I *heart* San Man!

I not-so-recently discovered San Man Originals. The designs are so adorable! I joined the BB and so far I am having lots of fun drooling over everyone's finishes . Sandy gives out a lot of freebies to members, so come and join us!

Here is my first ever San Man progress pic:


It is called Oh Holly Night. Its part of the monthly SAL on the board. I decided to use GAST floss instead of the recommended DMC for a variegated and subtle look. I was originally going to stitch it over-one and make it into an ornament, but decided against it. I will instead find a pretty frame for this project when I am done.

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In baby news, I will have my 3 hour glucose test tomorrow. I hope everything turns out okay. I will be stabbed four times. Yay me. You're jealous, aren't you? First stabbing will be before I drink the nasty crap and then a stabbing every hour after. My appointment is at 9am, so that means if I am lucky, they will see me at 9:30, finish at 12:30 and be at work at 1... Ooops, lunch first. So I will be at work at 1:30. Yikes! My doctor said to bring something to eat right after. She also said to bring something to do while I wait (don't have to remind me about that one!). I figure I will take a nap and then do some stitching. I *must* remember to bring needles this time! Can't stitch without a needle!

In other baby news, she let me sleep last night! Yay! Good girl! There was no body slamming, and no head-butting. I really appreciate that since I had major ligament pains this morning. It took forever to get out of bed to reach the alarm clock on top of the tv. I felt better after doing some very minor leg stretches though.

Ornamentification!

Yes, that is the official word for finishing an ornament. :)

I worked on this yesterday but was too lazy to take a pic, hook up the camera to the puter, re-size the pic, etc. so I did that today. :) I really like how it turned out. I just used some white cardboard, used acid free glue to stick batting to both sides, then tucked the padded cardboard into the ornie. The next time I finish an ornie, I think I will try to lace the pieces into some foam core.



In baby news, I saw my doctor today. She says the baby and I are doing well. I now weigh 113 lbs. The baby's heartrate is 157. I told her my concerns about my belly size... that I seem to be so much bigger than any of my friends at 28 weeks. She said the belly just looks big coz I'm so small. Then while leaving the clinic, there were two girls in the waiting area and one of them goes, "Oh my gosh, she looks like she's ready to pop!" Yes, I am sure she was referring to me. There was no one else there. Oh well. Not that I care if I get big or not. I just want the baby to be healthy... And I want to make sure they have the due date right!

Happy Dance # 10

I cannot believe that I've finished 10 project for 2007 already. Its a bummer that I can't share one of the HDs yet, but that's okay. The latest finish is On The Hunt by Brittercup Designs. Its from the leaflet, A Touch of Wilderness. I started this project on March 15th and finished it today. It was a fun project to work on. The design is relatively simple, but I still ended up having to frog a lot. This was stitched on 28 count Silvery Moon Cashel Linen using GA fibers.

Glucose Test. Ugh. Part 2.

I get a call from my doctor's office today saying that the results of my glucose test were high and that I will need to do the 3 hour test next week. Lovely. They have a script ready for me and the doctor will explain more when I see her on Monday afternoon. Great.

I get to be poked at least 4 times next week. I'm supposed to get blood drawn for my monthly Thyroid test and then the glucose test. I'm not sure what's worse, drinking the crap or getting stabbed by techs who don't care if they're hurting you or not.

Glucose Test. Ugh.

I know I whine too much. But it really was one big ugh. I set my glucose test appointment over a week ago for 9 am today. I dawddled too much and didn't get there until 9:12. Oh well. The tech didn't call me until 9:30. So she makes me drink 10 oz of crap that had 50 grams of glucose in it. Imagine cheapo, generic orange soda that was left in an open container for 3 days. It was sweet, it was gross and it left a funny taste in my mouth. The only positive thing was it was really cold. If it wasn't, I would've probably thrown up. I just did NOT like it at all. I had to chug all 10 oz in less than 2 minutes. Then the tech said I could wait in the other room. So I watched Regis and Kelly for a few minutes. Baby starts kicking like crazy and I get woozy. I had planned on being there for an hour so I brought a project to stitch. But silly me forgot to bring needles. So no stitching. Just as well since I felt woozy and it would have been a bad idea to stitch. I took a nap instead. I thought sugar was supposed to make you hyper? It totally knocked me out! I woke up at 10:45 and the tech are nowhere in sight. Great. So I wander around and look for the tech who made me drink the crap. She draws blood (ouch) and sends me off my merry way.

I will find out the results when I see my OB-GYN on Monday. Ooh, that reminds me. I need to set another appointment to get blood drawn for my thyroid test next week. Great. More blood work. It doesn't hurt, really. I just can't stand the thought of getting poked.

Updates

I promised to take better pics of my Bloom ornie, so here you go:



I also had DH take a piccie of my belly. Here are the before (2 weeks ago) and after (tonight). This is week 27 and I'm at 110-111 lbs.



I have a VERY active baby. She likes to kick a lot... unless someone actually wants to feel her kick, then she stops and stays still for about 2 hours. I have co-workers trying to bribe her just to feel her kick ("Baby, if you kick for me, we'll go shopping"). She doesn't go for it. LOL.

As you can see, I'm wearing my maternity jeans. I finally bought a pair this weekend. I can't believe I waited so long to buy them! They are *SO* comfy!!! I got these at Penney's. I tried shopping at the Bon-Ton, but their maternity section should be burned. Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! I wish there were maternity dresses that didn't have bows in the front, or weren' stripes or polka dots. We want to look good darnit!

On The Hunt

I went off my schedule a bit and started stitching On The Hunt from Brittercup Designs' A Touch of Wilderness instead of working on Long Dog's The Token. I started this project on March 15th. It seems like a very simple design, but I've had to re-stitch the foxie's back 4 times. I was off by 1 stitch the first time, off by 2 stitches the 2nd time and off by 1 stitch the 3rd time. 4th time is a charm. Its so cute! I don't have a lot left to do, just the ground and 2 plants left. I'm hoping to finish this by next weekend then I can work on The Token.

Oh! I am now missing another LHN chart (Spot of Coffee). Its a teeny tiny thing so I can understand how I've misplaced it. But I've checked everywhere twice already and I still cannot find it. What is it with me and my LHN charts? I should get a bin for my smaller charts so I don't keep losing them.

I Am Not Amused

I purchased LHN's Home of a Needleworker in late December. I received my order in January. And now I cannot find it anywhere!!!! Argh!!!!


UPDATE: All I had to do to find it was to bitch about not finding it! Whooohooo! It was stuck inside a Herrschners catalog. :) Sooo happy now. :)

C'mon Spring!

I have a new happy dance. Hopefully this will bring good ju-ju and spring will come sooner. :) It's Bloom from Lizzie*Kate. Its a freebie and I just used good ol' reliable DMC floss to stitch it. It was a really fast stitch and I had lots of fun working on this project. I also figured out how to do 2 colored cording. Yay me!



I also finished stitching (not finishing) Home for the Holidays by Little House Needleworks. This design is from the JCS Ornie Issue 2005. I will probably make it into an ornie this weekend.

Four Years Ago

Four years ago, on Saturday March 8, T & I were married in the little town hall of Middletown, NY. :) I cannot believe that it has been 4 years already. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday.

Fast forward to present time, I am now 25 weeks and 4 days into my pregnancy. Here are some pics taken last Tuesday.





Talk about a big belly! I knew I was big, but I didn't realize just how big until we took pictures. I think I would like to start taking weekly pictures to see just exactly how much I grow. I went from wearing size 0-1 jeans to now wearing size 7 (juniors). My pants that we purchased 2 months ago do not fit me anymore. Its really insane considering that when we went shopping, a size 3 would've fit me just fine. I think its time to just go ahead and purchase maternity pants that have the belly panel. My mom sent me a pair of maternity capris with the panel and they are soooo comfy! So much better than regular pants.

As for cravings, I am completely over the strawberry milkshake phase as well as the chicken phase. Right now, its beef, beef, and more beef. Oh! I love chocolate again too! I'm actually craving it. What I really miss is coffee. I haven't craved it in months, but now all I want to do is go to Starbucks and get a Venti Raspberry Soy Latte. Yummmmm.

In other news, my order from SB&B finally shipped today! Yay! I should get it on Monday. I *cannot* wait any longer! I'm so excited to see all my new stuff. :)

Cravings

I think my Japanese food craving has finally passed. I had it for lunch AND dinner on Friday, lunch on Monday and lunch again today. My meal was great but as soon as I finished it, I knew the craving was gone. It was the same feeling I had after I finished my last strawberry milkshake. I can't really describe it, I just know it.

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I've been playing around with my blog. I wanted to change the whole look of it, but I couldn't find one that I liked. Well, no. That's a lie. I really like Jo's blog. But that's Jo's blog, not mine. I want to have something that screams ME or at the very least, something I really, really like. So in the meantime, I've been playing around with my sidebar. I moved the blinkies to the bottom of the page, added a list of my March goals and I will highlight my 3 most recent finishes. If that doesn't motivate me to stitch more, I don't know what will.

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Last night, I was feeling quite productive so I decided to inventory my stash. I decided to tackle the easiest bit and started with my non DMC floss collection. I have more than I thought I did! LOL. I just used Excel to make life easier. Each company had its own spreadsheet (NN, Caron, WDW, etc). Each spreadsheet has columns for code, color, number of skeins, type (silk, cotton), and notes. Under notes I would put in if its a full or partial skein. Next step will be to organize my DMC collection. I'm supposed to have a full set in bobbins, but I can never find anything. I also have my extra skeins in various bags and bins. I really need to organize that. I have decided to put my extra skeins in Floss-A-Way bags. I have less than 100 bags here right now, I have another 100 that I ordered. I will buy more as soon as I can and get organized. I still haven't decided how to inventory/catalog and organize my charts yet. Any ideas?

2007 - The Year of the Ornie!

I have been a total slacker and haven't bothered to post HD's or update my gallery. Shame, shame, shame. I finally got off my slacker butt and found the batteries for the camera (they were in the glove compartment in my car - how they got there I have no clue), and took pics of my HDs.

You can read the details in my gallery.










Not only did I finish my model today, I also finished Dragon Dreams' Morning Fairy! Yay!!! I think I will work on Long Dog's The Token aka The Purple Project next.

Morning Fairy WIP Pic

I was quite upset that I couldn't find my extra skein of 796 I needed to work on my model. After moping for a few minutes, I decided to go through my WIP pile and work on Dragon Dreams' Morning Fairy. Here are the before and after pics:

This project should get finished this month as well. I will probably attempt to lace and frame it myself, if not, I can try to make a cube-it. The fabric was a RAK from Laura (Under Welkin) from The Wagon. I used Crescent Colors' Vintage Violet for the words. I also made her a brunette instead of a blonde. Please don't ask which DMC colors I used because I cannot remember! LOL.

I have also updated my gallery.

March Goals

I have never set monthly stitching goals. A bunch of friends at the Needle & Thread BB do it and I thought I would give it a try.

1. Finish Project X (my model) - I'm almost done and I was SURE that I had an extra skein of 796 and now I can't find it. Must go to the store tomorrow and get the skein (among other things) and finish this one up.

2. Finish The Purple Project (Long Dog's The Token) - I'm so close to the end. I think it will be easy to finish it this month.

3. Stitch and "finish" a Spring Ornie

4. Stitch and "finish" a Christmas Ornie

5. Start stitching on A Touch of Wilderness for DH (I'm just waiting for my order to get shipped).

I think those are good goals and that I can actually do them.

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In other news today, we tried a new-to-us Sushi bar at lunch. Two of the guys at worked passed by this little place called Sakura (surprise, surprise) and decided to try it. We tried looking them up, but they don't have a website. So instead of getting stuck on just getting California rolls, I decided to call and I asked them to fax over a menu to our office. Yay! They had teriyaki lunch boxes! Whoohoo! I have been dying for some terriyaki. The lunch box had a good amount of rice and beef, two slices of Japanese omelette, 4 California rolls, an assortment of tempura (2 shrimp, 1 potato, 1 broccoli, 1 onion) and a salad with miso dressing. It was soooooooo good. I loved everything except for the salad. It tasted very sour to me and not in a good way. But I was so happy.

In fact, I was so happy that DH and I ordered food from there for dinner. :) We got so much food! I had no idea that the dinner boxes would have that much more than the lunch boxes. The dinner boxes came with 8 California rolls each. We got the beef teriyaki and the chicken teriyaki. We also tried the AAC roll (avocado, asparagus and cucumber). It was amazing. We also got the shrimp tempura roll, more California rolls and the Sakura rolls (it had smoked fish, avocado, crab and other yummy stuff). No, we did not eat everything, but I know what we're having for lunch tomorrow. :)