Weekend Progress and More

     I made some progress over the weekend, and last week too.  I worked on Achoo most of the time (one morning till six AM) and Jesus on Sunday.  It worked out pretty good.  I got lots done on both.  Jesus is finally starting to look like himself, but I don't really like how his face is turning out.  It's got orange in it, and REALLY???  Whose face has orange in it like that?!?  Ick...  Anyways, you can see him here: 

Jesus 8/29/2011

Achoo 8/27/2011

  And Achoo is coming along really well.  I've gotten lots done on him in the last few days.  It's partly due to Randi.  We talk on the phone a lot, so I spend more time stitching.  I did manage to stay caught up on blogs and emails these last couple of days too, so I'm happy about that!  Achoo has a couple of really weird color blends, but I'm following the pattern.  They mixed light gray and gray with light brown.  Those are the only two blends, and I don't know if I like them or not, lol.  You can see a piccy of Achoo here:   
     I've made a new friend this week.  His name is Benjamin, and he's Charity's (another blogger friend) husband.  He's just started a blog.  He has a little cross stitch, a little woodworking, and a book on his wishlist.  He very nicely asked me if I would share his blog, and of course I agreed.  You can see his blog here, and he asked that everyone check out his wishlist especially.  It has a book on it that he thinks would be helpful for a lot of men, so check it out.
     Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post.  I found them all humorous and am so grateful for everyone who leaves a comment.  I love to hear what y'all think about what I've said!  So big bunches of thanks to everyone who's ever left a comment on my blog.
     It seems (and this is slightly scary to me) that I'm normal in a way.  {GASP}  I posted my poll to see what you guys thought I should do for the twentieth piece in my rotation.  I thought I should do Frost Moon, because it's such a big chart.  It looks like y'all agreed with me as Frost Moon won the poll by one vote.  I think I'll kit it up at Christmas time as I should get some money for Christmas.   I'm gonna kit up Celtic Autumn and Lust at the sale for Labor Day.  I got out the floss bags and did all my floss bags for Lust.  So now all I have to do is put the flosses in their bags.  I HATE doing HAEDs cause their symbols make me draw.  I soooooooo cannot draw.  I suck at it.  So it was a bit of a challenge.  But I'm getting excited, which is a bad thing.  It's gonna be a while.  I still have a week of Achoo (this week), then two weeks each dad's memorial, Story Keeper, Calendar Partwork, and Shore Patrol (whoo hoo, I'm sort of SALing that with a friend.  She's gonna work on it when ever, and I'm leaving it in my rotation, but when I work on it, I'm gonna post a good pic, like everything, lol).  So I'm gonna be all excited about organizing it, and I won't get to start it for two months.  Urgh...
     I'm trying to complete my Lora Leigh collection of books this week.  I figured with shipping, I can get them all for about ninety six dollars and change.  That's twelve books, and shipping on a few.  I'm using their super saver shipping.  That way I get free shipping on most of them.   Yay.  But if I buy them a couple at a time, I'll have to pay four bucks shipping each, and that's a lot of money.  So I'm gonna ask mom if I can borrow eighty dollars from her to buy them.  I think she'll be okay with it.  I hope, anyways.  Ah, a girl can dream, right?!?  So we'll see how it goes.
     Randi has a nickname for me.  LOL, she calls me Nutter Butter.  I think it's hilarious.  I don't have a nickname for her yet.  I'm still thinking up a good one.  I was thinking though, Miranda Matilda.  That really speaks to me.  For those who don't know, I make up a middle name that suits me for my friends, instead of a nickname.  Kay is Kay Marie Antoinette (which led to lots of jokes about my wanting her to be headless), Rosa doesn't have a set name, I change hers all the time because her real first name, which she hates, is a longer version of Rosa (I won't say it here as she may read this).  Tora is Tora Jane.  Julie is Julie Ann (because her real middle name is Ann, and Julie Ann and julienne sound so alike.  She even had a friend who called her french fries for a while as french fries are fried julienned potatoes).  And Aly is Aly Louise.  So I like Miranda Matilda.  We will have to see if something better jumps out at me.
     Speaking of Randi, she's coming up earlier than we had planned.  We were making plans for Christmas, but now she's coming up for my birthday.  She just informed me that she purchased her tickets for the week of my birthday, and she'll be coming up to chat, stitch, crochet, eat, shop, and read.  We're gonna have a blast.  It's nice to get along so well with someone.  So now I'm really excited about my birthday.  It's October fifth.  And I have a request.  I'm not asking for gifts, or anything like that.  But I'm gonna post my address for anyone who wants to get me a card.  I'll be forty this year, and they have some fabulous turning forty cards.  So if anyone would like to go out and find an outrageous card for someone turning forty, I would love it!!!!  I want to collect as many as I can, as I find them amazingly humorous.  So if anyone would like to send me a card, here's the addy:
Julie and Yes Dear
2442 Ferguson Road Apt. # 2
Cincinnati, Ohio, 45238
     TIA to anyone who finds me a great card.  I will, of course, post pics when I get them!!!!  I can't wait to see what my creative and crafty friends come up with!!  The more outrageous (over the hill, old as dirt, whatever), the better, guys.  Cause I could definitely use the laughs.  This is my first birthday since my dad died, and until Randi said she was coming for it, I was dreading it.  So hopefully between the cards and the visit, things will be okay.
     Randi has started a new group.  It's called Stitches with Love.  It's a Yahoo group.  It's for anyone who does any kind of fiber art.  Stitching, knitting, hardanger, crochet, crewelwork, weaving, spinning, rug hooking, whatever.  Feel free to check it out here.
     Okay, one more thing, and I'll be done.  I promise.  I'm joining a challenge.  Well, it's sort of a challenge.  Measi over at Measi's Musings (here) is doing WIPacolypse 2012.  You can see the rules here.  Since I've already got my rotation all set up, I'm gonna join in the fun.  So far, there are only a few people (about ten) who've joined her, so feel free to go over and join yourself.  It's basically you listing the WIPs you're gonna work on in 2012, and then posting pics on schedule.  It's gonna be a good time though.
     I'll close by saying I hope y'all had a really good weekend.  Mine was pretty good as I only had to do some minor frogging on Jesus, and none at all on Achoo.  I talked, ate, and laughed a lot.  It was nice.  So here's hoping you all had as nice a weekend as I did.  (It surely felt like it should be IHSW again because I got so much done, lol.)

I'm a terror

     Julie IMed me tonight while I was stitching.  (I was sitting across the room, and saw the message pop up on my computer.)  She wanted to SHARE with me.  She was talking to Vicki, and there were things said about me.  As you all know, I tend to harass Vicki for pics.  She has gotten into the habit of just emailing me a pic when she finishes stuff.  Because if she doesn't, she knows I'll keep IMing her to say, "Have you sent me a pic yet?"  So tonight, the following was said:
     Vicki: Must get round to scanning in *&^%$    Julie:  Yes - you must . Don't let JYD know though otherwise she will will nag you until you do it.  Every 5 minutes you'll get a message "Did you scan it yet?" LOL....  Vicki:  lol I know - she's a terror
     I'm so hurt and upset that they're talking about me behind my back, and I can't believe Vicki would say something so horrible about me.  (Ignore the previous text, it's all a big fat lie.)  I think it's hilarious!  I am a terror about photos with Vicki and Julie and most of my friends, and I admit it.  I like to see what's going on!!!!  So I'm a terror and proud of it.  Sorry, Vick, didn't mean to give you a heart attack.  Love you!!!!!  I'll be bothering you soon for webcam as Rosa is coming up in a couple of months...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

     I just read a really neat blog by Nia, and wanted to do the same formula.  She, in turn, found this on someone else's blog.  I don't know who originally started it, but it's fun.  If you want to read her 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 you can go here. So here we go...
ONE project you are particularly proud of.
It would have to be my largest finish to date, Lord of the Plains.  I think it's seventeen by fourteen finished size...  You can see a piccy here.
TWO mistakes you've made in the past.
Oh, man, I can only pick two?!?  Okay, okay, only two.  As some of you may know, I have a counting problem.  I can't do it properly, and so I'm frequently frogging to fix a mistake.  It's not one mistake, but it's the one I keep making over and over.  The second mistake, and this one borders on humorous, is having an open drink anywhere near stitching.  I ended up dropping a bobbin into a mug of milk one time.  By the time I pulled it out, it was saturated.  So, I had to unwind the whole length of floss from the bobbin, wash it and rinse it in the sink, then hang it up to day (YD was particularly fond of the drying portion of the program, and dragged it down to play with it.  I didn't think she could jump that high, but I guess the motivation has to be right.)  So now my drink ALWAYS has a lid.
THREE things that make your work unique.
Wow, not much.  I rarely even sign my work.  I try to remember, but I always forget.  Maybe that in and of itself makes my work unique, cause most people sign theirs.  Um, my messy backs may be unique.  I loop start where I can, and trim up when I tie off, but my backs are still messy.  It's probably because I spend so much time charting my course.  I will stitch some areas side to side, and some up and down, and some on the diagonal, so my backs are never all nice and neat.  The third thing that makes me unique (not my pieces, but me) is that I have so many BAPs in my rotation.  I have twenty pieces (Holy Moley) and almost all of them are BAPs.  My smallest piece is a hardanger small.  It's eight by eight.  Then I have two eight by tens, and a twelve by six (or so, that's just an estimate).  The rest are fourteen inches on the short side.  I have a Chat (22.5 by 22.5) and will have four or five HAEDs.  I have a Miribilia and a L & L too.  All kinds of big, complex things.  Yay!!!
FOUR tools you love to use.
This one is easy peasy.  I LOVE my Q-snaps.  I use them on almost everything these days.  I have some very nice, very SHARP snips that I love.  They cut my threads easily, and they are nice and close to the fabby when I'm done.  I wouldn't stitch without my glasses.  I use them on every size and count, no matter if it's fourteen count or thirty two.  And lastly, I love my floor stand.  I rarely use it anymore, cause it's not equipped for qs, and I need my work to be portable.  I take it (my work, that is) with me to the pharmacy, the doc's office, and mom's house.  I miss being able to stitch two handed.  It's so much faster!!!
FIVE inspirations
This one will be tough.  Um, part of my inspiration comes from my desire to have pretty things hanging in my house or to give pretty things to my friends and family.  I get a lot of inspiration from my stitchy friends, especially when we're doing a SAL.  I follow a lot of blogs that really inspire me (to both stitching and stashing, lol).  Um...  I need one more...  And (and I freely admit, this is a really contrary reason) my dad is number five.  He always said, "You'll never finish that.  I don't know why you bother."  So my impressive amount of stubborn sits up and says, "You wanna bet?!?"  So that's number five, because I'm sure he's watching me now.  So those are my five inspirations.
     Now, on to more fun things.  Randi was very nice to me the other day.  She pulled my pic of Yes Dear and resized it for me.  I didn't have a program to resize photos at the time I put it up, and my camera took it that size, which is just crazy!!!!  So she resized it for me, and emailed it to me.  I immediately put it up, and doesn't it look nicer now?!?  I like it much better, so thanks Randi!!
     Also, my poll closed.  One deadly sin, one Celtic lady, and one something else squeaked out the win by only one vote.  So now I have another poll up.  This one lets you choose more than one answer, cause I would never be able to decide.  It asks you what the something else should be in my rotation.  There are so many options, and I can't decide.  So far, I have like two votes.  (I think they both belong to Julie M.)  One for Water, and one for A Chance Encounter.  So go to my blogspot and vote in my poll.  It's here.
     Lastly, I have progress on Achoo, but not much.  I'm getting behind cause I keep talking to Randi on the phone, so I've been trying to catch up on blogs and emails these last few days.  I've updated my Achoo folder, and you can see my progress here.  It's really quite hard to see, but I'm doing his shadow.  It's all the same color grey, but some half stitches are one strand, some are two strands, and some are three strands.  I'll try and get something that looks like his leg stitched for my next update!!
     Lastly, HAED has another thirty percent off sale, and I'm resisting (so far).  I may buy Air at the Labor Day sale.  We'll see how it goes...  Anyways, that's all for me today.  Hope y'all are having a superb day!!!

IHSW

     This weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend.  I did reach my goal on Chat's Desert Garden Mandala.  Of course, I'm excited about that.  That's two in a row.  Whoo hoo me!!!!  My goal on Desert Garden was to finish up part seven and start part eight.  I finished up part seven, which was a roadrunner and a small blue bird.  I like the blue bird better!!!  You can see it here by itself, and here is the whole thing.  I haven't got much to go left, which is exciting.  There are four borders (parts nine, ten, eleven, and twelve, and the rest of part eight.  Part eight is four medallions over the feathers, and you can see the beginnings of the first one here.  And then came Sunday, and I felt like crap all day.  I didn't stitch a stitch on Jesus, so I'll be putting in a couple of hours on him today.  Then, this week is Achoo.  I haven't started it yet, so I don't really have a goal.  But I want to get at least five hundred stitches in to it.  So I'll make that my goal.  I don't usually do goals like that.  They're more like, I want to get to the end of the row, or I want to finish up part such and such.  We'll see how I do, lol.  It's a really cute chart, so it should go quickly.
     I've been making plans with Randi for her trip up here.    She's gonna be here for a week, and she's nervous that she'll piss me off, lol.  She hasn't yet figured out how easygoing I am, lol.  She apparently has a temper, but I haven't seen it yet.  Of course, I'm not real pushy either, so that could be part of it.  She's gonna fly in on the twentieth  and flying out on the twenty seventh.  We're gonna hit Red Lobster and Outback for dinner one night each.  And we're going to the LNS.  I can't wait for that.  I've never been to one.  The local one is about forty to fifty minutes away, and I've been dying to go, but I never had the money.  Since Randi will have Christmas money, we're gonna go there and she's gonna pick up some cool stuff.  I'm so excited I can hardly wait, and so is she, lol.  Rosa may come up before then, but IDK if we'll have gas money for her to get here and back, so we'll see.  I love having visitors, and I get along so well with both ladies, that I'm excited to have company.  It's gonna be so great!!!
     Julie M just IMed me a great story.  If you are interested in the consequences of bullying, you can read it here.  This is awesome.  If you don't wanna go read her blog, I'll summarize.  This photographer came upon a facebook page, started under a ficticious name, where students can make fun of other students.  One of the first comments was by someone she was scheduled to photograph.  She went through the comments, and found comments that were just as cruel by several others she was scheduled to photograph.  So she cancelled all the appointments, and emailed the girls with a nice email about why she cancelled them.  Then she sent an email to the parents with a screenshot of the nasty comments.  I was like, YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!  I think that's awesome!!  Great job, Jen.  Wonderful.
     Randi showed me a wonderful site for T shirts the other day.  I want several of them.  If you want to see them, look here.  I want the one that says, "I can only please one person per day.  Today is not your day.  Tomorrow doesn't look good either," and the one that says, "Gone Crazy  Be Back Shortly".  I love them.  I may have to get them eventually.  That cracks me up!!!
     And that's all for me tonight.  Hope y'all are having a good night!!!   Okay, I got a phone call before I had time to edit this, and while I was on the phone, I worked on Jesus.  So I do have some progress on him as well.  You can see him here.  I didn't do a whole lot, mostly cause I was excited to put the first stitches into Achoo!!  It's going well.  I've got quite a bit of the shadow done.  It's all half stitches, so it goes really quickly.  I do think I'm gonna love this chart.  Thanks again to Patty and Savvy for gifting it to me!!!!  I'm not gonna post a pic today, but I will later this week.  Again, I hope you're all doing well!   (And darnit, I forgot to edit this and put it up before my bath, so it's early Tuesday morning, and I'm again late in putting up my IHSW piccys again.  Boo hiss me!)

Another giveaway

     My friend Thea is having a giveaway.  I've not entered (after all, I just won one!!!) but thought you all might like a chance.  You can get to her giveaway post here!  Good luck everyone!!

My mean mom

     She got me tonight.  Here's the scoop.  The first Wed we had Harry Potter night, I got the music stuck in my head.  Same with the second.  The third night though, there was a little bit of stuck in my head Wed, but most of it hit on Saturday.  Which is weird, right??? Delayed stuck in my headness, I guess.  So earlier today, I was talking to Randi and singing the HP theme song.  I was like, "What the heck is going on here?"  So after I got off the phone with Randi, I called mom.  I told her that, and she was laughing at me.  So we have a short conversation, during which I managed to not sing HP to her.  Then we're getting off the phone.  I say, "you have a good night," and she replies by singing the HP theme to me.  I was like, "Oh, thanks.  Like it wasn't stuck in my head enough!!!!"  So I have a mean mom today.  I don't like her anymore, not till tomorrow. 
     I talked to Randi yesterday.  I didn't realize it, but we were on the phone for FIVE HOURS!!!!!!!  I glanced at my phone and was like, "Holy crap, we've been talking for four hours and fifty five minutes" and really, that's a record for me.  Julie and I once talked four and a half or something like that, but this is a new record.  We're still learning all about each other, so we could easily fill five hours.  She's holding a poll on her blog, if you want to go over and vote.  She's going to kit up a couple of HAEDs with her Christmas money, and she can't pick which one she wants to start with.  You can find her here.
     Got great progress on DGM for part of this week, and none for the rest.  I still think I'll make my goal though.  I've got a little bit more bsing to do on part seven, then it's on to part eight.  I really like the birds.  They're so cute.  I didn't stitch a stitch Thursday or Friday.  Friday I was too tired to stitch.  I was just shattered all day long.  But when I tried to nap, my brain said, "No sleeping," so I couldn't.  Thursday, I got my stuff in from the car and did a lot of page protecting.  I had a shopping trip on Wed!
     I called mom Wed afternoon and asked if she minded going to Sam's Wed night.  I needed meat, and theirs is cheaper than at the grocery store.  Since we were there, she wanted to see the kind of ink I wanted her to get in Sept, because that's when I get paid again.  So I took her back to show her, and she was like, let's just buy it now and I"ll put it on my Discover.   Which is okay with me.  More cash back for her, and I get my ink now and not later.  So then we picked up page protectors too (another four hundred of them) and I found a great deal on highlighters.  I couldn't find mine anywhere (I looked all over the desk, but I didn't think to look where I usually put it away.  DUH!!!), so I got a twenty four pack of Sharpie highlighters for eight eighty eight!!!  I was excited at that deal!!  So I have now got highlighters in yellow, pink, purple, blue, green, and orange.  I'm set for a while.  Of course, when I went to put the one of each color highlighters away, I found my old yellow one.  Right where it was supposed to be, lol.  No wonder I didn't find it on my desk, it was put away!!!  So Thursday night and part of Friday, I put charts in page protectors.  I only have a couple of my nineteen to go now.  Then I'll get the ink out and finish printing.  I need to do Sloth, and Water, and maybe one other.  Then I'll be done for quite a while.  Till Halloween or Thanksgiving, whenever the next sale is.
     Anyways, I'm off to make dinner.  Geez, it's ten thirty nine at night, and I'm just now getting around to dinner.  Sure hope the spaghetti is worth it!!!

More progress

     I made some decent progress the last couple of days.  I worked on Jesus on Sunday, but only for about fifteen minutes.  So I did some more on Monday, to make up for it. I got a pretty good amount accomplished.  Two fairly large sections of his face, and his eyebrow, and part of his beard.  Well, a very small part of his beard.  You can see the pic here.  And this week and last week were Desert Garden Mandala.  I'm doing well, and have done lots more than you can see in the photo.  Pic is here.  I have finished the branches now, and done all of the small blue bird but its little eye.  I have yet to start the roadrunner though.  I want to do a little bit of fill in on the left side cactus, and then I'll start on the roadrunner.  I got quite a bit done today.  I'm feeling hopeful for meeting my goal.  It was to finish up the second half of part seven, and then start part eight.  I just have the roadrunner and a very little bit beneath the branch to do, then I start the bsing.
     Rosa is doing fairly well.  She had a good day yesterday, or maybe the day before.  So thanks for all the prayers, and for those who sent her a card.  Gloria W. and Georgena B. both sent her a card, and she asked me to say thanks to both of them.  So thanks to you two.  She was happy to get them.  I'm happy to be talking to her now.  She's happy to be out of the hospital, and she's feeling pretty good.  Her back and leg aren't doing too badly, which is excellent news!!
     I'm having another of those blank moments.  I told Julie on the phone yesterday that I had something funny to tell her, but I couldn't remember what it was.  I was on with her for an hour and a half, and I never did think of what it was that I told Rosa I had to tell Julie.  Rosa can't think of it either, and we were both cracking up laughing at it.  It was funny.  I said it was blogworthy, and forgot about it, lol.  Silly me!!
     I have a guest coming up for Christmas.  My friend Randi has kindly invited herself for a few days.  I was gonna ask her, but she invited herself first, lol.  It was so funny!!  She's coming up on the twenty fourth early and is staying till the twenty seventh late (I think).  She's making things for the fam for Christmas.  She is a stitcher, but she hasn't stitched for a while.  She's also a crocheter.  And I'm learning all kinds of things about crocheting.   I'm starting to learn what things look like too.  So far, I know what a round ripple afghan looks like.  She's a neat girl.  Crazy, like me, but nice about it.  She said she's gonna buy me dinner when she comes up, so that's good.  I told her I'd let her, once.  Then we're going to Hobby Lobby to kit up her Christmas pressie.  I got her her very own HAED.  I bought it already cause, hey, they had a sale, lol.  It's not a chart I would like, but she likes it, so that's all that matters.  I'm maybe gonna kit up my new HAED when we go.
     Yes, I did buy another one, and thank you for asking, lol.  I picked up one more new chart.  Water, by Terri Rosario.  It's wonderful!!!  You can see it here.  I want to collect the other three in the series.  Air, Earth, and Fire are all gorgeous.  I know, I know.  I don't NEED any  more charts.  But I want them, and have them I shall.  Oh, God, now I sound like Yoda, lol.  And I got my two charts from Down Sunshine Lane.  I said I ordered Summer and Winter, but I lied.  I need Summer still.  I got Celtic Winter and Celtic Autumn to go with the Celtic Spring I got from Rachel.  (Click on the names to see the piccy.)  Of course, now I'm debating my rotation choices...  Do I add in the three deadly sins, or do I add two deadly sins and a Celtic lady?  Cause I would like them to have a slot in  my rotation.  So now I'm gonna put a poll on my blogspot blog (if I remember) and ask if y'all think I should do all three of the deadly sins, or two deadly sins and one Celtic lady.  TIA for anyone who votes!!!
     And I think that's all for me today.  Now to get caught up on blogs and finish up my emails for today.  Hope y'all are having a great day!!

King of the Idiots

     I'm sure y'all remember the controversy when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's speech at the MTV awards a couple of years ago.  According to this article, he has put his foot in his big mouth again.  I'm sure his publicist must have been going crazy in the back, trying to get them to pull the plug.  He said, and I quote:

" I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I'm f--king insane, like I'm Hitler.  But one day the light will shine through and one day people will understand everything I ever did."

     Okay, REALLY, SERIOUSLY?????????  OMG, we understood Hitler perfectly.  He was a homicidal maniac with world domination fantasies!  How was he misunderstood???  And, again OMG, is he such an idiot that he doesn't know that Hitler killed anyone dark skinned?  He didn't care where you were from, he killed you if you had a really dark tan.  So, for Kanye, has the light shined through on what Hitler did?  Does he think Hitler is a figure to be looked up to?  Did he ever pay attention in school?  I can't help but laugh at the idiocy he's shown to date.  I mean, really, is he that much of a flipping idiot?!?  He's a publicity nightmare waiting to happen.  You couldn't pay me enough to deal with his crap.  After his Beyonce declaration, I wouldn't have bought his stuff, but now, after comparing himself to Hitler, I'm gonna urge everyone that reads this to write to him and tell him we're not hatin', he's just an idiot.  Okay, rant over, returning you to regular programming now. 

Great news

     I emailed both HAED and 123stitch.com about my giveaway, to give them a chance to augment the gc I was giving away.  I got answers back from both of them today.  123stitch said that it was too late for this time, but they would be glad to next time.  HAED (Michele Sayetta) said she'd love to.  So I'll be emailing Xeihau and letting her know she has a twenty dollar gc to 123stitch, or a forty dollar one to HAED.  I'm so pleased that both places were interested.  So at two hundred followers, I'll be doing the same sort of giveaway, and I'll be emailing both places BEFORE I pick the winner, lol.  Grats again to our winner, Xeihau!!!

New Albums Are Up!!

Yes Dear guarding the names

      Well, I put up new albums today, for the three HAED projects I want to add to my rotation.  I'm only adding three (I'm trying to resist starting all seven of them) because I'd like to finish some of them before I die, lol.  I'm adding Lust, Envy, and Vanity in that order.  Click on the word to go to the album and see the fabby I picked out for them.  I was calculating my fabby cost from 123stitch.com and Down Sunshine Lane (more about that later) and suddenly, my brain kicked itself into gear and said, "Use some of that ugly fabby you got from Dawn," and the light dawned.  My friend Dawn used to spend a LOT of money on her stitching habit before her hubby died.  She then had to downsize, and got rid of lots of charts, books, and fabbies.  I went through charts first, while Julie took fabbies.  She kept holding them both up (cause they were close in color) and saying, "Which one do you want," to which I invariably grimaced because there was so much brown.  I have some lovely fabbies as a result, which I plan to use for my hardanger.  But I had several large pieces of brown.  And, since Lust is such a dark color (dark, pinkish red (as opposed to maroonish red)), I thought I would put it on the brown fabby.  It's a solid stitch, so no material will show through.  And, having worked tent stitch two over one on twenty eight count, I know the coverage will be sufficient.  Envy is lighter (I think) than Lust and Vanity, so it got a white piece of fabby left over from Desert Garden.  If I remember right, my fabby for that had to be twenty eight and a half by twenty eight and a half, so I had to get a huge piece of fabby from 123stitch.com for it.   It was originally thirty six by fifty five, so I had plenty left over.  I'm using that for Envy.  And I had a grey piece of fabby, also very large, that I'm gonna use for Vanity.  Of course, if I put in the first stitches and don't like how it looks, I'll of course get a different piece of fabby to try.  But it saved me a fortune, so I'm happy about that. I just randomly placed them in my rotation.  Lust is first, after Shore Patrol.  Then Envy after Marguerite, and lastly Vanity after Monopoly.  I'll soon be adding pics to my list of my rotation on my blogspot blog, but I haven't done it yet.
     And now, about Down Sunshine Lane, and what I bought from there.  I won a giveaway!!!  I was soooooooo excited too, cause I got a couple of charts that I really wanted.  I was thinking of getting my Q snaps from there, but they're expensive.  I can get them from my local Hobby Lobby for eleven dollars, and from 123stitch.com for twelve.  DSL wanted thirteen fifty for them.  So, since I can get them cheaper elsewhere (and I try to be thrifty) I used my GC for charts.  I've really been wanting to get the Celtic Ladies from L & L.  There are five of these gorgeous charts.  Celtic Winter, Celtic Spring, Celtic Summer, Celtic Autumn, and Celtic Christmas.  I bought two of them from DSL.  I got one from Rachel a while back, Celtic Spring.  Then, from DSL I bought Celtic Winter, and Celtic Summer.  I think.  I'm not sure, lol.  But I think that's what I got.  (Now they'll come to my house and I'll have Winter and Autumn, lol.)  I had to pay the six dollars shipping and handling, but that's a small price to pay for getting some charts I've really been wanting.
     So, because of this, I have to say a big THANKS to Kathy K. and her dog Rory.  She has a gorgeous Irish Setter.  His name is Rory, and he's a terrible ham.  His pics are fabulous, and she almost always includes pics of him in her blog updates.  He recently won his Grand Champion designation.  If I remember right, to do so, you must have accumulated at least fifteen points as well as a major dog show win.  She was so proud of him, and of herself.  She's a wonderful lady, and I was soooooo happy for her.  To celebrate, she had the giveaway,  and I was shocked that I won!!  So thank you again Kathy, for your generosity in having the giveaway.  And congrats again.  I don't know anyone who deserves it more than you and Rory.  Give him a big kiss from me!!!
     Of course, I'll let you know when I receive my new goodies, which should be in just a few days.  I'll take some pics too, to add to my stash folder.  It's quite full, lol.  And that doesn't include the freebies I have!!!  Ah, well, so many charts, so little time.
     Julie said something the other day that made me laugh till I cried.  It was too funny.  Mom had called me earlier in the evening and b&*^%ed me out for breaking her remote control, which I didn't do.  So I said that to Julie, just the way I said it here except I said the whole cuss word.  And Julie said, "Cool."  To which I laughed hysterically as she obviously had lost her mind!!!  And of course, she knew from my laughter I had caught her totally not paying attention to me, and she tried to apologize, but the damage was already done!!  I have been known to not give her my full attention, but I've never (knock on wood) made a blunder like that.  I was just absolutely ticked pink to have her over a barrel as it happens so rarely.  I told her she'll never live it down, lol.
     I have put Midnight Hunting up, although I really didn't want to.  I swear, I feel so urgent when stitching on my project every other Saturday night.  I don't want to do email (I always end up behind) and I don't want to catch up on blogs either.  This week, since I did nothing on Sat, I didn't even take a bath.  Just had a quick swipe with the soap and water instead of climbing in the tub for an hour.  Cause I HAD to stitch.  I had to put it away on Sunday, and I really didn't want to.  But I was so dreading working on Jesus this week, that I cheated and worked on MH instead.  I know, Christmas is coming.  But I have almost his whole face done, and I needed a break.  So next week I'll be back to it.  You can see a pic of my beautiful (fraught with peril) progress on MH here.  I did meet my goal on it, and I'm so happy about that.  I wanted to get some of the border done and finish up the moon panel, and I did.
     This week and next week are DGM.  It's been quite a while since I worked on this piece, so I'm happy it's up in the rotation.  My goal here is to finish part seven (it was halfway done when I put it away) and start part eight.  I don't think this will be a problem.  I only have the animal panel to do and then some backstitching for part seven to be done.  Part eight is small, but I think I  may get a quarter of it done and that's about it.  We'll see how I do.  Setting goals is new to me, as I've never been very structured in my stitching before.  So we'll see how I do.  It's depressing to me to never meet my goals, or else I stay up all night trying to meet them.  Hopefully, I won't set the bar too high.
     I'm almost finished printing charts again.  I was running lower on ink (not yet low, but getting there), so I haven't printed Sloth out yet.  I have the rest of them done.  Now I need to get them organized into binders and on the shelves.  To do this, I need to get page protectors.  Of course, the price has gone up substantially since the last time I bought them, so I don't have the money to get enough of them yet.  Maybe I can borrow it from mom.  Who knows?!?  I'm going to price them as soon as I'm done here.  Maybe I'll have good news in my next post!!  Gonna check out Walmart and Target.  I know, Walmart is mostly Chinese stuff, but I'm poor and cant' afford to be picky.  Also, I think the ones for sale on Staples.com are made in China too.  So we'll see.
     Tomorrow is HP night at mom's house.  We decided to have spaghetti for dinner.  She asked what I wanted, and spaghetti just sounded good.  So I'm bringing the sauce and she has meat and bread.  I think I'm gonna bring some Angel Hair pasta too, cause if I remember right, she uses the big spaghetti, and I like the really thin kind.  It promises to be a nice night.  I'll leave you with a pic of Yes Dear guarding the entries into my giveaway after I took the winner from her.  (She didn't want to let 

me take any more away, lol.)  Okay, it won't let me move the piccy, so you started out with the image.  Stupid blogger...

We have a winner!!!

     Yes Dear picked our winner tonight, after harassing me about the little pieces of paper I was cutting out.  She badly wanted to play with them, lol.  Anyways, the winner is Xeihau!!!  Congrats Xeihau.  Please email me via my blogger account and I'll let you know how I can send you your winnings!!  Thanks to everyone who entered.  And welcome to all my new followers.  Another big thanks to everyone who comments and reads my blog.  Spread the word, as I'll be doing another giveaway at two hundred.  Hope you're all having a good night.  Stitchy update is coming tomorrow.

Another giveaway that also isn't mine, lol

     My friend Julie M is having a giveaway.  She does cross stitch, but her main focus atm is beading.  She's a great beadweaver.  She's made me multiple things, and they are all fabulous.  The only thing is, the pics don't always do them justice.  So let me post her links.  For her giveaway, you get entries for promoting her shop.  You can do it on your blog, on Twitter, or on Facebook.  It's entirely up to you.  And you can get multiple entries.  You can see her blog here, her Twitter ID is GemsByJules, her Facebook ID is GemsByJules, her Etsy shop is here, and her Artfire shop is here.  Her Artfire shop is also taking custom orders.  So if you like the Northern Lights bracelet (which I really do) and want it in purple, green and silver or something, you can get that.  I just happened to pull the NL bracelet out of my head as we were talking about it last night.  It IS very pretty though.  So go check out her shop, and promote, promote, promote!!!  Best of luck to everyone who enters!!

Yay!!

     Rachel got her chart, so I can share with you her reaction.  I'm so pleased I could make her day.  I love to make someone else smile!!  I had planned to buy Avarice at this sale, and then Chele RAKed me with it.  So since I had been planning to spend the  money anyways, I went ahead a RAKed Rachel for her chart lust, Wrath.  It's one of my four fave Seven Deadly Sins charts (I have problems making a decision which is my favorite.  It's a toss up between Wrath, Vanity, Envy, and Lust) and she mentioned somewhere to me that she wanted it.  I think it was an email reply to comment of mine, or it may have been in the entry where she said she won a chart in Michele's word game.  Originally, I was gonna get her Envy, but that's the chart she chose for winning, so I had to get her something else.  She mentioned Wrath, and it was game on, lol.  You can read what she had to say here.
     I went over to mom's house yesterday.  We had a nice time, with some interruptions.  Well, just a few!  Her phone kept ringing, and it was a hang up.  I can't figure out why, but some corporation is hanging up on her.  I know it's a corporation because A.) when she calls the number back it says it's out of service, which is what happens when you call a number that doesn't take incoming calls and B.) the calls have come in from five different numbers.  They're all 898-25**.  They range from 00 to 99, so we can't block them all.  But I got on the phone with Time Warner Cable and they walked me through how to block numbers.  Low and behold, when I got in there, there was already a number blocked, and guess what...  It was an 898 number too!!!  And then I vaguely remembered doing the same thing once before.  What a pain!!!  Hopefully, they will stop calling soon.  We can only block up to thirty numbers.  So if we get beyond ten (this is MY decision) we're gonna call TW's directory assistance and see if they can help us out by telling us who the phone number belongs to.  Wish me luck, lol.
     And then, I can't get her DVD player to do anything with the remote control.  I had paused the movie when mom got on the phone with Time Warner.  But her PC is really slow, and it took a long time to get in there and get it all done.  About a half an hour.  So by the time I got back, her sucky DVD player had turned itself off.  When I pressed play, it started the movie over.  We were two thirds of the way through when we quit, so I tried to get the menu up to find the right chapter.  No go, there's something wrong with the universal remote.  So I programed the remote to the DVD player, and when I put in the fourth code, it turned off.  So I pressed mute and it turned back on.  So I knew that was the right code.  I set it.  Then I tried to use it, and no go.  It sucked!!  So there I am, laid out on the floor so I can see which buttons are which, and trying to figure out which chapter we're on.  Ugh!!  Finally found it though, and we watched the rest.  It was a pain though, as the ff and reverse buttons went by chapter, so I couldn't just ff a little to see if we were close.  Grrr...  I'm thinking of calling my brother when he get's back from vacation to see if he still has the universal remote I gave him years ago.  I know he doesn't still need it, but he may still have it.  Only one way to find out, right?
     I hope you're all having a great day!!  Happy stitching everyone!

I did it!!

     I probably shouldn't have, but since I planned on buying Avarice anyways, I paid it forward.  A blogger friend of mine is now the proud owner of Wrath.  She mentioned in a comment to me somewhere that she wanted it, so I took the opportunity to send it to her!!  I know she'll be thrilled, and when I know she has gotten the email, I'll post a link to her blog.  Oh, and btw, I'm full of one of the deadly sins today.  Vanity, lol.  I did the first part of the border on MH today, and it had more three quarter stitches than full crosses.  I was a bit nervous about it, especially as there were so many strung together.  But I got it all in right on the first try!  I was so excited!!  I wanted to take a piccy and show it off (it looks like railroad tracks, lol), but I had just taken a piccy, so I didn't want to take another one.  It looks cool though.  Yay me!!!!!  Happy stitching! 

Lots to say

      I have lots to say tonight, so I'll get right to it.  I hope I don't forget anything!!!  First off, to those of you who entered Nicola's giveaway, thanks.  She got several people from my posting that, and I appreciate all of you!!!  She's got lots of entries now, and lots of new followers!!!
     Second, I have to say a big thanks to everyone who comments on my blog.  I love to hear what y'all think, and I love it that you leave a comment.  It's soooooooo nice to have bloggy friends!!  And email friends too, as some of you email me with comments and replies to my comments.  Those are appreciated too!!
     Finally, it's the third and I'll have my disability check today.  Sometime.  I hope...  I went to eat today, and got the last potato out to wash and it was rotten.  More than half of it had to be cut off.  I was so ticked.  Luckily (thank God) my refund from Columbia house (the eight dollars they refunded me for shipping) came through my account sometime last night.  So I went up to McDonald's and got some McDoubles.  Extra ketchup/catsup and mustard, and no onion!!  They were good, and I feel much better.
     I got up around two AM today.  I still feel a little tired though.  I didn't get to sleep till after five yesterday evening, and I usually get ten hours of sleep.  It's a depression thing, as I used to get less than eight and be able to function.  Or it may partially be an age thing.  I'm hoping to get a nap as today is Harry Potter day at mom's house, and last time I didn't get home till after midnight.  We're gonna try and get an earlier start this time!!!
     I got a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday.  I didn't even know something was on it's way!!!  I got Ylva's Siamese Cats chart.  It's a little battered, but I'm sure I can read all they symbols, and that's all that matters!!!  She marks off with a highlighter too, and I'm jealous cause she has a green one and I don't.  I do have pink, though, like the other one she used.  I don't know where the pink one is, but I know I have one.  The only one I've used lately is yellow though.  Boring...   Anyways, it's a beautiful chart.  I was gonna add it to my rotation when I got it, but I've added those three HAEDs, so I'm not.  I'll work it in somewhere though.  Thanks so much Ylva.
     I also got something else in the Siamese Cats package.  It's a cute little ornie that Ylva made, and, this part is awesome, it's got a fuzzy little sheep on it!!!  It's just too cute.  You can't really see all the bling though.  There's lots of shimmer in it.  And his sheepy coat is all wispy and fuzzy.  I think she used Whisper floss.  Here's a pic, so you can see it.  Isn't it just adorable!!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited to hang this on my little tree this year.  I love it!!!
     I'm gonna post a link here for my giveaway too.  You can enter to win an HAED chart of your choice or a twenty dollar gc to 123stitch.  It's to celebrate my having a hundred followers on Blogspot.  Of course, a giveaway is big  news, and now I'm up to 121 followers, lol.  Soon enough I'll be doing a giveaway for two hundred followers, lol.  Anyways, to enter, leave a comment on my Multiply post, here, or my blogspot post, here.  And good luck everyone!!!  I'll be picking the winner this Sunday.  There are no conditions to this giveaway.  You don't have to be a follower, or post this on your blog.  Of course, if you want to post it on your blog anyways, that would be great.  The more the merrier, I say!!
     I did manage to get up to Hobby Lobby for floss.  I needed more than I thought!!!  I didn't get all I needed though, as they were out of several colors.  I will give them a few days, and go back.  Luckily, they were out of a few colors, as I gave them seven seventy in dimes and nickles and had a nickle left at the end.  And some pennies.  And eight quarters, but those are for laundry, so I wasn't willing to give them up!!  (Thanks muchly to Claudette, who said: 
lol - You have an addiction for sure, if you're scrounging for change to get stash. Maybe you could sit with a cup outside Hobby Lobby with a sign that says "out of thread".
and gave me a whopping fit of the giggles.  I laughed till my eyes ran with tears!!!)  Anyways, I've not wound them ALL on bobbins, but most of them are wound. 
     I set a goal for myself too, which I rarely do.  I don't think I've ever met one, but Midnight Hunting has me frustrated.  I just feel like I'm not making any progress.  I am, but not a whole lot.  So, I set a goal.  By the end of this week, I WILL have finished up the moon panel, and the border around it, and started on the other border.  I WILL!!!!!  I should have lots of stitching time today as I'll be watching the movie with mom, and it will be a long day.  Probably two am till eleven pm, with a short nap.  So, pretty long.  Unless I conk out before I'm ready to go over to mom's house.  But we shall see.  Anyways, my sparse progress on MH is here.
     And last, but never least, is my progress on Jesus, which also isn't much.  I had a major case of the frogs this week.  I made two very dumb, rookie mistakes this week, and one other mistake, so I had to frog three times.  UGH!!!  I felt like an idiot.  I'm sure Rosa will take me to task for saying that, too, lol.  First I put a few Xs in the wrong place.  NBD, right?  But then, ah, the idiocy ensued.  First I used two strands instead of three for one of the blends.  I hate using three strands as I feel it is too bulky, so I should have known right away that something was wrong, because it was much more comfortable.  So I had to rip all that out.  Then, I started using floss A for symbol B.  So I had to rip all that out too.  Luckily (thank God), I did end up with positive progress, despite all the frogging.  It's not a lot, but about fifty stitches, and after all the frogging, I'm happy about that!!!  Pic can be seen here.  (BTW, I still think his eyes are creepy.)
     And I'll take a quick moment tonight to welcome all my new followers.  I wish I could give each of you that entered something, but I'm too broke for that.  So  welcome!  I hope you enjoy my efforts at entertainment!!!  Hope you're all having a good night!

Another giveaway

     And this one isn't mine, lol.  You can enter Nicola's giveaway here.  She has some lovely items in it, but I don't know that I'll use most of it, so I'm passing.  More chances for you, right???  So go enter.  Nicola is celebrating forty followers, and her blog is great.  So stop on by, and leave a comment to enter!