Long Time no posts!!

Well, it is official...school can take over your life!!!

In fact I'm taking a break right now from studying my muscle groups to make a quick post here...

I just found in my picture files a picture of Circles I took on 9/27 and then I just took now when I sat down to type up this quick post.

9/27/09

10/31/09
As you can see I haven't been doing much studying these days. In fact, my stitching used to travel in my bag with me everywhere...these days it is some type of anatomy that you'll find in my bag...hoping to get some stitching in when this semester is over but then the second half of Anatomy will begin again in late January/early February...

Happy Halloween to everyone (who celebrates it!!) My kids are so ready to go out tonight and get some candy!!

A Finish and a Start

Yesterday morning (9/17/09) I finished Cirque de Carreaux...It took me two months (and a day) to complete it.



I have put my measuring tape and a quarter next to it to give you perspective on its size. It is completed on 32ct lugana evenweave over one in Wedgewood blue with DMC 4240 floss. The finished size is 5 5/8" x 7 5/8 inches. It took a little over two skeins of floss to complete (this includes the floss needed to fix frogging incidents!?!?! LOL)

I am now starting on a complementing piece to this...it is Cirque de Circles.



Another Ink Circles pattern (I LOVE Tracy's designs!!). It is also going to be done on 32ct lugana over one in the same blue and the same floss. I hope in the future to get the third piece (Cirque de Triangles) and display all three (and more if Tracy does more- Hey Tracy that's a hint!!!). When I originally got the fabric and floss for these two patterns I got enough to do them over two. Well, now that I decided to try my hand at over one, I've got more than enough to do these two plus Triangles plus any others that come out in this vein of design.


Below is the progress I made last evening and this morning...I have already had to frog on this one and I hope that is the last of that on this piece, although I had to frog early on in CdCx and it came out well so hopefully this one will follow along the same way.



Have a great weekend all and thanks again for checking out my blog...

the Promised picture of CdCx

Here is the picture of Cirque de Carreaux I promised to post in my blog earlier today...



I have completed the small square and have over half of the larger piece that is left completed...hopefully I will complete it in the next week or so but that depends on how my studying for Anatomy & Physiology goes...

First grades and ALMOST finished!!

Yesterday I received my first grade for my computer software class. When I took the quiz last Thursday (9/10) I thought I had done pretty well on it but didn't want to get my hopes up because in the past I've thought I did well on exams/quizzes and come to find out I did HORRIBLY. My professor finally posted the grades online yesterday and I found I got a 50 out of 50 (100%)!!! I was ecstatic. I have a feeling this class is going to be very easy for me (lots of people/kids in the class don't seem to have a clue about anything). Now if I can do this well on my anatomy & physiology (A&P) class I will be beyond the moon!!

At the moment I'm composing this post at the school library while taking a break from studying the A&P. I've got an exam in this a week from today on the first three chapters and I'm worried about it...it is a lot of information to digest. In the next 6-7 days I'll be putting a lot of time into reading, reviewing, reviewing, reviewing!!!

During breaks from studying I've been putting in a few minutes here and there on Cirque de Carreaux...later today (tonight) I will post a picture of two on my progress...I've got probably an hour or two worth of work to go on it...in the "progress of CdCx" on the right bar, the final picture is the last I've taken of it. I have finished the small square and I'm working on the final "icon" and have about half of it left to do...

CdCx and back to school...

I thought I'd do a quick update here before I got my nose back into the books on this Labor Day... The kids are busy in the basement looking for the tv remote that has mysteriously disappeared again, Ed is running the New Haven Road Race with his Uncle Bill (hope you guys set new PR's!!) and I've got time to do studying, stitching and whatever else before we all head to Grandma & Grandpa's for little Eddie's birthday dinner. I can't believe my BABY turned six this past Friday. We did his height measurement against the basement door jam and I'm amazed at how much he's grown in the last year. In this past year, he grew 3 1/2 inches which makes him 2 1/2 inches taller than his sister was at her 6th birthday and 1/2 inch taller than she was on her SEVENTH birthday...maybe I'll get UCONN basketball tickets out of one of them after all!!! LOL...

As far as my stitching goes, it is going much slower now that I've gone back to school but it is still making some headway...

This first picture was taken 9/1 and I totally forgot about having taken it. I just downloaded pictures from the camera and compared to what I've posted on this blog last and realized this one hadn't been posted yet.



This next picture I took yesterday (Saturday-9/6) in the morning (about 7:00am after I'd worked on it for about an hour and a half).



I have been having lots of sinus issues so I took yesterday as a "day for me". We went to the local Farmer's Market and got lots of fresh fruits and veggies. When we came home the kids and hubby did their own thing and I sat back and did some stitching. Head was throbbing too much to try and think in the school books.

This next (and last picture for today) is what I accomplished yesterday and early this morning (and yes, I was too lazy to take it out of the q-snaps before taking the photo)




As you can see, I'm on my final page of this design...and getting close to having only 1/2 a page to go on it...maybe next week I'll be able to publish about a finish, although I doubt that seeing as I've got my first labratory quiz coming up next Monday and an exam in two weeks that I don't feel prepared at all for...

As usual, thanks for looking...your warm and kind comments are great inspiration for me...

New Month, New School and no Finish

These are pictures of my kids on their "first day" of school!! My daughter started 6th grade last Wednesday, August 26th and my son started with a half day today and he's doing kindergarten this year...

This first picture is what I had done up until Friday, August 28th in preparation to go on my weekend of work/stitching.

It ended up being a strange weekend here. With "Hurricane Danny" threatening the northeast on Saturday the race I was supposed to work was canceled for safety reasons. Because of that, all of my "extra" stitching time disappeared while doing things around the house here instead of sitting in a hotel room all afternoon stitching.

I did do more stitching once I did get to the race site the evening before Sunday's race and then I've continued to stitch this morning before the kids got up and then as a reward while I was on campus today after doing about an hour and a half worth of studying I gave myself about 30 minutes worth of stitching time before my class started today.

This picture is shows what was done over the weekend and as my "reward" today. Unfortuately, I didn't get it completed as I had hoped but I guess the moniker stands true of slow and steady wins the race...I figure I'll continue to work on this slowly as a "reward" and that eventually it will be complete...

As usual thanks for looking...

Frogs on 32 ct over one...

I'm finding that frogging on 32 ct lugana stitching over one is NO FUN!

Now don't get me wrong, frogging is NEVER fun but is definitely an increased dread when you are stitching over one.

I took this first picture on Thursday, August 20th figuring it would show what GREAT progress I had over the weekend while being away overnight for work on Saturday night.



Well, so much for those plans. I've been working on the lower left edge and it would be so nice if I could actually count. In fact I lost count of the number of times I had to rip out the section that has the full larger diamond on the lower left side there (the one that is a border to the inner design and along with it the smaller motifs around and below it.




Well, I finally approached the area from a different direction (from above by the area already stitched rather than along the bottom edge) and it seems to have worked. What you see in the above photo is what I've accomplished up until 8:30pm on Monday, August 24.

I have 6 days and 11 1/2 hours until my first class starts (not that I'm counting!!). If I continue stitching in the pattern I have in the last four days (stitch, frog, stitch, frog, stitch, etc) I'll never get this completed before I start classes.

On another note, my daughter starts back to school on Wednesday. She's not looking forward to it but mom is so maybe I'll have a little more time for something else (yeah, right, I know I'm dreaming!!)

Thanks for checking out my blog. I hope you enjoy following it as much as I have been updating it.

9 Days and counting...

Until my daughter goes back to school, 13 days for me and 14 days for my son and I can't wait...They are both going stir crazy and driving each other (and ME!!) nuts!!

Well I've gotten stitching done since last update...again I had taken pictures a few days after the last update but didn't get around to posting, so the first photo is just that (taken on 8/14) and the second photo was taken yesterday(8/16.)



I have now almost completely finished three pages. I have moved to page 4 which is back on the left lower edge of the piece. I really want to finish this before my classes start on 8/31 but not sure if that will happen seeing as I'm working the next two weekends, although the weekend of 8/29-8/30 I'll be in Lakeville, MA for a race Saturday morning and then have the majority of the day to myself with NO ONE ELSE around so I may get quite a bit done then. Of course there is the whole getting kids ready to go back to school which cuts into a lot of time too...only time will tell.

I'm also trying to decide if I'm going to enter my BoInk and/or Blackstone Fantasy Garden into one of the local "country" fairs this year. I really got burned by one last year that changed its rules in one spot in there "Premium Book" and not in another so I wasn't able to enter all the pieces I brought to display and I was very upset with their attitude and lack of response to the letter I sent regarding the situation at the close of the fair. I'll let everyone know if I do decide to enter and which piece or pieces I choose to enter.

Home again, Home again

I'm home from the shore and finally the HOT weather of summer is hitting after we were at the beach. Yesterday (August 10th- HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!) was the first day since April that the temperature went over 90º and today is supposed to be a little cooler but not by much (maybe 88º instead of over 90º).

We had a lovely time at the shore. We had quite a few days of sun (and a few of clouds) and the kids had a ball playing in the "surf" (for as much surf as you get in Long Island Sound/Narragansett Bay).

As you can see from these pictures, fun was had by all...

The first picture is my son on his boogie board. (He really improved his swimming during lessons just before vacation and was swimming in the waves like a fish- we couldn't stop him!!). The next picture is my daughter (on the left) and her friend that spent the week with us, showing off their sand castle creations.

The third picture is of all three kids "eating" their lobsters...well, my son polished his off, my daughter ate the large claws and some of her tail and her friend had the small legs and nothing else...we had yummy seafood pasta the next night with all the leftover lobster from the girls. The final picture is of my kids and my husband hanging out in their "pool" they built at the edge of the water. No there aren't any pictures of me (which is fine!!) because I'm the photographer by design!!

As you can see below this, I also had fun on this vacation. I got lots of stitching time, whether it was sitting on the beach under the umbrella or at the house sitting on the couch under the window utilizing all the natural sunshine I could.




This first picture I took this on Tuesday (we'd been at the beach house for three days at this point). I would have updated the blog then but we had LIMITED connectivity that wasn't stable (was there one minute and gone the next!!)

This picture was taken yesterday (8/10) in the morning, so it shows the work from 8/4-8/10 in the early am. The small "square" that has the floss coming out of it is the upper most and furthest right, so the top edge is complete. I have completed 99% of page 2 and about 50% of page 3.

Almost a month ago now I mentioned in my post I was applying to go to some classes at the local Community College for some pre-requisite classes before starting a nursing program. I was accepted and I've signed up for my two classes (anatomy and physiology 1 and an intro to computers). Yesterday I purchased my textbooks online (if you know a student going to college- have them find out what books they need and look online, I saved $170 on my books over what I would have spent in the school bookstore!!). So now I'm challenging myself to finish CdC before classes start on 8/31. We'll see if that happens with all I have to do between now and then with getting the kids ready to go back to school too...

Update before the Beach

Tomorrow we head off to the beach in Rhode Island for a week so I figured I should do an update now before we left because my connectivity there is always in question...

I'm amazed at the progress I've made this week since Monday. I didn't think I'd spent that much time on it this week but I'm blown away when I compare the pictures...

As you can see in the above photo compared to the below photo, I had to do some frogging but I survived that and continued on...

I am almost complete with the second page (I've completed the top half of page two and now working on the bottom of it). This leaves me with one full page and then three 3/4 pages to complete this piece. I may be too positive on how much I'll get done at the beach house but I just cut my fabric to take with me to do the companion to this piece (Cirque de Circles). We'll see how I do on this and possibly start that...

See you in a week or so (I'll try to post from the beach house but I'm not promising I will)... JS

So Much for Sunday Updates...

Didn't even make it through the first consistent Sunday Update...well as the saying goes (I think- well this is how I say it) "so much for the best made plans of mice and men"! but I have a good excuse!!

This past weekend the kids and I accompanied my husband to the Catskill Mountains of New York. He was running in the 33rd running of the Escarpment Trail Run. What is that you ask? It is a trail race along the Escarpment Trail. It is 30K (18.7 miles) long from North Wyndham to North Lake in Tannersville. This is the third time he's run it and he loves it no matter the weather or trail conditions. Last year when he ran it there was a MAJOR thunderstorm that followed the runners along the 5 mountain peaks and made for some very nervous spouses and significant others waiting at the other end of the trail. This year he completed the course in just over 5 1/2 hours...the trail was complete mud this year with all the rain we've been having in this area of the country. Many runners were complaining of their slow speeds this year because of the wet, slippery rocks and mud this year.


My husband is in the blue hat and how do you like the mud pack on his legs and believe it or not those were NEW SHOES before the race? How about the gal next to him?? They all seemed to have a great time running the race but they were all DEFINITELY muddy by the time they finished.

You would think with him out on the trail for 5+ hours I'd have lots of progress to show on Cirque de Carreaux (CdCa)...but it didn't happen. The kids and I volunteered at the finish area helping to cut up watermelon, mix Gatorade, mix pasta salad, etc and the time just flew by before I could even get the stitching bag out.

I did make some progress in the last week on it though. I was going to post last Wednesday or Thursday. Got the picture taken and uploaded to the computer but never got the post made so the first picture here is the one from last week...

...and then the second is for this update.


I have "completed" the first page (except for a couple of stitches here and there which are part of another "major" square located on an adjacent page.)

I am going to try to update again later this week and there won't be another update on Sunday seeing as we leave for the Rhode Island shore for vacation on Saturday.

Thank you all for following my progress. Knowing others are enjoying seeing my progress as much as I enjoy making it is very fulfilling...JS

Sunday Update

So I thought I should start trying to do a daily update or at least weekly on Sundays. I can't believe the progress I'm making on this design already...

This first photo is the work I did after correcting my mistake in the "arrow head" on the left side. This photo was already posted on Friday but I figured to show it again to show you the time line of how it is going.


This next photo is my progress as of Saturday... and I didn't spend much time on it Saturday because my husband was out with our son and one of his buddies and his son, so my daughter and I had other projects going with no guys around...

And here is my project tonight (Sunday) as of about 8pm...

I have a little more than half of the first page completed...I love the colors I have chosen for this one and am already looking forward to doing Cirque de Circles and thinking possibly of getting Cirque de Triangles too...

Frogs and storms...

It was to be expected with all the wet weather we've been having here in the Northeast this "summer" (if you want to call it that- hasn't felt like it, that's for sure!!). The frogs hit my Cirque de Carreaux last night. I was just about complete with the first of the "larger" squares and I realized the stitching inside wasn't balanced...I counted, recounted and counted again and realized I miscounted at the top (where I started the inside design) and everything was dropped by one stitch...so a frogging I went...

The nice thing is that Tracy at Ink Circles took a look at my blog (I messaged her at Facebook about finishing BFG) and she noted back to me that it looked like the count was off on Carreaux (THANK YOU AGAIN Tracy!!).


As you can see, I finished frogging and I've now restitched the frog area as well as got more done too...major thunderstorms will help with that...couldn't sleep last night with the storm that was literally in our backyard (I think one lightening strike hit a tree in the gulley next to our house)...

I feel fairly positive I'll get an even bigger piece of it done today with son's swimming lessons and then the after lessons swimming with both of the kids...

Cirque de Carreaux

I decided today after doing my community college application that I deserved to "treat" myself. So instead of pulling a project out of the back of the MIA WIP pile I'd work on Cirque de Carreaux from Ink Circles.

Back in May I played with it a little bit when I was getting ready to go on my crazy adventure to Indiana (remember "to Indiana and back in 3 days or less"???)... At that time I had decided to try and do this project over one (my first try at working over 1 and only my third project on some other evenweave other than aida).

This is a picture of what I had "accomplished" on it at that time.

I still haven't dealt with the edges of the fabric but here is what I accomplished on it today while my son had swimming lessons, waited for the nurse practioner to give me my MMR vaccine and then waiting for my daughter at the library while she was involved with a program there.

Not bad progress if I do say so myself!! The blue in this lower right corner is truer to the actual color of the fabric.

Here is what it will look like when complete.

I'm doing mine on 32ct wedgewood blue lugana with 4240 DMC variations floss...

A finish and a NEW start...

I just finished Blackstone Fantasy Garden at 6:00am (eastern time) this morning... I just figured out it took me a total of 6 months and 20 days...it didn't actually take that much time but I started it on December 26, 2008 and finished it on July 16, 2009. I've had many days of no progress on it between working on other projects or dealing with real life.



I'm posting pictures of it I took a few days ago with 6 or 7 areas to be complete and then the final pictures. Not sure when I'll get it framed but as soon as I do, I'll post a picture of it here on my blog...

Now on to the NEW start in my life... this morning I took the plunge and applied to the local community college so I can start taking classes this fall to start working towards getting my nursing certificate... this may not seem like a big deal to some but it has been well over 20 years since I've been to school and two kids later it is a VERY scary proposition for me but with the love and support of my family I'm sure I'll get through it...

I now have to get on the phone and find out from the college what they mean by "proof of immunizations" so I can try and figure out what I need and get what I don't have.

As usual thank you for reading my blog. I'm sure future updates will be both stitching and groaning about classes.

Getting There...

This title is so appropriate for so many things around here lately...

My father in law is getting there in his recovery. He was given a clean bill of health by his general practioner earlier this week. He is going to PT a couple of times per week to regain muscle strength and balance.

Our road is under reconstruction...makes "getting there" a challenge some days (which way do I turn out of the driveway to get off the road???).

And Blackstone Fantasy Garden (BFG) is getting there...got two more sections of the blackwork completed and only have 8 small and one larger (the final corner which I've started) to complete...




I'm thinking I may actually finish this by the end of next week (and depending on when I get to Vermont this weekend for work and how many registrations I have to enter for work before my co-workers get there, maybe this weekend but I doubt that one!!)...

I love this pattern and can't wait to have it finished, frame it (myself because I have too much Scottish in my background to pay some one else to do it!! LOL I don't mean to offend any of my Scottish friends with this one!! ) and get it hanging on my wall...

Have a great weekend all and hopefully my next post will be with a finish (or maybe two if I get the alpha blocks done too!!)

Missing Stitching Mojo and Dad in law...

WARNING...this is a LONG post!!!

Boy I've been MIA for quite awhile...Thank you to Sadie for her email checking up on me...you don't know how much that meant to me to hear from a stitching friend across the pond that hadn't seen hide nor hair from me here or on the stitching groups in a bit...

In my last post about the auction I mentioned about a family member being ill...well, let me tell you that was an UNDERSTATEMENT...

The Monday before that last post (Memorial Day here in the states) my father in law was admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital to their neurological intensive care unit. He was on that unit for over 3 1/2 weeks and here we are at the brink of six weeks when he was admitted and we still don't have a definitive diagnosis. It all played out like a BAD episode of the tv show "House". One day we'd have one diagnosis, then the next it was ruled out because some of his symptoms didn't line up with the day before's diagnosis. At one point we thought we were going to lose him and another we were given a 50-50 chance that he'd survive. The good news is he began improving as fast as he had gone downhill. On June 19th he was transferred to a Rehabilitaion center (through this whole ordeal he's lost over 40 pounds as well as muscle strength and coordination) and even better news is he was discharged from there to his home on July 3rd! He still has to do some outpatient rehabilitation to continue regaining his strength but he is now home in comfortable surroundings. It has been a roller coaster of a month for sure!!

Well, while all this was going on with him health wise it had put quite a damper on my stitching mojo. Between worrying about him, worrying about my husband and his dealing with his dad (and mom's state of mind- she doesn't deal well with doctors, hospitals, etc) and keeping my kids calm as well as dealing with keeping my house going and making theirs look lived in, I just couldn't get my self in the swing of things to stitch. Even sitting in the hospital with my mother in law, I figured I'd get a lot of stiching done but truthfully only a minimum of stitches went into anything during that time.

Well, in the last week I seem to have made up for some lost time...

I got bored with the alphabet blocks I was working on, so I switched back to Blackstone Fantasy Garden.




At this point I estimate I have only about a quarter of the backstitching/blackwork to go and I'll be finished with it! I'm challenging myself to get it finished before we go on vacation to the shore at the beginning of August. That gives me a little over 3 weeks to finish what I've got left, do you think I can do it?? I do...

And once I do finish it then the big decision...do I start in true ernst Cirque de carreaux (which I'm going to try doing over one- and I've cut the material to that size already) or do I go back to working on the Patchwork Sampler by Catia Crafts (catiacrafts.com) that I started last summer and but to the side to finish Boink and do Blackstone??? Such decisions to be made...and of course I have those alphabet blocks to finish too (they are almost done with the stitching and then it is a matter of assembly)...

Until the next time (and I plan on it not being such a long time between posts!!)...

Auction Results...

The auction was last night...I'm pleased to report that the "Rosebud Wreath" earned the school $40.00 and the "Footprints" piece brought in $25.00. I was kind of upset because they were put into the "silent auction" portion of the evening and feel if they had been in the "live auction" portion they may have brought in more money. I say this because one of the nuns of the school did a charcoal drawing and another did a crocheted afghan and the auctioneer was GREAT and put the guilt trip on people when they wouldn't start bidding on an item, especially these two items seeing as the nuns were both in attendance and the items both went for well over $100 each (in fact the afghan went for $175. The auctioneer tried opening the bidding on it at $100 and no one was biting so he went as low as $30 before someone put a bid on it and then it took off with people fighting over it.)

No pictures to show of updates seeing as it has been a very stressful week here with dealing with a family member's illness and keeping the rest of the family updated on his condition and trying to keep my kids calm about it. Hopefully life will be back to somewhat normal soon but only time will let us know that for sure.

Until next update...thanks for looking...

Two finishes Framed!!

Footprints and Rosebud Wreath are COMPLETE with frames and will be delivered to my son's school this afternoon for next week's auction.

I'm so happy with how both of these came out...I hope they will bring in a good chunk of cash for the school...I'll let you know after next Saturday (5/30) on how well they did...

To everyone in the United States...have a wonderful holiday weekend and please remember to thank a vet for their service and remember those whom we've lost in their service to our country...from a daughter of a vet and sister/sister in law of active duty air guardsman/woman...

My trip and stitching

Arrived home last Thursday night (5/14) from my whirlwind trip to Indiana around 8:30pm (eastern time).

Let me start at the beginning...about three weeks now my boss emailed about 5 of us (crew of 20 or so) asking if we were interested in going on a road trip for some training on a new system he has just purchased. Well with some creative figuring and lots of support of my husband and other family members I was able to go along on this excursion. So on Tuesday at 6:15 in the morning I met the crew in Sturbridge, Massachusetts and we started our trek to Indiana.

I took plenty of stitching projects with me to work on but didn't get much accomplished.

I did finish the cross stitching of the rosebud wreath and started on the backstitching on it but didn't get too far on that before hitting bumpy roads in western New York state.

Later on I tried stitching on it and Blackstone Fantasy Garden but the roads in Ohio were no better than New York.

I did finally finish the piece next to the "heart" in the center of the picture one morning before we left either to get back on the road coming home or before we went to class, don't remember which.

Here is what the full piece looks like so far... looks like I'm about 1/2 way through the blackwork.


I also started another alpha block. I'm trying to get two more of them done before June 10th for my son's teachers. He loved the first one I did and asked for me to do some for his teachers in their favorite colors. Again though it was a challenge trying to work on this on the road. I'm doing them on 22ct white aida and I'm planning on making them into keychains for the teachers.

I've also gotten a couple of pieces done... awhile ago I finished "Footprints". This morning I put in the final french knot on rosebud wreath. I took these pictures just before washing them. They are now drying. I'll then press them and frame them and hope to have them to my son's school tomorrow for the auction they are having next week.



I plan on taking pictures of them when they are framed and I'll let you know how much they sell for next week. The auction committee has gotten one of the "big" local radio talk show hosts to be the auctioneer.