On vacation

My best friend Brea came into town yesterday, so I have not been stitching. I am on vacation. I have had a really lovely two days. Yesterday, after I picked them up from the airport, we went to Chesapeake Beach for lunch, and then to Breezy Point beach. That is where this photo was taken. I happen to think it is a really cute photo of me. Perhaps it's the sand, perhaps it's that, as a Scorpio, the presence of water improves my mood and thus I look my naturally prettiest, or else I am actually becoming photogenic as I age, but I take really good pictures at the beach. Anyway, so you at least have some reference of how I look right now.

Anyway, we went to the beach and drove around Washington. I used to be more able to drive downtown. I hate to sound peevishly juvenile, but it really cheeses me that, as part of the increased security measures after 9/11, it is really difficult to drive around down there. And then add in the Saturday night partying and it was bad to get around.

Today we went to church at the National Cathedral. It was lovely. My pictures don't do it justice. It was really lovely. They had beautiful needlepoint kneelers in the pews. There were some opportunities for S.E.X, but I wasn't really impressed with the qualities of the kits and I wasn't paying $21.95 for a kit I wasn't that impressed with.

And then we went to the Holocaust museum. That makes me so angry and it breaks my heart to see the people who were killed. Who knows what contribution they or their children could have made to the world if they hadn't been killed. If the Holocaust hadn't happened, maybe we would have a cure for cancer, or figured out how to stop global warming. So much potential destroyed by hate.

Updated Emma's Garden

Battling the Frog

The frog visited this week. I had to frog out so much, I was so frustrated, but it was my own stupid fault.

I was blithely stitching along on my upper alphabet, when I realized that the alphabet on the left didn't match the alphabet on the left. I had messed up one of my viney mabobs, and that threw EVERYTHING off. The bird, the alphabet. And I had already had to pick out a bunch because I screwed up the bird tulips. Now I am sure that I could have left it wrong. No one would have noticed. My daddy's mother would have left it wrong and said it was a family original. But I am not all my daddy's family and I prefer to do things right, and I would know it was wrong. So I've picked it all out. I should still have enough floss to do the picture, but it annoys me when I throw off my rhythm by screwing up. Plus, it was not easy to pick it out of 40 count fabric. But I did, and now I am fixing it.

I was so peeved at myself over the whole situation that I put it aside and picked up Ghost Wind, by Kustom Krafts. I am not far enough along on it to really show pictures, but I've got about 500 stitches in. It's not a bad stitch, I am just finally using a highlighter. But somehow, I managed to not buy all the floss I needed. Kills me. I have an extremely large stash, and I don't have two of the skeins I needed.

More Lunch stitching

I stitched again at lunch today. I am making really great progress on this sampler. I did have to pick out the flowers after I took this photo last night, but I think the new flowers look better. I was having issues with the way the one on the right under the left bird looked, but it's all purple now. So it looks better.

Anyway, it was a bad morning in the land of flood insurance today. They were getting on us about how loud we were when other people were on the phone. I try really hard to be quiet, but, please remember I am a trained stage actress, I have three tone levels, backstage, stage whisper and project across the theatre. And, Lord, do I want to tell a story. Anyway, I didn't get talked to about it, but I was having one of those days where I wanted to tell people, "Why don't you call back when you feel like LISTENING to what I have to tell you?" And it was a really nice day outside, so I went and sat outside in the car and stitched. My deer friends were crashing around back behind the building, so I watched them while I worked. I didn't want to go back in.

But my boss told me that my phone calls that they monitored yesterday were EXCELLENT. I am stoked about that. I really try not to give crappy service, so whenever my efforts get acknowledged, that is GOOD. I am trying really really hard to be good and get noticed. It was very empowering to get that dude last week calmed down. I let him go through the obligatory, "My agent sucks, you suck, FEMA sucks," rant, and then, cause it was time to go home, and I can think of much more interesting things to do after 6 than hear how much we suck, I was like, "Sir, I hate to cut you off, but can I get your policy number?" in my Southern Belle voice And it was like it broke him off out of his rant. Anyway, since I figured out the power of stepping into the middle of their rant, I am able to take control of the conversation. And that fixes things

So now you see why I stitch at lunch

How I Spent Lunch today

Instead of stitching I bought shoes. But I needed new shoes, whereas I have been stitching a lot lately. So it's OK. And I updated my 50 list on my computer at work. I have an intricate color-coded system on the computer, which I acknowledge I will full on forget what it means in a week or so. But that is life. And it does allow me to keep up to date on an important job skill I learned this summer, color-coding spread sheets. That has to be an important skill, because I actually was paid for 3 weeks to do this: input and color-code data. Of course, that was the job I walked out on, because it sucked, but anyway, this is a life skill that I can use for cross stitch.

The Updated 50!

Since I finished Jane Austen and Wondow Spots, there are only 49 projects on the board!

2. Finish Stunning Irises
3. Miribilia Halloween Fairy
4. Bent Creek Patriotic Row
5. Bent Creek Winter Snapperland
6. AOY A Moment’s Rest
7. Like Feathered Wings
8. Summer Ball
9 . Ghost Wind
10. Cat Lovers Too
11. Will Work for Freezer Space
12. Woodland Sampler
13 Halloween Bellpull
14 Stranger in the Woods
15 Raise the Roof-Happy Camper
16 I Like Winter Best of All
17 Is it Spring yet?
18. The Perfect Man
19 A Cat’s a Cat
20 Christmas Village
21 Villages of Hawks Run Hollow
22 Cat for All Seasons
23. Calico Cat
24 Hummingbird Trellis Afghan
25 Winter Quilt
26 Autumn Quilt
27 Spring Quilt
28 Summer Quilt
29 All Hallows Eve
30. Summers To Come (Cricket Collection)
31. Nativity-Mary Hickmott
32. Beachcombin—Salty Yarns
33 Country French Cat
34. Winter Gathering
35 Kitty Cat Row
36 Lost Spirits
37. Winter Sampler—Just Cross Stitch
38. Janlynn Summer Sampler
39 Barnyard Kittens
40. Sandy Orton Autumn Sampler
41 Blossom Harvest
42 To the Sea (pine Mountain Pillow)
43. 4 Season House
44. Bent Creek- Snowman Row
45—WWS The Arab
46—Kit and Boxby—Winter Wool
47—Kit and Bixby—Summer Wool
48—Kit and Bixby—Spring Wool
49—Kit and Bixby Autumn Wool
50—New fallen Snow-Glendon Place

Not much stitch-worthy to discuss today

I am still working diligently on Emma's Garden. It has been much easier with the Daylight bulb. But it seems like the floss is being used up fast. But thats OK, I wasn't planning on using it for anything else. It's really pretty, though. Very spring-y.
But other than that, not much going on. I delved into the money I had put aside for vacation to buy floss for the two Bent Creek rows. Just $7, though. I will be sorta glad when my two little vacations are over. Two in two weeks is a lot to deal with, financially. Oh, my order from Sewandso came yesterday. I was pretty stoked about that, but they aren't on the 50, so have to wait. But then again, Emma's Garden wasn't on the 50 either. CRAP!
One more thing, we ordered the porch furniture this weekend. I plan to use it as a SSfS (Special Spot for Stitching), so this is important. It's really comfortable furniture. Once I finish fixing the screen door, I plan on spending a lot of time out on that porch. Can you think of a more perfect way to spend a Saturday than on the side porch with a glass of iced tea, my stitching and the dog?