How did i do???

October Goals (stitching and other)

Stitching:

1) Finish Weasel RR piece and mail out by Oct. 11 [ YES ]
2) Wash and add beads to True Blue Friends [ YES ]
3) Stitch 4 hours on Bunny Gingham (stitch nights) [ YES ]
4) Stitch DD Wisdom on Sunday SAL (third sunday) [ YES ]
5) Start new RR piece - Shepherd's Bush April [ NO ]
6) Finish Quilt block 2 by first class (almost done) [ YES ]
7) Quilt bock 3 start and finish by second class [ YES and almost ]

Non-Stitching:
1) FINISH THE WEBSITE - seriously need to get this done! [ NO ]
2) Open account at credit union - need to do this in order to buy a car! [ YES ]
3) Look at cars at a dealership! [ YES ]
Not bad at all if i do say so myself. the website is of course a no, the RR piece is a no -but it's on the verge of starting, i just need some time to get the fabric and threads together.

Pictures and more!!

First as promised, here are some updated pictures.

True Blue Friends finished:


And Bunny Gingham progress 6 hours:


As for the weekend - here it is Samhain and I'm on the computer for work basically. I had no choice really. Let's see how things went:
Friday:
- Walmart yes - got what i needed
- Grocery store - NO
- Work on website/quilt - website a tiny bit - no quilt
Saturday:
- Clean the apartment (this will be saturday's treat) - YES took forever
- Work on website - finish sales part - NONE
- Finish quilt block (maybe into the late hours of the night sunday) - See later
- Go to car dealership to look at cars - Yes, also had to pick up a "halloween costume" and do some other shopping with bf
- go to library to see about books on tape - NO forgot
Add to this list - went to halloween party at bf's friend's house (law school friend) - met law school friends, was cold (outdoor party) - went home and then quilted while watching a movie until 2 am which changed to 1 am :)
Sunday:
- go to brother's football game sunday - YES
- dinner with family after football game - they came to my apartment and we ordered pizza
- quiet sunday night reflecting the year past and welcome the new year - not yet
- spend some quiet time sunday night under the stars (whatever i can see) and moon, more reflecting, praying and giving thanks - not yet
- No Website work since it's a holiday (Samhain) - darn it too bad -

So I've gotten some work on the site done tonight, and i still have another hour until law and order criminal intent is one, i may work on the site more i may just go outside for a bit - by the way the WEATHER IS BEAUTIFUL TODAY! going to the football game was great, the sun was shining, it was warm, perfect day. So i'd like to sit out under the stars for a bit.

My quilt block is NOT done yet. All that is left is to quilt the spirals in the corners but that takes a while, i'm not sure i'll finish in time for my class tuesday, maybe get 2 spirals done. The website is not as far along as i wanted it to be, especially since tomorrow is the last night i ahve time to work on it until next sunday! I'll figure something out of course.

Well - i'm going to go through my october checklist now since it's the 31st and this is more fun than working :)

Alas no pictures -

but monday hopefully i'll have a few - if i can finish my quilt block this weekend - that will be a tough one!

Last night after work i made it to the gym finally, lifted weights then did a cool down on the treadmill. Then home to eat ramon noodles (again) and work on the website. I got a decent amount done and we went to bed early (10).

So I've picked out a Pooh design i want to do i think - it's Pooh sniffing a flower with piglet behind him, it's meant to go in the corner of a towel but i want to make a wall hanging so i'll have to orchestrate where the name/date goes to make it work out right. (not a triangle) Plus if i have time maybe i'll stitch something small like a bib too, or something on a blanket like i saw at JoAnns.

To Do for this weekend:
Friday:
- Walmart
- Grocery store
- Work on website/quilt
Saturday:
- Clean the apartment (this will be saturday's treat)
- Work on website - finish sales part
- Finish quilt block (maybe into the late hours of the night sunday)
- Go to car dealership to look at cars
- go to library to see about books on tape
Sunday:
- go to brother's football game sunday
- dinner with family after football game
- show apartment to family after dinner
- quiet sunday night reflecting the year past and welcome the new year
- spend some quiet time sunday night under the stars (whatever i can see) and moon, more reflecting, praying and giving thanks
- No Website work since it's a holiday (Samhain)

Next week: (sometimes i like to think ahead and make sure i don't leave anything out)
Monday - work on website, check out new website and email old boss time estimate for new website
Tuesday - Quilt class then work on website more, hopefully cut pieces for block 4
Wednesday - aunt's house - work on quilt block 4 - drunkard's path
Thursday - Stitch night!!! - work on bunny gingham then PACK!!!
Friday - Stitcher's Hideaway!!!! leave in morning!!!

That's why i did that - just to show that stitcher's hideaway is closer than it feels - only 7 days to go! Unfortunately the website won't get as much work as it needs and we want to go live like yesterday so hopefully the week after (monday) we can go live and i can monitor it from work!)

What are you working on right now?

Well now that True Blue Friends is finished - my only active stitch project is really Bunny Gingham, however I have a new RR I need to start so that will be a Shepherd Bush piece. Plus I'm working on the sampler quilt for my class.

There are only 2 other women here at work, not sure if i've mentioned that before, but one of them is a few years older than me, married and having a baby in february. Well they're decorating in Pooh, and she cross stitches as well but doesn't have much time and definately isn't AS addicted as me :) So I think I may stitch up something for the little one for her - since I did a baby sampler for a friend's cousin i think i can do one for someone who's baby i may actually SEE. So that's a new project, but Pooh is easy - and I will do it on Aida because I think the simple aida look matches the simple pattern - it's not meant to look realistic or rustic which is what i use linen/evenweave for.

So i have a new goal, cross stitch that is, and i'm looking forward to it, Pooh can be fun to stitch and I already have a book with a lot of patterns, plus she cross stitches so she'll really appreciate the work that goes into it :)

True Blue Friends is finished.

oh and the red sox won the world series... but i did sleep most of it, however i caught the eclipse before going to bed.

So last night - after work i went with my aunt to pick up my cousin from soccer, then we went to dinner at a pizza place, then back to their house. I worked on my quilt block a bit, started the second row of the star quilting which is quilting in the ditch around the outside diamonds. Then i switched gears and took out True Blue Friends to put the beads on. I finished that and went to bed. Maybe tomorrow i can get a pic of it on here.

So I woke up this morning to writing on the bathroom mirror that the sox were champs - and another note on in the kitchen. I guess they were up partying :)

Tonight is back to work - but i may leave earlier than yesterday since i was in here at 7, then home, cook dinner, then work on the website. If i accomplish anything good maybe i'll finish off with some quilting for the night since I really do have a lot to get done before Tuesday and this weekend is filling up fast. Alright off to read blogs before it gets loud in here and I get to work :)

Hehehehe, tonight is a quilting night :)

The bad news is that it's the 4th game of the World series and the sox are up 3-0 and my aunt and uncle are DIE HARD fans of the sox, so this is a HUGE game for them, but i should be able to quilt through it.

Well yesterday was not a headache day at least - I worked for the full 10 hour day again with no real break but then went home to find bf starting dinner (what a sweetie) and then i cooked while I washed a few cross stitch pieces that have been waiting for me to break out the clean tub and dish soap :) I washed the True Blue Friends so now i can put the beads on, and the herb blocks from my first RR so that they can be used for the quilt at the retreat.

After dinner I ironed the pieces I washed and then went to work on the website, 4 hours on the site while also watching tv. Gilmore Girls was good, and then I watched scrubs after a tv break, and then Law and Order SVU which bf came in and watched with me, after which we went to bed, and I woke up not too tired for a change, it was great.

So today was some quick work in the morning then a 3 hour review, then more work and now a quick break to read blogs before switching gears and working on design documentation.

Not only did I bring my quilt block for tonight, i also brought True Blue Friends to possibly start the beading, not sure if i packed my beading needles but i dont' know where i would have put them if not in my carry case so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that i can start that tonight to see how long it will take - there are a LOT of beads in this piece.
Well - break is over - back to work :)

A VERY BUSY WEEK!!!

Yesterday was SO long -- I worked 10 hours straight with no break, went to the grocery store, home, then worked on the website for a few hours. Finally my pounding head did me in and I went to bed only to wake up with a headache and have to go to work. But I'm going to take some tylenol and ignore it and get some work done.

So no stitching update, and there won't be one until after Wednesday night when i can get some quilting done.

OH - and my old boss wants me to do some freelance work for him - this on top of my full time job, and the part time website work that's still ongoing! HOpefully i can get the website into a decent spot by this weekend and next week have some extra time for the freelance work, i certainly could use the money seeing as i need a new car and christmas is coming!
Well - back to work - !

A nice long weekend, less than two weeks until Stitcher's Hideaway :)

We really did have a good weekend, Friday night ( I worked pretty late ), then went to JoAnns before home and we ordered subs for delivery which made dinner easy. At JoAnn's I spent WAY more than i wanted, but everything was half off so I couldn't resist, i bought scissors, rotary blads, batting, pillow forms, fabric, plastic containers, quilting pens etc.. all 50% off. I spent 80 dollars but 30 of that was using up my gift certificates.

The rest of friday night I relaxed and worked on my quilt block. Made super progress on it before 9 when bf wanted to relax and watch a movie before bed. Saturday we had all day - I finished the quilt block and basted it, and then cross stitched after finishing up something quick on the website. So I worked more on Bunny Gingham while watching movies. Then we headed up to my uncle's house around 8.

Saturday night we watched tv with my aunt and uncle with the baby crawling around in the dark having a blast in the flickering tv light. Then Sunday I played with all 3 of the kids while bf and my uncle worked on their brakes for their cars. Around 1 my aunt took the 3 yr old to a birthday party and I watched the baby and the 5 yr old who mostly played outside while the guys worked on the car. It was a long day but I had a great time.

We couldn't leave without getting some Battlefield Vietnam in so we played 2 hours of that before heading home just in time to shower and watch Law and Order Criminal Intent while I started quilting block 3. However the quilting thread kept knotting - and I'm using wax, twice it knotted SO bad I had to cut it and tie it off then start over, it was a real pain.

So this week is going to be a lot of work late nights, then work on the website. But Wed and next weekend I have to quilt that block and get it done. I also want to start my next RR which means picking fabric out and possibly dyeing fabric. My october stitching to do list is lacking - i need to get a move on some things (like beading the almost finished true blue friends) and I only have a week to go!

Stitch Night
That's right - last night was good old stitch night so I have some updated progress pics. First the quilt block I worked on Wednesday night:
Progress of block number 3 the Lemoyne Star:


Progress of Bunny Gingham:


So last night I get home and yes we have a newly paved driveway but NO we can't drive on it until Sunday! Now this upsets me a tad.. because I had to come home at 9:30 last night and park on some side street and walk home - I was NOT HAPPY! Plus I have to carry a lot of stuff to and from my car in the morning for work and I had a long walk.

Turns out my bf's parents are NOT coming this weekend - this is good and bad, good because they wouldn't be able to park at the apartment and i dont' like that idea since it's hard enough to find our place, and bad because I just want to get the visit over with, unless they come next weekend, the two weekends after that I won't be home at all, so if they come the place won't be clean (since I'll be leaving early friday mornings).

So my gf called me - been a LONG while, but she hasn't had a phone so i couldn't get in touch with her, she just got a new phone. She's just moved, gotten an apartment with her bf and is looking for a job to get her by until medical school next fall. Once she goes to med school she'll be relatively close (about the same distance but a different direction), however if it's anything like law school and my bf, she still won't have time to come visit or vice versa.

I think i may have forgotten to take my allegra last night (allergy meds) - my face is really itchy, and that usually happens when I forget. CRAP. luckily i have benadryl with me i can take... i thought i took it when i took it out of my bag - i'm almost positive i remember taking it, because i DID take a sip of water from my water bottle. Hmmm... must be something else causing this itching.
Well i have a ton of work to get done today - which is great - and I'm hear until 4/4:30 depending on how the afternoon goes and how long a lunch break I take. After work I'm stopping at Joann's!! I have 30 dollars in gift certificates from my Credit Card to use and fabric i need to buy :)

Well it was a baseball night for sure...

But I still went to bed at 10 and I can't really say I watched the game, i heard it, along with my aunt's cheering because the Sox did well. Now hopefully they'll just win this world series and we won't have to go through this again (the curse of the sox, blah blah blah..) I really don't care, i have no interest AT ALL and hey i like the yankees, they all have to keep their hair cut short and it looks much more "team" like to have restrictions like that.

My Night - included LOTS of quilting. I pieced together over half of block 3. I counted and I have 12 seams left to go, that means I finished 19 i think. It's nice - and I'm getting excited about my next quilt since I washed my new fabrics last night. Tonight when I get home before stitch night I'm going to get out my herbs and see how the fabrics look, see if i can't pick something out.

I've decided I definately want to do this fall/winter and spring/summer quilt with 4 blocks each. First I will do the fall one - in greens and browns. I will pick the herb patterns that don't have little flowers on them. Then for the other I will use the ones with color (like chives with lots of pink etc). THen I will use those colors to pick fabric colors for those blocks. This will be so much fun!

Checklist for quilt retreat (since I'm on this quilting kick):
- Finish the what will be already started block 4 [and stitch/quilt]
- Start block 6 which i need to pick out and "design" (dimension wise) [hand stitch/quilt]
- Appliquet basket quilt [hand stitch]
- Put border on basket quilt [machine]
Maybe's:
- start quilting basket quilt [hand]
- start quilting scenic quilt (wip) [hand]
- cut and piece blocks for herb fall quilt [hand]
- cut and sew border on embroidery castle [machine]

I think that's it in my world of quilting. I want to start block 6 for the class quilt because i want that done by the dec. 7th class (at the same time block 5 is due) so that i can start the sashing/border process before the last class in case i have questions. I'm sure i can figure out the binding in then end but the sashing worries me because we have to piece in the batting which is new to me.

Just thinking about this gets me really excited for the retreat. What's good about having all that time is that the weekend before is Stitcher's Hideaway and I won't have time that weekend to quilt - so i will technically be behind on block 4 - but will easily catch up with a dedicated weekend! Only 2 weeks till stitcher's hideaway!!! and 3 for the quilting retreat!!!! I Can't WAIT!

Well work is turning out to be busy...

And passing the days rather quickly *knock on wood*. I have a lot of work to do and it's not all writing - I'm doing some database stuff now, hopefully finish it up by the end of this week.

Last night was so much fun! Our quilting class and shrinking! One woman hasn't come to the last 2 classes - not sure why, which is too bad because she and I got along great the last time she was there. Then last night a second woman couldn't make it because she was sick.

We learned how to do block 3 and had a lot of free time after so I asked a ton of questions about how this is going to be finished etc. I'm hoping to kind of get ahead of the required blocks during the quilting retreat so I can start putting my quilt together for the last class instead of just finishing block 6. The sashing with this quilt as you go has got me perplexed. So I went home after and cut all my pieces for block 3, it's a Lemoyne Star pattern. If i can get it pieced by next tuesday that gives me a week to quilt it - which i know i can do like i did the last two blocks.

So tonight at my aunt's i will start the piecing process - it's more than the last few, and it has inset squares and triangles which is new. We'll see how it goes, first i have to put all the half diamonds together to make full diamonds, then pair up the diamonds before doing the inset squares.

I also bought fabric last night - they were having a sale and i picked a few fabrics that may work well for my cross stitched herbs wall hanging/quilt - next step is to get them out and see if the fabrics work, i picked a pattern already i think, i'm going to do 4 blocks like the first class block, but intead of a 9 patch in the center it will be the herb, then there will be some added appliquet like the block in my sampler book to add a bit to the plainness. I may do all 8 like this, but i haven't decided how I want this quilt - i may do 2 quilts with 4 blocks each, maybe do them seasonal,one for fall winter the other for spring summer. Or I'll do one large - 8 is just an odd number for a quilt and the larger the quilt the less chance I can hang it in my kitchen/diningroom.
Hmmm... i like that fall/winter spring/summer idea - and that means i get to buy more fabric :) Man i wish i hadn't just gotten to work, i'd much rather be at home looking at my fabrics with my herbs (these were from an RR)... Plus if this pattern works out well, i may use the same technique to make the dragon dreams virtue series into a large quilt (15 blocks i think) - and i could do more... but now i'm really getting ahead of myself :) I need to find some cartoony dragon fabric for the back of that quilt - i'm actually thinking that large quilt will have a pieced back too - so if i find a few dragon fabrics i can mix and match them - more like patchwork than pieced in a pattern.

Well now i'm off on a tangent and i should get some work done... Tomorrow night is my stitch night so i'll make progress on Bunny Gingham for sure and i'll post pics on friday.

Oh it's only Tuesday, i didn't notice...

Unfortunately today will not pass as quickly as yesterday did i'm sure. However I do have my quilting class tonight!!! So I have something besides working on the website to look forward to.

So last night - I did real good, came home, cut up and cooked chicken ( i buy breast meat on the bone now to save money), then went to the gym. When I got home i cooked chicken quaesadilla, then worked on the website for 2 hours - i almost stopped after an hour thinking 1 hour wouldn't be enough to start a new section but i pushed on and surprised myself! Gift Orders now work.

Then I read for an hour and finished the book I was reading - a quick review:
Dreams of Sleep - Josephine Humphreys

This was a good book - it was difficult for me to enjoy because it is a story about a married couple, the husband is cheating on the wife, she knows, she becomes obsessed with the mistress and actually upset when the affair ends. It's a bit bazarre, but the story is told quite well and while it definately isn't something i can relate to on the main level, there are deaper feeling and themes throughout and it's a good quick read.

I have also finished the book on tape I was listening to... unfortunately i do not know the title and author - but it was about the Chicago World's Fair - it was really two stories, one about building the fair itself, everything that went into it, the other about H.H. Holmes the murderer in Chicago at the time of the fair. It was okay - the part about the murderer were the best and I would have preferred a true mystery about H.H. Holmes like is out there - but alas this is what my mom had - she thinks it's a mystery but really it isn't.

So the rest of the week I do not have to think about the website - I will come home late and relax - maybe stitch. Then saturday if i have time i'll work on the site, and again sunday night - but next week, mon, tue, thur and fri i will work on it - so i should be able to make up time then.

Tonight we can't park in our driveway, it is being repaved, this wouldn't be a problem but that means EVERYONE in our building has to park on the street, me getting home at 9 tonight from class will not be able to find a spot nearby for sure - and i will have a long walk in the dark to home - i will definately call my bf and have him meet me half way - and talk on the phone most of the way if it's really far so he doesn't worry. They supposedly came this morning at 7:30 - i just hope this is an improvement, if they do a bad job then this whole inconvenience isn't worth it!
Alright - back to work already!

heheheeh... I have pictures :)

That's right - first off - I almost forgot yesterday was the DD SAL Sunday - so just as Law and Order Criminal Intent came on I pulled out the Virtue Dragon Wisdom and worked for an hour and a half on it before proof reading my bf's paper and going to bed... so here's my little bit of progress :



I did not forget however to finish up my quilt blocks for class on tuesday - they are both quilted now! You can see them here - but for a closer look click on the pictures:
block1:

And block 2:


Besides that I got a lot done on the website this weekend of course there are 20 more tasks left to do but i got the shopping cart/checkout process fixed completely.

Friday night was a tastefully simple party at my aunt's - it was fun, and seeing the kids was great, saturday we ended up staying at my uncle's till about noon and we made plans for next weekend to come up and hopefully change the rotars and breakpads on my bf's car in the rear.

Then my bf's parents called and they are coming out to visit next saturday in the afternoon - so i really need to clean the apartment friday - the pressure is on :) Only because i haven't cleaned in a while since i didn't even think about it this weekend :) So tonight is the last night i will work on the website for a while, my week is filling up fast:
tuesday : quilt class
wed: aunt's house - quilting :)
thur: stitch night
fri: clean apartment
sat: (possible breakfast at bf's school), parents visit in afternoon, head to uncle's at night
sun: at uncle's for most of day - home at night - work on website.
Whew i'm tired just thinking about it. So now i have to get some work done, we have a meeting taking up the entire afternoon so morning is my only time to get actual work done!

On A roll - and here comes the weekend!

That's right - I'm doing good - a very productive week. Unfortunately I DID NOT go to the gym last night - but can you blame me, I went grocery shopping and didn't get home until 6! So then I cooked and then ate :) Then wrapped presents for my cousin and uncle and next thing you know it's 8 and I needed to work on the website, which i DID DO.

So far so good - I made some small quick changes on the site and hopefully this weekend I can finish the changes to the checkout process as well as fix a bug I found.

I made an easy dinner last night - grilled steak, but I did buy everything I need to try my hand at making some sauce this weekend - including sausage and lotsa beef for meatballs and meat. So Sunday will probably be the sauce day, i also bought some chicken to cut up maybe for saturday.

Tonight will be busy but at least I don't have to think about work. Plus my oldest cousin (she's 12) is going to see my apartment finally, then we're going up to my uncle's for the night so i can see my other 3 cousins too. The only down side is that we have to leave by 10am tomorrow to get my older cousin to her soccer game, works well for my boyfriend because he really needs to come home and get more work done but for me - not so much fun. I guess I'll get more done this weekend because it will force me to get up early saturday and hang out with the kids.

Man my life is boring - I really don't do much - work work, stitch, quilt, and visit family, never go out (unless you count dinner with bf or family), haven't been to the movies in a LONG time, but i guess all that matters is that I like my life - i like stitching in my free time, much more then being constantly on the go, i prefer to have a hobby where i can relax in front of the tv or a good movie (on tape or dvd of course).

Well it's back to work - hopefully today won't drag too much - 3:3o - where are you ?? :)

Some good news...

A friend of mine in Kansas just had surgery but it went well and she went home last night. Hopefully she'll have a quick recovery and feel better than ever soon.

On another note - the headaches are back, last night and this morning for no apparent reason (still eating right, drinking lots of water, no drastic changes in diet or anything lately), BUT this time i've been keeping a journal of what i ate/did during the day that could affect headaches. I will take a peepers at this in a while, it may turn out to be a monthly thing or it's increased sensitivity due to hormones, who knows but i have the evidence whenever i go see a doctor, for now it's back to the tylenol.

Last Night

Was very relaxing, we had dinner - spaghetti with home made sauce, delicious, then relaxed. I worked on my quilt blocks. The first block is now fully quilted and the second one is basted and ready. See the problem is that the teacher likes to use safety pins to baste, so i did that, but the stupid pins left holes in my fabric, and my aunt bastes by sewing it together so last night i used her method for the second block, she says it works better to prevent folds which would be great because i ALWAYS get a fold in the back somewhere and her quilting looks awesome so if i can learn from her a bit, all the better.
So quilting my block i was stuck with what to do in the corners to finish it off, i wanted a motif, finally my cousin suggested a spiral - PERFECT - even more perfect because the backing fabric IS spirals and the front fabrics have some swirl features to them. Hearts and stars just did not go but the spirals i think came out great and now i can incorporate them in all the blocks in some way or another, the Ohio Star will have swirls in the corners as well which is my next to quilt. Maybe tonight i'll take a pic of my finished block.

Oh man - it's back to my long day - work (but i can leave at 3!) then gym, then work on the website after making something for dinner which means i need to hit the grocery store too because we have no food available. Darn and i'm falling asleep already! The A/C is loud today and it's aggravating my headache. So I'm going to go now - find something to do that doesn't involve the computer screen for a few minutes (lay my head down maybe).

Ah yes it's wednesday - middle of the week.

And I slept in a bit, came in at 8 instead of 7 because I have a meeting at 1 that's supposed to last until 5, turns out now we may not have the damn meeting! I'm a bit peeved about that, but i can still leave at 4 then if i don't take a break. We'll see how the day goes, i really only slept an extra 30 minutes, the other 30 minutes went to traffic.

I did okay yesterday, after work i went to Toys R Us and Best buy to buy birthday presents for my uncle and cousin, then home and to the gym with my bf again. Back home and i skipped dinner because i was feeling off and i worked on the website until Gilmore Girls came on. Then I read. So I got an hour on the website which isn't good but i did manage to finish a section that i was previously stuck on so i actually made real good progress.

Tonight it's to my uncle's so i have my quilting stuff packed and ready to go and my loads of laundry :) Maybe Friday I'll take some quilting progress pics if the quilting shows up in the pics which is iffy.

In reading blogs I decided to take this quiz, it's really accurate because i really am a hybrid of these two, i see myself partially in both but not completely in one or the other.

I am a hybrid of: Girl Next Door Progressive Girl Click on the pictures below to read more: Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

Life just doesn't slow down.

That's right - my month is filling up! I can NOT wait until this website is done so I can go home after work, go to the gym, cook dinner and then relax! Every night! When oh when will this happen???

Well last night went well, exactly as planned, made it to the gym and did a half hour on the treadmill, then cooked up some DELICIOUS pork tenderloin on the grill with mashed potatoes. It really came out perfectly and enough for me to have two more lunches out of it too! Then I moved onto the website at about 8 and worked until 10, got the part I wanted to finish done and a few small things done. Not sure what I'm going to tackle on there tonight but I need to make some major progress, my task list is at 7 things that need to be finished before going live and probably 10 more will pop up, plus there's the list of 16 tasks that need to be done but can wait until after the site's live. This is looking to last till the end of the year .. NOOOOOOOOOO...

I'm getting PSYCHED for stitcher's hideaway in Mystic, this will be my first and I have a roommate in NH that I'm meeting there. This will be a blast, a weekend of stitching a really beautiful piece, then the weekend after that is the quilting retreat. It will be a month of spoiling me - and I get those two fridays off of work (floating holidays used) which is perfect!

There will not be a stitching update for a while - Wednesday I will have quilting time but that's it, i must finish my quilt blocks so stitching is on hold, which is perfect since I have no deadlines for a while. I will however try to find time to at least PLAN out my RR stitching.
Well - work calls - today will be a busy day and hopefully it will fly by! Keeping my fingers crossed that it does!

Yea it's Monday (yea right)...

The amount of blogging I did this weekend astounds me, but mostly it was procrastinating from working on the website. I did however work on the website, a total of 4 hours sunday and 3 on saturday. Hopefully tonight after going to the gym I can finish up the part I was doing and that's one major hurtle done.

My bf's sister and her bf showed up exactly as planned, after showing them the apartment we went out to dinner at bugaboo which is pretty much our favorite place but both my bf and I payed the price with a bit of a stomach ache the rest of the night. We did however make it back in time to watch Law and Order CI together before bed which made for a nice end to a nice evening.

It sure is hard getting up and going to work when my bf gets to stay in bed (technically he was getting up to start studying and working on a project but he COULD have stayed in bed). Today is technically a holiday - which makes me wonder... are the PO's open today? I need to mail this darn weasel to the next person to stitch!

I was wondering what to stitch next now that the weasel is done, I have a long list of WIPS, most recently the class piece (acorn) and my bunny gingham which is my stitch night piece (but I owe 2 hours on that since I spent my stitch night on the weasel. I do however have another RR (my RR group finished our RR this summer and decided to start up another together so we'll keep it going)... so I need to get fabric/threads/patterns together and organized and stitch one of the Shepherd's Bush months for my piece. I have collected 7 of 12 months and there's only 6 of us so that's plenty to get this going. I think our first mail out is December 1st.

So I will start organizing that - mostly I have to decide on fabric which depends on how I'm going to finish these, probably make them individual like I did my dragons so I can either frame them or quilt them. Other than that I think I will work on some WIPS -- specifically my Herb Sampler would be nice to finish and I'm halfway done with it... wonder where all that went to...

On the to do list tonight : Go to the gym (with bf hopefully), make dinner, work on website. (Ditto for tuesday).
Wednesday - go to Aunt/Uncle's for dinner, work on quilt blocks
Thursday - possibly babysitting for my other aunt and uncle so I won't get anything done.

Hopefully if I keep these to do lists up I'll stay structured and on top of my tasks :)

You've just been given a $100 gift certificate to buy anything cross stitch or needlework related - what would you spend it on right now?

Hmmm... this is a tough one but I think I would go up to the LNS in Littleton (the name escapes me at the moment), and buy the kit for the blackwork German Sampler that they have hanging on the wall that I can not find ANYWHERE else. The kit I think was 130 dollars - so 100 dollars would make it much more reasonable. For some reason I've fallen in love with this pattern and I haven't found another place (online or off) that has anything like it... maybe christmas... :)

Yea it's finished - and ANOTHER weekend blog.

This is some kind of record. But last night I finished the weasel - in the 2 hours I had left of my estimate too - pretty darn good! In total this took 13 1/2 hours.


After finishing the weasel I pretty much did nothing else besides read a bit. Today was a bit productive so far... First I mopped the floors and did a load of laundry as I wanted. Then I vacuumed and dusted what was left of the apartment. We talked to the landlord about our heat and it's supposed to spit steam like it does - but it should settle down and not wake me up so much after it's been on a while.

Then I worked on the website - that's right, 2 whole hours and i made some good progress - trying to get back to that now as I have 2 more hours hopefully before bf's sister and bf come so we can go out to dinner. During my break I ate, quilted a bit (block number 1 is coming right along) and put the laundry away. So I have officially completed my TO DO list !!! and now I will work on the website more, go out to dinner, then maybe work on a WIP -- oh which one?? decisions decisions! I'll update tomorrow I'm sure as it's back to work :(

So far so good!

Wow, don't usually blog on a weekend but I'll explain why...

Friday night I got home late (traffic was REALLY bad), so instead of waiting to cook, bf and I went out to dinner near by, home by 7 which was great. Then I cleaned the kitchen as planned, all the cabinets are cleaned, pulled out the stove, cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed a lot, the rest of the apartment (dusting) isn't done but maybe I'll do that tomorrow, i do that regularly anyway. Plus I should mop the tile floors tomorrow too.

Then I worked on mister weasel, got almost all the stitching done - that's 1 hour closer to done and maybe today I'll finish him. I also ironed my quilt blocks and backing fabric and cut the batting and backing so that's ready to quilt.

Today I slept in (9), then went to the grocery store with bf, got lots of food, including apples to make an apple pie tonight. Then I put away food which included putting more food in containers and now all containers are used up. Then I started pinning my quilt blocks (basting with pins), then I started planning out my quilting and did a few lines on block 1. So far so good, I'm liking it.

Then I took a nap and now i'm up and ready to work on the website, however my email isn't working because they're upgrading it and that's very bad for me while i'm trying to work since a lot of what i'm testing involves emails, so i came on here quick. I will now go back to work, and see what i can do without email for now and if i run out of stuff i'll make my apple pie.

On the menu tonight : Chicken Adobo with rice and green beans.
On the menu tomorrow: eating out
On the menu monday: Pork Tenderloin cooked 1 of 3 new ways I have recipes for, hopefully with potatoes if my potatoes are still good :)

As Promised:

I worked on mister weasel at stitch night last night, got lost of compliments on him too. It looks to me like I have about 3 hours left of work to go and he should be done. This is 10 1/2 hours of progress right here.

So far on my TO DO list - Last night I got the walmart trip done, took out the garbage (counts as cleaning right), went to stitch night, packed up some of my food (pasta) in the tupperware I bought (a small start on the cabinets I need to go through) and then read before bed. Doing pretty good.

I found out my boyfriend's sister is in town this weekend (she's now living in Kansas I believe, but she has a wedding here). So they want to go to dinner with us Sunday night... so Saturday night hopefully I can cook up one of my new recipes that I have.

We broke down and turned the heat on last night- oh boy - i've never had these kind of radiators before and they have pressure valves (i think) and they release steam - but it's really loud! It kept waking me up so I finally turned it off, plus we could smell steam (smelled like a steam iron). So I'm going to call my landlord this weekend to find out if it's supposed to do that and if it will stop eventually because i can't deal with this - it woke me up at 1 and now i have a headache from not getting a good sleep. Plus at first we thought it was a gas leak we heard when we didn't know what it was. Why can't anything be easy in this dumb apartment!

I must read my mom's email and email her back, then get some breakfast. Enjoy the pic!

GOAL

When I DON'T have work to do (i.e. website is finished -- hopefully by November!):

My goal is to stitch at least 1 hour a night 5 nights a week.

Auuugghghghg! At least it's an early day into the office!

So I can leave at 3:30 today, hopefully stop at walmart to get the things I wanted to get (because friday is not a good day to try to go to walmart). Then evidently tonight is stitch night at my LNS! Yes I know last thursday was also stitch night - no break in there but hey I'm flexible, this only messes me up a tiny bit. Plus maybe I can get the weasel almost finished - so that means no bunny gingham at stitch night like i was hoping, but once the weasel is done I can work on bunny gingham whenever i want!

New plan for the rest of this week:
Tonight - Walmart, stitch night, start on cleaning (very little start)
Tomorrow night - Clean Clean Clean - gotta get the food in the kitchen organized, the cabinets cleaned out, under the stove cleaned etc.
Saturday - Finish any cleaning - do a load of laundry IF i can find enough quarters in BF's car. (sheets need to be washed). Then work on the website and stitch on weasel until finished!
Sunday - Website website website - and hopefully weasel is already done so work on quilting quilt block 1!
That's the plan and I'm sticking to it, we'll see how that goes.

Okay - last night was great, I got a load of laundry done, which included my new fabric for my quilt so now I can work on the blocks. Then I stitched on the weasel. Really made some progress, I think there are 3 colors left to stitch in the piece, all tweeded colors and one of them is a LOT but if i save that for last it's all just filling in so should go easily! If i have time tonight after stitch night I will scan a pic of progress. I'm so glad to see an end in sight i thought this guy would take forever but he's not so bad (knock on wood)!
So that was my night in a nutshell. 2 hours of stitching interspersed with getting my cousin from soccer practice, getting dinner and eating. It's nice not to worry about the website one night a week!

Poor BF doesn't even know i have stitch night tonight, i'm not quite sure how to tell him, it could be good - it's quieter in the apartment then and he can read more easily, or it could be bad because there isn't much food around and it's another night i'm not around to buy some/cook some - ramon noodles anyone? Oh - for Friday - Grocery store - add that to the list :) And I'm going to cook at least one meal this weekend, a new recipe, we'll see how that goes. Darn Thursdays always feel like fridays - i can't wait to sleep in on saturday! Off to read now :)

Thread organization: plastic bobbins, yes or no? How do you organize your threads?

No to plastic bobbins, I do organize my threads though, since I own every DMC color (except 5 which I ran out of and need to pick up still) plus many duplicates. I hated winding bobbins so I decided to try out the DMC stitchbow system - I don't necessarily recommend it. I have the plastic cases and I pop the bows in them but a lot of times when I close the case the top ones fall out. This is a pain and I've found a few ways of fixing the problem but it's not usually permanent.

Plus you need so many of the cases (I have 9) to hold the floss, I put them all in order and missing colors are left blank in case I get them. Then I have my duplicates all in baggies randomly spread through out the apartment. I have a database program that keeps track of the numbers I own and how many - this way I can check if i own a duplicate or not and look for the duplicate first if i do.

My other threads are randomly left wherever, no organization yet but that's mostly due to space limitations, i would like to have a place to hang specialty threads but also keep them covered from dust, so a peg board with clear doors maybe.. i'll have to start figuring out how to build this :)

Oh it's Wednesday - still sick...

my nose is getting mighty sore from these tissues. But i do have other things to write about so...

Yesterday went by very quickly, i had a meeting from 9am-2pm then left at 3:30. Unfortunately the rest of the week won't be so good I'm sure. Then I went home and took a nap and then rushed around to get to my quilting class. There we learned how to start quilting our 2 existing blocks (she wanted to also have us piece a third block and quilt that too -- luckily we got out of that one!) So we learned how to quilt and bought our fabric/batting and supplies. I need to wash the fabric tonight with my laundry so I can get a start on that this weekend I hope.

Then home to try to watch Gilmore Girls which I had taped - finally remembered, started it, and guess what, my tape ran out after 5 minutes! I was so PISSED. I can't believe this, of 3 episodes this season I've seen 1! I called my sister, no luck she didn't tape it just watched it. And unfortunately they're not playing them on sundays like last season. Damn it i need to get my act together, until OC starts this is the only tv show i even try to watch religiously!

So i picked up my stitching and watched something else, the debate mostly, and worked on mister weasel... got his neck done and now i can work on the rock/ground he's coming out of which is still more than half the design i'm guessing. But there's less confetti stitching so it might go faster than the head went. Not enough progress to warrant a pic.

Then I went to bed - and got up and came to work, still have my friggin cold but tonight I'm going to my aunt's so hopefully I can start appliquetting my quilt there, or stitching more on the weasel (or both)... i just hope i can stay up past 10pm since i fell asleep last week at 9! Off to work :)

Sunday - Monday
Let's just leave sunday as a long day that I wish never to repeat and I got absolutely nothing accomplished unless you count catching a cold as something. So Sunday night I was sick with said cold, woke up monday, still sick so took the day off. My boyfriend tried to go to school, was in too much pain and came home so we had a day of sleeping and getting things done which I was hoping sunday would be like but never was.

So I finished my quilt block Ohio Star:


And then I stitched my heart out - 5 1/2 hours of stitching later I had the head of the darn weasel finished! This is my RR piece that I really want to finish next weekend but time is just not on my side lately. You can see progress here:

This was done while watching tv for a change, mostly Lifetime movies including a new one with Law and Order SVU actress in it as a lawyer.. Blind Truth ?? maybe tha'ts the name, I taped it anyway and thought it was okay.
So today it is back to work - with my cold still - and a LONG meeting from 9-2 today that I just got out of and I get to leave at 3:30 to go home and rest before my quilting class tonight which even though the cold lingers I'm still looking forward to, I just need to bring my box of tissues with me :)

Where Do I Begin???

Let's see - first Celebrations Seminar (Friday - Saturday).

Friday After work I drove up to Yankee Cross Stitch and picked up my registration confirmation and browsed the store, I bought 2 patterns:


Which I have wanted for a LONG time. And...

Which I saw finished and fell in love with.

Saturday After going to my young cousin's soccer game and breakfast I went to take my class. The class piece was Rebecca's Sampler by Earth Threads:

But to learn the stitches we did a small acorn piece that I have not finished but you can see my progress here:

Not a single stitch in that is a cross stitch, it was great fun and I learned a lot of new stitches. I look forward to some day doing Rebecca's Sampler.

Saturday night was my cousin's birthday party and we had a good time then I drove my brother back to MIT and went home to sleep. Didn't sleep much but I'll leave that for the next entry. This entry is strictly stitching :)

October Goals (stitching and other)

Stitching:

1) Finish Weasel RR piece and mail out by Oct. 11
2) Wash and add beads to True Blue Friends
3) Stitch 4 hours on Bunny Gingham (stitch nights)
4) Stitch DD Wisdom on Sunday SAL (third sunday)
5) Start new RR piece - Shepherd's Bush April
6) Finish Quilt block 2 by first class (almost done)
7) Quilt bock 3 start and finish by second class

Wow that's a lot of stitching this month but my weekends seem to be much more free this month (just wait till november!)

Non-Stitching:
1) FINISH THE WEBSITE - seriously need to get this done!
2) Open account at credit union - need to do this in order to buy a car!
3) Look at cars at a dealership!

Now I need to do this stuff because I wrote it down. Hmmm.. September went quick!

How did I do:
September Stitching (and other) Goals:

1. Finish the band sampler RR and mail back to owner! [DONE]
2. Start and finish the next RR piece for RR3 (don't know what it is yet) [Started but no where near finished] (it's a weasel)
3. Start and finish friendship kit from Carol for office [Finished but needs to be washed and beads added]

I'll go easy on myself this month since my other goals are:
1. Finish the darn website!!! [Damn - not done :(]

PICTURES!
That's right - I forgot to bring my computer home last night so I couldn't "scan" in my progress pic of my new project but I have my camera so you get camera pics. These won't go into my album probably until next week when I can scan the project in and show the completed quilt block. So here's the quilt block - the rows are not connected and the last seam in the last row is only pinned.

Then I started a new project at stitch night last night:
Bunny Gingham (click here to see it)
My Progress as of 2 hours last night:

So Stitch Night was great - I bought the floss for the bunny - then started on it and by the time I was supposed to switch to the RR i had only done one length of floss on the bunny itself - so I didn't want to put it down and I did the leters and carrot. I also bought 3 new charts - another Mini Gingham (November), "I simply love you" because it kept calling to me, and a miniature noahs' arc because i'm not sure if i'll ever finish the other one I stitched - who knows if i should even bother now but i could finish it in the hopes of the next person that has a kid also likes noah's arc. All well the pattern is cute. So the total was 30!

Alright - I need to go find my goals for last month and do a goals completed/new goals post!

Today will be very busy again!

Yesterday was great - I worked, I went to my uncle's, I helped prepare dinner (stir-fry), after which I relaxed the rest of the night. Which also means I fell asleep at 9:30 - but I slept good and I think I needed that.

I worked on my quilt block a lot last night. The second row is all put together and the last row is 2/3 put together. So after 1 more seam on that row, I just have to sew the rows together which is tricky because I think I will have to "re-measure" the blocks first to make the lines for sewing straighter so the block doesn't get messed up. I want the corners of the triangles to be perfect so they have to line up exactly at the 1/4" mark. So either I will cut new template and draw or just measure and draw not sure yet. Sunday I will do that I think.

Then I finally started the last RR piece I have to do for my 3rd RR. Once this piece is done I'm done with RR's besides my international one which we're going to keep on doing, but we haven't started our second round yet so I'm still in the clear there. So I started the weasel. Did not make much progress at all before feeling too tired. The bad news is I'm not enjoying it much, maybe because I see all the blending I will have to do (UCK). So I was hoping to start a new piece at Stitch Night tonight - but I think I need to work on my RR piece more. What I've compromised is this: Buy new threads for the bunny piece, start it. After an hour spend the last hour and a half on the RR piece.

So today is another busy day - I work, I go home, I go to the gym? (if i have time), i Take out the garbage, I go to stitch night (where's dinner in there??), I come home, -- maybe stitch more before bed but probably start a new book because my eyes will be a bit stressed (that's what happened last night.).

This weekend is packed already, but I'm trying to keep sunday open so if I get maybe 3 hours of work done on sunday then the rest of the day can be mine - finish block 2 of quilt and work on RR piece. Those are my goals! So maybe tomorrow I will have some new updated pics since that's the best part of these blogs. Just another thing to do tonight....

Boo - it's the middle of the week...

I must say that I am a busy person. To really understand this you must see my schedule :
Yesterday:
5:45 - get up shower get ready for work, make boyfriend and my lunches
6:30 - leave (drive to work)
7:15 - 3:30 - work
4:20 - arrive home (drive home takes longer due to taffic)
4:30-5:30 - gym -- it's a nice gym, i did 30 minutes on the treadmill then stretched real good.
5:30 - 6 - cook dinner and shower then eat dinner (dinner took 15 min to cook)
6 - 10 - work on website, from 8-9 I also watched Gilmore Girls but continued working
10-11 - worked on quilt block while watching Law&Order SVU
11 - went to bed after packing up my bag for tonight
Then i starts over getting up at 6am this morning ( a tad late)

Today will be easier, after work I'm going to my aunt's so I don't work on the website or go to the gym, I help cook dinner, eat then relax, maybe quilt oh and do laundry of course.
So that's a day in the life of ME. As I mentioned I got to quilt a bit, my block is almost 2/3 done - the middle row has two more seams to stitch together and then that's done and I have just the bottom row left. Maybe i'll put up a pic on Friday!

We Joined a new Gym

I know I know I know, I already have a gym - across the street from work, BUT it's not very good at all! My boyfriend and I went to check out this gym near the apartment and it's huge, very nice, clean, new equipment, plasma tvs on every piece of cardio equipment (awesome), large weight room, small weight room in the female locker room which could work good for me, tanning booths, classes (yoga/aerobics etc), all included in a membership for 30/month. So we joined, there's an initiation fee too which we got the guy to cut down for us (i'm sure they cut it for everyone, who would pay 300 just to join and then pay the monthly fee!) So hopefully today after work i'll go to the gym. I probably won't be there with my boyfriend because he's going to go after classes on the way home and i get home at random times and will just head over after.

So I'm psyched about that, now if only i could kick my butt into running in the mornings again - today i was way too tired, hardly got up at 10 after 6 which is real late for me. I want to get up earlier, get to work earlier, leave earlier so i can go to the gym and still come home and work. I did work on the website last night - 1 hour anyway, will do again tonight, there's lots to do.

I also finally picked up a needle! I worked on my quilt block for an hour last night. I have the top row (1/3) done completely and the second row started. This is a difficult one with the points and triangles but the best part about this quilt is that I only have to do each block once!
Well I have some work to do so I'm off :)

Designer Dreams

Would you or have you designed your own cross stitch design? If you have can we see it?

I have designed one piece - it was made into an ornament for my aunt who's a quilter, it was a christmas present last year. You can see the picture in my album under 2003 cross stitch, it's the small piece with houses and trees.

I enjoy stitching others' designs because I'm neither creative nor artistic, if I was I'd love to design but that's another story (i'd love to paint too, or write... ) but alas I'm a computer programmer, and my mind works like an engineer not an artist.

A long weekend... do I say that a lot?

Seriously though it was a long weekend. Friday night - hmm, don't remember friday night much, oh yea the boyfriend went out with friends (cancelling mall plans with me which messed me up big time driving wise because I was already stuck in traffic and passed the mall, so I got through the traffic, to turn around and be in more traffic (friday) - and got to the mall, walked the entire mall - couldn't find a single dress that fit me. Went home in a bad mood and starving (no dinner).

Got up saturday, relaxed a bit got ready, a bit rushed - but we got out of there around noon and with traffic back to ny around 3, where we eventually made it to the mall and I did find a dress, and got my hair cut. Then I dropped bf off with his friends and went to my parent's house to start laundry and fix their router problem. Then I joined bf at party and basically stood around for 6 hours, we got back to my parent's at 2 and slept in.

Sunday we got ready for the wedding, met up with friends, drove up to wedding, sat through wedding and left the reception before dinner started (bf was a little mad but i won't get into details - and it wasn't at me) so we had a LONG drive home through traffic and got home at 10! Yuck! And today it was up and to work. Tonight it will be go home, go grocery shopping, work on website. Not exactly something to look forward to but hey i'm going to the gym today and leaving at 4, that's pretty good! But alas I should start work now - and maybe some time this week i'll have stitching news, there's none for now!

Ah it's Friday! And the office is quiet...

That's right - back to the office but everyone else is out. In total I think 4 of us will be here today but right now it's only 2 people. I like a quiet office - but since I've been gone all week I'm kinda out of the loop with what's going on and I'll have to wait till Monday to find out.

So last night was better than I thought. I found out after blogging that a dear online friend who I do many RR's with is getting tests done and possibly surgery soon - please send good thoughts and prayers out for her if you can. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and she says she's feeling fine so that's a huge plus.
After that I decided to take some tylenol and do the dishes, then I started reading and slowly my headache went away! So then at 10 I proof read a paper for my boyfriend before we went to bed. And no headache this morning so far! We didn't go running either -but that's because my boyfriend had to work on his paper more and I dont' feel safe going running in our neighborhood by myself. So I ran 3 mornings this week - maybe we'll go out tomorrow morning before heading back to NY for the rest of the weekend.

No gym this week at all - but that's due to training and having to leave semi early today to get to the post office before it closes and mail out some stuff. Next week though - on top of the continued running I will go to the gym every day and things will be back to normal (if you call my life normal).

Books
I'm just about finished with the book by William Kennedy that I'm reading : Very Old Bones. Quite strange but a good read and I look forward to reading more books by him. Next I'm going to read another Josephine Humphreys book "Dreams of Sleep". Should be another quick one.

I also finished a book on tape "The Birth of Venus" -- it was quite detailed and graphic but also very good. Definately held my attention and had a lot of historical information in it as well. The prologue itself just captures your attention and I definately recommend this book to anyone - as long as you can read sometimes graphic scenes and definately a few love scenes.

I normally rent books from booksontape.com - just found out that they are no longer renting them out... so now i need to find a library where I can borrow them. They generally aren't something i want to "own" because they take up a lot of room and i probably won't listen to them twice so renting was great but a library would be cheaper so i gotta look into that.

So that's it - I gotta get some work done and hope this day passes quickly - 7 hours to go!

Shop Dreams

If you could design your dream needlework/cross stitch shop, what would it be like?

-- Well my dream needlework shop is one that I own - so that I can stitch all day and share my stitching hobby with others that love it. I would have the charts organized by theme and if the designer has a lot of charts, I would have a section for that designer. The threads would always be stocked fully, and the beads/charms/buttons which I always have a hard time finding. If I have a chart that needs a buttom/charm I will have that button charm too! (And easy to find).
I would have a large stitching room which would showcase finished pieces so while everyone's stitching they can look around and admire other works and get new ideas. Every finished piece on the wall would have a pattern that was easy to locate. I would have a computer section with a program where you could pick the pattern you have bought - and then change the colors and see what it looks like ahead of time and print out the new color lists. The same for the fabric too.
I would have a seperate room for fabric and framing, bolts of fabric and yards and yards of hand dyed ones, not only bought but also done myself so they're always unique.
Most important is that I would have stitch nights, retreats, classes and lots of social activities (exchanges, RRs) to keep my customers coming and visiting to keep the spirit of needlework alive.
Hmmm... maybe when I retire I will open up a shop --- ah gotta enjoy the dreams :)

Darn darn darn!

I missed Gilmore Girls on Tuesday - I totally forgot it was starting up again this week, and I wanted to tape it (since I was at my quilting class). I'm bummed. I have emailed my sister to see if she taped it but she has yet to get back to me.

Anyway - training is over - and i have a pounding headache again! Yesterday I got home, made dinner, cleaned the bathroom and I had a headache so I went to bed (this was at 8). Tonight I got home, cleaned the apartment, (dust/vacuum), did laundry, cut up a chicken, took out the garbage, ate dinner and now my headache is so bad i think i'm going to bed at 8 tonight again. This is really annoying. I will take some tylenol and try just reading - gotta get off the computer though, the light bothers my eyes when my headache gets this bad.

My headaches are wierd - I have lived on a computer now for 4 years, no problems and these past 2 months have been horrible since I started working. I'm used to working all summer long (4 months straight) on a computer for 9 hours a day and never had a problem but something about this summer is different. Plus I've spend endless hours on my laptop during school and never had a problem. Now I find if I use my laptop at work I don't necessarily get a headache but if i use the regular computer (or the laptop today at training - different laptop) i get this pounding headache by the end of the day. My solution has been to bring my laptop to work and use that but there are some things I have to do on the other computer.... UGG, i need to 1) get my eyes checked at an eye doc - never been before so it's about time 2) if nothing is wrong, maybe see a doctor about my headaches and 3) start tracking what i eat/do/drink the days i get them (which right now is every weekday so i'll start keeping track tomorrow).

Enough complaining --- actually i have more complaining but it's something different. I headed out this morning at 7:30 like usual for training and got onto I-95/128 and there I stopped - the normal 40 minute drive took me 2 1/2 hours to get there. It was really bad, i guess they had closed down most of the lanes of 128 for an accident but i had no idea and i was just sitting in gridlock for an hour, then inching for another hour, then finally i got on rt 3 to 495 to I-93 and that part took only half an hour. Lucky for me that is the last time I'm driving up 128 in the morning *i hope*.

Stitching - no cross stitching lately - been a very busy week, getting home late and such. Tuesdya night I had my quilt class - I will post a picture after I actually work on block two. Right now I have the templates cut and some of them traced onto the fabric but no fabric cut. I should get working on it because this one has more sewing than the last but these headaches are hurting my night free time.

I'm sure I'll be on again tomorrow so i will do the QOTW then - right now i have another load of laundry to fold before the bf gets home from the library and then i'm going to bed!

I thought I'd pop on real quick and list out the new stash I have aquired :)

Today was a great day - Two coworkers and I are taking training classes in Andover, which is a tad more of a drive but the day passes quickly and we're actually getting to do some coding which, even thought it's menial stuff I still love it, i haven't coded in SO long!

Anyhow so I took out my stash to fondle and I thought I'd quick pop on here before getting some work done and helping my boyfriend with his resume. Keep in mind I spent only 46 dollars - 40 was my budget so I did really well!

First I found two more of the Shepherd's Bush months for my next RR, Nov and Dec. So now I have 8 I think.
Then I got a sale piece - Shamrock Sampler by The Sweetheart Tree. Now I just need the charm, oh but wait,
the next piece I got comes with the same charm (but that means I need a second still :) Tangled Shamrocks "Teenie Tweenie" by The Sweetheart Tree. It's a Claddagh charm - silver. My boyfriend is Irish and I love the Claddagh charm (matches my ring) :)
Then I saw some cute pieces that I thought I might be able to do something creative with, not sure what yet but they are Mini Ginghams by Twisted Threads - January Snow, October Boo and Dec Joy. I don't want to stitch them on the Gingham because I don't think the patterns stand out enough but I will think of something.
THen I just oogled over the threads and picked out a few WDW that really caught my attention and some GAST - possibly for the SAL in january where the piece is all in one color, I bought 3 skeins, hopefully that will be enough.
Oh and I picked up some beading needles so I can't delay my beads on the True Blue Friends piece :)
That's it - of course I mentioned going to ACMoore too - I bought an album so that I can cover it whenever I finish True Blue friends into an album cover :) Better to be prepared :)

Alright - off to help with the resume and then maybe get some work done. Went running this morning and my legs are tired so I may be heading to bed early tonight so I can run again tomorrow :)

A stitch weekend!!!

Let's start from the beginning:
Friday Night:
Since my boyfriend and my sister's boyfriend both went home to NY to first visit friends and then go to NYC for a bachelor party we decided to start our stitch weekend early. She drove out friday night and while waiting for her I did a little work on the piece for my boyfriend. I realized upon picking it up that I had used only 2 strands for the brown of the mountains and I was supposed to use 4 - so I stitched over the existing 2 with 2 more, looked real nice, then started stitching with 4 and it looked sloppy so I think I'm going to stitch twice for each stitch with just 2... but alas after she showed up I put it away and we just chatted.

Saturday: Boy did it rain! We drove first to Cross Stitch Unlimited in Arlington because there was a wedding piece that I wanted her to see in case she liked it she could do it for her boyfriend's brother's wedding in May - It's by Trilogy, it's real cute. She bought it :) and a few other things. Then in the pouring rain we drove down to RI - a little slipping on the road but we made it fine and we spent 2 hours walking around With Heart and Soul in Cumberland. She bought the things she needed to start the wedding piece and a few other small pieces, and I just browsed and ended up spending about 46 dollars -- hmmm, what did I get ... I will fill in later.

So then we continued to the B&B, stopping first for some candy and water of course.
The B&B was very cute - oh and the rain stopped by now ;) and we stayed up in the 3 floor room, it was 2 single beds and a private bath, very quaint. So we stitched and stitched and stitched.

Sunday - slept in, had breakfast and headed home where we then went to ACMoore and JoAnn's just to finish up the weekend :) Lunch then my sister went home and I proceeded to stitch while listening to my book on tape (Todays the monthly DD SAL), so I started another DD Virtue dragon - Wisdom, a progress pic is in my album, it's not much so I won't post it here yet.

So now it's 6:30, my boyfriend just got home and I should start working on the website but first:
What I stitched:
First I finished my quilt block, here's a pic:


Then I worked on True Blue Friends, and it's finished besides the beads and charms:

And if I have time later I'll add in what I bought at With Heart and Soul :) Thanks for reading!

As promised, my work in progress:

There's block number 1 almost complete. Hopefully I can finish it this weekend.

Last night was a bore, I went home, did nothing really, I did read through the CrossStitcher June 2003 mag that arrived, I can't wait to stitch crafty cat - but it will have to be a 2005 project and I will definately be changing the color of the face, it's too dark for sure.
Then I read through the Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue (2004) a bit, not everything but got the gist and read about my favorite designers. I will have to go through and copy out the recipes I will actually use and I picked out about 5 ornaments that I do really like and will have to do at some point :)

Then I worked on the website for about an hour, and then read - my book is getting a bit odd, I'm reading "Very Old Bones" by William Kennedy. I do plan on reading a few more of his books, he wrote a lot about Albany, NY which is close to where I grew up - the closest "city" to where I grew up anyway. My boyfriend read "O Albany" by him for school two years ago and some of his other books are very popular so I'll have to look into those sometime.

So far in Very Old Bones, I would say it was going along nicely and then part 3 ended with a bit of a strange scene in a strip club with the main character and his wife, very difficult to figure out what type of relationship they have, it seems they really love each other and are attracted to each other but then there's this element that they aren't faithful or truthful with each other, hard to figure out.

newsflash:
Next week I may not be blogging much, if at all - mon-thur, I will be at training in Andover instead of regular work, i may have my computer but no guarentee I can use it and no guarentee I will have time at night to blog since I will be getting home later :( But next friday I will have lots to fill in :)

This weekend should be cool. My boyfriend leaves today to go back to NY for a bachelor party tomorrow night and to see friends tonight. So tonight I have the night to myself, I plan to work on the sight and then cross stitch or quilt and gather supplies for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm meeting my sister in Rhode Island to go to With Heart and Soul - LNS, we'll shop, eat dinner then go to a nearby B&B for a night of stitching and chatting... note to self: bring ott light. Sunday we can sleep in, eat free breakfast and head out, then I have all sunday to continue stitching/quilting and maybe some work before monday... I should be fully rejuvenated :)

So next friday i may have a bunch of new pictures for you all ! And now I must get some work done -- and read more blogs :)

Thursday - and I'm leaving early (2 hours)...

That's right I got to work before 7 and no break so I'm leaving at 3 and it's 1 now! I actually have to go to Walmart on the way home to get a few things so I won't get home much earlier than normal.

Last night was a good night. My aunt and I didn't work on our small quilt, but I did work on my quilt block for class on tuesday. Maybe I can post a pic tomorrow. I have the 9 patch done and the top row and middle row together so I have only 2 small seams and 2 large seams left to go and the block is done! I can't wait to show a pic, I love the colors together.

An update on life: Not really much to say but yesterday and today we had meetings in the morning and then yesterday for lunch we went out to a business lunch which was a nice 2 hours out. Then my aunt, uncle, cousin and I also went out for dinner so I've had enough restaurant food to hold me over for a while! Today it's leftovers for lunch and I'm grilling steak and corn on the cob for dinner.

Speaking of lunch - i'm hungry so I'm off to heat up my food :)

Pictures Pictures and I stitched!

First - a picture of the progress on True Blue Friends from last thursday's stitch night: (I know not much)

Last night was pretty darn good. I got home, I worked on the website for 2 hours then I put it away and stitched for an hour! 17 hours and the RR is finished! Here's a pic of the finished part I did. If you want to see more of the RR you can visit my album (link on the side bar) and it's in the International RR folder.

I think it came out pretty neat and I'm excited to mail it back to Spain.

Tonight will be a purely quilting night with my aunt. I bought the fabric we need for the border of our quilt and it's all ready for appliquet so we'll do that hopefully. I'll leave it at that - keep the blog on stitching/quilting for today :)

Headaches, headaches, every day!

This is just horrible, I have to live on tylenol just to survive! Last night - headache and this morning still pounding!

So last night I broke in the new grill we got! It took a while to get the propane to work, but then I grilled up some chicken (I bought a whole chicken and cut it up saving the breast meat for stir fry tonight and grilling the rest, saving the carcus for soup some time). I also grilled sliced potatoes, yummy and I even have some left for lunch today!

Then I worked on the website for 2 hours but finally my head hurt so bad I had to sleep so I went to bed at 9:45. Up at 5:30 but it felt like 10pm and my head hurt, took tylenol and slept till 6, no running due to headache. But I got here early and get to leave at 4:15 to head to the RMV to see about getting my license switched.

Again, no stitching -work work work is my life :) If my head didn't hurt maybe i'd stitch after working late but we'll see how tonight goes, i'm armed with tylenol and ready to work on the requirements doc i need to do this week. I"m looking forward to training next week, get up a little later at least :)

Large or Small?
Do you stitch small projects one at a time that you can finish quickly, have numerous large projects going at once that you rotate,or both? How does your current system work for you and have you thought about changing it?

Well I have a complete range of projects going. I have some small, some medium and usually a large project going as well (or 2 or 3). Just in my WIPS album I have 4 I would consider WIPS and 2 UFO's and those are just the ones I have pictures of. On top of that I have my quilting, which is a few WIPS going at one time, one medium, one small and one I would consider kind of large (class project). So my philosophy is to get the ones with deadlines done and then do whatever I want, if I'm bored I switch.

Oh and I'm starting a new project sunday for the DD SAL once a month :) Who cares, it's my HOBBY!

Weekends are too short ...

No stitching this weekend at all. I did work on my quilt a bit friday and saturday. I now have the top row and 2 rows of the 9 patch done and all pieces cut and ready to sew.

I also did work on the website this weekend, saturday and sunday to be exact. I got in 3 hours saturday and made tons of progress. Also on Saturday my uncle stopped by to drop off my new grill! It was my graduation gift, so we put it all together and I'll be grilling dinner tonight now that we have a full propane tank too.

After dinner saturday we drove up to my uncle's for the night, we played video games of course until 2 am then sunday I played with the girls. The youngest is now fully crawling - what a cutie, and I got to hold her sleeping for a while saturday night too. The other 2 just started school last week and we're in very good moods most of the time.

After a late late lunch sunday we headed back and my boyfriend worked on his assignment for today while I napped. I had horrible allergies all day sunday, and they compounded into a sinus headache and sore throat. I slept for 2 hours when we got home, then got up and worked on the site. We didn't go to sleep till about midnight but I slept in till 6 so I'm feeling better, still have a headache but allergies aren't bad. My uncle has cats so they really did me in.

Ahhh this week - what's on the schedule:
Nothing :) Hahah - well Wednesday I have my dinner at my aunt and uncle's and every other night I play on working on the website and stitching the RR to send along before next week. I have another RR to start as well so I want to start that next week I think. So now it's time to start the work day :)

Forgot to take a pic.... but stitch night was great.

I feel completely rejuvinated. Yesterday was rough, for the 4th day in a row I got a headache (that's the 6th work day in a row), by the middle of the day... I think i'm getting eye strain from the computer, I'll have to look into precautionary measures and see an eye doctor real soon, i don't need to be messing with my eyes, how could i stitch then???

Anyway, so I went home, went grocery shopping, folded laundry, took out the garbage, busy busy busy, I felt exhausted, and I just wanted to go to bed but I knew I would regret not going to stitch night (i know you wonder how could i even consider missing it but I was THAT tired and my head hurt - and it's a drive!). Anyway so I went and of course had a blast, and i felt refreshed and in good spirits afterwards!

What I stitched: I worked on True Blue Friends like planned - I will post a pic as soon as I can. I haven't decided whether I should plug along and finish this one or get some other things done but for this weekend I have quilting to do anyway.
What I bought: I hit the winfall :) I got the Just Nan buttons for Barnabee's Quest Pt I and III, I don't like the rooster for part II so I'll have to pic something different. I also put in a request for the Shepherd's Bush buttons for the month series that I'm doing in my next RR. I bought Bunny Gingham and the fabric - now this I've wanted forever because it reminds me of my little bunny and I think I'll stitch it at the next stitch night.
I also bought the Ornament mag. I subscribe to JCS but at the wrong time of year so I don't get the free one, next year I'm going to try to not resubscribe until later in the season and see if I get an offer, maybe miss an issue but no biggie i have newstands.
I bought a project bag because I love to organize and I just needed another :) I also bought some real small Just Nan's, one with frogs, peepers something, and one with ladybugs and two others. They'll be cute to kit up some time and do quickly? nothings ever quick right.

So that was my night, I left promptly at 9 this time and got home in 15 minutes (bonus) and then read before bed. I was kinda cross stitched out due to my eye strain so I need to get on top of this problem pronto! I'm off to read more on the internet about it.

Quilt night at my aunt's...

This really is the best week ever, and tonight is stitch night - i can't wait :)

Last night my aunt and I worked on the quilt we're doing together, it's a log cabin basket. We put the small border pieces on the background fabric and then cut all the pieces for appliquet and starched and pressed the edges under on everything so we're all set next week to start the appliquet. When that's done we just have to put on the last border which I'm going to pick up at JoAnn's tomorrow hopefully.

I also got my fabric washed for my new quilt so today at lunch I might pull it out and play a bit :) And tomorrow/saturday really work on it.
Stitch night tonight - I plan on working on True Blue Friends, so maybe they'll be an updated pic tomorrow and i'm bringing 20 dollars i'm allowed to spend :) Then tomorrow after work I am going to JoAnn's then working on the website and then quilting :) Saturday it's more website and more quilting and then up to my Uncle's to see the cousins. Oh some where in there I have to buy my youngest cousin a birthday present.

I've figured the way I'm going to do the birthday thing is this... near each birthday get them each something special, then on their combined birthday party get the three all something even though the youngest's isn't until February but she will start getting to the age where she will want presents too :) I dont' want to buy all 3 something for each birthday and I think think the two oldest are at the age to understand that it's a special day for their sister etc.

Well it's bagel day so i'm going to go find me a bagle to eat :)

My first quilting class...

The class is taught at the Arlington "Fabric Corner" store. We're doing 6 blocks from:

First we're starting with Blocks in Box which is basically a ninepatch with a border and the border has corner blocks. This block isn't in the book - it's basically "the honeybee" from the book but without the appliquet. hmmm... i like the honeybee... but we're saving our appliquet till the end so i'll have to save that for another quilt.
The class is quilt as you go, so we're going to do 3 blocks then learn the quilting. So far I've got 4 fabrics, which should be enough for the top of all 6 blocks. Then I'll pick out a sashing, border and backing fabrics. The back can actually be something different for each block because it's quilt as you go and then it'll be reversible. I'm so excited. I cut out my templates yesterday when I got home and tonight I'm hoping to get my fabrics washed and pressed. The sewing is all by hand - which is so cool, and totally new to me.
Only problem is I'm not sure how much we're supposed to get finished before the next class. She said 15 minutes a day, I don't have that but I do have chunks of time like an hour every few days. Once I get the 9 patch put together I'll post a pic. I think that's all we have to do, but I couldn't say for sure. I'll probably just do as much as I can.
Tonight I'll be at my aunt and uncle's, we're working on a quilt already, a small one and if my aunt picked up background fabric we can start the appliquet of the log cabin basket we made. More appliquet :) Now I need a trip to JoAnn's to get the rest of my supplies I didn't want to buy at the store since it was kinda overpriced. I did however buy the book there (could have saved 8 dollars elsewhere but i figured it was a good thing to do), and I bought a lot of supplies but some basic stuff like pins (which I have a few of already), seam ripper (have one someplace) and large scissors I could get elsewhere. For now with the square ones I'll probably use my rotary cutter, i want to get a mini mat for it to bring to class too, even though no one else is using one but that's because it's more of an investment and I already have one. I also need a small ruler (only have large ones).
So I have 25 dollars more on my budget still - since I decided 75 for the class supplies - and i have a 10 dollar gift cert to JoAnn's so if i keep that under 20 I can get the rest of my fabric later in budget (we get 20% off fabric for our quilt).
That's my night - it was great and now I have these really long straw needles to get used to, but I already see great possibilities using longer ones for quilting (i just switched to petites for cross stitch recently). And I'm off - to read a bit in my book maybe.

Er… what do you do again??
How do you explain cross stitch to non-cross stitching people? Do they get it or do they say “Oh, right.. you do knitting then (or sewing, or needlepoint)"?

I haven't had to explain too often, usually just saying it's similar to embroidery is enough. I do however often get the, isn't that for old ladies? question -- I just ignore it, my boyfriend's learned that this is a hobby that I do not enjoy criticism about and he's been great. He'd be more great about it if I went along and finished his piece already.

A picture promised...

That's right - I am posting my WIP, True Blue Friends, with 5 hours stitching time put into it.

The borders are in Caron Waterlilies and the rest is DMC, there's Rhodes Hearts -those were a first for me and satin stitches. Fun fun!

Tonight marks my first quilting class - i can't wait! I'll have to start posting pics of my quilting progress too. Comments welcome!

My day off :)

That's right - today is my day off, and so far so good :)

This weekend has been good but busy. Saturday we drove to my boyfriend's parent's house, they had a dinner party which was a good time, then we went to the fair up the road quick to run into old friends from high school in the beer tent. After an hour we were both bored and went back to bed. Sunday we packed up more of my boyfriend's stuff - including a ton of laundry, packed up his car, had dinner at my parent's and headed back home.

Today was a quick clean the apartment, go to walmart and now i'm running loads of laundry through and just settling down to work on the website for a few hours. After which I will just cross stitch and relax the last 2 hours of my night before my hectic week starts. Maybe i'll have some pictures to post later tonight :)

This week is busy:
Tuesday - quilt class day 1 6-8pm in Arlington
Wednesday - uncle's house for dinner and more quilting
Thursday - stitch night in Arlington 6:30-9pm
Friday - MUST work more on the website!
Then the weekend - I love short weeks :)

A new project started!

First a quick pic of the Tiny Tool Pouch I finished the night before:



So last night the cable guy comes - little drama there I will just share quickly. Basically there is no signal coming to the modem, so he goes the basement, finds the problem, fixes it and then the signal is there, but the modem won't work - strange - his modem works though - of course - so we end up renting their modem for 5 dollars a month. Now the real odd thing is that this IDENTICAL thing happened to my sister - i'm just wondering what the odds are that the modem goes bad and the signal from the basement goes - all during an interval in which they tell me they are doing "maintenence", i think they are purposely blocking my modem some how and I wish I could prove it!

On another note - so internet was up but I got some stitching in. First I finished the star on this:

That's my part of the RR i'm stitching -- any opinions on whether I should add more - maybe another star stitched over 2 by the moon, more flowers floating randomly (like near the moon's crown)... any ideas welcome.
Then I started a new project, the True Blue Friends from my friend Carol in Canada. It's the first time stitching with Waterlilies and I Love it - I am more than halfway done with the border design. This project will get worked on sporadically since I have other projects with deadlines but at least it's started :)

Oh - and to start today off I got a nice run in, with DBF and got to work early so I will get some work done, go to the gym today and I can leave around 4! I'm off!

My weekly night away...

And I didn't sleep right after dinner this time :) My aunt and I started our quilt last night. We had picked the fabrics out a while ago and last night we cut the strips before dinner, after dinner we made the single log cabin, mine is finished, my aunt's is almost finished but she found a spot where she put the wrong side on first so she stopped (mistakes just compound when you're tired). We cut my log cabin in half to see what it will look like as a basket, the next step is to appliquet the said basket onto backing fabric. Next week... :)

I also got a bit of time to stitch, i finally finally finished the Tiny Tool Pouch from a class back at Celebrations of NW NH. I will post a pic once the internet at home is up and running which *may* be tonight.
I'm off to read blogs...

September Stitching (and other) Goals:

I am going to start doing this formally now - before it was just random.

1. Finish the band sampler RR and mail back to owner!
2. Start and finish the next RR piece for RR3 (don't know what it is yet)
3. Start and finish friendship kit from Carol for office

I'll go easy on myself this month since my other goals are:
1. Finish the darn website!!!

And activities this month are:
1. 2 stitch nights (thursdays)
2. Quilting class starts every other tuesday
3. Class in rhode island on other 2 thursdays
4. Stitch night in RI with my sister at a B&B

With the quilt class I will start to need time to work on the quilt too - which cuts into my stitching time. That's okay though my only hard deadlines are my RR's for now!

Mid week, but it feel like friday... (as always)

O bother - I hate dealing with Comcast! Still no internet last night, so I called them and set up an appointment for Thursday night between 5 and 7. Even if i find out it's my modem and have to pay them 50 dollars it's worth it so i can work again and earn that money back in an hour!

On the good side of all this, I got to stitch last night! I got home, went grocery shopping and then snuggled up to stitch, with a few breaks to do things for my boyfriend. In total I only got about an hour and a half of stitching in, bring my total for the month of August up to 16 hours. I know that sounds lame but I work two jobs!

On the stitching front - the moon on the RR is finished! It looks adorable even though it's over one and the rest is over 2. What I think I will do is stitch some over 2 stuff around the moon (a small star and more flowers) and then some over one stuff on the other side (more stars and flowers). Then it will be complete. The confetti stitches though are horrible - drive me crazy changing colors so much especially stitching with one strand!

So, soon, maybe next week I will be finished and post a picture in my album and a link from here. Yippee - I love accomplishing something!