I'm so glad that Claudette is hosting that program again. Maybe this year I will have a little more finishes (smile). So here are my ten projects I will work on
Guardian Angel
Computer Catastrophes
Seagulls and Sails
Halloween House
Love ornament
Songs of the Season
A Good Marriage
Halloween Rules
Jane A.
Shore Patrol
Wow, it looks like I have a lot going on... Thank goodness that some of these projects are very close to the finish.
My stomach is full of butterflies and my heart is stopping once in a while...
For quite some time now I was thinking about leaving our office and starting my own business. During our 'cold days' in November and December when temperatures dropped below -30 and I was stuck at home, I've got a taste of being my own boss. I have few clients for whom I provide bookkeeping and accounting services. Yeah, I know - the data entry is not the most exciting thing but I do create reports and financial statements, provide analysis and calculate taxes too! To tell you the truth, the bottom line - I liked it. I liked it a lot!
Couple of days ago I've got brave and talked to my boss. It was hard. I was his first employee and I worked there over 5 years. I'm glad that the conversation is behind me. It went smooth and there was no drama. Next Friday is my last day of 9 to 5 job and a first day of freedom (and hard work)! What that means? Well, let's see:
no more two-hour drive to/from work (I can spend 2 more hours stitching every day [smile])
I can wear perfume again
I'm very independent and not the best team player - problem solved, the only team is me!
I can stitch during my lunch hour
I had flexible hours, so no change here
no more steady paycheques but sky is the limit on earning potential
now I have to find my own clients but with December 31 and tax season just around the corner I don't think that it will be a problem
On the stitchy note - I was working on the 'Songs of the Season' a little and on the pincushion. Here are the pics:
another motif completed
The whole pincushion is stitched with silk floss over one. The stitches are so tiny!!! I love this piece.
So far I'm a good girl, no more 'new starts' until something gets finished. Now, back to stitching!
So, the 12th day of Christmas is almost gone, so does Epiphany. I really wanted to stitch a little project with the Three Kings but I could not find any! I spent a whole day searching and nothing, zilch, zero. Not on-line and not in my stash. I guess I will have to make a note of it and be prepared for the next year. I had in mind a little silhouette with 3 guys on camels and a bright star, stitched with white floss on the navy blue fabric. I will keep looking for it but if you have anything like that in your stash or know where I can find it, please let me know.
Did you know that in many Latin American countries, it is the three wise men and not Santa Claus
who bring gifts for children? Children write letters to the wise men
telling them how good they were and what gifts they want.
I planned to make a king's cake today, but the day went by and I never got to it. Maybe I will bake it on the Orthodox Epiphany. Orthodox Christians are using Georgian calendar and everything is a couple of weeks behind. For example, tomorrow is a Christmas Eve, on the 7th is Christmas Day and the New Year is on the 14th of January.
This week/weekend I've manage to stitch a little. On the 1st of January I started 'Snowing, a SAL with Tama. Isn't much but what you see here is the whole width of the first page. There are 16 pages in total. So far it is a very easy stitching with no confetti stitches.
I have also worked on the pin cushion until I run out of 'pale gold' floss. The good news is that the missing floss is on the way and in the mean time I can work on motifs that do not require that color.
Yesterday I've added a few stitches to 'Songs of the Season'. I love this piece and it fell good to get back to it.
I had tons of work to do and no time for stitching... well things sometimes do not work the way we have plan... The weather plays tricks and is messing up with my internal barometer. Yep, I do have one. We had some very cold days lately and a very high pressure. I felt fine. Last night front from the south brought a very low pressure, south wind and a lot of snow. The mercury went up but can you guess what the low pressure t did to me? GAVE ME A MIGRAINE! I set at my desk quarter to six this morning, turned on computer and was ready to start working. Just I wasn't feeling so good. After a third cup of coffee I wasn't feeling any better. So I checked email and some blogs and decided to stitch just a little. Well, with my fogged up brain I also lost my eyesight. After a few stitches I went back to bed to take a nap. After a nap I stitched some more - no work done, not even a little. On the bright site - I have a stitchy update! I added another motif to Songs of the Season
Sorry, I'm just too lazy to take it off from q-snaps but you can see the progress. And I was working a little on the Pirate Santa. (To see 'before' pictures, scroll down to previous posts). The tree looks fuller and my pirate can see! He has only one eye, but after all he is the pirate.
I've got over my big booboo and now Songs of the Season are coming very nicely. Just to make sure I have everything in the right order (specially the fabric) and I'm not running too short on margins, I stitched all the way across the bottom:
It's a short post as I have tons of work and it looks like there will not be any stitching this weekend.
November is practically over. It was a good month, a month with no excuses. I did not accomplish what I had plan but, never less, at least it got me thinking. I'm lacking will power! So, what to do about it? After a lot of research I found a book written by Kelly McGonigal: The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why it Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of it. Brilliant! I have it in an audiobook and digital format (since I live middle of nowhere these two formats are the easiest and fastest to get). She talks about all the excuses possible! I think if I follow her program I will finish all my stitching projects, file all the back income tax returns and loose weight. There is many books on goal settings and I do not have problem with that. I'm actually very good at goal settings and New Year resolutions and so on. I have all the good intentions, but always there is always 'something' on the way and there is always 'tomorrow' or 'next week', or 'next year'. The only thing that I really accomplished and I'm proud of it is quitting smoking. But that was years ago... somehow I've hanged... Not for long though. Here are my plans for December:
Work on Willpower following the book
Finish my lovely pirate Santa (I'm almost there)
Keep working on 'Songs of the Season'
Buy floss for my new bell pull
Start on Scarlet Letter kits right after they arrive. I'm not sure which one but I think I will start with the pincushion
Read one book a week. I've just started the Neverlove by Angela Brown. It's awesome! I've started to read last night and now I'm half way through. Beautifully written and it is one of those books that make you keep turning pages and are impossible to put them down
File back taxes
That's all, we'll see where I will be by the end of December!
and time for updates! The mercury dropped in my part of the world
and I had another 'do not drive' day that made me stay home. Believe me, I do not complain! I could even say that I like my 'cold' days... I worked a little, did a little marketing for my new business and stitched a little. I finished Scarlet Letter (audio book) and, thanks to Hester and her determination, finally I stopped crying about my booboo. Actually, since yesterday was a cyber Monday and HAED had a sale (45% off), I bought 3 little charts that I will stitch on one piece of fabric and make a bell pull:
These are my initials and I think they will look fabulous as a bell pull!
On the stitching front - I was working on 'Songs of the Season' and this is how it looks as of tonight:
It was a good stitchy weekend. I worked on Songs of the Season, happy with the progress and even a thought cross my mind that maybe I should finish it for Christmas... until I removed fabric from q-snaps... my happiness vanished in a blink of an eye, my heart stopped and brain froze... I was stitching in a wrong direction of fabric! The fabric was turned 90 degrees!!! And I don't have same size/color spare fabric... so here it is - a feast for frogs. All that you can see on the picture on the right - it must be removed. I decided not to frog at the moment, I'm leaving that for a time when my mind and hands will cooperate together. I turned the fabric and started again, from the bottom left corner this time. Here is my 'new' progress:
Now, I do not think I can finish this project for this Christmas but for sure it will be done for the next one. Even though I have to frog a lot I still love this piece and enjoy every motif in it. Who would think I would love quakers so much? Certainly not me!
In 'the between' I was working on Computer Catastrophes
Before I start blogging about my stitching I want to wish a very happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! Well, today I wish a happy Thanksgiving to all Americans. After all they are stuck with Obama for another four years and to have a happy Thanksgiving will be more and more challenging. Black Friday? No, I see black future - no jobs, fiscal cliff, unbalanced budget, uncontrolled spending, week economy and non existent American Dream - sad, so sad, my heart is aching for my southern neighbors. Gosh, sounds almost like '1984' is becoming a reality. God bless them.
Since Canadian Thanksgiving was a month ago I am all into Christmas. On Kaye's blog Kitten Stitching I've spotted a lovely chart she is working on
After working on my Halloween Quaker 'Thine is the trick and the treat' I absolutely fell in love with quakers and I was searching for another one and here it was: Christmas Quaker II - Songs of the Season. I could not say 'no' to this one! I bought it along with the fabric and floss. And I set it aside to stitch later. Now, after seeing Kaye's and learning that she is stitching along with Amanda from Samplers, Silks and Linens I decided to join them. It is our Wednesday SAL and here is my progress from yesterday:
I'm stitching this piece on 32ct Light Examplar linen from Lakeside Linens with floss from Carrie's Creation - Playmouth Red and Peacok. I absolutely adore this combination.
Amanda and Kaye started this SAL on October 31 so I'm a little behind but maybe I can squeeze a few more hours to this project and catch up.
