On Saturday we went to a Christmas concert; the one I look forward to all year long. The Washington Men’s Camerata “Christmas with the Camerata Concert” and it was spectacular as always! *grins from ear-to-ear* Scott and I are patrons of this all-male chorus and you have to hear them to believe them. They have the precision of a military group and sound better acapella (without the accompaniment of a piano, organ or other musical instrument) than accompanied. We took our twin dragons along and Mom and my SIL went as well and everyone loved it. In case you didn’t figure it out, music is my favorite part of Christmas. *grins*

I have a stitchy picture! I do not have Nicki’s gift for ornamentifying, but I did make a purdy ornament for our exchange tomorrow night. This is from Leon Conrad’s Elizabethan Elegance and is design number five, “Blackwork Fiesta.” (click right)
I used Dinky Dyes… now wait, let me think.. Emerald and Rainforest for the leaves and Nutwood and ChocoLatte for the pine cones and the flowers are a cotton from The Gentle Art in a color called Cherry Wine. The gold work is in Kreinik’s Japan Gold and those uneven beads are, obviously, Mill Hills, because I didn’t have any Miyukis in matching colors and sizes laying around. The finished piece is 4 1/2 inches square and stuck on a piece of batting board. (Have glue gun will ornamentify!) I am very pleased with how this turned out and I hope the recipient is, too!

Tomorrow (Thursday for all you people on the other side of the world) are my daughters’ winter class parties. As a head room mom for one of the rooms, it’s my job to pull this 90 minute event off. This is hard! Of the 22 children in the class, six of the parents are helpful. This isn’t a lot when you’re planning a big party like this. So, we’ve got a craft for the kids to do and food (the parents did pull through there… we’ve got sugar coming out the wazoo) and some games. The one that looks to be the most entertaining requires lots of toilet paper. Yup, you heard me, toilet paper. And it must be white because the children will be wrapping each other up like snowmen. Each team gets a roll of TP and has a certain amount of time to wrap their partner up like a snowman. The one with the best coverage wins. Sure it’ll be messy, but for first graders (and mostly boys at that), I figure this should provide a whole lot of entertainment. Oh yeah, I’m also bringing along a box of large garbage bags for cleanup. I’ll be taking pictures. *grins*

I’ve got a boiled vegetable for a daughter right now… my poor Lindsalu woke up late last night with a fever and was home sick today. Our hope is that we’ll be able to take her in to school for a little bit of her class party before having to whisk her home again. Thankfully Scott’s done with his classes and exams for this semester and is home to help out. Now to keep Maggie from getting sick… being sick over Christmas is not fun! *makes a huge poutie face*

Kathie! That’s who! She RAK’d me while I was a’sleeping Friday night! She knew that there were only two JBGs I would ever consider stitching and HAED went and released the second one, Black Winged Angel on me! So, of course, having no will-power what-so-ever when it comes to charts I am totally in love with, I checked my stash to see if I happened to have the floss. I had all but 10 of the 50 colors and I also happened to have the perfect-sized piece of silk gauze laying around not doing anything. Sooooo… I spent Saturday and part of today stitching in three lovely shades of blue. (click right)
Here is a blue blob of 1,680 stitches all for you, Kathie! Thanks a bunch for tossing a very lovely wrench into my rotation, you brat! *HUGS!* Details… it’s tented 2 over 2 on 48 count gauze. YUM!

I can’t just call Kathie a naughty angel, though… I’m being naughty myself as I bustle packages out the door. What I do feel guilty about is that not everyone will get a brightly colored package to open. I’m not about the actual gifts… but I do like all the colors and I also love wrapping presents.. especially when my kitties help! *grins* So for those of you who aren’t receiving brightly-colored packages, please know that the same amount of thought, effort and hugs went into the selection of your gift. I will at least have the comfort of knowing that it won’t be lost in the mail!

Meanwhile, I need to get back to stitching an ornament and someone’s birthday present! *scurries off after burying Black Winged Angel in a drawer along with all the other projects that are bellowing for attention*

Or at least keep me from clicking on new things from Nadia Tate like her “Dream of the Song Flower Fairy” (my new favorite Nadia!) and “Poinsettia Kitty Fae.” But I’m being good! Yes, I am. My only chart purchases this month are presents. No, not for me, I don’t need any new charts or at least not until 2007, anyway. New starts on the other hand are a whole other story. I know, I know, I have Jasmine Becket-Griffith’s “A Pale Comparison” started and screaming quite loudly at me for more work. Not to mention Scott Gustafson’s “Touched By Magic,” Christophe Vacher’s “Sacred Hour” and Sara Butcher’s “Libra” QS whenever Kathie decides that she’d like me to finish it. *grins* I also have Chatelaine’s “Misty Morning Vineyard” which always pulls me to work on it and if I ever want to start on my gorgeous Passione Ricamo I have to get “Celtic Summer” done for Mom. *sigh*

I’ve got plans for new starts for 2007… “Guardian Angel” in silks, of course, “Blackstone Fantasy Garden” (on burgundy!), “Tomboy” in B&W and Kerry’s “Year of the Dragon” but then I click on links and get these niggly urges to start other stuff… like those two new Nadias… or the one and only Josephine Wall chart I own, “Dreams of Atlantis.”

I have never wanted to do a Chatelaine mystery because the whole idea of spending all that moola and stitching time for something that I have no idea if I’ll like in the end scares me… but I’ve seen the frames for her 2007 Quilt – Rose and Butterfly and the borders for that alone are enough to make me swoon. *fidgets*

Someone please disable my ability to click on links, willya?

Hmmm… I suppose my putting all these links here wasn’t very kind of me… so I won’t mention all the temptations at A Mon Ami Pierre or Dessins or Ink Circles… I’ll leave those up to Jeannie-Maree!

On a different note, my new electric blanket arrived today! *dances* It’s one of those dual-zoned ones so HE doesn’t have to turn his side on but I can turn mine on and be all snuggly warm. It also has this awesome preheat feature which has it warming up my side of the bed BEFORE I climb into it so it’s all nice and warm before I get there. I’m THRILLED with this new invention and the fact that I won’t have to warm up my sheets anymore or scoot my feet around to where Ziggy was sleeping until I warm the sheets up. It’s also made of microfleece so it’s soft to begin with, too!

I ended talking about something besides stitching, I’m so proud of myself!! *giggles*

I missed my December 1st posting date for my RR. Nice precedent for the moderator to set, eh? I thought I’d be able to get her all done, but she started screeching about how cold and windy it is here and how she wants to see exotic lands and how boring it is here and… you get the idea. Why-oh-why did I give the shrew a mouth? So I finished up a small bit, gave her a nice long pressing to pretty her up (and shut her up), took a mug shot err… photo and then stuffed her in a plastic bag where she’ll remain for her trip down under. So here’s a closeup of her annoying face. (click left)
She thinks she’s lovely, but I’m tired of looking at the witch and really tired of hearing her complain about the weather! So she’s off to pest you, Nic! Enjoy her sassy attitude and just use some duct tape if she starts complaining too much!

On another note, I’ve completely scrapped my stitching project for someone’s birthday present which only had about two hours of work done. Why? Because I found something much prettier that I must make instead. *bounce*

I’ve officially added “A Pale Comparison” to my rotation. Yes, I know, I’ve succumbed to peer pressure and am totally insane. Crowbars can do wonders for rotations! When I’ll get back to my rotation is another story, though. I hope it will be in a few weeks once I’ve finished an ornament and the aforementioned birthday present. Both of which are being stitched in lovely silks! *purrs*

I’m back! First the domain went poof. Then that was fixed only for me to find out that my subdomain had also done that poof thing, too. The good news is that poofage didn’t stop me from making random mental notes to babble about! Right before things poofed, we had taken our twin dragons to the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center which is right near Dulles. (It’s pronounced “dull”, as in boring and then the letter “s.” So think of it as “dull ehs,” not “dulls” which makes us locals smile sweetly at you and then send you off to frolic on the beltway during rush hour.)

Anyway, we saw lots of cool stuff there and took this groovy picture of the Enterprise! (click right)

I really do think it should have been the Constitution, but nooooo, the Star Trek fans had to have it their way. The highlight of the day for the girls was their first IMAX theatre experience and WOW were they impressed! We took them to see Happy Feet! It was a fun movie and the music was great. The message about commercial fishing destroying animal habitats was very clear.

I did some stitching over Thanksgiving… imagine that! I joined in HAED’s SAL and started Jasmine Becket-Griffith’s A Pale Comparison.. It was a lot of fun watching the eye come to life and the dangling threads give it a crying look. (click right)

I’ve got all these voices in my head, on my shoulder and in my e-mail telling me that I have to keep working on this so I’m going to have to wedge her into my rotation somewhere!

And finally, *bounce bounce bounce* I got this BIIIIIIIIIIIG box of silks a few days ago! Can you guess what they are for? (click left)

I’ve given you a hint by showing the fabric that goes with them! *bounce bounce SQUEEEEE!! bounce*

And extra hugs to Mike and Kathie today… good luck you guys!