For an exchange

I finished this exchange block for a Yahoo stitching group. The theme was Four Seasons, and I adapted this (to make it the correct size) from a Trilogy design. I had bought the original as a kit, but I had enough thread leftover to do this second, smaller version.

Oh - this was fun!

I found this on Autumn's blog a couple of days ago. Google "(your name) needs", and then post your favorite ten results. It's really kind of funny...And it can be difficult to choose.

Lee needs to relax.
Lee needs is a bit of touching up.
Lee needs a forged passport.
Lee needs rest.
Lee needs a contract grinder in Australia. (I have no clue what that means, but it's kind of intriguing.)
Lee needs slightly more supervision than she should.
Lee needs to put a little more sass and confidence into her delivery.
Lee needs a chance to say, ‘‘Here’s why I’m innocent.’’
Lee needs to deputize every able-bodied male of Jefferson Parish.
Lee needs to stay one step ahead of the game.
Lee needs more money.
Lee needs a mental evaluation.

I've decided to post a couple of my mail art pictures. It could take a few more weeks before my envelope arrives in Malaysia, and since I doubt that any of the people in that exchange read my blog, I'm going to post away. Besides, if you read my last entry, you know that it was all marked up with RED SHARPIE. So anyway, this is the envelope I sent to Margaret. The theme was non-religious Christmas.





I don't know if you can tell, but the fabric had silver sparkles in it. I'm not sure exactly the name of the fabric, but it was like Lugana. The wreath was from an old Gloria and Pat Christmas freebie.

Now, here is an envelope I'm ready to send on Tuesday. Once again, I really doubt that they read my blog, and even so, it's staying in the US, so mailing time should be pretty short. The theme was Snowmen. The main snowman, the scarf, and the mittens were from a Drawn Thread chart, Generosity. The snowmen on the back were from a freebie - can't remember who, though.





I enjoyed doing these, but if I do any more, it will be for people I know, whether in real life or online. These were thru online exchange groups, so I didn't really know any of the recipients, nor did they know me. And if I'm going do that much work, I think I want it to be with and for people I kinda, sorta know. It was a good learning experience. But I think I'm done.

I'm so mad I could spit tacks. And the kicker is, I'm mostly mad at myself.

Why in Gods good name am I having such a difficult time following directions?? WHAT is wrong with me?!

I stitched a small sampler for a group exchange a couple of months ago. Lovely little thing. (see my sidebar) Only I stitched it on linen, when the directions for the exchange very clearly said aida cloth only. OK, that was an oops. A small oops, but none the less, a silly mistake. I mean, the directions were super clear. Was I taking stupid pills that month?

Now, this December, I participated in a mail art exchange. I carefully stitched the envelope and was very happy with it, and accepted the compliments of our postmaster as I proudly affixed the postage and shipped it off to Malaysia. And after 6 weeks my exchange partner still hadn't received it. It came back in yesterday's mail. I had completely mangled the street address. I had the house number correct, but that's about all I had correct on the street line. I went back into my email records and sure enough, it was wrong. Don't ask me how I screwed that up. I really don't know.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, the post in Malaysia took a red Sharpie marker and crossed out the whole address in the front. Now it looks like crap. And wrote all over the back, "No such Street". I'll put it in a paper envelope and send it off, but more than likely I'll stitch her another one.

Grrr.

My heart is breaking for the families of the Enlow Fork Coal Miners.

This is coal country. We have friends who work in the mines, both as miners and as support personnel. We have friends involved in rescue. We have friends who were disabled in the mines and have gone on to other vocations. So this feels particularly close to home.

Please keep these families in your prayers.

Today I feel like I have a real day off! I won't work - not even a little (one of the perils of working at home...you're always sitting down to do just one tiny little thing). Colleen is at a friend's for the weekend, so there was no early morning run to swim practice. So today is my own. Mine, mine, mine!

I've spent the morning reading a little, re-charting a design to fit what I need for a block exchange, and putzing around. Now I'll go exercise, shower, and sit down again to do some stitching. I'm in heaven.

What will we do tonight? Well, we've been invited to a couple of house parties - Just some friends getting together. But Dave wants to go to the movies, so later this afternoon we'll head to Pittsburgh, have a bite to eat, then go to a movie (probably King Kong). Then, if it's not too late we'll stop by a party. Johnny and his friend Liz will be with us, too. I'm missing my Colleen, but what can you do?

New Years Resolutions....who needs them? I'm hard enough on myself. But in the spirit of the evening, I'll resolve to lighten up, and to step back and count my blessings more often.

I'm really loving this book about Josephine Bonaparte. (See my sidebar) I mean...just in case you were wondering.

It looks like everyone is thinking about the New Year, reviewing the Old Year, and making stitching goals for 2006. So I guess I’ll take a stab at it, too.

I feel as if I accomplished a lot in 2005, because I stitched 17 small pieces and one medium sized project. Believe me, for this girl, that’s lots of stitching. So I’m very happy with that.

I have two large-ish projects that I have high hopes of finishing in 2006. I have a Spot Sampler that’s not charted or anything – kind of a make-it-up-as-you-go thing. It’s part of a stitch-along that I put aside in the summer and I never got back to it.

The other is Drawn Thread’s Souvenir Sampler. I was doing that as a stitch-along, too, but I started to lose interest. It’s very pretty and I like it – I don’t quite know what happened.

It’s pretty obvious to me that I suck at large stitch along projects. Well, at least at this stage of my life. I stitch whatever way the wind blows me; so sticking to a long-term stitch-along just won’t work for me. It’s less likely I’ll be blown off course when I’m working on a 6 X 6 project! Lucky for me there are so many small designs to choose from. And I’m learning to take parts of larger designs to use and adapt as I like.

Other aspects of my life are quieting down, thank god. January will be very busy work-wise, but I can deal with that. We’ve finally hired another pharmacist, so I’ll be glad to have my darlin’ husband back. He’s worked at least 60 hours a week since early October. Sometimes more… It’s been rough. But I have high hopes for a 40 hour (gasp!) workweek starting early in January. I’ve missed him.

Someone posted this on one of my Yahoo groups yesterday, and it really spoke to me. So I'll share it with you.

"What Christmas expresses to us universally, beyond even what it represents to Christians specifically, is our innate belief that in our bleakest winters -- whether literal or metaphoric -- there will always be some sign in the heavens or nature to guide us on our way. That we need only to believe in a God of our understanding and trust in the power of doing the loving thing in all of our experiences."

Michael McDonald, from the liner notes to Through the Many
Winters: A Christmas Album

To all of my blogging friends...
Wishing you Peace and Prosperity this Christmas

Did you hear that? Did you hear a loud "thunk"? That was the sound of a giant weight falling off my back. We finally sold the house we owned before we bought this one. The closing was yesterday. Between the buyer's offer and the closing there were a handful of things to fix. Some big (grrrr....renters), some small, and for some reason, I wasn't handling it very well.

So, needless to say, ALL of my Christmas preparations will be last-minute. The thing is - I'm just not in the mood. I just want to hang out on the computer, read, and stitch while I watch judge shows. Somebody smack me with a candy cane.

A friend and I were talking about today being the Winter Solstice. We both thought that if we had our choice, we'd spend today curled up on our couches, under a blanket, with a good book and a movie or two.

But since that ain't happn-in, (visualize the head-wag here), I decided to ponder on this quote I lifted from Mainely Stitching.

"We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,"
I heard a bird sing
in the dark of December.
Oliver Herford

Something about December and January puts me in a mood to escape, so it seems like I read a lot of period fiction around then. My favorite escapes were stories of King Arthur and the Arthurian legends. Well! I may have found a new favorite! Last week this wonderful young woman at the bookstore turned me on to stories about and around King Henry VIII. I'm almost finished The Other Bolenyn Sister by Phillipa Gregory, and I'm enjoying it like crazy and will hate it when it comes to its inevitable end. There are interesting snippets about needlework in the book, too.

I have a book about Josephine Bonaparte, too. I hope I like it just as well.

I participated in a Mail Art exchange through a yahoo group recently. I haven't posted the envelope that I stitched, because it hasn't been received yet...

But here's a photo of the envelope I received yesterday. I think it's really cool! It's from Lene in Malaysia.

Obviously, this is the front. Note the beadwork around the outside!



And here is the back. It was closed w/a snap, and then just to be sure, she had basted the flap closed, too.



Pretty neat, huh?
I'll post a photo of the one I stitched as soon as I know it was received.

And another thought

I know I haven't blogged much about stitching recently. I'm progressing so slowly on a couple of projects that it just doesn't seem worthwhile to post about. Here's why. My December has been horrendous. Ok, that sounds overly dramatic. But suffice it to say that since Thanksgiving several things in my day to day life have:

1. Dripped
2. Drooped
3. Smoked
4. Rattled
5. Buzzed
6. Broke in two
7. Sparked
8. Burned up
9. Smelled funny
10. Wouldn't turn on
11. Wouldn't turn off
12. Stopped dead at an inopportune time.

I'll stop at twelve because it seems like there should be something funny here to write about the 12 days of Christmas but I can't think of anything good.

On the one hand, I'm glad that these malfunctions are only happening to things in my life and not people in my life. And I'm grateful that nothing has burst into flames...yet. On the other hand, if I have to talk to one more repair/service/contractor/tech support person, I may lose my mind.

This can't last forever....

SBQ

Q. Take a minute to reflect on your blog reading habits and preferences. What do you prefer to read in stitching blogs? (Progress, tips, family life, experiences, etc.) How much do you think you are influenced by other stitching bloggers?

I like a lot of different things about a lot of different blogs.

Of course, I love, love, love to see progress on our projects. I’ll admit, not everything I see is something I’d want to stitch, own, or hang, but I appreciate the stitcher’s enthusiasm and so I’m happy for them. I’ve seen so many new (to me) designers and finishing techniques and I’ve learned of some lovely stitching groups…it has been inspiring. Bloggers have given me back that spark for needlework that I honestly thought I had lost a couple of years ago.

I enjoy reading the family and personal stuff, too. Again, not all of it. Some blogs (of course, not the ones on my sidebar list) are too saccharine for my tastes. Some are deeply mired in personal problems. I guess that’s the great thing about blogging as opposed to newsgroups and BB’s – if you don’t like it, you don’t read it. It’s not even a message that you have to skip over. It’s totally gone from your consciousness!

Most of all, I gravitate towards stitching blogs that tell it like it is. Writers that can laugh at themselves. Writers with dry wit. It can be about your stitching, your husband, your job, or whatever. And if you make me laugh once, I’m your reader for life!

And speaking of a good laugh, you have to check out this website:
Scared of Santa Photo Gallery
I laughed myself silly!

It's 4:00. Your butt has been working in the same chair since lunch. It's getting dark outside. You are fading fast. Time for a pick-me-up, and it's too late for coffee. What do you do?



My kids sell these from time to time as fundraisers. I've sold 7 cases so far - the high school swim team loves me. And NO, not all to myself.

If you are from Western PA, you know Sarris Chocolate. These pretzels are beyond heavenly. Smooth, creamy, crunchy, salty - OMG, what's not to love? The only question is: Do I eat one and put the other away for tomorrow, or do I scarf down both?

Why you should not clean house before eating breakfast:

I got up this morning, and decided that because I have to seriously work (as in not leave my desk) for the next several days, I should clean the office/sewing room before I got started. If I'm stuck here, it might as well be clean.

So I made my coffee, kissed the kids off to school at 6:35, and, deciding to eat breakfast later, I got started. It was the usual. Pitch, sort, clean. And by 9:00, I was pretty hungry.

Now, ever since DH was diagnosed w/high cholesterol, I’ve been eating healthier. My cholesterol is fine. But DH asked for dietary help, so I buy healthier stuff. Whole grains, some soy, etc. Of course, DH won’t eat it. So who eats it? Me. I’ve always been more adventurous in the culinary department anyway. So my cholesterol will be super-fantastic, and DH will wonder why his is still high. But anyway…..

So, after cleaning for 2 hours, I made myself some Multi-Grain Hot Cereal. Great stuff. Milled flaxseed, soy, whole wheat, oats – I feel wonderfully healthy when I eat it. Mixed in a little brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans….Yum! But my hunger must have distracted me, because as I was putting the pot down to get a bowl out of the cabinet, I totally missed the countertop. Yep. Dropped the pot. And not upside down either, so that it could conveniently plop into one place. No – it dropped right side up, which sent my hot cereal flying across the entire kitchen floor, all over the lower cabinets, and up the side of my garbage can.

Now, there was still a little left in the pot, so I stared at it and debated about eating it first or cleaning. But if you know oatmeal, you know the cement-like quality it takes on when it dries. So I got down on my hands and knees to clean this disaster up.

And that’s when I noticed: It’s amazing how much flung hot cereal looks like vomit. Especially after adding pecans. I kept telling myself, “It’s only oatmeal, it’s only oatmeal.” But I scarcely believed myself.

Ok, it was all wiped up. Mopped down. And then I returned to the pot. No freakin’ way was I eating that this morning.

So I had coffee and half of an apple turnover. Sigh

For Cathy

I was reading Cathy's blog, and it triggered some memories that I thought I’d share with you. Dear Cathy wrote about a few things, but she mentioned that many people are telling her to join a playgroup with her kids, and she’s sad that she can’t find one.

Oh…. I remember playgroup days! They were fun. Well. Kinda. I mean… I’m glad we had a playgroup. I met some people with kids the same age as mine. I got out of the house once a week. And we were practically guaranteed invitations to at least 5 birthday parties each year. (Believe me - that was important to me 15 years ago!) The families were generally nice. Really, I loved them at the time, and I still like them now. But it wasn’t all kicks and giggles. It certainly wasn’t a stress-free, adult afternoon. So this blog entry is for Cathy, and I hope she will look past the sprinkling of bitchiness here and still see the humor in it.

When DS was almost 3 and DD was just 4 months old, we were invited to start a playgroup. We began with 5 families.

There was the LLBean family. Real woodsy. “Natural” toys. Healthy snacks. Nobody ate much there. Soy wasn’t a part of my taste experience yet. And believe me, it didn’t matter if the blocks were wooden or plastic. They still hurt when one kid cracked another kid over the head with one. Her daughter would routinely punch my son. That natural food stuff must have made her aggressive.

There was the Excruciatingly Neat family. Never a speck of dust. Nothing out of place. Even the basement was spotless. Games and toys neatly arranged in alphabetical order. They weren’t allowed to have magnets or artwork on the refrigerator. Too messy.

There was the Genius family. Of course, they spawned the genius child, who had all of the genius games (my kids stared at them in confusion) and each week Mom would pull out his coloring pages and cry “Look, he colors just like a 12 year old!” Of course, genius child never spoke. And now as a young adult he walks with no arm movement. Never swings his arms. I watch him all the time. I must be obsessed with him. How could you have colored like that if you can’t swing your arms, I want to ask.

We had the Gourmet family. This mom would make snacks that would blow us away. Fabulous food for the adults. Charming, creative, tasty, colorful snacks for the kids – usually all seasonal or holiday themed. I particularly remember her days of “Make your own Creation Snacks”. Not only was it tasty, it was amusing for the kids. Some days you just wanted to say, Look, what the hell is wrong with graham crackers?? Quit showing off!

Then there was me. My guess is that they call us the PeeBoy family. The first thing my DS did was pee in Genius boy’s new sand box. I thought he was potty trained….who knew? So my first playgroup day lasted about 15 minutes, when I scooped up DS and took him home for dry clothes. After apologizing profusely and offering to go get a shovel and clean out the offending sand.

Other families came and went (I won’t tell you about Smokestack family, Stripper-Mom family, 17 Cat family, Crazy Religious family, or any of the others, although they were pretty amusing), but for the core of the group, it was our original 5 families.

OK, so we used to get together each Monday, from 1 till about 3, and we rotated houses. Sure, there was some adult conversation, but it was almost all about kids, kids, kids. And then there were the inevitable arguments between the kids. Miiiiine! No, it’s Miiiiiine. I had it first! He broke my……..She won’t share the……..Can I have this to take home?

And then there’s the joy of hosting playgroup. When it was my week, Monday morning, cleaning my heart out. Picking the right snacks and juice. You know that LLBean family has allergy-prone kids, so no lactose, no peanuts, no wheat. And ExNt family has a daughter that won’t eat or drink certain colors. Loading up on lots of sippee cups. Hiding the cat. Toddler-proofing the house – again – because Genius boy can pick any lock.

Your guests arrive. Do you have the right toys? Will the kids be amused? (Can’t they just watch a movie today?) You have the same conversation you had last week.

Then comes the clean up. Cookies ground into the carpet. They flushed what down the toilet? Your kids’ rooms look like they’ve been bombed. Toys cover every surface, obscuring even more spilled food.

Then there were the playgroup politics. Is it an open door thing? I mean, how many families can your home accommodate? At one point we had like 8 or so families. It was nuts. But everyone wanted to be friendly and so you’d invite someone (what’s one more?). But then I’d invite someone, and so on and so on and before you knew it, it was playgroup hell!

Other politics: Do you invite all playgroup people to everything you ever do? Or do you just invite the ones you like? How about the older siblings? And the younger siblings?

It was exhausting.

Sometimes I ask myself why I did it. Or more importantly, would I do it again? Yes, I probably would. Of our original five, I’ve kept a close friendship with one family, and probably would have with a second family except for them moving far away. But maybe those friendships would have developed anyway. And as for the kids – well, they really don’t hang out together as teenagers. They don’t remember any of the playgroup days, either.

So Cathy, if you really want a playgroup, this is what you’ll be getting. Maybe you’ll decide to start one up, and if you do, have fun with it. Enjoy meeting new people. And don’t say I haven’t warned you. (Ok, I accidentally got too bitchy again.)

If you know me in the "real" world, you know that I'm not a dressy kind of person. My wardrobe consists of mostly blue jeans, a few pairs of sneakers, and in the summer, a denim jumper and some T shirts, but in the winter, some sweatshirts for around the house and a few sweaters for work. I have two necklaces, one ring (besides my wedding set), 4 pairs of earrings, a bracelet, and a watch. I bought two pairs of dress pants a couple weeks ago and wore them to work and my co-workers were all practically speechless. What would happen if I actually came in wearing a dress??

So why on earth am I so drawn to Manolo's Shoe Blog? I read it every day. Go figure.

Here's a quickie little sampler I stitched for a Yahoo group exchange. It's from my stash of Sampler House charts. I love Eileen Bennett.

I have a few free moments to myself, so I thought I’d gather some thoughts and write them down. Or type them up. (Hmm. Those two phrases go in different directions. Hey Anna…. why?)

It seems like Thanksgiving should be a time to take a look back at my year. My immediate family has had its struggles. If I zip through my blog archives, I find that I have moaned about aging parents, mouthy teenagers, annoying in-laws, and schedules stretched to the max. But when you put it all into perspective, we really don’t have it any worse than most families. We probably have it better. In fact, I think we live a very charmed life. We have plenty. We have people to love and they love us back. We are truly blessed.

I think that about says it.

So, to all my blogging friends, Happy Thanksgiving. God bless.