A finish

My Halloween Stitch is complete -

This is Sew Spooky from Carol at IStitch.  I did this on 28 ct. Cashel Linen  in DaVinci from Picture That Plus.     I changed a few things - some on purpose and some through errors but am anxious to do my finish next week.   I know how I want to finish my finish but packing is more important tonight!!! I am off to a retreat in Ocean City, MD tomorrow.  So looking forward to non-stop stitching.   It is back to the Lankford Hotel and Salty Yarns!    I need to keep a tight rein on my purse strings and not buy out half the store again.  Time to pack and pick out what I will take to stitch....I always start something new this weekend so it is doubly exciting!

Goodbye Lo-Ween

Hello HalLO-Ween.   I am doing my own personal happy dance albeit invisible and internal.  I hope to finish the stitching today but am realistic that that may not happen.  Drat the darn laundry, yardwork and grocery shopping that interferes with my stitching.  What is up with that????   If not today, then surely early this week as I will devote my lunch hours to stitching.  Just the cat, some bats, a spider and the rest of the border.  As long as I can remember, I hate doing borders.  Argh!  Thankfully I was smart and worked the border as I progressed through the design otherwise I might contemplate no border.   I know the border sets off the design but it is the tedious repetition of a border that I find so BORING!  I am excited about wrapping the stitching up because I know how I want to finish this piece and can't wait for that part. 

Dinner and a movie with a good best friend last night.  We ate at Applebee's and had their new menu items - provolone stuffed meatballs and chicken florentine.   Each of us brought home take away boxes.   We saw Eat Pray Love and Julie Roberts is just plain awesome.  I enjoyed the movie however I expected more beautiful cinematography.  I mean it was set in Florence, Italy, India and Bali and the viewer didn't really see breath taking scenery.  There was beautiful water in a swimming scene.   (Stop reading now if you haven't seen the movie!!)  I did take away one important observation, Liz, (Julie Roberts) made a decision on what a Bali wise man told her when while on an assignment she visited him.   After she returns to NYC, divorces her husband, has an affair with a much younger actor she embarks on a year long journey around the world,  she finds out that the line the wise man gave her when he read her life's path was the same line he gives everyone.   It got me thinking how many of us make decisions based on advice from wise men (or women), based on authorities, based on so called experts?    It is not a one size fits all, it is what works best for you and your situation.  All in all, a nice evening out.  .......but when did the price of a movie ticket jump to $10.50 per person!   I haven't read the book yet but believe I have a sample downloaded to my Kindle.  After the Stieg Larson books, I may read E-P-L.

Why the shocker?

DWTS - The Hoff - Why is this being touted as a 'shocker' is beyond me.   I like David Hasslehoff but his performance was stiff and lacked the skill and style some of the other performed demonstrated.  I have seen him and he has 'moves' in commericials, etc.   Perhaps he could have refined and polished with more practice.  People are getting more serious about keeping the skilled dancers versus the keeping a fan favorite.  I think the skill level just continues to elevate each year.   Who to watch......hmmmmm.....any of them is miles better than I could ever be! 

Oops!  A second shocker......too much playing this morning......got a little into the Halloween season with my colors......will need to tone them down a bit tonight.  !SCARY!

Thank Heavens for DVRing!

I have Yoga on Monday's and set up my DVR to record Dancing with the Stars.  I just saw the funniest thing yet....I laughed out loud, I hope I didn't wake up Mr. Wonderful..........Florence Henderson just lifted her shirt to show her abs letting 'the Situation' know he has competition in the best six pack department.  I am sure it has to be out there on the internet somewhere.  She is 76 and all I can say is....you go girl!

So glad DWTS is back and too early for me to make any predictions....haven't seen everyone dance yet!

Lo-Ween

That's what my daugher and her friend Sarah are calling my current WIP!   Silly girls.    This is Sew Spooky and I am about half way completed - not bad for me since I started on 9/7.

Yesterday, I attended the Quilt Show in Oaks (Philly).   We arrived just as the doors opened.  Before long we were Ohhing and Ahhing at all the creations and talents.   It is window shopping for the creative soul.   You don't have to like a particular color combination, or layout, or execution but you do admire and respect the talent and workmanship in every piece.    There were so many beautiful creations from all over the world I am glad I was not a judge!

I didn't buy too much.........I bought about 16 different fat quarters.  Five of them were Halloween themed that I needed to complete my Lizzle Kate Bippity Boppity Boo.  It was a hard decisions but I  like my daughter's choice.

After the show, we sat on her deck and I finished my block.   I'm liking it!  I wanted to do something other than 'framing'......and I got my inspiration from all of YOUR beautiful finishes.   I used the Twisted Stitcher Tutorials for guidance (I must have had some sort of Freudian slip by first referring to Vonna as The Twisted Sister! I knew she was the Twisted Stitcher but typed Sister!  Sorry Vonna.)   And Kudos to her for her great instructions.  I just need to decide on the bow on the top.  One overwhelmes and the other is too skimpy.   Tweeking to be done!!

After a bit of crafting we sipped wine and walked to friend's down the block.    The guys stayed and the girls returned for more wine, crafting and a chick flick.

As always, I so enjoy getting together with my daughter and her husband and their friends.   My daughter and I can't get together without laughing until we cry over our stupid humor which most others don't get. 

Now back to reality, a bit of picking up the yard since Mr. Wonderful covered the pool yesterday, then laundry and grocery shopping......all done in time for stitch some more on my Lo-Ween!

Quilt Show

In a few minutes I will be hitting the road to my daughter's in Philly.   I will have my usually stop at the Wawa for gas, to MAC $$$ and a *fancy* coffee, not the instant microwaved cup of hot water that is my normal fare.  We are heading to the Quilt Show in Oaks.   Of course there is nothing I need and of course there are things I will buy.   Since my trip to the quilt show in Lancaster last year, I have actually taken a class and made my first quilt so the wallet could be in trouble. 

If I see Zelda's Hat I won't hesitate this year. I have kind of pined over not buying it last year and it was only recently I found it on the internet.  I don't know what this recent attraction of mine to Halloween items is but I am going with it.

I am packing some crafty stuff to work on after the show as well as my pj's.   Most likely will spend the night in Philly.......dinner, drinks and laughter!  I hope to at minimum put my Lizzie Kate Bippity Boppity Boo together in a block finish.   It not tonight, then by the end of the weekend.

OK, off to pack and hit the road................wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A glass of wine and....

I haven't had a glass of wine in soooooooooooo long and it feels good to unwind.  Not that I have been wound tight lately.   Scary but things have been falling into the right place the last week or so...... been able to get back to my yoga class, to be a regular at the gym again and lost .4 lbs at my WW weigh in today.   Not earthshattering but not a gain either!  (And Yoga kicked my butt this week but I loved it.)

Today, I arrived home to a  *Surprise* in the mail.   I won the give-a-way on  Stitching Devotee's blog.   It is the four Erica Michael's Random Thoughts designs - Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.   I do believe I will have to put fiber and fabric on my shopping list for my retreat at Salty Yarns in October!  I wonder if buying the fabric and fiber will break my pledge not to spend a small fortune on this visit?  hmmm, to be decided....



Here's Autumn!



I also have progress on my Sew Spooky thanks to a few lunch times in my car soaking up the warmth of the sun and sitting in the customer waiting room at my Toyota dealers while I got an oil change before work this morning.    I love her hair and the photo also showed me a 'cross' I didn't finish.  So far I am happy with my progress and have been thinking of different ways to finish thanks to checking out all your blogs/neat ideas!  I am liking these smaller works.......it really has renewed that old feeling of pleasure in stitching when things were simpler.

New Halloween Start

I have gushed over my fabric so and over the chance to mix it up a bit using some wild colors, so here is my progress.   This is Sew Spooky (see an earlier post for the link to the designer and pattern).   A DMC green I didn't have was suggested for the witch's face but I used a Dinky Dyes silk I've had just waiting to be used.  This is another fun stitch (so far!)   I hope I progress as quickly as I did on the Lizze Kate one last week.

Found something neat!

There is a blog out there that lists all the blogs!   Of course there is.   But check out Stitching Blogs All We Luv To Follow.  Not only is it a listing of over 900 cross stitching blogs, but it lists current SAL's and exchanges, lists designers blogs, lists distributer blogs and sites.    It is worth a look see.  Check it out!

A Finish...

I finished my little Lizzie Kate Halloween thingie.   It was nice to work on something that worked up quickly.  I love the little button spider.   I initially thought of looking for a smaller button but now I am OK with the one I used.   Other projects, although you see progress, the finish lines seems like an insurmountable distance away.   This little guy took me back to my early love of cross stitch.   Now I am going to stitch up Sew Spooky from Carol at IStitchaholic.   I love her designs and have downloaded several.   You probably has all seen them.....Sew Read, Sew Blue, Sew Autumn, etc.   It should be another quickie....on the same fabulous fabric.

Aren't husbands just the funniest?

I have been working feverishly the last few nights on a grant to be submitted to the Cultural and Heritage Commission to benefit the arts board for my community.   Of course, down to the wire ----but that is a whole other issue/we really submitted early and were 'critiqued' and some suggestions were made to improve so it ended up being the last 5% of the ap was last minute.  Just feeling the need to explain so that every aspect of my life does not seem like a fire drill---- but anyway......

Wednesday I made changes into the wee hours of the morning with every intention to print Thursday morning and drop at my director's house on my way to work.   Well of course when you are mission critical, something goes wrong.   The printer won't work.   I did the uninstall/reinstall, etc, etc.  to no avail.   After work, I try again and fail again and tell Mr. (not-so) Wonderful and his reaction is....:
"What did you do to it?"  
"umm, try to use it???"   
He does his manipulations and computer gyrations and disconnects and replugs everything (same as I had done at 5:45 a.m.) but for him, all is good and I am printing......half way through, it stops and shuts off.   I say to  Mr. (n.s.) Wonderful and again

"What did you do to it?"  

"Nothing.  It just stopped"   
There is grumbling.  So we repeat this exercise a whole nother couple of cycles with comments like ...."You're killing me here!"  I was afterall now interrupting Jeopardy.   What ailed me? 

 "What exactly are you trying to do?  What is this file of you are messing with and trying to print?"  

and I am on the verge of saying but resisted "I must have screwed it up when I drop kicked it"  

Each time he gets it started and it stops and turns itself off after several pages... ....not to go on and on, but this morning the damned thing just kind of imploded, no lights, no reaction, just a sad silent death.   I came home and Mr. Wonderful had been to Best Buy for a  new printer!  Now of course, the eulogy went something like....."the other one was old, we just wore the poor little thing out,  we've got a lot of use out of it, printed many a tax returns.....yadda yadda yadda"  I am afraid he may want to bury the hunk a junk and place a tombstone with the name Old Yeller on it!  Now it is OK that I drop kicked (sic) the other one because he got to spend money on a new toy.  Men, gotta love them.

Change of color progress - my halloween stitch EDITED!

Not as far as I had hoped but pleased with and having fun with this little Lizzie Kate.   Look at the cute little buttons I found in my stash!  Not so much the black button.   That is out of my other sewing stash to use as a spider body.  This project is like getting  a  'free' project since I didn't need to buy anything to do it.    I've got to think of what kind of finish I will do.  I think maybe one of those block style finishes with the ribbon around the outside.   I am sure it has a better name than "block".    Off to check out some tuturials!

Oh, you say where's the pix??   I say, where's my camera cord!  Too much cooking out and friends over and the newlyweds returned home and it was 'placed' somewhere safe.   Stay tuned for uploads after work when I have time to root around and find the cord........right where I left it. 

Looks like I didn't misplace my camera to computer cord.   Seems the the cord got gathered up with the newlyweds when they were leaving the other night.   So glad I have been otherwise occupied and did little more than look in the usual places and between sofa cushions.
Have a good day all and a great week ahead.

And I choose....

Picture This Plus, 28 ct. Cashel

Halloween trilogy by Lizzie Kate.   I have been itching to use the fabric since I bought way back when at CATS  in Hershey PA. (that is the first clue as to how long it has been in my stash pile!)  It is called DaVinci by Picture This Plus.   Originally I kitted it up for one of the other Halloween patterns but I succumbed to the need to use it last night. 

Truth be told, I think I just wanted to work with some fun colors since my current WIP is 5 skeins of WDW Gunmetal.........I needed a little color in my life!

whacked out reasoning

I am such a scatterbrain.......or maybe easily sidetracked would be a better description.  I am always going in several  directions at once...........and I seem to stitch the same way......meaning several projects at once.    I made a promise to finish some things before I started anything new but my will power is waning.  But but but  I am in the mood to stitch up something fall and Halloweenie.......something small and not an undertaking of epic proportions like I usually do (remembering proportion is a relative term!)  I need a diversion from my current stitch.        I looked over the list of things I had completed for 2010 and found I completed 9 in 8 months and that little imp on my shoulder said......"go ahead, you've been good" so I am off to check out my stash for some Halloween quickies!  There wasn't much convincing needed.   Maybe it's the beer.   As I stated before I am not a beer drinker however, I worked in the two sheds today cleaning and sweeping and sorting 'stuff' and sat down with Mr. Wonderful to watch the end of the Notre Dame game from the bar stools in his 'cleaned' shed and had a beer.  It sure did mellow me out.  Off to the stash cabinet and I will let you know what I come up with!

continued after my stash hunt.........

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Not too big, but 40 ct!

some possibility here

another option...love the fabric

nothing to do with halloween but I love the floss and it seems to be a quick stitch

hmmmmmmmmm, got some thinking to do here......

New Stuff

We all know 'stuff' is good and for those of us who remember George Carlin, he knew all about 'stuff'.   I have some 'stuff' for sharing......

A new blog with a giveaway - Harvest Moon Hollow.   It is a new blog so the giveaway is in celebration of the blog and the Etsy shop.

Now for some real treats - at least for me - and I am sure for some of the others who visit here.   These two blogs are ones my daughter forwarded to me.   They are "Crafting" and "Stitching" and not necessarily cross stitch.   But hey!  We cross stitchers are sewers and crafters, right?

The first one is "uCreate".  My daughter kept sending me neat/awesome/totally fantastic projects from this thing called "uCreate".  Dah!  It's a blog.  So as of this morning, I am a follower.   I haven't really looked around the site yet but know I have seen some awesome things from the "Creative Guest" tab.   Like this zig-zag pillow.  I love how it is shown how to do it with on continuous piece of fabric!

The next site is "Stash Manicure".  Again, I have not been all through the site, but what I have seen so far, I am liking.  

There is something soothing about fabric squares all folded and sorted and piled.  Some people would like to roll around on satin sheets in a sea of money....but I would be happiest rolling around on a comforter surrounded by threads, fibers and fabrics!  I love to go to other sites to see how people do things, to have some eye candy, to get ideas.....to learn a thing or two.

I can hear it now...what my daughter is thinking......OMG, Mom has too much free time on her hands!

I hope you enjoy my new finds!