Answers to The Movie Quiz

1. Grosse Pointe Blank - Love this movie. Love the soundtrack (both volumes). I love this movie so much I can almost quote the entire thing. Sometimes those quotes randomly work themselves into my every day conversation. Once, a salesperson asked me what I did for a living. "Professional killer" almost slipped out. LOL

2. 10 Things I Hate About You - Another awesome soundtrack. Fantastic movie. Don't automatically dismiss it as a teen movie. It's quite clever.

3. Mystery, Alaska - Two words. Russell Crowe. I love Russell Crowe.

4. Pretty Woman - A classic.

5. Love, Actually - Fascinating story, wonderful editing.

6. Billy Madison - Another movie I can quote from beginning to end, and often do. Don't ask. It's a sickness. And inevitably, my answer to the question "What's today?" is "October?"

7. A Beautiful Mind - Another Russell Crowe, but it's still an incredible movie. Even once you know what the plot twist is, it still manages to make you believe.

8. How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days - Saw this in the theater and laughed so hard I almost hyperventilated. Bought it on DVD the day it came out

9. Empire Records - Another rockin soundtrack, and highly quotable movie. "Veeeee-to!" has been uttered on more than one occasion.

10. The Princess Bride - So much fun to watch

11. Center Stage - Sasha Radetsky. If you don't know who he is, you should. Another movie I saw in the theater and bought the day it came out.

12. Playing By Heart - Gillian Anderson, Sean Connery, Jon Stewart, Jay Mohr, Anthony Edwards, Gena Rowlands and more. Incredible cast, extremely watchable, and how can any Sean Connery movie be bad?

13. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - I've loved this movie since jr. high. It's also one of DH's favorite movies. But we're irreverant like that....

14. Sex and the City Movie - Saw it in the theater, but only after reading spoilers to make sure Carrie and Big ended up together.

15. The Wedding Date - Debra Messing and Dermott Mulroney. Hot, hot, hot.

A movie quiz

I spotted this fun little quiz on both Mindy and Dianne's blogs, so I played along with theirs and made up my own. If you know any of them, leave a quote in the comments.

The rules are as follows:
1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.
5. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.

If you don't know what IMDB is, definitely check it out. It's one of my favorite sites!

And here come the quotes!

1. Where ya been these last ten years?
Yeah, where ya been, "Marv"?
Ya look great!
Thanks. I work at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Ya do not!
I do! I sell biscuits and gravy all over the southland.
You're so funny.
He's a funny guy.

2. Hello, Katarina. Make anyone cry today?
Sadly, no. But it's only 4:30.

3. A Zamboni? Wow, I'm getting wet just thinkin' about it.

4. Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.

5. I've come here with a view of asking you to marriage me. I know I seems an insane person - because I hardly knows you - but sometimes things are so transparency, they don't need evidential proof. And I will inhabit here, or you can inhabit with me in England.

6. what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

7. So what's your story? You the poor kid that never got to go to Exeter or Andover?
Despite my privileged upbringing, I'm actually quite well-balanced. I have a chip on both shoulders.

8. If you are gonna name my... member, you have to name it something hyper masculine. Something like Spike, or Butch, or Krull the Warrior King!

9. Well "Sinead O'Rebellion." Shock me shock me shock me with that deviant behavior.
God, that is so clever. I swear you get smarter the shorter your skirt gets.

10. Have fun stormin' da castle.
Think it'll work?
It would take a miracle.

11. I do ballet because it has nothing to do with the people. Give me tiaras and boys in tights any day.

12. Talking about love is like dancing about architecture

13. Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

14. Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours

15. Well thank you for including me in this timeless feminine ritual. Here's to the husbands who've won you, the losers who've lost you, and the lucky bastards who've yet to meet you.

Have you recently posted "Wee Cradle" by The Workbasket?

Someone just stitched and finished this piece and posted a lovely picture of it, but for the life of me, I cannot find the blog it was on. I saw it within the last 2 days, but after spending quite a bit of time looking for it again, I cannot find it.

I wasn't that excited about the piece when I saw it on the Workbasket site, but when I saw the finished project "The Mystery Stitcher" posted, I thought it was just gorgeous, especially the cursive font used for the name.

If this is you, or you know who it is, please, please, please let me know!! Thanks!

EDITED TO ADD: Found it! Or rather, Ruth Rachel pointed me in the right direction - straight to her blog. You've got to see how she stitched this up. It's just adorable!

SBQ: Threads

8/7/08: What do you do to your thread clippings? Do you just scrap them or do you use them in something else? (submitted by Outi)

May I present my ort jar?

I've posted this before, but this is a picture taken a few months ago of my ort jar, a repurposed candy jar. It contains most of the thread clippings from almost 5 years worth of stitching. A small bit was taken out as an experiment with our local wild birds to see if they would be interested in using the threads for their nests. They were not, so I stopped offering. And the clippings from the wedding record piece DH and I stitched for ourselves are inside a glass ornament that gets hung on our Christmas tree. Which means most of the rest of the clippings are in that jar, and pretty tightly packed in there.

I don't know what I'll do when I just can't pack any more in there. Probably cap that jar, put it on a shelf and start a new one.

And yes, I do gather up my clippings when I travel and put them in the jar when I get home.

PS - Some people say that ORT stands for "old raggedy / ratty threads". Anna contends that its meaning stems from the Middle English / Low German use of the word, a small bit or left over scrap, usually from a meal.

Seven more Brilliant Blogs

Since Claire was kind enough to bestow the Brilliant award on my blog, I have another opportunity to possibly introduce you to some additional blogs you may not know about.

First off, I'd like to award two gallery type blogs that have been sources of ideas, tips, techniques and freebies for me for a while.

• Freebie Gallery


• World's Largest Collection of Smalls

Managed by Carol (Garden of Stitches), these are definitely blogs worth checking out, but don't blame me if you end up spending hours and hours and hours on them! :-) Blame Carol for keeping them so nicely organized, and the amazing stitchers that contribute their work.

And now for a few more blogs I enjoy reading:

• The Betsy Ross Experience


• Stitches with Camels


• Incoherent Scribblings


• Chiloe's Corner


• JennX-Stitch
  

Guess what was in the mail for me yesterday?

Less than a WEEK after I placed the order, my kit arrived from the UK! How's THAT for service??? I ordered from Sew and So, and not only did I get almost immediate confirmation when I ordered the kit, but they sent me a shipping confirmation when the chart went out (the day after I ordered it). It was nicely packaged in a sturdy envelope, so there were no bends or folds or anything. I would absolutely order from them again and recommend them to anyone. After my experience with the other store, I am so glad Sew and So came through. My only minor complaint was that shipping was almost $8 US, much higher than the other online store I ordered from, but with service like that, it's hard to complain.

So now I have to start stitching away on it so it's ready to personalize when the baby gets here. My friend is due in early September, so I want to have the bulk of the piece completed. I'm also going to do some re-arranging in the center section to be able to include the time of birth and the length. I think I have plenty of room to play around in there, especially if I take out the words "Born" and "Weight".

I also have to get in touch with my new LNS to find out if I Do has arrived yet. I asked them to order it 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard from them yet, so I might have to give them a little nudge. I know the owner is out recovering from surgery and the store is being run by part time staff, but I still need to get this piece stitched up in time for the wedding which is a month away.

Another award, and more blogs for you to check out!

Olga, whose stitching and and finishing I greatly admire, has very kindly bestowed the Brillante Weblog award to me. If you haven't been to Olga's Blog, you absolutely must check it out! She does beautiful work, and had she not given the award to me, I would have been sorely tempted to give it to her.



The rules for this award:
1. Put the logo on your blog;
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you;
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;
4. Add links to those blogs on yours;
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

And my nominees are:

• A Joyous Place
• Stitchyangel's Treasures
• In Stitches
• Eye of the Needle
• Flosslady's Stitching Blog
• X Marks My Spot
• Stitchful Thinking

I got my money back

Yesterday, I got an email from both Paypal and the company I ordered from. Paypal informed me my money had been refunded, and I received the following email from Stitch1Knit1:

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for your recent order.

We regret that the item you ordered is out of stock and is no longer
available from our supplier. We have issued a full refund to your
payment card.

Pleasae accept our apologies for any dissapointment caused.

Regards,
Guy
STITCH1KNIT1

While it would have been really nice to know this six weeks ago, at least I got my money back, and was able to order the kit from SewExciting. (I hope this is a better experience). What sucks is that between the conversion rate and the higher shipping cost at SewExciting, the kit has gone from costing me $19 to $26. Oh well. Not much I can do. At least they refunded my payment. Too bad I had to go through Paypal to get it done.

And a very special thanks to Sally, who offered to call Stitch1Knit1 for me.

Giving out awards

There's been a few awards making the rounds lately, and I've been seeing quite a few blog entries that say, "Thanks to So-and-so for giving me this award, but I am going to break the rules and not give it to anyone else because I love everyone / I can't pick just 5 / most people have already gotten it / I have a whole list in my blogroll".

Fair enough. Those are all valid reasons, not to mention you're avoiding potentially hurting someone's feeling because you didn't give them an award. But sometimes, when considering to pass on said awards, I think we focus a little too much on the negative aspects and forget about the good things. For instance, how nice did it feel to get a comment or an email from someone telling you they thought enough of you, your work, and your blog to give you an award? Really nice, right? Made your day? Made you feel appreciated? Let you know people are listening to what you say, and perhaps find you inspirational? How nice would it be to pass on that feeling to someone else?

And let's not forget the social networking aspect of blogging. LNSs are closing left and right, designers are going out of business, and it can be hard to find local stitching communities. Thankfully, we have the Internet, from which we can not only acquire stash, but inspiration, encouragement, and friendships as well. The Internet is what helps so many of us stay connected to our craft and to our fellow stitchers, and those links have to be maintained and expanded. The more links we can add to our our networks, the stronger the community becomes.

Why not put out a few new links every now and again for your readers to follow, and help them discover new blogs, new techniques, new designers, etc., for themselves? I personally have found tons of ideas and inspiration from all the blogs I read, and I feel good being able to share them with others. Yes, I know a lot of bloggers maintain a blogroll or a list of links in their sidebars, but with so many people using readers (myself included), it's likely that visits to your actual blog are rare. There may not be as many people checking out your blogroll as you think.

I don't mind picking a few blogs from the many I read and highlighting them in a post. It takes me just a few short minutes, and I feel it's a wise investment of my time if I can make one person feel good, or help someone else find a new blog they may not have been familiar with. I don't think it matters if the award has been given before, and if someone's feelings are hurt because they didn't get an award, then perhaps it should say something to them about making a bigger impression on the blogging community.

I feel so bad when people put themselves and their blogs down because they think nobody is reading them and are contemplating closing them. I feel for new bloggers when they are unsuccessful trying to break into the community and generate some traffic to their blog. It's not much fun when you put yourself and your work out there, and nobody seems to care because nobody knows how to find you, or even that you exist.

I didn't single anyone out because we're all busy with lives outside the cross stitch and online worlds, and it's not my place to tell anyone else how to handle their blog. But I do urge you, that the next time you get an award, to consider passing it on and highlighting a few of the blogs you read in a post. A little care and nurturing in the blogging community can really go a long way towards helping not only stay alive, but thrive.

It's been a very long time since I've done some SBQs

Would you believe it's been since APRIL? Wow! I didn't think it had been that long! I guess I have some catching up to do.

7/11/08: How do you balance your stitching time with your other obligations such as work, household chores, etc.?

I don't really have trouble balancing stitching with other obligations. I stitch when I can, usually at night. I find it relaxing and somewhat meditative. I always take stitching with me on vacation, even when DH and I are traveling place to place. When we stay in hotels, I like to spend a little while before I go to bed stitching. I guess I like that little bit of consistency.

And I guess the other big thing is that we don't have children yet. Some of my friends and family members who have children say I better stitch all I can now because I won't have time once we have a baby, and I sincerely hope that's not the case. Maybe this is a non-parent saying this, but I really do think you need to make time for yourself as an adult, as your own person, once you have a child, even if it's just a few minutes a day. I've seen people who allow their entire life to be dictated by their children, and I think it just burns them out very quickly. If you don't do something for yourself to recharge your batteries, how can you continue to do for other people?

Thankfully, I've been involved in the stitching / blogging community, and I know a lot of you are both stitchers and parents of children of all ages, from newborns to teenagers and up. I know it is possible to continue stitching without neglecting your children, and to continue pursuing a hobby that brings you joy (and much needed relaxation.) I want to say thank you to all you parents who demonstrate that your entire life doesn't have to be consumed by your kids!

~~~~~~~~~~

6/18/08: Do you currently subscribe to any stitching publications or have you in the past? (Either in print or online) If so, which ones?

I don't subscribe to any publications at all. Occasionally I will flip through magazines in the bookstore, but the only ones I've ever been tempted to purchase are the JCS Christmas Ornament ones. In fact, I wish I discovered those sooner! I only started buying them last year, and it's something I'll definitely continue.

I refuse to buy the stitching magazines that are sealed up without knowing what's in them. I think they're just too expensive to just buy without knowing what you're getting into, and most of the time, there isn't a pattern in any magazine that makes me say, "I MUST OWN THIS NOW".

~~~~~~~~~~

5/18/08: Do you ever get to a point working on a project that you’ve had for so long, you start to wonder what possessed you to start it in the first place? (Submitted by Jan)

I can't say that I have. I usually make myself try to finish things so they're not sitting around forever (Yeah, right. Who am I kidding? LOL) No, seriously. I do try to finish things up. The trick is to not start any huge projects. I obsess and obsess and obsess over things before I pick them, so usually when I buy something, I'm really in love with it and am excited about working on it. Usually. Sometimes things do fall by the wayside.

I must admit, I do own some Dimensions kits that I can't figure out why I got them or what I plan on doing with them if and when I stitch them. They're from my early days of stitching, and I think I've gotten a little more sophisticated (for lack of a better word) with stitching where I prefer to take on more complicated projects than some of the early purchases. And most of the Dimensions kits I have are on 14 ct. Aida, which I don't really like to stitch on as much any more (I prefer stitching over 2 on evenweaves or linens)