APRIL GOALS WRAP UP:

1) Stitch on Peaceful Silhouette ~10 hours [YES]
2) Start Legends of the Dragons [YES]
3) Start a new small project [Yes - and finished Ever So Little Zebra]

4) Knit green scarf [Yes a bit]
5) piece 2 ohio stars (#'s 8 & 9) [Finished 8]
6) baste and start quilting amish quilt [Yes]

7) Finish Acorn Sampler WIP - from Celebrations class [Nope]

Ohio Star #8 Finished! So it takes 2 nights at my aunt's and uncles to complete one block. .. that means next month i should be able to complete 2, i've been slow the last two months completing only one each month.

Last night was mexican dinner night - yummy tacos. Then we settled in and watched Radio which was really good while I put my block together. I got some belated birthday presents from my aunt, a quilt book with some patriotic quilts and a birdhouse decoration which will look great hanging over/next to my bird house quilt! It was very thoughtful!

Todays schedule at work is again busy with a few meetings to take up the morning and early afternoon. Then i need to get a bunch of work done since i took tomorrow off. I should probably do my April Goal Wrap up today since i won't blog again until May most likely.

Tonight is stitch night - i think i'll work on Legends a little bit, i won't get much done as we mostly talk but i might get (and i say MIGHT) get the rest of Majestic stitched full cross stitch wise leaving only backstitching on him. We'll see. I'm also building up a nice order over at Stitching Bits' and Bobs so most likely i won't buy much at my LNS tonight - i always buy a little something as a thankyou for stitch night but i will spend less tonight.

Well off to kick off the work day with a bagel (Bagel day :))

Lost power.

We lost power at guild last night - a few times during the meeting but it came back on both times, then at the end it went out for good... so i forgot to get raffle tickets to sell for the raffle quilt. I myself plan on buying quite a few tickets as i'd love to win the quilt.

I did manage however to get 4 blocks to piece for the raffle quilt for next year that i've been helping on and i have the fabric and designs to embroider two blocks of. I'd like to get all that done by the next meeting so that the quilt can start getting put together in June.

Nothing else happened since I posted so late last night, it may be a busy day at work so i must go find out how busy :)

Ah a day at school :)

Well I went to law school today with my boyfriend, he had 2 classes and it's the last week of classes. It was fun, we went to the gym in the morning (making me really tired right now), then got ready and went over to the library where i read - haven't done that in a while. After lunch and classes we were home by 4 but me being so tired, i just made dinner and took a nap. Now it's time to head out to Guild for the night.

I worked on my quilt last night, i finished quilting the feather medallion in the center and did one corner cross hatch and one corner flower. It went fast, the cross hatch and flower took maybe only an hour and a half. Maybe Friday i will have time to do more on that.

So no work today - and no work on friday either, i took the two days off this week and with how tired i am i'm glad i did. So i have 2 more days of work this week and tomorrow i'm going to my uncle's for the night so it will be piecing ohio star #8 more.. stitching will come again on Thursday at stitch night :)
Well i'm off - i have to print something for guild tonight and get everything together to head over!

Picture Monday - and a long weekend. Well here's my photo update for the week. I worked on Legends Saturday and Sunday for quite a few hours each day. Majestic is almost done besides the backstitching and the tail and septer. I got to use a lot of sparkly :) I'll have to scan a picture in soon because the photo doesn't do it justice at all.

Legends of the Dragons at 24 hours:


Thursday night and Friday night I worked on Peaceful Silhouette, most of the stitching on the boat is finished now. I have to figure out if I want to finish more sky or continue down at the boats, since i messed up my starting position (down an inch too far), i will have to add fabric to the bottom to help it fit in my q-snaps correctly while working near the bottom as i will only have an inch and a half at the bottom.

Peaceful Silhouette at 21.5 hours:


So friday i missed work and pretty much slept the day away but in the afternoon i was feeling better and got some stuff done including a hair cut with my boyfriend and a trip to joann's with my friend. I bought some stamping stuff to start that new hobbie, she's really into stamping so i am welcome to share her collection she said and she's having a stamping party (where you buy stamps) in May that i look forward to getting my own collection started.

Then i went up to my uncle's for the night, my boyfriend drove up seperately since he had to leave saturday morning, so we spent the evening playing computer games (Medal of Honor), until 1:30am. Saturday i spent the morning with my little cousins, a great time, then the afternoon my uncle and i (and my 5 year old cousin), changed the brake pads, rotors and oil on my car. Then I vacuumed it out and tada it's done and working well :) He's got all sorts of fun stuff for working on cars, like one of those rolly things you lay on to go under the car.

I went home late saturday to stitch until 2 am and sunday we slept till noon - didnt' even realize it! Then we went out to lunch to celebrate my boyfriend getting the TA position he applied for next fall. We also hit up walmart and bj's so it was an expensive afternoon :)

Of course after that I pretty much just stitched, not wanting to stop at 10:30 but needing to get to bed to get up for work today. It's tough putting down Legends knowing I won't be picking it up for a while - next month actually.

I plan to spend this week working on my amish quilt and my ohio star, and Peaceful Silhouette at lunch time. Then this weekend is Celebrations! So I will be starting new projects, with a round robin friday night that's 4 small projects, then saturday maybe i'll have some stitching time, but sunday is a class with a new project so most likely i'll be working on that the rest of the day after class too.

Guild Tuesday night and Stitch Thursday night leaves me only 2 nights to quilt anyway so Legends is usually only a weekend project... so it looks like mother's day weekend will be the next time i pick it up and maybe finish the dragon and start working on the border again.

I'm out of work with a migraine today - just came on to check email... back to bed for a bit.

Bagel day... but an early day.

I am going to leave at 3 today, i got in at 7 and i take an hour lunch break, that means a 7 hour day, but monday i worked 9 + hours so it all works out. Besides my friend is coming over tonight to stitch and i haven't been home in 2 days so i will have some quick picking up to do.

Last night was later than i had hoped as well, but it wasn't too late getting to my aunt's. We had dinner (hamburgers) and then watched the red sox game - well they watched, i started piecing block number 8 of my ohio star quilt. I'm almost halfway done piecing it...

Then we watched law and order, during which i mostly slept.

It was so warm yesterday. I did manage to get out for a walk, which was good because i ate a LOT of food. I brought in cookies, cupcakes and cheesecake plus we all went out to lunch, so i was STUFFED. I can't think about that kind of food right now.

On a side note, i was thinking, sometimes i wish i had only one hobby. Not because i don't like any of my hobbies (then they wouldn't be hobbies right)... but because if i just cross stitched or just quilted i'd get so much more finished. Instead i find my time pulled between cross stitch, quilting, knitting (a little - haven't been pulled much lately), scrapbooking (soon to be more stamping) and sewing. Cross stitch is my favorite, probably always will be, but I do enjoy quilting as well, the downside with quilting is that it can be painful sometimes (i poke myself a LOT). The end result though, of something like an amish quilt is just amazing and so appreciated by a larger audience than my cross stitch.

Anyhow, i was just thinking about that because i planned out how to finish my amish quilt by november yesterday and realized i want to finish some cross stitch too. This would not be an issue if i kept my current schedule but the website that i worked on last year wants to upgrade and that will take some serious time. Granted it's paid time and i could definately use the money to start saving a bit, but it will really cut into my stitching time... sacrifices...

On a really bright note, my boyfriend got the TA position for next fall that he applied for at law school. It's tough to get and it really looks good on a resume, plus it pays a bit, which is more than i can say for his summer position! Only in school situations do people work for no money at all.. craziness!!! Okay i'm off for more hot chocolate, one cup wasn't enough today because i came in so early.

Well I didn't make it two days in a row (to the gym that is). Last night was BUSY! I didn't get out of work until 6 - which is an hour later than planned. Then I stopped by the grocery store and when I got home my boyfriend had grilled up some hamburgers and made fries (we need a fryer as we have been baking frozen ones and they are not as good :)

So then i started the baking... first i made some cupcakes in ice cream cones, but i filled the cones too much and they overflowed, so i had to clean up the oven and rescue them but i think they're okay. Then i made 2 batches of cookes.

With the baking done i was exhausted, it was 8:30 and i hadn't even sat down yet. So i pulled out my computer (real computer not laptop) and installed my boyfriend's new game he got for his birthday from my mom. I played that for 2 hours and then went straight to bed.

Today marks the last day of one of my coworkers, there are only 17 of us in the office so 1 leaving is a lot. That's why i baked and we have a bit of a surprise for lunch too. I'm pretty sad he's leaving, he's a great guy and i think i've mentioned it before. So today will not be a productive day i'm guessing, we'll see how it goes.

For now i must run into the closed area quick because i think someone is in there. Tonight i go to my aunt's and hopefully i can start piecing my 8th ohio star. No stitching at lunch today (since we're going out) and i messed up on Peaceful Silhouette yesterday anyway and frogged, and redid the mistake a different way so i have a lot of frogging to do now before i can stitch on it... UGGG.

Seriously not a great day i'm guessing.. but i'm off!

I almost forgot - Carol you just reminded me - and you definately don't have to do anything for my birthday! Thank you for the birthday wishes :)

I got a package in the mail yesterday from my friend in Spain - with a birthday gift, some yarn - not like any i've seen over here and i can't wait to make a hat or something out of it... and ... a scissor/needle case - i have to take pictures and post -- i am so touched at how much time she must have put into this. She took a Shepherd's Bush pattern i sent her a while back and used parts of that to make the outside into a spring like design, with my initial, then the pockets on the inside are also stitched.. oh it's wonderful, i've never gotten something so special! All i can say is WOW! I dont' know how i'll ever repay her!

I just had to share and i will try to remember to take pictures. Oh and she sent needles and a pair of scissors along with it. Meeting friends online - it's just amazing how close i've become with people i've never met... but i do hope some day to go to spain/scotland/canada and other states in the US to meet these wonderful, generous and kind people! Ahh.. i have to run to a meeting, just can't believe i forgot to mention that!

Is it friday yet?

Well I was good last night. I went home, cooked up some totina things that were quite good (microwave not really cooked). Then I quilted while watching Cooler which was okay, a bit violent in parts.

Then at 9 i dragged myself to the gym - all by myself - and i ran for 15 min, walked for another 10 while watching SVU. I was back home at 10 and did the dishes and cooked some rice for lunch today. So it was a productive evening and i went to the gym so i'm pretty proud!

I slept late again today - that's 2 days that i got up at the time i'm usually leaving the house! So i will work until almost 5 again today.

So my progress on my amish quilt is that i'm half way done with the outter feathers on the center wreath. Once that is completed i have some cross hatching to do in the corners of the center block and then some scalloped edges. My goal is to finish quilting the center square by the end of the month so in May i can work on the green inner border.

I planned it out yesterday, if in May i do the green inner border.
June I quilt the purple triangles (that's cross hatched - which maybe goes fast?)
July I finish the purple triangles and start the outter green border (more of the same green border but bigger)
August I finish the outter green border
September/October quilt outter blue border - large feathers.
November add binding - by November 9th it must be finished as the wedding is the 11th!

Think i can do it??? All the while keeping up my other hobbies? I would also like to finish Legends of the Dragons by the end of the year and the Ever So Littles are christmas gifts so i'd like to do one of each of them a month but they go fast. ... So much to do :)

Picture Monday!

First an update to my SAL with Carol on Legends of the dragons, this is about 15 hours of work:

I haven't added to the border but instead started working towards the head so i can use some of the Kreinik this week.


Peaceful Silhouette Progress - only 1 hour this week so it's not much:


My Amish Quilting Progress:


Let's see - the weekend was great. Friday night I went to walmart and then cooked dinner and cleaned just as I had hoped. Then i quilted a bit. Saturday my mom was a little late due to being lost :) But the quilt shop get together was fun, I helped bag up the blocks for the raffle quilt and my mom helped with that and cutting fabric. We got done really early (by 1 even after lunch) and stopped over at my LNS so i could buy myself a little birthday present - 4 wishes by Just Nan.

Then back home to relax and visit with my sister and a friend of my mom's that stopped by. Then we went out to dinner in Cambridge and met my brother's girlfriend at Fire & Ice which was fantastic again :)

Saturday night I quilted a little more with my sister watching movies. She got me a dvd player for my birthday to replace our old not working anymore one that we've had for 5 years. So we took full advantage of that and watched some movies she hadn't seen yet.

Sunday was a great day, my boyfriend made me pancakes for breakfast. My sister left around 10:30 so i showered and then we made cupcakes together (part of my gift) which was fun. Then I headed out thinking i could get my hair cut - but no place was open on sunday :( I was a bit bummed but got my stitching together and headed over to my friend's for a good time. There were only a few of us there but we ate, we chatted, we stitched, it was great fun as usual and they put a candle in a cupcake for me :)

When I got home my boyfriend made me dinner and i settled in for some more stitching (this was all on Legends). We watched Top Gun ( a gift from my sister too) which of course is a favorite! Then we watched Confidence which was better than i thought it would be.

So it was a late night, all the more reason to sleep late this morning and come in a little later than normal. It will be a busy day i do believe which is always good, tomorrow will be even more busy. So i should eat some breakfast so i can head in to the closed area. Another one of THOSE days :)

Well all in all i had a great birthday. I don't know what my mom got me yet as she had it shipped to me and it hasn't arrived yet which has her worried but i'm just crossing my fingers for tonight :)

Yesterday was a long day...

But today is friday!!! And tomorrow starts birthday celebrations with family visiting :)

I did work on Legends of the Dragons last night at stitch night but i only stayed there for about an hour and a half because i was so tired. I also didn't buy anything which is a first in a few MONTHS at stitch night. When i got home we did go to the gym but i didn't run i just walked pretty much on the treadmill (mile and a half) and then home.

So since i was so tired i feel like nothing got done but tonight will be the opposite. After work today i will stop by walmart to pick up a few things, maybe fill the propane tank in my trunk so i can use the grill tonight. Then i will cook dinner (pork loin) and clean the apartment up, not like last week but clean the bathroom real well, vacuum and swiffer dust the blinds and fans. The regular dusting i will leave because i did a really good job last friday on that.

I'm sure monday's post will be a LONG one, with stories of my excellent weekend and hopefull i'll remember my picture updates! Off to the lab!

A really busy day..

It's just one of those days where i am just busy doing things and i have things waiting to be done that i know i won't get to. I have been in the closed area all morning and i'm heading back in there shortly, just came out to eat some lunch quick and i need to take some tylenol - i always get a headache if i dont' eat regularly (every 3 hours or less).

So I looked at apartments last night, both were very decent apartments, the rooms were kind of small and they both had really winedy (?sp) staircases that i dont' think we could get any of our furniture up. The second place was in a great location with a really nice outside area, brick patio and 3 car garage (1 garage space available and 2 spaces open).

But since it would be a HUGE hastle to not only get our furniture in, i don't think the bedroom furniture would even fit in the bedroom (the ceilings are angled as it's the top floor). So i'm resigned to staying where we are unless something falls out of the sky in the next few days :)

I quilted more on my amish quilt last night and cooked up a nice dinner for myself all alone, my boyfriend was up at my uncle's house using his garage to change his front brakes and rotors. My quilting progress will have to be photographed each week now too since i'm really focusing on that a lot. Tonight though is a stitch night and i plan on working on Legends and chatting up a storm.

Gosh i could write more but already i must head back. i'm not even sure what time i'm leaving today.. i'm guessing it will be later than i HAVE to leave :)

The apartment hunt continues...

I'm not giving up yet, i have almost a week left. The place we looked at last night was horrible (no wonder so cheap if you can call 1000/month cheap!)

I am going to try some more places, i just know there's a perfect place out there for me :) ANd it has 2 bedrooms AND a diningroom...

Last night went great. Dinner was fantastic, i really recommend Fire & Ice, it was perfect for us (me being a picky eater and all - getting to choose your food and sauces). And we were in and out in 45 minutes!

The cake was really good and i brought half of it to work today and it's gone already - 10am! Vanilla pudding in chocolate cake works :)

I did get some stitching in - not cross stitching but quilting :) I finished quilting the center star and started the wreath around it on the amish quilt. By 9:30 i was exhausted, i don't know why but i went to sleep and woke up exhausted! So tonight i will probably continue working on the quilt and leave stitching for thursday night stitch night :) Then i will work on Legends again.

So today is another busy day at work, i think i have a meeting this afternoon at some time and then i will leave around 5 and maybe look at an apartment tonight if i can get an appointment, then cook dinner... maybe hamburger helper???
Alright - getting back to work :)

A late day for posting.

I had a bit of a busy morning but a good morning.

First off, last night my boyfriend talked to our landlord and he offered to drop our rent down to 1200. Sure that's great but it's still only a one bedroom and it has cockroaches! I will live with it if i can't find anything cheaper though because my boyfriend would hate to move (since he has to do the actually heavy lifting moving part).

So then i baked him a cake for his birthday today, i didn't put it together yet, he wanted a chocolate layer cake with a layer of vanilla pudding in the center and chocolate frosting... so i had to go to the grocery store for pudding! Because he generally only likes chocolate pudding so that's all i had, but i didn't complain because i love celebrating birthdays.

So i baked it and made the pudding and tonight i will put it together so we can have it after dinner. Of course my night was busy with other things, laundry, cooking dinner, eating dinner, making a crafty gift for my boyfriend etc. I got about 10 minutes of quilting on my amish quilt in and that's it before going to bed ! No gym either!

Today is going better... I found an apartment available for 1000/month, 2 bedroom with a diningroom and deck. I'm wondering what's wrong with it because it's so cheap.. so i set up an appointment for tonight at 5 to go look at it... i'm not getting my hopes up though.

I then made a reservation at a restaurant in Cambridge to surprise my boyfriend, i'm hoping being tuesday night it's not too busy because we're not big into crowded places and such.. but should be fun :) And we should be able to get there early to find parking some place.

I also set up Saturday - it's going to be a great weekend, my mom is meeting me at my place at 9:30ish, then we're going over to the quilt shop to cut fabric for my guild until 2. Then my sister is meeting me back at my place at 2:30 and we'll spend the evening doing girl stuff. Then sunday after they leave (unless mom leaves saturday night), i am going to a stitch thing at my friend's house - from 2-5 and then dinner with my boyfriend after. All because it's my birthday! I love birthdays (i'm still young so i mean i when i say that)... this is 23 for me.

So tonight is packed up with stuff to do and give attention to my boyfriend. Tomorrow maybe i can get another appointment to check out another apartment if this one doesn't work out and thursday is stitch night, looks like friday night is still free too.. hmm wonder how long that will last ;)

No stitching at lunch today (gotta leave early), i have to head back into the closed area to read more and hopefully stay awake, maybe more hot chocolate is in order here...
I can't stop smiling today, i am just in a good mood (excited to surprise my boyfriend and this weekend coming up and just keeping in touch with my friends from all over, it's all just good and i'm happy) :)
To all my blogging friends - here's a little happiness 8>) - pass it around :)

A nice long weekend.

It really was, long enough that I hardly remember Friday already!

First a picture update.

I continued work on Legends of the Dragons Sunday, here's my first progress picture, i think this is close to 10 hours of stitching. I am stitching this with Carol.


Then Saturday evening I finished the Ever So Little Zebra:


And my progress on Peaceful Silhouette from last week (now at 14.5 hours)


Let's see... like I said I dont' remember friday very much, i mostly cleaned the apartment. Saturday I started quilting my Amish Quilt, it's not so bad, I hope to pick that up again tonight to work on it more, I got quite far on the center star.

Then my boyfriend's parents came to see the apartment and we took them into boston to see my boyfriend's school then we went to Bugaboo for dinner (shocker there). It was a good time and i'm glad they got to see our apartment before we move next month :)

So then saturday night we finally rented The Incredibles (free rental), and watched that (and I finished my zebra above). We also watched I heart Huckabees, which was okay, my boyfriend had already watched it and said i wouldn't like it, i liked it just fine it just wasn't great or special, but easy to watch and stitch.

Sunday was a free day, my boyfriend had a review class for 6 hours so I did some scrapbooking and finished all the pages I had hoped to do so far. Then I ate some cookie dough, i mean baked some cookies :) I mostly settled in to stitch on Legends of the Dragons for the evening but I was good and my boyfriend and I went running when he got back, then grocery shopping and picked up some KFC for dinner. The rest of the week I'm cooking responsibly however (except maybe Tuesday since that's my boyfriend's birthday and we may go out and Thursday i have stitch night) :) I don't cook much :)

Well my stomach is growling. I just found out a guy at work is leaving for a higher paying job he couldn't refuse. He is definately an asset and we are going to really miss him. We are a small office (17), and he is not only so smart but so friendly and helpful. I don't know what we'll do :( He leaves Wednesday, i wonder if i can make a going away cake or something (especially since he's always said he's gained 10 pounds since working here). I hope he enjoys his new job. :( Going to be a sad day at work!

Stamping...

Do I need another hobby? A new "thing" to collect. The immediate answer is -- definately NOT! But....

So I went to my friend's place last night. We had dinner and then showed off our cross stitch progress etc. Then she showed me her new stamping hobby.. oh man! And I looked through the catelog, this is definately something I could get into and there's tons to collect... But I must resist.. at least for a while.

See.. we are looking to move (cheaper apartment), this will save hopefully 100 dollars a month. Then maybe in June when i hit my 1 year mark with my job, i'm hoping there's some raise involved or something.. this would help tremendously. Then if i work part time on the website ever again I will be sitting pretty. Unless those things happen i must be more conservative with my money. I have plenty of niceities and i need no more :) We shall see how things go.

The good news... as far as quilting goes (which is pretty expensive), i have my amish quilt to quilt, my sampler quilt to finish quilting and my ohio star quilt to piece (a little fabric needed for that) then that is just embroidered. So not a lot of money needed there and i refuse to start a new quilt project until i finish one of those.
Cross stitch wise, i have no need for new stuff, i have tons (and i mean tons) of patterns to keep me occupied, lots of fabric (possible need for specific fabric for specific project no big deal), more fabric coming monthly (for a tiny price :) and floss is not THAT expensive if i stay away from the 5.50 skeins of silk floss that i have been using :) They cover better... Really there are no worries. I paid for Celebrations already. I do have to pay the remaining balance for Stitcher's Hideaway in Sturbridge. But other than that i have no large purchases craft wise in my future (as long as i don't buy a sewing machine) :)

So i will try not to spend money, and see how things go in June. If i get a raise i will definately be starting a new hobby, which really is just an expansion of my scrapbook hobby i recently started. Plus if we move to a 2bedroom place i will have a craft room to fill :) I can't wait!

I'm going to look at a place tonight. And later today i will call a few other places and look at them next monday and wednesday night hopefully. Maybe before my birthday (the 17th) we'll have a place all picked out!

Well i brought my gaming computer to work today to put another harddrive in and install linux on it so i can run a local web server. I should get that set up and see if i can find an extra IDE cable for the harddrive :)

Today is dragging. I can't wait to get out of here in an hour! I took a whole hour lunch to stitch (which was nice) but it means i have to stay later :( I'm looking forward to going to my friend's place tonight, hopefully i won't be too tired to have a good time (boring days make me tired as i am right now). I could take a nap right now!

Bagel day - but the bagels aren't here yet.

I got my Amish Quilt basted!!! This was an hour long project with my aunt helping, but it really came out good and now i don't have to worry about it and i can start quilting!!! Plus she taught me how to do it since I never really learned and this will work for larger quilts.

My drawing lines however are fading on my quilt, so i may have to buy a quilting pencil (mine ran out), and quick outline the small border ones, the center i'm not worried about as that gets quilted first but the outside small border i won't get to for quite a while. The large border is fine, that was drawn quite dark. So another reason to get to Joanns soon - besides my 50% off a cut of fabric thur,fri, sat this week. Looks like maybe saturday morning i will run over there before my boyfriends parents show up as they are coming aroun 2:30/3.

So after making dinner, picking my cousin up from soccer, eating dinner, basting quilt, it was 10 already so we watched law and order and went to bed. No stitching time as i thought.

I surely am looking forward to going over to my friend's house tonight, not sure if i'll get to stitch as she wants to introduce me to her stamping obsession, umm, i mean hobby :) I am definately interested as i do scrapbook, i just don't buy stamps because it's just another set of things to collect and i don't need to go there :)

I think i just heard the guy come in that brings bagels -- i will have to go check this situation out :)

SAL started. I'm not as good as Carol, I forgot to scan a picture of my progress on Legends of the Dragons last night. However my progress doesn't show much as I started the border so there are no dragons yet to show :)

I found the link she gave me that shows Legends stitched on Dragon Myst with Storm Clouds Waterlilies for the border Legends of the Dragons. This is how we are doing it.

So last night I did even less than I had planned - I was going to cook but the meat my boyfriend took out was all dried out (beef), must have been in there a long time. So we had ramon noodles for dinner and I got to stitching by 6! So as I said I worked on Legends of the Dragons, trying to get some sort of scheme going with the variegated thread, making the roped border really look like it goes over and under (this will really show with the backstitching). We fit some tv in and I'd say i got a good 4 hours of stitching in which is a record for one night after work I think. No gym - my boyfriend and I both didn't feel like going.

So now my only hang up with changing the border color is trying to figure out what color to backstitch the border in, plus there's the inner border which is just a single line around each dragon. I figure it will be a blue, dark blue, so i grabbed all the blues and brought them with me so tonight at my aunt's i can pick on that will work. I don't think i'll have time to stitch tonight as we'll be basting my Amish quilt tonight hopefully but i always come prepared :)

So far this morning i've had a rotten morning. I saw no cockroaches last night (exterminator came yesterday and put out some poison stuff). Then this morning i saw a little on like usual behind the sink, killed it. Then I was filling the dishwasher and when i opened it there were two large cockroaches running around on the door of the dishwasher. They both ran into cracks on the side of the door and my boyfriend couldnt' kill them. So I ran the dishwasher hoping the hot water will kill them. But my boyfriend said he expects the poison will be drawing them out a bit and i'll see a few more (more???? i've seen enough!)

Then I had to go get my blood tested again. Man do i hate needles, i'm such a baby, and they took 6 viles of blood! That seems like a lot. Luckily i was able to drive to work fine and just ate some oatmeal, now i'm ready for some tea.

So tonight i go to my aunt's house, baste my quilt and relax. Tomorrow i go to my new friend's house to look at her stamping catalog and stamp collection and maybe stitch. Friday I will go look at a new apartment option after work, then clean the apartment top to bottom (oh i hope i don't see any cockroaches)!!! And saturday my boyfriend's parents' come (hence the cleaning). So i will be up late friday night (on a new moon no less), cleaning but sunday i can relax and spend the day stitching maybe??? or quilting my amish quilt??? or both?? :)

My fabric arrived! I now have everything together (except for 2 DMC colors which I'm not worried about as they are about somewhere) for Legends of the Dragons. I am going to do this as a SAL with Carol. So this will be started really soon :) Either tonight or... Thursday maybe. Tomorrow night I am basting my quilt at my aunt's so also bringing everything to start this piece is a bit much in the luggage department. Thursday i'm going to my friend's for a stitch get-together, we don't do much stitching but a little i'm sure will get done :)

Besides that I made progress on my Ever So Little - Zebra last night, i think i have 2 more stripes on his back and then his face which is mostly backstitching that needs to be done. He went really fast, I think being only 3 colors total helps the stitching go faster. When he's finished i will focus on Legends and then in May maybe do another Ever So Little - chimpanzee's. I'm making this piece (it will have 3 animals i think) for my sister's boyfriend for christmas. Then I'm going to do a similar piece for my uncle, with the Gazelle and maybe a few animals i don't have yet (elephant, giraffe, maybe zebra again).

No gym last night - we drove over only to find it packed, and i mean really packed so we left and went grocery shopping. Grocery shopping means i have to wash fruit and veggies and stuff so by the time i was done i had only 30 minutes left to read before bed. I try to go to bed at 11 each night, it doesn't seem to help me get up at 6 but i have been getting up at 6:30 (maybe i should go to bed at 10:30 but i doubt that will happen).

Tonight will be much of the same, except i want to cook dinner too, then stitch and watch tv, then go to the gym. We have an exterminator coming today between 8and 10 am. It's for cockroaches, my upstairs neighbors have them really bad and when he had them exterminated he didn't do our apartment as well and some of them moved down. I've found a few that i've killed which really really really grosses me out! So he's coming today and i honestly dont' know what to expect. I'm hoping all our stuff including food (like bananas and apples that are out), are okay just being out. I hope it doesn't smell when i get home... and hopefully the cockroaches are gone (they're weren't many to begin with as i have been setting out traps and caught none), but i don't want to see them any more and i will hopefully be moving in 2 months or less!

That reminds me to check apartment listings at lunch today. We are staying in the same area but looking for cheaper rent as what we pay is a bit high for a one bedroom when we could easily get a 2 bedroom (craft room/office for me!) Unfortunately we invested all the time and money painting this place the way we want it, but we will get reimbursed for the paint at least if i can figure out how much we spent (i think 100 dollars is about right as we got a refund on the first batch of paint we bought).

Well breakfast calls and i think today i might be able to finish up my first task and get a new one by tomorrow at least!

A pretty good weekend i'd have to say.

Friday night was busy, we went to dinner and walmart and then watched "The Village" (no stitching during that which was pretty good). Saturday I drove out to my mom's in the pouring rain. Then we drove up to my uncle's house to see my new cousin. Here's me holding my new cousin (3 1/2 weeks old):


I came home late saturday night after dinner with my parents and sunday was a day to myself. I did tons of stuff sunday but first my progress pictures.

A new project I started last night (it's a small one). It's
Ever So Little - Zebra:


And progress on Peaceful Silhouette - 12 hours:

So not only did i start a new project last night (that was pretty late), first i did chores (dishes, laundry), and got some computer files transferred to my desktop from my laptop. Then I went through my DMC and got everything for Legends of the Dragons except for 2 colors which must be with another project that's kitted (no biggie for now). After that I went through all my stash and input most of it into my database (this was a lot of typing and my boyfriend got home in the middle of it). I also made a trade list over at fiberswappers which i hope to add to it once i go through the rest of my stuff that's still packed up, including threads and such.

So once my boyfriend was home we decided to watch some movies, we watched The Terminal first as i had been waiting to see this and he had already seen it, then we watched The Notebook which was disappointing since i read the book and they seemed to change a lot. Of course we ended up missing Law and Order CI but i can always download that later (and i will).

So with the time change messing me up i went to bed later than i wanted and had a real hard time getting up this morning. Of course my coworker who's back from maternity leave today beat everyone in so no one saw her surprise. We filled her office with diapers and put the sound of a baby crying on her computer when she logged on (which included putting speakers on her computer and hiding them up under her desk on cardboard shelves taped on :) It was great but we missed it. She was shocked though. We tend to do things to peoples' offices when they leave for more than a week :)

So today we have another new hire starting as well so I brought in a few dozen cookies I made yesterday. Of course they are going fast and there's only 6 people here so far! I must get some :)

APRIL GOALS:

1) Stitch on Peaceful Silhouette ~10 hours
2) Start Legends of the Dragons
3) Start a new small project

4) Knit green scarf
5) piece 2 ohio stars (#'s 8 & 9)
6) baste and start quilting amish quilt

7) Finish Acorn Sampler WIP - from Celebrations class

Well those should keep me busy. The new small project i want to start is either
I simply Love You, by Twisted Threads or one of the 4 Ever So Little charts I have - maybe this one. .

Oh yes it's friday! And tomorrow I can sleep in - till 8 at least :)

Last night was a good time. I worked till 4, went home, folded laundry, ate a quick dinner and then headed out. Traffic was SO bad it took me an hour to drive the 13 miles to the store.

My goal last night was to laugh a lot (done) and buy some threads I need for a few projects (done). I got the kreiniks and Waterlilies for Legends of the Dragons (now just waiting on the fabric) and I got the Silk N' Colors I need for a couple small projects i might do as christmas gifts this year. (african animals). Of course buying silks cost me over 40 dollars total! But that's the price i pay for being addicted to just having stuff like that (fabric too).

I did manage to stitch a bit too.. worked on Peaceful Silhouette which is coming along a bit. I may need to start another small project while I'm doing this and Legends of the Dragons because this project is just boring most times!

Oh yea - it's April now - time to update the Goals for the month! I will postdate my March wrapup goals and then post some april goals!