Another Sweetheart Tree RR

This one is Kathy's and is obviously a band sampler. I stitched the flowers and date band and the bands beneath that. It was fun and quick to stitch.

Now to finish the square I was working on for Katie's blanket, and then another two letters on the new baby afghan and then I can get to something else fun!

I think I will likely start on my layout for my new Mira RR. I think I finally managed to work out a feasible layout for what I want to do with it. I've decided to outline 10 sections even though we are only doing 9 mailings. It just layed out better that way, and I'll just fill in the last section on my own sometime. I've also decided not to use Enchanted Mermaid in my RR. Her head seems much larger than the other mermaids and I think she would look disproportiante - also you wouldn't get enough of her body to tell she is a mermaid. She is a gorgeous design, but really fits better with the queens for a project like this. I still have the pattern and may do her on her own some day. After all the other 50 zillion other patterns I want to get around to! There are only 9 mermaid patterns though - 10 total mermaids since I'll be splitting up MOTDB as two, and without Enchanted Mermaid that takes it back to 9. Soooo... I gotta hope that Nora designs another mermaid for me to fill that 10th section someday! She seems to like mermaids, so hopefully she has at least one more in that head of hers. :)

Sweetheart Tree RR

Over the weekend I finished stitching another section for the Sweetheart Tree RR I'm involved in. Shannon decided to send individual pieces of fabric for everyone to stitch on and she is going to make all the individual hearts into ornaments when she gets the piece back. I did the pink heart on the bottom left - it is called Mayflower hearts, I think.

I'm currently stitching another section for Kathy's Sweetheart Tree RR - the two were sent to me at once, so I figured I'd get a jump start and get them both done right away. I'll probably have pics to share of that one in the next few days. :)

Katie Asleep again

Some of you might remember this from a few weeks back. This is one crazy child, I think. She was walking around the house acting goofy yesterday wearing Alex's winter hat and I just let her play with it. I didn't think much of it, but she must have left it in her bedroom cause later in the evening last night when I went in to check on her before I went to bed she was sleeping in it. Crazy kid, huh? Well, at least she keeps the rest of us entertained, right?

In potty training news, I am so glad I went to the underwear and stopped using the pull-ups. I am <> this close to saying she is completely trained, but she still has an accident about 1 out of 3 times she has to do a #2. She hasn't had a #1 accident in almost a week now. I'm so relieved to have the bulk of it over. She is even keeping the pull-up she wears to bed at night dry, so I'll likely stop doing that too. Woo Hoo we are going to be able to go to Disney without worrying about bringing diapers. Sad to say it, but this was my biggest motivation of all.

In stitching news, I got a package today with two Sweetheart Tree RRs in it, so I'll be stitching on those for the next few days to a week. I'll post some pics when I finish. :)

Angel of Summer progress

After I finished the 'D' on the baby afghan I pulled out my Angel of Summer for the rest of the weekend. This time I worked on the pink and yellow below where the flowery garland will go. Not a whole lot of progress, but I don't think I posted a pic of her the last few times I worked on her, so there is still quite a difference from the last time I posted a pic. I think the garland is going to be a PITA! I remember the last time I worked on her for three days over a long weekend and all I got done was finish up one sleeve and that stupid start of the garland you see there - too much stopping and starting! UGH. If it wouldn't be just as much trouble to rechart around it, I'd just leave it off. I like the pink color anyway, very nice to stitch in these cold icky months.

Tonight it is back to Katie's afghan since I'm determined to finish up those two afghans as soon as possible! I'm starting a new rotation where I do one block on Katie's afghan, two letters on the alphabet afghan and then pick a project to work on for a break. I'll have to fit in my RR pieces as they come, but whenever I'm not working on a RR piece, I'll revert back to that. And no new starts until something is finished! HA!

Baby Afghans

My sister is pregnant again and since I started stitching baby afghans for all the kids in the family back when I was young and stupid 12 years ago, I'm busily trying to finish another one. The baby isn't due til August, and I picked a relatively easy and quick pattern, so I'm hoping it won't eat up too much of my already limited stitching time. This is of course the first four letters of an alphabet pattern. I changed the "C" because the pattern is really old - like from the 70s - and the C was done in really yucky orange shades. Also there was a clown instead of the cow. All the blankets I've done for all the kids have had a cow in them since my dad is a dairy farmer, so I had to change out the clown anyway - but it was a rather disturbing looking clown to boot!

So far the only baby blankets that weren't done on time were the two I did for my own kids - but then I did much more elaborate things for them. Katie's is still in progress and she is more than 2 1/2! I'm still trying to finish that one up, so I have two of these nasty things on the go at once! I'm determined to finish them both though so that I can focus on more enjoyable stitching! :)

A Good Day :)

I had today off for MLK day. I kept Katie home from daycare to work on the potty training. This way we had a whole 3-day weekend to be in underwear at home. I think we made good progress - she's not totally trained or anything yet, but she will definitely stay dry if I keep after her to use the potty. She won't really be trained until she is the one telling me when she has to go, but I see this as good practice and the more time she spends in underwear, the more that is going to be the norm for her. I do feel we've hit the point of no return to the diapers/pullups except for night time. I expect she will continue to have accidents for awhile, but we'll just deal - I'm not going back to the pullups when she is only averaging 1 - 2 accidents a day. Tomorrow will be the real test when she goes back to daycare. Her teacher is fine with her coming in underwear with several changes of clothes for accidents. So no more pullups except for bedtime at night. She even stays dry during her nap, and as long as we go to the bathroom immediately when she wakes up naptime in underwear is not a problem.

Anyway, since I was home and not working today I took Katie with me to two LNSs, I got a bunch of errands done, we ate lunch at Burger King, and I got a quiet couple of hours while she napped to stitch. It really made me wish for the days when I was a Stay at Home mom. I was relatively busy most of the day, but with stuff that I was invested in doing - not some dumb thing the company I work for decided I should do. I'd really like to quit my job, but not financially feasible, at least not right now. Possible for the future though - we'll see - and today gave me some motivation to do what we can to make that happen. I felt more content today stressing about her pulling something off the shelf at the LNS or possibly having an accident in the restaurant than I *ever* feel at work.

Another Mirabilia Round Robin

I've decided to moderate another Mirabilia Round Robin. I'm going to do mine all mermaids this time. I'm thinking of stitching a portion of Mermaids of the Deep Blue in the center, and then having the other stitchers do portions of several of the other Mira mermaids in sections outlined around the perimeter. We'll see, I'm still firming up the idea in my head. If you know of a good "under the sea" type fabric please feel free to recommend one as I'll definitely be buying a hand-dyed especially for this piece. I usually buy from Silkweaver, but I'm open to trying out others too.

Just Nan RR finish

Finished up my part of this RR on Friday evening. :) Michelle is having us stitch the 12 days of Christmas - I stitched the 7 and the 12 since she said we could do two if we wanted. :)

New Years

I finally started Mother's Tree on New Years day. I've been wanting to do it forever and New Years is the only day of the year I allow myself to start something new without finishing something else unless I have to start an obligation piece. :) I'm doing it on Peaceful Waters Classic Edinbourogh 36ct linen from Silkweaver and I'm using Dinky Dyes Emerald for the tree. I'm going to do it in all Dinky Dyes silks. I really like how it looks so far - the pic doesn't really do it justice.

We didn't really do too much for New Years, just went out to eat at a local sport bar and then watched a rental before watching the ball drop. We watched MI - 3 which was okay. We were looking for something Alex could watch with us, but would still hold our attention and this fit the bill. Like I said it was okay, but nothing great. We also played Monopoly - and let me put it in writing right here - I WILL NEVER PLAY MONOPOLY AGAIN with my husband. He is just too cut throat, and the game is too long. I can take losing and all, but he is so ruthless and gloats so much and the game just goes on and on and that is no fun and frustrating and causes me to just bicker and b*tch the whole time. Alex had fun though even though he didn't win, so I guess I have less sportsmanship than my 11 yr old son. *sigh*

I should probably take an inventory of what I did in 2006 and what I want to accomplish in 2007 - but I don't really feel like it and to be honest - I don't really find reading everyone else's little year end sum up all that interesting. Mine would be slightly more interesting to me - but probably more boring to everyone else - so I'll skip it. I will list what I have going now though just to have a record for myself to look back on next year - feel free to skip reading it if you choose. :)

Sweetheart Tree RR
Just Nan RR
Chatalaine's Alhambra Garden
Waiting for Ships
Hardanger Table Runner
Silkwood Manor
Katie's blanket
baby blanket for Aug 2007 baby
Hardanger exchange piece
Angel of Summer
Mother's Tree