One down, two to go! :)

Well, I worked on that angel UFO I posted a short while ago... and now she is done! Just need to wash her and get her framed and sent off to my niece. That makes for one (out of three) of my required finishes before I can splurge - according to my wagon rules.




By the way, this was a Dimensions Gold Petite kit - Twilight Angel.

I also wanted to say THANK YOU to all of my wonderful stitching friends for their kind thoughts and wishes. Here's hoping that this week goes better. :)

XOXO,

Carolyn

Awww... I don't mean to be a downer - truly!

I've been having a really rough week.... last week was bad too. I just want for things to go well. First, I had some problems with my teeth... then, this week, one of my eyelids got so swollen. And I'm having heart pain (of the emotional variety)... I even received (finally!) my SB&Bs order that I placed while in Utah and I wasn't even that excited. :(

Oh well.... on to stitching related tom-foolery I suppose.

I've been doing a bit of work on Petal Fairy again - here she is :

And, for those interested, my stash haul (the last one according to my Wagon post):

Second part of my order... yes, I went Bent Creek crazy:

XOXO,

Carolyn

SBQ - how ironic......

Well, I don't think this SBQ could have come at a more appropriate time....

Today's SBQ was suggested Danielle (http://scopist.blogspot.com/) and is:

Are you on "The Wagon?" If so, how long have you been on and how
"serious" are you about it? If not, have you considered it?

Well, as mentioned just a few posts ago, I put myself on a very, and I do mean VERY, lenient version of my own personal Wagon. I've been on it for less than a week and I'm serious about it - but my guidelines were so lax that, well, its fairly easy to comply with. :)

I've spent a several hours stitching on RB today and managed to get the kitty and fish(bowl) done (along with the another portion of the poem - but that was actually started yesterday).



Before I wrap up, a big THANK YOU to Heather who was able to send me a copy of Be Happy. :)


XOXO,

Carolyn

Photos-a-plenty

Thank you, everyone, for your well wishes. They are very much appreciated. :)

I'm still on the hunt for the Be Happy freebie... Becky and Gill were so wonderful and both sent me *Bee* Happy (which I really like!!), but its not exactly what I was looking for. I really do appreciate their efforts though and will probably stitch the one they sent too as its very cute! :)

To make it a bit easier, I've tracked down a photo from here. I hope its okay to post this on my blog - if not, please let me know and I'll remove the photo. Anyway, here is the Be Happy I've been looking for:

And, as promised, a progress picture of RB (not much to look at, but progress is progress)

And here is a picture of my UFO... Its about 3 years old. I plan on frogging nearly all the backstitching, adding some of the extra sparklies and such that the pattern calls for, and getting rid of that *thing* thats hovering on top of the wing lol.

Lastly, I wanted show to a picture of the little gift my niece (Celeste) had given to me my first day visiting with my family in Utah. I sure do miss them a LOT :(

Thanks for stopping by. :)

XOXO,

Carolyn

Not feelling too great.....

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days and, unfortunately, have no photos to bombard this post with. Just came to whine a bit. Stayed home from work - which I truly hate since I just returned from vacation and its so busy :( I don't to get into the nitty gritty details - just don't feel very good. :::::sigh::::::: Haven't even gotten any stitching in. When I get home from work tomorrow, I'll be sure to post an update on RB and I can think of a UFO that I'll post a picture of as I think it'll help me to finish it (it was one of my first projects - and its so close to being done - I've just need to fninsh/redo backstitching, embellishments, etc... ).

I just remembered! I do have something very worthwhile, IMHO, to add today - I found this link from the Victoria Sampler site - it has tutorials for all kinds of specialty stitches and is just wonderful! Makes me want to try one of those houses by Elizabeth Designs that I love - but was too afraid to get due to all of those specialty stitches!! Here it is for those who might be interested. (hope this is okay to post)

Thats all for today - I'm sorry friends. :(

XOXO,

Carolyn

Finally Started

I've finally made a meager start on Rainbow Bridge - even though it may not look like much, this is easily 3 hours of work - that backstitched writing took so much longer that I could have anticipated! I've not done much "writing" on any of my projects - I only went over 1 "block" (2 threads on linen) - maybe I should've done longer stretches of floss? I guess I'll continue as it is.... Also, those dots over the i's are colonial knots - I just learned them last night after battling with french knots for years! Yay!!

I went outside to take this photo, so although the sun had already begun to set, its a pretty fair representation of what the fabric looks like (SW Blue Dynasty belfast).

Now, as mentioned in my previous post, here are my wagon rules I'm enforcing for myself - remember - they are ridiculously generous! lol

1. I must finish at least three (hey, I said they were easy lol) projects before I go on anymore binges - and one of those must be either Motherhood QS or Petal Fairy.

2. I *am* allowed to buy supplies - floss, needles, and continue with my Enchanted Fabrics monthly club.

3. I can only buy things if they are on major sale/clearance, but those items must be on my wishlist!! (I'm notorious for placing huge orders and only a few things will actually be from my wishlist..... heh, I know, I know

4. I get a bonus this week and next month is the gloriously elusive three paycheck month - so I may allow myself one last binge.

LOLOLOL..... why even bother with the Wagon, huh? But I'm going to try to stick by these rules - if I can't, that'd be truly pathetic. lol

Phew, that was almost embarrassing! lol

Now, attention to all you computer gurus: does anyone know how I can make a new header for my blog? A nice, pretty one that isn't so generic as the one blogger provides? I don't have Paintshop or Photoshop - only Paint.net which isn't back considering its free, but there aren't that many tutorials for it online.

Speaking of Photoshop - does anyone know if the one that runs for around $80-90 is good enough to make things like headers, sparkly signatures, edit photos beyond getting red-eye out, making small animations, etc...? I really don't know anything about it other than there are multiple versions with some of them being $800!!!

One last thing - does anyone know if any copies of Shepherd's Bush freebie design "Be Happy" exists anymore? I've wanted it for a couple of years, but was never able to track one down - and while I was able to visit the actual Shepherd's Bush in Utah - they didn't have any copies of it :(

Thanks, Lovelies! :)

XOXO,

Carolyn

I'm baaack

... and I miss my sis, niece and nephew so much already :( But, I have to look on the bright side - at least I got a chance to be with them and I know I'll see them again. :)

Here are a couple of photos of my niece & nephew (Celeste and James):



...And here is little James with the baby doll I bought him. As you can imagine, my brother in law just LOVES this... lol

It also SNOWED one day!!! I've only been around falling snow about 3-4 times in my life, so it was very exciting for me.... And of course I have a picture of it and of one of the mountains in Utah that looked so ominous and beautiful at the same time during this small snow storm.

And now on to stitching (finally, right? lol)... First things first - I think I'm going to put myself on a very lenient version of the wagon. I'll post the exact "rules" of my wagon-ism a little later - but be forewarned... its almost ridiculously lenient lol... but I've got to start somewhere. :)

Having said that, here are some goodies that I bought on clearance from Hobby Lobby while with my sister:



Thats Mirabilia chart is actually the whole kit! I managed to snatch it up for $17!

And I got the chance to visit Shepherd's Bush... yes THE Shepherd's Bush. Unfortunately, I didn't get to buy as much as I would have liked, but here is what I did get:



I would have like to have gotten a start on Rainbow Bridge while I was gone, but Silkweaver didn't get around to sending my custom-sized fabric until this week. :( So, instead, I started to work on Miss Valentine - it doesn't seem like I got a whole lot of stitching time in, but at least I made a start on her :)

Thats all for now. In my next post, I'll let you all in my almost laughable set of wagon rules I've set for myself and hopefully have a picture of my RB start.

Okay, okay, I also have to admit... while I was in Utah, I made a fairly large SB&B splurge too. :::sigh:::: and I'll post a picture of that stuff when I get it... it'll probably be a few weeks though.

XOXO,

Carolyn

Tomorrow's the big day!

My flight is tomorrow! I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post, but I'll certainly try! I'll miss you all until I come back next Thursday!

Geez, I'm a stash-a-holic

I've been stitching on Petal Fairy for the past few days and it was such a nice change after Tinkerbell. Petal now has full wings (minus beads) and part of her stem.

ABCStitch shipped my order lightening fast!! Now if only they'd have sales the way SB&B's does... :::sigh:::

But, ahem, it doesn't end there. I also received some eBay stash too...

Yes, I clearly have a Calico Crossroads obsession.... :-/

Now, if only SW would hurry up with my darn fabric for RB!! I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that I get it by this Thursday. (otherwise, I'll be long gone - for a week anyway ;-) )

And to wrap up.... behold my babies (again!) :)




XOXO,

Carolyn

SBQ and April goals

I'm really excited to post a set of April goals as I've never really set goals for myself before, but here we go!

1. Finish the top half of the Petal Fairy chart (excluding beading - I'm a glutton for punishment and always save it for the end)
2. Finish working my way across the top of Motherhood.
3. Start and finish at *least* 1 page of Rainbow Bridge (the chart has shipped - just waiting on SW for my fabric)

I think I'll leave it at that for now.

By this time next week, I'll be in Utah! I haven't seen my sister/her kiddies since she and my brother in law moved there this past October (he is in the military - they relocated them :( ).
I'll be leaving this coming Thurday - April 5th. And as sad as this may be, this is my first flight completely on my own! I've never flown alone and I'm kinda nervous!

Thank you to all who commented on Tinkerbell - it makes me feel good (even though I really dislike that little thing! lol). And, Noreen, she was actually done on a one-of-a-king Stab and Stash fabbie. :)

Stitching Bits & Bobs is having a sale and, WOW, do they ever have some beautiful new charts!! Its taking every ounce of will power I have not to BUY like crazy... I may end up ordering anyway. Heh... I'm a serious stash-a-holic. One of my favorite new designs (although I probably wouldn't order this one... LOL...) is this by Dimples Designs:

Before I go, the SBQ....

SBQ: Freebie Organization
This week’s SBQ was suggested by Cindy and is:

Do you have a system for organizing freebie charts in your stash? If so, what is it? Do you print out copies of all of the freebies that you find on the web (that you think you might actually stitch) or do you maintain electronic copies of them until you are ready to stitch them?

**I have a ton saved on my computer, but I also have about 20-30 printed out and stored in plastic sleeves in a binder**

XOXO,

Carolyn