My Stitchalong

This is a very busy time of year for alot of us. We're trying to get the house decorated for Christmas, we have baking to do, and finishing to accomplish. With that in mind, I thought that I would start this post off with a quite moment. We could all use one, right? So, stop what you're doing, take a deep breath, and look at the colors of nature for a minute. Pretty sunset, right? I took that the day after Thanksgiving while I was on the back deck grilling. I thought that the colors were so vivid that I could not pass up taking pictures of it so that I can take a look at them and slow down every now and then. Sometimes, that just the thing that we need. The weekend after Thanksgiving weekend was spent getting our house decorated for the Christmas season. The tree is up, the lights are on the porch outside, my Christmas wall hangings are on the wall, and my ornament tree is showing off my bounty of finished beauties. Actually, I told MJ that I needed a bigger tree because this ...

I'm like alot of stitchers out there. I stitch on project after project. There is a never ending supply of things for me to work on. But, I have heard from alot of stitchers who say that their finished pieces end up in a big Rubbermaid tub or something like that, waiting to be framed or finished in some way. That is where I differ. I can't finish stitching something, and then just store it away until I decide what to do with it. There has been alot of finishing going on here lately, so if your ready for yet another picture heavy post, please follow me and read on!! I finished stitching and beading the Halloween quadrielle with two days to go until the finishing class at the Lazy Daisy. Of all of the people who were at the class, I would say that roughly half of them were still stitching it while they were at the finishing class. I got it put together with the help of the staff at the Daisy, and it was not as hard as I thought it would be!! The view of the cat side of the projec...

Happy Monday!! The kids are in school, the husband is at work, and the house is quiet. It's not a bad way to start the week. I was working on the Halloween quadrielle the other day and realized that I messed it up. You would think that as a 40-something year old mother I would be able to count. Really, what is so hard about counting? Apparently, I need to go back to school because my counting is off on the third square. There is supposed to be a spider web in the corner, like the one in the first square, but it's not going to fit because the pumpkin is over to the right two stitches too many. I'm not quite sure how I managed that, but I did. In disgust I put the project aside because I have to figure out how I am going to adapt the web to fit. Adaptation is not my strong point. I have to get back to it, though, because the finishing class is in less that two weeks and I have to get the stitching done before then. Sigh. Is anyone out there thinking about Christmas? I have t...

I'm sure that I'm like alot of people out there that go through phases about things. I am like that with my nails. I've always been blessed with nice fingernails. Even when I was a teenager (many many moons ago!) I had nice nails. Now that I'm older with two kids, I go through phases about taking care of them. I can go for months without thinking twice about them, and then I can suddenly decide that I need to take care of them, almost obsessively. And I LOVE fun colors. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of reds, pinks, and peaches, and I love them, but then there are what I like to call the "my mother would turn over in her grave if she saw me wearing this polish" colors. I guess since I feel like I am a mother with two kids about the only adventure I get is a wild nail polish color! I bought this at Target the other day. It's called Texture Polish and this one is made by Nicole by OPI. It's silver over a cobalt blue polish. It's really cool b...

I have a friend who rejoices in reminding me on the 25th of evey month exactly how many months there are until Christmas is actually upon us. And on that day every month I take stock on what Christmas stitching I have actually accomplished this year. While I am WAY ahead of what I did last Christmas, which was very little, I have not gotten much done. I think that a bigt part of my problem is that I have too many things started at once. I'm not like alot of stitchers out there who can have many WIPs going at once. For me, that is overwhelming. I feel like I have too many things to work on and I can't decide what to pick up, so I end up stitching on nothing at all. Not good, I know. That's why I try to keep my WIP load to three or four, at the most, one of which is usually a big project. That way when I get tired of the big one, I can work on one or two of the small ones and I feel like I am actually working on things and finishing them. Let's take stock. What do I have ...

It's been a busy two weeks here since I last posted, with lots to show. If you're ready for a picture heavy post, read on!! For those of you who do not know it, I am a foodie. I like lots of different foods and I love to try new recipes. Now that you know this fact about me, I have to admit that I have an absolute favorite food. Ice cream!! I will by pass cookies, cakes, brownies, pretty much any other dessert in order to have some ice cream. Growing up there was always ice cream in the house, and when we were little going to Carvel or Baskin Robbins for a frozen treat was a big family outing. So, when I was browsing a stitching group that I belong to on Facebook and someone posted that she was working on a HAED called "Sundae Delight" I have to admit that I my interest was piqued. Sundae, with that spelling? That means ice cream! Once I took one look, it was all over. I had to have it! It came in the mail the other day, but I will be strong and will not start it yet....

Well, for the most part it is, anyway. September brings the start of school. Both M and Z made it through the first week and now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty of the new school year. M came home on the first day and told me that other kids said that his science teacher is supposed to be really mean, but he said to me that he didn't thing that she was. I told him, "It's only the first day of school. She hasn't had anything to get mean about yet!" This morning my friend, Christine, and I went to Lazy Daisy for a class that the owner was running. The project is called a "quadrielle". I've seem them, but I've never done one before, mostly because I take one look at it and get intimidated about putting it together. When she offered the class we jumped in. The one for the class is by The Sweetheart Tree and it's a Halloween quadrielle. We started working on the stitching in the shop today and we have to have the stitching finished ...

Good morning to everyone out there in the blog-o-sphere! It's nice to be here with you. This is a picture heavy blog entry, so if you're ready for all the news that's fit to blog, read on! I am more than grateful to report that we are back online as the power was turned back on yesterday afternoon. We lost power on Sunday morning around 6:15 and got it back at 4:15pm Monday. That's pretty good as there are more than 300,000 people on Long Island who are still in the dark! There were work crews in the neighborhood yesterday from as far away as Kansas, and new utility poles were flown in from Missouri. After the storm passed Sunday afternoon we ventured out to see what Irene left in her wake. Our street was relatively untouched and we had no damage to our house, but on the street around the corner it was a completely different story. Power lines were pulled down Trees were down Homes were damaged I didn't get a picture of it, but there...

I have my worker bee energy this morning. I made all the beds, took Zach to sports camp this morning, did the grocery shopping, made dinner for tonight and parked it in the fridge, prepared dinner for tomorrow and have that marinating in the fridge, washed the dishes, loaded the dishwasher, and did two loads of laundry. I'm tired and the day isn't even half over yet! I think that I earned my stitching time today. I think that I am a lucky girl. I am very lucky that I have a craft closet. I know that there are alot of people out there who have sewing and stitching rooms (something I am hoping for after my boys have flown the coop), but I have a large closet all to myself. All of my flosses, fabrics, paints, paint brushes, kits, charts, books, magazines, all of my craft supplies are in that one space, so at least I know where to look for something when I need it. Or I have some place to put things that I'm not quite sure what to do with Once again, I think that I need ...

The middle of another week. August is starting to roll on at a good pace. There are only about 7 more weeks left in the 2011 baseball season and the soon, thankfully, there will be football. I'm getting more than a little annoyed with my Yankees lately. We're 2 - 10 against the Red Sox and our closer, usually Mr. Reliable, has blown two saves in a row. Not good. These are the games where I need to eat chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, I think that I'm in trouble. M discovered one of my hiding places for my secret supply of sweets. The conversation went something like this:" M: What are these? (holding a plastic container of previously hidden chocolate) Me: Chocolate covered caramels. M: Why are you hiding them? Me: I'm not hiding them. I just didn't tell you that I had them. Hmmmm... me thinks it's time to find a new hiding place! It's not like the kids don't have their own junk food to eat. But sometime...

I was posting a picture of the HAED pandas on the Facebook Group called Serial Started and Disciplined Divas and someone commented that I've made really good progress on this project and that it's working up pretty quickly. I responded that it's not going that quick when you realized that it's taken me more than 24 months to finish 12 pages. And that there are 57 more pages to go before completion. Then I realized that if I continued to work on this project at the same pace (6 pages per year) this project will take me more than 4 more years to finish! YIKES!! That's a long time! So, I have ramped up my efforts to get stitching on the HAED. The thought of a project taking 6 years to complete is not something that sits well with me for some reason. So, here is the latest picture of it: Like I said, 12 pages down, 57 more to go. I've actually made some progress on the next page when I sat and stitched on it Sunday afternoon. Today my kids and I comple...

A finished table runner... Need I say more?

Long ago, when I was a young stitcher, I was a one project at a time kind of girl. I would start one project, work on that one only, finish it, and move on to the next one. It seemed so simple. Then, as I got older and met other stitchers who were serial starters, I would have two projects started. Then it became three. Do you see where I'm going with this? Lately, it's has not been just that I'm starting new projects. I've been kitting them up like mad and have them stacked on the floor by my stitching spot. Yesterday I went to Lazy Daisy. This was the conversation between me and my husband: Me: I'm going to take a ride into Lazy Daisy this afternoon. I want to get some more of those projects bags that I like. DH: What happened to all of the project bags that you already have? Me: They have projects in them and I need more to put other projects in. DH: Why don't you finish the projects that you have in the project bags that you already have and then you would n...