The End is Near

Yesterday it took 3+ tries to access my blog page. Same thing happened again today.

I think it's official, I'm fed up with Blogger.

Stay tuned for the new address.

Tomorrow I have a Sampler Guild meeting. It is my first and I am looking forward to it.

SBQ

Today's SBQ was suggested by Kathryn and is:

What is the smallest count fabric you have ever used? Did you stitch over one? Conversely, what is the largest count fabric you have ever used?

The smallest count fabric I have ever used is a 36ct linen. The largest would be a 10ct Tula.

I have stitched over one, but on nothing larger than 25 ct.

I have been a bit AWOL this week. Monday was a holiday and I was pretty busy with my Dad and doing some computer things I needed to do. Tuesday morning, I had a dentist appointment and she once again brought up the subject of removing my lower wisdom molars because I don't have the upper ones and she recommends doing this to 1) ward off periodontal disease and 2) because without the upper ones to bite against they are coming up higher than they should and it's only going to cause problems in the future. So, I agreed to it. Needless to say, the past two days were a Vicodin-enduced fog for me and she only removed the left one. I get to do this again next Thursday.

On the work front, as most of you have previously read, the company I work at is going through a merger. I have decided to not continue with the company because they are moving the office down to Miami, 45 miles from where I currently live. Those who are continuing with the company will start driving down there on March 1st. I (and other sane people), will have to continue to come in to the Pompano office for a week or two and then be "on stand by" (whatever that means). Bottom line, I won't really be working for the next two months but will continue to get paid my regular salary and benefits. Then, on May 1st, my three-month severance with benefits kicks in. So, basically, I am getting 5 mos severance. Not bad for having only worked one year with this company! SWEET!!!! I'm laughing all the way to the bank!

Blogger Bugging Me

Blogger keeps annoying me. I want to transfer my blog, but there are some things I need to do before I do this. First, I need to add all the entries from my previous blog on Bravenet. See, once upon a time, I started a blog here, then Blogger started annoying me, so I moved it to Bravenet and I actually re-entered all the posts that were in Blogger. However, because of the limited funcitonalities with Bravenet and the fact that they can't seem to control spammers from entering comments, I moved back to Blogger. So I have about 150 entries over at Bravenet that need to be brought back over to Blogger before I use the importing tool at WordPress or wherever I end up. I may just use one of my parked domains over at Go-Daddy and not use any free blog site. I got to mull it over.

Last night I backstitched only the lettering on the top of the ornie before I got bored and decided not to stitch anymore. I'll finish it tonight. Maybe. Didn't take a picture of it because I was pressed for time this morning.

Yesterday we went out to lunch at Blue Moon Fish Co., which is in Lauderdale by the Sea, about half a mile from where I live but instead of being on the beach side, it's on the Intracoastal side. We had a great time. Nine of us who will not be going down to Miami with the company were taken to lunch because all the others who are going were called to a meeting and lunch down in the Miami office.

Lunch was awesome! We had the Prince Edward Mussels, the spiced shrimp and mahogany clams for appetizers, all of which were sooo good! I ordered the Prime Rib which was out of this world, and then five of us ordered different desserts so we could try each other's. I had the Icky Sticky Caramel Tart with Chunky Monkey Ice Cream, but the other four desserts were equally as good. Meanwhile.... the folks down in the Miami office, after driving an hour to get there, had cold cut sandwiches.... too funny!

Friday Feast 131

Feast One Hundred & Thirty One

Appetizer: What sound, other than the normal ringing, would you like your telephone to make?

I'd like it to be a nice, soft hum.

Soup: Describe your usual disposition in meteorological terms (partly cloudy, sunny, stormy, etc.).

Calm, Clear and definetely on the dry side.

Salad: What specific subject do you feel you know better than any other subjects?

Physics, my major. But also Pre-Colombian Art / Incan Archeology which I have been studying since my teens.

Main Course: Imagine you were given the ability to remember everything you read for one entire day. Which books/magazines/newspapers would you choose to read?

This is a tough one as there is only so many hours in a day and only so much you can read during those 24 hours. As much as I would like to come off "intellectual" here, the fact is that I would probably either read books about game strategies for my favorite games or read an advanced book on Physics, Medicine, Photoshop or Excel.

Dessert: If a popular candy maker contacted you to create their next confection, what would it be like and what would you name it?

Probably something based on real fruit. It would be a hard candy and it would be tart. I would name it Tangles.

Weather Picture

I've noticed that a lot of people are taking pictures of their weather and posting it on their blogs. I've seen a lot of pictures of tons of snow and ice, so to balance things out, here is a picture from the Fort Lauderdale Beach cam. Not a good beach day, it seems... it is kinda overcast and yucky right now... doesn't seem to stop some people... they're probably all snowbirds!

I'm getting aggravated with Blogger. Many times I try to open to my blog page and I get an error message. This continues, and I will be moving elsewhere pronto.


Well, all of you out there in cold snow and ice land, stay warm!

SBQ & Ornie Update

Today's SBQ is:

Do you like to buy "chartpacks" that include charms, buttons, and/or beads or do you prefer to gather all materials yourself?

If the chartpack is available when I purchase the chart, I would prefer to have it. It just makes it easy and 5 years from now, when I finally get around to stitching that particular chart, the chartpack may or may not still be available. I worry about that. It just makes things simpler, IMHO. Last Tuesday Victoria Sampler's "Tropical Garden" came in for me, which I purchased with the chartpack. I also got Sister's & Best Friend's "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere", which I also got with the chartpack. If you plan to stitch a chart, chances are you're going to need the chartpacks, so you might as well get them.

On another note, last night I stitched on Raise The Roof's "Arm & A Leg" ornament from JCS 2006 Ornament Issue. It went quicker than I thought and I managed to do all the cross stitching. Now what is left is all the backstitching, which I think might be done in a night. I feel another happy dance coming on!

Another Happy Dance!

Last night at my LNS I managed to finish CEC's Three French Hens, and here it is for your viewing pleasure!

I also bought up a storm! LOL It's Market Day, after all!!! I got another Market Day Saturday at Always in Stitches. So, the partying will continue! WOO HOO!!!

I haven't decided which JCS ornie I will stitch next. I'm torn between Raise the Roof's "Arm & A Leg" which my friend, Ellen is nearly finished with or one of the dog ones... Decisions, Decisions...

Gotta Cold

Well, I have a really bad cold - not that it is stopping me from going to work or stitching. I managed to stitch a bit on the CEC ornie, would have definetely finished the second wing had I not been sick. The ornie is coming out really cute, if I do say so myself.

The company I work for is going through a merger. Today we all got via email an "integration letter" that basically said that those leaving on May 1st (they delayed everything by a month) will receive a month per year of severance with a minimum 3 mos severance for all departing employees and all benefits will continue for the duration of severance. I have only been with the company a year, so this is very good news. I can usually find another job in a week or two, so I'm not stressing, although the caveat is that we must stay with the company until May 1st in order to be eligible for the severance. Oh well.

Today is Market Day and SAL Day at my LNS. Can't wait! I've already scouted some patterns I definetely want to nab! Starting with just about everything from Raise the Roof designs, and on to some new Sisters & Best Friends, a new series from Heart In Hand (I guess they exhausted the Mom's Wisdom series), and few from The Workbasket.

Monday Update

This past weekend was great! On Saturday morning, my good buddies, Ruth, Orrell, Measie & I took off for Venice, FL to visit EGA's National Traveling Exhibit "Through the Needle's Eye" at the Venice Art Center. Along with EGA's exibit, the local chapter of EGA had their own exhibit, which I personally found more inspiring than the national one. The work the national exhibit displayed was awesome - no doubt - but for me, it was also unattainable, whereas the local exibit seemed within my reach. Most pieces, at least. I will be showing pictures from the exhibit as I have time to crop and upload. Right now, I'd like to show you the local chapter's banner and one piece I found quite striking. Unfortunately, there was no program with the local exhibit, so I can't really give you more info about this piece. So sorry.

At the Art Center we were delighted with a recital from a local young man who is quite talented on the piano and keyboard and is a composer as well. He did two improvisations that were very nice and he played some original creations which were composed for some plays he's working on. It was a nice surprise. After the recital, we left for the local cross stitch store and I purchased some really cool charts at half price. Will take a picture and post later. Following that, we were famished as it was past 3pm and had not had lunch yet (we left at 8am), so we decided on The Cracker Barrel because neither of us had been there in a long time.

On the drive to and from Venice, I stitched on L*K's February Flip It. We left at 5 to come back home, so I only had about an hour of light on the return.

I also wanted to show y'all where I left off on the CEC ornie. The french hen is mostly stitched - she needs her wings and her hat and it'll be finished. I didn't work on it at all this weekend and stitched very little Friday night because I wanted to go to sleep early.

Yesterday afternoon I took up again Bent Creek's 2003 Snapper and made some progress on "September Brings". It should be very closed to finished after next Sunday.

It's very unusual for me to have more than one small piece going at a time, though the Snappers are really one long piece. Sometimes, I really don't know which one to stitch!

I'm toying with the idea of moving my blog. I upgraded to the new blogger and I find it horribly annoying. It's time for a new look as well. Really busy right now though.

Proof of Finish & Ornie Progress

Just to prove I did go back and finish the backstitching, here is a picture of Sue Hillis' "Not A Prince" complety finished.

Also, yesterday I stitched a little bit on the next ornie in CEC's 12 Days of Christmas series, which is a French Hen. I decided to do her face and her legs to see who I am stitching. It's going a whole lot faster than I thought. All that I need know is her hat, finish her dress, and her two wings. Hopefully I'll be dancing again on Monday.

Tomorrow morning - very early - I am taking off with my good friends to Venice, FL to catch a travelling EGA exhibit. Will take pics to share with y'all Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay warm!! (We''ll be wearing shorts... lol)

Gonna Happy Dance Anyway & SBQ

I am 99.99% finished with Sue Hillis' "Not a Prince". All that is needed is to backstitch the heart, which will take all of 10 mins. So, here's the picture and I'm going to start the Happy Dancing! Also, I guess I can check off one item of my February goals, as this is my Valentine's Day piece.

I was really thrilled last night that they re-broadcast the first part of Criminal Minds which was originally shown after the Super Bowl last Sunday. I had set the TiVo, but because it's started 30 mins into it's scheduled time, I was missing the last half, so I deleted it. The plan was to go online or on iTunes to watch it, but I guess there were a lot of upset fans out there and they decided to show it again. Right afterwards was the second part and it's great to watch them back to back and not forget anything.

I really prefer to watch entire story lines together. I do this every year with "24", watching several episodes in a week instead of once a week. Right now I left off with the nuclear explosion. I have three other episodes TiVoed, and it may be another week or so before I take it up again.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Danielle and is:

Have you ever been to a stitching retreat?

Yes I have only gone to one and it was in Oct 2005 to a Stitcher's Hideaway in Kissimmee with my good buddy, Tillie, the weekend before Hurricane Wanda hit. The project was the Sunshine State Sampler which was released last year. I haven't touched it since. Neither has Tillie, for that matter, though we are planning to SAL this piece in March or April. I forget. I guess I'm very lucky because I have a group of friends to stitch with regularly, so I don't really feel the need to leave town for a stitching retreat. The way I see it, I'm spending over $500 for yet another unfinished piece. What for? I got plenty I want to stitch!

Mystery Package and New Start

Yesterday was the SAL at my LNS, Cross Stitch Cupboard in Fort Lauderdale. Emily came with her Birds of a Feather piece, which she claims is going slowly (she's been busy killing people) but, so what? It's not a race!

I was going to continue to stitch on the Snappers, but lo and behold genius girl forgot her threads. So I started the French Hen from CEC's 12 Days of Christmas series instead. I really like it when I can stitch enough so I can tell what it is.I forgot to mention what was in the package! In the package were four issues of UK's The Cross Stitcher, from July 2004 to October 2004. Norma and I would have an ongoing trade. Either she came up with a list of things she needed to trade for her magazines (usually DMC, which is expensive in the UK) and/or she would use my PO Box address to purchase from companies that did not send abroad, and I'd pay for the postage to forward them on to her. She then got really sick and it dragged on. Her husband returned all the Round Robins she had and, eventually I lost touch. I do remember one package which got lost, but she was sick and a good friend, so I chalked it up to the mail losing it.

Catching Up

Yesterday I didn't have time to fix and upload pictures of what I had stitched over the weekend, so I'm catching up now. On Sunday, during my weekly SAL group, I stitched on the 2003 Snappers because I realized I hadn't stitched on them in over a year and it's high time. Didn't stitch all that much, but it's something. I don't know that I will stitch on this every Sunday, but I am hoping to finish September Brings this month. I am stitching all the Snappers as one long horizontal row.

I've also continued stitching on the Valentine's Day piece. This is a cute and fast stitch. I know you're supposed to add the charm after you finish stitching, but I could not resist!

Last but not least, I had a bizarre mail experience this weekend. When I visited my PO Box to get my mail, there was a large package I was not expecting from someone I haven't heard from in about 2 years. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the package was stamped over two YEARS ago! If you look, a note was left for me (I never got it) on Sept 11, 2004. The date on the postage itself is 3/09/04. It doesn't make sense that it would take 6 mos for something to arrive from the UK, it makes less sense that it sat since Sept 04 in the post office and I only got ONE note. Moreover, it fits in my PO Box, so why wasn't it placed there in the first place? Weird!

Picture Update & Template Changes

Realized that I forgot to upload a picture of what I stitched last night! So... here it is!

I follow about 220+ stitching blogs on a daily basis. I do so through Google Reader, which sometimes doesn't show all the pictures, I know, but I do click to go to those blogs without pics. So, I was faced with an option: either to delete all the blogs listed on my sidebar since they are but a small fraction of those I follow, OR just list them all. I went with listing them all. Lot of stitchers out there find blogs through other's links (myself included) and anything I can do to help and enable fellow stitchers out there in the blogosphere, is a good deed indeed. So, there you have it. Have fun with it.

Friday Feast 129 & A New Start

It's time for another Friday Feast!

Appetizer: What was one of the fashion fads when you were a teenager?
Coulottes - a one piece outfit with a zipper down the middle. Everyone in the world is glad it died. One of the worse things about this stupid fad was that in order to go to the bathroom you had to completely take off your top. Ewww!!! What idiot came up with that idea? Probably a MAN! Nice fads were polo shirts, which are still popular, ProKeds shoes and puka shells.

Soup: Name one thing you think people assume about you when they first meet you.
That I'm Christian. I'm not. I'm atheist. Religions never made sense to me. Except for Francis of Assisi. I totally got him. Not sure he's whatever they want a "saint" to be.

Salad: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how hard do you work?
Depends on the day, of course. I'm going to say the average is 9

Main Course: If you were given a free 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl to sell anything you currently own, what would you advertise?
My stupid dolls. Trying to get rid of them.

Dessert: Fill in the blank: I love to walk by the beach when it is morning.

Last night I started my Valentine's Day piece and I'm quite pleased with my one night's progress.

You Are a Boxer Puppy

Energetic, playful and good with kids. You've also got a wild spirit that can't be trained or tamed.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?