HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

so today is my birthday! I decided to take off work today and enjoy some time at home. I also have off work thursday, friday (for the holiday) and also monday (cause i just feel like it). I think by the time monday rolls around I'll be ready to be back at my desk dealing with the crazy people. It's also been kind of lucky as the BF has had some car trouble, so was able to drive my car to work today, and then he can take it monday if his car isn't fixed by then.

so I've spent my day, well doing nothing....it's my birthday, HELLO!! well, I am doing a load of laundry but it's not like it's hard or takes awhole lot of energy. other than that, I've been stitching and started a new project last night.

Country Cottage Needleworks

Peppermint Lane

28 ct. Ivory Lugana

Started 12/30/2008

Nora Corbett

Tigerlily Pixie Couture

32 ct. sudden storm opalescent by silkweaver

Started: 12/27/2008

Last friday, the day after christmas, my LNS "the stitching post" located in catonsville was having a sale. everything in the shop was 20% off so I dragged the BF along to satisfy my stash appetite. I picked up peppermint lane, a tiny tidings packet by lizzie kate, and the bookshelf by LHN. Since I couldn't find anything else to my liking I decided to get the fibers and fabric for peppermint lane, two other pieces of fabric, needles and beads for Nora Corbetts Iris pixie couture.

Time to get back to my birthday stitching, laundry and soon my wonderful BF will be home for the evening. Hope everyone has a wonderful new year!!

That time of year!!

So I realized there was no post in quite awhile and thought it was time. Christmas is coming in five days and I'm nowhere near ready. There are people who I had no idea what to buy for so it came down to handmade gifts. And trust me, deciding to make handmade gifts two weeks before the big day is not something to take lightly. Like the smart person I am, I picked things that could be made up quickly and would not take longer than a day or two. First, my grandmother and her sister. I made them each a crocheted scarf from a pattern that I found on Ravelry. Very simple pattern that worked up quickly, but looks very pretty.

Tomorrow we are going to DBF dads family christmas and his dad said not for us to buy them anything but I still thought we should do something. Another blog that I read showed an ornament that they received in an exchange and I did some research and found the instructions to make these!!

when I googled, I found them under "folded fabric pinecone ornament". I love them, I wish I could keep them, but will prolly make one for myself after the holiday rush to add to our tree next year.

Well, got to get going.

Stitchin' Away!

so today was that day!! i had off work today, but woke up early and went out to vote and beat the crowds. the lines were still a bit long, but i was still only there for about 15 or 20 minutes which was good with me. then i came home and it was time to work. two loads of laundry and a vacuumed living room later i was ready to relax.

i received a surprise in the form of my best friend with lunch in hand. so we sat down to mcd's and season 4 of Greys Anatomy. i also got a good bit into her scarf which is christmas gift....check it out!!

This is my second knitting project. i really feel like ive got a handle on the stitches and the cables! it's a plaited cable scarf, pattern is from ravelry, the yarn is bernat satin in plum mist heather. i really love the way it is turning out and how quickly its coming along. i started working on it last night and only did about eight rows and then when my friend came over i did the rest of it that you see here while we were watching tv.

aside from my scarves in progress i also got a book from the public library to see if i could get going on socks. here is my first sock attempt.

im not really following any pattern. the book i got says to do this 2x2 ribbing for the cuff but i think i will just continue it down the leg, i like how it looks. the yarn is patons stretch sock in plum, its very elastic and i really like the colors. work on the double pointed needles isnt so bad, only when the other needles get in my way. if i continue with socks i will prolly figure out the whole socks on circs deal.

though im excited about learning to knit and finding patterns, my first love is still cross stitch and when i need a break from knitting ive been picking up nantucket rose.

so this is what ive been up to. not a whole lot going on. for halloween the bf and i went out with friends and well, he got ridiculously drunk and paid for later that night. no comment needed from me, LOL. the day after we went to lunch at tgi fridays and went to the movies and saw "zack and miri make a porno". if you like funny and seth rogen, you'll love it like we did. if you dont like naked and cant understand silly and hysterical i would pass, you're too boring for this movie......have a great day everyone!!

been awhile.......

so its been quite busy around here. last friday the BF and i had "date night" and went out to dinner at outback steakhouse. they told us a 70 min wait but we ended up only waiting 30, but we didnt mind the wait because we knew the food would be great like always and of course, it was!

sunday we went to the maryland rennaisance festival. neither of us had been before so it was quite an experience.........

lately ive been working on a few projects. ive still got lavender and lace's nantucket rose going, but at least ive finished LHN home of a needleworker (too)

i've also started another project, i have accumulated quite a few kits so i picked out dimensions "kitty litter"

and not i have FINALLY managed to figure out this whole knitting thing, and then even cables!! so now my first project in knitting is this cabled scarf, i found a pattern that is reversible so the cables are on both sides! guess what everyone's getting for christmas!?!?!!?

Ready for another weekend

So yesterday i received the most fabulous email from Silkweaver fabrics. 50% off odds and ends and solo fabrics!! holy crap!! so of course i immediately hit the site as did the 1 million other people that got the email and the site crashed. im panicking, seriously, i had my eye on opalescent hand dyed fabric 9x13 for $3.30, UM HELLO!!! so after countless hits on the refresh button, i was finally able to get back in and quickly complete my sale. five pieces of fabric, all hand dyed, three of which were opalescent for $20!!! im so excited, and i wont have to wait for weeks to get them because they are already dyed so hopefully it wont take longer than a week to get them. i found two very pretty pieces, one a nice yellow and the other a really pretty light teal for my twelve days of christmas ornaments so i can start on them as soon as i get the fabric, yay!!!

as for the weekend, no idea what im getting into. my bf, matt is working tonight, saturday and sunday so im on my own once again (he worked the same schedule last weekend). prolly cleaning, laundry and more stitching!

i finished needleworker too last week, no picture yet as my dsl is still down...the dsl bill is very low on my list of bills to pay.....so now this week im working on nantucket rose, she is extremely tedious with the color changes and all the confetti.

Feeding the Monster

so ive been working diligently the last two weeks on needleworker too. unfortunately, i have lost internet at my house and cant post any progress pics yet. but i do have some exciting news, i recently bought a new cell phone and got a $50 mail in rebate and have now received my $50 rebate debit card, yay!! while waiting for it i was planning what i would buy with it. stash of course!! despite my recent vow to not do that, i thought well, technically this is money ive already spent so its not like ill be doing without if i spend it on something totally for me....though i should have though more along the lines of clothes maybe....no stash is better, lol. so this morning i fed my monster and placed my order at 123stitch.com, one of my favorite sites to buy stash. not only is the shipping pretty cheap and fast, the prices are excellent. they may not have ALL of the latest things that are coming out, but if you ask they will get you pretty much anything you want. so what did i get?

well, ive been on the lookout for a twelve days of christmas ornament design. i really loved theresa wentzlers ornament design for the twelve days, it was so fancy and pretty and i love her work. but having stitched (one ufo and one completed) pieces of her work, i thought, no i knew, i would never get them done in time for the holidays. i would get too frustrated with the detail like i always do, but so pretty!! anyways, then i saw the new just nan design, but also decided against those. just nan designs are cute, but i feel like they are too busy for my taste, just too much going on there. then i happened upon the designs done by cross eyed cricket, inc. and they are sooo cute!!! also different then other designs that i saw, i loved them instantly! the only downside is that they split the twelve ornaments between four leaflets, which kinda sucked but who cares....i gotta feed my monster!!! so i ordered all four of the leaflets and also the JCS ornament issue.

i still have $11 left on the card........maybe its time to feed the YARN monster......

Trying to show alittle restraint.....its soooo not working

since ive "rediscovered" the joy of cross stitching in the last year or two, im quite impressed with the amount of stash i have built in patterns and kits. still quite low on fabrics but im working on it....ive also become a bit of a fabric snob since i found hand dyed fabrics. for awhile i was very obssessed with a wonderful website i loved to order from and also a LNS near me that i found while doing some intensive research online looking for one. its about an hour from my house so trips are planned well in advance and include pages and pages of lists of things broken down by: NEED, MUST HAVE, AND MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO WITHOUT (BUT NOT REALLY). recently, as in the last couples of months ive been much better and am trying to restrain myself from getting more stash aside from the occasional exchange or two with my friend heather in new york. i want to be able to make it to the new year without any big sprees but its soooo difficult......

as of right now, as shown in my previous post, ive got three projects going and trying to fit them in a weekly rotation. last week i worked diligently on needlework (too) and i must say, its come a long way. saturday i had the house to myself as my bf was working both of his jobs until about 10pm. so after a quick trip to pick up the fourth season of greys anatomy, i was planted on the couch just stitching away. i'd say im about 50% completed.....update picture to come soon.

as for acquiring stash, ive done quite well. i havent ordered anything online/purchased anything at the LNS, since um, the beginning of august? and even then i only ordered like 2....5 things.....but most of it was for an exchange i was doing with a friend. so ive been good....and now the JCS ornament issue is out....and i want.......just this one little thing.........man, thats how it always starts, im in so much trouble!!

Gonna give this a try

so i've decided to try out this blogging thing and see how it goes. i love to read other peoples cross stitch/craft blogs and check out their progress on projects so here is mine!! yay!

Here is one of my newest starts from this week. Home of a Needleworker (too) by Little House Needleworks.

Ive decided to put that and Nantucket Rose (Lavender & Lace) into some sort of rotation. Here is my start on Nantucket.

and last but not least, here is my latest finish. Poppy by Nora Corbet aka Mirablia. I managed to finish all the stitching while away on vacation last month and now im just procrastinating the beading part......its so tedious!!