Hockey Update #2

Well, the Silver Sticks tournament is over and Matthew's team won the championship. The score was 4-3. They played strong through the first half of the game, for mid-second period the score was 4-0...then they seem to stop playing and was very close to loosing the game. This win means that they earn a spot in the Silver Stick finals which is in Sarnia Ontario (a couple of hours outside of Detriot on the Canadian side) in the middle of January. Uggg...I haven't been submitted to winter weather and freezing cold temperatures in over 5 years - since I moved from Minnesota. Oh, well - he is excited.

Well, the Thanksgiving break is over and tomorrow we start back into the routine - school for the boys and work for Steve and I. The week will bring some travel for Steve - to Atlanta for a board meeting and then to Las Vegas with Robert for their Silver Stick tournament. I will stay back with Matthew...it will be nice to have that time at home. He and I can work on getting the snowmen out and the tree up so that it will look festive in our house. Both boys are looking forward to tomorrow, when they can start opening their advent calendars.

It is 8:30pm here - the bewitching hour...or lights out time for the boys and maybe an opportunity to get a little stitching done while I wait for the laundry to finish drying.

Typealzed my blog

What does my blog (so far) say about me? Well according to http://www.typealyzer.com/ - my blog indicates that I am The Artist - "The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attunded their inner values and what other people need. Theya re not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of. They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living."

Hockey Update #1

I am up at 4:30am this morning in order to have some "me" time, consisting of catching up on emails, facebook and my new blog...and get in a couple of hours on the exercycle and maybe a few tugs at the x-stitch needle. As soon as the clock strikes the hour of 7am, the house will need to start to come alive.

This is the first hockey update of the day and I am assuming that there will be more towards the evening. Matthew's team won the semi-finals game and is headed to the Championship later this morning. They beat a team from Peoria, AZ...for the second time on Saturday; the first time the score was 2-0, the second game was 2-1. It was a good game, Matthew was moved to the 2nd line playing with some of the older kids; which we are excited about as he has been working hard and skating fast. However, in the second game we noticed that that line was skipped over a couple of times, so we are not sure if moving from the 3rd line to the 2nd was a good thing or not. We will have to wait and see. Our philosophy is, as parents, not to get too involved in the coaches' decision regarding our children's game play time - for if they work hard they should be rewarded. So far that is what we have done...with both our boys.

Today they will be playing the California Cougars, which are team in their league. They have played them several times in the season...can't remember off the top of my head if they won, lost or tied this team. However, if they do win todays game they will be invited to the finals in Sarnia Ontario in the middle of January. This is the tricky part for a parent...on one hand we want them to win the tournament and to witness the smile of accomplishment on their face; on the other hand, we wish them well and will have the box of tissues to dry their tears, as we secretly hope they loose and we can stay home in our warm state.

WIP and Hockey Update

Current WIP

Here is what I am working on right now. The design is called "Shoo Fly", from the collection of Connie's Quilts by Cross Stitch Destiny. I found it during one of my visits at my favorite store in Alameda, CA called Needle in a Haystack. Technically, the design is for one of these "Shoo Fly" patterns, but I have decided to repeat the design in difference color groups. The different stitches and the repeating pattern, makes for a nice project to take with me to the hockey rink.

I am stitching it on a piece of 28ct evenweave fabric. And using DMC thread.

The color combinations I am using are:

- Purple (333,209,211)

- Blue (797, 799, 3756)

- Green (700, 703, 369

- Red (321, 335, 3326)

- Orange (720, 722, 3854)

- Yellow ( 742, 743, 3078)

The hardest combination for me to come up with was Orange and Yellow...yet, Yellow was probably the worse. I stared stitching the lighter stitches before I really had the combo figured out. Hoping to just use what I had in my stash, I found that I was slightly void of yellows and oranges. At this point, I think I will just continue with what I have and finish the yellow. After that one is complete, I will then have to determine where to go with it next. There is room for one more row of 4 on the "bottom" and one more column of 3 on the "left side". But it is the squares between the four colors that I will need to figure something out creative to do (if anyone reading this blog has any ideas, please let me know!)

HOCKEY Update

During the Thanksgiving break, my youngest son (Matthew-9 years old), is on a team who is playing in the Silver Sticks tournament. Yes, Thanksgiving vacation = tournament time for those in ice hockey. Matthew is on the Santa Clara Blackhawks Squirt A team. In the normal season games they are undefeated...and right now in the Silver Sticks tourament they are 2 wins - 0 losses - 1 tie. I was up at 5:45 this morning, getting breakfast for him prepared and his hockey gear packed up. He and Steve (dad/husband) left around 6:45am in order to be in San Jose, CA for the 4th game of the round robin. They are playing a team from Peoria, AZ. Peoria is undefeated in all their 3 games.

I am at home with my older son (Robert - soon to be 13) who is on a AA-tier hockey team - the San Jose Jr. Sharks. They are not playing in this tournament, but his team is having a lot of on-ice and off-ice practices this weekend. He wanted to sleep in this morning (becoming that typical teenager, I guess) - so I stayed home...which also provides me an opportunity to get my exercise in before the rest of the day really gets started.

Well...it is game time, so I will close this entry so that I can log onto the San Jose Jr. Sharks website and find the link to watch the electronic scoresheet of Matthew's game. Got to make sure that the Hockey mom follows the game, even when I am not at the rink!

Past Projects

Ring Pillow #1 - Created for my sister. Stitched on 28ct, design from a JC magazine, used scraps of my bridesmaid's dress for the ruffle. (August 2006)

Ring Pillow #2 - made for a friend's daughter. Double heart design from the same JC magazine as the above ring pillow, but found a different design to use above. Matched the burgundy color of the bridemaids' dresses for the ruffle. (August 2007)

Thank You Book Cover - one of my favorite things to design/stitch is something for my child's teacher for Teacher Appreciation. For the last 10 years, I have been room parent of one, or both, of my sons' classrooms and there is always a Teacher Appreciation Week. Every year I coordinate a thank you book, which consists of a page from each of the kids in the class. They write either a poem or a thank you note and include a drawing. I get each of these laminated and then I bind them in book form, containing a cover which I have designed and stitched. Below is the one I created for my younger child's 3rd grade teacher last year.

A place to start

It is like everything that I do...see something like this, start it and then never really finish. Well...not necessarily. For I do have a lot that I have accomplished in my 41 years - lots of things to be proud of and grateful for.

What got me to start thing (again)? Well, I have been reading a lot of other women's blogs; mainly ones who share an interest in needlework. Aside from my kids, my husband and hockey - needlework is a passion of mine. As a hockey mom, I tend to have alot of sitting time at the rinks - either during a practice or a game - and what better way to relax and pass time then getting out my needlework. To feel the fabric, to work with the thread, to see all the colors and, let's not forget the motion of the actual stitching. It is relaxing. It is about the only way that I can sit still longer than 10 minutes.

So, I hope that if you find my blog (and it has more than this one entry in it) you will enjoy "putting on the shoes" of a Hockey Mom Stitch'in life.