Happy New Year's! (and WIPocalypse)

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your holidays have been awesome and that 2012 brings you all just as much stitchy joy as you want.

I'm at Boyfriend's for the New Year and I brought my laptop, but I'm a genius and didn't bring my charger. So now my laptop is dead and I'm updating from my touchpad. As such, stitchy update next week when I'm back home. But, while stitching madly away at College (and I will have an impressive amount to update you all with), I've also been thinking about WIPocalypse, and as such I would like to update and finalize my list:

To Finish:
College of Magical Knowledge
Mario
Riding the Wave
Tiny Rose Garden Mandala

To Make Progress On:
Medieval Shelf
Middle Earth

To Start:
Greek Mandala (contingent upon me getting a job)
Dark Queen OR Mystic Mermaid OR A New Day Dawning OR Scarlet Wizard
Treasure Quest

I've mentioned before that I'm turning into a one-at-a-timer. I'm focusing on finishing my oldest WIP first and moving to the newest. The only hitch in this plan is that I have to work on another piece while working on College (and Medieval Shelf/Treasure Quest) at least while I live with my parents. So, Mario is my oldest WIP and thus I'm focusing on finishing that one first. I will actually have a page finish on that one for you guys in a few days, when I get home!

Now, for New Year's. I have a few resolutions:
1. Get back down to 135 pounds (stereotypical, I know)
2. Be a better girlfriend
3. Move out of my parent's place
4. Get a job I actually like
5. Finish a few WIPs
6. NO MORE STASH BUYING

I think that's doable... How about you guys? Any New Year's resolutions?

I hope you all have a wonderful 2012 and stay safe out there tonight. Lots of crazies on the road.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas, and holiday season. However you do or do not celebrate, I hope you get to spend it in exactly the way you want.

Post-IHSW Mario

Foot rubs were a motivational success. Except for the part where we were super busy all weekend and I only stitched about 2 hours Saturday and Sunday. So I added a little bit more time on Monday (only about 2 hours) and got this much done on Mario.

Before:

After:

Mario - darklilace.com self made chart

Stitching on 22 count white  Aida

2 threads over 1 with DMC

So basically, most of Mario is done now and I'm almost done with the page. 

In other news, I joined the HAED forum recently. I don't know why I waited so long but now that I'm there, I'm super nervous that I'm going to do something wrong. I  know, it's silly, but right now I'm kind of lurking in the shadows, trying to figure out how to do things.

And on the weight loss front, I'm not doing too well. But I'm working on it. I found this photo of me from about two years ago that's working as my motivation:

For the record, I haven't dyed my hair - it changed color on me. I went from a brunette to a blond, go figure.  Anyway, I joined this site called fitocracy with Boyfriend a while ago. It makes fitness into a kind of game. You get points for every workout you log and you level up after a certain amount of points. They also have quests that you can complete by doing certain fitness activities along with achievements. So if this sounds like something you're interested in, feel free to add me if you're already on there or email me for an invite. Be sure to email me instead of leaving a comment just to make it easier on me since I'm so lazy. 

But I figure if I looked like that once, and not that long ago, I can do it again (by golly!). And hey, weight loss is a lot easier with friends, right? Right? Yeah... 

Happy Stitching you guys, and Merry Christmas. I hope things aren't too crazy for you guys!

Pre-IHSW

IHSW this weekend! Boyfriend is sitting next to me being supportive and giving me foot rubs while I stitch. I am certainly not going to complain. I'll be stitching Mario this weekend, so here goes.

Before:

After (and pre-IHSW):

Mario - darklilac.com self made chart

Stitching on 22 count white Aida

2 threads over 1 with DMC

In other news,  I'm on a diet. I couldn't be whinier about it. Waaaaaaaah! I want to be at 135 and I am at 149. Well, 149.4, if we're going to be honest about it. Now about those chocolate covered cherries I just got...

College 21, Tiny Rose Garden Mandala, and IHSW!

I hate scroll frames. Blasphemous, I know. But I really do. I've been working with a hoop ever since I started stitching. I love my hoop. But I realize that with Greek Mandala and all the silks and beading that's not going to be possible. I probably won't be starting GM for another couple of months, or however long it takes me to gather all the silks, but I'm already having nightmares about scroll frames. 

I think my problems are (1) that I don't know how to mount the fabric appropriately so that it doesn't get distorted and (2) it doesn't keep the fabric taught enough for me. So there you go. I've been working on Tiny Rose Garden Mandala on a scroll frame. BLAIREOIGEUTGHOWUGT. 

Tantrum over. Here's how TRGM looks so far:

A Tiny Rose Garden Mandala by Chatelaine Designs (freebie)

Stitching on 32 count Hardanger

2 threads over 2

DMC, Thread Gatherer Silk n'Colors and Mill Hill Seed Beads

I'm still kind of unsure about the colors there. It just doesn't feel like it looks right. My Algerian Eyelets still need work. Practice makes perfect, I guess. Greek Mandala will certainly give me a run for my money...

Speaking of Greek Mandala, my beads and fabric arrived a little while ago and I snuck a photo before they were put away for Christmas:

Look at all those beads! YEESH! The fabric is in the background. 

Also, I spent the past couple of days at Boyfriend's, which means College!

Before:

After:

College of Magical Knowledge by James Christensen from Heaven and Earth Designs

Stitching on 25 count antique white Evenweave

1 thread over 1 with DMC

I do have a bit of bad news about College, though. I did the math and if I want to get this done by Christmas of next year (which I do) I would have to stitch just under 10,000 stitches a month. Including December. Of course, my math could be wrong, but if it's not, then I'm screwed. Yikes. We'll see how it goes. I'm not going to give up, I just can't be disappointed if I don't finish. 

And last (but certainly not least) IHSW! Go and sign up! Click on the adorable little hermit crab on the right side under "Labels." I'll be working on Mario this IHSW, so before picture will be posted Friday!

Until then, Happy Stitching!

An Update on Conundrum

Holy crap! I just checked my email and Adrienne from TryllaCraft surprised me with Mistress Darkness! Thanks so much, Adrienne! It was a pleasant surprise (especially since I was actively getting carsick when I got the email on my phone) and I completely wasn't expecting it!

Everyday I'm stunned at how nice the stitching community is. Thank you once again Adrienne, and I highly encourage everyone to visit her blog not only for the beautiful stitching, but for the beautiful cards she makes as well!

WIPocalypse and a conundrum

The end of the year is coming fast and I guess I should do something about my WIPocalypse list. I've been putting a lot of thought into it the last few months, so here goes:

To finish:
College of Magical Knowledge
Mario
Riding the Wave
Middle Earth

To continue:
Medieval Shelf

To start:
Dark Queen
Mystic Mermaid
Treasure Quest
Greek Mandala

That's my WIPocalypse list. It could, of course, change between now and the start of the new year, but that's what I'm thinking so far. The problem is that I'm turning into a one-at-a-timer (Joyce is probably doing a happy dance) but that means that I am starting to finish stuff and see a lot of progress. It also means that multiple projects are difficult. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

The conundrum part is such. A few weeks ago I emailed Michele (from Heaven and Earth Designs) about a chart. I was wondering if there were any future plans to chart Jonathon Earl Bowser's "Mistress Darkness." She's one of my favorite Bowser pieces (my favorite being Invariance, which is already on my to do list) and I was just curious to see if she was going to get charted.

Michele, being the awesome amazing individual she is, requested Mistress Darkness from Jonathon and charted her up! She's already available on the website! Now the conundrum is such: I feel obligated to buy her and buy her now since technically she was charted on my request. However, I would really really like to finish an HAED before  buying another one, and I still have a long way to go before finishing College. So, I just don't know what to do and need advice.

Here is a picture of her. She's a bit darker than stuff I usually like, but there's something about her that's just so... striking. Anyways, help guys! HELP!

Stitchy update to come Tuesday-ish. I'm at Boyfriend's right now, stitching madly away at College.

A FINISH!!!!

I've been quiet for a while and I haven't been doing much stitching in my absence. A series of headaches put me out of commission and they got so bad I actually (GASP!) went to see a doctor. But apparently I'm fine (yay!) and back to stitching (and blog reading, I'm about 300 blogs behind, EEP!). Which means... a finish! Not a page finish or a section finish but an actual bona fide entire finish.

It's kind of cheating because it's a Chatelaine freebie, but I'll take what I can get.

Before:

After:

Just look at that sparkle!!!

Suffice it to say, I'm VERY excited. Mini Rose Garden Mandala is next. I went ahead and updated my left-hand stash-a-column. You may notice an AWESOME addition, that being the CHATELAINE GREEK MANDALA! It was on my Christmas list that I gave my mom and during the European Cross Stitch Company's Black Friday sale she handed me her credit card and said, "go buy." You don't have to twist my arm, mom! I bought the chart, bead pack and fabric since I felt super guilty about spending $200 on silks, especially after they already bought me a new camera (and a cashmere-blend sweater from White House Black Market). So I'll eventually get the silks myself. But Greek Mandala is definitely in my stash!

Also, I have  another update on College.

Before:

After:

I can't believe how fast it stitches up when there are solid blocks of color! You can see the outline of another tower on the left side there. I'm excited to fill it in next week when I visit Boyfriend again.

That's it from me for now. I'm going to bask in the glory of my sparkly finish. Thanks for all your comments, everyone! Happy stitching!

IHSW Results!

I cheated a little and extended my IHSW until today. But that's because 1. I'm at Boyfriend's and all I do is stitch here (it's GLORIOUS) and 2. I got so close to finishing another page of College on Sunday night that I decided to just keep going. And Holy Crap. I finished it. The difference between the last page and this page is kind of intense. And I'm really really proud of myself. The detail is incredible and it's just so awesome. Without further ado, here goes.

Before:

After:

College of Magical Knowledge by James Christensen from Heaven and Earth Designs

Stitching on 25 count antique white Evenweave

1 thread over 1 with DMC

I learned how to set my camera so that it takes vivid color shots, which is nice. I was going to do the second page of the second row next, but I don't want a line of demarcation to show up in the sky, so I'm going to keep going with the top row to the end. Yay! So exciting!

I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving! We did Thanksgiving 1 at Boyfriend's house today and tomorrow we're doing Thanksgiving 2 at my place. Does not bode well for my waistline, but I'm not gonna complain!

Happy Stitching, everyone, and thank you so much for all the kind comments. I haven't been able to respond to them since I'm at  Boyfriend's and I'm not on the computer as much here, but thank you so much! You're all so very kind. :)

College, Middle Earth, TUSAL, Oh my!

I'll start with the 2012 TUSAL. Hop on over to Daffycat's blog and sign up for the 2012 TUSAL! I'll be emptying my ORT jar and starting from scratch January 1!

Now for the stitchy update. I worked on College and Middle Earth. This will also serve as my pre-IHSW picture for College. I haven't gotten to stitch much on it since I had to get some stuff installed in my car that I wanted, but here goes!

Before:

After:

College of Magical Knowledge by James Christensen from Heaven and Earth Designs

Stitching on 25 count antique white Evenweave

1 thread over 1 with DMC

And now for Middle Earf, as Boyfriend likes to call it.

Before:

After:

Middle Earth from Heaven and Earth Designs

Stitching on 25 count antique white Evenweave

1 thread over 1 with DMC

I won't be able to post my post-IHSW update until Wednesday, but I hope you all have an awesome weekend of stitchy fabulousness.

An Unexpected Weekend

Here's something you guys don't know about me. I love my car. Seriously. My car is literally named, "My Baby." It's nothing fancy. Just a 2002 Toyota Corolla type S in silver. It's not exciting. It's not expensive. But it's mine. I put my heart and soul into that car. My parents bought it new back when I was in high school, but they didn't just give it to me. I had to earn it. I was 21 when I finally got it. And it was my baby.

I took care of everything that went wrong in that car. But, as all cars are, things went wrong. Engine developed a ping. Passenger side window wouldn't roll up once rolled down (I developed man muscles and put it up, permanently). It was mine, and I loved it so much.

That is my baby, as I drove away from it in my new car, sobbing. The truth of the matter is I needed a new car. Up until now my car only needed the regular maintenance things. But as of late, it started to vibrate pretty violently when driven. The engine roared when I accelerated. In my heart, I knew it was time. But I didn't like it and I didn't want to admit it. And then my parents made me.

So, without further ado, my new car:

It's a 2012 Toyota Yaris Hatchback. I really do like it. Boyfriend went with me, helped me pick it out, and actually sat there for two hours through the signing process. It's the same car we drove in Iceland except one model year newer and the color is a little darker. It's spunky. It's fun. And I'm happy with my purchase. But I will always remember My Baby.

Exhausted Ewa with Good Boyfriend, after an entire day of signing paperwork.

In other news, IHSW this weekend! Pop on over to Joyce's Blog and sign up, or click the adorable little hermit crab on the right.

Stitchy update to come Wednesday!

Stitchy Update!

That's right! Here's a stitchy update! Before that, I wanted to thank all of you for your kind comments. They mean a lot to me and made me feel loads better.

I've been sick and in bed all week, which as we all know means more time for stitching. I have to admit, my butt hurts from lying in bed and my eyes are going wonky on me from 22, 25 and 32 count. YIKES! Also, I'm still learning how to use my new camera and fiddling with the settings, but here goes!

I got tired of Riding the Wave and worked on Mario for the first time in a really long time. So here's the progress on that.

Before (old camera):

After (new camera):

Mario - darklilac.com self made chart

Stitching on 22 count white Aida

2 threads over 1 with DMC

I also worked a bunch on my Chatelaine freebie. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way it's looking and stitching on it. It's just so much fun! And it's all sparkly and pretty. Squee!

Before:

After:

Chatelaine Designs freebie - Kathy's Violets

Stitching on 32 count Hardanger

1 thread over 2 with DMC, Kreinik and Mill Hill beads

That's my first time beading! Just have to finish the little violets, the leaves inside, and some more gold and beads.

Finally, since I've been sick I've been working on College while my parents have been at work, and I've gotten quite a bit done! I'm thinking page finish by end of November? Maybe? I'm on a time crunch on this (Christmas of next year) so hopefully I can make it.

Before:

After:

College of Magical Knowledge by James Christensen from Heaven and Earth Designs

Stitching on 25 count antique white Evenweave

1 thread over 1 with DMC

Holy crap look at that confetti! Yeesh!

I've been manically wanting to do new starts on Dark Queen, Mystic Mermaid, Blue Invariance and Peacock and Doves in a Garden. I've been keeping myself from doing it but I'm so excited to do those right now. Excited to do all my projects, though. And I have a feeling that my stash is going to grow this Christmas. EEP! 

Gonna go work on Middle Earth for a bit since Boyfriend is on his way over to take care of his sick and sniffly girlfriend. Happy stitching, all, and thanks again for your support. HUGS!

EDIT: Here's a Blogoversary giveaway from krystaline at Relentless Stitching! Happy joining!

Non-Photographic Update, sorta...

I've been experiencing something of a stitchy crisis. You know, one of those, "why am I even stitching?" things. I'm still stitching, mostly because I've come down with a demon cold and have nothing better to do but also because Boyfriend loves to watch me stitch. But it's feeling kind of.... hopeless and doesn't amount to anything. Blergh. I know I'll get over it as soon as I get a page finish on something. I got tired of the horses and have been working on Mario. Will post progress pictures soon. Blergh blergh blergh.

On another note, some of you may remember that I did a photo shoot back in June. The photographer I worked with is a dear friend of mine, based in Los Angeles. He is currently in the semi-finals for the RAWards. You can find more info about it by clicking here. The event is in Hollywood and I can't make it, I don't think. If any of you are in the Hollywood area on November 17th and can spare $10, go support John Remus as voting can only be done in person.

I'm going to be honest, I'm kind of freaking out about this, for stupid reasons. My entire life, up through about junior year of college, I was openly called fat, ugly, and a combination of fat and ugly. I may have lost a lot of weight and learned to take care of myself, but I'm going to be honest, it hasn't gone away. I'm constantly striving to lose weight and be "perfect." And now holy crap people are going to be staring at my picture in Hollywood. HOLLYWOOD. And instead of being giddy and excited like a normal girl should be, I'm freaking out. "People are gonna look at me! AAAAAACK!"

Anyway, if you're curious, this is the photo of me that's going to be on display.

And yes, I know, I'm crazy. I should be happy with myself and a lot of women would love to look like me. And I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but when I look in the mirror I only see 40 pounds ago ridicule.

One last thing, I want this series. Cinderella had Fairy Godmother. Why can't I have a stash fairy?

Lots of Progress!

Well hello there, everyone! I'm going to be honest, this weekend was wonderful and my needle was smoking! I'm amazed that my fabric didn't spontaneously combust.

I was over at Boyfriend's most of the weekend, including for Halloween. We got some pumpkins and carved them:

Boyfriend carved the chicken and the biohazard symbol (on the warty pumpkin) and I carved the dragon. The warty pumpkin had a story to it. We thought it would carve like a normal pumpkin. HA! It was hard as a rock. Boyfriend broke two pumpkin carving tools on it. In the end, he picked up a drill. No kidding. A drill:

There is handsome Boyfriend getting manly on a pumpkin with power tools.

Now for stitching. I got a new camera. It's actually my Christmas present but my parents want it thoroughly tested to make sure it works fine in case it needs to be returned. So here goes.

First, the Chatelaine freebie.

Before (old camera):

After (new camera):

I love love love stitching this. I'm holding the beading off until the end but it is just a joy to stitch. I'm wondering if I could set it in clear acrylic to make a set of coasters for Boyfriend's parents for Christmas. I've never done this before and I don't know how the stitching would react. Anyone have any suggestions about this?

Next, Riding the Wave:

Before (old camera):

After (new camera):

I've started the last horse and am hoping to finish the whole thing by Christmas. Perhaps that's a bit ambitious, but we'll see. The background is mostly half stitching so it will probably go faster.

And now, College. I can't believe how much I managed to get done on College this weekend. it's amazing.

Before (old camera):

After (new camera):

You can start to see a chimney and two rooftops coming to shape. But look at all that confetti!!!

And, finally, my first foray into card-making. It's kind of a weird approach to Christmas, but I'm kind of proud of it:

Sparklies:

So, I hope you like it!

This weekend Boyfriend and I decided to watch a scary movie for Halloween. The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Bad idea. I couldn't sleep at all that night and needed the light on. Then I was afraid to go to sleep the whole next day. I'm a scaredy-cat :(

Anyway, long post, but I hope you guys enjoyed it! Happy stitching!

College - 15

I ended up surprising Boyfriend last Wednesday. He had absolutely no idea I was coming. I pulled up in front of his house, crept out of my car and stood outside his bedroom window. Then I said, "PSST!" and scared the crap out of him. After he realized it was me, though, all was good. 

Saturday we were giant nerds and saw The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in concert. Meaning that the movie was displayed on a giant screen above a stage on which an orchestra and choir were located. The music track was removed from the movie that was playing and the orchestra played the music to the movie. It was amazing. AMAZING. They're doing one movie a year through 2013 for the 10th anniversary of each movie. They also had original props from the movie set up which was SO COOL. SEAN BEAN TOUCHED THAT SWORD!!! 

Now, for stitchy updated:

Before:

After:

You can see the confetti awesomeness...

Also, I've recently been getting into card making.  As in, I'm totally excited to start doing it and am grabbing every sort of literature I can find on the subject, but I have yet to make a card. Tomorrow I'm stopping by a craft store to pick up some beginner things and start tinkering. We'll see what happens. But don't worry, I will never give up the stitch :)

Haircut Thursday. EEEEEEP!

Happy stitching!

Riding the Wave - 5

Hello all!

I'm posting this tonight because I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I originally planned to visit Boyfriend Thursday, but am considering surprise pouncing him tomorrow without his knowledge. Hopefully the plan will work out and if it does, I won't be able to stitch tomorrow, hence the update.

I've been slaving over these horses. I really just want to get them done. Unfortunately, I've been busy running errands and trying to help my parents out to justify my freeloading so I've only been stitching an hour here and there every night. But, here goes!

Before:

After:

Just 1.5 horses left and then it's all easy background stuff! YESSSSSSS!

I don't know if you guys have noticed (since I know a lot of you view this in reader and don't see individual changes to blog layouts) but I made a minor change to mine. I have posted all my current, future, and stash (well, almost all) projects on the left side of my posts. It's really more for me to motivate me to stitch more so I can make that huge long list shorter and shorter by removing a picture for every finished project. And I hope Riding the Wave is the first to go.

Now for a funny story which you're totally welcome to completely skip. I was out running errands today and it being a very warm October day and me liking to get pretty because it makes me feel good, I put on a nice dress and some heels and went out to do my errands. Now, this dress is of the low-cut variety, and I have a rather large bosom. This doesn't bother me and I figure I might as well enjoy it while I'm still young since in about 5 years it will become rather inappropriate (or inapropro as my friends like to say) to display the girls in such a fashion. But, until then, freedom for the ladies.

Ahem.

Anyway, I wanted to pick up one more video game, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time since it would complete my trilogy and it's only $10. So I walked into GameStop. In a very low cut dress and heels. I was the only female there. I speak Geekinese. I felt like I walked into the scene of a sitcom.

And let me tell you, it felt damn good.

Hugs to all and happy stitching!

IHSW - October

Hello and welcome to all my followers - new and old alike! Wow 72 people actually read my senseless babble. I appreciate each and every one of you guys :)

This weekend was IHSW which I participated in, though not as much as I would like. Last Tuesday I got a migraine that lasted through until the end of Wednesday and has been giving me trouble ever since. Also, I was "crankers" as Boyfriend puts it. So not as much stitching was done as I would have liked. I did, however, FINALLY pick a color to paint my bedroom. It's a Kelly Moore color called Colcannon and it's kind of a sage-y green. I like it because it's happy and springlike but calming at the same time. I went through so many samples it was comical by the end. I currently have 9 different colors painted on my walls in an attempt to make the decision. But when Colcannon went up I kept going back to it, so I know I made the right choice.

I also signed up for the gym this weekend. Before I quit my job and moved out here I belonged to a gym, had a personal trainer, and went running with Boyfriend three times a week. Now I'm lucky if I go running on my own twice a week. So this weekend I picked myself up and signed up for gym membership. My goal is to lose 15 pounds.

Anyway, enough of that, on to the stitching!

Before:

After:

There's a total of four colors stitched in now!

Alright well, I bought two video games today: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. $20 all together so not too bad, really. I suppose I should test them out ;)

Also, I'm grossly behind on blogs. I'm progressively catching up but my comments may appear a bit slowly. Sorry guys! I'm working on it!

Happy stitching!

My First Chatelaine!

Alright, so as promised, here's a picture of my first Chatelaine. Except that it's not done. I couldn't get to start stitching it until late today as I had my aforementioned dentist appointment this morning. That filling that fell out? Yeah...  not a filling that fell out. A piece of my tooth that cracked and sheared off. The good news though is that it didn't hurt and it's a back tooth so you can't tell when I smile. I'm always very sad when something goes wrong with my teeth since I take such good care of them :(

ANYWAY, I'm rambling. It's past midnight right now and when I'm tired I ramble. So here we go:

The picture isn't great because my camera is broken (hopefully getting a new one for Christmas) but there you go! The border is almost done. I'm saving the beading for last. First time using Kreinik, too, and I actually don't mind it. This is probably a good thing since Mystic Mermand, whenever I get to her, is just absolutely covered in different shades of green Kreinik.

I chose to stitch this on a 32-count Hardanger. First time working with Hardanger and I actually really like it. Some of you may not agree with the fabric color for this particular project, but I really like it. It feels kind of old-fashioned and classic without being stereotypically grandma-y.

I'm also going to take this opportunity to post my pre-IHSW photo:

Nope, nothing has changed.

Also, welcome to all my new followers and thank you so much for commenting. It warms the cockles of my heart to hear all the nice things you all say. I'm sorry to say I'm currently very, very behind on blog reading, but I'm working on catching up, so you may see some comments pop up soon!

Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a wonderful stitchy night!

FREEDOM! and IHSW

I'm FREE! No more temp job! Today was the last day and I suffered through it. Big Boss was super cranky and I was getting yelled at for everything, including the fact that someone else, wholly unrelated to anything I do, has a dentist appointment next month. No joke. I got yelled at for that. Sigh. Giant Butthead told me I had to come in tomorrow. I said "no." Valid reason, too. One of my fillings fell out TWO WEEKS ago and I haven't had it taken care of because I've had to work. Appointment tomorrow at 9am. So I grabbed my check (yay car insurance paid off for the whole year and a set of new tires for my car!) and got out of there as fast as I could.

So now on to the fun part. IHSW this weekend! The turnout is growing every month so spread the word, join up, and stitch! You can either click here or the little hermit crab on my right side bar :) I SHOULD be working on Riding the Wave, but I WILL be working on Middle Earth because Boyfriend is coming to visit and I like to work on his project when he's here. Just to be clear, I really have no set rotation except for working on College and Medieval Shelf at Boyfriend's and Middle Earth, Riding the Wave, and Mario when I'm at home. Other than that I stitch what calls to me.

Which brings me to the part where I'm going to attempt to buy fabric tomorrow and stitch the first freebie Chatelaine, Kathy's Violets. It's mocked up on black but I'll see what fabric I end up getting, if any. If this venture is successful, I shall post photos.

Happy Stitching, and Hermit Away!

WWIII Monster Post

After a lovely weekend with Boyfriend in San Francisco watching the Blue Angels, I'm now home and ready to share my WWIII story since I have time. I'll keep it condensed since I do have to go to bed in about 15 minutes, but here goes! If you want just the stitching update, scroll down to the bottom of this post. I won't get mad, promise.

Tuesday it was a pretty standard day of work. Big Boss wanted me to do the client billing, so I followed all the directions up until he told me that all the attorneys had already gotten their time in so I should just run it. Although this was not the procedure that I was told to follow by the girl I'm temping for, since it's the Big Boss, that's what I did. Well Giant Butthead saw that I'd run the billing and pulled a hissy fit. See, doing the billing is a long and complicated process, made even longer and more complicated by the fact that I have to run everything by Giant Butthead and wait for his email reply. I had sent the email the previous day, and a follow up email that morning, and received no response, so when Big Boss said, "run the billing," I ran the billing.

Giant Butthead got upset. Started giving me a speech about policies and procedures being in place for a reason and I have to follow them and Big Boss doesn't know how it's done so I have to ignore him. Now I've been putting up with Giant Butthead for two weeks now. I refer to him as something other than Giant Butthead in my mind, but I'm trying to keep this blog fairly nice so Giant Butthead will suffice as it gets my points across. I was fed up with putting up with Giant Butthead. So talking back commences. "I was just doing what Big Boss told me to do." "Big Boss doesn't know what's going on. The policies and procedures are in place for a reason." "I am a temp. I don't know who knows what, I do what I'm told and when Big Boss tells me to do something, I do it. If you have a problem with it talk to Big Boss." "Policies and procedures blablabla my head is up my butt." Ok, maybe he didn't say that part, but he was acting like it. It is a sad moment in my life when someone thinks I'm so stupid that I don't know what policies and procedures are. Yes, I know what they are. Yes, I know they're there for a reason. But I'm a temp, working for Big Boss, so when he tells me to do something I do it. The communication at this firm is so poor.

After this whole exchange Giant Butthead goes back into his cave (I call it that because he has all his blinds closed, no natural light coming in despite two HUGE windows, and his office is painted a deep scarlet red) and Awesome  Lady comes out, pulls me into her office and high fives me for standing up to Giant Butthead. Apparently they have had many, MANY people quit because of how he treats people. Interesting. Then Big Boss approaches me and asks why the bills aren't done. I tell him Giant Butthead wouldn't let me. Why? You'll have to ask him. Big Boss goes into Giant Butthead's office. The door is closed. Raised voices are heard. Awesome Lady pages me on the phone system to congratulate me further.

Anyway, the day kind of goes on and Nice Attorney comes up to me at 4pm and says he has a very important mission for me. Apparently one of the clients of the firm who has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets is in the hospital and they need to get her an appropriate and tasteful get well card to be FedEx-ed that day. I ask if I can have some of her assets. He says no, but there might be a bonus in it for me (hahaha). I desire a pair of shoes. He says he'll see what he can do.

Next day. Wednesday. A bunch of checks come in that I have no idea what to do with (they have to go into special accounts that I received no instruction about). I ask Giant Butthead because I have no choice. He tells me nothing. He leaves me to fend for myself. I ask him again and he again gives me no useful information. This has to be done TODAY. People are pressuring me and asking me when it will be done. Receptionist Lady keeps saying it has to be done. Giant Butthead gives vague instructions that tell me nothing. I ask Awesome Lady but she doesn't know. I'm freaking out, looking for deposit slips that I can't find. The instruction that was given to me literally states, and I quote, "oh, don't worry about that. I don't think you'll get any." Gee, thanks. Awesome Lady and Big Boss walk by and Awesome Lady asks if I found the deposit slips. I burst into tears. Big Boss pulls me into his office and I start hyperventilating, sobbing, and tell Big Boss that for two weeks I've been trying my best and for two weeks Giant Butthead has been treating me like a piece of human garbage and not offering me any help. I was very up front about the fact that I have no experience doing what they are asking me to do, and yet it seems that I am expected to do it. Yet when I asked for help, I'm answered with, "Wellaydunno." Well I don't know, either. And if he doesn't know (which he does) and I don't know, how am I supposed to do it?

Big Boss is displeased with Giant Butthead. Big Boss also pulls me off financial stuff I can't handle. If I don't know how to do something, I'm to go to him. VICTORY! Big Boss exchanges words with Giant Butthead. Suddenly, everything gets solved and there's no more "Wellaydunno"s. It took Giant Butthead all of TWO MINUTES to do what he was making my life miserable over for an hour. Nice Attorney comes up to me. "Whatever it is [Nice Attorney] the answer is no." I was swamped and stressed out and couldn't handle another task.

Later, Nice Attorney asks, via email, if he can offer any assistance or if I needed anything. I answer vodka. He asks what size. I answer Industrial. He says he'd see what he could do. Next day he shows up with a 750mL bottle of vodka and Bloody Mary mix. Friday after we had Bloody Marys at work. Then I got to drive down and visit Boyfriend and have a wonderful weekend with him. Never did get the shoes, though.

So that's my  WWIII story. Giant Butthead and I are not friends. BUT I HAVE 3 MORE DAYS LEFT!!!!! October 12th is my last day. They asked me to stay longer but I said no. I just can't handle it for longer. 

So now, the stitchy update. I've been focusing on Riding the Wave when I'm at home, and College of Magical Knowledge when I'm at Boyfriend's. I'm pretty pleased with both, though I was only at Boyfriend's for two days and we did stuff both days so not much stitching. Saturday we watched the Blue Angels in San Francisco and Sunday we got all dressed up and had fancy Brunch at a really nice place. So, without further ado, here is my progress on both.

Riding the Wave before:

Riding the Wave after:

College of Magical Knowledge before:

College of Magical Knowledge after:

Boyfriend and I have a fun thing with HAEDs now that I'm gridding where he chooses the symbol for me to stitch. So I stitch all of that symbol, and he chooses the next one until the whole page is done. I kind of love it and so does he. He gets so excited to choose the next symbol.

Also, I got some questions about what I use to grid. I use Easy Count Guideline (available at 123stitch.com) and I really like it. It's kind of like fishing line except really easy to see (as you can see above) and it pulls right out without leaving marks. 

Anyway, it's 12 minutes past my bedtime. Welcome to all my new followers and thanks to everyone who comments! I try to respond to everyone via email, and those who don't have email listed, I respond to within the comments section, so if you think I'm ignoring you, I'm sorry! I do try to respond to everyone!

Bring it on, Giant Butthead. Three days left. Happy stitching!