A WIP update

As I've been getting in a goodly amount of stitching lately, I thought I'd show you my WIP.

Here it is the last time I posted it (2-25-10):

Here it is as of today:

This is "Wild Things, " an OOP limited-edition pattern by Cross Stitch Pattern Gallery.

LoneStar

WIP and grumpifying weather

I finished the third page of my WIP last night. The orange blob is part of a large tropical flower. I've done three out of fifteen pages. As it is STILL cloudy, rainy, and cold here, I plan to plant my bohonkus in my stitching chair and stitch the afternoon away.

Last night, the weather had the audacity to spit sleet and a bit of snow on us here in south central Texas. I hate snow (unless I'm skiing on it). It melted off by mid-morning, but I still hate the stuff.

I've been reading this week, too. I saw the commercial on TV for the upcoming "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" movie and wondered if it was based on a children's book. It was, so I got a copy and read it. It was a fun enough read that I bought the next three books in the series that are out in paperback (the last book in the series is out in hardback; the paperback edition comes out in July) and read them, too.

And I haven't blogged much this week because the yucky weather has made me grumpier than a starving bear. I am sick of winter, wet weather, and cold. Yes, I am whining. Spring can't get here soon enough for me and summer better be close on spring's tail.

Monday musings

Remember that rick of firewood that I proudly showed off a couple of weeks ago? Well we burned it all and DH spent the weekend cutting more and filling up the log rack again. The wood came from an enormous pile of brush that the previous owner "thoughtfully" left on the property, so all the wood we cut from it was very dry and burned quickly. Spring is on the way, so hopefully the second rick will last us.

We enjoyed watching the Super Bowl although we both hated having to listen to Phil Simms commentate. It's like hearing fingernails being scraped down a blackboard. GEAUX SAINTS!!

Here is my WIP as of this morning.

Emma is feeling much better and wants to eat like a horse. Unfortunately, we must feed her like a small dog recovering from a severe case of gastroenteritis. We spent the weekend enduring the "gaze of doom and condemnation of a hungry dog with dumb humans that won't feed me enough." She's been getting small meals of special canned food four times a day.

Thankfully, we get to start leaving dry kibble to her bowl today so the gaze of doom should diminish. Emma is a grazer; we leave kibble out for her all the time and she eats as her attention span allows her. It bothers her when there is nothing in her bowl and she will go and clank it until we put food in it, even if she is not hungry. There's been a lot of bowl clanking going on in the last few days.

Friday WIP update

I spent yesterday afternoon covering a paper mache` box with fabric and then lining it with fancy paper. I got the idea and the instructions from the Blackbird Designs blog. You will need to start with the October 27th post, then read Part Two on the October 28th post. The post on October 29th is also helpful. The PVA glue used can be found and ordered from Paper Source.

And I can't post a picture until after next weekend's IH35 Stitchtogether as it is my turn to bring the door prize and the box will be part of it. So y'all will just have to wait.

Here is my WIP. Confetti stitches are such a pain. The main thing I dislike about them is they slow things down so much. You can sit and stitch for an hour and only have 15 or 20 stitches done. Oh well. Any progress is progress.

WIP update

Here's my WIP. Yeah, it's wrinkled; I stitch with a hoop.

Those with "Y" chromosomes need not read

This post is about bras. If you are male, this post will probably bore you, so reconsider reading it.

For me, my choice of clothing is all about comfort. I like clothing that is not too tight made out of mostly cotton. Comfort, comfort, comfort. This includes bras.

I'm an average size and I don't like extra padding, underwires, itchy lace, or itchy and bunchy seams, or straps that chafe. I don't like nylon or polyester, only cotton with a bit of Lycra thrown in for helping the cotton keep its shape. I don't want my breasts mashed, squooshed, pushed up or over, or perkified. I just want them to sit on my chest in relative comfort. Bra manufacturers don't seem to understand this desire.

When I find a comfortable bra (an oxymoron, I know), I buy up a bunch of them because, inevitably, the manufacturer will quit making them as soon as I decide I like them and need more. This vexes me.

My DH has been wearing the same brand and style of underwear since he was 16 years old. It hasn't changed or been "new and improved" or discontinued. This is unfair. Manufacturers don't seem to mess around with men's underwear. They figure they have a good product because the men are buying them so they leave well enough alone.

For years, I wore a bra made by Dillard's. Then they quit making them. After my supply wore out, I tried in vain to find something similar and couldn't. So I decided my sports bras were comfortable enough to wear for everyday. Then the manufacturer quit making them, too. I was able to find a different decent bra for sports, but not for everyday wear.

As clothing will, my everyday sports bras began to wear out and I began looking EVERYWHERE for a suitable and comfortable replacement. Did I mention that I loathe and despise shopping for bras? I went to the mall. I went to department stores. I searched the Internet. I googled. And finally, I ran across an Internet store called HerRoom that advertises "Lingerie we buy for ourselves."

So I checked them out. For each item, they have several pictures, front, back, and measurements, along with an excellent zoom feature. I felt like I could really get a good idea of what the bra really was like. They also have sizing guides and customer reviews.

So, as they have free shipping for anything over $70.00, I ordered five likely candidates in several sizes (because we all know how accurate bra sizing is - NOT!). I tried them on and found one I liked. After recovering from the near heart-failure from my great surprise, I ended up with a new comfortable bra. The company that makes it has been in business since1860 and this style has been made for over 15 years. It ain't going anywhere.

The only drawback is the price. As we women well know, a "good" bra can cost from $25.00 and on up. This one is in the "on up" category. But it is comfortable (for a bra) and so I'm willing to pay for it. So I'm good to go for now.

I've been stitching on the BAP. I gridded the edges for the pages I'm stitching on next. That took a while. I usually don't grid things because gridding makes me crazy. Anyway, I'm now stitching on the wide border (over on the left lower side) that goes around the entire design with a boring light peach color. I've stitched and stitched and it doesn't look like much. This is gonna be a loooooong stitching year. ☺

Stoveless

Well, we are still wood stoveless (with a major cold front on the way). DH was making great progress on Sunday afternoon. He was just about to go up on the roof to cut the hole for the stovepipe when it started to rain so he had to stop working. (Never mind that rain was not in the forecast - dang ol' Texas weather!) It rained for the remainder of the afternoon until after dark.

The only bright spot was that the Cowboys won their division and are in the playoffs!

Here is DH using his new palm nailer. You can see why it is called a palm nailer. And the second picture is of "The Inspector." She was trying to climb the short ladder to get at all the wonderful new smells coming from the attic and DH decided to indulge her.

I stitched on the March boot a bit this weekend and am close to finishing it. I can't decide if it's the last 2009 finish or the first 2010 finish. I'll probably count it for 2010.

Yo Ho Ho Ho

Here's my progress on Sue Hillis' "Yo Ho Ho Ho" Christmas ornament pirate Santa freebie. He's all stitched - I just have the backstitching to do. I stitched on him on Charles Craft tea-dyed Monaco with DMC.

Frank's britches

I got some stitching time in yesterday and managed to finish the lettering (I dislike stitching lettering) and give Frankenstein some shoes and his pants. (The buttons are just sitting on the fabric for show.)

This pattern is driving me nuts. It is a much-copied copy from an apparently low quality printer. JABC allows shop owners to make copies of this to give out to people who buy the button pack. The copy the shop gave me is blurry. I tried enlarging it, but it just made it blurrier.

Frankenstein is very difficult to read. I knew he had some shadows under his arms, but I couldn't read the pattern as the symbols are too similar. I found a picture online and after squinting myopically at it for several minutes, I think I managed to figure it out. We'll see once I get him stitched.

"The Boys" are a pain

For those of you that asked, I bought my little recipe binders (4" x 6") at Office Depot in the index card area of the store. They come in 3" x 5" also.

It's raining and it's gloomy, grismal, and glummy here today. The sun should be out tomorrow, but today just makes me want to drive to a sunny beach somewhere. It's starting to get colder (okay, colder for south central Texas), too. I may have to break out the long pants soon and put on shoes. Blech.

I've been stitching on "The Boys" and I have decided that I will never buy or use Weeks Dye Works linen fabric again despite how fabulous their fabric colors are. It's just too...too...too...limp and icky; you could strain tea through it. And yeah, that's just my opinion as many of y'all probably love it.

To me, it looks like I was drunk when I stitched on it, and I don't drink. Anyway, here is a picture of my progress. (The buttons are just sitting on the fabric for now.)

DH was a little late getting home last night and Emma was looking for him out the front window (ignore all the construction piles on the porch). That's the arm of our couch she's standing on.

Getting it done

Our weekend was fairly productive. DH took yesterday off. He got the tile all sealed with two coats of sealer (after I made an emergency trip to Lowe's as the sealer didn't cover as many square feet as it said it would - they never do). He also spent time installing the tub faucet and sticking up the soap dish and shower towel bar. Then he caulked everything and cleaned up.

I was happy dancing during the clean up. Some of the construction piles are getting smaller! In case you haven't figured it out yet, piles of stuff vex me. I tolerate them, but they vex me greatly.

Today, I will be doing prep work for painting the bathroom. I have taping off, spackling, and caulking to do before I can paint. But I hope to have all the painting done by the end of the coming weekend.

I managed to get my nephews' soccer pillows sewn and finished. I had two soccer ball panels to make one pillow, but by using different backing fabric, I was able to make one pillow for each of them.

I also stitched a lot on "The Boys." Don't worry. Dracula is not a bilateral arm amputee; he has his arms around the shoulders of Frankenstein and Mummy and I've not stitched them nor his hands yet (I'm waiting on some floss to come in the mail!). His head is a button and they go on last. And I'm thoroughly unimpressed with Weeks Dye Works linen fabric.

DH hunted most mornings and evenings all weekend but got nothing. At one point, he spied a deer out one of the windows, grabbed his rifle and ran outside. Alas, it was a buck with too small antlers.

Crabby update

I'm almost done with "The Crab is In" as I just have the rest of the backstitching to do. Then I have to go to Hobby Lobby and find some little beads or buttons for the eyes. Right now, the poor crab is blind. After he gets his eyes, I'll finish him into the tuck pillow.

After making repeated trips to Lowe's for the promised floor tile, it finally came in today and all 40 square feet sit on the porch (along with the new toilet) awaiting installation.

You can't just call Lowe's and ask them if something is in. They only consult the computer, they won't actually go to the shelves and look for the product. And we all know how computers never lie...

A WIP

Here's my current WIP. It will go in a tuck pillow so I had to change the design up a bit to get it the right size. I also changed a lot of the fibers as I won't stitch with Weeks Dye Works floss as it is not colorfast. And the design also called for blended threads with DMC and GAST! How weird is that?

Anyway, I've got the petals on the left flower to finish and then I have to stitch "Texas" at the top and add a few beads instead of doing french knots.

And here is the finished "First Christmas" ornament for my youngest nephew; I needed an example to show for my ornament finishing demonstration on Saturday at the IH35 Stitchtogether.

My latest WIP

I started a new WIP last week. I'm stitching it on painted perforated paper with DMC. It's a small sign that will go on my computer desk in an acrylic name plate holder I bought a while back.

If it doesn't look like any letters or language you recognize, it's because it's a word in a Klingon font. The word in English is "nuqneH" which is "hello" in Klingonese. Actually, the literal translation is "What do you want?!" which is how Klingons say hello.

I'm a Trekker from way back and Klingons are my favorite aliens. As I'm usually overly focused and task-oriented when I'm on my computer, the phrase "What do you want?!" is appropriate. I should get it finished soon.

Weekend wanderings

Saturday I went to Austin for the monthly IH35 Stitchtogether. We had a great time and most of us were there.

Gloria brought her "wild child" from Oklahoma to visit us all. We were regaled with stories like "Adventures When Traveling With Mom." We also heard "Tales From a 911 Operator" - she has a badge; don't mess with her. Seriously, it was great to finally meet Lori in person.

Several of us are going to a stitching retreat in a couple of weeks. This retreat usually features an auction. Money raised is used to help fund the next retreat. Mary grabbed a corner of the floor and in a very short time made a no-sew fleece throw that featured frogs. She is donating it to the auction. Dorothy showed us a picture of the afghan she crocheted for the retreat's raffle and it was gorgeous.

Sunday afternoon, I got to stitch a lot. I finished all the cross stitching on "The Alamo" as I finally finished the leaves on the big tree on the right side. Now I just have the rest of the backstitching left to do. The end is near!

"The Alamo" WIP

I hope to get a lot of stitching time in on "The Alamo" this weekend. I've gotten about half the backstitching done - mostly on the left side of the piece. And I've still got the leaves to do on the big tree on the right.

The backstitching is still driving me loony as I can't get some of the stitches to come out straight, despite stitching and restitching some of them repeatedly. And it doesn't seem to matter whether I use the back stitch or double running stitch. So I'll get the darn thing finished and framed and hope no one notices. Who am I kidding? Most of the people who would actually see this in my home wouldn't know cross stitching if it danced naked in front of them.

DH got all the sheetrocking done on the new bathroom this past weekend. Billy will be coming out next week to tape and bed. DH has the under-house plumbing to finish, and then he can get started on tiling the tub surround and floor. I need to go buy some tile next week, along with some bathroom paint. We're both getting excited as the end is getting nearer!

A quick stitch

I began looking through my finishes this week to find something I could use to demonstrate cube making at our IH35 Stitchtogether on Saturday. I have nothing small enough. (I do have three larger pieces waiting for me to get off my duff and frame - I've even got the frames, foam core board, and glass all ready for them.)

Anyway, I had to come up with a small stitched piece. I guess I could have drawn something on a piece of fabric with a marker, but why go to all the trouble to do something that's not your best work?

So I stitched this little design for DH. I tried to find a nice acorn button, but after searching in Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and JoAnn's Fabrics, I came up empty. I found a nice JABC button at 123 Stitch, but with postage, it would have cost about five bucks. Ain't happening. So I stitched the acorn instead. And now I can go back to backstitching on "The Alamo."

Then I needed some fabric to cover the cube. Camouflage fabric came to mind. I only needed about an 1/8 of a yard and it would cost me about three bucks. And I'd have lots left over. So I bought a bandanna in camouflage for less than a buck.

I'll post a picture of the FF cube after Saturday, before DH takes it up to work for his desk or bench.

Dr. Welby doesn't post here

Recently, as I was reading message boards while eating my morning oatmeal, I had to severely rein in my cranky, carnal, and cynical side. We all have them. I just try real hard to keep mine in check.

You've all read posts where someone says something like, "I just had an appendectomy. How long did it take you to get over yours? My doctor says to rub cocoa butter on the scar; any other remedies for scarring out there?" These types of posts are fine and don't bother me. The person is under a doctor's care, and just wants to hear about other people's experiences.

Sometimes they want encouragement or reassurance. Sometimes they just want to share war stories. Men don't engage in this kind of behavior generally, but women seem to love to hear and discuss other's experiences with whatever they are going through or facing themselves. And often it is very helpful in getting through the problem and getting over it.

But then there are posts like this one, "I have this pain in my gut right by my belly button. I don't have it all the time. Sometimes it's real bad. Anyone else have something like this? What could it be?"

These kind of posts DO drive me nuts. First of all, Dr. Welby doesn't post here and no one here is a doctor. The nurses that post here usually respond by telling you to go see your doctor. Secondly, without examining you in person, even Dr. Welby could not and would not diagnose you. The same goes for those of us with medical experience; we can't begin to guess at your problem based on these vague symptoms. Nor should we. You need to go see your doctor. I repeat, YOU NEED TO GO SEE YOUR DOCTOR.

The 3C side of me (cranky, carnal, and cynical) often wants to post a reply like this one: "Are you a complete idiot? Of course you are. If and when you do go to the doctor, you'll find out that belly button pain is a symptom of imminent brain rupture. Your brain will begin to ooze out of your right ear, unless you are left-handed in which case it will ooze out of your left ear. After your brain begins to ooze, your belly button will completely unscrew itself from the inside and your legs will cease to move. Next, your legs and elbows will become numb and this will cause your breasts to descend to your navel level. If you survive to this point, you will be no longer able to cross stitch because your thumbs will begin to twiddle incessantly and you'll become severely allergic to chocolate. It's too late for you. You should have gone to the doctor sooner. All this will happen in less than five days. You will die soon after. Call the funeral home and alert the relatives. Get your will in order."

You can see why I keep the ol' 3C side squashed as much as possible. Panic would reign on the message boards. ☺

A note from my stitching chair: "The Alamo" is coming along. I've just about got the trunk of the big tree stitched and have the leaves and all the backstitching left to do. I may start on the backstitching and wait on stitching the leaves just because I really want to see the design pop out. And because the leaves will be annoying to stitch, especially in five different colors of green with confetti stitching.

WIP and Emma's new teddy

No, not that kind of teddy. Y'all get your minds out of the gutter. Geesh. I had to run by Hobby Lobby today to pick up a couple of things, so I went next door to Petco to get Emma a new toy. The stuffing was finally coming out of Kitty, so she was "retired" to the trash can.

I swear, I don't know how she knows, but Emma ALWAYS knows when there is a new toy for her in the shopping sacks. She's been carrying Teddy around all afternoon (while squeaking him endlessly) and is reluctant to put him down.

Here is a picture of my WIP, "The Alamo" by Art Ventures. It actually looks like the Alamo now.

It's hotter in Texas

I love summer. I love the heat. There's a reason I live in the south. It's that time of year again, hot, hot, and hotter. It's supposed to be over 100 degrees today.

When I read blogs or message boards, I always roll my eyes at the northerners who complain about the heat in the summer. Today I read of a person who was "sweltering" as it was supposed to get up to 83 degrees where she lived. Eighty-three degrees is a balmy day down here where I live.

Of course, when the temperatures dip below 60 degrees, then I start whining. And I guess the northerners can look down their noses at me! There's no way I could live up north. I only tolerate snow if I'm skiing on it. And I'd have to wear shoes for a lot more of the year. ACK!

DH and I are playing summer softball. There's a heck of a difference in playing at 6:30 p.m. as opposed to playing later in the evening once the sun goes down. I think I sweated out two quarts of Gatorade last night. And we won our game!

Here's a picture of my "The Alamo" WIP. I don't think you can tell much from it yet. But here it is anyway.