Good Grief, is that the time?

I cannot believe how much time has gone by since my last blog.

Oopsie.

Guess I have been busy doing other stuffs and totally forgot about my peeps here.

Oopsie.

My most humble apologies.

So!

What's going on with Our Crazy April you ask?

Weeeeelllll.....

Spunky had surgery on his leg two weeks ago.  He had a growth on his dew claw and due to rapid growth and tenderness it was decided to remove the whole thing, claw and all.  The growth is benign and should not spread.  Spunky is slowing going crazy as we are on a no walkies type of deal.  Again.

It is going to be hell getting ready for our marathon next month.  

Might just decide to do half.

::sighs::

What else, you ask?

Weeeeeellll... there was a little excitement over being accepted into the Royal School of Needlework for their foundation degree in hand embroidery... only to discover that due to rules changes they are not currently accepting students from outside the EU.  

Well.

Guess I'll go back to plan A and take the certification course instead... no residency check required.

What?  That isn't enough to keep me away from blogging?

What else?

Weellllll... okay.... I've been working through some more of that hormonal crap.

Seriously tired of it and I'm sure it is only starting.

Please may I have my sexuality back.  Would make things a whole lot easier.

Just saying.

And finally...

Been stitching.  What else?

The Sampler in Time is finally moving along nicely even though I had to rip out several hours worth of work yesterday.  I have been posting progress pictures on instagram, tumblr and facebook.  I have a fabulous new following on tumblr who are dying to know when the pattern will be for sale... :-D  

Found this in my inbox the other day...

"Are you going to sell that Sampler in Time pattern BECAUSE I NEED IT IN MY LIFE SO BADLY!"

Made my day.

Then yesterday I open my mail to discover I've sold my first pattern!!! 

Squeeee!!!!

Ahem.

So.  Anyway.

Let's see if I can keep you updated a little better in the coming days, shall I?

Moving right along!

SING WITH ME!!!!

Movin' right along in search of good times and good news,
With good friends you can't lose,
This could become a habit!
Opportunity knocks once let's reach out and grab it (yeah!),
Together we'll nab it,
We'll hitchhike, bus or yellow cab it!
(Cab it?)

Movin' right along.
Footloose and fancy-free.
Getting there is half the fun; come share it with me.
Moving right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon).
We'll learn to share the load.
We don't need a map to keep this show on the road.

(Hey Fozzie, I want you to left at the fork in the road.  Yes sir!  Turn left at the fork in the road. Keeeermiiiit!  I don't believe that)

Ahem.  

Sorry.  Got a bit distracted by the title!

But.  The title and song are a good indication of how things are going around this place of late.

The second week of marathon training went well.  The distance was five miles and I did it around my favorite coastal village, Walberswick.  However.  I have come to the conclusion that geocaching on my distance walk days is a bad idea.  With all the starting and stopping it will do nothing to build my endurance for keeping up a race pace over longer distances.  Sad, but if I want to keep Spunky's backers happy we need to stay on track.  I'll just have to geocache on EZ days!  

Nutrition was harder this week.  Found myself going over my calorie goal, but still inside what I was burning.

(calorie goal is 1570, but I can add the amount of calories I burn in a day if need be)

That doesn't help with the weight loss, but I did not gain any back, so I'm still happy.  It was harder this week to work out so much.  I was hungry alot, so took good care to eat good things and be mindful and not just snack on what I could grab.

This, the third week is going much better.  I'm hoping for another loss this week.  It could happen.

As for other things!

I finished all the embroidery projects I had completed!  There were seven in total!

This one is finally completed and hanging on my wall!

And these!  

Three of them have already hit the post office and are winging their way to their lucky recipients!

oh... and let's not forget this sweet little thing!

So.  Now I find myself with one project open... the black work castle.  I'm not particularly pleased with it, but I keep going out of pure stubbornness  and the knowledge that I'm very critical of my own work and it very likely, once finished, will be lovely.  

This modern black work stuff is a learning process. 

 Unless I want to copy someone else's work or use a kit.

Something I might resort to if this doesn't work out well.

Here's the progress.  

Sometimes I see depth, sometimes just flat and busy patterns.

Anyway!

What I really wanted to ask you all was this...

While finishing and packing up all those goodies I began to wonder what I would do with all the projects that are now lining up in my head.  Sure I can gift them to all my friends, over and over and over... but...

I began to wonder if I shouldn't open an Etsy shop.

I've gone there.  Shopped there.  Looked at other embroidered offerings.

I think my stuff is as creative.

As unique, if not more so.

I've thought about it so much I even settled on a name.

"Crown Street Cottage"

Now. 

What do you think?

Roll them dice! or... this week's project.

I've been thinking I wanted a dice cup for rolling me dice for a long while now.

I have even wasted hours online looking and looking, but never settled on any one, price, actually filling out info for shipping, that sort of thing kept me from actually acquiring one.

Then.  A couple of weeks ago I was walking towards the recycle bin with a Crystal Light  container in my hand... and it dawned on me the squarish oval was the perfect shape!  

I toyed with the container in my hand, stripped it of its label, cut it in half, held it in my hand, trimmed a little more off until I got it just so...

Next!  Find a design to embroider for the outside.

Which was acquired at the website imprinted on the pattern.

Then it sat for a week or so before I got down to business.

I chose blue.  Remie's dice are blues.  Nakamura's dice are blue and red.. seemed fitting.

Last night, in a flurry of excitement I stitched the ends together, cut felt and glued.  Could not let it sit unfinished for one.  moment.  longer!  

Finished project!  Dice cup!  

It conveniently comes with its own lid for travel purposes!

I'm thinking these just might go over a treat on Etsy.  What do you think?

Blogs are hard....

So I've been quiet.

But.

Have no fear.  

My life continues on.  

The house gets dirtier, the laundry pile grows, the contents of the pantry still sit on the kitchen table waiting to be organized and returned to their cubby, embroidery projects pile up, ideas stack one atop the other then drop onto the turn table one at a time as the current project finishes, Audible is working overtime, the animals and the hubby get fed... and I move through the whole thing in a haze.

Not depressed.  Not despairing, but... lost perhaps.  Lost in thought, in dreams, ideas, desires.  Days are lost to wasted internet searches for property and houses, places take my imagination and run.  Yet seldom have I been able to find two consecutive, conscious thoughts to rub together for a  spark.

Looking over my last blog entry I am realizing that I might have taken that silly theme song too far and slowed down to the point of stalling. Maybe.

On the up side...

I have finished my hastystitch challenge for April and I managed to use all the components in one project.  Last post you saw the beginnings... here is how it has progressed.  It is quite hard to get a full picture of the thing as it is easily two feet long, maybe more.  

But here we go, see if you can get a feel for the thing...

To remind you what the challenge entailed...

The song lyrics are from The 59th Street Bridge Song written by Paul Simon, performed with Art Garfunkle...

Slow down, you're moving too fast,

You've got to make the morning last!

Just!

Kicking down the cobble stone,

Looking for fun and feeling Groovy!

Hello lamp post, what'chya knowing?

I've come to watch your flowers growing.  

Ain't you got no rhyme for me?

Doo doo doo doo Feeling Groovy!

Some details...

The best part, if you ask me...

My siggie!  

In fact, I like this so much I believe I'm going to incorporate into my embroidery siggie for ever and ever amen.

So.  There you have it.  Now I have three projects on my finished list, but still sitting on the to be completed pile.... yeah... you know, mount, frame, edge... that sort of thing...  It could happen.

Don't forget to check out Hey Paul Studios!

Challenges and the perimenopausal woman

Last week was rough.

This week isn't proving any easier.

Over the weekend I found myself flipping from one extreme to another.  

I wanted to jump in my car and run away.

I wanted to have another baby before I couldn't anymore.

I cried at the drop of the hat.

I was energetic and engaged.

Of all those things,

 (and others I didn't think you'd want to hear about)

the one that made me feel the worst was the realization that I don't really know who I am right now.  

No purpose, no goals, no idea where to turn for either.

I was grateful for an understanding husband, his broad chest and strong arms, his quiet voice and encouraging endearments.

However.

Monday came and he went off to work leaving me alone with myself.

Not knowing what else to do I threw myself into this month's

Hastystitch Challenge...

While looking at this and thinking about what to do with those stitches this song popped into my brain

59th Street Bridge Song...

And VIOLA!  I haz idea!  Ten minutes later I haz sketch!

So.  From sketch to craft store where I didn't find exactly what I had envisioned, but supplies I felt would work well.

Now, the last time I stitched on paper it was perforated and cross stitch, so I knew this would be an experiment and possibly not work, but I was hopeful and excited.  After working out the lamp post, I transferred drawing to parchment.  Once drawn in to my satisfaction I set about tearing away the excess.

Loving the way the paper tears!

So after careful pinning (you have to keep in mind every hole punched in the paper is there forever and ever and ever) I settled in to stitch the edges down with a simple running stitch.

Once tacked down I started on the lamp itself using a simple back stitch and gray variegated cotton floss.

I was really liking the looks of the lamp post, but not the rest of the paper, but continued stitching anyway.  

Once I got to the bottom and had the lamp post all stitched and lovely I picked out the running stitch holding the paper down and tore the excess away.

Seriously loving it now!  But there are stitch holes in the fabric I cannot wash out.  Not sure what I will do about them, but am going to press on anyway, trusting that an idea will spark!

So this is where I'm at.  Past the really iffy part of the project, but still uncertain about everything else.

Here I sit... staring at my keyboard, wondering what profound words I  have to offer.

I ain't got nuffin.

What I do know is this challenge is engaging me.  Keeping me from sitting on the couch with a bag of potato chips feeling sorry for myself and wishing for better days.  I may not be visibly solving my problems but while my hands are busy my mind and my heart are content and I think that is the most important thing.  I don't have any problems that time and nature won't fix right now, so I have to give up being in control, which is hard.  This helps.  A lot.

Maybe what I'll learn from menopause is how to better handle change.

Not.

Gods.  If I lose that, I'm not sure I will have anything to hold myself together.

Theme song for April moving into this next part of her life?  

Slow down, you're moving too fast.

You've got to make the morning last!

Just!

Kicking down, the cobble stone.

Looking for fun and...

Feeling Groovy!

This week's Stitch Witchery

This week has been... hard.  
Restless, a bit despairing and definitely feeling sorry for myself.
Then Wednesday evening came and it was the monthly meeting of the Embroiderer's Guild.

Embroiderer's Guild

(whispers ala Brick Heck... embroiderer's guild)

There, Fate pointed its Fickle Finger and sat me next to the two people I needed to talk to most.
Needless to say (yet I'm going to say it anyway) I came away from the meeting invigorated, inspired and rearing to get back into it.

However.  In between the stitching and laundry and other stuff, I made the mistake of going to Instagram to hash tag a piccie in the hopes of getting a mention on one of my favorite websites (whispers Urban Threads)... only there I found other stitchers.  Stitchers with nifty ideas and fabulous challenges, and of course, I'm sidetracked yet again.

Check it!

Stitch'n Thyme     and     Hey Paul Studios

To make a long story short (too late)
I have finished the EMI project and finished Hey Paul's #hastystitch challenge for February.  Yes.  I know it is no longer February, but, I came late to the fun and she is taking a break in March.  Lucky me!

 Embroidery Megalomaniac indeed...

Detail of black work fill... pattern available HERE

So here is what I found on Instagram that inspired me....


Specifically, hearts, signature, herringbone stitch and seed stitch...  
This is what I came up with!

 This signatures are from our marriage license, 
the numbers in the middle are the star date of our anniversary

Detail of the seed and herringbone... I have actually never used the herringbone stitch before.  Very nice flow to it and lends itself to shapes and applique very well.  I will have to look for another use for it soon.

Many thanks to Urban Threads and Hey Paul Studios for their inspiration and for keeping me from going totally bonkers these past weeks.

Now back to the castle black work. 
Hehehehe... castle black work of Black Castle...  
 I have been invited to display work in the King's Lynn chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild, the theme is Ancient and Modern... I think a modern interpretation of an old stitch to depict an ancient structure ought to fit the bill, don't you?  I also have an idea for another piece... but the deadline is 30 June so I'd better keep chugging along!  

A whole lot of nuffin going on...

This week it had been my intention to finish this...

a whimsical project that jumped out at me while browsing the website Urban Threads.  The black work fill pattern is of my own design composed, again in whimsy using Urban Threads' logo skull and cross "bone" needles.  You can stitch your own Embroidery Megalomaniacs Inc patch by looking under their freebies tab.  My fill pattern can be snagged here.

Work more on this....

my on going project of a blackwork "painting".  I do think I should have worked on the fill patterns more before I started stitching.  I have reached a point where I no longer like what I see and am faced with picking out stitches in the most recent segments.  It will take some thought and possibly more sketching, so in all fairness, not working on it is kinda working on it, as I keep going back to it and looking and thinking.

...and spring clean the kitchen.

Instead, I find it is Thursday already and pretty much all I have done is this....

Granted, This indie published book Brood of Bones by A.E. Marling  is a fascinating and creepy story that was a little slow to start but now has me utterly enchanted and about 3/4's done.

This...

To be fair, The Abyss by G5 is an engaging hidden object/puzzle game that has got to be good for my continued brain function!  :-D  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 This...

Okay.  There is no redeeming factors to this game.  However it is addictive.  Very addictive.  Very, very addictive.  ::drools ala Homer Simpson::

 Oh... and this.

This is Flow.  You have to connect the pairs of colored dots with a flow.  Of course one flow cannot cross another, and you have to fill all the squares on the board.  Challenging and frustrating and has gotten very, very hard.  This particular puzzle I have been working on all week.  Again, I am going to claim it is an exercise in keeping my brain supple!  

I'm not feeling too terribly guilty about not getting much on my "list" done as I am still in a forced sedentary state while I recuperate from foot surgery, but.  I am feeling somewhat guilty and have been doing laundry all day to compensate!

Did you notice I haven't said anything about my progress on spring cleaning the kitchen?  

Why are we here?... I mean Welcome!

My boysies.

My Beloved Airman.

For 25 years I dedicated my life to their care and feeding.

Now The Man is retired and happily ensconced in a civilian job he loves. 

 Both manchilds have moved away and are busy and happy in their own lives.  

But what becomes of the Momma?  

THAT.  Is the question of the hour.  If you ask her husband, he will tell you she should do anything that makes her happy... a very sweet and lovely sentiment, but not very helpful.  Or is it?

The last boy went off to school the end of summer last year.  Since then I have been sorting books and household goods for storage, finding and moving house, dealing with our first Christmas alone, and suffering/through/enjoying an overdue visit home for Bubba.  Now I find myself with far more time on my hands than I have ever had before.  The little cottage we are in takes a small amount of maintenance, Bubba's suits go to the cleaner and he is actually very self sufficient so I am left with most of a day to do that which I want... which means, I spend a lot of time on the couch, surfing facebook and watching television.

I'm tired of that.  Now is the time for Me.  Now is the time to pull out that project book with pages of ideas that I have been keeping for "when I have the time"... because you know what?  I have the time!

So.  If you are so inclined, follow me on this journey of life after... well... life.  

I currently have two embroidery projects in frames, several illuminations on my slope, two short stories in different steps of completion and a new found love of Artist Trading Cards.  Let's see what I can accomplish and where it will take me next, shall we?

Me and my captain, back to just the two of us again.