The Last Update of July

Hard to believe July is almost over already! Kids go back to school in 2 weeks - and I am not ready; they have paper, that's it. No clothes, no bookbags - though the big one has new flip flops (the preferred shoe of high schoolers here) and the little one got new shoes a month ago, if he can find them. Little Kid is not too big of a deal, since he wears uniforms to school, and hasn't outgrown his shorts - just needs t-shirts and the under stuff, since he'll wear shorts into November. Big Kid has nothing he can wear, and can't wear DH's stuff now, either, so he'll be the big expense this year. Here's a pic of his new school:
New high school, our middle school gets to shift over to the old high school, and then one of the other middle schools is going to our old middle school while theirs is being renovated. This new school is 500 yards from our house - not sure if that's good or bad, yet....

On to the stitching bits :) Last week, my main focus was Lady & Unicorn, but I didn't get a whole lot of time in on it - got stuck at a soccer meeting Monday until almost 10:00, then had to work a concession stand at the Georgia Dome Wednesday, as a fund raiser for hs soccer, for the World Football Challenge game between AC Milan & Club America. I saw about 2 minutes of the game, including Milan's only goal, from our 3rd level spot. I don't ever want another hot dog as long as I live - yuck! But we thought we'd be okay, as we were to the car by 10; didn't get home until almost midnight, thanks to 50,000 people at this event at the Dome, Braves were also in town, and oh, yeah, I-85 Northbound down to 2 lanes. So I was exhausted on Thursday and couldn't even think about L&U that night. Wasn't much better on Friday, so didn't work on it then, either, but tried to make up some ground on Saturday & Sunday. I didn't finish the top row of pages, understandable, I guess - I am pretty sure I would have, if my schedule hadn't been so disrupted. Here's the overall & detail:

I took out the orange horizontal thread marking the bottom of the page - I crossed it a few times, and it was in my way. But you can get kind of an idea what's left; assuming next time is more normal, I ought to be able to knock out the last of this row...

I received Nancy's RR in the mail Thursday - the piece from Shawn, and the Mill Hill kit for my square from Nancy. She gave me the Needlework Shop to do :) She says that I have been an inspiration to her with some of the color choices I have made, and thought the needlework shop fit me best :) Thursday, when I was dragging butt from our late night the night before, I decided to put some stitches in on Shawn's square that she didn't get finished, as mine wasn't ready to go yet - wayyyy tooo tired to try to sort threads :) Here's where Shawn's is now:I can't tell you exactly where Shawn left off and I picked up - it's all too fuzzy now.... And then, Friday I was still tired and knew if I tried working on L&U, it would end up being an hour or two of me staring dumbly at it, so I kept on with Nancy's RR, and got a start on my square:
Doesn't really look like anything yet, huh? Well, hopefully I can finish this one up in the next weeks, and if not finish Shawn & Lyne's, at least get them closer.... I'll be adding a personalized name to my shop, of course - don't know what yet, but something that ought to be recognized as mine :) Here's a shot of the whole piece as of right now.

Also in the mail Thursday, along with Nancy's RR bits, was an envelope from Natalie. Hmmmm, wasn't expecting anything from her - what could it be? I ripped into it right away, of course, and inside was her chart for Watergarden that she finished for her parents not too long ago, and the beads to go with!!!! She knew that I really loved that design, so she sent it to me!!! It really will be a wonderful companion to Knotgarden, since they both have those gates on all four sides :) Thank you Natalie!! I keep taking it out and looking at it :)

Lastly for this update, since I had to repack my travel bag with all new projects, once I finally got D is for Dog done last week, I started an old chart, Iris by Green Apple Designs. I did quite a bit over lunches during the week, and took it to my stitching group on Saturday. I am kind of wondering how much some of the DMC colors have changed since 1986 when the chart was printed - some of them look a little of so far, but I'm going to trust that they will all work out in the end :) I think I'm doing this on a piece of my good old 28ct evenweave - I don't think it's 32...? Anyway, here's a week's work on it:
This is the center flower, and it's only about half filled in; the left one is completely filled in, and the right one is almost completely done in outline - I think this will be really pretty when it is done - and it's quick, so I can move on to other travel projects :) Everyone in my group loved the Debbie Draper cats that are kitted, too - I definitely think the group is predominantly cat people...

This week, Back to Part 5 of MTM - I WILL get the last corner done, so help me! Though I am again going to be interrupted by soccer - Big Kid has a game in NC on Wednesday, that was rescheduled from June, and since I had planned to go up to see family then, I made arrangements to still go this time, though only overnight Tuesday, as Little Kid has school orientation Thursday, so we will head back home right after the game. But I now have Thursday morning free, so if I can get my dead butt out of bed, I can hopefully get caught up on what I lose to traveling Tuesday & Wednesday :) We shall see....Finally got some pics of the red headed woodpeckers that are all over our woods - still not close enough for my zoom to figure it out, but hey, better than nothing....

Picture Perfect - SHAPES!

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This is a view off the walk around a nature center in our area, where we take the dogs to run through the woods on the weekends. If I ever hit the lottery, whoever built this place is building my house, very much like this building :) Love this rock work, which is combined with wood siding and tin roofs :) This picture is my computer wallpaper at work during fall. I took this in November of last year, with my Panasonic DMZ-FZ5, and cropped it down a bit.

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S H A P E S

A Climate Change Update

Global Warming is clearly a myth, Al Gore. Ummm, it's been in the 70's & low 80's here in ATL - that's in Georgia - in JULY. Beautiful weather, breezy, sunny with scattered clouds. Very nice indeed. Which means we're probably going to get it in August :( Good news - last week's sunburn has browned up nicely, and I don't think anything's going to peel! WooHoo! Of course, it'll all be gone by the next time I have to go outside for an extended period, so I can start all over again, but hey, that's what my summers are all about :(

Before I get to the stitching for the week, here's a little bead update, since all the fobs are received, as well as one other gift - Paula's Elephant. FMG added Elephant pendants a year or so ago, and ever since, I have wanted to get one and do something with it - I love elephants. Well, Paula has mentioned a few times how she likes them, too, so the last buy we had, I ordered a couple. And I came up with these:
Paula's - Fancy Jasper elephant w/Moss Agate rounds on leather cord.
One for me, elephant of Red Jasper, and rounds of Brecciated Jasper. I put a lot more rounds on mine, as I am used to wearing really heavy stuff around my neck - that turquoise & pearl creation I made weighs in around 5 pounds :) The piece I've had laying out since October is still there, but I think I know how I want to assemble it now, so it should come together soon. And no, my sister's 2006 Christmas present isn't redone yet - I think I know what I want to do with it to make it more like I wanted, I just gotta sit down to try it....

On to stitching. First, a finish - D is for Dog got done Saturday:
Don't ask me why it took so long - those corners were just killers for some reason, and the muted colors really weren't easy to see outside, so maybe this wasn't an ideal travel project...? Anyway, it's done, and my travel bag was officially empty - for a bit. Then I refilled it for this fall's projects: Debbie Draper's Canned Meows and Purrfect Summer Day, Iris, an old chart from Green Apple, and then Arelate Studios' Best Friends. I actually put the first stitches into Iris last night while DH was flipping burgers on the grill :)

My main focus last week was again the tiny Foursome Reel piece, and I am happy to report a frog-free week on that thing - as far as I know! I might be able to finish this up the next time around, or be close enough ot maybe warrant adding a day or two to the week to get it done, depending on what else gets my attention in August :) Here is the current:


I also worked on Lyne's wedding sampler for a few hours - my brain wasn't up to the over-1 on 36 one night, so I picked up the eye-friendly wedding piece instead:

You can see the overall here.

I also finished up the branch I was working on on Natalie's Tanglewood, and put a length of thread into the sky; I think I'll stop here and save some for everyone else :) On to Anita on Friday ( a week late, but as she's still vacationing, I had a little leeway). And lastly, in light of a recent acquisition, another Jen Delyth design from Heaven & Earth Designs, I decided I wanted to work on World Tree a little bit. I probably put in 2-300 stitches, though they aren't real noticeable - browns and some more black. Man, I can't wait to get off the outer border and get into the main design part, though the first page of the next row down is going to be CONFETTI HELL, so I probably oughtn't complain yet :) Lots & lots of black, if I can just get there....
This week, Lady & Unicorn again, see if I can close in on finishing that top row of pages finally... And, of course, whatever else yells at me, though I know I am losing some time this week to soccer crap - have to work a concession stand at the GA Dome on Wednesday, with the high school booster club, as a boys' soccer fund raiser. I really, really hate being around food and having to serve it and/or beer - I don't work in the food industry for a reason. Yay me - and we (DH & I) have to sign up for at least 2 more this year, though one of the choices is the U2 concert in October - that one might not be too bad, at least I'll get to hear the show :) I am ready for my involvement in youth athletics to be OVER.

That's the news - happy stitching this week to everyone!

A Crispy Monday Update

Crispy because I got FRIED at games this weekend - 5 hours on Saturday, for 2 games, with no sunscreen, no umbrella, no cold drinks, and to top it off, no toilet paper!!!! My knees are cooked through, and my arms from my sleeves down, as well as my neck above my collar, since I had to pull my hair back in the awful heat. And two kids left the first game to go get stitches in their heads, where they collided going after the same header. We lost both games. So not worth it...

In other news, DH got a coat of paint on the new porch yesterday morning - and it rained like hell last night, and it was all still there this morning, so that's good :) Though it was drying as fast as he was getting it on there. When he got that done, we had another cat to bury. Zeke, a.k.a. Bad Cat, who has been banished outside since last fall, the one who was 98% responsible for destroying furniture & carpet, passed away yesterday. He was 14. Poor thing; I found him when I was taking the groceries in :( So now, we are down to 1 cat, 2 dogs, 1 bird, and that's it. I think that is the least number of animals we have had in a LONG time. And DH said he's tired of digging he survived getting hit by a car 13 years ago, causing him to get a pin in his leg, and then he was grossly overweight for many years, until the outside banishment forced him to lose some of that weight. He's been looking pretty bad the last couple of weeks, and I guess when DH started painting yesterday morning, he was definitely not looking good. I saw him as I was holes, since the other bird was buried last week, too - no idea what happened to it, unless it was tromboned to death.... Of course, the answer to not digging holes is to stop bringing animals into the house, but no one listens to me.


On to the stitching. Of which there isn't a lot, because I was busy doing other stuff most nights. Can't tell you what, exactly, but I do know that I didn't sit down to stitch until almost 9:00 most nights, only leaving me an hour before having to go to bed. GRRRRRR! Which didn't make for the desired progress on Knotgarden; I decided the only way to advance was to first finish the last petal, and the other 3 I managed to finish in a week's rotation. This time, I barely got a start on it :( So hopefully next time I get it out, I can finish that up, then get going on the other two corners....


But I did get a couple of bead things done and back to the owner - a woman at work asked me 6 (?) months ago to restring some necklaces her son had made when they visited Costa Rica - this was really the first time I have sat down to do any bead anything, so I got those done and out of the way :)

I did finish my lunch project, the Halloween ornie/pinkeep. There is a little tadpole living in it, as there was a slub in one of the threads in a pumpkin that threw me off by 1 thread - I thought I had successfully navigated around it, but it turns out I didn't. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've added this to the To-Be-Finished pile:


I also did a bit of work on my current RR piece, Natalie's Tanglewood. I get to hang on to it for an extra week, as the next in line (Anita B.) is on vacation and won't be home just yet to pick it up, so I hope to get the rest of the sky done, after I finish the peacock's branch :)



This week, back to the teeny weeny Foursome Reel piece, and who knows what else. Now that that Halloween piece is done, I am focusing my lunch time on D is for Dog, so will hopefully have that finished in the next couple of weeks, too - those corner medallions kill me for some reason, though they aren't particularly hard...? Finished the 2nd one today and got the small Rhodes heart done, so have progress already! Not bad for a Monday :)

Friday, I had a great day. Natalie was down here, attending an education conference, and I took Friday off, planning to meet her when she got done for the day. I got downtown to pick her up around 1:30, and we headed off to a LNS that I have never managed to get to in all the years we've been here, Abcedarius (they don't have a website, but are mentioned on the Caron site). Got lost multiple times trying to find the place - GA definitely does not overdo the signs or road markings, so even though I followed the directions to the letter, I wasn't even close to where I needed to be, But with a quick call to the shop (3-4 minutes, actually), we did finally get there. Wow, this shop was really cool! Every inch of wall space was filled, mostly with samplers, and there were displays all over of so many kinds of work. There was even a whole Halloween section in the back (this is the Bible Belt - we gotta keep that devil-stuff away from the kiddies, you know), including a completed Boo Club, which I now have all the charts to :) She had the largest selection of Kreiniks I have ever seen, and a pretty good assortment of other fibers, though no Gloriana, Thread Gatherer or Carries. There were even some that I have no idea what they were. Natalie & I both got some charts, and some Rainbow Gallery PTB, and she got a JABC button pack for a chart she already had. I walked around with a Drawn Thread chart for a while, but I ended up putting it back, in favor of what turned out to be an all-Halloween selection:

Not pictured: the PTB I got, white pearl, because I misplaced it temporarily :( After we got done shopping, we went back downtown to where Natalie was staying, and we got our show & tell pieces out; she brought her FINISHED MTM, and Chatelaine Snowflake and one of the Midi's, which I think I might have to get, as well as a couple WIPs, and I brought several of mine, and grabbed the hangers that all of my non-framed finishes are hanging on :) When we got done ohhhing and ahhhing, we laid them all out:

Then we went out to eat at Pittypat's Porch - Aunt Pittypat is a character from Gone With the Wind, and I had never heard of this place before. The plate of ribs I got was absolutely ginormous - I didn't finish them, and that's got to be a first! Then we went back to her room, and talked until I saw it was 10:30 and had to hit the road for the hour drive back home! It was a stellar day! Even if the kids were lurking around in the dark house when I got home, waiting for me to re-up their WoW account :(

Well, that's the news. Time to go put some more lotion on the tender parts :) Until next week, Happy Stitching!

A July Update

Well, what an eventful week! The quarter ended at work, and as far as I know, no blood was shed :) The QA guy was in a bit of a panic, but considering the coffee intake, that's to be expected. Other than him, it was pretty quiet from my perspective, for a change :) We had Friday off, in observance of Independence Day, and boy did I need it - the last few weeks wore my wittle brain down to a nub! But, as luck would have it, I spent all of Friday sick in bed. I just got back from the doctor, and he couldn't find any reason for me to have vertigo for 24 hours and then back to normal - so no apparent ear problems, at least, though could have been viral. But the rest of the weekend, aside from being knocked on my butt going down the hill with the Stupid Dog, and the resultant sore spots, was a good one. DH spent the weekend rebuilding the front porch & steps - one of the deck boards fell apart at a knot, so he went ahead and replaced all of them. Then decided to do the steps, too. Which then needed new risers (they were almost shot the last time we replaced the steps, but we made them hold a while longer). Then he decided to do the uprights and the handrails, too. Not sure how many trips to Home Depot it was - at least 3, one of which I went on. Now, we just need to find the paint that the rest of the porch & trim is done in, see if there's enough, if it's any good, and get some paint on parts of it:
Nice and sturdy again, and ought to be good for another 15 years, I would guess :) Depends on how much the left side continues to settle, since it's all downhill from there :)

In other news, my first RR piece, Lavender Path, came back to me last week!!! WOW, is it gorgeous!! Everyone did such a great job on it!! And I have a frame on order for it already - we'll see if the mats I picked are the same color as they appear onscreen when it gets here - geez I hope so, because if not, I'll have to go to plan B - Hobby Lobby custom mat, on sale :) I'll post a pic as soon as i get it in the frame, of course :) In the meantime, I have the 2nd one, Moonlit Orchid, ready to ship out to Paula when it's time to shuffle again.

As for my stitching for the week, well, I jammed on my Halloween lunch project last week -though I did cheat and work on it at the doctor's office Thursday while the boys were getting their physicals :) I should have it done this week - could actually probably finish it in an hour or two if I put it on my stand and put a weensy bit of effort into it, but I'm not in a rush :) For a change.
I don't know if this will be an ornie, or a pinkeep. Who knows, maybe I'll have to do it again and make one of each. Nah, probably not :)

My main project for the week was English Garden Sampler, and though I didn't get as far as I hoped - as usual - I did get some progress in it, and got some of the dreaded bs done :) Missing all of Friday being sick really cut into my progress plans though - I had envisioned stitching into the wee hours Friday night, having slept in Friday morning - but alas, it was not to be - and I didn't get to work on MMM03 during the day, or my bead stuffs, either. Here are the overall and a detail:

On Saturday, after being outside with dogs and porch-building all day, when I finally got to sit down to stitch, I wasn't really in the mood for EGS, so finally decided to work on Chat Noir a bit - which turned into part of Sunday, too. Page one is about 4/5 done now, and I have a good start on Page two. Pages 4 & 5 are almost all Chat, though really, as many colors as are in there besides the black, I don't expect they will be any quicker than these first three - though maybe :). Here he is so far:
The previous photo is hosed at the moment (thanks, Multiply upgrade), so I will have to fix that so you can see the difference.

This week, back to Knotgarden, as well as getting some RR work done. Natalie will be in Atlanta this week, attending a conference, so we have plans to meet on Friday afternoon when she gets done, and maybe make up it to a LNS I've never been to, Abecedarius - which doesn't have a website; what's up with that? Depending on what time she's done - Friday traffic SUCKS in this town, and this shop is in the heart of the worst of it - hopefully we'll make it up there. If not, at least we'll get a bite to eat, and more importantly, have show & tell :) Maybe I'll even manage a picture or two, since I spaced the camera when I met Dr. Stephanie in May 8) Check back over the weekend to see if I defeat the CRS or not :)

Until then, happy stitching, everyone!

Another HOT Monday Update

It was already 80 when I walked out to my car at 7:10 this morning! I love heat, but man, this humidity is KILLING me! It's like breathing water out there! But hey, only 3 more months, then it will be nice out again!! The smog is doing wonders for my skin, too - can't keep it clean, and too much washing isn't going to help, either :(

The Big Kid got home at 5:30 this morning from 4 days in VA, playing (and losing) soccer. Kind of a long way to go to get beat 5 times on two different teams (he played up with the U17, as well as with his U16 - but come August, he'll be a U17, too). He also got at least one card out of the weekend; I haven't really talked to him much, since apparently he couldn't be bothered to call his old mom while he was up there, and we were both trying to cram in more sleep this morning. I'll get the rundown when I get home. Apparently, my son's kind of a hothead. No idea where that might come from...

Onto the stitching for the week. Well, since I finished Medieval Mini last week, the current lunch project is a freebie I found here: http://grillesdemaryse.canalblog.com/ a Halloween ornament :) I am going to assume that a Halloween piece will still fit under the Ornie Challenge guidelines - I was compelled to do this one ASAP! Here's where I left off last week:

We'll see how far I get on it this week, since I only have 3 1/2 days this week (4th of July, we get Friday off, and the boys have check-ups on Thursday, so I'm outta here early - which is purely coincidental). I do feel an ornie finishing day coming in August - they are starting to pile up!

My main project this week was MTM - the dreaded Part 5, which is a lot bigger than it looks! But as slow as Corner 2 was last time, even with the extra days I added to it after we got back from our Memorial Day weekend trip, I still couldn't get #2 done. Well, it was a lot quicker this time; I finished # 2, and went right into #3, and got it done yesterday around 4:00. I should have started #4, but I wanted to work on my RR some more, too, so I called it good where I was :) Here it is to date:
I LOVE THIS PROJECT!!! This really is my favoritest project ever - so far :) These colors really just blow me away all over again every time I look at it :) Is it silly to keep thinking that about something I've been working on for 1/2 a year already? Oh, well, too bad if it is - I can't help it :) We'll see if I'm singing this same tune after 2-3 sides of those buildings though... :)

As I mentioned earlier, I also worked on my RR piece, Natalie's Tanglewood. I took it to the local stitching meet on Saturday, and everyone was ogling over the threads :) I had it in a tiny set of Qs (I have all the bigger ones tied up somewhere, I guess), so you could only see the small area I was working on. I got the leaves caught up from where I left off last time, then worked the two small branches beside the peacock while at the meeting. Then yesterday, when I got that MTM corner done, and after we ate dinner, I worked on until bedtime, getting the peacock's branch outline, and a lot of the peacock himself outlined, too. I will get the branch filled in and finish the peacock before I send it on to Anita - may not get to the leaves on the branch, and likely won't get that last bit of sky done, either :) And yes, I still really want to work on mine, too, especially since it's in a completely different spot :)

This week, I will work on EGS, and hopefully make it not feel neglected, since I skipped it last month to work on MTM, thanks to Holiday Interruptus. I have another RR I need to work on and get it ready to go on, too, though I can't show that one until after it has been received :) Who knows what I'll actually work on, with a whole extra day off with nothing in particular planned? Heck, I might even work on one of the 3-4 bead things I have laying around :)

In other news, while I was at the stitch group Saturday, the ladies told me that the great shop up in the N. GA mountains, the Dogwood Patch that I have never had a chance to go to, is moving at the first of the coming year - to in between work & home!!!!! Boy, this is going to be dangerous!!!!!! Her online catalog isn't the greatest, she supposedly carries tons more than is shown - and the new place has more footage, so maybe I can talk her into some stuff :) Glorianas? RG Petite Treasure Braids? Carrie's maybe??? Stay tuned for updates as that develops....See a Walk In The Woods video here.

Just a note about Marc Davis...

If anyone has placed or is thinking about placing an order for one of Marc's designs thorugh his Needlemania site, please do not do so - his family cannot keep up with the requests coming in at this time, and are not accepting any more orders at this time, while they try to fulfill the ones already placed. You CAN get Marc's designs from numerous ONS's and anyone who uses Hoffman's - ABC Stitch Therapy, Wasatch, Nordic Needle, and countless others.

Monday - an Update

Well, where to begin this week? Of course, I'm sure everyone has heard by now of the death of Marc Davis. What a shock that was; I thought for sure we'd be hearing something about George one of these days, instead, but it just goes to show you just never know.... Marc will be missed - it's amazing to actually look at the number of designs he created in a short time, really, and that's not even going into all the things he inspired other to do - my Samplar 4 Saisons is a direct result of his influence, having seen his done in the multi color years ago when I first found his Sampler Life group. And then the design that really grabbed the imagination of so many of us, Fire Flower:

I have Jardin du Jour in the stash, and now really need to get Phoenix Rising to do as a companion to FF - but only once, I think :) What a talent! He will be missed.

On the day that we learned about Marc, I received a wonderful RAK, from that master of the RAK and friend & patron to USPS employees everywhere, Chris! She sent me two sets of the QSnap huggies she makes (which I was going to make for myself, some day) and the cutest card, complete with doggie confetti! She sent one for my 6" & 8" sets - one went immediately onto Medi Mini :) They are so nice (and so nice that I didn't have to frustrate myself trying to sew straight lines - Chris does beautiful work!!!) They will be much used! Thank you, my friend - a much-needed pick-me-up on Thursday....

I also received another beautiful RAK, this one from Lisa, a beautiful scissor fob, that needs a new pair of red-handled scissors to adorn :) I just so happen to have a 40% off coupon for Hobby Lobby this week...

Click for the original pic in my RAK album, so you can zoom in and see all the details on this!! The beads are gorgeous - Lisa really puts beautiful beads together!

I have a finish to report!! TW's Medieval Miniature is DONE!!!! I had all of the cross stitching done last week, leaving the 1/2-stitched castle and most of the backstitching to do, over the weekend, between running around, house duties, and dog walks, and got the beads on it yesterday (I ad-libbed the purple ones - there weren't enough, so I added a few more :) ). Glad to have this done - man, I hate backstitching over-1! I had to dig out some sharps to get to some of it - I snapped 2 of my tapestry petites! :( The pic doesn't show it off very well - the armor has an opal Kreinik in it, as does the water at the base of the castle (on the left side, over the horse's head), and there's a lot more BS in it than shows. But hey, I finished a TW, working primarily only on my lunch break, in under a year!!!

I have a small Halloween piece that I will do in place of this now, then will get D is for Dog done - then rekit the travel projects for the new soccer season starting in August :)

My main piece for the week was Lady & Unicorn, and though I did not get the top row of pages done, I did get a big chunk done, including 20-30 rows completed!!! I am well over 26K stitches, and if I have a good week next month, should get the top row done then; once I got out of the flag, it was nothing but confetti! I think I probably did somewhere between 800-1000 stitches this week, all told - they are so scattered, it was hard to get it figured up. Felt like that many, at any rate :) Again, I took an overall and a detail pic:

This week, I get MTM out again, and hopefully crank through the last of Part 5!! Who knows what else? We have Big Kid's signing day tomorrow, and since I managed to open my stupid mouth and volunteer for one of the asst. manager's spots, I don't know if I have to go to signing, or not. Last year was mismanaged beyond belief, but as I can't get the coach or the other manager involved, I'm not doing squat until told - it's no wonder it was such a cluster last year. At any rate, hopefully soccer stuff won't interrupt progress this week :)

Speaking of volunteering, 23 years ago this coming October 29th, I left Ohio for the great state of Texas, and USAF Basic Military Training. Hard to believe it's been that long! Anyway, some months ago, one of the other girls that was in my flight at Lackland AFB found me, though the Women's Memorial sight, and come to find out, she and one other live here in the Atlanta metro!! And they are in contact with a couple of others! So anyway, we arranged to get a few of us together this weekend - one was down from Maryland for the weekend, though one of the two that lives her wasn't able to make it. But after we finally all got together (big wreck, horrible traffic, I was 2 hours late), it was a good time!

Me, Sonia, & Devona, and then Devona's friend/relative (because I was so damn late, I was too frazzled to remember the introduction - forgive me my CRS). Not pictured: Sheila. Of course, we weren't Karen, Sonia, Devona & Sheila then, we were Williams, Nobles, Barber, and Strobert, from all walks of life. Hey, can you pick out the country bumpkin in this picture???? There are a couple of other old-timey pics here - I assume these aren't classified anymore, since this heap's been in the bone yard for a number of years...

Until next week, Happy Stitching, everyone!

A Late-Monday Update

Yeah, brilliant me - took the camera to work today, but not the cord! WooHoo! So had to wait all day until I could get home, get a couple of chores done or started, and now finally, cutting into my stitching time - so maybe I will be brief :)
The first project I will update is my TW Medi Mini, which I should have updated last week, too, but enough was enough last week :) I am on the downhill side on this piece, having gotten the horse & knight stitched, except the backstitching. Just have a little background in full over-1 crosses, then the castle in half-stitches, and finish up the bs.
Once I finish that, I have a quick Halloween ornie/small to do, and then I'm finishing D is for Dog. Then I will have to rekit my travel projects - I have an iris piece that ought to be portable, as well as two Arelate Studio pieces (RAKs from Mel) that might be portable, too - Best Friends is, Bunny Battle might have too much floss to contend with...

Second, I worked on Lyne's wedding sampler for a couple of hours, too, getting some of the miles of ribbon done going towards the doves, top left. This thing has a lot of color changes, but it really is pretty rhythmic. I feel like I'm making good progress on it, even though I've only done small bits - we'll see how it goes as I get to the big bits :)
My main project for last week was Foursome Reel #2, the over-1 piece on 36ct. Not too many frogs this time, and I decided to leave last rotation's frog in there. For whatever reason, I didn't feel the need to use my magnifier this time at all, and not using that thing allows me to go faster - not making myself walleyed is an advantage, I guess :) If I could have 2 more weeks like last week, it would be done, and I could start Anatolia! Because I am definitely taking a break from FR before starting #3 - give the frogs a chance to move out :) On the picture is a quarter, to give you the scale:

And lastly, two nights, I put Foursome down, and did some work on Chat Noir! I have about 2/3 of page 1 done, and a good jump on 2, but more importantly, I have a black cat ear :) Now, be warned - as of right now, the album for Chat is hosed (thanks to Multiply's upgrade, I bet), and the descriptions of the previous photos are there, but the pictures there are not the right ones - Easter exchange pics have morphed themselves onto the Chat pictures, and of course, two of the three that were hosed are on the computer at work. I will try to get them fixed tomorrow. I love upgrades. Really. I'm afraid to flip through and see what else got morphed, especially as who knows where some of the photos are? Anyway, here's Chat now:

Well, that's it for this week's update :) This week, I work on Lady & Unicorn, and really, really hope to get as close to getting the top row of pages done as possible, as this month marks my 3rd anniversary on it. With that in mind, it's anyone's guess as to whether I'll work on anything else this week, or not - depends on how the brain holds out, I guess :) Even if I don't quite finish that row, I won't feel too bad - I have to remember the few months I didn't actually work on it right after I started it (I blew my mind with the hugeness of the thing, then killed myself doing Christmas presents) - so in reality, I've really only worked on it, in rotation, for about 2 1/2 years. Which doesn't sound much better... Check back next week - hopefully earlier in the day - to see how close I come to the end of the row!! Until then, happy stitching everyone!!!

The New Dog

Okay, here's a couple of pics of the newest animal I get to take care of:
I can't tell you his name yet, because we haven't really decided yet; he was Huckleberry Hound (Huck) with his first family, and then his 2nd family named him another cartoon character, Augie Doggie. We've been through Forrest, Buster, Barney, back to Huck, and still haven't hit on it. Can't figure out what he is, either - possibly bassett hound and something BIG - he is taller than Sis, but SKINNY, except for his big giant head. He has a bassett bark.I HOPE he's not bassett & great dane, because man his feet are HUGE, and his legs are LONG. The original people that had to get rid of him said he was about the same age as Sis, who is a year and 8 months now - but this guy still has puppy teeth! OMG he's going to be freakin' huge! And dumber than a bag of hammers - but can sit better than Sis :)
And you'll notice the big brown spot under him there? He pukes big, too :(

A Monday Update

I think summer is in full force here; the woods are too thick to see through, mosquitoes are out in full force, and it has been freakin' hot (though we did have a few days of overcast, and actually got a bit of rain at our house). My red lilies are almost done, but the wild day lilies are blooming like crazy as are the cannas, many of which escaped their bed (more work for me to do in the fall - I HAVE to this year, soccer or not).

We went to Home Depot yesterday and bought a new butterfly bush to replace the one we pulled out a couple of months ago. We'll see how it does with the watering restrictions (though we are allowed to water new plants for 20 minutes for a week). Also got a few blanket flowers to put around the base of the lilies - hopefully they'll get established and stay around all summer... Trying to find drought-friendly plants is a hassle. But the fire ants are under control for the moment, so I guess I better make an effort....

On to the stitching. First off, I will have to edit this later as I have no idea where one of my pictures is - I got some more progress on Lyne's wedding sampler, but I didn't upload the photo to Multiply, for whatever reason. So I will do that when I get home tonight (assuming I really did save it).

I finished that DD Mermaid ornament that I started way back during HS soccer season; it's just been sitting there, totally untouched, for weeks, so I picked it up as soon as I got home Friday, and got all the cross stitch done. Then when Lucy got me up Saturday, before my eyes were even fully open, I picked it up and did the bs. That puts me up to 8, I think - I think a finishing day is in order (dependent on if I decide to enter into a fair this year or not). Here she is:
As Tanglewood has really been screaming at me lately, I decided to work on Natalie's Tanglewood on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, and picked up where Shawn left off. Man those branches go really quick, once you get into them - and now I realllllyyyyy want to work on mine! I will work down to the peacock, and hopefully get at least that much completed on Natalie's before it moves on :) Need to finish up the blue sky too, if I have time... Here is what I've done so far:

(click on the picture, which SHOULD take you to the RR album, and then go to the Previous pic, so you can see where I picked it up from Shawn)

My main focus piece for the week was Knotgarden, and I was really hoping to finish the whole right side - which I thought I would do last time, but for some reason, it went really slowly, and I only got it about 1/2 done. Well, I am happy to report that it went much quicker this time, and the entire right side is now complete, except for the few beads that go on the gate and in the grass between the pots. I even went over the first blackbird again, making him even darker - they are both pretty solid looking now :) Here's the overall:

And then a detail of just the gate:

I was so happy that I met my own goal, and with time to spare, that I put this away as soon as I got that bottom right topiary done last night (instead of working furiously to 10:00 to get as far as possible before having to go to bed), and got out Celtic Banner for a couple of hours! I might even work on it a bit tonight, before I get out this week's rotation, Foursome Reel. Here's the little bit of progress I made on Celtic:

As I said, this week is Foursome Reel, or more appropriately, Sampler Week. So I might even work on Samplar 4 Saisons, too, if the mood strikes me (or if my eyes are too shot to work on that 1-over-1 36ct :) ). I will be out of town over the weekend, again - my 16yo has a game in Cary, NC, and as I have family there, I am taking the 12yo up, and we'll go visit over the weekend and see the game, and come home Sunday evening or Monday morning. DH is staying home with his princess dog, and possibly another dog that he is trying to talk me into adopting. We'll see how that 2nd dog thing goes - he's a beagle mix, so another hound dog, and the two of them together will probably be much too smart for their own good. I needed another damn thing to take care of, though might as well do it now, while we know the carpet is trashed and the furniture has about had it. Someday, I'll have non-puppies and no cats, and new carpet & furniture without holes (though, in the furniture's defense, it was already wearing when we got it from my mom - surprised, really, the fabric lasted this long). Well, that's the news - I will edit this tonight to add Lyne's piece in, since I brain-farted that (I even got the lint roller out before I took the pic - Lucy's hair is like picking eyelashes off of stuff :( ) Happy stitching this week to everyone!!