Since my birthday...

... Daniel built my shelves and put them on the wall in my sewing room. I also got my rotary cutter, mat, and rulers, but more on that later.

I've been working on a few projects. This table runner is one of them. A very simple project using a fabric remnant I got when I visited Lotta Jansdotter's studio last summer.

Finn and I have been going to the zoo on the days it has been warm here. He loves the animals, especially the red panda (it's also my favorite). I assume he likes the red panda best because it looks a lot like a cat, and cats are Finn's favorite things.

WARNING! Do not scroll down any further if you have a weak stomach. The next picture shows what happens when you are not very careful while using a rotary cutter.





Yea, so within 2 weeks of getting my wonderful rotary cutter, I slice a part of my finger off. They couldn't stitch it up because there was no skin to cover it with. No, that piece of skin wound up on my cutting table. So, the doctor cauterized it with silver nitrate to stop the bleeding (I had been applying pressure to my finger for 5 hours by the time this was done and the bleeding had not slowed one bit) and then covered it with Dermabond. It was really great to hear my doctor ask another of the ER doctors if he had ever tried that method before. He hadn't. My doctor informed him that he had read about it in a journal and that it is supposed to work really well. Let's hope so! The doctor also reassured me that he didn't believe he had used too much silver nitrate on my finger. Why does that matter? Because if he used too much, my finger will be black for the rest of my mortal life. That's not too bad. I'm sure Finn will think that is super cool in a few years. How many other moms have a black finger? And if this happens to you, don't believe the doctor when he tells you that it won't hurt at all tomorrow because he has covered up all the exposed nerves with Dermabond. He's lying to you. It not only hurts the next day, but the next 8 days (yea, I kept count). Also, you cannot speed on your way to the ER unless the person in the car with you is on death's door. Fortunately, the cop who pulled us over only lectured us instead of giving us a ticket. My favorite part was when the cop asked me, after Daniel told him why he was speeding, if I needed an ambulance. It was funny because I could see the hospital from where he pulled us over. I didn't need an ambulance. I just needed him to let us drive a few feet further to the hospital. The cop was really nice though. Everything is well now. Besides looking really gross, my finger doesn't hurt. I'm just glad I only cut off a little piece. I feel awful for people who lose whole fingers, hands, or limbs. I cannot imagine what that pain must be like, and hopefully I'll never know. I still love my rotary cutter though. I finished cutting my fabric that evening when I got home from the ER.