The 'bent Needle

Finally! An update... of sorts

2009-11-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

Hail to all who are brave enough to check out my 'blog!
(Or patient enough to keep checking back for new posts...)

First off, I just want to send a great big THANK YOU to those who have been here in the past and have decided to come back after all this time (last post was in February of 2008!).

Secondly, (as mentioned by the caption for the pic above) I want to welcome all of you who have decided to give this 'blog a look-see. Men do stitch, and I happen to be one of them.

Okay, back to the aforementioned update...

Back in my last post, I mentioned that I had started to work on 'Liberty' by Lynne Nicoletti. Needless to say, I have since completed it. Below is a framed pic of it:

(Yep, it really is BIG)

For review, here are some specs: 15" x 18" 18ct tea dyed Aida fabric (Kim dyed it for me), stitched over 1 with 2 strands of floss, and framed with a 14" x 18" frame from Hobby Lobby. (And yes, the finished project just barely fit properly.) Oh, and for those who are curious about how long it actually took me to stitch this beauty, the answer is 31,320 minutes or 21 days, 8 hours, 10 minutes. (Really! I tallied all those minutes myself...) I initially intended to enter this into a charity auction. However... At the moment, it is still hanging on my wall and looking nice. Still trying to put a 'minimum' value on it, you know how that goes... That, and everyone says that -after all the time I put into it- I shouldn't let it go. We will see.

What else can I say? Well, I have made a few more pieces for charity auctions that have brought in pretty good results. A small one -about 3" x 3"- brought in over $100! It wasn't very big, but it sure created lots of interest...

Oh, and I bought a new recumbent too! This one is a little bit more upright and easier to transport in my car. Take a look at it Here. Nice little bike. I have ridden it on 2 longish (20 to 30 miles) rides as well as a bit of around town riding, and it held up very well. I must say that it did take a while to get used to, but you get that from any new thing. And for the record, my other 'bent is a little bit more laid back -read "way comfortable, bordering on sleep inducing"- so anything else was going to feel a bit different... All and all, (here comes the Promotional Moment:) if you are looking for a good, comfortable, and reliable new bike, get one of these. (Just my opinion, of course...)

Well, I am sure there is more to say but I can't think of it right now. I hope you all liked the update. Thanks again for coming by and I help to 'blog at you soon!

(How'd it get this late again?!?)

gC

Whatcha doin?!?

2008-02-21T10:33:00.001-08:00

Just sitting around here on the couch... ;-)

Hello again everybody! Sorry for the delay in yet another post. I confess, I have just been plain lazy since the last time. Lazy, hardworking, stitching, preoccupied, and -most recently- sick. (That's partly why I am posting in the middle of the day...) So what do I have to show for all this time? Well, let's see...

First off -and you probably already know this if you have looked at Kim's blog recently- I managed to finish Autumn In My garden. In fact, here is another picture for you. Just in case you haven't been over to Kim's lately:

...the picture that Kim has may be a little bit better, but you still get the idea. Oh, and below is a picture of both Evangeline and Ms. Autumn in their final display location above our bookcases:

...this was part of my original idea as far as how to display these 2 beautiful projects, since they are both about the same size. Oh, the item in the middle is a mirror that I found at a previous job of mine. I had my father help me make a funky frame for it and I have had it ever since. Methinks that they all look pretty good together, don't you?

What else? Well, those of you who have been here before are aware that I have done various charity stitch projects which I have donated to events at my work. I am still churning them out. In fact, here are a couple that I am going to be donating to a raffle in April:

These are actually 2 of the same thing, a freebie from Lizzie Kate that we picked up from our LNS a while back because it was free. ;-) I stitched them on white 11ct Aida with 4 strands of the appropriate DMC flosses. Quite a change from stitching on 18ct, believe you me! Anyway, I had an idea for a frame that I wanted -and still would like- my sister to make for me to put these into, but things never got together in quite the right way to make that happen. (She busy, me busy, we busy...) Not a problem, thanks to our good friends at Hobby Lobby. As I was looking at the finished projects wondering what to do with them, I just happened to decide to go there and BEHOLD! Not only did they just happen to be having a sale on frames, they also had the adorable baked enamel frames that you see above. Ya just gotta love Hobby Lobby...

And speaking of adorable -and wanting to segue a bit too- here is a current pic of the next little darlings that I am stitching for that upcoming charity event:

These little cuties are "Golfing Teddy" by Lynne Nicoletti. I decided to stitch them with 2 strands of floss on this 14ct Hunter Green Aida fabric that I got from Joann Fabrics. Joann's doesn't tend to have much in the line of cross stitch stuff any more, but they almost always have a little bit of cross stitch fabric; usually the prepackaged stuff. Anyway, it has been going well with these guys -I am stitching 2 of them at the same time- but I am running into small problems with the colors fading into the fabric. As you can see, I have changed some of the colors. But I am going to try and see what the actual colors will look like on a piece of scrap fabric before changing them again. More updates to follow...

In other Lynne Nicoletti news... back in January I began my biggest charity project yet:

(I told you it was big!)

Above is 'Liberty', which is one of Lynne Nicoletti's Hidden Image designs. The fabric that I asked Kim to tea dye for me is 15" x 18" 18ct Aida. I had her tea dye it in order to give the finished project a more 'aged' look. I have already found a frame for it that will help add to that sense of age. (Think old farm house windows...) I have decided to stitch this with 2 strands of floss as opposed to the 1 strand that Lynne recommends. (I'm sorry Lynne, but I just don't have the fingers to work with just 1 strand of floss unless I am working on 22ct...) I have some pictures here, here, and most recently here to give you an idea of the progress I have made since last month. I have been keeping track of how long I have actually been stitching on this and -as of February 11- I have about 2830 minutes into it so far. (That's almost 4 straight days!) Lucky for me the event that this will be going to isn't until September or so. I am sure that I will get it done in plenty of time. The to other good thing about this project -and, frankly the impetus for me to actually decide to take the plunge with it- is the fact that I am pretty sure that there are at least 2 ladies at work who will be wanting to bid on it, auction style! ;-) That is the plan at least. I will make sure to keep you all informed...

WHAT?!? It's that time already? Sheesh, I sure do get wrapped up in my postings! ;-)
I better let you all get back to whatever it was you were doing before you started to read my latest blog post. (I swear, I will try harder to post more often!) Until then, keep a happy head and heart and keep on stitching too!

...now I need a nap...
lol

It's Starting to Look a Lot Like... Autumn?!?

2008-01-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hello again everybody! Welcome to The 'bent Needle, 2008 style. (Okay, so it is still the same as the 2007 style, but it is the thought that counts...)

Things here have been a bit hectic and busy and -especially around Thanksgiving- a bit messy too.

Let me explain... Like I said in my last post, we recently switched to DSL. We were ready to speed up things and it was time. Little did we know that it was the beginning of a lot of headaches! The short version goes something like this: we get DSL, we get a nasty virus, it bogs us down, we get it fixed -or so we thought- it bogs us down some more, we get it fixed again and again and again and then FINALLY we get the computer to work in a way that we don't feel uneasy about using it. Grrr, arrrgh!!! Needless to say, we have been tip toeing around this thing for a while and have only recently started feeling safe again. Oh well, at least I have been able to get in some good stitching time.

Well, sort of...

You see, last month was December. (I bet you didn't know that, did you?) Anyway, Kim and I had been planning on taking time off around Giftmess... er, Christmas. Well -at my work at least- December is "let's hurry up and get all this stuff done right now because it is the end of the year" time. Needless to say, it was the most hectic 3 weeks of the year for me. Okay that aside, things ultimately went... well... and Kim and I went on our time off. (Much needed, as I said before.) We went to spend time with Kim's kin and got to see her nieces and nephews and brothers and spread all kinds of holiday cheer too. (See more below...) The girls REALLY liked the personalized books we got for them! We spent a grand total of 3 days there. Plenty of time to stitch, when the nieces weren't having us play with them...

However...

Towards the end of our first visit -yes, we went back later the next week- Kim started to not feel so good. No wonder, considering that the girls were at the tail end of the colds that they had. (Uh oh...) Unfortunately, it turned out that Kim had caught their cold. (The one gift that she wished she could have returned...) Kim ended up not feeling good -okay, her coughing and hacking were rather scary at times- for the remainder of our vacation. Not at all the way we had planned on spending our holiday. (Side note: she went to the doctor and was told that she had viral laryngitis. She is feeling much better now...)

Oh, and the messy part? Well, that was mostly just around Thanksgiving. To try and make a long story short... it was Thanksgiving night, we were cleaning up after our turkey and so forth and then suddenly... (play scary music here) I happen to see that the sink is close to overflowing. (Click on above link.) Suffice to say, it was VERY STINKY in that sink!!! Well, it turned out that the plumbing was way backed up. We called the building maintainence guy and -after quite a bit of persuading- he came over and tried valiantly to unclog it. When he couldn't get it unclogged, he called in The Big Guns at the local plumbing company and -within 15 minutes- things were cleaned out and ready to go. Lots of stuff backed up in the pipes, apparently. Sometimes it can be a real bummer living in a basement apartment... ;-) Oh well, it all worked out in the end and that is the main thing.

And that -in a rather large nutshell- is what has been happening since I last posted. (And let's face it, I just plain ran out of words...)

Everybody have a good week and a happy new year too!
gC

Stumbling Towards Updates

2007-11-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Nice Dress!

Hello again, folks! Thanks for coming back and seeing what I have been up to. As you can see, things are progressing nicely. I am roughly half way down Ms. Autumn's dress. If you look for the pumpkins and vines on the model stitch, you will get a better idea of exactly where: I am about even with them at this point. I am really happy with the way things are going.

However... I must admit that all this progress -and this post showing it off- hasn't come without a cost...

First off, the posting part. To start with, we recently got DSL here at The 'bent Needle. Sounds like a good thing, doesn't it? Well... at first it wasn't all that great...

To try and make a long story short (well, short for me at least) it took us an extra week to get it running -read: clerical error- and then a week later I managed to pick up a nasty Trojan Horse virus -read: nasty (censored) thing- while using it, which we found out only a couple of days later was imbedded deeper in The Machine than we had first thought -read: we should have done a 'deep scan' with the Super Anti Spyware program the first time out- so we had to redo the fix we had done to get it up and running again in the first place! Needless to say -as a result of all this higher speed fun- I have been a little bit leery of going online. But, we now have a plan of action to keep us 'safe' from the 'bad guys' (which one Tech we spoke with said was just the cost of having DSL) and things are running smoothly -for the most part- yet again.

Although I have to say, the fact that Photo Bucket was kind of bogged down earlier this evening did kind of freak me out yet again. Turns out they must have just been busy with folks wanting to post their Weekend Adventure pics or something...

The other, less dramatic part of the slow posting thing, is a simple case of overusing my stitching hand the last few days -Big Push time at work- and suffering from a bit of repetitive motion uncomfortableness as a result. What can I say? It slows down my stitching AND my typing as well... :-(

But enough of me for now. I want to say thanks to Joanne over at Periwinkle Ink for helping me find an error in my last post. It turns out that yes, I am still a bit rusty in my posting skills because I mistakenly made the link for Marita over at Stitch Pink a link to her (Joanne's) blog instead. Could have sworn that I copied that link right... Oh well, all is as it should be now with credit going where it belongs.

Well, that is all I have to say for now. I am thinking about updating my blog a bit to reflect all of the nice folks who have come by here with a link to their blogs listed under my Links column on the left there. (It's the least that I could do...) Wish me luck with that little bit of remodeling. :-)

And with that, I better head off to bed. It has been a long weekend and a short work week starts tomorrow. (How can it be Thanksgiving time again already?!?)

Happy Stitchy and I will type at you all later!

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 11

2007-10-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Endings and New Beginnings

Welcome back!
Sorry to all who have been patiently waiting for me to post again. Suffice it to say, I haven't been able to get myself to put 2 moments together to do a post. Of course, I had been busy feverishly stitching other projects for charity (see Kim's blog for some info about that) so I sort of have an excuse. Anyway, on with the post...

Above, you can (finally, for some) see the completed Evangeline project that I started almost a year ago. Officially, I finished this on October 6. I was more than pleasantly surprised to see it completed. Especially after doing the Cameo project based on the Over 1 version of her face. Also, those of you who have been following Evangeline's progress may notice that I did not go with the old bubble glass oval frame when I finished this one off. It just didn't look right when the time came. It might have been that the squared off tree top detracted from the oval shape... The frame that I did finish this project with was actually the original frame that I had picked out for it. So everything ultimately ended up the way that it was meant to. It should look pretty good on the wall next to...

..."Autumn In My Garden" by Miribilia. (Nice segue, wouldn't you say?) This is my current project. We originally got it for Kim and -after I did all of those charity projects- it was time to do a project for Kim. And since Kim is working on another project, well there we go. Below is my current progress on Ms. Autumn:
I must have gotten pretty good working on those other projects, because I was able to get this all done in the space of about 2 1/2 weeks. Not to brag or anything... ;-) At this rate, I am guessing that my original estimate of 'done by Christmas' may be a little bit over conservative. (Crosses fingers...)

In other news, I just want to send big CONGRATULATIONS! out to Mr. and Mrs. FLYBYU over at BENTUPBIKE on their impending babyness!!! Whoo hoo you two!!!

Also, I want to send a big HI! out to April at Periwinkle Ink since she took the time to comment on my seemingly abandoned blog last week. Not to mention Greg from Ohio, Marita, Martinha, Michelle and her bunch, Neuza, and of course Ann of Belgium; all of whom took the time to comment while I wasn't posting. Thanks to any new visitors and not to worry old visitors, I haven't forgotten any of you!

Thanks again and I will post more in the not too distant future!
gC

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 10

2007-04-25T03:44:00.000-07:00

Day 206: The Sun Has Come Out!

Although you would never guess it from looking at the weather around here!
(It has been kind of dreary for the last couple of days...)

Not sure if you can see or not, but the sun (as I call it) behind the tree and some more of Evangeline's shawl is starting to take shape. It is kind of a shame that the color of yellow that I was working with is so close to the fabric color, as I would love to be able to show you the detail of the accents on the shawl. (You can see them if you look really close...) Okay, they may not be all that much to look at but the little buggers took forever to stitch! I think the phrase is 'confetti stitches'... lol Anyway... Things are going well with Evangeline and -I dare say- progressing very well.

In other news...

Everyone will be happy to know that Kim has not fallen off the face of the Earth. Without going into too many details, suffice it to say that she will be going on a Business Trip in a couple of weeks and she has been trying to get everything ready and set so she can go. ;-) It is going to be a lonely week :-( but I am sure Jessie and I will be fine.

But before that, she and I will be going on a week of vacationing! YIPPIEE!!! I know that we both have been needing some down time, and this will be a good time for it. We will be on a whirl-wind tour of Stevens Point, Wisconson (well, it might be windy then...) and then swing through Des Moines, Iowa on our way back home. It should be fun and interesting and all that good stuff too.

Oh, and I turn 38 in a week. But don't tell anybody... ;-p

Okay, time to go to work. I hope you all have a wonderful day and no frogging!

Evangeline's Journey: Epoisode 9

2007-04-19T03:35:00.000-07:00

Day 200: So close, and yet so far...

(Or: Why I have been in a 'blue funk' for a while now...)

Good morning, everyone! I hope all of your days are starting out good so far. ;-)

As you can see, I have made some fairly good progress on Evangeline since last we spoke. I can't say it enough: the more I finish, the better this project looks. ;-) Anyway... as you can see in the pic, there are about 4 shades of blue in Evangeline's dress but to be honest, it took seeing each part as it was completed to get the full effect of the shading. Needless to say, it all worked out good in the end. (But I said that already, didn't I?!? lol)

As of this point, I can officially say that Evangeline is half finished. (The bottom half, obviously...) Since taking this pic, I have started working on the rest of her 'shawl'. You can't quite see it yet, but that is the flowing looking stuff to either side of her. It should be an experience, since the part that I am currently stitching is the accents (or 'sparkly bits') in the shawl. In other words, they are like the red accents in the dress and spaced just as far apart. Combine that with the fact that I almost always have problems with my yellow flosses loosing their fluff (for lack of a better word) and getting extra tangled... Well, I am sure you get the idea. I will say that it should look extra good once it is done though. Watching the subtleties of the colors coming out as this project progresses has been an extra special treat. ;-)

Well, it is getting close to time to leave (and my 'carpal tunnel syndrome' is starting to kick in...) so I better make some closing remarks:

To Greg of Ohio: I peaked at your Wish List. :-O Did you ever get you hands on the "Frederick the Literate" project? I was wondering because we have it in our stash pile (got it from Kim's mum and haven't done anything with it yet). Let me know and I will see if we can gift it your way or something... ;-)

To Lili in regards to the Q-Snaps mentioned last post: well... I could do the leaning thing with the 'Snaps, but since I cart my projects around with me a lot it wouldn't be practical. Maybe for the smaller projects, but then my trusty 4" hoop would get all lonely and that wouldn't be fun...

To everyone else: have a good day, happy stitches, and sunny skies too!

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 8

2007-04-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

Day 183: Another Month, Another Post

Hello again and welcome back! As you can see, I have been busy since my last post. I had another pic that I was going to put up here, but by the time I got around to posting the post I had already finished more stitches. And crossed another color off of the list, too!

Anyway, I managed to get past the tree frogging episode. And since some of the hair color was the same as the tree color, I was able to get an 'outline' of the face done as well. The I moved on to planting the flowers. (Pretty, aren't they?) Then I went back to the hem of the dress and got a good bit done there too.

By this point, I thought that it might be a good idea to start working wiht the entire fabric at once, instead of just the 4" circle of my hoop. To that end, I went out and got some Q Snaps and put the project into it. As you can see here, it fit pretty good too. However... (and I really should have listened to Kim on this one) it ended up being rather top heavy and difficult to work with. Oh well, mark another one up to experience... ;-) All in all though things are turning out pretty good. Hard to believe that I have been working on this thing for 6 monthes already! One thing I can say for sure though, is that it is amazing to me how much easier it is to see my progress on a project when I take a picture of it! ;-)

Okay, now for a cute pic...

This one is of my nieces - in - law (I sure hope that is the right way to word that) with the stuffed mascots from where I work. As you can see, the girls loved them!

And speaking of work, I better shut down and head out. Happy Stitchy everyone and I will chat with you all later if not sooner!

Update: In case you had tryed to look at my blog earlier and couldn't get any of the links to cooperate, well... Jessie managed to get it straightened out for me. Thanks Jessie!

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 7

2007-03-09T03:58:00.000-08:00

Day 159: Tree Frog?!?

Good morning, everyone! For some silly reason this morning I got up way before the alarm clock -must have slept better than I thought- so I thought I would let you see how things are going in the tree business. ;-) Sotospeak...

Anyway, above you will see that Evangeline's tree is coming along nicely. However... As I was nearing the top yesterday I noticed that something wasn't lining up right. Check, check, check, check, check, check some more and then AHA there it is!!! (click link to look at Diagram of a Frog). Needless to say, that was the L O N G E S T search mission that I have been on in a long time. And not only that, I had to make the decision to frog out all that I had done, or just surgically remove the offending stitches and start over. Well, upon closer examination I decided that surgery was the best option. I have since gotten it all straightened out and it is looking pretty good. Methinks that the tree should be done by the end of the day today. Photos of the completed tree to follow once the tree is completed.

In other, funnier news: I have been taking Valerian Root to help me sleep better at night. I'll let Wikipedia tell you the specifics. Well let me tell you, this stuff works great and stinks greater! WOOF and then some, believe you me.

Anyway... last night I was getting ready to take my nightly dose and Jessie decided that she was curious about it. So, me being the ornery type that I am, I let her sniff the bottle. Needless to say, it lead to some very funny results:

Think of the funniest sight of a cat snorting catnip, and you will get the idea... ;-) Kim couldn't believe it when I told her how Jessie was reacting... until she saw it with her own eyes! We had lots of fun at Jessie's expense before bedtime last night...

Okay, enough fun for now. I need to head out to work so I can get there on time. Chat with you all later and have a good day!

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 6

2007-03-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

Day 155: Back On Track

Hello again and welcome back! Thanks for returning to the updates for Evangeline after my rather long hiatus. ;-) I plan on remedying that in the future...

As you can see, Evangeline's dress is progressing nicely. In fact, it is almost done. Relatively speaking of course... I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to get back into the swing of stitching this project. However, I must confess that getting used to this 16 count fabric again did take me a few days. Eye strain and all. Of course, some of it might have been from sinus unhappys brought on by atmospheric nasties during last week's weather too so...

Anyway... due to the size of this project, I have had the extra fabric pinned back and out of the way. Now that I am further along with things, I have decided to unpin it and move on to another area. I have decided to give dress making a rest (like the last 3 monthes haven't been a rest!) and move on to planting trees. Sotospeak... If you look at the bottom right of the picture at the beginning of this post, you will see the beginnings of the tree that will eventually 'grow up' behind Evangeline. I also got to looking at the pattern, and once the tree is in place it will be easier to locate where certain stitches will need to go once I get up to the top of the project. It should work out fairly well. I can't wait.

Well, I have run out of words to say. :-( Darn, and I was just getting back into the swing of things...

Oh, I do want to send a big HI! out to greg of Ohio who responded to my last post. Can you believe it? Another Greg who is a stitcher guy! He has a really cute dog too... ;-) (Note to greg: 'Achoo' looks cute. Can't wait to see it done.) Click on the link and go check him out!

And with that... I better post this post so that we can order pizza! (We run on dial-up here @ the 'Needle...)

See you next time!

WELCOME TO SPRING!!!

2007-03-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

(Ah, shut up!!!)

Hello everybody! As I am sure all or at least most of you have heard by now, the Midwest got a real whopper of a snow storm last week. (Sunny skies Wednesday, the above look by Thursday.) Well, I guess this is what I get for mentioning all those robbins out by that tree last time...

I forget exactly how much snow we ended up with, but I recall hearing about accumulation amounts from as low as 6 inches to as high as 14 inches or more in some areas. The blizzard (severe weather) warnings that were flying around on Thursday were purportedly the first to hit this area in almost 10 years. (I remember those last blizzards. Not much fun...) Also, the 2 big Interstates as well as a few of the bigger Highways in the area were completely shut down for most of Thursday and at least half of Friday. Needless to say, neither Kim nor I went to work on Thursday...

Once things calmed down, I took this picture of a big tree across from our apartment building that really shows how snowy and windy things were. (As you can see, this was a pretty good sized tree...) Fortunately, neither Kim nor I got into any accidents or had any other weather related difficulties. And -since we were both home from work- we each managed to get quite a lot done on our projects.

On a cheery note, things here are brightening up and warming up and -thank goodness!- a lot of the snow has started to melt off. Granted, we still have some pretty good sized plow piles scattered around town. But with the warmer weather that we are supposed to be having this week, I am sure that those piles won't be too big for too long. And it is REALLY nice to be seeing blue skies again... :-) :-) :-)

And with that, I will let you all go for now. Happy stitchy, stay warm, and I will chat with you later!

Revelations and Completions

2007-02-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I have finally taken the time to post some pics of stuff I have done.

First up, the Jack Russel that I made for Mark:

I was initially thinking of making a custom designed 'dog house' themed frame for this, but I decided against it. That being said, methinks that it turned out pretty good. And it was very well received, which is always a good thing.

Next up, Bonnie's Garfield:

The frame for this one was a neat find. There is a discount merchant here called Gordman's, and we occassionaly manage to find neat frames. Also shown in this picture is the gift card to a local coffee shop called The Mill that Bonnie likes to go to. Bonnie is my car pooler and these items were meant as a Christmas gift. Needless to say, these were VERY well received! (The happy pic I took of Bonnie was too blurry from all her hopping around all happy like...)

And finally, one for ME!

This is a kit from Dimension that I got because, well let's be honest: you don't see many projects with bicycles on them. And the notion behind it is pretty nice too. ;-)

As for Evangeline... Well... She is still languishing in "To Be Completed" land. But fear not! As soon as I complete one more little project (that I will be using as the centerpiece for a shadow box idea that I have) I will be getting right back to working on her. HONEST!

That is all that I have as far as finished stuff to show off. I do want to leave you all with a sure sign that Spring is deffinately on its way:

You might not be able to see too well, but there are a gaggle of robins in this picture! I took this a couple of weeks ago (has it really been that long ago?!?) and shortly thereafter, things started to -more or less- warm up. AND the sun has been staying out a lot longer each day and the temps have been going up as well. Yippie, yippie, yippie!!! ;-) Can't wait to get the bikes dusted off and go riding again.

And with that, I will sign off and see you all next time. Happy stitchy!

>>>60th POST!<<<

2007-01-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

(Well, it seemed like a good idea for a post title...)

Yes, true believers, I have FINALLY made my 60th post. True, I don't have much to say tonight, but I figured that my re-entry into the blogosphere should be made in baby steps.

What should I talk about? Well, I am sure that you all have been keeping up with my stitching over at Kim's blog. I do have some pictures of the 2 project presentations that I have made since my last post, but those will have to wait until the next time I post. (Hopefully this weeekend... I promise!)

I haven't really done any work on Grape for a while, but I am working on it. Just not right at the moment... On that front: suffice it to say that Grape has gone through some changes, with a few more on the way. Eventually... as soon as I get back to it...

On the Evangeline front: well... Let's just say that she is in Rip van Winkle mode at the moment. I DO plan on finishing her. Honest! It just so happens that I have been distracted by various and sundry other things for the last 2 months and... Well, you get the idea.

And as always seems to happen when I try to post, I need to stop and go to bed. (I am a slow starter and an even slower finisher...) I will let Kim keep you more posted on whatever else is distracting me -like our new set up for the computer here- and I will work on getting more stuff posted on the blog here. I hope to post again soon.

So until then, HAPPY NEW YEAR and all that good stuff and I will post at you all later!

P.S.: Thanks to those of you who took the time to come back and look again. I will try to be more prompt in my next postings... gC

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 5

2006-10-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Day 54: Finally! Progress!!!

Thanks one and all for your patience in waiting for my latest Evangeline post. I hope that you find my progress worth your wait.

Update info: as I mentioned in my last post, I have been splitting my time between this project and the dog project. The reason for this is that the dog is going to be a gift for another one of my work associates and I don't want them to accidentally find out about it. Would kind of spoil the surprise, you know? Anyway... Since I can't work on the dog at work, I work on Evangeline at work. Hence, the slow progress. And now you know the reason.

So, about progress. I was working away last Wednesday night and got the lower hemline to the place where it was matching up with the bottom of what I have already done on her dress. That felt pretty good: "Progress! Yes!! I still love this project!!!"

But then -gasping sounds- I realized that where I was supposed to be and where I actually was wasn't the same place. :-O "Well (cursing noises)!" So I decided to set the thing aside and look closer at it later...

Fast forward to Thursday at lunch: after a LOT of close pattern looking at, I came to find the place where I went wrong. "WELLSONOFASTITCH!!!" ...actually, it was worse than that, but you get the idea...

Anyway, look at the above progress pic: See where the needle with the thread is? Good, keep that in you memory. Now, look on the right side of the same pic and see if you can find the needle sticking through the fabric. Found it? Great! You now know how much of Evangeline I had to rip out in order to correct my mistake. FYI: the area in question was about 3" wide by 2" high and took about 2 days of lunches and breaks to complete. As you have seen above, I was not a happy camper...

But that was then and this is now and I can say with a great amount of relief that I have most of that area stitched back into place. I went about stitching this area a little bit differently than the first go around, so everything else went off with out a hitch. I have decided that if I am going to do what amounts to outlining something in my stitching, I am NOT going to add the detaily stuff in until after the outline stuff is done. (Methinks that was part of the reason for the oopsie in the first place...)

Okay, since I have decided to do this post before I went to bed tonight after all, I might as well take the time to show you the new frame that I have recently picked out for this project:

(My, but these pics are a lot bigger than I thought...)

This is a picture of a great -to me- flea market find! When I first started Evangeline, I half wanted one of these kinds of frames to put her in when I was done. You see, when I was little my grandparents had a pair of similiar frames with photos of their parents in them. They have always stuck out in my memory. (Of course, one day while goofing around I sat on one and broke the glass, so you can kind of see why...) Anyway, I have always liked these types of frames as they have a certain 'heirloom' kind of quality to them. Granted, I am going to have to have Kim work it over a little bit for me to get it looking half way good again -the previous owner used it to display weeds- I am thinking that it might make a good looking frame for this project. Only time will tell.

And speaking of time, I am really running out of it now so I better sign off on this post. I have another posting regarding Grape still to do, but that will have to wait.

Until then, happy day in every way and I will see you next time!

And the winner is...

2006-10-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

JACKIE!

Hello folks! Meet Jackie. She is the lucky winner of the silent auction for The Native Wolf that I completed not too long ago. She informed me that her friend likes Native American themed things and that this would be a Christmas gift for the friend. Happy GiftMess indeed!

Also since my last post -how long ago was that now?!?- I picked up another new coffee cup:

It is pretty good sized and a planter too. I have decided that I am no longer able to plant (read: keep alive) spider plants, so I decided to take a go at ivy. The ivy looks pretty good in it and seems to be hanging on so far. Just to give you an idea of how big this cup is, here is a picture of it along with another planter:

...oh, and a little kitty statue too. ;-) It -the kitty- is about 3" tall. Also, if you look at the wall behind the planters, you will see the storage frame for my "50 United States Quarters" collection. I have a lot of the quarters, but still need the ones that haven't come out yet. Sotospeak... ;-) (I know... my comedy hasn't gotten any better since my last post.)

In other news, I have been working on both Evangeline and a dog for another individual at work. You may have heard about the dog over at Kim's blog. I will be making another post in regards to all the fun and frivolity of Evangeline in my next post. (Which will be coming up shortly...)

Speaking of 'fun and frivolity', I kyped the latest SBQ off of Kim's blog and just had to post an answer to it:

When you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in various stitching projects do you find it better to muddle your way through or do you take a brief break from stitching? If you do take a break, how long do you take?

Mistakes? What mistakes?!? Okay, okay, everybody put down the sticks and stones! ;-) I freely admit to making mistakes. In fact during my latest bit of stitching on Evangeline, I found a doozy of an oopsy! Suffice to say, I needed to rip out what amounted to 2 days' worth of stitching. (I will explain the 'why?' of that in my Evangeline post...) Anyway... When I notice that I am making multiple mistakes, I usually set the project aside and walk around for a few moments. Sometimes the few moments tend to become more than a few. You see, I am a perfectionist. If I make a mistake, I tend to stop dead in my tracks and find the mistakes so that I can fix them. Methinks that would make me a muddler... And now the truth is out. ;-p lol

Okay, enough blogging fo tonight. I could do more, but tomorrow is a work day and -for reasons that I won't go into- looks to be a stressful one. Wish me luck in the Low Stress area and I will chat with you next time!

Now then... Where was I?!?

2006-09-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

(Or: 'Fear and Self Loathing In The Midwest')

I had a feeling that this might happen...

When I started this blog, it was with the intention of showing off my stitching, recumbent riding, and whatever else I would think to blog about. And for the most part, that is what I have done. But...

I was also a bit reluctant to start this blog because I knew my history. You see, I have a tendency to start things I don't always finish. :-O Hard to believe I know, but true. Same with this blog...

Oh, I think I've done a pretty good job making posts and keeping things here interesting and updated and all...

Well, not exactly...

Lately, I have just been over occupied to post. Work related stuff (don't ask)... Health stuff (I have had some semblance of a cold and/or allergies for almost 2 monthes now)... Event stuff (it is flea market season, after all)... Car stuff (both mine and Kim's mum's)... A little Grape stuff (info about Grape's "nose job" to follow, later)... Oh, and stitching for Kim stuff (check out her blog, if you haven't already)....

Idanoe. Maybe I am just being too hard on myself. I mean, I wanted to make this blog thing a long and ongoing project kind of thing that I would blog on and on and on...

Oh, but wait! I am posting now, aren't I? That is a good thing, right? That means that I haven't totally fallen off the blogwagon yet! There's still hope for me!! Maybe I was just going through a slow/busy/distracted period in my blogingness!!! Mayhaps all I needed to do was just sit down and type and everything would just fall right into place!!!!

Okay... Enough of all that. Methinks that I am okay with my 'time off' from blogging and now I will be able to blog again and again and...

Well, you get the idea...
;-)

Happy bloggy and stitchy and bikingey (?!?) and I will see you all next time!

Evangelines's Journey: Episode 4

2006-08-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

Day 15: IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY MORNING when I took this update picture...

...so I hope it looks good on your computer. Believe it or not, I have been stitching since my last post. Of course, it didn't hurt matters much that I was sick for most of the time. (Nothing serious, just a bit of a sinus alergy dust reaction kind of thing... All better now.)

Anyway... Things are going pretty well and fast here. As you can see, I have managed to get some more of the red in and started putting in some of the color that will ultimately make up her shawl. I still think that the colors are a bit off when compared to the model stitch. I guess it is just the way that I am seeing things. Kim agrees with me that the image may just look that way because of how it was made, and the colors are just the way they are. And one other thing that I just thought of, the fabric that I am using (hand dyed by Kim) is just a little bit lighter in color than the model stitch. That may or may not cause the colors to look different too. Hard telling... ;-)

In answer to the comment question from Erin, in regards to Evangeline's face: yes, there is a conversion for the face when stitching on Aida cloth. Specifically, there are 2 patterns for the face: 1 if you want to stitch an over 1 face (like if you stitch on linen) and 1 for if you want to stitch an over 2 face (like if you stitch on Aida, like me). I will be doing the 'over 2' pattern, for obvious reasons. That's not to say that I wouldn't want to do the 'over 1' pattern. I have been kicking around the idea of doing an 'over 2 version of the over 1' pattern. On Aida. My thought is to make a cameo-style project of just Evangeline's face. Of course the hair might be a bit of a problem, since the pattern is only for the face. Oh well... If I do go through with trying this, I will probably just do a half-stitch grey or blue 'halo' around the face. Stay tuned for further developments in that regard...

In other news: today we received an envelope from Stitching Bits and Bobs with a few more items for our Stash Basket. One of them is a project that I will be doing for another associate at work. Pics of that to follow. I am sure Kim will be posting New Stash Pics, but if not I will put some up. We'll see...

What else? Well... We managed to get us a new cabinet for all of Kim's hand-dyed fabric. We got a KILLER deal on it too! Let's just say that we got it for close to 70% off of the original sticker price... >;-) It looks pretty good where we have it too, so that helps.

Well, that is about all I can think of to write about for now. I am sure there is more to type, but I can't think of it. Stay tuned for more of Evangeline and anything else that I happen to take the time to blog about.

Happy Stitchy and I will see you next time!

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 3

2006-07-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

Day 6: Adding a Little Color

Here I am! Back again as promised. (Miss me?)

As you can see, I have managed to get over (literally) the mistake I mentioned in my last post. And add a little color as well. I must say, I am really liking this shade of blue from Needlepaints. I have never used their flosses, but I think that I am going to enjoy using them on this project. AND I think that -as the pattern was designed- they will add quite a bit to the look of the completed project. I can hardly wait!

In other news... Well, not much. Gas prices are going through the roof, work at our works is maintaining its hectic pace, and the cat is still the cat. ;-p Nuff said.

Oh, and in the New Bicycle Department: let's just say that we are both putting the idea on hold for now. Friday I received the new handlebars that I had ordered -after a month of work and waiting- for Kim's bike. Unfortunately, they are so close to what are already on the bike that we are going to send them back. I feel a bit sorry for the poor gal at The Hostel Shoppe who has been so helpful over the last month. I hope that the returning of the bars won't be too big of a deal...

I think that I will let you all go for now. I need to finish my evening meal and then -grudge- get ready for work tomorrow. Oh boy, oh joy... ;-) (I like my job. REALLY! I just like my time off too...)

And with that... I will see you later. Happy stitchy and good night to all!

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 2

2006-07-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Day 4: A Darker Shade of Brown

Thanks to Procol Harum for the title of their "Whiter Shade of Pale" for my post title.
...orsomethinglikethat...

Anyway... As you can see, I have been making pretty good progress on "Evangeline". I'm not sure, but I am almost wondering if maybe there is some mistake in the way that this pattern was designed. Or at least, the DMC color number. The browns that I am using for this part seem... well... a bit darker than the model stitch. Here is a link to a small picture of the model stitch. You be the judge...

Regardless of wether or not the colors match or not, that is nothing compared to what I found when I took a moment to look at what I have accomplished so far. Believe it or not, I managed to find A Mistake. :-O Yes it is true; I oopsed.

Seems that while I was stitching away on my way to the top of the current section, I managed to miscount at one point and -brace yourselves- have a whole lot of extra stitches on the left of this area. (FYI: If you look at the left of the project, and count 2 red Xs up from the bottom, you will see where I am referring to...) Needless to say, I was NOT going to frog all of that out! Oh well. The good thing about mistakes is that you can more often than not cover them up as you go stitching along. And what's more, the color that will be going over the top of the oops is darker (Needlepaints #2006) and should cover up the brown fairly well. We shall see how it looks once it is all covered up... ;-)

Well, that is all you are going to get out of me from this post. But fear not! In an attempt to keep you all up to date -and since I have indeed done more since the above update pic was taken- I shall be making Yet Another Post in just a little bit to show you how things look now. Just sit back... Relax... And wait for the next post.

Until then, happy stitchy and have a good night!

Evangeline's Journey: Episode 1

2006-07-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Day 2: Xs Mark the Spots

YES! gC HAS FINALLY STARTED ON "EVANGELINE"! YIPPEE, YEAH, YAY!!!

(Too much fanfare? I wasn't sure...)

Anyway... Once I finished the other projects (see last post) I finally got the URGE to start on "Evangeline". It was calling to me, you might say... ;-)

I can honestly say that this one is going faster than I thought it would. Granted, I have only been working on it for 2 days now. But it is going pretty fast, considering how 'big' a project that it is. (Take another look at the pattern, and see what I am referring to...)

Some background for those who may not know what I am stitching:

The pattern is "Evangeline" by Lavender and Lace. Next to "The Red Bicycle" that I finished earlier this year, this is and will be my most complex project to date.

Also like "The Red Bicycle", I am stitching it on some of Kim's hand-dyed fabric. Since the pattern is designed to be stitched on 32ct linen -and I can't really see 32ct linen- I am using a 16ct Aida to stitch this project. Suffice it to say, I am able to stitch fairly well on this chunk of fabric. It is orange with a little bit of yellow in it. The flosses look pretty good on it.

Speaking of flosses, I am primarily using DMC flosses. There are also Needle Paints and also Splendor Designer Collection colors from Rainbow Gallery. These are going to make this one heck of a nice project once it is all done. I can't wait to see how they look on Kim's fabric.

And once the project is all done, I have a nice frame already picked out that will go very well with the completed project. It is a distressed (for lack of a better word) orangeish colored wood frame with little dimples in the wood. They give the frame the look like drift wood or older wood. Like I said, it has a bit of a distressed look to it. Can't wait to see this stuff all together!

Okay... X-p 2 posts in one night. Hard to believe it, but it is true. Of course, that may mean that I won't post for a couple of days or weeks, but that is okay. The progress pics will be worth the wait. ;-)

I hope that you all are haveing a good go of things and I will blog at you all as soon as I can get all the words together. ;-)

Wolf, Deer, and Magnets

2006-07-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

Oh my!

Well, here I am again, after all this time. ;-) Trust me, if it weren't for the Tour de France, I probably would have posted sooner. However, Floyd Landis is now the new King of the Tour de France and life as we know it has returned to normal. (Whatever that is...)

Anyway... The above pic is of the last 4 finishes that I have finished:

The first, is of the Native Wolf that I have been working on. It feels REALLY GOOD to finally have this thing finished... It is in a barn board frame that we got on discount at Hobby Lobby. I have decided to put this into a charity auction for work. I will let you all know how much it gets once the auction is all over...

The next (small) pic is of the Mickey Mouse fridge magnet that I made for the nice gentleman who makes copies for me at work. He is on vacation this week, so you will have to wait for a 'presentation pic' on this one. (If he lets me click him, that is...

The other (small) pic if of the inexpensive Cookies project that I just finished. Methinks that I may keep this one for me, but I don't know just yet...

The 4th -and final- pic is of the Deer that I did for Tom at work. As you can see from the link pic, he REALLY liked it... ;-) I am glad, because he is a really nice guy; one of the nicest folks I have worked with in quite some time. (He just happens to like deer and hunting too; so that helps out a bit too...)

Well, that is the end of this post. I would like that say that I have more to say, but on this topic I don't. (I probably do, but I have another post that I want to make so...) I appreciate all of you nice folks out there who have decided that my blog is worth waiting for and have come back to take a look at the latest. Don't fret, there is more coming sooner than you think... ;-) ;-) ;-)

And on that note, chat with you all as soon as I get the next post put together!

The Perfect Bike?!? redux

2006-07-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, folks. Here I am again, talking about biking stuff. (Bored yet?!? lol)

Anyway, above is a pic of the EZ-1 by the Sun Bicycle Company. This is the 'little brother' if you will of the EZ Sport that Kim rides.

In the words of this review article from the Bent Rider Online.com website, this is a good choice for a first time 'bent buyer or someone who wants a good second bike; like me. ;-) (Read the article, it explains what I mean pretty well.)

"But what makes you want one, gC? What makes you think of it as 'Perfect'?!?? Well, I have to be honest: it may not exactly be 'Perfect'. Maybe more of a 'perfect' kind of perfect; if you know what I mean... Let's just say that -for whatever it is that I am thinking that I want at the moment- it is about as close to 'perfect' as any kind of anything can get. ...orsomethinglikethat...

Anyway... the bike:

I have taken one of these bikes out on a test ride a couple of times in the past. And for the most part, it rode pretty good. I must be honest. It does take a couple of minutes to get used to it. Like with most recumbents, you need to get past the thought of leaning forward when you start off on it. 'Sit back and enjoy the ride' is the norm, not the exception with this and most any other recumbent bike. And if you insist on leaning forward while riding this bike? Well, let's just say that the handling suffers a lot until you sit back and then it plays nice really quick like. ;-)

How does it handle, really? Fairly close to an upright (or 'regular' if you prefer) bike, believe it or not. The reason for that I am sure is the fairly upright seat position. It is about as close to your kitchen table chairs as anything you will ever see. AND it is really comfortable too, since the part you put your posterior on is about as thick as a sofa pillow. (Well, some sofa pillows at least...) This ends up making sitting on the seat enjoyable both at the start of your ride, AND after you have been riding for a while. And isn't that why a lot of folks -and you KNOW who you are- give up and bike riding in the first place? ;-) I know that it is one of the reasons why I like recumbents a bit more than uprights... Add that to the list of reasons why I want one of these bikes.

Another thing about this bike that I like is that it isn't really that big of a bike. Well, relatively speaking of course. I looked at the specs for this bike and -with the aid of my Handy Dandy Tape Measure- have discovered that it is about as long as my upright bike is. Needless to say, that I was surprised! I think that the fact that it has a 16" wheel in front and a 20" wheel in back helps it in that department. Methinks that it's relative size compared to Grape and Kim's bike is another of the reasons that I like this bike.

What kind of gearing does it have? Basically, it is geared almost identically to the way that I have Grape set up. Granted, the 20" rear wheel is noticeably smaller than Grape's rear wheel. (FYI: the size of the rear wheel dictates the type of gearing on any geared bike) But amazingly -well, to me at least- once I did the math to figure out the gearing, the numbers between Grape and the EZ-1 were almost identical. Needless to say, I was happy. One less thing that I would 'have' to change if I were to get this bike. There's another thing to add to the 'favorites' list...

What else, what else, what else... Well... methinks that the biggest thing that I like about this bike is the fact that there isn't really that much on it that I would want to change. :-O I know, I know... Sacrilege to my nature and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah... whatever. Like I may -or may not- have said in a previous post -believe me or not, your call- I am not as whooped up about changing things on bikes as I used to be. And let's face it, I have changed a lot of stuff on a lot of bikes over a lot of years. I can safely say that I am at least 98% sure that if I were to get an EZ-1 I wouldn't be terribly quick to change stuff on it. (Of course, there are those 2" wide tires that I have seen that would fit nicely on these wheels...) Anyway, never say never... ;-)

And let's be honest too, there is ALWAYS going to be something or the other that I would want to 'customize' for my own evil purposes: a rear (or under-seat) rack, a computer, lights, fenders, bottle cages, etc, etc, etc... You get the idea. But that kind of stuff is fairly inexpensive. AND I already have most of those things in my part box anyway so... ;-)

The bottom line on the classification of the EZ-1 is this: "Perfect" or "perfect"? Either way it would be a nice little recumbent to have for basic tooling around town just because like. Granted, I still have Grape and it isn't like I 'NEED' another bike. But variety is good and if having a second bike could help me get out and ride more -and I am not saying with any certainty that it would or wouldn't- I think that it would be a good thing.

That is the end of my very long post and I hope that I haven't bored too many of you with it. Thank you for you times and I will blog at you all later!

(Now... time for bed... zzzzzzzzzzz)

Oh Deer!

2006-07-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all and sundry to the 'saw buck' blog entry!!! Okay, for those of you unfamilliar with American slang terminology, a 'saw buck' is a $50 bill. (I have no idea who thought of that, but it was a l o n g time ago...) And since this is my 50th post... Well, it seemed a bit appropriate. ;-)

ANYway... Since this is a 'buck' post, I thought I would post a pic of the deer that I am working on:

Sorry for the way the pic looks, but the colors that I am stitching with at the moment are light browns and tans and the fabric is a light tan also. Believe me, it isn't the easiest to stitch on either. Kind of like the Wolf that I did on black... Oh well. It is a deer after all. I am sure it will look pretty good, once all the colors are all together and on the fabric. And if push comes to shove (another bit of American slang), I can always backstitch the whole thing in a darker light brown to show off the outlines of the deer. ;-)

In other news, the Tour is back on the road after a day of rest. Not only that, but Floyd Landis announced that, basically, his right hip is 'dead'; apparently as a result of a very nasty crash in 2003. He broke his hip, and now he has a condition called osteonecrosis -or bone death- a degenerative condition caused by lack of blood supply. I haven't read the entire article, but this link is an article that will be printed in the New York Times Sunday Magazine on July 16. I got the info on the article from Floyd's website / blog after Kim mentioned that she read about it while looking ahead to see who won today's Stage. (FYI: Oscar Freire won today...) We have jokingly been saying that -once Floyd gets his hip replaced- he will return as The Next Lance Armstrong and win 8 Tours de France with his NEW and IMPROVED TITANIUM HIP!!! (Well, it sounds good anyway...) lol All of our support goes out to Floyd as he goes through his hip related stuff. (Oh sure, we want him to do good in the Tour. But Kim and I are still cheering for George Hincappie!)

Okay, I want to close this post now. I am going to be working on another post similiar to the last bike post; hopefully with a bit more direction than that other one. ;-)

Everybody have a good time of things and GO GEORGE! GO FLOYD!! GO TOUR!!! ;-)
See ya...

The Perfect Bike?!?

2006-07-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well... maybe not. But then again, 'perfect' is a rather ambiguous term. Not to mention apt to change without notice. At least, that tends to be the case in my case...

Anyway... The above pictured pic is a photo of the bike that I bought for Kim a couple of years ago. Not a bad little bike, once we got it spec'ed out for her; the original gearing was a wee bit too much for her to handle. (A bit high for most folks who would want to buy one of these, IMHO...)

Back to "The Perfect Bike" comment... I have been wanting -not needing, mind you; WANTING- to get something else in the bicycle department. And I must confess, there are a LOT of different models to choose from. Enough to give anybody a spinning head problem; nevermind someone of my indecisiveness when it comes to 'what I really want' out of something. How bad can it be for someone like me? Well, consider this: in the last... oh, idanoe 20+ years, I have averaged about 2 bikes a year. (And I am sure you all can do the math on how many that adds up to be.) Granted, I have sold all but 2 of them up to this point; most at a bit of a financial loss. But what does that have to do with "The Perfect Bike"?!? Well, with so many choices I just had to try them all... Not really, but it seems like it in retrospect.

Anyway, I have been looking at the different stuff that is out there and frankly -for me, at least- I have found most of it wanting. Trust me, I can find things to change about bike stuff in no time flat. But then again, I am a bit picky about the kind of stuff that I feel works best for me. Trust me, I could go on and on and on about this type of technical stuff (and just deleted half of this post because I overdid it a whole lot!) but I think I better not.

Suffice it to say that I have been considering getting myself a bike like Kim's for a second bike. (Yes, I am planning on selling W.I.P. Any takers?!?) To that end, I took Kim's bike out for a long test ride. Without going into too many details, I can honestly say that -after almost 24 miles of around town riding- I actually liked it. Granted, I did find a few things that I would want to change (old habits, eh?) But for the most part it was pretty spot on. Case in point: this thing is a lot more agile than something this long would appear to be. AND it almost handles like an upright, which was something that I think I am still wanting to have. (I just don't want to 'upright' part, that's all...)

However... Methinks that I am mayhaps not necessarily looking for a bike like Kim's for a second. I know, that sounds like an excuse to me too. But I have been giving it a bit (okay, a LOT) of thought since the ride earlier today and can honestly -well, as honest as it will sound- say that I am actually thinking about the next model down from this one in the company's line up. It is called the EZ-1 and as hard as it may seem, I think it might actually be what I am looking for. I will be the first to admit that this bike seems to go against my nature -even to me as I write this- but I am honestly wanting to tinker with bikes less and ride bikes more. I just happen to want more than one, that's all. ;-) I have taken an EZ-1 out for a rather short test ride a while back and was honestly impressed with it too. It wouldn't be as fancy as anything else that I have or used to have, but mayhaps that is what I am looking for. It is hard to say, and as usual only time will tell...

I am going to quit rambling on this subject for now. Oh sure, I could go on and on and on and... But I think I have said enough for now. If I can say anything at this point, it would have to be that bicycles are very personal devices and IMHO they should be designed as such. But then again, if that were the case there wouldn't be hardly any bikes out there because they would cost too much to make. FYI: it is possible to put a bike together per your own personalized specifications, but you better have deep pockets when you go to do it...

Okay, enough about bike stuff. I have rambled on long enough about it anyway...

In the "Where are my manners?" category...

Regarding a comment from Lili, below is a picture of my Native Wolf project. I am all done with it except for the framing. Watching the Tour tends to keep us from doing other things sometimes...

Also, I have started the deer project that I am doing for another associate at work. It is going fairly quickly, when I am working on it that is. ;-) I will make pics of it shortly...

Tomorrow we will be going to see "The Pirates of the Carribean" and can't wait! Kim has been waiting for this one since she found out that there would be a second one. I am just hoping that it is at least half as good as all the hype...

Okay, I have been typing for quite a while and may not be able to get out of my chair. (EEEK!) I hope you all have a good night/day/whenever and I will post at you all later!

We Interrupt This Month To Bring You The 2006 Tour de France!

2006-07-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to OLN for the above pic of this year's route.

Hello all and everyone else too! As you might have guessed from reading Kim's blog, it is time once again to watch the Tour de France. We have both been really into this yearly event since we found out that OLN was showing live (or at least time delayed) coverage of the race. I NEVER would have guessed that Kim would be so into bike racing. She trys to deny it, but I am convinced that she only watches it for the buff biker guys... ;-) Okay, I'm just kidding... Methinks that a lot of it -biker guys notwithstanding- is the drama of the race itself. I mean when you hear stuff like the "Operacion Puerto" debacle, as well as the fact that the Yellow Leader's jersey changes daily... Well, let me just say that it can be very VERY interesting. And on top of all that, we still have about 2 weeks of this excitement! COOL!!! If you are curious about more stuff regarding the Tour de France, be sure to point your mouse and browser to OLNTV.com for more information...

(FYI: George Hincapie -Lance Armstrong's #2 man- is 5 seconds behind the leader, Tom Boonen. GO GEORGE! GO GEORGE! GO GEORGE! Ahem... Sorry, got a little bit excited there...)

In our early Tour watching history, Kim had asked me a good question: "Why aren't there any women in the Tour?" "Duh... idanoe..." Was and is usually my answer. (I hate to say it, but I am not that savvy on all this biker stuff...) However, I have been able to find a couple of links at Wikipedia that talk about the ladies and the Tour. They make a little bit better sense of that stuff than I probably could... Enjoy!

And just to show you all that I haven't totally forgotten about stitching -I have finished the Native Wolf project, BTW- I saw the following Stitching Blogger's Question over at Christine's blog and thought it would be a good thing to post about. (And it caught my attention too so...)

"What do you do with your charts once you've stitched them? Do you keep them or dispose of them? If you keep them, do you organize them in a way that is different from the way you keep your unstitched charts?"

Well, I can honestly say that I generally shred my patterns once I am done stitching them. Now, before you all go and have heart failure on me, I just want to say that I don't exactly shred the actual pattern. What I do is shred the COPY of the pattern that I am stitching. The copy is easier for me to mark up and keep track of where I am on the pattern. AND if I decide to re-sell or gift away the pattern, it won't be all 'used' looking. "Slightly used" I think is the proper term. As for the patterns that I do keep, I generally put them back into the stash bucket (or file, as the case sometimes is) in pretty much the same place that the pattern was when I first dug it out. (...or put into Stashedness...)

FYI: I generally have my patterns sorted by size and / or type. In other words, I have a file for the little bitty projects (like the Mickey Mouse that I finished yesterday), another one for the mid-sized ones (like the 5" x 7" Native Wolf), and so on and so forth for the bigger patterns and the ocassional kit. Kim and I also have folders that we have other patterns in as well; we started using sheet protectors to keep some patterns in them. We have plenty of stash, so we have plenty of "stash buckets" too. ;-)

Well... that thunk noise you just heard was my brain shutting down. I am officially out of words. The Tour coverage is almost over too so... I guess I am about ready to shut this post down for now. I will chat with you all later if not sooner...

And now, back to the Tour!!! lol

You Can Never Go Home Again

2006-06-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

At least, not where it used to be. Well, you might be able to, but I can't. At least not for a L O N G time from now at least...

What am I babbling on about now, you ask? Well, give me a minute and I'll tell ya... ;-)

Anyway, on the way home from work tonight I am listening to the Talk Radio program that is on the radio and trying not to doze off (my rider would be VERY upset with me if I did that; I drove today) when all of a sudden I catch a snippet of an advert that is talking about the place where I used to live when I first moved out on my own. Something or the other about condominiums. "Huh?!? That can't be right." is the first thing to come to mind, so I listen a little more carefully. Sure enough, the Radio Announcer Person is talking something or the other about condos in my old apartment building. Hmm... So I make a point to listen to the rest of the advert -heckling it all the while- and make note of the website mentioned in the ad. Okay, that will give me something to do when I get home...

Fast forward to home. I get all settled in, realize that it is TONIGHT that Kim is getting her hair done (need to work on that memory stuff) and get some stuff started for dinner. After that, I go online and look to see what this condo business is all about. Well, the first few attempts at to find the website failed miserably. Methinks I mis-heard the name or something... Oh well, it isn't like I don't know the name of the place. Check, check, check... Hmm... That doesn't work either... Oh well, so I plug in a search for "condos" and "Rorick" (the name of the old apartment) and lo and behold! I find this site. HOLY HANNAH ON A HOT POGO STICK!!! Ahem... sorry, but that is about what I was thinking.

Anyway, if you click on the link you can see what look like some pretty nice condos. To me, I see my old apartments (I lived in a couple of the units a couple different times.) as the models in the 360* tours. I kid you not! I mean, the 1 bedroom one shown is -more or less- the same as the apartment that I originally moved into when I moved into the place all those years ago. (Talking about a major league freak out!)

AND THEN... I clicked on the mortgage calculator. Just to see what they were asking for them and H O L Y H O P P I NG H I P P O SPIT!!! (I cleaned that up, by the way...) Now if you are condo savvy, you might not think that the price was too much. Well let me tell ya... Up until a couple three years ago, this whole area was a Low Rent District. (Oh yeah, Capital Letters all around...) Example: the apartment that I had when Kim and I got together cost me about $380 +/- a month. Well... If you look at the mortgage calculator, you can see that they cost a little bit more than that now. (Now you can see why I made the hippo spit comment.) The only thing that I can think of for the EXTREME price hike is the fact that a Big New School was built in the area and The City Fathers decided that it would be a good idea to encourage Businesses to come in and renovate all the old apartment buildings. Translation: newly remodeled apartment buildings = higher rent and 'nicer' residents. ...orsomethinglikethat...

Anyway... methinks you can see why I titled this post the way I did. (Still shaking about the whole condo thing here...) I am -more or less- over the seeming unfairness of the whole deal. It is amazing how much things change over time, even though they seem to stay the same.

Okay, enough of that type of stuff. Here is a little bit of something that may pull you all out of the hum-drum feeling that the above story may have created:

This little cutey was milling about outside our window. He/she was just sitting there... munching on the grass... looking into the window... munching more grass... and NOT MOVING! I am not kidding one little bit. I swear, he/she just sat there... and sat there... and sat there... At least 5 minutes, easy. And then... one of the neighbor dogs and his/her owner walked by and scared him/her off. Methinks the dog just wanted to say Hi! but the bunny thought differently. The dog was a bit bigger than the bunny, after all. ;-)

Okay, what else? Um... Oh! Thank you to all and everybody else who have come to take a look at what I have to say. Makes all the typing worth it. ;-p Just kidding... I seriously do appreciate all the visitors.

And with that... Farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu... you know... all that international 'see you later' type stuff... ;-)

Native Wolf update

2006-06-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hello again all and everyone else too! (I told you all I would try harder to make more posts...) Anyway... Here is an update pic of the Wolf that I am working on now:

Whoa! That pic is bigger than I thought...

Well, here it is. I am at the point where I have only 1 color of cross stitching to do and then on to the half- and back-stitching. Methinks that I am about a week or so out from being done. With a little bit of luck, that is... Of course, with this being a long weekend here in the States (Independence Day is next Tuesday) I may get done sooner than that. It's hard to say... We shall see...

And then? Well... umm... Sorry. Kind of distracted by this goffy movie that Kim is watching called "Match Point". I will let the link do the talking about it. Suffice to say that -imho- it is a snoozer of a flick. It is distractingly B O R I N G to me but Kim says it is a good stitching movie. Oh well...

Anyway, I think that I am going to get started on "Evangeline" next. It is probably about time I stopped stalling and start thinking about stitching. Methinks I am just stalling... Oh well, it will get started and finished in due time. (...okay, maybe that dumb movie isn't over yet...)

And speaking of time, I think that this is a good time to sign off. (Loosing my momentum and all that...) I hope everyone is having a good time of theirselves.

Chat with you all later if not sooner!

Back from The Land of Blahs

2006-06-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

Jessi looking out at the rest of the world...

Hello everybody! I would have posted sooner but... well... I have been having a nasty case of the "blahs" most of the month. Not sure what has been causing it, but I think I am getting over it now. Time will tell...

Okay, first things first: "The Road to Paris" is finished! Has been for about a month, but we have already discussed that. ;-) So... Here are some pics to show you what things look like now that I am done...

Okay, above are the 2 sides of the completed project. (I am surprised that I was able to get the pics to cooperate...) As you can see, it turned out pretty good. The 'signatures' under each rider and the little road sign are cute little touches. I hate to say it, but I think that the title was one of the hardest parts of this project. Let's just say that -like Lance and the Tour de France- 7th time's the charm. ;-) And below, you can see what it looks like along with the Arc de Triomphe plaque that inspired the whole thing...

Since I have been suffering the blahs, I haven't yet hung these both up on the wall. But I think that once everything is up and in place, they should all look pretty good.

As to what I am working on now, well it is a UFO (I think that is the stitching term) that I started... well, quite a while ago. It is the "Native Wolf" kit from Dimensions' Creative Accents collection. (The 'site is down now, else I would get you a picture...) I decided to do it on a piece of Kim's hand dyed blue fabric. This is going to be another gift project for one of the folks at work. Now that I am back on it, it is going fairly quickly. I hope it goes over well...

Once this one is done, I have a couple of othergift projects that I am looking to be doing as well. One will be an inexpensive Mickey Mouse project from Janlynn. I am planning on making it into a refrigerator magnet. It will probably take me a couple of days at the most to finish. The other will be a deer project that is from the same book as the turkey project I did for Kim's mom. It will probably take a little more than a couple of days to complete, but once it is done and in the frame that I picked out for it, it should be pretty spiffy once it is done. Beyond that... Well, I have plenty of stash to work off of...

In regards to the Lavender and Lace "Evangeline" well... I've gotten a copy of the pattern made! And it looks like this:

Kinko's is a wonderful place, let me tell ya! The pattern for this project is almost 24 inches to a side. That is the beauty of Kinko's: they are able to make B I G copies. As to the rest of it, I now have all the bits and pieces to get started. I just have to get to that point is all. Be patient with me. It will happen... I am kind of hesitant to be getting started on this one, (Big Project Nerves, most likely) but I am sure that once the first few stitches are on the fabric the rest will go just swimmingly! (Crosses fingers and toes and eyes and...)

Oh, and speaking of swimmingly, Kim and I now have a pass card to the pool at our apartment. It is nice to have access to the pool. It is rather calming, when things aren't too crowded. Granted, we don't actually swim at the pool -that would require the knowledge of how to swim- but we really enjoy the whole 'lazing around the pool' thing. And it is a nice way to relax too. That may explain how I was able to break down my blahs... Hard to say for sure.

What else...? Well, the weather is staying fairly well. Work is stressful but consistent. (Consistently stressful?!? Just kidding... lol) Stitching is going along well. Slow, but well. Kim and I went for a ride today. That was nice. We both got a good work-out and Kim surprised herself by going further than she originally thought she would. I hate to say it, but I was more worn out than she was when we got home. (Shows how much better shape she is in than I am... lol)

Well, I just ran out of words. Well, more or less... I have one last pic though. This one goes out to FLYBYU:

The other day the weather was nice but overcast in the morning. I had taken a quick look out the window and saw that the clouds were in a nifty formation behind the apartments across the creek. The above picture is an example of how they looked. I thought this would be a good one to post. If you haven't looked at FLYBYU's blog, I would suggest you do. If for no other reason as to look at some of the -imho- best scenic photos you can ever hope to look at. (But that is just my opinion...)

Alrightythen! Methinks that I have bolgged enough to last a little while. Hopefully not as little as the last time, but you get the idea.

And with that, I wish you all a good night, good stitching, a good commute to and from work tomorrow (we can all use that...), and an all around good time.

Keep smiling!

Solitary Catharsis

2006-05-31T03:51:00.000-07:00

(Plug "Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche into your i-pod for this one...)

Here I am again, just pounding (well, gently tapping) away at the keyboard to put forth info about my latest bike ride. Yes, I do remember how to ride Grape! It's just like... well... riding a bike. ;-)

ANYway... I FINALLY got around to riding on Monday. It was a bit cloudy and windy, but overall a good day to ride. First, I went and took the pic of the Lance Statue that I mentioned in my last post. Then I got to work getting out of town, literally...

My plan was to head north out of town towards the town of Ceresco. It is a fairly straight shot out of town, once I get out onto the highway. Here is a picture of that highway looking back towards town:

You can sort of see how cloudy it was. Not too bad as to not need sunblock, but cloudy just the same. (FYI: I did end up getting a little red, but that is for later in this post...) And in this next pic, you can see the road heading towards Ceresco:

Okay, so I am still a few miles out from town... But if nothing else, it shows you how open things are out there on The Road To Ceresco. ;-) It is kind of peaceful, in a solitary kind of way. The ride gave me a much needed break from the day to day hectic of things going on around here. You might even say that it gave me time to stop and smell the daisies! There were a lot of what I ended up calling 'ditch daisies' along the road. Very pretty, as the link to the pic shows...

Needless to say -sun and excertion of riding up and down and up and down and... hills notwithstanding- it was a pretty good ride. It took me almost 4 hours to do the entire thing. Me being out of shape helped that a bit, but it was still good to get out and ride. I can honestly say, though, that even though I enjoyed the ride I need to listen to Kim a little bit more and not try to do so much all at once. Work into it, you might say. ;-) I'm learning though...

Okay, with that little bit of wordage I will have to sign off. But not without doing the obligatory handing out of postcards that say:

Relaxing in Ceresco! Wish you were here.

The Road to Paris: Team Photo

2006-05-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hello again, everybody! I have been really busy doing lots of things including stitching. But not so much photo taking or bike riding or blog posting. Today, however I have done a bit of the first two and thought I would work on the last one. So... here goes......

Here is the most recently taken pic of The Road To Paris:

Like I said, I have been doing a LOT of stitching...

I finished stitching the Cedrics last night. All I have left for this one is to have the Cedrics 'sign' their respective names, as well as a bit of back stitching to put a 'title' on the project as well as a little sign to mimic the "Paris 30 km" words on the plaque that this project got its ideas from. Methinks that the boys are looking pretty good. If you look here and here, you can get a closer look at them and judge for yourself... (Personally, I think the "Fool's Gold" floss on Lance's helmet is just P E R F E C T !!)

Oops! I need to sign off now. But first... Here are a couple of pics of my most recent Tour de Lincoln statue:

I may not have to say that this one is based on Lance Armstrong. Well, the 2003 version at least... ;-) Back then, he and his Tour de France winning team was riding for the U.S. Postal Service (hence, the stylized eagle motif on his shorts). We just happened to be driving around on Saturday and there it was! Kim couldn't figure out why I wanted to -more or less- do a u turn to go back and see it, but she humored me so I could look at it again. She is such a sweety to put up with my wierdnesses! ;-) Anyway... When I went out for my ride today -post to follow tomorrow?- my first stop was to this new (well, new to me) Shrine To The Greatness of Lance Armstrong! Okay, I just wanted to get a pic of it to show it off to you all. You get the idea...

Okay, I need to leave now. It is later than I wanted it to be and I need to go to work in the morning. (Oh boy, oh joy...) Y'all be safe and sound and stitchy and bikey and all that other good happy type stuff and I will blog at you some more tomorrow!

The Road To Paris: Group Ride

2006-05-19T03:57:00.000-07:00

Hello again you... and you... and of course YOU! ;-) You know who You are...

Anyway, time for and update on The Road To Paris:

As you can see, the gang is all here. I finished the last Cedric yesterday over my lunch hour and started on coloring in the jerseys ('biker shirts') soon after. I have decided to go color code image by color code image on each individual Cedric as I work on them. By that I mean that if the image for a color is a z, than I am stitching the z color on each Cedric before moving onto the next color. Helps break up the monotony of stitching all them big blocks of color. And it will be fun too, considering that the next 2 Cedrics will be made up of different color combinations than the first one. 'Bob' and 'Lance' will be more colorful than 'Cedric' and 'gC'...

As I have said over and over again, things are going pretty fast on this project. Can't wait to see how the other colors will actually look on this fabric...

In other news: Kim and I are going to go see "The Da Vinci Code" tonight. I am hoping that it is better than the pre-reviews make it out to be, but we will just have to wait and see...

Also, I am planning on -hold on- going on a bike ride tomorrow!!! Gasp, shock, awe!!! ;-) If it doesn't rain, that is... I am (REALLY!!!) hoping that it doesn't rain. I could use a good long bike ride. A little catharthis would be nice...

And with that... I better close up and go to work. Otherwise, I won't make it back home in time to get to the movie on time tonight... ;-)

Have a happy Friday wherever you are and be safe and stitchy too!

The Road To Paris: Prologue and First Stages

2006-05-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

(Poster's note: This post is crammed full of informative links...)

Hello again! As promised, I am making a post about my Current Project! So without further delays... here goes...

First off, I am sure you have all followed the link in my last post about what I am going to stitch. No? Well, here is another pic of it so you can be up to speed:

(Sorry about the resolution. I am still trying to get the hang of picture taking and posting...)

Anyway... This is part of the inspiration. My original idea was to make this once. And then I had the idea to do a "multiples in one project" kind of thing. But then... I looked at the wall in our (okay, my) bike room and saw this:

This is a plaque that Kim got for me a while back. As some of you may know, I got her hooked on watching the Tour de France on the TV. The 'Arc ' mentioned on the plaque is the final landmark that the riders see when they make the final ride into Paris. I have this hanging on my wall over the autographed poster of Lance Armstrong after his 1999 Tour win. (I had forgotten that he managed to win by almost 8 minutes!)

Needless to say, this moment of insight pretty much crystalized my idea for this project! It seeemed only fitting to do a project to honor Lance's 7 Tour victories. At first, I was going to do a group of about 7 of these Cedrics and mimic -although probably not very well- Lance and his Discovery Team. Well... that soon changed when I was able to find a frame that was almost identical to the 'Arc' one. That frame found, I redecided to do only 4 of them. (The frame is 20 inches wide. The Cedrics are 4 inches wide each. You can do the math...) I would keep 1 of them as Lance, do one as a characature of Bob Roll (former mountain bike racer and current Tour commentator), one as myself (more or less), and one of the original Cedric. To that end, I copied the pattern 4 times, taped it together, and then decided on the individual colors for each 'Cedric' character. Below is a pic of the entire set of patterns:

(clicking on the above pic will show a better one. But you get the idea...)

That decided, I sat to the task of preparing the project for stitching. First off, I had to decide on what kind of fabric to stitch it on first. That wasn't overly hard, once I went through every piece of fabric that Kim had dyed. No takers. BUT when I went to our local stitching shop, I found The Perfect Fabric for this project. It is almost the same color as the 'Arc' plaque, and therefore it will be a good match once completed. Then, I pulled out all of the flosses that I had decided (with a little help from Kim) to use. Kim has taught me a new phrase: 'floss toss'. The following pic will show the floss toss for 'The Road To Paris':

As you can see, these colors should look very good on this fabric. Once it is all done, that is. (FYI: the fabric is 14ct and called 'Relic'. It is an orange/brown/red overdyed piece. Very nice...)

Okay... Pattern? Check. Colors? Check. Fabric? Check. Now, on to the stitching...

I started working on 'The Road To Paris' last friday at work. I want to go on record as saying that I have all kinds and colors of respect for those talented folks who can stitch in hand, without a hoop. Do to a technical error that was all the cat's fault...

It was NOT my fault! -jessie

...I had managed to forget my hoop at home. :-O Uh oh! Let me say that a small photo frame and a couple of rubber bands make a pretty good make-do sittching hoop... ;-) Below are the results of part of what I got done on Friday:

Anyway... I started working on this last Friday at work. Saturday and Sunday -as I mentioned in my last post- Kim and I went down to her mum's and spent the weekend. I had quite a lot of time to stitch. Things are going fairly quickly and I have been able to get the following 2 Cedrics finished by the end of Sunday night:

As I mentioned earlier, these 2 are (from right to left) 'Lance' and 'Bob'. (Aren't they cute?!?) 'Lance' will end up having a 'golden' helmet, a 'yellow' jersey (shirt), and blue shorts; akin to his Discovery Team colors on Race Day. 'Bob', however, will have a slightly more colorful outfit: 'Hot rod' (red/orange/yellow) by Weeks Dye Works helmet, a 'Confetti' by Weeks Dye Works jersey (yellow/blue/green/red), and -believe it or not- plain blue shorts. (DMC #995, FYI). 'Cedric' and 'I ' will stay fairly tame. My helmet will be tones of grey (like my actual helmet) and my shorts will be subdued tones of blue. Cedric will remain the same as the original pattern colors. A bit of an homage to the original design, sotospeak... All and all, this project should look pretty darn cute when it is all done. I figure that I should be done -stitching, mounting, framing, and all- way before the end of the month. Maybe sooner, the way things are going! Stay tuned and see how things go...

(Can you tell that it is getting late and I am running out of things to say?)

As a point of Updatedness: I can say that I have almost completed the outline of 'my' Cedric. (Like I have been saying, this thing is going fast...) I am hoping to have 'Cedric' himself outlined by thrusday at the latest, and then I will show another update pic. I am soooo wanting to type in the phrase "Say hello to my little friend(s)!" for the title of that post! If you have seen -or at least, seen something relating to- the movie "Scar Face" with Al Pacino, you will recognize the quote... ;-) lol

Okay... What else? Well, first let me answer Lili's comment question from my last post: Yes. Very much so when you compare old pictures of the two of them, or when you get a pic of them in almost the same pose together. Almost freaky to me, sometimes... ;-)

Other than that... Not much to say. The weather here has been playing havoc with Kim's sinuses as welll as mine. Also, for some reason the 'excema' that I got just before our wedding is making a return engagement lately. Don't know the reason for that for sure, but I am sure that Mother Nature has something to do with that too. Oh, and the cat is still a pukey butt.

AM NOT!!!

---hack, hack, hack---
Well, maybe just a little bit...
-jessie

Anyway... All kidding aside, thanks for looking at my blog again and I will see you all and sundry and bunny too! (Lili: Patapon is just simply adorable!) Have a good time of it all and I will see you at the next posting!

Justaquickpost... Yeah, right...

2006-05-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

You might want to get a big cup of your favorite beverage. I may get a little long winded here...

Hello again, all and sundry! Yes, I have survived turning another year younger -hey, you celebrate your brithday your way, I'll celebrate mine my way- and no, I haven't forgotten about blogging. I guess I have just not been in a bloggy frame of mind for a while... ;-)

Okay, updates... Let's see. Well, first off -as I said above- I celebrated another year. Here is one of the things that I got:

The weekend of my b-day, Kim's folks came up and we went to various and sundry places around town that they wanted to go shopping at. (And no, I won't mention the fact that we went to Hobby Lobby...) While we we out spending money, Kim's mom got me the above bag (or case, if you prefer). It was designed to be a project bag for scrap bookers or quilters or the like. I am -obviously- going to use it to lug around my cross stitch stuff; some of which you can see here. It comes with a handle as well as a carry strap. My other bag -which is a fancy note book/binder- doesn't have a handle or carry strap and therefore needs to be carried in my back pack. (Carry straps are a good thing...) I am still getting used to it, but this is a pretty slick item and I am liking it a bunch.

Also during that week, Kim and I went on our Road Trip (Capital R, capital T? Darn tootin'!) to Des Moines. On the way there, we stopped off in the little town of Walnut, Ia to restock our munchies and stretch our legs. Aside from this rather large bicycle, Walnut's claim to fame is that it is an 'Antique City'. This means, that if you want to buy some antique stuff this is touted to be the place to go and get it. Kim and I weren't overly impressed, as it seemed like the stuff was a little pricey. But then again, the whole town is made up of antique stores and we only looked at a couple of them. If it is something you might like, it might be the place for you...

Back on the road again and then in to Des Moines we arrived. Once there we -finally!- found the store we were looking for and had a hey day with all the stuff that they have. If you click on the link and look at the pic on their page, you will see what I mean... Needless to say, we spent a lot of time and money while we were there. In fact, Kim got me my Next Big Project. Remember how I said that I would have to go to Teresa Wentzler for my next big project? Well, let's just say that this one is pretty close. At least to me it is... ;-) I have decided that I am not going to be able to stitch it on the model stitched size fabric of 32 ct. My eyes don't like it when I ask them to look at stuff that small. However, I am going to do it on a similiarly colored 16 ct fabric that Kim hand dyed. It is a little lighter than the model stitch, but I think that the fact that it is going to be on something else that Kim stitched will make it extra special. I am going to be doing that after my Current Big Project because if I don't, Kim will probably do me some serious bodily damage... Or do Evangeline herself. ;-) I am excited to do this one and can't wait to get on to it. Should be fun...

While in Des Moines, we also took a tour of the town and found some bike shops to look at. That was... interesting... as they were all almost literally located at all points on the compass from where we were staying. Fortunately, we were able to find a coffee shop to help refuel while we were driving all around. Des Moines is a nice city and -I must be honest- reminded us both of here at home as well as my own home town too.

What else... Well, we had dinner at the nice little 'rustic' looking restaurant near where we were staying. Oh, and I took this pic of a cute sign that they had on the wall:

Ya just gotta love that type of sage wisdom, eh? ;-)

Okay, enough of Des Moines... The next day we got in the car and headed back home. Along the way, I decided that we just had to stop and look at this:

(FYI: I am of Danish decent...) The above pic is of the Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, Ia. I will let the web site do the talking so that I don't mess any of the information up. Suffice it to say, that I wanted to see it again -I have been here on a couple of other occassions- and since we were 'in the neighborhood'... Well, you get the idea. It was nice to look at it again, but for some reason I wasn't interested in looking overly close at it. Methinks that I was just interested in looking at it for old timer's -er, old time's- sake. Oh, and I wanted to get a suvenier from there too. (Kim got a pic of it. I am sure that she will show it on her blog before long...) Although I must say, I did enjoy getting back to my roots a little bit while we were there...

...lol...

Okay, enough of that... ;-) So after pillaging, er, visiting the windmill we came home and spent the next little bit getting back used to local life. Oh boy, oh joy. Back to reality I suppose...

And this weekend -Mother's Day was today, you know- we went down and spent some time with Kim's mum. Yesterday we went to a couple of places in St. Joe and then went back to their house. While there, I presented the Turkey Project to Kim's mum:

She really liked it and -once I got it hung up on her wall, above a pic that Kim had done for her- it actually looked pretty good. I am just glad that it was well received, because I wasn't going to take it back. (Just kidding, Kim Mum!) Also while I was there, I made some very good progress on my Current Big Project.

All right, all right! I realize that the link up there isn't anything really biggie wow to look at. But it kind of gives you an -albiet vague- idea as to what I have been up to this weekend. You will just have to wait for my next post for the specifics. It will be the first in my next series of project posts and it will be titled "The Road To Paris". Trust me, it will all make sense after the next post... ;-)

Okay, since I am running out of words -and time- I better sign off for now with the following bits of sage wisdom from billboards that I have seen around and taken pictures of:

One relating to Albert Einstein..
...and one relating to Kermit the Frog.

There are a bunch of these things around. I like the positive messages that they put out there for folks to see. I am hoping to find more of these and post them when I can. But for now, go check out the home site of the folks putting them up. Methinks you will like what you see...

And with that bit of happy thinky, I wish you all a safe and happy day, night, week, month, year, etc. and I will blog at you next time...

Turkey Breasts

2006-04-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

And turkey feathers and another turkey and a tree and ... Well, look at the picture below and you will get the idea:

This is the latest update picture of the Turkey Project for Kim's mom. I think I am making pretty good progress. It is deffinately not The Red Bicycle, that's for sure! I can honestly say that I am surprised at how fast this is going. I am guessing that I will be done in about a week or two...

Oh wait, that may not be right... I am planning on taking some time off next week and Kim and I are going to go and a bit of a trip to Des Moines. We are planning on visiting a large cross stitch store and a couple of bike shops too. AND Kim got us reservations in a very nice hotel very close to the new mall in town. Should be a fun time. Especially since we haven't really gone on a 'vacation trip' since... well... we got married. Eeek! No wonder I have been all... icky... the last few little whiles. (Although, I still think it has been the weather...)

Let's see... What else? Well... I am in the process of -once again- reformatting the W.I.P. bike into something differrent. Before, I had it set up with a 'moustache' style handlebar (...think about an old style gentleman's moustache...) and a shifter that just shifted the rear gears; which basically made it into a 7 speed bike. Well, the way the brakes were set up that way, they didn't work very well. So... I have changed out the moustache bars for the stock 'comfort' bars and will be re-installing thumbshifters and mountain bike style brake levers. After I do all that... Well, let's just say that I will be done. For now. Maybe... ;-) We shall see what happens when it happens...

Well... That is about all I have to say at the moment. I am going to try and say more things more often than not in the future. But right now... I am all sayed out.

So with that... I will say goodnight, good luck, good stitching, and -if you get the chance- good riding too!!!

Bad Habits Are Hard to Break

2006-04-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! Well, Kim and I went and did it again... No, not that... Well... ;-) Just kidding...

ANY way... Kim decided that she needed some more embellishments for her Alice frame, so we went to Hobby Lobby to see what we could see. And just inside the doors of Hobby Lobby -you know, that store with the frames that I mentioned in a previous post?- we saw a rack with lots and lots and lots more too of -GASP!- cross stitch patterns! Well, so much for NOT getting more stash... ;-)

So, what did we end up getting? Well, somethings that look like this:

This one is an Elizabeth's Designs pattern. It caught Kim's attention and when she showed it to me, I thought that it would be a nice addition to our, er my, stash. (I am more likely to stitch this than Kim...) It should be a nice addition to my completed project pile, once I am done. It may end up as a donation to my 'charity projects' pile. We shall see when/if it gets to that point...

These next 2 patterns are roses. More precisely, the one on the left is a wreath of 2 roses in the Art Deco style by Art - Stitch. I did one of their stained glass windows and I really like their patterns. The second patern is actually a book of various small roses by Jeanette Crews Designs. The plan behind this group is an idea that Kim gave me about stitching a bunch of small projects, making refrigerator magnets out of them, and then -maybe- selling them at craft fairs. Roses seemed like a good place to start. We shall see what happens as it happens when it happens... orsomethinglikethat... lol

Next are a pair from Dragon Dreams. (You know, the folks that make the Dani pattern that I mentioned last time...) The first is a cute one that either Kim or I will probably do for Kim's nieces sometime. It is really cute and shouldn't be overly difficult to stitch. (Of course, after 'The Red Bicycle', I am going to have to go to Teresa Wentzler to get more complicated... lol jk) The second one is a bit of blackwork which, once I got to looking at it, shouldn't be nearly as difficult to do as I first feared when I heard the phrase 'blackwork'. It looked complicated, but is really only backstitching! As I was looking for pics of this one, I found this dragon that I think would make a good 'book end' project for The Princess here. Let me know what you think, if you want to... ;-)

(Legal moment: thanks to all the sites that had better pics than I took of these projects...)

There were other patterns that we picked up, but I will let Kim show those off over on her blog...

And lastly but not leastly, I want to show you the 'Cedric the Cyclist' pattern that Kim got for me: (Of course, I DID ask her to order it for me but... lol)

This one has deffinately moved up on my 'To Do" list. At first, I had an idea to use an old bicycle chainring for a frame once I got it done. (On 14ct, the finished size is 4" x 4". Chainring size...) Then, I thought that I would make a 'collage' of sorts with it. The thought was to do do a series of them in different colors. Sounds fun, eh? Well, after chatting with Kim about it, I just happened to glance at the autographed poster of Lance Armstrong that I had and thought 'Hey! I could stitch a series of Cedric as Lance and his Discovery Channel team members.' THAT got me to thinking of how to do it and while we were at Hobby Lobby (alright! no more plugs!) we found a frame that matches another framed picture that says "Arc de Triomph: 30 kms". Needless to say, once it all gets together it should look pretty cute. So there you have it! The answer to the eternal question "What are you going to stitch next?" ;-)

Okay... (Catches breath...) That pretty much rounds out what I did today. We did other things, but that was the highlight of our day. Tomorrow, we are going to go and do laundry! Oh boy oh joy... ;-) Of course, the weather is going to be really nice so maybe we will get a chance to go for a walk or a bike ride. As I said earlier, we shall see what happens when it happens as it happens...

And on that note... blog at you all later and happy stitchy!

The Red Bike Diaries: Epilogue

2006-04-19T04:03:00.000-07:00

Here it is! The Final Finished Picture of The Red Bicycle!

As you can see, it turned out pretty good. If I do say so myself... ;-) And below, you will find a close-up of the bottom left corner which will give you a better idea as to how the frame, mat (some neat paper that I managed to get from work), and the fabric all come together...

As I may have mentioned in previous posts, the fabric was hand dyed by Kim. The 'mat' around the project is a piece of paper that I got from the Printing Department at work. The frame is something that we picked up for... thinking... something or the other that Kim was doing at the time. She decided that she didn't like it after all. (If I remember right, it was on sale so... ) The mat helped tie it all together because it has a cloud-like quality to the accents on it. Also, the 'clouds' are about the same color as the frame. Worked out pretty good, methinks... I hope that the images do this thing justice. Believe me, everybody who has seen it has been awestruck by it. (My favorite comment is usually "You did that?!? Wow!"... lol)

When I took this to work to show it off, Kim told me that I WAS NOT to let anyone try to buy it from me! AT ALL!!! ;-) My response was something to the effect of "...depends on how many thousands of dollars they offer me..." lol I was just kidding, of course. Ain't NO way I am letting this one go to someone other than me! ;-)

In other news: The OTHER THING that everyone has been waiting for! ;-) Following are pics of my next (current at this point) project...

This first pic is of of the booklet of patterns that Kim's mom had. She -Kim's mom- wanted me to stitch her the turkey pattern. (She figured that it would be easier for me than the covered bridge pattern that she originally wanted me to stitch for her.) In exchange for agreeing to stitch this for her, she bought a tool for cutting round and oval mats. That will be a nice thing to have, once I get a project (this one, maybe?) which calls for a round or oval mat...

Okay, this next pic is slightly out dated. I have been working on this project for about a week, but you will hopefully get the idea of what it will look like once it is all done:

As you can see, I have roughly half of the turkey stitched in as well as part of the tree behind him and some of the grass / ground below him. I hate to say it, but I am getting flash-backs of the eagle charity project I did a while back. (Yes, folks. There is a LOT of brown in this one...) Kim just took a look at this while I am posting, and she says that her mom is really going to like it when it is done. I may have to hold her to that... lol I am sure that Kim Mom will really like it once it is done. And besides; we are making her pick out the frame so it should be pretty much perfect, methinks... ;-)

Oh the treachery of Stash! Looking at my back-projects reminded me of the Mosey n Me "Frank" that I did. Nostalgic and nice, yes. But it reminded me that I have a Hawaii Shirt frame that I want to make another Frank for! And of course, there is the Green Man that I mentioned in my last post... AND there is the "Cedric the Cyclist" by Peter Underhill pattern that Kim recently got for me (Sorry, no pic at this time. Cute though.)... NOT TO MENTION ALL THE OTHER PATTERNS THAT WE HAVE..... Aarrgghhh!!! My head is spinning just typing about all of our stuff! Of course, this all brings up the Dani the Dragon "My Stash Is Full of Treasures" pattern that I have ALSO been wanting to do... As Winnie the Pook might say: "Oh bother!" ;-)

But really... (Catches breath...) That is fine because now I will have all sorts of things to keep me busy if/when they come to take me to the looney bin... (Maybe in a couple of weeks. Maybe sooner...)

Okay, I better finalize this post so that I can get in a couple hours of sleep tonight. (Kim is already in there snoring... lol jk) Chat with you all next time and happy stitchy!!!

Mortality Matters

2006-04-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

Or maybe just matters of mortality?!? Who knows...

Anyway... I just wanted to put finger to keyboard and type something because... well... I haven't for a while so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The pic at left is something that I found while I was looking for a picture of the Frankenstein Monster for a previous post. It is a 'behind the scenes' shot of Boris Karloff as 'The Monster' and Mr. (sorry I forgot his first name) Kline as Doctor Frankenstein taking a break during filming. Don't know why I chose this shot for this post, but again, it seemed like a good idea at the time... And let's face it: it just screams for a caption similiar to "You know, Frank, that coffee can kill you." "Maybe, Doc. But no where near as fast as that cigarette will! And besides, you recreated me once. One more time shouldn't be that dificult." ...orsomethinglikethat... lol

So, why the post on mortality? Duh, idanoe... Other than the fact that I am going to be getting older in about 2 weeks and it might explain why I am all blahed out the last little bit... Of course, it might just be the way the weather has been lately too so... ;-)

In other -less depressing sounding- news: I have finally framed The Red Bicycle! It looks pretty good. Post to follow later tonight... Maybe... If I get to doing it... >;-) Also, Kim has finally gotten around to painting her frame for Alice. Finished pic of that to follow on her blog too, I am sure...

Ooops! Time has caught up with me so I better sign off. Happy stitchy and I will blog at you later!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode X

2006-04-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

"X" Marks The Completed Project!

Here it is folks...
The moment you have all been waiting for...
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...
"The Red Bicycle"!

Yes folks, it is finally done! Well, all done but the final finishing, that is. (That will be for another post...)

Officially, I completed this project at the end of my lunch hour yesterday, April 7. Needless to say, I was doing The Happy Dance all over the place at work...

As you can see, the addition of actual red to The Red Bicycle really pulls the subject matter out. That and the 'flowers' scattered throughout and around the fence makes for a good 'finish' if you would to all of that green that makes up the tree/bushes area. Not to mention the back stitching around the bike.

To give you an idea of how well this has been received so far, my boss -who has recently returned from Afganistan- was actually all agog about it when he was looking at yesterday. Whoa! Of course, he was unaware of the fact that I have even been stitching (he has been away for 18+ monthes) but still, it was neat for me to hear yet another impressed viewer of my work...

Oh, and remember the bottle of Red Bicyclette wine that I found? Well, I was able to find some red (well, purply red) wine glasses to with it! Check them out in the pic below:

Sure, they are more purple than red. And they aren't really swanky glass type glasses (they are plastic, actually...). But then again, what I eventually put into them was chardonnay, which just so happens to not be a red wine. Oh well... Kim thought that it might be a better tasing wyne then a more red whine. Come to find out, however, Kim isn't the wine drinking type. Uh oh... So... sadly... yes, unfortunately... I have had to (hic) drink the whole bottle by my (hic) lonesome ownsome... (hic... he he he... hic) I think it is pretty good stuff, actually... Not that I am an expert by any means but... Well, I know what I like... ;-)

ANYway... I will be putting the final finalized touches on The Red Bicycle within the next couple of days; hopefully sometime tomorrow, if the laundry doesn't take too mush tyme... ;-) lol

What is my next project, you might ask? Well, I have actually finished my next project already. Well, the stitching part at least. In fact, Jessie decided that she would help me show it off so... Here is is:

The pic on the right, is the one that I took of Jessie and the framed project. It is part of a Lizzie Kate Flip It block pattern and the frame is something that we got from Hobby Lobby. If you have one near you, and you like to frame your completed projects up real neat like, they have a HUGE selection of various sized, shaped, styled, (and priced) frames to choose from to finish your projects. Okay, end of shameless plug for Hobby Lobby... Anyway... The pic on the right is a slightly better shot of the completed project in the above mentioned specialty frame from Hobby Lobby. (Alright! No more plugs for Hobby Lobby! I mean it!!!)

I started this little bugger up last night and finished it up this afternoon as part of the way that I stitch: Once I finish a BIG project, I do a smaller one to -in essence- get the kinks out of my stitching fingers. (Kind of like stretching after strenuous excercising... orsomethinglikethat...) It works fairly well for me. And it keeps me at least a little bit interested in stitching when I would otherwise be really burned out. I mean, let's face it: The Red Bicycle took me over 3 monthes to complete! For someone like me, that is a L O N G damned time!!! But like I said, it works for me... ;-)

What else? Oh, next project. I don't have a sample pic of the project that I am going to do next, but it is a pic of a turkey that Kim's mom asked me if I could stitch for her. It will be MUCH less extensive than the one that I just finished, so that will be a nice change of pace. After that, I am looking at this pattern (from the same book as Kim's mum's pattern) of a deer bust for a gentleman at work who hunts when the season is right. It should be a pretty good project, and a nice follow up to the turkey. AND I already have a frame for it too! Yes, I do... If you managed to see any of the pics of my earlier projects over at Kim's blog; it is the same type of frame that I put on the Wolf that I did for Gerald at my work. The deer bust should -I hope- look right at home in a frame like that... We shall see... ;-)

Beyond that... Well... I don't know...
I have a large multitude of projects that I would like to do in my stash -that is putting it mildly- but I am much more so thinking about a pattern that Kim and I picked up for me called "The Green Man" by a company called Witches Stitches (can't find a reference to them). It basically is a face made up of leaves and such. Really neat... ;-)

Well, now that I have written A Great American Novel of a post, Kim is dragging me off to bed. :-O ;-) Anyway... I hope you are all doing well and having a good time there whereever there is... ;-)

Until the next stitch...

UPDATE: Found a link to "The Green Man"! Here it is...
Enjoy and blog at you later!
gC

Almost there...

2006-04-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

Hello again all and sundry! Just wanted to drop a few words before I called it a weekend...

Spent most of yesterday and half of today at Kim's folks' place. We went down so that Kim could help her mum with their taxes. We did some driving (okay, a LOT of driving), some shopping, and some stitching too. I can truthfully say that "The Red Bicycle" is so close to done it is scary! It freaked me out Friday when I realized how close to done I was. As of about noon today -daylight savings time, which started very early this morning- I can say that it is all stitched but for the back- and long-stitches. Should be all completely totally stiched done by the end of the week. I think... I am not going to give you any update pictures until it is 'totally' done. (I know... I can be such a tease sometimes...)

What else? Well, yesterday's weather was fairly sunny and warm. Today's weater didn't follow suit. As we were leaving Kim's folks' place, it was overcast and a lilttle bit windy, but not raining. Once we got a bit further up the road however, the sky opened up. And no, I am not talking angelic visions and sunbeams. Suffice it to say that it was a replay -to an extent- of last week's hairy weather. It made the drive home rather... interesting, to say the least. But we made it home fine and that is good.

Fast forward a few hours and here we are. ;-) I am sitting around and blogging while Kim is watching the behind the scenes stuf from the King Kong DVD. (Available at better retailers near you... lol)

Okay, that is about all I can think of to yack about for now. Check back in a few days -maybe sooner?- for more updates, ramblings, and maybe even a few more weather related things... lol

I take it all back

2006-03-31T03:57:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Remember how I said in my last post that I would take rain over snow any day? Well... Yesterday made me want to change my tune a bit.

We had been getting told that there might be some soggy weather coming our way for the weekend. To make a long story short, we got a LOT of soggy weather yesterday afternoon. Right about time to come home from work, in fact. Oh boy, oh joy... :-(

There were VERY high winds (tornado type high winds) and bucket loads of rain. In fact, there was talk on the radio that there was even a tornado touch down in mid town! Pretty scary...

I personally had to make a run to the Post Office for work, and was in it at about the time it was all happening. RAIN, WIND, stuff flying everywhere... Oh, and the Post Office was closed down temporarily because of it too. Wasted that trip out into the nasty weather... :-(

Upon returning to work from the failed Post Office trip, I noticed that there was a lot of... somethingortheother on the road in front of the building. Come to find out, the wind was so bad there for a bit that one of the chairs from the patio of the 5th floor cafeteria (clarification: the cafeteria on the 5th floor has an outdoor patio) had been picked up by the wind an hurled into the cross walk from the parking garage to the main building! THAT explains the stuff all over the road: it was sky walk glass! (I sure hope I don't have a flat tire this morning...) I will try to get a picture of the -probably covered up by now- sky walk damage for to post here.

Other than that... Things were fairly boring here yesterday. Thank goodness it is Friday, because I am getting tired of this week. (Gloomy days will do that to me...)

Anyway... Go and have a good and safe (and DRY) day and I will post at you later!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode IX

2006-03-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

Updates, Updates, Updates...

Hello again! Thanks for looking at my story. I hope you liked it...

And now, on to the Updates... (All 3 of them!)

You might recognize this one from from my Story. It is about a week old, but it shows that more of the green is in. Oh, and it gave Smiley Cup a chance to be a little bit of Sunshine...

This one is a couple of days newer. It shows that even more of the green was completed. In fact, the last of the green was done at this point. Thank Goodness and the Fates and everyone else too...

This one is the most recent. (Tonight, in fact...) It shows that I have moved on to the 'sea' and the little blue bird too. It feels VERY nice to be stitching something besides green. That and the fact that I am down to the last 9 colors that need to be stitched in... Well, suffice it to say that I am probably going to get this thing finished a bit sooner than I was starting to think I was. (It kind of helps that I didn't put in the 'sky' as per the pattern also...)

Let's see... What else? Well, most of the snow from last week is pretty much gone. In fact, it was almost 70 degrees F here today. Oh yeah! Spring is on its way... FINALLY!!! (Of course, we might get rained on this weekend. But I will take rain over snow ANY day!)

That pretty much sums up things on this side of the computer for now. I hope everyone is doing well and I will (try deligently to) post again soon!

More Adventures With Smiley Cup

2006-03-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

Smiley Cup in...

Smiley Cup

Goes To Work

(Song for this story:"A Day In The Life" by the Beatles)

One day, Smiley Cup asked gC if he could go to work with him. "Sure!" gC said and the 2 got ready for work. When they were ready to go, Smiley Cup got gC's keys and the 2 headed out to leave...

Apparently, it had gotten pretty cold out the night before. Once outside, gC and Smiley Cup saw that the windows on gC's car Kharma were covered in frost! Smiley Cup volunteered to help scrape the windows. gC was very happy for the help...

Soon after clearing off the windows, gC and Smiley Cup headed out of town. Smiley Cup was excited! He hadn't been to 'work' before...

After leaving The City Limits, gC and Smiley Cup headed on down The Interstate towards Work. Smiley Cup was still excited, because it had been a long time since he was on a Road Trip on The Interstate. And he was going to Work too, which he still found exciting...

But what gC knew and Smiley Cup didn't know was that the trip to Work was a long one! Every day, it took a whole hour to get from Home to Work. gC had long since gotten used to it. But since it was Smiley Cup's first time going to Work, he had a hard time not dozing off while gC drove. After a while, Smiley Cup could no longer stay awake and he fell asleep...

And it was probably a good thing that Smiley Cup fell asleep on the way to Work; mostly because once they got closer to Work, The Interstate traffic started to get busier and busier due to Rush Hour Traffic Conditions. Smiley Cup might have been a bit nervous if he saw how much traffic there was on The Interstate at Rush Hour. But Smiley Cup was asleep and he didn't see any of it...

Once gC arrived at work -and woke up Smiley Cup- they went in and started to get things ready for their busy day...

While gC turned on the lights and other machines -gC is almost always the first one in to his Work- Smiley Cup helped out by turning on one of the department computers and logging into the network for gC...

Once all the machines and so forth were on and ready to run, gC introduced Smiley Cup to Work Cup, gC's cup that he uses for coffee or water at Work. Smiley Cup was impressed with Work Cup because he was so big and obviously had been a Cup of gC's for some time...

Next, gC took Work Cup and Smiley Cup up to the Break Room to get some coffee. When they all got there, they saw that the coffee was almost all gone. (Well, the Regular Coffee was, at least...) So, since Smiley Cup wanted to make a good impression on Work Cup, he made coffee...

After that, they all went back down to gC's Department. Once there, gC showed Smiley Cup how to run the Mail Inserter Machine that he operates. gC calls it Hagar because... Well... He calls the other Mail Inserter Machine Bertha and Hagar sounded like a good name for a 'mate' to Bertha. (Bertha is an Older Mail Inserter Machine and can be a bit cranky at times...) The first of these next 2 pics is Smiley Cup running Mail and Inserts through Hagar. The second pic is of Smiley Cup gathering up the inserted and metered mail at the end of Hagar's line...

gC and SmileyCup continued working until Morning Break Time, when gC had to run an errand...

After Morning Break Time, gC and Smiley Cup got back to work and worked until Lunch Time. At Lunch Time, gC worked on ‘The Red Bicycle’ Project. The Project is coming along very well. In fact, gC managed to finish stitching another color and decided to take an update picture. Smiley Cup thought it would be cute if he played the part of the 'sun' on the Project. Smiley Cup can be so silly sometimes...

After taking the update pic and finishing his Lunch Time, gC went back to work until it was Afternoon Break Time. Since Smiley Cup had been so helpful all day long, gC decided to take him with him when he went out to get a cup of coffee. This would be a special treat for Smiley Cup, because gC was taking him to the Scooter's Coffee Shop near his Work. Here is what Smiley Cup saw when they both got to Scooters:

"Wow!" thought Smiley Cup. "A REAL coffee shop! And so close to Work too. This is pretty neat." And not only did Smiley Cup get to go to Scooter's, but he made some new friends too. He meet the barista who made gC's latte' -gC likes a good latte' in the afternoon- as well as 2 Scooter's Cups! Smiley Cup was really thrilled to meet the Scooter's Cups and asked gC to take the following picture so that he could remember the event:

After all that excitement, Smiley Cup was ready to go back to Work and finish the rest of the work of the day. He could hardly wait to get back Home and tell Grape (make this a link to Grape pic) about all of his adventures of the day. Smiley Cup thought that Work was kind of fun; what with making coffee, running Hagar, and going to Scooter's. (Smiley Cup really liked going to Scooter's!)

After Work, gC and Smiley Cup closed things up at gC's Work and headed out of town. Smiley Cup was still a little bit bubbly from his day, so he didn't notice the drive Home as much as he did the drive to Work...

About half way Home, gC pulled off of The Interstate into a Truck Stop. Smiley Cup was a bit at a loss...

"Why do we need to stop here?" Smiley Cup wondered. Well, gC knew why. Kharma's gas tank was almost empty and he wanted to fill it up before it got much emptier. gC got out and started to fill Kharma's tank. After a while Smiley Cup became impatient at how long it was taking, so he got out and went to try and help gC. Needless to say, Smiley Cup was a little bit surprised to see what was displayed on the Gas Pump...

"Oh my goodness!" thought Smiley Cup. "Do you ALWAYS pay that much for gas, gC?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Every 2 to 3 days, depending on how much extra driving I do" gC said. Thankfully, I have a Car Pool Friend who helps me out by driving every other day. That saves me money and gives Kharma a break too. "

"Wow!" Smiley Cup said in awe. "Car Pool Friend is a really nice person."

"You said it, Smiley Cup!" gC agreed...

Once Kharma was all gassed up, gC and Smiley Cup headed back out onto The Interstate. After a while, Smiley Cup fell asleep again, with a big smile on his face...

Back at Home, Smiley Cup filled Grape in on His Great Adventure At Work. Grape was impressed. Smiley Cup fairly beamed! It was another good day for Smiley Cup...

The End.

Thanks for reading this latest story. Stay tuned for More Adventures With Smiley Cup!

(Thanks MUCHES BUNCHES to Kim for helping me get this post FINALLY ready to be posted!!!)

I'm SOOOOO Confused...!?!

2006-03-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

Now that things here have thawed out a bit, I thought that I would post about it...
Therefore... On with the post!

Hello again. As I am sure you may have seen over at Kim's 'blog, Spring has... er... snowed on us.

:-( The pic on top is a shot of the tree outside our front window. The pic on the bottom is of a rather chilly squirrel. He is the same squirrel that Kim has over on her 'blog. This cute little bugger was running around frantically tying to remember where he had stashed his nuts before the 'real' winter hit. Needless to say, he appeared a wee bit freaked out. At one point, he looked as though he didn't want to get out of his tree. Granted, he had been running around in the snow during the storm... Mayhaps he had cold feet. ;-)

(This is a pic of the squirrel trying to decide wether or not he wanted to get down onto the snow one more time...)

It was an interesting snow storm. One moment it was gently snowing... the next it was snowing great big snow flakes, and then the moment after that it was either snowing smallerflakes or not at all. Like I said, an interesting storm. Add to that the fact that we ended up with over a foot of snow, and that last week it was almost shorts weather... Well, you can see why I say it was an 'interesting' snow storm. One thing that I can say though, is that it made for some interesting pictures...

(This is a picture looking out onto the dog run outside of our apartment building...)

Other interesting things to show and tell: When last we went to Wal-mart, Kim and I decided to get a new catnip toy for Jessie. We couldn't find the one we were originally looking for, so we thought we would try this cardboard laced with catnip thing. Do you think Jessie likes it?

Suffice to say, she wouldn't leave the thing alone for most of the rest of the day once we brought it home... ;-)

In 'The Red Bike Diary' world: I have taken up needle and floss again and am now back to working on it again. Intermitently, but working nonetheless. I managed to get a good bit of it done during the snow storm, but haven't really done anything interesting enough to take an update pic of it. Let's just say that the 'tree' is filling out nicely. I will do some more work on it and then make an actual update post about it.

Note to FLYBYU: Congratulations to you and Tina on your impending nuptials! You 2 make a really cute couple.

Notes to San and Lili: keep your eyes upon your post boxes. That is ALL the hinty poos you 2 are going to get... >:-)

Everybody else: hope you are having a good (snow storm free) day, things are going well for you all, and you are all staying safe and warm.

Until next time...

KEEP SMILING!!!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode VIII

2006-03-17T03:51:00.000-08:00

FINALLY! PROGRESS!!

Hello everybody and Happy St. Patrick's Day! (For those who celebrate it, that is...) I FINALLY decided to post a progress pic of The Red Bicycle. And since it is St. Patrick's Day -and almost everybody will be wearing their green- and the project is practically dripping in green (at the moment) I would let you see what I looks like. So... Here it is:

I personally don't notice that much of a change from the last pic, but then again the stitches I have been putting in have been somewhat spartan. Kim called them 'confetti stitches' and if you think of what confetti is and how it is used... Well, methinks you can kind of get the idea as to how close together the stitches are. Fun, fun, fun... ;-p

Let's see... What else to say... Not much at the moment. We are expecting to get -in the words of a co-worker of mine- 'all the snow that we haven't gotten this winter all at once' this weekend. On the one hand, I think it will be a good thing: we need the moisture and another snow day would be kind of nice. ;-p On the other hand, it will cause havoc in my already "why isn't it REALLY Spring yet?!?" brain. (Yes folks, Cabin Fever is setting in pretty hard this week...) Stay tuned to The Weather Channel and see what happens to us.

Alrightythen. I better post and run so that I can get to work, do my work, and then head home from work. (Work, work, work... that is all I seem to do sometimes... lol)

Be safe, be warm, be happy, be stitchy!!! ;-)

Let me try this one more time...

2006-03-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody! I decided to re-post my cute story from my other blog. (Kim says it is cute. Let me know what you think.) I hope you all enjoy my little story (pardon the quality of the pics, trying new techniques and all).

Enjoy!!!

The Adventures of
Grape and Smiley Cup On A Sunny Saturday Afternoon
(This story is best read while listening to "Everyday Is A Winding Road" by Sheryl Crow.)

On Saturday, a bright and sunny day, Grape and Smiley Cup decided to go on a Road Trip. The idea was to go and find a New Coffee Shop for Smiley Cup to endulge his favorite past time: having a cup of coffee! The plan was simple: get ready, and go. SIMPLE! Or so our intrepid adventurers first thought...

The first thing that needed to be done was to air up Grape's tires. Grape just hates to go out on a ride with squishy tires. (He tends to get pinch flats when he does that...) Smiley Cup helped to pump up Grape's tires. (See picture at left.) The front tire filled up quick and easy. But half way through filling up the back tire... PSSSSS! Oh, no! said Smiley Cup. (Well, a variation there on at least.) It turned out that the tire pump had sprung a leak. Not to worry though; because Grape ALWAYS carries a tire pump for just such an emergency. Grape is so smart!

Then, water bottlles needed to be filled up for gC so he woudln't dehydrate. (gC just HATES to get dehydrated...) Smiley Cup filled the water bottles and then put them into the "special" behind the seat bottle cages. (You can just see them in the picture at left.) Grape really likes his bottle cages, because he hardly ever looses a bottle on a ride. And that is good because if he lost a water bottle, gC might get dehydrated; and we all know how little gC likes to be dehydrated... Since Smiley Cup doesn't have a helmet -even though helmets are always a good idea- he rides with Grape in a special bag on Grape's rear rack. The bag is where Grape keeps all of his other tools as well as any of gC's personal effects that gC might need while on the ride. (gC ALWAYS carries his I.D. just in case...) Okay! Everybody ready? Good, let's go...

The first stop was this local bike shop. gC has a soft spot for bicycle shops. He just can't seem to pass one by when he sees one. Oh well, Grape and Smiley Cup didn't mind. For one, it gave Grape a chance to flirt with the cute little blue EZ-1 in front of the store. He found out that it is a grand-child of the Tour Easy ; which has a pretty nifty pedigree of it's own. Of course, it was hard to say who was doing more flirting: Grape or gC, since gC took the bike out for a short, around the block spin to see how the bike handled overalll. gC says it isn't a bad little bike for it's price point and would be just the ticket if someone wanted to get a cautious start in the recumbent bike riding game. (If you are curious about giving one a try, check out the dealer listing @ EasyRacers for a dealer near you. Okay, end of shameless plug...)

But Smiley Cup wasn't just left in Grape's rear rack bag. Nopers! Smiley Cup decided to go to the coffee shop in the folk art store next door. Unfortunately for Smiley Cup -and unbeknownst to gC- the folk art store was recently closed for good. Apparently it wasn't having much luck selling the craft stuff or the coffee. Smiley Cup felt pretty bad about that, since a good cup of coffee is always a good start to a bike ride. (See in the picture at left? Smiley Cup's smile is upside down, A sure sign of an unhappy Smiley Cup...) Poor Smiley Cup... Oh well, back to the bike ride...

After a little bit of riding time, Grape and Smiley Cup came to a local park that had a trail running through it and decided that it would be a good short cut to 84th St., which is the Big Street that would really be the start of the Road trip. At the park, they saw this Star Art 2006 sculpture. It is called "Star Light, Star Bright." Grape was really impressed with it; since it appears to be designed to light up at night. (Grape likes to light up at night too.) Smiley Cup liked it too because it looks like it would be very cheery once it was lit up. (Smiley Cup likes cheery things.)

After leaving the Star and the park, Grape and Smiley Cup finally made it to the Bridge Over 84th St. The trail in this general area is based on an abandoned railroad line. The Bridge makes it safer for folks to cross 84th St. without having to dodge the traffic below. (84th St. is a VERY busy street.) As you can see from Grape's flags in the picture at left, it was a rather windy day Saturday. But not so windy as to make it a not good day to do a Road Trip...

That silly Smiley Cup! Disregarding Grape's comment on how windy it was, Smiley Cup decided to sit on the gaurd railing and get a better look at the traffic passing under the 84th St. Bridge. It is a good thing that gC was there taking pictures! It was so windy that Smiley Cup was almost blown off of the railing. gC to the rescue! He was able to catch Smiley Cup just as he was about to fall off. (That is why Smiley Cup is showing his unSmiley Face in the picture at left...)

After his near-death experience -and once our cheery little group made its way to the Gas & Sip at the end of 84th St.- Smiley Cup decided that he needed a cup of coffee, and right now! Luckily for Smiley Cup, the Gas & Sip had some good, strong coffee to help calm his nerves. As you can see at left, he was a much happier Smiley Cup after he had his cup.

Grape -however- was feeling a little out of sorts. Normally, Grape is a pretty laid back kind of bike. But as Grape was waiting for Smiley Cup to get his coffee, it dawned on Grape that he was parked in a potentially compromising position: almost literally between a "Handicapped Parkers ONLY" sign and a "Unauthorized Vehicles Will Be TOWED" sign. Needless to say, Grape asked Smiley Cup to hurry up once Smiley Cup got his coffee. Grape would feel awfully embarassed if he ended up getting towed for being where he was...

For the most part, the next part of the ride was fairly uneventful. gC still wanted to try and find the New Coffee Shop, but his time limit for being out with Grape and Smiley Cup was getting short. So, the group decided to go at least as far as The Next Town before turning around. How long could that possibly take? Well... A little longer than gC first thought. But that wasn't really a problem. Because even if gC was a little bit late, he wouldn't be that much later than he said he would be. So once the group made it into The Next Town -without ever really seeing the City Limit sign- the decision was made to turn around and head back home.

The return trip was failry uneventful, since it was pretty much the reverse of the trip out to The Next Town. The pace was a little bit faster though, since gC had a Deadline to meet. (Come to find out, the trip would take the group about 30 minutes longer than first planned. Oops!) All in all, this was a good day for a ride.

EPILOGUE: The final numbers from the Road Trip...

Once back at home, Grape, Smiley Cup, and gC went to look at Grape's computer to see what kind of ride they had. By the numbers, so to speak. What they found was this:

Apparently, some time during the Road Trip gC had accidently kicked Grape's computer and broke the mount! Uh oh! That is going to cost gC... At least this is a -relatively- easy thing to fix. ($25 or so at The Bike Shop and it will be as good as new...)

Anyway, on to the numbers:

Trip time: 2 hours, 12 minutes. (This is the amount of time that Grape was actually moving. The Road Trip acutally took about 2 hours longer than that...)

Maximum speed: 21.3 mph, probably heading down 84th St.

Average Speed: 10.2 mph. This was a casual Road Trip. Something more agressive would rate a higher average.

Total distance: 22.46 miles. Half of that was the trip out to and back from The Next City.

Grape's poor computer! The poor thing is at least as old as Grape -c. 1996- and it is really starting to show its age. gC may have to spring for a newer, fancier one one of these days... Nah! The old one is still good... ;-)

Well, that concludes this post about Grape and Smiley Cup's Sunny Saturday Adventure. Stay tuned for more exciting Adventures of Coffee Shop Searching!!!

(gC Note: Thanks a bunches to all and sundry whom I mentioned either directly or not so directly during the posting of this post. Only Grape's computer mount was harmed during the creation of this post. Thanks again everybody!)

That concludes my little story. See? I told you it was cute... ;-)

Post at you all later!

Is it Friday yet?!?

2006-03-12T19:10:00.000-08:00

Gads, I can't believe I just typed that. ;-p

Here it is Sunday night, and I am already wanting it to be Friday... I guess that is what happens when you spend most of your Sunday indoors because it is rainy and cold outside. :-( Of course, Kim and I did go out to do laundry and grocery shopping so the entire day wasn't spent inside. lol

Oh well... I guess all that I have to say is that I want you all to be waiting patiently for Red Bicycle progress pics -I'm still working on it! Honest!!- and look to my other site tomorrow night for what should be a cute story with pictures and everything! (That is the plan. We shall see what happens...)

Okay, until then happy stitchy and be safe, dry, and warm!
;-)

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

2006-03-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

(Fear not, true readers! This has nothing to do with Kim and I...)

Hello again, everybody! I just wanted to make a post to let folks know that I am diversifying my portfolio. Sotospeak... ;-)

It isn't that I am giving up on stitching, or even biking (as if!) No... I have just decided to split things up as far as how I do my blogging; when I do blogging, that is. >:-)

Do I have you all curioused up yet? Well, let me just say that if you are then you will just have to go to this page and see what I have to say... (Yes, I do have a way of being sneaky when I want to.)

And just so you all know, I AM going to be doing more on The Red Bicycle soon. Just not tonight. It's kind of late and all that, you know? lol

Okay, off to bed with you all and me and Kim too. Have a good night and I will blog with you soon!

This calls for a toast

2006-03-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

(I would get out your favorite drinking mug and fill it up. This is going to be a L O O O N G post!)

Er, post. Um... yeah, that is what I meant. ;-)

(A pic of the grilled cheese sandwich Kim had the other night...)

Since the weather here is a little bit less than sunny, and "Lost" is a re-run tonight, I figured that this was as good a time as any to make a post to my blog. Now then... where to begin?!?

Well, let's see... This weekend I went for a ride on one of the local trails and took some pictures. So let's look at some pics first...:

First of, some info about the ride : I decided to ride my other bike, WIP. The name stands for "Work In Progress" because it is the current bike that I use to indulge my 'bike tinkering' fixation. (Ask Kim, 'fixation' is putting it mildly...) I rode about 21 miles total (half on the trails and half on the city streets) in just under 2 hours (saddle time) with a maximum speed of 22 mph and an average speed of about 11 mph. Not the fastest or longest ride I have ever been on, but at the time it was well worth it. Now, on to the pictures:

This is one of the Tour de Lincoln sculptures. It is called "View From the Road." If you look closely, you can see that it is designed to resemble a pair of eyeglasses. You can see why I like it. ;-) It looks as though the intention of the creator was to make it out of steel and then let it 'age' naturally. That means that the brown color you see in the picture is actually rusted metal. Pretty neat, methinks.

After taking the above pic, I headed back over to the trail and headed south. I was aware of a relatively new section of trail that was opened up last year so I headed for it to see where it went.

Here you can see the new bridge that goes over 14th street (I think) south of Old Chaney Rd. It is one of many of the overpasses that you see while on the trail. It is nice that the planners here in Lincoln are willing to plan out the trails in such a way as to not always have to deal with city traffic. MUCH better than my old haunts, IMHO...

Further down the trail, I found a rather large YMCA and park. "Cool" I am thinking because I was curious about parts of town where I hadn't been yet
. Here is a treat for my viewers from outside the US: These roundabouts are also popping up all over town in the newer construction developments. Yet again, the city planners are planning things well in order to make things a bit safer for folks in parks and other areas where people frequent.

One of the first things that I was was this star sculpture. It seems that these star sculpture are the "new thing" in outdoor sculpture this year as they are popping up all over town.

Oh, and this was neat too! Across from the roundabout, there is a man made lake and these geese where just sitting there enjoying the water and the sunny day too. They didn't seem to like me getting too close to them though, so I had to use the camera's zoom to get close enough to take pictures. Still, this one turned out pretty good. ;-)
After I had taken all my pictures I got back on the road. Next thing I know, I am in a familliar part of town! It turns out that the trail heads down towards the general area of The Southpointe Mall. This is one of a couple of the big shopping areas in town and a place that Kim and I have been on many 0ccasions. In fact, we went there to see Shrek as one of our first dates here in Lincoln. ;-)

Anyway... Once I realised where I was, it was pretty easy to get back on track to head back home. 27th Street -the main street that passes by South Pointe- pretty much cuts Lincoln in half. All I had to do was follow that back up north and I would be home in no time.

Okay... pedal, pedal, pedal, and next thing I know I am on "O" street. That is one of the other bisecting streets here in town, and also the street where the above pictured "View From the Road" sculpture is located. So off I go up the street heading toward home when I see, off to my right, this other Tour de Lincoln sculpture:

This one is called Tour de Force and I must say that it is one of the neater looking ones around town that I have seen of late. The wheels (see close up pic at right) are actually big pinwheels that move when the wind blows. Also, the colored bits of this sculpture are colored glass (maybe plastic) that act like stained glass windows when the sun is shining. (Look closely at the close up pic and you can almost see the blue shadow...) This in one of the more prominent Tour de Lincoln sculptures as you can probably guess...

After some more pedaling and a crossing of "O" street, I am back on the trail that started this whole adventure and almost home. It is always good to go for a ride in town, but almost as much good to be making the final leg of the journey back home. (Upright bicycle seats are not very forgiving of the out of shape back sides...)

Okay, got back home and said hello -and a few other cute things- to Kim and started to wind down. Pretty much didn't do much more than that. I did do a little bit of work on The Red Bicycle, but not much to really make a post out of. All that green I am working on looks like all that green I have already done so you aren't missing much... I can say that it is still coming along nicely. I won't lie to you: I am getting a little bit worn down with it. (Hence the lack of update posts.) But I am still enthusiastic about it. Just not overly much so at the moment. ;-)

Well, as usually happens I have blogged my brains out here. I get an idea and I can't hardly stop until I am then and then I am 'kaput' done! Oh well, that is what I get for not blogging very often: I want to tell everybody everything that I can think of. ;-)

Some final notes:

Lilli, I have almost maybe possibly decided to not make a decission on the charity ride right now. Most likely I will be doing a different ride for the SERTOMA club that day.

FLYBYU, good luck on the 9 speed upgrades to your Burley. I can understand why you don't like the grip shifters; too many moving parts for my taste. I tend to go for Ultegra bar end shifters myself, but that is a personal preference thing. Happy trails to you!

To everybody else, happy trails, happy stitches, and happy day to you and yours! See you next time...

Lookie what I got!

2006-02-27T18:24:00.000-08:00

On my way in to the apartment complex tonight, I stopped at the mailbox to see what the postman brought us today. Of course, there was the usual assortment of Williams (also known as "bills") and other mailbox clutter. Also... a plain brown envelope from Tennessee addressed to Kim. Hmm... I wonder what this could be... ;-)

Anyway... I bring it all in, show the lot to Kim and she proceeds to tell me to open the plain brown envelope...

Well... Enough suspense! This is what I found inside:

(One of the few pictures of the elusive Mrs. gC!)

Suffice to say, I was amazed to find Kim inside the envelope holding this pattern! Okay, she wasn't in the envelope herself. But the thing that she ordered for me was!

It is a pattern by Little House Needleworks called "Coffee Menu" and -considering how much I like coffee and related items- I REALLY like this one! After looking at the actual pattern, I feel that it will be a fairly quick stitch. Of course at this point that is a relative comment, considering how much time I have spent on "The Red Bicycle"; almost 2 monthes at this writing. Not that it has not been time well spent. I am about half way through the project and it is looking very good. Can't wait until it is totally done. :-)

And speaking of coffee, thanks to Christine for posting the link to the celtic heart. I am going to twist Kim's arm just enough to get her to print it off for me. I being of Danish heritage and Kim being of Irish lineage, I think you can agree that we will both enjoy it lots and lots once I get it finished! Thanks muches bunches and lots more too!!!

Well, enough excitement for one day. I wish you all well and good and happy stitchy!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode VII

2006-02-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

Now we're getting somewhere!

Here I am again! And as promised, I have an update post on my project. You know, it is amazing how beneficial a little time off can be for you when you aren't feeling well. And not just because it helps you to recouperate from your ickies! ;-)

As you can see, much of the tree stuff is coming along very nicely. Granted, it has been a bugger and a half getting all of those leaves to stay put -they are not very closely spaced- but once I got started I just kept on going and going and... well, you get the idea. ;-)

I am starting to lean more and more towards not doing the sky stitches in the upper right hand corner. The more I see my progress, the more I think that it will be over much to stitch those stitches. The color of the fabric there is just too close to the colors used in that part of the pattern. (Not the best pic, but you can kind of get the idea...) Anyway, I am thinking that no stitches will be good stitches. ;-)

Oh, and check this out... One day while Kim and I were in Wal-Mart, I went to the liquor aisle to get my carbonated water (kind of a fill-in for all the soda I used to drink) and look what I found! It a French wine called "Red Bicyclette" Vintage 2003. ;-) This was so wild! Methinks that it is a sign of a good finish for this project. And, like most Big Events, I am planning on saving this for when I am all done and completed. Who knows? Mayhaps I will find some red bicycle wine glasses before I am done and Kim and I will be able to properly toast my completion.

Kim has just finished watching "Sleepless In Seattle", so I better go and help her get the tears out of her eyes... ;-p

Until next time, keep stitching and keep being happy!

HE'S ALIVE! HE'S ALIVE!!

2006-02-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein Monster...
Hello and welcome back once again. As the famous quote says, "The rumours of my untimely demise have been greatly exagerated." (Granted I did the exagerating, but you get the idea...)

Anyway... I have returned from The land of The Infirm after about a week of not feeling so goodness. Suffice to say, that I feel much better than I did. I am still a little bit cludgy at times, but am in better shape than last week. I mean, the first sign that things were getting better was that my appetite returned and believe you me I have been making up for lost meals. Er, time I mean. ;-p

So, without further delay I will let you go for now so that I can create a post in regards to The Red Bicycle. (Give me a couple of hours and it will be done...)

Until then, walk tall and feel lively!

Notes from the infirmary

2006-02-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

Well... maybe not a real infirmary... but I have been infirm for a bit here so...

As those of you who may read Kim's blog may know, I have managed to catch her cold. :-( A real nasty one too. Well, maybe not quite that nasty... But nasty enough. Suffice it to say that -believe it or not- I would rather be at work and slightly bored, than here and sick. Granted, I am managing to get lots done on The Red Bicycle project -pics to follow later- and I am catching up on my resting time, but I would much rather be doing it with a full volume voice and an emptier feeling head. (Can't talk and now I'm all plugged up...) That, and I am sure that the very cold weather that we had at the tail end of last week helped to conspire against me. Cold, dry air and I don't get along very well. And I have a tendency to get nasty sinus related colds at this time of year. Lovely, eh? Oh well... I suppose that I have dodged the sick bullet long enough. ;-)

Not really much that I can think of to blog about at the moment. I am hoping to be feeling much better in the next couple of days or so -at least, that is what I am hoping for- so I might maybe have something else new and interesting to blog about then. Who knows? Maybe I will post an update pic or something... ;-)

Until then, everybody stay happy and healthy!

And one more thing...

2006-02-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

I need some input from whomever might have something to put forth... (More of a 'I would like your opinion, please' kind of thing...)

Anyway... When faced with 2 situations that you are wanting -or thinking that you are wanting- to do (or stitch, or whatever) how do you decide which way to decide? (Okay, that made a lot of sense...) I guess what I am trying to get out here is this: as I have said before, I have been considering doing the Celebrate Cycling charity ride in May. I haven't signed up for it yet, but there is still about 3 months' time to decide. Or decide not to decide, if that may be the case....

And why the quandry? Well... There are a couple of reasons. The first -and probably the main- reason is the fact that I am not the best at asking folks for donations. (I can do it, but I tend to over think the 'going up and asking' part.) The other reason is the fact that I got an e-mail the other day informing me of another charity ride that is the day before the CC ride. This one is a 'straight' ride. By that I mean that you don't have to ask folks for pledges; just sign up and ride. The money you pay to register -after expenses, that is- goes to the charity that the organization is putting the ride together for. Very appealing to me, someone who is a bit pledge-phobic. (Is that even a phrase?!?) Granted, the very reason for a 'charity ride' (well, some of them at least) is to raise money for charity. I guess I am just not the go and get money type of guy...

Anyway... Call me indecisive, but this is one of those things that i have been overthinking about lately. AND I just had to get that out of my head. (Ah... no more ringing noises... lol) If you want to respond to this... ramble... then please do. If not, I won't mind. Like I said, I just needed to get that mental clutter out in the open. ;-)

Until next the next time that I have something to say, sensible or not, have a good time and be happy!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode VI

2006-02-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

"gC" Stands for "green Color"

Hello again... I thought that it might be a good idea to post a posting. Tonight seemed like a good time. ;-) That and I finally took a couple of pics with the New Cam. (Of course, only this one was good enough to show...)

It is always interesting to see how a project emerges from a blank piece of fabric. This one is deffinately no exception. For some strange reason, I am only really able to see my progress on a project in the pics that I take of it. Like I said, strange... Am I the only one who is wierd like that?!? Just a thought...

Let's see... What else to talk about? Well, our warm weather is now a thing of the past. For now, at least... Yes folks, we have white slick snow stuff on the ground and thick warm coats on our backs. Oh, and ice on the windshields of our cars too. And on the roads... Anyway, it is cold out there and it looks like it will be for a while yet. (Oh boy, oh joy...)

As for my recumbent post... well... I don't really have any more than the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recumbent_bicycle. I did a Yahoo! or Google or some other search, and the link there seemed to be the best thing that I could find for an informative note about recumbents. I am still planning on doing a post specifically about Grape, but for now the link is about all I have to offer... What can I say? I have been a bit out of sorts of late... ;-)

ANYWAY... lol >gigling< watching "Dancing With The Stars" right now, and the old guy judge made a ha-ha... As the host guy said, "he gets the award for the best impression of a hardened artery"... (If you watched the show, you know what part I am referring to.) lol

Um... I guess I am out of words for now, so I better let you all go for now. We have a 3 day weekend coming up so I may actually put together that recumbent post. Or maybe just work more on The Red Bicycle... Stay tuned (and believe me, I DO really appreciate it) and I will post at you next time!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode V

2006-02-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

There's a tree growing in my project!!!

Welcome back! As you can see, I haven't been totally idle since my last post. A little out of sorts perhaps, but not entirely idle. ;-)

I have pretty much finished the 'ground'. There are a few places at the upper end of it where there are more stitches, but for the most part it is done. Now I am on my way up. To the upper half of the project, that is. The color of the 'wheels/tires' is the same as the color of the 'tree trunk' so up into the tree was a good direction to head.

In regards to a comment from Nancy in Illinois, yes this project is indeed stitched on a 14ct, hand-dyed fabric. It is one of Kim's, as a matter of fact. As I may have mentioned in a previous post, the subtle hints of pink and green that Kim managed to create in it were a perfect compliment to the colors in the 'sky' in the upper part of this project. (Believe me when I say that the progress pics I take don't really do this fabric justice...)

And speaking of pics... (drum roll please) Kim was so taken by the fact that I really didn't like the other, cheaper camera that we had bought me that she decided to give me a NEW camera for Valentine's Day! Granted, it is a couple of weeks premature... But hey, we were at the store, the camera was at the store, and things just fell into place. (Pics with New Camera coming soon...)

In closing, I just want to send a note out to FLYBYU and say that yes, Grape is a Vision (brand) recumbent bicycle. I have been planning on doing a "Interesting Facts To Know And Tell" post about it sometime in the future. Probably this weekend, if things work out right. Stay tuned and see...

Until then, happy stitchy!!!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode IV

2006-01-30T18:52:00.000-08:00

Even more dirt under The Red Bicycle...

(I think that I am going to need my wheels trued when I am done...)

Welcome back to my blog! (2 posts in one day... cool!)

Okay, above I have the most recent progress pic of The Red Bicycle. I have completed the second color of the 'dirt' on the bottom half of the pattern. As Kim said earlier as I was proofing the preliminary pics, you can really see more and more of the design the further along I get. So far so good, eh? ;-)

The next color will be a darker gold. The darker color of the 'dirt' is a blending of a light brown and a light gold, so that may or may not give you an idea as to the color. Can't wait...

Kim made another interesting comment: why do you stitch just one color at a time? Well, I don't always plan to. But it just seems to happen more often than not. In this case, the color that was at the center of the design -I always start a project in the middle- just happened to be the last color on the list. Once I finished that one, I just continued to move up the line of colors until I got to where I am now. Pretty simple and straitforward. That and -unless the pattern makes it too difficult- I like to finish all of the stitches of one color before moving on to the next one. Kind of my way of keeping track of where I am on a project. Maybe a bit strange, but hey it works for me. ;-)

Nothing really to say in regards to biking stuff tonight. As nice as it was this weekend, it was a cold one today. (And I was just feeling lazy too so...) Hard to say when next I will be talking biking stuff. Stay tuned and see what happens when.

Alrightythen! Time to pack it in for today and get this post posted. (I think there is the name of a breakfast cereal in there somewhere...) Chat with you all later and have a good time until the next time!

An Early Morning Post

2006-01-30T03:52:00.000-08:00

I've had it! (Not breakfast yet, but working on it...)

I went out for a ride yesterday -weather chilly and windy but sunny- and thought I would take the cheapy cam with me and take some pics along the way. Seemed like a good idea at the time at least. Anyway, I get out on my ride and am make fairly good progress down the trail. At an overpass I decide to stop and take a picture. Take out the cam, and it beeps a low battery warning at me. Well (deleted)! :-( Oh well... That is the thing about taking pictures on a bike trail: the things you take pictures of are more or less always in the same place. I should be able to get more pictures at a later time...

In "Red Bike Diary" news: I am proceeding slowly but surely. I am almost done with the second color of the ground and should have that done by Wednesday, if not tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be able to take some update pics with the good camera and post them soon.

Well, I better get going for my busy day. Everybody have a good day and I will post at you later!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode III

2006-01-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

More dirt on "The Red Bicycle"

Okay, so it is actually under the red bike... But you get the idea... ;-)

I must apologize for not posting sooner. I am afraid that I haven't been in much of a blogging frame of mind lately. This past weekend the weather was really nice, but I didn't feel like doing much of anything other than the errands that Kim and I did. Monday was... well... Monday. (Beginning of the work week, stuff like that...) Yesterday I had a sore foot from something or the other that I did Monday (I think) and yesternight Kim and I went out for tacos and a few $2.00 margaritas. (My foot felt pretty good after that!) Today at work wasn't too bad and my foot felt even better so I figured it was time that I said something on the blog. And here I am...

Anyway... During my less than active period this last week or so, I managed to finish the first color in the ground of The Red Bicycle. It took a lot less time than I thought it would. I think that I may have slightly overestimated my completion time on this project. May -my original estimated completion time- seems like a long way off, but it may not take me that long at all. Hard to say right now. And then again, I may be overthinking things a wee bit too so... (I have a habit of overthinking things when I take time to think.)

(Kim and I are watching "Lost" as I type this post, so bear with me if I wander more than a little bit...)

I am really liking how this project is coming along. It is really starting to take shape and I can't wait until I start on the top half. Still trying to decide if I am going to stitch the 'sky' part of this pattern. Hard to say for sure, since the color of the 'sky' at that point of the fabric looks like... well... the fabric at that point. You can kind of see my quandry there... Oh well... I will figure it out when I get there. (Need to plan ahead just a little less bit...)

And now, because Lilli has apparently been asking about some bicycle riding type things:

I have decided to make a decision!
(Scary, huh?!?)

Anyway, I have finally decided that I am going to do the Celebrate Cycling charity ride. I will let you all check out the link for the specifics. But suffice it to say that of the 2 rides for this charity, this one is probably the one that best suits my abilities at this time; not just the riding part, but the part about asking for donations too. I will be the first to admit that I am not the best person for the job when it comes to asking folks for monetary donations. In the past, I had family to help with that part of the rides, or just paid the fees and the minimum donation amounts myself. I wasn't overly smart back then. Older and wiser now, eh? ;-) Let's hope so...

I am planning on doing either the 35 or 50 mile route; although I am leaning more towards the 50 at the moment. That may sound like a long distance to someone who isn't a 'longer distance' type biker. And it is, don't get me wrong. But the way these events are organized, there are generally stationary SAG (Support And Gear/Goodies) stops approximately every 10 - 12 miles along the route. They are staffed by kindly volunteers and fulll of water and bannannasses (never know how to spell that word... lol) or other goodies for the weary or not so weary bicyclists. And believe me, those stops can come in real handy on a long day of riding! ;-) The other nice thing about these stops -and probably the most important- is that they give the riders an opportunity to stop and 'sag' (no caps) or relax during the ride. I have been one of those volunteers in the past at let me tell ya, it can be almost as fun as riding the ride itself. I am going to be sending in my registration information within the next few days so that I can get a jump on my fundraising efforts. Wish me luck in that part at the very least. ;-)

Oh and speaking of volunteering, I have also decided to be a volunteer at the MS 150 Bike Tour also! That way, I can hep out the organization some more and enjoy the fun of the behind the scenes stuff too. I can hardly wait!

Well, my typingness is at an end now so I will leave you with a parting shot of Grape, my recumbent. Since the last posted picture of him was overwhelmed by the white fence, I figured that a pic without props would be in order. That, and I want to show FLYBYU a better pic too. (Nice Burley, by the way FLYBYU!)

And with that, I will bid you all good stitching, good riding, and good night.
gC ya later!

The Red Bike Diaries, Episode II:

2006-01-14T20:06:00.000-08:00

Stitching in the dirt...

Okay, so the pic at left isn't "The Red Bicycle". But when I took Grape -my recumbent- out for it's first ride of the year this afternoon, and saw this fence... Well, I just had to take a picture of it. It seemed like a good tie in for this bunch of bloggingness. (More on the ride later.)

Anyway... at right is a progress pic of The Red Bicycle. Things have been a bit (there's an understatement!) busy at work this week. As a result, I have not been as proliferic with my stitching as I have been in the last couple of weeks. The good side of that is the fact that I am getting things done with my project. Not much, but some...

I have begun to stitch the 'ground' part of the pattern (hence the 'dirt' in the title) and I have more or less settled into the knowledge that the longest and possibly the most drawn out part of this project is underway. I am estimating that it will take almost a month -at my current speed of stitching- to finish this part. Of course, I could be wrong. ;-) (It has happend once or twice, believe me...)

Kim hasn't been feeling very well lately, so she has been able to get a lot done on her projects. You should wander over there and take a look at it. A little bit of 'Hi, how are you?' at her blog might help cheer her up and make her feel better. ;-)

And now, a little more talk about my ride this afternoon.

First off, Kim and I got up kind of late this morning. Stayed up a little too late last night, I am afraid. (Why are all the good shows on so late at night?!?) Kim needed to get some fabric to finish her Peter's Cotton Knits project, so once we got up and going we made a run to Jo Anne's for fabric. Fortunately for us, the cold weather that we have been having here has decided to let up a bit. The sunny skies helped to perk up our spirits so we could get our runs done. (See also the blue sky in the pic at left.) The only thing we noticed, was that it was a bit windy. (See also again, the pic at left) Oh well, it would still be a good day for a bike ride.

Okay, we did our runs and I got ready to ride. As I have said, I haven't had Grape out for a while and needed to do some preliminaries before I got started. Again, no big deal. Air up tires, get water bottles ready, make sure all the other things are in their proper places... No problem. Took the bike and soforth outside and got ready to go. Did I mention that it was still a bit chilly out? Well, I will just wear a jacket over my T-shirt and shorts and I will be alright. Again, no problem.

The MoPacEast Trail is -almost literally- right out our back door. (About 3 blocks away.) Once I got heading down the trail, I saw the following things:

A Dinosaur, a train engine, and then finally the crushed limestone of the trail.

The first pics are 2 of many of the Tour de Lincoln sculptures that were commissioned a couple of years ago. There are more in town, but I was only able to take pictures of these so far. (I plan on posting more pics when I get them...) They are pretty neat, ranging from the 2 above to eyeglasses, to flowers. I think most of them have been taken to the homes of those who helped sponsored them, or they are in private galleries. Not really sure though...

The MoPac East trail heads quite a ways out of town. I personally have only been as far as a little berg known as Walton. Not much bigger than the name is there, but big enough to have a grain storage bin and a nice little trail side bike shop. It is part bike shop, part rest stop along the trail.

From there, I decided to get off of the trail for a bit and headed out onto the road. I had been noticing a rattling noise in my front rack, so I decided to stop at this nice fenced in area -see picture at the beginning of this post- and see what the rattle was all about. Upon closer inspection of the rack, I discovered that I had somehow managed to loose one of the bolts holding on the front rack. Eeek! (Good thing I have lots of spares at home...) Needless to say, that called an end to the ride. Bummer. I was wanting to ride more but... Oh well... So I turned around and not so quietly rode back home. (The rattle didn't get much better until after I was home.) I can say that I managed to get in a grand total of almost 14 miles today. Nothing great by my old standards, but at least I was out and riding.

Of course, now that it is no longer today but rather tomorrow (oh my...) I better sign off. I will be needing to sleep so that I can do some work related stuff tomorrow, I mean today, and I am going to need all my faculties to do it.

And on that note... Happy stitchy, happy riding, and most importantly, thanks for letting me ramble all that stuff out at you!

Sleep well... Or whatever else it is you need to do today... ;-)

I Still Got It!

2006-01-06T17:42:00.000-08:00

I may not have as much as I used to, and I may have a little more than I did in some places, but I STILL GOT IT! ;-)

Okay, okay, enough self agrandisement. What I still have, in varying quantities, is the ability (if you will) to go out for a bike ride! Okay, so that may not be as interesting to some as it may be to others -or me- but it is something that I have personally been... doubting... for a while now. Not that I felt as though I have forgotten how to ride a bike. That is silly because getting back a bike and riding is like... well... riding a bike. (Cliche' I know, but that is all I could think of.) Methinks that I meant more that I have slightly 'forgotten' why I started bike riding in the first place. (Read that as "for fun". Thanks for the words, Kim.)

What started this line of talking, thinking, whatever, was my annual "The sun is out! I must plan a BIG BIKE RIDE for later this year!!" (You can ask Kim. It isn't a pretty sight...)

Anyway... This year -or was it last year? these years all seem the same any more- my 'inspiration' for The Big Bike Ride was finding out that my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I'll let the link at left explain all the particulars about the disease, but suffice it to say that I was a bit freaked out. Also, the MS150 Bike Tour was one of the first -and most eventful, I might add- biking events that I had participated in. Needless to say, I have some history with them.

Okay... I'm rambling... Deep breath... Okay, all better.

Anyway again, this year I decided that I would do the MS 150 Bike Tour for my Big Bike Ride. Had it all figured out too. Ride to the event start, camp out the night before the event, do the event, camp out again, and ride home. Oh, and raise funds ($200 US) to help fight MS. No problem, right? Well... Not exactly. First off, the ride is about 30 miles from where I live; about 60 miles round trip. That, and the 100 miles I was planning on riding over the 2 days of the event... Let's just say that -at my current level of 'fitness'- it is an ambitious goal. (What can I say, I am in incurable optimist...) AND I have never been very good at the 'beg and plead' for donations. Looking bad here... That's not to say that I couldn't do the 1 day event. In fact, that is probably what I will be doing...

But, I digress. (Gee, ya think?!?) Anyway, the riding thing. I have been riding a bicycle in one capacity or another for 20+ years. Does quick math... That means that I was... about 2 when I started riding. ;-p Okay, maybe a bit older than that, but you get the idea. ;-) About 10 years ago, I got all hot and heavy (er, sotospeak) about doing long miled group rides. Suffice to say, that the crowd that I was at the time 'brainwashed' me into being an over the top bike riding guy. I still have withdrawl symptoms. (See earlier in this post...)

The thing that I think I have FINALLY come to realise is that I NEED to get back to that 'ride for fun, riding is fun' thing that I used to know so well. And then use the 'organized' rides to get to know other biker types. Hopefully to be friendly, not indoctrinated into 'over the top bikerness'... sotospeak... That is the plan at least. I'm not saying that it will be easy, but I am at the very least wanting to try and try. And then try again?!? lol

Okay, enough biking stuff for now. How about a little stitching type stuff? Since Anneke was so kind to comment on my last post, I thought that the least that I could do was make a post and comment on her comment. ...um...yeah...sometinglikethat...

Anyway... She was curious as to what The Red Bicycle project will look like when it is done. My Prologue pic wasn't really big enough to get a good idea of what it looked like. Well, for your viewing pleasure, here is a pic of what the finished project will look like, per the manufacturer:

As you can see, the fence in the previous post pic is about 1/3 of the completed project. Also, per a comment from Lili, the completed size will be about 25cm (10") W x 36cm (14") H. Granted, that is an approximation. No telling what is going to happen while I am working on it... ;-) Just kidding. The only thing that will be different from this pic is that I am doing it on a different colored fabric. Oh, and I plan on 'signing' it with a stitched version of my actual signature. You know, like when you sign your name on a check or at the end of a letter? Yeah, somethinlikethat. I have a feeling that it will be the hardest part of the whole project. But then again, I could be wrong...

Whoa! I typed up a lot of stuff there. Methinks that I must have needed a bit of cartharsis or something. But most likely, I just like to talk once I get started. (And I ramble... Did I mention that?!?)

Final anyway, I better let you all go for now. I am loosing blogging cohesiveness so it will be for the best. ;-) You all have a good day/evening/whatever and I will blog again later!

The Red Bike Diaries: Episode I

2006-01-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

The longest journey begins with but a single stitch...
Er, step...
Oh, nevermind...
(My apologies to whomsover first made that quote.)

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for!! Well... maybe not all of you, but... Okay, no more fanfare...

ANYway... I have finally gotten around to starting on The Red Bicycle. Last Thursday at about 3:30 p.m. CST, to be exact. And as you can see in the followng picture, I have made pretty good progress:

FYI stuff: the image shown is approximately 8 1/2" (21.5cm) W x 3 1/2" (9cm) H and is stitched on 14 count Aida fabric hand-dyed by Kim

Things have been going fairly well with the stitching too. I have, however, made one small change: the fence color was originally a 'light blue grey'. My guess is that it was the kit maker's attempt to make a "white picket fence" color on white fabric. But since I am doing this project on a blue background, I decided to go with REAL white for my picket fence. As you can see, white works best when stitching white. ;-)

As you might have guessed, I haven't been doing much stitching since going back to work today. Oh well... It will give me something to do for the rest of the month.

In other news: well... let me see...Kim and I had a good holidaze week off. We spent some good quality time with Kim's folks. We took my father out for lunch/dinner for his 'christmas gift'. He also loved the fat santa we gave him full of quarters and dollar bills that he could use for the coffee machines at his work. We got the decorations all put away; although we did have 3 casualties: some of the chicken things we had stashed away didn't make it out of storage in one piece. :-( Kim had a very good birthday yesterday. Did you all go over and wish her a happy birthday yet? Oh, and (Kim don't look!) our car turned over 100,000 miles this morning on the way into work! Yet another milestone -literally!- for our good little Saturn. (If you need a good and reliable car, Saturns are a really good bet.)

Let's see... Anything else? Not really. Although as sort of as an aside: I am planning on doing a charity fund raiser bike ride for the Multiple Sclerosis Society later this year and maybe volunteering for another too. Hard to say for sure yet, but it is in the plans. More on that later, when I have more time to tell tales. And you can ask Kim: I LOVE to talk about stuff that I like. Like Kim... :-X

Okay, I better end this post before I turn into a pumpkin... or some other gourd or melon. ;-p Chat with you all later if not sooner and Happy Stitchy!!!

Ho, Ho, >hic< ... The First Pic

2005-12-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

...of the so called "Drunken Santa". See? I TOLD you I would post a pic... And, I finally figured out -with an almost audible forehead slap- why come for I wasn't able to get this pic off of the camera: I forgot that I have to turn the camera on in order to get a pic off of it. Grrr... Oh well, I guess I need to remember and relearn somehow or the other.

Please excuse the apparent brightness of the pic. I am stitching with white floss on a light colored fabric and, as I am sure you might guess, it isn't the easiest thing to see; not even for me and I am the one doing the stitching. Well... It seemed like a good idea to stitch a pattern that Lili sent me on a piece of the fabric that she sent me too. That and the fact that I sooo love the 'fiddler cloth' -I think that is what you call it- type fabric. (Please correct me if I am wrong, Lili.)

I would have posted this sooner -once I remembered how to get the pic, of course- but have been too busy figuring out how best to take pics with my new cam (distances of more than a meter, that is the key) as well as doing the GiftMess thing with Kim's folks. It has been a good, albiet long, day todagh, The Project that Gary Schneider is working on is an inspiration, let me tell ya! (106,000 stitches on 26ct linen... YIKES!) "Someday... But not today..." I heard that in the movie "The Gladiator" starring Russell Crowe. Good flick.

And lastly, I just want to once again assure you all that I have not forgotten about The Red Bicycle. I just happened to set the preprations aside in order to do the Santa, that's all... ;-) My plan/goal is to start on it after the beginning of 2006. That way, I will have a good idea as to how many monthes it will take me to get it done. Befoer summer, I hope... jk

Okay... I have typed up too much space as it is with this post so I am going to go and let someone else hog the 'net for a while. Special thanks to Kim's mom for allowing me to use her computer to post this post. (Take a much deserved bow, Mom In Law...) Now, off to look at other stuff and maybe just maybe go to sleep too.

Chat with all and sundry soon if not sooner!

It's A Small World After All

2005-12-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

...I am going to try and make this post one more time. If it doesn't pan out, I am just going to not post under this title...

Anyway... yesterday I was able to leave work an hour early (something of a GiftMess gift from one of the Big Bosses). I decided to take my father some chilli that I had made for our GiftMess Food Day. Once I had left it there, I decided that on my way out of town I would look up the new location of my friend's massage school. Needless to say, I was amazed that it was in the location that it was in! (I am familiar with the area.) But that wasn't the half of it! Once I got inside and spoke with the receptionist, I was surprised to see MY COUSIN! Major shocker, there folks. It turned out that cuz was in the early stages of the program. Good job, cuz!

After the 'reunion', I was shown around the rest of the New Place for the School. Remember how I said that I was amazed at the location? Well, that wasn't the half of it. THIS NEW LOCATION IS HUGE... Well, relatively speaking of course. It is at least twice as big -maybe more- in size from the previous location. And spacious? OMG!!! Suffice it to say that I think P made out like a bandit with this place. Ask Kim: if I can't find words to describe something, I AM IMPRESSED! Whoa...

Ahem... Sorry... I got a little bit emotional there. Won't happen again. (I hope...)

Okay... Enough of that. Back to stitching stuff. Well... Maybe not. I am afraid to say that the nifty camera that Kim got for me for GiftMess is not necessarily made for close up pic taking. In fact, the owner's manual says that the best pics occur when the pic taker is about 3 feet (1 meter for my International Fans) away from the thing to be pictured. ...orsomethinglikethat... ;-) I can say that I do -finally- have a picture of the Santa. Unfortunately, it is currently being held captive in the other camera. Darn it. And I was sooo wanting to show Lili my progress on it too. However... If I can find a way to pry the pic out, I will make a point of posting it. HONEST! REALLY!! FOR TRUE TOO!!! (you believe me, right?!?) Keep you fingers crossed, folks. ;-)

Did you hear that? That thunking noise you just heard was the sound of my word bucket hitting the floor after running empty. (2 hours of working on a post can do that...) Anyway... I will let you all get back to whatever you were doing before you started reading this post and I am going to go to bed. Long weekend coming up and I may need my energy reserves to keep ahead of Kim and her kin. Just kidding... I enjoy going to their house. VERY relaxing...

Okay, see you next time.
Happy stitchy and happy holidays too!

I'm not dead yet

2005-12-22T04:10:00.000-08:00

...I just post like I am. ;-p

Sorry for the apparent lack of posting motivation, but things have been VERY busy at work and by the time I have been getting home I am in almost no frame of mind to do... well... just about anything. But fear not! The big chunks of work are all done now and I should be able to concentrate on the more impoertant things: like stitching and posting! (Not that I post or stitch at work... well... maybe on my breaks and lunch...) I am making good progress on Santa though and should be able to post a pic in the next day or so. Of course, I will have to post a pic: it will give me a chance to try out the new camera that Kim got me for GiftMess. (Nothing fancy, but just enough to take post pics.)

But first... I better go and start the long drive to the end of the day. I will do my bestest to get some pics to you all tonight. Until then, happy stitchy and be safe!

Now I've done it...

2005-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

(...one of these days, I will learn to keep my mouth shut...)

I just want to go on record and say that I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE IN THE ARMED FORCES FIGHTING AGAINST TERRORISM. I know folks who are or were in the military and I really appreciate the sacrifices that they make. I fully realise that they are over there doing a job so that I can do what I do; like have my own opinion.

In other news: I have decided to put my wolf project on hold for the time being. (It just isn't doing anything for me, for some reason...) Therefore, I have decided to do a quick little project that Lili sent Kim and I lately. (Remember the 'Drunken Santa', Lili?) She also sent us some more fabric so that is what Santa is going onto. It should look really nice once it is done. Thanks again, Lili! (Progress pictures to follow...)

Is it that time already?!? Looks like I better get a move on so that Kim and I can go do GiftMess (Christmas, in most parts of the world) with my father. Have a good day and I will get all chatty with y' all later on!

:-)

Through the Needle's Eye from A Stitcher Guy

2005-12-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

Per a comment in my response to lilli, I thought I would make a post in regards to what it is like to be a guy who cross stitches.

Well, what can I say? After the initial worry that I would be kicked out of The Guy's Club (not that I was much of a member to begin with), it wasn't all that bad. ;-) But seriously, it wasn't really that much of a stretch for me; once I decided to give it a try.

I have always been what some might call an 'artsy type' of person, although I will be the first to admit that I am not a practicing artsy. Umm... yeah... somethinglikethat... Anyway, I was one of those folks who did fairly well in art class while in school. I have a fairly active imagination that has been relatively inactive of late.

Enter my darling wife Kim. (Take a bow, sweetie...) About 2 years ago, she got back into cross stitching after a long hiatus. As I watched her stitch her projects, I became increasingly curious about this cross stitching thing. Needles to say, my curiosity got the better of me.

So one day when I was at Wal-Mart I happend to walk through the 'crafting supplies' section and saw that they had these inexpensive (less than $2.oo U.S.) small cross stitch projects. "Oh, what the heck..." I thought and bought My First Cross Stitch Project! It was a simple smiley face design (I like smiley faces!) that took me about a week to finish. You have to keep in mind that I was just starting out and was rather nervous about doing it 'the right way'. (I tend to be a perfectionist too, BTW...) It turned out pretty good and now adornes our refrigerator as a fridge magnet.

Since then, I have made many other projects and have been stitching happily ever since. Okay that has not always been true (look at the 'Newton's Law' project) but for the most part it has been pretty fun.

And believe it or not, I actually have a fair sized stash of my own. Without actually counting them, I can safely say that I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 dozen+ patterns that are 'mine'; or at least mine in the sense that I picked them out or asked Kim to get them for me. FYI: about half of them are small like the smiley face mentioned above. The other half are bigger, more complicated projects like the Calla Lillies that I just finished for Kim, as well as the soon to be started 'The Red Bicycle'. (I am itching to be stitching that, sotospeak...)

Well faithful readers, I am afraid that my wealth (overabundance?) of words has finally run out. That -coupled with the fact that it is now 10:00 p.m. CDT- means that I better shut The Machine here down and call it a night. I PROMISE that I will be starting on the red bike soon. REALLY! Honest and for true too. ;-)

Until then, keep your stitches crossed and your smiles smiling!

P.S.: Feel free to send me a note if there is anything else you might be curious about and I will be happy to reply. :-)

You Like Me! Your Really Like Me!!

2005-12-15T03:31:00.000-08:00

(With all due respects to Sally Fields, I just couldn't resist...)
WOW! That is about all I can really say. I didn't think that this blog thing would take off like it has (not that it has gone very far yet...) or have quite as many viewers as it has had! Totally and completely amazed. Thanks to all and everyone who has wandered by for a look see.

I still haven't gotten started on The Red Bicycle, but I am getting closer to starting. (Honest! Really!) Things are a little bit busy here, what with the holidays and the HUGE work load at work (...we are in our Busy Period and the machine I run has been acting up...) so I haven't taken much time to stitch. Yes, I do tend to have periods of laziness in my stitching life... ;-)

And now for a quick rant:
As I am sure all of you out there know, the U.S. has been over in Iraq fighting George's Dirty Little War (aka The Irag Conflict). Personally, I think it has been a bad idea since before the start but there is little that I can do but rant about it. Don't get me wrong. I am all for ousting dastardly dictators and bringing democracy to those with out it. But I still think that the whole Iraq thing was just a way for G.W. to make himself look good...

So needless to say, I was all "About damn time!" when I saw the following story on the Yahoo! news this a.m.:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051215/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Basically, George admits that he (excuse me, we the U.S.) may have gone in there with bad intelligence. (That opens up a whole other rant and heckle, but I will leave that alone for a while...) Anyway... I just had to get that off my chest.

Well, the morning is slipping away from me so I better sign off for now. (Gotta go do that work thing after all...) Everybody have a good and safe day and I will chat at you all later!

:-)

The Red Bike Diaries: Prologue

2005-12-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

LONG, LONG AGO

IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY ...

(...well, it wasn't that long ago and it was actually in the stash basket...)

Okay, so I am not George Lucas. But I really admire the way he can stitch together a tapestry of characters, places, and events into something like his Star Wars saga. And the fact that he has been working on it for nearly 30 years, is a true testament to perserverence!

So what does that have to do with red bikes, diaries, and stitching? Not much, really. But it seemed like a good transition from the Star Wars opening credits idea I had for the beginning of this post to the beginning of my chatting about My Next Big Project...

These are the bits and pieces that I am going to use to stitch and finish a project that Kim had originally started a little over 2 years ago: "The Red Bicycle" by Borderlines. It was something that I had talked her into getting and stitching for me -I hadn't started stitching for myself yet- but it ended up not being her type of project. (Too much light color onto light color stuff...)

I plan on using the floss that originally came with the project. (Saves me the trouble of deciding on the colors myself...) However, I have decided to toss the original fabric in order to stitch this on some of Kim's hand dyed frabric. It is blue with hints of pink and green hiding in it. I think it is perfect for the idealic setting of the

FINALLY!

2005-12-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

I think I may be getting the hang of this blog stuff. Or at least I am getting a bit of a handle on it... (Thanks muches and bunches go to my loving wife for the help with it all too!)

Anyway... I (finally) managed to find the blog that I have listed in my links tonight. It pertains to 2 things that I like to do but haven't done as much of as I would have liked to recently: bike touring and photography. I must say that I am more encouraged to ride this upcoming season after having seen Robert's pictures and I may even get into the habit of taking pics of the rides too. That is the plan at least. We will see what happens...)

Well, it is getting late -for me at least- so I better cut this short. I am hoping to get a post up in the next day or so to show my stitching stuff too, so be on the look out for that. Watch this space for the upcoming "The Red Bike Diaries" within the next couple of weeks or so too! (Trust me, it will make some sort of sense eventually...)

Until next time, keep your wheels true and your stitches crossed.
...orsomethinglikethat...

Just because...

2005-12-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

...I can. Post, that is. ;-) Just being a little bored here. Hope you are staying warm and toasty there!
Catch you later...

gC

In the beginning...

2005-12-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

...the blog was void and without form. ...orsomethinglikethat...

Anyway... welcome to my blog! I am planning on using this as a journal of not only my cross stitching but -hopefully- for my bicycling as well. Wish me luck.

But now, it is time to stop setting up and start getting ready for bed. Busy day tomorrow and all. Thanks for stopping by and see you next time I get a case of the ramblings!