Is it Me???

First of all, I think I am on a cross stitch wanting binge! Every chart I see, I want. Aside from that, the ones I want are the most expensive foreign charts that have to be purchased in Euros. I am not complaining, just observing that my tastes are truly expensive. This is setting aside that I have more charts and magazines in my stash that would take me 10 lifetimes to stitch.

There is a part of me that is thankful, I only stitch with DMC or Sullivan's overdyed (some WDW and Crescent Colors too) because that keeps the cost a bit lower. I am scared to look at the silks because then I would truly be lost. LOL.

This makes it hard to buy Christmas gifts for myself. The only alternative is to buy them all a bit at a time.

My favorites are Renato Parolin, Isabelle Vautier, Filigram, AAN, AMAP, Nimue and so many others that the list would be 3 posts long. All I am saying is that no matter how much I have designers are coming up with the newest and freshest ideas that are must-haves to me. That is awesome because it keeps the art alive and fresh and evolving.

Do you also feel this way? Are you even more lost than I am? Are you a lifetime collector?
Do you have lifetimes of stitching collected and still collect more and more? Are we cross-stitch hoarders?????

I call it my retirement fund.

Supportive 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......

Life Happened

Let me start off by saying I do not like drama. I enjoy peace and quiet, stitching, knitting, reading and shopping to name a few. Yesterday life's drama hit like a waterfall, literally.

Since it has been brutally cold in these parts of my world, one of the water pipes in my humble abode decided to burst and in a few minutes, torrential downpours similar to Niagara Falls proceeded to fall in my livingroom.

Holy Moley!!!! Water, water everywhere pouring down from the ceiling. Lucky we were home when it happened or else I can not imagine what I would have found or not have found.

Now we are in the drying stages......This weekend I will clean up and throw out many things.... Happy New Year!!!! But, I am thinking very positively, we were home when it happened, pipe burst prior to entering the wall so there is no breaking of the walls to find the leak, no water damage to electronics or cross stitch stash.

Thought I would blog a bit in order to keep the momentum going.

Even though drama happened, that did not stop me from stash ordering. Holly, one of my favorite Mirabilia cross stitch patterns was on sale at 123stitch and I had to order it. Two days into the new year I have purchased Mirabilia's Christmas Flourishes, Easter Fairy and Holly. Luck had it that I found a few stitchers who were looking to sell their items. Most of the time I love trading/buying from trading albums because it is a win/win situation. A few years ago all I did was trade items. Stopped trading for a long while because it was getting out of control. It became a job just to log in what I sent and what I was expecting. Little by little I am starting to check stitcher trading lists when I see them.

If you are looking for sales this month check the following shoppes:
http://www.needlecraft-corner.com/
http://123stitch.com/
http://www.thestitchingpost.com.au/

I have purchased from 123stitch and Needlecraft Corner and they are both great!

The Stitching Post in Australia looks like a place I would order from too.

If anyone has a trade/sale list and wishes me to look at it and/or list it on my blog, leave a comment on this post with your trading list url and I will place a link to it.

Back to my regularly scheduled Disney Neighborhood R R stitching........

Stash Shopping Over the Weekend

On Friday my LNS had a sale on fabric and charts. Since I am not one to pass up a really good sale, I went and picked up about 9 pieces of ornament-sized fabric which will come in handy for 2009's Christmas ornaments. A few hand-dyed flosses went into my basket as well as my first Barbara Ana design, "Santa Paws Biscornu". I really like the lettering on that design.

Today, I picked up 6 skeins of Bernat yarn, a cross stitch magazine, a pair of size 8 , 16 in. circular needles and a couple of frames at Michaels.

I am seriously considering stitching out of my stash and any freebie that I might like online in 2009. There is an online messageboard http://thewagon.yuku.com/directory which I have found very helpful at times of indecision. Right now, I find myself being a "moderate". I don't think I could ever be "celibate" as the UK cross stitch mags are always a weakness of mine. Let's face it, any well made cross stitch magazine is a weakness of mine.

Then there is eBay..... I confess.... I have been eBaying. My lastest purchases have been 2 gingher scissors and the most coveted, "Cinders" by P.Buckley Moss. For years I have desired "Cinders", now in a few days, it will be here.

In 2009 I will most likely purchase Mirabilia's, "Christmas Flourishes" and "Holly". Along with that will most likely be Lizzie*Kate's 2009 Flip It's Halloween series. Those really call to me.
Once I get all of my scissors together, I will gladly take pictures of them and show you my collection. They are another weakness of mine.

Hope to get lots of stitching done this week as I am on vacation. A stay-at-home vacation which in a sense is the best thing for me right now. Lots of going through my stash and picking the right projects time. Thrilled to be able to relax.

Wishing you lots of stitching time.........

Went "shopping" in my crochet stash

Usually I am going through my cross stitch stash oohing and ahhing over all the designs that await my needle and thread. This time, while I went through another box of cross stitch magazines, I found a few crochet books that really caught my eye.

One thing about me that all my friends know is that I am very consistent. My tastes do not vary from year to year. So much so, that I still enjoy every cross stitch pattern, knitting pattern, quilting pattern and crochet pattern I have ever purchased. My tastes have not changed. My ambition has not changed. My love of needlecrafts has not changed.

You may be asking yourself, which books inspired this blog entry. Here they are in no particular order:

• Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet, published by Leisure Arts, c. 2002.
  
  I really enjoyed the pictures of the 164 stitch patterns. They made me dream of all the scarves, shawls and sweaters that await my creativity. Both the word patterns and diagram patterns are easy to understand. Awesome book! I really enjoy all of Kooler Studio's books whether cross stitch or crochet. I understand that they have knitting books as well. (That is best left for another blog entry).

• Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies, c. 2003 Jane Davis.
  
  The patterns are sooooooo cute! Really inspiring book that makes you want to have many live "models". These are truly adorable items to crochet. My hope is that I will have at least one more opportunity to make these projects to envelop a baby of my own. Once I get started crocheting these, I don't think I will be able to stop...... may need twins or triplets.
  
  
• Crochet Today (magazine) Nov./Dec. 2008
  
  I liked the patterns in this month's magazine. My favorite was the Sparkly Scarf. What can I say, I enjoy making scarves. They are easy and fast. They are very portable and easy. I like the repetitive action, once the pattern is learned and being able to start crocheting at a moment's notice. The colorful blankets were nice too! Those take a bit longer, but are well worth it.

All of this reminds me that I don't think I have ever posted pictures of my scarves here. I will get a few of them together and post them next time.

As for my cross stitching...... I haven't done much these days. All I have done is to meet with the contractor and search for blueprints.

Wishing you a stitching week......

My Stash is Out-of-Control ....

.... but I like it. LOL.

Time to confess, that I have been searching for my complete collection of Brazilian Disney Magazines. It seems that in my infinite wisdom, after taking a picture of them for my blog, I placed them in a safe place. Now, if your safe places are like mine, they are not only safe but so super-secret that no one will ever find them. Well, after three weeks of looking I found them gently placed within a plastic envelope inside a wide shoebox underneath a few cross stitch magazines. Why on earth, I did not label the box is beyond me. I guess I thought I would remember where I put them.

So, now I am able to think of what else I would like to stitch on my Disney neighborhood. A few people have asked me where I get my designs from. It started out very innocently enough more than a decade ago as I started noticing cross stitch designs of famous logos and cartoons were being published. Little by little I purchased a book here and a chart there, then one day, my Mom brought me a Disney cross stitch magazine as a souvenir from her vacation and from then on every two months my family would send me one. Later on, I became an eBay member and purchased a few Brazilian mags there. Many UK mags had Disney designs in them and I made sure to pick those up, lucky for me my local bookstore started carrying them and I was able to purchase them here. Afterward, Leisure Arts published a few Disney books and I picked up the ones I was interested in. Of course, at Disneyworld I make sure to pick up one or two Art of Disney cross stitch kits when I am there. I do not purchase what I call "fake" Disney designs (those that are not bonafide Disney designs). It is a personal choice which I can live with.

All of the collecting happened, I was not actively persuing or keeping track of my collections. Once I started collecting wonderful things happened. I met great internet friends and that spurred me on to collecting more. It was a bit after that when I began to actively search for items I wished to add to my collection. Now, my Disney cross stitch magazine collection is most treasured amongst my Disney memoribilia. It has really fostered my love for all Disney related items, pins especially, and my Disney trips. My main reason for a Disney Neighborhood RR is to finally stitch many of these gorgeous designs. I know that not everyone loves Disney, but I really enjoy Disney and its many forms of artistry.

These days, I am a fan of Jack Skellington of Nightmare Before Christmas fame. Happy 15th Anniversary Jack! Thanks for 15 frightening years!

On the topic of cross-stitching, I haven't done much these weeks due to the "search". I will get back into the stitching groove soon....

Stitch happy... stitch well.......

Is less more?

This afternoon I went to my LNS and picked up a few threads and Mill Hill beads. Nothing project related, just "like" related. I must be in my green/yellow period because I picked up 3 Weeks Dye Works, # 2146, Eucalyptus which reminded me of Needle Necessities Island Butterfly. Two other WDW's that I picked up were #4123 Celebration and 4139 Bethlehem. Now I have three of each which is my usual amount of overdyed floss purchases. The reason for this is that because they are not for a specific project, I want to have enough when the need arises. There have been many times when I don't have enough and when I go back to purchase another, the color has either been discontinued or does not look the same..... so three it is.

Sticking to my green mood today, I also picked up 2 of the DMC Variations #4045 which is a really pretty jungle green variation hue. It is pretty because it is not too yellow and not too dark green. It is just right.

Adding to the haul were 3 packets of Mill Hill beads in purple, pink and bluish-green along with 4 pink heart glass treasures. These I will use whenever I need a pick-me-up on a biscornu. I really like the beaded edges that lots of stitchers are doing these days and I am looking forward to that challenge on one of my upcoming biscorni.

As you know, I have signed up for the Me Myself and I Neighborhood RR. Today I went through lots of my Disney magazines looking for neighborhood items to stitch. Thinking about the layout is making my head spin. Half of me wants one thing and the other half wants to be different .... but how different and still look plausible is my dilemna. Of course none of the items are perfect for the neighborhood, I have to cut and paste and switch and look and hopefully come up with a realistic proportionate neighborhood. Most of all I want to be creative and put as many Disney characters on it along with their homes. I want it to make sense, be symetrical, pretty, unique and special. Maybe it will be a focal point to a future Disney corner.

For now, I wonder if less is more where this RR may become a focal point for other neighborhood offshoots or should this piece be a WOOOOOW piece filled with a plethora of Disney character trivia. Most of me is looking to stitch that WOOOOOOW piece.

Stitching thoughts together.......

Choices, Choices and More Choices make me CRAZY

Remember when I wrote about signing up for the Me, Myself and I Neighborhood R & R? Well, I signed up today and have been going through magazines ever since. Nope, not the New Stitches or the Quick and Easy Cross Stitch mags, I went to one of the mother lodes. It is the Rubbermaid 20 gallon tote that is in one of the corners of one of my closets. In it are my some of my Baby Camilla, Stoney Creek and other international magazines along with Disney magazine freebies.

What can I say, I can't say no to a good cross stitch magazine. There was no way I could get through the two tall stacks, but I was able to pick out a couple of great items from the one stack I perused. The best things about going through stash are the OOH's and AHH's that invariably leave one's lips when looking and fondling.

Some of the wonderful items that I found were:

• A-Hunting We Will Go ~ Stoney Creek Collection ~ c. 1993
• Stoney Creek Collection Magazine ~ Jan/Feb 1994
• Walt Disney Characters in Counted Cross Stitch ~ Paragon Needlecraft ~ c. 1980
• Disney Classics ~ Designer Stitches ~ c. Disney (no copyright date)
• Toy Story and Beyond ~ Leisure Arts ~ c. 2004
• Cinderella Castle Kit ~ The Art of Disney ~ c. Disney
• The Happiest Celebration on Eart Kit ~ The Art of Disney ~ c. Disney
• Past, Present and Forever Kit ~ The Art of Disney ~ c.Disney

Okay, you guessed it, I am a Disney freak! I do have lots of Disney cross stitch and have to stitch some or most of it. Let's face it, I would have to live till 1000 years of age to stitch 1/2 of the things I have. Don't worry, there are people that have much more cross stitch than I do.

So, after all this "research" of cross stitch patterns, I decided to have a Disney themed Neighborhood R & R. I could also have a Toon-Town themed R & R since I have lots of Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Snoopy, DC and Marvel character cross stitch patterns too.

You see all of these choices are making me CRAZY!!!!! Must decide on something because my "contractors" and "blue prints" must be in place by December 31, 2008. I can't wait to decide on a theme. I want it to be special and very "me". Let's see what I can come up with.

Thinking about x's......................

A few pictures

It's been a while, I know. So much has happened including a bit of stitching.

Here are some pictures of my first biscornu and a USA WIP. They are a bit blurry but you get the idea.


The USA WIP has been finished and I am very happy with how it turned out. I also stitched another biscornu top of the same pattern in DMC Orange Variegated Floss. It is so pretty. I will take a picture and share it with you next time.

During my absence I have gone stash shopping. My latest purchases have been 4 Heaven and Earth Designs. They are HUGE. I have started making an enlarged working copy of the first page of UP ON THE ROOF and am pretty scared about starting it. Let's see how far I get on that kitting.

Of course in my new stash pile are many cross stitch magazines. One of my favorites this month is the Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue. I love Halloween and this issue is a must have for Halloween lovers.

I know that I don't speak of my personal life much on this blog, but I have to say that there is a new and handsome male in my life. He takes much of my spare time lately. I think I am in love!! He is so handsome and cute to boot! Without further ado, here he is:


He is much bigger now. I will post more pictures of him soon.

Lately I have been searching for French Cross Stitch Magazines. Those are a passion of mine. Hopefully I will be able to find a few.

I hope that you have liked viewing some of my pics. I will be back soon.

Going to cross those stitches.......

"Resistance is Futile"

Today I found out about a LNS that opened a few weeks ago near me. Since I live in "LNS barrenland", I had to go and see what was going on.

I must say that there is a certain magic when you can actually see and touch needlework items that you are interested in purchasing. So as I looked and searched the Borg's famous mantra rang through my head, "Resistance is futile... resistance is futile." What was I to do???? What any addicted needleworker would do SHOP!!!!

I purchased 3 charts. First, Bent Creek's "Wedding Row", then Twisted Threads' "To Laugh", and Mill Hill's "Haunted Halloween". All in all I was a good needleworker and supported my LNS. Now, to stitch these awesome finds....

Happy counting!!!