Leslie's Cross Stitch Heaven

Night Nymph Happy Dance

ralphy36 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:38:59 +0000

Here is Mirabilia’s Night Nymph in all her sparkly glory!!

So the big question now is what to focus on now. I think it might be Mary’s Stocking by Shepherd’s Bush that I am stitching for my niece. I have lots of stocking stitching to do so that everyone has one!

More 30 day blogging challenge

ralphy36 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:10:25 +0000

Well, I am not keeping up with posting every day, but I am going to keep up with doing every item on this challenge. So here is today’s installment.

16. A picture of you and your family. This is a picture my sister took of the family outside our house the weekend before Thanksgiving. Natalie was just one week old:)

17. Who is your celebrity crush? Funnily enough, I was discussing this with Allen just the other day. My celebrity crush would have to be Nathan Fillion who currently stars in Castle on ABC. The first show I ever saw him in was One Life to Live back when I watched soaps in college (I never seemed to have afternoon classes). He has also had roles in 2 Guys and a Girl, Firefly/Serenity, and Desperate Housewives. He also does cameos and voices on a lot of cult type shows that Allen and I tend to like. I also just noticed that he played Dogberry in a Joss Whedon adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing…a hilarious role in my favorite Shakespearean comedy. Here’s hoping they find someone to release it…even if it is straight to dvd. Love Nathan Fillion!

18. Something you crave alot. CAKE!!!!

Stay tuned stitching fans…I finished Night Nymph late Friday and will post pics shortly in all her sparkly glory.

Blogging challenge

ralphy36 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:46:01 +0000

Day 14: A TV show you are currently addicted to. One of the shows I have been addicted to for quite along time is NCIS. I have watched it from the very start as a backdoor spinoff of JAG. I have even rented the DVDs from Netflix over the last year and watched all the seasons over again. I am pretty sure that qualifies as addiction:) It is one of those shows I look forward to every week and one that never sits on the TIVO unwatched more than a day or two.

Day 15: Something you don’t leave home without. Children and my mp3 player. It is pretty rare that I leave the house without at least one of the children in tow. Right now I am home with Natalie so 99.9% of the time I have her with me. Even when I return to work, day care is on my way to the office so unless something weird is scheduled I am the drop off parent. Stitching night is typically the only time I am leaving the house without a child in the back seat. My mp3 player also goes with me where ever I go. I love to listen to audiobooks in the car. I get tons of “reading” done that way.

Tuscan Midnight

ralphy36 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:36:29 +0000

Here are some photos of my progress on Tuscan Midnight. I put the last stitches in to the top left corner. Only three more to go:) I think my goal will be to complete one corner per month. If I can keep that up I will be done in April. That should be good pacing to get it done in a reasonable amount of time, but not burn myself out on it.

I also hope to have a happy dance to share by the end of the week. I am almost done with the beading on Night Nymph and Friday is parents night out at Nathaniel’s day care. They have been kind enough to allow us to leave Natalie with them for the evening as well even though she is not officially enrolled. That means a movie rated higher than PG at home with Allen and stitching!

Several Days of the blogging challenge

ralphy36 — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:14:01 +0000

I had done so well at keeping up with blogging daily for a while:) My nephew came over for a sleepover this weekend so that threw getting anything productive done (other than playing) impossible. The boys were so well behaved and had so much fun. I really wish we lived closer to my sister and her family so the kids could have play dates more often. Our kids are very close in age, the boys are a year apart and the girls are four months apart. Nathaniel and Ethan are really good friends and hopefully the girls will enjoy hanging out just as much.

So here is an update on my blogging challenge.

Day 8: A song and photo to match your mood.

Song: anything by Enya. I am feeling very relaxed today. I got up with Natalie, fed her just in time for Nathaniel to get up. We had a great breakfast and have been hanging out. I then exercised, showered and ate lunch. Not a bad day so far.

Day 9: A photo of the last thing you purchased. Ledo’s pizza. Half Hawaiian, half pepperoni. Very tasty…so not on the diet.

Day 10: Post a photo of your favorite place to eat.
I couldn’t find a picture of my current favorite indulgence restaurant. Ford’s Fish Shack. They have SUPER tasty food. Usually when I go to a seafood place I stick to crab cakes. Ford’s has amazing crab cakes and that is still my go to meal, but here I also enjoy the clam chowder and will happily take bites off of whatever fish Allen has ordered. Their muddled blueberry lemonade (virgin or alcoholic) is yummy too!

Day 11: What’s in your make up bag? Trick question…I don’t have a make up bag. I have never been a big make up person. I will put it on for big occasions, but I just don’t care for putting on every day.

Day 12: A photo of the place you live.

Picture of nearby Leesburg.

Day 13: Your favorite musician and why? Billy Joel has always been one of my favorites. I don’t know exactly why. Enjoyable catch music I guess.

I think that is enough for now. Time to go stitch so that I can post a picture of a finished corner of Tuscan Midnight

30 Day Blogging Challenge Days 6 and 7

ralphy36 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:18:54 +0000

Day 6′s task: Post a picture of a pet you would like to own.

Honestly, as much as I love our cats Cooper and Zoe, I am about ready to be pet free for a while. I think Allen and I are on the same page that once they leave us, we will be taking a break from larger pets for a bit. Speaking of kitties…time to fill their food dish.

Day 7′s task: Describe your ideal wedding.

I think Allen and I had a pretty ideal wedding for us. It was relatively small, less than 75 people. The service was in the garden of a local hotel and the reception was in one of the banquet halls. We got very luck as it poured all day Friday and was overcast all Saturday morning. The sun was kind enough long enough for the ceremony and for the bartender to have the bar out on the patio. It really was a lovely evening. The only blemish on the day was the cicadas. We got married during a year the the 17 year locusts came out and it was really gross. I still remember looking out of the window of our hotel room while getting ready and watching hotel staff sweep giant piles of the stupid things down the aisle. YUCK!!

Wipacolypse January update

ralphy36 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:49:44 +0000

So I finally got around to taking pictures for my first wipacolypse update. Not much progress, but I guess it really was only 10 days:) I started the beading on Night Nymph and got a good bit done at Tuesday stitching night. 32 count is my favorite count fabric, but for a piece with dense beading like this one, you really need to us 28 count. I don’t know how the model stitcher got all the beads on there. I am fudging a bit in places so the areas just look filled in with the right colors, but doesn’t warp the fabric.

Andie asked about my Day Nymph. I finished and framed that piece in 2010 while I wasn’t blogging. When I had this framed, I made sure that the framer gave me all the details so when I went back with Night Nymph we could frame it exactly the same size and with the same molding. Hopefully some time this summer.

And here is my finished Mirabilia Sunflower Fairy. I finished her on New Year’s Day.

30 Day Bogging Challenge Day 5

ralphy36 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:06:36 +0000

Day 5′s challenge: Post a picture of yourself from two years ago. Well let’s see what I can dredge up as I upload pictures to Shutterfly to make a Natalie photo album for Allen’s grandparents. Yay for free photo book codes:)

And wow, there really are no photos of me. Do I even really exist? I do, but the only pictures I can seem to find of myself are pictures that are not fit to be published on a blog as they are from shortly after having my kids. No one needs to see pictures of me drugged up even if there is a cute baby in the frame. So you are stuck with this…I am the one crouching down in the red shirt. I am trying to coax Nathaniel to sing at a gala at his day care. He sang the songs all the way home, but would not sing with his friends.

30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 4

ralphy36 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:15:36 +0000

Day 4: My favorite picture of my best friend. I would have to say that my two best friends are my mom and my husband. So here are some pictures of them:)

Here is mom with her four grandkids. My two, Nathaniel and Natalie are on the left, and on the right are my sister’s children, Gretchen and Ethan. BTW, my sister would be third on the list of my closest friends. I wish we saw more of each other, especially for the kids who are best buds but I know whenever we get together we have a blast and she is always there when I need her:)

So finding pictures of Allen is about as easy as finding pictures of me. We are not really into having pictures taken of ourselves:) This is from the hospital either the day Natalie was born or the day after. For some reason he decided to grow a full beard around that time. I really didn’t like it, but I guess it was better than the time he shaved all his facial hair off. Nathaniel had a great time helping daddy shave the stuff off his cheeks a few weeks later.

30 Day Blogging Challege Day 3

ralphy36 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:04:17 +0000

Day 3 of the blogging challenge: What is my favorite store? Depends on what kind of store? My favorite physical store is Target. I can get a wide variety of items at reasonable prices. For books I like Amazon. Sorry brick and mortar stores, but for so long I was unable to get Borders or Barnes and Noble to order many of the series I like to read and Amazon always seemed to have them with minimal waits. It is also the only place where I can get the bags that fit our trash compactor. Amazon has my vote if it means no leaky trash!

For needlework, I make a big list and hit Stitching Bits and Bobs during a sale for cross stitch materials. If you like counted canvas I highly recommend The Scarlet Thread. About two years ago I started going to a stitching group there on Tuesday nights. It was tons of fun and I have made great friends and there was always good shopping to be had. Unfortunately, Sara Leigh had to shut the physical shop, but she and her partner Dawn resurrected the store online. They no longer carry cross stitch, but they have an amazing selection of counted canvas pieces and materials. They are awesome to work with and are happy to make suggestions or help with kitting a piece or changing out colors. I would highly recommend them for your next counted canvas purchase!