Letter C Reveal!!

Just a quick fly by post.

My niece's birthday has come and gone. It's almost been a month. Unbelievable that time flies by so fast! I managed to get Mr. Ex to extract this photo so that I can actually post something since my sister is struggling with photo skills worse than mine. I think we both need to take some photography lessons. Too bad we live so far from each other. That would be a fun sister bonding activity! Here's the photo that Jill sent me prior to shipment.

It's a little hard to see the beads on the bottom of the design. Maybe I can score some super pics when I visit in November. Now, it's hanging on Cristina's super lavender wall. That wall is bright! I may need sunglasses just to look at it!

And as always, I love what Jill did with the matting. She is so talented!

Until next time...

Guess What!?!

By 730pm last night, I attached the final bead and stitched the last of the missing quarter stitches into Letter C. It's about frigging time! Sheesh! So without further ado, I present Letter C which is a Sweet Sixteen gift for my niece Cristina (there is no "h" in our spanish spelling). I hope she likes it! (click to biggify)

Letter C by Nora Corbett
32 count Waterlily Belfast w/ recommended Crescent Colors, Kreinik and Mill Hill Beads

I left the photo uncropped so you can see the color of the fabric a little better. Against the cream fabric chair(to the right), you can tell the fabric is a soft green in the photo above. I am so thankful this pattern didn't call for a ton of beads but they do really add to the piece. Letter C has a ton of fractional stitches. After backstitching, there were still 3 or 4 gaps so I had to go back and add some more quarter stitches to fill it in. Pain in the bum! Not to mention dealing with the YLI invisible thread. My eyes aren't what they used to but I was determined! lol

Letter C and another little giftie will be on it's way to Jill soon to see what kind of magic she can work. I am so excited to go back to selfish stitching! I only have one more committment for the year and it's a small and I figure I can start it August 1 and give myself the rest of July to do what I want. It will be a welcome reprieve after everything.

I'm off to watch August Rush (Jonathan Rhys Meyer = drool) and either stitch, read or crochet. I have lots more to talk about but will save it for later.

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend!

Until next time...

Busy, Busy

"In times of great stress and adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive."

- Lee Iacocca

I opened up my inbox this morning and was greeted by this quote. I think I've embraced Lee's wise words wholeheartedly. I've been keeping busy, busy. So much so that I haven't got the energy to blog that much. I'm sure the lack of posts puts my dear sister in some distress that I'm lying dead somewhere or sulking. No worries...I'm so busy keeping my brain and body occupied.

It's been a month now since I've gone from a 2-person household down to one. To be honest, it kind of feels like longer. I spend my days less sad but still quite angry. I suppose it's all normal. To deflect those emotions, I pack my calendar. This past holiday weekend was a blur of activity. I spent a ton of time with Claire and little baby Andre. We had a family style dinner complete with SF drama of someone blocking a friend's neighbor's driveway which resulted in lots of standing around waiting for DPT and the tow truck to arrive to take the car away. Life in SF...people get frustrated looking for street parking and just park wherever they want. That ends up being a painful $300+ mistake! Sometimes...I just don't get people.

The next day was a lovely breakfast out with some shopping in my neighborhood before we went recliner shopping. I'm happy to say my head didn't explode from all the fabric choices! A lot of them were old-lady/old-man-ish and very unstylish. It made deciding pretty easy. I am hoping that when I see the recliner in real life, I am happy otherwise my head may explode for real! I hate deciding on little things that in the end cost a lot of money (i.e. fabric vs. entire chair). Then in the evening, I met up with a different friend and grabbed dinner and watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the first time at the classic movie theater. What a fun movie! I am so glad I made it out there to see it on the big screen complete with wurlitzer performance before the show. Things like that make me very happy! I think I need to make a more conscious effort to go to the classic movie theater this summer. I mean, where else can you be entertained for 3-4 hours for $7. For the cost of the ticket, you can see either one movie or two (double feature) plus get a wurlitzer performance depending on the time you get there. Plus, a huge tub of popcorn and a huge soda will only run you $5 instead of your first-born like at the mainstream theater! It was a great day!

Sunday, Claire, Andre and I trekked to the Fillmore Festival. It's my favorite one out of all the ones put on throughout the summer. There's great jazz and this year, there was even a swing dance section with music, performances and lessons. It was fun to watch. I found a margarita booth and seeing as it was the 4th of July, I indulged greatly and was in need of a nap by the time I got home at 2pm. LOL I reconnected with an old friend on the phone and it was a nice and unexpected surprise! In the evening, I stopped by a friend's house for bbq with her and her family. I made sangria for the bbq and it was just a boozy day in celebration of our independence. My friend introduced me to True Blood and frankly...what a weird show! I know there's this whole vampire following but I don't think I can jump on that bandwagon.

The last day of my weekend was spent doing lots of laundry and stitching up a frenzy. I am *still* not done with Letter C! Ugh, I am so close though. I finished the cross stitching.

Now, it's onto the backstitching and the beading. I am so close, I can taste it! Since the picture above, I've completed about 2/3 of the backstitching. I think I will be finished by tomorrow...Friday at the latest. One can hope!

So I am keeping busy and trying to find the positive. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard and sometimes, it's unexpected.

One fun thing is that Deb is having a scissor frog giveaway. I want to win it!! I shouldn't be even telling you guys but I guess I'll do whatever I need to to increase my chance to win! lol

Until next time...

Manic Mondays!

Huh...here I am sitting listening to the news and they are talking about an earthquake that hit here this morning. What? Earthquake? Where? When? What time? I didn't feel anything! Then they say it was 3.3. Are you serious?! Me dropping the shampoo bottle is the equivalent of a 3.3 earthquake...no wonder I didn't feel it! I can't believe they think this is news! 5 or higher and that's something to write home about. 6 or higher and ok...you better be in a safe place...that's really strong. When you've lived in earthquake country your whole life, a 3.3 is nothing.

Anyways, that wasn't what I came here to blab about. Monday was a blur. It's almost bedtime and I did enjoyable things but not the one thing I really wanted to do...stitch! Work was crazy busy but I guess that's good because the days go by fast and I don't have the time to think about...stuff. I ran my errands, went for a walk, had the single girl dinner of guac and chips with a pluot dessert and did some crochet homework and I think I've mastered the single crochet stitch. I would like to master even tension but I guess we can't have everything! I won't feel like a bad student in class tomorrow. Whew!

The weekend was nice. I realize that I was supposed to write yesterday and I had all these intentions to post photos of the bike race that takes over my neighborhood each year but NONE of my pictures came out plus each time I walked down to the race, it was when things weren't really happening...like finishing one age group and not quite starting the other or right at the end when the cyclists just weren't at the top of their game. Oh well. It was fun to see. I kept going to the race because it was just too hot to stand around for long periods of time. If I did, I'd turn red and probably sport another 50 freckles! I still don't understand how I turned out being the palest, nicaraguan girl with freckles on the face of the earth.

The rest of the weekend consisted of girlie pampering things and a fun dinner at one of my favorite places in the city...NOPA. Have you ever been at a place where you feel like you come alive? I have this thing about certain restaurants in the city. The crowd + the vibe + the food + the service + fun waiter + chatter with adjacent tables + company. All that comes into play and NOPA never disappoints. It's all so perfect and I am just glowing with happiness. Claire and I have this thing where we go and split a starter, entree, side and dessert and it's perfect for the two of us. We are both low-key and we always want the pork chop. Mmmm....pork! We get coffee with dessert and I get my favorite cocktail (sometimes multiple times!) which isn't even on their menu anymore but they never complain when I ask for it. We know the server because he *always* serves us and he is the nicest guy...and funny. There's great art and if you sit upstairs (where we always do), it's the most primo spot for people watching. I *heart* NOPA! If you ever go...get the pork chop! It never disappoints and is huge! This is a foodie spot and makes my inner glutton super happy! It is so worth eating salad all week to splurge on your diet here. *sigh* I wish I could live there...or date the chef! That would totally mess with my diet though! lol

I've got a Letter C update! I think this is the project that will not die! Er, umm...I mean not end! Yea that's it. The project that will not end! I've been stitching on it forever and I don't think Letter G took this long (I totally wish I can get Letter G back! But lets not go there). But I am getting closer? What do you think? A little more fill-in, finish up wings, stitch the skin and then backstitching and beading. My new deadline is the end of the upcoming weekend. Not sure about that though seeing as I have plans every single night and day through the long weekend with the exception of Thursday night. Busy, busy!
See...I'm getting there! I'm sorry if you're bored with my one project updates. Shoot...I'm kinda bored too! I'm almost done though...it'll get better! lol

Oh and a quick snap of my Trader Joe flower finds...I love these pretty tulips!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Until next time...

Discombobulated

So the last week wasn't a great one...it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't all that great either.

It started off with the car battery which resolved itself fine but made me really wish I was dating some really hot mechanic that could save me and my jalopy car. It's hard to be in a position of always having to take care of everyone else and then when you need help, you're at the mercy of AAA. Which...you know, I pay for and are therefore obligated to come and save me. At least the AAA guy this time around was super nice.

Crochet class was nice and I could actually crochet but my gauge is curling. I still crochet too tight! And is it just me but does crochet seem harder than knitting?!

On Thursday, my tub got royally clogged! How does that happen? One day, it's working perfect and the next day, you're standing in 6 inches of standing water. Ergh! Despite calling the apartment manager and leaving him a note, it still took four days to fix which of course, led to more frustration. It would drain....very, very sloooowly. Like hours. The apartment manager came down yesterday to return a movie I lent him and I, of course, unleash on him. Where have you been?! Clogged tub, clogged tub! Apparently, he completely forgot I called him and he confused my note with a sink clog incident while the now ex was staying here. *sigh* He unclogged the tub which brought forth a clump of boy hair. For once...it wasn't me causing havoc on the pipes!

The rest of the week/weekend brought forth a lot of flakiness from others and cancelled plans which led to a lot of thinking since I had extra time on my hands. Not happy thinking either. Stuff like "why are people so flaky and is that an original SF thing or an SF thing brought on by all the "transplants" now living here?" And "how in the world did I end up in this big mess...broken up, alone and trying to build up a social life from practically scratch"? And "will I find someone else who will accept me, my craft obsession, my un-sexy undies, sarcastic humor and me being the occasional cranky-pants"...because I doubt it. And it's hard to hear people tell you it's ok to be alone when they are all married and in the throes of a seemingly happy relationship. So...I'm far from happy.

Then there are the discoveries...like boy hair clog, and boy taking the last of something and hiding it, and boy washing the dishes so poorly and putting them away that I then have to rewash them...which requires soaking because the grunge is stuck on (eww!) and still being pissed off that boy bent my car visor which requires it to stay down otherwise it will hit me in the head if I try to put it up because it won't stay up.

I apparently have too much time on my hands if I am thinking this much. I was a thinking, sad mess all weekend. It's probably just as well that almost everyone cancelled on me since I was so tired and unmotivated and sad and pathetic. I almost cancelled on the one person who kept our plans and I'm glad I didn't. We had a nice dinner and went to watch Sex in the City 2. It was a lot funnier than I thought it would be! The outfits were kind of atrocious but supposedly, that's called "fashion" or something. The heck?! Although, I have to say, if I pick anyone's outfits, it would be Charlotte...but in the end, I'm a jeans and hoodie girl. I suppose I should start dressing my age...but there's plenty of time to think about that some more. Overall, fun movie.

Stitching again was scarce because for every 10 minutes of stitching, I did like 90 minutes of thinking. There is no way I am going to make my end of month goal now. Here is how Letter C stands. I think all that Blueberry Tart and Lettuce Leaf slowed me down. I'm not big into pastels and so...you know...it got kind of boring.
I've done a little more than what the photo shows now and have moved onto a new color...Deep Fennel. I'm digging it a little more now. Still...a terrible photo!

So that's the update on me and my little corner. I am trying to figure out a new routine and it's hard! The goal this week will be to get a couple of workouts in and see if I can stick with it for more than two weeks. So that I can lose a couple of pounds and fit comfortably in my old pants...and some new ones I want to buy. Don't you hate being in between sizes?! Ergh...story of my life.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Until next time...

Eh, Mondays!

I was so looking forward to leaving work at 5pm and tackling everything I needed to get done at home like putting away the laundry, washing dishes, working on Letter C and working on my chain stitch for crochet. Yea, I know...nothing exciting. But the minute I got in the car and turned the key, I got nothing. And all I could think was that I hope that the car wouldn't cost another $800+ to fix. So I went and bugged my favorite guy co-worker during his workout and told him that the car wouldn't turn on and he suggested that I probably had a dead battery. Ah, I can deal with that...and thinking about it...the battery was a good 5-7 years old. I called AAA for a jump and after their 60 minute estimate, a gal at work said she had cables so we all went out to jump the car. How come my dad never taught me to jumpstart a car? Or change a tire? So the car started up, I called AAA to cancel the call and headed on my way to see how to get someone to change the battery so late in the day! But as I exited the parking lot, I saw the AAA guy and told him I had called and got the car started and I thought I had a dying battery. He said he could do a diagnostic on the battery and so I pulled over and let him do it. I'm glad I did. The AAA guy was really nice and helpful; he verified I basically had a dead battery and when I asked where I could get a battery installed so late, he said that he had new batteries in his truck and could install it right there...for a fee of course. But talk about convenient! And frankly, the battery and install cost me the same now as it did 5-7 years ago so it's not like they charge more than any shop. So the car has a new battery, I am not worried about being stranded out in the middle of nowhere and I'm convinced that my AAA membership is the best $85 I spent in any year...you know...other than stash.

But this little hiccup meant that I got home much later than I thought and there is still laundry to put away and dishes to wash and more gift to stitch and more chain stitch practicing to do. I don't think much will happen tonight now.

There's not much going on with me. I've been feeling pretty low the last few days and I find that if I keep myself busy, I don't have much time to think about "stuff". The anger and sadness is there and it will be there for a while. But at least I get myself out of the house and do the things that need to be done and connect with people even if a lot of the time, I just want to be hiding under the covers.

I signed up for a crochet class and I find that I chain stitch even tighter than I knit. This is slightly problematic!! At least with knitting you can go up a needle size to get the right gauge...apparently, that isn't possible with crochet! I need to practice making looser chaining (?) so I can actually make stitches within the loops! I've gone out to dinners with friends and even tried a new to me restaurant, Destino. They had great tapas and sangria. I think my only complaint is that the tables are pretty close together. It made eavesdropping on the couple seated next to us very easy! They appeared to be on their first date and he seemed very shy, nervous and go with the flow and she seemed very bossy! Good luck guy...I'd run if I were you!

The weekend led itself to doing a lot of the responsible things I had to do like housesitting and laundry. Yesterday was my super social day in which I went to Farmers Market, got a massage (to work out some of the stress knots from the past 6 months), went to my nearby "Art in the Park" with a coworker and then got together with new friends to see a movie (Killers). It was nice to finally be in a movie theater...but if you had any interest in seeing this movie, I'd wait until dvd. Overall...it was a nice weekend.

Now for some stitchy stuff. I don't have much since now I am trying to keep myself busy outside of the house. Here is Letter C so far. I'm not sure I can make my end of the month goal! All that pale blue background took me forever! Ugh...glad to move into the design portion...then backstitching...then beading. Can I do it?! I don't know....
And here is my progress pic in the TUSAL. I didn't post last month because, well...you know...plus I didn't even do any stitching. You can see all the pale blue on the top is from Letter C...1.40 skeins of Blueberry Tart orts!
I took this at an artistic angle because I love that humongous peony in the background from my Trader Joe's flower shop!

I owe a few people email...omg...I had caught up and now I'm behind again! I haven't forgotten. I just haven't been too talkative in front of the computer the past few days. I'll reply soon...

That's it for me...hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Until next time...

Back to Regular Programming

So it's time to get back on track and move on. Back to the single life and I slipped into it quietly today. A friend of mine met up with me this morning and we walked to a local place for a scrumptious breakfast. She was kind enough to let me do my neighborhood errands like dropping off a book at the library and scoring strawberries from the farmers market before heading out to what we had really planned to do. We headed over to the art and wine festival a couple of towns over from me. We both had never been before and we came to the realization that we hadn't missed anything all this time. It was a huge dud! It was more fair than street festival so I'm sure it was a big hit with families and kids. But for a couple of single people wanting to see some art...uh, not so much! But that's okay. I got out, got some sun and tried to work the smile. I don't think my smiling muscles are quite up to the workout just yet.

I've got a good amount of things going on this coming week which should leave me duly preoccupied and distracted. Distractions are good!

The past month has not been kind as mentioned in my previous post. And when I'm sad or angry, there is no stitching to be had. It's hard to stitch when you'd rather beat someone with your project versus actually stitching with it. It was much safer tucked away in it's project bag. But I managed a few stitches here and there.

Here's where Letter C stands as of early this afternoon. I've managed to stitch quite a bit since but it's too dark for a photo now. I decided to get the boring part out of the way and I've been stitching on the background since the last time I showed you all Letter C.
I have to get cracking. I need to finish this by the end of the month so I can send this and another item to Jill for framing. Letter C has to be in my niece's hot little hands by mid-August for her birthday.

I've been doing a lot of reading. Well...a lot by my standards. And I read because when your own life is a tragic mess, it's nice to escape to the life of the main character in any book. I read:

A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber - It's about yarn...and knitting. How can that be bad?! It was an enjoyable read and a continuation for me since I had read "The Shop on Blossom Street" a number of years ago when I a was more crazed about knitting than cross stitching. I think the stories intertwined nicely between the 4 main characters and would recommend it for anyone looking for a light read.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - So when this book first came out...I thought it was a self-help book just based on the title. How wrong was I?! A friend recommended I read it and so I put my name on the list at the local library. When I started this book...I could not put it down! I think I managed to read the 400+ page book in under 3 days...which is fast for me. It was entralling and interesting and opened my eyes to what life would have been like back in the South in the 1960's and the relationship between well off white women and the colored help that catered to them. Excellent book!

Rainwater by Sandra Brown - I read this book for a book club meeting being held at the local library next week. I figured, if I liked the book, maybe I would go to the meeting and see what that was all about. I was surprised they picked a Sandra Brown book because isn't she really a romance novelist? Anyways, even though there was some romance, it was more about Depression Era Texas and how people hurt each other in their effort to survive or gain more power in a time when people had very little. It was another non-stop read for me.

I'm debating what book to read next...The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Society, Water for Elephants or My Life in France (Julia Child). Any thoughts?

Everything else is pretty status quo. I did find out that I will have to furlough 10 days at work in the coming fiscal year. Not what anyone wants to hear but I'm also not surprised by it. I don't feel badly about it since I know that things could be worse and I'm lucky to have a job. There are rockier times down the turnpike with lots of talk of consolidation. I guess only time will tell.

That's it for me today. I think I'll be back with a poll soon...once I figure out how you do that!

Thanks for all the supportive comments in my last post and for sticking with me in my absence.

Until next time...

Saturday Progress

It's been a busy week and it's only going to turn into a busy month. So stitching during the week was scarce. Last Sunday night, I decided to start Letter C. This will be a gift for my niece, Cristina's sweet sixteen. I sure hope she doesn't peek on here but I doubt it what with my tendency to drop the f-bomb once in a while. By Friday night, this is all I had done. Not much.
On Saturday, we ran some errands and I snoozed through the afternoon due to burrito overload. I really need to lay off the heavy food and eat more salads! I keep falling into food comas lately. About 6pm, I loaded up on some strong coffee because I really wanted to stitch. This is how much I got done in an evening.
I would have gotten more done if I could just stop browsing on the computer! Someone please put a padlock on this sucker. For someone who made a "no stash" resolution, not only did I fall off the bandwagon but I've outdone myself. Lots of inspiration on the web and lots of "add to cart" clicking.

I really enjoy Mirabilia/Nora Corbett designs. *The boy* is amazed that I can ass-plant and forgo food and liquids if need be and just stitch away. The new Ott-lite is a total sightsaver too. Love it! But there is something about the whimsical view of Nora's that just makes me want to see fairies come to life. One day, I'll actually have some fairies, ladies and mermaids to add to my wall. The only thing I don't really like about these letters are that there is a good amount of fractional stitches which I think are a pain. There weren't that many in Letter G but there seem to be a ton in this Letter C. I've progressed to the wings and will do the water effect and fillin soon. I will save the face and skin for last so my fairy will look weird for a while. I am debating whether I want to do over 1 skin. I figure it would be easier to do at the end so I won't mess up converting over 2 to over 1 in my head if that's what I decide to do.

Letter C is being stitched completely as charted...down to the fabric. 32 count Waterlily Belfast with recommended Crescent Colors. I wish this Waterlily would photograph well. It's a greenish-gray color in real life.

I haven't forgotten about my draw. I am postponing it for the simple fact I got sidetracked with Letter C that I didn't do the finishing I was supposed to. Sorry to leave you hanging but I'll do it as soon as possible!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Until next time...