Category Archives: Puppies

Hello to the middle of December

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and right now, except for one tiny glitch, I can say that’s true.

I have been very productive with needle and thread, both at the sewing machine and in hand.

Yesterday was one of my twice-monthly sew-togethers with my local group and I worked mainly on my Bonnie Hunter Step 3 4-patches.

Here’s my progress photos to date.
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Part 1: 221/221
Part 2: 100/100
Part 3: 10/168

Today should see the finish of my purple 4-patches.

When I’m caught up on my Parts, I am cutting/preparing for the Midnight Flight class I’m taking next month. There is a class info sheet that tells us how much to bring to class (instead of enough for a whole quilt) so I’ve been pulling fabrics and cutting. I am taking more than I need so I can hopefully swap some with other attendees. I have my constant red cut, and changed the orange to a yellow. I’m also not including any purple and using blues only. I think I may be buying a couple of 1/4 cuts before then as I’d like a little more royal to go with my navy.
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As to my stitching, I know I said in my last post that I was going to do a separate post about my Year of WIPs Challenge status, but I think instead of spending more time on this computer writing a post, I’ll just do a photo update in my dedicated tab up top. I am still loving the 10 hour rotation with the focus being on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I am now spending less time stitching than before, but I knew that was going to happen so chose the number of WIPs accordingly. So far I think I made great choices. The bit success right now is that I finished And They Sinned. Woohoo!

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She’s a big girl! That countertop is 5 feet long 😀 If you click on the picture, it’ll turn right side up, but it was hard to get it to focus because of the size.

The glitch I first mentioned is my HarleyQuinn had to have surgery this past Monday to remove a large hematoma from a back leg. She has 3 layers of stitches (because her skin is so thin) and the layer I can see I counted 7. While she was under the doctor went ahead and removed 7 other places and all but one of those just required 1 stitch (the other one required 2). So now we’re nursing her. Pain pills, anti inflamatory/pain pill, liquid antibiotics every 12 hours. No overactiveness, which means carrying her up and down the stairs. In other words spoiling her more than usual, which is a lot already.

This picture is of her staring at me the night before because she’s starving (she’s always starving, just ask her).
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and here she is all snuggled up between dad’s legs after we brought her home. She was drunker than Cooter Brown, and we worry she’ll flop herself off the sofa.
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Today she’s back to her sassy self, and is more work to keep her from dancing and prancing. She’ll have to have 24/7 babysitting until the stitches are removed. We do have a care-collar for her, but if we keep her with us she shouldn’t have to wear it. Fortunately Mister is out of school, and neither of us have any plans to be anywhere together that can’t be cancelled or rescheduled for a later date.

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

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Cross stitch fabric and storage for some fibers

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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

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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!

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I’ve been busy!

Haha.  I disappeared again, didn’t I.  I have a good excuse, or rather several of them.  They all fall under “I’ve been busy.”

I’ve been busy taking Petite Mexican Sampler to the framer.

I’ve been busy taking care of the yard and veggie garden while Mister went to California to surf and visit with Son for 12 days.

I’ve been busy stitching on And They Sinned.

I’ve been busy going to my Jo Morton Little Women Club meeting and buying more fabric for the next quilt.

Jo Morton yellow, blacks, and oranges

Jo Morton yellow, blacks, and oranges

I’ve been busy buying more fabric. Period 😀

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Jo Morton various 1/2 yard cuts

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New quilt project

 I’ve been busy snuggling puppies.

Harley and Jasper being Harley and Jasper

Harley and Jasper being Harley and Jasper

I’ve been busy ripping things off the wall of my downstairs powder room and installing a new mirror and small cabinet, and ordering new glass rod towel bar and tissue holder.  (I’ll be busy putting the new holders up, then pulling everything down, patching old holes, then painting and putting everything back up as soon as those holders come in 😉 )

I’ve been busy reading the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood book.

I’ve been busy out by the pool since our temps are consistently 105+ everyday.

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I was busy learning what a geek I am while volunteering for Phoenix Comicon over the Memorial Day weekend.

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Hung out here a lot when not on “duty.” There was tons of interesting things going on here.

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I’ve been busy winning a contest on the Quiltmaker blog.

I’ve been busy taking an applique class.

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I’ve been busy tearing my craft room apart.

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I’ve been busy rearranging furniture.

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I’m supposed to be busy putting it back to rights right now, but decided to do this instead.

I’ve been busy pulling more things to add to my sale page, both stitching and quilting books.

and

I’ve been busy getting a part-time job at my local quilt shop!

 

2012 Year End Review

My 2012 Goals were:

■Get back to blogging more frequently.  I think I did blog more frequently, but still feel guilty that I didn’t blog more than I did.

■Get back to rotating my stitching and tracking my time.  I started out really strong on my rotation then lost my watch 🙁  I did continue to track my time, but more in the number of days it took me to stitch something than the actual length of time.

■Stick to my WIPocalypse goals and keep my page updated.   Not 100% success.

■Post to the Theme-a-licious challenge as often as my rotation works into it.  I was doing rather well in this, too, until I hit a “snag” then just couldn’t get myself back in it.

■Post my monthly TUSAL.  I don’t think I ever did this.  It was laziness on my part because I certainly kept up with it at home!

■Participate in at least 6 3 Fair and Square exchanges. (changed 1/8/12) 1 finished 2/12  I had every intention in participating in the 3 exchanges.  Once I finished the first one I never saw notification of any others.  I’ve since figured out what I did wrong so I can see when the new exchanges come up. 

■Finish out all 6 3 received Fair and Square exchanges.  My received item is sitting on my finishing table waiting on me to finish it.  I’ve already decided what I want to do, I’m just having trouble finding a suitable finishing item for it.

■Stitch a Santa ornament for my Santa display.  I stitched 3 Prairie Schooler Santas for my display…but they never got ornamentified 🙁

■Take at least 1 stitching related class.  Oh, joy, oh, yes!  I attended the Attic’s Summer Soiree and had a blast!  The projects we received in class are at the very top of my finish list for 2013.

■Finish logging my charts into my spreadsheet.  I am 90% finished with this!!!!

■Start organizing my freebies.  Didn’t get to them or the magazines since I didn’t finish with the charts.

■Organize my magazine designs.

The first half of 2012 found Mister and I holding our breath and living a wait and see life. His retirement on February 1 scared us both a little. It was such a huge change for us going first from two incomes, down to his, then down to 75% of his. I was so thankful that I remembered how frugal I had to be when we first married. Of course back then there was no internet to peruse to find hints and secrets of how everyone else was doing it 😉 It took awhile for his disability pay to kick in, but once that happened we both felt the relief those funds could bring.

I traveled in January to Las Vegas and had a blast with Melissa, Annette and Annette’s mother, Pat. There was a lot of stitching, and laughing, and a good bit of gambling that occurred and I actually came home richer than I arrived.

I enjoyed as many open stitching nights as I could at Attic Needlework. There were several Bag Ladies stitchins, and I loved, loved, loved the Sampler Sundays I attended. I feel so blessed to be living near Attic, getting to know so many designers that live nearby, and stitching with some wonderful women.

I found a really nice quilt shop and started the first of 3 quilt classes in January. I still haven’t finished the two quilts (one needs binding, one needs quilting and binding) but I did manage to finish what I think is a beautiful quilted bag that I tote all over the place with my stitching.

I read more books than I can remember and feel bad that I didn’t keep track of just how much I read.

And stitching! Lordy, did I stitch this year! I have been having so much fun with it! I had 11 stitching pieces on my WIPacolypse list.  I finished 3.  I also started 7 more, and finished 5 of those.  Not bad 😉

  • Petite Mexican Sampler – The Samplar Workes – finished
  • Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler – (started 9/99) stitched on for 10 hours
  • Harmony – Serendipity Designs –  started 11/23/97 — this had about 10 stitches in it.  I took it with me to Vegas and unstitched it, then gridded the bottom of the fabric.  Fortunately, I measured before I started stitching again and discovered there would have only been a one inch margin all the way around my fabric.  I have put it aside, and taken it off my WIP/UFO list for now since there’s nothing but a gridded piece of fabric.
  • Haiku – Dimples Designs – started January 2004 – finished
  • Fairy Moon – Mirabilia – started October 27, 2004 – this saw a lot of stitching.  I am almost finished with the stitching and will keep her in my 2013 rotation until she’s finished.
  • QS Letting Go – HAED – November 19, 2005
  • Red Desert Scissor Pocket – The Cat’s Whiskers – started October 11, 2006 – needs finishing out
  • Quaker Needlework Treasures – With My Needle – originally started October 2006; picked back up January 11, 2010
  • Le Marquoir de Justine – started January 4, 2007
  • Hannah Beeby – finished 4/15/12
  • Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings – started January 18, 2010
  • New Start – Rose Quaker Sampler – Wiehenburg – (Started 4/25/12 stitchalong on Wednesdays)
  • New Start — Hannah Gilpin 1800 – Needleprint
  • Mary Wigham – Needleprint – New Start 4/26/12 – finished 9/1/12  I fell so in love with this piece I couldn’t put it down!
  • Americana – Carriage House Samplings – New Start finished 6/9/12
  • America – Little House Needleworks – New Start finished 6/17/12
  • Betsy – Sheepish Designs – New Start finished 6/25/12
  • America – Blackbird Designs – New Start finished 7/8/12

I also conquered my fear of finishing ornaments!

I got a new car!  I got to travel to California and see Son and Melissa.  Son and Girlfriend came here for Christmas.  My parents came here for New Year (haven’t visited me in over 12 years).

All in all I feel I had a really good year.  Mister and I stayed healthy.  Harley Quinn had a rough year-end, but it looks like she’s completely healed and we’re very thankful to be starting 2013 with her and Jasper healthy.

Mister starts back to school on Monday.  I’m looking forward to the routine it helps keep me in and the uninterrupted stitching time it gives me.

Last but not least, I managed to finally start And They Sinned yesterday.  I have a 25% off everything coupon for Jo-Ann so I’ll be buying DMC for Berlin Woolwork Sampler and starting on that on the 15th.

Discoveries

Had a hair cut this morning.  For the first time in my adult life I have tons of layers.  My stylist blew it out straight and choppy.  It’s kind of funky and I haven’t decided if I totally like it or not.  I am, however, in love with the color.  I’ll play with it some tomorrow with the straight iron.  Mister says it’s very 60s looking.  At least he did not say it made me look 60.

Worked on entering my half-sized charts today.  I seem to really like Little House Needleworks and I have a teenie The Sweetheart Tree obsession!  Of the 161 charts that I entered today, 26 were LHN, and this doesn’t count the ones I’ve already stitched.  23 were The Sweetheart Tree.  Who knew!  Well obviously I would have if I had done this a long time ago.  The great thing about this is it’s showing me just how many possible ‘smalls’ I have to work on in 2013.  By the way, am I the last person to know that The Sweetheart Tree is in Arizona?

Harley is getting better.  The swelling has reduced, her eye is completely open again, and she has even been sassy with Jasper and running circles in the backyard.  She still has a huge knot on the side of her head that’s very painful and Friday can’t get here fast enough.

Mister just left for his class tonight and I’ve finished inputting for the day so I’m dragging Haiku back downstairs and catching up on my DVR.

Tomorrow is Bag Ladies at Attic Needlework.  I can’t wait to see all the beautiful items that have been donated for this year’s breast cancer fund-raiser auction.  If you get a chance check out the newsletter at the link above.  You will be amazed at the generosity.

April Report

It’s been a rather fun month for us.  We’re continuing to settle in.  The weather has been excellent and we’ve been spending a lot of time in the pool.  We purchased a new BBQ and patio furniture and are spending our mornings and evenings on the patio.  I figured out this morning that our WiFi is strong enough out there, with all the doors and windows closed, that we’ll be streaming our iTunes and satellite radio out there so I’m going to start stitching out there in the mornings.  This makes the puppies happy since they love running around chasing birds, lizards, and each other.

I’ve spent a bunch of time playing in my room.  Still a long way to go but at least now I can sit at my workstation and sew.

The most fun has been working on my WIPocalypse pile while watching baseball and hockey.  Before I show my WIPocalypse progress, I’ll share a picture of Harley from last night’s hockey game.  When the Coyotes score, there is a howl played over the loudspeakers.  We, M and I, have started howling with it and the puppies have taken to joining in.  At the end of last night’s game we were howling and I got a snap of Harley doing her Coyote impression.  I know I’m biased, but she’s so darn cute when she does it.  Her little howl is so high pitched and “soft” you have to really listen to hear her, but you can tell she puts her whole heart behind it.

Now, on to the stitching:

Finished Hannah Beeby!

Got a whole lot done, then undone, then done on Petite Mexican Sampler:

I had completely finished the tree on the right when I discovered it was one stitch over on the right 🙁  It had to be frogged and put away since I was so upset.  I have picked it back up and will definitely finish it in May.

I don’t normally participate in stitchalongs since they feel like obligation stitching to me but two Facebook groups I’m on are having stitchalongs on designs that I already had planned on starting, so on Wednesday last I started Rose Quaker.  It feels like a quick stitch and I’m loving the colors:

It was very tempting to keep going but I wanted to start Mary Wigham for Thursdays.  I had messed up on Petite Mexican Sampler on Tuesday, and I let her sit screaming next to my stitching chair while I stitched on Mary Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I am loving the subtleness of the colors and I think GAST Salmon, the top motif, is my new favorite color.

Hannah, Rose Quaker, and Mary all definitely qualify for April’s Theme-a-liciousness, too!

All that stitching has left me with a full TUSAL jar for April.

You can see the different layers 😀  I’ll be adding a bit more to it this afternoon, to finish out the month with Petite Mexican Sampler stitching.

 

I’m on vacation – sort of.

I had an unbelievable week.

Last Thursday something happened at work that made me question my staying on after I get back from my upcoming trip.  I had thought long and hard about leaving the attorneys on their own while my co-worker was on maternity leave, and a large trial on the horizon.  I thought I had gotten over Thursday’s incident by the time I left that evening ,but when I came in to work Friday morning I downloaded an email that was a response to one sent out of the office after I left.  Now, I’d be the last person to say people shouldn’t vent when something is bothering them, but when I vent about an issue at the office it doesn’t get done outside the office.  This went outside the office, and naturally got back to me.  So at 10:00 Friday morning I typed up my resignation and at 10 till 12 I handed it in, talked to the attorney involved, and walked out the door thinking my last day would be yesterday.

I went home started getting my stuff together for my weekend  at the beach with Melissa and Darla and tried to put it behind me so it wouldn’t ruin my weekend. There was a whole lot of eating, stitching, drinking and laughing!  Sleeping…not so much 🙂  I had a blast and got a lot of stitching accomplished!  Except every now and again it popped into my head and I would blurt out “I quit my job!!!!”

Sunday, after I had been home an hour or so, I got an email from the other attorney begging me to come back.  I won’t go into what she said but she did talk me into it.

Monday thru Friday I put in some major overtime — enough that I didn’t have to use up my vacation for next week!  I left earlier than I should have last night, but there was nothing on my desk that needed to be thought about by a single person until I return on September 6.  When I get back I’ll have 3 days to finalize my workload for the trial.  Then the next Monday I start working half days only until my coworker returns from maternity leave.  I’m still trying to decide whether to stay an extra week for some catchup time with her.

It’s almost 4:00 p.m. and M and I have spent the day doing errands that will allow us to leave the house tomorrow morning as soon as he gets back from surfing.  We are FINALLY headed to Arizona to buy our forever home.  We have hotel reservations through next Saturday, reservations for the puppies to stay at the doggy hotel (boy is it ever going to be hard to not be with them for a week), our pre-approval in hand and our realtor has 22 houses lined up for us to see.  I’m already exhausted thinking about it.  All that’s left to do is a bit of laundry and finish packing my bag, finishe gathering my stitching stuff, program the GPS, top off the car, drop the puppies off, and head east!

About the puppies

We had pre-dental cleaning workups done on the puppies last night. 

A couple of days ago I found a mass on HarleyQuinn’s hip and since we were there asked them to check it out too.  They ended up doing a needle aspiration (?) and they’ll call with the results in a couple of day.  Needless to say I’m worried.  She’s my baby.  I got her four years ago a week after I had major surgery and she would sleep on my chest, which would keep me sitting down and not getting up and doing too much during my recovery.  We bonded a lot and to this day when I sit in a chair to read, she wants to sit on me.

Then it was Jasper Prissy Pant’s turn.  They found a heart murmur.  They took him off to a ‘sound proof’ room and listened again and pulled another doctor in to listen.  Yep, it’s really there.  Since they need to anesthetize him for his cleaning they want to do further tests to see why he has a murmur before putting him under.  We were sent home to think about all the reasons it could be there, how it can be looked at, and were told they would call us with some estimates today of each procedure.  M has a heart murmur and if it weren’t for the fact that he’s been an althete all his life it could be serious.  He is sympathizing with Jasper.  I don’t think he’s as worried as I am because of his own issue and I’m an expert at worrying.  I know he wasn’t saying it to be mean but when we got home he was talking to the dogs and told them they were pulling money out of our ‘house downpayment fund’ and that we were going to end up living in a trailer.  It was very upsetting to me and I ended up not eating supper and going to bed early.

A couple of years ago he made a comment about having to give up his racing wheels because of some procedure one of the puppies (Harley or Bandit) might need.  It was hurtful then too.

I’m trying to decide how to deal with the hurt on top of the worry.  I know I need to talk to him about it but it’s hard for me to talk about my feelings with him (even after all these years).

Update at 10:00 a.m.  The vet just called HarleyQuinn has a bladder infection.  I feel like such a bad mom because he thinks she’s had it for awhile and I haven’t noticed anything different about her behavior 🙁

2011 Challenges

For 2011 I’ve decided to set New Year Challenges for myself.

Several of them will come from the thoughts posted here, as well as stitching challenges.

I have so many WIPs that are neglected that I’ve decided to pull at least 12 of them to see how far I can get on them in 2011. Two of them will be designs I want finished for the fair this summer – Mirabilia’s “Summer Queen” and Lani’s “High Fashion Collage.” The other 10, I’ll have to work on this month. I’d like to include a finish or two in there as well.

What I’m planning at this point is to rotate 2 designs until I get my fair pieces out of the way – Summer Queen and HFC. My main focus is going to be Summer Queen though since I really should have had her in the fair last year. I want HFC in there as well; however, I’m not putting the pressure on myself like I did last year to make it happen. I think pressuring myself like that is what got me into burnout and flat out no stitching. Anyway, I have to have HFC in my stand and since it takes time to set it up and tear it down, I’m going to only be working on it on non-working days – normally Saturday and Sunday, unless I have a holiday from work for whatever reason.

When I finish a design I’ll rethink when I’m working on what, and pick a new project from the other 10. The other 10 might include one other needlepoint piece, but I can work it in-hand and won’t need my stand. I start a 10 day vacation on December 24th so I will have to decide by then what I want my 12 pieces to be.

While it would be great to finish 12 pieces this next year, my plan is to challenge myself to STITCH on at least 12 of my WIPs in 2011. I wish I could say that there will be no new starts, but I know myself better than that and I’ll just have to figure out a way to include it/them.

These are my thoughts for the moment; however, I’m keeping an open mind since so many other stitchers out there often post great ideas that I don’t think of.

I’ll start a new tab at the top of my blog to chart my progress.

Work

It’s a little weird at work. I’ve been seeing signs that come this next summer I may no longer be employed. Just a little comment here and there, plus Boss is ready to retire and we’ve started taking fewer cases and being more particular about the ones we are taking. I am not sad about it.

Puppies

They are getting along so great! I can’t believe we’ve had Jasper for almost a year. I can remember how concerned I was in the beginning with him not getting along with Harley and him being so very different from Bandit. He is still such a sweetheart! He is probably always going to be a shy one and we’ve learned to accept that. He sure loves to snuggle in bed though, and he loves his chicken jerky! Harley has been on a diet and is looking better. Trying to get Jasper to eat was a challenge and once we found what he liked Harley started getting less – since she wasn’t eating his food too!

Retirement

Still no work from HQMC about M’s retirement request. He did find out that retirement is calculated at the end of the month so instead of his retirement date being January 12, 2012, if accepted it would be January 31, 2012. He will be authorized 20 days to find a place to live and if he continues to accumulate leave at same rate he is now (meaning he’s not taking much time off and will lose it if he doesn’t use it) he will be retired on active duty probably the end of October 2011. Which means no matter what we are under a year. March 2011 or October 2011. My stomach gets butterflies thinking about it.

We went to see “RED” last night and enjoyed it.  Our local theater has started a discounted day — all day — any movie — on Tuesday so we’re trying to take advantage of it as often as possible.

This coming Saturday is my monthly Stitch-In and I’m really looking forward to seeing my stitchy friends. I will truly miss seeing them as often after we move. I’m planning on taking Pecan Pie Muffins.

Little bit of everything.

I have a happy dance!  I finished Home of a Needleworker, Too this past Saturday during my monthly stitch-together.  I also started pulling fibers for my new needlepoint project, but I’m not starting it until the current needlepoint piece is finished.  I think I have 4 more squares to do. 

Instead of working said needlepoint piece I pulled out FAS and started stitching on it again.  It’s a little sad since I’m stitching where I can see Bandit’s name, but I’m looking for a place to add Jasper in.  Harley already has her spot.  I’m almost half way finished with it!  I’m thinking of continuing on with it until I’m at that point — with a break to stitch up my class piece. 

I’m avoiding The Queen! 

Thanks for laughing with me over my stitching stand.  I actually have it sitting in my way in my room and put my needlepoint piece in it to see how it would feel using it.  I also have been given (to try out) the Needlework System 4 stand.  The person who has lent it to me is wanting to sell it to me and I’m thinking of going ahead and buying it.  I have looked everywhere for other components to the Grip-It with no luck.  I know it’s no longer being made, but I was hoping to find it on eBay.  If I do buy the NS4 I can buy other components for it.  Thinking, thinking, thinking.

I’ve pulled fabric for the needlepin cushion for the October class.  I’ll probably cut and serge it this weekend and start stitching on it so I can get back to FAS.  I purchased this particular Loose Feathers design from Drema as a fully kitted piece and the fabric is really dark!  I remember in the instruction something about fading the fabric out, but I’ve decided to stitching my design on a piece of Lambswool.  The instructions also call for filling it with ground walnut shells and if anyone out there knows….is there a chance they can stain the piece?  This thought it is the back of my head since I know walnuts were/are used for dying fabrics. 

HarleyQuinn came to work with me this morning and charmed everyone.     She had a follow up appointment for her teeth extraction and it was easier to bring her with me so I could get a little work done, than staying at home all morning and driving her back and forth.  Jasper was not pleased at staying behind.

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