One Stitch At A Thyme

Well I just had to stop and take a progress pic. I can’t believe it’s almost finished and I’ve been stitching on it for almost two solid weeks. (Click image for bigger picture)



I’m a whole month ahead of schedule so…. I don’t know whether to plow ahead and simply get it done, give myself a few days break and work on something else, or not do any stitching at all and finish reading my book “Framed In Lace”. I’m right in the middle of the book and it’s getting to the point where I don’t want to put it down at night to go to bed. [Grin]

On a sour note, my temp job seems to have fizzled out. It’s coming up on 3 ½ weeks laid-off with no work and there’s no indication from them that I’ll be called back anytime soon. That’s really frustrating too since I’ve worked for them off and on for a year now. And I know for a fact that April through August is their busiest months. So it looks like I’ll be job searching on-line for work somewhere else while I wait on a phone call from them.

Well that’s it for this weeks blog blurb.

Today's SBQ was suggested Danielle and is:

Are you on "The Wagon?" If so, how long have you been on and how "serious" are you about it?
If not, have you considered it?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/04/sbq-the-wagon/

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Well I suppose you could technically say I’m on “The Wagon”. I started sometime back in early 2005, but I don’t strictly adhere to a no-shop policy.

I’m not one who typically buys needlework stash for the sake of buying stash. Granted there were a couple of times on eBay when I fell off the wagon and bid on some Zweigart. They were at least a full yard of fabric, but colors were all dark. So help me I have no idea what I’m going to use them for. ( Now I steer clear of eBay when it comes to fabric. )

Anyway, I do allow myself to buy needed things like floss to finish an already started project. And I did make an exception last month when my local Hancock Fabrics store was closing and purchased a few things for 30% off. I have collected enough in the way of kits, leaflets, floss, & fabric over the last 10 years to never have to go looking for new stuff. Unless it’s a re-issued ( or new ) chart by Teresa Wentzler, that’s when I cave and pull out the credit card. If I do have one weakness it’s that I am a collector of Teresa’s charts/kits.

My “On the Wagon” goal for now is to clear off the 10 projects I have on my WiP sidebar list.
I consider myself serious enough to stay on "the wagon" for however long it takes to make my goal.

Well another week has gone by and I’m grinning from ear to ear, knowing that I’ve gotten up to 70% of my WiP completed. I’ve only got a little over a month and a half to go before it needs to be finished. Luckily the last 30% is mostly open area for wedding names so if I make an effort to work on it at least 3 nights a week, I should get it done with time to spare for mounting and framing. (click pic for larger image.)



I hope that I get a phone call on Monday to go back to work, if not I guess I’ll keep plugging away at this project and get it done a little sooner. I’ve already been off for a week and a half so I’m really hoping for that phone call. If my hours don’t start improving I may have to start looking again for a different job.

Well Blogger’s finally gone and made me switch over to their Google account. Believe me I held out kicking and screaming to the last moment. It got to where they wouldn’t let me log into my old blogger account. The only thing I intend to use that’s new is the label tag; And I'm only going back through January '07 to add tags. I’m not touching the Page Element Layout stuff. Yahoo’s 360 blog uses that and it’s way to confusing for me at the moment. I may try the new “widget” stuff on a new blog account just to see how it works without mucking up my stitchery blog.

Ah well, that’s it for this blog blurb.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Heather and is:

How do you decide which stitching blogs are worth repeat and/or regular viewings? Are there certain things you look for in particular? Are there things you wish there were more of ? Less of ? Is your blog a good example of what you like to read?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2007/04/sbq-blog-criteria/

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Wow, this is a very good and very tough SBQ this week.

First off, I don’t have all that much time during the week to read many blogs. So I have to keep my blog viewing to those that have primarily the same stitching tastes as me, and the content of their blog is well over half counted cross stitch (show me your WiPs and finished pictures). I’m inspired by progress pictures and have discovered many new designers via blogs. Another Plus, the author must have an engaging writing style. I’m a big fan of spell checker, consistently poor grammar and sentence structure frustrates me. Non-native English speakers obviously have a little slack there.

I don’t want to see endless postings from "quiz farm" or "quiz galaxy" question mills. I don’t really care to hear about the weather, kids, cars, husband, or in-law problems. I don't mind a few posts where necessary ranting occurs. But constant bitching and "Oh woe is me" is a real turn-off and those blogs don’t get a second chance with my limited time.

I like an orderly and well structured blog page. Side frames for instance, I don’t mind seeing model pictures of the WiPs you’re working on as long as there’s a link to show me a sub-page or tag page so I can see more. I also like to see what books you’re reading, not just the name of the book. My big pet peeve is over doing it with blinkies, I feel …, clocks, and weather related banners etc. That stuff can really take forever to load and it gets really frustrating waiting for the page.

The one thing I try to do is read the replies to the SBQ, which is how I found some of the blogs that I now read. I have to say I like it when people comment on my blog, but that isn't a necessity.

"Is your blog a good example of what you like to read?" Well to paraphrase another blogger’s answer. I write for myself with no one in mind. My blog is a quick and easy way to keep track of the progress of my projects and new stash acquisitions (I knew my money was going somewhere), and the fact people choose to read and/or comment is just an added bonus.

And there you have it……

Got off early from work today and went to Hancock Fabrics Store again, just to see if anything was left. They still had open stock DMC linen floss, so I picked some up for 40% off along with some Aunt Martha's hot iron transfers and three spools of DMC silver and gold metallic thread for 30% off.



I had some more down time at work starting today. Don't know for how long. I'm hoping just until next Monday, meantime I'll be able to put some more work in on “To Love and Cherish”.

That's all for today's blog blurb.

Technically I should have posted this update last Sunday, but real life ® got in the way. You know how that goes, so it gets posted today. Since I haven’t done the back-stitching on the roses I don’t know if I can technically call the project 50% done, but I’m going to anyway, stitcher’s prerogative. [Ha Ha]

So here it is….



Since I only get to work on this on the weekends, and only for a few hours, progress will be slow and you probably won’t get to see any significant process until the end of the month.

Now for a little S.E.X. talk…..

On Friday I discovered that my local Hancock Fabrics store was closing. I managed to get in right after work to see if there were any stitchery goodies left on the shelves. The section was pretty much rifled through, but I managed to grab 2 rolls of 28ct. white Monaco, a set each of DMC’s color variations & a 25 ( ½ skein ) gift floss set with free chart booklet, and some much needed LoRan project cards. The stitchery section was only 30% off. I figured if I waited until Saturday morning that there’d be nothing left. So 30% was the best deal I was going to get.




Well, that’s all for this Blog Blurb.