A Cross Stitching Partner????

The biggest news this Summer for us has been that ...IT IS A GIRL !!!!!!!!

Can you believe it?? I who thought only boys were in my future will be having a beautiful baby girl in February. My due date is considered to be February 17, 2010.... but since it will be a scheduled C-section, we get to pick a date at least one week prior to the due date.

Of course, I am either thinking February 12 or February 14. One of the reasons I am leaning toward February 14 is that it is a Sunday. Big brother will be home and starting his Winter vacation which makes it easier for us. I am not really big on drving into the city on a Friday morning in the middle of rush hour.

February 14 is also Valentine's Day. I know it is sappy and corny but I think it is romantic and so feminine too.

Speaking about feminine, lots of changes have come about in the choosing of cross stitch nursery designs. Wow.... lots of changes in everything really. There is a whole new mindset which makes me think that I was not expecting a girl at all. Even though the first thing I said when I found out I was pregnant was that it was a girl. Wierd, huh? At the 10th week I changed my mind, even though I was so attracted to pink and girly things. All of a sudden when I felt the baby move, I went with the old wives' tale that males are more active than female babies in utero and that males move sooner........ guess not!

So far I have had five sonograms. She is very active and strong. Good for her because mommy is having a very rough time. This pregnancy has been very hard on my body. I remind myself to enjoy every moment and cherish every kick and movement, but there are times I think I am going to drop from sheer exhaustion.

My kidneys and my lungs are suffering the changes the most. At this stage, forget the stretch marks, they are the least of my worries. I just want to make it through to February.

Only crafts I have done are crocheting and a tiny bit of cross stitching (very few stitches). So far I am crocheting a blanket in pink and raspberry which is looking very very pretty. Plus, there is a bit of stitching done on a cross stitch piece for the baby's room. I will show it in my next post.

Thanks for passing by and caring about my blog. Sorry I haven't been around, but I will surely blog more now that my cutest projects are on the horizon.

By the way, for some reason my hotmail account is not working and I do not understand Facebook much, soooo I am pretty much in techie limbo right now. If you have emailed me and I have not answered, that is why.

Sweet stitches to all.....

Baby Cross Stitch Ideas

Ocean Waves
c. 2007, Reader's Digest

This is the project that kept popping into my head for the baby's room.
It is not too clear, but you can see the boat on the top and the dolphin on the top.

Then, as I was looking through the book, I found these:

Beach Holiday
c. 2007 Reader's Digest

This design is filled with kites, ships, lighthouses, crabs sandcastles and fish.
I think that it plays very nicely with the following.

Sailboat
c. 2007 Reader's Digest

Circus
c. 2007 Reader's Digest

Although these aren't what I usually stitch, I think that they will look great together. There is also a "Farm Animal" sampler that uses the same colors. They will definitely be wonderful to use as teaching pieces.

I am not completely convinced about these because I think that they are too masculine. Let's see what happens. At least I found them.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

~~218 Days To Go~~

.... and I still haven't chosen a cross stitch baby theme.

Today I pulled out 43 Disney Cross Stitch magazines and could not choose if i wanted a Disney Babies theme. Since we won't know if it is a boy or a girl I have no idea which characters to choose.

The only chart that pops into my mind every 30 minutes or so is a Noah's ark chart or something like it. I don't know in which book I have it in. It has a very cute boat on top and underneath layers of water with fish dispersed all throughout. It is sooooo cute and I know it is in a hardcover book.... maybe a Kooler Studio book ..... hmmmm.....

I have all of the Kooler Studio, Linda Gillium, nursery and baby books so I will check on those.

Another theme, to which I am very partial is "French angels". You know, the monochome angels playing harps and everything else. Little cherubs sitting and playing..... only thing that stops me is the thought that they may be too feminine.

With my eldest, we had a Winnie the Pooh theme. My youngest was Kooler Studio Teddy Bear theme..... hmmmm, with this little one, I am stumped.

Lately my hormones are out of whack, although I am very calm on the outside, inside I am a horrific mess..... I want to cry and I am pretty much out of my mind with worry and fear. I wish my doctor would be a little more positive than quoting me miscarriage statistics for a woman my age. The age issue is getting very old .... I have a mother and a birth certificate who are very loyal to tell me how old I am...... My thoughts are that if my body is able to get pregnant, then it must think it is pretty young still....

It's hard to be positive, when your own doc is so negative....Thankfully, my time with her is short and soon, I will be released to my high-risk OB doc. Of course, since my last pregnancy, my OB has stopped deliverying, so I will go to his associate who is supposed to be excellent as well while my OB will do the sonograms (his new expertise). I have already stated I have had enough of the "gloom and doom" docs. " I want a highly positive, highly optimistic and experienced OB who will get me from "me" to "we" safely.

Anyway, my knitting project is still on hold until I can get my hormonal mind straight and figure out how to sew it together without tossing it. (Maybe a finishing service will come in handy).

Off to find some baby charts.....

The Queen is Miffed!!!!

I took the completed parts of the baby sweater and proceeded to start the sewing portion of the project.... I can't seem to get the seams right!!!! Arrrrrghhhhh!!! It is an excercise in frustration.... so I calmly have put everything into a project baggie (or else I would have tossed it) and will wait a couple of weeks til I can look at it with a new perspective.

Can the sewing of the seams be that hard????? I am obviously not in the sewing seams frame of mind.

Other than that I am looking through baby cross stitch designs that I have in search of a few items that would be great additions to any baby's nursery etc. Not that I have done many at all. This time I would love to make accessories that I can use for the baby.

We have announced the impending arrival to our family even though it is early. One of the reasons being it is going to be a very long and hard road ahead for me and I don't want to be hostage to a superstitious 3 month rule that I don't believe in. Life has taught me that life is precious and that one must celebrate when the opportunity arises.

Our vacation is now 95% cancelled due to my need to be near my doctor's office. That is the common sense approach to this pregnancy. Our child has taken very well to the cancellation. Well, that is how we perceived his laughter and happy attitude to not having to leave the dog behind. Kids......

Two new scissors have been added to my collection. Thanks to my best friend, both the Gingher's Criss 4" Embroidery Scissor and Criss Dressmakers Shears 8" are very happy with their Gingher team mates.

A few French Mags have made their way across the pond to me thanks to my French friend. Love her. A really nice package filled with surprises will be on the way to her shortly. Hope she enjoys them!!!!!

Other than that, I am left to choose what baby themes will be in my cross stitch agenda. Isn't great that there are NINE months to go!!!!!! I have two Baby Afghans in my stash. One is yellow and the other Ivory. Let's see what I do..... you know that if I make one for baby, I will definitely make another for the eldest!!!! I don't have favorites.....

Expectant stitches.......

Knit One For Baby

Sweetheart Pullover
c. Leisure Arts, Inc., 2007
Time for Baby

Nope, I ain't saying a word.

Lullaby stitches......

Life and Stitching Update

First off, I don't think that my blogging once a week is working. I must blog more often. I love blogging and I want to do more of it. Okay, here goes how this week went.

LIFE UPDATE:

I joined Weight Watchers so soon I will have a sidebar with my wieght loss totals for the whole world to see. Why?? I have no idea, maybe fill up the blog a bit more?? Make for some good laughs?? Blog my descent into a dark part of my life??

The reason why I joined Weight Watchers was to lose weight, obviously, but, I don't know if it is for me. My first week I lost 1.4 pounds. Okay, I lost something, but it is not as good as I wanted and I was disappointed. Another reason I don't know if it will work is because even though people think I am a people person, I am not so sure that I like being with so many people discussing our wieght and points. Those are my feelings, "results may vary".

A few months ago, I went to my doctor and asked him if he would put me on diet pills. (Hey, I was desperate). He did not laugh, but told me that if I drank water (instead of Pepsi) and exercised a half hour in the morning and a half hour at night, I would lose the wieght. I am thinking the man is right!! This writing down everything I eat and giving it points is not for me. I am not a food addict. I don't eat everything I see or drink alcoholic drinks (teetotaller here) or excessive frozen drinks or massive amounts of anything. It just so happened I was on a medication for 3 months and put on 30 pounds. Yup, 10 pounds a month....can't get them off..... but I haven't tried and my thyroid is fine. (Unfortunately, the meds didn't even work).

So, here is hoping that in the next 11 weeks I lose another 8 pounds.....

Another life update: The laptop is at the repair shop for 3 weeks!! So, as a gift, I received a mini-laptop which I am starting to really like. This one will be for my cross stitching and blogging. It is mine, mine, mine!!!! When the laptop comes back, I will transfer all of my favorites and freebies off it and leave it as the family laptop.
Yes, that means I do not have any favorites stored...... Arrrrrrrghhhhhhh

Vacation is still being decided..... it is between a Disney cruise or DisneyWorld. The dog may stay with Grandma. That is still in the works. Let's see what happens.

STITCHING UPDATE:

No stitching, but LOTS of stashing. I sort of lost control. I admit it. (You see, I know what addiction is.) If it is stitching and it is on sale ... I am there. So, what did I order?

Kooler Design Studio

Winter Sampler Kit

Spring Sampler Kit

Summer Sampler Kit

Autumn Sampler Kit

Provence Sampler Kit

Cinderella Chart (because I have the kit already)

Gingher

Roberta 4" scissors

Martina Weber (Chatelaine)

Evening in the Park (Chart)

Just Cross Stitch

Christmas Ornaments 10th Anniversary Collection Book

July / August 2008 Christmas Ornament Preview

Britain's Cross Stitcher Mag
Issue 213

So, there you have it..... more stash....plus a couple of ongoing trades which are always a sublime experience for me.

Well, that is about it. I hope to post pictures soon of a stitch or two.

Happy stitches......

A Mouse, A Mouse !!!!!! I screamed.....

Where, where???????? He looked.....

In my defense as a first time developer I am always trying to make sure that everything stays clean. So as I opened the gates to my development, happy to see my magical construction team at work after their vacation, I saw a mouse and I just screamed. Poor thing started shaking and quivering and suddenly out of nowhere in a puff of smoke Maleficent appeared.

"My dear, this is Gus. Why are you so terrified of this well meaning mouse?" Speechless I stood, looking at Gus, asking forgiveness with my eyes.

"Dahhling, if you are terrified of Gus, there is no telling how you will be when 'THE' mouse comes to town."

" 'THE' mouse? You mean there are more mice??" I asked.

" Well of course, but there is only ONE mouse, 'THE' most important mouse of them all, the Big Kahuna, the big cheese, the mouse that all look up to. When he comes you will know and he expects to see you HAPPY. For he is a happy mouse."

"How will I know, when he arrives?

"You will know, my dear. Now, I must leave you two alone. Please get to know each other and try not to wake up the neighborhood." And just as she came, in a puff of smoke she was gone.

So that is how I met Gus. Dear, bright and helpful Gus, who loves Cinderella very much, was sorry that he startled me so and thought I had met very bad mice in life. He assured me that all of the mice that would come to my development would be friendly mice and those that were not, he would have at them. Gus is funny too.

I didn't have time to meet Cinderella, but Gus was sure that she liked the Castle, and would most likely come to live there. It is very exciting to think that Cinderella and her Prince Charming are thinking of making my development their home.

Before I leave, here are pictures of Gus in the neighborhood!

All Disney images are copyright by Disney and taken from licensed cross stitch kits and magazines.
Cinderella's coach is c. by Kooler Design Studio.

Magical stitches to all......

Cross Stitch Stashing

These days I have been on the wagon. I stitched very little and purchased even less. The LNS near me was having a sale and I missed it. So after stashing at a fearless speed for the first few months of the year, April and May went by without much to add.

Although I have to say that I have started to trade again. For many years I traded non-stop until 4 years ago when I stopped because I got tired. This year I have added three wonderful ladies to my trading circle and I am thrilled because friendships have formed and their works inspire me everyday.

Have you noticed my 2009 Finishes have been growing?? Well, yesterday I started and completed another Christmas ornament which brings my total to 6. I am soooooo happy because my goal is to stitch a set of 12 of the same ornament (6 in green and 6 in red). I have ideas on how to finish them, but still need to set everything up. The idea is to use these ornaments on a pine swag decoration.

Okay, okay, you thought I wasn't going to post pictures, right?? You thought I would have another camera excuse.... yeah, yeah.... well SURPRISE SURPRISE....

Joy, Love, Peace
c. JBW 2007 "Christmas Keepsakes II"

Joy, Love, Peace
c. 2007 JBW, "Christmas Keepsakes II"

Here is a Disney Pooh ornament that I stitched in 2005 which has not been "finished"yet. I hope to correct that and have a wonderful ornament to hang on our tree this year.

c. Disney, Pooh Ornament

This is my latest non-holiday finish. It is stitched with DMC Variations. I think that DMC Variations is a wonderful thread reasonably priced thread. The colors are really pretty, even though I really miss the DMC variegated threads. Whenever I see the variegated for sale, I always pick them up.

Rosette
c. Mary Hickmott 2009

Well, there you have it. That is pretty much what I have done these days. As usual, I have high hopes for tomorrow and the rest of this evening.

By the way..... soon, I will be posting a Disney Neighborhood picture.......

Stitching the night away........

Stitching Goal for Today

It is very simple. I wish to start and finish one snowflake for a very special Christmas stocking. I have the fabric and my plan is to make all sorts of different snowflakes on it.

Will post pic once camera gets new batteries. (Yup, with that camera something is always up).

Simple stitches....