Progress and dogsitting

     I've made lots of progress these last few days.  Strangely enough, while I was dogsitting, I didn't get in as much progress as I usually do at home.  Which is weird cause I don't have a computer there.  Well, I do, but no emails are there and no game.  I can do blogs, but I usually do that at home cause I can pet and read at the same time.  I hardly ever use Amy's computer.  So, some pics of what I got done.  I'll start with Desert Landscape Mandala (Chatelaine), and move on from there.

     I got a HUGE, ENORMOUS amount done on DLM this rotation.  

I totally knocked it out of the park.  I'm so proud of myself.  I got almost double my goal done.  The last little medallion isn't complete, but it easily will be next time it comes up in rotation.  You can see I didn't get a whole lot done at David's house.  Partly because I was reading so much.  But hey, progress was made, and that's a good thing.  I have some more of the black to do, and then the colorful sky will be done.  I'm really excited that I finished three of the corner medallions, and part of the fourth.  My goal was to finish up the first, and do one more.  I way outstripped my goal, so yay me!!  

     I took three projects to my brother's house for dogsitting.  I took Beach Romance (Janlynn) for Sunday, DLM for Friday and Saturday, and Impossible Love (HAED, Selina Fenech) for Monday.  I didn't take Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits) for Tuesday cause I didn't think I would stitch any Tuesday.  I usually get up, pill the dog, take him out, and pack up and leave (not necessarily in that order).  So Sunday I worked on Beach Romance.  It was very fun, because as I worked, I watched...  NFL Today!!!!!  Whoo hoo, football talk.  Unfortunately, two of their staff are former those who shall not be named players, so they kept saying that name.  Also, twsnbn have nine bona fide star wide receivers.  So they talked about that a lot, which was depressing.  I was cheered to hear that they're likely to let Chad go though.  I'm hoping he goes to a team I like, so I can cheer for him again!  Pittsburgh would be awesome.  Green Bay, New York (Giants, not Jets), and Dallas would also be good.  All of those places have a Quarterback with a strong arm and good accuracy.  Oh, and New Orleans would be good too.  Okay, on to Beach Romance.  

It's looking good.  I put in a big area of sand, in between the woman's legs and the man's legs.  And it goes under the man's legs too.  And then I started on her dress.  I've only done some of the white so far, but it's looking good.  You can see the curves of the dress as it blows in the wind.  I did start to make on mistake on her dress, but I caught it right away, so that was good.  I only had to pull out a few half stitches.  Otherwise, it behaved itself well.  A few twisted threads, but they were easy enough to figure out.  I still love the fabby color for this.  It's just gorgeous!!!  And Amy said she liked it when she saw it on Mother's Day, so it's all good.

     Impossible Love is my rotation project for this week and next.  

It was annoying to me, for some reason.  I only put in about a hundred and fifty stitches, which is hardly anything.  I have no idea what my problem is, so we'll see how I do on Friday when I pick it back up.  I love the colors in this. They're various shades of peach and pink.  Sunrise colors.  Beautiful!!!  I did have to frog, but it was only one row.  I lost track and did a row twice, so I had to frog out the second one.  It was a short row, six or eight stitches.  And ugh, cause frogging over one really, totally sucks.  But it's done, and I'm back on track now.

     I gridded on Time To Go this week, so I don't have a pic.  I'm working on the vertical lines, so they seem to take forever.  I've got two in now, and I think I'll make myself put in one more before I put it back on the Q-snap and start working again.  I hate the gridding, but it helps sooooooooooo much that I do it on all my over one projects.  Well, all except one, and I'm considering gridding it when I get back to it.  It's Lust (HAED, Marta Dahlig).  It's a ways off though, so nbd.  And speaking of a UFO, I have a poll on my blog.  The blogspot blog.  Go here if you're reading this on Multiply.  I'm thinking of what I'll put into my rotation when I finish up DLM.  I was originally thinking I'd put in my next Chat, which is going to be Serengeti.  But now that I have UFOs, I'm wondering if I should put in the next UFO and wait till some more things are done before adding a new Chat.  If you don't mind, please give me a vote.  (I'm very indecisive, so help me out here, ladies and gents.)

     Next up is my ornie, Frosty Friends (Mosey and Me).  

I got a LOT done yesterday on it.  I took Yes Dear out on the balcony for quite some time.  (Yes, I did remember a pillow so my butt doesn't hurt.)  She was loving it, because a bat flew right by the house.  It was so close to me I could have reached out and touched it.  She was ALL over that.  Meow, Meow, Meow...  And she's looking at me like where did it go?  She sort of gets pointing, if the thing I'm pointing at is right by my finger.  Otherwise, forget it.  So she looked all over the balcony for about ten minutes, then she gave up.  It was cute.  AND, while I was working on my ornie (or maybe while I was gridding TTG, I don't remember) Jerry opened his screen door, peeked outside to see if I was there, saw me sitting there, and snuck back into the house.  I had to laugh.  Looks like he's got the message.  I waved at him, but I don't think he saw me.  It was just too funny.  (I didn't realize I was scary like that, but apparently, I am.)

     And lastly, my stupid neighbor down the street (she lets her dog run free all the time, and I know that eventually, he's gonna get hit by a car or something like that) let her dog out last night, and then went back in the house.  There was a man on a bicycle, and he's a nasty, yappy little dog.  Barks at everything while he's out.  (I can't stand yapping.  Hate it with a passion.  Like nails on a chalkboard.  Grrrrrr...)  So he's barking at the man on the bike, and chasing the bike.  The guy gets pissy about it, and tries to kick the dog.  (No, I don't like yappy dogs.  This does not mean I think kicking them is a good thing.)  I opened my mouth to yell at him to stop, and he fell off his bike, lol.  It was just too funny.  I was laughing my butt off.  I felt like saying, "That's what you deserve."  Trying to kick a little dog like that, jerkoff.  So he rides away (it's about midnight or twelve thirty), making threats as he goes.  And the dog chases him off, yapping it's fool head off the whole time.  It was annoying and funny all at the same time.  Finally, she took the dog in, for which I was grateful.  Dumb dog was standing in the street watching the bike go, and I was afraid a car was gonna come along and hit him.

     And lastly, as you all know, I wanted to do a giveaway for the Finish Friday blog.  I've been waiting for more people to enter, but no one has, so I'm drawing today.  And the winner is...    number seven, DULCINELLA!!!!!  Grats Dulcinella.  Let me know whether you want the gift card to 123stitch.com or HAED.  I'll get it in the email to you this week!!!  Grats again!!  Thanks to the few of you who entered the giveaway.  I'm happy to have spread the word a little bit.  And this month I have car insurance coming out, so I'm not doing a giveaway for June.  I will be doing one in July though, for reaching two hundred followers.  Maybe it will be a REALLY good giveaway if I reach two fifty before July.  We'll see.  Thanks to everyone who leaves a comment, or follows me.  I love you all, and it makes me so happy to see what you're thinking.  Special thanks to everyone who votes in my poll.

An OOOOOPS (yes, it's big) and an OMG

     Okay, while working on Desert Landscapes, I realized I've made a couple of mistakes on the corner ornaments.  No, I'm not going to change it because I like mine better.  It will sort of match the center, and it also matches the inner leg of the border.  I think they're gorgeous, and so vibrant.  So, they're staying.  I made two mistakes, actually.  I was supposed to outline all the cacti in PTB (Petit Treasure Braid) in gold.  And the last band of color is supposed to be Milk Chocolate, a brown.  I don't like brown to start with.  And I love the purple color I've been using.  IDK what made me see it, but the colors are opposites of each other.  One symbol is a square with a horizontal line through it and the bottom right filled in.  The other is a square with a horizontal line (and you see it coming, right?  I know you do...) and the top left filled in.  They just flipped the symbol over, and I didn't even notice.  I love the way my corner ornaments look and I'm totally okay with being different!!!  They're awesome!

     And now for the OMG.  I had a visitor at David's house today.  I was in the laundry room petting the cat, and heard Vin go off barking.  He went tearing upstairs and barking his fool head off.  He's done this before to nothing, so I ignored him.  No one rang the bell or anything, so I assumed it was another false alarm.  Then I saw legs go past the basement window.  Oh, there IS someone out there.  So I opened up the garage door.  And there the young man stood.  Too young to be one of David's contemporaries.  And my heart jumped in my chest.  He said, "Oh, who are you?"  And I said, "I think I'm your mom.  Who are you?"  And he said, "I'm Patrick.  Hi Ma!"  And I felt like throwing my arms around him.  I restrained myself.  I took him in the basement and got him a pop.  He likes Cherry Coke like I do.  And we sat and talked for about an hour.  He has interests that coincide with mine, and not with my brother's.  He likes computer games, both computer and console.  So there was a conversation.  And then we talked about some of the things he did when he was little.  And what he's doing now.  He just graduated from high school, so I told him I was proud of him for that.  And he's bad at math, just like I am.  I struggled with it all through school except for my first quarter of college.  And I did great that quarter because I was hypomanic the whole time.  Then I sucked, lol.  It was nice to talk to him.  He calls Ruth and Joe (the people who adopted him) Mom and Dad.  And he called me Ma.  That just made me giggle.  It was sooooooo good to see him.  He's got super curly hair, and the curls are tiny.  Almost as curly as a black person's hair.  It makes me wonder if there may have been some black blood in my family (I'm supposedly a hundred percent Irish) or in his dad's family.  (His dad is a prejudiced jerkoff, so he would be really ticked to find out he had black blood in him.  I like that idea, lol.  Serves him right for being an idiot.)  It was amazing to talk to him though.  I gave him my phone number in case he needs me or just wants to talk.  It was really cool.

     If I'd only had my camera with me, I would have taken photos.  But I didn't.  I have to admit though, ever since he started coming around my brother's house to visit, I've been hoping he would come while I was there.  I was so excited afterwards, and I called everybody I had phone numbers for.  And no one was home.  Julie was at work, Rosa didn't answer her phone, and I don't know where my mom was cause she hasn't called me back yet.  So I was all geeked with no one to tell.  Julie did call me back though, a few minutes later.  And we talked for half an hour.  By the way, thanks for all the prayers for her.  She's done well this week, money wise.  So she's in good shape.  She even had a little extra to buy a ring pattern.  So it was all good.  Rosa I called back after I talked to Julie.  She had a big fight with her boyfriend and he started calling her names.  She was okay though, so my prayers for her to have strength have partly been answered.  She and I didn't talk too long, cause I crashed on the phone with her.  It was three o'clock in the afternoon, and I had been up since nine PM the night before.  So I let her go, and promised to call her back today.  Thanks for the prayers for her too, and keep them coming.  She's still not in a good place depression wise, and it's starting to show.  Here's hoping it will help her even more.  And while you're saying prayers, can I ask for one for my friend Mary.  She recently had surgery on her hand/wrist, and I'm hoping for a fast, mostly painless recovery for her.  TIA, y'all are the best!!  I'm all done with blogs and blogging now, so I think I'll do some emails before I head back over to David's house.  Thanks for reading, and for those of you who leave a comment for me.  I love them all!!!  (Especially the ones that make me giggle.)  Hope you all have a great day today!!  And happy Memorial Day weekend.  Don't forget what the holiday is for!
     Edit:  is anyone else having size problems with blogger?  I make my text medium size, and it publishes very small.  So I have to make it large to make it readable.  It's weird...

A Very Happy Little Girl

     And I don't mean Yes Dear.  She's actually very mad at me, lol.  I'll explain later.  First, India got my package today.  She LOVED it.  (Vicki didn't tell me that, I saw he look on her face.  It's awesome.)  Vicki told me a couple of days ago that the package had arrived.  (For those who've forgotten, I made Meerkat Mere Cat for Vicki's daughter India.  Just cause she's cute, and because she promised me meerkat refrigerator art.  She loves meerkats.  And she came up with the subject matter on her own!!)  So anyways, she said she would draw me something for the fridge, and I saw the Festive Cheercat a few days later.  Since he's posing with beer, I thought that may not be the best thing for small eyes.  But I found the Meerkat - Mere Cat pattern, and thought, "Hmmmm...  Wonder if a seven year old will get the pun."  Vicki assured me that she would, so I made it and had it framed.  I finally sent it off two Fridays ago (the postman took a LONG time to deliver it), and Vicki IMed me that it had arrived.  She offered to have India open it on webcam, but since I'm hardly ever up before she goes to bed, I told her to just take a couple of pics for me to put on my blog.  She did, and they're fabulous.  You can see how happy she is to have it.  See for yourself!!

If she isn't the cutest thing since the daily squee, I'll eat my hat.  (Yes, I do have one.  Somewhere.  I think it's in the magic closet...)  I love the smile.  I've talked to her several times on messenger, and she is sooooo well mannered and her vocabulary is amazing.  (I think she's eight now, but I'm not sure.)  Vicki's ignoring me, so I can't say for sure.  Drat it.  Oh, well.  Vicki said she would love the pun, and from what I know of her, I thought she would too.  Apparently, she did.  Talk about an ear to ear grin!!

     And my other girl is mad at me.  Yes Dear was throwing all kinds of fits last night.  She had issue with the cat in the hallway.  Yeah, I know, there's not supposed to be a cat in the hallway.  Last night, when I opened the door to go out in the hall (I needed to go to the bank and make a deposit), there was a beautiful grey male cat there.  Gorgeous!!  I made kissy sounds and he came right up to me.  So I petted him for a minute.  I thought (and I was right) he belonged in apartment one.  So I knocked on their door.  No answer.  I knocked harder.  Still no answer.  Adam, the man that lives there, works nights, but he was off last night.  His wife, Kelly, works days.  So they must have both been asleep or in the back of the house where they couldn't hear me.  I, of course, worried about the poor thing.  So I got in Yes Dear's food and got him a bowl and some water.  I opened the door and went out to give it to him, when...  HISSSSSSS came from behind me.  (She does NOT like other animals.  She stalked poor Rosa's dog the whole week he was here.  She's extremely territorial.  So she's making demonic cat sounds (my brother coined the term with his wife's cat, Reese) and he's just laying there getting petted and looking at her with a smug look.  (I'm sure he was all, "Look at this, your human's petting ME!!!!!" and she was ticked off.  Totally demonic cat sounds, lol

.)  Of COURSE I took some pics.  Gorgeous!!!  Well, now Multiply has put them all out of order.  Stupid thing.  But isn't he beautiful.  (Ignore my hairy arm around him in the close up, lol.  It's a curse.)  I love the way he looks.  So fey, almost.  I wish Yes Dear would let me have another cat, but she refuses, vehemently, every time I bring another one around her.  Diva, lol.  Anyways, I caught up with Adam outside this morning, and he said he must have gotten out while Adam was doing laundry.  Too bad, I would have loved to have kept him.  He purred for me and rubbed against me (I think that's the reason Yes Dear is sooooooo mad, lol).  Ah, well, she's my monster, and I've spoiled her beyond measure.  I like her that way, for the most part.  

     And if the cat pics hadn't taken up so much room, I'd be showing progress piccys now...

     Okay, cat piccys over.  Now for some good progress piccys.  I'll start out with my pitiful start on the next ornie I'm working on.  And when I say pitiful, I totally mean it.  I got no ornie work done this week.  I was catching up on IHSW posts, and it took me till Wed to get caught up.  And things were happening with my health (something too personal to share, and somewhat painful), and it just got away from me.  So I finished up Christmas Bluebird of Happiness (M Designs).

  I think I said so last week, but I did make one change.  Rosa and I were talking last week, and I asked her what she thought of my changing the color of the Smyrna Stitches.  They were charted in white, but I think the fabby was supposed to be a colored one.  Since I knew the white wouldn't show up well on white fabby, I asked her if I should make the Smyrna's the same color as the bird, the bsing, or the red hat.  We tossed ideas back and forth, and finally decided on the color of the bsing.  I really liked the color, so that helped.  I think it turned out cute.  You can really see the Smyrna stitches, and the bsing.  When I did it, I was straining to see and thinking, "I wonder if this is gonna show up..."  As you can see, it shows up great.  My old eyes, I guess.  I was using my Ott lamp, so it shouldn't have been a light issue.  To finish him up, I did two Smyrna Stitches, and I put in the bsing and one cross.  ONE!!  Then I got the fabby moved in the Q-snap, pulled the first color of the next ornie, and wound the bobbin.  I pulled of a length and prepared to start.  I put in one stitch (actually, one half stitch) and the phone rang. 

 It was mom, needing me to do something for her on the PC.  And then...  I forgot about it.  I have one lousy half stitch in it, lol.  (It's Frosty Friends from Mosey and Me.)  I think it's the worst stitching day I've had in an age!!  But here the pitiful thing is.  Can you see my one tiny stitch?  I know, it's hard to see.  It's up in the top left.  You can barely see it, but I promise you, it's there.  Next week, I plan to get much more than this in.  Hopefully, a few hundred stitches, which is what I've been doing per day lately.  I just can't seem to put the stitching down!  Which is good, as I'm making lots of progress.  (And I've learned to use a pillow on the Adirondack chair, so no more ouchie butt.  Life is good.)

     Next up, my fave project atm.  It's Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek).  

I just LOVE this project.  Each week it endears me to it more.  I put in a HUGE amount of stitches last night.  I finished up the middle band of the purple I was working on, then put in the lower band of the same purple, and then put in a small band of darker purple up near the top.  It goes right under the kite.  It's turning out beautifully.  I did manage to mess up the lower band of the lighter purple, but I'm fudging it.  I had another two hundred stitches in before I realized I had made a mistake, and it's only sky, so I decided I'm not pulling it all out.  If I'd only had in fifty stitches, I would have.  But I had at least two hundred.  So fudging it works, lol.

     And I got in some good progress on Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits) this week. 

 I finished up the second row of ten by tens.  You can't tell from the photo, but what I have done is black,

 and three shades of brown.  I tried to take the photo from really 

close up in good light, but my camera just isn't making the distinction.  It's not the greatest camera.  I like it, and it works well for my needs most of the time, but it's not "seeing" the color variations.  Maybe in a few weeks.  I

 took it back off the Q-snap so I could grid in the rest of the first page.  And maybe some of the second, so I don't have to stop as often.  I enjoy working over one on such a small count.  It's challenging, and that always makes me happy.  I need to tell Freak I'm posting pics so he can see it.  I 

FINALLY got on game last night, and he said he had been about to call me and see if I was still alive.  Then he got sarcastic.  I guess you've been spending all your time stitching.  I was all, "Are you being sarcastic???"  And he was.  I know he was.  (He disappeared for a bit, then came back cause he'd gotten sidetracked.  He's a pita like that, lol.)  We did a run together, and it was fun.  I don't often do dungeon runs, so he has to get them while he can.

     I'm all caught up on blogs, but woefully behind on emails.  If you've sent me one, I'll get to it eventually.  If you need something, and it's important, leave a comment on my blog that you've sent me an email and I'll go find it.  I've been stitching six to eight hours a day, every day, so lots of progress, not much computer time.  I'll get back to it all eventually!  Hope you've all had

 a wonderful night dreaming sweet dreams.  I have to dog sit this weekend, so I probably won't be around much.  Stitching time though, whoo hoo!!!  And, btw, thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post.  It's awesome to see how many of you posted your thoughts.  And thanks also for all the well wishes for my poor butt.  It's feeling much, MUCH better now!!

My poor butt and IHSW

     I've stitched for hours and hours over the last few days.  It was IHSW, and I had goals (which I met, whoo hoo).  I wanted to finish up the first corner ornament on Desert Landscapes Mandala, and then do the second one.  I set my sights high, lol.  Each one is probably about seven hundred stitches.  And I did it!!!  Unfortunately, I did most of it on the balcony on Friday and Saturday.  Now, I love my balcony, don't get me wrong.  And I love my Adirondack chair out there.  But over eleven hours in two days, and I have a serious case of stitch ass, lol.  Yes, you heard right.  I was out there for over eleven hours over Friday and Saturday.  Yes Dear loved it.  I was comfy and happy too.  Until Saturday night when I realized...  My butt really hurts!!  (I really didn't feel it prior to that because I was so deeply into the stitching.)  So I came in and worked for a while in my stitchy chair.  And finished up my corner ornament.  DLM looks great.  I'm ready for the third corner ornament on Monday!  (I wanted to finish up the first one and do the second one for this rotation, so I've already hit that goal.  I  may finish up the third one too, if it pulls at me as much as it did this weekend.  So, now that I've regaled you all with my butt's problem, here come the pics.

     DLM first, since I've talked about it so much.  

This part (part 8, holy crap, getting close now) is beautiful.  I just love the colors together.  Believe it or not, there are six (I counted them) SIX shades of orange in this part.  Three shades of purple, one brown, and three blacks.  (310, Anchor Marlitt, and PTB Black.  I only used two of them, as I stated in an earlier blog entry.  I wanted to use up some more of the Marlitt, and I also used the PTB (Petit Treasure Braid from Rainbow Gallery), but you can barely tell the difference.  I do like sparkly things though, so it's all good.  You can see my little bunny in the bottom part of the photo.  I learned my lesson with the first corner ornie.  I can't put the Q-snap too close to the center, or the bundled up fabby gets in the way of the stitching.  So I put it further out on this one, and it was much, MUCH easier.  Thank God for Q-snap huggies, and Christine Marie, lol.

     And now, Beach Romance.  

I had a little bit of trouble with her/him today.  (I'm not sure if the project is female or male.  I'm leaning towards female.)  She had a bit of a problem in two places.  At first, with the angle of the sun on the balcony (Yes, I DID put a cushion on the chair.  NO, it DID'T help my poor, abused butt) I had trouble seeing the holes.  That cleared up very quickly though, as it was pretty late in the day when I went out.  Then I made a mistake when I started a new color.  I put it in the wrong place.  So I had to frog out about fifty stitches.  No big deal, but I still didn't get as much done as I would have liked.  Good progress, but not as good as it could have been.  However, my butt is still hurting, so I'm done for the day.  Maybe tomorrow it will feel better.  Hopefully, lol.  I hope you all enjoyed IHSW this weekend.  Three cheers to Joyce of Random Ramblings for hosting.  She does a great job, and we rarely thank her.  So thanks, Joysze, and kudos on the IHSW growth spurt!!  Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!!

My progress so far this week

     And a few other things.  My landlord is finally cutting the grass today (it really needed it), and it smells so good.  I was out on the balcony for a long time today, and it was lovely, as usual.  After a while, the cutting began, and I love the smell of fresh cut grass.  LOVE it!!  (I'm also allergic to it, so I'm a bit sniffly.)  But still, it's all good.  The birds were out there, so YD was out there with me a lot.  She got in big trouble though.  She tried to use my leg (my jeans-clad leg) as a scratching post.  I had to make her get down, because she refused to stop.  Silly thing, lol.  (And ouch!!!)  So my leg was all bleeding and what not (not badly, but a little bit), and I decided it was time to come in a little bit later.  She's got a sharp set of claws!

     I went ahead and took a piccy of Noah's Sub, even though I'll work on it some more later. 

 I finished up the long rows of that color I was working on, and did some short and tiny rows up at the top in the same color.  Then I started the band the eventually got close enough to the other that I could add it on.  You can see in the pic where that band begins, and where it was close enough to do it with the others.  I'm pleased with how much I got done so far today.  It was a little bit windy, but not too bad.  I also talked to Rosa while I was out there, and I realized how much there is on one page of Noah's Sub.  It's got a lot to it!!!  I think my HAEDs are eight ten by tens long and about six wide.  This is like eight wide by twelve or thirteen long (I think).  It's a large page!!  I'm still loving it as much as I was before.  It's coming along really well.  I'm halfway done with the first page now, or just about...  I've gone a little bit lower than halfway, but there are still a lot of stitches missing up top.  So about halfway, or maybe a little less.  

     I didn't get a lot of time in on Time To Go due to a slight error on my part.

  I got out Desert Landscapes (which I used to think was called Desert Garden, I don't know why) and worked on that on Tuesday night for about an hour.  And then I was all, "Oh, crap, it's Tuesday," so I put it down and picked up Time To Go.  I did get a good hour and a half in on it, so it wasn't too bad.  Or maybe it was longer than that.  I'm not sure.  As you can see, I started working on the dark brown at the bottom of the second row of ten by tens.  I put in quite a few stitches, so I'm pleased with that.  (I didn't get nearly as many stitches in on DLM, sigh...  Oh well, they were extras, so it's all good!)  I'm (of course) hating the brown, but I should be getting into the lighter colors of the candle flames soon, so that'll be better.  I think...  I don't think they're ALL yellow...

     And I almost finished Bluebird of Christmas Happiness.

  I needed five more minutes on it (literally, it needs three Smyrna stitches and one X), but I was tired and I needed to do something else before bed, so I didn't get to finish it.  I decided to do the Smyrna stitches in the dark blue for the bsing (Oh, I do have a little bsing to do, so ten minutes) instead of the white the pattern calls for.  I think it's supposed to be on a colored fabby, so the white would have shown up there.  On my white, it wouldn't really be visible.  So I changed the colors.  Rosa helped me decide.  Artistic license, lol.  It's actually fitting (barely) on the Q-snap, so that's good.  I really thought I was gonna have to move the Q on it to finish it.  But nope, so yay for me.

     And I hardly feel like I got anything done on DLM.  

It's coming along so slowly.  Lots of color changes.  But I love the oranges and purples together.  It's really looking nice.  You can see the cacti too.  The big one was supposed to be both DMC 310 and Anchor Marlitt Black (one's a tiny bit glossier than the other), but since I have soooooo freaking much Marlitt, I did it all in Marlitt.  (I was confused by the materials list.  It doesn't say you need six skiens of this or that, it tells you how many yards you need.  I ordered NINE skeins because I forgot that you only use two strands at a time.  So I only needed three.  Needless to say, I've done a lot of the 310 in Marlitt to use it up.  I still have seven skiens, and a partial.  (And then I ordered the kit for DLM and got three more skiens.  So I had a total of twelve.  I'm not sure where the other three skiens are.  Probably in my floss drawer.  I'll be using Marlitt forever!!)

     In another other news (he he he, I know, that's not right, but it sounds funny), I got Citronella torches for the balcony this week.  

They're great, as tacky as I am!!  I picked up two of them, but when I got them home and opened them up, the one was broken.  So I took it back today and returned it.  This time, I opened the new one up before I left the store, to avoid another problem.  (The first one looked intact till I took off the shrink wrap.  Then the broken pieces fell out.)  It was good, so now they're standing sentinel on my balcony.  Scary looking, whoo hoo, lol.  (No, I don't really think they're scary, but I love the Aztec (at least, I think it's Aztec) influence.  They're fabulous!!!)

     Thanks to everyone who follows or leaves a comment.  I have a giveaway coming up soon for the two hundred followers.  I just can't do two in one month, financially.  But soon, people, soon!!  Hope you're all having a wonderful evening!!

STNA Blog Hop: Stands and rotation update

     Here's this week's question:
Do you use a stand when you stitch? If so, tell us about it and share pictures if you’ve got them. If not, would you like to try using a stand? Do you have any tips or tricks around using a stand versus not using a stand?


     I love my stand.  I use it whenever I can (which is when I'm sitting in my stitching chair at home).  I don't take it out on the balcony as there isn't enough room.  But it lets me stitch two handed, which means I'm faster.  I'm a slow stitcher to start with, and I want to be faster.  So I use my stand to help me with that.  It's awesome to be able to go faster.  I'm not a huge fan of my stand.  It's just a little cheapie, and it doesn't do everything I would like.  So I love it for the thirty dollars I paid for it, and I really want to get a better one so I can easily reach the back of my work.  I'm currently trying to save up the money to get a better stand.  (It's not going so well due to my HAED addiction.  I'm thinking of asking my mom to hold the money for me, as I think that may be the only way.)  Tips:  Get a stand with a good base.  If it keeps tipping over, it's of no use to you.  Get a stand that you can easily reach the back of.  It can be a real pain to reach the back on some of them, and you have to reach the back every time you start and stop a thread.  And lastly, find a stand that fits with your lifestyle.  For me, I had to have a stand that was easy to change projects with, and a stand that was Q-snap friendly.  I take my stitching all over the place (pharmacy, mom's house, David's house, out on the balcony with Yes Dear), and I needed a stand where I could take my Q-snap and go.  I once tried using a scroll frame for something, but it's hard to use without a stand, and I didn't like trying to carry it everywhere as it didn't fit in my bag.  Dust, dirt, water, it could have gotten anything on it.  So now I make sure my stand is Q-snap friendly as that's what I use (they're nice and portable).  Also, make sure your stitching space is big enough for the stand you choose, and make sure the base will fit around/under your stitching chair.  After all, if the legs of the base are too thick for you to get them under your chair, you won't be able to have the stand be close enough!!  Enjoy them too.  They're great!!
     You can see all the blog hop participants at their own little blogs below.  Thanks to STNA for hosting it.
     Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.  
     And lastly, but certainly not leastly, I've been doing some work on my blog today.  I changed my rotation, y'all.  I want to see more progress, so I decided to cut my rotation down to ten projects.  Six of the twenty I needed to keep, so I put the other fifteen names in a list and randomized them.  I saved that list to a document, and then put in the ten projects that are in my new rotation and randomized again.  So now I have one list of my rotation as it is now, and another list of UFOs in the order they'll enter my rotation as other things get finished.  I'm happy with the way it turned out.  For those of you that are curious, my six projects were:

1. Desert Landscapes Mandala~because it's in honor of my dad who died a couple of years ago.
2. Country Bloomers~because it was a gift from Christine M. Wilson, and she's an awesome friend, so I want her to see it getting worked on.
3. Rosa~because it's a gift for Rosa whom it was named after.  I want to get it finished for her so I can give it to her.
4. Memorial for Dad~because of the obvious reason.
5. Story Keeper~because it's a SAL with Julie.  Sort of.  She works on it every once in a while, and I work on it every once in a while.  It's not a set day of the week, but we're pretty close to the same place on it, so it's all good.  This one will probably fall out of my rotation when I finish the first page so Julie can keep up with me.
6. Shore Patrol~because it's the same sort of Sal with Evalina.  We both have it in progress, but it's not assigned a day or anything like that.

I was really happy to see that two of my HAEDs made it onto my new rotation list, and even happier that one of them was Frost Moon.  It's a huge project, and I was thinking of keeping it out just because it's so big.  I didn't, and then didn't have to worry about it.  Yay!!  So the pics are my rotation in order, and my UFOs in order.  I may make a separate page for my rotation too, like I have for my SALs.  I'm not sure yet, as all the pics are on my blog already.  We'll see what happens with it.  I really hate to put anything away, but I really wanted to see more progress, so I HAD to.  Now the ones I put away are all screaming at me, lol.I'm working on DLM now, and it will be the last item in my old rotation.  Then, I think what I'm gonna do is work on Impossible Love. It would be after DLM in my new rotation, and since DLM is in both, it seems appropriate to switch rotations that way.  Now I just have to find room in the magic closet for the ten projects I'm putting away!!  (I'm sure I'll be able to.  And YD will be thrilled that I opened the closet up.  She likes to hide in it.

More progress and a Sunburn

     Luckily, it's not bad.  And it's only on half of my upper body, lol.  I went out on the balcony with Yes Dear the other day.  We got up early Friday and spent quite a bit of time out there.  Four hours to be precise.  Yes, I did get a lot done.  Yes, Yes Dear enjoyed it immensely.  Unfortunately, I got a sunburn.  Not a bad one, like I said, but enough that I knew it was there and was a little bit sore.  You can see how one side of me got burned, but the other half didn't.  (Yes, I am naturally VERY pale.)  When I go outside on the balcony, if I stand at the back door and look out over the parking lot, I'm at twelve.  The sun rises at seven or eight, and comes over that way.  But the balcony above me shadows part of me, as I sit at an angle to the sun.  So my right side is burned, and the left side got nothing.  It looks hilarious to me.  Guess I need to get some sunblock.  Of course, I won't be out there when it's hot, so nbd.  I do love the spring and fall, though, cause I can go out and stitch and let Yes Dear be out for a bit.  We have a tree in the back yard (???).  It's actually mostly parking lot, but there is a ring around it of grass.  And in that ring is a tree.  It's big and it has a huge number of berries on it.  The birds absolutely love it.  The fly in and out, they eat the berries off the ground, they fight over who gets the juiciest branches, and they generally make a spectacle of themselves.  Yes Dear thoroughly enjoys watching the spectacle.  She sits on the balcony (or my knees) and watches them play and fight and fly around.  It's awesome.  (She likes to go out more in the spring than in the fall.  The birds aren't there in the fall.  She still likes to go out though.)  Here are pics.  You can see the berries all over the tree in the back, and then there are bushes to the left, and driveway to the right.  It's nice and quiet back there.  She does get scared when a car comes into the garage though.  She runs into the house for a few minutes.  She invariably comes back out though.  She runs inside for about five or ten minutes, then she sits at the door for a few minutes, and I coax her back outside.  She'll come back out and sit on my knees again then.  Or she'll lay on the floor of the balcony sometimes.  It's so nice to be able to provide her with that kind of entertainment.  She's so busy watching everything around.  She didn't even get scared when the neighbor came out with his dog the other day.  She's getting used to it, lol.  (She's a real wuss.  She used to run every time someone came out in the back yard.  Or a car pulled in.  Or a car pulled out.  You get the picture, lol.  Total fraidy cat!!!)

     And now for the stitchy porn, lol.  I got a ton of work done on Beach Romance (Janlynn) 

today.  I went to bed shortly after ten last night, cause I was REALLY tired.  Fell asleep within about twenty minutes.  (It would have been sooner, but I was sharing a single person pull out with a large (sixty pound) dog, lol.)  Got up around nine, took the dog out to potty, pilled him, and got him settled.  Around nine forty, I got out the stitching.  I kept telling myself, "I'll take a break after I finish up this little bit of this color," and then I kept starting another little section of that color.  Next thing I knew, it was twelve thirty.  (We were invited to David's for lunch between twelve and one.)  Mom got there at twelve forty five, Cathy and Jim at one.  David and Amy had trouble with the boat cause of the rain, and didn't get there till late.  It was after two, and we had eaten and cleaned up already.  So they dug out the paper plates, and had theirs.  Cathy and Jim left first, then mom left, and finally I left (at about five thirty).  Told them about their animals, and they told me what was what in the garden.  It's looking good.  If I remember, I'll take pics the next time I dogsit.  But I stitched up until lunch was ready, and then for a while after too.  I worked in quite a few different colors too.  I did all of her second leg, and the sand around her legs (parts of it, mostly to the right), and the water under her feet.  I'm very pleased with it, and I'm sure I'll stitch tonight after Julie gets home from work.  (BTW, say a prayer for her.  She's having a tough weekend.  She worked doubles Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday.  I'm sure she'll be whipped by the time she gets home.  So say a prayer that she gets some rest and has enough money to pay all the bills.)

     Next up is my rotation piece for the past two weeks, Midnight Hunting

 (Dracolair Creations).  It came along really well too.  I got a lot more done than you can see, because I had to move my Q-snap over.  I did all of the outside border on the left side, but it's under the huggie.  Then I did the bit of the border on the top that you can see, and part of his wing.  I also did the quarter of the circle you can see is unfinished, and parts of the inner border on the left.  The inner border at the top still needs to be fudged, but I can do that next time.  I think my next goal will be to finish up the border at the top, and get parts of his wing done.  It's all concentric.  The almost white is at the center, and each band of color around it is darker.  You can see the almost white in the centers and the slightly darker color around it.  I've run into the bottom of the page, and if I get as much time on it next time as I did this time, I may even finish up the page.  Whoo hoo!!!  I love working on this one.  It's such a challenge to "see" the fractional stitches.  Really cool.  Thanks again to Rebecca Jo, who gave me the chart when she got frustrated with the fractionals.  I love it!!

     And next up is Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek)

.  I got a lot done on it Thursday, but not quite as much as I wanted to.  I wanted to finish up the color I'm working on, but it's gotten soooooooo loooooooong, I had to quit.  I was tired, and all that doing this and skipping that many is a recipe for disaster when tired.  Still, I got a lot done, and I'm happy with it.  I'm using such pretty colors on the sky, it's hard for me to put it down.  So far they're all shades of purple and blue, both of which I love.  I've got about ten more long rows of this color to do, and then I have to put in the short rows.  You can see where part way along, I suddenly got close enough to start doing the next band down.  So I'll go back to the beginning of that band and do that too, before going on to the next color.

     And lastly, thanks so much to Tora, who made my bracelet.  

She's learning Kumihimo (pronounced coo mee hee moh), and made me this.  It's awesome.  I picked the DMC colors out and she made it with them.  It's Bengals orange and black, and I'm wearing it now.  The only problem I had with it, is I can't get it on one handed, lol.  I had all kinds of trouble getting it on.  Finally, I put it in my purse and had mom do it for me.  So now it's staying on.  I'm thrilled with it.  Now I have two Bengals bracelets.  (Julie made me one too.  Hers is awesome also.)  Thanks again to the blogger (I can't remember who it was) who recommended Picmonkey.  It's fabulous, and I love playing with it.  As you can see, I made orange and black stripes around the bracelet pic, because I CAN!!!!!  LOL, I've enjoyed playing with it quite a bit, and I'm afraid when they start charging for it, I'll have to pay for it.  I love being able to make backgrounds and such.  It's awesome.  (And free for now, so go try it, and get addicted too.  www.picmonkey.com)

     That's it for me today.  Hope you're all having a wonderful day, and happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.  I hope you're having a great special day with your children.  (Human children and furchildren too.)

Progress update and lunch with friends

     Well, I call them friends.  It was my mom and my great aunt Carol.  It was fun.  We always enjoy ourselves.  We went to Frisch's, and lunch was delicious.  I had a fish sandwich and fries with a soup and salad bar.  Oh, and hot fudge cake.  I was hungry!!!  Mom and I were talking about David and Amy, and Aunt Carol said, "Who's Amy?"  Mom and I looked at each other she looked at Aunt Carol and said, "Didn't I tell you David got married?"  Aunt Carol didn't remember being told.  (Honestly, Mom could easily have forgotten to tell her.  On the other hand, Aunt Carol could have forgotten being told.  LOL, six of one, half dozen of the other!!!)  I started it cause I took charts to show Aunt Carol some of my WIPs.  I took pics of my SALs, Beach Romance, and Midnight Hunting.  She looked through and was all impressed.  Mom and I had to explain how the chart worked, and how the symbols corresponded to the colors.  And then she was all amazed by the chart for Time To Go.  It's pretty big.  I want to say forty six pages off the top of my head.  So once she got it she asked how big it would be.  Of course, I couldn't remember, but I told her I can fit twenty eight stitches to the inch, and she approximated it from there.  (Totally not something I could do.  My math skills suck.  To the point of being atrocious.  I can barely add and subtract.)  So show and tell was fun.

     After lunch, we stopped by at Hancock's.  Mom needed to pick up a few things, and I ended up getting two pairs of scissors.  They're cute.  Pink and white polka dots, and green and white polka dots.  

They were on sale for three ninety nine each pair, and they are SHARP!!!  Be careful of your fingers kind of sharp.  Then we also stopped at CVS so mom could get batteries for her CO2 detector (it started chirping at her at seven AM, waking her up and not allowing her to go back to sleep) and ice cream.  (I'm tempted to spell allowed aloud because Julie was just complaining about people doing that, but she doesn't read my blog regularly, so I won't.  Yes, as a matter of fact, I DO like to torment her.)  Then I dropped her off at home, and came home myself.  I sat out on the balcony with YD for a bit (this spring, we've sat out there a LOT.  Ten or twelve days so far, which is WAY more than last year).  I worked on Noah's Sub.  I'm so enjoying this project.  We may go out for a bit more later.  But I had to come in and look for mom's receipt from Hancock's.  She couldn't find it.  (It was stuck to the foam she bought.  Silly woman, lol.)  Since I was up, I watered, checked the backseat, and now I'm blogging.  I'm still way behind on emails.  I haven't played any in three whole days.  I've been very busy stitching.  And on to the progress pics we go!!

     I'm not posting a pic of Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek) cause I'm still gonna work on it more today, and I don't think I got more than five rows done so far.  So no pic of that this week.  However, I do have another pic of Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits).  It has a lot of black still, and some brown.  You can't tell though.  The brown is very dark, and my camera's not really picking up the subtle shadings.  Still, I got a lot done on it this week.  

Another three hundred stitches or so.  I'm enjoying it so far, despite messing up the chart.  I just wish it had printed right, then I wouldn't have to be making ten by tens on the darned thing!!  And I couldn't get the dumb chart to print in color either.  Dorky printer.  It was dad's so I don't have any experience with it's quirks.  Eventually, I'll need to figure it out.  Luckily for me, that's a problem for another day.  Freak was happy that I'm working on his project, and not just gridding.  And that was a whole nother conversation, lol.  I mentioned gridding and he was all, "What's that?"  So I had to explain it to him.  Luckily, he picks up fast, so it wasn't too bad.  And luckily the gridding is done for now.  Yick!  It's soooooo tedious.  Still, TTG is working up fast so far.  I've got the first row of ten by tens done, down to the end of the page.  (It's weird though.  The last block is ten wide by six high.  And the last row of ten by tens is ten high by nine wide.  Strange, and I can see I'm gonna have all kinds of problems with it.  And there's also overlap on the pages, which I don't always remember.  We'll see how it goes!!)

     Next up is Bluebird of Christmas Happiness (M Designs).  

(I still think the name is dumb.  I'm sure they could have named it something better.  Happy Bluebird would have served much better, IMO.  And you see why I'm not creative enough to name things.  Anyways...)  He's coming along.  Because of lunch today, and because I generally don't get up earlier than noon, I went ahead and started staying up later each day on Sunday.  That way, I work my way around to being up in the morning so I could go to lunch.  BoCH suffered because of it though.  I woke up at one thirty AM on Wed morning, and hadn't worked on TTG yet.  I don't like to skip something, so I pulled it out and put in a few stitches.  Then I put it down for a bit, thinking I would come back and do BoCH.  But TTG was still calling me, and it was going so fast, so I did the brown on it too.  Then I went and did emails for a while, and eventually got back to BoCH.  But I didn't even get his whole hat done.  I was kind of disappointed in that.  I came home yesterday (after an outing with mom that I'll tell you about in a bit), and even though I wanted to finish his hat, I went to bed, cause I knew I needed to.  I was tired.  Eventually, I got up and took a sleeping pill (after laying there not sleeping (and not stitching) for three hours).  Grrrrr....  Stupid insomnia.  Finally, I fell asleep though.  Next week, I'll get better progress on my bluebird though.  I promise!

     Up next, Beach Romance (Janlynn).  

I got a lot in on it.  And in this photo, I sharpened it up and changed the photo's temp (someone out there in blogland recommended Picmonkey, and it's awesome to play with) so you can actually see ALL the stitches, including the ones that were, in the beginning, invisible.  I was happy about that.  I did a lot of little things on Sunday.  I put in a few stitches here, and a few stitches there...  Not quite confetti, but shading towards it.  I worked on it for a couple of hours, then put it down for a couple.  (That's normal.  A couple of hours of work, and then I'm on to something else.)  But then I went back to it, and stitched another couple of hours.  I really love the shading in the waves.  It's really pretty.  And I haven't had any more problems with the material (knock on wood, lol).  And I really hope I haven't just jinxed myself!!!  I hope to show it to David and Amy soon.  (For David and Amy, read Amy.  Cause she cares.)  I'm working on the first page above the fold.  It has a fold halfway down, and I started below it, but it's easier to not have to keep flipping up and down, so I'm just doing the top now, and I'll do the bottom later.

     Last but certainly not least is Midnight Hunting (Dracolair Creations).  

It's finally coming along well, because I decided to fudge it the other way.  Let me explain.  It has a border around the outside.  Very pretty, and very intricate.  Then, there's an inner border on the corners that runs out from the corner medallion and reaches towards the circle, which is centered.  I was having a HUGE amount of difficulty with the inner lines.  They just didn't want to WORK RIGHT!!!!!  I know, I know.  Doing the awful, fractional stitches is no problem for me, but doing straight rows has me pulling out my hair in clumps.  (I'm like that at pool too.  Hand me my cue and make me do a behind the back, half off the floor shot and I'm good.  Give me a straight across the table shot, and I miss.  Go figure.)  So I'm fussing and cursing and turning the air blue, when I finally get a clue:  Do the circle first, and fudge the lines.  So that's what I'm doing.  I haven't done the fudging yet, in this photo, but you can see a couple of white areas leading up to the curve that need to be fudged.  Yes, the circle is in the right place.  Finally.  And thank God for small favors, you can't see where I had the circle in the wrong place and had to pull it out.  Not a fuzz left, yay!!!  I loved doing the circle.  All those fractional stitches on the diagonal were so cool to do.  It's hard to see, but it looks like little diagonal railroad tracks.  The fractional parts of the stitches make up the railroad ties, and the whole parts of the stitches make up the rails.  Really fun to do, and cool looking effect.

     Now, mom's and my other outing.  We went to see Jerry Wed afternoon.  Jerry is the guy at Hobby Lobby who does all my framing.  He's awesome.  She took in Jesus (she totally didn't like the tray once she got it, so she decided to have him framed differently.  Twenty bucks down the drain, because she wanted him cut down too, so not even the lacing could stay), an old print that needed to be cut down, and a new print to be dry mounted and matted.  She wants to be able to change out the large print above the TV.  So she had them both matted and she'll have one for Autumn and Winter, and one for Spring and Summer.  I liked them both.  Jerry went though and played with different mats, and different frames and composed several interesting combos.  She picked mats for all of them, frame for Jesus, and glass for both print (it only needs one glass even though there are two prints) and Jesus.  And I picked up...  (drumroll please)  Randi's Cat Lessons for People.  

It turned out great!!!  I love it.  Jerry picked the frame, and Randi picked the mat, so I really did nothing but approve stuff, lol.  I love the way the frame picks up highlights of the colors in the stitching.  Randi left about half an inch on the left side, and he still managed to lace it properly.  He's a wizard, lol.  Now I have to figure out where to hang it.  We'll have to see what happens, and if I can find places for my brother to come over and put screws for me to hang my stuff with.  I have wall space.  I just need to make decisions.  I'm not good with that.  Eventually, I'll find places for stuff...  (Maybe after I've lived here for a few years, lol.  It's been over a year and a month already, and I still don't have anything hung.  Procrastinator???  ME???)

     And yes, I haven't forgotten my giveaway.  I'm hoping to pick a name this week sometime.  I didn't get many entries though, which surprised me.  If you haven't entered yet, it's a few entries back on my blogspot blog.  Go to http://www.juliesandyesdearsravings.blogspot.com, and it's about three or four entries back.  Yes, you CAN enter by posting to your Multiply site if you don't have a blogspot blog.  I'll take anything I can get at this point.

     Lastly, yes, I have noticed I'm at two hundred plus followers on my blogspot blog.  And yes, this is an occasion for a giveaway.  I'll be sorting that out over the next couple of weeks (but I'll probably do another giftcard to HAED or 123.  Winner's choice.  I just can't afford to do two in one month), and I'll post when it's sorted.  Thanks to all my followers, and most especially, those who comment on my blogs.  I love to talk, and to know what y'all think of what I'm doing.  (Also, I just preen at all the compliments, lol.)  You guys make me feel great, so thanks!!  And on that note, I'm off to stitch some more.  Y'all have a great night, wherever you are!!

And WIPacolypse (If you read my reg entry, skip this)

     Today is a WIPacolypse day, so I'm posting my progress (on the right day no less).  I've made progress on lots of things, and here are the pics.

Astral Lion (DMC)

Bluebird of Christmas Happiness (M Designs)

Midnight Hunting (Dracolair Creations)

Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek)

Time To Go (Witch Stitch'n'Bits)

Beach Romance (Janlynn)

My Garden and Progress

     I'm having a heck of a time with pics today.  This is my third attempt at them.  They just don't want to go where I want them to go.  Hmph...  Third time's a charm?  We'll see.  On Wed, my mom and I went up to the nursery to pick up our annuals.  I got some really pretty things.  Well, I think they are pretty.  Mom wasn't thrilled with my choices.  I got two different kinds of Calladium, I got four different colors of Vebena, and I got two four packs of deep purple Petunias.  I love the colors I got.  The Calladuim are both pink centers and veins and green edges, and the all flowers are lovely.  I have two big pots in front, and the Calladium are supposed to get to be about eighteen inches high to thirty inches high.  I though, for my big pots, that would be good.  We'll see how big they get!!  And the rest are in the back.  The Morning Glories have not sprouted yet, but they will soon, I'm sure.  Here are the pics.  The Verbena are the teeny tiny little flowers, and the Calladium are the big pink and green leaves.  The rest are Petunias.  Feel free to leave me a comment about what you think of my color choices!!  

  

     The Morning Glories will grow between the two Petunias 

of the long planters.  They usually take three to five days to germinate, so I should be seeing them soon.  My pot cracked though, sigh.  I grabbed it to pull it over to me, and it cracked.  I went ahead and planted in it anyways, cause I didn't have time to go up to Home Depot and get another one before they closed.  I'll get a new one sometime this summer and replace it at the end of the year, when it's too cold to grow anything.  Then the potting soil will be settled by the next spring, and ready to plant.  Here's hoping they all do really well this year!!  And that I don't forget to water them, lol.  I almost forgot Friday.  And I learned something from it.  I have a light on my balcony that leans like a drunken sailor.  I never would have thought, in a million years, that it would work, but I flipped the switch, and viola, it worked.  I was thrilled.  I didn't sit out in the summer evenings last year cause by the time it cooled off, it was dark.  Now that I know the light works, I'll have to sit out some nights this summer when it's not too hot.

     And now for progress, and an amusing story.  (You have to wait for the amusement, because I'm a B like that, lol.)  I FINALLY got to work on Time To Go this week (Witch Stitch'n'Bits).  I was thrilled.  

I'll need to take it off the Q in a few weeks again, to grid the rest of the first page.  But I got enough gridded to do the first two rows of ten by tens, so I started working on the first.  I put a LOT of stitches in it too.  Large, LARGE blocks of color, so it went super fast.  I'm working with primarily black in the first row of ten by tens.  There are a few other stitches, but it may be twenty of the first eight hundred.  Not many!!  You can see the stupid grid lines now that I finally have them in right.  Yes, I am a dork, lol.  (I also realized (again) that I really can't count.  I put in my own ten by ten grid lines on the pattern because the darned printer refused to print the graph, and was working on it, and realized...  I counted over nine, and drew my first grid line.  Then over ten, over ten, over ten.  So the first ten by ten grid is ten down by nine wide, the rest are ten by ten except for the last one, and that's ten by eleven.)  Luckily, I didn't have to frog anything because of it.  But still, how hard is it to count to ten?!?  You'd think I could do it by now.  

     And speaking of frogging, they're camped out in my living room.  And they're almost making me laugh.  (Hey, I did say ALMOST!!)  I'm having trouble with Midnight Hunting. 

 It's Dracolair Creations, and (typically) it has tons of fractional stitching in it.  So what do I keep frogging?  The regular stitches, lol.  There are several long rows with a three quarter stitch at the end.  (You can see them at the top, shading from dark blue to light.  They're right under the loopy part of the border.)  I've frogged them over and over again.  I just can't count!!!  It's been awful.  I'm so pissed off at them, I've put that part of it away for now.  Instead, I'm doing lots of little teeny fractionals, and I'm doing those just fine.  It's the whole stitches I just can't get right.  I wanted to finish the border and start on the wing for my goal this time, but if I don't get a handle on the stupid rows, that's not gonna happen.  Wish me luck.

     And then there's my ornie  (Bluebird of Christmas Happiness by M Designs).  I'm TRUCKING on that.  I got a huge amount done on it this past week.  

Several hundred stitches, at least.  I talked to Julie on the phone for several hours on Wed, and got so much accomplished.  Part of the reason it's going so fast is that it's so simple.  Hardly any color changes at all.  The bird's whole body is that turquoise color.  I didn't have to move the Q-snap like I thought I was going to, so that's a plus.  I should have just enough room for the backstitched little flourishes.  They're sort of like eight pointed asterisks.  I'm ready to start the red of his hat.  then I have the pom pom to do (on the end of his hat) and the asterisks, and I'm finished with him.  Oh, and a little bit of bsing to define his wing.  Isn't he cute?!?  Um, what am I missing...  I haven't worked on Beach Romance (Janlynn) since my last update.

     Oh, duh.  Noah's Sub.  I didn't get a whole lot done this week.  (Here's the amusing.)  My neighbor wanted to come over and talk.  For talk, read hit on me.  He asked me four or five times if I wanted to fool around with him.  He was slightly drunk.  As I'm not a homewrecker (he has a girlfriend, I think), I immediately promoted Freak to boyfriend.  (Also, I hardly know him.  No way am I gonna fool around with him when I just met him last week.  NO WAY!!)  I told him four or five times I wouldn't cheat on my boyfriend.  He explained to me that he likes women with big boobs.  (I'm a triple E, so that qualifies me.)  Which, at least he was honest about it.  But because he was trying to hug me and hold my hand (I kept pulling away from him), I didn't get much done.  Finally, he got the message and left.  I didn't go back outside to stitch, lol.  That's where he found me the first time.  (Friday, when I was out on my balcony, he invited me up anytime I want to come up.  I said thanks, but doubt I'll ever take him up on it.  He was telling me how nice his place is and how neat his TVs are.  He has three in a one bedroom apt.  Geez, one in every room but the bathroom.  I guess he was trying to impress me.  IDK, it was just weird, all the way around.)  So anyways, Noah's Sub. 

 I got some done.  Still working in that really pretty purple color.  I wanted to finish it off Thursday, but didn't even get close, as you can see.  There is a lot of it though.  As you can tell, I've gotten close enough to the next band down to work on that too.  There's a LOT of this color on the page, and I really like it.  I need to put in the other bands, and the kite tail too.  I'm probably about a third of the way done with the first page.  I still love this project.  It's coming along so well.  Hardly any frogging on it (knock on wood) and I've managed to remember that the sky is all half stitches.  So far, so good.  Hopefully, I'll get a whole lot more done on this next week.  I want to finish this color I'm on, and do the kite tail next.  Then I'm gonna work on the rest of the sky.

     Are you all still with me?  I'm impressed that you made it this far.  Congrats to you, as this is a very long winded entry.  Thanks for being here, and especially those of you that leave a comment.  I really appreciate them!!  Hope you're all having a good night!!