MirabiliaTag Archives

A New Year – A New Start

Photo courtesy of photo8.org

Ahhh, here we are. A brand new year, all shiny, clean, and sparkling new. Can’t you just smell the new all over it? You know, kind of like the awesomeness of new car smell. I just love the anticipation of a New Year. Much like that new car smell, there’s just nothing else quite like it.

For me, this new year means making a new start. As I mentioned in my post several days ago about Scale Reality & New Year Goals, I knew I was going to end this year at pretty much the same weight I started it. I was feeling pretty down about myself about it initially, but then my wonderful friend Karen reminded me that there’s no shame in maintaining for a while. After all, at least I’m not ending the year weighing MORE than when I started.

But, enough of the past! This is 2012 and I’m all geared up for a NEW START to go with the new year. Thankfully, my Weight Watchers center was open on New Year’s Day this year. I can’t remember a time in the past where they’ve ever done that, so I was thrilled that not only could I get to my regular Sunday meeting, I could get to one on January 1, too. How awesome is that?! So, I got myself up bright and early this morning and headed over to my Weight Watchers meeting, by way of Starbucks. Sadly, the red holiday cups are gone for another, but at least I was still able to get a Skinny Peppermint Mocha still (4 PP for the Venti).

The topic for this week’s meeting was all about “believe” which goes hand-in-hand with their new ad campaign. Have you see any of the new commercials? If you were watching ABC’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve last night, you probably spotted one of them. If you looked closely, you might’ve spotted the awesome @SuziStorm who blogs over at Ok, Just One More Beer. She’s lost 91 pounds on Weight Watchers and looks amazeballs!! If you want to see even more Weight Watchers videos, check our their YouTube channel!

Back to the meeting, we talked a lot about what things have caused us to stumble on our weight loss journey in the past. We then brain-stormed about tools that we have available as Weight Watchers members that will help us overcome those old issues. Using those tools will help us be successful and we can believe and have faith that we can reach our goals. We even ended the meeting with an awesome quote seen in the photo which also includes my incredible leader, Jacki (can you believe she was once 100 pounds heavier?!!). If you can’t read the quote, just click on the photo for a large version which should be easier to read.

As if the quote wasn’t inspiring enough on it’s own, I happened to glance to my left and see this poster hanging on the wall next to me. It’s the cumulative total of all the weight loss at our center during 2011. Amazing!! Hopefully we can smash that total in 2012!

After I left the meeting, I headed over to the supermarket and stocked up on lots of healthy foods, including lots of fresh fruit & veggies. When I got it home, I decided Jan. 1 would be a great day to get my kitchen all organized again as I was putting the food away. I feel so ready to go with my healthy eating in 2012! There’s just nothing quite like being organized to make sticking with a plan so much more manageable.

Once I had that done, I prepared myself a nice healthy lunch (sorry, no pic) and then settled in for an afternoon of relaxation which included a bit of stitching time. My January 1 new stitching start for this year (yes, I do it one every year) was Royal Holiday from one of my favorite designers, Mirabilia. I don’t have enough done yet to really post a photo, so I’ll do that in a few days after I have a bit more done.

I had planned on including my goals for the next two months in this post, but I think it’s long enough already. I’ll save my goals for tomorrow’s post. I’ll also be writing about an exciting year-long project I’ll be taking part in over at the Sisterhood, too. I can’t wait to tell you all more about that!

I do have one last thing to share about before I go for today. I’ve decided to take part in the 30 Day Blog Challenge hosted by Jamee over at A New Kind of Normal. Since I’m really striving to blog on a daily basis again after merging my blogs, I thought this would be a great way to ensure it actually happens. It will also give new readers to my blog (hello weight loss resolutioners ) a chance to learn a little bit more about me. The challenge for today is to post a photo of yourself and description how your day went. Since I’ve already posted about how my day went, I’ll just leave you with a photo of me taken recently with my sweet kitty, Brandi.

Until next time …

1 January 2012

Challenges, Stitching, Weight Loss/Fitness

5 comments

2012 Goals, 30 Day Blog Challenge, Brandi, Mirabilia, Royal Holiday, Starbucks, Weight Loss/Fitness, Weight Watchers

Mirabilia Round Robin Planning

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I’m going to be participating in a Mirabilia themed round robin on the world-wide round robin board next year. Since we’re going to be starting in late February or early March, I decided it was time for me to start earnestly making plans for my piece. I figure this will give me plenty of time to get my outlines done and my part stitched before it needs to go into the mail.

As a theme for my piece, I’ve decided to go with the lovely ladies from the Pixie Couture collection. I’m going to be using some 28-count opalescent Lugana for my fabric. These are the charts I have decided to use in my piece (as always, click to biggify):

We set a limit in our RR of no more than 2500 stitches per section to keep the sizes reasonable. I’ve opted to go with a 45×55 rectangle for each section. This photo shows the sections of each chart I’m planning to use as well as how they’ll be laid out in the piece:

I still need to decide what I’m going to include in the center area, but it will be something along the lines of the year and all of our names. For the outline around each pixie, I’m thinking of using the coordinating Kreinik braid that goes with each pixie. After all, one can never have enough bling and sparkle, right?

I know a lot of folks will be going offline over the next week or so due to the holidays. For those of you to whom that applies, I just wanted to take a minute in closing to wish you all a very safe & happy holiday season. Here’s to hoping for a wonderfully & healthy 2012 for us all! For those who will be around over the holidays, you’ll get another holiday greeting in a few days.

22 December 2011

Stitching

5 comments

Cross Stitch, Holiday, Mirabilia, Round Robin, TWRRB

Weekend Stitching – Another Finish

Since I’m stuck at home most of the time right now due to a bum knee, I’m getting in some good stitching time. It gives me a much welcome break from studying for finals for school!

After finishing Sunflower Fairy recently, I decided to go through my WIPs and pull out a couple of smaller projects that I thought I could get knocked out before year’s end. Pear Tree is part of the ornament of the month series from Little House Needleworks. We won’t discuss how long ago I started it. All that matters is that it’s finished now. Here is a pic of my finish followed by a close-up view that shows off the beads. As always, click to biggify.

After I finished that piece on Saturday. I pulled out It is Never Too Late from Primrose Needleworks. I love the saying on this piece! It’s a quote from author George Eliot (who was actually a woman in case you didn’t know). I’m thinking of framing it and hanging in my office after I finish it. Anyway, I think I made really good progress on it. Here are pics of before I started stitching on it this weekend followed by the after pic showing how much I got done on it. I hope I can finish it this week as well, but time will tell since I’ve got finals. It would be really nice to mark another WIP off my list.

I also signed up for the WIPocalypse 2012 that Measi is coordinating on her blog. There are lots of familiar faces on the participant list, so it’ll be fun to see how we all fare. I’ll be spending time over the Christmas holiday coming up with my list of projects I want to focus on for the challenge.

I’ve also made some progress in my decision-making for the Mirabilia round robin over at TWRRB (The Worldwide Round Robin Board). Sign-ups closed a few days ago and we ended up with eight stitchers in our group. I’ve decided to use the Pixie Couture collection for my theme. Now that I know exactly how many stitchers will be in the group, I can get more serious about figuring out my exact layout and which of the pixies I want to use for it. Our first mailing date isn’t going to be until late February/early March, so I’ve still got time to sort it out.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next time …

12 December 2011

Cross Stitch

4 comments

Little House Needleworks, Mira RR 2012, Mirabilia, Ornaments, Primrose Needleworks, Round Robin, WIPocalypse 2012

Sunflower Fairy Finish

I finished my Sunflower Fairy a few days ago and I love how she turned out! Here’s a pic of my finish followed by a close-up view of the glitter and bling. As always, click to biggify.

This is a design by Nora Corbett (of Mirabilia) that appeared in the September 2009 issue of Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine. I stitched her on 32-count Copper Penny linen from Wichelt using the recommended Valdani cotton floss. The only change I made was substituting Creamy Peach from Crescent Colors for the skin because the recommended Valdani seemed a bit too fair to me.

I was on a business trip last and got in a bit of stitching time on another Nora Corbett magazine design. This time is was her Halloween Fairy (a.k.a. Trick or Treat Fairy). It’s also from Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine in their September 2008 issue. Here’s my progress thus far on it:

Given I’m on such a Mirabilia/Nora Corbett kick lately, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I’ve signed up for a Mirabilia Round Robin that’s starting up in February. It’s being coordinated through TWRRB (The Worldwide Round Robin Board). It seems like a really great group of stitchers and Kathy is moderating our group which should be fun, too. Now I just have to figure out my theme and layout.

I’m currently work on the Pear Tree ornament from last year’s ornament of the month series by Little House Needleworks. I don’t really have enough done yet to show a progress pic. Since it’s an ornament, you may not see a pic until it’s actually finished. LOL

Well, that’s it from me for now. Until next time …

7 December 2011

Cross Stitch

12 comments

Halloween, Little House Needleworks, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Ornaments, Sunflower Fairy, Woman Challenge

Lady Alexandra Update & TUSAL 2012

I’ve really been enjoying working on Lady Alexandra from Mirabilia lately. She’s the only piece I worked on this week. I got kind of side-tracked away from stitching when I learned on Thursday that my uncle suddenly wasn’t doing well due to complications of his Parkinson’s disease. He ended up passing away on Friday and I just been out of sorts emotionally since then. So, I didn’t get as much done as I would’ve liked this week, but progress is progress, right? As always, click to biggify.

Fabric: 32-count Ice Blue linen (Wichelt)
Fibers: Recommended DMC & Mill Hill Beads
Progress as of 20 November 2011

I also wanted to make a quick mention about the 2012 edition of the TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long). I haven’t participated in a couple of years, but decided to do it again in 2012. If you are interested in participating or learning more about it, you can visit Sharon’s blog (a.k.a. Daffycat) to check out the details.

Until next time …

21 November 2011

Cross Stitch

3 comments

Family, Lady Alexandra, Mirabilia, Totally Useless SAL, TUSAL, Uncle Alex, WIPs

Wine Country Stitchy Weekend

I headed out to southern California’s wine country for a stitching retreat this weekend that was arranged by Margaret Bendig, a needlework teacher based here. It was a completely no-frills retreat weekend and was absolutely wonderful! There was no class piece, no goody bags, etc. Everyone just brought whatever they wanted to work on, some snacks, and enjoyed a wonderful weekend spent with other stitchers.

Our group of about 30 ladies and one gentleman (Hi, Ray!) stayed at the Viña de Lestonnac in Temecula which is not only a retreat center, but also a convent for the Sisters of the Company of Mary. The grounds were absolutely stunning and overlooked a beautiful valley and part of the vineyards of the Danza del Sol Winery.

There was plenty of food and wine to go around all weekend.

There was an abundance of amazingly beautiful pieces being stitched as well. I meant to get photos of everyone’s stitching, but it just didn’t happen unfortunately. Below are some of the pieces the ladies sitting near me were working on during the retreat.

Darla was working on My Stitching Treasures by Jeanette Douglas Designs. She started it on Friday and had all of the border completed by the time we left on Sunday. She’s one speedy stitcher!

Wanda was working on Autumn at Hawk’s Run Hollow from Carriage House Samplings. She’s almost finished!

There were also plenty of stunning Mirabilia pieces being worked on this weekend. Sarah is on the downhill side of finishing her beautiful Autumn Queen.

Debbie was working on Elizabeth, one of the newer Mirabilia designs.

As for me, I worked on a couple of different pieces from Nora Corbett/Mirabilia this weekend. The first piece was Nora’s Sunflower Fairy which appeared in the September 2009 issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlework magazine. I didn’t work on it that much, but here are my before & after progress pics for the weekend.

Before Retreat

After Retreat

I actually ended up spending most of my stitching time (which was vastly less than my socializing time LOL) working on Lady Alexandra. She’s such a fun piece to stitch and was just calling my name this weekend.

Before Retreat

After Retreat

While I didn’t get quite as much stitching accomplished this weekend as I would have liked, I still had such a wonderful time. Margaret is already tentatively planning to hold two more of these no-frills retreats next year in Temecula again (June 15-17 and Nov. 9-11). She is considering offering an optional flag-themed needlepoint class at the June retreat since it will be Flag Day weekend. We all got a sneak peek at the piece she’s designing for it over the weekend. If she offers it, I’m definitely interested in taking the class!

If anyone is interested in more information about the retreats for next year, just drop me an email using the envelope icon under my photo in the sidebar. I can then put you in touch with the organizer. She’s current putting together a no obligation interest list with names and email addresses. She’ll use the list to contact everyone who expressed an interest when she has more information regarding costs and is ready to start taking registrations.

Until next time …