Where have I been?

Hello Friends!

I feel like I have been away for so long, I have been working so much overtime and enjoying my house being virtually empty of people that I haven't been doing much stitching or anything else, for that matter. I have been watching a bunch of movies for some reason.

I did finish the baby announcement for my friend at work, now all she has to do is have the baby and I can complete it with the name, birth date and frame it. We're all so excited at work, can't wait for our baby to be born. Yes we've all decided that she's ours.

 I can't wait to give it to her. I just hope she likes it.

I have been working off and on on the Train of Dreams SAL, I have decided that since I have completed the birth announcement for now, I'm going to get back to my Random Number generator and get my challenge pieces back in the mix. I have added the ToD to the list and another birth announcement since I just found out that my daughters best friend is pregnant too. I have a lot more time to do hers, so I should be able to get it done in time as well.

This is what I'm going to do for my daughters bestie. I bought this in the late 90's and have had it stashed ever since, I pulled it out of storage and the fabric is stained and the little bit of stitching I had started is dirty too so I'm just going to start all over. The floss in the kit has an odd musty smell so I have to convert the Bucilla floss colors over to DMC, no problem there.

 Now then, here's the TofD progress, just to keep you up to date with where I am on it.

 I've done a little more since that last pic, but not enough to warrant a new photo yet. I am really enjoying working on this, but I think I need a little break. Confetti is giving me headaches right now.

So I'll get back on soon and update with whatever the number generator comes up with. So sorry it has been a couple of weeks between posts, but I think things are slowing down a bit and the newness of having an empty "nest" is wearing off. See you soon and have a wonderful week! For those of us in the States, Have a safe 4th of July and if you are lucky enough to have fireworks, please televise them for us here in AZ, all of ours have been cancelled I believe.

Not such a great week, but progress.

This week has been hectic and frustrating and a couple of other things and I'm glad it's over. My daughter turned 25 on Tuesday. I really was looking forward to taking her our to dinner at her favorite restaurant and had it all planned out, but wouldn't you know it, the money I had set aside for dinner got taken out to pay the car insurance! I mean, what? I need insurance on my car? Oy! The timing just couldn't have been worse. So I couldn't take her out for dinner on her birthday, but I will take her out next week, this time to her other favorite restaurant since her boyfriend did take her to the favorite. I did get to make her requested birthday "cake", however, and it was DEEEEEElicious!

Make a wish!

Yes, it was a chocolate pudding pie! And she blew the candles out so hard, she knocked them over. When my son asked if she made a wish she said, "I don't need to make a wish, I already have everything that I want." What an awesome kid! So happy to have her in my life.

The rest of the week just seemed to get away from me. I did get some progress on my birth announcement, but didn't finish it, like I'd planned. But here's the progress on that one.

This is so darn cute, I really want to finish it up quickly so that when my friend has her baby I can give it to her mom (who also works at my office) as soon as I get the name and date on it and get it framed, probably the following Monday, whenever that may be.

I worked on the SAL all week, off and on as my mood allowed. I spent most of the week battling a case of the blahs. Depression hadn't set in until last night. So here's the progress I made over the past basically 2 weeks.

I saw in the enlarged photo that I missed a leg on one stitch that I'll have to go back and fix, because even if you can't see it, I know it's there and it will drive me crazy knowing that I didn't take care of it.

Can you see it?

I finally got a version of Adobe Reader that will allow me to highlight my progress on the chart. This was very frustrating for me since I love the paper print out and all, I just can't see it very well. Now that I have the updated version that will allow me to highlight it, I can zoom in and highlight and see it without straining my eyes. YAY!!!!

I found out some really disturbing news about one of my cousins this week and I'd really appreciate any prayers and good thoughts for his health and welfare. He and his brothers have been more like brothers to me than my own brothers at times. I'm pretty heartbroken for him right now.

I'm hoping this week will see me cheering up a little bit more and I'll get more done on the birth announcement and then maybe I can get back to my crazy 15 rotation and get some of them worked on too. Wish me luck?

Have a wonderful week!

It's Contagious!

Okay, so it's not really contagious, or maybe it is...decide for yourself.

I have been following quite a few blogs, as you can probably tell if you look at the list over there. ----------> And some of the posts I have looked at drooled over, are either knitted or crocheted. I used to know how to knit, very simple straight (don't even know the name of it) type of stitch. You know, in, wrap, over, out type of thing. I actually have crocheted a couple of blankets and many granny squares, but never knew how to connect them so they just kind of went away some where...I wonder if there's a black hole that sucks in old crafy leftovers, like next door to the one that is full of odd socks? Anyway, I digress, I saw on Milly's page a link to a ripple pattern that she is using to create a blanket (a Rainbow blanket!) for her car. So I went to the link she posted where she got the pattern from and it looks simple enough that a rusty crocheter, like me, could even follow it.

Well, last night I went to Walmart looking for general stuff I needed around the house, and I remembered that my store was to be one of the lucky stores that was going to get cross stitch stuff stocked. I went looking for it where the other sewing stuff has been for the last 12 years, and I noticed that the yarn was gone and no cross stitch stuff was in evidence. There were a few bins that had yarn on clearance but nothing else, it was spooky. For once there was actually someone there that I could ask where it all went. They moved it to where the silk flowers are?!?! Who would have even considered this as being sensible...anyway I found that the floss and cross stitch patterns were there already just waiting for me to come and get what I need.  Wait a minute, this was supposed to be about the yarn...in the clearance bins, there were 10 skeins of a nice variegated purple yarn that would make a very nice throw for me to use in the winter when I'm watching TV. So I got all 10 skeins and then bought a couple of crochet hooks. So I am now attempting to create this pattern from the instructions and my memory of what I used to be able to do.

But it's all your fault! If you all weren't so proficient at this knit-y crochet-y kind of stuff I wouldn't have even been tempted to pick it up again. I live in the desert for crying out loud! Who needs a blanket in the desert where it's 105 degrees every day in the summer!?!? LOL Sorry I just had to have someone to blame it on, because I certainly can't take responsibility for ANOTHER obsession.

I do have an update on one of my cross stitch pieces. Last week the lovely random number generator kicked out a 10, meaning I would spend the week working on my In God We Trust piece. Here's where I left off last time.

I was hoping to get all of the cobblestones done this week, but I got caught up in the crocheting and a lot of season finales on TV this week. I did get close to completing them. Here's where I am now.

I can almost see the puppy in that void already. Next time, I will get the puppy done too. And maybe my little headless Precious Moment boy will have hands and a face too.

I checked already for next weeks project and it looks like I'll be working on the QS Fire Moon. My first HAED, soon to be joined by the SAL Train of Dreams. We should be starting that in a couple of weeks. So I'm going to try to get a handle on the blanket thing and work on Fire Moon this week. So until next time, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and week ahead!

Shopping trip...more stash!!

I am getting all my materials ready for the Train of Dreams SAL. I ordered and received my fabric from 123stitch. Purchased and printed the chart and tonight I got to go shopping at Joann Fabrics and bought all my floss.

I also got a kit and the latest CS Gold that we have here.

I'm winding bobbins as I watch tv rather than stitching. I find The Quiltmaker doesn't hold my interest as much as some of my other projects, but I'm not going to give up. I know that the area I'm stitching is probably the most detailed and at times tedious, but I am plugging away and I have actually added some blue this week, so it's not so bad. I'll have another update on it on Friday. So until then...Happy Stitching!

7671 Days and Counting (cross stitch)!

I spent the week working on my Halloween design. It is the first time I have gotten it back out since I started it on January 5th. Surprisingly, I got most of it done, but it will take one more turn through the rotation in order to complete it. Here's where I started last Friday.

And this is where I leave off today. I was a lazy girl yesterday and didn't stitch after working for a couple of hours overtime last night. But a put another section of the border in this morning before work (was late leaving too!).

I think this week I'll be working on the Quiltmaker again. I think I'll work on some color this time, the gold about drove me nuts last time.

I'm going to be starting a SAL in a couple of weeks/days not sure which with a few other Randal Spangler fanatics. We're going to be stitching Train of Dreams. I have the fabric on the way from 123stitch, so that means it will be here tomorrow or Monday. Can't wait! I'll have to head to the store to buy the floss just for this. It's my first SAL so I'm really excited.

You may be wondering about the 7671 days thing, well I am celebrating a milestone today. 21 years ago I got clean and sober and decided to take it one day at a time, and when I figured out how many days it was, it came up to 7671 days....there have been 6 leap years in that time. I don't make a big deal out of it so much anymore but I thought that the number of years was pretty ironic.

So as I have to let my geek out a little bit today, May the Fourth be With You!

Happy Stitching!