I wish every monday was like yesterday - not only did I get up and run, but I also went for a walk in the afternoon, then I stitched at lunch time on Peaceful Silhouette (I'm really liking this piece again), and when I got home my boyfriend was making dinner.

After I did cleanup from dinner and made the chocolate zucchini muffins to bring to work today I stitched while watching some old alias episodes. So I got to work a little on Mini Cottages II before heading to bed to read a bit. I got a little bit of everything in yesterday.

Today is not going so great - I didn't run this morning (with the promise to myself that I'll run tonight while watching gilmore girls) and it's raining so I won't walk today either. I will however not eat ice cream cake like yesterday either!

Now to make my breakfast!

A very good weekend!

First after working from home friday my friends and I went and got our nails done! It was great. Then Saturday my friend and I went shopping for some new clothes before going to a concert with the whole group, 2 of my friends were in the concert. It was a great day and evening and I'm looking forward to this summer when they will have outdoor concerts every tuesday.

Sunday I finally got a little stitching done and my boyfriend and I went out and sat in the park for a while, enjoying the great weather. It was a perfect weekend I must say!

And I even have an updated picture of Peaceful Silhouette - I hit the bottom of the picture finally and started filling in the "weeds" along the bottom. I'd like to get the bottom done across to the boat and then do the boat next before moving to the right half of the piece:


5 more days till Celebrations!

May Goals:

1) Tie baby quilt
2) Cut binding for baby quilt
3) Work on Tiffany's Sweet bag needlecase
4) Work on Peaceful Silhouette
5) Work on Going To Market - start boy
6) Work on Mini Cottages II
7) Stitch blackwork piece from celebrations
8) Stitch round robin piece from celebrations
9) Get Kingdom Sampler ready to start??

Looks like it's going to be a busy month!

April Goals Wrapup:

1) Finish Mercedes' Teapot RR and mail off [YES]
2) Work on Going To Market, finish the top half of border [YES]
3) Get the buttons for my SB RR [Nope]
4) Frame my Shepherd's Bush Month RR pieces so they can be
swapped out each month. [Nope]
5) Work on Peaceful Silhouette [YES]
6) Piece baby quilt together and tie [Pieced - not tied yet]

Plus I started a Michael Powell piece!
Not too bad!

Well I'm working from home today - for a few hours anyway. It's not a pleasant day, I am happy to say that I am finishing up an 8 day fast that I wasn't sure I could do or not and I did just fine. During the last 8 days I have eaten only vegetables (which I generally don't eat at alL!) and Kitchari - a rice/bean mixture for protein/carbs. There is very little fat in this diet and I could not satisfy my regular sugar cravings so it was hard but it's almost over as today is the LAST day! I'm very proud of myself and hoping to go get a manicure with some friends tonight!

PLUS - my class is over officially! I took the final exam last night which really wasn't bad, only took about 40 minutes and then I was off to stitch with my friends! I worked on Peaceful Silhouette a little but mostly just relaxed. I may pull out my stitching this afternoon after I finish up my work depending on how I feel mostly.

So I am feeling pretty good about this month and what I've accomplished, I was strict on myself and not once did i cheat which is just amazing for someone who's never done a diet before in her life!

A night of studying - no stitching last night. I watched Alias, the last Gilmore Girls episode I've missed (last weeks) and studied. That's it for the night - oh besides reading :)

I just started the Wicca Cookbook, i'm still in the beginning but I find some of the information given as "history" false so I'm a little disappointed with that but otherwise I'm really looking forward to the book so I'm keeping an open mind and really looking forward to some new recipes!

In talking with my sister today we have decided that I will only be at Celebrations Saturday and Sunday (sorry Carol, it does appear we won't be able to meet up this year :( ) but Friday we've decided to do a day together of stitching all the old projects from last year at my place to save on gas and to get into the celebrations spirit. So I'm really looking forward to going through all my class pieces and deciding what will get done, what won't and maybe working on some a bit!

8 MORE DAYS!

Some pictures finally!

First - the baby quilt progress - here it is all pieced and ready to be tied as soon as I get some pearl cotton and a curved needle. (I've never tied before so that in itself is putting me off too!)


And finally - the progress on Mini Cottages II - I apologize, i didn't realize the picture was so blurry :( I will try scanning this one for the next update!


I don't know that I will get any stitching done tonight - i have a final exam for my class tomorrow night so I probably should study a little - by study i mean do a quick outline of the book so I know what's in every chapter that the test covers since I didn't read the chapters :)

I got caught up on last week's Alias episodes last night - now i'm all ready for tonight's episode! I'm almost caught up on the missed episodes of gilmore girls as well after catching last night's and then watching one of the ones i missed.
Nothing interesting going on - just holding on until this weekend when I get to go shopping for some new clothes, maybe get a manicure and stitch a LOT!

Some Michael Powell progress - I hope i remember to take pictures tonight so I can post my progress. Now that I'm seeing progress on this piece I have to remember to switch around and work on Going To Market this weekend as well, plus I have some pieces from Celebrations last year I've been thinking about picking up again and trying to finish up... we shall see.

Yesterday at work was extremely productive, I'm hoping for the same today. I will be working kind of late today so I can work less on friday but I do hope to be home in time for gilmore girls at least. Plus I have last week's Alias episodes to catch up on!

A very productive weekend - but I forgot to take pictures- i can post some on wednesday though.

Sunday I pieced the baby quilt so it's all ready to be tied. It's very fun looking with lots of bright colors. Then I worked on the Michael Powell kit - Mini Cottages II and that's a lot of fun. I decided to start it on a large piece of fabric just in case I want to stitch I, II and III all on one piece and frame them with matting between them. Not sure yet but this leaves the possibility open and since I just ordered number III I'm only one short from doing that :)

I remembered to bring my large q-snap to work today so I can start working on Peaceful Silhouette at work finally and will probably bring it home on weekends to take a picture but it probably won't go very fast.

My final exam is this week in class so that's almost over! And next weekend I have very little planned so I may have another very productive weekend - and THEN - CELEBRATIONS - the countdown as begun - 11 days until my day off next week!

An update!



The picture quality is not very good for some reason so I'm not updating my regular picture (on the sidebar) but I thought I would at least post my progress since I've worked on this so much and am putting it away for a bit. I made my goal of finishing the left side of the background so next I will finish up the woman's feet and then stitch the boy and finish the background.

BUT FIRST - I will be starting a new piece - and I do believe it's Mini Cottages II from Carol! I opened up the kit, I'm not a huge fan of 14ct aida so I am going to substitute for something in my stash, keeping it simple with white though since it's completely covered and will be starting that probably tomorrow after some quilting time!

Off to shop a little online and then to bed - it's been a good day!

A wonderful birthday surprise! I got a little package in the mail yesterday from Carol - a Michael Powell Kit - Mini Cottages II. I love it! She also sent me one from a magazine a while back - now I can't wait to stitch a Michael Powell and I have some to choose from!

Depending on how much stitching I do this weekend - I may just be starting one of these up - probably the kit since the thread is all there for me :) Oh I can't wait.
THANK YOU CAROL!

-- on a bad note - my cold is getting worse - last night was a rough night and i woke up this morning feeling crappy. I think I might leave after lunch some time today and go home to take a nap. So far just trying to get as much done as I can this morning so I can leave guilt free but man I wish I could breathe!

Well we had a great night out with a delicious dinner. No stitching though. Tonight before class I'll probably get some stitching done and then hopefully I'll remember to bring my large q-snaps to work tomorrow so I can start working on Peaceful Silhouette again at lunch time.

I really have the itch to start something new and i have the perfect piece in mind - it's something I wanted to do as a gift for my aunt for christmas - so I've decided to hold myself off I must force myself to finish the woven butterfly first - that is going to be a gift for my other aunt for christmas and then I can start the new piece.

I love stitching gifts, I wish I had more time to devote to it, now I'm remember all sorts of pieces I wanted to stitch for my mom and sister too. More of a reason to stitch more :)

The cold that wouldn't go away :) No seriously - it's really not that bad, but I'm a little congested today. I went to bed early last night and slept almost 11 hours - much needed. Hopefully today will be productive at work and I will have more energy tomorrow!

On the stitching front - well I've met my goal on Going To Market this month - oh man forgot my large q-snaps at home again - I need those for Peaceful Silhouette. I'm ready to start stitching Peaceful Silhouette at work again - if I remember my larger q-snaps ever :) And my class is almost over - Next thursday is the final!

So... that means it's almost time to start a new piece. I'm thinking some time in May - first there's celebrations so that will be a few little pieces I'll want to finish up - but by the end of may I'll be ready for something new. I have a few choices:

1. Kingdom Sampler (if carol is ready for a SAL on that one)
2. Winter in my Garden (i think carol mentioned doing a SAL on this one too so i can hold off)
3. Just a little piece and quiet please (Dragon Dreams) - i really want to stitch this for my bathroom!
4. Michael Powell chart - i think it's a freebie one
5. Blackwork Dragon - restart on Wandering Ivy fabric

Plus i have some WIPs i'd like to pick up again and finish off - they include:
1. Wrapped butterfly - i have to weave the butterfly and make it into a pillow
2. Wisdom Virtue Series Dragon
3. Tiffany's Sweet bag scissor case and accessories - from celebrations last year? I want to at least finish the scissor keeper and needlebook i think, even if i don't do the bag, but i'd like to do them all.

Oh - so much to do and so little time!

Half way -

On the background that is. Minus a few stitches, the top half of the background is finished. I think I will try to finish up the left side of the background before stitching the boy as I am worried with just background left to go I might slow down my progress a bit.

A nice long weekend - we had a really good weekend, Friday I had a girls' day out - just out and about shopping with my 2 closest friends, it was awesome, after cleaning the house so when I got home I didn't even have to do any cleaning for family coming :) Saturday my sister and her boyfriend came over and we spent the day with family. Sunday we went up to NH for the day to see more family and finally got home after 10. Unfortunately I got a cold starting sunday night so my birthday (yesterday) was spent with a headache and sore throat.

The cold isn't that bad, I was able to do everything I wanted to - I potted all the herbs my mom gave me for my birthday into the fancy pots she got me :) And we went out to dinner, and I cross stitched - what more could I ask for (that's where all the progress on Going To Market came from). Last night I took some nitequil and i slept soundly, even made it in to work by 8 instead of 9 which hopefully is a sign for things to come.

All in all it was a great weekend, seeing friends and family, now just 4 days until the next weekend ;) No plans for the next 2 weekends either which is always great ;)

7 more hours - until I head to class and then my long weekend! I SO can't wait!

Last night to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday we went out to dinner for steak and ribs and then bought some movies - and rented Narnia (2 dollars to rent for a night). So we watched Narnia, which was a blast - we both remember bits and pieces from when we were kids and they really did a good job with it. I dont' know that I ever read the books but I used to watched the cartoon version of it and this seemed to follow that pretty well.

To add the cherry on top - my last homework assignment was due last night - so homework for my class is over! Now it's just preparing for the final which honestly I don't have to do much for if the midterm is anything to go by. Only 2 more weeks and I'll be done with it!

I hope this weekend to work more on Going To Market and I will post a picture update next week. I'm saving monday (my birthday) as a day to do nothing specific, maybe go look at some apartments, but nothing major! I can't contain my excitement :)

Finally I got to stitch - after making a nice pork chop dinner, I pulled out Going To Market while watching some more ER. Worked on the background, it was slow going but today at lunch I'm positive I will get to work on this! I'm trying to finish up the top half of the design before I start sharing my time with Peaceful Silhouette.

I don't think i'll get to stitch tonight though - it's my boyfriend's birthday so we're going out to dinner and maybe picking up some movies. Tomorrow night even though I have class, it's only 7:30-8 so I'm looking forward to that short meeting and then it's my day off already ;)

Oh man I love short weeks!

Mmmm .. chili

That's what my boyfriend made for dinner last night and that's what i'm eating for lunch now - we're very picky about our chili and there are no beans in this chili, it's mostly beef but it's the flavor that counts, and it's good with chips.

Last night when I got home we went for a run - that's awesome considering I managed to run yesterday morning too! Then we ate dinner and I did some homework, ending the evening with 2 ER season 4 episodes before reading and going to bed. If i had managed the energy to stitch while watching tv it would have been a perfect evening. But you can't have everything.

I ran again this morning - just a mile but I ran it pretty fast so i can tell i'm getting in better shape and I hope to run again tonight when I get home.

No stitching yesterday like i'd hoped but i think today after i eat my chili i'll break out the stitching for a bit and get back to work on Going To Market. Really looking forward to my 4 day weekend too!

I'll take my happy dances any way I can get them :)


I finished the teapot RR (I stitched the teapot on the right). It's all ready to mail back - probably next saturday being the first time I can get to the post office.

So now i'm back to stitching on my own pieces! Definitely picking up Going To Market at lunch time today - and I think by the end of the week I will be stitching on Peaceful Silhouette at lunch and saving Going To Market as my at home piece.

My last homework assignment for class is due this wednesday, and I put most of the work in yesterday so there shouldn't be too much left to do this week. I worked on the website this weekend - wrapping a few more things up there. I basically got a lot done, but I didn't work on the quilt at all - and next weekend is looking packed - maybe next monday since I took the day off.

Next weekend I gave myself a 4 day weekend, friday to hang out with friends and monday to hang out with my boyfriend as it's my birthday. I already got my present (snowboarding pants) in march so we're not really doing gifts (his birthday is this coming wednesday and I got him a snowboard as his birthday/anniversary gift in march). But my real gift is getting to hang out with him and i will have to plan something fun for monday!

A good night of stitching, I worked on the teapot for the RR and I've almost finished the stitching on the actually pot, leaving the handle besides a splotch of light blue tweeded with green on the pot. The reason I didn't stitch this area is because the green was missing so I have to wait until i'm home to get the missing color.

Today at lunch I will start working on the handle and then I can stitch before class probably like usual and tomorrow night besides a little cleaning I hope to stitch and watch tv shows for the evening since I have the time to myself. I can't believe it's thursday already, only one more day to get up early and hopefully I can make myself run tomorrow...

A little snow dusting - yes it snowed, my whole drive in this morning and it's sticking a bit too. I wonder if it will accumulate or not.

A little stitching last night and I'm about halfway done with the teapot for the RR, I got the base which is beige and then green all done and i'm stitching the blue now. I plan to work on it some more at lunch today and at my aunt's tonight.

Nothing else new going on. work is busy as usual but my list of things to do is shrinking and i'm making good progress for the week :)

A stitching update:



That is the progress I've made on the teapot RR, I am stitching the teapot all the way to the right. It feels like it's slow going but I think it's coming along none the less.

This weekend was awesome, spending time with friends. This week however is looking to be a busy one - with late nights working and homework to do. Our last homework assignment is due apr. 12th and then I will have 2 weeks before the final and be done with my first class! Oh I really can't wait until May - I am definitely starting a new cross stitch piece in May!

Oh and on saturday I finished reading Like Water for Chocolate - I love that book, it was hard to put down near the end and I'm so happy I found such a touching book! Last night I started a field guide to goblins or something that a friend is loaning me, should be a fun short read, which is all i can handle this week :)

April Goals:

1) Finish Mercedes' Teapot RR and mail off
2) Work on Going To Market, finish the top half of border
3) Get the buttons for my SB RR
4) Frame my Shepherd's Bush Month RR pieces so they can be
swapped out each month.
5) Work on Peaceful Silhouette
6) Piece baby quilt together and tie

Looks to be a busy beginning of the month but hopefully by the end of the month things will calm down and I'll have time to complete my goals :)

March Goals in review:

1) Add name/country to little girl RR [Done]
2) Finish seaside RR [Done]
3) Work on Going To Market [YES]
4) Work on Peaceful Sillhouette [no]
5) Start applique of baby quilt [FINISHED applique!]
6) Start piecing baby quilt blocks [FINISHED piecing!]

Guess I did better than I thought with my goals! On top of those I started the teapot RR as well, and I made really good progress on Going To Market.


now that our work deadline was pushed a week (april 11), next week will be NUTS, tonight I will be working late and monday and tuesday as well. I sure hope things go well today so I can relax this weekend!

Worked on the teapot RR. Last night before class, sitting in my car listening to my book on tape, I worked along on the teapot, it's a slow stitch only because I've had hardly any time to stitch! Tonight maybe after I go grocery shopping I will settle in and stitch into the night :)

Oh and it's the end of the month - time to check those goals - which I know got way off track due to all the round robins!

A stitch night?

Not exactly, my stitching friend came over last night but we didn't get any stitching done, we just talked the whole time (and ate dinner). But we had a great time and it was a very much needed break from thinking about work and stuff in general. A very good night.

Of course I fell asleep by 9 last night - after starting a new book that I really am getting in to but the stress of the week is really getting to me and I needed the sleep.

And tonight I have class, I will probably get a little stitching in before class, a girl can hope right?

An update:



That's what I did last week before packing this piece away in favor of the round robin I have to finish up. I did work on the round robin last night - it will take a little while but hopefully by the end of next week maybe i'll be able to finish that up and go back to my own projects? So much to do, and so little time :)

I got some more homework done last night and it looks like I have a bit more tonight to do, then I have some baking to do tonight, just brownies or something simple.

I'm working an off schedule lately, coming in around 8:40 and working till 6 instead of 7:30-4:30 like I used to (although the last few weeks was more like 7:30 -6:30 anyway). But I am still running most mornings and hopefully I can get back to getting up early tomorrow so I can leave earlier and go hang out with a friend :)

A pretty good weekend ;)

Sunday I did the applique blocks for the baby quilt which you can see here:

This is not all put together, I just layed the blocks on top of the fabric I plan to use for sashing, which I haven't even cut yet. Maybe by next weekend I can start piecing the quilt together, then it will have a nice flannel border as well, the animals are flannel which I thought would be nice for a baby quilt and I'd like to add some fun details possibly using yarn (like tails on the zebra and giraffe or something).

So that is what I did on sunday. Saturday was a busy day visiting family and then going out to a potluck dinner, we had a very good time out and it was good to actually get out :) I didn't get any cross stitch done this weekend but I did bring the teapot RR to start today at lunch and tonight I will try to remember to update the Going To Market pic since I've finished the dress now and added a tiny bit to the border. Well back to work...

Well class last night so no stitching. We did get a good start on the next assignment that's due next wednesday, i think i can finish my part up sunday night and then we just have to review everything mon-wed.

Tonight after work I am going to the mall - gotta buy a new dressy (but warm) outfit for saturday night and a new pair of shoes. Maybe i can find deal on some work shirts too, i generally wear long sleeves all year so some new sweaters would be great.

After that i'll be up late making meatballs to bring to the party as I'd like to make some nice large ones, i have no idea how long they will take to cook!

It's not that cold out - or maybe it was just really warm inside but I didn't use my heat driving in to work today :) I can't wait for spring and then summer!

I finished the dress on Going To Market last night! I will work on the border a bit at lunch time but very soon this piece will be put away again so I can get the teapot RR finished up and sent out. Still I'm very happy with Going To Market and I will definitely stay focused on this piece to finish it up this year.

Well another day another dollar...

A sleepy night - and oh how it was :)

We went out to boston market for dinner and I saved my dinner in the microwave until after I got a run in (since i didn't get up yesterday morning to run). So I ran - and walked and read... Then i ate a little bit of the dinner and packed it up to keep for a lunch later this week (probably tomorrow).

Then i fell asleep - yup - 8:30 - i picked up my book which i love and was almost finished with and out like a light. Finally at 9:30 i just went to bed giving up on the book which I finished this morning while I cooled down from my run. (3 days of running already this week!)

What to read next ... well actually I wanted to go with something short but serious, with very little time to read it's hard to read long books and feel any sense of moving forward so Pride and Prejudice is going to have to wait until the summer time when I'm done with my class. So it's going to be Dawn by Elie Wiesel i think. Then i think i'll read animal farm - some short ones that should only take a few weeks each :)

Well the pizza was good yesterday - and to help explain how i can manage to keep my weight down - i exercise more if i eat more. This week i gave up my morning hot chocolate which will turn into an afternoon snack on days that i don't eat girl scout cookies or something else. Today i have chocolate cake in the kitchen calling my name - i'm holding out till 10am though and for lunch we are ordering in thai food so my boston market dinner becomes tomorrow's lunch :)

A really great night, just chatting with a friend. And man does the time fly! I didn't get home until after 10 but I did get to cuddle up with my book for a good 20 minutes to read 2 more chapters. I really like this book "So Many Books, So Little Time". It's a light read with a lot of insight.

I did get to stitch at lunch yesterday on Going To Market, I finished the crescents in her skirt and started filling in her dress more. I will work on it again today if I can and definitely tomorrow. Once the dress is done I will switch over to the last RR to get that finished up.

I think we get free pizza for lunch today - yummy :)

Finally a weekend of stitching!

And proof:


That is pretty much how I spent my saturday and sunday, actually mostly just sunday as I worked on my quilt on saturday. So the baby quilt has paused with the 5 pieced blocks finished and the applique blocks no closer as I need to get some freezer paper from my aunt before I can continue those. I will only have 4 blocks to applique though so I'm pretty hopeful this is a doable project!

Sunday was a lazy day, I did clean up a bit but then I settled in to watch tv shows on dvd and stitch, going through about 9 43 minutes shows and stitching. It was a great treat and a much needed break! I plan to continue working on Going To Market this week until the dress is finished, once I stitch all the little crescents in her dress it's just fill in which generally goes pretty fast. Then I'll switch over to the teapot RR that i have to finish up. I'm psyched at how much I got stitched, that is almost the height of the piece (just missing her feet and then i'll hit the bottom). It will be a close call on the fabric but I will have almost 2 inches. :)

I survived - snowboarding that is :) We had a great time Friday night, I stuck to the bunny hills except for one trip down an easy trail - which was excruciating, it was after 2 hours of boarding and my legs hurt so bad I had to keep stopping. Not only am i out of shape in general but I have never been a snow boarder so these muscles are all new. Especially since i'm not good at it so I bend my knees a lot and that works out my quads.

Anyway - we had a really good time and I spent the day today working on the baby quilt, I got the 5 blocks pieced and 4 pieces of fabric cut out to be appliqued on, now I just have to cut out the animals and get them ready to be appliqued - that will be tomorrow's project (starting the animals).

For the rest of the night I think I will enjoy some cross stitch while watching tv. We watched Elizabethtown last night as well, it wasn't as good as I had hoped but not bad, I was horribly tired from boarding so it might have been better if I was more awake :) Maybe tonight we'll watch Just like heaven.

A short day at work, a long day out -

That's right - tonight is snowboarding, my third time ever and my first time in a few years (mark that 4 years i think). Now i have all my gear, my bright green snowpants arrived safely yesterday. So we're all set. I leave work at 2 and we hope to be at the mountain at 4!

Got my midterm grade last night - 1 point off so I got an A. We just handed in 3/5 assignments and are starting the 4th this weekend. The class is moving right along and I really look forward to it ending :)

Last night in class while I was bored I planned out the cutting I have to do for the baby quilt i'm going to make. I decided on doing a simple 3x3 with 4 squares of applique animals and 5 squares of pieced purple stars. Simple stars, made of squares and triangles. So i figured out all the measurements and wrote out a list of what to cut from what fabric. So Saturday I hope to maybe get some blocks pieced and at least one block ready for applique that i can carry around then.

I also hope to start the third RR piece (the last one) which is a teapot piece. If i can get that started it can be my at lunch piece for the week and maybe in 2 weeks I can have that finished and get to Peaceful Silhouette at lunch.

Well off to get some work done - 5 hours left to go :)

No cross stitching yesterday, I worked so hard during the day missing lunch and all that all i could do after a late dinner was watch Philadelphia and pretty much fall asleep - no concentration could have been accomplished.

I did however start a new book last night - "So Many Books, So Little Time" by Sara Nelson I believe. So far so good, I think she has a lot of insight and i can relate to her quite easily. Although I love to read, I actually love to collect books that I may or may not read as I am a collector at heart (Cross stitch, books, yarn, fabric etc) It can't be helped!

I just spent some time resizing pictures on my server so hopefully loading time will decrease and I can store more pictures.

All because I finally remembered to take pictures last night :)

First - here's my RR that has returned home to me. It's the Shepherd's Bush months and they need buttons which I have not gotten yet but as I have quite a few left to stitch it's not a big deal. Although I do hope to frame these up soon, I'm going to get one frame and change them out monthly. So maybe I do need the buttons before April starts since I have April-August stitched now. My sister has offered to stitch November or January for me too!


And here's the first RR piece I finished - just updated to have my name now.


And here's the seaside RR piece I finished last weekend. These are going to get mailed out Saturday.


Last night due to such a late lunch we skipped dinner but I did get to stitch a bit on Going To Market! while watching tv. It was great and I look forward to pulling that out at lunch today and this evening as well!

Looks like we'll be snowboarding Saturday instead of friday evening now if the mountains do open up again, our new snowboarding pants should be here friday. I still plan on leaving relatively early friday due to all the hours I've been working so hopefully there will be some quilting this weekend!

Ack, i forgot pictures again last night! I got home later than planned and after dinner went right to homework which led straight to bed. Sorry about that, I will really try to remember tonight as I shouldn't be as late this time.

And I managed a decent wake up time this morning, not what I hoped but better than yesterday so now it's two days of running this week. Just trying to beat the 3 days of last week by making 4 this week and running on the weekend too.

Interviews - I hate em, i have to interview someone shortly over the phone, I hate trying to talk with someone I don't know. Funny though, my boyfriend has an interview today with a corporation nearby (for a summer co op position) so we are going out to a late lunch together after (around 2 so really late lunch). I figure I'll eat something at noon to tide me over and work through lunch.

Homework due wednesday is under control, tonight I want to do some reading that i'm behind on but other than that it's looking really good. And tomorrow I can stitch maybe...

No pictures as I got home late last night but I will try to remember tonight to get pictures before I pack up the RR's to mail out.

That's right - I finished the second RR this weekend (saturday actually) so they are ready to be mailed out.

We had a great weekend, Friday we went shopping like planned, we didn't get snowpants (couldn't find any the right size) but we got everything else we still needed for snowboarding so I'm going to try to get pants online. Then we went back to NY friday night to have dinner with family.

Saturday I went to my 1 year old cousin's birthday party, which was a really good time, and the drive gave me time to stitch :) After dinner we drove back home (arriving quite late) but managed to squeeze in Flight Plan anyway - it was okay, the whole first half we were just waiting for something to happen because you know that can't be it, so waiting for the twist kind of killed the twist.

Sunday I went to a wine and chocolate party with friends, we had such a blast, we all brought chocolate and wine (and i brought i pie), then we brought stamping projects kitted up to demonstrate and then everyone got to make the projects, it was a lot of fun. We ended up staying pretty late and i just crashed when I got home (after doing some homework of course).

So now I have 2 of the round robins finished and I have 1 more to stitch which I will start this week. I have my round robin back all finished now so I will try to get pictures of that too soon. My sister offered to stitch one of those for me as well because it's the Shepherd's Bush months so I only have 5 of 12 months stitched, but they go fast so I have no problem finishing those up!

Well this is rambly, probably because I'm tired, I didn't feel well this morning so I quit running earlier than usual (less than a mile) but i felt kind of dizzy so I really couldn't keep going. Now I'm just tired and wishing for a nap. I guess not having a very relaxing weekend makes the work week more difficult...

Eldest is finished! I couldn't help staying up a little last night to finish it after a great night out stitching with my friends!

I made great progress on the round robin too, I finished the bird and all i have left is a part of the rope border which I'm sure I can finish this weekend especially if i stitch at all during the car ride to and from NY (whichever one I'm not driving for).

Well it's a half day at work so I'm busy of course - then shopping this afternoon before driving back to NY for dinner (plans keep changing). So i best get to it!

Well I did it, I got my homework done last night, nothing else but at least that's done. Unfortunately I was too tired to get up and run this morning so I've only got 3 days of running in so far, I do plan on running tomorrow and sunday however.

Tonight I actually get to leave work at a normal time (5pm) and I'm going over to stitch with friends! I can't wait, a nice relaxing night is exactly what I need, I just hope I don't fall asleep. Last night when I started doing my homework I immediately fell asleep and had to be woken. I'm am just worn out.

But it's thursday - that means there is only friday before the weekend is here, even if it is a very busy weekend where I won't get to sleep in at all. I think I will have time in the car maybe to sleep :) Well off to conquer the day, leaving at 5 should make the day feel like it's short!

Day 3 -

Running that is, I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed this morning (albeit a half hour later than the days before) and still run, a little farther each morning now.

Last night when I got home at 8 from work (and gilmore girls was an old one - boo), I tried to read for school but ended up just falling asleep (no I did do laundry first so that's a bonus). Finally I dragged myself to bed at 10:30 and picked up Eldest and couldn't put it down again - I did manage at 11 to make myself go to sleep though. I'm so close to the end of Eldest, I just have to finish that this weekend! Tonight - another late night at work and homework when I get home.

Round Robin:

I stitched the sea horse and started the outline of the blue empty square which will be a bird before I am finished with this piece completely. I'm hoping with probably 3 lunch stitching days this week I can almost finish this, plus I have a stitch night Thursday night since I have no class (spring break week) so I'm pretty optimistic.

Last night I spent the entire evening reading - getting close to the end of Eldest now and I love this trilogy (even if it's missing it's last book still) I don't know what I will read next that could keep me this entertained. I read for 2 1/2 hours last night and had to force myself to go to bed so I could get up and run (day two running in the mornings!)

Tonight I have homework to do when I get home but hopefully I can also get a little more reading in :)

Picture coming tomorrow.

I did manage to stitch a little this weekend, working on the second RR piece I have. I didn't take a piece because the seahorse that I stitched just needs to be backstitched and that will be finished, then I will just have the bird to stitch but i'd like to at least have the seahorse finished before I take a pic. I hope to finish that at lunch today.

The rest of the weekend went really well, we had family up and had a great time with them saturday, friday i got everything done that I wanted to get done even after getting a migraine (took some excedrin migraine and that helped plus gave me a caffeine boost to get me through the night) :)

Yesterday I relaxed, took a nap after a late breakfast, got some homework done and then stitched while watching lots of ER's :) It was a very good weekend.

I plan on working pretty late the next few nights and working on homework in the evenings so I won't make much stitching progress this week but maybe I can still manage to finish up this RR before the weekend so I can mail it next week.

A long night indeed but first - Celebrations.

I finally sent in my celebrations registration, I am taking Catheryn's Pyn Pillow on Saturday, attending the Saturday night event and the Sunday round robin. This was a compromise with my sister as she is coming up to attend with me for the whole weekend.

I may still sign up for one more class - on Friday morning I think - Know Your Knot, I'm going to wait a bit because it's also offered thursday and if anyone wants to take it with me i could take it either day.


I just finally solved the mystery of my perpetually wet rug in my bedroom - the steam radiator which I know leaks water around it's base actually shoots water out the steam release in an arc and wets the rug. I thought the water was puddling and running to the rug but the floor between the radiator and rug were never wet so I was baffled - i've seen it with my won eyes now! This thing is surely going to ruin the wood floors it's dripping and puddling all around - not my house though :)

Well the long night - i was at school until after 11 last night working with my group on our next assignment. I didn't get to bed until after midnight some time and i'm exausted but by working from home I can work until 12:30 or so straight and then be done for the day and start cleaning and cooking. I forgot I also have to get my brother a gift tonight some time...

Strange things were happening with blogger today - couldn't get in this morning. But it's working again.

I was looking up Michael Powell designs today (a few minutes ago actually) - because I really like them - especially the 2 flower pot ones, but also the cottages (mini's too) and the really large ones. But when I saw the prices! Holy Cow! I just could never justify spending 94 dollars on a kit when I'd rather buy just the chart and use the floss and stuff I can get for 5/dollar.

Does anyone know what type of floss is used on these? Are they silks or something? Is the fabric made of gold???

More importantly, is there anyway to buy just the charts instead of the kits as I would prefer that anyway, especially with the stash I have, if i had all kits I'd have no place to sit in my apartment but charts can be stored nicely in binders for whenever I do get around to stitching them. Maybe in a few years when i get around to having free room in my "to do" list I will reconsider the astronomical prices for these kits but for now I will just have to look fondly on as others stitch some of this beautiful artwork as my money is best spent elsewhere!

On non stitching news - I'm considering working from home tomorrow due to my check engine light being on, i think actually it's best if i do if i have work i can do from home which i do. Then i can get my car checked on sunday to find out if it's anything to worry about or not... which reminds me.. i have emails to send...

March Goals:

1) Add name/country to little girl RR
2) Finish seaside RR
3) Work on Going To Market
4) Work on Peaceful Sillhouette
5) Start applique of baby quilt
6) Start piecing baby quilt blocks

That's all i can plan on with the amount of homework i will have this month and with my work deadline being April 5th i know work will just be picking up regularly!

A busy night :) But I do have something to show for it at least!

Last night I worked until 8 - I dont' know what happened, I was ready to leave at 5! But it was good and I'm glad I stayed because we accomplished a lot. When I got home my boyfriend still had his study group over so I got my stamping stuff and moved to the bedroom to make some cards while catching the end of gilmore girls.

So here is what I made:



Now I just have some birthday cards on my list of things to make, unfortunately that probably won't happen until next week as things are getting booked quickly. Tonight I'll be at my uncle's and doing homework, tomorrow I have class and then a group meeting after, friday i have to clean because all my family is coming over saturday and sunday I might be headed up to my other uncle's in NH to get my check engine light checked and give my cousin the dress I made her. Yup - looks busy!

February Goals Wrapup:

1) Finish It's Winter [YES]
2) Continue work on Going To Market [YES]
3) Work on Peaceful Silhouette [No]
4) Start baby quilt [Not really]
5) Work on knitted hat (purple hat) [No]

I did still have a productive month, just not well anticipated. I finished 1 round robin and started a second. I made a dress for my little cousin and I bought all the fabric and planned out the baby quilt I plan on making for my friend. No knitting still for february :)

Round Robin.

Well i haven't added my name and country yet but I did finish this up at lunch time yesterday:


Today at lunch I will add my name and country and then work on the other round robin piece which I will hopefully get a WIP picture of tonight.

I had hoped last night to make some thank you cards and I did get all my stamping stuff out while watching ER episodes however with all my new stamp sets I first had to cut out my stamps which is all I really accomplished. Then I found out my boyfriend's study group is coming over today to study so I picked up a little and cleaned up the kitchen and bathroom. It's wierd having people over when I'm not there, i'm very self conscious when it comes to the cleanliness and neatness of my home.

So tonight I will most likely confine myself to my bedroom when I get home as they will all still be working on a brief most likely. This makes it difficult to make cards but I really have to make at least 2 cards and preferably 3 tonight. This leaves tv with no dvd player however which means Gilmore Girls and whatever else might be on.

Something finished (although it's not cross stitch):


I had a great weekend - and I really am recovering nicely from that cold. Friday night after working kind of late I spent the time I did have reorganizing my stash in alphabetical order by designer/publisher. That took me 3 hours while I watched The Wedding Date and then House of D.

Saturday I watched Half Light and spent most of the day making the above dress for my little cousin's 2nd birthday that just passed. I hope i can give it to her soon. I also got in some cross stitch time while watching Red Eye and finished all the cross stitches in the first RR i'm working on, leaving just the backstitches.

Sunday started out with me reading Eldest a lot - I am now half way through it and loving it! Then I went over to my friend's house and stitched (started the backstitching on the RR) - I will post a picture as soon as that one is finished this week. After dinner there I got home around 8 and commenced reading Eldest until bed, completing a very productive weekend of relaxing! It was awesome.

This week looks promising as well. I hope to finish the first RR this week and continue working on the second. I have some thank you cards to make tonight hopefully. Then Wednesday I go to my uncle's and relax probably for the last time until my class is over (I'll still go to my uncle's but i'll have homework to do probably). This week is kind of a week off from homework so I'm taking full advantage.

Well back to work as I'll be here till 6 again tonight as I came in at 9 again - I really need to stop sleeping in!

Thank you everyone for the well wishes, I was out sick yesterday as my cold had definitely gotten worse and i decided rest before my midterm was best. I did manage to squeeze a little stitching time in both wednesday night with my friends and yesterday so i will post updated pictures soon (these are of the RR's i'm working on). I think I can be almost finished with one of them this weekend.

I came in late this morning (before 9 but that's pretty late) and of course i'm already feeling tired but I have a lot of work to do so hopefully if i'm busy i'll be preoccupied and forget how much i want to be in bed. I also have an appointment today at 11;30 that i've managed to miss twice so I have to try to get to that now.

This weekend is looking good, if my cold is at least as good as it is today I should have the energy to maybe sew the dress for my cousin, stitch while watching ER episodes, read a little for school and re-organize my cross stitch collection as I have been really wanting to do. The next few weekends are a little busier so it's this weekend or april at this point ;)

I do promise pictures soon...
but i think i'm getting sick again - i worked until 8 last night and when i got home i had a horrible sore throat which kept me awake most of the night because it hurt to swallow. So I did not scan in anything to post. I got my fabric from Silkweavers - I love the Wandering Ivy I ordered, and the solos. The Morning Mist or something like that doesn't have much mottling in it (if any) which was kind of disappointing but it's a nice color none the less. That was one I ordered as a possibility for Kingdom Sampler, but I also got a lot of sandy colored fabrics that might work well for that as well, especially one sandy one with some pink mixed in, if i could get the pink to line up in the sky like a sunset sky or something that might work well.

So I slept in this morning (until 8) but i'm still groggy and tired, not a good sign with my midterm tomorrow. I hope today that I can get some of my reading done at lunch time as that didn't happen again last night (i fell asleep trying).

Now it's time to try to concentrate and get some work done...

A very good weekend...

Of course things worked out nicely this weekend, I spent friday night cleaning and started sewing the curtains for my cousins. Saturday morning I pretty much just slept in and then went through my floss collection adding it to my PDA so i'd have it at the store when I was shopping through sale bins.

After my sister arrived we went over to the store and there sure was a lot of stuff on sale - I spent 30 dollars but I got upwards of 8 charts or so and then I bought some floss. A lot of charts were half off or 99cents, plus the new charts were out as well so I had to get some of those even though they were full price :)

I also got my stamping stuff from the last party - a huge amount of supplies and stamps that i can't wait to have time to enjoy. Maybe this weekend I can break them out.

Sunday morning I managed to finish the curtains for my cousins before we headed up to NH, the dress I want to make the littlest one for her birthday hasn't really been started but I did cut out the pattern.

Not a lot of crafty stuff done this weekend, no stitching anyway - but I was engrossed in my book - Eragon - and I finished it last night at 1am, now I can't wait to start Eldest but I have to force myself to hold off until at least the weekend as I have school reading to do now :)

I'll try to get some stitching pics from my RR's tonight, the Seahorse I'm stitching on one is taking shape and I started the other RR last night and worked on it at lunch today. I'm changing all the colors in that one so it took a lot of planning out.

Well of course things have been busy again - crazy busy this week, working until 6:30 on tuesday and wednesday, having to leave at 4 on thursday to go to class making thursday really busy. Then today i couldn't wake up - literally, i was SO tired and I didn't get to bed that late or anything. But i'm here now and hopefully leaving by 5, really i worked enough this week that I can leave at any time i just have to get the numerous list of things done that i had planned before i can go...

Plus i have company coming this weekend - and i have not had time to clean! So tonight I will spend any free seconds "picking up" and maybe dusting, then tomorrow I can vacuum the apartment and clean the bathroom so everything is at least presentable. I forgot I was supposed to be sewing some curtains for my little cousins as well, hopefully i can squeeze that in some time saturday or early sunday morning before we head up there.

Oh and then there's grocery shopping - we have no food, let alone for company - i must get to the store probably saturday morning as well or maybe i can write a detailed list and send my boyfriend while i clean if he's not too stressed out and busy working on his brief.

So yes things are busy - but next week - will be better?

A little valentine's day stitching...

I worked really late last night but got home around 7 so we ordered in some dinner and I got roses :) That's the first time i've ever gotten roses! Then I did some stitching on one of the RR's while we watched Cinderella Man which I really loved so I'm glad we own that now.

unfortunately I had to stay up late doing homework and tonight I will have more work to do but then the assignment will be over and I'm not the leader for the other assignments so they must be a little easier! And this weekend I am definitely going to get some stitching in on Saturday. I'd love it if i could finish up both of these RR's before the end of february, but I do have a midterm on the 23rd so maybe that's impractical.

Well back to work - and today I hope to stitch for a bit at lunch time since I missed out yesterday.

Going To Market going away for a bit:


That's right - I have some stitching obligations now that force me to put aside Going To Market for a little while, but I am close to halfway done already so I can definately see this piece getting finished up before the end of the year!

So what's up now? Well I have some round robins I must stitch away on, 2 are here already and I started 1 last night. I actually started them out of order so I will have to switch to the right order soon. Then another one is on it's way to me shortly (the last one). So I need to get these finished up and mailed on to the next person!

I got a decent amount of homework done last night but no reading for my class. I don't think I'll get to the reading until maybe this weekend because tonight and tomorrow night I'll be finishing up our assignment due wednesday night. Then Thursday is the actual class.

This coming weekend my sister is coming to visit! I think we're going to go over to my LNS since it should be having sales (since it's closing) :( And then maybe we'll spend the evening stitching before going up to NH sunday to visit my little cousins again.

So my next picture will be an RR picture, I'm working on a Seahorse, then i have a gull to stitch I think. But the RR I should be working on is a girl that I'm supposed to modify (colorwise) to look more like me. That's why i put it off - it's work :)

A day home...

We had a busy weekend, getting things done. Friday night I cleaned a bit, really scrubbed down the stove which makes the whole kitchen look so much cleaner! Then we just relaxed the rest of the night. Saturday we watched "My Date with Drew" which was cute, not great but cute. Then we headed up to my uncle's house in NH and I took 2 of my 3 little cousins to the fabric store and then out to dinner. We got a ton of fabric for their little puppet theatre and i got them back in time to relax a bit before bed time.

Got my oil changed then too which was much needed :) Saturday night we watched "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" which was definately a good movie. So Sunday, through the snow, around noon we headed home, I had to get back home to get more stuff done so we braved it and I have all wheel drive so we had no problems. And it helped that there weren't a lot of crazy people like us driving yesterday :)

So I got my cards made that I really had to make, i still have a few more thank you cards i need to make but i got the really important one made and the baby card for someone at work. Then I did homework, which was really good and my team is now right on track with the work and making good progress. We'll definitly be done by wednesday which is great.

And today I'm working from home, it started with a headache and not wanting to drive through any possible traffic problems. So I decided to sleep in (headache) and then work from home for a few hours before getting to more homework and get all caught up on my reading assignments. Then I'd like to get to some stitching which i haven't done any of this weekend! I will post a picture later today though if my stitching does come out!

Desperate to stitch...
I have been so desperate to find some time to stitch lately that I sat in my car yesterday before class stitching while I could still see in the dimming light. That's the most I've done in days. Hopefully this weekend I will get some real stitching time though and maybe at lunch today.

Lot's going on this weekend, taking two of my little cousins to the fabric store saturday and then sewing a curtain for their puppet theatre saturday night. Lots of homework to do this weekend as each task in our assignment is due on a different day and they're all due on wednesday night. I'd like to get a start on the baby quilt sunday if I can and my Round Robin finally arrived. A group on online friends that i've made started a round robin back in 2003 or 2004 and we finished it in 2004, it's international with 6 participants. Then we decided we wanted to start a second one, so in early 2005 we sent out our second round robin, only 5 participants this time but the same group. Well things came up and so far I have only stitched on mine and one other but finally the second one showed up for me so I have to get that out as soon as possible. Then I will have 2 more and I'll have my own back probably sooner than anyone else.

Well work of course is busy so I must get to the lab and hopefully today i can get out of here around 5 to enjoy my night off - and I am definately sleeping late tomorrow!

I was pretty good last night, I actually had to work kind of late so we ordered in dinner and I read 1 more chapter for class, I think i have 2 more to read before I'm caught up for the midterm which is later this month. But i want to actually read more than that so I don't get behind. After eating dinner (of course I stuffed myself) and I wasn't feeling well, so I finally used my treadmill to just walk (usually i just run in the mornings), but I walked a mile and a half, which helped quite a bit.

Unfortunately it was short lived and I ended up feeling sick as soon as I stopped walking, that's two nights in a row after eating dinner I felt sick. So I went to bed early and felt better at 11 when I woke up again. I have no idea what it was, maybe related to the headach I felt coming on, but i took tylenol and that went away so it couldn't have been a migraine.

Anyway - I got a good hour stitching in at lunch yesterday, working on Going To Market still, and I hope to again today. I'm working on the top right corner now, trying to get the right side of the background done a bit. I love this piece!

I must be in a spending money mood - this has got to stop! After I know I spent too much money on stamp stuff (just had to have it though), I just went and spent 100 dollars on fabric! I have never ordered so much fabric offline, I'm in the fabric of the month club and usually just use that and once before I've ordered a specific piece of fabric (for Legends of the Dragons) but I just went crazy!

It all started because I have been thinking about starting a new piece, or rather - re-starting a piece I have started - I saw Blackwork Dragon stitched up on this awesome green fabric, in green - it looks so good that way, I am stitching it currently on grey with a dark blue WDW color. I won't tear mine out, but I think I want to restart and maybe I'll stitch it twice some time and finish the blue/grey one later on.

Anyway so I was at silkweaver's, ready to buy the Wandering Ivy Linen (and I only need a small 13x18 piece as it's a small piece to begin with! Then I got 36 count because I figured the blackwork would look better on that. Then I browsed, what other projects would I like to start this year -- well "Kingdom Sampler" - but my major qualm with that is I have no idea what fabric to stitch it on!

So the hunt began and I found quite a few very nice fabrics that I decided to buy and then I can decide which one to use, my favorite is Morning Dew (linen) but that's just because I like green, I'm not sure it will work for this project. I picked out some sandy colors too... Autumn Breeze Lugana I think has some pink and tan, might look like the morning sky or something. Then I saw the "weekly special" for 20% off - same color theme (called Golden Promise) so I got that too, then I went into Solos - never looked there before! And I bought 3 or so of those, different thread counts as they are small and I can play around with ornaments or small dragons on them! And of the larger solos I bought one as well. (once i got close to 100 dollars I had to get the free shipping, so I kept looking at the small solos to get up to that amount).

Craziness! No more spending money for a while! Especially since I was dyeing my own fabric for a while, it was much cheaper for these larger pieces!

So whenever these arrive I will have to do a floss toss and start getting opinions on a fabric for Kingdom Sampler - which I'm not ready to start (have NO free time) but maybe this spring ??? Will have to plan with Carol ;)

Well my group meeting last night went fine, a little over an hour and I was home before 9 to watch tv and wind floss - I'm up to 680 now I think. And at lunch time yesterday I worked on Going To Market - which I think I will break out again shortly.

Tonight I must do homework :( But maybe I will need a break and can get back to reading my new book a bit!

HAPPY DANCE!

It's Winter by Sue Hillis, started in 2004, finished in 2006.

Click for larger image

I finished that piece up Saturday night while watching some new movies. Friday night we watched serenity which we of course loved. But it was sad too - knowing that was it, no more firefly to watch. Then Saturday I spent most of the day doing homework for my class, but I got a lot done so I treated myself to a little outting at my cross stitch store - which - sadly - is closing it's doors in March. She's going to keep just the online business which is very sad for me :( So I stopped in to visit and ended up staying until closing as a few friends were there too and we all just chatted and stitched a bit.

The night ended with a nice dinner out, more homework and then stitching :)

Sunday I had a stampin up party - oh man did I spend a lot of money :) But what can you do when the demonstrator shows you a new technique (or 3) that you love and you need to buy the correct supplies. It adds up fast. But this was the time to spend the money because we earned free stamp sets for each 50 dollars we spent. It was great. So in about 1 1/2 weeks I'll have a bunch of new stuff to play with :)

I finally pulled out Going To Market again last night - no new progress to show really but a little later in the week I'll post a picture. I'm just working more on the background, trying to work on the top half of the piece as much as possible. It is amazing how quickly this piece goes along though! I love it.

Tonight I'm meeting with my group from class at school, I am not a fan of group meetings where I have to drive in during rush hour - but my group members aren't very internet savvy and the idea of meeting online to "discuss" our assignment has gone over their heads, even though that's what the professor has encouraged. So I lose an entire night when because it will add on an extra 2 hours of just driving (at least an hour and a half anyway). Well enough complaining... I'm sure I have better things to do :)

Assignment #2 for my class is now posted and I'm the "team" leader for this first assignment - so I have extra work to do this weekend to get something handed in by sunday. Then our actual assignment (which is quite large) is due in 2 weeks. Hopefully my group members will be able to handle some of the work, it's a lot of work to get done and I have a feeling I will be helping a lot.

I did get to stitch a tiny bit at lunch yesterday because the day went so well. I'm hoping the same for today so I'm headed into the lab now to see how things can go. Tonight i'm going out to dinner :) I don't anticipate a lot of stitching time this weekend with homework tomorrow and parties on sunday but we'll see...

I miss stitching! At lunch today I must stitch! I haven't stitched since sunday night and i'm feeling it now. I wound a little more floss last night but I wasn't feeling too well so I mostly just relaxed and went to bed early.

I haven't had a lunch break at work lately to stitch either but I think today is going to be a productive day and I will get to stitch for a full hour at lunch. Then I leave a little after 4 to head to class - ugg - nuff said about that!

Our second homework assignment is due in 2 weeks, it's a group assignment and it hasn't even been posted yet. My teacher is not very good about posting things at a reasonable time. But at least I'm caught up in the readings and I have only 2 chapters to read this weekend I think to stay caught up, maybe 3 to get ahead a little (by a week).

Nothing interesting going on - Floss wise I'm up to 611 wound :)

(for me:)

Winding floss - update:

I'm up to 602 on the DMC list (have every number under that wound onto bobbins) and I do own the entire collection. I am finding more duplicates than I thought so I will have to figure out what to do with those exactly as I don't think winding more bobbins is necessarily the answer, we'll see though.

I'm more than 1/4 through my collection - maybe even a third of the way since I have sporadic numbers wound from projects I've done.

February Goals:

1) Finish It's Winter
2) Continue work on Going To Market
3) Work on Peaceful Silhouette
4) Start baby quilt
5) Work on knitted hat (purple hat)

That shouldn't be too unmanageable with my schedule. Ideally I'd like to get the top half of Going To Market finished if I can get myself to focus on the background that much but I may get more of her dress finished than background as I can't tell now what I'll be in the mood to stitch :)

January Goals in review:

1) Finish Green Old Gardens [YES]
2) Start Going to Market [YES and made good progress!]
3) Work on It's Winter [YES - should be done next month!]

4) Work on purple hat (knitting) [Not really - no knitting this month :)]

It is icy out there! The roads weren't bad but our parking lot at work is crazy icy!

Last night was a nice night of relaxing, I didn't stitch, usually it'd be a night where I completely veg and just watch tv (usually once every two weeks I need a night like this), but instead I wound floss... which gives a great sense of accomplishment. I'm up into the 500's now I think in my collection, transferring them from stitch bows to wound bobbins. I wind by hand and with the knots they tend to take a while, about 3 to a 45 minute show. But I got a lot done tonight and I brought some in today in case I feel like doing more during my break.

I think it's time to see how I did on my goals for the month - i think I kept them light so i should have done quite well :)

Very close to finished on It's Winter - I'm over halfway done with the blue banner and the word Winter is now finished:


I pretty much picked this piece up when I had time this weekend, which included Friday night and Sunday night while watching Firefly - which we finished - I really love the show, I wish it was at least a full season, it's so disappointing to get to the "end" and not have it truly be an end at all! My boyfriend and I both really liked the show a lot, it had a lot of character to it.

I got my homework assignment finished pretty much. I haven't emailed it in or anything yet as it's not due until Wednesday so I'll probably do that Tuesday evening, but it's finished so I can forget about it for now. I'm also caught up on the readings so in general I'm feeling good about that.

I bought the fabric for the new quilt I will be making, I don't have the quilt completely defined in my head yet but I think I got some cute fabrics, so I will get them washed wednesday and start really planning out the quilt. It shouldn't take a lot of piecing, mostly it's applique which I will do by hand so that's what will take the most time. I bought flannels for the applique as I thought that would be best for a baby quilt.

Well - another work week is here - I must check out what's on the plate for today ...

Well can you tell things were busy yesterday? It was a great day at work, finally made some real progress on things and I think today will continue that and next week I may actually be wrapping a few things up!

Wednesday night was great, my friend came over and we mostly chatted (which I really needed) and I did get a little stitching done on It's Winter - very little. But I hope today at lunch to work more on that.

Last night I had class, my homework assignment really won't be as bad as I first thought. So my goal this weekend is to get that done on saturday, work on the website a little bit and then sunday have some time to both quilt and cross stitch if I really met my goals!

Tonight I have a trip to the mall planned on the way home, then a night of watching the first few episodes of Firefly (maybe a little stitching with that)... If I continue on It's Winter I think it would be easy to watch while stitching plain blue everywhere with no counting.

In the hopes that today will be extremely productive, I must get to it :)

A nice night - got my vacuuming done just like I wanted, so the apartment is clean now :) A big relief, then I installed the quilt designing program on my laptop and started to design some blocks for the baby quilt. On friday all i have to do is figure out the measurements and how much fabric to buy with my coupon on saturday ;)

So tonight will be a stitch night! As long as I don't have to work too late, i think i got out of here before 6 last night so I'm hopeful for tonight...

And the class really begins - we got our first homework assignment now, it's due feb 1st in the morning so I have about a week to do it. With the way my week is going it looks like most of the weekend will be spent on this assignment but hopefully it won't be too difficult, just time consuming.

Last night I worked until about 7:30 and then hit the grocery store before home, so dinner was after 9 (i got home around 8:30) and by 10 I had read 2 pages for class and fallen asleep. I did get the apartment picked up a little though.

This morning I cleaned the shower (and ran again - that's 2 days in a row :) )
Tonight I hope to leave work by 6 and get the apartment vacuumed and the bathroom cleaned maybe tomorrow morning.

Wednesday my friend is coming over to stitch - I may stitch or look through quilt magazines for a quilt design for a baby quilt I want to make soon.

Thursday is class.
Friday I hope to design the baby quilt using software my mom let me borrow. Then Saturday a trip to the quilt store will get me "started". I can wash any new fabric with the laundry over the weekend and spend the rest of the weekend working on my homework assignment and the website. Hopefully with a little bit of free time to stitch on Going To Market some more.

I do hope to stitch at lunch today, thursday and friday as well so maybe there is hope for a progress pic next monday too :)
Well another busy day is ahead of me ...

Holy Moley - it is snowing out there! It took me over 2 hours to drive into work this morning, just to turn around and head over to my doctor appt. I am not back at work at noon having gotten no work done yet! I didn't even know about this snow, I got up at 5:30 and ran, there was a little snow on the roads but nothing much so I headed out at 7 - what a surprise!

Anyhow - this weekend was nothing like I expected, friday night I got home so late that nothing happened, saturday we headed back to NY and spent they day with my family, my boyfriend went out with friends for the night and we were supposed to leave sunday morning to come back. Well that turned in to another card playing day (double pinochle with 6 players) which we couldn't stop playing, finally at 6:30 we made ourselves quit so we could be home before law and order at least!

So we drove home and I read as much as I could for my class, I am only 2 chapters behind where I wanted to be so that's not too bad right now.

Pictures - So here's an update on It's Winter by Sue Hillis - it's my at work piece until it's finished:

I know part of it is a little blurry, it was late last night and I wasn't careful putting it on the scanner.

And a small update on Going To Market:


And now I must eat some lunch and work -- luckily tonight is my one somewhat free night so I can work late, just have to hit the grocery store on the way home :)

Class - well with the second class finished, things are looking pretty good, no assignment due next week like originally planned as the assignment hasn't been decided yet. I do have a lot of reading to do however and a few programs to install so i'm ready to do the assignment when it comes.

I stitched a little on Going To Market yesterday at lunch again, worked some more on the woman's dress. Today it looks like we are going out to lunch so I won't have a stitching break but maybe tonight I can work on it a bit.

Going back home tomorrow to celebrate my parents' birthdays so tonight I have to shop on the way home real quick for gifts and then clean the apartment a bit as it's been a long time :) That way sunday when we're back I can just relax! Oh the weekend ...

Finally a little stitching in the evening. I worked on Going To Market a little yesterday, working on the woman's dress now. Today I will go back to It's Winter at lunch and this weekend I can focus on Going To Market again as long as I'm good and do homework and work on the website too.

I need to start running too... I've been bad about that, i hurt my leg falling on the ice the other day, kind of a hip and knee pain but it's feeling better now and I really should get up and run tomorrow morning and all next week.

I have high hopes for myself :) And I have a lot of work to get done before 4pm today when I head off to my second class - so I better head into the lab!

A night full of nothing - at all.
Not sure if it's good or bad but i think i needed a mental break last night, so I curled up on my couch and watched tv. No stitching or anything, didn't even get around to eating dinner.

I did work on "It's Winter" during lunch yesterday and hope to continue that today and tomorrow at lunch. I packed up some more thread to wind onto bobbins tonight in case i'm not in the mood to stitch again.. at least i can get something done. Plus I have my homework to read for class that I should do a little tonight.

I've decided to reorganize my stash (not right now) but in general. Right now I have it organized by categories kind of. I think I might change it to be alphabetical by designer, besides my dragon binder which will stay the way it is as that is my favorite to look through, but I bought 2 more binders (as mine are full) and some more paper protectors as I ran out of those a while ago. I already recently went through my stash and made sure my database was up to date so now i just have to order my database by designer then title and then find those charts and move them to new binders. Should be a fun task, maybe this weekend or the weekend after...

A late night...
Well I did get to stitch a little at lunch yesterday and I finally broke out "It's Winter" by Sue Hillis. I'd like to finish this piece up soon as it has been so close to finished for over a year and a half now. So it will be my lunch time piece and when that's finished I will start working on Peaceful Silhouette for my boyfriend again at lunch. I'm surprisingly far on that piece, I have one boat finished, that is more than 1/4 finished.

I worked late last night.. until 7 pretty much, and then with a trip to walmart I didn't get home until after 8. I did get some reading done for my class though, I have finished chapter 1 and started chapter 2. With a few more nights to go I should be able to at least start chapter 3, which is what we went over in class last week.
So it's a busy week. Tonight I hope to get home at a regular time, do some reading, watch Gilmore Girls and cross stitch. Doesn't sound impossible at least. Well busy day at work today so I must get to it...

A weekend full of stitching...

Well I pretty much stayed in this weekend and stitched while watching dvd's. I finished up season 2 of Felicity and the first 8 episodes of season 2 of ER. I also watched a few movies, all the while getting some stitching in on Going To Market, my progress so far:



It's been great fun to stitch, i'm getting a bit bored with the background so I'm going to go back to working on her dress a bit before continuing with the background but the upper right corner is finished so I know how much framing room I have on top now and I finished all around the bundles on the woman's head so I could get that backstitching done.

It's a late day - got to work at 9! Compared to my usual 7:30, if I still take a lunch/stitching break I'll be here till 6 - we'll see how the day goes. Of course leaving at 6 mean less traffic plus I have to stop at walmart on the way home so if it's later there's less crowds as well.

My professor still hasn't posted an assignment, I didn't get any work done this weekend, either on the website or school reading so hopefully this week I will get on those tasks. I wish it was still the weekend, i'm tired...

Feeling like a student again...

It's not too bad, the class was interesting, and although there is group work which I'm definately not a fan of, the bright side is that we don't have to physically meet in groups (which is a huge plus for me who works full time and part time on the side and driving into boston is just not what i want to do on the weekend) AND it's a graduate course so all the students actually want to be there so hopefully everyone will do their share of the work!

On the down side, yesterday was so busy at work that I didn't get my stitching break (didn't even get a lunch break so I ate lunch on the way to class at 3:30). Today I really do hope to stitch some more on Going To Market and this weekend I absolutely must get some stitching in between reading for this class and working on the website. Luckily there's no actual assignment yet so I just have reading.

Work is crazy right now, I have an ever growing list of things to do which is completely seperate from my normal job so what I normally do is falling way behind schedule. I do hope next week to be done with this security related stuff and work some overtime to try to catch up on my other work.

I'm so glad it's friday, even if i have to work late and bring work home with me - i get to sleep late tomorrow!!! I can't wait!

No stitching last night, but I did work a bit on Going To Market at lunch time, getting a tiny start on the background stitching. Today I hope to do some more on that at lunch time but it will be a short break since I'm leaving early today to take care of some things at school before my class at 6.

Last night I was exhausted, I just watched tv and read during commercials, didn't have the energy to pick up my stitching and I was pretty much sleeping by 10. I am really enjoying this book though (The Eyre Affair) and I hope to finish it this weekend and then get back to Crime and Punishment. Once that's finished I can start Eragon hopefully.

This weekend is nice and open besides a holiday party saturday night, so hopefully I will work on the website, get a start on my homework (ugg!), finish my book and get some stitching done... that doesn't sound too ambitious :)

Christine - an LNS is a Local Needlework Shop, it's a store nearby that has a stitch night twice a month and we have a pretty regular group of friends that go, we also get together on weekends but at the shop there's always new people stopping by and we can shop too...

Progress update on Going To Market:

I have just started the last bundle on her head and then I'll start on a little of the background before going to her dress, try to space the background out a bit. Although it is all half stitches so it might go fast. I worked on this yesterday at lunch and last night a bit. I hope today to do the same (at lunch and a bit at night).

Tomorrow I will not have a lunch break and I will not have any free evening time as I have class 6-9 (my first one) - which i'm a little nervous about but hopefully i can get everything figured out (parking/books etc) before hand to cut down on the unknowns.

Huge news at work, another fellow co-worker that I actually work pretty closely with (kind of a good mentor type) is leaving :( We found out yesterday so we're a bit in shock, this is the second person leaving that really bothers me as I was hoping to learn more from them, we have been hiring a lot lately so hopefully someone new we've hired can start to fill their shoes. So it's just a sad day today (and probably through to next week when he leaves).

Thank you everyone for all the comments, and now I have a few new blogs to read :) Green Old Gardens was actually a pattern passed down by Carol after she stitched it last year and I mentioned how much I liked it - huge thanks to her again! And now I think I found someone at work who has been inspired to stitch it next as she really loves flowers and gardens and the few specialty stitches really intrique her. Mostly there are satin stitches and long stitches so it's not a difficult piece and the diagrams are great.

Last night I spent a little time on Going To Market, working on the bundle on top of the woman's head, I have her head covering almost finished and I think 3 of her bundles are stitched. I will work on that again today at lunch and maybe tonight I can scan a picture of it in to post.

I was very good this morning and got up and ran, it's not too hard when I go to bed at 10 like I always plan on doing. So I did a short run and I feel so much better having done that. Hopefully the trend continues tomorrow :)

Now for a full day at work...

Happy Dance! I had to stay up a little later than I wanted which sacrificed my run this morning as I couldn't get up at 5:30 but I finished stitching Green Old Gardens:

Click for a larger image.

It was a good weekend, I stitched Friday night and finished up section 10 then sunday night after I got home from changing my brake pads (actually my boyfriend and uncle changed them while I passed tools back and forth), but after that we came home and I stitched up the border. Now I have 2 pieces ready to be framed (Legends of the Dragons and this one), maybe in a month or two I'll have enough money saved up to buy the frames, I think I picked out one for Legends of the Dragons already but it's a bit more expensive of a frame than I usually get, so I'll definately be doing the framing myself. I'm unsure about matting yet, I really enjoy cutting the mats but sometimes I don't like the look of them very much.

The count down to my first graduate class starts now, class is thursday night, I'll probably try to work on the website most evenings this week before then and I'll definately pull out It's Winter to bring to work tomorrow or wednesday, other than that I'll work on Going To Market. It's fun to have a good size finish so early in the year!

The last stitch night for a while...

Well with the onset of my class starting next Thursday I will now miss my twice monthly stitch night at my LNS. I'm hoping my "spring break" week will coincide with a stitch night and then I'll get one in March, otherwise it won't be until May. But it was a great night, I did some shopping (I needed that WDW Lucky and while I was looking for it I found about 6 other colors that I just "needed"). Plus I bought a few charts that caught my eye stitched up on the walls.

Then I worked on Green Old Gardens and in perfect time I finished section 7, leaving only section 10 left to stitch and the border! So that will be my focus this weekend. My weekend is filling up a bit however, probably tonight I will stitch, tomorrow I have plans with friends, then tomorrow night more stitching. Sunday I HAVE to change the breaks on my car so that means a trip to NH to use my uncle's garage (it's cold outside, you need a garage to do any car work at this time of year). And there goes the weekend!

Well it's a busy day at work so I better get to it :)

My first picture of Going To Market:


I worked on that a little a lunch yesterday and then a bit in the evening after our treadmill was fixed. Then I squeezed a little time on the website in as well!

I really like Going To Market and I may have some lunch time today to work on it but tonight I'm going back to Green Old Gardens since I can buy the missing floss for it at Stitch tonight. I'd like to finish that piece up as my first finish for 2006 before focusing more on Going To Market. Then soon I will be bringing It's Winter out of storage and to work to be my lunch time piece.

I officially got accepted in the graduate school program I had applied, and today or tomorrow I will sign up for my class that will start next week! I wonder how much of my time will be spent on homework now, with that and the website I'm a little nervous but I think I'm up to the challenge of still finding free time to stitch and maybe next month I'll go back to quilting as well, I do hope to start going to guild meetings again at least this year!

I was good last night - and I actually worked on the website for an hour and a half. Hopefully tonight I will work on it some more and finish up a few more things.

I started "Going to Market" at lunch yesterday, I hope today to work on it for another half hour today and maybe a little tonight if I get some website work done first. I really love the fabric I am using, it's only 18x18 but when I measured it it's really about 17x18.5 and on 32 count that seems like it should be enough. To be safe I started in the center and I'm working my way up so I can stitch the woman's head, then I'll work on the background which won't be very interesting but with it being mostly half stitches hopefully it won't take too long. I'll try to save the young boy for the end because he'll be the most interesting part to work on besides the woman's head.

Depending on progress today I may have a picture for tomorrow but it won't be much. Then tomorrow night is stitch night and I'll break out Green Old Gardens again to work on. I hope maybe this weekend to have time to finish that up (hopefully i'm not being too ambitious) :)

January Goals:

1) Finish Green Old Gardens
2) Start Going to Market
3) Work on It's Winter

4) Work on purple hat (knitting)

Not a lot of goals because I'd like to get into working on larger pieces. Plus I'll be starting up a class next week which will cut into stitching time for sure - and the website, that I've now pushed off into January as I avoided it completely during the holiday season - oh man!

2006 Goals:

1) Finish Green Old Gardens
2) Finish Wrapped Butterfly into pillow
3) Finish Blackwork Dragon
4) Work on Peaceful Silhouette
5) Stitch/Make ornament for my sister
6) Stitch/Make ornament for my mom
7) Finish It's Winter
8) Start/Work on Going to Market
9) Start/Work on Kingdom Sampler
10) Start a seasonal fall piece

Quilts:
1. Work on Amish Quilt (hand quilting)
2. Work on Sampler quilt (hand quilting)
3. Start a new quilt

Knitting:
1. Learn to knit socks
2. Learn to knit sweaters (try it)

Christmas Surprise 2005 (finished December 30th 2005)


And my progress on Green Old Gardens after a nice 4 day weekend:


It's nice having a decent size piece that still fits on the scanner so the pics come out better.
As you can see Green Old Gardens is coming right along, I have 2 sections left to stitch, both of which use WDW Lucky, the section on the left uses mostly Lucky so that will definately wait until Thursday. I started on the border, hopefully that will move a little faster next time I pick it up. So far this piece has been a lot of fun to stitch, all the different stitches and the flowers which I don't normally get to stitch, it really moves along.

Last night after stitching until about 5, I took a break, then around 8 I decided to start a new project :) I didn't actually start it, but it's a kit (Going to Market by Dimensions) and I wanted to trade out the fabric, so I found a great piece of 32ct fabric (i think it's called Oceantide by Silkweavers but I could be wrong), and I seperated all the kit threads, got it all organized and ready to start, maybe I'll start that at lunch today.

That's my stitching news, now to set up my goals for the year and the month...

I promise pictures tomorrow, as tonight I am just on quickly and a little later I will scan in my progress on Green Old Gardens and my ornament from last year :) As in Friday. It's been a nice relaxing day with no heat - our furnace was broken today, so we slept in - late, until almost noon - that's what happens when it's COLD.

We got some space heaters from the basement while we waited for the oil company to come fix the furnace so I spent the day in front of a heater under many blankets watching movies, snacking and doing a little more stitching :) Now I'm full on strawberries dipped in milk chocolate (that was really good) but I need to either make dinner or decide no dinner and eat something light .. decisions.

The heat is back on now, and I just finished watching "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", no stitching through this one, just a nice relaxing movie watch. I think I might read for a bit for the rest of the evening I'm not sure.

On Green Old Gardens I have finished 8 out of 10 sections, leaving the two that use WDW Lucky for after Thursday when I get it, and I started the border a little bit, I will work on that sporadically I think but until Thursday this piece might get kind of packed up, maybe with the start of another new piece, I can't finish this one up and not have another one going already to jump right into :)

I'll do my January and 2006 goals tomorrow morning when I post my progress pics !

December Goals in Review:

1) Finish Harry Potter Scarf by Christmas (family christmas is actually new year's weekend) [Finished and given]
2) Stitch penguin ornament for my sister [finished]
3) Stitch second pickle ornament for my aunt [finished]
4) Stitch another ornament (not sure what yet) [dragon -f inished]
5) Start Green Old Gardens [yup!]
6) Pick up Blackwork Dragon at some point [nope]
7) Maybe knit hat for my sister for Christmas (real christmas) [YES!]

8) Work on website again -- UGG! [not really]

[not too bad, with my knitting getting put aside i think i'll get more stitching done this month]

Some pictures!

A new start, Green Old Gardens (progress as of 12/31/05):



And some gifts I made and gave for Christmas, first the Harry Potter scarf for my cousin, all finished up with her initials:


And some tile coasters I made and gave as gifts, 4 are on a white and 4 are on a beige tile.


It's been a great weekend for stitching! I finished up my dragon ornament Friday night and I've made more progress on Green Old Gardens today, I'll scan those in to post tomorrow some time maybe since I have the day off and plan to keep on stitching :) I also hope to break out an old WIP I have laying around to bring to work Tuesday as my lunch piece so hopefully that will get finished up soon (It's Winter by Sue Hillis).

I will try to be better about pictures this year (that's my resolution) :)