stitching for a cure

I came across a request to stitch ornaments for an auction to raise money to cure cancer. Here is the site with more information. Be sure to check out the sidebard which has the patterns to use. I am going to make some in the coming months. We have 48 weeks till the auction-I should be able to stitch up a few! We've all known someone who has been touched by cancer. Please check out Donna's site! http://stitchingforacure.blogspot.com/2008/11/nov-4th.html

I hit the jackpot!!

The unit I work on is quite acute and I'm not as rested as I would like. I got up and was ready to leave for work around 11:45 pm and saw a box addressed to me! I recognized the sender and as excited as I was, I decided to wait until I got back from work and use this as a reward. Well- as my post says "I hit the jackpot!" Here's what was in my box- it was a blogoversary drawing I won from Daffycat and I could hardly believe my eyes! Note - the fabric is part of the bonanza!


Look how adorable the buttons are!


I have never used tassles and now I have them - I have ideas already. I'm all excited to use all my new toys. Thank you Sharon!!! This was a wonderful surprise. I told Sharon in an email how I have read blogs and have seen all the wonderful packages people have received. Prior to this, I had received my PIF from Staci which was wonderful and Sharon's was my second package from a cross stitcher. Seeing people's blogs never conveyed to me how exciting it is to get a surprise in the mail. So, thank you once again for making my day! Happy blogoversary to you once again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Our city has an extensive family service center (Hillside Children's Center) which includes residential facilities for teens, emergency housing, crisis intervention, family services and group homes. Many of the residents have been patients on the floor where I work. Each year they run a program called Special Santas to help the 4,000 families they serve (approximately 6,000 individuals). The ages are typically 11-18 years old - and often a forgotten group at the holidays. Everyone loves to buy for the little ones and teens are lost in the shuffle. This is a program we like to support and we can chose names of kids who have their requests written on cards. We had a ball doing some early Christmas shopping!! Here are the gifts all ready to be tagged and delivered!

Monday, Monday

How can it be snowing and it's only November??? It's ROCHESTER NY- that's why! I tell you - we have more winter than I can stand. It starts now and ends sometime around May. See the sunshine in the photo? That was just a tease!! Clouds came right over and started dropping snow.....

Here is the progress I'm making on my Cattitudes. I changed the colors on the kitty to make it more like Sweetie. I am going to try to make some progress on it in between doing my day off chores.
Have a great day! Enjoy any nice weather you are having for me! I appreciate your comments- thanks for being great blog friends.

Almost Friday

I didn't think it was this long since I posted, but I have decided that I can't take good photos to save my soul. I use a Kodak Easy share and it seems like when I photograph stitched pieces, they come out with weird lines and some of the fabric looks distorted. I have tried using museum setting and it isn't much better. I see other people's photos and they're so perfect. I need to have a tutorial. My son said maybe I'm too close. I'm just baffled. Consequently, there will be no pictures in this post until I am less aggravated with my camera.

I've gotten in the cooking mood - have been making meatloaf, homemade spaghetti sauce with meatballs, banana bread and right now a banana bread with chocolate chips is in the oven. The day after the first banana bread was baked, my son announced - I'm eating the whole banana bread today! I guess the new recipe I tried is a good one! I've been looking for a really good banana bread. I won't make it for a long time and then forget which recipe was good. The fact that I was still looking probably means I didn't come across the perfect one. This one's a keeper - very moist and dense. YUMMY!

I am plugging away at my Cattitudes. I started adding some of the face and eyes- the cat looked demented. I was going more for a sweet look. Ripped out the face- the kitty is much cuter now. Since this is a piece I'm actually keeping for myself, I had to have the face one I wanted to look at without saying "the eyes are weird!". I have succeeded. Now that the cat has a face, it has some personality and I want to keep going to get it finished soon.

I dragged out an old piece I never framed. I guess I'll post the horrible photo of it if my camera cord will allow me to upload. Much to my horror, there was a big stain like a water stain on much of it. I have tried soaking and various products to remove the stain. It's faintly visible in the photograph. It won't show in the frame I have. There is also a little rust spot or some foreign spot on thereflection and I might just pull out the stitches and redo it if I can find a matching thread. The piece is the skyline of Rochester NY where I live. It was going to be for my husband (many years ago......) Why oh why didn't I frame it when it was intact??

Another thing I noticed is my stitching isn't as even as now. It was an early piece and I used 3 strands which was too much and sort of distorted the buildings when I backstitched. I didn't think there would be a difference in my stitching then and today, but this is proof that there certainly is a difference but might not be as noticeable in the pic - of course the whole pic stinks, so what's the difference???



This brings me to another issue - do you wash your pieces before you frame/finish them? I used to always do that and recently I haven't. I am noticing that the hoop marks don't always seem to iron out and I think the real issue is the fabric is very slightly soiled inside the hoop area and it isn't creases at all. Maybe I'll go back to washing.

It's dismal here. It has rained for days and the sun has been behind the clouds with the reminder of how grey it is here for months at a time come fall/winter. It's downright depressing at times!

I hope your lives are happy and busy!! Thank you for stopping by! I love your comments so thank you for taking the time to leave one!

I did it!

I did it! I tried a new finish. It's my first cube and I really enjoyed making it. Now I want to make more of these. I like their portability. You can put it where you want and it is easily stored. I can't wait to make another. The photo doesn't reflect the color very well, but the fabric really is more purple than blue. My other pieces are now jealous and want to be finished.....

I was tagged!

Shel tagged me - I have to tell you 6 random things about myself....hmmmm.....

1. I have never smoked a cigarette!
2. I never liked watching football until Doug Flutie became the Buffalo Bills QB. I thought he was adorable and have been watching the games ever since.
3. I have always wanted to learn how to do a cartwheel but never succeeded
4. I could whistle when I was only 18 months old.
5. I've never gotten a parking ticket.
6. I've never broken a bone or needed stitches.

I won't tag anyone specific, but I hope someone will choose to do this - I love reading other people's random facts!

Here it is!

Here is oldest son (and Sweetie) who had the photo transfer cord - he thought it was his MP3 player. Mystery solved. Amen.
Here is the lapghan I finished. Still not sure where it will end up ultimately!

Here we are able to get an extra hour of sleep changing back to standard time and I can't sleep!! I should be cross stitching, but I know what happens when I stitch in the wee hours!

ARGHH!!

I have photos to share and my cord to transfer to the computer is gone. . I don't even know how this is possible as I live with ADULTS! Ok, I'm discounting the kitties as the perpetrators but maybe I am being hasty!

I'll update you anyway! My ARGH is twofold (the first you already know). The second is that I worked like a fiend to complete the lapghan for the Christmas project organized by Soldiers Angels due date. They requested 25,000 hand made lap robes to distribute to veterans at Christmas. I finished and called the local contact person and she said "We don't need any." Not only did they not need any, she was unaware that the Angels had this project going. On the bright side, I now have a little lap robe to wear when I'm sitting at the computer and the heat has gone off late at night! Most likely I'll take it over to the nursing home where my mother is living and see if they can use it. There are all sorts of charities that can use these items.

Today while I was at the grocery store, there was a woman sampling one of the soups. I immediately had to have soup! I got all the ingredients and got it going in the crock pot. Yum.... hamburger soup. It was lovely and warm for Halloween, but today it's brisk and definitely soup weather!

My day was so lovely - I just love days like these. I went to Curves first thing and that was great. I stopped off at the library and they had a book on hold for me - perfect. I also had a few interactions with some older folks and it was so uplifting. The library isn't a common place for people to strike up conversations. I also ran into a fellow teacher from the school where I used to work - that was fun, too. I got all my Halloween decorations put away and am on to Thanksgiving. I just love thanksgiving. My Halloween collection is witches and for Thanksgiving I have a nice collection of turkeys and pilgrims. I love Thanksgiving best. We are together with our loved ones and it's a no stress holiday in my opinion. I love Christmas too, but it comes with a lot of energy expended! How can you not love a holiday that has pies!

Hope you are all safe and happy! Thanks for stopping by! Love your comments!

Where did October go????

I didn't make one Halloween piece which I had all the intention of doing. I am finishing the last row of border on my lapghan to donate to the Soldiers Angels project for the veterans. I usually love crocheting and this project got put on hold many times already! Good thing for deadlines. The original deadline was Nov. 1 and they extended it, but I needed to get closure on this project. I will post a photo when I get home.

My catitude piece is coming along slowly but I am making some progress. That seems to have been put on hold for a few days, too.

Believe it or not, we have seen snow flurries here! It's way too early, but not too early for Rochester NY. We have had Halloweens where my kids had to wear winter coats and boots because it was snowing. Not often, mind you, but those are the Halloweens one remembers, right? This week we will be going from 32 degrees and blustery to a balmy 60 degrees for Halloween. I just hope I bought enough candy. I've been really good and haven't broken out the bag for myself and other hogs in the family!! By Halloween, I usually have to replace the early purchases of candy. Who hasn't done that????

Hope everyone is well. Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have time to leave a comment. If not, maybe next time!

WIP

Here's the progress I've made on my Cattitude. It's been fun working on. I am going to change the colors on the kitty a little to make it look more like my cat. So far it's close! As you saw in a previous post - my kitties love to help me cross stitch!

I am getting concerned about the increasing pile of pieces that need to be finished. It has bothered me that we don't have different terms for finishing the cross stitch vs finishing the cross stitch in it's final state! I might have make up some new terms!

One more night of work and I'm off until Monday at midnight. My youngest son is coming home for a few days which I'm looking forward to. No plans just yet- I'm sure he'll sleep a lot. His job entails him working long hours and I know he will just want to catch up on sleep - that's ok with me. I can relate to being sleep deprived.

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your comments- it's a high point if you know what I mean!

cross stitcher magazine

The Cattitude piece I am working on comes from a collection by Margaret Sherry. A while back she did a calendar with all Cattitudes. I haven't seen the Cross stitcher magazine here - it originates in Great Britain, I believe. Well, today at Joann's they had a copy and it had a 16 month free calendar and each month has a different animal cross stitch. She just captures animals in the cutest way. I was going to use my coupon on it, and then realized I probably wouldn't make any of the patterns, but wanted to give you a heads up if you like her work! It's a good bargain with a coupon. Joann's doesn't carry many copies of each magazine - you have to get them right when they hit the market.

I totally need a tutorial on photographing my cross stitch. I just looked at the sheep and the photo is pathetic! The background is a lovely green and the sheep really stand out on it. It's crisp and neat, but the photo is horrible! Anyone out there ready to give a tutorial??

I'm all set to take a drive tomorrow and see the foliage changes. It should be just about peak at this point and for a change, the weather should be sunny. We are entering the cloudy season here so the sunny days are treasures.

Thank you to all who have posted.

PS - Shel - I will do my "tag" information soon!

Stitch pink

Here's a link to a contest/drawing linked to Breast Cancer awareness:

http://stitchpink.blogspot.com/2008/10/contest-breast-cancer-wallet-and.html

Coincidence that I just found this link? I think not!

Baa....

I finished this a few days ago and while the photo doesn't do it justice, it came out lovely. I just love it. I was going to try making it into a needlebook, but the fabric matches my bedroom so I might frame it and hang it in a perfect little spot! Funny thing is - it's a simple little pattern and I ripped more than I have before. I made a tiny error on the border - wrong color for half of it! Working nights and not having perfect lighting made the difference. I was ready to just put it aside when I faced the prospect of ripping, but sat having a conversation with my son and was done ripping before we finished our conversation! It was painless and I just enjoyed finishing it up!

I am a cat lover and fell in love with Daffycat's blog cat with the embroidery floss wrapped around it. After some serious searching for the pattern, I was able to get it on ebay from England and paid an arm and a leg for it! The magazine it was in is 6 years old and luckily, someone was ready to clear out her stash. It's fun stitching!

October is breast cancer awareness - friendly reminder for all my friends to schedule their mammography. The new machines are wonderful and are much gentler. It's worth a few seconds discomfort - and I mean a few SECONDS of discomfort to save your life. I have known too many women who avoided the test because it might hurt. I'm sorry to say they hurt a lot more after their mastectomies... and two families are in terrible pain from the loss of their mother/spouse. Don't delay - do it today!! And take a friend, sister, mother, coworker with you!! You can both look silly in the little gowns together! Keep me posted if you do it....

Love

I dumped out my work craft bag and found a few pieces that I haven't shown you. I really like how the love turned out, though the photo is a bit blurry. I need a tutorial on getting good shots of my cross stitch.
A few years ago, I adopted a second cat who I named Sasha. She is as sweet as the day is long and quite shy. My other cat is named Sweetie and once Sasha arrived on the scene, we should have renamed Sweetie Meanie. She hated and I mean HATED Sasha. Nothing we tried worked to get them to live peacefully together. We had to resort to having an upstairs cat and downstairs cat - much like the series "upstairs downstairs". Sweetie terrorized Sasha. They had limited visits on the same floor each day with little improvement on Sweetie's part. Sasha was terrified of Sweetie and so life went in our household. I consulted numerous articles about how to introduce them to no avail. I was not about to give up and continued to provide them with "supervised visits". Fur flew, tails bushed out, chasing ensued. Fast forward 18 months. Sasha is twice the size as Sweetie, though Sweetie is clearly boss of the house. They have been able to live in relative peace and by peace I mean the tail bushing has stopped and Sasha isn't as terrified of Sweetie. They fight and chase each other. I read that if there isn't hissing, bushy tails, claws exposed or blood drawn, you can let the cats work out their territory by fighting. It was hard, but all the conditions seemed right. Little by little they became slightly more tolerant of each other but continued the daily fights until the present. We keep the door to the upstairs open and each cat can roam freely around the house. I wouldn't say they are friends yet. They continue to chase each other although the aggressor changes from one minute to the next leading me to believe that they have not worked out the pecking order. They both want to be boss. One will chase the other into the kitchen and on the way back, they reverse roles. It's been an interesting journey. Then the other day my husband reported seeing them both on the couch - not together, but still on the couch. The next day he called me to come quickly. I didn't think I could photograph them fast enough but they sat quietly looking at me as I took their pictures. I must say - Miracles do happen!I never gave up believing they could live in harmony. The articles all said that it might take a few months - if it took longer than that, it was unlikely that they would ever would work it out. I guess 18 months is "a few months" in cat time! I'm really happy about this progress. Sweetie is on the left, and Sasha is on the right. The pics don't show the size difference, but Sasha really is twice the weight of Sweetie.