New Start

First of all, thanks for all the nice compliments on the Autumn Leaves and the Autumn Is In The Air finishes! I really appreciate you taking time to look and comment...

My next project is from the JCS Christmas Ornament magazine for 2008. I started Glory To God by Little House Needleworks tonight...I have a great start on it too! With all the good Hallmark movies this week, I ought to be able to finish this one pretty quickly!

Autumn Is In The Air Is Finished!

I have been stitching like crazy on my Autumn Is In The Air by Brittercup since I finished Autumn Leaves. I REALLY want to stitch some Christmas things, but this was about halfway done, so I made myself finish it first. It was really touch and go last night because I had to take out everything I had done the night before. I tried to just deal with it being a stitch off one direction and a thread off in the other direction, but it made parts of it look crowded since it was too close together without the extra stitch, and so I decided to give in to my OCD traits and do it over. It looks a LOT better so I'm glad I did! Here's a picture:

Now on to stitch some Christmas oraments from the 2008 JCS Ornament Issue...

Thanksgiving Memories

You are going to want to skip this one if you are squeamish about animals hunting other animals, which is what animals do, but it can be upsetting if it a domestic animal hunting. To me anyway. I think about this every Thanksgiving morning and it's only in the last couple of years that it has not really bothered me.

Funny (now) Thanksgiving story...

This took place in either 2001 or 2002...I think it was 2001. I had both Daisy and Rose, and I got Rose in April of 2001.

My mother and I always had orange rolls for breakfast on Thanksgiving, and so I had them in the oven and went to get her up. I went back to the kitchen and got them out and was putting the icing on them where I heard a squeak from outside. I looked out the kitchen window, and Daisy and Rose each had one end of a rabbit. That upset me on several levels...number one, I LOVE bunny rabbits and have a collection of them (not the real ones obviously with 4 dogs and a cat) and this one had just gone to bunny heaven, and number two, my dogs had something that had recently been alive and were playing tug-of-war with it. I was horrified. So I ran out in the yard, still in my polar bear print pajamas, and started yelling at them. Rose, the more compliant and easily scared of the 2, immediately dropped her end and came down to the patio. Daisy, now triumphant with the trophy, took off for the back part of the yard.

Now, what a thinking, sane person would do is get something to lure the dog away from whatever it is they shouldn't have, secure the dog, and then go deal with the situation. I was not thinking, and there are some who question my sanity, so what I did was grab a shovel and take off for the back part of the yard too. I ran after her and of course, she did what dogs do when being chased: she ran like mad. So I ran too, a fat woman approaching middle age in polar bear pajamas. She continued to run, and continued to carry her trophy. So I continued to huff and puff and yell after her, and for some reason that made sense only in my mind at the moment, started swinging the shovel. I would have done a medieval Celtic warrior proud.

At this point, the back door opened, and my mother stepped out on the patio to see why her daughter had gone berserk. She had picked up one of the orange rolls and stood there munching and watching. That agitated me further and so I started yelling at her to come help me. Around a mouthful of orange roll, she said "What do you want me to do?" in a tone that implied 1) I'm in my 70s and if you think I'm chasing after that crazy dog, you're crazier than she is, and 2) I'm eating my breakfast. All this time, Daisy kept running until I stopped for a minute, and then she would stop and stand over her prize and when I started running, she started running...never dropping her trophy for a minute. At some point in the chase, I started crying.

Seeing the orange roll gave me the idea (finally) to get some kind of food and see if I could lure her to me. So I quit swinging the shovel and screaming and went to get some cheese and managed to get her close enough that I could grab her. She had some blood on her feet and legs (which is surprising given that the rabbit didn't seem to be really hurt...other than being dead I mean) and once I dragged her by her collar into the house I had to clean that up. When we got in the house, my mother was sitting at the table eating orange rolls. I was still crying and now was blubbering that after having a taste of blood Daisy was going to revert to a wild wolf dog and I was going to have to put her to sleep because she would attack every warm-blooded thing in her path.

We all recovered (some of us more slowly than others) and went on to have the Thanksgiving that we always had...with the exception that some of my relatives thought is was entertaining to tease me by asking if we were having rabbit stew instead of turkey. We did have turkey, by the way.

I am wearing those same polar bear pajamas this morning as a matter of fact...I love these pajamas.

Thanksgiving Morning Musings

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! This holiday is kind of bittersweet for me - when my parents were alive, my mom had the family (aunts and uncles) over and cooked dinner here. My father died in January 2000 but we kept having the dinner...I think that 2003 was the last one. My mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in April of 2004, and that year she cooked a small dinner for just the 2 of us. She died in March 2005. One of my fears about losing my parents was the holidays. I have a wonderful friend named Chanin who, in mid-July, announced that I was coming to Thanksgiving and Christmas at her house that year. She will probably never know how much that meant to me. The next year, I was dating Bosco's former human, and he and I spent the holidays together. Last year, my friend David (the Bosco wrangler of the Santa picture experience) invited me to have the holidays with his mother and their family. I have known him since we worked together at the first job I had out of college (has it really been 23 years?!) and know his family as well, so I ate Thanksgiving dinner with them. Part of my family's Thanksgiving dinner was mashed potatoes and green peas, and his mom fixed those for me at her house too. One of my other friends invited me to come hang out at her house and watch movine and stitch, but I couldn't do both, and dinner won out! LOL Last Christmas, I was really sick, and slept through Christmas. I am going to dinner at David's again today, and possibly Christmas as well.

What I'm thankful for today is the wonderful friends I have who understand what it is to be alone in the world and invite me to be a part of their families. It is an indescribable comfort to know that there are people in my life who love me like family and are there for me. I am also thankful to be able to love and be there for them.

I'm thankful that I had the great parents that I did and that I got to have them as long as I did.

I'm thankful for my dogs, who are the love of my life, even though they are sometimes the bane of my existence.

I'm thankful for a secure and safe home, and a car to take me where I need to go.

I'm thankful for the fact that I had enough money in savings to help me get through this year of being unemployed.

I'm thankful for my health, especially for my vision that allows me to stitch and read, and for my hearing that allows me to hear music.

There are so many other things in my life to be thankful for as well...I am truly blessed.

It's Finally Finished!

Prairie Schooler Autumn Leaves is finally finished! I sat and watched 2 movies on the Hallmark channel tonight and finally got the rest of the bottom filled in. I went to my LNS on Saturday and met with 2 of my friends and we stitched for the afternoon. I think I'm going to work a little bit on the Brittercup Autumn Is In The Air piece, but as of Thanksgiving Day I will start Christmas themed things. I have several ornaments from this years JCS Ornament Issue that I have kitted up and I'm looking forward to stitching some things that are seasonal that will actually get finished that season! LOL

Snip, Snip, Snip

Rudy got neutered today and we both survived it. This is the dog that started out being my mother's dog and then I inherited him. She didn't have him neutered because she was too afraid that something would happen to him. Then I wouldn't have him neutered because I was too afraid something would happen to me and he is a very special dog to me for obvious reasons. So when Rudy had to be put under anesthesia to get his stitches 3 weeks ago, I sat in the waiting room crying and waiting for him to die...but he didn't and I realized it was now safe to get him neutered. So he went this morning for the Big Snip. He's doing fine...he has pain pills for tonight and tomorrow...but he is sticking pretty close to me. Tonight is a good tv night, and I think we are going to go get on the bed and stitch all evening. That should keep him kind of calm and quiet and let me spend some time being close to him. It's a good thing I don't have kids. I'd be a permanent nervous wreck.

Shiba Inu Puppies

Just in case you have not seen this, it is VERY worth checking out: Shiba Inu Puppy Cam These little furballs are absolutely precious and watching is all of the fun of puppies and none of the work. I just want to sit in the middle of the pen with them and let them crawl all over me and breathe their puppy breath on me! LOL

Update on Autumn Leaves

Here is Autumn Leaves through last night...I am in the home stretch now! I"m ready to finish it so I can start some Christmas things!

Pet Photos With Santa

The annual Pet Photos With Santa was this weekend. This is a fundraiser where, for a $15 donation to whatever animal charity is sponsoring it, you can have you and your pet's photo taken with Santa. This year, it was sponsored by CARE for Animals. Sometimes they have one and sometimes it is the Humane Society of Pulaski County (I have a warm spot for them since I have 2 of their dogs). I am more than willing to support either one.

Of course we went and had our pictures taken. This is a tradition with us, and has been for some time now. It started back in 1992 when I first heard about it after moving back to North Little Rock from Conway where I went to graduate school. I took my dog at the time and we had our picture taken with Santa and framed it for my mom for Christmas from the dog. She loved it, and we started going every year, she and I and whatever combination of dogs there were at the time. We missed 2-3 years scattered in there, but by and large it has been an annual tradition. The Christmas before my mother passed away the following March, she and I and my 2 dogs and her dog (Rudy, my inheritance) were supposed to go but she was in the hospital on the date of the photo shoot. So my aunt is in that one with us. Now it's just me and the dogs.

So this weekend was it, and my friend David (who is a saint and prince among men) went with me to help. He did this last year too and after it was all over, he told me that I needed to find some new friends. In spite of this (and because he had all year to recover) he agreed to go with me again this year. It should be noted that I have had friends go with me and help me in the past, but he is the only person who has been willing to repeat the experience. It should also be noted that David is, as they say, a cat person. He likes dogs ok - as long as they don't lick him and he doesn't have to take care of them for any extended period - but what David looks for in a pet is a cat.

This experience involves gathering up all 4 dogs (remember one of them is the size of a small horse), getting them settled in the car (or at least all 4 of them in the car with all the doors closed), transporting them to the location, getting all 4 dogs into the building, trying to get all 4 dogs to settle with Santa and I, trying to get all 4 dogs to look at the camera, trying to recapture any dogs who escape from Santa and I, getting all 4 dogs back in the car (again, with all doors closed - because having the dogs in the car and having the dogs closed in the car are two very different things), getting the dogs back home and into the house while simultaneously leaving the cat and most of the cat food outside the house, and then deciding if it is too early in the day to have a drink.

We ran into a couple of little snags last year...the pictures went off great, got some good shots, dogs looked good, I didn't look too bad, etc...but the ride home proved to be a problem. David ended up sitting in the back seat with them because the front of my CRV is just too crowded with 2 people and 3 dogs. The original plan was for he and I to sit in the front and all the dogs to sit in the back...you know, like a family kind of. Nope. MY family wanted to sit in the front with me. So what we finally worked out was girls in the front, boys in the back. I drove and Rose and Daisy sat up front with me, David and Rudy and Bosco rode in the back. Bosco is part Lab and part Pointer and approximately pony-sized. He wanted to sit in David's lap. So David spent the first half of our journey trying to squirm out from under Bosco while little Rudy the lap-sized dachshund sat on the seat next to him. David spent the second half of our journey helpless as Bosco got carsick all over the backseat...and Rudy. This probably played a large part in the comment about finding new friends.

So this year we knew to be prepared and take some towels just in case. Last year, the only material we had with us was my suede coat which was no good because Bosco threw up all over it too. David got in the car and immediately started covering everything up with towels. Rudy apparently remembered last year too, and he was NOT getting in the backseat with Bosco. He planted himself firmly in the passenger seat with Daisy and refused to go anywhere near the backseat. So Rose got put back there. She doesn't get along that well with Bosco because he plays too rough and she is timid anyway and is scared of him. But she was the best choice. Daisy LOVES her Uncle David, and LOVES to give kisses and would have LOVED to be in the back with him. However, I may have mentioned that David cannot stand to be licked, and I didn't want him to jump out and run at the first red light. When we left the house, David was on one side of the backseat, Bosco was kind of all over the back seat, and Rose was on the other side. By the time we got about 3 miles from the house, Bosco was halfway in David's lap and it appeared from looking in the rearview mirror that there was a kind of shoving match going on. I couldn't tell who was winning but my money is always on Bosco having been the receipient of his shoves before. So we made it to the location without any major mishaps, and all got out of the car and into the building where there were numerous volunteers who all started taking dog's leashes. The way this works is that David wrangles Bosco and I get the rest. It about evens out.

So I got signed in and gave them my check and went around the partition to where the long-suffering, wonderfully patient Santa waited seated in a sleigh (or a plywood imitation of a sleigh). Well, the seat of the sleigh was completely covered with butts...and that was just me and Santa. I had Daisy in my arms, and from there it gets fuzzy. Bosco was going to sit at our feet...no options there since there was no room for him anywhere else. Rose was not interested in telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas, and in fact gave herself an early present and took off. The volunteers caught her and put her back in the sleigh and I think the way we ended up was that I had Daisy, Santa had Rudy, and Rose was being pulled back in from the side of the sleigh on her leash by Santa. All I could concentrate on was my anxiety about us having a good picture...usually I just trust the photographer to get the dogs to look and I sit and try to smile and remind myself that for 364 days a year I do whatever these dogs want, and it is not too much to ask for them to do something I want for one damn day. Usually there is not this much trouble getting them all settled. After several attempts, the photographer came over to me and showed me that there were a couple that she thought were good and said that she would print the best ones. I had paid for 2 sittings so I could also have one of the dogs with Santa...I have no idea what will come from that! I know while I was still in the sleigh, David was standing by the photographer laughing his head off. We finally either got done or the poor photographer conceded defeat and we left.

We got home with no shedding of bodily fluids (unlike the year that Daisy was a puppy and peed on Santa and my arm where I was holding her...good times, good times) and got into the house (Rudy only got a couple of mouthfuls of cat food and no mouthfuls of cat, thank goodness). It was too early to drink, so we went to do errands and I took David out to eat to thank him for his help. He really deserves a 5 star restaurant, but all I could afford was a dinner buffet at Golden Corral...

He tried to reassure me that he thinks there are some really good ones and that I will have a couple to pick from. I felt really uptight about it but I'm feeling better as time goes on. The one she showed me looked ok I guess...it was small on the back of a digital camera and of course I wasn't wearing my glasses...that's a story unto itself. I get to go pick the pictures up on Tuesday Nov 25, so I will have to find a way to scan them and post them here...

Info on PS Autumn Leaves

Pumpkin wanted to know what material I was stitching this on...it is 28 ct lambswool jobelan. I do not usually like jobelan because it is "stretchy" to me. I like lugana. But this is what was quickly available on the day that I was determined to start this. I think the pattern actually specified 32 ct lambswool and did not specify linen or evenweave.

I thought I'd get more stitching done tonight than I did. I just couldn't get into it as much I guess. I laid on the bed and petted my dogs though, and that's more important really.

Update on PS Autumn Leaves...And Real Autumn Leaves

This is where I am starting today with my PS Autumn Leaves:

I plan to stitch for the rest of the afternoon and evening, so hopefully I will have something to show for it tomorrow! I am really enjoying stitching this! It looks like it will get finished in time to start something Christmasy to work on during the Christmas season too. I ordered Christmas Kisses today...may be my next BAP! I've had my eye on it for a while now.

And here is a picture that was taken this weekend of some real autumn leaves reflected in the lake in from of my house:

Hope you enjoy!

Unstitched

Rudy got his stitches taken out today. That was quite a production. First off, he decided to act out in the waiting room. We were ok until a large chocolate Lab came in, and Rudy started acting like this was his sworn enemy and he was solely responsible for the continued safety of us all. He puffed out his little chest (as much as he can since it's so low to the ground heehee) and drew himself up to his full height (of what? 10 inches? maybe?) and started a barking frenzy. This dog was easily 4 times his size, and he backed up when Rudy started his fit. We got him put in the exam room about that time. The other people were laughing about it, thank goodness. So Tough Man gets on the table and the vet starts to run his hands over his back (which I do every night repeatedly while we are in bed trying to go to sleep) and He Man starts to whimper. Oh great. Well, the incision had healed over the stitches in part, so the vet had to disturb the healing process somewhat (sounds so much nicer than had to pull some of the scab off) and oh my, let the yelps begin! So after me and the vet wrestling Tough Dog we finally got the stitches out. I have to put Neosporin on it for a few days to help the healing process again. Well, while he was there, I asked the vet to please cut his nails. Rudy has the cutest little feet. They are brown with little black tips on each of his toes. And because they are cute, I play with them all the time. And he is fine with that (unlike some of my other dogs who would try to take some fingers off). However, as soon as Dr. Allen picked up a foot, the yelps began again. He is such a drama queen (Rudy, not the vet...the vet is a good guy). He started with little yelps, and by the time we got to Foor Number 4, he had graduated to loud they-are-operating-on-me-with-no-anesthesia-and-using-a-chainsaw-for-a-scalpel yelps. I had my body laid across him to get the final few done, and I laid there thinking "This entire waiting room can hear this and they are laughing their tails (how punny) off at this dog who thought he was going to tear a huge dog apart limb from limb and now is yelling at a toenail clipper".

Here are Rudy's cute feet :

You can see from his facial expression and by the look in his eye that feet are still a VERY sensitive subject! LOL

Happy Anniversary

You know how when a relationship is brand-new you celebrate all the little anniversaries...oh, it's the 1-week anniversary of when we first went out and all that stuff? Well, today is my 1-month anniversary for my blog! Happy anniversary to me! LOL

Paula Vaughan

I LOVE Paula Vaughan. If you have never heard of her, she is an artist who does wonderful watercolors with quilts and flowers as main themes. Leisure Arts used to adapt her works for cross stitch, although I'm not sure what the status of that is currently. I have all of her leaflets/books. I LOVE her work. Here is her website: Paulav.com and here is a list of leaflets: Paula Vaughan leaflet list. On the leaflet list, click on the title of a leaflet to see a picture. If you are not familiar with her paintings or her cross stitch patterns, it will give you a flavor of what she is all about.

Anyway, in going through my UFOs the past couple of days I came across 2 different PV pieces that I had started and never finished. One is Delicate Beauties which just needs to be backstitched (no small feat when you consider all the flowers and stems etc in there) and one is Quilting Lessons which is done except for filling in all the white on the quilt and then the backstitching. I changed my mind about what material I chose for Quilting Lessons and so I never finished it. Well, when I looked at it again, I realized that it would be perfect in my bathroom. So I got it out to start filling in the quilt. This is what I am starting from:

I started Garden Party at the first of this year, and didn't get very far before I got involved in something else. However, I think my focus for the new year is going to be to get some of these PVs that I have wanted to do forever stitched and framed for my den.

I Won! I Won!

I tend to avoid Ebay, because I find too many things that I cannot live without, and it's just easier not to know what you're missing. But every once in a while, I'll look something up. Well, last night I decided to look for a couple of Lizzie Kate kits called Joe Snow and Sally Snow that I look for periodically. No go for the Snows (and so it goes) so I decided to look for a couple of Just Nan kits I missed out on. They were both exclusives for The Silver Needle in Tulsa OK...one is called 20 Flowers, and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the other one but it is a companion to the 20 Flowers one. Someone on the 123 Stitch board had these listed not too long ago, but they were sadly overpriced, and there was no way I could afford them. Well, no go on finding them either, but guess what I DID find?!

Just Nan Snowflower Lace

This was a class project from years ago, and I looked for it off and on forever on Ebay and never found it. So I gave up. Last night when I was looking for the 20 Flowers piece, I saw it listed! I yelled loudly enough that one of the dogs came to investigate in case this was the kind of excitement that might lead to me feeling generous with the Milk Bones. The opening bid was $8.55 and so I bid on it and won it tonight for the original bid!!!!! OH I'm excited!!! It said that the porcelain rose button is included although the rest of the embellishment pack is not...but I can always buy the beads and any other special stuff so this is not a problem.

There was a round of Alpo Snaps on the house tonight!

It's Kinda Pitiful, Really

So I am still less than a month into the blogging thing, and the novelty hasn't worn off yet. A couple of people have listed me in their "blogs I follow" lists, and that had me all excited! Then tonight I had a comment from someone I don't know AND a new follower...I'll just be too exited to sleep! LOL

In Loving Memory

Eleanor Hope Stephens Tanner

November 5, 1928-March 28, 2005

Today would have been my mother's 80th birthday. She was born on November 5, 1928. She got married to my father on her 26th birthday, so it also would have been her 44th wedding anniversary as well. She passed away from lung cancer in 2005; my father had passed away in January 2000. This day is always doubly sad for me. I realized that I don't even have any pictures of her or of them to post since I got my digital camera after she died and I don't have a scanner.

Anyway, happy birthday Mamma. I miss you more than you could even imagine. I love you.

Thank You

I have gotten some really nice compliments about this piece and my stitching. I just want to say thank you to all who have left me nice comments. Makes my day!

The Leaves Are Changing Colors!

Here is a picture of the PS Autumn Leaves piece as of the end of last night...

I am planning on sitting and stitching on it all evening tonight too. There is another PS one called Thanksgiving Comes Again that I would love to have time to stitch this season, but unfortunately I won't. After I finish these 2 seasonal ones, I found several things in the 2008 JCS Ornament Issue that I want to stitch, and those should be small things that I can accomplish in the actual season! LOL

I am having such a good time with this piece. I'm so glad I put the other ones up and started this.

Pictures of WIPs

I had meant to post a picture of my Autumn Leaves WIP this weekend, but never got time to do it. I took a picture of both the PS Autumn Leaves and Brittercup's Autumn Is In The Air since I plan to work on that too. I sat and stitched on the PS one tonight but I'm too lazy to take another picture and post it. I got some of the leaves down the side done though and so it has more color to it now. It's really going quickly and is a lot of fun! I've been watching That 70s Show first season on DVD and stitching all evening...with dog petting breaks of course!

Prairie Schooler Autumn Leaves

Brittercup Autumn Is In The Air

Weekend Update

I got an comment from a friend asking me if I had figured out what had happened to Rudy...I completely forgot that part when I wrote my entry yesterday! LOL The best I can figure is that he cut himself on a nail. I have a storage shed in my back yard that is raised off of the ground and has wooden latticework around the base of it to cover the sight of the concrete pillars it is sitting on and to keep live things out. Well, after we moved here, the biggest 4 legged live thing decided that he wanted in, and so he rammed a hole in it. For a while it was almost impossible to get them out from under there, and then they got bored with it. Rudy trapping and killing his possum under there Labor Day weekend did create a resurgence of interest, but that also died out fairly quickly. I had checked when they first broke in and there were no rough places to hurt them, and really there is nothing under there except a rotting tree stump (and apparently there was a possum) so I haven't worried too much about getting it repaired. Believe me, with all the drama of this house etc, that shed is the very least of my worries right now. However, he must have cut himself getting under there somehow. The next morning when it was light, I went to check out the situation and there is a new larger hole on one side that DID have a nail pulled loose at the top of it. I guess that maybe he cut himself trying to get under there...although the hole was more than ample even for his little fat chunk of a dachshund self. He and Bosco play really rough but I have never seen them bite at each other on the back and I really don't think this was Bosco. He has done his share of hurting the other dogs without meaning to - he has bitten both Rose and Rudy hard enough to break the skin and leave marks (he does not understand that big teeth and little ears don't play nicely together) - but this didn't look like a dog bite. It was not a puncture, but a tear. Yuck.

Rudy is doing better. Of course he slept with me last night even after I wrote and said that he would not. I came out of the bathroom just as I was going to bed and there he was, looking up at me with a hurt little look and he headed to the bedroom looking over his shoulder at me and that was that. He snuggled right up next to me and rubbed his little nylon-stitched back on my bare leg and everything of mine tightened and quivered, but he stayed. He slept at the foot of the bed more than usual, but I woke up and found him touching me several times. He does not understand that his incision is supposed to be tender and hurt a little bit. Or else he just does not care.

Here's something funny in all of this: The material they sutured him up with is purple!!! At first I didn't see it because he is a black dog and purple matches him so well! LOL But as the swelling goes down and I can see the stitches better, sure enough they are purple. They match his collar. I'm guessing that is not why they are that color though...

I have also had some comments asking me about my friend Cathy (she who went to the hospital in labor with the intention of refusing to leave until she delivered her child) and people have asked how she and the baby are...She did have her baby (although not the night she went with the intention to remain there). This was not a planned pregnancy and she had made the incredibly unselfish and loving decision to place her baby for adoption. Her little girl is healthy and well and is now with her new adoptive family where she will be loved and spoiled beyond all belief. The adoptive parents have 2 dogs, so they are ok in my book! LOL I find this to be one of the most awesome things I have seen for a while. I watched her developing pregnancy, and continued to be struck by how unselfish a decision this is. I have so much admiration and respect for her for doing this. And what is just astonishing to me is that she has not gotten support from most of the key people in her life. I don't understand.

My Halloween was great! I turned out all visible lights, ate the York peppermint patties shaped like little pumpkins with orange filling all by myself (mostly...Rudy got a bite of one to take his pills with) and stitched and watched a marathon of The Munsters. I got a LOT done on my Autumn Leaves! I sat and stitched tonight and started watching season 1 of the tv series That 70's Show. I end up watching more than stitching when I watch that because I am enjoying revisiting all the clothes and shoes, etc. Just in the first cd of this set alone, I have seen 2 pair of shoes I used to have and one purse. I knew I should have held on to that stuff. Only thing different about the 70s and 80s retro things now is that I know how ridiculous they look and won't wear them again! LOL

I'll post a picture of my Autumn Leaves at the end of the weekend. It is stitching so fast and is so fun to stitch!

Paula asked about my L&L Celtic Autumn and whether or not I am still working on her. The answer is not right now. I decided that I wanted to do some smaller seasonal things that I could actually finish in the appropriate season (thus the frustration when the small seasonal projects got derailed) and I have not gotten back to her. Probably I will continue to do seasonal things through the holidays and then get back to her in earnest after the first of the year. I thought I might actually set some stitching goals for next year...I have never done that and have always thought that it should be fun not a goal-driven thing, but I may kind of outline some things I would like to get finished in 2009 anyway. I guess I need to start thinking about that.

As far as books, I am still trying to read The Grenadillo Box but I am having a hard time getting into it for some reason. I did finish the first of the scrapbooking mysteries by Laura Childs and really enjoyed it. I have started the second one and have also just barely started the first tea shop mystery. Maybe that's why I can't get into the Janet Gleeson book?! I start books like I start cross stitch projects, but the difference is that I actually finish the books! LOL

I don't think there is anything else to update on...at least not right now...