Success

I am pleased to find that I have successfully completed my first ever NaBloPoMo.  I managed to post ever day during November and didn't need to rely on prompts.   I'm sure my posts weren't the most well written or thought out within the blogosphere but I am pleased with the results.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented this month.  I sincerely appreciate it.  I'm going to try and continue blogging as regularly as possible in the month of December and on into 2012 so I hope you continue to stop by and visit.

Congratulations to all you others out there who have completed the NaBloPoMo challenge!

Recovery

I persisted with BBDs Winter Wonderland and managed to replace what I had to frog and go on to fill out a bit more.  I love the colors in this piece and it was hard to zip it away into its project envelope but I really need to be focusing on getting some gifts completed. 

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of the month and that means only 1 more month left of 2011.  Has this year flow by for anyone else?  It certainly has for me.

Anticipating December 1st

Today I had a package waiting for me when I got home.  My own 25 days of Christmas exchange package had arrived from all the way on the other side of the US.  Despite the temptation to open it up immediately, I've set it aside to break into on Thursday. 

Was it hard for anyone else to get back in the swing of things today?  After having 5 days away from work, I found myself very unproductive.  I hope a bit more sleep and a good dose of caffeine in the morning will help make me more effective tomorrow!  Hope your Monday was a good one.

A Little Winter Wonderland Rewind

This was my progress the last time I stitched on BBDs Winter Wonderland.

And here is what it looks like after some frogging.  As I got closer to the right hand edge of the roof, I made the very unwelcome realization that I was one stitch off - an extra stitch that I never noticed until I got to filling in for the last motif.  I had to frog the right side of the roof, remove the right hand chimney and the bird to the left of that before continuing on.  

I hate to frog but there just wasn't any way to fudge the extra stitch and have it look right.  I hope to continue working on this a bit more tonight so I can try and replace the bird and the chimney.

Time to Switch Holiday Focus

While I've had extra time off this holiday, I've gotten some stitching done on Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. 

The house has been pretty loud with lots more people and noise than Beau is used to at home.  I caught him snuggled into the blankets in the basement where the kids have been beading and watching TV.  I think we're both going to be ready to head back home tomorrow.

Fry-Day

We fried our turkey yesterday but the day after, FRY-day has also become a tradition in our family.  You can't let that extra oil you bought just in case go to waste so it gets used up to fry a variety of different foods including snickers bars, Oreos, Twinkies, old cheesecake, french fries, sweet potato fries and just about any thing else we can think of to freeze and then dip in batter and drop in hot peanut oil. 

This year I was out meeting up with two former work colleagues so I missed the actual fry-fest and thus have no photos to share but the moans and groans I came home to indicate it was another successful day after Thanksgiving.  This year I am thankful I missed it!!

Thankful for Family and Feasting

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you are finding much to be thankful for today on the traditional day Americans give thanks for all that they have.  Hopefully, we give thanks for all that we have much more often than on the fourth Thursday of the 11th month of the year.  I hope you are enjoying this day and all that it brings no matter where you are!

Thankful for Organized Chefs

My BIL is a fabulous cook and he takes the Thanksgiving feast process very seriously.  He always starts his morning with coffee and builds a task list which usually includes the times things are going into the oven.  We fry our turkey so today's project was to brine the turkey.  We also prepped as many sides as possible.  I was responsible for making squash casserole and a pumpkin pecan cheesecake from the November issue of Southern Living.  The cheesecake is baking and the casserole is in the downstairs fridge waiting for its turn in the oven. 

I hope your Thanksgiving preparations are off to a good start!

Thankful For Stitching Exchanges

The past few days my dining room has looked like Santa Central with wrapping paper, bows, scissors and tape all over the place.  Once again, I signed up for a 25 Days of Christmas exchange with a private group I belong to.  I began gathering items back in May but I always seem to come down to the wire on gathering the last few things I needed to complete my list. 

I've been wrapping and tagging my items for the past couple of days until finally everything was sent off in the mail today - a day past my self imposed deadline.  My box is due to arrive at it's destination by Friday which is well in advance of December 1st and the opening of the first gift - just in case it gets delayed.  Which I'm sure it won't!!!

Thankful for Talented Neighbors

I had the loveliest surprise waiting for me when I got home this evening.  It had been a very hectic day at work, a rush to take the dog to be groomed and then an appointment in Portland and then back to pick up the dog by 7pm.  Upon checking my mailbox when I finally got home, I found a card from the kind and incredibly talented scrapbooker/card maker who lives a few streets over and has two very sweet dogs that Beau adores, Gracie Mae and Sadie.  I am the lucky recipient of a "Created by Chris" Thanksgiving card.  Chris makes cards that she sells to benefit the local animal welfare society and I have yet to get one as they sell out very quickly.  Now I am lucky enough to have one of my own and for that I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too Chris!

Thankful for the Kindness of Stitchers

Today I would like to express my thanks for all of those stitchers out there that take the time to write tutorials or guidelines about the finishing techniques they use.  There are a number of them out there and today I used the expertise shared recently by Daffy Cat to finish an ornament.  I used her technique for squaring off my fabric to have straight lines to cut around the finished piece.  It's the generosity of Daffy Cat and others like her that help those of us who are challenged.  They help build and cement this great cyber-stitching world we are a part of and I thank them and you Daffy Cat!

A Lovely Day-Photo Heavy!

Today, I traveled to mid-coast Maine to meet up with Barbara and I actually remembered to pack my camera.  On the way, I stopped to take this photo of what I think is Sheepshead Lake.  The sun was brilliant with a chilly breeze - this is what Maine looks like when everyone goes home.

There was very little traffic on the road so I got to Belfast a lot earlier than I expected.  The sun was still shining brightly and I stopped to take this photo as you head down the hill into town.  I love this triangular building that sits on the corner.  

Instead of turning right to head to the Co-Op where Barbara and I meet to sit and stitch, I continued on down to the harbor area.  Many of the older buildings have been repurposed into shops and places to eat.  I love all the color on these buildings.

 

Here are a couple of pictures in the harbor area.  The photo on the left is across the water and the one on the right is a local dock and warehouse building.


















Since I was the first to arrive, I grabbed a table by the big picture windows for maximum stitching light, bought a cup of tea and vegan pumpkin muffin and started knitting.  Barbara arrived a little after 9:30 and we sat and stitched until about 2:00pm.  We both did a bit of shopping at the Co-Op and then headed home.

The picture below captures both our stitching and our snacking which is of course a part of our day.  I brought my Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow piece to work on and made some great progress.

 
On the way home, I stopped to take this photo looking out over the valley to the ridges running off to north.  The trees have pretty much lost all of their leaves but the pines provide their own color.  Pretty soon this view will be a whole lot whiter!!

On my way home, I needed to stop at LL Bean in Freeport to pick up some snow boots.  They already have the Christmas lights lit so I took a photo as I was leaving the main store.  This was taken at just after 5:00 and it was pretty close to full dark.  I love how the big tree is decorated.

Hope you enjoyed your Saturday where ever it took you!

Up Next on the Needles

With November half way over, I've really got to kick up my productivity if I have any hope of completing all of the items on my Christmas gifting list.  Last night after finishing a crochet cowl, I cast on for a knit one.  This is a bit of a different cowl and I've already completed one.  I'm trying to focus on just one project at a time and not the overwhelming list I am trying to get through.

The weather has become much more November-like and we've finally lost most all of the leaves from the trees.  Last week I raked four bags from the lawn and I refuse to do any more.  Anything that's left will get raked next spring!

It's time to hunker down inside a warm house and get crafty.  TGIF!!

Happy Birthday Josie!

My oldest niece turned 19 today.  She is a freshman at a college in Boston and is planning to study nursing.  She is the most amazing, wonderful young lady.  She's smart, gorgeous, athletic, funny, kind, generous and sassy - all the best things to be at 19.  My heart fills to overflowing with how much I love her and how proud I am of her.  She's just amazing.  It is my hope and prayer that she finds the love, success and confidence that she deserves while doing something to make our world a better place.  I think she's off to a great start so far.  I love you Josie/Bella/Belle, forever and always.  Love, Aunt Rosie

Highly Anticipated

Today there was a wonderful package sticking out of the mailbox on the porch when I got home.  I eagerly pulled it out of the box and took note of the shipping label - Country Stitches.  Yee-haw, my much coveted stash had arrived.  Blogger refuses to upload this photo correctly so you'll have to turn your head to view it properly.  What a box of yummy!

I finally gave in to the lure of With Thy Needle and Thread's monthly charts and ordered the three currently available; October, November and December.  Then of course I needed to order the fabric for them plus a BBD chart that caught my eye and finally the chart, threads, fabric and purse handles for WTNTs Stitcher's Purse.  I fell in love with the design as soon as I saw it on Brenda's blog.  I can't wait to get started on this project.

We are sliding toward the end of the week and I'm very thankful for that.  If all goes as planned, Barbara and I are getting together again at the co-op for some good coffee, stitching and chit-chat. I hope you have some exciting plans to look forward to this weekend. It makes the week go much faster!

Reinforcements Have Arrived

My Christmas gift crafting came to a slow halt while I waited for some reinforcements to arrive.  They showed up on Friday so I will be able to get back to work.  This crocheted cowl only needs a few more rounds and it will be able to transfer to the "waiting for ends to be woven in" pile.  Sorry the picture below is cock-eyed.  Blogger is being a bit cranky this evening.

Today marks the half way point in the month of November and my efforts to post every day as part of NaBloPoMo.  So far I've posted every day, even when I was away from home overnight last week.  I'm really proud of myself and I hope to continue to post regularly after the end of the month.  Being online daily has also encouraged me to post more on other people's blogs and I've enjoyed visiting some new to me blogs.  Thanks for taking the time to stop by mine today!

HRH Holiday Progress

On Friday evening I sat down and paid some attention to my Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow project.  I'm working to fill in the house which has quite a few stitches left to go but I'm pretty happy with the progress I've made so far.  I was not looking forward to stitching this block because of the house and the solid stitching involved but I have to say I haven't minded it at all.  It's actually gone pretty quickly. 

I am also on the final 25% of the Christmas ornament stitching I started over the weekend.  Working on this one has made me wish I'd done a bit more ornament stitching this year.  I have all of the ornie kits from an exchange I was in this year with none of them started but maybe I will pull one out and get started after I finish my current project.  Are you holiday stitching this year?

Hope you had a great Monday.  Tomorrow means the month is 1/2 over and next week will be Thanksgiving!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

My able, but not so interested, assistant helped me choose a winner for the Thankfulness Giveaway.  I offered him the bowl and he pawed out a winner.  I had to wrestle the paper from him to prevent him from eating it as he thought it was a fun game, but I was able to read the winner which is Hillery!

Hillery, please send me an email with your mailing address and I'll get the goodies out to you this week.  I hope you all keep focusing on all you have to be thankful for because it sounds like each of you has quite a lot.  Thanks for participating in this give away.

Giveaway Reminder & New Start

 

Don't forget to enter my Thankfulness giveaway today.  I will be pulling a winner tomorrow.  I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments.  Good luck!

While watching the Georgia vs. Auburn game this afternoon, I started an ornament from this year's JCS Ornament issue.  I'm not going to say which one as I think it's going to end up as a Christmas gift. 

I have to say there were not a lot of ornaments that caught my eye this year and made me excited to stitch them and that's too bad.  It feels like there is a lot of repetition in many of the designs; as if the designers are just quickly designing anything or using parts of something they've already designed to turn into ornaments without trying to create something really special.  Maybe it's just that there's only so much you can do for a holiday themed ornament and much of it's already been done. 

NaBloPo Prompt: 11/11/11 Make Three Wishes

I was out of town overnight and I'm too tired to come up with anything on my own tonight so I decided to use today's prompt which is Make Three Wishes.

Today is Veteran's Day and as the daughter of a veteran of WW2, my first wish would be that we could all learn to live together in peace so that no more veterans would need to come home from wars and conflicts around the world.

My second wish is that we as humans would learn to listen to each other.  Communication, or the lack of communication, is so often at the root of so many of life's problems, errors, accidents and conflicts.  By taking the time to stop and allow someone to fully express themselves, to be in that moment and listen to what they are saying - both the verbal and the noverbal- might do much to create a more peaceful world to live in.  Words are such powerful things and if we listened to them more closely and that helped us to use them more wisely, we might live in a very different environment.

My third wish is for the children of our world.  They are our future and it is my hope that each child be able to find at least one person in their life that helps them, guides them, encourages them to be all that they can be, to overcome whatever negative circumstances they might be in, to help others if their circumstances are better and to be the change our world needs.

Workshop Central

 My younger sister decided we should have a home-made Christmas this year.  This is a view of my office/craft room as a result of that decision. To the left of this photo there are bags of yarn just waiting for their turn on the ball winder that has become permanently fixed to the counter of my work table.

For many of the people on my list, I decided to make cowls.  Some are going to be made quickly using a large crochet hook and very bulking yarn.  Some will get a cowl I found on Ravelry that is knit and takes a bit longer to craft but it is quite warm and cozy.

I have completed 2 from my list so far with one waiting on another ball of yarn and one waiting to be cast on.  By the time I'm done, I will probably never want to see another cowl again in my lifetime!

Full Maine Moon

With the shift in the time, it gets dark up here quite quickly.  I took this photo of the full moon before I left for my yoga class tonight-about 5:15pm.  It wasn't quite as dark as in the photo but the full moon was just gorgeous.  This was the view over the next door neighbors house. 

In true full moon madness fashion, it's been quite the interesting week at work.  Anyone who doubts that the full moon doesn't make people crazy needs to spend some time with me on a full moon week.  I hope you are enjoying a gorgeous moon where ever you are this evening!

Giveaway Reminder

Don't forget to enter for my thanks-giving giveaway if you have not already! You have until Saturday, November 12 to comment.

UFO Stitching

The first Sunday of the month is UFO stitching day for an email group I've belonged to for the last 6 years or so.  Once I had finished my outdoor chores and some indoor things, I settled down with BBD's Winter Wonderland.  I had not completed all that much the last time I put it down back at the beginning of May. 

Yesterday I completed the birds across the top of the roof, the right hand chimney, the letters I and J and the small eyelet next to them as well as the brown parts of the roof.  Not bad for a few hours of stitching.  It was hard to zip this back into its project bag but I am working on some crochet & knit gifts as well as trying to complete the block on C@HRH so I will leave it alone until the first Sunday in December.

Sunday Sunshine Snoozin

Beau is a sun worshipper and takes any chance he gets to nap in that golden warmth.  If I open the back door, he is quick to make himself comfortable on the landing between going out and going down into the basement.  It makes for a tricky trip down to do laundry but he so enjoys it, that I open the door for him as often as the weather allows.  I should probably get a full glass door for the back so he can sunbathe all the time. 

While he was so slothfully enjoying the sun, I was once again raking leaves.  I cut two trees down in the spring and somehow thought that would mean less leaf raking in the fall but that hasn't seemed to be the case.  If only I could create some force field or barrier around the perimeter of my yard so all of the neighbors leaves couldn't enter my yard, I'd be all set!

I hope your Sunday was an enjoyable one.  There was some stitching for me but I'll share that tomorrow.  I have really enjoyed reading all of the things many of you are thankful for.  I hope it gets us all focusing on what we do have considering all the doom and gloom we are bombarded with on TV and in the news.  Keep them coming!

Thankfulness Giveaway

Since November is the month for Thanks-giving in the US, I thought I would have a thankfulness giveaway.  The only thing you need to do to enter is tell me three things you are thankful for.  I will choose the winner using random number selection and someone will win the following:  Milady's Needle Bee's Rule, Sweetheart Tree Renaissance Romance w/charm, Periwinkle Promises April Too Sampler Accent Kit (fabric, threads and beads included), Elizabeth's Designs Silk Leaves Needlecase, Liberty Street Designs More Hearts w/charm, Forever In My Heart Chocolate Moods and 5 assorted threads, one of which is silk. 

Just leave me a comment by November 12 and I will choose and announce the winner on November 13.

Three things I am thankful for today are:

1.  Having heating oil to warm my house

2.  Sunshine and 50+ degrees in November

3.  The ability to make things with my hands

Nailbiter

Tonight Alabama is playing LSU and I've been biting my nails all the way through the 1st half.  I had to be at a local event and for the first time ever followed the game from my phone.  It can't help but be a good game with the #1 and #2 teams playing each other.  I'm a huge SEC fan even though I went to a Big 10 school.  There will be no stitching or crafting tonight because I don't want to risk making a mistake when my attention is on the screen and not the project.  Hope you are enjoying your Saturday night.  Go Bama!!!!

Magical Day Off

I had the day off today and it was a really great one.  I started off by sleeping in until 7:30 when Beau decided I'd had more than enough shut eye and it was past time to get outside.  We had another wonderfully sunny day which was a bonus.  I walked two streets down to my friend Chris's house and we went out to lunch together.  I wish I had had my camera with me because she's got a gorgeous old home and she has a wonderful knack for decorating.  It was so cozy and welcoming.

I was supposed to have an afternoon appointment but it didn't work out at the last minute so I ended up taking a nice long nap and then getting quite a bit of stitching done.  The house in this block is framed out and I'm now working on the bricks.  I'm really pleased with how quickly this particular block is coming along. I hope to get a bit more done before I'm through tonight.

Call me a quitter...for now

I don't often let a project get the best of me but this one definitely has.  I had planned to make this headband and the matching fingerless gloves for one of my nieces for Christmas but after 5 attempts at the pattern, I'm giving up.  The pattern came from a knitting a day calendar someone gave me a while back and I saved out the projects I really liked.  For some reason, this one is just beyond me.  I did learn how to pfb and I've done cables before but this one has just got me ripping out with each new section.  I'm going on to my next planned project and may come back to this as I am just stubborn enough to try and figure it out.  But there's not enough time until the holiday to waste more time figuring it out.  Have you ever had a project where you just couldn't figure it out? 

Seasonal Stitching

While watching college football on Saturday, I managed to get the grey part of the roof done on my current block for Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow.  Luckily I had enough of the color to finish this part and my replacement skein arrived in the mail today.  I'm off for the next few days so I'm hoping to get some more time with this piece however the Christmas gift crafting has started in earnest and I need to focus on things with a more immediate deadline than this one has.  But it was quite fitting to be stitching on this piece while the snow was falling outside - even if it was October!  I just realized that once this block is completed, I will be half way through with this piece - a very good thing.

November already?

Yikes this year is just rushing to a close!  October went out with a horrible trick of snow - a good 8 to 10 inches of it along with power outages.  I was out for a while but luckily the power at my house was back on by about 8:30am on Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, my poor sister in southern New Hampshire is still without and isn't likely to get it back for several more days. 

This is what it looked like when I stepped out to walk the dog on Sunday morning.  The landscape is still looking pretty surreal with snow on the ground, snowbanks and lots and lots of trees with their leaves still on.  Definitely one for the record books in several New England states.

Despite the unseasonable snow, I had quite a few trick or treaters last night.  Beau was beside himself with excitement every time someone started up the porch steps.  I kept the front door open so he could see through the screen door and warn me when someone was coming.  There was much whining and dancing about with anticipation.  The kids got a kick out of seeing him waiting at the door.  I was very impressed with the number of parents who dressed up along with their kids - kind of like this good dad.

From reading several blogs this morning I noticed it's National Blog Posting Month and I thought I'd see if I could actually come up with 30 days worth of blog posts all in one month.  I think I will take the tip shared by Lake Stitcher and use the prompts here for those days when I don't have much to say.