Monet Progress

Here it is....I'm two pages into Monet's The Clouds by Golden Kite, which translates into roughly 5400 stitches out of 60,300. I had to take a bit of time off to work up another original design, which I'll post here once it's published.

Welcome 2007!

Wow! It's already the second of January? I hope everyone has had a wonderful and joyous holiday season, with the gifts and joys of the season to all. We are starting to get back into the swing of daily life around here, with the boys returning back to class tomorrow, and me getting some cross stitch designs readied for publication. Haven't done a whole lot of stitching the last few days, partly because Jan and I snuck off to Horseshoe Bay Resort just outside of Marble Falls, Texas for New Years. We stayed at the Horseshoe Bay Mariott....very enjoyable time. There is a website you can check out www.hsbresort.com
No pictures to post today, but by the end of the week, I'll post progress on The Clouds.
Happy New Year Y'all!

2,538 Down, 57,762 To Go

What am I doing? Counting blades of grass in the front lawn? No, just tracking my progress on my newest "obsession", Monet's "The Clouds" pattern from Golden Kite. The picture over there show's how much I've stitched since the 24th of November (2,538). Granted, it's a piece the size of about 3 or so inches, but wow, have I made awsome time what with the holidays being thrown into the mix :) Just to give y'all some sense of how totally nuts I am, the picture on the left is what it's going to look like once I finish.

Who Would Have Thought

That a monthly weigh-in would be something I'd actually be interested in? Not me, noooooo, not in a MILLION years, but lo and behold, here I am actually excited to see how my results are going to be at my local Curves! I joined Curves this past February with a mindboggling 220 pounds on my 5 foot 4 inch body. I got on the scales this morning, along with having my body fat percentage taken, along with every form of measurement possible and here are the results....*drumroll please*
Weight came in at 204.5 for a total loss since February of 21 1/2 pounds (yes, I'm dieting, and yes, I'm human, I still sneak the bad stuff), total inches lost is 20.25, and I've lost 14.34 pounds of body fat. In 10 months. Pretty darn spiffy if you ask me. And the beauty of this is, even if I do cheat, and have that chocoloate covered no-no, I'm not instantly gaining every ounce back plus ten pounds. Oh yeah, it's been hard, darn hard at times, especially when the kids are pigging out on Halloween candy or ice cream, but I can honestly say now, I've lost weight during the holiday season :) Well, that's all I have for today, so I'm going to go now...have a date with the boys to make Christmas candies and cookies! Y'all have a wonderful Holiday season, and I'll pull up the chair for a chat tomorrow :)

Oh no, not another one!

That was the comment from my husband when I started my newest "project" on Thanksgiving Day. I apologise for not posting sooner, but with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, well, you know how hectic it can get, especially for someone as ADD as myself. But I digress. On Thanksgiving Day, 2006, I started _ANOTHER_ Golden Kite (www.goldenkite.com) pattern. The Geogrpaher's on indefinite hold until I get bored with this one, which happens to bo Monet's The Clouds. I'm doing this for my baby sister who loves all things Monet (so don't look sissy!)

I'm almost finished with the first (or last depending on how you look at things) page of 18, even though this piscture was taken about halfway through. It's being stitched with one strand of DMC embroidery floss over one on 22 count pregridded fabric (this stuff's off the HOOK!) from Balkan Gallery (http://www.balkan-gallery.com) fabric actually has a grid woven into it every 20 threads, making 400 stitch squares! I'm so totally sold on this stuff now! The only thing is, obviously, you want to use this fabric on projects that are totally stitched, otherwise, you'd have lines. Anyway, here's a photo of the progress thus far :)

Who Me, Diet?

Well, it's Monday, the first day of my latest attempt at the weight-loss adventure. I joined my local Curves in February of this year, and last Tuesday had my fist meeting of the Curves Diet Class. So far, so good, but I'm only 2 meals into the first week ;) At least there's no funky stuff on this diet, like 3 days of nothing but cabbage soup. My starting weight is 212, which is down considerably from my heaviest (226 ugh), and I won't weigh in for another 3 or so weeks. That's not to say I won't be cheating and sneaking a peek on my scales here at home *VBEG* Anyway, I'll post results here, more than anything, to keep me honest. Now if I could only convince Jan (my husband) he really CAN follow this eating plan.....More to come!

September 20
Last night we had our first "official" diet class.....Seems like for every question answered, a hundred more were raised, but if you don't ask, you don't know. Day 1 ended for me with my caloric intake lower than my allowance,which wasn't the best in the world (gotta eat calories to burn 'em), but my carbs somehow were way out of line....I was almost 20 over on my carbs. No more applesauce for me! Tuesday went better, aside from the fact my youngest son's school is hosting a book fair all week, so eating on my schedule has been hectic at best. But I ended the day 7 calories short of my allowance, and only 10 grams short on my protien. Kept the carbs in check better this time. WI won't weigh in until next Tuesday, and the results will be posted for all to see, but I _DID_ "cheat" and step on the scales this morning......210.7 (YAY!) so I'm banking on being below 210 by next week. I just got back from lunch out with the girls (Mexican), but I only ate half of my enchilada, a couple of bites of the refried beans (beans good, rice BAD), and managed to stay away from the spanish rice altogether. And no guacamole. Or sour cream. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to stitching this weekend, since Johnathan's football team has a bye week, so no football Thursday or Friday. Wonder what we're gonna do all weekend....Hmmmmmmm. Ok, enough posting, gotta get back to Jace's school and SELL THOSE BOOKS :)

Geographer Progress

I'm stitching this pattern on 18 count ivory aida cloth (needed a break from linen) using 2 strands of DMC cotten floss. The pattern has a complete stitch count of 112,500, and to date, I've completed a mere 9384 stitches, or approximately 8.34%. And I started sometime in January of this year. And it's now the middle of September. Somehow, I don't see this being this year's Christmas present. Moving right along, there are 129 colors used in this pattern, with 33 of them being blended colors, which only adds to the richness and depth of the design.

Yet Another Epic WIP

I am a rather avid crossstitcher for many years (learned when I was 5, I'm now pushing 40), and I'm sharing thoughts as well as pictures of my latest undertaking. It's a pattern I purchased from Golden Kite (www.goldenkite.com) entitled The Geographer by Jan Vermeer for my husband. The picture above is what it is going to look like when completed (many MANY moons from now). Since I haven't quite figured out how to put a second photo where I want in this, the next entry will have a photo of my progress so far.