More Black Belt Stitching Wizard Stuff

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Finish of Page 3!


Tonight I put the final stitches in that Big A$$ motif on Paradigm Lost! Yay its done! Gosh now some of the motifs seem just plain ole' small! With the completion of this motif I've completely finished page 3... this means pages 1-3 are done! The whole top section of the design. I've got a small start on Page 4, and it seems to be full of manageably sized motifs so I can see it moving along nicely.


I did have a moment of sheer insanity tonight! No picture of this moment of insanity... yet. I have been toying with the idea of trying to get Todd's Christmas stocking stitched up. Its a kit I've had for over five years! Its a Bucilla Kit of a fisherman Santa, one of Todd's favourite activities. I plan on having some pictures of the kit for you tomorrow... I can't put everything in one post can I? Will I actually get this thing done? I somehow doubt it... but I plan on coming home tomorrow after work and a grocery run and barely stepping foot out of my house for days! That means a lot of hours on my butt stitching.
Tonight I wrapped up most of my ornaments, they're ready to be given away tomorrow. Bye, bye ornies. I just hope their new owners will appreciate them.

This year, for some reason I seem to really be struggling with the season. For the last two weeks or so I've been finding it harder to get up in the morning and harder to get to work on time (thank goodness after tomorrow I won't have to go back until January 5th). When I've been at work I'm not my usual happy-go-lucky self, usually I don't let most things and most people bother me (I've been downright bitchy to Todd most nights). But slowly over the last few weeks I find myself much less tolerant, easily irritable and the small things bother me. I had a hissy fit over the printer this afternoon when it jammed for the millionth time, I ripped the piece of paper out of the damned thing balled it up and threw it across the library! Very childish. I have had to push myself to go to the gym (I've only made it there once this week), I've had to FORCE myself to do my Christmas shopping. I'm looking forward to being off of work but I'm not excited for Christmas. My tree is still not up... I'm not even sure if I'm going to bother with it. Traditionally I've hosted Christmas Eve for my family. This year my sister can't be bothered to come because she works until 6pm (we never eat until 7:30 so I don't see the big deal), this means I won't be seeing my niece or nephew for Christmas. My brother doesn't have a car so we'd have to drive clear across the city (about 45 minutes), pick him up then drive back to my house, traditionally he spends the night here. He doesn't want to do that this year. So on Christmas Eve it'll be Todd and I and my folks. Depressing.

This week the scale was not kind to me, I'm up .5 lbs, really that's not bad for this time of year and I really wasn't struggling... until this week! Oh boy! On Monday the back counter in the office was laden with homemade cookies and boxes of chocolates! Yesterday I got my first box of chocolates as a gift... I ate 4, that would be 3 more than I had planned on eating but managed to give the rest away. Today I got my second box of chocolates, I've only eaten two out of this box, and have fed the rest to Todd. At the rate I'm going I won't be surprised to see another increase at the scale next week! However, once I'm done work Tomorrow a lot of the temptations I've been dealing with will be eliminated! Then I'll have the hurdles of Christmas Dinner with Todd's family, and Boxing Day Dinner at my parents (but my Mum is very conscience of what she prepares). I really will have to make an effort to get on my treadmill and perhaps get into town and go to the gym otherwise I'll side away from my 50 lbs milestone! Oh this time of year is definitely a challenge!

22 comments:

Mylene said...

Well done on finishing page 3. It is looking beauitufl.

I am struggling these days too, to keep my weight too but it is impossible. Hope your mood get better though.

Karen said...

The stitching is beautiful. Sorry you're feeling down. I'm not really into Christmas this year either. I'm not going all-out the way I usually do. I'm not sending Christmas cards. I'm just not trying as hard to make it a special year, you know? I know your Christmas Eve won't be the way you hoped, but at least you will be with your folks, and in a way, it will be nice to have them all to yourself for a special evening. One day you will look back at this and be so very happy you had this Christmas Eve with them. {{ Hugs }}

riona said...

First, Paradigm Lost looks spectacular ... I enjoy tracking your progress on that piece.

As to a Christmas malaise: I can empathize being in much the same place, having to work right up to 12/24 and having had to give all the Christmas budget to my daughter to help her over a crisis or three or four [the good news is I had it to give, the bad news is I have to wait for my 12/24 paycheck to "make" Christmas] I have put up a few Christmas Cross-stitch pieces, but that is the sum total of my "decorating" ... I may get a bit more done this weekend but do not plan to put up a tree

Lisa said...

Love your PL - keep going!

Margie said...

That is my favorite motif from PL! The color you picked is stunning.

Anonymous said...

The shading on PL is beautiful.

{{{{Hug}}}} Sounded like you needed one of those. Put your head under your pillow. It will all be over soon.

I'll see you when I get my head out from under my pillow on Jan. 2.

We have the opposite problem. Your people are bugging out. I just found out I'm hosting three of my family that I wasn't expecting. :-oOh well, it's a good thing, right?????

Karoline said...

PL is looking stunning, great progress

Shelleen said...

it looks awesome.

Lucy said...

Great PL....you have patience!

Lucy said...

...hope you feel better too. With your dieting, hopefully you are getting enough vitamins and such...sometimes that can throw things off and make you feel tired and yucky!

'RainbowRose' Connie Faulconer said...

WoW, very very nice Dani! Hats off to you! You have done a BEAUTIFUL job!!!

Sharon said...

PL looks gorgeous! Great progress. I know how you feel-about being a little irritable! Hence for me not much blogging or stitching!

Cindy F. said...

Ah girl..I went through the same feelings when I dieted for several months. I was not getting enough sugar (not a big fruit eater). Next weigh in, tell someone about your recent mood changes and lack of energy. Dieting and cold weather can be a downer some days, but you may be lacking something...maybe a vitamin defiency. Your body is trying to tell you something. Hey, most people on WW will gain about 5 lbs during the holidays, I did but then I just got back on controlling my eating again. Don't beat yourself up...ENJOY your holidays and don't feel guilty for a little bite here and there. Main thing is not to go crazy over eating.
Great progress on PL :)

Crazee4books said...

Hi Dani,

Congrats on finishing that enormous
motif on Paradigm Lost. How lovely
it looks in that pretty blue thread
colour. The fun part of doing these
types of projects are the many
little motifs scattered around
and between the big motifs. It can
be a like game trying to pick out or locate a specific shape.

Did you have fun getting home
through the snow storm tonight??
I left work at 2:30 and got home
at ten to seven. My toes, nose
and fingers were lumps of ice.
Well, I wanted a white Christmas.

Sounds like you've got the
Christmas blues. I'm not too
excited about the holiday this
year myself, probably because
of my Mom's situation. I've been
so behind in my traditional
Christmas activities, and some I
haven't even started. Like my
baking. And wrapping. Sigh!

I hope you can relax during your
time off, try and do things that
appeal to you and make you feel
good, and don't sweat the rest.

Your Christmas ornaments turned
out beautifully and are sure to
be a hit with anyone with any
sense and appreciation of the
time and effort (skill) put into
each one.

Cheers!

Katie said...

You're sampler is looking beautiful!!!!

Just think, in a week it'll all be over and it'll be back to low temptation and time to exercise alot more :) Only .5 this close to Christmas is way ahead of the curb. As much as I'm looking forward to Christmas, I'm also looking forward to all of the extra commitments evaporating so I can run consistantly every night :)

Heather said...

PL is looking amazing. I almost want to stitch it now, and it is definitely not my kind of design.

As for weight loss, my goal this month is to hit Jan. 5th weighing what I did December 1st. (I weigh in on Mondays, hence those two days.) I think that is a reasonable, sustainable goal. Maybe it is something to consider?

stitcherw said...

PL is looking so pretty, that was one big motif you finished. Congrats on getting the first 3 pages done. With the smaller motifs for a while now it should make it feel like it is moving a bit faster. Good luck on the Fisherman Stocking, it sounds adorable. Sorry that the season seems to be more stressful this year, I'm hearing that from a lot of people. I wonder if some is based on all the uncertainty in the world in so many areas as well as here in the US that is increasing it. Enjoy your time off from work.
Sue

Rob said...

Hi Dani:

Your PL is looking great. I understand completely how you feel. Just try to take care of yourself and be patient with yourself.

Pike said...

Looking great! That is a big one!

Merry Christmas!

Andrea said...

Wonderful progress on PL.

Sally said...

Wow that is a big assed motif! Congratulations on getting it finished.

Sorry to hear you're feeling down. Although I haven't actually told anyone before I find the run up to Christmas more and more difficult every year and I usually LOVE everything about it. I won't go into detail but one reason is I miss my Mum and MIL so much at this time of year.

Jenny said...

Congrats on finsihing the big motif! It looks great. And also big congrats on the weight loss - hang in there, the holidays really are almost over.