The best-laid plans

I still have a buttless dragon.

I found out that, instead of the ornament for the Halloween ornament exchange having to be in Ireland by the 15th, it needed to be there by the 10th. As it was still laying on the chair at the foot of the bed, unironed, unfinished, and generally not ready, I had to drop everything and finish it.

Left-brain helped me do the cording, after I spent 20 minutes searching for the cording drill. I'm not a good cording making. I know that. It looks OK though.

I used the same fabric I had to make the "Beware of the cat" cube from last year. I had bought other fabric, but it didn't look quite right, and this went along with the theme.

Somehow I have misplaced the invisible thread, so had to use white to sew the cording on. I hope my partner is not immensely displeased. I tried very hard to do this right, and she doesn't seem like the kind of person who would criticize finishing. At least the crappy side is to the back. I remembered to take a picture of it this morning, so will post that later.

I am going to take it up and mail it today. I have the ornament, some little Peanuts Halloween crafty bits, and a packet of Pop Rocks in Halloween colors to tuck in the package. I have more stuff to send her, but that is going to have to wait til payday to mail.

Tonight, I have a date with that dragon butt!


Updated

The ornament is in the mail. He looked a bit panicked as I shoved him into the padded mailer. But, since I tend to look the same way when faced with an airplane trip, I could sympathize. Can I just say I just LOVVVVVEEEEE when stitchy things leave my house? Now I can get back to things I want to do.

Moonshine and dragon's behind

I worked on Icy last night. We turned on the PBS miniseries about Prohibition, and watched that, more to make sure pictures of my grandparents and great-grandparents didn't show up than anything else. Yes, my sainted grandmother made 'shine. Her father did time in jail for their cottage industry, and I was a bit concerned I'd see a familiar face--probably not a legit concern, since they weren't special in the their endeavors, but ya never know. As a side note, Left-brain asked about making it one time, and I had to tell him Gramma told me how to make it, but I would'nt trust her memory of the recipe. Besides, I've smelled shine stored in a salsa jar during my college days, as part of a class exercise, and any liquor that infuses itself with the microscopic remnants of whatever was in the jar before it, well, that is not something I think I should be drinking at this stage in my life. But I am determined I will finish Icy dragon tonight. Not the rest of the chart, but I am going to finish stitching his butt by the end of the day. I am tired of using the white rayon. TIRED OF IT! I am going to take a break from rayon after this for a while, but first I want that butt done.

Thank you for your kind comments about my finishes and WIPs. I really think they turned out nice. I can't wait to see how they're going to look on the tree. I have Autumn Shadows with me as my travel project for now, and am waiting to get a few more ornaments ready to send to the finisher, before I send them off.

I had quite a scare this morning. I leave the house early in the morning, right as the sun is coming up. Usually it's OK because the sun is starting to come up as I leave town. And we live in a relatively deer-free area. But it's hunting/breeding season, and so the deer are out of their minds.

My commute takes me around a curve, up a hill, around another curve. This morning, right when I came around the second curve, I noticed a flash of white on the hill right along side the road. A smallish deer was coming down the hill at a high rate of speed. He couldn't stop, I couldn't stop. And he was headed right at the car. I swung out into the other lane. THANK GOD no one was coming. I'm shocked he didn't run into the car, but we both survived to fight another Tuesday. I tell you, a deer coming at your car from above works wonders to get those last bits of sleep from your system, way better than coffee or sodas, and calorie-free. You better believe my hands were at 10 and 2, LOL.

I hope your Tuesday is uneventful. And, if you get a chance, the Prohibition mini-series, like all Ken Burns' work, is well worth watching. I'm fascinated by the history of that time, and really enjoyed it, as did Left-brain.

Ornament time

Ornament-making is in the air.

Between making the four ornaments I have made for exchanges, I've managed to finish two ornaments for myself since the JCS ornament issue came.


This is the My Big Toe ornament. I chose two colors from my stash, and I think it turned out really well.


Here is the very cute Sampler Girl ornament. Left-brain chose the fabric, a really pretty silvery-green color from Picture This Plus called Valor. I used the recommended threads. I think it's very pretty!


Today was stitching group day. I really enjoy this time with these ladies. It's a nice break from the day to day. We chat, and snack and have some good fellowship. I decided to start this project today, just as a project for October. I chose Autumn Shadows by the Gathering Place.
I am using most of the threads that were called for, except for the color for the tree. The chart called for NN Serengheti, but I'm not using any of my NN floss, unless I have to, so I subbed out La Tierra, a CC floss. I think it's a warmer brown than the other one, and I like it.

It's been a good weekend. I saw a great play, sang some karaoke last night, and I found the only Sonic on this side of the Chesapeake in the state of Maryland. Life is good when you're facing it with a tasty cherry limeade!

I hope you had a good weekend.

Moving towards next year

OK, we're all doing that anyway, but my thoughts lately have been turning towards how I plan to spend 2012. Now, I know there's that group of people who think that it's the end of the world, based on Mayan prophecy. I don't believe it due to my religious beliefs, and because the Mayans themselves say it's the end of a cycle, not the world.

So, in this year of tying up loose ends, I have decided on two projects. The first one, I'm not sharing yet. I figure I'll do that when it's a bit closer to the holidays, but it's a project related to the holidays (I've probably just given away what I'm doing, but . . ). But, on the whole, I am going to work on whittling down my UFO pile.

Because, you see, it's literally a pile. And it slides. I walked in the sewing room, got too close to "the pile" and it got a-slidin'. Those plastic envelopes I keep everything in got to moving, and slipping, and I got a-cursin', and I realized I was about 2 Michaels trips away from being a hoarder.

And I don't want to be a hoarder.

Not to mention, I'm trying to save money, because those credit cards aren't paying themselves off, and how better to pay off debt than to stop shopping? Well, shop less . . .

I had thought about doing the Crazy January Challenge again, but I think realistically, I'm going to stick to picking 15 UFOs and work on those.

Now, I'm not saying I won't start anything new this year. My other project involves quite a few starts (Did I say too much?), and those are going to need fabric. And thread. And I want to work on the Itty Bitty Kitty Quilt Club by Val's Stuff in 2012--I have the last two of those charts on order. And I need to get caught up on my LHN ornaments. Ahh, so many things to do, so little time.

So that's the start of my plan. I know I won't be able to get everything done, but, won't you agree, some headway would be nice?

Long time, no see

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. Things in Crazyville have been hectic, to say the least. My work moved offices. It's only 6 miles more each way, but, in terms of suburban Maryland traffic, that's 30 more minutes each way. Arrrghh. The office itself is not bad, but there is a sign in the main kitchen requesting that people not brush their teeth or rinse their mouth out in the sink. Ughhhh. Is this something adults really need to be reminded not to do at work?

I'm still hard at work at my ornament for the Halloween exchange. I've been trying to work on it as much as possible, but my mojo's not exactly there, so it's been hard. I'm pushing myself to get most of it done today, so I just have to sew it together. My Christmas ornaments came back from the finisher yesterday. She did a great job. I really do like the backing fabric I chose, both for the exchange ornaments and for the ornament I had her finish for me. I won't send the Halloween ornament to her, because there isn't enough time to get it done and get it to Ireland, but I'm pretty happy with the work she did.

I am happy dancing because I finally found the wreath I have been searching for for over a year. When we were in the last bit of wedding planning, Michael's had their Halloween things out. They had these gorgeous feather wreaths that were either black or burgundy. Well, I was in wedding mindset and did not purchase one til they were gone. And I was so upset with myself. I promised myself that, if it meant I had to go without lunch for a few days, I'd get one if I ever saw it again. I thought it would be an interesting way to display fall ornaments, since my tree is getting full, and we can't get off our duffs to get to the Second Chance store for shutters.

I went in yesterday to get a few last minute things to put in my exchange packages, and THEY.HAD.MY.WREATH. First I had the black one, then put that down, because it didn't feel right for the fall ornaments. Halloween, yes, but then I'd put the fall ones on my tree, and that tree speaks Halloween, not fall. But then I went back and looked and they had a burgundy/plum one with peacock feathers. Perfect! I snapped it right up! It's now hanging on my wall, waiting for me to find some perfect fall ornaments to go on there. Left-brain isn't too sure about it yet; he says it's a hippie wreath. I told him that makes it perfect, LOL. It will grow on him. By the way, I haven't given up on that black wreath. I think that will be a glamorous decoration for my office, particularly with hot pink and silver ornaments. What do you think?

I'll post pictures of what I can later tonight.

Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. We have a winner.

Country Stitcher!


If you can leave a comment on this post with your email address, I'll email you to get your info.


Otherwise, not much is going on. The rear brakes in my car are shot, so I've been dealing with that. We had to special-order brakes. Left-brain was rather shocked and annoyed; he's used to that for performance vehicles, but not a daily driver. Even though they don't make my car anymore, they still make the sister car, and it is still a pain to get the parts. This is not the first time we've dealt with this. Literally, every part that I've had to replace has had to be special-ordered, even the windshield wiper blades, even at the dealership. I finally got mad enough that I sent GM customer service a snippy email; they've yet to respond back, but I felt better. I don't know if I should just trade in Trouble for another car or stick it out and hope that she settles down til she's paid off, but this is troublesome. The parts are finally in, and the car is going to be fixed next week, but it's very frustrating.

I'm rotating between my Halloween exchange ornament and Icy as far as stitching projects. I am almost finished with the part that uses the rayon floss for Icy, but have been rebelling against actually finishing it--I think I'm on rayon overload. But I'm going to force myself to get it finished. I won't post photos of the exchange piece til it's on its way to Ireland, but it's a fun piece with lots of colors.

In case you haven't heard, Walmart is putting the fabric department back. It's not just a rumor, I was in the super-Walmart the other day, and they were half-set up! Whoo hoo. Lots of fun trims. I don't know if it will be as big as it used to be, but they've had rumors that they might bring back cross stitch. And that would be good.

So that's all that is going on here. I am going to try to post photos of my progress, so check back in! Otherwise, have a great weekend!

A contest in honor of September 11th

Before we get to the giveaway, please lend me your time for a few minutes to remember September 11th. I don't think I've ever posted my memories of that horrible day on this blog, I've let them out, piecemeal, on various boards, but never put down, in my own space, what that day was to me.

As most of you know, I live and work in the DC suburbs. I'm proud to be from here. I've had the chance to move several times, and, no matter what, I couldn't leave. My first job was with the Department of Defense, working at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. It was a summer job. I spent the 60 days of my employment attempting to catch a military doctor; what can I say, I was 21, it seemed like a plan at the time. While I was there, the embassies were bombed. Our response? Wear your badge, and there was an MP in the hall. Terror happened . . . away. People still came to play football on the open lawn in front of the hospital.

The job ended and I took other temp jobs, then took a full-time position at an access control company that serviced the Metro area. It didn't pay very well, but I got lots of overtime, and my co-workers were mostly young. They let me bring Chancey in when she was a puppy, as well as the kittens. Our job was to let people in buildings, and we did the job as best we could. We'd joke about the stress, we'd share war stories, but we never really took that job that seriously.

On September 11th, I was looking forward to the cruise we were taking to celebrate my upcoming 25th birthday. I'd been working hard all summer; I'd won an award for my dedication. It was an average Tuesday, I thought there was something that I was supposed to remember about the day, but couldn't figure it out (I remembered later it was my high school best friend's birthday). On the radio, they gave the weather report, and said, "A lot of people will be out of work this afternoon." They meant because of the weather, which I thought was wierd, but it turned out to be prophetic. I've remembered that through all these years. I can't remember which station it was, but it was a Top 40 station.

I found out about the tragedy because my coworker came in late. She'd been coming in at 9:15 because her oldest son needed to be dropped off at kindergarten. She ran in, and said, "Two planes just hit the World Trade Center." We couldn't grasp it. Surely it was a terrible accident, two small planes maybe, one got distracted by the smoke of the other one. My boss got online and couldn't find anything about it, so she turned on the radio. We sat for a few minutes, listening, and then they cut in that the Pentagon was on fire.

And all Hell broke loose.


My boss went to our programming department to help there. I went to the Central Station to help out on the phones. And I still didn't think this was terror. I don't know what I was really thinking. Maybe it was just a mistake. But I took those calls. And spoke to scared people. One engineer said, "I'm near the Pentagon. I think you know how important this is." I told him to be safe. And realized this was something bad, but surely we could fix it in a few days. After all, they'd bombed the embassies and life went on, mostly unchanged.

I remember the Central station supervisor telling us news flashes. The Capitol was bombed, the CIA was damaged. The highways were packed. The subways were shut down. At some point, I talked to my mom. She was unaware of anything, sitting at her desk at Walter Reed. I told her to go home, I was so scared. If they were attacking the Pentagon, what could have kept them from attacking her work? She wouldn't go, even though I was crying. I told her I loved her. I didn't know if I'd ever see her again. My mother later said she stayed to try to help. When people talk crap about government employees, I tell them gently how my mom stayed through that afternoon, in case they needed her to do anything. She only went home when she realized that they weren't bringing that many to WRAMC. I am so proud of her for what she tried to do.

At noon, I got the chance to leave Central. I walked back in our office. One of my co-workers said, "The towers fell." And I just fell into my chair. They said there were rescue people trapped. They said people jumped out of the windows. I think I asked if anyone caught them. Silly, but how does one process that? And I lost it. I just sat there. I couldn't absorb it. I had to call Best Friend Brea in Nashville to confirm it. It had to be a rumor, just like all the rumors I'd heard all day. And she confirmed it.

We looked at the Internet. I saw the pictures of the people falling. And then they said a plane had crashed in Somerset County. And no one lived. And it just got worse and worse. And then we heard this plane outside. We knew that all the planes had been grounded and this damn plane kept going overhead, outside. And we didn't know if we should call someone, but then again, why wouldn't they know about a plane? At some point, the F-16s started their fly-overs, and that felt better. In the days and weeks to come, that was a comforting sound.

At some point, I went home. I stopped at CVS for something, and we all looked like zombies. I drove home. My gramma was glued to the TV, as was my brother. We didn't turn the TV off for the rest of the week. I just wanted to try to figure out at what point, I'd know this was a dream. Because who kills people like that? How did they kill us HERE? How did they attack this city.


I went to bed that night, grateful that I'd wake up and it would be a dream. And I woke up in the blood-red dawn, and realized it wasn't. But we had to soldier on. And we have, with our broken hearts, and our new reality. They don't play football on the lawn of Bethesda anymore; they enclosed it with a fence. But we don't take our freedom, or our country, or each other for granted. I love my city, and I love my country; people died for the simple reason they were Americans, I've tried to live my life to honor that sacrifice.


In honor of those who lost their lives that day, and for those of us who survived, and who carry the memories, I am offering a kit of "Liberty for Ewe." If you would like a chance at this, please leave a comment on this post.

I wish you and your family a safe day tomorrow, a moment of remembrance, and a prayer that there is never another day like that terrible day again.