We have a new addition!

I'd like to introduce you to Simon! 11 weeks old and cute as a button!

He and a brother were dumped by my sister-in-law's house in the Poconos. They ended up in her yard. When she found them they were eating a dead squirrel *YUCK* and freezing. She brought them in and kept them in her enclosed porch (it's heated and really a part of her house), because she has 3 other cats and in case they had any illness she didn't want to make any of hers sick. She got them to the vet and they checked out negative for any illness. (Which, I think, was a miracle.) One was placed with a lady they know, this one was supposed to be going to another lady they know but she backed out, giving no reason at all. He's just too cute, and I thought he would be a good playmate for my two boys. He doesn't have a squished inface like my other boys, but he is long haired. Grey, his feet are white(like he has tiny boots on) and he has a white nose and spot on his chest.On his belly, very low, there's a stripe of white too. I joked that he has a scar in the same place I do. Guess it was meant to be! My boys are not so sure about the situation as yet. All he wants to do is play with them. They are still a bit standoffish, but I think they are starting to come around.





Hope your Thanksginving was great! Wishing you and yours the best this Holiday Season!

Lil Blue Fairy Cat Happy Dance!

WOO HOO!!!! I participated in the HAED Fourth weekend Themed SAL last weekend. This one was for SWIP/UFO's (SWIP = slow works in progress). Lil Blue counts, I started it Aug. of 2007!!! I managed to finish 2 pages!! Pages 1 & 3. Page 3 was only 720 stitches, but hey! it counts! It's a Quick Stitch so it is only 4 pages, 2 full pages and 2 small (720 stitch) pages. I also started onto page 2. I have 9,760 stitches out of 16,050 done, that's 60.8% complete!

Nov. HAEDless Sampler SAL

From Nov. 16th. Cirque des Cercles, 4 pages down, 2 to go. Only got the one motif on the top right done, I just wasn't in the mood I guess....

Nov. HAED SAL Challenge

Okay, so one more.... Since she is my selected piece for this year's challenge I continued to stitch on her this weekend. I love how the dress is coming out. Thank you for your comments on her. I love to hear from you!

Now Lil' Blue is on the scroll bars. I was supposed to finish him this year as one of my goals. You never know!!!

Goblin Tree Page Happy Dance!

I did finish the page I was working on. I finished it last Friday (10/31). I was too lazy to take it off the scroll rods so I continued to work on it over the weekend. I haven't stitched all week though. My 2nd full week back at work. I don't have any pain, just some discomfort still, and I get really tired, really fast. Hence my stitching has suffered this week. But I wanted to share my HD. This was page 8, finished. I started page 11. I am now officially more than 50% complete with the entire chart! 72,452 stitches out of 130,500, that's 55.5%!

HAED Themed SAL Oct.

I tried to post this yesterday but blogger was having a hissy fit. Here is Goblin Tree after the SAL last weekend. The theme was water but since it's so close they included Halloween, so I was happy to be able to stitch on GT and still participate in the SAL. I am almost finished with this page. When it's done I will be 50% complete with the entire project! Actually a bit more than 50% because the last 3 pages of the chart are only partial pages. I am going to continue with it till I do finish this page, so you will have to be bored with her at least one more time (in a post). Then I think I will switch over to Lil'Blue for a while. I was supposed to be finishing him as one of my goals for this year.

I thought this was interesting.....

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Conscientious, Fulfilled, and Spiritual

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosopy, religion, art, politics, science, and all other aspects of intellectual enquiry. Renaissance artists looked at the human aspect of life in their art. They did not reject religion but tended to look at it in it's purest form to create visions they thought depicted the ideals of religion. Painters of this time had their own style and created works based on morality, religion, and human nature. Many of the paintings depicted what they believed to be the corrupt nature of man.

People that like Renaissance paintings like things that are more challenging. They tend to have a high emotional stability. They also tend to be more concientious then average. They have a basic understanding of human nature and therefore are not easily surprised by anything that people may do. They enjoy life and enjoy living. They are very aware of their own mortality but do not dwell on the end but what they are doing in the present. They enjoy learning, but may tend to be a bit more closed minded to new ideas as they feel that the viewpoint they have has been well researched and considered. These people are more old fashioned and not quite as progressive. They enjoy the finer things in life like comfort, a good meal, and homelife. They tend to be more spiritual or religious by nature. They are open to new aesthetic experiences.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

A Bouquet for Cheryl

A day late, but here it is.

Stats: Started Feb. 27, 2008 28 ct. Forget-Me-Not Blue Lugana Carrie's Creation hand-dyed floss in Lumiere de Cheryl 1 X 1 full cross

Oct. HAEDless Sampler SAL

Here's my work on Cirque des Cercles from the SAL this weekend. 4 pages complete, 2 to go! I'm still recovering, but I get a little better each day. I visit the doctor again this Wed. Hopefully she'll say I can drive again. I am getting a bit of cabin fever. I've stitched on CDC, 'A Bouquet for Cheryl', and Goblin Tree over the past week. I got a ton done on 'A Bouquet for Cheryl', but I don't have a pic yet. I can only stand fooling around with my scanner once a day, at best. Maybe tomorrow I can get a scan of it for you. I'm tired and bored with the samplers, so it's back to Goblin Tree this evening. You are probably sick of it by now. But I do love stitching it so much!

Thank you for your well wishes. I am trying to keep up with my blog reading, but I am terrible with commenting. I will get around to posting my favorite blog reads soon.

Updates

I'm home from the hospital, got home Thursday night. Everything went as planned. I get a little better each day. Thanks for your well wishes. I can't do anyting, no driving, lifting, cleaning, no nothing! My DH is coping wonderfully. He's been cooking and cleaning and taking great care of me. I am just sitting back and turnng into a potato!!! But that's the doctor's orders for the next 6 to 8 weeks. So all I can do is stitch! The Oct. HAED SAL Challenge was this weekend, so I stitched away (as long as I was awake). I got more trees filled in and some more of that fantastic wing. Is it just me, or are her wings just marvelous?! I am captivated by her wings. HAED charts are da bomb!

Lack of Posts & an Update

It's been a while, I know. So much going on! I had a tooth extracted on Sept. 29th. It was the last tooth on the upper left side. It had been root canaled and capped years ago (I grind my teeth in my sleep and I broke it.) Well the cap came out with the post inside! Oh well, it was a gonner. So the dentist removed it that Fri. By Mon. night I was in tons of pain. I called Tues. morning only to find out that he was out on "doctor's holiday" (whatever that is) till Thurs. Lots of pain and a migraine that lasted 4 days! I had to see him Thurs., Fri., and Sat. mornings for him to pack medicine in there each day. It had dry socketed. I am still in some pain, but the Motrin is keeping it in check now. He said there is no infection or anything like that, but the gum tissue has to grow over the bone and until that happens I will have some pain. OUCHIE!

Sunday was my 12th wedding anniversary. Dear Hubby brought me a dozen red roses. We went into NY on Sat. to see a play on Brodway, Equus. WOW! It was HEAVY! I got to see Daniel Radcliffe in the buff. Not much opportunity for a woman my age to see a 20 something boy naked! LOL!!! But honestly, he was very good! Richard Griffiths played the doctor and he was awesome! I would go to see it again. Very dramatic, very heart wrenching! If you can get there, GET THERE! After the play we walked less than a half a block from Times Square and had a lovely Italian dinner. It was a great day and we had a wonderful time!

Okay, here's my update on Goblin Tree.

I'm almost 50% completed on page 8. I'm going in for surgery tomorrow, I'll be recuperating for 6 to 8 weeks, they tell me. I will be off work from tomorrow till Oct. 27th, as it stands right now. Since I work from home and sitting down, I'm thinking I can probably get back to it by then. So, I plan for A LOT of stitching time! We shall see how it goes. I would like to see a lot of progress on this. I might even have time to spend with Curley Tailed Rosey, and CDC! I'll have to see how I feel. Like everything, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Have lovely, exciting days, dear readers, till I see you again!

Sept. Sampler SAL

The SAL was from Friday to Monday. This is my progress. Ths weekend is a background SAL. I'll be back on Goblin Tree.

Computer Update! Well, Dell shipped my giant laptop back to me Tuesday ... MINUS THE HARD DRIVE!!!! Why would they send it back to me if it's useless? It has no drive in it at all. The paperwork says that the drive for my machine is "out of stock at the repair facility". And when it becomes available they will ship it directly to me. I called them and they said that when they get the drive they will send a techie here to install it. This means that the charts that I didn't have backed up are G O N E! I've figured out that my laast backup was the 1st week oy May. So I only lost 4 HAED charts. I've emailed them and requested on bended knee that I be allowed to download them again. I haven't heard from them yet. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I got my new 'baby' laptop the same day. I finally got it all set up yesterday, and here I am!!! YAY! It's just the cutiest thing! So I'm 'back in business' now!

Thank you all for your well wishes. My surgery date is Oct. 8 th. Doctor said to plan for 2 nights in the hospital (I'm not happy about that). She tells me it will be a 6 week recovery time. I'm really not happy about that! I just hope I will be well enough to stitch!!!! At least then, it won't be wasted time....

Goblin Tree

After last weeks SAL, as promised!




I managed to finish the page!
This weekend is the HAEDless Sampler SAL. I'm workng on Cirque des Cercles.

Here's the News

I know I've not posted in a while. I had surgery last week, just a day stay. Unfortunately it didn't work out for me, and I will have to go back for a more invasive procedure in the near future. I won't know about that till after this Thursday, when I see my doctor again. Okay, so enough about that!

Since I had a few days off from work - - I stitched! YAY! I kept moving on Lil Blue since he was on the rods.



Good Lord! That ear and eye took me forever! I don't think there are 2 stitches next to each other that are the same color anywhere in that ear and eye! Sheeesh! I am a little disappointed with the colors. It doesn't seem as bright/bold as the picture. I am using the recommended DMC floss. It just looks washed out to me when compared to the original artwork. What do you think?
I also have an update to Goblin Tree, but I'll save it for later.


One more thing. On Friday my Big Beautiful Dell Laptop died. The reason I call it that is #1 Because I LOVE it! and #2 It is giant! Dell doesn't even make it anymore, what a shame. I really use it as a desktop, I don't carry it around, it weights 36 lbs.! Regardless, I love it! So after 2 hours on the phone with Dell Friday morning, they sent me a box (DHL) to return it to them for repair. I got the box yesterday and I called for pick up today. I am on my old, old, old Dell for the time being, so things are slow. This PC is about 8 years old! That's like Dog Years in PCs!

So, since I am without my BB-Laptop (Big Beautiful), and this PC is so OLD, and I will be recuperating for 6 weeks after my surgery soon (no lifting), AND my Birthday is Sunday... I called Dell yesterday and ordered myself a light tiny laptop. An XPS M1330, Intel Core 2 Duo T8100(2.1GHz, 800Mhz, 3M L2 Cache), it weights less that 5 lbs.! Isn't it darling!!? It actually has as much speed and power as the big one! WOO HOO I can't wait to get it! I know... I'm a geek head. I can't help it! So I will be all ready when I return from the hospital. I'll have my stitching right next to the bed, and my wireless little wonder handy to keep up with the boards, emails and such!

HAED Fourth weekend Themed SAL

This SAL is for all creatres great and small, furry, winged, scaled,wild, magical, feathered, etc. Lil'Blue Fairy Cat fit the bill. It's been so long since I've worked on this one. It's helpful to show the before and after together. Only about 700 stitches this time around. I had forgotten how much confetti was involved with this one!

August Haedless SAL

Not a lot of progress this time, but I'm getting closer to finishing page 2. Just about 50ish stitches to go.

I got a wonderful surprise yesterday. Jen (kittyperfection) from the HAED BB RAKed me with a chart, Keeper of the Cauldron - art work by Jessica Galbreth. Isn't it devine? It's been on my wishlist for ages! Jen thank you! It was a lovely surprise and your generosity has truly touched me.

After the Challenge SAL for August

Give the girl a hand! No, really, I gave her a hand, her left hand to be exact. I'm 3/4s of the way through page 7. I will keep on this until I finish the page.

A little more progress

On Goblin Tree. You can see the start of her left hand now. I love stitching her! This weekend is the HAED SAL Challenge, and she's my focus piece for this year long Challenge SAL. I'll be spending more time with her this Friday through Monday. Maybe I'll manage to get the page finished! That would fullfill one of my yearly goals! I have been itching to work on Rosey or Lil Blue, I haven't touched either of them in ages! This vixen has captivated me for a looong time.

The following was posted by Nance on the HAED BB and I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you.

STITCHER'S VERSE
Cross-stitchers are a different breed
The things we hope for, the things we need.
We wish for floss to finish that row.
We sometimes wish our guests would go.

We wait all day for that time to be
That special time- that time for ME
Each needle is threaded, the colors arrayed,
Scissors and chart have been carefully laid.

Now we relax, this is our pleasure
Stitching this piece of soon to be treasure.
We always ignore that mental warning
Stitching all night makes it rough in the morning.

But time's unimportant, we don't heed clocks
We just need floss and a sewing box.

Goblin Tree July 29- Ravenscroft - HAED Fourth weekend Themed SAL

The Stitch-A-Long ran from Friday morning to Monday night. The theme this month was mystical and magical, wizards/witches/zodiac/sourceress' etc, so Goblin Tree fit right in!

Here she is!
One of my goals for this year was to complete 3 more pages of this, so I am 2/3's of the way there! 2 pages down so far this year! This also shows the start of page 7.

Tornado Relief!

I wanted to post a quick blog to share this effort with my readers. The owners of the Heaven and Earth Designs company recently had their home and barn destroyed by a tornado. One of the artists they work with, Ching Chou Kuik, has provided them with a piece of her artwork which they converted to a cross stitch chart. This is a limited edition chart that will only be available for 2 weeks! All proceeds will go the family to help them clean out the debris and re-build their barn (which wasn’t covered by insurance). They are hoping to re-build the barn so they don’t have to sell their daughters horses.

Here is a link to the chart information -> HAED Tornado Relief Chart

For this chart, PayPal must be used to purchase. They are also accepting cash donations through the same email you would send the chart payment.

Do be a Good Bee and Pay it Forward!

Cirque des Cercles

The HAEDless Sampler SAL was this weekend. I hadn't stitched on this since March, so I figured I'd better get back to it. I didn't get a lot done though. It was a beautiful weekend and I spent most of it in the pool. So here is my bit of progress:



Last weekend was the HAED SAL Challenge. As you know my piece for this year is Goblin Tree. I made a fair amount of progress on it. I didn't take a scan of it. I don't want to take it off the scroll rods, I am into it! I did finish the page I was working on (Page 4 - that completed the entire row of pages going across the top), and I've moved down to page 7. The stats so far: 9 full pages completed (Page numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10), page 7 started, 9 full pages and 4 partial pages to go. This page (7) is the other half of her body, it's so much fun to see her lovely shoulder emerge! Since I don't have any new pics of her I will try to appease you with a slideshow of pics from my garden.



Flowers July 2008

Has It Been 2 weeks?

Guess it has.... Well, we had a party here on the 4th. Here's some pics. It rained on us for a bit, but the kids were already wet from the pool so nobody seemed to care!


4th of July 2008

2008 Fairy Day SAL

Goblin Tree after the SAL. The SAL ran from June 24 (Fairy Day) till June 29 (Sunday night). I've hit the right side of the design. That's the last page, going across the top, and the page (4) is almost 50% complete. It's so wide now that is won't fit in the scanner, so I had to chop off some of the left side to show the progress. My goal for this year was to complete 3 more pages of this chart. So this puts me right in at half way to my goal. One and a half more pages and I'll have succeeded.

Thank you to all that have visited and left comments. Ann, thank you for your answer to my Orvis question. I found TSC on the web and placed an order for it! Thanks!
I also finally went out and got more invisible thread. Now I can attach the charms to my Double Flip-Its.

DH and I went into the City to see Eddie Izzard on Friday. What a show! It was sold out. He was fantastic! What can I say? I am a sucker for British humor. AND Eddie just frosts my cupcake every time!!!

I don't know how much stitching I'll get in this week. We are having a 4th of July party here (on Friday). The first time all the family and friends will see the pool opened. I am praying for nice weather. They keep changing the forcast, now they are saying there's going to be the possibility of thunder storms for Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. So my rain date (Saturday the 5th) might also get rained out! I am just going to keep praying and keeping my fingers crossed! We sent out 23 invitations, so with the children that would be just about 65 people. A lot of my inlaws are planning to stay over for the weekend. I don't know where I'm putting all these people! But it should be fun, and my DH will be in heaven. I just hope I live through it!

Double Flit-It's Finished!

As Promised

A new pic of *LK* Double-flit-it's:
I fixed "Encourage" so it's centered now, finished "Laugh", and that little blue line is the begining of "Create". After that there's "Live!" and it's done!
This is the stash from The Yankee Stitch shope. From top left Lakeside Linnens, 32c Sand Dune Vintage, 18 X 27, 28c English Rose,15.5 X 18, 28c Light Terra Cotta,18 X 27.5. Bottom 28c Antique White, full yard. I went a little overboard, I know. But how often do I get to visit there? I took full advantage!

June HAED SAL Challenge

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! A lot has been going on. Last week I was in New Hampshire for work. The week before my MIL was in the hospital. I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off! Well, things have finally settled down, and I did get a chance to stitch for the HAED SAL challenge. Here's Goblin Tree after the SAL.
Sorry for the poor quality. I took a picture instead of doing a scan. I didn't want to take her off the scroll rods.
I did manage to fix my *LK* double-flip-its. I ripped out that last word and repositioned it correctly this time. I need to get a new scan of that.
I visited the Yankee Cross Stitch shop while I was in NH. Love that place! I got some lovely fabrics. Once I'm feeling more 'with it' I'll get a pic of them. I hope you all have been well! Enjoy Summer!

May HAEDless Sampler SAL

Oh well.... I thought I'd get a lot more done, but we had company all weekend. I got only one word stitched. Funny thing is that I didn't even realize that it's too close to the border on the left till I scanned it. Now that I'm looking at it I see that I have to rip it out and start it all over again. (not really so funny...)

Goblin Tree After the May 2008 HAED SAL.

I'm late posting this, the SAL ended Monday night. But I just finally got around to it. I've had a couple of frustrating days this week, nothing serious, just annoying stuff. Anyway, I completed page 3! So far I've completed pages 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, & 10. Seven whole pages! The most ever on any HAED (for me)! I decided I want to finish the pages going across the top, so I've started page 4 since this pic was taken, and I am glad to say that my stitching mojo is back! I'm almost touching the right-hand border! Just a few more stitches.

Before I left for CA, and for a bit when I got back, I worked on my *LK*. Sorry I had to break this into 2 pieces, it won't fit in the scanner anymore. I know it's crooked and wrinkled, but you get the idea. Once I finish 'CARE' I have 4 more words to go! The HAEDLess Sampler SAL is this weekend, so maybe I can finish it.

More Pics

While in wine contury last Saturday, we did a vineyard tour. This is Peterson Winery's vineyard. The terraced grape vines are amazing. I can't imagine having to trapse up and down these vines to take care of the grapes everyday! It's a workout!









This is the new wine cave, they just finished it!

Inside the cave.


A great time was had by all! And WAY TOO MUCH wine was drunk!

Pics from my Trip

Last week we attended the Passport to Dry Creek Valley in Healdsburg, CA. We left on Wed. and it didn't start till Fri. So on Thurs. we went to see the Redwoods in a place called Avenue of the Giants. Aplty named, I'd say...

This is a downed tree shown from the upended root side. That my DH on the left, just to give the idea of how large these trees are!

Well, enough pics for now. I'll have more from the wineries later. I'm going back to the doctor. I did a course of antibiotics that I finished before we left on our trip. I was feeling a little better until Sunday. Then it all came back and with a terrible barking cough. We didn't get home till this Wed. and the first I could get into the doctor was today. Wish me luck! I'll write again later!

Down for a Week

I have a sinus infection. Doctor started me on augmentin last Wed. I think the cure is worse than the infection! Took me almost 4 days to adjust to this antibiotic, and it wasn't pretty. That's all I have to say about that! So my stitching mojo flew the coop. This weekend was the HAED April SAL, I've been trying to stitch on Goblin Tree, but my concentration isn't what it should be to stitch on a HAED! I've got a few stitches in and plan on a few more tonight. I'll post a pic of her after. I have stitched on my LK Double Flip It, since I don't have to concentrate so hard on it. I got 2 more words done.

I'm enjoying working on this. It seems lately that I just want to do easy stitching. Things I don't have to pay so much attention to. I don't know if I can attribute that to my head cold or if it's just plain Spring Fever. I did order some stash (maybe trying to make myself fell better). I'll have a stash post when it gets here. All small charts, things that I should be able to finish quickly. Maybe that's what I need, a nice finish to lift my spirits.

Hope you're all doing well and stitching up a storm!

5th Weekend SAL (HAED) March

Well, I'm not sure what's going on with me lately. I just haven't been stitching. I know I've been doing a lot of running around, errands and stuff, but only a little more the usual. I've been getting home at night and it seems like it's already time for bed! Anyways, here is Goblin Tree after last weekend's SAL.

Not a Lot Done...

Goblin Tree after last weekend's Fourth weekend Themed SAL. This SAL was a background SAL so I worked only on the right top. Got another branch started at least. I'll be working on her again this weekend too. It's the 5th Weekend SAL for all (HAED) retired artists.

I've gotten no stitching time in at all this week, sorry to say. I don't know what was so different this week from any other, I just had no time. I'll be back on a roll by tonight, I hope!

I don't say it enough, but Thank You, Dear Rreaders. Thanks for your comments, your attention, and your time. Have a great stitchy weekend!