A Sad Update...

Hello all,

I received some sad news today. I was told that I will not be able to get my truck back. The frame is bent too bad and the repair shop will not be able to straighten it out and it still be safe to drive. The good news is that I get a decent amount for it. Then the bad news is that once I settle I no longer have something to drive (I was given a rental) and will have to try to get a new (used) vehicle. The problem is, I am still paying a family member for the truck and will have to try to find something in the range that I am receiving for the totaled truck so that I can continue the payments on the original loan.

Unfortunately there is not a stitchy update. I have been getting home after training this week and working on my normal work load. All this leads to a very full head not able to concentrate on placing my needle in precisely the right place. I hate having to re-do something and since I am currently working on either gifts for people or a HAED, there is no way I am going to mess any of those up. I have been able to catch up on my blog reading which has allowed me to keep calm and eventually rest.

It seems as if I have only been focusing on the bad things, and I guess I have a little. Now that I am able to share my news I can let it go and concentrate on new things. I can't say having all this happen right now is a picnic but I realize that the Lord is teaching me that I need to work thru problems and not bury my head in the sand and hope that they will go away. I know He is here next to me and is walking with me. I listened to some wonderful teaching the other day. I learned that we all have Peace. We just have to push our weak and hyperactive selves aside to let the peace be forefront in our lives. We have to make the decision to do this and we can not just "pray" to be given peace. We already have it and we have to accept it.  OK, I will now get off my soap box and let everyone get a good night sleep.

Sleep well and place a few extra stitches for me,

TaTa for now, the Crazy Cat Lady (as my daughter calls me) Angela

Quick Update

Hello all!

Wow, two posts in a week! What happened you ask? I started training on the new software and am too tired to put any stitches in any of my projects today. I don't want the frog to visit my house. So what did I do instead tonight do you ask? Well, I did a little work on my day job (once I was able to get connected which took me an hour and a half) Stupid Internet. Then I decided I better not try to stitch any because my tension would be all wonky and I probably would not count correctly. I was able to finish one of the kitchen towels for my Father and his wife Sunday after I returned home from work.

I think it turned out wonderful if I say so myself...and of course I will ;) I have realized that I do not like stitching on this type of towel. It is way too easy to get my tension too tight or too loose if I am even just a little distracted. So I put the second one aside for now until I have a little more time to pay attention to it and started to work on my DD cat (quilt/wall hanging?) again. Not sure exactly what to call it. I picked up the design for free (and I will have to search for it again to list it on here for proper credit). They look so neat since the design is almost like a postage stamp. I am using variegated floss only, in blue and purple for the main design and pink for the hearts. I just love the way it is turning out. I already picked out the fabric I will put between the stitching and around the outside (with DD's help...after all, it will be in her room). This is an easy stitch and I am able to see progress quickly.

I am off to more training for the next couple of days. I still am required to get my normal work done (how I am not sure...after all I am not a robot ;p )

Since I need to be in class early and it is already late I am going to say good night.

TaTa for now, the Crazy Cat Lady (as my daughter calls me).

WOW! I have followers? and Pintrest

Good morning friends,

I do not like to post when I do not have anything to say except to say "Same Stuff Different Day". It has seemed like this is the sentiment every day this week. We had some stressful days this week with month end close and starting training next week. So the next six weeks will be a repetition of the theme...lots of training then work on the normal day to day stuff after hours. Hopefully I will be able to get at least a couple of stitches in each day. Thank goodness I have my friends online where I can look at their progress and keep the stitching mojo even if I can't actually place a stitch.

I have found Pinterest. I did not know how addictive this site could be. Each time I log in I find out new things. I have even tried one of the recipes this weekend. It was a learning experience but still tasty. I now have another item to take up my time. I have found that when I try to stitch and look at Pinterest, I don't get much stitching done. :( I have to switch to my old standby of TV shows to get any work done. ;)

As I logged on this morning I saw that I have three followers. WOW! I never thought there would be anyone interested in my little spot in the world. Thank you so much for wanting to see my progress and listen to my sometimes rambling thoughts. It was such a pick me up when I saw that.

Now on to some progress photos.

First...the blank spaces at the edges of the kitchen towels I am stitching for my DF and DSM kept bothering me. In the picture below you can see where I started the second towel thinking that I was done with the first. Since it kept calling to me saying "I need more" I took them to some friends and received a second opinion. It was decided that one more design needed to be stitched on the end. I started it and had to frog out three of the flowers because I didn't like the way they turned out. Finally decided on the colors to use and was able to get the first one finished and made a start on the other end before I needed to sleep last night. I might be able to finish the second one tonight after work.


I finally glued the back onto the two monogrammed trivets for them. Once the kitchen towels are done I will begin the picture for the wall. Tigerlily decided that I was done with my coffee last weekend and that the trivets needed to be darker. I was not in agreement but I had no say so. I was in the process of getting all my thread together for my HAED Boo-Spangler by Michele Sayetta. I had my thread spread out next to me as I was winding them onto bobbins when he jumped across my lap scatching my leg and dumping my coffee all over everything. I had thread hanging from every door in the house drying after having a quick wash in the sink. After all of that I was able to make a small start but I have not had the energy to pick it back up this week. I was able to get at least one thread per day done in the second kitchen towel. (Meaning one word per day)



















I was trying to get some stitching done yesterday morning but all three cats decided I needed cuddle time more. My DD came in and took this pic of me trying to make some progress :)

Once I was able to get them off my lap, two of them decided to use my side table as a snuggle spot.

Last but not least my poor truck is not faring so well. I had just dropped DD off at girl scouts and was stopped at a light and heard tires squealing and then I was hit so hard I hit the person in front of me. Of course the guy tried to say that I hit the lady in front first so that he didn't have to cover my front end damage. Good thing I picked up the police report before calling in for my damage. Of course it still took a couple of days to get that resolved. But I finally get to take her to get fixed tomorrow. Rental car here I come. I am scheduled to have it for 5 days. Hopefully that is it, but everyone is telling me to expect to have it longer. Oh well...as long as my baby gets fixed.



I hope everyone gets lots of little x's in for me this weekend. Now off to work for the start of the crazy training/working hours.

TaTa for now from Angela the crazy cat lady (as my daughter calls me)

New Stash & New Start

Good Afternoon all. I have to confess...I picked up some new stash the last couple of days. I made a long overdue purchase at HAED. I picked up Boo by Randal Spangler

I have been looking at this one for months and months. I finally broke down and bought it. Of course that meant I had to go out and get a new light for my room...

And then I had to get something to hold the material while I stitched the new project...

And last but not least...

All this took me a full day to put together. Now this evening I can actually start the chart. I can't wait. I just wanted to share an update with all.

Angela the crazy cat lady (as my daughter calls me.)

Unstitching Day

Today has turned out to be one of those non-stitching days. I went a 31 party tonight and probably spent more than I needed. But I got to meet some great women tonight so in the end, it will be worth it. When I got home I tried to start on the work I brought home but then the stupid program would not let me log in. Not too much of a hardship, but still it will cause me to be behind tomorrow. Oh well, what can you do. I then desided that it would be a great time to start reading some of the blogs I have only been able to glance at. I found this great birthday giveaway on Crafty Moo's blog. I keep forgetting that reading can take a lot of time. What does all this mean? No stitching tonight. Since I feel a little guilty, I will stitch a row or two in the baby blanket I am working on while I finish a load or two of laundry.

TaTa for now from Angela the crazy cat lady (as my daughter calls me).

Life's little adventures

Hello everyone. I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted. Life 's little adventures has seemed to get in the way. School has caused a lot of homework headaches. My loving daughter has had to spend many nights doing homework until almost bed time. But after a couple weeks of school we are finally oback n a schedule. We have met some wonderful friends who are helping are willing to stand by our side even when they do not have much themselves.

Work has been one headache after another. We are currently in the process of changing accounting software and all information (to the tiniest detail) needs to be entered. Stuff we never had to worry about before now needs to be found, catagorized and entered...all while trying to complete our current work load on a reduced staff. Mind you, I am not really complaining since I am working and hopefully will continue to work with my company. I enjoy working with everyone there. 

I have recently had to let some friends (at least I thought they were) slip out of my life. The wife of the couple seems to have developed an unreasonable jelousy towards me and will throw a huge temper tantrum if I even try to have a conversation with her husband. She is usually involved in the conversation. She has even started taking it out on my lovely girl and I won't have it. So, the relationship we had will have to become a part of my past. All this means that I am spending more time at home by myself. And since it is so easy to become depressed when it is just yourself I have been fighting a hard fight to keep my head above water. As many of you know, that can be the hardest thing to do.

Because of all that I needed a few quick finishes so I can do the Happy Dance. I changed the design of the trivets I had planned for my father and his wife. I decided to go with monogram. I will continue with the kitchen towels and another bigger picture to tie all of them together.

 

Of course, my oldest cat TigerLily had to help me.

I guess I wore him out.



I had to pull out all my progress on my oriental butterfly. I realized that I used the wrong color to start with. I now have to dig thru my stash to find a red similar to replace that already used. I have made a decent amount of progress since then.

I was also able to finish the free independence day eagle pattern by "Stitching the Night Away" and  make it into a letter holder. This will be a gift for her birthday next month. Good thing she doesn't frequent the cross stitch blogs. :)

 

Hopefully I will be able to get some decent cross stitching time in this week end.

TaTa for now,
Angela the crazy cat lady (as my daughter calls me)

The Weekend has arrived...Well almost

Not a whole lot of stitching has been accomplished this week. Between work and hours of homework we have had a busy week. I did place the last stitch in the Eagle

and plan on finsihing it into a letter sorter as a gift this weekend. I was able to start the wall hanging for my DD.

Thank goodness the weekend is almost here. I can get some more work completed on the wall hanging and maybe even put a few stitches in the trivet I am in the process of working on.

Hopefully I will have more to post this weekend.

TaTa for now, The crazy cat lady (as my daughter calls me).

Welcome All and Blog Hop #7

The prompt for this round is:

I have been doing embroidery and cross stitching for around 40 years. So I have done quite a few kits and projects and sometimes end up with extra threads, now if I buy the threads that is not a problem, because you can always add to your stash, but if it is a kit what on earth do you do with the bits of thread that are left?
Most kits do not have a thread number. And since most kits give you extra threads so you don’t run short, you end up with lengths of different colors. Have you ever done a project that would use up threads like this. I have thought of trying a sampler and just using the thread in color schemes, you know first pattern row be shades of blue, second shades of red, third shade of yellow etc. But I am afraid it would be a muddled mess.

Until recently I really have not purchased many kits. When I did I would just throw away the extra thread since I could not easily match them to colors I currently have. Now that my daughter is interested in learning how to cross stitch and work her own patterns, I give her all my extra pieces. This saves my personal stash. As all stitcher know, thier stash is sacred and woe to all those who dare disturb it. :)
Visit all the blogs in this round of the <a href="http://www.stitchingthenightaway.com" target="_blank">Stitching the Night Away</a> Stitching Blogger Blog Hop: <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=0d8448f2-6c7f-47fc-b9a6-261df11f04e3" ></script><br />Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by <a href="http://www.stitchingthenightaway.com/3136/stitchqueries-what-to-do-with-leftover-floss" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.


Welcome:

As a single parent sometimes things are crazy around the house. Rooms to clean, laundry to wash, pets to feed. and somewhere in all that finding time to place a few stitches in my gift to a wonderful friend.

I found the perfect fabric to finish the piece. I plan to turn it into a letter sorter. Here is the latest progress photo along with the fabric I picked for the finish. I should be able to finish the actual design tonight.

Freebe from www.stitchingthenightaway.com

I am also working on a trivet and kitchen towel set for my Father and Step-Mother...

The next WIP is one that I have tried now 4 times to work on. Each of the other 3 times I have realized a third of the way thru that I did not have a large enough piece of fabric. This time I made sure I did.

I have put the kit together for a piece for my daughter. There will be 4 blocks of the pattern. Two each of a verigated blue and verigated purple. The heart at the end of the tail will be the only thing matching in each block. Each peice will be made to look like a quilt block. I went and picked out the material I plan to use. Isn't it georgous? I love planning the finishing as I pick out what I plan to stitch next.

As I was shopping for fabric, I came across the following kit. Now...I don't ususally like kits but this one just caught my eye and wouldn't let go. I am going to give it a shot. Wish me luck.

Crocheting is the perfect relaxation and take around the town project. I love this blue/green yarn. It is easy to work with and will make a perfect little blanket for a little boy.

TaTa for now...The crazy cat lady (as my daughter calls me).