Halloween exchange received

I received this lovely piece from Judith the other day. I know she was getting worried about it. It's part of Just Nan's Witch Way. I've always loved this piece. I stitched it a while back but never did the finishing. Her little pillow is just adorable! Thanks, Judith. I appreciate it very much.

I've also been baking again. I made this cake and a bunch of chocolate mice for a bake sale at work (the full story).



Happy Halloween, everyone!

Pumpkin Patch Exchange received

Isn't this a great exchange I received from Carol? I think this is the third time she's gotten my name. I get excited every time I see her name on a package. :-)

The mattress is from Scary Crows by Holiday Sparrow, and the floss ring tag is Boo! by Barbara Ana Designs. The more Barbara Ana pieces I see, the more I think I need to stitch some!

The package also had some ghost peeps, but my mom scarfed them up before I could take a picture.

In other news, my sewing machine is giving me problems. At least I managed to finish my Harvest Time Exchange piece before it started acting up. I'm hoping Mom can fix it tonight for me.

I've been working on the border of Damier. A little more and the piece will finally be done!

Diet: I've lost 25 pounds so far. Yay me! This week's been a little bad since I've been making sweets for the bake sale at work. Of course I have to sample them to see if they're good!

City of Heroes MMO: The Halloween event continues. Matt and I now have six characters that are up to level 50. This latest one is my oldest character who had been kind of languishing. I'm so glad to see her "retired." We've been playing for almost four years now.

Spring in the Square HD

I finished Just Nan's Spring in the Square last night. I like how it turned out. I just happened to grab spring; maybe I'll go for fall next, which is my favorite season.

City of Heroes: Matt and I have been playing City of Heroes as time permits. Right now there's a Halloween event going on. At certain times, the zombies invade. They pop up out of the ground, and everyone goes to work on them. It's sometimes a lag-fest, but it's fun. You can also click on doors and get a trick (more bad guys) or a treat (a Halloween costume or loot). I can tell we're going to be spending as much free time as we can on it.

Warhammer Online: I considered trying out this MMO (massive multiplayer online game), but they don't have a free trial, and the one trial I found at a LAN center (which Matt had to go into the city for) you have to play at the LAN center because there's no way to download the program. Argh! I probably wouldn't like it anyway because of the plaver versus player emphasis.

Going back to school: Matt's been officially accepted back to his old university. We're going to have to take out student loans and such (ugh), but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. It doesn't look like he'll get a good job without that engineering degree. It's going to be a rough couple of years for all of us.

Reading: I finished rereading Mercedes Lackey's Mage Wars series (I love griffons). Now it's on to the Last Herald-Mage series. Yes, it still makes me cry.

Pumpkin Patch Exchange sent

Chris let me know that she received my Pumpkin Patch Exchange. I think this was one of my favorite packages to get together. It was a challenge to find pumpkin things, and I'm rather proud of what I came up with. Chris said she liked it too, so that makes me happy.

The main piece I stitched was November Harvest Pumpkin, a freebie from the Rainbow Gallery website (I substituted for all the colors, mostly WDW). I made it into a box, my first. More pics.



I also stitched another little piece. This is the one I was tempted to keep for myself because it was so cute. More pics.



As for the extras, I made two hand-made items. One was a stuffed pumpkin. My mom sewed it on the machine, and then I put it together. My machine can't do fancy curved stitching. Or maybe it's the operator.



Lastly, I made some polymer clay magnets. Yes, they're slightly different, but then pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes.

Pig tin

I stitched up this little tin for my mom. It's from 52 Pigs by Jeanette Crews Designs. Mom's weight-loss group back home collects pigs. She wanted me to make 10 others for her friends...but I declined. I'm not keen on repeats.

I'm still working on Just Nan's Spring in the Square. Pics when I'm done.

Thank you so much for the kind comments on my blog. I know how hard it is to keep up with blogs, much less leave comments. :-)

Baby...toddler? Logan got his first haircut the other day. Matt had to hold him down, so I hear. The hairdresser cut his hair way too short. My little cutie lost his few curls and looks like a little boy rather than a baby. Aw. He's getting the hang of walking without holding on, but he's still very wobbly.

Finishing of It's Halloween

Here's my finish of It's Halloween by the Drawn Thread. This is my second flat fold, the first for myself. I'm getting less nervous about using glue in my finishing, though it can be messy if you're not careful. I used a piece of fabric I received in an exchange, and I had just enough. I like it with this piece, and it has the same elements that the piece does.

I mailed off my exchange for the SBEBB Pumpkin Patch Exchange and am looking forward to getting my Halloween Exchange package. I'm working on the finishing of my Harvest Time piece right now.

I also started Just Nan's Spring in the Square. It's smaller than I thought. I plan on stitching all four seasons and doing a wall hanging of some sort. I have lots of larger things I could be working on, but it's still difficult to get a chunk of time worth hauling out a larger piece. There's no way I can stitch with Logan in the room. He always wants to play with Mom's toys.

Typo Hunt Across America

I enjoyed Typo Hunt Across America, the blog where the author and his friend find typos and then fix them (usually after asking permission). I checked it today, and apparently it's been taken down. This was in its place. I could only surmise that they fixed a typo on public land. While I agree you shouldn't fix historical signs, this statement made my blood boil: "It is absolutely egotistical for one to think that one can tell others how to spell." TEAL obviously did not write this. Egotistical? Really? Ever heard of a DICTIONARY? There's nothing unequivocal about a misspelling on a modern sign.

I found this at the Laughing Squid: "On August 11th Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson of The Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) plead guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property at the Grand Canyon National Park. They were sentenced to a year's probation and banned from National Parks for a year." Someone commented that "The 'Government Sign' they 'Corrected' was a historical hand painted sign by the builder of the lodge it was in."

Defacing any historical item gives me the heebie jeebies (I can't watch National Treasure without wincing the whole way through, and that's not just because of Nicholas Cage's acting). They did go too far there and should pay the consequences (though I don't know how "historical" this sign is). But I think the spirit of what they did was right. People are much too complacent about typos in what should be a finished product (and if you find a typo in my blog, I'll fix it). I read the other comments, and it amazes me that people think TEAL should have gotten harsher penalties or that they should "leave people alone." They're not mass murderers; they actually want our world to be a better place with correct grammar and spelling. Apparently some people are so defensive about their mistakes that they want those mistakes to live forever.

And I'm not just saying that because I make my living by finding typos. ;-)

Halloween Exchange and updates

Donna received the exchange I sent her for the SBEBB. I stitched Halloween Night by Helga Mandl (from patternsonline.com). This was my first basket lid. I learned a lot doing it and look forward to my next one. Yes, I designed a basket liner and stitched it myself! There are more pics on my website, which is finally up again! My mom sewed six Halloween placemat for me. One side has fabric that matches the basket, and the other has orange. The little spider is cute. You rev it a few times, and it will run on its own. Donna said she liked it. I really enjoyed getting this one together.

I also really had fun with the Pumpkin Patch Exchange. That one is packaged up and ready to be mailed off next Monday.

I think I've figured out what to stitch for the Harvest Time Exchange. I'm going to cool it after that one. We'll be going into the busy holidays, and I need to spend even less money than I have been. Matt's planning to go back to school in the spring, even without a job, so money's going to be tight. Especially after his unemployment runs out....

I stitched the last row of Damier and then realized I didn't like the three letters clumped together. So I ripped a little and did some restitching. Here's the product, which I like better. All that's left is the border, which will be released at the end of this month.

And lastly (for now), here's my Maggie the Messmaker update.

My website's down

We're going on the third day that my website has been down. GoDaddy says they're moving my site to a different server for improved performance. I've never had any problems with my site until now! I am really not happy about this, but they say they're working on it.

So the pictures I wish I could show you are my Halloween exchange that my partner received, an update on Maggie the Messmaker, and the last row of Damier (I just have the border left, which will come next month).

I'm sure I also have a photo from Logan's birthday, where he's covered in chocolate cake, as is usual for baby's first birthday. He goes in today for his one-year shots. Oh boy.

Reading: I've been collecting fantasy novels since I was 13, but I rarely reread books. Matt suggested rereading them since we can't afford to buy many new ones. So I started with my favorite author, Mercedes Lackey. I decided to read the Valdemar books in chronological order, not by publication date as I originally did. I've started on the Mage War series. It's surprising how much I've forgotten about what happens. I'm enjoying them so far. But then I really like gryphons. :-)