Happy Anniversary to me!!!! Plus a Quick Question

Seven years ago today, I married my loving husband!  It was the first sunny and dry Saturday for the month of May!  Beautiful day and beautiful ceremony!

My husband has excellent taste in Jewelry.   He did such and awesome job!!!!  I on the other hand sucked...I have no idea what to get him.  He likes Golf (which I am no allowed to buy golf equipment).  That's it!

Can you tell I have lost weight???? Here I am in Rome wearing this little black dress....

Here I am in the same black dress on my anniversary 15 lbs lighter than I was in the Rome picture.  Just wondering if you can tell a difference or not.  Please excuse my puppies head!

Sistine Chapel page finished and update

Happy Mothers day to all the mothers of fleshy children and Moms like me of Furry children.  My boys gave me some beautiful pink roses and wonderful card!

I finished page 4 of Sistine chapel!!!! So happy!!!  Below, the finished page, I started Page 5.  It is coming along very slowly but it is fun to stitch.  

 One of the people are finally finished!!!

Disney, Augusta and Summer Ball Update

I have several stitching updates to show off.....

Here is my Disney Table runner!  The snowball is much easier to see now that I have it outlined.  I have Huey, Dewey, Louie, Donald, Daisy and Pluto left to stitch on it.

Last week I showed my Augusta in the tutorial on how to park threads.  Here is the design with another 1,000 stitches in it.  I dread working on it because of all the confetti stitches but once I get started, I really enjoy it!

Last page of Summer Ball!!!!!  I have actually been using this as my car project. The green is very easy to stitch at a stoplight.  I worked on the hair and picture this weekend.  I am so happy to be working on the last page of this design!!!!

How to Park Threads

I get several emails when I post pictures like this one asking, "How do you stitch this way??".  So I thought I would do a picture tutorial of how my mind works. I hope this helps a little.  The design I chose to show you is my Mystic Stitch - Augusta the 13th hole. As you can tell I like to stitch in a stair step process because it is easier for me to keep up with 10 x 10 grids.  Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

As you may know, I am a math teacher so when I look at a cross stitch chart, I see a coordinate grid. I see 10 x 10 grids and that is how we start.  

1.  Start in the upper left hand corner 10 x 10 grid. The first symbol here is a square which is DMC 310.    

As you can see I am picking up in the upper left hand corner where there is already a thread hanging from a previous stitching round.  I use that thread and stitch every square symbol in the 10 x 10 grid.  

2. Carry that thread into the 10 x 10 grid below the one you just filled in, bring the thread up into the bottom left hole and drop the thread....as you can see in the picture below, I have a black thread started in the next grid.

3. find the next symbol and start the process over again.  If you see below my next symbol is an *.  This is color 3371 and I will stitch all the * in my current grid.  If you look at the picture above, you will see that I have a brown thread waiting for me to pick up and use to stitch.

As you can see below, I have filled in all the * symbols and now have to move on to the next symbol.  Which is a ).  I have a thread already there and will just fill it in.

If you need to see the grid for the ), here it is......

The process is continuing.  If you notice below, I have several threads in the bottom 10 x 10 grid, this is because I was at the bottom of the page and I carried over from the left 10 x 10 grid to the grid on the right beside it.  I hate wasting thread so that is why there is extra threads.

 Filled in 98% of my 10 x 10 grid...just have 2 more squares to go!!!

Here is the filled in chart in case you want to see it.

All filled in!!!!  I have stitched my 10 x 10 grid and can move on to the next one!!!!!!

I truly hope this helps some of you with understanding on how I stitch my BAP's.  You now have a small glimpse into my stitching mind!!!!

Disney Table Runner and Sistine Chapel

I started page 4 today.   It doesn't look like much progress but when I was comparing it to the next section, I go so excited!!!!  It seems that these symbols overlap majorly so I won't have to stitch as much on the next section!!! Yea!!!  Little things!  BTW...no Sistine Chapel next weekend.  I am taking my mom and niece India to see Disney On Ice in Little Rock!!!!!  We will be leaving on Saturday, seeing the show on Sunday Afternoon and then a 3 hour trip home.  I plan on taking my Disney ornaments to stitch on while traveling and the hotel stay.

I started my Disney Table Runner this week.  Here is Miss Minnie Mouse in her pink snow suit.  The snowball is stitched in 775, I think when I get it outlined, it will look much better!

Weightloss: Big News...I have to put on a bathing suit next weekend!!!!!!   We are staying at a hotel with an indoor pool and I have to swim with my niece!!!!!!

Last night was the dinner at the club.  I was getting dressed and Mark let me know that the dinner was more Jeans and Polo Shirts than the dress I had ready to wear.  So, I pulled down this pair of jeans that I haven't worn in years, thinking....just maybe..  They fit!!!  Size 8 jeans fit and I could wear a belt with them!!!!  Awesome feeling.  Best part, even after eating bacon wrapped shrimp,  chips and salsa, and for dessert New York Cheese cake topped with strawberries and whip cream, I didn't even have to undo the top button!!!!  I saved all my calories for this dinner and I enjoyed every bite!  I even treated myself to a hot chocolate because it was chilly last night!!!

It was back to the diet today!  My DH grilled me some Chicken thighs for my lunch this week!!!  I love that he grills enough on Sunday that I don't have to worry about my protein for lunch during the week. 

Summer Ball and Sistine Chapel

Here it is!! Page 5 completed!!!  Just 1 more to go.  I thought I wanted to finish it but then I got stash in the mail!  My long awaited green fabric for my Disney table runner came in the mail!  It is the only project I haven't started as of yet and I want to work on it!!  So Summer Ball will have to wait. 

Page 3 of Sistine chapel is completed.  Normally I take a picture of it the way I am stitching it.  Upside down. However, I flipped it so I could see what it actually looked like.  3 more pages and I will have finished  the first panel.

Weight Loss

Friday night Mark asked me what my plans were for next weekend because there is to be a dinner at the club. He rarely asks me to go the club for anything and he made a point of letting me know other wives would be there so I agreed to go.  I had planned to go to Tulsa with my stitching friends for the day, but this is more important.  Also, it is prom and I had thought about popping in there to see all my little ducks dressed up.  Busy weekend!  

Since we are going to a dinner, I needed a new dress.  I hate shopping for clothes because I was always having to buy a bigger size....not this time!!!!  I was able to buy a size 8 dress!!!!  This is 2 sizes smaller than the last time I went dress shopping!!!  It felt so great to fit into a lower size!!!  

I am down 15 lbs. and have another 15 to lose.  Slow and steady wins the race.  I have been trying to use the couch to 5k  in order to get me off my but and running.  I try and run 3 times a week but this is how I feel when I run:

Sistine Chapel Weekly Update

I can't believe it is already Sunday and time for a Sistine Chapel Update.  The first picture is last weeks progress and the second is this weeks.   I have completed 1.9% of this project.  I love stitching on it!!!!