I have been a bad girl about stitching this week. …

I have been a bad girl about stitching this week. Allen was sick earlier in the week and while he was waiting for his prescription to be filled he picked up a copy of Civilization 4. Needless to say, once I played a little I got a bit hooked. I am almost done with the game I started so I think I should be back on the path of good soon.

Tonight I finished up part 4 of Mystery 9 and then saw that Martina put up part 5 a little bit early. Unfortunately, our printer won’t turn on for some strange reason. Hopefully when Allen comes back from his party he can get it to work. I am not sure if I will start part 4 this weekend. I hadn’t planned on getting part 5 until Monday, so I was thinking about putting in some good stitching on White Wedding and/or Celtic Winter. We shall see. Tomorrow, I think I will head to Falls Church to a needlework shop to see if they have the GAST that I need for the round robin I will be starting soon. Allen even said he would go with me:) Then we will probably go to lunch in Tyson’s Corner.

Here is my finished part 4…

And then my progress on my most recent ornament, Free as the Wind. The green blob is the main part of her dress.

Quick post… Not much in the mood to post, but I…

Quick post…

Not much in the mood to post, but I thought I would at least stop in to say hello. Allen and I just got back from visiting with his dad’s side of the family. We had a good time, but it is nice to be home. While I sat around and listented to the guys play their guitars all yesterday, I finished the stitching on my Beginner’s Exchange. I also started a Christmas ornament from the 2002 JCS magazine. It is called Free as the Wind by Lynn’s Prints. It is an adorable ornament of a little Amish girl skating.

I also discovered that there is (for a month at least) a needle work shop in Sterling. They emailed me back today with their hours, but mentioned that they are relocating in June. I am going to try and stop by this week and find out if they are staying in the area. I hope so:)

And the waiting continues…. But fortunately not…

And the waiting continues….

But fortunately not for stash:) Today I had a nice package in the mail that had the fabric and patterns I needed to start my first Round Robin. I have chosen to stich Lizzie Kates seasonal house samplers. They are so adorable and I am really looking forward to the experience. What I am waiting for is my sweet husband to get home from work/dinner with his buddies so that I can watch Survivor. You have to have your priorities. I am trying so hard not to watch it without him. The only problem is that if we don’t watch it tonight, we won’t be able to watch it until at least Sunday night as we are going to Richmond for the weekend. I don’t know if I can wait 72 hours to find out what the medical emergency was. AAAHHHH!

As for my stitching, I stitched a little bit on White Wedding tonight as I watched a replay of the Orioles/Indians game on TV. The O’s have won two in a row…it is a miracle. I love my team, but things are not looking terribly bright for them so far this season. I do need to drag Allen out to a game at some point this season.

AAAHHHH, I love spring. It was such a pretty day …

AAAHHHH, I love spring.

It was such a pretty day today. It made driving between schools a bit more tolerable. I also got to eat out side for lunch which was nice. When I got home, I opened a bunch of windows and grilled some ham steaks for dinner. As I was grilling, I was greated through the window but my sweet little kitties. Here are pics of them hanging out in the kitchen by the open window. They are so adorable!!!

This is little Zoe bean watching the squirrels in the backyard.

And here is Cooper being all dignified and regal as is his wont:)

Next thing I knew, both my babies were sitting in the window. Poor Zoe(on left) got some dirt or pollen up her nose and had a huge sneezing fit. I was a bit worried she was going to explode. Cooper just laughed:)

After the photoshoot with the kittens, I got down to some good stitching. Between Monday and tonight, I got some good stitching done on Woodland Fairy. I am done with the first page, but for a few tiny leaves. Tonight I started working on her wings. I love working with all the sparklies. Tomorrow night I will be good and work on White Wedding. Then this weekend it is off to visit Allen’s dad and grandparents in Richmond. I plan on bringing a couple of small stitching projects including my lilies and my Beginner’s Exchange. I will also probably work on Allen’s knitted blanket.

I am also very excited because the patterns and fabbie I ordered to start my first Round Robin are on their way. Hopefully I can get started soon:)

Well, my mini-Spring break is offically over this …

Well, my mini-Spring break is offically over this evening. Over all it was very nice:) (Please excuse the ramblings)

Thursday was doctor’s appointments and paint estimates. Allen and I finally decided to go ahead and have someone come paint our master bedroom. We picked a painter and are tentatively scheduled for the first week in May. The company we contracted with has a few outdoor jobs so weather over the next few weeks might push us back a few weeks. I am looking forward to having that done.

Friday-Picked up a ton of paint chips from Sherwin Williams. I need to tape them up so that as Allen and I wander through over the next I got so frustrated as I seem to be in between sizes. A 12 is a bit to big in the waist, but 10s are a bit too small in the bum and thighs. AHHHHHH what a pain. I also bought a really pretty dress from Anne Taylors for Becca’s rehersal dinner. After shopping, I grabbed Allen and headed downtown to see Billy Joel. As always, he put on a great show. We had a ton of fun and got to be really late….

Which sucked because I couldn’t sleep in on Saturday. I drove a little too fast out to Annapolis to meet with the Mary Kay lady who is doing the make up for Becca’s wedding. We decided on make up stuff for the wedding (I am not a big fan of make up) and then I dropped off the wedding dress at my sister’s house down the street. Then back toward town to visit Jo to hang out and stitch. Jo and Pete are great people and I enjoyed spending the afternoon with them and their sweet pets. I am looking forward to getting together again soon:)

While I was out trapsing around Maryland, Allen’s mom made a very brief visit to the house to drop off some furnature for us. We are now the proud owners of a dining room set, chair, huge desk and a table for our entry way. Thank you!!!! This morning I put all of the good crystal that I got from my mom into the china hutch. Now I have a little more cabinet space in the kitchen for more day to day stuff and snack food.

Other than that, all I did today was stitch and move the kitty’s litter box. Allen and I may have a new roomie moving in for a while until he finds a new place in the area. This meant I had to do a bit of rearranging upstairs. Prior to today, our master bedroom was in disrepair (still is), Allen and I had a bedroom and I hada small craftroom/guestroom. We also have a fourth bedroom, which apparently the previous owner did not take great care of. Unfortunately most of the ick was under the bed so we did not notice it until we moved in. Since there were more pressing projects in the house, this room is generally unused except by Cooper and Zoe. It is pretty much a giant kitty lounge. Well, with someone moving in, they are going to get this bigger bedroom and hopefully Copper and Zoe will figure out where their potty is.

On the stitching front, I got a bunch done on Celtic Winter and now she has a face:) I may even finish her by the end of the month or not too far into MAy. Wouldn’t that be cool!!! Here is a close up of what I worked on this weekend.

I love extra days off:) Yesterday, I didn’t make i…

I love extra days off:) Yesterday, I didn’t make it to see my sister(Yucky traffic) and today I had a doctors appointment. Other than that, I got a ton of stitching done. I worked on both Celtic Winter and White Wedding. I made good progress on both:) Here they are…

Today, we also had a couple of paint companies come out and give us estimates on having our master bedroom painted…finally!!! Looks like we have made a decision on the painters, now just to decide on the color. Hopefully that won’t take us another year:) So off I am first thing tomorrow morning to the nearest Sherwin-Williams store to pick up some paint samplers. The store is kind of far away, but fortunately it is right down the street from an outlet mall so I will be doing some shopping for spring clothes and a dress for the rehersal dinner before Becca’s wedding.

Then it is back home to get in some good stitching time before back on the road to pick up Allen. We are meeting my parents downtown to see Billy Joel at the Verizon Center. I am very excited. I have seen Billy Joel on several occasions, on solo tours and with Elton John, and they are always fun.

Saturday will be full of heaps of fun, except that I have to get up early. First thing, I am off to have a preliminary make up session in prep for the wedding. Next, to Becca’s house to drop of her wedding dress which I picked up. Then lunch and an afternoon of stitching with Jo. Tomorrow I need to pick out which projects I am going to bring. At the end of the day, if it doesn’t rain, I should come home to a new dining room set. I am very excited:)

Well, I didn’t quite get all the stitching done th…

Well, I didn’t quite get all the stitching done this weekend that I had hoped…oh well. I did manage to stitch some on White Wedding (forgot to take a pic though) and I also finished the Four Hearts freebie I have been working on. Here is the finished piece:

And here it is in the process of being turned into an eight-sided pillow:

And as of this evening…the final piece:

After finishing my first eight sided pillow, I pulled out Woodland Fairy:

One more day til some pseudo relaxation…It is the school’s spring break so Wednesday I am doing wedding stuff with Becca, Thursday is doctor day and Friday is reserved for stitching and a Billy Joel concert. Then Saturday is stitching with Jo I am really looking forward to it:)

I haven’t done a This week’s questions were su…

I haven’t done a

This week’s questions were suggested by Kim.

1. Do you have a favorite character(s)? My favorite character of all time is Brother Cadfael
2. What book/author is he/she/it from? Brother Cadefael was in a series of 20 full length historical mysteries and one set of short stories by Ellis Peter (Edith Pargeter). He was a 12th century monk and former crusader. All the mysteries were set during the English civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud.
3. Why do you like this person–what is it about the way he/she was written that drew you to them? I really loved Brother Cadfael’s cleverness and worldliness within the monastic world. He his own sense of spirituality, out of the norm of the monastic world, but was still able to make a home for himself as a monk.
4. Is there something more you would like the author to tell you about them? If Ellis Peters were still alive and writing Brother Cadfael books, I would want to no more about his son from when he was on crusade and see that relationship developed more:)

And now, my second spring exchange made its way safely to Berlin and Gosia:) Here it is…it is a freebie from Erica Michaels and Rainbow Gallery. I finished into a pinkeep. This and my other spring exchange were my first attempt at pin keeps.

Also, does any one have finishing instructions for stitched books such as you might do for alphabet charts or monthly charts (ie a book were each page has a letter or month on it).? Erica Michaels has freebie letter charts releasing over the next two years with the idea that they would all be finished into a book. I am thinking about doing that with the mini-kats months by Calico Crossroads, but I don’t think I can wait until next year to get Erica’s free finishing instructions:)

Wow, the time change really screwed up my schedule…

Wow, the time change really screwed up my schedule. I had a heck of a time getting to sleep sunday night and then ended up falling asleep after work yesterday. Today was better, so I did get some stitching done.
I worked a bunch on Woodland Fairy and all I have left on the first page is a bit of the sash and a couple of leaves. Since I should be done with M9 pretty quickly, I am trying to decide what to do with my remaining weekends in April. If I worked only on Celtic Witner I might be able to finish it this month, but I don’t want to neglect my other pieces. Since I should have three weekends to stitch left, I think I might do one weekend each of WF, CW and White Wedding. Sounds like fun and maybe I will get a bunch of progress on them all. I should be able to do the same in June and July if Martina keeps up with the small triangles. May won’t be conducive to extra weekends on my weekday pieces because of Becca’s bachelorette party and the wedding. Worthy causes to sacrifice stitching for though:)

Here is tonight’s pic of Woodland Fairy:

Happy Saturday!! (Photo happy too) Today was gene…

Happy Saturday!! (Photo happy too)

Today was generally a pleasant day. The only thing that sucked was that Allen had to work most of the day. While he was out, I did some good cleaning and then got to work on Mystery 9. I finished one of the two triangles that we were given. On the second triangle, I only have to fill in with yellow and do the specialty stitches for the pretty veggies. I should be able to finish quickly tomorrow and still have time to work on my lilies:)
Here is the whole thing so you can see which triangles I am filling in this month.

And here is a close up of the triangle I finished.

The last two days have been good on the exchange front. My Spring Fling Exchange on the Exchange Place BB made it to its destination at Joanne’s house. I made her a cute little pinkeep…my first attempt and I think it turned out well.

Then this afternoon, there was a package on the door step. I am glad I actually used the front door today, or it would have been a while before I noticed it. The mailman did not ring the bell or leave a note in the mailbox like usual. Juanita made me a beautiful pillow using fabric of my favorit color, lavender. She also included a pattern and a few small cuts of pretty colored fabric. Thanks so much, Juanita, I love it. I think that it is funny that two out of the four participants in this particular spring exchange lived within fifteen miles of each other. We could have met somewhere in the middle:)

Now off to watch another movie with my hubby!!!