Stitching Bloggers' Question of the Week

Do you dream of running your own LNS/ONS? If so, tell us about your dream. If not, tell us about your cross stitch dream… maybe you dream of designing, dyeing your own floss or fabric, etc.
This is going to sound like a disgruntled old Maxine-type. I've worked all my life, and I'm a domestic goddess now and have no intention of doing much of anything except exactly what I wanna do for the rest of my life. I've had an unbelievably difficult time in this life, and I have nothing left for anyone but my family, my cats, and my hobbies. If I sound selfish, it's because I'm spent, worn out, and I'm no longer young enough to put up with much out of anyone outside my increasingly smaller circle of friends and family. My Internet friends are right up there with my circle of friends. I enjoy going to my LNS and bantering with the gals there, but I have no desire to have anything requiring discipline, balancing books, pleasing the public, etc. I've owned two businesses, and it's a thankless job. Everyone thinks you're rolling in the $$$, and nothing could be further from the truth. You have to work your backend off, which is why mine has grown since I left the working world. I'd rather stay at home and eat ice cream than work my butt off for nothing. I'm always nice to clerks and owners of the businesses at which I enjoy shopping. Their jobs are hard work, and some people expect a lot and reward them by being ungrateful and rude. I've had enough of that. I won't go down in history as a great entrepreneur, and I don't give a hoot. Family comes first. If my grandkids remember me with a smile, I will have done my best job well.

Trying Fresh New Looks

I spent a quiet day yesterday, working on a dab of Mirabilia's Scent of Old Roses to start off the new year on a positive note. The poor thing got dragged out of hiding, and it took me longer to get out my supplies and stretching her on my stitching frame than any stitching done. But that's OK; intentions were good, and it got me in the mood to finish her this year. In my little under-the-stairs hiding place for the overflow of what's put away in my sewing room where the closet is. The cabinets are full in my sewing room, but it's mostly fabrics and crafty things. The bulk of my cross stitch had to have their own place. DH is not allowed in my closet. In the shuffling to pull out my bag with Scent of Old Roses and supplies, I dumped over a whole plastic drawer box of alphabetized hand-dyed fibers, which I now have to refile.

As those of you who know me can see, I've changed to a different template and have nothing else on my blog except my posts. I'm looking for a less cluttered look anyway, but I do want to do some experimentation and add some interest. I may change templates again. I've seen other sites with very attractive templates I'm thinking of. I'm writing this post as I'm on hold with a credit card company. My call is very important to them, blah, blah, blah......

I didn't make any resolutions for the new year because I never keep 'em. But I do hold out hope that the mood will strike that I'll work out better eating habits and limited exercize (limited because of lupus); therefore, lose some tonnage in the process. I'm just very unhappy with myself right now. If it hadn't been for my butt, I wouldn't have knocked over my little floss cabinet, LOL! The nice thing about a new year for us stitchers is that we have high hopes for a more productive stitching year, and though I won't commit to it, it's what I hope for.

Hope all my stitching blogger friends had a great Christmas, Hannukah, or whatever applies, and my hope is that your new year is blessed with fun and plentiful stitching!

Merry Christmas From Caiti

The colors from this cell phone pic aren't good, but you get the idea. Click on the image, and you can see a happy kitty better. This is my most immodest kitty, the fluffiest, with the thickest fur. She's not overweight at all, but she gets in front of the fireplace, just beyond the throw on the floor. She just lollygags in the heat of the fire.

Stitching Sisters' Ornament Exchange

Isn't she just the cutest lil ol' golfing gal, right down to her golfing saddle shoes?

This was stitched for me by one of my Stitching Sisters pals, Gis, as part of our

ornament exchange, in addition to a beautiful pewter piece. She did this, and

many other things, while on the run, with her husband recuperating from liver transplant surgery. What a gal....

I had posted this earlier, but for the sake of showing my part of the ornament exchange now that I have received mine from Gis, this is the one I sent to my recipient Stitching Sister, Debbie. I sent her some other stitching goodies also.

Then, I have finally sent a package to a friend, Dianne Collins, which turned out to be a birthday/Christmas gift with lots of goodies and this Autumn ornament. We share the same birthday month, November, and we both love Prairie Schooler. In fact, we lovingly call each other Coz, as it's a possibility we could be distant cousins with ancestors arriving here from England around the same time. We've found other parallels in our lives that have kept us friends, and we send each other packages now & then. The next PS ornie is in the JCS ornament issue, and I think Spring and Summer will follow.

Stitching Bloggers' Question of the Week for Dec. 14

Do you have any good internet links to tutorials for your favoritefinishing techniques that you would like to share?

This question comes from Carol.

Yes, I do like Mary Kathryn's whom I know through though she is just beginning in this area and has a terrific little online shop

Exhaustion Took Over Last Night

Doesn't this dog look happy playing Reindog? What we don't do to our pets to make them look festive, LOL! This dog belongs to a co-worker of my daughter's. She couldn't quit lauging at his expression, so she sent it to me.

Yesterday was so busy for me and so frustrating, I collapsed when I finally got home and watched my DVR'ed soaps and QVC shows I would have missed otherwise. Yes, I admit it. I'm an addict.

Anyway, after dealing with grandkids and their friends, driving all over town, finding out something cleared my bank that I wasn't expecting, and the overdraft protection kicked in with ungodly charges ($10 for each $100), then finding out my new glasses were the wrong prescription and have to be reordered. I told them something was wrong, and they kept telling me my brain had to get used to the new corrction. My brain doesn't translate total blindness very well. I was just totally out of sorts at the day's end, and I didn't think the day would ever end. I was not in the mood to do anything but veg. Any stitching I would have done would have been frogged anyway. Getting this dog's picture was a nice start for this day, so maybe I'll finish my little gift for my special friend.

Rotation of Sorts

I've long ago discovered that I'm a one-at-a-time girl when it comes to stitching. I'm actually working on 3 pieces at a time because of time constraints with gift giving looming ahead in very short order. I think I can make it! I have my ornament exchange commitments satisfied, thank goodness.

What I'm working on is actually a late birthday present for someone we all know and love. I'm combining a Christmas present with it so it will be a Bday/Christmas package.

I'm also working on an autumn Mill Hill kit for myself so it won't become a UFO. I have never been so frustrated with anything. I've broken all my beading needles at the eye portion if I use a wire threader. Also, the eyes are so small, the thread is shredding back into balls, and I'm about to give up in disgust. I have two of these kits from the Mill Hill autumn line, and I can't get the first one done, let alone even open the 2nd one. I wonder if there's such a thing as larger hole beading needles? I used to be so patient.... now I get so mad I throw everything off my lap onto the floor, scaring the cats into springing up mid-air. Don't know why I do that... end up having to pick it all up, stuff it back into my bag and reassure the cats it wasn't their fault.

The third thing I'm working on is a Tie One On by Pine Mountain called "Winter." Adorable! I was going to give it to my daughter, but the colors won't work in her decor. They will in mine though, LOL! She has a penchant for penguins, so I picked up a new Bent Creek sampler-type design "Winter Line Up" to do for my daughter. It has a snowman and one line of penguins (with lines of other seasonal stuff), both of which are her favorites. I should start that today, as I'm about finished with the little late birthday stitching, so I'll add this one to my Sorta Semi-Rotation. I don't time myself; just work in a little on each a day. I'm also trying to break time between each different one by doing a chore around the house to assuage the self-imposed guilt of stitching.

I'm not posting much here these days, as I've been researching alternatives to Blogger. I'm still so mad at 'em I could spit. And I'm really sick of people who tell me, "I'm on Beta and having no trouble at all." Well, bully for you. I'm happy for you, but if I didn't have bad luck, I would have no luck at all. And you just got lucky. There are forums FULL of people like me who are stuck in the abused "See How Long They Last" group. So don't brag too much. I went along just fine for awhile, then all hell broke lose, and I found myself on the end of a breaking branch. So there! And there is coming soon when no one will have a choice. Beta is going to encompass everyone on Blogger. Enjoy it while it lasts. But of course, I'm blazing the trail, so the bugs may all be worked out when you all get swooped into the mire.

Stitching Bloggers' Question of the Week

How do you secure your thread when you begin a new one? Specifically,do you or have you ever used a waste knot?

Naw, never used one in all my stitching years. Never made any sense to me, so I've always used the loop method or stitched over the beginning of the thread on the back for 3 or 4 stitches.

Still Having Blogger/Google Problems

I'll try to keep this short, as it's not too interesting, except that I'm a sheer genius. I found a Google group that is dedicated to posts about Beta Blogger. Many complaints; nothing answered by the "pros" who signed on to help with the Google accounts/Beta Blogger. One section is "Help! I'm locked out of my blog!" People just like me. I've lost my ability to leave comments on non-beta bloggers---so I'm not being unattentive to you who take the time to comment on my blog when I'm able to get in to post.

Screw the "pros" who don't know the answers. I spent countless hours figuring out how to beat Beta Blogger at locking me out, and I reported it to the forum who has the same problem as I. They were dumbfounded that it's the only thing they've found to work. Believe it or not, you have to sign up for a brand new blog everytime you want to access your own blog. It doesn't even give a message that the email addy or password has already been used. I've created several new blogs just getting into my dashboard. And another of the problems I noticed on the Google help group is that once they delete a blog, it comes back. Same thing is happening to me. I'm creating new blogs, and they leave for awhile, only to return like a bad penny. The group I helped who have been locked out of their blogs are next going to have a list of blogs like me. Hope Google has plenty of available space. The list is going to be getting longer every day. ROFLMAO!!!

Stuff I've Been Doing

A fall Mill Hill kit that I'm afraid is getting put away till the holidays are over. They are fun to do though!

To the right is Little House Needleworks' "Watermelon Thread Pack," the first in a series of fruits with Crescent Colours.


Left is Lizzie Kate's freebie "Let It Snow" with sterling snowflake. Looks crappy here and crooked here but turned out nicely. I braided DMC metallics in green, blue, and silver for the hanger. This was sent in an ornament exchange, along with some goodies.