Mega Adventuring.... with a little Mini on the Side

Ok, this has to be quick because 7 million things await my attention, but I had to drop in and wave at y'all.

I am freshly back from:

On the flight there was a little stitching:

While I was in transit and in SF, I was generally sustained by:   [note: distinct absence of a check mark for decaf]

I enjoyed pretty views:

I had to put up with a lot of this:     [sheesh-- you'd think everyone in town had season seats!]

 But I made it the the Ferry Building farmer's Market and enjoyed my traditional Saturday of race weekend breakfast -- the one of the left -- salmon, cream cheese, farm-fresh tomatoes, red onion, and capers (capers $.50 extra, but well worth it!):

I was with friends (and family):

And we had a serious reason to be there:

My own personal reasons -- a desire for a world where I no longer needed these honor-tags and did not need to tie my hair up in yards of purple and green.

Now, go have yourself a good day.  That is an order.   More adventure news will follow.

I Think My Needles Were Cursed by Gypsy Sloths

Yes, gentle reader, I do believe my needles are cursed.  Possibly they were once owned by someone who snubbed a Gypsy?  Maybe I can do some sort of cleanse for them--- use only green floss for a week (the needle equivalent of juice cleanses???).  I feel they are cursed because, after a productive busy active occupied weekend, all I have to show for my stitching adventures are these:

Ethel has a full flower basket (yet another reminder to my little badger brain -- never again bother with Thread Gatherer ribbons from heck!!!!   Never.  Ever.   Don't get me wrong, I think they look pretty and I love the color variegation but the edge shredding is so not worth it.)

And my Mega Mini piece #1 made it this far (and only because I kinda pushed the bedtime border last night):

Honestly -- you see why I think my needles are cursed, right?  I mean if they aren't cursed then I would have to face the fact that I am a very, very slow stitcher who has a propensity to nap.

This is just a little bit of shop humor for you -- I worked at my LNS this weekend.... well volunteered really and spent a good part of the day opening shipping boxes and trying to find out where a customer went wrong in their count on a Victorian counted lace piece.  Never did work that out-- though we did come up with a fine plan to fudge it.   Anyway, parked in front of our door all day was this sight:

Nope, the tires weren't flat.  No, they weren't parked in a hill/on a slope.   Exactly how much weight do you have to put on one side of a Mercedes SUV to make it tilt like this?

I wish you a peaceful and productive day (without cursed needles).  And I leave you with thoughts for Formula 1's Jules Bianchi who was badly injured in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix.  The F1 community has rallied around him and his family and team most graciously--may that help them all.

Progress? or Shearing Season Hits Needlepoint Row

We do this because it is fun, right?  We aim for accomplishful relaxation, correct?  Well, last night my "progress" was un-accomplishing this sheep on Ethel --

I know it is all my fault.  I made bad choices.  So Spot (why exactly did we paint a giant eye on this sheep??????) went from that, through this.....

... to this.   Now he has to wait until I find flosses to match the Silk and Ivories to stitch his face in.

Hence I moved on from Spot to some flowers, and I learned a vital lesson in the process --

-- that Thread Gatherer ribbons are a pain the the ba@@ket.  I used short lengths, treated them gently, and the edges frayed like crazy within 4 stitches.  Good thing a French knot bouquet will hide that. Memo to self, must find better ribbons--- any suggestions?

As a lucky accomplishment that I had nothing to do with other than to enjoy the fruits of the mail service -- check out the totally awesome squares that Jennifer of Sweet Pea Stitches made me for the latest round of Fair and Square--

And she even included this special goodie -- a fob she made herself!

How pretty are these little floral beads?!

The first thing they made me think of were Mindy canvases -- you know all those tiny little precision dots and swirls she does.

Then I thought of this little mosaic broach my Grandma wore for special church occasions.   Hmmm, I think I have that.  I need to hunt it up.

I'll close with my tiny little bit of progress on the Mega Mini October event being hosted by Pull the Other Thread  I'm really rather liking working on this little thing.  I've spent my year 90% committed to giant projects and I forgot how I relied on little pieces to buoy my enthusiasm.

Back to that disaster that is my desk......   Have a wonderful day!

I smiled

So just now as I opened my little ole online sett (badger homes/dens are called setts for those of you uninitiated into the wonderful world that is the life of my favorite critters who look remarkably like  a ferocious dust mops) and the quote that popped up on the sidebar was:

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, 

and on the good writing days nothing else matters.” —Neil Gaiman

Immediately I thought that it's almost right -- in my world that would be

"Tomorrow may be hell, but today is a good reading and stitching day,

and on good reading and stitching days nothing else matters."  -- Me 

It works for me and makes me smile.  I bet it works for you too,  Can I hear an Amen?

On the happy front, look who started her Mega Mini thingy --

That's a start on the little purple and peach house in this pic:

I know it is early days yet, but I'll get there.

Oh, there was fun yesterday in the Fortune 500.  There was a Rivals Rally for a Kure event-- rival local teams getting together to raise money for cancer research.    My beloved Bruins showed valiantly versus the dreaded cross town scoundrels,,,, who brought their blooming horse!

Of course, in the name of cancer research, yours truly bought the shirt --

If one of these events pops up in your city, go -- it's fun and friendly and for a good cause.

Happy stitching and reading to all and to all a good morning!

Smugly proud and eager

Dearest Gentle Reader -- A happy Monday to you and yours.  (Why, yes, I'm hanging on to my perky with both hands this morning.  How could you tell?)  After an utter slugfest of a weekend I am proud to show some actual accomplishments off for my time.  It feels like I get so little done-- do you get that too?   You know you were doing things all weened/evening and yet for the life of you it seems unclear what they were when you look around or try and explain to the officemates on Monday morning.  Or even more vexing to me is the periods spent doing absolutely nothing when I could have been doing something (ie. stitching and reading.... ok, ok.  Maybe even *gasp* cleaning.).

Anyway, today I can show true progress.

First off my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraising piece is done -- complete now with Swarski crystal flowers -- which I must say really did finish it off nicely.  It was supposed to look like the pic on the left and I thing it made it.

And, as if that isn't glory enough, Ethel's festival-going ladies are all now fully clothed (assuming hats don't count)

And now for the Eager Alert (aka-- the Uh-Oh-She's-Getting-In-Trouble-Again Alert).  I singed for Pull the Other Thread's Mega Mini Month Maddess.  Do one small piece each week for October.   Now normal people should be able to do this.  "Normal" being the key word.  I need to acknowledge that my stitching moods are not normal, and therefore it is highly unlikely I will stay on task for this as well as keep up everything else I need to get done.  But what the heck, it sounds like fun.

The first order of business is of course selecting my alleged 5 minis.  First I thought of my lingering friends, LK's Flip-Its.  They've been waiting for me to finish them for years.  I pulled these 5 out as the top of the pile to get done:

Then I started thinking (always a sure sign that trouble is about to befall us) about all those cute little Christmas patterns languishing around Chez Hovel, and a few post-its later these popped to the fore:

You have to admit he's a lovely goose.

 And those 4 houses are certainly mini and downright darling.

And what about this scamp one over one?

I've always thought this jay looked particularly fetching.

 Who can resist a snowy lighthouse?

Christmas bells always make me smile.

I can see some color adjusting making this winter scene simply perfect for me.

And, well, he's just cool.

So there we have it -- my 15 possibilities for the Mega Mini adventure.  Yup, insane as charged.   Anyone else want to join the insanity?  Aww, come on.  It'll be fun.

Good and Bad and Fridays

Hello world --- And a happy Friday unto you and yours.  Today I'm going to be accomplishful dang it  --- even if it kills someone.  Probably not me, probably today will be most likely fatal for a member of the corporate IT staff.  Don't worry, it will be justifiable.

In the happy world, here is my nearly done piece.  She needs some flowers (mostly likely will be floral sequins) to be completely done.   Oh happy days!   The sun rays are, for the record, alternating strings of beads -- yellow, orange, and red.

I was awash in near-done happiness so I unearthed my old Prairie Moon friend and got a little more lake put in and started a new building:

Then I felt the urge for something really new --- stop me before complete idiocy sets in!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm sorry;  I couldn't stop myself.  It was like an alien took over my body.--- yeah, that's it.  It wasn't me, officer, it was that alien who started yet another needle project despite there being dozens of languishing ones in the vicinity.

And I fear the insanity will continue.....    I kitted this up:

 Sigh.   It will never stop will it?   Is there a class on controlling my startitis I can take to help?


Oh, but check out this guilt-free bit of happiness--   My buddy Jenn (who I should by rights be annoyed with because after all this whole needlepoint distraction if entirely her fault!!!!!) brought this  lovely magnet back for me from ANG.  It really is cool and I'm very lucky she tolerates my fussing at her for the needlepoint addiction.

Oh Lord -- you don't think I'll get addicted to magnets now do you?  Argh

Ok, I'm going to sally forth and conquer my desk.  The first idiot that wanders p with another plan for my day is toast!  Have a great Friday and a fabulous weekend!

Isn't that always the way?

Surely this is a thing all of us share.   You're nearing the finishing line-- you can taste the sweetness of completing a project and getting it out of the UFO/WIP pile --- and what happens?  You run out of thread. [and the swearing commences.....]

This weekend I was pet sitting and I got to here (below) on my Leukemia and Lymphoma fundraising piece (the right to have a custom ornament was auctioned off at a corporate fundraiser and the woman that won wanted me to do a cube commemorating both her daughter's art and her new home):

and I'm out of Flair (the skinny, zig-zag, veritcal-ish rows).  I had another card with me and ready, but seriously?  Twenty-five stitches from the end I need to start a fresh card?  Sure.   lol

On other fronts--  check out the cool needle minder my shop owner brought me from the Dallas Cash and Carry.  She's very blingy isn't she?  I'm calling her Katye after my great aunt Kayte who would certainly have worn this with pride on her "out to dinner" coat.

And, I want a round of applause for my latest finish.   Here are my "nature" inspired squares for our friend Sweet Pea in the FandS exchange--

They are modified from a pattern in Kooler's 555 Timeless Cross-Stitch Patterns and done in a combo of DMC and Belle Soie on a blue linen.  For the record, I know you are supposed to use neutrals for F&S, but I got Sweet Pea's permission to go blue.

Oh, since I mentioned the pet sitting gig I thought I'd share one of my charges unique approach to resting--

Honest and true this is his favored resting position regardless of locale -- hardwood floor, carpet, chair, doggy bed.  I have yet to understand how he can do this on the hardwood floor because he'll be sound asleep with all 4 feet in the air.  I don't get how he doesn't roll over and wake himself up.  Silly dog.

Ok, dear peeps,  I have to run... it's not that I don't love you.  It's that my desk looks like this:

Happy Stitching!