Friday, September 24, 2004

Happy Birthday Happy Dance

This has been an awesome birthday week, starting off with lobster on the Miramichi on the weekend, finished the Dragon Dreams JCS 04 ornament, confirmation of model stitching Monday, a successful scrapbooking class on Tuesday and a fun birthday on Wednesday. My brother ordered something from Amazon for me and my grandmother ordered something else in, both of which haven't arrived yet so I'll get to stretch this birthday celebration out even further, yippee!

The only downside has been a rotten cold that's left me pretty tired, stuffed up, with warbled hearing and the occasional swollen eye. Matt thought I must really be sick if I actually fell asleep during our official unveiling of my birthday present, the Star Wars trilogy on DVD. I don't know who was happier that I got it, me or my 4 year old son. It's also cut into my stitching time as I usually am too woozy to accurately stitch, and I've learned that fighting against the cold usually just ends up in frogging. I did find some medication that my body responds to but doesn't get soo woozy with last night which allowed me to get quite a bit of the Dragon of Water completed. I have my fingers crossed that it might be finished this weekend.

Monday, September 13, 2004

Question of the week

Do you stitch small projects one at a time that you can finish quickly, have numerous large projects going at once that you rotate,or both? How does your current system work for you and have you thought about changing it?

I used to only stitch one project at a time but that was before I discovered all of the great little ornaments like the Christmyth series, Just Cross Stitch Ornament Edition and all of the neat little kits from Mill Hill. I always have at least one large project on the go and have dedicated Wednesday nights to working on ones that I just couldn't keep interested in. When I have some frogging to do in my large project I take a break and stitch some on my current ornament (halloween or Christmas) which is hiding out in my purse. I keep it in there so that I can haul it out whenever I'm waiting, at the doctor's office, dentist or even while I'm waiting for DS after swimming lessons. I do break a bit from the normal schedule in August to finish any projects that I intend to enter in the local exhibition at the end of the month though...

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Thwarted by DMC 775

We had no plans for last night whatsoever, so it seemed like a great night to start (and try to finish) the latest Dragon Dreams Christmyth ornament. By the end of Big Brother, which I've resolved not to watch anymore as it's way too predictable, all I had left to do was back stitch and stitch in 775 but do you think I could find that colour anywhere?? I searched my floss case, my duplicates, any open kit that I own and nada. So close to finishing in a night yet so far away!




Tuesday, September 07, 2004

First Stress free Long Weekend in a LONG time

This holiday weekend was great, my parents were in town helping my brother move so we had some great company, the only company I feel truly at ease with in my home. I started stitching the Dragon Dreams Generosity series on Friday and decluttered the basement some more on Saturday.

Sunday came all too quickly and mom and dad headed back to the Miramichi after having lunch with my grandmother for her 84th birthday. The other set of grandparents couldn't make it down Sunday as expected, the joys of working for yourself, so DH and I packed up DS and headed down the the FREX (Fredericton Exhibition).

After a couple of rides we convinced DS that it was time to do something that mommy wanted to do, check out the exhibits, especially as I had some entries in. I had high hopes last year, I thought I was a shoe in (it was my first year and I didn't know what to expect) but this year I had no expectations. As we entered I was elated, I could see my finished Mirabilia's Titania down in the back corner with a nice red ribbon on her. As I went through and checked out the other exhibits that I'd entered I felt connected with my 104 year old great grandmother that passed away this year. She was an amazing crafter, skilled in any handicraft imaginable and wanting to be more like her spurred my passion for learning to cross stitch and now taking up hardanger. Six ribbons later for handicrafts and baking later I knew she would have been proud. Now if I was only half the quilter that she was...