I really didn't want to stop working on this one, seeing the details in the black and white image develop is fascinating. So I worked on her twice as long as I was "supposed" to. She is 21% complete now.

Victory
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Selena Fenech
Full cross, one over one on 25 count Rumbles of Thunder lugana by Pol Stitches

Next up is The Tower at Stony Wood.

Child Support Enforcement tracked down the ex and a wage attachment was ordered two weeks ago. So I should start receiving that again pretty soon. I wonder, though. What does an employer think when they get a wage attachment showing a person owes the equivalent of two years back child support? Probably they don't even pay attention, but it certainly would make me wonder about the reliability of the person I just hired.

OMG! Am I insane? Why did I switch my TV to Verizon? Well, because it would be cheaper. HA! I got my bill today and they are charging me $19 more than they are supposed to. PLUS they charged me $9.99 activation on the broadband that I already had. Payable in installments, so who knows how much they are going to sock me for over the upcoming bills. The activation fee is in addition to the $69 early termination fee they also charged me when I bundled the broadband. Which they took out of my checking account and didn't bother to put back. Supposedly they are giving me a credit for that on my next bill. Plus $10 off for the next 6 months for my aggravation. We'll see.

Now I have to call them again, endure their terrible automated answering system, and be transferred to at least three people before I end up with someone who can actually help me. GAH!! What I want to know is, how many people don't check their phone bills and so are totally not being charged what they contracted for. I tell you what, since I'm now stuck with them for two years I'm going to make sure I get my $27/month discount! GAH!! Again!

I was rather disappointed with the results of my Ebay auctions. My own fault for listing the items so low to start. Which has always worked out fine in the past. It's been awhile since I've Ebayed, though, and I guess I should have thought about the economy. Not so many people buying cross stitch charts when they can't afford to buy food! Ah, well. Some people got some very good deals and so I'm trying to be happy for them! Besides I believe I raised enough for the camera, so it's all good.

And when I get the camera I will post a picture of Memorial Sampler, which I finished last weekend. Hooray! A finish for 2007! I'm now working on Selena Fenech's Victory. She is so much fun too stitch!

I am so annoyed and feeling a bit beaten once again. I need a propane fill up, so I called my gas company. I've had to pay in advance for the last three years (thanks to you know who demolishing my credit) and finally got put on a budget plan this year. I've gotten two statements, both of which said I didn't have to pay anything. So the first one I didn't, but I sent a payment in on the second because I knew I needed gas and I wanted to make sure I had enough money on account. Now I find out from my gas company that the statements said I didn't owe anything because of the credit and their billing system sees that and thinks I don't -- but I am in fact 3 months behind on the budget. So, I have to send in another $135 by the end of October to stay on the budget and then $270 in November. Which I could probably manage. But she then told me I'd still have to call them when I needed a fill up! The whole point of the budget was so I could get automatic deliveries (I thought) and wouldn't have to monitor my usage (which I'm not always diligent about which resulted in running out of gas last year). But now I think why bother? I could come up with $405 by the end of November or just pay $400 in December when I need the next deliver. I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it does.

And my f!!!!!! cat peed on the floor AGAIN. I hate to do it, but I'm psyching myself up to take her to the SPCA. I know they'll euthanize her, but I'm so tired of her NEVER using the litter box. I even took over litter box duties, so I know the box is clean, and spent over $30 on "cat-attract" litter. I'm going to try one more litter box and if she won't use it then I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get rid of her. Oh, and, this is a behavioral thing, not physical.

I am suffering from WIP overload. When I'm finished with Memorial Sampler, I'm planning on starting a new rotation since my old one kind of went to pot over the summer. But I'm stuck between continuing along the same lines as before -- with all 60+ WIPs in the rotation -- or picking 12 to 15 projects and work on them exclusively. I like idea number 2 because I'd be able to see some real progress on those selected few. The down side is that most of my projects will still take years to complete and so I'd be stuck with those until finished. And I wouldn't be able to start new stuff! So I'm stuck. I still have a while to decide, but it's been keeping me up at night.

My second dilemma is what fabric to stitch Dragon Skies on. I've decided not to stitch the background and I think I've got my choices narrowed down to:


Silkweaver Chasescape, Silkweaver Starquest, Sugar Maple Eye of the Storm
Sugar Maple Forget Me Knots, Polstitches Imagination, Heaven Lee Snowy Nights

It's so hard because hand dyed fabrics never look the same as they do on the computer screen! At the moment I'm kind of leaning toward Starquest. I've seen several other pictures of the fabric and it seems pretty true to the scan on Silkweaver's site. Of course, that could change at any moment. I really like Imagination, it looks like a dawn sky to me. But I'm reluctant because I don't know if the actual fabric looks so cloud like.

Last night I did another experiment with tent stitching on Monaco. This is the ladybug from Rose. There are over 40 colors in this tiny 30 x 23 stitch section! Coverage is very good and there are no predominant slanted lines, so I think I'll be doing more projects this way. Helps with dilemma #1 since I'll be able to stitch HAEDs twice as fast.







Since I was scanning, I also did another project I worked on in September. Here is Martyr's. I originally started this Jobelan and then restarted on 28 count bone Lugana.










I also scanned my progress on Memorial Sampler. However, I was not able to get the two halves of the scan to line up correctly. But I did crop a portion. I just love this parrot. He's so cute! And now I think it's time to put him back on the scrolls and get cracking.

Labels: Dragon Skies, Martyrs, Memorial Sampler