Feather Fairy... Finally!

January Stitching Results:

No finishes! Started three large projects this month :-)
Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - started, but only did about 1/6 of a block - not a good start at all!
Little Wings - started and made great progress until the snow really started falling and I needed to switch to something with more spring like colors
Fairy Flora - started and really chugging away on this one
Beneath the Starts - old WIP from 2004, have been able to stitch on it here and there at work, about half done now!

Finally - a pic of Feather Fairy - thanks to my friend Karen! Feather Fairy is cute - I like her little innocent look, and I am glad I pre-ordered the chart and also the specialty threads! Yay!

I also ordered up Baby Garden from Stitching Bits & Bobs - I think Nan did a great job with this one, all of the love she had for the new baby in her family really shows through in the details - we are not expecting a child, nor is anyone close to us - but still, had to have this one! Great bunny charm!

The mailman finally delivered The Rose of Sharon and Queen of Peace from the ebay seller, who is only an hour to two hours away in Massachusetts - the package is postmarked 1/22/05 - the snowstorms must have slowed this one down! Also got my first installment of Monthly Bits - Suprise Me - Anything Goes! Small from Stitching Bits & Bobs - not as color coordinated as the monthly fibers from Paw Prints Cross Stitch, but still fun and the value is good - I scanned what I received - Caron Watercolours, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Needlepoint Inc Silk, Seaside Treasures Floss, Dinky Dyes Floss and Glissen Gloss Colorwash Silk - $15.25 worth of fibers for $13.00 (including shipping)- that is pretty good.
Yay! 24 is on tonight! And, more yay - just a pic of my favorite crush (copyright nascar.com):
Stitched on today: Beneath the Stars (at work) and Fairy Flora

Why I Love Arena Football.....

.... because without Arena Football, I would have no sports to watch between the end of the NFL Season (this coming Sunday - and my beloved New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl again this year! Come what may, as I lack a crystal ball, I am just thrilled that they made it back there again this year - good to see that the trash talking so far has been limited to the opponents - my Pats do show a lot of class!) - oh, and before I got sidetracked there - as I was saying, between the end of the NFL Season and the start of the NASCAR Season, later in February! Yay, Arena Football - oh, and it sure is entertaining too!

Here is my latest progress pic - I sure wish my scanner would show you that my linen is a lovely sage color, not this bright blueish evergreen color :-( Ugh!! Loving this piece though!

Oh - and YAY to the (slightly) warmer temps - above freezing at least - and the lack of storms in the area for now! Whew! Thank you Mother Nature - we need this break!

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Fairy Flora has a face now! I like to get the faces done as soon as I can when I stitch humans/fairies/angels/dragons/animals.... I feel more connected to my work once the face is done. I tried adjusting the brightness of the picture after I scanned it, as I am still trying to get a picture that shows the color of this fabric accurately - I think I got a tiny bit closer, but still no cigar! This is yet another fun Mirabilia to stitch, and as a result I have been neglecting Little Wings all weekend. Sigh.

At last, the temps today crossed above the freezing mark for the first time in 13 days! Yay!!! It seems the storm pattern has at last changed for a bit and are hitting south of us for now. What a relief for those of us who are so weary from these storms! It is certain not to last, but this mini-January thaw is welcomed here!

We spent much of the day today furniture shopping. Mike is tired of our sofa - it is a leather recliner and we have had it since 1994, as I recall we got it the same week we got P.C. He immediately tried to claw it, and his de-claw appointment was set up right away (a serious regret, we no longer de-claw our cats - way too inhumane - sorry P.C.).... Anyhow, Mike feels that his seat on the sofa is no longer comfortable - he is right, I sat in it and it is all worn out. We found a leather sofa and loveseat set that I liked at La-Z-Boy Galleries today, but the only one in stock was the floor model, so we continued our search at other places without luck - we will probably go back tomorrow and see if there is a discount for the floor model - it appears perfect, but still, it is a floor model. So.... looks like I am going to be getting a new "stitching nest," and that makes me a little anxious - I have this one all broken in now!

I got in some fabrics today - the Ocean Fog lugana I ordered from Dyeing4U was a major disappointment - instead of being a medium sage green with heavy mottling, it arrived as a greyish cream with very few tan splotches. Wow, way off. But Barbara at Dyeing4U was more than wonderful about all of this, and she is immediately exchanging it for their Nautical Lights opalescent lugana, which she is also using right now to stitch The Queen Mermaid - she sent me a scan of her WIP -- and it was so nice, so this is all resolved well! I also received my first Fabric of the Month from Silkweaver (a nice deep blue similar to Millennium Blue - I already know what to use it for.....), and the 32 ct Silkweaver Blue Dynasty lien from Laurel's Stitchery came in too - really nice piece! As well, I got Welcome Stitching Club Part 3 by Elizabeth's Designs in today too - now that the first three of four are here, and are being released so rapidly, I think it is time to start kitting this neat project up! Cool!

A small ebay win tonight too: Alphabet Soup #1 Sampler by Brightneedle - love this unique design team so much!

We watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow tonight - well, Mike did really - I couldn't get into it, so I worked on Fairy Flora's face instead. It is kind of a silly movie, really.... but as long as it is somehow sci-fi, Mike is cool with it!

Laundry, laundry, laundry - need I say more?? That pretty much describes the whole rest of my day :-)

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Thank God It's Friday!

How is that for an original header, eh? I really need this weekend - what a tiring week with the snow storms, cranky clients and the big office snafu! Yuck! And, my Mystic Sampler kit came in today - I love it!! As usual, Jeannette Douglas outdid herself and made another pretty class sampler!

Mike took me out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday after work, and I had yummy Bayou Surf & Turf (low carb style, of course, with creamed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes, and 86 the garlic toast, but add the low carb Margarita - thank you so much!) - it was soooo good!

A big splurge tonight - I ordered a great belfast solo from Silkweaver tonight - really huge at 26 x 36, but it is what I have been looking for to stitch Fairy Moon - I started this one back in about 1995 on Mulberry Cashel and it is about half done - it looks good, but after seeing it on several hand dyed linens, well, that is what I wanted too! Here is the link for the Solo to use with the Fabric Selector.

Well, soon we will settle in to watch Alien vs. Predator, which Mike is dying to watch - and I will stitch...

Unfortunately, I see that Passione Ricamo has pulled its free Christmas Angel chart off of its site, so if you did not get it already, darn, it is gone! I am glad I saved it to my hard drive... but now she has put up the final postcard for her seasonal series, and all together they are so lovely - - OK, now just have to do this one too!

Stitched on tonight: Fairy Flora - will make sure I get back to Little Wings again this weekend, I really don't want to neglect it now!

Those Darn Cats :-)

Well.... it turns out that our ISP was not actually down at all! We seemed to have had a cat-related problem! Seems one of our cats, and we both bet it was hyperactive Ava, climbed into Mike's desk behind his computer and turned the power strip off! Silly! Problem has been diagnosed, cat has been cuddled, and we are back up to full power!!

So, here is my progress pic of Fairy Flora - bear in mind that the Silkweaver Belfast Solo I am stitching it on is not quite as dark as the scan shows - though I do like how dark it looks on the scan -

While home yesterday, I really enjoyed watching Cellular as I stitched - I did have to put my stitching down a few times to really catch what was going on, but it was really an enjoyable movie!! Good stuff!

I had to run to WalMart before work this morning to buy a mailer to send a DVD off to Karen in Australia - and I was so happy to see that they had NE Patriots 2004 AFC Champions T-Shirts for sale - scooped one right up! Love it! Also got a fun classic DVD - Weekend at Bernie's from the infamous $5.50 DVD dump bin at WalMart too! Very cool!

One little stash purchase today too - through ebay I was able to knock another chart off of my wish list - I can now claim Rainforest Romance as officially part of my stash too :-)

I got some of my mail in yesterday too - Chinese Blessing Gods - Hok Lok Siew by PINN Stitch from ebay, the Q-Snap 3" Extenders I have been waiting a while for, and the 12" x 18" cut of Sparkling Sundown Belfast Reflections by Silkweaver from their Odds & Ends page....

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora (at home) and Beneath the Stars (at work)
Stitched on yesterday: Fairy Flora

My ISP was down last night, and is down again today, so I have to blog a little from work instead. I was home (again) yesterday due to even more snow - when it snows, my patients rarely ever keep appointments - in fact, they are not keeping them today either, because the day after the snow counts in some way as well... I went down to the 5th floor and checked out my new office. I have to move in there for 3/1/05. Oh joy! I will try to make the best of it, though.

I got a tremendous amount of work done on Fairy Flora while I was home yesterday. I just had to work on it because with all of this dreary winter weather, I needed to work with the spring colors for a bit! I haven't stitched with those salmon and lavender color families in longer than I can remember! It was great fun, and I took a scan.... but could not post it, so maybe I can tonight....

I also did a little online shopping yesterday - made sense in a sick way since I was home all day not actually making any money! I ordered the Kreinik and Mill Hill beads for Mirabilia's Feathered Fairy - due out in February and no picture available that I can find yet - but the description of it really grabbed my attention. I also pre-ordered the chart from the ebay seller.... so yes, to those who have mentioned it recently, I certainly do have a large stash - but I bet you do too :-)

My office saga continues..... it now appears that my colleague and I will not be able to share a suite when we have to move - one office in the suite is a good size, and the other is too small for either of us to fit our furniture and other equipment.... so it looks like I am going even further down the hall into a subdivided office.... really lousy, identical to the first office I had in the building.... shouldn't my offices be getting better, not worse, after four years of dedicated renting to this idiot? Now I have to tell Dr. Krueger (my colleague) about this tomorrow and see if he can think of any other solutions for us.... argh.

More snow coming! Looks like 4"-8" with snow expected to fall from AM through PM.... oh joy!

I came across a new Silkweaver Solo today and picked it up after I used the Fabric Selector and found it was absolutely perfect for Spring Fairy Spirit! Yay! That helped to cheer me up..... if you want to see it, just copy the link for the solo and paste it into the fabric selector with the pattern (which is on the selector site).... And, I got a great new chart on ebay too - - 18th Century Southern Garden by Liz Turner Diehl - now doesn't that look fun to stitch??

New DVD Release Tuesday! DH is excited - he got two he has been wanting this time around - Alien vs. Predator and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Stitched on tonight: Little Wings

Back to work today - made it through the snow, nice and easy, took it slow. And was greeted by my building manager telling me that the landlord wants me and another therapist colleague to move off of the sixth floor because the Lawrence Retirement Board, whose offices are across the hall from us, is complaining that they feel unsafe with our having clients, who are primarily hispanic, in the general waiting area. We were both appalled! This is quite a battle we will both be facing with the landlord right now - there is a nice enough suite on the 5th floor for us, but both feel that the landlord has to pay for us to move since we have done nothing wrong. Sometimes it amazes me what people try to get away with in this world. To me, this is just discrimination against our well-behaved, completely nice clients - who happen to be hispanic. Can you believe it??

My day ended early today because the snow made it hard for patients to drive in or walk in - and the Lawrence cabbies increased their fares today!! - so I had time to stop at Ben Franklin's and pick up that skein of DMC 3770 I need for Petal Fairy - now just waiting on that fabric to come in and Karen and I are both good to go on this SAL!! I did get in that fat quarter of 32 ct Star Sapphire lugana today, though. I found that if I paste this link into the Fabric Selector, and then paste the Petal Fairy from their list right onto it, I can see how my fairy will look on my fabric choice. That is so cool!

Speaking of SAL's - does anyone like Liz Turner Diehl's historical or whimsical gardens?? I just volunteered to moderate the Liz Turner Diehl forum at the Needle & Thread Bulletin Board, and was wondering if we could get a SAL going over there.... anyone interested??

Here is something neat that I found and don't want to lose: Purple Conversion for Fairy Idyll, and a progress pic by the lady who converted this - I love this conversion - found this on the Mirabilia Bulletin Board and want to store it here for future reference....

Who is this hiding in the leaves?? Believe it or not, this is designer Jeannette Douglas enjoying herself in Mystic, Connecticut at the Stitcher's Hideaway Retreat in November 2004. This pic is from the fun report on their website. I love the candidness of this picture, and had to share. It is hard not to adore Jeannette!

More snow coming on Wednesday..... I can't take any more!!! Arrrrgggh!

Stitched on today: Little Wings

By the way, looks like I will be dying young - more than halfway through my life span - how about you???

Patriots 41, Steelers 27 - Back to the Super Bowl!!

What a great day! The New England Patriots proved to the Pittsburgh Steelers that their loss on Halloween to the Steelers was merely an aberration! Back to the Super Bowl to face the Philadephia Eagles! Very, very exciting! The Patriots dominated tonight! They are, once again, AFC Champions!! (Pic above of Corey Dillon is copyright www.nfl.com)....

We had a huge snow storm last night. It was considered to be a blizzard in Massachusetts. The two towns I work in have greater than 20" of snow! Here in Auburn, NH I think we got about 8-10". It is hard to tell because it was light, dusty snow that blows around very easily. I feel confident that we did not get more than 10". Tomorrow I get to drive down and see Lawrence, MA where they were hit hard. School is shut down for two days in most eastern Massachusetts towns - because the public works department and private plows simply have to figure out where to put all of this snow! Meanwhile, it only took Mike and I about half an hour to get our driveway cleaned out - would have taken less time, but we took two breaks to warm up - boy is it cooooold out there today!

Sad news about Johnny Carson passing away today, though. When Mike told me this morning, I really couldn't believe it! He is a real icon.

I have a new progress scan to share of Little Wings - this is my progress as of when the Patriots game ended about half an hour ago
It is getting too big to scan now, and I could not fit in the ribbons on her hat. I spent most of the week muddled up in all the shading on her massive bustle. Yet, I really love this one - I keep pulling it away from myself when I am stitching, and thinking to myself, "boy, this is really pretty!" I think I will just keep on course with this one.

I was able to get a Mystic Sampler kit from a class taught by Jeannette Douglas in November 2004. I was not able to attend, but Stitcher's Hideaway, who sponsored the class, had some of the kits left over for sale - they also have some from a Minnesota retreat Jeannette also did last year.... if you are interested. I am thrilled to be able to stitch this - I adore New England (as much as I gripe about the snow - it is the extremes that get me), and it will be great to have this stunning New England band sampler in my home! Yay!

Mike picked up a couple of DVDs while we were out yesterday (before the storm) - he picked up Cellular and Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (we watched this one, as well as Catwoman last night - Harold and Kumar was actually funny - but, alas, Catwoman was as terrible as the critics said it was)....

Stitched on last night and today: Little Wings

Batten Down The Hatches - Big Storm Coming!

It is the calm before the storm, if you can consider -3 Fahrenheit to be "calm." We have a big storm coming in tomorrow night. We are lucky to be on the northern side of the storm, but that only means we are getting about a foot of snow instead of a foot and a half.... and Mike just heard on the news that it will also be snowing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday too. Oh yay.

I cheered myself up a bit, though. I went out today and bought all the DMC for Petal Fairy - well, except for 3770. I stopped in two stores nearby and neither had that one in stock. Will have to run into Derry soon (if there is ever a day without snow, I guess) and pick that up. I also ordered a fat quarter of Silkweaver 32 ct Blue Dynasty Linen since I had a holiday voucher from Laurel's Stitchery that I could apply to that item. I have been contemplating stitching Angel of Healing sometime - I picked up the Needlepaints for it some time ago, but I just can't decide if I like her face well enough to stitch her.... if I don't, I am sure this linen will come in handy. And, my Peace Angel chart came in from an ebay seller today too.

Oh! Speaking of ebay.... My husband came across this online petition today protesting ebay's upcoming massive fee increases. If you are bothered by ebay's recent actions to make themselves richer and take away the tiny profits of the small businesses on ebay - many of which are cross stitch shops - you may want to check this petition out! It is loading up with signatures very rapidly, and I sure hope it can do some good to curb this out of control behavior by ebay. (OK, coming off my soapbox now... thank you!).

With the storm coming in, I figured we could use something to watch - other than the AFC Championship Game - and I picked up Catwoman on DVD - I know it got bad reviews, but Mike and I do enjoy the movies made out of our old comic book heros!

Stitched on tonight: Little Wings

Icy Roads and Frigid Temps - Welcome to New England!

What an interesting morning! There I was driving along to work - I work about 45-60 minutes south of my home, and must drive Interstate 93 South almost all the way - being in New England, you know - Historic Old New England - we are not talking a super freeway. Rather, it is two lanes, posted at 55-65 MPH, depending on where you are - but drivers go about 90 MPH. Today, Rte 93 looked wet, but wait - what is that up ahead? Cars spinning all over the place? Yes, that is what I saw! OK, I am lucky - I did not get into any accident, nor did I slip, slide or spin. I drive a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Overland Edition with Quadra Drive. That Quadra Drive kicked in at one point when I braked - scared the beejeebies out of me! Makes the brake pedal really shudder and sounds like my Jeep is breaking apart! But boy does it work - the pulse to all four wheels sure keeps the Jeep steady. But I saw another Jeep spin out and get hit ahead of me, so my confidence was not that high! So, I heard Dad's voice in my head - "take it easy, go slow and you will always get there safely." As usual, he was right!

I had a site visit at my relatively new Haverhill, Massachusetts office today - a man from the insurance company I work for was scheduled to come out and approve my office as a working site. With the roads as they were, he was about two hours late... and stayed for a whole three minutes! What a waste, I think. He did not realize that I am not a brand new provider (I am in my 4th year with them) and that this is merely a satellite office and no records will be stored there.... so he took a copy of my license and my liability insurance and happily ran out the door to his next appointment.... gee, I am so glad I canceled clients and drove on the ice for that! Oh well, at least it is over and my office is approved for business!

As for stitching, this little shopaholic (compulsive, actually) picked up Queen of Peace and Rose of Sharon from my favorite Mirabilia/L&L/Passione Ricamo seller on ebay.... figured these two charts are due to be in my collection now!

My beads and Kreinik for Petal Fairy came in today, so once my fabric comes in (probably in 3-5 days), Karen and I can finally start our SAL! Yay!!!! Took us both a while to get this one set up!

Stitched on today: Beneath the Stars (at work, while waiting for the insurance company guy - this is a WIP from last year that I really want to get done now)...and stitched on tonight at home: Little Wings

More snow - I heard on the news today that we have now had more snow already than we get in a whole season here (on average) - and it is only January 19th - we have over two months still to go! Oh my!

I joined something that may be fun today - Monthly Bits from Stitching Bits and Bobs - I opted for the "anything goes" fiber package, and I look forward to receiving monthly shipments of cottons, silk and anything else from them.

I received my package from Australia today! Along with sending the chart I expected, Karen also included Keep Me Sampler by Moira Blackburn, and Rose Lights by Martina Weber/Chatelaine! I am stunned! I sure do have a great friend!!

I also received The Queen Mermaid chart from the ebay seller today - wow, I think this one is so elegant!

I got the chance to watch The Forgotten today, and I liked it very much! I love suspenseful movies. This one took me by surprise a little - I did not expect the turn it took, which I would write more on, but I realize plenty are still planning to watch this movie, so I guess I had better not divulge anything important here... :-) Anyhow, it truly was a fun movie to watch!

And, to my sister-in-law, Renee, today! That ends the little streak of family birthdays for this month...

Looks like plenty of snow for the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh this weekend!

Stitched on tonight: Little Wings

Great Day for Mail, it was like Christmas!!

Well, the chart I have been long awaiting from my friend Karen in Wentworth Falls, Australia did not arrive today - it has been taking weeks to get here, but "patience is a virtue," right?? But.... a lot of fun stuff did come in to keep me distracted for a little bit! The Silkweaver solo I pictured in my January 11th entry came in - and it is just as pretty as I had expected it to be! I really think this is the piece I will use for Emerald Mermaid. I also got in some orders from Stitching Bits and Bobs, most noteably the spool of Kreinik Very Fine Braid #4 in 3228 for Lilly of the Woods - I ordered this back in October, so you can imagine how happy I am to finally have it here so I can start this one soon (of course, I still have not even begun to think of how much I will need to budget to get the Mill Hill Treasures for this project!)- and in the package were also Oh, Christmas Tree, the fat eighth of Acorn and Chestnuts Belfast from Sugar Maple Fabrics, and a packet of Piecemakers Size 28 Tapestry Needles, all of which I selected during recent sales at Stitching Bits and Bobs. So much fun stuff to look at tonight! Oooohhh, and five or six packets of Mill Hill beads, needed for Emerald Mermaid, The Queen Mermaid, and Deepest Love came in from ebay - not all the beads I need for each pattern, of course, but a nice start at a great price. Just gotta love ebay!!

Mike upgraded our cellphones for Christmas to the Motorola RAZR V3, and he just sold our other cellphones on ebay - and last night he surprised me with a little "gift" in my PayPal account, so.... well, I could not resist and joined Silkweaver's Fabric of the Month, 32 ct Jobelan Solos option - what the heck! I hear such great things from many of you about how neat the FOTM is, so why not join in on the fun??!! I also ordered a fat quarter of their brand new 32 ct lugana Blue Fusion Expressions - looks like one of the mermaids would be gorgeous on this - I am thinking Deepest Love.... maybe? And then, while there, I picked up a solo that I think is perfect for Petal Fairy - it's 32 ct lugana, 18 x 26 -
- guess I will be busy stitching Mirabilia's for a while now!

Victoria Sampler has a pretty new free chart on their site - it is in the Members section - if you are not already a member, it is so easy just to sign up (and it's free)- the new chart is a lovely needle roll called "Love Blooms." I printed it out and plan to stitch it up!

It is, of course, New DVD Release Tuesday here in the US, so I just had to stop at WalMart on my way to work this AM and picked up The Forgotten - I have been intrigued by this one since I first saw the preview in the theater a few months ago. I hope it is good - anyone seen it yet?

Stitched on tonight: Little Wings

Four Wheel Drive, Back at Full Strength!

Boy, it's been a long time coming, but Mike's Jeep finally came back from the collision center today - the Corvette is stored at the neighbor's again, and hopefully there will be a little less tension around here when the snow starts up again. We will know soon, based on how this winter has been going! If I am understanding the forecast properly, that will be around Wednesday :-(

to Mike's Grandpa today! Wow, he's 90 now!!

I had a chance to go out today and buy the floss, Kreinik and beads for Fairy Flora, so then I started it. It's nice to have a couple of projects going at once from which to choose. I am stitching this one on the Silkweaver Solo pictured in my January 7th entry.

No stitching for a little bit now, though - 24 is on soon and it is too hard to stitch to this fast-paced thriller!

Ooooo, almost forgot - a little more stash enhancement today - got a superb deal on a fat quarter of 32 ct Star Sapphire Jobelan on ebay today!

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Patriots 20, Colts 3

Well, my beloved NE Patriots are marching forward, paralyzing the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA this afternoon!! I was surprised that the game was not closer - but I am happy to see my team remain on the march. Who knows what next week will bring...

It is, well.... snowing here again. It is a bit tense in the house as we await to see what the morning will bring. Mike's Jeep still is not back from the collision center. He cannot drive his Corvette in the snow - he won't even get it up the driveway. If I give him my Jeep, we lose quite a lot of money from my having to (again) cancel appointments. I have had enough of winter, financially.... and it is a school holiday tomorrow - I wish I had planned to take it off ahead of time (Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday) - bad planning....

Stitched on today: Little Wings

New Progress Picture of Little Wings...

This is a new progress picture of Little Wings. I think I will stitch on it a bit more tonight, but I felt like posting the new progress. I am beginning to work on the blue ribbon of the little girl's dress now - it sure doesn't look like much yet!

I spent way more time today searching through my stash than I wanted to - I just could not recall where I had put my copy of The Best of Teresa Wentzler Sampler Collection. It amazes me just how much I have, and that it is in various places in one of our spare bedrooms! But, alas, in a box in the closet.... along with other items I want to do soon.... there it was! I received the rayon floss I ordered for Harvest Sampler today, so I want to start kitting that up now too. The Fortunate Traveler chart also came in today, and well, I want to start that one now too!!

Stitched on today: Little Wings - of course!

Miss Lily -needs a lot of attention today, so here she is.... :-)

Snow in Hawaii?? Blame the Red Sox!

Interesting - it actually snowed in Hawaii this week! Not an inch - quite a bit (at least in some places)! What is this world coming to? Well, Dennis Leary knows the answer - The Boston Red Sox won the World Series - now the whole world "goes to crap"! How cool is that? I am proud to be a huge Red Sox fan!! Sorry, though, about the weather!

Well, 2005 has brought not only tons of snow and rain, but also plenty of computer woees - mostly minor, but hey, I rarely have any computer problems or glitches, so getting so many in a couple of weeks is... well, surprising. Now my laptop needed a virus scan and Mike did a search and destroy mission last night. Tonight he is emptying it and reloading my software - enough is enough :-)

I plan to stitch my heart out on Little Wings again tonight, while we watch The Village on DVD.... sounds like fun!

I am so happy right now - I let go of a wonderful pattern a couple of years ago, and totally regretted it. But, yesterday I was able to pick it up on ebay and am so happy to be getting Peace Angel back again! Yay!! All that white and off-white...oh, I know.... but the end result has just got to be worth it!

I also totally forgot when I was blogging on Wednesday that it was my sister's birthday - the "Big 4-0" - so, happy belated birthday, Katie!!
Stitched on today: Little Wings

Progress Picture of Little Wings

Well, here it is as of today - I have been working on this for about a week now, and it has been a quick stitch so far. I have had this chart since it came out in 1989, so I am happy that I finally got around to doing it! I am stitching this on Silkweaver Meadow Mist Cashel, a new color for 2005 that came in my Santa Pack... I don't think they have posted this color to their website quite yet, and it is from their Classics category.

Silkweaver sent out its message today that there were new fabrics in their Odds 'n Ends area, so I went right over - seems there is someone who scoops up all of the hand-dyed as soon as the email goes out - I was there within 5 minutes, and as usual, all were gone - except I did manage to get a 12" x 18" piece of Sparkling Sundown on 32 ct linen. I think the vulture just had not clicked that far down the list, because all else was already gone! Geez! I appreciate, though, that I was able to get at least this one little token.

Stitched on today: Little Wings

Who's been sleeping in my bed?? When I got out of the shower this morning, I discovered that my littlest one, Ava, age 1, had cuddled herself into the comforter and afghan on our bed... drizzly, icy rain and snow will do that to pretty much anyone, I guess. Just had to share my cute little girl.

I had a little fun today over at the Silkweaver website. I think I just picked up what may well be the perfect solo for Mirabilia's Emerald Mermaid - I posted a pic of the solo above.... My friend Karen stitched her on ice blue belfast and I loved how it came out, and this solo resembles it enough that I had to get it! Seems like the perfect size and was just waiting for me anyhow
I received the gorgeous belfast solo today that is shown in my January 7 entry - it is beyond perfect for Fairy Flora, so that is going to get started very soon now. I am really excited - I have had that chart since it first came out and could never find quite the right fabric. I appreciate the tips I found on the Mirabilia Bulletin Board that helped me narrow down what kind of color I wanted...even though most on the board seem to lean more towards paler fabrics.

The almost fat quarter of 32 ct Green Apple Reflections came in from Silkweaver today too - so many ideas for that one... I am thinking Rocky Mountain Sampler
Anne-les-petites-croix has her new mystery sampler up on her website - Sampler Alter Echo - looks like a pretty one!

It will come as no surprise to anyone now that another snow storm is marching in on us again. I get to stay home tomorrow. Mike needs my Jeep to get to work, since he found out today that it will be a few more days before he gets his back. The good news about that, though, is that the insurance company for the guy who hit him called Mike today and wanted his affidavit. They told him the guy who hit him is not responding to them now, so they are getting suspicious. I am sure this guy is losing his mind since he has now received the copy of the letter Mike wrote to the NH Attorney General and the Insurance Fraud Commission as well. Yay!

So, I get to stitch tomorrow - despite a battle with a stomach bug right now, I plan to stitch. And, my monitor is fixed on my desktop now, so I will be able to finally scan a progress pic tomorrow.

It's New Release Tuesday again - yay - picked up The Village on my way to work this morning - and now I am looking forward to finding time to watch this soon with Mike. I have heard good things about this one!

Right before bed tonight, for some unknown reason, I went on ebay.... and visited a favored seller.... and picked up The Queen Mermaid, as well as a couple of packs of Mill Hill beads needed for various projects...
Stitched on today: Little Wings

Boy, the Storm Gods must be angry!

Before I go and start complaining about the storms here, I must first extend my sincerest condolences to the people of La Conchita, California who are experiencing the devastating mudslide and flooding today! It seems the rain and snow in California is never-ending. I will keep you all in my prayers! And, what California gets eventually makes it's way to New England, and we face yet another snow and (worse) ice storm for tomorrow night into Wednesday morning! This is way too much, too fast for us. There is no rest for the weary. To those of you who are experiencing calm weather right now, count your blessings!! I do pray this pattern does not find it's way to you. This is not fun. And, with Mike's 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Overland still being in the shop for post-accident repair, the stress level is high! I heard the snow plow go by at 11:30 PM last night and then could not sleep - I spent ALL night wondering how Mike would ever get his Corvette up the driveway if we had fresh snow and if the end of the driveway is blocked by piles from the plow.... can you tell that I, a psychologist, have a major anxiety disorder - well, yes I do! But when we awoke this AM, there was no new snow and the end of the driveway was clear.... so I don't understand why the plow was there, and why my weather pixie was also saying there was light snow in our area at that time.... I just hope all of this ends soon and that Mike's Jeep comes home soon too. Tomorrow they are scheduled to look at the emergency brake problem, now that the bumper and trailer hitch have finally been replaced...So, it looks like I might be home on Wednesday to stitch, since Mike will need my Jeep for work.... oh, what a pity - well, it is fun right now but won't be when the paycheck comes in....

On to brighter things like....um, how about stitching?? I am making major progress on Little Wings! I really appreciate all of the requests for progress scans, so we will see if we can figure out my monitor problem this coming weekend and I will scan a progress pic to post - otherwise I will scan one from Mike's computer and post it.

My January Cotton Club from Paw Prints Cross Stitch arrived today.... the mix reminds me of Easter - there is some good stash enhancement in this one: a skein of Crescent Colours in Bamboo, a skein of Weeks Dye Works in Iris, a skein of Simply Shaker Sampler Threads in Berry Cobbler, a skein each of Olde Willow Threads in Green Peace and Quaker School Blue, and a skein of Caron Watercolours in Mardi Gras. And, the chart for PEACE in all things also arrived today - will make a cute ornament for next year. Just have to remember next time I am surfing an INS to pick up the JABC 3402S star buttons for it.

Stitched on tonight: Little Wings

My low carb world got brighter today! I was so excited while at the grocery store today - at long last, they had Lean Pockets Ultra in stock! Only 12 grams of carbohydrate, and now fun, convenient "junk" food is back in my life! This may seem so small to many, but to me it is huge! I have been a low carb dieter, and very successful at it, for over three years now. I have missed many kinds of foods. Several months ago, I saw an ad for these Lean Pockets Ultra in a woman's magazine, and searched high and low for them. Yay, today I found them - and I like them - and to top it off, I also found an outstanding new tea today as well - I am so into teas and coffees, as I consider them my "desserts" - I tried Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai today, and it is soooo good! A patient of mine turned me on to Honey Vanilla White Chai a couple of months ago. Both are outstanding - great to have when I am stitching.

I had fun today blog hopping for a bit, and I enjoyed visiting the Mirabilia Bulletin Board for quite a while as I looked at people's various thoughts on fabrics for many of the designs - got some great ideas!! I don't think I ever would have considered purple/pink fabrics for Fairy Idyll or Fairy Flora, but some of the finished projects and WIPS shown there were really very nice!

Ooooo, almost forgot - how could I forget this?? - tonight is the season premier of the fourth season of 24 - it is time to sit on the edge of my (stitching) seat for a few weeks and hope that Jack can survive saving the day yet again!!

Stitched on today: Little Wings - moving along quickly, and loving it! Now my desktop is acting up - either my monitor or my video card now, but once we figure that out, I will post a progress scan!

Snow.... Again....

And, that is how our house looks today... got another 6 or more inches from all day snow today. We had to venture out to the Post Office to mail off a phone Mike sold on ebay, and some charts I sold on ebay.... saw a bad accident, but we did OK in my Jeep....

We finally got out to snow blow around 7 PM, so I made it up the driveway to get my mail at that time. Was happy to receive Mountain Mist from an ebay seller. Looks like it would be a fun stitch, and really happy to see I have all the fibers needed for it in my stash.

I am watching the NFL Wild Card games today - really wanted the Seattle Seahawks to win.... but no.... Now watching the second game, and am hoping the San Diego Chargers win.

Stitched on today: Little Wings

Happy Friday!
I ordered up this Silkweaver Solo a couple of nights ago, but couldn't get "Hello" to function properly to post the pic until today. It is almost a fat quarter of Belfast, and with some of the designs I have in mind for it not being so very wide, I think this might work well. I also ordered myself a fat eighth of Acorns and Chestnuts Belfast from Sugar Maple Fabrics to do one of my samplers on - just not sure which one yetJust thought it would be great to have in my stash!

I broke down again today too - sooo weak.... I picked up a fat quarter of Ocean Fog from Dyeing4U 32 ct lugana... not sure, but this might be just the fabric I have been looking for.....And, it's not just fabrics I have been prowling for... I visited Paw Prints Cross Stitch for the Kreinik #4 Braid and one of the packs of Mill Hill Beads for Petal Fairy...

I packed up Houses of Hawk Run Hollowtonight, and will get back to it again soon, but I wanted something a bit more fast-paced, so....

Tonight I stitched on: Little Wings

Yep, it's a Snow Day!

Sure enough, it is a snow day today. Mike took my Jeep to work. After a couple of hours watching Little Black Book, which was entertaining, and stitching a little on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, I went outside and did the first pass of shoveling at the garage end of the driveway. It is still snowing, but if I wait until the end.... yuck! Maybe Mike will do the other half when he gets home, or maybe I will feel motivated to go finish it later.... the pic is taken from the garage end of my driveway - looks like 2-3" so far, with maybe a couple more to come... I hear Massachusetts is getting it worse.
Three hours later, and my driveway is covered again... with twice as much snow. Mike said to leave it be, he will snowplow it when he gets home. It was worth the trudge up the driveway to the mailbox, though... my order from Laurel's Stitchery finally came in - I placed it during their holiday break and it is postmarked 12/28/04.... I can't believe it took the USPS nine days to get it to me from Texas! I paid $3.50 for shipping, which is disappointing considering how long it took to get to me - I will have to remember that next time I am tempted to order from this shop again. But the Lavender Hill chart and the fat eighth of Picture This Plus' 28 ct Tarnish lugana are really nice... more fun stuff to work on!! Oh yay!!

I also watched Before Sunset while trying to warm back up this afternoon. It was OK - I had seen the first part, Before Sunrise, a couple of years ago - it is a sweet love story, but I had forgotten how "talky, talky" it is.... but was easy to stitch to at least!
Stitched on today:Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Anyone want to trade weather??

This is for Karen - I found this in the Sunday paper this week, and I loved it! I don't collect Christmas villages, and I don't spend a fortune on these Danbury Mint thingys, but this was just too cute not to share - and I know Karen will get a huge smile out of it! You can click on the photo to get a better view! Fenway Park exists, but of course all of the other buildings in the village are purely fictional... but so cute!

I wanted to post some links for the rest of the awesome cross stitch supplies Karen sent me for Christmas - she sent me three 50 cm x 70 cm (my calculator says that is 19.69" x 27.56") cuts of Country Stitch Kiwi Antiques 35 ct hand-dyed linens in Barley, Chamomile, and Pink Spice. The Chamomile is considerably darker than in the image shown, and I am considering it for Petal Fairy -just have to do a... floss toss? I think that is the slang for it - to see if it will look good! She also sent me this amazingly cute Backyard Patch chart by Hanne's Needlecraft. I had never heard of this designer before, but I love this chart! Karen is well-tuned in to my love for gardening as well as cross stitching! I really am lucky to have this awesome Aussie friend!
Well, I get to "study" tonight - Nanny 911 is on tonight - I love this show! As a child and family psychologist, I often prescribe watching this show to my families who are having a tough time with managing their children's behavior. Highly recommend this show if you have not already seen it. Top notch!

I took this photo of Lily, my 2 1/2 year old dilute calico female persian (littermate of Anouk, shown earlier in this blog - December 2004), on Sunday after my hard drive died in my desktop. Lily was very curious about this whole situation, and while Mike was off to the store seeing if he could get a good deal on a new drive, Lily sat on my computer and kept watch over it - she hung out there pretty much all day - am wondering what the big attraction was to it - she's a very motherly cat who will come and sit by any other cat or human not feeling well, so I am wondering if she thought the computer was sick
Well, I might end up with a snow day tomorrow. The forecasters in New England have a tough job. Our weather is so hard to predict. The southern half of Massachusetts was forecasted to have some snow (1" - 2") starting around 4 PM today. Instead, the snow started around 7:30 AM and ranged all the way up to the New Hampshire border... that was a surprise to me as I approached the Massachusetts border this morning on my way to work. I guess we have up to 8" due in tomorrow, but likely will be less (they always over-guess the snow totals - or at least I think they do) - so maybe I will get some premium stitching time. If Mike feels better (doubt it) he will go to work and will need my Jeep anyhow. Snow is not exactly Corvette weather - I really don't know why he hasn't picked himself up a rental car...

I didn't get a chance to pick up any DVDs yesterday on "New Release Tuesday," and I wasn't really even sure I wanted any of the ones that came out this week, but with the possibility of having tomorrow off, and having a shorter day today due to Massachusetts' little snow storm (clients rarely come in when it is snowing), I did pick up Little Black Book today - it looked like it had some potential to be cute, or at least amusing.

The Shepherd's Bush French Heart kit came in from ebay today - that was fast! I love it!!

Stitched on tonight: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Corrections for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

I am stitching this project now, and found these corrections on the Carriage House Samplings website - I already ran into the little problem for House #7, and I am posting the corrections here so that I can locate them easily:
House #1 - The grassy area under the house should be filled in with 5024, Medium Sea Green.
House #2 - In the lower, left hand portion of the house there are 6 large black square symbols which should be * (asterisk) symbols.
House #3 - In the floss list, Medium Sea Green should read 5024/155/502, not 5024/266/603.
House #7 - In the floss list, the DMC color for Navy Blue should be 930, not 960. Also, on the flower in the very top, right-hand corner, there is a heart symbol in the center where it should be a "+" symbol.

Well, I just had to mark my imood as "diseased" today - I had the most grotesque experience this afternoon. I took the elevator in my office building down from my office on the 6th floor to the Arbour Counseling office on the first floor (I work very part time for them as well) to drop off some billing sheets. I was tired and feeling a little under the weather, so I did something I often do.... I leaned against the wall with the back of my head against the wall for the ride.... and something did not feel right! I pulled away and looked back, and I was mortified to see mucous of some sort (phlegm, spit up, snot???) on the wall of the elevator! I work in a low-income interracial city - there are several mental health and methadone clinics and offices in the building. Well, someone thought they were funny today, and I ended up wearing in my hair some of what was on the wall. I almost vomited! I went into the bathroom and scrubbed the back of my head with wet, soapy towels. When I got home tonight, I ran right into the shower and lathered my hair twice. I feel diseased......
On top of that, poor Mike has the flu, and he is sooooo sick!! I hope it does not come and visit me next!! Of course, if it must, then I guess Thursday would be OK since we are expecting snow and ice. Yuck!!

I did manage to get something nice off of Silkweaver's Odds & Ends page today - a nice 16" x 26" piece of Green Apple Reflections 32 ct lugana! You can see it here. It's a really good sized cut in one of my favorite colors - and after that elevator incident, I sure needed that pick me up!

My stitching has been so slow the last few days - just getting small amounts done each night - I must be off my game. I'm going to get back at it tonight, though. I want to finish my first house block on HofHRH before I can start L&L's Little Wings.

Stitched on tonight: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Back to work!

It was back to work day today - went pretty OK, though. Got this cute little link in an email newsletter from Nordic Needle today, so here it is to bring you some cheer. I thought it was cute.

We brought Mike's Jeep down to Birch Street Collision Center in Derry, NH after work tonight - the mechanic has to look at it tomorrow, but his guess right now is that the accident caused a bend in Mike's emergency brake cable, and when it gets hot the steering wheel rattles. I was happy, because that was what I had guessed was wrong before we got there. I guess all those times I spent watching the spots about rotors, brakes and the like during the NASCAR races have begun to pay off. They really help me to understand how a car works!
I should be back to computer "full strength" again soon - I did manage to get my new hard drive before I drove home as well - I feel so productive! Oh, I see Mike just took care of it, and with no files lost! Yay!!! God Bless ghosting files!

Finally, the Adia, the Garden Fairy chart arrived in the mail today.... took almost three weeks! I also received Honeysuckle Courtyard today, while I was high bidder for Mountain Mist today.... so I guess I'm going to be stitching up some Patricia-Ann designs soon!

Had a little bit of fun this evening - had a chance to get the TV remote for a little while, and I caught The Boston Celtics having just started a game. I haven't watched basketball since college, some 20 years ago... it was fun, but too bad they were not playing well! But they are winning - just not in a pretty way.
The downside to today was that I got a call from my sister in law, Renee, today - seems my eldest niece, Caitlin, is "at it again" - she again got caught sneaking around with the boy she has been forbidden to see. He is a holy terror, very rude child, cannot even call him a young man. Perhaps the phone calls all week with the boy named "Jerry" were just a ruse?? Ugh. She refuses to care what her parents are saying to her. Nothing at all sinks in!

Stitched on tonight: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

My Hard Drive went Rattle, Rattle, Rap, Rap... Dead!

Oh joy, great way to start off the day! My hard drive in my desktop computer died.... gotta go to Circuit City after work tomorrow and buy a new one. I tried to go tonight, but the roads are slick from freezing rain and the traffic going south towards Massachusetts is heavily backed up.... Fortunately, my laptop is working just fine again!

Mike's Jeep is now officially undriveable! He tried going to a closer Circuit City earlier today, and his steering wheel started shaking terribly on the highway and his rear brakes smell something horrible. He worked some more on the paper for the insurance companies, and luckily, we were able to get our Corvette out of our neighbor's garage today (he is kind enough to store it over the winters for us), and now we hope the weather will be good enough for him to drive that car to work until he can get a rental...... I have a funny feeling this accident issue is going to go on for a while....
On a much better note, the New England Patriots won their final season game over the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 21-7. I believe we have a 'bye' for next week, meaning we get the week off, and this will greatly help some of our injured players to heal up for the playoffs that will start the following week. Go Patriots!!
Had a little stash enhancement today - received my invoice from Paw Prints Cross Stitch's Cotton Club for the January installment - can't wait to see what they choose to ship this month!

And, this is the end of vacation now - back to work tomorrow!!
Stitched on today: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow