Better than working... :-)

Martina decided to drop the password for Part 1 of Medieval Town Mandala down on us today, a day earlier than scheduled. She often does this, which is pretty cool. So, my rotation went out of whack and I started it today. This is the very center of Part 1 finished now, but I do have to add 16 small 10 x 10 gardens around this fountain... I outlined the first one before I quit tonight. The few little empty areas in the fountain area will eventually have a bead or a Swarovski cyrstal in them... in about a year, when the class ends LOL!

I like my job. And, I love being self-employed. Better than anything is a Friday off from work... a trip to Barnes & Noble to pick up the latest Cross Stitcher (UK magazine), and then lunch with Mike at Dave's Famous BBQ... and good stash in the mail too! I got in part of my order from ABC Stitch Therapy - HAED's Waiting for Neptune, two skeins of white Anchor Marlitt (one goes to Karen) for our upcoming Spring Ride SAL, a skein of Waterlilies for Dragons of the Deep, and a packet of size 28 Piecemakers needles! My 32 ct Mithril lugana by Country Stitch will come later - they are waiting for it to come in from New Zealand, of course - nice of them to send the other items now, though!! On top of that, of course, was also coming home from lunch to see that Martina had released the password for part 1 of Medieval Town Mandala a day early.... what could be better than a great lunch, great stash, a cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee from Honey Dew donuts, stitching in front of the TV with the heat on because there is a slight autumn chill.... days like this are far better than working :-)

I've been asked a few times now how I can accomplish so much stitching in a week. Well, there really is no mystery at all to it. I do stitch daily, sometimes more and sometimes less. However, in general, I stitch in the evenings. I get everything I can done early so that I have time to stitch. My DH works at home, and that includes most of the daily household responsibilities. Therefore, I have to admit I am freed up from a good deal of that stuff. I stitch about 4 hours a night on weeknights - more on weekends, unless we go somewhere. My needle really isn't electric at all - I just have a routine that gets it all done... OCD helps! My addiction to watching sports helps too - since I am not highly likely to miss a Red Sox game, Patriots game or NASCAR race, why not stitch at that same time?? LOL!

Great news! Red Sox 5, Yankees 3 - a very big game, a very big win! Two more to go...

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

Celtic Ladies SAL

I worked on my Celtic Winter tonight - Whew! Her hair is much, much, much prettier stitched up than it is on the computer generated image on the chart! What a relief!! I am really enjoying this SAL - it is fun to look at everyone's progress - doing various different Celtic Ladies on different fabrics and some using different color conversions - so cool!!!

There's yet another new Mirabilia chart already! This one is Garden Beauty. I ordered her from Stitching Bits & Bobs tonight. I think I like her... a nice change from fairies and mermaids (although I do love those!) - I love to garden, which you all already know... this one covers that base for me too :-) While shopping, I picked up the embellishment pack for Jingle Bells Christmas Tree Farm, a spool of Kreinik for Mermaids of the Deep Blue, and a super cute chart I had been eyeing for a bit now, Ladybugs and Bumblebees. That was fun! Everything came up with sale prices, but they have not announced a sale yet, so I guess I snuck in early!

On ebay today, this neat hand dyed by Sugar Maple Fabrics called Oddball... it is a fat quarter of belfast linen.... I think it looks dusky and should be pretty in real life... I won it, so I will know soon :-)

Major relief also tonight - Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4 - down to the last three games of the season and the Yankees are heading into town.... yikes, fingers crossed now!
And, my stash that came in today! I got the fat half of SMF Serendipity 32 ct opal lugana (which I am splitting with Katrina) and the fat quarter of Silkweaver Thunderstorm belfast... the pretty lugana solo from Silkweaver.... the pretty Blossoming Birdcage chart from Isabelle (thank you sooooo much for that kind favor Isabelle!!) which I think my niece may enjoy stitching... my threads of the month from Stitching Bits & Bobs (a skein of Dinky Dyes Lemon Sherbet, a skein of Olde Willow American Quaker Gold, a skein of Caron Waterlilies Sahara, and a short skein of Gloriana Rosa Linda)... oh, and my new issue of Sports Illustrated (not stitching related, but just as dear to me! LOL!)

Stitched on today: Celtic Winter and 17th Century Irish Garden (at work - until the rainstorm today knocked the power out in our building... had to stop stitching then... managed to even get out of work a little early - too dark for the clients to come in)

Still stitching dragons on Wednesdays....

OK, here is Legends of the Dragons as of tonight.... sorry I could not fit all of Majesty in the scan, but he is the part that is totally done and I have posted him before anyhow... I am way behind Nikki, my SAL mate, with this project. But I do feel pretty good about my progress given that I only stitch on it on Wednesday nights, while she stitches on hers more often during the week. Nonetheless, it is making decent progress - I only just finally noticed that tonight. So, I worked a bit more on Wisdom, the third (green) dragon, and then went back to working on the border again. I am pretty happy with how nicely this project is coming out.

I have seen a few bloggers write about this recently - oh boy, stitching has been hazardous for me lately. I have put in extra hours lately, mostly to finish projects, and the results have been good - I am getting some big projects done. However, I am in so much pain! My back started first, and now my legs and butt too! Yikes! I have to keep getting up and walking around/stretching. This is not good :-(

Q. Have you ever just quit a project while in the midst of it? (We're not
referring to UFOs here, rather projects that you know that you'll
never work on again.) Why? What did you do with it - throw it out,
give it away, put it away?

A. No, not at all. Although I have some projects that have been UFO's for a while now (Bag Ladies, Birdwatcher, Fairy Moon, Lily of the Valley all come to mind...) I have not given up on them at all. I am actually in the process of trying to work something out in my rotation to have a day or two a month to address such long term UFO's....so nothing ever just gets quit on...

A little LNS jaunt today (how rare lately) - I got Spring Fling by way of using my frequent shopper receipts... as well as a 19 x 20 cut of 36 ct Summer Khaki linen for a sampler, and three of the five braids needed for Mermaids of the Deep Blue...

I also had an ebay win tonight of an almost-fat quarter (17 x 27) of R&R 36 ct Lt Cappucino linen. I have been wanting to stitch a few more samplers - ones by Long Dog and Samplers and Such are calling out to me.... so it is time to stock up on some of the high count linens I will need for them :-)

***Hmmm, I wish I could remember who asked me this - what will take the place of Earth Angel in my rotation when I finish her? Medieval Town Mandala will :-)

I picked up Working Girl from the DVD dump bin at WalMart today - I caught it on cable the other night and remembered how much I liked it.... :-)

Stitched on today: Legends of the Dragons

PS - My Red Sox are showing old habits now - they lost, Yankees won tonight... out of first place with only 4 games left in the season. It sure would help if we had some decent starting pitching... and if some of our hitters were not in slumps. Oh well. As it says on a sign we saw in Concord, NH last weekend, "Relax, there was always last year" - ah, this is so true! :-) Ah, who knows what will happen.... but it has been such a fun season to watch!!

Some more Earth Angel

Due to having SAL commitments for the next two nights (at least), I will be putting Earth Angel away for a bit - maybe I will forgo Thursday's SAL as I am making good progress, and maybe even my usual Friday night project just to try to get her done... but maybe not. I finished the flowers tonight, but I have lots and lots of ribbons to stitch now!! I wish that Jenn was enjoying hers enough to keep stitching along with me, though. Kind of a bummer. I have enjoyed stitching with her.

I got in a nice pile of stash today - when it rains, it pours (well, it actually is raining right now... ironic....). I received the backissue of The World of Cross Stitching with the two super cute Valerie Pfeiffer bird charts in it - I really love them! I got in SMF's Solitude belfast via ebay, as well as the fat quarter of the Amethyst lugana from White Willow Stitching. Then, I got in an order from Stitching Bits & Bobs which includes the Heritage Cashel by Picture This Plus, several skeins of GAST in Black Raspberry Jam (for a Long Dog Sampler), a pack of Mill Hill beads for Celtic Autumn, and two packs of Mill Hill Treasures for Mermaids of the Deep Blue :-)

No Red Sox tonight... for that matter, no Yankees either. Both teams have to play double headers tomorrow due to the residual effects of Hurricane Rita in the mid-Atlantic (Baltimore, which postponed the Yankees) and here... nothing too major, but it is a bit windy out there with the rain.... sigh. Poor Sox, double headers are not fun and all of the seven remaining games really are "must wins" for them. ***I was misled by the news, the Yankees are playing tonight after all.... it is just the Sox that have to play a double header tomorrow....sigh

Meanwhile, the Patriots have lost Rodney Harrison, safety, for the year with the severe knee injury he suffered in yesterday's game against the Steelers. This is not good. We lost another veteran, Matt Light, too - don't know for how long. Yikes!

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Earth Angel

An Open Heart SAL Day #2... plus more :-)

Today was SAL day for An Open Heart, and while I am not exactly moving along at the speed of light with this one, I think I did pretty well for the amount of time that I gave it. I was working on this one while constantly flicking between the Red Sox game, NASCAR race, and even the Patriots game. Oh, and doing laundry too! I wonder how Karen and Tannia are doing with theirs this week...
...And after dinner, I went back to work on Earth Angel for awhile. I find working on the flowers under the angel to be the most tedious part of her :-) I have a bit more green and purple to add in to the flowers tomorrow, and then it is just ribbons and some beads left :-)

Great day for sports (for me, that is!!): Red Sox 9, Orioles 3...Ryan Newman came in 5th at Dover, and is still 3rd in points, and Patriots 23, Steelers 20... all is happy tonight.

Stitched on today: Earth Angel and An Open Heart

Now Earth Angel is bringing plenty of luck - to the Red Sox and to Ryan Newman!

I reached a milestone with Earth Angel tonight. She has her wings now. I figure I will put some more time in on her tomorrow after I work on the Drawn Thread SAL for a little bit. I really just want to get my angel done really soon now, as I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It will still take a few more nights to finish her, but there really isn't all that very much left to do :-)
He did it! Ryan Newman won the Busch series race at Dover today! This is his fourth consecutive win in the Busch series this year - out of only five or six races he has run this year - cannot really recall how many it has been. Woo Hoo! Hope he brings this momentum to the Cup series tomorrow, but that is much stiffer competition over there, so it is anybody's guess if he will win tomorrow - though he is predicted to win. We had a lot of company over today, so I had to record the race, but I am enjoying it right now!! (photo from www.nascar.com)

Also... the Red Sox are back in first place! Although they are tied for first with the Yankees, who lost today - Red Sox 4, Orioles 3 - let's try to gain some momentum too, guys!!

Stitched on today: Earth Angel

It's Autumn

I don't like Autumn much, it is the end of summer and winter is, well.... most assuredly right around the corner! But I worked on Celtic Winter tonight - the sparkly fabric reminds me of snow (which is why I chose it), and hopefully working on her will help me to warm up to and get ready for winter? Anyhow... she grew a bit more tonight.

Other than working a long day at the office, this is pretty much all I have got today... I am getting concerned as I watch more updates on Hurricane Rita. Oh my!! My prayers to all in that area!

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Celtic Winter

A Friendly Dragon Tonight

Wisdom and I got along much better this week! Here is what I was able to do with him tonight :-)

I received my Silkweaver FOTM today... it is a really pretty one this month... lavender and pale blue with splashes of sunlight on it... reminds me a bit of SMF's Sun Dappled Glade.... it is more dramatic than in this scan, as the more dramatic parts are more towards the center of the fabric. I also received the fat quarter of Brianne's Memory belfast from the ebay seller today... yes, I think it will be just right for Fairy Dreams!!


Q. What is the most challenging specialty stitch you have ever stitched?

A. I have been thinking of this one for a while, so I figured I would ask Renee if this was a good question. For me, it really has to be dove's eyes (hardanger). Try as I may, they refuse to come out uniform for me. Drives me nuts! I understand the stitch diagrams and how to execute them, but they come out inconsistent for me....argggh. I would do more hardanger if I could better master the dove's eyes.............. well, I thought that was my answer until I saw someone else's answer - bullion stitches! I just can't do them - I panic over the idea of them, thus my restart on Catherine Agnes is delayed.... lots of bullion stitches, and I am a wimp!

Well, the Red Sox just fell out of first place tonight with a stupid loss to Tampa Bay - we had the lead all night and then.... I don't want to talk about it - no Red Sox fan wants to talk about it. We are half a game back from New York... 10 more games to try to get the lead back, and that is it! We will probably be OK, though... and if not, it is only baseball :-)

I had some down time at work, so I watched The Wedding Date on the DVD drive of my computer (bad Carol!!).... it was good :-)

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Legends of the Dragons

*** Well, Hurricane Rita is a Category 5 now and barreling towards Texas! I pray for no harm to others. Here is yet another reason for the media to threaten that our gas prices 'could reach $5/gallon' by next week. Come on!! The $2.89/gal I paid today - which was a $50 fill up - is way more than enough!

Garden Spots Sampler

Tonight was the first night of the Garden Spots Sampler with Jo :-) OK, I am already loving this one! We are both using the Victoria Clayton silk conversions, and I am stitching mine on R&R Reproductions 40 ct Creme Brulee linen. It has a very antique look, a bit distressed. Unfortunately, it also has an area that looks like pinkish or reddish ink near one edge, and a blue spot near another edge. I just noticed it tonight. Argggh! But I don't think it will show on my sampler, whew!! I am already preferring the VC conversion over the original AVAS.... less orangey - I never liked the orange in the original. So, this is what I got done on my first night. And now it has to go away again until next Tuesday... I took a few photos, and this one shows the colors the best....

I was amazed to receive Woodland Fairie from the ebay seller already today! Wow, I am impressed by all those who have stitched her - she looks like she will take a long, long time to stitch!

It is new DVD Release Tuesday again :-) We picked up The Longest Yard... a comedy featuring sports - now that is right up my alley! I also got The Jacket while running a quick errand to buy toothpaste at WalMart today - it looks pretty strange, and sometimes that is just what I am looking for :-)

Red Sox 15, Devil Rays 2 - yes, it was a rout. But, the Yankees routed the Orioles tonight, so no change in the stats...

Speaking of that, I got a couple of comments today about my saying my Earth Angel was bringing bad luck to the Red Sox (as in, if I took her out to stitch her, they lost - or at least struggled). I did not mean to imply she was a witch or a jinx... I really meant she seems to be a Yankees fan :-) Well, if you are familiar with that rivalry, then you will understand that - LOL!!

Stitched on today: Garden Spots Sampler

A little more Earth Angel... but she is bad luck!

Earth Angel found her way back into my Q-Snap tonight... But, she didn't bring much luck at all to the Red Sox tonight.... who are now in a virtual tie for first place with the Yankees. So, just in case, she is going away for a few days :-) Actually, I have my new SAL project to start tomorrow.

I got in the fat half of SMF Atlantis 28 ct Jubilee today... very pretty. I also received a gift I had purchased for a friend's upcoming birthday - just in time for Mike to mail it off tomorrow :-)

That's about it today... feeling down as the Red Sox slide away from the post season... but, I know, it is only baseball and there are much more important things in life :-)

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Earth Angel

Started a new SAL today.... I think I am crazy :-)

I started a new SAL today with Karen and Tannia in Australia - An Open Heart. It has been a while since I have stitched on anything this delicate!! It's a nice change. It took me forever to count and recount to make sure I was starting in the right place on this one :-) And, then it took me a while struggling with my Q-Snaps before I decided it works much better on my scroll. So, now I am off and running. My scanner made this fabric several shades darker than it is in real life - I am using the recommended Cafe Au Lait 34 ct legacy linen. I didn't stitch this for my entire free time today, as I want to also get some more time in on my angel... I heard from Tannia today, and she got a bit done too :-)
...And then I did put in about three hours on Earth Angel too.... a little more of her wing and then more of the floral underneath her... Tomorrow is her regularly scheduled night in my rotation, so let's see how much more I can get done on her then... :-)

Newman wins at Loudon!! Absolutely amazing! It is the first week of the Chase for the Nextel Cup for the top ten drivers, and Ryan Newman won! His first Nextel Cup win of the season, and he took it handedly over Tony Stewart! Good time to finally win, Ryan - and in my state of New Hampshire too! Thank you!!!! Ryan is now all the way up to third in points! (photo is from www.nascar.com). The Red Sox and the Patriots both lost today, so this is even more exciting for me! Now I hope Ryan can hold on to this momentum and make a really good showing in the Chase this year! I know the Patriots and Red Sox will bounce back quickly from today... they knew it was Ryan's day too and didn't want to steal his thunder - LOL!!

I also had a final bid going on ebay for a hand dyed fabric... this time it was for Brianne's Memory belfast from The Blended Needle. It is a fat quarter, and is pretty unique. I have selected it for Fairy Dreams. She has been sitting in my stash for far too long, and I hope to stitch her fairly soon now that I have fabric for her.

Stitched on today: An Open Heart and Earth Angel

Oh no, is it really almost bedtime... and back to work again tomorrow? Sigh.... I hope the tropical storms/hurricanes brewing in the Gulf again stay away from land!! People down there have suffered enough...

Making room for Medieval Town Mandala...

OK, I took my own advice and decided to accelerate Earth Angel a bit - I know Jenn is a little bit behind me with Mermaid Heaven right now, so I put that aside and spent today giving a lot of attention to Earth Angel (which I am also stitching with Jenn, and I hope she doesn't mind that I have to get this one going now...). I got a whole lot of her wings done as well as more of the floral border underneath her... however, I don't know how much longer she will take to finish. But I will be adding her in here and there much more often until she is done.... that should help to open up a slot for when the Chatelaine class starts :-)

I have no idea how I won these bids - I had forgotten about them, really. I got these two amazing fabrics for ridiculously low bids. I totally expected to get outbid - by a lot! I am thrilled. I have been trying to get a fat quarter of SMF's Serendipity for some time now. They have the color off of the their catalog on their site, and I was worried I would not get any. But today I got a whole fat half of Serendipity 32 ct opalescent lugana! I want to stitch Fairy Roses on this.

Then I also got this fat quarter of Silkweaver's Thunderstorm belfast for super, super cheap! I stitched Blackbird Design's Moon Garden sampler on this last year, and it is an amazing color!! The seller has excellent feedback, so it must just have been a matter of great timing to get these. Now I have tons of fabric (and the Red Sox won the World Series last year), so I can die happy :-)

Speaking of the Red Sox... Red Sox 2, Athletics 1 :-)

Oh, and I was able to get this issue of The World of Cross Stitching, #72, today too - not because I want to stitch Eeyore, but for the adorable Valerie Pfeiffer birds in this issue. I am thrilled to be getting this one now!!

I loved watching Sahara while I was stitching tonight - it also gets an A++, with its only drawback being that I had to look up an awful lot to catch the action.

Oh, my aching back!! Actually, it is Mike who has had a sore back of late, but Beau seems to be emulating his master and jumped right into his spot with the heating pad today :-)

Stitched on today: Earth Angel

Figuring out my rotation again.... crunch time :-)

It is Friday - worked on Convent's Herbal Garden for a bit. No major progress, just couldn't focus a whole lot.... This garden calls for Petite Treasure Braid too - specifically one strand. I just can't get used to MLI's instructions to use two - LOL! (I had to use Photobucket tonight, so sorry - you can't click to enlarge today's photos.... hopefully Blogger photos will work again tomorrow).

I picked up some treats for myself tonight... feeling bluesy and so I finally got Waiting for Neptune by Heaven and Earth Designs - been wanting this for a while now! I also ordered a fat quarter of Mithril 32 ct lugana by Country Stitch, hopefully for Mermaids of the Deep Blue - like many stitchers, I am still trying to find the perfect fabric for that one! And, I got two skeins of white Anchor Marlitt, a pack of size 28 Piecemakers needles and a skein of Mediterranean Waterlilies for Dragon of the Deeps. I decided to try out ABC Stitch Therapy for these. They had the best deal that I could find for Country Stitch Kiwi Illusions fabric....

I received my fat quarter of R&R 40 ct. Creme Brulee today for Garden Spots Sampler, and Jo and I have decided to start this SAL on Tuesday (well, if her silks come in by then, actually). In that same order, I received the fat quarter of SMF Sun Dappled Glade which will be for a Dracolair dragon. And, I got the SMF Murky Depths and Lakeside Linens Mocha today too!

Red Sox 3, Athletics 2 - tied 2-2 most of the evening... bottom of the tenth, bases are loaded with Red Sox, Manny Ramirez at the plate... and the Oakland pitcher hit him with the pitch, walking in the winning run for the Red Sox. Strange, how often does that ever happen??

Looks like I have a full time stitching schedule now :-) Starting on Sunday, my new rotation is:
Mondays - Earth Angel
Tuesdays - Garden Spots Sampler
Wednesdays - Legends of the Dragons
Thursdays - Celtic Winter
Fridays - Convent's Herbal Garden
Saturdays - Mermaid Heaven
Sundays - An Open Heart
At work - 17th Century Irish Garden

That leaves Little Wings, Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, Angel of Love and Girl with Cat without assigned days - but I promise to myself to stitch them when I feel like I want to - I don't want to be that regimented! LOL! And, what to do when Medieval Town Mandala starts in two weeks? Yikes, is there an 8th day in the week yet? I better go sit down and figure this one out! My best initial idea is to accelerate getting Earth Angel done now.... and use Mondays for MTM?

Stitched on today: Convent's Herbal Garden

Celtic Ladies SAL Night for Me :-)

Yay, it is Thursday, so I got to work on Celtic Winter tonight. I am growing very fond of her already. Of course, she got her face tonight!! She really has a lot of different grays in her dress... I am looking forward to using more blues in the border. I am only using one strand of the Petite Treasure Braid on my project - it is covering very well on this 28 ct lugana. I started using it last week with one strand without thinking even twice about it, as that is the only way I have ever used Petite Treasure Braid. Then I noticed in her directions that MLI says to use two strands. I prefer not to - I don't think I will like the look as much as I like it with one strand :-) It seems unorthodox to me to use two strands instead of one... Like many others in this SAL are reporting, it really is hard to put this project down. But, now I will put her away until next week. I will miss her, though.
Excellent news today - my 2005 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue arrived today!!! I got mine by renewing my annual subscription by the date they requested.... love it! I love the Brightneedle, Dragon Dreams, Shepherd's Bush, M Designs, Full Circle Designs and and Sweetheart Tree ornaments the best.... but they are all wonderful (except for one... the designer looks like she "phoned it in"... you will all understand what I mean when you see it :-) And, for those who love redwork and/or are in redwork exchanges, you will be happy to see that The Workbasket presents a lovely redwork ornament this year!!

And, my undying passion for lovely hand dyed fabrics continues with today's purchase of a fat quarter of Solitude belfast linen from Sugar Maple Fabrics. Mindy describes this one as a mix of turquoise and lilac, or close to DMC 3841 and 598. Sounds very nice! Can't wait to see it!

I also got this amazing fabric - Amethyst from Dreams with Angels fabrics. This is available on White Willow Stitching's website. No 32 ct available, which was disappointing. But I got the 28 ct thinking this might be perfect for one of my Dracolair dragons.... :-) This is my first time ordering from them - I stumbled across this as I was admiring their lovely designs.... I hope it is a good experience :-)

There has been a small disappointment with the order already though - $5.80 shipping!!! Yikes!! I can't tell where WWS is from... US or Canada?? But that is pretty high, isn't it, for shipping a fat quarter of fabric? Anyhow, here is their link - wait until you see the pretty hand dyeds!!

Silkweaver has its 2005 Stitchers Showcase open now and is taking entries through 12/31/05.... I just entered my Fairy Flora, Petal Fairy, Miracle Butterfly and Celtic Band Sampler. It's fun, but I am a person who simply does not win things, so I have zero expectations here! LOL!!!!

A small ebay deal tonight - for $2 I was able to add to my TW collection, and I finally got Woodland Fairie - I don't know why I didn't already have this one - love that little mouse.

I enjoyed watching Fever Pitch tonight - the romantic comedy was amusing, but I really loved watching all the Red Sox scenes and mementos in the film. It lifted my spirits - the movie gives a positive message about the team. I needed that as they just are not playing all that well right now, and they really need to be. Another loss tonight... but this is 2005, not 2004. Will they rebound? Anyhow.... I watched the Special Boston Red Sox alternate ending - it is silly that we had to pay a few dollars more for this edition just to see a few seconds here and there of action from last season during the ending. I thought they would at least alter the story line a little for the extra money, but nope. Oh well, still an A+++ in my book!

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden for a while at work, and Celtic Winter

Having fits!

Legends of the Dragons is giving me fits tonight. It is probably not the project's fault. I am off my game and I called it quits really early tonight. I started off by working some more on the border with the one strand of Waterlilies silk. Well, that kept knotting up on me! I got about 25 stitches done before I knew I had to quit doing that or the project would end up in the garbage. So, I started working on Wisdom, the third dragon - the one designed by Teresa Wentzler. He started giving me more fits, but honestly, not as bad as the silk was giving me... I don't mind the many blended threads. That doesn't bother me at all. What got me with Wisdom is the terrible chart. The fractional stitches are darned impossible to read!! Thankfully, Nikki, who is my SAL mate with this project, recently emailed me some necessary info she found on a BB - a list of how to read the symbols for the quarter stitches. Yikes, they are terribly done! Now, it would be easier to do this if I printed out her email, but I have not done that yet. See, I am off my game. I quit for tonight. I will print her email and put it with my chart, and hopefully next week Legends of the Dragons and I can get along better. For now, we will just accept our love/hate relationship that we are dealing with tonight - I am sure it will pass, as our relationship had been much better up until tonight :-)

Well... okey dokey - just as I thought I had some freed up time in my rotation, my linen for An Open Heart just arrived today, and Tannia gently reminded me an in email today that our SAL was set to start on 9/19.... so I am off to start another now - LOL! She wants to start on Sunday because she has a stitching get together that day - I will start Sunday too, as that is my newly freed up day....

I got a gorgeous package in the mail today from my pal Karen in Australia - she sent me the rest of the fibers I need for Taj Mahal (what fantastic colors!!), and the three new Dragon Dreams releases too - Dragon of the Deeps, There's Magic in My Needle, and To Trim a Tree! She spoilt me again! Oh my.

I got in the new issue of Stitcher's World today - it's OK, not special... I am not a big holiday stitcher, so Christmas themed issues don't do a whole lot for me.... I do like the JCS Christmas Ornaments isses as a collector's item, though... but if you like Ursula Michael, the issue does include a stunning Christmas version of her quilts on a clotheline series... very nice!

Q. Do you stitch for events like weddings, engagements, or other things
that might not last? If you have been unlucky and the two people broke
up, what happened to your stitched gift?

A. I did stitch a wedding sampler once, about ten years ago. I stitched it for one of the therapists I worked with when he got married. It was a cute Alma Lynne sampler. I haven't seen the couple in a few years, but did run into another work friend about a year ago who told me they are doing really well. So, the sampler was lucky for them, I guess :-) I am not phased by whether or not an event will last. But as an aside, I did buy a stitched sampler of Dragon Dreams' Fantasy Wedding Blessing on ebay. The seller sold it because the couple it was stitched for broke up before the wedding! I love the sampler and I figured I could use it for someone else someday - the stitcher did not put the names and date on the sampler. I would add Mike's and my names to it and keep it, but it is on aida and I prefer to stitch it myself someday on linen.

Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3 - a huge win, but at quite a cost. One of my favorite players, outfielder Gabe Kapler, got seriously injured rounding second base as he was coming in to score on Tony Graffanino's two run home run shot. Unfortunately, Gabe couldn't just have twisted his ankle... nope, he ruptured his Achilles tendon. More than likely with it being this late in the season, that is a season ending injury for him. That is a tough loss for the Sox. More importantly, though, get well soon Gabe, I hope you will be OK! (Gabe's photo is from www.redsox.com)

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Legends of the Dragons

Earth Angel

I was wondering today how long it has been since I stitched on Earth Angel, especially since I knew I would be stitching on her tonight. I checked my blog and wow, I haven't stitched on her since August 16th. I corrected that tonight and gave her some time on her wings :-) She still has a little way to go, of course, but will probably be my next finish :-)

Thanks, everyone, for your kind words about Miracle Butterfly - they are so appreciated :-) I love watching people's Happy Dances too :-) Someone has asked what goes into my rotation to replace it.... this is the slot I have opened up for Chatelaine's Medieval Town Mandala which starts October 1st.... in the meantime I realized today that since Miracle Butterfly is now finished, I can catch up on some of the more neglected projects for a few days here and there - Little Wings, Houses of Hawk Run Hollow and Girl with Cat perhaps.... :-)

I got some fabric on ebay today that I have wanted for a while - a fat quarter of Sugar Maple Fabric's Sun Dappled Glade 28 ct Jubilee. The mailman delivered the fat quarter of Putty Belfast I got on ebay recently - this is one of my top five or so favorite standard fabrics - just love the color.

I also spent time today figuring out what those beads that came in yesterday are for - I am so glad I blog such details here when I order, since so many details otherwise fall out of my brain... rapidly! Turns out they are for Woodland Fairie, as were the Kreiniks in that package - I noticed that I recently got the DMC too, and have had the fabric for a while now... good thinking, well done to me.... guess I made up a kit without paying much attention to myself... :-)


My brother emailed me some new pictures of Nobska, their new black lab puppy, tonight. She is growing really fast! I haven't had a chance to drive down and see her yet. I figured I would share one of her pics.... cute puppies are always a good thing!!

It was a huge New DVD Release Tuesday today - two movies we have been waiting for - Fever Pitch (I got the Boston Red Sox Fans Collectors Edition, The Curse Reversed - of course, no surprise there right??) and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Stitched on today: Earth Angel

Miracle Butterfly Happy Dance

It came right down to bedtime (practically), but I finished Miracle Butterfly tonight. She is so sparkly!! She was a bit of work, especially that long white gown, but she was worth it. This finished work is so gorgeous compared to the computer generated image on the chart :-) I watched a lot of NASCAR and Red Sox while stitching this one primarily on Sundays -LOL!! The official stitching dates were 3/24/05-9/12/05, stitching her in my rotation.

I got a couple of UK magazines today - this World of Cross Stitching Issue 102, and Cross Stitch Collection Issue 122 (didn't find a photo of it yet)... and the mailman was mighty good to me today. I got in an order that contains beads for a project that is a mystery to me - I need to scan my blog again to see what I ordered beads for - good thing I post such details here for myself! It also contains the Kreiniks for Woodland Fairie, a pair of scissors I ordered to bring to work, and the new Mermaids of the Deep Blue chart. In other packages I received the beads for that same chart. And, some backordered silks for Heirloom Homecoming Sampler... the silk pack for Love Letter Lessons... the Silkweaver Solo lugana that did turn out to be perfect for Olde World Map.... and the stunning Midnight Sparkle opalescent belfast from Sugar Maple Fabrics! I think that is everything... kinda tired, not sure :-) I need to find time tomorrow to really look at all of this!!

Had a neat ebay "win" today (is it really winning when you have to pay?? - LOL!) - OK, I am definitely tired! I got a fat half of Atlantis 28 ct Jubilee by Sugar Maple Fabrics :-)

Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 5 ~

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Miracle Butterfly (Happy Dance!!)

Remembering 9/11

It's Sunday, and Sunday is PR SAL day. Out came
Miracle Butterfly. It took me forever off and on today to finish the white at the bottom of her gown. My energy and psyche were low today. There are probably a few reasons - like I don't tend well to my sleep on weekends, but also it is the four year anniversary of 9/11... and I watched a special on INHD while I was stitching about how the passengers fought back on Flight 93 (the flight out of Newark, NJ that crashed in Pennsylvania on its way to the US Capitol Building).... sad special, but glad I watched it. Anyhow... then I got into the border and that is going really quickly. I decided not to chicken out and am using the one strand of blending filament for the inner backstitched border, and I am glad I did. It is moving along just fine, and its delicate effect could not be copied by using a strand of black DMC instead. So, while it was not my original plan to work on this again tomorrow, I now think I will because I should be able to finish this tomorrow :-)



Stitched on today: Miracle Butterfly

Ryan Newman makes the Chase for the Nextel Cup!

It is Saturday, and that means it was time to finally get to stitch on Mermaid Heaven again. I have a really hard time with putting this project down once I start stitching on it. I had a small happy dance tonight by finishing my first page (part 2/8) and moved on to part 1/8 tonight... of course, because I wanted to get the mother mermaid's face stitched... always do like to get that done as soon as I can!

I am happy to have won a couple of bids on fabrics over on ebay tonight - I managed to sign on just in time to get these bids - a fat quarter of Lakeside Linens 28 ct Mocha.... .... and a fat quarter of Sugar Maple Fabrics Murky Depths belfast - this one looks very interesting :-) I can't believe I got around those two bidders who won't let others get hand dyed fabrics on ebay lately - LOL!

Red Sox 9, Yankees 2- woo hoo, we took a big one from the Yankees and widened our lead back up again - thank you Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez - both looked like their old selves again today - right when we needed them :-)

I received a big box of daylilies from ebay today and spent a good part of the afternoon preparing them and planting them in my garden. I am really excited about these - The red one is Ablazing Rimfire...
...the bicolor here is Appomattox... I won't go and crowd up my entry with all the photos, but I also got Sally Jetton, Rocket City, Golden Angel, Rose Emily, Ice Carnival and New Note as well. I can't wait to see who blooms next July :-)

And, Ryan Newman made the chase for the Nextel Cup tonight!! He is 10th in points, but HE IS IN! Woo Hoo!!
I give an A++ to Monster-In-Law - I got a chance to watch that today while Mike was helping his cousin hang sheetrock in our basement. I laughed through the entire movie. It had no slow moments at all. If you haven't seen this one, you might want to give it a try!!

It was an amazingly good day today :-)

Stitched on today: Mermaid Heaven