Snow Poem finished

I started stitching this in Paris and worked on it a little each day while Bob was in the shower or doing other things without me. I worked on it a lot on the flight home and finished it yesterday. I am thinking of making it into a pillow if I can find the right material and figure out how to fit it on a square pillow form. We will just have to see.

Some finishes and a WIP

These are the Christmas ornaments I made for my great nieces and nephew for this year. There is one missing because I had wrapped her present and given them to my sister before I thought to take a picture. Well actually these 5 ornaments weren't finished at that time either. I hope they like them.

I finished Lizzie Kate's Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle as my first no-sew cube. I love it. I took the bow from a package I received from Kathy last Christmas. I need to find a place that will teach me to tie bows because this is such an easy way to finish my stitching and I think it turned out great.




























This is the Catia Dias Patchwork Sampler with 6 of the blocks completed. I am almost finished with the 7th block. I am doing the back stitching and then have a little of the border to stitch. Should be done in a few days if I can persevere with the back stitching.












These are the completed ornaments that I made. One is for us and the other 2 are for the couples who are going to Paris with us. I took them to my sister's yesterday and everyone seemed to think they are really nice. I sure hope Donna and Jean like them. I am taking them with me and will give them the last night we are there.












Our garage is pretty much finished. We had the driveway repaved this past week and my car is actually in the garage tonight. I can't wait to find out if I will be able to back out of it an actually turn around with B's truck in the driveway. That will probably happen on Monday morning when I go to Curves. B backed the car into the garage today so it will be easy for me to get out tomorrow morning.

I mixed up 2 batches of Christmas cookies today and actually baked a third batch. We went and picked up the paint for B's airplane room this morning and then this afternoon I dusted the rec room. Man it was filthy. There was a white film on everything from them sanding the new dry wall.

Garage

Our garage is almost done. One big problem. Because we are closing in our current garage we have to have the driveway side of our house stuccoed. This will mean we probably won't be able to get our driveway repaved until spring which means because of the gaping hole between the end of the paving and the floor of the garage we won't be able to use the new garage until the paving is done. It is getting late in the year for paving to be done and the contractor says the stucco won't be done until the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Yeah, like I believe that. So my car will be sitting out all winter. You have no idea how I hate scraping car windows especially at 6:00 on the mornings I go to Curves. I think B should get up and scrape them for me since he doesn't seem to care whether the paving gets done or not. I am so frustrated.

On a good note it is only 29 days until we leave for Paris. Of course B has lost all interest in Paris since he has so much work to do getting the old garage cleaned out and the new garage setup. That is another sore spot. I have been telling him for months to go through the garage and clean out things . But noooooo he didn't want to handle things twice. Well he moved the stuff over to the new garage and has this whole mess of stuff to go through but he doesn't have time now. Doesn't that mean he is going to have to handle things twice. MEN!!!!!!!!!

Finish and WIP

The first picture above is my progress on Catia Dias' Patchwork Sampler SAL. I am now finished with part 5. I have started part 6. The second picture is Elsa Williams' Autumn Covered Bridge. It has taken me 8 months to finish this. I want to get it framed by Carolyn at Just Cross Stitch. She had a knee replacement in July which got infected and I am not sure she is back to the shop yet. I will have to drop in someday soon and see if she is back and if she is taking any more framing to do. If not I don't know where I will take it to get framed. I know I won't take it to AC Moore's as I think they messed up the last 2 things I had framed there and this was to much work to have the framing messed up.

Our garage is coming along. The walls are up, the roof is on, the electrical has been roughed in. Next comes the floor and then the stucco. Hopefully by the end of next week it will all be done.

Lizzie Kate - Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle

I started this last weekend and finished it last night. I just love this. I won the chart and the WDW and Sampler threads from Julie L on KYCS for an Anniversay Day contest she was holding. Thanks Julie. I loved stitching this chart. It is stitched on a mystery piece of Aida I found in my stash. Now I just have to figure out how I am going to finish it. I am thinking of either a small wall/door hanging or maybe a now sew cube.

I am still working on the Catia Dias Patchwork Sampler and Elsa Williams' Autumn Covered Bridge. Slowly but surely. They will get done.

Wednesday

It is almost the end of the work day and I am tired or maybe I am just bored. It has been a very slow day here at work. I have spent most of the day playing on the Internet and that gets really boring after a while.

I am going to S's for dinner tonight. Barb will be there. Hopefully hubby will be able to come later. We have the contractor and a paving contractor coming at about 6:00 to get another estimate on the repaving of our driveway after the garage is finished. Hopefully they will start tomorrow.

B and I went for our 1st French lesson last night. I was very uncomfortable. Everyone else has had previous lessons and B had 5 years in school. Me I know nothing. I think at one point I was totally lost and I hate when the instructor asks me to say the French words out loud. I know that is the only way to learn but I don't like it.

I have been stitching a Lizzie Kate "Don't Get Your Tinsel In A Tangle". It is a fun stitch and I was tired of working on Autumn Covered Bridge. I should be finished next week.

We are having the other 2 couples going to Paris with us at our house for dinner on Sunday. I need to talk to B about not pushing them into committing doing lots of site seeing with us. I don't think they want to and I would rather it just be B & I so if my foot starts to hurt I won't be uncomfortable saying I have to sit and rest for awhile.

I finished the 4th block in the Catia Dias Patchwork Sampler

I had so many problems with this block. there are a few mistakes in it but I hope no one will see them but me. I had torn one area out so many times that I have a little hole in the Aida so I couldn't tear it out again or I would have made a big hole. This is for me so it really doesn't make any difference. I just have to make sure I adjust the boarder on the right side to agree with the left side. Now on to block 5 which is pink and burgundy.

They will be starting construction on our garage on October 6th. Not looking forward to that. Well not actually the garage but the 2 inside rooms once they get the garage done. They said it will take a month to complete the garage as long as the weather cooperates.

I am still alive

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I posted anything. I have been stitching almost every day. I am still working on the Autumn Covered Bridge and the Patchwork Sampler. I finally figured out my mistake on he Patchwork Sampler so I am now almost done the 4th patch. I will take a picture and post as soon as I finish. I just have a little more back stitching to complete and then one of the diamonds on the side border and some black things in-between the 1st and 2nd row. I have the black border to do also but I may wait and do that when I do the patch below the one I am now working on. I haven't decided that question yet. B has all the ornaments cut out for the grands so we just have to cut out the backing and glue them on. I want to have them done by October 19th. I want to give the ones that go upstate to my sister when she comes down that weekend to go to Lancaster.

I did order Christmas presents today for my nieces and their spouses. When they come I want to get them wrapped and then once the ornaments are done for the grands I will get the money around for them and their ornaments. That will be 11 presents done. I have my one sisters as I got that at the shore. I need to get S &R and then something for Sue. I also have to get something for B. I am going to order him the D mint State Quarters. We have asked so many people who live in the western US to get them for us but it is too much trouble for them to get them. We were even willing to e-mail them to let them know when the new ones were coming out. Oh well, I have found them as a set so I am just going to order them for him.

Looks like construction on our garage is going to start Mid-October. The contractor is coming over tomorrow night to give us the final figures. He met with the township guy yesterday and except that the garage we wanted was a little bigger than the easement hearing allowed he thinks everything is good. We just have to scale the length of the garage from 30' to 29'4". No big deal.

B is working hard on getting things organized for Paris. Maybe a little to organized. He is planing everything down to the minute. I know it is never going to work but I guess I will let him have his fun.

OK I didn't mean to write a book. I just meant to check in.

Autumn Covered Bridge - WIP

I have finished another quarter of this WIP. I will post a picture later tonight or tomorrow morning. It is really coming along very nice. I am going to stitch the 3re Eiffel Tower ornament before I start the 4th quarter of the bridge. I think when I start stitching on it again I will do the back stitching on quarter 3 before starting the cross stitching on the 4th quarter.

I totaled my car last Monday, August 25th, on the way home from work. I was traveling down Sunset Road toward Graterford Road when someone when through the stop sign at Heffner Road. I was so scared. We were both lucky in not having any serious injuries. I had some brush burns on my chin and right hand from the air bag. I also have some bruising on my right knee and severe bruising on my right foot and ankle. The foot and ankle still bother me lots. B and I went to the outlet mall today to get him some clothes and shoes for Paris but it hurt so much just walking around the few stores we went in. Anyway back to the accident. The insurance company totaled the car. Saturday B and I went to the local Honda dealer and bought a 2009 Honda Accord. It is Burgundy and very pretty. I picked it up on Monday. It frightens me to drive right now but I know that will get better as time goes by.

I have been so lazy

I have been so lazy this weekend. I have only done what I absoutely had to do, some laundry and changing the sheets on our bed. I have to cook dinner tonight but that is the extent of what I have done all weekend. I haven't done much stitching. I wonder why I am being so lazy?

I am so frustrated

I was stitching of CD's Patchwork Sampler and made another mistake. What is wrong with me. I am frogging more than I am stitching. Part 5 came out today and I still have a lot of part 4 to stitch. Oh well I guess I should just go with the flow. This too shall pass. Part 5 is shades of cranberry. I think part of my problem is my migraines have been soooooo bad since I had that sleep study test on Friday night. I don't think the sleep study test had anything to do with the migraines but today every time I stand up the whole office just goes round and round. I hope I don't pass out. I haven't told B how bad they are this week. I have just acted normal and he has no idea how bad the headaches are. He is so engrossed in his problems at work that he doesn't think about anything else.

Enough complaining. Hopefully I will be able to frog back to my mistake while I watch the evening news tonight. I need to figure out what I am cooking this weekend and I want to clean the bathroom tonight. I have an 8:00 appointment for a manicure on Saturday so I don't want to clean the bathroom after having my nails done.

Finished 2nd Eiffel Tower Ornament

I finished the 2nd Eiffel Tower ornament last night. Only one more to go. I also finished stitching another ornament for the Grands. I am stitching their names in their favorite colors. I have 2 more to stitch and then I have to figure out now to finish them. I bought some foam sheets to adhere them to so hopefully B and I can figure out how to do it. Well B will figure it out. I was just searching on Joann.com and found the perfect fabric to back the Eiffel Tower ornaments with. I will have to run up to Joann Fabrics and see if they have the same material. I am going to work on Autumn Covered Bridge for a week or so before I start the 3rd Eiffel Tower ornament. I don't like to stitch the same thing more than once so this will give me a break before stitching the next one.

Guess I should go straighten up the kitchen by putting everything back as I just mopped the floor and then think about feeding us lunch. After lunch I will go out on the back porch and stitch another name. If I can get one done this afternoon I will only have one more to stitch. Yeah

What I am reading

I am currently reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pauch. Since I mainly only read at lunch at work it takes me a long time to read. I think I need to start reading at home. I just finished a Jeffery Dasher (I think) called the Sleeping Doll. I think I found another author I really like. I just got another book by him so I can't wait to start it. However, I never read more than one book at a time.

I am still stitching my Patchwork Sampler but made a huge mistake in patch 4 and spent my stitching time this morning frogging. I hope to have a few minutes tonight to finish the frogging so I can get back to stitching. Man I hate when I do stupid things like that. Oh well I caught it and I can fix it. Lots of times I would just fudge the mistake but there is no fudging in this project. It has to be perfect. I am also working on my 2nd Eiffel Tower ornament. It is coming along very well. I should be finished it in the next couple of days. Then I will work on Autumn Covered Bridge for a week or so before starting the 3rd Eiffel Tower ornament. I also have to get back to stitching the kids names for their Christmas ornaments. I want Bob to help me make them into ornaments when we are on vacation Labor Day week. Yeah a whole week off with no real plans. I plan to lazy much of that week, although I do have a dentist appointment and a doctors appointment.

Tomorrow night I go for my sleep study test. I still think it should be DH going for this and not me. He fell asleep and snored while watcing a movie last night and when I asked if I could change the channel to watch the Oplymics he told me there was only 20 minutes left to the movie and then fell asleep again. I wouldn't mind his sleeping but he snores so loud I can't hear the TV.

I am still stitching

I am stitching every day. In the morning before I work I stitch for at least a half hour on Catia Dias' SAL Patchwork Sampler. I have started part 4. Yesterday morning I did nothing but frog. In the evening I stitch on Elsa Williams' Autumn Covered Bridge. It just seems to be going so slow right now. Lots and lots of color changes. I am hoping to have it finished by the end of the year but I think I may be overly optimistic. After Labor Day it will start to bet really busy and I still have 2 Eiffel Tower ornaments to stitch and I am now stitch the grands names as their Christmas Ornaments for this year. I have Matt, Emily and Jessi stitched. Today I hope to stitch either Kayla or Laura or if I am lucky both.

We should be starting the garage in October and then that just leads into finishing off our current garage into an airplane room for Bob and then taking his current space and finishing it into an office/sewing room for me. Then it will be December and off we will go to Paris. I don't think our building project will be done by the time we go to Paris but the garage should be and hopefully air plane room should be started or maybe well on its way. We will just have to see. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut about all of this and just let Bob handle it because every time I say something I get yelled at.

Well this is suppose to be a stitching journal and I am turning it into a gripe session.

Finished part 3 of Catia Diass SAL Patchwork Sampler

Part 3 of the Patchwork Sampler was hard for me to get through. It is all shades of yellow and I really dislike yellow. I finally finished it yesterday. I came hope sick with a migraine and after I slept for a couple of hours I felt a little better so I worked on the back stitching and finished it right before Bob got home from work.

I started part 4 this morning. Didn't get much done but every couple of stitches is good.

Eifel Tower Christmas Ornament

I have finished stitching the 1st of 3 of these ornaments. I am going to give one to each of the couples who are going to Paris with us in December. I haven't decided how I am going to finish them into ornaments yet. I would like to think of something that I can do to put the couples names and the dates of the trip on the back. But since I still have to stitch 2 more I have a while to come up with an idea.

Just got back from 4 days in OC, NJ with S, B and CJ. It was fun and we had a good time. I ate way to much junk and now I have to start watching what I eat. Yeah right since I brought salt water taffy, fudge and Carmel corn home who am I kidding?

Today it was back to work. Why oh why would I go back to work on Thursday? Why didn't I take Thursday and Friday off and make it a whole week? I am a little bit nuts.

Going away for the weekend

I am going to Syracuse this weekend for Em's graduation party. S and I will drive to B's in Wilkes Barre tomorrow after work and them drive to Syracuse on Saturday morning. The party is between 1:00 and 5:00. After the party we will drive back to B's spend the night and then drive home on Sunday morning. A lot of driving for a 4 hour party.

I have started the Eiffel Tower ornaments, well I have started one of them. I continue to work on Autumn Covered Bridge and the Patchwork Sampler. Both are going very slow in my opinion. I am still working on the 3rd part of the sampler and the 4th part came out yesterday. I am no where near ready to start part 4. Oh well that is what I get for starting 2 large projects at the same time. I know I will get them both done. Last night I spent several hours frogging and correcting a mistake I had made on the covered bridge. It is all fixed now. Tonight I plan on stitching on the ornament. What I have done looks really nice. I will post a picture as soon as I finish the 1st one.

Elsa William's Autumn Covered Bridge

I am going to post a picture of this WIP. The picture was taken on July 5th. I have stitched a little more since then. It is going really slow as there are so many thread changes in it. I like the way the covered bridge is coming. I think it looks really neat.

I am also posting a picture of a little ornament I stitched for Sandy at San Man Originals. I think it turned out really cute. I made some changes to the original desing since it had a lot of white under the Joy and it just didn't show up on the fabric I used. This design was from the JCS 2007 Christmas Ornament issue.

Long Weekend

I am so looking forward to this upcoming long weekend. I just wish this day would end. I am not busy and I really wish they would let us leave early today. I don't think there is a chance of that since one of the techs just came back to the office from a job. What a bummer.

We had a good time last Friday night discussing our Paris trip and the couple we hadn't met is really nice. One less thing for me to worry about.

On top of my 2 WIP I have now decided to stitch a Christmas for the three couples going to Paris. In the JCS 2007 Ornament issue there was an ornament with the Eiffel Tower and I am going to stitch one for each of us. I will have to go out on Saturday to get the speciality threads I need. It is really going to be tough going to the LNS. lol

My headaches have been so much better this week. I thought I was getting one this morning, took a Tylenol and it never materialized. I hope that things stay this way.

TGIF

I am so glad it is Friday. I only have about 45 minutes and then my work day will be over. Tonight we are going to dinner at a friend's home to talk about our trip to Paris in December. We will be meeting the other couple who are also going on this trip. I have only had a slight headache today. Great feeling not to have my head splitting all day long. I have only taken 2 tylenol so far and I seem to be fine.

I did some stitching this morning on my Catia Dias Patchwork Sampler. The one yellow is so light I have a hard time seeing it. I just have to keep on stitching and it will get done.

Migraine

Today I have a horrible migraine headache. I took one of the pills prescribed by the doctor but it isn't doing anything at all. I actually feel sick to my stomach. First time that has happened. I am at work and want to go home. If the techs don't go to lunch soon I am just going to go as I am not sure how much longer I can stand this.

June 24, 2008

This morning I finished section 2 of Catia Diaz's Patchwork Sampler. I took a picture and will post as soon as I download it. I started section 3 this morning while watching GMA. Section 3 is shades of yellow and since I don't line yellow this is going to be a not so enjoyable section.

Since I am at work I better get busy.

My First Poat

I have decided to start a blog to show my favorite hobby, counted cross stitch. I hope to be more faithful than I have been in the past as I have started blogs before and never did much with them.

I am currently working on 2 WIP. Elsa Williams' Autumn Covered Bridge. I am a little more than half finished and it is looking so good. It is a difficult stitch as there are lots of color changes. Sometimes it drives me cracy. I am also stitching Catia Dias' Patchwork Sampler SAL. It is slow since I don't work on it as much as I work on the covered bridge. At most a few stitches a day. I am about 3/4 finished with the second of 12 blocks.