about that.  That made me feel so good last nite when she told me that.  I know I'm anxious to see this new little lovey but I don't want anything to happen to cause Peyton stress.  We went to Hobby Lobby the other day to find some silk flowers to make a wall decoration for the nursery wall and she did an awesome job.  I love it.

Again I want to thank all the well wishes I received and I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart.  I have met some truly wonderful ladies thru this blog and I thank Heaven for each and every one of them.  You are truly angels.

Blessings to All for a Wonderful Day,

Barbara

Called the doctor's office this morning at 8:10 and asked them to please see about getting me a prescription for more pain killers.  Heard back from them at 2:30 to be told the doctors had all gone home at noon and there was no one there to sign a prescription.  Asked why my doctor was not asked in the 4 hours that he was there for a new prescription.  "I'm not sure" was the answer.  Can you guess what I said after that?  LOL 

The health system is totally a joke now in this country and meanwhile I sit till Monday in pain.

That is NOT a Blessing,

Barbara

Update

Well I had my procedure yesterday and I am still in tons of pain.  I've been taking the pain meds they gave me but it's hardly worth the effort.  I received a phone call from the surgery center today to set up an appointment for my next procedure.  Apparently because this was so big I must under go another lithotripsy.  Just what I wanted to do.  What made me upset is that no one asked how I was doing....about any pain I might be having.....blood in urine?  Not one question.  Needless to say I was very upset about this entire conversation and left her know about it.  So it doesn't look my kidney stone has left me yet and has decided to stick around for another shot.  

Thank you for all the well wishes I received.  It certainly means a lot when you have people praying for you and hoping for the best.

I saw this and it gave me a chuckle and I thought you might get a kick out of it too.

Blessings, Barbara

I hate doctors

Well here it is Tuesday and tomorrow I'm scheduled for a "shake and bake" procedure.  This is what I call lithotripsy.  It's when they send shock waves thru your body to break up kidney stones which I happen to have one the size of a nickel.  My Mother, each of my 3 brothers and myself have been plagued all our lives with these delightful little stones.  The last one placed me in intensive care because it became infected and it entered my blood stream to make me septic.   That was not a comforting time but they really do take care of you there.  I was worried that this one would do the same but so far I'm okay.  Wish me luck.

I do have a finish to share with you.  It's from Angel Stitches and it's called "ABC Bird".  I stitched it on a hand dyed 30ct linen but I don't have the name of it.  I used DMC for the stitching and he worked up pretty quick.  I finished it into a stand up.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me get off my chest the worries I have about tomorrows procedure.  I hope the remaining part of your week is filled with loved ones and activities you love doing.  

Blessings, Barbara

Wow! Two Finishes

I hope everything is going okay for every one of my followers.  The midwest has been devastated by flooding and tornadoes and it's just the beginning of hurricane season down here.  I hope we get lucky this year with no hurricanes making land but it's all in God's hands and we can only hope for the best.

I finally finished knitting a blanket for the new baby.  It's made from one of those new self striping yarns called Bernat Pipsqueak Stripes.  It's a fun yarn to work with if you have some patience.  It's fuzzy for lack of a better word.  Here is what it looks like....

I used a size 10.5 circular knitting needle and it worked up just fine.  Here's my finished blanket.  Take notice that the edging I crocheted with just a plain acrylic yarn in a baby yellow.

The doll I'm sure many of you recognize.  That's my Shirley Temple doll from when I was little.  My Mother was a very huge fan of hers and purchased two dolls, one for me and one for my cousin in 1957.  My cousin has passed away so I have no idea what happened to hers but I still have mine.  It will now be Evelyn's.  

I had purchased three of these cakes of yarn but I only used two so if you would want it, please email me at grammy5822@gmail.com.  First come, first serve.

I'm not sure if I ever shared my great find at an estate sale from a few months ago.  It was a neighbor down the street and I had known them for many years.  I'm glad I have something to remember them by.

I have a lot of my family and stitching treasures in the top part and in the bottom drawers, I'm able to store the seasonal cross stitches.  Comes in very handy for my decorating.  It stands in our foyer and I love it.

I was also able to finish my BEE picture.  I decided to flat mount it instead of making it into a pillow like the designer did.  

I didn't add the beekeep on the left hand side as the design called for.  Instead I added three different fabrics with bees on them and placed the lace over top of them.  I also added a JABCO bee button to it.  I like how it turned out and now I'm looking for a small black stand to hold it with.

That's all that I've been up to besides trying to stay cool when the temps get above 100 degrees.  We need rain so bad and I hope we get some soon.  I've also been doing a little bit of baby sitting which is no trouble for me.  We went on our last trip to Magic Kingdom last friday and I'm glad it's finished for the summer.  It just gets too hot for me and I can't stand the crowds.  But I did meet an interesting family visiting from Saudi Arabia.  It was the Mother and four children, two of which were grown.  I asked why they decided to come to Disney and the oldest boy said that it was his wish for finishing college.  He was so proud.....I'm not sure if it was because he finished college or that they were at Disney.  Oh well, everyone's taste is different.

Blessings, Barbara

My corner of the world

I don't know what is the matter with me lately but I'm just so depressed.  Maybe it's because I don't have enough hands to do everything I want to work on.  I knit on the baby's blanket every chance I get in the car.  Most of the time it's when Peyton is driving and we're going to Disney World.  We live at the north west side of Orlando and that's way at the bottom in a different county so I usually get quite a few rows finished by the time we get there.  

I worked in my sewing room today and finished two new project bags.  I'm kitting up some patterns and I love using these.

This one was made using mini charm squares designed by Blackbird Designs for Moda.  I did a small machine embroidery on the bottom corner.  I love the colors in this one.

This is a fabric I found at Sewing Studio and the colors just popped right out at me.  It's a little larger than I usually make but that's good because I have a large project coming up and this will come in handy.

This is a pack of mini charm squares with two coordinating fabrics that will be made into a project bag.  I love violets and these color combinations are stunning.

This picture is of my angel not being an angel.  She decided to tear the stuffings out of her ball.  Needless to say the ball went bye bye.

And here she is on my stitching chair thinking that I don't need to sit down.....there's plenty of other chairs I can use.  She's a stinker.  LOL

Was over at Peyton's and John's this afternoon and Little John has gotten his very own motorcycle helmet which he had to show me.  He loves motorcycles and I swear he's going to be a daredevil when he grows up.

Ya'll know about me stitching Rapunzel, well I thought I would work my way up to such a large design.  This one is the design she created to celebrate her 25th years as a cross stitch designer and it's called Portrait of Antique Vines.  I'm stitching it on a 28ct very pale green Jobelan with the recommended Waterlillies.  I hate using DMC black so I'm using Rainbow Galleries Splendor Silk for that.  There are black beads and 3 treasures to be added so I'm sure this is going to be as spectacular as all her other designs are.

And for a laugh:

Well that's all that's going on in my part of the world.  I'm glad you stopped by to see what I've been up to and I hope I made your day a little brighter.  

Blessings, Barbara

A Finish and a Tantrum

I'm so happy you could stop in today to see what I've been up to.  Remarkably I have another finish and this one is from With Thy Needle and Thread.  I stitched it on 28ct. willow jobelan with DMC floss and the name of the design is "Strawberries and Stripes".  It's going to be finished into an ornament as soon as I get around to it.  

Now for my tantrum rant.  I'm thinking maybe some of you are followers of Games of Thrones and possibly as mad as I am about the series finale.  I can't believe how much time they put into this season and they couldn't come up with a better story line and ending.  I knew Dany had to die but I thought it would be by Tyrion's hand not Jon's.  Also the part of Bran just creeps me out and I'm not sure about him being king.  Another thing that botherered me was Tyrion being made The Hand to the king but Jon who is really the true king was banished to the north and never allowed to get married.  I was sad to see some of the characters get killed off but that's happened for the entire 8 seasons.  People come and go but this one the writer's really should of taken a second look at it before submitting it for production.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who is very upset about the ending but it's over and done with.  

I've started watching The Spanish Princess and Chernobyl and I'm finding them pretty interesting.  I'm finding it amazing how the USSR treated this accident and how they did nothing to help the people that lived near by.  

Well enough of my ranting on about a tv show that's over.  Guess things like this get under a person's skin and you just have to rant and rage to get over it.  

Have a wonderful week filled with lots of love and kindness from family and friends.

Blessings, Barbara

A Winner and a Finish

Wow!  I guess not too many stitchers like thread cards for holding their threads.  I used the random number generator.....

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:1

and it turns out that 

Catherine

is the winner.  Catherine please email me your snail mail address so I can get this in the mail to you asap.  Congratulations!

Now for my finish.  I have completed all of the 4 designs needed for the CEC Nativitiy and here's Mary in all her glory.

I really did enjoy stitching all of these designs and now to find a backing fabric that will go with all of them.  I'm thinking of a gold brocade but I'll take all of them to the fabric store and play.  

I'll leave you with a smile.

Blessings, Barbara

Time For A Giveaway

In honor of our little great-grand daughter who will make her appearance in August, I am having this giveaway of a sweet little kitten wooden thread keeper by Primitive Hare.  It is made of wood and the design is just darling.  If you have a hankering for this, please leave a response on this post only and I will draw a winner next Wednesday evening.  Let's keep this in the U.S. only this time.

Good Luck

Barbara