25 Shopping Days Left - an Update

Speaking of shopping, I haven't done any. None. No one will tell me anything realistic. I hate shopping when I know what I want; this is ridiculous. Guess I better get going though, huh? If only everyone was as easy to shop for as I am...

Well, it was a great Thanksgiving weekend. Lots of food, and aside form the work to put the Christmas stuff up, the rest of the time off was used to it's fullest - I was much in need of some time off. Dogs were walked, lots of reading was done (staying up until 2 am a couple of nights with my book), some stitching here & there, and general lounging. I did have to venture out to Wally World on Sunday to restock some groceries, and I wasted 30 minutes driving to a Hancock Fabrics to check out their "needlework" section - that's the last time I'll ever go in there, and no wonder it's been years since the last time I was in there. Very disappointing. I have come to the conclusion that I could use a 4-day weekend about once a month - and since I don't often use my vacation time, I could actually swing one every so often. But, I don't often use my vacation time...

Well, since Multiply is moving, causing us to have issues with pictures, it's anyone's guess whether I'll be able to add pictures to this post or not - it might just be links to the albums, where some of the thumbnails are gone, but the pictures are still there, in some case. Sure hope it's all recovered when they are done....

I have a finish to report - Boo! Club is done!!! I finished it yesterday before dinner! Still not happy with the fabric, but it's still a great piece!


Now that I have that done, hopefully 6 Bats will get done in the next couple of months, so I can then worry about next year's Halloween pieces, Halloween Quaker & Murky Manor - which I really need a DMC sale for :)

I also did some more work on Knotgarden, though not as much as I had planned. I spent one night reading and never picked up a needle - can't remember the last time I did that. And then with all the holiday stuff going on and finishing up Boo, I think I only worked on Knotgarden for maybe 5-6 hours all week? But I got a piece of the next green corner started, before I decided to go work on the potted plants up on top for just a bit.


And that's it for last week - nothing over lunch (reading), and thought I'd get more done on my days off, but was outside while the weather was nice, with those goofy dogs. This week, I get out AD Samplar 4 Saisons, and will spend a little more time on Anita's RR - was supposed to send it home today, but I asked her if I could keep it another week. And I guess I better do some damn shopping in there, too, if the inspiration would just come to me.... Until next week, Happy Stitching, everyone!

An Almost Turkey Update :)

The 16yo has been waiting for Thanksgiving dinner for weeks now - maybe after I fill him up Thursday, he'll stop whining for a bit.Nah, probably not. In soccer news, regular season for both boys is OVER!! And they both closed with WINS! Big Kid has a tournament the weekend after next, then the month of December to prep for the Cocoa Expo on 12/27 - not looking forward to that drive :(



On to the stitching, since it's late in the day - once again, I had camera but no USB cord at work today :( Seem to be doing that more often.... Firstly, I got a skein of 3847 from Nancy, so I was able to finish up that motif on Anita's RR:


After I got that done, I decided to move to another area - so I went up to the top left, and did the large oval motif, and another crown:



After I got those done, I got out my focus piece for the week, EGS. I was kinda slow-moving on it the first couple of nights - just not in the mood for confetti, I guess, especially this with no actual object to look forward to appearing. But over the weekend, I got back in the groove - in time to put it up, of course.... A few hundred stitches - not a banner week, by any means.



The overall pic is here, if you are interested - looks a lot like it did last time...

And, after getting my goodies to kit up Halloween Quaker, I figured I'd better get cracking on finishing the current Halloween projects, so I did two more blocks on Boo!



The overall pic is here - only 2 more to go, and candy along the bottom, and then I can concentrate on getting 6 Bats done, too!!

No update on a travel project this week - it's a secret :) This week, back to Knotgarden, and who knows what else? Hoping to get some quality time in between cooking and Christmas decorating, and I guess I need to get off my butt and get started (and finished?) with the Christmas shopping. I just hate shopping. Too many people on my list that are too hard to buy for. I'm the easiest :) My local stitching group is meeting Saturday, so I'm really looking forward to that - get to take my finished MMM03 for show & tell, and I'm going to take L&U with me, so they learn the true depth of my insanity :) Saturday is also my dad's 80th birthday; I would have liked to have gone up, but with that trip to FL in December for the tourney, I can't afford to do both - and right now, getting my son seen by college recruiters is my priority. Hopefully he'll be around for a phone call, and I might get his card in the mail in time, too...

Until next week, happy stitching everyone, and everyone here in the US, have a great Thanksgiving!

A Small Monday Update

No, really - it's pretty small, because I only took pictures of two of the things I worked on this week :) One thing can be shown until late in December, and my lunch project & Lyne's wedding sampler don't have enough progress to warrant pictures.

But I did finish Part 6 of Medieval Town Mandala!!!!! It took concerted effort, but I got it done, with time to spare - a whole hour and a half!


And here's the overall:


I also did a bit on Anita's Wiehenburg sampler, continuing the motif I started last time - until I ran out of the thread! I went to 3 different stores to get a new skein of 3847 - and no one has it. They don't even have the space for it in the DMC display. I don't get it. Why do they skip this number or that number? BUT, I sent an APB out over text, and have a skein coming from Nancy in MI - it's sad to have to go across the country to find the stuff. But then I remembered that I had to order this particular number from an ONS when I was kitting up World Tree because I couldn't find it then, either... I thought for sure I'd have plenty to finish the motif I had started - but I was wrong. So hopefully the lots will match when the other one gets here, or I'll be doing some frogging - but maybe only the middle sections, depending on how different they are.... Here's where I ran out:


I did work on Lyne's piece one night before getting MTM out, and I worked on my lunch project, but only one day - I was too busy reading this past week at lunch, finishing up Pillars of the Earth, and then starting Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, which I can hardly put down! Don't know if I'll stitch or read at lunch this week, either.

This week, back to English Garden Sampler, and see if I can get to that peacock - though I probably ought to go back to the top and work right. Don't know. I'll see what calls me when I get it out :) I still need to finish the bs in the top border, to, before I forget and think it's done... Other than that, not a lot going on this week - trying to get up the energy to get Christmas shopping - I'd like to get it over with, soon.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes & gifts on Friday! It was a nice, quiet day! I got a few goodies, and have used some gift vouchers to order some more lovely silk & linen from HDF - I'll be sure to post a pic of those when they arrive :) Desert will be kitted, except for the last couple of PTBs, and a final decision on fabric - I threw a piece of Lambswool jobelan in there because I had it, but I still am thinking about Desert Sky from Silkweaver. BUT, I need to pick a fabric for Tuscany before I worry about Desert. And I don't need to worry about Tuscany until after Secret Victorian Garden gets started :) Also in the HDF order, the conversion I'm going to use for Quaker Halloween :) DH also got me a TomTom GPS unit, so if I get lost, I can blame it on the machine :) That will be much used, especially in Florida in December when we are at the tournament.

Well, that's the news. Happy Stitching this week to everyone - and watch out for spammers!

Veterans Day 2009

To those who served, and to those who are serving, thank you.

A Veteran’s Day PrayerDear Lord,
Today we honor our veterans,
worthy men and women
who gave their best
when they were called upon
to serve and protect their country.
We pray that you will bless them, Lord,
for their unselfish service
in the continual struggle
to preserve our freedoms, our safety,
and our country’s heritage, for all of us.
Bless them abundantly
for the hardships they faced,
for the sacrifices they made
for their many different contributions
to America’s victories
over tyranny and oppression.
We respect them, we thank them,
we honor them, we are proud of them,
and we pray that you will watch over
these special people
and bless them with peace and happiness.
In Jesus’ name we pray; Amen.By Joanna Fuchs

Another Monday Update

Well, we seem to be having October, now that it's November :) We've had blue skies and near-80 temps for the last few days - it's been wonderful! The longer we can stretch out fall, the better :) It's cloudy today, so I assume rain is coming again, but this weekend was awesome - if I'd been facing the sun during yesterday's game, I would have come home fried. And I won't go into yesterday's game - suffice it to say it was a travesty of epic proportions. I don't know how some people sleep at night....

Well, it was a very busy week - I had a 50th Birthday thing to throw at work on Thursday, so Tuesday had me driving around looking for decorations - apparently 50 has been popular lately, it was slim pickings. Wednesday had me baking a cake - lemon with black icing, of course :) The birthday girl moved into a cubicle not too long ago (which sucks), so not having a ceiling I could get to limited the decorating options somewhat - so I made up with confetti :) Ahh, she needed a new keyboard, anyway :)


Friday night, me and the 16yo worked a concession stand at the local arena, to raise $$$ for his high school soccer team. It was a hockey game, but it wasn't a large turnout, so it may not have been worth the time, but we'll see. I guess anything towards his player fee is better than nothing - na d let's face it, the kid needs to understand what "work" is. He was our fry cook in the Philly Cheesesteak place, while we actually had an arena cook making the actual sandwiches - I don't really ever want to prepare food like that if I can help it. I was ill enough smelling fried pickles for 4 hours.... But the home team won - 4-1, I think it was (we aren't allowed out there to see the score), so a relatively easy night :)

The nights I wasn't baking or running a cash register, I did get in some stitching. I didn't take any stitching to games over the weekend, as I have Pillars of the Earth due back to the library today, and was trying to finish that up - I have 23 pages to go at lunch today :) hopefully my hold of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies will be ready today, so I can start that tonight. Anyway, I got the black cat done on my lunch project, Purrfect Summer Day, and started on the background - I figured I needed to do it in bits, so I don't lose my mind. Here they are:

I also worked on Lyne's wedding piece for a few hours; I got lots of ribbon filled in, added more to the first dove and did more of that backstitching on the wing. I may work on it more this week, since i have less going on in the evenings this week.

And my main piece this week was SQ Lady & unicorn, which only got about 5-6 hours of attention on it, after all was said & done. But I did finish the lamb, got the tree trunk more filled in, and more red! I would have done more on this or Lyne's, except Australia was on On Demand yesterday; you know, Hugh Jackman. I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away for stitching when he was on screen...? Especially the water scene there near the beginning when that wet rag Nicole Kidman is traveling to her place with him - if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about :) Anyway, back to L&U - here's where I left it last night:

And that's all I was able to jam in this past week :(

Sorry - can't seem to let it go - and amazingly, they didn't release any photos from that scene - what's up with that?

This week, back to MTM - I ought to be able to finish up Part 6, unless life conspires against me. Big Kid has no games this weekend, but Little Kid does. We'll see how that works out. Wednesday is Veteran's Day - we'll have a catered breakfast at work :) I'm hoping the great weather holds out - I've been relatively headache-free for a couple of weeks now! And I'm loving the time change!! Until next week, Happy Stitching, everyone!!

If you are reading this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading this in English, thank a Veteran.

A Standard Time Update

Ahhh, back on real time, and all is right with the world. Okay, the world is currently hosed, but my internal clock is MUCH better! Nothing like getting my hour back! I really wish that Daylight Savings didn't affect me so much - but it does, so what can I do? Even more motivation to get to AZ, where they just didn't buy into it :) In other news, fall is very definitely here, about a month early. And thanks to the rain we've had, we actually have fall colors to look at, instead of trees going all crispy critter and dropping leaves in July & August.


I took over 200 pictures yesterday, while waiting for a late-afternoon game to start. You can see the keepers here.

On to the stitching bits :) First, since I started a Boo block at my stitching group on Saturday, I wanted to finish that up on Monday. Which I did. Then I was compelled to start the next one, which also got finished :)


The two blocks I finished.

Then the overall - 8 of 12 done - now that it's November and Halloween is past...


I also made some sporadic progress on my lunch/travel project, Purrfect Summer Day. I only had a couple of lunches in my office, so didn't get the black kitty done like I thought I would - but he might get done today :)

I received the next piece in my Round Robin, Anita's Wiehenberg sampler, in the turquoise color scheme. WOW is this thing pretty!!! I had to put stitches in it as soon as I got it out! So I did - a small motif done next to the dark crown, and then a start on a large one to the right:


My main piece this week was AD Samplar 4 Saisons. I got all the way across on Spring, so now have to work down and to the tree. The first page is complete, except I think 5 stitches , and a good chunk of 2 & 6 (right & down). And, good for me, I DIDN'T leave the X out - I think I actually got ALL of the letters in the alphabet this time :)

On Halloween, we didn't really have anything going on - we haven't given out candy for a few years, because no one comes to our subdivision, except on a last call on the way home from the subdivisions where all the rich folks live :) Including the smart-ass teenagers that were pounding on the door (after very quietly getting onto the porch) at 10:30. Yeah, funny; there's nothing more hilarious than two dogs losing their f&^%ing mids because soemone has the balls to be knocking on their door at night - and they didn't hear them coming up the steps, either time. Anyway, I decided to get out 6 Bats in honor of the day - and I got past the frog attack! Again, another one with progress, now that it's November...

This picture shows the fabric color pretty good :) Still hating that WDW, but I am about 1/2 done, so I imagine I'll live :)

This week, back to Lady & Unicorn. I need to get Lyne's sampler out and work on it, too - it seems to be a good compliment to L&U, for some reason - lots of color changes, but no blends and way easier :) Who knows what else I'll work on - I lose Friday night to working at the local arena to raise funds for my son's soccer, and I think games Saturday & Sunday both again. I'm not expecting a banner week on L&U - but you just never know... Until next week, happy stitching everyone!

Halloween Funnies

A Halloween RAK - from Trish!!!

Many, many thanks to Trish, who suggested that I could do a second Boo!, since I'm still not entirely happy with the fabric I got :) Today I received a large envelope with not one, but TWO gorgeous pieces of purple fabric, and a bunch of wonderful Carrie's Threads - a Lucky 13 set of Halloween goodies!

Such pretty colors!!! Now I'm wondering what Murky Manor would look like on that solo? Oh, so many ideas, so little time!!! Thank you again, Trish!! I can't believe someone giving up TWO pieces of purple fabric :)

The End of October? An Update

Where did this month go? I can't believe this is the last week already! Days are just flying by, way too fast! The fact that it feels like late November here doesn't help - the leaves are already changing, which is really unusual for here - but since we've also had rain, there are some beautiful colors out there! I might even get a chance to get some pictures of them! I am looking forward to the coming time change - we'll see what an extra hour over the weekend will help me get accomplished :)


On to the stitching! You might've seen my finish last week of the small Halloween travel project, Ghosties & Ghoulies. Well, Friday night, I made it and that other little Halloween project into pinkeeps! It took a trip to JoAnns and to a Wal Mart that still has fabric to find backing fabrics and ribbons, and I couldn't find any Halloween/Fall straight pins, so I dug into the beads and made my own :) These were pretty easy - and I laced them instead of going all crazy with the glue :) The front of the first one:

The back:


I want more of this fabric from Walmart - they have a couple of jelly rolls of it, to make a strip quilt - don't know if I can manage that or not, and knowing my luck, they'll be gone anyway.

Here's the 2nd one:


Now - to get something to display these in! I need something that is glass/covered, so I'll be on the lookout when I'm in Hobby Lobby next, with all that great glass stuff they have :) If I can do some for every season, then it can stay out on the table in the living room (that currently is holding the frame for my finished RR piece that I need to get done, too).

And, I have another finish to report - instead of working on Knotgarden this week, when I was home resting on Monday, I decided to get Chatelaine MMM03 out for a bit - and kept it out all week! I got it DONE last night!!!! My first Chatelaine finish ever!!! I do not want to stitch TG Camouflage on black fabric ever again - holy crap that was hard! But it's done, it's awesome, and the picture isn't great, but as good as I can get of a project on black at 10:00 at night :)


If I had known there was only a week's worth of work left, I should've pulled it out a long time ago! And I would really like to send it to Jill Rensel to at least mat - this might be the only one I can afford to have her do :) I did tell DH that sending this to Utah would be a nice anniversary gift in January...

I went to my local stitching group on Saturday, and took Boo! with me. I got the next block about half-way done, and plan to finish that up tonight before dinner:


I also picked up Purrfect Summer Day again, but nothing photo worthy, as I did the white parts of the next cat :) Should have a black cat by the end of this week. I didn't work on Jodie's RR again, like I figured I wouldn't. I will be sending that on to Anita today - I know she will enjoy working on it as much as I did! And I will be looking forward to the next one I get, which I think is Anita's Wiehenberg sampler! I did receive my Cecilia's order from the Online Needlework Show, too - two Ink Circles and that Quaker Halloween from Cherished Stitches - I have an order coming from Vikki Clayton, too, that includes a LOT of purple sample tags for the Quaker :)

This week is Sampler Week; I will work on AD Samplar 4 Saisons, I know, and one or both of my Halloween projects. Nothing else really planned, so check back next week to see how that goes :) I'd like to crank through Spring on Saisons - looking at the pages of the chart, it looks like a lot to go, but looking at the finished thing, it doesn't look like that much. So maybe I can get it done this week, maybe not - I have no idea, really. Everyone have a great - and safe - Halloween, and Happy Stitching!

A Small Finish :)

I had all but "Halloween" done after lunch today, so as soon as I got home and got a couple of things done, I sat down to finish Ghoulies :) Not shown: a picture of the glow-in-the-dark moon and creepy face on the tree - no way my camera will pick that up... This is smaller than that little Foursome Reel piece :) I think it will also be a pinkeep, if I can find a good fabric for it...

This freebie can be found on the Free Charts tab of : http://www.darksideofthemoon.com.au/index.php?p=1_1

A Puny Monday Update

Hi, everyone! This week's update is puny because I've been feeling puny since last Thursday, when I came home from work just exhausted and with a killer headache that didn't let up until Sunday. I thought I might be getting the flu, but it never got that bad, so I guess I either had some other bug, or just really burnt myself out with all the running and doing I've been doing the last few weeks. I'm home today, laying around (in between loads of laundry - a kid cleaned his room yesterday, so now I have 3 more loads :( ). I was sleeping pretty good until Dumb Dog thought I ought to get up:

On to the week's stitching. First, I have to report a major frog infestation, all due to my inability to count. I got home late on Monday (after attending arena concession stand training for fundraising - yay me), and decided to pick up 6 Bats, because it's quick & easy. Did a few blocks, went to bed. Got it back out Tuesday before dinner, and I finally decided to realize that my entire 2nd column was 1 stitch too wide. I counted and counted and counted as I was doing the borders - and still hosed it up! DAMMIT!!! And because there is a border of eyelets all around, I kinda had to make it right - no way to fudge those eyelets and make it look right. So Tuesday, I started ripping it out. And because it is that horrible WDW thread, I couldn't save even an inch of the stuff. I WILL NEVER USE WDW AGAIN. I love their colors, but boy is their thread crap! Anyway, I re-stitched part of what I took out on Wednesday, though didn't get it back to where it was, quite.

This is what it looked like before - and now I see the miscount pretty plainly. You know how it is, being so close to it... Bloody nuisance frogs....

I am pretty close to finishing my Halloween lunch project, hopefully this week, if I don't take a nap for lunch instead. I got the words done last week and started on the tree. I also modified the bats in a way I can live with - it'll probably look like a blob in the photos, but up close, I think it looks pretty bat-like, unlike the way it was originally drawn. If I can get the tree done, then I just have the moon - I'm going to use Kreinik GITD for it - then 1 more bat, and it's done, too! Then I need to make it and that other Halloween freebie I did into pinkeeps. I can't find any cool pins around here, so I'll have to raid the beads and make my own, I guess.

I also worked a little bit on Jodie's RR - got that 2nd bird done, the tray over to the next bird, and about 1/2 of that bird done, too. I don't know if I'll work on it any more before shipping it on to Anita, or not - we'll see how this week pans out... I just can't wait for this to get home to Jodie, so she can get it framed and have it hanging - it's such a neat design! I'm glad I got to work on it!! Ignore the wrinkles - I took it right out of the Qs,a nd flattened it out best I could, and took the pics:



My main piece this week, if I hadn't had to fend off frogs for multiple nights, was supposed to be English Garden Sampler. I was able to stay awake long enough Saturday night and yesterday to get a little bit done on it, though, of course, not as much as I had planned to do this week. But I am inching closer to that first peacock :) Whole lotta green in this fountain scene...

The overall is here. Not a huge difference since last time - but since I didn't touch it last month at all, in my efforts to get fair stuff done, any stitch is better than none.

This week, back to Knotgarden, and I assume probably one Halloween project or another. I am hoping my charts from the Needlework Show arrive this week - I know Tracy was shipping stuff out last week, so Hopefully Cecilia's was one of the shippees :) I need to get that Quaker Halloween kitted up for next year - with some of Vikki's purples & black, of course :) And I want to get Murky Manor kitted, too - I've seen a recent WIP (since Chris hasn't worked on hers lately *hint*hint*) and I really want that to be next year's project :) I have a piece of Thunderstorm from Silkweaver that I need to see if it is big enough - I think that might work! Maybe I'll have the energy to do that later today :) Well, that's the news! Until next week, stay well and Happy Stitching!

Jeez - Another Soggy Monday Update

It is raining puppies & kitties out there, again. It has been pouring since before I got out of bed this morning - and I am on Week 4 of the barometer headache. Getting to work this morning sucked beyond belief - hydroplaned half the way, got blown off the road by idiots the rest of the time :( Git behind someone who slammed on their brakes every 2 seconds - and they had 1000 yards between them and the car in front of them. Being behind this clown caused at least 3 people in trucks to tailgate, one of them so close I couldn't see his headlights at all. God people are assholes...

Well, as far as this week's update, there's not a whole lot, again. The last couple of weeks have been chaotic, and this week will be, too :( But I did get some progress on my main piece for the week, Medieval Town Mandala. I thought I would make great progress and get that top row of buildings done; no such luck. I spent the entire week on that middle building and surroundings, and still didn't quite finish it.

I also have the Overall picture, and a Detail of just this building. Man, that backstitching up on that green roof was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, though I figured out, for the next side, to do the zigzags across, then the vertical lines. If I remember that when I get there.

I also did a little bit more time on Jodie's RR - I want to get another bird done and the tray over to the next one before I send it on. I should have time, between now & the 26th mailing date. I do almost have the bird done, just a couple more colors to go, and the tray should be pretty easy.


And I also did another block on Boo! - I could have kept going on it, but I was trying to get as much of that row of buildings done as possible - and did want to put a few minutes into a couple other things that I just didn't have time for. Here's Boo! - gotta get those buttons on the critters soon, because all these eyeless critters are kind of weirding me out:


I did do a tiny bit on my Halloween travel project, but nothing worth a picture. I only got an actual lunch break once last week, with all the running around and time I spent doing some non-work stuff (shopping the online needlework show, for instance). I did buy a few things from the ONS - two Ink Circles, Mother Maya & Kentucky Chain quilt square, and then the A Quaker Halloween by Cherished Stitches - I got these with my fair winnings :)

This week, I have to go to training to work a concession stand at another arena, for fund raising for my 16yo's high school soccer team. We have an event Friday night, which I am really dreading - a Hispanic concert, where the concessions will be 98% alcohol. Yay me. But hey, if we do well, maybe I'll be about done with this crap - we are 1/2 way to our individual goal already, and when we hit it, we are done - the rest of the people who don't have time are on their own. Also have opening night at the Gwinnett Gladiators Saturday! My company is springing for tickets & dinner for that! But somewhere in there, I am supposed to work on English Garden Sampler, and who knows what else, if anything. Until next week, Happy Stitching to everyone!