I don't like change

What is up with the blogger changes?   Anybody else have issues?   It have taken me 3 days to unscramble and post my TUSAL.    Could be I don't read instructions too well, tee hee!

So here's my TUSAL for Feb 21... a couple of days late.

My Baby Cham glass and

my bigger Tankard I move the bits over to at the end of each month.

Happy Stitching all!

BAM! Two times in one day

I just have to share this info.........my current 5 + year old phone.  And this one actually looks better than mine. I don't think they still sell the one I am using.


Motorola Flip Phone

And, ta-da, my new phone.....

DROID RAZR MAXX

My new phone is scheduled to arrive via Fed Ex on Wednesday!  Since Wednesday is my Anniversary, that's what I am calling it, my Anniversary present.  There will be a learning curve!

I've been a lurking about

I have been so absent from posting. I have only posted the necessary posts for Tusal, Oldest Project Stitch Along and WIPocolypse but I have checked in to follow all your fab posts, wonderful progress and finishes. It is like a kid window shopping in a candy store.....but anyway....

Where have I been? Well, let's see.....no where special. Nothing fabulous that I did to report. I did take a Hearth Cooking Class in Old New Castle (DE).   It was my fourth year and we all had a good time.   I did finish reading The Lovely Bones but I can't get into A Time In Between.   I guess I am in a slump. No, truth is, I think I need to allocate my time better. Really? I actually have more hours in the day then most according to friends that claim they don't know how I do what I do. So what is it? Hmmmmmm, I think I go overboard (think??)......

Here's the deal, when I start something, I go hog wild then I hit the point of where I become exhausted because starting something new does not mean backing off of anything you already do.   Right?   Nothing to do with I can't do what I did when I was 20 years younger and haven't realized that yet. Nothing to do with thinking I can do it all. Nothing to do with I try to do too much. I am thinking my slump is because I started exercising again three mornings a week. And by mornings I mean I am in the gym at 6:15. After being off the routine for two months with a bad knee it is wearing me out to get back into. No dramatic weight loss to report or no increased comfort around the midsection with the jeans but in salute of healthy heart month, I am getting heart healthy. The down side is I am totally pooped at night. I am hoping that given a few more weeks my energy level will be back.  Maybe I should start up those daily vitamins!  You think?

I have been dedicating my stitching time to completing the assembly of my etui.....putting in an hour 4 or 5 nights in the last two weeks and I am getting close....and here it is again.....I have gone overboard and have worked almost on it almost exclusively.....which is so out of the norm for me. I have more projects going then you can shake a stick at and to be decide to work exclusively on something it a new concept. Oh the times they are a changing.  I admit it is making me antsy.   I really want to work on something else but I am trying to stay true and look at what I want in the end (to be finished) and not the eye candy right in front of me to start.   Stay the course is what I am telling myself.

I have all the sides assembled together and the bottom attached. It won't be long now.

I did take a small (and necessary) sidetrack to work on my oldest project. I was stunned to realized with posting the my progress for Evalina's Oldest UFO SAL at This and That, that I had not added a stitch all month. This is what I stitched last night while watching The Bodyguard, an all time favorite movie of mine. The difference the back stitching makes. I don't want to go overboard and put pressure on myself with this one but I feel pretty sure I will be able to move it to the

finished column by my retreat goal. 

 

This is just one section of the entire piece but I am getting there and I will be proud of my perserverance when I get this off the scroll bars, cleaned and framed!  Twenty years in the making!!!  I can date it because I know I took this on the plane with me on my first cruise in Feb. 1993 and it was already started at that point.  This was probably my first big cross stitch.

Here is the overall piece as it was in December....see not much accomplished but also, not much to do to finish.   I must remember my mantra.....Stay the course......stay the course..... Between this one and the etui, I am sure I will feel like a reward of a bit of stash enhancement or a new start come Retreat!

I chickened out

After reading comments of orange and fushia hair, I chickened out on keeping my appointment with Miss Clairol.   They brought back painfull and distant memories of my attempt 20 years ago and my orange then black hair and it wasn't Halloween.    For now I will make an appointment and worry about explaining the two tiny short stubby sections where I cut hair for a strand sample.   I wonder if the hairdresser will believe I got gum in my hair?

WIPocalypse February Status

I started out the year going gang-busters as far as finishing things. My stitching time this last month has been dedicated to working on my Petit Sampling Etui. I finished the stitching in January and am not finishing the finishing.  Now I am finishing finishing!  It has been tedious but not too difficult.   I only wish I had more time to dedicate to it.....perhaps this week....

I have managed to assemble the linings and am working on the gussets.   It should not be long now til completion!  

  I did squeeze in about a couple dozen stitches on The Sheltering Tree.

 And I managed five more motifs on Blue Ribbon Designs, A Little Quakeresque.

I remember when I started this.  I made all kinds of mental calculations - 9 x 9 = 81 motifs and counting each corner working as 2 would mean 89 motifs to complete.   I felt sure it would be easy enough to stitch seven a week, add in some wiggle room and no way I would be done 3 to 4 months.......well, the best laid plans shall we say.   As easy as this one is to complete, I find I need to be in the mood to want to stitch it.  Looks like it will be a three year project and not a three month one. 

Oh wish me luck!

I have been thinking about this for sometime now........tried it once years ago and the results were disasterous.......a professional was needed to correct my efforts........people do it everyday and have great results........won't it just be difficult the first time and get easier each time after?........I'd actually like to embrace the natural but need to make the transitition from chemically enhanced to not.......jumping in and doing it myself fits my hectic schedule better than scheduling an appointment, driving like a mad-woman on the interstate to get from work to the appt. and squeezing in the two hours needed before heading to a meeting..........in an effort to make my life easier, I may make it harder........me and Miss Clairol have a date this afternoon. I just pray I don't have to call up my hairdresser and beg her to correct it!

I just hope there is truth in advertising.