It's The End of September - Already?

Yesterday I thought I was being good putting DS clothes in the washer before I left the house to meet a "new" stitching friend at Borders. But when I got home to put them in the dryer - I had washed his cell phone! Oh. Leave it to a teenager.

Last night he took the phone apart while telling me about his friend who dropped his overboard in salt water and it still worked. My reply was that his friend's phone had been in the water for less than 2 minutes. His went thru the wash cycle.

This morning before leaving for a x-country meet, we reattached things and used my fully charged battery and lo and behold, the darn thing turns on.

Of course, while in the car I asked him to see if all his contacts were still there. Yup. And he had voicemail and when he went to access it, oops. Pushing a button gives you multiple numbers. Maybe all is not well afterall. LOL

But I did have a nice visit with a new friend. Next time, it's on to stashing adventures.

Middle of a Conversation

For those who are not regular readers: stumbling onto someone's blog is like entering the middle of a conversation. Sometimes you're totally lost, sometimes you can figure it out, and sometimes you just need to ask questions.

I pulled out the Dif and the Paper Tiger and attacked the wallpaper border in the kitchen. I got about 8 feet done. Borders are the absolute pits. My hands are killing me. Even with the Dif I have to literally scrape every piece off. More than once. In layers. This stupid border has been up there probably for more than 20 years. Why couldn't someone just have stencilled the darn wall? This is going to take me 3-4 days. Especially with the way my hands feel. Drat this getting older thing.

EGA stuff

I may have to change to evening meetings. As much as I love the morning ladies, there are 3-4 times as many people attending in the p.m.

The class teacher was unable to attend as her real life job interfered. But we had a plucky substitute, which was nice. I stitched a pretty spider web (no photo on this on as it is silver blending filament and you can hardly see it) and a black spider who looks fairly innocuous. I started a ladybug next, then realized my proportions were off and it was too small. Just stitched over it to make it bigger. It's a baby ladybug, what can I say?

This did get me to pick up the last cross stitch project that I started - the Goode Huswif's Black Forest. It isn't pumpkins, but it is kind of autumnal colors. But it is black fabric and the holes are getting more difficult for me to find, even with white fabric underneath it. I took it outside and stitched on the deck while listening to NPR. There is a fair amount of beigey brown color on this piece, but I think when I add a little bit of green and gold, it'll be okay. I know myself and too much boring color makes me set things aside. It was nice outside as the birds and squirrels are pilaging my dogwood tree for the berries. Which meant I had to sweep the sidewalk. Still not as bad as the Russian olive tree we had in Colorado. If you stepped on those things, you had a tendency to fall. Just like in the movies. Feet go forward and land on your behind.

transporting large pieces of plywood

All I can say about this is, Home Depot and Lowe's both offer a cutting service. I had them cut my headboard piece into a piece 36" by 60." I took the remaining pieces to make support legs and DS is eyeing the rest to create a triangular table. Plywood can be heavier than it looks, too.

I know some of my settings are wonky or incomplete. I will try to address this soon.

I read way more blogs than appear on my site.

Off to EGA meeting where we are doing an embroidery piece this month in the style of Helen Stevens.

update

Well I see the picture of my headboard as posted, looks kinda washed out. But, hey. I'm not paying for this stuff. It'll do.

I checked out a local wal-mart and no sign of a floss changeover. But things can happen quickly at these stores, so I will be paying attention.

I was going to son's x-country meet, when he called me to say it was cancelled. Hmmm. Continued driving, but instead of ending up at the park, I ended up a LNS. Just to buy the JCS ornament issue. I've done a quick perusal of the mag and there are a few I would consider doing, but nothing that compells me. There are a few that just look like someone slapped them together with little real thought. And a few that look like previous ornaments.

Is It True?

There are posts on RCTN that Wal-Mart is going to discontinue DMC and start carrying Anchor floss. If it's so, I'll have a reason to shop at Wally-world. I do think Anchor give better coverage. Of course, I doubt if they are going to carry all the colors...

Finished Headboard

 

Picture came out better than I thought it would. I was afraid all the detail of the fabric would be lost. 

Other Stuff

Jenn asked for a picture of my headboard. I'll try, but I'm not sure it will photograph well. I wonder if there's any power left in the camera battery?

Here's quick and easy apetizer recipe. But don't make this just for you at home. Or you'll eat way too much of it. Make it when you're going somewhere with a crowd.

Artichoke Dip

Mix together one softened 8 oz. package cream cheese, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, and one 15 oz can of artichoke hearts that you chop (Look a reason to use my Pampered Chef food chopper!) Place in a pie plate and bake at 375 for about 1/2 an hour - just until top starts to brown. Serve with crackers and cut up veggies. As someone would say, yumm-o!

Boo to a day when both the Red Sox and Patriots lose.
But yeah to the return of Desperate Housewives.

And don't forget to watch Project Runway Wednesday night. It's the last challenge.

Slow - but here's a Stitching Blogers' Question

How many pieces have you stitched? Out of these, how many have been for you? How many have had specialty stitches or other techniques besides cross stitch?

How many pieces have I stitched? No faffing clue. Some number over 100 and under 500 would be as close as I could come to answering this. Even though I started keeping more detailed records in 1996.

Next. How many have been for me? Since 1996 all of them. Except 2-3 dozen. And a lot of those are ornaments. I stopped stitching for others and have been slowly filling my walls (though lately it's been more filling my finished projects box) with things I like.

Speciality or other techniques? maybe half of the projects I've done. In 1997 I started an Earth Threads band sampler and that set me down a path to trying new things. From then on, I've done a fair amount of petit point, band samplers, needlepoint, hardanger, etc. I'm always willing to try something new.

Frustration then Results

On Thursday, I was finally able to seriously work on putting my headboard together. I cut a long piece of wood in two for support legs. I predrilled holes for the screws to attach the legs to the headboard. I drilled 3 holes into the headboard in case I decide to add fabric covered buttons. I wrestled with the 3 foot by 5 foot piece of plywood. I rounded the corners of the plywood. I glued the upholstery foam to the plywood with spray adhesive. I used the electric carving knife to trim the foam. I placed the headboard upside down onto a large piece of batting. I found my staple gun. And then. My staple gun did not work! By the time my son and husband got home, I was in the middle of full-fledged fit. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Every little thing I did that day, was harder than it should have been. Things were not where they should have been. I was pissed. I admit it.

Next day went to Home Depot and bought a new staple gun. I attached my batting. Ironed my fabric, attached fabric. Then I had to wait for someone else to come to flip the darn thing into place. And wouldn't you know, it's taller than I wanted. I'm not sure exactly where I made my measuring mistake. I can always cut down the legs. Just after all the time this took, I think I'll live with it like this for a while.

BTW, it looks great. The fabric is an embroidered tone on tone taupe. Vines and flowers in chain stitch. And if I ever read the bedroom, off comes the fabric and on goes new fabric. Just would have to pry out about 3 dozen staples.

baseball et al

First a big cheer to Big Papi, David Ortiz, for setting a new club record for the Red Sox for home runs in a season. He broke a decades long mark set by Jimmie Foxx back in 1938. After hitting number 51, he then thwacked number 52 just for insurance!?! You da man!

Yesterday was a struggle. All day. Every little thing. Not good.

Right now, upstairs on the living floor, there's a piece of plywood with rounded corners stuck to upholstery foam lying on a large piece of batting. Right on top of it is a staple gun that for some reason no longer works. AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHH!

Point A to Point B

We managed to get ourselves from Oatlands to RFK yesterday - no problem. Till we got to RFK. Where I had a parking pass. Good for certain lots. And their signs and lack of lighting made me go in circles, then off on a tangent. If it hadn't been for the lady with the orange flag screaming the lot 6, we'd still be circling...LOL Nats lost. But hey. I did get to see Alfonso Soriano and the man who should be rookie of the year, Ryan Zimmerman.

Was a beautiful day for a cross-country race - except for the part where my son's team did not warm up as much as they should have. Um, can you say the weather is much cooler? Painful for all involved. Yes, indeedy. Coach reamed them out afterwards. I enjoyed it. Sometimes being a parent is fun.

Despite my good intentions I did not toss or recycle a single iota of scrapbooking stuff yesterday. But I did manage to get it back into its closet. I still need to purchase some shelves. And I admit the photo boxes are still in DD's room.

Meanwhile, today my allergies are pinging full force. Would love to scratch my nose right off my face. I need a little relief as I woke up with the accompanying sinus headache.

One More Gallon

One more gallon of paint on the walls. Now my bedroom closets are painted (but not DH's - that's another day apparently.) It took an entire gallon to do inside and outside of both closets. I rehung one shelf and a closet rod and put together some Closet Maid stuff and got my clothes and shoes back inside the closet. Looks all nice and neat. It's only shoes and clothes. No real room for purses. Hmmm. May have to rethink this. Maybe they can go under the bed.

Today I need to organize the scrapbooking closet. This outta be fun. Tremendous potential to get sidetracked. Wish I had taken before pictures. I will still need to purchase some shelves as I didn't like what they had at Wally World.
And I am certain I don't need to purchase another piece of paper for crafting for a long time. (paper whore? who me?)

Meanwhile, I need to find directions for how to drive to RFK. We've got Nats tix for tonight. Kind of complicated because DS also has a cross-country meet. So how to get from point A to point B. Fun. Fun.

Progress - Finally

It took a while, but I removed the shelves from one bedroom closet and the incomplete Closet Maid hardware from the other closet and painted. Of course this also meant removing all my scrapbooking supplies which are now in my DD's bedroom - nice perk of college age kid - an unoccupied bedroom.

But all that took so long that I didn't get to do a second coat yesterday. I could have, but that would have meant sleeping with a wet paint. No thanks. That means second coat today. It took way more paint than I thought it would to paint inside these closets. LOL

Also went a bought some fiberboard shelves and things for the inside. One closet will be my clothes and the other still will contain the scrapbooking rubberstamping papermaking card stuff. Which I plan on sorting and being a bit ruthless with.

My real problem lies with those stupid bypass doors. I hate them as you can only see part of the interior of the closet. Of course, I also hated the darn bifold doors we had in the last house. I don't want to spend a ton of money fixing my door issues. But curtains are out as everything inside the closet would get covered with cat hair.

Mosquitos are #@^%$&*$

I went out front to weed yesterday as the weather finally improved and the sun was all shiny bright. I'm not stupid. I put on bug spray. Weeded. Came inside. Grab a quick bite to eat. Went out back to finally plant some bricks. Put on more bug spray. But these %$#@*&^ Asian tiger mosquitos. I came inside with 13 bites. One on my forehead right between the eyes and I was starting to look like a freakin' Klingon. And I still needed to return some stuff to Kohl's and shop for dinner. How lovely.

This morning. Still itchy. Wish there was some way to extract a measure of revenge on these bugs. DDT anyone?

Laughing - I Got Sidetracked

Imagine me sidetracked. What a surprise.

Hmmm. Instead of the headboard on Friday I decided to continue with painting in the bedroom. I emptied one closet and then got stuck because I couldn't remove the doors. I admit to getting so frustrated I had to leave the house. LOL

Went to visit a store called Five Below. For anyone with college age kids who deserve care packages, this place is a mecca. Candy, socks, sports stuff, make-up, toys, Ipod accessories, etc. All under $5. Someone had clued me into the Fiskars paper trimmers for $5 and I've tried other trimmers, but like this one best. Mine needed replacing.

Yesterday DH removed closet doors for me from both closets. But I had a freaking migraine. Nearly all day.

Once it finally lifted, DS was at an interesting cross country meet - a cross country relay race that continues in the dark. Everyone runs 2,500 meters - 5 people to a team. He didn't get home until late. Which meant DH and I went out to dinner. Alone. Amazing. Tried Bonefish Grill for the first time. I liked it. And then we stopped by Kohl's to buy him a couple of new shirts and ties. Came home to switch back and forth between the Red Sox/Yankees and Army football vs. Texas A & M. Both teams I was rooting for lost, but they were good games.

Oh yeah. And UNH football. Awesome. 62-7. Let's go all the way!

Located: One Electric Carving Knife

I got the last one on the shelf at Wally-World for the grand price of $9.73. I was a little leary because the package had been resealed with tape. (Last time this happened to me at this store, I had purchased a vacuum that was missing it's hose and handle.), but it's all there. I think someone may have purchased it, used it for cutting upholstery foam and then returned it. A thought that never would have crossed my mind except the package had been opened. But I have no intention of doing that myself.

So the goal is to put together the headboard by the end of the weekend.

Woke up at 4 a.m. and knew I wasn't going to fall right to sleep. And I knew my reading light needed batteries. I got up and laid done with my book in my DD's room. Which was all good and fine, until I fell back asleep. That's when Two Ton Tony figured out there was a light on. Nothing like a headbut from a 20 lb. cat sitting on your chest to wake you back up. He was all love, love, love, love, love, love. Bite.

I think it's time for more coffee. And the sun is actually trying to put in a very welcome appearance. I'm beginning to feel like I live in Seattle.

I just don't understand blogger

Sometimes it just seems like it's been taken over by poltergeists.

Since 8/30 I can not see any of my new posts from my own blog via the "View Blog" button. Rather annoying, that. As I usually check for spelling/grammar/factual errors the next time I post.

In the continuing cold spell - yesterday I made Italian Wedding Soup, Rosemary Foccacia, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Today - maybe clean out the cheese in the fridge with some homemade mac n cheese. DS has a cross-country meet so I am sure he'd appreciate it. But that means making it this morning as I have to bring him to the meet. No bus to this one, 'cause it's local. Of course we are looking at showers on and off all day and a high of 66 degrees. A pleasant day for a runner - not so pleasant for an observer.

I've tried to get an electric carving knife off freecycle. But alas. I fear it is not to be. Still laughing about the woman who said she had one, then tore her house apart looking for it, only to question her DH and find he'd already given it away to his sister. I wonder if wally-world has them?

Did I Mention

That we bought a new computer chair? High-backed brown leather. Executive classy. Still a little stiff, but a huge improvement over the cheap chair whose padding was non-existent.

Okay. Now that summer seems to have disappeared, I've already jumped into winter cooking mode. Last night was pot roast and gravy with potatoes and carrots. Last week was meatloaf and chili. Tonight is soup night as DH has chorale group rehearsels on Tuesdays. But what I'd really like to know is where the bleep the warm weather went. We are running 15-20 degrees below normal here. I AM NOT READY FOR WINTER.

Now on to organzing an EGA group correspondence course. Um. Why did I say yes to this?

Saturday - Kings Dominion

Does anyone really call this place Paramount's Kings Dominion who isn't forced to by their job?

Now - for the details.

Allowing time for DD who is reading this at college to get jealous.

Hi, sweetie!



First, it was morning surrounded by her favorite type - tall, skinny cross country runners. (Not so pale here in Virginia as they are in New York.)

DS had a respectable run time and seriously wants to get it faster. If it doesn't rain on Wednesday, I'll go the meet with the camera. Need photos as they are looking sharp in their new Puma racing flats.

Coach fortunately let us duck out as the varsity girls were running the last race. Which is good, 'cause there was an accident on I-95 on our way to Richmond. Quelle surprise.

Nothing but coasters...

First up was the Hurler, a wooden coaster built in the 90's. Rough ride. Was not impressed. Glad we did this one first.

Second - Ricochet - a four-person car similiar to Mousetrap (where was that?) The switchbacks up that high are kind of cool.

Third - Rebel Yell - a wooden dual racing coaster - Forwards - Nice out and back - good airtime. Long and satisfying. Backwards - Very interesting. I liked forwards better.

Fourth - Anaconda - steel coaster. Great design. Nice speed. Good loops and nice corkscew. Rode it twice.

Fifth - the Volcano - Long wait in line, over an hour. But worth it. Steel, hanging coaster. My favorite ride of the day. That's some speed. Launches you straight up out of the Volcano.

Sixth - the Shockwave - a stand-up steel coaster. Good job for an older coaster.

Seventh - I didn't ride it, but the boys went on the Hypersonic XLC. Air compressed launch 0-80 in 1.8 seconds. Most people don't even make a sound on this ride. 'Cause they can't. LOL Boys loved it.

Eighth - The Grizzly - 1980's wooden coaster. This may be the fastest wooden coaster we've ever been on. Will have to check. Really got slammed around in the tunnel.

That's the coaster reviews for the day. Did not wait in line for the Italian Job. Next year. Best part - free tickets so we only paid for parking and 2 bottles of water.

Brief Hiccup in transmissions

But I'm back now.


DS's first cross-country race is this morning. And he overslept. Didn't miss the bus, but one of his contacts wasn't right. And he didn't have time to eat anything. And he forgot his waterbottle in the car. We need to leave in a hour to go see this race.

Then it's off to Kings Dominion for a company day of fun and picnics.

I did start the Goode Huswif's Black Forest this week. It's on black with pretty needlepoint silks. Fun, fun! Got about 2 hours work into it. I was drawn to this by the colors - muted autumn tones of golds, browns, greens, and reds.

Writing about that piece reminds me of the last Goode Huswif I did. Also on black. I need to figure out a way to afford framing. My stash of finished, but unframed objects is huge.

Headboard

Anna asked about my headboard plans. Having watched this innumerable times on home improvement type shows, I feel confindent I can do this without detailed instructions.

I have a piece of plywood that's been cut 36" high by the width of our bed. After ascertaining DH's preferences, I'm going with rounding my corners. I think for doing this, I'm going to make a pattern on paper first and that way both sides will be the same. I've got two inch foam to cover the plywood - using spray adhesive to make it stick. Will then trim the foam to match the plywood. Then will cover this all with batting that is stapled on the back of the plywood. Next a layer of muslin stapled to the back. The reason for this is if I decide in the future to change the fabric, it's easier to remove and recover if there's a muslin layer. Finally my fabric choice which I found last fall. It's a taupe colored fabric with embroidered flowers done in the same color as the fabric. Finally, I will cut two support legs from the leftover plywood and screw them to the headboard. I am trying to decided if I wanted to make fabric covered buttons or not. I can always drill holes in the plywood and add the buttons later if I think more detail would be better.

That's the plan. I'm still trying to find an electric carving knife via freecycle for cutting the foam. I had one, but the lady emailed me back and said she'd tore her house apart looking for it, only to find her husband had given it to his sister. LOL