Progress (with piccys) and various other stuff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     And I have another Yes Dear piccy.  

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

IHSW and a Pressie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Cross Stitch Kit Review ~ Yiota's Cross Stitch

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

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

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

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

A finish!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please, help me!!!

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

Goooo Giants!!! (Mild langatge) and WIPacolypse

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

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

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

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

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

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

     And then Monday, I worked on In Her Garden.  

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

     And lastly, Jesus.  

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

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

Emails, emails, emails

      I'm drowning in them!!!  I was bouncing, and was gonna let myself bounce till I got caught up.  Then Mary saw that I was bouncing on her group, and she unbounced me.  Ooops, lol.  Oh well, I'm already bouncing again, so I'll do it this time.  I had 1103 in my Incredimail program last night when I started.  I thought, okay, maybe a hundred and fifty emails today.  Y'all, I got down to four ninety eight!!!!  I went through all the Buckeye Stitchers, Friendly Stitchers, Chocoholic Stitchers, Crazy Cool Cross Stitchers, Intricate Cross Stitch, and India Grace Designs emails.  Filled up people's inboxes like mad.  And I started The Stitcherhood emails.  Wow, I was busy!!!!  So today I'm working on them again, and I plan to stitch a little later.  Saturday, I finally got to put some stitches in  my rotation project, Impossible Love.  I'm quite sure I won't make my goal on it, simply cause I forgot I had to grid it.  Ugh, I HATE to grid, but it helps me so much, so I do it.  This time, it was worse than usual, cause I decided (Woe is me, Oh woe is me) to grid it with white so I wouldn't have to take it out.  So it's hard as heck to see where I'm going with it.  I've got in all the grid lines for the first pages across, and the first two grid lines vertically.  I'll put the next ones in when I finish up the first row of ten by tens.  I love the colors in it though.  It's a soft pinkish peachy color right now (one color is soft peach, the other is pinkish, so they sort of blend).  I love it.  I've only got about a hundred and fifty stitches in it so far.  I hope to get some more in later tonight, so maybe three fifty by the time tomorrow rolls around.  I'm trying to do all the confetti stitches first, then will fill in the colors with more stitches later.  Makes it easier for me!!

     Jesus is getting closer.  

I did some of the confetti stitching on his face yesterday, and worked on the shading in the bottom right corner.  I was watching the Pro Bowl (which had a lot of really funny moments in it), and working, so I didn't get a lot done.  A lot of my fave players were there.  AJ Green, the Bengal's WR, had the first AFC touchdown, which was cool.  And Andy Dalton, our QB, threw for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.  For a rookie, he's awesome!!  (Heck, even for a non rookie he'd be awesome.)

     I got a lot of Rhodes stitches done on Tree of Stitches this week.  

It's coming along really well, and I'm anticipating a finish on that in a few weeks too.  I did have a funny to share about the Rhodes Stitch though.  Abi Gurden's instructions mention figuring out how you want you last stitch to look and then moving on one stitch to the right/left so you'll know where to start.  I wanted my last stitch to be from top right to bottom left, so I started in the second hole (it's four holes on a side) from the left on the bottom.  I move in a clockwise direction, and so the first stitch goes down one stitch from the right on the top.  For the first ten stitches, I did the same thing:  count over three to the corner, count up four to the top corner, and count back one to the hole I needed.  Then I realized, Oh, I could just count over two and up four!!!  LOL, it was so funny.  Julie and Rosa have already laughed at me for this, so feel free to join in.  (I laughed about it too.  It IS funny, lol.)  Oh, geez, I need to get a grip, lol.

     I used some of the dark blue for my ornie this week.  

I had to pull out Lust and get the floss out of there, as it was the one I was missing (and the first color of Lust), so I took it out of the ornie floss and put it in Lust.  Luckily, I remembered what I did with it, so I could find it!!!  It's doing okay.  I finished off that pesky tree (and I had to frog it once, after I cramped my hand putting it in!!) and started on the cabin.  I have the cabin with windows to do, and then I have to do the two cardinals in front and it's done.  Then I'll start the lantern one.  It's a candle in a black, old fashioned lantern.  Really pretty.  I think it will look good on the sparkly fabby!

     I'm really pleased that Michele Sayetta didn't refund my two dollar payment to her.  I had to look up the layaway info to send it to her, cause she didn't want it.  I didn't care, and told her to put it towards her legal fees for that whole South African mess.  I got to the chart from Rachel (finally) and it was Earth by Rosario!!!  It's the only one I didn't have, and I was so excited to get it.  Now I have the series.  I can't wait to start one of them (NO, I'm not going to do that until something is FINISHED in my rotation), and I'm thinking I will start with either Water or Fire when the time comes.  Thanks so much Rachel, I love it.  I was so excited when I finally got to it, I had a serious case of the giggles.  It was the middle of the night though, so nobody heard me except Yes Dear, and she already thinks I'm nuts, lol.  Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!  But...  It was the regular chart format, and I try and get the large print when I can.  So I emailed Michele and basically said, "Don't you dare just send me the chart.  Tell me your paypal email so I can send you the difference."  Of course, being Michele, she didn't send me her paypal email.  So I had to look it up, and I sent the two dollars with a long note about how if she didn't charge me for a couple of charts I was gifted (and which I now think may have been pirated), I was gonna send her the funds at today's prices.  I've got an email from her, but I haven't gotten to it yet.  I'm sure she'll have something to say.  She doesn't wanna take my money cause I'm a good customer, but she WILL.  Or else, lol.  We shall see...

     And if you all can take a moment, I would appreciate it if you could say a prayer for Randi.  I know she's having a hard time right now, and even though she no longer wants to be friends, I'm still worried about her.  You don't just turn off love, and so if you could spare a second, please say a prayer that God showers her with his blessings.  TIA ladies!!

     I think that's about it for today.  Oh, and one more thing.  GO GIANTS!!!!!!!  (And one more thing.  

Yes Dear hardly ever sits in my stitching chair, but she was the other night.  She was so cute doing it, with her little paws tucked up under her chest, I took a piccy of her being so cute.  Of course, I ALWAYS think she's being cute (unless she's being bad), so I'm prejudiced, lol.  Anyways, here she is, being all cute.) 

I saw the hand of God

     It's frequent that I get frustrated with my life, and forget that God has a plan for me, and no matter what happens, I'm following that plan.  The hurts (both physical and emotional) are meant to do something, to teach me something.  But this morning, I SAW God's hand reach out and touch my life.  In a good way, of course.  I was really ticked off Sunday.  I was finally back on schedule (for me) as I had woken up about two o'clock.  I was following the score on the those who shall not be named game, and doing emails.  Then, at six thirty, the Giants game was on.  I watched the first hour, but I was so tired, I couldn't stay up.  I finally went to bed at about seven thirty thinking I would take a nap.  I slept until five AM the next day.  I was peeved, but figured, okay, sometimes it works out that way.  I was up in the morning, which I hate.  Then, this morning, I was up at seven.  I didn't get to sleep until after midnight, so I'm not happy about being up so early.  And then, I saw how God had touched my life.  (Some background, really quick.  I have a subsidy for my rent.  They figure up my income, and my utitlites.  Then, they figure out one third of my total income.  That's what I pay.  Anything above and beyond that, my subsidy company pays.  This means I pay more than they do, but they kick in the rest.  Otherwise, I could never afford to live on my own.)  At a couple of minutes before ten, there's a knock on my door.  And I'm wondering who it could be.  I look through the peephole, and it's Andre!!!  Andre is the subsidy company's inspector.  He makes sure the water runs, the toilet flushes, and the burners work.  (Oh, and he always checks the smoke detector too.)  If I hadn't had to go to sleep like that on Sunday, I would NEVER have been up!!!  Thank God for small favors.

My ill advised purchases (is there any other kind) and IHSW

     I had to go to Hobby Lobby this morning.  I HAD to.  I was out of white thread, and I needed to grid for Impossible Love.  Then I realized that while I was there, I could pick up that skein of three nineteen I needed for my ornie.  Of course, now that I have picked one up, I'll find the other one.  It's guaranteed, lol.  And then, on my way up to the register, I saw them.  New fat quarters.  And, OMG, they had lots of purple.  I couldn't resist two of them.  I got one of purple and pink variegates.  (Okay, so maybe it's a really light, pinkish purple.  I think it looks pink.)  It was seven dollars.  The other one was ten, and it's purple prints.  I LOVE both of them, and am looking for little things to make into purple ornies.  Aren't they fabulous!!!  (I should never go to Hobby Lobby.  I should make a list and send my mom.  My four dollar and forty cent purchase turned into twenty two dollars and change.  Sigh, I'm so bad at self control.  Still, I won't have to borrow for groceries (I don't think), so I'm in okay shape.)  And they are worth it if I have to eat really cheap for a week.  I can do it, if I have to.  And it looks like I"ll have to.  But that's okay.  Like I said, worth it.  Aren't they beautiful?!?

     And speaking of beautiful, I went over to David's house yesterday.  (No, he is NOT beautiful.  He's a man, for crying out loud.)  LOL, I went over for a beautiful reason though.  I got the fabby for Beach Romance!!  

It's gorgeous, imo.  I love it.  And Amy was impressed with it too.  I was NOT impressed with their speed though.  I ordered it on the sixth, and I got it on Saturday, the twenty first.  Wow, took a long time to get here.  David and Amy approved it (after I greeted Vin and made him so excited he hocked up a slimy ball of, IDK, spit, snot, drool?  Ick.  I was trying to calm him down, and Amy was staring like she'd never seen him before.)  LOL, dogs just love me.  All of them!!!  LOL, Rosa's little dog was dying to sit on my lap one night.  I was afraid to though.  YD was already stalking him every chance she got.  If she saw him sitting on HER mommy's lap, IDK what she would have done.  So I just petted him and kept YD away from him, lol.  It was too funny though.  The neighbors dogs love me too.  They had to drag the little one upstairs because he wanted to get petted more.  Another yorkie, like Rosa's Chewie.  It was funny.  

     I did go downstairs to see the cats again.  Butters came right up to get petted.  Reese stared at me for a long time, then hissed when I tried to pet her.  So I'm making progress with her.  She didn't hiss right away, only when I looked like I was going to pet her.  And she didn't bite me this time, so it's all good.  Then Amy showed me...  THE WEDDING PICCYS!!!  They are fabulous!  They've got some really great shots.  I told Amy to send me one to put on my blog.  The flowers were gorgeous, a purple and blue mix (and they were real).  I don't know what kind of flowers they were, but they were beautiful.  So when I get a pic, I'll be sure and post it here.  They apparently had a great time hamming it up for the camera.  The minister (and my brother) made a heart in the sand with brooms and then David and Amy stood inside it to get married.  It was awesome.  (The minster said David is the first groom that's ever been so much of a control freak that he had to help, lol.  Too funny!!)  I loved some of the pics.  They are just wonderful.  And they're happy about it.  You can tell from their demeanor that they're happy.  

     And now, for some more eye candy.  I worked on Rosa and Jesus for IHSW.  Like a dork, I posted photos on Saturday night, not thinking that it was IHSW and I would have to post again on Monday.  So here is Rosa. 

 I did actually get some more done on her since the last piccy.  It's not much, but some.  I finished the medium row of Kloster Blocks around the trellis.  Next time it comes around, I'm gonna do Rosa's piece.  I'll do the center Klosters, the star stitches, the trellis, and the medium Klosters.  Then I'll start the roses on mine, to see how well I can get the Bullion Knots.  I've never met a knot I liked, so we'll see how I do on these...  Nervous, lol.

     And last but not least is Jesus.  I didn't get a whole lot done on him.  It was a depressed day Sunday.  Those who shall not be named won their game, and that just sucked for me.  I didn't watch it, but I was totally rooting for the Ravens.  And then, when the Giants were on, I was so tired I had to go to bed.  So I got an hour in on Jesus, and that's about it.  There is some progress, though it's hard to see.  I"m almost completely finished with his cloak, as that's what I worked on this time.  You'll be able to see the areas I filled in if you go back to look at the other piccy, I think, but I didn't get a lot done.  The Giants did win, so I'm rooting for them in the SB.  I'm still deciding if I'll watch it though...  Maybe, maybe not.  I REALLY don't like the Giants opponent, so we'll see.  Anyways, here is Jesus in all his glory!!  

     I've got the windows open here today, y'all.  It's so nice outside.  It's fifty six degrees, and I'm loving it.  This is the first time in a long time that it's been nice enough to have the windows open.  (I may have to change clothes though.  I'm in my cami and shorts pj set, and I'm not chilly yet, but...)  We'll see what happens.  I hope you're all having a great day.  I got up at five am again (IDK what it is about that time of day.  I seem to have gotten up at five am for days now.  Ugh!!  I HATE mornings.  Ick!)  So I'm sure it will be early to bed for me tonight.  Maybe tomorrow will be more normal.  Anyways, I'm off to play for a bit.  Y'all hagd, and I'll blog again soon.  (I have a new start this week.  Impossible Love by HAED (Selina Fenech), and so I'll be posting a photo soon, I think.)

Thank you

     I asked for prayers from you all a couple of blogs ago, and I appreciate them all.  Randi has taken down her nasty, vicious attacks on me.  I feel so much better now.  It's hard to know that someone you care about is saying such horrible things about you.  If any of you would like an explanation, please feel free to email me and I can easily explain my actions.  Thanks to Randi's parents, whom I'm sure had something to do with it, and thanks to Randi herself.  I'm tired of crying over it.  (I have really shown a lot of restraint.  My original reaction was to blog about why she was saying all those things about me, but I don't want to hurt her.  So I'm just gonna leave it be.)

     I have been working on Rosa today. 

 I decided not to couch the trellis on it.  I started to do it, and I couldn't get the threads to cross over the holes.  So they were being pulled out of alignment.  So I took out the row I did, and tried to put the threads back where they belong.  I'm hoping putting the roses on them won't pull them off center.  Of course, that's for next time.  I'm working on the middle row of Kloster Blocks.  It's going well.  I have about half of it done.  When I finish it, I'll actually start Rosa's Rosa.  (LOL, I'm making two Rosas.  One for me to practice the new stitches on, and one for Rosa when supposedly I'll know what I'm doing.)  LOL, I'm talking to Rosa and she just said something about little soap roses and my brain said, "Little soap  Rosas???"  It was too funny.

     And Jesus got some love yesterday morning too.  

I got quite a bit done on him in the morning.  (I'm not usually up in the morning, but with everything that's been going on, I haven't been able to sleep.  It's been taking me longer and longer to get to sleep, and so I'm waking up later and later.  My schedule is all crazy atm.  I got up this morning at five am, and I'm usually going to bed around four am.  So I'm all off.)  I didn't work on Jesus on Thursday, because I was sleeping and because I didn't work on my ornie on Wed (because I didn't work on ToS on Tuesday).  So it's been all crazy here.  But Friday and Saturday are supposed to be rotation, so I'm back to where I should be now.  And Jesus is looking good.  I'm filling in the bits and pieces that need to be filled in.  Soon, it will be done.  Yay!!!  Mom will be so happy with him, too.  I can hardly wait to finish him up.  I'll be thrilled to be done with him.

     Tree of Stitches was fun this week.  

I finished up the Norwich Stitch (which I didn't care for), and did almost all of the Star Stitch.  I like Star Stitch.  I did a ton of them for Rosa this week, and then did a whole bunch more for ToS.  They came out so nicely.  I didn't even have to read Abi's tutorial on how to do them, lol.  I was talking to Rosa about the stitch, and I thought it was called Star Stitch, but I wasn't sure.  So I looked at the instructions on ToS, and found out it was the next stitch I was gonna do.  So I didn't have to check the instructions when I finished up the Norwich stitch.  I decided since I was using perle thread (number twelve, I think) on Rosa that I would use two strands of my six stranded floss.  They all look really good to me.  I wish my camera zoomed better as they are so pretty.  I love the way they look, just like they often portray the star over the manger in Bethlehem.

     And lastly, I got some done on my ornie.  

Eventually, I WILL get it done.  It often causes me problems though, as my hand cramps.  Sorry to complain about it, again, but it DOES!!!  I didn't do too badly this time though.  It was Wed, and I worked on it for a while, and then ToS for a while.  I got a lot more done than usual, on both.  I may try it again next week and see how it does.  I'll be sooooo happy to finish this ornie, and go on to the next one.  (The next one is in the middle of the fabby, and I'll sort of be able to put it on my Q snap.)  I would have gotten more done, but I can't remember where I put the darned thread, lol.  I was searching for the floss the other day, and now that I can't find it where I thought it was, I'm wondering if maybe a small thing didn't take it away somewhere.  She does like to play with floss and bobbins, so I wouldn't put it past her.  Hopefully, I'll find it sometime this week.  If not, it's back to Hobby Lobby for me.

     I had to go up to Kroger's this morning.  It was ugly too.  I went out at about five thirty as I was out of tea.  For those who don't know, I drink Crystal Light Peach Tea all day long.  I go through two or three sixty four ounce containers of it a day.  (And, yes, I pee a lot too, lol.)  I was almost totally out.  So I go out to the car, and everything outside is icy.  I grab the handle, and pull, and the door is frozen shut.  Frozen shut, y'all.  I was like REALLY???  I went back in the house and waited till the Kroger's two blocks up the street from me was open (a few minutes before eight, cause I honestly was too lazy to look them up and call to find out when they opened), then I walked up.  It was horrible.  Everything was covered in ice.  It's only two bocks (well, two and a half if you count the parking lot as a block.  It's huge, serving Wal Mart, Kroger's, and Petsmart) but it was so slick I had to take little baby steps.  It took me an hour, including time walking around the store and getting what I needed.  (And a couple of things I didn't need, lol.  I picked up muffins and some of those Reese candy eggs, yummy!!)  I did also stop at the bakery on the way home too.  I got a chocolate donut and a football cupcake.  Cause it's football, lol.  Y'all know how rabid I am about my football.  The girl behind the counter asked who my team was.  I told her the Bengals and others.  And she wanted to know who.  So I started listing, and she started laughing.  It was funny!

     And speaking of funny (and the first part isn't funny, but I'll get around to it), I made what I considered a funny at the bank yesterday.  I've been having trouble with my bank for a while.  It used to be People's Community Bank.  And I liked it then.  But then they were bought out by First Financial Bank, and the problems started.  First, they changed the way transfers go through.  With People's, they went through when you did it, no matter when you did it.  With First, they go through immediately from nine AM to nine PM.  If it's after nine PM, it doesn't go through till the next day.  In order to get to your account, you have to go through several what I consider useless steps.  You can't get to online banking from the main page.  You have to click a link to click a link to click a link to get to the sign in page.  I didn't like the changes, but I was dealing.  Then I had the first processing error.  My account said I was over a thousand dollars negative, when I should have had money in the bank.  Of course, no one was available to answer my call, and they don't have phone banking, where you can check your balance and all that.  I started going through, trying to figure out what had come through that put me so negative.  And finally, I figured out it was a bank error.  It said (during July) that I had been negative since March.  I knew that was baloney, so I called the bank the next day, and it was miraculously fixed.  They did some checking, and found out that the balance is unreliable between nine PM and one AM.  That's when the bank does their processing of all the transactions that have occurred that day.  And so then, I had the problem again.  I don't keep a checkbook as I don't write checks.  I just keep an updated, um, average of what I have.  I round things up when I take out, and round them down when I deposit.  So I carry a running total in my head.  At least, I try to.  So I went to the grocery store around ten at night one night.  It declined my card.  I knew I had money in the bank, and asked them to run it again.  Finally, I asked them to put the cart in the cooler and I ran down to the ATM which informed me I had insufficient funds.  So I went home, and logged on only to find that the bank was processing and showed my account being negative.  I was ticked.  The grocery store had to put everything back on the shelf, and I had to go shop again the next day.  Then, a couple of months later, it happened again.  Same thing.  I called mom, and asked if I could borrow the money and pay her back the next day.  She said sure.  She also asked if I could take a picture of it.  (I totally never would have thought of that.)  So I took a screen shot, and called the next day.  The guy I talked to said to send it in.  I did.  He emailed me back and said that it was during the processing time, and there was nothing they could do about it.  And then it happened again a couple of weeks ago.  I was TICKED!!!!  So I called the bank, explained I knew about the processing error and asked if they had a fix in the works.  He asked me to hold, which I don't mind doing.  He came back, and explained what the error was about.  I told him I knew all that, and was there a fix in the works.  He had the temerity to tell me it wasn't broken, and therefore, didn't need fixed.  At that moment, I decided to switch banks.  So I made some calls to research banks, and asked them all about that.  No one had ever heard of that, and thought it was crazy.  (I did too, lol.)  And then I got a little thingy in the mail.  

     It was from Huntington Bank, and advertised that if you brought in the little card, opened a free checking account before the end of March, and started a qualifying direct deposit, they would deposit a hundred dollars in your account.  They also have a couple of things I like.  No maintenance fees, no matter how low your account gets.  Twenty four hour grace, where if you bounce something by accident, you have until the end of the next business day to make it right without being charged a fee.  Overdraft protection is done with your saving account, and you're not charged a fee.  (I got charged a fee once at my old bank because online banking wasn't available, and I had ordered something via Paypal before going to the bank's website to transfer funds.  Luckily, the online banking system gave me a personal ID to use when calling the bank about the bank error.  They looked it up, and found out it was unavailable.  So they refunded the fee.)  But there, I couldn't link to my savings account for overdraft.  So I like that ability here.  Even if something happened, and I couldn't get on the bank site to transfer funds, I'd still be able to buy what I needed.  So I liked that quite a bit.  I decided to go with them, and get the extra hundred dollars.  (I'll probably send half of it to Rosa, and the other half to Julie as they are both hurting for money right now.  Fun, fun.  Gotta love paypal, lol.)  Anyways, I decided on Huntington, but didn't know when I was gonna do it.  Then I got my bank account statement and panicked.  Someone, I don't know who, had ripped it open and taken the account statement (with my account numbers on it) out of the envelope.  It scared the crap out of me.  First is very careful about account numbers.  They refuse to give them out over the phone.  Period, end of statement.  You have to go in, and if they don't know you well, you have to show ID.  (Learned that one the hard way, lol.)  So, my brain starts going a million miles and hour.  I'm freaking out, thinking someone has my account info, and they're gonna try and withdraw money from my account.  So I think, since I'm gonna switch my account from one bank to the other, now would be a good time to do it.  So, since I have enough money in my wallet to start a new account, I go up to Huntington (which is also closer than my old bank, by quite a bit).  There is an entryway, like all banks.  In this entryway, however, is a metal detector.  Of course, it goes off cause I have my keys in my hand.  The nice teller asks me to put my purse and keys on the shelf and go back through the metal detector.  I do, and it clears me.  Then, she apologizes, and asks me to move stuff around in my purse so they can see inside.  This makes me laugh, cause I carry everything but the kitchen sink in my purse.  I start taking things out, and finally she's all, "Okay, okay," and she's laughing about it.  So she lets me in, and I go up to the counter.  She asks if she can help me, and I say, "I came to shoot you," and started laughing.  (I can't keep a straight face, I find myself too amusing.)  She just laughs at me.  So I open my new accounts, and get all the paperwork.  Then I go to my old bank, to close them down, and talk to the manager.  I tell her what's been going on, and she really can't say anything.  She can't criticize the company she works for, so what can she do?  Luckily, she asked me if I had anything outstanding, which I did and had forgotten about.  I purchased Noah's Sub for Rosa.  She's gonna join Julie and I in our SAL.  And it was her birthday this month, and I hadn't had her down on my calendar.  Luckily, I called her the day before, and she told me it was her birthday the next day, so I did tell her happy birthday.  But I needed a gift, and she was all sappy with it.
Your friendship is enough for me, blah blah blah.  That just feels like a cop out.  So I bought her the chart so she can join us.  We're gonna have so much fun!!  So, just in case someone tried to use my account numbers, I took out everything but enough to cover the charge when it comes in, plus a couple of extra dollars.  And I closed the savings account I shared with my mom, and transferred her part of the money into her checking account.  I left my other checking open cause I didn't think Social Security would be able to change my account before Feb third.  (They can, by the way.  I called on the twentieth to change it over, and the cutoff is the twenty fifth.  It used to take almost three weeks to get changed over.  Progress!)  So now I'm all set.  I just need to go in and close out the other two accounts, and I'm good.  It sounds like I was soooooo busy, lol.  I really wasn't though.  I'm glad I've got it all taken care of though.  I feel better about it now, knowing that I don't have to worry about when I go to the store and stuff, and that even if someone does access my account, they can only get thirty bucks out of it.  Relief!!!!  I guess, all in all, it's been a good day.

     Whew, I really talked your ear off.  If you got through it all, grats to you and thanks for listening.  I guess I just needed to talk today!!!  I hope you all had a great day, and are having a nice evening.  I'm gonna go to bed in a few.  I've been up since about five AM.  Yuck!!  Now if I can just get to sleep.  And maybe without tears tonight, now that I feel better about the whole internet situation.  Y'all hagn, and I'll bbs with more of my adventures!!!

Eye Candy, Whoo Hoo!!

     I have eye candy today, yay.  I took a piccy of everything, cause I can't remember the last time I took piccys.  I've been very busy frogging Rosa.  I spent hours frogging and redoing and frogging and redoing...  The magazine made some changes to Vicki's pattern, so I kept trying to get it right and failing.  Finally, I figured out they had changed the pattern and notified Vicki.  She sent me her version (which is the correct one), and suddenly, my borders are matching up in the right place.  I was up all night, and I finally got to bed around one PM today.  I have something on my mind, and have had for several days.  It all started Thursday night, but I was dog sitting over the weekend, and I had somewhat of a handle on it.  Today though, I just couldn't get it under control.  So we'll see what happens with it all.  But I got a lot done on Rosa.  I had to frog the outer blue border, the middle blue border, the outer star stitch border, and the inner blue border.  It was a pain, but there was a MAJOR happy dance when they started meeting up and being in the right places.  I even jumped up and down.  Ouch!!!  So no more jumping up and down, lol.  But I'm really pleased with the amount of progress I got done.  I wanted (and it's possible, but not likely) to finish up the trellis for this rotation and start on the other Rosa (I'm doing two, a practice one for me and a real one for Rosa).  I've got the trellis lines in place, now I need to couch it, which is gonna be a pain.  Every intersection gets a couching stitch!!!!  So it's gonna take forever.  And I only have Friday and Saturday to work on it, so we'll see how I do.  (If only I hadn't had to frog so much of it!!!  But thems the breaks, sometimes.)  She's looking pretty, and I'm happy I figured out how I got so far off.  

     Next up is my ornie (this is the one piccy I think may be the same as last time). 

 I put in a few rows last week, but can't remember when I did my last update piccy.  I'm really liking how the dark evergreen is coming out.  It looks just like an actual evergreen, and so I'm happy with the color I picked to do the trees in.  It's perfect!!  I like the opalescent fabby too.  I got an email from Lauren of Sassy's Fabbys the other day, about my other opalescents.  She just now got the fabby from her distributor.  It was promised in October!!!  So I answered her and said that's cool, just to let me know how much she owes me.  I told her I had sent her an email too, and if she got it, to just ignore it.  I know her mom (I think) has been having some health problems, so I don't mind that she isn't caught up.  I told her in October whenever she got the fabby was good, and I stand by that.  This opalescent (which came from Anne D., thanks Anne) was sort of a trial run to see if I liked using it.  Since I liked it, I'm doing my Celtic Ladies on opalescent.  The fabby I got for the wedding sampler is opalescent too.  I can't wait to get it.

     Okay, up next is my Portrait of Christ (previously called Jesus).  

He's getting there.  I got most of the rest of his hair done at David's house this week end.  (More on that later.)  I'm starting to get excited for the finish.  I have the one overs to do and some bits and bobs here and there.  I have a few bits of his cloak, and a little bit of hair on the right side of his neck.  Then there are some little bits here and there in his face (especially along the hairline), and he's done.  Finito, whoo hoo!!!  And honestly, I can't wait to be done with him.  This project has caused me so many problems with the almost constant frogging.  I just couldn't seem to get his face right, no matter what I did.  I just kept putting things in the wrong place!!!  But he's getting close to being finished, and so I'm happy about that.  I'm sure mom will be too, lol.  She's been waiting years for him.  So a slightly premature happy dance here.  Oh, and I have to do a little bit of bsing, too.  I almost forgot to mention that.  It's around his eyes and nose.

     My last WIP is Tree of Stitches. 

 It's been so fun to do this project.  And when Vicki and I were talking this morning, I was able to mention several specialty stitches that she could use in her project that she's designing.  (I mentioned the Cushion stitch first.  It's my fave.  I just love the way it looks.)  So that was nice, to be able to put in some useful suggestions.  I'm loving the color I chose for this too.  The dark and light greens are so pretty.  It's turning out beautifully.  Norwich Stitch is the current stitch, and while I don't love it, I can tolerate it.  (It's the first stitch that I haven't really enjoyed, although the eyelets got tedious as I was stressing while doing them.  (I was in the hospital with mom that night.)  But I don't hate them either, like I do French Knots.  I actually just totally skipped the French Knots, cause I totally hate them.  And my tree looks good without them, lol.  BTW, yes, I am going to be filling in that part to the left of the current, um, branch (for lack of a better word).  I'm working from right to left, cause God forbid I should work left to right like most people do, lol.  I had to move the Q snap last week as it was too low for me to reach the top of the tree.  I still have a couple of floral stitches to do down at the bottom, but I haven't got a color picked out for them yet.  I'm thinking maybe the pink I used for Julie, but IDK for sure...

     And the last piccy I have to share (because I can't move piccys from my phone to my computer), is of Cattitude.  Yes, I picked it up from the framers this week, on Thursday.  It was a long day too.  I dogsat for David (and catsat for Amy) this weekend.  They went on a little "vacation" to Florida.  They actually got married there, on the beach.  I hadn't realized that Beach Romance was so apt.  I've got a great piccy of them standing together about ankle deep in the surf, kissing.  It looks fabulous!!  If I could post it here, I would.  But it's on my phone, and I can't transfer it.  Anyways, I left here Thursday afternoon at about four o'clock.  I needed to stop at Michael's for my skein of thread, because it's on the way to David's and Amy's house, and it's cheaper than Hobby Lobby, which is super close to my house.  (David's only about fifteen minutes away, so Michael's isn't but ten minutes.  It's not really out of the way.)  So I go in, pull out PoC, and figure out which floss I'm missing.  I hunt up the floss section, find the bin, and the darned thing is empty.  Go figure.  So back to Hobby Lobby I go.  Since David gives me some money for watching his dog, I also picked up my Cattitude.  Then I head for David's house again, only to get most of the way there and realize, "I forgot my meds," so back home I went.  It was funny, in a way, except that I was wasting gas!!  Over to Michael's, back to Hobby Lobby, over to three blocks from David's back home, back to David's.  Third time's a charm, right!!  Of course, Vin was very happy to see me.  He wiggle butted all over the kitchen, lol.  I took him down and hooked him up.  He went out and did his business.  then I went in to see the cats.  (I had only seen them once before.)  Butters, who is a chunk of cat, was amenable to me being there and gave me rubs and let me pet her and rub her belly.  Reese hates me, and everyone else.  She hissed and spat and bit me.  (I tried to pet her to see if the hissing was all talk.  Nope, she was serious, lol.)  She didn't bite hard, just a warning.  She was growling and mom (on the phone) said she sounded vicious.  Which she did, lol.  So every time I went to see the cats, I let Vin peek in the door.  And a few times, Butters came up to the cat door to sniff at Vin on the other side.  They're still nervous of each other, but I spent some time getting them acclimated.  Butters stood about two feet away and looked her fill, while Vin looked calmly at her.  So I had some success getting them used to each other.  I would just hold Vin across the chest so he knew not to lunge at the cat, and they'd stare at each other.  So I'm hopeful for better things next time we try and get them together.  I did tell David that I'm not dogsitting for him anymore.  I was talking to Amy, and he was in the background.  He asked how the weather was, and I told them frigid.  He laughed in the background.  I told Amy to tell him I would be happy to catsit for her, but next time he wanted to go off to Florida in the middle of winter, he was on his own, lol.  They're very brave.  They got married on Friday the Thirteenth, which I thought was very cool.  (It's one of my fave days of the year, partly because my paternal grandpa loved Friday the Thirteenth.)

     Now that you've read all of that, here is the piccy you've been waiting with bated breath for. 

 I think it turned out fabulous, and for now, I plan to hang it over my purple couch.  (When I finish my desert mandala, it will take up that space, but for now, it's all about the Cattitude.)  I love the mat for this.  It's a textured mat, and you can sort of see the movement of the nap in the photo.  It's like a short, short fur.  It was very soft when I touched it in the store.  This was the cheaper of the two projects I had framed, so it came home first.  I still have Cat Lessons for People that Randi made me there, but it was close to a hundred dollars for that to be framed as it's much larger.  So that one is waiting for me to save up a little bit of money for it.

      I have committed to doing a cross stitch piece for Rosa too.  I've picked out a pattern and fabby, but I'm not sure if she wants me to post it here or not.  And I think I posted here that I've also committed to doing two pieces for Freak.  He offered to pay for the second one's supplies and everything, so I said I would do both.  It's because he likes to read my freaking blog, lol.  He saw the piccys that I showed of my purchases from Witch Stitch'n'Bits, and he loved Enchanted  Web, which I bought for Julie.  He wants me to do one for him, so I'll have to buy the chart again.  God love him, he has no idea how much work goes into a big piece.  His little cross stitch is something like four by four.  I told him it would take years, and he asked if I would mind doing them both, and if I did, not to worry about it.  But I love him to death, so I told him I'd do them both.  In one of my groups, Buckeye stitchers, I think, we're doing a start something new on April Fool's Day challenge.  So I signed up for both Beach Romance and Enchanted Web.  If I remember right, it falls on a Sunday, so I'll probably do a few stitches (twenty maybe) on EW and then work on BR the rest of the day.  BR is taking Jesus's place in my SAL schedule.  And EW is taking the place of ToS.  I'm sure both will be finished before April first.  (And if not, I'll start the new ones anyways, and put them away for a couple of weeks if need be.  I doubt it will be necessary though.)  

     I know this is long, but I want to ask all of your for prayers.  I've asked Randi to do something for me, and I'm hoping she'll do it.  I don't want to go into details yet, but I may later if I have to bring some pressure to bear.  So if you'll all say a prayer that this can be settled without further unpleasantness, I'd appreciate it.  TIA, as I know my wonderful followers will help me out with this!!  I hope you're all having a wonderful night, and that the new year is treating you right!