AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Ange, Joy & Suefitz you have each won something stitched by me in the next 364 days.  Please send me your mail addys so I can send your goodies to you.  And don't forget to post the same offer on your blog!

Donna

dwooleybooger@yahoo.com

Christmas Ornament

Christmas ornament for an ornament exchange. My partner doesn't know who I am so I can show it now!

Thank you Lord for Veggies

Thank you Lord that Thank you Lord for Veggies is done. Ready to put up tomorrow!

One last chance to enter my PIF

I am one for the lucky people to be drawn on Elisa's (http://oldraggedthreads.blogspot.com)
blog as a member of her PIF.
*** This is how it works ***
If you would like to receive something handmade by me within the next 365 days, please comment on this post to say that you are interested. I will then ask my DH to draw a name from the hat on October 31st (Halloween). If you are one of the chosen three then in return, please post the same offer on your blog.
This is a simple and a lovely way of spreading joy in the stitching world. I hope that you will join in and possibly become one of my PIF members!
This PIF is open for everyone!

Get ready to laugh

Ok, last night was the time when I had to cover those stubborn grey roots.  I didn't want to go to the beauty supply store so instead I went to the drugstore.  The cosmetics lady "helped" me to pick out the right shade of red that matched my current red.  The brand she said was the closest was a brand I had never used before.

So off I went.  I mixed it all up.  I am not a novice hair colorist.  I have had grey hair since I was 30 that I have been covering up.  I put it on and the color was majorly bright red.  But sometimes they are when you are working with them.

Left it on the time I was supposed to.  Took a shower to rinse.  When the water hit my hair, red went everywhere.  It looked like a scene from Psycho.  Red splatters on all 3 sides of the shower walls, on the shower curtain and the tub looked like the red sea.

I shampooed and got pink bubbles.  I rinsed and towel dried.  Had red dye go all on my towel.  I blowed dry my hair and it was wild.  The reddest red I have ever seen.  Dark, bright, bold red.

Took another shower.  Pink bubbles again.  Shampooed again.  Pink bubbles.  Towel dried.  Still red on the towel.  Not quite so bright, but still...

Got up this morning.  Shampooed my hair.  Pink bubbles and red on the towel.  My husband is sure I am killing something or someone with all the red on the towels.

Dried my hair and did it.  Not too bad, but not good.  Everyone just looked at me this morning like, there is something not right, but what is it?

Now after all that I found an inch section of hair behind my ear that didn't take the color at all.  Thank goodness I have short hair and can blend it in.

Now here is my fear.  I am going through early menopause and have those wonderful night sweats where you wake up and your hair is all wet.

Will this color bleed on my sheets?  Will my husband think I killed someone in the night and got in bed with him?

Stay tuned to this bat station and this bat channel for more bat news...(make that bad news...)

Relay For Life

Last night was our annual American Cancer Society's Relay For Life.  If you have never been to one of these I strongly suggest you go even if you don't stay out all night or have a team.  It is a major fundraiser for ACS and honors cancer patients.  They start the walk with a victory lap that has all these cancer survivors wearing purple t-shirts.  Everyone lines the track and cheers them on.  Then the walk begins.  All the teams have walkers walking the track.  There are many, many other events going on at the same time.  There were 100 teams and probably 2000 people or more there.

All around the track on both sides are these white, decorated bags that have the name of a cancer survivor or someone who has passed away from cancer.  They are purchased by family and friend and have a candle inside.  At 9:00 they turn off the lights at the track and all these candles are lit.  Family and friends sit by the lumianaria of the person they are honoring or in memory of.  They have a little ceremony remembering those we have lost and those who are still fighting.  It touches my soul and gives me strength to continue another year in my job as a lifesaver (yes that is how I truly feel about my job).

This year I donated my Peace, Love and a Cure for the silent auction.  At 8:00 it had a bid of $50 on it.  I don't know if that was the final bid or what it actually went for.  The money will go for cancer research.  I will update you next week when I find out the actual bid.

Thank you Lord for Veggies Update

Here is the cute little project I have been working on. It is called Thank you Lord for Veggies! I am almost through with. I decided to use sampler threads on it because I love them so much. I have to finish this by first part of next week so I can do my two Christmas ornies for the exchanges I am in.

I got RAK'd

This is the little stitched card that I received from my friend, Lisa Beachum in my Yahoo stitching group. She sent this along with some vintage cross stitch magazines that I absolutely love! My BF lost her mother the day before I received this so when it came in it made my day! Thanks.

New blog

Well, perhaps I have lost my mind.  Or perhaps I love Christmas so much that I think it should be shared year round.

But whatever the reason, I have a new challenge in life.  Actually for 2009.  I want to help save lives.  And I am going to need my friends' help.

I have a new blog, http://stitchingforacure.blogspot.com that tells the whole story.  I encourage you to follow that blog and see what happens.  I truly believe we are going have some fun and really make a difference.

So follow me on my journey.  The best is yet to come...

Taking the day off

This week promises to be a boogeroo.  I have several early/late meetings and then Relay For Life is on Saturday night and while I won't be out there all night, I will be out late.  

So I decided to take this afternoon off from 12:30 on.  I went to the arboratum and watched butterflies, road runners and stitched for about 3 hours.

It was absolutely boffo (great)!  Can you tell I have been watching White Christmas again?

I worked on my Thank the Lord for Veggies piece and I made great progress (note to self I must take a pic of my progress to show).  

No one in the family knew I was off and so I was just hiding out, all by myself, snickering and feeling quite pleased with myself.  (Second note to self, do not let dh read my blog).

So I now feel refreshed and ready to finish the week!  

Go out and have a simply marvie time stitching and enjoying this great fall weather!

I won! I won!

Hello all!  I just got the greatest news!  I won the Pin Pillow drawing from one of my favorite sites, Stitch Pink. Here is the link if you want to see it!

PinPillow.JPG

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Ok, I signed up for not 1, but 2 ornament exchanges.  On one I stitch an ornament and send it to a friend from one of my Yahoo groups and she sends me one.  Simple enough.  No real deadline, just get it in before the end of November.  

The other one I stitch an ornament for another friend from another Yahoo group.  This one is a secret.  They don't know who is stitching for them and I don't know who is stitching for me.  We have to have the ornament mailed by Nov. 15th.  Then by Dec. 15th we have to send a gift to that person and someone will send me one.

Confused yet?  Well join the club.

I immediately pulled all the patterns I currently have for ornaments (and good grief that is enough to keep me stitching until the end of time).  I found one that I just recently purchased that I have been dying to do.  I saw it done on some purple fabric on another blog and I REALLY want to do it that way.

So off I go, online to purchase this hand dyed purple fabric.  And while I am at it, I bought 2 more pieces of fabric.  One can never have enough fabric, right?

Then I have to decide what I want to do for the other one.  I have a cute lollipop idea that was done for Halloween (see my candy jar photo).  But what to stitch that is round and would look good as a lollipop?

I found an old issue of BH&G Cross Stitch Christmas that has a pinwheel design on it.  The actual design is for a yo-yo.  Now this design brings back really bad memories.  I stitched this what should be simple design several years ago and had so many problems with it that I ended up throwing it in the trash.  I mean it was a disaster.  I couldn't seem to count, then I finally finished the stitching and when I was putting the sucker together, I ironed on the interfacing to the front of the STITCHING!

So now I am debating, do I want to try this design again?  And should I make it into a lollipop or a yo-yo like it was originally designed?  Hmm?!

And if that is not enough, I went online and found this really cute LK scissor keep that is in the shape of a Christmas tree that you stitch and can be used for an ornament or a scissor keep.  All you have to do is stitch the design and the thing is done.  So I bought not one, but 2.  After all, I am going to have to send person no. 2 a gift and I am sure I can use the other one.

If I am rambling, please excuse me.  It is just this little exchange (or rather two exchanges) has already cost me $35 for fabric (including the extra I just had to have) and $30 for the two scissor cases.  

At this rate, I foresee myself doing some major last minute stitching for these two ornaments. I have to wait for the fabric to come in, wait for the scissor cases to come in and if choosing patterns, fabric, etc is taking this long, can you imagine how long it is going to take for me to stitch them.  After all I have to stitch a few stitches, admire what I have stitched, imagine how it is going to look finished, stitch a few more stitches, admire... You get the picture.

And before I can even start on those I must finish my "Thank you Lord for veggies" that is a Thanksgiving piece (stay tuned for pictures).

My biggest obstacle will be to stay off of this computer and stitch, stitch, stitch.  I haven't found a way yet to type and stitch at the same time.  If any of you have found a way, please let me know ASAP.

Don't forget to enter my PIF.  OH BOY!  I have now offered to stitch 3 more pieces for other people.  I foresee a stay in a psychiatric facility in my near future...

PIF (Pay it forward)

I am one for the lucky people to be drawn on Elisa's (http://oldraggedthreads.blogspot.com)
blog as a member of her PIF.
*** This is how it works ***
If you would like to receive something handmade by me within the next 365 days, please comment on this post to say that you are interested. I will then ask my DH to draw a name from the hat on October 31st (Halloween). If you are one of the chosen three then in return, please post the same offer on your blog.
This is a simple and a lovely way of spreading joy in the stitching world. I hope that you will join in and possibly become one of my PIF members!
This PIF is open for everyone!

You won't believe this

Well, I finally went to the doctor for my neck. While I was discussing my pain with him he asked if I had jerked my neck in any way the weekend before I had all the pain. I told him I had a nat flying by my ear that Sunday and I had shook my head to get it away. I had the same exact thing happen yesterday, only with a fly (this is fly season here, they are everywhere) and when I shook my head to get it away, the pain went down my neck into my back and almost floored me. Are you ready for his diagnosis????
Whiplash!!! He said when I shook my head it must have been enough to cause whiplash. The pain wouldn't have been that day but rather in the days following. He has me on muscle relaxers and heat and ice packs. He says it may take 2 or 3 weeks before it goes away.
And he also said he didn't think it would hurt me to stitch as long as I don't do any marathon stitching.
And you thought whiplash only occurs in car accidents (or at least I thought that).

Trying to stitch again

Ok, folks.  I am going to try to stitch today.  My neck is better.  Still hurts, but is better.  Wish me luck.  I will post a pic of my progress.

Oh my aching neck

Ok.  Last weekend I did some marathon stitching.  Finished a couple of projects.  Stitched in my fav chair with my head down most of the weekend.  Now I did get up to take Mom to the beauty shop, go to eat lunch out and cooked meals for the family.  I also did my laundry.

But the majority of the time I was stitching.

So......on Monday, I noticed I had a crick in my neck.  No big deal.  It would go away.  Just take some ibuprofen and put some heat on it.  Tuesday, still there.  Still hurts.  If I move it in a certain way it can make me freeze up.  Like the old movies you would see when someone strains their back and can't move.  But still, this will pass.  Right?

Wednesday, oh my.  In the morning I am ok, just a little twinge when I hook my bra or reach for my shoes.  Afternoon, I am rubbing my neck and reaching for ibuprofen.  Evening, driving home is a nightmare.  Turning my neck to look for traffic.  Oh my.

Thursday, is this ever going away????  I have a mild headache all the time.  My dh is, I am sure, tired of hearing me moan in the night (and not because of him, lol).  Friends at work are sympathetic, but again, tired of me griping.  Thursday night is miserable.  I feel like my shoulders are in my ears.

Friday.  GOOD GRIEF.  Enough already.  I come home in the afternoon.  My sister decides to help me by rubbing my neck.  She hits a spot that sends me to another planet.  A BIG PAINFUL planet.  Now the pain is between my shoulders.  When I pick up my stitching bag to take it to my room, my mom says she doesn't think I should stitch.  WELL, DUH!!!  I don't think I should stitch either.  Somehow, this has got to go away.  Now where is that bottle of ibuprofen?

More to come...

Stitching and showing off

Question:  Am I stitching more because I have a way to show off my work to more than just my EGA group or am I stitching more just because I love to stitch?

The answer is both.  Yes, I am really enjoying my Yahoo I love cross stitch group and my new blog and I am really enjoying that I can now actually show my work to friends and family who live away from here.  I don't have to weigh down their e-mail with MB of pictures sent to them.

But I am really enjoying stitching just for the joy of stitching.  Fall seems to bring out in me the need to create.  And I love all the rich colors of fall.  Green is my fav color and it is everywhere in fall along with rich browns and even the jewel tones.  Watching something develop while stitching and adding my own touches to my favorite designers' work just plain makes me smile.  Try adding a button or two to your piece.  Or changing the color of your fabric than what the sample shows.  Go bold and use Sampler Threads or Week's Dyeworks instead of plain DMC.  Watch how that design becomes more of you!

Mostly, just pick up the thread and needle and get stitching.  Now enough blogging!  Let's go make something beautiful!

Donna

My other car is a broom by Lizzie Kate

Made into a flat hanging

Side view of flat fold

Side view of Turkey time

Turkey time by Lizzie Kate

Made into a flat fold

Halloween candy jar

Stitched Halloween lolllipops attached to a candy jar (in the jar are candy "blood bags". I know, I have a strange sense of humor. Maybe from years of blood banking!

Blood donor's needed

Stitched and made into a flat fold. I think this should bring donors right into our doors! LOL

Ghoul's night out side view

Flat fold side view

Ghouls Night Out by Lizzie Kate

Made into a flat fold

Jen & me

My dd Jen and I on my birthday

All my boys and me

My dh James & my 2 gs, Trent & Craig with me

Plant, sow, garden by LK

Plant, sow, garden by Lizzie Kate.  Stitched on 28 ct. cashel and framed in a planter frame

Peace, Love and a Cure by LK

Stitched and framed with autographed copy of the pattern for Relay For Life auction.

Stitching on a Rainy Day

Is there anything more fun than curling up in your favorite chair with a piece of needlework and stitching away as the rain falls outside? I love to listen as the rain hits the window. It is so peaceful.
Donna