Really....I'm alive

I know there must have been some discussion, but I'm here to put that to rest...I'm alive, and I escaped the kidnappers so don't send that ransom you were asked for. Seriously, I've been a very bad blogger and haven't kept you all up to date on what's happening in my life. So, I'm going to try and quickly bring you up to date and then try very hard to blog more then once every 6 months.

First, I got a contract job and that seems to have taken up more of my time then I'd like. Maybe time isn't the right word, maybe energy is. I'm coming to realize that the RA doesn't always allow me the same energy level that I think I have. So some things fall by the wayside. However, I've loved working at this job and was excited when my contract was extended to the end of March. Of course that means I now have to start looking for the next job, but that's ok too.

Since my last post I've seen
With my friend Kathe. We had a blast! What a great show.

I've managed to finish a few knitting projects, including a cute beret that I wore to work yesterday but that I don't have pictures of it yet. I also finished a stole/scarf and no there aren't any pictures of that. I've been working on a "super secret project" for about 2 weeks now. It's coming along, but slower then I had hoped it would.

As usual I went to hang out with my friends at a stitching retreat in October. We were back in Hilton Head again and had a great time together. One of the classes we were supposed to learn how to make scrimshaw. I learned that I'm not going to be making much of it myself and that I now appreciate the cost much more. While there my DF Heather helped me do the finishing for Halloween Fairy. Isn't she pretty?

Christmas was our usual decorating craziness with our open house on Christmas Eve thrown in. Then Christmas Day we went down to the church to have dinner with at the community dinner and hang out with everyone down there.

New Year's Day found me down at the Gator Bowl to say farewell to my beloved Coach Bowden. We had a great time and I admit I got teary eyed several times. The city did a fantastic job of sending him off in style. AND the team pulled together and got a win over WVU.Did I mention it was cold and rainy that day? It was, but we bundled up and had fun. I even managed to wear a new hat I'd knitted that week AND my HP/FSU scarf. (Jill & I above at the game.)

In January I took a trip up to Atlanta to spend time with my friend Jean (a.k.a. Doxietrek) for her birthday. It snowed, and more importantly the roads iced up so we spent a couple of days just hanging at her house. Our friend Ann had come in from TN so we stitched, knit and played some Wii games. Apparently it was news to Jean that I'm a tad bit competitive. But it did let me figure out that I like the Wii, so when I got home I ordered one as a late Christmas present. Having fun with it.

That's about covers the high points. I'll leave you with a gratuitous picture of my fireplace this Christmas. Had to put new lights on the garland and went with LEDs. Love the way they look, especially with the flowers I used.

Blog Eye Candy

I know, it took me long enough, but finally some pictures.

Let's start with the most recently completed piece of stitching.

Halloween Fairy
by Mirabilia

I made a few changes. First, this is stitched on a hand-dyed fabric in my stash and that meant I had to change one of the orange colors in her dress. I found some beautiful fabric and I'll be making a stand-up box out of her. She should be finished in time to be admired during October.

I don't think I mentioned before, but while we were in WV on vacation, my Mom, Aunt and I went out shopping through some of the antique shops. While this is not an antique it was something that I knew would be very handy to store yarn and would look pretty somewhere in the house. Mom thought it would make a great birthday present. We were both right! It's not where it will end up, but it does look pretty in the corner of the dining room. (And before someone asks, no that's not all of my yarn stash, but the 2nd tier holds all the yarn for my Great American Aran Afghan that I'm working on.)

I do know I mentioned going to Atlanta and spending part of my time stitching with a group of friends there. Well, we do more then stitch...
This was lunch on Saturday, or at least part of lunch. That green stuff is mint pesto left over from the previous evenings Harry Potter part at chez Lott made by the very talented Chef Andy. It was beyond YUM.

We also exchanged our ornament kits.That's what it looks like all lined up before "Santa" hands out the goodies.

There are actually some "ornamentfied" pieces on the tree, but they are hard to pick out. Most of us managed to finish stitching our ornaments and that was good enough to decorate the tree with.

Come back tomorrow for pictures of some of my current knitting WIPS.

Eye Candy Tuesday

A little eye candy to get you through the day after a holiday.

Halloween Fairy
Mirabilia Designs

That's how she looked about August 29th or 30th. There's a little more done from this weekend. Since I'm not positive I'll have enough thread for her wings, I'm doing pieces so if I have to add in a different dye lot it will look like shading in her wings. It's also the way I did her other wing and I like that effect much better then the striping you get if you just stitch back and forth with a hand-dyed thread.

A weekend report

What with being sick and the extremely hot weather, even for FL it's been extreme, I haven't done much posting. I have however, managed to accomplish some stitching and even some knitting. Luckily this month's theme was "Lazy Days of Summer" (a.k.a. work on anything you feel like working on!). That being said I saw it in my mind back 8 months ago as a free-for-all. Not sticking with any one project, you know, total abandonment. Surprisingly that hasn't happened. For some reason I've gotten into this habit of working on a different project each day. Thought I'd take you through my week and show you some updates along the way.

Monday is the day I've worked on my secret project. (No use trying to guess Heather, you'd never guess. No use trying to get me to tell you either, I'm not telling.) As a hint, it's a gift for a friend. Now, wonder which friend is getting something....and no, just because I won't tell H. doesn't mean it's for her. This project will start seeing less time when my Monday night class starts back the week after Labor Day. But I should still manage to get some time in to get it done on time.

Tuesday is still "ornament" day. Lately I've been working on the Quaker Reindeer from the 2006 Just Cross Stitch (JCS) ornament issue. As you can see, only 1 more leg to go, then put it's little bell on and I'm ready to finish this one. I have quite a pile going right now that needs actual finishing into an ornament. That's the part that I don't really like to do, not that I can't, just seems to be not as much fun to me. I will probably find a day soon and do some finishing though, since I have so many ornaments and at least 1 purse that needs to be sewn together and a couple others that just need the handles attached.

Wednesday and Friday I knit. I've gone between the Eliza Tank and the new Rowan sweater Lynton. Last week I had a bit of a problem with Eliza, realized I hadn't read the directions correctly and had to rip back quite a ways and restart. So, I'm back doing the straps and am much happier with it. Not sure why I didn't get a picture of it Saturday when I was taking pictures, but I did get one of what I've done so far on Lynton. As you can see, I'm working on the sleeves, both at the same time. I'm to the point of decreasing now, although in this picture I wasn't quite that far. I tried to get a picture of what it should look like, but that's not looking so good. So there's a better pictures. As you can see I'm doing mine in a green color, I think it's called Jute. The Cotton Jeans yarn is very lovely to work with. I think I've said this, but my goal is to be able to wear it at ASG in Louisville this year. Yes, that's in October, and yes I realize that. Hence why I work on it more then just on Wednesdays and Fridays. I've also been working on it when I'm sitting in bed trying to get sleepy. Working out well I think. I'm also planning on this being what I take with me during football trips this year. I'm hoping that the drive over and back will give me some time to knit, that's if I ride over with my friend Selena. We'll see how quickly the other parts come along.

Thursday I stitch again. Thursdays on Legacy UFO/WIP group is for...well UFO and WIP finishing. I've picked Traditional Elegance II to concentrate on. That's a picture of it with all the bands I've finished and the one I'm working on now. And a close up of the current band. The yellow flowers that are completely finished are honeysuckle. I love this very stylized band. I don't have any Japan thread in gold, so I'm going to have to order that to be able to finish. But I'll keep working on what I can without it.

As I said, Friday's I knit. Saturday I either knit or stitch. Kind of depends on what I feel like doing. This week I did a bit of both. Worked on Eliza, Lynton and stitched on something, but don't remember what.

Sunday I've been devoting to working on my Halloween Fairy. She's coming along very nicely. This picture was taken on Saturday, so it doesn't show what I did yesterday. I'll have to take another picture. I've actually finished the bottom part of that wing and gotten the "eyes" done on the top portion. She looks very striking on the pumpkin fabric.

Well, that's all I have to show today. I'm still taking it kind of easy this week. The weather has gotten a little cooler, and we did get a little rain which has helped some. I know there are a lot of people who have been dealing with flooding and also fires. I've been worried that if we don't get some good soaking rains, we might end up with fires around here. That can be very scary. We had to evacuate a few years ago because of a fire in our area. Hopefully the weather will even out and everyone will stay safe.

A Week between posts...how disgraceful!

Not only has it been a week, but now I'm going to post without putting any pictures up either. I'm just a terrible blogger. But I have a halfway decent excuse...I've been sick. So sick that I even went to the doctor and got real antibiotics. So, please forgive me for not posting.

I have been somewhat busy while I've been sick though, so expect to see some pretties as soon as I can get the camera and take some pictures. Halloween Fairy is coming along very nicely. She has a face and beginning to even have a wing. Last Thursday night I worked again on Traditional Elegance II. More outlining/blackwork was accomplished. I've also been working on my "surprise" item. It's a very soothing piece to work on and is working up fairly quickly. Well, quicker then I thought it would. Tonight was "ornament Tuesday", so I worked on the Quaker Reindeer again and have only one leg more to do. Should finish next week, if I work on it.

Knitting wise I've been working away on my Eliza Tank. I've got about 5 more inches of the shoulder straps to do, then I can see about putting it together. I've also been working on the sleeves to my Rowan sweater. That's about all the knitting I've done lately.

Some of you might remember I told you about my dad having a procedure done last Thursday. It went very well and the doctor was very pleased. Just have to go back in another week for a check-up, then try and get with is heart doctor to decide what to do about his medication, since that's what they think has caused all the bleeding problems. But for now, things are going well. Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers.

Monday, Monday

I know, it's a song, but still that's the best I could do. Here...look at half of the pretty Print O'the Waves shawl...
See, don't you feel better now that you've seen a picture. Wait there's more. There's even a close-up....Don't you love the pattern? Don't you love the SeaSilk? I know I do. Thankfully so does my mother even though these aren't normally her colors.

So, in the midst of all this prettiness there is sadness at my house. Yes, it's official, the scanner can't be revived and must be replaced. It's not a simple software issue, no, the thing won't even turn on. This has been confirmed by a length chat with "Frank" who was the online HP help desk person I "spoke" to. So, now I'm looking at new scanners. Just what I didn't want to have to purchase. Hopefully I can find what I want for a really good price. Here's hoping.

Getting sad again... here's something to look at...The Halloween Fairy from Mirabillia...
As you can see I'm not working it on the linen it called for. When I got the pattern I had just acquired some very nice pieces of hand-dyed fabric from Silkweavers and I thought she would love gorgeous on the piece called "Frosted Pumpkin". It's 36 ct Edinburgh Linen and the color is this wonderful pumpkin color. I only had to change one thread color to make it work. I changed from Crescent Colours Tangerine to CC Fallen Leaves. I'm very excited with how she's turning out. So excited that I've been stitching on her quite a bit in the last week. This is what she looked like as of last night when I stopped. She'll probably get some more done tonight. I'm anxious to see how her wings are going to look against this linen. Wouldn't it be something if she was finished in time to be given a place of honor this Halloween? Now that would be something special!

One last item of note for knitting. I finished the June washcloth at some point this weekend. I think it was Fri. night actually. It was called Play Ball. This is from the washcloth club at KnitWitz (my favorite LYS). I actually worked it in the same color the mode was completed in (Peaches & Cream cotton "Faded Denim"). I started July's washcloth, so I'm still behind a month. Oh well, I'm making them for gifts so I'm not too upset with being a bit behind.

I leave you with one final picture....
Do you know what that is???? Other then weeds growing? I don't have any prizes to give, but if you know and you're the first to post well you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you're right. Answer tomorrow.