Random Stitching Ramblings

Finished LK Acorn Scissor Case

2012-08-26T17:21:00.003-05:00

A finish...finally. This one looks like it should have been a quick stitch. It was...until I got to the over one section. I can't see those tiny stitches anymore...so there it sat for a few years. I pulled this out this afternoon and plodded through what was needed to finish. This is Lizzie Kate's Acorn Scissor Case.

Evening Star Finished!

2012-06-10T20:23:00.001-05:00

I have officially doubled the number of finishes I had last year, and it's only June...LOL :)

This is "Evening Star" by From Nancy's Needle. I started this back in December while on Christmas break, but haven't had a chance to work on it much again until recently. If I get my act together, I may be able to get it framed in time to enter it in the county fair.

Needle & I in Rockford has been one of my favorite places to stop when I have to travel that way. I always try to make it a goal to finish anything that I have purchased from a previous trip before I stop and buy more. It was so convenient to get the FNN charts all kitted up. I stopped there in late April when on the way to a GF weekend to the Wisconsin Dells. I was already planning on buying several things, and then we were told that everything was on sale. Yippee! We were even asked to sign up for the mailing list, which we did. Little did I know it would be my last visit there. A day or two after I got home from that trip, I got an e-mail saying that they were closing due to retirement. I'm glad we stopped, and I'm very well stocked up on FNN kits.

Other than that...things have been hectic. Work is very busy, which is good. We have seen a few very cool concerts, and have camped a few nights. Other than that, it has just been keeping up with the mundane everyday stuff. Stitching time has been at a premium, but I'm trying to make a better attempt at trying to at least do *something* on a regular basis. Hopefully the next finish won't be too far around the corner!

First Finish of the Year!

2012-04-21T17:16:00.000-05:00

I have a finish!! I started this piece several years ago, but frogging it took the wind out of my sails. I took it along on our ski trip to Colorado two weeks ago, and made good progress on it one day when I stayed at the condo rather than skiing. I ran out of a couple of the threads (due to the frogging incident that had occurred previously). I picked it up again this morning, and hoped for the best in finding enough thread around the house to wrap it up. I had purchased the charm, threads, and fabric from an ONS and the threads were not whole skeins. I don't have a big stash of Crescent Colors, so I was glad that the DMC conversion for the blue was a close match, and I was able to steal a bit of one of the greens from another project that I have going. It is now finished! I think that I will finish it as a long, skinny, pillow but will need to find the perfect fabric.

This is "Scatter Sunshine" by Shepherd's Bush, which was a freebie.

I have been plugging along on a couple of other pieces, but am not sure I have made enough progress to post pics. It has been quite a while since I have posted any pictures of some of them, so may work on posting some pictures of where I am at.

Other than that, it is shaping up to be another busy year. Work is busy (that is good!), and I have been traveling a bit for work. We took the ski trip to Colorado, which was a lot of fun. My new boots really helped to keep my legs from hurting...although it certainly didn't help that it has been 2 years since I skiied last. We have 3 concerts under our belts so far this year, and the summer season is looking like a busy one. We're looking forward to getting the camper out of storage and ready to go camping soon. Oh...and of course, the work in the yard is never ending!

That's all for now :)

O Beautiful Update

2012-03-04T09:24:00.004-06:00

Since I started this project on January 1st, I have been slowly making progress. The center band, which is the most labor intensive section, is now done! Here is a picture of "O Beautiful" as of today:

2011 in Review and a New Start

2012-01-02T20:11:00.001-06:00

Honestly, I have no clue where the year went. It has been a total blur. Looking back, here are the highlights:

* Stitching finishes - 1 - Happy Haunting in January
* States visited for fun - 12 - Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Florida...and of course, Illinois
* States visited for work - 2 - North Dakota and Indiana
* Countries visited - 2 - Jamaica and Cayman Islands
* Nights camping in the camper - 19 - all of them very close to home
* Nights camping in a tent - 4 - all in Washington
* Concerts attended - 12 (although 6 of them were related to one event and three for another) More details here.
* Major accomplishment - HUGE project at work

Sounds like a whole lotta fun with not much else, doesn't it? The truth is that work was exceptionally demanding this year, and I am wiped out by the end of the day and wanting to *totally* escape on the weekends and days off.

I did make a new start yesterday for the new year. I have been wanting the Shepherd's Bush America kit for some time. I haven't been able to justify buying it with so much else waiting in the wings. I found a great deal on it in the past couple of weeks, and it arrived in time to make a start on New Year's Day! Here's where I am at right now...

Yep. Two days...lots of green. But this is the most labor intensive part of this piece, so it really doesn't look that bad overall. My goal is to have it done by the end of the year. Keep me honest with this...peer pressure works!

Crazy Stuff Going on Here

2011-12-25T17:15:00.000-06:00

Something crazy has been going on at my house!!

I have been off of work since Wednesday, and don't have to go back until the new year. I have caught up on everything that has been neglected, and can actually do some **fun** stuff!!

I am almost halfway done with Evening Star...

I finished a bracelet that I had given up on earlier this year. Evening Elegance Bracelet from The Bead Studio...

I made some chainmaille earrings. The pair on the left is completely finished. Not sure if I want to leave the one on the right as is and make another one like it, or just split it up and make a pair of single flowers.

The 4th & Final Sail

2011-11-20T20:43:00.003-06:00

OK...seems I don't have much to post about lately unless it is vacation :) Not much exciting going on other than that but WORK...which is necessary to fund these things! Here are all of the gory details on that latest adventure :)

Day 1 Friday, November 4, 2011 - Chicago MDW to Miami

My sissy...partner in crime for the week, drove to my house on Thursday. I worked late trying to get everything in line for when I would be unavailable by cell phone or e-mail. We spent several hours frantically trying to pack our suitcases to get ready for the big trip. Luckily we still wear the same size clothes and shoes, so there was a lot of swapping going on. Keep in mind that sissy & I hadn't been on a trip alone together since 1998 (my first trip on an airplane and we tore up Cancun!). On Friday morning, we headed off to my Sweetie's workplace, to park the car and he took us to the airport. We had a connecting flight in St. Louis, and that all worked smoothly. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as scheduled. We took a shuttle to our hotel, Mimai Intercontinental, and that went as planned. We had the evening to spend in Miami, so went wandering through Bayside and had dinner at the Hard Rock there. Once back to our room, we spend a half hour trying to figure out how the heck to shut the shades on the window. Turned out there was a switch near the bed that opened / closed it. Who knew?!?!?

Day 2 Saturday, November 5, 2011 - Bording Carnival Destiny

We got up way too early. Went to CVS to get some soda and other supplies for the trip. I kept setting off the alarm at the entrance and couldn't figure out why (turned out to be a "soft" security tag in my Vera Wang crop pants from Kohl's that was SEWN INTO THE KNEE...who would have thought to look there???) Although we could see the port from the hotel, we took a taxi there. We wound up going waaaaay too early, but it worked out great. The check-in process has been streamlined since my last cruise, and I was grateful for that. We were assigned to the first boarding group and had a chance to relax and watch all the celebs roll in to the VIP check-in. Joining us this year were Doug Davidson, Mark Goodman, Jack Wagner, and Zoot. My sis was all excited to see them roll in one by one. She didn't realize just how much we would be seeing all of them over the next several days. The one that created quite a buzz was Jack, since he walked in with a young, dark haired mystery girl.

We were allowed to board the ship shortly after 11:00 AM. Our cabin was not ready yet, so we headed straight to the buffet. After lunch, we went to check in with the travel coordinator and collect our wristbands and other event information. I gave sis a tour of the ship, and we headed to our room as soon as it was ready. We were very eager to see who our neighbors would be. We had an inside cabin directly across the hall from the grand suites. For the past three years, you-know-who was in one of the suites on that side of the ship...and at least one of the years it was the one directly across the hall from the cabin we had been assigned to this year. Turns out that this year they were all on the odd side of the ship. I guess that was a good thing after all, since it kept the hub-bub away from us.

We started decorating our door as soon as we got to the room. There was a contest, and we really wanted to win! This little project consumed a lot of my time during the weeks leading up to the trip, and my sweetie was glad when that was finally finished.

We wrapped up the decorating ordeal just before it was time to head down to the mandatory muster drill. Then we went up to the top deck to have a pina colada while the ship set sail. It was very windy up there. I was standing slightly behind my sis, and the umbrella from her drink took flight...and I got pegged with the flying pineapple skewer. Luckily the drink was okay, and it didn't make too much of a mess on me!

After that, we had to head off to the Welcome Aboard Concert. I was one of 50 people that was selected to video tape the concert and submit the footage for possible inclusion in the cruise recap video. It was a bit different watching the show from behind a video camera.

After the concert, we went back to the room to see if our bags had arrived yet. Luckily, they were all there! Then it was off to dinner in the dining room. That was a seriously long and drawn out process, but the food was good. After dinner, we had the Welcome Cocktail Party. We staked a claim near where the waiters were running back and forth with trays of drinks...so we had no trouble drinking our share of mystery tropical drinks. About halfway through the party, my sis spied Rick coming into the party. His entourage started clearing a path right in front of us. He is usually followed by a swarm at the cocktail parties, so I have never gotten a picture with him at one in the past. He stopped and took a picture with one person, and then I realized he was heading right for us. I put out my arm and threw my camera to someone...Rick gave me a hug and I got an awesome picture! It was KARMA :)

Sis was beside herself after this. Starstruck and fueled by rum punch, she wanted to go get pics with the others that were there. We found Doug, and he was so nice. He gave sis a kiss on top of the head after they took a picture. I didn't catch that on film, so he gave her another smooch...the look on her face is priceless!

After the cocktail party, we were treated to a showing of "Affair of the Heart". This was only the second time that the documentary was shown to an audience, and it was great to see the end result of all of the filming that had gone on during the past year. I was at three events last year that were filmed...the concert in Joliet, the Naperville book signing, and the 2010 cruise...so it brought back a lot of memories.

By the time the film ended, it was well after midnight...time to sleep!

Day 3 Sunday, November 6, 2011 - Fun Day at Sea

On Sunday morning, we attended the Yellow Rick Road VIP event. It was a nice gathering, and everyone left with a prize. Luckily, we weren't scheduled for pictures that day, so we didn't have anything else that we had to do until 3:00 PM. The event started with "Meet Zoot". Zoot was a band that Rick was in back in Australia in the late 1960s / early 1970s. They had not played together in 40 years, but were reuniting for the cruise. A few weeks before the cruise, all attendees had the opportunity to submit questions for this session. Sis was all excited when Mark Goodman read her question. A few questions later, he read mine! It was very cool to listen to all of the guys answer our questions at great length.

Immediately following the Q&A session was the Jack Wagner concert. I had loved him back in the 80's on General Hospital as Frisco Jones, and did like the few songs that he did back then. It was going to be interesting to hear what he was doing now. There was lots of gyrating and the music was okay. Near the end of the show, Jack told a story about how his life had dramatically changed two days before. He said that 23 years ago, someone that he had a fling with called him and said she had just had a baby girl...it was his...and she was putting the baby up for adoption. Then on Thursday night (less than 24 hours before the cruise started) Jack and Rick did a concert in Boca Raton. The long lost daughter found him and showed up at security with a picture of her mother. On Friday morning she's on the cruise with him. It was an engaging story, but a lot of it didn't make much sense...especially as the week went on. Even more interesting that Jack and Heather broke up less than a week after we got back.

After that drama, we hurried back to the room to get dressed up for dinner. It was the Captain's Dinner, so that meant fancy clothes and LOBSTER! I did run down to Jack's CD signing before dinner. The line was terribly long, so I was glad that I got ready beforehand.

Sis and I posed for several formal pics, and they actually turned out very good. After dinner, it was back to the room for another costume change to get ready for the Lido Deck Concert. This one was all Beatles songs, and Rick was joined by the Zoot guys for much of the concert. After that, we wandered down to the piano bar for a while, but no Rick.

Day 4 Monday, November 7, 2011 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Our shore excursion for the day was a beach party at Margaritaville in Ocho Rios. We got up early so that we could watch the ship pull into port, and to get out and do a bit of shopping before the party.

I was NOT impressed with Jamaica. Then again, we didn't wander too far off of the beaten path. As soon as we got out of the cruise terminal, we were bombarded by people offering tours, taxis, and braids. Very annoying. We walked quickly to the shopping mall where Margaritaville was. There was a very cool statue of Bob Marley in the center of the mall.

Finally, it was time to start the beach party!

It was a lot of fun. The drinks were incredible, and the food was pretty good. It was great to see Rick and all of the guys having so much fun on stage. If someone would have told us back in the 80s that we would be partying on a beach in Jamaica with Noah Drake, Frisco Jones, and Mark Goodman...well, we would not have believed it.

Once we got back to the ship, we hurried off to Actor's Q&A with Rick, Jack, and Doug. Mark was the moderator.

That rolled right into the most insane part of the cruise...Whose Line Can It Be? So much craziness!

We were pretty much wiped out after all of that, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the buffet instead of enduring the drawn out dining room. The intent was to take a nap and get up to see what else was happening...but we didn't wake up until morning. I think that we missed the piano bar action that night.

Day 5 Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - Grand Cayman

This was another place that I had never visited before. We decided to pass on shore excursions and just do a bit of shopping. Grand Cayman is a tender port, so we had to take a little boat to the shore. Since I had done that before, I really didn't have a problem with that.

I had heard that black coral was a big deal there, so I was hunting for that. I did find a black coral pendant while we were there. We stumbled upon an awesome jewelry store called Silver & Stones. Sis and I both rolled out of there with some new jewels. We also picked up presents for everyone at home. We headed back to the ship about an hour before we had to be back...just to skip the crowd.

Once we were back on the ship, it was time to head off to the Zoot concert. I had one of their albums, and had spent a lot of time listening to it in anticipation of this concert. It really is groovy stuff that sticks in your head, and my favorite is their version of Eleanor Rigby. The guys really seemed to be having a lot of fun. Rick commented several times that all he ever wanted to do was be in a band. It was so cool to see him really rocking lead guitar rather than playing rhythm like he usually does. There are rumors that they may be doing a tour in Australia and maybe a few dates in the US. It was a much better show that I ever would have expected!

We drew the short straw on this trip, and were assigned the only late night photo shoot...and it started at 10:45 PM. Based on past experience, I knew it could take up to three hours to get through everyone in line. We opted to skip the dining room again, and lined up for pictures early. We would up about 20th in line, which was great. The whole thing started about a half hour late because Jack was late. It was finally our turn, and we made our way through all of the stations. First up was Mark...who is always so nice.

Then it was the Zoot guys (minus Rick)...

Then Doug...

And Jack...

Last up was Rick. Rick was wearing a kilt, which I heard he had also worn to dinner that night. He had gotten it the year before from some Scottish guys who had been on the first cruise by accident and have come back every year because they had so much fun. They had dared some cruiser to give it to Rick for the final concert last year and promised something if Rick actually wore it during the show. So anyway, he obviously still has the costume! He told me that my necklace was cool. I got a big hug and a smile. Surprisingly, all of the pics weren't too bad considering how much fun everyone had obviously had that day.

After pictures, we wandered to the Onyx Room to see if anything was going on. They had an area roped off and the piano / microphones set up, so it looked like something was going on there that night. Pictures got done late, and around 3 AM they announced that Rick was too tired to play any more that night. Time for nighty-night!

Day 6 Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - Fun Day at Sea

Thank goodness we didn't have any scheduled events until 3:30 this day! Another benefit of having an inside cabin is that you don't have any daylight streaming in the window (because there isn't one). We did manage to get up at a fairly reasonable hour, but really didn't do much all day. At 3:30, we headed off to the Fan Appreciation Concert. This was originally supposed to be the entire Living in Oz album, but at some point before the cruise they decided to do Venus in Overdrive instead. It was a very good show, and there are many songs that I had never heard him do before...and for good reason. There are many that are very emotional for him to sing, and it was very obvious. The final song was Wild Thing, with everyone out on stage.

Following the concert, it was the Farewell Cocktail Party. Already??? Nothing exciting happened there, but we had our fair share of cocktails and had fun hanging out with our new friends.

We had decided that we would skip dinner and go to the Onyx Room for karaoke. Since that was on the schedule, we figured that there wouldn't be anything else going on there that night. Sis was a bit apprehensive about getting up and singing but after we did Jessie's Girl, I couldn't stop her. She ran up and sang Pokerface by Lady Gaga without the help of lyrics, and we also did 867-5309. I left to go to the bathroom, and when I came back it was obvious that something big was going down that night. The place had filled up, the karoake lady had put a stop to requests, and they were roping off areas. We had a front and center seat! They did end up putting a row of seats in front of us for the VIPs, which was okay. Rick actually did show up that night...yippee!

A great pic of Rick with his wife, Barbie, in the foreground while singing Written in Rock...

Jack and his daughter...

By the end of the show, most everyone was up on stage.

Day 7 Thursday, November 10, 2011 - Miami and Back Home

By the time we woke up at 6 AM on Thursday, we were already back in Miami. It took several hours before we could get off of the ship, and then we headed back to Ft. Lauderdale for a several hour wait for our flight. Once we were back in Chicago, we had to take a taxi from Midway to where we had left the car. That was a serious trip...and the cab driver obviously had no clue where he was going so it was a good thing that we did.

Overall, it was an incredibly fun time. It was the 4th and final cruise. I'm sad to see the run come to an end, but there are more events planned for the future. Next year it is Club Med, but I had already made plans for my vacation knowing that there wouldn't be any more cruises. We'll let them work the bugs out of that next year, and will see what's in store for 2013!

Great American Road Trip - Part III

2011-09-19T20:40:00.000-05:00

Alright...I'll torment you with one more :)

Day 10: Monday, September 5th - George, Washington to Pendleton, Oregon
After an awesome weekend at The Gorge, it was time to make our way home. We packed up and were on the road around 10AM. We drove through Washington, and saw Mt. Ranier in the distance.

Since we were on a tight timeline, we didn't stop. The intent was to drive along the Columbia River on the Oregon side, but we weren't feeling like it. We wound up stopping in Pendleton, Oregon and spent the afternoon doing laundry. We did check out the Wildhorse Casino for a little bit before resting up for the night.

Day 11: Tuesday, September 6th - Pendleton, Oregon to Irwin, Idaho
We needed to cover a lot of ground. The goal was to be close to Grand Teton / Yellowstone by the end of the day. It was a long day of driving, and Internet service wasn't that great along the way. We would up in a tiny town in Idaho, and stumbled on the Palisades RV Park & Cabins while looking for another place that had cabins. This place looked cute, so we stopped. The price was right, and it worked out great. I wish that I would have taken a picture, because the cabin was so cute. We had a great night sitting on the porch and listening to the silence :)

Day 12: Wednesday, September 7th - Irwin, Idaho to West Yellowstone, Montana
We got up bright and early, and headed to Jackson, Wyoming. Although the card on my camera holds over 600 pictures, I was getting dangerously close to filling it up. We made a quick stop to get a spare card. The next stop was Grand Teton National Park. We drove the outer loop and stopped numerous times to take pictures. We also had lunch at the Pioneer Grill in the Jackson Lake Lodge...very good!

We headed north out of the park towards Yellowstone National Park.
We quickly realized how huge that place was, and that we had not allowed enough time to fully enjoy it.

After several unsuccessful attempts to find lodging inside the park, we wound up in West Yellowstone, Montana. Most of the hotels there were full as well, and we were about ready to go to a RV park and sleep in the car. We finally found a place that had a room, and got a tip to go to Wild West Pizza. Yummy stuff!

Day 13: Thursday, September 8th - West Yellowstone, Montana to Riverton, Wyoming
Another bright and early day. We headed back to Yellowstone National Park to try to cover as much ground as possible by noon. We also knew that wildlife would be active before the heat of the day rolled around, so were hoping for some great sightings. We never imagined what we would be in for!

We left Yellowstone mid-day, and headed south through Wyoming. In order to entertain ourselves at night, we picked Riverton as the destination. Most of the part of Wyoming we were driving through was high desert, with lots of sagebrush. We got a big surprise when we rolled through the Wind River Canyon. Absolutely beautiful! At this point, we were still over 1000 miles from home!

Day 14: Friday, September 9th - Riverton, Wyoming to Council Bluffs, Iowa
We had a lot of ground to cover, so were up by 5AM. I was grumpy about that, but all was good when we got to see an incredible sunrise.

We also checked out the main Sierra Trading post store in Cheyenne. I bought a really cool bag that I will use in place of a purse when flying. It is a good thing that the speed limit is 75 through most of Wyoming and Nebraska, and there isn't much traffic. It was a good feeling to be in the state next to home by the end of the day. We checked out Harrah's for a while before calling it a day.

Day 15: Saturday, September 10th - Council Bluffs, Iowa to Illinois
We had a leisurely day driving the remaining 450 miles, and made it home by 6PM. We were glad to be home, but had an awesome trip!

Great American Road Trip - Part II

2011-09-18T20:32:00.001-05:00

After over 2000 miles, our destination was in sight! Last year, DMB announced that after 20 years of extensive touring, they would be taking the year off...well, kinda. Instead, they would be doing 4 different 3 day festivals. OK. Chicago was announced as a stop back in March or April of this year. It was going to be held in the ghetto south side of Chicago, on a site where nothing had been going on since the steel mill shut down 30 years ago. No thanks! We didn't go. The Gorge in Washington was announced shortly thereafter, and that's when this craziness began. It is one of the band's favorite places to play, and we have watched the DVD numerous times. The Gorge has been our wish list of places to see a concert for a long time. On a whim, we bought a camping pass and requested tickets through the fan club. Both efforts were successful, which were what brought us here today.

The original plan was to drive to Washington and do this epic road trip. Since we both commute so far, we have a fleet of 4 vehicles. 1 workhorse each, and one backup each. As fate would have it, the Subaru blew up one night about 2 weeks before the trip. That was one of the two top runners for the transport vehicle. The next morning, the Dakota had trouble. That was the runner-up for transportation vehicle. I yelled at my sweetie, and refused to take a 2 week trip in any of the vehicles we owned. Meanwhile, we booked airfare for the trip as a back-up plan, but realized we wouldn't be able to see as much of this great country as originally planned. My sweetie also got busy shopping for a new vehicle, and we wound up with one that saved the day!

Day 6 - Thursday, September 1st - Spokane, Washington to George, Washington

Our goal was to be at the campground by noon-ish when it opened. We ponied up for terrace camping, which turned out to be a great deal. A bit pricey for camping, but it paid off over and over. We stopped at the Walmart in Moses Lake to buy supplies. We were in the checkout line when I decided that I wanted to shop for a sweatshirt and some warmer socks. Thank goodness I did (more about that later). We finally got close around 1:30 or so.

We had to roll through the "general camping" section where tents were packed in like sardines, and then the "premiere camping" section. We finally arrived at terrace, and got a look at our view :)

We had been warned about the winds, and it was definitely windy when we got to the campsite. I was a bit apprehensive about the whole tent camping thing, since I had not camped in a tent since college over 20 years ago. My sweetie had a tent, and we decided to put it up for a test run a month or so before the trip. Good thing, because it had been in the attic for over 20 years and smelled like rotten parmesean cheese. We wound up buying a new one, and were challenged with putting that up in the wind.

We were successful, and then our neighbors started rolling in. We helped them put up their tents as well. Funny the way it is...as soon as we got through all of that drama, the wind died down and wasn't a problem for the rest of the weekend!

Day 7 - Friday, September 2nd - George, Washington

This was the view of the sunrise the first morning...

One of the perks of terrace camping...coffee and pastries in the morning (fabulous!!)

Bands started around noon or one each day. There was nobody other than DMB that we wanted to see the first day, so just hung out at camp. It was great not having anywhere to drive to for three more days!

We lived out of the back of the Tahoe for 2 weeks, and it didn't really get much messier than this. Quite an amazing feat!

Another of the many perks of being in terrace camping was a shuttle to the show. This worked out great! We hopped on, and away we went. The show was GA, which (at our ages) is not so cool. We made our way down to the blacktop area, and actually had a lot of room to move around. Absolutely a fabulous night!

Day 8 - Saturday, September 3rd - George, Washington

Looking oh so glamourous...we posed for a picture :) There were quite a few RVs that rolled in overnight to wreck our view, but it was all cool.

Night 2 was definitely the best of the weekend. Unfortunately, we were up close with the "glow stick people". There was underage drinking going on and one dude was so messed up that he kept tipping over. Wish I would have had the camera, because after they got done with the "Weekend at Bernie's" thing, he tipped over and the wound up putting glow sticks around him so nobody would step on him. The highlight of the weekend happened this night...what we had hoped for...Warren Haynes showing up to do "Cortez the Killer"!

DMB with Warren Haynes - "Cortez The Killer" from Filament Productions on Vimeo

Day 9 - Sunday, September 4th - George, Washington

The last day, we took the camera with us to get a few shots of the venue.

You can see our little tent in the craziness of this all from the venue...2nd row.

There were over 10,000 people camping this weekend!

One of the cool things that happened on N3 was the glow stick snake. It passed right by us (and fell apart a few times). But, Dave noticed it and said something about what we could all do if we worked together. This thing was one endless glowstick chain that had started up on the lawn and made it down to the stage.

Awesome, awesome, awesome weekend! We met so many new friends that had traveled so far as well. It was surprisingly HOT and dry during the day (90+) but so cool during the night. I was so glad that I had bought the extra socks to keep warm at night!

Now we are 2/3 of the way through the trip...more cool stuff to come!

Great American Road Trip - Part I

2011-09-12T21:51:00.001-05:00

I have never taken two weeks of vacation at one time...until now. My sweetie refuses to go on a trip to any other country until we finish seeing the one that we live in. We got a crazy idea a few months ago, and made it a reality. What an awesome time! Over 4600 miles over 10 states in 15 days.

Day 1: Saturday, August 27th - Illinois to Mitchell, South Dakota
We left home bright and early, and traveled over 700 miles through Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. Our stopping point was Mitchell, South Dakota. This place is known for the "Corn Palace", so we had to go and see that. Luckily, it was a festival weekend, and they had a carnival, food, and booths in the street. Very fun!

Day 2: Sunday, August 28th - Mitchell, South Dakota to Deadwood, South Dakota
A more leisurely day compared to the first! We stopped off at 1800s Town, which was a bit crusty...but had a lot of props from the Dances with Wolves movie.

We also rolled through the Badlands National Park. We got an annual NP pass in order to see and enjoy as many of these special places as we could.

After that, it was off to Wall Drug. It was along the way, so we definitely had to stop.

We also headed over to Mount Rushmore National Monument. We took the time to walk the path to get a close view of the monument, and it was well worth the effort!

We stayed in Deadwood for the night and did a bit of gambling. We were almost ready to head back for the night when I hit a $500 jackpot on a quarter machine :)

Day 3: Monday, August 29th - Deadwood, South Dakota to Billings, Montana
We couldn't leave Deadwood without going to Mount Moriah Cemetery to see Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. It was amazing how steep the hill to the cemetery was. It was raining, so the pictures didn't turn out very good.

After that, we headed over to Sturgis. Home of the famous motorcycle rally, it was pretty quiet. We stopped at the Full Throttle Saloon, featured in the TV show. We got to see Emmit (the donkey) and take a look around. That place must be totally crazy during the rally!

We had to drive through a bit of Wyoming to get to Montana. This was the most awesome rest area / travel center I have ever seen!

The next stop was the Little Bighorn National Battlefield...site of Custer's Last Stand. The ranger gave us an awesome history lesson, and we had an incredible stop.

Day 4: Tuesday, August 29th - Billings, Montana to Missoula, Montana
This was also an awesome leg of the trip. We stopped at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. We hung around to take the tour of the main house, which was incredible!

Day 5: Wednesday, August 31st - Missoula, Montana to Spokane, Washington
We had a light travel day this day, and stopped off in Wallace, Idaho to take a tour of a silver mine. The tour was conducted by a retired miner, so it was cool to see all of that.

Another interesting point in that town was the bordello that was actually operational until the 1980s.

So close to our destination (thankfully!), we had a fun evening at Northern Quest Casino close to the hotel.

We're a third of the way through the trip...stay tuned for the rest of the adventure!

A Perfect Fire

2011-08-11T20:47:00.001-05:00

In a previous post, I mentioned that we bought a new camper. We have been trying to go camping every possible weekend, and are thinking about maybe staying a week at a time. We usually go to a place 8 miles from home, but it feels like it is miles away. One of the best things about going camping is making a campfire and sitting back and having a few adult beverages :)

Although I was a Girl Scout back in the day, I was never into having anything to do with making a fire. Then again...I almost got kicked out of high school chemistry class for setting the sulfuric acid on fire. Now, I am all about being the firemaster, and it is ALL MINE!! Bryon likes to use half a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid to get it started, but I won't let him anywhere near it with that anymore (unless, of course, there are challenging weather conditions!)

I have finally perfected the way to make a perfect fire. Part of this is due to one of our camping neighbors last year, who felt sorry for us (going at it with *cough* the lighter fluid). The key is a lint bomb. Yep, as in dryer lint. More about that in a minute.

Anyway, the way that I do it is to put a log flat on the ground. On top of that, I put a little pile of sticks that I have gathered from the yard. Bryon thought I was nuts, but I started picking up sticks around the yard, cutting them up in chunks about a foot long, and saving them in a little box. Sure beats roaming around the campsite with a flashlight looking for sticks...those are usually wet and / or a bit green. On top of the kindling, I put the lint bomb, and then put three logs in a tripod formation. Then, I'll twist up the newspaper we brought along, and make sure there is a piece of it next to each of the logs in the tripod, as well as touching the kindling.

Now, how to make a lint bomb! As you know, dryer lint is very flammable. Save it. Buy a dozen eggs in a cardboard container. Save the container. Don't you hate it when you burn a fabulous jar candle, and there is still a bunch of wax left in the bottom of the jar when the wick runs out? Wait until it hardens up, use a butter knife to chisel it out, and save it! In the absence of that, we shop at Kohl's and buy whatever clearance candles / tarts they have on clearance whenever we get a 30% off coupon. Now you have all of the necessary ingredients!

Cut the lid off of the egg carton, and fill it up with dryer lint.

Get some newspaper to protect your counter, and put the egg carton on top of it. Take an old sauce pan (we got one at an estate sale for 50 cents) and a tin can (the kind that have a pull tab lid are best, but any will do. Fill the pan halfway with water, and then float the can in it. Fill the can about a third full with wax. Light the stove, and boil the water until the wax is melted.

Use a pair of tongs to lift the can of wax out of the pan, and pour the wax over the dryer lint in the egg carton, making sure it is saturated.

Let harden overnight, and then cut out the individual cups.

When you light your fire, all you need to do is light the edge of your lint bomb (the cardboard edge of the egg carton). The little cardboard "ears" are the key. The wax slows down the ingnition of the flammable lint to allow everything to heat up enough to get an awesome fire going.

This is the result...

MAGIC!! We have watched our camping neighbors go at it with charcoal fluid, and another group with a huge pile of wood and a flashlight...and not much action. We have paid it forward with a lint bomb, and all was good :)

Sounds crazy, but it works. I'm looking forward to this weekend :)

Lizzie Kate / JBW Weekend

2011-08-07T11:08:00.000-05:00

Time sure flies when you are having fun :) The summer is almost over, and I don't know where it has gone. I wrapped up my big project at work at the end of July. During the week, we have been doing a lot of work in the yard. On weekends, we try to unplug and escape.

This is our new setup, and we have about 14 nights in so far. It is so much easier than the pop-up. We can pack up after work, hit the grocery store, and be all setup and camping within an hour.

The only stitching that I have done recently was the weekend of July 16th. My sis came down for the weekend, and we went to the Tomorrow's Heirlooms weekend with Linda Ebright (Lizzie Kate) and Judy Whitman (JBW Designs). We decided to stay in a hotel for the weekend, which worked out great. Since the hotel was very close to work, I made it there before my sis did. I brought her a present for her birthday. When I got to the room, they had pillows on the bed that said "Sweet Dreams". I thought that it was the perfect place to put her present :)

The event started out on Friday night with a meet & greet. There was a shop set up in the hotel, and they had snacks and drinks for us. I didn't buy much because...well...I haven't been stitching much! After that, we went shopping at Kohl's. Thank goodness they were open until 11 that night, because we shut the place down. Sis and I don't get to go shopping together very often, so we had a lot of fun. On Saturday, Judy taught her class in the morning. It was a design done on a pre-finished stitcher's roll. It is more difficult to stitch that way, but when you are done...you are DONE. For lunch, we went to Portillos. Sis had never been there before, and kept thanking me for taking her there. She didn't even try the cake shake! After lunch, Linda taught her class. Appropriately, it had a friendship theme. Neither of the designs will be released for another year, so no pics of those.

After class, we rushed back to the room and freshened up. My Sweetie drove up and met us. We all went to the most incredible block party / concert hosted by one of our favorite local musicians. It was probably one of the best events I have ever been to :) On Sunday, Sis headed home and Sweetie and I went to IKEA.

All of that was the most exciting thing that has gone on here in a while. I tried stitching a bit again, but the bottom line is I can't see very well. I bought some cheaters, but they only help a little bit. I need to go to the eye doctor and get my eyes checked.

That's all for now. I am going to make a better effort to write more often, but I haven't had anything too exciting to write about!

Milwaukee Bead & Button Show 2011

2011-06-12T21:25:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted since March...it is June...seriously? Everything has been super busy / crazy lately. April was consumed with shopping (endlessly) for a new camper, and May was consumed with catching up around the house. Work has been very busy, too...that's a good thing. I have been working on several very big projects, and have been wiped out by the time I get home.

I finally took a couple of vacation days, and went with my friend to the Milwaukee Bead & Button Show. I had always heard about it, but had never gone. This is one interest that we have in common, and we finally decided to go. Awesome time! We drove to Milwaukee on Wednesday night. We got there two hours later than planned, due to a crisis at work.

On Thursday, I took my very first class...Turkish Chain Bracelet from Howard Siegel and Nancy Brickner. I love, love, love chunky sterling jewelry. I have been intimidated by jumprings, and would never have tackled this on my own. It was a very cool class, and I was sporting my new bracelet by the time I left. I will definitely be doing more chainmaille in the future. The picture doesn't do it justice...

On Thursday night, it was the shopping preview for class attendees. We literally shopped until we dropped that night. So much to see, and so many cool things to buy :)

On Friday, we had two classes. The first one was Saw, File & Stamp by Joe and Anat Silvera. This class gave me the confidence that I need to try to whip up some unique personal bling of my own. I left class with a copper pendant. Again, the picture doesn't do it justice!

After a quick dinner at the Miller Time Pub, we took the Spiral Into Color class from Beverly Ash Gilbert. This one was a lot tougher than I thought, and was the only one that I didn't leave class with a finished project. I am very glad that we used cheap wire for the project, since it would have been a big waste of some silver if I would have attempted it with that first. Once I have the technique down, I may try it again with the sterling.

After class on Friday, we wandered off to the Wisconsin Cheese Bar. Absolutely awesome! They had beer and wine specials, as well as cheese sampler plates. We had the gourmet grilled cheese, which was by far the best grilled cheese I have ever had.

On Saturday, I took Kumihimo Boro-Bead Necklace from Adrienne Gaskell and Linda Richman. If I had to pick a favorite class, this would be it. It was an intermediate class, with kumihimo experience required. Despite my best intentions, I never did get around to getting the experience before the class. I knew I would be okay, though, because I learn quickly. And, the people in the class who had done kumihimo on the disks had trouble because they had to learn how to do it a different way. This one was done on a marudai with tama, and I wound up buying one so I could do more of this. The beads were incredible boro-silicate teardrops from Unicorne Beads. By the time I left class (an hour early), I was sporting this beauty...

Jewelry making is truly an instant gratification hobby!

That's all for now. Until next time, happy crafting :)

Copper River Canyon Progress

2011-03-25T19:32:00.000-05:00

I really haven't posted any stitchy pics lately, but I have been working on my WIP / UFO pile :) My latest focus is Copper River Canyon. I am almost done with the beaded river. Last weekend, I decided to start in on one of the blackwork sides for a change of pace. We were supposed to draw lines to show how the canyon gradually got deeper, and then make the blackwork more dense to show depth. Of course, I got hung up on this :) I think that I am nearly done with the copper colored side. I was glad to see that the black mark that my magnet made is no longer noticeably visible. The stitching actually went very fast once I decided what in the world I was going to do. I am not totally happy with the blackwork that I have done, because I think that there is still too much of a contrast between the two colors of threads. The black basting lines will come out, so ignore those. My {BOLD} goal is to finish this piece this weekend. We'll see how that works out :)

That's all for now. Thank you for stopping by! I enjoy reading all of your comments and e-mails! Until next time, happy stitching!

Facelift

2011-03-05T18:05:00.001-06:00

The ugly step-sister has gotten a facelift. This is why there hasn't been any stitching going on here.

I am so thrilled with how this turned out. I realized that I really didn't take very good "before" pictures. It was originally the standard file cabinet beige color. Somewhere along the way, someone had spray painted it black. Problem was, they did a really crappy job of it and must have run out of paint somewhere along the way and only the front and one side were black. The rails were missing, so I ordered those. There was no key, so I tracked down one of those. I ordered tons of binders, folders, and plastic sleeves to organize everything. We hauled this beast into the basement (that was quite a fun time). My Sweetie mixed up some Bondo to fill in the dents, and painted it a wonderful, shiny grey (the pictures don't do it justice).

I have been working on organizing and labeling all of my stuff. I'm still not totally done, but feel like I have finally rounded the corner! One really big deal was going through all of my stitchy magazines. I have been collecting them for quite a long time (cough, cough...1985), and kept them "just in case". They were in boxes, somewhat organized...but I seriously don't think I could have easily found something if I wanted to. I didn't want to rip stuff out of them, so the pile built up. One night, I got over that...I started ripping, and didn't stop! I Freecycled over 200 stitchy magazines, and am now left with a few binders of good stuff that I saved. Each pattern is in a plastic sleeve, and organized in a hanging binder. I might actually have a prayer of finding something next time I am looking for it! When I got my last issue of JCS, I immediately tore out anything I thought I might stitch in the future, and got rid of the rest of it. What a great feeling! Of course, I couldn't bring myself to deface the JCS ornament issues, ornament previews, or Halloween issues. In any case, the bulk has seriously been reduced.

One thing that was really frustrating was that there really isn't a clean start and end to patterns in magazines. In many cases, one side of the page is related to one pattern, and the next side is another one. This is okay if you aren't interested in keeping both...but a problem if you are. I noticed that ANG Needlepointers does a very good job of sandwiching ads in between, which makes it easier to make the break. Most other magazines start the project article with a 2 page spread, and put all of their ads at the end. This causes trouble if you are trying to save only pieces of it. In any case, I have conquered most of my stash!

This is a picture of the hanging binders (nicely labeled with my P-touch) in one of the drawers...

I have another drawer that has regular hanging folders that I have used to store charts that come in plastic bags, as well as larger charts and EGA class materials. I am also using the folders for projects that I have kitted up. Another drawer holds some expandable brown folders that I have used for smaller charts and kits. I still have one drawer empty, which is a good thing! Although my stuff is *in* the other drawers, it could still stand to be organized and labeled. The only one that is completely done is the binder drawer. I don't think that the rest of it will be as time consuming, though.

On a final note...I know that it is time for the TUSAL again. The problem is, I haven't stitched since I posted the last picture. So, I won't be posting the same one again. Hopefully I am almost done with this organizing thing, and will be back on track again soon. It really, really needed to be done! I haven't been doing much blog reading lately, either, so hopefully I'll be able to get back on track with that as well.

That's all for now. Thank you for stopping by! I enjoy reading all of your comments and e-mails! Until next time, happy stitching!

My Valentine's Day Present :)

2011-02-11T18:41:00.036-06:00

During the last few bone-chilling winter days, we have been working to tidy up the basement. For my Sweetie, this meant putting away all of the tools in the workshop as well as organizing all of the stuff in that area. For me, it meant going through my stash to thin it out and organize it. My Sweetie was forging along, making great progress. Me? Not so much. I was shuffling through the stash, but was not doing too good with making any great progress on the organizing front. I was thinking about buying more plastic storage containers, but really thought that a filing cabinet might do the trick. I was seriously frustrated, because after spending many hours shuffling things around, I didn't feel like I made any progress. Sweetie listened...and brought me home this diamond in the rough...

It is a 5 drawer lateral legal / letter size file cabinet! He crawled through snow banks to a semi trailer full of abandoned furniture at work to fetch this for me. The furniture was up for grabs and free for the hauling. I am soooooo excited! I told him that he is off the hook for Valentine's Day, because this is awesome. I am pretty low maintenance :)

It is not too pretty right now, but we are going to sand this sucker and paint it. We have replacement rails on order to be able to accommodate the legal to letter conversion. These things retail for at least $1K new...so I am so glad to have this. This gives me 5 times 36 inches of storage. Did I mention that I am super excited about this?

I am going to get some hanging 3 ring binders to organize most of my charts. I am thinking that I will use some hanging expandable folders for kits. The top drawer can also be used as a shelf, so I think that I will use that for books and some magazine holders. I also found a hanging project case and hanging zipper case that also may work.

Now I need some organizing ideas...I already have some charts in clear plastic sleeves in binders. Others, I have in hanging file folders. I will probably want to keep kitted projects separate from charts only. Would it be best to sort them by designer? Theme? A combination?

Look At What I Made!

2011-02-05T20:44:00.001-06:00

A few months ago, my friend and I decided to sign up for an introductory glass bead making class through the community education branch of the local community college. Today was the day!

We learned all about how to set up our bead making stations, tools, and all of the basic techniques. It was a lot of fun, and we got to take home all of the goodies that we were able to make during the class.

The picture below shows all of the beads that I made during the class.

I made all of mine in the same color family, with the intent of making something out of them after the class. The only exception was the light pink one, since we had to use a clear color to practice the technique of intentionally adding air bubbles to the bead. The ones with the sprinkles of color are my favorites, followed by the swirly tubular ones. I have a lot of practicing to do, but it will be a good hobby to work on when my eyes are too tired to stitch. I have a starter kit on order, and should receive that soon. I can't wait to practice making more beads :)

I am also posting a picture of this month's installment of TUSAL. I did a lot of stitching this month, but there really weren't a lot of ORTs. I really am a thread miser :)

Chicago Blizzard 2011

2011-02-02T19:52:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend, weather people started predicting a big blizzard. They were definitely spot on with the predictions this time. This is the first blizzard that I ever remember, and it was a dandy. We had everything from "thunder snow", which is what it sounds like...thunder, lightning, and intense snow...to howling winds.

On Tuesday night, the winds were indeed howling so fiercely that the pressure on the door allowed fine snow to bypass the weather-tight seal and blow into the garage.

This next picture is what we saw when we opened the garage door this morning at 5:30 AM. Based on the amount of snow *in* the garage, I expected that the snow would be right up against the door. Luckily, it wasn't.

After a couple of swipes with the snow blower, it became clear that was a lot more snow than there appeared to be at first.

The drifts on the front porch were my snow clearing assignment.

Snow blower chomping on the snow drift...

Looking back towards the garage...

Clearing the looooong driveway...

The cleanup went a lot better than expected. By noon, the snow stopped swirling, the winds died down, and the sun came out. We haven't heard a final snow total, but it was somewhere between 1 and 2 feet. According to the news stations, it was the third largest snow storm in Chicago history. Now we're in for the deep freeze. Come on, spring!!!

Last night, I did do a tiny bit of stitching on one of my small UFOs. I kept putting it down, which I'm sure is why it was abandoned in the first place. I'm going to plug along on it, and will post pics soon.

That's all for now. Thank you for stopping by! I enjoy reading all of your comments and e-mails! Until next time, happy stitching!

Happy Haunting is Finished!

2011-01-30T19:45:00.000-06:00

As January rolls to a close, I have my first finish of the year! Happy Haunting is now complete, and I can check off one of my UFOs!!

What's next? I really should go back to Cirque des Cercles, but may try to polish off one of my smaller projects with not too much left to do.

Getting to the Bottom

2011-01-18T20:13:00.000-06:00

I have been stitching on Happy Haunting lately. This past weekend, I had an extra day off, so I made the best of it!

This is the "before" picture.

I finished up the top part, and got some of that pesky over-one word stitching done, as well as the Swedish darning section. Obviously, I still have some of the words left. I also need to do some touch-ups on the pumpkin section in the middle. Funny thing is that is where I started so many years ago.

I didn't stitch the entire weekend, though. On Saturday, we went to World Stage at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. It was the 10th year that we have attended this show, and it is always an awesome time.

In my CD player right now is "The Other Side" by Macrodots. Heading up this band is the incredibly talented Cathy Richardson, one of the performers that we have seen at World Stage several times. I got the album on Saturday night, and can't stop listening to it. Good stuff :)

New Toys

2011-01-06T19:44:00.001-06:00

I got two new toys for Christmas. The first one, I bought for myself...and it was seriously overdue.

I got a Samsung Captivate, my first smartphone. My last phone was a Motorola Razr, which was darn cool back when I got it over 4 years ago. I have been waffling for over the two years since my contract expired. I am very frugal when it comes to stuff like this, and didn't want to have to pay for a phone...and didn't want to shell out extra for the data plan. On top of it, my carrier puts a cap on data. So, after 16 years as a customer, I switched carriers and got a free phone and an unlimited data plan. Big mistake. Three calls to customer service to get the thing activated, followed by two hours on the phone trying to figure out why it was perpetually roaming left me frustrated. The next day, I sheepishly went back to my original carrier, shelled out the cash for the phone, and signed up for a plan that worked. Now I am wondering why I didn't do it sooner!! So cool to get e-mail on my phone. The app doesn't quite work right, and I have been told that when I send an e-mail there are always two copies. So, my apologies if you have been a victim of that. I can check e-mails throughout the day, read blogs (although I haven't quite mastered responding to leaving comments on the phone yet). I can surf the net on the fly, and check in for the return trip on flights without lugging a laptop along. I can even order up crap I see on TV without leaving the comfort of my recliner. Yippee! I even figured out how to put it on wi-fi at home so I don't have to use any of the data allowance while I am on wi-fi. All of this adds up to (hopefully) less time spent on the computer at home and more time stitching.

The next "toy" was from my sweetie.

We agreed that we wouldn't exchange Christmas gifts, and stuck to that. While I was on my vacation from work over the holidays, I did manage to do quite a bit of stitching. I have always had trouble stitching at night because of the lighting in the house. We have all recessed lighting, and no lamps. Because of the open floorplan, I have nowhere to plug in an Ott lamp next to my stitchy chair without draping extension cords across the room. He has a flashlight that he wears on his head for fixing things around the house, and I have made fun of him for it (on occasion). One night, I was on a roll stitching, but it was starting to get dark. I was complaining about not being able to see. I messed around with my little battery LED Ott light, and couldn't get it to hook on anything to be effective. So, and went to get the head flashlight. He thought I was crazy, and thought I was making fun of him. I was SERIOUS...and it worked! On his next Menards run, he brought me home one of my very own. I look like a total dork wearing it, but it does work very well :)

That's all for now. Thank you for stopping by! I enjoy reading all of your comments and e-mails! Until next time, happy stitching!

TUSAL

2011-01-05T19:57:00.001-06:00

I signed up for the Totally Useless Stitchalong this year (hosted here). I have been collecting my ORTs, but didn't participate previously. I started fresh, and this is where I am at. Not too much yet, since I am working on a piece that only uses one color of thread. At least there is something there :)

CDC Update

2011-01-04T19:23:00.002-06:00

I haven't had a good stitchy post in a while, so I am posting my progress on Cirque des Cercles. The last time that this one made an appearance was in May. It really has been neglected since then, but I focused on stitching on this during my 2 week break from work.

It is a crappy picture, but you get the idea. I think that I have finally rounded the corner on this one, and will keep plugging along on it. I am tempted to switch back and forth between two projects on my list, but think it will be wiser to keep the momentum going on only one at a time. My plan to stitch at night after work hasn't worked out too well so far, but I did have appointments after work last night and tonight. I am planning on working on this again tomorrow! Once I get those giant circles in the middle filled, I should be on the home stretch.

That's all for now. Thank you for stopping by! I enjoy reading all of your comments and e-mails! Until next time, happy stitching!

2011 UFO / WIP Challenge

2011-01-01T08:28:00.003-06:00

I have been reading a lot of posts lately about the "Crazy January Challenge". That's the one where you start a new project every day for the first 15 days in January, and then have a goal to finish all of them by the end of the year. When I first read about that, my eyes glazed over and I got all kinds of crazy ideas. Very tempting, indeed. Then, the voices of reason stepped in. Yes, voices. One was my own, of course. I have a thing for BAPs, and know full well that I would be setting myself up for failure if I even gave that another thought. The thrill of starting new projects would soon be overcome with guilt and disgust with myself for not making more progress. And 2010 was not exactly a stellar performance on the stitching front for me. The other voice of reason is my Sweetie. Every time I do whip out a new project, I hear, "What ever happened to {insert name of WIP here}? I don't remember you finishing that." I know. More guilt.

Then I read about another challenge. This one involves identifying 15 WIPS that you already have, that you will try to finish by the end of the year. *THAT* I can handle! There will be a lot less guilt, and maybe I will actually have something to exhibit when fair season rolls around. It will still be a stretch goal, since a lot of these projects are BAPs. I am going to be reasonable, though...obviously Dark Queen (my HAED) won't be on the list :)

My list will be as follows:
1) Cirque des Cercles - Ink Circles (large, cross stitch)
I started this one in September, 2007. As most projects go, I bolted out of the gate pretty fast on this one, and then fizzled. My last update was in May, 2010. Not much has changed on that, although I have been working on it the past few days during my break from work.

2) Happy Haunting - Shepherd's Bush (large, cross stitch)
I loved this one from the moment that I saw it at the 2006 SB Retreat. So much, in fact, that I was ticked that it wasn't one of my classes. I had to have it the minute it was released a year later. The last time that this one made an appearance on my blog was January, 2009.

3) Heirloom Birth Sampler - Victoria Sampler (medium, cross stitch)
I started this one three years ago, but just wasn't feeling the love. I really need to finish this one before the "baby" starts school :)

4) Copper River Canyon - ANG Correspondence Course (medium, canvas)
This was a relatively recent start (May, 2010). I was off to a fast start, but haven't really worked on it since. Obviously, I have missed the deadline for turning it in. It really is a cool piece, so I would love to finish it!

5) Quilted Flag - Neon Flamingo Designs (large, canvas)
I started this one in February, 2010. I have actually worked on it recently, and it is about 40% finished.

6) Hagatha's Slipper - Margaret Bendig (medium, canvas)
I started this one in August, 2010. I got off to a good start, but lost interest when I realized it wouldn't be finished in time for Halloween.

7) Quaker Gameboard - Papillon Creations (large, cross stitch)
This was my January 1st start in 2010. Again, I got off to a good start. I actually stitched on this at lunch for a while, until work got too crazy. I need to go back to my original plan of just one square a day.

8) Beautiful Birches - Lynn Payette (medium, canvas)
This was a EGA Heartland Region Seminar project from April, 2009. It isn't a difficult project, but a bit out of my comfort zone because it is all freestyle. I need to get over it and just finish it. I love, love, love this piece and would like to do the others in this series someday.

9) Morning Glory Santa - Gail Sirna (large, canvas)
Another EGA Seminar project, from the 2007 National Seminar. The last time this made an appearance was February, 2009. I do like this piece, but don't like using the laying tool for every stitch.

10) Alpine Seasons Garden - Chatelaine (huge, cross stitch)
I probably have no chance in heck of finishing this one. I started it in January, 2008 and the last time that this one made an appearance was January, 2009. I am adding it to the list because I really do like this one and would love to have it hanging on the wall someday soon.

11) Heirloom Christmas - Victoria Sampler (large, cross stitch)
I love this one, but seriously cannot remember the last time that it saw the light of day.

12) Silver Simplicity - Rachel Atkins (medium, canvas)
Another EGA Seminar project...from the Tennessee Valley Region Seminar in Louisville in June, 2006. I haven't touched this since I left class. This is another one that requires extensive laying tool work, but I do like it and would love to have that one in the "finished" column!

13) My Land - Shepherd's Bush (medium, cross stitch)
I started this one at the SB retreat in Downers Grove in 2009. I haven't worked on it much since then.

14) Attic Collection - Judy Odell (large, cross stitch)
I can't remember the last time I worked on this one, and I started it a long time ago.

15) Halloween Fairy - Mirabilia (medium, cross stitch)
I started this one when it first came out. I got bored with the wings, and haven't worked on it since.

I have also compiled a list of smaller UFO projects. This is where it gets really embarrassing!! I realize that I will ~~probably~~ definitely not be able to finish up the projects on my main list, but given the advanced state of most of the smaller ones, I should have no reason to have these still lurking around by the end of 2011.

16) Pastel Posies - Sunflower Samplings
17) Bunnies in the Garden - With My Needle
18) Thisbe's Needleroll - Shepherd's Bush
19) Strawberry Flower Emery - Charland
20) Shepherd's Retreat Scissor Fob - Shepherd's Bush
21) Lake Dillon - Fireside Originals
22) Scatter Sunshine - Shepherd's Bush
23) Gobble Gobble Sampler Accent - Periwinkle Promises
24) St. Nick Scissor Companion - Ewe & Eye & Friends
25) And Many More - Just Nan
26) Acorn Scissor Case - Lizzie Kate
27) Halloween ABC - Shepherd's Bush
28) Cupid's Delight Sampler Accent - Periwinkle Promises
29) Halloween Punchneedle - Pine Mountain
30) Bring Your Own Broom - Brooke Nolan

That's all for now. I need to do a recap of 2010, but it isn't pretty. We'll save that for another day :)

Rockin' Vegas

2010-12-15T18:59:00.006-06:00

We made a little trip out to Vegas last weekend, and it was an exhausting trip!

Day 1 - Thursday, December 9th - Rollin' to Vegas

I got up at 3:30 AM so I could leave the house by 4:30 and get to work by 5:30. Traffic is pretty decent that time of day! I left work by 2:30, and headed off to pick up Bryon and make the short trip from his office to the airport. As usual, we were all wound up by the time we got there. We checked in to our room at Excalibur and then wandered around, gambled a bit, and drank a few Coronas. By the time we finally went to sleep, I had been up for nearly 24 hours :)

Day 2 - Friday, December 10th - Rollin' the South Side

Despite being so tired the night before, we were up and out by a reasonable hour. We wandered around the south end of the strip, near our hotel. We hit Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Tropicana, and Hooters. I didn't do too good on the gambling front, so was glad when it was time to head off to our show. We had tickets for Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds at Planet Hollywood. We were turned down for fan club tickets, but had managed to score some balcony seats from the dreaded Ticketbastard. There isn't a bad seat in the place, and it is a priviledge to just be at a D&T show, since those are pretty rare. It was a great show, as expected :)

Day 3 - Saturday, December 11th - Rollin' VIP Style

Although we were turned down for Warehouse tickets on Friday, we pulled VIP for Saturday! For most of the summer shows, VIP was general admission. At my age, I want no part of that crap. We figured that if we were ever going to do it, Vegas was the place. The buffet was so-so. Tacos, hamburgers, Twinkies and popcorn...not exactly gourmet. Free drinks, though...so that worked out good :)

I finally had a chance to wear my Sunshyne Silverwear necklace to a show, without fear of losing it. Our seats were absolutely incredible! We had 20th row, right in the middle. By far the closest that we have every been for a Dave show...and even more special because it was a Dave & Tim show. Very bittersweet, too...knowing that it was the last show that would be played for at least a year. These were our 7th & 8th Dave shows this year, so we hit it hard. I used almost 2 weeks of my vacation this year for concerts. Since there won't be any next year, we'll have to come up with something else fun to do!

Day 4 - Sunday, December 12th - Rollin' Downtown

Normally, this would have been the day we went home. As luck would have it, we weren't able to use our free Southwest tickets on Sunday and had to stay an extra day. Good thing, because there was a snow storm in Chicago that closed down the airport on Sunday. We decided to wander downtown to Fremont Street. The plan was to stop by the pawn shop from Pawn Stars, and then go play bingo. Little did we know that for some stupid reason the bus no longer went past the pawn shop, and was now routed through some seedy area called the "Arts District". Why in the world you would put a dedicated lane for city bus traffic through a seedy area is beyond me. There is a much greater need for that in many other areas. Like the STRIP?!?! Anyway, we never did wind up playing bingo, either. We wandered through Binions, Four Queens, Golden Gate, Las Vegas Club, and Golden Nugget. Actually, we stayed at Golden Nugget for a long time. When it was time to head out, we did manage to catch a bus that went by the pawn shop. Not worth the trip. Since the show is cool, we had thought that it would be cool. Not!! It was very crowded. Other than gift shop merchandise with Chumlee's face on it, and lots of overpriced gold (ick!) jewelry, there really wasn't a lot to look at. It took forever for a bus to come by and pick us up after that. We wandered back to Tropicana, and had a good time. We had been there on previous trips, and it was a bit crusty. They have put some big bucks into remodeling, and it is actually pretty nice now. It smells like a coconut car air freshener the whole time you are there, though.

I didn't do to good gambling, but Bryon did. We had spied an autographed DMB guitar at a memorabilia shop earlier in the trip. It was a special one because LeRoi had signed it, along with the rest of the band. I had wanted to get it, because it is the only one we are missing from our collection. In the living room, we have pictures of Dave, Jerry, Rick, and Jon on the wall. We have autographed guitars to match three of the pictures. All we need is Dave. Bryon said that it was too much...but worked hard on the slots to try to earn it :) We wandered back to check it out, and it had been sold :( So, it was back to the hotel for one last twirly-pants stop at McD's before going to sleep.

Day 5 - Monday, December 13th - Rollin' Home

I'm not sure whose brilliant idea it was to book an 8:15 AM flight home, but I'm claiming that it wasn't mine. When we called to arrange the shuttle pick-up the day before, they told us that 5:00 AM was the time that we needed to be picked up...and we would probably miss our flight if they picked us up at 6:00. Common sense told us that the hotel was only a few miles from the airport, traffic couldn't possibly be that bad at that time of day, and they were nuts. We should have listened to common sense, since we had already checked our bags and were twiddling our thumbs 18 minutes after they picked us up. Oh well! If we stay that close to the airport again, we'll definitely take a cab rather than the shuttle. We were so grateful that we didn't have a Sunday flight, since there were still a lot of people on standby from the weather mess the day before. Since I had finished my book on the flight out, I bought Sarah Palin's Going Rogue book at the airport. For some reason, I have a hard time stitching on a plane, but have no problem reading. Go figure. Our flight was on time we were back home, as scheduled, by 4:00 PM. We shoveled the driveway, did some laundry, and crashed!

It was back to reality yesterday. A few days of fun, and there is hell to pay when you get back. Work is crazy, because it is the end of the year. Four more days to go, and I have almost two weeks off. I am planning on doing NOTHING except enjoy myself. We have no commitments over the holidays, so it should be a relaxing time!