New week, new decisions

Made some decisions this morning. I feel overwhelmed by my stash again cause it’s EVERYWHERE! I need to get a grip and stop purchasing stuff that’s cool but may never get stitched. I waffle between collecting for someday to actually buying to stitch. I do feel burdened by it. Change is in order. I must evaluate my purchasing decisions and sort of rate my wants into catagories like:
• If I don’t buy this now, it’s going to go OOP and I will never get it or pay exhorbant prices to acquire it.
• It’s cute, but it can wait.
• It’s part of a set. I need all the pieces to complete it.
• It’s a foreign design and it may not be available in the future.

I know there are more categories that need to be listed and I’ll have to rate them. Maybe I will be able to curb my impulse purchases if I use some sort of rating strategy.

So, to quell that overwhelmed feeling, last night I put away some of my patterns. I need to go through my binder that I call my Short List. That binder contains things that I would love to stitch with a listing of how I want to stitch & finish them. It’s amazing how my thoughts about what I want to stitch change within months as most of the designs will get refilled into their proper homes and other patterns replace them.

Anyway, I decided that I was going to properly put everything away, and only leave out my current WIPs and 2 or 3 projects that I ABSOLUTELY want to begin. Then, I realized that most of my WIPs are large and not anywhere near completion. Only counting on big WIPs to stitch will frustrate me from lack of progress. So my plan is to rotate through the WIPs with a side trip to the smaller projects to keep me motivated and happily stitching. The new starts must be small projects and must come from my CURRENT stash. No new purchases except for fiber and linen, if necessary.


Here is a listing of my current WIPs with the percentage amount of completion. These pieces are what I want to concentrate on for the remainder of the year with the occasional ornament or holiday piece.

Large:
Sarah Tatum – 10%
Time & Seasons – 10%
Beatrix Potter - > 5%

Medium:
John Foster 1885 Sampler – 30%
A Prairie Year I - ~40%

Small:
Scared Silly – 50%
Rose Sampler – 35%
House Exchange – 20%
Miss Mary Mack – 60%

Exchanges:
Currently, I owe 2 exchanges.

New Starts. This category is for pieces that I may want to start during the time that I am concentrating on working and finishing some of my Wips. The criteria for these starts must be that they are small, simple, and easily completed. Finishing should be simple also.
Right now, my short list consists of 2 small Halloween pieces and one big piece that I want for my Florida room. This list is subject to change as I fondle my stash.
• Light the Way – Blackbird Designs
• Scary Wabbit – Sheepish Designs
• Ann Davies - Ackworth 4 Sampler

Isn't tweaking fun?

Well, I fixed it

I deleted my post called Cross stitch porn. I've found myself drawn to the OLN's, actually, I am addicted to browsing them incessantly. It's been so stinking hot here and the thought of picking up a needle under that magnifier's light is so unappealing! So I've been perusing the online sites.Lately, that's been a bad thing for my checkbook. You see, I am a sucker for fall designs. My season is upon me. Autumn is coming and there's a plethora of Fall designs, which I CAN NOT resist. And there are new Prairie Schooler designs. Shepherd Bush has a cute pattern called Autumn Blessings. That's on my short list. Love the sheepie and usually, I am not a Bush fan (political or cross stitch designer ;-) And there are others...

I am toast.

Blogger is being a pain

So, my last post is WAY down the page. So I am testing out a new post.

Keep stitching and forget about reading my blog until Blogger fixes itself!

Grey clouds...but a silver lining

Have you ever been in such a bad mood that you felt like nothing was worth it?

I've been in this funk for the last week and I was beginning to get worried. Usually, I can smile through just about anything but this week that wasn't going to happen. I dragged myself through the day into the evening with a grey, scratchy, flannel mood wrapped around me. I can't describe how I felt. Incredibly sad? No. Just incredibly tired and with the attitude that nothing mattered. And I could not sit still and concentrate at all. Little tasks were irritating and I couldn't be bothered with the larger things. I plodded through my days. Plodding is a great word...I felt I couldn't lift one foot in front of the other, so I scrapped them along, thumping through time. I don't know why this happened to me.

Last night, the mood lifted a little bit. I spent quality time with my horses. What therapy! They have a tendency to calm me. I did chores and it felt good to be taking care of things that directly affected the well being of my animals. I got nickers for thanks. I hand-grazed Maggie as the other 2 were in the round pen finishing their dinner. Maggie was exhuberant to eat green grass and not hay for 20 minutes until the bugs finally got the best of both of us. She snuffed and sniffed, snorted and chomped and took so much grass into her mouth that her cheeks were bulging. She just couldn't get enough. When she found a patch of clover with flowers, she just hoovered it away. And for the first time in a week, I actually smiled. Here was this 1200 pound animal in absolute delight over CLOVER.

So after I put her back into the barn with a hay snack for the evening, I went in the house. Instead of becoming overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I should do, I picked out a few non-taxing things, like doing up the dishes and throwing a load of laundy into the washer. As I did these things, I could feel this cloud lifting a bit more.

I believe I just needed to feel that what I did mattered. Horses will do that for you. Thank God for my equines.

So now, it's the morning an now I am at work. My mood isn't completely cleansed but I feel a lot better. And I think that it should continue.

Welcome to a new day!

Got some stitching in this weekend

This weekend was a good stitching weekend. I got more stash in the mail (I know, I know...my checkbook is whining. One of the pieces I got was Little House Needlework's, Rose Sampler, that I've wanted for ages. Everytime that I ordered something else, I forgot to add it to the order..DUH! Finally, I ordered it and immediately began stitching on it when it showed up in the mail. I cannot find 2 skeins of DMC, 3064 & 3364 and as I know have them. I've kitted those 2 skeins into other projects and through my pillaging for DMC for other projects, I kitted them into OTHER projects and now I can't remember which project they are with.

So, I decided to work on Prairie Year. I am only 3 months behind! But now, I am only 21/2 months behind because May is almost done. I'll take a picture tomorrow, as the light has gone and my digital camera will not take a decent picture now. May has a lot of color changes and I am using Nicki's method of parking threads. I have to say I really like that method!

Well, gotta run...lots of lightning!

What is it about 19 year old boy-men

Grr-rr-rrrr-r... the boy child is riding my only nerve tonight and it is rather RAW. He and his buddies had a rocking time playing 2 solid days of paintball this weekend. When he got home on Sunday, everything and I mean everything got dropped in my livingroom. Now, mind you, this boy-man could outpack Susanne Sugarbaker on her BEST day. Boxes, bags, duffles, sleeping gear, camping gear, paintball gear. GEAR, GEAR, GEAR, piled in my livingroom since SUNDAY night. And my car, well, just let me say that it smells like dirty, wet socks and it's just a messy. Now, I believe the heat has brought out the worst in me and I currently have the patience of a half baked gnat. And being the sweet person that I can be, I asked him NICELY to please clean up the MESS before I had the opportunity, which he would not relish the results. I got a snide look, he rolled his eyes at me and then proceeded to grudgingly pick up his pile of stuff.

Sigh, I feel like Attila the Hun's mother, just as mean and just as ugly.

Pressure everywhere, work, home, contractor, house, kid, husband...I need a Calgon moment.

And then, there was this post on Legacy about what happens to your stash after you die. That post was sobering. My stash would probably end up in the landfill as no one even has a clue that it's literally worth thousands. The DH thinks it's a hobby. My son is only interested in my finished work, which actually is very nice. My SIL commented that I had enough to start my own shop (well, yeah, and it's all one of a kind). I can't leave it to her as her tastes differ greatly from my own. I am thinking that I will give it all to the EGA and let them duke it out.

I wish it were cooler and I could stitch. I think it would make me feel better.

Sorry for the rant. I broke my promise to myself to only post NICE things. Oh well.

It's too hot to stitch!

It was a record high for heat and humidity today in Upstate NY. It was 95 degrees and it felt like 195! Needless to say there was not much stitching going on in my house today. I use a Daylight magnifier to stitch by, I can use cheaters for some 32ct fabric but I have so gotten used to the magnifier, I have a hard time stitching without it. So, the light threw even more heat and I got so uncomfortable that I put all my stitching aside. So much for my weekend stitch-a-thon!

So, instead, I blog hopped and I came across this photo on Tempest Fugits blog:



It's called Armada. I purchased it last year after my Dad died as a memorial sampler. Vero sent it to me and at the time, I couldn't even look at it cause it made my heart ache. So, I put it away. Now, almost a year has gone by since my Dad passed away and I believe that I can stitch it. My Dad was in the Navy and he was very proud of his service to our country. He talked a great deal about the war and the times he spent on the ship in Okinawa. So, I believe that it will be my next big project.

I want to thank everyone for the comments left about the new room. I could not have done this room without my Dad and the inheritance that he left me. He told me that he wanted me to use the money to fix up my house. So, I am honoring those wishes, even though we could use the money to pay down some of our bills. So every time I make an improvement on my house, I thank God for my Dad, who was as wonderful to us in life as he has been in death.

And now, I have to go to bed. Monday will be here before you know it and it's back to the work-a-day world for us. Hope you all had a fun, stitch-filled weekend!

The room

Well, since plans changed for my weekend, and I had all this furniture stored in various places in my house and since the room is 90% done, I decided to set it up.

So on Saturday morning, I assembled the sofa table, coffee table and the end table and arranged the furniture. I need to get an area rug, a table lamp, some art (and cross stitch) for the walls, hang a mirror and see if I can get a console for the long wall as the room is somewhat lopsided. I have to be careful though, that the room doesn't get too crowded and feels like a furniture storage area. So, what do you think?
Please excuse the color of the first photo as it's a bit off, the red is actually burgundy. The other photos are more true to color.











And this morning, I had my coffee and read the sunday paper out there. It was a sublime moment. I love the room and we will be spending ALOT of time out there.

We went to see Pirates last night, the theatre was packed with teenagers who were very well behaved. Not too much noise and NO ringing cell phones. The movie was good but my husband wished there was more people interaction instead of sea creatures. Always a critic in the crowd...LOL. It was a good summer flick. Go see it if you have the opportunity.

I haven't stitched a stitch this weekend yet, but that's going to change. I am not sure what I will pull out to work on but I plan on finishing up some laundry and then finding a cool spot to spend some quality time with my needlework. That's what Sundays are for, right? I went blog hopping prior to posting and all of your work is so inspiring and it keeps my motivation up.

And as always, thanks for dropping by and sharing a little bit of my world.

A change of plans

Well, the husband was to go with the kid and company to the Poconos for a paintball event this weekend. David was going to take the day off and just pick up Mike after work to drive him and 5 others down to PA. BUT....this afternoon, a crisis arose at work. And guess who is home for the weekend, WORKING. My sweetie. So tonight, he is out on the new room on his laptop, debugging a program and running scripts and performance analyses.

And that changes my plans too. I had plans to spend some time alone and think and pray and just *chill*. That's ok though, I love having him home. The only plans that changed really is the amount of stitching I will get to do. And we may get to go to see Pirates. So, I am ok with that!

Well, Get Color is on HGTV and I love that show! I have found so many good tips watching it. Talk to you all LATER~ :-)!!

Scared Silly Update

Got some stitching time this week and I made a teeny bit of progress on BOAF's Scared Silly. Here is the Scaredy Cat!



On another note, and not a good one, my DH had to have a *conversation* with the contractor over the lack of progress on our house. It was uncomfortable. David asked for a drop dead finish date in writing and also brought attention to a few things he told us that were not entirely truthful. So, David is disenchanted with him and really is unhappy. He can not wait until they finish and are gone. It makes me sad because I really like this man and his workers do an exceptional job. I had hoped to have the contractor do some interior work for me but I am unsure if my hubby will permit it. I have been out of sorts for the last few days because of this and the contractor is bending himself into a pretzel to get back into my husband's good graces. That's not going to happen as the boat of redemption has sailed.

On a good note though, it did light a fire and the contractor boys finished painting my new room. I love the color. In certain light it looks like a goldy-green and at other times somewhat of a lime (but not garish). Actually, it looks like marinated artichoke hearts, if you can believe it. The paint color is called Hearts of Palm.
So now, all that's left to do is to cover the wall outlets, mount the can lights and re-wire the ceiling fan so I can control it from a wall switch. When I get the furniture set up this weekend, I will post a photo for all to admire!

The family left on Monday to journey to Philadelphia by way of Scranton. I believe that they had a good time although the kid's were getting whiney at the end of the visit. Take 2 teenagers out of their natural habitat for too long and they morph back into 2 year olds.

Mike will be 19 tomorrow. I can't believe that he is a young man. Goodness, where does the time go? He and a bunch of his buddies, my husband and his friend are going to the Poconos to play 3 days of paintball. It's an annual event, one that they plan and look forward to beginning in the early spring. I will have the house to myself and I plan to watch chick-fliks, eat food that I like but no one else does, and stitch on Saturday evening. I want to finish cleaning out our 4th bedroom to begin it's metamorphosis into a study for David. I plan on working on it tomorrow evening into Saturday. Saturday night is earmarked for needle and thread and Sunday will be too! Wahoo!

So, there you have it, all that's fit to type. Thanks for stopping by! I love it when you come to visit!

More pictures

Ok, Annette on Mighty Joe Navajo (aka - Joey):



Unfortunately, her ride was cut short because it was buggy and he is so herd bound with his 2 girlfriends that he got quite piggish about listening to her. Because Annette is such an inexperienced rider (and Joey knows that), he decided to take advantage of her inability to make him mind. My hubby was afraid that things could get out of control, so he walked with her through the hayfield until it became apparent that Joey was getting too antsy. So in the name of safety, the ride was cut short. Needless to say, Annette was disappointed and Joey went for a LONG ride through the hayfields across the street just to reinforce who actually is the boss on a trail ride.


Silly Chrissy, the wonder dog. Chrissy has developed into quite the homebody. She has apppointed herself *Lady of the Manor* and gardens, hangs out laundry and generally runs the daily operations in the household with me.






And NEW STASH!!! My goodies came this weekend! TOO WICKED COOL!!!!

Just a quick update - with pics!

HI everyone! It's Monday and I got a minute to post while everyone is still sleeping (except my 13year old nephew who is rousing the dogs right now).

It's been a nice relaxing weekend. Today, with the exception of a grocery run, it should be more of the same. I got a little bit of stitching done (yay!). My SIL, Barb, is trying to get her daughter, Annette, interested in stitching. so Barb picked out a few small Drawn Thread Halloween designs for her daughter to choose to be stitched. Annette chose the little scissors fob from the Halloween scissor keeper and purse to be made into a little door pillow. So Barb's been stitching on that for the last day or so. She should be finished this afternoon. But the coolest thing is that Barb is interested in stitching again! She's had some health issues that affected her ability to stay focused on concentrated tasks so this is a positive sign! I worked on BOAF's Scared Silly. I am ashamed to say that I began this piece on July 4th, 2004 (don't throw anything at me!). When I picked it up this weekend, the pumpkin top & 1/2 of the cat was stitched. I completed a bit on the cat and a couple of letters. I am hoping to be able to stitch a little more on it today. It's going fairly fast for such a slow stitcher that I am!
So here are some pictures of my stitching progress:

Scared Silly:


Time & Seasons:


Americana Samplings:


Ok, Blogger is being a pain now, so I'll post the last few pictures in a new post!

Just checking out my blog

Nicki was so kind to help me add my completed works and wips to my sidebar. I am thrilled with it! She is so helpful and very, very nice. Patient too, as I am a l-e-e-e-t-l-e slow on the computer side of things. I am overwhelmed by her generosity to play with the code to get it to work. Thank you, Nicki!!!

My brother and his family will be here late today so I am not getting any stitching time in at all this weekend. Blast, cause I really want to stitch. The house is in realatively good shape for having Mike home (the clutter king) and there is minimal chores to do today, but just enough to leave me little time with a needle and needlework. Sigh.....

Oh, is anyone going to see Pirates of the Carribean? I hope to next week, the shows are sold out this weekend and we want to wait until the *hype* has died down and all the kids and teenagers see it first. Makes for a better movie experience (gosh, I AM getting crotchety in my extended years!!)

SO, maybe with any luck, I will get a chance to take some pics....and get them posted. Have a happy Saturday and Sunday if I don't get the chance to stop by.

Tonight I worked a little more on Time and Seasons. I finished 2 leaves in the upper border. I stitched about an hour (gosh, I am a slow stitcher!) but every stitch counts, right?

And I didn't get my LHN Americana Sampling piece done for the 4th. Oh well, there's always NEXT July 4th! I am almost 1/2 done now with it and I think that if I have a full weekend to stitch I could finish it! This weekend though, I won't get much stitching done at all. My brother and his family are coming Saturday to spend the weekend. Their children are 13 and 16. My 16 year old niece will live out in the barn and she has requested the use of my gelding for the weekend. My nephew will be totally bored. Even so, I am glad that they are coming for a few days, it will be nice to spend some time with them. Ever since my Dad passed away, my brother has been better about keeping in touch with me and fostering a relationship. We always got along but we haven't communicated as we really should have through out the years. It's important for us to do that because we are all we have. I adore my SIL, she and I have gotten along from the first time I met her 30 years ago. She is like a sister to me and we share a love of crafts and stitching.

I hoped that my new room would be complete for their visit but that's not going to happen either. The window and door trim is up and primed and there's some baseboard molding on the floor. But with only 2 guys working, the room will not be completed until next week IF they continue to show up. I think my contractor is unhappy with my bugging him, he hasn't returned any of my phone calls the last few days. Needless to say, I am concerned.

I do have a package waiting for me at the post office from Stitching Bits and Bobs. I bought a bunch of patterns and the fibers for Village of Hawk Run Hollow. That should help out with my mood as it's not been good the last few days. Mainly, I am thinking about my work and if I am doing what I should be with my life. Right now, I am reading a Max Lucado book called *The Cure for the Common Life*. It's a great book and very thought provoking. I've been questioning my job and wonder if I am doing what I should be with my work life. I don't know if I am unhappy right now because my job is stressful and we are being pushed to define and deploy a site-wide project in a very short amout of time or if I am truly being lead to find something else to do. I have been praying about it, asking for guidance, but unless God whacks me over the head with a bat, I am afraid that I miss what He's trying to tell me. I am the epitome of a block head when it comes to hearing Him. One thing for sure, I believe He has a plan for me and it's a good one!

Well, it's off to bed... talk with you tomorrow!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

HI all,

I hope everyone is having a great day. Here, it's very quiet. The child-unit has gone to his buddy's place on the lake. My darlin' DH is snoozing on the sofa. And me? I stitched just a little bit today and I finally got my craft room under control. What a job! And even though there's not any *clutter* visible, please don't open the closet. Otherwise you may get maimed by something falling on your head. I can't believe the amount of stuff I've accumulated in the last 25 years. And going through it, there's not much I want to part with. I keep telling myself, that someday, I'll paint/quilt/sew/stitch that. Who am I kidding? :P

The construction boys were here emasse most of the day. They trimmed out my new room's windows and did some interior painting. When you look at the work they've done today, it doesn't seem like it would take 8 hours and 4 men. But what do I know? Anyway, it looks nice and they are doing a great job. Unfortunately, I had to whine at the owner of the construction place to come out and do something. The poor guy has had his share of problems; guys left, guys got hurt, supplier problems...yada,yada. I haven't made any fuss over the lack of prgress on our job and true to form, he took advantage of our silence and serviced his customers that were more vocal. Now, the DH is getting *ahem* annoyed and I had to place a couple of *please do something NOW to our house, otherwise, my DH is going to pop a vein* messages. Hopefully, they will continue on our house this week...One only hopes.

My stitching progress is negligible, so there's no point in taking a photograph just yet. Today, the screaming piece that won was Moira Blackburn's, Time and Seasons. I only stitched the letters M & N and stitched a bit more on the borders. It's a pleasant stitch. I am using Vicki Clayton silks on Lakeside Linen's Lt. Exemplar fabric. I am using Kim's thread conversion as I just loved how her sampler looks. Very vintage-y.

Do you like my new blog look? I think it's rather nice but I wish I could change the font size of my Wip's and Completed Stitching lists in my sidebar. Can any of you *blogmasters* tell me how to do it? I know just a smattering of HTML, and I took enough programming classes just to understand how these programs are laid out. But I don't know where to change the size of the font for these lists. It's frustrating!!!

SO...it's getting late and I have to start dinner. If the weather holds out, we probably will go to the fireworks. It's been raining off and on here in Binghamton. (So, what else is new...)

Hope everyone is having a good July 4th and thanks for stopping by for a *chat*.