The Queen is done!!

That's right, she's DONE!!!!!!!!! Started 9/05, finished today. Done 2x2 on recommended Water Lily linen. I do love the color, but if I ever want to stitch on it again, it'll be in Jobelan. I am an official hater of Wichelt linen.

Next up: Finish my Iris pillow and then start 4 slot rotation. The rotation includes PV "Through A Mother's Eyes", HAED Pirate and Mermaid and Spring Cameo, and Dimples St. Basil's Cathedral.

I'm good!

I just added a linked button!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Click on the Squares4Survivors button and it'll take you to the S4S site. I am some kind of proud of myself. :D

About time to change my icon too.... I just don't know which one to put up! I have a nice-sized collection of ones that I've made to show off my dolls, and Disney ones that I've collected from icon-sharing LJ's. I think I'm going to put Rafiki up for a little while. It's amusing!

Will be slowly adding a few more blinkies once I figure out exactly where I want them to be.

In stitching news, the beading on Queen Mermaid is coming along swimmingly. (bad pun intended) Every time I think she can't get any prettier, she does just that!! I'm just over halfway done beading I think. The treasures are going on last. I hate getting my thread looped around them and then they end up getting yanked loose. That annoys me.

OK, testing font color here...

English Garden Sampler

I have been working on TW's English Garden Sampler for two and a half years now. I stitch on it at work, and for the last several months the poor thing hasn't been getting very much attention due to my job "description" expanding at a rapid rate, lol. I was able to get some serious time in over the last couple of days, and I FINISHED THE FOUNTAIN SCENE!!!!!!!! Minus the beads. I bead at the end. Here it is, in all it's glory! I am very proud of myself.

Blinkies Blinkies

I have been blinkie hunting! I love them!!!!! But there is a limit to how many I'll display. I have a couple up now, found a couple more I want at the top, and then I'll put most of them down at the bottom where they won't be all psychadelic when you open the page.

Yup, I figured out how to put the blinkies in! All by myself. :D

I'm figuring this out!

I finally figured out how to get other blogs to show up on my sidebar!!! That makes it so much easier for me to browse. If all goes well, it should show up eventually.

Next up: Blinkies, and link-buttons!

Didn't get any beading done last night. Birthday celebrations tend to get in the way of things like that, lol. One of my brother's turned 20 yesterday, and my sister is 22 today. I'll bead tonight after I eat, while I watch the new episode of CSI and try not to cringe over Nick's new 'do.

I can't believe how much prettier she is with the beads!

But I did FINALLY finish the fountain scene on my English Garden Sampler!!!! Taking a picture tomorrow in some decent lighting, then I'll post it.

Oh, and I joined the Mirabilia Yahoo group yesterday. I really should introduce myself...

Woohoo!!!!

My Q-Snap spare pair came today, so I started beading my Queen Mermaid tonight!!!!!!! She now has a crown and her choker. :D

I am having a blast! But I gotta come up with a better way to hold the beads in my free hand. Holding the little container is a tad painful. I think I need a tacky BOB. That would be much easier to hold I think.

Will be posting a picture once the Mermaid is complete.

Adventures in gridding

Unable to resist temptation a moment longer, I started gridding Pirate and Mermaid last night. I was just too tired to work on my Iris, but when I'm watching TV my hands have to be doing something. I'm gridding pages, not blocks, and I'm very surprised at how quickly it's going. I got five pages done last night in a little over an hour. After I'd finished the first page, I held it up for my mom to see and she just gave me that "you're crazy" look.

I finished my square!!!!!!! But I forgot to take a picture of it last night. Darn.

In other news, I decided to try my hand at gridding. I like!!!! But only pages, the actualy 10x10 bloks would drive me batty, lol. I gridded the pages onto my Earth Mermaid QS last night, and then proceeded to move to another area of the design. I really like the freedom that it gives me to start anywhere, but still be a cross-country stitcher. I meander all over the place when I'm stitching. If I get bored with the colors in one spot, I'll go another way so I can have different colors. Isn't she pretty?

I also have a new start, my first PV. I love the way her stuff looks, but I totatlly can't stand color charts. I absolutley have to mark my stitches off and the color makes that incredibly difficult. I'm going to try Rebekah's suggestion of covering the chart with Glad Press 'N Seal and marking off with permanent markers. If that doesn't work out... *shudders*

Almost major HD!

I *almost* have my first major big time HD!!! I finished the backstitching on my Queen Mermaid last night and I'm waiting on my Q-snap extensions so I can get started beading.

While I wait for those, I started my first Paula Vaughn last night. My new quilt for my bed has irises on it, so I'm doing the iris pillow from the "Pillows From Paula's Garden" book. Doing it on 28ct Meadow Mist lugana from Silkweaver and I think it's going to be quite lovely. I don't particularly care for working 3x2, but I'll make an exception this time since she does her blends a bit oddly compared to TW. (IMO, anyway) 2x2 with the blends just wouldn't give the necessary color depth to the iris. It will look absolutely smashing perched on my bed!

My sister found a square she had crocheted for me, pillow-sized, so I need to make that into a pillow also and I think it'll go on the daybed. There or my rocking chair, not sure which yet. Of course I do have to GET the daybed first!

Oh my aching hands...

Now I remember why I don't crochet very much anymore! I picked it up today for the first time in about two years. My brother's mother-in-law to be runs the Crochet Cabana and has taken over Squares 4 Survivors. S4S is a program started by a lady here in my area to make afghans for people who lost everything to Katrina and Rita last year. My mom has a cousin who lives in N.O., and she lost nearly everything. So we're doing a special afghan just for her and Mrs. Sandie suggested that each of us do a square for it. Mama's already done one, my sister is piecing one together from yarn that belonged to our great-grandmother (who the cousin was VERY close to), and I started mine today.

Oh man! I got 4 rows done and my left pinky finger is just now coming back to life, and I quit nearly4 hours ago. This is why I don't do it anymore, even though it's fun. But I have to do this square! I want to do this square. Sidney is such a sweet, sweet person and this 'ghan will mean so much to her. So next time I pick it up, my trusty wrist braces are coming out.

The yarn is really pretty too, so that'll help motivate me I think. It's a variegated that looks like tweed. Would make a gorgous sweater if I knew how to knit, lol.

Now for the shameless plug, if you crochet or knit, PLEASE consider helping out S4S. It's a tangible thing that the victims can hold on to and it lets them know that someone still cares. The victims are no longer in the news, but they're still out there. It's going to take us YEARS to recover from the one-two punch that Katrina and Rita socked us with.

This makes #3...

Blogs that is. My Xanga, an abandoned LJ and now here. I do want a place to rave about my stitching, and I'm sure my Xanga readers get kinda tired of that, lol.

So....My favorite designer is Nora Corbett, hence the "Romantic Stitches". I also like Passione Ricamo an awful lot, but haven't yet stitched any, though I do own The Christmas Spirit now. And there are so many more that I want.....

I like some of the Heaven and Earth Designs too, but I'm kinda picky. I've never been a big fan of fantasy artwork, yet I love mermaids. Romantic looking mermaids. And I love fairy tales too, Scott Gustafson is one of my favorite artists there. And I like quite a bit of Selina Fenech's stuff too.

And thanks to Fudgey at the HAED board, I've fallen in love with silks. So far I only have Dinky Dyes and Silk 'N Colors, but I'm already addicted to the Dinky Dyes that's for sure! Have 2 more skeins on order.