Silly Cat

My hunk, a hunk of burning love - 17lb cat named Elvis - is sitting in the window about to have a heart attack just from watching the squirrels chase each other through the woods behind our house. He nicely crawled under the sheet with us this morning and licked my leg until I was awake. After I got up and got my robe, he poked his head out from under the sheet and meowed at me. Then he realized that yes I was really up and going downstairs and he jumped up and landed right on DH's stomach. Ouch. That had to hurt. Especially on a full bladder.

Did I accomplish anything yesterday? Took DD shopping for a little bit, but only bought her two new (very cheap) shirts. Bought new sheets for DS and a Moshi pillow. I think that's what it was called. Very soft and squishy. Made Chicken Cordon Bleu for supper. Spent hours talking to neighbors - always fun.

Guess that means I should go and try to accomplish something today.
Right now.
I mean it.

Still Culling Mags

Yesterday I ignored the 20 years worth of Just Cross Stitch and went at my piles of the Needleworker, Needlewords, Cross Stitch Sampler, and Piecework. Another 15 lbs. gone.

When I stopped to flip through the notebook I'm putting the salvaged articles in, it was quite refreshing. No ads, no distractions. I can see that I should make an index of what I'm saving, but that's a project for another day.

I did get my new glasses yesterday. They feel slightly off kilter. I'm trying to see if I can adjust to them. But in 32 years of wearing glasses, I've never put on a new pair and felt like something was wrong. But they are sleek and sexy and almost like wearing nothing at all.

Mags

Didn't like what DH was watching so went upstairs to my room where the teenage boy was switching back and forth between a History Channel program on the Autobahn and a James Bond movie.

Gee that was much better than the documentary DH was watching.

So I pulled out all my issues of Stitcher's World/The Stitchery and started slashing through them.
Came up with a few articles on Brazillian embroidery, Japanese embroidery, and a couple of graphs. Now I know why I stopped buying this mag. Between the graphs I eliminated yesterday morning and the mags last night, I probably culled out another 10-15 lbs. I'm feeling very virtuous doing this.

And from experience (having done this operation before with my old issues of the Cross Stitcher) I know I won't regret eliminating stuff.

Now I can move on today. It's either the scrapbooking mags or 20 years worth of Just Cross Stitch. I think I'm going to need some more page protectors...

Trying to Figure Out

Why is the type so small?
I know this isn't what it was before.
Patience while I try and find an answer...

I've Got An Urge

Someone was looking for info about some old charts, so I went digging through the stash. Retrieved what I wanted. Didn't let myself get sidetracked. But...

I really really really want to...

go through the stash and eliminate stuff I'll never stitch in a million years.

I think this is just a continuation of my organizing bent that commenced last week with the furniture rearrangement. Taking just what I needed from 8 years worth of rubber stamping mags was liberating.

It's rainy and generally miserable outside, so after my shower, comes the stash sorting.

Don't anyone panic. I won't just toss stuff in the trash. I'll find it a good home.

Glasses - the kind you see through

Kiddos and I went and ordered new glasses yesterday. All three of us. Fortunately we do have a place to do this where the price isn't totally exhorbitant. But we still spent almost $500.

I am hoping that my new prescription will at least stop me from straining and getting tired eyes. When my eyes get tired, I'm having difficulty seeing to stitch. I don't need reading glasses/bifocals yet, but I'm getting closer.

And thus we come to crux of the reason why I'm no longer stitching up a storm...if you can't see, you can't stitch.

Sigh.

I went outside yesterday morning and got in a little time stitching. The lovely bright outdoor sunshine does make things better. My Ott-lite is not enough indoors. I'm wishing summer could last a really long time.

stitchers question of the week

What are your favourite cross stitching websites and why?

I just counted and I've got 62 cross stitching websites bookmarked. I'm sure there are others out there with larger numbers. About 30 of them are places for shopping. LOL

The rest have to do with techniques,  patterns, stitches, finishing ideas, historical info, etc.

One of my favorite sites is the  ANG: Stitch of the Month site. I'm not truly a needlepoint person, but I've done my share of it. This site has come to my rescue more than once when designing something of my own.

 

from the Needles Excellency

Laren posted the following question on her blog. I replied in comments, but wanted to post it here so that I would remember to add to it.

"So my question is, what is your favourite embroidery (ie any stitching form - cross stitch, hardanger etc) magazine and why? How could embroidery magazines in general be improved?"
Having been purchasing various needlework mags since 1986, I feel like I could edit my own. The only mag I am currently subscribing to Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly, because I've got a thing for samplers. Fine Lines is also appealing to me, but they have too many designs done by the same people. When you can open the mag, look at a pic and know who did it - that's just too much of the same style over and over. Just Cross Stitch usually has at least one pattern I'm interested in, plus there are those articles by Martha Beth Lewis. I miss the Needleworker.
So if I could be in charge of a needlework mag it would have: a balance of simple and complex designs. A balance of different techniques. Nothing cutesy/country. But would include the occasional humorous design. Informative articles on history, design trends, designer interviews, organizing tips, etc. I'm sure there's more but this is all I've got right now!

Rearranging Things

I succumbed to one of my little habits the other day and started rearranging furniture. I pulled a bookcase out of the office and put it in my bedroom. Then filled it with stitching, rubberstamping, and various craft books. Rearranged things in the office so now there is more room for movement and feels much more inviting. Now I can actually access my filing cabinet that is hidden in the closet. Just wish DH would do something with all these empty boxes he has. Do we really need all of them?

Because of rearranging books between the office, bedroom, and bookcase that is in the hall closet, I then moved on to going through magazines. I pulled out 7 years worth of issues of the Rubberstamper mag. This includes the premier issue in 1997. Started going through them and cutting out the articles that contain techniques or other info that I might someday want. Put the articles into page protectors in a large notebook. I went through about half my stack. Tossed the mags into the recycle bin. Last year I got recycled my Rubberstamp Madness mags by giving them away. Next up - scrapbooking mags.

We have got way too many magazines in this house.

How Many Days until School Commences?

I love my kids. I really do.
But maybe if they did something useful occasionally I might like them a bit more.
 
Nothing quite like teenagers in the summer.
 
Time to make them wax the car.
 
Then I can have my living room back and maybe actually do some stitching...