Back On Track

Well, since I finished my NaNoWriMo (Yeah, me! I'm a winner), I'm going to try to get back here more often. And I definitely missed my stitching time. So hopefully I'll be making some real progress on my two projects I've started. As you can see from the pictures, I haven't done a whole lot on either one of them. The top one is an autumn abstract that I got for Christmas last year. I love it with all of its fall colors. The second one is The Wave, a pattern I got off of Artecy. I started the autumn abstract to offset the lack of fun colors that I've been stitching The Wave with. So while I want to do one at a time, I fear the one will get too boring before too long.

I also found this neat list of questions on Andie's Blog (sorry but I can't the link thingy) that I thought I'd post. They've made me think about my stitching and exactly what it means to me. So here goes!

1). What are you stitching at the moment?
At the moment I am stitching The Wave and an Autumn Abstract.

2). How many finishes have you had this year? Small? Medium? Large? Extra Large?
Only three, two Lizzie Kate's and one kit from Maia that was of some really gorgeous poppies. The one Lizzie Kate is small, the other is medium. The poppies could be considered a large project. They did take several months of intense stitching but they're for a very good friend of mine, so they were worth it. I also stitched a Christmas ornament so I guess that makes four projects.

3). Do you think you will finish any more in the next month and a half before the end of the year?
Nope!

4). I could buy one thing for myself what would it be?
A house somewhere on the South Island of New Zealand.

5). What is the best thing you have ever stitched?
That's a hard question. I guess after thinking about it, the Stoney Creek wedding sampler I did for my son Christopher and his wife. They wanted the colors of the roses changed to yellow and wanted their own wording on it as well. So it took me a while to get the colors right and then I had to chart everything from scratch. It was quite an effort but well worth it.

6). Do you like making lists?
Actually I do. I like being able to cross things off them and see what I've accomplished. I also like listing the cross stitch pieces I have done so that I can see how far I've come since I first started.

7). Do you stitch in rotation or OAAT?
For a while I stitched in rotation. Then I realized I didn't want to stop stitching on a certain project just because my time was up. So now I try to stitch OAAT but I occasionally I'll stop and do something else just as a change of pace.

8). What is the next thing you plan to stitch?'
I really haven't thought that far ahead since I just started two new projects.

9). What is your favorite ONS? And why?
Honestly I don't have a favorite ONS because I work at a very well stocked LNS and really have no need to buy online. But when I do, I usually will shop at Stitches N Things or maybe Cross Stitch 123.

10). Do you have a stitching chair?
Yes, it's a Lazy Boy recliner sitting next to DH's chair. I have a storage end table right next to me and my Daylight lamp and can be as happy as a clam there. I also have an Ikea chair in my craft room that I can stitch in when it isn't occupied by Sherrie.

11). Do your children/pets get into your stitching things?
Other than Sherrie wanting to swipe some of my knitting stash, my kids are grown and out of the house. So,no,they don't get into things. Now my kitty, Squeak, is another matter. Everything has to be zipped (and that doesn't make it foolproof) and undercover. She's been known to run off with full skeins of threads and hide them.

12). Do you participate in any stitching forums?
I occasionally post on the MB on Cross Stitch 123. I also posted a couple of time when The Stitcher's Village first opened. But I don't do it very often.

There you have it. It's probably much more info than you wanted but at least you know a little bit more about me.

Just An Update

Okay, I know I have not been here in a while, but I do have a good excuse. I've been doing NaNoWriMO again this year. What is NaNoWriMo you ask? It's National Novel Writing Month. In November if you sign up you commit to writing a 50,000 word novel in a month. I signed up last year and was able to finish despite spending the two days before Thanksgiving in the hospital. So I decided to try again this year. And I do believe I'm going to make it again. So my stitching has been put on the back burner while I write an incredibly bad novel (let's face it, no one writes a good novel in a month). But it has gotten me back into the habit of writing which I have loved since I was a little girl. So this year I vow to spend some time revising and rewriting this godzilla of a novel.

What little stitching time I did have was put to use stitching an ornament for Bronny's ornament exchange. I will post pictures of it when I know my partner has received it. I've also started on The Wave and another more colorful Autumn abstract design and I'll try and post pictures this week.

In the meantime, I've got to brag about Sherrie for a moment. As I've mentioned before, she is graduating from NAU this December. She is currently doing her student teaching and so far the kids seem to love her. This last week we went to NAU where she was one of 20 seniors to receive the Golden Axe award. 20 seniors out of the entire university receive this award. It is for the most outstanding students that are graduating. We are so proud of her. She has turned out to be such a beautiful and capable young woman. It seems like only yesterday when she was going off to college. How soon they grow up. The picture is the one that is published on the university website announcing the winners. I just had to share with everyone how proud I am of my lovely daughter.

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.

To EvalinaMaria

EvalinaMarie, I realize that you may not have found my email address yet. I left a comment on your blog with it but you may have missed it. So I thought I'd put it here in hopes that you'll see it. It's azxser at aol dot com. I hope you see this cause I would love to send you your package of goodies. The package is all ready except for your address. Hope to hear from you soon.