More Mirabilia RR finishes!

Sorry for the long abscense! Things were really busy at work for awhile there as we were meeting a deadline for the end of March that turned into mid-May and I was putting in a lot of extra hours. By the time I got home, I didn't want to even look at the PC anymore. I did manage to get in a bit of stitching though, so I have some pics to share. :) I am on a new assignment now too - so hopefully I can get back to a more regular posting schedule.



I managed to finish all the beading for my finished Mira RR - I also took MissyAnn's advice and stitched the last mermaid myself and signed her 'Nora' for the designer.

After that I received Diane's RR in the mail and stitched Ashley's Roses to finish hers.

That finishes up all my stitching for the Mira RR - so I'll quit boring you with the pics of them. State Fair is my next big stitching goal and I'll be trying to finish Silkwood Manor - Just Nan, one of the Nora Corbet Christmas Couriers (haven't decided or started which one it will be yet), and a small scissorcase by Cat's Whiskers. I will also enter my Enchanted Alphabet by L&L in the large catagory. Probably too ambitious to finish all of that by mid to late July when the judging is, but I'm going to try to do as much as possible - so the next few months will probably be updates on those.

On the personal front, the job is going well - I got a very nice raise back in Feb and everyone seems to be happy with my work. I don't know about the current assignment just yet. I've only been doing it about a week and I'm still feeling out how it is going to go.

Home is going well - DH and I are getting along pretty well these days, guess we were just going through a bit of a rough patch awhile back when I posted about some of the arguing we were doing. I think I have a tendency to over-react a bit when we are fighting because of how things were *years* ago - it always feels like we are right back there. In realilty we have both learned a lot and while old habits still slip in now and again we are much better at righting things and getting back on track.

On another note DH and I are looking into buying or building a new home for spring 2009. I really want to build, but the more we look into it the more confusing/hard it seems. I know we could just buy a home/lot package from a builder and eliminate a lot of the befuddling hoops and such, but we really don't want to move into one of those cookie cutter new neighborhoods. We have been interested in a few single lots, but then there is all the issues of trying to figure out if we could get an exposure, if there will be drainage problems, what the setbacks are, whether there are utilities already there or not, and how much it will cost if there aren't, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Last but not least, we are going back to Disney in late August. We are so excited. Good thing the summer is getting so packed lately - the busyiness will make it go by more quickly. Oh, and I almost forgot Katis is 4 tomorrow! Can you believe it? Well, I can't! She is growing up so quickly!

Another Mira RR finish

This one is Stacey's and it is really pretty. Love the fabric. I stitched April's Blue Diamond. :)

Angel of Summer progress

Here is my progress on Angel of Summer. She is coming along, but not as quickly as I'd like. I worked on the yellow sashes this time.

I decided to take Melissa's advice and stitch the last section on my RR myself and sign it Nora. I'm about half way through stitching the other mermaid from Mermaids of the Deep Blue in the empty section. (Enchanted Mermaid is not really proportionate to the other mermaids, that is why I left her off.) I have an order in for all the beads too - so we'll see how long it takes me to get all those beads on! :)

My Mirabilia RR is home :)

I love how it turned out! Every bit as gorgeous as I imagined. Now to find someone to stitch the last section, and then get it all beaded and framed. :)

Hardanger Runner Progress

I'm having the hardest time staying motivated for this piece. Lately, I've been working on each piece for a week's rotation before moving on, but I just couldn't do it with this piece. I made a deal with myself to finish the hearts on each end at least, and I did manage that. I really like how it is turning out, but some reason I just don't like working on it right now. *sigh* For me, those feelings usually come and go with a project, so maybe I'll be more enthused to work on it next time. For now, I've moved on to my "Angel of Summer", which is also a piece that isn't a big favorite. I'm doing her for my mom who always really appreciates my stitching though, so I guess I'll keep slogging on for her. At least I'm starting to feel like I might one day finish AOS, so that helps my motivation. With the Hardanger runner I just feel it will never end!

A few WIP pics

I finished a rotation on Mother's Tree, and unfortunately I'm not really feeling like it was a lot of progress. The tree just seems endless right now. I worked on filling in the left side. I thought about trying to work on some of the names for a bit to break up the monotony, but I was too afraid to try to count out that far. I just know I'd mess it up. Maybe next time I'll at least do the trunk of the tree so that I'm closer to where the names will go and I can start them before finishing all of that dang ole tree. :)

Since I had the camera out to take the pic of Mother's Tree, I went ahead and took a quick progress pic of Silkwood Manor too. Mother's Tree is on 36ct Peaceful Waters Endinbourgh from Silkweaver, stitched with Dinky Dyes Evergreen? silk floss. Silkwood Manor is on 28ct Joblean, I forget the color name, but it is a light blue if you cannot tell from the pic.

ARGH

Really, maybe it is just me, but last time I checked most people generally try to be nice to the person they are trying to have sex with. Right? Or did the whole world just go upside down on me or something?

We had a really nice Valentine's day until bedtime. Dinner at a local chain pizza place with the kids, cards and chocolates, watched LOST together, one of our better nights. Once we are in bed, he makes his move and I'm pretty much inclined to oblige. Until he touches me with his really, really cold hands. I jumped sky high - did not say anything mean - just startled. I was completely planning on continuing. He goes off about how negative I am, and blames me for everything under the sun. Yeah - instant aphrodisiac. I said a few not-so-nice words myself about how he could finish his evening (sans me) and that was the end of that. He hung around a bit not saying anything I guess waiting for me to re-initiate things, but when it was clear I wasn't about to - he went and slept on the couch, and I was relieved to be rid of his toxicity.

The strange thing is that stuff like this happens a lot, and usually I'm really hurt by it. This time it just seemed so absurd. Just felt sort of outside myself like I was watching this really interesting movie/situation, and the absurdity of it all just made me want to cry/laugh/scream/explode, but yet I didn't really feel overly emotional. I dunno, I'm probably not explaining that very well.

Of course we haven't spoken since mostly because we get up to go to work at different times, but we did pass in the hallway right before I left and as he was just getting up. He seemed to make a point of talking to Alex and not to me, but this was really only a 30 sec. timeframe. Now I'm wondering if he is going to act like he did after our fight on Sunday and not talk to me for a few days and claim that I was the one to go off the deep end. Usually this is his attitude when things aren't going well. I just hate all the tension it creates and I know the kids pick up on it too, even though we are both pretty good about not really fighting in front of them.

Inspiration

This photo is a little darker than I'd like, but darn I cannot for the life of me figure out how to take better lit shots close up with my new camera. My old 2megapixel seemed to do much better than the new 8mp. *sigh* It takes great snapshots though, just not good needlework shots.

I also have some recent progress on Silkwood Manor, but I was too lazy to take a new pic so you'll have to wait until next time I work on it to see a new picture. Seems lately life has been really busy and I don't get enough time to stitch or post! The good part of that is that my work is being recognized at work and I got a nice fat raise at my review a few weeks back. Can always appreciate that, right?

Since I did get a nice raise at work, and DH got a nice raise too (not as nice as mine though!), DH could no longer ignore my pleas to make a return trip to Disney this summer. So we are going 8/23/08 thru 8/31/08. I know it will be really hot in Florida that time of year, but I just don't want to take Alex out of school again. He is doing really well, but he is a kid that has to work really hard to do well - it doesn't come easy to him - and I don't want to stress him out trying to make up a week's worth of work.

Things with DH are still a bit rocky right now. We had a huge fight on Sunday about pretty much nothing, but I blew up at him because I couldn't take the constant criticism anymore. Of course as soon as I've blown my stack, the fight is only about that and not about all the millions of jabs and nasty things he's done/said in the time leading up to it. Drives me bonkers. I always end up apologizing for the things I've done wrong (and I know I should be able to control my temper better sometimes) while he just withdraws and refuses to talk to me claiming he is 'scared' of me - yeah, right whatever. (He says he is scared because I threw my car keys on the ground and somehow that is violent - I could understand a bit if I threw them at him, but I digress.)

We did make up though finally, after 2 days of him being "afraid", and generally emotionally unavailable and passive agressive, and me crying my eyes out wondering how after 13 years of building my life around this sap, that a few harsh words have me 'unworthy' of his love/attention/understanding.

He did finally admit to his part in it and also admitted that my "outbursts" (which is really just me yelling at him for 30 seconds about how I hate being critisized) are fewer and farther between than they have been in years past. He thinks things are all roses now - but every time we have one of these experiences I'm just left feeling really resentful at all the pain I just went through for what would have been a very minor incident to any normal person. I make up with him because he'll stop being nasty and rubbing salt in the wound when I do, but I don't feel close to him or like I love him. And it is just so hard to get him to admit that yeah, maybe he was being mean/unreasonable when he was sarcastic and nasty about me not getting the doors open fast enough, or not getting in the left turn lane fast enough to make the green arrow in traffic. (Don't get me started on how I have to drive everywhere cause he is too "stressed".)

*sigh* I guess I just needed to vent that all out somewhere - feel free to ignore.

Alhambra Garden WIP

I think I've finally found a rhythm that works for me with this piece. When I first started past the center box I found this piece so difficult because of all the color changes. Now though, I've figured out that if I do the yellow outlines of the columns and lattice work and then fill in, it goes more smoothly because the pattern is more obvious and I make fewer counting errors. This time I worked on from the top left corner across the top, and I enjoyed working on it very much.

Next up though, is Silkwood Manor - I like that piece because I always seem to make good progress on it when I work on it. I'll work on it for at least a few days - until I'm satisfied with how much I get done and am ready to move on in the rotation. I think I've finally sucumbed to a screaming rotation. I may go back to a more structured one at some point, but for now I'm just working on what I feel like for as long as I feel like. The only rule I have for right now is no new starts (at least until I finish something!)

Heritage Sampler WIP pics

I spent about a week of my stitching time working on this, and although I had a few boughts of the frogs come up, I think I made some decent progress. While I was working on the cherries band I kept thinking the colors just weren't working together, but once it was done and I stepped back a little I was glad I had kept going - I really like how they turned out. The only lingering doubt is the orange underneath each flower, but even that isn't really bothering me.

I'll be working on Alhambra Garden for the next little bit, so we''ll see if I get enough done to warrent posting any new pics. :)

White Christmas for the Mira RR

Still trying to figure out the settings for taking close up pictures on my new camera. The picture of the whole piece is much truer to the real colors. I picked "White Christmas" to stitch for this one cause I always imagined her on Christmas Eve night watching the snowflakes fall. And since I stitched on it during the weeks right after Christmas she seemed appropriate.

Catch Up

I know I haven't posted in awhile - but gosh things got busy there for awhile. Really the last few months have been quite busy at work, but with the added holdiay busyiness, I just didn't have the time (or energy frankly) to post anything.

Stitching
I'm this < > close to finishing another section for the Mira RR. I've been stitching on it forever it seems. Should finish it sometime over the weekend, so I'll post a pic then. Ever get close to finishing something and you keep thinking it is almost done, but the more you stitch and stitch the more you are sort of in the same place as before?... that is how this is going for me. I am determined to finish this weekend though cause my Heritage Sampler piece (and all my other WIPs too) is calling me name - loudly!

Work
Things have really been busy, but also really good. I try not to talk about work too much in a public forum such as this, but suffice it to say that my career is starting to advance a bit and I'm being rewarded for my hard work and ability. I finally work for a boss that really wants to help me do well and succeed. Of course his good attitude makes me want to work even harder and do better, so that creates a little stress - but it is a good stress and has really improved my overall self-esteem and outlook on life.

Kids
Despite having never-ending colds/flu/ear infections this winter they seem to be doing really well at school and in their other activities. Alex is doing intramural basketball at the middle school and Katie is taking preschool gymnastics.

DH
This is one area where things could be going better. *sigh* Not that things are awful and terrible, just not where I want them to be, and considering how far we've come in years past, I'm not sure there is any more room for improvement. Don't know if I can be okay with things as is or not. That is probably all I should say about that.

A Christmas finish

Didn't have much time for ornies and such this year, but did manage to finish this flatfold and one other ornament that is already taped to the package for the recipiant. It is "A star" by the Sunflower Seed from the 2007 JCS Ornament issue. It was too big for an ornie once I finished stitching it, I thought, so I made it into my second ever flatfold. My technique in making these still needs a bit of work, but it is better than my last attempt, and after making a few more, I think I'll have it down. :)

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Shhhh.... Alex is getting a Wii for Xmas!

I'm so excited! I finally scored a Wii - and just in time for Christmas. I set up my cell to receive a message from wiialerts.com when they go up on the internet anywhere and I just purchased one off Amazon.com!! Now to email customer service about upgrading the shipping so that it will get here in time. I was in such a rush to just get it ordered that I didn't pay attention to what shipping option I was choosing. Twice before I haven't been able to complete the online checkout process in time to snag one when they were available, so I was really rushing.

SQEEEE I'm so excited! We've wanted one since last year, but didn't really get serious about trying to actually get one til this year - We figured the demand would have subsided by this year and that Nintendo would have caught up. Not so...

Dasher HD!

I've finished "Dasher" by Nora Corbet for my mom for Christmas. You might remember I gave her "Donner" for her birthday last month. Now at least she has the two to display together.

In other news, Katie is now recovering from a nasty ear infection. She isn't really prone to them - this is only her 3rd - she seems to get one a year or so. This one was really bad though. We first noticed she was sick on Monday night when she woke in the middle of the night and threw up in her bed. Ick! I first thought a stomach bug or just fatigue general sickyness from a cold that was going around school. Tuesday we kept her home from Daycare cause she seemed sort of lethargic and we were all homebound because of an icestorm anyway. Wed. DH stayed home with her and by this time she was complaining of her ear hurting. I took her in to the doctor Wed afternoon and they confirmed my diagnosis of an ear infection and gave her some antibiotic drops for her ear. I thought she'd be up and her old self by sometime Thursday, but when that didn't happen I started to get worried. I called the doctor's office Thurs. night and they basically reacted as though I was just being worrisome and that I hadn't given the drops enough time to work. Luckily my boss was really understanding through all of this and I was able to work from home both Thurs and Friday and keep her busy with Disney movies and Spongebob since she was mostly lying on the couch being cranky and sick. She would seem a little better for an hour or two, but then seem as sick and warm and cranky as ever.

Today is the first day that I've been confident that she is actually getting better and it's Sunday. I've never had one of my kids be this sick for this long before, and for that I guess I should be grateful. Sean and I are about worn out from it all though. The worrying and all the extra effort to keep her comfortable and not fussing. Of course now that she is feeling better she is accostomed to a little more attention and not wanting to give that up although she is clearly better and playing with her dolls and toys and beginning to want to eat again. I think I'll actually be glad to get back to work tomorrow!

Christmas Doily

I made this Christmas doily for my grandmother for Christmas. I'm going to give her some Christmas-y smelling votives and a votive holder with it. I think she will like it. :)

It almost didn't get finished. I was working on it during Katie's preschool ballet and gymnastics class and accidentally left the thread on the bench outside the classroom. Luckily it was still there the next morning when I realized and went back for it. If it had been gone there is no way I would have been able to finish. The thread is a Vikki Clayton thread, but I have no idea what color and I bought the threads about 5 yrs ago for a project I ended up not starting, so even if I could figure out the color who knows how close the dye lots would be 5 years later....

Anyway, the thread was still sitting on the bench right where I left it the next morning, so crisis averted! :)

More Mira RR

This one is the middle fairy from "Three for Tea". I thought the colors would compliment the fabric well and this was one of the fairies Missy Ann had on her "preferred" list. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Between now and Christmas I'll likely be stitching on gifts and ornaments. I'll post pics as I finish things. I gave my "Donner" to my mom for her birthday and she really like it, so I'll be starting "Dasher" very soon. I decided to do a quick Hardanger doily for my grandmother first. She always likes me to stitch her something for the holidays. I also like to do ornaments for people to send out with the Christmas cards. We'll have to see how many I finish this year. :)

Donner HD!

He is on 32ct Silvery Moon linen from Zwiegart. I subbed MH 00348 for the 10071 Magnifica beads, and a generic brand white seed bead for the 10069 Magnifica beads. I also subbed Emeral Swarowski crystals for the treasures in the antlers and used a generic brand red pebble bead for the treasures in the wreath, since they looked as though they were meant to be large berries or bunches of berries anyway. I also subbed the Waterlilies 204 with Dinky Dyes 57 which is a plum color for more berries in the wreath. It didn't seem to make sense to buy a whole skein of Waterlilies for about 30 stitches. Lastly I used just plain DMC blanc for the tail instead of the Whisper.

I think it looks pretty good even with all my substitutions. I added the name to the bottom with a random alphabet I had from an insert of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. My plan is to do each reindeer as they are released and give them to my mom who collects deer. She can then display them all at Chrismas time with her collection. She is going to get this one right after Thanksgiving for her birthday and I might get ambitious and try to finish Dasher for Christmas. These actually are pretty small and work up very quickly for a Mira on a small cut of fabric. (Fit easily on a 9 x 12 piece from my stash.)

Donner WIP

My mom collects deer and I thought that doing one of these for her each year would be a nice addition to whatever Christmas pressie I get for her. I decided to use Silvery Moon fabric mostly because I have a huge piece of it left over from Heritage Sampler, since I had to buy a whole yard and I know I 'll have enough to do all 8 Christmas Couriers on it. It is going really quickly, but I was sort of surprised by how much specialty stuff these little designs use - didn't have much in my stash already to complete it. I did buy the braids and a few of the magnifica beads, but I think I'll make substitutions for the treasures and the other beads. I think I'll also just use DMC B5200 for the tail instead of the recommended Whisper - I've heard it yellows anyway. I have already subbed some Dinky Dyes plum for the recommended Waterlilies thread for the berries in the wreath. I think that looks pretty good so far. :) It was only like 30 stitches anyway - so I'd hate to spend $6 on 30 stitches.

In other news, trick-or-treating was a real blast this year. This is the first time Katie really got into it and really seemed to understand CANDY! AT EVERY HOUSE! YIPPEE! Alex went to this year after waffling back and forth about whether he was too old or not. I figure as long as he is being polite and not obnoxious and staying out of trouble he can come trick-or-treating with us - for now - that opinon might change as he gets older still each year. Here is a pic of the kids before we left the house. Katie was a bunny and Alex a pirate.

More Mirabilia RR

Because there was a delay in mailings earlier in the round, I ended up getting a few of these kind of close together. I might have one more pretty soon too! Anyway, this is Marjean's and I really like the layout. As you can see she has some thick and short boxes and some thinner and longer. I bet this piece is really going to be beautiful once complete.

As you can see I stitched part of Emerald Mermaid. :) Since my own RR is going to come back to me all mermaids, I thought it might be nice to stitch one or two myself.

Heritage Sampler WIP pics

I picked this up on Friday to do my normal rotation slot on it, but just couldn't

put it down! I ended up stitching on it all weekend and managed to finish the border around the top band and start the two vertical bands underneath. I'm pretty happy with how it is coming along and these pics really don't do the piece justice. It is much more vibrant in real life. :)

Another Mirabilia RR finish

Finished another section for my Mirabilia RR. This is a section of Butterfly Fairy, a pattern I've always liked minus the fairy's wings. It was nice to stitch just my favorite part of the design. :)

Alhambra Garden progress

Here is an updated progress pic for Alhambra Garden. I know it isn't a ton more since my last photo, but I did complete a diagonal corner, which I've decided is my favorite part of this design, and it went quick too! :)

I also took advantage of some unexpected free time on Friday afternoon and finished off my first ever Halloween design into my first ever flatfold. It turned out okay, and looks pretty good in the photo, but a closer examination would reveal some finishing blunders. Looks good enough to have up for the month of October though, and I since this was my first flatfold I knew the finishing probably wouldn't be the greatest. I'll do better on the next one having had the practice now. :)

Here's what I got

This is what I received from the recent Open-themed exchange on the Rotation Board. This is from Liz, and she stitched me the prettiest little biscornu. :) I think I'll ditch my old ugly pin cushion from JoAnn's and start using this instead. :)

Exchange Received

I stitched this for an Open-themed Smalls Exchange on the Rotation BB. I received word today that the receipant got it in the mail so I figured I'd share the pics. :)

The design is Sweet Baby James Needle Purse by Indigo Rose and it appeared in JCS a few years ago. I changed the colors to silks that I had leftover from when I stitched "My Son" a few years back. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and it was relatively quick and easy.

First Heritage Sampler WIP pic

I've almost finished the top band of purple flowers and greenery. I'm really happy with my fabric choice - I picked 32ct. Silvery Moon and the colors show up really nicely, not sure that this photo really does that aspect any justice, but at least you can see my progress. I wanted to get a good start on it before just moving it into a regular rotation spot - this is about 6 nights of work.

I'm back to the rotation for now though, so today/tonight I'm stitching on Alhambra Garden. I'm hoping to get to do another of the corners, I think I should be able to at least start on it.

Sweetheart Tree RR Foldable Book

For the Sweetheart Tree RR, I had the particpants each stitch a portion of a foldable book, like the ones the Designing Ladies created for 2006. I used Judy O'Dell's finishing book for directions on sizing the sections and putting it together when I got it back. It took a lot more time and effort to finish than I originally thought it would, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I really like these little books and have two other RR foldable books to assemble when I get around to it. One from a Just Nan RR and one from a Foldable book RR that I used Friendship and stitching as my theme. I need to stitch a section or two for each of those before I can finish them though. I think I'll wait a bit before getting around to it as this one took me almost a week of all my stitching time to finish! I'm sure it'll go a little more quickly next time as I won't be spending all that time studying the directions!

In other stitching news I managed to pick up my yard of 32ct Silvery Moon Belfast from my LNS on Thursday and cut it to the size I need for my Heritage Sampler - Yikes 50in x 23 in. - I actually cut it 23 x 55 since the width was already that size and no use cutting off only 4 in. I'll just give myself a little larger margin. That is one huge piece of fabric. I shudder to think of the size of the frame, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I spent all of last night and most of this morning rinsing silk threads to prevent bleeding should I need to wash this piece, and given how big it is and how long it is likely to take, I'm figuring the chances of needing to wash it are pretty good. BUT I think I will get to put needle to fabric for the first stitches sometime today (still have a little floss rinsing to do for some of the colors that are STILL bleeding - like the Gloriana Pomengrate!) I'm going to spend a few days or maybe a week on it before moving back to the rotation or to a RR piece so I'll likely post a small meager progress pic when I do eventually move onto something else. :)

DH got me roses! :)

With the kids' school activities starting this last week - I've been running everywhere and stressing way out. DH has been watching the new football season and enjoying it, but we have been spatting about how much I'm doing and how much he's watching football.

Last night he came home late from work and brought me these to apologize and let me know he does appreciate me! Woo hoo! I can count on one hand the number of times he has gotten me flowers in the 12+ years we've been married (including when the kids were born!) so this is major for me. I cried when he gave them to me. Maybe, just maybe, he gets it, huh?

Final Sweetheart Tree RR finish

This one is Dani's. This is the last one to do for me for this Round Robin. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad to have one more thing done and off my stitching plate right now. I just got a call from my LNS that my fabric is in for Heritage Sampler, so I'm itching to dive into that ASAP! :)

Another Mira RR finish

This one is Kaye's Round Robin. I've been meaning for so long to do this piece (Three for Tea) and have always liked the expression this fairy has - something sort of coy about the look on her face that I find charming. I also really like the fabric Kaye chose. It is a 32ct natural opalescent and compliments pretty much all the Mira fairies well - an excellent choice for a Round Robin piece.

Mother's Tree Progress

Just thought I'd post a progress pic for Mother's Tree - it still isn't much, but at least I have the outline of the upper part of the tree done - just endless fill in work to do before moving onto the trunk. I enjoy stitching on it for one night a week though - it's a good piece for stitching during movies since there aren't any color changes and all the difficult counting is already done.

Right now I'm stitching on another Mira section for the Round Robin, so that will probably be the next post. I also got word recently that the last piece for the Sweetheart Tree RR is now on its way to me, so I'll finish that up once I'm done with the Mira RR section before going back to the rotation.

A small finish

Finished this last week already I think - just took me a bit to get it on the scanner! This is Just Nan's "Girls Night Out". the fabric is a bit washed out in this photo, but it isn't too far off. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I'm hoping to get around to finishing it into a flatfold before Halloween. Are there any good flatfold instructions online?

The rest of my pieces are coming along okay, getting in a bit of progress on each piece as it comes up in the rotation. I'll have to make an effort to post more pictures - maybe this weekend! I also finished another small project (I took a break from the rotation) but it is for an exchange, so you'll have to wait for pics of that one. :)

Mirabilia RR finish

I stitched Middy on Autumn's RR. Angi (faerystitcher) stitched Queen Mermaid. I just included Angi's portion because they fit so nicely on the scanner together. So nice to have a quick finish. :) I may try to work in an exchange piece I signed up for before going back to the rotation.

In other news, we got our family picture taken for the first time since Katie was born. I think it came out rather well. :)

Alex is 12!

UGH! Just one more year until my 'baby' is a teenager. Sometimes it seems he is there already, and other days he still seems like my little boy. *sigh* Does this mean I'm getting old and matronly?? To have a son that old - and to be talking like, "Oh seems like just yesterday..." Yeah, I know, probably. I am so proud of him- he is such a great kid that never gives us an ounce of trouble. He is having "the guys" over for a sleepover tonight and we bought him a few games for his new Nintendo DS for his birthday. He worked all summer doing chores and saved his money to buy it for himself, so we felt that would be a good present. He's starting 7th grade in a few weeks and I just don't know where the time went.

Anyway, in stitching news I've decided to do Chatalaine's Heritage Sampler! Its an expensive design to purchase, and the materials are also expensive, so for me buying the pattern and design is a committment to actually stitch this one. I have a lot of cheaper patterns I buy thinking that I like the design and hope to get around to stitching it one day - but it isn't a firm committment until I've pulled it out of the stash drawer to start. Not so with Chatelaine's - if I buy 'em - I stitch 'em cause I could never justify the cost if I didn't! Sooo this one will probably take the open spot I had for Friday's - I don't want to hold off starting it for fear that I then won't stitch it and will have wasted all the money I spent on it. Am I just neurotic about that or what?

So now I need to decide what fabric to use to stitch it. My main contenders are Morning Dew by Silkweaver in Belfast or Joblean, or perhaps Lambswool Joblean from Wichelt. But then I saw Porcelain on the Silkweaver site and thought that might go nicely too - it is a good neutral. Anyone have a piece of Morning Dew in their stash that they might be able to comment on how dark it is? Is it subtle enough to stitch leaves and flowers and not loose the greens??

Growing Inspiration

This piece is so much fun to work on - so satisfying to finish each little flower, leaf, and bird. It is slowly but steadily growing, and because I enjoyed working on it so much this Thursday, I kept right on stitching on it on Friday (friday is my "free" day in the rotation). So sad to put it away, but hey, Thursday isn't that far off right? :)

Silkwood Manor

Yikes, I've been so busy at work lately that I haven't felt much like being on the computer to blog lately. I usually make time to check the boards and email, but then I want to stitch in the remainder of my free time!

Anyway, the new rotation is working out really well and I love being able to get in a little progress on all my pieces each week. Here is Silkwood Manor. Yes, I know there are still smudges on the pic - apparently there is actually something wrong with the lens - it is not just dirty. Guess that is what I get for buying a cheap camera off ebay - you get what you pay for - sigh. It'll have to do for now though, and I think you get the idea.