Number 5... Number 8

I think right now the numbers 5 and 8 are my favourite numbers!

First, the number 5... that would be the page I just finally finished on Paradigm Lost! Yay, this latest large motif felt like it took forever. This one measures 6.5 inches across, its a big one, and fairly densely stitched. I've actually made a start into page 6 which doesn't have a lot for me to do on it, hopefully it'll be done in short order (my goal is to be half done by the time I return to work next week).

Next, the number 8... that would be the size jeans I bought yesterday! Wahootie, a size 8! Now not all size 8's are created equal not every pair of pants fit at that size but these ones do and they're mine! I also stepped on the scale tonight at Weight Watchers... amazingly I managed to loose 2.5 lbs over the holidays! Wahooo 14.5 lbs to goal! So, that proves you can enjoy your Christmas treats and dinners and still loose.

Yesterday (before going shopping) we met up with Christin for lunch and to exchange Christmas presents. Christin as usual really spoilt me! She got me a HUGE pack of Sharpie markers in all kinds of cool colours, a dragon calendar, two Ice Dragonlet figurines, dragon earrings, a Celtic cross pendant, floss-a-way bags, a Dragon Dreams Chart, and a fat quarter of 32ct Queen Ann's Lace Joblean. Christin is a huge movie buff so we got her a bunch of DVD's that were on her wish list. I also stitched her a few things.

First you'll remember this recent happy dance, it was perfect for Christin.

Normal is Just A Setting

c2008 Lizzie Kate

Stitched on : 28ct Natural Linen

Stitched with : GAST & WDW

I'm not sure if I'm going to blog or not tomorrow so I wish you all a Happy New Year. My next post will be my year in review and my outlook for 2009!

Fob-o-Rama

Its been a slow couple of stitching days. Between three days of family dinners (oh weigh in on Tuesday may be scary!) and not quite being in a stitching mood not much has gotten done.

I did do the finishing on the fob I stitched a few days ago. I'm very happy with how it turned out.


Then today I decided to stitch another one! I think its due to working on such a huge project like Paradigm for so many hours at a time that I feel the need to break it up with smaller pieces. I'll do the finishing on this one tomorrow.

Celtic Hearts

Stitcher's World

Stitched on : 28ct Platinun Lugana

Stitched with : DMC cotton & Kreinik #4 Braid

Post Christmas Post

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Mine has been nice, not spectacular but nice.

Mine started with a nice morning out with Todd on Christmas Eve. We had to run into town to pick up a few last minute things, it turned into an all morning trip! We stopped into about 5 different stores (If I had gone on my own it would of been one), I can't really complain since in one of those shops I got a nice down vest (size... small!) for 50% off... 35$ can't beat that! At this same shop Todd bought me a pair or proper winter boots, not the dressy/leather things I wear from house to car/car to work. I don't think my toes will get so cold they hurt in these boots! We also went out for breakfast to our favourite spot (yes Kathy, I really enjoyed the Breakfast wrap!). Todd must of really been feeling the Christmas spirit because he left the girl a tip that was equivalent to 50% of our bill.

Once we got home I set to cleaning the house, since my parents were coming over for dinner. It took me about 2.5 hours (you know one of those get down and clean everything even the baseboard cleans!). Just as I was wrapping up my Mum called and wanted to cancel dinner because of the impending freezing rain they were predicting. So instead they are now coming over tonight. At least I don't have to clean the house today.

So on Christmas Eve I set to stitching. I didn't really feel like working on Paradigm Lost after working on it solidly for quite a few days. So I pulled out a little freebie I had started a few days ago. I managed to finish it yesterday on Christmas Day. Its now finished into a little scissor fob, minus the cording I need to make and attach today.

Love - Freebie

c2006 Debbie Draper Designs

Stitched on : Over one on 25ct Potato Lugana

Stitched With : DMC 115

I also found out that one of the many projects I had stitched back in November that I couldn't share has finally show up at its new home! Angela and I did a personal ornament exchange and here's what I stitched for her :

Christmas Labyrinth - Limited Edition Design

c2006 Irene O. Thomas (Camus International)

Stitched on : 28 ct Ivory Lugana

Stitched with : Dinky Dyes Silk & Kreinik #4 Braid

I worked a little bit last night on Paradigm Lost... before the turkey coma hit but not enough to show you.

Christmas Day started out with a nice lie in for me and Todd, we don't have kids so there was no one waking us up at 6am! I got Todd an Xbox and he's been enjoying that. Todd got me camera stuff! He got me a kit with a camera bag, 2nd battery, battery grip, and UV filter. He also got me a 5 in 1 card reader and a macro lens! Wahootie! I can now do some great closeups of my stitching! (the freebie was photographed with this)


Here's a great close-up I took of Hunter, I'm still getting used to the lens and what I can and can't do.

So Christmas Day we spent in our usual fashion, I was stitching (on that Love Freebie), and Todd played video games. In the afternoon I did a 5K run on the treadmill to try and battle the upcoming turkey at Todd's parents! Or evening was spent at his parents with gifts (I got a a gift card for some badly needed new clothes) eating turkey, stuffing (homemade, my downfall), veggies, mashed potatoes, and cherry or pumpkin pie (a small piece of Cherry for me please!). I have to say it was not too long after I sucummed to the Turkey coma! I was in bed by 9:30pm!

Today I'm going to settle in, stitch and this evening, making a nice dinner for my parents (and more presents!).



Here's another cutie of Hunter I took this a few days ago he was just looking so warm and cozy!

More Paradigm and the Scale

I got to spend Tuesday exactly how I planned (can you tell I'm a night owl as my posts when I'm not working are well after 12 am!), I got the tree up and decorated, gifts wrapped under the tree, stitches, and went to Weight Watchers. I know, it doesn't sound like a very exciting day for most people, but for someone like me who is often very busy its heaven!

First up I wanted to share this picture with you. The computer was shut down, I was getting ready for bed when I went into the washroom to find this... Cuddles and Hunter sleeping in very close proximity. This doesn't happen very often, the boys tend to tolerate each other and like most sibling they very easily annoy each other.

This entry is just full of cat antics today! It wasn't long after I had the tree assembled, I was about to start "fluffing" the tree when the next thing I knew... there was a pair of yellow eyes staring out at me!

So here's my progress on Paradigm Lost. I finished the good sized motif I was working on before bed last night. Also added in another snowflake, heart and crown, an elephant and the letter d. I've started on another small sized motif a star which I should be able to finish up in a reasonable amount of time. Then its onto another HUGE and densely stitched motif!

This morning I made a copy of the picture for Paradigm Lost so I could cross motifs out as I stitch them. It really helps to put the project in perspective.

I'm not sure exactly how much stitching I'm going to get done on Christmas Eve. I need to go pick up a few last minute groceries, and put gas in the car. Then I need to clean the house, as my parents should be coming over for dinner. Of course this is weather permitting, once again we've got some nasty stuff coming! 5-10cm of snow, then changing to freezing rain and ice pellets then to rain and back to freezing rain! A real mess! If the roads aren't in good shape we've already agreed to postpone dinner to Boxing Day.

I got a pleasant surprise at the scale tonight, I'm down 2lbs... and at Christmas time! I'm sure all the exercise helped. Which means I should hop on the treadmill tomorrow time and energy permitting. Over the next 3 days I've got three meals to deal with! First Christmas Eve, which I'm making and its totally friendly, Christmas Day with Todd's family, the Boxing Day at my Parents ( I'm not too worried about this since my Dad has been watching his weight for years and my Mum's meals are always prepared in the friendliest yet tasty manner). Also I told everyone, no big assed Toblerone bars this year please!!!

Thank You Secret Santa (Stitcher)

I got a bit of a surprise/shock today when I found a wonderful gift waiting for me in my inbox! Someone out there in blogdom has been kind and generous enough to gift me with a $25.00 gift card for eHandcrafts! I'd like to share with you my Secret Stitcher's lovely words :

Wishing you and your family the joy and happiness of the season and more of the
same in the coming New Year.

Merry Christmas to a wonderful stitcher and blogging friend,
From Santa

So to whomever you are, thank you so much! I haven't made my selections yet... but when I have I will be sure to share with all of you. You really brightened up my day and my mood, and faith in the Season. I think tomorrow I will put up my tree and think of you while I put each stitched ornament on it.

I had a lovely, peaceful day at home by myself today. Also, it was a little too cold to go out! So I planted myself in my favourite stitching chair, watched episodes of Star Trek : The Next Generation all day (see I'm a geek!) and worked on Paradigm Lost. I'm still plugging away at page 4 but the end is in sight. Its taken me all day to get near the end of this good-sized motif. I'll have to measure it tomorrow and tell you how bit it is, but nowhere near as bit as the 6" one! Tomorrow I can look forward to starting page 5 (out of 12).

Also tomorrow is ... Tuesday! Argh, the dreaded weigh in day! I've managed to be active the last three days, so I'm hoping this will counter-balance the few treats I've had this past week. On Saturday I did a 5K run, Sunday I spent an hour shovelling the driveway with Todd, and tonight I went to Taekwon-Do and got a nice little sweat going.

See you tomorrow (actually I should say today since its well after midnight)!

Paradigming Away

My holidays are progressing nicely, just as I had planned. Lots of stitching time! Yesterday I quickly realized that I wasn't going to get anywhere on Todd's stocking in time for Christmas, so I've now decided to focus on Paradigm Lost, actually I'm kinda addicted to it. I started page 4 on Friday and I've been plugging away on it since. I've added the motif below the letter b, the letters g and s, two snowflakes, a butterfly, a small diamond, and the oak branch. The Oak branch actually spilled over into page 7 (I actually quite like this motif), the motif I'm working on now is a good size and actually 3/4 of it is also on page 7 so you can almost say I'm done page 4. I like to complete motifs before moving onto the next page.

I don't have much planned for my first week day of holidays. I will of course work on Paradigm Lost some more. Also there's the last Taekwon-Do class for 2008 so I'll go to that, we don't resume classes until January 5th. Oh, and there's catching up on blogs! Other than that I have no concrete plans, and that's pretty much how my entire Christmas holiday is laid out.

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!

All The Way Around

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments on my weekend's ornamentifying! When I wasn't busy finishing, or doing stuff I was stitching on Paradigm Lost. I've made it all the way around my current big a$$ motif! I've not got some stuff to stitch up inside it... did you know this motif measures 6 inches across on 32 ct????

Tomorrow is weigh in day... we'll see how we did, its getting a little harder to resist all the goodies! I tell you its the last week of work before we start our holidays, and whamo! The office was full of cookies and chocolate! Oh its hard!

Ornamentificaton ... Part Deux

Well with a frenzy of ornament stitching, comes another day-long session of ornamentification. Unfortunately this time, not done with friends! Oh it was no where near as fun without my ornament buddy Ann! Of course Hunter did help for a little bit before taking a nap in my fabric basket!

Here's the fabrics I picked to go on the back of each ornament.

Here a the fruits of my day's labour (yes it really did take all day!).

Damask A

Damask B

Damask C

Damask D

Candy Cane Dragonlet

Ivy of Holly & Ivy

Boule De Noel

Red Noel

And finally, here's this year's batch of ornaments!

More Paradigm

The last two evenings have been fairly busy ones, so I've not kitted up any more ornaments at this point. Boy I'm going to have a bit of ornamentifying to do this weekend, tick-tock Christmas is getting closer! So when I've found a few lonely hours to stitch, I've worked on Paradigm Lost. I'm almost half way through my current motif.

Last night, I was a good girl, and I did exactly what I said I'd do. I went to Weight Watchers and got the information on the "new improved" program (now called Momentum). My weigh in was a good one, down 1.5 lbs I am now under 20 lbs from goal! Wow, I can't believe that my goal weight is actually coming into focus! When I started this journey back in March I never thought I'd actually get this far. Its amazing what a little perseverance can do! I followed my WW meeting with a class at Taekwon-Do, boy I really do enjoy being back!

The Weather Sucks!

Well this morning we woke up to snow, which slowed down my drive to work. Due to the fact that it had been snowing all day and there was a threat of freezing rain mixed in with snow this evening I decided to head straight home after work. So I didn't make it into tonight's Weight Watchers meeting. Luckily there's another meeting in this area tomorrow, so I'll be doing that tomorrow evening. I think I'll follow that up with a Taekwon-Do class since I won't be making it to the gym like I planned.

So this evening I was able to settle in and stitch (best thing to do during a snow storm) and started yet another ornament. Again, it was something not too complicated that stitched up in an evening.

Boule De Sapin

Cute Mermaid Designs

Gift of Stitching November 2008

Stitched on : mystery linen

Stitched with : DMC 4210

For Kathy

My dear friend Kathy has been on my case... every time we chat on Skype (she's currently in the Southwest and I'm freezing my butt off in Canada... btw Skype is the coolest thing ever!) she asks me how Paradigm Lost is coming along. I don't know why I just haven't had the urge to pick up this piece, because it is quite enjoyable to stitch. Tonight I did pull it out, I got one and a half sections done on the big motif I'm working on.

I think I could use 2-3 more ornaments, so tomorrow after Weight Watchers I'll pick out another ornament to start.