"Two Plugs" or "Here I am!"

I just noticed in checking Edgar's Giveaway Post that I'd promised to mention it here. I was checking to be certain that I'd entered. Let's just say that the fact that I already entered wasn't the only thing I forgot! :P So, because I want to keep my word I decided to post "Now" rather than "Tomorrow, Maybe". At any rate, Check out Edgar's Giveaway: He's celebrating 3 Years and 700 posts--wow! You have until Tomorrow at 3 P.M. PST to enter!

Here's the second plug: Erynne, a blogger I only just got to know when she had to stop (aww)--but the good news is that she's back and publishing designs under the name Red House! Here's her newest, "Love Lives Here" and I think you'll LOVE IT as much as I do! Her official website also has some freebies, and if they are any of the ones from her blogging days then they're also keepers. :D

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"Where have you been?" Asked a few comments and emails I've gotten. Everyone, thanks for thinking of me! I've been working hard trying to get some things in order (mostly the house), and so have been limiting my computer time. (Chiefly, I haven't been stumbling out of bed and logging on half-asleep then staying on for most of the morning!) I'm making good progress establishing workable routines, and soon I'll get to the point where I can schedule in blogging. They say everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, but not everyone has the same time-mgmnt skills! Whew!

But, on to the stitchies! I've been working on exchanges, so that means lots of stuff I can't show yet, so Boo!! Lately, I really hate doing things that I can't show here on my blog--maybe I'm an exhibitionist at heart!

I couldn't really get any acceptable pictures (overcast) and I know I'm forgetting more stuff, but we're going to proceed with the mottos of "You're not behind; Jump in where you are!" and "Progress, Not Perfection".



Here's Ferdinand (You may remember him; isn't he prim?) with an absolute PILE of DMC 115 that Becky SC sent me. I'd made an offhand comment that I couldn't find any in local stores and wondered if it was disco. I really like 4210, and have been curious about the "Legendary" 115. I was so amazed when I got a heaping pawful of them in the mail from her (with a few 4210's for good measure. I was down to one skein, so thank you!)! Stitchers, you are the Nicest People! Becky, I am so glad to call you "Friend". :) :) :)



Do you remember when I was working on that BBD freebie NIKM ABC's? Well, I finished it, but as for the finishing had about 3 things I wanted to do with it. I was so keen on all of them that I'd almost decided to stitch it 3 times. I still think I might! One of them was to add it to a liner for this scissors case I picked up on a tip from Deb. I was planning to make the "wood" white, but now I don't know. it does look good this way, eh?



Open that reflective glass door! I was also thinking of trying some of that chemical etcher for the glass...



A batman snap showing the colours a little better. :D I know it's lousy photography, but I have a soft spot in my heart for them.



My stitching station right now--at the couch-end opposite Ferdie, and Today's Target. I put a few stitches in last night; the letters are fun to stitch.



Just in case you were curious about what that was on my "companion shelf" A closer, also murky, view of the Sailboat Biscornu I'm stitching for myself! I love the floss toss for this one, and am almost ready to begin the waves. The fabric is an evenweave (the one that has no stretch--is it Lugana?) in a newish colour called "Cobblestone". I'm thinking of a stormy sea. I do love gray. The other floss ring peeking out is for my summer exchange. I'm glad to say I'm done with the stitching and in the middle of "finishing" it. :D

Just realized that "vial" full of white and wet stuff looks so discomfiting that I'll explain it--it's a photographer's loupe for viewing slides and negatives and the like. The white stuff is a cotton round I put into the "protective" vial after I discovered it was scratching up the loupe. Sigh. One of these days I'll shell out for another, unscratched one. It's from my art school days for viewing slides shot of pieces. Yes, when I was in HS ten years ago slides were THE thing for admission submissions, competitions, and shows. Can the 1999-2000 school year (My Junior year) really be ten years ago!? It CAN. :P



Finally realized that the bowl that came free with the liqueur chocolates we bought at duty free the last time we went to Toronto is Perfect for the glass stones I use (with haphazard regularity) to track my water drinking for the day. (And just about useless for anything else). Eight Glasses!? Remembering to drink is enough without keeping track of numbers!

The table runner with the Blanket Stitching (=Yes) came from Ikea (also = Yes).



My coziest book nook (aka My Bed). I usually read in here when it's warm and sunny, which it wasn't yet when this photo was taken. Overall, it's a very cheerful room. Rita Mae Brown's newest "Cat Mystery", Cat of the Century is new out now (today)! Thanks to Amazon for emailing me an ad to buy it for my kindle. Thanks to NJPL for letting me reserve it online, and then emailing me when it was a mile's walk away from me at the local branch. I LOVE books. I love to buy books. Just not this month. If you've ever wondered what was up with all those Cat Cozys--try one of Brown's. I tried 'em out about 5 years ago, and IMHO she writes the best. Crozet, Virginia--Here I come!

Just realized there's some crafting here, too! I made the "length" of white crochet 7 or 8 years ago, when I was first learning. The flower doily is more recent; perhaps a year or 18 months, when I tried it again. I realize that I love creamy yellows, pastel yellows (really all pastel save baby blue and baby pink), and eyelet lace!


And, there's a "Handkerchief" from when I first started stitching. I made it by hand using a barely-mastered blanket stitch for the edging and added Pikachu (yes, he's the little pocket monster) using 14ct. waste fabric and 3 strands of DMC. Needless to say, he was too difficult and cute to use to really wipe my nose. I still harbor ambitions for making my own handkerchiefs, though...:D

While working on my big cleanup/self discipline, I stitched something I'd seen on Staci's blog and loved absolutely. I'd have never though of stitching this freebie all in black, but I love the way it looks--simple and just the thing. I admire her taste so much; I think she's a fine and discerning eye for matching materials to pattern. It's my policy that Imitation (with credit) is the sincerest form of flattery, and I hope she agrees! I'm copying the way she rendered it to a high degree--I even bought the black mill hills for the edging. I am, however, leaving off the initials lol!

I liked it so much, and was thinking of it so much as a great addition to a Halloween display (it is my "2nd Most Enjoyable Stitch Ever"--Fox Forest holding the #1 spot), that I decided to stitch it again in refreshing white for the spring time! Also, as I was using up some linen that I "didn't like" I decided to try overdyeing it with tan rit after I finished the black. I liked the black so much that I dyed the other cut, then stitched the white one!



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Whew, all along I'd meant to make this a QUICK blog, and pics only and leave the talking for the end here and for the purpose of thanking all of my kind readers for their encouragement about things like Laundry Disgruntlement but most especially for those who included me in their prayers or quiet time per my request last time.

I'm the type to get quiet when I have troubles--if I can't think of anything uplifting to say I'll just keep my own counsel (this is only partly true; I've been told I'm quite "Snarky". I'm not sure about that, but I'll own that I'm a "Harsh Judge", but I aspire to be an encouraging one. I might "Give it to You Straight" but that's only because I think "You Can Take It." "I Believe In You." but this is a bunny trail--).

Like so many of you, we have many things going on right now--the good and the bad are all coming at us tumultuously to the point that it can be hard to discern the one from the other!

But I want to share with you all one good report that happened since my request. One of the things weighing most on my mind at the time was this: In brief, the biggest effect of The Economy on our little household was that on April Fool's Day 2009 Dear Marc was called into the Home Office of his company. Dear Marc is a computer programmer, and at that point he was a Laid-Off Computer Programmer. He'd been pulling for the company for over 5 years at that point, and had stayed with them even when given rotten assignments with the view of loyalty and a possible transfer as it's a world-wide concern that supplies pinch-hitter programmers to mostly major corporations. So, following that the best/only opportunities for him were all "Freelance". Long story short, we've been blessed with work since then, but the current position keeps a 35 hour work week for freelancers with No Overtime Ever. On Thursday, April Fool's Day 2010, Marc's super 'phoned him after 7pm. Oh, how anxious I was! Can it be--two years running!? Is it any wonder Marc has No Sense of Humor for this silly Holiday? Well, it was not as bad as that, but they called to arrange it that he would take that friday, the next day, off due to a lack of projects that had made it out of planning and budget stages. And every subsequent Friday until further notice. Oy. What a worry! Sometimes even on the days he did go in he wasn't able to bill more than a few hours, and now only 4 possible days a week!?

The Good Report: that Friday, April 2nd was the ONLY one since that he hasn't been needed for work at the office! :D Thank you so much, everyone--I feel like this is due in large part to your kind inclusion of us in your prayers and thoughts! It's not like all things are resolved, but this is a definite Light!

Everyone, I hope you are well and you are often in my thoughts. With a wish that all good things come to you and lots of "X's", too, I remain

Yours,
Berit