Needlepoint as a sedative.

The last few days have been very hard. My dog, Sherlock, who was just a few weeks from his 15th birthday became sick very quickly and, ultimately, had to be put down on Friday. This is a photo from just a few weeks ago when we visited my family in Wisconsin.

For most of the day Thursday and Friday, between visits to the vets, Sherlock and I just sat out on the sunporch. His favorite thing was to be home with me laying around and relaxing. Needlepoint was the perfect distraction during this terrible period. The counting requires just enough thinking to occupy your mind, but it also can be somewhat mindless once you get going.

I finished my bargello pillow the day after Sherlock died. In the last few hours that we were sitting together on the couch, it came to me that it would be nice to add a little tribute to my favorite little dog to the pillow. My grandmother would always use a tent stitch in all of her pieces to add her initials. Inspired by this, I tent stitched Sherlock's initials (SH=Sherlock Hemlock) into the bottom left-hand corner of the pillow that was not yet completed. After getting home from the vet that evening after having to make the difficult decision to put Sherlock down, I decided to add my initials and my partner's initials around Sherlock's name, as he always loved to be either sitting or sleeping between us.

This is the final pillow:

Sherlock was a wonderful dog and never any trouble. I adopted him from a rescue group eight years ago. He was seven at that time. From the first night at my house he always slept next to me on the bed and always followed me around wherever I went. He would much prefer to be with people than other dogs. We were fortunate to have just taken a very nice road trip with Sherlock to visit my family in Wisconsin. I feel so lucky to have had that extra time with him, plus the ability to take Thursday and Friday off of work, so I could take care of him in his last hours. I'll miss him so much, but I have so many wonderful memories and I'm so fortunate to have had so much time with him. That said, our house feels completely empty without him around. Rest in peace, Sherlock Hemlock. You were much loved.