Watch out world

It's Payday . . . I have a $10 AC Moore Rewards gift certificate that expires Sunday and a stack o' freebies to kit up, and I got stuck in an elevator this morning. Fortunately, it was just 10 minutes for me. About the time I started to think about sitting down, the door opened. Some lady had been talking to me from the outside. She was a bit more freaked out than I was. I was more of the, "I should have stayed home" mindset. While certainly not traumatic, I need some retail therapy to deal with it. Stay outta my way!

Because I suffer so that you don't have to, if you're ever stuck on an elevator, think long and hard about hitting that alarm button. I hit it, and it doesn't ring to the front desk, it sounds an alarm. And never stops sounding the alarm, until the door opens. That could be a while if you have to be rescued.

By the way, I fixed the link to the Spoonflower site. Sorry about that.

I am finally feeling better after the tooth extraction. Yesterday my mouth was KILLING me. I was taking Anacin, which works wonders on my headaches, but was not working too hot on the dental pain. So I headed over to trusty WebMD, plugged in my symptoms and they seemed to suggest dry socket, which sounded life threatening, LOL. I woke up yesterday in pain, so I wasn't looking forward to another night of that. So I went over. Hotness monster dentist looked at it, irrigated it, and then said, "You need to take Advil, not aspirin. And three of them, not two." And, by golly, he was right! I was finally able to function last night. I even managed to eat eggs and bacon! They were the best bacon and eggs EVER! Not that ice cream isn't yummy, but bacon is the BOMB. HTB asked, "Why did you get cherry vanilla? The cherries aren't even real." I told him I had limited options, and that that was for medicinal purposes, so that I could heal. This was followed by, "But they're not even r-e-a-a-l-l-l-l." They were real enough that there was an empty bowl in the sink, LOL. Maybe we can get his kind this weekend.

Why haven't I looked at this before

Somewhere in my journey through life, I happened onto Spoonflower. I signed up for their emails, and never actually went on the site.

Have I been missing out!

They have lovely fabric. Different fabric. You can design your own fabric.

Wouldn't this be awesome to use for finishing? It's a bit pricey at $18 a yard.

But it's not your everyday stuff.

Tucking and shoving--the ends

I had a couple comments about my thoughts on tucking and shoving cording ends. I know everyone has a different way of doing it.

I see a lot of ornaments that the ends of the cord are wrapped in clear tape, glued or sewn down, and the tape is exposed. Sometimes it's covered by a tassel or something, but not always. I haven't gotten one of these ornaments, so maybe I'm not right to comment, but the picture of that in my head doesn't look right to me. Perhaps because I like when the construction of something is a mystery to be figured out. I guess the finishing I used on "Let It Snow" is as close to that as I can get right now, as far as using one continuous loop of cording. It wasn't a hard way to finish it. The fiddli-est part was making sure I was sewing through the two things of cord after I had put them into the opening at the bottom (one of these days, I'll show pictures). I may, next time, try doing it at the corner, not the center, but I don't know. It's an experiment.

I've actually figured out in the past how to do the cross over/tucking deal on top of boxes. That was actually a lot easier than sewing on an ornament. What I did (and one of these days, I'll show this, too) was, cut a piece of foamcore a little bit smaller than the box lid it went on. I padded it and then put the stitching on top. After that, I glued the cording on, and tucked the ends, then glued the whole thing on top of the box. I don't know if it was right, but it worked. I plan on doing it again.

I will say, I'm so far from knowing what I'm doing. I'm learning. I still haven't taken up the challenge of an Altoid tin because I don't trust that I can glue paper to metal. I tend to take the lazy way out, sometimes it works, sometimes it fails. I'm lucky that, so far, the works outnumber the fails.

New to me primitive designer

http://www.countrystitchesonline.com/catalog.php?category=28

I found these the other day and just love their designs. Ms. Lapin is gorgeous. I'm saving my pennies to buy her.

Another mopey night

My jaw is still hurting from the other day. Last night, I didn't want to do anything. I was supposed to go to church, but I really didn't feel well. I had to test my work laptop to make sure I could make phone calls on it, but other than that, and posting the photos, I just drooped all over the bed. I did get myself some ice cream to eat, thinking that would at least numb the pain. And it's cherry vanilla, not the kind HTB likes; this is purely medicinal ice cream. I do need to figure out how to start feeling better, though--there were some vague rumblings of, "What will I eat for dinner? Oh, yes, pasta salad like I've had the last 4 nights." I told him there was other stuff in the freezer--I know this, cause I had to move it to put the ice cream in, LOL. But he did promise to eat ALL the pasta salad, since I had to cook a whole box of noodles and I'm tired of wasting food. We're supposed to go get a new garage door on Sunday, maybe we'll try a barbecue place I found on the other side of town after we're done at Lowes.

One thing I am really looking forward to is having the day off Monday. I haven't had a day off since my father's surgery and two months with no vacation days makes me a crabby girl. I'm toying between being responsible and staying home to clean, or to go to Hobby Lobby. This is a hard decision. I am in a mood to acquire some Easter decorations, particularly since I have one or two Easter ornaments for my tree, but not sure if I should be spending money like this . . . I am planning on taking my friend out to lunch, and cooking dinner for HTB. There is a really good-sounding recipe for bacon-wrapped chicken on the Full Bellies blog I have listed to the right, and I think he would like that.

I hope everyone is having a good day and that you have fun plans for the weekend.

More pictures!

I wanted to share photos. One is my Betsy progress and the other is LHN Pear Tree. Not the best photo of Pear Tree, but there will be a good one when it's finished

Another must have!

Look at this!


I'm trying to cut back on the frivolous acquisitions. But this is gorgeous. We're lighthouse people. Not that we need another essentially useless little thing (really, what does one do with a biscornu if you don't have pins to stick in it?) sitting around the house, but I've noticed that things become less "useless" if emblazoned with a lighthouse. Just like they're less useless with a patriotic sheep on them. This is life.


I don't know if I'd put those fish threadkeeper things on. I realize I don't see well, but they look like bowling pins to me. Yes, I sat there and wondered to myself what in the heck bowling pins had to do with lighthouses, only to hear they were fish.

In other news, Betsy now has a head. The sheep is starting to get a body. I am more pleased by the sheep development because I thought I had misplaced that skein of floss. It fell out of the bag this morning, and I was DEEE-lighted. I won't reach my goal of having her finished by the end of the month, but oh, well. I will try to work on her Sunday, but I have to bathe the twins, always a fun time when you have two small smart dogs. After all, the one who isn't getting bathed just spends the time standing there in the bathroom, staring at his or her sibling, trying to lick them dry and probably mocking them. And the bathe-ee probably wonders why they have to suffer the . . . indignation . . . of cleanliness while the other one doesn't, even if they were the one just mocking the offending sibling. So, I'm going to bathe them together. That way, it's fair, and they can commiserate about their baths together.

Another finished finish

I stitched this a while ago, maybe 2007, but just finished it into an ornament. I am pretty happy with it. It's stuffed with a bit of batting, a good way to use up the little scraps, and then sewn with the cording ends tucked in. I bought the cording for this one, instead of making it--I have to be in the zone to make good cording, and I was not in it. I do admit, I prefer the look of the tucked in ends rather than glueing them and laying them together, even though this is probably not the best it could be. And I LOVE how much nicer it looks sewn with invisible thread than my old way with regular. It just looks polished.

So this may not be perfect, but it's a good start.

Owwww!

Thank you for you comments about my wedding dress-to-be. I so appreciate them. If you'd shown me that dress six months ago and said, "That is the dress you will love," I'd have told you you were nuts. I was in love with empire waisted, Jane Austen-inspired looks, totally sweet, totally modest, very simple. UTTERLY not me. And I think I've learned to stop bucking the system. I need a little bling-bling, a little contrast, a little Vegas (not too much, just a little). I'm that kind of a girl. It's the frustrated actress/singer in me, LOL.

I started our ring pillow this morning. GAST Morning Glory on Antique white linen. It shouldn't take that long. At least I don't think so, though I won't be stitching much today.


Now for the ucky part.



I am usually so careful with my teeth. Gone are my days of granola bars, candy apples, and sticky candy. One of my back teeth, though, a molar that was root-canalled five years ago, and, because of issues with having no insurance, was ignored. It was on the back burner to get fixed since my front teeth are all capped and crowned and we'd like to pay that bill down. It broke the day before Thanksgiving. The dentist patched it and said if it broke again, it had to come out. He said he didn't want to pull it the day before Thanksgiving--that would have stunk and I'm grateful.

It chipped the week between Christmas and New Years. I didn't make the appointment because it was a busy week, and there was a lot of eating yet to be done. I continued to not make the appointment through January. Because, I am ashamed to admit, my experience with the dental makeover, as much as I love my new teeth, was not as it is on TV. It's not my dentist's fault, it's not my fault, it was just a trying, "beauty is pain" old time. I don't regret it, I just am a bit too close to the memory to like going to the dentist right now.

And it bit me on the butt. Yesterday, I bit into a bagel and my tooth shattered. It didn't hurt, it was just a weird sensation of empty. I showed HTB the remains--he was appropriately grossed-out, but he treated me sweetly the rest of the evening. He's good like that.

This morning, I manned up and went and had my tooth removed. It was not an easy visit. For the first time in my life, someone called me bony, though, in this case, it was not a good thing. My tooth wouldn't come out easily. He ended up having to cut the stump in two pieces and taking it out that way. I asked him if he thought the Tooth Fairy would accept a damaged tooth. He told me I'd probably have to pay her to take it. LOL. HTB was appropriately commiserative--he told me I sounded awful with the big wad of gauze in my mouth. I hesitate to think what the people in the grocery store thought when they were trying to talk to me with my chipmunk cheek and numb face.

It's starting to feel a bit better now. I babied it a bit this afternoon, but it doesn't feel too bad. I think I'll have some tomato soup and hot chocolate, comfort food to speed the healing.

I found my wedding dress.

I did not cry, but I got a little choked up.

Because I finally found "The one."

My mother likes it. My mother-in-law liked it. My friend/bridesmaid liked it. It fit like a glove and makes me look slimmer. It didn't feel costume-y. It doesn't look like anything else I've ever put on. And I liked it. I felt like it was a dress that would make HTB cry when he sees it.

And it's not a dress that a lot of girls try on, the salesgirl said. It comes in 55 different trim colors, I tried it on in ivory and black. A gorgeous dress, but I'm not daring enough to go for color like that, so I chose champagne trim. The girl said other girls aren't willing to think past the bold brights and want to see it in a neutral. I guess I'm more willing to go on faith that if it was stunning in black, it would be gorgeous in champagne. And I like that 900 people won't wear my exact dress this year. I want to be a bit different, and this is different without wierdness or costumery.

And so I have my dress. And I can't bear to wait 10 to 12 weeks for it to come in, LOL. But, 10-12 weeks will put me at the end of may, less than 5 months from the big day, and, since I told HTB last night, I can't wait to get married, this is something I can look forward to, knowing I'll be that much closer to "the day."

Stitchy pictures

I know I have been promising these for a while. I finally figured out how to get photos from the good camera uploaded.

My finished Debbie Draper Designs Tudor Valentine. Stitched on perforated paper with DMC Variations. I have to finetune and figure out how I want to finish this out. Stitched for the Brides' Tree SAL.


My WIP of Sheepish Designs' Betsy. Complete with a headless Betsy, a bodyless sheep and a splinched (I think that is how they say it in Harry Potter,LOL) squirrel.



I also wanted to share this beautiful gift I got in an exchange in 2008. In the move, it got misplaced, but I found it. It was made for me by Samantha and was for an exchange on the Sanman board. I think I will save it so that, if we're lucky enough to have children, I can use it as a journal to document their Halloweens. I can see it with pictures pasted inside and a bit of a journal entry each year. That is something I would have loved to have had, and this is too much of a treasure to use it otherwise.

Friday foolishness

Sometimes a picture tells a thousand words.

Some days, you wake up, knowing you look good. You are happy. You feel joy. You epitomize love. You race out, shrieking, "Good Morning, world!" You are a Robbie.


Other mornings, the fears and doubts of the world fall in on you. You feel nervous. Paranoia begins to creep in. You mourn your misspent youth. You count the white hairs on your muzzle, err, temple. And you shake your fist at the world, yelling, "Do you have a problem with me?" You are a Chancey.

Pictures to chase the snow away

I will try to have actual stitching pictures later, but thought you might enjoy more photos from the week of snow we had. It's starting to melt now. Temps are in the high 30s. I even saw a robin. Spring is coming. I feel it.

Down through the yard February 3rd



Across the street the same morning.


Outside my office


Snow on branches at the office.


The big boys helping me shovel out the car. They had the gall to eat snow and then shiver pitifully when their father opened the window. Anything to cast me as the wicked, cookie-giving, tummy-rubbing step mother.


In the yard. They don't like snow. Not at these amounts.


And pix from the Polar Bear Plunge.

The Plunge Nation (that is what they call us)getting ready to go in. The energy coming off of them was amazing.


Me getting ready to go in. I know my outfit looked like crap. The hat is the key to staying warm during the plunge. You can jump in freezing water in a shirt and bathing suit, as long as you have that hat on to keep body heat in. And I made sure to wear red lipstick. Any situation is more bearable when you wear red lipstick.

After I came out. Still smiling, just a bit cold.


The view from the line to get back on the bus. Yes, folks, I was in a blizzard. HTB did not complain. Not once. I love that man.


So, here's to warm spring days leading into colorful flowers, and hot summer afternoons, spent in the pool!

News to me

Cyberstitchers' freebies are now available in PDF format in case, like me, you don't have PCStitch on your computer. I don't know how long this has been possible, but it wasn't the last time I was on the site. I just printed some really cute Helga Mandl and Barbara Ana charts and saved some others, because, ya know, I might run out of stuff to stitch at some point this year, LOL. I'm pretty pleased.

One of the things I did not really appreciate before I undertook this freebie-focused year is that "free" does not necessarily translate to "easy" or "quick stitch". I had thought that, almost two months in, I would have a lot more designs stitched, but I'm on my third or fourth. But it's been a learning moment for me.

A year or so ago, someone on some British message board (at least I seem to remember it being British) had the audacity to criticize the freebie charts San-man Originals was doing, after seeing someone post a finish of theirs. They said they weren't really stitching. I don't know if it was a dig at Sandy's designing talent, or just freebie charts on a whole. I choose to think it was a dig at freebies in general, I guess the idea being that a designer wouldn't put the effort into a free chart that they do into a chart you pay for.

I can tell you, from my experience so far, that don't seem to be true.

I was impressed with the shading on Midnight.It was tricky. If that is what she is accomplishing on a free chart, the shading on a pay chart is the same as a Stoney Creek. Fa La La was an accomplishment, although if I'd stitched it the normal way, it probably wouldn't have taken so long. And I'm loving how beautiful my Debbie Draper design is coming together. I am using two shades of Variations, not just one, and this is a design that you could look at and see five good ways to do the design, all different, all unique, and know that, whatever way you do it, it will look amazing. That's not a cheapening of the talent, it's elevating the craft.

And I'm getting my eyes opened to a whole new world of designers, just by typing, "grilles gratuites." I'm seeing all new French designs that are AMAZING. The funny thing is, the designers don't seem to offer a lot of free charts, but the bloggers who do link to these designers' charts, and they're just gorgeous and SO different from anything we have available here in the US. I wish my French had not declined so badly, because I would love to be able to understand what they're talking about, and to be able to purchase them, instead of limiting my French purchases to Violarium and that one purchase from La Cigale Brodeuse in Canada--they don't even have the best of the French designers. A lot of the whimsical stuff get left "over there", it seems.

I have really started looking for freebies, and it's fun. There's just SO MUCH OUT THERE to look at. Even on the freebie finding websites with the dead links, there are still enough live links to make it worth a look.

Challenge yourself. Find three good freebies you've never seen before that you'd love to stitch. The more obscure, the better! I promise you, it's like finding gold!

The chart for my current WIP

can be found here.

I started this on Monday night, after stitching like mad on Betsy and I'm about halfway-finished. It's my project for the Bride's Tree SAL for February. I took it over to Mom's this morning while I was dropping off the twins' dog food, so I stitched a bit while we watched People's Court (my mother is bickering with Comcast over getting converter boxes so she has extremely basic cable). The four-legged crew was overjoyed to see me, Robbie moreso for the cookies that I brought than anything else. He had a heck of a time eating the one I gave him, so he ignored it and ate the one his sister started. I guess she had to tame it down a bit for him to start--that is what sissies do, right? I then handed her the one he had ignored, and of course, he was out of sorts because I gave his cookie away. She, in turn, took the cookie and hid it away. My darling little Song is a hoarder. Great . . .

Mom asked if I'd seen the Schipperkes on the Westminister dog show. I told her no. She said she hadn't seen them either. Robbie was apparently out of sorts over that too; his sister's probably been telling him he isn't as pretty as the dogs on TV. I told him he was just the most beautiful boy in town, and that if his gramma would get the situation with Comcast dealt with, he could see his relatives on TV. He advised me he no longer cares about other Schipperkes, he is retired, he has his sisser, he has his mummy and gramma, and his cookie, and his lamby toy, and his life is complete. If he could only see the grass, he'd be a blissful dog. (BTW, I'd say he's cuter than the Schip who won the breed, but, really, they all look pretty much alike. I'm biased, but I'm not stupid.).

Is it too early to post this?

http://embroiderbee.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/happy-st-patricks-day-early-freebie-from-niggy-and-me/

A cute St. Patrick's Day freebie, with a cat on it.

Let's see, with this one and the Kustom Krafts one, I'll have a feline St. Patrick's Day. HTB is not a cat man (being allergic to them), and I'm not a St. Patrick's Day fan, but, perhaps we can find common ground this way.

Updated:

Here is the direct link:

Cute kitty freebie!

In case you missed it

Here is the final rendering of AAHRH.

It is gorgeous beyond "love".

I WUV it.

I must have it.This is where my tax refund will go. I think it's a good trade off instead of spending that money on something useful. Or practical.

Or a wedding expense? Can I justify it that way? Prop it up at the wedding, and say it's our wedding sampler? Say I read about it in a bridal magazine, or an etiquette book. And the new trend is to NOT put our names and wedding date on it. Just that I picked a subject that gave the flavor of our wedding and went with it? Is that possible . . .

Logical . . .


Immoral . . .

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a great and loving holiday weekend.

We were pretty laid-back. I went out on Saturday to run all the errands I couldn't run over the last week. I got a couple things to finish up a no-sew cube I've been timidly working on for a couple weeks, and some things for the twins, some things for Valentine's Day, and then got my nails done. We went out for barbecue, which I was stoked about. I even got a bit of a thrill on our way to the restaurant, because we took HTB's big truck and did a bit of off-roading getting out of the driveway. I do have to say, going up through the country, with the fields of snow, it really doesn't look like Maryland, at least not 21st century Maryland. Drifting snow, wind howling. It's beautiful, it just reminds me of a long-ago time.

I finished LHN Pear Tree watching the speed skating when we got home. That Apollo Ohno is pretty jummy to look at! I was trying to bead and well, he was a distraction, LOL. I had almost given up on him, and then the Korean skaters fell, so both the Americans medalled.

Yesterday was the Daytona 500. I told HTB we were gonna go with Kasey Kahne or Joey Logano, since Junior has not been performing well. We're still fans, but he wasn't doing well last year, and then he wrecked Saturday. And I just think Joey Logano is a HECK of a good driver. I worked on Betsy while we watched the race. It's a good thing she's such a big stitch because the race took forever. I made good progress on her. We have a tree on the right, with half a squirrel, and a headless, one-armed Betsy. All the sheep but one are finished. My tree has leaves. I think I made good progress. And that darn Jr almost won! Both Joey and Kasey were in crashes right at the end of the race, so I was out, but Jr. took second behind Jamie McMurray. Booger boys! And Kyle Busch was a non-factor, this is great. Hopefully this will be an exciting year for NASCAR. I told HTB that I don't like watching when the same two people win. He agreed, so we'll be tuning in!

HTB asked me what the deal was with samplers. He asked why all the stuff lately has alphabets on it. I told him how, back in the old days, they were used as learning tools so I would know how to mark our linens with our initials. And that, if he had come to my father's house, and seen the great variety of samplers I stitched, he would have known that my father was a great rich man, because I had time to stitch and didn't need to work. I know he was trying to picture me in a hoopskirt and ringlets, because he started laughing. And frankly I laugh at the idea of him rolling up to the door on a horse, and falling in love with me because I could put our initials on our flannel sheets. LOL. I know his taste runs to the more intricate and life-like pictures, but at least he appreciates the work I put into samplers.

Really really cute snowman freebies

http://aabbccdd.archive1.home.att.net/stitch/charts/snowmen/lilsnow/lilsnowintro.htm


I found these today. I can see them as little ornaments, using the finishing techniques I did on Hare Lines. My MIL loves snowmen and Irish things. I think I will make one for her as a wee door hanger.

Oldies but goodies

I was attempting to organize freebies last night when I came across some of the older Told in A Garden Christmas ornament charts. OMG, how have I ever left these go unstitched?! There are some darling charts. The great news, if you are into stitching TIAG or Lavendar and Lace, is that they are still available on the website, www.tiag.com. Worth a look.

I also found a boatload of September 11th freebies. Some of them are really really beautiful charts. There is one really pretty one that has a dove holding a ribbon with the sentiment, "I Pray for Peace now, so I won't have to pray later." That sent chills down my spine. I noticed a lot of the pretty patriotic freebies I collected aren't available online anymore. It's kind of sad to me that, 8 years out, the collective outpouring of creativity as a way to deal with shock and horror just isn't out there anymore to remind us. I don't know if the designers just gave up, or it wasn't worth keeping the free sites up. I plan on stitching that and hanging it up for the summer season. So that I don't forget, and so that I remember to pray for peace.

I've decided that it's high time I start putting out more of my seasonal stitching. We have it out at Christmas, and, since last year, Halloween. But I want to have a lot more of it out more of the time. Especially my patriotic stitching, since there's so much of it and I love $th of July so much. So we decided last night that, from Memorial Day to September 11th, we're putting out my patriotic finishes. It's a good long time to enjoy them, don't you think? My Easter and Spring stitching is a bit behind, but it's catching up. I want to have those baskets of smalls I see people show off all the time, and I think I'm on my way.

Storm photos

I know, I know, you've seen about all the snow you care to see for the rest of your lives. But I promised pix, and pix you shall have

Out our front door. The pic is bad, but we couldn't get the door open because of how much snow there was. The only door that would open was the garage door, and it was more important to make sure the dogs could pee. We shoveled this Sunday. It took another go round this morning.


OUt into the backyard. That viney stuff is on top of the fence HTB put up so that his homeowners' insurance would be cool with the pitbulls. It's six feet high. Granted, we have a hill, but it ain't that steep. The whole bak yard is just depressingly full of snow.


The pile of snow after HTB shoveled out my car. The untouched snow is waist deep. The piled up snow is 8 feet tall and five feet wide. HTB is tired. And my car got stuck in a snowdrift because they only half plowed the street. There's nowhere to put the snow. The governor said streets would not be plowed to pavement. This sucks.


Icicles hanging down. We get one or two normally. These are like fringe the whole way around the house.


Looking up the street in the middle of the storm yesterday. HTB's racecar is one of the lumps. The Tahoe is another one. Over to the right is the park I walk in sometimes. Now it's a big pile of snow.

And the clean up commences

HTB says I can't shovel, because the drifts are taller than me. So he's outside, shoveling. He tried to do it with the assistance of the big boys, but when I went out to the garage, they were kennelled up. He says they kept getting in his shoveling space and he didn't want to hit them. Knowing them, I believe him--Shocka picks the place you need him least (In my case, he wanted in the Vibe) and makes it his goal to get to that place, and then looks at you with such love in those eyes. They appealed to me to let them out, but it really makes shoveling difficult, and this isn't shoveling you play around with.

I'm passing the day. I tried to stitch last night, but I was so tired and my neck hurt. I talked to my aunt last night. She thinks I am insane to want to enter things in the fair this year, due to the wedding, but HTB and I were talking it over and, really, other than my dress, the major decisions are made. What isn't made aren't hard decisions--mostly they're related to the music, and, for the most part, I have really good ideas of what I want. But, I mean, entry-wise, I have super-good stuff completed already, and what isn't done, I can get completed pretty quick. One piece needs a charm which I have to track down and order, one needs some beads replaced since I was clueless when I sewed them on how one attachs beads, and so they've fallen off. The things that I haven't started aren't terribly difficult pieces, they just need done. I didn't realize just how much HTB likes that I enter the fair til, when I told him, he said, "But you do that EVERY year. Why not this year?" ANd I AM the master at getting stuff done when it seems impossible to do so. So, if he helps me (and he always does), I know I'll have fair entries.

I hope they do major work on the roads today. Even if we don't go into work, I want to get out and about. I've been inside for 36 hours and there are things I want to get done. I told HTB last night that, I don't care if we just go to McDonald's, I want to get out of this house for Valentine's Day. I want to eat food that neither of us prepared, I want to eat off dishes we don't own. I want to see a movie on a screen larger than our TV. I want to go to a craft store. I'm such a cheap date, aren't I? LOL.

I hope everyone is having a great day! Spring is here in 1 month and 10 days.

Where are you, spring?

I'll post some pictures later, but we are in the midst of a blizzard. I made it to work OK yesterday (obviously, or I wouldn't be posting), but last night was a dicey ride home. It was not bad where I work, but at 5 I called HTB and asked him what was happening and he said it was dumping at home. Since I can't stay with Mom because I can't park at her place with all the snow, I had to head home. I'd thought of stopping for milk, but it got so bad, so fast that that got abandoned. HTB mumbles occasionally about buying me a Tahoe. Usually, I just give him a horrified look, mumble something about I LOVE my car, and the world is not ready for me in a big truck, and that we'll revisit this when I have more than 3 children. Last night was not one of those nights. I honest to God wanted to pull over and tell HTB to come get me, but I know better and, had I stopped the car, it would have been hard to get it to start going forward again. And I am not a whiny girl, so I kept going. There were a few places where I was terrified, but I do have to say, there was a guy with a plow behind me, and just his presence was comforting. I am sure he wanted me to speed up and go, but he didn't push me or scare me, so I just paid attention to the car, did what it needed me to do, and kept going. I had it in 3rd gear for a lot of the last part of the ride in, which HTB says is not good, but I kept my speed down, and I'd rather pay to fix the transmission than total the car by falling off a hill.

The issue of Cross Stitch Collection with my letter in it was in Barnes and Noble yesterday. I'm thrilled with it. I'm the "Stitching We Love" letter. I'm proud of that. HTB was pretty pleased that I mentioned him--he told me I'm famous, LOL. My co-workers even thought it was pretty cool, but they got a nod as well. It's a good issue of Collection--Joan Elliott fantasy picture, a tiger by DMC, and a wintry scene that I'll probably find prettier once I'm not living in the middle of an early scene from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." My co-worker loved the Egyptian-themed project in the magazine as well.

Right now, I'm trying to finish the second Ornament of the Month club ornament. It's wierdly slow-going for me, but I'm probably about halfway through it. I tried to work on it last night, but I had a headache, so it wasn't a good idea for me to try and mess with it. So, maybe tonight, depending on what gets done.

Stay safe and warm. Spring is just a little over 5 weeks from now

The motherload of freebies

http://users.skynet.be/bk236098/CARINNE/G-plangrillesgratuites.htm


I came onto this site. Fantastic. Lots of freebies. I just spent an hour going through everything. It's a treasure trove if you like quakers.

This is getting really old really fast

They are forecasting 10 to 20 more inches of snow. I'm working today, but I'm very disquieted. I went to the store last night to get my mother some supplies she needed and to take the twins some dog food, since Mom is running low on their food. All the fresh food in our Safeway was gone, even bananas, which was the one thing I dearly wanted. I got two of the last packs of eggs they had, which I feel a bit bad about, but my mother needed eggs and, when my mom asks for something, I try to get it for her.

I will say, on the main roads, the road crews did a much better job clearing them than they did with the Christmas snow. They're mostly dry. The side roads are iffy. I had to park the car in the middle of Mom's street and put the flashers on, and then run in and out of the house as quick as possible. I thought if it got bad, I'd stay with her, but that's not happening, since there is literally no place on her street to put my car. So I'll stumble home tonight.

The supplies for my ring pillow came in the mail over the weekend. I've decided to go with GAST Morning Glory for the color. It's not an exact match, but close enough that no one will notice, and, if they do, hopefully they will have the good graces to not say anything. I'd like to get started on that soon. I think it will be gorgeous though, Morning Glory on ivory.

Snow bound

Hopefully, I can post some of the pictures I took really soon, but I thought it was more important to post photos of what I've been working on during our epic snowstorm. Maryland is a beautiful place to live 11 months out of the year; February gets a little rough. Between 11:30 Friday and 4PM yesterday, we got the most snowfall ever in this area. 21 to 26 inches in our yard, up to 32 inches elsewhere. There have been 3 storms this week, they're calling for another on Tuesday, maybe one this weekend. One of the agents I was working with was complaining they've had three snow storms since Christmas where she is. I told her we had three storms in a week, and I did the Plunge in one of them. That kind of quieted her down. Fortunately, the sun is shining, my car is almost dug out--the dogs were helping me and I had to shoo Shocka out of it, and yell at both of them for eating snow--and we have a truck that will get us out if we need to go anywhere, and Spring is here in 6 weeks.

OK, to let you know that I have been stitching, I have photos.

Fa La La, by Plum Pudding Needlearts, off their website. I think he's very cute, and a pretty finish. I am glad I managed to accomplish reversing my stitching like I did. It was an effort, and not sure how much I'll be doing that in the future. Me old brain just don't like being messed with anymore. DF made coffee this morning, so I'll be dyeing the backing fabric with it.



And my efforts on Sheepish Designs' Betsy. I think I am making awesome progress on this. It's a fun stitch, and not giving me a lot of hassle. Though I do have to say, I won't be really happy til I have the two sides of the tree joined from top to bottom. When I start and come together like that, it always makes me a bit antsy. I'm using DMC on 28 count buttermilk Jobelan, which is a really pretty fabric and nice to work on. The chart is OOP, but I did see that Em-li's had it listed on her site. Worth a shot if you like the chart, and a lot cheaper than E-bay.




Going to run for now. Not much happens when we're snowbound. We're planning on taking it easy with some chili tonight and watching the Superbowl. I'm torn. I wish the Saints would win, but I also like Hank Baskett of the Colts, so it's hard to choose. I guess I'll just enjoy the ads.

It's starting to snow . . .

It's been snowing for the last 3 hours. We are supposed to get 2 feet before the end of the storm tomorrow. HTB went out today. I'm worried about him out there, but, at least from the roads here, it doesn't look so bad. Not yet. Fingers crossed he'll make it home at a decent time.

I ran out at lunch for the essentials--ya know, soda for HTB and some chips for the chili I plan to make this evening. Other than that, I have no plans for the next three days. My boss at the theatre told me not to come in tomorrow, so I finally have some stitching time.

I will try to post photos tonight, at least so you can see I'm still stitching. I finished my pretty little Fa La La the night before last. I'll have to set aside some time to finish it (along with about 10 other ornaments), but I'm glad it's done. I've been working on Betsy since yesterday. I'd like to get that at least half finished by the end of the weekend.

But I just got the last one for Christmas . . .

http://kathybarrick.blogspot.com/

Autumn at Hawks Run Hollow is being released at the Nashville Show. CHS is putting photos up on her blog. I have to have it.

Yes, I know . . .

I don't have much done on Shores.

Yes, I know . . .

all I have on Villages is the floss in the bag.

Yes, I know . . .

I just got Christmas for Christmas.

Yes, I know . . .

It took 2 years, a week and an hour to finish Houses. I only know that because I know I started it on Halloween 2004 and finished it on my 30th birthday in 2006.

And I know I have a bazillion other things to do. Summer Ball, my Britter Critter quilt, starting a family, working, sleeping.

But I want this. The pumpkins were a thrill. The black cat was a thumbs up. Even the turkey was a fun point.

The horses sealed the deal for me.

Maybe I could spend 2011 in Hawks Run Hollow. Spend enough time there, I bet they'd let me be mayor . . .

New stash--ROCK ON!

I went to Mom's at lunch today and she had two lovely packages from 123Stitch for me! I've not been so good lately staying on the wagon, but it's hard. S.E.X. in the mail is WAYYYYYY more fun. What better way to pass these blah-ey winter days than fondling new stuff? Especially this weekend; it snowed last night and they're calling for another storm of Southern origins Friday afternoon. I'm supposed to work, but Southern storms always kick our butts, and, if the weather is bad, I'm not going to work at the theatre. Between last Saturday and last night, I did my whiteout driving for the week, thank you much.

Anyway, I was a stash glutton. I ordered these charts:

He's a Flake by LHN for the ornament SAL.
Battle Hymn of the Republic by LHN--I have an idea for a wallhanging as a finish for this one.
The Nutcracker by Country Cottage Needleworks (I have a thing for the Nutcracker Ballet)
Liberty Lane by CCN
Harvest Blessings by CCN
Old Shaker Tune "Tis a Gift to be Simple" by Homespun Elegance--I am thinking of using this as our wedding sampler, since I want to use the music in our wedding as the attendants enter.
Majestic Chrsitmas II by Homespun Elegance--pretty ornaments
All About Halloween by Homespun Elegance--I want to do a basket of autumn and Halloween smalls.
Britty Kitties VII
and 4 of the Monthly Britty cats.

Plus some fabric.

I am glutted.

I focussed heavily on the LHN/CCN charts and Homespun Elegance. The new LHN/CCNs were so pretty and patriotic and Homespun Elegance are just that--elegant. I don't know if I can hold off til 2011 to stitch these . . .

Mom looked at all my new stash and said, "With all the wedding planning, I don't know how much stuff you'll be able to enter in the fair this year, dear." I was starting to think that myself, since I'm running a lot on the weekends, now, but I'm determined to have things for the fair. If I don't have twenty entries, that is going to be OK, at least this year. Stitching is good relaxation therapy for me, and I think that is going to become more and more important as the months go by. But I've made a resolution that I am not going to lose my cool over this wedding again. The ceremony shouldn't be stressful, unless the groom doesn't show up, it's just the reception that is of concern, and I am not going to freak out over a party. And I intend on sticking to it.

I got to stitch last night

and I am so pleased. I actually made decent progress on Fa La La. The little snowman is done, and the border is maybe a third done. It's amazing how much changing the direction I'm stitching slows me down. Not just because of frogging, but just in the thought process of it all. I have to think out how I'm going to to do the rows to minimize thread wastage. It's not my best work, but, then again, it's a step outside my comfort zone, and that's good. My mood is definitely getting better with more stitching time, I'll tell you that much.

I went out to the garage and brought in some of the things I had stowed out there. I found a freebie by Casey Bounagario, "Jane Eyre" that I kitted up a year or so ago, thinking it would be a nice top for a treasure box if I ever got engaged (shhhhh, don't tell HTB, LOL). I'm going to stitch it, but I needed to pick dress colors first. Now that I have that, I can proceed! And I pulled in my Britty Critter charts, so I can start one of those, in the middle of everything else. I think I'm going to put the charts and the finishes in one of the boxes I emptied of fabric the other night to keep them all together. That will prompt me to get them finished, don't you think?

Oh, and I have all my goodies to start making those covered boxes. My glue came. I never thought I'd be so excited to see glue (at least not since 4th grade when my classmates and I figured out that, if you throw a pencil lead into glue and let it set in there for a few days or weeks, it will change the color. We were all about the glue.), but I am shouting a hearty "Whoo hoo" about this. I can't play with the boxes this month, but next month, it's on.

I'm going to haunt the mailbox

Thank you for all your nice comments about my idea for the ring pillow. I think it's going to be really pretty when it's finished, so I bit the bullet and ordered the supplies. Technically, other than the deposit for the reception venue, which I took over on Wednesday, so, barring major disasters, I know where I'll be busy doing the Electric Slide on a Saturday in October, this is the first money that we have spent on this wedding. I'm doing M Designs' Celtic H on Antique White linen in either GAST Morning Glory or Cornflower, whichever is closer to the blue I chose. I have to look at the dyelot and see. I have to tweak it just a little to make it perfectly square, but I got it covered. Now to just wait til it gets here.


Yesterday was a so so day. I worked at the theatre, then went over to my mom's to celebrate her birthday, which we had been planning on doing Saturday til it started to snow. HTB and I got her Julie and Julia and an ice cream cake, so she was in birthday happiness. Robbie was most impressed with his grandmother's cake; he made sure to ask for a tiny taste. His mean ol Grammy didn't give him any of hers, claiming dogs don't need ice cream; I told her this was why he didn't buy her a present and gave him some of mine. I know the deal. I put the movie on for her, and decided then and there that we're buying her a new VCR for Mother's Day--hers is yucky, and she spent the whole movie watching closed captioning, which I couldn't get to come off. Robbie jumped up on the couch and was watching along with her; it was a movie about eating and not to be missed.

I unearthed a treasure trove of DVDs I left at the house, so I gathered those up and took them home with me. Apparently, while residing at that house, I was quite the Nicole Kidman fan, because I brought home Cold Mountain, the Others and the Hours (which I can't believe I spent money on). I love Cold Mountain, but it's very raw, and I don't see Nicole Kidman as the female lead, so hard for me to watch. But I brought everything home, including my Disney movies and the silly ones. We watched the Others last night while I stitched. It's been forever since I saw that movie, and HTB hadn't seen it since it came out, so it was a good movie for us to watch. And I managed to stay awake through the entire thing, truly an accomplishment!

I am working on the second ornament in my LHN SAL, Pear Tree. I started it in traffic on Saturday because I left the Fa La La chart at work. It's making up pretty quick, and I have some pretty fabric I can use to back it. I'll try to post a pic of the progress on both tonight, depending on what needs to be done. I am trying to keep to my vow to use this month to finish stitching things. I hope to have both of the ornaments I am working on finished by the end of the week, and then get Betsy finished this month. I'm hopeful. Maybe next weekend, I'll have ample stitching time.