I found a new bead shop on my way home yesterday! I was walking up Broadway to Penn Station, and I'm not sure of the exact street but I think it was 29th street. Don't ask me the name, there's a scaffolding out front blocking their awning. They have a lot of the crystal beads I like to use as sparkly filler, and I found 2 strands of gemstones that I really liked, and both were in the sale area - :-) I'm proud to report that I only purchased materials for 2 necklaces that will go well with some new work tops I bought labor day Sunday. So my bead stash isn't too much bigger.

Last night I was very restrained, and instead of trying out my new purchases I buckled down and worked on Fat Cat. between yesterday and today I finished most of the Cat aspect, now I have the outlining, eyes and nose to finish. Oh and the Smyrna stitches over the background. In the model you can see where the thread was carried across from Smyrna to Smyrna, quite clearly! I'm going to try to avoid a similar effect on my piece, because otherwise I'd rather just leave out the stitches and avoid the messy look.

Today after work my dad & I went to the dentist. I like our dentist because he was a friend of the family long before we started having a more professional relationship. I think dentists are the only kind of doctor where I wouldn't mind going to someone who is a good friend, and was a friend before they were my doctor. I had a pretty fun time sitting in the waiting area, watching tv and working on JBW pumpkin. The other fun thing about going to the dentist is that we always bring Dr. B a bottle of scotch :)

Since it's a 5 minute drive from the dentist office to my grandparents' my mom sent some things for us to drop off there too. I also brought them a thank you gift - they have a bungalow in the Catskills, and every summer I spend a couple weekends there - as do my cousins, a couple of aunts, and one uncle. Anyways, I found a relatively inexpensive DVD player at Target and thought I'd get them one, since they like watching the movies in the Casino at the bungalow colony and my aunt said they didn't have one. My dad, who usually avoids interacting with his in-laws by using my siblings and me as a buffer, was drafted to set up the box when I got stuck. Of course I was responsible for training on the new system, and I'm half expecting grandma to call my cell at 1 am asking how to fix something. I wrote out & went over instructions on using each remote, so hopefully she'll be okay.


Okay, back to stitching on Fat Cat in the hopes that I might finish sometime before Sukkot. Good night all,
K

Falafel finds and finishing fiends

Today's adventure was trying a new restaurant for lunch. To preface this: usually I work in the HQ of my company, which is a sprawling building about 15 minutes (by car) from my home, but every so often I get very bored of my suburb and schlep into the Manhattan office. Lucky me - my boss doesn't care where I work as long as the work gets done. Today one of my coworkers happened to also be working from the NYC office, and he suggested trying this new vegetarian falafel place by Union Square. Sometimes fried foods aren't kosher-friendly since they could be friend in animal-based products, but I figured a vegetarian place wouldn't use animal products so I'd be safe. Happily when we got there, a framed Teudat Kashrut was prominently displayed beside the door. I was so happy that I could order whatever I wanted guilt free! Cheap falafel has the potential to be either amazing or terrible, but luckily this place makes delicious, and really good side salads too. So now I have my new go-to lunch spot in the city - yay!

I got a lot of stitching done over the weekend - well Sunday really - as there was a Kim Possible marathon... I'm working on Fat Cat by Ewe & Eye & Friends, and I've finished the whole top alphabet part, and now just have to finish up the cat that takes up the bottom half. I'm not sure why I got this pattern in the first place, since I'm such a dog person. Also I'm using the recommended DMC colors and in bad lighting (well the lighting I stitch under) it looks like lots of different browns - and I hate brown. One of the two bulbs in my light fixture burned out, and I've been meaning to replace them both with the new CFL bulbs I bought, so I wonder if that added light will be enough to improve the color quality. If not I'll find someone with a cat to gift it to :)

Next up will probably be Bent Creek's month snappers, I've done most of them on Aida but after seeing them stitched on one long piece of Linen at The Lazy Daisy Stitchery, my LNS, I ordered a large piece of Linen and plan to do them again. What the heck, they were quick the first time around! I figure if I switch between that and the JBW pumpkin and pear designs I'm stitching, the sense of accomplishment from the smaller finishes will keep be from giving up on the big project. Plus the JBW ones are very season appropriate, especially for Sukkot. Actually, it would be really good if I could finish the JBW by Sukkot - my grandma's coming to stay by us for the first days of the holiday, and she's seen me stitching the pear over the summer so she'd probably enjoy seeing me finish it finally.