Inky Dinky SAL

Last weekend I started and finished the first two blocks in the SanMan Inky Dinky SAL. When it's done there will be 12 snowmen, one for each month, and matching boarders. January and February are the only two released so far, but I'm eagerly awaiting March!

Last night was a blast! Me and several friends went to dinner and then to a cocktail party before seeing Sex and the City 2 at midnight. The I really liked the movie. It was alot different than the first, this one was way more fun and light-hearted and in my opinion more along the tone of the show. It didn't live up to my expectations 100% , but then again I've been waiting for it to come out since they started filming it back in September so I probably had too high of expectations! lol The movie theater we saw it in was pretty full. They played it on the biggest theater with a huge screen and seating for 600. It's actually two stories, there is an entrance on the first floor to the bottom rows of seats and an upstairs entrance to the top rows. I would say there were probably at least 400 people there.

Sex and the City 2 : The Stores. The Fashion. The Adventure and an example of how each outfit is "deconstructed" piece by piece. It evens lists the designer of each piece. The page next to it shows a picture of the character in the outfit from the movie.

The party before hand was lots of fun. The hors d'oeuvres were delicious, everyone got a Sex and the City 2 martini glass and for those of us who weren't 21, they had kiddie cocktails! lol They had tons of raffles and give always and I actually won a copy of the companion book to the movie that shows all the characters outfits piece by piece. The only down side was not getting home until almost 4 AM and then having to get up for work, luckily I didn't have to be there until 11:30! lol

Sharlotte - John Corbett was indeed the new movie (he isn't in the first), though he is only in two scenes. His character Aiden went out with Carrie for a while during the course of the show and they were actually engaged at one time. They run into each other in Abu Dhabi in the movie. He was actually my favorite of Carrie's boyfriends, but it was one of those things were I always knew she wouldn't end up with him because she was supposed to be with Big. lol Have you ever seen United States of Tara on Showtime? He plays the husband of a women with multiple personalities, it's a pretty good show especially the 1st season. Also, I did see the episode of Sarah Jessica Parker's "Who Do You Think You Are", her husband Matthew Broderick was also on an episode of the show, both were very interesting. He had family that fought in Gettysburg during the Civil War.

Hope everyone is has a fun & safe Memorial Day weekend! Nick

Cosmos & Manolos

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) in Sex and the City 2

Ok, I admit it, I am a Sex and the City fan. Actually I am that a BIG fan. I have seen every episode multiple times, in fact I own the DVD series box set, and I saw the first movie 3 times in theaters. I know, it's weird for a guy to like Sex and the City so much, but there's just something about it. Maybe it's because I have always loved fashion and if I could live anywhere it would be New York City. To celebrate the fact that the 2nd movie comes out this week, I created this little pattern as a tribute to one of my favorite TV shows. (Click to enlarge)

The quote comes from an episode where Miranda tells Carrie she can use the internet to shop, after Carrie tells the girls she doesn't get why the internet is such a big deal. Carrie's response is that she can't shop online because "shopping is my cardio."

And if I havn't already shown my love for Carrie & Co, tomorrow night I am going to see the new movie with several friends @ midnight, we've had our tickets for weeks. For some reason the theater here in town isn't doing a midnight showing, even though the other 8 theaters they own are, so my friends and I are going to the closest theater (about a 40 min drive) to see it. We are dressing up and going to dinner and then have tickets to the sold out cocktail party the theater is throwing before the midnight screening. I know...we're crazy, but life's too short to pass up such fun! lol

Hope everday has a "fabulous" day and thanks for stopping by! Nick

Peppers, Mice & a Marshmallow

This week was much better for stitching than last week. I was able to work on Hot Stuff, I got a good majority of the second mouse done. Once he is finished, I just have a couple peppers and the rest of the ground shading. I've decided to wait on starting the Suzy's Zoo Train Birth Announcement until Hot Stuff is finished. I haven't forgotten about Singin' The Wash Line Blues even though it's been quite a while since I've worked on it. Maybe I will put some work in on that before the birth announcement as well.

Hot Stuff's last update & current progress.

I also cut the fabric for a new SanMan SAL, a small blackwork snowman and boarder themed for each month. So far January and February have been released. I plan on stitching those two this weekend so I can work on the following 10 as they are released.

Hope everyone has a great weekend & thanks for stopping by! Nick

Sweet May Treat

Here is SanMan's May 2010 calendar block, a colorful lollipop. It was nice quick stitch, a good way to get back in the swing of things since it's been a while since I did any stitching besides blackwork. I actually finished it off earlier today before I went to work, after posting this morning.

Here are January-May so far. I think if at the end of the series each month ends up being a food/treat, as they have been far, I'm going to find a cool font and stitch "A Sweet Year" across the top above January's block.

That's it for now, just a quick update since it's been more than a week since my last stitching post. Thanks for stopping by! Nick

The Simple Things...

Last night I was going through pictures on iPhoto, sometimes I'll do this just to go through all the pictures I have on my computer, most I've forgotten were on here. I was going through the hundreds of pictures I have from Michigan football games and when I came across this one it just made me really smile. I remember when I took it, it was my first time ever going to The Big House for a football game. Michigan played Michigan State on my 19th birthday and my dad took me. In Ann Arbor around The Big House all the fire hydrants are painted this way, to look like the football helmets. I'll never forget the feeling the first time I walked into The Big House, in fact I still get that feeling every time I walk in there. I hope not matter how many games I see there, win or lose, I always get that feeling.

While I was going through the pictures my favorite commercial came on the TV. No matter what I’m doing or what kind of mood I’m in this commercial always makes me smile. I love the part where the spaceship zaps the slice of bread into a piece of toast, I don’t know why, I just love it! lol

I did do a little stitching this weekend, I got most of the May SanMan calendar piece done. I'll probably finish it off tonight when I get home from work. It was so nice to stitch for a little bit since it's been more than week since I last stitched anything.

Sometimes it's the simplest and smallest things in life that truly make you smile. :-D I hope everyone had a great weekend! Nick

When it rains, it pours...

Boy, when it rains, it pours, and I mean that both figuratively and literally. Monday I was called about a job I had applied for the week before, they called and asked if I could be there in a half hour for an interview. The good news is I got the job, the bad news (because it seems the two go hand in hand, right? lol) is that on the way to the interview my front passenger side tire blew out as I was getting on the highway. Luckily I was only a mile or so from home so my dad brought his car to me, so I could get to my interview on time, while he changed the tire. Tuesday I was supposed to go in to sign my paperwork and start orientation and I was going to take Baby since I hadn't gotten the tire on my other car fixed yet. The tire place was closed when the tire blew and I had to be to my orientation at 10 the next morning. Well as I was going to leave, Baby wouldn't start! Her battery was dead. I think the week before when I had taken her out of the charge to clean her the spoiler wasn't completely down and it drained the battery since the spoiler kept running (it isn't a permanent spoiler, it's electric and automatically goes up and down when you reach a certain speed, or can be manually put up and down). Luckily my best friend lives up the street so she came and picked me up and dropped me off. When I was done with my orientation I took my car with the spare tire to the tire place. As my luck would have it they didn't have any matching used tires and the brand & make of the 3 remaining tires on the car are no longer made, but they did have a tire that was close, so I bought it. Probably 10 minutes later they come to tell me they can't put the tire on. Apparently the reason my other tire blew was that a spring behind the tire had broken, caught the tire and ripped through it. So they couldn't put the new tire on because it would do the same thing. They said if they could get a used part, which apparently they have had trouble doing lately, to fix the problem it would cost about $250. This is on top of the $110 I had just paid for the tire. I didn't even ask what it would cost for a new part, I was too afraid to ask, plus I dodn't really need it fixed right away! lol Luckily Baby just needed a jump, and is working just fine now. I started work the next day, Wednesday and also worked yesterday but have today off. Today has been about the only decent day we have had this week. Its been grey, cold and rainy since last weekend! I guess we got Spring in reverse, warm and dry at first, cold and rain now. I am having a good ending to the week though, one of my best friends who now lives out of state came home for her dad's birthday this weekend so I got to see her and we had lunch today.

My Suzy's Zoo Birth Announcement kit did come Monday, though I haven't even opened it up to look at it. Thats about as close to cross stitching as I have been since my last update, haven't even thought about picking up and working on any projects.

Hope everyone else's weeks have been filled with slightly better luck, and your a trooper if you read this far! lol Nick

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Actually I believe May flowers bring May showers, at least today they do! It's been a rainy, grey and chilly day here but it did provide May flowers, at least some backstitched May flowers. Here is SanMan's May 2010 blackwork pattern. At first I wasn't sure about the yellow floss on such a light color fabric but I think it turned out nice.

I worked on Hot Stuff as well, but didn't take a picture because I only added the foot and tail of the mouse. I worked on it Wednesday while watching Happy Town on ABC and ended up doing more watching than stitching! lol

I'm really excited that I won a kit on eBay last night that I have been wanting for a long time. It's called "Suzy's Zoo Train Birth Announcement" and was released by Janlynn in the mid 90's. I am a big fan of Suzy's Zoo. It's been around since the 70's and my Aunt collected it as a teen in the late 80's and 90's, so I have many fond memories of Suzy's Zoo birthday cards, notes & letters growing up. Just about anything you could imagine they made back then, ceramics, coffee mugs, stuffed animals, coloring books, magnets, ornaments, party decorations, clothes, cross stitch kits and then all the stationary, cards, stickets, etc they are specifically known for. The production of these things and their popularity started to wain in the late 90's as they moved more into baby themed stuff (nursery sets, baby clothes, baby products) when they created the Little Suzy's Zoo line and characters. The original Suzy's Zoo stuff was very popular on eBay several years ago and this stuff would sell for big $$. The coloring books, stickers and stuffed animals were probably the most popular items, for example it wasn't surprising for the older or rarer coloring books to go for $40-60 a piece! I actually have several coloring books and am only missing 1 of the 403 single sheet stickers. Lately is has really died down and here in the US they mainly do the stationary now, though it has really become big in Japan and over there they are starting to release all those things like they had here. They are even working on opening a memorabilia museum and a cartoon for TV. Anyway, enough of the history of Suzy's Zoo! lol Here is the pic of the kit from the auction, I'm very happy I got it for a great price, $12 shipped. I want to stitch it for my best friend's daughter, the one I mentioned watching last Friday.

In case I don't post over the weekend HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of the moms out there!!

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading! Nick

A Good Weekend For Stitching

This weekend turned out to be perfect for stitching. We had rain, thunderstorms and gloomy, cool weather most of the weekend. Luckily the tornadoes and more severe storms stayed to the south of us. Thats the only bad thing about spring in Michigan - tornadoes. I can't believe it's already May, this year just seems to be zooming by, but that does means we're that much closer to summer!

Saturday I went and saw the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie with my dad. It was pretty good, not at all as scary as I thought it would be. One of my favorite parts of going to the movies are the previews, though none of the previews shown with Nightmare really interested me.

Sunday I spent most of the day working on Hot Stuff. Mr. Mouse is almost done, just missing his other foot and tail. I also got some of the peppers and ground shading done. It's slowly but surely coming along.

Hot Stuff before & after.

I also have a shout out to give to Cat, over at Kittycat cross stitch blog, who is hosting a nice give away to celebrate her 100th blog post.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend & thanks for visiting! Nick