These questions are making the rounds, and I’ve decided to play.  But first, you know what?  My LNS is finished framing Magnificent Wizard already!  I can’t wait for the boy to get home from school to go pick it up.  They had to leave a msg, and said, “Your dragon is framed and ready to fly!”  The husband thinks that means the woman leaving the msg loves it.  I hopes so, I really do.  OK, now, down to business.

Why did you start your blog?

I’m not a big journaler.  I’ve tried before, but I usually end up tossing them as clutter.  I thought a digital record of my creativity would have a good chance of taking root.  Plus, I get to chatter on about cross-stitch as much as I want without having to contend with glazed, bemused looks (*What* is it she finds so endlessly fascinating about cross-stitch??).

How did you come up with your blog name?

I thought it was funny!  You can read the story on my “About” page.  My brother was chuffed to be the inspiration for the name.

Do your friends and family know about your blog and if so, what do they think of it?

Yes, they know about it.  One sister finds it amusing that I blog at all.  Noone I know reads it on a regular basis.  My father would ask me, “How’s that dragon coming along?” quite a bit, so I would send him links when I posted progress pics.  Other than that, they don’t pay attention.

How do you write posts?

Sometimes I can’t wait to get to a goal so I can mark the occasion with a post.  Other times I just want to talk stitching. 

Have you ever had a troll or had someone leave unkind comments?

No trolls, but someone did once say something nasty about the subject matter of one of the boy’s pictures–not the picture, but that the show is lame (I think, I don’t exactly remember).  I didn’t approve it.  No one’s said anything unkind about my stitching. 

Do you check your stats?

Yes.   

Do you care how many people read your blog?

I care enough to check my stats, but I don’t go out of my way to increase readers, or feel discouraged if I don’t get X number of hits.  I keep mostly to myself in the blogosphere, so I don’t expect a lot of hits.

What kind of blogs/posts interest you?

I love posts with pictures.  I want to see what you’re stitching!  Any kind of stitching, except knitting.  I do not understand knitted socks, OK?  I like crafty posts of most any kind, and I’m always on the lookout for interesting Star Wars crafts for sp*mming my brother.  I like I can has cheeseburger and boing boing.  I keep up with a few non-stitchy friends blogs, too.

What do you like and dislike about blogging?

I like having a place to talk about my stitching and to share the boy’s drawings.  I dislike the self-imposed feeling of being obligated to post.

And because I like posts with pictures, I give you this:

1724 MH Sampler by Threads of Gold.  It’s on my Goals list.  I’ll get to it.  I’ve been busy!

I finished the bottom band, and did the cutting.  I’ve learned that the cutting part of hardanger is meant to be done by hand.  I did part of it on the scroll rods, and part of it half on and half off the rods–with the bottom part of the sampler off the rods and the rest on.  That was not a good idea.  oops.  Oh, well.  I believe I can fix my boo-boos, which are easy to spot (shaggy ends, cut threads that shouldn’t be cut, like that).  I just need to find a quiet, patient frame of mind.  Next Monday, perhaps?  I’m taking a breather right now.

I think I’m going to add beads to my acorns, too.  I saw it on someone else’s wip photo in Webshots and really liked it.  If I decide I don’t like it, after all, no big deal.  Especially after my hardanger adventure, yes?

The Rocking Horse is my LNS.  It is a *wonderful* store.  The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, service-oriented.  They have so many models, I can’t tell you.  Every wall is covered in models–floor to ceiling.  There is no empty wall space.  The shop has two large front windows, both of which are always filled with seasonally current models.  They are always shifting models around. If you need inspiration, this is the place to find it. 

Skeptical?  The front page has a link to pictures inside the store.  Take a gander.  Models, models, models.  New stuff, classic stuff.  It’s mostly framed pieces, but there are pillows and stockings and fobs, too.  It’s a cross-stitch addict’s visual paradise.   

Still don’t believe in the inspirational power of this store?  Today, I took my son to the store to get Magnificent Wizard framed.  He’s tried cross-stitching a couple of times, but he finds it a tedious craft, and loses interest quickly.  Still, after looking around, he saw a model of a Margaret Sherry pattern that I believe I have in my stash, and asked me to kit it for him and to alter the pattern so it’s a hamster, not a mouse, because after this afternoon he wants to try to stitch again.  After talking with the clerk, he’s decided that if he has the patience to edit a video game, he might have what it takes to stitch.

Such is the power of The Rocking Horse.

I didn’t get to stitch on Desiderata last Monday b/c stuff happens, and I skipped this week because I was sooo close to finishing Magnificent Wizard, I couldn’t think about taking it off the stand.  Late last night, I finished!  Yay, yay, I actually finished!  I love this piece now that I’m done.  Yeah, I remember calling it “Cross-Stitch Jail,” but now I’m done and I can appreciate its loveliness.  Cuz I don’t have to stitch it anymore. 

It doesn’t show up well in the picture, but the bottom part of the design, where the rocks and mist are, are so beautifully designed, the way the colors complement each other.  I think knowing I was almost done, and then the color combinations, combinations I would never have chosen, were so right together, it kept me motivated.  Hooray for that.

On Tuesday, I will pick up my son from school, and we’ll take it to get framed.  He’s so excited.  He’s been waiting to pick out the frame since he got his Gaara framed.

Now to finish Desiderata!  squee!

I didn’t get to stitch last Monday thanks to computer woes.  I still haven’t finished the kloster blocks on the last band yet, but I am getting there!  Bad picture, I know.  Sorries, etc.

Thanks to my son’s busy extra-curricular schedule (and some at-home stitching), I’ve finished Quaker Heart.

I loved stitching it, and I love looking at it. *sigh*

vitals: Quaker Heart kit by Shepherd’s Bush
stitched using supplied fabric and silk floss

My dragon and my wizard, they have a rock to stand on.  They are grounded fantasy icons.  

My computer seriously crashed, and I’m putting it back together (s-l-o-w-l-y).  One thing about the putting back together is the looking at stuff I never pay attention to, like iGoogle. At the moment, my iGoogle has a “how to” section on it, and one of them is how to cross stitch! 

It doesn’t take much to excite me, which gives you a little insight into my daily grind. ;o)

Here is the how to link from iGoogle: http://www.wikihow.com/Cross-Stitch

As for the crashing, all I can say is this: I’m grateful I paid for an extended warranty, and I’m grateful I backed up my computer in the morning of the very day it crashed.  The final result of all my tech support maze negotiating is that my monitor is mostly kaput, and my DVD+RW is a goner, too.  *sigh*  It could be worse. 

But: waiting for Mozy is like watching paint dry, and so is my older back-up, StorageSync.  Eh.  I’ll get there.  I have much experience with the long-time-taking projects. ;o)

Crazy busy week this week, and I’m not adapting well to WordPress changes.  Still, I managed to make progress on this band.  I’m starting to stress about the cutting. 

I am!  I finished the text on Desiderata yesterday.  And, and, I touched bottom!  Yes, I have reached the last band.  I stayed up late watching true crime shows just to do it.  My heart was pounding with excitement when I began the Kloster band, I kid you not.  It was really hard to put it away today, but I have that dragon I want to finish before the end of time, so I can’t get distracted by Desiderata Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.  I’ll have to rely on other distractions in my dragon-procrastinating efforts.  OK, first, the unexciting close-up of the initial Kloster baby steps:

Now the squeeful progress picture!

You know what next week is: Kloster Block City!  I’m looking forward to it like I looked forward to concerts back in the day.

Dreams.  Whatever.  Cleaning dishes is drudge work, they’re never really *done,* plus it sucks when your dishes break, and your perfect set is suddenly lacking.  I know.  I’m livin’ the dream.  I miss that bowl.  *sob*  Enough of my babbling, on with the pics!

Star close-up:

I think the gold diagonal lines in the full-size pic look lumpier than in the close-up.  On second thought, maybe it’s just me.

Almost forgot to post this!

In spite of two parts of John Adams, and the return of The Big Bang Theory (b/c of them?), I didn’t finish this band.  I am loving stitching it, of course.

One thing I love about this plaited stitch is its delicate, feathery quality.  It sort of reminds me of a fish skeleton.  Sorry about that.  It does, somehow, in a good way.  It seems to have a different nature when I look at the close up.  It’s like the close up is less delicate, stronger, more substantial.  Maybe b/c you can see the depth in the close up.  I can’t explain it.  I’ll just enjoy it.

Did I mention I got a new skein of Peacock for this band?  The dyelot my LNS had recently has more variegation than the original skien I had.  My first skein had far more of the deep turquoise and less of the browner tones.  This color is so perfectly named.  I think of the color name, and as I stitch, the colors change, and it’s just right, the colors of a peacock’s feathers.  I really enjoyed it–the stitching, the color name, thinking of a peacock’s feather, the feathery quality of the plaited stitch.  It made me happy.

When I was looking at my shots, I was reminded of a test pattern.  I can’t duplicate the effect, but I tried.

Ooh, ocean waves!

Here’s an oriented shot:

I need to take Desiderata update pics. 

I love this picture.  Sasori is a minor character, some kind of puppet.

Here he is with his puppet.

Rasengan Naruto. I love the face.

Half Kyubi/Half Naruto

A color picture?

Yep! Two, even!

 I’m going to hell for ganking this off of the Shepherd’s Bush website, but OMG!  It’s so Shepherd’s Bush and so Ewe & Eye & Friends at the same time.  I MUST have it.  I must.  I wonder if my LNS has it yet?  I can go tomorrow and find out.  Or Saturday.  Or tomorrow. 

Stupid Frog!  Because it wasn’t bad enough that reality hit and I realized that No Way am I going to finish Desiderata in the month of March, I had to make the simplest of counting errors that resulted in frogging half a day’s progress.   Zee gods, zey are laughing at me now.  Or croaking.  Like there’s a difference.

The triple rice stitches are ready for their close-ups!

I took this from Monique, who took it from Anna.  I’m sure you’ve seen it on other blogs as well.  It’s a fun meme.  This list is weird, and looks like it was made by a woman that likes to read science fiction/fantasy books, but has a bunch of stuff on her bookshelf that she read b/c someone made her (school) or someone recommended it (Oprah).

But before I do that, I want to ask you, “Why haven’t you read these books?”  I’ll keep the list short.

The Muse Asylum by David Czuchlewski. OK, it’s out of print now, and maybe I shouldn’t mention it, b/c your library probably doesn’t even have it.  But it was a great mystery, a fascinating muse about identity, and if you’ve ever read Catcher in the Rye and just wondered about J.D. Salinger, well, you should read it.  I recommended it to a friend, and she came back to me, asking me for more recommendations.  I hadn’t seen her in a while, and when we met up again recently, she mentioned she had just re-read it, and said she thought Mark Ruffalo would be great in the lead role.  I agree.  This book got David Czuchlewski a nomination for the NY Public Library’s Young Lions Award its first year  just to pique your interest (Mark Danielewski won for House of Leaves that year.  No, I haven’t read it, but I’ve been tempted).

 Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.  My library had this shelved in the children’s section.  When I told them it wasn’t a children’s book, they were surprised.  They’d never read it, just shelved it according to a customer’s request.  I’m still scratching my head.  Not that it’s objectionable for children, but it’s an adult book.  Why hadn’t they read it, I wondered.  I love alphabets, I love word fun, I love this book.  Here’s what the The Philadelphia Inquirer said about it: “A curiously compelling . . . satire of human foibles, and a light-stepping commentary on censorship and totalitarianism.”  And the Dallas Morning Herald: “This exceptional, zany book will quickly make you laugh.”

Littlejohn by Howard Owen.  When I bought this book, the price of a hardcover was dear to me.  I looked at it in the independent bookstore by my laundromat for three weeks before I splurged.  I took it on an airplane, and I cried.  It’s not like me.  I don’t often laugh out loud when I read, or cry, or whatev.  And to cry in public?  While reading?  On an airplane when there’s no way to play cool?  I couldn’t help myself.  I fell in love with Littlejohn.

 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.  I’m sure you’ve read this, so I’m not going to mention it.  Don’t you love Leo Gursky?

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. (Movies don’t count.)

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) More than once.  I saw the movie when I was seven, and it entered my soul. 
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) More than once. 
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) More than once. 
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) More than once. 
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) More than once. 
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) More than once. 
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) More than once. 
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling) More than once. 
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling) More than once. 
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) More than once. 
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) More than once. 
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) More than once. 
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) I started this a million years ago.  It killed my devotion to the epic novel.  Dead. ETA: Wait, I’m sorry, I was thinking of The Far Pavilions by M.M.Kaye.
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) I’m listing this as read, but I’m reading it now.  Audiobooks count.
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) I gave away my first copy of this book before I read it.  No, I won’t tell you why.
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible Not the whole book, which you have to do to count it, IMO
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) More than once. 
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) More than once. 
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) More than once.
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields) I think I want to read it.  I change my mind alot.
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

 So, what, 39?  The husband has read 48, I think he said.  He says he was forced to read most of them in school, and is wondering why Stranger in a Strange Land by by Robert A. Heinlein  isn’t on the list, when there are so many scifi books.  No one made her read it, I guess.  Now, tell me, please, one of your favorite books that isn’t on this list.  What have you read that you loved?

I didn’t get any stitching done last Monday.  The boy hit his head during lunch, and it was urgent care and the e/r after that.  He’s doing very well, 100%.  It’s just better to be over-cautious about head injuries.

This week I stitched quite a bit, to make up for last week.  I really wanted to finish this current band, but that was pipedreaming.  I’m getting excited; I can see the end.  I was daydreaming I might finish by the end of March.  I have mixed feelings about this.  I can’t wait to finish, and have Desiderata framed and hanging in my house, but I’m going to miss Desiderata Monday.  I love stitching this sampler.

Close-ups:

Long-arm cross stitch under “peace,” b/c when I stitch Desiderata, I’m at peace.

Close-up of one cross.  Can I just say, vertical queen stitches are a pain!!!

So I’m stitching this nearly-finished Karate Project, and I’m struck by how much this color combination looks like a watermelon.  Watermelon on the brain, that’s what it is.   I’ve also learned the danger of taking macro photos: I have spotted an area where I didn’t meet the previous row’s holes, leaving more linen “seeds” than there should be.  I *hate* knowing that.  I’m not going to re-stitch it, but I *hate* knowing.  ETA: Hmmm…maybe not.  Maybe the tension is too a bit tight there. 

 In the car today, the boy and I were talking about Fairly Odd Parents, and some YouTube silliness, and he asked me if I’m secretly a 4-year-old.  I told him, no, I’m secretly nine. :D 

I got stash in the mail today.  When I opened it, the boy asked me why I got a pattern of Princess Peach.  Um…she’s pretty?  And I’m secretly nine.

{Queen of Hearts by Ewe & Eye & Friends}

Two posts in one day?  Well, I’m feeling impatient, you see.  Plus I want to demonstrate the incredible quickness of my LNS.  They are having a framing sale this month.  I took my watermelon sampler in for framing on Monday morning.  I had to wait in line behind three women getting projects framed.  One of them was very indecisive about her matting choices, and took quite awhile.  It’s a popular sale, is my point.  They called me this afternoon to let me know my project is complete.  Today!  Less than 48 hrs.  There are so many bagged orders behind the counter, I can’t tell you.  Yes, I love them.  Service is their specialty. 

Still, I wasn’t happy with my frame choice.  I chose a plain, white frame, and I was having second thoughts.  Maybe I should have gotten something more frilly?  Something yellow?  Maybe I should call them?  They beat me to it.  So much for that plan.  I wish I’d taken a before picture, but as I mentioned, I’m feeling impatient.  Trust me, white, even shabby off-white was wrong.  I wasn’t happy with my frame, and I had to decide what to do.  I was leaning toward taking it back and changing out the frame when I remembered I had some gold cream paint.  I decided it wouldn’t hurt anything to smear it on the frame, since I wasn’t keeping it framed the way it was, anyway.  And, yay, the cheap, impatient solution is a workable solution!  Lookee–

The picture’s a little washed out.  The dark green in the watermelon and the top mat are more dark green, emeraldy, than foresty.  But you get the idea.  I’m so glad it works. *clap, clap* 

The boy, bless his heart, says he thinks it looks like the frame came that way.  He’s a dear.  One more reason to celebrate. :)  Now to gaze upon my watermelon and chant, “Summer will be here soon, summer will be here soon.”