Chart Collecting- SBQ

In an attempt to keep myself awake for these last 45 minutes before I can go home, today's SBQ.


Suggested by Carol:
Do you collect charts by one particular designer, yet have never stitched anything by that designer? If so, which designer and why do you collect the charts but have not yet stitched any of them?

I consider myself a chart collector, but this question puts a unique spin on the subject. I have multiple charts by many designers, but the only designers I collect that I haven't yet stitched one are Dimples and Passione Ricamo. I absolutely LOVE Terry's Russian themed designs and am on a quest for Le Epoque Nouveau, and eventually I want all of the eggs he's done so far and all the Snowflakes. I do have a Dimples slotted to be started within the next month- St. Basil's Cathedral.

For the PR's, it's because I haven't decided which one to do first! Her Christmas Spirit last Christmas is what made me topple head over heels in love, but I have fabric for Winter Beauty Princess now. I have absolutely no idea which one will get started first. I do know that when I have a slot open in my rotation a PR is going into it. I just don't know which one!

May stitching evaluation

So, for May I had set myself the goal of finishing Newborn Joy so that I could start Spring Cameo in June with no guilt. Due to various reasons I didn't quite make it. Though I am *thisclose* I will not be staying up late tonight to meet my goal. If I didn't have to go to work tomorrow I would, lol.

I'm nearly done with the backstitching, then I have the beading. That won't take long though since it's a small piece. I will be done with it by the end of the week though, so not too bad considering how bad I've felt this month and how little stitching I've actually done. If it wasn't for my stand, I don't think I'd be stitching at all right now. I simply can't hold a frame anymore.

Fibromyalgia really is the bane of my existence right now. I've been in bed by ten with the lights off nearly every night the last two weeks, sleeping in as much as I possibly can before I absolutely have to get up or be late to work. I have Tuesday afternoons off (thank God!) and I spent most of yesterday curled up in my bed hovering between sleep and awake. I can't sleep in the daytime unless I've been awake for nearly 24 hours, but the rest sure did feel good! Two weeks ago I went home early on a Wednesday because I simply couldn't keep going. It hurt just to string a coherent sentance together! Went straight to bed that day and stayed there until nearly 7 when Mama told me supper was ready.

And next week I'll have the house all to myself for 4 days! Kind of a scary thought, lol. Elizabeth will be at a conference in Baton Rouge, my parents and Jason will be at his league's national debate tournament in Virginia and that leaves me in the house by myself! I plan to saute up a package of shrimp Monday night and do things with it the rest of the week. Hmm..... I'm going to have make me a shrimp and mushroom omelet with some mozzarella cheese. That sounds really good....

It's almost done!!!!!!

English Garden Sampler is nearly done!!!!!!!! All I have left is the cutwork and the beading. This piece was started in October of 2003 and I didn't yet know about framing margins, so I don't have enough fabric to do the big TW trademark border. This is as wide as it's going to get. It's quite lovely and I am SO GLAD it's almost done! Will be starting HAED's "A Favour" when I get this one finished. Ordered the fabric for it last night. :D

I have the coasters all blocked and they're dry, I just haven't taken pictures of them yet. In fact, they're still pinned to the corkboard! Can we say procrastinator?

And now I'm going to go stitch. The end is so close on Newborn Joy that I can taste it!

She's out!!!!

White Christmas that is. Not what I was envisioning, but I'm still blown away and in love nonetheless! The plan to do her dress in silks hasn't changed. I've narrowed my fabric down to two: SMF Guinevere and SW Winter Breeze.

I have a small piece of Guinevere so once I see a floss list I'll take it to Hobby Lobby and see how the actual colors look on it. Wish I had a piece of Winter Breeze.... I need a piece of it regardless of if I stitch WC on it. It's so beautiful!

I watched Supernatural for the first time tonight after hearing HB people rave and rave about it since it came on. I'm firmly in the Dean camp!

Wow!

The Hershey factory in Lancaster, PA produces 10 MILLION Kisses every day. That just blew my mind.

And now onto today's SBQ!

Today's SBQ was suggested by Nancy:
What is your favorite specialty stitch? Which one is your least
favorite? Why?

Favorite would be satin stitch, but only because it's so easy to do on evenweaves/linen and achieve the proper look. Least favorite is a tie between lazy daisies and French knots. My dislike of the daisies comes from the middle border strip on TW's English Garden Sampler. There are over 100 lazy daisies in the thing! And I have yet to meet anyone who actually likes doing French knots. I can do them, I just prefer not to so I sub with beads now.

I do have an updated picture of my EGS, I just haven't pulled it off my camera yet. Have no plans this weekend other than getting a pedicure for my poor aching feet, so I'll get it put up this weekend. I hope! I also have a new fan fiction realm to explore, The Sentinel. I *finally* found out what exactly makes Jim Ellison a Sentinel and now that I've seen him and Blair in action with Frank and Joe Hardy I'm hooked!

Yes, my other online obsession is fan fiction, specifically the Hardy Boys and now it'll include Sentinel. I'm so glad my favorite HB fan fic site has a sort of sister for Sentinel that's run by the same people- who also happen to be 2 of my favorite HB fan fic authors. (anyone who might by any chance be interested can find the absolute best HB fan fiction on the Net at the Hardy Detective Agency, if you're a closet HB fan, be sure to hit the Links page!)

Dark days in New Orleans continue

Nagin has been narrowly re-elected. Boo hiss!!!!!!! He's an idiot of monumental proportions and does not have what it takes to put the city back together. He's already proven that multiple times. How many mayors would spend 2 weeks in Jamaica when his city is 8 feet underwater? Only Nagin.

In brighter news, the Aquarium re-opens on May 26th. It'll be closed on Mondays for the rest of the year. That's good news in tourism dollars because people who go to the Aquarium go on the Zoo Cruise and hit the Riverwalk and the French Market. It's all right there together. There should also be an increase in money seen on the Natchez steamboat for their jazz cruises. (excellent dinner cruise, btw, The Dukes of Dixieland are the band, nothing else quite as wonderful as dixieland jazz) And the Natchez has a steam calliope that you can hear all over the Quarter!

I have decided

If the new Mira, White Christmas, is as glorious as my imagination would have me believe, I shall stitch the beautiful red dress in VC silks!

And the Preakness today was very sad. (I'm a horse racing fan, Preakness is second jewel in the Triple Crown) The favorite, Barbero, was a shoo-in to win and make a run for the Crown in 3 weeks. He false-started by jumping through the gate, and then on the real start coming out he mis-stepped and fractured his right hind ankle. Career ending injury. Very sad as he had so much potential. He was unbeaten so far, a rare thing these days. He's in surgery right now. I dearly hope he comes out of it alright and lives- even though he'll never race again. There are already plenty of tragic stories surrounding the Triple Crown. We don't need another one.

Squeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

The description for the next Mirabilia, White Christmas, has me all atwitter!!!!!! As posted on the Mira board earlier by Jennifer:

"On Christmas Eve the Gothic windows were laced with frost. Icicles gleam as the snow flutters in silence. A lady in red cups her hands around a single snowflake and tiny crystal snow drops are scattered across her plush, velvet cape."

I am so unbelievably excited!! White Christmas is my most favorite Christmas of all time and I'm getting visions of Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen's fabulous red velvet dresses for the finale. *sigh*

June 1 is the official release date. I do hope a picture appears before then because I just might go crazy waiting!

And would you believe I washed and blocked my coasters this evening? Will take pics later in the daylight.

My first SBQ!

Lately, it seems that many stitching bloggers have experienced a loss
of their stitching mojo. Have you ever lost your stitching mojo? If
so, how did you get it back and how long did it take?

Yes, I have. The worst time was about 3 years ago now when I was having hand problems, and this was my pre-Q-Snap days. I could not hold my hoop. I got so upset and so frustrated that I didn't stitch for nearly 6 months. Had to ease myself back into it and now I'm full steam ahead again! My hands hurt to the point that I could barely hold a glass. Once I could keep a firm grip on a glass full of water, then I slowly started stitching again.

I've also had brief times when I just haven't felt like it. Haven't stitched much this week because I'm sleep deprived and can't concentrate by the end of the day. That's a recipe for frogging so I've left it alone. I don't stitch much during holidays either, so much going on!

Ho-hum....

Somebody make some noise and wake me up!!! Not even Buble is keeping me awake and alert today. May need to switch to Cherry Poppin' Daddies or my BBC Swing Orchestra stuff.

Stitchin' Bloggers is active now! Someday I'll work my way through the ring and see who all is on there, lol.

Working on recipes today. I'm swamped with them!!!! Lots of copying and pasting preparing them for the printer, so my wrist is starting to get a little sore. I was pleasantly surprised to look at the clock just now and see it was nearly 3:30. And I'm in the dessert section too, currently cakes. So that's making me kinda hungry.

Stitchin' Bloggers

Just joined the Stitchin Bloggers webring. It's not active yet though, so it won't work. How many of them will I actually read? I don't know, but I like the idea of being connected to so many other stitchers since I live in a non-stitchy area.

I really, really need to take my Queen Mermaid by The Parrot Stitch to show it to Judy. Maybe I can do this Tuesday when I'm off since I most likely won't have a car this weekend. I should be able to get lots of stitching in since I won't be able to go anywhere!

Oh, uhm, I still haven't washed and pinned the coasters. My current excuse is I have no earthly idea where my corkboard and towels are...

It's official

I'm pathetic! I am STILL looking at the picture of my QS! I'm up here at work and I'm looking at the picture. Was looking at it last night as I did my final email check before going to bed and I will probably look at it again tonight while I do my final email check. I get gobs and gobs of email, lol.

And I repeat that I don't like grass! The grasscutters mowed here at work yesterday and it's been very windy the last couple of days, so I blew the grass clippings off the brick underneath the Big House (It's 8 feet off the ground) because the local garden club was having their yearly spring luncheon under the house. Big mistake! It went all up my nose and in my eyes. Been sneezing all day and now my nose is raw and my eyes are swelling and tearing. *sigh* It's a good thing I wasn't planning to stitch tonight because I really won't feel like it by the time I finally get home.

Have stitched today though, so I won't go into withdrawal. Worked on my TW English Garden Sampler this morning since I had to stay in the gift shop. I am almost done!!! I'll post a picture of it this weekend.

The magic of HAED

Tonight, I experienced the magic that is HAED. I've been plugging along on Earth Mermaid Quick Stitch, despairing of ever seeing anything except an earth-toned blob. All of that changed tonight with just one little stitch. She has a FACE!!!!

I absolutely can't get over how it happened. When I stopped to eat supper and pushed my stand back I saw her eye. Already had part of her lip in, but didn't really see anything. Then, about 5 minutes after Criminal Minds went off, that one stitch went in and there it was! A most lovely and beautiful face. Michelle is truly a gifted artist to be able to do this. Never in my life did I think a blob of browns and dark corals could create something so lovely and exquisite.

Earth Mermaid is a gift for one of my dear friends. She knows nothing about it and she thankfully does not know this blog exists, lol. I truly wish I could see her face when she opens her. I'm shooting for this to be Lisa's Christmas present. She loves mermaids as much as me and is an artist herself.

Wow.

Burns my toast!

Copyright infringement burns my toast! Sharon at HAED found an auction site in Australia that is loaded with illegal cross-stitch charts! I have spent nearly the last 2 hours going through and reporting copyright infringement on Thomas Kinkade, Christian Riese Lassen, Disney, Looney Tunes and even Selina's Dragon Fae's! There are two sellers that all of their charts are illegal computer generated charts. Search "cross stitch" in the crafts category and you'll know immediately who the main seller is! There are two, but one has way more charts than the other one. I even saw a Janlynn that had been swiped and recharted!

This lady is doing movie stills, images from Disney Princess websites, screen caps from video games, nature photographs, some Haughtman Brothers. You name it she's got it! There's a lot of fantasy art stolen too, but since I'm not up on who those artists are I only reported the ones stolen from Selina.

Feel free to register an account and jump on the reporting bandwagon! I bet I've reported a hundred!! The site does make it very easy to report auctions though. eBay could learn a thing or two from them in that department.

Another fall

But this one wasn't my fault!!! It was Saturday night and I blame it fully on the cat. It was late, Arwen was inside making a nuisance of herself. She does the whole nuisance thing VERY well. She wanted food. I got up to take my nearly empty wine glass to the kitchen and the plan was to finish off the last two sips on the way. Arwen didn't think that was a good idea and she chose that very moment to race for the back door and ask for food. She dodged the wrong way, knocked my feet out from under me and I went splat all over the kitchen floor. It HURT! Our kitchen has ceramic tile flooring from the 50's, the tiny little squares that you piece together.

Wine and water went everywhere, including my hair. Naturally I didn't find that until I was fixing my hair for church yesterday, so no time to wash it because we were already running late. (I was also carrying my mostly empty glass of water to the dishwasher) I landed HARD on my left side and it's now bruised. The bruise itself isn't as bad as the last one and I can still walk just fine, but it sure does hurt! My whole left side feels really lousy today. And I sleep on my left side most of the time so that was interesting too.

The first kid left the next over the weekend. My brother Jeremiah moved down to the New Orleans area. His girlfriend/almost fiancee lives down there and he's after a carpentry/construction job which are plentiful down there right now. He's living in a trailer that's parked on a lot owned by one of her uncle's, and the next evacuation they'll just pack it up and all head for our house! Won't be any need for a hotel this time, lol. (Her family evacuates to our place now, it's almost become a tradition after the last 2 hurricane seasons!)

I still haven't washed and pinned the coasters. Maybe tomorrow...

Good news!

The Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans is set to reopen at the end of the month!!!!! This is beyond fantastic news. The Aquarium lost every single fish after the hurricane when their generators failed. That meant they couldn't circulate and oxygenate the water. They were hoping to be open by the end of June and the end of May is just fantastic news! It's an absolutely fabulous aquarium, one of the best in the country.

I now have 4 complete coasters. Now I just need to wash and pin them. Maybe tomorrow.... Want to work on Earth Mermaid tonight more than I want to wash and pin, lol.

Totally random here... I have Pirates of the Caribbean M&M's! They're called "Jack's Gems" and have pirate symbols on them. Uber coolness.

It's hot!

I'm HOT!!!! That never happens to me. Really weird.

I'm stuck up here at work waiting on a ride. Somehow or other we got a nail in the right rear tire of our car Saturday and it was flat as could be yesterday. Took our mom's car this morning and since Elizabeth has math class tonight, I'm waiting on a ride. Knew I should have called again and talked to somebody at home besides Papa, lol.