Friday, December 31, 2004

New Year's Resolutions

It is that time - while I do not do this every year, I did have some success with my resolutions last year, so I will give it a go again!


  • #1 - Continue to stay on my low carb diet - allow myself to range up to 40 carbs per day, as long as my weight stays stable. (I had the resolution last year to stay on my diet, and I was successful)

  • #2 - Continue to stitch every day, even if only a small amount (I had this resolution last year, and I was successful)

  • #3 - Say or do something nice for Mike everyday - keep my marriage strong!Bouquet


I have been thinking about purchasing and joining Pam Kellogg's Cupid's Garden Mystery SAL which is followed on the Mystery Bulletin Board. I don't want to use a credit card, though, and the shop selling it doesn't seem to take PayPal :-( Gonna have to give this some real thought....

I am really happy today that the mailman delivered my long-awaited Racing with the Moon DVD. I got it on ebay about a month ago and was getting really concerned about this seller. I loved this movie when I was in college and can't wait to watch it soon!! Anyone else like this neat flick about two young guys enjoying their final days before joining the Marines? I think Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth McGovern all shine in this one. ...But, I am getting concerned about another ebay seller - it has been weeks, but my Adia, the Garden Fairy chart still isn't here...sigh.

Better news, though, is that Paw Prints Cross Stitch emailed me, and they do have The Fortunate Traveler in stock, so I do get the sale price for that (20% off) - just have to wait a couple of days for the DMC Rayon Floss to come in :-)

And, yet another total breakdown - cannot resist that sale at Stitching Bits & Bobs - if you have not visited the site, please do - great sale with everything 25% off, whether in stock or not, until 9 AM on January 3rd - and no, I do not work for them, just think they do a great job - anyhow, I got L&L's Oh, Christmas Tree chart - have wanted it for so long and just got the impulse to get it now! And... on ebay I got Shepherd's Bush's French Heart Kit for only $15.00! I guess I could make another New Year's Resolution to go on a "stash diet," but I just don't want to, so why bother :-)

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Cross Stitch Finishes for 2004

With the year winding down now, and my having no plans to complete anything else this year, here is my list of what I did get done in 2004 (34 total) :



I also took two classes this year - in May I took a class with Catherine Strickler of Indigo Rose at Celebration of Needlework in Nashua, NH - the class was Stella, but I haven't stitched it yet - need time to focus to do all of that drawn thread around the borders :-(. In October I took a class with Betsy Stinner of Earth Threads, which was also sponsored by Celebration of Needlework in N Hampton, NH - the class was Rebecca's Sampler - this one, at least, is on my list to get done in 2005!! At this second, I am feeling ambitious as think I will try to do both this year - I just remembered how gorgeous the Indigo Rose model was at the class!

And, tonight's stitching project is still The Mermaid and the Sea, while tonight's DVD is Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Just picked up a little chart on ebay that caught my eye - although I rarely stitch anything by The Trilogy, I thought that PEACE in all things was really attractive. Surf The Web The mailman delivered two of my orders from Stitching Bits & Bobs. I received the NPI silks for Drawn Thread's Toccata Number Two and the fat quarter of SMF 32 ct Ocean Spray Lugana - now that I see the fabric I can start thinking about what I want to stitch on it :-) It is pretty - paler than I had envisioned, but still very nice!!

Mike had the girls do some work around the house to earn a few dollars, and then he decided to take us all out to dinner at Shorty's Mexican Roadhouse in Manchester, NH. In an exceptionally rare turn of events, I opted to eat some carbs and had the yummy Pollo Fundido. Of course, for me that is a huge shock to my system and I am definitely feeling it now, but is was soooooooooo good! It's OK to treat myself once in a while. I usually eat 30 carbs or less a day. Mexican Restaurant

More guilt - visited Paw Prints Cross Stitch and spent even more money...sigh.... this time on a skein of DMC Rayon Floss (30738) for TW's Harvest Sampler (I don't have this on my 2005 Stitching Goals list, but since I am so busy lately with kitting it up, that I must subconsciously have it there anyhow!!) and also the chart for TW's The Fortunate Traveler. Another chart on my Wish List is secured now! If either of these items are in-stock in the shop, then they are 20% off, so I am hoping they are in-stock :-)

Wednesday, December 29, 2004


Last night I was able to put a few stitches into Bee Garden, and here is a progress pic. I have to stitch it "in hand" since the linen is so tiny. I really don't care much for stitching "in hand," so this project has been put aside soooo many times. But I feel really determined to get back at it since I think it will make a nice box topper to give as a gift to my Mom for Mother's Day - she is a fellow avid gardener. Gardening
I spent several hours today working here on my blog - I put in all my favorite links and put in some fun add-ons as well.Computing Erin came up today to visit with us, so now we have all three nieces here. It is so hectic here with all three rambunctious nieces up now, that I am just trying to keep sane! Now I will put a few stitches into The Mermaid and the Sea tonight - I am doing it on 40 ct and figure it will be good practice to get myself used to the high count again as I will be starting Houses of Hawk Run Hollow on Lakeside Linens 40 ct Pearled Barley Linen on January 1st (God willing, of course!)

How do you all like my sports badge to the right of this post? The pics are of my beloved Ryan Newman of NASCAR (I just love this guy), Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, and the awesome Boston Red Sox celebrating their World Series win this year. I love how it came out, but I have had to fix this about five times now, as it took me a few times to realize that if I uploaded any other photos at all to the hosting site, then those photos became part of my badge.... ugh. I won't be adding any more pictures to that site - I sure don't want to make yet another badge!
I came across the new Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum Christmas free chart a couple of days ago, and was wondering if anybody needed the link? MLI 2004 Christmas Design It sure is a sweet one this year - added it to my MUST DO pile already!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Finally! A Picture of Shimmering Mermaid!!

Shimmering Mermaid is done! I finished her last night, and finally got a picture taken today. She is done on 32 ct Fathom Lugana from Picture This Plus. This fabric has some qualities I liked, but doubt I will use this company again. As you can see, the dye of the fabric is not very appealing - very nice brown splotching towards the top, and then the second half is just blending into brighter blues.... pretty uneven. I love my Shimmering Mermaid nonetheless.... I started her in August, put her aside to work on Mystery VI and some projects for the Silkweaver Stitcher's Showcase - and finally was able to pick her up again around 12/1/04. I see a lot of stitchers do this mermaid on bright fabrics, but being from New England I did mine on fabric that resembles the Atlantic Ocean instead - she is from the New Hampshire seacoast or perhaps Cape Cod...

If you want to see any of my other projects, or my other online albums, please visit My OnLine Albums - would love to have you pay a visit!! The picture of Shimmering Mermaid is actually much better (clearer) over here in my album :-)

It is Tuesday - that is "New DVD Release Day" - so the girls and I ran up to WalMart and picked up Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Resident Evil: Apocalypse - the second of which Mike watched immediately! He loves those mutant, zombie kinda movies!!

With no Shimmering Mermaid to stitch now and still three days to 1/1/05, my planned start date for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow , I put a few stitches in SB's Bee Garden while settling in to watch DVDs with the nieces.

Monday, December 27, 2004


I finished Shimmering Mermaid tonight! I want to take a picture using my husband's camera, so will have to wait until tomorrow to get that done. I knew I could finish this one in 2004!!
The mailman brought fun stash goodies today! Above is a pic from the Silkweaver site showing the gorgeous Cashel solo I received from them today. This fabric is even prettier than I thought it would be! I also received the Bone Jazlyn I need for TW's Harvest Sampler, as well as the Chessie & Me Liberty House Sampler with fabric that I got on ebay - great mail day today!!

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Almost done! Shimmering Mermaid is going to be done late tonight (if I have the endurance) or tomorrow - am now finishing the border. I have to stitch this part in hand as it is too large for my Q-Snap and I am afraid to put it back on my scroll bars with all of those beads on it now - they will end up ascew....no way after all of this work :-)

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Merry Christmas!!

Manger
What a nice day it was today - cold, yes, but no snow, plenty of sun. Was nice to visit with family - went to Mike's mother's home in N. Andover, MA for breakfast, and then to my brother's in Bradford, MA for dinner - good day.

Will have my two eldest nieces, Caitlin and Nicole, up for a few days starting tomorrow afternoon - we will watch the Patriots together and then decide what to do from there. I love having those kiddos around - just gotta figure out how to entertain them at my office on Tuesday and Wednesday since I have a few clients here and there to see.... need a creative idea here....

I had a little bit of stash enhancement today - I was high bidder on ebay for a pretty sampler chart, Honeysuckle Courtyard
by Patricia-Ann Designs. It should make a pretty addition to my stash.

OK, sooooo close now to finishing Shimmering Mermaid! I just have the backstitched border to do, with a couple of gold stitches and a small amount of beading in each corner! I am so psyched!!! Can already picture getting my Houses of Hawk Run Hollow together to start on January 1st!

Friday, December 24, 2004

Santa = Dave the Mailman

Santa came today in the form of Dave, our rural route mailman in his little blue Jeep - Mailman I received SB's Roma's Garden, as well as Mouline Rouge and Bagatelle by Long Dog Samplers from ebay sellers today. I will have fun looking through these today and planning them into my stitching schedule (I don't use a rotation system, so I just call it my stitching schedule). These are both big honkers (BAPs, actually) and I look forward to starting them. I have Long Dog's latest, Renaissance, in my wish list file now as well. Julia Line does great work.

Despite the last minute holiday shoppers, we found a parking spot at the Mall today, and made it into Best Buy at last for the AC Adapter for my laptop. I am back on my laptop, and am so happy about that!! And while we were there I also picked up two of the fairly recently released Jerry Lewis DVD movies - The Patsy and The Family Jewels - just love those old comedies.

And with errands now over, I can snuggle back in to work on Shimmering Mermaid - she is looking so great and will be done in just a couple of days now :-)

************** Jason Varitek is now OFFICIALLY signed with the Boston Red Sox for the next four years, and to show their devotion to him, the Sox also named him team captain - the team's first captain since 1989. Merry Christmas Red Sox Fans!Baseball 3

Wednesday, December 22, 2004


This is me, sailing away from Philadelphia on the Norwegian Crown in May 2004. We were on our way to Bermuda.... I am just craving a cruise right now, so I am posting this to cheer myself up :-)Cruising
Well, I am officially on Christmas break now with lots of time to stitch. Yay! That is the best Christmas gift I can get these days! But on top of that, I did visit Stitching Bits & Bobs' 25% off storewide Christmas sale and got the 8 skeins of NPI silk needed for Toccata No. Two. I want to do that in 2005.

In the meantime, still motoring away on Shimmering Mermaid, and I still do expect to be able to finish by the end of the year :-)

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Oh, I just went and gave into temptation.... again ... sigh. I just bought a fat quarter of SMF 32 ct Ocean Spray lugana from Stitching Bits & Bobs... it was on sale, and so many of the projects I have in my to do pile call for a blue background... and I am so weak...... but I love it!!

I am weak, as well, in the area of collecting DVD's. I now have 1,200++ of them. Today was no exception. It is "New Release Tuesday," and I surely got myself up to WalMart on my way home from work and picked up The Manchurian Candidate and King Arthur. What can I say.... it's just another addiction!!
Back to Shimmering Mermaid!! Making great progress, with the tail almost done I will only have the compass to stitch, then the backstitched border.... and then will come beading day!! Yay!!!!!!!!!! One more day of work and it's break time! I guess I will work a few hours here and there next week since we had calculated some income from my private practice to be able to pay my quarterly estimated taxes, but for the most part, it will mostly be stitching time (oh, and housework) for me!!

The only excitement of the day is that Mike got rear-ended on his way to pick up his suits at the dry cleaners on his way home tonight. The rear bumper of his Jeep Grand Cherokee got some considerable damage. At least he is alright, and the driver of the pickup that "slid into him" (hmmmm, the roads weren't slick, so shall we guess... he was speeding and didn't see Mike parked in traffic??) was also alright. Mike has an appointment for tomorrow night to get the estimate for repairs, so I guess he will be using my Jeep a bit next week to use for work..

Monday, December 20, 2004

Winter is here.... a day early

Snow, snow, snow.... OK, well, only about 1-2" of it, but enough to make the morning commute ugly. And the high temp today in southern NH and northeastern MA was 12 Fahrenheit. Ugh. Now we are below zero. Fortunately, temps are due to moderate tomorrow.... but this gives me the perfect excuse to stitch some more on Shimmering Mermaid and catch the NE Patriots game - lucky for them, they are playing down in Miami tonight. While it is only 52 degrees there, it is still much warmer than playing here at home :-)

Got an email from Kirk, my old high school friend - well, see above..... big boys playing with big toys, I guess :-)

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Very quiet day - laundry, watching some football , working on Shimmering Mermaid (of course). Tried to go to Best Buy for the AC Adapter for my laptop, but since it is at the Mall, we ended up turning around - what a zoo! Will do this later in the week, since working here at my desktop is easy enough to do for now :-)

I saw this morning that I was high bidder for Chessie & Me's Liberty House Sampler with the special overdyed fabric. That is so cool! I love Chessie & Me charts and I have been able to collect several.... just haven't stitched any yet.... sound familiar, fellow xs addicts??

We are on the watch now for snow which could mess up the morning commute. Yuck! I know some areas have already been hard hit with snow for a while now, but not here - and I keep praying it will stay that way!

Saturday, December 18, 2004

I awoke this morning with an incredible sense of sadness and an inability to go back to sleep despite it being only the wee hours of the morning. Then it struck me that today is the ninth anniversary of my father's sudden death. I got up, made coffee and stitched on Shimmering Mermaid for quite a while as my husband still slept. I have been in that funky fog all day. It is tough to get past this date as my dad was only 59 years old when an anneurism struck and coursed its way to his heart, killing him instantly, at home, in front of my mother. A depressing way to start my entry, but alas, how today really started....

It didn't help at all that when I checked my email this morning my laptop quit - the battery is dead and the AC Adapter broke down..... looks like a trip to Best Buy is in order for tomorrow to get that set up again. Very frustrating!

We took Mike's grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend out to dinner tonight as their Christmas gift. We took them to One Mill Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts - a fancy restaurant in one of the old historic mills in the area, and it is right down the street from their home. It was a nice meal, although finding something low carb on that menu just wasn't happening. It amazes me how Mike's grandfather turns 90 next month and has never really had any major illnesses. On top of that, he still smokes like a chimney - claims he has since he was 14 years old. He has turned into quite the cranky old curmudgeon, but he sure is pretty healthy for his age. It just amazes me.... quite a contradiction to what December 18th means to me....

But the day got better when I got home tonight to find an email from an ebay seller alerting me that she had Long Dog Samplers' Mouline Rouge up for sale - I am currently bidding on another of her auctions, and she was sweet enough to alert me that she listed this one today as well. She had it listed with a Buy It Now for only $10.99. I was thrilled! I have wanted that one for as long as it has been out on the market, and to get it for less than half price - my day sure brightened there, and I know you already guessed that I hit that Buy It Now button right away :-) So, today, I knock yet another chart off of my wish list!!!!!

Another bright light to the day was that the postman brought me mail from Biomed, a company which provides medical home study courses for licensure - I passed my little home study course on Fibromyalgia :-) That's 3 more credit hours to help to maintain my license, and I did a little happy dance in celebration!!

So to end this day I will go back to Shimmering Mermaid and pop in one of my new DVDs, perhaps Collateral, and enjoy someCelestial Seasonings Nutcracker Sweet tea.... and think about all the great memories of my dad.

In memory of my father, Clyde, who passed away suddenly and without warning nine years ago today, 12/18/95. This was taken on my wedding day, 5/8/93. Dad is sadly missed and is forever in our hearts.

Friday, December 17, 2004


Happy 16th Birthday Caitlin!!

I feel sooooo old - my eldest niece, Caitlin, turns 16 today!!! I am posting her school pic from last year - she has not let me take any more recent photos, getting a little camera shy I guess....

Still working away on Shimmering Mermaid and really loving how she is coming out on Picture This Plus' Fathom lugana :-) It still looks pretty good that I can get this done by the end of the year, especially with taking a week and a half off at the end of the month - cannot wait for that precious stitching time!

I received several orders from Bobbie at Stitching Bits & Bobs today - several items had been on back order for a while, and all but a spool of Kreinik #4 for Lilly of the Woods came in today in one package that felt like Christmas to me! In this treasured package was my long awaited charm pack for Jeannette Douglas' My Stitching Treasures !! Yay!! Also arriving today were two skeins of WDW in Basil for God's Critters (or is it for The Trellis?? - can't recall any longer) by The Workbasket, as well as several charts: Mermaid Heaven by PINN Stitch,Hearts Left Behind by Hester's Needle (to remember by dear Dad),Welcome Stitching Club Part Two by Elizabeth's Designs (neat new sampler!) , Autumn Garden Sampler by Victoria Sampler (with the thread pack) and Quaker Style Friendship Sampler by Samplers and Such (I have become quite attracted to quaker style samplers this year).

A day or two ago, I was happy to receive my monthly thread club pack from Paw Prints Cross Stitch - I am in their monthly Cotton Club - a fun way to add to my stash for only $10 a month! Well, next month it goes to $11 but is still an outstanding deal!! This month I received one full skein each of: Caron Watercolours in Redwood, Caron Wildflowers in Peacock, GAST in Copper, Crescent Colours in Used Brick, WDW inBluecoat Blue and DMC Perle Cotton #5 in 920. There is always a color theme to the monthly packets and this month was brick and blue tones, kinda neat.

And I have to admit this.... I fed my addiction some more today and enjoyed Laurel's Stitchery's 20% off inventory reduction sale, and I picked up a fat eighth of Picture This Plus 28 ct Lugana in Tarnish and Little House Needleworks' Lavender Hill , knocking yet another chart off of my current wish list :-) Love those INS sales! And..... I was visiting the Silkweaver website today, and well, I can never resist shopping over there! I picked up a gorgeous Solo Cashel in great blue shades - one can always use a hand-dyed linen in blue shades, can't one??!! I am soooo weak (and, apparently, now also sooo old!). And, to make it worse, I just went back to the Silkweaver site just now to order a piece of 28 ct Jazlyn in Bone for TW's Harvest Sampler - I better shut my computer off now before I go and visit another INS!!

And, on the sports front..... the NE Patriots are showcased on Monday night football this weekend - so it will be quiet around here on Sunday. And the Red Sox signed Edgar Renteria today for the SS position - that is really cool! Could not be more pleased, except it is sadder to see Orlando Cabrera go than it was to say goodbye to Pedro!! Change is so tough to get used to :-(

Wednesday, December 15, 2004


My finished Storm Bringer, completed in 11/04, was an SAL with Karen Kirk. Storm Bringer is designed by Jennifer Aikman-Smith, Dragon Dreams

Karen Kirk stitching Dragon Dreams' Storm Bringer at Bingle Tree, Australia in October 2004....

An early Christmas for me!

I just received a large Christmas package from my friend Karen in the Blue Mountains, Australia - she is the owner of Dragonfly Dreams - wow, she sent me some nice stuff - it was so exciting to open my package - she emailed me and said to open it now :-) She gave me three super lovely fat quarters of Kiwi Antiques overdyed linens in gold, green and peachy pink shades. They are so nice!! And a cute Margaret Sherry chart Cul-Purr-It and a sweet garden chart as well. Plus a lovely journal, a small wall quilt and some wonderfully unique Australian lip balm with emu oil in it (where from the emu do they get the oil???) - as well as a lovely scenic magnet and a nice T-Shirt from her area. Soooooo cool!!!!!! Isn't she so sweet?? I sent her Boston Red Sox items since I got her hooked on watching them during the ALCS and the World Series - and some cool stitching stuff as well! She is really a great friend!! I am going to post here a recent pic she sent of herself stitching DD's Storm Bringer while she was on vacation - we just stitched that piece as an SAL - finished it last month, and I shall try to also post my finished pic here too.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004


Greetings from Anouk, my ever watching stitching pal :-) Anouk is a blue and white persian female.... and would stitch if she could! Anouk was born 6/15/02.

And... my new DVD's picked up today are I, Robot, Collateral and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement :-)

Best Wishes Pedro!

Well, it all seemed so inevitable, and not as devastating as I thought it would be to hear that Pedro Martinez is moving on to the NY Mets. OK, yep he wanted that huge money. But, honestly, he is not the same Pedro he used to be, so I am happy the Red Sox are going to spend that big sum elsewhere - like helping to keep Jason Varitek and looking for some other premium players. Plus, Pedro - you know you cannot hit, so why did you chose to go to the Nationals?? Oh my, I will enjoy watching to see how you do, and I do sincerely wish you well :-)

On the stitching front, have been able to make good headway on Shimmering Mermaid the last couple of days! I might meet my goal to finish her before the year ends!!

We found a small glider (squirrel) had gotten into our house on Sunday night - and I had six Persian cats all trying to catch it before we could get it out of the house. What a thrill that was!!!!!! Lost sight of him at the end, but we are pretty sure he (or she) ran out the front door after we tried in several ways to trap it and chase it out of the house. I figure it did get out, because when we released the cats from their "lock down" zones, they all looked mighty disappointed :-) So, off went Mike to close the flue in the chimney - that must be how it got in!! Glad to have put on a show for the neighbors - seems several congregated in the street while we were rescuing the glider - guess we will leave it for them to wonder what was happening - makes life more interesting that way!!

Sunday, December 12, 2004

This is us......

Here we are, November 2003, in NYC getting ready to board the Norwegian Dawn for the cruise of a lifetime! We stayed in the Owner's Suite - dying to do this again soon!

Carol & Mike Sutcliffe

Chatelaine Mystery VI - finished in November 2004


Chatelaine's Mystery VI, finished last month :-)
Posted by Hello
Finished this lovely mystery last month and figured out how to post it to my blog tonight :-) When Martina Weber releases this chart sometime in the next year or so it will be called Indian Summer Reflections....

Patriots Clinch Division!!!!

Minimal stitching today - heavy focus on laundry and some Christmas shopping - a few small stitches into Mirabilia's Shimmering Mermaid.....

But the big news of the day: The New England Patriots clinched their division today!!!!!!!!!!! And, am thrilled David Wells signed with the Boston Red Sox this weekend too! Lots of happy dancing here!

Oh, got SB's Roma's Garden on ebay today - for half the retail price :-) Yaay! Waited a long time to be able to get that one!

Saturday, December 11, 2004

2005 Stitching Goals

Well, it is time to get ready for 2005 - time to start my blog and plan my stitching goals for the year.

OK, after spending an hour or so going through my "precious" - you know, my stash - I have decided that these are my stitching goals for 2005 - I do pray that they are not too overly ambitious, but probably are....

Carriage House Samplings - Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
Legends - Legends of the Dragons
Chatelaine - Convent's Herbal Garden(at least this one has already been started, but not much done yet...)
L&L - Angel of Love and Little Wings
Homespun Samplar - Celtic Band Sampler
Dragon Dreams - Kingdom Sampler
Liz Turner Diehl - 17th Century Irish Garden
Earth Threads - Rebecca's Sampler and Elizabethan Sampler (both are class pieces)
Jeannette Douglas - My Stitching Treasures
Shepherd's Bush - Roma's Garden

Then on top of those, I will allow myself a bit more leeway and hope to do something, anything by these designers:

Brightneedle
Birds of a Feather
Just Nan
Long Dog Samplers
Drawn Thread
Mirabilia
Indigo Rose
Elizabeth's Designs

I also would love, if at all possible, to also finish:

Examplars From the Heart - The Mermaid and the Sea
Mirabilia - Gathering Eggs
Dragon Dreams - Beneath the Stars
Shepherd's Bush - Harvest Moon
Braldt Bralds - Bag Ladies

Plus a couple of projects to submit to Sugar Maple Fabrics Sugar Shack Gallery Contest, either from the above list or not :-)