Thanks For Your Comments and Yes, I’m Okay!

I wanted to take a minute to thank you for all of your comments, especially over the past few days. I was really worried that posting that rant was going to come back to bite me, but I was amazed to see how many of you supported and agreed with me! I think it’s a sore subject for all of us. πŸ™‚ I was also deliriously happy to finally be able to share some finishes and they were warmly greeted by all of you. So, thank you!

And for those of you were posted your concern about my minor health issues, yes, I’m okay. It’s just been a rough week. Stomach issues, something that resembled a UTI last weekend, female issues, a major migraine on Tuesday and minor headaches every day since.

And finally, I’m sending a thank you out to Christine V. (aka mtrl girl). I received an unexpected package from Silkweaver on Tuesday and within it were two pieces of fabric from my wishlist along with a lovely yellow limited edition GAST called Sunburst. Somehow, she just knew that I could use a little pick me up, as well as a belated birthday gift. Thanks Christine! πŸ˜€

Posted in Life in General | 2 Comments

November Stitching Goals

Hmmmm… let’s see. Most of the major obligations are fulfilled, so I can be a little more relaxed about November.

  • Start and complete this month’s JCS SAL ornament
  • Start and complete Christmas Hearts Bellpull SAL
  • Continue working on Sweet Dreams baby afghan
  • Continue working on Tiny Rose Garden Mandala
  • Continue working on Heirloom Memories Sampler
  • Complete Baby’s First Christmas Ornament
  • Start piece for SBEBB Garden Exchange

It’s an ambitious list for the month before Christmas, but we’ll be traveling up to my parents’ home for Thanksgiving, so the 3 to 4 hour car ride each way should provide some good stitching time, as well as the time we are there. I actually switched the scroll frame that Tiny Rose Garden Mandala was on so that it’s now a portable piece (before, it wouldn’t fit in my stitching bag). So, everything on the list is portable, except for Heirloom Memories Sampler.

I also got the placement of the stitching stand that Terry made for me just right last night so that I can still recline, if I want to. Now he just has to add extensions to the arms so that my work can reach me. πŸ™‚

Posted in Stitching | 3 Comments

October Stitching Goals in Review

My goals for October were not all totally realistic:

  • Complete current model stitching project – DONE!
  • Start and complete this month’s JCS SAL ornament – DONE!
  • Complete and finish Christmas ornament for SBEBB – DONE!
  • Complete and frame Heirloom Memories sampler in honor of Terry’s mom – NOT EVEN LOOKED AT

In my own defense on the last one, there are a couple of reasons for it. First, my weekends in October were totally overloaded. Second, I’m not sure who is going to get the Heirloom Memories sampler! When I talked to Terry originally about it after his mom died, I asked if he wanted me to finish it for us. He replied that we should do it for his dad. Now, the most recent conversation is that it will probably stay with us. While that doesn’t keep me from stitching on it, it has been a bit confusing. Now I need to chart out the personalization and replace the cross that I had already stitched on there with a heart, as it’s what I would prefer to see.

Posted in Stitching | Leave a comment

Ugliness… [A Rant]

Okay, I haven’t been able to blog or read blogs in days because I’ve been really busy and have some minor health issues going on, but I did happen to check into Becky’s blog tonight to see what new goodies she’s received in the mail. And I find that, while there are no details other than a vague and confusing post from Becky referencing a previous post that she seems to have deleted, apparently someone has decided to take issue with her again. It sounds like someone isn’t happy that she’s receiving all of these lovely little presents to lift her spirits. Now, for those of you who have been reading my blog for a little while, the following rant is going to seem out of character for me, and it is, but I’m angry. I am loyal to my friends, cyber or otherwise, and I will defend their honor and integrity with everything I have.

[Begin Rant]
I don’t know who you are that wrote to her, but know this. I am the one who started sending emails to my fellow stitching bloggers after the first nasty email she received and asked people to send a little something to her to let her know how much we love and appreciate her and to encourage her to keep inspiring all of us and blessing us with her generosity as she does. ME, okay? So, if you have a problem with it, I’d appreciate if you take it up with me and just leave her alone. She does not deserve one tiny iota of the ugliness that she has had to deal with lately and I don’t see the problem in trying to build back up someone who does such good for so many people via her blog, her kindness and her generosity. If you want to take issue with people sending her stuff, then take issue with me and let your wrath out on someone who at this point is angry enough to deal with it.

And to anyone else who has some strange sort of problem with who Becky is and what she does, I have a very simple suggestion for you. Just don’t read her blog!?!
[/End Rant]

Sorry for that ugliness, gentle readers. I just had to get that off of my chest. I may well delete this post in horror tomorrow morning, but for tonight, it stays and I’m going to sleep. Good night.

Posted in Life in General | 9 Comments

Stitching Blogger’s Question of the Week – November 2, 2005

Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Dianne and is:

If you have stitched for a while, can you usually pick out the DMC colors you need from memory when you go to your LNS? (For example, you know that 610 is a brown.)

Hmmm… I’m intrigued by this question. First, my LNS is more than 30 minutes away and anyone who knows my lifestyle (work myself to exhaustion, come home, eat, vegetate/watch t.v./stitch, then go to bed, REPEAT) knows that I don’t go there. It is part of what helps to keep me on the wagon when I can manage to stay on it. πŸ˜‰ Now, having just visited ACMoore this evening because it was the last day of their 6 for $1 sale on DMC floss skeins, I know I’ve been saving up one mother of a list of DMC that I needed. I bought over 50 skeins, as I’ve been putting it off for some time. So, for me, can I pick out the DMC I need from memory? Gosh no! Do I have a general concept of what color families are what? Sure. Do I have a color card to help me match colors? You bet your bippy! Not sure that answers the question, but since I’m not sure what the impetus behind it was, that’s the best you’re going to get. πŸ˜†

Posted in Stitching Blogger's Question | Leave a comment

And Now For Some Finishes I Can Share!

Yay! I have two ornaments that I finished stitching tonight. And I can actually share a finish for the first time in a while. πŸ˜€

The first one I finished tonight was my wildcard pick for October as part of the JCS Ornament SAL with the Chartswappers Yahoo group. It’s called Christmas Poinsettias and comes from Cindy Valentine Designs. Having model stitched for Cindy, I happen to be a little partial to her designs. πŸ˜‰

Christmas Poinsettias Ornament

The second finish is called Love Heart from Charland Designs. This is one of the ornaments that I liked out of the 2004 JCS Ornament issue that didn’t make it into the SAL.

Love Heart Ornament

I also have two new starts this week. Last night, I stitched my first star onto the Pooh Sweet Dreams afghan I’m stitching for friends who are having their first child in February. Normally, I wouldn’t do something this big, but the mother-to-be is a fellow cross stitcher and I didn’t want to do a birth sampler in case she wanted to do one herself. This is my first afghan and will be good practice for the one I want to do for myself at some point.

Tonight, I was hoping to start the Christmas Hearts bellpull, but seeing how it’s after 9:00 PM and I haven’t eaten yet, I don’t think that’s going to happen. πŸ™‚ I’ve also pulled out my Chatelaine Tiny Rose Mandala Garden and attached it to the needlework frame that DH made for me. That needs to start moving, too.

Ahhhh… the sweetness of new and returning projects!

Posted in Stitching | 9 Comments

Woohoo! It’s DONE!

Yes, that’s right folks. The model stitching project that I’ve had since August is finally completed! The final touches have been put into all of the pieces, the final scans have been done and sent to the designer and everything is ready to be packed up and shipped back. Now I just wait for the designs to be published so that I can see the fruits of my labor. πŸ™‚

Gosh, I almost don’t know what to do with myself, stitching-wise, now that this is finally done. Oh no, wait, I have a SAL for the Christmas Hearts bellpull from Victoria Sampler starting on November 1st. And an ornament to finish for this month’s JCS SAL. I’ll be taking that with us tomorrow to South Jersey. Terry’s maternal relatives will be in town and visiting his dad to have an informal family memorial in honor of his mom. It’s amazing how much a few weeks can do to take the raw edge off of that pain. However, tomorrow may be full of Kleenex moments? Anyway, we’ll get to see an aunt and uncle that we haven’t seen since our wedding in 1999. I thought I was going to finally meet the notorious aunt whom I’ve never seen except in pictures, but it turns out that she’s not coming now. And I’m looking forward to seeing Uncle Dave and Aunt Carol, whom we had the pleasure of visiting in Phoenix last Thanksgiving. All of us sitting around for an entire day holds the promise of some good stitching time! πŸ˜‰

Well, it’s past my bedtime and I have a headache from concentrating so hard for hours. I’m going to take some Tylenol and hit the hay. Hopefully, the Tylenol will help the multitude of problems present in my body right now (including the headache, a pulled muscle in my neck from Monday and a potential UTI) so that I can get some good sleep. 😯

Posted in Stitching | 4 Comments

A Tour of My Stitching Areas

This was all started by Vero’s blog entry about stitching places. And so, I’m rising to the challenge set by other stitchers to show my stitching messes! I even had Terry take lots of pictures for you. πŸ˜‰ Please note that you can click on any of the pictures to get a bigger view. I just didn’t want to overload the front page of my blog with full sized pictures.

First off, you’re only seeing the left side of our “craft room” here. The middle of the room is taken up by a folding card table containing Terry’s boat stuff and right side of the room is taken up by musical instruments and accessories, including my flute, Terry’s violin, a music stand, an electric piano and a computer for MIDI interfacing with the electric piano. Then, you’ll see slightly closer shots of the left side of the room, from the doorway to my desk under the windows in the middle of the room. Keep in mind that the whole room is only 9′ x 12′, so it’s not very big.

The box with the blue lid contains all of my commercial charts. The binders contain the freebies. The clear box contains all of my kits. The two black containers and all of the bags next to the desk all contain my scrapbooking supplies. Yes, I have another addiction…


Here’s a close up of the desk. Pictured on top of the desk are two pieces that I am going to enter into the Silkweaver contest this year. The piece at the top center is going into the jewelry box next to it for a Christmas gift. Also on top are a small scrapbook and miscellaneous little notecards I’ve received, along with two books containing decorative papers for tea bag folding and a magazine on card making.



And the box containing all (or the vast majority) of my kits:



And then the file box containing my charts:



And finally, in that room, we have the closet, which is completely overrun with my craft supplies. On the left, you will see a hanger containing my dozens of Mill Hill Christmas ornament kits. There’s also another hanger holding my larger fabric cuts that won’t fit into my fabric drawers (hmmm… forgot to take a pic of those, let me know if you want to see them). On a hanger against the back are rings containing a lot of my specialty threads, including WDW, GAST and Waterlilies. I also have unlabeled Waterlilies in plastic bags on rings in a container buried on the left side of the closet. On the right and left sides, at the bottom, you can barely see the 3-drawer plastic units that I have which hold various things, from fabric in tubes to fat quarters to finishing to plaster houses and wood boxes for decorative painting. The silver plastic unit on the right side is a 6-drawer unit containing all of my rubber stamps and supplies. On top of that are my 6 Stitchbow containers, 3 traditional floss boxes and 1 mini floss box that holds my Kreinik spools. On the shelf are various crafting supplies ranging from empty scrapbooks to canning materials to wax for candle making. On the floor are my sewing machine, a mini ironing board, a mini travel iron and my sewing supplies. Yes, that closet is definitely all mine! πŸ˜‰



Oh yes, and as an added bonus, I have a picture of the Sudberry House items that I bought for a steal at the yard sale in August at their factory outlet in Connecticut:


The final stitching spot for me is my “stitching corner” in the family room. This is the area that I’ve overrun with all of my current WIPS. Sorry I had to block out what was on the Q-snaps, but it was part of the model stitching project I’ve been working on, so no peeking allowed! The notebook on the arm of the sofa was to track my model stitching time. On the little tray table are my blue lined ort basket (which had just been cleaned) and my basket of assorted necessities, including two types of braces for my wrists, extra needles, extra scissors, Thead Heaven and pins and sewing thread for hand-finishing. On the floor, on the frames attached to the lap stands are my Heirloom Memories Sampler and my restarted Bonsai and Buddha.

Posted in Stitching | 5 Comments

Woot!

I just finished the last of the hardanger on my model stitching project. Now I just have some minor stuff to go and then I’ll be all done. Wooohooooooooo! πŸ˜€

Posted in Stitching | 2 Comments

Stitching Blogger’s Question of the Week – October 26, 2005

Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Outi and is:

Have you ever stitched something as a gift and later realized that receiver doesn’t respect your stitched gift a bit (for example it’s never on show, or you have other reason to suspect that it may even be nonexistent or at least placed in some dark storage room corner)? If so, what have you done? If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid such people what would you do if it’d happen to you?

Yes, I have. I have put quite a bit of work into things that have never even been acknowledged. I chalk it up to a lesson learned. I won’t stitch for those people again. In fact, I have a very small number of people, a few family members and close friends, for whom I will stitch a gift. It takes a specific type of person to be able to understand and appreciate all of the time and love that we pour into our stitching. And while I cannot understand someone who doesn’t value any work from someone’s heart, I cannot blame them. I just feel sad for them.

Posted in Stitching Blogger's Question | Leave a comment