For the Love of the X

Hastur Agrees

2009-03-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

This is not a stitching post but I just had to share this link. Hastur the Dachshund agrees with the premise of the article which brings up an important point. The Lovecraftian viewpoint needs to be shared with our children. Enjoy. http://www.theonion.com/content/news/lovecraftian_school_board_member?utm_source=a-section

Revising the List of Shame (Goals for 2009)

2008-12-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

I set my goals really high with the previous List of Shame. This upcoming year has a brand new sparkling list of goals. I am getting rid of the old list.

My New Goals with estimated amount of completion time

1. Finish TW's Autumn Fairy (3 months)
2. Finish Dragon Dreams' Fairy Tale Sampler (1 month)
3. Finish Mirabilia's Christmas Fairy (1 month)
4. Finish TW's Princess and the Dragon (2 months)
5. Start St. Basil's Cathedral by Dimples Designs
6. Start Snapdragon by Kustom Crafts
7. Start a Dimples Designs' insect
8. Start a Dracolair chart
9. Start Japanese Octagonal Box
10. Work on Olde World Map

Revisiting the List of Shame

2008-12-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I created a list of goals that I intended to finish in one year. Last year I revisited the list and discovered that very few goals had been accomplished. Lets revisit the list and see what I accomplished this year. A new list of goals will be created on Jan. 1st.

1. Finish Olde World Map- hahaha
2. Finish Ouroborus by Dracolair- finished 2007
3. Finish Rose Tree in Bloom by Teresa Wentzler- another hahaha
4. Finish Red Dragon Bookmark by Dracolair
5. Finish Christmas Labyrinth- finished 2007
6. Finish Mini Mandala 1C by Chatelaine
7. Finish Wisdom from the Legends of the Dragons
8. Start and Finish other two Mini Mandalas (1a and 1b) by Chatelaine- Do two different mini mandalas count?
9. Start and Finish Mystery Sampler III by Chatelaine- finished 2007
10. Start and Finish Japanese Octagonal Box by Chatelaine
11. At least 3 Christmas Ornies
12. At least 3 freebies- Finished one (2007), Finished two in 2008
13. Start wedding gift for best friend (married two years ago)- finished
14. Start wedding gift for brother (married last summer)- finished but it became a Christmas gift
15. Start Fantasy Sampler by Dragon Dreams- Started Dec. 2008
16. Start The Guardian by Teresa Wentzler
17. Start Tricky Treat Cats
18. Start and Finish Griffon Bookmark by Dracolair

This is what I did this year
1. You are Never Too Old for a Teddy Bear by Dragon Dreams- WIP started June 2006? Finished Jan. 2008
2. The Dreaming by Dinky Dyes- WIP started Fall 2006, Finished Feb. 2008
3. Fish Tonight- Valerie Pfeiffer/Heritage Stitchcraft.- Started sometime in late 2005 or early 2006. Finished Feb. 2008-
4. Mystery Mini Mandala 1- Chatelaine- Start April 16, 2008 finished June 29, 2008
4. Needle Guardian- Teresa Wentzler- Started July 3 2008 finished July 19, 2009
5. Cockatoos Two by Britter Cup Designs- Started July 20 2008 and Finished August 2008
6. I love Penguins by Britter Cup Designs- Started and Finished August 2008
7. The Purr-fect Bookmark by Dinky Dyes- Started and Finished August 2008
8. Spyder by The Cross-Eyed Cricket- Started and Finished August 2008
9. Quaker Hedgehog by The Workbasket- Started and Finished August 2008
10. Mini Mystery Mandala II by Chatelaine- Started Sept 2008 and Finished Oct 18, 2008
11. Armadillo needlepoint- Started and Finished Oct 18, 2008
12. Dragons by the Fire- Black Swan- Started Feb. 2007 and Finished Dec. 16, 2008 - The BIG finish of the year!
13. Halloween Fairy by Mirablia- started Nov. 2007, Finished Jan. 2008

In a nutshell. While I completed 13 projects (possibly 14 or 15 depending on the stitching I can do before the end of the year), I only completed 3.66 of the goals I set. I knocked off another sixth of my goals. So 7/18 of my goals have been completed. I suck! I am totally revamping my goal list this year. It will be much more reasonable. Of course I will continue to monitor my progress of the original goal list because I am a masochist.

Snow in Texas!

2008-12-11T07:06:00.000-08:00

Due to a freaky storm we had snow in East Central Texas during the day...one inch! I have never seen snow here. Ice once a year but not snow. It was a winter wonderland. Normally our snowmen consist of these balls of ferns that grow in the tree but not yesterday. Poor Genghis the Aloe plant. We were not expecting this weather so he was not brought in the house before the freak storm. Notice how the dachshund sinks into the snow and it touches his chest. Poor weiner dog! He had never been in snow before. However, it was nice dry fluffy snow. The sidewalks and roads were to warm for the snow and ice to stick so we had all the fun of snow without the dangers of it (at least on the ground).

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Hallowein(er)!

Pictures Galore

2008-10-10T09:59:00.001-07:00

I can never get the pictures in blog to line up
right grrrr.

Explanation of Pictures: I have Princess and the Dragon before and a third of the way through the TWOctober stitch along the Wagon BB. I am really enjoying this stitch. I also posted a picture of Hastur that was taken while he was sleeping in this morning. The creature does not rise from bed until 11 am or noon if he can. I toil away on my dissertation while he lounges about. The last picture is I love Penguins by Brittercup designs. I stitched it for my DH. He luvs penguins! I am almost done with the Chatelaine Mini Mystery Mandala II. I would post pictures but it is a gift for someone.

Two finishes

2008-07-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have had two finishes within the past month, Mini Mystery Mandala 01 by Chatelaine and Needle Guardian by Teresa Wentzler. I made a few changes to the Mini Mystery. I changed out on the of the blue flosses for a lighter one and left off the most outer row of the border. For the Needle Guardian I used the cotton version of the Dinky Dyes instead of the silk. It was a very colorful and fun skein of overdyed floss to work with.

Needle Guardian took me over two weeks to stitch instead of just a few days. It is not that big of a project. I have been drowning in work related activities. For the past two weeks I have been working 12-14 hour days without any real breaks, even during lunch I had errands or meetings to attend (I lost 4 pounds-this is a good thing). Getting a Ph.D. can really suck sometimes. I have two weeks off from the workshop scene and we start again for two more weeks of torture. Excuse me while I go scream in frustration. End of whine.

I have finally started my best friends wedding gift. I discovered last night while rooting around in my stash that I had all the necessary speciality fibers to complete it. I also discovered something about my stitching habits in the process. The great discovery is that there is no reason for when I decide to stitch something...I just get obsessed over a project and I have to do it. Normally this happens when I have an open pair of scroll bars. I have resisted working on this project for well over a year now and all of a sudden I have to do it. I don't know what changed but the good news is that by the end of August I will finally have a wedding gift to send to my best friend...three and half years late... Oh the project is Cockatoo's Two of the Feather Friends collection by Britter Cup designs. http://brittercupdesigns.com/featherfriends.html Not a difficult project by any means but I just had to get my stitching mojo in gear and focus it on that particular project.

Pictures Galore

2008-06-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

I am too lazy to come up with much of a written entry today...so you get lots of pictures. Yippeeeeee...pictures. I must include the obligatory pictures of the adorable dachshund.

Picture list: The Dreaming by Dinky Dyes with changed floss and fabric colors. Mystery Mini Mandala 01 by Chatelaine. It is stitched on black fabric. I changed one of the floss colors from DMC 831 to 830 (or vice versa- I went with the lighter blue). I used the DMC conversion list instead of the NPIs. Last is a freebie You Are Never Too Old. Adorable but stitching with that many metallics totally sucked. Never again....

Bribing Myself with Stitching Goodies

2008-05-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

I must confess to all of the participants of the 50 Project Challenge that I have broken my promise not to buy any charts with non-gift money. It is for a good cause. See, I love the mini-mystery Mandalas from Chatelaine. They are lovely, small, and affordable. I brought the first one and I have been working on it. Pictures of it should soon appear. The camera is in my DH's backpack. I just need to fish it out of there. I am bribing myself to lose weight with the Chatelaine mini-mysteries as the prize. For every 15 pounds I lose I get to buy the chart. I lost 21 pounds so I could buy the first one. I have from April 1st to July 1st to lose another 15 pounds so I can purchase the 2nd one. I have lost 8 pounds of it and have a little over a month to lose 7 more pounds. Bribing myself works really well and 15 pounds in three months at my weight is a very conservative and realistic weight loss goal. It works especially well in this case because of my great "hunger" to obtain new charts. Given this information please decide my punishment. I am thinking of adding 5 projects to the challenge before I can buy new charts. Is this adequate?

Shameless Plug (again): todays post by Library Overlord was especially funny. http://libraryoverlord.blogspot.com/2008/05/tales-from-dungeon-part-ii.html

The Camera Saga

2008-05-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

I promise I have pictures of projects...but they are trapped on the camera. I haven't been able to find the cord to connect the camera to the computer. Today I found it!!! Of course the camera is MIA. Some days I just can't win.

Up date on stitching. I have been working on Chatelaine Mini-Mandala Mystery 1 and I am almost finished with the second part. I have taken some lovely pictures of it...

DMC Scare: I normally don't kit anything up until I am ready to work on it. Hence my stash is full of lovely charts and not much else. Well due to the DMC scare I "flossed" 25 projects. Most of them are TWs since they are hardest ones to convert to Anchor if the worst happens and DMC actually folds in 6 months. This whole DMC floss has been a total nightmare and it made me realize just how vunerable my stash is to the loss of key stitching industry players. On a side note flossed when you kit up a project with only the basic flosses .(I don't know if this is an actual stitching term. I just made it up to describe the lack of completely kitting up a project)

Shameless Plug: check out http://www.libraryoverlord.blogspot.com/ It is a humerous blog about one library workers saga at a large library. He is a gamer, comic book geek, and fanatasy fan. It shows but in an awesome way. Make sure you check out the links in the text.

So how well did I do last year

2008-02-05T14:04:00.000-08:00

Below is the list of goal for 2007. Lets take a look at how much I failed to accomplish.

1. Finish Olde World Map
2. Finish Ouroborus by Dracolair
3. Finish Rose Tree in Bloom by Teresa Wentzler
4. Finish Red Dragon Bookmark by Dracolair
5. Finish Christmas Labyrinth
6. Finish Mini Mandala 1C by Chatelaine
7. Finish Wisdom from the Legends of the Dragons
8. Start and Finish other two Mini Mandalas (1a and 1b) by Chatelaine
9. Start and Finish Mystery Sampler III by Chatelaine
10. Start and Finish Japanese Octagonal Box by Chatelaine
11. At least 3 Christmas Ornies
12. At least 3 freebies- Finished one
13. Start wedding gift for best friend (married two years ago)
14. Start wedding gift for brother (married last summer)
15. Start Fantasy Sampler by Dragon Dreams
16. Start The Guardian by Teresa Wentzler
17. Start Tricky Treat Cats
18. Start and Finish Griffon Bookmark by Dracolair

Well, I guess 3.33 out of 18 isn't too bad. Hehehehe.......

I have gone over how fickle I am with projects. So below is what I finished last year.

1. I love birds by Brittercup started and finished March 2007
2. Assisi Dragon Scissor Fob- Finished June 28, 2007
3. Chirstmas Labyrinth- Started April 7, 2007 Finished July 17, 2007
4. Emerald Orchid Bee by Dimples Designs- started July 20, 2007 Finished July 23, 2007
5. Ouroborus by Dracolair- WIP started June 27, 2006 Finished July 28, 2007
6. Mystery Dinky Dyes Contest Piece August 2007
7. Chatelaine Mystery Sampler III- WIP started Jan. 4, 2007 Finished Sept. 4, 2007
8. Sun Dragon by TW- started Oct 1. 2007 Finished Oct. 16, 2007 9. "wheat" posted on My Aunt's Attic - started and completed Dec. 21, 2007

Completed Mystery Samper III

2007-09-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

It is finally done...after 9 months. This piece had lots of beads, metallic floss, and used Dinky Dyes silk floss. The wording was all over one. The swans were my favorite part of the piece to stitch but I did love all of the beading. I am not joking. Beading was used as a reward for finishing all of the Algerian Eyelets (over 260 of them). My favorite floss was used in this piece. It is called Day Dream by Dinky Dyes and was used in the border. It is a highly varigated floss that ranges from pink to purple and blue to green.

Summer Finishes

2007-07-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

Yipee. I found my camera and could finally take some pics. I finished the little Assassi Dragon Scissor Fob last month. It is over one and tiny. The Emerald Orchid Bee by Dimples Designs took several nights and inspite of its small size is farily complex piece. It is really sparkly and fuzzy. In the green portion of the head there are 14 stiches comprised of 5 metallic/DMC blends. There is one color that is used for a grand total of 1.5 stiches in the entire piece. Lots of color changes, fractionals, and blends but as usual Dimples Designs are worth it. I have at least a dozen more insects in my collection to go. Ouroborus is done. It took a year, a month, and a day to finish. Of course I have absolutely no project fidelity so I worked on lots of stuff in between. I loved working this piece and was almost sad to finish it. It was like losing an old friend. It is one of my all time favorite designs.

Hastur is Fine

2007-07-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

I dropped Hastur off at the vet's this morning and was not expecting to hear how the surgery went until early afternoon. The vet calls me at 11 am to tell me that he did not have the surgery. The size of the lump had gone down and she redid some of the cytology. He just had an infection and it was causing the area to swell, however, his initial tests had tumor like symptoms. Apparently there are some scavenger cells that can mimic the atypical multi-nucleated cells of a tumor. So he came home at 11:30 with an even more shaved neck and lots of antibiotics but surgery free. We have to keep an eye on him for the next couple of weeks but all should be well. Thank you for your kind words.

Hastur the Dachshund Goes into Surgery Tomorrow

2007-07-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a wild ride for myself and my tiny family. My dissertation topic has been change but there is a lot of political B.S. attached to it. Thank goodness I have a wonderful and powerful committee chair who supports me. I have been offered a PostDoc at my current institution (I keep getting offers from different places even though I won't graduate for another year) and decided to accept it. I will have the freedom to continue my own research in addition to my PostDoc requirements.

So with all that going on I find a lump on Hastur's neck and some of it is scabbed over. I take him to the vet's fully expecting it to be an abcess. It is a tumor and due to the sample she evaluated yesterday there a good possiblity that is cancerous. We will remove the entire tumor tomorrow and wait about a week for the verdict. So please keep your fingers crossed for this little guy.

Finally some finishes

2007-07-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Sorry about the delay between postings. I was having a ton of problems with my old laptop. I now have a shiny red and silver piece of efficient machinery in front of me. Her name is Dr. Vibby Girlfriend and she is fast. Her name is due to several in jokes between Persian Pen Name and I. It would take an entire post to explain how she got her name and probably would not be all that funny to you. Microsoft Vista is not all that but it was the only OS they were putting on the higher grade laptops.

On to the stitching.

I have actually finished two projects within the past month. A little Assassi dragon scissor fob and Christmas Labyrinth. Christmas Labyrinth has been a UFO/WIP since March of 2006...for good reason. Lots of quarter stitches and metallic fibers. For anyone who wants to do this project...convert the recommended metallics to Rainbow Gallery Petite Braid. The metallic I was using was a PITA to work with and also keep ripping up the beautiful silk variagated fiber. Also, the green backstiching color as charted does not exist. I used Krienick 009V, emerald green. I am done complaining about a truly annoying project that is totally worth it in the end. I have posted pics with and without the back stitching, so you can see the fun fractionals. So without further yammering the pictures.

Blogger ate my pictures

2007-05-03T12:58:00.001-07:00

Blogger does not like progress pictures to be shown. Blogger is hungry and has determined that feasting upon the pictures is a good and noble thing to do.
Sorry about the pictures. Iwill give blogger a few days to become sastified and then post some new pictures.

Blogger ate my pictures

2007-05-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

Blogger does not like progress pictures to be shown. Blogger is hungry and has determined that feasting upon the pictures is a good and noble thing to do.
Sorry about the pictures. I give blogger a few days to become sastified and post some new pictures.

Some WIPs

2007-04-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

I actually got to do some stitching this month inspite of being really ill with bronchitis and being out of town for almost a week. New Orleans was a combination of beautiful and horrific. The French Quarter had bounced back from the Hurricane nicely for the most part. There was still some major reconstruction going on and some buildings that had been abandoned. Then there was the rest of the city. I shudder to think of some of the images that I observed.

SBQ about Blogs

2007-04-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is from the SBQ April 5: How do you decide which stitching blogs are worth repeat and/or regular viewings? Are there certain things you look for in particular? Are there things you wish there were more of? Less of? Is your blog a good example of what you like to read?

I like blogs that have lots of pictures, talk primarily about the subject I am interested in, and can make me laugh. I like stitching blogs to contain stuff about stitching. I am not so interested in the day to day personal things. If the person has been ill or having a hard time, that is good to know, especially if they are an online buddy. But I really don't want to know that you were out of lemon zest yesterday or your Lucky Charms cereal didn't have any marshmallows. On bulletin boards, I typically like to avoid religious or political discussions (what I would have to say would probably piss off 95% of the readers). Blogs, I am a bit more flexible towards. Blots are some one's personal space that I go to read. So if they want to cuss or talk about about something it is their choice. If it annoys me too much then I just won't go back . I can put up with annoying personal stuff if people post lots of pictures, especially stitching designs that I like. I also enjoy when people talk about technique, floss usage or the pitfalls of a design. If someone is on The Challenge I try to visit their blog on a regular basis to keep track of their progress and offer words of encouragement. If someone leaves a comment on my blog I try to look at their blog the same day.
I do visit stitchers' blogs that don't have a lot to do with stitching. If the blog is amusing or informative, I will continue to go back to it on a regular basis. I love things that make me laugh.
I try to limit personal stuff on my own blog unless it effects my stitching. Being ill effects my stitching. Going to California effects my stitching. But I try to limit these discussions. My blog is primarily stitching and I try to include pictures as much as possible.

With this said, I am off to New Orleans for a conference! Be back in 5 days.

The Fickleness Continues

2007-04-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

I decided that I did not like the DMC variegated floss on the purple piece of fabric for The Dreaming by Dinky Dyes. Oh, how I wish that I had two skeins of the limited edition floss since it was perfect. Why...why did the perfect floss have to be limited edition? So think I have decided on using Caron Waterlilies Mulberry for the design. I feel like a traitor using Waterlilies on a Dinky Dye design. I am stealing Mulberry from a different project...giggle giggle giggle. This will probably come back and bite me in the butt. When I decide that I have to do those other two Mini Mandalas and I can't because I have used the necessary skein of Mulberry. Oh well, my fickle mind has decided that it must work on The Dreaming.

"Hastur...your love is so fickle"

2007-04-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

"Hastur...your love is so fickle" was said one evening when I had a group of my table top roleplaying game friends over. The real HasturTorres is a very gregarious little dachshund. He loves people, other dogs, and will cozy up next to a plate of food in a heartbeat. When alone the little pup is a stalker. He sits on my feet under my desk when I work on the computer. Curls up next to me on couch or begs at my feet during dinner. This changes when guests arrive. The newer the person the better to him. He ignores his momma and dadda and goes straight for the guests. If he knows the vistors equally well he makes his rounds to each one of them (ignoring his parents) thus the line "Hastur...your love is so fickle"
This line is also applicable to me and cross stitch. See if I have a new project I go bonkers...must work on new project. Soon the newness wears off. I have lots of other WIPs. So like the real Hastur I make my rounds with them. My love is so fickle. Sometimes I find it hard to stick with a project for more than a night. So I have to switch. As soon as I stitch I want to work on that project again. That would be fine if I had the attitude for just one project but no....I have it for 9. Thus nothing is getting done. I should have finished Ori the Ouroborus last month but no I just had to be fickle.
Last night I worked on kitting up a new project instead of on existing ones. You see I got the Winter Pack from Jo at Dinky Dyes. It is gorgeous. The handdyed fabric is amazing and the silks/cottons are the usual wonderfulness that is Dinky Dyes floss. So I go through my exisiting stash trying to find a chart that would work. I have the Dreaming which was a gift from one of the members of the Wagon but unfortunetly I only have one skien of each limited ediition floss and it takes two skiens of the same color. So I tried lots of different ideas including looking at the freebies at Ink Circles. I finally pulled out two skiens of variagated purple floss from the DMC color collection box and some purple evenweave. I was hoping to use some silks but the DMC worked better. Of course I could order some more silks from Jo but I am on the Wagon so I can not feed my Dinky Dyes addiction. Soon I shall start the Dreaming but only until after I finish Ori and one other small project. Must keep my WIPs below 10! Must not give into temptation. Will not give in...will not give in...will not....

Californa Trip

2007-03-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I had a trip out to California to pick up my "new" sports utility vehicle that I purchased from my parents. It is nice to have my own car again. DH and I shared his SUV for over year after my car died a slow death from which it could not be saved. SUVs are gas guzzlers and I wish I could afford a better car for the environment but beggars can't be choosers... and being a graduate student I am definitely not in a position to afford a different vehicle. Also, the SUVs are easier on my bad knees to drive and get in and out of.
Persian Pen Name travelled with me. Thank heavens for that. It over a 24 hour drive (no stops) from my parents place in California to where I live in Texas, with almost half of the drive in Texas. We stayed at a family friends' home in Arizona on the way back to Texas. It was great to see them after almost a decade. PPN got to experience night time in the desert, which is absolutely beautiful. Tucson has an law against "light pollution" thus you can see a ton of stars from a back porch. The wind was blowing slightly, the temperature had dropped to where you almost need a sweater, and the patio was radiating heat from its exposure to the sun keeping the bare toes warm.
I also got to hear magic words that all sewing impaired stitchers love to hear. "I would be happy to sew your stitching into pillows if you need me too" and "sure I can sew up a stocking for you". One of the family friends, who sews beautifully, volunteered to help me finish some of my projects. I am ever so grateful!!!

I was a very good stashaholic while in California. I am on my own Project Challenge but in addition I had also put myself on the celibate/abstinence wagon challenge from the Wagon BB ( http://thewagon.yuku.com/bthewagon ). My trip to California was my stash buying exception for the celibate/abstinence challenge. This made for fun stash money calculations because I am on two challenges and only some of the material was exempt. The charts I purchased for myself came out of Chirstmas money. The charts are purchased using gift money so I would not violate the Project Challenge are: Treetop Sampler by TW, Britty Puppy Christmas Stocking, and Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts. Of course I can't buy any supplies for these projects until next year unless I spend gift money. I got I'll Make My Own Happy Ending by Dragon Dreams as a gift for a fellow sticher, Dragon Hatchling by Dracolair for baby gifts (need to experiment with other more gender neutral colors), and Feather Friends by Brittercup for my BF's wedding gift. The friend who got married over two years and who I promised a stitched gift to before the wedding. (she is the one with me in the shark cage) Yeah...I am a slacker! the fibers you see go with the Feather Friends. I also picked up a piece of pale pink fabric for the I love my Bird portion of Feather Friends (finished the stiching will post pic soon), a piec of purple fabric for ? (I just liked the color), some 32 count lambswool linen, and piece of blue handyed fabric again for ? project. So overall I was a very good stash junkie. Now I just hope that I don't give into any cravings during this next year!

On to the most exciting part of the trip...drumroll...I got to meet stichers while out in California. TKDchick was in San Diego very briefly and so was I. Yippeee!!! That is one stitcher I had never thought I would get a chance to meet due to the whole living in two different countries thing. I also got to meet some of the California stitchers at the zoo. Now the San Diego Zoo is one of my favorite places to go. My parents used to take me there all the time when I was growing up. It was one of the key inspirations for my interest in critters and science. I am a zoologist, thanks in great part to the zoo. I was totally thrilled that I got to go to one of my all time favorite places with stitchers! I got to meet Branch52 and JillJinCa and hang out with them at the zoo along with TKDchick and Persian Pen Name. It was soo totally awesome! What could be better than a day filled with critters and stitchers? I enjoyed listening to Branch52 and Persian Pen Name discuss their mutual obsession with sheepies. Jill took her son to the zoo. It is so much fun watching a child at the zoo. They run everywhere and want to see everything...such beautiful thing to observe. I consider myself lucky that I got meet those fellow stitchers.

I took Persian Pen Name to the Stephen Birch Aquarium located on the University of California, San Deigo's campus. Say hi to the Sea Star! My Best Friend went with us. She is a total fish (and bird) freak. Her husband is the founder and owner of a sucessful aquarium business in San Diego. So we learned lots of fish stuff from her.

This weekend I am having a get together at my home in Texas. I get to meet more stitchers! This is a month for meeting people. I am stoked. For years I felt very isolated with my hobby and then I discovered the Bulletin Boards and have gotten to interact with lots of great people. The stiching/crafting community is full of so many nice and kind hearted people. They have really spoiled me. I have a hard time hanging out on non-stitching BB now due to all the nastiness, immaturity, and cruelty that isn't really present on the stitching boards (yes there are good non stitching BBs out there but permit me my sweeping generalizations). So kudos to y'all.
Egads. I almost forgot about Bernardo, the Stash Devil. He is a stuffed Tasmanian Devil that I picked up at the zoo. Observe as he watches over the stash haul!

Hastur has been sick

2007-03-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

In the last post I mentioned how busy I was. Well this past month as been worse...not in workload...but in health. I have a chronic health problem that came to head a few weeks ago. So I got to see my doctor about having certain test done which I am able to do. She also recommends, however, that I get over an hour of exercise 6 days a week. I had been doing a half hour a day on regular basis but apparently I need to do more. So now I have to drag my exhausted carcass to the park everyday for over an hour and take the dachshund walking. He loves it of course...traitor. My specialist supports my doctors exercise position. In addition I had to spend the night in clinic. That was loads of fun. Screwed my sleep for the next week. On top of it all, I stepped on the plug of a hairdryer...at the same time I was announcing to the dachshund that we were going for one of the WALKS. I was unable to walk on it for days because of the lovely puncture wound. In summary I have been on sick and exhausted stitcher who was occansionally in a tremendous amount of pain. So I hope this explains my absence from my Bulletin Boards and this blog.

So onto why you come here- THE STITCHING
I had set some modest goals for the month of Feb. none of which were accomplished.
1. Finish Ori the Ouroborus- Only worked on her a little bit
2. Finish border for Mystery Sampler III- Almost done. I will finish it later when I am less tramatized with the insanly larger border this was. I just need to finish the eyelets (from hell- 64 of those buggers left), metallic flosses, and beading. I don't want to finish the beading until I am done with the bottom halfs so my floss doesn't catch on them.
3. Finish part II of the Mystery Sampler. I got a quarter of the side vines finished and a single swan neck.
4. I started on Dragons of the Fire. Check out the hearth

Goals for March
1. Finish Ori
2. Finish Mystery sampler part I, II, and III with the exception of the beads
3. Work on Dragons by the Fire
4. Start and Finish Griffon book mark by Dracolair
5. Finish Mini Mandala IC
6. Finish Celtic Labyrinth

The last three are easily transported stitching projects. I am going visit my folks in So California on Friday. Yippee!!!! I get to meet some of the SD stitchers and even a Canadian one. I am totally stoked about this trip. I will also get to hang out with my best friend K of 20 years who I haven't seen for almost two years. I am giving her the L&L Autumn Angel kit. K's mom has a bunch of L&L angels all over her wall and K would like to do one for herself. K is also the person that I need to finish (well actually start) a seahorse stitching project for. The wedding gift for a wedding that was over two years ago. Go me!

Musings concerning Elan lapstands and stitching time

2007-02-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not updating my blog recently. See stitching time has been at a premium. Two weekends ago I had a houseful of people and last weekend I had to visit my in-laws. It is hard to stitch when one has a gaggle of gamers over for the weekend and everything is in chaos. We lost the TV remote during that time period and it has remained elusive. Then during the week I had to move offices (again). So I had to pack up all my books and papers. We also had to move bookcases and desks. I am finally settled in again and will keep this office until I graduate. I can't complain about my new digs. I have a window and it over looks trees. Normally graduate students don't get the window office space. Also, I get to paint my new office. Yippeee. It shall soon be a light relaxing purple. Also, my office mate is moving out and I will be alone. In addition my job title has been change. I am now an editorial assistant in additon to be a graduate assistant. This reflects the fact that I will be editor of a book and the author of a book chapter for another book. I have lots of other stuff going on. This semester alone I will be co-authoring at least 5 papers, three of which I will be lead author on and none of these papers are for my dissertation. I really am a maschocist. I don't recommend this path for anyone. So this entire rant has been an long-winded explanation of why stitching time is at a premium and I have made very little progress. Also, blame Persian Pen Name, she got DH and I Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for our Xbox 360. That game is addictive. Thanks again PPN.
Now onto my stitching life which is what y'all actually read this blog for.
I got some new hardware for my stitching...a Elan Lap Stand. Exciting. Even more exciting is how much I paid for it... 5 Dollars!!! There is a very long explanation for why I paid so very little for it Hobby Lobby. Now I can work on large projects on scroll rods at the in-laws. So this past weekend I started Dragons by the Fire by Blackswan. I got very little done but here is the progress. I have also been neglecting my Chatelaine Mystery Sampler due to Ouroborus. I have finished half of the border for the Chatelaine. I won't post a picture until it is done because it looks just like pic I have in the previous post only with more repetitions. I have gotten bogged down with the border. I can't wait to start the next piece of the mystery. It is two swans. I love swans! They are the reason I decided to do this sampler. I am normally not a fan of samplers unless they are unusual like the ones by Dragon Dreams or the Something in Common- Woodland sampler.
Other exciting news- I am getting a "new" car. I bought my one of my dad's cars and will flying out to California to pick it. I am orginally from SoCal but now live in Texas. Luckily it concided with a stitcher's trip to San Diego. So I get to meet a stitcher that I never thought I would be able to meet and several other SoCal stitchers. I am totally excited. We are going to the SD Zoo. I love the zoo. When I was a kid, my parents used to take me there all the time. As a result when I grew up I became a Zoologist. Also, Persian Pen Name (author of Panda Bonzai blog that I have a link to) will be coming with me. We are going to have a blast!!!

Border of Sampler Mystery III Part I

2007-01-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

I have just finished some beading of Chatelaine's Sampler Mystery III. This border is not the easiest border to do. First of all it is huge. The Q-snaps that you are seeing is the 17 x 11 inchers with several sets of extenders put in. I had to take clamps from my 8 inch Q-snaps to secure the fabric. The border for this project is 19.1 x 10 inches. I like to bead as I go along otherwise I growing increasingly more insane. Due to the size of the project I am working upside down. The border you see in picture is actually the top and left portions. I also had to get a beading tray. I am proud of my 93 cent beading tray. I just dump out small quantities of beads and hope I don't knock the tray table over. I hope finish this border in time to work on Olde World Map. I promised myself that I would finish stitching the top half this month but I don't think that is going to happen.

Lots of WIP and Hastur Pics

2007-01-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

Normally due to school and family I don't have time to do as much cross stitch as I would like and thus have very little to show you. Hence the photos of the Real Hastur. Today, however, I have lots of pictures. Thank goodness for the holidays. I got a chance to work on Rose Tree in Bloom while I was at my friends ranch outside of San Antonio. I was housebound the whole trip while my DH and others shot each other with airsoft and hung out by the campfire. I had fallen and strained my back, in addition I had stubbed my right toe on a door frame and cracked the toenail in several places. If it wasn't for stitching I would have gone insane.
Speaking of insanity -Rose Tree in Bloom is my nemisis. I am sure we all have that one WIP that we love but can not seem to work on for very long. After a few hours of working on it I want to go homicidal. I think it is dealing with four strands of floss and the stiff adia fabric, plus it is a Teresa Wentzler so it is not an easy piece to stitch.
I also have an update of Ori the Ouroborus. I love working on her and had to force myself to put her down after two days so I could start the Chatelaine Mystery Sampler III. I have a picture of the border posted after about 2 hours of work. I should be updating that piece a couple times a month. I also have the pictures of Hastur for your amusment. Kudos to anyone who can figure out what he is wearing- Doggie sweater/vest is incorrect.

2007 Stitching Goals

2007-01-01T19:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am aiming high for this year but what the heck if I can finish these goals it will be quite an accomplishment. They will also add another 17 completed projects to my 50 project countdown.
1. Finish Olde World Map
2. Finish Ouroborus by Dracolair
3. Finish Rose Tree in Bloom by Teresa Wentzler
4. Finish Red Dragon Bookmark by Dracolair
5. Finish Christmas Labyrinth
6. Finish Mini Mandala 1C by Chatelaine
7. Finish Wisdom from the Legends of the Dragons
8. Start and Finish other two Mini Mandalas (1a and 1b) by Chatelaine
9. Start and Finish Mystery Sampler III by Chatelaine
10. Start and Finish Japanese Octagonal Box by Chatelaine
11. At least 3 Christmas Ornies
12. At least 3 freebies
13. Start wedding gift for best friend (married two years ago)
14. Start wedding gift for brother (married last summer)
15. Start Fantasy Sampler by Dragon Dreams
16. Start The Guardian by Teresa Wentzler
17. Start Tricky Treat Cats
18. Start and Finish Griffon Bookmark by Dracolair

I realized that I did not share my stitching accomplishments of last year.

Calico Crossroads- Calico Crossroads-Catolatern Start July, 2005 completed April 30, 2006
Calico Crossroads-Waterbreak completed Feb 2006
Dimples Designs- Dung Beetle/Jeweled Scarab Completed March 21, 2006
Dragon Dreams- Blackwork Dragon- Started May 20, 2006, Finished May 29, 2006
Dragon Dreams- Compass Rose started March 22 completed April 1, 2006
Dragon Dreams- Here Be Dragons Started April 1, 2006 completed April 30, 2006
Dragon Dreams- Just a little piece and quiet- Started May 7, 2006 Finished June 20, 2006
Dragon Dreams- Lost Dragon Sampler completed March 16, 2006
Dragon Dreams- Love Takes Two freebie- started and completed June 7, 2006
Dragon Dreams- No Late Knight Snacking Completed Jan 2006
Dragon Dreams- Proof - Started May 6, 2006 Completed May 10, 2006
random Ornament July 2006
Sue Hillis Designs- Gobble Till You Wobble- Started June 24, 2006 Completed July 10, 2006
Something in Commen- Woodland Sampler- Started August 12, 2006 completed August 24, 2006

50 Completed Project Countdown
50.Teresa Wentzler- Beginner Whitework Ornament- Completed Sept. 3 2006
49. Britty Kitty Christmas Finished Sept 8, 2006
48. Portrait of a Dog Finished Sept 8, 2006
47. Dragon Dreams- Not a creature was stirring- July 25, 2006 Finished Sept. 15, 2006
46. French Cow- Blackwork- freebie Started and finished Sept 22, 2006
45. A subversive cross stitch design- Oct 2006
44. Noel- Freebie by Glory Bee- Started and Finished Oct 2006
43. Christmas Hearts- Started and Finished Oct 2006
42. Dragon Dreams- Illustrative Blackwork Fantasy- Started and Finished Oct. 2006
41. Majesty from Legends of the Dragons Started and Finished Dec. 2006

My DH and my Silkweaver Enteries

2006-12-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

Normally I would wait for these to be displayed on the Silkweaver site but I am neurotic. I want to make sure that these get posted with a time/date so if something went horribly wrong I have some evidence that they were completed before the deadline. I really am neurotic...trust me. Majesty has been posted as promised. Again I used Dinky Dyes Fantasy Blues for the border. It is on Silkweaver Reflections Debutante 28 count Jazlyn. There is only a inch of fabric allowance on each side but I am making it into a pillow so it doesn't matter.

DH's entry: The other picture is of Blackwork Princess by Dragon Dreams. It was done on 28 count Karma Sparkle Lugana. It was a Christmas Gift from my DH but it wasn't finished until today. He is a stitcher. Wait until you see the dragon he working on (once he actually starts it). It is a BAP and it is awesome but very violent. It is not a friendly dragon. It looks like it wants to rip your head off. Quite a contrast from Blackwork Princess. He has also converted covers from Insane Clown Posse, a rap group, into patterns. DH also knits. I am so lucky to have a craft oriented hubby. I got him his own set of scroll bars and q-snaps. I don't think he will ever be a stashaholic though. Currently he owns 3 patterns, 70 or so skeins of DMC floss and 1 bobbin box. He stole Blackwork Princess from my stash.

Christmas Present

2006-12-20T21:21:00.001-08:00

For Christmas DH got me a stitching cabinet. Well actually it is a jewelry cabinent converted to a much more important purpose. I have also posted a picture of my Ouroborus WIP. I did all of the stitching back in August and haven't touched the piece since due to more pressing matters. The fabric is actually much more purple than what you see in the picture.
Happy Holidays from Hastur, DH, and HasturTorres!!!

Why the Long Face?

2006-12-18T20:06:00.000-08:00

Because I haven't had a chance to finish anything. Well I did finish the Majesty from the Legends of Dragons but that is only half of the piece. I will post it as soon as it goes up on the Silkweaver contest site.

Progress and an answer to a Stitching Bloggers Question

2006-12-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

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

I have used a waste knot once for Something in Common's Woodland Sampler. I needed to give a critter a french knot eye and it was the only way I could secure the thread. I typically use the Loop start method or stitch over the tail of the thread until it is secure. My project backs are typically not very neat but as long as the front looks good and lays flat, I really don't care about how the back looks. I am not ashamed to admit that my backs can look downright chaotically awful.

Progress Report

Goals from Nov.
Non were completed so I will not bother reposting them. I tried and I tried to get the Silkweaver contest piece ready but decided midway through the month that it was not going to happen. Well sure it could have been ready on time but I would have had to give up other things including time with my DH and that was not acceptable. Plus I was starting to get obbessed with it. Like I was stitching it in my dreams and skipping out on evening club meetings.
Goals for Dec.
Finish Majesty from Legends of the Dragons by Karen Weaver, Jennifer Aikman-Smith, and Teresa Wentzler. I am doing the border of Majesty in Dinky Dyes silk #85 Fantasy Blues.
Finish Gathering supplies for Sampler Mystery III by Chatelaine. It is my first mystery. I am really excited about. Normally full size Chatelaine's are way to expensive for me to stitch with all the luscious silks and beads. The beads and pattern were a Christmas gift to myself and thanks to a trade with Jo at Dinky Dyes I will have the necessary variagated fibers . Thank you Jo- Bless you!

None (Hastur) Stitching News: My husband is stitching Blackwork Princess for me as a Chirstmas gift. I love having a stitcher for a husband. When I get a chance to I will share photos of it. The data collection for my big research project for school (I am a Ph.D. student in Science Education) is almost done. I will be analyzing the data this month along with working on two papers. Soon I will get back to my dissertation work. I miss it. I don't have too much opportunity to work on it and it really is my academic love. I won't make it to my parents for Christmas this year but I have my husband's family. They are wonderful people and I am blessed to have them. I do miss my folks and Christmas will be rough for them this year. My brother was married over the summer and is now several states away from them. It is their first Christmas without him.

Illustrative Blackwork Fantasy

2006-11-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

I can share it now that it is finally posted on the Silkweaver Contest Site (I won't show off a contest piece until the people running the contest have seen it first- kinda a respect/thankyou for running the contest sort of thing). It was done on 28 count Jazlyn Bienget Reflections. I got the fabric in a trade and couldn't figure out what to do with it...then I got this chart and decided t would work. I change the thread color from black to 3371 which is a dark brown. The remaining skein of the 3371 was destroyed by Hastur but luckily he did not get into until a few days after the project was completed. Getting a good pic of this was a pain and I am still not happy with the results. The fabric has light patches of a peachy brown and lots of sparkles. I have included two different pics to show how different they can be even if it is the same piece. I guess it is one that you have to see in person to appreciate. The one on left is the image I submitted to the contest since it best represented the piece.

A New Ruling for the Challenge

2006-11-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

I have had the same question pop up a couple times the past week. "If you own the chart but for some reason can not find it or the dog ate it, can you get a new chart without violating the challenge rules?" My vote is that you can get the replacement chart. The reasoning is that you already own the chart and thus buying another does not violate rules because it is not increasing your overall patterny stash. This also goes for buying a kit when you already own a chart. Sometimes it just makes financial sense to buy a kit at a reduced price. If any one has a problem with the new ruling please let me know, there might be aspects that I have not thought about. If you owned the pattern but gave it away or sold it, buying a new one would violate the challenge. This is because you willingly decreased your stash and are now increasing it again. I will wait a few days before posting the new ruling.

Filler Blog Entry

2006-11-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

I am frantically trying to finish mystery project for mystery contest. So far I am 80 stitches behind. I have stitch an estimated 433 stitches a day to finish in time. For some that might not seem like a lot but with my busy schedule and the stitching speed of a snail on crutches I am surprised I am not even more behind.
I did get a couple of kits recently at Hobby Lobby. Don't worry they were gifts from my DH's grandmother, so I did not jump off of my own challenge. I just have to share the details about the great deals. I got two Dimple Design kits- I already own the charts but the kits were so discounted that it would have cost me more to buy the fabric than the kit. Also, I love linen used but it is hard to find. Also, I picked up Princess and the Dragon by TW. I already own the chart but it would have cost me more to buy the beads than the kit. My real excitment came with the Angel of Autumn kit...11 dollars. 11 dollars...that is around how much the chart costs alone.

I keep seeing questions popping up on other's blogs. So I cut and pasted one today as filler for my blog since I can't post pics of my mystery project and I haven't been working on anything else. Don't worry I promise to post progress pics of the BAP as soon as I can. So without knowing where the question orginated from (my apologies- someone please let me know) the question of the week is:

How many different brands of “complete” embroidery floss sets do you own? How do you keep track of it? (i.e., spread sheet program, index cards, palm pilot, etc.)

My reply: I don't own any complete sets. I am not a collector and I am too poor to justify buying floss I don't need for a project. I only buy floss as I need it. If I can use a partial skein I will. I own about 250 of the regular DMC, 2 skeins of Dinky Dyes silk, 9 skeins of Caron Waterlilies, 12 GAST, and 4 Weeks Dye Works. I don't keep track of them in any sort of way other than the drawers they are kept in. I have so few I can tell what I have at a glance. The DMC is kept in two floss boxes in numerical order. I keep a smaller floss box with colors I need for a current project. There are some Chatelaines I would love to stitch but frankly I can not afford the price for the chart (20-30 bucks a pop) let alone the cost of kitting it up. I love Alhambra Garden but the bead pack at my LNS is 55 dollars and that doesn't include the speciality flosses.
I do not hoard fabric either. I have three 9x13 pieces of Silkweaver, a 13x18 piece of Silkweaver, a fat quarter of this cream colored Lugana with gold flecks, and left over mushroom colored Lugana from Just a Little Piece and Quiet from Dragon Dreams. My LNS does only standard cuts and I had to buy a fat half of the stuff. At this point I have gotten four other projects out of it so it was money well spent.
My chart collection is also kinda puny. I have about 125 charts at this point. Again, I am not a collector. I have given away signed charts that I have already used or will not ever use. I get bored easily and really can't do a project more than once, so why not let another enjoy it. The only two charts that I will keep for awhile are The Lost Dragon Sampler by Dragon Dreams- I attended Jennifer's class so I have fond memories associated with it and she asked that it not be given to another since it was still a work in progress. The other is You Were Hatched by TW. I am hanging on to that one until it fetches a really high price on ebay. I saw one go for over 67 dollars and figure in another year or so it will fetch an even greater price. If not, oh well...

Hastur the Destroyer

2006-11-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

Evil dachshund. The little one was punishing me for the dreaded bath I gave him. I left him alone in the living room and he got into my thread heaven. You can see the teeth marks in the wax. Arrghh. Then last night DH and I went to see Saw III. The dratted dog gave me the gift of thread devouring. He ate my 3371. When seeing the destruction Hastur had wrought. I actually said to my DH "the little bastard got into my 3371". DH was like "what are you talking about?". I wasn't mad that Hastur was playing with my fuzzy heart slippers but that he had gotten into my floss.
I have also posted a picture of my progress on the Mini Mandala. It seems popular. This is what I accomplished while in flight to and from Montana. Enjoy.

I am back

2006-10-31T12:02:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-10-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

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.

The Stitcher Behind the Madness

2006-09-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Since this challenge as spread to individuals that I do not interact with on my cross stitching BBs (yippeeeeee!!!) I have decided to introduce myself. HasturTorres is my dachshund and he has gracefully allowed me to use his name on the internet. It took a couple dog cookies to pursuade him but in the end I am known as HasturTorres. Cherylann is the name that I go by outside of cyberspace. I am a Ph.D. student, which means I do not have a life. I work on my dissertation and stitch. Oh yeah, I do have husband, he helps me with my dissertation and he stitches. I taught him how to stitch about a year...someday he may finish a pattern. He owns three and thus will not be joining the challenge. He also knits and is absolutely adorable while doing so.
So what do I stitch? I am really fond of fantasy designs. I have stitched off and on since I was a youngester but did not catch the stitching obbession until I discovered Teresa Wentzler's work. I bought her collection of fantasy patterns and drooled but I was too scared to start any of them. I did pick up the Castle and Dragon petite kit. I have since started the project twice and never finished it. My petite Peacock has been UFO for over 5 years now. I don't even know where it has been. I find it sad that TW is one of my favorite designers and yet the only project of her's that I have ever finished has been You Were Hatched. You can find a picture of it in my webshots album- I have a link to the page listed. Heritage stitchcraft's Valerie Pfeiffer bird designs also sucked me into cross stiching. Pictures are not shown in my webshots album.
I have since found lots of designers to drool over. I love Dragon Dreams dragons. I adore Dracolair and enjoy of some of Enchanted Lair's designs. I also love Dimples Designs (Pangaea) insects. They are incredible and beautiful...insects are one of my passions. I spent several years studying fire ants (I used to blow them up in the name of research). I wish some one would come out with some realistic ant designs. Recently, I have fallen victim to the designs of Chatelaine. Must have them all....
I hope you all enjoy the new look of my blog. I spent a bit of time learning about HTML coding so I could make the changes. I must say I am proud of myself. For those of you who have joined my challenge- THANK YOU! The support is definetly needed. I am still fighting the urge to buy Dracolair's new Griffon Bookmark. I am hoping it passes. I have finished 5 projects...only 45 more to go. I do have some TWs and Dracolairs planned. So it will be years before I am off this challange but at least I will have stitched through a bunch of my stash.

50 Project Challenge Musings and Camera Grumblings

2006-09-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

I have finished one-tenth of the challenge. I finished stitching Blackwork French Cow. I would post it but I need batteries for my camera. Argggh. I was just at the store earlier today. Argghh. I am also working on Chatelaine's Mini Mandala set 1 number 3. It is turning quite nicely. The colors are much more cheerful than the picture's depiction. It is also really simple. The geometric design is quite soothing to stitch and I enjoy the repetition of the pattern. I can memorize each element so I don't have to waste time staring at the chart.

I am also surprise with the ferver that my project challenge has caused. I enjoy seeing it pop up in random cross stitching blogs. I did not realize how quickly and wide this challenge would spread. I am overjoyed to have so many others joining me. The sad thing is that I have acquired 6 new charts since starting this challenge. All of them have been within the rules and thus I haven't fallen off this wagon. But still 6 new charts. :) Speaking of wagons. This challenge is posted on the Wagon BB and I also have my own forum (thanks to Dani) on the Needle and Thread BB. I am so excited to be a moderator. So thanks again for joining me on this quest to reduce pattern stash and the best of luck to you all. I promise to have some pictures up in the next several days.

Hastur's Insanity

2006-09-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

I formally posted the rules for the 10, 25 or 50 project challenge. I am posting them below as a backup. Come join us in this insanity.

Due to the interest in the challenge I have decided to post a list of rules for it. There have also been requests for a smaller challenges (thanks xstitchqueen for drawing this to my attention). For those of you who would like to join the challenge but can't commit to the 50 project...there will be a 10 project and a 25 project challenge. If you would like to join us in one of these challenges please post your intent, exemptions and modifications. Also, some people have already created blogs as way tracking their progress. Bloggers if you would like to share your journey with us please post your addresses.

Purpose of the challenge: to [b]reduce[/b] the amount of patterns you have not stitched. This challenge can also be applied to other areas of you stash if you wish (please post your personal modification).

The Rules:

1. Have fun reducing your stash.

2. There is no time limit- people have different size projects they would like to work on.

3. Thou shall not purchase any new patterns until 10, 25, or 50 projects have been stitched. Pattern size does not matter.

4. This challenge can also apply to knitting, beading, sewing and crocheting patterns.

5. You can make some exemptions - I am not placing limitations on this due to commitments that people might already have. Remember, though, the goal of this challenge is to reduce stash so too many exemptions will sabotage these efforts. I have declared three exemptions.

6. Gifts, gift cards, trades, RAKs and patterns bought with gift money are not a violation of this challenge.

7. Freebies count as part of your total and you can aquire them at any point.

8. The offical start date of this challenge was Sept 1, 2006 since I have been posting about it for awhile and want to make sure the everyone's projects have been included.

I have posted all the rules that I can think of. Please let me know if there is a major oversight.

Hastur's Bane- The Final Chapter

2006-09-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I managed to get over my funk slightly and working on finishing another ornie. With the use of a different glue and thicker cording the process went much smoother. I also managed to line up the two cording ends really well and you can barely see it in the picture. (lower left hand side) I only cursed twice and burnt my fingers thrice. The pattern is Proof by Dragon Dreams.
Yesterday was my birthday and I got two patterns in the mail. One was Noon Basking by Dracolair that I had bid on before creating the 50 project and the other was a RAK. It is Why Hoarde Gold by Dragon Dreams. I love dragon patterns..can't you tell. Dracolair is coming out with a new bookmark of a Griffon. I want it so badly but I am on the wagon for a long time. Why couldn't it have come out last month when I could still buy it. This is the first time I am really feeling the pain of not being able to buy patterns for my stash. I am excited though. Five brave souls have taken me up on the 50 pattern completion challange. I have company in this momumental undertaking. Thank you for your support.

50 Project Countdown 48/50 remaining

Over One Adventures

2006-09-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

This past week has been spent learning new stitching skills... aka... I was having strong masochistic tendencies. I decided I needed practice with over-one stitching. Of course I decide this in the middle of the night when I can't sleep though I am totally exhausted. After several minutes of stitching I get cocky. This over-one stuff is easy if you squint a little bit. Several more minutes pass and I realize that I have misplaced 9 stitches and have to frog. Ahhhh...I have now discovered the true annoyance of stitching over-one. I won't go into the gory details but it was truly awful. I finished Britty Kitty Christmas and started on Portrait of a Dog. For some reason I decide that stitching on it while slightly doped up on painkillers is a good idea...luckily it was. I finished the project and it looks fine.

The other masochistic thing I did this week was put myself on the wagon. Brillant idea... I of course can't do anything small. For some reason I decided that 50 was a good number. So now I have committed myself to stitching 50 projects before I can buy any more patterns. No time limit just finish 50 projects. Now the only way I can get new patterns is by gifts or trades. My dear precious husband...my birthday is on Thursday can I please have the new JCS ornie edition...PLEASE. I forgot to list it as one of my exceptions. My exceptions are new releases from Dragon Dreams (I am a DD whore and I need my fix), Chatelaine's sampler mystery, and Chatelaine's Japanese Octagonal Box. I can of course buy all the fibers and fabric I want....I am crazy but not completely insane. I do focus on starting projects that I already have the fabric for...which aren't too many given I don't usually kit up until I start a project. Does any one else care to join me on this demented quest to finish 50 projects before buying any more patternie goodness. Please someone join me in the madness. Little projects count, freebies count, gifts count...come on I double dare you.

50 Project countdown- 48/50

2006-09-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Hastur's Bane- Part 2

The pieces of the ornament held! Thus the final finishing step needed to be taken- the glueing of the trim. This step requires the dreaded glue gun again. With much cussing and gasps of pain- I managed to get the trim on the ornament. It looks okay...from distance. I learned that I need to use larger cord and that my glue gun ability should be given an F-. I couldn't squeeze the glue in a straight line to save my life. But it is done. Enjoy the pic. The ornament is called Traditions and it is from an JCS ornie edition.

Hastur's Bane

2006-09-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

I definetly love the X- cross stitch that is. If I didn't I never would have attempted what I did tonight. I am in the process of finishing an ornament. My goodness, I am doing something crafty. Earlier I made my pilgrimage to Hobby Lobby and purchased three types of glue....spray adhesive, tacky glue, and a glue gun. Then I bought fabric for the first time. I also raced around the store looking for the appropriate filling only to discover it in the fabric section- imagine that.
About an hour or so I sat down at the table with my stitched piece- a small blackwork design- and assorted goods from HL. I survived the encounter. I did not cut myself...I did not glue my fingers together...and I only burnt myself once with the glue gun. I did purchase a low heat glue gun though for just that reason. My project is currently drying and in a couple hours I shall know if I did right- meaning when I take off the binder clips it does not fall apart. Midway through this process my dear sweet husband comes out- well I was screaming at him get the glue sticks...get the glue sticks. He comments "you are so funny, honey". Well thanks honey for laughing at me during this stressfull project. The real Hastur slept by my feet the entire time. I am sure he was laughing at me in his dreams. I unveil the picture of the completed ornament tomorrow. Above is a picture of my former kitchen table- now it is a disaster area.

Below is the real Hastur with his best monkey friend. Everyone say Ahhhhh!!!