Cooler Saturday

When I took Pixie out this morning at about 7:30 it was quite nice.  About 73 degrees with very low humidity!  Now a couple of hours later it’s only 75.  Wow – could it be? 

A few stitching updates:

The LHN All Dolled Up ornament, Red House in Winter.  I think it is so pretty!  The houses are usually not my favorites, but this one is just precious to me!  It’s done on 28 ct Monaco Tea over one using a variety of over-dyed threads.

Don’t think I ever showed the little fob that goes along with Needle & Thread – Cut & Snip.  Isn’t it sweet?

Caught up on a couple of SALs this week.  Oakhaven’s monthly for July and Needlemania 2 part six!

Hope there is a cool breeze in your part of the world.  Thanks for dropping by, and I’d love to hear your thoughts today!  Off to do a bit of blog surfing...

    Peace♥Love♥Joy
and Happy Stitching!

Charlene♥SC

Summertime

Edited 7/25/10Some of my long-time followers and friends know that I used to be a crazy quilter and a tatter.  The tatting group I belonged to, Palmetto Tatters' Guild, has their annual retreat coming up soon.  They have created a Crazy Quilt with lots of tatting that will raise funds for scholarships to the event.  If you're interested in making a donation for a chance to win (one of two) you can see the quilt here.

Did you see that My Giveaway Today is offering a gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane?  Hop over to enter.   

Oh, how hot it has been – high 90’s with the feeling of 110 with humidity and no rain.    

I finished stitching Needle and Thread, LHN, so now need to make the bed and pillow…

This week was stitch night at my LNS, and it was fun to be back together with some of the girls who have been away.   I’m planning to go to a stitch-in for the first time out of town in a couple of weeks.  Will share more as I learn details.

Today is Mom’s birthday.  DS and I are going over for dinner and visiting when she gets home from work ;-).

Did you notice the ‘scale’ in my sidebar?  Lost three pounds this week.  It won’t be that good every week, but I really needed the incentive!  Thanks to all who wished success and commiserated with me. 

Hope there is a cool breeze in your part of the world.  Thanks for dropping by, and I’d love to hear your thoughts today!

    Peace♥Love♥Joy
and Happy Stitching!Charlene♥SC

Back on the Wagon

I am sad to say that I have let myself get back up to a higher weight than ever.  I had returned to my previous high weight THEN remember that I quit smoking (November), or at least that’s what will get the blame for these last 20 pounds. 

Why does it matter?  Well there are several reasons.  I know there are people who feel good about themselves no matter what their size, and I wish I were one, but I’m not. I don’t look or feel good in my clothes.  I don’t feel healthy – short breath, aching knees and ankles, high bp and cholesterol (meds have affected liver already).  It matters.

For the last month or two I’ve been contemplating:  how am I going to lose this weight?  ALL the good diet habits are gone, so begin again.  A few things have changed since I weighed less.  Age of course.  Since I quit smoking, coffee does not taste as good (except those sweet, milky drinks), and in the last couple of weeks I’ve decided to not use/drink artificial sweeteners.  Those have been a huge source of replacements in the past, so we’ll have to see if I can continue this ban.

I went to the doctor, and he says if I don’t want to count calories/grams, until we get rolling JUST (ha) stick to NO fried anything, NO red meat, NO sweet treats.  Have three meals with protein to curb appetite,  chicken and fish, and 30 minutes 5 days a week of aerobic exercise, to be more successful “find something you can do in your home.  He also said, “we are not going to count to a weight or number of pounds – we are going for a size.”  OK, but you and I both know that I’ll be watching that scale!  So, I’m going for a size 12 at 5'4".  I think that's realistic -  I’ve been there, I know I can do it, and that is where I can begin to feel good about myself.  How many pounds does that mean?  Well, I’m not positive, but at least 30, so we’ll START with that.

I know a few of you who drop by to visit have also gone through this journey, and I’ve watched your success.  If anyone wants to join in, please feel welcome!

So, this morning I ate cereal with skim milk.  I don’t care for breakfast, and haven’t eaten it in ages, but I will get back into the habit. 

Tomorrow –Sunday is DSs birthday – my only will be 29.  I will allow myself to eat for this special occasion, and really get with the program beginning Monday. 

We went to the movie yesterday (a tradition around birthday time) to see Inception.  Wow – put on your thinking cap and go to the bathroom first because you won’t want to miss a second, and enjoy.  It was great.  I really want to go again to realize all I missed.  In the movie there was a thunderstorm, and it kept going and going, then I realized it was outside- rain pounding the roof with cracking of lightning and thunder! 

Hope there was a bit of rain in your part of the world if you need it.  Thanks for dropping by, and I’d love to hear your thoughts today!

    Peace♥Love♥Joy
and Happy Stitching!Charlene♥SC

TuSAL Update

What, two posts in one week?  That is not usual for me, but didn’t want to wait until next week to post my TuSAL since today, July 11, is the New Moon. So here’s my updated TuSAL for July.  The bottom part of the container is for tags and other miscellaneous useless bits.  If you're interested in participating in the TuSAL project, link over here. I just read on someone’s blog that there will be an eclipse today, but a little research tells that it will only be visible in a small area near Easter Island. 

Tanya Anderson has recently combined several of her online yahoo groups into one called Night Owl Stitchers.  Here is the logo for the group that I finished yesterday into a little pyn pyllow.  Oh, Karen - that is a piece of (not one of my hobbies)scrapbooking  paper.

Hope there was a bit of rain in your part of the world if you need it.  Thanks for dropping by again, and I’d love to hear your thoughts today!

    Peace♥Love♥Joy
and Happy Stitching!Charlene♥SC

Have you signed up for the Fall Weekend Retreat with Clara Blaylock: September 17-19, 2010 in Rock Hill, SC, sponsored by my LNS, The Stitch and Frame Shop? Hop over to take a look at the hornbook project!

I happened to see a link to the Palmetto Tatters’ 8^th Annual Tat Days, Fall Into Tatting, scheduled for August 27-28, 2010, in Toccoa, Georgia, this year.  If you love or even think you’re interested in tatting, consider going.  I haven’t picked up a tatting needle in quite a while, and I’m even thinking about it.  Link over to take a look at some of the samples from the classes they will present.  Also, if you take a look at the 2009 information, you'll see that it's reasonably priced for all the sessions they offer. 

The freebie 4^th of July design in the last post came from Aury.

Going back to work this week was not fun – there was so much to catch up on,  but I can do most anything for five years; right, since time flies?  Those words sound like a long time, but in reality, can you believe it’s just over three months until Halloween?  Four until Thanksgiving? Five until Christmas? 

Friday nights are usually my Night Owl stitching nights – stay up as long as I want stitching since there’s no alarm on Saturday morning for work.  I was stitching away last night when an ocular migraine hit.  I had to stop and take a nap to get rid of it.  I think they affect people different ways, but mine is a painful headache including distorted vision.  It looks like the focus is blurred, wavy, almost like when you see mirage-like heat rising from the road.  So, when trying to focus on the stitching, the center of focus is wavy and can’t find the hole!

It got better after the nap, and I did finish what I’ve been working on this week – the bird from Blackbird Designs, Blackbird Sampler on Exampler 36 ct Lakeside Linen using Gentle Arts threads.  What a fun stitch this was.  Don’t know yet what it will be finished into…

When I was picking out the colors to use from the plastic baggie they were in, I remembered a little rack I had picked up from a store going out of business sale.  It is perfect to store these on, don’t you think?

We did have a thunderstorm last night with a couple of periods (maybe five minutes total) of heavy rain.  It does seem a bit cooler this morning, but extremely humid.

Thank you for stopping by today, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Hope you’re having a great weekend, staying cool and doing things with the people you love most.

    Peace♥Love♥Joy
and Happy Stitching!Charlene♥SC

Red White and Blue

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

I’ve only done a couple of pieces in Red, White, and Blue this year, but will probably do more in the future.  One was the Stitcherhood piece done for my dad, and this little quaker heart I’ve stitched in the last couple of days.  It will probably end up as a little ornie. 

A friend lost her home to fire earlier this year.  Although they lost everything materially, no one was at home so the family is safe.  She and her husband relocated and bought a new home in the last month or so.  I wanted to stitch something for them to have to hang on the walls of their new home, and this piece, Watchful Eye by La-D-Da just struck me as perfect.  I finished stitching and framed it this week while on staycation. 

Our family plan for the 4^th is to have a low-country boil including crab legs, shrimp, potatoes, and corn.  Yum, yum, I can hardly wait!  I hope you’re having a great weekend, staying cool, cooking out, swimming, or just generally doing things with the people you love most.

    Peace♥Love♥Joy
and Happy Stitching!

Charlene