Okay! Okay! Here I am finally!

Hey All!

So, it's been a while since I have actually blogged...I have been reading everyone's blogs and thinking to myself, "Self, you should really get to blogging as you have a lot to say!" Now that it comes down to it, geez, am I shy? Why is nothing coming to mind? Hmmmmmmmmph.

Well, I guess one reason I was a bit MIA was because of politics. Yeah, my ticket didn't win and I am quite sad and, quite frankly, concerned for my country. We'll see what happens though as I am trying to be positive. Exciting things happened during the campaign season though that I must share with you. I saw both Sarah Palin and John McCain in Scranton! I went to Governor Palin's rally by myself so I was able to get there early and early I got there and I was in the second row pretty much right in front of her podium. After the rally was over, I got to shake her hand and tell her that she was the person that got me on board with her running mate. I also got to meet her husband, Todd, and told him that I only wished his family well and God bless them. For the country music lovers out there, I also met Lee Greenwood! What a nice guy he was, too. It was a great time for me. Rich and I went to a John McCain rally the weekend before the election and, being I wasn't by myself and Rich has bad legs and his bad back, we sat behind the stage, but we were there! That was the most important thing! It was fun, fun, fun.

Let's see....what else? Well, Weight Watchers is going pretty well. I am holding steady at 35 pounds lost and am ready to break through this plateau. I am bored with it already so I am going to step up my exercising and get back to writing everything down. Well, being it's not 1980 anymore, I will just make sure that I key everything I eat into my eTools. I bought my Blackberry so that I would have my WW tools available at all times, but I got extremely lazy. I mean, I weigh and measure EVERYTHING, but I got lazy with keeping my points under control. I am still WiiFitting so that's probably keeping me status quo. Today was my 183rd day of WiiFitting with only a few days missed here and there and those missed days were mainly because we were away.

I bought a new laptop last month. I was sick and tired of using Rich's Second-Hand Rose computer so I started shopping online. Just for $hits and giggles, I checked QVC one day and wouldn't you know it? The Dell I was looking at was the TSV so I scooped it up in pink! It was between pink and green, but pink always trumps green as we all know.

Stitching is going....well....yeah, it's going. I am currently working on Little House Needlework's Brave Heart. I am using a piece of 28 count evenweave and Crescent Colors floss. Can I tell you something? Don't tell Sharon Crescent, but I'm not a big fan. That floss knots up on me like no other floss does. It's so annoying. With every stitch, I realize that I am a DMC girl....do a row to the right and come back and cross them all. I hate stitching one stitch at a time. Sometimes I forget that I have to do one at a time and I go to the right (always to the right!) about 10 stitches and then have to frog and stitch them one at a time. Blah. One would think I'd have a WIP pic to show off, but I don't.

Take note of my online kettle for Salvation Army on the top right of my blog. Feel free to make a contribution...every dollar helps! It goes directly to them as I am simply hosting the kettle. I am going to match whatever donations are donated so donate often and early if you care to.

I think that's all I've got for now. Next time I will post a WIP pic, I promise. I actually took one with my phone and emailed it to myself, but it didn't arrive yet so it will have to wait until next time.

Now I am going to go downstairs and stitch and watch Ellen at 9:00 on TBS, although I am yawning now so I might not make it. LOL

Love,
Barb.

I'm Back!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have learned a bit about what it takes to have a fun blog from reading my friends' blogs so I am going to try to make a fun blog and update it on a more regular basis!

I'll start tomorrow......

Now I'm going to go down and stitch.

Be safe.

~B.

Thanks, Debbie from My Big Toe Designs!

This design by My Big Toe Designs is actually called "Miracles Happen" and, when I saw it, I knew I had to stitch it. I also knew that it wasn't going to be a miracle that was going to get me back in my skinny jeans, but a lot of hard work. I had it in my mind that I was going to keep my skinny jeans that I could no longer fit into and go back to Weight Watchers so that I could wear them again. I went back to WW and also was fortunate to be able to buy Wii Fit and, through a combination of really working hard with both tools, I have lost 27 pounds.

When I hit 25 pounds gone, I decided that I was going to start stitching this design, but I needed it changed as no miracles -- as I originally thought -- made me get back into my skinny jeans so I emailed Debbie and asked her if she could or if she would mind if I recharted it proclaiming my being happy that I believed in myself and kept my skinny jeans!

Debbie was kind enough to chart it up for me and I am just thrilled with it. It was my 25-pound award to myself and I love it.

Debbie, you are absolutely the best and I will always remember your kindness in doing me this favor even when you were so busy. I am your newest biggest fan!

~Barb.

Oh, no....not another finish!

So, I have decided that I am going to start stitching! No, really. I have all this stash that I bought because I wanted to stitch it and that's what I'm going to do!

I started and finished this today as it was a really, really quick stitch! I have a few more of these little Shepherd Bush designs so I'm going to look for them soon.

~Barb.

Another QSW Plus Three Day Finish!

Well, I tried to make this a QSW piece, but it seems I just can't sit and stitch for hours on end so things take me longer.

While stitching this piece, I had our Angie on my mind. I can't believe it's almost eight months since we lost her.

Now I don't know what I am going to stitch next, but it's going to be another quick one, I think. I am thinking of "Oh Say" by Shepherd's Bush, but we'll see.

~Barb.

Finally a Finish!

Well, this CSF QSW took two QSWs plus three days! Eeeeeek! I did enjoy it though. Am I turning into a linen snob? I might be! Eeeeeeeek again!

Next up is "Ewe Alone" by Sheepish Designs. Actually, I am going to put a few stitches in right now.

b.

Missing Angie

Some days I get to thinking about Angie and I read her blog....it makes me feel like a better person to have known her and I just like to look at her stitching and see the comments that her stitchy friends left her to know and remember how much she was loved.

http://xstitchingaway.livejournal.com/

I hope her family is doing okay....she loved her family so much and they loved her back so unconditionally.

I just didn't want anyone to forget her as time is flying by so fast so I figured I would share her blog once again. Today I miss her a lot.

b.

Some....Well, two finishes!

Now that I have my office all nice and my stitching chair and my TV I just love stitching again! With my new glasses -- yes, progressive lenses -- I do not even have to use the magnifier, but I do because I can!

This first finish I stitched for my friend Mercy. She saw this freebie a month or two ago and pointed it out that she wanted to stitch it. As soon as she said it, I picked out some aida as I knew it would be my work project and started to kit it up. Of course, with all the DMC I have, I did not have 165 so I just went and picked up all new threads! It took me longer than I thought to stitch it as it seems that I never get to my jobs 30 minutes ahead of time anymore to stitch, but about 15 minutes so that cuts my stitching time in half. (My transcripts are all caught up though....) Mercy texted me today to let me know it arrived so I will share it with you all right now.This next finish was a gift from Petra that I am going to PIF to Sandy. It was supposed to be a QSW, but it turned out to be a two-week project. Being it is on linen, it's clearly not a work project so I basically only worked on it on nights when Rich was at work.


What else is new? Well, WW is going great. I have lost 12.6 pounds so far, which makes me very happy! It seems like so many things are settling down now and that also makes me very happy. April brought us good news which will make our lives much simpler in the future and, for that, I am so very grateful.

I am now working on L*K's Limited Edition called "America" I think. I'm not even sure what it's called! It is a QSW so let's see how that works out. I might be updating my blog again soon than later.

Sandy P., "Love" will definitely go in the mail on Monday now that I am done with it!

That's all I've got for now....I will have to take a pic of my WIP magnetic spice rack, too. I'll save that for next time.

b.

Love Potion

I was on the 123 Board and a very nice lady named Kim was offering some Secret Needle Night kits for trade. I saw her list and immediately emailed her about this particular kit being that it had a heart on it and because it was about love. LOL We all know my feelings about Silver Needle so I would never buy one of these Secret Needle Night kits from Lindy, but I am not adverse to buying them from someone or a trade. I received it yesterday at about 4:00 and I finished it this morning before I left for my job. I just love it. This weekend I'm going to try to find the time to either turn it into a cube or a wall hanging.

b.

Because Nice Does Matter!

Well, what a let down of a day. The most anticipated day of the year was rained out. Boooooo. Stupid rain. Now the game is tomorrow night at 7:05 and Idol is on at 8:00. Booooooo again. I am so freaking disappointed, but life will go on.

I watched TV all day today and stitched...well, not all day as -- I have to admit -- I get bored stitching for hours on end so I did a little organizing and played with CecilPuppy for a while and was sad about my Yankees being rained out. A little pity party you might say.

One thing I did do today was the Leslie Sansone 3-Mile Walk. Surprisingly enough, I am alive to talk about it. I wanted to do the 1-Mile walk, but my disk is missing....not in the case anyway. I am hoping to find it in another case by mistake, but I have a feeling I threw it out with the old DVD player. I will buy a new one if that's the case. Ordinarily I like to walk outside, but with the rain *see above* this day was not an outside anything day. Boooooooo.

Went back to WW on Saturday and I'm so happy. I stayed for the orientation after the meeting and just have to forget everything I know from years gone by. It's Points now so I will forget about breads, milks, proteins, fruits, and veggies. Rich is going to start going on 4/12 with me as I don't feel like the having the responsibility of counting points for two people as it's difficult enough to keep track of myself. I am hoping he will like it as there are a few men in the group and the leader is of the male species.

So, the purpose of this blog is to show off finishes so here's one I just finished. The satin stitches killed me. I hate them! LOL

I intend to turn it into a wall hanging. I got all my supplies in order, except for some web fusing tape or something to that effect. It will have to wait until Friday as that's the next time I'll be down by Joann.

That's all I've got.
~b.

PMD Spring Pocket Pillow

Well, this finish was a long time coming! I originally gave this kit to my SIL's daughter along with a check, of course, for her Sweet 16. I thought it would have been an easy kit for her to learn to stitch. Yeah, she showed no interest so I asked for it back and told her that I would stitch it up for her. That was last year if not the year before! Every time I see my SIL for our dinner dates I am hoping she doesn't ask for it so I said that I better get it done. It was my work project, but I put in the last stitches just now. I'm going to wrap it up in some spring-ish tissue paper and mail it off. What a relief to have it done!

b.

Pinkeep for Teresa

Well, the peanut gallery -- that would be Rich -- told me that my first one came out nicer, but I am hoping that Teresa will like it. It really does look better in person. I do like making these pinkeeps, even if they aren't as nice as other people's. So there, Rich! :-)

b.

My First Pinkeep!

Well, I tried my hand at my first pinkeep! It took me about an hour to do and it certainly isn't perfect, but I'm happy with it. Rich said something nice in the fact that it doesn't have to be perfect as, if it's perfect, it would come from a factory!

I did learn how to lace and I have to say that I was not at all entertained with it. Ha Ha. I might be brave and just use glue next time.

This weekend I am going to start stitching a piece to be finished as a biscornu that Lisa V. lent me and I am excited to try my hand at that type of finishing.

Thanks to all you creative ladies for inspiring me to try making a pinkeep!

b.

Go Mike!

Friendship Sampler

Well, after months of stitching, Teresa's Friendship Sampler is d-o-n-e done! This was my first attempt on stitching over one and it was certainly a challenge. This isn't my best finish by a long shot, but it is a finish done with lots of love!

b.

RTC -- Sick and tired of being sick and tired...

Yes, my friends, I have no WIP to show.

I did finish Teresa's Friendship Sampler and, once I get hold of the camera, I will take a pic of it and finally send it off to Teresa. It was definitely a labor of love, but now that I look at it....it wasn't that bad. LOL

One thing I have decided in all this being overly busy and being overly sick is that I am decluttering and I mean everything. I am tired of the stuff. I am tired of moving the stuff to clean. I am tired of looking at the stuff.

Like I said, I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm off to the doctor at 5:20. Let's see what this country doc has to say.

b.

New Discoveries

Happy 2008! All right. I know we are 18 days into it, but come on. I'm here now....that should count for something; right? Hope your year is going great so far. I am going to really try to discover something new every day...all right....every week....well, once in a while. A girl has to be realistic!

This lovely season piece was a round robin that I participated in last summer/fall with my good friends Colleen, Sheila, and Jane from France. They are the best ladies to be in a RR with as they stitch beautifully and you never have to worry that you won't see your piece again. I love stitching with these ladies; in fact, they are the only ladies I would want to stitch with. Thanks, all you guys, for such a lovely piece! Oh, I stitched "Spring" if I didn't mention that before.

Now, this post is entitled "New Discoveries" so I do have one about the above design/designer. This is a Hinzeit chart and it's the last one I will ever stitch. I did not like the graph one bit because it's not gridded out in boxes of 10. You know what I mean? I had this problem once before with Hinzeit and that turned into a UFO and I didn't think it would bother me so much this time around, but it did. Is it so hard these days to produce a nice graph? Sheesh.


OMG! This is my latest discovery! A lighted magnifier! Holy cow. This is the best thing since sliced bread. My mother had given me her Ott-type light for Christmas...well, I sort of whined and told her that I was always complaining to Mercy about not having a light and shamed her into giving it to me. So, I had my light, my recliner, my Stitchmate.....and a piece that I had to stitch over 1 on 28 count. Penny from CSF had given me a plastic pink magnifier that I was using to stitch this over 1 on 28 and it worked fine except my hand would cramp up. Then the light bulb went off....no pun intended, of course. I printed out an AC Moore coupon and schlepped over there and got me the above magnifier. Did I say "Holy Cow" yet? Man, oh, Man. I feel like a new person. Stitching is brand-new to me with all these tools of the trade and I wonder how I ever stitched without these tools. I'll be honest though and say that, when I put that RR piece under the magnifier, I couldn't believe the amount of ecru stitches I missed. I wonder if I was even stitching with my eyes open. LOL I highly suggest you get one!!!!!!

Tomorrow my mother is coming up for the weekend. I am going to see if she will humor me and try again to figure out the sewing machine. I'm sure she will as she's a sport like that. I also plan on letting her use my recliner while I go through some more boxes and throw stuff out. I know she wants to go into Scranton to go to Boscovs so we will do that too, in spite of the fact it's supposed to be 11 degrees outside all weekend and that's only if we're lucky.

Oh, yeah...another new discovery....my brother. Yes, I am making an effort with him now. My whole family is on the Rob bandwagon, including my sisters, so I am hopping on also. I called him last week and he actually called me back to say hi. It's going to take a while, but I am willing to make the effort for as long as it's reciprocated. Wanna hear something odd? I had to ask him when I spoke to him on the phone if he liked the cold weather. How would I know? He told me he didn't. Now I know.

Well, I'm sure you are like "All right already. Get the hook!" I can take a hint. Thanks for hanging in this long. You're a pal!

~B.

Happy Friday!

The wonderful ladies at CSF decided that I should be the spoilee this month and, believe me, just having them think of me was spoiling and humbling enough. I am so thankful to all of them for being my friends. This lovely surprise package was sent to me by my friend Lisa. She sent me the UK CrossStitcher, which had the pretty calendar included, a bag that I am pretty sure she made herself -- which is beautiful -- and I will keep my special stuff in there. The little frog has a home on the zipper of my work project bag because I like to show up at a deposition as professional as I can and the frog can only help! Thank you so much, Lisa! You sent me so much stuff and I so appreciate it....more than I can say.


Now I have an update on my Betsy!

I am so much enjoying stitching this piece. I am using Vikki Clayton silks for the first time and I am finally getting the hang of them. It was really odd for a long while stitching with one thread and I'm amazed how just one thread actually does the job! I was going to wait to stitch Betsy last, but I really wanted to start her. I love it.

Next up is a finish I did for a RR with the Cross Stitch Obsession Yahoogroup. It's me, Sheila, Colleen, and Jane from France. I don't know why I always have to put in the "from France" when I think about or type out Jane's name, but I do! I have done a few round robins with these fine ladies and I never worry about the chance of seeing my piece again. These ladies rock! This is Sheila's piece.

That's it on the stitching front actually. Now what is happening with me?

Well, by now, you know that my Yankees lost. Yes, I was very sad, but the best team won. Now I'm curious to see what changes are made to my Yankees, but I want changes as I want a winning team! I am sick and tired of no World Series Ring. Sheesh.

Rich started working at Gander Mountain and he really seems to enjoy it. Me? Well, he has night hours so life will be different for me. He will usually work until close so that means 10:00 or 10:30 is when he will start to come home. It's 30 minutes away so he should be home in time for Bill O'Reilly at least. Phew. I am such a whiner though...instead of being happy for him, I turn it around to me. I thought I wasn't going to do that anymore!

Now, my blinkies....yes, I found blinkies. My sister Monica told me that I am ridiculous and my blinkies are annoying because they blink! Well, isn't that the point of a blinkie? She was very fresh today and I promised her that I would tell everybody about it. Don't even ask me about her complete obsession with Star Trek and INXS. Boy, oh, boy....if I had a bar of soap and if she didn't live all the way in Richmond and wasn't old enough to have a son of her own. Hmmmmmmph.

My little sister Teresa and her BF Sam are coming up this weekend to visit. Actually, they have a wedding to go to tomorrow in the Poconos so they will just stay with us. She just called me and they are only leaving now at about 8:00 so they will get here at about midnight. I better put up some coffee!

I am pretty sure that's all I've got right now. I'm going to go have a cup of tea and work a little bit. Rich should be getting home at about 11:00 and Teresa and Sam will be here after that. It's going to be a long night.

b.

Well, I got this fan from my mother a few weeks ago...or maybe it was a few months ago. Seems that my father bought them on clearance for $5 and he picked up a few of them, but no one was interested. Well, I thought it would be useful so I took one.

I set it up tonight and it's cooler than anything else I have come into contact with lately and I am loving life. The blades are nylon so I am having a fun time putting my fingers in the blades and making the sound of baseball cards in the spokes of your bicycle's wheels. By the way, do kids do that? I would imagine they wouldn't want to ruin any cards as they are probably thinking about the cards' future values and eBay!

I guess I can really say that I'm way cool now!

Do you want to be cool too? Here's the link and they come in cool colors other than orange, too!
http://www.amazon.com/Vornado-FA1-0007-22-Zippi-Desk-Orange/dp/B000E5WAV8

b.

Happy Monday Morning!

It's been a while since I have posted, but I guess that's only because I have had really nothing at all new and exciting.

I did manage to finish my "Boo Squared" by L*K this weekend. Yes, you see right. I used green fabric for it. Is it stupid? You can tell me and my feelings won't be hurt. See, what happened is this: I bought the fabric it called for as I figured even a non-linen girl like myself could stitch this small L*K on this small piece of linen. Ha! I couldn't even do the first stitch so I abandoned that and immediately went up to my fabric drawer looking for a purple and, alas, I had no small piece of purple anything....no aida and no small piece of SW evenweave. I grabbed the green and personally don't think it's that stupid, but Rich put his nose up at it.

I will be doing a PIF with this pattern on CSF along with that fabric cut.

My friend Mercy (Hi, Mercy!) asked me to post a WIP pic of my "Betsy" so here it is:

So, it seems my Yankees will make the playoffs. Hmmmmmmph. I would be happier for them to win the division than to sneak in with the wild card, but I guess I should just suck it up and embrace the wild card. I don't know.....Boston was so consistent throughout the year....My Yankees are playing now how they should have played throughout the year. Either way, I will enjoy watching the playoffs! Yesterday, at Yankee Stadium, there was a tribute to Phil Rizzuto and it was just great. It brought many tears to my eyes. Like The Boss said, "Heaven must have needed a shortstop."

Rich has his second interview at Gander Mountain today. He is very excited to get out there and working again and this time it will be a job that he might enjoy. He won't get dirty and he won't be standing under cars and we can start to sell his many, many tools and dopey tool boxes. I hope he gets this job, but I am afraid that it's going to effect my life in the sense that he will probably be working weekends and evenings....and the day after Thanksgiving....I have to remember that it's not all about me though. I think I need to tattoo that to my wrist actually and refer to it often.

Sue, Laura, and I are meeting up at CATS on Friday morning at 9:00! I simply cannot wait to see them. We are just staying for the day as we figure that's enough time to do some damage at the merchandise mart and stitch and gab. Rich is going to go out there, too, and go to some gun stores that are out there. There is also Bass Pro Shops for him to go to and kill some time.

Uh-oh. I have to get ready to head out to Stroudsburg for my job.

~b.