Hail to the Lady of the Evening

Last week, in downtown Post Falls,
I met a lady of the evening.

I thought I heard her call my name!

She caught my eye, and I had to take a second look.
She was dazzling.

Then I went up to touch her.
There was no holding back after that.
I had to have her!

Now she glimmers and shines,
enthroned with her sisters in my studio.

Ah, honey! Give me a full frontal shot!
Some of my other ladies of the evening
can be seen here and here.

S.O.S.

This quotation screamed at me this morning.
It wants to be heard.

Are you listening?

Newborn King Update

I've been able to put a little bit of time into my MAP, The Newborn King. If you recall, I've had a number of reservations about stitching this piece.

I finally figured out the 'counting error.' It turns out, it wasn't my error!

The vertical lines on page one and two do line up properly. But the horizontal lines do not line up correctly. For example, there may be seven graph squares (between the dark lines) at the top of page two. In that case, there ought to be three graph squares (plus the overlap row) at the bottom of page one. But that is not how the chart was printed. The chart is off by five rows!

Once I figured that out, I drew in dark horizontal lines on page one of my chart so that the grid on my fabric now matches the grid on the chart.

I also decided to laminate my original chart and mark it off with permanent marker as I go rather than using the working color copies I made a few years back. This seems to be helping me keep my place and not get the colors/symbols so mixed up.

So page two is now done and I've made a bit more progress on page one. I hope to put in several hours of stitching tomorrow, since I have a block of free time. Here's my progress so far:

Whacha Been Upta?

What I'm Watching:

August Rush

It's the first time I watched this lovely film.
Great music.
Good story.

Recommended!



What I'm Reading:

The Mermaid Chair

Character-driven novel about a woman coming to terms with mid life, love, lost childhood, and family ties.

Not quite as good as Kidd's previous book, The Secret Life of Bees, but I did enjoy the read.


A favorite line?

"I finally figured out that what matters is just giving over to what you love."

What I'm Crafting:

I'll show the results on Monday!

Gratitude: Lessons on Life

I'm grateful for the chance to improve my life!

* * * * *

Weekly Gratitude
For 52 weeks, count your blessings and document them once each week

Macro Monday - Cracked

Macro Monday is easy to play,
snap a macro (or close-up) photo,
post it on your blog
then go to Lisa's Chaos
and sign Mr Linky.

Cracked

I found this robin's egg last spring. I've been gingerly moving it from place to place in my studio. I finally got around to taking a photo this week.

Sunday Secrets: February 7, 2010

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. I find it to be an insightful sociological experiment.

There were lots of interesting secrets today. These are my four favorites:


I can't say I hate it, I simply have no use for it.


Ahhh! There's got to be a wonderful sweet story behind this.


I had two days like this, both in "the alley" behind my childhood home. I'll always love the wonderful feeling of lying in the tall, tall grasses alone, listening to the bugs, feeling the sun on my face, knowing I couldn't be found. Then there was the day I met "the little girl behind the fence." Magical.


This reminds me of my eldest. My desire is that her hope never eludes her.

A Gift for Yourself

I visited a friend a while back who'd gone out of the way to put daily duties aside and make time for me. When we talked about our visit at a later date, my buddy kept telling me that what I saw was not the reality. That I got the best my friend had to offer.

That puzzled me for days. Why, I wondered, would my friend give the best to me?

Why not give the best you have to offer to yourself? Your family? Those you do business with daily?

I see the same in my daughters. They each have their own room (or apartment), and their own bathroom. They have complete say about what they want their space to look like, except, perhaps, the wall color. They each choose to be messy -- clothes on the floor, waste basket overflowing, books and papers all over the place, hair products that show up in the oddest locations.

It's not the example they were given. That is not how I choose to keep my space, my bedroom or the rest of the house -- with the exception, perhaps, of my studio that has craft and needlework projects all over the place. But even there, the tabletops and desktops have clear spaces so I can work.

So why choose to give yourself less than your best? No one is stopping you. Your time is your own to use as you see fit. You deserve to live a peaceful life ... at least within your own skin and your own abode. You simply need to decide to give yourself that gift, the gift of your best self.

Gratitude: Ingenuity

I get a great deal of pleasure out of making something from nothing.

Must be my god complex. :: wink ::

This morning, I went shopping for a magnet that depicts my home state. A fellow stitcher was kind enough to share a cross-stitch pattern with me. In return, she requested a magnet of Idaho to add to her collection.

I searched the store that I thought would have souvenir magnets. Those in stock were simply not worthy. I came home and looked through my family's collection of refrigerator magnets, but those from Idaho were in poor taste.


So I came up with an idea for creating a magnet by using one of my own photographs, doctoring it in my paint program, printing it on photo paper, and affixing it to one of the freebie magnets from our family collection.



A one-of-a-kind piece of miniature art!


I'm grateful for the ingenuity to take what I have and make the best of it.

* * * * *

Weekly Gratitude
For 52 weeks, count your blessings and document them once each week

Love and Responsibility

I've been mulling over this phrase for days.
The words stick with me; yet I form little commentary.

What I know for sure is that when I live within this kind of love,
I find contentment.
When I live within this kind of love,
I have no problem taking responsibility for my own actions.
I may look for some assistance to get pulled out of my messes,
but I don't look for miracles.
I know the responsibility is my own,
as is the capability.

The miracle resides in me.
The miracle is my life, my light, that shines.


Quotation attributed to Pam Young

Sunday Secrets: January 31, 2010

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. I find it to be an insightful sociological experiment.

The first secret is from Frank's blog today. The second, from my PostSecret archives.

:( Ugh.

I want to tell them, "Just Shut Up!"

2009 Charity Knitting

Our charity group mainly cross-stitches
designs on quilt squares.
We also cross-stitch ornaments for hospital-bound kids.

We knit and crochet preemie hats for infants in distress.
And we knit and crochet hats that are given to
'chemo kids' who have lost their hair.

In 2009 I went a little crazy with my new knitting looms.

I knit around 35 hats for boys, girls and teens.

It was fun to see them all laid out on the table
before I shipped them off to the hospital.
That's quite a collection!

2009 Charity Ornaments

Two months ago, I did the finishing work on this batch of Halloween and Christmas ornaments. The designs were stitched by members of the charity group I participate in.

The stitching was sent to me, and I did the 'finishing work' and turned them into ornaments. Some of them have musical buttons inside. Press the clown head and hear "Send in the Clowns."

The finished ornaments are boxed up and shipped off to hospitals. They're given as gifts to patients who have to spend the time there over the holidays.

The Gift of Words

I spent a year in therapy over this!

When my eldest brother and dad died within 2 weeks of each other 11 years ago, all of us siblings were a wreck, as you might imagine. One of my sisters took me aside to ... I don't know ... set me straight? The words she chose to say to me that day were definitely a 'not good' gift. They caused me a good deal of post traumatic stress. For years I'd wake up out of nightmares crying and screaming, trying to fight back, barely able to breathe, because her words came back, haunting me.

Because I believed them.

My counselor had me do a specific exercise over and over that finally helped me see that what my sister opined was not the truth about me. I simply needed to stop believing it.

I still flinch when I hear a couple of those trigger words. But now I recognize that they're not true. Not for me.

I am guilty of saying unkind things about people that act rudely to me. I'm guilty of having a really hard time forgiving. I can own that, and I painstakingly work to alter that behavior.

Yet I also know the power of words, and try to curb the way I use them so that they don't belittle others. I go out of my way to find something to compliment because I know how those affirmations can buoy the spirit of the person to whom I am speaking.

The quotation above was a 'good gift' to me. Through my actions and speech, I plan to re-gift that sentiment today.

My mentor, Flylady, wrote about the same lesson in a different way:

Each one of us has a light that shines. Some of our lights have been shaded by those negative words we have heard all our lives. We have to remove that shroud of sadness that has dimmed our lights -- and let our light shine!

Columbia Gorge & Skamania Lodge

My Christmas gift from my husband in 2009 was the gift of his time -- the commodity I value most in our marriage. He promised me a long weekend at one of our very favorite places, the Columbia Gorge (just east of Portland, OR).

It was a rainy and cloudy weekend. The Gorge is beautiful in every kind of weather. As we approached our destination, I did a bit of passenger seat photography.

Our destination? Skamania Lodge on the north (Washington) side of the Columbia River. It's got to be a special place if you must cross "The Bridge of the Gods" to get there! As you walk into the 3-story lobby of the lodge, you are greeted with this inviting fire. The stone fireplace is large enough to stand in!

One afternoon we took a hike on a rainforest trail. Those are some tall, mossy trees!

On Sunday we took a cruise down the highway to spend some time in Hood River, Oregon.

We wondered around the picturesque town, then had some lunch at the Crazy Pepper Cantina. This place does not disappoint. It's the second time we've dined here. On this trip, we had chicken fajitas.

The food is yummy and the service is spectacular. It left a smile on our faces!
(It looks like he likes me, doesn't it!)

The vacation weekend was wonderful, and of course, too short. What a great Christmas gift! It left us wanting more, and simply loving each other.

Gratitude: Stitching and Friends

Today, what I'm grateful for is my passion for counted cross-stitch and my cadre of friends who challenge me to grow in the craft.

I belong to an online needlework group. Many of us have been together for almost a decade. We know each other by our talents, our sense of humor, and by the part of the world we live in. Most of us have never met each other in 'real life.' We've been through births and deaths and weddings and divorces and much, much more together. When tragedy hit our nation, our members stitched quilt squares to honor the memory of those most deeply affected.

For those of you familiar with my stitching, you know that I am most apt to stitch small projects: quilt squares, ornaments, bookmarks, etc. I've done several medium size projects. Then I drool over the achievements of those in our group who stitch the large and complicated pieces. In our lingo, BAPs. (Big Ass Projects)

At least eight years ago, members of our group who are accomplished at these BAPs started nudging me and goading me, asking when I was going to stitch a BAP. Figuring it would never happen, I spouted, "Ask me again in 2010." That seemed safe enough. Too many years away. Too small a chance I'd still be part of that group. Too distant for these folks to remember, right?

Wrong!

At the end of December came the question, "So, Cameo ... have you decided on your BAP yet?"

Well, no, I hadn't.

So then I began getting suggestions -- and guidelines about stitch count so that I didn't 'cheat' and call something a BAP that was really only a glorified MAP (medium ass project).

So this week I pulled out a couple projects ... UFOs, really (unfinished objects) ... that I thought might qualify for a BAP. I've decided to begin with this project, The Newborn King by Carol Emmer. This is one of the very first charts I bought back in the mid 1990s. I started stitching it exactly six years ago, January 25, 2004. (Yes, I keep records like that).

The Newborn King will likely be considered a MAP, but hey, it took me all these years to work up to this, so I'll start here. The stitch count is 148w x 158h.

I worked on it for a while in 2004. Then I worked on it again for a while in 2005. Then it got put in a pillowcase and stored on a shelf in my studio. As much as I love the look of this piece, there are a few things that are driving me crazy about it.

1. It's a color chart
2. It covers two pages with a line of overlap
3. It's a color chart
4. I gridded the fabric, but I gridded it in a way that the grid lines on my fabric did not match the dark grid lines on the chart ... so I had to re-grid the fabric
5. It's a color chart
6. I made some counting errors early on (see #4)
   
7. It's a color chart

I'm going to try again, and this time I'm determined to finish it!
:: crossing fingers ::

• I've pressed it.
• I've put it on a scroll frame.
• I dusted off my floor stand and tightened up all the joints.
• I've pulled out the 'big guns' of my floor stand OTT light.
• I found my magnifier.
• I've rearranged the TV room to accommodate my expanded 'stitching nest.'

So, here's what it looks like now. I'll try to be good about updating my progress as I stitch along.

* * * * *

Weekly Gratitude
For 52 weeks, count your blessings and document them once each week

Macro Monday - Impression

Macro Monday is easy to play,
snap a macro (or close-up) photo,
post it on your blog
then go to Lisa's Chaos
and sign Mr Linky.

Impression

We had a light dusting of snow last night.

Tires leave an admirable imprint.

Manhole grids are outstanding.

Frogs shiver in warty skin.

A leaf relinquishes its negative impression.
(the macro shot)