Day III in the i-Challenge

Well, first and foremost, let's get things in proper perspective here....althought I am seriously twisted about devoted time to stitching OVER cleaning, filing, etc., I need to tell everyone about the Blue Men.   What could be more important than stitching, a day spent with family.  What a great show.   The tickets were a Christmas present from my daughter and son-in-law, who I must argue it the best son-in-law in the whole world.  We went to the Merriam Theater in Philly.  It is a small theater but very ornate and gorgeous.  The show was 90 non-stop minutes of entertainment.   These guys were fabulous and the finale was fantastic.  I haven't laughed that much (in public) for quite a while.  I may have even *snorted* once!  After the show we walked to Rittenhouse Square and ate at the Devon Seafood Grille.   Another must do again place.   Our seats over looked Rittenhouse Square and it was just really lovely to sit and look out at the square.   I imagine it would be really pretty in the spring and summer.   Mr. W. is not one to want to leave the house and he is definitely a man of minimal verbage but once he got back to his safety zone of his Man Cave and had a "beverage" he wouldn't shut up about the show, the dinner and the day.   He didn't even once refer to the City of Brotherly Love as Flith-a-delphia.   This may be a first.  Sorry folks, he is just a country boy with roots from Arkansas and not a fan of the city - any city.  He kept telling me to let our daughter know what a nice time it was and we should do it (or something like it) every year.  (hhhhhhmmmmm, do I see Jersey Boys in my future??? - one can only hope)  I instructed Mr. W. the he needs to email her!!!!   It would mean so much more coming from the man of so few words.   So few words except for those times of technical instruction.  Then we know he has an unending flow of words.



I just love this little flower.

Fir stitching, my progress on i-Challenge Day 2.   Not as much as I had hoped.   I was having an issue focusing last night and need to figure out the count of linen I selected.   It just seemed small.   That and in my infinite impatience wisdom to start right away, I didn't take the time to overcast the edges on my sewing machine and kept pulling at the wisps of threads unraveling around the edges.   For one, I can't wait to work on this a few more times to get the sizing or stiffness out of the linen.   It just get aggravates when it is old stiff and starchy and seems to have a mind of its own. 

For today, the i-Challenge is brought to us from The Prairie Sampler.   It is called the Friendship Star Puzzle Purse.  When completed, you fold the piece into a small little purse.  It opens to something similar to an Ort box.  The photo shows the folded version.  This is the little blurb from the pattern....

    "The puzzle purse was first made in the last quarter of the 18th century.  It was usually made out of           paper.   It was quite often given on Valentine's Day with a message to a loved one.   One source said that it has been known to find birth cerficates folded this way.   Quite often they were painted with faktur."



This is the finished and folded version - kind of the center square of a 9 patch. 

This is another pattern that has been high in my list of soon to-do projects.   I purchased it at Celebrations event in Nashua, New Hampshire.  As I think about the piece and write about it, I feel like a little child telling her mother that whatever toy is placed in front of me is my FAVORITE and spout the reasons.   I am sure I am not alone. 

i-Challenge Day II

I am typing i-Challenge and i-Ditarod comes to mind.   This is the Iditarod of Cross Stitch; a grueling competition (with oneself) that only those who participate get it!  Many will start, but how many with finish.  Only those with sufficient passion and endurance would attempt.

So again, I am up with the roosters!   Ugh!  Seems no matter how late I stay up I get up early.  Neither my husband or I even use an alarm.   Well, he does, but 99 times out of a 100 it does not even go off.   He rolls over and slides the off button about 10 minutes before it is scheduled to go off.   I guess it is our safety net.  

But enough of my sleep habits and to the important stuff.  My i-Challenge from Day I ended after about 4 hours of downloading/syncing etc. etc.    Since I was on the roll of organizing and culling files in a logical  way, I went through all my photos in my computer.  It was a good thing to do.   I got rid of the out of focus shots, duplicates, ex-fiances', created sub-folders and moved things into the proper catergories.    At least one thing has been neatened for the new year!



Bent Creek's Plum Berry Sampler



I am not the fastest stitcher out there so I am pretty pleased with my final progress for Day I.   I plan to continue the rotation in the starting order and think I will be see a finish by my 4th if not my 3rd rotation. 

As for today, my choice comes to me from Little House Needleworks.    I have seen this completed and love the idea.   I purchased this when I went to the Woodlawn Exhibit in Mount Vernon last year.  I will always remember that trip when I see this finished piece.   

I doubt I will have as much progress today since I have tickets to see the Blue Men this afternoon in Philadelphia.   My daughter and her husband gave us the tickets for Christmas.   All four of us will attend the matinee and then have dinner.   Once I get home tonight it was be time to gear up for the work week ahead.

Hope everyone who is participating got off to great start.  Mush!

i-Challenge

Happy New Year and Happy New Project(s) to everyone.   

I am participating in the 15 in 2011 Challenge and hoped I would be off to a good start.....(enter Mr. Wonderful.....more on his involvement further in my post).   I feel a little sheepish looking at other's challenge list because I picked several smaller projects so as to not overwhelm myself.   No need in setting myself up for failure was my i-Rational.  

I actually try to use my Longaberger Baskets!

So today, I get up at near the usual time since that crazy i-Body clock doesn't know how to change.  I have been busting to start this challenge and admit wanting to get a head start long about Christmas evening but i-Behaved and i-Resisted.   Like so many of us, stitching time for me kind of took a back seat to decorating and baking and wrapping so once the majority of excitement wound down, I was ready to put needle to thread.   But alas, i-Resisted a head start and gave myself time to spend time with family and friends and get in a bit of i-Reading.



Bent Creek's The Plum Berry Sampler

I set up my basket of projects earlier in December (for what I am dubbing my i-Challenge), putting them in what i-Think will be a good rotation - larger projects interspearsed with some quick stitches as well as a variety of linens and fibers so I-won’t get bored.   I had actually forgotten what was first up until i-Pulled out my basket this morning.

To the stitching part, I am stitching away and the first thing I decide is, I don't like the suggested floss for the leaves and vines.   A quick visit to my craft room and floss stash and I am ready to start again.......but alas - this is where Mr. Wonderful gets involved - I hear a lot of grumbling and questions being shouted from the dining room.    Up I get about 4 times to answer his questions before I resolve to just throw in the towel and put stitching off until later.

Mr. W. bought me an i-Pad for Christmas and he has decided now is the time we are going to work on uploading stuff.  He couldn't understand why I couldn't open my i-Tunes library and see all my i-Songs and my answer was i-Don't know.  All kinds of things were being said......"like I don't know what you did with them";  "I don't know where you saved them"; and so on.....not to beleager the point but think of Edith and Archie Bunker and you get the general idea.    Now we get into i-Logic - what is logical to me is not to logical to Mr. W. or for that matter my logic probably makes no sense to anyone else in the free known world.  Enough said on that.  

Further we need to put this all in perspective - I remember offices without computers on the desks; I remember using an IBM Selectric typewriter and using the little wheel eraser with the toothbrush bristle brush on the other end; for heaven sakes I remember the mimiograph machine and cranking the handle and the purple inked masters.....so give me some latitude with my questions Mr. Wonderful!    I have i-Tunes, an i-Pod, an i-Pad, an I-Challenge.....eye....yeye....yeye! it what I say.   I don't know from "jack" is what I really want to say but that would definitely lead to further i-Trouble.

So fast forward past all the techno-mumbo-jumbo save for the part that the reason I have no i-Tunes library is that it was never saved to my new laptop.  Oops!  I guess that was a file Mr. W. neglected to copy over....I'm  a just-tell-me-what-I-have-to-do-kind-of-gal here so let's move on so I can stitch.   That ever present theme is in the back of my brain just lingering like some sort of evil spector and its little voice chanting stitch stitch stitch, you want to stitch.

So we are sync'd Laptop to iPod and Laptop to iPad and he has decided I should just upload the music I want from the CD's we have......NOW.....and what, not stitch?    OK, the aggravation level is up on both sides and since he never ever ever (really) never says a word about my various projects strewn around in various stages of completion throughout the house, I figure I need to give him my full attention.

Mr. W. is showing me how to do the uploads.   I have pencil and paper to take notes - click here, highlight there, enter, etc., etc.    He tells me I don't need to write anything down.   (he is actually correct, it is incredibly simple)   The original i-Tunes Library was created with the help of one of my children and their logic is not Mr. W.'s logic.....so trying to sound semi knowledgable (I was careful not choosing the word - intelligent) I asked Mr. W. about creating Playlists.   I don't need them he says.   But i-Want them.  Again a slam of how everyone's logic is different.  I decide instantly it will be better for me to research the whole Playlist thing on my own at a later date.  

Again, we fast forward and he has me sitting at the dining room table loading my CD's.  Truly a no-brainer and now I am the i-Multitasker.    I have my laptop to my right with my CD's, my french vanilla coffee to my left and my stitching right in front of me.   As soon as the little disk drive thingie stops whirling and I get the little 'bing' noise, I slide over and eject the CD, put in a new CD and start the process again, I slide back to my coffee and stitching and I am a happy camper. 



We all recognize those telltale little holes in the linen.

 This little crazy method has not been without flaws however.  Enter i-Frog.    When I changed the floss color for the leaves and vines and changed from glasses to cheaters to glasses to cheaters several times early on in the i-Adventure with Mr. W, i-Miscounted the numbers of strands of floss.    I stitched up several leaves and thought..............hmmm, they look fluffier that the other stitches.   And I thought .....hmmmm, must be my imagination and the difference between DMC and WDW floss.    How about i-Wrong.    Seems I was using 3 strands of the WDW and not two and didn't figured it out until I re-threaded and put in a couple of stitches with the correct number of strands.   No biggie.  i-Frog.



I used their suggested floss but probably not the suggested linen.



 

Now to the letters, I didn't like the too little contrast between floss and fiber so   i-Changed floss again.   Another trip to the craft room between CD changes.    I decided to use CC Shamrock which cracks me up because it is shades of blue and not shades of green like one would expect Shamrock to be.   I also selected WDW Purple Haze for the featured stitches between the lettering.   I like the tonal quality of these two and the green I selected for the leaves.   My pattern looks a mess with all my color changes i-Noted but I am now happy.  Now my whole idea for finishing this little goodie has changed.   The colors I am using will go well in my bedroom and if I ever continue my i-Quilting escapades, it will look nice as a pillow on top of my Hokey-Pokey quilt in William Morris fabric!! 

To make things even more interesting, I dreamed up the idea of i-Multitaking even further........I figure I can i-Blog in between stitches and CD's.    This I am not sure is truly a good i-dea since when I attempted to upload photos, I got an error message from i-Sync. 

I like these colors

Time to move on....Mr. W. wants to do the 'next step' which has to do with the i-Sync which Mr. W. disconnected earlier without me knowing.    My i-Sync error that I got and thought i-Corrupted everything was not my doing.   Problem is I haven't loaded all my Beatles CD's yet!  Eject Yellow Submarine and insert Rubber Soul.....  He must be iCrazy if he wants me to move on before I upload my Beatles.  I am so glad it is only Saturday! and I have off tomorrow............

Let it snow!

My new header photo is actually from last year.....too much blowing and drifting going on right now for me to brave the outdoors with a camera.     So glad I have the day off and don't have to think about driving in this blowing and drifting.  My daughter has been forced to stay (oh drat!) an extra day before she attempts to drive what takes her 6 and a half hours on a good trip back to Boston.  In south Jersey, it still looks like it is snowing with all the snow that is blowing.  I expect any minute to see the neighbors cat fly by the window! 

And if not their cat, than maybe I will see penquins on my pool cover before the day is over.
Stay warm all and use the snowbound day to stitch!  Double drat!

Happy Holidays



I just love his face

Welcoming basket of greens

Squirrel Ornie

Another Squirrel Ornie

Squirrel Tree - All pine cones and squirrel ornaments

A trash find at work! all decorated for the holidays.

My Scandanavian Santa and Aunt Emily's Placemats



Little touches on shelves

My teddy bears all dressed for the holidays!

And the stockings soon to be hung

A bright little corner at the bottom of the stairs





Wildflower Tree

Dimensions Stitchery stitched for my mom in the 80's.   I love it!

Close up of the wildflower tree

A Favorite Ornament

My husband's Santa Train Bank that is on display every year.

Come on it!

Welcome home!

Merry Christmas!

All shiny and bright

A nice place to visit

New York City that is.......you couldn't tell by crowds shopping yesterday and the people going to the theater that we are in any kind of economic recession.   They were out in droves......



Fountain at Rockefeller Center

I enjoyed a bus trip to NYC and the Rockettes Show at Radio City Music Hall.   What a fun way to spend the day with my BFF Debbie.  We arrived and headed straight to Saks 5th Avenue for lunch.   Let me tell you, delicious, but truthfully it cost more than I spend on a dinner out at Applebee's.   Well, I can now say I 'lunched at Saks'.....

I guess you have to be the right type of person to deal with the crowds, I mean CROWDS.   Unbelievable amount of people.  NYC's finest kept things moving along.   The show at Radio City was really amazing.   What a beautiful theater.   No photos from inside since they were forbiden.   I only hope those who didn't follow the rules have crummy photos since their repeated flashes were very distracting. 

After the show, we walked a bit. We went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral. That is worth a visit.

I drive my sister crazy with my architectural and scenery pictures.    She will say........weren't there any people there?   I choose to take the beauty of the building.  The feat of the construction is something I marvel at.

This is the reflection of the church spire in the building across the street.

So, that said, here's an update on my life.   The back issue is not a (totally) a back issue, it is part hip, part back, part out of shape, part overweight.   My back did go out a few weeks back but it was not related to the ongoing dull ache in the lower back and hip pain.   One is cyatic (Sp??) and the other is due to arthritis in my hips.  Short term, endure the pain, exercise and loose weight; long term - hip replacement.  So not to dwelve, we will cross that bridge in 3 to 5, 5 to 7 years when we get there.   For now - at the WORST time of the year - I plan to watch my diet, employ portion control (LOL) and try my best not to dive head first into the Christmas cookies before work.   I know my pattern and I will take just one while I check email, just one while I drink my coffee, just two for the road and before I know it, I single handedly have eaten a whole batch.   Take the 7 layer cookies....I mean it, please take them off the face of the earth.   I used to make a triple batch in an 11 x 17 pan and only two years ago found out I am the only one who likes them!  OMG!     But again, enough.....

This is the true status of my holiday decorating...not like the tree from 2009 in my header.

Turning 180 degrees from the table shot, I have managed to get a few festive things in place. Boy Oh No!  Wheres my snowflake garland that I weave in and out of my Hoosier glassware?

For now, the Christmas music is playing and I am decorating.  I did decide I needed to take a little rest from all the lugging and reaching and bending....what a wus I am. 

I am excited about the 15 in 2011.   I want to start already!     I have not gotten in much stitching lately.  This whole back/hip thing really took the starch out of me.   Such a busy time of the year for all of us.   Busy brings me to .....My Trash/Your Treasure - Linda of Succulent Sisters never replied to any of my emails about being my random so I will draw another.   Drum roll please.....and the winner is  ...#33 Golden Angel Works.    I'll get an email out shortly.  Jody also emailed me her address and I hope to post her envelope this week.  Looks like I have two more trips to add to my lunch time running around.......that and decide what to get my husband for Christmas! 

Back to the ladder and hanging stuff and decorating stuff.    Have a great week everyone!  Keep dry and warm.

Don't get excited!

My header has LAST year's tree.....I have been shamed into changing out the Thanksgiving photo I had up.    The boxes of decorations are making their way out of the attic but the decorations have not gone up yet.  Soon, hopefully soon.

15 in One Challenge

Well. I'm doing it.  Call it insanity, call it unnecessary self-imposed stress, call it whatever, but here's the deal......I have the patterns, I have the floss, I have the linen.....what's the worst that will happen?  I don't finish them all?  Well up til now, they have just been gathering dust in the cabinet waiting for someone to appreciate them!   So, I am rationalizing, it will be a win/win. 

Here's my list - not necessarily in working order:
1.  Blessed Beyond Measure - Blue Ribbon Designs
2.  Eat Drink and Be Scary - Waxing Moon Designs
3.  1799 Quaker Pinkeep - Williamsburg
4.  ABC's of Aging - Lizzie Kate
5.  Heart of America - Little House Needleworks
6.  Daisy Needle Tweets - Just Nan
7.  Skeleton Shadow Box - Prairer Moon
8.  Chocolate Box - Little House Needleworks
9.  Needle and Thread - Little House Needleworks
10. Three Pears - The Cottage at Cardiff Farms
11. Tuffetts - Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.
12. October Spooks - Pine Mountain
13. Leaf - Bent Creek
14. Plum Berry Sampler - Bent Creek
15. Friendship Star Puzzle Purse - Prairie Sampler
                         
I plan to organize every project in its own zip lock bag and stitch in rotation.  First free night - lol - I hope to package everything up and be ready to start.   Wait......I might even start pulling floss tonight!!!!  My stitching area is going to be a mess of bags!   I even want to keep a log.   Duh!  More pressure!  We will see how that part really pans out.  Seriously, I think I have selected a sensible amount of smaller projects that I will add to the list in between the larger ones.   Maybe - halfway through/or as I make progress and complete some - I can throw some existing WIP's in the mix.   

Today - the decorations were to be done but I have a funeral to go to.   The funeral was for my sister's mother-in-law.   She was a full blooded Nanticoke-Lenni Lenape Indian and the traditional ceremony was conducted.  It was a really spiritual and meaningful ceremony.   My sister has only been married for a few years and her m-in-l was 91 so I tended to not think that she had a big old life before we met her.   There were stories of her motor cycle riding and her trophies for riding; stories about her service and faith to her church /she worked for 25+ years as the church secretary leaving at the age of 78!; her pride of her heritage; and so much more.  There were so many incredible things told about her today that I regret I did not know them before.  Our elders have so much wisdom and knowledge to share with us we need to remember to listen to them and to learn from them before it is too late.

Elizabeth Edwards, 11-21-1919 to 11-26-2010

Back to a stitchie front - I finished my Love and Wisdom by Drawn Thread today!  Yeah!  I got busted by Mr. W doing the happy dance and he just shook his head and said something disparaging to the cat and back out to his barn he went.   Oh well! 



Oops! Sometimes I can turn the pix and sometimes I can't!



Top half of sampler

Bottom half of sampler

This is the spot I need to decide what to do with.   Each corner has one and the pattern calls for celtic knot charms.

  It was a major WIP and I can't believe I tossed into the bottomless pit of WIP's and managed to zip through it when I decided to  pick it back up just weeks ago.    I do need to order the charms for the corner sections OR I need to decide if I should stitch in the date and my initials.  Just in time to mount my Lizzie Kate ABC's of Aging on my scroll frame for my 15 in One challenge.