Alan Rickman, You're My Hero - An Update

Not only would I LOVE to hear Alan Rickman read, oh, the phone book, but wow, between Colonel Brandon and Severus Snape - not to mention the scads of other characters he's played, good guy or bad - and the reading of sonnets, could you want anything more?


Yes, I saw the final Harry Potter movie - and yes, I DID read the book, the week it came out. Wow. What a FABULOUS finish, and the whole things with Snape - very, very well done. Yes, I cried the WHOLE TIME, which was very amusing to the 18yo who went with me. I am pretty sure I am going to have to go see it again - waiting for the BlueRay just isn't going to cut it. What a great adventure it has been, watching these kids all grow up during the course of these movies. What great books - she's got to come up with something else, there can't just be nothing more, ever. BTW, I always knew Neville was going to be bad-ass :)


Okay, well then... The UPDATE part of this post is next. First up, picking up where I left off last week on my Mill Hill Halloween piece - Midnight Farm was completed on Thursday night. I got the last of the stitching done on Monday, then spent Wednesday & Thursday doing the beads (Tuesday was out - Band Parent meeting - zzzzz). Because, it would seem, I can bead faster than I stitch, which I don't get, but there you are. I wish my camera was good for night/low light things, because the GITD Kreinik in this is AWESOME - the Farm easily has twice as much as the Library did. Here is just the Farm:


And then the overall - Boo House will go to the right of the Library there:


I was slightly tempted to just go on over to the right and do the House - I could have this done in under 2 weeks, easy. But then I wouldn't have anything to look forward to, so I put it away. Must. Have. More. Bead. Projects....

One day last week, I actually TOOK LUNCH, and got Tanglewood out; okay, I only had it out for about 10 minutes, but I did make an effort (I've spent most of my lunch time the last couple of weeks writing instead - slogging through War & Peace seems to encourage me to write something that is READABLE and WITH A POINT). And then we had our July meeting of PINS, so I took it there and continued working on it. And worked on it through the rest of the weekend, and plan to work on it tonight. I got the Peacock done, again! (I did him on Natalie's RR, too - and yes, it did go pretty quick this time - see here and here).


And here is another one that I am pretty sure I could have done in under 2 weeks if I kept it on the floor stand. I seem to have a few of those that are 2 weeks to a month of concentrated effort to finish - while others are getting dustier and dustier (L&U anyone?).

So, Tanglewood will see some more this week, and I really need to get those damn chickens done - another one I could have done in under 2 weeks, if I could just work on it until it was done. We have a new spot for our Tuesday night stitch in - IHOP! So Tanglewood may go there tomorrow, too, or I may drag along Mary or the chickens - don't know yet. REALLY need to get past the hump on Knotgarden - but I'm just not feeling it. So who knows what'll actually grab me this week?


Speaking of Tolstoy, I had to take the 18yo to the book store - those paychecks are just burning holes in his pockets. While there, I picked up This Is Gonna Hurt, by Nikki Sixx - who's Heroin Diaries was a completely unexpected FABULOUS read. You know, I don't know what it is about him, but I would really like to pick his brain in person. We come from two completely different walks of life, but his writing just really clicks with me, for some reason. So I've given War & Peace a temporary hiatus while I rip through this new book, and need to download the accompanying music soon. I can't believe I have 2 books going at the same time (3, if you count the Tudor History book that I pick up from time to time, when I need a little fix). I used to only stitch on one project at a time, too, you know... But I KNOW Hurt will be done this week; War & Peace I don't think will EVER end :(


Happy stitching - and/or reading - this week to everyone! Enjoy that heat - it'll be freakin' winter soon enough :(

And People Think I'M WORDY??

This paragraph, taken from War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy, Modern Library Paperback Edition, 2002:
"The Rostovs' son-in-law, Berg, was by now a colonel, with the orders of Vladimir and Anne on his neck, and was still filling the same comfortable and agreeable post of assistant to the head of the staff of the assistant of the chief officer of the staff of the commander of the left flank of the infantry of the first army."


Huh? Soooooo, he was a staff grunt, basically, despite his rank and commendations? And THAT, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, coupled with the fact that every one has AT LEAST 4 different names, is why this stupid book is twice as long as it ought to be... Will I ever finish it, now that I am over the 1000-page mark? Will I ever care one iota about any single part of it? That remains to be seen. Check back in another month or so...

If Multiply decides to cooperate today, these pics OUGHT to be clickable to take you to the All-Knowing Wikipedia :) If they DON'T, well, then, I can't help you - I tried...

Band Camp - An Update

The Freshman starts his first Band Camp today; only half days this week, but then, next week, 12 hour days!!! Hope he can stand it. I have to miss tomorrow's stitch night because I have to go to a band meeting - I am NOT volunteering for ANYTHING, not for the foreseeable future, at any rate; I have way too much going on at work for the next few months to even think about reserving brain cells for adding a whole new set of responsibilities...


In other news, a slightly more productive stitch week than last week - I finished a branch of Tanglewood at Donna's house on Tuesday. If I switch over to the other side and get the Peacock branch going and/or done, there isn't that much left to do. IF I put this on the floor stand, I bet I could have it done in a couple of weeks...


I was actually rooting in the drawer for... some other project on Monday night, needing to put Knotgarden down until the frogs go away. I think I had intended to bring out Iris Fairy - but then that pesky Mill Hill Halloween project jumped right into my hand - do you believe that??? It did, I swear. And so Midnight Farm is about 100 stitches from putting beads on :)


Can I just say that the GITD #4 Kreinik is not very consistent? The regular #4 metallics lay much better than this GITD stuff - in order to pull it tight enough to get it where it's supposed to be to make a pretty X, it distorts the fabric. The GITD BF I have used behaves more like #4 metallics, actually. The third design I picked, Boo House, has NO GITD - so you know I will have to add some. Now - do I use the stuff left over from these two kits, for consistency's sake, or do I find my GITD BF and use it instead? I guess that depends on how much I have leftover from the 2 kits and how much I decide to add :) Midnight Farm has a LOT of the glow, compared to the Haunted Library.


I have another finish-finish, but I can't show it yet, as it is a gift - and I haven't even gotten it ready to mail yet, let alone actually mailed it - so look for that... sometime later. This week, I know I will be continuing on Midnight Farm - I have been DYING to get some beads onto something, so too close not not to. Then I really need to get back to Knotgarden - the frog in it really makes me mad, and I want to get past it and get that damn side DONE. And then I have that 4th corner to do - which might be a nice break after completing 2 gates back to back. Maybe. It's just so... green. Which ordinarily I don't mind, but wow, enough already! And can I just mention that the drawer of kits KNOWS I have been finishing things, and it also knows that I have several other things >this close< to being done? The drawer would like me to Hurry The Hell Up and get them done, it's getting crowded in there, and new things WANT to be started!!!! Ah, well, what else is new? LOL

(my lilies are now all gone - and now there's nothing out there :( )

Happy stitching this week to everyone!!

The Next Round - an Update

The next round, as in, the US Women's Soccer team made it through to the next round of the World Cup, after getting screwed REPEATEDLY by poor reffing against Brazil, and STILL managing to pull out the win!!! It took 120+ minutes, and all came down to PKs, and one great save by Hope Solo - though Abby Wambach's fabulous header at the last possible moment was pretty spectacular, too! Not to bore you with details, you can read & see video here if you want :)

 
Now we just need to pull out all the stops and beat France - that bogus send-off [Buehler? Buehler?] hopefully won't factor into it, and hopefully Wambach & Rapinoe can get 'em in the net!

And really, that's about the highlight of the week. For various and sundry reasons, there was not a lot of stitching, despite having Monday & Tuesday off. I was on the phone an inordinate amount of time this week - suffice it to say, since I am NOT a phone person, it made me a little bit cranky :(

 
(geddit - cranky, storm clouds? Because I'm stormy when I'm cranky? Not funny? Well, :b~~~~~~~~~~~)

On Tuesday, I went to a stitch in, and I worked on Tanglewood. I got a whole branch outlined, and then *gasp* got part of it filled in! Yes, at the SAME stitch in! Weird, huh? THAT'S how you can tell I'm getting down to the nitty gritty on Tanglewood, the branches are getting smaller :)



Gotta move over to the other side as soon as I get this branch done, though, if I am not mistaken, when I worked on Natalie's for our RR a couple years ago, I went over the top and down the right to get to the peacock - so we'll see which way I actually go when I get that far :)

The only other thing I touched was Knotgarden. Now, for anyone who's done a big mandala, I think we can all agree the repetition is the killer. I would just like to state for the record that I am NOT impressed that this thing is kicking and screaming the closer I get to the end. The inner yellow border with the green eyelets, it turns out, is harboring frogs. GGAAHHHHH!!!! I won't even mention that it's the wrong damn color, or it was before I played a little trick on it with one strand of the right color. Good thing I got some of the gate in so I can see the mistakes :( I don't want to put it down - but I really want to put it down for a bit, you know what I mean? Considering I didn't stitch Monday, Thursday, or Saturday nights at all, it's not like I slaved away over it - and maybe that's it, maybe it's mad at me for ignoring it. Well, too bad! Here is where I got on the gate (that middle topiary, not shown, IS also completed now):



So, for the week, not much to show for it - other than a huge deficit in my cell minutes. As for this week? Well, I just don't know yet. I am reallllyyyy tempted to get Rainforest Crunch out and at least try a few stitches in it, to see if the 18ct linen I got is going to work for me, or if I am going to be unhappy with it unless I do it on canvas. I really don't want any more WIPs, but yet - I want to start EVERYTHING I have kitted - which, when my Carrie's Thread's get here from Karen at Wasatch, will now also include FWD's Eclipse and also IC Mother Maya. Just for the record, that brings my Kitted up to easily DOUBLE my WIPs, maybe even TRIPLE - so you see, I could really just go off the deep end, if I so choose :) Good thing I am literally out of space to keep any more WIPs, and that's with two of the bigger ones still out traveling!

All of which means - check back next week to see what I actually worked on - because as of this minute, your guess is as good as mine :) Happy Stitching this week to everyone!

An Independence Day (Night) Update

(yes, that is a praying mantis and a flag. If you had a praying mantis hanging out by your front door all afternoon, wouldn't you take a couple of pics, too? :) )

We've had fireworks going night after night after night - and I've had a cowering dog living at the end of the hall like it's a bomb shelter. Dummy, of course, could care less - I'm sure if a bottle rocket or Roman candle came near him, he'd do his best to catch it. Dummy - he's such a bonehead...

(if you go HERE and flip through the pictures quickly using the Next button, you can see his ears move - and/or a thought forming)

In this week's stitching, I had a new start on Monday, which I finished on Friday, and actually also have the stuff to finish-finish it, too :) Out of that JE Southwest leaflet that Sue V. sent to me, I was compelled to kit up several of those on ice blue Monaco, and well, you know me, since I had them ready to go, well, I caved and started the Dream Catcher. BUT - it wasn't the only thing I worked on, so I didn't entirely throw out my plans for the week, just modified them slightly :)


I added the silver feather charms and added a few little nuggets of turquoise that I had in the old bead drawer :) I do wish that I had done the backstitch in 3371 instead of 310 - that black is too harsh, IMO. I'll take myself under consideration when I do the next one :)

Now, getting back to what I had PLANNED to do last week - I did finally finish Part 1 of the WTN&T Birds of a Feather Mystery SAL - and got a few stitches in on Part 2 (since, you know, Part 3 is due to be released the end of this week). I just have to say that the red used in the border flowers still just blows me away - it's so rich! And somewhere in Part 3 is a similar red, WDW Brick - can't wait to see what that gets used for...


And lastly, I DID get Knotgarden back out finally on Saturday. Sunday saw no stitching at all, but I did continue on it today, and turned that corner to begin Repeat # 3. All of Saturday, I worked on the yellow border (I really don't like that color, BTW), the eyelets inside it, and then the Rhodes in the inner border down to the halfway mark, and got the 3 topiary pots done. Today, when I was finally able to sit down to stitch, I got the 3 topiaries almost done. I'll keep this out this week and see if I can get a good chunk of the 3rd gate done, though I may have to stop and go do that bottom corner first - I don't think I used the inner stitching for placement of the outer bits much, so I might be able to get the gate in without stopping to do that 4th sea of green...?

(yes, it's wrinkly - if you were a WIP as long as this has been a WIP, you'd be wrinkly, too)

Other than that, I have no definite plans for stitching this week. Since tomorrow is my last day of vacation, I am planning to head to the Stitch Store sometime in the afternoon for the Tuesday stitch in, then back to the grind on Wednesday. We have a big project starting next week - replacing the interface between our two operating systems; but before we can do that, we have to fix a SHITLOAD of data errors that occurred because of the current interface - 7 years worth of errors :( Fortunately, we're getting a couple of warm bodies in to help - data entry is not really my forte, my brain has more repetitive motion injuries than any other part of me - and Oracle is one unforgiving PoS system. So, looking forward to the next couple of months, expect to be freaking SLAMMED, so I'll be wearing my IT hat AND my engineering hat AND my gov't deliverable hat all at the same time! Can you hear my hair going ALL grey??? Of course, I may be pulling it all out in a week or two, so the color may be irrelevant :) :(

(another great post-storm sunset. It's colors like these that remind me of New Mexico - if only there wasn't so much green...)

That's the news that may or may not be fit to print - happy stitching this week to everyone!

An Official Summer Update

As opposed to the Summer Eve update of last week :) And wow, was this first week of summer SLAMMING - and no slowdown in sight, work-wise and home-wise. We have, though, continued to get some of the much needed rain, with thunderstorms rolling through every day but one; because of our location in the foothills of the mountains, systems going through either miss us entirely, or get stuck over us; we've been fortunate to be on the "tour" this year.

(Storm clouds building up)

So as predicted last Monday, I finished Purrfect Summer Day on Monday night :) Tuesday, I went to the Stitch In at the Stitch Store - yes, 2 weeks in a row! It was a full house! I was going to work on Tanglewood, and did, for about 30 minutes, but then I put it away and worked on last week's impulse start, Hocus Pocus. And that was finished on Wednesday night :)

(I did iron this before I took the pic - the stupid hoop left a shiny ring around it :( )

Thursday, I did some more work on Birds of a Feather - the 2nd part is out, so I really need to get Part 1 done, and am a flower and a half away - but I didn't take a picture of it, so you'll just have to take my word for it :) I will take a pic when I get the part done - which should be this week... Here's this instead:

 
(Monkey & Dummy keeping an eye out for the boxer next door)

Saturday, we had our June PINS get together, and as usual, a good time was had by all! We were short several people, for various reasons, but still a great, albeit short, afternoon. If you look at the window valances in this photo, you'll see why I'm doing the Hen & Rooster piece for our meeting spot :)

 
(Pictured from the left, going around - Jean, Jackie, Jean (you can't really see her), Kris, Donna, Diane, Liz, Judy, Me (if I'd NOT Been taking surprise pictures), Marty (who you also can't see - just like her sister Jean across the table there), and then Kristine) Everyone wants pictures, so here ya go :)

So anyway, while there, I worked on Tanglewood and finished the branch I had been working on. Once I get the other one done that intersects this one, I'll go over to the other side - I think the next branch on the right is the one the peacock sits on :)


And when I finished that branch, I put it up and got Mary Wigham out. I did the bottom motif on the left - that great purple is BeMused. I didn't quite finish it, so worked on it Saturday night, too, and since it was in the floor stand still on Sunday when I finally had time to sit down, gee, I started another motif, a green one, which is Be Leaved, and which needs to get finished tonight :)


As for this week beyond finishing that MW motif - well, I need to get BoaF Part 1 done, and then I think I want to get Knotgarden out - it's been sitting on the table, ready to pick up in an instant, and the chart has been stuck to the magnet board the whole time I've been doing other things, sooo.... I just gotta make myself do it - once I get it out and get going, it'll be fine; it's just getting it ON the stand that's the trick... I do have a 5-day weekend coming up this weekend - since I am not going to my 25th reunion now, I decided I needed a couple of days off that don't involve a funeral, a graduation, or any other "involved" goings on. Thanks to my mother's contribution to the Poor Relative Fund, I now have a trip booked to OH at the end of August to attend my niece Devon's wedding; look out Columbus, the entire clan will be together. I am really looking forward to it, especially since this is the 3rd wedding we've had, and I missed the other 2 because of school and soccer here :(

 
(A cardinal, which is the state bird of Ohio - and about 30 other states in the union - and because a Cardinal is intensely more interesting than a buckeye)

And that's the news, I guess. You know when you have scheduled time off coming, everything around you makes you EARN IT? That's my next 4 days... So, in case I'm swamped and don't "see" you, happy stitching this week to everyone!

 
(The sun setting last night after the thunderstorm blew outta here - more pics of that sky here)

A Monday Update for the Day Before Summer

I can't believe it's just now about to be summer, according to the calendar - it's been so hot for so long! But we have gotten some fantastic thunderstorms this past week, and despite the leaves and branches all over the place, we've gotten some much-needed rain. It's actually been somewhat decent at night, temp-wise. My last lilies of the season are happy :)


Well, I tried my best, but I did NOT quite get Purrfect Summer Day finished - but I should on Monday night; I only lack finishing the outermost green border, and a couple of miles of backstitch just in the border - thankfully I've been doing it as I go along, I would lose my mind if I'd saved it all for the end!


On Tuesday, I was finally able to go to a Stitch In, and worked on the usual, Tanglewood. I got the branch I had started... the last time I worked on it, finished outlining, and started to fill it in. It's good to be on the upper half of the tree - the branches are getting shorter :)


And because I am a serial starter, I dug out a little Lizzie Kate that Shawn gifted me, Hocus Pocus, and went through the stash and kitted it up - it's partly WDW and partly Carrie's, done on 30ct WDW Guacamole that I got Tuesday night. I put in a few stitches on Thursday night, and then worked on it during a conference call on Friday - I think I can get it done over lunch this week, if I get time to actually break longer then to eat.


So, this week, finish Purrfect, hopefully finish Hocus, and then - back to Knotgarden? Mary Wigham? One of those that are close to done - gotta get stuff DONE! I have so many things that want to be started (Hocus included) :) Need more time, less work - but then don't we all? LOL Happy stitching this week to everyone.

And The Rains Came Down - An Update

Yes, it rained, finally! We've had several thunderstorms go through the past week, dumping some much-needed rain, though from what I can tell, we've gotten a lot more at the house than lots of other places, including down by work. But since these fronts either pass us by completely or get stuck over us, I'm going to be greedy and say good, it was our turn to get some of it :) I expect watering restrictions to tighten any day, though; we've stayed on the odd/even ever since they declared (perhaps prematurely) the drought was over, but I suspect the limited hours will go into effect any day now. Not that I care, I don't water - but I don't want the water police busting me when I run the hose to clean out a trash can or whatever... We had a quick one go through last night, just as dinner was ready to go on the grill.


And my favorite Asiatic lilies, the Olivia's, might actually bloom now that they've had a drink!


As for stitching for the week, I worked a little more on Mary Wigham, and only have one more motif to go on the left-most side to reach the bottom (I think - there might be 2 - but I think it's one). BeMoiled finally made an appearance as that bottom left motif, and more of the BeSooted - I love these Be colors from HDF :)


The only other thing I worked on was the Birds of a Feather Mystery SAL - I am still trying to get Part 1 done, since I think the 2nd part just came out (I don't have it yet). I really like the colors in this, can't wait to see what the middle is going to be :)


In other news, the things I sent to Vikki Clayton for her Exhibition have been judged - she had 245 pieces show up for it, and the pro judges she got were, by all reports, quite impressed with the showing, both in the quantity and the quality. That's pretty exciting, IMO :) Of the 7 things I sent, 5 won some ribbon - I got one each of 1st thru 4th, 1st going to one of the Foursome Reel pieces (don't know which one) and an Honorable Mention on Fire Flower x2. The big thing the judges noted over and over, Vikki said, was carried threads - and I know I do that, so I can live with that critique :) I just can't imagine what all of that looks like, all in one place, since I've never been to anything like a Woodlawn. Maybe I'll get to go up for it next year or after :)


So this week, I want to try to get this BoaF Part 1 done. Then I need to work on Purrfect and/or Knotgarden - I need to have another finish, I need to get this pile whittled DOWN! I am really enjoying the samplers that I've been working on - I've been away from them for a while now, I guess really since I finished the last Foursome Reel piece, since 4 Saisions and MW weren't regularly rotated. Poor L&U is NOT digging my current need to get close-to-done stuff out... Can't be helped, I guess - so long as I can stave off starting the 20 things I really want to start, I will :) Until next week, happy stitching :)

An RAK from Chris!

Chris sent me a couple of QSnap Huggies for my 8" Qs- aren't these beautiful???


See Chris's new site to get some for your stitching, too!!!


Thank you, Chris - they will be much-used!