Traveling

The weekend before Christmas, my sister and I drove to Pennsylvania to bring my parents down to Virginia for Christmas. The weekend after, we took them back up. I have a little LHN piece that I keep packed in my duffel bag. That is what I stitched on this past weekend. It's coming along nicely considering I only stitch on it when I travel.

Little House Needlework

Night and Day

I'm going shopping to Michael's on January 1st for floss for HAEDs Contemplating the System by Ciro Marchetti. If you aren't familiar with HAED, they almost all take at least 90 different colors of floss. I have a coupon for 20% off my entire order on the 1st, so I should make out nicely. I also have gift cards for Michael's that I received for Christmas. Yay! Shopping at no cost to me! Can it get any better than that?

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas to all my blogging and stitching friends. May you have a blessed holiday. I well "see" you all next year!

Update Finally!

Yes, I am finally updating. March and I stitched last weekend and I actually put a little in FoS. So, here it is:I also stitch a couple hours on LHN's HoN2. This is the piece March and I are stitching together. We start the day stitching on it, then switch to whatever else we want to work on later.

The lighting isn't so great, but this is a sweet little piece.
I've also been stitching on MXI. I'm just about out of one of the colors I'm using as a substitute. It is Six Strand Sweets Green Tea Ice Cream. I checked with their website and contacted one of the sites listed. Laurel's Stitchery had some SSS listed but not that color. I emailed Laurel and she found one for me and put it up on her site so I could buy it. All within 24 hours. Now that is service. I'll go there again, that's for sure.

Free Day Friday

As of Thursday afternoon I have worked 42 hours. I'm also scheduled to work Saturday. My mantra is "Christmas shopping money". I repeat this several time a day. I have done a little stitching, but no pictures to show just yet. However, I am off Friday and I plan on doing some stitching, laundry, going shopping with my sister, getting my car's emissions done and going to the DMV for my tags. Not necessarily in that order! I also have the monthly Stitch and Bitch at March's this Sunday. So my stitching plans are to work on MXI Friday and Saturday, then to work of FoS on Sunday and Monday. This is the last month of the HAED SAL. I haven't missed one month. Not bad for my first time with this. I also heard from Angela yesterday that she received my ornament. Of course I forgot to take a picture, so you'll have to go to her blog to see it. She loves all things Disney, so I charted a Mickey Mouse and stitched it for her. Well, it's after 1 a.m. and I'm not the least bit tired, so I'm going to go read blogs and catch up on all the news. I will try to get pictures posted after the weekend of what I get done.

Catching Up Part 2

I finally finished parts 8, 9, and 10. I started part 11 last night. I'm trying to get it done before Dec. 1, but it doesn't look like I'll make it. We're going up to PA early tomorrow morning. It's a little hard to stitch up there, but I'm going to try. Everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Ornament Exchange

I just received this from Angela at Hooked on Stitches as an ornament exchange. Isn't it adorable. Thanks Angela. I've finished stitching mine but have to assemble it. I hope to have it mailed by this weekend.
I've been stitching away on MXI and almost have part 10 done. Then I have to do part 11 to be completely caught up by the time part 12 comes out on Dec. 1st. I keep telling myself I can do it!

I've been tagged!

Sharon over at Daffycat tagged me with the 6 Random Fact About Me meme going around.
Rules are...

Link back to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your Blog.
Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
Tag 6 people at the end of your post by linking to their Blog.
Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog.

1. I am a big SciFi geek.

2. I hate to hang up the clothes after drying them. I get my husband to do it.

3. I can't sew worth beans.

4. I never miss Iron Chef America. They fascinate me.

5. I've been eating pomegranates since I was in high school (32 years ago). Now they're popular.

6. I'd rather be given electronic toys than jewelry.

I'm going to opt out of tagging 6 others since just about everyone I know has already been tagged.

On the stitching front, I finished stiching my exchange today. Now all I have to do is the finishing work. Then it's off the the mailbox. Hopefully by next weekend. Sam is taking this week off and I'm taking Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off. We're going to do some day trips, museums, and maybe go see a movie. I might even get some stitching in.

November HAED SAL

I put a little over 1700 stitches in during the SAL this weekend. I stitched a lot of it over at March's this weekend. I also stitched on the LHN House of a Needleworker Too, but I haven't had a chance to take a piccie of it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for your comments on my owie. It is still sore, but I'm getting used to it.

Owie

I've had a sore toe for the past two weeks, so I went to see the doc yesterday. He took one look, said he wouldn't touch it because it looked like it would hurt if he did and sent me to a podiatrist. They took me in right away this morning. It was an infected ingrown toenail. Make a long story short, the doc numbed it, then badda boom, badda bing, he did his thing and I got to go home and prop my foot up for the rest of the day. Of course that meant stitching time! I can't show what I worked on as it is for an exchange, but I got quite a bit done today.

Catching Up

I'm finally catching up MXI. I just finished parts 8 & 9, sans beads, and I hope to start 10 tomorrow. That is dependent upon work of course. Here is a close up of part 9. I really like the Jessica stitches. The funny thing is that out of all the regular cross stitch and specialty stitches, the thing I have trouble doing is the darn backstitching. I don't know why I have a hard time with it, but I do. Weird huh? Part 11 came out this weekend and I hope to start on it next week. I have the HAED SAL this coming weekend, so I won't be able to start it until after that.
I've been buy stash like crazy. Don't know when I'll get to stich any of it, but I can't help myself. I bought four more HAEDs during their sale:
Pyramid 2 by Marchetti
Manhattan Wonderland by Wooster Scott
Firefly by Ashwood
Celestial by SPM
Then I ordered Chatelaine's Oriental Harem Garden and Watergarden II - Autumn.
I also just got an order from ABC that has Mirabilia's Bluebeard's Princess and Vixen; also Catnip Kitty Fob by Sweetheart Tree.
The I took a jaunt to the LNS and picked up La-D-Da's Something Wicked, CCNs The Nutcracker, Peppermint Lane, and LHN's Hen Party. I had to get this because everytime I get together with my sisters my DH calls it a Hen Party! How appropriate is that?

Work is sucking the life out of me!

I haven't made it home from work before 9:30 pm for almost three weeks and I've worked a couple of the weekends also. I haven't touched a needle in all that time. They put in a new payroll system and it doesn't work the way it suppose to, so, someone (guess who) has to input everyone's hours by hand. There are five of us doing this, but with thousands of employees, it takes a little while. The first week was the worst because the managers made a lot of errors on the time sheets and we had to correct those. It's getting better as they get more familiar with the new pay codes and such, but still, it would be nice if it worked like it was suppose to. Supposedly, the mangers are suppose to fill out excel spreadsheet and email it in, then that gets downloaded to the system. The problem is the managers made so many changes to the sheets that the system rejected them. The big wigs from the software company are coming this week, so maybe we'll get to voice our concerns (nice way of saying we get to bitch at them). On top of all that, I have bronchitis. That just sucks.
Now onto the fun stuff. Since I've been working so hard, I've gotten quite a bit of OT. You know what that means? NEW STASH! Two things happened. My oldest sister came up from Roanoke this weekend and The Scarlet Thread is having a 25% off sale because they are moving to a new location (less stuff to move if you sell it) So my two sisters and I had to go out there and help them out, right? So without further ado, here is the pic:
I also have the nicest hubbie. When I got home Thursday night, there was a $50 Michaels gift card sitting on my laptop. He got it for me since I've been working so hard. I spent that bad boy Saturday morning. I bought all the floss for a new HAED that I want to start some time soon, a floss box, bobbins, needles, various Halloween ribbon, and the cutest little bag. Here it is:The color is actually a little darker than this. And yes, the check out person at Michaels put all the floss in it. It's just so cute. I think I'm going to keep my scissors, highlighters, extra needle, etc. it it.
Now, I have a bag of Sugarfree Tootsie Roll Midgees and my cross stitching. I am ready to go. Have a great day everybody!

I Won This

Angela over at Hooked on Stitches had a drawing and I won this lovely little scissors pocket. It is just great. Sorry the picture isn't better, but I wanted to get it posted and I haven't had the time to fool with the camera. It is finished wonderfully. I really need to practice with finishing LOL! I hope the ornament I'm sending her next month comes out as nice as this.

No new stitching tonight. I didn't get home again until 9:30 pm. Thankfully, tomorrow is the day they print the checks. Hopefully we won't have to stay late. Now I have to go catch up on my blog and forum reading. I'm way behind!

October HAED SAL

I finally got to stitch a little today. YAY! I'm only 58 stitches away from having page 9 done. I ended up doing 65.5 hours total last week. The paycheck will be good, though I am one whipped woman. Sam says to make sure I put a big chunk in my hobby fund. We both set up separate checking accounts from our joint account for our hobbies. Every week we have a set amount transferred to these accounts and we use them for our hobbies. It's a good way to control our spending. Neat, huh?

Thank you to everyone for you well wishes. I'm still coughing and probably will be for a few more weeks. The upside is Sam is doing some of my chores for me LOL.

No Stitching

I have just finished working two very long days and still have to work this weekend. I worked 13 hours Thursday and 14 hours tonight. They put in a new payroll system and everything has to be put in differently. I don't know who picked it, but they should be taken out and hung by their thumbs! It is so convoluted. I'll probably work 14 or more hours tomorrow and maybe Sunday also. I have no time for stitching! I also had a cold start this week and now it's moved to my chest. All I do is cough; so much that my head hurts. Do you have any idea how bad diabetic cough syrup taste!? It is worse than the regular stuff. The stupid thing is I could have turned down the hours, but I figured what the hey. Now I think I'm regretting saying yes. Oh well, enough of my belly aching, I'm off to bed.

Post Stitch & Bitch

As I have mentioned before, March and I are both stitching LHN's Home of the Needleworker Too together. I finished the window frames yesterday and got most of the door done. I like these little patterns. They are so cute.



After a couple of hours we switched to our BAPS. I worked on MXI as I'm trying to get caught up. I got two trees past the middle done on part 8. I really want to get part 8 and 9 done before the HAED SAL next weekend. Of course I woke up this morning feeling like I'm getting a cold. So I've dosed up. Hopefully I won't feel too drugged up to stitch some today.

Honest, I've been stitching

See (sorry for the blurry photo). I finally picked up MXI again. I'm half way thru part 8, then I have to do part 9 and 10! I'm going to a Stitch and Bitch at March's Saturday, so hopefully I can get this part done this weekend. I really need to get caught up with this. I also want to start a little Halloween RAK for someone. I already know what I want to stitch and who I'm going to send it to. I have so much I want to stitch and not enough time!

PIF

I just received this wonderful pinkeep from Angela. I love it! Halloween is my favorite holiday and I already have this displayed in my living room. I'm going to do a Christmas ornament exchange with her later this year. I only hope I can do as well as this little beauty. Thank you Angela!

Latest

I only have about 400 stitches and then I am done with page 9 of FoS. This will make my half year goal I posted on the HAED BB. I'm finding it really hard to put this one down, but I'm forcing myself to stitch in MXI part 8. Here is my start on this part. I need to get it and part 9 done. I am trying to work on a small hoop this time to see if it is easier to stitch on as this is one huge mother.
I also picked up a few goodies at the LNS. I love the Blue Ribbon Designs Creepy Crawly! I don't know when I'll get to do it, but I love anything Halloween. The JCS Ornaments issue is fabulous. There are some beautiful ornaments to do. I especially like the Little House by Thea Dueck and the Noel by Sweetheart Tree. And of course I had to get the new Mirabilia. She is really beautiful.
Well, back to my housework. Must get it done so I can go back to my stitching.

Face

I have a face now! This is how far I got after the HAED SAL. I didn't get the page done, but hopefully soon. I got quite a lot done. Saturday March and I got together and first we stitched on LHN's Home of a Needleworker Too! I started on the windows and March started on the house. We decided that we would get together once a month and stitch on the LHN first and then switch to something else after a few hours. We had a lot of fun. One of the girls who we used to work with came by and stitched with us a little bit before she had to go to class. It was really great seeing her again. I'll try to update more often, but no promises :-)

September SAL

It's time for the HAED SAL! YAY! This will really get me started on my stitching again. Here is where I'm starting. I have two columns of page 9 done. I hope to get most of this page done this weekend. As I posted earlier, I'm going over to March's to stitch this weekend after we have breakfast. I'm getting really stoked. Can't wait for Saturday.

DH saw the President yesterday. He works at the State Dept. When he came out of the building a police officer blew his whistle and yelled at him "Sir, Sir, stop walking!" He said he looked around and everyone was standing still and not moving. The officer yelled at several others after him. A few minutes later the motorcade passed and ole George W was waving from his limo. Apparently you're not even allowed to walk down the street until he goes by. This is what happens when you work in D.C.

They unveiled the 9-11 Memorial at the Pentagon today. It's 184 benches, each one with the name of a person who died that day. It's different but has a certain elegance to it. I'll have to go up some time to see it up close.

Bleagh

Yes, you read that correctly. I haven't touched my stitching for almost a week. I finally did a couple hours last night, but not much. I've just been sort of blah and distracted. Hopefully I can get my stitching mojo back soon. I'm going over to March's this Saturday for a day of stitching so that should help. I finally caught up with readying blogs today. I haven't been reading them either. Bleagh!

Part 8 Finally

Finally put the last stitches on part 8 of FoS. I am really loving this piece more and more. I finally got to put in something besides blue or green in. The next page will show the face. I can't wait!

On the stash front, I bought a Linda Ravenscroft from ABC and it came in the mail today. It's great that HAED gets to chart them again, but they don't get to sell them directly because LR won't let them and has them distributed through Colray. So, you have to buy a hard copy from an LNS or ONS. I miss getting the pattern in pdf form. I got Moonstones. You can see it here.

Still Here

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted. We went to Pennsylvania last Friday to see my folks. My mom's 85th birthday is today and my middle sister and I went up to help her celebrate. It was quiet because my dad, who is also 85, fell a couple weeks ago outside and hurt his ribs. He was in the hospital for a couple days and then they moved him to a rehab center. They wanted him to stay there for six weeks. Well, my mom went in and sprung him after two. He was doing everything for himself in there. The doctor only saw him in person once, the day he was admitted. He only saw a nurse once in the morning and once at night. The rest of the time he was on him own. He had very little pain by that time; they were giving him Tylenol! So my mom decided since she signed him in, she could sign him out. I went with her Saturday and picked him up. He was dressed and ready to go at 9 am. The home health therapist came today and said she didn't need to come any more at all. After one visit! And they wanted him to stay six weeks?! I think someone was out for the money.

On the stitching front, I'm still working on FoS and will hopefully finish page 8 tonight or tomorrow. I will post a picture when I get there. I did work on LHNs Night & Day while in PA. Here is a pic of what I got done this weekend. I'm going to keep it in my bag as a travel piece. Unless I get a wild hair and decide to finish it sometime sooner.

I've added another blog. It is Michiko's. It is in Japanese, but her stitching is fabulous. It is well worth visiting just to see the pictures.

Gift for Mommy

Here I was this afternoon, stitching away on FoS, when my furbaby Gray called for my attention. He had a gift for me. A little mouse. Well, imagine my surprise! I praised him appropriately, telling him what a good cat and hunter he is (all the while trying to move him away from said mouse). I got the dustpan and broom and scooped Mr. Mousie in to the pan, only to find he was not quite all the way gone yet. I took him out the back door and flung him as far away as I could. In the meantime, Gray is sniffing the spot he left his gift and can't find it. He lays down right on that spot and starts pouting because his toy is gone. What a crazy cat! I had to call my DH and tell him and while talking to him I figured something out. If Gray is the Gray Mouser, than that makes DH Fafhrd the Barbarian (DH is blonde, Germanic, large, etc.)!





(I believe the artwork is by Michael Whelan)

Still Working ..

On FoS. I'm about halfway through page 8. I can't seem to stop working on this. I know I should stitch on some other projects, but they are not calling to me like this one is. I'll keep going until I get tired of it I guess.

I'm taking my sister Lynn to Scarlet Thread tomorrow. She has never been there, so it should be fun. They are having their red bag recycling sale. Their bags are red and for every one you bring back in, up to ten, you get 2% off you total. I only have three, but hey, that's better than nothing. If they have the new Nora Corbett Athena, I know what I'm buying!

FoS Page 7

I finished page 7 during the HAED SAL and I've already started page 8. I'm really enjoying this again. I don't want to stitch on anything else right now.

Now onto the weather. As anyone in this area knows, the Washington D.C. metro area is usually sweltering by this time with temps in the mid to high 90s and the humidity just as high. Today, it was a nice 77 degrees. What the heck?! Not that I'm complaining. I love it, but it is a little weird. It's suppose to be nice like this all week. Tomorrow, I'm going to work on my plants outside. Have to take advantage of it while it's so nice out.

Watch the Birdie

I just downloaded some pictures from my camera that I took last weekend and thought I would share it here. This is an American Goldfinch. He was sitting on some thistle, which they enjoy eating, and I was able to sneak up and grab this. It is not enlarged at all. I took this at Lake Cook in Alexandria, VA.

Zipping Along

I've been stitching on this as part of the HAED SAL and I'm really zipping right along on it. I set a half year goal on the HAED BB to finish pages 7, 8, and 9 by the end of this year. I've almost finished page 7. I hope to finish this page during the SAL. Then I'll have to pull out MXI and do part 8. I need to make myself stay up to date with it and not get behind. I am really enjoying this this weekend and my DH has been very supportive and hasn't bugged me about stitching too much :-)

Thanks everyone for your comments last post. This is what I love about the stitching community.

Out of Slump

I'm out of my slump! I stitched on FoS and almost finished another two columns. You can see the other mermaid taking shape.

On the stash front, I ordered the three new Nora Corbett Alphabet Fairies - D, E, & F, from Stitching Bits & Bobs. I think they are cuter than the first three. I don't know if I will do all of them, but with my initials being JEB, then my sisters' LSS & DFA, I think I have most of the ones I need. Of course there are my nieces, TMF & KRF. Hmmm, maybe I will be getting them all. :-)

Slump

Ever since I went away last weekend, I've been having trouble getting back to my stitching. I want to work of FoS some more and I also have part 8 of MXI to work on. Plus, Sam bought me a new laptop yesterday (the old one's case had broken and was falling apart!) so of course I want to play with it. And let's not even talk about chores. I don't have enough time for everything!

More FoS

I've been working on page 7 of FoS. I have 2 columns done. That equals a quarter of the page. I was going to keep stitching on this until the end of the month, but Martina released part 8 of MXI early because she is going on holiday. I'm also going to my oldest sister's in Roanoke this weekend for our dad's 85th birthday. My middle sister & I are driving down tomorrow and coming back on Monday. We're leaving the hubbies here. Sister bonding time! So I won't get much stitching done this weekend. I'm also going to miss the Peruvian Freedom celebration at work on Monday. All that homemade food and I won't get any. Wah! Oh well, my dad is worth it and more. Talk to you all next week.

Veronica nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger award. Wow! I never thought that would happen.

Here are the rules for this award:

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Now to comply with the rules, here are my 5 picks in alphabetical order:

• A Simple Thread - Michele
• Eye of the Needle - Glenna
  
• Hooked on Stitches - Angela
  
• It's DaffyCat - Sharon
  
• Stitching Again - March

Thanks ladies. Happy stitching.

No stitching today, but ...

We went to see Batman the Dark Knight today. All I can say is WOW! It is excellent. Of course everyone is saying how great Heath Ledger's acting was, and they are right. He was incredible. Another great performance is turned in by Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. There is a lot of psychological background to the story. I would not take a child to see this either. It may be a comic book hero movie, but it is very dark. The one thing my DH and I both said though was Maggie Gyllenhaal looked like crap! In the party scene she has these big bags under her eyes and her hairstylist should be hung up by the thumbs. DH says she looks like she just woke up and didn't bother with any makeup :-) Overall though it stands up to the hype. It will be a hard movie to top. Now, I can go back to stitching. Still working on FoS.

Happy Dance!

I finished pages 5 & 6! All before the end of the month. Which means I met the goal I set for the year on the HAED BB. Now I have to finish pages 7 thru 9 to meet the half year goal I set on the BB. This is the top row of the piece. It's 400 stitches across. So I am 15.93% done. I figure I should have it finished in about 3 years :-)

I was at Michael's and they have these really cute ribbons in . I love anything Halloween. I'm going to go back and get some more.

End of July SAL

This is a pic of FoS after the HAED SAL this weekend. I almost finished page 5. I figure I put in about 3600 stitches this time. I was really zooming. I'm going to try to finish page 5 this week and then do page 6. That is a small page. Only about 1200 stitches. Hopefully I can finish by the end of this month.

Hi, I'm Jan ....

and I'm a stashaholic! Everytime I go down to the LNS I end up getting another LHN. Hopefully I'll actually stitch one of them soon :-) The other patterns I got from Stitching Bits and Bobs during their sale. I fell in love with the haunted house the moment I saw it. And yes, that is another LHN!

Now Showing

Beatrix! I just put the last few beads in. She is so cute! Now I'm free and clear to stitch on FoS. The SAL is this weekend for HAED, so I think I'll go ahead and start stitching now. I really want to get farther along on it.
On the family front, my brother, his wife, and youngest daughter are in from California. They are staying at my sister's house (she has the extra room). So we all went out to dinner in Old Town Alexandria tonight. We went to the Hard Times Cafe. It is renowned in the metro area for their chili, wings, and ribs. We ate ourselves silly! It was great. Family and food. Nothing like it.

I was RAKed

I'm having a bad diabetic day today. My blood sugar was 184, which is way too high. It makes me feel very lethargic and my mood is inpatient. So I was ranting on the HAED board about it and how I wanted ice cream, but the grocery stores around here only carry sugar free vanilla and chocolate ice cream; none of the good flavors, such as Edys sugar free Cookies and Cream. So someone who read it sent me a chart from my HAED wishlist. They sent me Celtic Trinity which you can see here. What a nice surprise! I really needed a little uplift. I haven't touched my stitching all day. I just feel too tired to do it. I had wanted to finish Nora's "Beatrix". Maybe tomorrow. Thank you to my "Friend" who sent me the pattern.

Beatrix

All I have is one more group of flowers and then backstitching and beading, then I'm done. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow between loads of laundry.

Part 7 Completed

Part 7 is all done. It looks really nice. I wish the pictures would show how much it sparkles in real life. I added a closeup of the middle. I really like the little pyramid.

Now what shall I work on. I guess I'll pull Beatrix out again. I should be able to get her done this weekend. Stitch on!

Part of Part 7

Here is my part 7 of MXI so far. I need to do 4 more trees and then the full moon and pyramid. This part is going much faster than the others. I should be able to finish this by Friday. I get about 2 to 3 hours stitching each night. If the picture looks funny it's because it's a merged picture. I took 3 pictures and merged then together. Sometimes the overlap gets a little funky looking, but I thought this looked okay. I think when I get this done, I will go back to "Beatrix" and try to get her done this weekend also. Then I will either work on FoS or start the kitty cat biscornu. Decisions, decisions.

Bad Again

I was bad again! I had to run to the LNS for some GA floss and while there I saw this. It's so cute. Having been a cat mommy for many years I couldn't resist. I almost balked because of the price and then I realized it has the fabric, floss, beads and charm with it. So all in all not bad. Now I have to go finish part 7 of MXI

Part 6 Finished

Finally finished part 6 of MXI. I had three quarters done and then got sidetracked with other stitching projects :-) Today is our 22nd wedding anniversary and I had a relaxing day. Got up late, fed the cats, surfed the net, then stitched on this. After Sam got up (much later than me) we went to Nature by Design and bought 2 liatrises. Nature by design sells plants that are native to Virginia. It's a nice place and the people are really knowledgeable. We went out to dinner for our anniversary and then went down the GW Parkway. All in all a very nice day.

Froggies!

Not the stitching kind. I got these at WalMart yesterday. They are so boo!