Needle Pulling Thread

I've seen this Mother Goose rhyme in tons of places, but I am looking for one that is charted for cross-stitch.  There was one on Stash Unload on facebook, but I didn't get there in time and someone else claimed it.  That version had been cheerful-ized so it was without woe, far to go, and works hard, and for some reason "Sabbath" was changed to "Sunday".  Anyway, if you find a nice cross stitch pattern for this in the above version  ^, I will offer a finder's reward (via PayPal) of $20, if I claim it successfully.  This is a challenge, because I have only a few steady readers, but stranger things have happened.  Update:  I found one I like on ebay, so no rewards needed, sorry!

I am having a good bit of pain in my thumbs from stitching, my left thumb is sore from holding my hoop, and right one because of the push/pull of drawing a needle through over and over.  I keep picking the sampler up, only to make my hands hurt more.  The right thumb has a lot of arthritis due to the years of pipetting I did in my job as a research tech.  It has been ten years since I retired, I would have thought it would mend itself by now.  But a couple of years ago I broke my right thumb, and the x-rays taken surprised the doctor, who didn't think I should be able to use my thumb much at all.

I went to Hobby Lobby Friday, I wanted to fill in my missing DMC floss skeins, so as to have a complete set.  Not all of the missing ones, just a dozen or so this time.  To my dismay, the cost of a skein has risen from $0.44 to $0.52 each.  The manufacturer is responsible, and not Hobby Lobby, it has been increased everywhere.  As much as we in the US moan about it, the cost in Aus. is $1.50 each so they aren't very sympathetic.  I need to figure out how to organize the floss, I currently have around 400 colors.  They are in individual plastic ziplock bags, and put on binder rings at 75 per ring.  It is far from good, the bags are slippery and twist and there is no way to hang them up.  I need plastic bins to put them in instead of the rings, but I can't find the correct sizes yet.  The nice cabinet is expensive $400 and I can't figure out where I could put it, the house is overflowing with stuff already.  I have too many hobbies.  Update:  I bought 6 cardboard boxes like shoeboxes, to fit in the drawer where the floss has been on rings.  But the bags are too slither-y to put one behind the next, so they are still on the rings.  I wanted to put 3 x 5 index cards in each bag to stiffen them up, but the cards are too big.  Drat.

The bread is nearly done, and smells heavenly.  I love a slice of warm bread with butter (not margarine!) and so does everyone in the family, so a loaf doesn't go very far.

Cartoon for the day: 

Too tired to do a whole post, so this will hold my place for now.

Cross Stitch Redux

I post photos last month (March 7th) of some of my cross stitch projects from many years ago, like 20 years ago.  The reason I did was because I wanted to join a Facebook channel for cross stitchers.  There are several (quite a few, actually) that are closed groups.  That means you must be passed by one of the admins for that channel before you can read/write posts there.  The admins want to see examples of one's work, and to make sure that you are faithful, honest and kind.  Sort of.  They actually look at your facebook page, and not your blog, but I wasn't sure and so I posted the photos here as well as there.  I have found other cross stitch things that I still have, but they are "smalls".  Anyway, I was successful in joining the 4 channels I was interested in, and so I too will end up spending waaay too much time on facebook.  Some of the channels are for buy/sell deals, which I am enjoying very much, although I have resisted buying anything.  Mostly.

We did have one last snow last week, but it wasn't much more than a skiff on the lawn.  That hardly counts.  Now surely we are through with winter.  Update: Yesterday (may 6th) we had hail!  Does this mean snow in July!?!

I keep hearing gunfire outside, it is rare for 10 am on a weekday.  This is the country, so rifle fire is fairly constant, even out of hunting season, for target practice.  Rifle fire/hunting is restricted to certain hours, and cannot be within a certain distance from a dwelling.  The ammo for these rifles is pretty expensive too, maybe a dollar apiece.  Anyway, you have to know where the shots are being fired, and then let the sheriff know, to get any kind of enforcement.  If it isn't being fired by one of the sheriff's buddies.

Our old Newfy dog is in her final days.  She hasn't been the same since we had to put her sister down when she got an aggressive cancer.  She has found a new place to hide when we let her out of the barn, behind and underneath a huge holly bush.  I am afraid she will go back in there and then die, I'm not sure how we could get her out of there, dead or alive even if she refuses to come out.  This is the part of pet ownership that I hate.  Is she suffering?  Ill?  Just withdrawn?  Damn.

We have a new addition to the outdoor cats.  There is one that has been an occasional visitor to the garage to sample dinnertime, we called him Stripey.  He was plump and sleek, and we assumed he belonged to one of our neighbors and was just snacking here.  But through out the winter he got progressively thinner and not so sleek, and we concluded that his regular family had moved away and left him.  So now he gets his own plate and as long as he doesn't hassle the old cats he is welcome to stay.  He has picked up some weight and looks sleek again.  I could just throttle his owners.

This has been a downer of a post, we need some humor:

Too tired

I had a 10 am doctor appt., and at 11 am I came out to the car where my son was patiently waiting for me so we could go on to my next appt.  Listening to the radio while he waited.  Hit the key and you guessed it, it wouldn't start.  Dead.  So then he called the dealer where he bought the car, who confirmed that he had lifetime road assistance, and gave him the number to call to get someone out there.  Son had to wait for the garage truck on the other side of the building, because GPS takes you to the front of the building and we were on the back.  When the tow truck arrived, he said he was told it was a keyed-out call, and that he didn't have a jump box in the truck.  Off he went, and we waited for the other guy to come.  He did, jumped it, and we drove directly to the auto parts store for a new battery.  The one in the 2011 Subaru was the original one, the wonder is that it worked all winter long.  Battery = $140.  Doesn't that seem high?  But it isn't like we could shop around.  We got home at 2:30, had to cancel the second appt., we had it for the day.  We take cars for granted, until they don't work.

I have been browsing the net, seeing what  there is for me to buy (ho ho).  I would like a cabinet with shallow drawers to store embroidery floss, which is all numbered and has a key to find where they fit numerically.  Needless to say there are two kinds of cabinets that fit that criteria.  One is a cabinet that wouldn't fit a hanky, and the other kind with just the right dimensions, except for the pricetag.  I have around 500 skeins, and keeping them straight takes me more time than the actually stitching does.  One of the group on facebook suggested having a carpenter make one, but this is a small town, and it is undergoing massive construction on every other corner, and no one is available for a simple task, when they make a load of $$ doing finish carpentry.  I think I will have to get one of the expensive ones, eventually.  Meanwhile I look. 

This is a short post, I am about ready to sleep even though it is only 8 pm.  today's cartoon: