It's been over a week since I've blogged, but I've been busy, mostly playing and stitching.  I was on forever the other night, trying to level.  I was one fourteen, and at one fifteen, I get to go to a new place.  It was totally dragging for me.  Finally, I managed to level.  I was so happy, but I was also too tired to go to Aquarius that night.  So I went to bed, and got up the next morning raring to go.  I spent almost five hours there, y'all.  My arm and wrist were hurting by the time I got done, lol.  It was sooooooo fun though.  I'm having a blast.  A lot of my friends on there are always worrying about how much more they have to go to level.  But not me.  I enjoy playing, and that's why I play.  Not to level.  It's just a side effect of the enjoyment I get out of it.  That was yesterday.  I haven't played yet today, but my wrist is still a bit sore, so I probably won't play much.

     I've gotten a good bit done on my Astral Lion (DMC, and I know, I've been saying Dimensions, but it's not), but I don't think I'm gonna make goal.  He was looking soooooo good when I took him off the Q-snap to move it though. 

 I took a full pic and a partial too.  (The partial is of what I accomplished after I moved the Q-snap, so they're not exactly the same.  I really love the colors in this.  At first, when I was working at the bottom of the first half of the page, I was working with a lot of greens.  Pretty color, green.  My second fave.  (To purple, which was the next color I worked on, lol.)  You can see how the bottom of the page is done in different shades of green.  The last one was the easiest to do.  I checked in sections (small sections, to be sure) in between the other colors I had already done.  I missed three stitches of other colors that I had to go back and fill in, but I don't think that's a bad thing.  I went back and filled them in after doing all the little sections of the last color.  It's easiest cause I can check the "holes" in the design against the chart.  (Okay, starting one stitch up from the bottom, there are three rows of two going up one diagonally each time.  Then, the next section is a row of three followed by a row of two followed by two rows of one.  Then...  And so on.)  Once I check and make sure the holes match what I should have based on the chart, I put the chart down and fill in all the spaces.   It's quick, and easy.  Then I filled in the other two colors, and it was time to move the Q.  

I started working with the darkest purple next.  It's a lovely shade, and the color itself is beautiful.  You can see that the sky is full of shading.  It's not bad confetti though, like an HAED would be.  (Prettier too, with all that confetti.)  But it still will look good.  I may get lucky and finish up the sky part of this page, but I don't know if I will or not.  I only have two days to work on it, after all.  I have quite a bit more done on this now cause Monday was a rotation day and I've been stitching a lot.  I have about two hundred more stitches in it.  (I was watching Eclipse, and got quite a bit done.  I don't really know for sure if I like any of the Twilight movies.  I'm a huge fan of the books, but they made so many changes, that I really am bothered by in the movies.  Still, the movies are pretty good.  I wish I had seen the movies first, but too late for that now.  I have all the books and loved them so much that I've read them all multiple times.  I'm a team Edward fan although I don't think the actor is as yummy as what I had pictured in my head.  Heck, they all look different than I had in my head.  Except Jasper.  I had a pretty similar piccy of him in my head.  The special effects are amazing though.  Love the way the wolves look.  Awesome!!!)

     No piccy of Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits) again this week.  I'm still gridding it.  Of course, it doesn't help that I made a mistake in my gridding and had to pull a lot of it out and redo it.  (Yes, I suck, lol.  Nothing I can do about it now but soldier on.)  I got quite a bit of it replaced last week (four out of six lines), so I only need a few more and I'll be back to work.  Ah, if only I could count to ten without messing it up, lol.  I need lessons!!!!

     I finished my ornie (Let It Snow, Casey Buonaugario Desigsn) up in the doctor's office.  

I saw my PCP on Wed last week.  She wants to do lots of bloodwork, but I had forgotten about the appointment, so I wasn't fasting for her to do it that day.  She did give me a lab slip though, so when I do remember, I'll be able to go in and do it at anytime.  And, unfortunately, I was in the doc's office while I did it, so I couldn't share it with anyone right away.  But I did it, I did it!!  Yay, I was so excited that when the doctor walked in, I told her about it.  What am I going on about?!?  I made a French Knot.  I made the dot of the I in It and it's fab.  I have been bringing me needle up, and angling the thread to the left.  Then, I've been coming from the top and wrapping around my needle that way.  But someone in one of my groups sent in a tutorial where the lady wrapped it the other way, from the bottom.  So I tried it that way, and managed a nice knot.  (Now if it doesn't come out, I'll be happy.)  And I need to get beads for his eyes.  So it's not REALLY finished.  But it is to the point that I need to get beads for him to finish him off.  Well, actually, it calls for rainbow beads.  I need to look at them and decide if I'm gonna use them, or if I'm gonna get in my bead stash and find some black beads.  Or, I could use floss and make black French Knots if I don't wanna do beads.  We'll see...

     Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek) is still going well. 

 It's my favorite, probably because the colors in it are gorgeous.  Peach and green for the kite, and purple and blue for the sky.  Lovely!!!  Rosa left me a comment on my last blog entry and said, "You're so much further than me."  And so I thought about that, and decided that when I finish the first page, I'll probably stop and wait for her to catch up.  I know, that means it will take me longer to finish.  But it's no fun (and not encouraging) if your SAL partner is WAY ahead of you.  I want to keep her enthused about the project, and so that's how I'm gonna do it.  I'm almost to the end of the page with my current color, then I need to go back and fill in a little bit under the kite.  I'm not sure what that white swath is, but it's not in the original photo, so ignore it.  Something I somehow managed to do in Paint, I'm guessing.  (NO idea how it happened though.  I did nothing but add the text.  Weird...)

     A big, huge thanks to Andrea who started the Friday Finishes Blog.  She put a tutorial on it about how to watermark your piccys with text, which sort of worked for me.  It didn't work exactly how hers did as she's using Windows Seven, and I'm still using Vista.  The one difference that frustrated the crap out of me was that I couldn't resize my pic and then choose the text option.  If I changed the size, that option was not open to me.  It was really weird.  But everything else worked the way she said it should, and I've now got my pics marked with the date, and my name.  Oh, and a link to my blog on blogspot.  that way, if it gets passed around on Pintrest or something, people will know who did it, and where to look for more info.  

     And another big thanks to everyone who reads and comments or follows me on Blogspot.  I always read and answer my comments, but I hope you all know how much it means to me to have feedback on what's up with me.  It's wonderful to know you care, and I appreciate every comment.  Also, I haven't forgotten my giveaway, but so few people signed up I'm gonna make another post about it, and reopen it.  I'll do that in just a few here.  Hope you're all having a good night out there!!

     And I just now realized that I forgot Beach Romance (Janlynn).  

  Gasp, how could I have forgotten something so important.  Luckily, I know how to edit, lol.  I did a little bit on this this week.  I wanted to do more, but I just didn't get around to it.  I was determined to level, and then I had to get a bath Sunday night and got sucked into my book.  By the time I got back out of the tub (all wrinkled and pruny), it was time to go to bed.  So I got some done, but not as much as I wanted.  Still, it's not like it's on a deadline.  The larger blob, up and to the right, is her leg and foot.  The smaller blob, down and to the left, is the sand of the beach.  I'm thinking the bsing will really make her foot look like a foot rather than a blob.  We'll see!!!

Easter and updates

     Again, it's five AM and I'm blogging.  For a different reason this time though.  I finished my first page on Bubbles tonight, whoo hoo!!  I'm so excited to have reached some kind of milestone on one of my HAEDs.  (It's so sad, they're all on the first page.  SAD!!!!)  Anyways, I stitched for a bit talking to Rosa earlier, and then I got out of the bath and really got down to it.  Yes, I'm tired.  But my goal was to finish page one, and I finished it.  Yay me!  Only forty six to go now, lol.  Anyways, I'm sure you want to see the pic, so here it is!!  I enjoyed it today, but I didn't.  I was in confetti heaven, but I was impatient to get it done too.  I love the rich detail.  In just the edge of her wing, I counted twelve shades of purple.  TWELVE!!!  Maybe I should have called it confetti hell, lol.  It's very small on the twenty eight count, but I love working over one.  My next project is on eighteen count, and I already know it's gonna feel huge.  I'm looking forward to another page finish though.  My goal on Astral Lion is to finish page seven and start page eight.  I'm hoping I can do it.  I still have to do page six, so I'm not quite as close to a finish as it sounds, but page six is a partial page, so that's cool.  I'm NOT looking for a finish for this time around.  Not even close.  Still, it's the closest to a finish of all my projects, so it'll be fun to work on.

     I got a bit done on my ornie this week too, but not a whole lot.  And it's hard to see it too, cause there's a lot of white on white.  He's a snowman, ya know? 

 I'm using a very, very light blue on him on the right side, and you can barely see it against the white too.  I got the floss I needed for him last week, but I didn't get much done this week.  I thought I should be able to finish him up, but no dice.  I had to do some stuff to help my brother with his taxes this week.  His preparer wanted him to go pick them up, but he had to work, so he asked me to do it.  I gladly went out to the preparer's office and picked them up, but I didn't have a lot of time to work on my ornie that day.  Oh, well, there's always next week!!

     I totally fell into Noah's Sub this week.  I LOVE this project. 

 It's really coming out well.  I was working on it Thursday night, knowing I had to go over to mom's on Friday before she went to work and I just couldn't put it down.  (I watched a new movie for a bit while stitching.  It's a horror flick called Mandrake.  Pretty good special effects and lots of blood.  Awesome!!)  I started on the kite in the sky this week, and so did Rosa, so we're keeping pace.  It's an awesome project.  I've been enjoying it so much, and the colors are so pretty.  I did have to frog it a little bit, because of a repetitive motif (for lack of a better word) in the sky in the one color.  I thought I had done the same configuration of stitches twice, but I had only done it once, so I had to pull out about twenty stitches and redo them.  But it provoked a visit to the Fed Ex Office store near me for working copies.  I needed working copies of Frederick the Literate, Noah's Sub, and my ornaments all needed a working copy.  I spent eleven dollars cause most of them were color copies.  (Noah's Sub and Fred are both multicolored.)  The mags were black and white, so they were cheaper.  

     I walked in the door at Easter and said, Oh s**t.  I forgot my sister and brother in law again.  I've had their Christmas pressies since before Christmas, and I forgot them again!!!!  Apparently, Mom and Amy and Cathy in the kitchen heard me.  I poked my head around the corner and told her I forgot their pressies again, and she just sort of went whatever.  Mom confirmed that I'd had them since before Christmas (she was with me when I bought them), and she just blew it off.  NBD.  I'm not sure if I should be happy about that or insulted.  I took off my shoes (FYI, I HATE to wear shoes and socks.  I totally prefer to go barefoot whenever I can), set my purse down in the hallway, and took my stitching bag in the other room.  I looked at Amy and said, "I hate you.  I wish my brother had never met you."  And she laughed at me and said, "What did I do now?"  And I said, "You married him which made me offer to make your wedding gift."  So she said something about it was her fault cause she picked it out, and I told her it was mine cause I picked the fabby.  She was laughing at me.  And I just gave the put upon sigh, and showed her how little I have done on it.  

I think she was having fun laughing at me.  I got some more done after dinner, and the nasty, slimy green things were absent, so that was really good.  We'll see how I do on it tomorrow.  Hopefully well.  You can at least see the white.  You still can't see the violet, but it'll show up when I get the sand around it.  I'm still hyper alert to strands of fabby that are untwisted, but I did enjoy the time I spent on it, so I have hope that it's not gonna all be horrible.  I did tell mom it had taken Jesus's place in more than just the day of the week I worked on it, lol.  She's decided to get Jesus reframed.  She doesn't want to turn him into a tray after all, so she needs to go in and see Jerry and talk frames and mats.  We'll see how she does.  Crazy lady, lol.  Oh well, I didn't really need that twenty dollars.  And it wasn't a bad price to get him stretched and laced, and hopefully he won't have to cut it down and redo it, but we'll see what she wants.

     We had a yummy dinner for Easter.  Ham (salty, but with a sweet glaze for those who wanted it (no one wanted it, so I ended up throwing that part away.  Luckily, it came included with the ham, so it wasn't a big loss)), au gratin potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit salad, and roasted veggies.  I didn't taste the seasoning on the roasted veggies, but mom said it had too much garlic.  (I like garlic, and she doesn't.  She did cut it in half from what the recipe said to use, and I probably would have liked it with more garlic on it.  She would have liked it with even less.)  Oh, and fresh bread and crusty cheese rolls.  It was all delicious.  We all decided that we liked last year's green bean casserole better though.  It was good, just not as good.

     I'm sorry to my group friends who got mass emails from me today.  I went through over four hundred emails trying to get caught up.  I'm only a little behind, a couple of days, but I'm trying desperately to keep up.  My one group just blew up this week with messages.  When I downloaded them day before yesterday, there were over nine hundred.  Now I'm down to two thirty three, I think.  So I'm getting caught up, slowly but surely.

     I've been saying prayers like crazy this week.  It seems like so many people are fighting illness for themselves or their loved ones.  I'm hoping it goes well for everyone suffering these issues, and I'm keeping you all on my prayer list.  Here's hoping you're all having a good night, and a deep dreamless sleep.  (Hopefully, I'll have some dreamless sleep.  Last week I dreamed that Freak was a girl.  It was weird!!!!!!!!!)

Late WIPacolypse post (It's all Julie's fault, piccy heavy)

     I just got back from Columbus.  Yes, it IS five thirty AM.  I wanted to sleep in my own bed.  It's been a busy couple of days, so I'll get right to it.  I dog sat for one day for David and Amy.  Well, I guess I should say animal sat cause I watch over the cats too.  Vin and I had a great day.  I was there all night Friday night, except for the hour I spent here to take my pills.  Yes, I forgot them, like a dummy.  (I forgot them tonight, too.  Duh!!!  I thought of it several times...  At David's house, where I couldn't do anything about it.)  Anyways, I took the dog out for a bit Friday.  Not walking, but just out in the back yard.  He enjoyed it, and I read for a bit, so it was good.  Saturday afternoon, I came home, took a quick shower, changed clothes, and headed for Julie's house.  It's about a two hour drive, so not bad.  I got there around six or so, I think.  Julie and Ansel ate (they had salmon, yuck), and I sat and stitched and talked to them.  Later, Julie took me up to the pharmacy to get my meds and to get food.  Penn Station East Coast Subs, Yummy!!!!  I think they have the best bread ever!!

     I got a little bit homesick though, and I was feeling bad about Yes Dear having been alone so much these last few days, so here I am.  And that leads me to the last months progress.  If you've already seen the pics, move on cause most of this is repeat.  I know not all of you have seen them, so here goes.  I'll start off with my two finishes.  I finished Jesus (WHOO HOO)

 and a Christmas ornie in the last month.  Jesus was my cursed project for a long time.  He was just ugly to work on.  Also, I've never been so happy to have a finish.  He's now framed and happily residing at my mom's house so David can put the handles on his frame and turn him into a tray.  Again, Yay for the finish.  He's Portrait of Christ (Sandy Orton through Praying Hands).  

     And then I have my little ornie finish.  It's from the 2008 JCS ornie issue which I got in the travelling stash box a few months ago.  It's called Candlelight, 

and it's designed by Angel Stitchin'.  It looks very peaceful and quaint.  I love the black and red together.  I think it's just beautiful.  You can't really tell, but the fabby is opalescent.  Very shimmery in real life.

     And then, I have other projects with progress.  Lots of them, lol.  April first was start a new project day in my 2muchXS group.  So I started four new projects.  I've gotten decent progress on all of them but one, Time To Go.  I'm gridding it now, so I'm not making progress.  The others are all looking good.  First up is my other ornie, called Let It Snow by Casey Buonaugario Designs.  

I actually had to stop working on it Wed night because I ran out of floss.  (I needed five or six colors and had none of them on hand.  NONE!!!!)  I'm ready to go now though, which is a good thing.  I'm really liking his hat (mostly, but I'm not fond of the brown parts, and I may take them out and do reds or something).  It's a nice bit of color, I think.  It will eventually go to my mom cause she has a thing for snowmen.

     Time to Go is being gridded, but I'll still show a progress piccy.

  It was super easy to make progress on this one at first.  The whole first ten by ten is black, 310.  Easy as heck.  So I did the first ten by ten, then started gridding.  OMG, boring, tedious, pita.  But so worth it!!!  Hopefully, I'll have him gridded enough to do some more work on him in a couple of weeks.  He's my Tuesday project.  Oh, and he's a SAL with Vicky.  I"m sure she's way ahead of me cause she's working on him every day, not just on Tuesdays.

     Next up is my Thursday project, Noah's Sub.  

I'm doing this as a SAL with Julie and Rosa.  I'm really liking it so far.  I was gonna pull out my half stitches, until I posted that I was gonna do so.  People came out of the woodwork saying not to, so I decided not to.  I added another color to the first on Thursday, and I love the way the colors blend.  It's gonna be gorgeous.  I think it's gonna be my fave of the SAL projects, partly because I've been wanting to do it ever since I saw it many years ago.  And I've had the chart for years, but was trying to be good.  And then Julie mentioned she had it, and I said SAL.  And then I mentioned that to Rosa, and SHE said SAL.  So Rosa and I have both started it, although I'm not sure if she worked on it this week.  I don't think she did.

     Beach Romance is the project I started for my brother and sister in law.  

I had a major frogging on it.  In some places, the strands of the fabby have separated, so it looks like you're going over two holes when you're only going over one.  I had to frog cause I had a short cross, and then I had to frog cause I overcompensated.  I can see I'm gonna have to be extremely careful with this one.  I love the hand dyed fabby I'm using for it.  As you can see, it's an opalescent.  Beautiful.  Sorry you can't really see the stitching.  It's there, I promise you.

     And next is my rotation piece for this week, Bubbles.  

I got in decent progress on her over the last week.  I did some of her dogsitting, some with Julie watching a movie (War Horse, which she really liked and I did not (for the same reason I didn't like Black Beauty)), and some in my stitching chair at home.  You can see the beginning of her wing now.  I counted them up and it has twelve colors in it.  I love how subtle the shading is on it.  Gorgeous!!  

     Last but not least is my last rotation piece, Country Bloomers.  

I got so much done on this that it's crazy!!!  It goes quickly because there isn't any confetti or subtle shading.  I really was chugging right along.  I'm amazed at myself for getting so much finished in a two week time frame.  I was all, wow, amazing!!!!  It's a fun project, but not challenging, so I was surprised it held my interest the way it did.  Thanks again Chris, for the gift!!!

     And one last note:  I think I'm gonna continue my rotation at two weeks.  I just didn't feel like I had enough time on Bubbles for this week, so I'll work on her next week too.  I was thinking switching each week would be easier to remember, but I feel like I hardly got anything done.  That's it for me folks.  Hope you're all having a great day and happy Easter!!!

Finish Fridays blog giveaway!

     And I forgot to let you all know about Drea's new blog.  I was featured on it on Friday.  It's basically a blog to show off all of our finishes.  She only made it last week, so it's only got one follower:  ME!!!  If you wouldn't mind giving it a look (and maybe submitting a finish to her), I'll link you.  You can find this blog here.  I hope you'll all join and help spread the word.  Cause a finish (any finish) it totally worth celebrating.  She posts on Fridays, so hopefully I'll see some of your posts there on Friday.
Edited:  As a matter of fact, I'll do a giveaway for this.  I've been wanting to anyways.  So the winner will receive the HAED of her choice, or a fifteen dollar gc to 123stitch.com.  To enter, leave me a comment on this blog with the link to your own post spreading the word (and the link) to the Friday Finishes blog.  I'll pick a winner in ten days, on the thirteenth.  (If I remember.  If I don't remember, someone remind me.  Y'all know how I can get with my bad memory.)

April first challenge (piccy heavy)

     Okay, I managed to start all four of my pieces for the April first challenge, and I have piccys of them all.  Since it's late (I'm sorry, I know I promised piccys on Monday, and it's now technically Tuesday), I'm gonna jump right in.

     I'll start with the smallest start first. 

 I've decided to do ornies for the whole family this year.  I started mom's yesterday (It's still Monday to me since I haven't gone to bed yet.  Yes, I know I'm weird), and he is just too cute.  It's Let It Snow (Casey Buonaugorio Designs).  I didn't put a lot in him, but good enough so you can see the start of the shape of his hat.  It's a sort of curlicue off to the left, and then the snowman sits to the right.  I put about fifteen or twenty minutes in on him, and I love the shade of red this is.  It's very vibrant.  He's gonna be awesome.  And since I'm not working in hand, I'm sure he'll work up quickly.

     And next is the new Jesus.  I don't know what the problem is, but I'm having trouble with Beach Romance (Janlynn) already. 

 In some places (I don't know if it's because of it being opalescent or not), it seems that the strands of fabby have untwisted themselves.  Instead of looking like one strand of fabby, it looks like two.  And it makes it hard to count.  I've already had to frog twice:  once because I put in a stitch that was only one hole high, and again cause I put in a stitch that was three holes high.  I guess I over corrected it.  It wasn't too bad once I was looking for it though, so I'm hoping it won't be too bad.  I'm working on the waves at their feet.  Not that you can see it atm.  It's so close to the color of the fabby it sort of blends in.  The fabby looks brilliant though, if I do say so myself.  (No, I didn't dye it.  I got it from Silkweavers.  It's Summer Winds opalescent.)  You can really see the sparkle.

     Next is the lovely Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits), for my gamer friend Freak.  

It's a SAL with Vicky L (you can see her blog here) and even though I started it on Sunday, we're working on it on Tuesdays.  I think...  I can hardly remember what we talked about now.  Anyways, it was an EASY start.  I did the first hundred stitches of it, which took all of half an hour.  I'm doing it two over one in tent stitch, and the whole first ten by ten was black.  Very quick and easy.  So far, I love it, lol.  (Who can beat quick and easy???)  Plus it's for such a good friend, so that makes it fun too.  I'm a little bit worried that I may need to change the colors in the legs a little bit.  I see a sort of blue cast, and I don't think I like it.  I may change it to a more flesh toned look, but we'll see how it looks when I get there.

     And my last start, and the one I was most looking forward to 

(and that I now have to frog, more on that later) is Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek).  I got Rosa on the phone and we got ready and started it together since it's a SAL with her and Julie.  Julie's not quite ready to start hers yet as she still has special orders to do.  I think I need to frog now though.  I started the half stitches so that they go the same way as my bottom stitches, instead of matching my top stitches.  So it will look like my half stitches cross in a different direction than my whole stitches.  Luckily, I don't have much in it yet, so I can easily pull them out and change them.  Of course, Rosa pointed out to me (luckily, because I read it wrong) that not all of the sky is in half stitches.  When I read it, I thought it said the whole sky was half stitches.  Some of them are halves and some of them (apparently) are wholes.  Oh, yegads, another thing to keep track of.  Grrrrr...  So I have to go through and mark the ones in the sky that are half stitches.  I think I"ll just put 1/2 on the bags so I don't confuse the asterisk as their symbol or something like that.  I didn't spend a long time on it, just enough to get a few rows in.

     And last, but certainly not least, is my last update on Country Bloomers for this rotation. 

 I'm now rotating once a week, on Saturday I'll finish up my rotation piece and put it away, Sunday is Beach Romance, and then Monday will be my next rotation piece.  I didn't do too badly at two weeks, but sometimes I had to check my blog to remember if it was the first week or the second week that I'd had that piece out.  So I'm changing it a little bit this time through.  Now I'm hitting the hay.  I've been up for a long time, and I"m tired.  

     I've been enjoying (sort of) my balcony this week, but I've noticed that I'm really tired at the end of the day.  Fresh air and all that.  I need to get a different chair for it (the balcony, I mean).  I go out and sit in the cheap one I have and it's not big enough for my wide load, lol.  So my hips get sore.  I used to have a couple of nice Adirondack chairs from dad, but my brother took them.  (I think he was afraid I would get rid of them when I moved.  As if...)  So I need to go out and find a good deal on one.

     Also, Julie's birthday is on Saturday, and if I can remember to get an oil change first, I'm going up there to help her celebrate.  We'll have fun (we always do, even right after her dad died), and maybe get to go out to dinner.  Yay!  I'll try and talk her into it at Wendells, where she works.  I want to meet some of her coworkers.  She talks about them a lot, and she likes most of them, so we'll see what happens.  Hope you're all having a wonderful night.  TTYAL!!