Dollhouse Update

Well, I had envisioned this as a "before" shot of how much I was going to get done at my all day stitch-in yesterday. However, fate intervened. Our usual location for our stitching get togethers screwed us up. They remodeled their classroom (which really was an ideal location in which to stitch) and took some of the tables out. We had made reservations a month ahead of time, but they ended up giving the entire classroom to a bigger group and we're going to set a table up for us out in the main part of the store - totally unacceptable.

So we still got together to stitch, but first at a Starbucks and then moved to a Corner Bakery for lunch. At the Starbucks location, pulling out the dollhouse project to stitch was just a little awkward because it is pretty big. So instead, I stitched on a Lizzie Kate that I've been working on as a travel project. Once we moved, we had a better location, and I did get some stitching in on the dollhouse but nowhere near what I wanted to do. Oh well, at least I was stitching on SOMETHING!!!

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Angel of Cross Stitch

Well, another week of stitching on Angel of Cross Stitch. Got a little more done on the border. You can't see it because it's kind of "cream on cream", but the two lines within the flower border are all done. And I got some more of the turquoise and browns done along the top, and the upper right hand corner heart is done. Slowly but surely. I just looked back and realized htat the first progress picture I took of this project was in January 2008. So, I've passed the two year mark. Oh well, since I don't even know what I'm going to do with it, I guess it doesn't matter!

And...for those of you who knew I've been looking for either a new full time job or (ideally) a second part time job, I finally found one!!! It's been a year, almost exactly, and I found a job for three days a week, which was just what I needed. I'm working at my other job two days a week. So now I'm fully employed again! I start next Monday (the 8th). I'm really looking forward to it. I think that's part of why my stitching mojo has been a little lacking the last couple of weeks - I find I'm more productive when I'm busier.....lol

As always, thanks for checking out my blog, and thanks for all your comments!

ABC Lessons

Here is my latest progress on ABC lessons. For whatever reason, I didn't get much stitching done this week. I'm not sure why - just didn't seem to have the stitching "mojo" going. And this is a project I like stitching on, it's a pretty easy fun stitch. Oh well, I'm not doing it for any particular reason, so no rush!

And on a non-stitching note - I have the most wonderful parents EVER!!! Things are tight for me right now (since I'm only working two days a week) and they offered to pay for the framing on my "March" project in my previous posting. That was really nice of them, and a big help. Custom framing is SO expensive, but on something like that project that was a gift I really think it's worth it.

Two funny things about the framing on that piece - I pulled it up on the 123 catalog to see who the designer was, and saw that they had framed and matted it very similarly for the sample to how I had done it. And I can honestly say I didn't remember that, I just worked with the framer. And to make it funnier - I pulled the pattern out to show the similarity to my parents, and guess what - I didn't forget to dot the I! There is no dot over the I on the pattern! LOL

Then today my dad called me...to offer me their CAR!!!! To back up a little bit - Mike and I have been a one car family for a couple of years now. Mike had been driving my old car, and it finally died. It needed a transmission, and since the car had about 170,000 miles on it, we just didn't want to make the investment. At the time, Mike was about to lose his job, so we weren't in a position to go buy a car to replace it. Then...he got a full time job and not too long afterwards my hours got cut. So, again...not in a position to start a new car loan. My parents had two cars - a 17 year old Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible, and I'm not sure how new their other car is (maybe 6-8 years old) but the mileage on that car was getting high enough that dad was feeling more comfortable getting a second newer car. So they went yesterday and bought themselves a Ford Fusion. They weren't offering much of anything in trade for the Oldsmobile - it is 17 years old, and has about 130,000 miles on it. So my dad figured if they weren't going to get much for it, they might as well give it to us! So now I don't have to make two round trips every day on my day off to take Mike to work, and we don't have to deal with all the logistics of sharing a car. I'm so happy! My parents are just AWESOME!!!!

Sorry to ramble....

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Back from the Framer

Well, I got my aunt's gift back from the framer. I'm really happy with the way it turned out (sorry for the glare - without a flash, it was too dark, and I couldn't figure out how to avoid the glare).

You can't see it to clearly in the picture, but the framer put spacers between the turquoise mat and the yellow mat so that it looks a little more set back. I noticed after the fact that I never dotted the I in aquamarine.....oh well, that makes it "unique" right? And the other thing is I stitched it and finished last year, but I'm not giving it to her until this year. And the date in the corner says '09. I debated taking it out and changing it to '10, but figured I'll just put a note in there explaining that I finished it last year.....she'll probably think I meant to stitch it for last year's birthday (I really didn't!) but whatever.

Anyway thanks, for checking it out!

Frederick Update

Here is Frederick after another week of stitching - it's a little slow because of the black on black, and just in general the dark colors on dark fabric. But it's a pretty straight forward project. There are a few sections of blended threads, but nothing ugly. The only thing I've changed is I'm not using the gold metallic. I just don't have the patience for it - and I stitch to have fun, not to torture myself!!

Today is Valentines Day - we had a nice relaxing day. I woke up to find a little heart shaped cake with pink frosting and my name on it in red. It's only as big as one of those small clear plastic bakery containers, but it's super cute. It came with a very sweet romantic card. We went out to breakfast (which we usually do on weekends) to a place we really like that's not far from the house. I had my favorite thing they make (rotisserie chicken hash). We came home and relaxed and then we did Pick Up Stix for dinner - I think today is Chinese New Years, so we figured we'd bring it into our Valentines Day too!

Mike's going to take me out for a nice dinner on Tuesday - after he gets paid! We figured places would just be too crowded tonight, plus you usually have limited dinner options on holidays. This way we get to do what we want!!

Hope all is well with everyone - thanks for checking my blog, and thanks for all the comments!

Angel of Cross Stitch / Chirstmas ABC's

Well, I took a picture of Angel of Cross Stitch LAST weekend, and never posted it to my blog. So here it is in all it's glory - made a little bit of progress on the border.

And here is Christmas ABC's. The floating equal sign is actually two stripes in an ornament - I just stitched them because I had a short length of red floss left and rather than wasting it or tucking it away, I figured I might as well just use it up!

This was a fun weekend - an all day stitching session at a local store (8 of us from our So Cal stitching group) and then a Super Bowl party today. I didn't really care who won the game, but I came within one touchdown of winning $300 in a Super Bowl pool! But alas, the Colts missed their last opportunity to score - if they would have made the touchdown, I would have had the money! LOL

ABC Lessons

Here is my progress this week - this is a nice easy stitch, and it's a nice break between Frederick and Angel of Cross Stitch. I have five out of nine rows done. I discovered an error on the letter B block, but I'm not going go back and fix it. The top line of the B is supposed to go one stitch further out (you can kind of see it on the D, the E, the F, the N, and the P). But....I'm okay with it!

And it looks like there's a floating dot for no apparent reason between the P and the l in the word Play (kind of underneath them). It's not as random as it looks - it's a dot over an I in one of the words below - it just happened that it was actually closer to the P and L than it is to the I it floats above, so I decided to stitch it while I was doing those letters.

Now this week I'm back to Angel of Cross Stitch...there will be lots of sighing because it's time to do the border. I vowed I was going to do the border a little at a time but....the best laid plans, as they say!!!

Thanks for checking out my blog, and, as usual, for all your comments!