Some major happy dances!

First -- BUNNY GINGHAM - finished! 13 hours total:


Then an update on Pooh and Piglet:(10 hours):


And - Saturday's progress on the quilt!
Here is the progress I actually made:


And here is what it will look like when the border is on:


And my weekend update. Well Friday night I went to Target and pretty much finished my christmas shopping, only my brother is left and any stocking gifts I find for my mom, sister, brother or dad. Then I just got stuff done around the apartment so I could leave Saturday early.
Saturday I spent the day at my mom's (9 hours), in this time I had to take apart the two rows I had previously put together because they were sewn with more than a quarter inch seam (i didn't know this at the time), so starting over i managed to finally get all the lattice on by 8. Then I went to put the border on and oops... the stripes are going the opposite way than i thought, and i don't have enough fabric to do 6 inch borders like I want. So i cut as many 6 1/2 inch strips as I could and left it at that.. my next class is in a week and I can have my teacher help me figure out what to do and I can buy more border fabric.
So sunday I worked on the website, started quilting in the lattice and then my old car finally got towed off so I could get my errands done. After my boyfriend got home I stitched, cooked dinner and stitched some more :) I worked on Pooh then organized what project I was going to bring to work on at lunch today.

So the game plan is - work on Herbal Sampler except Mondays.. work on DD wisdom. So I have Wisdom to work on today and I brought the sampler so i can figure out what colors I still need so I can bring those in tomorrow.
Oh and today starts the 8 days of pigging out at work - where everyone at work brings food in 1 of 8 days (i'm bringing in a bit more because i like to), so i brought in gingerbread, next monday i'm going to bring in meatballs i think and maybe cupcakes too or those another day. Then maybe a day with cookies or brownies (or both). So I'm going to work now and then go hunt for food :)

Helping others...

I love to help. If you can tell by my posts, I tend to talk a lot about myself generally, I don't take over conversations or anything but I do love to talk. When someone else has a problem and comes to me however I really love to listen and help any way I can, even if by really listening I am helping, that alone gives me pleasure. I like to know a friendship is going both ways and when someone comes to me then I know they value me as a friend as much as I value them and that is very meaningful to me. I'm not one to have a lot of friends, I am not a large group person, I have a hard time in conversations in a group and mostly sit quietly and listen but one on one is more my thing. Really talking to a person and learning about them and sharing something of myself.

Anyhow - the message is - go listen to someone today :)

Back to normal : I survived! I babysat my 3 cousins and survived, not just survived but it went very well. I got them all to sleep and at one point I was sitting in their bed with the baby sleeping in my arms, the oldest next to me and the middle one intertwined in my legs, all kind of snoring. It was adorable. I held the baby the rest of the night as she's used to that and fusses if you put her down, especially since she had a bottle and this was the first time she took a bottle with no problems but it definately wasn't her mom if you know what I mean.
So now i'm pretty confident next Friday night will go well. I've learned a bit, it might be easier to try to get the baby to sleep first, even if she just takes a quick doze, then try the other 2 who could technically stay up till 7:30 and I had the baby almost asleep by then... if i start out feeding the baby she may sleep around 7 even. Even better if I can get her in the crib, my aunt and uncle said they're going to try putting her in the crib more this week to see if she can start to get used to it. By the way the kids are 5, 3 and 10months.

So that was my night. And yesterday at lunch - 7 letters done! That leaves only 5 letters left on bunny gingham and he'll be finished! I'm hoping to finish today and get a picture this weekend. He won't get washed since he has hand dyed threads but I haven't gotten a frame for him yet either. For now he'll wait. Alright - now I have work to do :)

Thursday is always Bagel Day!

I'm just waiting for the bagels to show up :)

Well I'd say I got some good stitching done yesterday. I got an hour in on Bunny Gingham at lunch - probably about 3 hours left before he's completely done. All i have left is 12 letters, the bunny itself is done. Then I want to sign it and add cocoa's name to it too.

Then 2 hours last night on the Winnie the Pooh piece. I outlined and started filling in his shirt after finishing his chin. I like this outlining technique for this piece, I think I will do this for the rest too, I outline looking at the pattern and then I can put the pattern away and fill in whenever I want.

I don't think I'll get stitching done tonight - maybe some reading, I'll be babysitting, I'm hoping to two oldest kids will be in bed after 7 and then I'll just have the baby who I'm hoping will sleep a bit after a feeding. I'm not counting on anything though. I would like to catch my show at 8 but it should be taping back home so if I miss it I can watch it this weekend.

Alright - stitching at work at lunch is working out real well. I have almost finished Bunny Gingham and possibly after tomorrow he will be done. So the question is what to do next at work. I will have quilting my quilt after this weekend available, but maybe I'll save that at home so I dont' have to lug the quilt here and risk it getting dirty. So it's time to pick a WIP to work on. I'm thinking one like my Herbal Sampler because there are lots of little things to do on it, small accomplishments, an herb here, a spoon here, a word there etc. That might be ideal.

Options I have:
Herbal Sampler - definate possibility
It's Winter - just the top banner left - boring!
Mystic Retreat Sampler - maybe later but no rush to finish this right now
Piece for boyfriend - too large for a work project
Pooh - for coworker so best worked on at home
Wisdom Dragon - maybe a good piece to also work on - alternate maybe?
Noah's Arc - maybe if I run out of other things (finish the herb sampler) - but there's no deadline anymore so i'm in no rush
I have a few others but I won't even consider them right now. So the decision is Herbal Sampler - and then DD Widsom dragon - I'll keep herbal sampler here, dragon will travel with me as my small piece and Pooh will be my focus piece when i'm not at work...
With all that then I have my quilt :)

I love not having the website full time anymore. I do have more work to do but 2 days/nights a week is enough and the rest of the time I can enjoy. YEA!
Bagels are here!

A nice busy day...

Well it should be, I have a lot of work I can do and I'm looking forward to finishing a few things for work, like a trade study.

Quilt class last night was great. We went over putting our quilt together (I've started but I was still timid about continuing and now I feel confident). Then we talked about machines - I would love to get a good machine with a walking foot, unfortunately they're expensive, maybe something I can start to save up towards, who knows.

I also found all the fabrics I may need for the amish quilt I want to do - I didn't buy them but they keep the colors in stock so when I decide which colors and how much I'll need I can get them. That's my next major quilt project, it's a gift and it will be machine pieced because there isn't much piecing, then it will be a lot of hand quilting which I'm looking forward to big time.

I also found some beautiful dragon fabric which I just had to buy so i got a yard and folded it up and put it on my bookcase like a runner. I'm not sure what to do with it exactly but I'll think of something some time. I also bought the last fabric I need for my quilt, the binding fabric which is just one of the fabrics I used already but needed more of for the binding. This maybe I can get cut and attached this weekend if I baste my borders down (otherwise I have to wait until after I get the quilting done which I should do - in case i have to square it up... but who needs squaring - it's a lap quilt :)

So I won't be home until Friday night now - Tonight I have my regular night at my aunt's, I will cross stitch most likely, then tomorrow night I'm babysitting for my other aunt and uncle. So Friday after work, I will be home, then maybe out to Target to finish up (yes FINISH) my christmas shopping. That's all that's left -one store. Then Saturday bright and early i'm heading to my mom's - then saturday night late it's back home so sunday i can be home for when they come pick up my car i'm donating.

So I'm packed - no gym time :( And I really need to start that up again next week big time! But I should have some cross stitch time -plus I always have lunch time to stitch :) Alright - work time :)

A picture of my last block. The next picture will be after most of the quilt is put together I hope - maybe monday.

Grandmother's Bouquet

Click for a larger picture

Well last night was productive again, feeling pretty good about that. I cooked up a few meals, tacos for dinner and leftovers, then some zesty herb chicken and white rice for lunches. After that I worked on the website for a good 2 hours, made some good progress and then when my boyfriend got home I just read the rest of the night while he watched some tv to unwind.

I'm reading "Crewel World" by Monica Ferris. I really want to read her series mostly because it takes place in a needlework shop, by a needlework shop owner. They are mysteries. And they keep your interest pretty well. From a more literary perspective however they are not great. If it was a movie I'd say the actors were acting too "forced" and not natural, that's the best way to describe it, it's not "subtle" when trying to get points across. But it's not horrible - and the plot is good enough to keep my interest plus they're SHORT - always a bonus since I have very little time to read these days.

Tonight is my quilt class which I'm very much looking forward to. I need to call my teacher and let her know i'm coming for sure due to the weather it was a bit iffy for everyone but I have a new Audi so I can handle a little snow :)

I'm getting so excited to put my quilt together this saturday, i really can't wait! I don't even know what to do in the meantime! What will I work on tomorrow night at my aunt's - I guess cross stitch, of course when I was quilting I wanted to be stitching, now that I can't quilt I want to ... that's the way life goes :)

Stitching Update:


9 hours progress


6 hours progress

That's right - I worked a bit on Bunny Gingham and Pooh I picked up again last night to get more of his face done. I really want to get Pooh himself done because I know how boring he gets!

Weekend update:
Well - this weekend was pretty productive. Not really friday night so much, but Saturday I went to the dealership and got extra keys, then went to Joann's and bought some more christmas stuff. Then home to clean before my sister and her boyfriend showed up. We chatted when they arrived and then went out to dinner in boston when my boyfriend got home. We walked around boston a bit and were home around 10.
Sunday i made breakfast and after my sister and her boyfriend left I spent a while finishing my quilt block and then cutting all the 3 1/2" strips for the lattice that I can't attach until I have a machine -- hopefully this weekend I can go to my mom's and use hers. I'd like to get the lattice and border on so that I can start quilting inside it. My mom also has some stencils i might use - i haven't totally decided. Probably this Tuesday at class i'll talk to my teacher about it and decide.

So after finishing what I could with my quilt, I worked on the website and watched movies. My boyfriend didn't get home till late so we just watched the end of a movie together while I did some stitching (hence the Pooh update above). Tonight will be more of the same (website and stitching hopefully), but i want to squeeze in the gym as well. Tuesday is my class, then wednesday and thursday are nights at my uncles' houses (thursday babysitting). Busy week for sure :)

I haven't taken quilt pictures yet, maybe tonight I'll do that and update tomorrow with the last block. Now I have some work to get done before my eye doctor appt today.

Stitch Night!

Last night was great - no gym because I got home a bit too late and still had to take out the garbage and fold laundry before leaving. But I made it on time to stitch night and worked on the Winnie the Pooh piece for about 2 hours. I'll update a pic maybe on monday after I scan it in. I also bought some goodies to send to my RR group.

When I got home my BF wanted to just hang out and watch tv together, so while he finished some reading, I read for a bit before watching tv. Mostly I just went to bed. But it's nice to hang out since we rarely have time together and now exams are coming up so it will be even less.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, I have some work on the website to do, but nothing major so I don't have to stress. I have presents to wrap, a trip to the Audi dealer to get some new keys for my new car, a trip to Joann's maybe on Saturday with their one day sale, i have a 50% off coupon and a 20 dollar gift certificate from using my credit card a lot. Probably have more gift certs coming soon too.

My sister is coming saturday night with her boyfriend, I'm hoping we can go out to dinner and something else after that in Boston. Then sunday I hope to have time to relax, work on my quilt (need to quilt block 5 big time) and cross stitch :)
So for now - i'll go get my hot chocolate and work a bit :)

Well no quilting last night :) But I did stitch a bit. I got the stitching on the flower in front of Pooh done, but the backstitching really needs to be done before it looks like much so I must do the bee first, then backstitch the bee and flower and then I'll do a scan... Maybe this weekend if I have time.

Last night was fun, we watched the tribute to George Harrison which was great, except for the PBS interruptions asking for donations. No problem except the interruption lasted about 30 minutes each time.

Stitch night tonight!! I am going to bring bunny gingham, but I may work on Pooh instead. Most likely I'll work on bunny gingham for an hour (to make up last month's missed hour), then work on Pooh. I also have some things in mind I want to buy so I will need some browsing time.

I may even make it to the gym before stitch night - that would be neat. I will bring clothes to change into and head to stitch night right from the gym. I just need to make sure there's some food avaible for my boyfriend, I tend to leave the fridge quite empty when I'm gone.
Well it's hot chocolate time, the tummy is a growlin!

Ah Christmas Shopping...

That's right - online is a wonderful thing! I have gotten a ton of presents online, now I only have:
My dad
my brother (know what i'm getting him just have to get it)
My sister's boyfriend
One Aunt left
One Uncle left
My boyfriend (have a few things for him
My boyfriend's family -- waiting for his input on these gifts.

That's not bad since it's only Dec. 1st Most importantly i got my grandparents done, all the children in the family, my mom and sister.
Plus - i haven't paid a dime of shipping at all! After today i will have paid $1 shipping - that's it!

So - last night I actually made it to the gym! 2 miles on the treadmill before coming home to watch my show and work on the website for 2 hours. Not an unproductive night that's for sure. And I finished quilting block number 6 - in time for my november goals even ;) I do have a pic of that too...

Click for a larger image
So only one block left to go and I have until Tuesday to finish the Applique and Quilting. I'm hoping tonight to finish the applique actually. Then i have this weekend to work on the quilting which isn't much. I'm not exactly sure what i'm going to do yet, but whatever it is I may need my quarter inch quilting tape which i LOST - i needed it last night too but i made do. I don't know where I left it the bugger!
Well almost lunch time - I will enjoy a nice lunch hour with some quilting (applique) and some leftover rigatoni and meatballs... then back to shopping, err, umm , work.

Stitching and Learning
Do you know it all or is there something out in the stitching world you still want to know how to do?

No I don't know it all - and I'm sure there's more out there I want to know how to do - but I'm content for now because I'm too busy! I would love some day to be able to knit sweaters (or knit at all), and also sewing in general I'd love, sewing clothes and stuff. That may come when I actually have a sewing machine that sews :)

I couldn't resist - i'm doing my monthly to do list early but changing the date...

December Goals:

1) Work on Herb blocks - adding borders
2) Finish Block 5 Applique and Quilt
3) Piece Row 3 together (block 5 and 6)
4) Piece all 3 rows together with Lattice
5) Put on outside Lattice and Border
6) Start quilting Lattice and Border of Quilt

7) Work on Winnie the Pooh pattern
8) Work on Bunny Gingham 2 hours
9) Start Shepherd's Bush RR piece April

I guess that's it, hopefully I can do more but I don't want to set my hopes too high with the holidays and the website still needing updates.

November Goals:Quilting:
1) Finish Quilt block 3 DONE
2) Start and finish quilt block 4 DONE
3) Start and finish quilt block 6 DONE
4) Start quilt block 5 MET GOAL
5) Appliquet basket quilt (at retreat) DONE
6) Put border on basket quilt DONE
7) Start piecing herb blocks for fall quilt MET GOAL

Stitching:
1) Start and Finish April SB for RR NOPE - not due now till Jan. 1st
2) Start Winnie the Pooh for friend's baby MET GOAL
3) Stitcher's Hideaway piece MET GOAL - worked during retreat
4) Bunny Gingham 2 hours (one stitch night) 1 hour (no stitch night)
5) DD SAL sunday work on NOPE

Non Stitching:
1) pick out a car i want (online) DONE
2) visit dealership about car DONE - got car!!!
3) FINISH WEBSITE DONE- site is live at least
4) start next website for other job Haven't heard back

Not bad at all - I did very well this month - stitching goals, not so great, but great on quilting and non-stitching goals :)

I have a new car!!!
Only problem is I forgot to put my e-zpass in it, and I didn't know I forgot until I went through :) But I paid the whole amount and I'll save the receipt in case I get something in the mail.

Last night was awesome - after getting my car I cooked dinner then settled in to watch a movie and cross stitch! It really was great, I worked more on the Pooh design and got the stem of the flower done and the flower started. No actual Pooh stitching done yet - but will do soon. I also basted all the leaf petals for block 5 of my quilt so they are ready to applique when I have time.

Without further ado - pictures!


Progress of block 5 - click for larger image. The flowers are pieced together then the whole thing is appliquetted (?sp) on.


Click for larger image. This is a row complete with the lattice fabric. When I get more done I'll take pics of the back fabrics as well... I'm not sure when I can work on this again since I have no machine with a walking foot but hopefully a weekend home soon.


The other row I put together. So the last row will be block 5 and 6 which aren't finished yet.

Well - i'm going to go over my month goals quick, i can always edit them if i get something more finished tonight.

Ah - a great long weekend - and it really was!

Wednesday night was not fun - we went to the dealership and I test drove the Audi - and put a deposit down because it's perfect for me. Then we started the LONG drive home in traffic. Finally HOURS later we got home, my boyfriend went to his parent's for dinner and then out with friends. I visited my parents and then cross stitched on Bunny Gingham a bit before going to bed.

Thursday we relaxed, ate food (lots of food :) and then at night we played Battlefield Vietnam of course :) Friday we hung out with family, played with the cousins most of the day, I taught my 5 and 3 yr old cousins how to "sew" a little quilt together, really it was four pieces of fabric each, sewn together into a small 5x5 square that they called a quilt. It was fun though. Then we went to my boyfriend's parent's house for dinner, then back to my parent's where I worked on my quilt while most everyone watched a movie.

So the Quilt as you go quilt is starting to go together, i can't work on it again until I visit home again because I need a machine with a walking foot and I don't have one :) But I have two rows put together so I see how the process works now. I will update with pictures real soon I promise.

We headed back home saturday morning and stopped by walmart to pick out a fake christmas tree. Then I cleaned the apartment top to bottom, then I decorated for christmas and we put up the tree (which is a process in itself!). I miss having a real tree but the mess it makes and the watering of the tree isn't practical right now. Then I worked on the website for the rest of the night.

Sunday - I went and paid for my car, worked on the website, cooked dinner (pork tenderloin) and quilted! I go the flowers appliquetted onto block 5 - the only thing left is the leaves, then it can be quilted. Then I started the Winnie the Pooh piece for my coworker having a baby in February. I only worked on that for a half hour because I had to work on the website more but now it's started at least.

So -- coming are pictures: - bunny gingham updated, - quilt blocks put together, - block 5 progress, - block 5 finished whenever i do finish it.

Today at some point soon I need to go to the insurance company and pay for my new car. Then tonight - i get home around 6, hopefully soon after we can go get my new car! Then I will probably take the night off from the website and just work on my quilt and cross stitch. The website I can do tomorrow after I go to the gym. (No gym tonight because i'm getting the car and cooking dinner).

So now it's time to work and figure out when the insurance company is open around lunch!

6 more days of November to go and my ToDo list isn't complete... quilting wise i think i'll make it, but cross stitch wise I've done almost nothing except the retreat piece from Mystic!

So after getting back on Sunday while working on the website, depending on how far along my quilt blocks are I want to start the winnie the pooh piece. And maybe fit in my 2 hours on bunny gingham, poor neglected bunny gingham.

My RR isn't starting Dec. 1st so that one doesn't need to be done - it actually starts january 1st most likely - so that will be moved to a december goal.

So car update ***

There is an Audi possibility in my price ranged - used obviously, but i'm going to go test drive it tonight and see if there's anything wrong with it. I won't make a decision probably until next Sunday when i'm back, but who knows - something to look at for sure, of course buying used is always riskier but I need to get what i can afford and subaru is throwing me for a loop trying to get a color i like (and i like 3 of the colors, not just 1).

So wish me luck with that - now just one work day to get through and i'm going home for thanksgiving!

Hand-dyed fabrics - love 'em or hate 'em? If you love them, what kind/colours do you have?

I love em! I am in the Silkweavers fabric of the month club and get one large 28 or 32ct piece a month and so far have not been disappointed! I may switch it up in a few months to get small pieces but this is great. The large pieces i've gotten i even have planned out mostly for projects.

Now due to how busy i am and lack of stitching i haven't actually used much but what i have used i've loved and I've used my own hand dyed fabric too!

-- Update on today - a bit of stitching at lunch - i took out my It's Winter by Sue Hillis WIP and did a row of blue, all that's left is the top banner and it's going to take a long time but maybe by april i can have this finished ;)

Alright back to having no car - I got my deposit back too. I have another dealership to call and see if they can get me the same car with no extra fees... ho hum! This is a long annoying process.

BUT _ it's almost thanksgiving!!! Only 2 days of work to get through and then a nice long 4 day weekend with great food.

Last night was boring - i worked pretty late, then cooked dinner and worked on the website until bedtime. I'm guessing today will be about the same but today i hope to at least get a lot of work done, yesterday was full of distractions.

I'm really looking forward to thanksgiving - thursday we'll spend the day cooking and quilting, and then dinner, then thursday night late we're going to play computer games (battlefield vietnam)... then friday hopefully more quilting and playing with the kids, then saturday quilt more? and head home to clean so sunday can be spent working on the website and quilting. I haven't stressed about the amount of quilting because i knew this weekend was coming and i will have more time than usual.

So my goal for this 4 day weekend:

- Finish quilting block 6 (just have to do something in the 4 corners i believe)
- Finish piecing the flower to appliquet
- Start adding sashing to a few blocks
- Wash and cut fabric for block 5
- Appliquet flower onto fabric (block 5)
I won't set more goals than that - who knows how long the sashing part is going to take but i will have the machine and i can leave the back of the sashing open until the next week.

So that would leave me a full week (including a weekend) to quilt block 5 and finish as much sashing as possible before the next class where I hopefully will then learn how to do the border and outside sashing. Then i will have to visit home before the last class to finish that part and put on a binding = or save that until after the class ends. Either way i really want to FINISH this quilt this year! And with cross stitch so on hold maybe i can.

Speaking of cross stitch - i must start the winnie the pooh soon - it's my only time challenge piece and i'm not sure if january alone is enough time... oh yea and my RR to be mailed Jan 1st - i wonder if that's still on??

Well I kinda bought a car :) I didn't get the demo car - the sales person and the sales manager were extremely rude and we ended up leaving with an offer for 16,000 on the table but the rudeness was too much.

So Saturday after I worked on the website and the site went live, we drove up to Danvers to another dealer. A much nicer saleman, he didn't have a car on the lot but could get me one and gave me a price. At the same time my uncle went to a dealer near him and got the exact same price, also no car on the lot. Then we went up to my uncle's for the night.

So saturday night we played with the kids then played some Battlefield Vietnam until midnight - awesome game! Then Sunday got up early and headed home. On the way we did some much needed grocery shopping and then I cleaned up a bit before my bf's study group came over. While they were there I quilted mostly, and cleaned some more - no vacuuming got done but the bathroom/kitchen got cleaned and the livingroom picked up. Dusting and vacuuming still needs to happen at some point, maybe we'll come home kinda early next saturday and i'll do it then.

So then last night i dealt with the dealer some more and got the price down to 16800 for a new one, in the color i want (it's grey), and i put down a deposit. They are now going to get the car, and Tuesday night i'll go up and sign the paperwork. It is possible the car my be ready by wednesday night but i'm not counting on it and i think i will wait until next sunday to go get it when i can look it over in daylight before taking it.

So i do have a car - unfortunately they won't take my car as a trade in due to the high miles (150,000). So i'm either going to donate it or sell it real cheap (like 500 or something). Trade in value is around 800 but obviously they won't take it :) And it runs great - so i don't feel bad about selling it, however a tax break would be helpful and might be more worth it.

The website - it's live - and working, i spent a bunch of time last night working on some small things and things are running well, orders coming in etc. There's a list of things that i need to do tonight and the list of things that need to get done eventually still. I'm just glad it's still running :)

That's my update from the long weekend - that felt short :)

I'm gonna buy a car!!!! :)

Maybe even tonight - we'll see. I'm so excited - last night I test drove the 2005 Impreza, it was a demo car and had 4000 miles on it - and I might even buy that exact one if i can get a real deal on it. If i go for an automatic i'm going to spend a bit more (at least 800 more) but i should consider it because standards are horrible to have in traffic jams which i hit every friday during the summer.

So i'm ready to haggle and i'm excited to do it. My uncle gave me a list of things to make sure i have done before picking up the car, so i won't exactly be driving home my new car when i buy it but hopefully before next week. It's kind of like a game to me - i'm in it because it's fun to haggle and win the game :)

Other news::: the website is going live this weekend - hopefully without incident! Then maybe i can get paid and start my christmas shopping and finish my shopping early! Unfortunately i'm not getting paid in time to use it for a downpayment on a car but i have some money to make a payment and if it almost wipes me out it's not a big deal because i won't have other bills due until after i get a check. I didn't want to ask to get paid until after we went live alright so i really need it to work out this weekend :)

So this weekend looks busy :
Tonight - maybe buying a car :) Then home to either relax or work on the website
Tomorrow - work on the website - go live and update the website - keeping open a possible trip to the dealership if needed
- Clean the apartment big time! Not going to do this until after the website is set up, then i will clean while the transition happens and check on things.
Tomorrow night - maybe quilt??
Sunday - work on website if needed - quilt - stitch - organize, the things I love - enjoy my weekend home :)

My goal is to pick up new car monday or tuesday night - not before, that way i can try to get them to do any detailing and stuff needed. OOooohhh so exciting :)
Well - back to work...

Thursday - Bowling!

Work ends at 3 today and we're all heading over to go bowling and eat pizza until 5. Should be fun - this is not real bowling, this is candlepin? bowling - not my normal thing - and i have no idea what it really is but we'll see, should be fun.

Last night was relaxing - after a day of eating - dealing with a bit of a stomach ache and giving up eating, i had a nice meal at my aunt's and then worked on my quilt. I got my templates cut out of freezer paper and my fabric washed then i worked on quilting my Churndash. This is coming along nicely. Then I went to bed.

Tonight after bowling I'm going to the Subaru dealership to look at cars- Impreza to be exact. I'm actually looking to get a new car because the price doesn't drop that much when driven off the lot on this type of car. Basically it's cheaper for me to get a new one than a used one.

After that - I will go home and work on the website - i MUST! This weekend we have to go live and that's that! So Thur, Fri and Sat are devoted to website work. Saturday will also be time to clean the apartment big time, and thur and fri i will go to the dealership after work hopefully to be buying a car. Speaking of which I can NOT forget to call my bank today or head over in person at lunch.

It sure feels like friday - which is wierd because it's technically only my third day here this week. Next week I will only be here three days.. this month is surely spoiling, how on earth will i get by in December working whole weeks until Christmas!!!
Alright - i'm off to call the bank and email my sister :)

Quilt class...

Well I made it through the work day yesterday - some oatmeal at lunch gave me a bit more energy and I only got a stomach ache at the end of the day. Then I went to my class and learned how to do the applique block (my last block) - and we have 3 weeks before our next class. In that time I want to finish all 6 blocks and square them up. To piece them with lattice our teacher advises to use a sewing machine with a walking foot (of course i don't have one but my mom does) -- so maybe over thanksgiving i can get started on this process and then maybe over christmas or before go home for a weekend and finish the lattice so i can learn how to put on the outside lattice and border.

The teacher also squared up 2 of my blocks and let me borrow her 12x12 inch ruler to square the rest when i finish.
Tonight I must:
-wash new fabrics (2 lattice fabrics and striped fabric for border!)
-cut templates for last block
-cut freezer paper for last block (21 hexagons and 6 leaves)

Then I may start quilting my Churndash and leave the applique to this weekend. I'd like to get the other 5 finished and squared so that the last block if it's finished just in time for class can be squared there when returning the ruler. I also want to start the lattice piecing over thanksgiving next week - since i'll have a machine available to do it - and that way i can bring that in and make sure i'm doing it right.

Well - tomorrow night i'm going to a car dealership to maybe test drive the car i like - if i like any :) I'm looking at 2003/2004 Subaru Impreza models. Not real interested in the WRX just the regular Impreza. So tomorrow I go look - see if i like the dealership etc. Then I can go back on saturday to negotiate a price if i like anything. If not i'll go somewhere else on saturday. I'm pretty sure i want a subaru but if i don't like dealing with them i'll leave and pick something else for sure. Plus there are dealerships real close to me that i could always go to, i'm just not going there first because of the inflated prices being close to the city.

So hopefully i will have a car in early december! I also need to go to my bank and find out my interest rate for my loan and deposit some more money.
So that's my update - now the headache is coming back !! Time for tylenol my new friend :)

I'm back - not as chipper as I was when i left but managing!

Well the Retreat was AWESOME! I got a lot done - not as much as I wanted because the drunkard's path block took me 12 hours JUST TO PIECE! Not including quilting which didn't take that long! So about 24 hours of quilting time later I will go over my checklist and see how I did :)

But to note - now i'm sick! Sunday night I came home and was sick - stomach bug type thing - all night, all day monday (took the day off of work), and today i'm dehydrated but not so sick so i came to work. I have my quilt class tonight that i'm hoping i can save energy for so i'm trying to eat a bit here and there but the thought of food does bad things to my tummy! So - POUT! I hate being sick. But back to the good stuff:

Checklist for quilt retreat remembered
- Finish the what will be already started block 4 [4 small spots left to quilt but almost there :)]
- Start block 6 which i need to pick out and "design" (dimension wise) [PIECED!!]
- Appliquet basket quilt [DONE]
- Put border on basket quilt [DONE]
Maybe's:
- start quilting basket quilt [NOPE]
- start quilting scenic quilt (wip) [NOPE]
- cut and piece blocks for herb fall quilt [STARTED]
- cut and sew border on embroidery castle [NOPE]

So like i said, not as much as i was hoping but that's block 4's fault big time. So now I have some piccies :)

Block 4 almost finished (will update pic when fully finished and basting taken out):

Click for larger image.

Block 6 pieced:

Click for larger image.

Basket Quilt Top finished:

Click for larger image.

Maple Leaf Block for Retreat quilt that was raffled off:

Click for larger image.

Herb Block - started putting mitered border on - hand pieced.

Click for larger image.

So that's it - that's my progress. I did bring my block 4 to work so at lunch (which is soon) i can finish the quilting in the corners for class tonight. I will also baste block 6 so it's ready to quilt.

Uck - my tummy is churning - must go pout and maybe i be going home early today...

Hour and half left of work -- and 19 hours to go till I leave!!!

Sorry i couldnt' resist - i'm bored... reading documents is not fun and i can't get my mind off the retreat. Of course I'm also going to joanns in less than 2 hours so i have that to look forward to now that i know there's a SALE today!!

Yikes - what can i do right now????????

Oh yea - new idea -
next week i'm going to bring my cross stitch to work and stitch for an hour at lunch time! That means i will work till 5 every day but that's not too bad - with a break to stitch, and i may make some progress - except after Tuesday it will be quilting progress but STILL!! Hehehehehe that's something more to look forward to! Alright my jumpy excitement is showing in '!' marks. I best go find something to do!

1 more day!! One Day More... (hehe - from musical Les Mis)

Anyway ! Last night was very relaxing, we went out to dinner at Picadilly Pub because my cousin had a birthday party. Then I just worked on my quilt a bit... got 3 more curved seams done and another straight seam. Let's see that makes:
- 11 curved seams
- 22 straight (3") seams
Left to do (2 straight finished and 5 curved finished)
Let me just add that I HATE curved seams and will never do another Drunkard's Path again. This is brutal! Luckily after this weekend it should be done, maybe block 6 done too and that leaves one last block which is appliquet and i like appliquet :) Then begins the putting together of the quilt.

So today - a new task has been added to the normally boring schedule. I need to go to Joanns and buy thread (sewing and quilting thread). Plus a silent auction item for the retreat. So after work i'll go to Joanns then a CVS if i can, then home, prepare dinner, go to the gym, come home cook dinner then work on the website. I'll leave packing to the morning - maybe CVS to the morning as well since it's down the road.

Oh yea and OC is on tonight - can't miss it :) I missed the first 20 min last week! I had it taping but the vcr got knocked and turned off the timer so it didn't tape at all. And that was the night i got home real late from work. So - since i don't have it ready to tape i'll have to get back from the gym before 8 :)
Alright i must go review a document - that's what my day is full of but i'm leaving at 3:30!!!

Yesterday was boring! And unfortunately today may be the same.

Plus it's getting harder to get up early in the mornings, partly because the heat was kicking on at 5 and waking me up so by 6 i wanted to sleep more.

I followed my plan yesterday and that makes day 2 at the gym. No gym today since i'll be at my aunt's but tomorrow i'll go again. Tonight is quilt night - work on piecing my block together some more! I really do not like the curved seams and won't be making a quilt out of blocks like this again!

Yea yea yea - 2 work days left to go and then retreat time again! Even better is that next week is my only full week of work this month due to thanksgiving the week after! Yippeee!
Alright - I need some hot chocolate!

SNOW??!!?!?!

I got to work - and there's a bit of snow on the ground here... or is it really really heavy frost?? I come from upstate NY so i know what frost generally looks like so i'm thinking this is snow - none out by me but here at work - yes a tad bit of snow - say it ain't so! hehe

Anyway - well i'm in a routine that i hope i can follow again today. Home from work - prepare dinner (actually put it in oven and bf got home from gym and watched it while i went to gym). Then grocery shopping real quick after gym, then dinner, then clean up then work on website, then read - fell asleep reading, woke up - went to bed :)

So subtract the grocery store and i think today will be the same.

work yesterday wasn't bad. WE went out to lunch as an office - then had a meeting in the afternoon so pretty much the day went okay. Today i won't be so lucky i'm afraid but maybe i'll stitch at lunch time or something. If i take an hour break i can still leave at 4:30 so that's my schedule--- get to the gym by 6 - home by 7 and website by 8 (8-10) then read till i sleep. Okay enough boring stuff - off to read the message board.

I'm BACK!!! And I do have a picture :)

Stupid me - forgot to bring my camera!!! I can't believe it! BUT i had a blast and I really mean it. Jeanette Douglas taught the class and she was a blast, a great teacher, very relaxed and so much fun. We worked on the sampler in class for about 11 hours over 2 days, plus i worked on breaks and in the evening. So my progress pic is about 16 hours of work (rough estimate):


Click image for larger version.

So - LONG STORY:
Thursday night i worked until 8pm! I missed my stitch night :( but had work obligations and got them done. Then home to pack and relax, but before i got home someone from work called with another problem! Took care of it and then relaxed. Friday I drove down to the retreat met up with my roommate who I got along with wonderfully and had a great time with. I'm looking forward to doing the Sturbridge retreat with her in July of next year! Then we had class, then lunch, then class, then fun time. We got TONS of free stuff, patterns, kits, floss, lots of neat stuff. Plus I bought some stuff at the shop that set up.
Saturday it was more of the same, class, lunch, class, dinner, show and tell then relax stitching. Sunday my roommate and i went out to breakfast before leaving.

Then I went to my sister's and gave her her birthday presents, then showed her all my stitching stuff and stayed till after dinner. Then home to see BF and show more stitching stuff. Then i just layed in bed for 3 hours doing nothing, not sleeping or anything, just unraveling i guess you could say. Then I read before bed, came to work and the day begins ;)

So this week is packed - i haven't heard from my uncle about babysitting this week so i know for sure that wednesday i'm visiting my other uncle, mon and tue and thur i'm working on the website, then friday it's off to the quilting retreat and i won't be home until late sunday unlike this past weekend. But i will hopefully get a ton done on my quilts including the block for my class that i've put off. I did however do 2 curved seams and then one straight to put them together.

Well i'm losing steam - told my weekend story a lot and still have to email my mom about it. I should wait till after lunch for that i think. I really am still excited but i'm also tired and worn out from a long weekend of concentrating. I will remember my camera this coming weekend for sure!

HEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHE -- It's FRIDAY!!!

Well not really - but it kinda is for me -- since I have tomorrow off to go to Stitcher's Hideaway!!!!

Seriously today is a GREAT day. I've been at work 2 hours, gotten my document FINISHED, waiting to merge it and discuss it. Then I have some database stuff to do mostly today and then I leave at 5 - and go to my stitch night! I need to fit in a trip to Best Buy if i can.

Yipee! I can't contain my excitement. Tonight will be great, stitching for a few hours, buying some new specialty threads I need, then going home to pack pack pack! I won't be blogging until Monday probably - but i will have a nice long blog then :)

Last night was nice and relaxing - i didn't get out of work until REAL late - the latest for me 6 i think (which is 11 hours of straight working with no breaks). Then helped my aunt finish up dinner, ate, and then I quilted a bit - just doing some extra quilting on block 3 that my instructor suggested. I didn't start block 4 yet - maybe tonight i'll cut a few pieces so i have them with me this weekend in case I get free time :)

By 9:30 i was wiped and went to bed. Hopefully that won't happen tonight :) - alright back to work - must contain this bubbling excitement for a few more hours - 7 to be exact!

Alright - a not so good picture, i went out to my car and took a pic of my block 3 the Lemoyne Star:



Oh boy - hours still to go in the day - A horrible day in my mind - i need more candy...

Well things are not looking good from my vantage point. I can't believe 11 states (or something like that) voted to ban gay marriage. I really can't even say more than that - I'm just aghast - this is the 21st century... I will stop, i'm just getting mad!

Anyway--

So quilt class last night - due to the Democratic whatever last night the traffic was HORRIBLE and i was a half hour late. I didn't miss much though and we learned how to do the curved seams that we need for the Drunkard's Path - block 4, which is 16 curved seams, then 14 straight seams to finish. It's going to be a time consuming one and i have no time right now - luckily next weekend will be the quilting retreat and that will hopefully be plenty of time to finish it! Plus i can start it tonight at my aunt's!

When i got home i watched Coyote Ugly on USA, flipping to the results during commercials. Then i watched Gilmore Girls which i had taped - oh boy - that show is going for the glory this season! Then i went to bed - at midnight - this is the latest i've stayed up on a work night in a long time. I still managed to get up at 6 though while BF checked the "results", i showered, the results are not in - but neither of us are optimistic and things look bad.

UGGG - okay - keeping mind on other things - tomorrow will be tough to get through at work because after work i need to stop at best buy and get my sister's birthday gift, then go home, eat something quick, then go to stitch night and work on Bunny Gingham. Then pack for the retreat and leave in the morning!!! Man i can't wait! Oh yea i wanted to bake something too - that's okay i can stay up late tomorrow night since i can sleep in until 7:30. Which reminds me i still need to print directions for the weekend.

Well i best start getting work done - i've been having fun playing with the database but i need to get back to the document now!

I don't know how!

Somehow I managed to finish quilt block 3 last night! The spirals only took me an hour and a half. YEA!!! I was going to bring my laptop to work and take a pic and post it today - and also get work done on the laptop - but no i forgot it! It's packed up and sitting by the door even!

The website however is giving me all sorts of problems. All of a sudden it's not working at all - not showing up, the files are there, there's no errors, but it's blank. I have tried numerous things to fix it and i'm at a loss. Today along with the many things i have to do i will start searching the net for help with this problem.

Today is so packed - i haven't been to the gym in a week and i'm feeling it but i won't have time to go until thursday. Today after work i have to get gas, go vote, try to eat something real quick for dinner, then go to my quilt class. Possibly after that stop and pick up some milk because DBF left the fridge door open a smudge and everything was warm this morning - i'm not mad though because i did the same thing soon after i moved in when i was living by myself, the fridge doesn't close easily. So the milk/eggs/turkey are definately bad. The leftovers i put in last night are probably fine because they were probably warm to begin with. water, pudding snacks, potatoes probably fine. Lettuce and tomatoe i might as well get rid of - since there's not turkey he doesn't need that anyway so when i buy one i'll buy all three again. condiments are probably mostly fine.

The real loss would have been the freezer (which i have also done before) but luckily not repeated. That's a lot to lose. Well i'm off to get some work done.

There isn't enough awareness out there for Independent Candidates:

I support Harry Braun for President 2004!

November Goals:

Quilting:
1) Finish Quilt block 3
2) Start and finish quilt block 4
3) Start and finish quilt block 6
4) Start quilt block 5
5) Appliquet basket quilt (at retreat)
6) Put border on basket quilt
7) Start piecing herb blocks for fall quilt

Stitching:
1) Start and Finish April SB for RR
2) Start Winnie the Pooh for friend's baby
3) Stitcher's Hideaway piece
4) Bunny Gingham 2 hours (one stitch night)
5) DD SAL sunday work on Wisdom

That's it for my to do list which is huge due to the quilting retreat. Unfortunately due to the website in order to make these goals i need to really stay on task and get things done.

Non Stitching:
1) pick out a car i want (online)
2) visit dealership about car
3) FINISH WEBSITE
4) start next website for other job

How did i do???

October Goals (stitching and other)

Stitching:

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

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

Pictures and more!!

First as promised, here are some updated pictures.

True Blue Friends finished:


And Bunny Gingham progress 6 hours:


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

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

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

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

Alas no pictures -

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are you working on right now?

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

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

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

True Blue Friends is finished.

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

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

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

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

Hehehehe, tonight is a quilting night :)

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

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

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

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

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

A VERY BUSY WEEK!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Progress of Bunny Gingham:


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

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

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

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

Well it was a baseball night for sure...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well work is turning out to be busy...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

heheheeh... I have pictures :)

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



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

And block 2:


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

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

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

On A roll - and here comes the weekend!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some good news...

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

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

Last Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life just doesn't slow down.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yea it's finished - and ANOTHER weekend blog.

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


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

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

So far so good!

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

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

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

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

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

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

As Promised:

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

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

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

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

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

GOAL

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

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