Obsession... Confessions of a Serial Starter

Have I become a one-at-a-time stitcher?

2011-09-18T07:31:00.005-05:00

Gosh it's been forever since I've gotten around to updating this blog! My rotation has totally gone out the window and I've been stitching somewhat randomly since June. Right now I am working on True Colors and will continue for the foreseeable future. This is the first two of 36 pages.

Where have the months gone?

2011-06-12T09:37:00.006-05:00

It does not seem like that long since I last posted! All I can say is I seem to have lost my stitching mojo. I've not got much done in those two months.

Another block on the Days of Advent Sampler.

And then I started working on Peace and just kept going until I finished the second page.

Where did the weekend go?

2011-04-10T15:18:00.004-05:00

I surely don't know. I don't feel like I got anything accomplished. Except I did finish Women of the Mayflower. I didn't think I was going to because I ran out of thread with only eleven letters left to stitch! Talk about aggravating. I probably shouldn't have, because it is a bit darker, but I decided to just sub in a purple Gentle Arts that I had from a previous project. So for better or worse, here it is!

Blah

2011-04-03T08:58:00.004-05:00

Another week of sorry progress.

Lots of confetti in Song of the Dead. And I think I messed up that bird. Or should I say blob. I felt a little better when I looked at the original artwork. It looks rather like a blob on that as well!

I'm starting to become concerned that my new furniture arrangement is contributing to my severe lack of progress. My stand is now on my left after years of having it on my right. Which shouldn't make that much of a difference, should it? I suspect the culprit may be the TV. My viewing angle has improved so I think I might be pausing in my stitching more. You'd think it would be the opposite. Ah, well, whatever the reason I hope it remedies itself soon.

I also got a tiny bit done on The Tower of Stony Wood. I'm afraid I just wasn't much into stitching on it. Sad really, since this is one of my favorite pieces. I'm afraid I just lost interest when my thread order arrived from Hand Dyed Fibers. At that point I just wanted to try them out!

I'm working on Women of the Mayflower and plan to keep going until it is finished. But then I think I will do Days of Advent and Peace before moving on to my "regular" rotation. Maybe that anticipation will help me stitch faster!

Abysmal Progress

2011-03-27T08:44:00.007-05:00

I didn't make much progress on anything the last couple of weeks. Although I did finish the first page of Peace. I've decided to work a page at a time from top to bottom. There is so much to this design and I'd like a sampling of all of it. Plus I get bored when working on bore-ders. I'm enjoying it again, though. It's going to be huge and I'll never be able to afford to frame it, but on the other hand I'll probably never get it finished so why worry about that now?

And then came Triple Town, which is a game for the Kindle. An extremely addictive game for the Kindle. For about a week I was playing it every chance I got and my stitching progress suffered accordingly. I think I'm over it now and have myself down to four or five games a day.

The project that really suffered from my game frenzy was Peacock Garden. I only managed to finish about half of one of those whatever you call those things. I think the next time around on this one I may work on the peacocks. Did I mention how quickly I lose interest when stitching the same thing over and over again? I probably shouldn't do the Chatelaines, but they are just so beautiful!

I also lost a Saturday to the Middle School Visitation Day at the University of Delaware. Neither my daughter nor I got much out of it. "They" can tell us all "they" want that middle school kids need to start thinking about college, but personally I think that's way too soon. The parent portion, though, was quite worthwhile (for someone who doesn't already have kids in college and happens to work in the Admissions Office at the local community college). Parents definitely need to be thinking about college while their kids are in middle school.

And speaking of school -- I'm proud to report my youngest daughter has been invited to participate in Academic Challenge for both math and English. Academic Challenge students come to the college campus once a week and take advanced classes.

Finally, I did some work on Pheonix 1. Again, not the kind of progress I'm used to. The Triple Town obsession was still in full force when I started it, so hopefully this drop in productivity is an aberration.

2011-03-13T10:05:00.009-05:00

Here is the Jacob block from the Days of Advent Sampler. I'm still not sure of the pink tones I want to use and am waiting for an order from Hand Dyed Fibers for sample tags in the three color groups I'm considering. I simply love working on this piece -- the colors are so vibrant! I can't wait to get those pinks so I can see how they will look. This block completes the first row of five.

Next I worked on Dragon Skies. I didn't make much progress with her. Friday I was exhausted and went to bed early and then I decided to only work on her for three days since I wanted to try out the experimental scroll rods I got for Peace. People at the Lowe's probably thought I was nuts -- I went in there with a q-snap clamp, a scroll frame side bar, and a piece of fabric! A q-snap clamp fits perfectly on a 1" dowel so for $10 I got myself some 48" scroll bars. The experiment is only a partial success, though. The 1" dowel is too big for the indents in the side bar, which made it difficult to turn and one of the dowels has a splintery groove in it from the friction. The yard of fabric fits on it quite nicely, but it's not really tight. I haven't tried stitching on it yet, so we'll see if the tension is good enough. Anyway, here's a picture.

Another thing I did this weekend was rearrange my living room -- all for my floss. I think I've tried just about every floss storage system known to man and I think I've finally discovered the holy grail: Annie's Thread Keepers. They are so awesome! The one draw back was how to store the slides -- hanging file boxes are simply not deep enough and you either have to cut your thread short or allow it to tangle in the bottom. I wracked my brain and wracked my brain and then it hit me -- I could remove the bottom of the top drawer of one of my file cabinets, use a metal plate or something to join the two drawers together and wah-la one nice deep drawer. Then I took a look at my file cabinet and decided my floss deserved a nice, new home rather than my ratty old cabinet. I found one I really liked -- but it was quite large. So I decided to experiment with my existing file cabinet (which is actually smaller, but still quite large) and discovered that there was simply no way it was going to work without looking incredibly stupid. So I decided to see if there was any other way to arrange the furniture. All my friends had told me to try this arrangement but I just didn't think my gigantic chaise would fit, but it does and I like it sooooo much better. It still looks kind of funny, but not nearly as funny as it did before. And there will be plenty of room for the new file cabinet (experimental file cabinet is still in place for now). I just need to get used to having my stand on my left rather than my right. But so far, so good!

Happy Dancing!

2011-03-06T10:03:00.004-05:00

Finished on March 5, 2011! I worked on her for a total of 36 days... 30 of which were consecutive. She was such fun to stitch and I'll miss her!

And now I plan to run through my 7 "Priority" projects before starting a new round.

Into the home stretch now

2011-02-27T10:13:00.002-05:00

Still working on Seeing Through and expect to finish her sometime this week!

I've surprised myself by sticking with her this long.

Face is Complete

2011-02-20T09:39:00.004-05:00

Past the half-way point and still going strong! Only a couple of more weeks and she'll be finished. I think I can hang on for that long, although I am starting to look at some of my other projects (and yet another new one) with some longing!

Weekly Update

2011-02-13T09:05:00.003-05:00

I continued working on Seeing Through and am not tired of her yet so will keep going!
My son (who's been driving me nuts) has not done any work in any of his on-line classes and has decided to join the Army. Thing is, the Army probably won't take him because his eyes are really, really bad. It's possible he can get a waiver for that, but his left eye is probably over the waiverable limit.

I'm so angry at him for blowing off his classes. He just doesn't get that there are repercussions from that action. Just goes to show how much something is valued when it's just handed to you with no effort on your part -- he doesn't have to pay tuition since I work at the college.

Who would have thought it would be the key??

2011-02-06T09:19:00.005-05:00

I had some trouble with my car this week which resulted in a tow and $300 bill for a new starter. I'm annoyed because the starter wasn't the actual problem -- but my son (who thinks he knows so much about cars) got angry when the car wouldn't start and proceeded to crank on the ignition switch until he burnt the starter up.

The actual problem? The freaking key! So, another $125 for a new key (which according the "people at Ford" should have only cost me $50), but hopefully the problem is solved and I don't have to fear being stranded whenever I leave the house!

The past couple of weeks I've worked on Song of the Dead and The Tower of Stony Wood.

I've finished the zombie guy's face, which was quite exciting. And most of the bird flying in front of him, which I thought at first was his skeletal neck but upon further stitching the bird emerged.

I spent a few extra days on Tower. The detail is so rich I just wanted to keep going!

And now I have done what I previously threatened and have put Seeing Through back on the scrolls and plan to work on her until I feel like moving on to something else... which hopefully won't be until I've finished her!

Off to clean -- which actually might be a little fun since I'm going to try out the steamer I just got. I hope the thing works!

New for 2011

2011-01-23T12:00:00.003-05:00

I have a goal for 2011. That is to finish more projects than I start. And 15 days in I'm already testing that with a new start. Good thing I had that one finish early on, huh?

Here is Seeing Through. Which is so beautiful and is stitching up so well that I'm considering putting her back on the scrolls and keep going with her until she's done. It's such a small design (23,865 stitches) that I could probably have her done inside a month. And that would also keep my ill-fated goal somewhat on track!

Skin!

2011-01-17T10:24:00.003-05:00

Just a wee bit, but I've reached Sea of Roses tummy. Which is doubly good because this means no more background removal! Gosh, that is a pain. I reordered the chart with the background removed only to discover it wasn't the same. I thought about scrapping what I'd done and start over, but in the end decided to just stick with it. Her tail tip looks a bit wonky, but other than that I think I did okay.

Very brief update

2011-01-09T09:46:00.002-05:00

Not much to see, really, but here is Rose.
And some more trees in A Rose Among Thorns.

And one for 2011

2011-01-02T10:07:00.003-05:00

A finish for the first day of the new year! Rhapsody has been languishing in a pillow case for the last five years or so. I really enjoyed working on this project, except it really did a number on my fingers. Which must be why I put it away without finishing it.

So my vacation is over. I didn't spend as much time stitching as I had planned, but our Supernatural marathon was a success. And I got caught up on my web pages. So I didn't really get much done -- but it was great to just relax for two weeks.

And tomorrow it's back to work. And all the people who have waited until the last minute to sign up for school. Plus two weeks of mail to process. At least I can count on being busy!

One last finish for 2010

2011-01-02T10:04:00.002-05:00

I finally got The Red Thread finished!

Which brings my total finishes for 2010 up to 6. Also in 2010 I crossed 342,664 stitches and had 10 new starts.

Final Three

2010-12-30T11:24:00.009-05:00

And now to catch up with myself.

Here is Mistress Winter and Jack Frost. I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I just haven't managed to get much stitching done. I would have expected to get more done on this one since it was just a couple of colors, but again I had trouble seeing what I was doing since the thread and fabric are almost the same color. I bet it's these new glasses, when I first got them I noticed a lot of blurring when I looked down to do my work. Yes, bifocals here I come!

Next is Peacock Garden. I whipped through part 3 in a flash, but part 4 is a killer! I worked on this a few extra days so I could at least finish one quarter. It was somewhat tedious to stitch -- I guess knowing I've got to do it three more times contributes to that! -- but my oh my does it look good when finished! I think the next time I work on this I may skip to the first set of peacocks.

And finally, there is Pheonix I. Again, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. I didn't stitch at all Christmas Day or the day after-- I got the kids a Wii and I let them have the TV.

Also, I treated myself to a Kindle which is certainly another reason why I'm not getting as much done. I'm reading quite a bit more and the Scrabble game for the thing is horribly addictive! I'm really glad I finally got one, though.

One more new start

2010-12-29T11:25:00.003-05:00

Yes, yet another new start. Here is Florabundance.

And a familiar face -- Martyr's -- now complete with both eyes. I'm afraid I wimped out and didn't bother with any of the black.

Dragon Skies

2010-12-28T09:52:00.004-05:00

My Dragon Skies dragon is slowly emerging!

Lots of fun to stitch!

Christmas Break =

2010-12-22T10:19:00.009-05:00

Rest and relaxation! It also means I get a chance to get my blog up-to-date.

So, on November 1 I started another round of my ever-changing rotation. First in line was And They Sinned. I got a whole bunch done on this one and am now over the half-way mark. It helped that most of it was letters. Not exactly the most fun to stitch, but at least it goes quickly!

Next, I worked on and finished (!) Cirque des Cercles. Which gives me five finishes for the year. Not too bad given my proclivity to start new stuff! Although I did have at least ten new starts so I'm still on the losing side of this battle...

And finally (for this post at least), The Ram block on the Days of Advent Sampler. I really enjoy working on this one!

Also on the stitching front...

I've given up on Gatekeeper. It makes me sad since this was my first HAED ever and I've started it twice and purchased 3 different fabrics for it. So there's a lot invested in it. But I just can't manage stitching on the dark fabric. Particularly now that my up-close vision no longer matches the prescription for my eye glasses. Next year I plan to make the leap to bifocals and maybe I will give it another try then.

I also tried my hand at some ornaments. The stitching part was pretty good. The finishing however... Well, let's just say they came out looking very, very wonky and I think next time I'll go with round ones since the corners were the worst. And my lovely friends who received them as gifts choose to ignore the wonkiness of the finishing and instead focused on the stitching itself.

In other news...

I've been dealing with a bit of a health issue. Apparently when I joked about how I felt like I was bleeding to death when I had my period I wasn't joking. Said bleeding led to extreme anemia. I finally went to the doctor and the problem was discovered. I'm taking iron and "hormone therapy". My period has pretty much stopped and my iron levels are increasing nicely. I'm very thankful it wasn't anything more serious.

And my son has returned. I can't say that I'm happy about that. My daughter and I were living a nice, calm life and that has certainly been disrupted. I love my son, but we drive each other nuts so it's much easier loving him at a distance! His intention is to work as much as possible in order to get a car and save some money and then return to NM in the fall. In the meantime, he'll be taking classes at the college where I work.

Shame piled on top of shame

2010-11-21T11:15:00.006-05:00

For yet another new start. Soul Mates yet another large HAED. I see them and just want to stitch them so badly. So I do. But then I have all this other stuff I also want to stitch badly so everything just goes to hell. I realize I'm a bit insane, but it's my hobby so I guess I should be able to do whatever makes me happy.

I have another batch of progress pictures to share.

Here is The Red Thread. I had planned on finishing it, but was stymied when I ran out of the two threads for the border. So I had to put it away with only two blocks left to do! I knew I was getting low on the one and tried to stretch it by substituting the greens and browns in the blocks themselves, but it simply wasn't enough.

Next is one of my favorite projects, Song of the Dead. It is so wonderfully creepy. Next time around I'll get to finish his face. It will be interesting to see that emerge.

And finally for this post is The Tower of Stony Wood. If I had to pick and absolute favorite, this would probably be it. Things should really start to get interesting this time around -- her face will emerge in this row. Of course it will be a few rotations before that happens, but definitely something to look forward to.

And that wraps up another round. I'm four projects into the new round, but I still can't seem to settle on a new method so I think I might take a break from the rotation and do some Christmas Ornaments. I'm worried about finishing them, though. I'm good at the cross stitch, but other than that I'm not very crafty and everything I do looks like something a 1st grader brings home. But we'll see, maybe it won't be as bad as I think.

Shame on me

2010-11-13T22:49:00.003-05:00

For starting yet another project when I already have so many WIPs it's going to take me 32 years to finish them all. (Yes, I've actually figured that out and I'm trying not to let it depress me)

And yes, it's another HAED. And a big one at that: Phoenix I. I just love the colors!

Life just keeps getting in the way...

2010-11-13T12:32:00.012-05:00

I have been remiss once again, but life just insists upon happening and I've been either sick or busy and my usual Sunday routine of updating my blog just went out the window. I've got lots to share, but will start with only a few since I need to get started on my Saturday cleaning.

First is Jewel of the Sea. I'm now on my second "row". Not really much to see, but there probably never really will be since this one is mostly background. But the background sure is pretty and not nearly so tedious to stitch as some.

Next is Peace, although there is probably no point in even posting it since I've pretty much convinced myself to restart this one. I'm starting to think that stitching it on 40 count was a mistake. It's going to be sooooo huge that I don't know what I'll do with it when it's finished (ever optimistic, I am). So I'm going to restart on the recommended 28 count. Unfortunately, I'll have to delay that restart since the shop I buy fabric from - Needlework Plus - is temporarily closed. She custom cuts and doesn't charge a ridiculous amount for doing so. The design on 28 count won't quite fit on a fat half and I hate to spend extra on a full yard for a mere three inches. I also think I'm going to splurge and switch to the recommended AVAS threads.

I also was able to finally start Peacock Garden. This is the first two parts without the beads and crystals. It is so beautiful! I'm really looking forward to getting back to it.

That's all for now. Except for this picture of my cat. I was finally able to get a half-way decent picture with no flash and therefore no demon eyes.

My cat the hunter

2010-09-26T11:02:00.009-05:00

I'm so proud of him and have decided that despite his faults he can stay. He loves catching mice! In fact, he growled at my daughter when she tried to take one away from him. I had my doubts about him because he ignored the mouse my son pointed out to him last year. I guess he was just too young then because he's definitely not ignoring them now.

On to the cross stitch...

This week I worked on Dragon Skies and Fairy Dreams by Lavender and Lace. I think the last time I worked on that was in 2004!
Once again, I spent some extra time on Dragon Skies and was sad to put her away. I'm already looking forward to the next time I get to work on her -- I hope to get that top part of the dragon done.

On the flip side, I'm afraid I only worked on Fairy Dreams for two days. That was primarily because I got my supplies for Chatelaine's Peacock Garden from European Cross Stitch and can't wait to get started on it. And unfortunately my OCD won't allow me to skip forward in my rotation! But I can truncate it a little bit.

Despite that, I did find that I enjoyed working on Fairy Dreams. I just love the colors! I did forget to backstitch her face, though, and am considering leaving it that way. I think all the HAEDs I do have shown me that the backstitch isn't always necessary and I think her face is quite clear without it. Who knows, though? It will probably be years before I pick this one up again and my opinions may have changed completely by then!

No new start this week

2010-09-19T10:09:00.007-05:00

Instead I have a finish! Day Dreaming Mermaid was completed on September 12, 2010.
She was a birthday present to myself and I started her on November 28, 2007. She was included in all my different rotation variations and I worked on her on 8 times for a total of 49 days.

Also included this week is Days of Advent Sampler.
I had more trouble with colors and decided to switch back to the NPI for the browns as well as all the greens. These colors had more than one "group" (3 for the greens and 2 for the browns) and it was too hard getting the separate groups to flow together nicely using Hand Dyed Fibers. I did torture myself over it, but in the end it was just not worth the trouble.

Here is a separate picture of the Abram and Sarai block that I completed this time. It's too bad about the HDF since I particularly like the subtle variegation you can see in Sarai's dress. I would have liked to have that in the large blocks of green as well, but them's the breaks.

I enjoy working on this one so much and was dismayed to see that the last time it had come up was in December. Almost a year!! So I have decided to change it's status to "Priority" and bump Rose down to "Favorite".

Back to School

2010-09-07T06:06:00.024-05:00

My baby went back to school today. And she's not really my baby any more */sigh/*.

And today is the last day of my vacation */even bigger sigh/*. This was my stay-at-home-and-relax vacation. We didn't do much -- spent a day at the beach and another school shopping and a movie. We also went down to the ocean on Friday. I've always wanted to watch a hurricane blow in, or in this case by, so I decided to brave the holiday traffic. It was pretty cool and I wish now that I'd taken the camera. I also wish I'd forced Randi to wear shorts. We got caught in a bad spot when a big wave rolled all the way up into the dunes and she ended up with extremely wet jeans. The bottom of my shorts got a soaking as well, but that was much easier to shrug off. So I succumbed to her pleading and we got off the beach.

And now for the cross stitch updates. First is Calling the Crows. I absolutely love this image and wish the design wasn't so huge! All I have to show at this point is three wing tips. I really like how the background is looking so far though, the colors are blended together so nicely.

Next is Celestial Dragon. I completed the bottom left corner. The knotwork looks lovely, but it surely is a pain to stitch!

Then I worked on Cirque des Cercles. And completed the bottom right corner. Just the bottom row of circles to go!

And finally, I started Curl Up With a Good Book. I tried out a new technique with this one and stitched by columns. I don't know if I'll keep with it, though. I think I may have gotten more done than usual -- 5 columns of 98 stitches each (4900) in 4 days plus about 3 hours. And I like having a larger chunk of the image done, rather than narrow bands. On the down side, I lean toward carrying threads and this way may not be as conducive to that. I carried some pretty far! Also I was working from four separate pages since I need to have it blown up. Since I work with my chart to the right of my stitching, I'm going to run out of room for all those pages pretty quickly.

Piggies and Bubbles

2010-08-22T11:44:00.003-05:00

So I've started the "revamped" rotation with Ballet Pigs. So much fun to stitch and now I'll have this little guy smiling at me!

I was so happy when I pulled this image off the camera. I thought maybe I had figured out a solution to my top-right blurriness problem. I took the picture upside down. Well, the camera was upside down, not me. Although maybe that would be easier since I kept hitting the off button when I was trying to take the picture.

Alas, my joy was short-lived. My upside down picture of Bubble Flower was blurry on the left side, thus defeating the whole purpose. I really must get myself a new camera, but I'm afraid that I'll just pick another lemon. Particularly since I don't want to spend too much.

I'm also very bummed that my lawn mower isn't charging. I hope it's the charger -- I plugged it in and the socket sparked and the little lights haven't come on since. But I guess it could also be the batteries. Either way, getting it fixed is going to be a pita and will probably end up costing only marginally less than just getting a new one! I was talking to my dad the other week about the disadvantages of living in a "popular vacation destination" and this is certainly one of them. Lack of services for day-to-day living. And then when you find someone who can help you, they tend to charge an arm and a leg. My co-worker was charged almost $300 to have a kitchen faucet replaced and she provided the faucet!

Yet Another New Start

2010-08-15T09:08:00.005-05:00

Here is Women of the Mayflower. I'm glad I started it since it has been a fun stitch so far.

I've worked out a tentative rotation with 19 slots. Theoretically this should enable me to get through a single round in 2 1/2 months. I settled on 2 "Strip" slots which will basically be the project that is the closest to being finished. I'm giving it 2 slots and will work on it for 8 days. Hopefully this will increase the number of finishes! I have 7 Priority projects which will be worked on each rotation. Those 7 are: Day Dreaming Mermaid, Dragon Skies, Peace, Peacock Garden, Rose (Anderson), Song of the Dead, and The Tower of Stony Wood. I have 6 slots for my 12 Favorites: A Rose Among Thorns, Babysitting, Ballet Pigs, Bubble Flower, Calling the Crows, Celestial Dragon, Cirque des Cercles, Days of Advent Sampler, Gatekeeper, Martyrs, Mistress Winter & Jack Frost, and Sea of Roses. I then have 2 slots for HAEDs and 1 for non-HAEDs. It'll take forever to actually get through them all, but I decided it might be better to spend more time on the Priorities and Favorites. I also have a slot for BAPs and have designated any non-HAED over 100,000 stitches and any HAED over 200,000 stitches as a BAP. I've also decided to add in all my kitted projects, which brings the grand total of WIPs to 95. Then I might just have to add 5 more to bring it to an even 100.

2010-08-08T09:41:00.003-05:00

I got over 4000 stitches in on The Tower of Stony Wood this time around. Needless to say, I'm quite proud of myself.

And so concludes this round of my rotation. I still haven't worked out the "new" way, so I went ahead and started another of my kitted projects -- Women of the Mayflower. I bought the thread and fabric for this years ago and I'm trying to convince myself that a fully kitted project isn't really any different than an additional WIP. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to run out of one color and need to decide whether to sub in something I already have. Who knows how much the dye-lot has changed over the years? Fortunately, it won't be noticeable since I'll use the subbed color just to stitch the names at the bottom. Nobody needs to know that color is supposed to be the same as the verse on the top, right?

I'll be working on this one through Monday since we're leaving on Tuesday for our annual Knoebels trip and I didn't see a point in breaking my brain trying to figure out the new rotation.

Back to Normal... Somewhat

2010-08-01T11:49:00.003-05:00

I'm back on my "regular" schedule and am now working on the final project in this round of the rotation. Here's a pic of Song of the Dead, the next to last.

I say I'm only somewhat back to normal because I have been feeling a lot of pressure lately to get started on everything I have kitted. Particularly those with both fabric and threads. I'm trying to figure out a way to do this without over-loading on new starts. I'm also trying to come up with a new method of rotating.

One thing I have decided on is a STRIP list and adding two of those projects each rotation. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to work on each of those 4 days and keep them in the rotation until they are finished or if I'm going to out and out finish them as they come up.

Sometimes I really hate being so OCD, it makes stuff like this sooooo much harder.

How often does this happen?!

2010-07-25T20:24:00.003-05:00

I surprised myself. Yes, I started Sea to Shining Sea by Little House Needleworks and then just kept stitching until it was finished! It was so small that it seemed rather silly to stop with only two houses done and let it languish for an unknown number of years before picking it up again. So I just kept plugging away. It took 15 days, well 13 really since 2 of those days family was visiting and I didn't get a chance to pick up my needle. I probably could have finished it sooner, but I picked up a really good book and so that interfered with my stitching time as well. It was a lot of fun to stitch -- I simply love those variegated silks! But I have to confess that the last two-three days I've really been jonesing for my HAEDs. And on that note, I'm off to put Song of the Dead on the scrolls and see if I can't get in a stitch or two before bed.

And now I'm out of control

2010-07-13T09:13:00.004-05:00

I've got two more new starts. One I'm still working on (Sea to Shining Sea by Little House Needleworks), so no picture. Here's a picture of the other, Rae QS by HAED, no web page for her yet, though.

Before this craziness started, I got a little done on Peace. Only a little since I had a very strong desire to start something new over the 4th of July weekend. I had planned on only one new start (Sea to Shining Sea), but was unable to find a suitable fabric amid my stash. Hard to believe that with a drawer full of fabric, none would work! So I decided to purchase the recommended fabric. Since the urge for something new had not departed, I then started Rae. And worked on her until the fabric arrived!

And now I'm off before the thunderstorm that seems to have appeared out of no where arrives.

A restart and a new start

2010-06-29T09:36:00.003-05:00

Like I need to be adding anything else to an already overwhelming number of WIPs. But, honestly, I did not intend to restart Frog Prince. Well, I did intend to restart it at one point, but later found that stitching on 28 count worked okay and was actually better for designs with a lot of black. So I decided to stick with the 28 count bone Lugana I was using. Alas, it seems that when I first decided to restart I tossed my working copies of the chart. I put it on the scrolls and everything and then realized I had no way to accurately determine where I had left off! It was all just big chunks of black. I have since started noting the row and column last stitched in order to avoid exactly this. So, rather than trying to figure it out, I just restarted on a 28 count white Lugana. So not much to show here.

Next I worked on Jane Longstreth, another sampler that has been languishing since I caught the HAED bug. I'm afraid that I did not give this one it's due. First because I really hate stem stitch and second I had received my fabric for Mistress Winter and Jack Frost and was chomping at the bit to get started on her. So I put Jane away a day early and did exactly that! I am removing most of the background from this as I go and the fabric I chose (Fresco from Picture This Plus) matches up really well. So well that it was difficult to stitch the "interior" background that I have choosen to include.

Today I am taking a mental health day. Actually, my son is in dire need of cash and so I have to deposit some money in his account. Unfortunately, the bank is in Rehoboth and the last time I went over there it took me almost an hour to get there. And with the heat we've been having I can only imagine that the traffic is even worse. So I can't make it after work. And I really, really hate the traffic. Why is it that when someone crosses out of their home state they totally forget how to drive? And when 80% of the cars on the main roads are from out of state the problem is only acerbated. I have to admit that I laughed and laughed when I received an email from my son with directions on how to get there using the back roads. I can count on one hand the number of times he's voluntarily e-mailed me! Poor guy must be desperate.

I had also promised my daughter we would go and see the new Shrek movie, and had planned to do so after my dentist visit last week. But that took longer than expected so we missed the show. I hate to go during the evening and don't really want to have to deal with beach traffic on the weekend so had told her we would be unable to go. But guess what? The movie theater is right next door to the bank. Kind of serendipitous don't you think? So since my work has been bumming me out, I decided to take the day. A day won't be enough to fully unwind but thank goodness I've got vacation in two weeks!

No HAED this week

2010-06-20T16:02:00.005-05:00

Which is a little unusual, but bound to happen once in awhile I guess.

First I have Chatelaine's Egypt Garden. I was so excited to start this, but seemed to have lost interest in it very quickly. The last time I worked on it was in 2005! I hate to admit, but I haven't seemed to regain my interest in that five year break and had a hard time decided which portion to stitch. The band with the sailboat and the palm tree are about all I managed. Sad, really since it is such a lovely design.

Then I have Scarlet Letter's Emily Lucille. Another sadly neglected piece. Although not quite as bad -- I last worked on this in 2006. As you can probably guess, I caught the HAED bug in the summer of 2005 and everything else has suffered since then. I really enjoy working on this one though, and I think it will quickly become a "Favorite" so I can work on it a bit more often. When I first started it I had done queen stitches one other time and quite disliked them. They did grow on me though. Which is very fortunate since this one has tons of them.

And I made a big mistake the other day and looked through my stash. There's stuff in there that I totally forgot I had and now I want to start about 10 other things! In addition to the 20 things I already knew about. It's quite sad, really. My poor rotation -- when I reworked it I ended up adding more slots instead of taking some away! Oh, well, I simply can't fight my nature and there is really no use in even trying.

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a Dragon!

2010-06-12T09:32:00.005-05:00

Well, a dragon horn at least. I was very happy to have finally reached him and now I can't wait to get the rest of that space filled in. I love how this is stitching up so fast -- I think in the future I'll have the background removed from everything possible.

Link to web page

Cathy left a comment and asked how a project became a "Priority" and I thought since I can't stitch right now I would answer that (I was out whacking weeds and now my arm is weak and shaking -- yes, I know I'm a wimp). I've tried a few different rotations which inevitably fail because I can't refrain from starting new projects and I have trouble picking just a few to include. So I came up with one which will allow me to keep all my projects "in rotation" while also allowing the projects I favor to appear in that rotation more often. Right now I have seven categories.

First, each rotation I work on a project I designate as Finishing. This is usually the project that has the fewest stitches remaining.

Priority projects are included in each rotation. Right now the priority projects are: Bubble Flower, Dragon Skies, Peace, Song of the Dead, and The Tower of Stony Wood.

Five Favorite projects are included each rotation. Right now there are 15: A Confabulation of Dragons, A Rose Among Thorns, Alpine Seasons, American Sampler, Babysitting, Calling the Crows, Days of Advent Sampler, Gatekeeper, Martyrs, Pink Dragonfly QS, Rae QS, Rose, Rose Fae, Sea of Roses, and While Summer Sleeps. So the Favorite projects get worked on every third rotation.

The other categories are Samplers (1 per rotation), BAPs (2 per), HAED (2 per), and Fantasy (1 per).

The initial intent was to complete one rotation every two months and thus be able to get through every project in two years. Unfortunately, I'm facing the same issues with bloat that I have had with other rotations and I'm now up to one rotation every three months.

So I'm rethinking the whole thing. I am leaning toward combining Samplers, BAPs, HAED, and Fantasy into one big group and limit the number of slots to 15 maximum. It would take a lot longer to get through everything, but I'd be able to spend more time on the things I like most and it might be more flexible.

We had another visitor in our yard the other day. Isn't she beautiful? I don't know why I get such a kick out of the wild life that shows up in my yard. I've lived in the country all my life, but there's just something about looking out your back window and seeing these wild animals looking back at you. And see that large plant in front of him? That's what I was out whacking!

Can I write a post in less than 15 minutes?

2010-06-07T13:37:00.003-05:00

Because I have to be back to work by 3:15!

I just need to share Day Dreaming Mermaid.

I had hoped to get all the way across again, but was defeated by all the scales. She is very close to being done, though.

And that is all the time I have!

Very Busy Week

2010-05-31T06:53:00.006-05:00

Very, very busy week, but I did get a surprising amount of stitching done. Probably because my chaise has been restored and I can once again lounge in decadent comfort while I ply my needle.

I got a bit more than usual done on Bubble Flower. Probably because I had a bit of background to work on which was comprised of only three colors. For once I was happy to be working on a monotonous section. And then came the bubble. Ah, well, back to the confetti on this one. I almost want to downgrade it from one of my "priority" projects that I work on each rotation. But then I look at it. It may be tedious to stitch, but the end results are awsome!

On Tuesday I chaperoned my daughter's school field trip to the Franklin Institute. Unfortunately, the district called a fog delay so our departure was also delayed. Fortunately, the school officials allowed us to leave at 8:00, rather than following the "rules" and waiting until school was officially open. Unfortunately, we missed the I-Max film. A great disappointment. But they still got to dissect a cow eyeball. There's my daughter with the organ in question. As you can see, she was very excited! I, on the other hand, could have done without the exercise! Although she did not get to do everything that she wanted, we did have a lot of fun and she has declared it the "2nd best field trip EVER" (after the one to Medieval Times, of course).

On Wednesday, I went to the dentist and they started work on my second crown (the first having been done last month). I was very glad I had the day off because I had an opportunity to observe a little visitor. I thought it was a cat, but upon investigation discovered a gray fox trotting across my backyard. He stopped to have a drink from a puddle on the edge of my driveway, where I managed to get a photo. It's not real good, having been taken out my bathroom window, but I didn't want to open the door for fear of scaring him off. We knew they were around, having seen tracks, but this is the first official sighting.

Wednesday night was my daughter's band concert. Here she is with her flute. Again, not a very good picture, but isn't she cute? I'm so very proud of her. She started band mid-year, but she worked very hard and was able to catch up very quickly. Her goal for next year is to be first chair! She is such a wonderful child, I don't know what I would do without her.

And now I have managed to rope her into my HAED addiction. She has started working on a Storykeep - Wolf Countess. She is stitching it with two threads on 16 county ivory aida banding and has been working on it almost non-stop since we got the fabric on Friday. She's got nearly 1000 stitches done now (twice as much as in the picture)! And vows to reach the eye today. I'm not exactly sure how the child is managing to stitch faster than me, but she is.

My other bit of work for the week is Teresa Wentzler's Celestial Dragon. This is one of my first projects -- very ambitious at the time -- and my first over-one experience (I didn't much care for it, either). I can't even remember the last time I worked on it, but I suspect it was sometime in 2005 shortly after the ex and I split. Needless to say, what was daunting back then has become a joy today and I enjoyed working on it so much I am seriously considering adding it in as a "Priority" project to my already bloated rotation!

And last, I shall leave you with an image of my crazy cat. I do not know how he manages to sleep like that!

Now I am off to put together the garden shed I purchased this weekend to stow my lawn mower in. Right now most of it is in the back seat of my car and I really need to get it out of there since the plastic smells so bad when it gets hot (and it gets really hot in my car) I'm afraid it's putting off some kind of toxic fumes! Not looking forward to it, but that and cleaning the litter box are my only two tasks for today and then it is back to stitching!

Busy week?

2010-05-23T08:18:00.003-05:00

I feel like I had an extra-busy week, but when I try to remember what I was doing I can't. All I know is I didn't feel I had time to switch out projects and so worked on Babysitting for a couple extra days. I'm on the downward slope of this one and should be finishing it fairly soon. Of course, working on it only every 7 months or so that "soon" may be a couple more years!

Or maybe longer, since I plan to start Chatelaine's Mystery XIII (Peacock Garden) as soon as I work up the courage to spend the $200+ on supplies. I think I will stitch it on 32 count antique white Jobelan and will not be using the NPI. I might substitute Hand Dyed Fibers for the NPI or I might just use DMC. It's a dilemna... you spend so much on the other materials you want to save where you can, and yet it is such a huge investment you want to do it justice by using the best materials possible!

I also purchased Ravencroft's Mistress Winter and Jack Frost in the recent HAED sale and I'm itching to start it. I don't think I will be able to resist!

The next week is going to be another busy one -- although I may be able to get some stitching done since I'll be home all novicaned up one of the days! Plus the furniture repair guy is supposed to come tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed that he can fix my chaise so I can go back to stitching in comfort!

Can't think of a title for this one

2010-05-16T08:22:00.004-05:00

Just my regular weekly update. I don't feel like I got much done this week, but I do have two to share. First is Alpine Seasons Garden. I'm through part five on this one now. When I was taking a look at what the next part entailed, I discovered the most horrible thing -- I had neglected to save the password for Part 8!! Luckily, a kind soul on the Chatelaine board still had it and took pity upon me. I'm very grateful that I do not have to buy the whole chart! Particularly so since I am saving my pennies to purchase Chatelaine Mystery XIII. I have been drooling over it since I saw the first WIP and my desire has grown with each new installment.

Sadly, after I got so much done on Alpine Seasons, I find myself reluctant to do much stitching. Probably because I broke my gargantuan chaise and have been forced to relocate to the couch. While the couch itself is quite comfortable, the angles are all wrong and I have difficulty watching TV. And since my life is controlled by the amount of space available on my Tivo, I simply must watch TV. My deleted folder hit an all-time low of 17 programs!

So, my work on American Sampler suffered. I think I only got 1000 stitches done in about 5 days!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T07:33:00.003-05:00

To all you mother's out there who are being punished for forgetting about your own mother! I'm a horrible daughter and I never remember these things until it is too late and so now I am punished and all three of my kids forget! Ah, karma.

And speaking of kids, I've noticed a couple of hits to my blog from St. John's College in New Mexico. I'm curious who this person is since I can't imagine it is my son. Could you possible make yourself known to me? If you know my son, I would love to hear how he is doing! The boy tells me nothing and usually only answers my e-mails when I start threatening to call!

So, on to my weekly update. Which is A Rose Among Thorns. The top 60 rows are now done! A pity the chart has been retired because it is such a lovely piece and quite fun to stitch.

And now I must tear myself away. I really, really don't want to, but I must mow down some weeds and kill some baby trees. I really hate doing yard work. I bought a bunch of wild flower seeds and will sow them in the back which will hopefully keep any more trees from taking root over my septic system and also negate the need to mow.

Two for this weeks update

2010-05-02T08:49:00.005-05:00

Finally I may be getting back on track. First there is The Tower of Stony Wood, one of my all time favorite pieces of artwork! It is such a joy to be able to reproduce it in cross stitch. I'm looking forward to the next go-round with this, I'm almost to the wall which hopefully will be some easy, only-a-few-colors stitching!

And that finished up the third round of my rotation, which also happens to wrap up a larger rotation of pieces marked "Favorite".

I now get to start over on the top of that list with A Confabulation of Dragons. The picture does not do this one justice. And I was extremely gratified when a friend of my daughter's recognized there was a dragon amidst the riot of color!

This is getting to be a habit...

2010-04-25T12:09:00.003-05:00

All I have this week is Song of the Dead. I made the mistake of taking my daughter to a shoe store one day -- we didn't get home until after 10! What is it with girls and shoes? I must not really be a girl because I just don't get it. And yesterday we went to the dentist, saw a movie, and went out to eat. Thus losing another whole day. Add computer problems into the mix and we end up with little stitching done. Probably won't get much done today, either since it's afternoon already and I still need to do my weekly cleaning. I simply hate it when my computer doesn't work right because I can't seem to do anything else until I figure it out and then my whole day is shot.

Only one again

2010-04-18T08:12:00.017-05:00

My work on Rose Tinted was a disappointment. Doubly so since I had to wait so long to get a corrected chart which I don't even know was worth it.

...
The picture on the left is the new chart and the one on the right is the old chart. These were both done on 25 count Lugana -- the new on antique white the old on pink. Despite the fabric color, the thread colors in the images are fairly close to real life. The lack of background detail in the newer version is a big disappointment. The rose does seem to have more definition in the new version but the color is so much darker. So back to the drawing board. Someone on the HAED board has posted a progress pic of the older version on a 28 count fabric so I'm going to keep a close eye on how theirs is looking and then make a decision between the old and new version (although I'm currently leaning toward the old version). Regardless, I'm scrapping both of those and will do my restart on a 28 count.

So on to Sea of Roses. This is another back and forth story. I started having a hard time excluding the background so I went ahead and reordered the chart and had the background removed. Which didn't work quite the way I expected since the new chart was larger and had 40 more colors! I was doing this on the "short" side of the fabric and so had enough to restart if I flipped it to the "long" side. Which I did. There was an error on the first page -- I really don't think those light pink stitches are supposed to be there -- but I continued to work on it for a couple of days anyway. Comparing the two, I didn't really see a huge difference in the way they were coming out and since I really had finished a big chunk on my original start, I decided to go back and work on that for a bit. I'm through the worst of the background removal now and so will probably stick with what I have. You never know, though, I do tend to be a bit wishy-washy when it comes to this stuff!

Only one to share this week

2010-04-11T08:34:00.005-05:00

I finally got a new Rose Tinted chart on Thursday, so I worked on Rose Fae a bit longer than expected. Thus only having one WIP to share this week.

I didn't get all that much done since I spent a largish portion of one day organizing my books. I got rid of almost all of my paperbacks when I moved and managed to fit all that are left into this media cabinet (plus all my unread hardcovers and oversized paperbacks). I was a little disappointed with the shelf placement and have 6 shelves left over. I guess I could drill my own holes and manage one more on each side, but it's probably not worth the effort since I try not to keep the paperbacks after I have read them. Which means that I haven't read most of the books in that cabinet! Yikes -- simply not enough time to read or stitch everything I want! I still have two large plastic storage containers full of hard covers that I'm not sure what I'll do with. I can't afford to get another cabinet right now and even if I could, I'm not sure where I would put it!! I think I'm going to have to move the couch down a bit and use the wall next to the window. It will probably look a bit odd, but there simply is nowhere else unless I put it in my room.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T09:42:00.004-05:00

And for my weekly update we have...

Martyr's. I finally made it all the way across! And I managed to stitch all the black! This was the first project I worked on after I got my (ginormous) new chaise. I did 4800 stitches in 4 days! Even though it was over the weekend and close to half of those stitches were blocks of black, that still has to be some kind of record for me. I choose to credit the chair. It's grown on me and I have to say it is extremely comfortable and since I can position my body any which way I don't ever have to reach when I'm stitching. Plus, I find I'm able to see the TV much better and so am stopping less.

Peace. I only worked on this for three days since I decided I was going to disrupt my rotation a bit and re-start (yet again) Rose Tinted. I had purchased the new chart since I was never entirely happy with the way the roses looked (what big red blobs they were!). I was quite dismayed to discover 21 duplicate symbols and one color with two symbols! I've e-mailed HAED, but being a holiday weekend (and with a sale on) I don't expect to hear from them before Tuesday. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to start something out of turn!

And now let me leave you with another picture of my ridiculously over-sized chaise. Complete with daughter and 38" scroll rods.

I Have Living Room Furniture!

2010-03-28T09:41:00.026-05:00

And I'm not sure if I like it! Isn't that always the way? The furniture store had the sectional version on display so I based my purchasing decision on that. I'm hoping my chaise becomes a bit more comfortable over time -- my behind seems to wedge itself in between the squares which impedes movement and does some unpleasant things to my undergarments. On the plus side, I managed over 1000 stitches yesterday (a feat that hasn't occurred for quite some time). So most of the discomfort must be in my head! My daughter, on the other hand, loves it! She fell asleep on the couch last night. The other thing that is off-putting (besides the color, I never should have let my daughters talk me into burgundy) is the size of the chaise. It is absolutely huge and looks more like an adjustable bed than a piece of living room furniture. But the idea was I could move my behind to reach my stitching rather than having to move my stand. Which actually would work very well if it wasn't for the two points mentioned earlier.

On to the stitching. This week I worked on An Emblem of Love and Luna, Sol, and Stella. I had hoped to get more done on Emblem, but my parents came for a visit and I really wanted to move on to Sol. I wanted to get all the way across on her, but I'm having a really hard time with the fabric on this one. It suits the design wonderfully, but it's a dyed Monaco and the weave is really tight. I actually broke a needle in half trying to force it through!

And finally, let me share a couple of pictures from a field trip to Medieval Times with my daughter's Excel group. We had a marvelous time and my daughter has dubbed it "the best field trip ever!" I was very excited to go since I read mostly fantasy and really wanted to see some "real" jousting. The show did not disappoint. Although the action was quite obviously choreographed (and I must say, some preformed better than others!), the clang of metal against metal and the quite real sparks that were flying as they did battle was quite enough to make up for that!

Real Quick Before I Have to Leave for Work

2010-03-22T07:48:00.002-05:00

My WIP of Dutch Beauty.

I'm almost to the dragon!

2010-03-14T08:48:00.002-05:00

The wings are done on Dragon Skies and soon I'll be able to start on the dragon.

I really need to keep up with this better

2010-03-08T09:30:00.007-05:00

My oh my have I been busy. Two, count 'em, TWO finishes.

First we have Broken Angel. She is my fourth HAED finish.

And then Desiderata. I had a lot of trouble with the hardanger on this one. I think I made every mistake possible!

First I cut the wrong threads and ended up having to reweave a section with floss. I probably should have tried pulling threads from elsewhere in the fabric because there are two little blocks where I had to weave both ways. Can you guess where? But I was so disgusted and disgruntled at that point that I just left it. My darling daughter has assured me it's "not that noticeable". She's a sweetheart, but in this case she's also a liar.

Then I continuously cut the thread in the Kloster blocks. I can't understand how I kept making the same mistake over and over, but there you have it! Regardless, I was still not able to get close enough when snipping the threads and have ragged edges everywhere.

I think if I ever work up the courage to do this again, I'm going to invest in a very sharp, very pointy pair of scissors!

And toward the end I discovered I was using the wrong thread to weave the bars. I used the Waterlilies instead of the Wildflowers.

And the rest of them

2010-01-10T11:06:00.005-05:00

Another picture intensive post, so here goes.

Day Dreaming Mermaid

Days of Advent Sampler. I'm using Hand Dyed Fibers for this one and neglected to purchase all the floss I needed for it. Needless to say, I ran into serious dye-lot issues -- probably because Vikki redid her whole line and I was too late when I tried to grab up some of the old stuff during her sell-off sale. Anyway, some of the colors I was using are now completely different and I had to re-convert those. Fortunately, the differences in color are subtle and the way the design is set up I can get away with that so the only thing I need to frog at this point is the lettering in the Adam and Eve block.

Desert Rose

Dragon Skies

Lamenting the incapacitation of my stitching stand

2010-01-03T10:09:00.008-05:00

Oh woe is me. The clamp on my stitching stand broke in half.

I'm not quite sure how it happened since it's a solid piece of wood, but I suspect my evil cat is somehow to blame. Look at him over there just waiting to pounce! I shudder to think what he was doing to my stitching to cause the clamp to split like that. Perhaps he was using it as a trampoline (again)? He's just lucky he's so cute.

I'm going to try to glue it and fortunately I do have another stand. I really dislike it, but anything is better than not being able to stitch while I wait for a replacement. Still, what a horrible thing to happen on my last day of winter break!

And Still More...

2010-01-02T10:54:00.003-05:00

More...

2009-12-31T12:03:00.003-05:00

The Big Zipper

Blue Rose Sampler

Bookkeep

Bunch of Pictures

2009-12-29T12:56:00.008-05:00

I didn't have internet for a couple of days -- had to reinstall the wireless adapter after it mysteriously stopped working. Of course, it took me a couple of days to figure that out! In the meantime I continued to update my WIPs.

American Sampler

And They Sinned

Angel of Cross Stitch

Beauty and the Beasts

Alpine Seasons Garden

2009-12-23T14:18:00.001-05:00

Click here for more info

Holy Cow is it Christmas Already?

2009-12-22T17:10:00.003-05:00

And it's been forever since I updated. Every holiday break I make a list of things I want to get done. Near the top this year is getting my website up-to-date. I usually get about half of those things done, so maybe I'll get half caught up at least! So to start here's A Confabulation of Dragons and A Rose Among Thorns.

Yay! I'm wireless!

2009-09-12T17:23:00.001-05:00

Hurray! No more wires to trip over! Just wanted to gloat a little since it took me a bit to get it working.

My baby's off to college

2009-08-24T07:13:00.003-05:00

We're leaving in about 15 minutes for the airport (I'm killing time while he's in the shower). He's attending St. John's College in New Mexico. Not quite on the other side of the country. But far enough that it makes no difference and he doesn't expect to be back until December.

Victory!

2009-08-15T10:10:00.004-05:00

I finished Victory on August 8! My first full size HAED finish!
I celebrated by starting Peace by A Stitcher's Hands. The model was stitched over one on 28 count linen, but since I despise stitching over one on linen I decided to do it on 40 count. This design is so big that I needed a whole yard of fabric of for it! I'm using 40 count Legacy from Picture This Plus (an absolutely gorgeous fabric) and silks from Hand Dyed Fibers. I only worked on it for a day because I'm not totally happy with the conversion and need to tweak it a bit. So to continue rewarding myself I started A Confabulation of Dragons from Heaven and Earth Designs. I'm afraid there's going to be a slew of new starts in my future since I was restrained for so long. I do tend to over-do.

My daughter's car was declared a total loss. She was so happy. We spent the last couple of days car shopping and I must admit I'm totally flummoxed. The first dealership told her she could get a new car and then was unable to find financing. They then told us the banks were saying the payment had to be under $200 with $2800 down so they were trying to find a used car for her that would work. The next dealership had a better selection of used cars so I thought we would have less trouble finding something she liked that would be affordable enough. She ended up driving off with a brand new Suzuki SX4 and a $350 payment. And was told because of the repossession (6 years ago!) the banks didn't want to give us money for a second used car. I actually don't understand at all. My daughter is ecstatic, though.

Holy Cow What a Weekend

2009-08-02T21:47:00.002-05:00

I had hoped to finish Victory today but, alas, that was not to be.

On Friday night I got a call from my daughter. She lost the key to her car and needed me to pick her up when she got off work at eleven. She had been told by a lock smith that her key had a chip in it and she would have to go to a dealer to get it replaced. So Saturday she takes my car and ends up having to drive down to Salisbury. Turns out there was not chip and the key was less than $20.

So we're all set right? But no. On the way home she was involved in a minor fender bender. A very old man in a pickup with a cap hit her in the front fender when he decided he needed to get over to the right and apparently didn't bother to look or couldn't see. She calls me hysterical because the old guy was yelling at her, telling her it was her fault, and refused to take her insurance information until the police officer arrived. She didn't get a ticket or anything and the damage was cosmetic. My car got the worst of it with a fairly large dent right behind the driver side headlight along with a lot of red and black paint. Okay, so I'm not too happy, but nobody was hurt and my car is pretty much fine.

On to today when she again calls me hysterical. Crying so hard I can't understand her, but I finally manage to make out her saying she's never going to drive again. We had some pretty bad storms today and she was on her way home and either hydroplaned or hit a patch of water. She says she wasn't going that fast (which the witness who stopped to help her also said). But after what happened yesterday, I think she panicked and was so concerned about not hitting an on-coming car that she way overcompensated and ended up doing a 180 and slammed her car into a ditch. Hard enough that she couldn't get the driver's door open and the back end is somewhat buried. They took her to the hospital because she's a teeny thing and she must have hit the door fairly hard when the side of the car hit the side of the ditch. Thank God she's okay, though. They sent her home with a knee and ankle brace and told her to stay off her feet for a couple of days. It could have been much worse and has been for a couple of teens that we know (who recently lost their lives in similar accidents).

So, almost no stitching done. What with all the driving to and fro and worrying. And hopefully we're done with all the high drama for awhile.

Most recent finish

2009-08-01T10:30:00.003-05:00

I've had eight finishes during my hiatus. I think that's more than I have finished in the six years previous! There certainly is something to be said about one-at-a-time stitching. My most recent is Illuminated House Blessing designed by Patricia Andrle.

I did make one minor change to the design and substituted "possums" for "ferrytes". After all, I've never had a ferryte invade my home.

I'm looking forward to hanging this. Provided I ever have any extra money to get it framed and I'm able to allow myself to put holes in my walls!

I've got pretty much everything put away now, except for my stitching stuff. That's all sitting in a big pile in my room and I'm hoping to get it all organized this weekend. I've saved the end of my closet (which has two shelf/rod thingees, one at about chest height. Perfect for those 60 drawer storage things. I can fit two on the shelf and am going to see how putting four DMC colors in each drawer works out. If I decide I need more room, I can hang two more of the cabinets on each side of the shelf. But I'm reluctant to do that at this point. The whole putting holes in the walls thing, you know.

Guess what I just did?

2009-07-25T07:14:00.002-05:00

Made my first mortgage payment! And one of these days I'm going to get around to updating this blog. I actually have finishes to share! I fear I may have become a one-at-a-time stitcher during my "homeless" period. For now I will share my progress on Victory. I'm down to the last 50 row section and should be finishing her soon!

I probably should not have ever tried to buy a house

2009-04-01T15:01:00.002-05:00

I don't have enough money for closing costs. I told the mortgage people I would need assistance from the very beginning and the sales rep I'm buying the home from assured me over and over it would not be a problem. I even told them exactly how much I'd be able to save. Now the sales rep says sorry, the lot cost too much to develop and the mortgage guy said he'd "try to fix ASAP" but is now ignoring my e-mails. I seriously, seriously can't take any more. I'm so stressed right now that it's leaking over to my daughter -- she's been having trouble breathing and the school nurse thinks it's anxiety.

I'm going to have to ask someone to lend me $4,000 or walk away from my dream (if they even let me walk away at this point). And thank God that I am blessed with family who I know will help me if they can. But still, I shouldn't have to ask. I should have the funds I need or I shouldn't be buying a house.

Bless This Home Sweet Home

2009-03-27T13:42:00.003-05:00

A prayer for my new home. By Glendon Place. This was my first experience stitching with Anchor floss and I must say I like the coverage better than what I get with DMC.

Another month gone

2009-03-26T14:24:00.004-05:00

And still my house isn't done. We were going to settle on March 31, but discovered last week that the electric company filed my application for service away and didn't give it another thought until I called to see when that was scheduled to be done. So now we have to wait for a permit from the state to run the line under the road. Which should have been applied for a month ago, but since it wasn't I'll have to wait yet another month.

Trying to look on the bright side... my son has decided to go to St. John's College. An easy decision for him since it was the only place that would have him. But that's actually a good thing, since he hadn't considered it before being rejected from his college of choice and the state university and I think it will be a much better place for him. Anyway, the bright side, I'll be able to pay his deposit right away since I now have even more time to save for settlement.

On the stitching front, I think I've finished more projects since I've been "homeless" than I have in all my other years of stitching combined. Much easier to do when you have to concentrate on one thing at a time.

Getting closer

2009-02-26T09:13:00.002-05:00

So here it is the end of February and my house still isn't finished. But things are finally moving. The house is on the lot at least and people are out there working every day. So, hopefully we'll be able to settle by the end of March.

But I'm starting to stress again. Am I still mortgage worthy? Will the house end up costing more than I qualify for? Will I have enough money for settlement? Will everything be ruined by Verizon and their inability to generate a correct bill?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Verizon is once again wrecking havoc in my life. Only this time it's not just money -- it could cost me this house. When I didn't pay the second incorrect final bill -- which I of course notified them of -- they sent it to collections. I paid the collection agency immediately (along with an additional $15 collection fee) and submitted a complaint to the Public Service Commission. I did try to talk to the people at Verizon before doing that, but they just kept transferring me back and forth. I have been assured (and guaranteed even) that the collection won't be reported to the credit bureau, but if it is I can likely kiss my mortgage goodbye.

If you're the praying type, please say an extra one for me. Two weeks ago I probably would have been able to survive this falling apart, but now that I see the house every day (yeah, I take the long way to and from work so I can see it) I've really become emotionally attached to it. If I lose it, I don't think I'll be able to prevent an episode of major depression.

While I have a few minutes with broadband...

2009-01-12T17:01:00.002-05:00

I thought I'd post a quick update. I can't believe it's been two months! The progress with the new home is going very slowly -- settlement on the land took forever and then it rained and rained and rained some more so nothing has been done with the lot. I'm so excited that we're expecting a dry, cold spell so maybe they can get those trees out of there! The old trailer is still in the trailer park since I had a horrible time getting the title so it could be demolished. That turned out to be a simple matter of going to the DMV and signing an affidavit on why I didn't have the original title! Don't you hate it when you keep banging your head trying to do something the way you think you're supposed to only to discover you should have done an end around because that's where you ended up anyway? On the positive side, the home itself was ordered last week, the septic has been designed and the plans are with the state awaiting approval. Settlement has been pushed to at least the end of February, probably March. I'm very grateful that I have a place to live, but I really miss having my own stuff and having that stuff the way I like it.

Going on Haitus

2008-11-14T10:52:00.002-05:00

I've decided to move this weekend to give them time to get this trailer out of here. The sales rep I am working with assures me that everything is moving forward and she will make sure everything works out. So I am going to operate under the assumption that she knows what she's doing and try not to worry so much. Still I won't believe it until we're actually in the new house!

I'll be staying at a friend's until final closing -- which will probably be at the end of January. I won't have internet access and so won't be able to update. And I also suspect my web pages are going to go down since I'm cancelling my Verizon account.

Everything is Chaos

2008-11-09T16:08:00.004-05:00

I'm sorting through 15 years of accumulated junk. Half of it I don't even know why I kept. I've been extremely stressed, but I've lost weight, so I guess I've benefited. I still don't know for sure where I'll end up. One day everything looks good and the next some problem seems to crop up. I go from excited and confident to convinced that I've made a huge mistake. Now I'm worried about getting this trailer off the lot. The guy who was supposed to do it came by yesterday and I don't think he liked what he saw. Which means more money and I'm already $6,000 over what I've been approved for. I want this so much -- both the home and property are as close to perfect as I'm going to be able to get. But that part of me that believes I'm not worthy keeps whispering that since I do want it so much I'm sure not to get it. Some crossed fingers, good mojo, and prayers would really help right now.

In stitching news, my rotation has totally been put on hold until I have a home again. I stitched Lisa Cowell's Words to Live By for the special friend who is providing me with temporary shelter. I've also got another project in the works for someone else who I couldn't have done this without. I've also picked two designs to stitch for the new house. Patricia Andrle's Illuminated House Blessing and Passione Ricamo's Fairy Welcome Sampler.

And I can't let you go without raving about my daughter and her fabulous performance as the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Here's a couple of pictures.

The die is cast

2008-10-09T22:55:00.002-05:00

For better or worse we'll be moving before November 30. I'm not exactly sure where we're going to end up, but if everything goes as I hope and pray I will be a real home owner come February. Regardless, I don't think there'll be any more opossums involved. Because, yes, there have been more of them and not just in the cupboard.

Kill me now

2008-09-10T18:13:00.002-05:00

Either that dratted opossum is back or there is now something else in that cabinet. I'm leaning toward the something else because I can hear it walking back and forth in there. I barely ever heard Mr. Opossum. I'm afraid to look. Is there a sign or something under my sink that says "Vermin Hotel. Reasonable Rates."??

Gotch 'im! (Finally!)

2008-09-10T17:09:00.002-05:00

I managed to catch that pesky little opossum last night. I feel such triumph! Quite a scraggly looking little thing. Can't really tell, but in the second picture he's "playing dead". Quite convincing. Laying in the food was a very nice touch! I dropped him off in the woods a quarter mile or so from my house -- across two canals and a fairly large swath of marshland. Hopefully, he won't be back! Now I get to clean out the cupboards he was in. Ewwwwwww!! Not really looking forward to that!

Might as well update my blog while waiting for an opossum to fall into my trap

2008-09-08T22:07:00.004-05:00

Is that a provocative title or what? Unfortunately, you can take it literally. I am trying to catch an opossum that is living in my under sink cabinet as described here. It's not working. But I'm hopeful that it might since I don't want to have to rent a trap. So here I wait for the stupid thing to climb into a garbage can!

Here is more background on Rose. Background stitching is one of those things that I just have to love while I'm hating it. It goes so quickly, but I never feel like I accomplish much because when I'm done there isn't really anything to see.

I also started Bent Creek's The Red Thread.

I'm not entirely happy with how it is turning out. I think I made a mistake with the fabric. I choose Silkweaver's Desert Sky. I was expecting it to be a more peachy tan with blue highlights but it's mostly gray with some very faint tan. The GAST slate thread is practically invisible against the fabric and none of the other colors seem as vibrant as the WIPs I've seen. I'm not sure if I should start over or just replace the one color. I don't know why I worry so since I plan to give this as a gift and the recipient won't have a clue what it should have looked like and will certainly love it even if it does seem washed out to me.

Well, I am tired. So, opossum or no opossum, I am going to bed!

My, my, much to share

2008-09-04T14:59:00.007-05:00

I’ve been lax once again. You’d think that I would have found some time during my four day holiday weekend to update my blog. But no. I don’t understand it, but when I get blocks of time like that with no obligations to others I go on a stitching frenzy. And that is exactly what I did.

This update on Taj Mahal is actually from the week before. I finished up the third side of part 3. One more to go and then I can finish up on part 4. It doesn’t seem like a lot of progress, but a bit is better than nothing!

Next up was supposed to be Sea of Roses but I discovered that the new chart I ordered with the background removed was not the same as the chart I had been working from. Ack! So I e-mail HAED about it and decided to move on and start (well, restart actually) Rose Fae . I decided to restart this because I thought I had made an error and used the wrong floss color. It seems I hadn’t, because that weird blue is still there in the leaves. No matter, I like the way things stitch up on the antique white and have pretty much decided to restart almost everything I have on anything else. Another testament to my complete insanity.

When I was finished with that, I decided to go ahead and restart Sea of Roses. I had determined that I had enough fabric to do so and figured more colors can only be better right? I only worked on it a day. Early on I came across a chart error (wrong color) and decided to put it away before I become even more frustrated. I’ll make a decision on whether to continue with the restart or continue trying to remove the background myself when it comes up again. Right now I’m equally torn between the two and figure some distance will help.

Tuesday was the first day of school. I took the day off and got close 1500 or so stitches done on Rose while they were in school. I’m not done with her yet, so a picture will have to wait. And here’s my youngest dressed in her finest and ready to go. She’s very excited to be in fifth grade this year. My son (who deigns to be photographed) is a senior and is gearing up to start applying to college! So there will be “endings” for both of them this year.

Singing

2008-08-26T21:10:00.002-05:00

Not a happy dance, but a bunch of progress on Song of the Dead. I was enjoying working on this so much I kept on it a couple of days longer than I was "supposed" to. Once I got started I simply had to keep going until I had the bird's head stitched.

2 WIPs to show

2008-08-21T19:28:00.002-05:00

In the interest of not falling too far behind, here is a quick update on my most recent projects.

Once again, at the top of my rotation, is Victory. For some reason, this was not the pleasant stitch I have become accustom to with her. The threads seemed to be bunching up in a bulky and unattractive fashion. Probably because of the #4 braid. I was too far into this design before I realized that it was really too thick and mucked up the rest of the stitching.

And I have finished page 7 of Tower of Stony Wood. That makes the whole top row of pages done. Woo hoo!

Guess what I did today?

2008-08-16T19:27:00.002-05:00

I still can't quite believe it. I went with my daughter and she bought a car. Is she really that old? Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and she wouldn't let me borrow hers so I could take some lame (her word) pictures of her driving it off the lot. She is very excited and I've noticed a bit of a boost in her self esteem since she knows that she's doing this herself. It's all in my name, of course, since she's only 17, but she's the one who is going to be paying for all of it. And I realized today that I'm not at all worried she won't be able to handle it and I'll end up having to take over the payments. I am so very proud of her. And this time it's not just because she's beautiful!

We have a horse... well, almost

2008-08-13T20:52:00.002-05:00

I made great progress on A Rose Among Thorns. Over 4000 stitches in four days (plus a bit Tuesday morning)! I so wanted to start working on the horse and I was able to get a wee bit of his forelock done.

I've now made it through this rotation 3 times. A bit modified from when I first started, though. Next time around, I plan to space the non-HAED projects evenly among the HAEDs. And in order to get the numbers to work out right, I'll have to add three more HAEDs to the mix. Well, okay, I want to add them. I'm also going to try switching projects on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so projects on the weekends will only get 3 days. And finally, I'm debating whether or not I want a focus piece that I'll work on the beginning of every month.

And so...

2008-08-12T09:58:00.001-05:00

I've now got cold water. And hopefully I'll have a new water heater by the end of the day. It's going to cost me every single cent I have. Lovely, huh? I guess I'm stuck here for a while longer.

Three steps ahead two steps back

2008-08-11T20:06:00.003-05:00

Okay, my life isn't so bad. Probably the worst thing that ever happened to me was being separated from my son when he was born. Personally, that was pretty bad, but compared to what other people have to go through it was a walk in the park. But it's all the little stuff that seems to keep me from ever getting ahead.

I came home from work today to discover my hot water heater had sprung a serious leak. Water was just gushing out of it. I've had to turn the water completely off and now I'm waiting for my gas company to get back to me to talk about getting a new one.

But, once again, the timing of my misfortune is quite fortunate. I've probably got enough money saved to pay for it. I just hate to have to buy a new one since I want to be out of here by December and I'll have to use my moving money. Maybe I can return it when I move? Plus I bought a whole bunch of bottled water to take on my trip last week and only drank about 1/3 of it. So we won't go thirsty.

So, not a disaster, not the end of the world, just one of those annoying bumps. But it seems like I'm always hitting them just when things are starting to get better.

And maybe it's a good thing -- I got the USDA loan application and they have raised their minimum credit score 20 points. So maybe by the time I'm ready to apply again, my score will have gone up some more.

Back to work tomorrow

2008-08-10T08:49:00.005-05:00

And I'm not exactly looking forward to it! It seems like I haven't been there forever. Fortunately, it's not the type of job where things will have piled up while I was gone.

Here's a picture of Babysitting. I finished working on her the day before we left. I've made it past the half-way point! She should progress fairly quickly now since I'm not stitching the background and there will be less and less to stitch as I work my way down. I was a bit dismayed over the uneven edge on the right. But then I took a look at the original artwork and the circle is a bit wonky anyway so I feel better. I still may go back and try to even it out, but I'll decide whether or not to do that when I've got more done and can see how it affects the whole piece.

We had a great time at Knoebels. The trip up was happily uneventful and I got really good gas mileage so I was quite pleased with that. It had started to rain right before we got there, so my daughter was concerned that we wouldn't be able to go down to the park and ride the Phoenix. But the rain only lasted long enough for me to unpack the car and get settled in the cabin. So we headed down to the park and here is a picture of her waiting to ride. The line wasn't too bad (the rain had a good side effect!) so we decided to ride in the front car. As always, it was great fun!

The second picture is of her at the start of our second day. You can see the Phoenix behind her. The next picture is her on one of our favorite rides. She went on with my niece, but they weren't able to sit together. Although we discovered later that the ride staff would have asked every one to move over a seat so they could have (the staff at this park are so incredibly nice that people actually comment on it). This is the only thrill ride other than the two coasters that I rode. I have a problem with motion sickness which seems to be getting worse as I get older. But this ride is so much fun I was willing to risk it (with a liberal splash of Motion-Ease behind each ear, that is). If you're interested in seeing it in action, check out the video I took while the girls were riding. Not the best quality, but you get the idea. If you look closely, you can see my daughter waving at me at the beginning of the ride. After that I pretty much lost sight of her!

And finally, here is a rare picture of me. When I first saw it I was puzzled. I couldn't quite understand why I'd taken it and I certainly didn't recall doing it. Then I remembered I had given my sister my camera when we went on this ride and I was actually on it! This ride is also a lot of fun but only if you want to get soaked. I was quite wet when I got off the ride and got even wetter since I caught some of the wave when the next car hit. My nephews were trying to evade my efforts to get them off the observation platform before that happened and so we didn't quite make it. It was a horribly humid day, so the water did feel pretty good!

The one bad thing was I finished the day off with huge blisters on the balls of my feet. Which made it difficult to walk the next day when we went to the pool. My sister and I are now trying to convince the others we should do the pool the first day and the park the second. In addition to being worn out from the day before, Wednesday night is bargain night so after 6 the lines get really long. My daughter even refused to wait in line for the Phoenix after that. If we went to the pool on Wednesday, we would be able to take advantage of bargain night ourselves and maybe wouldn't feel so compelled to squeeze everything in on that one day.

All in all, a wonderful relaxing vacation.

Vacation!

2008-08-04T21:21:00.002-05:00

I start Phase II of my vacation tomorrow! Woo hoo! Phase I was the traditional visit from my mother and two sisters. They have been coming down for the last eight or so years and we go to the beach. Sad that it is generally the only time I get to the beach, but I just get so annoyed with the traffic and the crowds. I probably should try to go more often -- once I get there it is so relaxing, but then of course I have to drive home and get agitated all over again.

Tomorrow we leave for Knoebels, another family tradition. We've gone every year for the last 15 years. I missed last year, though. For 12 of them, we did a day trip in September. After we moved down here we'd stay at my sisters. Three years ago, my mother decided to rent a cabin at the campground and we liked that so much we decided to start going in the summer so we could spend a couple of days. We do the rides one day and the pool another. I bought an extra set of batteries and another memory card so I'll be taking LOTS of pictures. I should be able to get some really good shots with that 12x zoom I have.

Once again, I have to do some catching up on posting my stitching progress. I worked on Broken Angel, The Big Zipper, and Ballet Pigs.

Fortunately, the plague of frogs seems to have subsided and I made fairly good progress on each of these.

And on a final note, I wanted to ask for some luck. I've decided I'm ready to try to buy a house. I checked my credit report yesterday and while it's still not very good, my score is a wee bit over the number I've heard I need without "additional explanation" for a USDA direct loan. I take that with a grain of salt, since I got it off the internet. But I have seen it in more than one place. Even if I can get the loan, there are other things that might trip me up. Like what to do with this falling apart trailer. I'd give it away, but I don't think the park management will even allow me to do that. So I need to check into how much it will cost to demolish the thing. And if that's more than I have, well... I'm hoping that the aluminum siding is worth enough to cover the cost of demolition. So, wish me luck, I am very nervous and scared.

They grow up so fast, don't they?

2008-07-20T19:00:00.008-05:00

Today I sent my baby off to camp for the first time. She has been my constant companion for the last three years, with only an occasional overnight at a friends. I was looking forward to some blessed solitude (seeing how the older two are rarely at home anymore). But I find I'm missing her much more than I had anticipated. We had thought she'd be the one who got home sick, but she was so excited I had to remind her to give me a hug and kiss goodbye! There she is sitting in the truck all ready to go. I'm just glad time goes by so fast. Before I know it she'll be back brimming with her adventures. I just wonder how she's doing. *sigh*

And here is a little friend who came over to say goodbye to her as well. I looked out the front door and I spotted him crossing the road. By the time we got out there, he was half-way across the yard. I thought turtles were supposed to be slow! I also was really surprised by the size of his claws. Randi says the things on his back are barnacles. And who am I to gainsay her? She is, after all, the turtle expert in the family.

And seeing how I had the camera out, I decided to torture my older daughter by taking pictures of her as she drove off for work. This is only the second time she's driven on her own and I wanted to record it for posterity. (And also for my insurance, you know, just in case). Fortunately, she's a very conscientious driver and fully understands that a car is a lethal weapon and some people are really stupid when they get behind the wheel. Still, I bite my nails until I know she's arrived safely at her destination.

My children are simply growing up too fast for my taste!

And so I find solace in stitching. Here is Bubble Flower. There was an awful lot of confetti in that bit, but the result is simply amazing. I just love seeing the artwork slowly coalesce as I work my way across the chart.

I'm too disgusted with myself to stitch tonight

2008-07-16T20:25:00.007-05:00

The curse has taken on a new dimension. I discovered tonight that I turned the fabric the wrong way when I started Bubble Flower. I quickly put stitches in to accommodate the whole width of the chart and I'll have exactly an inch of fabric on the right. Probably enough to frame it, but it looks so close to the edge. Regardless, my stitching mojo is gone for the evening. I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake. And it's not like it's the first time I've done it either. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I had no further problems with frogging on Cirque des Cercles. I got the first big circle in the middle done and another small one on the right.

I have been itching to start Calling the Crows ever since I first got it. And so I have. I simply love her red dress! And the frogs decided to leave me alone on this one, much to my relief.

This is too funny, I just had to share

2008-07-11T17:27:00.003-05:00

I don't know if I've written about any of my son's car woes. So here's a brief list: the starter died, on the way home from getting that fixed, the alternator died, then the windshield wipers stopped working, while that was being fixed the wiring under the seat caught on fire, then it started dogging out whenever he made a turn. All this in less than six months.

He came home last night and says "I really hate that car". I, of course, find these troubles a bit amusing, but I was totally unprepared for what's wrong with it this time. It seems his horn goes off whenever he makes a sharp turn! He says it doesn't bother him too much except when he's in a parking lot or there is a police officer nearby. And at least it's a problem we can really laugh about!

Adam and Eve -- I really am finished this time!

2008-07-10T18:50:00.003-05:00

I tell you this was probably one of the most troublesome things I have ever stitched. First I wasn't happy with the fabric and actually started on three different ones. Then I spent days messing around with the colors, involving much experimental stitching only to rip it all out and start again. And finally making mistake after mistake, including one huge one. leading to extensive frogging. You'd think I'd toss it in disgust. To the contrary, I've rather enjoyed working on it.

And so, with no further ado, let me present the final version of the Adam and Eve block from the Days of Advent Sampler.

I am sad to report the curse of the frogs has not been lifted. I'm working on Cirques des Cercles and while I haven't discovered an old counting error which negates everything I worked on the previous round, I am continually making counting errors requiring frogging out a thread or two. Not the brightest thing when working with variegated silks! I hope I don't run out and end up with dye-lot problems. You would think that all this trouble I've had lately would turn me off of stitching for a while. But no, I simply must beat those blasted frogs into submission!

I have lost the ability to count

2008-07-06T22:01:00.007-05:00

I have had a trying couple of weeks. After processing 500+ high school transcripts in three days, I was actually having nightmares about them. Doing repetitive work like that really burns me out. And just when I thought I was done, more would arrive. Blah.

I can't blame that brain deaded-ness for the counting mistakes I made in the last two projects I've worked on, though. Seeing how I made both those errors during the previous rotation three months ago. I will get to the sheer horridness of that in a minute.

First I want to share the three projects prior to the plague of frogs. Sky in Pirate and Mermaid. More sky in Martyr's. And for a change of pace, water in Jewel of the Sea. And that is where my little amphibian problem began. For some reason I started using 931 for the "9" symbol, rather than the 318 the "9" actually represents. Fortunately, I only did it a couple of times before I came to my senses and realized the thread was much too dark for that particular section. When checking to make sure I was actually using 931 I discovered that I wasn't supposed to be using 931 at all. At least frogging it wasn't too hard since the erroneous x's where easy to spot.

Ah, but my troubles only began there. I was happily stitching along on Dragon Skies, finishing up her head and moving on to her wings. And that is when I discovered that I was three stitches too low! Ack! So I ripped and ripped (not an easy task with over one stitching on opalescent fabric). I was up until 3:00 a.m. and my fingers were numb but I got it all out with little damage to the fabric. I continued on the next day, counting twice from two reference points. And am happy to report I did it right this time. And I'm happier with the way her mouth turned out the second time, so I guess that's a positive note. Isn't she pretty?

Then I moved on to the Days of Advent Sampler. I had a very hard time converting the greens, since there are three separate groups and they have to interact with each other. I ended up stitching and re-stitching the bottom portion of the Adam and Eve block, trying out different combos. I finally decided to use the NPIs for the two darker greens and am now satisfied with my choices. I finished up the grassy knoll and moved back up to the clouds and tree. And discovered that I had started the purple butterfly three stitches too low, thus throwing off everything below it. I really have to wonder what the heck is going on with this! Perhaps I have been cursed and am doomed to start everything three stitches below where it's supposed to be?

But it's even worse than that. I decide to move on to the Noah block and leave the frogging for another time and discovered that everything below the clouds, sun, and moon is a stitch to the right. I throw my hands up in defeat and rip out most of the Adam and Eve block. And start again, counting twice from two reference points. I think it's okay now. I hope it's okay now. I'm hoping to finish the block tonight. Despite have to frog this one multiple times, I'm really enjoying stitching it. And here I had thought I'd gotten over my mascochistic tendencies!

Tomorrow I'm going to pick up Cirques des Cercles. Which should be a nice and easy stitch, seeing how it's all one color and everything is pretty close together. If I find out one of those circles is three stitches too low, though, I might have to seriously re-evaluate my interest in this hobby.

Oh, the pretty colors (and a bunch of 939)

2008-06-19T19:42:00.005-05:00

First I want to share a photos of the gorgeous double rainbow that appeared across our sky Monday evening. They made a perfect arch across the sky. Yes -- both of them. I really wish I had been able to get the whole thing to fit in the camera lens. What you see is approximately 1/3 of the whole thing.

And more vibrant colors in Day Dreaming Mermaid. Isn't she just lovely?

I have also started Red Dragon. 3800 stitches and almost all of them 939! I was going to post a picture, but my camera batteries chose that moment to die. Since I couldn't find replacements (which turned out to be right in front of my nose -- don't you hate it when that happens?), I decided a picture wasn't really necessary -- just imagine a dark blue, almost black rectangle! I do like to document, though, so I'll try to take a picture when it comes around again.

I don't talk about books too often, since I'm just not good at writing reviews. But I wanted to share Jennifer Fallon with you. I've read all but the most recent of her books and enjoyed them so much that I'm currently re-reading the Demon Child Trilogy (not something I do very often with 100+ books on my to read pile). I had just finished the Hythrun Chronicles, which predates the first trilogy, and simply had to read the rest again. I strongly urge all fantasy fans to check her out.

Revelation

2008-06-09T19:20:00.003-05:00

I have made it all the way across on Revelation. It still doesn't look like much, but an accomplishment none-the-less.

Cats are so weird

2008-06-03T21:56:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of my problem child. I'm not sure what possessed her to get in the bowl. Perhaps she heard my older daughter talking about trying to make the candy canes that are in the bowl last until next Christmas.

The candy canes may have survived. I'm pretty sure the candy kisses that were also in the bowl did not.

In an attempt to stay current, here is a picture of Rose. I managed 3900 stitches this round. The piece is so huge that comes out to about 1% done. So at 1% a pop, four times a year, I figure 25 years before this is done. It is hard to fathom working on a single design for a quarter of a century, but there it is.

Wonderful news to share!

2008-06-03T08:27:00.003-05:00

My daughter has landed the role of Titania, Queen of the Fairies in Midsummer's Night Dream that the school will be performing next year! I'm so pleased for her. The teacher must think she totally rules (pun intended) since she will also be playing the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

And my rare finishes include Mirabilia's Titania and Lynne Nicoletti's Alice. How weird is that?

Guess what I spent my morning doing?

2008-06-02T16:33:00.007-05:00

Processing all my pictures and updating my web pages! Hurray!

On the right you'll see my youngest holding up the framed baby sampler we did together. She did a wonderful job stitching over two! Now she wants to try her hand at a HAED.

And here is Tower of Stony Wood. I'm getting a bit tired of all the gold, but remain stunned when I step back to take the whole thing in.

I'm afraid I didn't spend much time on Taj Mahal. It's lovely stitching with silk after using DMC most of the time, though.
Song of the Dead remains one of my favorites. It is stitching up quite quickly. Of course, I haven't come across any major color changes at this point. I imagine when I get down to the lady, things will slow up a bit. I'm really looking forward to the next section on this. I can't wait to see if those smoky bat things turn up in the stitched piece.

And finally, here is Sea of Roses. I realized as I was trying to figure out where her arm ended and the background began that I'm simply not going to be able to remove the background on this myself. That one spot is just too iffy and I really don't want to take a chance on mucking it up. So, next sale I'll be purchasing a copy of this chart without the background. I really should make these decisions before I buy the chart in the first place, but a lot of times I don't realize I don't want to stitch the background until I actually see the chart. Dragon Skies is a perfect example of that. I had intended to stitch the background, but after seeing pages and pages of white I just couldn't do it. I simply hate stitching white!

Whew! I hope Blogger doesn't have a hissy fit because of all the pictures.

Round number 3

2008-06-01T21:59:00.003-05:00

Victory is one of my favorite WIPs. I like that it's first each rotation -- makes me want to hurry up and get there. It's the one WIP that causes me to consider being a one-at-a-timer. At least for awhile. She is stitching up so fast (compared to my other projects anyway)!

This picture captures the colors in the fabric really well.

Still trying to catch up

2008-05-31T14:32:00.002-05:00

But I'm starting to think I'm never going to manage it! I finished up with round two of this rotation in early May. First, here is And They Sinned. Second, the anchor on my rotation, A Rose Among Thorns.

I'm afraid I didn't get much done on either one of them. Chalk it up to a busy week, I guess.

Have you ever come across a book that was so good, you were disappointed to finish it? I found The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss to be one such. Fortunately, Kvothe hasn't finished his story yet, and two more books are scheduled. Unfortunately, the next one won't be out until April 2009! I hate waiting for the next installment of a book (and then forgetting what all happened in the first one). And I had decided not to start another series until all the books were available (a decision made in response to Robert Jordan's death). But this one slipped by me, somehow. I'm sorely disappointed to have to wait, but I can't say I'm sorry to have read the book. If you enjoy fantasy, or even a well-told, rousing tale, I strongly encourage you to check this one out.

Babysitting

2008-05-24T17:38:00.002-05:00

Babysitting

Lots of different colors in this section, so I didn't get a bunch done. A lot of fun to stitch, though.

Prom

2008-05-24T17:00:00.003-05:00

Some pictures of my lovely daughter.

She's growing up too fast. Or perhaps I should say she has grown up too fast.

I am also happy to report that she finally landed a roll in one the school's productions. Next year they are doing Alice in Wonderland for their musical and she will be playing the Queen of Hearts. It's been too long since I've had a chance to enjoy her talent and I'm really looking forward to it. She, needless to say, is ecstatic. I'm also hoping that being able to act again will help her feel a bit happier.

Back to normal (mostly)

2008-05-14T19:57:00.005-05:00

Well, we all survived our little wet adventure. I don't know if my brand new cordless electric lawn mower made it, though. I'm afraid to look. The high water line is definitely above the floor of my shed, but not by much so I'm hoping the wheels were high enough to keep the batteries out of the water. The trailer skirting was blown off almost all the way around, but I think we only lost a piece or two. I'm not looking forward to putting it back. Here's a picture of a few of our neighbors, out enjoying the day. We got a bit of a kick out of them swimming through our yard.

And here's what it looked like the next day. What a difference, huh? Ah, the joys of living on the water! I wish now I hadn't left at low tide, since it turned out the worst was past by then and the whole thing set me back a bit, since we decided to stay at a motel rather than wade through the water again that evening to get back to the house. I keep telling myself better safe than sorry -- and I'm not going put my children in potential danger to save a few bucks. Still, it's annoying because I always over-react. But the one time I don't will be the time something really bad happens!

Enough about my weather woes. I've got some cross stitch pictures to share. I've finished up with the second round of my rotation and am currently working on Victory again. But since I'm so behind in getting pictures up, I'll show you Ballet Pigs.

I'm going to be tweaking my rotation once again. There are a few designs that have been screaming at me and I'm going to give in and start them. They are all HAEDs and are: Red Dragon, Crown of Creation, Calling the Crows, and Beauty and the Beast. I was planning to take Ballet Pigs out, but after seeing it anew, I'm not so sure. I'm also considering taking Sea of Roses out, since I have two other active Selena Fenech's. I had hoped to keep my active projects limited to 21, but I just don't think I'm going to be able to stick to that. I'm also planning to start The Red Thread, which I plan to give to a friend who has provided some heavy duty assistance to me and my family on more than one occassion.

And finally a finish! Woo hoo! Probably my only one for 2008. This is the Stars and Moon Baby Sampler my daughter and I did for her babysitter's daughter. I substituted Victoria Clayton silk floss for the DMC. The picture does not do the colors justice, they are incredibly vibrant! I'm looking forward to getting it back from the framer so we can give it to her.

Sometimes I really hate being an adult

2008-05-12T16:14:00.002-05:00

So the girls and I left at low tide. The water did start to recede, but we still had to do a bit of wading. The wind was brutal and the water was cold! Poor things have spent the afternoon in the college library. My son stayed. He's 18 you know and "can make those decisions" for himself. It's kind of nice having someone there who can reassure me the place hasn't washed away. If he'd answer the phone when I called, that is. Can you believe that? I had to call three times before he answered because he was watching a movie!

I did manage to discern from him that the water didn't get any higher than it was this morning.

This is bad, really bad

2008-05-12T08:18:00.002-05:00

I was woken up at 5:00 this morning by someone pounding on my door suggesting we move our cars. So my son and I waded through knee deep water to do so. Not a lot of fun. I was completely taken surprise by the severity of the flooding. Living on a peninsula on a bigger peninsula, I've seen my fair share of floods. Ten years ago we had to evacuate (by boat) and both of our cars were totaled. Since that time I've been quite watchful whenever we get a coastal flood warning. Generally, though, it happens somewhat gradually -- in that we'll get minor flooding with one high tide and more serious flooding with the next. The water didn't get that high at high tide yesterday afternoon -- it was higher than normal, but still within the banks of the canal. So I figured if it flooded at high tide early this morning, it wouldn't be too bad. I took this video around 8:30 this morning. Lovely, huh?

I'm a wee bit concerned that the water isn't receding. And this trailer is making the most ominous creaking sounds. It's starting to look like we'll have to wade out at low tide or run the risk of not being able to get out at all. And, yeah, I'm a little scared.

And now for something completely different

2008-05-07T21:15:00.002-05:00

I don't know exactly what it is about The Big Zipper, but I simply fell in love with it the first time I saw it. Which explains why it landed in my rotation immediately. I had a bit of trouble with the perle at first and was concerned about how it was stitching up, but I soon got into the swing of things and it's turning out just fine. The stitches seem huge (9 per inch compared to my general 25 per inch!), but it is so gratifying to see huge swaths of fabric stitched in a single sitting.