My goals for 2006 Since I am using today to work …

My goals for 2006

Since I am using today to work on my garden exchange piece and will not have any progress pics, I thought I would use today’s post to share my goals for 2006. I will continue to update these over the year as I have finishes or add some small projects to the list. So here they are…

2006 Goals

Current rotation goals:

-Finish Celtic Winter

-Finish Woodland Fairy

-Finish White Wedding by mid April

-Complete at least ½ of Olde World Map

-Finish one section of Mystery IX each month

-Complete ½ of Butterfly Rest

-Finish Lilies as part of Magazine Mania SAL

Projects to add as slots open in Rotation

1. Fairy Christmas-Mirabilia
2. Forest Goddess-Mirabilia
3. Earth Angel-L&L
4. Greek Temple-small from Cross Stitch Collection
5. Bunny Battle-Arelate Studios
6. Feline Queen-Art Stitch
7. Wisteria Fairy-Blac Swan in The Stitchery Magazine
8. In Cupid’s Garden-Mirabilia freebie
9. Chat Noir-Stitcher’s World
10. A Hawaiian Wedding Sampler for Allen and I
11. Spindrift Cottage-from Cross Stitch Collection

And here are my…

January Goals:

1. Continue stitching on Celtic Winter
2. Continue stitching on Woodland Fairy
3. Continue stitching on White Wedding
4. Continue stitching on Olde World Map
5. Start Butterfly at Rest
6. Stitch first section on Mystery IX
7. Start Lilies for Magazine Mania SAL on FGBB
8. Stitch Valentine’s exchange for SBEBB
9. Post Garden Exchange 1/9/06

Anyone up for a Billy Idol song… I think that e…

Anyone up for a Billy Idol song…

I think that everytime I stitch this piece, Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” will play through my head. This about four hours into stitching my sister’s wedding sampler, White Wedding by Ellen Maurer-Stoh. I really like this piece. I am stitching it on a piece of 28 count Cashel linen in Dusty Blue from Silkweaver. This picture doesn’t do the color of the fabric any justice. In a bit of a coincidence, when I got my FOTM jobelan from silkweavers yesterday, it was a bit similar. Much more mottled, but at least I will still have a pretty piece of blue for myself to play with later. It will be perfect for the L&L Earth Angel that Carol so kindly sent me earlier this year. I will have to make a note on it to reserve it for that piece.

Before I spent some time stitching on this piece today, I spent the afternoon hanging out with my mom. I got really lucky…I have a pretty cool family. Mom and I had lunch at Panera’s and then went to an outlet mall and Kohls. At the outlet mall, I got some shirts and dress pants for me along with some back to work presents for my friends at work who had this week off (without taking leave like I did…I envy their vacation, but love my paycheck). They will need it;) Then I want shopping for Allen at Kohls. He had gotten some things there yesterday and had gotten a nice gift certificate. Since he needed a few more things, I thought I would be nice and check out the Kohls near the outlets to see if had more than the one near our house. I got him a few more casual work shirts and two dress shirts with matching ties.

After getting home, I took a 15 mintue cat nap with Zoe (miracle that she sat still that long) and got to stitching. Since Allen has been home, we have watched a few episodes of season one of Scrubs. Allen got seasons one and two for Christmas. When this show first came out, a few of the ladies I worked with (who’s husbands were all in med school) kept telling me to watch it, but I didn’t get into it until well into the season. It seems like it really was good right from the start.

Alright…now that the new year is upon us, it is time to get back into diet mode. I had done really well for about a month in late November and early December. I had lost three pounds, but then got caught up in all the holiday food. Allen and I have great parents, but all three households seem to like to feed us..a lot. My goal is to get down to 150 by my sister’s wedding in May and to 130/125 by the end of the summer. Allen and I have made a deal in terms of rewards. When I get to 150, I get to buy the St. Petersburg kit by Thea Gouvernour and at 140 I get to by a really nice cross stitch floor stand. We are still thinking about a reward for me reaching my final goal…if the master bedroom is still not painted by that time I think I know what my reward will be…professional painters. Bribes are good:), but so is being healthy.

It is Wednesday night, so it is Celtic Winter time…

It is Wednesday night, so it is Celtic Winter time.

I stitched four hours on Celtic Winter today. It is really coming along nicely. The color in the swirls at the bottom are a bit of a pain, but I like seeing the progress working up the skirts. I think that next Wednesday I will work one more section on the skirt and do a little in the boarder. Should be fun to start adding some beads. Here is my progress…

Tomorrow my mom is coming down and we are going to the outlet mall in Leesburg and have lunch at Panera. I need to get some new work clothes and it will be nice to spend some time with mom. After that I am going to spend the evening working on White Wedding.

Yeah, here is my finished pic of the Chatelaine My…

Yeah, here is my finished pic of the Chatelaine Mystery IX tryout piece. It really is beautiful. I wish you could see the beading better. It really is sparkly. Cooper gives it his meow of approval.

It has been fun being home hanging out with the kitties this week. Apparently they play Marco Polo while we are at work all day. They chase each other and one will meow and the other replies. It is so adorable!! Cooper also seems to like to roll around and listen to himself scream. Zoe just naps alot:)

Now i am off to hopefully get some good work in on my garden exchange for SBEBB.

Post 75 So here is my 75th post…Yeah! I have …

Post 75

So here is my 75th post…Yeah! I have really enjoyed this blogging thing and sharing my stitching with everyone. Unfortunately, it is late and I want to finish the try-out piece of my Chatelaine mystery before I post a pic, so you will all just have to wait until tomorrow. Should take less than an hour. I only have half of the outer boarder, about three inches of PTB across the top and about a dozen beads to add. I love the teaser piece and can’t wait for the January section to be published. It really is pretty!!

Here is a pic of my last two ornaments for this y…

Here is a pic of my last two ornaments for this year. I think they turned out cute! I also took pics of the wedding sampler, but right now blogger won’t upload it. Just one more thing that won’t go my way tonight. I also can’t get the stupid piece to stay centered while I frame it. Hopefully Allen will have better luck when he get home!!

Tomorrow we head up to MD to visit my parents for the weekend. Tomorrow night will be our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with our extended family, minus my sister this year. Then on Christmas Day, Becca comes back from visiting her fiance’s family and we are going to see King Kong before going to my Aunt Leslie’s to celebrate the first night of Hannukah. Should be a fun weekend!! Hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and relaxing holiday weekend!!!

Foiled again… I was hoping to have some pretty …

Foiled again…

I was hoping to have some pretty pics of stash to show you, but the mailman is just not cooperating with me. I usually get my FOTM from Silkweaver by the Tuesday after they ship it, but now it is Thursday and I still haven’t gotten it. I also ordered some stuff from Stitching Bits and Bobs that I hoped (a bit unrealistically) would be here by now. I know it is Christmas and all, but our mail has be extrodinarily sparse since late last week. Even the volume of junk mail has decreased significantly. Usually I pull 10-12 items out of the mailbox each afternoon….today all that was in there was one of those “Have you seen me…” flyers. I think that I should put another flag on the opposite side of my mailbox from the mail out flag that the mailman will raise when there is worthwhile mail (ie. Stash) in there so I don’t get my hopes up just to be disappointed when I open the little door.

Well, enough complaining….i am very proud of myself. I finished the final letter and date on Rob and Elana’s wedding sampler after work today. I will be framing it, along with finishing two more ornaments on my day off tomorrow. I also started on the White Wedding Sampler for my sister Becca. I love the Dusty Blue Cashel linen from Silkweaver that I picked for it. It is so lovely. I will post pics tomorrow before heading off to our neighbors Holiday party;)

Vacation is near… Only two more days of work be…

Vacation is near…

Only two more days of work before a week of vacation. All of my schools managed to make it through the last day before winter vacation without major incident. YEAH!! Now just two lazy days in the office doing paperwork and then I get to take my break. After spending the weekend with my parents, I have 8 days just for me. I already have my list of chores and stitching that I would like to get done.

For my stitching over break, I hope to finish my garden exchange, get a good start on my wedding sampler for my sister and spend most of Wednesday working on Celtic Winter. I am also going to work on setting up a new rotation and getting Butterfly at Rest and the wedding sampler in their spots in my WIP drawers.

I was able to work for 2 hours on CW tonight and made good progress. Of course it is hard to tell in the picture though. All those light blues get lost in the backgroup and the goldwork in the photograph. I am also one letter shy of finishing the current wedding sampler. Hooray!! I can finally post pics of it on Friday as it will be given to my friend shortly thereafter.

I’m still alive…I think Allen and I made it bac…

I’m still alive…I think

Allen and I made it back safe and sound from out jaunt to visit his family in Richmond. It was nice to see everyone, but I realized once again that I am such a homebody. For whatever reason, being away from home really drains me.

As for my stitching, I only have one letter and the date left on Rob and Elana’s wedding sampler, I would have finished it last night, but it was giving me such fits. Tomorrow, I will be stitching on Celtic Winter with Carol and Becky, so I should finish it up on Thursday. That still gives me plenty of time on Friday night to frame it and get my last two ornaments finished up for gifts. I will post pics of CW tomorrow night and the rest of the pics before we head up to my parents in MD for the weekend.

After Christmas, I have a well deserved weekend of rest and relaxation. I will be doing lots of stitching and will probably go to my mom’s to do some scrapbooking too. I am looking forward to finishing my garden exchange that week, along with starting on my sister’s wedding sampler.

Sorry if this post is a bit rambling. I am very sleepy tonight. Maybe i will be more coherent tomorrow:) Happy stitching!

A chicken with its head cut off….me…never. Ri…

A chicken with its head cut off….me…never.

Right now I am trying to pack for a weekend in Richmond, provide directions to my dear husband who is lost somewhere in Tyson’s Corner (not moving in all the mall traffic of course), find the silly red, white and yellow cable he wants, wrap christmas presents and try not to pass out from hunger all at the same time. Whew am I exausted!! Well, there will be no stitching this weekend at the in-laws, but I will work on Allen’s big stinkin’ blanket that I will hopefully have finished for him by next Christmas. Monday I am going to finish the wedding sampler and then Tuesday it is back to my much neglected WIPs.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!