Huh... I lost an entire month

Huh...  Yep, that's all I can think to say about the lost month of July and it started out with so much promise.  We welcomed a new niece to the family:

(not the picture you were expecting?)  To be fair, Michelle has been part of the family for a while, she and Alex started dating their Sophomore year of high school (or thereabouts), they've just made it official. 

Right after Alex's wedding, my niece finalized the papers for the favors for her wedding in October.  I spent the next couple weekends cutting out the bits and parts for 20 of these (200 individual boxes):

 



My niece is not fond of cake so she is having pie at her reception and these little boxes tied in perfectly (at least they did after we made a few modifications - like adding the "crust" pieces.  Her fiancé's favorite pie is coconut cream (above) and she decided on cherry.  She found some very cute red paper with lighter red dots for her pies, I just didn't have any finished when I was taking pictures.  The 2 is the table number and they have decided on lottery tickets and lucky (hopefully for someone) pennies to go inside as the gifts.  I was in Michigan last weekend for a family reunion and then a day of folding and gluing to get the pies all finished.  Both nieces, both Grandmothers, my sister and I worked on these so truly a family affair (or gathering of Goddesses whichever works for you).

 

In between the wedding and the pie-ing, well, you'd think I would be stitching my not so little fingers off as I need to finish my new niece's Christmas stocking, but no - I haven't picked up a needle since my last post.  The Hubs had a medical mess that took up the time between the wedding and the pie-ing/reunion.  He was scheduled to have surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff; unfortunately, on the day of surgery, his blood pressure was sky high (at one point during the day it went up to 199/148).  Instead of recuperating from surgery, he spent the next six days in the hospital (3 of them in ICU) trying to get his blood pressure under control and deal with the underlying health issue. It's been rounds of appointments and follow-ups since he was released and I have been too worn out to focus on stitching.  He has an appointment with the surgeon on Wednesday to see about rescheduling the surgery. 

 

In the 30+ years I have been stitching, this is the longest I have gone without picking up a needle.  Because of all the other stuff going on, I can't say I missed it, but I am ready to get back to it and normal.  I am almost caught up with all the things that were sidelined (sooo much laundry), so maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will see some Xs put in fabric.