Home Sweet Home

Ok, well, I'm back. Unfortunately, I didn't finish the cross-stitching. I WOULD HAVE..... but my sister got me started on other projects. I learned to crochet and I started making her a wrap/shawl/whatever you wanna call it. THAT would have been finished before I left, but the store ran out of the yarn I was using, and then we kept forgetting to go get more. So, do I continue on the cross-stitch after that? NO, I decide to start working on knitting a cat bed for my cats (and ferret). I finished it Tuesday night, found that my sister's cats (especially Sadie) really like it....... I'm still waiting for my cats to decide they like it to. And now I'm working on a second one, because the other one is a bit too small. Yes, my cats are fat-asses. So there we go. I pretty much only have one row on the bottom left of the cross-stitching, and then the whole bottom right to go, but I'm betting it's not going to be done by our mom's bday or Christmas, since I've transitioned to these other projects. We shall see, though.

New Orleans or Bust

Update time! I've just been too lazy lately. I'm getting back in the groove since I'm visiting my sister and I know I need to hand it over so she can do the backstitching. I've actually done even more than this, but I figure I won't take another picture until I've finished the whole corner. I used her camera, so I'm not happy with the coloring of everything. Ah, the joys of sticking it in a scanner. LOL.

Oh, and you so have to see some of my sister's pets. Sadie is the cat. I picked the perfect time to capture her! So funny. And the Great Danes are Nina (Harlequin) and Jasmine (Blue Merle). Right now I'm fighting for a place to lay on my bed as Nina steals my blanket and Jasmine thinks I should be the one curled into a ball instead of her. LOL

New Update

This is going a lot faster than I expected. I'm getting really excited to get to the end :)

I'm on a roll!

I've started on the bottom half and it seems to be going quite quickly. I go square by square, and these are using the same color for a long stretch. It goes a lot faster that way. This progress was maybe 2 and a half days' work. Really, if you go by hours, I would say about 12 hours at the most. (I was watching TV too :P ). I'm blaming my SISTER for the reason the bottom of the border almost ran off the pattern. Yeah, Cristy! I KNEW I should never listen to you when it comes to cross-stitching *snicker*. My scanner is not very big, so I may play with it a little bit as I go on to kinda put the pics together to show how it will look as a whole. Well.... here it is!

New Update

Well, it's been a while, but I finally completed the first half of the project. So many things have been going on in my life. It's nice to feel a sense of accomplishment. Hopefully, I can get myself to do more soon.

Footprints Update

Here's a new picture for the footprints pattern. I would've gotten more done, but I was making last minute projects for the mom and sis-in-law, since we went to visit them last weekend. My sister-in-law is SUPPOSED to e-mail me a picture of the gift I cross-stitched for her, so when I get it I'll post it.

Something I Found

I was looking through all of my patterns to find something I might be able to make my mother-in-law for Mother's Day (yeah I know, last minute) and I found something I had made her a few years ago that I forgot to give her. WOW. I'm a lucky one. LOL. It's not much, just crewel, but the picture is cute, and she loves Native American pictures.

Footprints Update

Well, here is an update. I haven't done much since the last time, but I've been spending a lot of time on my other hobbies. I FINALLY got the bathroom pattern framed for my mom, and my sister and I are sending it to her for Mother's Day. I've never custom framed something, and it really looks quite beautiful with the matting. I'm going to have to figure out how to do it myself, though. Custom framing is so expensive and I'm soooo cheap. Our mom is worth it, though, don't get me wrong. :)

Sorry, Cristy, I think I did something wrong on the seashell. I don't know if it's just the angle of the fabric, or what. I think flaws make it our own though *wink*. My own subtle way of saying I don't wanna fix it! :P

I'm a slacker

Well, there's not much of an update, yet. I've been goofing off a lot more on World of Warcraft again. I will post another picture as soon as I have something of more substance. I have all the cross-stitching of the letters in the section I'm on, but my sister will be doing the backstitching. That means it just looks like little splotches. LOL. I'm working on a seashell right now, and then I figure I'll give a progress picture and start on the top right section. I've been doing a lot of reading, too. I'm stuck on Jonathan Kellerman books. The Alex Delaware series rocks. Very addictive. I've been staying up until 3am every night reading them. I have GOT to stop myself from doing that. There's just too much I want to do in a day!

Footprints Update

Well, I completed the top left corner of my project! Thank goodness. The brown colors are really slowing me down. I just don't want to use them. LOL

My First Blog Ever

Well, this is a first for me. Hopefully, I can stick with it. I have so many hobbies and crafts that I do, that I end up flaking out and stopping for long periods of time. I am currently working on cross-stitching, which my sister has gotten me back into. I also play and am a guild leader of a game called World of Warcraft. Talk about a lot on my plate! I also like to knit, read, and I take care of my animals: 2 cats - Oreo and Sage, and a ferret - Nova. We just got finished nursing poor Nova back to health. I seriously thought she was going to die last week. I ended up finding out that she ate some foam rubber thing. We got very lucky that she passed it on her own, because we couldn't afford the cost of a surgery. She is my husband's pride and joy. Of course, I adore her also. She's just got to take her meds for another week or so, but she is back to her old self already. She's such a monster. LOL. Well, let me show you some pictures.

This is Oreo:

She can be a real looker. Her hair is such a hassle, though. She does not take care of it, and ugh, the dandruff. Here's our favorite picture of her though, it cracks me up every time:

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Sage. She is the most beautiful Tortoiseshell Cat ever. I love her to death. I hate to play favorites, but I have to say I do prefer her a tad more than Oreo. Her personality just suits me more. Oreo prefers Larry, my husband, even though he pretty much hates cats.

Now, here is Nova:

She is a little terror, but adorable when she's playing and sleeping. Sleeping is definitely what she does best. This is her when she's active, though:

Hehe, she's a little monster.

Now, here is my pride and joy. Meilei. I will never forget her. She died 2 years ago this past April. I raised her from a puppy, and she was always by my side. Her ashes are beside me as I sleep.

This picture was actually taken 2 or 3 days before she passed away. I feel very blessed that the Lord brought her into my life, and that fate caused a friend to loan me her camera, because she wanted to see my pets. It was a sudden shock when Meilei passed. I laid beside her all night while she lay there panting and trying to get comfortable. Exhaustion caused me to pass out for maybe an hour, and when I awoke, she had passed on. She was the greatest friend anyone could ever have. She always knew when I needed her, and she went everywhere with me. I felt safest around her, and sometimes I feel lost without her now. I love you, Meilei. You will always be my first child.

Ok, now that I've composed myself... I thought I would show you my main character on the game that I play - World of Warcraft. Her name is Ladykara:

I have other characters, but she was my first.

Among other hobbies, I am back into cross-stitching. I began when I was in 6th grade, I think. Maybe 7th. For some reason, I have a soft spot for Precious Moments patterns. I did 3 of those for my mother back then. I then started on a bathroom scene when I was in high school, I think it was. Unfortunately, I get distracted easily. I would go back an forth between different hobbies. Knitting, crocheting, reading, gaming, needlepoint, and then back to cross-stitching. Well, MANY years later (as I'm 26 now) I finally finished the bathroom scene, with the help of my sister's prodding. Mainly, it was because she wants us to work on surprises for our mother.

Here is my finished product. It is also for my mom, but I still need to iron out the wrinkles and frame it. My sister is going to pay for the framing, and we're going to give it to her for Mother's Day.

Now, I'm working on a Footprints pattern for her. I'm doing the regular stitching, and then, when I finish, my sister is going to take over and do all of the backstitching. She is working on a Lord's Prayer pattern for our mother, and I'm going to do the backstitching on that one. It's going to be cool to see how well we can work together on our stitching like that. I'll keep you updated on my progress. This is where I was at a couple of days ago:

I am almost finished with this top left corner. I will post again when it is through.

Well, I think that's about it for my introduction and hello. I hope you enjoy my blog.

Renee'