Lots and lots of stitching...

That is what I did yesterday. and I worked soley on Snow Valley Express all day. This morning I woke up and am having some pain. More than I was having yesterday. The pain is all the way up in my nose! Go figure! Anyway, so I just took some Advil, and am reading blogs and drinking coffee, while I wait for the coffee to kick in, then I will settle myself on the couch for another day of TV and stitching. In reality I just feel like laying right back down and going to sleep. I hate to sleep though, I have too much to do! Too much stitching to do, that is!(chuckle) I can't decide what project I want to work on today, will I keep on rolling with Snow Valley, because to tell you the truth, once I pick that one up, I just want to keep going. It's the just picking it up part that is so hard for me! Or! Will I pick up The Abbey? Another one that is on my favorites list right now? Ah what the heck, I have all day- I can work on them both, right? Pictures to come soon!

Well, yesterday I had to have two teeth pulled, so I was hoping for some stitching time in the afternoon, after the heavy meds wore off, but that was not to be! I was having too much pain to not take the meds, so take the meds I did and I was out like a light for most of the day, waking only to eat a little something and go to the restroom. I couldn't get up really, because everytime I did I would feel woozy, and as though I was going to faint. So, I finally just gave up and went into bed and fell asleep around 8 in the evening. I woke up once around 8:30 this morning to let the dog out, and then not again unitl 11:56-almost noon today! I have had quite a bit of energy today though, and have been eating quite a bit, I don't have hardley any pain, I only took 2 Advil this morning, none of the hard stuff today. i still feel a little weak, but I guess that is to be expected.
My dear hubby bought me my favorite movie: "You've got mail" on DVD. It was on sale at Sam's club afor 4.88$ He said it seemed like a great get well gift, then he sat and watched it with me today. What a sweetie! While I watched I actually got some stitching in, I worked on Snow Valley Express. I am actually doing really well on that one. I worked a bit on it before work on Sunday and afterwards too, and then today. So, I am getting really close to finishing page 1 of 2. Well, I am off to do my hourly warmwater/salt mix rinse, and sit down with Snow Valley for a bit.

Christmas is in the air!

I don't know what it is about this time of the year, but it makes me want to stitch. I think it may be because I learned to stitch around this time of the year, and so I just remember that I used to sit and stitch with Christmas music playing in the background and stuff. My parent's house all decorated for the season, and the first Christmas after I started stitching my mom bought me a BUNCH of DMC, and at our house we opened gifts on Christmas eve once we got older, into our teen years, because 1) my brother would bug them so much to open gifts, and 2) they got to sleep in the next morning, which is a good thing when you stay up half the night opening gifts. Anyway, I just remember that Christmas staying up until the we hours of the morning winding floss onto bobbins. Anyway.
Yesterday I put about an hour and a half's worth of work into The Abbey. Some of that was a frogging session. But I am excited about that project again and I love it. Have you ever had that? Where you get the materials for a project and you are all excited to get going on it, and then when you do, it looses it's appeal? Well, that is what happened with this one and I am glad I started over, because it was on it's way to being a UFO! All those TINY stitches-ugh! I really don't know how people do it!! Well, I'm off to get some work into snow Valley Express this morning, and to reward myself maybe get some time in on The Abbey. Photos soon!

And! A finish!

Well, I actually finished Love, Joy, Home! I finished it last night around 7 in the evening! And here it is: This one was started September 25th of 2005, and was completed November 23rd of 2006. it was stitched on 18 count aida, with DMC floss. I am so glad to have another finish for the year, a largish finish! This one and the November Quilt one I did for my mom were the largest finishes for the year. But, I am super excited, because this one is for me! Now I just have to have it stretched and framed! I made out a list of WIP's, and I am going to try to have some of them finished up this next year. Most of them are large, infact all 13 of them are at least as large as Love, Joy, Home. So, I will probably only see about two more finished in the next year, for as long as it has taken me to get the two done this year. My next goal is to finish my dad's Snow Valley Express. It was going to be for Christmas, but I just don't see it happening! Maybe for his birthday next year! That gives me about 6 more months, I'm sure I can get it done in 6 months, if I stay on top of it! That is the hard part, continually stitching on a piece you, yourself don't enjoy. Maybe I need to set some smallish daily goals concerning that one, like work on it a minimum of 1/2 an hour a day, that way it is getting done, at least a little each day. I don't know, I'll have to evaluate my rotation and see what I can do. Maybe if I set it as my primary focus piece, for the first month then then next month I can give myself a break.
This morning I already put about an hours worth of work into "The Abbey". I am really enjoying this one now that I have switched out the fabrics. I can see it progressing well since I restarted. I did set it aside the last two days in order to put my full attention to LJH, but now that that one is done, i can work on other things.
Well, I must be going, FIL is leaving and I have to go say goodbye,

A Re-start

I have decided that I wanted to start "The Abbey" over again. I didn't enjoy stitching on the fabric I had chosen, something that was TINY, and white, with one thread stitching. YUCK! What was I thinking?! So, out went the 5 hours of work I had on it, and I pulled a light blue piece of 18 count aida. And! This means I don't have to stitch all the blue in the sky! I know! I am cheating, but there is a lot of stitching and I don't want to spend all my time stitching light blue sky- hundreds and hundreds of stitches in the same shade of light blue! Ugh! So, I have a new start, so hopefully I will actually be motivated to work on it now. I have a goal to finish it in January of '08. So, we shall see if that actually happens.

On another note, I went to the oral surgeon today for my pre op appointment as I will be having two teeth pulled (a wisdom tooth and the one next to it) next Monday! I am so not looking forward to it, however, I will be getting three days off from work, the day of the surgery and the following two, so granted I am not in too much pain, and not knocked out on drugs, I am going to stitch those days away.
"Love, Joy, Home" is coming along really well, I am completely finished with the four squares with the baskets in them to the right hand side, and I have finished the motif right next to it, it looks like a carpet or something, and am so close to a finish I am guessing another two or three hours, and that is it! So, I will wait until I finish to show it on here again.

And let the holidays begin!

Well, FIL ended up showing up yesterday, he called and told us mid morning that he was going to be here earlier than he thought. Yikes! It sent us in a flurry to get groceries (After being gone for a week, the cupboards were bare!) and getting the house in some sort of order, laundry done up, the spare room somewhat tidied up, and the guest bath cleaned from ceiling to floor! Phew! It was crazy! and our room is still in piles of laundry (both dirty and clean) that either need to be washed or folded and put away!
But, he showed up and we went out for lunch, and had a great visit. He will be with us until probably Friday sometime. I didn't get any stitching in at all yesterday what with trying to get things ready for our visiter, but this morning I was able to sit down for a bit with "Love, Joy, Home" Which I need to post a photo of. I am really happy with the progress on this one, and I'm at the point now where I am towards the end of a project and that is all I want to work on in order to finish it, because I can see the end in the near future. Given I have time this week to devote to this piece, I will probably have it finished by the end of the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me! And here is my progress:

Ps: Bethann! Thank you so much for the beautiful scissors!!

Happy birthday to me!!!

Since Nov. 10th was my b-day, and my mother sent me 50$, I decided that I would use it for some stash! These are two pieces which I have drooled over for a LONG time! And I was good, I only got the leaflets, not the entire kits, since they would have way over exceeded my 50$ limit! but, I got the leaflets and the fabrics to do these two:









Aren't they beautiful?! "Day Surrendering to Night" has been a favorite for a long time and then when "In Blue Angel" came along as a companion piece,I decided that ONE day I would have them both. They have been two of my all time faves for a long time, and I never thought I would own them. And pretty soon, I will! At least they will be in my stash, until I can buy the threads for them, and get them stitched. They probably will not get stitched for awhile, but IF I were to decide to do them, I would have that option now! I am so excited! Well, I'm off to put some more work into "Love, Joy, Home."

hi again!

Well, I am home from the cruise, it was wonderful! But as with any trip I am happy to be home. And to tell you the truth, I did get a lot of stitching in, amazingly enough not in the car, though, but on the ship. We had so much fun! We drove down the day before the boat shipped off, and found our way into Houston. It was storming pretty badly when we first got into the city which made trying to find a place to stay for the night a bit of a challenge. I was trying to read signs, and the map and Rob was trying to avoid getting hit by any wacko city drivers. We finally found a Hampton Inn and stayed there, it was more than we would have normally spent to stay the night somewhere however, since it was my birthday he splurged. We then went out to eat at a nice steakhouse, then went to bed, since it was late by then.

The next morning we were up early and got some breakfast and headed to the docks. And got checked in early. Boarding wasn't supposed to start until 1 and we were on the boat at 12:30. So, that was nice.
We took off for our first port : Progresso Mexico, which we wouldn't get to for a day. So, we had Saturday night and all day Sunday at Sea, then at Progresso we chose to do horseback riding, and a day at a beach resort. Well, when we signed up we were all excited, a horseback ride along the beach. Yipppeee! Right? Um...no. It lasted a whole 20 minutes, and it was more or less just a trail ride. Kinda boring. Then when we were done with the horseback ride, we ate some wonderful Mexican food, which was really expensive, and then laid around the pool, until it started to rain. Then we got back on the bus and was back on the boat by 2:00 in the afternoon. A whole 3 hours before the boat was to ship off for the next port. And let me tell you Progresso is not progressing! Not quickly anyway. There were like 4 or 5 little shops at the dock for us to look around in, but nothing much, So, we were sorta disappointed in our first port of call.
Our next one was the next day, Tuesday, in Cozumel Mexico. This one was MUCH better! We chose a Speedboating excursion this time, and THAT was FUN! Again...we got rained on, but it was fun anyway.

On Wednesday we arrived in Belize city Belize, if that doesn't sound familiar to you, the name British Honduras may, they changed the name and didn't let anyone know! And there we took a l-o-n-g bus ride (over an hour long!) to the jungle, where we rode inner tubes down the river. It was really relaxing! I was freaked out befroe thinking, ugh! What if there are snakes in the water, but there was nothing but these little minnows swimming about harmlessly. Then we hiked back to the picnic area, and through some ancient Mayan ruins. That was also fun!

Then we got back on the ship, and then spent another two days at sea on our way back to Houston. we got to relax quite a bit, as I said I was able to actually get alot of stitching done, and reading, and word searching! and I still, even as I write this feel like I am swaying up and down to the rythm of the rocking boat. We only had one rough day at sea, which was Thursday, ALL day long, the boat pitch and jumped crazily, but by morning, it was calm again for our last day at sea.

So, all in all, we had a great time! I am sorry I have not added any photos of my trip ont his post, but I will, I just need to have hubby show me how to download them from the camera. We took a ton of pictures, which I will put into a scrapbook eventually. I am still working on a scrapbook from the cruise we took over a year ago, in Jan of '05. Oops. But you know how it is...when you have so many hobbies, how do you choose?!

Well, I have to get ready and get my house cleaned up, because: Surprise! My FIL decided last minute he would come down and spend Thanksgiving with us! I don't mind, but he sorta just dropped it on us yesterday as we are driving home from our trip, so now not only do I have to unpack and do the mountains of laundry that you do after a trip, I need to get the house cleaned, which right now is not in the greatest of shape, and get the guest room and bath cleaned to top perfection before he shows up sometime tomorrow. UGH! well, I will write more later this week, if I get a chance!

Today's the day!

Last nigth at work was the longest 5 hours of my life! I just wanted my work week to be over so I could come home and start getting ready to go on vacation. we will be leaving in about 4 hours. I am so excited! Last night at work, when it was slow, I thought about what stitching projects I would take with me on my vacation, I know, I will probably not even touch it, but you know us stitching types, if you even think there may be a free moment to pull out your needle and thread, you take the stitching! And I have decided to take "Love, Joy, Home", and my ornies. I have three left to finish, but I am contemplating the last of the six, as it is a yellow heart with some sort of holly sprig in the middle, and it just isn't calling to me. I think I may not stitch that one at all. But I have a snowman head wearing a santa hat to do, he's cute but I am not looking forward to stitching all that white. (Stitching white on white is the worst!) and then one with little bird houses and a laundry line between them with mittens hanging and it says "Think snow" that one I started yesterday and I think I am going to enjoy it. I need to kit it up for the trip. My sampler is basically kit up already, so that will be easy to get ready and it isn't so big and so it is easy to take along. As will the ornies. so, there yah go. I also thought about sprucing up my rotation. I have given up on the fall pieces for this year, so they have been taken out, and so, I was thinking that I would put Snow Valley Express in it's place. I don't know. I will probably as usual, not stick to my rotation anyway, but it's fun to think about it, and plan.
Well, as I will be on the road for a good 6-7 hours today, I amt hinking there is a good chance that some stitching will get done! As well, as on the ride home too. DH wants me to drive for some of the way. Which is sorta freaking me out, as i hate driving, I have a phobia of driving, then was int he accident this past summer and the phobia has grown to monumental proportion, so driving outside roads that I am familiar with freaks me out! But we shall see. He said there are some easy roads, that are just straight and lonely so if it's not city traffic with lots of cars and stuff, I'm good. Straight roads out in the middle of nowhere? I can do that! but! (pout!) It will cut into my stitching time!

one more day...

Have you ever noticed HOW S-L-O-W time goes when you are about aweek away from going on a trip? I think this week has been three months long already! well, it feels like it has been that long. I still have 5 more hours left of work today, then tomorrow we leave for Houston! We will probably go in the afternoon. I was wanting to get a good early start as it is a 7 hour drive, but no-o! Hubby wants to go later in the afternoon. So, whatever, he's driving, so I guess we can leave whenever he feels like it, I was just thinking that it would make it easier for us to drive in the daylight, in a strange city, as apposed to trying to find our way in the dark, but alrighty! Like I said he's driving! So, let him conquer the dark.

Well, just yesterday I completed the third ornament of the six I was working on, and have started the fourth. I have not been much into my stitching lately, I used to be all obsessed about it, and wanting to work on different projects and such, now I just sort of plop down and grab whatever happens to be handy when I sit down to watch T.V. I think my lack of enthusiasm comes from the fact that I got all excited about the fall pieces and then I didn't meet my goals, so now I'm like "Oh well, whatever!" I will stitch when I want, but no more goals, or anything like that. Plus, I was hoping to have more finishes this year, and I haven't had hardley any! Lets see? There was my St. Patty's day bear, my valentine bookmark for DH, my Easter bell pull, and Nov. Quilt, which was the biggie! 4! that is it! and three of them are not even big, oh! wait, I just said I have completed three ornies, so there yah go! A big whoppin' 7 finished projects for the year! Well, the year isn't over yet, I know, and I can probably crank out a few more ornies, and I want to finish "Love, Joy, Home", but that is all I see in the near future! Maybe I should do more small things. I see so many finishes on everyone's blogs, and I just wonder hwo people do it?! Am I just the slowest stitcher on the planet? What am I doing wrong? Oh well, whatever, this isn't a race, I know! I say this just about every fifth post, I start to get down when I see other's finishes and here I am still slogging through my 8th (tiny) finish for the year, the only real accomplishment for the year in my eyes was November Quilt, that was my biggie for the year. If I can somehow get "Love Joy Home" done, there will be two large finishes for the year. Well, enough griping and complaining, I am off to go read blogs and enjoy reading about everyone else's accomplishments. I will try to post photos soon.

wow! can you believe it?!

It is Saturday and I am actually on the computer! I usually loose out when it comes to computing on the weekends, as DH loves to hog it, and well, he should as he works so much during the week, has very little computer time, so I don't care, but he stayed up late gaming last night and so he is sleeping in today. I just got done reading a bunch of blogs. wow! You are all so creative! I really love reading about other people's lives and what they are stitching. I always think of things to write and then I forget when I finally log on!
Well, only 6 more sleeps until we leave for our vacation. We leave Friday (which is my birthday) and we are driving to Houston and we will get a motel for the evening and then go on our cruise the next day. I am so excited! Well, I work this afternoon, then I have tomorrow off, and then I work four days and then! we are on vacation! Well, DH just woke up and we need to go shopping, before I go to work, so better get going.