I am back

I got in late yesterday from a conference in Missoula, Montana. The weather was beautiful and cold while I was there. I walked two miles each way to go see a LNS. It was a pleasant walk; I got to trounce through bright yellow crunchy Maple Leaves. It was my first experience with a true fall. I grew up in San Diego, CA where the weather is the same year round and Texas where it is either extremely hot or just hot.
I was finally able to restock on needles. I go through needles like mad. A typically needle will last me about a week. A gold plated one about two weeks. I found some size 28 platinum needles. I hope these work. I am sick of having to buy needles all the time.
I have not had much time to stitch the past two weeks due to academic duties, however, 6 hour layovers in airports provide excellent opportunities to stitch. I made some progress on the Mini Mandala and finished the stitching for two Christmas ornies. They will be gifts for DH's family. The green one is a freebie from Glory Bee. The red one is from the JCS 2006 ornie edition. It is called Snowflake Heart by Wild Heart designs. While working on these I had three people ask me about cross stitch and blackwork. I even got give a mini lesson in cross stitch. The Mini Mandala seemed to be the favorite and I haven't even added the beads yet.

All the Troubles

I have made relatively little progress this week on my stitching. I put in about 1500 more stitches on Old Worlde Map. It is coming along nicely. I am almost done with the stuff inside the two circles. Only a placard, mountains, and backstitching remains. Of course this leaves all the stuff outside of circles. Sometimes I feel that I am slowest stitcher in the world. Here is a link to a picture of it. http://www.crossstitchuk.com/P/Cross-Stitch-Janlynn-Platinum-Collection-Olde-World-Map(4263).htm
I have posted a picture of a cross stitch that my husband put together from different parts of the Subversive Cross Stitch designs. The phrase all the troubles comes from an inside joke amongst our friends. This was another birthday gift for Persian Pen Name. She always seems like she is making knitted things or other crafty items to give away to family and friends but never seems to get crafty stuff in return. So Husband and I decided to stitch her birthday gifts this year.

Sorry I haven't posted any stitching updates lately. I just haven't had a chance to. Life gets in the way of stitching sometimes. Last week I stitched up Persian Pen Name's (her blog is Panda Bonzai) birthday gift. It is by Subversive Cross Stitch. If foul language offends you do not look at the to the last picture in this blog entry. You have been warned. The little rat featured in the pics is my rattly furball Persephone. We recently lost her sister Artemis to an upper respiratory infection and anemia. I have also included a WIP of Mini Mandal Set 1 C. So far it has been a fun and fairly quick stitch. Of course I have been working on it for several weeks and I am only about halfway done. Again life getting in the way of stitching. Oct is the birthday month of my DH and several of my friends. I had suprise get together at my house last weekend and have posted a picture of the cake. There are 50 candles on it for Persian Pen Name and DH's combined age. My goodness it resemebled a torch.

The Amazing Lobster Dog

My cross stitching goals this week have not been met. I just started a major research project involving hundreds of students, so stitching has just not happened. In an effort to keep this blog going during this stressful time period, I shall post embrassing picture of my weiner dog. So without further adieu I present the Amazing Lobster Dog.

October Stitching Goals

October Goals:

1. Finish everything in the two circles of Olde World Map.
2. Finish border of Olde Worlde Map
3. Finish Mini Mandala Set 1 Number 3
4. Finish DD Illustrative Fantasy Blackwork
5. Creat two ornaments for my Tia and Abuela.
6. Work on negelected Dracolair's Ouroborus
7. Put the 5 remaining beads on TW Whitework Ornie and "finish" it. I had sat down to make it into an ornie and discovered I had forgotten to place 5 beads on it. Argghh. This annoyed me so much it has been sitting there for two weeks.

I wish I could post pictures of Olde World Map but I will be submitting it for a contest. It is progressing nicely but slower than I expected. I really love working on that project. It is not difficult just large at 15 by 18 inches.
I am actually working on large projects though if I devoted my time to smaller projects I could finish The Challenge in a year instead of 5 or 6 years. I love instant gratification but I must supress those urges in favor my large and time consuming projects. This way I can actually knock off some of the TWs and Dracolairs I have planned. I just keep invisioning those lovely pieces hanging on my walls. I also remember that I can't afford all the framing jobs that doing a plethora of small projects would incur. I can only budget 2-3 framing jobs a year. As a result I have stack of unframed pieces sitting in bin. I reasoned that if I switched to larger projects that the pile would stay about the same or actually get smaller since the larger projects take so long. Of course I could learn to strech and frame pieces myself but I am neurotic and would drive myself crazy in a mad quest to have everything perfect. So in the end having some one else frame my projects for me is totally worth it- since I keep what little sanity I have somewhat intact.