Just Another Stitch in Paradise!

Every Day in May

2009-05-03T09:08:00.003-04:00

While browsing the blogosphere, I came across this blog by French Toast Girl issuing a creative challenge in May. She intends to paint every day. I thought this would be an awesome opportunity for me to stitch every day in May. So I am going to join this challenge.

I solved my stitching schizophrenia by deciding to continue with the Rainbow Borders sampler. I will soon post a pic of it.

Stitching Schizophrenia

2009-04-19T11:30:00.004-04:00

The responsible part of me says "FINISH SOMETHING". The adventurous, impulsive part of me says "START SOMETHING NEW". Those of us with Gemini Suns or Ascendants are always having to deal with this kind of internal dichotomy.

If I start something new, then the responsible part will remind me of my WIPs and suck the enjoyment out of the new start, which means I will eventually put it down and end up with yet another WIP to feel guilty about. If I don't start something new, then the adventurous, impulsive side of me will pout. It just does that. It thrives on the new and exciting. The best way for me to satisfy both sides is to do both, and the only way to do both is to establish a rotation so that each side gets equal time.

So here we go. I will go and find something small, new and easy to stitch while I drag out the WIPs and decide which to return to first. This should take me a few hours, so I'll have to get back to you.

Still Thinking

2009-04-18T08:44:00.002-04:00

This week has been a bit strange. One very good thing that happened was that I reconnected with two stitching friends I had lost touch with. That was a really awesome thing!

I am very confused about what to stitch. I don't know if I should do an inventory of my WIPs, which I must admit I have completely no idea what I have started since I haven't stitched in nearly a year, or if perhaps I should start something new for the fun of it.

Papillon started a new mystery about a month ago with a lot of pretty specialty stitches. I've been wanting to do a mystery pattern for a while now, and sort of regret not doing the one they had last year, but on the other hand, knowing me, it will take me a month just to figure out which threads I am going to use.

Maybe I should just find something silly and quick to do just to prime the pump...

Wishes

2009-04-09T20:26:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it's been 9 mos since I last posted on my cross stitch blog! I really have not been stitching at all and I really want to get back to it. I'm trying to figure out "what happened?". Why did I stop stitching?? And, more importantly, how do I get back to it?

I don't know how it's possible that now that all my children are grown and I can do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it, time just evaporates on its own. It's gotta stop. I have to make room in my life for all the things I enjoy. I must start stitching again.

Stay tuned.

Good News!

2008-07-22T22:10:00.003-04:00

I'm happy to report that the car was in great condition. Very dirty, but otherwise intact.

You would think that after calling the impound every weekday for two weeks I would know exactly everything I needed to get the car out quickly. Think again.

We arrived in Miami almost half an hour before the impound opened. So we waited. It opened promptly at 8 and there were no other people there waiting for it, so I was hopeful that I would get in and out of there very fast. But no...

Come to find out that even though Nick's license is listed on the car's registration, and the police can access this information, he still has to provide the registration in order to get the car. Not sure why that is. So at that time of the morning, we needed to find a tag agency that would issue a duplicate because, for whatever reason, the glove compartment was completely empty.

We get back from this little errand and then discover that we can't pay there. Even though Nick is the victim, the city assesses a towing fee and an administration fee, which has to be paid in cash, for which I was already prepared. But there's one catch, you got to go to the police station, to the Property Dept to be more specific, to pay these fees, and then come back and show the receipt to get the car.

Bear in mind that this is Miami, an even though the Police Station was just 5 or 6 blocks away, it's a major ordeal to 1) navigate the streets that are mostly one way, 2) find a place to park, and 3) wait in line along with the many others doing the same thing.

But we got the car, and I got back to work and now we won't have to do it ever again. I hope.

Resolution

2008-07-21T22:06:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow we finally pick up Nick's car. It was found on the 7th but it has taken 2 wks for the Miami PD to process. We have no idea what condition it is in, or even if it's drivable. I guess we'll find out pretty soon.

On another note, we did this prank on a co-worker that went on vacation for two weeks to Amsterdam. She was attending a heavy metal concert. We turned her desk into a pink Disney princess wonderland.

She was turning the princesses goth with a black marker. I'm glad she enjoyed our prank!

Wednesday

2008-07-03T19:19:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I did not stitch. My son was carjacked in Miami - he's fine - but it tied up my night. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and stitching was the last thing on my mind.

Will stitch tonight, take a pic, and post tomorrow.

Hugs, y'all

More Mojo!

2008-07-02T06:36:00.006-04:00

I'm so glad I am doing this. I cross stitch every day now because I know it's just going to be one strand and it's not going to take a whole lot of my time. This really is a great way to work on a big project, but it's also a great way to work up some lost stitching mojo. Blogging about it is a good way to get some blogging mojo. It seems I've been all out of mojo lately!

This is what I stitched yesterday:

I think once I finish the motif I am working on - which calls for quite a bit of backstitching - I will go back and do the backstitching on all the motifs that need it.

Also yesterday, I went to my LNS's weekly SAL where I picked up the first two of Lizzie Kate's Christmas Double Flips as well as the cutest kit ever by her "Normal is just a setting on the washer" I can't wait to stitch this one!

Monday's Work

2008-07-01T22:36:00.004-04:00

Can't believe it's been two weeks since I started this. I think I've made pretty good progress! I'm about a third down the right side. Soon I'll have to start with some back stitching - been putting it off.

Strands 11 to 13

2008-06-30T21:02:00.006-04:00

Sorry to not update daily. It's been really crazy around here!

Here is Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

When I finish stitching tonight, I will take another picture.

Strand #10

2008-06-27T04:21:00.003-04:00

I am really happy with the progress done after 10 strands. I really don't have a whole lot of time to stitch now, so this is it. I still have to take pictures of the Snappers I stitched on this past weekend. Hopefully I'll get around to it soon.

Strand #9

2008-06-26T23:18:00.002-04:00

Here it is with Strand #9 stitched on Wednesday

Back from the Weekend!

2008-06-25T05:49:00.003-04:00

It's been crazy at work - and in my personal life. I've been stitching, but forgetting to take pictures afterwards. So without further ado, here is the piece after stitching strands # 5 & # 6

And here it is after Strands 7 & 8

Also this weekend, I stitched on the Snappers from 2003 and managed to nearly finish them all! Will take a picture and post tomorrow.

Sorry to be anti-social, but I gotta run!!! Hope you enjoy!

Strand # 4

2008-06-20T05:56:00.003-04:00

I managed to stitch yesterday despite going to Gatsby's after work for a pool party. I soo can't play pool, but the food was nice and so was the Guiness.

Here it is with Strand #4:

I'm working quite a long length of thread - 3 feet long - which is twice the average length of 18 ins. So far it hasn't frayed or anything. Still, it doesn't look like much progress from one day to the next. Can only imagine what it would be it was shorter.

So glad it's finally Friday! Not that I have anything special plan, it's just been a tough week and I can use the rest.

Strand #3

2008-06-19T06:34:00.004-04:00

So far this appears to be going quite well! Here is strand # 3. I think at the end of the week I'll place side by side pictures of where I started and where it is after 7 strands. I do have to force myself to stop after 1 strand. Especially right now when I've started it up again and am getting a little excited about it. The point of all of this is to not get tired of the piece and if I start stitching more than I've planned, I run the real risk of having enough of it and putting it aside for many months.

On the personal front, the twins have been back from their enlistments in the Marines for 9 mos now. Things are slowly getting back to normal. They both have local girlfriends and are doing quite well. The baby, Matt, is still with his girlfriend from High School - will be 4 years now - the wedding sampler is already stitched, all it needs are the names and the date. Can't believe the baby is 21 and has graduated college. How time flies. HRH first born, Rick, is happy at the company he works for. He recently returned from a three week business trip to New York.

As for me, I've changed companies, no longer an accounting manager, I'm back doing what I love best which is perishables. Still living at the beach and having a great time. Still with the same great group of local stitchers. I've got to slowly re-do this blog. I've already removed some items from the sidebar and need to think about what I really want there. It hasn't been updated for quite some time and a lot has changed stitching-wise since then.

Strand #2

2008-06-18T06:28:00.002-04:00

This is day 2 - second strand - on Paradigm Lost:

Well, I guess I'm back. My good friend, Ruth, has a method of stitching that I find most intriguing. Actually, she has several, but this one spoke to me before - and I may have blogged about it. She stitches one length of floss a day on a project and, when that's done, she stops.

I really think that this lends itself well for a project such as Paradigm Lost because it is stitched in one color and because I get tired of it rather quickly. One reason for this is that many of the motifs have eight identical parts and I get bored after the second or third time I stitch the same thing. Another is because there's quite a distance between one motif and another and I'm always second guessing myself as to whether I'm at the right place. But the most annoying part of it is that the fabric is big and heavy and it gets tiresome to stitch on it.

Well, that's it for today. Glad to be back in the blogosphere.

One Strand at a Time

2008-06-17T07:04:00.003-04:00

Doing something my best friend does, which is work one strand a day on a project. Here is the before and after.

Will come back later and tell you what I've been up to.

On the Advice of my Astrologer...

2008-03-23T09:08:00.002-04:00

First of all, Happy Easter to you all!

Yesterday I had a two-hour consultation with Benjamin Bernstein who hosts the weekly podcast "It's All Good Astrology". You can find/subscribe to his podcast by searching for it on iTunes. First of all, let me say that his podcast is absolutely amazing. I discovered it a few months ago and have been hooked ever since.

Something you might not know about me, since I don't remember ever blogging about it, is that when I was a teenager I was very much into astrology. I took classes on astrology for about two years and did a lot of studying on my own. This interest lasted until I started having children and by the time #4 (Matt) was born, I had very little time to pursue this and finish college. Nonetheless, it's something I go back to from time to time. Now being one of those times, except this is more than a brief "I wonder what's going on astrologically" phase.

I had been wanting to have my chart professionally read because, frankly, I didn't remember much of what I learned 20+ years ago - I can't even remember what my sons' charts are like - and because, as in any discipline, more knowledge is added and I just haven't kept up.

The reason I had not is because I have to trust that the astrologer reading my chart is knowledgeable, perceptive, accurate and someone I think I can "connect" with. I wouldn't just pick someone at random. Even a recommendation from someone else isn't enough for me because I have to have some level of trust before I can reveal something I view as very private.

So after a few months of listening to his podcasts, I signed up for his online mentoring class. I thought it would be a good opportunity to dive into astrology once again.

In the meantime, I changed jobs. More on that on a future post. I realized that I wasn't going to have sufficient time/energy to learn a new job and study astrology, so the mentoring fee was applied towards an individual consultation.

I'm extremely happy with the consultation. It has given me a lot to think about. It's amazing how the years pass, our lives change, and parts of ourselves just become forgotten. I remebered a lot about myself and, because of it, I'm steering in a different direction. Not because the astrologer said I should do this or that, but because I remembered things that were important to me and I now want to pursue them.

Such as writing. Which is why I'm back. I'll do another post about stitchy stuff.

January was a bust!

2008-02-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

The entire month of January I was sick. It started with sinusitis which lasted two weeks, followed by a few days of respite, and then I moved on to bronchitis, which I still have. I can't remember when was the last time a cold lasted so long. I've been feeling drained, naturally.

But I have been stitching. This photo came out dark, but here is where I am on the Rainbow Borders piece:

I will try and take a better one. I agree this one is pretty bad.

New Year: time to decloak

2008-01-05T08:26:00.001-05:00

As y'all have noticed, I've disappeard for four months now. It's been an introspective time for me, where I have taken in all the craziness that has been going on around me and sorted things out to decide which way I want my life to go. It's also been extremely busy at work. We are opening up another showroom in Miami and there has been so much to do that it was easy for me to throw myself into work to tune out things that were not pleasant to deal with. I've also gained 20 pounds in the past 2 months, which I guess was my wake up call that I needed to start dealing with things.

It seems that for the past two years I have been purging, purging, purging. The excess in my life, which is something I've blogged about many times before, is upsetting to me. It's not an issue of clutter, there is plenty of space in my house to put away all my things and have it look neat, both outwardly and inwardly (as in closets and such). I don't completely understand why all this stuff upsets me, it just does. A big part of it is that it creates an impossible "to do" list in my head. Too many books and magazines to read, movies to watch, charts to stitch, music to listen to, games to play, etc etc. It's all too much!!!

Which happens to be the title of a book by Peter Walsh I recently picked up at Barnes & Noble, or Borders, not sure which, since I visit both of them every week. Some of you might know him from the TLC show "Clean Sweep". He also was on Oprah back in November when they did a two-part show on "The Secret Lives of Hoarders" and will be on again in February after the release of his new book, "Does My Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat".

Going back to the book, I'm in the process of reading it (if only I had enough time!), so there's not a whole lot I can say good or bad about it, but having watched his shows before (not recently, again, no time), I think I will get a lot out of it. Peter Walsh's communication style gets through to me. It was one of the reasons I liked his show so much. The other was that, because no matter how much stuff I had, I never allowed my house to look like a mess, let alone the disaster homes he worked to clean out and it was, and still is, completely baffling to me that anyone can walk by mountains of clutter day after day and do nothing about it.

That being said, though I have not stitched as much as I used to, I have stitched some, and I will take pictures this weekend and show you all soon.

Thanks for coming by. I hope you've all had a Happy Holiday and wish that 2008 will be a good year for you.

JCS 2007 Xmas Ornament Issue

2007-09-19T14:01:00.000-04:00

I picked up JCS', 2007 Xmas ornament issue yesterday at my LNS. It had come in a week or so before, but I hadn't been by. Below is my list of ornaments to stitch in 2008:

Angel Stitchin - Love & Dreams
Brittercup Designs -Poinsettia
Carriage House Samplings - Toy Shop Sign
Country Cottage Needleworks - Peace
Full Circle Designs - The Decorator
Little by Little Designs - Merry & Bright
Little House Needleworks -Snow Bunnies
Midsummer Night’s Design -Christmas Angel
Monsterbubbles - Paris
Raise the Roof Designs - Be Merry
Sam Sarah Design Studio - Winter Love
The Sunflower Seed - A Star, A Star

Every year I do this, and every year I'm lucky if I manage to stitch three of them... lol

Update on Rainbow Borders

2007-09-19T07:31:00.001-04:00

I've been away about a month now from the blogosphere. Been busy with the new job and with new things I've wanted to try. Haven't been stitching much, but here's the update on Rainbow Borders. I think I've done pretty well in the past month.

On the sleeping front, I'm finally sleeping regularly every night. Don't have to drink beer to get there any more, so that's a major progress. I'm a lot more calm now that I'm sleeping well. Work is going well, I'm happy to report. Still looking for a Tae Kwon Do dojo, not so much this past week as I've been busy with other things.

This weekend we are planning to go to Tampa. If I see anything interesting, I will take a pic and post.

Popping up to Update

2007-08-22T09:11:00.000-04:00

Hello to all in the friendly blogosphere!

This past weekend I made pretty good progress on The Rose Garden. Didn't stitch all that I was hoping to, but enough to get me excited about the piece again. Below are the results of my progress:

As soon as I finish that little yellow flower, I am going to do the backstitching on the four butterflies, the lattice and the flowers and leaves themselves. I have been pretty good at doing the backstitching as I go along and I don't want to get so behind on this that it delays my finishing this piece. It's going to be a big boost to me to be able to finish this piece by this year. I'm starting to think it's possible.

Yesterday was the weekly SAL at my LNS and I went back to stitching on Rainbow Borders and managed to finish the sixth row after having to rip the last motif I had been working on. What is it about having to rip that puts me off stitching on the piece? I can't explain it.

Good news to share: I have been sleeping lately. It's been with the help of Mr. Guiness, but last night I didn't need him. It's possible that I've reset some cycle that was off. Too soon to claim victory, but I'm hopeful.

On another note, I'm excited Nick will be home in a week for good. I'm so looking forward to this! It's going to be fun having the kid around again. Unfortunately, Matt moving back home is not working out. He's driving me nuts and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask him to leave.

Sleeping Buddies

2007-08-16T13:29:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all - I have a bed buddy. His name is Mr. Guiness. He's going to continue to be my friend because I just discovered that he is only 125 calories (the draught version). Sam Adams Light, which is the only light beer I will drink, is 119 cals. So, I rather hang out with Guiness than with Sam.

Last night, at the suggestion of one of my directs, I decided to dine with Mr. Guiness, instead of getting together with him later in the evenings (usually 9pm). It worked really well. I had dinner around 8pm and by 10:30 I was fast sleep. Managed to sleep 7 hours, which were sorely needed, let me tell you.

So now that I have slept, and am in a much better mood because of it, I will go back to stitching tonight.

Tomorrow I will be participating in a Stitch A Thon that will last all weekend. I plan to be stitching on The Rose Garden, which has been neglected long enough, and seeing how much I can stitch.

A Solution Which is Not a Solution

2007-08-14T13:11:00.001-04:00

I have arrived at a solution to my insomnia, which is likely to upset my doctor, but whatever. He's not the one going through the sleepless nights, I am.

The reason I went to see a doctor in the first place was because I was getting drowsy while driving. (I may have posted this before already) The previous doctor had diagnosed me as a narcoleptic, and given me stay awake pills (ProVigil). Then, I when I went to see my current doctor, he ordered a test and we discovered that I wasn't a narcoleptic. That eased my mind, but it's become an increasing struggle to sleep since then, to the point that now I am averaging 4 hours of sleep a night.

So... the solution which isn't a solution (please bear in mind that these are thoughts from a semi-sleep deprived mind) is to stay up and build up a sleep debt, and then try to pay it back during the weekend. Hope it works!

Weekend Stitching

2007-08-13T07:27:00.000-04:00

I did manage to stitch some this weekend and am more than halfway through the sixth row of Rainbow Sampler! The purple looks a bit intense, but I think that after the row underneath it is stitched, it will balance out. It is making the sampler look a lot brighter, though.

On another note, Friday night I did not sleep at all. At 9 pm Saturday I realized that, despite not having slept a wink the previous night, I was not sleepy at all and I was going to need some help falling asleep. If I was ever going to try Ambien CR, it would be an ideal night to do so because I do not have to go to work the following day and have to deal with any potential consequence there.. So, I did.

I slept really well, but the following morning, I woke up angry. I was cranky almost the entire day and I realized that I was having a paradoxical reaction. It was discovered that I have a paradoxical reaction to Valium during my second colonoscopy about 7 years ago. I'm pretty sure I've told my doctor about it, and it's probably buried in the notes somewhere. Ambien CR isn't actually a benzo, but it's pretty close.

In other words, not more Ambien-like sleeping pills for Trish... Will call the doctor today and see what he wants to prescribe to me next. Stay tuned y'all.

Picture Update - Finally

2007-08-07T17:53:00.000-04:00

Late in the day, I know, but here as promised is the update of Rainbow Borders:

It's really fun to stitch, even though it has over 40 rows and will probably take forever. I really like small projects, don't I?

Now, for my next update, here is a current picture of the Sunshine State Sampler. You can barely see the over one pink outline of hibiscus in the 8th row.

I'm still angry about not being able to fall asleep when I want to. Right now I'm getting to the point that I don't even want to try. Still haven't heard from the doctor or the sleep lab. It takes awhile for the sleep lab to send the report to the doctor and he probably won't contact me until I show up in his office later this month.

Sleep Test From Hell

2007-08-06T14:03:00.001-04:00

I’ve been away for a while, haven’t I? For the past 3+ months I’ve had some real problems sleeping. Both falling asleep and staying asleep. I have been really dragging. No desire to do anything. If I wasn't hilariously happy, I would say I was depressed, but to tell the truth, my personal life has been amazing lately and it's only going to get better with the twins returning home for good from their Marine enlistments later this month. Life is great!

About two weeks ago, I decided to self-medicate with OTC sleeping pills and I tried "Simply Sleep" by the makers of Tylenol. I know it's just a glorified version of Benadryl, my best friend is a pharmacist. But I had to try something. It worked the first two days, but on the third day it gave me a headache that lasted after I had awakened the following day. It had to go. Still, I did manage to consistently sleep 6 hours a night. The following week, I decided to self-medicate with my good buddy Guiness. I knew I would be seeing my doctor that Thursday, after I had a crown put in at my dentist, so it was just going to be a few days. Guiness worked really well and, again, I managed to sleep about 6 hours a night.

This past Thursday, my doctor sent me off for another sleep test to find out why I was having problems with the staying asleep part. For the falling asleep part, he prescribed Ambien CR, which I have yet to fill and don’t know if I will or not yet. If I do, it won’t be until the weekend, when it’s not going to matter if I am groggy afterwards or whether I oversleep. If I’m going to feel like crap, it’s not going to be at work. I can handle the low energy/motivation and tiredness. I don’t want to “work under the influence”.

So, on the sleep test from hell part: they decided to put me on a machine, for whatever reason, and it may be a valid one (I’m waiting to hear). This left my nose and throat painfully dry, not just at 2:30 in the morning when I woke up from the discomfort, nor just immediately after I woke up a few hours later, but I was miserable all day long. I thought my nose recovered by noon, but when I was trying to fall asleep, I noticed I was still sore from the night before. I don’t know how much water I drank that day trying to re-hydrate my throat. It was beyond just throwing water on it, it was rather raw.

To add insult to injury, I started getting sleepy around 5pm on Saturday. Nevertheless, I was not able to fall asleep until 3:30am. This is the worse part of my problem, that even though I get sleepy, once I am in bed, I cannot fall asleep. I've tried relaxation music, special "delta wave" sleep recordings through my iPod, changing all the lightbulbs in my house to a lower wattage, warm baths, etc etc. Nothing seems to work. Except Simply Sleep, which gives me headaches, and good ol' Mr. Guiness. If I didn't get sleepy at all, I wouldn't care, I'd just find something to do and accomplish a lot. I've always felt that sleeping is such a waste of perfectly productive time.

I have been working on my Rainbow Borders piece. I am about halfway through the fifth row. Will take a picture tonight and post tomorrow morning.

Also this past week, I picked up Wayne Dyer's new book. If you're into that kind of thing, I highly recommend you watch/TiVo his PBS special.

Some Very Good News

2007-07-23T07:15:00.000-04:00

Nick went back to Camp Lejeune last Thursday, and hence the reason for my not posting late last week. Friday night he called and said that all his paperwork authorizing his terminal leave had been completed and signed. He comes home for good on August 31st. WOO HOO!!! This officially marks the end of his 4 years in the Marines.

What will actually happen is that we will have to drive up there to get the kid on Labor Day weekend, the third time we drive up there in a year, but knowing it is the very last time makes it so much easier to cope with. I really hate driving up there, even though I've been known to stop at the Hobby Lobby in Florence, SC along the way. It's not the drive on I-95 that gets me, it's the backwoods North Carolina part of it.

Also good news, bizarre as it may sound, is that the net result of Nick being here and my cooking all his favorite foods and buying his favorite take outs is that I gained 4 lbs. That may not sound like such great news, but I have been eating horribly for two months and for the past two weeks, it feelt like I had gained A LOT of weight. I was expecting the scale to say I had gained 10 lbs. So, I'm happy it was only 4. I can drop that much in a week, if I want to crash diet. Two weeks, if I want to be sensible about it. What is not so great news, is that I've acquired cravings for foods that had been out of my life for some time. That is probably going to be the hardest to combat.

On to stitchy news: I have completed the third row of Rainbow Borders. The goal was a row a week, and I am behind a week, but I wasn't going to spend time stitching the last week Nick was here. So, here it is in its current state:

I am getting excited about the Rose Garden piece again. I can tell that the end is near. For those of you who haven't followed this blog for long, I have been stitching on this piece since the mid-90s. It was a project I started to take to my oncologist's office for treatments and once I had gone into remission, I had to put it away because of all the bad flashbacks I got when I would take it up again. Before, this piece was a reminder of some very bad and scary times in my life. Now it is a testimonial of my survival. The desert has indeed blossomed as the rose. There is a companion piece to this one. I started it a long time ago as a RR and it got lost. Don't know if I will stitch it, we'll have to see if when I hang this up on my wall, if I feel it needs its partner.
Yesterday afternoon I did stitch on the Sunshine State sampler. Yes, that dreaded over-one 8th row of hibiscus wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I did realize that it would be easier if I had my hads free to stitch it, so the reason I don't have a picture to show is that I gave it to my friend, Tillie, so she could baste the fabric onto the stretcher bars of my Doodler Lap Stitch frame I bought over two months ago and haven't tried yet. I have sewing machine, but it's in the laundry room and I didn't want to bring it out and set it up. Since I don't plan to stitch on it until next Sunday, and Tillie is part of our Sunday group, I flaked out and gave it to her to do. LOL

I have more to say, but that is it for now. Hugs to all.

Time for Pictures

2007-07-18T07:20:00.000-04:00

I realized it had been a week since the last time I showed y'all pictures of my stitching. First up is where I am with Rose Garden. It was further along than I had thought, and I really want to finish this piece now. Today is the day I will be stitching on it, and I hope to finish the corner.

Second, and last, up is Rainbow Borders. I stitched a little last night at the SAL hosted by my LNS.

I would have liked to have been further along, but with Nick leaving tomorrow morning, it just wasn't possible. I've been trying to spend as much time with him even though he'll be back home for good maybe as soon as 6 weeks. His enlistment isn't up until October 13, but he can get 45 days of "terminal leave". So, either way, he's either home in 6 weeks, or home in 12. I have really enjoyed having him here and will miss him a lot.

One of the things I won't miss though, is his deleting my shows from my TiVo. He deleted Monday's "Next Food Network Star" show and I don't think it goes on again until next Monday. I tried finding the episode on Torrent and iTunes, but wasn't able to, so off I went to the Food Network to see what they had. They did have brief recaps and I got to watch what happened with the elimination.

I really don't know what the heck the judges were thinking. During their discussion they said that both Amy and Rory had the greatest potential as TNFNS, yet they eliminated Amy? I know that the network doesn't have a lot of spanish cooking shows - if any - but eliminating Amy because they're after the hispanic market, is not fair to her. I'm glad to see that she is now one of the finalists anyway and that she'll get the chance she was owed. As far as JAG is concerned, I really didn't think he was going to win, but his thinking that he was going to be able to make up his background and have it survive media and public "screw-tinization" is extremely arrogant of him.

Too Hot to Stitch

2007-07-17T06:52:00.000-04:00

Not much to say. Yesterday was a total stitching bust. I wasn't able to stitch during lunch because I skipped lunch to go to the dentist. I didn't even take my stitching to work. What for? I was only going to have to bring it back!

Yesterday morning when I left for work, we were going to have someone come by to look at the air conditioner. The plan was to have it repaired. At 3pm the decision was made to replace it. I had nothing to do with it, but when I got home, they were still working on it and I wasn't about to cook in a hot house, so we got take out. To make a long story short, they didn't finish with the A/C until past 8pm. At that point, I was too hot and bothered to stitch. Wasn't bloody happening. So, I took a shower and watched Top Chef instead.

I don't agree with who Chef Ramsey let go. I think Bonnie should have gone over Brad. Maybe all those accusations that Chef Ramsey is biased toward the girls are right. Let's face it, Bonnie the Nanny has about as much chance of running a Las Vegas restaurant as I do of becoming an astronaut.

Speaking of Chef Ramsey, yesterday (and I don't know how because it was TiVoed) I watched an old show about how he started his first restaurant. He looked pretty young. But what struck me is that when he did this, he was also being featured on some British show about horrible bosses. Now I understand how he got noticed and ended up on TV. There are a lot of great chefs out there, so one wonders how one ends up in the limelight while others are (mostly) just known by word of mouth or by being featured in gastronomic publications/articles.

And now you know too...

Becoming Reacquainted

2007-07-12T06:53:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night I stitched on the Rose Garden piece. I didn't stitch a whole lot for two reasons. The fiirst is because, after not stitching on it for at least 6 mos (maybe more) I had to familiarize myself again with where I was, what needed to be stitched, and what the symbols meant. The second reason is because I had not slept much the night before and I was tired. I haven't been sleeping much lately. It's becoming a problem and I have to contact my doctor and see what can be done.

Other than that, I haven't been stitching much because I've been spending as much time as I can with Nick, who will be returning to North Carolina this Thursday morning. Boo hoo. I've gotten used to the little stinker being around.

I finished week 3 at my new job, which is usually the break-or-make week for me. It pretty much takes me that long to figure out who I am working for and what kind of organization they have. The business that I work for is a locally owned franchise of a well-known national business. The company is currently doing over a million in sales per month, which makes it a nice mid-size company to work for. The management team is comprised of a husband and wife and some of his grown kids. The wife used to run a restaurant in a college town up in Montana and she's pretty much treating employees like they're all a bunch of flaky kids. When I interviewed for the position, the husband said that he would like it very much if I could get his wife to become less involved.

So, you can see I got my work cut out for me, but right now she's really not my main concern. I got a staff member that will probably have to be let go. Her productivity is ridiculous, she's always having to take off for one reason or another, and, what makes it the clincher for me, she is pretty negative and when she gets upset she can poison the atmosphere of the entire office with her continued griping.

Productive Tuesday

2007-07-11T06:59:00.000-04:00

I took the fishing lure to work today to stitch on during lunch. Now the lure has a tail. It's official: it's my lunch piece from now on. I'm hoping to finish this no later than next week.

The rotation called for Rainbow Borders and it took me nearly two hours to stitch another motif of the third row. I'm thinking it's going to take more than this week to finish the row, as I rarely stitch more than 2 or 3 hours at a time.

I realized yestarday that the main reason I feel "pressured" about my stitching is primarily because I have so many WIPs going. I realize that 9 may not seem to be a large amount of projects to have going, compared to so many other stitchers out there. Still, I feel that it's too much for me, especially when most of them are large pieces that take a long time to stitch. It makes me feel more determined to try to finish as many as I can as quickly as possible.

The secondary, but just as important, reason I feel pressured is the size of my stash. If you've been following this blog for a while, you've probably heard me say more than once how bloated I feel about the amount of stash I have. This became even more noticeable to me this past weekend while I was purchasing three Mirabilia releases: Mermaid of Atlantis, Daisy & Lily. When am I going to find time to stitch all this and why do I feel a need to buy this up the moment it comes out??? I really don't know. All I know is that my stash keeps increasing exponentially and with it the pressure to stitch more.

I think I would feel more relaxed if my number of WIPs and the amount of my stash were significantly reduced. The difficult thing, for me, is to figure out how to accomplish this.

Tonight I will be stiching on The Rose Garden for the first time this year.

Monday's Stitch

2007-07-10T07:11:00.000-04:00

I managed to get a little stitching in while watching last night's episode of Hell's Kitchen. It was fun to watch a bunch of amateurs beat "real" chefs last night and Melissa, whom I have found extremely annoying was sent home.

My Father's Day piece is now a little over half done now and I can see it won't take much more for it to be finished. The lure is nearly finished and all that is left after that is the alphabet around it. Alphabets always stitch up fast for me.

I was thinking about my overall goals for this year, which were to reduce the number of WIPs from 12, which was where I was at the end of last year, to 6. Looking at the sidebar, you can see I have 9 active WIPs - not counting smalls, which never make it to the sidebar WIPs listing. I'm trying to figure out which of these I might be able to finish by November - as we I get so busy in December stitching comes to a standstill. I could finish The Rose Garden and maybe Sunshine State Sampler, but if I want to make my goal, I'm going to have to get over ripping the lighthouse and finish Seaside Cottage.

So I guess we all know what I'll be doing this Saturday...

Or, I could always try to speed up those Snappers I started in 2004 and finish them before they get old enough to start school...

Today is the SAL at my LNS and I'll be bringing the Rainbow Borders sampler along. Should have another picture for you tomorrow.

Update from the Weekend

2007-07-09T16:52:00.000-04:00

Well, so much for the rotation, at least on the weekends. When it came time to rip Seaside Cottage’s lighthouse, I just couldn’t do it. So, I didn’t stitch at all on Saturday. When Sunday came along, I was having so much fun with Nick that I didn’t feel like going to stitch with my friends in the afternoons. Nick started walking on June 29th and this weekend was the first time that he could walk without a crutch or cane. Next weekend, will be his last weekend here before he returns to Camp Lejeune, so we are planning something special. Not sure what yet, probably SeaWorld, if he can handle it, or something that requires less walking, if he can’t. It really depends on how much he is walking by then.

So, stitching-wise, the weekend was a total bust. But I did get a lot of other things done, such as decide how I am going to decorate our bedroom and what I want for the living room. I guess you can say that, creatively, the weekend was not a total waste.

On a completely different subject, this weekend I got caught up on watching a few reality shows such as Big Brother 8, Top Chef and Next Food Network Star. I was surprised at the nominations for BB8 – I was hoping it would be Jen & James. I find them extremely annoying. Who the heck cries like that over a photo?

In Top Chef, Micah was sent packing for not being able to produce a semi-decent meatloaf. Seriously. I realize she is not from the US, but how hard is it for a TOP CHEF to make meatloaf???

In Next Food Network Star, I don’t feel the right decision was made. While Paul was completely stupid while describing the “Iron Chef” episode, his food was better than JAG’s. I don’t know that I agree with basing the decision on past episodes, but even so, the main criticism JAG has received is that his food is too complicated and doesn’t translate for the home viewer. The mystery ingredient in the Iron Chef competition for JAG & Amy was chicken. How does a chef botch cooking something as ordinary as chicken??? All three of his dishes tanked. For that, and that alone, he should have been sent home. I also feel that JAG is too rough around the edges and doesn’t interact well with the camera. Right now, unless she does something really bad, I think Amy will be the next Food Network Star and I’m going to enjoy watching her. I also want that the recipe for the chicken/mushroom thing she did. Looked really delish.

This past few months that Nick has been here I have been watching A LOT of TV. I really got to stop that. I can’t remember when was the last time I worked out and I think I’ve gained at least 5 pounds. Yesterday, while at Borders, I noticed in the bargain racks a Health/Exercise diary for $3.95. Great price, so I bought it. I plan on starting using it right away and bringing the Gazelle out of the closet. Nick and I are also going to start checking out Tae Kwon Do dojos close to the house. I really want to get back to it.

Also to be placed on my future schedule, my friend Liz sent me an email yesterday saying she was coming back from Philly (she travels a lot) and wanted to know if I wanted to kayak this coming weekend. Well, as I mentioned before, it’s Nick’s last weekend, so probably not, but I definitely want to add it to my schedule. Nick wants to kayak too, so it would be something fun to do when he moves back later this year.

Today I should be stitching on the Father's Day piece, which I am thinking will be my "lunch" piece from now on. I'm getting tired of carrying big stuff to the office.

Playing with "Spell with Flickr"

2007-07-07T08:37:00.001-04:00

Since everyone is doing it, and I enjoy being a lemming (sometimes) here is my name in random letter blocks:

On another note, I stitched on Rainbow Borders last night. Finished the second row and did about a third of the third row. If I didn't know what the finished piece looked like (see sidebar) I'd be wondering what kind of a rainbow has so much gray and brown to it?

This weekend two blogs, Focus on Finishing and Chrismas Ornament SAL are having Finish A Long for Xmas ornies. I'm going to try to find some time to finish an ornie.

Today is Saturday and next on the rotation is Seaside Cottage and a lot of the time will be spent ripping the lighthouse.... maybe I'll have enough time to stitch it back. We'll see...

Here is my name again - that site can be very addicting!!!

Paradigm Lost Update

2007-07-06T07:10:00.000-04:00

I did manage to work about two hours on Paradigm Lost, it's not much on a project this size, but it's more progress than it sitting in my closet unfinished. Had to put the piece on the dining room table and get up on a chair to take the picture!

Last night I watched the season premiere of Big Brother 8. It was pretty bad last year but hope springs eternal. It's too early to predict anything other than "Evil Dick" is going to get booted out sooner or later. That guy has some intense issues.

Our eldest son, Rick, came over with a friend, Heather (not his gf, but a friend of all my sons) and I ended up making dinner for all of us. It's been a while since I've had these many kids in the house (sons Nick and Matt were also here as well as Matt's gf, Ashley). I know that 5 may not sound like a whole lot, but we've been used to being by ourselves for over a year now. All the noise and commotion gave me quite a headache, and they really weren't bad at all, which is what surprised me. I guess I'm getting old... lol

Catching up on old SBQs...

June 6th's SBQ was suggested by Ish and is: What has been your most challenging project and why?

My most challenging project to date is a toss up between Mystery VIII and Sunshine State Sampler.

M8 is big and has specialty stitches I've never tried. It's also is very repetitive which tends to put me off some. Just when you think you've finished, you got to stitch the same thing three more times. Then, if you flip the design you have to be careful not to change the direction of your stitches, which means half the time you're stitching opposite to how you normally stitch, which requires a lot of concentration and effort. I love Martina's designs, and I'm glad she's seen the light and has started to incorporate some changes.

Sunshine State sampler also has some specialty stitches I haven't tried, and some are a bit layered, that is to say on top of each other or need to be stitched in a certain order. It also has quite a bit of over one, which I don't particularly care for. This is probably why I am stuck on Row 8.

Today's rotation takes me back to Rainbow Borders. I don't have much to finish the second row.

See you all tomorrow.

Progress from Yesterday

2007-07-05T06:52:00.000-04:00

I was able to squeeze in some stitching yesterday and managed to almost finish the second row of Rainbow Borders.

I know that Wednesday is supposed to now be for stitching on the Rose Garden piece, but I came up with the rotation yesterday and was not organized enough to be able to. Today I will be stitching on Paradigm Lost, though.

Catching up on past SBQs... this one from May 30th...

How many needles do you use during a project?
Have you ever loaded up a needle for every color?
Do you use a new needle for every project or recycle your favorite needle?

Usually I use no more than three needles per project. I may use just one needle if the project is small or if it is done in all one color. However, I usually have a package of needles close by.

I have never loaded up a needle for every color. I think it would be hard for me to keep track of so many needles. My good friend, Ruth, has come up with a cool way of doing so and keeping it straight which I plan to use when I stitch Silver Lining's Pink Tulips. I'll share it with y'all then.

Whether I use a new needle or recycle depends on the condition of the needle. Usually, I do recycle needles, especially the gold petite ones. They seem to last longer than the regular ones. But I wouldn't throw away a perfectly good needle just because I am finished with a project.

What I've Been Up To...

2007-07-04T16:55:00.000-04:00

Just to show that some work has been done - however little it might be...

This is a new start - it is Sampler Rainbow Borders by Jan Houtman

I wanted to stitch a small piece for my dad for Father's Day but I went into anaphylactic shock and it took days for the histamine to clear my system, and I spent nearly a week not feeling up to much... I do plan to finish it. Soon.
And last, but not least, I just got back from the framer the last piece I finished framed...

On a sad note, looks like my digital camara is broken. The flash won't work. Plan to buy a new one soon. Meanwhile, I used my son's and if worse comes to worse, I still have a scanner...

Specifically for July my short term stitching goals are:
1) Finish 4 Rows of the Rainbow Borders sampler
2) Finish Row 8 (over one hibiscus) Sunshine State Sampler
3) Finish my Dad's piece
4) Rip (GASP!) mistake on Seaside Cottage

Back for Good

2007-07-04T10:47:00.000-04:00

Stitching Mojo slowly coming back.
Started a Father's Day piece to see if it would return.
That didn't work.
Started another piece - Sampler Rainbow Borders by Jan Houtman.
It's started to come back.

In the past two months:
Haven't been stitching.
Haven't been blogging.
Need to stop all that.

Have gotten very behind on my rotation for this year.
Behind by two christmas ornaments (May & June)
Haven't stitched on The Rose Garden at all.
Really behind on Sunshine State Sampler by Jeannette Douglas
Really behind on everything, really
Going to begin a daily rotation to rekindle my Stitching Mojo

This is the rotation I propose, starting this Sunday:

Sunday - Large Piece - Sunshine State Sampler - SAL with Tillie & Ellen
Monday - Small Piece - Father's Day piece - replace with CEC Xmas Ornies when finished
Tuesday - XLarge Piece - Rainbow Borders
Wednesday - Large Piece - Rose Garden
Thursday - XLarge Piece - Paradigm Lost
Friday - XLarge Piece - Rainbow Borders
Saturday - Medium Piece - Seaside Garden - replace with CEC Xmas Ornies when finished

Post progress - however small - at least 5 times a week.

Waiting in the wings:
CEC Xmas Ornies - 12 Days of Xmas - 5th to12th Day
2004 Snappers - Sept to Dec
Petal Fairy
East Brother Lighthouse
Mystery VIII

Planned New Starts:
Silver Lining's Pink Tulips
Hearts & Flowers
Three Little Maids
Delay
For the Dieter
Mermaids Singing

Mid Year Reflection on Yearly Goals

2007-07-04T09:50:00.000-04:00

Stitching goals for this year were as follows:

1) Keep up with the Ornament SAL with StitchersTimeOut (a yahoo group)
Got kicked out of the group in May for not posting :(
2) Finish The Rose Garden -Haven't stitched on it at all
3) Finish Sunshine State Sampler
4) Finish Snappers 2004
5) Finish Mystery VIII -Haven't stitched on it at all
6) Stitch one complete Twelve Days of Xmas ornament series - stitched the first four

Updated Goals for this year:

1) Finish the Rose Garden
2) Finish Sunshine State Sampler
3) Finish 2004 Snappers
4) Finish 8 ornies from the 12 Days of Xmas series
5) Finish half Sampler Rainbow Borders

Oh, and post at least 5 times a week....

Slowly coming back...

2007-06-10T09:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry to be absent. The past few weeks have been terrible and I was without internet connection for a week because bellsouth.

I'm still taking care of my Marine son after surgery

I'm much better from the fall down the stairs, luckily I didn't break anything.

The decorating mojo is in full swing and I have a ton of new projects to start.

I started a new job last week - the commute is longer than I want but the pay is great and the opportunity for advancement and bonuses is also very good.

I'm all done now with the root canal - took four visits to the endodontist.

After the last visit, I went into anaphylactic shock and ended up in the emergency room. They don't know what exactly I reacted to, so for now I am carrying an epi-pen and will see the allergist next week to narrow it down.

Stitchingwise... to be honest, I still haven't stitched any. But, yesterday I went to my Sampler Guild meeting and I managed to organize my current projects, so I'm hoping this inspires me to get moving. Also, I bought a small chart to stitch for my Dad for Father's Day - which is 6 days away now (no pressure here!) and I'm using this project to jump start my stitching mojo.

Will let y'all know how it goes.

Also, go check out my friend, Roberta's, new stitching/gardening blog and welcome her to the blogosphere!

If Found, Please Return To...

2007-06-02T00:18:00.000-04:00

I have lost my stitching mojo. It's gone, all gone. Haven't stitched in a while. Three weeks this Sunday, I think. Well, that's not exactly true. I did make it to my LNS last Tuesday for the weekly SAL and finished the little backstitching that was left to "Stitch".

In part, I have been busy with Nick and with the job hunt. My phone has been ringing off the hook and I've had 2 interviews a day, which is the most I feel I can do, since Nick needs help. We had to go to the VA last week, and to the orthopedic this Tuesday. Then Nick forgot to ask for a refill of his pain meds, and I had to go back to pick it up and then drive down to Miami to fill it, which is about 40 miles from where we live.

Nick is still on narcotics and when I picked up his script, I noticed it was this time for 60 Vicodins WITH a refill. It's two weeks since surgery and, frankly, I think the doctor is nuts. I can understand enough for one more week, but certainly, after 3 weeks he should not need narcotics any longer and should be switched to Ibuprofen 800 or something similar.

My decorating mojo has taken center stage. My sons will be moving back in and I feel like a new look. Taking my time with it and plan to consult a professional to help me this time. I got so many ideas and it's hard to pick which one to go with sometimes.

As for the job hunt, I have at the present time, 3 very nice offers and two more places that keep calling me to see if I am still interested (i.e. not accepted other offers) which will certainly be tendering offers early next week. I believe. I guess it's a good problem to have, but it's hard to decide who to go with.

Also, sometime in late May, while I was running around like a chicken with head cut off, this blog had its third anniversary.

So, if you see my stitching mojo laying around somewhere - or my keys (which still haven't turned up) - please let me know.

Feeling Like Such An Idiot

2007-05-22T20:37:00.000-04:00

Well, I am back from my trip to Camp Lejeune. Nick is in a lot of pain. He's nearly gone through the 40 Percocets he got on Saturday afternoon when he was discharged. He's been taking 2 every 4 hours without fail and still complains of pain. Tomorrow I will take him down to the VA clinic to get more.

The past couple of days - from Sunday to today - I've lost my video iPod on Sunday (it turned up within Nick's clothes today as I was unpacking), left the keys in the car Sunday while packing (cost $60 to get it opened), and now I've lost my keys altogether and we've turned the house upside down for hours trying to find them. Even my eldest came by today to see Nick and helped look. I got duplicates of everything, so it isn't such a big deal, but it's just so frustrating!

Yesterday we got in around 3pm. The only place I went was Publix and even though I checked twice there already, I know I didn't leave them there. I made several trips to the car to bring things in and I used the key to open the car, but not to come in the house. I left the door open because I was going to have my hands full.

I just feel like such a big idiot.

Ho Hum Day

2007-05-17T00:24:00.000-04:00

Today I took the car to mechanic for a once-over, changing the front brake pads, and an oil change. It had only been 2000 miles since the last one, but I like to take road trips knowing everything has been checked/lubed/topped off, etc etc So the car is fine, which I knew, but it's nice to have a professional opinion.

Matt (aka "Bubba") asked me to not drive alone to NC because of the fall. So I asked him if he was volunteering. Of course not. What does the kid expect me to do? Put an ad on Craigs List and see what psycopath answers in the next 24 hours? Geez... It's like the fifth time I drive up there. Last October I drove my narcoleptic self up there and had to take six times the medicine I was prescribed to stay awake. Yet, he didn't seem concerned. Now a sore ankle is a life threatening condition that requires supervision? I don't get it.

Get this: the place I fell at last Monday has asked me to return for a second interview. Cool, huh? I'm going tomorrow at 9am. With luck, I'll be over around 10am and be able to hit the road sometime around noon. I plan to drive up to either Jacksonville or Savannah before stopping for the night. Haven't made up my mind yet. I'm so not ready. Usually, I'm a lot more organized than I am right now. I have to do laundry, I haven't packed, I should straighten up the house some, I need to pick a book, a cross stitch project, and put more songs/audio books on my ipod for the trip.

All of this I plan to do tomorrow. Or shall I say today? It's past midnight and I'm still puttering around. I never sleep well before a road trip.

Recovering Nicely - I think...

2007-05-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I woke up plenty sore from my "poor person's bone scan" of Monday. I was sore in places I hadn't noticed before. The good news is that the major places - my head and my back - were not hit. All my limbs hurt though, and the only concern I have is for my right ankle. While it's true that I can bear my weight on it without a problem, yesterday when I woke up instead of it being bruised, it was red. I can flex my foot downward to point my toes, but not upwards.

Tomorrow I take off for NC - Nick is having surgery on his right knee Friday morning. I don't think any of this is a medical emergency because I can drive allright, but as soon as I get back (or should things get worse) I will get a doctor to look at it.

As far as the interview, it was going well. I guess if they hire me I won't sue... lol

Flying Leaps

2007-05-14T20:41:00.000-04:00

Today I went to an interview and on the way out, I fell down a flight of stairs. I'm okay, but pretty banged up. On the bad side, I'm going to have technicolor skin tomorrow, and possibly even more soreness. On the positive side, I was thinking of asking my doctor for a bone scan because I had a hysterectomy 10 years ago and I am not on hormone replacement therapy, so I worry about osteoporosis, which my grandmother had quite severely. My mother had it too. When she was in her late 50s, she tripped over a hose in the backyard and broke her ankle. I was there and saw it all, and it was a regular trip - nothing complicated at all.

So, if I fell down a flight of stairs and didn't break anything, then I guess we can assume my bones are okay. One less thing to worry about.

I cancelled the 4th installment of my root canal after the "flight" and went home. I was feeling quite sleepy and tired. Tried to nap, but sleep wouldn't come. Would go to be early instead.

Thank g-d for TiVo - Heroes and 24 are on tonight!

Somewhat Outraged

2007-05-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

Have y'all noticed that freebies are becoming more and more scarce? Is it just me? I'm starting a new blog and issuing a challenge to all stitchers out there in cyberspace to bring back the freebie!!!

The name of this new blog is....

Wait for it....

Just Another Freebie in Cyberspace

Of course!!! What did you expect???

Not going to rehash the reasons here - just go over there and read it.

SBQ

2007-05-02T19:34:00.000-04:00

Today's SBQ was suggested Kathryn and is:

How many WIPs do you have?

At the present time, there are 8. They are listed on the sidebar.

How many UFOs do you have?

None - I get rid of them. UFOs belong in outer space.

When does a WIP become a UFO?

For me, a WIP becomes a UFO when I no longer truly desire to stitch that particular piece anymore. I had been keeping things partly out of my own personal pride (I don't see myself as the kind of person who doesn't finish what she starts) and partly out of sentimentality or maybe even possessiveness. It is my work and 1) I don't throw my work away and 2) It's a visual record of my time.

But then I realized that I like to stitch. Stitching should be secondary to finishing. Yes, I start working on something with the belief that I will one day - not too far into the future - finish it. But if, along the way, I change my mind about the piece - much in the same way we all change our minds about our clothes, hairstyles, furniture, decor, and all other things in our lives, it's okay to let it go. If I enjoyed stitching it then it served it's purpose. If I don't want to stitch on it anymore, then I need to do something with it. It can't just live with me forever unfinished. Usually, I try to give it away to someone. If no one wants it, then Sayonara.

Most of us have more than we will ever be able to stitch. Why try to hang on to something that doesn't excite us anymore when there are so many other pieces we could be working on?

Middle of the Road

2007-05-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

After reading my previous post I guess those of you reading can't make up your minds whether I am liberal or conservative. I am going to call it "Capitalist Tree Hugger". I am all for business and for making money, just not at the expense of abusing others or the environment. I'm all for helping others, but expect them to show some effort at wanting to better their station in life, and I don't like those who "use the system" to get something for nothing. That is just plain wrong.

On to stitching updates. Now that I am feeling better from Monday's root canal, I have started stitching again. I am working on RK Portfolio's "Stitch", which is a dog, and I just noticed yesterday that either the key is wrong or the person stitching the model stitched it wrong. I sorta wondered about this when I started stitching, but decide to plow on and see where it would take me. Well, it may end up a bit different, but I'm too far gone with it to rip it out. Will post a picture later - Matt's run off with my camara again. The kid has a birthday later this month and he's getting a camara - no more running off with mine!

On the work front, Monday was my last day at my company. Until mid-August, I will continue getting paid my salary and will continue all my benefits, without having to pay for any of them. Not a bad deal.

My dad called a few moments ago and let me know the weatherman said it was lovely weather for the beach - like most Lauderdale by the Sea days... lol - but with the Air & Sea Show this weekend, I'm thinking to hang out there and see if they are practicing - don't have an interview until tomorrow anyway.

I had a good interview yesterday at the local blood bank - the position interests me because I'll be doing good for others not just making a lot of money for myself. The position pays very well, btw.

Still Down for the Count

2007-04-30T18:43:00.000-04:00

Not going to recount the whole process but today I had the second part of my root canal done. Seems the endodontist didn't think she went deep enough and she's scheduled me to return next Monday for some more torture.... I mean, work.

I found this list at a blog wondering about and decided to answer it:

1. If you could have Mavis the Maid (She comes very highly recommended) on a consistant basis, which one household/cleaning chore would you be thrilled to get out of doing?

She can have the floors... I got ceramic tile througout...

2. Tell us the truth: Have you ever broken the law? What did you do?

I sped through New Mexico back in 1984. Was doing 80 back when the national speed limit was 55. I was 22 at the time...

3. Have you ever embarassed yourself in front of a crowd? What happened?

No, I'm really good in front of people

4. You've selected a stunning new outfit to wear to an important event. Time is running short. You are rushing to get dressed and suddenly realize that said outfit absolutely DOES NOT fit. What do you do?

Find another outift to wear, though I'd be wondering how I got a "new" outfit that didn't fit - I mean, I DO try clothes on before I buy them...

5. Hey...Lucky You! You get to be the President of the United States for one entire week. Any changes you make will become a permanent part of American history. What are the top-three items on your to-do list?
1) put an end to this bogus war
2) cap all emissions immediately
3) a mandate to become energy self-sufficient (no more oil imports) by 2020
those are top three but I got some more...
4) Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution
5) A constitutional amendment protecting women's right to abortions
6) Require welfare recipients to work at least 30 hours a week in order to qualify for any benefits - and don't count their earnings against them unless their incomes are over a certain amount.
7) Healthcare for the WORKING poor.
8) Require that parents must be either here legally or registered with INS for their children to be born Americans.

Down for the Count

2007-04-14T12:21:00.000-04:00

I had my other lower wisdom tooth removed on Tuesday of last week. I have been trying to be patient but I'm just not recovering as quickly as I did with the first extraction. I got dry socket and been taking pain meds around the clock for more than 10 days now. Thursday night I started feeling pain in my ear and in my throat, but since it's all pretty close to each other I just thought it was pain radiating from the extraction site. I went off the tylenol on Friday and noticed I also had a fever. So I went to my MD and he says I have an ear/throat infection too. Great....

No, the two things are not connected, but as Dr. Lee said, there's no reason why you can't have both at the same time...

Sorry to be away, but I'm just not a happy camper right now..

Yet Another Seaside Cottage Update.

2007-04-02T17:00:00.000-04:00

Below for your amusement is the latest progress pic on this piece. I'm not sure why, but the lighthouse appears to be a bit off... going to have to look into that one...

Now that the lighthouse is nearly finished, I am going to start on the trees. Will leave the sea and the backstitched flowers for last.... Trying to finish it by next Tuesday so I can turn it in to be framed....

Update and Finish

2007-04-01T10:14:00.000-04:00

Sorry to the post and run thing earlier today. My Dad dropped by just as I was going to write.

First, I would like to share an update on Elizabeth's Designs Seaside Cottage. I will stitch a little bit more on this tonight and I may have an update tomorrow morning if Bubba (my youngest son) doesn't drop by and takes off with my camara.

Second is a HD - I have finished "Be Merry" the March selection of the JCS 2006 Ornie SAL with a Yahoo! group I belong to. I thought the snowflakes were just too much - I like it as it is. Somewhere I think I might have the star that goes on the end of the hat.

It's April - where did the other three months go??? Time to update goals and plans once again. March Goals were to finish:

1) CEC 4 Calling Birds - DONE!

2) JCS Ornie: Val's Stuff- Be Merry - DONE!

3) L*K A Little Bit of March - This got replaced by Seaside Cottage

4) Lighthouses of Florida - DONE!

5) BC September Brings

Though I didn't meet "all" my goals, I have finished 10 pieces in the first quarter of the year and one of those finishes were from the 12 WIPs I began the year with. You will remember that I removed 4 pieces and replaced them with 4 new ones. The goal is to end the year with 6-8 WIPs and to finish 4 specific pieces.

April's Goals are to finish:

1) CEC 5 Golden Rings

2) JCS Ornie - Little by Little - Winter Joy

3) Elizabeth Designs Seaside Cottage - stitching for June's contest at LNS

4) 8th Row of Sunshine State Sampler (it's over one)

5) Start Mermaids Singing - stitching for June's contest at LNS

6) Stitch upper right corner of the Rose Garden

If all goes well, I am hoping to focus on the Rose Garden and the Sunshine State Sampler in May so I can finish them by June 30th. That will meet 50% of my goals for the year.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday Feast 137

2007-03-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

It's time once again for Friday's Feast!

Appetizer
What are you proud of?
A lot of things, but I guess being on my own since I was 19. I did survive cancer and Hurricane Andrew. Got a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Raised 4 kids, have a great career and friends who care for me. It's been a charmed life.

Soup
What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize?
I won a 3 megapixel digital camara for paying my phone bill. I'm a very lucky person - I've been winning stuff since I was around 6 years old, when I won a bicycle at a movie theatre.

Salad
Name something you do that is a waste of time.
This is going to probably be the most popular response: time spent surfing! Even though my time is very valuable, and I try not to waste it, sometimes I can get sidetracked and end up in all sorts of places. Sometimes I learn something new, others I discover something really great, most of the time though, I probably could have lived without it.

Main Course
In what year of your life did you change the most?
When I was 21 - it's when I had my first son. Everything changes after you have kids, so true.

Dessert
Where is a place you consider to be very tranquil?
My home. It is my oasis of peace and tranquility. My most favorite place to be.

I WON!!! I WON!!!

2007-03-29T15:06:00.000-04:00

I went home to eat lunch today and found the most awesome surprise in my mailbox....

Back in February - and I'm not sure how I got there - I discovered CraftSanity and it's podcasts. I listened to a podcast with Monsterbubbles' designer, Heather Holland-Daly, and enjoyed it so much that I burned it onto a CD so my friends could listen to it on the way to (or back) from EGA's travelling exhibit in Venice, FL. It ended up being on the way back and they all enjoyed it a lot. It might have been the final push one of them needed to finally get an iPod.

I heard something in the podcast about a contest, and found out how to enter on the website and thought nothing of it since. Until today that is. Woo Hoo!! The design in this kit is based on a tatoo Heather Holland-Daly designed for her left forearm. It includes the design, screen, sandwich screen frame and hardware. Thanks a lot Jennifer!!!

While I subscribed to the podcast, - it's a monthly - I've also have listened to a few back ones. Let me tell you, they are really great! I've gotten a lot of insight into the creative process through them. So over there and check CraftSanity out!!!

I was driving back to the office - and was in such a good mood and it was such a great South Florida day - it dawned on me that I've never shared pictures of my lovely views I get to enjoy on a daily basis with y'all. And since for the past 10+ days I really have not posted many pictures. (Actually just one). I guess y'all are due... So, without further ado...

This is the East view from my office. The dark blue line on the horizon is the ocean. Really. It's more noticeable in person.

This is the North view from my office. I don't think you can tell, but there's a big white rectangular building on the far middle right of the first picture and the left of the second picture. It's the hangar for the Goodyear Blimp. I get to see it launch and return quite often.

SEE??? TOLD YA...

On the other side of the office, I can actually see where I live! I will try to take a pic tomorrow and show you all...

Updates

2007-03-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

Took me more than a day, but here it is finally - an picture update of Seaside Cottage! YAY!!!!

Last night was the SAL at my LNS. Wish I had great news to report and that whole affair of the cellphone talker was over and done with, but, alas, it is not yet so. Two of the people N blasted (M for asking him to tone it down and D for trying to pacify the situation) decided to sit at the other table that is in a separate room from where we usually meet (the overflow table). The third person, E, the one who started it all, didn't show up and E isn't a regular anyway.

The split made it really awkward because it forced most of us to go back and forth to speak with people we wanted to hang out with and all on account of one person.

I guess what disappointed me the most was that N, seeing the result of last week's fiasco, didn't see fit to make any apologies or offer any amends. Though I will say that N did walk out when the phone rang this time - all of 5 mins after arriving. It's a little too late though.

Damage is done and I can't see I blame M or D. They come to have a pleasant evening stitching with friends, not to be attacked in public or put up with someone else being disruptive.

If this continues next week, I won't be going back. Or maybe I will show up but only stay if N doesn't show up. Problem is we have invited N to the Sunday group and right now, N isn't someone I want to be anywhere near.

I just find this entire affair extremely upsetting. For years there has been no drama, fights or arguments in our stitching group. All it took is one insensitive person to ruin it for the rest of us.

New Starts

2007-03-26T14:17:00.000-04:00

This weekend I started stitching on "Seaside Cottage". My son ran off with my camara, so I'll scan the piece tomorrow morning instead. So far though, I have stitched about 2/3rds of the roof, and all the white trim to the cottage.

Well, I just wanted to pop in and say Hi! to all.

June Contest Decision

2007-03-23T07:49:00.000-04:00

I'm stitching Elizabeth's Designs' "Seaside Cottage" for the contest. I've had this chart for several years now and have always loved it. If time permits, I will also stitch one of Elizabeth's Designs' "My Garden Stitching Club" charts, but first I need to find out if they are still avalailable. If not, I have two other charts I want to stitch from her, "Welcome Sampler" and "My Country House"

Because I removed a few pieces from my WIP queue. I have decided to add 4 new pieces to replace the ones removed. Nothing too large. Basically medium size pieces for variety. The lucky finalists, not necessarily in order, are:

Carriage House Samplings "Hearts & Flowers"
Sue Hillis "For the Dieter"
The Workbasket "Mermaids Singing"
Pine Mountain "Chicks Rule"

I am giving my friend, Measie, Maidens of the Seasons, Spring. She's a big Mirabilia fan and I've lost interest in the piece.

I'm removing another widget on my blog - this time it's "The Daily Puppy". They sure are cute, but if it's making the page crash, then it's gotta go. Let's see how it goes....

Friday Feast 136

2007-03-23T07:33:00.000-04:00

This week's Friday Feast asks:

Appetizer
Who is your favorite news anchor/reporter?

Barbara Walters

Why?

1) She was the first female evening news anchor
2) She has remarkable intelligence and poise
3) She fought her way to the top at a time when women were considered to be less than men and thereby opened a path for all other women reporters who came after. It's one thing to be a great reporter, it's another to also be a pioneer.

Soup
Name 3 foods that are currently in your freezer.

Frozen Vegetables
Fish
Chicken

Salad
If you were to have the opportunity to name a new town or city, what would you call it?

Somewhere. Because we all live somewhere...

Main Course
What will most likely be the next book you read?

Zig Zag by Jose Carlos Somoza - not published yet, but soon by Harper Collins. Reviewing it.

Dessert
What's the first thing you notice about the opposite gender?

Hands. If I don't like a man's hands, he will never touch me...

June Contest

2007-03-21T16:51:00.000-04:00

My LNS has a yearly contest every June. It's March now, and considering things can take 2+ weeks to be framed/finished, my thoughts turn to what to enter in the contest.

Let me take one moment to say that I am not thinking about what to enter that might win. Chances of my winning are slim. There is only one rule to what can be entered in the constest and that is that the finished piece is from a chart currently available for sale. Anything out of print or from a magazine/freebie is not allowed. So, my thoughts are really towards what can I stitch that other people might want to buy after they've seen it stitched.

I'm thinking along the lines of an Elizabeth Designs piece. I've also always wanted to stitch the turtle from Couchman Creations. It's a bit big, but I think I can finish it. There's a lot of the same color, which goes quickly.

Any thoughts as to what else can be stitched? Please, no Lizzie Kate/Bent Creek Snappers.... I'm already stitching those.

Rant

2007-03-21T09:30:00.000-04:00

I don't like to rant.

Especially in my blog.

But sometimes something gets under my skin and the only way to get it out is to write about it.

Last night was, as always, the SAL at my LNS. This is the first time in the 5 years I have been going there that I walked out because I was upset. Let me give you some background.

We have a person that has a habit of talking on the cellphone. Let's call this person "N". This person also has a booming voice. We usually grin and bear it and hope it is a short conversation. 99% of conversations N has are just babbling with their significant other. The significant other knows N is at a SAL but calls anyway. This happens often at the Sunday group too.

While N was once again on the phone, someone from the group, "E", said "You need to take that outside". But because N was on the phone, it wasn't heard. "M" heard it however, and repeated it to N - making sure N heard it.

When N finally got off the phone, instead of apologizing, N said "I have something to say to M because I did not appreciate that". - This was the first thing that totally p*ssd me off. How insensitive can one person be? Like N has the god-given right to bore everyone with banal conversation. N's voice is so loud that we can't hear what others are saying so, people then raise their voices to get over N's voice, and then N gets louder, and so on and so forth.

M had gotten up to shop and when M returned, N totally blasted her. M said that other people were saying the same thing, but E just kept quiet. - Second thing that p*ssd me off. If you're going to have the guts to say something, have the guts to admit it. Don't hide and pretend you didn't say anything, especially when someone else is getting the heat from what you started.

N then made a bunch of excuses for not getting up and leaving to talk. A bad knee, stuck between other people, etc etc. N also made excuses for being loud, mainly because others were talking while he was on the phone (!) - Third thing that p*ssd me off.

You see, N does this on Sundays also. We meet at a club house in the card room. This room is very large and has about 20 tables, of which we only use one large one. We also sit next to the door/window in order to get the best light possible. There would be no problem getting up and walking outside to talk. Others have done it. He has NEVER done it.

So, I left. Because I was starving, having skipped lunch, and there was no way I was going to risk having to put up with N during dinner as well. We usually go to California Pizza Kitchen, and while N doesn't always come, I would not enjoy it if this would be one of those nights N would decide to join us.

So, you're probably wondering what I bought last night. I bought one of Jill Oxton's magazines. #68 I believe. Also a handy cheat sheet of embroidery stitches and Glendon Place's chart "Five Simple Rules". I love Glendon Place's charts - they are HUGE!!!

Way Too Much Stash

2007-03-19T10:47:00.000-04:00

Poverty wants some thing, luxury many things, avarice all things. Benjamin Franklin

My good friend, Ruth, shared this quote with me last night when we were talking about how much stash we both have. Both of us - independently - have about as much stash (or even more) as the average LNS. But then, to our defense, we have been collecting for years. Since the 80s for me, the 70s for her. We don't actually buy all stash - although I do have entire collections of some designers - so, we are sticking with "luxury". I makes us feel better. LOL Didn't Benjamin Franklin also say "Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it"? Well, I don't think we can be called "wealthy" but we do enjoy our money, especially when we purchase stash with it.

So why do we do it? Why do we keep buying when we have enough for several lifetimes? I think, for me, it's not that I think something won't be available - most new releases are going to be around for at least the next 3 years (unless it's a limited edition) - but I think I am going to forget it and be able to remember later what it was that I wanted. Well.. the question that begs to be asked here is: If you forget it, how badly did you want it in the first place?

I know I have discussed this in my blog numerous times already. I guess it's something that I am trying to stop doing. If I seldom visited an LNS it probably would be easier to manage, but going every week to one, and every other week to a different one, keeps me constantly buying. It's too bad that I my religion doesn't ask one to give up doing anything for any period of time (save fasting for Yom Kippur). If I were Catholic or Christian I guess I could give up stash shopping for Lent and stick to it. At least I wouldn't shop for 40 days... then again, I might just ask the store to put it aside for me for after Easter... If there is a way around a rule, trust me to find it...

I don't know what is up with this blog. Today I tried removing the Slide widget to see if the page would pull up. It didn't change anything. It's still giving me problems. I think the problem is IE7 because it doesn't happen when I use Firefox. I may be forced to move...

Nice Weekend

2007-03-18T22:08:00.000-04:00

Saturday was the third meeting of our new Sampler Guild. We decided to call ourselves "Stitchers in Paradise", which I gladly seconded. In case you're wondering, it wasn't my idea. Someone came up with it at the first meeting, which I didn't attend. It was discussed last month at the second meeting, and I while I was happy to see it, I didn't make a strong push for the name, since I already use it in my blog. I am enjoying the Sampler Guild - it's a lively group of ladies all with different interests in samplers and stitching.

That's pretty much all I did yesterday - I also "worked" at Always in Stitches 'cause it was my day to help out and by the time I got home, it was nearly 7pm and I vegged out in front of the TV to watch "True Lies". That movie always cracks me up.

My Dad comes by every Sunday and we always go shopping, this time it was Target, Borders, Barnes & Noble, CompUSA and Best Buy. Not necessarily in that order. I had agreed to meet my friends at the War Memorial Coliseum for the Annual Quilt Show but Dad wanted to take us to lunch and then he had some things he wanted me to help him with when we got back to the house. Before I knew it, it was past 3:30 and my friends had been there since 1pm. I was upset that I wasn't able to go, but I decided at that point to just stay home.

I also had agreed to cook a few things for a party with my neighbors. All but one of my neighbors is a snow bird. Once a month we all get together and throw a party - complete with live music. It would have been too much to run out there, get there around 4, and have to be back by 5:30-6:00, so I didn't even try.

I guess I could have blown off my father, but he's 77 and drives 40 miles on Sundays to see us, so he's the only person I will allow myself to feel "obligated" to.

In case you're wondering what I made for the party, I had bought a Tapas cookbook and I've been wanting to try out some recipes from it. From this cookbook, I made Tuna Rolls - which are tuna wrapped in roasted red peppers, shrimp with a cilantro dip, and olives wrapped in anchovies. I also made my very popular spinach salad. It is always good to see all your food quickly disappear!

We had a very lovely evening dancing in the cool ocean breeze under the stars. Very romantic.

Friday Feast

2007-03-16T00:05:00.000-04:00

Appetizer
Name two things that made you smile this week.

My friends - I always have a great time with them
Co-workers - this merger we are going through is hilarious!

Soup
Fill in the blank: Don't you hate it when ________?

Family or friends call you while your watching your favorite show???

Salad
When you can't go to sleep, what is your personal remedy to help yourself drift into Lullabyland?

Believe it, or not... I make myself a latte with espresso. Makes me go to sleep right away.

Main Course
What is something about which you've always wondered but have not yet found a good answer?

Why it is so hard for some people to see the obvious?

Dessert
What is your favorite pasta dish?

Hmm.. this is a tough one... I love Chicken Tequila Fetuccine

Blogger is back to giving me problems - I'm using IE7 again. Going to try for a bit with Firefox and see how it goes. If it continues, I'm outta here!

In Honor of the Upcoming St. Pat

2007-03-16T00:03:00.000-04:00

Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Moneybags O'Guinness

What's Your Leprechaun Name?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy a Virtual Shamrock Stout!

To: My Blog Readers
From: Trish

What Virtual St. Patrick's Day Gift Should You Give?

Quite appropriate as I love a good Guiness!

Blogthings is like potato chips - you can't have just one!

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world.
Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well.
But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

SBQ

2007-03-15T18:18:00.000-04:00

Today's SBQ was suggested Danielle and is:

If you had $500 to spend on stitching-related items, what would you buy?

I would start by order a floor stand from Needle Needs in the UK and then see how much I have left to get a lap/table stand. Their website is "under construction" so there's not much to see over there.

Or, I would go to European Cross Stitch and blow the $500 on supplies for any of Martina's designs that caught my fancy.

Under Pressure...

2007-03-14T16:14:00.000-04:00

Our local EGA is cracking down on wanton disorder. They are requiring us to wear nametags. They even amended the handbook so it SPECIFICALLY says they MUST be stitched - thanks to some of us who have been known to grab an address label and stick it on our clothes in order to avoid the $1 fine.

So, basically, this poses a challenge to me. How will I get around this now? Well... evil mastermind that I am, I came up with the following idea...

I am going to stitch a bookmark with my name on it probably up and down like this:

Tonight I probably only will manage to stitch my name, but I will add embelishments and more stitching later. So, basically, I am going to take my bookmark and pin it on my shirt....

I can't wait to see what they have to say about that!

Speaking of "under pressure"... June is the Cupboard's annual contest and the only requirement that entries submitted need to meet is that the design is currently available for purchase. So, I'm thinking of finishing the Sunshine State Sampler for this... or I have to looks around to see what else I have finished that I can send in...

I never win, but I do enjoy participating.

HD & Sunshine State Sampler Update

2007-03-11T09:34:00.000-04:00

Had a great afternoon yesterday at my friend, Ruth's, house. We had our own "stitch-a-thon" and I managed to finish stitching on CEC's Four Calling Birds and made some really impressive progress on The Sunshine State Sampler!At first, I thought the white Kreinik "snow" was not going to show up enough to bother stitching, but after putting in about the first half, I noticed that it added some texture to the design and made it more interesting. I did carry threads like crazy in the back, but it's Kreinik and it's light, so it's not going to show up. Once it's made into an ornie, it's not going to matter. Probably won't take it to the next EGA meeting though... LOLAs I wrote about a few days ago, I had stitched all of the fruit (sans leaves) except for the lime at Tuesday's SAL at the Cupboard. Yesterday I finished the cross stitching, the back stitching and the long stitches on Row 5 and finished Row 6 to boot! Tillie is going to have to do some really mad stitching to catch up! I don't understand why the coconuts in Row 6 have two french knots to them. I've never seen coconuts like this and I can't make up my mind if they look like bowling balls or if they are freakishly "looking at me". I guess this is what happens when Canadians try to design tropical themes.

I've haven't had a single problem accessing my blog since I switched over to Mozilla Firefox browser. I think the problem might not be with Blogger at all but with IE7 and I am guessing that it has a problem with the Slide widget in the sidebar. However, I noticed on Firefox that my sidebar was not displaying correctly and when I looked at the code, I noticed an extra closing tag. Once I removed it, the sidebar displayed correctly and, coincidentally (or is it?) I no longer had problem with IE7. So.. who knows where the problem actually lied.

I'm taking a long, hard look at the 11 remaining WIPs I have. The goal for this year is to bring the number down to 11 and, having finished one already, it's safe to say I am "on track" to meet this goal. However, it's dawning on me that the reasons for stitching some of these is not very solid and I have no enthusiasm for some pieces. I may have to prune these wips a little bit more so I am looking at the reasons I want to stitch these pieces and not force myself to stitch them merely because I have started them. This is what I concluded:

A - The Needlepoint Lady is coming off.
1) I'm happy displaying her as she is for the time being, though
2) I should touch up the eye area, but
3) my current needlepoint skills would probably not do justice to this piece

B - Janlynn's Lighthouses is coming off
1) I already have another large lighthouse piece
2) I like Debbie Patrick's better
3) the lighthouse phase is totally out of my system (for now)

C - The Cappuccino Towel is coming off
1) The reason for stitching it is because I have three others
2) I never display these towels and I have probably a dozen stitched already
3) The one I really want to stitch from this series is Java

D - Maidens of the Season - Spring is under contemplation. I may "donate" this piece to my friend Measie.

So, there you have it folks. I will leave these pieces on the sidebar a little while longer so those not so familiar with my blog know what the heck it is I am babbling about. I will revise the goal because I have removed 3, maybe 4 pieces. Probably the new goal will be to finish with 4 pieces. Does that seem fair?

Friday Feast on Sunday

2007-03-11T09:08:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it isn't Friday. I haven't been feasting because I have been dieting.

This weeks Friday Feast questions are:

Appetizer
What is your usual bedtime? Do you like that, or would you rather it be different?

My usual bedtime is around 10-10:30 pm. I like it just fine as I normally awaken around 6:30 without having to use an alarm clock. I am very meticulous about the time I spend sleeping. I always have been - even when I was a teenager.

Soup
When it comes to advice, do you give more or receive more?

I think I do both equally. I may be wrong, but I do like to talk to others and listen to their points of view.

Salad
Describe a memorable meal you've had.

The most recent memorable meal was a few weeks ago at Blue Moon Fish Company here in my neighborhood of Lauderdale by the Sea. I went with friends from work and I had the Blackened Prime Rib which was served with potatoes and their own tomato onion salad. It was out of this world. Also a few blocks from where I live, at the Village Grille, I had a Pecan Crusted Sea Bass, which is not normally on their menu and was a daily special. It was outstanding.

But, while I do appreciate good food, for me what makes a meal memorable is really the people I am with and not the food that is served. Any meal I have had with my family and friends is a memorable meal. Even when I go with my friend, Liz, to Jaxson's for ice cream.

Main Course
Name a work of fiction that affected the way you think about something.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. If you read it, you get it. If you haven't, please read it and find out. You owe it to yourself to read the second most influential book in America, after the Bible.

Dessert
What is your favorite type of fruit juice?

GRAPE!!!

CEC Ornie Update and On LNS

2007-03-10T08:02:00.000-05:00

Below is where I currently am on the 4 Calling Birds from the CEC series. I didn't stitch much yesterday, and some of the leaves I now noticed will have to be ripped as I stitched them in the wrong color, but, what can I say, that's life, at least stitching life.
I left a comment on Jenna's blog entry yesterday about a minor rant on ordering scissors at an LNS. I'm not going to repeat it, just go over there and read it, if it interests you. Frankly, I worried I had been to harsh, but Jenna took it with an open mind and a good heart.

What y'all probably may not know about me is that I am very close to two LNSes. The Cross Stitch Cupboard in Fort Lauderdale and Always in Stitches in Palm Beach Gardens. I'm quite familiar with the way they operate and I even help out two Saturdays a month at Always in Stitches, so you can say I'm more than just a shopper. Based on the small profitability of selling cross stitch charts and supplies, I admire those who run these shops. The Cupboard, for example, is half LNS, half gift store. The gift store part pretty much allows the cross stitch part to continue. Even with 4 people working there, it's a lot of work. Always in Stitches is pretty much a one person show with a handful of "volunteers" who come in and help.

The point I am trying to make here is that most LNSes are "Mom & Pop" operations that require a lot of work and dedication to keep going. Most of the people running them are the owners and they are very serious about providing good service because it is all too easy to go on Ebay or to an ONS to get the same thing for less. I know there probably are exceptions out there - I've come across one or two in my day as well, but let's not let a few bad apples spoil the bunch.

So, with that in mind, while most of the time these stores are very good at getting things out right away, other times they have good reason to fall behind. It doesn't take much when either you're the only person running things, and/or you only have a couple of other people you count on. Also, a lot of times, they are waiting on other companies (some of which are also small Mom & Pops) to send in what they are going to send out. This happens a lot after Market, as designers/suppliers get swamped with orders. We need to keep in mind that asking them to do something outside of how they normally operate can create a imposition on them. Like us, they have to balance their work lives with their personal lives and you just never know what someone else has on their plate.

The moral of this story is, that considering that airplane restrictions on scissors have been in place for nearly 6 years now, the next time you're at your LNS, if you haven't done so already, please pick up a pair of cheap small scissors for you to take on board. Nowadays, I can't imagine any stitcher not having a pair or two on hand should you suddenly need to jump on a plane. This is my extra pair that live in my nightstand. As you can see, I got it for less than $5. There's another one around here somewhere...Lastly, on a somewhat adjacent topic, TSA screeners at our airports cannot keep the items they confiscate for themselves, no matter how much they may like to. They all have to be turned in and rare is the TSA screener that works by themselves and might be able to fool the camaras (and the guys watching). So, please don't worry that a screener is going to take something because they want it for themselves. Especially stitching stuff. Last time I checked, it's not exactly in high demand.

SBQ & HD

2007-03-08T07:27:00.000-05:00

Today's SBQ is:

Do you use your needle, a seam ripper, or something else when you haveto frog stitches? Why do you use the method that you do?

I use my needle most of the time if I am ripping a few stitches and planning to continue stitching with the same thread. If I plan to rip an entire area, and saving the thread is not desired, I have been known to take scissors to the top cross of the stitch and break them all this way. I use my needle and scissors because I feel I have better control of them than if I used a seam ripper. I want to be gentle on the fabric and not tear it.

Last night I finished the Lighthouses of Florida. I haven't taken a picture yet, but I will and post here. I did remove it from Current Stitching Queue on the side bar and added it to the finishes of 2007. Speaking of frogging, I frogged the mermaid's hair and eyes because I didn't feel they stuck out enough. I think it looks much better this way.

So, now next on the stitching to do list is to start on the 4 Calling Birds, the next piece in the CEC 12 Days of Christmas series. I've pulled all the threads I need for it and found the fabric, so it's all ready for me tonight.Also, since I hadn't taken a picture of Long Dog's Paradigm Lost in a while, I decided to take one for y'alls amusement. As you can see, I haven't stitched that much on it. But every little bit counts.

Surprise in the Mail!

2007-03-06T11:33:00.000-05:00

I went through my mail last night - I have the habit of just picking it up and throwing it in a basket, then going through it once a week - I got the nicest RAK from Cindy - this cute little "modern biscornu" along with the prettiest Rosewood Manor chart! I didn't take a picture of the chart, but here is the back of the little biscornu!

Thank you sooo much Cindy!!!

On the job front, I got to admit I am pretty bored since more than half of what I normally do all day has been taken away. It' going to get worse after this week because a lot of the reports and analysis I do is going to stop. The plan however is to lay low and stay under the radar. Our Finance department is still here - albeit on the other side - and I've made it my personal goal to see how long I can go before they decide to give me something to do. LOL.

Last night we were at the Cupboard again for the weekly SAL. I brought the Lighthouses of Florida. It is virtually completely backstitched now. I didn't finish it because I noticed that there were 5 cross stitches - two in one lighthoues and three in another that needed to be stitched before continuing and I had not brought those threads. (sigh) Otherwise, I would have another Happy Dance to report.

Instead, I resumed stitching on the Sunshine State Sampler. I stitched all the fruits, save the lime. Between the two pieces, it was not bad progress for only two hours of stitching (with a little shopping in between).

This week, February's Snapper (Bent Creek Red Thread series) came in. The shop wants me to stitch this as a model for them. I also picked up the latest Stoney Creek magazine. But the major purchase of the night was the embroidery book from "Sublime Stitching". I've been eyeing this book for a while, and visiting the website and thought I'd like to try some embroidery out. I embroidered a looooong time ago, back when I was a kid, and I haven't touched it again since. Some of my friends also do punchneedle and there is a class this weekend on it at my LNS, but frankly, I don't get it. Why would I want to make a minituare rug of anything?

While I am on the subject of other crafts, this weekend while I was at Borders or Barnes & Noble (not sure which - yes, I go to two bookstores in one day - lol) I was looking at the craft section, which is full of knitting books nowadays, but I saw something that startled me... a book on, of all things, MACRAME!!! And here I thought it had died with the hippies. The book was called "The New Macrame" and instead of making plant hangers, they are using finer ropes and incorporating macrame into jewelery, beading and home accessories. I will admit to having made a plant hanger and a handbag as a teenager in the late 70s. It was fun to make all those knots, but I think if the knots were smaller you wouldn't really appreciate what went into making them and the point of pursuing this as a "craft" would be moot.

March Goals

2007-03-05T14:03:00.000-05:00

Time to come up with a list of things to do in March! There is only so much one can stitch in a given week and coming up with a reasonable expectation for how much progress can be made in one month, is always somewhat frustrating for me. It seems that no matter how few goals I make, I just don't seem to accomplish them all and I lately I have been ending months somewhat dissatisfied with my progress. So, now I am wondering if maybe there aren't enough goals to motivate me to stitch more often. So, this month, I am going to shoot for the moon and see if maybe I'm happier with the results.

This month, my friend Tillie and I will be stitching on "The Sunshine State Sampler" together on Sundays. We started yesterday, and I managed to finish all the stitching now on the 3rd and 4th rows. The 3rd was rather tedious to stitch and I think it was the reason I put it aside.

MARCH GOALS
FINISH:
1) CEC 4 Calling Birds
2) JCS Ornie: Val's Stuff- Be Merry
3) L*K A Little Bit of March
4) Lighthouses of Florida
5) BC September Brings

I need to come up with a few more things - after going through my stash and seeing what else I want to stitch. No large starts, though. Not until the number of WIPs goes down.

Also, I received the Kreinik #4 Braid in High Luster from Stitching Bits and Bobs which allowed me to finish CEC's Two Turtle Doves!

Catching Up - Part 1

2007-03-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to taking pictures of what I had finished recently. Submitted for your amusement is the JCS Ornie I stitched in February, "Arm & A Leg" by Raise the Roof desings.

It was a quick and fun stitch, I still need to get two buttons for it, which I will tomorrow at the Cupboard.

Since it is now March, and it is the habit of many stitching bloggers, such as myself, to post goals for the new month and to give an account of the previous month.

The first goal of February was to stitch PS Ornie from JCS. I decided I didn't really like it, so I stitched the gingerbread man instead.

I also planned on stitching the next ornie in the CEC 12 Days of Xmas - 3 French Hens as well as L*K's A Little Bit of February, both of which I also did. The first was posted previously, but the latter is now posted below:

I didn't stitch on the Rose Garden or The Sunshine State Sampler nor did I finish The Lighthouses of Florida. It's about half backstitched by now, so I don't know why I'm dragging my feet to finish it.

SBQ

2007-03-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

Today's SBQ was suggested by Danielle and is:

Do you find yourself stitching faster when you are getting to the end of a design?

I think so - and I don't know if I really go faster or it just seems that way - but I do get more excited when I notice I'm nearly finished with a project.

Sorry that I have been away. It hasn't been because of Blogger as much as because I've had some family issues to deal with. Blogger is being bad to me at home and at work. Some friends have also let me know they've had a hard time accessing it.

I have finished two ornies since I last posted. Will take pics and upload later tonight from home. Hope everyone is doing well.

The End is Near

2007-02-23T09:54:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-22T12:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

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?

Pre-Colombian Art / Incan Archeology

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 (The Sims & Warcraft) or read an advanced book about 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.

Weather Picture

2007-02-15T15:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-15T09:22:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-02-14T09:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-13T11:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-12T09:59:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-02T07:16:00.001-05:00

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 half Jewish. I went to Catholic school, but most of it never made sense to me. Except Francis of Assisi. I totally got him.

I have my own hybrid spirituality, but if I want to go a traditional service, I will choose a temple over a church any time. Not looking Jewish, whatever that means, is not my fault. I am what is locally known as a "Juban".

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?

January Report and February Goals

2007-01-31T19:32:00.000-05:00

January was a good month. I got in two finishes - almost three if you count that I couldn't finish the turtle dove because I didn't have the right thread and it cannot be found locally, so it will have to be ordered.

On the WIP front, none were finished, though I am perilously close to finishing the Lighthouses of Florida piece. All the backstitching for the L and the I is done, some of the other three letters and most of the top lettering. I can probably finish it if I wanted to, but not relishing backstitching, I'll take my time. I did not stitch on The Rose Garden, which I wanted to, but such is life.

Goals for February: (let's shoot for the moon!)

Stitch the Prairie Schooler ornament from JCS 2006
Stitch 3 French Hens from CEC
Stitch L*K February Flip It
Stitch a Valentine's Day piece
Finish the Lighthouses of Florida
Stitch some on The Rose Garden
Stitch on the Sunshine Sampler

If I stitched every night, this would be feasible, but I don't stitch every night! LOL.

Last night I made a list of all the threads I need to finish all the ornaments I want to stitch. Superbowl sales will be coming up this weekend and I want to be prepared. So far I have a very conservative list. As for patterns, I think I have only 2 or 3 I really want. I think that might go up a bit after Nashville. Have y'all seen Victoria Sampler's new "Tropical Garden"? Is it me, or what? I've ordered it at the Cupboard and I can't wait for it to get here!

Squeaking In Another Happy Dance

2007-01-31T16:57:00.000-05:00

I managed to squeeze in another Happy Dance this month I finished last night Lizzie Kate's A Bit of January FlipIt Bit! The scarf is stitched in WDW Red Pear but the mittens in DMC (because I simply couldn't wait!)

Had a great time stitching last night at the Cupboard. Emily came by (I missed her!) and also some new stitchers. It's good to make new friends!

Going around in the blogosphere is the "6 Weird Things About Me" list. I've seen it in a lot of blogs, so I'd thought I'd jump in and see if I can stop myself at 6...

1 - I like to eat french fries with mayonnaise. To my defense, there are two other ladies (Jeanne & Diane) from my Tuesday night SAL at the cupboard who also like this. Good to know I am not alone.

2. I cannot sleep with socks. Don't know why, but that's the way it is. If I fall asleep with socks on, by the time I wake up, they are off.

3. I have an extensive pajama collection. I probably have over 30 sets of pajamas and I just bought yet another one at Old Navy this past weekend (it was valentine themed and loving hearts, I could not resist). I also have a lot of slippers.

4. I love planes and airports. Every time I drive on 595 or I-95 I am almost driven to distraction by looking at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International's runways. When I lived in Miami (before all the crazy security) I would spend afternoons hanging out at the airport watching planes come and go. When I fly, I like to have at least a 2hr layover so I can walk around the airport.

5. I do not like birds. Not canaries, parakeets, chickens, ducks, what have you. They give me the creeps. I think it has something to do with their eyes.

There you go! Emily, you are tagged! Also, if whoever is reading this hasn't answered this yet, consider yourself tag.

Pic Update

2007-01-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

I have been really busy the past week. No time to post, no time to stitch. Merger is driving me nuts. On Sunday I realized that each year I "collect" (can't seem to know what else to call it) Lizzie Kate Monthly FlipIts but I have only stitched none from 2006, one from 2005, none from 2004 and maybe 2 from 2003. Pretty bad, huh? So, I decided this year would be different. I took January to my Sunday SAL in Hollywood and I pretty much finished most of it. The rest I did while watching The Apprentice. I would have finished it if I had had WDW Red Pear, and I didn't mind stitching the mittens with DMC, but I'm not stitching the scarf with it. So, here it is:

Also, I was not able to finish 2 Turtle Dove(s) because instead of High Luster #4 Braid, I bought High Luster Filament. Duh! This weekend, when there is a SuperBowl sale, I will pick up the braid. Might as well wait and save!

SBQ

2007-01-24T19:42:00.000-05:00

Today's SBQ was suggested by Danielle and is:
What company produces your favorite hand-dyed fabric? Are there any companies whose hand-dyed fabric you do not like? If so, why?

My favorite hand-dyed fabric comes from R&R. I just like their colors best and they have 30ct, which I like stitching on. I have purchased from Silkweavers and Sugar Maple fabrics, and I like them too a lot. I don't have one I can say I do NOT like, but I will say that I tried to buy fabric once from Heaven Lee Creations and it took so long to get to me that I cancelled the order and have never returned to their website.

Here's my update - gotta run!

2007-01-21T10:23:00.000-05:00

Friday's Feast 127

2007-01-19T13:52:00.000-05:00

From Friday's Feast - a meme I decided to join today...

Appetizer
Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?
The Apprentice

Soup
Who did you last speak to on the telephone?
My son Stephen

Salad
How many pillows do you keep on your bed?
Seven

Main Course
Name one addition to your computer (software, hardware, etc.) that you'd love to have.

Dessert
What is your favorite foreign food?
Today it is Cuban food.
Tomorrow it might be Chinese, or Italian, or Peruvian, or Brazilian
I live in a culturally diverse city

Update on the ornament: I've stitched quite a bit - the teal is on now, but I overslept this morning and didn't have time to take a picture. Will do so tomorrow.

It's a good thing to know I exist! This has been going around stitching blogs, so I joined in the fun!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
2
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

SBQ

2007-01-18T10:54:00.000-05:00

Today's SBQ is:

Have you had a happy dance yet this year? If so, tell us about it! (Or just point to the entry that talks about it.) If not, when do you predict it will be?

Just scroll down - it was two entries ago! The JCS ornie I am stitching with two groups. One is Stitchers Time Out, a Yahoo! group, the other is my Sunday Stitching group. We chose 6 ornaments of which we plan to stitch 4. This was the ornament my friend Tille chose.

On another note, I have finished the boring beige body of the turtledove. I didn't take a picture because I wanted to wait until some of the vibrant colors were stitched before taking another. I am going to EGA tonight and will stitch for at least an hour, so I should have SOMETHING to show tomorrow and I anticipate another Happy Dance some time this weekend.

Ornie Update

2007-01-17T07:53:00.000-05:00

After stitching last night at my LNS's SAL, as well as very little the night before, I can now post an update of this ornie. It' coming along rather quickly and I think I will stitch stitch the main part of the body (in boring beige) before stitching the hearts. Right now it doesn't look terribly exciting, but some really vibrant colors are yet to be added which are going to make all the difference.

Right now everything appears to be on track with my yearly stitching goals, but we're only 17 days into the year.

On another note, I have a good friend who will next week move away to El Paso. I also have two other close friends who this weekend will be driving up to outside the Atlanta area to look into the possibility of moving. Pretty soon, I'm afraid, our lively group of 8 will become 3. (Two moved away after Hurricane Wilma).

First HD of 2007!

2007-01-15T16:41:00.000-05:00

I just finished the ornie! YAY!!!

And, I started a new one: the second ornament from CEC's 12 Days of Christmas, which is over three books. This is "On the first day of Xmas". Not much, but I just started late last night.