Ornie Happy Dance

This is now Happy Dance #17 for 2007. I started and finished this today. It's Merry Christmas by Nancy Boyarsky of Glory Bee. I was lucky enough to find the JCS 2003 Ornament issue when I went LNS hopping with Jenn back in May. I stitched the ornie on a piece of 32 count Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan using DMC 115, GAST Blue Spruce and Toasted Marshmallow. Its a really small ornie and was a very quick stitch.

I'm off to search for an ornie to celebrate Ayame's first Christmas. I'm thinking of something Snowman, but I haven't decided which one yet.

Finishing Happy Dance

I finished TW's Beginner's Whitework Ornie V 3.0 last night. The stitching was completed in 2005 and it lay patiently in a Rubbermaid bin for over 2 years before I finally picked it up yesterday to do the finishing touch. It was stitched on white DMC linen (yuck) using Passion Flower Needle Necessities floss (# 1941).

I think that is it for my unfinished ornies. Now to finish Coffee Menu and then try to stitch a couple more ornies for Christmas. :)

Coffee Menu

As promised here is Coffee Menu by LHN. I am having so much fun with this design. I usually start stitching either from the center of the design or from the top left corner. With this project, I stitched the border first and then I started at the bottom left and I'm working my way up. I made a boo-boo in the project. I counted wrong and had to fudge a bit. The original design only had 2 spaces between the border and the leaves. My version has 3 spaces on all sides. I miscounted somewhere and it was easier to just add the extra stitch here and there rather than frog.

Android Hell

"The Enrichment Center once again reminds you that android hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance."

T got The Orange Box and has been playing Portal. I even gave it a shot. It's really fun and absolutely funny! "Please note that we have added a consequence for failure, any contact with the chamber floor will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official record, followed by death." LOL. If the darn game didn't make me so dizzy I would love to play more.

"The Enrichment Center would like to remind you that you will be baked and then there will be cake". LOVE IT!

******

In stitching news, I am working on my next LHN project. It's off to a wonderful start. That's a sarcastic remark, by the way. The margin on the left is bigger than the margin on the right. It is driving me absolutely nuts, but I refuse to frog so much stitching and start over. REFUSE! Hopefully the top and bottom margins measure correctly.

******

Work is going great. I've completed 52 hours as of today. And a bunch of people already tinkered around with a spreadsheet that took me forever to figure out and format. HA! That's why I keep the updated copy on my PC at home and just save a COPY on the server. It is now password protected and I am pretty sure that at least 2 guys hate me now. Oh look, I care. :P

Working Girl

I have a job!!! Whooohooo!!!!!! My old boss sent me an IM yesterday asking me to call the office. He said that if I was interested he had a job for me. So you're offering me a job that I can do from home, working with people I like... of course I'm interested! Its nothing glamorous or exciting. I will be doing a lot of grunt work (research, Excel sheets, database stuff), but its work. I have never been so excited to look at an Excel sheet before. :) I started today and it was really good. I worked for 4 hours while Ayame took a nap. It feels so good to have a job again. My ego really needed this.

******

In stitching news... I worked on the back piece for my TW Ornie Versions 2. I chose the letters used in TW's Birth Announcement, charting it over 2 instead of over 1. I really like the result. I finished stitching the ornie in 2005, so that's the date that I put in. Tonight I will work on actually turning it into an ornament. Come back tomorrow to see the final product! :)

Inspiration!

Lo and behold! Happy Dance number 14 for this year!


I stitched it on a piece of hand dyed linen purchased from The Needle Hive using DMC 3865. The design is called Inspiration and ***I*** designed it! :) Yes, I am so proud of myself. I originally designed it to be a little bigger, but I excluded the outer bits. It looks so light and delicate right now and the waffle stitches that I was going to stitch on the outside would just make it too heavy, distracting from the delicate center. Anyway, I had so much fun designing this piece. I have DH to thank for inspiring (yes, pun intended) me to design. :) He encouraged me to try it and I did! Sooo much fun! I have a couple more designs in the works. They still need a lot of tweaking though. What I really love about this is that I am trying out new-to-me stitches and I get to experiment with textures.

No, Spot of Coffee isn't finished yet. It sat on the scanner until I had to take it out to scan Inspiration. Oh well. I will try to work on it some tonight and this weekend.

******

Noreen, I buy generic diapers from Stop and Shop. Each pack costs $6.99 (48 pieces for size 2). Sometimes I buy Pampers or Huggies, but only if I have a coupon and if it comes out to be less than $6.99. I've also tried Walgreens' generic diapers, but SNS is still cheaper. I tried generic wipes, but I didn't like the ones from SNS. They tore easily and even the unscented ones still smelled a bit. I much prefer Pampers Sensitive Wipes.

Shh... Baby is Sleeping

Bassinet: $125. Formula: $25. Diapers and wipes: $15. Baby who soothes herself to sleep: Priceless!

******

As promised, here is a progress pic of Spot of Coffee. I didn't get to stitch at all last night. A design idea popped in my head and I had to focus on that before it went away.

Ta Da!!!

As promised, here is my TW Whitework Ornie. You can get the chart here. I stitched this in 2005 and finally *finished* it properly over the weekend. As you can see, I chose the simplest method of finishing. I didn't know better back in the day and didn't leave much room for margins. I purchased the ribbon back in 2005 after all the stitching was done. I think it needs a bow though. It looks to plain. It's missing something. What do you think?

I have 2 other versions of this design. I will probably work on finishing them next weekend.

I didn't get to work on Spot of Coffee yesterday. I will try to work on it a little bit tonight as soon as I finish all my chores. I will post a progress pic tomorrow.

See ya!

Spot of Coffee 1

My current WIP is LHN's Spot of Coffee. I am stitching it on a piece of Charles Craft 28 count Tea Irish Linen using the recommended DMC floss. I am enjoying the project so far despite cutting the fabric wrong. There seems to be enough margin on the right side, so its not so bad. One thing though... I am not too fond of this fabric. I only bought a small roll to try and I will not be purchasing anymore. The fabric is rough and the weave is very loose. I much prefer Charles Craft's Monaco which is soft and has a very tight weave. Anyway, I hope to finish this project by the weekend.

Spot of Coffee © Little House Needleworks

***********

I signed up for the Attic Needlework newsletter ages ago and it has been absolutely horrible. Every week I see something I like! LOL. The latest newsletter is no exception. I am drooling over these two charts:

Cappuccino © Little House Needleworks

Black Dahlia © Examplar Dames Design

*Drool drool* I love, love, love both designs. Both have found their way into my ever-growing wish list of course.

**********

Ayame is doing great. She is now sleeping through the night, 8 hours straight! Yay SLEEP!!! She does get REALLY FUSSY before she finally falls asleep though. A nice feeding helps a lot. She smiles all the time and is talking so much! She loves to look at Daddy and its just so adorable. DH plays around with her and tries to hide and poor baby would probably turn her head 180 degrees if she could just so she can see Daddy. :)

Postpartum Hair Loss

Before giving birth, I read somewhere to expect some postpartum hair loss. Fine, whatever. No problem. I've been told more than once that I have enough hair for 3 people. I pity the poor girl who has to wash my hair at the salon, and I feel totally horrible for the poor girl who has to blow dry my hair. But I digress. No one told me CHUNKS would fall out! I'm not even exaggerating. I showered and there was hair EVERYWHERE. Really scary. After doing some research, I found out that an insane amount is to be expected. I still have a lot of hair, but I think it would be less scary if my hair wasn't so long... the clumps falling out wouldn't look so alarming... I hope.

In stitching news, I am still working on LHN's Spot of Coffee. I realized last night that I cut my fabric wrong. I went by the measurements given on the chart. The only problem is the model was stitched on 32 count. I'm using 24 count. My right and bottom margins will be smaller than I'd like (about an inch), but it should still be okay. *fingers crossed*

3 Months Old!

Can you believe how big my baby is now? Time is going so fast. It seems like only yesterday that I gave birth.

A few hours after birth

One month old

2 months old

3 months old

************************

I finally finished Arabesque A for Ayame. The last 3 rows on the right side took me about 3 days to finish! I can't really stitch while holding a baby. LOL. The picture is crappy, but I promise to take a proper scan later today. I stitched it on 32 count Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan using Waterlilies in Iris. I would love to stitch her whole name, but then that would mean purchasing more Jobelan and more Waterlilies. Maybe next year...

Stash Lust

Oooh. I am in love with this design! It's ABC Tapestry by Rosewood Manor. It is GORGEOUS! I wish someone would post a better picture. I would love to see the details on it.
I am really lusting over all the monochromatic designs that are coming out. Now do I really need to buy all of them? No, but its not a question of need anyway. :)

I also recently purchased Long Dog's Paradigm Lost. I haven't decided on what color to use yet. I love purple, but do I really want to have another Gigantic Purple Project? Maybe. If I found the right floss.

Right now I am working on a mini Purple Project for Ayame. Its the letter A from Passione Ricamo's Arabesque Alphabet Collection. I am stitching it on 32 count Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan using Waterlilies in Iris. How appropriate (Ayame is Japanese for Iris). I love how its coming along. I would like to find a nice frame for it, though I haven't decided on the color yet.

Happy Dance # 12

I finished this cute design Sunday Morning. Its called Lavender Bag by Shirley Toogood. I stitched it on 28 count white opalescent Lugana using DMC's Color Variation floss. The design originally used pink and green floss, but I decided to change it up a bit. The design was featured in Cross Stitch Collection Issue # 115.

Right after I finished Lavender Bag, I decided to re-start Season's Tweetings by San Man Originals. I had originally started stitching it over one on 28 count Lugana until I remembered how much I HATE stitching over one. So I started it over on a piece of 22 count cream Aida using DMC floss. I like this so much better than over one. Its still small enough to just use 1 strand but my eyes are not killing me and my stitches lay so much better on Aida compared to when I attempt to do over one stitching.

I did just realize after scanning the picture that I will have to frog the last S in Season's as well as G and S in Tweetings. I'm off by a lot! More progress pics to come. :)

In baby news, I saw my OBGYN yesterday. I'm at 33 weeks and my fundal height is 34 cm. She wasn't all that worried about that. I also weigh 115 lbs. The doctor seems pleased that I didn't lose or gain weight since the last visit. She also thinks my glucose levels are okay. I asked for another ultrasound to check on the baby, but she said it's too early for another one... maybe at 36 or 37 weeks. I also asked if I was considered to have a high risk pregnancy because of the GD. She said no and that I was having a very healthy pregnancy so far. So its all happy happy. :)

Week 30

I have gestational diabetes. I'm on a 2200 calorie diet and ice cream and candy are forbidden. I have a handy dandy glucometer, aka the stabbing machine. I tried it at the doctor's office. Its not horrible, so I won't bitch about it... yet. I have to stab myself 4 times a day (when I wake up and 2 hours after each meal). But I get to have a snack after the stabbing. Yay me. You're jealous, aren't you? My OBGYN also wants me to start writing down everything I eat.

My belly now measures 40 inches all around. I use my belly button as my mark. I have a bunch of stretch marks on the underside. Lovely. I still get ligament pain, although I'd like to think that its not as bad as it used to be. It only really bothers me in the morning when I have to get out of bed. Does anyone have any getting-out-of-bed techniques for me? The head of our bed is elevated about 4 inches, if that matters.

Baby is very active, which is good. Both my OBGYN and the endo said that its important to keep track of the baby's movements. I should feel her move multiple times a day. No problems there.

In stitching news... I barely stitched the past week. I'm still working on San Man's Oh Holly Night.

In other news... I love the Nintendo Wii! I get great exercise playing tennis and bowling. If you don't have it, get one! :)

Week 29

Here is my latest pic. It looks like I have a scar! Really, its not that red in real life. How vain am I? LOL. I have some stretch marks in the lower front of my belly. I also have this dark stripe that runs the length of the front of my belly. It almost looks like a scar, but its smooth. It looks very weird. The pic on the left is week 27 and the pic on the right is week 29.



I feel bigger, although it doesn't look like I got bigger in the pictures. I still get ligament pain. It is worst in the middle of the night (when I have to switch positions) and in the morning when I have to get up and out of bed.

I also don't feel as exhausted as before. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bouncing with energy, but I'm not falling asleep as soon as I sit down either.

**********

In stitching news, its time for a recap! Here are my March goals:
Finish Project X (model) - YES!
Finish The Token (almost there) - Did not finish, but worked on a little bit
Stitch and finish 1 spring ornie - YES!
Stitch and finish 1 Christmas ornie - YES!
Start A Touch of Wilderness (the foxie) for DH - Started and FINISHED

April goals:
Finish Oh Holly Night
Start and finish Seasons Tweetings
Finish The Token
Stitch and finish a summer ornie
Work on DH's stocking
Organize DMC extra skeins

Glucose Test Whine

I had my glucose test last Friday. My appointment was at 9. I don't know why I bother setting an appointment since Quest doesn't follow it anyway. They got to me around 9:30. I got poked on my right arm first then she made me drink 10 oz of orange crap that had 100 g of glucose. For a while I was worried that I would have to drink 3 bottles of the crap since this test was 3 hours and the last test was 1 hour. The stuff was NASTY. It took me 20 minutes to finish the bottle. And the count to the first hour didn't start until AFTER I drank every last drop. After that, it was 30 minutes of trying really, really, really hard to not throw up. Baby didn't like it either. She was throwing a crazy fit, which did not help me at all. The techs said to try really hard not to get sick coz I would just have to drink the crap again. I DID NOT want to drink any more of that stuff every again. The crap finally knocked me out and I woke up in time for stabbing #2. The tech decided to stab my right arm again. She chose a different vein, but it still hurt. I decided to stitch a bit and I finally got to work on Long Dog's The Token. Stab #3 was on the left arm and stab #4 was on the right arm. Both arms are still bruised today. I hope the test results are okay. I do not want to have gestational diabetes. I don't want to have to prick myself everyday and watch what I eat. I'm Asian. You can't tell me to not eat rice or to just eat a little bit of rice. That will kill me.

In other news, T is back from North Carolina! Yay! I slept really good Friday night. So good that I didn't wake up until 3 pm Saturday! Yikes! I was a bit disoriented when I woke up finally, but I felt so rested. It was the first time in a while that I didn't have heartburn or didn't have to get up to pee. :)

In stitching news, I am still working on Oh Holly Night. I am so close to running out of floss though. Carol has offered me a skein of GA Pomegranate. Thanks Carol!

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.

**********

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!

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.