Happy Birthday Gig!

Happy Birthday Gig (aka "2 of 6," as we affectionately tag our kitties with this Star Trek term)... Gig is 4 years old today - very hard to imagine!

The mailman was "very good to me" today - he delivered Catherine Agnes by Indigo Rose - now I have to start collecting a whole bunch of Caron Waterlilies before I can stitch this beauty! And he also brought some Earth Threads class charts I traded for - Shaker Sampler and The Grape Sampler - yay! - as well as Butterfly Welcome, and older small chart by Just Nan that I had forgotten I got on ebay a few days ago.

I was high bidder this weekend for Kind Fond Love Sampler by Brenda Keyes too - nice sampler :-)

Well, my "new" office is starting to come together a little now, though I just don't care for the two-room format of this office.... my two colleagues teased me all morning about my "grumpiness," with Dr. Wangerin stating, "Oh, Carol is just going to be mad for a while, so we better let her!" But I am better. It took two hours for the phone man to get my lines hooked up this morning. More fiascos with the building, starting with the carpet guy being mindless when he laid the carpet in our waiting room last week - he blocked the utility room door and we could not get it open to access the phone lines. So, one of the workers came in not feeling well - he had been in the ER earlier in the day - and took the door down and cut it - but somehow managed to burn our new carpet quite badly in the process. Long story! In the meantime, the phone man sought other ways to find the connections, including taking over the office across the hall from me for a good half hour this morning - what a nice way to meet my new office neighbor! Ah well, everyone on the floor is very nice and the phone lines are in now!

But, now we are awaiting a very, very large snow storm, the type known in this part of the world as a Nor'Easter - given this name due to the path it takes, hugging our shoreline and dumping us with heavy snow (or rain, depending on the climate) - tonight it will be SNOW. Lots of snow. Looks like I will be home stitching tomorrow! Sounds good, but these storms are killing my income this winter....20 more days to spring, I just have to keep reminding myself of that! Around here, the calendar doesn't mean much, but Todd Gross on Channel 7 just told us that he does see a decent warm up coming our way - after we get through a rough week - so that supports the old saying, "March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb."

I post this pic from www.redsox.com as my show of support for Kevin Youkilis - he is vying for one of the two bench spots on the Red Sox team for this season - after the amazing performances of "Youk" last year coming up from the Paw Sox, I don't know how they could overlook him for the bench this year! Go Youk!


What Starbucks drink are you?
created with QuizFarm.comHmmm.... I am a White Chocolate Mocha! Sounds good to me - I used to love those before I started controlling my carbs :-)

Silly joke seen today on the sign of the local auto collision center - "What did the one cat say to the other cat on the cell phone?" Answer - "Can you hear me meow?" OK.... you gotta live in the States to get that one..... Verizon Wireless runs a dumb ad that has some dude roaming around on his cellphone saying, "Can you hear me now?" repeatedly to someone.... stupid, I know!

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Well, Ryan Newman didn't win today - he had two bad luck struggles (a tire going down, paper on his grill making his water temp rise - both resulting in green light pit stops...) - flashes of last year! But he fought back and came in 9th, moving himself up to 12th in the point standings. What really made my day was Kasey Kahne's crash (see photo). I am sorry to those who love him, but I don't care for this kid. It was nice to see him have two bad races in a row, maybe it will knock him back to reality. Just my own opinion. (Photo from www.nascar.com)

Did not do a whole lot of anything today - slept in quite late and then watched the race from a horizontal position on the love seat :-) Then ran some errands at Target before coming home to stitch. We have yet another big snow storm coming in at some point tomorrow, and I think the realization of that has made me very depressed - that as well as having to get my office set up all over again.... so many boxes to start unpacking tomorrow....

I watched I Heart Huckabees last night after Mike went to bed - yucky movie! Geez - what a waste of time. First of all, it is not possible to follow this movie while stitching, but I chose the stitching over trying to understand this stupid movie. I had the volume down due to Mike sleeping right above the TV, but even still - I don't really think I missed much - it was just a terribly stupid movie. On Friday night, very late, I watched IMAX NASCAR which was pretty good, but very short at only 40 minutes.... not quite what I expected it to be, but some good highlights of Ryan Newman....and then I watched NASCAR Nextel Cup Series 2004, which was OK, but done in a different format than previous year in review DVDs - but I guess that is due to the change in the structure of NASCAR in 2004. I had picked up two DVDs from WalMart's dump bin yesterday too, which I had forgotten about - Toys and Single White Female - just some older movies I like....

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora, but I didn't meet my goal of finishing her wings this weekend due to being so lazy today :-)

Just HAD to do this quiz today - you see, it seemed so fitting as I am currently knee deep (at least) in stitching the wings on Fairy Flora - I hope to be able to scan the completed wings by the end of the weekend (but without the beading - I have to do that last because I am stitching her on scroll bars - most of you know what happens to beads when pulled taughtly in scroll bars, right....?).... So, I am "Too Sweet Fairy" - I like that! I am just not sure why the quiz creator figures these faeries are "dysfunctional".... I am a HUGE fan of Amy Brown's art work, so I am happy to decorate my blog a little bit today with one of her stunning faeries!!


Which Dysfunctional Faerie are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Got the office moved today - thanks to Dr. Krueger for having brought his hand truck and allowing me to use it - got everything down from sixth to fifth quite easily. Mike spent the time setting up my computer while I brought my boxes down. But now I still have to actually set the place up - right now we just put the boxes in there... that was enough for today! I feel so cramped in that office, though Mike disagrees and thinks it's nice... I will get pictures up fairly soon. I guess I am just still upset about how and why this all came about with the landlord (who still has not said one word to either Dr. Krueger or me....odd, isn't it??).

I got some stash in today - that was nice to come home to, of course! Queen of Freedom, Thy Love Thy Soil and a diverse collection of Mill Hill Treasures for various Mirabilia patterns all came in today - And, I purchased a fat quarter of 32 ct hand-dyed Raspberry Jobelan by Wichelt on ebay today - the color grabbed me and the price was low....I am sure I can use this for something :-) I also bought Crystal Christmas from the trustworthy ebay seller today - oddly, I have been collecting supplies for this pattern, including one of the MH Treasures that came in today, but now I cannot find my chart. I bet I sold it on ebay a couple of years ago - LOL. But, now I have one coming in so I can stitch it!

I was really pleased that all of the embellishment packs I listed on ebay last week sold last night! That was really cool. I think I will dig around in my stash again later and see what else I have "outgrown" and can sell off - you know, to buy "newer, cooler" stash with the money!!

Speaking of ebay, there is an amazing auction up right now for Mirabilia's Petal Fairy stitched over one on hand-dyed lugana - the seller is 44mamaw. I do not know her and am not advertising this, but want to give her credit so I can show the pic - I think it is amazing!I wonder what she did about the blended colors. In one of her closeup shots I saw that the beads were cramped together, but still..... what credit she deserves for stitching this over one! And she is selling it??? It would be in a place of honor in my home, that is for sure!

Well, I was a bit disappointed in Ryan Newman's ninth place qualifying start for tomorrow's race - Auto Club 500 Lineup - but he will recover from that during the race - just got a bit loose and lost some duct tape or something that led to a little controversy for a bit during qualifying - at least amongst the announcers - well, the Alltel Dodge team is ever ready to give folks "something" to talk about! And, congratulations to Mark Martin for winning the Busch Series Stater Bros. 300 today - I was really pulling for him, as I would love to see Mark win as many races as he can in this his final year in NASCAR:(Photo from www.nascar.com)

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora, (wings, wings, wings - lots of fun with blending filament today - LOL)

Found the perfect quiz for me!!
Which Red Sox Player Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com Don't know how I scored as Johnny Damon - kinda expected more of a Trot Nixon response, but I will take it :-)

The snow is on its way again. This time, though, we are expected to be on the northern fringe of the storm with 2-4" expected tonight - and I believe Auburn is northern enough to be more like 2" than 4". About time someone else gets the heavier amounts. Bigger storm due in on Monday night, and just have to pray this one will be more rain than snow.... pleeeazzze....

Well, got most of my office packed up today. I can't help but to feel sad about this - I think I should be angry because the landlord is just so openly discriminating against my clients, but still.... I feel so sad. I hate the way the world works sometimes. So unfair. With luck, the landlord's two guys will show tomorrow noon to move "just the heavy stuff," and any snow that is more than forecasted can really mess that up. Then, Mike and I will spend a lot of time of Saturday transferring my computer down to the new (tiny) office, and I will have all the small stuff (quite a lot of it) to lug down - fortunately, there is an elevator. I will post pics of my ugly new office shortly.... ugh.

I ordered a piece of Thunder 32 ct lugana from Sugar Maple Fabrics late last night. I have been wanting to stitch Midnight Hunting on this particular fabric for quite a while now, so instead of just thinking about it, I figured I would start kitting it up. If I don't, it will just stay as a wish forever.... I wish I could take credit for this great fabric choice, but I can't - someone over on Needle & Thread Bulletin Board had this brainstorm - please give yourself a treat and click that link to see her amazing work! Thank you, AlienCarrot, aka Asa in Sweden, for the brilliant idea!

My Earth Angel and three skeins of WDW came in from the ebay seller today - that sure was fast!!!!!!!

I also just wanted to add that I feel that it is important to pray for the health of the Pope right now - such a sad story. I am concerned that he is having too many health problems too close together right now.

Well, I had not initially planned to purchase any DVDs this week - the list of new releases held no appeal, but today one of my clients spoke of I Heart Huckabees today, and she got me all interested in it. So, I stopped at WalMart tonight and picked it up - and found a neat treat! NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience, listed for release on March 15th, was already out and in the store, and I got it! Yay! Must watch this one this weekend!!

And... a little late night shopping netted me a chart that has been on my wishlist for a long time now, but now I can take it off! I got Rainbow Birds by Valerie Pfeiffer from Laurel's Stitchery - all of her charts are 20% off right now and I happened to have a free shipping voucher lying about, so I went for it - I have seen this pretty chart stitched up on a couple of different tropical hand-dyed fabrics and I want to try my hand at doing the same :-)

Stitched on today: Beneath the Stars for a few minutes at work - with all that packing, I needed a fun break... and tonight at home: Fairy Flora - a progress pic will be posted this weekend, it's really coming along now!

Snow, snow, snow.... it was so bad this morning that when Mike got to his office today only four people were there, so they all went home vowing to work from home today. That never happens, so the roads must have been really bad. Treacherous was the word Mike used. I had today off as it is President's Day anyhow. But I wonder how bad the roads will be in the morning now since it is so cold I would expect ice. Yuck. One more month until spring.... but around here it could be more like two more months.

So, I spent today working on Fairy Flora - starting off with a bit of frogging out of some stitches I worked on way too late last night.... but made a lot of progress now getting roses and berries stitched up and will post a progress pic this week.

I made a nice trade today for Jill Oxton's Voluptuous Mermaids for a skein of WDW Father's Day. That is all she wanted! I am so excited, I have been wanting these mermaids for several months now. Yay, and thank you new friend!!!

Wow, it was really nice to have NASCAR back today, and the Daytona 500 was no disappointment. Well, except it was for Ryan Newman, in a way.... he ran really strong today. He had a bump with the wall midway through, which may have been his own fault.... but it didn't slow him down. Late in the race, though, here I was thinking he managed to avoid "THE BIG ONE" that found Scott Wimmer tumbling end over end (it seems to have to happen to someone there every year)(photo from www.nascar.com), but nope - on the restart Mike Skinner was behind Ryan, and when he got slammed in the rear, he hit Ryan pretty hard, resulting in Ryan hitting the car in front of him (Carl Edwards?) and causing some front end damage that took him from.... 6th? 9th? to 23rd.... he must have pitted for repairs, but FOX didn't show that.... resulting in an unhappy 20th place finish, and 19th in points overall today. But there are many races left to go, so no need to be disappointed. It was still an amazingly strong showing for Ryan today. Oh, and congratulations Jeff Gordon, though watching you win is pretty boring to me. I think Ryan is going to have a really strong year!

We slept so late today, I guess we needed it. So today is almost over and feels like it only just started. My friend Karen started giving me details of her upcoming trip to the States. With some luck we might be able to get Red Sox tickets for when she comes in June, but since she will be in my area for only a day, that looks slim. The Red Sox are in Boston that day, though, so I will give it a try!

I ordered up some Mill Hill Treasures last night that were on sale from The Avid Stitcher - a mixture of ones needed for all of the Mirabilias I keep writing about getting ready to start....

And, here is a temptation that came in my emailbox today -This beauty by Thea Dueck is being offered in Mystic, CT by Stitcher's Hideaway in November. I wish I could afford to go to this, but I doubt it. I hope Thea introduces this one to the public someday, though....

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Thank God It's Friday - Again!

Yay, a three day weekend. Snow is coming for Monday - don't know how much, but still glad to have a three day weekend - lots of time to stitch (and watch the Daytona 500).

We are very concerned here about the health of Tedy Bruschi. It was great to see that he got out of Massachusetts General Hospital today and is resting at home. We hope he recovers well. While I would love to see him return to the NE Patriots, all that really matters is that he recovers!

In our weekly pursuit of having a little time together out in public, having some fun, Mike and I went to the new T-Bones in Derry, NH for dinner. It was really good. I enjoyed my Fisherman's Platter, and we were happy to see that Mike's old high school classmate, Laura, transferred up from the Salem, NH site to Derry - she tends bar there and it was a fun visit.

We are watching Saw tonight - what an interesting... and weird... movie this is! I can't tell if I like it. It is pretty creepy, but then again, I did expect that....

On the stitching front, I remain lost in the sea of pink and white stitches that make up the dress of Fairy Flora... they seem endless, yet now I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Whew!!! I received one of my Silkweaver solos today and Silver Frost from an ebay seller. Both are really nice. I picked up some of the Mill Hill Treasures I need for various Mirabilias, as well as a Queen of Freedom chart... nothing big, just having a little fun getting some stuff together. I posted a whole bunch of embellishments, mostly Lizzie Kate and Shepherd's Bush ones, on ebay tonight too - stuff I came across in my stash and realize I will never use.... I also posted a lot of seven Caron Watercolours that I have received from my fiber clubs and know I will never use.... hopefully these items will find good homes :-)

Geez, can't stop thinking about the Bruschi family right now!

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora and Beneath the Stars (at work - finally started the third dragon today - getting much closer to finished now!)

Get Well Soon, Tedy Bruschi!

(photo from www1.whdh.com). It was very sad to learn today that Tedy Bruschi, extremely popular New England Patriot, suffered a possible mild stroke yesterday. His family is requesting privacy. Please wish him well, pray for him and his young family. We need you to get healthy Tedy!

After I was finished blogging last night, I ended up getting in at the end of an auction for this gorgeous Liz Turner Diehl band sampler. It is from the 2004 CATS Festival. I adore this! I am sure it will be quite the scavenger hunt to track down the fibers and ribbons and the like to actually stitch this sampler, but with help from Karen and my own resources, I expect I can do it. Liz is big on using fibers that are less than readily available everywhere, yet her pieces are too pretty to let that be a reason not to do them. Here is the pretty one:

Keeping on his good pace, Ryan Newman came in fourth in the Gatorade Duel 1 in Daytona today - woohoo! And, as a result of staying out of the "big one" he gets to start 9th in the Daytona 500! Woo Hoo! Looks like he has learned how to use his new Charger to draft really well! But, as for Mr. Kevin Harvick, he needs to take some serious anger management classes. It is imperceivable what Jimmie Johnson could have ever done to him to cause inciting this crash and take out several serious contenders. I would hope he is ashamed of himself, but I doubt it. 19 year old Kasey Kahne keeps his emotions under check, but not Kevin Harvick, and his car at the end of today proves it: (photo is from www.nascar.com). It is only my opinion, but I think NASCAR should not "wait until next time," but sanction him now. Jimmie was ahead of him in the race today, so I cannot see why NASCAR threatened to bench him too if this Harvick situation doesn't get resolved. It is so unfortunate. About five serious drivers probably lost their shot at winning on Sunday - take Mark Martin as an example, or Rusty Wallace - due to Harvick's inability to control his anger (though what caused that anger? when has Jimmie Johnson ever been involved in crashing anyone??) - I can't figure any of it out. What a waste at the end of the day! (My little disclaimer - I don't want to offend anyone, and I even have always liked Harvick, but this incident today - just a bit over the top!).

I received my order of Kreiniks and Mill Hill beads for the various Mirabilias from the ebay seller today, so now I guess I should start thinking about the other details, like the fabrics, get the floss, think of WHEN I could even fit these in :-) And, I was high bidder today for a fat half of 28 count ivory jobelan and Lavender Path by Patricia Ann Designs today too....

Thank God tomorrow is Friday! I am so looking forward to the Daytona 500 this weekend!!

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora and Beneath the Stars for a little while at work

When I came across this new Nashville release from Indigo Rose while I was visiting the Paw Prints Cross Stitch site today, I could not resist it and ordered it up. It has a stunning masculine flair to it, really unique! I also ordered a skein of the new Dinky Dyes Fantasy Blues silk floss. Apparently it is needed for the limited edition designs from the Fantasy Faire, and since I ordered TW's design a couple of days ago, I will need it.

After basking in the glow of feeling effective as a therapist yesterday, today I had difficulties with a client who decided to leave me due to "too many cancellations." What? There was one during the blizzard, was that what she meant? After stewing and my stomach turning for half an hour I remembered what was up - I used to see this teenager until she moved to Florida a year ago. She just returned, but without insurance, and Mom wanted me to see her right away. I did - for several, unpaid sessions. I sat down with Mom and told her she needed to get the insurance taken care of, and until then I could not see the kid, but would provide phone support. Once she got insurance, she transferred to another therapist. How frustrating. And the worst part is, I know it was Mom's decision, not the client's. That makes me sad. I want to be there and do the best I can for my clients, but then stuff like this happens at times, and it really brings me down. I hope something more cheerful comes along tomorrow!

I found out today that last night I got the embellishment pack for Great Lakes Lowland Sampler by Jeannette Douglas, and today a full fat half of Cream Quaker on ebay! Great!

Interesting comment found on www.nascar.com today: "It looks to me like the 12 (Ryan Newman) and the 8 (Junior) are the cars to beat," said Elliott Sadler following Wednesday's pair of drafting practice sessions. - this surprised me, neither showed strong practice speeds, but woohoo, go Ryan!

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy tonight, and Beneath the Stars for a little while at work

(Photo from www.patriots.com)
What a quiet day - I sent in my registration for Celebration of Needlework, and put in a long day, but had a great caseload of kids to see today - all are doing well and really responding to their behavior plans. Makes me feel good and validated as their therapist.

I received Christmas Elegance and Three For Tea from the ebay seller....And, I got an email from Paw Prints Cross Stitch that my backordered supplies for Feather Fairy came in while they were at the Nashville show, and now they have shipped them to me today - yay!!

And, it was new DVD release day, so we will be watching Saw and Taxi this week....

Want to find your driver's license online? Yes, you can do that! Amazing, who would have thought the government would allow that? Give it a go, see what you think: Find Your License

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy

Get Well Soon, Bill Mueller!

Uh-oh, knee surgery at the start of Spring Training! The Red Sox say he should be ready for opening night, and it could be worse - his knee could have waited to swell up after the season started.... biting my lip... get well soon, God speed to a quick recovery Bill!(photo from www.redsox.com)
Fairly uneventful day - had a visit from the insurance company for which I work - they had this little upbeat meeting to show my practice stats against those of others like me. Looks like I am virtually one of the only sole practitioners who does group therapy - I blew that chart up. Yet, my last group is about to end soon - I need a break from it - so I hope they don't get too used to that stat!

I received Paradigm Lost from the ebay seller today, and the more I look at this chart, the more I like it. I think it would be pretty in a nice hand dyed silk like Storm Cloud Waterlilies as a first guess... hmmmm...
It is a quiet Valentine's Day here - a little swapping of cards - Mike is getting the new PSP when it is released next month, while I am taking the class at Celebrations of Needlework in April.... it is a snowy, icy night at the start of the work week, so we will celebrate at the weekend. Hope everyone enjoyed their day!

I just saw that Stitching Bits & Bobs has some new releases up from Nashville, and I ordered You Were Hatched..., a limited edition design by Teresa Wentzler(TW fans won't want to miss out on this one!), and Love Letters Lessons On Linen, Vol. 1 by Just Nan. Very cool!

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy

Well, after getting a call from the contractor our builder contacted for us about the broken mailbox, we decided to tackle it ourselves. He left a message stating that he could do the job for $50 an hour, with a minimum of four hours plus parts. Am I lost here??? Four hours to install a mailbox... that is $200 to install a mailbox! I just can't see it! So we went to Home Depot today - for $6.89 we can now fix the mailbox four times!!!! We had the man there cut an eight foot board into four pieces to match what we need. The $6.89 includes the carriage bolts, washers and hex nuts for four total installations. And it took Mike and I about 10 minutes to get the job done when we got home!

Now just enjoying watching The Pro Bowl - Go AFC!! (AFC won, 38-27)(Marvin Harrison of the Indianapolis Colts, photo from www.nfl.com)

Not much time to stitch today, but did work on Petal Fairy

NASCAR is Back - Congrats Ryan Newman!

No, no - Ryan Newman didn't win the Budweiser Shootout in Daytona, FL tonight - he came in second by only 0.2 seconds! Go Ryan! Jimmie Johnson won, which is cool. He and Ryan always work well together, wish they were teammates! Anyhow, this was by far Ryan's best showing ever at this track - two years ago he was totally pancaked on his roof here. Maybe the tide is turning now for him? The early returns from this race are extremely positive and hopeful, at least. We shall see next weekend when the points races offically begin. I see Newman's creative pit stop strategies continue into 2005, with the risky move to be the only car to take two instead of four tires tonight - at least it didn't hurt him as much as I thought it would tonight.(photo from www.nascar.com)
PMS Warning System found in this blog during random surfing today - too cute to resist! Hope you and your loved ones will find this to be valuable :-)

I've been hanging out over on ebay a little again.... I found out this morning I was high bidder for Silver Frost by Patricia Ann Designs. I have been kind of craving a band sampler to work since I have been doing L&L and Mirabilias, and a little bit of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow since the year started. Late last night I also found a seller from whom I was able to get various beads for Emerald Mermaid and Butterfly Fairy, plus Kreinik braids for Titania, Queen of the Fairies - Adia, the Garden Fairy - and the Cottage Garden Fairy (I think I will use that solo I bought yesterday for this one....). I was also able to get the Ladybug Bead needed for the Just Nan heart in Just Cross Stitch, as pictured in my February 7th entry, from this seller. This morning I also found a less than half price deal on the Collector's Heart 2005 kit from Heart in Hand - this one struck me as so nice, so although I don't collect these I got this one too :-) And, a rare visit to Yahoo! Auctions netted me Mickey & Minnie Portrait for almost nothing...there is another Disney book with it, not sure of title... thought it was a little cute.

While running errands earlier today, we hit the $5.50 DVD Dump Bin at WalMart - we got Earth Girls Are Easy (a comedy for me), and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (a sci-fi for Mike) :-)

And, the most cheerful sight for me every winter - the Red Sox equipment is now packed up and heading to Florida - Spring Training is about to begin! Woo Hoo!(photo from www.redsox.com)
Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Here is my progress pic of Fairy Flora as of today - she is too big now to use the scanner :-) She is getting big. I hadn't realized how dense the stitching truly is in this one, but I think she is gorgeous. I am looking forward to doing the beading at the end (I stitch on scroll bars, so beading must wait) - I also had not realized how laden this fairy is with beads - she has clear beads as dewdrops everywhere, especially in her wings. Sparkly!

I get to start Petal Fairy tonight - I was able to reach my SAL mate and she is ready to go
We did not get the huge snowstorm that was originally called for - got a slushy inch or two though. My DH has a stomach bug so I ended up staying home to take care of him and stitch my heart out anyhow... And, he told me today that I can have that Betsy Stinner class I blogged about yesterday as my Valentine's Day gift! Yay!!!
Oh - as a footnote, we enjoyed watching Shark Tale this afternoon - it was cute, better than I had anticipated! Will Smith is perfectly cast in the role of Oscar. Great job by Renee Zellweger too!

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora, and started Petal Fairy

Oh boy, just can't wait now for the shops to get back from Nashville, because here is another one being released that is on the MUST HAVE list - Catherine Agnes from Indigo Rose:Thanks to Karen V. for the news!!

Wow, another big snow storm coming for late tomorrow night and all day Thursday. Took the wind right out of my sails, and now I am too tired even to stitch (though I did get a few little pink stitches in tonight...). I am starting to really relate to Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter, which I can recall reading as a pre-teen. Brrrr.....snow....will it ever end?? Those of you who want our snow, it is free - come and take all you want! I am wondering if I should even go and dig out my
Long Winter chart by Bent Creek - it is somewhere in my stash, and sure seems appropriate right now!

Adding to my exhaustion is that I started working this week with a very young little boy who is recovering from a liver transplant due to liver cancer. He has a bright little spirit, but the reality of his life has really been hitting me hard....

I won an auction today that I had pretty much forgotten bidding on - and got two neat older Mirabilia charts as a result, so that is cool: Christmas Elegance and Three For Tea. I am pretty excited about that, as I now have almost all the ones I have been wanting for my Mirabilia collection!

I almost forgot - it is new DVD release day - it was sooooo many hours ago that I stopped and picked these up on my way to work this morning, it almost feels like it was another day.... I picked up Shark Tale and The Notebook - at least I will have something to watch during the Nor'Easter (New England term for big storm).

Stitched on (a tiny bit) tonight: Fairy Flora

It could just be my opinion, but the new April 2005 issue of Just Cross Stitch that arrived today is one of the best they have done in some time now! I, like many on the bulletin boards, have been disappointed by the turn the magazine has taken in the past couple of years. Yet, I renew the subscription every year because they are basically "the only show in town" now - have got to get at least one stitching magazine coming in, right? But this issue featured a super pretty heart by Nan Caldera - in the Red Hat Society color scheme, a series I do not care for, but the colors are gorgeous and there is no reference in the design itself to the Red Hat Society....It's called "Lady in Red Heart," and then an article about and a pretty band sampler by Cindy Valentine, a cute castle from Dragon Fire Designs.... and the Gail Bussi contributions this month are lovely from the Elizabethan Garden to Friends & Flowers... I was so pleased, as you can tell, with this issue! My hopes are back up again!

OK... could the NE Patriots Super Bowl Champs hat really be any uglier??What's with the two tone browns?? Ha!

Well, the still as of yet unrepaired mailbox (the builder's secretary called today with a little info, and will get me more info on the template I need to get this reattached...the saga continues) had some stash in it today - I received Mermaid of the Pearls, Feather Fairy, Waiting For Ships and Joy from the ebay seller - so I shall be busy for a lifetime...

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Patriots Are Champs Again!

Who did not expect this result anyhow?? New England 24, Philadelphia 21. Said and done, we are champs again! Spent the day anxiously awaiting the Super Bowl, and stitching away on Fairy Flora

Now to watch the celebrations!

Both pics are from www.nfl.com

I just met Caroline today - turns out she lives one town over from me in Sandown, NH - we met through the New England Cross Stitchers group. It turns out we are both at various stages of stitching Bag Ladies by Braldt Bralds. We have talked about encouraging each other to both finish this project. Here is how mine looks to date. I started it in 1999 or 2000. It is a kit, but I swapped out the aida fabric for Confederate Gray Cashel. When we sold our house in 2000, this got packed away. I never got back to it, even though there is not that much further to go! Now with Caroline and I swapping encouragement, I think I can get this done!

This is a terrible, overexposed photo of my WIP of Fairy Flora on the scroll, but I grabbed the easiest digital camera tonight to try to get a more accurate shot of this fabric. The reality of the color of the fabric lies between this and the scans. This is much closer, just overexposed - and there is absolutely no blue in this fabric, no matter what the scanner and digital camera try to show :-) It is really a lovely, subtle sage green with darker moss colored mottling to it.... at some point I will capture it well, probably with my DH's high quality digital camera when Fairy Flora is done! It is getting pretty frustrating trying to capture this color properly, oh well...

OK, I do just love Sports Illustrated Day - the day my favorite non-stitching magazine comes in the mail and I get to pore over it and relish it (except for the annual Swimsuit Issue..I have no use for that).... but I cannot help but to think that it is not helping the Patriots to keep showing up on the cover.... to me, that is not a good omen... if one believes in such things!

I got a HUGE surprise in the mail today! I received two fat quarters of Kiwi Antiques 35 ct linen in Tekapo and Star Dust from my friend Karen, owner of Dragonfly Dreams! She also sent me a fat eighth of Acorn 28 ct lugana! All of this in exchange for The Forgotten DVD she was wanting.... I am overwhelmed, she is so sweet!

I signed up yesterday to join New England Cross Stitchers - I got approved today and am looking forward to meeting and chatting with local stitchers there!!

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora