We Have A Winner!

Well, we have a winner for my first ever giveaway. Vanessa, a Stitcher from Upstate New York, was drawn from the list of those who posted a comment. So Vanessa, when you'll email me your name and address, I'll get your package ready and sent out to you. My email address is azxser@aol.com. I've had such fun with this giveaway that I think I'll make this a monthly thing. I have so much stash that needs a new home that I think this is one way to relocate it. So be sure to keep checking back next month so you can see when I post a new giveaway.

Happy Dancing!

I'm happy dancing all over today. So far since I started Weight Watchers in late May, I've lost over 10 pounds! I just reached my 5% goal today. I thought I had gained since we've been eating out so much so I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find out that the scales had gone down this week. Now I don't see much of a difference but other people (including Dave) have said that they can tell. Now I'm even inspired to start working out again. So come on and join me in my happy dance!

Destashing Part 2

So I'm back to trying to finish the job I started a couple of weeks ago. You know the one. Getting my filing cabinet back to a usable state. As you can see from the pictures, I have a long ways to go. Unfortuately I'm discovering just how much being disorganized has cost me. Not so much in a monetary sense (although there is that aspect), but in having so much stuff that I REALLY don't know what I have. I mean I found not 1, not 2 but 3 copies of the same pattern. Now it's out of print so I'm sure I can find a good home for the extra copies but I could have had 2 other patterns for the money and space these 2 cost me. And, honestly, how many patterns of polar bears can you have? They're my favorite wild animal but do I really need 12 charts of polar bears? So I'm really determined to get this mess straightened up so I can actually see what I already have and what I need (nothing really but we know need has nothing to do with it). I'm just so tired of being disorganized and wasting time and money on something that is supposed to be fun.

Poppy Update

My poppies are coming along quite nicely. I was able to sit and focus more this week than I have lately and did manage to stitch quite a bit on them. I think I should be able to finish the flower I'm on in the next week or two, then I'll just have a couple of buds to stitch and it will be done! As much fun as I've had stitching this, I'm ready for it to be finished.

I think I've decided to stitch The Wave as my next big project. I love the almond blossoms but am just not ready to tackle that one. So in anticipation, I've already bought the fabric (25ct antique white lugana) and all the threads. I'm kind of looking forward to stitching this one. I've never stitched one by Artecy so we'll see how easy (or hard) it turns out to be.

There's still time to sign up for my giveaway if you haven't already. I love surprises and hope everyone else does as well.

It's blazing hot here in Phoenix today so it's a perfect day to stay indoors and stitch. Stay cool!

I'm Feeling Generous

I did some more organizing in my craft room this past weekend. When I did my major purge last fall, most of my charts and magazines just got stuffed in a file cabinet in a very random manner. So I really didn't know what I had kept. Well, this made it tough to buy new stuff. But that didn't stop me. I just bought what I wanted. Now when I refiled things this past weekend, I discovered that I had quite a few duplicate charts (some of which were very expensive). So I've decided to have a monthly giveaway. So if you are interested in my stuff, just leave a comment with your email address on this posting. If you post a link to my blog on your blog, then you'll get 2 entries into the giveaway. I don't think you'll be too disappointed in what I'm offering. You'll never know what you'll get. The drawing will be open for 2 weeks so I'll have my daughter pick a winner on July 28. Oh, and I'll ship anywhere so all you overseas gals, please feel free to enter.

We're Back!

Here's an updated photo of the poppies. I couldn't figure out why the last one I posted was so dark. Then I remembered that I usually had a lamp turned on right over them. I didn't do that last time and I wasn't really happy with the picture quality. I just couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me one night in bed (yes, one of those lightning bolt moments). So here's an updated picture. I've made a litle more progress but not as much as I would have liked. My reading has been interfering with my stitching big time. Ever since I got my Kindle 1 1/2 years ago, my reading time has gone way up and stitching has gone way down. I'm hoping to sit down today and stitch on them. I want to spend about an hour in my craft room finishing what I started yesterday then I plan on sitting down with the poppies. But first before anything else I must remove the blackberry cobbler from the oven. Isn't summertime great?

Did You Ever...

see something on TV and think "that would make a great cross stitch chart. Or how about something in your home? I had a floral comforter that had a pattern that I thought would make a neat crewel pattern. Well, I was watching Dr. Who a couple of weeks ago and they did a show on Vincent Van Gogh. Now I'm not usually into art or paintings but they showed some that I had never seen before and I just fell in love with the colors and the style. I checked around and sure enough I found patterns for them on the Cross Stitch Collectibles site. So I just got them yesterday and it's really thrown my planning into chaos. I had decided that my next big project was going to be The Wave. Now I really want to start the Branches of Almond Blossoms. The Van Gogh has about 29 pages and The Wave about 19. Do I do The Wave first or should I start a rotation with both of them? Decisions, decisions!

Next!

Have you ever found yourself anticipating what you'll be stitching next? Silly question, I know. Since I'm on the road home with the poppies (even if I didn't stitch on them at all this week), I've been trying to decide what larger project to start next. There's a Van Gogh that I'm waiting for in the mail (but that's for another post). I had seen The Wave in a catalog but was sure I could find the chart for it. I did, on Cross stitch Collectibles. Using 101 different colors. Now I'm all for realism but come on. The artist probably didn't use 101 colors. Then I found it on Artecy which I have been a member of forever. I've printed off a lot of their patterns but have never stitched one. She only used 43 colors. That I can manage. Then I saw another by the same artist, Mount Fuji in Clear Weather. Now I'm stuck. I like both of them. Which one should I do next? I'm leaning towards The Wave simply because I've liked it longer. How's that for logic? Or I may just wait till the Van Gogh comes in and I see which one I like best then. No matter what I decide, I think I plan on doing it over 1 on 25 count lugana. I just love the look of over one and I think I'm up for the challenge. But first, back to the poppies!