Crazy Challenge Day 5

I didn't get in a full day of stitching yesterday.  Instead I had a lovely day out with my Mum, doing some running around and grabbing my favourite pizza for lunch!  What a treat!  I also got all of my travel medicine stuff done for my upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic in the latter part of February.  I'm heading back for another Dominican Experience, this time with 16 students!

Eat, Sleep, Stitch

Cherrywood Studios

Stitched on 28ct African Daisy Joblean using DMC

I wasn't sure what I wanted to start when I finally sat down to stitch yesterday evening but I did know ti wasn't the Summer Mandala (saving that for today).  So a bit of a group session on iMessenger (love it!) with Christin, Bonnie and Tracey we agreed upon Eat, Sleep, Stitch.  I'm glad we did.  It was another nice, colourful, simple piece on 28ct fabric!  I have started leaning towards higher count fabric fabrics in the last year but I always forget how much I like the lower count fabrics like 28!

How about another Retro PhotoHunt?  On March 13, 2010 the theme was "Spiral"

In the spring, ferns unfurl from a tight little spiral.

Crazy Challenge Day 4

After spending most of yesterday trying to fix another counting mistake I had a little time left in the evening to get a new start going for the 4th day of the Crazy Challenge.  I am happy to report that in the few hours I worked on this piece, I had no problems!

Polar Friends - Night

Stitcher's Habit

Stitched on Silkweaver 32ct Ocean Fantasy

I have to say it was sooooo nice working with such bright and wonderful colours for a change.  I'm getting a little bored of black!

I just realized I forgot to share my stitching goals for the month of January with you!  I've been doing this for a few years now and I encourage you to join me.  These are your stitching goals, what you'd think you'd like to accomplish during the month.  The beauty is these are no-pressure goals.  If you don't make them, that's okay, if you completely change your plans mid-month that's okay too.  I found that since I started setting these goals I was a little more focused in my stitching and get far more done.  Also I'm not upset when I achieve a goal (s), it just gives me a little focus.

January Goals
All 15 starts of the Crazy Challenge
Stitch one ornament
Work on Enchantment of Winter
Work on The Accolade
Work on Winter Mandala

So at the beginning of February, I'll post a blog entry, giving you a re-cap of January and how I did and what I plan to get done that month.

This blog seems to be all stitching lately, I should share an old PhotoHunt with you for a little fun!  On March 6, 2010 the theme was "Foreign"

 

This past March while visiting Kathy in Arizona, we crossed the border into a foreign country, Mexico... for a little shopping!

Crazy Challenge Day 3

I wasn't daunted by my first day of the Crazy Challenge and the attack the frogs launched on this household.  Yesterday morning I picked my Seasonal Mandalas back up, I spent a bit of time contemplating how far apart I wanted each season to be.  My choices were 1 inch, 1.5 inches, and 2 inches.  In the end I went for the middle choice, 1.5 inches.  I counted and recounted and I was off to the races with my 3rd start!

Everything was going very well yesterday as I stitched away... more black.  I did a little bit of the inside here and there to make sure I was on track, there wasn't going to be any frogs in this house again!

At around 11:30 PM I could be heard to exclaim something that rhymes with "mother trucker" I just couldn't believe it!  I didn't have enough room to put in the last couple of stitches!  Somewhere my counting was off... again!

 Scissors point to where I should of added one more stitch

I sat down and worked backwards as I had started in the top left hand corner and worked my way across the top, down the right side, when I got to the bottom I decided to work down the left hand side and back across the bottom.  Seeing that I started at the top left and worked to the right you can see I probably made my mistake within the first hour.  I forgot to put in one stitch!  One measly stitch and so early on!

I decided before I went any further, I would do something I've never done before... grid my fabric!  I've always said that griding is a perfectly good waste of stitching time.  Not anymore.

I alternated worked on griding and frogging, this is where I had to rip it back to before I could start stitching again.

Ta-ta!  My screw up is fixed, and I have enough time to get a small start on another one of my Crazy Challenge pieces.  I'll save that for tomorrow.

Crazy Challenge Day 2

Because of yesterday's attack of the frogs, I didn't stitch most of the day on my second start, but on my first.  I didn't start my second piece until after 7PM.  My original plan had been to start the Spring Mandala on the second day, but I had enough of that project for one day!

Snowman '10

Lizzie*Kate

Stitched on 28ct Canada Goose from Sugar Maple Fabrics

I needed something small, more colourful and on a bigger count.  I went and started Lizzie*Kate's Snowman '10.  Something must be telling me that I shouldn't be doing this Crazy Challenge!  First I cut my fabric wrong... well I forgot to tell my fabric calculator that I wanted it over two (not over one).  So first I cut it too small!  Then as I started it, I realized the colour of the fabric was too light that the white wouldn't show up.  So I went back to the drawing board and dug through my stash looking for something that was 28ct and darker!  I finally found something in my hand dyed drawer.

Crazy Challenge Day 1 Turns Crazy!

Yesterday, being New Years Day I followed my annual tradition of emptying the ort jar.  I had a little help as it is the Year of the Dragon coming up, I am a dragon baby does this mean I'm in for a good year???

A full year of orts!  Good bye 2011!!

Can you believe I filled this sucker (its actually a vase from the dollar store) almost to the top... without squishing mind you.  These orts would of overflowed out of my old mason jar!  My last orts of the year were beautiful purple silks from Enchantment of Winter.

My ort jar empty and ready to receive 2012 orts

Being January 1st it was the start of two stitching events for me!  First of all I was starting a SAL with good stitching friends Christin, Bonnie, Beatrice, Rebecca, Clare, Tracey and Trista!  There was a lot of smack talk going back and forth with text messages, e-mails and Facebook posts going on in the hours leading up to midnight.  Tracey kept bragging that she was getting to start an hour earlier than us because she was in Cape Breton!  I think in terms of midnight starts the only ones who stuck it out were Me, Bonnie and Beatrice, the others waited till morning.

A beautiful colour pallet for Ink Circles Seasonal Mandalas

The piece for this year's SAL is Ink Circle's Seasonal Mandalas, I started with Winter which was my first Crazy Challenge start on January 1st!  My goal was to stitch the whole outer outline first so I could easily place/start Spring on the same piece of fabric (I am stitching the four seasons horizontally on 40ct linen) on January 2nd for my 2nd Crazy Challenge Start.  Each Mandala accounts as a new start right???  Right?

My progress after the clock struck midnight

I have a feeling I probably should of waited till morning to start... or perhaps ignored the text messaging going on during New Years Day as well amongst my SAL partners.  I didn't notice it until after 11PM last night when I was getting close to meeting up the outside edges that things didn't quite meet up properly!  Oh CRAP!  Well those aren't the exact words I used and we're in polite company here.  So I frogged and stitched some more!  This morning I picked Winter up with fresh eyes, determined to quickly finish off that outline then start Spring.  Crap, crappity, crap, CRAP!  It didn't meet up again!  I think I have frogged the outlining on this FIVE times in under 24 hours!  For some reason the outlining on this just was a major headache.  I couldn't just leave this not right, it had to be fixed before I start Spring.

Finally got that border right... took until dinner time on Jan 2nd to get right!

One strand over two on 40ct linen

Seeing as its the dinner hour as I type this I won't be starting Spring today, but tomorrow.  I think I'll go through my other Crazy Pieces and pick something small, simple, nice and colourful for the rest of the evening!  I'll pick up Spring for tomorrow, my 3rd Crazy Challenge Start!

Adios 2011! Welcome 2012!

From what I've been reading out there in Blogland that for many of us 2011 was not one of our favourite years and we're happy to see it go.  I'm part of that of that group... don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out!  Originally I wasn't going to do this post but as I sat down and thought about it I knew I should!

Though there were some high points this past year that I am proud of, it felt like this year was full of trials and tribulations for me, my friends and family.

2011 In Review
 I'll be linking to previous year's blog entries if you're curious about what I'm talking about

Stitching
My hobby, obsession, favourite past time!  Through this little "x" made with thread on fabric I have made amazing lifelong friends!

• Despite the ups and downs that life threw at me I kept stitching through it all!
• I only had one big finish in 2011, Art Deco Spirits 
• Though I only  had one big finish, I had a total of 46 finishes, mainly smalls, ornaments, and quilt blocks
• I had started Enchantment of Winter planning to have it finished for my Dad's 70th Birthday in November, but as you know I'm still working away at it. 

Travel
It was a good year for me for travel, I had some great adventures and met some awesome people!

• I went back to the Dominican Republic for a second time, took another group of students on the Dominican Experience.
• I got to spend a fantastic March Break with Kathy in Arizona!  I was so lucky that our friend Judie timed her trip to Phoenix to overlap mine.  We had a fantastic day meeting up with another snowbird Angie, and locals Annette and Bette!
• Todd and I had a wonderful adventure in Quebec City with Bonnie and Blair.
• Bonnie and I continued our adventures with a trip to Wonderland and Georgian Bay to visit Sheila (no blog)
• Besides these great adventures, there were the fantastic stitching get togethers with my friends, and retreats!  I look forward to repeating those this year!

Running
This was a big year for me when one of my forms of exercise became bigger in my life.  I took up running a few years when I realized just how many Activity Points (Weight Watchers) you could rack up!  I took it to a new level this year when my good friend Amy challenged me to my first official race!

• May I ran my first official race, the Ottawa Race Weekend 10K.  A very emotional moment for me, to be running with thousands of people!  To run a whole 10K race, without stopping crossing the finish line 71 minutes later!  Which is fantastic for me!
• July I ran my second race this one was just for fun, The Perth Kilt Run where I was part of a Guinness World Record!  This was 8K of hell for me, it was the worst run I ever had, it was 30c at 6PM and I sware I died several times!
• September despite every excuse in the world not to I participated in the Army Run Half Marathon crossing the finish line in 2hr 49 minutes, having run the first 14km and walk/running the last 7.1km
• October was my final run for the year, Run For the Cure, and my 4th year doing this 5K charity run.  I fundraise for this one and I beat last years total, raising over $1,600 for breast cancer research.  Not only did I fundraise but this year I organized an Almonte Taekwon-Do team which was 16 runners strong and we raised almost $3,000

 Battle of the Bulge
About 4 years ago I lost over 60lbs with Weight Watchers and became a lifetime member its been a struggle ever since.

• February saw my lowest weight ever, 142 lbs
• April saw me put on 7 lbs in two weeks
• By the end of October I was up 10 lbs over my goal weight (145)
• My Weight Watchers leader is right, when you kinda sorta try to loose weight, you get kinda sorta results

When Life Kicks You In Ass
Unfortunately life isn't all ups, there's also the bad moments.

• In March, after coming home from the DR and before leaving for Arizona I had to put Cuddles down.  He was old, and not well but it still came as a huge shock to us.  He was my first pet after I left home.  We still miss him.
• At the end of August my Mum who had not been well all summer was hospitalized until the end of September.  This really took me quite awhile to recover from myself.  She now has a lifelong condition to deal with but she's doing an amazing job!
• At the end of November the treadmill died and its been a whole saga trying to actually get my new one delivered in one piece!!!
• A week before Christmas the washing machine decided to die too, but we've got a new, working one now!

New Additions
Despite being said over the loss of Cuddles the adorable, Devil Cat, Zeus who we thought was a boy and ended up being a girl (Zeusie) joined our lives.

Looking Forward to 2012

Stitching

• Crazy Challenge 2012, 15 starts in 15 days!
• Finish Enchantment of Winter
• Finish 2 pages on The Accolade
• Stitch 12 ornaments
• Ink Circles Seasonal Mandala SAL

Weight/Fitness

• Get back to goal weight, as of my home weigh in yesterday, only 5.2 lbs to go!
• Get back on treadmill when new one arrives and if it arrives in one piece
• I've given up my gym membership, I was lucky if I was getting there once to twice a week.
• By giving up the gym I'm hoping to focus a little more on running and training more than once a week at Taekwon-Do.  I just had too many balls in the air and wasn't focusing on any one thing properly.
• Teach Taewkon-Do once a week and try to train on average 2-3 times a week, working towards my 4th Degree Black Belt.
• If possible attend an International Instructors Seminar, I need it to test for 4th Dan.
• Run Ottawa Race Weekend 10k in under 70 minutes
• Run Perth Kilt Run, just have a better race!
• Run Army Run Half Marathon, run entire distance finish in 2hr 40 min
• Participate in Run for the Cure for my 5th year, raise over $1,700 and Captain the Almonte Taekwon-Do team again

Personal

• Be Happy
• Be Happy with my body not matter what shape/size it is, don't obsess over the scale
• Continue to find new challenges
• Be thankful for : Todd, my family, my friends, and good health!

If you stuck it through to the end of this may I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!!!  May your stitches be quick and true and the frogs never visit you!

Saturday PhotoHunt : Gather

Today is the final PhotoHunt for 2011, which means a new set of themes for next year!  Yay!  Today's theme is "Gather"

I took this picture back in September, not far from my place there's a cement company.  These towers/silos contain the various components that make up cement, the trucks pull up underneath and the cement is loaded into the truck.  Did you know that a cement truck has 90 minutes to deliver its load before it starts to harden?   Anyhow, I don't know why but on this day the birds decided to gather on these two towers, it was almost like a scene out of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.