Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Hyper Stitchin'

Well, the last 3 days have been...not fun. I was at work on Sunday for 15 1/2 hours with 2 guys from our IT dept in NY (our parent company). Then 12 hours on monday and normal hours today but my brain is seriously fried. I lost it at work this morning and was crying and venting for while. It was just all piling up and boy did I need a release. They should have stayed a second day. Anyway, last night and tonight I came home and did nothing but stitch, except a nap today until Bella woke me up biting my feet. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't stitch. It is such a relaxing release. So, I started the Leslie's Peacock Sampler and Halloween Fairy, which I am now hooked on. OMG, I love Crescent Colors thread. I hadn't really used it before. It is the softed, nicest thread to work with. I have been noticing lately that TGA threads are knotting up and getting all twisted, WDW too but CC isn't like that. A knot here and there but not like the other ones. This fairy is so much fun to stitch. So, I am off to bed but here it is.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

RAK and Halloween

Today was a great day I must say. I did some homework, stitched a lot, went to the cross stitch store in Bedford and was RAKd. I bought Mirabilia's new Halloween Fairy. I love it! I am not a huge fan of Miribilia. Well, I love how they all look but I don't have a strong desire to stitch them. Weird. But this Halloween Fairy is so cool. And I was looking at the Christmas Fairy holding the little tree. I have to do that one too. Oh, and the Easter Fairy with the little eggs. Okay, I have to do that one too. So, I can't wait to start the Halloween Fairy. I also picked up The Blessing by Examplars from the Heart. I got some R & R Reproduction Fabric for it. I need to start writing down the fabrics I get b/c I can never remember their names. And I got all the WDW threads for it too and there were some interesting ones...Noel, Old Glory, Conch, Kentucky Bluegrass...this is going to be one interesting design. I wonder which Autumn it will be done in...06, 07, 08. I love stitching Fall and Halloween. It's my favorite stitching holiday.

So, I saw a really good friend of mine today and she surprised me with a just because gift. She gave me Examplars from the Heart's Leslie's Peacock Sampler, beautiful 32ct Country French Latte linen and all the CC threads to stitch it. It was such a sweet thing to do and really made my day. It was a RAKing. I can't wait to start stitching it. The colors are so beautiful; reds, blues, golds, greens. It put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

Oh, and good news, I finished Remember Me from Blackbird Designs. I love the way it came out. Some of the brownish colors are a little too similar but I still love it. Yea. I wish I could remember the name of this linen because it was great to work on. Must write down linen names.

It's 10:30pm, I have the munchies, and cereal is the best invention next to ice cream.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Blogging Slacker

I am a blogging slacker. It's been a week since I put in an entry, although I do have a good excuse. I have been on vacation. I went on a Windjammer sailiing cruise out of Camden, Maine. It was so much fun. I highly recommend it. The sailing was incredible, the people were so nice, and the food was incredible. All home cooked. The room was a bit small but for the amount of time you actually spend in it, it doesn't matter. It was so nice to be back out on the water. I grew up sailing and then we switched to power boats but I really missed it. I got a bit toasty from laying on the deck but now it is a nice tan. Also, I broke the book crisis...I knew Jodi Picoult would do it. I read Second Glance and Vanishing Acts, both excellent. If you have never read her, I recommend her books.

Okay, on to stitching. I have been alternating between Plymouth Sampler by Brenda Keyes and When this you see by Blackbird Designs. I am so close to being finished with When this you see but the Age 34 is over too far to the right by about 6 stitches so I need to remove it and move it over a bit. The TGA chamomile color is really too close to the green in WDW thistle, which is the alternating pink/green flowers off of the vine in the bottom. Those flowers are backstitched, which is good or you wouldn't see them at all. I am still enjoying stitching Plymouth Sampler. I added the cat/dog at the bottom and finished the third house. I can't wait to finish this one too.

So, I have been feeling extremely unmotivated lately. Since before I left for vacation last week I haven't wanted to do anything but stitch and read. Oh, and eat. Exercise, yuck. School, I don't think so. Flowers, they don't need that much water. I think I am slowly getting out of my funk, at least I hope I am. I have so many commitments, I can't afford to blow them off. I am going to school at JIU online for my master's degree and the class I am taking now is on presentations. I don't mind speaking in front of a class but because this class is online, we have to video tape the presentation in front of an actual audience and then mail them in. It's just a PITA. I have been procrastinating like crazy and I have to do the presentation thursday night. I bet you can't guess what I am doing it on??? That's right, cross stitch. I am doing a history through today presentation. I figured I should do it on something I know since I am in procrastination mode. I also seem to be in heavy typing mode. :) It's good to be back.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

It didn't rain today!

Well, it didn't rain today! Woohoo! I think it's going to be warm this week too. I am so ready for summer, heat, and sun. And so are my petunias. Today was a day for finishing projects. I made a schlep bag for my friend Sarah. She picked out the fabrics and I put it all together. It is such a fast bag to make and a lot of fun. I have made bags in the past that are such a pain in the butt to make but not this one. I started cutting out more fabrics for my next schlep bag. They are pink, purple, and yellow, very cool.

Next, I finished the SBF baby sampler called Little Angel Sampler. It is the sweetest thing. I found the charm pack online and am waiting for that to arrive.
Well, I am also waiting for the baby to arrive so I can add the date to the bottom. I am going to make the frame this week so it is ready to go. I bought the cutest Winnie the Pooh outfit and hat for him today; couldn't resist. I also did some more this week on the Plymouth Sampler but didn't take a picture tonight. I have 2 houses done and am working on house number 3. This was the first weekend I didn't have to do anything specific in months so I took advantage of it and stitched and quilted. I also worked more on Remember Me from Blackbird Designs. They should be coming out with #5 in the house series pretty soon. I can't wait to see what it looks like. I am still waiting for the Olde Willow Stitchery thread to arrive so I can start the Women of the Mayflower design. Carol will be finished with it before I even start. :) Stitching Bits & Bobs is waiting for it to come in before they can send it to me. I hate waiting. Anyway, back to work tomorrow, bummer.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Plymouth Sampler

This has been an awesome weekend. Yesterday, I went to Raymond to pick up a quilt I made and had quilted. It is so awesome. I just have to sew the binding on and it will be done and then I will put a picture up here. Then, I drove to Salem to pick up my sewing machine which was being serviced. I got a lecture there (and rightfully so) about how often I should oil the machine (which I wasn't doing at all) and how I should clean the machine after every 8 hours of use. Ah, yeah, I hadn't cleaned it in 2 years. No wonder it was squeaking and running funny. Well, now it runs awesome and it is like a new machine. Let's hope I have learned my lesson about that. :)

Then, I saw my friend Sue, who always makes me laugh and is so much fun to be around. We talked stitching and stuff. Then I spent mucho dineros at Colonial Needleworks in Bedford. It felt like I hadn't been there in months. I bought all the stuff in the picture above. I am the most excited about getting Brenda Keyes Plymouth Sampler because it always sells out. I was looking through all the charts and there it was, I almost yelled out in the middle of the store. I have already started on it and I must say it is so refreshing to be stitching with DMC so I can haul butt with the sewing method. I can't remember the last time I stitched something that didn't use over-dyed thread. It is a nice change. I also did some work on the blog which was much needed.

Stuff I bought at Colonial Needleworks:

1. Plymouth Sampler by The Sampler Company & 28ct cream Cashel linen
2. 32ct cream Belfast linen for Women of the Mayflower (I am sensing a theme here)
3. Garden State Java linen by R & R Reproductions for Quaker Garden pattern by Blackbird Designs
4. Halloween House by Lilybet Designs & 28ct green cashel linen to go with it. Also a few overdyes I didn't have.
5. Two Red Houses by Little House Needleworks. This is a Christmas present for someone but I can't say who in case she is reading this ;)

On the book front......I decided to put away the 6 books I had made it to page 30 on and pick up an author I know would break my current reading crisis. This happens to me every 6 - 8 months; I can't seem to get into any book I pick up. Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors and her books are so good that my hopes are high for book crisis breakage.