Bacon on my grilled cheese

I have been very productive the last couple of weeks....stitching wise. Otherwise, well, not so much. Although, I did get our spare/my craft room organized one Saturday while Matt was working some overtime. It so much neater with everything where it belongs. Too bad I dont spend as much time as I thought I would be when I set it up.

I was able to finished stitching Little House Needleworks "Simple Joys" pattern earlier this week. I am too lazy to go upstairs to take a finished picture of it, so you can just use your imagination. In the middle of stitching it I ran out of one of the threads, so I was forced (yea, right) to take a trip to the LNS near my house (about 45 mins) The Stitching Post to pick up another skein.

Well, you can't just go there for ONE thing, especially if it's just some thread. While I was there, I picked up a Mill Hill bead kit that I knew Matt would love and also another new pattern by Little House Needleworks.

Sarah Street - Faithfulness Sampler

I haven't started working on her yet, but I am very excited to begin. Probably this weekend when Matt is working and I've got the place to myself . I had another finish this week. I stitched the Mill Head bead kit that I got for Matt. It's a pirate!

Irate Pirate

This is my finished product, I think it turned out pretty well. Please excuse the bad picture. I was too impatient to get out the camera so I took it with my phone. It was the first project like this that I had finished. I was really nervous because it is stitched on perforated paper (paper with holes in it) and then I had to cut the parrot and the skull without cutting any of the holes that had stitches, which would totally ruin all the work and time I had put into it. It came with a magnet so once I put a felt backing or something on it to hid the ugly stuff in the back, I can glue on the magnet and stick it on the fridge.

After finishing it earlier tonight I realized I hadn't yet eaten dinner so I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. About halfway through, I thought to myself, "this would be good with some bacon on it". Wish I had thought of that earlier.

The summer has come to an end and kids are starting to go back to school around here. That means more traffic in the morning, there goes my peaceful morning drive. I am very much looking forward to labor day weekend, I really need my four day holiday!

Back in the Saddle

So after a few months of stitching spurts where I would totally get into my project and work on it tirelessly for hours or days at time. The project would then languish on my stitching table and quietly mock me in its half stitched sullenness. But, this month that changes!

It all started last week, I had a few evenings to myself as my dear, hardworking fiance was working a few night jobs for work. Thus leaving me home alone finding it impossible to get to sleep until he got home or I knew he was coming home. Does this happen to you? Years of being single, going to sleep whenever I wanted and having no problem. Now that I have a dude in my bed, it is impossible for me to go to sleep or stay asleep without him next to me.

Anyway, with so much free time on my hands and so not doing housework in this heat (yea, no a/c in the house), I picked up my long neglected stitching project. I am really enjoying being back in the saddle and loving my progress! This picture shows progress from about a week ago, since then I have the wings pretty much done and ready to move onto the body. I had a minor hiccup when I ran out of the Kreinik thread, but all was well with a special trip to a stitch shop. More details on that later.

Petal Fairy
Mirabilia

On another note, Matt and I have been dealing with ALOT of drama from some so called friends. Some stuff happened, followed by alot of people saying alot of stuff to Matt. All about me and the fact that none of them like me, but were only nice because of him. One of these people USED to be in our wedding party. Yea, it was all that bad. Matt and I have been together for almost four years and I've always felt that his friends were not fond of me, but I never understood why and they never said anything if they did have a problem with me. At least, not to my face. Ever since we got engaged, I have really noticed a change in attitude towards me. This was the breaking point for me. It was also for Matt when they said they had all these "problems" with me and instead of just talking to me about it, they were harassing and tattling to him. After years of listening to their heartache and giving advice when asked, watching their kids, I was very taken aback like "wow, that's what they really think of me?!". It was pretty shocking and hurtful, so we just decided to no longer associate with them.

So, last Saturday, after weeks of getting texts and emails (and not responding to any of them), we decided to "take the day off" and go to the beach. We only live about 3 1/2 hours from the beach and the drive really doesn't seem like much when you're in the car with someone you love and makes you laugh! The weather was perfect! We laid on the beach all afternoon and walked on the boardwalk at night. I also got a special treat by getting to visit "Salty Yarns" which is an LNS right on the boardwalk by the ocean. I was able to pick up the Kreinik thread I ran out of for Petal Fairy and also a new pattern by Little House Needleworks that I was really drooling over. I love the richness in the colors!

Simple Joys
Little House Needleworks

I wasn't able to find a piece of fabric for it while I was at the shop, but I did get all the threads and figured I had a piece at home I could stitch it on. The pattern is 7 3/4" square. The piece of fabric I found at home for it is 9x13, yes, I know. A problem. But, me being the impatient one decided not to care and forged ahead. No, it's not centered on the fabric and no, I don't care....this one time. It's not centered and it barely fits on the fabric, but I made it work!

I've decided to make it my "downstairs" project and keep Petal Fairy upstairs. This way, when I am watching TV downstairs, I don't have to get all my supplies together and lug it up and down the steps. I also got a cute little tote to keep everything in so my living room doesn't look like my stitching bag exploded. Now I just have a nice little bag neatly sitting on the end table by the couch where I sit. Though we haven't been watching much TV downstairs since the TV broke. We can watch DVDS and play the Wii on the it, but it won't let us watch regular TV. Total bummer.

Hope you are staying cool in these dog days of summer. I am really looking forward to it cooling down alittle in the coming weeks.