Ciro Marchetti’s artwork, “Hubble Bubble” has been charted and released today! While I’m not a fan of all steampunk-like art, I really love this one. My question to myself is this… can I complete 376,425 Xs before a certain physicist-o-mine adds “PhD” to his name?
Some restrictions do apply. As in he has to decide to if he will be going ahead with PhD work AND in astrophysics. If it’s not in astrophysics, then a telescope, as cool as this one is, just won’t be as applicable. I also wouldn’t start stitching until he officially starts working on this particular degree.
So can I do 376,425 Xs in the time it takes a 40-something year old to earn his PhD in astrophysics? *nibbles on her fingernails and nervously eyes the pages of the chart* I just thought I would mention that “Marchetti” and “confetti” rhyme and it’s quite applicable for most of the pages.
Stay tuned to see how things turn out! (10 skeins of 310…that’s what happens when it’s something in SPACE, Sue. DUH!)
I’m lazy in posting, but I have been stitching! My sweetie got a new camera for his birthday, so we’ve been working on getting the right settings for taking stitchy pictures. 
I think it’s worth the wait because the new ones are so much better! That said, here’s page umm… oh, I forget. It’s the middle page of Jasmine Becket-Griffith’s “A Pale Comparison.” Since I took this picture hmmm… a week or two ago, I’ve started the page below and added 700 or so stitches to it which has rounded out the dragon’s cheek and added some more to that black space between the elf maiden’s face and shoulder. You can see a picture of Jasmine’s original work here. Aside from the color in the eyes of the elf and the dragon, the rest of the chart is all neutral colors. I’m not a fan of neutral color charts, but this one I adore and can’t seem to stop working on!
Next up is Tribute to the Old Masters by Nouveau Encore. This 
is stitched on my favorite fabric – 36 count Lakeside Linen. I’m using Belle Soie’s Elegant Eggplant silk which is absolutely divine to stitch with. I highly recommend it! It’s always nice to spend time working on a single color sampler as there’s only one floss color to worry about. To see what the whole piece looks like, you can see it here. It’s just a little big. *grins*
I’ve got about a quarter of part 2 of Oriental Harem Garden done. I’ll be taking it with me on vacation along with another piece… I think. I’ve still not decided. I’d better figure it out soon as we’re leaving on Sunday! We’re taking our girls on a Disney Land/Sea vacation and then spending a week visiting our friend of over 20 years in Tampa. The girls have no idea where we’re going aside from on a plane. They will, of course, figure it out, but we’re enjoying their not knowing and looking forward to their surprise as they realize that we’re staying at a Disney resort for four days (all of their previous visits have been day trips) and then three days on the Disney Wonder, one of their Cruise liners (they have no idea that Disney even HAS boats) and then we’ll be going to the airport and instead of getting on a plane, we’ll be picking up a rental car and heading to Tampa for another week. It’s going to be quite the adventure!
Believe it or not, I finished part 1 of a Chatelaine the month it came out! I did I did! Remember 
the over 2 piece I mentioned that I had been working intensively on in my last blog post? That was it! It took me less than a week to finish and here it is! I am sooooo in love with this piece that I had finish-itis when I got to the end. So-much-so that Kat had to prod me to actually finish it before July 1st when part 2 would come out. I know it sounds silly, but I really really love this one… more than any of the others. Oh yeah… details… it’s being stitched on 28 count “Romantic Interlude” linen from Silkweaver although I don’t think it’s 28 count anymore due to the dyeing process. I think it’s more like 30 count. I’m also using all the called for silks and beads. The empty spots are for the crystals and the central treasure which I won’t put on until the end.
Let’s see if I can keep up with this and have part 2 done before August 1st!
And finally… Happy Birthday, love! *SMOOCHIES!!*
This 
past weekend was the HAED animal SAL and I pulled out Rosie. I needed some cheer and there’s nothing better than all those pinks and sparkles! Last time I worked on her, Fudgey asked when she’d be peeking at us and I’m proud to say that the time is now! Isn’t that a sophisticated kitty eye? There is one stitch of sparkle in her eye to go with the one stitch of sparkle for the dimple in her cheek. I love my Rosie! Because there is an obvious page division between one of her eyes and the other, I’m not bothered by her only having one eye. I’m strange, I know.
Speaking of Fudgey, has she tempted you with Periphaeria Designs’ Spanish Sampler Mystery SAL yet? She caught me with it and I’m bouncing all over the place fiddling with fabric and silk trying to decide if I should spend my certs now and order things, or wait it out until part 1 comes out March 15th… and then order and then stalk the mailman waiting for my fabric and silk to arrive. I’m torn! I so want to start something new! While I’ve been looking at lots of fabric, this linen is the one that I have always come back to and I’ve been thinking that Vikki Clayton’s Natural silk would go well. Thoughts?
And finally, 
the girls were off from school last Friday thanks to (yet another) “wintery mix” storm. So they rummaged around in the game closet and came out with one of Nikki’s favorite games. No sooner was the lid off of the box when she was right where she wanted to be! Think the mice were scared that lazy afternoon? (And of course we didn’t chase her from the box when we were done playing… we left her there until she was done with her nap and then put the lid back on the box!)
… but not usually.
Last week we had our usual February “wintery mix” weather. This equates to something that starts off as snow and then meanders through snow mixed with sleet, sleet, sleet mixed with freezing rain and then freezing rain. Sometimes we get snow after that. Last year we got a lovely near foot of that stuff and Mike aptly named it concrete as it took over a week for some of us to be able to get out of our driveways! Last week, however, we ended up with freezing rain. This was unfortunate as it my daughter ended up breaking her arm in ballet class that afternoon and we spent several hours in the emergency room only to emerge with her newly splinted arm to find our car completely encased in ice. (the orthopedic doctor she visited on Valentine’s Day had to put a cast on it — she chose bright pink!)
The next morning, Scott risked 
life and limb to take some lovely pictures… this is the part where ice can be lovely. Fortunately, he didn’t need any casts, Ace bandages or other boo-boo mending gear. These are some Crape Myrtles. We live far enough south that they love growing here. Of course, after they burst into bloom, we usually get a wicked windstorm and all the flowers blow down the street… or into the pool. *sigh*
Some of you may recall when the white pine tree fell on our house last year. That was due to wind and shallow tree roots. 
Of course, it doesn’t keep me from worrying that another one of the huge pine trees around will do the same even though the arborist has assured us that the remaining pines are stable. They really droop when weighed down with ice, but in this closeup, they don’t look so menacing. In this area, residential power lines have to be underground, so I don’t have that worry on my property. Whew!
We have a myriad of shrubby 
things around outside and when we built the house, our landscaper was very good about having the tags left on things, but that would still require me to either trapse outside into the cold and try and find the tags on nine year old shrubs or dig out the landscape plan and translate his really long latin-y names into the more common names that we know. So instead you just get my swell description of a hibernating bush with ice-covered berries on it. It’s still quite pretty!
Meanwhile, inside the house, life goes 
on and my Ziggy sleeps through everything without a care in the world… not even that there’s a stuffed bunny (affectionately called “Bun Bun” by Lindsey) perched on his back. Ahhhhh, to be able to relax like my ZigZig! He does curl up next to my head in the morning so I can rest my cheek on him so I have a purring pillow, so life is stripey and purrrrrrfect!
