Another realization

Perhaps it's that I am bored, perhaps because I got to stitching at lunch in my car in the parking garage yesterday, first day it hasn't been like a swamp around here in a week, but I realized, it's been over two weeks since I have had a finish off the 50, actually closer to three or 4. I must do something about this. Does it count that I kitted stuff up this weekend?



I bought all the floss for the 70s animals, which were again one of those things that I knew if I did not purchase, my life would never be the same, maybe an OK life, but not with the same brilliance (or else I was in a crappy mood at that place I worked that I still for the life of me couldn't tell you what I did for 4 weeks). I haven't decided what to do with the finished pieces, maybe make pillows on the off chance I will get married and have children. But I really would like to get started on them right now. The picture doesn't do them justice. They are really pretty, bright colors. Hopefully, I can start them soon.

I did pick up the Hummingbird Trellis afghan last night. I had set it aside for a few weeks (the cat, well, you know about my Sue Hillis cat.) It is really tedious stitching. I admit that to myself now. And since I don't have that much time to stitch, I don't make much progress. I just have to keep powering on. I am almost finished with Square 5, and there isn't any backstitch or fractionals on this one. So maybe I should be done tonight, I hope.

I have come to a decision

Based on the fact that I seem to be using a great deal of my discretionary income on buying stash, and the fact that I have so much stash that I spent an hour on Saturday looking for a chart, I am going on the wagon. I don't know how long it is going to last, but I think to myself, you know, you could get out of a lot of credit card debt if you just stopped buying new charts and did some of the stuff you have in your stash. Even for a year, doing just charts from the stash, I could save so much money. And it's not like when I go to the store, I seem to be buying a lot of charts lately. Working on the 50 has had that effect on me. I was looking at stuff the other day, like, "Ohhh, I forgot I had th-h-h-i-s!. How yummy." Stash diving is like that for me. Not to mention, I could use the shopping time to organize stuff. I told the lady at the Stitching Post, I stopped buying buttons until I was working on the project that called for them because I keep losing the damn things. Nothing quite so sickening as finding a random reindeer button, knowing it cost $2, and not knowing what I bought it for.

So I am going to try. I may be miserable, I may be crabby, but, then again, I will have less stash to wade through with a guilty conscience.

It's a Sickness, I tell You A Sickness

I couldn't last an entire day without stitching. Last night, when Cold Case was on, I started Forest Snowfall by Country Cottage. It's really simple, only 7 colors. But I couldn't last. I feel such shame.

2 Hours in the LNS today

Talk about "where did the time go?" . We had to go pick up my framed pieces, and Mom took some things that she bought to be framed. It took forever to get the frames picked out for her stuff. The lady kept disputing my thoughts on how things should be. I wanted to pick a black frame with a pattern on it. BECAUSE, as a person whose background is Pennsylvania Dutch, I know that we aren't as stodgy as people percieve us. And she couldn't get it. We finally chose a black frame with some carving on it and rubbed with red, to pick up the color on the piece.

I didn't buy much. I still managed to spend money, but I didn't spend much. I bought two grab bags at $5 a piece, two pieces of fabric for The Perfect Man. I forgot what size I needed, but knew I needed opalescent. I also bought the newest copy of At Home With Needlework, and the little monthly kit they do up and Bitty Buttons Sheep.

Then, because the quilt shop was on the way to the LNS, and they had pretty summer fabric, we picked out two pieces with tomatos on it to make bandannas for the dogs. I thought that would be cute. Nikki will have blue with tomatoes, Chancey will have yellow. Nothing says summer like tomatos

Kitty Dreams is FINISHED

Finally! I got him done last night at 10:30. I still have to wash him and add the charm, but the stitching is done, and it really only took about 2 weeks once I got down to it. I am so glad he is done.

I already took the floss out of the travel case and put the next project inthere. I think the carrier is the best for the huge Mary Hickmott Nativity I kitted up back in February. I just have to get more Stitchbows and a couple more pages for the binder because there are a LOT OF COLORS for this project. But it would be another project on the level of HOHRH, and there aren't any fractionals.

Because I have been working so hard, I decided to take today off and not stitch. I really have been stitching too much lately. I know, how can I say that, but I have. So I thought if I took one day off, it wouldn't kill me. But don't fear, I do have to go to the LNS this afternoon and pick up my things I had framed.

Very Hot for a Saturday

First some cross stitch gossip, thanks to my friend Brea! Brea reads this blog, so shouting out to Bee. Someone on 123 posted that Hobby Lobby was discontinuing their cross stitch fabric. It was $2.15 a yard, so I asked B to go see if hers had the pretty rustico evenweave we saw there, but the one in Cool Spring, Tennessee, not only didn't have it on sale, but she said the lady told her that they were going to have more needlework. Which is AWESOME! We were disappointed with their selection. I guess no one told them I was coming 750 miles and needed to have a great Hobby Lobby experience? Anyway . . .

I have decided that we will most likely not being going to a Hobby Lobby while I am down in Virginia Beach. All the locations were about a 4 hour drive. And the Neon is not that comfortable. I read somewhere they were the same seats as Viper seats. Interesting. I guess when you buy a $60000 car, you aren't taking it on long trips. But lemme tell you, those are some crazy hard seats. When I drove to Nashville and drove back, it took me a week to recover and I blame it on those seats. Anyway, I've veered off course from my cross stitch talk, LOL.

It was hot as heck today. It was muggy at 7:30 this morning. We went to a church yard sale, because last year I found some stitchy stuff, but this year I was not so lucky. I went up to the Dutch Market for candy (their caramel truffles are the bomb), and then went to Michaels to kit up some stuff on the 50 list. They actually had a really nice selection of kits there, I was really impressed. None of the new pretty mottled DMC fabric, but it was a nice selection. I actually thought about buying some pillowcases to embroider, but realized that I have enough stuff to work on. I know this because I spent an hour this morning looking for one of my charts to kit up. It was the Calico Critters chart, which has some wacky 70s animals. I had stuck it in the cat binder (I am blaming the fact that I set up this filing system last summer, which I seriously whish had never happened). But I have the cat and the dog kitted up. They would be really cute pillows!

I am almost finished with Kitty Dreams, I just have to finish outlining, and do the ball of yarn and the bee. And then I am done. Woo hoo. I haven't had a finish in three weeks, and it's bumming me out.

It's Summer, fair is getting closer

Today is June 1st. I have taken 8-9 August off to get ready for the county fair. I will win this year. That gives me two months and a week to get everything stitched and framed that I want to enter. Talk about pressure. So far, these are my entries:

• Houses of Hawks Run Hollow (and if that doesn't win, I will seriously scream--I am still pissed over losing to a stupid beaded Mill Hill pic last year)
• Sea Life by Lanarte
• Friends Gather, Hearts Warm by San Man
• that Halloween pic by Stoney Creek (I don't know if that will win, but it won't win if it isn't entered)
• Snowman picture by Woodcrafts by Karen (who I still find to be an under-rated designer, because those kits are the best value, you can't TOUCH a frame by anyone else for that amount.)

I am also hoping to get some other stuff finished. I think I have drastically improved my technique from last year to this year, but time will tell. And it does bum me out that Houses didn't do better at Woodlawn, but I take some comfort from the comments that I got. I do have to remember to get it registered for the state fair.