How can it only be Wednesday?????

Gads what a week. This no-weekend stuff is so disconcerting. At least I have a job.... for now... no whining (ok, not much whining) here. Thank Heavens for Thanksgiving and LosCon!!!!!!! I so can't wait.

Anyway, on a better front I finally managed to upload pics of stuff I've been up to that I got approval to share.
Here's Karen's RR from The Society.

I did the ever so amazing (snort) W, X, and C, oh and like 8 of the light green box frames.


Her linen's really nice to work on, but I want to have a chat with the folks at Prairie Schooler -- ya'll need to understand that the DMC you call "red" is brown. Honest to pete, folks, clean your glasses. That ain't red!

Well, that's it for now. I have more pics but someone didn't have time to load them into webshots today, so you'll just have to cross your fingers for this weekend. Oh, I get to work at the LNS again this weekend -- sore feet and much fun and, I hope, a distinct lack of "problem stitchers." Sheesh. "Do you think I should use this white? or this white?" Sure the first time with the first person is fine, the 4th time with every member of the staff on the 5th visit to the shop regarding the same question is WAY more than a "bit needy." My chants of "she's just lonley" and "it's hard to be her" only take me so far into the patient realm.

Have a great rest of your day!

Up to no good, as usual

Hey there. And a happy Sunday unto you and yours. Ok, so I sound a little punchy. I was at work for 12 hours yesterday and I'm in the midst of hour 5 today. I'm surrounded by dust and paper and non-functional equipment. Ahh, the joy of it all. I do get my chuckles though. For instance I opened a box I was getting ready to edit catalog records on and found......

... a petrified bagel. lol No, it's not mine. I think it probably belonged to the person who was scanning the box contents for me. At least it hadn't been adorned with cream cheese before being "lost" in my file boxes.

The office joys aside, I realize I hadn't shown my "huge" progress on Trilogy's Gathering of Hearts --

Oh yeah, I'm really flying! That's what, 4 lines and 2 hearts since last we visited this pattern. What I lack in speed I make up for in loyalty!

I have actually been stitching other things, but I'm not sure I can share the RRs I've been working on. You'll just have to wait until I get clearance to share. Sorry.

I also owe some pictures of my last Vikki Clayton package. I took advantage of her hand-dyed fabric sale and got myself a package of the "naturals"--




Cool, huh? And I also picked up a couple "grab bag" spools while I was at it--

If you didn't know, she's currently got all of her existing silks on sale since she's switching to a different base silk type--- half off all silks is nothing to sneeze at!

I have a question/thoughts for you. It's actually Julie's question. In her post for today Sunday the 16th Julie asks "Does what's on TV or the music you listen to make you stitch faster?"
Initially I thought "nah." After all, if I'm even glancing at the TV then I'm not stitching. But then again I recently realized something hysterical (at least to me). You see I'm an NCIS fan. If you've hung out here, you know that. Anyway, it was just last month that I discovered that there are actually titles for the episodes that show up on the screen. Seems I'm not really "watching" so much as listening while I stitch. lol Anyway, in my life I theorize that:
1. Really good TV slows my stitching because I'm too drawn to the screen to bother with my needle.
2. Good TV (or really good TV I've seen before) speeds up my stitching because I can listen, enjoy the episode and yet concentrate on my stitching without realizing how focused I am on my stitching.
3. Bad TV (or the lawyer parts of Law and Order) slow my stitching because I have to put it down to switch channels in hopes of something more entertaining.

That's way too much thought isn't it?

Go have a great rest of your day!

BTW-- Nic is having a giveaway on her site. Check the post for Friday. ... Good luck!

It's a funny ole world

So, I get to the surgeon's office and fill out my paperwork. I have my whole head x-ray (yes, they did find something, very funny). Mr. Surgeon comes in flips up the xray and gives a laughing snort -- "no way we can take this out under a local. We've got to put you under." They couldn't do that yesterday so I had an appointment for this morning, but that got cancelled when I didn't have a way to get to/from said appointment and when my sister found out that I'd just be going home afterwards. Apparently some of her friends have done some "interesting" things under the influence of the gas and post-op drugs so she was having none of it unless I promised to do it when I could go stay with someone for at least 24 hours.

I now have an appointment for January... also a sister's idea since I can fund the medical saving account program and use that to pay the potential bill.

Oh the fun of it all! I thank you for all your good wishes. No doubt the helped stave off some utter disaster that would have befallen me should I have had my tooth yanked out yesterday.

Since I've gotten a reprieve, I'm going to take this chance to share last weekend's fun. It all began Friday night when we celebrated my needlepoint buddy, Jenn's bday. Here's a terrible pic of the bday girl (her actual birthday was in October.... never let it be said I rush into anything!)--

She's holding up her latest Mindy canvas that she's doing for her mom. The black squares get gold musical note charms on them.

And here's the entertainment for the evening:

You see our friend Judy who was partying with us likes animal shows. The one she found for us was on Spanish tv. I insisted that we weren't going to watch Spanish television so she muted the volume and cooed over the cheetahs. The funniest thing was it meant she had to quit stitching because since she had no audible clues for what was going on she couldn't take her eyes off the screen for fear of missing something.

On Saturday I went and played at my needlepoint shop. Check out the goodie on the table --


The shop teacher did this piece. I like to think of it as the perfect diet cake.

Jenn and I had come in through the back door so part way through the morning she said I needed to check out the front windows. Our shop owner goes all out decorating for holidays. So here's what I found in the main window--

It wasn't until later when I was wandering by the window again that I noticed something --

See! I lead the list of "Nice" little girls.... for once in my life! lol

As long as I'm featuring the shop decorations I'll share the dollhouse semi-replica of the shop that lives in the window --


Isn't it cool?

While spending the day gabbing and stitching on Karen's Society RR I took a little time to do the floss toss (aka color changing) for the LK flip-its that I got that cool fabric from Mary of M Designs for --

Once again I've changed most of the colors, but I like these better than the onces called for, but they still go with the nifty fabric. Now I'm itching to start stitching. At the moment I'm leaning towards doing it over one. Am I nuts?

Finally, while at the shop I found a canvas that will be my reward for when I finish 5 canvases already in my stash --

For this one I'll even... gasp... do French knots.

torture

So, my friends, send me painless thoughts, I'm going in tomorrow to have a wisdom tooth yanked brutally from my poor jaw.... err removed. Last night I went and picked up some flan, double-chocolate pudding cups, and cream of chicken soup. If I have to be miserable, I might as well have soft foods I'm fond of.

See ya in a couple days.

Oh, some stitching for the road...

This is the lovely square I received from April for the Fair and Square fall round. Don't you just love the colors?

Here's what I sent April:

I just love that little house. Hmmmm I see it getting stitched again in my future.

The tail (err tale) end of Fall Fling and some stitching updates

Hey there troops -- I think I can finally close out my Myrtle Beach photo extravaganza today. At long last! Seems like I've been "talking" about Pals Fall Fling muuuuuch longer than I was at Fall Fling. lol

First of all you should know that in the midst of all that stitching, stashing, gift exchanging, showing off, and goofing around, we play some "organized" (as much as you can organize a herd of cats) games. Miss Steph from FL started this a few years back to keep us occupied while the votes in the Stitcher's Showcase were tallied. Usually we play several rounds of themed bingo and have another couple games. This year we did one game involving sucking and blowing and counting Sweet Tarts -- I suppose it should surprise no one that Martine excelled at this! hee hee Now, I have no pictures of this particular game because I was either coughing up a lung or laughing so hard I was crying upon the discovery that those Sweet Tarts are kinda dusty and when you try and suck them (up off a table top with a straw) you get a mouth, throat, lung full of candy dust. BTW, through my hazy of laughter and wheezing I did note that when it comes to sucking candy Pals are VERY serious competitors! Oh, oops, I do have one picture of this:

That's an anonymous hand at my table touching the bag of Sweet Tarts, cups, and straws right after we were told "do not touch the bag in the center of your table." Ok, we're real rebels... practically the Hells Angels of Pals.

Anyway, we settled into some nice rounds of bingo and I can happily report that "O Squirrel" made its return this year as a bingo square. I was over the moon with glee every time it got called. Hey, it's the little things.

In the bingo event our card markers are candy corn which most people just pile in their hands (mouth) or on the table in front of them. But such sloppiness could not be tolerated in some quarters....

I ranged clear across the room to find that Hildit and her husband William had artistically arranged their candy corn. Turns out there is a reason they are so artistic. Not only does Hildit wield a mean needle but William does these amazing sand sculptures. He had included some of his work in Hildit's gift box for the exchange and I was chatting with him about them and he kindly volunteered to send me a sample of his work. Lookie the goodies that appeared in my mail:



Aren't they gorgeous? I'm a lucky ole so and so!

Also to prove I was lucky at Pals, let me show you some of the goodies I got given by folks. Miss Rita gave me this totally cute snowman stocking stuffed with the ever-so-handy stitch ripper:

Martine gave me this bundle of goodies"

And I even won this pouch of goodies (Sampler Threads wools) for stitching the most ornies in the exchange --


My final " Fall Fling moments" are actually Chris' couch moment. You see she has this really comfy couch, and I took over one end of it to pack on.

I'm pretty certain I'm fondling stash instead of packing in this shot, but I'm not certain what stash it is. I do know that's my Vierlanden sampler sitting patiently next to me hoping I'd get back to work on it soon.
While I was packing Chris was fondling her stash. She did quite well. I mean, check out the bag:

Are you like me? Do you get the overwhelming urge to go through that there bag. I have stash up the wazoo and still I want to fondle everyone else's.

This is my proof I did take advantage of the joys of Chris' couch --

Those are my not-so-tiny feet in the glow-in-the-dark walking shoes propped up on the very cushy foot rest.
Here's what we were supposed to be doing while I was enjoying couchy bliss --

Hanging stitching pieces! How did I miss that??? Next time, Chris?

And here's my proof that I did pack and that I did get it all in one bag AND that I wasn't over the baggage weight limit--

Yup, 48 pounds of stash and stuff. Aren't you proud of me?

Ok, a couple stitch updates before I head out for the night....

The fife and drum. Yes, I had wanted to drop them at Chris' framer, but it was more than clear that the only way they were going to get done was if I stopped working on my ornament for the class and that wasn't going to happen.

The Vierlanden did get out and got some stitching time. For 2009 can ya'll help me remember that I really, really want him finished by the end of next year? Please.

Black Swan's Dragon's Lair now has sparkly bits on it. While I stitch with 2 strands of blending filament and 1 strand of floss I chant in my head "this is fun this is fun," but eventually the chant morphs to "this isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be."

And finally, I have recently been itching to start new things so I have tried to ease that urge by hauling out pieces I haven't worked on in forever. Hence my Quaker a la 6 Mains returned for some work. It really is a lot of fun to do.

More soon... I promise (I hope).

As luck would have it, or, The winners are....

Thanks to everyone for the blogiversary wishes. You're all too kind. Dang this `net thing is fun, isn't it?!

My blogiversary RAK (Random Act of Kindness) winners are:
Lennu
Mercy
Vonna
Hildit
Shelleen
Sherry
xstitch.nl
Snip
SallyMI
LindainMA
Nelapx
Sharon
Hazel
VerOn!c@

I was going to pull 13 to dispel that whole "unlucky #13" thing, but Hazel and Veronica stuck together....... mayhaps the world is trying to tell me something about the #13?

So folks, can you email me at rbehling1916 at yahoo dot com [making that into a real email address -- no spaces, an actual "." and "@"] and let me know your "real" names and addresses?

I'll get working on things-- remember I'm a slow stitcher so don't camp at your mailbox yet! Oooo. I'm so excited. I've had startitis for a week now and now I have the perfect excuse! Thanks!

Today's the day!

Well, I made it through another year of fairly-regular blogging.

Pull up a glass, and celebrate with me!

Today's the last day to sign in for the giveaway .... check out the ""present" post below and comment on that if you want in on the action.

BTW, I woke up this morning convinced it was Friday. Imagine my change in mood when I discovered it was only Thursday. Sigh.
***********
By popular demand, everyone is welcome at the celebratory dessert buffet -- A little bit of all of my personal favorites (and a couple cakes you're not allowed to cut becuase they are just too cool....






hee hee -- Aren't my art-cakes cool?



And one thing you will NEVER have on my party circuit --

OMG, Bacon-topped chocolate chip cookies???!?!?!?!?!? Ick.

Pals Fall Fling – Grab Bags, Gift Boxes, and STASH!!!!!

Yes, it’s time for one of the favorite Pals’ traditions – the Grab Bag exchange. It works like all those little office/society exchanges where you can pilfer from people in the room or just take an item from the table. Great hilarity happens… especially when people start humming the Jaws theme as folks troll the room.

The Table of grab bags before the fun began --- note the wide range of packaging…..







Some grab bags make their presence known. This year there were some of special fondness to the room –
There was the pile of boxes (whose color combo was apparently perfect for several someones’ houses) which Sharon wanted her picture taken with since she didn’t figure she’d actually get to take it home.

Here's Karen with the trolley which was very popular:


There was the totally cute cookie jar:

I think she might have gotten to take the cookie jar home, but it was a close thing.

There was the barking jingle dog stocking (his ears wave up and down in time to carols….. many people laughed until the cried over this one). Beth posed with him in hopes that her Lily would get to use it this Christmas. I think grandma is going to have to make Lily a stocking this year. Lol


There was the one I had to fight for:

And boy was I lucky! It turned out be Jane from Fancy Work’s box which she had filled with:

And a note in the box said to see her for what wouldn’t fit in the box. What wouldn’t fit in the box was the stunning Olde Colonial basket --


Yup, I was very, very lucky!

I should note that the box and the goodies in the box relate to an upcoming set from Jane. She’s redoing the set she created to go with the Hershey’s red, white, and blue tin—

--into antique colors. Cool, eh? Go ahead. Be jealous. I can understand. Hee heee

On Saturday night we move the swiping fights to the Gift Box Exchange. But here, if you pick a box from the table you go to the center of the room and open it for all to see... then go back to your chair and hope no one steals it.

That's Hildit checking out the cool contents of a pair of trunks. I got to hold on to those for a while. Not long though. lol I was in the midst of reading a cool "reading Diary" that was included in them when they were swiped from me.

And here's Tracey opening the goodie box from Hildit (which included these cool sand scultures her husband William does-- more about them later!)



At long last, the Stash Report.

Yes, it’s true. I got a lot of stash between the Lazy Daisy in Raleigh, Mary’s shop (Cross Stitchville), Amy’s goodies, the Stash Room, and the orientation pack. But I should note that almost everything I got on sale! See, I was trying to be good…. For a relative value of good.

I’ve decided to go with a pictorial review of the stash collection. The list seemed a bit showy.



















Yes, as a matter of fact, I DO think there ought to be an award for stashing.