Friday Randomness

Hi, my dears!!!! I've been a bad blogging friend. I haven't blogged, I haven't checked emails, I haven't caught up with your blogs...

Anne sweetly mentioned the other day that it's been awhile since I blogged and Vanessa called me a 'slack ass' in an email today. ROFL!!!!

Things have been a little crazy around here. Work has not been fun, and I haven't stitched since IHSW so there's been nothing much to gab about. What we've been doing is play D3, so I do have a picture of my monk, or monk-ette, as I lovingly call her.

And of course, there are always hunks to drool over. In this case, it's Patrick Stewart, or "My Sexy Bald Captain," as I like to call him.

Finally, what's a Friday Randomness post without some 'cute and funnies':

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Here's to wishing for a stress free June. :D

May's 2-for-1

For the second time this year, the moons, ... ok... moon, aligned, ... ok... was new, IHSW and TUSAL came together for an explosion of epic proportion coincided on the same weekend.

And lookie!! 131 HERMITTERS' BLOGS to drool over this month! Have fun checking out each other's blogs. :D I'm always so inspired when I look at your pictures.

My TUSAL jar eagerly waited for ORTs to be thrown in, I mean, isn't that what IHSW is all about? So what if this was also the first weekend of Diablo III's release? I mean, I now have the game, it's not like I have to play it all at once.

I stitched.. yes, I did.  Proof?? You mean... *lips quivering* you don't believe me? *wipes off a tear* I don't know why you'd doubt me.... I was so good... just look....

What do you mean "what's that?" Why... it's a butterfly of course. Can't you see it?? No? Yeah... neither can I. Needless to say, poor Butterfly was seriously KO'ed by D3 this weekend. We played most of the weekend and are almost done with the 'normal' difficulty of the game.

Many of you will be happy to hear that the general consensus is that we decided we can't game like 20 year olds anymore. There are too many things going on in real life that we want to do and enjoy. So, once we finish this level of difficulty, we'll be playing the next two difficulty levels at a more moderate pace. ;)

On the TUSAL end, not much addition this month. Over 1 stitching leaves very tail ends as there's always a length left that I put away for later use. LOOK!! Even my fountain fish is giving me the evil eye at this month's IHSW failure...

Friday Randomness

I'm going on lack of sleep, so I might be kinda incoherent... Diablo 3 has taken over my nights and, if I didn't have to work, it'd be taking over my days too. LOL.

I think about it all the time: the skills, the kills; the crafting, the leveling advancing); the equipments, the destinations... HEY!! It's just like stitching!! What do you mean there's not killing in stitching... ever wanna do that to those darn frogs? ;)

It's IHSW time!!! And if you haven't signed up, there is still plenty of time to do so HERE. I will carve out some time for Butterfly Lace and see if I can add to the second butterfly. Meanwhile, here is a picture of the first over 1 butterfly. It's teenie-tiny and soooo cute!! :D

HAPPY HERMITTING EVERYONE!!!!

Random Afternoon Question

Have you ever fashioned a stitching "tool à la you" ie. something you made with what you have on hand instead of shopping for or buying something? I'd love to learn from you guys.

As for me, I have a little 'prying' tool. Well, doesn't that just sound both scandalous and nosy at the same time. LOL!!! Let me explain...

When I'm working on rice stitches or tucking beads into the heart of Jessicas in Chatelaines, I use a needle to gentle pull, pry, and tug at the specialty stitches for more working room.

I found that I like using size 24 or 26 needles as they are big enough to hold.

The size 28 I like to stitch with makes maneuvering hard and counting needles have too sharp a point.

My current one is decorated, and I use that word very loosely, with ORTs from the purple Jessicas in Butterfly Garden.

The outer layers of the rice stitches.

My prying needle at the top as it gently tugs the top layer to allow
my stitching needle to come up under that thread.

Finished rice stitches.

IHSW - May Signup

I got an email from Jo over the weekend saying that "IHSW is famous." Curious, I clicked on the link to cross-stitching.com and there it is... Rhona's wonderful write up of Stitching Abbreviations.

IHSW, here we come!!!! WE'VE MISSED YOU!!!!

A gentle reminder for blogger users: Please remember to put in your BLOG ADDRESS in the "URL" box. If you type in Blogger.com, it takes all the readers to their own homepage. :(

Let the needles fly and the bum-dents prevail!!! You know what to do... :D

May WIPocalypse and Framed Chinese Garden

Since I'm only working on Butterfly Lace Mandala, that's the only stitchy pic I have to show. Got more of the leaves in and I wish I could get the Treasure Braids to sparkle in the picture as they do in real life, so you guys can see how blingy this piece is.

We also got Chinese Garden back from the framers. We did a triple matting on it, with the two outer mat layers raised about 1/4 inch off the inner mat so it creates a 3-D depth effect. It's hard to see in the picture, but there are bronze flakes in on the frame that is the opposite effect of the top layer mat.

The Reveal!

First off, I want to say a huge, big "THANK YOU!!!!" to you guys for playing. I didn't know how things would pan out when I posted the Random Afternoon Question and the meager giveaway. :D Thanks of making it a whole lot of fun for both hubby and me. :D

I think my tendency to ramble might have thrown a lot of you off the scent of the "secret something" in last week's Random Question post. Many of you mentioned the tv/computer screen. You're right... the giraffe desktop was a picture hubby had taken awhile back. Your names have been taken down and will await hubby's drawing.

For those of you who mentioned Serengeti... I feel you... I really do. I will get to this, I promise, but I've been stitching on Butterfly Lace whenever I had stitchy time. For those of that mentioned going on safari... I want to, I do!!! And we'll go back there one of these days. :D And for those who mentioned Diablo 3, yes!! It'll be due out in about a week now, but that wasn't the hidden element.

Oh, and Jo, we don't have "tuts".... we have a few PC gaming and Cooking magazines that's in a magazine holder on the side of the couch and that's about it. LOL!!!

Alright, to the subject matter at hand...

THE QUESTION: There's a secret something in this picture. What is it? Where is it?

THE ANSWER: See the basket?

Before: Store bought basket-weaved hamper.

Hubby undid some of the bottom weaving for ventilation...

... built a frame inside...

... built an outer frame and attached some feet, that I painted...

... sexy PC components that he bought and put together...

... the cooling fan and some particle board.
I cut out a hole big enough to fit and screw the fan into...

... fan and finishing lid placed into the particle board...

Power button etc. hooked up into the particle board.

In goes the PC. We opened up some gaps between the weaves
at the back of the basket for the power plug, ethernet and what-nots...

... on goes the fan and power controls...

... ventilation from the bottom and hot air pulled out through
the fan at the top to cool the PC.

A new piece of decoration in our living room...

... to house the brains to allow us to play Trine while waiting for Diablo 3.
I mean, the system HAS to be tested out, right? ;)

THE DRAWING:

and THE GOODIES GO TO:

Congrats, girlie. ;) Email me your addy and I'll zip the package right out to you.

Random Afternoon Question - A Giveaway

Some of you might be able to answer the following questions easily, especially if you know about the monumental (hubby's word, not mine) event that will be taking place in my our (might as well drag him into it too) life in two weeks. Ermm... nooOooooooOoooooo..... we're NOT having a baby!!

Although, I can see how you might think that... with my baby cheetah sitting on the lamp. Isn't he cuuuuute? My friend's son, Dante, saw him and told Brenda, "We have to buy this for Joyce!!" and when Bren saw his name, Serengeti,... well, he was in a box to me within days. :D

But, I digress... on to the subject at hand....

There's a secret something in this picture. What is it? Where is it?

To make this more fun, let's have a GIVEAWAY!! :D

Up for grabs: 4 skeins of premium-weight and 5 skeins of normal-weight Vikki Clayton HDF silks, 2 Lavender and Lace Santa charts (I know lots of you are starting to plan on or have already started on Christmas stitching), and 5 skeins of Ozark Sampler cotton floss.

HDF silks, L&L charts, Ozark Sampler Floss

The nitty-gritty: I have enabled COMMENT MODERATION till the morning of May 7th, Eastern Standard Time. This way, you guys can guess without any preconceived notions. If you'd like to pass on the giveaway but still join in the fun, please do so. Just let me know in your comments and I won't include your names in the draw.

On Monday, all the correct answers will go into a bowl and hubby will do the honors. Good luck and I can't wait to see your comments!! :D