Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Resurfacing...

Hello my dear blog friends...

It's hard to believe that I've been away from my little space for more than two months. I have no idea how time flies so fast. Much has been going on. I had a lovely trip to Portland and Seattle. Portland to visit a friend and Seattle for a girl's getaway. I do have to say that Seattle feels as much to me as SF does and each time I leave, I pine to be back. I hope to go back in the Fall for a couple days more so I can explore and perhaps figure out if SF or Seattle is where I need to be. So strange to say that. I'm quite lucky to be where I am but Seattle calls to me much the same. Although in the end, it's quite a lot of work to pick up and move a life when everything I know and love is here. Perhaps frequent trips are what I need to visit Pike Place Market, gaze upon the same ocean from a different vantage point, eat delicious food and lust after the hot bartender that made this past visit so much fun. Sadly, he has a girlfriend but looking and chatting doesn't hurt nothing and no one.

Besides the hottie bartender and spending time with my great friends, the next biggest highlight was visiting the Chihuly Glass Garden. L-O-V-E!!! Here are a couple of snaps.







The trip came at the perfect time. It was a wonderful distraction. Since the beginning of the year, I was spending time with someone that I hoped would become more than just friends but after months, I realized that even though I was attracted to him and his totally adorable dog, I deserved to be treated better if we were really having a relationship. So I parted ways and threw myself into dating. So much so that my friends were calling me a "dating fiend" and asked how I kept up. The answer is that you don't. After a couple of months, you get tired, throw in the towel and get frustrated with men. I'm exhausted!! I realized that none of the guys I was dating made me feel butterflies...or super excited. They were great guys. Nice. I could sit over dinner and talk and talk with them. I could have a fun time. But I just wasn't feeling *it*. So at the moment I am feeling quite "ho-hum" about dating.

With working full time, housesitting chores, dating galore, spending time with friends and the usual errands and such, stitching has been low on the totem pole. I get to a point where I feel that if I don't stitch soon, I will go insane and when I get to that point, I'll cancel plans for a night or two just so I can force myself to relax and stitch.

I've only been stitching on my Jane. She's all that holds my attention and since she is a little on the big side and on rods, I can only stitch on her at home. Not like I have time elsewhere anyways. I managed to complete the middle section. She's looking pretty! I didn't even realize until I was stitching that the name on the sampler is more like "Iane Pattison" versus "Jane Pattison". Who knew! I need to pay closer attention.


I've moved onto the last third of the sampler which has the last flowers. This is my favorite section and I am getting that feeling that the project is winding down. Not much farther to go!

This weekend is stitch group and next weekend I am driving up to my little sanctuary in the woods to get some R&R, disconnect from the technology world and get a little bit of stitching done. I was thinking I would leave Jane at home and work on a new start. Over the last few days, I've been slowly getting the supplies together to start Lilac. I've loved her from the moment I laid eyes on her. I saw a finished photo of her on (old) Silkweaver Fallen Leaves which is a soft green-grey color and I bought the fabric ages ago. I think that I can start her in qsnaps and once Jane is completed, Lilac will take her place on the rods. Here is the floss toss. I need to get a move on if I'm going to be able to start by Saturday!

I managed to get a couple of packages out in the mail. Of course, in my rush to send them out I didn't take any photos! I stitched up this Drawn Thread ornie for Carol as a happy belated birthday gift.


I was so happy that it was well received! I stitched it on 32 count Light Mocha Belfast and stitched it completely according to the instructions. The finishing instructions were easy but no matter what, I seem to have a block when it comes to finishing. I am really happy with how it turned out! Carol, I hope you don't mind that I snagged a photo from your blog!

And lastly is my TUSAL report. My jar is woefully lacking in orts. But then, stitching on 40 count doesn't produce very many to begin with!


Doesn't that gigantic peony look gorgeous?! They are my favorite flower and their season is so short. I can't resist treating myself to those fluffy blooms. I'm hoping the big flowers distract from how empty my jar looks!

So I have a couple of things that I need input on. While I was on vacation, Google announced that they are discontinuing Reader. Why are they getting rid of such a good thing?! So I think it's between BlogLovin or Feedly. Any pros/cons? I haven't had the time to research since I've been slammed. Also, how do you write a copyright on a photo? I thought it was Paint but Paint was being a diva tonight so maybe I have it wrong.

I appreciate all my friends and followers sticking with me during my absence. I'm hoping to blog more often but we'll see how things go!

Hope everyone has a good end of the week/weekend!

Until next time...

27 comments:

Barb said...

So glad you enjoyed Seattle!! You have lots of great project ideas! I do love Jane.

Ann at Beadlework. said...

It's great to see you whether it's every two weeks or every two months - I enjoy hearing your news. It's good to have somewhere that you love to visit as it makes the trip so relaxing each time you go. The peony is a gorgeous shade of pink.

Lois said...

Lovely to see a blog post from you Valerie! Your Jane is gorgeous and I'm not surprised that's all you feel like working on when you get the chance. Sounds like life has been very busy lately. Enjoy your weekend away! I love peonies too, I've a dark red one in the garden and even though it's still chilly here it has produced quite a few buds this year. They should bloom in the next week or two.

cucki said...

Lovely post and very sweet stitching xxx

cucki said...

Lovely post and very sweet stitching xxx

Chris said...

So glad to see an update. Jane is gorgeous, and you are in the home stretch. That peony is amazing,so gorgeous!
It sounds like you had a wonderful time in Seattle. I need to get to that city :)
I hope that you have some great down time this weekend.

Julie said...

Jane is looking gorgeous and the glass flowers are splendid. Enjoy your quiet reflective time away.

Catherine said...

Good to see you!! I desperately need to do an update as well! Your stitches are looking lovely ~ enjoy your weekend!!

Margaret said...

Oh I envy you your trips to Seattle. I've wanted to visit there since forever but have never been. DD went, and went to the Chihuly exhibit as well. Not fair. lol! Sounds like you've been busy busy! Your Jane is looking good though. Last stretch with the flowers!! Love the fairy too -- hope it's set to go by the time your get away weekend arrives. As for blog readers, I've been using feedly and like it quite a lot. It has a title only way to use it so you can go through quickly if you want, or it also can be in the more magazine type format etc. Easy to use and everything. Bloglovin' bothers me with this having to "claim" your blog and stuff like that. So I haven't even tried it much. Feedly does the trick for me. I need to figure out how to label my pictures too. Can't figure it out. My friend labels hers through her camera! I wonder if iPhones can do that.....

Laurie in Iowa said...

Seattle is a wonderful place and I thought of moving there at one time. I just don't know if I could deal with the copious amounts of rain.
Your Jane looks wonderful.

Edgar said...

What a nice trip to Seattle you had, I always love a quick visit. - and - Jane is looking lovely!!

Cole said...

Jane is soo pretty! And your ornie for Carol is great too, you did a beautiful job!

Enjoy your stitching time away, a technology break & quiet time is good for the soul :) Looking forward to a Lilac update!

Melanie said...

I love the little ornament you did up for Carol. It's so perfect for her too because she's the Queen of ornaments, yes? (Jane is looking fantastic as well.)

Sounds like a great trip to Seattle. Love that you got to see the Chihuly installation. Moving from one state to another is a major expense so there is that. I've done it and there was always something else costing me that I didn't expect. (Just having to redo licenses and registrations was a huge expense on it's own.) But if you can find a job there that pays you more? Why not do it? You only live once.

I think I am moving over to Feedly when the time comes but not a second before that. I will use Reader right up until they snatch it out of my hands. There is also The Old Reader, which is a lot like Google Reader, aside from a server that is a little slower. So Feedly or that for me. I never researched BlogLovin. The name turned me off a little for some reason? I mean, only a small portion of my Reader subscriptions are personal blogs. The rest are just content feeds from web sites that I don't want to have to remember to visit every day. I like the internet to come to ME. lol That's why I'm so distraught over losing Google Reader. I rss feed EVERYTHING that I can so I only have to browse one continuous page, vs. bookmarking all the things I am interested in. That's what those feeds are FOR, isn't it???

Carol said...

I so wish everyone could see how absolutely gorgeous the ornament you sent for my birthday is, Valerie!! I truly love everything about it :) Thank you again so very much...

I'm so glad you had a great trip--I felt the same way about Boston when I visited there... I just felt at home and like I could easily move there and be happy. Probably won't ever happen at my age, but at yours, it will be fun to explore the possibilities.

Your Jane is gorgeous... I can't wait to see it all finished up!

I switched to Bloglovin' and really like it--no problems at all... The switchover actually helped me weed out the blogs that I no longer read or were no longer active so my blog list is much shorter these days :)

To put my blog name on my photos I use Picasa--very easy and free to download...

Enjoy the rest of your week, my friend!

Giovanna said...

Nice to to see you post - your Jane is looking gorgeous, and so close to a finish :-)
I used Bloglovin for a while and it was ok. But after trying out The Old Reader, I liked that much better (in fact, I think I like it even better than Google's reader...), so I switched to that now and am quite happy.

Natasha said...

So glad to see a post from you :) Love how Jane is turning out! Great work you are doing on her.

Your next project, Lilac, is going to BEAUTIFUL!!

I wish I could help you with the copyrite info, I have been wondering myself. But to ask me is pointless I am so technically challenged it's not even funny...

I am glad to hear that you had such a wonderful time in Portland and Seattle Two places I always wanted to visit but never made it.

Hopefully you get some much needed stitching time for yourself. It is starting to heat up here and since I never really had to deal with heat and humidty for a long time while living in SF I forgot how uncomfortable it is to stitch when you are sweating like a you know what in church Hahaha... Take care girl and talkt o ya soon

I use BlogLovin and I guess it is fine, good luck :)

Dani - tkdchick said...

Glad to have you back! Glad to hear you enjoyed Seattle, I've barely been to the west coast (1.5 days in San Diego doesn't really count does it?).

Your WIP is looking awesome!!!

Keeper of the Crowes said...

Two gorgeous cities. I would have a tough time making that "call"! "Jane" looks so beautiful. It will looks great where ever you call "Home".

Danielle said...

Oh how I have missed your posts! Jane looks great! Looking forward to seeing progress on Lilac. I may start a pixie myself. I have loved so many of them. I vote for Bloglovin. I have been using it for about two months now and it was easy to import all of my google reader subscriptions, plus, and this is the biggest pro for me, you can get an email sent to you daily with all of the new posts for that day. So first thing in the morning I sit down with a cup of coffee and catch up.

Katrina said...

Jane is just gorgeous and I love the Lilac piece. I am loving Bloglovin, works well for me.

Glad you had some nice roadtrips too!!!!!!

Sharon said...

Jane is just stunning, I really need to concentrate on mine. Your new start is going to be so pretty.

Anonymous said...

Your Jane sampler is beautiful. I admire your work. What a nice gift...the Christmas ornie for your friend. Lovely.

Anne said...

Aw so close to Vancouver Valerie!! You need to come up here sometime! I love Seattle and need to go for another visit soon. Pike Place market is amazing. Wow, your Jane is so beautiful. I really love this sampler. Lilac fairy is really beautiful too and I'm sure you will love stitching her. As for the feedly, bloglovin' thing, I got a bloglovin account but not really lovin' it. I think I may try the feedly but haven't wanted to let go of google reader just yet.

Anonymous said...

I love CHIHULLY! One of my favorite artists!

Feedly is the RSS reader I chose. It has a pretty good app. too.

The peony is GORGEOUS! For putting a copyright on a photo I use PicMonkey.

Ruth said...

Good to see you --- I so envy your Chihuly time!..... and your stitching, of course. :)

Natalia said...

Love how Jane is looking, Valerie. Sounds like you have been too busy, but I am glad you enjoyed your trip to Seattle. Seattle is where I went to learn English some 24 years ago (has it been that long for real???), so it holds a special place in my heart. I spent 6 months there and I have so many fond memories.
You have some fun project ideas too !!!
Good to have you back.

Kaisievic said...

Sorry, reading your posts backwards - silly me! Did you start Lilac? She is lovely - I look forward to seeing your progress on her.