Joan Elliott dragon for RR

I stitched this Joan Elliott dragon for Jacqui's round robin piece. This is the piece that made me buy Joan's book!

My first 5K: I signed up for my first 5K, the Burning Pines 5K in September. I'll be walking it. Matt and I walked it last weekend, and I can make it up and down all those hills, but I can't guarantee I won't come in last place! I still haven't gotten my weight back down to pre-vacation levels (2 pounds to go), but I've been sticking to the diet fairly well and exercising. It's all I can do.

25-year class reunion: I went. It wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it would be. I actually had fun! I loved seeing my BFF from grade school again.

Mermaid Song Purse (Back) HD

I finally finished the back of the the purse. The hardanger area is the flap to secure the purse. This is by far the largest piece in the set, so I'm hoping I can get the rest done in less time!

Weight Loss: I made my weight loss goal (for a total of 70 pounds lost since my highest), so the Disney Cruise has been booked! We're doing eight nights in the western Caribbean in February. My schedule says I can lose 50 pounds by then if I work really hard. I'm dreaming of being able to jog by then and using their track on the sports deck. Wish me luck!

Reading: I got to meet Kalayna Price at the Barnes and Noble in Austin the other day. Check out her books if you like urban fantasy. I like them a lot!

I'm working on Mermaid Song and just finished the hardanger portion. Then I noticed I hadn't done my dove's eyes consistently. Sometimes the thread is over, and sometimes it's under. Sigh. I'm a perfectionist, but I'm not inclined to redo them. What would you do? I don't think it'll drive me too crazy, but it is annoying. I decided to redo them. Some of the dove's eyes are ugly. Argh.

I'm not as in love with this piece as I used to be, which is a shame. It's very pretty, but I'm just not feeling it.

Enchanted Swans and Frightful HDs

I finally found a charm to go on this piece, Enchanted Swans! This is a Just Nan limited edition that someone passed on to me (generously!). It didn't have the charm, of course, so I had to find a replacement. I tried painting a brass one I found, and it came out all blotchy. I think this silver one goes pretty well, better than the brass.

This is another Just Nan piece that I finished, Frightful. I think it would look good on a box, so I'll need to keep a look-out for a good one.

I visited Ginger's again and bought more fibers and beads. I also got a beautiful Christmas quilt/table runner for $40; I couldn't make it for that (and probably couldn't make it, period). It's so depressing seeing Ginger's almost completely stripped. :(

So does anyone remember my rant about losing weight? I sure do. The good news is that I've lost 20 pounds since mid-April. How? First, I set a goal of booking a Disney Cruise once I got to a certain weight. I have 2 pounds to go. Vacations are a big motivator to me. Also, I joined My Fitness Pal. It lets you track food and exercise, and you can get support from your online friends, kind of like a Facebook for being healthy. If anyone wants to join and add me, look for Arthemise1. I still have a long way to go, but I'm finally thinking it's possible! And I can now walk 3 miles in an hour -- pretty good for me.

Next bit of news... My 2002 Mazda Protege got rear-ended and totaled. I wasn't hurt, but it's very depressing to lose a car not by choice and acquire a new car payment. The new car is helping me ease the hurt. It's got as many dials as a space shuttle. OK, maybe not, but my engineer husband is loving it. It's by far the nicest car I've ever owned. It's a 2012 Infiniti G37, by the way. We got a great price on it.

I've been reading and playing Diablo III more than stitching lately, but that'll change at some point. It's a temporary slump.

Rose

I stitched Rose for Jo's round robin piece. I really like the pinks and purples in this one. Red roses are so boring.

Butterfly Fairy

I haven't posted in a while! My hobbies wax and wane, and lately it's been playing computer games, first Star Wars: The Old Republic and then Diablo III. I'll get back to cross stitching and reading, I'm sure.

In the mean time, here is a section of Butterfly Fairy I did for Debbie's piece for the Joan Elliott round robin.

I do have sad news: Ginger's in Austin is closing. Her landlord raised the rent higher than she could afford, and she has to close shop. I am devastated. Ginger's has been around since I started stitching and has been my haven for cross stitching. I will miss being able to browse and find exciting new things to stitch. She also won't be having the stitching retreats any more. There's nothing like getting together with your kind of people and talking about your passion. This makes me so very sad. Ordering materials online just isn't the same.

Almost Halloween HD

I saw a model for this piece at the Houston Quilt Show last year. The Silver Needle had it stitched on 40 count, and I fell in love. It looks so delicate when stitched with such tiny stitches (I stitched it on 40-count dirty linen). This was a fun, quick stitch. It looks like my mojo's back!

I visited the eye doctor recently, and he told me my near vision is going to be going soon (I'm 42). My options will be bifocal contacts or reading glasses. Ugh. I have contacts so I don't have to wear glasses!

I'm almost finished a Just Nan piece too. I just need to paint the replacement charm and affix it. In the meantime, I'm working on a new Just Nan Halloween piece. I have lots of old WIPs, but that's how I lost my mojo. I don't want to lose it again, so that's my excuse for some new starts.

Band Sampler Round Robin - Autumn

My piece returned home from the Band Sampler round robin, and here it is! I finished up the border, and someday I'll make a wall hanging out of it.

Joan Elliott round robin

I'm doing a new round robin, and this one's theme is Joan Elliott designs. Stephanie's is first up.

I haven't been stitching much lately, but I enjoyed stitching on this. I've been reading instead of stitching. I even started writing fiction again, though I don't know if it's going to go anywhere. Writing is work for me, and it's not the most relaxing thing in the world. Not like reading or stitching.

Sophia's RR

This is what I stitched for Sophia's round robin piece. Her theme is Teresa Wentzler borders, and the entire piece is so incredible. This is the second RR for this piece, and it's got more to go!

New author

Felicia Day is doing a "Hangout on Air" on Google+ Monday night. The first book is Grave Witch by Kalayna Price. I've read it and the second in the series, plus started on her Haven series. I can't put them down. Granted, it may not be to everyone's taste, but if you're interested in urban fantasy, you might want to check it out. Once Bitten is free on the Kindle if you have Amazon Prime (and here I thought I'd never read a book from the Kindle Lending Library!).

Slow quilting

Someone wanted to pose with Mommy's "awesome" quilt pieces.

I finally finished the piecing of the small squares for my Halloween quilt. My mom called me the slowest quilter ever, so I figured I should get on with it. The next step is to sew the blocks into rows (and then sew those rows together).

Even though I measured everything, the squares I sewed together don't align perfectly on the outer edges, though I did get the centers to match pretty well (after redoing a few). I'm concerned that when I sew the rows together, the squares won't match up because of the cumulative effect of being just a little off. Ugh. The first quilt's not supposed to be perfect, right? (I knew there was a reason I wasn't a quilter!)

Mission: Organize My Mom!

I've been working on getting my mom organized for a few weeks now, doing a little at a time. That's the only way I can manage it because my mom is my complete opposite when it comes to organization. My first task was organizing her fabric. Should be simple, right? Not so much. She had fabric in boxes, scattered across her bedroom, the garage, and storage. And the boxes weren't just fabric. Often the fabric was buried under other stitching supplies and random items. Foot cream, thread, sewing machine oil, and fabric in one box? Yep.

So once I dug out all the fabric, I had to figure out a way to organize it. Some of my mom's stuff was in plastic bins, but the bins themselves were a mishmash. You really need to have your boxes match somewhat so they stack properly and look good, so I asked her to buy bins. I think she bought three different kinds because she got them at different times. Sigh. I went through her fabric and organized by type and color and tried to use matching bins. As you can see in the first photo, her quilting fabric is organized into red and pink, orange and yellow, green (two boxes), blue, purple, pictures and rainbow, and brown, beige and black. She must like green!

She also had tulle, muslin, and other non-quilting fabric that I stored separately. In the second photo, they're to the left.

Next came organizing the projects. She has some projects in progress and others just kitted. Of course, most of them were mixed in with the other fabric. With her help, I got them organized and boxed up. The small projects went into Ziplock bags and into that big bin. Larger projects got their own small bin. Oh, and we never did use those new bins she bought. Organized fabric takes up less room that crumpled fabric. I'm sure we'll use the bins for the next step in the process.

Yes, I will be policing any new fabric she buys and will put away scraps for her (she keeps everything). She just made Logan some new pajamas, so...

I'm very proud of my work, and I'm very proud of my mom for letting me touch her precious fabric and organize it for her. My next task is to organize her stitching supplies, which will be an even harder task. I'm sure once we go through her other boxes we'll find more fabric.

My mom retired at the beginning of this month, and Matt and I are enjoying the freedom. She drops off and picks up Logan at daycare, takes him to his appointments, and does more of the housework now. And as a crafter, I can appreciate that she has time to do her sewing, which mostly stopped once she moved in. I can cross stitch with Logan around, but using a sewing machine? Much harder because he wants your attention.

We're still trying to sell the house and have gotten not even one nibble. And I start going in to my Austin office two days a week next month, which means a commute, after nine years of telecommuting. That's going to be rough, but at least my mom's in town in case Logan gets sick.

Stitching goals for the new year

It's that time of year again--time to consider what I've done for the year and plan what I'd like to do next year. This year was mostly devoted to finishing WIPs that I no longer loved, and I think I went overboard. I didn't enjoy my stitching as much, so I'm giving myself a rest for next year. I think finishing Magnificent Wizard, which is for my husband, will be enough of a goal for 2012.

Finished in 2011:

• Gingerbread Stitching House
• Gingerbread Tree Etui
• Maggie the Messmaker
• Rose Quilt
• Skeleton Crew
• Chatelaine Easter 2011 Freebie
• Afraid of the Dark
• By the Full Moon
• Just a Little Autumn
• Fa La La La La
• Various band sampler round robin pieces

Works in progress:

• Magnificent Wizard
• A Fish Tale
• Snow Faerie
• HAED Eternal Promise
• Zelda's Fancy Hat

I also did a bit of crocheting. I finished a scarf and a hedgehog, which I've been meaning to do for a while. I want to learn to knit too.

I started quilting a bit this year and began my first quilt, a small Halloween quilt. I'd like to finish that too this year. It's time to learn new things!

Oh, and I'm 42! :-o

Supernatural romance novels

Missy Ann turned me on to supernatural romance novels, and my reading habits haven't been the same since. I never thought I would like supernatural stories set in the modern day, but they're much better than when I last tried them in the 1980s. Go figure.

So here's my plea. I'm running out of authors, or at least ones my library has. I have a Kindle, but at the rate I chew up these novels, I can't afford to buy them all. Below is a list of authors I've read. Can you suggest any other good authors I should try? Thanks in advance for any help!

Liked/loved:

Stacia Kane

Ilona Andrews

Gail Carriger

Meljean Brook

J.R. Ward

Nalini Singh

Laurel K. Hamilton

Charlaine Harris

Keri Arthur

Jim Butcher

Karen Marie Moning

Kim Harrison

Patricia Briggs

Liked and still in progress reading:

Kresley Cole

Eileen Wilks

Laura Ann Gilman

Rachel Caine

Diane Gabaldon

Didn't like:

Sherilynn Kenyon

Christmas box exchange

I'm finally getting around to posting a photo of the exchange I did for Edgar for Hooked on Exchanging's Christmas box exchange. The piece is Fa La La La La by Lizzie Kate. I do exchanges because I really enjoy the giving aspect of it. It's so much fun to put a package together.

More pics on my website.

Skeleton Crew HD

This year I've devoted myself to finishing old, unloved WIPs, and while I've made significant progress, I also haven't enjoyed my stitching as much (more on that when I give my year-end wrap-up). My problem with this piece was definitely the fabric. First, I didn't get the 40 count recommended. I just assumed I knew what I was doing (big mistake) and got 28 count. That made the piece huge, and it could have been so much cuter on a higher count. That's not the deal breaker; the fact that the fabric is Wichelt is. I hate how loosely woven the fabric is--see-through and so easy to deform. I know some people like Wichelt, but it's definitely not for me. Add in my horrible Gripit stand, which doesn't handle big scroll frames well because I have to use a clamp, and you have a piece I hated to stitch on, even though it's such a cute piece (in a creepy way). I'm going to do my best not to make this mistake again.

So if you've seen a negative cast to my posts this year, you might be able to understand why. I'm going to try to work on more pieces I love this year, listen to what gets me excited to stitch. Sometimes my dutiful self gets in the way of that, and I'm going to try to lock her up for a while. :)

I hope you had a great holiday. We've been having a nice, quiet few days off at home. Matt bought me Victoria Sampler's Mermaid Song, and my mom gave me enough Christmas money to buy a new K's Creations floor stand. Yay!

Band Sampler Round Robin -- Rainbow

Jo's round robin theme is the rainbow, as you can tell. I stitched the bottom portion in indigo. I took bands from Jeannette Douglas' Mini Topiary Sampler 4 and used Dinky Dyes Fantasy Blues as my variegated floss. I stitched this twice -- the first time I didn't like how the outer edges lined up. I guess I should have planned better.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season. My mom is retiring after this month, and I'm counting the days. Still no progress on getting the house sold. I think we've had one person look at the house this month. We're hoping things pick up in the spring, but it's not encouraging.

HOE Christmas box received

I received this lovely box from Faye. The piece is by Primrose Needleworks. It's very delicate looking (stitched on a small count) and so adorable. I love cardinals, so this was perfect for me.

I need to post pictures of the box I sent out. I'm suffering with a sinus infection at the moment, so that will have to come later. I hope you're having a good December so far!

Hedgehog!

I finally ordered the nose to finish up this little guy. Staring at me with the bug eyes. (We just watched Ghostbusters again -- amazing how many of our family sayings come from that movie.)

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I played Glitch, started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, and am cutting out fabric for my first quilt. Oh, and I finished up the Harry Dresden books. Quite a break.