House tours for the architecturally challenged

So...the Old Allegheny Christmas House Tour was today, and for us, it went kind of like this:

Ooooh! Ahhhhh! Glass! Tiffany! Have you ever seen anything as beautiful? Look at the colors! Lovely!
(lousy photos, I know, but for me, stained glass is like impossible to photograph)

Then - House, yada yada yada. House, 12 foot ceilings, butler pantry, yack yack. House, house, historical, saved from wrecking ball, yada yada. House, house, house crown moldings, pine floors, blah blah.

Then, house WITH TRAINS! Yay, Yay!





All in all, it was a day well spent, and I'm glad we did it. I'm thinking that a whole new world is opening to Dave and me, and that maybe doing these grownup things again is going to be fun.

Once you get past all the yada-yadas.

A lazy Friday

I'm having a lazy day today. It started with a school 2 hour weather delay for Colleen, and instead of staying up, I went back to bed and slept for another hour.

I'm going to put the finishing touches on some work related things, then I should probably clean this very dirty house. Probably.

Tomorrow Dave and I are going to Pittsburgh for The Old Allegheny Victorian Christmas House Tour. I'm excited, mostly because the tour will start at a church known for its Tiffany windows. And if you know me, you know that I can't get enough of anything with colored glass.

I sure hope they let me take pictures...

The versatile pinkeep!

I needed an exchange gift for an upcoming neighborhood party, and this idea had been percolating in my brain for about a week. It's a simple medium sized pinkeep ornament(except I hardly used any pins) and I added a pocket to the back to hold a gift card.
So here's the front:

And the side:

And the back with the card fitting inside:

And when the card is removed:

The design was a chart in one of the Pine Mountain Designs pillow kits, and I changed the threads a bit, using overdyeds for the greens in the tree and the red in the lettering. The fabric is a couple of scraps of what I think was 32ct. ivory Belfast linen. (The pillow is stitched with 11 ct. fabric, so it's much larger.)

I'm glad that I took a picture of this, because it may well be my one and only stitched Christmas gift this year. I envy you guys who can stitch Christmas things all through the year. I just can't make my brain work that way. Once I get past January - I'm through.

Great Christmas music

I love NPR's All Songs Considered. Yes, sometimes it's weird stuff, but occasionally weird stuff grows on you.

Anyway, I think you will enjoy this: NPR's Jingle Jams.

They asked 10 stations to send 10 of their favorite holiday songs, and it resulted in a playlist that kept me interested and listening and looking forward to the next song. And I think that's a pretty big feat at this time of year when so many of us are already fed up with all of the sugary, sappy and overdone songs.

I hope to have a photo of my latest stitching for you tomorrow. I'm having some eye issues. It's nothing major, only annoying.

Some cool websites

You know how when you're online and then one thing leads to another and you find yourself nowhere near where you intended to be? In the real world, that can be a problem. But with the internet? Sometimes, it's a good thing.

I was re-visiting the Cavalcade of Bad Nativities (yes...one of my favorite holiday traditions, thank you very much Isaac's Mom), and she had a link for this:

One Pretty Thing

You must, must, must go there. The site has some very cool things and all of the pictures are clickable and you'll be totally amazed.
And in particular, go to this day, Gifts for Crafters. And if you want to make me something to thank me for directing you to this site, well, you go right ahead.

Not much to write but two good books to recommend

So...I know you must all be thinking, "WELL, she writes 500 posts and then disappears!"

No? You're all just sick of this 500th post stuff that I can't seem to leave alone? Okay. Got it. No more mention of 500 posts. In fact, I'll stop saying 500. And Post.

Except to say thank you for all of your nice comments and well-wishes upon reaching that milepost in my blog life. (OK, mile marker)

Here's the thing. I have nothing interesting to write. Christmas blah-blah. Decorating blah-blah. Kids blah-blah. Work, ewwww. Believe me, there's nothing noteworthy in any of those topics.

Stitching? Nope. Or rather, nothing that I can show you at the moment.

I've been behaving like a complete hermit. I get up, work in my office all day, go for an occasional run, cook dinner, then spend the my evening doing one or all of these things: Watch TV, stitch a little, work hard at trying to annoy my husband and daughter, read a little and then I go to bed.

For blog purposes, all of that stuff is pretty darn lame. But even though things here haven't been great for providing good blog material, I'd like to write. Last year I did the 2007 Holidailies, and I've thought about it for 2008. Maybe I should because then I'd get out of this writing slump.

My real fear is though...is it actually a life slump? Except that for the most part, I'm reasonably content.

Ugh. Enough already. Time to move on.

I've read two excellent books in the past month. A friend lent me Shadow of the Wind, and I absolutely loved it. Some historical fiction, a little mystery, a little fantasy...all in all a great read.

Then one night I was killing time downtown while waiting for Colleen to finish some play practice, so I was hanging out in the library and picked up a Neil Gaiman book, Anansi Boys. It was a great quick and fun read, and I completely enjoyed that one, too.

There's something about November, December, and January that propels me toward fantasy fiction. There's nothing like snuggling in with that kind of book when it's dark and cold for most of the day. It just feels right.

Jennifer!

I did that random list generator from Random.org, and I don't know how to do a screenshot, but here are the results that I copied and pasted here:

True Random Number ServiceList Randomizer
There were 16 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

9- Jennifer S
14- Shannon
4- Anna
1- Staci
13- Lisa
11- Kathy
16- Aussie Stitcher
6- Melody
10- Autumn
2- Nic
3- Suzanne
12- C in DC
5- Mary
15- Sally
7- Valerie
8- Lady Doc
Timestamp: 2008-12-04 13:34:37 UTC

© 1998-2008 Mads Haahr
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS
Web Design by TSDA

So Miss Jennifer, I'll be making a scissor pocket for you!

Today is our Christmas shopping day, and I look forward to this all year. The best part of the day is LUNCH!

So, I'll be back tomorrow.

Are we there yet?

Yes ladies, I am writing Post #500! So now I've posted 500 times in a little over 5 years, meaning that I average 1.932 posts per week. Not stellar, but not bad.

I hope my U.S. readers had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. We had a wonderful dinner here. My meal was pretty darn great. My guests brought pies that were equally great. And John had brought his Wii home, and even the older family members were laughing and carrying on while they bowled and played golf. It was a sweet day.

Friday was football - the WVU/Pitt game and Lets Go Pitt! We were really happy that Pitt won.

Saturday I visited a friend in Pittsburgh - lots of fun.

Today is rainy and dreary and perfect for a pot of spaghetti and meatballs, so we'll eat before the Steeler game and John will head back to college. But first I'll pack him some extra meatballs and turkey and pie and so on.

I finished the last part of one of the camp projects. It was supposed to be a biscornu, but it was too tiny and fussy for my limited patience, so I finished it as a needlebook.

I'm turning back to Souvenir Sampler now...Closing in on that finish, also!

OK, now to the #500 Celebratory Give Away! Some of you may remember my obsession with scissor pockets, and I'm feelin' the need.... So if you comment on this post, I'll enter your name in my drawing for a scissor pocket. I don't have one already made. Once you've won, I'll contact you so that I can make something specifically for you. You can comment anytime until 12AM EST on December 4th, and I'll draw the winner on the morning of December 4th. Sound ok?

Good luck kiddos!

Post 499...When I ask for advice.

I'm creepily creeping to 500...

Hey gang, I need some advice. I've been an in-hand stitcher for well over 25 years, and now I'm having second thoughts. I think it's because I have these BAPs that are worked in silks and overdyeds, and that are taking me a few years to complete. I worry about the overall cleanliness of the project, especially the bigger ones that spend a lot of time bunched up in my left hand. Years back, when everything was stitched in (usually) colorfast DMC, it wasn't an issue. A quick wash and press and my project looked pristine again. But now....

So years ago, during my quilting days, I had bought a couple of sets of QSnaps, and they were ok, but I found that I liked a large wooden hoop better. I didn't use them very much. then last week, after seeing so many of my fellow campers using QSnaps, I decided to unearth them again.

Here's my dilemma: I'm having a devil of a time getting the fabric straight in the frames. It seems like the grain of the fabric wants to head off diagonally every time. Do any of you have any advice?

Now...time to post my Camp buys. I'm digging these BBD charts, so I here is my kit for Be Kind and True, and fabric and chart for Blessings and Kind Wishes. What you can't see here are the kits that I made up for my friend in Germany. The one who brings me all of that fabulous chocolate? So sending her a few BB designs kitted up seemed like a nice idea...

And you know I love the thread collections and gadgetry!But wait...look a little closer at the scissors. Yes boys and girls, those are owl eyes. I swooned, and they had to be mine.
Then these are just some oldies but goodies that I had been wanting, and kit for my mom:


It's a snowy day here in Western PA, and John is heading home from Meadville in this nasty weather. I'll be on pins and needles until he gets home...

Next time - - - 500!

Finished another camp project!

Well, the stitching part, that is! I'll do the finish-finishing sometime later when I have more time and patience. Otherwise there'll be glue from here to kingdom come.

I'm really happy with the way this little guy stitched up, and I just wish you could see the glittery parts of the scarf and the snow flakes. The camera was able to capture some of the shimmer in the hat band, so you get the idea.


The Silver Needle of course had swapped out all of the DMC threads and replaced them with other fibers, whose names and manufacturers I'm not sure about. Sorry Lelia that I can't be more specific. But I wanted to keep the holly leaves green, so I used some green No. 5 perle cotton, and I had some red Mill Hill beads, so I used them for the holly berries, stacking three beads on the needle for each berry. I'll bet they found the other fibers at a needlepoint store. In fact, one had just opened up nearby. I didn't get there though...

That's because I wanted to try out a Hobby Lobby to find some more of my sampler charms. There were two HL's nearby, so off I went...Good Lord! Hobby Lobby is amazing! They're like the Cabela's of craft supplies. You know, the giant hunting and fishing supply places that men worship and organize pilgrimages to during this time of year? Hobby Lobby was so big, I thought they should have a snack bar in case I got lost and hungry and couldn't find the door!

(Note to self - call Hobby Lobby with that idea and then offer to set it up and thereby earn gazillion dollars just for coming up with the idea, and that should be just enough to pay for college educations for two children)

So, Miss Dianne, here comes my Sunday (except it's Monday) "I Recommend" post for you. I recommend a trip to Hobby Lobby. Even if you don't need anything, just go for the enormity of it. Gaze at the ceiling and wonder exactly why they put all of that stuff up there. And leave yourself a trail of breadcrumbs, or you may never find your way out...

I think I have a good idea for my 500th post. I'll do a small give-away, and if you follow my blog and if you remember that I'm essentially a one-trick pony so I become obsessed with particular finishing techniques for particular needlework tools, you can probably guess what the giveaway will be.

Oops. I may have said too much, so now there's no going back.

I was going to Show and Tell today, but I really want to answer some questions that have come up in the Comments. Do you really want to see that stuff anyway? I didn't exactly go crazy. My stashing pales in comparison to the stuff that some bloggers buy on a weekly basis, even though I saved up for this shopping trip for a long time!

But anyway, Raquel asked about my Nana's recipe for Chestnut Stuffing, so here goes. Her recipe says it will stuff a 15LB bird:

4 pounds of Chestnuts
3 pounds of country sausage
3 large onions
1/2 of a large celery stalk
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 Cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1 Teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Finely chopped parsley
Butter
Heart and liver

After the first shell of the chestnuts has been removed, boil them in salt water with a few stalks of celery for 20-30 minutes. Drain, and remove the skins while the chestnuts are still hot.

Fry sausage and drain the fat, reserving it. Melt the onions and celery in butter until tender.

Mix the chestnuts, sausage, onions and celery together. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, poultry seasoning and mix well. Add parsely.

Mix together breadcrumbs, 2 eggs and a little of the sausage fat. Add to that a little bit fried chopped turkey liver and heart. Add all of this to the chestnut mix, and stuff the bird.

Yummmmmm.

Camp Wannasew (aka Stitch Camp)

I guess there's no other way to say it...Camp rocked again! Lindy and Mona run a great camp. You can do as much or as little as you like. There is no pressure at all to complete a project or to keep up with other campers. The only time that you might need to be in the room is on Friday evening when they hand out and explain the projects, but other than that, you do what you want, when you want. Mona hangs out on Friday night, all day Saturday and until very late Saturday night to help you individually as you finish your projects. There were plenty of helpers, too.

I couldn't say which part of camp I liked the most. Shopping at the Silver Needle is absolutely fabulous. The projects were right up my alley this year. My table companions and my roommates were wonderful. Even the travel portion was pretty darn nice, because the flights were all on time, the airports were easy to travel through, and I had a fabulous book to read.

I mean, really. Could I have had a more perfect weekend?

But on to the particulars. We had three projects with finishing kits presented to us. The first was this trinket box, and it included a floss tag and a biscornu. So although it was done as one project, there were actually three finishes involved. I completed the floss tag and the box. The biscornu was very tiny though and I thought it was a little too fussy. So I'm finishing mine as a needlebook. But here are the two parts that I finished.


The second project was a Halloween project that was finished as a pinkeep with ruched ribbon. I didn't start this one - I've done enough pinkeeps to be able to finish this at home. So I have my bag of supplies and Mona graciously let me photograph it because my memory sucks.

The third project was an easel-style finish, and if my weekend goes as planned, I'll have it done and posted by Monday. It's an adorable snowman freebie from PS done on 11ct Tula, and I never would have thought this, but now I think I love Tula.

And TA DA! More progress on Souvenir Sampler! I had bought several charms at the SN, and here they are on the sampler. Nothing is stitched down, but you get the idea.

Tomorrow I'll show you all of the lovely things that I bought, and the treat bag goodies, too.

But right now I'm going to go raid the china closet and make sure I'm ready for Thanksgiving. And then it's down to the basement to drag out all of the big-ass cookware. The giant roaster, the huge mixing bowls, the oversized pyrex dishes.
I have such a tiny kitchen, and the basement has a bar and a few closets, so I store a lot down there. Appliances (don't get me started), cookware, all of that stuff for entertaining, like punch bowls, cake dishes, extra sets of dishware - it's all in the basement.

Many of the older houses in this part of the state actually have second complete kitchens in their basements. Man, I'd love that during the holidays. I think that most of them were installed because women needed a ton of space for canning and preserving food, and the basement kitchen provided working space for food preservation while keeping the upstairs kitchen free for regular meals.

Do any of you guys store your cookware in the basement? Or maybe you have a full kitchen down there, too?

Ok, now I really have to go. Make me stop typ...

A couple of milestones

Well gang, I've already passed the 5 Years of Blogging mark, and I meant to have some kind of shindig over it, but nope. It didn't happen. But now I'm coming up to my 500th post, so it would be nice to do a little something.

I've been such a slacker of a blogger lately, so I should have plenty of time to come up with a celebratory idea. I think this is post #496. And since I'm so pitiful at this, I expect that I'll reach #500....oh, maybe in a couple of weeks.

Yes. I Am Lame.

But let's move on.

I have many lovely things to tell you about Camp Wannasew, and some stash photos to share, but the stash and my ideas are both still piled in a heap on the couch in my office. I really want to share this stuff with you, but I want to organize it (and my thoughts) first.

And yes - Thanks to a full day of stitching at camp I made some real progress on Souvenir Sampler and now I even have all of the charms and do-dads that I need to finish it, Exciting?? You betcha!

It looks like I'll be having company for Thanksgiving this year, so our meal has really been on my mind. Here's what's been rattling around in my head:

My Favorite part the Meal: The turkey. No doubt about it, and particularly the dark meat. The rest is good, but the turkey is the greatest. I make an awesome turkey, and my pan gravy rocks, too.

Of course, I got my mad skilz from this fellow.
Good old dad. I can even recreate that goofy face. That man sure could cook. I'm sure that's a 24 pounder he's lifting.

Worst part of the meal: My MIL insists on making her candied sweet potatoes for every single holiday meal (even if we're having lasagna - one of favorites of DH's family for Easter), and let me tell you - - - they are Gawd Awful. Fresh from the can, stringy, greasy, and not enough sugar and no spice at all. For years I would take a little bit just to be polite, but no more. Nobody eats them except her. I know she'll show up on Thursday with a casserole dish of those little monsters.

Anything new in the meal this year: Not especially - I've added some whole wheat rolls for my health conscious daughter. And I'm not especially proud of this, but we'll be using boxed stuffing (dressing to some of you) this year. I've never mastered my MIL's bread stuffing, so we'll just have to resort to the packaged stuff. I could invite her over Wednesday evening, but the truth is she'll drive me insane all day Thursday. The only help that I want this year is from DD Colleen. She knows how I work, and we make a good team.

Dishes that we don't make anymore, but I'll always miss them: My grandmother and my dad made a very, very rich chestnut and sausage stuffing. The sweetness of the chestnuts and the saltiness of the sausage make a wonderful combination in your mouth. But talk about labor intensive! I remember helping my grandmother prepare huge tubs of chestnuts. They had to be cooked and peeled, and we'd take great care to keep them as whole as possible. Now time has gone by, and although we have the recipe, we don't have the time. And the price of chestnuts? Crazy. 5 pounds for $38 and that's IF you can get them.

How about you guys? How would you answer?

Time to mail out that fabric!

Hi gang! There were nine of you who left comments for the post that was about the hand dyed fabric, and I have enough to mail all of you a 9" X 9" piece. So if you'll all send me your mailing address, I'll be happy to drop your piece in the mail.

Just to be clear and make sure that I didn't miss anyone, I'll be mailing pieces to:

Courtney (Santa Stitches)
Teresa (Sew Many Stitches)
Vonna (Twisted Stitcher)
Melody (no blog?)
Chiloe (Chiloe's Corner)
Sally (Stitchyangels Treasures)
Dianne (Dianne Rambling On)
Jennifer Stumpf
Nic (A Girl as Mad as Birds)

If you'll all email me at eliese58 at yahoo dot com with your info, I'll send an envelope your way!

The Last Junior/Senior Dance

I find myself saying "The Last" a lot this year. Then I sniffle. And then I think..."Oh grow the hell up".

So, anyway, here is my Colleen and The Boyfriend. Now, Dave and me...we don't especially like boyfriends. But this boy seems genuinely nice and he pays attention to her in all the good ways and she thinks he's pretty great, so I suppose we won't chase him away with a stick. And he impressed us a lot today by coming to pick her up in a totally clean and shiny black car. And sporting a dozen beautiful roses was kind of nice, too.

So they went off to the dance, and now here I sit, eating some warmed-over chili and an English muffin. It's Dave's weekend to work, so he won't be home until much later. And College John was too busy to talk to his mom on a Friday night. College kids. Hmph.

Hey...Wait. Here's that quiet evening to stitch that I've been wishing for for-almost-ever! Gotta go!

The Camp Countdown

In exactly one week I'll be in Tulsa, enjoying an afternoon of stash shopping, then resting and stitching by the lovely lake at Sequoyah State Park. I don't care if it pours rain or if the sun shines. There will be no computer, no ringing phone and no notary stamp. It sounds like bliss.

I'll be true to my promise and make every effort to finish this: But you know I have the attention span of a housefly so I'm worried that I'll be distracted by the new stuff I hope to buy. Something brand new and shiny may give me a real problem. If I were running the camp...I think I'd offer a storage service so campers could safely lock away their new stuff and no amount of begging and pleading would open the lock.

I've stitched W, Y, and Z over the past few days. For some reason I skipped X. It's just not working into my other plans, so I may leave it out:


I ordered a couple of Grab bag type things from Hand Dyed Fibers. I can't decide exactly what I think of these linens and threads. The threads were nice enough - but the fabrics? My first impression was kind of...well....Ew. There is a lot of the darker fabric on the right, and the sunlight seems to bring out a plum shade. Indoors, it looks rather muddy.

So it's not my favorite, but maybe some of you could use it for something and would like a piece of it? We all have different tastes and different projects spinning around in our heads, and although this may not work for me, it might work for you. So leave me a comment or drop me a line, and if more than a handful of you want some, I'll draw names after the weekend.

Here is the rest of the grab bag booty. A nice green mottled linen, and some richly colored threads in autumn-y colors and a vibrant pink/orange.

And a gold-ish color with some vibrant blue and a neat hank of blue moving to indigo and black.


It's a lovely day here in Western PA. The sun is shining, a breeze is blowing and I've opened the window next to my desk and I'm enjoying every moment.

It's November, after all.

Fall is flying by

OMG, it's NOVEMBER! I swear that I was just sending kids off to school yesterday.

And there are still many, many things going on between now and Thanksgiving, so my next post may say, "OMG, it's DECEMBER!". I hope I don't ignore my blog for another month, though. I miss sharing with you ladies and gentlemen.

Let's see...cross country season has ended since my last post. Colleen ran well at our district WPIAL championship meet - 20:22 and finishing in 40th place out of 294 girls. 2008 was a very competitive year in District 7, so that time wasn't enough to qualify her for States. But like I said, it was a very competitive field of runners, and the girls who qualified from District 7 did very well at States on November 1. So our girl was a little upset at first, but took it in stride as she reminded herself that she had a wonderful season and that it's not the be all and end all in her life. She has many more exciting days ahead that don't necessarily involve running.

Such as Senior Night. That's Colleen in the middle.

We have a handful of college visits planned in the next two weeks, including Kenyon College, Denison University, and maybe College of Wooster and Dickinson. Kenyon and Wooster are among a handful of colleges that have contacted her for their women's teams, and she's anxious to see them both.

I have to say that I love these college visits. I loved going with John and I've looked forward to doing this with Colleen for two years, and now I'm sad that I won't have any reason to keep doing it. So I may start a service for parents who don't want to or can't do college visits with their kids. I'll take their kids, pretend that they are mine, and just keep visiting colleges forever and ever. If they just pay my gas, meals, and hotel, and I'll bring them back the scoop.

I went to Philly two weekends ago. My BIL celebrated his 49th birthday along with the 4th game of the World Series. We partied and cheered into the wee hours of the morning, and so I was a little bleary eyed the next day. But some good coffee and a lovely walk through my sister's neighborhood brought me around pretty quickly, and by the afeternoon I was in good shape for a local stitching GTG on Sunday.

Anna had a few of us over, and it was so nice to simply sit in a room with fellow stitchers and gab the time away. We were treated to a lovely tea. We ooohed and ahhhed over many gorgeous projects, and the conversation ranged from thoughtful to wacky. I swear somebody was fooling with the clock hands because the time passed crazy fast.

The same thing happened last year at Stitch Camp. The time whizzed by. And while I love Camp and GTG's, they always leave me a little melancholy because I know that when I come home, I'm alone again. Most of the time, I don't mind it, but sometimes I really miss the companionship of other stitchers.

Eh. There will be no more whining without doing something about it.

So here's the plan. If you read my blog and if you're from the Pittsburgh PA area or the Morgantown WV area, and if you're looking for an afternoon or evening to share your companionship and your stitching, leave me a comment, or send me an email (in my profile). We could meet in any one of several places and wouldn't it be great?

Gotta go - gas leases, you know.

Maybe a stitchy photo tomorrow?

250 little reasons why there's no stitching here

250 gas leases. And 250 Memorandums of those leases.
That means 250 property ownerships and acreages to verify.
250 leases and memorandums of lease to prepare.
250 packets to mail.
500 sets of 3-6 acknowledgements to notarize.
250 Memorandums to file with the recorder of deeds.

All will be/have been done by me, and all before October 31.

The good news is, I'm starting to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

In other news:

YAY COLLEEN! My daughter won the Fayette County Coaches' meet. Yeparoo. First place. We were busting our buttons.

Then the next week she ran in the TriStates Invitaional, which is a really big meet that's like a preview for the WPIAL meet. She ran an awesome time - 5K in 20:17, and placed 34 out of 345 runners. There were several National Elites in the field of girls, so she had some great runners to pace her. The winner ran a 17:58. For a girl to break 18 minutes? Amazing.

And here are some photos that I've saved from the PA Milesplit website. Hey Von, you may like these.

The left and right sides of the starting line:


This race starts uphill. So all of the girls are trying to move into the middle and running uphill at the same time. Stressful?? You betcha. Can you see the arrow I drew to Colleen's head?

More converging on the hill.

Colleen attacking the hill.
Here she is on one of the flat passes.
The final push.
At the finish:


We'll go watch her run at WPIAL's on Thursday. I'm trying to remain calm, calm, calm. Wish her luck!

Souvenir Sampler: The Four Year Plan

I've just searched my own blog, and discovered that I posted my first photo of this sampler on April 12, 2005. Here's the thing: I really like it. I must, or else I wouldn't keep going back to it! I just fizzle out on it really quickly.

Well, putting all of that unhelpful guilt aside for a moment, it would be really awesome to have this project finished by April 12, 2009. Look at my progress so far, and Puhleeze tell me that this is an achievable goal. Here's my work from Sunday night (Thank goodness for the Steelers and Sunday night football):
And here's the big picture:

Guess which project will be going to Stitch Camp with me?

In other news - Colleen continues to run pretty well. Last week our girls won the section title for the season. This week we'll have the Fayette County Meet where I hope she continues to do well. It'll give her confidence as she heads into post-season meets. For readers who may not know - in Pennsylvania, high school cross country championships are all decided by meets held at the end of the season. It doesn't matter how well you did all thru the fall...it all comes down to how you run in one single meet: Your region's WPIAL championship meet. If you qualify there, (top two teams and top 25 runners) you go on to State championships. If not, you go home. Your pre-WPIAL championship meets don't mean a thing.

So there's no play-off or series of races or anything like that. Just one REALLY big race. Let's see, do I have a good photo? Not really, but this was from a couple of years ago and may give you an idea of what it's like. Remember that most of these kids normally run in meets with fewer than 50 kids at the starting line. And this only shows about half of the runners in the WPIAL race (the other half were over the hill already). So it can be a little intimidating:

So anyway, we have a couple of traveling Thursdays ahead! And I have to say, I'm having a ball! Of course, I'm not out there running...

Speaking of running, my ankle seems to be getting better. I was able to get out today, and curiously, it didn't hurt until after my run. Ideas? Anyone?

Yikes. I had better get back to work!

I miss my blog

Actually, I only miss you guys. You know...you two or three readers who may still be hanging in with me even though my last post was....Good Lord....12 days ago.

I'm in the middle of a really big work project. It's not difficult, but it's all new to me, so there's this learning curve thing going on. Once I get settled on how to do the task, it goes relatively quickly. But until I get to that point, it's trial and error. And error. And error.

And you know how much I hate to be wrong. It makes me think about it constantly until I have it figured out. And since I have a home office, when I get into that way of thinking, I'm forever running up to my desk to work a little.

However, I forced myself to take a day to take care of the house and stitch a little.

That's the Yahoo SAL I mentioned before.

I stitched a bit on Souvenir Sampler too. I've been trying to get some early morning stitching time, by avoiding email and blogs until later in the day.

Hurt my darned ankle again and I haven't run since Saturday. Yet I keep eating as if I've spent time on the road instead of time on my butt.

Ooooh. This is a grouchy and depressing post.

There'll be cheerier posts ahead...

Run Colleen Run!

My daughter is having a great year on her cross country team, and we're very proud of her. She's worked so hard for this...Finishing first is great. Finishing first and far ahead of the girls that whooped on you last year? Priceless. She was on Cloud Nine.