Slipping in under the wire

With today's post I'm just slipping in getting in two posts this month, however, with one being on the 1st and the second on the 30th saying two in a month may be stretching it a bit much. This has been a busy month though, so hopefully next month will show a bit more in the posting area.

Week before last my daughter was close enough to visit (only about an hour and a half away) so I got to visit her twice. The first time I went with my parents as they hadn't seen her in quite a while and we went out to eat and just visited. The second day I went and picked her up and we went to lunch and had fun shopping and wandering around a large mall that was near the arena she was working at. The mall had those lovely massaging chairs, so we treated ourselves to some luxury time in those as well. Then last week was Thanksgiving. We went off for a family retreat, my parents, my brother and his family, and myself for a couple days at a state campground that has a resort lodge on site. Lots of good food, fun, and catching up. The weather was a bit colder than I'd have liked, and a bit damper, but for late November not to bad. There have been a number of years where we've had snow, sleet, or ice (or a mix of all three), so just having cold and damp wasn't to bad an option.

The last day of work for me was the 13th of this month, they officially closed the doors of the building. It was hard saying a final farewell to those of us that were still there. However, the timing worked well as I was able to spend time with my daughter and take time at Thanksgiving that I would not have gotten otherwise. Hopefully something turns up in the near future, two weeks off has been enough down time, although with Christmas coming up I've no doubt I can keep busy.

As to what crafty stuff I've been up to this past month, I've finished one cat mat for the local shelter and started another.


Also, I've made some nice headway on Trick or Treat Mice.

Finally, over Thanksgiving when my DSIL and I were together for the family retreat we started our SAL, Be Scary by Just Nan. I got some serious stitching time in and managed to get about half way done. This is looking so cute.

Kim got a good start on hers as well. In addition, I finished up a quick scarf for the elder project my mother works on. She knits scarfs all year and then donates to the local elder project, no senior left behind, who put the scarfs and other items that are donated into baskets that they distribute to the elderly in our community that might otherwise not receive any Christmas gifts. It was fun to be able to add to her scarf stash for the project.

Well, that pretty much catches up on what I've been up to. Now I'm off to see what all you've been up too. Also, to let Jaz out again. She is really enjoying mom being home, having a grand time playing the I want to go out, I want to come in, I want to go out, I want to.....She's going to have quite an adjustment once I find another job after all this spoiling. Oh well, at 13 I'll humor her, besides, I can't resist those eyes she manages to look at me with, yup, I'm a pushover.

Halloween

Hope you all had a good Halloween, it was really busy in my neighborhood. There were so many little ones out and they looked so cute all dressed up. It was chilly and damp, but not anywhere near as cold (or pouring rain, snow, sleet) as we've had in other years, so the kids could show off their costumes.

As to my Halloween stitching, I've made a bit more progress on Trick or Treat Mice. I've finally finished up the pumpkin and have most of the little witch mouse done. While I didn't get it done this year for Halloween, I'm pleased with the progress I have made since I picked this one back up a while ago. After sitting as a pitiful UFO for almost 10 years, it is finally moving again. If I keep with it, it should be done and available for displaying next year at Halloween.

Kim and I finally settled on what our next SAL will be, Be Scary by Just Nan. It was a toss up between this and couple of others (Shepherd's Bush Goblins was second up). However, this doesn't look like it will be too large a project, so may have a go at Goblins afterwards. We'll be starting our SAL at Thanksgiving, as we'll be together and can do the first stitches then. I've got it all kitted and ready to go. For fabric, I'll be using a 32 ct. light Mocha Belfast Linen. I did two of Just Nan's Moon Riders on it earlier and liked how they turned out, and the coloring of those and Be Scary looks to be similar.

Well off to take care of chores so have things ready to start the week tomorrow. Just two weeks left now and we'll be walking out the door and turning out the lights. Needless to say, the atmosphere at work is a bit on the depressing side. To lighten it up a bit last week I hit the dollar stores and found all kinds of fun Halloween decorations. Then, last Monday I got in early and decorated the place up and had donuts for treats when the others came in. The looks of surprise were so worth it, and I think it made the atmosphere a bit better this last week seeing the fun decorations too. So this weekend I picked up some fun Thanksgiving ones and I'll be in early tomorrow switching out Halloween for the Turkeys and Scarecrows. :)

Daylight savings time for us was this weekend, so I got an extra hour of sleep last night, that will help too. Did everyone remember to adjust their clocks that had this? This year I remembered, but last year I forgot and then couldn't figure out why things weren't running on "my" time, LOL. Still need to set my car clock though, for some reason remembering how to do that is always so hard.

Where does the time go?

Wow, I just don't know where time goes sometimes. I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Busy at work, finishing things up so they can close (very depressing), and busy at home.

On the home front we had friends visiting from Massachusetts, so spent time with them. Also, managed to catch two plays put on by local theater groups, both were wonderful. They did a great job, and both were funny, perfect for a evening out when you wanted to laugh and forget things for a while. Finally, my daughter was in the area, so I got to go visit her and spend a day running around and catching up. I'm always happy when the circus she's with is nearby and I get a chance to see her, it doesn't happen any where near enough.

Some of my time has also gone to a new game I found and am becoming addicted to. I've never been much on Sudoku, but I just discovered KenKen. KenKen is similar to Sudoku, but uses solving simple math equations in it (add, subtract, multiply, and divide). It's fun, and I get a feeling of accomplishment when I finish a puzzle. Also, since these types of mental workouts are supposed to help keep your mind sharp, I figure I'm doing something good for myself at the same time (now if I'd just lose the 30 or so extra pounds I need to as well). Oh well, one step at a time.

Now onto some stitchy/crafty stuff. First off, I want to show the lovely gift I won in Ranae's drawing. I knew I'd won the delightful cat fob, but the wonderful fabric and ribbon that she sent with it were a surprise. Just perfect for a Halloween junkie like me.


Here's a larger picture of the fabric, isn't it fun?

In between my running around and other activities, I did manage to finish off two more blankets for the local animal shelter. Both are 20x28 inches as usual.

Finally, I've made some more headway on Trick or Treat Mice

I'm almost done with the orange and can start with some of the other colors and am so glad. While I love Halloween, I'm getting quite sick of orange in all its various shades. You can just see the start of where the little mouse witch will be in the lower right corner (her broomstick and corner of her hat showing where they'll start against where the orange stopped).

We'll I'm off to see what all you're up to. Hope you're all doing well and have managed to avoid the flu and such that is going around. I just got my flu shot this weekend, so am hoping not to have to deal with it this year.

Little of this and a little of that

Not much going on, still pretty busy at work trying to organize things and wind things down so they can transfer stuff to the new office in Chicago. My last day is still targeted for mid Nov., so have about two months left.

With everything going on, not very much stitching happening. However, in the short periods of time I've had available I've managed to finish another cat mat. I also have another mat almost done, but I'll post that one later when it is finished (hopefully I'll have some stitching progress to go with it).

I really like the colors In the mat I just finished, I think it would make a lovely scarf. However, the yarn is a bit scratchy (it was Red Heart's Super Saver), so would want it in a different fiber for a scarf, something softer.

Also, it just occurred to me I didn't post some lovely stitchy stash I got for my birthday earlier from my DSIL Kim. She got me Halloween House by Shepherd's Bush, along with the buttons and DMC that it uses. I'd been eyeing this one since it came out, it will make a fun companion piece to go with Goblins. Now I have to decide if I want to work on this one first or Goblins first if we do a Shepherd's Bush SAL this fall. We've also been looking at a couple Just Nan ones for our next SAL too, so I'll have to wait and see which way we go.

Kim just finished her Red Thread piece by Bent Creek (it turned out lovely so you should hop over to her blog and check it out, link in previous paragraph). We'll be starting our next SAL in Nov., so we need to decide by then what we'll pick to work on so we can be ready to start. So far our SAL's have worked great at keeping us motivated, and we've finished two larger designs this year that might not have made it otherwise (actually probably wouldn't have made it without us pushing each other to stay focused).

The other new bit of fun I got was Jim Shore's Cat in a Witches Hat isn't it great? I love his hat and the bird sitting on his tail. The picture is a bit washed out in color, the table topper he's on and his base and hat are more purple in real life. I've admired his pieces for a while but didn't have one. We went to Frankenmuth this past weekend, and in Bronner's there was a display of Jim Shore's pieces. I just couldn't pass up this little guy, even if he wasn't a Christmas piece. :)
I have him on an end table now where I have the table topper you see pictured with him that I made a couple years back. The purples in the topper and the purples in the cat's hat and base go great together. I was really tempted to pick up this little Leprechaun piece too, but figured I'd better save him for another time, he's a cutie though. Here's wishing you all the blessing he's saying

First Stitches

Well, not really the first, but the first in about 10 years. I finally did some work on a UFO that I last worked on about 10 years ago. Back in March of either '98 or '99 I started Trick or Treat Mice. It was back before I had even thought about working on anything except aida. While the black aida was a bit more difficult to work on than the lighter colors I'd used, it didn't seem to bad. However, after working on it for several hours a day a couple days in a row (I was at a retreat, so had three days of uninterrupted stitching time, so it was getting around 10+ hours each of the first two days), I started to get a headache.

Instead of switching projects, I kept going. By the time I put it down I had such a nasty headache I was quite nauseous, and then I still had the drive home, not a good arrangement at all. After that, every time I went to pick it up, I found I just didn't want to work on it. I'd think about working on it off and on over the years, but never got myself to actually do it, I'd always switch to another project. Last year, I set working on this as one of my goals. While I didn't actually stitch on it, I did at least get it off the old heavy scroll bars it was on and put onto some smaller lighter Q snaps (which I much prefer working with and I didn't know about back when I started Mice).

Three weeks ago I decided I'd make myself do at least a few stitches, and I gave it about an hour. Since then, while I've not given it a lot of time, I have worked on it a bit more. I still find I have to push myself to pick it up, but once I start working on it I enjoy it. Hopefully after a while I won't have to push so much to pick it up and work on it. So, here's where I am now (the coloring here is actually pretty close to what it looks like)
and here's where it was when I left it over 10 years ago (this is much more orange/red than it really is).
Not a lot of headway, but I think it can now qualify as a WIP again rather than a very old UFO. My goal is to give it at least a half hour to an hour each week.

In addition to Mice, I finished up the multicolor cat mat I was working on.
While you probably won't see a lot of Mice, as I don't imagine it will progress quickly, please give me a poke now and then if you don't see it at all. I'd really like to get it done, as the little guys are so cute. Here's what it will look like finished.

Couple of finishes

Yup, my needle's been fairly busy. Although, since they are a bit on the smaller side, it sounds more impressive than it really is. However, I'm pleased with my progress.

First up is my finished Ribbit. This was a SanMan Originals design and tuck hanger, done using DMC on 28ct. White Monaco.

Next up is Pretty Wicked by Just Nan. This came as a kit with the fun frame and mat. She's stitched on 30 ct. Peoria Purple linen again with DMC.

And finally, you saw the finish earlier, but now I have it framed, Six Bats and a Witches Hat by Blue Ribbon Designs on 32 ct. Lakeside Linen in Lentil, using DMC (if you click you can see the great marbling that the Lentil has).

And finally, I'll leave you with a picture of the little visitor that seems to come each evening to munch the grass. I love watching all the wildlife that decides to run around in the back (you'll probably need to click to enlarge to see the little guy in the center).

Flowers and a new start

I almost never plant things, as a gardener I am not. Pretty much anything I try and grow dies. I've even managed to kill a Hosta, which according to a gardener friend of mine should pretty much have been impossible. However, earlier this spring my DM gave me a lovely planter, and so far I've managed to keep it alive, in fact I think it looks pretty darn good.
I've kept it outside by the side of my garage, so I get to enjoy it coming and going, and I can also see it from the kitchen window when I do dishes. Having it in view so much has also probably helped me remember to keep it watered, which may account for why it is still alive. So, with that brief momentary positive feeling, I decided to plant my flower box. I planted some marigolds there a number of years ago, and they actually didn't do to bad, so I decided to try it again. I couldn't find any marigold plants this time, so went with mums (in the front) and Angelonia (in the back) as they both said they liked a lot of sun. So far, so good, here is what I have.
The above picture was taken a couple weeks ago, and at the moment it doesn't look so hot. I forgot to deadhead the flowers, so I ended up with lots of dead blooms and the new ones couldn't bloom like they should. I got out yesterday and deadheaded them all, so hopefully I'll have lovely new blooms soon.

As to stitching, after finishing up Six Bats, I decided to go with something a bit smaller to get that lovely quick fix feeling. I started Ribbit, a small tuck design by SanMan Originals, which I'm doing on 28 ct white Monaco.
Isn't he a fun little guy? My other start was another cat mat, I'm loving the colors on this one.
We'll that's all I've got going on, other than trying to get used to a new haircut before work tomorrow. I went for a trim, but to a different stylist. And..... our ideas of a trim must be a bit different as it is a fair bit shorter than I'd planned on. Oh well, hair does grow doesn't it. Also, possibly it is just a bit of me having trouble with it looking different than I'd planned, I don't necessarily do change well.