Me and Barack, a stupid mistake and a stitching update

I was fortunate enough to have my photo taken with Barack Obama on Tuesday. Friends of ours hosted an inauguration party on Tuesday morning, complete with champagne toasts and lots of red, white and blue party stuff. It was a lot of fun sharing this occasion with like minded friends. It was painful listening to the swearing in though. Ouch! How could that happen?

Now...for my stupid mistake. Look what I did to my new R&R overdyed linen. See the nice white splotch? How did I do that? Don't ask, it's too embarrassing. Depending on the light, I sometimes can see the splotch from the other side. Don't know if I want to use this fabric for its intended purpose now. I have to give it some time so I don't feel so bad about what happened.

Because of this, I didn't start my new piece and decided to stitch another ornament. I did several ornaments in December and they aren't "finished" yet, so I decided to stitch my January ornie for the 2009 Christmas Challenge. Maybe I can finish stitching it today.

Chose this one in honor of U. S. Figure Skating Championships, being held this week in Cleveland.
Wish I could make it up there to see some fantastic skating! Watch for TV coverage this weekend on NBC.

I'm still here!

I have been stitching away but don't have any good photos yet. I should be done with 2 or 3 small pieces this week which I will post on later. I need to increase my stitching speed. I never have used my stitching frame for small projects, but it might be a good time to do so. And I want to get some Q-Snaps. I also need to set aside some time to finish and frame. I think once I get into the habit of actually sewing up ornaments and other small things, it won't be so hard for me to get going. Just need practice.

I can't believe the election was just a week ago. Seems like forever. I don't want to turn people off because of my political views, but I am absolutely thrilled with the results of the election. McCain is a good man, but I am a life long Democrat and I was totally taken with Obama (after my initial letdown that Hillary wouldn't be running).

I worked at my precinct polling place on Nov. 4. It was only busy very early in the morning when we had a line waiting at the door at 6:30 a.m. Many people voted early and it probably wasn't even necessary to do that. Wouldn't you know that the very first person in line was not on our poll list, even though she should have been! She was able to vote provisional though, only 1 of 4 people that had to do so in our precinct.

We had an observer there all day long. I felt sorry for her because she didn't get paid like poll workers do and she hadn't brought much food with her. We were not to accommodate observers, except to give them a chair and answer questions as needed. At times I felt like she was stepping out of bounds and it was awkward because I have known this person for many years.

Over the weekend I went out of town with my husband to a mountain bike race called the "Iceman Cometh." There were 3000 bikers, including my DH, who did very well. He was disappointed he didn't make the podium, but he didn't need to be. He is in great shape for a 56 year old. We were in the Traverse City area of Michigan and it was lovely.

Overlooking Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes

DH in spandex (and ancient eyeglasses) and me at the Iceman