In Stitches

It's Been A Long Summer

2008-08-13T10:57:00.002-05:00

I'd like to say I have an excuse or two for not posting for the last 3 months but I don't. It's just life and lack of enthusiasm. I just hadn't been stitching anything that really got me excited to share. But recently I started a Halloween project that really sparked my interest and even got me to stretch the boundaries of what I would normally take on. I guess I just got bored and then finally decided to try something different and that got me going again. :D

First off I haven't finished the Lady in Red. I stopped half way through her when I saw this project I'm doing now. It was taking me forever to finish her because I had just lost all interest in it and wasn't working on it. So I did something I don't normally do, I put it aside in favor of a new project. Here is where (almost) I left off with the lady:

I actually finished the entire top of this project and was moving down towards the bottom when I put it aside. Looking at it now after some weeks I am once again interested to work on it. I think that I now finally understand why so many of you do rotations. :D

Here is the project that got me sparked up again! It's all thanks to San, she asked for this magazine (Cross Stitch and Needlework/Sept) and it had this wonderful project in it! It was so beautiful that I just HAD to do it.

It's by Nora Corbett from Mirabilia. I have never stitched one of her patterns before and I didn't think that I ever would. They just seemed to difficult for me, but this one was right there and it was a HALLOWEEN project and I couldn't resist. I even bought all the Kreiniks and Beads for it and I intend to put (almost) all the beads on it. Me, the no bead person...it's a miracle. LOL

Here is my current progress:

I started this right at the very last few days of July, so even I am impressed at how fast I have put this together. I am done with all the DMC stitching and am now into all the Kreiniks and then the beading. I have to say it was a fairly easy project to stitch and I enjoyed every moment of it. I did make some minor changes to it. I changed some of the backstitch colors. I wasn't sure the Kreinik would be all that easy to work with, but I stitched up the green on the pumpkin last night and it went very easily. I have to say that the colors in the picture are a bit misleading as some of the beads look orange and white. The beads around her skirt are actually a very pretty red and the ones that look white up by the moon are actually seafoam colored. I was a bit surprised by that but the colors are still very pretty. All in all I would say that if you love Nora Corbett and you can get your hands on this magazine, you won't be disappointed in this project.

Lastly I leave you with Greg's recent finish. This is another charity stitch. He just didn't have time to finish his Liberty project so he did this up as a replacement. It's from Bent Creek:

Hope everyone has been having a great summer!

Lady In Red

2008-05-22T10:45:00.002-05:00

Just an update on the Faith, Hope and Honor project I'm currently working on. It's going pretty well, if not so fast. I probably could go faster but why hurry? :D

Here's an update pic:

There are a couple of things I changed here, 1) her skin color and 2) her dress color.

I changed her skin color because she was basically Ecru, which meant you'd never see her against this fabric without backstitching and the pattern doesn't have any backstitching. So I opted to come up with a realistic skin color, as realstic as I could anyhow. After a couple of experiments I think she looks nice. This is a combination of a DMC color and a specialty thread that Greg used for Evangeline. I feel it's just the right combo of pink and peachyness to look make her look alive and not like a blood drained corpse. ;)

The dress I changed because when I pulled the color that the pattern called for it was too coral pink and not red enough. I wanted red. I like this so much better the pink just didn't suit me or this project. Red is more regal to me.

The lion is an interesting thing to stitch. It's made of two different colors that are so close together that you can barely tell one from another unless it's right in front of you. I'm not sure why the designer felt that it needed 2 colors but I stuck with it. I do love how the mane is turning out. At first it seemed a pain to stitch it but once I saw the effect I loved it.

I have to say that the colors that you see in the model stitch picture are definately not like the DMC colors. The DMC seems brighter and stronger. For example the green blocks in the model pic seem more blackish, but the DMC is a definate forrest green. I'm sure that this is because the designer intended this to be stitched with silk specialty threads. These threads are beautiful but if you are on a budget forget it they will break you. I think sometime it would be nice to see a designer show us two model stitches, one with the specialty threads and one with DMC so that we can see what we are actually gonna stitch if we opt for the conversion. (This is just a pet peeve of mine.)

Overall I still love this pattern and the symbology of it and I know it will be a long time favorite. :D Not to mention that it is a relatively easy stitch. :D

In other news, a couple of weeks ago we went on vacation to Minneapolis and while there visited a very nifty cross stitch store. If you are ever up that way check them out: Stitchville
Our jaws hit the floo when we walked in, I haven't seen that much stitching stuff all in one place before, it was totally amazing. They have everything you could possibly ever want, let's just say we spent a cartload of cash there and had a blast doing it.

Take care!!

Lady In Red

2008-04-23T16:03:00.002-05:00

Back again! I have been stitching away, it's been great! I had some time between finishing my last project and starting my new one (waiting for fabric) so I did a couple of smalls.

First is a mini project that Greg wanted me to do. It was a lot more complicated than it looked! But it turned out cute. :D

The hedgehog is so adorable and matches the little figure that Greg had sitting with his plants. He was quite happy with it. :D

Next I did JM Designs Rooster:

I used Needle Necessities forest green thread for this one and I love how it turned out. I thought it would be a "small" project, but it's actually about 5x7. It was fast but a bit tricky keeping all those stitches in their proper places. Not sure what I will do with it, but it would look cute in just the right frame. :D

Next up is an update of Greg's statue of liberty pattern:

He's been working on this for 3 months! But it looks so great and I keep cheering him on. :D This thing is HUGE, but so beautiful to see in person. :D

The project I'm working on now is called Faith, Hope and Honor by Carriage House Samplings.

I just fell in love with this pattern when I saw it and had to stitch it. The thing I loved most was her red dress. But when I started pulling DMC threads (I can't afford the expensive silk ones that are used in the sample.) I realized that the "red" was actually more pink than I wanted. And one of the other colors wasn't quite what I had expected either. So I did some switching and got the red dress back to the red I wanted.

That is one of the downsides of the display photos on the patterns, they can be a bit deceiving. I think in this case it was probably because the silk thread colors are a bit different than DMC. But it also might be because the picture is a bit over exposed. In the picture you can hardly see her albaster skin and it was the same in real life when I pulled the Ecru thread and realized it was the same color as the fabric I was stitching on. LOL Well that wasn't going to work for me, I like my ladies to be a bit more flesh toned or even a bit pinkish. ;) So I did so me mixing and matching and finally came out with a combo thread that give her a more fleshy appearance. I don't have a pic as yet, but will try to post one soon. Sorry. Anyway, overall I would recommend this pattern because it's easy and cheerful. Just be aware that it is a lot larger than you might think, especially on 14ct. I'm doing it on 18ct Aida and it's still going to need an 11x14 frame. But like all Carriage House Sampling patterns it will be one that I cherish for a LONG time. :D I just have to find a place to hang it. LOL, LOL

Bye for now!!

More Stuff

2008-04-10T09:46:00.002-05:00

Well sad to say it's been another two months since I posted. I just can't seem to get in the blogging mood. But it does make for more stuff to talk about. :D

First off I have to show my new frames! Hobby Lobby had a 50% off framing sale and I had to take advantage of it. So I got two of my projects re-framed. I had wanted better frames for them for a while. They are square projects and it's nearly impossible to find square frames.

First up is my Blue Moon project:

I thought this frame would set off the project better and I think it looks great! Here is a close up of the frame:

My favorite of all is for my Pirate Map project from Lynne Nicoletti. I was never happy with the frame I had it in and I finally found one that I love!

Here is a close up:

This one looks so fabulous! I really love this frame and am glad I was able to get it.

Back in February I decided to start on an Autumn Sampler kit from Janlynn. It was a long complex project that would've taken me months to finish. But I was ready for it. So I got everything set up and started stitching. Here is how far I got

before I realized that I had started the project horizontally instead of vertically on the fabric. The fabric I had chosen for the project was narrower than it was long and that was fine if I had started the project in the right direction. As it was the project would NEVER fit on the fabric if I kept going the way I was. It was a major bummer to realize that. I had put a lot of work into it and honestly I just didn't want to start over again. It was a very tedious process and I just couldn't face it right then. So I bagged it and started on another project that I'd been wanting to do since last year.

But first I did a project for charity for Greg. He asked nicely. :D I think it turned out pretty nice. The tea dyed fabric is very pretty.

I also just finished "I will always be a wildflower" from Sam Sarah. Greg got it for me last year along with the buttons. I LOVE IT! It was easy and so fun to work on.

I dyed this fabric a while ago and I remember wondering what I would ever use it for, it was just such a strange color. Well you just never know, do you. It works so great with this project. I had to change out the colors because I didn't have the right specialty threads but I got close. I like the sunflower better than their original one. I think it looks more sunflowery. :D I'm not sure how I will finish this...when I saw it in the shop last year the lady had made it into a beautiful pillow. I may go that way if I can find the right fabric. :D

Lastly I have to show the gift that San sent me for Xmas. I found this frame by chance on sale and knew it was perfect for this gift. Greg did the matting and it all turned out fabulously. It's such a delicate project on a lightweight linen that is so pretty. Sorry for the slightly blurry pic, as always things always look better in person. ;)

Well that's it for now. I will try to update a bit more. I seem to be out of my slump so ....

Oh and if you are looking for my gallery I have to say that sadly it has gone away. The hosting site has gone away and I haven't found a new place for it yet.

Take care!

Wow, it's been a long time...

2008-02-06T14:57:00.001-06:00

No I did not drop off the face of the planet. I just got bored and distracted and retreated for a while. I didn't even realize it had been this long since I'd updated.

I wish I could say I had loads and loads to show you, but I can't. I just haven't been in a stitching mood for a while. I do have some pics, but mostly Greg's. :D

I did get my owl framed finally and I finished a project that I had worked on forEVER. I guess sometimes we just need a break. Of course it didn't help that right after Xmas I got a nasty cold/virus thingy that didn't give up for over a month.

Anyhoo! Here is my framed owl!

Here is the project that I was working on for such a long time. I guess I mainly got bored with, even though when I started it I really wanted to do it. Just fickle I suppose. ;)

Greg finished up this project for me. I had begged him to stitch something fantastic for me after he finished his Evangeline. I had bought this pattern and knew he would make it turn out great and it did! I LOVE IT!

And here are some mini-projects that he did for charity donations at work.

Other than that nothing much to report. I am working on a charity stitch for Greg and I like it. It should go fairly fast.

I can't believe it's going to be Valentines day already! Seems like it was Xmas just last week. :D Hope everyone is doing well. I know you've been stitching cuz I keep lurking around your blogs. ;D Take care!

Better Late Than Never

2007-11-08T15:17:00.000-06:00

So I finally finished my owl on the pumpkin, it's meant for Halloween which was oh LAST week, but hey it's done. ;)

I love how it turned out, it has some minor glitches that we won't discuss but overall I love it. :) Now I just need to get it framed. I think the only complaint I can put forth is that the pattern didn't have a conversion to DMC. It was specialty threads only and that was a bit of a pain, especially for those that can't get or don't want to use them. I wish that this kind of info was noted when selling a pattern as it can be quite crucial. That's my only complaint though, the pattern is well done and easy to use. And FUN! :D

I told you that I took an embroidery class and showed my progress...well here's the finished project.

The part I loved the most making this was the ribbon embroidery. I know, can you believe it? Everyone else hated it or had trouble with it but I really loved it. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this, maybe a pillow? But here is a close up of some of my stitches for San.

Not too horrible for someone whose never done them (except for lazy daisies) before. LOL

Well I hope you all are having fun stitching and enjoying fall or spring depending on where you are. :D

Happy All Hallows Eve!

2007-10-31T16:21:00.000-05:00

Look I'm back and so soon! :) Thanks for all the nice comments from last time, I appreciate them. :D

Greg has a new post at his blog The Bent Needle

I promised I'd post a pic of his finished Evangeline. So here it is, finally!

It looks so fantastic, no picture can ever do it justice. :D And now he's working on a new project for me, you can see a glimpse of it on his blog.

I got my African ladies all framed up. These are special gifts so I had to do something special. Let me know what you think.

I used shadow box frames because I had found these nifty African statues that I wanted to use in conjunction with the projects I stitched. Well with Greg's help we managed to get everything combined into a shadow box. I found these cool fabrics for the backgrounds at at local quilting shop called the Cosmic Cow (no I'm not making that up). I also glued some extra beads just to jazz it up a bit and it all just came together. I can't wait till I gift them to their new owners. :D

I have made amazing progress with my Trick or Treat project, it just started to flow along!

I am about half way done with the owl and I think this project is just so fabu, I love it. :) I did change some of the colors because I didn't have everything that the pattern called for, but it worked out. Glendon Place makes some great patterns I may have to get some more down the road. :D

And lastly! I hope you all had or are having a great Halloween! Here (for Lili) are a couple of pics of my house decorated. This weekend it transmorphs into Thanksgiving. ;)

And in case you think you are seeing things, YES that is a skeleton with a party hat on sitting in my rocking chair holding an UGLY bat. ;)

Mega Update

2007-10-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

As they say time flies! And in this case it certainly did. I didn't realize I hadn't updated since August till I looked at my blog recently. And I have no excuse...I was just distracted I suppose. We've been busy!

First off I finished up the bike sampler and finally got it framed and on the wall:

I love it here mixed with our other biking related pics! Our local Hobby Lobby has been having fantastic frame sales so we've gotten some great deals and re-framed several things.

Next I finished stitching my African ladies, I haven't gotten them all framed up yet but I do know how I want to finish them. ;)

I started working on a Carriage House Sampling project called Fall's Gifts, but decided that I loathed and despised the fabric I was working on. So instead I just finished the pumpkin I started and moved onto something else. I will come back to this project at a later date with a different fabric.

I'm going to make this into a little pillow or something....hmmmm I guess I should get with it.

After the pumpkins I decided to go with a new pattern I received from Glendon Place called "Who's There". It just caught my eye and I love it! Here's my progress so far.

I will probably be stitching this till Thanksgiving, but it's worth it. It's a fun project to work on. I'm not as far along as I'd like because Greg and I took an embroidery class. Yes that's right *I* took a stitching class, I know it's hard to belive. It's right up the street from us at the local stitching shop so it was convenient, plus I know the lady teaching the class. Here's pics of what we are working on. I actually finished all my embroidery and we are now working on decorative hearts for the middle square. Greg is still working to make every stitch of his perfect. LOL

Mine's the green one and Greg's is the blue. It was a random color pick, we got cute little Halloween bags handed out to us with our stitching supplies in them. So far the class has been a lot of fun. There were 6 of us to start with and now we are down to 4. We are supposed to be pretty much done with it next week, but I think some people will still be working on their projects for a while. I plan to finish mine quickly as it has been taking too much time away from stitching my "Who's There" project. Last night we worked on the hearts for the middle, they are a separate element that are attached last. We had to backstitch diagonal lines on them, who knew that backstitching on muslin would be such a pain? It is! But I finished mine in record time, mainly because I refused to take teeny tiny stitches. LOL Mine are more moderately teeny. LOL Overall I would rate this experience as interesting but not one I'd repeat. Embroidery is just not my thing, my lefty/righty ambidextrous brain just can't get a grip on some of these stitches. :D

Greg finished up several projects and sold them for charity. First his yellow ribbon:

It made $30 for charity!

His cameo:

Netted $70!

And his flag (finished a while ago)

Raked in $110 buckaroos! He was so thrilled. :)

He also finished his Evangaline project, but unfortunately the pic I took of it framed sucks majorly. I will have to retake it and post again when I have it. It is STUNNING! He has gotten tons of rave reviews of this project. :D

So that's basically it. Greg did finally talk me into going to open stitch night at our local shop. The same place we go for class. It was interesting, mostly quilters. But we did find out that the second and fourth Mondays the place is open to only stitchers (no quilters) so if we wanted to we could meet some other stitchers then. I'm thinking on it. I have a hard time getting motivated on Mondays and it's also Heroes night. ;p I think curiousity may win out though.

Happy Stitching!

Update!

2007-08-27T16:44:00.000-05:00

My how time flies... Hard to believe August is nearly over. Well here is what we have been working on!

I finished my bike sampler:

It turned out great and I found a nice frame for it, just have to get with it and get it done. :D

Greg finished Evie:

Love, love this frame! It fits this project so well. This is such a great piece pics can't do it justice. :)

I am currently working on some African ladies. Here's a progress pic, although I am finished with this one.

This took no time at all to finish and I can't wait to do the finishing on it. :D

Greg is making a yellow ribbon project for work:

He's working on this slate blue fabric that really makes the colors !pop! it looks so great! He is always giving away some fantastic pieces to charity. :)

I'm onto the next African lady, she's in green. Then I think I may do one autumn project and who knows after that. I feel like doing Halloween projects and yet NOT. I want to get out my Fall decorations this weekend cuz I like to enjoy them as long as possible. But honestly it's been so HOT here that I am just L-A-Z-Y! It's hard to get motivated even inside with the air conditioning going. ;)

Well, that's all for now. Take care! :)

Moving Right Along

2007-08-02T15:27:00.000-05:00

I took a few days off last week just cuz I could and it was nice to just kick back and not worry about things. Okay,okay I still worried...what can I say I'm a masochist. ;)

But it did give me time to work on my stitching and of course Greg just kept plugging right along on his.

This is going fairly fast, I did have to rip out the last bike wheel I stitched cuz I got in totally the wrong spot. But otherwise it's been a fun project and easy. The only thing that's a bit of a challenge are the colors. This is meant to be a fairly bland picture and the recommended fabric is white. If you know me at all, you know that I HATE stitching on white. So I chose a fabric that I thought would give this an "antique" look. The problem is that some of the colors fade away a bit on it. So I've had to make some minor changes to accommodate this. All in all though it's looking good!

Here are the framed versions of my "Mom" and Greg's "Flag":

Greg is still working away on Evie. She is one weird chick though. In person it feels like the eyes follow you. It's kinda disturbing. The pictures don't do this one justice at all.

She's got some wild hair going on too. LOL

And lastly! Our 4 year anniversary was July 31 and here is what Greg gave me! He's so sweet!!

These are from Lori Mitchell and I had been wanting them for a long while. The perfect anniversary gift for me. :D The groom looks like he's been out on a bender and is still a bit tipsy. LOL

Well it's still hot here and school starts soon, which will be weird, but it's been a nice summer.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Sizzlin' Hot Summer

2007-07-17T15:01:00.000-05:00

We have reached that part of summer again, the part that makes me think fondly of winter...yes it is a twisted place. ;) The heat coils up off the pavement and hovers around your ankles while slowly making it's way up your body before slamming you abruptly in the face. It is wickedly hot out there and so deceptively lovely. I look out the window at the lovely seductive green landscape only to be knocked back inside by the heat wave when I open the door. I know when the deep freeze of winter is here I will long for such heat, but now I only want to sit indoors in front of the fan and admire the lovely view from the window. :)

AND the Tour de France is in full swing! I love the Tour and I hate the Tour, just as it loves and hates American cyclists. ;) I love it for the excitement and never ending action, I hate it cuz it makes me feel like a lazy cow for being inside when it's nice outside. ;) The nice thing though is that it is well suited for stitching! You don't really have to watch (unless you want to admire tight backsides) you can just listen while stitching. I imagine this is somewhat similar to what it must've been like back in the days of radio when tv's were science fiction.

So with the increased stitching incentives I have finally finished my "mom" project.

And started on an new project!

And look it's bike related...big surprise. LOL This project came by way of France, the irony of which is not lost on me, and is from a magazine whose name I can't pronounce. It was sent to Greg by Lili as a birthday gift. Of which he was so estatic to recieve. The magazine has some fantastic bike related projects and this was one. When I saw it I was immediately drooling over it, I just loved the simplicity and uniqueness. So when I finished up mom and sat watching bicycling on tv I thought HEY I want to do that project. So here we are. :)

Of course I changed the color of the fabric, which is a bit tricky because of the thread colors, but it will work out in the end.

The thing I love is that it is going FAST. It's easy and fun. Thanks so much LILI!! This was just what I needed. :)

Greg has just continued to stitch away, even though I have been in a major slump.

Here are a few things he has accomplished:

He made this for his work charity auction. They have it every year and he loves to stitch things for it. I love how it turned out and I love his signature done in red, white and blue! This is a pattern that we got in Wisconsin during vacation and I don't know how he could stand stitching it what with all those blank spots, but he did.

Next:

This is also a pattern we got while on vacation. Greg loves his inspirational quotes and he especially loves Albert Einstein, so this was a perfect fit! He totally changed the colors and then we were at Hobby Lobby and found this mirror shelf in the clearance aisle. It was mega cheap and a perfect fit for his project, don't you love it when this happens? It looks great, just needs some plastic to project the project.

Last, but definately not least!

Greg loves to do the most difficult projects, difficult to me. I like them easy. He is still working away on Evangeline and was obsessed with stitching her face as a cameo. Me, not so much. But he insisted and decided he would do it and give it to the charity auction. I felt that one project with Evie was plenty. ;) So he found this 22 count *black* fabric and started away on just her face. Here is his progress:

It looks AMAZING! I can't wait to see it finished, he is an awesome stitcher, especially when you consider that before 2004 he had never put needle to fabric in his life.

Well that's all for now! Everybody stay cool (or warm for some of you)!

Space Time Continuum

2007-06-28T15:03:00.000-05:00

I have been sucked into a place where time has ceased to exist it's called...work. And when I came shooting out the other side the calendar said it's the end of JUNE. Now I distinctly remember it being April just a couple of days ago...right? (big sigh) Okay gotta work on this whole keeping up with what day it is....

The sad thing is that I'm still not getting alot done. At least at home. I've done quite a lot of things at work. ;) Hey! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :D

So here's what I've been doing (at home)...mainly, just becoming one with the couch. This is not an unpleasant experience I assure you.

I have also worked a bit on stitching, just a bit, it's just such an effort to lift my fingers. LOL

Here is my finished sunflower pillow:

And here is my progress on "mom":

Actually I have quite a bit more done on "mom" than this but I have been too lazy to take a recent picture. It's definately L-A-Z-Y month. I just can't believe we are half way through the year (again). We need to pass a law that the warm months are not allowed to speed away this quickly!

Not much else going on so off I go to try and get busy. :D Have a great weekend!

Circle Back Around

2007-06-14T13:38:00.000-05:00

Do you ever get that feeling in life where you are just going around in circles and WOW, doesn't this all look familiar? That's where I am today. Things seem like a weird form of deja vu and if you are a Matrix fan you know what that means. ;) Yes, programs are being reset everywhere...

Anyhow in an attempt to shake off the weirdness I have some update pics for you!

I FINALLY finished my last project. I love La D Da patterns but sometimes they can be more complicated than they look. This was one of them. I need to keep this in mind when choosing to work on these...NOTE TO SELF not as easy as it looks. ;)

I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so. ;) I made some small changes adding backstitching to some parts cuz they needed it in my opinion. :D But overall it's a fun and funky project. The yellow fabric looks great with it. Now to find some great fabric to finish it off.

Oh and here is my Angel project all framed:

Greg found this frame on sale. I described what I wanted and dang if he didn't find it. He's great that way. :D I gave it to my sister-in-law (she's a nurse) and she seemed to love it. She's a stitcher too, but never has time for it. So I was glad I could do something nice for her, she's a great lady. :)

NEXT! Greg bought me this project some time ago, I had lusted after it and it went on sale so he got it for me.

I don't normally stitch these type of kits, but this one really screamed at me to do it. I LOVED the colors, the theme and the fabrics. And like I NEED one more pillow? NO...but it's just so fantastic. It was fun to stitch, though I couldn't use a hoop which was weird. But it was easy and it turned out great! This is an "in progress" pic, I actually finished it last night. I'll post a completed pic later. :D

I will make my own pillow for this to wrap around, I have some nice creamy cotton fabric that will give it just the right look. I would recommed these kits if you are looking for something easy and decorative or for a gift. They are super fast and beautifully made, the threads are high quality and the kit includes the needle and a button to finish it off. They come in all types of styles which made it hard to choose one. Oh and it all comes in an nice zipper bag so at the end you have another storage bag, which we can always use. :D They are a bit pricey, but considering you don't have to do anything but stitch it makes it worth it. :D

Next I'm working on this:

I changed all the colors, which should be interesting. LOL I will show pics as soon as I get some more done.

So now I need to go off and read some blogs. And work, work is good too. LOL Have a great week!

I Survived Senegal and I Have the T-Shirt to Prove It

2007-05-24T10:19:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: For those of you that couldn't see the slideshow, I hope that I fixed it, let me know if not. :D Thanks!

LOL, okay maybe no t-shirt (those things are expensive over there), but I do have slide shows courtesy of Photobucket. So let's see if they work.

Okay it seems to work...so this first one is Dakar from the 15th floor of our decidely worn out hotel. It could've done with a major makeover as we had no air conditioning (it was there but did not work) and no hot water. Apparently we were too high up for the hot water to reach us...hey it's not the U.S. so what can I say? Let's just say that cold showers are not so great when you are half asleep. LOL - Okay also in this set are pics of Goureé island. Apparently this is where the slave traders used to take slaves to be transported to Europe, America, etc. It's actually very beautiful and stunningly visual. Unfortunately the museums were closed while we were there.

Next is more Goureé and the beginning of our trip to Saly, Senegal which is a resort area. The traffic in Dakar is mind blowing and not for the faint of heart. I made the mistake of sitting in the *front* of the bus. I didn't make that mistake on the way back. ;)

Sorry about all the different slide shows, Photobucket would only let me put so many pics per show. You will notice some pics of poultry included, I took these at the poultry farms we visited. Very interesting, but nothing like the U.S. See the box of chicks, well I made the mistake of saying the first thought in my head "Oh look chicken nuggets" The U.S. poultry scientist with us laughed, but said "Oh, that's just so wrong." LOL Yes I'm twisted. --- Finally we reached Saly. Which was like suddenly entering the tropics. I have never been to Hawaii, but was told it had a similar feel to it. Stunning is all I can say and a weird 180 from Dakar. And, bonus, wonderful air conditioning and HOT water. LOL

Final pics of Saly. One night we ate dinner on the beach which was interesting and scary, cuz they have nasty malaria ridden mosquitos, but I was lucky and only saw one the whole time and it met with an unfortunate accident involving my hand and the bathroom mirror. LOL They served a lot of fresh fish and that night they had sea urchins which someone at my table was eating. Let's just say that I passed and had dessert instead. LOL

Interesting trip, wouldn't want to do the airplane ride again unless I was business class. If you have claustrophobia don't go, save yourself. LOL And according to my colleagues this was an easy flight. Yeah, if they say so. LOL

Hope everyone is well and having a great week!

Just an FYI

2007-05-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much for all the nice comments to my last post, I really appreciate it. I do still keep up with everyone's blogs, I just haven't had time to do commenting.

A couple people asked why Africa. LOL Well, the place I work for sponsors research collaboration in Africa. My office is helping to run a week long conference in Senegal. Which means I get a trip to Africa to run errands and other such duties. My biggest chore will be to remember not to rinse my toothbrush in the local tap water and take my malaria meds. LOL

Thanks for the well wishes, I'm sure it will be an interesting trip and I'll share a few pics when I return.

Where Has Time Gone?

2007-05-09T13:57:00.000-05:00

Wow, it just seems like yesterday that I posted here, but it's been a whiiiiillllleeee.... Sorry about that, life interupted and all that. ;)

In the meantime Greg and I have been on vacation to Wisconsin and I leave on Friday for Africa (Senegal for those that like specificity). So before I go off to the hinterland I thought I'd share some vacation pics. I'd love to share stitching pics but...well...I don't have any. I just haven't been stitching much too many distractions. ;)

Our trip to Wisconsin was so Greg could visit the hallowed shrine of recumbent bike sellers that he worships whenever a catalog shows up at our door. He really wanted to buy a bike but let's be realistic, we have a Saturn and no bike rack, yeah that says it all.

Here he is pining away for a new bike:

He did get to test ride a bike so he was happy. From the bike shrine we went back to La Crosse. I had never been there and I can say that it is a beautiful place. Here are some pics:

(Yes that is both of us.)

Then in our travels we discovered by happenstance "The Biking Capital of America" - no I am not making that up, that's what they call themselves, it's cute. It's Sparta, Wisconsin and they take bicycling very seriously. They even have a bike and aerospace museum in the old Masonic Temple. Yes I did say aerospace, it turns out that 2 astronauts are also from Sparta area. It was all quite fascinating and a lot of fun. We even got to see a hilarious 1963 bike safety video, I can not begin to describe the weirdness of that. But the people were *extremely* friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's a pic of Greg with an astronaut replica:

His shirt says: Cleverly Disguised as a Responsible Adult (Yes I do go out in public with him, I know it's hard to believe. ;p)

And last but not least we hit every cross stitch shop we could find between here and there and let me tell you there aren't a lot of them. Here's our stash enhancement:

We had a great time, but now it's back to work. I will let you know how it went in Africa when I get back. ;)

Take care!

Still Alive!

2007-03-27T16:06:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not I am still out here! I have to apologize I just don't have a lot of time lately to do the blogging thing. I do try to get over and read everyone's blogs but I don't have time to leave comments, which is a bummer. I do have time to work on my stitching which is a good thing as it's the only thing keeping me sane. LOL

I did finish the Healing Hands project, that border was a pain though. LOL

But like I said the border really makes this project and it was worth the headache. :D I hope the person I made this for likes it.

Greg made this freebie pattern, not sure of the name:

I'm not sure what the count on this fabric is cuz he got it as a scrap, but he stitched this OVER ONE! He kept saying "I have a headache, I don't understand why..." Well, DUH. LOL, LOL Didn't it turn out great? He's such a great stitcher, I couldn't have done that.

I am now working on this La D Da pattern:

This is my progress so far. I am stitching this on 18 count aida that I dyed with Curry powder. I am finding that I like 18 count fabric a lot, but this curry dyed fabric is neon yellow (or so it seems). It can be a bit hard to look at while stitching, but I love the colors of the threads on this they just pop.

Not much else going on, except work, work, work. LOL At least the weather has warmed up a lot! And the trees are leafing out and we have daffodils, etc. It's sort of a shock to the system to have spring here at last.

I think this weekend Greg is going to drag me to a stitch night at the local stitching place. They have these every few months. It's a potluck, what to bring? hmmmm But I get the feeling I'm not getting out of going to this one. LOL I know, you are thinking it sounds fun, but I am terribly shy around new people so these things are difficult for me. I'm trying though. :D

Okay, back at it! Hope your week is going great!

Finding the Inspiration

2007-03-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't gotten as much done as I would like but here's the latest updates.

Healing Hands is coming along nicely, although the border is going to take a bit of time.

The backstitching really helped this one and the gold thread looks great. :D But I've never been a border fan and this one really needs it so I'm stitching it but it's slow going.

Here is a pic of Greg's Evangeline. I love this project.

We were tormenting...I mean "playing" with the cat the other night and I got this shot of her. We put some Valerian root (similar to catnip) on her favorite toy and gave it to her, she went bonkers. LOL

She has her front paws wrapped tightly around her toy and look closely at her back toes they are splayed stiffly out, this means she is in cat ecstasy...her favorite spot on the bed, her favorite toy and some catnip, what else could a cat ask for? LOL

Now about finding the inspiration. After my last post a couple of you asked if I do my own framing and mentioned how I seem to frame so closely after finishing a project. First, yes I do all my own framing, no I don't use glass. I use plexi-glass or plastic. I get it custom cut at the local hardware store if I can't buy it pre-sized. It's cheaper and less prone to breakage than glass.

Finishing a project to me is the last step in a project. I don't start a project unless I have a finish for it in mind. Every project is planned out from the time I pick it up. I may not have the exact frame or fabric for the finish but I always know what I want to happen with it. That's why the house's frame was such a disappointment. I had planned that frame all along and then it just didn't turn out the way I wanted it too. SO I had to come up with a backup plan and it worked out but I would have been happier with Plan A.

I have a large collection of frames that we have picked up here and there during sales, but we also look for the unusual at flea markets and thrift shops. The frame that I used for my coffee project had a pre-made piece of art in it that was on a steep discount. I bought it popped out the art that I didn't want and put in my project. If you think outside the box you can find framing solutions just about anywhere.

I have found that framing is not that difficult and I am too cheap to want to pay a professional framer to do something I can do myself. Of course in my case I'm lucky to have a spouse that can cut mats for me, but I'm sure you could get the mats cut professionally a lot cheaper than having them do the whole job.

Also there are lots of ways to finish a project besides framing and most all of you have made some adorable pillows, needle holders or pin cushions out of your projects. Bottom line is don't be afraid to try framing it's not that difficult and you can find frames that are just as wonderful as the professionals use if you look around in unusual places!

Have a great week!

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

2007-03-09T15:16:00.000-06:00

That's how this week went by! And I just love these kind of weeks, when you wake up on Monday and it's alreay Friday. LOL

So, though work has been busy I have also had time to stitch, though it hasn't gone as fast as I'd like. ANNNND I did get my coffee project finished and framed! Yay me. :)

Here is the finished Fresh Coffee:

I love how it turned out! And soon I will be hanging this one one the wall. :)

Then because it seemed a cute project I did this:

It took a few hours, I think four or five but was done in a day. The only thing I forgot is his head of hair, but I'm not sure he needs it. LOL

Now I'm working on this for someone I know:

This is an older Dragon Dreams project that I found for cheap at a local shop and just had to stitch it now. LOL It started out fast and has slowly crept along. The nice thing about this pattern is that if you know someone who is a nurse, doctor or EMT they have patterns to reflect them all. The only thing I don't care for is the blue. I have never been a big fan of blue, but I will suffer through. ;)

Sadly I haven't had a chance to check up on you all. I've been bogged down in a giant mailing that included massive amounts of hand collating. If you have ever done this type of thing you can sympathize with me...I spent ALL day Wednesday hand collating a project to be mailed, 650 pieces of 9 different items. Let's just say I got my excercise for the day.

Hope everyone has a warm and fun weekend!

A Ginormous Thanks!

2007-02-27T15:14:00.000-06:00

Goes out to Ann from Belgium who sent me the following package of goodies! What a nice surprise and a great big cheer up it was. :D Ann doesn't have a blog so I can't link to her, but she tells me that she is a great blog follower. :D

Look at all the loot! And they were all wrapped as Christmas presents, which made it more fun. :D Ann stitched me that fantastic yellow hand towel not knowing that in my very own bathroom I had almost identical ones. LOL

See how great it will look in there. :D Thanks again it really made my day!

Here is a pic of Greg's finished Summer Snapper.

It's so adorable, wait till you see what he has planned for it. LOL

Also, here is a update on Greg's Evangeline, he's making good progress on her!

And lastly here is my coffee project! It's going very fast and it's a joy to work on. I really love, love, love the fabric for this one.

I noticed in the comments on "Dying with Food" that a lot of you are interested in trying food dying yourself because you find it less intimidating than chemical dying. I can totally see why. Let's face it food is something we all handle every day and won't turn our hands dark purple or green (unless it's food coloring) if we forgot our plastic gloves. I can honestly say that the experience of dying with tea and curry was quite successful. I also tried paprika, but without much success. If you want to try dying with food products my biggest suggestion is to go for those foods that naturally cause the biggest and most hard to remove stains. Also remember to use boiling hot water and in the case of coffee dying Vonna's suggestion of baking and basting will definately give fantastic results.

That being said I would still encourage you to give chemical dying a try, it's not difficult and the cold dying process is very easy. It just requires a bit of patience and eye for color, a lot of water and rubber gloves. LOL I can honestly confess that I never thought that I would be able to make my own hand dyed fabrics, but I saw it as a challenge and went for it and was amazed at what I could create all on my own. I hope I see some new hand dyed creations on all of your blogs sometime soon. :D

Fresh Coffee!

2007-02-23T09:32:00.000-06:00

So in case you were wondering if I had dropped off the face of the planet, the answer is yes...sort of. I had a bad case of the flu all last week and a holiday on Monday and have been swamped since then. LOL

But I'm feeling better, which is great, but still swamped which is not so great...but surviving. SO I just wanted to do a quick post to show you what I've been up too. :)

I finished my butterfly project and got it framed. It looks pretty good, although I had some trouble with the fabric. It was very crooked and I had a hard time pressing it straight. But after fighting it a bit I did get it set the way I wanted. I am a bit disappointed with the colors. They aren't as light as in the package model and you can't see under the Eiffel tower the way you are supposed to. And I know that I got all the stitches right in this area, so obviously the threads weren't exactly the colors they should've been. But overall it looks pretty great. I did leave off a couple of effects that I didn't think were necessary (french knots) and I love how the backstitchng turned out. So here is the finished project:

The mat I found for this was just want I wanted! It was a fun and challenging project, but not sure if I would buy a Dimensions kit again.

I also started on my next project. Hinzeit's Fresh Ground Coffee. I changed some of the colors and tea dyed my own fabric. So far I am LOVING this one. I always seem to love Hinzeit patterns they are so crisp and clean. And they go fast, as of now I have almost all the "Fresh" lettering done, although I don't have a pic yet to share.

Greg has been working on Summer Snapperland and finished it last night. This is just a progress pic as I didn't have a chance to snap the finished project:

This is such a cute project, I love the little crab in the corner.

Yuko, if you are reading this, thanks again for the tips on tea dying. I tried it again this weekend and got FANTASTIC results. When I need a tan colored fabric in the future this is how I'm going to get it. Unfortunately some of my other food dying experiments didn't go as well as the curry, but no matter it was fun trying. :)

Hope everyone has had a great week!

Dying with Food!

2007-02-12T15:34:00.000-06:00

No people, NOT dying FOR food, although right now a snack would be nice. LOL

Yes I wrote, dying WITH food. As you know I like to dye my own fabric and usually I use Dylon brand cold dye to accomplish the task. It's not extremely color fast, but since I don't wash and re-wash my projects it's never been an issue. That said I am always interested to try new techniques for color dying fabric and I found one I hadn't thought of before on Yuko's site. Yuko left me a nice comment on my frame fiasco so I went to have a look at her blog and BEHOLD she was dying fabric with food products. In this case she was using curry powder, onion skins and tea. Not necessarily all at the same time, although it might create some interesting colors, not to mention smells. LOL, LOL

Now of course I had heard of tea dying and I had even tried it in the past with weak results, but never had I thought of using any other types of foods to dye with, least of all curry powder. I don't even eat curry. LOL But lo and behold I had some curry powder in my cupboards thanks to Greg. He bought it during one of his adventurous eating phases. And of course I had tea bags so I thought here's my chance to give it a try. So I did. And these are the results:

I LOVE the results! The tea dye is a beautiful antique brown and the curry came out a bright vibrant yellow. This color is perfect for a spring project! The trick to getting a nice bright yellow I found is HOT, SUPER HOT water. Same for the tea, the hotter the water the darker the color will be. That said I am now intrigued as to what other spices/foods would make nice vibrant colors. Next, I'm thinking PAPRIKA. LOL, LOL I'll let you know how it turns out. ;)

Now onto HOHRH. Hobby Lobby (the crafters mecca) was having a 50% off sale on open back frames so we went to check it out and here is what we found.

After checking out numerous frames and finally deciding that it would be best to scale down the project quite a bit, we went with an 18X24 frame. Greg recommended that I go with this one and I have to agree that it does make the colors of the project pop out. So this is it unless sometime down the road I find another "perfect" frame. Here is what it looks like on my wall:

Thanks to everyone who commented about the other frame I am glad that I wasn't the only one that thought "great frame" but not great with this project. Ya, know I think my mom is going to LOVE that frame. LOL, LOL

Here's the latest progress on my travel project.

You can almost see the Eiffel Tower so it's getting close. Have to confess I am sick of stitching the same color in one and then two threads, not so easy on the eyes. But I'm almost done with that part and it looks great so it was worth it. :D

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Framed!

2007-02-06T14:52:00.000-06:00

I finally finished up the frame for the HOHRH project, the one that I've been keeping a secret. Well....I highly debated whether to continue keeping it forever. I hate to admit it, but I'm just not happy with how this one turned out. First off it's HUGE, nearly 3feet tall and secondly I think that it detracts from the project. Now keep in mind these are my opinions and everyone I've shown this too thinks it looks great. BUT I'm not satisified and so though the project rests in this frame for now I am on the hunt for something that will make me happy and hopefully do the project justice. ;)

It's perfectly fine if you disagree with me and think that this looks great...or even if you think it sucks. But I just wanted to share this because sometimes the best idea, just isn't. ;)

I Made That!

2007-02-02T14:31:00.000-06:00

I was trying to think of something witty to write about rather than just plaster up my latest photo and say see here it is. LOL

And as I was looking at the picture that I was about to paste up, I got to thinking about how I really like it and think it looks pretty cool. And then (logically) my inner child puffed up and went "Yeah, I made that!" AND I thought, I wonder how many times we all do that or if we don't then why not? It's quite the accomplishment to sit for hours on end and create something from just a bunch of thread and a blank piece of fabric, something that we will display or lovingly give to a friend or family member. So if you haven't given yourself a pat on the back lately, then do it. Cuz all of you out there create some of the most beautiful and creative pieces I have ever seen and you do it in spite of jobs, kids and many, many other commitments. From me to you I applaud you.

Now here's my latest in progress:

I am basically half way finished, with the stitching that is. There will be a lot of work on the backstitching. But I am surprised at how quickly this one is moving along. Once I got the hang of just doing half stitches it moved right along. It's challenging but fun. :D

Hope you have a great weekend out there, me I'm going to try to keep from becoming a popcicle. LOL

Flight of the Butterfly

2007-01-29T15:02:00.000-06:00

Or maybe it's "plight" of the butterfly...hmmmm... Been working away steadily on this one and it's coming along nicely, when I remember to do *half stitches* and not whole stitches in their place. LOL

I've pretty muched stitched all the bright color there is on this project. There is some reddish color on the left side but that's about it. I have to say that these colors are a bit boring, but the technique is very interesting and a bit challenging. You can't just whip across to one side and back to the other. But I seem to be in the mood for challenging so I'm enjoying it. FYI it also has a lot of blended threads so if you don't like those then this isn't the project for you. And it has an interesting mix of thread density. Some are 3 threads, some 2 threads and I've even stitched one set that was 4 threads thick. I'm assuming that the designer was going for 3D texture along with the sketched look. But it does make it difficult to use the needle that comes with it. I'm using a larger needle than I normally would for 18 count fabric to accommodate the varying thread amounts. Other than that I found the perfect frame and matting for it so I'm looking forward to the finishing. :D

Speaking of finishing I am in the process of working on the finishing for my houses project, but it's a secret that I hope to share next week. (Fingers Crossed) :D

Okay, bye for now from the frozen tundra! Have a great week!

Finally the Finish!

2007-01-22T15:16:00.000-06:00

Greg did this pumpkin project for me WAY back in the fall and I never got around to making it into a pillow, I was lazy. Then Lili sent me a wonderful Xmas gift with lots of nifty patterns, some fabric and the most beautiful little Halloween project AND the fabric to finish it into a pillow. So now I had 2 pillows to finish and still I was lazy. Finally I finished the Family Medley and it needed to be made into a wall hanging so that was the capper to get off my butt and get going. So I did. Yesterday I made 3 pillows and one wall hanging AND I even did some stitching. I know, I know it's amazing isn't it? Don't worry it won't happen again for 7 or 8 months. LOL, LOL

Lili's Pillow:

Isn't it SOOOOOO pretty? She picked the PERFECT fabric for to go with the project! I just LOVE it! And it turned out so great, no troubles with making it, just as easy as could be. :D Thanks so much Lili, I will always treasure this!

Greg's Pillow:

Greg helped me pick out the fabric for this one. I just fell in love it (way back in the Fall) and it does go perfect with his stitching. :D Thanks for making this one Greg! :X

Family Medley:

I found the fabric for this one in a little town about 50 miles away. I was shopping with my mom and there it was and it seemed so perfect for this project. It's not as well sewn as some of my projects (sadly out of practice) but still it works and has a homey feel that will work in the spot I want to display it. :D Greg got the hearts for this project from the stitching shop up the street, they add just the right touch. I decided to leave off the birds I didn't think it needed them. :D

My new project is Travel Memories from Dimension. It's an interesting project, small 5x7 and mostly done in half stitches.

I just loved the cover picture of this it's so pretty and antique looking. So far (knock on wood) it's been fairly easy. I am a bit leery of the half stitches, not sure why but as I think this will make the project go faster but I always get weirded out by something different until I've tried it. ;) The thing I liked about this kit (and I DO NOT LIKE kits in general) is that everything was nicely sorted and easy to separate. I labeled little baggies and put the threads into them. The chart is fairly easy to read, although they could've used a few more colors to mark the symbols. I think because it's small it makes it easier. My NEXT *NEXT* project will be the challenging one, but let's not talk about it yet. ;)

Here's my work as of this pic:

I actually have finished a lot more, the black outline of the butterfly and the pen so it does go quickly (when you don't make mistakes). I had to frog about half the butterfly when I realized I had put in one too many lines.

Here's an update of Greg's bicycle:

It's coming along nicely and would probably be finished but he's been distracted by other things, like shoveling snow. (don't ask) ;)

Well that's it for now! We got another 6 inches of snow yesterday (lucky us) and so it's definately feeling wintery and blah. I am ready for Spring. :D Have a great week!

Why Does This Fabric Look So Funny?

2007-01-12T16:00:00.000-06:00

This is what I asked myself when I started my new project and then I realized, it's cuz it's 14 count and I've been working on 16 count for the last 7 months (it might've even been 18 it's been so long I forget). ;) The holes in the fabric suddenly seemed weirdly large, even after a couple of days stitching on it I still haven't readjusted. Now I understand the reaction people who are stitching on small count linen/evenweave have about 14 ct aida. LOL, LOL

I am now working on Family Medley by Heart in Hand. It's a simple little project that I am not moving along very quickly on because I am lazy and haven't really tried very hard to go any faster. LOL

Once I put some effort into it it won't take that long. And I love the sentiment behind this one. I have something more complex lined up next, which should be fun. :)

Greg is working on The Journey by Dimensions. It's a nice bicycle project that says "It's All About The Journey" I like it, very bright and cheerful. :D

You can't tell but the fabric has a sort of cloudy day effect to it that is very sweet and compliments this one nicely. He always does a great job with his projects.

I'm glad it's Friday and that we have a 3 day weekend, the last one until May, so I will try my best to enjoy it. :D Even though we are supposed to get 6-8 inches of SNOW. But I have dediced to be evil and wish for it to go south and miss us (yes I am bad and I'm not sorry). ;)

Hope you all have a great weekend free of ice and snow. :D

Get Out Your Shoes!

2007-01-08T15:53:00.000-06:00

Your Dancing Shoes! That's right it's time to celebrate! I have officially FINISHED! (Well, on Saturday, but who's counting!)

I'm done, caput, finito! It was sort of an anti-climatic finish, as they often are, but it was nice to be done. As soon as I was done I took pictures, sighed with relief and made Greg help me clean up all the thread mess that I created these last 6 months. LOL, LOL

Pictures:

It's so weird to see all the blocks filled in... And as I predicted this last block was just easy, I could've finished sooner if I had taken the time to do it. But things like, oh work, got in the way. LOL

We had a busy weekend, we decided over Xmas to get some new book shelves for all our sundry collections and they were delivered on Saturday and well as a cable upgrade, both about the same time. It was busy at our place for a while. LOL

Anyway I just wanted to show off our snazzy new bookcases that *match* our old computer cabinet. Which now has an honest to goodness working computer in it. LOL For months that computer cabinet had our old non-working computer in it and was just a junk catcher. Now it is actually functional.

Despite the bookcases being a bit bigger than the old shelves they aren't as deep so it seems more spacious back there. :)

Well hope y'all are having a great week! Let's hope for no snow!

Happy (Just Past the) New Year!

2007-01-04T14:55:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had enjoyable Christmases and New Year's! Christmas here was quiet and New Year's was even quieter cuz we got 8" of snow on New Year's eve. Talk about a shock to the system, it just kept coming and coming and coming, like the Engerizer Bunny. LOL Fortunately we aren't big partiers so we didn't miss any celebrations, but I felt bad for those that did. Weirdly enough it's been so warm that a lot of the white stuff has all but melted away....of which I am glad.

I got lots of nice gifts, some from far away (Lili and San thanks a bunch). And since my birthday is January 2, I also got a second round then. It was so great I felt really overwhelmed by all the nice things I got from Greg this year. :)

I also finally got busy and finished the next to the last block of my HOHRH! And I'm nearly done with the LAST block. Sooooooo close!

I love the angel in this one, so pretty and the willow trees. It all turned out very nice.

Here's an overall pic:

I can't believe it's nearly done. I'm in shock! I won't know what to do... LOL

Here's what I have done on the last block:

This one was the easiest that I've worked on, the letters are just simple and the small motifs are fast to get through. Plus I love the saying even if it is a bit morbid. :)

And we have a frame for it, but the darn thing is HUGE! I think we are going to have to scale it down or it just won't fit our place. I just hope the fabric fits in the opening or we will have to start from scratch...actually we are contemplating that anyway just to get the whole thing a bit smaller. I'm sure it will all work out though cuz the idea for the frame is great and Greg did a great job designing it, I just didn't realize how big it was going to be. LOL Like I told Greg I just really wanted to show it off, but got carried away...big surprise there. LOL

I already put all my Xmas decorations away and even had to get a bigger tub for them (thanks to Greg for that! :D) and of course since I was putting some away why not just get out the Valentines stuff. LOL What can I say I love holiday decorations. And I have fun projects that I stitched last year and the year before that I can put out which is so great!

Well not much to say I guess except I hope everyone is having a great week! Now off to read more blogs!

Coffee Anyone?

2006-12-20T15:01:00.000-06:00

This has been a crazy week! I thought I'd get this post in on Monday, but HA! It was not to be. :) This week is a day short for me as I will be off Friday and then won't be back to work till January 3. :D So this is my last post for this year...which sounds really weird to say. :)

Sadly not much to report because I've been busy with Xmas prep and haven't stitched as much as I'd like to have. Greg finished his Garfield project and it was given as a gift to the nice lady he carpools with, she loved it!

I love the frame on this and it's what inspired Greg to stitch this one in the first place. :) It's one of my favorite things he's done. :D

And here is my latest progress on my NEXT to the last block:

The sheep are a bit funky, the finished one kinda looks like she's frothing at the mouth. Other than that very adorable. ;) I am hoping that I can sit down during my Xmas holiday and get a lot of stitching done on these blocks. What with no work and not much to do let's all cross our fingers. :)

I hope that all of you have a happy holiday season! Let's all have fun, eat too much and start our diets on January 1. LOL, LOL

Featuring Baby Godzilla!

2006-12-11T10:23:00.000-06:00

And the vote is in! Most people were torn as to whether the odd creature next to the cow was a rat or squirrel. The funniest comment was from Lili who called it a squirrel with a skin disease. LOL But my all time favorite goes to Greg who definitively dubbed it Godzilla (I added the baby part). Baby Godzilla who is offering the cow a piece of radioactive food so it too can mutate. LOL

I managed to finish this block on Saturday so now I'm down to *2* blocks! Woo Hoo!

Here's an overall shot:

It's hard to believe that I'm working on the next to the last block! And it will be so weird when I go to pick out the next project. Plus I will finally have to clean up my mess of threads on the sofa. LOL, LOL

The next pic is for San. She sent me my Xmas/Bday present early and of course why wait to open it? LOL She sent me a beautiful hand stitched piece that has the tiniest stitches on it and is so lovely that I couldn't wait to display it, but I didn't want to just slap it up on the wall so Greg and I devised a plan to make it really stand out. Here it is!

I had this frame in my stash and we had this mat board left over from another project, so he cut it to fit and then I used tacks to hold the project to the board. (It had little ribbons at the top for hangers.) Then I found these sunflower buttons (that amazingly matched Sans) cut the back off and glued them to the tacks. The stitched piece is basically "floating" on top of the mat. It looks very nifty, if I do say so myself. :) I have a spot of honor where it will be hung as soon as Greg puts up a nail for it (he's the "official" hanger upper in our house). :)

Hope everyone has a great week!

A Squirrel or a Rat?

2006-12-04T16:37:00.000-06:00

So I'm working away on my latest block and I stitch this little critter and as I keep looking at it I wonder is that a rat? a squirrel? And YES, I do know the big brown thing is a cow... :) What do y'all think?

I didn't get as much done this weekend, but then I didn't have 5 days off either. LOL The cow is coming along and though it's a weird colored cow I like it nonetheless. :) It's still weird when I look at the whole thing and realize I have two full blocks to go. It's hard to believe how long I've been working on it. :)

I worked on the cow while watching a show on how they put together the Xmas window displays for places like Macy's, Nieman Marcus and Bloomingdale's. That was quite the show to see! The Nieman Marcus display in Dallas had an artificial tree made out of *shredded money*! Yes I know it sounds weird, but it was definately shredded money. LOL Not the way I would like to see money used, let's glue it back together... LOL, LOL

Greg helped Garfield find the bottoms of his bunny slippers and then we went to bed. ;)

Xmas seems to be coming early this year, all our office celebrations are this week and next so we had to get out there and get our stuff organized. Which meant we had to go to the MALL! Reminds self - NEVER GO TO THE MALL AT THIS TIME OF YEAR AGAIN - Although I confess I did find a helluva bargain on a winter coat... ;)

I read that some of you are organized enough to have distributed caramel corn to the neighbors (Vonna) and I have my fingers crossed for someone who is frantically preparing for Sinterklaas (Ann Marie). :D Myself I'm always in that frantic "did I get it all done" mode, makes things more exciting. LOL, LOL And I could really use some of that caramel corn right now. ;)

Happy Sinterklaas Day for those that celebrate it!

Walking Wounded

2006-11-28T16:44:00.000-06:00

That's what I was over Thanksgiving. I was a disaster waiting to happen. LOL

After an uneventful turkey dinner my family decided we'd stop at Walmart before they headed home. They live in an isolated area about 90 miles from me so any excuse to shop they take it. LOL And Walmart was the only thing open on Thanksgiving. ;) I was doing fine until Greg decided to show me a couple of soup pans. We had decided we need a bigger pan for soups and the first one was too pricey and I figured that he wouldn't want to hunt all over the store to show me another one...wrong. He found an inexpensive pan that as I looked it over seemed wrong, too thin, etc. As I handed it back to him I managed to cut my finger on a jagged piece of metal on the handle. A good 3/4 inch long cut to my left hand middle finger. It didn't hurt but it was deep and started to bleed a lot. Everyone was saying "ahh, you're bleeding!" And we jokingly called it a demon pan, since Greg had carried it all over the store and didn't get cut. He found me some bandaids and off we went my family making jokes about me slicing my finger off in Walmart and how much money could they get. LOL, LOL

The next day Greg and I went out to do some shopping, no not in the the busiest stores, and somehow I snagged my index finger and bent the nail clean back to the quick breaking it. OUCH! That one did hurt! And of course it was on the same hand as the other cut. Not a big deal, except that I am left handed. LOL, LOL After that Greg said no more shopping as I'm dangerous to myself. LOL

Other than that the weekend was quiet. I managed to finish Block 9 and get a good start on Block 10. I also got out all my Xmas decorations but still don't feel that Xmasy. I just feel a bit blah this year....

Anyhoo! I got Block 9 finished! :)

It turned out great! Love it! The shooting stars are my favorite. :D

Next since I had a long weekend I managed to watch some tv and stitch away!

The house is going fairly fast considering the "brick". I think that after doing the brick on Block 3 I sort of had the hang of how it was supposed to go. :) I was a bit afraid that the house would look too similar to the house in Block 3 but it really doesn't. I think the cow will be my favorite part of this block...that and the fact that I will have only 2 blocks to go after this. :D

Here's an overview:

It's amazing how different it looks with each block that gets filled in. It's just so BIG and impressive. I can hardly believe that it was ME that stitched it... ;)

Greg is slowly working on his Garfield. He got distracted by bicycle stuff so didn't get him completely finished.

Hope your Turkey day was fun and pie filled! :) Or at least you had a good Thursday if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving. :D

Raisin' the Roof

2006-11-14T15:47:00.000-06:00

I finally got the roof on the old house. :)

I actually have quite a bit more done since this picture, but you get the idea. Since installing the roof, the orange has grown on me. I actually like it with the golden brown...it's still wild, but fun! :) I'm still dragging a bit on finishing this block. I just keep getting distracted. But weirdly, I don't mind that much. Somehow the predictability of picking up the same project is comforting. (I know, I'm strange. :D)

I keep thinking I'll pick up steam but not so far. And truthfully I'm kind of glad not to be doing any holiday stitching this year, it's nice to just stitch whatever I want and not feel obligated towards anything. :)

Greg has been working away on Garfield and he has got a lot done, he's the MEGA stitcher! :D

Garfield is so adorable and I love his bunny slippers. Can't wait to see this one finished. :D Greg is still working on Evangaline too, but off and on. But that project is so pretty, every time I see it I am wowed! :D

Not much else going on...Dancing with the Stars finale tonite, that will be exciting. :D Hope your week is going great!

Wild and Crazy Block Party

2006-11-09T15:53:00.000-06:00

I'm halfway through my current house and I have to say, uh ... what's up with the colors? I went ahead and used the recommended shades and well...considering the time of year it sort of does remind me of an exploded pumpkin. Maybe the inhabitants of Block 9 had a WILD (exceptionally wild) Halloween party and this is the result, all the windows are coated with pumpkin slime... or not. LOL, LOL

Actually I like the color of the house, it's just the orange that's a big off, but then this is all folk art and those colors never make sense. ;) I admit that I haven't gotten as much done as I'd like, too many chores last weekend. But I am plugging away at it.

I was also distracted by Dancing with the Stars and Lost and Heroes... Fortunately DWTS is almost over and Lost did a "fall finale" last night. Sometimes television is a good thing as it gives me a good background for stitching and sometimes it's a distraction, as in DWTS. It's hard to just "listen" to that show. ;) And Lost has so many weird subtexts that if you don't watch you will miss something. I imagine that now that those are gone for a while my stitching will pick up as I go back to easy to listen to history shows. ;)

Greg is working on a cute Garfield project.

He's using a purple fabric that looks great with this, I'll try to get update pics soon. :D

Not much to report, except that we are onto the next holiday, Thanksgiving, but the Christmas decorations are up everywhere. It's a bit weird as it doesn't seem like it's time yet.

It's a beautiful day here, warm and the wind is blowing strong enough to stir up all the dead leaves and make them come showering off the trees. Very surreal experience to walk through a shower of leaves. :)

Hope your week is going great!

Spooktacular!

2006-10-30T15:06:00.000-06:00

I ask you, how could anyone resist a face like this one? This guy (or gal) is just ready to PAR-TAY! LOL So of course I brought him (or her) home so he (or she) could party with the rest of my wacky decorations! :) The best part, I got it on clearance! I mean, what's not to love it's a giant skeleton (almost 3 feet tall) with a party hat! Yes, I know, my obsession knows no bounds... (big sigh) :)

As you can see I had a fun weekend rummaging around for more un-necessary Halloween decorations. It was a lot of fun and I did restrain myself and only brought this one item home. :)

I also did some stitching. The top of my latest block is taking shape!

I'm not overly fond of "fill-in" stitching, but I think this looks great. I did substitute DMC 844 for black, I just think the black is so harsh looking. The only "grrr" moment was when I asked Greg how it looked and he said "Nice cat on the moon!" LOL, LOL FYI - It's an OWL.

Here is Greg's latest work. He's nearly done with the dog and I think he's glad, he's been grousing about the white since he started it. This pattern didn't turn out exactly as he had anticipated so he's glad he's almost done. ;)

And lastly, I wanted to show you this really cool lap tray that my dad made us. It's specifically for stitching and has a tilt top. He added a little lip to hold our magnetic boards so it makes stitching a lot easier. I love the idea of the floor stands out there but I don't like stitching on rollers...believe me I've tried and we just weren't compatible. ;)

H A P P Y
H A L L O W E E N!!

Feed me, Seymour!

2006-10-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

With more feedback! LOL I confess, your kind praises and words of support inspired me to work really hard on my project this weekend. I got so much done that I was amazed with myself...really, no kidding. ;) Thanks to everyone who stopped in and helped me feel better! :D

Not only did I finish the final top block, but I decided to go ahead and fill in the back ground on my first block. :) I love how block 4 turned out, darkening the color was a bit of a pain, but it looks so much better. :D

I decided not to go stark black for the background, it seemed too harsh. So I went for DMC 844 which is dark grey and used one strand. I like the softness of it much more than the strong black.

Here is an overall view. I'm 2/3 of the way through! I can't believe it! :D It's going to be weird working on the bottom row. LOL But now that I'm that far along I am hoping to grab some inspiration and get moving along. ;)

Greg is still working away on his terrier. Here's his latest update!

It's starting to really come together, he's doing a great job, as always!

Well, I'm feeling better and back to work. Not 100% yet, but close enough. ;) I get a flu shot on Wednesday, so I'm hoping that will help keep that at bay and hold me over till Spring. ;) (crosses fingers) Hope everyone else is feeling great and doing well. I've got a lot of blogs to check out and "howdy's" to leave. :D

Re-Painting the Walls

2006-10-19T10:08:00.000-05:00

I've finally been working a bit on my latest house. After being totally annoyed with the colors I decided to darken it up a bit just to make it more pleasing to me. ;)

I haven't made huge strides, but I did get the roof on and the fence up. It's a start at least and I feel a lot better since I began re-coloring it. I can be so fussy about the little things. It still feels like I have so much left to do, but finishing this block will be a big milestone in this project. :) I'll take a picture of the whole thing once I finish this block.

Greg has been working away on his Jack Russell Terrier and here is his latest update, note that he does NOT have a stitching slump. LOL

I think this guy is so cute and the black fabric was a great choice. Can't wait to see it finished. :D

So lucky me, I had food poisoning over the weekend and NOW I have a cold. I think my immune system got whopped up side the head and didn't know what hit it. LOL The food thing was so nasty that the cold is just an annoyance although I am beginning to lose my voice. I think I need my blankie and some hot tea. LOL, LOL, LOL

I hope everyone else is feeling great! I do think though that cold and flu season is headed our way. Fortunately I get a flu shot next week, so maybe I'll get lucky on that front. (crosses fingers) I'm going to go find my vitamin C. :) Take care!

Tagged

2006-10-17T16:18:00.000-05:00

Annemarie tagged me to list seven songs that I am listening to at the moment. AND though I had not intended to post for a while (feeling a bit wonky, got food poisoning over the weekend) how could I resist as this plays into my self indulgent angst at the moment. LOL

Other Side of the World - K.T. Tunstall
Amazed - Poe
Let Love In - Goo Goo Dolls
Chances Are - Sheryl Crow
Accidentally in Love - The Counting Crows
All for Love - Nancy Wilson
Ordinary World - Duran Duran

For the record I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Poe. Sadly she doesn't have a bunch of albums out there, just two. Haunted is so beautiful and is dedicated to her father who passed away a couple of years before she made the album. K.T. Tunstall is my newest favorite and ironically enough I bought it for Greg, not me. I love the diversity of the songs and how she can change her style from one song to another.

Thanks Annemarie for tagging me! Now I want to tag a couple of people, if they want to participate, great if not no worries! :D

San
Lili

Hope everybody is having a great week!

Slumping

2006-10-10T14:36:00.000-05:00

It's official...I'm in a stitching slump. I just can't seem to get motivated *at all*. I've have had minor slumps off and on but this one is really hitting hard. I just don't even want to think about stitching. :(

I think it all started with some personal stress that has jumped up into our lives, by way of car problems. The problems are nothing serious, but making me nuts. I hate it when I go to a mechanic, tell him the problem and he looks at me like I'm a nut job or he's humoring me cuz I'm a nut job. Why do these people treat women like dog crap? I recognize when my car has a problem and I usually catch the problems long before Greg even notices them. (grrrrrr) Basically I just hate car problems, I just want to get in it and go. So thus the stress lately. I did get good news, the program I work for just got renewed for several more years. (Yea us!) So I should be in a good mood except for the car stuff. We decided in order to alleviate some of the car stress we would get a new commuter car for Greg and all went well we got a fairly good deal, etc. But 4 days later the NEW car needs new brake rotors. Aaaaackkkkk! Stress, Stress, Stress! (LOL, LOL) Fortunately it's new and has a great warranty, so it's fixed FREE. But the old car, the one that *I* get drive now, is still creaking and groaning down the road, it runs though so who can complain. ;)

But I digress, it's obvious that all the stress is causing me to not want to stitch right now. Which doesn't bode well for those African patterns I wanted to make. As a matter of fact, I think I'm just going to skip them and keep going on my current project. It's just too much pressure to think about trying to zip through anything else right now. I will either do them after I finish HOHRH or save them for next year. Yes, one less thing to worry about. ;)

So, here is the latest on my house. You will see that I haven't gotten that much done considering it's been well over a week since my last picture.

I think the thing that annoys me about this block is that while I like the colors they are NOTHING like the picture on the pattern. I was expecting this block to be very dark, but it's not. And I am not restitching it. I am a little disappointed with the color conversion with this whole project. While I realize it's hard to convert from certain fibers to others, I really think that some of the colors are just totally wrong. SO, if you decide to use the DMC conversion and want it to look like the picture, keep that in mind and do some creative swapping.

Okay, enough bellyaching for now. ;p I hope your week is going well! :D

Mistakes, What Mistakes?

2006-09-29T14:59:00.000-05:00

The lastest SBQ posed an interesting question and since I am the queen of mistakes Let's address it, shall we. :)

When you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in various stitching projects do you find it better to muddle your way through or do you take a brief break from stitching? If you do take a break, how long do you take?

Depending on 'when' I find the mistakes determines what my course of action will be.

IF:

I find it before I've gotten too far along, I curse, rip it out and re-stitch.

I find it when well into the project, I curse, decide there's nothing I can do and keep stitching.

I find that it's messed up the project beyond repair, I curse, condemn myself for ever starting that *bleeping* project in the first place and then throw it out. No I am not kidding. The length of each stage (i.e., cursing and condemnation) depends on how much effort I've put into the project. Fortunately, this has only happened with a couple of projects.

As you can see there is a recurring pattern of a lot of cursing when I am stitching, this is a release for me and should never be taken personally by anyone in the vicinity (i.e., Greg or the cat). :D

Typically when I realize there is a problem I muddle through trying to find the mistake, it's just easier. If I leave it and come back I will have a mental block...problem, what problem...nope no problems here. :D

Mostly I just incorporate the problem stitches into the project, I've gotten good at covering my mistakes. The thing is, that while I love stitching. Stitching does not necessarily love me, I am one of those people that likes to do 5 things at one time. (only a slight exaggeration). If I'm stitching then I either watch tv (lots of channel surfing), listen to music, bug the cat and plan what I'm doing the next day, etc. Yes, I'm slightly ADD, which is so much fun at work. (kidding, I'm kidding)

Sadly this behavior and stitching are not necessarily compatible which is why I make mistakes. I've learned to accept this limitation, as I can't live without the other distractions. I've tried stitching in a quiet room and it drives me NUTS. LOL

You might wonder why I even bother stitching, well it's busy work and I like keeping my fingers busy. Plus I enjoy the finished products. It's also an opportunity to fine tune my cursing. ;D (that was a joke in case you wondered) So I'm definately a muddler, which is good cuz you can find a lot of mistakes during commercial breaks. LOL, LOL (that was another joke) ;)

Here is my latest progress on block 4. My only disappointment was I thought the colors would be a bit darker. But it's looking good. As soon as I finish I will show you the next projects I'm going to work on. They are in an African theme which fits the place I work for and I hope my co-workers will love their gifts. :D

It will be so nice knowing that I only have four blocks to finish after this. This is the longest project I've ever worked on and I will NEVER do one like this again. One thing I have learned is that I definately do better with short term projects. I can take a month or two, but six? :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

"Ye Best Start Believin' in Ghost Stories..."

2006-09-25T14:31:00.000-05:00

I love that line and it so fits what I have done with my trick or treater figures! I couldn't resist and HAD (yes it's a compulsion) to get a couple more. Now I have a set up that reminds me (loosely) of what it was like trick or treating as a kid when half the small town where I lived ganged up together to go out. And we always (of course) had to go through the graveyard. Dark, spooky, creepy...it's a kid thing, what can I say. LOL

I found two big tombstones that light up at the Dollar store and some mini ones at another place. Then I got out my pillow stuffing and VOILA a *spooky, foggy, creepy* night. LOL Oh and I added another tree to give it balance. I haven't had this much fun setting up a display in ages. :D

Thanks for the great comments on my last post. The car did finally get fixed, although we had to take it to the shop on Friday as well cuz of another problem. And YES it did cost an arm, but not the leg just yet. Vonna, yes those sandals I had on are green and so comfortable but not especially suited to long distance walking. :)

Greg has been stitching away and here is his finished pumpkin!

I will be making this into a pillow sometime soon, love this pattern. :D

This is his newest project. It's a Jack Russell terrier from Brenda Franklin. His latest comment is "I love working on black." I think he's a bit twisted. ;)

I don't have a current pic of my project cuz I'm not far enough along for a pic. Just too many distractions. But sadly I will have to set it aside for a bit after this block. I decided I would finish up this block and then start in on the Xmas projects for my co-workers. If I don't start soon I won't have time to finish them. This is a BIG deal for me, I have NEVER set aside a project to work on something else and then come back to it. So I hope that this break will not kill my enthusiasm to finish HOHRH...I figure if I finish this block I will have just 4 more and that will give me the incentive to come back to it. I hate stopping, but I really want to do these projects as gifts. So we will see how it goes.

So here is what we did for the weekend! Just for you San! Pictures of the Brownville Nebraska semi-annual flea market. Mostly pics of my mom, dad and Greg, but you will get the idea.

We have our favorite place that we always park, but I ask myself every year why the heck do we park on a hill? It's fine walking down, but back up at the END of the day?

It was beautiful, nice and cool and it started out sunny but got cloudy by the end of the day. Perfect weather for walking and poking around piles of stuff. :D Brownville is a historic little town located on the Missouri river. They even have their own paddle wheel river boat. I've been on it a couple of times, very fun. :D

The flea market is basically the length of the town on main street and all the vendors park along side the road and traffic is diverted. So you saunter along checking out the stalls to see if you find a treasure or two. You can get something to eat (funnel cake, hot dogs, barbeque and kettle corn) and keep going. It's a lot of fun we were there all day and boy did my legs ache from all that walking. :) I didn't buy much but I don't really go to buy things, more for the fun of being outside in great weather. There is always a vendor (in the Fall) with pumpkins and gourds for sale along the highway. We always stop there on the way back up the hill, yes we have learned from experience to buy those last so we don't drag them all over with us. LOL My mom stopped and picked out a pumpkin and some funky gourds to set outside the house. I'm not really into wart laden pumpkins so I passed. At the end of the main road (just past that hill) is the local winery. It's a beautiful old barn converted into a store. (Sorry I didn't have enough pictures left to snap one of it.) But they do have a pretty waterfall, I had one pic left so I got the trio standing and admiring it. :D

Hope you had a fun filled weekend!

So How Was YOU*R Weekend?

2006-09-18T15:35:00.000-05:00

Mine started out peachy...I was happily headed to the local apple festival in Greg's car and made it just outside of town when the "Service Engine Now" light came on. SOOOO of course I had to turn it around and head for a repair shop. In the meantime I try to get a hold of Greg...no luck. He wasn't expecting me to be home all day so he went off on a nice LONG walk. It was beautiful weather after all...just windy. I head to the shop and they tell me it will be over an hour before they can get to my car. (bummer) I was supposed to meet my mom and dad at the apple festival and needed to get home right away for when they called asking what happened. (They only use their cell phone for emergencies so it wasn't turned on.) I realize that it's not far, the weather is nice so I decide to walk home instead of waiting for Greg. Here's how it went:

I had my camera with me because San had asked me to take pics of the apple festival, sadly I didn't get any of those but figured I might as well make use of the camera. ;)

It's a more than 1/2 mile from the service place to my house, not so far... The first pic is of our car at the service place and then progress onward till I get home. It wouldn't have been a bad walk at all if I had been wearing something BESIDES "frou frou" sandals. But I what could I do, this was an emergency after all... Fortunately there is a bike trail right behind our house and near where the service place is. So off I go treking along the trail with my funky sandals and purse. I think the walkers and bikers thought I was a bit strange. LOL But I made it home and realised that Greg had been there and (having NOT listened to all the messages I left him) went to get me from the service place. LOL, LOL Yes, it was just a comedy of errors at that point. Things finally get sorted out and I find out that they can't do the necessary repairs till today so no car for the apple festival (mine is falling apart and can't make it out of town). Needless to say I was bummed that I didn't get to do the apple festival but that's the way it goes... So I went out for a little retail therapy and then I worked on Greg's witch pillow yesterday.

I love how this fabric came out! And the back is even better!

I found this fabric in the clearance bin! I've seen it used to make skirts but I thought it would make a great pillow and it did! Love it! :D

When I bought the fabric for the pillow I also bought this acrylic throw, just had to cut off the white excess and now I have a fun Halloween throw that I put on our bed.

Oh and Greg wanted me to show you his culinary skills. Last night he made us turkey chili and it was quite delicious! He's quite the chef. :D

And lastly here is the update of my latest block:

Quite the exciting weekend, on Friday night we had the tornado sirens going off at about 10pm, then the car goes haywire... But we still had fun and got some things done, sort of... LOL

Tonight I pick up Greg's car can't wait to pay that repair bill... AAAACCCCKKKK! ;)

Another One Bites the Dust!

2006-09-14T14:32:00.000-05:00

Yes! One more down, 5 more to go! Woo hoo! I finally made progress last night and got this block finished. :D

I love how this one looks and have already started on the next block! I'm sure it will take time but Block 4 looks to be interesting in color.

Here's another full view:

It's really starting to look different and you can also read a portion of the saying so that it makes a bit of sense. ;)

Bea asked where I got the pattern for the little witch that Greg is stitching. I guess I never did give the name of the magazine although many of you seemed to recognize it. ;) It's from Cross Stitch and Needlework Magazine from September, 2006. Fun magazine with lots of interesting patterns. They have a mini preview of November's issue and it looks like it will also have some fun projects. Typically I don't subscribe to magazines because I love to buy individual patterns and because I have so *many* patterns that I will probably never be able to stitch them all in this lifetime. But sometimes you can't resist!

Thanks for all the great comments! I really appreciate each and every one. :D

Reality Impacting

2006-09-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

Well I had high hopes that I'd be finished with block 7 and onto the next one, but life has a way of jumping the tracks. ;)

This is what I have done so far. Nearly there. :D I was expecting to have more time to work on it this weekend. We went flea marketing with my mom and her van unexpectedly blew the head gasket. We had met in Nebraska City as it's half way between where we both live and then took her car. Just outside of town the van overheated and my dad realized what happened. It took over an hour to limp back to town, then we decided to all squish into our Saturn and head out. We called a tow truck to take her van back to her house and then we went flea marketing and here and there. Of course we then had to take them home so we decided to just stay the night. My mom lives about 90 miles from us so it's not a short drive and it was late by the time we dropped them off. The next day we decided to head out to Beatrice to look at cars, just in case they decided they didn't want to fix theirs and didn't get home till late afternoon. Needless to say we were tired! So not much stitching got done this weekend. LOL

Greg did finally get all the backstitching on his witch done, now I have to do the french knots. He hates doing those and made me promise that I'd do them for him. ;)

I like how he signed his name it looks kind of 3D. :D

While I was out this weekend I found some fun window clings and decided to decorate our big living room window. They had these fun glow in the dark ones that will be fun from outside. :D

The black ones are pretty cool from outside as they are more of a silhouette. And Greg wanted to put the spooky eyes in the other window to kind of freak people out in the dark. LOL We have a lot of college kids living around us, I'm sure they will get a kick out of them.

Hope your week is going great so far! Tonite is the start of Dancing with the Stars, should be interesting. LOL, LOL

Pictures Never Do It Justice

2006-09-07T14:53:00.000-05:00

I re-did last year's Halloween web page so if you want to see what I've done with my decorations this year have a look. Halloween House

When I see all this stuff in person it's so much more impressive (or overwhelming depending on your preferences) than in the pictures. But I suppose that's because you can see all the details that pictures sometimes miss like...cat hair. LOL, LOL

I May Be Sad, But I'm NOT Crazy

2006-09-06T16:24:00.000-05:00

In reference to a comment that said that if I am sad when I finish HoHRH I could always start on VoHRH . That would be a big NO. I have definately enjoyed my time with HoHRH, it's been difficult, trying and overall enjoyable. Would I care to repeat it in a slightly different form...no way. The thing I have learned about myself during this stitch (don't you love it when stitching teaches you something) is that I don't like doing projects this big. Now how would I ever know this unless I stitched something this big I ask you...I couldn't. But now I do. Lesson learned. ;)

Here is my latest update:

It's looking good, but slow going. It's so weird when at one point you are just cruising along and getting a lot done and then BAM not so much. It's one of the weird time space temporal disturbances I've run across in this project. But still workable. LOL I have definately decided to count this as 12 projects finished instead of one so that I don't feel so bad that I didn't get as many things stitched at the end of the year. ;D

Greg finished the witch and is now laboring over the backstitch. I am ever grateful he took on this project, I'm not sure I would've had the patience to muddle through. :D Because be forewarned there are a TON of 1/4 stitches in this project and when working on aida it's not always a cake walk. :D

Isn't she pretty? And I can HARDLY wait to finish her into a pillow, cuz I know (well at least I hope) that you all will DROOL over the fabric that I got for it. It's very lovely, in my opinion. :D

I got a head start on my Halloween decorating and did it on Monday. That was a lot of fun! And it looks so festive. I found one more trick or treater to go with the group, cuz everyone needs a kid sister tagging along. I will try to get pics to show. The ones I wanted to post came out fuzzy.

Hope y'all are having a great week! :D

In Which the Cat Says...

2006-08-31T14:28:00.000-05:00

...why are you bothering me, insignificant human?

Here is another update of my current block.

I love how those diamonds turned out, very striking. :D And so I decided to get another pic of the whole project's progress.

It's finally filling up! I never thought I'd get this top row finished and now it's really getting there. :D I do think though that I'm going to have to go back at the end to fill in the black on Block 6. It's just too pale and hard to see without it.

The latest SBQ: How do you share your finished pieces with others? Do you frame them, scan and/or photograph them, or do you have another method that you would like to share?

Typically I just photograph them and put them in my gallery or on this blog. I also frame and finish them for display at home or as gifts. I really enjoy finishing things and bringing them to work to show to the ladies I work with. They get a kick out of seeing what I make and how I finish it. Showing off the work is a reward in itself, the praise I get keeps me motivated! :D

I got the following from Jenna's blog. Very fun and quite accurate about my personality. ;)

Dark Purple

To others, you seem a bit dark, mysterious, and moody.

In truth, you are just a very unique person who doesn't care what others think.

And you really enjoy your offbeat interests and friends.

You've decided that life is about living for yourself - simple as that.

What Color Purple Are You?

The Forgotten

2006-08-29T15:21:00.000-05:00

I couldn't believe that I hadn't taken a final pic of the 6th block of HoHRH that I finished. Scandalous, just scandalous! LOL

It's sad, but true that every time I finish a block I declare that this is "my favorite one". Maybe it's just that I'm so glad to have one more finished? Anyhoo, this one definately looks great with the addition of leaves to the trees.

Here is Greg's witch with feet. She is just so cute! I can't wait for her to be finished so I can make her into a pillow. :D

Thanks for all the nice comments! I really appreciate them! I get a bit discouraged about HoHRH at times as it's such a big project and it's hard to appreciate it when you have it sitting under your nose for hours at a time. There is a lot of satisfaction in finishing off each box and then the rush to start the next one. ;) I will be at once sad and estatic when I finish the last stitch of the last box.

Let's Go Trick or Treating!

2006-08-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

Well I tried to do an update post on Friday, but Blogger was tempermental so I gave up. So here are progress pics from then:

I finished this block off and am onto the next one. I'm now on block 7 (or 3 if you follow them in order). And this next block is going faster than I had expected. :D

Greg has finished the witches feet and started on the pumpkin, but had to detour for a birthday present. I will try to get updated pics of both these projects for tomorrow. :D

Here's my progress on Block 3. I like the diamond motif, it's very nice looking and so far easy to stitch. I got a lot of stitching done over the weekend watching the HBO series Rome on dvd. There are 10 episodes and all are very well done. I enjoyed it a lot and hope that when they do a second season that it also appears on dvd at the rental place. :D

Here is a pic of my newest Halloween stuff! I found these while shopping yesterday and HAD to have them...sadly I couldn't afford to bring the *whole* party home...a kitty, some ghosts and a skeleton had to stay behind. ;)

Aren't they just the cutest! They are ready for lots of chocolate, although one of the pumpkin boys looks like he could cut back a bit. ;)

Hope your week is starting out great!

Taming the Hoop Marks

2006-08-18T09:33:00.000-05:00

I got an interesting question from Munchkin about how to remove stubborn hoop marks.

First off, I realize a lot of you probably do not use hoops and might even strongly recommend against their use... That said, I LOVE my hoop. I have tried other methods and just can't get away from the hoop. I especially love my spring hoop, it's the pink one you occasionally see in my pictures. I love it cuz it's easy to move around on the project and doesn't leave really nasty hoop marks.

SO for those of you that do use hoops, here are the things I do to minimize hoop marks and to remove them when finished stitching.

Don't leave the hoop on your project for extended periods of time, i.e., DAYS and DAYS or MONTHS and MONTHS. :D I try to take the hoop off every time I finish stitching for the day. I don't always remember but I do try. This tends to reduce the amount of and depth of the hoop marks.

Removing the marks once the project is finished can be tricky, but there are a couple of methods I use. First, I try just ironing them out. If that works, then YEA I'm finished. If not, it's onto method two, *steaming* them out. This one generally works for me and is easy, just use the steam setting on your iron and a soft cloth. Put your project right side down on the cloth and steam the back. It can take some patience but this method generally works for me.

If steaming doesn't work then I gently wash the project in lukewarm water and then iron dry right side down on a soft cloth. This will definately take out hoop marks and should remove any dirty spots. Personally, I generally don't wash my projects unless I find them to have spots or something on them. I don't travel with my projects and only work on them at home, but it's a personal choice. Now Greg's projects typically always have to be washed. He carries them with him to stitch on at lunch and here and there and so they tend to accumulate a lot of dirt. Fortunately I have only had one "incident" with washing one of his projects and that was because he had used a hand dyed thread that bled out unexpectedly. Which of course led me to be much more careful... LOL

So there you have it, my "unexpert" advise. Basically it's trial and error to find what works best for you. The only thing I will again stress (it was stressed to me early in my stitching career) don't leave the hoop on your project except when stitching. This definately makes it easier to get hoop marks out cuz they aren't as "beat" into the fabric. ;)

If anyone else has suggestions, feel free to comment away. I always hearing what other people have tried. :D

Have a great weekend!

Another One Down

2006-08-16T14:16:00.000-05:00

1 more down and 7 to go... Sheesh, it sounds kind of overwhelming when put like that... Ah well, I knew this one would be HUGE going in and it doesn't help getting distracted by other things. The stitching is relatively easy, it's the overall size that's slightly intimidating. ;)

Greg charted out my name for me, as I am not so good at that kind of thing. I think it fits perfectly. I'm onto the next block, let's see if I can get focused. ;)

Greg is working away on the witch. It looks so cute! And it's going rather fast. :D

And thanks for all the nice comments! Yes, I am lucky to have such a sweet hubby. He's normally so caught up stitching things for other people that I don't like to ask him to stitch things for me, but I REALLY, REALLY wanted this one and I *knew* he could stitch it fast and beautifully. (Yes, I am sucking up.) c:) I will have to start looking for some great Halloween fabric for this cuz I want to make it into a pillow.

Bribery

2006-08-14T10:55:00.000-05:00

Yes it's true, even *I* will resort to it (bribery) to get something I want but am too lazy to do myself. ;)

This weekend we ended up at Barnes and Noble. I always dread going there cuz I know I will come out with a sack load of stuff that I could probably live without. This trip was no different. I found a cross stitch magazine that I just HAD to have. It had the CUTEST projects in it and I couldn't live another day without possessing it. ;) BUT do I have time to stitch any of them...that would be NO. I am still mired down by my HOHRH. Not that I mind being mired in it, but I am single minded in my pursuit to finish it BEFORE stitching anything else. (Yes, I'm anal that way.) So instead of lusting after this project and then putting it away to be forgotten. I begged, pleaded and then *bribed* Greg to stitch it for me. When begging and pleading doesn't work, new CD's will. (muu hhaaa haaaa)

So now Greg is stitching this delightful little witch for me:

And this is his progress since yesterday:

Let me just say right now that this is not as small a project as it appears. It's about 4x8 (all hat) and it's a lot of color changes, something just up Greg's alley. LOL And isn't he doing a fantastic job? YES he is. :D Thanks Greg! :X

It's just the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. It's designed by Mary Engelbreit so not a surprise.

I also got the roof finished on my house and a few details done. I'm nearly finished with block 1!

So all in all not a bad weekend! How was yours? :D

Finding Balance and Stash

2006-08-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the nice comments about Greg's project! He's been working on it about 3 weeks, but it's a HUGE project, something like 10x15 when it's all finished. :D Greg was a bit worried about the colors cuz they don't exactly match the picture on the package, but I think they are fine. He's switching to another project for a while so I'm not sure when we'll get another update pic.

I finally got my July 7 order from Stitching Bits and Bobs. This took forever, must've had trouble tracking down patterns?? The stuff that I ordered just a few days ago is already being sent out. I guess it pays to pick popular and just released stuff. ;) LOL

Here are a couple of pics of my stash:

There is Pride and Prejudice (Sampler Girl), French Country IV (Trail Creek Farm), Wee Pumpkins (Heart in Hand), Emma's Garden (Lavender and Lace) and Children's Garden (Butternut Road)

Of all these Emma's Garden and Children's Garden were the best bargains. I found these on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $1.75 each. What a steal! :D I am most excited to stitch Pride and Prejudice though, I love these patterns from Sampler Girl. They are so FUN! :D

These three patterns are all from Dragon Dreams and Greg really wanted them. They are all so adorable and will be fun to stitch.

I also bought a new chest of drawers for my fabric. I had it stuffed into a basket (which was bursting at the seams) and needed more room. I had my eye on this one but initially it was just too expensive. It went on deep discount for 70% off, which seemed much more reasonable to me so I snapped it up. It works great, although I could still use a few more drawers (how does this happen ;p).

Lastly, here is an update of my repaired house from the first block on HOHRH. I had to do some creative "cutting and pasting" but I think it looks much better. I'm sure I could've left it as it was and no one would've noticed, except ME. LOL I'm just too fussy with these things and it was driving me batty. I won't have the same problem with the next blocks as the houses are more toward the middle and I will be better able to judge starting and stopping points. ;) I love the sort of patchwork effect of this house, even if it's a bit odd to stitch. The colors go well together, but I will be glad to finish and move to the next block. I think that I may take a mini break to stitch my newest pumpkin patterns though. I desperately want to make some new fall projects, but I don't want to stop on this project. These mini projects wouldn't take much time so it might be a nice compromise. I'm not good at working on multiple projects, too single minded I guess. ;)

Have a great weekend and stay cool!

The Orange Glow of Evangeline

2006-08-09T15:11:00.000-05:00

LOL I hope Greg forgives me for that title. I had mentioned that he has been working away on his project and how it looks so great and Jenna asked to see a pic. So here is his latest update.

It looks like a lot doesn't it? But in reality this is less than 1/3 of the pattern. I was thinking that he'd gotten a BIG chunk of it done until he unfolded the entire pattern. Still, it's significant progress! AND it looks fantastic. So much more pretty in person. The fabric color just doesn't photograph well. Greg is just an amazing stitcher! It is so true that some people just have a natural talent for certain things. :D

On the housing front, I did some repairs last night and I think that I got my house worked around to where the windows don't look so bizarre. I will take a pic tonite, but all in all I am happy w/ the revised look. :D

Annemarie: I have had a passion (no pun intended) for romance novels since I was a teenager. But I usually don't share that info with others as I have been teased for this penchant. I guess I am finally at an age where I don't care what people think and freely admit that I am just a big 'ol romantic softy at heart. I even have a love for soap operas, which most people think are just cheesy junk. I actually find romance novels renew my appreciation for my own relationship by reminding me of what that first blush of love is like all over again. AND nearly all of them have a happy ending and I think we can all reap a lot of positive energy from a good 'ol fashioned happy ending. :D

Requiring Repairs

2006-08-07T15:59:00.000-05:00

That's what my house needs, some repairs. Somewhere I got off a bit on the white and now I am having trouble making the start of the roof look normal. At this point I would take normal. LOL

Sadly this is all related to the fact that my blocks are about 2-3 stitches wider than they should be. I counted and counted and counted but still they are off. So now I am paying for it with this type of problem. I am sure I will be able to compensate but this is one of the reasons I don't like stitching outlines around designs and will go out of my way to leave them off. ;)

Other than that I made decent progress on this. I always think things look easier than they are and this house is no exception. Ah well, it's a learning curve. :D

You should see Greg's Evangeline! It's so stunning...amazing! This is definately *his* hobby cuz he is so good at it. :D Sadly I'll never be half as good.

Not much else going on, except that we finally got that project done here at work so things are more normal, now we wait to hear the outcome. I think waiting is probably worse than working to get something done, at least the work is a distraction. ;)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

So it's August...

2006-08-03T11:19:00.000-05:00

AND I'm still not making significant progress. I could blame it on the heat, but I think it's just laziness at this point. Also I've been distracted by books. I go through these reading phases several times a year and once they've got me I just have to read till it's out of my system. ;) And in case you think that this "productive" reading...nope, nada. I am (and always have been) addicted to romance novels. LOL What can I say sometimes a good 'ol romance novel is just what the doctor ordered, especially if it involves time travel. (hee, hee) I discovered Karen Marie Moning several weeks ago while perusing magazines at the grocery store. The novel they had looked intriguing, but I resisted...for a few days. Finally I broke down and bought it...well okay...I bought it after checking her out on the web and discovering her plots were the kind of thing that I *love* to read. I read it and then went out and bought 3 more. LOL, LOL So I've been stuck in Scottish time travel romance novels for the last couple of weeks, and honestly it wasn't that bad a place to be. ;D

I did manage to do a bit of stitching and am up to the house level of block one. These houses are just never as easy as they look. I had to rip the first line of the house about 4 times before I got it right. I kept starting at the wrong spot and each time I'd start over I'd still be one off. Finally I got it and did get a bit of it finished.

I'm sure that I will settle down and get cranking on these again soon. In the mean time I indulged in a little bit of stash! Mirabilia has a new one out that I just couldn't resist. I haven't stitched one of theirs, but I thought I might be able to coerce Greg into doing it for me. ;D
It's called Autumn in My Garden and I just LOVE it. I also got a new one by Prarie Schooler called Autumn Leaves and Bent Creek's new Wedding Row. All are definately a whim purchase, but so hard to resist. Especially the Autumn stuff. I am a sucker for those. :D

Well I hope everyone has been staying cool, it's not easy when it's over 100F out there. Fortunately the temp dropped to a balmy 88F today. LOL

It's Growing

2006-07-28T15:15:00.000-05:00

Slowly but surely, it's this block is starting to take shape. Not as fast as I'd like but it'll do. It's hard focusing lately, too much job related stuff sucking the life out of me. ;) I was so engrossed in getting a project done yesterday that I totally forgot that I had told Greg we would go swimming. I came home an hour late and there he is sitting on the sofa in his swimming trunks with one of our inner tubes around his waist cross stitching. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. LOL

So far on these blocks the bottoms are always the hardest...maybe it's a hint that I should start at the tops? ;p Just kidding! I love the colors for this one and can't wait to see it take more shape. :D It's definately a long project but well worth all the work.

Annemarie: I think it's great that you are doing this as a SAL and thanks for the encouragement about the lines! My hubby said the same thing, but since when do I listen to him? ;p (Juuuuust kidding.) My main comment about the newest Tour scandal is to wait and see. I don't want to condem an innocent rider, but I also don't want to voraciously defend him only to get slapped in the face with the truth of it. If it was anything but an testosterone imbalance I don't think I'd begin to believe him. But I have to ask myself what good would it do him to take it "during" the race, especially when he's been clean up to that point. Some people say "desperation"... personally I think it's just possible that his natural levels were just way high. If you watched that stage he was kicking ass and taking names all day, in other words he was mad and aggressive. You could see it when he finished the race, hell a day like that is bound to give *any* guy a *huge* rush of testosterone. But, I'm going to wait and see, cuz if the lab does it's job on the level then they can tell if it was a natural or synthetic high that got him across the finish line.

Have a great weekend!

Lost in the Plains

2006-07-24T16:37:00.000-05:00

In case you missed me, I'm back! And if you didn't, I'm still back. LOL, LOL

Work has been mind blowing these last few weeks, with a big finish by the end of this week. I will be glad when all that's left of this one is the paper dust. :D

In stitching news - I had to go out of town last week for 3 days so that slowed my progress down quite a lot. As a matter of fact it stalled it out. All the forward progress I had been making came to a grinding halt. BUT - I am getting back into the swing of things and am now working on block 1. :D And I got all the blocks outlined so that will save time as I go along. Right now it reminds me of an Advent calendar waiting for the days to be filled in. LOL

Here is the progress on block 1. It' s not much but it's a start! :D

I was hoping to have this completed by September, but I don't know if that will happen...it's wide open right now. :D

Speaking of wide open, the Tour de France blew me away last week. That come back by Floyd Landis on Thursday was awe inspiring. And I had to cheer him on cuz he just blew the competition away. :D I was glad to see him win, he worked so hard for it and with his upcoming hip replacement it's dicey whether he'll be able to race again. I don't know how someone who can't easily walk up a flight of stairs can ride 2000 miles in 3 weeks, but he did it. It's definately an inspiration for all the couch potatoes out there. ;) (Me included.)

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

A Whole Neighborhood

2006-07-10T11:02:00.000-05:00

Finally! I got the middle row done! Whew! That was a task and a half. Seems it's taken forever to get through these first 4 houses. But it is looking good. Here is the latest finish:

I think this is my favorite of all 4. The blue house is nice, but this one just has something about it that I like. I think that I am going to spend the time to put in all the blocks before starting the next house. It will take a bit of time, but it will also be out of the way and with the first 4 established it won't be as hard to get the rest situated.

And because someone was curious to see what the whole thing is looking like:

I think that when it's all done it will be very impressive. Right now I'm just a bit overwhelmed with it. ;)

We went to see Pirates and I wasn't a bit disappointed! Johnny Depp is epic, I think this is the best character I've ever seen him play. He just seems to enjoy it so much. It was a hilarious show, LOVED the story and LOVED the ending. Can't wait to see the next one out in 2007. The critics can rag it all they want but I thought it was *better* than the first one. :D

On the Road Again

2006-07-05T15:40:00.000-05:00

It's that time again! Everyone else is excited about the World Cup, but ME...I'm salivating over the Tour de France! (LOL) I mean what's not to love? Beautiful European vistas AND buff guys in tight shorts riding bikes... (LOL, LOL) Plus, I always seem to get a lot more stitching done during the tour than any other time. I'm sure it's cuz my butt is planted in front of the tv solidly for 3 straight weeks, but I like to imagine that these guys inspire me with all their hard work and dedication to their sport. (Okay, I confess it's the tight shorts.) ;D I had thought that this year's tour would be a bit boring since Lance Armstrong is gone and the other top riders would swoop in and steal the show. I just never imagined just HOW they would steal the show. Imagine my shock when 9 of the top riders were dropped from the tour as part of a doping scandal on the day before the race was to start. N I N E. And these are not insignificant riders these were the guys that were in contention to win. Let's just say it changed the whole race and each day that we watch you can see it. It's a wide open race, anyone could win and that makes it VERY exciting.

So we had a long weekend what with the 4th of July and taking a day off. So I did get a bit of stitching in and have made good progress on my latest house. Still would like to be faster but I'm only human. ;)

No major complaints on this block, the bottom was definately tricky but once past that it's just time consuming. The colors look good! I hope to speed through this one soon, but with a lot of demands at work we will have to see. :D

The weekend is close at hand and Pirates starts on Friday. I probably won't see it till Sunday, but I can't wait. The snippets I've seen look excellent.

Hope your week is going great!

Remember Me

2006-06-28T11:05:00.000-05:00

I should've posted this yesterday, but didn't have time. ;) I totally finished up this block on Monday night watching the most boring movie. I won't go into details but it was perfect for stitching, NO distractions. LOL

As you can see I basically just had to finish the last firework and add "Remember Me" (as Lili pointed out ;D) So now I'm onto block 4 (counting from the first row to the right and down). The bottom of this block is a challenge, but the colors are very nice together. I will try to get a pic of it tonite. I think each block has it's own challenges, which of course makes it fun!

Not much else going on, the summer is just zipping by! We have the 4th off for Independence Day and I'm sure there will be lots of fireworks around. :D The new Superman comes out this week and I know that Greg wants to see it...however I'm more interested in The Devil Wears Prada. LOL, LOL I love Meryl Streep. And of course the new Pirates of the Caribbean is out in a week, can't wait for that one. :D

Happy Stitching!

Almost...

2006-06-26T15:49:00.000-05:00

I really have to stop being distracted when I stitch. I could've finished this block if I wasn't so wrapped up in the movies/tv I was watching this weekend. LOL OH WELL! This block has taken 2 weeks, which is a lot longer than I had wanted, but them's the breaks. It does look great! Just a bit more to go. :D

I have to finish the top firework and the words and then it's done! Overall I like how this turned out, although I do have to say that some of the color choices from the conversion did not translate well. So I will be on the look out for those in the future. :D

I don't know how long the next block will take me, right now work is getting crazy....and will be that way till August. So we will have to hold on for this month and see how it all plays out. :D

Had a fun weekend, went bike riding for the first time in forever and had a great time. I was able to do a lot better than I had expected. I guess all those workouts are paying off. ;)

Greg finally did a post about his last project. Go have a look, it turned out great! :D

The Light and The Dark

2006-06-21T09:45:00.000-05:00

Is it Wednesday already? It doesn't seem possible! So here I am back with an update. Sadly the block is not finished. I had too many distractions this week and a bit of a redo on part of the house. Still it's getting there! :D

I have the house basically finished, now for the roof and bits and pieces. :D The thing that slowed me down a bit is the fact that when I finished the front of the house I realized that the contrast between the light and dark parts of the house were just too great a contrast. I had wanted the house to be a darker blue and substituted colors to get the look I want. I basically went a shade darker, same colors. However, the darker shade was just too dark and didn't look the way I had hoped. I didn't want to rip out all the light shade so I decided to cover it up a bit to darken it. I half stitched the dark shade of blue over the top of the lighter shade and toned it down. I think it turned out great and though it's not perfect shading it's not a glaring dark to light combo that I had before. I realized after this that I am going to have to trust my judgement on color selections a bit more and if I want to change them to something completely different then I need to go for it. All in all it's looking nice and I love the colors! Can't wait to move to block 4 though. ;)

Also, Greg asked me to let everyone know that he is not dead or captured by aliens. LOL He's just hit a blogging slump and hasn't felt like posting. He has finished his last project "Road to Paris" and I'm sure he will be posting pics of it soon! :D He's now working on a WIP he started a while ago and dropped from boredom. I think it's going nicely and hope to get some pics of it soon as I can pry it away from him. ;D

AND! This Sunday, June 25 is San's birthday! Everybody stop by and give her lots of birthday greetings!

Have a great week!

Just a Quickie!

2006-06-16T16:24:00.000-05:00

Been having weird problems with Blogger all day so that I didn't get to do the post I wanted earlier. So here is a quick update of my progress on house 3. It's not going nearly as fast as the others but that's cuz I haven't had as much time to dedicate to it. I hope to get a lot done this weekend. Although I will admit that the vine on the side of the house is mega slowing me down. ;)

I have to say that I do like the colors of this block a lot, very soothing. :D

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Black Cats at Midnight

2006-06-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's Monday already...why do weekends just fly by? :D

I am now onto the third block and it's going very well! The colors are a lot more appealing after all that orange.

I finished that cat about midnight on Saturday. We were up stitching and watching Underworld Evolution and after it was over I switched over to BBC America and they had the pilot for Hex on. I had heard about the show, but had never seen it. Very interesting. I will have to give it a look, as it is on Thursdays here.

I still think the border is the thing that takes the longest for me...counting all those stitches and getting it right. I went ahead and stitched the outline of block four so I would be that much ahead when I get too it. Here's a pic of all four blocks:

I like how it's looking so far! :D

I also finished up the pillow of the Forever Friends project by La D Da. I struggled with what colors to use and bought several different things before I "accidentally" settled on this purple. I had definately liked the blue floral print but couldn't find a suitable coordinating color. This purple I bought to go with something else and then decided it worked perfectly with the project.

The days are getting HOT here, we are signing up for a pool pass today. I think we will be taking advantage of some dunking* time to beat the heat! :D

* You know what they say... I used to skinny dip, but now I chunky dunk. LOL, LOL

A Whole New Neighborhood

2006-06-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

Hooray for me! I finished the last house in the second block. And while it didn't turn out exactly as expected, it is finito.

The last house is supposed to have a lighter orange bottom and darker orange top. Well somehow the oranges though appearing to be different shades are not when stitched. So I have a one shade orange house. Not a big deal in the whole scheme of things. I contemplated ripping the roof out, but then decided I just didn't care. LOL Now it's onto the BLUE house, yes I am excited to stitch blue and I don't even *like* blue. LOL, LOL

I calculated and it's taking me approximately nine days per block, so far. At that rate I should be done by September. Let's hope the rest of the blocks go this fast or faster would be better...however there are only so many hours I can dedicate to stitching, sooooo. :D

The latest SBQs caught my attention so here we go:

The first request comes from Vash who is requesting pictures of the back of your stitching… are you brave enough to give this one a shot?

Sure why not!

Not as neat and tidy as some of you ladies, but since no one ever sees it, it will do. :D

The second request comes from Singular Stitches, and she is asking for “a pictorial tour of [the] special place that you go to create your wonderful stitched creations.”

I could be answering this for both Greg and I. We share the sofa after all. LOL I sit on the rather messy side with the red cup. As you can see I use a tray to hold my stitching accessories and a metal lap tray for my pattern. And despite having a big comfy couch I need to have a pillow for my back. Without it I tend to schlump over and end up with a backache. Also, from this picture I can see that I need to tidy up a bit. It's funny how we get used to little messes around. ;)

From this view you can see that we have a perfect spot in front of the tv and stereo (harder to see). I *love* having the tv on when stitching. Greg would *love* it if the tv spontaneously burst into flames and disappeared forever. LOL, LOL (No, I'm not kidding.) I am addicted to history shows, home and garden shows, food shows...anything informational. I also love movies and yes I confess I am severely addicted to soap operas. You might suspect from all this that I sit for hours in front of the tv...actually no. If I did, I'd get a lot more stitching done. LOL I usually watch tv 2-3 (more like 2.5) hours a evening, this is the time I stitch as well. Sometimes I will sit longer on the weekends, but mostly not. I have a sit all day job so especially on the weekends I don't want to sit for hours and hours stitching. What about y'all, how many hours a day do you stitch?

I hope everyone has a fun weekend!

The House on the Hill

2006-06-06T10:05:00.000-05:00

Or should I say "houses"... LOL The little houses are such a relief to stitch after the mammoth house in the first block. Although I have to say I am getting a bit tired of orange, and that's saying something cuz I "love" orange. ;) I decided the next block I'm working on is the blue house, just so I can see something aside from ORANGE. LOL, LOL

I did have one problem that I *had* to fix. My block was off by one stitch. Normally a glitch like this wouldn't have mattered to me. But in this case if I didn't fix it then the blocks above and below it would've been off by one as well. So it's fixed and I am nearly finished with the third house on the hill. I did that one last night. They go quite fast when they are smaller. :D I anticipate being onto the blue house in a day or so.

I am enjoying stitching the houses, but I do have to warn y'all that the colors can be tricky. My first house on the hill, doesn't look exactly like the one in the picture. I can assume that is because I'm using the DMC conversion. However, the door looks totally different and I followed the pattern colors. It would appear that the model stitch doesn't follow the colors for the door on this little house. Not a big thing, but it you want yours to be *very* similar to the model it can be important. I am now consulting the model before I start stitching away just to make sure that I like how my colors are comparing and tweeking them if needed. For instance my house is a bit oranger than the model, which is the conversion I'm sure. If I had paid attention I could've subbed a darker orange and gotten the same effect as the model. It's a minor thing, but can make the difference in whether you love it or hate it. (Of course if you use the suggested silks, it shouldn't be an issue.)

I also got my "Feed the Birds" project framed. Simple but nice I think. :D

The black frame really makes the blue fabric pop. :D

I was saddened to learn of Allison's loss of her husband last week. She is definately in my thoughts during this difficult time. I'm sure none of us want to contemplate the loss of a loved one...I know it makes me appreciate the people in my life all that much more. Please send your kind thoughts to Allison.

Hello There World!

2006-06-01T15:53:00.000-05:00

Finally able to post after a long weekend and a bout of illness. Seems like forever since I updated...

Had a fun weekend, although it was HOT, HOT, HOT! Greg and I went to a semi-annual flea market in historic Brownville, NE. It's a huge event that encompasses the entire town. The entire main street of the place is wall to wal vendors. It's quite a sight to see. It's always fun and always some interesting things for sale.

As you can see the crowd goes on forever, or a 1/2 mile or so...whichever comes first. ;) I didn't buy much, nothing sparked my interest. But it was a fun day with my brother and his girls.

Obviously I worked away on HOHRH and got the first block done (except the black) and started on the second block. I'm half way through the second block, it's easier I think.

The only down side of this block is that w/out that black it's PALE. So I am still debating whether to go back later and fill in black. At this point I'm not interested in doing it soooo.... But other than that it looks very nice! The blending turned out great!

Here's the second block. I finished all the flowers up last night. I have to confess though that while the outside of this block is counted perfect, not so with the inside. :( Ah well, these things happen...to me...a lot... ;) But I think I covered it well and won't remember it later on when it's all finished. (laughs hysterically knowing I never forget these things) ;) Anyhoo! This block is moving along and it's an enjoyable project to work on. I am ever surprised by the colors though. Thinking things will be a certain color and realizing they aren't is tricky.

Well I hope everyone had a fun Memorial weekend! Now it's almost time for another weekend...how time flies. :D

Blending

2006-05-25T09:47:00.000-05:00

In my opinion, the key to not having this block drive you crazy is BLENDING. LOL I can see that the designer was trying to achieve an interesting texture to the house by having us backstitch over all the yellow stitches that create the house. However, if you are like me (no patience) this method would inevitably drive you mad. So in the interest of preserving my sanity I opted to try blending. I blended the colors of the yellow stitching and blue backstitching and then started stitching away. And I think it looks great! The only downside is obviously doing the actual blending, but that's a minor point. It does slow me down a bit but it's worth it. :D

I am almost finished with the main part of the house, just a bit at the top then onto shutters, windows and roof. It actually goes quite quickly, and if I didn't blend I'd be breezing through. :D
I am undecided at this point about filling with black. This block is supposed to be filled in at the end, but I'm not sure that I want to. Aside from the obvious work involved, I'm not sure if it will really add anything to this block. I like the idea of the fabric showing through.

Jenna asked to see a pic of the entire fabric. Here it is:

It definately turned out a lot different than I had anticipated, but since most of the fabric will be covered I don't think that it will be an issue. The color is very complimentary to the colors of the project. I may have a problem with some of the lighter greens but that can be worked around. :D The thing that my mind is not digesting yet is how big this is. This fabric is 22"h x 28"w, in other words IT IS HUGE. LOL I have never worked on something so big, but it's a lot of fun. The wonderful thing about this project is that each square is it's own pattern so it's like starting on something new each time you move to the next one. Only the border is going to be ultra boring and tedious.

I wonder how long this will take to stitch...should be interesting. :D

So is anyone else excited to see the new XMen movie? :D And did anyone watch the season finale of Lost? Lost was definately mind blowing last night...

Looks Great, But Where's the House?

2006-05-22T15:01:00.000-05:00

That's what I kept asking myself all weekend. As I stitched and stitched and stitched some more trying to make progress on HOHRH. LOL, LOL

One thing is for sure, that border is PERFECT. It's what took the longest, working to make sure that I didn't miscount it, cuz if it's off the whole rest is off.

Then I set about working on the bottom of this square it's #6. My arm is aching from the effort to fill in that bottom bit. LOL It took forever....though I did manage to get a bit of the door done! The one thing that threw me off when I got to the house was, what is this symbol for supposed to be?? Well, after much frustration and having Greg look at it, we realized that it wasn't a mistake. It's just that after you stitch the whole house you are supposed to go back and backstitch over *every* stitch with a different color alternating the direction to give it some sort of unusual look. Personally...I hate it. So, therefore! I'm changing it! ;) I have decided to combine the two colors, the house color and the back stitch color to give it a blended look. It will be "similar" to the original intent but easier to achieve. So if you are stitching HOHRH pay attention to house #6 (the one with the black background) the color for the house is yellow with backstitching on top of it. For a while I thought the whole thing was done in quarter stitches, imagine how that thrilled me. LOL, LOL A BIG, GI-NORMOUS thanks to Greg for taking the time to *read* and understand the pattern. Trust me, it's easy to miss those backstitching instructions.

You can't really see the total color of the fabric, I need to get it into better light. But it's a green/tan mix that gives the fabric a worn out/moldy look. (Maybe moldy is a bit strong, but you get the idea.) LOL I like it, it goes with the project well. I dyed it especially for this project and it didn't quite turn out the way I had anticipated but it will work. I seem to have problems getting a proper tan color when dyeing. I am going to have to go a step up and get a better type of dye next time I want to get something in this color range.

Anyhoo, not a lot of house to see, but the fence is in and the door is started. I've got an ice pack on my arm (just kidding) and am ready to tackle more! :D

Happy Monday!

My Next Project

2006-05-19T15:33:00.000-05:00

I finished up Feed the Birds so quickly I couldn't believe it was done! It turned out great and will look wonderful in the frame I have for it.

It was much easier to stitch than it appeared at first!

My next project while being an "easy" stitch will be HUGE. I am going to stitch Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. *All* of them, at *one* time. LOL For those of you who haven't seen this project, there is a small pic of it at the right that you can click to see a larger version. It's a HUGE project. When finished (on 16ct) it will easily fit into a 22" h x 28" w frame. It's so big it's kind of mind boggling. But for some reason I am determined to stitch it...anxious even. I just love this project and can't wait to work on it.

I decided that it would have to be done on 16ct fabric (aida for me) and because I didn't have anything in a color I liked, I dyed a piece. I don't have a pic yet, but I love it. The fabric will give it a really old fashioned, worn out look that I think will be great.

I am curious to see how long it will take me to complete this one, as the blocks are really quite simple, it's only the general size that makes it daunting. I just know that this one is going to be an all time treasure if I can pull it off well. :D

I can't afford the expensive silks so I'm using DMC. I pulled colors last night and I don't see a problem with any of them it will have a similar look but for a lot less money.

Tonite I'm off to see the Da Vinci Code and then I will have time to start the project! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Lost in a Fog

2006-05-17T14:19:00.000-05:00

That's how I feel this week...not sure why but everything is slightly out of sync for me. I feel like the world is slightly to the left of where I'm standing and very fuzzy. And yet I have been able to get a lot done on my latest cross stitch project. It seems it's the one thing that I have perfect focus one. LOL

I think I am rushing through this one so that I can get to my next HUGE project. LOL, LOL

I also finished up the La D Da project last week. It turned out great. I left off the outside border because I'm making this into a cute little pillow.

This was a fun project. Next time I'd leave off the polka dots, the dress doesn't really need them. ;)

I saw the duck couple again, but if they are nesting around here they are keeping it to themselves. They sure are cute though. :)

Hope your week is going great!

One for the Scrap Books

2006-05-11T14:54:00.000-05:00

First let me share with you a beautiful Spring day where I live and an unusual story.

This is the garden right outside the building where I work. The first pic is a view through a luscious green arbor of a dazzling display of rhododendrons. The second pic is a closer view of the flowers. I was just stunned at the colors, just amazing!

This pic is of a beautiful Mallard duck on the lawn right outside my window. There are a lot of ducks and geese around this area, so it's not unusual to see them. This one however caught my attention 1) cuz it was right outside my window 2) it had it's lady friend with it. It's obvious they were a mating pair and the female looked like she was trying to nest in the ground cover under some big pine trees across the lawn. Even this wouldn't have been so remarkable, except for a story someone told me a couple of weeks ago. We are an agricultural university and as such the students wander around studying the trees and such on the grounds (hence the spectacular flora). One of their notable projects is a rangeland right out the back of this building. They have a little mini prairie growing there and in the Spring they burn it off as part of a range management class. It's always a sight to behold with flames jumping into the sky and the fear that some people's cars might get singed (it's next to the parking lot, but no one's ever been singed). This year as we watched a duck came flying out of the grass just ahead of the burning. The story told later was that the duck came back after the burning and was obviously nesting her destroyed clutch. It was sad to think of her eggs destroyed and then today as I'm watching these two ducks I'm thinking "Hey! This may be the same ducks come back to give it another try." Now that would be quite the thing to have a few ducklings hatched in the side yard. LOL

In other news! I got an email from Lynne Nicoletti that her newest news letter is up. Half way through is a short article and pictures of my projects! She was very sweet to show both my Alice and Oak Island projects. Click here: ALICE and scroll down to see her article.

Take time to read the rest too, she's got some great information on some new DMC threads coming out along with other interesting news. :D

I also got more done on Forever Friends. (Nancy: The designer is La D Da and it's one of their newer patterns. It's an easy stitch and a lot of fun, go ahead and splurge it's worth it! ;D ) I have to say that La D Da is fast becoming one of my favorite designers. :D

Do you or have you stitched with over-dyed threads? (Weeks Dye Works, The Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Six Strand Sweets, etc.) If so, what is your opinion concerning them? If not, why not?

I wanted to answer this question last week but didn't get a chance. As you can see from the project above I do use a lot of over-dyed threads. I think they are fantastic. I just love them. They are such a change from DMC which I find can be boring at times. I have stitched a lot of projects with them and find that they add an interesting effect. It's not always a variegated effect, but usually more of a distressed or aged look. I realize that some people don't care for this look but for me it works well. I never stitch them the way it's suggested (1 cross at a time) and I like it that way. When I use these I don't want uniformity, I want the uneveness and irregularity. I have read that some people are disappointed that they aren't more variegated, but for many of their threads I have never gotten the impression that (Gentle Art or Weeks) was trying to do a strong variegation, but more of a distressed look.

The only downside is that they do cost a lot more than DMC, 4 times as much for me and that keeps me from using them as much. If there was one recommendation I would have for these thread companies, it would be to find a way to drop their prices. I think a lot more people would be tempted to use them if they were less expensive. But if you haven't tried them and can afford too, I'd highly recommend them. You can use them in conjunction with DMC and achieve a fun look for projects where you want to substitute colors.

Well I've rambled on enough! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Winding My Way Back

2006-05-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

It's funny how it takes a while to get back into the swing of things when you've been off work for a week. Plus it helps when Blogger decides to cooperate. ;P

We had a great time last week just kicking back and relaxing. Didn't do much but had a great time doing nothing. :) We went to an unusual shop in Des Moines that sells tons of cross stitch. I'm not kidding you they had more patterns in one place than I've ever seen before. It was a lot of fun to sort through it all and we bought way more than we needed. LOL We even took time to sort out all our growing piles of stash and organize it. That was quite the experience. LOL

I also got Greg's high wheel bike framed, below are some pics:

Love this frame, it added a lot to the project!

Here's where it hangs now!

And here is a picture that Greg found years ago. It's the Omaha Bicycle Club out for a ride with all their high wheelers. Not sure what year it is, but has to be from 1890's or so. This is a great picture! It's fun to see how much bicyclers from the past loved their bikes.

I also worked on Forever Friends, here's an update:

I added the head and hair to the girl in the mulberry dress last night, so it's coming along nicely.

The weather is getting so nice! And it looks like everyone has been busy while I was gone, so I need to catch up on blogs. Hope everyone is having a great week. :D

Almost...

2006-04-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

Famous?
The other day, inspired by one of the comments left about my Alice project I decided to email the designer Lynne Nicoletti. I sent her a short note telling her about how much I enjoyed the project, how the frame came about and included pictures. I thought "Right I did it and I'll never hear from her." But, much to my shock and awe, she wrote me back straight away the next day.

She told me how much she liked the frame and how much she enjoys getting comments from stitchers and lots of other nice compliments that left me feeling pretty good. :D But then towards the end of the email she said that she is currently working on a new newsletter and would I mind if she used my pictures in it. MIND...MIND? I nearly fell out of my chair in shock! Of course I told her I would love it! So now I am "almost famous". LOL, LOL

Hey, everybody deserves their 15 minutes. (bahh ha ha)

Have a great weekend!

Free Wheelin'

2006-04-26T10:14:00.000-05:00

I AM DONE! Woo Hoo!

Yes the big wheel is finito! And am I ever glad! It took way longer than I intended for this project, mainly because I hardly worked on it all month. It should've taken maybe a week and a half and it took a MONTH. But it's done and Greg LOVES it, he better it's his birthday present. LOL We already have a frame picked out for it and just need to get it into it. :D

As I suspected those long stitches for the spokes were a bear! The small wheel went fine but the big one was tricky. I'm sure it will look great once framed but when you pick it up right now the spokes sag, it's actually kind of funny. I mean, it's hard to ride a bike w/ saggy spokes. LOL

I am starting on La D Da's Forever Friends next. Such an adorable pattern that I can't wait to start it. :D (You can see a pic of it to the left.) And it shouldn't take long either. Of course I'm going to change the colors just a bit, but that's on par for me. ;) After that I'm going to do either Sam's Socks and Such from Raise the Roof or this Bird Watcher pattern I found on sale at Hobby Lobby for my dad. We will see what hits me.

Thanks for all the great comments on Alice! It was such a great project. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. I have to give big kudos to Greg and his dad for making that frame. Greg designed it and his dad did the cutting and pasting. ;) In this case the frame definately adds life to the project. :)

If You Don't Know Where You Are Going,

2006-04-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

Any Road Will Take You There. - Alice in Wonderland

This quote is the last one for the Alice project and it is so true. When I first bought the Alice pattern all I knew was that I *loved* it and wanted to stitch it...some day. Then as I discussed it with Greg I knew that I would like to have a certain type of frame for it, make it really special. So he designed the "A" frame for me and I loved it. But I still wasn't sure how I would finish it or if I would "ever" stitch Alice. I finally get around to stitching Alice and I think I know just what I want for the frame, but after much contemplation I realize that I don't want people to pay more attention to the frame than the picture so I re-think my plan. And after a little bit of fiddling and some searching for the right bits and pieces it's all done and Alice is framed. It's not exactly what I thought I would end up with but I think it is perfect just the same.

I decided to mimic the swirl of Mock Turtle tears in the stitching on the frame to give it a splash of color. Below is a close up of the embellishments.

I found these tiny little keys and decided that they would be the perfect thing to add to the frame along with the "Mock Turtle tears" (aka jewels). I tried to mimic the swirl that is in the pattern and I think it came out very well. The frame is actually a dark blue purple.

All in all it turned out fantastic and already has a place of honor on the wall.

In other news I am nearly done with the backstitching of the High Wheeler and will show a new picture of it when I'm finished. We even found a great frame for it as well. So this weekend was quite productive, as well as warm and beautiful!

Hope everyone's week is starting out great!

Picture Perfect World

2006-04-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

The weather here has finally improved significantly! Trees are blooming and leafing out all over, it's quite amazing. The picture below is from just outside my office. I work at a university and like many universities it is quite park like in it's setting. I really enjoy just getting out and walking as it is always beautiful here any time of the year. Spring though is particularly breathtaking!

I don't know about most of you, but I LOVE the smell of fresh cut grass. Nothing says warm weather is here more than that smell! They cut the grass just before I took this picture and I can still hear the lawnmower now. It's a sound I always associate with warm days and lemonade or ice tea. ;)

I have been plugging away at the highwheeler and am nearly done with the stitching. I have to say that this one took much longer than I had intended, mainly because it just hasn't inspired me. I will be glad when it's done, although I don't look forward to all the backstitching or longstitching the spokes of the bike. That said it is a pretty picture and I know that Greg really loves it. :D

I also finally got the frame for Alice painted and fixed up the way I want it, now to get her in it. I can't wait to share it with you. :D

Hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying spring! :D

High Wheelin'

2006-04-11T14:42:00.000-05:00

Well I finally made filled in the banner and made it around the wheel. Yea me! LOL This project has definately been slow going, just not so interested in it I guess. But not that the wheel is done there's not tons left, it's mostly back stitching.

I really love that red in the banner, it just pops out so much more than the black.

Not much going on around here, the weather is wild. It's going to be in the 80'sF this week, which is 20F more than normal for this time of year. I hope it doesn't me we are in for a hot summer.

Greg finally finished his red bike project, take a look if you haven't, it turned out fabu! He wanted to celebrate with this Red Bicyclette wine that he got, mainly cuz of the label (giggle), but unfortunately I'm not a big wine drinker and this one didn't agree w/ my taste buds at all. So poor guy had to celebrate alone. I don't think he minded, as the whole bottle is now gone. ;)

This weather makes me want to take off for a holiday! But money wise it's not really a good idea for us. So what about all of you what are your vacation plans this year? :D

Hope everyone is having a great week! Happy stitching!

Turkish Red

2006-04-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

That's the color of the red I'm using in Greg's bicycle picture. It's very pretty, I just wish I could get more done. ;) I am being quite slow lately and not getting much stitching done at all. I guess it's the warm weather. It's all nice and spring like out there and very pleasant.

Here's a current pic:

The letters would be a bit faster going, but there is a lot of backstitching along with each one. The nice thing is that I love how it's looking. When you step back it is very pretty. I want to finish the letters and then I think I will finish up the bike itself. In actuality it's not a huge pattern but definately tricky.

Not much else going on here, another storm has blown in along with a tornado watch. In lay terms that means we watch to see if any tornados develop and then run for cover. LOL Hopefully we will just get some rain and that's it, we can use the rain. :D

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Happy stitching!

Remember Those Ruby Slippers

2006-03-31T14:16:00.000-06:00

The ones that I mentioned that I "might" need before long...well yesterday was the day! Holy Cow! The weather yesterday was INCREDIBLE! A huge storm blew through and I was on my way to a class when I got slammed by torrential rain walking out to my car. I was drenched in a matter of seconds! So I finish the afternoon class and head to the gym where I can watch tv while I work out (makes it easy to keep up with my soap operas ;D ). The news channels start going crazy saying there's a tornado warning up in Omaha, you remember, the place where *Greg* works. The worst part is that it's nearly time for him to *leave* work. I'm watching this worried about what he might be caught in and apparently I had good reason to be. (You can read about that on his blog.) This is what hit parts of Omaha yesterday afternoon:

Yes people, THAT is a tornado! Some guy was driving along and saw it, jumped out and snapped a pic with his handy dandy cell phone. Now me, I would've gotten the hell out of there as I have no desire to meet little people with a fetish for lollipops and yellow bricks. ;D

Needless to say it's been a crazy couple of weeks, last week it's a freezing blizzard and this week it's tropical with tornados. This is the only place I've ever lived where you could wear a parka and shorts within days of each other. ;)

I have been a busy woman this week, had a lot of classes for work so I haven't been around my computer much. Honestly I only missed it a little. ;) And I haven't been stitching madly either, I think I'm in a bit of a slump. But I do have this update pic:

I decided to change the letters in the banner from black to a nice red. Greg picked out a Weeks color, can't remember the name right now... And I'm also going to put in some Kreinik black #4 braid on another part of the project, just to jazz it up a bit. Hopefully I will get inspired, if I'm not hiding in the bathroom from another tornado!

Hope everyone had a great week and enjoys their weekend! Happy stitching!

Can you say...

2006-03-22T11:08:00.000-06:00

IRONY?

This is the *first* day of Spring:

The first picture is of my car "after" the storm, based on the ruler there is 7.5 inches of snow on it. The second picture is from our front window during the storm, poor squirrel trying to look for breakfast.

We got a total of 13 inches of snow on Monday. This storm was so bad that they closed the place I work at for 2 days. I've worked here for 7 years and I have NEVER had 2 snow days in a row. Greg stayed home the first day. We live in Lincoln, he works in Omaha which is about 60 miles away. I just didn't think it'd be safe for him to drive to work on Monday. But apparently Omaha didn't get nearly as much snow as we did cuz his job never did close down. I-80 from the Wyoming border to Lincoln was *totally* shut down. I can't even imagine this, the WHOLE interstate shut down, that's like 400 miles of road. I guess we got all our winter in one fell swoop. LOL At least it's already melting and it's supposed to be up around 47F by Sunday, so the snow shouldn't last long. So how was *your* weekend? ;D

I also FINISHED Alice! Hooray!!! I finished on Sunday and am glad to be done. The last bit of Japan gold was a royal pain. But it looks so fantastic! I can't wait to get the frame done and see it all come together. :D

I also started on the High Wheel bike for Greg. You can see the booklet on the left. Here is my progress so far.

I have to say I'm quite proud of this, as I didn't have a copy to work from and I worked straight from the book w/out marking it. This is quite a deal for me as I have a hard time keeping track w/out marking rows off as I go. This pattern contains a lot of blended threads which are can be tricky as the colors are so similar. Greg is so happy though, cuz he really loves this pattern. :D

Hope everyone's week is going great! Happy stitching!

Celebrate the Green Day

2006-03-17T14:50:00.000-06:00

Happy St. Paddy's Day! I was just thinking how funny it is that I celebrate St. Patrick's Day every year. I am part Irish (and German and British and Cherokee) but I don't think it's the fact that my grandfather was Irish that makes me love this day. It's the GREEN, definately all the green. After months of depressing grey outside, everyone (well most everyone) dons a bit o' green. And it's cheery and a reminder that spring is out there hovering around the corner with it's pretty pastels and lots and lots of GREEN! So even if you aren't Irish and could give a hoot about St. Paddy, who can resist the pull of the GREEN! ;)

I have been working away on Alice and sadly she's nearly done. I am down to the Mad Hatter and then the sporadic sparkles of color and it's all over except the framing. (big sigh) I will miss working on Alice. But I will be glad to move onto a different project. I was looking at the high wheeler bike that Greg would like me to stitch and it's a doozy. It's NOT as easy as it first appears, it's full of blended threads and the long stitches for the spokes are a bit daunting, but I know how much he will love it so I think I will start it next. :D Here's an update of Alice:

We are supposed to get a mother of a storm this weekend. It's so unpredictable that the weather guessers won't even give a *hint* of how much snow we might get. LOL They just don't know. But if it is as much as they are "speculating" we just *might* get a snow day out of it. One last blast of winter and then it's SPRING! ;D

I hope everybody has a happy and snow free weekend! :D

A Little Alice

2006-03-13T14:32:00.000-06:00

First off, thanks to everyone for their concern about my tire debacle. Fortunately I didn't get a flat! Hooray! And I have to give kudos to the apartment maintenance men cuz that smashed beer bottle was totally gone when I got home. Trust me that would've never been the case at the last place I lived.

I worked some more on Alice and now you can see her pretty face. Her face and hair take a long time to do as it's a few stitches here and there. So although it doesn't seem like I did much I actually worked on her quite a bit. I spent all Friday evening watching Sci Fi channel and alternately booing and cheering my favorite sci fi shows while I stitched on her. Friday night sci fi is Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis and then Battlestar Galactica. I wasn't surprised by either Stargate finales, but was blown away by BSG. The thing I booed the most though was that instead of a July season starter for BSG they have pushed it back to October. I was most annoyed as I have quite enjoyed watching these shows during the summer when there is NOTHING on. I hope this doesn't mean that they are turning it into more of a "regular" tv show - like Lost. I really like Lost, but the programming schedule blows chunks. One week it's a new show, the next two it's repeats. It's been like this for months and it makes it hard to stay interested in it. On BSG it's been a new show every week till the season finale and then a break of 3 months and then start again. I hope they don't screw it up cuz it won't be the same if they are constantly throwing repeats into the mix. That said if you are a BSG fan how could you not LOVE this finale. It was mind blowing. :D

Now onto Alice:

I finished her face and most of her hair. She has the prettiest face, so sweet...but not necessarily a 7 year olds, more like a teenager to me. Still I love how it's looking and next will be Mr. Mad Hatter. Then it's pretty well finished except for filling in the Japan thread. I am actually dragging my feet on finishing. Silly really, but I just like working on it. I haven't decided what to work on next, but Greg is pushing for this very kewl high wheeler bicycle pattern. So I may do that for him, his birthday is coming up in May after all. ;)

We had the strangest weather yesterday, lots of itty bitty hail. It was the strangest thing to see. Not damaging though, thank goodness. I think we are in for some wild tornado season weather. Maybe I should look into some Ruby Slippers. LOL, LOL

Looking for the Mad Hatter

2006-03-10T10:08:00.000-06:00

I'm well on my way to finishing this project. The cat is done and I'm working on the lower part of the project. The rest of the face will take a bit as it's just small stitches of color. Then when I'm all done I will go back and add the random bits of color where the beads should've been and the Japan thread which I'm saving till last. I think I actually like the substitution of the Kreiniks for the beads as they have a more sparkly effect to them that fits this project very well. The cat turned out so fantastic. It's hard to see it in this picture, but he has this purply glow that's so kewl! :D

I have another of Lynne Nicoletti's patterns called Alladin that I am seriously thinking of stitching after I finish this one. It's actually not quite as complex as this one is, although it has loads of beads on it. But if I go ahead and stitch it it will be the last of her patterns that I have and sadly at this time none of her other patterns appeal to me. Plus I have so many other projects to stitch that it's hard to decide which way to go. ;)

Not much else going on...it's supposed to be quite warm today (62F), but by Monday we might have snow? That's spring for you. LOL

This morning as I was backing out of my parking lot, I hear this loud crunching noise. I look back and I see that someone has put a beer bottle right under my car tire. How *kind* of them...not. But I suppose if you sit on your brains all day it's hard to think straight from severe oxygen deprivation. ;p I am hoping that I don't come out to a flat this afternoon.

So happy weekend, hope everyone has a great time! :D

We're All Mad Here

2006-03-07T08:41:00.000-06:00

The world is a crazy place, but fortunately we have each other for company. :D

Before I show my latest update I thought I'd throw out a challenge for those that are interested! I was having my cup o' tea the other morning and was thinking how we are all such unique and distinct individuals. We all have our favorite things that define a bit of who we are and I wanted to share with you the cup that I have my tea in each morning. If you are so inclined, show us YOUR morning cup or your favorite cup. Here's one of mine:

And before you ask, yes I have a fondness for chicken related items. I used to collect loads of chicken related stuff, before I became overwhelmed and overrun. :D

Now onto my update:

I am about 50% done with this project! Yippee! And last night I even managed to finish up most of the cat, but didn't have my camera for another pic. I love how this is going and I can honestly say I will be sad when it's done. I probably could've finished most of it by now, but find myself taking my time just so I can enjoy it. LOL This will be one project that I will always treasure. :D

The weather here is turning spring like, a bit warmer with rain predicted for today. But if it doesn't warm up a bit more it will more likely be light snow. ;)

I just read on the news that Dana Reeves has died from agressive lung cancer. She was 44. If you don't know who her, she was the wife of Christopher Reeves (aka Superman). She was such an inspiration to me, seeing how she stayed with him so lovingly during his illness. I remember when she announced she had lung cancer and I thought it was such a twisted irony, but had hopes that she would be treated and live many long years. I suppose her destiny was to join her husband. I don't know if I believe in an afterlife, but in this case I fervently hope that they are together and happy.

The List

2006-03-01T16:44:00.000-06:00

I was actually surprised at how many of these things I could check. I guess my life hasn't been that *boring* after all. Well...mostly... I mean there's still going to Canada using a fake i.d. so I can sing karoke (and a few other things) left on the list. LOL

I got this from San

( ) Crashed a friend’s car
( ) Stolen a car
(X) Been in love
(X) Been dumped
( ) Shoplifted
(X) Been fired
( ) Been in a fist fight
(X) Snuck out of your parent’s house
(X) Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back
( ) Been arrested
(X ) Gone on a blind date
(X) Lied to a friend
(X) Skipped school
(X) Seen someone die
() Been to Canada
(X ) Been to Mexico
(X) Been on a plane
( ) Set a part of yourself on fire
() Eaten sushi
( ) Been skiing
(X ) Met someone from the Internet
(X) Been to a concert
(X) Taken painkillers
(X) Love someone or miss someone right now
(X) Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(X) Made a snow angel
(X) Had a tea party pretend or otherwise
(X) Flown a kite
(X) Built a sand castle
(X) Gone puddle jumping
(X) Played dress up
(X) Jumped into a pile of leaves
(X) Gone sledding
(X) Cheated while playing a game
(X) Been lonely
() Fallen asleep at work/school
( ) Used a fake ID
(X) Watched the sun set
( ) Felt an earthquake
(X) Slept beneath the stars
(X) Been tickled
(X) Been robbed
(X) Been misunderstood
(X) Petted a reindeer/goat/kangaroo OR jackalope
(X) Won a contest
(X) Run a red light/stop sign
( ) Been suspended from school
(X) Been in a car crash?
( ) Had braces
(X) Felt like an outcast/third person?
(X) Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(X) Had deja vu
( ) Danced in the moonlite
(X) Liked the way you looked
(X) Witnessed a crime
(X) Questioned your heart
() Been obsessed with post-it notes
(X) Squished mud through your bare feet
(X) Been lost
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country
() Swam in the ocean
(X) Felt like dying
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
() Recently colored with crayons
() Sang karaoke
(X) Paid for a meal with only coins
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t
( ) Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain
() Written a letter to Santa Claus
() Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sun rise with someone you care about
(X) Blown bubbles
( ) Made a bonfire on the beach…at the lake
( ) Crashed a party
(X) Gone roller-skating
(X) Had a wish come true
( ) Jumped off a bridge

1. What time is it? 16.50
2. How much do you love your job? I LOVE IT
3. Ever steal any traffic signs? Nope
4. Favourite pie? Cherry
5. Favorite number? 3
6. Favorite movie? Shrek
7. Favorite brand of body soap? Dove
8. Toothpaste? Crest
9. Message to your friends reading this? Do the test too !
10. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Older
11. What do you enjoy receiving? My favorite collectibles.
12. What time is it now? 16.51

Behind the Mask!

2006-02-28T08:48:00.000-06:00

First off let me say - "Happy Fat Tuesday!" It looks like New Orleans is having quite the party! I hope everyone out there has a great day! :D

In my last post I mentioned how I had added a new counter to my blog and encouraged all lurkers to drop their masks and leave a comment where they had not done so before. LOL Well I was quite surprised that a few of you mentioned that you would like to also add a counter and find out who has been secretly visiting. ;)

When I thought to add a counter I realized that it wasn't enough for me (info junkie) to see "how many" people stopped by, but I wanted to know where they came from. I do some web work so I knew it was possible to make this happen. So after some looking I found this link: Active Meter that is an all around *free* web stats site. It not only tells me how many people visit, but where they come from. The first time I went to see who my visitors were I was quite surprised at not only how many people come by but all the different places they came from as well. It was refreshing to know that not all the visitors were spammers. ;) And I realized that a lot of people do look, but never comment. Sadly I am also guilty of doing this, looking but not leaving comments. For my own self I am going to endeavor to not just be a lurker and I encourage you all to do the same. It's amazing how just the simplest of comments can make someone's day (I know from my own experience). And with the fast pace that we live it seems we don't get the kudos we need. You know the old adage "the more you give, the more you receive", well corny it may be, but it's also true.

So thanks to all of you who leave comments and thanks to all of you who just stop by and silently visit. I'm glad to know that so many people enjoy the wacky things I have to say. ;)

Happy Stitching!

Curiouser and...

2006-02-27T15:34:00.000-06:00

Well not "Curiouser"... LOL You shall see what I mean by that a bit later. ;)

First an update on the "flood". :D The maintenance men came by and were quite nice about the whole thing. They realized that some damage had been done to the ceiling so they came back Friday and scraped off the acoustic material (affectionately known to us as "popcorn ceiling") and repaired the ceiling and then re-sprayed popcorn on it. You'd never know that it was damaged. Hurrah! I just hope that whatever they were up to on the second floor never repeats. Cuz it was icky. :) And yes Jesse was our hero until she had her next "hairball incident". But we won't discuss that. ;)

I worked on Alice this weekend, I finally made it through most of the small bits (for now) and got to the section "Curiouser and Curiouser", except I only got the first "Curiouser" done. (giggle) At this point I figure I am about half way through the project. It's going fast, but it's hard to say how long it will be till the finish line. You just never know when some difficult bit will pop up. :) If you notice in the bottom left you can now see Alice's eye. I love the effect of this so subtle...everything just flows together. :D The best part is that I really enjoy working on it and it just never gets old.

I did some shopping this weekend and I went through the sale bins at my LNS. Found some fun patterns and got these bags of Eterna stranded silks. They were half off their normal price of .66 cents (US), so I got them for .33 cents a skein. It ended up being a total 60 skeins (5 bags of 12) and for that price I thought it was a huge bargain. I haven't stitched with silks yet, but I hear they are so nice to use. I thought that I could substitute these in some future projects for a fun look. It's nice to be able to try something different for not a lot of money. :D

In other news... I added a counter to my blog, mostly out of curiousity. It is fun to see just how many people are actually looking at my blog. It's amazing how many people come by but never comment. I find that comments are very encouraging and make posting so much more fun, so if you have a blog that you read but rarely comment on, I challenge you to stop and leave a little note. It will mean so much to the blog owner. :D

Happy stitching!

"'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!'"

2006-02-21T10:13:00.000-06:00

"Is it Tuesday already?" She asked. "Why yes it is!" She answered herself back. "What's gone and happened to Monday?" She inquired. "It's faded away, like the stars in the morning sky." She replied sadly, a little tear in one eye.

Alright, I confess to reading too much of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. It's amazing how quickly they can effect one's brain patterns. ;) LOL

Yesterday was Presidents Day and though I didn't "officially" have it off I took it as vacation. It was a nice relaxing day...I watched Elizabethtown and didn't get much stitching done. Poor Greg has caught my cold and is now quite sick. I'm better but still with a bit lingering on. It's a particularly nasty cold.

Last night (about 1:30 a.m.) I was woke up by the cat screeching and hopping about in front of the main bathroom. It freaked me out so I got up and turned on the light and there was water pouring from the bathroom ceiling, flooding the bathroom. Many towels and some frantic calls later, we found out that the tenants in the apartment above us had their toilet run over and the excess was draining down through the heater and air vents into *our* bathroom. It's a good thing I was woken up or we would've had a frightful mess. Now, because of the water the acoustic material that's on the ceiling is falling off and the maintenance people will have to come and replace it. I wonder if Jesse would be as good of an alarm during a fire? (Let us hope we never find out.) ;)

I made good progress on my project over the weekend, but slowed down on Sunday and Monday. This recent section is a lot of tiny bits of color so it's taking longer. I'm still happy with the overall appearance and really love all the purple in this. :D

Still not sure about the beads and many thanks to Jenna for the clarification on matting versus spacers. I hadn't even heard of these plastic spacers before, so thanks Jenna for the insight! I did find some Kreinik threads that match the beads. I will probably just go with the thread so that I don't have to worry about making the frame work with spacers or mats, because the frame really isn't deep enough to accommodate these options. :D

Thanks again for all the comments and helpful hints! Hope y'all have a great rest of the week!

Commenting on Comments

2006-02-17T08:46:00.000-06:00

Before I answer this week's SBQ, I want to say thanks for all the nice comments on "What is Home". :D Jenna asked if this frame was made by Greg's dad, sadly no it wasn't. But I did get it on sale! ;)

On Alice, thanks for all the great comments and suggestions. I LOVE suggestions. :D Jenna and Coral, thanks for the suggestion on mat boards to keep from squashing the beads and threads. If I can I will definately use a mat board for this, not sure if there will be room based on the size of the project. So I will wait on beads till I am sure. And thanks to all of you who commented on the purple. Once I got used to the idea that the pattern was *meant* to have the "A" purple I realized that it would be silly to change the color. The purple coordinates with all the other colors in the pattern and now that I am seeing more of it I am liking it. :D It did however make me re-evaluate how I will finish the frame I have for this. But I'm not giving that info away for now. ;)

SBQ:
Comment on your comments (giving and receiving): Do you love comments or hate them? Do you check them every day, never check them, or find them helpful? And finally, are you convinced no one is reading your blog if you don’t get any?

Obviously I LOVE comments! I can't imagine not loving them, unless they are negative. Fortunately I haven't gotten any negative ones and hope not too. :D I check them all the time, I am constantly going back to see if I have new comments and I do find the suggestions that people offer VERY helpful. I wouldn't ask opinions if I didn't want them. So I greatly appreciate it when y'all stop by and leave helpful hints. As above I was worried about crushing the beads and hadn't even thought about the fact that a simple mat would solve the problem. :D That's what I love about stitching blogging, it's a great way to get lots of great tips and hints that I wouldn't find otherwise (at least not without a lot of trouble).

Am I convinced no one is reading my blog if I don't get comments, well I guess I hadn't thought about it. Before I came to blogger I didn't get many comments. I blogged because I liked too share with my good friend and that was my motivation. Getting more comments is definately a bonus and I'm sure a lot more people probably stop by than comment, but I'm sure there are at least 1 or 2 people who consistently read my blog and never comment. ;) So I won't be stopping any time soon. :D

Thanks to all of you who stop by and all of you who comment! I really, truly appreciate each and every nice thing you have to say and it gives me a great deal of inspiration! Happy stitching!

Off with Her Head!

2006-02-16T09:54:00.000-06:00

That's how I feel this week! I got a nasty head cold last Friday and it's been hanging on ever since. Today I finally feel a bit better, but the weather is NASTY out there. Freezing rain and snow over the top, woo hoo! Not looking forward to the weekend when the high is going to be 13F...EEK. ;)

Okay! Here is the framed "What is Home". It turned out great, a couple of snafus, but nothing major. Apparently the frame is made out of super human stuff, as Greg had a heck of a time getting a hanger attached to it. We got lucky and found this anti glare plastic that we used instead of glass. It would bring a wall down with glass in it. ;)

I think the rose turned out great, I like the solid color in the middle, which gives a bit more definition to the flower. You can see a larger version here by clicking the smaller framed version.

I have a great start on Alice. It's going very fast, of course being home sick a day has helped, but it's really a fast stitch. I love the colors and the addition of the metallics is a nice touch. I'm leaving off stitching the Japan thread until the end, but have added some of the Kreinik magenta. I still need to get beads for this, I haven't sewn beads before, so am a bit leary of them.

This has been a lot of fun to stitch! It does use white rayon for some of the flowers and though it is tricky to sew with it does add a different look to the project. This project calls for Whisper for the White Rabbit, to give it a "fluffy" appearance. I have used this thread before and honestly I don't like the overall finished look of it. Plus after all the hard work I did with it in another project I found that it ends up getting squashed behind the framing glass which detracts from the intended look. I am debating whether to use the rayon on the rabbit. It would definately make him stand out, but maybe it would be too "shiny". I have to say I am a bit disappointed by the purple "A" that is the backdrop. On the pattern picture it appears nearly black, but when you stitch it it is definately purple. The purple is pretty, but I was expecting black so it seems a bit odd to me. The best part though is experiencing all the elements and remembering their meaning from the book. :D

Hope everyone is having a great week! Happy Stitching!

Begin at the Beginning

2006-02-10T11:05:00.000-06:00

and Go On Till You Come to the End: Then Stop. - Alice In Wonderland

Wow is it Friday already? I have had a busy week...I've been taking some classes for work and have been out of the office a lot. I even forgot to take my camera home with me and so I don't have my finished picture of "What Is Home". Ah well, on Monday then. I do have the last update picture, which I never got posted.

I am glad to be done with this and will be happy to see it framed and on it's way. ;) It's a nice pattern, but just not to my tastes. I decided not to backstitch the rose, but instead filled in the middle with some darker stitches which I think accents it nicely. You should be able to see it in the next picture.

And now in case you are wondering why I am quoting Alice in Wonderland, my next project:

This pattern is from Lynne Nicoletti I absolutely love her patterns, and she has some stunning ones. I stitched her Oak Island Pirate map last year and it was quite a difficult stitch. This one should be much simpler. I started last night and it's going fairly quickly already. I am using a pretty light lavender 14 ct aida that I purchased some time ago for this project. It is looking great so far! Funnily enough I thought that I had (at some point) purchased all the threads I needed for this project, NOPE. I'm missing about half. LOL So off I go for floss. The colors in this are so pretty and not at all what I had expected. For example I thought that the "A" was black, it's not, it's a very dark purple. So I'm excited to get on with this one. I have a very special frame for this that Greg designed and his dad made for me. :D You can see it in the gallery if you like, under current projects.

Hope everyone has a fun weekend! Happy stitching!

So How Was Your Weekend?

2006-02-06T14:32:00.000-06:00

Mine was great! Got to see my nieces (5 and 4) did some shopping, washed some laundry. And spent yesterday afternoon watching Stephen King's "The Stand" on dvd. 6 hours, that's right 6 hours...maybe it was longer...my brain is fried I can't remember. LOL But hey, while sitting isn't so great for my gluteus maximus, it does help get a bunch of stitching done. I never realized how long backstitching can take. I finished the "r" in no time, but that green is what I spent the rest of the time on, between scenes of dead flu victims. Can I just say that this movie originally scared the bejeezus out of me (too many dead bodies) and this time around it was bad, but on a more personal level...can we say "Asian Flu". Nuff said. And hey it was great to reminisce, I lived in Salt Lake City when this movie was made. And massive chunks of it were filmed right down the street from where I worked. I remember seeing the movie trucks driving to work many a day. Anyhow, I hope to be done w/ the rest of the green over the "home" portion and then I will be finished. Thank goodness. This one is fast losing my interest. ;)

My Lil' Stitching Buddy

2006-02-03T08:54:00.000-06:00

With the exception of your online stitching friends, do you have any other stitching buddies?

Why yes I do have a stitching buddy! And in my honest opinion he's the best stitching buddy a girl can have - my husband! LOL

I mean how great is it to know that when I go stash shopping he's right there adding his own stuff to the pile and not complaining one bit about the cost. ;)

Even better, he's a great stitcher. Very intuitive and detailed oriented. He has lots of great ideas and suggestions and he's not intimidated at all about sharing his hobby with other people. Yes, I'm biased, but it's hard not too be. ;D

In other news, despite Unadilla Bill's predictions, winter has returned. Not "Aaggghh Winter!" but "oh, right that's what it's like to be cold, Winter." I think that this will be around for a while, but the good news is that February is a SHORT month and the days are getting noticeably longer!

Hope everybody has a great weekend!

How Much Wood Would A...

2006-02-02T10:14:00.000-06:00

Woodchuck Chuck, if a Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood? ;D

Happy Ground Hog Day! Here is a little bit of info about the origins of Ground Hog Day.

When German settlers arrived in the 1700s, they brought a tradition known as Candlemas Day, which has an early origin in the pagan celebration of Imbolc. It came at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Superstition held that if the weather was fair, the second half of Winter would be stormy and cold. For the early Christians in Europe, it was the custom on Candlemas Day for clergy to bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of Winter. A lighted candle was placed in each window of the home. The day's weather continued to be important. If the sun came out February 2, halfway between Winter and Spring, it meant six more weeks of wintry weather.

If the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, an animal would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of Winter. Germans watched a badger for the shadow. In Pennsylvania, the groundhog, upon waking from mid-Winter hibernation, was selected as the replacement. Pennsylvania's official celebration of Groundhog Day began on February 2nd, 1886 with a proclamation in The Punxsutawney Spirit by the newspaper's editor, Clymer Freas: "Today is groundhog day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow." The groundhog was given the name "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary'' and his hometown thus called the "Weather Capital of the World.'' His debut performance: no shadow - early Spring. The legendary first trip to Gobbler's Knob was made the following year.

Sad to say that Phil in Pennsylvania did see his shadow, so traditionally this means 6 more weeks of Winter. BUT, here in Nebraska we have our own little rodent weather predictor. His name is Unadilla Bill. Bill isn't quite as lively as Phil, mainly cuz he's stuffed. LOL

This morning they had the "official ceremony" and Bill didn't see his shadow. Which for us Nebraskans means an early Spring and considering the weather we've had lately I'm not surprised.

If you want to see more about the whole "Ground Hog Day" tradition you can click this little guy and read up on all the ground hogs that are out there predicting the weather. ;)

Now if you look through this list you will see that the U.S. isn't the only place that has a weather predicting ground hog. Canada, Nova Scotia and Germany also have their own.

So here's hoping for an early Spring and milder weather for everybody!

Thanks to everyone for sharing their stitching techniques. It's always fun to find who does what! And thanks so much for all your comments on my project, it isn't always easy to see the "big picture" when your nose is stuck to the fabric. LOL

Missing in Action

2006-02-01T13:54:00.000-06:00

That's what the dvd "Lord of War" was when I returned it last night. I happily returned the dvd's I rented a day early. Later I get a call telling me that "Lord of War" didn't have the dvd in the case. Did I ever feel S-T-U-P-I-D. The guy just laughed and said "well it's not due till tomorrow." I am convinced that I am getting a case of early on-set senility....or as my dad calls it CRS - "Can't Remember S---". LOL This is the first time that I have done something like that, but I have horror stories from my mom. My favorite - one night she was cooking a meatloaf and went to check the oven and couldn't find the meatloaf. It was in the refrigerator, where she had put it thinking she was putting it in the oven....hard to cook a meatloaf in the fridge. I think I'm going to go buy some Gingko-Biloba. LOL, LOL

Over on Greg's blog, he mentioned that he stitches his patterns by color. In other words, he starts with one color stitches all the stitches that are in the pattern of that color and then moves to the next color in the list and repeats until he is finished. In a comment, LiliAsked "What about Kim? How does she organize her stitching then? I like to see how other stitchers do, I have found it very helpful more than once!"

My answer is that I personally find this odd and it's not the way I work. I work the pattern from the center out, so that it's centered on my fabric. I work sections fairly close together and switch colors as I complete each block of color in that section (obviously it depends on how big the project is). I find that if I try to count away and stitch all the color that inevitably I will miscount and make a mistake, even on small projects.

So what about all of you, do you stitch by color or what? Both Lili and I are curious! :D

I got some more of my project done, so here's another update. It's looking good so far and the letters are getting done quickly, but I'm not looking forward to the backstitching of the vines. Although I do think that the vines will really add a lot to the piece. I've never been a big backstitching fan. :)

Well it's Wednesday, half way through! Sadly I hear that winter is coming back, it's supposed to get cold and stay that way this weekend. I'm not surprised, it is February after all. But I saw on the news this morning that the cherry blossoms are out in Washington, DC already. Poor things are all confused. ;)

Give me an "M"!

2006-01-30T09:37:00.000-06:00

Hope all your weekends were fun and/or productive! Mine was a bit of both, although I was struck by a major case of the lazies yesterday.

It took me 3 days to stitch the "M" on my project. This is a giant M and had loads of backstitching around it, in fact it's the only letter on the project that has a lot of backstitching. The E on home has a tiny bit, but the M far and away out does this. I like the backstitching aaaanndd I don't. LOL

It does bulk up the M and give's it the look of calligraphy, but I'm not sure I like the "dotted line" look of it. I tried making the stitches longer, but that looked horrible. ;) I'm sure seen at a distance you won't be able to tell and I'm being to hypercritical. I think I just looked at it for too long. LOL

Overall it's looking great! I got the frame for it at Hobby Lobby, they had 40% off coupons last week, so I got a good deal on a 12"x24" frame. It may need a bit of a mat on it, but we will see when it's complete.

Siouxsie from Isolated Needle sent me this great package for my birthday! I got it on Friday and was so surprised at how generous and kind she was! She sent wonderful candles, a decadent smelling soap and this cross stitch magazine I had never seen before. The magazine has lots of great tips and some cute charts in it. What a wonderful treat! Thanks so much Siouxsie!!

Dancing with the Stars Progress!

2006-01-27T14:22:00.000-06:00

Last night I watched Dancing with the Stars while working on my project. Some of you may groan, but I actually enjoy it. I'm a huge fan of ballroom dancing (although Greg refuses to try it/can't say I blame him though) and enjoy seeing the B and C level "stars" giving it their all. So I managed to get through the "without" part of the chart. And now I feel I'm making headway. It's definately a big chart, but easy to stitch. And it's fun because I know my mom will just adore it. :D

What do you all think about the roses in the middle though, I'm torn over whether to do more backstitching on them or just leave as is. I just keep thinking it could use more backstitching. The "original" version of this chart wouldn't have any backstitching around them as it's more Victorian. And I'm trying to imitate that style, but they sort of look blobbish. ;) Opinions anyone? :D

Today it's 60F out there and the sun is shining like mad. I had to take my coat off on the way back from the gym at lunch. It was just HOT. If this keeps up we will be having 150F temps in the summer. LOL It's nice though, but confusing to the brain. Let's just hope we get some rain so that we will have drinking water this summer. ;)

Have a great weekend!

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