Sunday, February 24, 2013

Pretty Colors!

After spending a few days in bed with a migraine, it feels wonderful to be up and moving again! I'm still not doing great, but I can stitch again, so I'm happy. :) We got new internet on Friday, so now hopefully I can read all the lovely blog posts I've missed due to internet that only worked every once in a while. :D

I've made some good progress since my last post, all things considered:

Lizzie*Kate's "You Have Stolen My Heart"

"Blushing Rose"

I love the colors I've been stitching with, don't you? :)

Happy stitching!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Last Week's Stitchy Goodness

I had a most wonderful long weekend! :) My family went on a whirlwind trip to Myrtle Beach, leaving Friday morning and coming back Saturday night. My dad ran the marathon (his second one!) and I made him this real quick last Thursday to celebrate (my first attempt at designing something!):

I call it "It's Just Like Running."

He always says "it's just like running" and then goes into a long metaphor for life based on running, haha. :)

We also went in the ocean (it was coooold!) and drove back through a pretty hardcore snowstorm. It was practically a whiteout for a while, and the roads weren't salted, and there were a few inches of snow sticking on the road! Luckily we found a truck and joined someone from Ontario and someone from Maryland in its tracks, and we made it back safely. Tons of people had skidded off the road, and everyone was going super slow on the interstate with their hazards on. Sadly, it didn't snow where we live, so we didn't get to really play in it. :( Oh well, we got to see snow!!

Then on Monday I spent the day with my wonderful boyfriend. :) We had a delightful time, and I got to introduce him to The Princess Bride! Such an amazing movie.

Here's last week's stitching:

A bit of progress on "Blushing Rose."

Going to be a late Valentine's present for my boyfriend.

Happy stitching!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

TUSAL and Books and Stitching!

February has been so busy! I celebrated my birthday (Warm Bodies was funny and cute, and my boyfriend didn't even think it was torture!) and then the next day went to Clemson for a best friend's birthday (WE SAW SNOW FLURRIES) and then came the Super Bowl (crushing, absolutely crushing). Then came a week that flew by in cross stitching (while listening either to War and Peace or one of my new Great Courses lectures), giving in to my mild addiction to the Sims 2, being in pain, reading, and seeing my Ben (<3). So here's the meager stitching from this week!


I finally steeled myself to stitch with overdyed floss for the first time. Santa's House is providing me with all sorts of fun challenges!





I also finished Mario on February 4th. So cute!! 




I read a good bit, too. I finished reading Northanger Abbey on February 3rd. It was a delightful book to read! Oh, Jane Austen's wit and vivacity at its highest. I'd call Northanger Abbey my favorite novel by her - of those that I've read, that is (Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility). This novel has the awareness of its being a novel about a hero and heroine, and it's all the funnier for it. Speaking of Jane Austen (<3), I saw the movie version of Emma (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow, if there's others). It was wonderful! I also saw Joe Versus the Volcano, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. A bit quirky, but wonderful nonetheless.
I also read The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. On February 8th. In one night. Almost in one sitting. It was amazing. I laughed out loud a ton (and I never laugh while reading), then I sobbed for like an hour, at least, some while reading and some in the wake of finishing. It was the most amazing book and I know I'm going to have to own it, and read it all the time. I also felt healthier than I have in a long while after reading it, because, hey, I'm not dying. Anyway, READ IT. EVERYONE. Laugh and laugh and cry and sob and stay up until two.
In the currently reading area, I've got This is How You Lose Her and The Casual Vacancy, but I'm mainly focusing on Walden for now. Thoreau is tossing and turning in his grave right now, I bet. Poor guy thought things were bad then - they've gone even further from his ideal. Of course, I'm not that sure about his ideal being actually ideal. Seriously, this guy has spent fifty pages railing on everything and everyone and acting like he knows better than everyone ever, and I'm convinced he'd find cross stitching a terrible hobby. Thoreau also thinks there's no reason for telegraph communication between Maine and Texas - and now there's the Internet. Anyway, interesting book.


To wrap up this very long post, it's TUSAL time! I found some jam jars, so now I have real glass jars for my ORTs! :) The framed cross stitch was made for me by an aunt for the Christmas I was two.




And all my ORTs this year:


Happy stitching!