Quilt Night at Fabric Corner.

Last night I went to my fabric store for our monthly get together where everyone shows off what they are working on and asks for advice. They're were some amazing pieces for sure! Then I did some shopping, buying fabric for my amish quilt, i went with some unexpected to me colors that my teacher actually picked out, i have 4 colors instead of 3 and I'm not sure what the main center color will be yet so I bought two possibilities. So tonight I can wash my fabric and maybe this weekend start it.

So I figure I'll go home for the day saturday, there isn't much to go home for, I need to go to the bank for my boyfriend so I need to get there early, then I'll just hang out with my mom, pick out fabrics and stuff and then just head back. Sunday I will clean and relax probably.

Oh I hate cramps - it's going to be a long morning with these darn cramps bothering me. I wish I had something better than tylenol to take.

Sorry - one track mind when the pain comes.

Anyhow. After the quilt night I went to the gym and ran and then lifted with my boyfriend again. 2 days a week is easy - lets see if i can do 4 days this week.

Tonight I'm going to my aunt's house. I am bringing an ohio star block to work on, and I'll bring my cross stitch too just in case i'm snowed in a bit tomorrow. What's bad is that I dont' have my laptop so i can't work from my uncle's, and to drive home means driving right past work so i might as well work tomorrow even if it's snowy out.

I would like tomorrow night to stop by ACMoore or Joanns and get more scrapbooking stuff (i have gift cards to both places). I'm not sure with the snow if that will happen but i'd like to get the stuff. Then I hope to cook some dinner (tacos) and relax with my boyfriend, we don't get to do that often anymore.

Mystic Sampler - I think I can finish the full cross stitches in the flower row today, maybe do the lazy daiseys too and backstitching (hardly any backstitchign), which would finish the row - high hopes huh? Then tomorrow I could do the long arm cross stitch row and start the house row. I see an end in sight and i'm excited.

Lunch time update. More progress on row 17, i'd say by the end of the week that row will be finished. Row 18 I can easily finish in one lunch break and that leaves only the last row which is large (a house). With the amount of time left in February there is a very good chance I could finish this by the end of the month, unless I focus on the Precious Moments piece at work that I haven't started yet, i do want to get that going real soon.

I also took out my initials that I stitched in the shell row, i really didn't like how discernible they were, i will just stitch them with a single strand (instead of double) in another color in the same spot. Maybe I will do that tomorrow.

It does bug me that I can't wash this piece with all the overdyed's, even the fabric is and i'm worried it would just ruin the piece, but washing really makes a piece look great - my herb sampler looked tons better after washing/freezing and ironing, and it never looked dirty or anything, it just gives it a freshness.

I do plan on framing this one with a mat, i will probably go the professional framing route again. I have Bunny Gingham to frame myself and that's enough of a stressor. I may try cutting out a mat for this if i have a color that would look right - big if. I do have the mat cutter - i just don't know how to use it ;)

The day is dragging. That's why i'm writing again - and i am munching on things like crazy - must be PMS or something!

I wish every night was like last night. Seriously it was great.

I got home around 5 and decided to organize. So i got out my fabric bins and cross stitch stuff and put away everything that has been living on my diningroom table. Once that was done I decided to do some scrap booking to get the pages I bought put away. So i got out my scrapbook and my caligraphy and made a few pages. I have more to make but i ran out of nice pages so i'll have to get more. Darn a trip to Joanns needed :)
My boyfriend got home around 8 - just as I was finishing scrapbooking and picking up, so I cooked up a pizza (with only a little help on the crust), and it was good. So we ate and then I moved on to starting my quilt block pin for guild night this month. I cut it out and started piecing.
Then we went to the gym - got home around 10:30 so I started piecing my block so more - and it was too small - wierd, so i took it apart, figured out how it's supposed to go again, and put it together again, still too small, took apart a piece and tried again - still small, so now all the triangles are together, too small but together none the less so i'm leaving them. I don't care that much :) Now I just have to cut the squares smaller to get them all together. I do have enough fabric to probably recut larger squares since i must have messed something up - but i added seam allowances so i'm just confused.

Oh and before bed i checked and fixed something on the website. A very productive night i'd say :) Tonight i'm off to my quilt store, which is good because i can buy the fabric for my amish quilt and show off my ohio stars, i'm sure all the ladies there will be much farther on their projects than me but at least i have something small to show.

Maybe by my next stitch night my herb sampler will be framed - i wont' count on it but she did say two weeks so maybe :) That would be too great. I can't believe i actually finished it. And mystic sampler will get finished real soon (this month or next), a start to a very productive year. Last year was productive but all round robin pieces so i saw almost nothing finished. But this year is different, and i'm still doing round robins and charity on top of that!

Oh and I should frame bunny gingham soon - i need to get him out and measure him and maybe order a frame on line and try my hand at it. And the friendship piece i finished last year needs to be turned into an album cover, i should get that out and buy some fabric to match tonight - way cool :) Things are getting finished!

A very very productive weekend. Stitching is going strong for sure!

Friday night I went to my one uncle's house, braided my cousin and her friends' hair then went to their performance which ended at 9. From there I drove to my other uncle's house where my boyfriend and brother were just setting up video game night. First I chatted with my aunt though before joining the basement group. We didn't stay up too late, i was in bed a little after 12.

Saturday was my cousin's soccer game, then it was so warm outside that we got the girls dressed nice and warm and went out to play (this after I also double french braided their hair too.. a 5 and 3 year old both sat still long enough, i couldn't believe it and they looked ADORABLE!). So we ran around the driveway, my brother taught them how to throw snowballs and the 11month old ran around with me following to keep her out of the mud.

Then we got them packed into strollers and the 5 year old on her bike and went for a walk around the culdesacs.

After that we left (and while walking my boyfriend and uncle washed cars, including mine :)

Saturday night we relaxed, watched a movie, I stitched a lot.

Sunday I slept in, it was rough getting going but i finally managed, and I had my stitch in at my LNS. We had a great time, we had lots of food to eat, I got a lot of stitching done and we had a Yankee Swap where I won the new Feather Fairy by Mirabilia. Not exactly something I will stitch as the fairies are not my style - very very lovely just too much stitching for something I wouldn't enjoy so much. But I'll hold onto it - I know it will be a great surprise to someone in the future, I have many friends :)

So after hitting the grocery store, cooking dinner and eating it was getting late, so I pulled out my stitching again while I watched tv. So that's a lot of stitching!
And I have an updated picture of Mystic Sampler:


This is at 42.5 hours and the rolling hills are done and the pumpkin row is ALMOST done - just need to fill the apples inside the basket in then it will be complete. That leaves 3 more rows to complete!!!

So - goal wise this month is kinda swapped, i'm doing more stitching and less quilting, and I still have to start the precious moments piece which I do plan on starting soon now. Tuesday is my night at my quilt shop so i will buy the fabric for my amish quilt and wash it wednesday at my aunt's so maybe this weekend i can start that quilt - put it together.
Well work calls - I only have 3 hours left until training this afternoon, must do work :)

HA! This is just -- of course --

I finished the rolling hills row on Mystic at lunch today, I realized as I was finishing it up that the spacing from the top of the mountains to the row above seems a bit large -- it is ... OOPS

Nothing i did now - i messed up back at Stitcher's Hideaway when I started the hills, i counted down too far. All well. I can still fit the whole piece on no problem i think - i checked quick.

So now i'm thinking of stitching something into that space - maybe some clouds with my name hidden in them or something... I put my initials in one of the shell rows but you can't see them much at all really and even if you notice something's off there, it's still really hard to see what it does say so this may be a good thing to add in, in a very subtle shade though. We shall see... we shall see...

Oh and my plans for this weekend already changed - after my cousin's concert tonight i'm going up to my other uncle's for the night where my boyfriend and brother will already be (playing battlefield vietnam). Guys are so strange - changing plans at the last minute - my boyfriend even had to pack for me directed over the phone of course, as i'm at work and home is out of my way big time! Ah 30 minutes to go and i'm headed out for the night!

Stitch night was great :) Plus I got a ton of stitching done! And Twisted Thread's new mini gingham months had 2 new ones in the store so i got those too, i think i have 8 now (Oct - May), plus i got a charm for a piece my sister is stitching.

I worked on my surprise piece, got a lot done too - maybe i can finish it this weekend, I also dropped my herb sampler off to be framed, i decided yes to glass so i'm not sure how much it will cost (probably another 10 dollars she said).

Also at lunch yesterday I finished the mountains on Mystic, also outlined the school house and started stitching the church over one. Today maybe i can finish the church if i take an hour break again (yesterday was a whole hour pretty much). Then next week I can get back down to the pumpkins and apples row.

Celebrations has class information up now, I checked them out, found a few i really want to take - i just want to keep my total under 500 this year, last year i stayed at 350 but didn't stay at the hotel, this year i will stay at the hotel either one night or two. That's actually funny because i live closer this year :) I think i'll only stay one night at the hotel to save some bucks.
I'm trying to get my sister to come with me and take a class, we shall see, currently she started a full time job last monday and is still taking 3 classes in college (she graduates in may with a BA). I dont' know if i could do it but once she's done she's done and she has a job already.

Well i had a bit of a rough night - unfortunately tonight i won't be home till 11 and again more personal details i won't go into, let's just say that timing is bad having my cousin's concert thing tonight to go to, i wish i could go home. Well I need to focus on work, try to get my mind off of other more troubling things and i'm really looking forward to sunday's stitch in - yea more stitching :)

4 Ohio Star blocks done! I'm almost a 1/3 of the way done with the hand piecing :) It's kinda wierd, i'm doing all the stars by hand piecing but then i'll be piecing the quilt by machine (sashing and triangles), maybe. Maybe i'll change my mind and do it by hand - putting on the triangles at least. If i didn't have to deal with all the seams i'd say definately, it doesn't take long to just sew down a line, but dealing with seams is a pain, trying not to sew through more than 2 piecs of fabric at a time. We shall see, this is still months away unfortunately.

So last night I pieced the block while watching the Pianist at my uncle's. It's a good movie, very hard to watch it and know that this really happened, that humans can truly be this way, it's so very very sad. It's really depressing.

On a lighter note - tonight is stitch night, so after my 8 hours of work with an hour break for stitching and lunch, I get to go home, take out the garbage, do dishes, eat something quick, stop by the bank (atm) and then go stitch for 2 1/2 hours. I'm not sure what i'll bring to work on - more mystic sampler? Or my surprise piece? Probably my surprise piece, that way i can leave mystic at work and just work on it at lunch today and tomorrow. Today on mystic i will outline the first building i stitched and maybe finish filling in the mountains and backstitching them. That will leave only the church left to stitch and outline which i can start tomorrow.

Oh I have so much work to do today - i have to get to it, i have more writing to do so I can start coding again, and i have some new coding to do so it will be hard to put that off and get the writing done. Maybe i can just check out the files i will be changing... i am so weak!

The rolling mountains on the Mystic Sampler are almost complete, a little bit on the right side of the missing church is needed to be finished, then the church itself and the backstitch on the buildings needs to be done. I still can't decide whether or not to bring this to my aunt's tonight and work on it, or just quilt tonight. Once the mountain line is done it's back down to the pumpkins and apples row. Yea - almost done!!!

I like my new schedule, basically because for the last 2 days I ignored the website, i come home from work, i make up some dinner, then I stitch/quilt while watching dvds. Then go to the gym. Last night I watched 5 episodes of sex and the city while stitching on the piece that shant be named (i may have just made up that word), then we went to the gym (8:30 so actually early). I ran a bit, but started not feeling well, by the end of 20 minutes (more than half was running), I couldn't take it anymore and there was no way I could lift, so i went home and to bed.

After dinner though I took out my herbal sampler (from the freezer where it went after i washed it yesterday), and to my surprise it was mostly dry! So I ironed it and it came out great, this is definately my new thing. All wrinkles are gone, i can't wait to bring it thursday night to be framed!

Today at lunch i'll stitch more on mystic sampler - continue on the rolling hills, the main section of hills are almost done, then i have a church to stitch over 1 then a small section of hills on the other side of the church, then just backstitching.

Tonight at my aunt's i brought along my ohio start so maybe i can finish putting #4 together. Then thursday if i have time I can cut out #5. It would be beyond my expectations to finish mystic sampler this month - but what a start to the year to finish up two decent size pieces. Time spent since I started keeping track, my longest piece to finish (45 hours) was a 5x7 piece for my boyfriend (a ship), next longest was actually a small RR piece but it was small, not sure why it took so long, then Herb Sampler at 31 hours. Mystic Sampler is at 38 hours already so i'm sure it will turn into my longest finished piece. There are pieces that i didn't keep track for finished and unfinished so this isn't exactly acccurate. That just reminded me i have an email to write... and work to do :)

I'd say we might be buying a condo or something by this summer... boy does that make me feel grown up - no - i still feel too young for all this grown up stuff (mortgage/bills etc). But it's much smarter than renting, money isn't just getting thrown away (well less money is getting thrown away, instead of 1400 rent we'll pay 600 in interest a month and the rest will go towards owning a new home.

Yes it is expensive to live near boston, but there's little choice right now with my boyfriend needing to get to law school and after he graduates in 2 years needed to get to work which will most likely be in boston. No final decisions about buying a place will be made until april/may comes around. Our lease ends may 31 so we have time and we're starting the looking process now.

On the more interesting front, stitching:
I stitched on Mystic Sampler 1/2 hour at lunch - started tackling those rolling hills I had been putting off, they're not so bad, I'll get back to them today :)
I washed my herbal sampler, it's in the freezer now so tonight I will take it out and iron it after it starts to defrost :) Gets the wrinkles out really well. Then how to transport it...
Last night I started a new small piece, I dont' want to mention details in case my friend ever hits this site. This piece takes priority over the Precious Moments piece, so I must finish this first -- ack no progress pics :( I'll keep a finished pic saved though until after she gets her surprise.

Other than stitching while watching Sex and the City (finished season 4 finally), we went to the gym, i ran a bit - but i had forgotten to take my allergy meds before going so running was hard when you're legs itch like crazy! Then I lifted with my boyfriend which was good. I may start this up. Wednesdays when I miss a day I will make it up on the weekend, 5 days a week will be good for me... let's see how this goes :)

I really crammed a lot in one night, probably stitched about an hour, it was slow going because i was watching my show too much but it's started so now I can pick it up whenever, it's officially on the q-snaps :)
Well - 8:30 - time to get some work done, maybe today will be a "fast" day - probably not but maybe :)

February Goals:

I am on a role - even hit 40 hours stitching last month! A first!

This month:
1) Work on Mystic Sampler ~10 hours
2) Start Precious Moments piece for Charity ~5 hours
3) Piece Amish Quilt
4) Finish 3 ohio stars
5) Draw outter lattice quilt lines and start quilting
6) If RR arrives in time - start and finish? that

That's pretty challenging for a month, light on the stitching only because there's a lot of quilting to do, I'm kind of hoping website work will be light and my evenings can be more for me, in which case I need a weekend to put together the amish quilt and the other things can get done in evenings for sure :)

January Goals in Review:

1) Continue quilting Sampler quilt [Didn't really]
2) Finish Pooh piece (minus the name/date part)[DONE]
3) Get supplies and mail out RR by Feb. 1st [Ready to mail!]
4) Finish Oregano and Chives on Herbal Sampler (at work)[FINISHED COMPLETELY]
5) Start SAL sampler in silk on linen/evenweave [Not going to stitch]

I'd say I did well, I started a NEW quilt (the ohio stars) with my mom so the sampler quilt kinda got put on hold but I will think about taking that out again.

FINISHED!!! I finished Herbal Sampler yesterday! And I have pictures ;) I'm on a role!


Heheheh it took 31 hours total but it's done and now I can get it framed!

And my progress at 37.5 hours on Mystic Sampler:


And I finished block 3 of my ohio stars (and started block four but here's a pic of the third:)


What a productive weekend I really must say. Not so much friday night as I vaguely remember going to bed early after playing some civ 3 but falling asleep playing. Saturday was very relaxing, and I got some work done on the website, worked on my ohio star blocks and watched Raising Helen - very good movie. Then we went to the Blue Ginger which was excellent, for my work holiday party. Ming Tsai came out and greeted us as well and asked us to watch food network "Iron Chef America" sunday at 9 because he was on.
Sunday we slept in again, got our grocery shopping done which took a whole hour, then more work on the website, more quilting work and then some stitching while watching tv. We did catch part of Iron Chef during L&O Criminal Intent commercials and Ming won which was very cool to watch :)

So amidst all this I finished Herbal Sampler - I am so happy about that. I also got my Round Robin all kitted up and ready to be mailed out tomorrow, and I picked out a precious moments pattern to stitch for Grace for a charity quilt (Cole's Quilts). So I can start on that once I get the fabric and thread out (I must also put away all the threads from my round robin now). Oh and it's the end of the month - time to check how I did with my goals!

Oh I can't wait to put up new progress pics next week! Yesterday was a good day for stitching. After my lunch break today I will have hit 38 hours for the month stitching - which will be tied for the most stitching in a month with Oct. 2003 (i'm a real control freak and I have all my stitching time charted out in excel. I do plan to start keeping track of my quilting time as well. It does help with estimating how long a new project will take.

So I worked an hour on Herbal Sampler at work and at stitch night i worked on the Mystic piece, mostly i talked though so not a lot got done but I bought the colors that I was almost out of so I'm all set and should be able to finish it now. Even better, we have ANOTHER stitch night next thursday! And I brought in my herbal sampler to see how much it would cost to get framed (just framed with no glass or mat), it looks to cost about 50 dollars, there about. I am mulling it over, it's not outrageous for sure, because it's a decent size piece (5x16 or there abouts). Plus it would come out great for sure.

I also made it to the gym after my stitch night which is impressive as I hadn't had dinner or anything since lunch time. I walked mostly but ran about a mile on the treadmill then went home and had cereal before folding laundry (hate that), doing dishes and just crashing in bed.

Before my stitch night I stopped by my fabric store and bought a bunch of cotton thread for hand piecing my ohio star quilt. I really need one of those racks that hold thread or a case or something now that i have such a collection. I should have enough colors for this quilt now so no more excuses, i must focus on this quilt when home.

I'm really glad it's friday but i have a feeling the day will drag. Then tonight I have to go grocery shopping and to the gym. Maybe after that we'll relax with a movie and I can sew. Tomorrow I have to work on the website and maybe go to the mall to buy a skirt for my work dinner at 7:30. Sunday no plans so hopefully more website work, and quilting/movie watching. If my boyfriend has too much work (which is likely) i can always start watching sex and the city season 5 that I bought, i also have season 4 to brush up on the end of the season since i watched 1-4 a few years ago.

I am anticipating a relaxing weekend where I feel like I dont' have enough time to just enjoy myself and my quilting or stitching, i'm going to feel like i'm on the go constantly which is wierd since I won't really be. The key is to not sleep in till 11/12 but get up around 8 or 9 and at least read a bit in my warm cozy bed. Alright - work time - i need some hot chocolate!

So far this month - cross stitched: 35 hours

I should start keeping track of my quilting time which would include cutting, piecing and quilting.... next month.

Yea lots of stitching,
No stitching at work yesterday since I left early, i still have to make up an hour but I didn't want to drive in the dark and snow so I just drove in the snow and left early.
I did stitch at my aunt's however and a good deal too, I stitched maybe 3 hours and I finished band 14 and 15. 15 was just a modified shell stitch row, and I took out three of the stitches in the center and did my initials, you really can't see them since the color of the thread does not stand out but that's what I wanted anyway, for them to be hidden. Then I started row 16 but ran out of the Terra Cotta - this is the 3rd color there wasn't enough of in the kit, luckily tonight is a night at my LNS so I can buy some, i already bought more of the other two colors ran out of.
So what's left :
Row 16 - pumpkins and apples with a basket (mostly cross stitch)
Row 17 - flowers, mostly cross stitch
Row 18 - long arm cross stitch
Row 19 - house with trees, mostly cross stitch, large band though
Row 11 - finish bee hives with color i ran out of
Row 9 - Hungarian stitched mountains and church stitched over 1 - tough row for sure.
That's it though, then I'll be done with it - Best estimate - done by the end of march.

Other than that nothing much last night, ate dinner and watched men in black while stitching. But it's Thursday so it's Bagel day - i must go eat bagel :)

More SNOW!
It's snowing wildly out today! Another 5-7 inches I believe coming today. It took me twice as long to get to work today and I will probably leave a bit early and just charge an hour vacation time or something so I dont' have to drive in the dark and snow! Luckily tonight i'm going to my aunt's so it's close.

Last night was awesome! I went to the guild meeting and joined the guild, they had a speaker: Ruth McDowell who does art quilts... she is amazing and her quilts are amazing. Some day i'd love to make one in her style if i could take a class. The next time she'll be in the area is some time in 2006 i think she said and her classes are generally 4-5 days, i wonder how much they cost!
Anyhow, so she was the speaker and she showed a slide show with pictures of her quilts, it was unforgettable, i wish i had known what i was going to see i may have tried to get my mom out here to go to the meeting as well. I'll have to call her today and let her know all about it.

Stitching: Besides the gold border color my Herbal Sampler is finished now. I won't work on it today as I'd like to leave early but I will probably bring it to my stitch night tomorrow night and i'll bring it to show my aunt tonight too. I anticipate needing a while maybe a week to finish the border so maybe by next friday that will be done and Mystic will be my work piece after that. Tonight I will work on Mystic some more at my aunt's.

Before going to the guild thing I tried going to the gym - it was packed beyond belief so i went home and ate some dinner and cut out another ohio star block to piece. It only takes about 15 minutes to cut the block pieces after they're traced already which is nice. I still need thread though so tomorrow I will be making a stop at fabric corner to expand my hand sewing thread collection for sure!

February at guild is - Anne Gallo and Sue Rabin, i'll have to look up who they are and what they may be discussing, see if mom wants to come out at all, it's not easy on a tuesday night but if i had known what ruth mcdowell was doing i would have convinced her! Well - almost 10 and work is calling :)

I couldn't resist, this was over in Carol's Blog and I had to take it:

Well yesterday was definately a packed day. I left work at the regular time (oh and I did fit in my 30 minutes of stitching at lunch on Herbal Sampler). Then I went to target to buy baby gifts for the girl at work and my new aunt. My boyfriend met me at target and we went to the mall so he could buy a coat to wear with his suit today (interview). Then we got dinner and I did a bit more shopping after he left. When I got home we went to the gym and I ran - I actually ran for 20 out of 35 minutes on the treadmill which is more than usual. We got home around 9:30 - and I was tired! I had to look up some subway information for my boyfriend though before I could go to sleep.

And this morning my boyfriend got up at 6 with me and he went to the gym to go running! Crazy man! Then he'll go to the gym tonight to lift (same as yesterday). I'm lucky to make it once a day a few days a week - he's going twice now!

I gave my coworker her baby gifts, the Pooh piece I stitched for her and a few baby outfits I bought yesterday. She really liked them. The stitched piece is still awaiting baby's arrival so it will have the name and date/weight on it and then be made into a wall hanging.

Tonight I have a guild meeting in Arlington that I'm looking forward to since I'll actually know a few people there. Tomorrow night is the night at my aunt's, Thursday is stitch night, Friday i may babysit, not sure yet and saturday night is my work's holiday party. I'm booked for sure :)

I really need to work on the website but I really have no time right now - and January is almost over, I wanted to be done by now. Of course I haven't done much so it looks like work will continue through february at least. I really have some quilting I want to do, maybe tonight I can cut out more ohio stars so I can piece another one at my aunt's tomorrow (start piecing not finish one).

Well - work is calling my name. Today at lunch another half hour on herbal sampler, besides the border I will have it finished I think!

Blizzard of 2005...

Well this weekend surely didn't go as planned. Friday night my boyfriend and I went and got some movies from Hollywood video, he really wanted to see Forgotten so we rented that and then bought 3 others under their 3 for 30 dollars deal. Forgotten was good but not great - and I am definately not used to short movies (1 1/2 hours versus 2 hours) but Stepford Wives was funny.

Saturday we decided to cancel plans of travel due to impending storm conditions, so we went grocery shopping and then I made some lunch and we settled in to play Civ 3 Conquests for the rest of the day - break for dinner - then more Civ until bedtime - what a waste of a day but it was nice :)

Sunday finally I got a bit motivated, my boyfriend went out and shoveled the 2+ft of snow we had because the landlord's snowblower wasn't working and I cleaned the apartment finally. I didn't manage to work on the website because there's research work to do not programming and I wasn't motivated to sit and read websites. So I got out my quilting and watched Spiderman while working on my ohio star quilt. Then I cooked dinner and watched Spiderman 2 while continueing work on the stars. So now I have 2 finished stars and a third started and 2 more ready to cut (they're traced).
Blocks finished so far:


And some progress pics from the week of cross stitch (I also updated the sidebar:

Mystic Sampler - now at 33 hours!


And Herbal Sampler now at 26 hours and almost complete (picture quality is bad because it's a camera pic not a scan now that it's so large:

I write a lot - every week day actually. I'm surprised anyone at all reads this, boring accounts of my life, exactly what I'm doing, what I stitched etc. What I've noticed through writing daily is how much of a list person I am. A few times a month I write a list of things I will be doing, or a list of things I must get done, or things I will stitch etc. But - not a surprise to me, I'm an engineer.

Anyhow - last night I had every intention of going to the gym, we went, we walked around and not a single machine was open! I guess going at 6pm is ruled out from now on! What a waste. So I made dinner and we watched tv together for a bit. Then I cut out some ohio star pieces from my fabrics while The OC was on. After that I cut my boyfriend's hair and he went to the gym - at 10:15pm! No way for me! That's bed time. So I started piecing another ohio star but only did 3 seams and called it quits for the night.

So no stitching yesterday (due to doctor appt at lunch). Today however I will stitch some more on Herbal Sampler - working on the word "Herbs" on top. Hopefully I will remember to bring it home so I can get a scan of it. I also need to scan an update of my Mystic Sampler since I've made such good progress. This month has been a stitching month for sure - mostly because quilting is back to a back seat again now that my class is over. That has been taking all my time the last few months. Somewhere there is a happy medium.

Snow is coming --- not good for our drive back to NY that's for sure, I will have to keep an eye on this storm. Maybe it's not such a good idea, I have decided we won't go in the morning because my mom will be gone anyway, so we'll probably leave around lunch, go to said party for friend back from Iraq, then maybe stop and see mom before heading home. Maybe going anywhere with snow is a bad idea and I can convince my boyfriend to just stay home.

Oh and my MIL (otherwise known as check engine light in any other car) came on yesterday.. strange it came on at exactly 3000 from when I bought the car... oil change indicator? Better not be - I plan on changing my own oil and I'm not bringing it in for them to turn the light off every time! So I'm awaiting a phone call from them before lunch or else I'll call again and pester more!

Doctor appt. went well yesterday, generally I'm healthy, she checked out everything I had mentioned in my packet and my wrist problems, where my wrists get sore from a long day of typing and then stitching, she said is not something like arthritis (which would be scary at my age), but more like tendonitis, strain on the wrists and I should be fine if I just stretch my wrists every hour... so I need to ease up on those 4 hours stitch sessions :) Yea right... but at least I recoup after a day or two if I do over strain :)

What's in store for this weekend (another list that I know I've already done but it's friday so...)
Website - I must work on the website, integrating the UPS tracking and such to orders.
Quilting - I want to piece some more Ohio Star blocks, and maybe cut some more now that I know I can do that sitting on my bed watching tv :)
Stitching? Not really much - maybe a bit here or there one evening but I am ready for a weekend break, I have a stitch night next thursday, maybe I will start my precious moments before then, maybe not.
Sewing - Maybe I'll get out a pattern and read through it, make sure I have everything I need and such for it, choose the simplest one and all. take measurements, find out if i need more tools or anything. I do have one more pillow to make for the couches now that I have the pillow form I like (it's short and long instead of square like the other two).
Read - Yes - some more of the Peppered Moth by Drapple... it's a "boring" one, not boring per se but it is not attention grabbing so it's tough to get through. I do need to finish it, i'm halfway done. I can't not finish a book unless it's REALLY REALLY bad -- only happened once to me, the book was called Schooling -- just to warn anyone who may pick it up. I couldn't read it, surely it was written in an artistic, poetic way but I couldn't stand more than a few pages of random thoughts on paper, half sentences, it's hard enough listening to my own thoughts ramble, i don't need someone else's wandering mind to fill my time!

Well back to work - almost time to bug the Audi dealer again. Today will be a productive day for sure :)

Thursday has arrived. I was going to babysit tonight but it turns out the baby is not feeling well, so I am not. I'm pretty weak from not eating yesterday until a bit at dinner so that's just as well. I did eat a bagel for breakfast though and had some tea so I am feeling better, can handle food now, just still weak, it was really hard to stand up in the shower, my knees were shaky.

My boyfriend is feeling much better, i believe he made it to school today. Maybe we can go to the gym tonight even, I will be weak but I could at least walk a bit.

I worked more on Mystic Sampler last night, finishing up the running stitch and most of the wave stitch for the ocean/harbor scene. That leaves the boats and seagulls which is nice. I didn't bring my stitching bag in for lunch because i have a doctor appt. today which takes my lunch time. Yesterday at lunch I did stitch for a half hour though and finished the stitching of one bottle, just backstitching left on that bottle and the other bottle left. I originally planned to do both bottles by friday but I think I need to finish the word Herbs before doing the other bottle to get the placement correctly. So tomorrow I will finish this bottle and work on the word. Next week I'll hopefully remember to bring my gold in to do the border.

Looks like this weekend is filling up fast. Tomorrow not so bad, work then work on the website, saturday we'll leave early and head to my parents where i can share fabric with my mom and maybe cut out some more ohio star blocks to start piecing. Then we'll go to a party for our friend back from Iraq. After that head back home so I will have sunday to work on the website and then relax (stitching/quilting - hopefully quilting actually).

Yesterday was very relaxing. I went to my aunt's, helped prepare dinner, stitched a bit, ate dinner, stitched some more. Let's see - 2 hours maybe total of stitching (with interruptions). I did manage to stay awake through law and order which surprised me, i thought i'd be sleeping by 8. I slept real well though and I feel good today, going to get lots of work done :)

Speaking of work - time to get started.

No Guild. My poor boyfriend was sick last night, he thinks it was something he ate not the flu and i'm hoping that too so I won't get sick. Anyway I got home and gave him some medicine and we just settled in to watch some Profiler episodes. He insisted I go to my guild thing but it's only the auction anyway, best not to spend money, i can just go next month when I can actually join. Plus I won't see him again till Friday so even if he was sick it was nice to hang out with him.

And - stitching! I did a lot of that. I worked on Mystic Sampler a lot, probably 3 hours I'd say (maybe 4) I finished the row with whales and birds stitched over 1 and fish satin stitched. Then I started filling in more of the water that is stitched with a running stitch. I forgot to grab the thread I bought Thursday of the colors I will run out of, so unfortunately I will have to hold off on those colors tonight and stitch elsewhere. That means I still can't finish the bee hives (missing color) and i'm sure the water can't get finished either. (another color almost used up).

So what is left on this mystic sampler:
-Finish the bee hives with missing color (that row is almost done). row 11
-Do the row with the mountains which takes concentration.... so I can't be watching tv. Maybe I'll work on that part tonight. row 9
-Finish the water then add the boats and birds for row 14
- row 15 - modified shell stitch - add in name here too
- row 16 mostly cross stitch - pumpkins and basket
- row 17 again mostly cross stitch - flowers
- row 18 long arm cross stitch maybe (real easy)
- row 19 house scene mostly cross stitch
That's it. I'm definately more than half way done and row 13 which is done was probably the hardest row so pretty much i have an easy streen left. No more stitching over 1 for the most part and all is well :)

Herbal Sampler - got a bit of work yesterday at lunch. I finished Basil, definately some parts I messed up but i think i hid them well and no one will notice. all I have left on that is to finish the "ERBS" and then the two bottles by the word HERBS and then the border which I can't start until I get the color needed from home. Maybe today I'll start the bottles since I dislike those the most. Probaby by friday i can finish the bottles - no stitching thursday so that leaves today and friday.. i think i can i think i can :) Finish this piece this month is way beyond my expectations and goals for the month.. then I can work on Mystic at work next month and start the Precious Moments for Cole's Quilts as my focus piece at home.

Can you tell I'm in a stitching mood? I have some work to do now... I wish my stomach wasn't feeling upset from not eating, i was paranoid i'd be sick so i didn't eat dinner last night. Now I have hunger pains but i am still paranoid so eating makes me feel sick. I really am demented!

Guild tonight.

I am tired. I surely didn't wake up the same way this morning as I did yesterday. I hit snooze (twice) but still managed to leave before 7 so got to work early enough to have a regular schedule. I generally take an hour lunch (to stitch as much as I can) and leave around 4:30. Yesterday was a LONG day - I was here till 6:15 - 11 hours with an hour lunch. Luckily we have flex time so I can just leave a little earl some day this week. I won't leave 2 hours early but maybe a day or two I'll leave a half hour early. Thursday I have a doctor appt that will most likely take up more than an hour lunch break so that's another half hour.

Last night I got home before 7 and woke up at 8 :) I was tired and not feeling 100%. But then I worked on the website and made great progress, finishing the things I wanted to do. After that I just did my nightly routine and watched the end of a history channel thing my boyfriend was watching about the Terror in France.

So last night was a bore, but tonight I will hopefully hit the gym, then go to the new guild meeting - just need to remember to print out directions. This meeting is open to the public with an auction for Breast Cancer funding, if i like it and go next month I can join the guild at half the yearly price. So I will check this out and see.
Tomorrow night I go to my uncle's and thursday i might babysit for my other uncle. I should email him and find out.

So probably no stitching until Wednesday at my aunt and uncle's - I will stick to stitching until I have time to start my amish quilt probably. I did finish my first Ohio Star block for my new quilt 12 more to go, i just have to figure out what fabrics I want to use.
That brings up another thing - I may go home this saturday for the day to visit my mom and swap fabrics for our quilt. I have to see how the week goes first, i kinda want a weekend with no traveling or plans .. i guess next weekend isn't too packed, just a holiday party for work. Okay - breakfast time...

WIP UPDATE:


This is 27.5 hours progress on Mystic Sampler by Jeannette Douglas.


This is 24.5 hours progress on Herbal Sampler.
This is only the top part, the bottom row got cut off by the scanner. When this is complete I'll have to use the camera instead of the scanner to take a picture.

My weekend:
Well Friday I had good intentions but ended up going home and just relaxing, I stitched a little while watching profiler episodes but pretty much did nothing. Saturday I got some work on the website done finally, then my boyfriend and I went to the gym and then up to my uncle's for the night where we played with the kids and then played Battlefield Vietnam all night.
Sunday we left pretty early and then again managed to do nothing really. Actually we watched the extended Lord of the Rings the Two Towers while I stitched on Mystic Sampler - so that was a good 4 hours :) After that I did work on the website some more. Unfortunately the night ended badly, but I don't generally write about personal ongoings so I'll leave it at that.
I washed all of my new fabrics that I got (friday was a trip to JoAnn's for fabric), man do I have a lot now! I ironed as many as I could but it was boring so I only got through about half. I have 2 fabrics that I bought 2 yards of each that i could use to make a skirt, I bought 5 patterns of skirts too. I also bought a ton of fat quarters of possible fabrics for the ohio star quilt so those I ironed so I can pick out what ones I want to use.
One nice thing - this morning at 6 am when the alarm went off, at first I thought it was 2am or something but as soon as I realized it was 6 I just got up and got ready - I wasn't dragging myself for a change, but I did sleep rather well so that probably helped. The bad news is that I didn't have to get up so early today - I was going to come to work an hour late because I have a meeting that will run late today... but I decided I'd rather spend more time at work than sit in bed just thinking. Unfortunately working doesn't stop the thinking...

Stitch Night at my LNS...

Oh how I love it :) I treated myself finally to Celtic Banner - which I found out is mostly stitched in DMC so it won't be too expensive, only the border? is in other threads. So I need to figure out what fabric to get and get some scroll rods. The owner of the LNS finished this piece already and it's been hanging in her shop, her cousin I believe also did it but changed the colors to greens and that was hanging for a while - and I love it that way so I got the conversion and will stitch it in green ;) Now to pick fabric ...

I also spent a ton on threads needed for my RR that's mailing out Feb 1st? I won't need the full skeins I bought so I'll probably make up a project card or something and keep the rest in case I need them elsewhere.

Other than that I worked on Mystic Samper, finishing the row of grapes (finding an error I made but I don't think anyone will notice..) This is actually the second error in the grapes, the first I did wednesday night, this error i found was from the retreat I had miscounted but I can make due. Then I finished the maple leaves.

The next line on Mystic Sampler is of rolling hills, it's really a tough part to do because it's not really charted out exactly, it will take some concentration so maybe I can get that done this weekend.

So - I can't start Celtic Banner until after Herbal Sampler is at least finished. Then Mystic Sampler will become my work piece and Celtic Banner can be started - while waiting to start however I will probably get out the peice for my boyfriend and maybe make some progress on it :) In an ideal world I could get that one done by christmas this year.

Well it's warm and rainy out today - I like the warm, don't love the rain but I'm couped up in an air conditioned building anyway so I best get some work done so I don't start wishing I was going home already... just got here ;)

On the agenda tonight - stop at walmart, and then at joanns for fabric. Then work on website.
Tomorrow - quilt??? Go to my uncle's for the night.
Sunday- work on website, cross stitch...

Just think if i didn't have the website to work on I'd have SO much time to stitch and quilt that i wouldn't ever feel like I wish I had more time :)

While I have a few minutes I think I'll add some stuff to my sidebar -- a "currently stitching" pic and anything else I think of.

Last night was great, I mostly just stitched, I worked on the Mystic Sampler and got about 2 1/2 hours in, finishing it down to the grapes which are almost done too. The best part about it right now is that I've already started most of the lines so it's a matter of finishing them and feeling that sense of accomplishment for each line finished.

Tonight I have my stitch night so even more stitching will get done on it :) I figure I'll finish the grape vines and maybe the maple leaves too. I somehow need to fit in a trip to the gym tonight too - we'll see how that goes.

At work I've moved over to using a linux machine, still running windows on top for email purposes but I'm liking xwindows and all my work is actually in linux so this may be a permanent thing for me. Now if only I could get my mouse scroll button working on linux, that's driving me a bit crazy!

Off to update the side bar a bit... need to find the address for my images...

Kind of a regular thing now - afternoon Update:

I stitched for a half hour on Herbal Sampler, I finished the spoon next to the word Basil and started the words above, that way I could count out what was left and it will fit, even with 2 inches on top possibly. I will still sew muslin on the top and bottom to aid in framing since I'd like to lace this piece but it's nice to know it will all fit.

Tomorrow I will start the herb basil after doing some more of the wording which is all backstitching until the top word "Herb".

I need to pick up a few colors from home, I need 3 I dont' have at work to finish and I need to find the variagate to use on the border around the whole thing, i want it to match the one used for the individual herb blocks which are getting made into a quilt now (2 quilts).

I come with pictures today....

First my completed Winnie the Pooh piece for a coworker...

This took 26 hours to complete - and who says I never FINISH anything ;)

And my current progress on the Mystic Retreat Sampler:

This is 19.5 hours of progress.

Last night was busy -- I got home, read the new Stitcher's World that had showed up, went to my quilting get together - basically you pay $5, sit around a table, show off your current projects, ask for help if you need it, watch 8 others do the same, then you can shop... this is all afterhours so it works great for someone like me who can't get there when they're open generally.
After getting home around 9 my boyfriend and I went to the gym - thinking it would be empty for a change being so late, we were wrong but at least a few treadmills were open (there are about 30 treadmills). After that I was exhausted and not feeling well, a bit feverish last night for some reason so I curled up and took some tylenol and we watched the end of SVU and fell asleep. It was a busy but seemingly unproductive evening. No stitching, no website, no cooking, nada!

Tonight I'm not sure what I'm going to do, I'm going to my uncles and i've got my cross stitch but maybe I should work on the website. I need to work on the website a lot - but what i really need is a few hours time lumped together... maybe friday night and saturday during the day? That should work. The only other plans I have this weekend are going to Joanns for fabric (sale time) and going to my uncle's in NH saturday night for computer games.

Well I best get some work done so at lunch I can stitch more on Herbal sampler with the missing herb... ho humph, hopefully no one will notice that it's missing anything. And i'm really crossing my fingers that i can fit it all on there even after taking out Chives.. I definately won't have framing room but I can sew extra fabric on for that.

Uh Oh Big Time!!!

How did this happen .. I have no idea. I just realized that I dont' have enough fabric to to the top of my Herbal Sampler to fit it all - and that doesn't even count framing in, no matter what i have to sew muslin or something to the top and bottom to aid in framing. So what to do ... well the only solution I can live with is to take out what I stitched of Chives and instead stitch Basil there... I can't leave out the basil.

So it will be modified, no bottle, no Chives, and Basil the word and herb will be moved to the Chives area, maybe i'll stitch the bottle instead of the spoon too, not sure. This better make it all fit with a little lee-way for sewing on the fabric on the top. Darn and I was looking forward to Chives because they would go so quickly but instead I'm unstitching the word and starting over. UGGGGG!

Enough complaining, it's lunchtime, time to get started and do this already!

Allergies or something today... I won't complain further.

I forgot to do pictures of progress last night. Maybe tonight I will remember to scan my new pieces. Herbal Sampler will have to wait a bit since I leave it at work, but whenever I decide to put it down I will bring it home and scan it in.

No stitching time last night, I did manage to go to the gym again (this is day one of week 2, last week I made it 4 days!). Then I read through my new Amish quilt book a bit before working on the website for a while. I'm settled on which amish quilt I'm going to do, it's the one I originally planned but now I'm sure and I'll bring my book with me to the quilt store tonight with the fabric I already bought and get opinions on how it should be put together and if i need to buy more fabric I can do that too. I'll have to borrow my mom's light box to mark the quilt whenever I see her again which will be a while unless I go home in 2 weeks. However I have other projects to work on without starting the quilting on that one for a bit.

So for this year I will have 3 quilts, my sampler quilt which needs to be finished, the amish quilt which has a deadline of November and the quilt I am now going to do with my mom and her friend which is 13 ohio stars I will piece by hand and then after the quilt top is together it has embroidery through all the borders before any quilting even begins! That will run into next year I'm sure!

Well I need to go send a quick email to someone, figure out what my plans are this weekend. I'm either meeting someone for lunch and xstitch shopping or I'm spending the day with the sewing machine working on the ?amish quilt maybe putting it together and putting the border on mr. pooh :)

Lunch time Update:

I stitched for an hour on Herbal Sampler and finished the Oregano line (which was just a bowl), and started the Chives line (finished the word Chives). For monthly goal I have left to do a spoon on the Chives line and the actual Chives herb which is mostly a few lines of backstitching and a couple x-stitches.

For February I will make Basil my goal and maybe backstitching the words above basil. For March that leaves just the top line (word "Herbs" stitched and 2 bottles). I won't say I'm done after that because I'll still have the border to do but at this rate of a few hours a month (maybe 5 hours a month). I can finish by the end of May maybe ??? Then I'll focus on the Mystic sampler at lunch time and switch my home focus time to my boyfriend's piece (Peaceful Sillhouette).

Stitching wise the only things I'm not accounting for are the Precious Moments piece for Cole's Quilts due in April and my RR which may have a piece in February and another in April probably.

A stitch weekend kinda.

A good weekend anyway. We went back to NY friday night, so I spent friday night with my family and then I finished stitching Pooh while I watched a movie. So he's all finished, just awaiting the baby's arrival and the border fabric to be put on.

Saturday I slept in, made breakfast and spent the day mostly cooking with my sister (we made a lasagna and a boston creme pie), then my mom and I started a quilt together, really she's doing it with a friend but I'm also going to do it only by hand and they're doing it by machine. So I taught her how to piece by hand in case she wanted to do a tablerunner or something small by hand in the same pattern. I'm going to piece all 13 blocks by hand (they're easy - 6 inch ohio stars), then put the top together by machine and do the embroidery. It's going to be a beautiful quilt and I'm going to do it in tans, browns, beige, green and muted colors (maybe a little brick and navy) I don't have cream colors for the backgrounds of the stars so i'll have to make a trip to joann's and get some fabric for it once I've figured out the main colors I want to use.

Sunday after frying a turkey for lunch we headed home which meant more stitching time for me. In the car I broke out It's Winter and started filling in more blue on the top banner. Who knows when this piece will get finished ;) After getting home I pulled out the Mystic Retreat piece and got a couple hours work on that, finishing the tree on the top so now I can move down and finish some of the rows we started at stitcher's hideaway.

I brought the retreat piece to work but I think I will stick to the herbal sampler at work for a bit and the retreat piece will be what I work on at home if I'm not working on my quilt. I have a stitch night thursday so i'll bring the retreat piece there. Tonight though I need to work on the website (which I should have done this weekend but couldn't get myself to).

Pictures coming soon I promise :)

2004 total projects finished - 18.

Not only that but all 18 were started and finished in 2004, 11 of them were for Round Robins and 7 were my own projects.

No WIPs from before 2004 were finished.

Plenty were started and not finished.

Friday - at last.

And i'm out in half an hour headed to this eval thing I have to do for 2 hours. Hopefully it's not boring. Then I'm headed home and will probably work another hour if I can get my laptop to run the software correctly.

Last night was basically work, I went to the gym (3rd day this week), then cooked dinner and downloaded software. I couldn't get the software to work however so I worked on the website instead and watched my show at 8.

I hope tonight after working I can get some stitching time in as I'm not sure I'll get as much as I hoped this weekend. If I have to drive both ways it doesn't look good as the driving time could be spent stitching but my boyfriend I'm sure has law reading stuff to do and I'd like to take my car instead of his so I can hose it off at my parent's house.
Note to self: Don't forget to bring laundry to parents'.

Well at least it's not snowing out as I head up to Andover. I'm going to go eat something to count as lunch so I can then head out and get there on time. Luckily all driving will be during daylight so I get to enjoy the sun that's out today :)

Snow day! Well it's snowing outside anyway, I'm still at work but still - SNOW!

I love having an audi, I was able to drive on unplowed roads to the highway with no problems at all with a foot of snow on the ground. The highway was clear so no problems at all.

It seems it's going to be a quiet day at work today, a lot of people are working from home and not coming in. I came in early so I can leave at 4:30 and not have to make up time tomorrow after leaving for the evaluation thing in Andover.

I stitched a bit last night - 2 hours on Pooh and his butt is done, now I just have a bit on his leg to finish and the grass then some backstitching. Today at lunch it's safe to work on him because the girl it's for is not coming in. So maybe this weekend I can finish Pooh and figure out what I'm going to do for the fabric border since I can add that leaving space for the baby's name and birth date.

I'm still waiting for anyone else to come to work today, it's still early especially considering the snow so i'm sure a few people will come in, so far i've just heard from people who aren't coming in and are working from home.

Well I think i'll go get some water and get some work done, i was doing something important last night and making progress when it was time to go... time flys when things are getting done.

--- Afternoon Update ---

More Pooh stitch - all cross stitching is now finished on Pooh, just need to do some backstitching and then wait until the baby is born to add the name and details. Maybe this weekend I can sew on the fabric border to see how it will look and have it ready to give to her. Yipee!!! Almost DONE!

Change of plans... looks like I'm not going to Andover tomorrow morning but rather friday afternoon. Problem is leaving a bit early friday means I need to make up time... so I'll have to stay a bit later today and tomorrow. Probably I'll stay till 5 today and tomorrow 4:30 with half a lunch break. Today I had a half a pizza so lunch was long :) and no stitching since I was socializing a bit.

But tonight I will relax and stitch for sure, maybe mark the next quilting section on my quilt too but I want to stitch mostly I think. Bugger I am tired - 1.5 hours to go.. but I was right about it being a productive day it has been and I'm sure to get more done before I go :)

Today is going to be a productive day, I can feel it, yesterday was caught up in getting back into the swing of things and getting caught up with stuff, now it's time to focus and get some things done and crossed off my list.

A little progress was made on Pooh at lunch yesterday, probably will work on him more again today at lunch. Holding off on the Herbal Sampler until Pooh is finished I think since there is an end in sight now. After work my boyfriend and I went to the gym (2 days in a row is good), then I worked on the website for 2 hours fixing some problems and then I quilted for 2 hours finishing the inner lattice quilting!

Tonight I go to my aunt's, hopefully do some stitching or quilting after dinner. Tomorrow I have to go to Andover for a 2 hour session then to work which drags my day a bit but if I skip lunch (just use the drive as my lunch) i can still leave around the same time. That means no stitching at lunch tomorrow though.

What it looks like my focus is currently:
Finish Pooh, this goal seems doable so I want to get the main stitching done (the name and date will be added later).
Then work on Herbal Sampler during lunches again
At home I will start the Precious Moments piece for Grace of Cole's Quilts.

Quilting will continue on the Sampler quilt.
Amish quilt will be pieced together maybe the weekend of the 15th, if not maybe i'll put together a different quilt, I want to use the machine again.

I'm off to edit my goals - take the January SAL out of there, it was a nice thought but I'm not a fan of samplers and I have too many pieces I really want to finish to do something I don't love.

Happy New Year!!

I just had a great 4 days off! As always, going backwards... Yesterday I got out the sewing machine my grandmother gave me (it's a singer) and i fixed it, then I made these pillows for my couch.


I then scanned in new updates of my cross stitch progress:
My last finish of 2004 - Shepherd's Bush April -- 5 hours total


And my progress on the Pooh -- 20.5 hours:


Mostly yesterday I quilted, I am almost done quilting the inner lattice on my sampler quilt, I have only about 3 hours of quilting left before I start on the border part. Now that I have a hoop for my quilting it seems easier to maneuver as well.

Okay, now starting with friday, I cleaned - tons - then my sister and her boyfriend showed up and she and I went to JoAnn's to get some sale item stuff. After that I started cooking, I made a few snacks for the night and we ordered pizza and drank. After half of a movie we played cards until midnight. I even managed to stay up another hour later watching L&O SVU.

Saturday was christmas at my uncle's house, I made breakfast then we all went to my uncle's. We had a good time, good food, relaxing, presents. I got a rice cooker which I love and an embroidery stitches book I really wanted. We didn't get home until pretty late and stayed up until 1 again, finishing the movie from the night before.

Sunday we had breakfast and relaxed, then after my sister left I cross stitched and watched more profiler. We went to Bugaboo for dinner and then some more stitching. It was really a great 4 days off and now I have 4 days of work until next weekend when i'll be going back home to visit my mom for her birthday. Which reminds me I need to get her a birthday present still.

Hopefully 2005 will be a good year, prosperous, happy, fulfilling and just relaxing. I'm off to a bang with creative tasks, now that the machine is working I can put the amish quilt together myself (i just need to get a pattern because making one myself is not working). Also any other sewing that doesn't need a walking foot I can do myself.
Well - work must get done...

January Goals:

I did very good last month, so lets see if I can do that again:

1) Continue quilting Sampler quilt
2) Finish Pooh piece (minus the name/date part)
3) Get supplies and mail out RR by Feb. 1st
4) Finish Oregano and Chives on Herbal Sampler (at work)
5) Start SAL sampler in silk on linen/evenweave

If Pooh gets finished i may start a new piece... undecided as of yet :)

2005 Goals for the YEAR:

Stitching:
1. Finish Winnie the Pooh for Robin
2. Start/Finish Precious Moments for Grace's quilt
3. Finish Herbal Sampler
4. Finish DD Wisdom (virtue series)
5. Finish Mystic Retreat piece by Jeanette Douglas
6. Start/Finish 2 pickle ornaments for aunt
7. Make progress on piece for Ryan
8. Start a new project
9. Finish It's Winter

Quilting:
1. Quilt and Bind Sampler Quilt
2. Make Amish quilt for boyfriend's sister
3. Finish Herb Quilt
4. Make Pooh Wall hanging for Robin
5. Finish Teapot Quilt?

I'm not sure if those goals are too much or too little. Stitching wise I'm just trying to finish up a lot of active WIPs but I know i'll also start a few new projects during the year that will need to be finished up too so we'll see how things go.

Just because I've made such good progress, I'm posting my Dec. Goals early and how I did:
December Goals:
1) Work on Herb blocks - adding borders - [Not Done]
2) Finish Block 5 Applique and Quilt [Finished]
3) Piece Row 3 together (block 5 and 6) [Finished]
4) Piece all 3 rows together with Lattice [Finished]
5) Put on outside Lattice and Border [Finished]
6) Start quilting Lattice and Border of Quilt [Finished]

7) Work on Winnie the Pooh pattern - [Complete - 14 hours]
8) Work on Bunny Gingham 2 hours - [Completed Bunny Gingham]
9) Start Shepherd's Bush RR piece April [Completed RR piece]

Yea - I made a decision to take tomorrow off from work! I'm not sure how many vacation days I have saved up but it's something around 8 or so. So thanks to my uncle bringing up the idea about going out to dinner and a movie tonight i decided to take tomorrow off to get my cleaning done and a trip to joann's done.

Now however they can't get a babysitter, but we may still go to the movies after going to the gym and having dinner. Then sleep in tomorrow, clean and go to Joann's to enjoy the sales and spend gift money. Maybe a trip to acmoore too since i have a card to that too, but i may save that one a bit longer.

So along comes another 4 day weekend --- HEHEHEH :) I'm psyched totally. Only one hour of work left too.... And i got a lot of work done today too so i dont' feel like i'm behind or anything. Plus i waded through old emails and got rid of a bunch of old ones so my inbox is visible again :) Be back Monday!
Speaking of which.. i will post my goals for January early - and goals for 2005 too... off to figure those out...

Feels like friday - but it's only my third day at work this week. Luckily tomorrow IS friday!

Last night was productive at least, after work I went home, my boyfriend and I went to the gym, then to target, then to the grocery store, then each made up something for dinner and watched Profiler episodes until bedtime. I also stitched while watching so I got another hours work on Pooh done.

On the list for tonight... go home, go to the gym with my boyfriend, enjoy dinner that he's cooking (pork chops with spanish rice). Then clean the apartment, vacuum, dust etc, the whole works. Then go through fabric and figure out what i have for my SAL starting saturday, i won't actually start it until sunday since I'm doing christmas saturday but i want to get the fabric out, in case I need to buy some in which case I will be starting late. I'm guessing I will not have stitching time tonight but hopefully I can stitch at lunch today, more on Pooh so maybe this weekend I can scan in some progress pictures.

How it's looking. Herbal sampler will remain at work in case I work on it here, Pooh will be my focus piece, and the SAL sampler will be started and worked on sporatically, including at work and at my stitch nights. That reminds me, it's stitched in silk, so i need to start taking care of my hands so they aren't so rough.

Once Pooh is finished I will switch over to the Precious Moments piece that's due in april... of course that means picking one out and digging through my aida for a piece the right size, i very rarely use aida but i'm sure i have some charle's craft or something from a sale. I think I will stick with 14ct so the PM will be large enough for the "restrictions". This will be my first charity stitched pieced so I want it to be nice and correct. I'd like to do at least one a year.

I can't believe tomorrow night is New Year's Eve. I wonder what we're doing. I think my sister and her boyfriend are coming out to our place, but not sure if we're just staying in, playing cards and drinking like last year or if they want to go out, i think they want the first, but my boyfriend thinks they want to go out, we'll just have to see, i'd prefer to stay in and off the roads especially since there's a chance the road conditions will not be good and 100% chance there will be drunk drivers on them. Saturday we're going up to my uncle's for christmas celebrations with the whole family... i need to call my aunt and find out what time and tell her that we're definately coming. So much to do... you know the rest.

A long day ... I'm tired.

I just finished my lunch break, which consisted of another frozen pizza and then stitching on the Pooh piece. I have no outlined Pooh's butt so i can just fill it in. I'm looking forward to the backstitching on this piece because it will really take shape, for now it looks like blobs of color. I also worked on Pooh last night, but I worked on the Hunny jar a bit, I finished outlining it and started filling it in while watching tv.

Last night: I got home and my boyfriend had put up the surround sound speakers I got him for christmas .. how nice :) So we ordered subs (which were horrible!!) but i didn't want to go grocery shopping and there was no food around the house, and we watched "Love Actually" and then some Profiler episodes while I stitched and then cuddled with him. It was definately a relaxing evening.

Tonight we're going to do the grocery shopping together and then make a trip to walmart together, i need to get stuff for new year's eve, check out any sales and maybe buy some cheap winter boots because I couldn't find mine back home.. maybe i should check my closet first just in case I brought them with me but i'm pretty sure i didn't. Maybe tomorrow night he'll cook dinner for me when I get home, and then I'll clean. Not sure if getting to the gym will fit in this week even though it's on the list, there's a lot of stuff "on the list".

I read a lot of blogs - daily, and when I find one I'm interested in I go back and read it from the beginning. I did this last thursday with a new one, i found it and started it from the beginning, i finished it today. This takes a lot of time, and work gets pushed aside, of course there isn't much work to be done but this afternoon I will focus on just doing work now that i'm done with the blog, i'll just add it to my daily list. Most of those are listed on my sidebar, however the new ones I've found will be added the next time i change my template.

I really am tired, I don't know why, I got plenty of sleep if you dont' count the stupid heaters waking me up spitting steam for an hour straight this morning! I would love to take a nap right now, instead I'll walk to the mailbox and mail my rent check, then come back and work. Oh and there was something I needed to fix on the website I need to do that before I leave tonight too... pain in the butt!

I had a great Christmas! Where to begin.. first the stitching and quilting progress.

Yesterday I came home and spent the day stitching and watching Profiler season 3 episodes (a gift from my mom), I started the shepherd's bush April month for my next RR which may start in January. It's almost complete, I was missing one color so the beaks and feet are not done, but I got the color from my stash and will finish it at lunch today. The beads will not be added until the RR is completely finished and it's washed. This is 4.5 hours of progress:


So that was monday (the day i took off). Going backwards, Sunday I relaxed at my parent's house, while my boyfriend played his new video game (half life 2 which is really cool --i played a bit too). I quilted, got the border added to my quilt. Some pics:

And the back of it:


Now the corners on the border are mitered... however I did the back first to practice, and i ran out of fabric lengthwise and had to piece one of the strips for the front - boy was i kicking myself. If i didn't I would have had to buy a 2 yrd length more and wait until i could use the machine again, on top of the fact that i don't think there was 2 yrds left on the bolt when i bought more last week! So I pieced a tiny bit in one bottom corner and it's a lap quilt, no big deal!

Let's see before that was Christmas and Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve we went to my boyfriend's family's house for dinner, they got me matching pieces for my dishes. Dinner was great, prime rib and shrimp cocktail. Saturday morning my family did a big breakfast after stockings. Then my boyfriend came up and we did gifts which included a new coat - which I love!!! It's leather (suede). And it fits perfect. He got me a TON of great gifts, quilting stuff (tote bag, templates, stencil), books on cd, a warm cozy shirt (which i'm wearing now) and some other smaller stuff. It was a great christmas. My parents also went all out, I got the iron I needed desperately, the food processor I also wanted, some quilting stuff, including one of those cutter/iron board things that you can carry around, perfect for me!

I didn't get much stitching stuff, my grandmother got me a kit and my new aunt also got me a kit. My grandmother also got me a dragon thimble to match my dragon pincushion from graduation. All great stuff. I really had a great time.

So since I made lightning progress on that RR piece, my goals are being met left and right. I will start on my goal list for 2005 in which I'd like to do a few pieces as christmas gifts, even if they're ornaments, I was wishing i could give stitched gifts this year but I was too busy. And with the RR piece finished my focus can change again :) I can continue herbal sampler at work and Pooh at home.

Well that's my update. Enjoy the pics, I must get some work done so I can stitch at lunch :)

New PICS!!

Herbal Sampler after 21 hours of progress:

Click for larger image.

Winnie the Pooh at 13 hours progress:

Click for larger image.

DD Virtue Series, Wisdom Dragon, after 5 hours progress:

Click for larger image.

That's the last herbal sampler update for a while. I will be starting my Shepherd's Bush RR piece next so only that, Pooh and my quilt will be updated until that's done!

Wow missed a week day... yesterday morning passed kinda quickly, I found a new blog to read, i'll have to update my sidebar because i read a few more blogs now.

So it's Thursday but it feels like Friday but that's okay because I have Friday off! I came in by 7 so I can leave at 3 today, head home, pack up the car, take out the garbage (fun stuff) and head to my parents, a normal 2 hour drive, may turn into 3 or more depending on traffic.

No stitching last night (or the night before). Tuesday night was my last quilt class, it was a show n tell and we saw a ton of beautiful quilts. My teacher had made a Baltimore Album quilt -- it was amazing. Not my style of quilt but the amount of appliquet is quite impressive. Then I went home and worked on the website...

Yesterday work, then went to my Aunt's to celebrate my cousin's 12th birthday. We had a good time, lots of food, Mexican Quiche for dinner and a cake after presents. Of course I fell asleep on the couch shortly after the cake and then went up to bed. I woke up not feeling well, my throat is kinda itchy and I feel congested.. I'm wondering if I have a cold now. Bah HumBUG if i do! So right now I'm drinking some warm tea, waiting for bagels to arrive and counting the hours till 3 when I can head home to start the holidays!
Guess I'll get some work done, not much got done yesterday with a 1.5 hour lunch full of good food and talking and a constantly interrupted afternoon.

Just when I thought I was going to be deadline free for stitching...

My next RR piece is due some time in January (i'm aiming for the end of january as a mail out date).
I'm joining an online SAL for a sampler that's all in one color .. starting January 1st. Basically I'm hoping my RR piece doesn't take long and I can focus on this one as my lunch time/daily piece.
The Pooh is due around Valentine's day - or whenever the baby comes.
I signed up to stitch a Cole's Quilt square for Grace... due 4/15. I chose Grace because that is my great grandmother's name and she had the farthest due date for the square. I will focus on this after the Pooh is done.

What does this mean stitching wise...
After this week Herbal Sampler will be put away again.
It's Winter will NOT get done this winter.. put away again.
DD Wisdom dragon will be pushed to the far background.

So my organization/focus is as follows...

1) Start and Finish SB RR piece
2) Start SAL sampler
3) Finish Winnie the Pooh
4) Start and Finish piece for Grace
5) Finish SAL sampler

All the while continuing to work on my quilt and finish that up. I do want to start a quilt for my boyfriend's sister... hmm.. Off to look up quilt patterns she may like and gather information to email to her if my boyfriend sends me her email address.

Quilt class tonight - the last class!

I know I should have stitch update pics by now but I don't... I haven't brought home my herbal sampler to get a new scan yet. My goal is to stitch the herbal sampler today and tomorrow at lunch and thursday i'll work on the wisdom dragon at lunch. Then they are getting put away temporarily while I start my next RR piece and work on the Pooh piece at home exclusively.

Well I'm all done christmas shopping now, i do plan on getting my mom a few things at the quilt shop tonight for her stocking, just some needles and thread heaven, but other than that I'm done, stocking gifts for everyone ran me about 70 some odd dollars, but they're done and wrapped! I even organized all the christmas gifts so under the tree are the ones for new year's day and by the door are the ones to be packed and brought home!

After shopping and wrapping last night (and baking the corn bread), i worked on the website for a few hours, got one part done, hopefully tonight after my class i can get that more tested and the customer side started. Other than tonight I don't have much time - wed and thur night are packed, and i'll be home after that. Ho HUm!

Lunch today is Chili!!! I can't wait :) After work today I will head home quick then to the bank before my class. At class today we have show and tell which is our teacher bringing in a bunch of quilts to show us. I have my class quilt to show since it's together mostly, but i have to buy more border fabric tonight. I also have to use my coupon tonight so I will have to buy a bit more.

Well work is calling my name :)

I feel refreshed. That was a nice long weekend.

Friday was babysitting with my boyfriend, went pretty well. I actually went to bed pretty early too. Then Saturday up early (by 8) to go to my 5yr old cousin's soccer game. After that we went to breakfast and spent the rest of the day with my aunt and uncle (and the little ones). We left around 7:30 and I was wiped out when we got home so I went to sleep. Sunday we slept in -- oh how nice that was. Then we just relaxed until my boyfriend left to head to his parent's for the week.

So the rest of sunday I watched 2 movies while quilting, cooked lots of food to bring to work (meatballs, bread, rolls and made a cheese ball). Then I stitched for an hour before bed (a little progress on Piglet).

Quilting wise I"m halfway done quilting the inside lattice - 3 inner strips done and the 2 flowers, just have 3 other strips to do. Once the border's on I will have the outer lattice, 4 more flowers and 4 LONG strips, then whatever I'm going to do in the border.

Stitching wise there's notable progress on the Pooh piece, Pooh himself is most of the work left besides backstitching so I may have to start on his butt soon :) Besides him - I have my herbal sampler which I will continue on at lunch time this week. But starting next week I will start work on my RR piece - Shepherd's Bush Month series, i'm stitching January I believe. So that will be brought to work starting Tuesday (monday is my day off when I will probably start it).

One thing from my To Do list for december that won't get touched is my herb block quilt. It's on hold a bit, but will get done after my stitching is more under control (as in Pooh is done). Now is the time to start figuring out my stitching for 2005 - quilting too, so I need to get in touch with my boyfriend's sister and find out what kind of quilt i'm making for her... my boyfriend is going to talk to her hopefully this week??!
Alright-- must work - meatballs are in the crockpot and i have 2 1/2 hours till the lunch is getting served :)

Friday has arrived!

And none too soon. I got up early this morning (5:30) so that I can leave work at 3, go and pick up my boyfriend at 4 and then head up to my uncles to babysit. Having my boyfriend there will make babysitting MUCH easier and it will be nice to hang out with him some more with him almost stress free (law school wise anyway).

Last night was relaxing, I went to the gym (day 3 of 4 this week!), and walked/jogged/lifted again. Then got my boyfriend and we went to dinner. After that I thought I had to work on the website but it was being taken care of so I read, watched my show at 9 then read some more and went to bed at 10:30.

So today is work work work, no stitching at lunch, but I got extra stitching in yesterday. I checked out my goals for this month, I finished bunny gingham so that's great, but I should be working on my RR in case we start that in January, not sure if we will or not. Maybe Sunday i will get that together and start it, i'm anticipating that it will go quickly. Once that's done I can focus on the herbal sampler and finish that along with Pooh for february.

Tonight I babysit, i'm looking forward to it, after my uncle gets home from his party we may play some computer games to, so also looking forward to that. This leaves all my quilting to sunday which is fine because i think the website will do fine with out me this weekend.. if i update the database some time today.
Alright - it's getting close to food time (pizza at lunch today) and a few deserts people brought in. I best get some work done...

Easy babysitting done - hard babysitting still to come...

Last night was easy and fun. After a not so bad day at work (with some great food!), and some stitching on Herbal Sampler (Parsley done, word Oregano started).. I headed to my aunt and uncle's. My cousin was there and we went and got a pizza and ice cream. While eating we watched some movies (after eating I moved to working on the website [ on my day OFF!!] and then cross stitching on Pooh for 2 hours.)

So Pooh is coming along nicely, or should I say piglet because that's the part I worked on last night. All piglet has left is his ears and his legs are not finished. Then outlining but I will start the bottom half of Pooh first in case they touch more.

While I did this my boyfriend was out with his law school friends celebrating the end of semester 1 with a few drinks. I talked to him at 11 last night and then called this morning to be sure he got home all right since everytime I woke up last night I worried (that's 2am, 3 am, 5 am and 5:30)... then i got up at 6:20.

So Day 4 of 8 days of pigging out - the halfway mark is today. It starts with bagels like every thursday so I'm going to go make some tea to go with them, then it's MiddleEastern day foodwise I think, not sure what that means but it's probably good!

Tomorrow night I'm babysitting the 3 cousins again. I haven't talked my boyfriend into helping me yet but I will try tonight. It would be SO much easier with someone there to help hold the baby who doesn't like to be put down and he's good at getting her to sleep. Whether he comes or not I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, I had a real good time last time and I have a small gift for the 2 older girls to work on for their parents, hopefully while the youngest is in a playing mood.
Well it's time for tea.. bagels are calling me :)

It's rather cold today! Wearing a sweater and I'm still cold, even after hot chocolate!

Well problems with the website last night but now it's back up and running, and hopefully we can switch it over to the new server soon. It's all set and ready just needs an ssl cert installed to work.

Yesterday was day 2 of 8 days of pigging out.. and boy did i feel it big time! I ate way too many cookies, but i dragged myself to the gym again after work :) Then I had to drive to Fedex to pick up 2 packages which completes my wait for gifts.. all gifts arrived in time for christmas. I have one person left to get a gift for unfortunately i don't know what to get! Other than that i have some stocking gifts i should get.

Well christmas will total between 1100 and 1200 this year. Unfortunately my family (extended) is talking about changing the way we do christmas next year - and i was all for it until i realized it doesn't save me more than 30 dollars! It saves everyone else a lot but not me and my family because we're the kids that are grown, we still have to buy for the young kids. I'm not complaining, i'm just disappointed that it won't save me much, i still like the idea of really focusing on one person through the year and buying for them rather than a last minute buy for everyone thing. The problem is i spend the most money on my immediate family so unless we do the same thing internally (which maybe we will), it doesn't save me anything and christmas will always be about a 1000/year. (i spend a lot on my boyfriend).

Besides that - today is my boyfriend's last final for the semester! He gets a whole 2 1/2 weeks off after today! I wish i could celebrate with him but i'm watching my cousin tonight and he already had plans to go out drinking with his friends from school. If i wasn't watching my cousin i would just be picking him up at 9 - so i wouldn't actually get to see him anyway. Now i think he's going to take a cab and tomorrow night i'll drive him over to go get his car and we'll get some dinner. I'm not sure what his plan is for the next two weeks, he's probably going to go home to his parent's and work a bit so i won't see him much. It kinda sucks that the time he's not stressed out and busy he won't even be around to enjoy spending time with. The past month and a half have been hard, i never get time to just sit and talk with him, if i have something i need his input on i feel like i have to interrupt him from studying, and yet he finds time for entertainment when i'm busy, we just don't coordinate our free time well.

I just can't wait for law school to be over, even just the first year which i think is the hardest. However there's no saying him working will be any better but maybe it will. I'd just like to be able to talk a bit in the evening, about my day, about his day, just talk - i miss talking. The only talking i do is at work and i feel like i should be working or whoever i'm talking to is being interrupted from working. So instead i write here.

Well enough pity party!

On the stitching front, i stitched a bit on Herbal Sampler at lunch yesterday, got 3 of 4 colors done on the Parsley leaf, just have one color to do and the backstitching today then it's up a level! No other stitching done but i did bring my quilt to work to show off a bit. This way i can maybe work on it tonight at my aunt's too. Alright - i have work to do and i have to check if any food has been put out yet :)

I love this 8 days of pigging out :) Yesterday was a blast and I'm still full! Today will be even better I think with sausage rolls for lunch. Yesterday was Samosas and Tartines. (And chocolate) :)

And I made it to the gym last night! Then we made pizza for dinner which I love! And I was not feeling well after that. Probably not the food or anything, just feeling off and went to bed early which is bad because there was work on the website to do. But today I'm going to finish uploading the site to the new server and try to get it running tonight so we can make the "switch" again! This is a real pain because I'd rather be finishing the tasks I had to do and be done with the site instead of doing this moving crud when it's almost christmas! I want a break :(

Anyhow - at lunch I stitched a bit on the Dragon Dreams Virtue Series Wisdom dragon. He will be my monday at lunch project, maybe more often if i need. But today i brought floss in to work on herbal sampler so that's what i'll do at lunch... I'm up to parsley, maybe at lunch I can finish the herb parsley so tomorrow i can start on the next row up. As for pic updates, i'll probably do those weekly, maybe on the weekends i'll scan all my updates (DD Wisdom, Pooh and Herbal Sampler) and monday post the pics. The quilt is easier to update because i use the camera but there won't be a new pic until the border is on after christmas probably.

Well today is definately not moving as quickly as yesterday was but i have some work to do until lunch, i just need to stop munching or i won't even be hungry for all the great lunch food we have :)

I broke down and did another test:
Results:
Caron ushers you across the river Acheron, and you find yourself upon the brink of grief's abysmal valley. You are in Limbo, a place of sorrow without torment. You encounter a seven-walled castle, and within those walls you find rolling fresh meadows illuminated by the light of reason, whereabout many shades dwell. These are the virtuous pagans, the great philosophers and authors, unbaptised children, and others unfit to enter the kingdom of heaven. You share company with Caesar, Homer, Virgil, Socrates, and Aristotle. There is no punishment here, and the atmosphere is peaceful, yet sad.
The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to the First Level of Hell - Limbo!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test