ABC Lessons

Well, another week down on ABC Lessons.....it's coming along, I'm thinking maybe two more appearances in the rotation and it might just be done! This one is so much fun to stitch - I really love Lizzie Kate designs!

Not much else going on - I'm thinking that within the next couple of days I will have all the cross-stitching done on the dollhouse project. Then it will be backstitching time! When I get the cross-stitching done, I will definitely post a picture of it before I start the backstitching...just because I love the way backstitching makes designs POP!

Meanwhile, I'm fighting a cold...I thought I was thru the worst of it, and then it kind of came back with a vengeance today...I ended up leaving work a little early today just because I was really tired from the cold. No fever, so I know it's just a cold, not the flu or anything...but it is tiring...and oh yeah, my nose hurts! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog - I do appreciate it, and I appreciate all the comments!

Two updates!

Well, this picture should have been posted two weeks ago - on the 7th...that was when I took it off the Q-Snaps and put it away for a while and picked up the next project in the rotation. This is such a fun project to stitch on - I love most of the Lizzie Kate patterns -the kind of irregular lettering and stuff just make them fun to stitch.

Then for the last two weeks i've been stitching on Frederick the Literate. I usually only spend one week on each project, but in this case I was enjoying stitching on it, and wasn't bored yet, so I decided to keep going. I'm almost 1/4 of the way done. If you're not familiar with the picture, it's two bookshelves, this is the left hand half of the top shelf. The mid point is about six or eight stitches beyond the last book spine I've stitched....so i figure when I get there, I'll be half way done with the top shelf. It's fun, Frederick actually looks like a cat now! LOL

This week it will be ABC Lessons - probably just for a week, but we'll see!

Thanks for checking out my blog - I do appreciate it, and I appreciate all your comments!

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!!!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

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....

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

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!