Six Cat Living

I've been a busy bee...

2009-07-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Not that any of you would have guessed. You probably thought I fell off the blog world again, like I do every now and then.

I have also caught up on my strawberry ornament a month plan. I even brought Mr. Sew and Sew out and had him sew up the edges of the rest of the ornaments I cut out. All I have to do now is stitch and stuff them and they'll all be done. I do have 1 extra form in there. I had my purple one all made up and showed it to my MIL and she loved it, so I gave it to her. I want to make another one of those. It was too pretty not to have around! Maybe I'll make a couple of extra to just have around too. It's always nice to have a couple extra ornaments around the holidays when someone stops by unexpectedly and you can give them a little gift.

I have also decided that Blackstone Fantasy Garden will be finished in 2009. No more pussyfooting around. I cant even remember when I started it. I think it may have been in 2006. (ok, I just went back through the blog and checked, I started in Jan of 2007...and on a side note, LOL going back through my blog is so funny! but that's for another post.) Ok, so it's been a WIP for 2.5 years. No reason for that since it's an easy stitch and I love it. So, it is now on heavy rotation until it's finished. If you guys see me posting pictures of other projects (other than the ornaments which are considered "obligation pieces" and take priority), call me out on it!! Well, after this post since I'll be showing progress of CdCx too. LOL

Speaking of CdCx...Here's my latest progress. I love this design. It's going to be heard to put this one away while I work on BFG. I am sure I'll pull it out occassionally and do a box or two in it. Without telling you guys, of course. :P I really wish I could get a good picture of the green fabric. I really love the fabric on this one.

And since I am planning to finish BFG, I am also planning a big start. I've been chatting with Tammy from Stab and Stash about getting some fabric dyed for Ink Circles The Bramble and the Rose. I need to place an order with Hand Dyed Fibers to find a purple floss that I love, then I'll send it on to Tammy and she said she'd try to get a nice fabic dyed for me to match it. Tammy is the one that did the fabric for my Cirque des Cercles, which I love. No pictures for this one yet. :)

Now for a commercial break (I am not getting any kickbacks from either of these companies. I just love them both dearly and think everyone else should too!)

And if you have never been over to Stab and Stash, I recommend you visit them. Tammy and Mike own it. They are wonderful folks. They have amazing charts. Tammy's charting is nearly flawless. Her prices are great and she also lets you order via pdf if you dont want to wait for the snail mail.

And if you have never been to Hand Dyed Fibers, go. Resonably priced silk threads? Oh yeah! A warning though...once you start using silks, it's hard to go back to cottons.

Now back to our regular programming...

Th- Th-Th-Th-Th-... That's all, folks!

Vacation!

2009-07-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is going to be picture heavy....Just a warning! Part II is posted below this one.

My husband and I decided to take a 2 night trip to San Francisco. I planned it all a few months ago to celebrate his 1 year birthday of being clean and sober and our 6th wedding anniversary. I had been pulling out an extra $20 every time I went shopping to save up for it. It all started with my plan to go see Spamalot. My husband is a huge Monty Python fan and I knew he'd love this. Unfortunately, I dont have any pictures, as they dont allow them in the theater. The play was great though. It's everything you'd expect from a Monty Python musical, complete with the Black Knight and flying cows. John O'Hurley (J. Peterman from Seinfeld) was awsome as Arthur. I then decided to get a hotel near the theater so we could spend the night instead of driving home. That turned into 2 nights and finding something else to do. There's tons of stuff to do in SF. I guess that's why it's one of the top vacation spots.

After searching around for a couple of days, I decided we'd go see the remodeled California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. This place is awsome! It's a planetarium, aquarium, natural science museum, ecoroof, indoor rainforest, all in one. It was so awsome that we took Brad's parents back to see it 2 days later! I dont have any pictures of the planetarium. It was awsome though. Stadium seating with the screen dome all around us. We traveled from the museum to the outer reaches of our universe. It actually made me a bit dizzy with all the flying around. LOL

The natural history museum was pretty fun. It's smaller than I remember it from when I was a kid. We got to stand by a life sized stuffed giraffe. This is my husband, his mother, Diane, and father, Bruce.

I got to pet a pretty kitty. Although I guess I shouldnt have bothered him while he was eating. Cats get cranky when you bother them during meal time. That was one of the really cool things about the museum. Not all of the exhibits were behind glass. Many of them had half windows only so you could really see the animals.

We also go our pictures taken next to the zebras. Wait!! What's that above us! Oh No!!! It's another cat ready to leap down on to us! This cat was actually perched up on a fake tree sticking out of the side of the wall. It wasnt behind any glass at all. There were also a bunch of antelope, which are much bigger than they seem on TV. They had a big gorilla, but he was surrounded by glass and there was too much glare to get a good pic with him. I really tried though! Who wouldnt want their picture taken with a gorilla???

I have to tell you guys the story about the penguin too. He was awsome!

Ok, so at the end of the hall is a live penguin exhibit. Usually, they are pretty boring. Once in a while one will jump in the water, but mostly they just stand around unless it's feeding time. Anyway, there were these two kids in front of the glass, which when from floor to ceiling. They had a bag of grapes. One of the penguins, the one to the right, saw the grapes and went crazy! He wanted those grapes in a way hard to explain. LOL He was swimming back and forth in front of those two kids and gnawing at the glass...nom, nom, nom...trying to get at the grapes! LOL They'd move the bag of grapes and he'd follow it. We were there for about 10 minutes watching him trying to get the grapes. He was so funny!!

Now, there are not many live animals in the natural history museum part. They had some fish, turtles, lizards, penguins, cockroaches, and Clyde the albino alligator. Clyde has to be one of the most awsome animals ever. When I first saw him, I thought he was a marble statue, but he's real and alive! A real live albino alligator. If you look at his front right paw, you can see his pinky claw is missing. His old partner, Bonnie, bit it off. She's no longer with him though.

Here's a video of Clyde swimming around.

Vacation Part II!

2009-07-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, that post was getting a bit long. I hadnt even gotten to a lot of the pictures I wanted to post yet. So, here's part II of the vacation.

So, the CAoS is supposed to be the greenest museum on earth. The coolest thing they have is the "living roof". The roof is covered in almost 2 million living plants, all native to the area. It's beautiful. It is set up to collect rain water and reuse it. You can also see the solar panels up there. The portholes are all over the roof. They let out hot air and let in natural light to the museum.

In the middle of the museum they also have an indoor rainforest. It's 4 stories tall. It goes from an underwater exhibit to high in the tree tops. They have free-flying birds and butterflies, a bat cave, chamelons, and a bunch of other stuff. Unfortunately it was closed the week we were there for renovations.

You can see Brad standing outside the rainforest dome with the winding walkways going up the sides and a bit of the water below. They have an acrylic walkway under the water so you can see the fish up close. I cant wait to go again and get to go in the rainforest.

Now for the aquarium. I LOVE aquariums and took a couple of hundred pictures in there. I wont show them all, although I really want to. LOL I have been having a hard time whiddling it down to a couple of pictures.

Above the aquarium, they have an open water space. They have a guitar fish, some rays, small sharks and other fish. Here is Brad with his parents standing above the open water area. There were even a couple of spots that were acrylic that you could walk over and see the fish under your feet.

Down in the aquarium, it was a bit dark. They have a coral reef, Calif. coast line, a petting area with starfish and muscles, the underneath of Clyde's swamp, and a bunch of other stuff. They have a huge sea bass. He must have weighed 200lbs! Some awsome leafy and weedy sea dragons. I didnt get any picutres of them since they dont like light and their tank was rounch with a billion finger prints all over it.

The coral reef was amazing. You just cant imagine all the colors that there are under the sea. It was one of the most beautiful exhibits. Everything looked like it was glowing. Everything was bright, even the fish. No boring grey fish like you normally think of fish, but bright yellow, hot pink, electric blue. It looks like God let his 3 year old grandson pick out all the colors!

I'll leave you with this little guy. He's actually a baby giant clam...and one of the weirdest things ever. I am pretty sure I saw him in some sort of horror movie. That mouth with all those teeth just freaked me out...so of course, I have a bunch of pictures of him! LOL

If you get a chance to come to San Francisco, see if you can spend the day at the academy of science. Both times it took us about 5 hours to go through. It was worth every penny we paid for it.

This is not my cat.

2009-07-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Finally, all the visitors have gone home....or so we thought. We had a great couple of weeks visiting everyone and hanging out. We even had a mini vacation in San Francisco for just me and my husband. The whole thing was really exhausting though, so we decided that this weekend we would do NOTHING. We slept in late every morning. We played WoW...a lot. We lazed in bed and watched movies and tv. We hardly got out of our sweats. It was an awsome weekend! Then yesterday we get up and notice that our cats are a bit out of sorts. Well, if you own cats, you know that happens a lot. And sometimes it happens for no good reason. So, my husband jumps in the shower and I start fooling around on the internet ignoring our cats who are wigging out. Pretty soon I hear "meewww". Um, we have had all of our cats for at least 3 years and I know their meows and can identify them by their voices. That was not one of mine! That one sounded too young. So, I look towards the sound and see a kitten staring at me from under my couch!

Oh for goodness sake! I have 6 cats who have to compete for my attention and food. Why on earth would they allow another to enter the house?? Are they nuts?? There's no way we can have another cat in the house. We all know that 6 is fine...but 7 puts you in the 'crazy cat lady' category!! I will not become the crazy cat lady! (you can all stop laughing now)

So, I try to bride the kitten out with food...as you can see from the picture. It still wont let me anywhere near it to grab it. So, we let it eat a bit. Then we try herding it back out the cat door. We managed to get the other 6 outside pretty quickly. Finally the little one ran out back. So now we are all out in the back yard. My husband slams the sliding glass door and we both hear the little 'pop' of the lock. So, here we all are out in the backyard. Sliding glass door locked and a 6 foot tall fence with no gate. Come to think of it...there's no gate and no broken slats or holes under the fence....how'd this little guy get in here?? How are we going to get it out?? How are we going to get out?? WE'RE TRAPPED!!! AAAAAAAHHHHH! LOL

Thankfully the front door was unlocked, so my husband jumped the fence and I found a loose slat to push out so the kitten could get out. By this time the poor little thing was running around the backyard like a bucking bronco. He was running into the glass door repeatedly with his little head. :( My big cats were all intriged with the open slat that they kept standing in front of it so the little guy couldnt get out and that just made him panic more. So, I had to herd my 6 back in the house, without the little one getting in, and then herding him to the open slat. He finally ran off to his mother in the bushes across the parking lot. But now I am going to have to go tame him and find him a new home....cause that's what I do.

Now that things are going back to normal after the family and kitten fun, I'll post some pictures of the vacation and stuff later. I just had to tell this story and show the picture of that little cutie.

Totally Useless SAL

2009-06-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry I am late. We were on vacation until this morning. :)

Here is my first Totally Useless SAL picture. I have it in an old 1/2 gallon canning jar. This is 1 months worth of orts, wrappers, etc. It's not nice and neat like others I have seen as I work on about 10 projects at a time. There are orts from an Love Quilt square I did all in pinks, yellows and blues. More from my CdCx which is in greens. The start of my Mary Wigham sampler which is all in reds, peaches, and rusts. The blues are from TW's Celestial Dragon. I am sure there are all sorts of colors from my Celtic Banner. Who knows what else?

Crazy times.

2009-06-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

This last week has been crazy. Next week will be crazier. Hopefully the week after that things will start to get back to normal. My inlaws will be arriving on Wednesday and my father will be arriving on Friday. Then my inlaws leave on Sunday and my father leaves the next Saturday. I am trying to clean my house like a madwoman since my inlaws will be here. It doesnt matter if my dad see's my house messy...but not my mother in law! I married her sweet little baby boy! I am supposed to be taking good care of him. It's bad enough we live with 6 cats...I'd hate for her to see all the dust bunnies we have also adopted. LOL

I am doing all the crazy stuff I never think to do unless we have inlaws coming. Who knew you needed to clean the ceiling fan? You know that little rollaway cart next to my desk? It actually...get this...rolls away so you can dust and vaccuum behind it. That big pile of papers on my desk, it's been filed, or shredded. I can actually see the bottom of my monitor now! I have also done a bunch of stuff I have been putting off for no good reason. I put a little hanging hook on my husband's desk next to the printer. Now the power cord can hang from that when we unplug the printer. (Why do we unplug our printer all the time, you might ask? Because we have 6 cats who like to push buttons and sit on things. I cant tell you how many times I have come out to find 13 copies of something I left on the printer). I also finally went and got some glass to replace the broken glass in a frame. Well, I actually bought a cheapo frame and pulled the glass out of it. The frame was $2 cheaper than the glass alone because it was on sale! I then set the frame out by the garbage bins at my apartment. It was gone within the hour. The garbage bins at our place are like a wonderful little mini home improvement market, or a junk collectors dream, depending on who you ask.

Anyway, I didnt have any stitching pictures ready to go tonight, so I grabbed a couple of two of my cats. The top is Leeroy, named after the famed, if you play WoW, Leeroy Jenkins. He's sleeping with his head on Shaun the Sheep on top of my desk minus the big pile of papers. (If you havent watched the Wallace and Gromit movies, you really should). The second picture is my Spud sitting on the aforementioned printer, which is unplugged.

Hopefully, I'll be back soon with some stitching pictures.

Decisions, decisions.

2009-06-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the world wide Mary Wigham SAL put on by Needleprint? It's a fundraiser for the preservation of the Mary Wigham Sampler at Ackworth School and to aquire other Quaker Samplers for preservation. While I am not a huge fan of Quaker Samplers, I do love the idea of perserving them, and all things lovely, for future generations. I also love the idea of being part of something bigger than myself. Stitching something with hundreds of other people from all over the world. What could be more lovely? Talk about a single thread that holds the whole world together!

And this is where the decisions come in. I have already made a donation to keep Mary Wigham alive in our hearts and stitching. I have downloaded the first 2 parts and intend on downloading the next 7. But do I stitch her? Am I really a part of it if I dont? I have been diligently working on my CdCx and I am making great progress. This will definately slow it down if I start it. But does that really matter? I also feel bad since I dont have any nice linen laying around and I really cant go get any at this time. Would it be hearasy to stitch her on an ivory piece of lugana? Should I just go for it and not worry about all of that?

Floss baggies and organizing them.

2009-06-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

Chrizette was blogging about how she hates the cardboard floss organizers that come with kits now days. I am going to have to say I agree with her wholeheartedly. They are a mess. Your floss always gets tangled. It's a pain to pull out what you need and they get all mashed up and bent.

So, here's what I have started doing. I used to do the whole bobbin thing. But that took away a lot of my stitching time (Not to mention that the cats all think that those little bobbins are their personal play toys). Sitting there twirling floss around a bobbin for hours at a time when I could be stitching. It was like a chore. If I had wanted to do chores I'd be in the kitchen with the dirty dishes, not playing with my flosses and fabrics, right?

Then I discovered the Floss-a-way baggies. Now everything is in bags. My collection of DMC. Each project has it's floss in bags and on rings. It's just so easy to use. You plop in the skein and voila! You are done. Some people go crazy with all the labels and such. I havent gone that far yet. I only label what needs to be labeled.

I am going to use my Celestial Dragon as an example of my floss system. I put all the floss in individual baggies so each color has their own bag. You can use the Floss-a-ways, generics, or even snack sized ziploc bags. Just use a hole punch and put a hole in the corner of the ziploc. I put the floss in numerical order if I have the numbers and put them on a ring. Now, because I stitch multiple projects at the same time, I also write the name of the project on a recipe card and put it on the ring too. This card also helps me know where the number for the floss starts. I can grab the card and automatically be at the lowest/highest floss number. See the picture below? It's the card with the project name (if I was more organized I'd also put all the vital details of the project on there...start date, fabric used, special flosses or any changes I made to the chart, etc). And behind it are all the flosses in their baggies.

Since this project uses mainly DMC I didnt label all the bags. They are all in numerical order anyway. What I did label was the blended flosses. Teresa Wentzler has a lot of blends and they can get out of control if you dont keep them organized. So, I bought the small post-its, the ones for marking pages in a book, and labled them with the 2 colors of floss used for the blend and then chart's symbol for that blend. The important thing to remember is to write the info on the sticky side of the post-it. You do that because you stick the post-it to the inside of the baggy so it doesnt fall off the outside. I put the labels on the bottom corner farthest from the ring hole. I use post-its so when I am done with that project I can pull out the post it and reuse the bag.

Another great thing about the bags is that I waste less floss with them. When I finish a certain color in a section but still have a nice long piece that can be used again, I just wind it up and toss it back in the bag. Then I can use it instead of throwing it away, losing it because it fell off the bobbin or cardboard, and the cats dont get at it laying around the house. And with 6 cats, you get tired of pulling floss out of their mouths every few minutes. It's gross and disgusting!

If you decide you dont like the baggies, you can always do the bobbins. I'd take pictures of those, but I already got rid of all of mine. :)

New Start Time!!

2009-06-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's new start time. Now, those of you that know me can stop laughing. You know that every day would be new start day for me if time, money and husband allowed it. There's nothing more special than slipping a new piece of thread through a new needle eye and sliding it through a new piece of fabric...ahhhhh! So sweet, just like fresh fudge on a spring day!

But what about all of those other WiPs I have going? Progress has been made on some. They've been updated on the side bar. I even spent some time today to add a few that were missing since I started redecorating around here. There's still a couple more on my current FeelGood Rotation that havent made their way up to the sidebar yet. They will be there soon enough though!

On with the show! I started Cirque des Carreaux the other night. I am stitching it on Cashel Linen in Meadow Mist with Hand Dyed Fibers in Jewelweed 3169 as the main color and Yawning Mountain as the secondary colors. Those colors were chosen to be the green counterpart to my brick red CDC I did last year. I cant wait to finish this one...so I can start the new The Bramble and The Rose that was on the cover of this months Gift of Stitching.

HAHAHA! I make myself laugh! I wont wait until I am finished with CdCx to start that. I'll start it as soon as I have the fabric and floss all picked out.

Organizing Stash

2009-06-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

Once again I am tackling my stash. I am trying to sort out all of my stuff into something easy to look at and easy to find. This has been an ongoing project for a long time....my whole life actually. At jobs I have always been the most organzied person. Everything had a place and there was a place for everything. When I left my last job, a company that was going out of business, I took my faithful P-Touch with me. And then it sat in my desk drawer at home for 5 years Un-touched. I dug it out last year and started organizing. I quickly became bored and stopped organizing. Now with the Inlaw weeks coming upon us quickly, I decided to try again.

(The inlaw weeks in case you didnt know start June 24 and run through July 4. During those 2ish weeks my husband's parents will be coming out from TX and my father will be up visiting from Mexico. Everyone decided to invade at once. Which is good, I guess. Get it all overwith at once. The bad part was that my husband took the week of June 22-26 off from work because we were going to take a vacation. Now we get a 2 night stay in SF and inlaws for the rest of the week. LOL Good thing we both get along with our inlaws. But this is off subject and I am sure it'll be another post down the road.)

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of my progress so far. I have taken the normal photo storage boxes and glued a piece of posterboard down the middle. This makes the box just the right size for 2 Floss-a-way bags to go side by side. I managed to finaly make the labels for them too. I am still in the process of putting all of my DMC in numerical order in the DMC boxes. That's gonna take a while. I have a ton of DMC that I unkitted from all my previously kitted and WiP'd HAEDs that have become UFOs.

So far I have 4 boxes filled with DMC. I have only labeled them as Box 1, Box 2, etc. I did this because as I collect more floss, and we know I will, I wont have to change the labels on the boxes. I'll know that the first box will be the lower numbers and the other boxes will keep going higher and higher. This way when one box overflows, I just stuff it in the next one and so on. As you can see from the top picture, I have more than just floss in those boxes. I also have sewing, knitting and crochet stuff...not that any of those boxes ever get opened.

I have also put all of my current WiPs in those nifty little plastic mesh project bags. I put labels on the outside of each pouch so I can see at a glance which is which. It makes it a lot easier to swap out projects when I get bored of one. I know it looks like a lot since I have 11 bags there. To be fair, one of the bags is labled "soon to be projects". Those are items I have not allowed myself to start at this time, but I know I want to do soon. The pouch next to that is labeled "misc projects". That's where I stuffed all the projects that I didnt have more pouches for. LOL I tried to make sure they were all the small items I am working on. Ornaments, mailart, etc. They dont really need a pouch of their own, but I dont want them floating around my room and getting lost.

What you dont see is the big 4 drawer dresser next to the cages crammed full of more stitching/scrapbooking/general crafts. The other cages filled with misc crafting stuff. The big underbead container filled with more stitching stuff. The 13 gallon plastic container at the end of my bed filled with old stitching stuff from 20 years ago. The other end of the upper shelf filled with boxes of lace/q-snaps/beads. The bookcase shelves full of boxes of fabric, beads and craft books. The china cabinet in my diningroom filled with stained glass supplies and who knows how many boxes in storage. Maybe instead of organizing I should be weeding out some of that stuff?

Obligation Stitching.

2009-05-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

I think we need to change the name of "obligation" stitching. I dont know about anyone else, but obligation has a negative connotation for me.

1. something by which a person is bound or obliged to do certain things, and which arises out of a sense of duty or results from custom, law, etc.

Personally, I dont want my stitching to be an obligation. I dont want to be obliged to stitch. I stitch for fun and relaxation. Yet, I have those few pieces that I promised to someone or to myself to do for someone.

So how about this? Blessing Stitching? Grace Stitching? Benidiction Stitching? Or even simple Gift Stitching.

A week or two ago I finished and ~~obligation~~ blessing stitched piece. It got me thinking of all my blessing stitching I need to work on. So I decided to pull it out and take a picture of it. It's in various states of completeness from: "Hey, I bought the pattern, what more do you want?" to "I just need to put in a bead or two and frame it."

Starting at the top:

Papillon Creation's "How Does Your Garden Grow?" 2008 free SAL for my mother in law. I am on Part 6 of 12.
My Big Toe's "Remember Me" for my Gma as a remembrance of my Gpa. I havent even opened the package yet, but I did buy the chart.
Teresa Wentzler's "Egyptian Sampler" for my mother (maybe). I have the chart, fabric and the DMC floss ready.
Dimensions' "Dragonfly Pond" for my mother (or maybe Egyptian Sampler, who knows?). I actually got this in kit form on clearance for less than $10.
CrossStitchers' "Girl on a Swing -Green version" for my niece. As you can see, she's just about finished. I just need to decide what to do with her eyes since I dont like how they charted them. Then she just needs to be framed.
Ute Senkel-Weinberg's "My Hearts". This is my ornament idea for the year. I am making one a month into a strawberry emery style ornament. This is number 4 that is almost done. I just need to sew the edges and stuff it. Yes, I realize that it's the 5th month and that it's almost over. I am a bit behind. :P I make 1 ornament for each of the families in my family every year.
CrossStitchers' "Girl on a Swing -Blue version" for my other niece. I actually need to frog out a large section on the left of her head. She's going to be swining in the opposite direction as the green version and she'll be blue of course.

I know I'll get the ornaments done. I always do. I'd love to get HDYGG done by Christmas or sooner. I really want to finish the Girl in a Swing, both versions for Christmas. I should start Remember Me and finish it before my Gma gets too old. Who knows when I'll get around to doing the stuff for my mom. Maybe I'll just do the Dragonfly Pond because I know it'll be quick and easy?

Cirque des Carreaux test stitches

2009-05-26T19:05:00.001-07:00

I spent 1 evening last week doing some test stitching for CdCx. I know I want to do it in a teal/green scheme. I pulled out my box of Vicki's silks to see what I had. Then I decided to purchase a couple of new silks. After testing those, I put in another order for a few more. I havent even gotten that last order yet, but I have a new order sitting in my shopping cart on her site again. Anyway, this is the current combo I am looking at. I picked this because it matches my CdC, but instead of reds, it's in greens. Eventually I want to have CdC, CdCx and CdT all stitched, framed and hung together. And, Lord save me, if she comes out with another Cirque. I am sure I'll be on that bandwagon too.

Why oh why??

2009-05-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to change the look of my blog. It works great on my test blog and then I transfer it over here and it's all wonky! So, I'll be in a state of construction for a while. LOL I just dont have time to figure out all the kinks just yet. I'll get to it though. :)

ARGH! I am such a ditz sometimes.

2009-05-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Anyway, a crafting group I had belonged to was stitching squares for a quilt. The quilt is to go to a daughter of a friend of a member of the group. The little girl is quite sick. The quilt is going to be adorable. It's all girly with a castle/princess theme. I finished up my last square and put it in the mail today....and I forgot to take a picture!! I hate when I do that. Oh well. Too late now.

Here's a picture of my first square I did though. The second one was the letters P, Q, R and a little castle motif.

Just an FYI...that's a crown, not a pie. ;)

Playing Catch Up.

2009-05-16T14:55:00.001-07:00

I have so much to catch up here. I have a ton of WIPs which have never been posted and I have actually made progress on a lot of stuff. So, I'll post some WIPs today, maybe some tomorrow and try to catch up.

Here are my two latest ornaments. They are stitched on scraps of fabric I have laying around with scraps of Hand Dyed Fibers floss. The designs are all from My Hearts by Ute Senkel-Weinberg Sticken & Staunen. The blue ABC ornament uses Ethereal Ice and the purple one is Dragon Droppings and Ultra Violet 2125. I have one more ready to be stuffed and that'll go up in a few days.

Cirque des Carreaux

2009-05-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

I have decided to bite the bullet and get started on my Cirque des Carreaux. I bought the chart as soon as it came out and it's been sitting on my desk waiting for me to pick out colors. I ran up to Needle in a Haystack this morning to find some fabric and a few other things...cause arent there always a "few other things" you need when you go to a stitching store??

I decided on a green/teal theme this time. I did Cercles in rust/red and absolutely love it. I wanted to do this one in a completely different color scheme. I picked out Cashel 28ct in Meadow Mist. It's a lovely light greyish green. I am still deciding on floss colors. I am pretty sure that I will be using Hand Dyed Fibers' Old Maid of the Forest. The picture of it on their website does not do it justice at all. I ordered a couple of other greens to see which will go with it best. I cant wait to get this one started.

Here's a picture of the fabric, Old Maid of the Forest and Jadeite 2471, which is one of the possiblities for the solid color.

Apartment Life

2009-04-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

I decided to start flying again. (Which is a totally different post) Life is going pretty good and I have been trying this off and on for a few years. Time to get serious about it. So I woke up an hour before I usually do...which isnt really that early. LOL First thing I did was put in 2 loads of laundry. Since I live in an apartment, I share 2 washers and dryers with about 20-30 other apartments. I am always finding things in the washers and dryers, from the usual lint and kleenex someone forgot in their pocket to socks, other clothes and sometimes even money! Ok, it's usually pennies or dimes. I did find $10 once though!

Anyway, I go in the laundry room today to start my loads. I always check inside for loose items....cause that red sock that was left one time really did a number on my load of whites. True story. :( I pick out the kleenex scraps and lint from all 4 machines. Then I start pulling out lacy under garments....really lacey, really small. I get to the top dryer, where I usually find the most stuff cause apparently everyone in the complex is really short and cant see inside there. A couple more lacy thongs and.....a giant pair of granny panties. WTF? 5 pairs of girly, tiny, black, lacy thongs and 1 giant pair of polyester, white, granny panties.

Because I have a large imagination and like to make up interesting stories for my neighbors it's some cute little thing who lives with a granny panty fetishist. LOL now I just have to figure out which neighbor it is.

Yeah, I am still alive...and I finished something!

2009-01-22T14:15:00.001-08:00

Here's my new ornament style for 2009! I think it came out pretty cute. I have no idea what the fabric is. It's out of my scap box. The design is My Hearts by Ute Senkel-Weinberg. The floss is Hand-dyed Fibers in WinterBerried. I got the finishing idea from Focus on Finishing.

Love Quilt Finish

2008-09-18T12:55:00.001-07:00

I finally finished my Love Quilt square and will be sending it off next week...although I did say that 2 weeks ago. I really mean it this time!! This was stitched on white 18ct Aida. The design is from Cinnaminn over at CyberStitchers.com.

WIP's Galore

2008-09-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here we go for the monthly?? or bimonthly? or whenever I get around to it WiP updates!

Celtic Banner by Butternut Road. Stitched using recommended threads on 32 ct Belfast Linen in Vintage Autumn Field.

Celestial Dragon by Teresa Wentzler. Stitched on 28ct Lugana with recommended fibers.

Blackstone Fantasy Garden by Ink Circles stitched on 28 ct linen in Fairydust with Carrie's Creations threads.

Part 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Papillion's How Does Your Garden Grow Mystery Sampler. Fabric is from a Silkweaver grab bag, so I dont have the name or count. I am guessing it's 28 count lugana and the color is a very light blueish green, that doesnt show up on film too well. Fibers are Week's Dye Works ~ Williamsburg Blue, Crescent Colours~ House Wine, Erin Go Emerald, Pumpkin Harvest, Purple Aster, and St. Bernard.

Girl on a Swing (Green Version) from Issue 198 of CrossStitcher magazine. Using the recomended threads, except I replaced the green Glistengloss with green Kreinik small braid. It's stiched on 14 ct Sky Blue Aida.

Elizabeth....re: Dragon Knot

2008-09-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth, Honestly, I wouldnt recommend Dragon Knot by HAED. Sometimes they do some great charting, this wasnt one of those times. I did more than what was in this picture, but never took another picture of it. Sorry. I was almost half way done with it when I gave up on it. It's a shame since I REALLY, REALLY loved this design.

1. The blue dragon is nearly all black. He's not colorful like in the orginal artwork.

2. The red dragon was going in the same direction...mostly black.

3. The Celtic knots in the center were really blurry. There are supposed to be faces in the knots, but they are so blurry you cant tell what they are.

4. The lower dragon's claw and one resting on the knot are not clear and just look like lumps or blend into the background.

5. They messed added too much shadow to one part of the blue dragons tail and then cut off too much of his tail in another place, so it goes fat, skinny, fat.

At one point they recharted this, but it looks like they only recharted the center of the knot and left the dragons looking too dark.

HAED just does not do well on the watercolor type art pieces. They blend them so much it all just blurs badly. Stick with the designs that have nice outlines like the Nadia Tates, etc. Those all come out pretty good!

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

2008-08-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

A year or two ago, I was listening to the radio and the DJ was going on and on about a book called Stiff. He was saying how it was such a great book, blah blah blah. So, I have a morbid curiosity about things, so I read it. It was a great book. It was full of interesting stories and she was very funny about how she approached death.

So, when I was at the bookstore and I saw Spook, I had to get it. The title pretty much sums up what the book is about. She looks into different culture's thoughts on the afterlife and also into studies trying to prove the afterlife by different scientists during different time periods.

I enjoyed this book, but nearly as much as Stiff. This one had a couple of slow spots and she seemed to go off topic a bit for me now and then. She still has the same sense of humor though, which was good. It kept the book from being too dry.

If you are interested in science "lite" and anecdotal stories about life after death, I'd recommend this book. Mary Roach is not a scientist. She just is curious about these things. If you are looking for hard facts, it's probably not for you.

5:30 on a Summer Morning

2008-08-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a cool summer. A very cool summer. Fog has reigned over us, the sun has stayed hidden. It's 5:30 AM. I am driving through the city. The air is crisp. It's the kind of crisp you associate with fall, not summer. My skin starts to prickle up at first contact with the air after being cozily tucked into my bed. There is no breeze this morning to caress my skin. It's only stillness in the air. The air smells fresh this morning. The exhaust from yesterday has been blown away in the middle of the night. The exhaust from today hasn't yet set in. The flowers haven't released their scents to the sun. This early there are no insects or birds to come set upon their vines and leaves, so no reason to lure them.

Only the bravest of stars have dared to show themselves through the glare of the city lights. The moon is just a sliver directly overhead, peeking down at us through it's darken veil of sky. Our blanket of fog isn't here this morning. I see it though. I see it along the horizon to the north, just out of my reach. It's reflecting the soft peach color of the street lights below. A soft peach froth glowing over some other city. There will be no fog here today.

The sun is still hiding behind the hills. The softest glow of blue along the hilltop is the only clue that it will make an appearance today. It's sneaking in slowly, one little bit of light at a time. Checking for the fog, before it breaks into all it's glory over the top of the hills. Only another hour before the sun makes his grand entrance, removing the veil of darkness, hiding the stars and moon. Calling forth the perfume of the flowers. Heating the day.

It's quiet at 5:30AM. Well, quiet for a city. Most of the 200,000 people are still sleeping. The train operators are awake. The commuter trains are running in the distance with a low hum, rattle and a whoosh every 15 minutes. The garbage men are awake. The garbage trucks break the quiet with a loud squeak of the breaks and a crash, bang of the cans. A stray car runs by every now and then. Someone trying to get a jump on the pandemonium of rush hour. Rush hour, which really lasts for 3 hours. But for now, it's only trains and garbage trucks. Even the birds have not dared to wake up this early.

I get back home and start the water for my tea. Tea tastes different this early. It tastes different in the silent still darkness of 5:30. The nuances seem to make a bigger impression on the taste buds. Hidden inside the green tea are mint and lemongrass to tingle on the tip of the tongue. By sun up, the nuances will be gone. It'll go back to just being tea. All of the other senses will be stimulated, dulling the taste.

Soon the sound of the commuter trains and garbage trucks will blend in with the sounds of thousands of cars, buses, birds, people. The sun will peek over the hills and awaken the world. Right now, it is just me and my tea.

Two more small finishes!

2008-08-22T16:19:00.001-07:00

That's right, Ladies and Gentlemen! The infamous serial starter has more finishes under her belt for 2008!! I am now officially caught up with my ornament a month challenge. I have to confess that the next ones will be harder though. I had the last eight all stitched, all I had to do was stitch on the backing and the handle. The next four needs to be stitched and finished off. I am pretty sure I am up to the challenge though! Hopefully. Well....we'll see.

A couple of small finishes

2008-08-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Two more ornaments finished for my 1 ornament a month project. I am now finished with all ornaments scheduled through June! Yes, I know it's August. Yes, I know August is almost over. :P

No idea about the fabric, floss or designs. They are all scraps.