Let's Try This Again...

Last night during a wicked bout of insomnia...I figured out that it's caffeine that keeps Mr. Sandman at bay, I started this post. While I was out looking for a suitable Steeler logo to put on my blog, I got caught in one of those endless loops to download a spy-ware program. Nothing I did would close out the window for the download so I just closed down the computer. But in the process, I lost my post. So this is TAKE 2.

I want to thank Siohban (Notes From Blue Hen Hollow) for bestowing this Fab-U-LOUS bloggie award on me.

I am touched and well, quite pleased. Thanks Siohban.!

If you haven't checked out Notes From Blue Hen Hollow, you must leave my site now and go visit Siohban. You will be rocked by HER world! So, GO! SHOO!! Come back here later!!!

Oh, and I have to list 5 of my addictions...geez...there's so many but I'll give it a whirl:

1. Stitching & Stash...it's like bread and water to me. Can't have enough stash. And it's a day without sunshine if I don't stitch!
2. Horses...love, love, love them!
3. Chocolate...a new obsession. It's healing powers are a salve to my soul.
4. The silly internet and all your fabulous blogs! I spend WAY too much time reading your adventures and stopping by on the forums.
5. French Vanilla coffee...I start my day with a 20 oz tankard of Green Mountain French Vanilla. Ah, the nectar of the gods.

I'm supposed to tag 5 others...so here goes. If you've been tagged already that's ok.

1. Liv N Laf
2. Maude and Mozart
3. Sampler Lover's Blog
4. Wandering This World
5. Stitching In Lobster Land

I hope you will play. But if you don't that's ok too.

Next is my progress picture of Bea that I promised oh, about a week ago. I LOVE this sampler and I am already planning on stitching her companion. I believe I am about 1/2 way done with Bea. I can't put her down.

I have to say though, I am THE WORLD'S SLOWEST STITCHER. That token of love motif? It took me 3 hours to stitch the inside of that blasted motif. I shook my head and was amazed at my progress after 3 whole hours. Geez. Anyway, the motif I absolutely dislike stitching is the passion flower motif that's at the upper right of the Token of Love one. I am stitching it a bit at a time cause it's all I can do not to cry at the sheer size of it and the amount of time it's taking to see any progress on it. Remember, I am a S-L-O-W stitcher even though I am stitching with only one thread in my needle and I don't have to obsessively railroad my stitches. Yes, I have OCD about railroading. It's why I am boycotting any fabric with a stitch count higher than 36. And that means I've only been stitching on 36 count recently. But I have to use a magnifier. I. AM. OLD.

I made it to my Weight Watcher meeting and unfortunately, the scale was not tipped in my favor. I gained a pound. Oh, you might say, big deal, it's only a pound. But you see, this pound leaves and comes back. And it's brought 9 of it's closest friends who've taken up residence on my caboose and kanga-pouch stomach. They've stayed. The one pound comes and goes. I am going to evict them all and the other 25 too that have decided that they are safe. The mantra at the meeting this week was...THIS IS MY YEAR!! And it will be!

I got on the treadmill yesterday and I have a date with it today. I am setting a weekly goal of one pound. And I am journaling...and I hate it but it's accountability. No sneaking a taste of cheese danish or a handful of crackers without writing it down. It's an eye opener when what you've mindlessly put into your mouth is documented on paper. I've done very well on the program when I've journaled so I think that's the key to my success.

Lastly, I want to say...GO STEELERS!!!! It's going to be Sixburgh tomorrow night!



Thanks for coming by and visiting Joanie's World. Leave a comment to say hi!

Damn Economy!

Well, I was out perusing blogs a little while ago and I read that Country Home and Mary Englebriet's, Home Companion will no longer be published. Country Home will be kaput after the March issue and ME is looking for a new publisher and the last issue from the old publisher is the December/January 2009 issue. Also, I read that Country Living is teetering on the brink of extinction too.

The economy is to blame.

DAMN economy!

Don't the publishers of these magazines realize there is nothing, nothing better than getting a fresh issue of these magazines and curling up on the sofa with a soft kitty, a blankie and a cup of tea and escaping for a while? To look at inspiring artwork, view artist's studios, see idea filled interiors, see AMERICA through the pages of these magazines? To have creativity at your fingertips, a springboard to new ideas, to try new creative outlets, to see what's up and coming.

I've purchased all of these magazines for as long as I can remember. Country Living since the 80's, Country Home probably just as long. And ME's Home Companion, I haven't missed an issue in 10 years.

I'd pay more for this little pleasure if they kept the magazines alive. It's one of my indulgences. Like stash.

What's a girl to do?

It's just SAD.

DAMN ECONOMY!!!

Oh, there will be stitching pictures soon. I've got a progress picture of Bea.

What a waste of a day

You know when you are at work and you dream of a day where there is NOTHING going on and you can spend the entire day stitching? Well, today was one of those days for me. We got up this morning and it was snowing. The driveway is completely drifted over. Our driveway is 150 feet long. Plus, the barn water pump is frozen and my darling DH (who has taken care of the horses by himself since we are in this death grip of cold) has to carry 15 gallons of water from the house to the barn. So being that the weather was pretty ugly, we decided not to make the 35 minute drive to church...yes, we followed our former pastor to his new church, and just hunker down in our igloo of a house. So guess what? I had a day of stitching that I only dream about.

EXCEPT....THE FROGS dropped by.

I wanted to work on the piece I told you about, I Will Stitch You in my Heart. I stitched about 1/2 the border last night. Today I thought I'd work on the words. I am using DMC, it's old, on bobbins. Well, it had a mind of it's own...kinking, snarling, tangling, knotting... I made absolutely no progress. Then I realized I made a mistake counting and all the words that I stitched must be ripped out. I wanted to cry. So, about 4 o'clock after stitching for at least 3.5 hours, I QUIT.
I made an apple pie. I am starting dinner right after I finish this post.

I am going to work on something else tonight while watching the Steelers BEAT the Ravens.
GO STEELERS!!!

Hopefully, the frogs will hop outside and FREEZE.



P.S. I hope your day has gone better.

Beatrix Potter

It got sunny here in frozen Upstate NY so I took a picture of my Beatrix Potter sampler. I am almost done with the upper right motif and I made significant progress on the Passion Flower motif.

Bea has been my focus piece for the last few weeks.

I started a new piece tonight. It's from Heartstring Primitives called I Will Stitch You In My Heart.

Go to Beth's blog and check it out! I love it. I am stitching it on 32ct Flax linen with DMC. I plan on antiquing it and making it into a pillow that I'm going to hang on the headboard of the bed or if it's too big for that then I'll make it into a pillow. I don't have a lot stitched (only a bit of the left border) because the David and I watched a movie on TV. We need some couple time so even though I usually stitch while we watch TV, I didn't tonight.

Wow, I can't believe I've posted twice today!

Thanks for coming by to see what's doing in Joanie's World!!

It's been a week already!!!

Wow, where did the week go?

It's been a week since I posted pictures of the lovely Jenna and her dress-to-be and guess what? She went back to the bridal shoppe on Tuesday and tried on a few more and found one that she absolutely loved. So my favorite turned out to be her second favorite.

And she bought this gown:

She looks like a princess, don't you think?

On the stitching front, not much is happening. I futzed around with Beatrix Potter and that's about it. I should take a picture and post it cause there is significant progress from the last time I posted but not much progress this week. I just couldn't get warm and all effort went to trying not to freeze in my corner of the couch. One evening, I complained to my DH and he told me to turn up the heat...DUH!!! Well, I checked out the thermostat and it was 58 degrees in the house! Geez, we could have built a snowman in the family room...it was SO cold even with a fire in the fireplace insert.

I really looked forward to stitching on Friday night but I was so tired when I got home. I put in a few stitches on Bea but it wasn't any fun so I went to bed. I slept 10 hours!

Today, I had to do some housekeeping cause I didn't do much this week. While I was at it, I decided to re-organize my stitching stuff. What fun I had fondling stash. I also realized that I am a stash glutton. I have more stash than I will EVER be able to stitch. But I can't part with any of it. I put together my stitching basket and put some other things away in my Wip box.

My stitching basket has the following things in it:

• Beatrix Potter
• Heirloom Wedding and Heirloom Christmas (I'm swapping out some of the bands for the wedding sampler)
• True Virtue
• A bag full of Blackbird Designs (Blessings & Kind Wishes, Where My Heart Blooms)
• Remember Me - Cricket Collection
• And a bag full of Christmas ornaments to stitch for the Cadet and Lovely Jenna.

I think this will keep me busy for a long time.

Well, I best be cleaning the bathrooms now so I will write more later. Stay warm!

Here comes the bride

On Saturday, I was very fortunate to share Wedding Dress shopping with the Lovely Jenna, her Mom, Trish, her Grandma, Margaret, and her best friend & Maid of Honor, Monica. I want to share some of the pictures I took while Jenna was trying on gowns.

I will tell you that she looked beautiful in all of them (there are more). The photo at the very top is a picture of the bodice of THE DRESS. Simple, understated and elegant.

When Jenna came out of the dressing room wearing THE dress, both her Mom and I were breathless. And in the next moment, Trish said, That's it. THE DRESS. It is Jenna. And we both started to cry.

On their wedding day, she's going to knock the Cadet's socks off...

Some stitching! Can you believe it?

I wanted to share some of my stitching progress during the holidays. I stitched fairly regularly from Thanksgiving on. I have to admit though, I didn't stitch according to my plan, I got stitcher's startitus and just went to town.

The first picture is a Prairie Schooler santa from Book 151, Santas & Snowmen, stitched with DMC on 32ct Lambswool linen. Sorry for the wonky photo, I was trying to get creative and it didn't work out so I cropped the picture. Who cares anyway about creative shots, the stitching is what's important, right?

Next is True Virtue. It's from an old JCS magazine. I worked on the alphabet. Sorry for the color, it's a bit washed out and not true. Damn camera.

Connie and I are SALing but we've both got off to a slow start because of the holiday. I got a little bored with the alphabet (there are 3 of them) and I really have to concentrate when stitching the rice stitches in the border in order to get the sequence right. I am working on it tonight. Stitching with good ol' DMC again.

Here's my progress on Beatrix. The SAL officially began on January 1st but I had a head start cause I started stitching right after the pattern was released. Over the course of November and December, I stitched the lower 2 motifs on the left side and the bird motif. On January 1st, I stitched the upper right motif and the beginning of a hugh floral motif. I am enjoying the sampler and I think with the added support of the SAL, I just might finish it before 2010. That's the plan anyway.

Here is a very pretty French freebie made into a pinkeep. I found it on 123 citrouille while perusing French blogs (can't read a word of French but like to look at the pictures). Here is the PDF. When I saw it, I thought I MUST stitch this cause I love redwork. And Christmas. It was a no brainer for me. I dropped Bea on her head and ignored True Virtue for an evening even though TV was whining to be worked on.

So here is my progress for one evening. I am stitching it with AVAS 4624 on what else, 32ct Lambswool.

And during my Christmas break, I did purchase patterns. I especially liked Sampler Girl's, Its a Wonderful Life. I had intentions of making it up as a Christmas gift but I umm, ran out of time. Silly me. I have a hard time figuring out how long something will take to work up and then put together.

Here's my progress:

Once again, in DMC but on an unknown piece of linen. You can see the little freebie ornament too from Sampler Girl. That was a very quick stitch and it's going to go to the Cadet and Jenna for their tree next year. Also in DMC.

So there you go, show and tell! Thanks for coming by!