SBQ & Other Thoughts

Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

If you were to come across a sampler chart that caught your eye and appealed to you, would you or would you not stitch it if it had a morbid or "creepy" saying on it? If not, why?

If I came across a sampler chart that appealed to me I would stitch it whether it had a morbid or creepy saying. I am not put off by these type of sayings, however, if I found any saying on any chart offensive - or negative - for whatever reason, I would see if I could change it. Case in point, M Designs "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" was changed to "Loves Me, Loves Me Lots". Why?, you might ask. Because I am past the point of doubting and it's more fitting to my current long term relationship.

Last night Nick slipped and fell - his knee is still in a brace that immovilizes the entire leg, so even though I didn't think he had injured himself, we made the 40 mile trek to the VA hospital in Miami, only to be questioned by some mid-level administrator about his current status. Seriously. The kid has his leg in a brace, a bottle of Percocet filled less than a week ago, and you think he might be AWOL??? For goodness sake! Why would we drive 40 miles into Miami to go to a MILITARY hospital when we could have taken him to North Broward Medical Center a few miles from our house, or even Jackson Memorial Hospital (next door to the VA Hospital) where no one would have cared what his status is??? Oh yeah, and they wanted him to get his command - at 9pm - to send a letter confirming he wasn't AWOL. Sure, no problem... So, after hearing all this, I just said, "Whatever, the kid is also on TriCare, we'll just go to a regular hospital". At this point, he backtracked and said that they would see him of course, he would just get a bill that he would have to take to his command... Well, why didn't he just start with that one to begin with???

Stitchingwise, I am in a bit of a funk. Tired from having the kid at the house and taking care of him. From waking up in the middle of the night and checking on him, making sure his leg is still elevated. From trying to find things to entertain him after I get home from work and he's been stuck home alone all day, and making sure he's getting some exercise and doing his physical therapy.

Goals for this month - which is quickly ending I might add - were to finish 2 pieces (done), stitch a bit on "The Rose Garden (not done), and maybe start something new as a reward for all by hard work. I would really like to start stitching on Brenda Lowry's "Life is a Beach". I got all the threads for it and it looks like it would stitch quickly.

47 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME? Patricia
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope, mother just liked the name.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Can't remember
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes, even though it's the antiquated Palmer method, it's pretty unique compared to my contemporaries
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Cajun Roast Beef, mostly rare
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Of course!
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Not anymore. I've gotten away from it and I wish I would have time to get back to it.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? No, taken out when I was five.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Absolutely not
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Post Raisin Bran, the only one I have found without hydrogenated oils or High Fructose Corn Syrup.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Why? I have narrow feet.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Very much so.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Jaxson's Black Cherry
14. SHOE SIZE? 10 - never fit in half size smaller or larger.
15. RED OR PINK? I look really good in red, so RED it is.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Tendency to paralysis through analysis.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My maternal grandmother who passed away 6 years ago.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I'd love to see what others wrote, so yeah.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I'm wearing my pink jammies, they have pictures of desserts on them. Shoes are lilac slippers.
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? My morning cappuccino - last night it was jambalaya and lime jello for dessert.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The ticking of my flip flop clock in the kitchen.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Turquoise
23. FAVORITE SMELL? The beach during my early morning walks, cinnamon rolls in the oven, pumpkin pie, oriental lilies.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My son, Stephen in California (no longer in Japan!!!)
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their poise and/or their hands. (Gemini!)
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? Yes, she seems interesting and it looks like we have a quite a bit in common.
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Non-alcoholic: Naked Juice. I like my ice tea without anything. Alcoholic drink: Guiness/Mojito.
28. FAVORITE SPORT? Hockey all the way! Go Hurricanes!!!
29. HAT SIZE? Men's XL - I got the big head from my dad
30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Neither
31. FAVORITE FOOD? Fresh fish prepared creatively
32. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings. I don't watch scary movies.
33. SUMMER OR WINTER? There's only summer here in paradise.
34. HUGS OR KISSES? Kisses.
35. FAVORITE DESSERT? Lemon Meringue Pie
36. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I'd say Debbi, but she doesn't seem to be posting lately.
37. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Debbi, for the aforementioned reason :)
38. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Reading three at the same time: "State of Denial" by Bob Woodward and the other two books highlighted on my sidebar.
39. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don’t have one at home. At work I have a dogs mousepad.
40. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? "Heroes" and "The Monastery" that I TiVoed Sunday.
41. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The ocean waves crashing against the beach and rain
42. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles
43. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? Malaysia
44. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Starting businesses.
45. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Miami
46. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Snagged from Melissa's Blog.

Hey, folks, I am really tired from taking care of Nick. He's getting better, but I have no time to stitch!

OOPS!

Ran off without telling y'all that I took off to Camp Lejeune because my son (Son2, Twin1) was having surgery. He went through it just fine. Will return with pictures on Sunday.

More Progress

Last night I finished Pig Baby. There wasn't a whole lot left to stitch as it was. All that is needed now is the back stitching. I didn't take a picture this morning because I overslept. :) Even so, I have removed it from the active WIPs list. 5 down 1 to go to make my goal. Next in line is Mosey N Me's "If A Flower Bloomed".

Some friends have asked me why I don't work on projects that I am really excited about instead of these which have been somewhat put to the side and forgotten. Two main reasons, really. The first is because it kinda weighs on me to have so much pending so it's either dump them so I don't see them again, or finish them. I can't bring myself to throw away what I have stitched, even if I've only stitched a little of it. I have no problem ripping, but I just can't throw it away.

The second is somewhat similar to the first. I like to think of myself as someone who is responsible and meets their obligations. Having unfinished things around contradicts this. Better not to start something than to start something and not finish it. It may seem like a small thing, but it's small things, IMHO, that either boost or lower our opinions of ourselves and this reflects in our confidence. So, I tend to take things that give me any kind of negative feeling about myself very seriously. Are there a hundred projects out there I rather stitch on than "If A Flower Bloomed"? Absolutely. But when I go through my stuff, and come across unfinished projects, I feel kinda disappointed that I haven't finished it.

So, you might wonder, do I feel disappointed about all the patterns I have that I don't have enough time to stitch? If you're a regular reader of this blog, you've no doubt read several times how I don't understand why I keep buying patterns when I already have more patterns than I can stitch for this, and probably another, lifetime. Earlier this year, I made a list of everything I wanted to stitch, and the count came to over 400. I stopped adding to the list, although I have not stopped buying patterns.

As you might know, on June 1st I moved from a huge 4 bedroom house to an apartment on the beach. I had to get rid of a lot of things simply because it wasn't going to fit in the new place. The purging hasn't stopped. I keep going through my stuff and getting rid of things. This past weekend I went through all my CDs and got rid of about 25% of what I had. Last night, I gave RJ about half the DVD collection. I already have an entire under the bed bin of kits/patterns I know I don't want anymore. It's only a matter of time before I make a realistic assessment of what I am going to - or not going to - stitch. Stay tuned!

Update & SBQ

This is where the PigBaby is now. I'll come back later and write a bit.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Lee (http://lakestitcher .blogspot. com/)and is:

As we all know, stitching in the winter can really be rough on the hands. What do you do to treat your hands well in the cold winter months? Do you have any suggestions for creams or soaps? Or perhaps a special regimen that you would like to share?

We don't have winter in paradise :)

I do the same things I do all year long - wash my hands with mosturizing soap, followed by an application of hand lotion each time I wash my hands. I have very a nice hand lotion at my desk at work - Camille Beckman's Glycerine Hand Therapy - and I try to apply it at least twice a day. Smells great too - so it's a nice pick me up.

Explanation

I was asked by a member of my favorite online group, Stitcher's Time Out, how I managed so many projects at one time. Well, that's just it. I wasn't managing them at all, which is why I decided to take pictures, post them on this blog and start working on them. So, as I began explaining how I ended up with so many projects to begin with, it occurred to me that I hadn't offered that explanation to my fellow stitching bloggers. So, here it goes:

The Pig Baby was to be for a charity quilt that some friends roped me into.

The Santa towel was to be a xmas gift, but I didn't have time to finish it.

If a Flower Bloomed was to be for an exchange, but then I changed my mind and stitched something else.

The Sunshine State Sampler was from a class given in Orlando last year that I didn't finish

The Xmas ornie was started in January - it was a group project -but I didn't have time to finish it, so it got put away

The Needlepoint Lady was bought at my EGA's White Elephant sale - what is stitched was done by a member of our guild - I want to finish it.

I fell behind Chatelaine's Mystery 8 and never managed to catch up. 2005 was a year I was busy building a business.

The Maidens of the Seasons was going to be for a Mirabilia RR that fell apart.

The Cappuccino towel was my piece for an RR, but then I got too busy with other RRs to actually finish it. So, I have three other coffee cup towels put away somewhere.

Janlynn Lighthouses was started for another RR that fell apart.

The 2004 Snappers was for an RR with 6 people - I stitched the first two - then people started dropping off and I was lucky to get it back - now it needs from Sept to Dec, plus the border.

Needless to say I don't do RRs anymore...

Anyway, for those of you who were wondering, now you know...

As Promised

Here is a picture of "Who's the Boss". I wasn't in much of a mood to stitch yesterday - I had to do laundry because I was too lazy to do it over the weekend and I was down to 4 pairs of clean underwear. But this morning I did put a very few stitches in the Pig Baby while I was watching last night's episode of "Heroes", which I am really getting to like.

That's it for now. May be back later if SBQ gets out.

Another Finish!

Even though I don't have the picture yet, I wanted to let y'all know that "Who's the Boss?" is finished!!! So, now I am down to 14 WIPs, 2 more finished and I am down to 12, which is my goal to reach by the end of the year. Tomorrow or later tonight I will take a picture and post. The camara needed its battery charged, or I would have taken a picture this morning. Yesterday, when I left my Sunday stitching group, the piece was all finished except for the bow on top of the dog's head and the words "want to", plus the the backstitching to the bow. So, as soon as I got home, I stitched all that - which wasn't all that much.

I've also updated my 101 things blog - making some progress on my goals - woo hoo!!

Other good news since the weekend: RJ, Son #1 got promoted to lead installer at Best Buy - he works with their high end Magnolia line. My good buddy, Liz, who had moved away in late August back to Philadelphia is going to move back to South Florida!!! WOO HOO!!! I miss my party/ice cream buddy.

I am thinking that next year I will add one more WIP to the list - last year I stitched the first of CEC's 12 Days of Christmas ornaments. I am thinking of considering all 12 of them as a "set" and adding them as a WIP, or at least the three that came in the first booklet.

Also, as I received the new freebie my LNS is handing out (Crescent Colours "Autumn") I remembered that - at some point last year - I started stitching on "Summer". I don't know what happened to it. I KNOW I had it. Maybe it ended up somewhere in storage, I don't know, but as soon as I find it, I will add it to the WIP list. Hopefully it won't turn up until next year - LOL.

So, even though I may reach the 12 WIP number by the end of the year, it looks that as soon as the year turns I will be adding one or two more to the list. Maybe I should shoot for ending with only ten....

Time for an Update

Last week - and this week thus far - has been pretty crazy, but I wanted to come online for a bit and show you my (meager) progress. I had wanted to finish this piece by the end of September, but, alas, it was not to be. I am, however, happy with the progress I made through the month and, as you all can see, there really isn't all that much left to finish this piece, and I am happy that the dog finally has eyes, a nose, and the ears outlined. Now that she is staring at me with those "puppy eyes", I can't do anything else but hurry up and finish her!

I have made some progress outside of stitching, I moved around the furniture in my apartment this past weekend and I like the new layout much better. I've also cleaned out my closet - not that it was a mess, I moved here 4 months ago after all, but like the rest of the apartment, I wanted things to be different in there as well. Now that I finally decided on where the furniture was going to stay, I have been able to add my cross stitch to the walls, and this makes me very happy. So, now y'all know what I was doing instead of stitching.