Having had coffee a little bit late in the day, staying up is the result! Not too bad either as I am at least not only up, but awake….doesn;t always happen that way when you have fibro etc etc. So many times the fog rolls in when the eyes open.

PC Stitch Pro is a cross stitch program that allows you to create charts digitally and it is so much fun to play with! Of course, if you are not basically a cross stitcher it is easy to make gorgeous charts that are not EVER going to be stitched(unless you think there is a BIGGGG market for charts that make T Wentzler look simple.lol) At any rate, some time ago i also purchased three books from Ruth Kern on cross stitch that are collections of antique designs put together by a Valerie LeJeune. Wonderful books and wonderful charts! Also, in the last few days I joined the cross stitch group over at Stitchin Fingers. The group is in the beginning statges of organizing a small card swap.
AHA she says………..a small motif from one of the Valerie;s books, good practice! What a bunch of lessons.

1. if you want to blend thread, test them together before using on your piece.
2.count, and then count a couple more times before making that first row of stitches.
3. think twice before deciding something is easy enough for you to do………..
4. i love complete coverage, but 3 strands is still too much for 14 count aida.

Hopefully this motif stitching will look good enough to use as a swap.

Of course it will be scanned and blogged when a little further along.

Also joined the 100 seams in 200 days..late but it’s ok…what a hopeful person I am….roflmao…one cup of coffee and the whole world seems do-able.

Tonight was surprisingly quiet considering it is the night before July 4th. Traditionally there are backyard fireworks for hours. Not tonight though.Good thing too, cause the pups would have been barking at every single pop!

Here’s the chart that i ended up making :

This is a block that i made a very long time ago and couldn;t figure out what to do with….so i finally decided to send it around to the Sewbuds group and see what all my talented sisters could come up with! Oh my, the stitching is wonderful. I have two scans to see, one without printing, and one with printing to show who did what. There is one seam that I don;t know who did it….it’s the one on the upper left that goes diagonal down the side of the block. I love this stitching and i love the threads that were used! Of course, click on the pictures and they will open quite large. You may have to click twice.

Here’s the same block with the printing!

Happy 4th of July for those who celebrate it!
In gassho
kaethejean

QANTAS 737-800 VH_VXB to Brisbane-01+

Originally uploaded by cindytoo

I love this airplane! How cool!

Young Bloom of Gaillardia aristata

Originally uploaded by Rainer Fritz

Rainer Fritz is at it again with his superb flower photography!

Well, I have sort of given up and started with the detailed lists again, along with timers to remind me when it is time to stop and do something else. This is especially necessary when i am at rest, as i have a big ball of inertia that wraps around my knees and goes up to my brain……….lol….I am also seriously considering taking advantage(if i can) of a wellness program offered by a local physical therapists office. What I really need is the elliptical machine and some supervised time doing some good stretches. It is 25$ a month and hopefully i will be able to do it.

I read in the news that the price of rice world wide is due to go up, and fairly drastically at that. IT is such a basic staple that I can;t imagine how already poorer than poor people around the world, and in the US as well are going to be able to deal with it….between gas prices and every increasing food prices people will be eating nothing but bread if they can even get it. I stocked up on lentils today a little bit since they are one of the main things i eat, along with rice and wheat berries.

I havbe finally called it DONE! A rectangular piece that was started way back when. All i need to do is scan the seams and then put the backing on it so that it can be a neck pillow. I will be happy to have it done, and to see it on the bed.

Have been busy designing some cross stitch and having a ball.

Here’s a freebie chart(color blocks that should print out at 7 inches square. It is for a 4 by 4 inch coaster and is fully covered with stitches. I really like my cloth covered!

Another Hooter !!

Originally uploaded by Picture Taker 2

I thought this was such a clear and wonderful photo of this beautiful owl….what a subject for embroidery…the light is so good!

I am having some real trouble sticking to a schedule that i set. It seems my body has it’s own ideas of when to get up and when to stop whatever i am doing. However, I have noticed that i am not able to sit quietly and concentrate for very long. I don;t know if this is connected to the instantaneousness of surfing the web, my meds, or simply that i have not deepened my practice enough to tame the monkeys.

I have started to work on a small piece of cross stitch that i started when working…it was too hard to keep count of where i was while getting up and down all the time at work, so now, i am enjoying just doing it. I like my cross stitch completely filled, ie, no background fabric showing, unless the cross stitch is combined with Hardanger for instance. Aimee(sp)Bishop designs some lovely hardanger and used small cross stitch motifs with it.

When i get the little piece finished i will scan and blog it.

I have also started reading Nagarjuna, an early Indian Buddhist writer who is credited as being the most important thinker in Buddhism after the historical Buddha. I must say, it is not easy to make sense of when the mind is mired in western thought patterns.

Dainin Katagiri has a book that was published posthumously called Being Time. It is wonderful and deals with some very core ideas. I am thrilled to be reading it. The Nagarjuna was suggested as the basis for the ideas in Katagiri, but I am finding that i understand the Katagiri more easily. i suspect it will help me understand the Nagarjuna better.

in gassho
kaethejean

アジサイ/Hydraｎgea

Originally uploaded by nobuflickr

Isn;t this just beautiful!

I am so glad that i had comments turned off as i have 64 comments in the spam queue from last night to today! Can you imagine…all those people wanting to make some money and not caring who or how many people they annoy , offend, or disrupt. What a shame to waste this life like that.

Sat zazen this morning at the zen center, then ate alittle breakfast, cleaned up and did some work on cleaning up some zafus. I really enjoy doing odds and ends around the center(assuming I can do them physically). They are never big things, the satisfaction meter pegs none-the-less. When you are not selling your labor power as a commodity in exchange for the money to go back to work again……lol…welll, then work becomes pleasure…doing thiongs that are productive, that help in some small way to ease the workload of someone else…well, that is when working for the sake of working is at ithighest form.

in gassho

I have been practicing a bit now(practice in the way that buddhism talks about practice) and have tried hard NOT to come to the conclusion that i am a lousy buddhist all the way around. The reason that i entered practice to begin with was not only broad and specific agreement with the precepts, but also to see if i could operate from my original nature and not from all the accumulated baggage of the years. Needless to say this is proving very difficult and even though i know in my bones it really is an all day every day lifelong effort, i wish sometimes that there was more congruity between the inside and the outside.

in gassho
kaethejean

Well, here it is, I am almost 60(next month) and this year was an intersting one, full of changes,growth and realizations.Also, my blogging attempt was miserable, but perhaps it will be more possible this year to use the blog in meaningful ways.

Ok, lost my job, went on disability….not an easy or assured process, and wouldn;t you know, they haven;t sent a check yet, but they did manage to mail out the program particulars for”Ticket to Work.” It’s some sort of partnership program that supposedly helps you find a job. And the carrot that got waved is that as long as you are working with the program they won;t review your medical records. Those reviews are probably as much of stress builder as the initial processing.

HAve been trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to get some decent sleep habits. Overcoming years of shift work(rotation on all three shifts) has been difficult. As a youngster even i was a night person…..lol…used to stay up all night reading. My body tends to want to wake up about 10:30 pm and I get sleepy about 5 am.. how’s that for skewed! Of course, if i just sweat it out as much as possible, they say it takes only 8 weeks to change and make a habit. Getting enough sleep is one of the keys to lowering pain levels and boy is that a challenge!

Well, good wishes to all.
kaethejean

Cygnus

Originally uploaded by garota60

this person is an amzing emroideress….do check out her flickr photo stream!

Little Apple

Originally uploaded by walking along

Be sure to click on this as it will take you to the flcikr page where you can read a fascinating description of the plant.

So far this has been a wonderful day…quiet and in some way reverential. LIving each moment fully is not as easy as it might seem to be….I have to get control of my mind and live with a certain sense of intention and spontaneity at the same time. To do the next thing and understand that everything is my life, everything is me, nothing is a burden unless I make it one-that also requires a concious letting go of the stories I habitually use to get through the day and define

myself. In fact,it seems to me that letting go of self-definition is what frees me to meet the moment as it is, to be open to whatever happens and stand on the ground

of the moment.

in gassho

kaethejean