My May goals were finish the model, SAL, and work on Tobi's stocking. I finished the model, and another one. I participated in three SALs. I did work a little on Tobi's stocking. I also started Merlin And Arthur and Invariance.
My June goals are pretty simple. Stitch on something, enjoy, relax, repeat.
I've totally blown up on the project challenge. I bought another four HAEDs (Pirate, Dragon Soul, Impossible Love, and Transcendeffervescence) at the Memorial Day sale, and a discontinued one I found at Gryphon's Moon. Then I saw a thread on the board about Meredith Dillman's Gemstone ACEOs. All the ones she's finished are beautiful, and Tobi's birthstone (November, Topaz) is my absolute favorite. Only Ruby has been charted so far, but I had to have it. So I'm a bad girl, and a stashinite, but Jymi got paid today. Before I bought Frosted Fantasia and Ruby, I paid all the bills that were late, and all the current ones that were due before next payday. There is still plenty of money left, too, for groceries and for Jymi to get anything he may need (definitely new shoes). So I don't feel bad treating myself. As I've said before, I fighting the addiction to stash acquisition and cancer sticks, and stash is much less harmful to my (and everyone else's) health.
I've been working on Invariance. You can almost see where the darker shade of navy is forming the tree limbs. I'm almost to the one percent point, but I'm ready to move on to Merlin. I may go ahead and buy fabric next payday and start Dragon Soul, Pirate, and Ruby. It would make for a nice variety of colors. Dragon Soul is one of the largest HAEDs I own (fourteen by twenty), but the key looks odd. It's such a big piece, and it's only got ten colors. While Ruby will be a little over six inches by almost nine, and has three pages of color keys.
To add to my stashitis, Raise The Roof has released and new fence. I have a piece of Willow, and a piece of Highland, both of which would look fine, but this may be my opportunity to finally buy a piece of Kermit! I'll wait until next payday for that, too, though. As for the challenge, I'll try again when I'm somewhere close to a finish. At the moment, it may be Christmas before I finish anything.
We got cards for Jymi when we got groceries, and today we finally had money to get stamps. So I sent him some so he could write us back, and some envelopes in an anniversary card. June 9, will be the seven year anniversary of when we started dating. I also got a sheet of the new Star Wars stamps for Tobi. I'm not sure what to do with special stamps, but I'm thinking of getting them framed or something. Right now, I've got them hidden. The boys think they're just stickers. Tobi's been asking for them since he saw the poster at the post office. They even had a standee of C-3PO and R2-D2 that lit before they came out. It was gone when we went today, and the boys were a little upset.
I guess that enough babbling for today. With Jymi gone, my life's gotten more boring. I stitch and watch TV. I hang out on the computer. The boys and I play Candy Land and Hide And Seek. We read Green Eggs And Ham. We go outside and play with the dogs, but since we're all a whiter shade of pale, we can't stay out for more than fifteen minutes at a time before we start turning pink. That's pretty much it. Not terribly exciting, but it's comfortable for us at the moment. Another week or two, and we'll all go stir crazy. Then we'll do something everyday.

Labels: Goals, Invariance, Kids, Merlin And Arthur, New Starts, Project Challenge, Stash

As promised, here is the progress I've made on Tobi's stocking. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's only a pinprick, but it's there. I should get back to it in a couple days.
I'm still working on my model. I've almost finished the section I ripped out. I've got a half an hour's work left on that, but I found another small section that's off by one stitch. I think I must've been drunk the first time I stitched this part. That'll take me an hour to rip out, and a little over an hour to put back in.
I thought I'd catch up on some SBQs, since I haven't in awhile. First one. How do you decide which stitching blogs are worth repeat and/or regular viewings? Are there certain things you look for in particular? Are there things you wish there were more of? Less of? Is your blog a good example of what you like to read?
This is kinda like how I pick friends, or how I used to pick boyfriends. I don't know why I like someone or their blogs. I just look through, and if it strikes me, I add it to my Google Reader. Before I started using Google Reader, I would delete blogs from my favorites if they went a month without posting. Clear as mud? I guess mine is what I like to read. Stitching and people's real life. When I started my blog, I never expected anyone to read it. I love that there are a few people crazy enough to read the insanity that comes out of my head, but I blog to keep track of my progress, and to get out everything that rattling around in my head.
How many WIPs do you have? How many UFOs do you have? When does a WIP become a UFO?
Counting the model, I have five WIPs. I don't have any I consider to be UFOs, although I probably should. To me WIPS become UFOs when I give up on them, and as my husband will happily point out, I'm a stubborn b****. It takes alot to make me give up on just about anything. The first cross stitch project I ever finished spanned about three years of on again off again stitching. It was a nativity scene, with seven stand up figures. In 2000, I stitched the first two. In 2001, I stitched one when my mom and I went to the CATS show in Atlanta. That fall I moved to Virginia to live with my dad, and left stitching here. When I came to visit in 2002, I did another figure, but again I left the stitching. When I moved back here in 2003, I was pregnant, living in an upstairs apartment, with me my 35 pound one and a half-year-old. I could go many places, since I had a hard time carrying Tobi up and down all those stairs, so I picked up my nativity scene from my mom, and stitched the last three while waiting for Darin. I never gave up it. I always planned to finish it.
Are you on “The Wagon?” If so, how long have you been on and how “serious” are you about it? If not, have you considered it? I'm not technically on "The Wagon", but I'm on the Fifty Project Challenge. I've been on it since March, but I'm not good at it though. I've got some stash plans for next week, after I get my birthday money.
I decided to treat myself to some HAEDs for my birthday/stress reduction/Mother's Day. I picked out six that I can't live without. Since shipping goes up for six to tn charts, I decided to get a couple more, if I was going to pay that much. So I picked out eight, which brought my total to $90. Well, at a hundred, shipping is free, so what's one more chart. So I've picked out nine charts to buy next week, after I get birthday money, but before the Mother's Day sale is over. My birthday's next Thursday, three days before Mother's Day.
In case you're interested, I'm planning to get five Bowsers, twos Feneches, one Camprubi, and one Shimmel. The Feneches are Dragon Soul and Impossible Love. I loved the Dragon Soul freebie Michelle did. Of course, it's not a freebie anymore, and if I'm gonna pay for it, I'm gonna buy the full size one. As for Impossible Love, I just love the colors, the idea, and the expressiveness of their faces. It's just beautiful.
The Bowsers I'm planning on are: Invariance, Tending The Dragon Sleep, Desire, Goddess Of Tides, and Cathedral. Cathedral was a tough decision. That was my last one added to get free shipping, and I had a hard time picking between Cathedral, Beckon, and Lotus Wood. I also like Forest Light, but it was also the first one I threw out of the running. That's enough rambling for now, and plenty of links. Have a nice weekend.

Labels: Models, Project Challenge, SBQ, Stash, Tobi's Stocking

Don't you just love when everything in life blows up at you? Two weeks ago, Jymi had five teeth pulled, (four wisdom teeth, and one other). For a week, I had an extra child. It took me three days of sleeping in for me to become halfway human again. The next weekend, the computer died. Yay. It took Jymi a week and quite a few obscenities to get that fixed. Friday night, I got a ticket, because apparently my tags have expired. My notice must've gotten lost in the mail, because we had no idea. So now I have to go to court in June. Yesterday I had to take Jymi to another dentist, for cavities. They worked on one, and decided it was going to have to be pulled, and they didn't have time to work on the other two. If all that was enough, on the way to the babysitter's, we had a tire blow out. The spare was flat, and the other rear tire won't last much longer. So I had to get up early this morning, go pay the taxes, and then go to the DMV, so Jymi could drive my car to work. We can't afford new tires for his car until payday. Then there's my kids, who are always trying to kill each other, and the entire three days I spent cleaning the house. I'm ready to start pulling my hair out.
The good news is, I got my birthday present early. I had been considering getting a kitten when Jymi left, to ease the loneliness. Tobi's been watching alot of Animal Planet lately, which always has heart breaking animal shelter PSAs. He's been coming out crying "for the pets". I tried explaining that, despite how much I would love to be able to give all the poor animals a loving home, we just can't. Tobi replied, "Well can we just have one kitty?" When I told Jymi, he suggested we go ahead and get one. So that Friday, we went down to animal control. We had seen one called Miss Priss online, that Jymi liked, but when we got there, she came right up to the glass. She loved on the boys through the window. We looked at all the other cats, but our mind was kinda made up already. We brought her home and changed her name to Hannah. She's about three years old, and has been a stray all her life. We considered naming her Anna, since she was so anorexic looking (under all that fur; her vet says she doesn't even weigh a whole pound), but it seemed a little bleak. Tobi misheard and said, "Like Hannah Montana?", and we decided Hannah was good. She's very sweet and affectionate. She's smart, too. The first person she really made up to Jymi, who loves her now.
I've been stitching on my model, but still no pictures. I also worked on Tobi's stocking some too, but Blogger's gone funny, so no pictures of it today. I think I can finish it by July, at the rate I'm going. I've also decided that when Jymi leaves, I'm going to start Merlin And Arthur. I'm also considering starting Invariance, either at the same time, or after I finish two of the other big things I've got started. the thing is, I don't have the chart yet, and I'm supposed to be on the Fifty Project Challenge. After all the chaos and headbanging of the last couple weeks, I need to give in to one addiction, and stash buying is healthier than smoking. I'll probably just use my birthday money. What I really want is to see the companion, Blue Invariance charted. Maybe one day.
My April goals were: finish my model, try to do the SALs, and work on Tobi's stocking. The model's not done yet, but it's close. I had to frog and restitch part of it, and in doing so, I found that part of it was half a stitch off. So I spent all my stitching time yesterday frogging. I'll start restitching today. It shouldn't take too long. My May goals are: finish the model, SAL, and work on Tobi's stocking. Sound familiar?

Labels: Computers, Goals, Jymi, Models, New Starts, Pets, Project Challenge, Real Life Sucks, Stash, Tobi's Stocking

I only managed about an hour on The Castle yesterday. We had a busy day.
I reorganized my charts last week, and went through them all. I listed all the ones I really want to stitch, and had over 150. So I've decided to put myself on the fifty project challenge. I'm restricting it to charts and kits, though, because for most of them, I'll still need threads and embellishments. I do have fabric for at least fifty, but I also get my fabric of the month from Shakespeare's Peddler, and I'm not cancelling it. That will probably be the only fabric I get, though. Of course, being broke has also influenced my decision. So it's all for the best. That's all for today!

Labels: Project Challenge, Stash, The Castle