sept. 29 - and so it goes

Well...hubby has been gone for 4 days now, and as they say...the best laid plans...

I did tear my closet apart, but half the stuff is still all over my bed (which is why i have been sleeping my 2-4 hours a night on the couch. I have made myself so tired by not sleeping that I haven't got much energy to do anything but walk the dogs and sit glued to the tv. My daughter got me hooked on "The Closer" but I have five seasons to catch up on, so that is what I have been doing. I'm halfway through Season 2. Normally I would be stitching while watching, but for some reason I just don't have the energy, so not one x has been crossed so far this week. I did get a package from "Stitches n Things" with my order from the Labor Day sale...some wonderful Blackbird Designs patterns and several others. I'll take a photo later if I can find my camera under all the mess in my room. I am determined to get the rest of the clothes put away or bagged up for Goodwill tonight.

I haven't even been checking emails or blogs because hubby took my little laptop with him, but I did have a few minutes this morning here at work, and when I checked Patti's blog I realized that I was one of the people chosen for her PIF. I am really excited about this, and in the spirit of paying it forward, I am offering to do the same here. I participated in one of these once before, and I must admit that I was a little late sending out one of my PIFs (due to a very stressful situation here at work and my total lack of memory), but I have since begun writing everything important (and what is more important than stitching?) in my datebook, so that won't happen again. So if you want to take a chance...

Here's how it works - the idea is that 3 of you join my "Pay it Forward" and then I will send a handmade gift (made with love!!!) to each one of my THREE participants within the next 365 days! Each of those 3 people must also agree to host a PIF on their blogs and ask for 3 people to join their PIF's - To Pay It Forward - and so on and so on and so on. So, this is me, asking for 3 people to join my PIF. Please leave a comment on this post if you are interested. If more than 3 stitchers comment, I will take those names and draw three. So...if you are interested, please post here. It's Wednesday, so I will check back on Friday, October 1 and see what happens.

Thanks for visiting!

sept 23 - short and sweet

I'm trying to get some things taken care of at work before I take off to get my hair colored...a long overdue appointment, I might add. That little skunk streak just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Anyway, not much stitching has been going on. That seems to be my theme for this whole year and I must admit that I am getting really tired of it. I just don't seem to have the mojo lately. I know it will come back, but in the meantime I feel a bit like a slug!


This little piece is "Blessings" from Heart in Hand. It was stitched on a piece of melon evenweave with the called for threads. We have a bi-monthly block exchange at Stitchers Timeout and this month's theme was pumpkins. I think this is the first block I've stitched for the exchange this whole year. December is "trees" and I already have a design picked out.


And these are the newest scissors I've added to my collection..."Sonia". They are reddish with little flowers and really quite pretty.

I have worked a little bit more on "Acorn Autumn" but I don't have a picture to show.

My hubby will be going away for a conference on Saturday and will be gone a week. Last time he did this I had great plans to stitch all week, and ended up tearing apart my craft room instead. This week, I have to clean out my closet, but then I think I am going to try and finish up a couple of these little projects that have been hanging around forever! My LNS is having it's annual "open house" in a few weeks and they will have lots of the new market pieces. I am really ambivalent about going this year though. There are many designs that I really would love to stitch, but I also know that I won't have the time to stitch them in the near future. Maybe I should just make a list....Besides I just got an email that an order I placed over Labor Day is being shipped today...I am ashamed to say that I don't even remember what I ordered (but I know they were all things I really wanted!) I think there is a pattern here but I refuse to admit to it!

Anyway, I hope to have some more progress to show soon! Thanks for visiting!

Sept 5 - Surprises, Stash, Saturday & a SAL

Once again I have had a month go by without blogging. The scary part is that I don't have a clue where that time went! So a bit of catching up seems to be in order.

Saturday was the start of a lovely long weekend, with really no special plans. We spent most of it at the annual "Art in the Pearl" exhibit in Portland. There were many wonderful artists and pieces to see, but most (if not all) were way out of our price range. Sometimes I wonder how these artists make a living...their work is beautiful, and I understand the time that goes into everything, but how many people can afford it? I guess more than I think, because they come back year after year and the galleries are always full. There was also music, and we spent a lot of time enjoying some cajun/zydeco tunes. And the weather was gorgeous, so it was a great day!

Last week, I had two surprises, one good and one, no so good. The good one was a RAK at the coffee shop...the gentleman in front of me paid for my morning chai What a lovely surprise! I have heard of this happening to others, but it never had to me. There was no-one behind me, so I will have to pay that one forward another day. The not-so-good surprise? There was a roof leak in the building where we are storing most of our library books. Luckily, there was a custodian in the building at the time and he heard something and went to investigate. What he heard was the roof giving way. They are doing construction to replace the existing roof and I guess the roofers didn't anticipate the rain (in the Pacific Northwest...are you kidding me?) Anyway, had it not been for him, the damage would have been much worse. He was able to gather the troops and get some things moved. We've been over twice and will be going back again this week to keep going through everything and really surveying the damage.

I have been trying to be good about not buying too much new stash, but when I saw this on sale I just had to have it. This collection by The Goode Huswife contains the "Ellen Birdseye" design that I have been wanting forever!


And then, yesterday at JoAnne's I found the new Gingher scissors - "Ella". They look a bit more mod and I really like them. Here is a closer look.


Unfortunately,(or fortunately, depending on how you look at it!), I also did some damage at the Labor Day online sales last night as well! I'll post everything I bought when it arrives, because to be honest, I don't even remember what all I ordered! Once I got going, it was hard to stop!

Finally, last weekend we had an Autumn/Halloween SAL with the Stitchers Timeout group. Asher was here last weekend, so I knew I wouldn't get much done. But after he left I started filling in the acorn. I didn't have the called for Silk n Colors, but I did have another Autumn shade so I started with that. But about five rows in I decided there was really too much purple in it, so I took it all out. The I found a cotton thread that I received in an exchange and I thought it would be perfect...again Autumn shades. I used two threads, but after looking at it this morning I decided it was too bulky and the colors looked way more vibrant that I wanted them to. So out it all came again (but this timer I was about 12 rows in). So now I am trying it with this same thread, but only one strand, and I like it much better. I think. For now. We'll see. Anyway, this is where I was before the acorn frogging the first time. It is "Acorn Autumn" by Cross-Eyed Cricket designs.


Back to stitching! I hope everyone is enjoying a fabulous weekend.
Thanks for visiting!