Squeezing in a goal before the month ends!

Upon reviewing my goals for November a few days ago, I noticed that I had not worked on Convent's Herbal Garden yet this month. I originally expected that I would be working on the Celtic Winter SAL tonight, but figured I could still squeeze in a little time tonight on Convent's Herbal Garden and still meet my goal - so I did :-)
NASCAR's "Chasers" (top ten finalists) invade NYC today in preparation for their awards ceremony on Friday! (photo from www.nascar.com)

Stitched on today: Convent's Herbal Garden and 17th Century Irish Garden for just a little while at work today...

And now, another Tuesday

Wow, it really is a frustrating experience, trying to get an even halfway decent photo of this sampler. The fabric is so pale and antique, and the lights in the kitchen at 11 PM and the flash on the camera, all add up to lousy photos! Yucky!!
Here, at least, is a closer up photo of the area that I worked on tonight... I think I am working on strawberry stems and leaves right now, and hopefully next week those will be finished with berries added to them :-)

Wow, what warm weather today! It has to end - and will end - very soon - like in about half a day - and then back to winter. Darn!

Of course, it is also New DVD Release Tuesday - Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Honeymooners (from last week).

Stitched on today: Garden Spot Sampler

Another Monday

While it is hard to get up and go back to work on Mondays, it is not hard to select what to stitch... Angel of Love, of course!!

Excellent news today!! Nikki finished her Legends of the Dragons over the weekend too!!!! Woo Hoo!! That was a fun SAL, thanks Nikki!

Hmmmm.... this is an interesting discovery I made today. I went to Victoria Clayton's website out of curiosity. There is a skein of "Natural" silk in my silk pack for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, yet I can not find it on the color key. So, while I had free time today, I went to her site to doublecheck that... and lo and behold! She has completely changed her conversion for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. It looks like she adjusted many of the colors now to be more in line with the real colors used by Carriage House Samplings. I have some of the silks here that she changed in her conversion, and they are deeper colors. Interesting... Well, if anyone wants the list of colors for the conversion I am using (the lovely, subtle shades), I can give that to you. Oh, and it appears I do have all I need, and that the "natural" silk is the alternate for the white floss... I wonder what the new conversion will look like stitched up??

A little stash came today :-) My beads for Mirabilia's Santa's Magic and a fat quarter of Sugar Maple Fabric 28 ct Jubilee in the very bright, outrageous shade of Circus :-)

Stitched on today: Angel of Love

Two projects today...

I stuck to my commitment to work on the An Open Heart SAL today, and as always, I am glad that I did. It's such a pretty piece. I worked on it while watching football today, and now the game is over so this sampler gets put away. I again have no idea how my SAL mates are doing. I know Karen is busily working on Christmas gifts and likely not stitching on this SAL, and I have no update or info on Tannia. I think I much prefer SALs where the stitchers keep updates posted on their blogs.
And then, I got back to work on my houses for a bit. I figure it may be a while before I can actually work on it again, at least the way I figure it right now. The next password for MTM should be coming along this week, so that will be keeping me busy for a while, depending on how large the section Martina gives us will be.... So, here is where the houses stand for now.

Stitched on today: An Open Heart and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

On to another house...

I've been enjoying this one too much to put it down right now, so I started another house tonight - House 8. As I suspect it will be with all 12 of the blocks, this one is so very different to stitch than was the first one. Oddly, even the color key is different for this block. I got used to certain symbols being certain colors, and now all of that is changed. Kind of odd. Maybe I will keep with this one again tomorrow, but the Drawn Thread SAL is calling to me too... maybe a little of each tomorrow?

One of Mike's friends popped in today on a visit from Pennsylvania. He was telling me about his and his wife's adventures in adopting a baby out of Russia. It was a really interesting story. After several trials, though, they adopted an 18 month old boy in September. It sure is a different world over there than it is here. I was shocked to learn that his son was fed primarily milk and tea in the orphanage. Yikes!!!

Introducing one of the Red Sox' newest superstars. This weekend the Boston Red Sox acquired two new superstars, as well as a third player, from the Florida Marlins. Josh Beckett, starting pitcher and World Series 2003 MVP is now with the Boston Red Sox :-) He is a known "Yankee Killer" already, so welcome to Boston, Josh! Along with him comes Mike Lowell, third baseman. I hear wonderful things, but sadly this means we will likely bid farewell to Bill Mueller, one of my favorite Red Sox :-( Ah, sports can be so heart wrenching! No news yet on Johnny Damon or Manny Ramirez.... holding my breath, would love to see them both come back! (photo from www.redsox.com)

Stitched on today: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

I feel accomplished tonight :-)

I finally finished my first house square on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow tonight (well, actually it is called House 7). I feel like it is an accomplishment, since I started this sampler back in January!! I really realized tonight why I had allowed this project to go on the back burner. I am using the Victoria Clayton silk conversion, and when I first started this house block I was not at all convinced that I liked this conversion. The first little house I stitched used the creamsicle silk and I was dreading how this would look. I have completely changed my mind on this one now. I love the original colors - they are very bright. But, I now realize I did truly do the right thing by opting to use the VC conversion - it matches my home and decor much better - and as this block grew I really fell in love with it! And, I am excited to see that there is more interest in the blogging world to stitch this along with me next year. Thank you! I really hope to get this done in the foreseeable future. If I stick with the rate I had with it this year, it would take me 12 years to stitch this sampler LOL!!

I got in a little more stash in the mail today, and then I remembered to take a photo of the items that had arrived on Wednesday as well - my FOTM from Silkweaver (Golden Promise belfast Expressions), as well as a fat quarter of Sugar Maple Fabric Golden Turret Cashel (the same fabric I am using for Angel of Love) - two Mirabilia charts (Villa Mirabilia and Winter Queen), Chantal la Fee kit, and two Carriage House Samplings charts (Matter's Choice and Bedtime Prayer Sampler) - so many nice things to look through :-)

Stitched on today: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow ****I got so caught up in wanting to see the first house block done, that I did not pick up Convent's Herbal Garden tonight... and I realize I neglected that one all month :-( I hope to do better with that one in December!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

We got a bit more snow today than was forecasted. Mike and I went about two miles down the interstate and turned around. We didn't go to Massachusetts. The roads were terrible. Even in my 4 wheel drive Jeep Grand Cherokee with Quadra Drive, the roads were slick and greasy, and we saw cars off the road as well. Both of our moms understood. Shortly after we got home, the weather improved markedly. Go figure! We did get invited to our neighbor's house for Thanksgiving dinner though, so all worked out well - now I get to stitch and watch football and DVDs - nothing beats that!!!
I used this extra time to get back to working on another much neglected project, Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. You know, this was the #1 project that I wanted to stitch this year... then I got all distracted and figure I will be lucky if I can get the first house done by the end of the year. (Well, House 7 actually - I am a "start at the middle of a large project" kind of stitcher). I may need to ask around to see if anyone wants to do this as a SAL next year - I could use the motivation to get it regularly into my rotation. I actually love stitching on this one. I haven't blogged about it in ages, so I will give its details again - I am stitching this using the Victoria Clayton silk conversion on the Lakeside Linens 40 ct Pearled Barley linen. I still have to finish the top of the hot air balloon and another row of the flowers before this first house block is done... Sorry it is askew - I was way too tired tonight to doublecheck that it did not shift in the scanner.


Barbara: Do either of these two Silkweaver solos look like they would work well for your dragon? I just ordered them today, with you in mind... if they don't work, I know I can find a use for each of them LOL!!! The Jamaican Sea I wrote you about is actually by Dyeing4U, and I will try to get a scan emailed to you - it is very aqua blue, though.... Just let me know :-) I will email you my address for the trade for the Lilac Ice :-) Thanks!!!!!

Stitched on today: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

It's a four day weekend!!

It seems pretty timely tonight to pull out Celtic Winter, as it is getting to be quite wintry out now. So cold, and snow is expected.... I had fun stitching her again tonight - I really love working on the border :-)

Q. Do you always sign your projects? If not, why? If so, do you use your first name, initials or what?

A. Surprisingly, no, I don't. I have personal reasons for this. Hard to explain. I just don't much care to sign my projects, with the sole exception of when a chart calls for name, date, initials.... I do often sign and date the back of framing, but I don't care to put it in the actual needlework. Modesty, that's it.

I got in some stash today, but forgot to photograph it. I will probably do that tomorrow night, depending on how long we are in Massachusetts for the holiday. I switched my Silkweaver Fabric of the Month option a couple of weeks ago from the 32 ct jobelan solos to the Expressions belfast fat quarters. I got my first one in today - Golden Promise. It is very pretty, and I am pleased with the decision to change my option for a while. I figure I have more than enough jobelan solos right now :-)

Stitched on today: Celtic Winter

The seasons have changed now...

Brrr... it is so cold and so rainy, and now we have snow forecasted for Thanksgiving morning (that is this Thursday, for non-US readers....). Yucky, yucky, yucky. We can't avoid it, we have to drive to Massachusetts Thursday morning. If you don't know me well yet, I will tell you now - I hate snow. I hate everything about it...
It was another night of gardening with Jo on the Garden Spot Sampler SAL. I got a good amount done in the upper left corner tonight. I didn't finish the grey motif yet, though. Next week, I will :-)

I thought I would share the interesting blurb that Rebecca Dorrie, designer of Samplers and Such, wrote about this sampler on the back of the chart - it set my mind to thinking and made me appreciate this sampler a bit more. Rebecca writes, "We can only wonder about the history of this colourful sampler as the stitcher did not include any initials or date with these wonderful flower and bird designs. The original antique sampler in our collection was worked in silks on a 34/36 count linen with selvedge edges at the top and bottom, hemmed edge on the left side and a frayed cut edge at the right. It may possibly have been cut from a wider sampler as the stitching extends right up to the last thread of the frayed edge, or that may have been all the linen they had to work with. One bit of green stitched at the right side seems to be the beginning of the same flower vine that is completed near it but further to the left - perhaps the stitcher began the design and realised it would run off the fabric and so relocated the motif. It's always fun to imagine what went on during the stitching of pieces worked so long ago." ... I found that interesting.

It is New DVD Release Tuesday - we got (and watched) War of the Worlds - this came highly rated, but I didn't care for it. Five minutes into the movie I was already sick of the little girl's attitude and screaming (Dakota Fanning). And, Tom Cruise was highly unappealing in this movie. He's been pretty unappealing for a good year or so now anyhow. Oh well. It wasn't a totally horrible movie, all in all.

French Guard
I'm French! Why do think I have this outrageous
accent, you silly king-a?!


What Monty Python Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

****I'm a bit lost, I sure didn't say I disliked the English in the quiz! Makes me guess the responses are random here LOL!

Stitched on today: Garden Spot Sampler

Welcome back, Angel of Love :-)

Finally, with Part 2 of Medieval Town Mandala complete, and with Legends of the Dragons finished as well... hey, I was able to fit Angel of Love back into my rotation for a while! Yay!!! The inner portion of her cape is now growing, as I was able to do a bit of the left side tonight...

I received this stunning (and I really do mean stunning!) fabric from Sugar Maple Fabrics today - this is Shimmering Oceanic Cashel. It has a real hand painted look, lots of lovely green variations. I am excited to think of what I can stitch on this!!

A couple of people left me comments asking what I will stitch now that Legends of the Dragons is finished and out of my rotation... Well, I have decided to not start anything new until 2006. I have Angel of Love back in the rotation, and have Houses of Hawk Run Hollow lingering around quite a bit too.... I think those will keep me quite busy and I really want to see some more progress on one or two projects before I again start something new. I have Mirabilia's Mermaids of the Deep Blue slated for a January 1, 2006 start with Katrina... and we are certainly looking for more stitchers to join us!!

Thank you, everyone, for your lovely comments on Legends of the Dragons!! Stay tuned now to Nikki's blog - she is about to have her LOTD Happy Dance too!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!! (For those who asked how I will finish LOTD off - it will be framed, hopefully in a gilded frame, no mats - I will share a photo when I get a chance to get that done!!).

Stitched on today: Angel of Love

Legends of the Dragons Happy Dance!!

April 5, 2005 to November 20, 2005 in my rotation, and as a SAL with Nikki, Legends of the Dragons is now done. I stitched this on 32 ct Dragon Myst lugana by Heaven Lee Creations, and used one strand of Storm Clouds waterlilies for the knotwork border, backstitched with DMC 823. Last I saw, Nikki was down to the final stretch too! Can't wait to see hers as well!! (Click on the photo for a larger version - Mike took this for me today, and I think he did a great job!!).

Patriots 24 - Saints 17 - finally, back to back wins for the Pats! LOL! And, Ryan Newman ended his season with a decent finish - he was 7th at Homestead, which is good because his average finish there is usually in the 20's - he ended still 6th in points. Tony Stewart is now the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion. Congratulations Tony.

Stitched on today: Legends of the Dragons - Happy Dance!!

Keep an eye out...

...For a Happy Dance! I've been doing a lot of backstitching today, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to finish up tomorrow! The light at the end of the tunnel is definitely growing brighter now! I am glad I picked up an extra skein of DMC 823 while I was at AC Moore today picking up some DMC that Bea needs. I knew I was running short on it (I am using it for backstitching the border), and sure enough, I did need to start using the extra skein.

The mailman brought me the Treasure Trove linen Reflections from Silkweaver today and I love it! I can't wait to decide what to stitch on it. This is the fabric I exchanged for the Tranquility belfast that was just too green for my use. I have been eyeing Treasure Trove on their site for some time now, and it sure did not disappoint me.

Well, tonight was the last race of the NASCAR Busch Series, and Ryan Newman won the race. He ran only 9 races in the Busch Series this year, but managed to win 6 of those 9. Excellent job Ryan! Meanwhile, Martin Truex, Jr won the Series Championship. Hopefully Ryan will run well tomorrow, which is the final race of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.... he can't win the championship, but he can still win the race, right?? LOL. He looks a little rigid and perhaps overwhelmed in this photo... must have been hectic there with the Championship also being awarded after the race. (photo from www.nascar.com)

Since AC Moore is up at the Mall, I managed to pop over to Best Buy and pick up Stealth on DVD...

Stitched on today: Legends of the Dragons

The cross stitches are done... miles of backstitching still to go

I wasn't at all sure that I could get all of the stitching of the knotwork done tonight. I couldn't begin to estimate how long it would take. But I was able to do it. Now I have miles of backstitching to do, from all the way under Majesty (the first dragon) through what you can see in the scan. I don't want to get too excited yet, as I also cannot estimate how long that will take either. But I do see the light at the end of the tunnel now :-)

An early Christmas present today! I ordered Come Tarry, a kit by Shepherd's Bush. I just love this one, and cannot stop looking at all its details... now I can't wait for it to come in! I stopped at the LNS today to try to get it, but they are way understock on everything.... so I had to come home and order it from Paw Prints Cross Stitch instead. My LNS, Yankee Cross Stitch, was recently sold to one of its employees, therefore the stock was reduced. But, hopefully that will change soon!! Fortunately, we now have Colonial Needleworks and the internet too!

However, I did manage to find some stuff there today! I got one of Carriage House Samplings' newer releases, Pumpkin Farm. The fall always seems to put me in the mood to collect (and hopefully stitch) samplers. I also got Indigo Rose's The Garden Spot (finally!!) and By The Bay Needlearts' Blossom Hills Sampler. As well, a nice cut of Lt. Sand belfast for one of my Indigo Rose charts and their last pack of size 28 petites. Mirabilia's Winter in my Garden came in from ebay today too!

That was not all the mailman brought - I got in three fabrics from an ebay seller - all gorgeous blues! I got in fat quarters of Sugar Maple Fabric Sherbert belfast linen, Stitches and Spice's Dawn Light cashel, and a large Silkweaver 28 ct evenweave solo. Also in this photo is a Silkweaver solo that came in a couple of days ago :-)

And then, Mike treated me to some UK stitching magazines while we were out at Barnes & Noble's tonight! I figure I must be licking my wounds over my oral pain right about now? Actually, over several issues, but oral pain is surely one of them. Hey, any excuse works for me right about now!! LOL

OK, OK, only NASCAR fans will understand this! Shelleen, you will get this! Ryan brought an Intrepid, not a blasted Charger, to Homestead this weekend! Woo Hoo!! Those Chargers have been crap all year, and things can only be better by using the Intrepid for this, the final race of the season. Kasey Kahne was wise enough to bring an Intrepid too. I hope NASCAR and Dodge can work out something better for next year for the Dodge teams. If they keep the Charger, the Dodge teams will never win anything significant with that low nose on those cars. (photo from nascar.com)

Stitched on today: Legends of the Dragons *** Thank you, everyone, for your nice comments about LOTD. I am sorry you will miss seeing it updated here in my blog, but I was so amused by such comments LOL!!

Wisdom, the final dragon, is now finished

... Now all that is left to do on Legends of the Dragons is to finish up that busy knotwork border... yay!

I had a little good luck on ebay today - I got Bedtime Prayer Sampler and the beads for Santa's Magic... Someone left feedback in my blog a day or so ago about finding deals on ebay... she said she could not find the ones like I do... well, no, I surely don't bid on them all and I don't scoop them up before others do. Auctions are there for all to bid on, and I hardly win them all. To get a bargain, just be diligent and key in all the possible words you can think of. If you see an auction for a lot of charts that does not list designer names in the title of the auction, I would say to check it out - that is often where the good stuff is :-) I have found rare OOP charts by top designers in such auctions in the past - especially older Drawn Thread charts. Just a tip, if you want to check it out. And, the seller I got the lot of Mirabilia charts from last week has yet another lot of them up right now - they are there to be easily found, just key Mirabilia into the search box and surf :-) Good luck!! It's fun!!!!

Well, after my novacaine wore off last night, I realized that the right side of my tongue took quite a beating during the prep for two crowns on my lower right (teeth 30 and 31, I have learned - LOL!). Now my tongue is so sore, feels scraped or scratched or even a little torn up from all the nudging of the drills and other instruments. Yucky - I spent the whole day on ibuprofen, and likely will tomorrow too. My teeth, however, feel just fine :-)

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden (finally a few minutes for it at work today) and Legends of the Dragons

Medieval Town Mandala Part 2

It didn't take very long tonight to finish up Part 2 of Medieval Town Mandala, and here it is. A little miniature happy dance, I guess. I love how this one is coming out (oh yeah, I am pretty sure I have said that a few times already!!).

Q. How do you feel about staying totally true to a pattern? Do you feel that you have to rip out stitches to fix a mistake or do you feel it's acceptable to incorporate a mistake into the design?

A. Once I see that I have made a mistake, I usually obsess about it. If it is at all possible, I certainly do go back and fix it. On rare occasions, I have had to leave a mistake in, but only if it is minor. I don't actually think it is a big deal if a mistake stays in someone's stitching, and when I see folks blog about it, I can rarely ever see it in the pics they post. But for my own work and with my personality, I hate to leave mistakes in. I consider myself to have grown into a perfectionist with my stitching - and I am not necessarily saying that that is a good thing, since I know I am driving myself crazy!

I had my next dentist appointment today. What was supposed to be prepping for my first crown and getting a filling next to it replaced, turned out to be prepping for two crowns... and I am not talking about the second crown I already knew about... this is a third crown. Yikes!!! Dr. Mike feels that if he simply replaced that filling it would need a crown in 6-12 months anyhow. This is getting pricey now. Ugh. And, now I have two temporary crowns until the permenant ones are put in on 12/9. There is a cool part to it though - the one way in the back will be gold. I kinda like that. I think the novacaine is finally wearing off now. Ouch.

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow (I dug deep down in my project tote and pulled this out - will put up a progress pic fairly soon, just don't feel like there is much progress to show right now.... and, this is timely... I am trying to decide what to do about a mistake I noticed tonight too).

Back to the garden...

What a challenge this was tonight. My dear little Anouk decided nothing would make her happier than to lay on my chart as I was stitching tonight - no matter how or where I moved the chart, Anouk was absolutely sure to follow!! This is three hours of work, and all I managed to accomplish was a medium sized floral motif, a small floral motif and a grey line.... oh well. I think this is because in the last couple of weeks I have taken to stitching this in hand, as the R&R 40 ct linen just does not sit well in the Q-Snap at all. I don't stitch in hand all that terribly often, so this is an adjustment for me.

The mailman was friendly again today. I got in some stash - a collection of four Mirabilia charts from ebay - just over $8 for all four!! I am only showing Fairy Tales in the photo - the rest will make great gifts, so I am hiding their identities LOL! Also, after reading Christine's rave reviews of the fabric she recently got in from Tirowen Fabrics, I decided to give them a try too - I thought their Nebula was stunning, and perfect for a celestial themed piece. So, I ordered a fat quarter of the belfast about five days ago... and it already came in today. I love it!!! I will order from them again - friendly emails, fast service, they take PayPal, lovely fabric... only thing missing is no FOTM yet, but I bet that will come along soon!


And, who is surprised that I could not resist Silkweaver's Customer Appreciation Sale? Nobody is fooled, of course I couldn't resist... you were tempted too, right? I got a fat quarter of 32 ct Poltergeist Reflections lugana... because I have been eyeing it (and might use it for Pacifica!!), and a fat quarter of Morning Dew 36 ct linen - I have been tossing around the idea of stitching Little Wings on 36 ct for a while now. This is why I have not worked on it since June. I don't want to toss all the work I have done, but L&L's model is on 18 ct aida and looks so nice in that size... and I like this Morning Dew color... what am I going to do??????

Well, once again, it is New DVD Release Tuesday! Madagascar (which we just watched, very, very cute!) and The Skeleton Key.

It was raining most of the day today, and when I left my office at 5:30 PM it was amazing - all the accidents! It begs me to wonder that if folks cannot manage to drive safely in the rain, how the heck are they going to manage when the snow arrives soon??? See why I don't like to drive in the snow?? (I have a long commute on the interstate each day between New Hampshire and Massachusetts - it is like being in hell in the winter). Anyhow, if what I saw tonight is a sign of things to come - oh my!!

Stitched on today: Garden Spot Sampler

Almost there...

Almost there... now I just have to finish that gold line forming the box, and then backstitch those little gold ball shapes above the arches... then Part 2 will be done... looking forward to that!! Boy, this is so sparkly, and I really love it. I am so glad I signed up for this online class.

I received my second Medium Treat Bag from Silkweaver today, and as they promised me, this one is certainly better than the first. This time around I got an 18" x 27" piece of Blue Dynasty Cashel linen, a 9" x 13" piece of a lavender belfast solo, a 9" x 13" piece of Honeysuckle Pink 28 ct jobelan, a 13" x 18" piece of Mint Green Cashel linen, and a 13" x 18" piece of Lavender Sparkle 32 ct opalescent lugana. :-)

I got a few other stash items in today too - some charts I ordered as gifts, so I can't show them... and the latest issue of Stitcher's World came in today. Once again, there is nothing in it "to write home about" - a Gail Bussi angel, another Urusla Michael clothesline of quilts.... and then projects I cannot even describe, they are quite unappealing to me. I receive this magazine because I received one of those drastically reduced subscription cards in the mail a few months ago, so I gave it a try - I think I paid about $6 for a year. I doubt I will be renewing this one though. Oh, and I got in the Needle Necessities #4 Kreinik braid for Ottawa Sampler and a long awaited packet of SJ Designs beads for Victoria's Sampler's Heirloom Homecoming (is that what that is called???). I think that is everything today - no surprise though - the whole Monday is good for mail thing holds true again.

"Therapy School" was pretty decent today - I took Psychopharmacology: Medication Management of Mental Health Disorders, conducted by Joseph Wegmann, PD, LCSW. I enjoyed the material immensely, and I hope to take his seminar next year that will be more focused on child and adolescent medications. However, this poor guy is displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He was totally appropriate, but still so angry about all that happened, very numb and in shock by his displacement and his loss of his client caseload (they are also displaced all around the country now). He also lost his teaching job at the local university there, as it is closed. He is so lucky to have the PESI Seminar gig right now (PESI is the company that runs these great seminars, aka "therapy school" that I attend). He must be in his 60's. Now he has no home and has to travel all the time. Nice guy - I felt bad for him.

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

Finally.... An Open Heart Update

I am pretty happy with how much I was able to get done on An Open Heart today. It felt good to get back into the groove with it again today, and am wondering again how my SAL mates are doing with this one? I hope to be able to devote the next few Sundays to it, and then real progress will show. It took a few hours today to do the two rows of satin stitch cream colored hearts, the little bit of wording and the row of hearts.

Off to "therapy school" again tomorrow, for the last time this year :-) I actually already have all the credits I need, but miscounted them and had already signed up for this one. Oh well. Now that I have paid for it, I see no reason not to go. This one is on Psychopharmacology for Mental Health Disorders. Up really early again tomorrow, but this one is held really close to my house (about four miles), so it shouldn't be too bad.

Patriots 23 - Dolphins 16 - we came real close to not winning this one, and what a shame that would have been. My goodness, it has been a tough year for the Patriots - too many injuries. But the defense started to look like it was finally beginning to work better with each other during the second half of the game - I hope that holds for the last 7 games of the season now (??). And, Ryan Newman ran pretty well, considering he had to use that backup car... he came in 12th and is now 6th in points - mathematically eliminated, though, from the Championship, as the season ends next Sunday.... while he ran decently, he could not gain from any misfortune of the other contenders - they had good days today too.

Stitched on today: An Open Heart

More great November weather :-)

It's Mermaid Heaven day!! I just love the colors in this project. It was a busy day here, especially as the November weather continues to be amazingly nice... not a day to sit inside and stitch too much. We had many errands to run today, which included being able to get out to the LNS and pick up the needles I had ordered, as well as a wonderful seafood lunch at The Weathervane in Bedford, NH :-) I totally ignored my diet, but I have been so good for so long, so I don't completely regret it - the fried scallops, clam strips, shrimp and haddock were just too good!! I spent some time putting some fabrics up on ebay today as well - mostly lots of small cuts of standard and hand dyed fabrics that I love, but won't use - I am more of a big project kind of stitcher. Oh, and I also got outside today to finally plant those Blueberry Ripple tulips today too! More than likely, all I really did today was plant chipmunk food, though. I never seem to learn my lesson with tulips :-( Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and get some blooms in the spring??

It's not Monday, but I did get some decent stash in the mail today :-) I finally got in the special cut fabric for Mermaids of the Deep Blue by Sugar Maple Fabrics, which she calls Lake of the Woods. It took two weeks to arrive from Canada. It is not nearly as green as it looks in this photo, and is truly gorgeous!! My only reservations about using it for this design is that it is cashel, and I do prefer belfast... so who knows what I will decide LOL! I also got in three White Willow Stitching patterns - love these! The first is called Summer Seas and I got it on ebay - this one is designed by Selina Fenech (I love Selina's art!!) and is OOP as she is no longer with White Willow Stitching. The other two came from White Willow Stitching via ebay - Goddess of Hope and Pacifica. Oh, I love Pacifica - so does Mike!!!! Anyone else want to stitch her with me??

I had to run to WalMart this evening, and I picked up a couple of fun DVDs in the dump bin: The Butcher's Wife and Wolf.

The Noble Princess

You are just and fair, a perfectionist with a
strong sense of proper decorum. You are very
attracted to chivalry, ceremony and dignity.
For the most part you are rather sensible, but
you are also very idealistic.

Role Models: Guinevere, Princess Fiona (of Shrek)

You are most likely to: Get kidnapped by a stray
dragon.


What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!)
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(Snagged from Christine's blog- thank you! - I didn't get the stitching princess, but I like the one I did get LOL!)

Stitched on today: Mermaid Heaven

Medieval Town Mandala Update

OK, motoring along a bit with Part 2 now... gee, not really sure how I like the vines with the bright turquoise backstitching, but I will go with the flow :-) Wow, though, the diagram Martina gave us for the little lavender Jessica stitches is amazing.... she gives us the count from one to fourteen to follow the pattern of the stitch, and then suddenly fifteen became 29... took a second to see what she did here. It is an obvious typo, and not a big deal for me as I have done Jessicas before, and actually like them a whole lot... but that diagram is going to mess a whole lot of stitchers up!! I get the Yahoo group's message in digest form, so I am not sure if anyone has written about it yet.... I have to backstitch the other three vines now, and then more gold around all of this to finish off Part 2. I sure hope Part 3 is not enormous, as the holidays are coming up now... I think Martina gave us a very huge piece to do in December last year in the Mystery VI group - yikes!!! I am hoping to get some of my WIPS done by the end of the year, so I don't want to get too tied up with Part 3 (gulp)!

Aw geesh... looky what Ryan Newman did today at the very end of practice - he was running fastest, commenting on perfect his car was... all looked great! But then, he hit the wall! Forced to a back up car yet again for Sunday... and he has already shown us how poorly he runs in back up cars. So, unless he brought an amazing back up car to Phoenix, his already super slim chances to win the Cup are gone now! (photo from www.nascar.com)

I am really thrilled about this little ebay win today - I only recently paid attention to this chart, Winter in My Garden - and after looking at it closely, I just had to get it! The gardener in me was totally charmed by this woman's planning of her garden during the winter months... that's what I do! This must be stitched soon!!

You Are Balanced - Realist - Empowered

You feel your life is controlled both externally and internally. You have a good sense of what you can control and what you should let go. Depending on the situation, you sometimes try to exert more control. Other times, you accept things for what they are and go with the flow. You are a realist when it comes to luck. You don't attribute everything to luck, but you do know some things are random. You don't beat yourself up when bad things happen to you... But you do your best to try to make your own luck. You have a good deal of power, but you also know the pecking order. You realize that working the system does get you further. You know who to defer to and who to control. When it comes to the game of life, you play things flawlessly.

The Three Dimension Luck and Power Test

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

Wisdom

I didn't stitch anything too spectacular or monumental tonight, but I did get the backstitched border done around Wisdom and started the lighter shade in the first three letters of his name... I think both Nikki and I want to get this SAL done before the end of the year... next year we hope to stitch either Kingdom Sampler or Dragon of the Deeps as a SAL... want to join us??

I received a really nice email from Silkweaver today about my disappointment over my treat bag. Carol at Silkweaver was very nice.

Might get a little snow tonight... oh joy!! :-( But it should warm up a bit again this weekend (good, forgot to plant those tulips!!), so if we get any, it won't last!!

You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor)

You're logical, driven, and ruthless. You'd make a mighty fine lawyer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden (finally, again, at work today) and Legends of the Dragons

Yay, finally time to work on the Celtic Winter SAL again tonight. This one works up so well - easily and beautifully. I could easily just get into this one if I were not a rotation stitcher :-) I wonder how the other ladies in this SAL are progressing with theirs? Come to think of it, I don't think there have been any new update pictures from any of the ladies in a little bit now.... so, how are you all doing? Show and tell time :-)

Q. When comparing large projects versus small projects, which do you get more excited about finishing?

A. Hands down, large projects!! I particularly get excited to finish a Mirabilia or Lavender & Lace project :-)

Stitched on today: Celtic Winter