Hand: Lucky Cat Apron

Though my Dad's Steal Your Face got delayed in delivery by the car crash, oddly enough, the crash was the reason I was able to make this sweet little Lucky Cat apron for my sister-in-law.

You see, my sis-in-law also lives in SoCal. I'd bought the Sublime Stitching "I Heart Sushi" pattern months before her birthday in December, with the intent of stitching it up before we headed down for our Xmas/Yule/New Year's holiday. Alas, in all the holiday commotion, I'd run out of time to stitch up her gift. I ended up buying her some things -- handmade and cute, true -- but I was disappointed I wasn't going to get a chance to make her this apron for another year.

Then, the crash, and I suddenly found myself with a couple weeks of "free" time when I was pretty much trapped on a couch healing up. It was the perfect time to stitch, and actually kinda helped me normalize again. Stitching adorable Japanese food and Lucky Cats will do that to you, I suppose.



She loves sushi, and used to work in a Japanese restaurant in Santa Cruz. Also, she LOVES cats, so I thought this would be a good marriage of the two.



I was able to give it to her when I went to visit SoCal a couple weeks ago, and she adored it. Oddly enough...shortly after giving it to her, both she and her boyfriend had some very good luck come their way in the form of raises and new jobs. I'm not taking any credit for their success, but y'know... a Lucky Cat is a Lucky Cat!

Hand: What a long, strange stitch it's been

Soooo, this is a piece I've actually had completed since December of last year. There's a reason why I haven't been able to share it before now, which has been killing me, since I've been sooooo proud of it!

This was/is my Dad's Xmas gift, for Xmas '08. He's a huge Grateful Dead fan, but an even bigger fan of handmade gifts. This -- thanks to a suggestion from my brother -- was indeed the perfect gift for my Dad. A stitched version of Steal Your Face.



It took me about a month to complete. It's about 6 inches in diameter, and done completely with satin stitching and long-and-short stitching.



I wasn't done with it when Xmas came, but the way things worked out the husband and I were going to spend the holiday with his parents in Humboldt, and then go down to San Diego for New Years' with my folks. I planned to finish "Stealy" over the holiday, then give it to Dad in SoCal, all clean, stretched, and wrapped...

...then we got into the car crash.

When they towed the car away to the impound yard, they took all the luggage and gifts and such away. Though we had an Xbox and all our clothes in the shattered trunk, sitting in the Humboldt County rain, I kept thinking of poor "Stealy." I really thought he was gone.

Luckily, again, he survived perfectly (as well as all my embroidery stuff), and I was able to give him to my Dad on New Year's Eve. Though the piece was wrinkled, unframed, unwrapped, the look on his face was priceless.

Skip forward to two weeks ago, when I finally made it to SoCal to see the family. At last, I was able to wash, iron, and frame "Stealy" for Dad...and after five months, I can say he's complete. Really, it's been a long, strange trip with this piece, and much as I love it, I'm glad it's over. Now he can hang on a wall and be chill, as he was meant to be.

Mind: Healing Up

It's been about a week and a half since the car crash, and Adam and I are doing a lot better. I'm walking without the cane, and today I was even able to get out of bed without its help. I'm still really sore in places, especially the ribs where the seatbelt was, but the bruising has all really come down.

However, I'm in that frustrating stage of healing where parts of my are feeling normal, and other parts of me are so not. I forget sometimes that I'm not healed 100%, and will go to do something like bend down or reach a bit to far, and my body reminds me that it's still not okay.

I have to say though, I've been so lucky in all this to have such wonderful people looking out for me, from my in-laws who nursed Adam and I in the days immediately following the crash to my parents and brother who came up to the Bay Area from SoCal to help us get settled back in at home.



These gorgeous roses were waiting for Adam and I when we got home after the crash on New Year's Eve, courtesy of my loving family. They're still blooming strong.

Also, there's been a few surprises. My Mama talked to our across-the-way neighbor the day before she left to go back home, and the very next night the sweet neighbor-lady showed up on our doorstep with a home cooked chicken curry dinner and this lovely narcissus plant:


I love watching it bloom day by day in our kitchen. It reminds me how I'm getting better day by day as well...slowly, but surely.

Mind: Alive, Kicking, and Thankful

This is normally when I would apologize for the lack of posting. Where the holidays and travel and work all got in the way, and I try to make up for lost time. But not this time, unfortunately. This time things are a little different.

You see...last Saturday, on 12/27/08, my husband and I were in a horrible car crash. We were on our way back home from visiting his family in Humboldt county, through the windy, two-lane mountain roads in the rain, when a car spun out in the oncoming lane and into ours. We had nowhere to go...we collided head-on with the side of his car.

Everyone miraculously survived. My husband and the other driver were able to walk away (though we found out later the other driver was much worse off than he let on), but I was trapped in the car. I'd been pushed off my seat and under the dashboard, with my knees up against my chest. They had to cut me out of the car, which was one of the longest and scariest hours of my life.

We got taken in an ambulance to a nearby hospital, where my husband's folks met us. Once again, miraculously, my husband and I had neither broken bones nor internal injuries. Just a lot of serious aches, pains, and nasty, nasty bruises. I'm still walking with a cane for balance.

Up until two days ago, we were staying with his folks as we healed up (who were just wonderful to us). They drove us back to the Bay Area on New Year's Eve, where my parents and brother has driven up from SoCal to be with us. We had one hell of a little party, my husband's family and mine, though husband and I were pretty much confined to chairs. I hate the reason it happened, but it was great to have all our parents together again. It's been the first time since we were married 6 years ago.

So, happy ending, in some respects. Like I mentioned, I'm still moving really slowly, still using a cane for balance, and still in a bit of pain. I'm seeing my doctor today to get checked out. A lot of the bruising is fading, though I still look like I was beat up by barbarians. Obviously, my writing skills have also taken a bit of a hit, but like walking, I'm hoping to be back in full steam with that all well soon.

So, kids, the moral of this story: ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELT. Seriously. It saved my life, and my husband's. I'm gonna be the poster child for seatbelts from now on.

I hope everyone out there had a lovely and safe holiday. I'll be slowly catching up on everyone's blog posts, and hopefully next time I'll have something crafty to share...my Xmas gift to my father.

If you're curious, this is what our car looked like after the crash (I chose to post it small so folks wouldn't have a big, ugly metal wreck staring at them in their readers):


This used to be our Ford Focus. The doors were cut off and thrown inside by the rescue workers. Same for the seats on top of the car. The rest...pure collision, baby. Like I said...

...a miracle.