Weak

Yes, weak is the word. This is what I had for breakfast this morning, a tenderloin biscuit from Country BBQ in Greensboro. These are the best and a real treat. Of course I had to have a cup of 80 calorie yogurt for lunch to make up for this. I was able to resist the Krispy Kreme donuts that they also had at work today.
It has been a long week at work. I have been doing a lot of housekeeping there, pulling and logging out of dates, filing, etc. It really seems like today should be Friday.

This is the ornament that I have been working on at lunch time. I have made a little progress.

Tomorrow it is back to the foot Dr. probably for another cortisone shot.
Saturday I am working and Sunday will be the US figure skating events. I will be seeing the men's long program and the all star finale.

Hopefully there will be some stitching too.
I hope that the rest of your week is great!
                    

Not much to show

Well here is what my girl looks like as of tonight. I did not accomplish a lot of stitching this week. I must admit I have had the urge to look through my stash for something else to play with, but I have resisted.

I appreciate every one's comments on my sampler wall. I love them all.

This weekend I worked on Saturday. It was really busy due to the fact that some weathermen have mentioned the "S" word for the beginning of the week.
Today Rich and I went for a hike and I cooked a ham that I had bought. So lunch for the week will be ham sandwiches and I will save the bone to make a big pot of minestrone.
EGA was Thursday and most of the meeting was taken up with plans for our upcoming class with Meg Shinall.
I have an appointment to go back to the foot Dr. on Friday. I am gimping around and paying for the hike in a big way. Maybe orthodics are the next step.
I did see a couple of movies last week. Rich and I saw True Grit. I am not a big western person but I do like the Cohen Bros. and I enjoyed the movie. On Monday a friend from work and I went to see Black Swan, very dark and twisty. Hopefully next week Rich and I will see the Way Back. On Sunday I will be going to the Men's Long Program at the US National Figure skating competition in Greensboro. I love watching skating on TV, I hope it will be great in person.

I hope that everyone has a great week.
Sweet Dreams!

Chris

The Tour Starts Here....

Here's one of my sampler walls. I think I was leaning to the left when I took this, so please for give me. These are some oldies but goodies and I loved stitching everyone of them.
So here it goes....

Here is Moulin Rouge. I stitched her in 2004.

Here is Christina Spack. She is from Old Salem ,NC and the kit is available at the Essamplaire.

This is a Weihenburg Quaker that I stitched in 2007. I am not sure which chart this is. Can you tell that I love Quakers. I like the monochromes too. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when each motif is finished.

Thi is Ann Tarbox from Hillside Samplings. I love the big bird!

This is Sarah Erving. She is at the Peabody Museum in Salem, MA. This kit was from the Examplarery and Joanne Harvey. I love those boxed kits!

This is M. Pollard, another Quaker. This one is available from the Essamplaire.

This is Abigail Brown. She is a Newburyport, MA girl and I think she is in the Coffey House Museum there. This one was also reproduced by Joanne Harvey.

So where will this big Bristol sampler go when it is finished? I am sure that I will find a space. I am just chipping away at it. I have some other projects started that I could pick up but I really want to finish this one.

It was back to work today.

This week I have EGA so hopefully I will have lots of stitching news to share.

Have a great rest of the week!

Saturday

Rich and I ran some errands this morning and then went for a hike. There was still some snow and it was pretty slippery in some areas. Today was in the 40's so that should take care of the rest of the snow.


I am finally getting over my cold. I just need to catch up on my sleep.



There has been a little more progress on M A Tipper. Thanks to everyone for the comments on how to work with such a large chart. I appreciate your comments and input.

I made chicken chili for dinner in the crockpot. It is really easy and a great cold weather meal.

2 cans chicken
1 jar salsa
2 cans white beans
1 can corn
1 block pepper jack cheese

I drain the chicken and the corn and add it to the crockpot. Then add the beans and Salsa. Cut up the block of cheese and add.
Cook until bubbly and cheese is all melted. I can't tell you how long because I used a new crockpot today and the cooking time was very different than in my old crockpot! Serve with some tortilla chips.
Yum!

I hope every one is having a great weekend and making some good memories.

Chris
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Chart Wrangling

Iced in today. After the snow yesterday the freezing rain started and made it unsafe to go anywhere today. So, I have been chart wrangling. The chart for M A Tipper is 2 huge sheets. Today I was stitching the alphabet that is right on the middle fold. ARRGH! I am trying not to mutilate the chart but I don't know how successful that I will be. The other problem with the chart is that the parts of this one sheet are 6 different parts that were printed on the one large sheet and where those individual sheets meet doesn't line up perfectly. Am I being picky? This is one of the things that might make me put something that I am stitching aside. Does that every happen to you?

The good news is is that I am 25% done. Only 75% left to stitch. Lex has been helping me out too. She is very gimpy right now and I don't want to disturb her so I am staying in the stitching chair.

The cold is still lingering. What can you do?

I have enjoyed every one's TUSAL posts. I have not joined the fun. I wouldn't know what to put them in!?! I have a collection of pressed glass biscuit and apothecary jars so I would just have to pick one. I just

not been organized enough to join. Also if I keep with M A all you will see is red. Oops all I see is dust, better put that on my to do list.

I hope that everyone has a great evening.
Stay warm.
Be safe.

Chris

Snow & Fonts

Here's some more of M.A.Tipper. All the different fonts! I have a few more rows of alphabets to get through. I ended up with more stitching time, since I have been sick. I made it to the Dr. today so now have 10 days of antibiotics to take. I hope to be feeling better soon.

This is what it looked at daylight this morning. The bad weather has continued all day.
I hope that wherever you are that you are warm and safe.
Thanks for stopping by.

Chris

1 week without diet coke and counting.

Progress?????

It's hard to tell if there has been progress. This piece is so big that I really need to look at earlier photos to tell that I have made progress. I am determined.

I have managed to stitch every day so far, some days it has just been on an ornament during my lunch break at work.

I have been doing ok with the diet coke. I have had that bad head cold going around so I really haven't missed it.

The tree is finally down and put away for another year. Now I need to focus on some organization, stash organization.

We could get a decent winter weather event tomorrow. Everyone be safe where ever you may be.

Thanks everyone for your support on the diet coke and the progress on this sampler. Every comment is welcome and appreciated.

Peace

Chris

Day 2

Day 2 with no diet coke.
It has gone ok, thanks everyone for your sympathy and encouragement.

There has not been much stitching happening.  I am fighting the head cold that has been going around. Yuck!

It is great seeing everyone's 15 starts challenge. There are beautiful things being stitched.

I love this picture so I thought I would share since I have no stitching to show.

Have a good night :)

Chris

Pray for me

I have no diet coke in the house. My morning routine is the alarm goes off and I go downstairs right to the fridge to have my diet coke. I am trying to drop it, it really isn't good for me, yadda, yadda, yadda. I had a few moments of panic on my way home today, I almost turned into Food Lion to pick up some. Tomorrow I am working both jobs and I am fighting a cold. Things might get ugly. I will keep you posted.

This is The Workbasket ornament from the 2005 JCS ornament issue. I put in a few stitches at lunch today.

I might try get a few more stitches in tonight.
Later.


Chris
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Stitching friends

I had the chance to have breakfast this morning with Myra from Gr8dame's Place. We live quite near to each other and have found each other through our blogs. We talked a little this morning about meeting other stitchers and how great it is to see every one's stitching via the blogs. This has gotten me thinking about my stitching friends and how I have met them and maintained those relationships.

I belong to an EGA chapter in Greensboro, NC. It has allowed me to learn some more techniques and also I have gained friendship through the guild. When I lived in CT there was a group of us that got together every other month for a potluck on Saturday and stitched and ate. I have had the chance to go to some stitching seminars. I used to love going to Sampler Gathering every April, there was always a great assortment of teachers and classes. I have been to a lot of needlework symposiums and it is a pretty small group that goes to those so you do see the same people. There is no local shop for cross stitchers in the area,. Many times stitchers meet at a store and have classes and form friendships there.

 Now it seems that many friendships are formed via the Internet. I keep up with friends that I stitched with via, email, Facebook and blogs. How lucky am I that I can do that. I will be going up to Williamsburg the beginning of February for A Gathering of Embroiderers. I have not signed up for any classes this year so I am just going to see some friends, and maybe for a little retail therapy. Margariet from The Essamplaire will be there and I am always tempted. My guild is having 2 teachers come this year, Meg Shinall and Catherine Jordan. So I look forward to the chance of learning some new techniques.

I guess that I am thinking about how do you get involved in a stitcher group or find other people in your area that stitch?

The picture above is a gift Myra brought for me. It is one of her wonderful project bags. It is the perfect size for some tools or one of those ornament kits that I am always dragging around. I LOVE the fabric. The soap is just wonderful too and smells so good. Thank you Myra.

I am continuing to work on this Bristol sampler. I have been doing this 4 sided stitch alphabet. The color is DMC 812. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

I hope that everyone has a peaceful Sunday. Rich and I are off to a housewarming now.

Chris

Hello 2011!

I have really enjoyed seeing every one's accomplishments from 2010 and their stitching goals for 2011.

As I think back over the past year I am pleased with what I did accomplish. I stitched the Jenny Bean Halloween sampler, Isabella Johnstone, and quite a few ornaments. I did the finishing on about 15 ornaments, that is a big accomplishment for me, I usually only do the finishing on a couple of pieces. M A Tipper was on my list for 2010 but I was distracted by Jenny Bean and Isabella, so she has moved to my main project for 2011.

 I stitched a row and a half this week..can you tell?? This is just going to be slow and steady.

So, looking forward to 2011...

-stitch every day, even if it is only a couple of stitches. I still try and stitch on part of my lunch break. I am hauling around one of my ornament kits.

-Finish M A Tipper(this is her(or his??) year!)

-Continue to work on my ornament kits from the JCS exchange I participated in.
-work on ornament finishing in October and November (A.K.A. the annual finishing frenzy)

-Organize my stitching supplies ( look for more PIF Mondays in the future)
-Learn to be a better blogger. Learn how to add my reading list to my blog ( right now I am listening to the new Washington biography on my commute to work, all 33 cds!! and I am reading The Distant Hours by Kate Morton)
-Continue hiking, deer hunting season ends this week :0)
-etc
-etc.
There are many other small goals as far as things for the house.

Most of all I want to appreciate all the blessings in my life
-my husband
-my home
-my family
-my friends
-my health
-my job
-my cat, yes you too Lex!
-my stitching & reading

The list goes on and on... but also the blogging community. Your work and generosity inspires me every day.
Thank you for your kind comments.

Happy New Year!

Chris