One Stitch At A Thyme

The uber alpha, just dumped me. I guess when I didn’t jump and go “Ohhhhh” at all his over zealous praising and then dropped a list of questions for him to answer. He got impatient and left. Well, not totally left, he’s still sticking around on my PaganSpace friends list for now. Ha! 3 days - that’s got’ta be a record for me. *snicker*

It’s kind of hard trying to start this post, I don’t know exactly where to begin. In the last month I have met more guys on-line, made friends and been dumped, than I have in the last 20 years of my life. Here’s a sample of what I mean.

On the 24th I get dumped by a guy I know from his LiveJournal blog. That same evening a guy on PaganSpace, sees my profile photo and proceeds to plaster messages of praise not only on my comments board but on almost every photo I have. Telling me how beautiful I am and begging me to be his friend and “much more” – to quote him. It’s like being pursued by an uber alpha and having the wee-willies scared out of me.

The very next day , 25th, roughly around 9:30pm. Some guy named Muhammad Ali, who claims to be from Pakistan, 32 and a software engineer. Pops up on my yahoo messenger saying he saw my One Stitch At A Thyme blog and wants to be my friend. I kind of worry that I might be getting scammed by this “Ali” guy. But stupid me gives him the benefit of the doubt and befriends him; and before 2 hours are up he’s got me sending him my pagan cape pictures – I am so stupid, stupid, fucking stupid. That would be the end of my future if those pictures ended up floating around the internet. Why didn’t I just say no. {shakes head in utter weariness} I think the Goddess is being way too generous in dropping guys in my lap and it’s starting to overwhelm me.

On a lighter note, mom and dad gave me $100 for christmas and now I have the choice of buying the 2009 version of Norton internet security or I can pay for 2 months of storage unit space. My sister, although not suppose to, bought me a present as well. An exercise ball and resistance band Pilates workout kit with DVD. Don’t know how much I can use the ball with my back problems – disks that slip – but the resistance band will help tone my upper arms. Speaking of which, the dieting is going slow but steady over the holidays. I’ve only been keeping up with 2 miles a day on the treadmill, so I’ll only be losing 5 pounds this month. Next month I need to start job hunting again as I haven’t been doing any for the last 3 months and I need to get back to my 4 miles a day treadmill workout as well.

One last thing before I finish this entry. I’ve made friends with a very nice older guy from PaganSpace; we’ve been text chatting for 2 and a half weeks now. He’s a barefoot hedonist and has got me interested in toe rings and walking around the house in my bare feet. For Yule I bought myself 2 sterling silver toe rings, an Ankh and Pentagram. I took a pic of them and sent him a copy, he says my feet are sexy. I say, if you're going to have a fetish I guess a foot fetish isn’t as bad as most. Anyway here’s the pic I sent, what do you think are my feet sexy? *giggles*





Well that’s it for this blog blurb.

Found this on another message board I visit. Glad to know my suspicions have been confirmed. HA!!

Which creature of the night are you? Your Result: Vampire You are a social pragmatist, as likely to kiss as to bite. Your sensuality and social pragmatism is the counter-balance to your existential angst and your tendency toward depression.
Sorceror
Ghost
Incubus/Succubus
Demon
Werewolf
Cthulu Spawn
Which creature of the night are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Well it’s seems I spoke too soon about finding someone special on-line. And being too pushy I fucked up big time and chased him away. Yep, did a jim-dandy job of it too, he even pulled his profile down from PaganSpace.

David, If you ever see this please forgive me…for everything. {sigh}

I have come to the inevitable conclusion that no one is out there for me. Oh sure there’ll be on-line male friends to chat with and drive each other crazy with frustration. But in the end I’ll be going to bed alone. I’m simply too old and fat, and no one younger then me is interested. I hear by give up on ever feeling the arms of a man around me or the touch of his lips on mine.

Just too depressed to care anymore.....

His eyes. Which are the windows to his soul.
His mouth. With which a simple smile can speak volumes.
His voice. Which whispers words of love to fill my soul with joy.
His hair. Long soft tresses that need to be caressed.
His arms. Strong and confidant to hold me warm in their embrace.

Feeling suddenly poetic tonight…

Happy holidays everyone!

Once again it’s time for the end of the month weight-in – well a few days late that is. Anyway I kind of dropped the ball this last month. What with being depressed and then the temptation of Halloween candy and fast on it’s heels Thanksgiving {Hummm… pumpkin pie with real whip cream!} I just decided to let the month of November slide and only did 2 miles on the treadmill once a day or sometimes not at all. I figure I’ve been a good girl for 7 months I deserved a break. So the bottom line is I only lost 7 pounds this month. But because I always fluctuate by 2 pounds I’m officially stating a 5 pound loss for this month. Not bad, but not good either as I want to be down to 150 pounds by the 1st of March.

Why in such a hurry you ask? It’s simple. I’ve hook-up with someone special on-line from PaganSpace. We’re in the tentative get-to-know each other friendship stage but we’ve clicked on everything we’ve talked about so far. And if I don’t fuck this up by being too pushy in the mean time, we’ve made a tentative date to meet in March. Now it really is imperative I find a new job, as I’m going to need plane fare because he lives in North Carolina and I live in Washington.

On the other stuff front: Money being as tight as it is I’ve had to start going through my storage unit, to basically pick which bare bones things I can keep and store them in my parents basement and the rest I’ll have to sell. When I think of all the star trek collectable stuff I have, trading cards, school text, art, & general readings books, and knitting yarn stash I just want to cry. But as needs must it has to go and I readily admit I’m one hell of a pack rat. Like mother like daughter as they say. *LOL*

Happy Yule!

That’s all for this blog blurb….

Well it’s been 7 months now since my last employer sent me my “W-2 forms” in the mail. Which was an “in your face” hint for me to stop calling them about if they had any work. So I’ve been formally laid-off and haven’t been able to find a new job so far.

Which on the up side has given me all the leisure time I need to keep up with my diet and exercise plan. So far I’ve managed to lose 75 pounds and am down to a 190 pounds. I’ve still got 40 more pounds to go, and if I still can’t get a boyfriend I may try losing another 20 to get me down to a skinny 130 pounds.

I’ve kind of hit a plateau in the weight loss this month. I only managed 4 pounds and then gain 2 pounds back, and now I’m struggling to keep off just the 2 pounds I’ve lost. I think it has a lot to do with the seasonal holiday depression I’m going through right now, not having any motivation to get on the treadmill and walk my 4 miles a day. That and temptations like – halloween candy, thanksgiving dinner, christmas bake goodies, and the like, that are starting to show up around my parents house {where I’m living because of no job}.

I’ve tried to get my mind off the depression by getting out on the on-line community. An on-line friend of mine says if I want to start dating again I’ve got to get *out there*. So with that in mind she suggested I join www.paganspace.com I’ve been an agnostic since the age of 13 when I got fed up with the Catholic religion my mom kept forcing me to adhere to. I’ve always been fascinated about the Pagan/Wiccan religion since my early 20’s and in the last couple of months I’ve decided to gather up all the books I’ve bought over the years on the subject and start formally studying.

I’ve had my ego boosted a couple of times by guys who have seen my profile picture ( www.paganspace.net/profile/Janiece ) and thought I looked *hot* and messaged me to be on my paganspace friends list.



Well my face and my lower legs might look OK, but my upper arms, stomach, and hips are still really fat. But the really loose t-shirt I’m wearing covers that up very nicely {snickers}. It’s still going to be kind of hard for me to get back in the dating scene. It’s been 15 years since any guy has taken notice of me and I’ve never done the flirting thing, since I’ve been fat all my life, I’ve never learned how to. Anyway, moving on to something different…

I’ve put all of my stitchery projects away until after the new year begins. I’m just not in the mood to stitch now-a-days. I still read the occasional romance novel, but not like I use to. The depression just makes me tired and I sleep a lot. The rest of the time I’m on the internet checking my e-mail, several dozen blogs, and two on-line communities. Well that’s it, for what’s been happening in my life up to this point.

That’s all for this blog blurb….

Backup by Jim Butcher

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Backup” is a novelette (70 pages) written in a first person perspective not from Harry but his older half-brother Thomas Raith, a White Court Vampire.

Thomas faces a problem. Harry is investigating a child's kidnapping, but, what Harry doesn't know is that the purported mother is actually a centuries old demon. Thomas knows all about the demon but is unable to tell Harry of the demon due to an even older pact amongst the demon-hunters that he's apart of. Thus, Thomas has to find a way to help Harry without letting Harry in on what he's doing.

Thomas does an awful lot of "I'm a monster" agonizing and he's really very whiny, more so than when written from Harry's POV. Still, it was really interesting to see things from Thomas' POV. His admiration for his brother comes through quite clearly and that's the real pleasure in the read. As Harry doesn't usually portray himself as one of the most powerful living wizards, good, but not on that level, so Thomas' view of him shines a whole new light on just how powerful Harry really is.

The story comes across as a “day in the life” kind of scenario. Way too short for an avid Butcher fan like myself. I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy; and as this was a limited print run by Subterranean Press costing $20 you'll be lucky to find it new, let alone used.

View all my reviews.

I read this book a week and a half ago and only now have gotten off my ass for it's write up. I've been really distracted the last two weeks and been kind of depressed because my weight loss has had a setback.


Lyon: The Lords Of Satyr (Book #3)
by Elizabeth Amber

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars


The date, November, 1823, Paris, France, and Lord Lyon Satyr youngest of the Satyr brothers searches for his FaerieBlend bride as his two elder brothers, Nicholas and Raine, did before him.

Because King Feydon had sown his seed where he should not have, Lyon would soon find himself yoked with a bride not of his own choosing. One whose name and face are unknown to him, but whom he nevertheless has journeyed from Tuscany, Italy to find.

Lyon not only finds one, but two potential brides – sisters. One has the outward appearance of a Nereid, a sea nymph or mermaid, named Sibela. The other a courtesan who has a unique talent for haute cuisine, named Juliette. Trouble in the form of a nights enchanted sleep not only robs Lyon of almost a weeks worth of memories but nearly his life as well.

The story was well paced, but for me drug at times simply because I was impatient for the sex scenes, which I must also complain about because there wasn’t enough of them either. {grin}

This time the story was more a straight to the point scenario and had little to no side twists or turns. The author seemed to be treating it as a horse race impatient for it to be over. Even her writing style was somewhat subdued this time around as her very vibrant and descriptive visualizations of the sex scenes were somewhat lacking. Which was not the case in the first two books, Nicholas & Raine. The book in and of itself was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it as a continuation of a multi-story arc. But if you are looking for something strictly for arousal purposes I would give it a pass, or find it in the used section of a book store and save yourself the cost of a new book.


View all my reviews.

Halloween Day:

Not much happened around here today. I was planning on dressing up like a swashbuckling vampire complete with my red and black floor length (6ft.) hooded cape, taking my niece and nephew out trick or treating again this year. But due to my massive weight loss (75 lbs.) my old SCA costume didn't fit me anymore. So I ended up asking my nephew what I should dress up as, and with out batting an eye he said Witch. Well thank goodness that wasn't a problem. I simply put my floor length hooded cape on and hung my silver sabbath pentacle around my neck and I was good to go.

Trick or treating with my nephew lasted all of 2 houses and that was it. My niece on the other hand had her poor mother going around several blocks in the neighborhood.

Here’s a couple of pics. Jesse is a pokemon named meril and Sarah is a dementor from Harry Potter.




Stitchery Update:

Well this is my end of the month update for Musical Bell Pull ( by Donna Vermillion Giampa ). This is the banjo and the bottom picture of the 4 instruments. This month I just couldn’t seem to get any sort of stitching enthusiasm jump started with this project. I think it has to do with that time of the year and my seasonal depression is rearing it’s head for the holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.). So with that in mind I think I’ll put away all my stitching until well after the beginning of the new year. Here’s the latest picture.




SURPRISE!!!!!:

Well the biggest and most unexpected surprise came in the mail on Thursday the 30th. A personally autographed ARC (advanced reader copy) of Katie MacAlister’s Zen and the Art of Vampires. I had entered a random drawing contest hardly thinking I would win – and what’da ya know miracles really do happen. Because this is my very first ARC. {grins} The dedication page was for all the loyal minions that virtually live at her message board and of course I’m a card carrying member. I don’t know if this is coincident or not but my name was used as one of the fodder characters for two pages near the end of the book. It was however used as a male name, so ( Jan ) was pronounced like Yan ( as in yawn ). What’s really going to drive me crazy is the fact that I’m sworn to secrecy about what’s in the book and I have to keep my mouth shut until December 2nd when the book is officially released. I managed to read, or I should say rip, through it in an 11 ½ hour marathon read. From midnight Friday Halloween to 11:30 am Saturday. I still as yet haven’t had any sleep and I have this over whelming urge to read it all over again tonight. Yea, I know I has it bad addiction wise. {chuckle} Anyway here’s a pic of it in my hot little hands. My precious, My own, Bawhahahahha……





Weigh-In Update:

Wahoo!! I made double my weight loss goal again with another spectacular 10 pounds shed. That puts me 40 pounds closer to my tentative goal of 150 pounds. If I can keep up with this 10 pound loss consistently I think I may lower my final goal to 130 pounds!!!

Man one of these days I’m gonna have to get my hair cut and have a new {skinner} picture taken of me for the blog. {Grin}


For the next few months I’ll be catching up on my authors and writing book reviews.

That’s all for this blog blurb………..

Greetings everyone. After much debate I have decided to go back to my old “Harbor” blogger template. Even though the graphics looked really nice with the White Passion template, I just couldn't cope with the narrow column look. That and certain HTML text code attributes were over written which really irked me. So I'm much happier now.

On the stitching front I really haven't done much on Musical Bell Pull this month. I just haven't had any enthusiasm to work on this project. So I'm seriously thinking about just putting everything away until after the first of the year. At the end of this month I'll be posting a picture update along with my weight loss update which is going really well.

That's all for this blog blurb.

Wild Wild West by Charlene Teglia

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars



As the back page blurb says… 3 girls from Seattle, 3 cowboys from Montana. All pair up at a coffeehouse called Lemon Espresso. Each story is told as a separate novella.

First I want to say that the stories in and of themselves are readable, but I find that I’m just not into cowboy erotica. Guess I like my stories with more of a paranormal plot. That and the fact I’ve been to Missoula and the only thing populating coffeehouses are the college students from Univ. of Montana where the campus just happens to be. Or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been around real ranchers and I just can’t wrap my imagination around the fantasy cowboys in this book. Shrug… who knows for sure, anyway.

A man’s word is his bondage, Gabe and Willow’s story. Willow’s a (Sub) and wanna be book author. He’s a (Dom) an english teacher and into bondage. Gabe is very quite spoken and sweet. He always tells Willow exactly what he going to do to her and then politely asks for permission. The story itself was OK, but really I'm really not into bondage. So meh, I'm giving it a 2.8 out of 5 stars.

Ready to play, Chet and Jolie’s story. Jolie is a recent graduate from law school. Chet is an ex rodeo rider turned horse breed rancher. The story basically involves a budding (but accelerated) relationship with straight vanilla sex (mission style) with a little voyeurism thrown in. A sweet simple story and an easy read on the comfort scale. I give it a 3 out of 5 stars. I would have given it a higher rating, if it hadn’t been for the annoying fact that the author kept letting Chet call Jolie “baby” most of the time. I’m sure she thought of it as an enduring term from Chet’s P.O.V. but to me it just came off as sounding condescending. It would have sounded much better if he had used a special pet name instead.

Reuben’s Rules, Reuben and Laura’s story. Laura is the owner of Lemon Espresso the coffeehouse that is the focal point of the three stories. Reuben is an ex army ranger turned sheep rancher. Laura’s fantasy is BDSM with her as sex slave to Reuben’s master. There was no bondage, pain, or rough discipline involved. Just a fun fantasy of slave/master sex with a couple of first-timer sex toys and a little voyeurism thrown in. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I liked it the best for the sheer enthusiasm the author put into writing this story. This novella was obviously written first and her forte is clearly this sub-type of erotic/fantasy writing.


View all my reviews.

Up In Smoke (Silver Dragons, Bk. 2) by Katie MacAlister

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars



As always Katie you were brilliant !!! I did a 13 hour cover to cover read.



HEADS-UP THIS POST HAS SERIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD..... BEWARNED!!!!!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The scenes that made me snort with laughter…

Aisling in the kitchen after getting a muscle cramp. Gabriel prodding her belly convinced she’s going into labor. Drake roaring at him to keep his damn hands off his mate. The whole house in a uproar with Istvàn wanting to boil water and Pàl bolting out of the house to get the midwife. All the while Aisling trying to tell them without much success that they’re over reacting. It was funny thinking of Jim as the squeamish type wanting to leave the scene to avoid the “baby juice, blood and guck”. Considering he’s a centuries old demon, he’s must of seen it all at some point. {snicker}

In the clothing shop in Paris with May on the mobile phone with Cyrene. Who informs her twin that because May is a mate to Gabriel, she must be mate to Kostya. And she being very attentive looking after this very needy dragon for the 6 weeks Mays been gone.

Thank you so much for hooking these two ( an airhead & control freak ) up. It’s so much fun seeing Kostya tortured like this. I dare say it won’t last for long as Cy will probably get distracted by some other needy/insane dragon.

Sally, Sally, Sally… for some reason I got it in my head that she was the 20 something version of Dolores Umbridge of Harry Potter ilk, puke pink pepto bismal outfit - attitude and all. Ha!

I loved Katie's knowledge of surfer speak 101. I snorted with laughter and lost my place so often I had to read that passage in the book twice. It was just so gnarly dude!!

Katie's really got me shaking my head over Magoth buck naked in a church fountain getting randy with a statue. I guess if he doesn’t have powers to create havoc, then the next best thing would be to cause wide spread disgust (ie thumbing your nose at the court of divine blood). Either that, or he’s up to something and Katie's going to spring it on us in book 3.

I loved all the dragon sex scenes between Gabriel and May. Especially that one with the gold dust and Gab trying, but without much success, at foreplay. As for May, I think she should just give into the shard and become a dragon for the time being. Who knows the key to her being freed from Magoth might be in turning into a dragon and braking the bond he has over her. I’ve heard Katie state several times dragons cannot be minions of demon lords.

Now what's up with this white dragon that’s also an archmage…. Hummmm interesting…. Or being white and therefore ouroboros without a sept? Even more interesting….. So who can he be? Baltic, Constantine Norka, some other ancient dragon or Dr. Kostich. And why is he helping Fiat trying to kill off all the other wyverns?

Oh man, I’m going to burst from curiosity/frustration before November 2009 gets here!!!

View all my reviews.

Happy Happy Joy Joy !!!!

I had to post a special blurb today and say WAHOO!!! This last month I managed to double my weight loss goal to 10 pounds. Which put me well past the halfway mark for the goal I've set and I've got the picture to prove it. Only 50 more pounds to go. YEA!!!!

Not much to talk about except to say that I made major progress on Summer's End this month. I made one small change, in that instead of making french knots (which cause me aggravation) I used Mill Hill glass seed beads on the butterfly and red berries. Next month I rotate on to musical bell pull.



In other news: No luck finding work. All I seem to get in my inbox is rejection e-mails. No one wants to hire you if you don't have a car and can't be available for work 24/7. That just sucks big time. I'd hate to be forced to lie about my unavailability just to get in for an interview. {sigh}

Dark Hunger (The Brethren: Book 2) by Sara Reinke

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars


[Update: Oct. 4, 2008 Important Notice at bottom of post]



Dark Hunger the second book in a three book trilogy, gave me a rollercoaster ride for my emotions. I wanted to laugh, cry, giggle with anticipation, and stomp my foot in frustration, in this page turner of a book. As with the first book, Dark Thirst, it sucked me into the world of Brandon, Lina, Rene & Tessa and wouldn’t turn me loose until I finished the book 14 hours later.

This second book concentrates on the burgeoning love interest between Rene and Tessa. As they, along with Brandon and Lina, travel across country to Nevada in the quest to escape the Brethren, a prominent family of vampires.

For more character info read the review by Terra57 She’s done an excellent review.

If you missed the first book, not to worry, the author pulls information from it to let you know what’s going on in the developing plot. There’s also a lot of flashback/background information that’s new to the characters of Rene and Tessa. That’s what this book mainly focuses on - character development.

The one thing that the author, Sara Reinke, did which wins her high praise from me. Is that whenever Rene, the Cajun part human part vampire, spoke french she immediately repeated the words or phrase in english. I always found it frustrating when romance authors liberally laced their dialog with foreign languages and I not knowing what was being said. Unless, of course, you had an french-english or some other dictionary at hand.

The end of the book left you with one hell of a cliff hanger. In that Rene did something completely out-of-character. It left you with a twist to the plot that I never saw coming and it’s got me wondering – how in the hell is Sara going to write herself out of this!

2009 can’t get here fast enough when the third and final book in the series, Dark Passion, hits the stores.



Important Update:

I have just read via Sara Reinke’s e-mail announcement list that of Oct. 1, 2008 Kensington publishers have dropped the Brethren series due to sales on the first two titles.

I as a loyal reader of Ms. Reinke’s I am severely disappointed in Kensington for not, at least, letting the author finish with the 3 story line arc. To leave a reading audience hanging that way shows that Kensington is more interested in the bottom-line dollar wise then to satisfy it loyal customers.

I fervently hope that Ms. Reinke finds an e-book publisher so that the question of what happens to Brandon, Lina, Tessa, & Rene is resolved.

The outline for the proposed third book in the Brethren Series, Dark Passion is now available at her forum. IT CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE PUBLISHED BOOKS. Hopefully it will answer any lingering questions readers may have about the events set up in Dark Hunger; You'll find it here….. http://sarareinke.activeboard....


View all my reviews.

Greetings and a Happy Labor Day Weekend to those here in the States.

I just now finished up with squares 2 and 7A and have uploaded progress pictures See....



A full size picture of my progress so far taken outside on the neighbor's deck. The project is attached to my European Style Slate Frame.



I'll be moving BOInk to the bottom of the rotational pile since I've official worked on it a month now. Next I'll be working on Summer's End I really need to get some progress done on that. Maybe working on it this next month I may even finish it.

Other News: I've made my 5 pound weight loss goal again for the month - YEA!!!! Only 60 more pounds to go...
Starting next month I need to start looking for work again, for what little good it will do. Although, now that school has started maybe I'll have better luck with kids quitting to go back to school.

Well that's it for this Blog Blurb.

Finally after 2 weeks worth of stitching I’ve completed page one of the border for the Book of Ink Circles mystery SAL.

No your eyes are not deceiving you, the cat has slipped his flea collar and escaped. Thus I was unable to pin him to the fabric and stitch him in. Tisk, tisk cats are such slippery little critters.




The colors come off a little dull, they’re much more vibrant in person.

Since I’m so many months behind on this SAL I though I’d work two of the enclosed squares before I moved on to one of my other WiPs.

I Want You To Want Me by Kathy Love

My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars


I WANT YOU TO WANT ME is a continuation of the story arc of two vampire (Lampir) half-brothers Renauldo (Ren) D’Antoni and Vittorio Ridgewood. In this story of Vittorio, he finds his soul mate in Erika Todd a sculptor.

Vittorio and Erika’s involvement starts out shaky and frustrating. But quickly turns into hot bunny sex 1/3 of the way through the book (ch. 12) and you get to read plenty of it evenly paced throughout the remainder of the book.

Trouble in the form of the brothers’ mother and Lampir creator, Orabella, rears her demented and possessive head. As she jealousy kills off all Vittorio’s lovers determined to have him all to herself and in a much more than parental way. And naturally she goes after Erika with the help of her demon lover, Maksim.

I consider the book a palatable piece of fluff. Not much in the way of plot but not boring either, and in the end you get your HEA.

View all my reviews.

This week's SBQ was suggested by Dawn and is:

If you had to choose, would you rather spend money on overdyed floss or hand-dyed fabric?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/08/sbq-fabric-and-floss/

ACK!!! What a tough question. Can’t I just have both??? { chuckle }

The first time I ever used overdyed floss was with Teresa Wentzler’s Dragon Needlebook. It was Dinky Dyes silk and I really loved the look and feel of the floss. I don’t collect it as a rule, since it’s expensive I only buy the exact amounts for what a project calls for.

As for hand dyed fabrics. I love looking at them but just can’t get myself to actually use a piece of it. I have 2 cuts of the stuff – one lt. blue, one lt. tea by True Colors.

Hummm….Well my choice would probably be the overdyed floss. I could always dye my own fabric using RIT® Brand Color Dye if I truly needed a piece for a project.

This week's SBQ was suggested by Outi and is:

What do you do to your thread clippings?
Do you just scrap them or do you use them in something else?


The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/08/sbq-and-blog-awards/

Funny enough, I saved a massive Ort pile o' bits and put them in a notch, in the old maple tree in our yard. Thinking that the local sparrows would use them as nest filler. Surprisingly enough they didn't touch them, nor did the squirrels who run wild all over the neighborhood. Maybe I should save up the next mass quantity for stuffing material for a pincushion biscornus.

with a Wet Noodle Again!!! Taking a line from Brittany Spears “Oops I did it again…”

No sooner do I finally finish one of my long term WiPs, I manage to find and join another on-line SAL. {Shakes head in utter bemusement.} You’d think I’d be happy with the 8 current projects I have now. Nope.

I can totally blame this on Needle In A Haystack’s e-newsletter. They mentioned a free design SAL from Tracy of Ink Circles. So I took a look and found out it was a Celtic design called “The Book of Ink Circles”. I ended up joining the Yahoo group on Tuesday and downloading the available parts. I found that it was started back in March, so I’m only 5 months behind. If you’re interested in the SAL you can find it on her website HERE.

I was rather astonished to discover that I live less than 10 miles away (just a stones throw) from Tracy who lives in West Richland, Wa. So a big wave in the general direction of West Richland/Benton City area.

Anyway, I dug around in my stash Thursday and found a 20” x 20” piece of 28ct. Ivory evenweave and did a floss toss with DMC Rayon. I can’t afford to buy silk thread so I opted for something that had the same sheen quality as silk. I think I did pretty well in the color matching. As I only had a JPEG of the floss to go by. I’ll try and get the fabric’s edges sewn up on the machine and put on a scroll frame some time this weekend.


Here’s the floss toss pic from Thursday:


Today after I looked at the floss again, I decided to change the dk. Blue to a slightly lighter hue. As it looks like the black will overwhelm the 30336.

Other news: First the good news. I’ve reached my 5 lb. goal for the last month. That gives me a grand total of 50 lbs. lost to date, with 65 lbs. more to go. Wahoo!!! Now the not so good news. I’ve had no luck with finding a new job and basically gave up looking this last month.

That’s it for this blog blurb…..

After nearly 4 months I've finally came across a blogger template that I can tweak to my heart's content. It only took me 4 days to get it up and working with my side bar items and the CSS code looks right in both Internet Explorer and Fire Fox. WAHOO!!!!

Thank you Pannasmontata! Finally someone who actually knows what they're doing and has artistic style as well.

I've decided to leave all my book related things – goodreads reviews, widgets, etc. on this blog. Since I really don't talk about much besides my needlework and the SBQ meme. Maybe I'll just end up making LJ a mirror site for my blogger posts. That should make everyone happy.

Well I'm off to finish the books in my currently reading shelf. Why not stop on by and give the new coat of paint a look see..

Later y'all......

Well this was a very slow week and a half getting this small section done. Guess I’m starting to reach a mini burn-out again when it comes to stitching. Well at least I accomplished my goal for this project. I’ve decided to rotate it in between the other projects on my list; at least that way it won’t get turned into a UFO.

I thought I’d try something a little different this time in displaying the picture. I drew a box around the actual section that’s new and grayed out the rest of the picture to show just how much and where the progress was on the fabric. If you click on the picture link you’ll get to see a bigger snap.





As for what I’m going to work on next, I’ve got “Camelot Sampler” set up on the scroll frame cradle. But I’m also thinking about “Musical Bell Pull” I haven’t worked on that since February 2001. Whichever one I work on next will be awhile, as I’ve been neglecting my growing collection of romance novels. They’ve been collecting dust on my headboard so I plan to get some reading done until the beginning of August and then get back to stitching.

And speaking of books, I was thinking of moving all my book related things – goodreads reviews, widgets, etc. – over to my Live Journal Blog. That’s if I can ever figure out how to put my author banners and goodreads widgets in the side panels that is. I need to start posting to it or one of these days LJ may decided to up and nuke it. I’ll be sure to post a notice and have a link in my side panel so you can look at it if you want, when I get around to it that is.

Well that’s it for this blog blurb……

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures Volume 2 by Laurell K. Hamilton

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars


Excellent artwork and storyboard scripting!!! I managed to buy the book the day it hit the shelves and read it the minute I got home.

I now plan to put the paperback "Guilty Pleasures" in my TO-READ list. I’ve gotten the feel for Hamilton’s writing and I hope the book has a wee bit more romance in it than the graphic novel did.

View all my reviews.

YEA!!! I can finally scratch off Christmas Mystery Sampler off the side panel of my WiPs category. And it only took me 4-1/2 years!!! {groan} I promised I’d get it finished by the end of June, I got close and only over shot it by 2 weeks. I don’t have the money to frame it, so more than likely it’s going to get turned into a bell pull. Don’t know when that will be though, as for the moment I’m sick-to-death of looking at it. I only made one major change in it, and that was not stitching the last part. I just didn’t like the Kreinik metallic gold fringe effect of part six so I ended the project with part five for a more uniform look.

And now for all the other info just in case you want to know…..

Name: Christmas Mystery Sampler
Type: Counted Cross Stitch
Finished size: Approx. 6.57" x 19.7" (16.68cm x 50cm) on 28ct. Lugana {Black}
Leaflet/Kit #: E-mail PDF Chart
Designer/Publisher: Pamela Kellogg, Kitty and Me Country Crafts / CraftSoft Inc. © 2003
Finshed: July 10, 2008
Misc. Info. : A free Stitch-Along Project in 6 parts (Oct. 29 - Dec. 14, 2003) created just for Pam's bulletin board group at http://pamkellogg.yuku.com/



I'll be working on part 6 of Il était une fois (Once Upon a Time...) next.
Well that's it for now.....

This week's SBQ from Renée is:

How do you balance your stitching time with your other obligations such as work, household chores, etc.?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/07/sbq-finding-balance/

---

When I was working full time my evenings were filled with getting on-line and checking my e-mail, a couple of message forums and a very long list of RSS feeds. Those feeds included book authors & publishers, my SBQ & needlecraft friends, and Brick n’ Mortar needlecraft shops. I only had roughly 3 hours in the evenings for this and then it was time for bed. Household chores, book reading, and stitching was given over to the weekends.

Now that I am temporarily unemployed I can read, stitch, or cruise the internet as much as I like during the day. Finding work is a bit more of a problem. No one wants to hire you if you don’t have a reliable source of transportation – i.e. a car.

Lady & the Vamp (Immortality Bites, Book 3) by Michelle Rowen

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really sweet story if you like romance with little to no sex. This book should have been labeled as "young adult/teen".

Which is odd because the characters were written as much older; Michael Quinn (age 30) and Janie Parker ( age 25 ). What was most in abundance was verbal loquaciousness. Both characters (well Michael more then Janie) went on and on about their self loathing and doubt.

Overlooking that little annoyance I rather enjoyed reading it. The book was sharp, witty, and had plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. A very good vampire book.


View all my reviews.

Since not everyone maybe interested in signing on with GoodReads I thought I’d start posting my comments/reviews here on my blog as well.


Heroes (Laws of the Blood, Book 5) by Susan Sizemore

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can’t believe this but I actually liked this novel, even with the 4 previous strike outs. In this 5th book the writing was tight, the scenes and dialog flowed smoothly, and even the plot made sense. It’s just a shame that Sizemore’s last book in the series finally got me interested and caring about the characters. Even when she left me with a small cliff hanger/dangling plot thread at the end with the characters of Char McCairn and Jebel Haven.



I’ll have to email her and ask if she ever resolved the cliff hanger in a later novella. Cuz I sure would like to find out how the situation between Valentine, Geoff, Char and Jebel gets resolved.




View all my reviews.

This week's SBQ is:

Do you currently subscribe to any stitching publications or have you in the past? (Either in print or online) If so, which ones?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/06/sbq-stitching-pubs/

---

No not now, but yes in the past.

I‘ve two magazines that I subscribed to in the past – Just Cross Stitch (1997) and Piecework/Needleworkers (2000 ?) magazine.

When JCS parted company with Teresa Wentzler I dropped my subscription. By that time the charts they offered were too cutesy. (FYI: To date I have yet to stitch any of those designs!) I mainly read JCS for the articles and looked for TW’s designs.

I really loved Needleworkers magazine unfortunately I only discovered it after it had been absorbed by Piecework. And when they dropped the Needleworkers half of the magazine I dropped my subscription.

Now days the only time I buy a magazine is if it has an interesting series of articles. The last one was in 2007, it was a 6 part series from JCS on how to make different types of knots and novel uses for them.

All rightie, I’ve got a finish and an update to share for this week. Sunday the 1st I finished the birthday present for my friend (towel and potholder) and managed to get it into the mail on Monday. They said it would take from 5-10 days to get to England, and since her birthday is this Saturday I’m hoping that the package is only a couple of days late. I was really pleased with the kitchen towel, not so with the potholder and that’s my fault I’m afraid. I took the thing apart so it would be easier to stitch, unfortunately I couldn’t seem to get it back together so it looked right. I ended up taking it completely apart and re-sewing the trim back on and somehow I didn’t have enough trim to make the loop at the top. I’m not very happy but there’s not much I can do about it.

The update is just a little mention. A couple of posts back I said I was going to catch up with replacing the french knots with glass seed beads for Il était une fois (once upon a time). Well I did that last night with part 4. So now all the sections that needed beads are up to date. I’ve posted a update picture of the 5 sections I’ve done so far.

Now I’m turning my attention back to the dreaded Christmas Sampler 2003 with the determined goal to get it finished this month. There’s only parts 5 & 6 to sew along with finishing it as a bell pull. Then I’ll have to figure out what to use for the hardware to hang it with.

Be sure to click on the pictures to get a better look.

Name: BlueBerries Kitchen Towel & Potholder
Type: Counted Cross Stitch
Finished Chart Size: Towel: 3.75" x 5.25" (9.6cm x 13.4cm) Potholder: 3.64" x 3.64" (9.25cm x 9.25cm)
Leaflet/Kit #: Fruit Tarts & Towels Book 244
Designer/Publisher: Stoney Creek Collection, Inc. © 1999
Finished: Towel: May 04, '08 Potholder: May 31, '08
Misc. Info. : The gold diamond backstitching is Glissen Gloss Spectrim




And here's Il était une fois (Once Upon a Time):



Well that's it for this Blog Blurb.....

This week's SBQ was suggested by Me!!! and is:

Do you ever get to a point working on a project that you've had for so long, you start to wonder what possessed you to start it in the first place?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/05/sbq-what-was-i-thinking/

---

I asked this of myself back on April 15, and will gladly reiterate it here. Oh, and thanks Renée for using my question.

That’s what I’m feeling about christmas sampler. There must have been something about it I liked back in 2003 when I started it that drew my interest, but for the life of me I can’t remember what. Now I feel like it’s a chore to finish the beast. But finish it I will, then it will either get rolled up and put away never to see the light of day, or what’s more likely, it will get turned into a bell pull and only hauled out during December to be hung up on the wall after I give it to my mom. The funny thing is I don’t really care for poinsettias.

I guess like Renée says tastes change. Most of my WiPs are long term the oldest being Pegasus and Butterflies started back in 1999. The rest of them were started between 2001 and 2005. I swear I will finish them all ---- some day. [snicker]

This week's SBQ was suggested by Renée and is:

For seasoned stitchers: Define a stitching term or acronym for new stitchers.
For newbies: What stitching term or acronym would you like defined?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/05/sbq-stitch-speak/

---

I can remember the first time I joined the stitching boards over at www.ezboard.com ( now www.yuku.com ) I was so bewildered by all the abbreviations used in the messages.

The one memorable one that always gave me a start when I read it in a header was:

SEX = Stash Enhancement eXpense ( or eXperience )
: Materials bought, gained in an exchange, won in an auction, etc.

Others that always gave me trouble trying to remember:

SABLE = Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy
: To know for sure, simply ask yourself this one simple question - If I quit buying anymore stash and stitched everything that is currently in my stash? If the answer is no, you have reached SABLE.

AFAIK = As Far As I Know
FWIW = For What It’s Worth
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary ( your experience may differ from mine)

I was going to post this Sunday but simply didn’t have the time, so it gets a quick little blurb today. My ordered supplies came in on Thursday the 1st and I finished the towel by Sunday afternoon. Now I’ve got 3 weeks left to stitch the pot holder. This is a first for me and proving very interesting as I have never counted cross stitched in-hand before. That and I had to dismantle the potholder down 2 of the 3 sides so I could work the stitches. I’m fairly confidant that I’ll get this finished in the next 3 weeks and mailed off to my girlfriend in England by the last Monday in this month.


Name: BlueBerries Kitchen Towel
Type: Counted Cross Stitch
Finished Chart Size: 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" (9.6cm x 13.4cm)
Leaflet/Kit #: Fruit Tarts & Towels Book 244
Designer/Publisher: Stoney Creek Collection, Inc. © 1999
Finished: May 04, '08



Potholder progress as of Sunday:


This will probably be the first and last potholder I stitch in a very long time. I find I don’t really like to stitch in-hand on pre-finished items.

Well, that’s all for this blog blurb.

This week's SBQ was suggested by Jennifer is:

Do you have any pieces that you would liked passed on to future generations as family heirlooms?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/04/sbq-heirlooms/

---

My fantasy would be that everything I stitch gets passed along. That said, I doubt that any of them will become family heirlooms and will most likely end up in a yard sale long after I'm buried and gone. I'm not married and don't have any children, and by the looks of things I'm not going to have either in the near future. I do have 3 younger siblings,1 niece and 1 nephew so far, and they've all gotten wedding and birth announcements stitched by me. So hopefully some of them may appreciate my stitching after I'm gone and rat-pack away a few items.

Well it’s been 1 1/2 weeks now and I’ve worked all I can on the kitchen towel for my girlfriend’s present. I’m still waiting for a skein of Glissen Gloss spectrim gold and a ball of DMC Pearl Cotton #12 I’ve ordered from www.needleartmania.com. Jackie’s brick n’ mortar shop is in Pasco, Wa. the only needlepoint and counted cross stitch shop in all of the Tri-Cities sad to say. I’ll be giving her a call next week about my thread. I’ve never ordered from her before so I don’t know what her ordering schedule is. I do hope I get my order before the middle of May, cuz the birthday package need to be sent out the last week of May if it’s to get to England in time for her birthday. In the mean time I’ll be working on the matching potholder that goes with the towel.

In Other News: I’ve been laid-off and out of work for 3 weeks so far, and it doesn’t look like the company is going to be calling me back to work this month. Damn but on-call work really sucks.

This week's SBQ was suggested by Christine and is:

How do you handle blended threads? Do you kit the blends up before you start a piece, or do you grab what colors you need and blend when the need arises? If you kit up the blends beforehand, how do you store them? Do you have another option for blends to share?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/04/sbq-blends/

---

Like most stitchers I blend (tweed) as I go. I set up my LoRan small project cards so the 2 solid colors are on either side of the blended color. Example [ 378 – 378/379 – 379 ]. That means I pull 1 thread from each solid color, use the blend and place the unused piece in the middle hole to be worked later in the same project. I try to organize all my blended pairs this way on 1 – 2 project cards. That way I'm not duplicating solid colors on more than one card. When I'm finished with the project I either toss the blend or, if the length is still usable, separate the threads and return them to their respective plastic bobbins.

A hint for the LoRan cards: Write on the back and not the front of the cards, that way you can easily erase the pencil markings and use the cards again.

As promised here’s my progress picture for parts 3 and 4. This will temporarily be set aside as I work on a birthday present for a girl friend. Her birthday is coming up in June and I’m going to stitch her a kitchen towel and potholder combo with a picture of blueberries. No worries about her finding out, as far as I know she doesn’t have internet access so my secret will be safe.

After that I’ll be working on Le Marquoir - Il était une fois replacing french knots with seed beads for part 4. Then it’s back to christmas sampler forcing myself to finish it.
Do you ever get to a point working on a project that you’ve had for so long that you start to wonder what possessed you to start it in the first place? That’s what I’m feeling about christmas sampler. There must have been something about it I liked back in 2003 when I started it that drew my interest, but for the life of me I can’t remember what. Now I feel like it’s a chore to finish the beast. But finish it I will, then it will either get rolled up and put away never to see the light of day, or it will get turned into a bell pull and only hauled out during December to be hung up on the wall.

As for the wonky page loading problems. I’ve gone out and bought myself a 3 inch thick Cascading Style Sheets book. Basically it’s a developer’s guide for CSS1 and CSS2. It may take me a while but I plan on teaching myself the basics and fix my blog myself. I guess it doesn’t pay to go copying and pasting other peoples code together when you have no idea what the hell you’re doing.

Well that’s it for this blog blurb.

Well after four years I finally decided it was high time for a face lift. I got tired of seeing blue skies and fluffy clouds deciding to go for a green motif and earthy flowers, orchids to be specific. It took me roughly six hours to tweak the template just the way I wanted it, and for someone who know zip about style sheets I think it looks damn nice. There's just one catch - it only works in Internet Explorer. For some reason, I can't figure out why or how, the style sheets screw-up in Mozilla's FireFox.


On the stitching front I'm hard at work on Christmas Sampler 2003. I'm up though part three, the center flowers, and halfway through part four the band just below it. I should have a progress picture by Monday or Tuesday showing both parts completed. Then thank goddess I'll be in the home stretch with part five. I've decided to leave off the bottom row of diamonds, part six, as I feel it unbalances the length of the bell pull.


This week's SBQ was suggested by Jennifer and is:

What is the most complicated piece you've ever completed?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/04/sbq-complications/

---

At this moment in time none. I consider Teresa Wentzler's Camelot Sampler the most time consuming if not actually complicated, as I'm still plugging away at it after 7 years. Most things I've done aren't actually complicated. Then I guess it all depends on your idea of what complicated is.

I found this bit of silliness via Jim Butcher's Livejournal posting today.

Looks like a tie between Snape and Harry. Dang it I wanted to be Severus!!!!

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Harry Potter You can be a little reckless and hot-headed at times, but a more brave and courageous friend would be hard to find. Severus Snape 75% Harry Potter 75% Ginny Weasley 65% Remus Lupin 65% Hermione Granger 65% Ron Weasley 60% Albus Dumbledore 55% Sirius Black 50% Draco Malfoy 50% Lord Voldemort 35%

This week's SBQ was suggested by Terri and is:

What items do you consider essential to your needlework that you keep in your stitching bag?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/04/sbq-the-essentials/

---

I have 2 navy blue DMC heavy-duty travel bags.

They have a 3 ring binder that holds stitchbow transparent inserts, my charts, & working copies. Then of course there's the fabric, plastic embroidery hoop, a package of size 28 tapestry needles, needle threader, scissors, laying tool (if needed), clear tape for getting rid of the fuzzies the frogs leave behind, 11 inch bookmark for cutting 18 inch lengths of floss, colored pencils and florescent pens for marking the working copies, magnets for holding the needles to the fabric, LoRan cards to hold the cut floss, stitchbows to hold the uncut skeins. Last but not least single wrapped life saver candies!!!

This week's SBQ is:

When you stitch a pattern that you have downloaded do you print out the pattern or do you stitch directly from your computer screen?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/03/sbq-downloads/

---

Nope! There’s no way I can look at the computer screen and work on my scroll frame at the same time, which happens to be in another room. So I puzzle out if I can convert the file to a PDF and enlarge the chart through the Adobe Reader program and then print it out. Thankfully one of the places I buy downloadable charts – Patterns-Online.com - allows me to save them in that format.

But whether it’s a freebie or something I’ve purchased, I collect the charts downloaded and burn them on disk. It's much easier (and cheaper!) then to keep them in dozens of 3-ring binders and use up a couple of pounds of paper and printer ink.

Ha!


Well with the amount of romance books I read in a month it's hardly surprising.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Musician
Artistic Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Anime Nerd
Drama Nerd
Social Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Well I finally got around last night and finished my dragon needle book after 5 weeks of procrastinating. I think my check book design turned out excellent and with 4 pages I've got more than enough room for my needles. Also instead of marking the needle size numbers on the pages, I plan on using small paper stickers and writing the size on them. That way I can re-arrange the needles when necessary.

Here’s all the info from my finished projects page on my website.

Name: Needle Guardian Needle Book
Type: Counted Cross Stitch
Finished Chart Size: approx. 4" x 6" (10.16cm x 15.24cm)
Designer/Publisher: Teresa Wentzler - © 2007 TW Designworks / PatternsOnLine
Finished: Assembled March 14, 2008
Misc. Info. : I tried to take pictures up close of the Kreinik metallic braid and beads as they kind of get lost on top of the stitching for the head and tail. The bead used as a clasp is a stone - Tiger Eye.
Front Panel : Started August 14, 2007 - Finished October 7, 2007
Back Panel : Started February 3, 2008 - Finished February 7, 2008










I used waxed cardboard panels from an orange juice carton and 4 used Bounce dryer sheets as padding to make the front and back covers stiff. On the inside I used a white felt fabric square as pages.





I think It's time I got back to working on my WiPs and to that end it's going to be a toss-up between “Christmas Sampler 2003” and “Summer's End”. Oh, I'll still be reading my romance books but I think I'll keep it to a Friday/Saturday 12 hour reading marathon. I have a tendency to read a book cover to cover in one go.

Other News:
I’ve decided to start looking for a new job. The company I’m at now was suppose to upgrade me to permanent full-time hours. Instead I’ve been down graded from full-time temp to on-call status. Which means I’ve only had 4 weeks of work so far this year, and since I’ve got bills to pay *now* I can’t afford to wait around for them to call me. Looking for full-time work really sucks when the only thing out there seems to be 4 hour-a-day part-time jobs. It’s also hampered by the fact that I don’t own a car and have to rely on public transit.


Well that all for today's blog blurb....