November wrap up

1) Finish block 3 of Leanne's Quilt [yes!]
2) Piece block 4 of Leanne's Quilt [yes!]
3) Finish all cross stitches on Peace and Quiet and work on backstitching [yes- finished completely!]
4) Make christmas tags and other gifts at craft party [yes!]
5) start something new! (it's about that time!) [Nope not yet but soon!]

I miss...

I miss quilting - I mean really quilting - working on my amish quilt that I was really smoking on last year and put away to finish a second machine quilted version as a gift :(

I miss knitting - I just can't fit enough hobbies in the day and knitting was the most expensive, I couldn't afford to buy enough yarn to do a sweater or anything fun so after I knitted myself with hats for last christmas I haven't touched it since (that's 11 months and counting with no knitting).

I miss scrapbooking - I really got on a kick and started a scrapbook to just be an embellished photo album, I have tons of stamps and accessories, used mostly for cards but I wish I had time to sit with my photos and make interesting pages up for my pictures, I've been a little better taking pictures but do nothing with them but collect right now.

I miss video games - zelda (on nintendo 64) is always there mocking me but I can't justify the time to sit and play even though I love it... and computer games ... when I do take a few hours I feel guilty afterward and always get a headache, I miss playing diablo for 8 hours straight in my dorm room!

I miss the sunshine - I know winter is just starting but I hate leaving work in the dark, I love the summer when I get up and it's light and I leave work and it's light out -- not dreary all day and dark by 4 :(

On the other hand.. because I limit myself on my hobbies things I don't have to miss and get to enjoy often:
Reading! Audiobooks (while driving). Stitching! Embroidery (not just lately but I do have a block ready to piece and start up next week).

I think I'm procrastinating working on something right now so my mind is drifting to all the things I'm not getting to do right now -- and with a test to study for I can't help but wish for more free time... oh and then there's the website I have to work on this december.. can't forget that!

Well a not very productive night just passed by - I didn't study, I didn't stitch - all I did was read - but I love my book (it's the 3rd of the Harper Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey Pern Series).

I did manage to get up this morning and run, not sure how since I can hardly walk but I'll leave those details to my other blog. Tonight is stitch night! I will only go for about an hour but I will work on Celtic Banner! I can't wait!

Sorry about the lack of picture updates - it's because of a lack of stitching - starting next week i'll be done with my class and back to regular programming - stitching :)

Not a stitch! But I guess that was to be expected. I got home earlier than I thought I would last night, ate some dinner with my bf, then went in to study.. then I remembered it was gilmore girls night- so I had to watch it, studying during commercials, then house came on -- ugg! Studying went out the door! If i was smart I would have given up on the studying and just stitched while watching the shows but I kept thinking I was going to study more.

10pm is now our bedtime so after house I just went to bed. My sore muscles thanked me and this morning I slept until after 7 - oops :) Tomorrow I can't do that as I have to get up and run, although I'm not sure how i'm going to run after my leg workout this afternoon. I'm going to be sore tomorrow!

Well grocery shopping tonight, cooking and studying. Maybe I'll try to get some stitching done, I really wanted to get that Y and Z finished before stitch night tomorrow - we'll see.

Class night - nothing special. I got homework 4 back and only got a 25/30 on it :( But homework 5 was relatively simple so I should get full credit and all I have left is my final next monday! Then I'm done... so study study this week!

I stitched before class - on Celtic Banner - I had the Y all finished and then realized I had messed up - had to take almost the whole thing out! I ripped it out and stitched a tiny bit, probably half way done with the Y now - what a bummer. My goal tonight and tomorrow night is to finish the Y and Z and be happy with that progress since I need to study. Thursday is stitch, I may go for like an hour, work on the border of the banner but then it's back to studying!

I got up and ran this morning - half an hour later than I had hoped so it's a late morning but that's to be expected in the beginning, just a week or two and I'll be up early no problem! More on my other blog :)

Not much else since stitching is lacking so. Starting next week though my class will be over!

Body For LIFE.

First - let me say I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving. We had a great one, lots of family activities, relatively quiet and relaxing, great food and even better pie :)

We got home early saturday and relaxed - played a good 7 hours or so of Civilization III together - basically when i get a migraine we stop :) And i was losing horribly and the computers were taking over my cities even with bf's help. We'll have to play more often during my off month from classes so i can brush up a bit!

Sunday was planning day - we planned our new diet and exercise routines, figured out all the food we needed and then went shopping. Got all the food and cooked it all. It was a long day but now we're set for the week (oh and i got homework done too). Then we put up the christmas tree!! This is the earliest I've ever put it up (I grew up putting it up the weekend before christmas if not christmas eve), but last year we didn't put it up at all so i'm making up for lost time!

For the diet details and the new way of life my boyfriend and I are starting - I have created a new blog to hopefully be updated daily (except on weekends just like this one).. My Body For LIFE And I'll keep it all there so I don't bore those here :)

And tonight I have class - I will get some Celtic Banner stitching in before class most likely, especially since my meals are all set and I won't need to do anything for those. My homework is done and all that's left is my final exam which is Next monday! Just a studying week for me!!!

I'm spoiled - I spoil myself.

I didn't do anything productive last night, I didn't bake pies and I didn't do homework. I decided I'd bake the pies while I was working from home today - since they are pretty much ready to go, I just have to take some time at lunch time to finish them and start the baking process. That's not so bad...
but I didn't do homework either. I watched Grey's Anatomy episodes online - very very bad :) I didn't even stitch, just watched. I think I can handle getting my work done in a "half day" (which is 6 hours) and taking some vacation time today so I can work on my homework a bit before going to pick up my brother and head out into the traffic to my uncle's house. But for now - it's time to get some work done before my meetings!

Class night.

It feels like I didn't get anything done last night but really I did. I stitched on Celtic Banner before class for 45 minutes, working on the border some. Then I had class, then when I got home I read, finishing the 2nd book of the Harper Trilogy (anne mccaffrey). That's good timing because with homework and then my final I need to have no book going to distract me. I need to focus :)

Tonight will be a long night, I have to work pretty late, then I need to bake 2 apple pies, then I have to work on homework and see if i can get most of that done. It does look like I might work from home tomorrow, which will save me almost 2 hours in driving with the traffic I anticipate tomorrow afternoon. I'll get more work done that way and not have the stress about needed to leave early to beat traffic!

Now it's time to go eat some leftovers from yesterdays feast - which was great!

A very stitchy weekend :)

Saturday while watching LOTR Fellowship and first half of Two Towers (all extended) I finished this:


Then Sunday while finishing the marathon I worked on Celtic Banner, I'm actually up to the letter X but I took a picture before scrolling:
Before the next Celtic Banner picture I have to finish the border around the next 7 letters I stitched and maybe start y and z. I'm very happy to be back to this piece and I plan to work on it before class today.

Saturday we also went to the Science museum to see Body Worlds 2 - really grossed me out when I really thought about it - but it was interesting I guess. Then we went to a nice lunch (this was all with my bf's family who came out). Sunday I got all my baking done for the thanksgiving feast at work today - I brought in 3 pies (apple, pumpkin and lemon meringue). Plus i mixed the filling for 2 more apple pies to bring home thursday - with the plan to make those pies tomorrow evening.

And today is the feast at work - we have 3 large turkeys being roasted right now and everyone brought in sides and deserts - we will eat and eat and eat :) Then next week we start the 12 days of pigging out that we do every year. But I will not be joining those festivities - I am starting a new exercise/diet regime next week - i'll write more about it tomorrow probably :) Off to check emails :)

Leanne's quilt won last night...
At my aunt's that is, I decided to continue working on block 4 - and i finished mini block 4 of it! So now just mini block 2 and block 4 will be complete!

Last night we had a nice dinner and then settled in to watch Paychex which was actually good (i didn't have high hopes) - but it was kind of predictable (really predictable, as in i was saying lines before they were said)... but enjoyable to stitch to.

A nice early day at work today - and i'll probably leave around 4 to get home and do some picking up before going to stitch. Then tomorrow after work I will clean the apartment top to bottom.. oh the joys :) It's been a long time coming.

Saturday will be a day in boston with my bf's family and sunday i will be baking pies for thanksgiving at work monday and for real thanksgiving as well. Mmmmm... hot chocolate - now i can focus on work :)

Work at work...


Yesterday was just a long meeting at work that we teleconned imto so I did a little embroidery. I finished mini blocks 1 and 3 and got a start on 4! It moves very fast but this is almost 5 hours of work too so it's not that fast :)

I didn't do any other stitching last night - I got home and listened to my audio book while baking and cooking, then watched House while I walked on the treadmill. Tonight I have both Leanne's quilt to embroider and Celtic Banner with me, I haven't decided what I'll work on at my aunt's :)

FINISHED!!!!!


Surprised myself with this one :)
where to start...

What a long weekend - Friday night I stayed up late and managed to finish my homework! It was great, Saturday I picked my brother and his gf up and headed back home for a family day of relaxing. We stayed until almost 10 and then drove back to the boston area.
Sunday I went to a craft party where I learned a bunch of new neat crafts as christmas gift ideas - it was great. Except the part where I got lost trying to get to Medford (I was in Medford and then I was in Sommerville??) Plus it was stormy out!
Sunday night I met an old friend for dinner in boston before going home (still raining).
Yesterday I had a migraine, it has been crazy with migraines lately so I decided to take the day off and try to recouperate. Well by lunch time I was feeling better so I did some stitching (hence the finish) but by 2pm the headache was back full on and tylenol was not working. Finally I took some excedrin migraine before my class last night.

The rest of the night was fine - I got my midterm back and got an A on it. I handed in homework number 4 so now I'm down to one last homework assignment (next week I'll get it) and then the final! Can't beat that!

So stitching wise I'm down to only a few WIPs - this is wierd for me. I'm going to make Celtic Banner my focus for a little while and try to get back into Peaceful Silhouette at work. Plus i have my Leanne's quilt blocks which take a lot of my stitching time.. speaking of which -number 5 arrived yesterday - wow there's a lot of embroidery!!! I still have 4 to embroider, I may try to start that today during a long meeting. Oh darn - i forgot my mac n cheese for lunch - shoot! Now i have to figure something else out!

Let the headaches begin - or continue anyway...

Well I left work at 4 like planned - and I got home, set up to do homework in the diningroom with my bf who was studying. This is the only time we've ever had both laptops on the diningroom table and all our work. Well homework did not go well - it is extremely confusing and hard. After 4 hours I have 3/9 questions done and they aren't 3 that needed real focus (they were the easy ones basically), I haven't answered any of the ones I spent time trying to figure out.

Well finally it was 9pm so I went in the bedroom to read a bit to see if that would help - I hear bf go in to the bathroom and then i hear a wierd noise - i'm sure bf is in the bathroom so it can't be him - what is that?? I run out and sure enough water is dripping onto our diningroom table from the fan above (with both of our computers and work spread out!).

Disaster averted - I quickly moved everything and bf ran upstairs to talk to neighbors - someone was in the shower so a pipe must have broken or something, so we called the landlord but at 9:30/10 there's nothing he's going to do. So we moved everything and set up towels to catch any residual dripping.

I had a horrible headache at this point and was horribly depressed about my hw not going well so I fell asleep reading more queueing theory. It looks like tonight it will be more of the same. I need to stop at the mall and get my sister a birthday gift (for tomorrow) and then back to working on this homework - i really need to get it almost done tonight as I just don't have time this weekend!

The worst part is that my headache started up again before I even got up this morning so it's going to be a long rough day!

Sometimes I have a night where I just do nothing - that was last night - I was sitting on the couch at my aunt's watching movies but no stitching happened - it was right next to me too... All well. Sometimes i'm just too tired.

Tonight is homework night, I absolutely must do homework all night (that means until bedtime) :) I can't wait for the weekend - even if i'll be driving 4 hours total saturday (out to NY and back) but still - it will be the weekend :)

I can't believe i've been here an hour already - I am definitely leaving work by 4pm today - absolutely!

Not much stitching - definitely not enough to show anything.

I didn't get home until 8 last night, and then didn't get to relaxing until 9 - when we finally remembered to turn House on. I stitched while watching House but really didn't get much done as I kept having to actually pay attention :) Then 10 the lights went off.. my life is so boring :)

And today I have to interview someone - I really don't enjoy doing that.. I hope he's a talker as I really don't have the energy to really question someone - and I hate starting days this way! Hopefully tonight I can leave before 7:30 at least...

Class night -- got some stitching done before class and then during the break and after class - here's where I'm at now:

It's getting very close - I think I can finish this up this month for sure. I have to stitch the two hanging towels (they will be the same blue fuzzy stuff as the blue one in the basket) and then backstitch the shelf/bottles and towel hanger as well as the words. But that's very close!
I'm hoping to finish this guy up and get right to speeding along on Celtic Banner - my friend is stitching along on it and is already done with the alphabet and more so I must get back to it :)

I have homework this week :( I think I will put it off to do both Thursday and Friday night and tonight I will do some reading in preperation for it as well as take the night for myself otherwise!

Finally some pictures - and lots of quilting this weekend ;)
Nothing from Friday - we went to the quilt show - which was amazing - so many of them were hand quilted! Awesome quilts. I bought a ton but it was all worth it. Then I went home and vegged, ending the evening with a migraine so I went to bed around 8 and slept for 12 hours straight.

Saturday was great, I worked on Leanne's Quilt Block 3 - finishing mini block 1 (applique and embroidery). As well as made this little ornament (from a kit I bought):

Sunday I finished the embroidery on block 3:


Then I continued with the quilting mood and pieced block 4! :


I decided against starting the embroidery as I was a little embroidered out and instead I finished the evening by working on Just a Little Peace and Quiet - finally starting the fuzzy towels and trying to get the backstitching done on one side so I can move the q-snap to the other side to finish the piece. I'll post a picture of that one tomorrow ;)

Ugg - i had to work later last night than planned, got home around 7 - missed the 2 trick-or-treaters we had :( But the night was nice, we watched Underworld - I've seen the second one (we own it) but never the first but now I want to re-watch them back to back - we couldn't do that last night but I have more backstory now. Of course knowing the second one we found some inconsistencies between the two - but it's still fun to watch and perfect for Halloween!

It was 9:30 after that, too late to start another movie so we watched an ER episode and I worked on getting all the applique pieces for block 3 ready. They are all cut out, starched and ironed, ready to start appliqueing tonight and I can't wait ;) Unfortunately there's so much i want to do - it's all been piling up, and i just don't have the time - yikes!

November Goals - and happy birthday to my sister - i must email her today!

1) Finish block 3 of Leanne's Quilt
2) Piece block 4 of Leanne's Quilt
3) Finish all cross stitches on Peace and Quiet and work on backstitching
4) Make christmas tags and other gifts at craft party
5) start something new! (it's about that time!)

I think I might be able to finish Peace and Quiet this month but i'd rather not, it would be more fun to start something new and finish it next month, we shall see :)