Superbowl Sunday

Posted by Measi on Feb 7, 2010 in Family and Friends, Life, Work, and all the Rest, celebrations and holidays

The boys are off at BJ’s to do the every-other-month run, and I opted to stay home to get a few things done. The kitchen’s now scrubbed, so I’m taking a few minutes before tackling the bathroom. We have a few people coming over for the Super Bowl tonight. I’m pretty sure everyone’s rooting for the Saints in this household. Rooting for Indy as a Pats fan? May honestly be illegal. Plus, hey – New Orleans needs all the good vibes right now. Indy’s won one recently.

So far, it’s been a good weekend all around. I did a bunch of stitching yesterday – working through three projects on my rotation for 2 hrs each. Spring Queen continues to be the very doomed piece – I had to give it a preliminary bath already for some dirt on the stitches. I must have had a loose pencil in my backpack, and on very light yellow… yeah, instant dinge. Ick. Thankfully all came out. The piece is dry, and I can start stitching on it again next time it comes up in the rotation. I’ll get photos up when I update for the Olympics tomorrow evening.

On other news that I’ve been chomping on all week (and panicking about) – it’s probably one of the few times in my life that I was very, very happy to see my period arrive. Erich and I had a bit too much fun about 2 weeks ago, and yes – while married, no… we’re not in a situation where we really are set for kids. That night, however – well… yeah. So anyway, my brain the next day started doing some math, and then I started swearing profusely. It’s not been a good couple weeks of worry. I’m very relieved that we’re not looking at a baby in 9 months. SO GLAD.

Not that the biological clock isn’t still ticking, mind – but Erich and I need to take care of a couple of things right now that really, really would cause problems had we been pregnant. And I sure as hell was not thrilled with the idea of handling a pregnancy whilst this obese.

I could do without the cramps today, though. ;P

Anyway… break over. Off to get some more work done.

Looking forward to the weekend

Posted by Measi on Feb 5, 2010 in Life, Work, and all the Rest, Misc. Musings, stitching

I’m a bit silly-punchy right now due to being on the reception desk all day, so if I really go off on a strange tangent or don’t sound quite sane (for me – be nice), that’s why.

It’s odd to know that there’s a raging snowstorm coming up the East Coast that’s going to absolutely bury some places in 20-30 inches of snow, yet in Rhode Island there isn’t even a flake in the forecast. Amazing how these systems work. I’m so used to hearing the Boston-New York-Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington, DC announcement on Amtrak as if the megalopolis is this continual, reasonably small area of land that sometimes it’s easy to forget that no, it really isn’t.

In any case, my mom will be in this storm, though not in the worst of it. I’ll give her a call at some point to check in tomorrow.

My weekend should be fairly tame – I’m going to stitch all day tomorrow. Literally. Erich and Matt are off to play Dungeons & Dragons (well… a Star Wars campaign actually, but it’s tabletop roleplaying…) all day. They’ll probably leave sometime around 10 a.m., and I expect them home pretty late (10 or 11 p.m.). I’ll have the house to myself.

So stitching’s the plan – and lots of it. I’m going to be working on my Stitching Olympics rotation for The Wagon tomorrow. Unsure how many projects I’ll actually stitch. The official turnaround is at 2 hours. I am going to stick to that as best I can, but I do tend to be a slow stitcher. 2 hours may not give me a lot of progress. Still, it will be good to put stitches in a bunch of things. I have UFOs that literally have not been touched since before my wedding. I’m using the Olympic challenges to form my rotations for the rest of the year, too. I want to figure out which projects are strongly appealing right now and which projects I have a reasonable chance at finishing at some point this year. As far as I’m concerned, the more I can clean off my list, the more new projects I can start. But now I have a healthy group of projects to choose from, so no more from me until a couple others are completed, I think.

I also became the moderator for the new 2010 UFO Round Robin over on The Worldwide Round Robins board today. Susan’s a bit busy with work and other projects, and I was happy to jump in with the experience I have from years past in non-stitching exchanges. The RR’s scheduled to have its first mailing on March 15th, so if anyone’s interested in participating, pop over there, look for the 2010 UFO RR board (bottom of the page, currently) and drop me the info required. The more the merrier!

Time to go home soon, so I’m going to start tidying up around here before heading to the boat. (I drove to Hingham and took the ferry today)

Happy Friday!

Tags: Round Robins

Stitching Updates & the Olympics!

Posted by Measi on Feb 1, 2010 in blog organization, rotations & goals, stitching

I’m participating in The Wagon’s Rotation Relay for the Stitching Olympics, so my rotation this month is a very odd one for me.

The relay guidelines are to work two hours on each piece, then move on. I’ve decided to include ALL of my current WIPS and UFOs in my rotation for the month, and I’ll see where it goes from there. I’m going to do this in a screaming order. I’ll return to my normal style of rotating in March.

Project list:

Spring Queen (Mirabilia) – currently stitching
Home is Where the Cat Is (Dimensions)
Cats on a Staircase (Bucilla)
Elemental Dragons: Spirit (DD)
Apache Wedding Blessing (Kooler Design)
Egyptian Sampler (TW)
Floral Bellpull (TW)
Astrology Sampler (Witches Stitches)
Legends of the Dragons (TW, DD, BS)
Smoky Mountain Cats (Pegasus Designs)
Fantasy Triptych (TW)
Magical Night (TW)
Noah’s Ark (TW)
Millennium (TW)
Walk in the Woods (Cricket Collection)
Garden Samplers (Prairie Schooler)

I think it will be a good way for me to really take a look at what I want to do for a rotation, too. I have plenty of projects kitted up now, and there’s a nice mix of diversity in them. Hopefully that will help me progress on things – particularly those TW patterns which I love, but can’t always focus on stitching.

—

So onto my January goals…

1) Work on many new starts as I wish for guilt-free January YES – I started three projects.
2) Finish kitting any projects I’d like to start in 2010 YES. I may have overlooked a thread here or there, but I can start on any of the pieces I wanted to kit.
3) Sort any old WIP photos and redo my progress pages online ALMOST- everything’s been photographed, and I’ve updated my main page, but I still need to build the individual progress pages.
4) Have an uninterrupted 6 hours of stitching time YES – had a wonderful one two weeks ago.
5) Figure out which piece I’d like to send around for the UFO RR that will hopefully kick up over on the TWWRR board. YES – have this solved too.

So yes, a very productive month. I’m pleased.

So for February, my goals are:

1) Rotate through all of my WIPs and UFOs at least once
2) Finish Home is Where the Cat Is
3) Finish Spirit
4) Put together the individual progress pages on my website
5) Finalize my rotation that will start in March
6) Remember to photograph the TUSAL this month.

Off to get some work done. I’ll post thoughts on individual projects this week.

Photo of the Week: Week Two

Posted by Measi on Jan 29, 2010 in memes, new england

Plymouth Rock – Plymouth, MA
Originally uploaded by measi

[Charlie Brown] I got a rock… [/Charlie Brown]

On Saturday, I met up with for a day of S.E.X. (Stash Enhancement eXperience) in Plymouth, Mass (approx. 50 minutes drive from my house). Lots of stitchy stash was had, as well as a short experience in a scary towny bar, followed by a much nicer experience in a better bar. It was a good, relaxing afternoon. Only thing we didn’t manage to do was fit in high tea and scones (with real clotted cream!!!) at the tea room on Court Street.

On my way out of town, since it’s not tourist season, plus it was dark and quiet and cold and a perfect solitary time, I swung around the corner to go look at the rock.

Yeah… THAT rock.

So here ya go… here’s Plymouth Rock, in the… quartz… as it were.

It’s really nothing exciting, sadly. It’s a big ol’ rock with 1620 stamped into it, and a repaired crack running through it. It’s on the beach, covered with a nicely lit little stone pavillion thingy.

I think the glorified American history I was taught as a child made it feel like it was supposed to be a cliff or something. It’s funny how those far-away places we’re taught about as children seem so much smaller and tangible when you see them up close. Sometimes the illusion is a far better picture.

But still – it does exist, which is kinda cool when you think about it.

Tags: photo of the week

Photo of the Week: Week One

Posted by Measi on Jan 22, 2010 in new england

Fishing boat on its way out
Originally uploaded by measi

I’m a bit late starting mine due to some work craziness, but this was a project kalleah suggested. I think I’ll do mine on Friday nights, just to make it a bit easier on myself. Starting next week, I’ll be doing new photos.

Galilee, Rhode Island is a teeny little village within the town of Narrangansett. It’s a very active fishing port with boats coming in and out of the harbor all of the time. As you’d expect – great, fresh seafood restaurants – and foodstores.

During the first weekend of May 2009, Rhode Island was having an absolutely perfect spring stretch. We were craving fried clams (of which there is in abundance in RI… but not all are worthy of long drives!), and decided to head down to Champlin’s Seafood for a good feast. Afterward, we wandered down onto the beach for a bit – even daring to wade a bit into the water (which was numbingly cold).

We watched many fishing boats like this one leave the harbor, heading out into Long Island Sound – or, in some cases, out into the open Atlantic. It was a picture perfect day at the seashore – and I’m looking forward to springtime when we can go back there without freezing.

Tags: photo of the week

Busy, busy (quick entry)

Posted by Measi on Jan 21, 2010 in Fanfic, Life, Work, and all the Rest, World of Warcrack, celebrations and holidays, stitching

Haven’t posted in a couple weeks even though I’ve been meaning to. Nothing’s wrong – I’m just busy with a bunch of little things now that the new year has started.

Another birthday has come and gone – I’m 35. Oddly, this one does feel different, although I’m not quite sure how to describe it.

Work’s fine. The pace has been uneven, but that’s to be expected in the new year. I’m still stressed about the things that normally stress me, but overall… work’s just fine.

I started on some fanfic early in the month, but I’ve been distracted by all of the other stuff going on in my life. Erich has some gaming dates with the guys in the next few weeks, though – so I may reserve some of my time to just tinker. No idea where it will lead. I’m not putting any expectations on myself other than to scribble some scenes and see if anything takes me anywhere. I’m debating posting draft scenes under a friends’ lock on LiveJournal for feedback… any thoughts?

I’ve been doing a decent amount of stitching, too. As part of “Guilt Free January” over on The Wagon, I’ve started two pieces so far this month: Legends of the Dragons and Astrology Sampler. I’ll post pics this weekend on them. I’ve debated starting one more piece for Guilt Free January to throw some variety into my rotations the rest of this year… I’m mulling over starting Spring Queen by Mirabilia or Witchy Washy by Raise the Roof. Not sure yet… but I probably will get something else underway in the next week or so.

I haven’t, to my surprise, been playing a lot of World of Warcraft. Erich tossed the Guild Leader tag on me earlier this month, and I need to start doing something to salvage the guild in some way. Not sure what yet – it will be a casual setup, but I need to get on the polls I took earlier this month.

That’s it for now – new work just came in, so I need to get offline.

Monthly and yearly goals

Posted by Measi on Jan 7, 2010 in rotations & goals, stitching

Where the HELL did the first week of January go to?!?

So I’m thinking of what goals I want to focus on, both for this month and for this year. Here’s what I’ve come up with… although knowing me, I’ll probably completely change my mind mid-year. This is just for stitching. I have other goals and such in the works, too – including a 210 in 2010 Days (yes… 210.)

So… monthly stitching goals first. For December, I wanted to…

1) Stitch 10 hours on Apache Wedding Blessing Close, but I don’t think I actually got a full 10 done. Eight, maybe?
2) Start Astrology Sampler Didn’t get to it.
3) Prepare a new rotation round to start January 2010 Yes – and I’m already thinking of changing it… again.
4) Organize my stitching portion of my website. Yep! Got all of my charts organized and listed.
5) Plan my long-term stitching goals for 2010 A rough plan, yes. I’ve concluded that if I go too specific, I won’t stick to it.

For January, I want to:

1) Work on many new starts as I wish for guilt-free January
2) Finish kitting any projects I’d like to start in 2010
3) Sort any old WIP photos and redo my progress pages online
4) Have an uninterrupted 6 hours of stitching time
5) Figure out which piece I’d like to send around for the UFO RR that will hopefully kick up over on the TWWRR board.

For yearly goals, I want to do the following:

- Finish one TW project
- Particpate in an ornament exchange
- Finish 3 non-TW projects
- Develop a better floss and pattern organizing system in my office
- Make at least one rotation’s progress on all of my current UFOs
- Go to a stitching convention/retreat/show/thingy
- Attend or host at least 6 Stitch ‘n Bitches with friends
- Finally learn how to finish a knitted piece so I can get my scarf off my needles.

I deny having a floss problem

Posted by Measi on Jan 2, 2010 in rotations & goals, stitching

(okay… maybe a teensy bit of one)

One of the things I’ve decided is causing some of the stall in my stitching is the fact that I keep sticking on the same half dozen projects. I’ve been telling myself that I’m not allowed to start anything else in my stash unless I finish the projects I have… and well… that’s turned more into a curse on my progress, honestly. Part of the problem also is just – my Teresa Wentzler addiction. I have plenty of pieces in progress, but those are huge slogs of pieces. I need some smaller – or just easier – pieces to add into my rotation so I get occasional "happy dance" celebrations with completions.

So I decided to allow myself to kit up the following projects to add some variety into my rotation:

Legends of the Dragons (Teresa Wentzler) – only because it’s part of a stitch-a-long on the TW message boards
Mirror, Mirror (Abbey Lane Designs)
The Catfeeder (Cedar Hill)
Lazy People (Calico Crossroads)
Wee Beasties IV (Dimples Designs)
Dragon’s Tea Party (Dragon Dreams)
Sleepy Hollow (Glendon Place)
Autumn in the Square (Just Nan)
Leaping Cat (La-D-Da)
Witches Dance (Lavender Wings)
Coffee Menu (Little House Needleworks)
Dragonflies, Ladybugs & Bees (M Designs)
Spring Queen (Mirabilia)
Witchy Washy (Raise the Roof Designs)

I already have tons of fabric from which to choose for these projects. I just needed to check my floss status. And that’s where the problem starts.

About two weeks ago, I plunked on the couch with the projects I’d selected, a bunch of craft organizer tubs and my main floss stash. Like many stitchers, I keep a "master" supply of floss that I’ve collected over the years – either through leftovers from previous projects, or pickups from friends and family and the occasional yard sale. I always try to pull from that supply first, and then I’ll fill in missing colors from the store.

This does mean that any given moment, I may have a bunch of the same color of floss sitting between projects – but to make sure I don’t mix older DMC dyelots with newer ones (or just deal with the natural fading/aging of thread as it stores), I won’t share a color between two concurrent projects. If I wind up with a bunch of leftover, fine – it makes it easier to pull in the future. But I’d rather have the leftover than run out halfway through a project, buy a new skein of the same number… and it doesn’t match.

So anyway… I go through and make a very messy scribbled list of floss color numbers I’m missing. I clean it up during the quiet period of work last week – and this morning, headed off to the craft store to pull colors.

And well… I guess I needed a lot more than I thought I’d need:

It’s fairly deep, although you can’t tell that well from that photo.

The receipt, however, is better proof of what’s going on. (this is my embarrassed smile – Erich wouldn’t allow me to make a terrified face). Pardon the PJs.