Lots of Progress and Another Award

     I'm still behind on my emails, and not because I can't catch up either.  I've been stitching like mad for some reason.  I've got almost two full pairs of bloomers done.  (I forgot I needed to add one stitch to the first pair, so they're not completely finished either.)  The other pair needs a patch, and then a couple of other little things, and they're done.  (There is a "hole", but it's not another patch that goes in that space.  It's the ribbon from her hat.  I haven't decided if I'm gonna work on her or not.  I think I'm gonna go ahead and work on the ground underneath next.  Depends on how I feel when I get there, lol.)  And I finished another ornie.  This one went much faster than the first since I was able to use my Q-snap.  And of COURSE I have piccys.

     Okay, the ornie first.  I think it's lovely.  It just seems so peaceful with the candle flame. 

 It was a really quick stitch, compared to the first one.  The first one took me months, this one took me three weeks.  (Well, four total, but one week I didn't work on it, so I'm not counting that week.)  I totally love the colors in this one too.  Red and black are such a good color combination, and it just is so pretty, I think.  I'm really pleased with how this came out.  Unfortunately, now I'm back to working in hand.  I've not decided which ornie I'm gonna do next, but I'm thinking I might do one for Rosa on the last of the opalescent.  I don't know which one I'm doing yet as she hasn't picked one yet.  I need to send her the piccys pages of the mag.  She thought she had it, but she doesn't.  So I'll send her the piccys pages and let her choose which ornie she wants me to stitch her.  I probably won't start it by next week, so I'll open up the evenweave I got and start on that for now.  (Yay!!  I'm NOT looking forward to working in hand again.)  

     And now for my progress on Country Bloomers.

  It's coming along well.  I'm really enjoying this one.  Lots of long lines and simple patterns make it easy to count the stitches out.  I've gotten a LOT done on this, for me, and I'm so grateful to Chris for the chart.  It's been a total joy to work on so far.  The colors are much pretttier in person than they are on the chart piccy.  It just doesn't do it justice.  You can see parts of the hearts that hang on the line in between the bloomers too.  The little heart, there isn't much there for yet.  The bigger heart is almost all there.  I just have a few stitches to put in on that, and then the patch on the top right of them, and finish up the bands on the legs and that pair of bloomers is finished.  And you can see where I accidentally skipped a stitch on the first bloomers too.  On the right leg, right below the band of red, there is supposed to be a blue stitch.  I need to put that in, and then I'll be all set.  Whoo hoo, go me!!!!  I've been putting in a ton of stitches lately, and I love it.  Except now I'm more behind on emails.  (Well, sort of.  I put my four busy groups on no mail, so I'm behind, but not as behind as I could be.  I'm hoping to get caught up soon, and STAY that way!!)

     And I have a prayer request.  Could you all say a quick prayer for Rosa and her fiance?  They're having a rough time of it, and can use all the help they can get.  TIA, I know you will.  Cause you're all AWESOME!!!  Thanks again to those ladies who left a comment on my Jesus finish.  (Or any of my posts, actually.)  I really appreciate the comments!  And as soon as I get caught up on my emails, I'll be back to leaving comments on your blogs too!!

     And I almost forgot, I got ANOTHER blogger award, this time from Vickie.  Thanks so very much Vickie.  I love having followers, and I love getting comments, and just knowing that there are people out there that care.  It's an awesome feeling!!  (And since I had a really rough time deciding on my five blogs the first time, I'm going to do it again, cause I can easily pick out five more blogs you should be aware of!!)  Okay, five blogs I follow with less than two hundred followers.  Here we go, folks!!

1.)  Ylva at Ylva's Crafty Corner ~  Ylva is a friend of Vicki's and I know her from Vicki's group.  She's a lovely lady, and a huge animal lover, like me.  She does a lot more crafts than me too, lol.  I just stitch, where she does lots of things!!

2.)  Andrea of Drea Dear ~  Andrea just started a new blog for finishes.  You can add your name and a recent finish, and it will be highlighted in a Friday post.  I think it's a great idea, and I think this is a great way to spread the word!!

3.)  Alicia of The Crafty Princess ~ Alicia has great taste, and I love her blog's artwork too.  Her header piccy is gorgeous, and I badly want to stitch it!!!  (I must have found ten other blogs I'm gonna advertise looking for this one, cause I really wanted her on my list.  It's an awesome blog.)

4.)  Mary of Frazzled Needle ~ Mary runs one of my fave stitchy groups, The Stitcherhood on Yahoo.  She's a wonderful lady, and I love her to death.  She doesn't blog often though.  (She keeps saying she will though.  He he he, nothing like motivation, right, Mary???)

5.)  Megan of Stitchings of an Army Wife ~ I'm including Megan because she's a nice lady and has made so many sacrifices with her hubby serving overseas.  Also, she has good taste in charts.

(Note:  I know I'm only supposed to pick five blogs, but I can't stop here.  I'm a rebel, and I'm gonna add a few more good reads to the list!!!)

6.)  Deborah of Deborah, Max, and Mizprecious Dee Dee ~ I've known Deborah for years, and no matter how bad things get for her, she's always got a good attitude.  She's a lovely woman, and she can use all the support she can get!!!

7.)  Kaye of Kitten Stitching ~ Kaye is a lovely lady.  She blogs about what's going on, and she leaves lots of comments on other's blogs.  She's one of the nicest bloggers I know.

8.)  Sarah Beth of Sarah Beth's Cross Stitch Blog ~ Sarah Beth is a lovely lady.  She always reminds me of the Rascal Flatt's song, Skin though.  Every time I read her blog, I end up singing it.  (Not that I mind, it's a great song!!!)  She's going through a tough time because her baby is at the vet's for treatment.  She also can use all the support she can get!!

9.)  Rahenna at Crafty Rahenna ~ She's a sweetie, and doing the same challange as me (WIPacolypse).  I like her taste too.

10.)  Joyce of Joyce's Love of Life ~ Joyce amazes me with the amount she get's done every week.  She blogs and I look at the ten projects she's worked on and I think, "I would never make ANY progress if I had that much on the go each week," even though I have a lot of projects in my rotation.  She's amazing!!

That's all of them (for now ;D).  There are only four rules to this award (the Liebster Award):
1.)  Post a link on your blog back to the person who awarded it to you.
2.)  Post five up and coming blogs (less than two hundred followers) that you follow and would like to share.
3.)  Post a comment on their blogs that you've given them an award.
4.)  Post five facts about yourself that people may not have known.
I don't think I mentioned it last time, but the award (which means beloved or darling one) is to help the up and comers get more followers.  I think it's a great idea!!  I hope you all enjoy your awards!  And here are my five facts, again.
1.)  I'm adopted.  I sort of feel sorry for my adopted family though.  I was a terrible child to parent.  I had a severe case of ADHD, and then the bipolar when I grew up.  There were some extremely difficult periods, especially for my brother and sister, who had to claim me as a relative.  Now, I'm in pretty good shape.  I don't interact with my sister much, but I do dog sit for my brother on a regular basis.  And I helped take care of my dad when he was sick.  So I feel like I'm able to contribute something now.
2.)  I LOVE taco baked potato.  Almost every time I cook, that's what I cook.  (Unless I'm eating cheap.  Sometimes, I spend more than I can afford on books, charts, or movies, and I have to buy things that are cheap to eat for a week or two.  It's worth it though!!!)  I bake a large potato, mash it with butter top with taco meat (Ortega, but you can use what you like) and cheese, and nuke it for a minute till the cheese melts.  Delicious!!!  (Yes, I AM obsessive, lol.)
3.)  I'm a RABID football fan.  I remember learning about the game at my father's knee, literally.  I sat on the floor next to him and watched (and asked lots of questions, till he told me to shut up, lol).  He and my grandpa were Bengals fans, so they watched on Sundays often.  I have a lot of teams that I follow.  They are (in no particular order after the Bengals and Steelers):  The Bengals, The Steelers, The Cowboys, The Saints, The Packers, The Bears, The Colts, The Giants, The Jets, and The Eagles.  I try to follow them all season.  ATM, I'm not pleased with the Colts (they got rid of Peyton Manning), the Saints (obvious, as the scandal is nationwide), and the Eagles (they made Michael Vick their starting QB, and I don't think he should be allowed back in the NFL after what he did).  I generally watch all three games on Sunday (although I don't have cable to get ESPN (Monday Night Football) or NFL network (Thursday Night Football).  And since I follow so many teams, I usually can find games that I like.
4.)  I drink like a fish.  I go through two to three sixty four ounce containers of Crystal Light Peach tea a day, every day.  It's not that I'm thirsty as much as it is I need something to do with my hands while I'm reading emails or whatever.  I drink the Crystal Light because it's sugar free and ninety eight percent caffeine free.  And it's delicious.
5.)  When I was little, my grandparent's on my mom's side used to have a house (we called it The Cottage, but it was a three bedroom house) on Locust Creek.  Locust is near Augusta, KY.  It's upriver of the Meldale Dam, so the water if fairly clean there.  We had a speedboat and a pontoon boat to play with.  We swam, tubed, and skied on the river from the time we were tots.  I probably went in for my first swim at about age eight months.  I skied for the first time at age six, and slalomed for the first time at age eight.  (Slalom is when you ski on one ski.  We were never taught to drop one either.  If we couldn't learn to get up on one, we didn't ski slalom.)  As a matter of fact, I actually have a piccy of myself slaloming at about age twelve.  It's not the best pic, but it's decent.  My hair was REALLY short, lol.  Easier for a tomboy to deal with, right?!?  Anyways, here it is:  

Me skiing at about age twelve or so.  Jeez, I'm so skinny in this piccy!!!!

Ignore the very intent look on my face.  If you didn't concentrate, you usually ended up falling in spectacular style, lol.  (We used to judge falls on a one to ten scale with ten being the most spectacular, lol.)
Hope you're all having a good night, and thanks again for the award Vickie.  Now I'm off to leave lots of comments, lol.  YD says good night too!!!