Just a Quickie Tonight

I had a good weekend! Friday night I stitched until 1 am... Saturday I stitched ALL DAY from10am to 12am!!! I got in mega progress.

Today I got in maybe 3-4 hours but that's because I went out to a friends. We did some sewing, finishing up cross stitch pieces as wall hangings, etc.

Here's the latest on my PT Progress

Just a Quick Blog...

Another busy day for the social butterfly!!!

I worked...

I got my allergy shot (pain in the butt but it works)...

I went out for dinner and to the Sens game with Vicki... The Sens won 6-1

Rupert got voted out of Survivor... sniffle.

PT only got an hour of my attention...

Good night, sleep tight, don't let my kitty kat bite!

Its Been a Good Day!

Yes I actually had a good day... rare it seems sometimes.

This afternoon I got some awesome news at work... the appeal for my group's job evaluation was passed. We've fought for some time over this. But that's work and well my blog is not about work.

I got home to a message from my TKD instructor, he was very under the weather and needed someone to take over the adult class. Sooo... for the second week in a row its Dani to the rescue. Tonight I taught a class of 18 adults and teenagers. I felt more pressure teaching them than the wee kiddies. The kiddies don't know when you've messed up. The feed back on the class was positive so I feel very good about that.

PT is not progressing as quickly as I hoped at this stage. But its not due to having difficulties... its due to not having time. Why oh why do I have to be the social butterfly sometimes??? Last night after work I held my little martial arts club. From there I drove to Dragon Lair Beads and met up with Vicki the owner where we had a bite out before heading to the monthly OVGS (Guild) meeting. I didn't get home until about 10pm... spent a bit of time online and maybe got in about 2 hours stitching max. Normally on Tuesday I can get in a nice stitching stretch in the evening. I also got offered free tickets yesterday to Thursday's Ottawa Senators game. So Duh... of course I took them! So tomorrow night Vicki and I are out again (Todd said he'd only go if it was a good team... guess that means the Carolina Hurricanes don't count?).

Sigh... wish I didn't have to work. But on the up side.... the peacock has a wing, there's just tail left now!

Movin' Right Along on All Fronts

Here's an updated Scan of Peacock Tapestry!!!

As you can see its moving along beautifully. I've finished stitching all of the bird in section 2... I think (top middle) and I've started BS'ing that section.

Do you think I can get it done by December 1st??? I put in another 2 hours tonight. I could of kept stitching... if only work didn't get in the way.

Also tonight at TKD I got my 3 one steps all sorted out and my model sparring for that test on the 29th. I don't feel so panicked about that anymore!

Bedtime for me!

This Weekend in Review

You can tell when I'm going through a busy week... when I don't post that much. Or when I'm on a mission... a stitching mission.

This past week and weekend have been a bit of both! I've already told you all about my busy week... so lets move onto this weekend. Saturday started off with a nice lie-in... I needed that after stitching on Peacock Tapestry until after 2am!!! I got up on Saturday morning and started all over again! By lunch time I finally managed to get all the grass and pear tree trunk completely done... I had this lovely void where the Peacock was to go. So I sat down and spent the time figuring out what symbols were used in the ole bird and setting up my "pre-threaded needle system". That would be a long narrow piece of fabric with a strip of masking tape down one side. On the masking tape I write down the symbol and what DMC number(s) that will represent on the chart. So as I start using each colour I can park my already threaded needle there to use again later on. For such a large project as PT this really is necessary due to frequent colour changes! I'd be wasting more time constantly re-threading my needle if I didn't! With that all ready to go ... I put down PT and got down to cleaning the house.

The parental-units were coming over for dinner... Seeing as Friday had been my Dad's 62nd b-day I invited them over for roast chicken, potatoes, veggies, and pie for dessert. This was the first time I was going to roast a chicken!!! And you know what... dinner was just awesome. While my parents and brother visited I couldn't work on PT... too big and complicated. Soooo I pulled out a class piece I had taken from Jeannette Douglas, Muskoka Autumn Samplerette. I actually managed to accomplish quite a bit on that!

Sunday morning... another lie-in. I decided to pull Muskoka Autumn back out as I only had about 3 bands left on it. By 1pm... it was done! Happy Dance, oh Happy Dance.

Click here to see Muskoka Autumn Samplerette by Jeannette Douglas

After a mid-afternoon nap I got back to work on PT... in total last week I put in 21 hours on the ole bird... and that's all I have left is the bird!!!!!!

Its Been Awhile...

Well it has certainly been a very busy week for me, and seeing as its late once again I'll have to keep my blog short.

Wednesday night was my usual TKD night, it has been confirmed with my instructor... yes I will be doing an interim test on the 29th... Urgh now to waste precious stitching time making up 3 one steps with moves from my first black belt pattern. Besides TKD I got in a good 2 solid stitching hours!

Tonight I cancelled the Martial Arts Club after school, I needed a little "me time". So I headed home and promptly took a nap. Making up for all those busy late nights! After dinner I sat down with PT and put in a good 4 hours. I now only have the tree trunk to stitch up (which I'm working on now) before I can start the main attraction... the peacock!

If the groceries get done quickly and I'm focused hopefully I'll be down to bs-ing the grass very late tomorrow night!

Riverdance Rocks!

Well I didn't get a single stitch in today, but I think it was for a good cause. Today, once again I expanded the cultural horizons of my best friend Christin (brought up on a farm, in a very small town... you know). We went to see opening night of Riverdance at the NAC.

And well I think tonight's title says it all... RIVERDANCE ROCKS!!!

I'm Baaaack!

Well I had a most excellent weekend and did all the things I said I would do in my previous blog. I'm keeping this a little short tonight because its after midnight and I need to get to bed, tomorrow is going to be a long day! I have to teach the 3-6 year old class at TKD and well I haven't done any teaching in quite some time! Hopefully all will go well.

I didn't get much stitching done over the weekend... I was too busy visiting! I did get in 7 hours on PT today, and here's an updated scan. That's for a total of 18 stitching hours this week.

I don't think I'll get as much stitching in this upcoming week because of tomorrow night's teaching "adventure". Also on Tuesday I'm out to see Riverdance at the NAC.

Night everyone!

Road Trippin'

Tonight was not a big stitching night. I spent part of my evening having dinner over at the Mother-In-Law's, which was very nummy. When we got home I started packing all of my supplies for this weekend. Christin and I are off to Kingston straight after work tomorrow. Friday night we're spending with her Mom, we're meeting in town for dinner and to go see Matrix Revolutions (can't wait).

Saturday morning we should hopefully be meeting up with another Kingston friend and heading down to Brighton for a little shopping at Knowledge and Needles and a lovely afternoon of ornament finishing and stitching!

I can't wait.

Today PT got 2 hours of my attention, and Muskoka Autumn 0.

Why What Sharp Teeth You Have...

I've been living back in the country (as in rural life) for over a year now, prior to that I lived in the country all through high school and college. In terms of wildlife I never saw anything beyond the usual suspects : deer, birds, raccoons, skunks, porcupines, squirrels, etc. Today I saw some TRUE wildlife.

I wasn't driving my usual route to work today because I had a meeting to attend at one of the school board's facilities. It was easier to take the back roads instead of taking the highway. I was no more than 2-3 km's from my house when through the fog I saw a dog cross the road. I thought that was a little odd, despite being in the country you don't often see dogs roaming about. So as I got closer to where it crossed I slowed down to check if it was still visible. It was! And I couldn't believe my eyes! I saw an honest to true, not in captivity wolf! This was no dog, not a husky or any of those breeds!

I wish I had my digi cam on me this morning.

Peacock Tapestry is DEFINITELY coming along in leaps and bounds! Tonight I put in another 4.5 hours, I'm now up to 10 hours stitching time this week. I've completed section 7, back stitch and all. That felt great! In section 8 (bottom middle) I finished the trees in the distance, and the grass surrounding them. Just as quitting time rolled around I got a very brief start on the grass.

Today Autumn Muskoka pretty much got little to no work done on it. All I stitched was an acorn cap on row 6.

Tomorrow is a good stitching night... its Survivor/CSI night!

Freezing Rain and Cuddly Quilts

Todd and I were supposed to join his Mother for dinner tonight, but I suppose two near-accidents on the way home persuaded Todd that it was a good idea to stay in tonight. Hmmm funny I made it home without incident.

There's something about a night where the weather is nasty out and all you want to do is snuggle down in the safety of your home. That's just what we did. I got myself all set up on my couch (my stitching spot), with my Ott Lite on and my Peacock Tapestry paraphenalia pulled out, and my favorite quilt that my Mum made me on my lap. Todd snuggled under his "grandma blanket" and we watched TV. As usual Todd was out like a light by 8pm.

So stitching-wise tonight was very productive. I put in 4 hours on PT, I've got all the cross stitch done on section 7 and about half the backstitching. I wish I could stay up and get that section done, but I 've got a long meeting to attend tomorrow so I'd better be sharp!

My current travel project is also whipping up nicely. I'm now onto band 6 of Muskoka Autumn Samplerette. I can't wait to finish this piece!

A Little Bit of Time

Yup! I got in a little bit more time on Peacock Tapestry this evening, despite going to TKD. I managed to stitch about an hour and a half on it tonight, the grass is well looking like grass. Also while waiting for a phone call (that never came) I worked for an hour on Jeanette Douglas's Muskoka Autumn Samplerette, I'm on section 4 of 11.

Now I'm not too excited about TKD at the moment. My instructor tonight told me that I'll be interim testing this month on the 29th... I don't think so, I feel no where near ready. I think on Wednesday night I'll be having a little discussion with the head instructor. If he told me I'd accept it, but with this other instructor telling me ... I dunno.

When I test, a test of any kind I don't like to be caught off guard and I like to bet totally prepared. I don't feel like I can be prepared in any way for this, and not in a month. I want time to review my lower belt theory, work on my patterns more, and I need to spend time making up my own step-sparring and model sparring. Blech... I don't even want to think about it. I'm so focused at the moment on finishing Peacock Tapestry not an interim test at TKD.

Note to self talk to head instructor on Wednesday!

Family Crisis Tends to Take Away From Stitching Time

Well I was awoken early Sunday morning (4am ish) with only two hours sleep under my belt. There was a bit of a family crisis that I had to go help sort out. Sigh... there went my beauty sleep. I probably got back to bed at about 7am ish. Todd and I stumbled out of bed at about 11:30am. He made breakfast and I started the laundry (the usual Sunday routine).

I got in maybe about 2 hours of work in on Peacock Tapestry when at about 2pm I decided it was nap-time. Soooo I lost more precious stitching time (can you tell I really want this project done?). I stumbled back out of bed around 5:30pm and had needle back in hand by 6pm. So in total I got in about 9.5 hours of stitching time on Peacock Tapestry this weekend. Not bad, but could of done better. I was really hoping to get that bottom left hand section completely finished.

Click Here For PT Progress

Its DONE!

Yup it took two hours into November to finish my second October Christmas Ornament. So here's Seasons Bleatings a class piece from Dragon Dreams. Its suuuper cute, and has LOTS of colonial knots. I think I must of been doing them in my sleep last night because I woke up with sore hands this morning. That or I was clentching them into fists and punching people in my dreams... that's a possibility as well! LOL.

Noooooo.... I didn't make it!

I think this is the first time this year that I didn't get my two Christmas ornaments done in time for the end of the month! But it will get done today... oh yes it will.