Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Whazzzzzzzzzzzzzzup?


Ooops, so sorry was having a 1997 moment there.


Here is my latest finish and by far the most difficult project I have done so far. It was done for the magnet exchange on the I-Love-Cross-Stitch group on Yahoo!. I was paired up with the lovely Gabi from Australia. I knew her to be fond of birds so when browsing around for ideas I happened upon this magnetic frame design. The leaflet the design was in and the acrylic frame are both available at Yarntree.com .
It was a joy to stitch, just very pretty and delicate. I used the recommended 18 ct Aida (the frame comes with plastic canvas but the booklet was written for a slightly different frame). The pattern called for about 14 different colors of floss. At first I was thinking, "Now that's just silly for such a small design". Obviously though, using many different colors makes everything just lovely.
I will not go into all the errors I made. Looking back I realize I am happy with the finished project and Gabi loved it so that is all that matters ;) One thing I will 'fess up to is that the painted green border around the edge was necessary because I totally messed up trimming the fabric to fit in the frame. I printed out a pic of my daughter to pop in there, she is standing in front of a "Birds of NYC" placard so I thought it was appropriate.
And thanks to the aforementioned Gabi, I will be watching the Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet. It was number 388 on my Netflix queue. I have heard it is quite the masterpiece and so far I must say it is quite extraordinary, what I have watched.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Woohoo, my Netflix queue is almost under 400!



Wow, so my Netflix queue is shrinking for what seems like the first time since I joined back in 2002. There have been a number of times I have had to delete movies from my list because I reached the 500 limit. Part of it is a larger number of movies "being moved to my saved list"-at first I thought it was because they were out of print but at least one of those movies was readily available New at amazon. The major reason though is that I have been watching a ton of movies this summer. My older daughter is going to day camp so while my younger daughter naps I have time theoretically to watch one movie a day. And since I have taken up stitching I am watching more as I sit down to stitch. The only movie I really had a problem watching while stitching was The Prestige . A great movie, full of twists and turns that demanded my attention. So I just had to pause a few times to count or just (gasp!!) stop stitching for a few minutes. I just know not to attempt a foreign film, no way could I read subtitles constantly while I stitch.

Numbers one and two right now are Rendition and The Game Plan. To mix things up, the first person to comment on this please give me a number from 5-405. I will move that movie on up to number one on the queue.

**Quick Stitching Update**

I have another finish, a magnet I did for an exchange on the I Love Cross Stitch yahoo group. I fell in love with a pattern and I just thought it was perfect for Gabi, the woman who is to receive it. More on that later, and no pics until it arrives safely in Australia!

Hopefully in the next couple of days I should complete the Mets Logo. Only two colors but tons of stitches. I think I am on my sixth skein for one of them. Wish me Luck!