Tuesday, August 28, 2012

My Baby is off to school!!

That's it, I'm officially a basket case. Yesterday, the 3-year-old Girl-child went off to school. My baby. My little bug.

She did very well on her first day. Better than Mommy did.

I can't say much else or I'll start sobbing again. waaaaaaa!




Friday, August 24, 2012

Sweet Stitchy Friends and an All-Time Favorite (hunk)

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from dear, sweet Parsley. I received some happy stitchy mail today, (my favorite kind) and lo and behold, there is a large pile of stitchy stuff!! I thought I was getting the oh so adorable Herbs chart. In addition, there was another chart, some abalone buttons (cute as a button), a stitchable towel, a cute fabric frame, AND a stitchable pot holder which is absolutely perfect for the Herbs pattern. I feel like such a lucky girl! Thanks so much, Parsley!!!



Now, of course I know it's Friday! Today I bring you one of my very favorite hunks ever, Dolph Lundgren. I've been sighing over him since the late 80s. Don't start doing the math to figure out how old I am! I am younger than Dolph, that's all you need to know.

Speaking of aging well...Dolph is still looking fine at 55!

And lest ye think he's just another pretty face, he has a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering and received a scholarship to attend MIT. Not bad, eh?

I'll try to arrange these by approximate age progression.











I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!!

Friday, August 17, 2012

A TUSAL, a Hunk, and a RAKing new project

I have a jam-packed post for you today!

Firstly, it's TUSAL time again. Once more my dearest, naughtiest Honeybee brings you my ORT report. Take it away, Honeybee!



My orts just keep mashing down further and further. Of course the Girl-child likes to shake them down, too. I feel like this is the bottomless jar that I could fill forever!

Next up:
I am continually moved by the kindness and generosity of my stitchy friends. I've been sent a bunch of things in the last couple of months, and I've decided to put much of what I received into one great project. Dear, sweet Andie sent me her chart of Maidenhair once she finished hers. It is bee-yoo-tee-ful, by the way! I thought, "What will I stitch her on?" I realized that the fabric hand-dyed just for me by Leslie was not only the perfect size, but a fantastic color for Maidenhair as well. Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be kismet if I could work in some of the variegated DMC that Melanie sent me?" The answer was a resounding "Yes!" One of the colors she sent is a wonderful sub for 3838, which is a large portion of the skirt.

So, not that I really needed another start, (Oy vay!) but I couldn't keep my hands off of it, and I've decided to refer to Maidenhair as my Random Act of Kindness Project.






And, of course, it is Friday!

The movie The Expendables 2 opens today. I can't wait to see it!! I have to remember to post one of my all-time favorite hunks next week, Dolph Lundgren.

But this week I offer to you Jason Statham.







Friday, August 10, 2012

I've been busy, but it's Hunky Friday!

I've been up to stitchy craziness, in a good way. Not that I don't have anything to do, (deadlines, eh?) but I'm starting to get ready for January's kick-off of the Mirabilia Large-Stitch round robin. We decided that we'd like to do an RR in which we can get more of a design in, i.e. fairy wings, mermaid fins, etc. So, we will have a guideline of 5000 stitches, compared to our normal 2500, and we'll have 12 weeks per round instead of 6 weeks.

I decided I wanted to do a "Mermaid" theme. I didn't really want to go with the typical geometric shape for stitch areas. What I really wanted was something softer, less rigid. So I've been working on marking up some charts into soft areas of an appropriate size. I picked a seashell motif to put in the center of my fabric.

Yesterday, I spent a bunch of time on PC Stitch plotting everything out, and here's my result.


Now keep in mind that they won't be stitched as silhouettes, and the boxes around them are just for basting so we can keep the placement where I'd like it. When I had everything mapped out I drew in some seaweed. I think I'll get some Waterlilies for the seaweed. What do you think?


No, I didn't forget...it is Hunky Friday. There's a new James Bond movie coming out in a while, and I was inspired by the opening ceremonies at the Olympics. Here's Daniel Craig...







Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Parsley's having a giveaway!

Dear Parsley of Seasons of My Mind is giving away an adorable chart that she just finished stitching up. It's Herb-a-licious!

Click here to go to the post. Good luck!

Monday, August 6, 2012

My Fabric page is done. I think...

I took pictures of almost all of my fabrics. They're not completely great pix, but not dreadful. I've posted them on the "Fabrics" tab above. There are links to the different ONSs.

I was inspired by Gina on Facebook. She has a great page there, and tons and tons of fabrics.

I figured this might help someone that is trying to get another view of a fabric they're considering. Well, I hope it helps, anyway. ;-)

Here's my favorite...well, one of my favorites...er, I have lots, but this is a good one!

Polstitches Rustic Rhubarb

Sunday, August 5, 2012

And the winners are...drumroll...

I have winners of my 50-Follower Giveaway!

 I don't know how to do a random number generator, so I went the old-fashioned route. I wrote all the names for each package on a little piece of paper, put them in a bag, and had the Boy-child pull one out. (Now I have little folded Post-its scattered all over my kitchen. ;-P)


Without further adieu:

Package #1 (Ribbons)  Winner: Rayeesa
Package #3 (Sweetheart Tree)  Winner: Kathy A.
Package #4 (Mixed Charts)  Winner: Tadamama
Package #5 (Kreiniks)  Winner: Kaisievic (Kaye)

and the hotly contested, most popular Package #2 (Weeks floss & Towels)  Winner: Rahenna!

If you won a package, please email me your mailing info. (Kathy, I know where to find you. tee hee)

Congratulations to all the winners!! I hope you enjoy your prizes.

Thank you to all my followers! I love you and all your comments, and I love reading your blogs, too.

*hugs*
~ Karen

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Gold Medal Hunks

I did promise yesterday that I would post a hunk today. Well, it's not going to be just one, but many. If I hadn't been at camp all week, I was originally planning on posting one every day, but it didn't work out.

I'm sure a lot of you have been watching the Olympics and have noticed how many lovely, muscular athletes there are. The first one that caught my eye was a judo wrestler named Josateki Naulu, seen during the opening ceremony carrying the flag for Fiji.

I have only scratched the surface of Olympic hunkiness here. If I haven't included your favorite athlete or country, it's only because that's all the time I have.

Beware...there is a lot of skin showing in this post. Clear the young children. I've made all the pix small, but for your viewing pleasure, feel free to click on them for a larger shot. Enjoy!!

Josateki Naulu-Fiji-Judo

Aldo Montano-Italy-Fencing

Andreas Thorkildsen-Norway-Javelin


Sir Chris Hoy-Great Britain-Cycling
Camille Lacourt-France-Swimming

Clemente Russo-Italy-Boxing

Cameron van der Burgh-South Africa-Swimming

Chinese Basketball Team

Nathan Cohen & Joseph Sullivan-New Zealand-Rowing

Danell Leyva-USA-Gymnastics

David Oliver-USA-Hurdling

Tom Daley & Peter Waterfield-Great Britain-Diving

Alexandre Despatie & Reuben Ross-Canada-Diving


Jordan Burroughs-USA-Wrestling

James Magnussen-Australia-Swimming



Kristian Ipsen-USA-Diving

Louis Smith-Great Britain-Gymnastics

Giuseppe Lanzone-USA-Rowing

Todd Rogers & Phil Dalhausser-USA-Beach Volleyball
Tyson Chandler-USA-Basketball 




And my very favorite hunk of these Olympic Games...





Ryan Lochte-USA-Swimming