And the Winner is........

..... Mayte (Magic XStitch)!

and the Honorable Mentions are:
Linda (Litla Skvis)
Edgar (Blacksheep's Bit of the Web)
Mylene (Mylene's Blog)
Valerie (Fog City Dweller)

If you could each shoot me an email with your addy to rbe hling 1916 at ya hoo . com (you now how to format that) I'll get the mailing underway.

Once again, thank you all for your encouragement over the years.... except for your encouragement to stash more. Sheesh! Stop it already. I'm going to have to reinforce the floor soon!

Love ya all !

We have a winner!!!!!!!

... Thank you all for your kind wishes. I have a winner (and a desk for of little slips of folded paper-- lol). But I have to hold off announcing because I decided to have one Winner, but also to have a series of Honorable Mentions. My problem is that I can't remember how many Honorable Mention prizes I made up. I'm sorry. I know. It's really lame of me.

Here's to tomorrow and me having my brain engaged.

No way, really? Another year!

It doesn't seem possible but another year has slipped by in my blogging life.

I guess that means it's time to

[celebrate].

There should definitely be

[presents]!

Someone who comments on this post will get a package. I was feeling Fall-ish when I started collecting for this. Of course now the weather has turned again and it's summer again, but hey, it's Fall in lots of other places right now so we'll stick with the original plan. The pack will primarily be:

Those are mostly Sampler Threads with some Belle Soies and Threadworxs. Some fabric will probably get involved too, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

So, if you'd like to be in the draw for this year's blogiversay prize here in Badgerland, just leave a comment. I'll draw a name next err, I was going to say next Saturday, but I'm out of pocket then so it will have to be next Sunday (Nov 15).

Good luck and I would like to very sincerely thank every one of you for a year of adventures. You never cease to make me smile.

P.S. For those of you who won last year's blogiversary RAKs, I hang my head in shame, I know I'm ridiculously slow. I have NOT forgotten. And you shouldn't give up. Actually there are things that will be arriving for folks soon..... real soon. Honest.

Hi there (Haphhazard Post 247.8)

Well, have you been busy? Have you had fun? Have you refrained from strangling coworkers? Hey! Me too!!!!!!

So far, so one of "those" weeks... err... months .... err.... years.

The Big Plan for me recently has been to finish my Constitution (Ursula Michaels "We the People") by this weekend--

Surprisingly enough I am on target. I know, I know. A miracle and the week is still young.... plenty of time for me to muck it up. And yet I think I can make it. I have the row with the bannery-flag thingy and the final row of text and I'm done. It doesn't seem possible, but this is what you can do if no backstitching is involved!

Since I have absorbed myself in The Big Plan for the last week plus, I have been merely analyzing my other projects. I have come to the conclusion that I vacillate too much on what to stitch, but then again I might be wrong (wink). Even if I had made great strides on my other main projects of the moment I couldn't show you because they might just be for you. No spoilers here. Well, not when I'm sober anyway.

Aside from general work (to support my stash) and The Big Plan, the thing that's taken up a lot of my time recently has been dealing with the bureaucracy on my office fall. I fall, I go boom. I hurt myself. I see doctor. Oh, no, my benefits coordinator (which it took me a week to find) tells me, you must see a different doctor, your doc is not our doctor. But she's on your health plan -- oh but not *that* health plan. So you (I) need to go see these other guys benefits person says... "they are close to your office." ... why can't I see the guys on the next corner rather than the ones 2 miles away? Oh, wait, the guys on the next corner only do workers comp poisoning issues. Sigh. It's like a big black hole -- my time keeps falling into it--- swirling slowly so I can watch it dwindle into nothingness. The upshot is that tomorrow I have an appointment to see one of their "real doctors" who had better dang well agree with my doc and had better not have been lying to me about me being able to use the referral my doc gave me for therapy down the street from my hovel. Sigh..... anyone willing to wager a quarter that they were NOT lying? Yeah, me neither.

For a little humor, since you lived through the above whine -- I finally got the picture of my ice "shin guard" uploaded--

There it is in all its book-taped glory; sliding down my leg instead of unwinding nicely so it could be replaced. For your edification: do not expect to be able to unwind several feet of booktape from your knee. There must be scissors involved. If you don't have scissors you will end up with a very chilly shin guard.

On a cooler (nifitier) front, I would like to introduce you to my LNS' new floor--

Neat, eh? It really is lovely, and I can't help but think it will be much easier to keep clean. Mind you all the dust from the install seems to still be in the shop. I spent a goodly part of my day there this weekend wiping down frame samples. Annoying since I hate dusting, yes, but great because I get to put all the frame samples I hate the most on the bottom of the display wall ... lol Hey, I dust, I should get some perks, right?

I need to warn you I shall probably be a very bad stitcher soon. You see, I'm having this compulsion to do a sampler in greys and red. It's terrible. I just feel like I HAVE to start it. See --

It would look cool. Mind you, I only have those little skeins of Olde Willows that are in the picture, so the colors will have to change, but I can make that happen. Oh no, I feel another WIP coming on! Save me!!!!!!!!!

Toodles for now -- behave yourself (in any manner you so choose)!

Ouch, or Lessons in Things You Shouldn't Do

This would be one of those "educational" posts.

I would recommend that if you have a choice you should not fall on slab flooring while holding a box of paper. Now my gimpy self sits before you with a bag of ice taped to one knee with 2-inch wide book tape. Hey, if it's good enough for books, it's good enough for my knee! I suppose this is the joy I reap for working on the weekend.

Anyway, enough whining. Let's talk needling. Oh wait, there will still be whining because here too we shall have lessons. Mostly about starting new projects and really thinking about what you start before you get going.

I *was* making great progress for 2 days on a stocking--


The tiny squares are alternating Scotch in Fyre Werks (black) and Shimmer Ribbon (gold). The name is in a lovely Frosty Rays. Yours truly, aka The Moron, began the name by centering the "O" on the stocking. She put the "O" in. She was smugly proud. ... right up until the point as she was basking in it's glory, that she realized that if you center the "O" the name is off-center because an "M" is much wider than a "T." Sigh. Out came the pretty "O." I got the only as far as the "TO" this time before I ran out of thread. Oh well, next week.

I simply *had* to do something new a couple weeks ago so I spent an hour fascinated with:

my NYC trip ornie. But now I can't figure out where I put the card of Fyre Werks and stitching faces doesn't sound fun right now.

And here's what I really want to be needlepointing on:

My sand dollar. But it's just not right.

The floss is wrong for that section. I need to go get perle for that and I think I need some Flair for the white bits. So much for that new start.

I bet you are thinking: "Ruth, with all those XS UFOs and WIPs of yours, certainly you are safe there!" Ahh, but you are wrong there. The evil monster "New Project Demon" followed me to the linen as well. So, while I should have been getting further along on:

... Ursula Michaels We the People, instead I needed, absolutely needed to start something new. Sigh. Yet again, it all went south from there.

First, I started an ornie for an exchange. That should be safe, right? Oh noooooo. You see, I started an ornie I really wanted, but I only figured it "likely" to be good for the person in question. It was a little big so I made it over one.... I could have saved myself the time:

you see, I started it once, messed up. I thought I had a fix worked out, but nooooo. I also messed up the fix. No problem says my start-something-new-addled brain; I just restarted the pattern on another corner of the fabric. Yup, I messed that up too. You could have phoned that one in, right?

So I decided that was God's way of saying I should choose more wisely. So I analyzed my JCSes. I picked 5 possibilities. I checked said person's likes and dislikes. I chose a pattern. I copied it and set out to work. I looked at the copy and felt not compelled. I thought, "no, not this one." I picked another. I changed my mind. I picked again. I changed again. After 2 days of petty vacillating, I went back to the first choice (after the two F'ed up stitched ones), but it was now day 3 at something like 2am so it was left to the next night to have the sacred joy of Beginning the New Pattern! Oh the excitement! The next night I settled in, took one look at the pattern, and thought, those are the ugliest _____ (can't give it away) I've really ever seen (well, save for the ones I stitched one time that really looked like a pair of poodles). So I picked again and I started.

Surely now, all would be well. But, say it with me, nooooooooo. Little Miss Ooo Look There's an Overdye pulled all regular DMCs. I got 50 stitches (which is like 3 days of Ruth Stitching Time) into one section and went, "why or why is my needle bereft of overdyes?" I pulled the section all out and started over with Sampler Threads. Here is the official floss toss (so for those of you in exchanges with me, these might be your colors... lol).... for now:

Frankly, if I get the urge to change anything again on this after having stitched it, ya'll are just up that smelly creek!

So, what we have learned is that working on weekends is bad (I've never had my stitching cause me to need n ice pack!) and I should really hold out against the New Project Demon.

************
Reading Challenge report:
1. I just finished listening to Stephen Tanner's Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban. It's ok. It's not as bad as a military history can be. What did I learn-- tribesmen with antiquated weapons who know their hills and valleys are hard to beat. Under the Taliban women could be stoned for wearing white socks. bad socks! Evil, bad socks!!!! Authors can be very dumb-- allow me to summarize -- every country in the world should fight terrorists and not allow their acts to go unanswered; Israel should stop fussing after the Palestinians when they sniper soldiers or suicide bomb holiday parties.

2. I'm just about to finish listening to Beowolf. Yeah, I read it in Western Civ with every other undergrad, but that was then. My Heavens it's boring. I will say there is great language and turns of phrase-- quite lovely ones as a matter of fact. But sheesh. Did we get assigned this because it was a way to get gamer guys to actually do their reading assignments?????

Have you ever wondered .....

.... how fabric and threads can be so addictive? I mean we have plenty, right? And yet we buy more. Then once we have them in our clutches we MUST start them. (Small counter fact: once started we do not feel compelled to finish them with any alacrity.) Once started, we tend to get on a roll and the next thing we know it's dawn and we've stitched all night. It's not like dinner isn't my friend and last week I caught myself putting it off for "one more stitch" for round about an hour... despite the fact that I really wanted dinner.

So, you can probably tell I'm in one of my stitchy-phases. I almost skipped dinner. I pick foods based on what I can eat quickly and get back to stitching. Heck I even get grumpy about things like trips to the bathroom interrupting my needle! You'd think for all my obsessed phase, you'd think I'd get more stuff done. Sigh. It's just not the case.

So here's what I can show you of what I've been up to lately --

That's Ursula Michaels' We the People -- I've actually made it further than this picture, but I haven't got that picture yet. It's remarkably fast to stitch, but I gotta say that that long blue line was really boring.

I finished up a group of things I can't show you, so to celebrate those finishes and my progress on WE the People, I started.... say it with me ... something new!'

Heart in Hand's Spooky which our friend Kathryn gave this to me and I've been itching to start it. I've changed it up for Belle Soies and over one --

So far so good. I'm really enjoying working on it. Thanks, Kathryn!

Oh and I finally found the picture for my 4th of July squares for Susan P:

It's a modified version of an LHN pattern.

You'd think I could settle in to stitching and not feel compelled for more stash, but nooooo. You see we had this trunk show at the shop...




Aren't they cool. On weekend one of the sale I fell for this little darling--


So, that's on stretcher bars in my bag as we speak.

I also almost fell for this series:

But then I looked at the whole set and some of them were too weird -- the lords a leaping were Santa's boots in the chimney. Thus I was saved from that pile of stash. Alas, on weekend two I fell for this:

I was just really fond of it -- after all, what did I need with a pear? Anyway, I was fine with just commenting to everyone how cool it was and how there was a whole set of pears and apples and strawberries and citrus fruit. Then someone mentioned the term "fruit bowl" and it was all over but the shouting. I inherited a large Steuben glass fruit bowl... you see it now right? I plan to order over time 2 pears (the one above and a red one with paisley patterns),


2 apples (red and golden),


2 strawberries (just plain ole strawberries),

a lemon,

a lime,

and an orange

It may take me years, but I'm sooo looking forward to my fruit bowl.

Ok, before I go I have to share a recent humor with you. I came home one night to find out that my manager had had all the hall doors painted (no wet paint signs though -- those would have been handy) and had even had the numbers removed from the doors. A few days later I'm home to hear hammering moving around the halls. I think, "A ha! We're getting our new numbers." After they finish my hall I go out, check, and fall out laughing.

Yes, they carefully removed the old numbers to avoid getting paint n them, then reinstalled them. Only they are the same number plates they've used for probably 20 years and they've been painted over repeatedly already. lol My pretty fresh door with it's antique paint-encrusted number plate! Such a sight!

I've been a baaaaad stitcher

.... I stashed. Why? Why? Why? Why? I need no stash. Not a bit -- well maybe the occasional floss, but no patterns. So, in the face of needing NOTHING, I got:

Midsummer Nights Designs -- A Patriot's Sampler (I will have to change that top verse.)

I just love this -- I love violets so it had to be mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. All mine.

Possibly I'm attracted to this because it looks so darn peaceful.

I don't exactly know why, but I love this.

As long as I'm doing winter, I may as well do summer, right? Besides, those are sheep in them thar hills!



Midsummer Nights Designs -- Memorial Sampler


Then there had to be:

Of which I have picked my immediate favorites (do you have favorites? What are they? I simply have to know!!!)--



(the Santa and polar bear)

(I absolutely adore the snow globe idea!)



(the bird and the tree)

OMG -- What was I thinking???? How am I ever going to get all this stitching done? Wait a minute. Is it really our intent to get it all done? What do you think? Do you think you'll stitch most of your stash some day?

Also, do you have this problem -- you buy charts (you don't need) and then you are *compelled* to buy fabric for said charts. It's stash begatting stash. Oooo, self perpetuating hobbies are pretty cool don't you think?

I wish you all a pleasant evening/day. I'm about to finish my work week--- unless you count my week by when they stopped paying me for my time -- that was Wednesday evening. That aside, I'm heading out a bit early tonight for Club Sookie. Three of us get together to watch True Blood on TiVo. We're down to the last 3 episodes of the season. There will be bar-b-que and possibly salads and corn on the cob. There will also be dog-bonding time. Our hostess has a new furry friend -- drat I thought I had a picture of Luke, but it'll have to wait for next time.

Quick note

Like Quakers? Like rustic pieces? Then you must go see a new designer I just stumbled across. She's just come out with her second design called "Quaker Silence." for the record, I am totally smitten.

Must see. Go see...

Tree of Life Samplings

be back later..... must commune with research on plastic bag levies and bans.... whopee!

I need some help

While working at the shop this weekend I took along some potential framing, but one of them has stymied me -- Mirabilia's Halloween fairy. No color actually in the piece looks good as a mat. Trust me, I tried them all. Sigh. So I cam e to a camel suede mat and a bronzed frame. Now I can't decide between single and double matting -- see that you think:



or




Who knows, I may switch formats all together. Any other ideas?

I recently joined the LHN Exchange group for their second round. This means I'm about to start an LHN ornie. Wanna see the floss toss? Why do I ask? I'm going to show it whether you nod enthusiastically or not! lol

I so do love Belle Soies! They are like stitching with air.

Oh! I did get some great news while at the shop -- the "belt lady" (ie. the finisher we use for belts, collars, and shoes) arrived and Helped me work out how much of the belt canvas I had to stitch for the finished size I wanted. Turns out I can stop at 33 inches. Yippie-- that's 3 inches off the length it's painted. And this means I'm nearly half done! Hee hee. Here's a shot of it while waiting to have its frame moved --


gotta run -- but finished the 1st book for the 10 Book Challenge-- Pratchett's Wee Free Men. Yes, I love all Pratchett. That said, the Tiffany series isn't my favorite. Although I do so love the Nac Mac Feegle. Some days I could really use a few Feegle. Anyway, it's fun, but as Pratchett says, you can be more overt and do more with young adult novels than with others.

Take care all !

************
Ok, here's my P.S. on the Fairy -- I changed the color of the wings because the dandelion stem that came in my kit was a hideous murky grey-ish color. And I used actual black for the black bits not the overdyed. The upshot of all that is that black looks awful, that chocolate brown on its own looks bad, no orange works, all the greens are too blue, any brown I get that matches a brown in the piece (say the dress) looks awful because it clashes with the other browns (the hair). Ieven tried some peaches for the skin. Yuck. I tried a bunch of gold frames -- urp. The only other frame I liked was a weird antiqued green one, but absolutely no mats went with that. Sigh. Maybe I should look for fabric and make her a box or something. One thing for sure, she's going back on the to-be-finished aging hanger.

Joining in and other things

Here's what I should be doing--






My sister and BIL's stockings. My sister go the "fiddly bits" done and now it's my turn. In case you've looked closely at how much is left to do on the tree/Santa stocking (the sister's) you can probably guess that that one won't be ready for 2009. The BIL's might. I have to do the top and order the fabric for the finishing. That might work out. Cross your fingers!

What I have been obsessed with instead:


the belt.... I'm actually more done than this, but I haven't uploaded those pics. I have become completely obsessed with this. It apparently has the perfect balance of color changes and color blocks so nothing ever gets too tedious. I like that in a canvas! I like it a lot!
Oh and I got needlepoint startitis and bought and started this:

I rationalized this as my trip to NYC momento. The ability to rationalize stash and starts is a talent all stitchers should have.... right?

I've even done some xs instead of working on the stockings --
Beatrix Potter got some time--


in case you were wondering, that's a lot of beads in that there flower....


Because I got xs startitis one afternoon, I began work on Ursula Michaels We the People--



Now, about the joining -- which is kinda like startitis, just not with needles. I am joining Vickie's 10 Book Challenge! The idea is that you make a list of 10 books you want to read by the end of the year. You don't have to stick to the list, but it gives you some place to aim. I mean, you know me. I'm even more of a "mood reader" than I am a "mood stitcher." One of my happiest moments is finishing a book because what I do next is pull down a whole bunch of books I think I want/need to read and surround myself with them on the bed. Then I start picking them up one by one and reading the beginning. When I get to the one I am reluctant to put down, that's the winner. This kind of joy-in-choosing pattern does no bode well for lists (witness the fact that what's it been? 2 years that there's been a reminder on the side bar of this blog that I want to read Smilla's Sense of Snow? lol).

Anyway, I'm joining. I was wanting too sign up even before our friend, Shelleen chided me for not talking about reading even though I torture you all with pictures of authors at scifi cons. But I might not have gotten around to formalizing the joining if it weren't for Shelleen's prodding -- thanks, Social Butterfly!

So here goes. My "list:" [in no particular order and, because I'm me, in pictures]

1. Sharyn McCrumb's St. Dale
2. Marilyn Robinson's award-winning Gilead (Afterall, I should read something that won something other than a Hugo occasionally. lol)

3. Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine
4. James White's The Watch Below

5. the anthology Mean Streets (how can I resist Simon R. Green and Jim Butcher in one volume?!)
6. Barbara Hambly's Redfield

7. the anthology Enchantment Place (I love short stories.)
8. the anthology The Wizards of Odd

9. Zakour and Ganems' The Plutonium Blonde
10. Simon R. Green's Nightside -- the first is Something from the Nightside which I have already read, but I should probably re-read to get started on the 6-10 subsequent volumes (yeah, I'm behind.)

10.1. the anthology Night's Edge Charlaine and Barbara Hambly vampire stories, yeah, I could like that!
10.2 George R.R. Martin's Wildcards

10.3 Florence's The Perfect Machine
10.4 Rolt's Victorian Engineering

10.5 an old fav -- Steve Perry's The Man Who Never Missed -- a re-read so I can get on to the other volumes in the series.
10.6 Yarbro's -- A Flame in Byzantium or any of the many St. Germain's I haven't gotten to.

10.7 Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour
10.8 the anthology Space, Inc (did I mention I really, really Love short stories?)

Lest you think I'm spoiled for choice:

there's the McDevitt and McKillip collections

and the Shinn collection
And still, those are the merely the snowball on the tip of the iceberg. Heck maybe I'll actually read Smilla's! lol

Here's to finishing.... SOMETHING!

So many things...... (and Time Warner still sucks)

... and so little time. Sigh.

Here it is Saturday night, 8:37pm and I'm at my office having just finished my ***first*** goal for today, namely paying office bills. Another 12 hours and maybe I'll feel good about what I "accomplished" today. I was really planning on spending tomorrow at ***home*** ... working, but at home. Sigh.

Anyway, enough whinging for now. I owe so many updates. Where to start. Where to start....

Just this week I joined a yahoo group, the Friendly Stitchers, and my heavens they are friendly! They are also very inspirational. They have a Thursday night UFO SAL so I joined in and got some progress in two long-dead UFOs and one minorly ignored UFO:
First I bring you My M Designs Bourse from Mary's class at Cross Stitch Pals in 2007!

that there is the little needle pillow for the middle of the bourse. It had been lacking 3 flowers and 5 flower centers since fall 2007. How sad is that?

Then here's my progress on a 2006 RR. Say, Sassies-- remember this???? lol

All it has been waiting for for probably 2 years is the backstitching on my section. Kudos to the Friendly Stitchers, now I've begun--

I got 2 flowers, some berries, 3 leaves, and the basket outlines so far. Woo hoo! It's a verifiable miracle!!!

I also picked up a Shepherd's Bush (Adore, I think) that had been hanging out next to the bed for a few weeks now and he got the rest of his vest, his sleeve, his bloomers, and part of his head piece --


******
I interrupt this stitching progress to report on the continual suckishness of Time Warner.

Ok, possibly you remember my battle with Time Warner over the installation of digital cable which disabled my VCR, and ended up with the installation guy saying look, lady (a real presumption on his part I must say!) we don't promise it will work, we just promise to install it. Anyway, the corollary story is about my friend Jennifer. I call her Lucky Jennifer. Everything just seems to work out to her benefit. She calls Time Warner to add the Internet to her cable package. When Mr. Salesman wants to know why she doesn't switch her phone service to them as well she tells him how they once disconnected her cable because there wasn't a tag on her wire in the basement of her building so they figured it wasn't supposed to be connected and when they sent out someone to connect her cable he came (in his cable company van) without the tool to connect the cable to the main cable box in the building (sooooo brilliant). Anyway, so she tells the salesman this and he says he's so sorry he's going to give her a free movie channel for 2 years. Me? I get told they don't promise the system will work. Lucky Jennifer gets free movie channels.

At my mom's house when the cable went out I needed up fighting and waiting on hold for forever while they worked out what they could do and wondered how I could have the temerity to have a cable box so old that it didn't have a serial number on it. Eventually we get told we must present ourselves and our certified power of attorney documents and duplicates of the death certificates for my mom which they already had but couldn't find at the cable office to get a new box (at the cable office they wanted to see nothing but still marveled at how old the cable box was). Lucky Jennifer arranges to pick up the internet install kit from their storefront, goes there, puts 23 minutes on the meter and gets back to her car with 19 minutes still on the meter.
Sigh. See. Lucky Jennifer.
*********

Ok, back to the stitching --

There's been some progress on the whiskey piece:


It's just a little progress, but it's working so much better on the frames. BTW, have I mentioned how much I love Splendor as opposed to floss?

And some progress on Vierlanden:

Actually there is more progress on this, but the pics are lagging. Sorry.

********
Finally, let me bring you a few more moments of the first North American Discowrld Convention where I:
bought books (and this isn't all of them)--

Had Sir Terry sign Nation and Once More with Footnotes (yup, that's my fat...err... posterior):

Got Missy up-close-and-personal with the Death of Rats and the Raven:

Did NOT eat rat-on-a-stick:

Had dinner with Twoflower and a wizard from Unseen University:

Had the honor of taking Twoflower and Miss Tick's family photo:

And watched Holy Wood Squares (staring Miss tick) with Harpo:


If you don't understand, go read Terry Pratchett. You will eventually get it all, and in the meantime you will laugh and laugh.

**********************************************
Quotes of the week:
"Do I need a button that says 'Tyrant'?" Lord Vetinari -- Making Money by Terry Pratchett

"If you trust in yourself... and believe in your dreams... and follow your star... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy." Miss Tick -- Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Greetings from the wet West

Howdy folks! It's lovely if damp here in Tempe. But never fear! I lived (and walked everywhere) through El Nino, therefore these lil ole thunderstorms are nothing.

In the midst of this morning's downpour I hauled myself over to the convention center with my books and suede purse protected by plastic shopping bags. I had to. My Terry signing appointment was this morning at 10.... rain or shine, so to speak. I also went to Esther Friesner's signing, a panel on Discworld cover art, and a reading by Terry assistant with commentary by The Knight himself. Finally I ended the day with the maskerade. It was a nice enough day. I would call it a lovely day, but I spent 3/4ths of it sitting in one room and one spell was 3 hours in the same chair. There's only so much sitting still a body can take.

Ok, since so far I haven't downloaded today's pics, let's catch up on yesterday's.... err and even the day before.

When Karen and I met up, she brought me my Ho Ho HO Exchange ornie --

Check it out -- over-1 no less!

and look at the cool fabric she picked for the back--

The finishing is by Karen -- and she's opened a little finishing business. I'd recommend her fine work any day!

Thanks, Karen! You made my weekend.

As for day one of the convention ....
Here's Sir Terry (apparently knights are entitled to a car with curtains-- he had to settle for a turtle and a Seamstress Guild escort:

And here's Terry and the S.G. members "at ease" (that's Esther Friesner whispering sweet nothings into the mic)--

On behalf of The Guild, Esther presented Terry with a small "ergonomically-correctly handled" sword.


Here's Esther later in the day getting ready to start her reading--


I missed the making of this Discworld balloon sculpture, but I still find it amazing!


Of course, you know I'm traveling with Missy (the polar bear). So I introduced her to Rincewind:

and the Luggage

(Yes, the Luggage has teeth and feet -- if you don't get it, go read The Color of Magic.)

From the Seamstress Guild Affair --
Here's what happens when you put fans near food:

(food courtesy of the Seamstresses Guild and Terry)
Me and 900 of my best friends at the Guild party:

Terry:

The Death of Rats:

Lady Sybil

Anoia--

Classy entertainment:

Missy met Death:

Terry:

a wizard (or wizzard) reunion:

Witches group shot:

Nanny and Greebo took costume awards--

as did Cheery Littlebottom and a splendid nac mac feegle

all the costume winners:

***********

Ok, now that I've gotten all that happiness out of the way.... In case you had a bet on my second tech service call appointment with Dell, no, they did not call. Two strikes Dell you *#)(@)#*%Y#&^#@#*(&%^^#&^@#)(*#(#)^%#^$#* losers!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh so much fun

But that'll have to wait til tomorrow. I'm too tired and Dell is supposed to call tomorrow morning at 7am. They were supposed to call this morning. They did not. They are vaguely sorry. They won't be able to help tomorrow either even if they do manage to call since the fix they told me to do I can't even get the machine to run the first stage of. Sigh. Soooo helpful. Thanks guys!

Anyway, I'll leave you tonight, err this morning with a starting status report for the weekend. Among other things I brought Vierlanden and Beatrix with me and here's where they started yesterday:


We'll see how far I get.

nite nite

P.S. A quote of the day -- Terry to a pirate amidst the Seamstresses -- "I said 'corsets' not 'corsairs'."

Made it -- Discworld here we come

It's official. Missy and I have left the jurisdiction....


I met up with Karen and her daughter and had great fun (and food)......

Say, Karen, enjoy your lunch!

And I got to enjoy a cool thunderstorm--




Of course, not everything can work smoothly -- I was up for my 7am tech call appointment with Dell's service people. You guessed it, no call. #*(%()#$*@#&@($^#$*(#@@#*@ Dell. After waiting 40 minutes in the tech service chat queue again, they said sorry, and promised to call tomorrow. Definitely NOT holding my breath.

But hey, I'm doing to go live on a nice little flat planet for a few hours.... no worries.

See ya'll later!

computer "logic" lol

So today in prep for my Tempe/Discworld adventure I asked google for "cross stitch shop" and "tempe." Here's what topped the page of results:

Local business results for cross stitch shop near Tempe, AZ

Old Town Needlework & Framing
- www.oldtownneedlework.com
7128 E 5th Ave, Scottsdale - (480) 990-2270
1 review, directions, and more »


Meso Tattoo & Body Art Supplies
- maps.google.com
4002 S Wendler Dr, Tempe - (480) 234-1272
1 review, directions, and more »


Family Arts Needlework Shop
- www.familyartsneedlework.com
5555 N 7th St # 144, Phoenix - (602) 277-0694
3 reviews, directions, and more »

Isn't #2 priceless? Do you think they heard about the Grand Canyon Girls Club's trip to the tattoo parlor? rotflol

I should point out I have no time for stashing while in Tempe, but I couldn't stop myself from looking nonetheless. Also, remember how I kinda headed off half cocked to Montreal--- you know little miss never-last-minute .... Well I ended up in Montreal only to realize I only had 2 needles with me! 2!!! That's all. And I only happened to have 2 because I'd packed a kit I shouldn't have and it came with 1. Can you imagine -- 9 days with no stash shop and only 1 (heck, 2) needles!!?!??!?! OMG, I was soooo careful with those needles. I think that might have been why I looked for shops on google. The back of my brain is saying "what if you're a ninny again......"

Ok, you've been very patient. Here's one measly update -- my Beatrix Potter:

Two whole motifs and one of them tiny have gotten done in the last month. Sigh.

For this paltry progress I deserve NOTHING, but I almost bought this canvas this weekend:

He's HUGE, but I just love him. I have no reason to do him though. Hmmm.

Ooo, and lookie what was waiting for me on my desk this morning:

I just love the Vera Bradley microfiber backpacks. Love 'em. Love 'em. Love 'em. Check out the cool lime lining the turquoise one has --


gotta run -- must find out the ins and outs of plastic grocery bags and the American economy -- I get all the most interesting questions!

Happy bday, Dad !

Sorry, Dad, no picture. I really should scan one soon. So instead, how about this--

Lord knows your birds would never need a map!
********

I should be able to show you something of what I've been up to, but I'm an idiot. I was working away on my surprise only to end up with a tragic miscount that I couldn't figure out. So, into the trash with that one. To console myself I moved back to Beatrix Potter and I even took pics, but I haven't downloaded them yet. For the record, I have restarted the surprise, and so far, so good. Keep your fingers crossed.

I can however drag out pictures of one of my quail needlepoints that I recently (in the last couple months) started working on--


I the stitched bit is in Splendor. Overall the piece will be a mix of Splendor, Silk and Ivory, Bermalana, and Sampler Threads.

For you booky people-- [it's so comforting to know there are so many of us out there!] the library cataloging program I have is BookCat. It has issues (or at least it has issues I haven't figured out yet), but I like it overall. If I bought a barcode scanner and installed the Web at home I could wand in the coding from the cover and fly through the cataloging like a colt. As it is I am without those and I suffer from extreme persnickiness. I want all contents of anthologies included. I want notes on signatures and inscriptions. I want to know if it was a special gift. There are fields for all of those, but I'll always have to add those myself. Anyway, BookCat lets you put in the usual bookish info and things like purchase price, cover price, condition, purchase location, even fields for checking out material, etc. If you use it in conjunction to the Web you can pull info from numerous locations so you don't have to do all your own typing (for instance, the Library of Congress, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc). It'll pull in images, heck, it'll even pull in descriptions and reviews from the Web if you want it too. There are fields for your own notes and for a star rating of your very own. I'm still working out how to best manipulate it, but there is supposed to be a fair amount of customizability. That I need to work out because it's how I need to fix some of their "issues."

Among the issues I have so far (and I'm willing at this point to say they are my issues o work out the reprogramming on, not theirs for being lame... only time will tell) are things like their not so terribly helpful (to me) genre radials -- if you have a normal sort of bock collection, or you think of your books in a more normal way, you'll be fine with the standard offerings. I however, do not need things like "family" and "crime" but I do not understand at all their lack of a field of "art" (they have one for music-- what's wrong with art? A big part of publishing is art books. Sigh.). Also, they have a radial for "history," but anyone with any significant interest in history will tell you that having only "history" as a search function is useless. In that respect I want radials for Indian, Ireland, Europe, U.S., Irish America, and Canada as well as immigration, military, etc.

Beyond the radials, I need to work out a way to make it search and return what I'm looking for. If I give it an author search, it returns all books with that name listed in the author fields. I want it to return all things, including short stories, with that person as the author---- I am not going spending all this time to input every short story and have the info not be searchable.

Anyway BookCat's company also has a DVD version and other program options. They seem, overall, quite handy.

Speaking of this book stuff... I'm prepping for this week's adventure to Tempe for North American Discworld. Yes, the daily low temperature in Tempe is still hovering in the mid 80s. I expect I'll be moving around very early and very late and other than that staying in the hotel conference center. What with all the Pratchett fun and frivolity I don't imagine I will get bored. I wonder what sort of things Missy and I can get up to?

ttfn.....

Wanna see some stitching? .....

.... for a change?



No, I get no credit. This lovely piece was done by my needlepointing buddy, Jennifer for her youngest nephew.
Isn't it cool? It's an honor piece -- her grandfather owned a Phillips 66 station so she adjusted the canvas to include that for little Ezra. Aren't the tires cool? They are O-rings and the hub caps are metal washers. (I know, I know. not "washers" but that's the word that's stuck in my brain right now.)

My stitching, you ask? well, I can't show you. It's a gift. Sorry. I'm hoping you'll get to see it in a couple weeks. Cross your fingers -- it's one of those 6 million color changes pieces. Sigh. You know how I feel about color changes, but the piece is absolutely perfect for the person who is going to get it so I'll just have to suck it up and deal.

I must admit that I have yet another new obsession. I bought a cataloging program for my own books. I've been working fairly assiduously with it most evening for a couple weeks now and so far I've only managed to get about 300 items input. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to tell catalogers everywhere that while I still think they are nuts, they have my deep respect. Sheesh this is a pain. Ok, I admit I make this harder because I input every short story in anthologies rather than just the volume title, but I do love my short fiction so I can't really help myself there. At this rate this cataloging "fun" could take me 20 years-- with only one author exception, everything I've put in has come from the shelves next to my bed in The Hovel. And those are just the tip of The Hovel iceberg. And, in turn, The Hovel iceberg is merely a snowflake in the ice age of volumes I have boxed in storage. Sigh. At least I know if I get quarantined for something I can have plenty to do while I sit at home.

Gotta run -- wishing you well.... as usual.

Dear West Publishing Group:

Go to Hell.

[Note: memo to West continues below explanatory interruption]

*************
As to why they should go there, here is an excerpt from an email they recently sent out to lawyers:

"Are you on a first name basis with the librarian?
If so, chances are, you're spending too much time at the library. What you need is fast, reliable research you can access right in your office. And all it takes is West®."
************

Why would anyone trust you? I can't even get you to stop calling and pestering me about the new Black's Law edition when I've told you 6 times so far that it was a gift and we would never be ordering another one. You repeatedly tell me you're making a note, only to call me a week later. Yeah, sounds real reliable and helpful to me.

Apologize all you want, but librarians remember things.... forever. So, may I respectfully suggest that you should pack light because I hear it's hot in Hell.

More on Montreal ..... the pretty city

.... filled with a mixed bag of museums.

In our continuing efforts to get through my Montreal pictures, let me take you on a museum tour.

I'll admit it. I like museums. They usually are peaceful, designed for you to be in for long periods, and well-air conditioned/heated. What's not to like, right? I think my own lists of conditions for a great museum include art, lighting, relative quite, a nice cafe (preferred, but not required), strategic benches, and collections and physical sizing that can keep me occupied for most of a day. I did not always get that in Montreal.

First of the museum adventures was The Montreal Museum of Archaeology:



Admission is $14CND for adults and the whatever-were-they-thinking value was there, but not the museum value. They do a lovely tour that is quite long and informative, but if you can't stand for long periods on hard surfaces (no leaning allowed) and aren't fascinated by the sight of the remains of basement walls, then the tour is not so much for you. Of course, if you don't do the tour you might wander through in 15 minutes and wonder why you paid a looney a minute for your time. Of course, you might have paid that ticket fee as an alternative to joining a gym because the most frequent sight in the museum is stairs:

lots and lots of stairs

There are exhibits of artifacts:

But there aren't very many.
There are also great views from the 3rd and 4th floors of the tower:

All-in-all, even with reading and staring a lot on my own, the 45 minute tour, and wandering through the 3rd floor gift shop twice, I was still out of there in less than 2 hours. Sad. Very sad.

Next on my museum tour was the Montreal Museum of Modern Art. The $8CND admission is perfectly acceptable for a half-day museum adventure (that would be for the slow museum goer-- if you don't linger, don't plan on a half-day for this one).
Through October 4th you can visit a special exhibit by Christine Davis-- the only bit of the museum that really held my interest. I highly recommend spending at least a half hour watching her "Pas moi" piece.
You can go here to see a half decent picture. At least it gives you an idea of the piece.
It's a pair of boards covered-- literally from stem to stern in all sorts of buttons, kept in a dark room, that have phrases in French and English from Samuel Beckett shot on them from slide projectors (yes, I have to admit that I couldn't help contemplating how many really cool biscornu all those buttons could adorn). Maybe I was meant to be a magpie, but watching the sparkles change as the lightening/words changed on the piece thoroughly entranced me. At the end of each cycle of words, the boards are completely lit and trust me, you too will start thinking hard about making biscornu! I also have to admit that it warmed my heart to see antique buttons I have in a jar by my bed up there in the museum.
There's another pair of pieces in the Davis exhibit I'd recommend watching for a while. First, there's Did I Love a Dream?, which is an old film dance segment (Loie Fuller's serpentine dances in L'Apres-midi d'un faune) shown on/through drapes of copper screening-- very cool, trust me. And finally, there is "Euclid/Orchid" which is a transparency of a mathematical text shown on a live orchid plant. I know it sounds weird, but the effect is really neat.

Also worth the time at the museum is Robert Polidori installation of several rooms of large-scale photographs of distressed buildings, cities, etc. Ok, so maybe I really liked it because I tend to take those pictures too, but the exhibit is nice (and quite expansive) nonetheless. Usually i go through an exhibit and then go back to the pieces that I thought really talked to me. While there were several in this one that I thought really had my number, they didn't keep talking upon a second visit. Maybe the scale lends itself to an amazing first impression only. You can see some of the images in the collection and read a bit about it here.

Sorry to say there is no photography in the museum, but I can show you it's lovely outdoor fountain and sculptures:


Rainbow by Allard and Duchesneau:


sorry, I didn't get the name of this one:



Only one museum to go, but I simply have to quit. Sorry, I've been sitting in one spot too long and my fanny wants a wander. Oh, I'd also like lunch now that it's time for dinner. Hmmmm wonder if the fish taco place is open.

One last question-- anyone out there going to the North American Discworld Con next month in AZ? Wanna meet up? hee hee, yes, 2 scifi cons in 2 months--- what's not to love?!!?

Home and mostly .....

... over being peevish.

Our scenic tour of Montreal is going to be temporarily interrupted so I can bring you the "joys" of travel through O'Hare International Airport.

First of all, if I ruled the world:
1. every airport security checkpoint would be run as efficiently and orderly as Montreal's
2. every airport would be required to have enough seats at each gate to accommodate all the fannies potentially able to fly on the largest plane serviced by that gate +20%
3. all airports would be banned from trying to go green by shutting off their air conditioning systems
4. United Airlines would learn, to their shock, that Canada is not a U.S. state. (Their website says all international flights but Brazil don't have luggage fees. And two of their employees very patiently explained to me that Canada is not an international country. Dear dip sticks -- you have 2 choices, it's part of the U.S. or it's not. Here's a hint, it's NOT!)

I arrived at my departure gate at O'Hare to find 2 planes worth of people milling about in an area only half big enough for 1 plane-load of people. Seems like they were having a hard time getting flights to NYC so hundreds of people were stacked up directly across from the TSA entrance gates -- can you say walkway choke point?

The only places with air conditioning in O'Hare are the enclosed shops. Seems that in an effort to go green they've shut off the HVAC to the terminals. Great plan guys! Let's get lots of stressed people together, run them shoeless through security, have their planes habitually leave really late, and THEN let's turn off the air conditioning so it's at least 85 in the cramped corners you've shoved them into. Good thing you probably got most of their firearms during the security check.

I had 3 hours to "enjoy" O'Hare. It really is quite scenic, but it was too hot to notice much and it was a couple hours before there was anywhere for me to sit down so I was a little peevish even with the aesthetics. So I had plenty of time to work out an open letter to the powers that be---

Dear O'Hare Airport:
You have one of the world's 4th busiest airport. Congratulations. Given that you have this huge quantity to people walking through your terminal all day long every day of the year, whatever possessed you to buy the extra-wide motorized carts for transporting the handicapped about the airport?

If you had measured your aisles you would find that they are only wide enough for 2 skinny people to walk down them and still have room for your carts. And those skinny people only fit if they have no children with them, no rolling luggage following them, and they can't be walking together because then you'd have to allow room between the 2 of them.

And, I'm also wondering if you have extra maintenance fees on those carts or did you get extra-long warranties on the horns? Your drivers seem to find the most effective means of movement to be pushing the pedal tot he floor and honking continuously. Given that I watched one of your drivers purposely hit a woman because she didn't move fast enough in response to his honks, you might want to rethink your driver-training program. One of these days the odds are going to catch up with you and that "nudge-them-til-they-run" protocol is going to run smack dab (literally) into an attorney. Won't that be fun to watch?!

Finally on the O'Hare front, once I finally got a seat at my gate I was able to indulge in some prime time people watching. I'd like to share a few insights (please bear in mind I was in a very peevish state by this point)--
1. How do you choose to partner a shiny, plastic, tiger-fur print large tote with gold metallic trim with a small Burberry purse?
2. If you get a rolly cart the size of my purse (medium-ish -- say 12 inches high and wide and 4 inches thick) and a purse the size of a large bed pillow, aren't you getting things a little backwards?
3. Don't buy a rolly bag if you can't zip it closed on your laptop (honest, I saw several of them go by looking like pregnant accordion files with laptops and DVD players waving out the top).

Finally, Chicago changed my language of choice. There I was waiting for my plane and cataloging in my head all the things I thought O'Hare should fix. I got to like the 10th one in 10 minutes, and completely unbidden my brain giggled and said "manish tanah" (pardon my spelling). Yup, once in Chicago I seamlessly switched from Frussian to Friddish. [manish tanah -- why should this be any different]

Ok, you've been very patient with my rants, here's some Montreal scenery for you --


I loved this one:


There are lots of building shadows like this one which just make me smile:


They must really hate messengers:


A WorldCon-friendly doorfront in the old city--


Dear anonymous office person, I like you!:




If you're going to do construction, the least you can do is make your site look good:




Those are the cobblestones that didn't play nice with sandals.

Please not the distance from meter to parked car. It made me smile at least--

What I might have learned

It was WorldCon after all. I should have learned many things. I think I did.

1.I learned that sometimes a con with 4 million program offerings has maybe 3 million too many.
2. I learned enough about star maps and their history to find them even more fascinating despite them not being really what I expected. Ok, I am Hollywood, but I can't help it -- the first thing I thought (for about a minute when I read the panel title) was, well, you know, ***star*** maps -- here's where Paris Hilton parties, here's where George Clooney gets his coffee, etc.
3. I learned that Yarbro has a new St. Germaine coming out (yea)
4. I relearned that Fans are different. Sure we scare normal people (frankly, we kinda like that), but we are also pretty cool. For example, something like 200 of us were on the roof patio of the Palais to watch the fireworks and at the end of the show people (lots of them) started spontaneously putting chairs away. Not just putting them remotely near where they kind of went, but actually dividing the chairs between indoor and outdoor and distributing them evenly around the approproate tables. I was very proud. [Heck, there's at lesat one person in my office who if they open a kitchen cabinet or drawer to get a cup or spoon they just leave it open. I don't for the life of me know why.] So when we come to your town, don't be afraid. We'll probably leave it better than we found it.
5. I learned that Chicago's is not the only convention center suffering from you-can't-get-there-from-here-itis.
6. I learned that terribly serious economists can be quite funny. You'd think I'd have learned that by now, but no. How sad.
7. I learned that a sure way to get people talking about your hotel is to line the walls with fur. [more on that later... well, tomorrow probably]
8. I learned that it's really essential to hang with your tribe regularly.

*******

On the non-Con front I've learned a couple things already:
1. Cobblestones and sandlas are not the best of friends.
2. People almost always run from rain as if somehow it's going to hurt them.
3. Montreal is a pretty place filled with mostly nice people. [The grumpy ones are probably just visiting.]
4. They lie about that damn fountain! [I gave it 45 minuted tonight and still nothing-- liars!]
5. They have ridiculously small museums. [I say this now hoping to "jinx" myself tomorrow when I head tot he Musee des Beaux-Arts.]
6. I speak Frussian. The French is growing daily, but I'll probably always speak Frussian.
7. Sure they say the city bird is the American Goldfinch, but I've seen not a one. And I really, really like them too. Dang it.

Let's visit a little bit on Montreal before I go to bed. How can I be tired when I had a mini nap this evening?
Welcome to the Notre Dame Basilica, its stunning interior, its beautiful windows, and its wedding chapel:













That's St. Joan -- my personal favorite. hmmmm it's ben a long time since I've read anything about her.... hmmm....


And here's the convention stitching I **can** show you--
Quaker a la Six Mains has had roughly 8 motifs added to it, going from this:

to this:

And I started Shepherd's Bush "Adore" and got all the way to here:


nite nite --

Sigh

Can it really be over? Somewhere I must have missed a day. Surely someone stole Friday. Really? WorldCon is -gasp- done? Well, that was fast.

Let me try and catch you up on everything I was too tired for....

I have no pic to prove it, but the true highlight of the con for me was getting in a nice long chat with Kathryn. Go over and check out the cool Mill Hill she's working on. I also got a hug from Dani... via Kathryn -- Dani was visiting while I was watching Coraline. Thanks for the hug Dani!

I took my traditional picture of The Banner:

and of the "welcome sign" (usually this is a marquis outside, but the Palias does not do marquis so we got multiple tv screens instead)--

For those of you who might have experienced hideous confernece registration lines at your own conventions, allow me to show you how a well-handled reg area looks:

Good show, guys!

The Opening Ceremonies included a Cirque-training acrobat:


I went to reading by Nancy Kress:

(For the record neither Nancy nor any of the other folks are demons, it's just I'm not dealing with red-eye yet.)
and Walter Jon Williams

Jo Walton:

(who I think is my "find of the convention" -- I'd never read her before or gone to a reading, but after this reading I went trotting right off to pick up her book Farthing. She didn't read from it, but what she did read thoroughly captured me. Can't wait til that book comes out!)
and James Morrow:

Connie Willis:

who read from a new historians novel... back to the Blitz-- oh goodie!
Cory Doctorow:


I also went to a reading and a number of panels including S.M.Stirling and Charles Stross, but somehow those pictures are avoiding me right now. And I went to a reading By George R.R. Martin too. When asked by an audience member what he likes doing for fun, Martin replied: "Uhh, drinking and chasing women, but years ago I caught one."

There were the panels including the likes of:
Michelle (Sagara) West, Robert Silverberg, and Nick DiChario

Sean McMullen:

Nobel Prize economist, Paul Krugman:

Publisher Guest of Honor, Tom Doherty and fellow Tor editor, Beth Meacham:


I went to talks by Editor Guest of Honor, David G. Hartwell

and checked out his tie exhibit:

These two "cubes" are only 30-40% of his tie collection.

Missy and I fawned over the Hugo for this year-- it's absolutely beautiful!!!

Check out the cool base:


There were more Neil panels including this one where he was semi-camoflagued for a bit:

I'd like to share some Neil wisdom from his interview on "Finding Fandom"--
"The scifi book fairy always looked after me."
"People here know shit. People here know cool shit, and they know cool shit I don't know."

A panel of "elders" who didn't really discuss being a long-time sf author

That's Joe Haldeman, Elisabeth Vonarburg. Robert Charles Wilson, Connie Willis, and Pat Cadigan. [I did especially like Pat Cadigan on this panel who as she arrived huffed: "What's this?! You got me out of bed to tell me I'm old? Get off my lawn!!!"

I spent an evening with a significant number of fellow fen on the 7th floor balcony of the Palais watching the South African entry in the Montreal international fireworks contest:

The South African show is to be commended --

My favorites were the yellow and purple ones:

But then again I liked the close ups of these that make me think of galaxies far, far away:


I tried to experience the "alleged" flame show that the Palais fountain was supposed to provide hourly after 9pm. Here's what over an hour of waiting got me:





Yup, cool night-time fountain shots and smoke. No flames. I think that it's a trick by Canadians on tourists .... that picture of it I saw with its fire was probably just Photoshopped.
I did enjoy the beauty of the windows some more though:


I checked out the art inside the Palias too --
There's the pink forest:

and this really, really cool hanging piece:



The final pic of the con is, well, truly the final pic of the con. I made it back to my hotel today, turned the corner on my floor for my room and spotted this littel guy in the hall.

Ya gotta smile, right?

More, tomorrow, err later today on the continuing adventures in Montreal and, if we're both lucky, updates on my Con stitching.

Bonne nuit!

Wanna be jealous?

I just got back to the hotel from a screening of Coraline with Neil Gaiman. hee heee

Sorry, je suis fatigue. [The longer I'm here trying to be as native-friendly and polite as I can, the less Russian is popping up.] Tomorrow, maybe I'll be awake enough to chat more.