Flower Power update

Here's my latest progress on Flower Power. I didn't unfurl all of the fabric, so it really doesn't look like much right now. I just had to stitch that one columbine, though. The leaves were making me kinda crazy. LOL! I'm going back to leaves, though, when I sit down to watch Top Chef in just a little bit.

Here's a picture of my bad boy Ace, just because I thought he was looking cute the other night when he was sleeping sitting up with his head resting on the back of the couch. He needs to be groomed very badly, but I still think he's a cutie. He's been home with me for about 8 months now, and I've fallen in love with him all over again. He was the busiest puppy I ever saw, and he's still a busy boy. As I write this, he's in the living room barking at his mother and sister for who knows what reason. They're probably both sitting up on the couch looking at him as if to say, "What!? You want us to play with you? We don't think so!" Poor boy!

All the dogs and I watched the Westminster Kennel Club dog show when it was on tv earlier this week. We were rooting for the standard poodle, but unfortunately she didn't win. She's a really beautiful girl; I'd like to see her in person, but I doubt I ever get the chance. I don't imagine she's going to be hitting the dog shows in Southeast Texas any time soon. I have seen the Sussex Spaniel that won in the flesh, though, since his handler lives in Houston and is at many of the shows in this area. The Sussex is a pretty boy, too, and he deserved the win. I'd really like to go to Westminster one day just to say I had been there. Many people say it's one of the worst shows to exhibit at, but I know a lot of people who would give their left arm to have the chance to show a dog there in spite of the crowding, small breed rings, etc.

Watching Westminster and writing about dog shows really makes me miss the whole thing. Well, maybe not the late nights grooming, but I really do enjoy going to the dog show. I don't have anyone who can go in the show ring right now, but maybe one day I will have a show prospect again. I feel bad saying that my youngest two aren't "show dogs," but they're really not. Ace has been neutered, so he can't be shown in conformation. Emmy is a very pretty little thing, but she's too soft, too shy, to be a good show dog. She goes to trembling if more than 3 people look at her. LOL.

Almost time for Top Chef and a little bit of needle time.

Stitching Slump

I've been in a bit of a stitching slump lately and haven't really made any progress on anything. I did get some stitches in on Flower Power last night, but I feel like I'm stuck in a never-ending loop of leaves. When you look at the pattern, you see all of the pretty flowers. What you don't realize at that point is that for every pretty flower, there must be ten leaves. I'm really getting sick of the color green! LOL.

I picked up some crocheting, thinking it might be the thing to get me moving, but I can't even say that it's doing much for me. I did find a pattern for a rectangular granny afghan (thanks to Mary on the 123 message board), and it seems like it will be a good stitch. I'm very much a novice crocheter, so I have to have simple patterns. This one is, so maybe if I'm successful with it, it will motivate me to try something a little more difficult.

Today, though, I feel like doing some sort of needlework. I've got the first disk of season two of The Tudors and a couple of other movies, so I may just park in front of the tv and stitch. If I make progress on anything, I'll post later.

Flower Power update

My friend Tara and I got to spend some time stitching tonight. We're both working on Flower Power; it's actually her fault that I decided to stitch it.

Here's a picture of my progress as of tonight. I'm in the midst of a huge bunch of leaves, and I'm finding them to be a bit tedious. I know that once I wade through them, though, that the stitching will become more fun--until I have to do more leaves!

I'm feeling sleepy, so I'll leave more updates for later.

Another Year Almost Gone

Christmas is over, and the celebration of the new year is almost upon us. For many years now, I've not been a fan of this time of year, and I can't say that anything this year helped change my opinion of it. I think the hustle, bustle, and general insanity of the Christmas season have gotten way out of control. I did most of my shopping online this year, avoiding the mall experience for a couple of short forays to get gifts that either couldn't be obtained online or that were last-minute, impulse buys. I plan to do the same for next year's shopping. The less time I had to spend among the crazy hordes at the malls or in Wal-Mart or Target helped make my holiday brighter.

I've put the Christmas stitching away (with the exception of one little ornament) and gone back to working on my "real" projects. Last night I did quite a bit on Emma's Garden (I don't think I'm ever going to finish her hair, though!), and on Jan. 1, I plan to take Flower Power out for a brief spin. I'm going to concentrate on Emma's Garden, though, since it is something my sister more or less commissioned for a friend of hers. As I've commented here before, my sis's good friend, whose only and very beloved granddaughter is named Emmah, lost her home and most of her belongings due to the flooding from Hurricane Ike. The family has bought a new home, but they have very few furnishings or decorative pieces. I'd like to get this piece finished in the next couple of months so that we can get it framed and given to them.

I'm looking forward to the end of the never-ending fall semester, too. As much as I've tried to take a vacation from work, my mind keeps returning to my end-of-term plans. I'm ready to get back into it and get finals given, papers graded, and the semester finally ended. The spring term should go much more smoothly, and then it's time to prepare again for hurricane season.

I don't know why hurricanes are so on my mind right now. I'm already fretting over next year's season, even though I know there's nothing I can do about it. The dogs and the cat are my big worries. It's difficult to evacuate with as many animals as I have, and then when we add my sister's crew into it (an ancient mixed breed, a humongous lab, and five cats), it's hard to even imagine where we could go with such a menagerie. My family and I were lucky with both Rita and Ike with only minimal damage from either storm, but who knows what the next storm will bring. I just need to shake it off and quit borrowing trouble--at least for the next few months.

I hope that all who read this have had a peaceful and joyous Christmas and that the coming New Year will bring much luck and prosperity.

Another Sunday Night

We celebrated my nephew's birthday last night, and he seemed pretty pleased with the dragon. He opened it, looked at it, and then took off to find a place to hang it in his bedroom. When he takes a gift to his room immediately, it usually means that it's a hit. Last year, my sister and I did a little scrapbook for him with pictures of his grandparents, who are all deceased now. He really only got to know my mom well; my dad died shortly after my nephew's first birthday, and my brother-in-law's parents lived in Massachusetts. When he opened the scrapbook, he paged through it and then took it to his room before even opening his other gifts. I know the scrapbook means a lot to him, so I hope that the similar reaction to the dragon means the same thing.

On a less bright note, I've got two more weeks of work to slog through before the Christmas break. Hurricane Ike really threw a monkey wrench in the semester. Normally, we would be doing final exams at this point, with commencement this coming Friday. Then we would be out of school until right after the MLK holiday. This year, we'll have two weeks out of school. We'll be finishing up the fall term during the first two weeks of January before beginning the spring term at its usual time. I know I shouldn't complain, but the loss of our usually lengthy holiday is a real drag.

I'm still stitching on ornaments and bookmarks. As always, I think I've bitten off more than I can chew. Luckily, in going through some finished items I found some ornaments I stitched last year but never did anything with. I think some of those will make their debuts this year as stocking stuffers for a few people.

My other big accomplishment this week is finishing all of the Twilight books (I know the last three have different titles, but I can't remember what they are). I can't say that I am in love with them, but I also can't say that I dislike them. The biggest thing that disturbs me is the way the main character, Bella, allows herself to be subsumed by Edward, the vampire she falls in love with. For me, her infatuation and single-minded desire to be with him is too much like the infatuations--sometimes dangerous--that many young girls develop on their boyfriends or boys whom they wish would be their boyfriends. I don't think a healthy relationship operates like that.

Off to watch tv and stitch.

The DRAGON is Framed!!!!

The picture is not great, but here's the framed dragon. It looks great in person. I left the plastic around the edges because I don't want to ding the frame up before it actually gets to my nephew.

Wine, wine, wine . . .

Just finished the backstitching and adding the charms to this little piece for my sister. I'm going to take it to the framer tomorrow when I go to pick up the dragon. I don't know which I'm more excited about--finally getting this one finished or seeing the dragon framed. I'll post a picture of the dragon after I get it home tomorrow evening.

I'm off now to work on ornaments and bookmarks. I've got to finish at least two more of each before Christmas. My friends and I at work don't exchange big gifts, but I would like to have a little something for each of them just to show them that I'm thinking of them.