Au Revoir Mes Amis!!

Hi everybody...I leave for vacation in 11 hours! I'm not even packed! I hate packing...I mentally prepare the lists in my head and start making a huge pile of things I want to take and then when it comes down to the actual act of packing, I'm pretty fast. The weather here is about 84 degrees with around 60% humidity. I'm sure a lot of people may not think that's too bad but for here...it's HOT! This is part of the reason I haven't packed yet. It's sweltering in the bedroom!!

I do have to say that I am surprised and quite happy to have received quite a few comments from people interested in adopting my butterfly family! I like the ones who tell me what they will do if they get the chance to adopt. It makes me feel like they will be safe. I wonder if that sounds weird. As much as I don't necessarily embrace my culture, I am really proud of my heritage and I do think this is a good way to share an art form that you wouldn't really see anywhere outside of Central America. This giveaway idea makes me feel like I am doing that. I also got comments from "new to me" bloggers. Welcome! Please stop by again...I'll visit soon to say hi!

I did update the last post with better photos. I wanted to illustrate the back. They are made as stand-ups and aren't equipped for hanging on the wall. Unless you want to hang them upside down! LOL

I do have a small start to share since I've been procrastinating with the packing. Here's my start on my BBD Red Sampler. I'm really liking it so far even though it's making me think a lot! The spacing between letters is not consistent and the fact that there is no "W" and the Y comes before the X kind of drives me a little nuts. I wonder if my mom will get it...she's going to think that a college education was wasted on me if I can't even get the alphabet right! I'm going to have to explain the story behind this little sampler to her. I also have the dilemna of being from a latin family. Women typically have 4 names...first, middle, male last name and female last name. So my grandmother was known by four names but I will go with the first three for the sampler. The name itself is still long so I will have to shift my spacing to be able to fit first and middle in that fourth line without scrunching it.

Apparently, I got off easy being born in the States with just having two names, first and last. But I always feel a little sad that I don't have a third name for sampler initials...so I think that when I start working on samplers, I'll adopt my mom's maiden name to round it out a little.

So far, I am liking the color combination. I've only used two colors so far in the sampler, Lancaster Red and Antique Rose. Clay Pot has not come into play yet but it will soon.

I am still going to try to blog while I am on vacation assuming *the boy* will let me use his computer once in a while. I don't feel like lugging my computer and besides, I am lugging 4 books, Mary Wigham, BC Snappers, Gwendolyn, Spring Biscornu and BBD Red Sampler with me LOL! I don't think I'll get to work on all my projects but I would like to have the option of picking what I want to work on.

I'll catch up with your happenings when I get back!

Au revoir!

Until next time...

Butterfly Family

Just a quick little post. I've been busy cleaning up my bedroom this evening. Wow! I found all these new clothes I stashed away and forgot about! I need to buy hangers so I can actually see the clothes and actually wear them. Wow, what a concept, huh? As I was cleaning, I came across this little butterfly family. They were gifted to me by my cousin last year and whereas I think they are very cute, they are not quite my taste. My family is from Nicaragua and these come straight from my homeland. This is a sample of the craft/art that is made there. They are wooden butterflies painted white, fuschia and black with little bits of green. They have little metal antennas and metal posts in the back that allow them to stand. They are cute!! The largest mommy butterfly is 5"x5" and the smallest is about 2" x 2.5".
I've been hanging onto them because I can't bear to think about donating them to the Goodwill. They are from my homeland and they were a gift. I would like to find them a good home. If you think that you can provide my butterfly family with a nice and loving home and appreciate this art form from a much neglected and under-appreciated third-world country, please leave me a comment on this post only saying you'd like to adopt the butterfly family. I'm not going to require that you post on your own blog but that would be appreciated. If there is more than one comment with interest, I will do a drawing when I get back from vacation (yay! vacation!!). Last day to enter the drawing to adopt my butterfly family is Sunday, September 6th at 10PM PST. I will do the drawing on Labor Day (September 7th).

I will try to edit this post on Friday this week with better daytime pictures. My night-time pictures leave a lot to be desired! :)

Edited Saturday, 8/29 with better pictures:

Butterfly Family Front

Butterly back

Some folks have mentioned hanging the butterfly family and I wanted to illustrate that they stand with a little bendable metal stand. Unless you are handy and can put a hook on them, they are not hang-able (is that even a word?)

I hope the butterfly family finds a good home!

Until next time...

Tuesdays Are My Stitchy Night!

Jeezus, it took me 45 minutes to figure out the Picasa Collage function! Doesn't the computer know I am supposed to be stitching and not figuring out why it's having a temper tantrum or realizing how inept it's owner is at figuring out techie stuff? So I could have done better with the collage but the light wasn't blazing into my apartment like it usually is when I got home and the pre-stated technological issues kind of made me lose my steam on my "hey, let me learn how to make a collage...sounds cool!" mood. I do kind of dig how the words go in all sorts of different directions though. One day...I'll be good at the photo-taking and collage-making. I promise! But here's the L&K ABC Lessons a la collage with more normal lighting than that last snap.
Someone had asked what my plans were with the ABC Lessons and my answer is that I'm not very sure. I can't picture it up and framed in my apartment but I can in a house. I bought this kit as a reminder to myself to strive to be and do all the things suggested in this sampler. Some days, I find it hard to not let the little things get to me...and with the stress of the past year...even more so. This should probably be hung up on the wall though...so it's a constant reminder to be kind, to scatter joy, to understand others and to x-ercise...amongst other things. We'll see how this piece ends up.

I realized as I was driving home and setting the plans for this post that I should have taken pictures of my floss tosses for Gwendolyn and Mary Wigham before organizing it all into floss away bags. Oops! Too late now...I guess it will be a surprise! But here is the floos toss for the BBD Red Sampler that I'm making for my mom. I'll be using 32 count Lakeside Linens Vintage Light Exampler (surprise!) with WDW Lancaster Red, CC Clay Pot and GAST Antique Rose.
I didn't want to go as dark or bright as red but wanted something close. I think she'll like these colors and they will be complementary to the "Mom" piece I gifted her last year. I'm sure she'll put this piece in the same room.

And I almost forgot...hence crappy picture...that it's time to share my TUSAL progress. I'm three days late!! The jar is only 1/3 of the way full despite stitching my little heart out! Most of the colors on the top are from the ABCs so there is a lot of brown with some green, blue and pink thrown in for good measure.
I don't have any new stitching to show. What little I did over the weekend was more and more leaves for my Snappers border. It's boring. I don't want to stitch more leaves or photograph them either. I'm debating whether to continue with the leaves to try to catch up or start the BBD since it's sitting right here. Decisions, decisions.

I leave on vacation in FIVE days!! Yay! I have the feeling stitching time will be scarce leading up to the trip since I have to get the apartment in order, figure out and organize what I am taking with me and make sure I get my mani/pedi in before leaving! I can't wait!! I just hope the weather cools down a bit over on the East Coast! I'll touch base before I leave for sure and will probably post while away....maybe.

Hope everyone is having a stitchy Tuesday too.

Until next time...

Holy Crap! Where'd the Weekend Go?!

Seriously...the title says it all! How is it Monday?

This will be a pictureless post. Just me blabbing about how the weekend starts packed with a list of to-dos and ends with a couple of things checked off and the disbelief that Monday comes around faster and faster as the weeks and years pass.

The weekend was packed! Saturday was a quick trip into the city for an appointment, lots of laundry and some housesitting. The most frustrating thing was spilling an entire cup of coffee IN the car. That was a pain to clean up. The evening brought about some video-viewing on Rhode Island and a small amount of stitching. I never got around to taking some decent pictures of my L*K ABC Lessons and all I accomplished on the stitching front was ripping out the mistake-ridden border on the Snappers and start stitching it back again. I only got as far as June so it's nothing exciting to show.

I did spend the majority of Friday evening getting supplies together. I organized, labeled and cross-referenced all the threads for Mary Wigham which will be a start, very, very soon. She's all ready to go. Threads organized, fabric cut and serged and pattern printed out. I also did a color toss for the BBD Red Sampler that will be a gift to my mom in honor of my grandmother. Colors selected and fabric picked out. That just needs to be cut. Threads, pattern and fabric are all ready for Gwendolyn to start making her appearance and the same goes for my Spring biscornu. I finally managed to find the time for the organizing aspect of the stitching...now to find the time to actually stitch! I felt incredibly accomplished from just doing that though.

I also received my copy of Treasures in Needlework in order to stitch American Sampler by Sandy Orton. I'm not too big on samplers but this one calls to me. I know it's a take (versus a true reproduction) on the Mary Balch School type of Samplers and *the boy* and I have been doing a lot of research on them since I am heading out to Rhode Island for vacation next week. We plan on hitting some needlework exhibits and I hope to be able to share some photos with you assuming they allow photos to be taken. In fact, *the boy* has been sending lots of emails and researching the Balch School and surprised me with the level of interest he now has for this stuff. He appreciates the historical aspect of the samplers more so than the actual look of them but he's planned a whole itinerary of stitchy related stuff for me to do. Talk about awesome! I let him off the hook of taking me to CT to visit the "mecca" of all needlework shops on the East Coast. I'm serious about going on a stash diet and would rather see some Boston sights. But back to the magazine. The American Sampler is beautiful and has quite a few specialty stitches I've never done before. I see this as a teaching piece to myself which will probably mean lots of whining and ripping out of hair. It also has a ton of colors and supplying myself with the AVAS will cost a small fortune! So I will not be starting this anytime soon. The copy of this magazine is OOP and can get pricey on eBay. I'm lucky to have found this due to a mis-spelling on the sale posting on Amazon.com! I did read in the Attic's newsletter that they will be re-printing this pattern in March in the Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine so those of you trying to get this can hold out until March 2010 and buy it at a normal magazine price.

Sunday was my friend's baby shower...lots of food, chatting and present opening. It brought about a lot of "I'm not ready for my friends to be having kids" feelings on my end. Later in the evening, AM and I went to try a new (to us) place called Bar Bambino in the Mission. It's on the dodgy end of 16th, but the restaurant was very trendy and cute. Service was better than food in my opinion. I'm not sure if AM would agree. The highlight was the wine and the very yummy meatballs that I ordered. Not that the rest of the food was bad...it wasn't. I just think I went in there with very high expectations given the number of great reviews the restaurant has received since opening.

Today is Monday. It started with me hearing about a scary pipe bomb incident at the local highschool in the town I work in. Everyone is still at the site trying to get things back in order and school has been cancelled for the day. It makes me think what makes things so hard for kids nowadays that they think this is a solution to whatever problem they might have? It's scary. Kids shouldn't be acting this way. Just three towns away, a teenager ended his/her life by getting hit by the train...this is the fourth kid from the same high school in the last year. What is going on? How can we (parents, friends, the public) keep kids safe?

Remember to love your kids, give them hugs, keep them safe and talk to them...school is hard but these should not be the consequences of going to school.

On a more uplifting note, tonight is the first day of my "Beginning Clothing Construction" aka sewing class. I am hoping to learn how to turn the darn thing on and sew in a straight line! If I can accomplish that in the full semester, I'll be a happy camper.

I'll have a full report on my class and hopefully some pictures tomorrow for my regular Tuesday installment.

Hope you all have a great Monday...until next time.

Happy Dancing Friday!

I was determined to finish L*K ABC Lessons tonight. It is way late and too dark to take the level of photos that I'd like to but I can't resist sharing my happy dance now. Ta-da...c'est fini!! Yay! I really, really needed a happy dance! (Click photo to see close-up)

Lizzie*Kate ABC Lessons
Crescent Colors overdyed and DMC as kitted
32 count Antique Ivory Belfast

I might take some more pictures after work to practice photo collages so I may subject you to more photos later. For now, it's time to peel off and head to bed. How am I going to get up in 6 hours?! *The boy* is gonna yell at me for staying up so late on a school night.

Next project focus: ripping out cursed Snapper border and finishing that sucker up already! You know...before I stomp on it and throw it out the window from frustration! Hmmm...maybe that shouldn't be my next focus!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Until next time...

Tuesdays Are My Stitchy Nights

I'm writing this before it being "stitchy night" since it's already 8pm and *the boy* will be making his nightly call at 9pm. Looks like I will not be getting much actual stitching done! But so far, it's been a good day! Before lunch, I managed to find a copy of the Treasures in Needlework magazine that folks have been drooling over (me included) which includes the American Sampler by Sandy Orton from 1993. It was very hard to find! I can't wait for it to arrive!When I came home from lunch, I was greeted with the arrival of the JCS Halloween Issue. Following is the interior page of the ornament patterns included in the issue. I really like the Glory Bee Oct 31 ornie in the upper right corner and the Ladybug Lanes Happy Owl-o-Ween ornie in the middle. Those two are my favorite. Now to find the time to stitch them up!
Thanks again to everyone who offered book recommendations to me last week. I finally finished The Queen's Fool by Phillippa Gregory last night...a little late. After work today, I stopped by the library. I wasn't sure if I was going to check out a Jane Austen book since I felt like some "light and fluffy" reads but the moment I walked in, Pride and Prejudice jumped right out at me...it was an omen and so I took it home with me as well as three others. I'll be spending a lot of time reading the next three weeks especially considering the airport time and flight time, etc. These books will come in handy.And here is where my L*K ABCs stands. I was really hoping to share a happy dance but this neck/shoulder pain has resurfaced and my stitching mojo has kind of taken a tumble. So I am trying the lap stand I've had buried in the closet to see how my progress goes. I'm almost ready to shift the q-snap to the right and stitch "Y" and finish "Z". Ohhh...so close!!Once this is finished, it's time to frog the Snappers border (again!) and make starts in the projects I am taking with me to RI. I think I'll take the BBD Red Sampler, Mirabilia Gwendolyn, Barbara Ana's Spring Biscornu and maybe, just maybe...the Snappers since they aren't too far from being a Happy Dance too. As for Newton, I think I might pull different DMC for his body...it's just not doing it for me right now.

Just a couple of announcements before I peel off.

Melissa of The Daily Mel is having a fantastic Giveaway to celebrate 8 years of blogging and 1000 posts! Can we say wow?! She is giving away a huge and very generous package! Go visit and sign up. The photo and link is in my sidebar. Congratulations Melissa!!

Also, Susan K...I tried to email you the answer to your questions but it bounced back to me 2x. Maybe you can email me back with an alternate address?

And my movie review of the week. I went to see Julie and Julia. One word...fantastic! I really enjoyed it. I can see what people mean about wishing there was more Julia than Julie as Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci are fantastic and the scenes of Paris...stunning. There was even a shot of this quirky bookstore I visited in Paris in 2000...brought so many memories back and made me wish I could go now...when I can appreciate it more and am not suffering from a broken heart like I was back then. But that bookstore was a wonderful escape for me.

Ok, folks...*the boy* just emailed me to tell me he's sleepy and calling early so better peel off for sure. Hope you all have a great week.

Until next time...

Show and Tell...and Questions

Wednesday...midway through the week. I figured I would share stash I've accumulated over the last month. I took advantage of time at a stitchy get together and a fabulous blog sale. Here are a couple of those mesh bags to cart projects around. I figured this was better and more secure than the old drawstring Gap and Apple bags I've been using! I scored two of Valerie Lejeune's books, Repertoire des Frises and Repertoire des Alphabets. These are tough to come by so I am happy to add them to my library. There's also a few overdyeds and these lovely scissors! I've seen these scissors all over stitchy blogland and have been coveting them for awhile. I finally figured out how to get them. If anyone is curious, they are an eBay.fr find. They will run about $22 with the international postage. If anyone has problems locating them, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the seller.
And here are some charts I added to the evergrowing stash...Brightneedle Pretty in Pink, Drawn Thread Too Tiny Samplers, La D Da Love is Patient and The Sampler Girl My Everything. There's also a cut of Antigue Ivory belfast because almost anything looks good on it! I bought the last two charts because I decided that as so many people want to have a sampler wall...I want to have a "Love" wall...whether I'm in or out of love. I haven't got anything to put up to start one but at some point, I'll be ready to start!

With this last purchase, I have to now put myself on a stash diet for the rest of the year. The whole new tires (2) purchase last night didn't help the cause any. Time to tighten the belts especially as talks about furloughs and layoffs start to resurface at work. I have the feeling some tough decisions will be coming around in November. Time to save a little bit of money...just in case.

And here is a shot of dinner. This was the dish I wanted to make on Monday..you know...before the whole flat tire stole two of my evenings. I saw the recipe on eating/sf and it's called Corn and Sweet Pepper Hash. I couldn't find any sweet peppers to save my life so I just used red bell pepper. I alsolutely love corn...and I have a unique way of eating it...to avoid the whole corn in the teeth problem. Since I had 3 ears wasting away in the fridge, this seemed a good way to use them and have a healthy dinner. I used 3 ears and 1 red bell pepper.
This and some yellow squash was dinner and it was a nice, light, healthy meal on a nice summer night. Mmmmm.....corn! Dessert will be either yogurt, rice pudding or fresh figs...decisions, decisions!

So onto questions..

I'm leaving on vacation in 2.5 weeks...time is flying! I am struggling to get through The Queen's Fool to return it by it's due date this weekend. Time to get new books.

I am looking for a Jane Austen book recommendation. I've never read one before. Which one is your favorite? The must read?

And I'd love a ChickLit (i.e. fluffy and funny) book recommendation too!

And for those Facebook fans out there...what in the world is Mafia Wars?! It is worth looking at? I'm scared to try it out because I don't want it to suck all my free time...need time for my shows and stitching!

Hope everyone is enjoying their evening. I'm about to peel off the computer to watch some CSI:NY and read a little more of my book.

Remember to enjoy and relax.

Until next time...

Tuesdays Are My Stitchy Night

This week has started on the wrong foot. As an example, yesterday started off with me forgetting to set the alarm and waking up at the same time I should be at work! Total scramble to get to work and from there it was ok until after work. I was all gung-ho about trying out a new recipe and went to the grocery store to get the ingredients. As I walked back to my car, I realize that I had a flat. So I give AAA a call and a very nice tow-truck guy came and helped me with the tire. But by the time I got home, it was late and I didn't feel like chopping or cooking anything. So I scrounged around the fridge to find something to eat.

I hate dealing with car stuff! So now I am trying to figure out where and how to get my flat fixed where it won't take a lot of time or money. If I didn't feel so "omg, I am running out of time", I don't think I would mind the inconvenience but lately, I just feel like I don't have enough time to get everything done and I feel so unaccomplished...and then I feel all frazzled and stressed out.

So even though it's Tuesday, I'll be dealing with tire repair more than stitching. This may be good seeing as stitching has been feeling a little stressful and annoying lately. First, there were the Snappers...again...and the second border mistake...which I have yet to rip out. Second, there was the whole being unsure about my Mary Wigham fabric and my "oh my gawd, the sky is falling" reaction and now...now there is Newton.

Newton is the baby announcement I am making for my friend Claire. It came as a kit on aida cloth and I switched out the fabric for a cream lugana. I started working on this Sunday night...just as a little diversion and to say I made a start. But as I was working on it, I felt as though the colors might have been mixed up because Newton is coming out lighter than how he shows up on the picture. Here's how he is turning out so far. I haven't put in too much time and he's going to be small at 8"x8".
This is how he is supposed to turn out. I didn't like the white since you are supposed to stitch the bubbles and the tub in white and what's the point if you can't even tell! Hence the creamy lugana. But I kind of feel like Newton is a little more on the yellow side than on the brown side.
So I wonder if I should continue stitching and see how he fully looks. Or if I should just go pull some DMC, make a start on the other side and see which one I like better. Scrap it and find something else. Stitch it and offer it up as a giveaway to someone else. And the last two options are only because I saw a better-suited design. But that other design also comes as a kit...from the UK...and is supplied with the same Anchor thread and can get pricey considering the conversion plus shipping and the fact I would switch out the Aida fabric anyways. It's a lot to spend for essentially just the chart and the cheap thread. I suppose I should go with my original choice and work with it considering it's pointless to have so many birth announcements especially as I would only go to the trouble for very few people and I don't forsee me having children to keep them for myself! *sigh* Anybody have any thoughts on this one?

So...you can see my stitching dilemna. Nothing seems to be going according to my stitchy plan. The only thing that is behaving is my ABC Lessons. Here is how it stands as of Sunday. Excuse the poor picture. I took it off the Q-Snaps and it was so wrinkly.
I only have two more rows to stitch! This is probably good though because even though it's behaving and coming out beautifully...I am getting a little tired and bored of stitching letters. I'm ready to see a picture transform in front of my eyes! Maybe it's time to pick up a Mirabilia.

Thanks to everyone who offered a positive comment about my Mary Wigham fabric freakout. I went to NiaH on Sunday to have a look at other fabrics and I decided that Fawn was good to go. I think I'd prefer the lighter threads to pop on the dark fabric than darker threads to pop on lighter fabric. I knew this when I originally picked it out but apparently I forgot! But now, fabric is cut, serged and ready to go!

Tonight...I think I will pick up a book instead of stitching...once the whole tire dilamna is straightened out.

Hope everyone has had a better start to the week...

Until next time...

Woo!! It's Friday!

It's about fricking time!

What a week...very busy and non-stop. But it was a good week. I worked out twice and didn't die which is always a good thing and my muscles are still talking to me two days later. Yay...working out does mean less stitching though. That's the sad part.

But I am so happy it's Friday since I have a totally relaxing and self-pampering weekend planned. Lots of tv and videos, lots of stitching, an appointment for a nice facial treatment and possibly a new hairdo; a quick jaunt over to my local street festival; as well as a trip the the LNS and a mellow dinner with a good friend planned. All the makings for a nice weekend. Woo!

Yesterday, I was surprised by these being delivered at work!
A lovely bouquet of 3 dozen mini roses sent to me by *the boy*. How sweet! No special occasion...just because. I gather he misses me...I miss him too. They came in lovely colors of red, apricot, burnt orange and yellow.
See! Pretty! I've put them in a prime spot right next to the tv so I can enjoy them while being a lazy futon potato and watching tv.

So tonight, I plan on catching up on my tv programs...

And reading a little bit of this...
And stitching a little bit more on this...
I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and weekend planned! Enjoy and have fun!

Until next time...

Edited: Oh my...almost forgot. Go check out Patti's blog. She just became a grandma and is having a lovely giveaway to celebrate! Go over and wish her congratulations! You have until 9/4 to put your name in for the draw.

Tuesdays Are My Stitchy Nights

Whew...I didn't think I was going to make it! I feel very frazzled this week so far and my previous post is just a tiny example of all the buzzing going on in my head. I don't know what it is but it might me all the work deadlines and the busier than normal week. But it's good to keep busy, right? I went to exercise class last night and didn't die so that was good and have class again tomorrow. I like this class...the teacher is fun and I feel like I actually worked out. I figure if the 2x a week class works out fine this week, I will try to incorporate a yoga class into the mix next week. I've been curious to try a local yoga studio for weeks. The yoga class I was enrolled in through the rec center just wasn't cutting it for me.

Anyways, I'm blabbering on and you folks want to see stitchy stuff. I have some recent stash acquisitions to show but didn't get my act together enough to take photos before the camera battery died.

But I do have this little bit of progress to show. Little by little, I've been working on my ABC Lessons since my whole border fiasco on the Snappers and I finished the Q,R,S row. This a fun and quick project. I only have three more rows to stitch and it'll be finished.
I am dying for a finish so I think I will continue on with this one until it's done. I'm hoping to get the next row (T, U, V) completed by the end of the weekend. The next couple of days are pretty packed for me so not much stitching will be accomplished by my weekend is fairly free. I can get a lot done if I actually concentrate...and stop surfing the net for even more stash! My hope has been to finish one of my projects before my vacation because I want to start Mary Wigham, need to start my friend's baby announcement and a small gift for my mom's birthday. I better stitch faster!

Thanks for all the positive comments on my Mary Wigham post. The lady at the shop didn't actually tell me I was nuts. It was more "You're stitching on Fawn, but it's so dark! The darkest anyone is going with is Examplar" and it stirred up a lot of doubt in my poor indecisive noggin. But it's growing on me and I realized I forgot to pull all the threads for a proper floss toss. Duh.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the week!

Until next time...

Decisions, Decisions...Help!

Anyone close to me knows that when it comes to making decisions...I am hopeless. I ask all my friends what they think on the things I am not 100% positive about. I think they are so used to it now, they don't even blink an eye. When it comes to stitching, I am very happy to have great blogging friends and a great staff at my local LNS. Last month, I went to NiaH to buy fabric for Mary Wigham.
With help, I picked Lakeside Linens Fawn. It's a nice linen but outside my comfort zone. I don't think I've stitched on anything this dark before. I had to put the linen on order since they didn't have a piece big enough. Well, the linen got delayed indefinitely, I cancelled my order, found a piece of Vintage Fawn at another shop instead and then heard from my LNS saying they will dye sooner than expected and so I got a piece anyways. Now I have a piece of 40 ct. Lakeside Linens Vintage Fawn and Regular Fawn. Apparently, I'm a nutcase. My dilemna is that I am scared it's too dark. Amazingly, when I took this picture this afternoon, I felt very "Hey, it looks pretty good" but at night, when I've been doing my toss the past couple of days, I've been very apprehensive that maybe I didn't make a good choice. (yes, Mary...I'm freaking out!!). So below is my toss. Vintage Fawn is on the top and Regular Fawn is on the bottom. There is a noticable difference between the two I think and I prefer the Vintage Fawn(top). This indecisiveness probably wasn't helped by some other shop owner telling me that I was nuts to use Fawn because that's darker than anyone else was using. Hence the current anxiety over fabric and thread. Shouldn't I be worrying about bigger things?!

So what do you all think?You can tell me...I can take it! Is it ok? Is it a go? Is it too dark? Should I go back and look for something lighter? *sigh* Having fun shouldn't be this hard! Either way, I'll probably go to NiaH to have a mini stitch-in and relax someplace that doesn't require laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, errands to be run. This girl is tired!

Ok...time to go but I'll be back with my Tuesday update.

Until next time...

Spoke Too Soon!

I just need to have a mini-vent. I thought that at this point in the morning, I would have a little happy dance to share with my November block. But as I was putting stitches in my top border, I noticed that the top border had more spaces in between the line and the leaves than in the bottom border. Weird! So I released it from it's makeshift confinement (this fabric is long!) and tried to see what was the matter. And I found it...the blasted mistake...all the way in April! OMG!!

Is it possible to strangle fabric and thread?! Maybe if I throw it on the floor and stomp on it, I might feel better? Freaking snappers!!! Ugh! I know it's my fault...I counted wrong...but I am blaming the freaking snappers. This piece is acting like a petulant teenager.

So you know what this means....two steps forward...one step back. I need to rip out the top border from April to November. I started the frogging last night and then couldn't bear it anymore. I decided to pull out my ABC Lessons because at least that project has been behaving. Maybe I'll stitch a row and then face the reverse stitching on the Snappers.

Blasted frogs!

Well, I am off to do the kabillion loads of laundry that need to be done! Enjoy the day!