Gratuitous Kitty Pics

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I was playing with my camera last night and took a bunch of pics of the kitties. I can't show you my exchange piece, so you get to see the cats.

The wooden thing you see in the background is a kidney-shaped lap desk (Made by Dad, which he copied for me from here) I use with my laptop.

I’m sitting on my bed and I had a kitty on each side of me. I was working on my Beginner's Exchange project and reading blogs.

Abner doing the cool Abercrombie and Fitch (Abnercrombie and Itch?? :o) pose...


Itchey getting lightly toasted under my bedside lamp...


Abner in profile. He has a big pink rubber eraser nose. I always tell him I'm going to steal his nose and put it on the back of my pencil to erase BIG mistakes. (OK, yes I am one of those crazy cat ladies. My cats know it too, but they still love me! :o)


Being demure for the camera. I LOVE kitty noses, and Itchey has a little black olive nose. I always tell her I'm going to steal her nose and put it in my martini. (Yes, I know green olives are typically used in martinis, but she doesn't have a green nose...)

Behind her is my Cross Stitch Organizer (bought at a LNS years ago. I keep multiple highlighters, pen, a magnetic needle holder (from Mill Hill, I think, and yes, cat-shaped, what a surprise), scissors, needle case and a seam ripper. I'm all set!

Yay for Friday!

Last night, I did a little (very little) on Snapperville. We watched 40 Year Old Virgin (It's been at the top of our Netflix queue with 'Very Long Wait' status for ages). It was hysterical. I typically don't care for movies with lots of profanity, but I made an exception for this one. Definitely not a movie for young ones, but very, very funny! It was hard to stitch because I kept laughing.




I couldn't sleep last night. I've been fighting my Welcome to Spring cold, so between my nose all stuffed up and coughing, it woke me up at around 2:30am this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. It's going to be a l-o-n-g day...

So, I decided to go downstairs and do something constructive that was quiet. I haven't picked up Purr-Pals in a while, so I worked on that until about 6am. I accomplished a good deal: I finished up a bunch of lazy daisy stitches, the Abner cat now has a head, and the birdies have a house. The only things left are little stems and berries along the branches. That will be finished up next time around.






Itchey sez: How can a kitty get her beauty sleep around here with all that floss moving around?

Tending Psychedelic Sheep

I've really tried to get back on my rotation, but something always seems to come up. First, I think I was just so giddy that I finally finished the Seasonal Arches series, that I didn't know what to do with the three open spots in my rotation that Spring, Summer and Autumn created. Chaos ensued. Then, I went out of town last week, and it wasn't really practical to lug multiple projects in my suitcase. And besides, I wanted room for stash!

I also think that I have an aversion to the Floral Bell pull. I'm at a point that I need to do some back stitching, and there is so much that it's almost like work and requires not only attention, but decision making. Yes, I know I'm an engineer, and that we are literal creatures, and sticklers for the smallest detail (you should hear DH and I argue - he's an engineer too! :o). That said, the bell pull chart is in black and white, which means all back stitch lines are black, although the actual floss used varies. So, my dilemma is when a petal and leaf are next to each other, should the flower back stitch take precedence over the leaf back stitch, so that the flower looks like it's on top or should it be the other way around? Should I do this all the time, or every-so-often, or 20% of the time, etc, etc...?

At this point, you're probably shaking your head and wondering how someone can make this such a huge dilemma. I guess the underlying issue is that I have this need to do it correctly (i.e. as the artist intended). I'm not totally lost. I do realize I obsess and step back every now and again and know that the Cross Stitch Police are not going to storm the house and confiscate the finished piece on grounds that I made a purple back stitch when I should have made a green back stitch. I guess I'll just put the bell pull on stand-by so that when I'm in the mood to just plunge ahead, it will be ready. (It's OK, you can laugh. I do. :o)

Anyways, I did work on the Harvest Sampler on Monday, but only did a little of the gold lattice, which really wasn't all that photo-worthy.

I also worked on The Wool Gatherer, and got a little more done on the gray sheep on the left. I always love working on Shepherd's Bush pieces because they're so whimsical. Wouldn't you love to find a world with patterned sheep? Or where the people wore such funky clothes? It's like finding a Narnia or going to Willy Wonka's factory. I love it!

SEX is not safe with a credit card in hand...

I made it to Shamrock Cross Stitch yesterday afternoon. It was truly SEXual (Stash Enhancing Experience ;0). This is what happens when I've got a credit card with me. I know how to use it!!



Summer House Zipper - Bent Creek
Flip-Its (May, June, July and Meow) - Lizzie Kate
Snippets (Love My Cat) - Lizzie Kate
Americana Roll - Shepherd's Bush
Valentine Medley - Heart in Hand
Halloween Medley - Heart in Hand

I also got the Buttons for both Medleys as well. Check out the ADORABLE cat face button for the Halloween Medley towards the bottom of the picture!

I haven't increased my cross stitch stash since before I got away from cross stitching back in the early 2000's, so I was a little light headed when I got into the store and did the first look around the store (Remember Scooby trying to go four different dirrections at once??)

I didn't catch the name of the really nice lady who waited on me, but she was really nice and very helpful. If you're in St. Louis, I highly recommend this shop.

Arch ya glad I posted?

OK, I know. That's really bad, but it's all I can think of right now. I'm in St. Louis this week on business, so I'm going for the 'Arch' theme this evening.

We decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner tonight. (WOW, is the Union Station COOL!) On the drive down, I was able to catch a few pictures of the arch. This is the first time seeing the arch up close and personal, and it's really impressive.



At the very top of the picture below, you can see the observation windows (the tiny black rectangles.



It was really cool flying into St. Louis because it was the first time I was able to see the arch in front of the city. It was a very impressive view. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it's going to fit into our schedule or not.

I think I'll have a little time for a quick trip to Shamrock Cross Stitch. It's somewhat near to where I am, so I'm hoping to make a pilgrimage. I've even packed such that I can fit some new stash into my carry-on. I've got my priorities!

I did cross-stitch on the flight here, but since I decided to bring my Beginners' Exchange piece, I can't post the excellent progress I made. In fact, as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going to put my feet up, get out my cross-stitch and sip my latte with The Weather Channel on as background noise (and, of course, see what the female meteorologists are wearing).

Busy, busy, busy!!!

I know, it's been really quiet over here on my blog. Not that I have a really exciting life, like climbing Mt. Everest, visiting with the Dali Lama, or hopping on DH's jet and having dinner in Paris. OK, so that was the week before. I meant last week. LOL!

Anyways, (back to reality - heh, heh) my job is cyclicly (is that even a word??) busy, based on our company's fiscal periods. So, contrary to popular rumor, I was really busy at work last week and this week, and I'm going out of town all next week to attend a training class, so not only do I have my normal busy stuff, but also the stuff that I'd be doing next week, too.

I'm sure that most readers of my blog can relate, I have to decide what to wear, what to pack, what to carry on, and most importantly, what stitching will be travelling with me.

And, the fight between Winter and Spring has begun with my sinuses as the victims.

All the above means that my stitching has been haphazard, when I had time and when I actually felt like it.

I did a little on the left gold diamond border on the Harvest Sampler. Unfortunately, I realized that in about the middle of what I had completed, I was off by one stitch, I had to rip and redo. Two steps forward, two steps back...



I also did a very little on Snapperville. I worked on the picture in the third block from the left.



Knitting was a bit easier for me to do, so I actually did more knitting than cross stitch.
- In the top left is a new sock I've started to take on my trip with me.
- I've almost completed the 4th motif on the Snowball's Chance in Hell armwarmers.
- I started a scarf because it was totally mindless - and notice, it's the scarf that I've made the most progress with!

My BEEPing Exchange

Warning: There may be information unsuitable for my Welcome Exchange partner (Joanne).

I’m in the Beginners Exchange at the Exchange Place BB. I started it this past weekend while watching The Woman in White (Masterpiece Theater). It took me a while to decide on the design. I found it in the BEEP book by BEEP. The design is called BEEP BEEP in BEEP. I think the way they BEEPs look on each letter will really make it look great. I’m stitching it on BEEP BEEP fabric and am planning to finish it by making it into a BEEP with BEEP BEEP and BEEP.

Here’s my progress so far:

*CENSORED* (sorry! ;o)