Stop the Insanity - love it!

I just read a blog entry by Susan - and I think she has come up with an idea that could really work for me and help alleviate some of the "OH MY GAWD I HAVE SO MANY HALF FINISHED PROJECTS STUFFED IN THIS CLOSET/DRAWER/UNDER THE BED etc.."

I just can't justify starting 15 new projects esp. since I tend to prefer BAP's and they take a few years usually for me to complete anyways. So - 15 days per WIP already on the go. I can totally do that - how about you?

I'm hopefully finishing up a Nancy's Needle design later today, "Desert Star". I started it last Monday so this has been the fastest finish for me ever. Love it. I'll post a finish pic tomorrow along with a picture of the project that I'll be working on for the next 15 days ;-)

Happy New Year!

Caroline

Has anyone seen my sanity?

Seriously.

So. The cat survived. Hopefully no one was holding their breath..... It took a month of syringe feeding (5-6 times a day...), a boatload of money and hiring a sitter to come and do it when I couldn't - but he lives! He's back to his lazy, lovey self and I couldn't be more thrilled. This picture I took the day he started eating on his own again. (ooooo - stitchy mess in the background.....)

Our older dog Madi started to have periods of dementia and bit me quite badly as I was trying to brush her outside. This was back in October. As we have young children - we had to make the decision to have her put down. My hand was very badly injured and if it had happened to one of the kids it would have been disastrous. So, we did lose an animal - just not the one I expected to die. I miss her terribly. Ginger - the shepherd pup is now just over a year old and still eating her way through socks, stuffed toys, carpeting etc. Remind me to tell you about the time she got out of her crate - ripped a hole the size of a small child in the middle of the carpet and pooped all over the room. My SIL said that she heard her howling at about 4am but didn't think to come and get me. Guess I've told you all about it now. Good times.

A ton of other things have happened, but I won't bore you with details. I've been stitching a lot - have discovered a new love of counted canvas and am considering this crazy pants January 15 starts. Though I will probably do what some others are doing and pick 15 WIPS that I already have on the go and organize them for the challenge.

I know you came for the stitching so here's the latest picture on my machine of the Landmark Design. I have don't quite a bit more since then - but I'd have to walk upstairs to take the picture. It's not New Year's yet - I don't have to exercise just yet. I learned how to tat at my retreat in October - fun but teeny tiny! And I finished a design that I customized for our family from LHN. I've missed the blogging world, so hopefully 2011 will find my nose more in your business and a few more updates about mine.

Caroline

Fatty Liver fun...

So. The last three weeks have been spent spending a small fortune on the cat. Remember the kitty who was looking so good, smaller floppy belly -etc.....

He decided that it really wasn't worth living if he had to share the house with the D.O.G, so he stopped eating and drinking entirely. Overweight cats are prone to fatty liver disease if they stop eating for a period of time and that is indeed what has happened. This is not the easiest cat to either pill or force feed (I gave it a go for about 3 days, and he really and truly despised me) so, we had a feeding tube inserted in his neck. For the next 8-12 weeks I'll be syringing his food into him and he better damn well survive. My car drove itself to the vet this morning for a check up on an infection in the tube site. My bill reflected a "premier customer discount" which means that because I'm paying his children's university tuition, they'll cut me some slack. :-)

I am very attached to this kitty, so - fingers crossed.

Who, me????

Progress on Shushi:

Progress on Cirque des Cirques:

A new start - notice anything wrong? It should be a circle instead of a diamond...... So, now it's a do-over.

Keslyn's "Bliss Content" finished - but this is a terrible beauty shot. I stitched it entirely with Crescent Colours Bandana, and it is really lovely.

LHN's Coffee House - finished:

So - enjoy the rest of your Sunday! I'm off to feed the cat.

Caroline

Thursday is thirsty.......

for Coffee!

This is an UFO from 2 years ago. It's LHN "Coffee Shoppe". This picture was taken on Monday and since then I've stitched most of the bottom half of this design.

I gave a lot of thought this week as to why I am such a slacker on the updates. I can not stand having to take the pictures, load the pictures, choose the pictures, insert the pictures....... I'm lazy I guess. Several times I wanted to write here to tell you about my latest finish - Keslyn's "Bliss Content", but put off posting. I finished it - it's gorgeous, but you can't see it because I'm too lazy to go and follow through the picture taking hoo-ha. The photo above was only snapped since I had my iPhone in bed while I was stitching (any other bed stitchers out there?I adore listening to audiobooks in jammies with my blankie and pillows ) so I took a quick picture. I think this is key. It's quick, and I'm always syncing the phone so the pictures are all right there. They're crap, but better than nothing, no? So - let's see this week if I can get into the habit of snapping more phone pictures. Also - that Noel ornament? Imagine a finished picture right......

.....................HERE..................

It's also finished and very cute.

How about a picture of my cat? He's cute too.

See? Since we put the dog's crate in the kitchen, our cat has lost weight. He hates the dog and refuses to go anywhere near him. Therefore he's not begging 4 different people for food in the kitchen anymore. It's awesome - he doesn't look like a blanket roll anymore - just a regular cat with a floppy belly. We match.

Caroline

Gadzukes!!!!!!!!!!

"No way! You're posting on your blog???? Get out!!!!!!"

That must mean you've been doing some of this:

Trying to survive this.........:

Madi (on the right) is 13 now, practically blind and deaf (though that might be largely selective, she figures she's old now she can do whatever the hell she wants) Ginger, the baby is now 8 months old and is just as destructive as ever, hence the crate. I look forward to getting past that stage....she has yet to grow into her ears LOL)

And drinking a metric tonne of this: (too much of this can make you redundant...snicker...)

In all seriousness - I would like to keep up with this here blog on a more frequent basis but I always seem to let so much time lapse in between posts. Any really good tricks from people who find it easy to post a few times a week?

Also - a shout-out to a very special friend in Portugal who will probably fall over in shock when she sees that I've updated my blog. We miss you here "V" - looking forward to our Wednesdays again soon.

Caroline

Stitchy weekend

Half of my family is away this weekend - leaving me with one small, easy to care for little boy. :-)

So, some serious stitching has already been under way. I had some good stitching friends over last night and we chatted and stitched until 11:30 - I am so lucky to have found women who share this love of stitching. We try to meet every Wednesday during the littlest hooligans' nap time and sometimes we are lucky enough to sneak in an extra bit of time during the week as well.

I have made a serious start on my 3rd enormous Landmark design, "Shushi". Here is the top left corner. I have completed the black row at across the entire top of the design and am really enjoying this project. Tonight I hope to get a large chunk of that right corner filled in.

I have so many BAP's on the scroll rods right now that I really, really needed a quick and satisfying project that I could actually finish. This Mill Hill Bead kit - "Noel" christmas ornament is perfect!! I like working on the perforated paper and it is such a cute little design that it is hard to put down. I started it on Wednesday night and hope to finish it up this weekend.

Happy Friday everyone!

Caroline

Pattern to give away - LHN's Holly and Berries

I meant to post this ages ago. If there is anyone reading who would like my used copy of LHN's Holly and Berries design leave me a comment and I'll pull a name out of a hat. It is such a cute pattern and I really, really like the box ornament way that I finished it. I may even still have a copy of those directions kicking around. (No promises on that though LOL, not with my organizational skillz.........) I'll wait a week before choosing someone. so...... that would be next Tuesday, June 8th.

Part 4 finished!

Papillon Creations - "How Does Your Garden Grow?" - specialty version - 4 of 12 parts now complete :-)

Long time, no post....

So - it's been awhile. A long while.....

Life is bumping along, children are growing and animals are shedding. Ginger - the puppy is now 6 months and house trained, but still jumping up on all of us despite our best training efforts. We had her spayed just this morning, and she is now back at home, resting in her crate.

I've been stitching a lot - so I'll post some update photos on WIPs over the next week. Most recently is some progress on Papillon Creations "How Does Your Garden Grow?" which is the design for my LNS stitch along.

From now on, unless I'm posting a beauty shot of a finished project, I'll just use my iPhone for pictures so as to update more often as it's pretty easy to do it that way. So, the pictures won't be great but at least I'll keep a better journal of my progresses.

My brother and my SIL had their first baby and I'm the aunt of a beautiful baby girl. We'll meet the newest hooligan tomorrow. Very exciting! Life really is good sometimes, isn't it?

Happy Friday - I wish you all serious cases of stitchy butt this weekend.

TA-DAH!!

So - I waited until now to post because I felt silly posting more update photos here of the same old same old.....

I am so thrilled that this is finished. It needs a good steam bath to fluff up the stitches and it will look better once stretched but IT'S DONE!!

Makhi by Landmark design - started Feb 2009 and finished Feb 2010. mbroider asked how big it is (and I don't think I've been asked that before!) It is stitched on 16 count aida and is 187x187 stitches which makes it about 12" square. This is the second Landmark design that I've finished of 10 that I purchased 2 years ago.

I finished Kazakh early last year.

I have started a third just today - I'll try to post the details tomorrow. I adore these patterns and hope to one day hang them in the stairwell.

Ginger, our puppy is starting to settle in and it has been wonderful to see our older dog becoming more playful again. The pooping continues, but I seem to be learning her schedule ;)

Do you think she'll grow into her ears??!?

Good night all,

New hooligan in the 'hood and Makhi again

I can see the finish line on this behemoth. I estimate another month for completion - barring any distractions like......

like this!!! This is our newest hooligan - Ginger. She is 8 weeks old, mostly shepherd with a little lab thrown in for good luck. I am smitten, and Madi - our most senior hooligan of the canine kind has taken to her like peanut butter in a kong. She needs to stop pooping on my floor though - it's really kinda gross. Any tips for house training? Madi was pretty easy - this one, we walked outside for an hour and then she came inside and pooped all over the floor. Discouraging, no? Good thing she's cute.

Good evening,

Caroline

Trust Your Instincts

There has been a man hanging around the school yard at drop off time that I always just assumed was a grand parent since I only ever saw him at drop off time in the morning. Something was bugging me, but I always brushed it off. On Monday, that feeling got a little stronger and I mentioned this man to my daughter and described him carefully. On Wednesday I saw him again with his cute little dog and knew for sure that I had to go and say something even if I was wrong - it didn't matter. What was wrong? I have never, ever seen this man with a child. When I started thinking about it - I knew that I met him on the sidewalk at least two years ago because hooligan #2 wasn't around and I wasn't pregnant. I remember the meeting because he had the sweetest little white dog I've ever seen. Seriously - I'm a big dog person, little dogs not so much. This was a lovely little dog and I commented on it - never thought about it again until everything else started bothering me. I tallied up all the times I had seen him.... nope - never any kids with him. Now alarm bells are ringing wildly...... In two years he has gone from just walking on the sidewalk to now walking his little dog almost right up to the school doors and I think this all started because I noticed he had a routine and that routine seemed to becoming more and more frequent. This morning we confirmed that he was driving his car to the school, waiting until the children were a beehive of activity arriving at the school and then he got out of his van with his little dog and slowly walked up and down the school side walk. When the children were all inside - he got back in his van and left.

Long story short - the police have his address, he has no record - but he will be banned from school property and police will be called if he is ever seen on school property again.

If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't.

Makhi again

I think that because I can see the end in sight for Makhi and I find it so easy to work on, I keep returning to stitch on it every night as my relaxation time. Having so many projects on the go is definitely a good problem to have but I need to start finishing a few more things instead of always starting new ones. So this year, I will attempt to cut down on the number of new starts. Makhi is so close to being finished - it's pretty exciting!

Have a good morning,

Caroline

I think I have a problem...

See this? This is a problem and does not include a few things such as knitting projects (I can count 6 of these off the top of my head) tapestry projects (2 of those) baby quilt (1 of those) and at least 3 other stitched WIPS that I didn't feel like searching for.

We have Of Female Arts, and a Blue Ribbon freebie ornament:

Cirque des Circles:

LHN's 'Hood:
Spanish Rouge:
PS's ABC along (not coming along..... though I LOVE IT!) and good old faithful Makhi:

How Does Your Garden Grow (obvs pretty damn slow...):

Rustic Retreat:

LHN's Coffee Shop:

A Just Nan stocking that I have nearly completed (ummm 4 years ago - I think the prospect of actually turning this into a bonafide stocking has me shaking in my boots):

And, because I am truly insane, a HAED "Big Bear Falls" that will be stunning, if I finish it before I die. I'm 35, non-smoker, a bit overweight, so I figure I've got at least 40-45 more good years in me. If my eyesight goes, I'm up shit creek. And if you've worked on a HAED, you know it's tough on the eyeballs.

Prairie School's "Winter" - I've already stitched and framed the other 3 seasons.

Finishing Holly and Berries has me hankering for a another finish, hence the pulling out of the UFO's, but damn! Well, enough blogging - back to stitching.

Good afternoon,

Caroline

P.S: My favourite LNS has Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow waiting for me....

1st Finish of 2010!

I finished the stitching for LHN's Holly and Berries on Friday night. Then on Saturday I finished it into a box ornament.

It was a satisfyingly quick stitch.

Back to reality tomorrow - school for Hooligan #1 and work for me. Blah humbug.

I've been reading again, feels like slipping on a favourite pair of old slippers - for those who follow Crazy Aunt Purl's website, I just finished reading her first book, "Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair" If you enjoy reading her blog, you'll lurve her book even more. Also just finished "Julie and Julia" - didn't enjoy quite as much, great premise though and I did enjoy the foodie bits. Two different L.Hill's (Book of Negroes - awesome book) are on the pile to be read next as well as M.J Fox's newest - yay for Canadians!

Good night all,

C

Happy New Year's

So begins a new year - fresh starts and new resolve. I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

I have been stitching a lot - mostly on Makhi - I had a ton to rip out due to a mistake. I was not happy about that. I had thought that I would leave it in a closet somewhere, but actually, just kept working away at it.

I hope to finish up LHN's Holly and Berries tonight:

Santa was very good to me this year - lots of new stash and a new pair of Gingher scissors (my very first pair!) Plans tonight include lots of stitching and a movie, though not sure yet which one.