Category Archives: HOHRH

Year of WIPs Challenge

And we’re off!  I did get brave and created a YouTube photo video.

Here’s what I settled on for stitching, along with the progress photo as of Sep 30.  Click to see full photo.

Scarlet Letter – Gratitude

2016-09-18-07-52-062016-09-18-07-57-12

 

 

 

 

Mirabilia – Fairy Moon

2016-09-19-19-30-432016-09-19-19-31-40

 

 

 

 

Examplar Dames – And They Sinned

and-they-sinned-a

2016-09-30-10-29-39

 

 

 

 

Carriage House Samplings – Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

2016-09-19-08-06-37

2016-09-30-09-44-46

 

 

 

 

Mirabilia – Garden Verses

2016-09-30-10-32-46

2016-09-30-10-31-43

 

 

 

Goode Huswife – Book of Spells

2016-09-19-08-00-00

2016-09-23-11-47-15

 

 

 

 

Blue Ribbon Designs – An Expression of Gratitude

2016-09-19-08-00-112016-09-23-22-51-48

 

 

 

 

Plum Street – Hurt Not the Earth

2016-09-18-08-18-082016-09-30-10-21-41

 

 

 

 

Scarlett House – Coverlet Candle Mat

2016-09-18-08-19-122016-09-30-10-11-20

 

 

 

 

Little House Needleworks – Needleworker

2016-09-18-08-19-532016-09-30-10-03-19

 

 

This was actually my plane project for last week’s trip since it’s on 30 ct.

Mill Hill – Log Cabin Quilt

2016-09-18-08-21-072016-09-30-14-47-12

 

 

 

 

This was my first project to work on. I finished 10 hours last night.  Love how it’s turning out but ended up having to unstitch  about 2 hours worth because of mixing up the blues.  Blah!

2016-10-02-22-32-37

 

 

 

For now I’ll focus on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow and stitch it every 4th project.  I’ll be creating a tab at the top to track progress.

Now I need to figure out what I want to stitch on next!

My quilting buddies are returning starting this week and I’m looking forward to returning to sewing with them.  I’ll decide on my quilt/sewing WIPs once I figure out how often I’ll be sewing.

WIP Challenge 2016-2017

I did something that has caused me to dig through this:

I know if I start digging through here I will soon have 50 WIPs.

My BFF mentioned a few days ago that she was going to participate in a WIP Challenge, where you finished 12 or so WIPs.  I didn’t fully understand how it would work since it was starting October 1, plus I have some huge WIPs and know I can’t stitch 12 of them in a year (on top of the sewing I want to get done) so I sort of filed it away in the back of my mind.

I was watching her latest flosstube and she brought it up again so I went hunting for more information and became intrigued.  I think it’s completely doable!  The gist is you stitch 10-15 WIPs by the end of December 2017.  The boss lady of the challenge states that as long as they have 1 stitch in them come October 1, 2016, they’re WIPs.

I wanted to divide my 10 items by older WIPs and newer WIPs, so my list looks like this right now:

  1. Scarlet Letter – Gratitude
  2. Mirabilia – Fairy Moon
  3. Examplar Dames – And They Sinned
  4. Carriage House Samplings – Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
  5. Goode Huswife – Book of Spells
  6. Blue Ribbon Designs – Expressions of Gratitude
  7. Plum Street – Hurt Not the Earth
  8. Scarlett House – Coverlet Candle Mat
  9. LHN – Needleworker
  10. Mill Hill – Log Cabin

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow and And They Sinned are my two largest WIPs.  I had already decided to go back to rotating through 4-5 projects at a time, and now I’m trying to decide if I want to go back to stitching in 10 hour increments on a design and then switching out or stitch for a week on something and switch out on Monday.  Either way I intend to focus on Houses or ATS.  So my weekly rotation may look like this:

  • Oct 1-2 Book of Spells
  • Oct 3-9 HOHRH
  • Oct 10-16 Needleworker
  • Oct 17-23 Expressions of Gratitude
  • Oct 24-30 Book of Spells
  • Oct 31-Nov 6 HOHRH
  • Nov 7-13 Coverlet Candle Mat
  • Nov 14-20 Gratitude
  • Nov 21-27 Fair Moon
  • Nov 28-Dec 4 And They Sinned
  • Dec 5-11 HOHRH
  • and so on until HOHRH is finished, then move ATS into that spot

Now that I have it written out this may be the better way to go.  If I decide to do the time version it’ll be something like

10 hours HOHRH
10 hours Book of Spells
10 hours Needleworker
10 hours Expressions of Gratitude
10 hours HOHRH
10 hours Coverlet Mandle Mat
etc…..

We’ve been paired off with another member of the group and required to send monthly post cards as a way to encourage and get to know each other.  I’m also excited about this as I’ve been sort of considering writing to someone once a month as a way to communicate.

Now I just need to figure in some quilting/sewing time and pull a couple of large WIPs and small WIPs and do my own quilting/sewing challenge during that time too.

And, I need to get this all down in my journal by September 30.

 

Wherein I share my largest WIP of all

the Dungeon!

PICTURE INTENSIVE!

This is part of my Lady Lounge/Dungeon.  I’ve put my hands on almost everything you’re about to see except the two scary bins in my cross stitch area.  Those will be my next sort, maybe.  I really want to get my sewing table and cutting table completely cleared off first, but I seem to be using both of them for sorting through everything before I pile it in the guest room.  My method probably only makes sense to me, but I am making progress my way, and that’s all that matters.  😉

If you’re standing inside and facing the door this is immediately to the right:

Quilt Fabric for all the things

Quilt Fabric for all the things.  FQ up to 2 yards.  More than 2 yards and it goes on bolts (I get empties from my LQS). The bottom shelf holds pre-cuts.

 

Quilt yardage and bolts of 30ct Murano xs fabric

Quilt yardage (I need to get some more empty bolts) and bolts of 30ct Murano xs fabric

2016-09-14-10-37-40

Cross stitch fabric and storage for some fibers

DMC

DMC and in the plastic bag is a bolt of 30ct Platinum Murano.

In front of my quilt fabric cabinet is this container of gathered books and magazines that need to be shelved.

In front of my quilt fabric cabinet is this container of gathered books and magazines that need to be shelved. And another WIP!  I didn’t realize what that was until I took the photo.  Sigh.

When you turn right, there’s my sewing table, and the window that looks out the front of my house so I can be nosy while I sew.  It is great light for the room since it faces south.  They are cracked for the photo, but I keep the shutters closed if I’m not in there.

The top. Left to right: Featherweight and new travel case and in front of that is a box of "strings" for paper piecing. Pink containers have hex paperpiecing in them, and the blue basket has miniature Temecula Quilt Co quilt kits. Next is needles, pins, paper piecing stuff, threads that need sorting and storing. Letters that need painting and put on my wall. Phoenix Comicon stuff that needs sorting, tossing, or displayed on my cork board, and behind that is solid yardage that needs to be put in the cabinet.

The top. Left to right: Featherweight and new travel case and in front of that is a box of “strings” for paper piecing. Pink containers have hex paper-piecing in them, and the blue basket has miniature Temecula Quilt Co quilt kits. Next is needles, pins, paper piecing stuff, threads that need sorting and storing. Letters that need painting and put on my wall. Phoenix Comicon stuff that needs sorting, tossing, or displayed on my cork board, and behind that is solid yardage that needs to be put in the cabinet.

Underneath the sewing table:

My sewing machine caddy, cutting mat, ironing "board," that travels. To the left is a 3-drawer plastic bin that hold strips and stuff (that needs to be gone through) and behind is a basket full of quilt kits.

My sewing machine caddy, cutting mat, ironing “board,” that travels. To the left is a 3-drawer plastic bin that hold strips and stuff (that needs to be gone through) and behind is a basket full of quilt kits.  I honestly can’t remember what’s in the brown box.

Close up of my strip bin. The blue containers contain squares and bricks.

Close up of my strip bin. The blue containers contain squares and bricks.

Close up of all those quilt kits.

Close up of all those quilt kits.

Instead of continuing around the room, let’s face the door again and turn to your left.  (I’m avoiding that corner as long as I can.)

Cutting table top:

This is where I normally measure 10x then cut once and still freak out until I've measured what I cut.

This is where I normally measure 10x then cut once and still freak out until I’ve measured what I cut.  As you can see it’s another sorting spot.  The pile on the right is what I’m working on right now.  It has bolts (not on the bolt) of more Murano! The drawers to right are a couple of rolling bins I bought in Japan and I love them so much.

and underneath!

and underneath!  The threads are my overdyeds on individual airline cable rings.  Normally hanging on the doorknob of my cross stitch fabric cabinet.  AccuQuilt Cutter and dies to the left of the shelves.  The fabric bins on the top shelf and on the floor to the left hold scraps.  One is specifically civil war reproduction fabric that I’m pulling from for my Farmer’s Wife Quilt. The other is everything else.  The one on the floor holds a mix that I am going to go through, iron and use my cutting machine to make 2 1/2″ squares for a leaders/enders quilt.  I’ll also be pulling strips from the drawer I showed earlier.  The labeled plastic containers are MOST of my quilt/sewing WIPs.

Sigh.  And now that corner.  This is my cross stitch corner.  Remember that picture of the boxes and boxes of stuff I have pulled out to sell.  This is what’s left.

Wooden boxes

Top shelf on the left holds my coveted SANQ hardback books.  Wooden box magazine holders are in alphabetical order by designer.  Most are just labled A, B, C, etc., but some of them are designer specific (Goode Huswife, Shepherd’s Bush off the top of my head). Second row also contains my hard cover French alphabet/symbol books.  The  left wooden basket holds small kits that I really need to dig through and do for some quick gratification (anyone else remember the Elegant Stitch Essie’s?).  The right one holds Blackbird Designs, many of which are kitted Loose Feathers.  The metal bins contain, in alphabetical order, charts that are printed/sold in 1/2-sized and smaller ziplocks – a whole lot of Little House Needleworks in there.  Under the baskets are hardback quilt and cross stitch books, and the bottom 2 shelves are magazines.  Mostly SANQ and JCS. The middle unit also contains boxes, containers, etc., for finishing.  The glassed in cabinet contains books and I have purchased glass shelves and lighting to turn it into a display cabinet for some of my small pieces.

And then there’s this:

I know if I start digging through here I will soon have 50 WIPs.

I know if I start digging through here I will soon have 50 WIPs.  These two containers hold mostly kitted things I’ve received over the past couple of years in the monthly clubs I joined (I quit one of them after last year).  The damask container also holds things from a weekend sewing retreat I went on 3+ years ago.  These 2 containers really scare me.  LOL

Still with me?

Oh look.  I left to get something to drink and my editor came by:

I have my laptop set up on the dining room table for now. It normally sits on my grandmother's treadle machine that's on the wall that you haven't seen. That wall is for another day.

I love the look on her face. She’s a little startled that I walked in and she’s getting ready to jump off the chair she knows she’s not supposed to be on.   I have my laptop set up on the dining room table for now.  It normally sits on my grandmother’s treadle cabinet that’s on the wall that you haven’t seen. That wall is for another day.

And here’s where it’s all going for now while I sort it out in my Dungeon.

This is my guest bed.

Ouch.  Fuzzy picture.  Sorry!  This is my guest bed. If you come to visit me I promise you won’t have to sleep with all of this.  In fact, please come see me.  It will get me to put it away faster!  That fabric needs to go in the few empty spots left in my cabinet.  I’ve been trying hard to color sort it as I piled it so I can just pick it up and shove it on the shelves.  The pile you see at the foot of the bed is kitted items I pulled out the other day that I no longer have interest in.  Several of them were self-kitted which means I need to gut them and put the fabric and fibers in my cabinets and add the charts to the boxes of stuff to sell.  The pile between the fabric and the pink zipper bag are quilt kits I’ve been working on.  (Don’t you love that batik on top!  I got it during a visit with Kathy when she was in Yuma last winter.)  The blue basket contains finishing items.  I brought it in here to keep from traipsing back and forth.  Most of the stuff in here is actually quilting stuff, but behind the pink bag are a few stitchy items that got tossed onto the cutting table and they just need to be logged into my spreadsheet and sorted into its proper box.

So that’s it.  My Dungeon.  I really do love my room.  It took me forever to decide on a color.  As you can see I love IKEA.  I’ve blogged about it before but the color matches a cart I bought at IKEA.  I saw the cart and immediately knew that was the color my walls needed to be.

The only piece of furniture in there that’s not IKEA is my grandmother’s treadle.  It works, too.  I need to clean it up a bit, and probably find a spare belt for it, but I could sew on it if the zombies showed up.  And I have enough fabric and thread to keep up warm with quilts, and maybe even sew us a couple of shirts 😉

And since it’s still WIP Wednesday after this super long post, here’s my latest Houses of Hawk Run Hollow progress photo.

It was dreary when I took the photo (we've had some late monsoon weather the last few days). I like to stitch across and work my way up. As you can tell, there's a whole lot of blue in this block :D

It was dreary when I took the photo (we’ve had some late monsoon weather the last few days). I like to stitch across and work my way up. As you can tell, there’s a whole lot of blue in this block.

One more thing.  These are the two designs I pulled from my kitted bucket the other day. I had intended to start one of them yesterday but completely forgot we had a baseball game last night, so that didn’t happen.  Maybe in a minute?  I have all my adulting done for the day 😀

The Goode Huswife - Book of Spells

The Goode Huswife – Book of Spells

2016-09-12-19-15-08

Blue Ribbon Designs – An Expression of Gratitude

silks, wonderful silks!

silks, wonderful silks!

If you’re still here, or actually here at all, thank you for visiting.  If you have comments, be gentle.  If you have questions, bring them on!

BlockSignature

Dear Diary

I’m sorry to have been neglecting you.  It’s all this boy’s fault.  I have had an amazing summer hanging out by the pool with a cold beer, going to the movies, out to swanky restaurants, socializing with all the new friends I’ve made, but now he’s gone back to school and I have time to catch up with you and get all my summer secrets down.

Back to my regularly scheduled schedule!  Yay!

Over the past several weeks I have been spending a shit-ton of time in my Lady Lounge, Woman Cave, Sewing Room, whatever the heck everyone’s calling it these days.  Lately I have felt like calling it Dungeon.

Since I moved here almost five years ago, during the summer I normally sew until the air conditioner kicks on then I head downstairs to spend the rest of my day sitting on my rear end stitching and reading.  This summer, nope!  We really have had time out of the house, but the time in has been spent on daily chores, stitching, and reading.  I can’t remember the last time I unpacked my sewing machine.

Because….

I have not been able to settle in since I painted and reorganized!!!  I feel like I have stuff spread out all over the place.  I have tons of shelves and boxes and buckets, so I have plenty of storage space, but I evidently haven’t been using it wisely because I feel like things are lost, forgotten, and hard to put my hands on.

I had all these plans to start selling excess cross stitch over the summer – that I sorted out when I pulled everything for painting – that I know I’ll never get around to stitching because I’ve either lost interest in the item, it’s no longer something I like, the designer pissed me off, etc.  I am my own LNS.  Here’s proof positive of how much I don’t need.  Boxes, boxes, and piles of stuff to be sold.  Trust me when I tell you that is just a drop in the bucket.  😀

2016-09-12

This past weekend I had dinner out with my partner in crime, Annette, and we talked about stash diving because there was something we knew we had but couldn’t find it.  I have started bullet journaling and wanted to add in my WIPs and get back to some type of rotation, and I was sharing with her that I was procrastinating listing them because I couldn’t decide whether to just start writing them down, or to go through each one and sort them by either how old they are, or how close they were to being finished.

When we started talking about retiring I knew I would have no where near the funds I would want to kit up certain things with all the lovely silks there are out there so I gradually began doing that.  I have 2 large fold-back-top Rubbermaid containers that contained some of my WIPs and some of my kitted items (either by myself, or purchased that way).

I finally bit the bullet and started digging through them today.  Here’s what I found in the WIP department

  1. Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler
  2. Letting Go (Lusk) – HAED
  3. Ann Holewll Sampler – The Examplarery
  4. Quaker RR
  5. Dimples Bugs RR
  6. French Alphabet Sampler (I forgot I put it in there!)
  7. Castle Sampler – Teresa Wentzler
  8. The Fortunate Traveler – Teresa Wentzler
  9. Earthdancer – Butternut Road
  10. Tapestry Cat – Teresa Wentzler
  11. Sleeping Beauty – Mirabilia
  12. Patchwork Pieces – Nutmeg Needle
  13. Asian Garden – Odds n Ins
  14. Lady of the Flag – Mirabilia
  15. Tsunami Sampler – Stickideen von der Wiehenburg
  16. Christmas Elegance – Mirabilia
  17. Peace – The Silver Lining
  18. Christmas Wreath – Teresa Wentzler
  19. Topiary – Teresa Wentzler
  20. Garden Trellis Box – Linda Driskell from Just Cross Stitch magazine.

In one box!  I know there are more because I have a beautiful chest downstairs that my friend Kathy gave me and I’ve started storing some WIPs in there.  In fact, now that I think about it, all of the above 20 may also fit in there!  Oh, and then there’s the ottoman I prop my feet on while stitching…you can store stuff in there and I know I have at least one WIP in there, ’cause I was just looking at it the other day.  Geesh.  Oh wait!  Don’t forget my stitching bag that probably has 2-3 in there, too.

And here’s what was in the kitted box:

  1. Autumn Queen – Mirabilia
  2. Random Thoughts – Drawn Thread
  3. An Expression of Gratitude – Blue Ribbon Designs (which I pulled out)*
  4. Victorian Pearls – Sew to be Seen
  5. Victorian Pearls 2 – Sew to be Seen
  6. A Christmas Sampler – Midsummer Nights
  7. The Book of Spells – The Goode Huswife (which I pulled out)*
  8. The Spot Sampler – Margaret Bendig
  9. Shakespeare’s Garden – LaBroderie
  10. Queens Rule – Enchanting Lair
  11. Castle Ridge – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
  12. Damask Rose Scissor Keep – Textile Heritage (gift)
  13. Above the Clouds – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
  14. Mermaid of the Pearls – Mirabilia (special overdyed fabric)
  15. Toccata Three – Drawn Thread
  16. Cattleya Orchids – Terrance Nolan
  17. A Token of Friendship – Merry Cox (an OOP which I could probably sell to pay off my house)
  18. This is the Day – La-D-Da
  19. My Son – Indigo Rose (should have pulled this one and may go back and do it)*
  20. The Dreamer – Mirabilia
  21. Quaker Diamonds – Rosewood Manor
  22. Toccata Two – Drawn Thread
  23. Toccata One – Drawn Thread
  24. Quaker Samplings  – With My Needle
  25. My First Sewing Box and Scissor Fob – Stitching Parlor (which uses a Whitman’s Chocolate Tin I’ve tried to throw away a hundred times)
  26. Souvenir Sampler – Drawn Thread
  27. Village of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings
  28. The Song They Sang – Carriage House Samplings (I even bought the frame for this one!!!)
  29. A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion – Scarlet Letter
  30. Norwich Marianne Wren
  31. James Wilson
  32. Voice of the  Shepherd – Told in a Garden
  33. Teeny Hardanger – Sweetheart Tree
  34. Brilliant Plumage – Teresa Wentzler

So, I evidently have a thing for Teresa Wentzler.

*I will be very unhappy in Heaven if I die and don’t at least start The Book of Spells and An Expression of Gratitude.  Guess they’re getting added to my WIPs list next month.

Now, lest LNSs around the world freak out, all of the above does not mean I won’t be buying more as evidenced by the deliveries my mailman has made since my last post.  I give you Exhibit C:

2016-09-04-16-28-14

A new small portable stitching lamp, and needle organizer (can you say Teresa Wentzler?).

2016-09-03-09-14-20

28ct Brash Jubilee for Ann Pegg 1877.  Yep, I found some.  I emailed the dyer asking advice for a replacement and she told me she had 2 FQs left.  Miss Annette snapped up the other one.  Partner. In. Crime.  I tell ya.

2016-09-03-09-17-18

2016-09-03-09-15-55

Pattern, fibers, stretcher bars, and canvas for this lovely.  I have had my eye on it for a bit and found out it was discontinued so I snapped it up.

2016-08-23-18-36-30

I also purchased these cones of DMC from Joanns.com for Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog Samplers.  I’m leaning toward the copper on the right.  I need to check my fabric stash and do a floss toss.  I’m very tempted by the beautiful turquoise in the back but I’m afraid it’ll burn my eyeballs out stitching on a sampler this large.  I do have a backup plan for it though 😀  If I don’t have a good piece of fabric in my stash for the copper I may use the red and order some 40ct white.  Not to be worried about now though as I cannot start it until next month at the earliest because I am going out of town next week.

I am stalking my postman for Brooke’s Books Wizard of Oz.

So see, shopping when I shouldn’t be, or don’t need to be.

And I have quilt stuff coming in too.

But! This post has gotten so long and my phone is currently charging so I can’t show you what the top of my guest bed looks like.  It’s covered with fabric, patterns, etc., from the quilt side of my room AND fabric, fibers, and fabric from the cross-stitch side of my room while I go through the buckets and baskets mentioned above trying to reorganize and sort into a better working order for me.  I’m slowing myself down because I have to look at it, and touch it, and remember when I bought it, before sorting it into a pile to place it better in my room.  I’m dreading getting to two particular stitching containers because I have lots of already kitted small things that need to be added to that list up there and put into that Rubbermaid container (which is full!).  I know I won’t get it put away any time soon as I still have some excavating to do, so I’ll share a photo next time I post.

I forgot to show you some stitching!

Since my last post I have finished my Sugar Skull by Mill Hill

2016-08-21-11-14-57 2016-08-21-11-13-50

And my version of Be Thankful by Country Cottage Needleworks

2016-08-27-14-46-54

and block 7 of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings (currently working on block 8)

2016-09-04-20-41-37

Now I’m off to write my WIPs in my Journal and do some stitching.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll dig the rest out of their hidey holes.

Same old, same old

Slowly but surely it’s getting there.  I am very tired of unpacking (have I said that already?) but we’re down to the nitty gritty.  Yesterday we got the extra linens unpacked and sorted, the 2 final wardrobe boxes unpacked (I need to sort through for the giveaway box), my quilts put up and some more shelves arranged.

Vietnam Vets picked up several boxes this morning so our garage is less cluttered, I feel good about not throwing perfectly good “stuff” away that I no longer wanted or needed, and now I have room to declutter more!  I think they come through the neighborhood once a month.  I do know they mail out notices with collection bags about 2 weeks before they pick up.

I hung the first things on my office walls yesterday.  My new 2012 Anne Taintor calendar (which is already marked for 2 needlework related getaways), 1 stitched piece, and 2 prints I was given as a going away present from the paralegal job I had in South Carolina 20+ years ago.  I also finally got my desk cleaned off (I was starting to pile everything on it that didn’t have a place to go), filed for unemployment, and just continued the organization march all around.

I have not finished Christmas decorations!  😕  I feel like I’ve been going in 3 different directions at the same time during my day.  I need M’s help but I hate bothering him when he’s working on a different part of the house.  Tomorrow is the deadline for me though since Son and Girlfriend are coming early Saturday morning.  Besides, who wants to be decorating on Christmas Eve?  Next year 🙄 I’ll have more time, and know where my decorations are.

Today I start my goodie baking.  I’m making Pecan Pie Muffins to take to the stitch-together at the Attic tonight.  Besides the fact that I think they’re delicious, this will be my first time at the stitch-together and I’m hoping if I bring them they’ll like me 😉  In addition to the muffins I’ll also be baking chocolate chip cookies, peppermint sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies.  I doubt I’ll get them all done today, but that’s probably a good thing so I won’t be tempted to eat them all today.  I’ve decided to just stick with cookies this year so I can tin them up and send a bunch home with Son and Girlfriend.

I’m still plugging away on HoHRH in the evenings, but I’m ready to put it down for awhile.  I’ve been trying to tell myself that each block is a different design but that’s no longer working for me.  I am just NOT a one-at-a-time stitcher.  Yesterday I found the watch I use to time my 10 hour rotations and just got plain old giddy!  Of course, I haven’t used it in so long the battery is dead, but that will be taken care of tomorrow 😀

Tonight, and probably for the rest of the year, I’m switching stitching projects.  I’m going to take my much neglected Hannah Beeby.  I started her March 2008.  I noticed this morning that she was never added to my WIPs list 😕  Might explain why she’s been neglected, and also is just one more proof that I have way too many WIPs.  Good thing I’m participating in the WIPocalypse (which, BTW, is up to 245 members!).

I’ve updated my Retirement countdown ticker.  M has more definite information on his orders so what you see over there —–> is when his retirement is official.  He’ll be headed to California on January 20th and returning home on January 31st or February 1st.  I’m so happy he’s taking some of his leave time to surf with his friends.  He probably won’t be going back to California until some time in June.  That’s a very long time for a surfer to be without his surf.  I know he’ll be filling in that time with more running tho.  He’s not planning on doing any triathlons in 2012 (he’s volunteering for the Phoenix Ironman)  but is planning on a marathon or 2.  He hasn’t put on his running shoes the whole time he’s been here and I can’t ever remember a time during our 30 years of marriage that he’s gone this long without running.  At least when he starts back his knees and ankles will be healthy!

TUSAL and framing TaDa!

I am running as fast as I can to catch up! I hope it’s not too late to share my TUSAL for April 3. It totally rocks, and you’ll see why in just a second.

It’s so full because I finished queenie and now she’s back from the framers!

Here’s a closeup of the frame. It has the same deep blue/green colors in it as the mat.

I have absolutely no confidence in myself when it comes to choosing frames so I always drag M along with me because he is so good at it!

I’ve been stitching on my ornaments and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow.

I haven’t posted about my weightloss journey because I haven’t had anything to share. About 6 weeks ago I stalled out. Last Thursday I finally saw the scale start downward again (-1.8#s) and if my home scale is anything to go by this week’s loss will be good, too!

Rain, rain, go away

We’re all a little stir crazy around here. It’s been raining non-stop for 5 days. We’ve even made national news, it’s been so wet! That being said, the angry ocean is so beautiful these days. I feel like standing on the beach, arms raised to the sky, and screaming as loud as I can. Great picture, huh! 😆 It’s 43 degrees right this minute and the sun is trying to shine. There are still some rain cells off our coast but hopefully they’ll stay away the rest of the weekend. We could use a break. I know it’s supposed to start back up again on Monday, but it would be nice to have a clear weekend.

Work

I was told yesterday that some changes needed to be done and was actually asked for my input. After our office discussion it was decided that I’m to be moved back to full-time and to take back over more of the work that has been outsourced. (This is a trial run and I have no idea how long it will last, but I’m hoping ‘forever.’) I have been kept dangerously out of the loop since we outsourced our dictation because I haven’t been seeing everything. I have been blessed with a very good memory but in the past month there’s been a lot of “I don’t know” and “I haven’t seen it” coming out of my mouth. That’s not a good thing when you’re in charge of calendaring and following up on deadlines for the Court – not to mention it drives me nuts if I have to say that. So I’m going in to work today to do some rearranging at my desk to make it easier for me to take over those additional duties. We’re also bringing in a once-a-week person to do our filing and work on our notebooks. Thank goodness!

Kahuna

He has a half-marathon scheduled for tomorrow. In addition to the rain we’ve been having this week, he also has a small ‘injury’ he’s dealing with. Something is bothering his calf and now he’s not sure he’s going to race tomorrow. He’s going to attempt a half hour run today to see how it’s doing. I think he’s been overtraining for the half-ironman (he’s running twice a day on most days), but he doesn’t think so. Whatever it is, I hope it clears up soon, since I know it’s bothering him.

Stitching

I am in love with HOHRH. I’ve seen several stitchers mention on their blogs that it was a ‘fun stitch’ but really had no idea what they meant by that until I started stitching it. I got off to a slow start since at the last minute I decided to put my name in the first block and it took some stitching and unstitching several times to get it where it is right now, and I’m still not completely happy with it! 😆 I’ve left off the date since I don’t know if I can get it done by the end of the year, but am thinking maybe I should have put it in there for more incentive to have it done. Anyway, I may go back and adjust my name later. I’m sad that I’m putting it away today for Summer Queen, but she does have a deadline. I’ll be stitching on her for 9 days this go-around.

The photo is a little darker that normal on my screen, but you can see the vintage look of the fabric really well.

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Free days aren't really

I have a love/hate relationship with extra days off work.

I hate that I only have 4 days to do 5 days work in, and add on to that the fact that my days are still only 6 hours long and I feel like I’m required to put in 8 hours of work, well, let’s just say that it makes me look all the more forward to the next weekend.  Since today is a no-pay day for me, I hate it for that reason as well.  I know I could use vacation time, but I’m saving it for my surgery recovery.

I love that I get an extra day for a weekend because I’m not rushed to get all my ‘chores’ done so I can sit to stitch, read, play with the puppies, watch stoopid stuff on TV.  I normally don’t have a ton of laundry because I do a load every night after work, but when I know I have a long weekend, I’ll put it off (I have no idea why my brain works this way) so today will be spent climbing Mt. Washmore (or rather getting to the bottom of the laundry barrel).  I have an extra day to do the grocery shopping.  I have an extra day to read/stitch.  I have an extra day to actually rest.

Today is an extra good extra day off because it’s raining.   We have some huge water headed our way.  People here do NOT know how to drive in the sprinkle, much less in the rain 😉  I’ll stay home (unless Kahuna drags me out to a movie or something). 

Today is a good day because I’m starting a new stitching project.  It was hard for me to actually stitch on Summer Queen yesterday and not start HOHRH 😀

So, before I get on to HOHRH, here’s my latest progress on Summer Queen.

Oh, and a word to the wise (which sometimes I’m not). When I pulled out my fabric to cut this morning I discovered 2 things. It was no longer a full yard (I cannot for the life of me remember when I cut it much less what I cut it for) and I had 2 pieces of 40 ct Vintage Sand Dune bagged and tagged already for HOHRH and VOHRH! This is what happens when you go on a mega-long stitching hiatus and have way too much stash. All I could think after my discovery was thank goodness I had the Sand Dune because I would have been one upset stitchy person if I didn’t have fabric like I thought I did.

Quaker Needlework Treasures Update

Here’s as far as I got last week.  I’m going to have to go back and frog the ’06’ out of the main piece 😆

Last night was full of football goodness by way of my Saints!  Woo to the Hoo!!!

Today Kahuna’s team plays…the Cowboys.  Yuk.  He’s a Saints fan too and doesn’t know what he’s going to do if they end up playing each other.  I know what he better do, and that’s all I’m going to say about that 😉

I made my floss tags for HOHRH last night and ‘loaded up’ the NPIs for the first house.  I even made my working copy of the house I’m starting with — the upper left house.  I’m SO excited!  I still need to cut and serge my fabric but will tackle that in the morning.

More Summer Queen stitching today and maybe even a new progress picture tonight.

Unexpected pleasures

I’ve had a very good all around week.

Work

Received a memo that I will definitely be doing mostly work for atty J! Woohoo! I was also told yesterday that I could move my stuff to the ‘big desk’ which means more spreading out room for me. I think it also means that someone else is going to be brought in. The case settled on Thursday, which means the attorneys are back in the office. Late yesterday afternoon head attorney said he wanted to close the office on Monday so I’m getting an unexpected three-day weekend!

Puppies

Have caught them several times snuggled up to each other 🙂

Stitching

I spent the better part of the past week working on Needlework Treasures. While it did stitch up faster than I thought, and I was further along that I remembered, it didn’t get finished this week. I’ll post a picture later, when I put it away and pull out Summer Queen.

I don’t know how much stitching I’ll get done on Summer Queen this weekend because I have been bitten by the stash bug. Not the buying one, the organizing one. I have been trying to post my stash on the picture portion of my webpage.  As of right this minute, this is how far I’ve gotten.  Oh my!  What a mistake this has been.  I have forgotten more than remembered what I have.  It’s almost like being turned loose in a stitching shop.  Part of me is tempted to see how long I could stitch without ever spending another dime…but what would be the fun in that.  I’m almost embarrassed by how much I have, though.

One design I’ve come across that I have forgotten was Industrious Ladies.  Such a beautiful thing. 

As I’ve been going through it, I’ve pulled out more stuff to sell.  I think instead of posting all of it on the page tab above, I’m going to list what I can on my webpage.  I’ll post updates here.

I’m really looking foward to my day off on Monday since I’ll be starting Houses of Hawk Run Hollow.  I have the supplies to make up some thread drops and creating those is also going to put a dent in my Summer Queen stitching.  I’m not too worried about that though, since the next week will be devoted strictly to stitching on her.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...