Peaceful Silhouette framed -

finally a picture!

This is the piece I stitched for my fiance for his law school graduation, he bought the kit and I stitched it. It is now happily framed and awaiting his new job in September where he will hang it. No point in bringing it to his current job with only 4 more weeks to go.

I am continuing the schedule of getting up 6, working till 7, going home and staying up till 11:30 (asleep by midnight) - this gives me a couple of good hours in the evenings to get stuff done and I'm excited.

I've decided to redo the zipper on the green flower girl dress - so I will be doing that this week hopefully and finally fixing the ribbon on the purple one, then they will be ready for hemming. Lots to do but I think I can manage it - less than 5 weeks to go!

Last flower girl dress is finished!!!

I finished it up last night. I'm a little mad at myself for not being more careful when basting before attaching the zipper as the seams don't match up as nicely as i'd like but it's really not that noticeable and I was too lazy to fix it. I just know it will bug me now though :(

All i have left to do on the girls' dresses now is to hem them and fix the first dress that doesn't have the ribbon like the other two. It's a pretty easy fix, just unstitch part of the side seams on the top, add the ribbon and stitch back up. I may try to do that tonight if I get a chance but I also have to make some veils tonight so we'll see how it goes.

I think i officially have less than 6 weeks now - and of course work is just insane right now so i'm working long hours and sleeping less and really looking forward to the weekend even though it will be packed!

Stitching away on Glenna's RR! I finished the house last night and the fountain. I have mostly flowers left and the sun and bird. I'm stitching Ladybug House by Elizabeth's designs so it's got some specialty stitches that I always enjoy.

I've been stitching while listening to my current audiobook - "Silent in the Grave" - which I'm loving!

I forgot my camera while I'm house sitting this week so no pictures until this weekend unfortunately :(

July Goals -

Really getting down to the line here:

Sewing:
1) Finish 5th flower girl dress
2) Fix purple flower girl dress
3) Hem 2 white flower girl dresses
4) Bustle wedding dress
5) Hem wedding dress
6) start making Veil
7) Hem sister's bridesmaid's dress
8) Make ring bearer pillow

Stitching:
1) Finish Glenna's RR
2) Start knitting shorts for a coworker's new baby

And that leaves only the following wedding things for August:
1) Make guest list book (fabric to sign)
2) Make thank you notes
3) Make some clothes for my honeymoon (dress/tank tops)

June Goals wrapup! - wow i can't believe June is over - 2 months till the wedding!

sewing:
1) Finish flower girl dress #4 [YES]
2) Fix flower girl dress #3 [not yet]
3) Finish dress form [yes but didn't work - so bought one]
4) Start flower girl dress #5 [YES - top done!]

stitching:
1) Finish hardanger on ring bearer pillow [YES]

wedding:
1) Finish 4 other pearl necklaces [YES]
2) Finish 5 pairs of matching earrings [YES]
3) Make ring bearer pillow [not yet]
4) Attach wording to invites [YES]
5) Mail invites! [YES]
Also got a great start on Glenna's NRR! I'm stitching ladybug house by elizabeth's designs!
And made shower thank you notes and sent them!

Shower this weekend.. both kinds :)

My sister threw a bridal shower for me this weekend, she did such a great job hosting a large part (about 30 people showed up with the potential for 40). I got to talk to lots of people I hardly knew but knew me (I grew up in a small town) and lots of people I haven't seen in a long time.

And I got to give the bridesmaids these gifts I made (here is the final necklace with earrings that I made):
And my definite favorite of the gifts was this quilt that my Mom, Grandmother and sister made for me! I got to pick the fabrics so I already knew I'd love it but this was just beyond expectation. Here it is on my bed (as soon as I got home!):
Here is the patch my grandmother stitched for the back!
And my grandmother made me a matching runner for my dresser! She also made me matching pillow cases (not shown) - what a surprise!
She also made me another table runner to replace my christmas one she made me since I told her I leave that out all year, here it is on top of the christmas one. I love it - the bright colors are definitely "me".
I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my family and those that will become family in just under 10 weeks time! I can't believe how close the wedding is, so much to do but yet so much is already done, I really feel like it's soon now!

I also finished the 4th flower girl dress this weekend and left it with my grandmother who is going to hem it. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture because i finished it the morning we left Friday to go back home. It's the same as the purple one I did but it's in green :) One more to go!

Very hot and humid!
We spent the weekend sweating it out - not turning on the A/C just yet (turned it on today though!). So the weekend consisted of activities I could do in the livingroom and diningroom under the fans!

So I've almost completed making a dress form that exactly matches me - pictures to come after I finish it hopefully Tuesday night. It's my height with my heels for the wedding on, since the goal is to use it to hem my wedding dress. If it can hold the weight of my wedding dress that is... it's a bit flimsier than I'd like.

I also worked on thank you cards, making a design I like for the shower thank you's and cutting all the necessary pieces/colors for the card (about 60 even though i hopefully won't need that many).

I also made the earrings to match the bridesmaid's pearl necklaces and I'm very happy with them, so I made up the little boxes with matching cards to give them at the shower this coming weekend - wow - it's coming up so fast! I just have one necklace left to finish and one bridesmaid won't be at the shower anyway so even if I don't finish it until the following weekend i'm fine!

The unbelievable part is that I didn't read at all this weekend, not until last night before bed when I started "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" which I bought at BJ's. I've been on a reading craze lately, maybe it's good I slow down and get other things done for a while and read a more serious book in my evenings.

It's going to be a busy week with friday off to go back home and help my parents around the house (for the wedding) - I swear every third word out of my mouth is wedding - i can't wait until it's over and life can resume normalcy!

Wedding Stuff...
Finally - the wedding invitations are almost finished (I just need to print the important information stuff and attach) but the outsides are all done.. here's the basic layout:
And here's my stack of 120 invites! The "happy" is embossed in white, the swirly pattern is stamped using versamark ink and the rest is pretty self explanatory.
And as of last night I have 2 of the bridesmaid's necklaces finished. These are knotted pearl and amethyst necklaces. I even made the adjustable chain closure so I'm pretty happy with these. I've finished knotting the third necklace and just have to make the chain tonight before I start on number 4 (there are 5 total plus earrings I still have to design!)
So wedding stuff is moving along! I'm hoping to get some sewing of flower girl dresses done this weekend and some more thank you notes made for the shower. So much to do!

Wendy's RR - finally some pictures!

Here is the house I stitched for Wendy's RR - Acorn Hill by LHN.
And here is the whole RR so far.

This was such a treat to stitch, I did make some slight modifications to the actual pattern I used but I love this house (got it at Celebrations) so I was very excited to stitch it!

I'm still here - i promise! Wow - May was a really light month blogging - things were just so busy with work!

I did manage (after a late night friday) to finish off Wendy's RR so i could mail it to Leslie on Saturday morning! I took a picture so i'll post that as soon as i have a minute.

This weekend we helped my sister move into her new house!!! She owns a very nice (and large) victorian in Manchester, CT! I love the house and the property, i'm so proud of her for making the jump! Hopefully we can afford to follow suit a year from now :)

Other than that it's just been work work work around here. I took every free minute I had to work on Wendy's RR. I'm hoping June is better - I'm back on the Body For Life diet for the 12 weeks before the wedding - yup - 12 weeks left! Yikes and so much to do!

Well back to work! I promise - I owe lots of pictures and they are coming!

June Goals -
lots to do this month for the wedding!!!

sewing:
1) Finish flower girl dress #4
2) Fix flower girl dress #3
3) Finish dress form
4) Start flower girl dress #5

stitching:
1) Finish hardanger on ring bearer pillow

wedding:
1) Finish 4 other pearl necklaces
2) Finish 5 pairs of matching earrings
3) Make ring bearer pillow
4) Attach wording to invites
5) Mail invites!

What does that leave for July -
1) Hemming and Bustling wedding dress
2) Making Veil
3) Stitching next RR (due Aug 1st)
4) Hem flower girl dresses
5) Hem bridesmaid dresses that need it
6) Make guest list book (fabric to sign)
7) Make thank you notes

May Goal Recap...

Sewing:
1) Finish flower girl dress 4 [not yet]
2) Unstitch skirt of flower girl dress 2 (purple one), needs to be fixed [not yet]

Stitching:
3) Start Hardanger for ring bearer pillow [yes]
4) Stitch and mail Wendy's NRR [yes]

Other Wedding stuff:
5) Finish 3 knotted pearl necklaces [nope]
6) Finish 2 pearl earrings (need to be designed still) [nope]
7) Finish making invitations [yes]

Greetings from California (again).

Man I get really bad at posting when I’m busy – and things have been busy.

Let’s see – last time I posted was just before Celebrations!! What a great weekend that was!

I’ll have to wait and make a proper Celebrations entry when I’m back home and can take pictures of my class pieces. I took 3 classes in all, the most important one being Beginner Hardanger so that I could then start my ring bearer pillow – which I did!

So since Celebrations I’ve been working on the hardanger pillow and I’ve gotten all pre-stitching done as of tuesday night. Then I even started the cutting just a tiny bit! It’s so addicting! Then last night (wednesday) i finished all the cutting and pulling threads! Here's my progress - estimated around 10 hours of work (loosely):

Also last night I started Wendy’s NRR – I’ve got my house all picked out and all the floss. I just started the grass a bit.

Another project I brought along is the pearl necklaces for the bridesmaids, since I have one completed I strung the other 4 and hung them to stretch the silk, now they’re ready to be knotted! I’ll have to set up a table in my hotel room to work on those a bit each night.

So my 2 weeks in California will hopefully include getting projects done! The ring bearer pillow is coming along so much faster than I thought it would so far – of course after cutting comes all the wrapping and I have no idea how long that will take. We shall see!!!

May Goals - Happy May Day!!!

With 2 weeks spent in California I'm not sure what I'll get done exactly but here's a try:

Sewing:
1) Finish flower girl dress 4
2) Unstitch skirt of flower girl dress 2 (purple one), needs to be fixed

Stitching:
3) Start Hardanger for ring bearer pillow
4) Stitch and mail Wendy's NRR

Other Wedding stuff:
5) Finish 3 knotted pearl necklaces
6) Finish 2 pearl earrings (need to be designed still)
7) Finish making invitations

April Review:
Sewing:
1) Finish flower girl 3 dress [YES!!!]
2) Start flower girl 4 dress [YES!!!]
3) Cut pattern sizes for flower girl 4 [YES!!!]

Wedding:
1) Emboss invitations [YES!!!]
2) Make knotted pearl necklaces (3) for bridesmaids [1 done!]

Knitting:
1) Finish lamb for coworker [YES!!!]

Stitching:
1) Work on Necessaire [FINISHED STITCHING!!!]

Wow that was an extremely productive month!

Where is April going??

I'm doing a slightly different schedule with work, trying to get home earlier and run which means I have to get in earlier, which means I go to bed earlier - it's rough but I think it's working out so far. And I even finished my project work for my class tomorrow (last class!!).

So now i'm going to start a new book and snuggle in to bed after a quick crafty update:

I've been working on the invitations for the wedding slowly, got all the embossing done tonight as well as the ribbons cut! All that's left is putting them together and figuring out how to word the inside and then print those!

As for flower girl dresses - I cut the pattern for the fourth dress and then the main fabric but I haven't yet cut the lining or started sewing. I'm hoping to find some time this weekend around traveling back to NY to work on it a bit.

Jewelry - is on hold, waiting for supplies to arrive that I have ordered and then I think i'll be ready to start making some pearl necklaces! I can't wait.

Well that's my life - besides work.. trying to keep the balance of getting things done for the wedding and getting sleep and exercise! Better work on the sleep part now :)

Gifts and Treats!!

First - is a lovely birthday surprise from Carol! This arrived the day before my birthday with Wendy's RR. It's my very first needleroll and so perfectly done, I love it! Without further ado:
When I was in CA, my two friends out there gave me a wonderful birthday/wedding gift- it's preciously made by hand! It's a purse - dupioni silk and ribbon flowers and pearls on the front. It's so exquisite, I can't believe they MADE it!
Even better - inside was this antique handkerchief with pulled thread work - in blue! How perfect!
And as a birthday gift to myself while I was in CA, we went to a quilt shop and I splurged a bit on fat quarters:
I would have posted this yesterday but it wasn't a very good birthday, I got to work and got inundated with cruddy stuff to deal with, it was a crappy day overall. Plus I had class at 4pm which luckily ended early (the only bright spot to my day) and i came home and relaxed and talked to my mom for a few hours! So it ended well at least.

And now i have a busy busy weekend coming up but first a busy day of work at home and then cleaning around the house - yeah :)

A trip to California and some knitting.

My oh my where is April going??? I can't believe it's half over already! (just about). Last week I unexpectedly had to go to California for work - I hate last minute trips but it was a good trip and I got a lot done. And before I left I made sure to get my little Lamby all finished up! Finally some pictures!!!

Here's Sammy the Lamby!
Here he is on his side. I'm not sure the pictures really show it but this guy is pretty big!
I'm sure my coworker will appreciate it, especially as a matching gift to the sweater and pants another coworker is knitting in the blue yarn (the same yarn i used for the collar).

With that done I think my knitting is done for a while. I have to focus on wedding projects!

Speaking of wedding projects - the third flower girl dress is coming along, all I have left is the finishing (adding the zipper and doing the hand stitching) so I'm very excited. Hopefully this weekend I'll not only finish that dress but start the next one!

Well it's been a long night working so i'm going to cuddle up and read a book - I read 3 books last week between planes and hotel nights - better update my reading blog soon!

April Goals:- not much different than march :)

Sewing:
1) Finish flower girl 3 dress
2) Start flower girl 4 dress
3) Cut pattern sizes for flower girl 4

Wedding:
1) Emboss invitations
2) Make knotted pearl necklaces (3) for bridesmaids

Knitting:
1) Finish lamb for coworker

Stitching:
1) Work on Necessaire

March Review:
Sewing:
1) Finish flower girl 3 dress Nope - but started
2) Start flower girl 4 dress Nope
3) Cut pattern sizes for flower girl 2, 3 and 4 Cut for flower girl 2
4) Get measurements for flower girl 5 Not yet

Wedding:
1) Start invitations
- punch all flowers and holes in flowers YES
- start embossing Nope but got all cutting done
- finish at least 10 as models Nope
2) Buy beads for veil Yes
3) Cut veil piece for practice and practice beading kind of
4) Start hardanger piece for ring bearer pillow waiting for class in may

Stitching:
1) Finish Deb's NRR and mail by April 1st YES

Knitting:
1) Finish lamb for coworker Nope

Goodbye easter, hello weekend at home ... halfway there ;)

Easter weekend was packed - my sister and her fiance came up on Saturday, my sister and I worked on invitations (wedding and shower invites). I've got the wedding invites all cut and folded to size, and then I rolled the swirly stamp in versamark on the front - that took a while but it's all done!

Sunday we went to my uncle's for a large family get together, it was fun but exhausting as usual, the little kids were tired and overly excited (when aren't they!) which made for some interesting moments and not a lot of happy pictures unfortunately.

This week has been crazy at work so far - monday was a very long day and each day feels long by lunch time.. is it only 10:20 now! Last night I punched holes in the centers of all my purple daisies for the invites and thank you notes. So that's one more step done on the invites! Next up is getting the embossing started - this coming weekend hopefully!

Lots to do this weekend since we're home... I have a lamb I need to finish by putting together :) And then some invites to work on.

Happy first day of Spring!!! I sure wish it wasn't cloudy out :(

I'm just exhausted - all this getting up early and going to work for a few days is too much for me :) I can't wait until the weekend - next week is going to be very rough on me! If only I could focus but all I want to do is sleep - not good!

No knitting last night as I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. Tonight will most likely be similar, I haven't figured out if I'm working from home tomorrow or not yet, that will determine how much sleep I get.

Vacation is over! No more finishes towards the end of my vacation - the lamb I'm knitting is coming together and I hope to finish him tonight (minus the embroidered face since I forgot my black yarn). So maybe a picture on friday of him.. he's a little awkward looking but all I have left is to attach 1 ear and his legs.

So yesterday was going great, we went down to Medford to pick up a settlement check for our car, then out to lunch with the idea that we'd do some quick errands on the way home - well we get out of lunch and my fiance's car is leaking coolant - I haven't mentioned much about this but we just replaced the whole engine on his car so he was not happy! So we went home and I went out on errands myself :( Sure did ruin the rest of our day!

We continued watching Lost Season 3 though and I stitched a bit on my Celebrations project from my class last year - I wasn't in much of a stitching mood though so didn't make much progress.

And so the car is back at the repair place as of 7:30 this morning and I'm at work. Hopefully he can get it fixed by the end of today and it won't cost us too much.. so far the tally is ~$7300 on repairs for this stupid car! It's not like we're trying to get married and go on a honeymoon this year or anything! DOH!

Deb's RR Finished! This was fun - I've never stitched a Workbasket design. Here's my house in her neighborhood. I apologize for the picture qualities - It's sunny out and I had some shadows through the window.
And here's the cemetery (my addition is on the right):
And my little person at the top,
Vacation is so much fun! Today we went to the dump to get rid of the recyclables, then back home for a yummy lunch and then stitching while watching LOST and it's still sunny out!

Now it's time for some obligation knitting I need to finish up this vacation - a lamb for a coworker... If i get it finished tomorrow I'll post a picture - 3 legs yet to knit and then just stuffing and piecing!!

Flower Girl Dress #2.

This is for the 3rd flower girl - so it's in the style of the younger 3. The skirt will be cut and then hemmed closer to the wedding and being shorter will hang a little nicer over the netting but to be safe I kept it long (in case she grows a lot).
I added rick rack around the bodice bottom and ribbon for a bow in the back (mostly so it can be tightened if it's too large). This dress had some very difficult parts - mostly dealing with the underskirt of netting attached to lining. Then that also made adding the zipper a bit more difficult. After a bunch of ripping out stitches I think it came out well and I know my flower girl will love it!
The next flower girl dress will be the second Eyelet one (with purple lining) - I'm hoping to get a start on at least cutting the pattern and some of the fabric and lining and starting the basting process which takes quite a while!

Vacation!

My fiance and I decided to take a 4 day weekend off for our 8th anniversary this year so we're smack in the middle of our mini vacation home doing absolutely nothing! It's been great so far - here's a recap:

Friday night - Hit BJs to stock up on stuff we needed then I cleaned - the whole apartment top to bottom - it's nice to start vacation with a clean apartment! Then I stayed up late reading - finished my book actually!

Saturday: Hit the grocery store to stock up on good food for the weekend, then we did almost nothing except watch Dexter Season 2 and stitch! I've been working on Deb's NRR and it's coming right along! I'll have pictures after this weekend of stitching!

Sunday: A very productive day - I cooked - LOTS! Then I settled in to do some sewing (see next post for pictures) and finished the second flower girl dress! I even knitted a bit while we finished Dexter Season 2.

Hmm... after I finishing writing entries for my blogs I'm going to pick up Deb's RR while I continue listening to my audio book which I'm hoping to finish this weekend as well.

And still 2 more days to go!!! I have a long list of stuff I want to do - so hopefully I'll have lots more pictures in the coming days!!

Pictures Finally! The first Flower Girl Dress!!

Here are the pictures of the first dress I completed last month. It's a Girl's size 10 for my 8 yr. old cousin and it looks wonderful on her - a little big but that's room to grow and it has a tie if it's still too big in August.

Here's a picture of the back. The green bow is very large but mimics the bow that i have on my wedding gown which I love so I thought it would be cute if the two oldest flower girls had matching bows.
And here's a close up of hte top of the dress. The fabric is white eyelet with a green lining. This is going to be my favorite dress since green is my favorite color and I've always been partial to eyelet dresses!
I can't believe how long it took me to get pictures of this dress online -- I've already finished dress number 2 which I'll post next!

While I still don't have pictures to show of all my progress on projects I thought I would do this little reading meme. The pictures are now on my camera but haven't made it to my computer! Very soon I promise..

In the mean time here's a list of 100 books, I made the ones I've read bold and italicized the ones I'd like to read...

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Feel free to join in :)

Some knitting ...

So we went to a Jodi Picoult book signing last night! You can read about it more at my book reading blog: http://nikkistitch-reading.blogspot.com/. Basically it was awesome but between the Q&A and the signing we had some time to kill so I worked on knitting the little lamb. So far I now have the body with the 2 sides of the head done and I've started the tail. I have the gusset and legs left! Not too shabby! I hope to work on him on Sunday in the car on our way out to dinner.

Let's see - nothing else new, I'm looking forward to some sewing this weekend, mostly cutting out patterns and fabric, not actually sewing but still. Next weekend is our 4 day "vacation" to stay home and I plan on working mainly on Deb's NRR while we watch Band of Brothers and other tv shows we have waiting - it will be a great vacation!!

For now, it's work work work and clean tomorrow and squeeze crafts between other commitments :) Fun!

March Goals:

Sewing:
1) Finish flower girl 3 dress
2) Start flower girl 4 dress
3) Cut pattern sizes for flower girl 2, 3 and 4
4) Get measurements for flower girl 5

Wedding:
1) Start invitations
- punch all flowers and holes in flowers
- start embossing
- finish at least 10 as models
2) Buy beads for veil
3) Cut veil piece for practice and practice beading
4) Start hardanger piece for ring bearer pillow

Stitching:
1) Finish Deb's NRR and mail by April 1st

Knitting:
1) Finish lamb for coworker

Wow - where did February go???? I've been very neglectful of my blog :( Work has been just crazy the past few weeks, it probaby won't let up but at least the stress should reduce considerably now that my code has been fully integrated and I'm on to just bug fixes.

For the non-geeks out there - how about some sewing news.. I can't believe I have not taken pictures - I promise to post pictures soon but I must share anyway.

Last weekend (friday night and saturday morning specifically) I finished the first flower girl dress! I even did a temporary hem so I could try it on my cousin and it looks beautiful! I really do promise pictures soon. I ABSOLUTELY love how it came out and I can't wait to make the second one!

I also fitted the mockup dress on my other cousins and determined which sizes to make them (I have sizes all set for 4 out of 5 flower girls!). Of course I need to adjust patterns because 2 of them are between sizes on me - that will be an adventure!

I also stitched some more on Deb's RR - getting close to finished on the actual house, then just all the rest to do - one month to go before I need to mail it so I need to get on it.

Oh and I designed my invitations for the wedding which I am officially making now. My close friend and sister helped and I have lots of offers of help but first I need to wait for an order of paper to come in for the perfect color. I'll show some pictures when I do invites too... so much fun stuff to do!

and since it's Feb 29th - Happy Leap Year! I might as well do my goal wrap up for the month:
Sewing:
1) Finish one flower girl dress YES
2) Start second flower girl dress Not quite - did another mockup dress!

Stitching:
1) Start Deb's NRR YES
2) Finish 1/2 of the outside of my needlecase piece Not quite but I do have the silks for this now!

Knitting:
1) Start the knitted lamb for coworker YES
2) Finish green scarf for me YES
3) Start green hat for me Nope - i started it but then decided on a different pattern so i need to restart. Other priorities go in the way!

A sewing weekend!

I finally started the real flower girl dresses in the real fabric and I love the fabrics! First I washed all the fabrics (these are for children), then cut out the fabric for a size 10. Next I started practicing with some scrap pieces because this is my first time using Eyelet fabric.

Well after some practicing I was not happy, everything shows through Eyelet so I looked through my Complete Book of Sewing Book and decided to line the Eyelet with the green lining fabric beforehand by basting the lining to the Eyelet, then sew the pieces to the inner lining as directed.

Here is the progress I made, this is just the top of the dress, the red thread is the basting that is still in and will be removed.
And the rest of the fabric for the skirt part of the dress happily sitting and waiting to be basted together as the skirt. I've decided to just do a single lining for the skirt part and not the inner lining.
I've still got more work to do on the top, I brought it in to talk with a sewing friend at work and she suggested stitching the seam allowances to the inner lining around the neck and armholes, so after I clip the seams I will do that. Then I have to add the ribbon to the top before completing it, this was not done because I need to go to Joanns and buy some satin for the ribbon as my original plan of using the lining fabric for the ribbon will not work (too flimsy).

Before I started on the real flower girl dress I needed to make a mockup of the younger girl's dresses, so I made this up in a size 5 to fit on my cousin hopefully next weekend.
This time I practiced the zipper and everything, it's really cute (the style dress not the fabric) :) I don't like the way the top is pieced so I'm going to try modifying that with a new mockup in size 3 or 4 to try on my other cousin (no practice goes unused!).

Besides sewing this weekend I didn't do much, watched a lot of Numb3rs Season 1 while sewing though which is tough because I'm a math person so whenever they start talking about math concepts I stop and watch.. :)

Hopefully the sewing will continue this week, I want to have more of the size 10 dress done by this weekend to try on my eldest cousins.

I started working on Deb's RR this weekend!

I've never done a Workbasket design and I'm really enjoying the bright colors. She has such a neat idea going with the graveyard at the end which I will of course stitch last so more pictures will come as this progresses.

We had a good weekend, saturday I pretty much did nothing (stitched above) and then sunday I went to my friend's stamp party and decided I am going to attempt to make all my own wedding invitations - even if that's crazy but I've got a design in mind and I ordered the supplies. If all fails I can always just buy invitations :)

Snowing.

It's been a week of rainy, cloudy days and today while brighter because the sky is white not grey is still not sunny and I miss the sun! I do prefer snow to rain however.

I finished knitting my green scarf last night at my uncle's. I didn't have a new skein of yarn to start the hat so that will have to wait and I really should start knitting the lamb for a coworker anyway.

And tonight I have my crypto class so it will be a late night but I do enjoy the class so it's worth it :)

Pictures and Stitching!!!

Here is the needle case thingy I've been working on since Celebrations 2007. The two on the right are the inner pockets, the round piece is the pincushion and then the long piece on the left is the outside and the stitching I've done is for the front. Last night I actually finished the spiderweb stitch that finishes the center and I just have 4 flowers to stitch in the corners and then the back and binding to do. The problem is I don't have colors I like for the flowers so I need to order some - it's all in silks and I thought I had some purple silks but I don't (I don't want to use the pinks it calls for).
And then Saturday I made a mockup of the older girls flower girl dresses in some scrap fabric, this is a size 8 which is what they both currently wear. Unfortunately the size 8 was too small for both of them, significantly too small for the younger one (who is a little wider in the chest area). So next up is to make a size 10 for the oldest and then try that on the younger to determine if I need to go with a 10 or 12 for her.
And pictures of fabric! The 3 youngest flower girls will have summer dresses made in the following colors:
And the two older ones will have this white eyelet fabric with purple and green linings and ribbons to match. The oldest will be in green and the younger in purple. The purple is the exact color of the ribbon on my wedding dress and the style ribbon I do on both will match. I think this will be so cute!
That was the majority of my weekend, mostly relaxing, doing some stitching, some sewing and then spending sunday with my cousins, trying the dress on them and measuring them. I probably won't have too much time to sew next weekend, maybe get some size 10 patterns traced and cut out but the weekend after I plan on sewing up the size 10 maybe??

February Goals:

Sewing:
1) Finish one flower girl dress
2) Start second flower girl dress

Stitching:
1) Start Deb's NRR
2) Finish 1/2 of the outside of my needlecase piece

Knitting:
1) Start the knitted lamb for coworker
2) Finish green scarf for me
3) Start green hat for me

January Goal Wrapup - well there were no specific goals for january, just the 2008 goals so I'll go through those that were planned to be done in January:

Knitting:
1) Knit scarves for mom (2) (JANUARY) [DONE] - also knitted two matching hats!

Wedding/Sewing:
1) Sew bath robe for dad's birthday [DONE]

On stitching news I've been working on the needlecase from Celebrations 2007 and plan to take a picture and post it tomorrow.


In other news - we were very successful last weekend and found all the fabric needed for my wedding quilt which my mom and grandmother will make in February, then send out to be quilted! It will be 95x95 and it's in tans/browns/greens. I can't wait to see it finished!

On the sewing for the wedding front - I've bought what is hopefully all the necessary fabric and notions for the flower girl dresses (all 5). I went with some lovely bright colors for 3 of them and white with colored linings for the older 2. I'll try to remember to take pictures of the fabric tomorrow too!

I stitched!

Gosh it's been so long (about 2 months or so!).

I worked on the needlecase from Celebrations 2007. My friend i took the class with has finished all the stitching and is ready to assemble so I figured I should get a move on. I had finished the smaller pocket stitching and the pin cushion and as of last night I'm close to finishing the larger pocket. Then I'll have the outside of the whole thing left which will take a while but not too long. I'm surprised how quickly this moves along and oh how i love silks!

I'll try to remember a picture for tomorrow.

The neighborhood RR is up next in my stitching rotation, i realized I had mailed out at the Dec. 1st deadline so I'm not due to mail until April 1st. I want to mail early so I'll get started on that as soon as I'm either done or bored with this needle case.

And this weekend we drive back to NY for my parents' birthday celebrations - probably do some knitting in the car and lots of fabric shopping saturday! I can't wait :)

And finally some sewing pics - sorry they are so dark/blurry.

So this weekend I came down with a horrible cold - it started late friday night and I was exhausted. Saturday i had a stitch in with a friend but I didn't have much energy for stitching so we just spent the time catching up mostly.

Sunday I was still tired and sick but I had to get my dad's birthday present done so I started slowly working on the Robe for my dad. My fiance brought DVDs into my sewing room and we watched Monk (he laid on the floor). I didn't manage to finish the robe until last night but here it is with me modeling it in my large mirror.
The fabric is labradors, it's a nice warm flannel. It's huge on me because it's an XL. I probably could have done just a Large but I figured big was okay since it's a robe :)
Here's the back and a little closer view of the puppies.

And here's the finished scarf to go with the hat for my mom. So all handmade birthday gifts are done! I just have to pick up an anniversary gift for my parents and i'll be done with gift giving until next month :)

Well back to work!

More knitting.

I did manage to finish the scarf for Mom on Monday and started the one for myself in bright green. I'll probably start the matching hat for myself to break up the simpleness of the scarf as I did with the ones for mom but I LOVE this yarn and can't wait to wear this hat/scarf pair. Plus gifts for mom's birthday are now done.

Next up on the list is making a robe for dad. I plan on going to Joanns on Sunday to buy fabric and get a good start on it, then i have just evenings next week to finish it. I think the hard part will really be picking the fabric.

Finally some pictures! I know I've been a total slacker about there.

First up is the rabbit that I knitted and gave to our niece for xmas. This was really a practice piece for a lamb I'm doing next:

His head was a little wobbly so I knitted a scarf for him as well.

Here is the soft and warm hat and scarf I've finished up for my mom's birthday.

And here's the warm wool hat tha tI'm currently knitting a matching scarf for. I've done a picture on my head as well so you can see it a little better.
Here it is alone.
I did not get pictures of all the scarves I did for xmas (I gave 3 away). I can't wait to do a hat and scarf for myself, I'll probably finish the one for mom tonight and start on my own set. These go really fast it takes about 4 hours to do a scarf and 4 hours to do a hat. So with 2 evenings I can finish either one! It's great.

Back to work!

Snow Day!

Well not in the day off sense that it used to mean, but I'm working from home today as I didn't want to brave the nasty roads. It works out since I usually work from home on fridays but this friday I need to go into the office, still saving gas on one day this week.

Since I'm home I will try to remember to take pictures later and post them. I have finished up the fuzzy soft hat and scarf for my mom's birthday as well as the wool hat for her. I'm close to finishing the second scarf and then it's on to knitting for myself I guess :)

I need to go to joann's soon too - fabric is needed. I want to make a robe for my dad's birthday and I need to find fabric for the flower girls' dresses for the wedding.. 12 yds of it for 5 dresses! Crazy!

A regular week. That's what this week is. Monday I got a migraine when I got home so I mostly skipped dinner and was asleep by 8pm.

Tuesday however was great, I got home, I started laundry and I packed up all the christmas decorations. They are completely packed away, back in the basement. Next up is going through and giving the apartment a good cleaning, won't happen until probably friday and next week but at least I'm ready now.

Tonight I go to my uncle's so I brought my yarn and pattern to start the hat for my mom. The scarf is more than half done and I need to see how much yarn I need for the hat before I finish the scarf with the leftover yarn.

Well yoga time! 2 days at the gym this week and on the diet, doing good!

My Weekend...

The main reason I haven't been posting lately is that I keep forgetting to get the pictures off my camera and I hate to post without any pictures, especially when i have some to show. But I've decided 2 things:
1) Post even if I have no pictures
2) Try to get in habbit of getting pictures off camera each night.

So in the spirit of 1) above. This weekend was great - so relaxing.

Friday night I read until 1am finishing Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult. It was a great book.
Saturday my fiance and I played Civ IV in bed until 3pm! Then I got a migraine, took medicine and we went out shopping. I got a new leather coat (my first one) and we had dinner. Then I was sick for the rest of the night (migraine) but we did manage to watch Transformers again on our new TV!

Sunday I read, then we went and visited family and then out to dinner again before watching Batman Begins - I love that movie. It was a great day altogether!

Now it's back to work (full week) and the diet (doing Body For Life again).

Happy New Year!!

Sorry I was so non-existent in December. I guess it's the nature of the month, busy with holiday stuff.

I'm back and hopefully back to being better at blogging for the new year. I've filled out my goals (wrapup and new ones). It's going to be a busy year (2008) with a class this spring and then the wedding but hopefully there will be time for some crafts.

I promise to have some pictures shortly, I completely forgot to take pictures of the scarves I knitted but I have some of the rabbit at least.

But for now it's new years day and I'm starting the new year by cleaning up and getting organized again from the holiday rush. I want to start work tomorrow feeling like I do not have things waiting for me at home. The Christmas decorations get to stay up for a few more days however :)

2008 Goals!

Going to be an interesting year, for the spring I'll be taking a class, then I'll have wedding preparations and the wedding/honeymoon, then right into the holiday season of gift giving so i'll keep this simple and realistic hopefully.

Stitching:
1) Celtic Banner - work on page 3
2) Add beads/finish Shepherd's Purse
3) Finish Celebrations piece (from 2007)
4) Hardanger piece for Ring Bearer pillow

Quilting:
1) Finish embroidery on Leanne's Quilt
2) Piece Leanne's Quilt
3) Quilt/bind table runner

Knitting:
1) Knit scarves for mom (2) (JANUARY)
2) Knit lamb for coworker

Wedding/Sewing:
1) Sew bath robe for dad's birthday
2) Make ring bearer pillow
3) Make 5 flower girl dresses for wedding
4) Make 5 Necklaces/Earrings for bride's maids
5) Make veil, with beading
6) Decorate gifts for wedding

2007 (oops) Goal Wrapup:

1) Finish Peaceful Silhouette for Fiance's graduation (I really need to focus on this!) [YUP]
2) Stitch eagle piece for fiance [it was started but not by me]
3) Work on Celtic Banner - finish at least halfway [YUP]
4) Start/Finish Barnabee's Quest as SAL with Carol and friends [YUP - except for beads]
5) Stitch piece for fiance's step mother for xmas 2007 [nope]

6) Finish Leanne's Quilt (piecing and embroidery) [nope]

December Goals Wrapup
1) Finish knitted bunny [YUP]
2) Add beads to Shepherd's Purse [nope]
3) Work on block 8 embroidery[nope]
4) Start new cross stitch[nope]
I did however knit 3 scarves as gifts instead of stitching for the month.

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas!
With a real snow day yesterday, I worked from home. This meant that at 5 when my fiance got home early I could stop working and get into the holiday spirit. The tree went up!
The village I got for xmas last year went up for the first time, this was fun, next time I'll use some batting for snow but I didn't want to go crazy the first time!
And the decorations went onto the mantel. The mantel is generally decorated with dragons and a few xstitch pieces, well those got pushed aside (not removed mind you) so we could cram these little guys in!

And finally a picture of the table runner I completed weeks ago (before thanksgiving when I was sick). It's called Chaos and the only thing I did different from the pattern is that I made the red squares all the same color, the pattern called for the border ones to be different than the inner ones.
Now I'm back to the office, will get home at 6 and maybe do some knitting tonight... OH yea I started knitting again :) I'm making a rabbit - it's grey since I didn't have brown yarn and I'm not quite sure it looks like a rabbit but once I start stuffing it I'll take a picture!

Happy holiday season everyone!

December Goals
1) Finish knitted bunny
2) Add beads to Shepherd's Purse
3) Work on block 8 embroidery
4) Start new cross stitch

November Wrapup:
1) Stitch Bine's NRR and mail [YUP!]
2) Start embroidery on block 8 [YUP]
3) Sew Curtains [just the one pair done so far]
4) Sew table cloth [nope]
5) Add beads to Shepherd's Purse [nope]

Finished Bine's RR!

Added the squirrel and flowers last night! Here's a picture of almost the whole piece, I couldn't fit Bine's house in on the scanner but my house is the one on the right. It's a mixture of pieces, let's see what i remember...
The house is enlarged (to match the others) and from Colonial Homes by Little House Needleworks. The pinetree/grass/flowers is from Bent Creek's The Seasons.

This piece was a lot of fun to stitch, i love that it's in a row! Oh and it's not really crooked, that's just how it got "pushed" when I closed the scanner.

The week is going well so far, leaving work by 5, going home to run/walk on the treadmill, eating dinner and relaxing! Tonight I go to my aunt's house and I have my book to read as well as my embroidery!

Happy Almost Thanksgiving :)

I'm working a 1/2 day today and then we're heading back to NY to do the family thing for 4 days. I really need the break so i'm looking forward to it!

I won't have much stitching time so I'm not bringing Bine's RR with me, I'll do embroidery in the car instead but Bine's RR is still coming along. I finished the large pine tree and just have to figure out what wildlife are living in the yard :) I'll finish it up next week during the evenings!

Hopefully I'll have a picture of Leanne's block 8 after this holiday weekend to show!

Deb's RR arrived safe and sound! Sunday when I was no longer contagious I opened it up to take a peek as well! It looks like a lot of fun!

Also on Sunday I worked on Bine's RR, starting on the landscaping around the house!
Bine's RR is in a row of houses and it's quite fun. After this fun pine tree I can't wait to figure out what critters to add to the front yard in keeping with the rest of the houses!

So I'm pretty much recovered. The doctor said it was strep and put me on an antibiotic. So now I'm no longer contagious as well as feeling much better. I'm back to work (for 3 days this week anyway) :) And raring to go!

Oh and another picture hopefully tomorrow or wednesday, I put together a table runner with new fabric from the quilt show and I can't wait to quilt it! I have to figure out the binding fabrics, probably end up piecing a binding from leftovers.

Out of commission -

It's been since Tuesday really that I've been feeling bad, by Wednesday I had to leave work early because the pain of sitting in a chair was too much. Yesterday and Today are just plain old sick days, i've never needed so much sick time in a row in my life. I've got a doctor appt today to try to figure out what this is..

mostly it's a sore throat, sore neck, sore head, sore back. The throat is the worst and I can hardly eat anything (mostly drink but even that really hurts). No other real symptoms except for maybe a fever or something that's making me have cold sweats. Life is only doable when I'm on ibuprofen unfortunately but at least that's something. I'm waiting for some to kick in now so I can eat some breakfast.

So this means no stitching so far, it's just too painful to sit upright, I've been watching movies, reading and sleeping - maybe today I can be a little more productive but i doubt it. The good news is I might at least find out what this is today and then know how long before I'm better.

Boo hoo for me.

Oh and with all this rain, my occupants of Bine's Neighborhood have gotten flooded out completely, luckily some very nice neighbors have taken them in temporarily while they wait for their roof to be completed. I've promised them by this weekend they should have a dry house.
*wink*

My start on Bine's NRR:

Unfortunately I was feeling too sick last night to continue stitching on this, i'm bringing it to my aunt's tonight in the hope I can put a few hours in. This cold is wiping me out - I'm so achy and tired yet clear headed which is odd for a cold. So I'm staying on pain medicine to see if that helps, so far my neck doesn't hurt so badly (just a sore throat) but my back and head still hurt. Atleast that's 1 less pain.

My decision with regards to work has been made. I've switched my schedule and i'm now working 7:30-5pm and after 5 I'm not checking email at all. No work on weekends either. So far I haven't been able to really enjoy my evenings since this cold is wiping me out but I'm sure I'd be feeling worse with this cold if I wasn't getting the time I'm relaxing and sleeping. So it's all for the good. OH and Monday I walked for 40 minutes, last night I was in too much pain but I hope to get back to it tomorrow for sure.

Kicking myself for no picture and I actually stitched a bit :(

This weekend was tough emotionally. Things at work have been stressful for going on 8 months now. Things have been beyond stressful for the last 4 months. I burned out last summer after a similar time (May-July killed me and August was horrible) now I'm just repeating the same with Sep-Nov killing me.

So friday I went to "The Gathering" with my aunt, it's a quilt show and it was great, but I was stressed most of the time that I was not working. Friday night my fiance and I went out to dinner to celebrate him getting a job offer for next year - very exciting! And after that I decided to just give up for the night and read book 6 in the Sookie series.

Well saturday I was stressed since i hadn't worked and I had a bit of a breakdown. I remember having one last summer so I know I'm just repeating and need to start taking care of myself.

So Sunday in an effort to forget work my fiance and I played Civ 4 for most of the day/night. It was very distracting and fun.

Oh and saturday night around 8pm we popped in P&P and I got a few hours stitching time in on Bine's NRR! The house is now started, I think I'm almost to the roof. I'll try to get a picture shortly. I really need to get cracking on this one as time is running out for November! Yikes!

So I will get a pic soon, and hopefully I can work on it some more.

As for taking care of myself.. I'm talking to some people at work today to get some advice and as far as ME goes - I'm going to get home at a reasonable hour and run everyday. I'm going to go to yoga again and I'm gong to stop working weekends. I just can't do it all and the holidays are coming. I need to laugh it off and stop worrying about other people so much :(

No stitching last night....
because my books arrived from amazon! I read number 5 in the Sookie series - from 8pm-1am and some how still managed to rise this morning.

These books are so great. I also got the Fitzwilliam Darcy trilogy that I can't wait to start this weekend after I've finished all of the current Sookie books that are out.

More info on the sookie books (and others) can be found at my reading blog.

hmm.. it's tuesday, i have a ton of work to do - but all i can think about is reading.. not good!

Oh and I finally started some wedding planning. I won't post anything in this blog about it until I'm actually making things to show (such as flower girl dresses) but it will start taking a bit of free time to do the planning. So far we have a potential list of invitees... step 1!

A weekend away.

That's right, we finally left the house this past weekend :) A visit back home was in order, so we spent 80% of the weekend driving and the rest visiting :) I didn't get much stitching done, with allergy problems (every place we visited had pets and we're both allergic), i couldn't manage much.

I did do a LITTLE embroidery on block 8 of Leanne's BOM. Then last night I started on Bine's Neighborhood RR, I got 2 trees done and I'm ready to start the house now. I love that this one is layed out in a row of houses! I was actually hoping my SB&B order would arrive in time for me to stitch a new house I ordered but something is on hold so I had to move along without it. All well.

So all in all it was a fun if not tiring (due to allergies) weekend with some minor stitching. Next weekend we are staying home and Friday is the Gathering (quilt show) so I'm hoping to have a very inspired craft weekend!

Pictures!!

First here's the Shepherd's Purse, finished except for beading and initials:


And here are my first pair of curtains! They came out great! I can't believe I got them even along the bottom and everything. These are the largest curtains I have to make so they are the hardest too right?? :) I love this fabric!

The curtains didn't take long, maybe an hour and a half. I have fabric for the kitchen curtain and then I have to figure out what to do about my sewing room because it has 3 windows, so i'd need 8 yards of fabric - kind of a problem... unless I do three different curtains...

Next up on the list is either the kitchen curtain or the table cloth for the diningroom.

Note to self on curtains: The walking foot is your friend!

October Goal Recap:

1) Stitch Bine's NRR and mail [Nope] -I'm actually waiting for some charts I ordered from SB&B, they are taking particularly long to get here!
2) Finish piecing Leanne's block 9 [YES]
3) Sew the singer costume for other cousin [YES]
4) Start embroidery on block 8 [Not yet :(]

I did however stitch a new piece! Shepherd's Bush Purse, the stitching is complete and it's awaiting the beading!

November Goals:
1) Stitch Bine's NRR and mail
2) Start embroidery on block 8
3) Sew Curtains
4) Sew table cloth
5) Add beads to Shepherd's Purse