Merry Christmas everyone! We are having a good day so far – it is fun watching Kaleya open her presents. Once she gets the wrapping paper off and sees that there is a toy underneath, she makes this cutest sound of anticipation. This afternoon we are headed to a friend’s house. Will post again tomorrow!
Another project finished! I am feeling on a roll. 
I started this design a few weeks ago and will be giving this to my mother to honor her very first house. I will be selecting fabric tomorrow to turn it into a wall hanging. This went very quickly. I did make a mistake, but I don’t think you’d find it unless you compared it to the original, so I’m not going to say what it is
Now, if only I could finish Feline Navidad! I need specialty threads to finish it, but I am seriously tempted to just substitute with DMC and call it a day on that one. I would love to have this finished by the end of the long weekend and if I substitute, I know I can do it. Hmm…stay tuned….
I am so sick! I hate being sick – got a sore throat, runny nose and I just feel overall miserable. I worsened last night and today I have just been no good.
I did however manage to complete finishing this ornament last night. I was going to give this to Kalonji’s aunt, but we found a nice gift for her, so I am thinking this is going to some friends of ours instead.
Wow! I have just finished my first framing-in-fabric project! In trying to decide how to finish A Name Above Every Name (blogged about it earlier), I decided to take an attempt at framing it in fabric and making a wall hanging. I have no sewing experience whatsoever, so I think this is an okay outcome given that I was flying by the handle!
However, I am hooked now! After the holidays, I will be framing the three pieces that I have completed that are not framed as wall hangings too — a much cheaper alternative than traditional framing don’t ya think?
The fabric I got is a deep purple with light/dark purple roses and the tassels are more gold than they appear in the picture. This is very neat.
I’ve been so incredibly busy I haven’t been keeping up with my blog. But, I do have one picture to share. Last week while at the mall, we decided to get Kaleya’s picture taken with Santa. She wasn’t going for it — he scared her. So, we made it a group photo.
And stitching wise I’d better get off this computer b/c I have two projects to finish by the end of the weekend. I still have to finish that ornament and I need to finish the Feline Navidad. Yikes!
My mother is now a homeowner! About two hours ago, my mother closed on her very first house! It is a beaty too from what I can tell by the pictures. I am so excited for her! See, my mother is quite unconventional (a trait I inhertied from her ) so she was never really interested in owning a home. We moved around a lot when I growing up, and I am actually glad for that – I think it makes me more well-rounded. But, she started thinking about this not too long ago and it finally happened for her today.
Here is a model picture of what the house looks like, followed by the floor plans (1st and 2nd floor) Go MOMMY! Can’t wait to see real pics
I am getting ornament fever! I started another ornament – this time, this is for another aunt of Kalonji’s. I had a tragedy occur with this design. I actually started it for the first time Thursday night. I had stitched the entire border and then realized I had added in an extra row vertically – there was no way to salvage it. 2 hours down the drain. At first I was very disgusted and didn’t think I’d re-do it. But I really like this design, so I started it again on Friday. This is my progress so far. At this point, there is one DMC color that I need to fill in, then the rest are beads and metallic thread. Then, there is a lattice-like background in 712 that i’ve started so i’ll have to finish that. Backstitching is the last step. I hope to finish this today. The design is Joyous Noel and it is from the 2001 JCS Ornament Issue.
And Friday night I realized something else too. I cannot stitch on any fabric size smaller than 12 x 12. I can’t do this b/c anything smaller will not fit in my q-snaps and I don’t like stitching in hand (the ornie I finished a few days ago I had to stitch in hand). Hmm.. .maybe this is why I usually don’t like small projects. But small projects are great given that I don’t have as much stitching time as I used to
yeah! another happy dance. I made this last night and will finish it as an ornament for Kalonji’s aunt. I have several other ornaments I want to stitch, so look out for more happy dances from me in the next few weeks. This stitched rather quickly, taking less than 4 hours for me to do. It is from the January 2001 issue of For the Love of Cross Stitch and designed by the same woman as the design I just finished, the Name Above Every Name.
I have several things to blog about today…
1. Happy Dance! I finished another project last night. It is the Name Above Every Name that I blogged about when I started it a couple of weeks ago. This is going to a family friend and crazy as it sounds, I am contemplating stitching it again for ANOTHER person as Christmas present. Haven’t committed to that yet – may just end up doing an ornament for her! This picture is not the best as the fabric is draped over the edge of our fireplace, so it looks a little crooked adn weird — A Name Above Every Name.
2. I am South Beaching again– even started a new blog. Today is Day 6 and so far I have done VERY well! Hmm.. let me revise that. Up until lunchtime today I had done very well – i cheated a few hours ago and had two pieces of a desert I made last night for Kalonji. bad girl. But, i succummbed to the craving, now I feel like I can get back on track. So far, I do feel it is working again. I don’t have a scale right now, so I can’t obessively weigh myself every day like I was before. However, doing the blogging is going to keep me on track b/c i’m putting it out there on the world wide web for anyone to know about, so I have to follow my plan
3. My brother-in-law is a record artist. Kalonji’s brother likes to rap and last week he gave us one of his CD’s from his group. There are 5 of them collectively known as Death Squad Records, so that was interesting. I like his CD and I’ve never know anyone to ever actually make a CD. Very cool. I’m a HUGE rap music fan, I LOVE rap music. Chris Rock has in one of his routines that you will never find a girl that likes Wu-Tang Clan and Seinfeld — well, you’ve found her. Wu-Tang Clan’s first CD was the first CD I ever bought once I decided to make the switch my freshamn year of college from cassette to CDs. Love them.
4. NBC is offering video through iTUNES — this could push me over the edge — I have been watching internet television iniatives for a few years now and this could be it! They have already provided more than 300 shows and plan to add more. Each show will cost around $1.99 – i could easily see myself spending anywhere from $20-$30/month with this if the content expands enough. My only dilemma is making sure I do adqauate backups as Apple does not give you the content you have purchased again if something like a computer crash occurs and you lose everything. (unless that has changed – i have to look it up).
