Stitching Again

I ran out of week before I ran out of stitching homework last week, so I've had to do a bit of catching up. This is my feather stitch sample. We're still working on colour blending using the six-stranded embroidery cottons. Plus there are a couple of new stitches to use each week. I've found it challenging to use a set stitch and a set combination of colours while designing something with an overall sense of purpose. This time I've kept it reasonably simple, and that's helped.
My car is booked in for a service tomorrow. I'm planning to sit at a nearby cafe and stitch away until it's ready. It seems like a more pleasant and efficient use of my time than getting home and back again on public transport. So today I'm going to switch my attention to my other homework--it's currently a lump of clay sitting on the kitchen table. But first I need to take care of another form of stitching. My dog Macc in now two-weeks post-surgery and it's time to go back to the vet for a check up. The wound seems to have healed really well. That should mean his stitches can come out and his Elizabethan collar can go to. I won't be at all sorry to see the end of that phase in his recovery.

Cone-finement

It's been an unusual week at my house. My dog Macc had a biopsy under general anaesthetic on Monday. The GA didn't seem to bother him much and the wound appears to be healing nicely, but of course he can't be trusted to leave the stitches alone, so he's suffering the indignity of the Elizabethan Collar, otherwise known as the Cone of Shame.I like to think of Macc as an intelligent dog, but his intellect doesn't stretch to this challenge. In the week since the biopsy he hasn't learned to make allowances for the big plastic obstruction that's suspended around his head. He's a dog who likes to lick his favourite humans. Normally that's a mixed blessing, but when the rough wet tongue is accompanied by the hard edge of plastic digging into nearby skin it's hard to remember that this is an expression of friendly familiarity. My other major complaint is the dog-door--in other households this might be known as a cat flap. Macc has been using it for about ten years. For ten years it's been big enough to accomodate him, but now the plastic cone is significantly bigger than the opening. The dogs sleep in my bedroom. The dog-door is there to allow them to go in and out during the night. Aauuggh! The sound of plastic bumping and banging against the surrounding wall as Macc insists on his right to pop out during the night is NOT a nice way to interrupt my sleep!

The good news is that the stitches are due to come out tomorrow. The not so good news is that he's likely to need further surgery--and more time in cone-finement.