Focus?

Hello Gentle Readers.  Welcome to July.  I for one would like to know how *that* happened!  It seems like I only just finished opening Christmas presents.  Possibly we could start a petition drive for longer minutes...... especially those minutes between Friday at like 6:30pm (after the commute home) and Sunday at midnight.  Who's with me?

I have been focusing in as much as my fuzzy little brain can on my engineer nutcracker.  The goal is to be able to turn him in on Saturday for finishing.  I am making decent enough progress, but those little "x" filler stitches of Petite Sparkle Rays are slow.  Memo to self:  on the next nutcracker, please have fewer filler stitches and there's no need to cross them.

Last weekend the "country club" (aka needlepoint group) met to stitch a little and lo and behold, but my special order of the next nutcracker is in, and why, yes, I did instantly put it on bars and pull threads.

Also in the order was this little darling -- he pops up into an Easter egg.

He makes me think of growing up when my mom would decorate for Easter.  She always did this one table in the living room for Easter with fancy sugar and paper eggs, fluffy chicks in all sorts of colors, and candles shaped like bunnies.   The only other non-Christmas holiday we decorated for was Thanksgiving, and that was an elaborate cornucopia on the kitchen counter and a bunch of themed candles.  Halloween we ignored, and to this day I still don't really get the fascination with decorating for Halloween.  If it takes a village, mine was apparently not into Halloween.

Go forth and have a peaceful day!

****************
Pratchett thought of the day:

What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge

of a major branch of government?—apart from, say, 

the average voter.

Going Postal – Terry Pratchett

Trying to be responsible.... aka Look, Mom, two updates in one week! (or April Fool's!)

Don't faint.  Oh wait.  you already did.  I knew the shock of me posting twice in a week might be too much for some.  I'm just going to go ahead -- once you have recovered you can join us.

This really would be an awesome April Fool's joke--I can hear it spread like wildfire across the web :
        "Hey, did you hear?  Musing Badger did two posts in one week!"  
        "No way, seriously?... Are you sure?"   
        "I'm just saying what I *heard*."   
        "Really?  It's awfully hard to believe.  Who told you?"
        "Some bloke in the pub........"
        "Hey wait, what's the date today?"
        "April 1st. Why? --- Ohhhhhhhhh."
        "I knew it couldn't be true."



However much you doubt, it is true AND I actually do stitch --

Here are the two smalls I got finished last month.  First, my little "Golden Manse" which required so many color changes it's not even funny.  The pattern had to have been put together by someone with no sense of color whatsoever.  I took it in a "Craftsman" but perky direction.

And my little Ho Ho Ho with all the snow in the trees

And lookie here -- my flag came out and Massachusetts is nearing full statehood!

I even managed to get and keep blogger from flipping on its side when it was uploaded a picture of this gem from the 80% off bin (aka Badger's Playpen).   The Bin of Destiny/Budget Busting Central actually yielded 2 of these.  I figured if I had one, my sister would want one too.  He will become a cube of cuteness.  I have started pulling threads for the little bugger..... there goes this month's SFS budget.

And check out my new little turtle buddy.  He arrived as a birthday present from a friend in Alaska who had been visiting Hawaii.  He perked up my day no end.  And he's already made friends with one of my badgers.

Sally forth and have a wonderful day!

SFS and Smalls Stitching (aka as Smalls to the Rescue)

Here we are -- it is both the final day for reporting January Stitching from Stash "accomplishments" and the January reporting check-in day for the Smalls SAL.  And, as luck would have it they go hand-in-hand for me this month.

SFS Report:

Month:   January

Spent:    $59   ( I CAN EXPLAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Earned:  $12

January Financial Summation:  -$47

Overall January Summation:  Sigh.

So, gentle readers, here were my shopping downfalls-- explanations will follow......  

You see my needlepoint store does one sale a year.  Just one.  365 days in a year and we have only 14 of them where we have merchandise discounted.  It is always just after TNNA, the big needlepoint/needlework tradeshow in January.  What's a girl to do??????   Usually I go to TNNA with the shop crew, but this year they moved the show up two weeks and I was still back east while they were glorying in the wonders of new stuff in Phoenix (apparently a lot of the wonder was that there was not a lynching of the guy who *had* to smoke in the men's room at the conference center, got caught, and threw his lit cigarette into the trash can thus catching the trash on fire and forcing the evac of the center and the extreme ire of the vendors who were in the middle of taking many orders).
So, usually I'm at the show and getting in PLENTY of trouble while I'm there, but this year I got in trouble in the shop at the sale.   All the above canvases were freshly dumped in the 80%-off bin!   Can you believe it?  I couldn't help myself!   Oh, come on!  You know you couldn't resist either.   Heck, that Ewe and Eye reindeer I actually already have as an XS pattern and still I couldn't leave it be!.... the stitch and thread options will be way cooler for it as a needlepoint anyway.

All that means that by the middle of January I had ONLY spent $34 on three needlepoint canvases (yes, $34 for all three canvases!!!!!), and I was already over budget.  Those of you with keen eyes will note that the Thanksgiving canvas has an array of threads on it.  Wellllllll, there I was $34 already spent, and then I remembered that my friend, Jean, was working at the shop last weekend and she'd done this amazing Fall rooster, so I grabbed my new Thanksgiving piece and trotted it off to have her help pick threads because the ones on the stitch guide that came with the piece were just not going to cut it.   Cha-ching.... another $25 in threads for a canvas that I won't even start anytime soon (at least I think I won't, but I taped it so maybe.....).

I will fess up now that it would be even worse for me if it weren't for the fact that I pay wholesale for those threads.   Can you imagine how shamed-faced I would have to be at full retail?????

Now for the Smalls SAL Report -- Also known as:  Smalls to the Rescue!

 After the ramifications of my two week's of shopping adventures really dawned on me, I began a frantic (and doomed) rescue campaign of trying to get some stitching done to help counteract my spending.  In the last 10-12 days I have started and finished these darlings which will all become ornies for Christmas this year.:

The pair of bells is for me and my sister in honor of our mom who was in the church bell choir for years (so was I --- I miss those bells!).  The pattern is from one of those 365 patterns books... I'll look it up for you later.  They are done in Belle Soie save for the light red which is a Sampler Thread.  For the record this is Bell #2--

I think we probably all recognize the glorious fun that is a JBW tree.  In Belle Soies and it's all mine!   At least for right now I think I get to keep it.

Bell #1

That is what I have been up to.   I am now going in search of either Shopping Blinders or a spine to help me be more balanced in February.

Oh, on the reading front, I have to say that I am really liking King.  I'm shocked I tell you.  Shocked.  I was a fan of his stance in support of genre fiction (in the face of "literary" fiction snobs), but I was always certain he was not for me -- I have a very willing suspension of disbelief which makes me exceedingly prone to getting freaked by books/TV.  Mind you, it's early pages yet since I've been stitching nonstop, but I am happily impressed. 

Sally forth and have a great day!

and the Adventure Continues.....

to follow on the list of things I've done while holidaying "this" year which yesterday's post stopped in the middle of... :

6. Went on the Christmas tree hunt to Snickers Gap Tree Farm (if you are in Northern VA and need a tree, I highly recommend the folks at Snicker Gap. Beautiful trees and nice cider too!). We were successful --

That's the BIL and Christopher (we named the tree) off to have our freshly cut prize bundled for the car. (That's also my current wallpaper because I just love that picture. It makes me smile.)
It was a hard decision though. I mean look at this--

How do you choose from those beauties? But, in the end we picked a winner and Christopher was ensconsed in the living room (frankly he just took it over) and the BIL did his lighting magic

For the record, apparently there's a rule that lawyers must take calls while decorating Christmas trees so the blue tooth was essential to the lighting process.

7. I got to help decorate the tree. No biggie, right? I mean everyone whose family decs trees does this, right? Oh, you poor soul. You have never experienced my sister's tree.

The 7 trays of ornaments in this picture are only one-half of day one decorating (and that's starting with the really big ornaments). We did 3 days on the tree this year. And we only made it out in 3 days because we skipped 2 boxes of ornaments. Eventually I'll have a finished ornie count and decorated pictures for you, but not today.

8. I entertained my little nephew --

That's a shot of complete concentration while we attempted to set the record for largest yellow pyramid built entirely from Legos at the National Building Museum's Lego play room. We did have some minor discussion about two-thirds of the way through because Aunt Ruth who was the official "Yellow Block Finder" for the development could not find another two block yellow to save her life. There was much consternation and arguing and cajoling (all from him at me), but finally education prevailed. You see I put my social science degree to work and explained the functions and design of Egyptian pyramids and opined that the tan-colored two space block I had found for the far interior of the pyramid would be the perfect "Pharoh's Treasure." That was agreed upon and work continued. Ultimately this solid-- completely solid piece was produced:

It weighs more than my laptop I think. LOL Some poor museum volunteer was going to have to take that all apart later in the day. I wonder what they thought of Phoroh's Treasure. lol
While The Little One completed his grand design, his aunt made towers and played with color concepts

Yup, those are close-ups of my fine work. Impressive, eh?

9. Got stash! Yes, stash! My sister and I hunted down In Stitches (not an easy task if you follow the google directions either. But we made it and she *forced* me to buy:





Yes, Virginia, apparently I needed more stash.... NOT. Hey, should I make these 4 of the requisite 15 Crazy January starts?

10. I saw the Wise Men's way to the baby Jesus illuminated by the light of a giant menorah

Sorry, this made me giggle. In between the cold and the giggling I got a blurry pic.

11. I spent a totally "traditional" Christmas Eve day going to The Copper Fox Distillery, a small Northern Virginia distillery, and learning how they made their single malt scotch. Honest and true, that's what we did for Christmas Eve day--

The Copper Fox in his Christmas best.

The distillery is a small 3 person operation (well 7 if you count the cat, 2 dogs, and the baby) that is producing some absolutely marvelous single malt under the name Wasmund's (the owner). We brought some bottles home and they are absolutely yummy! Go, explore their site, visit the family, and have a lovely libation. And, if you are contemplating a visit but you are thinking to yourself, "Ruth, it sure would be more compelling if there were more attractions in the area.. maybe a museum or something..." I can set you mind at ease. Not only is the countryside the next best thing to a landscape painting, but the Distillery backyard his home to The Decoy Museum--

lol Sorry, I didn't ask for a tour. It was Christmas Eve afternoon and I thought I ought to let them finish wrapping their presents.

12. .... to follow .......

Continuing happy New Year!

P.S. Diane is brilliant! Go check out her take on a theme for 2011 and see if you agree. I left her a comment saying if she started a challenge, I'd be in!!!