June SBQ

Posted by Jan
Lee the Lake Stitcher's Stitching Bloggers Question of the Month.....

Do you stitch patriotic/national pieces (or maybe just pieces that represent a specific place)? What's your favorite?

Sadly I've never stitched any pieces like that.  I do however have some freebies by Donna Giampa and kits by Pam Kellogg, Both of which are in my long term STASH pile.

In other news it's been 13 days since I've moved.  Still trying to clean and make minor repairs to the RatShack as I call it.  Biggest expense so far  $600 + for a new dryer.

I'll be back to blogging soon-ish.
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May SBQ

Posted by Jan
Lee the Lake Stitcher's Stitching Bloggers Question of the Month.....

Our Stitching Bloggers Question is all about May Flowers.

What's your favorite floral piece that you've stitched? Do you prefer your flowers as the centerpiece of the design or as an accent?

Wow almost 3 weeks since I babbled about something... So let's get to it by starting off with Lee's question. Well I've narrowed it down to two pieces that I've done in the past.

1) Summer's End by Pamela Kellogg of Kitty and Me Country Crafts



2) To Love and Cherish by Sandy Orton



As far as centerpiece or accent of a design I could go either way. Although I've noticed in most of the projects I've done in the past I've leaned toward accent.

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The packing of the last of my apartment stuff - i.e. the kitchen - is going at a slower pace then I had anticipated. Do to the laser surgery on my right leg last Friday to collapse a vein. I didn't realize just how bruised and swollen the entire inside of my right leg would be. Packing the boxes isn't the problem it's that I live on the second floor and I don't know if I can constantly go up and down a flight of stairs carrying boxes without making my leg hurt worse. I do wear a compression stocking at work and while I sleep otherwise I'd be in too much pain to do much of anything but lay flat on my back in bed for 3 weeks.

Anyway, I've put maybe 12 stitches in "Birds" so no update to show. In fact I'll be packing up my Ott Light for another box run ( leg willing ) this Saturday, which means my stitching project will be bagged up and moved as well. So I guess this will be my first and last post for this month.
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A small update on "Birds"

Posted by Jan
I finally got around and finished up the last little bit of part 3 on "Birds".  I've been trying to pack up apartment stuff during the week and make a box run on Saturdays to the new place.  So I haven't been thinking about my needlework much this month.

Click for larger picture

I missed giving my apartment managers their 20 day notice by one day so I'm stuck here another month until May 31st.  The slipup kind of works out better for me in the end; as it's taking me longer than I thought to get things boxed up during the week.  I'm just so tired when I get home from work that I have no desire to pack stuff up, consequently it's taking longer.  Things are also going to get complicated as I have laser surgery on my right calf for varicose veins the first Friday in May and I'm suppose to stay off my leg for 3 days.  I'm worried that I won't be able to carry anything heavy for most of the month.

Hopefully I'll have something to blog before the end of next month. Be it a needlework project update or news on the move/leg condition.
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Feeling Better... Almost and "Birds Of A Feather" Update

Posted by Jan
Well the sinus infection that started on the 12th of March lasted almost a week and a half; the 21st I went back to work. I survived but man - was I tired. I hate that stage of a virus when you're not quite over it but you just can't stay home any longer. Cuz you're so crazy bored with lying in bed.

I'm still feeling tired but I managed to do some stitching on "Birds" last week. Not as much as I'd hoped but I'm almost finished with part 3. All I have to do is finish the blue bird, a gold key, and the letters Y and Z. Then it's on to part 2 with the rest of the alphabet, another bird, and the rest of the other tree.

Click for bigger picture.

Not the best picture and I didn't want to take it out of the hoop. But at least it shows my progress.

I don't know when I'll be posting another update I feel a relapse coming on again as my nose was constantly running at work today and now my throat is feeling raw again. I've got another prescription of antibiotics and I'm going to start them again today for another eight days. I also need to start boxing up stuff in my apartment as I plan on moving out at the end of April. I decided to head back to Richland where it's cheaper to live and with the gas prices going through the roof I'll be using the transit bus to get to work again.

Well that's all for this Blog Blurb.
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Brought an uninvited friend home.

Posted by Jan
Just a quick note - I didn't get much in the way of stitching done over the weekend.  I managed an inch or so on the hill, not enough to bother with an update picture.  I was going to work on it today but I've come down with a sinus infection and basically feel like death warmed over since about 3:30pm.   I hope it clears up enough by morning so I can go to work, if not I'll be sleeping the day away in bed.  I must have caught the virus Saturday night when I was out karaoke singing.

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Well I think the boy friend thing is dead in the water.  Last Friday we made plans to have a DVD movie night.  But when I showed up at the apartment no one was there.  And when I tried to reach him on his cell phone he had it turned off so it went straight to voice mail.  So I went to my favorite karaoke bar figuring he'd call and explain the delay.  Well after an hour no phone call, so I decided to make it an early night of it because the bar was crazy busy.  After I got home I tried his cell again - still turned off - so I left an angry voice mail saying how inconsiderate he was for standing me up.  After two Mike's hard grape punches (malt beer) on top of the Mojito I had at the bar;  I was feeling really depressed and left another sobbing message basically asking how could he treat me like that.  Saturday came and went along with my birthday and still no phone call. Sunday evening I left one last indifferent message saying I hope his foot was better, that he missed my birthday on Saturday and that if he can find the time give me a call.  Quite frankly I don't expect a phone call from him after he's had four days to get in touch with me and hasn't.
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March SBQ

Posted by Jan
Lee the Lake Stitcher's  Stitching Bloggers Question of the Month.....
Do you participate in exchange or RR stitching? Why or Why Not?

I think most of us have had a go with these kinds of things, so think about your answer and then post about it!
 
I'd love to try out both.  But the sad truth is I'm too much of a procrastinator to take the chance that the poor person in the exchange or next in line of the RR would never get the stitchery piece.

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Birds of a Feather is going slowly.  I put in a few more hill stitches last night.  Hopefully I'll have the hill finished by this Sunday, but since this Saturday is my birthday - maybe not. < wicked party drinking grin > 

The boyfriend thing is progressing v-e-r-y slowly. He's in the hospital with a spider bite/infection on his left foot. So we haven't seen much of each other for the last week and a half,  except for when I visit him, for a few minutes every few days.  I'm just taking this one day at a time and if we're meant to be then it will happen.

That's all for this Blog Blurb.
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February's SBQ and
Birds of A Feather Update

Posted by Jan
Lee the Lake Stitcher's Stitching Bloggers Question of the Month.....
February's SBQ is about break-ups.  Is there anything in your stash that you are ready to end your relationship with?  I know some of you never discard a project, but I certainly do!  I'll eventually decide that I've lost that loving feeling.  Enough is enough and I'll toss the whole thing in a bag as a give away. 
How about you?  Is there anything that's still calling (and emailing and texting) you, but you are SO not interested in it anymore.  (Wait...are we still talking needlework here?)  So write about it.  (Not him or her....that's a post for another day)  Take a picture too, if you'd like. 
I'm a little late in posting a reply but that's OK; This has to be the simplest question ever.  I have only one UFO on my list on my website it's Dame a la Licorne L'ouie (Music Tapestry).  It's a needlepoint canvas and no matter how hard I try to convince myself that one of these days I'm gonna work on it I know it will never happen.  What will probably happen is one of these days I'm gonna re-purpose the DMC cotton floss that came with the kit and take the canvas to a local needle shop and see if the owner can find it a new home.  I don't want to give it away to Good Will or their ilk, they'll just throw it away as the canvas has several rips in it thanks to my sister's dogs.  You can see and read about it here.  [wip-MusicTapestry]  

As promised here's a picture of my progress so far for Birds of a Feather.   I would have had this posted Saturday but I managed to sleep the day away.  I'm still feeling tired and head-achy with a bit of a dry throat.  So it would seem I've picked up a virus at the local watering hole Friday night while I was out karaokeing with my friends.

I have noticed there's a lot of stitch-alongs out in the blog universe since I've been on hiatus.  TUSAL (Totally Useless SAL), Theme-a-licious 2012, WIPocalypse 2012, etc.  I wouldn't mine joining them but I'm such a procrastinator I'm afraid the year would be over before I accomplished anything.

And speaking of procrastinating, I don't know how often I'll be posting here.  Goddess knows I'm not as regular as most the folks out there in blogland - Blacksheep's Bit of the Web comes to mind - but I'll try my best to get something posted.  Well that's it for this blog blurb.
 
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I'm ALIVE & back from Blog Oblivion

Posted by Jan
Greetings fellow stitchers and bloggers, I have returned to the land o' blogging officially on February 28th with a new face lift to the old blog pages.   It's hard to believe that it's been almost 2 years since I spouted my drivel here for the world to read. 

Quite a lot has happened since then.  The very next month after my last blog blurb I moved from Richland to Kennewick to my own apartment to be just 10 minutes away from work.  It was very lonely at first, being out on my own for the first time and I went through renter's remorse for the first year.  By the second year I had gotten use to living alone.  I also managed to find a boyfriend for roughly 5 months; I dated a co-worker - yeah I know - I broke the cardinal rule - never date a co-worker. Unless, of course, one of you plans on moving on to a different job after the break-up.  Didn't happen - so now I'm stuck with the memory of him dumping me every day I see him at work.  But life goes on, as they say, and a guy friend of mine outside of work has set me up to meet his younger brother.  I've seen him twice so far both times at the local bar/restaurant accompanied by his older brother.  He seems to be interested in me so we shall see what happens.

I've kinda let my stitching fall by the way side.  I have done some work on Berlin Woolwork Sampler.  I've almost got part 2 done, just the 3 motifs on the bottom to finish as you can see from the craptastic picture below.



In May 2011 I did start another stitch-along mystery project, Birds of a Feather by designer Brenda Gervais.  I had read about it through Needle in a Haystack's newsletter.  I tried to keep up by joining the on-line Yahoo group but as always I fell behind and all 3 parts came out before I even got the border completed.  I don't have a current progress picture of it at the moment so maybe tomorrow or Saturday I'll have one.  If you want to see what I've done so far here's the link to my album on the Yahoo group page.[ NIAH_SAL_SummerMysterySampler ]

Well it's time to close this blog blurb as it's now past 10pm and I'm getting sleepy.  I'm glad I finally got off my procrastinating ass and am back blogging again.
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