"We're in a slow down"

The title of this post is courtesy of President Bush. I reckon "slow down" is a technical economic term.

Here's what I know: milk and gas are now almost the same price. My grocery bill has tripled and I'm buying less. Sam's Club and Costco are rationing rice. But the other day I ran across an even bigger concern:

http://www.dmc.fr/mjRS/3/doc/Communiques/en/press_release_24_april_2008.pdf

I can only hope that DMC is just taking a moment and restructuring their company and not going completely out of business. A friend pointed out that the store that shall not be named's no longer stocking of DMC might possibly have had a huge impact on the sales of DMC in the USA.

I don't know anyone that has stopped buying DMC because it's no longer available at the store who shall not be named but I do know that for me, instead of buying 10-20 skeins every time I walked in the door, because I always have a list in my purse, my purchases of DMC are now limited to trips to AC Moore or JoAnn's and those occur less frequently than my trips to the store who shall not be named and I still only spend my allotted DMC amount on each trip which is usually $5. So where at one time I was spending $5-10 a week on DMC(because it's really easy to sneak in a few extra dollars of DMC in with the groceries) because really I'm always kitting something up, I'm down to about $5 a week, if that, because DMC is 35¢ a skein at AC Moore and JoAnn's. So if I stay within my DMC budget I'm not only spending less per month on DMC but I'm also buying fewer skeins of floss. So even as dedicated a DMC user as me, someone who sees it as a weekly purchase if possible, my purchases are down. Not so much from a financial aspect but as an accessibility issue.

I do know that I am going to start stocking up on DMC like never before. I have several projects that I want to kit up so instead of waiting until I'm almost ready to start them, I will be hoarding up DMC just in case.

DMC is one of those constants in my life. It has never once crossed my mind that there might be a world without DMC. Are we going to be stuck using off brand floss, purchased in those multiskein packages? Talk about worst nightmare. If I can't afford gas or groceries, I always thought I'd at least be able to stitch-it's also one of the reasons I have never let go of aida, it's affordable, I don't want to be miserable stitching so the luxury of being a fabric snob is one I have never allowed myself, I can always afford aida(yes, I love linen, really good linen but aida, it's my friend). But the idea that stitching would always be an affordable hobby even in hard times, that's looking bleak now. My blame may be misplaced but now as I see it there's another reason to dislike the store who shall not be named. Will my town ever get their own Target so it's not the only game in town?

Let the DMC hoarding begin......

Rockin' the Needle

Sometimes when a BAP just never seems to get finished it's good to put the stitchin' in perspective by thinking small. The other day I was browsing a group on flickr.com and ran across Minipop Cross Stitch - a photoset on Flickr--then I found--Mötley Crüe on Flickr - Photo Sharing! So then I wandered over to Rubykhan's inspiration: Flip Flop Flyin' I decided that I needed a bit of small in my life right now. Below you see my version of the Crüe in cross stitch. You can click on the picture for a larger view, the tats might show up a little better. Yeah, I know they are only Xs but still.



Decade of Decadence and Dr. Feelgood are always in rotation on my CD player, The Heroin Diaries, read cover to cover of course.


I decided I don't like charting things out, even things this small. I did have fun trying to personalize the guys. I used DMC Rayon in blue for Nikki's headband, purple for Mick's headband and jacket trim, red for Vince's pants, and used DMC Metallic E130 Jewel Effects for the tattoos and silver metallic for Nikki's belt. I also used DMC Color Variations 90, to try to give Vince some highlights(yeah, it doesn't really have much effect when you are using maybe ten stitches total--but I tried). Trying to personalize something this small wasn't easy but I think I did alright. Below, my feeble attempt at charting.

Things have been a bit stressful so it was kind of fun to sit down, chart out something and then actually stitch it in a day. I really needed this tiny little finish. Not sure what I will do with them. Probably make them into a shelf pillow, it can hang out with The Heroin Diaries. I do need to find some seriously rockin' fabric though. Another thought is making it into a journal cover.

Major thanks to rubykhan for the inspiration.

It Didn't Happen

But I'm going to post anyway. What didn't happen you ask? I have yet to finish 13th Colony Bay. I made a promise to myself not to post until I finished that honkin' big piece of needlework and well, let's just say, my promise went the way of my New Year's resolutions. So here I am blogging because I missed it. A LOT.



So what's been going on other than not completing 13th Colony Bay? I'm driving a lot. A whole frakkin' lot. And yeah, I overdosed on BSG while the family was all home on Spring Break. The final season premiered last Friday. I'm so glad Sci-Fi put BSG back on Friday nights. The spousal unit did not care for BSG when it was revitalized a few years ago. He liked the campy 1970s version, so did I, but when BSG is on for 10 hours a day, there's a wife in control of the remote as it's the four days of the month that you really don't want to mess with her, well one learns to feel the love for BSG. He's a fan now.



Back to the driving, two sons have jobs, one son has two jobs. We aren't buying him a car, I'm not giving him mine as there are other people in the house, the aforementioned other brother with a job and a younger brother who has an active social life and running club, who depend on me to get them where they need to be so I am a taxi without the benefits of a paycheck. Also, I did my time as a one car family, being stuck in the house with kids, 12 hours a day. I've earned the right to my car. It sucks beyond belief but the goal is to keep the 20 yr employed so he can save for a car. The other son, the middle son will have the money saved to purchase a car in about two months, the older son has been employed for over a year and doesn't have a dime. It's going to really suck to be him when DS#2 has a car. He justifies not having the money saved because he can't sit at home and be antisocial, it's just not who he is. Well he's going to be someone who is 30 and still doesn't have a car while his younger brother is driving all over the place whenever he wants to.



So far this week I have walked four miles a day everyday since Saturday afternoon. My friends Andrea and Pam have been walking with me at 5:15 a.m.(a.k.a. butt crack of dawn). When Andrea gets home from work we do another mile or two. Andrea told me this morning she was really proud of how I have stuck to this and I very honestly told her that how can I stay in bed when I know she and Pam are walking and talking about me and I miss all the local gossip. So I have no choice, if they are walking so am I. Period. Sometimes being nosey can be good for one big behind. At least I hope it pays off in the next few months.



Another perk of walking every morning being able to pass out on the couch when I come in the door at 6:10. I can then do You Tube searches guilt free. One that never fails to amuse me is:



YouTube - 1-900-NERD-GIRL



I can't remember what search term I typed in that led to the discovery of Nerd Girl but it cracks me up especially when my feet and calves are throbbing because Andrea thinks it's important to sprint occaisionally.



Thanks to this blog:





things I've made



I've become obsessed with embroidery. I find myself browsing flickr searching for really cool embroidered whatevers and this is currently my favorite(see link below) and I can't seem to find the vintage pattern anywhere. I love the idea of embroidery, I don't mind stitching it, but my whole indecisive Libra personality kicks in when it's time to choose colors on my own, to decide what stitches to use. A piece of embroidery pretty much takes me as long as a cross stitch piece, just because I can't decide if I'm using the right shade of pink or green or blue. But I love embroidery and want embroidery every fabric covered surface.



His & Hers on Flickr - Photo Sharing!



This song makes me cry, I love it so much:



YouTube - Sara Evans-No Place That Far



This song reminds me why I had a crush on Glenn Frey when I was in high school:

YouTube - Glenn Frey - Part of Me, Part of You * fixed it....now you get some Glenn Frey......

And this, this was the spousal unit and my song when we were dating:

YouTube - Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You: Relaid Audio

Maybe some pictures tomorrow if the sun will shine, not that that in any way improves my picture quality, but it does seem to help.

** I know Anna is horrified at the horrible grammar in this post. I wrote it fast and just now caught the wrong link issue.....I need to learn to proofread......