There is a Winner!

I gathered all the names in my bowl and went to look for someone to help me.

Taco was not interested in helping.

Sheba gave it a glance and a snuffle.

Then she decided she wasn't interested in helping after all.
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In the end, I drew the name myself...eyes closed of course!

The winner is... Jan of Stitching Cats!

Congratulations, Jan! I'll contact you for your mailing address.

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Love Stinks

Crabby All Year...Love Stinks is done! This took forever for me to finish. In spite of being incredibly excited about stitching I hardly had time for the needle this month. I'm afraid this is the only stitching I've done all month. Hopefully, next month will be more productive. Well, I do have another week left of February so I should be able to stitch a bit of something in the time left, you think?

It is my birthday next Monday, March 2nd. I think I'll treat myself to a bit of stash shopping over the weekend and I have my birthday off from work to celebrate. Next month's Crabby looks to be a very quick stitch. Perhaps I can complete it over my little 'holiday.'

Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway on my last post!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Eleventy-one!

Woo Hoo! I'm turning somersaults! Today I have 111 followers. In grand celebration I'm offering this Margaret Sherry kit called Purr-Dicament. The kit has been opened, to get a photo...it flatly refused to photograph in the plastic wrap...it contains 14 count aida, DMC floss, needle, chart & instructions. Leave a comment on this post only and I'll draw in one week (02-24-09) for the winner. Good luck!

Thank you all for following my blog, for all the wonderful comments you leave and for being such great friends!

The contest is now closed for entries and the winner will be announced soon!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Valentine

Here is the sweetest Valentine from Becky! It arrived in my mailbox today. Isn't that little frog absolutely adorable? And one can always use DMC 321!

Thank you, Becky!

I haven't been able to read my (your) blogs for two days. On Monday, I was helping Jessie with theatre homework...Hamlet. We spent about four hours studying the Bard's famous play. It helps immensely that Jess has seen the movies and watched a few live performances of Hamlet. I trust she will receive a good grade on this section!

Yesterday, I'd planned on spending the evening catching up on blogs; instead we hid in the basement when the tornado sirens blew. You should have seen me, I carried a sixty pound frightened Border Collie down the steep basement stairs! In fact, I bet I went up & down those damn stairs 40 times last night! Then, the electric went out. With no TV, we had no idea if it was finished or if more storms were coming. (I'm getting a battery radio this weekend.) I finally went out to the truck and listened to the radio...while I was in the truck, it began hailing ~ I was stuck! There came a brief let-up and I dashed back into the house! Fun night, not. Our electric was out for only a couple of hours at most. I know many must still be without power because I had lots of phone calls at work today, asking if we had dry ice. There were five (?) tornadoes in Oklahoma last night. Last I heard, eight people had died. One tornado went very near my parent's house. Dad says the houses in the street behind his are missing their roofs! No damage at his house, thank God. Welcome to spring in Oklahoma; only a bit early.

Today is my beloved niece's birthday. Happy birthday, Danelle!

I'm coming along with Crabby but no picture today. I really need to catch up on blogs!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Follow My Blog

The blogger following widget is pretty cool but you are only allowed to follow 200 blogs. Considering I currently have nearly 300 blogs in my reader, a good majority of them on blogger, I clearly cannot follow everyone. That's really crappy! I made the difficult decision to follow only those that display the widget on their blog.

Last Sunday, I visited every blog I was following, checked for the widget and deleted them if it wasn't there. Yup, I visited 200 blogs on Sunday! I'm sorry if you were deleted! NOTE: I still read your blog if you are in the list in my sidebar. I was able to pare the 200 blogs down to eleventy-one (111). If you add the following widget to your blog, I'll likely start following your blog again. That is until I reach the 200 limit again, at which time I'll probably have to visit them all again and weed out those that haven't been updated in yonks.

I currently have 88 friends following my blog. That is amazingly awesome! Thank you all so much! I decided I will have a giveaway after (if ever) I reach 100 followers! Or would eleventy-one be more fun? Anyway, please follow my blog and watch this space for a giveaway, hopefully soon.

There is not an incredible amount of progress being made on Crabby but I'll show you anyway. I discovered a tiny little frog, one stitch short, on the seat of the 'L' in love and had to re-stitch the word. Poo, it would have to be red and leave fluff behind, the discoloration even defeated lint rollering. Dratted little frog. The fluff will come out with washing but that has to wait.

Little miss Taco had decided her new favorite warm-snuggly, sleepy spot is my laptop. I'll come in and find a zillion windows opened from little cat feets walking over my keyboard. Plus hairs. And it's difficult to type when someone is snoozing on the keyboard. I changed my setting so the computer does nothing when I close the lid. I just have to remember to close the lid. Every time I leave. ***plucking a cat hair from the keyboard***

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Unexpected Finishes

After finishing up the row on Peacock Cypher I was at loose ends! It wasn't yet time to start the next block on Crabby and I can't bring myself to cheat; not even by a few hours! I remembered these little kitties languishing in my WIP box. The cross stitches were completed a couple of years (years! ~ OMG) ago and all they needed was a bit of backstitching to finish them off. Admittedly, Margaret Sherry designs have tedious backstitching but that's really no excuse, is it? These kitties are an Heritage Stitchcraft Coaster kit called Margaret Sherry 'Cats'.

Holly had a great suggestion for my dread of 'up-stitching' in the comments on my last post. Turn the fabric and pattern upside down and stitch down instead. I've heard about this technique before but never tried it. I think I'll give it a go. Thanks, Holly!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Peacock Cypher Update

A few minutes ago I finished my row on Peacock Cypher. It's the bottom row of large flower shapes. This is such a nice stitch, with no frogs and pretty patterns. It makes for an easy-to-follow design. Heather, (regarding your comment on my last post) I'm actually really wishing I had started at the top! I'm really kind of dreading finishing these bottom rows and going up from the middle. Yuck! I hate going up. Why do I always (almost) start in the middle? Perhaps it will be as easy as it has been so far going down...

I've had nice company stitching this band on the sampler. David Francey. I've bought some of his albums on iTunes this week and have been enjoying his music a lot. If you aren't familiar click the link, go to "albums" and listen to some of his songs. David has a gorgeous Scottish accent (yummy!) and sings really down-to-earth songs. Very much worth a listen.

It was surely planned that I'd finish this row just in time for February and the next block on Crabby! I could have stitched a lot more but I live in Oklahoma known for it's changeable weather. Early last week we had an ice storm come through. Three days of worrying about driving to work, worrying about driving home and getting up early so I could defrost the truck and driving 25 to 30 mph to get anywhere. I don't stitch much when I'm stressed out! Today, it was 70 degrees and, although it was very windy, we took a motorcycle drive this afternoon. How can you have ice storms on Monday and bike weather on Saturday? Crazy.

There will probably be an update on Crabby very soon as I'm excited to start the next block Love Stinks.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

I'm Obsessive and I Know It

I've finished the header on Crabby All Year. Now, it has to be put away until February. (I really just want to keep going!) I am really pleased with this project so far.

Since we still have another few days left of January (until I can begin the Love Stinks block) I took out my WIP box and pulled Peacock Cypher. See this post to see where I left off last. I did two lines of mosaic stitches and started the flowers on the next row. Whoops! I reversed the colors on the rows of mosaics! I dinna care, lassies, I'm leavin' it be! This is the only band sampler I've ever worked on and find it is very enjoyable. I've also worked very little in monochromatic stitching but I do like the effect.

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This picture is proof of how obsessive I can be. Excuse the wrinkles. When I buy fabric especially for a project I can get a little freaked out about the margins. Did I add correctly? Is there enough fabric? What if I don't center it right? Better add another inch or two, just in case. Good Lord. There is SIX INCHES of extra fabric on each side of Peacock Cypher. ROFLOL. Somehow, I don't tend to do this if I already have fabric on hand and pull from stash.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Angel Mail

A Peace Angel has arrived from Sandra! Sandra had a goal of sending 50 angels flying to friends all over the world. This one landed yesterday but I had to go pick it up from the post office after work today. Worth waiting for! Sandra made me the cutest Angel pinkeep! Look at her sweet dress and the heart on her wing. Adorable. She even personalized the envelope, how creative!

Thank you, Sandra! I love her!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Teeny Bit Crabby

Thank you all for the kind comments regarding my last freebie. Also for the happy birthday wishes for Jessie. There were so many, she was over the moon! I still need to figure out how I want to finish A Star Danced, I'm thinking a pillow...if I can find a fabric I like.

Now, why am I crabby? It's all those stinkin' single stitches of snow! But they are finally completed and with that, the January block of Crabby All Year is finished! ***mini happy dance*** This months' block has two little bird buttons to decorate. Those will wait until the very end, when all the stitching is finished. I guess I'll work on the top banner now until it's time for the February design. This is a really soothing pattern to stitch, easy to follow and not so many color changes to drive you batty...yet enough to keep things interesting.

Too cute! And so much fun to stitch! I only wish we would actually receive some snow with our cold this year. No, just cold. Blah.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox