My Beautiful City

A couple of weeks ago, *the boy* and I headed into the city to see the North Beach Columbus Day Parade and watch the Blue Angels. My amateur picturetaking did not capture essence the parade or the Blue Angels very well. The parade was interesting but both our tummies were complaining and we went off in search for food and grabbed slices at Golden Boy Pizza. Oh my, talk about yummy pizza! How come I've never been there before?! After finishing our slices, we raced to our viewing spot where we would watch the Blue Angels and here are the snaps I came away with. Below is a snap of the Transamerica Building, Financial District with the Bay Bridge in the background. The day was beautiful with nary a cloud in the sky!
And here is St. Peter and Paul Church in North Beach which sits on the edge of Washington Square. A truly beautiful church which looks even more stunning from the height we were at as you can see the San Francisco Bay with all the little boats out for a sail on a sunny day.
And even more boats out on the bay...and if you look really closely, you'll see Alcatraz to the far right...also known as "The Rock". If you ever take the night tour...it's super creepy being there after sunset.
And to the right is Coit Tower which does in fast look like a fire nozzle. Seems fitting to have this picture considering where I work. You can read more about the history of this tower here. The view from the hill is incredibly picturesque and the murals in the interior of the tower are true works of art.
And the only decent snap I actually captured of the Blue Angels. It's hard taking pictures of jets flying at lightening speed all over the Bay!! But if I got one decent one, I'm happy it's this one. You can see all six jets breaking their formation in a nosedive. Scary, yet amazing and beautiful. I'm glad to have battled the massive crowds to see these talented pilots in action.
And here ends my *show and tell* of a day in my beautiful city. My heart truly belongs to my hometown and I am happy to explore it (and act like a tourist) whatever chance I get!

Giftie for Claire

This past weekend, I went on a relaxing getaway with my dear friend, Claire. She's an October baby too so this was a quasi-birthday getaway as well. I decided to try my hand at making a floss ring tag using the cute kitty from Brittercup Designs. Claire is new to cross stitch and has been dying to have me take her to Needle in a Haystack so she could gt the supplies fort he Trick or Treat Kitty featured in the JCS Halloween Ornament issue. Since it was her birthday, I decided to get the supplies for the project as part of her birthday gift and attach all the threads to the Kitty floss ring tag. Here is the front and back of the floss ring tag to be. It was a quick stitch! On the back I stitched her name with the year and a couple of pink hearts.
Below is the finished product. I was very proud of myself! It was super easy to make thanks to the handy-dandy Crop-o-Dile I bought at Michael's recently. And the best thing is that Claire really liked it and loved her birthday present overall. Yay! That makes me happy!

28 ct. Mushroom Jazlyn
WDW Onyx and Hibiscus
Design: Brittercup Designs Kitty Freebie

May Blooms

As I promised long, long ago, here is a snap of my progress so far with the Bent Creek Snappers. I really enjoy working on this project as the small patterns give me quick gratification and sense of accomplishment. I finished *May Blooms* about a month ago but the picture has been stored on my camera since I no longer seem to have time to work on my computer at night anymore. The May Snapper is one of my favorites. Cute flowers in spring-like flowers! Here it is! Please excuse the icky snap though. I was too lazy to take the piece off the Q-Snaps since they are such a pain to put on as the fabric is super long. I have to tie up the excess fabric with yarn so that it doesn't get in my way while stitching! I've started *June Zooms* and it is slow moving. It's a denser pattern and not really one of my favorites although I like the expression of *June Zooms* and it meaning being a jetsetter. I wish I could be a jetsetter but I guess a girl can only dream...for now. Updated photo will be coming soon...

Giftie for Edgar

I finally dragged out my camera and just brought it to work with me this morning in the hopes that I could be productive in my *show and tell* and I discovered this photo. Wow, I am really behind on blogging!! I made this little quaker pinkeep for Edgar in celebration of his birthday at the beginning of October. Edgar's birthday is 3 days after mine so it was really easy to remember! Edgar likes all things quaker and pinkeeps which he calls pynkeepes so I decided to make him something within that realm. Along with the pinkeep, I included a tin of Altoid licorice mints because I remembered he said he liked licorice candy, as well as a skein of Crescent Colors overdyed floss in Camaoflage. Edgar sent me a nice email and thank you card to let me know how much he liked the giftie and extras. Yay!! Happy Birthday Edgar!

Pinkeep for Edgar
32 ct. Lakeside Linens Vintage Light Examplar
Crescent Colors Belle Soie Moss
Pattern: Gazette94

Busy but Happy

Hmm...I've probably lost the few readers I had since I've become pretty lax about blogging lately. Things have been very busy but I am incredibly happy...and tired. Things with *the boy* are going great! We've been enjoying each others' company and learning more about the other. I've played hooky and gone into the city to have a picnic on the lawn in Washington Square Park. We've gone to see Cake perform live for a Proposition H Benefit. We went to see Weezer at the local University stadium and whereas the surroundings and the crowd seemed strange, the music was steller! And we also saw the Blue Angels and some parts of the Columbus Day Parade in North Beach. He's introduced me to his friends in his old neighborhood and now I feel like I know them...not to mention the "six degrees of separation" moments we keep having. We are having a blast with each other and things would be completely perfect if he could only find a job and an apartment share. This downturn in the economy has thrown a wrench into things but I'm sure things will come together soon.

My stitching has suffered as I expected it would. I am trying to force myself to sit down and work on projects and *the boy* is very encouraging. He tells me I need to work on my projects and gets a kick out of watching me pull needle through thread. But things move slowly in between work, concerts, fun times with *the boy* and other obligations. I have no photos to show. But I promise to have lots to share next week. The only progress I've made is on a floss tag I am making for my friends' birthday. It's my first one and coming along nicely!

My weekend of relaxation has finally come and not a moment too soon! Claire and I are heading to Mendocino tomorrow. I can't wait!! The only things on the agenda are rest, relaxation, walks along the beach, maybe a little wine tasting, a massage, some reading and lots and lots of stitching!! Yay! My goals for the weekend are to get the stitching done for my christmas ornament exchange, a little giftie for *the boy* and June on my Snappers. If I can get that done, I will feel successful...if I get more stitching done, that will be icing on the cake! I also plan on taking a ton of pictures since I've been told Mendocino is incredibly scenic and beautiful.

So upon my return, be ready for stitchy pictures, Blue Angels pictures and scenic Mendocino pictures.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Halloween Exchange to Shay

I heard from Shay (no blog) that she received the HoE Halloween Exchange package I sent to her and that she liked the pinkeep and the goodies. Yay!! Following is a snap of the exchange (thanks to Shay's camera...woo!!) Since I had seen that Shay wasn't too into Halloween designs, I decided to go more traditional and stitched up JBW Designs Pumpkin in GAST Fragrant Cloves. I really liked how it came out and the backing fabric is of different pumpkins. I also included a fat quarter of orange fabby, a Sweet Nothings chart, some pins, a little stuffed pumpkin, some autumnal DMC threads and some chocolate peppermint Altoids. The ghosts in the background are from the Boo!! card I sent to her with my note. I love that card...the ghosts are super cute!!

And here is a close-up of the pinkeep itself. I was very happy to hear that Shay enjoyed it. I had fun putting it all together!

Spooky Exchange from Wendo Jo!

I am slowly catching up on my stitching news. I am very behind and just haven't managed to sit down at my computer and upload my own pictures in the evening so I am borrowing pictures from the folks who are so much more organized than me!

Last week, I received my HoE Halloween Exchange from Wendy Jo. Below is the full exchange she sent me and boy did she spoil me. She stitched up the Homespun elegance design from the recent JCS October 2008 issue and finished it into a pinkeep. This is sitting on my coffee table along with my Halloweenie floss tag from Carol S. Wendy Jo also researched on my wishlist and sent me the CCN Home Sweet Home chart and JBW Designs Autumn Harvest. Yay! Plus, there were some cute Halloween post-its, a couple of skeins of Crescent Colors overdyed floss and a baggie full of candy corn.

Here is a close up of the pinkeep. Very spooky! Thanks Wendy Jo! I loved all of it!

Birthday Surprise from Carol R.!

And as if getting a lovely giftie from Carol S. wasn't a great way to start off birthday festivities, I received a lovely package from Carol R. from the UK!. I was very excited to get that package and I tore into it immedately despite the insanely late hour and the good amount of celebratory cocktails I had that evening. Each thing I pulled out made me smile even wider in happiness and awe. I stole...oh, um...borrowed...the photo of the beautifully stitched and finished pincushion from Carol's blog. Isn't it lovely?! I'm in awe...must study and learn from Carol! She stitched both our names and the year along the perimeter sides of the little "box". I absolutely love it!!
And to make me even giddier and smilier, she included lots of goodies. I will have to update with a photo. There were some lovely swaroski pins and matching beaded scissor fob, some deep blue ribbon that will come in handy, a couple of cute little clips and some of the infamous floss tags that Carol makes herself with my name on one side and fluffy clouds on the other. What makes the floss tags even more special is that Carol told me she had take a picture of the sky from her English garden and that the clouds on the tags are printed from that photo. Wow! They are English clouds! Awesome!

And I must not forget to mention the lovely piecce of linen, backing fabric and very cute birthday card she sent me as well. I was so completely and totally spoiled. Carol, thank you for everything. It made my special day even more special.

Happy Birthday to me indeed! :)

Birthday Giftie from Carol S.

Since I am so completely behind in blogging and sending out my thanks to some very sweet people via the stitchy community, I am now resorting to picture stealing since I just have not had the chance to charge my camera battery and upload photos. I am sure they wont mind since I am seemingly a slacker and they are so "on the ball". I have a great excuse though...birthday festivities and the distraction of my guy's arrival to the Bay Area. Woohoo! It's much better when he is here versus 3,000 miles away.

Sweet Carol S. stitched up this cute and fun little Halloween floss tag and mailed it to me for my birthday! I love it and actually still have it out on my coffee table as Halloween decoration right now. I dug out the few Halloween decorations I have for my apartment over the weekend and felt that it should be displayed for the month of October. It's the first floss tag I've received and am now eager to try my hand at this finish!
Carol let me know that this was a Holly House Designs piece called Halloween Night. Very cute! Never heard of Holly House before... She also included some floss bobbins that will come in very handy. So sweet of her to remember my birthday when I made a passing comment on an exchange deadline falling on the day and how it will be easy for me to remember! Heck, the memory is the first thing to go...or so they say. At least I think that's what they said...

Thanks Carol! :)

Feliz Cumpleanos a Mi

Feliz Cumpleanos a Mi...
I am thirty-three...
I thank dad for good genes...
Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

:)