Bugger, bugger bugger

I settled in Sunday for a full day of stitching. It snowed, and I had worked so hard to clean up the livingroom and to get my car cleaned out and washed (one of the best reasons to pay off my credit cards is to no longer purchase clutter-y items), that I felt like I deserved it.

So I settled down with my Warm Water Wash, got to working on the sand at the bottom, and, as I periodically do to make sure that I am aligned, I counted. I was off by one stitch in the clothesline between the hat and the bathing suit, so I had to pick out the hat, the shorts, and part of the beach towel. And you best believe I kept all the thread I picked out, LOL. If it was DMC, it would have been different, but Crescent Colors are expensive, and I have to drive a while, or order it, so this cookie saved it. Since I don't plan on this being THE defining cross stitch piece of my life, I think it will be OK. At least John understood the need to pick it out. Most people just say fudge it. I don't like that.

We are having a get-together at the Woodlawn show on Saturday. I do not have high hopes, but I can try, right? I want John to go see my work, and he wants to go, I think he wanted to go with me on Saturday with his mom, but I figure, if we are working on fixing things, it might not be a good idea to put him in the mix of all these stitchers in purple, some of whom have been hearing about him for a while. So we will try to go down another week.

Recovering from the Nashville sales

OK, I am not going stash shopping for a while. I have bought quite enough. I spent about $300 between ABC Stitch, Stitching Post, and Needlecraft Corner. And that is too much. So I have to put a moratorium on it. We are going to the Woodlawn show next week, and it will be a challenge to not spend money at In Stitches, but I am trying to learn to differentiate between want and need, and I don't NEED anything.

But I did make a positive change. I requested that Needlecraft Corner not use my Capital One card for when I place an order. Since I cut the card up, and was just using it for them and for Secret Needle Night, that means that I can pay it off. I realize that this does not have anything to do with cross stitch, but I am trying to make changes in my life. now if I order, it has to be paid for with my checking account, so it's a "real" expense now.

Prepping for the Nashville sale

OK, after this, I can not spend excessive amounts of money on cross stitch. I have so much stuff to finish, it is not even funny. But I can't not get anything new when it's the Nashville sale. I did order the new Prairie Schoolers. I look at these as more of an investment than something I will stitch. I like having all the charts I love and I really liked the new one. I have a thing for bunnies!

I didn't get to stitch today. The car developed a vibration yesterday. I was worried that it was a major issue, but it seems to be just a chunk of ice on the axles. Anyway, it was time to get the oil changed in the car, so I took it over. At least one of the chunks of ice dislodged itself on the way over or back, so this is good. I was whacking on that chunk of ice but good. So I didn't get a chance to stitch at lunch.

Snowy UFO Tuesday

I picked up one of my UFOs today. Warm Water Wash. I am not super-fond of it, which is apparent in that I only had a few stitches in it. So I can work on it today and hope that I get it moved along to something that isn't brown. But it's a change from purple, so I can do it.

It snowed today. I had hoped that they would call off work. But they didn't. I really would have rather watched the snow fall in the comfort of my living room, rather than watching it turn to ice and have to worry about maneuvering around the beltway. It took me an hour to go 10 miles.But no one slid into me, and I didn't slide into anyone

Autumn Nap is Finished

I got quite a bit of stitching done on it today and finished it. I don't really like using hand-dyeds and having to stitch stairstep projects. My count gets all thrown off. But it's finished. Now I need to figure out which project gets the envelope and what new project goes from the UFO pile to the active WIP pile.

I picked Santa's Journey back up. I am doing half-stitches in purple right now. Not the most fun, but every stitch is one stitch closer to the end.

This weekend was Nashville show. I saw a preview. There are some lovely goodies, hopefully Stitching Post will pick them up. I have to be a little restrained financially. I don't need new charts, at least not til I get some stuff finished. I think I am going to work on some simple things now, LOL

Time for more photos

These are some of the things that I have been working on. This is Summer Ball. This is going to take forever. I have decided that. But I thought I needed a pic of it. I had been working on it for a while, since August. I am finally starting to see some progress with there being identifiable people.

Not much has been going on this week, stitching-wise. I pulled out the Britter Critter quilt this week to work on. And I decided that I would not start anything new til I had made some real progress on the things i have started. This is really hard for me. Sometimes I get really overwhelmed by what I have started and I need something else to work on. But if I get a good start on everything, I am gonna work on really simple things in 2008.

Superbowl Sunday

I am planning on getting off this computer and actually stitching this evening, as I have no interest in this game. Other than the commercials. which so far, the only one I liked was the one for Careerbuilder.

Anyway, as all stitchers will attest, the one thing that we look forward too as much as the commercials and the chili cheese dip on Superbowl Sunday was the Kickoff sale at the LNS. Mom and I went to Stitching Post. I rather think it shows i spend far too much time at that place that they know what I stitch, the whole staff knows my name, and everyone brightens up when I step up to the register. Though we did joke about getting a Platinum or Frequent Flyer bonus card. But I spent scads of money. I am now the owner of a fat half of navy blue 18 count aida. And a large piece of heatherfield, but I thought I could do Mom's bittersweet and baskets. I also bought 80 skeins of Anchor floss. All this for a Mary Hickmott design for New Stitches. But I am not going to start anything new til I finish Santa's Journey, Autumn Nap, and a couple of other projects. And make progress on some larger projects. I gotta be firm about this!