Progress (with piccys) and various other stuff

     I'm up late today.  I know, I know, I shouldn't be up so late.  But I just didn't feel like getting out of bed yesterday, so I kept rolling over and going back to sleep.  Poor discipline is one of my major problems.  I'm generally okay on someone else's schedule, but keeping my own is proving difficult.  Part of the reason is I'm always depressed.  So I wake up, and I don't wanna get up.  I wanna stay in my warm, comfy bed and sleep.  So, I often do.  Yesterday, I woke up at about eight PM, having slept the day away.  So now I'm up.  And blogging, so lucky you.

     I'm also in withdrawal, lol.  My game, Two Moons, just got bought out again.  They're moving the game from the North American server banks to the European ones.  I didn't play at all yesterday, as I can't get on.  I wanted to see how everyone was, and I can't get on.  I have Freak's number, but I didn't want to call too late as I know he and his roommates all work EARLY in the morning.  So I'm in withdrawal.  I usually play for several hours a day, so it's not like it's a small time frame I'm looking at.  I'm hoping to play for a little bit after I blog, if it'll let me log on.  Maybe...

     I've been making good use of my withdrawal time though.  I've read about a hundred blogs tonight.  Okay, so I'm exaggerating.  It just feels like a hundred.  Probably only twenty five or so.  I left a lot of comments, so there will be happy bloggers soon.  And, to answer Joyce's question again, yes, I HATE the new word verifications.  They're horrible.  I'm so glad that people are taking it down.  I keep getting them wrong.  It's just awful.  Does everyone else hate them too???

     And, of course, I've been stitching.  Wed is ornie day, so I worked on that last night. 

 I finished it, whoo hoo!!  I love how it turned out.  The snow is all sparkly.  I'm considering, at some point, filling in the moon and stars though, with B5200.  You can't really see the sparkle like you can for the snow.  So I may go back and fill that in at a later time.  This is the same one that I made for my mom, and she put it away and never made it.  She found it recently, along with a snowman I made for her to turn into an ornie, so she's gonna do that sometime this year.  Maybe, lol.

     And after I took the piccy, I put the fabby on the Q-snap (too bad there's not an inch more fabby, or I'd get it on all four sides) and started the next ornie.  It's called Candlelight by Angel Stitchin. 

 It's an old fashioned black lantern with a fat red candle in it.  There's no aura around the light though, so I may put in some radiating lines or something so you can see the light.  It's a really pretty little chart.  I like it because it brings to mind the "olden days" when people went out and caroled at Christmas and popped chestnuts and were real neighbors.  I know some of mine, but they don't seem to want to know me.  My mom has a good relationship with her neighbors, and so does my brother, so maybe it's just the part of town where I live.  IDK.

     I've got to frog on Monopoly.  I apparently started it on a funny angle (and this will teach me to stitch without checking first!!).  When I started working on it again, I just assumed (I know, I know, an ass out of u and me) that when I started it, I started it by doing my first X right side up as the board looked.  I didn't.  I started it sideways.  I don't remember stitching it that way, but I did.  

I went to add to the outlines, and I couldn't tell with the black which way the xs were crossed.  So I didn't think of it.  But the outer edge of the board is done in blue, and the color is light enough that I noticed.  So I had turned the board ninety degrees when I did the black and bright pink.  So I don't have to frog the black, thank God.  It's too dark for me to be able to tell which way the xs cross, so that's no big deal.  But I have to frog eight rows of twenty five of the pink.  Not horrible, but a lot more than I want to frog.  I took two piccys, as you can see.  The first is my progress from before, and the second is my progress since.  

And I did it to myself.  I told my mom, "I'm gonna watch a movie and work on Monopoly today.  It's so easy to do that I'll probably get a lot done."  Totally jinxed myself.  I should soooooo know better, but what can I say?  Man plans, God laughs.  So I have to frog it next time I get it out.  At least it was a good movie.  I picked up a couple of them at the bogo sale a couple of weeks ago.  I love those sales.  The deal is, you join the club and get an introductory offer.  Then you have to buy so many DVDs AT REGULAR PRICE.  With the bogo sales, you buy one at regular price, so it counts towards your membership commitment.  Then, you still get one free.  Whoo hoo!!!  It's awesome.  So I got the new movie Breaking Dawn Part One, and picked up Thirteen Ghosts for free.  I watched Thirteen Ghosts cause they sent me the wrong DVD on the other one.  They accidentally sent me the Blue Ray version, and I ordered the DVD version.  So I have to send that one back and have them send out the right thing.

     And I have another Yes Dear piccy.  

She's so cute, I can't help but take her picture.  She was peering at me over the edge of her scratcher tonight, and it was too cute.  Or her perch, whatever you want to call it.  It's made for scratching, but she doesn't scratch on it.  She likes the cardboard scratchers.  (She has three of them, lol.  One is in the living room, one is in the kitchen, and one is in the bedroom.  If she wants to scratch in the bathroom, she usually goes to the bedroom and scratches on the nearest available thing (which gets her yelled at cause it's my bed!!!).)  I think that's it for me.  I'm off to see what my Brit friends in Friendly Stitchers are up to.  Mouse provides breakfast on Thursday mornings, so I'm gonna see if she'll make me a bacon butty.  Yummy!!!  Y'all have a good day!!

IHSW and a Pressie

      I want to start with the gift, as I totally wasn't expecting it.  I got a lovely piece of stained glass from my cousin Beth.  I've mentioned her before.  She's the people under the stairs at my mom's house.  I almost ran out of meds, and had forgotten I was so low.  So today I'm waiting for my forty dollars to hit my account from Paypal (oops, President's Day) and I realize I'm not gonna have enough for meds at this rate.  (I have all of one cent in the bank after my shopping trip the other day.  Again, oops.  It was double points this week though, so I got two weeks worth of food, not thinking that I have to get meds before the end of the month, and before my Paypal will hit my bank account.  DUH!!!!)  So mom told me to come over and she'd give me some cash for them, and to get some fish.  I didn't realize Lent started so soon, and I try to observe the no meat on Friday's rule even though I don't go to church on a regular basis.  So I need to get some fish too.  Anyways, my gift.  Beth is going on vacation in a week's time, and she was taking some stained glass with her for her hostess.  I saw her working on it a couple of weeks ago, sneaky thing that she is, and I never would have guessed.  I told her I really liked the colors though, lol.  So she made me one.  
The stamens are yellow, the flower is purple, the leaves are green, and the background is a white and orange streaked glass.  It's lovely.  (Forgive the light bulb you can see through the glass.  It was the only way to get a good piccy.)  Anyways, I love it!!!  Absolutely gorgeous, Beth.  Thanks so much (she doesn't usually read my blog, but she has the addy if she wanted to).  Ooooooh, the piccy turned out really good.  It was hard to tell on the teeny camera screen.  Isn't it beautiful!!!

     And now, on to IHSW.  I had a pretty good one.  I had to frog a few stitches, but not more than fifty or seventy five or so.  (That's not much after having to frog Jesus's whole face and neck that one time.)  I had put something in the wrong place, but it was easy to fix, and I caught it fairly early.  I was working on In Her Garden, and doing all half stitches.  So I really got a lot done.

  I didn't much like the color though.  It was a blend of very dark green and black.  On the plus side, working with half the length really helped with the fraying issue, so I don't think I need the threads replaced, which is a good thing.  Yay.  I didn't really have a goal on this one as there was no clearly defined area to do.  Three quarters of the page is that color, so it was hard to figure out a goal.  The cream with pink flowers that you see is her shawl, looped around her back.  She's standing facing away from you, with her face turned in profile.  I got a goodly amount done, and so I'm happy with that.  Other than the floss problems, she was easy to work on and didn't give me much trouble other than that one small frog.  (Thanks again to Meg for the project!!)

     I also worked on Jesus.  He's getting so close to being finished.  I can hardly wait.  I did his shading again Sunday.  I got a lot accomplished too. 

 I was working on the left side shading, above his head and down to the half stitches that connect the top and bottom.  I'm happy with my progress on him, but I need to finish up his face soon.  There are about thirty odd stitches here and there that need to be done.  (One of them is, I think, beard, but I'm not sure.)  So I need to do some of them next time.  And then I need to do the rest of the half stitches here, and do the top right corner and he's finished!  Boy, will I be happy dancing then!!

     And this is not IHSW, cause I do it on Wed, but I'm posting ALL my progress.  This is my ornie so far.  I worked a lot of the cabin this time.  

Last time I had the first few rows, maybe five.  Now I have almost all of it done, whoo hoo!!  It didn't hurt my hand terribly badly, so maybe I'm getting used to it a little bit.  So overall I'm pleased with everything I did.  It's all looking good, IMO, and I got a lot of progress in on everything.  Also, it feels weird to not have an update on Tree of Stitches this time.  This is the first time in IDK how long that I haven't.  

     I'm excited to start my new projects.  I can't remember if I've mentioned them before, so I'll mention them again.  I'm getting ready to start Beach Romance (Janlynn), Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek), and Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits).  Not anytime soon, but I'm planning for these starts.  April first is the start date.  Here they are:

They are, in order, Beach Romance, Noah's Sub, and Time to Go.  I'm sure you could have figured that out on your own, but I am Queen of Stating the Obvious.  Beach Romance is for my sister in law and brother, Noah's Sub is a SAL with Julie and Rosa, and Time to Go is for my friend Freak.  I'm also going to be doing a Wedding Sampler for Rosa eventually, so we'll see how that goes.  I think when Beach Romance is done, maybe.  Depending on how long it takes me.  Anyways, I hope you've all had a great day, and have a good night.  Sleep well, my friends!!

My Cross Stitch Kit Review ~ Yiota's Cross Stitch

     Hi folks.  I know you're all probably sleeping atm, but I'm up and wide awake, so I thought I'd review my cross stitch kit, which came in the mail today.  It's lovely.  I got it out of the hallway where they mail goes this evening, and had to leave it for the moment.  (I was on my way out the door, and didn't have time to open it.)  When I got home, I put away the groceries, and did the tech support thing.  (I paid out ninety four dollars and change to find out that when the computer doesn't recognize the modem, you unplug the modem from everything for a few minutes, and then plug it back in.  When I say a few minutes, I waited five.  It worked.  I was ticked that I spent so much money for so little advice, but hey, who knows...)  Then, as he had me on hold (repeatedly), I opened it up and gave it a look see.

     You can see the kit I chose here.  And this is the link to her main cross stitch kits site.  Her site is easy to navigate, and I love the pattern I chose.  (I would love to convert the background to purple, but it just doesn't seem right.  So, alas, it will be brown and orangey colors.  I do like the orangy shades though.  Pretty.)  The colors seem very true to life.  They're Maderia, which I've never used before, but they feel very soft.  (Yes, I was stroking them.  I can't help myself.)  I compared several of them to the piccy, and they look perfect.  They're all wound up on cardboard bobbins already, and labeled with the number to make sorting easier.  Yes!!!  And the fabby is a lovely, soft fabby.  It's a twenty eight count evenweave, as I requested, and it's wonderful.   It smells though.  (Not in a bad way, for most of you.  Whoever washed the fabby washed it in Gain.  Ick!!  I'm sure most of you would love it.  It's just one of my least fave detergents.  And yes, as a matter of fact, I AM persnickety.)  It feels great though, so I'll overlook the smell thing.  (The floss doesn't smell.  I checked, lol.)

     Now on to the chart.  It consisted of several pages.  Two of them are about the size of two eight and a half by eleven sheets, laid out side by side.  They're folded in the middle.  (I've heard this size of paper referred to as A4, but am not sure what that means.)  They have not been folded and refolded so that the center is hard to read.  The symbols are okay.  There are a couple of them that are similar, and are in the same area, which I don't like, but there is only one that I think would be confusing.  Arrows pointing to different corners of the square.  So that's a definite plus.  I can sort of see the shape of the wolf in the chart, which is normal for me.  I can't see all the details, but I can see the outline.  The other pages include a page of instructions for cross stitch and a page of piccy and details about the kit.  Name, size, etc.

     This is a totally new brand for me, and as such, I was excited to look over the materials.  It looks like a winner to me.  I love the pic of this chart (I love wolves, but only have one pattern of them, so I quickly took this opportunity to get another), and I can't wait to see how it stitches up.  (Of course, I will have to wait a while for this one, but still, I have it and can start it whenever.  Yay!!!)  Good job Yiota, of putting together a quality kit.  Hope you're all dreaming sweet dreams tonight!

A finish!!!

     I have a finish, whoo hoo!!!!  This is the first one since March of last year.  Almost a year, isn't that sad!!!  (That's what happens when you have twenty projects in rotation.  You hardly ever finish anything, and then you finish a bunch of things at once.  Jesus is almost finished too.  Yay!!!)  So I finished Tree of Stitches, by Abi Gurden. It was a lovely project to work on, and the last few parts just flew by.  I did two parts last week on Tuesday and two parts this week.  I love the way it turned out.  For the curious, I used DMC 125 (green variegate) on the leaves and the stems of the flowers.  I used GAST Dark Chocolate for the trunk, branch, and owl.  For the flowers, I used GAST Hibiscus for the petals and Lemon Drops for the centers (both gifts, thanks Dawn).  And the bunny is done in DMC 318.  I think it turned out beautifully, and I love it.  Thanks again, so much, Abi, for a wonderful design.

     I also worked some extra on Jesus this week.  I had this thing...   I was gonna put him aside, intending to go back to him on Sunday. 

 But then I didn't get back to him.  So I went to put it aside (I keep him next to my chair, down on the side, so he's not in my way), and the needle wasn't threaded.  That's a recipe for disaster, when I find the lost needle with my foot, so I had to thread it.  Then, so that YD didn't pull the threaded needle out of it and play with the floss, I started it so it was attached.  Then, since I was working on it anyways, I figured I'd put in some stitches on him, even though it was Monday.  So he's doing really well.  I have finished the full stitches on the bottom left, and finished all the full and half stitches on the bottom right.  I'm going to do the top left corner next, and then the half stitches between the two.  Then I have the top right corner to do and about twenty stitches in his face, and he's finished!!!  His hair is done, his neck is done, his cloak is done.  Whoo hoo!!  Oh, and I almost forgot to say, I'm not doing the aura around his face.  I don't like the color against the fabby.  The fabby is sort of an orangey brown and the color of the floss is sort of a tany brown.  Yuck!!  It just looks bad to my eye.  So I've decided not to do it, and my mom is okay with that.  Soon, and he'll be finished too.  (I'm debating if I should work on him or on In Her Garden later tonight.  If I work on him, he'll be done even sooner, whoo hoo!!)  So there his is in all his almost glory, lol.

     And I've gotten a lot done on my rotation piece for this week.  Friday I didn't get much done, but Saturday and Monday were good stitchy days. 

 I'm working on In Her Garden, and there is a LOT of the color I'm working on in this page.  Maybe one fourth of the stitches on the page?  It's a PITA though.  The floss wants to fray and break.  It's Dimensions floss, and I've never had this problem with their floss before, so IDK what's wrong with it.  A bad batch, maybe?  I've been treating it with my Thread Heaven, and that helps some.  But it still wants to leave stuff all over.  So I've had some problems, and I'm now loop starting, yay.  I'm using four strands, so I can loop start them if I'm careful about catching both strands.  The colors are black and very dark green.  At first, I was using four strands, and lariat starting.  But when I started having trouble, I decided to cut them in half.  Then, it occurred to me (before the first cut thankfully) that if I needed four strands, shorter, I could use one strand of each and loop start it.  Yes!!!  I was very happy about it.  It's working, so far.  I wasted almost one whole set of four strands before I started shortening them, but it's helping, so it's all good.

     And last but certainly not least, is a piccy of Yes Dear telling me to hurry up and take the darned piccy.  She was irritated cause I kept trying for a good shot, and couldn't get one.  So here she is!!

Hurry up Mom!!!!!!  Take the darned piccy already!

Please, help me!!!

     Okay, folks, I need votes in my poll.  I only have four.  I don't really care who you vote for, but pick one and vote!!!  Otherwise, I'll have to let the randomizer pick for me, and it's more fun for me for you to vote.  So vote, please!!!  Back later with another blog, I think.  I'm introspective tonight, and so I may bbl and blog some more.  Vote in the interim, please.

Goooo Giants!!! (Mild langatge) and WIPacolypse

     Okay, so I watched the Superbowl yesterday (okay, a couple of days ago now, as it's technically Wed atm), and I was so happy that the Giants won!  I was bouncing up and down in my chair and shouting at the TV on that last Hail Mary pass though.  Scary stuff.  And, of course, it all came down to the last five seconds.  Someday, football is gonna give me a heart attack.  I told my mom that if that happened, I wanted them to play the NFL theme at my funeral, lol.  It just seems appropriate.  Anyways, it was a good game.  I was so happy for Eli and his family, as well as the rest of the team.  It was a perfect ending.  (Although I could have done with a higher point spread, and spared myself the stress.)  I feel bad for the fans I know of those who shall not be named though, cause they're all depressed.  (Of course, I'm all depressed too, cause football is over till August.  Boo Hiss!!!  I really wish it could be year round, but it would be way too hard on the players.  It sucks though.  I always get depressed when there's no football.)  Anyways, I'm very happy about the outcome.  I tried to bet Danni a dollar on the outcome, but we bet the last time the Giants beat TWSNBN, and she lost.  So she decided to never bet with me again.  (It's more for the fun of it than for the money, obviously.  We're both too poor to bet much.  When Pitt lost, I owed her five bucks.  So I paypalled her the money, and I wanted to put a sad face in the comments, but I didn't know how at the time.  Now I do though!)  

     I've had a good stitching day.  Today was Tree of Stitches (Abi Gurden), so I'll start with that.  (There are lots of WIPacolypse pieces to look at, lol.)

I was working on part 11, Square Rhodes Stitches last week.  Today, I finished them up.  Then I did all the Fancy Cross stitches (like a cross (actually, a plus sign) with an X on top with a diamond on top) for part 12, and then I did all the Tied Windmill Stitches for part 13.  I feel like I got a lot accomplished.  They were fairly easy (although for Fancy Crosses, I had to sit in front of the PC for a few minutes to make sure I got it) and quick to do.  They look good too.  I'm almost done now.  I have one branch to do, and the owl in the top, and then I have one last stitch to do too.  Part 14 is Leaf Stitch, and they look just as simple as the ones from today were.  So one last part, and then the owl, the bunny, and the flower.  I have to pick a color for the flower too.  I want something springy.  Maybe pink or purple.  I have some bits of variegated floss left, so I'll have to see what I have.

     And this weekend was a switchover weekend.  I worked on Impossible Love last week.  

I got a lot done at my brother's house.  I put in about two hundred stitches.  I went over to take care of the animals.  He texted me early that morning (Sat morning) and asked me if I would go over at about three and give out pets and love and hugs and such.  So I packed up my stitching and got over there at about two thirty.  I went in and petted the dog for a bit.  Then I went down to pet the cat(s).  They were both tucked into the cat bed in by the refrigerator.  As soon as she saw me, Reese started hissing and growling.  I reached out to pet Butters, and she smacked my hand.  Then Butters started hissing, but I don't know if she was hissing at me or Reese.  So I went to the other side of the fridge, and called her.  She came right over and got lots of pets and love.  She likes to have her belly rubbed, which I think is cute.  She lays flat on her back on the floor so I can pet it.  Too cute!!  And then, I went back out and played with Vin for a few.  When he was done, I sat down and stitched for a bit (in between making him do tricks).  He has this problem.  (Okay, so it's one of many, lol.)  He doesn't like to roll over.  He flat out refuses to do it for David, cause David gives him the bone anyways.  For me, he'll do it, but he tries to get the bone without rolling over.  He'll come up and sniff it and give me the puppy dog eyes.  And I say, "Down," and he walks away.  We go through this several times before he lays down and rolls over.  (He's totally a stinker.)  So I'd say down and he'd leave and I'd stitch some more.  Then he'd come back and we'd do it all over again.  Finally, he rolled over and got his bone.  Then he went and laid on his pillow and listened to me talk to him while I stitched.  After a while, I decided it was time for our walk.  (I try to walk him as David doesn't have time.  He gets plenty of play, and he has a run in the backyard, but he doesn't get to walk much.)

     I took him around the block.  With my asthma and his nose, this takes us a good forty five minutes.  We were walking down Church Lane when we ran into a very nice lady.  And she's walking towards us, and I'm moving Vin into the parking lane.  She says, "Oh, what a nice dog."  I say, "Not really.  He tends to snap at strangers."  She says, "Oh, I'm sure he would never do that."  It's like a jinx, lol.  Just as the last word comes out, he lunges at her.  I knew it was coming, so I hung on to him.  And she sort of looked nonplussed for a moment, and then said, "I guess he would.  God love his heart," and I said, "He's a good dog, just scared of strangers."  And we kept on walking.  He's such a stinker.  We think (and we have no way of knowing for sure), that he feels strangers are a threat.  He rarely snaps when David has him, because David is bigger and stronger.  He doesn't get scared because he knows his human can defend him.  With me, though, he snaps.  I think it's because he knows I'm weaker and can't defend us as aptly.  (It could just be cause he's meaner with me, lol.  Who knows, it's not like we can ask him!!)

     And then Monday, I worked on In Her Garden.  

I only put in about thirty half stitches.  I got it out during a chat session with Ethel and Janet and Patty.  (BTW, thanks ladies, it was fun!!!)  But between typing and running for tea and to the potty, I didn't get much done.  I think I'm gonna enjoy it, if I can keep it all straight.  It's got full crosses and half crosses.  The full crosses are all (I think) two over one on fourteen count.  The half crosses though, ah, now there's a different story.  They're either one strand, two strands, three strands, four strands, or five strands.  It will give it a lot of texture, but I really need to keep it straight.  (For those of you with good memories, this is the piece that made me want a rotation.  I got it from Meg (thanks again, Meg) on my Intricate Cross Stitch group.  She got it from a beginner friend of hers who thought it was too much for her, but it wasn't something Meg wanted to put aside her current project for.  When I mentioned I loved pieces with flowers in them, she offered it to me.)

     And lastly, Jesus.  

I worked on him during the Superbowl, and, surprisingly, got a lot done.  I really didn't think I would with being so obsessive over watching the game.  But when those who shall not be named were on offense, I didn't watch as much.  LOL, I hate them so much I didn't even want to see them on the field!!!  Sad, I know.  But I did get a lot done.  I got almost all his face filled in, all the hair on the left is done, I have four stitches on the top and about eight on the right and his hair will be totally done.  Cloak is totally done, and I finished up the one stranded stitching on the bottom right corner.  I started it on the bottom left corner, but there is a LOT more of it there than on the right.  So it will take longer to finish.

     And now the mild language part.  (Come on, you know you've been wanting to know what that was all about.)  Rosa and Julie and I have talked several times recently.  I figured out the other night that I have three way calling, whoo hoo!!  We occasionally call each other bitch.  Not in a real way, but just because we're all soooooo smart mouthed.  (I think it's genetic.  We're sisters, separated at birth!!!)  So I said something really smart assed to Rosa.  And she called me a bitch, to which I said, "Yep," and she waited a beat, and then she said, "But you're my favorite bitch."  And Julie and I both lost it.  We were cracking up, lol.  It was too funny.  So now when she calls me bitch, I say, "But I'm your favorite bitch," and we get another giggle out of it.  It was too funny not to share!!!  I hope you're all having a wonderful night, and sleeping like babes.  I have an appointment with Time Warner to have the cable turned off tomorrow.  They'll be here between six and nine pm.  (I always turn the cable on during football season, and off the rest of the time.  It's the only thing I watch!!)  And one more thing, I forgot it at first.  I'm still having trouble getting caught up with my emails.  So I've decided that I need to drop one of my busy groups.  I just can't decide which one.  So if you could please vote in my poll, I'd really appreciate it.  (It's only on my blogspot blog, on the right hand side.  TIA, ladies.)  And thanks again to everyone who follows my blog or leaves me a comment.  I love you all for it!!