Sorry it took so long, but here are my framing pics. First up is Irish Coffee, by RK Portfolio. It's done on 28 ct. Crystal Highland Cashel linen from Picture This Plus. I stitched it for Jymi, and hung it in the kitchen.
Next up is A Wee Bit Irish by Hob Nobb Doodles For Leftovers. I did it on the same fabric as Irish Coffee, so they would go together. So I used the same frame and also hung it in the kitchen, across from it's partner.
I also hung this one in the kitchen. It's In Every Nest by Raise The Roof. It's stitched on 28 ct. Spring Jazlyn, again from Picture This Plus. I changed the soft pastel Six Strand Sweets called for with bright obnoxious Weeks Dye Works. It was a little difficult to pick a frame for this one, since nothing "normal" worked with it. I like the way it came out, but I think I may be the only one. Jymi will probably pitch a fit when he comes home.
This is one Jymi's grandma did for him when he was little. She never did anything with it, but gave it to me last spring. So I got it framed and hung it in the boys room. I'm thinking of taking it with us when we go for Christmas to show her. It meant alot to me that she gave it to me instead of one of her daughters. I guess it makes more sense to give it Jymi's kids since it was a little young for Jymi now. She does consider me another grandchild, too.
Here is my Dragon Soul print, that Jymi bought me. I think it came out beautifully! Darin likes it, too.
I also had another one framed, Happy Hoppers by Lizzie Kate. When I went to pick it up though, it had a big gaudy gold frame. I know some people think gold frames look good on everything, but I usually hate them. In case you haven't noticed, I prefer black or silver frames. It looked horrible. So I picked the frame it was supposed to get again, and sent it back. They called me today to tell me it's ready. It's going to be a present for my niece.
Tobi's birthday was in the last week of November. He came home from school that day, very upset. He told me I'd forgotten to bring his class cupcakes. He hadn't told me he wanted me to though. So the next week, I brought cupcakes. The store was nice enough to make it into Spiderman crawling up a wall. I felt kinda bad, loading a bunch of kindergartners up on sugar and leaving. I learned though that recess is right after snack time, just so the kids can run off the extra energy. Darin got to go outside and play with the other kids, too. He thought that was the coolest thing.
I have started and finished a model. No pictures yet, though. I'm going to get back to Tobi's stocking now. I will finish it eventually. Pictures of progress on that will be coming soon!

Labels: Dragon Soul, Framing, In Every Nest, Kids, Models

I've been doing lots of green things lately. Here's A Wee Bit Irish, which I finished Tuesday, while waiting to pick up Alex from school. Actually, I finished the last shamrock while in line. Once I got home, it seemed silly to stop, since all I left was to backstitch the letters. So I finished it up that afternoon.
Wednesday, both Chris and Alex stayed home from school, and Leon asked me to sit with them, so he could go to work. That was one miserable day. Chris and Alex spend the day in quarantine in Chris' room, per their dad's instruction, trying to keep Tobi and Darin from getting sick. So while I have to play waitress and nurse to them, I also have to try to keep my boys halfway quiet and entertained. By noon, I was sick of watching Noggin with the boys. For those lucky enough to not know what Noggin is, it's a TV station that shows preschool shows from six in the morning until six at night. So after lunch, I went into Kathy's room to watch some grown up TV and stitch. I did finish In Every Nest. When Jymi got off work at 4:30, he stopped by and picked up the boys. Then Chris and Alex could come out. So the three of us played cards until Leon got home.
Thursday, I had asked Jymi to wake me when he left. Leon was going to call me early to let me know whether the kids had gone to school. Jymi leaves at five in the morning. So he woke me, kissed me good bye, and reset the alarm clock for a couple hours later. Does my hubby know me or what? At 5:30, the phone rang. I get up, cussing about Leon calling this early, and it's Jymi. He tells me to look out the window; it's snowing! It wasn't snowing at our house yet, but it was within ten minutes. By the time Leon called, two hours later, there was six inches of snow on the ground. If you click on the picture, you can see it was still falling at the time. It doesn't snow here often, and they cancel school if there's even a chance of snow. Leon asked if I would come over and babysit. I didn't want to drive in all that snow, but I offered to let them come over. Leon said that was fine, but by the time he got here, he'd changed his mind. Chris has asthma, and is allergic to cats. So Leon was worried about him staying all day at my house. He got there and asked if the kids could borrow a couple movies to watch in his office. His theater doesn't show kids' movies. They only show independent/serious/award winner movies. He was hoping that by taking them with him, he could get out early. I was so happy to not have to babysit, since the kids had given me their flu.
That's also why I haven't been around lately. I haven't really been on the message boards, or commenting on blogs. I've been so wiped out, it's all I can do to check my email and bank account. I've been reading, and I am interested; I just haven't had the energy to type out comments. Sorry.
Friday, most of the snow was gone, so I did have to babysit, all day. Leon told me he was going to try to come home after a meeting at two. At seven, Jymi had called me five times, asking if I was ever coming home. I love those kids like they were my own, but by the end of the week, I was sick of them. I agreed to watch them for a few hours after school, not all day, everyday.
I've been working on Irish Coffee. I didn't do my usual SALs this past weekend, because I was still feeling bad. I didn't want to work on something I really had to think about. So I'm almost done with it. I'll do the handle and backstitch today, and finish it tomorrow with the Whisper and button.
Everything I've worked on the past week has been on green fabric. It kinda looks blue in the picture, but the fabric for A Wee Bit Irish and Irish Coffee is Crystal Highland, and yellowy-green.
The last model I stitched had some issues with the mail. It finally got there yesterday, like a week and a half after I sent it. It usually only takes a few days. The good news is I can show pictures next week of my two models! Yay!

Labels: Family, In Every Nest, Jymi, Kids, Models, New Starts, Real Life Sucks

It's 11:30 in the morning, and I'm ready to go to bed. My sister and mom our out of town on a quilting thing, and I get to babysit. Which means I get to borrow my sister's van to pick up the kids from school. I had planned yesterday to go to the Medicaid office and the grocery store, come home and have lunch, and go pick up Chris and Alex. As I was getting ready to leave, the school called to tell me Chris had a fever, and I had to come pick him up. So I had to go to the Medicaid office today. If you've ever had to deal with Medicaid, you know that in itself is enough to drive you to drink.
We got there, and there was one person ahead of us. He told me last time he was there, there was only one person ahead of him, and he still had to wait two hours. We only had to wait about ten minutes, but that was in the waiting room, where they had coloring sheets. Once we got in the office, we had to spend another half hour in there, where there was nothing for the boys to do but put there mittens on and off, and ask if we could get back in the car yet. Kathy's car is cool, because it has a DVD player. After they did all the paperwork, they told me to call my worker in Columbia to let her know it was coming.
We came home, and I got the boys settled. Then I called the general number, since I didn't have the number for my worker directly. I was on hold for ten minutes, when my phone beeped. Leon called to tell me he had kept Chris out of school and taken him to the doctor. He did ask that I still pick up Alex, because he didn't want to drag Chris out in the cold again. No problem. I go back to the line on hold, to find out they've hung up on me. So I call again, spend another five minutes on hold, opening all those letters they've been sending me, and find the right number. So I did finally get through. I am so sick of doing this every year, but what else can I do. Health insurance costs almost as much as our rent, and we can barely pay that. Sorry for the bitchfest, but I needed to unload.
Since I had to sit in line at the school, I got A Wee Bit Irish ready to start. I got a good bit done yesterday while waiting for Alex. I may get it done today. I've just got one more shamrock to stitch, then the words and button. I've got an American flag button I'm considering using, too. The deciding factor is going to be whether or not there's even room. I thought it might be nice, since we're both much more American than Irish, but it's both out heritages. My family came over on the ship with Lord Baltimore way back when, and that is why there's still alot of us up there. Jymi says his family came over after the potato famine thing. We both love Irish/Celtic/Gaelic things.
I used Weeks Dye Works Envy for the border. I think it's one of the most beautiful colors they make! Everything else is DMC (310, 700, and 704). It's stitched on 28 ct. Crystal Highland linen from Picture This Plus. I've got Irish Coffee kitted up for when I finish this. It's goint to be on the same fabric, so they'll go together. I still need to get the Whisper for it, but that's it. I have it, but it's in the bottom of a very crowded drawer, and I haven't felt like digging through it. I won't need it for a couple days at least anyway.
I finished my model Friday, so I did participate in the SALs this week. Here's my progress from both day of The Castle. It's not much, but I've been busy with real life.
I also did the Black Swan SAL. I got a little done on Jymi's stocking. Again, it's not much. Sunday I had to go get the van, and Jymi wanted to spend the day watching Ghost Hunters in the dark.
Friday, I got my payment for my last model! All kinds of great stuff! I got the new Teresa Wentzler book, Christmas Elf Fairy (Mirabilia), Dragons Welcome, When In Rome, and Egypt (all Cross Eyed Kats). I also got a new pair of scissors, a skein of regular Dinky Dyes silk, and a Dinky Dyes Oops Pack. I got some gorgeous silks in it, and a few cottons, too! I gotta tell you, it was hard not to drool on them! Now I'm going to get a little stitching in on In Every Nest before I have to leave to get Alex.

Labels: In Every Nest, Jymi's Stocking, Kids, Models, New Starts, Real Life Sucks, SBQ, The Castle

I've added a poll to my sidebar; all votes would be appreciated. Jymi's grandmother got a Christmas card with some Valerie Pfeiffer birds, and liked it so much, she bought a frame for it. I'm planning of doing a trio for her for Christmas, but I can't decide which one. The only two I can decided not to do are Fish Tonight? and Three Little Maids. I think she'd like a set of songbirds more. That makes it harder for me though, because Three Little Maids is my favorite. I asked Tobi to help me pick, and he also liked Three Little Maids best. Please vote and help me pick. Thanks!
I also have three weeks of SBQs to catch up on, so here goes. Do you dream of running your own LNS/ONS? If so, tell us about your dream. If not, tell us about your cross stitch dream… maybe you dream of designing, dyeing your own floss or fabric, etc. Yes and no. On the one hand I loved my job at the shop. I did kinda dream that I could buy it when it was up for sale, but as the owner said, it cannot be a hobby. If you're going to own any business, it has to be your life, or it will go under. I just don't want that. I want my job to be just that; a job I can leave behind at the end of the day. I like being home with my kids most days, and I love tucking them into bed and reading them stories every night. No job could ever pay enough to make it worthwhile to miss that. That's why I haven't tried too hard to find another job. Two days a week was great. I wouldn't mind dying my own fabric and/or flosses, but I don't think the colors I pick would sell very well to normal people. I'd also love to design, but I have absolutely no artistic talent, and I pretty sure you'd need at least a little bit.
Have you had a happy dance yet this year? If so, tell us about it! (Or just point to the entry that talks about it.) If not, when do you predict it will be? No happy dances yet, but I plan to have one later today or very early tomorrow (like one or two in the morning, before I go to bed tonight). That will be the model, so no pictures. I finished part three, and I guess that's sort of a happy dance. I also plan to finish In Every Nest the day after I finish the model. That will be my first happy dance I can show pictures of. I just have the one egg left, and the last one only took me a day to do. That kinda depresses me, because it seems like everyone else has already had one.
What company produces your favorite hand-dyed fabric? Are there any companies whose hand-dyed fabric you do not like? If so, why? I LOVE PICTURE THIS PLUS FABRICS! They are colorfast, and that's a major plus. They come in sparkly fabrics which I love (in case you haven't noticed), they're soft, they have beautiful colors, and they smell good. Yes, I know that last one seems silly, but when ever I opened the box to check in the fabrics, it always smelled like cinnamon. I don't like Lakeside Linens, and part of that is that they always smell weird. Another part is they only seem to come in neutrals. I like blue and green fabrics. So about 85% of what I stitch is on Picture This Plus Crystal linens.

Labels: In Every Nest, Models, New Starts, SBQ

I've been working on lots of stuff. I finally finished part three! I knew a new model was on it's way, and I expected it Thursday, so I stitched all day to finish the last carpet. Then it didn't come that day, so I worked on In Every Nest.
I've just got one chick left! I worked on it until the mail came Friday. As soon as it did though, we had to go visit Jymi's parents. The three kids (Tobi, Jymi, and his sister) all played video games all evening. Darin was very funny. They have three dogs, Skip, a male papillion, Maddie, a female papillion, and Maya, a husky mix. Skip is the oldest, and he doesn't take to small kids the way the others do. He's my buddy, though, and we played fetch until he was too tired, at which point he got in my lap and went to sleep. Darin and Maya are both scared of each other, because Maya's a big dog. She's scared of him, because the first time she saw him, was Halloween, when he was green with an extra head and a tail. She still doesn't know how to handle him. Maddie though, loved Darin, and vice versa. They played fetch and keep away for hours. At one point, Darin laid down and played dead. Maya and Maddie licked his hands and ears until he was giggling.
Saturday was my brother-in-law's birthday, and he had gotten tickets to a basketball game. So I babysat Chris and Alex. Alex got a little mad. We were playing Monopoly, when she decided she was bored. So Chris came over and wanted to take he place, and he won. Chris and I watched The Ant Bully while Alex went in the other room to watch Garfield. I didn't have high expectations, but it was cute. Gross, but cute. Then Alex wanted to read her new library book to me, so I let her. While she read, I got a little stitching done. She did wonderful. She's in fourth grade, reading on an eighth grade level.
Sunday, I was lazy all day. I got up at eleven, and showered. I got groceries and Jymi and I spent the afternoon watching the first season of Ghost Hunters. I did get to stitch after Jymi went to bed. Now I need to get back to the model. I will finish it this week.

Labels: Family, In Every Nest, Models, Movies, Persian Iris Garden

With Jymi, his friend, Matt, Matt's brother, Ben, and a friend of all their's from high school, Chris, all coming over to play video games, I had to go in the bedroom. Our house is tiny, and there is just not room for five adults in one room, especially when two of them are over six feet tall. The lighting in there is horrible, so I couldn't see well enough to stitch on 32 ct. black. So I looked in my project drawer. On top was The Castle, and under that was In Every Nest. So that's what I worked on. I made some nice progress, considering I only worked on it one day.
I'm still working on part three. I decided to stitch the last two carpet at the same time. Just the darker shade of blue to fill them in!
Jymi and his friends are driving me nuts. Ben smokes, and the first night they went out, Jymi came home with cigarettes. We were watching tv, talking, and I asked half joking. I was just making sure, since he lied/didn't tell me last time. He told me he did, and I was so mad I threw his pillows at him and locked him out of the bedroom. That was the first time since we've moved in together that he slept in the living room. I was so mad, it was three in the morning before I calmed down enough to go to sleep. The next day, when he asked me about the lunch plans we had, I told him afterwards I was taking his keyboard to the pawn shop. We had agreed on this before we bought it. The keyboard was bought under the condition that he stopped smoking. I don't know if sleeping alone or the thought of losing the keyboard (probably a combination of both) convinced him, but he gave me the cigarettes. I broke every last one, and threw them in the trash. Jymi apologized, and we have made up.
Today, they're hanging out at Matt's dad's until dinner, so I've got some time to stitch on part three. Tomorrow's The Castle, and Sundays are now a Black Swan SAL (from the Needle And Thread board). I'll probably work on Jymi's stocking. Then Monday is back to the Castle.

Labels: In Every Nest, Jymi, Persian Iris Garden, Real Life Sucks

I can't decided on my next project. I don't like the number of projects I have started. There's one more I'd like to start right away, but other than that, I want to keep working on the ones already started. Please help me choose. They all have pros and cons. Here they are, from oldest to newest.
First is Tobi's Toy's And Games Stocking. The reasons I should work on this: it's almost two years old, which is longer than I've let a project go, it's one of my family's traditions, and I don't want Tobi to be jealous that Darin has a stocking and he doesn't. The reasons I don't want to work on it: it never seems to end, there's no way I'll have it done by this Christmas, and I'll have to sew it together, and I currently hate sewing machines.
Next is Avatar: The Wizard Of The Wind. The reasons I should work on this: it's a year and a half old, I've only worked on it maybe three days all year, and Jymi likes it. The reasons I don't want to work on it: it never seems to end, I never feel like I'm making any progress, and it seems like there's always so much left to do.
The there's Jymi's Dragons By The Fire Stocking. The reasons I should work on this: it's only barely started, I don't want Jymi to be the only one in our family without a stocking, it's a year old. The reasons I don't want to work on it: it's only barely started, there's no way it'll be done for this Christmas, and if/when Jymi leaves, it's going to kill me every time I pick it up to work on it.
There's also In Every Nest. The reasons I should work on this: it's only barely started, I could have it finished this year, it's a small, relatively quick finish, to boost my confidence. The reasons I don't want to work on it: it's entirely converted, which I hate doing and keeping track of, it done with overdyes, which I'm not always in the mood yo work with, and I don't know what I'm going to do with it when it is finished.
Last, but definitely not least, is Persian Iris Garden. The reasons I should work on this: it's huge, it's gorgeous, I'm not allowing myself another chatelaine until I finish this one, and I LOVE the new White Lights. The reasons I don't want to work on it: it's on 32 ct. black, so I can't see well enough to work on it in the evenings, I haven't had the extra money to get the bead packs yet, and it's almost all silks, so I have to wash my hands even more often than usual.
Help me out, please! Thanks!

Labels: Avatar, In Every Nest, Jymi's Stocking, Persian Iris Garden, Tobi's Stocking