Drum Roll please...

After disqualifying Joe from the list of 7 people, the winning number was chosen.

The winner of the sampler is Daffy Cat.

If you didn't win, don't despair, there's another giveaway coming in a few weeks!

Thank you to everyone who is following this blog, signed up or not.

Exercise Bad.

Exercise is bad.

You know how I know? I've been doing it for a while now and all it leads to is sweating and me screaming "OH MY GOD" and trying to move as little as possible.

OK, that last part only happened once. Friday, I picked up boybat's towel from the changing room and my spine twisted into some double helix pretzel shape that it hasn't untwisted from yet. Good God, throwing your back out really freeking hurts.

 
On the plus side of this, about the only thing I've been able to do this weekend is lay in bed and stitch. In the Sweet is going pretty fast. I've been using magnifying glasses to do the one over stitching.  They're funny looking but they also keep your hands free.

Boys with Paint

Eight 7 year-old boys with tempera paint and too much energy. That's how my week started. Oh, and parents shooting me laser death ray eyes about the paint. It wasn't really that bad, I did make sure that the paint was washable, and they boys all had on their tiger cub shirts, which are normally navy blue unless some irresponsible/mischievous adult gives them paint with the only instruction being to mix it up and make art.

It was fun though, I like watching kids create. They aren't intimidated by the idea of creating. I enjoy watching their willingness to just try. If you put  a big sheet of white paper in front of them, they'll go to town, painting and coloring and drawing whatever they can imagine. A lump of clay will become a spaceship, dinosaurs, zoo animals or with boys, a gun. (I don't know whats up with that, but Boybat will nibble his toast into the shape of a gun. It must be boy genes. I used to get concerned about his obsession until I saw that all his friends did the same thing.)

The rest of my week has been chiropractor visits and massages. Tomorrow is a parent teacher conference that I'm assuming will go well. I haven't heard from any of the other moms that Boybat is the demon spawn of Beelzebub. And he does his homework, so how bad could it be? After that I'm dragging his little Boybat butt to the cross stitch store in Spokane.

I put a small dent into Sweet By and By on Sunday, but have ignored all things stitching the last three days.

Back to it tonight.

If you get a chance, remember to become a follower by March 31st so you'll be eligible to win the sampler below. I'll announce the winner that evening.

Pondering Youth and Teeny Tiny Stitches

Things I don't miss from when I was 25

Fashion

Dating

Roommates

Things I do miss from when I was 25

Endurance

Good joints

Eyesight

What brings this on you ask?  Just that I think bizarre things when I'm on a treadmill walking nowhere at 2.8 mph. That and I have decided to do this new project on 32 count linen over 1 thread. 

I don't miss thinking that I have to wear uncomfortable clothes to look good. Now, I wear giant, clunky, amazingly comfortable, Frankenstein shoes and pants that I can zip without standing on my head.

I don't miss dating. No explanation here, it was just really hard work which usually ended with sobbing and ice cream.

I don't miss roommates. Although, when I think about it, I technically have roommates, but we are all stuck with each other.

I do miss being able to stay up and out all night doing things that would put me in the emergency room or a coma today. Or, lets face it, just staying up past 10 pm on a Saturday.

I miss being able to get out of bed, walk or work out without sounding like a breakfast cereal or one of those toys Boybat had when he was a toddler. You know which ones, you push along this little clear dome with balls in it and as the toddler walks, the balls jump around and make popcorn noises.

My brain likes to pretend that its 25 sometimes. That is probably why it convinced me that doing 1 over on a 32 count linen would look great. I'm sure this looks great. Maybe someone could let me know, because, damned if I can see it without holding it up to my nose and peering through a magnifying glass. 

However, because I am an delusional masochist, I'm finishing this piece at this size.

Creepy gnomes

Time to start a new project! Why you ask? Because Lo How a Rose is making me cranky. It's the pinks. I've almost reconciled myself that I'm going to have to rip out all that stitching and use a different color. Uhgg.

So, I'll start a new project and hope that Lo How a Rose will fix itself. Maybe little scary gnomes will fix it.

Those things are creepy.

A contest, because I'm not above bribery!

I bribe Boybat. I know there are soon to be and looking forward to being moms out there right now who are cringing, exclaiming "I would never use bribery, that's just lazy parenting."

Hah! Have fun with that! I admit it, I'm not above bribery. I prefer to call it "postive reinforcement" or preparing him for real life, where people give you money to do stuff you don't want to do.

So this brings me to my point...sorta.

I finished the Ewe and Eye and Friends piece, Nancy's Sampler. I want to bribe you with it (Oh wait, positive reinforcement)! If you become a follower of this blog, Cross Stitching Mom you'll be eligible to win this piece. I'll stitch the winner's initials into the two blank boxes on the sampler, put it in a nice frame and get it to you. I'll draw the name March 31st.

Positive reinforcement, bribery, whatever, I'll use it. Good Luck

Brain Monkeys Win Again

While we were on our Seattle adventure, I got to stop at a little cross-stitch/needlepoint store in Issaquah, WA called Threadneedle Street. Every time I go in there and look at the gorgeous hand-painted canvases on the wall I consider trying needlepoint. Then, what Joe refers to as the "brain monkeys," beat that idea with a stick until it goes away ("brain monkeys" are what you have when there's so many things going on inside your head that you can't think. "Brain Gorillas" carry much bigger sticks). Eventually, I figured out that they're like the ones you see in the movies. You know the ones, locked in cages, infected with some deadly zombie virus and then "somehow" let loose on an unwitting population. Now you know why I'm like this. 

I picked up a couple nice pieces of linen and a few patterns that I mentioned earlier. Including one that I didn't even know I wanted. It was done on a gorgeous green linen that called to me...."Heaaathher, buy me, I'm greeeeeen." No seriously, my car, 40% of my clothes, Lunch bags, umbrellas, mugs, almost everything in my studio. They're all spring green. I can't help it, it's an addiction. 

I also had some time to work on a small sampler I bought almost 10 years ago. It's an Ewe & Eye & Friends pattern called Nancy's Sampler. It's going pretty fast and I'm hoping to finish it this weekend, barring any family drama and or trauma.

Tales from Seattle

We're back! Back from Seattle. We took off bright and early Saturday morning and just got back home. It was a blast and very needed here int the Butler house.

I took a small sampler project with me to work on when we were done for the day, but honestly, by the time we were done for the day, all I wanted to do was lay down and try to convince Joe that he should rub my feet (it only worked once).

Good God, we walked almost everywhere! I did actually put my very tired and sore foot down on Monday and suggested we take a cab to the aquarium. The cab ride saved my feet, but it was also like some amusement park terror ride that made me question my very existence and my choice to eat breakfast.

Back tomorrow with tales of stitching progress and what apparently is referred to as a road in Seattle, but should be called the "path to hell with no freaking exits", the viaduct.

Bye, Deef. You were a good cat

Tonight sucks. It sucks awful.

Tonight, my cat, Deformity, died. He was 19 years old. He's been my cat since I was in college. He was older than my relationship with Joe. He drooled buckets when you petted him and he loved to crawl into empty laps. He always knew who would pet him, even new visitors to the house. He knew when I was upset and would come and slam his head into my arm until I let him on my lap. He got his name because he had 7 toes on three feet and 6 on the fourth foot.

He stopped eating or drinking last week. Tonight he was still in the same place I left him in the morning. He couldn't get up. Even thinking about it right now hurts.

He was a good cat. I love him.
Bye, Deef.

Gym vs. Happy hour

Usually after a stressful week, I like to "center" myself with a fruity martini at ritual event I call Happy Hour. Alas, no more drinking the fruity alcoholic drinks for me. Nowadays, it's water and Crystal Light. Neither of which achieve the all important centering. People tell me working out can do the same thing, they're lying. I go to the gym at least twice a week and all I ever get is tired and sweaty.

Although, in the plus category, Joe agrees that a mini vacation to Seattle will be much less expensive than redecorating–I think I scared him when I came home with photos of new furniture on my phone. What can I say, I had 2 hours to waste until Boybat's pack meeting. Hello, furniture stores.

I did a bit of stitching on Lo How a Rose this weekend. I was hoping to get more done but I've hit a road block with it. I don't know that I like the color linen that its on. I'm debating tea dying the whole thing when its done. Maybe that will help tone down the pink, too.

I did get Marriage of the Minds out again. Started filling in the green around the motifs, and stitching the motifs above the path. I want to start on the people right above this, but I've convinced myself that I have to get the green done before I can move on to the next band.

Sorry about the color of the photos, it's late and I was relying on the dining room light.