A Finished Finish

On Saturday, I braved the craft room - being very careful with all the sharp things in there <grin> - and turned Sunflowers 'N' Crows into a pillow. 

I am pleased to report that all my fingers are still intact. 

Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher, has been graciously compiling tutorials for finishing and sharing them on her finishing blog.  I was reading her latest tutorials and was intrigued when she said to iron interfacing on the back of finished projects such as pillow ornaments.  Now I've been sewing since I was young, but it never occurred to me to do that.  I tried it with this pillow though, and am amazed at the difference it made.  I ended up using interfacing on all the fabric pieces, and it made for a crisp, yet soft, pillow that should maintain its shape well.  Thanks, Vonna!

As I was looking at the precarious pile of items on my sewing table to be completed, I decided that I will finish the Blackbird Designs Reward of Merit pincushions that I've stitched next.  We have only one medical appointment this week - on Monday afternoon - so I am hopeful the week will be quiet.

Heidi commented that she hoped my husband is doing well.  His recovery from this surgery has been  much more difficult than we anticipated, although he is progressing as the doctor expected.  The dressing on his skin graft donor site has nearly fallen off, but the skin underneath is raw (think large rug burn - OUCH!), so we keep it covered.  And the 2.5" nearly circular area on his wrist where the melanoma was removed is healing, but still looks yucky (for lack of a better term).  It will probably be a long time before the area looks more like a cut than, well, what it looks like now.  Unfortunately, his chemo meds have left him exhausted, and the surgery on top of that hasn't helped.  Because his cancer numbers have fallen precipitously (he's within six points of returning to normal range), the oncologist agreed to a two week drug break, instead of the usual one.  Hopefully this will make a difference.  Thanks for asking, Heidi.

I noticed the leaves suddenly turning this past week, although the weather has been warm.  Come next weekend, though, it is supposed to turn chilly, with highs in the very low 60s (F).  Saturday IS the first day of October, so we can't hope for too many more days in the 70s.