Happiest Celebration update

I have put my snow days to good use!!! I spent most of the time working my Happiest Celebration design. I just need to finish the right side of the castle, add pluto, donald and all the beading. I also watched several Disney movies while working on it. I thought they went well together. It put me in the mood to go to Disney World again.

We were very lucky this time around. We never lost power and only lost internet for a morning. We did have several limbs break off but no one or nothing was hurt. Several of my coworkers and friends are not so lucky. They are still without power. Mary, from Ozark Samplers, had a tree fall on both of their vehicles. It has been really rough here in Arkansas. Mark ventured out for the first time today. I am actually going to leave the house tomorrow which will be the first time since Monday afternoon.

Land of Ice

That is where I am living right now. The ice storm hit last night around 6:00 pm and hasn't stopped!! It has been sleeting all day here. The lights are flickering and we just keep waiting for the power to go out. IF that happens who knows when it will be back on again. So I thought I would share a few pictures of our beautiful ice age!!!!

Boo Saturday

Yes, I know it is Tuesday but I need to tell you about Boo Saturday! My LNS is hosting LK Boo Saturdays every 3rd Sat. of the month. We are all getting together to work on our LK Boo designs. However, this Saturday we were all working on our Ozark Sampler class designs. We decided to stitch our patterns on hand-dyed purple fabric. The Aida fabric came out MUCH darker than the evenweave and I LOVE it!!!!! I picked up the first 2 designs from this series. I did decide to stitch one a month so by Dec. I should have them all finished. I changed the wording color from DMC 3740 (dark purple) to DMC 3348 a guacamole color. The green really pops on the fabric.

Eye of the Tiger - FRAMED

I went and picked up Tiger at the framers today. I LOVE how it turned out!!!! I am so glad I decided on the orange mat...it really pops!!!!

I will have more to post later...just wanted to show off my tiger!

Snow Day!!!

I had a wonderful surprise when I woke up this morning!!!! Snow was falling and the TV person said "No School" Talk about exciting. I made myself a nice hot chocolate and played my Wii for a bit. I have a hidden pictures game that I love. I then made a wonderful Potato soup, cleaned out a closet and found a whole box of fireworks left over from the last 2 or 3 fourth of July's. I started stitching later in the afternoon.

I am working on the 2nd couple of Historical Fashions. This one is moving along slower than the first couple not sure why. It could be that I only work on it an hour a day. I love this project. The colors look so fabulous together.

This is what I have been working on this week. It is my Happiest Celebration on Earth design. The last three days have been nothing but outlining and fireworks. Let me tell you, outlining this castle was a chore. Tinkerbell was pretty easy but her face was hard to stitch. It is really looking like Cinderellas castle though!!!

stitching update

I was going to update my stitching last night but DH took me to dinner and a movie. Our friend Whiteny came with us. We had planned to do this on Sat. but she became sick and we had to postpone. Her DH is on a business trip to China. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and then we went to seee the movie Marley and Me. I cried like a baby throughout that whole movie. I didn't see the dog as Marley, I pictured him as my lab Brigen. Brigen looks just like Marley and it made the movie worse than what it could have been. I also cried and cried when I read the book. Mark just laughs at me. However, he has gotten used to my crying in public.

Stitching update:

I finally finished my Indians!! I have been working on them for a while. The reason it took so long is that I only work on them in traffic. That may sound funny to you, but on my way to work every morning I have to sit in traffic. While I am just sitting there I add a few stitches here and a few stitches there. The drive through is a great place to stitch. This was a fun fiber project that I did in a class with Mary from Ozark Samplers. Now I need to stitch the pilgrims that go along with my indians. That won't be for a while though.

This is my HAED- A Wintery Heirloom piece. Kim and I are working on this together. We decided to stitch on it for 3 hours a week. Don't laugh, but I am already behind in my hours...only by 20 minutes though..so next Friday I will make it up. I found out that Cindy and Shari are working on their HAED projects on Friday so I thought I would work on mine then too. You are looking at about 500 stitches. Not many but more than what I had last week!!

I started my Patchwork Sampler by http://www.catiacrafts.com/SAL.html I am stitching the borders and smaller designs with dmc but when I get to the middle is where I will be switching up the pattern. I am going to be using the limited edition fibers from Ozark Sampler. I am stitching it on 25 ct. over 1. I am only using 1 thread also. I tried it with too but it is way to bulky for my tastes.

Reading Week

I had a fabulous week of reading. I didn't do as much stitching as I would have liked because I was just exhausted. The first week of school after Christmas break is always the longest week of the year. I would come home and just crash in my chair. I would put in a few stitches and then would basically pick up a book and just get lost in it. I have been focusing on the Elaine Viets-Dead End Job Series. I read books 1, 3, & 5 this week. I need to go to the libray and pick up book 3 in the series...then to read her new one "Murder with Reservations". I really love the characters in the book. The books are written where you feel like you are right there with them.

The first book Shop till You Drop introduces you Helen who is on the run from her deadbeat husband. She is hiding out in Florida where she works a series of Dead-End Jobs. She flies under the radar, no bank account, phone nothing...she does not want to be found. All of her jobs pay her in cash which means she usually works for less money than the other workers. Frankly, I don't see how she can make a living. Her first job is in a very snooty womens dress store. The clients live off their extremely wealthy husbands, and do not think twice about spending hundreds of dollars on a blouse. The live for platic surgery, little procedures that inject strange things in your face to smooth out the wrinkles. The service manager decides to have a little procedure also and it goes very bad. Then someone dies and Helen has to play dectective to save herself from being found out. She enlists help from her kooky neighbors who live in the really cool apartment building she has found. She has found herself a fabulous little family in Florida. I have to say, I did not figure out who the killer was until it was exposed at the end.

In her third book, Helen is now working at a Bridal Shop selling wedding gowns to very spoiled women. One very crazy woman with her daughter came in to purchase wedding gowns for her daughters wedding the next weekend. The Mama was a real character who had this thing about not wearing panties. Her daughter was a very mousy and couldn't really voice her opinion to her mother or her mother just chose to ignore her. Helen has to go help out the day of the wedding and low and behold she finds the mother of the bride dead. Poor Helen, the police question her and she has to find out who killed the murder of the bride before they find out who she is and she gets sent back to St. Louis.

I finished this one today. Helen is working in an upscale Dog Grooming shop. She survives a murder and a hurricane in this book. She is still dating Phil however, this time it may not last unless she tells him about the big secret she is hiding. The shop she works in sounds like every puppies paradise. The treats and birthday cakes for the dogs sounds like heaven. I know my dogs would love to hangout there!!! I love the little weenie dog Lulu that runs around the store all dressed up in her little outfits showing off to the customers. Her neighbors all jump on the bandwagon to help her solve this case and keep her hidden from her ex!

Mruder Between the Covers - A Dead -End Job Mystery by Elaine Viets

I started this book last night and just had to finish it tonight. My Cozy Mystery group is doing a book read on Mrs. Viets new book Murder with Reservations this month so I thought I had better read a couple of books in this series before I jump into book number five in this series.

This is the second book in the Dead End Job series. In this book, Helen, is hiding out from her lazy ex husband. She is working in a bookstore and getting paid in cash. She lives in the fabulous old apartment which happens to be infested with termites! She wakes up one night and they were swarming her apartment...EWWW!!!! That is all I can say!!! I was ready to slap her boyfriend Rich..he is a typical male. He sounds fabulous in the beginning but you won't believe what he actually tells her one morning! I was ready to slap him myself. Of course this is a mystery so there is a death and it is a weird way to die.

I would recommend this series. I was going to get it on paperback swap but I found out that my local libary has it in so I think I will stop by there tomorrow and get it after work. I still have one credit to spend...I may look at getting the third book in the Heiress Brides series by Celeste Bradley. I just love those books set back in regency England time.

Talk of the Town by Karin Hawkins

OMG!!! I have never laughed so hard in a book!!!! I picked this book because I love Karin Hawkins historical novels. Ok..I have a confession: Yes, I love to read trashy, bodice ripping books. I am not ashamed to admit I like to read trashy romance novels. Why do I call them trash? Funny story..my grandmother would see me reading a romance book and ask why I liked to read that trash. So, it just stuck with me. I saw this book at the bookstore but I decided to wait to see if I could get it on paperback swap. I rushed right home and found it!!! It came in the mail last week. I started reading it yesterday and couldn't put it down until I finished it today.

The story starts out with a Roxie who caught her husband having an affair on her. She literally walked in on him and his lover (who was in a teddy and needing a bad wax job) in a very compromising position. She did what all women should do...divorced his behind. She took him for everything, bleached her hair, got her belly pierced and a tatoo. Ok, so maybe not all women should do the hair, piercing and tattooing...but she did take him for everything. She was about to leave for Paris when her momma got sick. She had to head back to the very small town she grew up in and help out. On the way she runs into her highschool love Nick, who by the way is the town sheriff.

That's all you get....you must know there are some crazy old ladies at the nursing home she has to watch. These ladies are halrious!!! They love Gil Grissom on CSI. They get into some of the strangest situation. One of which, they are trying to solve a murder and they get Roxie involved.

The story is very well written that you can actually picture all this crazy stuff in your head. I highly recommend this book.

I finished it...posted it on paperbackswap and it will be going to a new home tomorrow. I have another credit to get a new book...I think I am going to get the Elaine Viets Shop till you Drop mystery. It is the first in her Dead End Job Series. I am reading the 2nd one now..so I think I should read the first one just to fill in the blanks.

First part of Mystery SAL complete!

Last night I worked on my Ozark Sampler 2009 Mystery SAL piece. I finished the first part of it. I decided to take the challenge and stitch it on the 20 count bright yellow and antique white piece of fabric. The frog did visit a time or two but I finally got him moved out of the house!!!

Today I stitched an hour on Historical Fashions and then I spent the rest of day on my Stoney Creek Neighborhood RR piece. I gridded the entire piece today. I am happy to say the piece is not gridded and ready to be stitched.

Mark and I are still watching Lulu the bulldog. She spent the day with Mark in the living room. Now, she is spending the evening with me in the bedroom. She is just so cute!!!

Eye of the Tiger -Completed!

I finished Eye of the Tiger today around 3:00 pm. I started it in February 2007 and worked on it off and on for the past 2 years. I love this design!! I am going to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to pick out a mat and frame . I plan on hanging it in my classroom, right above my desk.

Today, I also took down all my christmas decorations. We are baby sitting Lulu the bulldog so she is here snoring beside me right now. Jag does not like her......they had a growling contest and the 15 lb cat scared the 50lb bulldog!!!

First Day of the year

Today was a fabulous first day of the new year. I spent the whole day in my Jammies!! What a great day! I watched the Bones marathon on TNT all afternoon and evening. I just love Booth. He is just a hottie!!

I worked out on my Wii fit today. I did a balance test and my wii fit age is 55!!! I did not do well on the balance test they gave me. It is kinda of embarrassing. My BMI is normal though I guess I am really out of shape.

I worked on three different cross stitch designs. I worked an hour on Fashions and as you can see I finished the 2nd man. Only 10 more men and 11 ladies to finish!! Then I spent an hour and twenty minutes on my new Haed. The rest of the day has been spent on Tiger. I am getting closer and closer. I want to have this finished by Sunday. I am actually tired of stitching on it to tell you the truth. The end is so close I can taste it. It is just frustrating. Oh well...I will get this stitched!!!!

Happy New Year

Mark and I had a wonderful time at our friends house tonight. We just ate snacks and watched TV. It was a very relaxing evening. We watched the ball drop- Twice. Once on the east coast and then again for out time zone- Central Standard Time. It was a great time just to spend with our friends.
When I came home I figured out exactly how many big projects that I will be working on this year. Now, this does not include small exchanges, Round Robins, angel projects just my Big projects I have planned. I have a total of 17 projects kitted up and ready to go for this year.
I have listed them on the side. I calculated that IF I want to finish all this projects by Dec. 31 2009, then I must stitch 3,352 stitches each day!! LOL!! I really don't see that happening..do you? Seems a little overwhelming...but I am very excited about all of these projects!!!!
We are going to take it one stitch at a time.