10 Things I Like: #3

I thought I'd get back to my series on 10 things that I like. I do have some cross stitching I'm doing but really have nothing to show yet. One is an ornament for an exchange, one is an autumn abstract that has probably no more than 20 stitces in it so far and the final piece is The Wave. You remember that one. It's the one where I had to rip out everything because I had miscounted the grid of the pattern. I did start it again but right now I only have a little beige showing and it's pretty boring to look at.

The third thing(or place if you prefer)that I like is New Zealand. This is one place where I could easily break my rule of not using the word love but I will restrain myself. Dave & I spent 3 weeks there about 6 years ago and really fell in like with the place. It really is a gorgeous country. We went in May/early June and felt like we had it all to ourselves. The scenery is truely spectacular! One of my favorite moments was at a place called Willowbank Reserve near Christchurch. We had planned to see the show and eat there but had arrived a little early. So we got to walk around and see all the animals. They have a kiwi house where you are separated from them by only a knee-high fence. They were fascinating to watch. But the highlight is the picture at the top of this post. I had just rounded a corner when this little guy hopped up to me. I stretched out my hand and well, you can see what happened. It was a very special moment for me. The second picture is from a cruise on Milford Sound and the third is from our crossing of the Transalpine Highway. I would like to go back but Dave says there are too many other places to see especially here in the US. So I remember that trip as truely a special one.

A Few Storm Photos

Last Wednesday we had some tremendous storms here in the Phoenix area. I left work about 15 minutes early because of the warning and made it home in plenty of time for the fireworks to begin. Now it hasn't stormed here in a long time and it doesn't do it very often even in the monsoon season. But when it does, it REALLY storms. We had winds about 35-50 mph and in our area we had hail as big as golf balls. Sherrie's car is parked outside and we were worried about what kind of damage it was taking but God blessed us in that there wasn't a scratch on it. Our guess is that the hail was deflected by the tree next door and the overhang of our roof. Other than a lot of leaves on it, it was fine. The one picture is of the hail in the backyard. The next is the view out our front door. The rain was just gushing off the roof into the front stoop. But the neatest thing we saw was an absolutely perfect rainbow when it was all over. I mean it was a perfect arch in deep, vibrant colors. I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing with my camera so I am only showing a part of it in this picture. But it was gorgeous! The weather has been relatively cool here since then and it feels like fall is right around the corner.

It Wasn't Meant To Be

It's been one of those days. I really wanted to stitch today. I mean I REALLY wanted to sit and spend the day stitching. Well, I started The Wave (my next BAP) over the weekend. And I was really pleased with the progress I had made in that short period of time. Then as I was stitching today, I suddenly noticed that that the first grid, which should have been 10x10 was actually 9x10. So I was going to off by one stitch all the way down the left side of the pattern. Now that wouldn't have been so bad if same color was used. But no, after about the first 10 rows, the colors started changing and I just knew I'd get in trouble down the line. So I started frogging it. Now remember this is being down over 1 with one thread. I managed to get one row out but it's going to have to be ripped out a little at a time or I'm either going to scream or throw it out. So then I decided to work on a Veraco kit that Dave had given me last Christmas. It's the Autumn Abstract which I love. Now it's supposed to have presorted threads. You can see from the picture just what their definition of presorting is. It was 2 strands of thread in each hole and the rest in a lump. Now I suppose you could just pull from the lump after you have finished what was on the card. But how on earth would you know what color they want you to use. So I am somewhat patiently matching all the threads up before I can start stitching on it. At this rate, it will be time to start cooking supper and I'll have done zero, zilch, nada stitching. Somedays it just doesn't pay!

Another Finish

I have another finish to brag about. I am kidding but it's been so long since I've had two finishes in a year, that it does feel a little like a celebration here. I'd been in a stitching slump for so long, it felt like I would never get back to stitching like I had done before. And it wasn't like I was doing anything productive. It was either computer games (which is still a major time waster in my world) or reading (which is NOT a time waster in my mind). I just had a real hard time getting back into the routine of stitching. But with the poppies done, I decided to concentrate on getting the Lizzie Kate I had started several months ago finished. I do think I like sticking to one piece at a time as opposed to a rotation of projects. That way I feel like I've actually accomplished something and not scattered my energies around. I also have so many UFO's stuck in a drawer that I would like to get out and finish. I think maybe next year will be the year of the UFO. Anyway, back to the Lizzie Kate. It's called Time for God and I really like what it says. I stitched it on cognac linen with sampler and Weeks threads. I did change a couple of the colors because we didn't have what the pattern called for. I really like this one. For right now it's going in the FUPPY box in the closet until I save up enough to frame it.