Garden of Stitches

Sunday, July 31, 2005

My 42nd Birthday... gulp :-)

*****Oh yikes! I stayed up way too late tonight - I will finish this entry tomorrow and add my Petal Fairy WIP and garden pics from today... tomorrow :-) (Yawn....)
...And, here is how she looked when I finally quit for the "night", more like 2 AM.... :-) Her skirt is done and she is starting to grow some feet!

I found this link that shows the WIP progress of Revelation by a stitcher - thought it was pretty interesting, and definitely makes me want to start this one! ***Please note: the pic I posted yesterday of Revelations is of the art print... here is the link for how it will look stitched up... as well, I have learned that this chart may be OOP)

I treated myself to a couple of birthday gifts "from me" today :-) I got a new Liz Turner Diehl chart - well, I think it is actually an older chart - on ebay called "English Garden." I will have scan in a photo of it when it arrives. And, I purchased Sebastian, the Fairy Cat from Heaven and Earth Designs. Isn't he cute? Juul pointed me in his direction - thanks Juul!

And, the mid season daylilies are now beginning to bloom - it was cooler and rainy all day today, so these pics are not so great, but I still want to record them:
Daylily: August FlameDaylily: Siloam Double EthelDaylily: Frivolous FrillsDaylily: Canadian SunriseDaylily: Dragon's Eye

It was a quiet birthday here today - DH's friend who is working on finishing off our basement was able to come up this weekend, so the two of them are down there working away... plus the cool, rainy weather - good day to stitch and watch baseball! And, what a relief that the trading deadline came and went without any Red Sox being traded away! I love this pic from the New Hampshire Sunday News this morning: No, Manny did not leave :-) Boston and the Red Sox showed him "the love" and he has all the warm fuzzies he needs for a while now.... and he hit the game winning RBI, in a pinch hitting role because showing him "the love" meant giving him the weekend off... but in the end, everyone in Red Sox Nation is happy...Red Sox 4, Twins 3 - that's a sweep of the series, thanks guys!

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 12:25 PM 10 comments

Saturday, July 30, 2005

OK, I guess I am totally insane! You see, I am actually seriously considering starting Revelation by Heaven and Earth Designs - with its whopping size of something like 16" x 21.5" of over one stiching on 25 ct lugana! How many years will this take for me to stitch? Will I even live long enough, given that I do turn 42 tomorrow?? LOL! Yet, I think I will do this one! It arrived today along with The Master Plan, which I am absolutely also dying to do and is slightly less daunting (IMHO).... and I also received the chart for Celtic Autumn, the charm for Blue Moon Angel and the chart for Day Surrendering To Night in a package from one of my dearest friends - I do love her so! I have to stitch these, even though it will take me an entire lifetime!
...And, tonight's progress.... almost done with the skirt now!

I ordered up some various silks and beads I will need for the new Victoria Sampler sampler... Heirloom Homecoming... hmmmm, will have to find a pic to link that to - I want to do the rustic (reds) conversion :-)
Daylily: CairnsDaylily: ScatterbrainDaylily: Frans HalsDaylily: Angus McLeodDaylily: When I DreamDaylily: Style PlusDaylily: Mad Max

Red Sox 6, Twins 2.... and for tonight, at least, Manny Ramirez is still with the Boston Red Sox... the team is "all the about the love" tonight, all supporting him, with the manager giving him a couple of days off.... geez. Let's see what tomorrow brings - my fear is they will trade away Bill Mueller :-( I don't think they need to trade anyone away, the team is already World Series caliber.

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 8:00 PM 7 comments

Friday, July 29, 2005

Thank you Karen!!

It was just so nice to sleep in a little bit today :-) But, we ended up having to run down to my office anyhow! The software program my DH wrote for my business turned up to be corrupt on my USB drive, so we had to go to the office to see if it was OK there... which it was, major crisis averted...whew! Once that was done, the day got better :-)
What a great birthday card from Karen! This came today along with the Tea kit by Toni Goffe, which Karen noticed was on my Wish List :-) I am so thrilled and have thanked her personally too - I already had Cream and Sugar, and now I am so excited to be able to have all three to stitch together for a cute picture for my kitchen/dining area :-) ***I also want to thank my many friends who have been sending me birthday cards as well! You know who you are, and I have been thanking you personally :-) My birthdays are usually very quiet - you ladies have made this birthday very exciting indeed! I remain so very overwhelmed!
And, here it tonight's progress.... I have come to realize that I was not as close to a happy dance as I had thought I was last week when I decided to make this project my focus - wow, this lily petal skirt is seemingly endless with the golds and yellows LOL! But, progress does continue - I just hope that I actually can get that happy dance in by the time my long weekend ends :-)
I also received the 32 ct Vanilla Sky Jobelan fat quarter from the FOTM by Heaven Lee Creations today. Boy, is it pretty! It is very bold, and will take some figuring to find just the right project for it.... but it is gorgeous! You know, they do a great job with their dyeing process. All of the fabrics I have received from them are so even, bright and wonderfully dyed :-)

OK, even I am surprised that I still am getting tons and tons of blooms every day that are as of yet unposted! I got many today, and also spent some time today identifying a few more from recent days as well - so here are MANY more to share!
Daylily: Addie Branch SmithDaylily: Exotic Candy (moving this one, needs better soil)Daylily: Siloam Dream BabyDaylily: Golden CompassDaylily: Chicago Arnie's ChoiceDaylily: Chicago KnobbyDaylily: Fuschia DreamDaylily: MariskaDaylily: JambalayaDaylily: Yazoo Jim Terry (finally doubling as it should)Daylily: Siloam Bye LoDaylily: Park EastDaylily: Daring ReflectionDaylily: Parade GuestDaylily: Scarlet OrbitDaylily: Double AhDaylily: Mauna LoaDaylily: Lydia Rose's SecretDaylily: Royal OccasionDaylily: Tropical LoveDaylily: Doug MayfieldDaylily: Lady NevaDaylily: Evelyn CastleberryDaylily: Pumpkin KidDaylily: Bayport (also has to be moved to happier soil)Daylily: Forsyth Hot LipsDaylily: Chicago SilverDaylily: Hot TownDaylily: Catherine WoodburyDaylily: Radiant Ruffles

I was high bidder tonight on a set of three Mirabilia charts for less than $10 - how cool is that? I did not yet have Spring Queen, and I will save the other two to give as gifts to my dear friends :-)

Red Sox 8, Twins 5... and the trade rumors continue to spread regarding Manny Ramirez. Cripes. I am getting so sick of it all..... why is it that every year the Boston media has to go and make something huge out of some comment by a player? They ultimately chase that player out of town... cases in point... Shea Hillenbrand... Nomar Garciaparra.... have they chased Manny Ramirez out now too??!!

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 5:54 PM 5 comments

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Thanks Nikki & Jenn!! (And, now on a mini vacation...ahhh!)

I'm off now until Tuesday, August 2nd! I am so looking forward to four relaxing days!!
Looky at the gorgeous chart I received from Nikki today for my birthday! I love it! She chose it off of my Wish List - thanks so much Nikki! I love it, and nope, I didn't have it yet!! I have to go look at my WDW stash and see if I need to order any colors for it now! What a great kid Nikki is! Boy I sure am meeting some wonderful stitchers here in the world of blogging :-)

And, oh my goodness! Jenn sent me an incredible gift certificate from Stitching Bits & Bobs!! I don't even know what to say! You have both totally overwhelmed me. I love my stitchng friends!!!!!!!!!
And... tonight's progress to share.... :-) Hoping for a finish this weekend.

I picked up the DMC I need today to kit up two more projects... Emma's Garden and Spring Fairy Spirit... in the mood for these soon :-)

Plenty of garden again today :-) I just love summer!
Daylily: Carrot CrestDaylily: MenoDaylily: Lilting BelleDaylily: PastillineDaylily: Lavender IllusionDaylily: Dark Secret (not sure I like this one :-)...)Daylily: RasmenDaylily: Siloam Double RoseDaylily: Golden ScrollDaylily: Pastures of Pleasure

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 7:03 PM 8 comments

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Better news for the Red Sox now.... and a break from Petal Fairy too

It is Wednesday, so back to Legends of the Dragons tonight. I didn't have a whole lot of stitching energy tonight, but I did get a couple of hours in to backstitch a bit of the knotwork border around the top and side of Majesty - that is still forward progress, so I am pleased with it :-)
I just received my first installment of the Treat of the Month from Sugar Maple Fabrics, and it is a lovely blue that I sure can easily use - Blueberry Cheesecake 28 ct lugana.... but... I was very disappointed by the note in the package - this is the last Treat of the Month she is doing (I only just started!!). I checked her website and she has decided to stop selling directly to the public any longer. You can buy from her on ebay or through retailers. Oh boo! I loved buying directly from Mindy :-( So, so much for getting into a new fabric of the month club.... But, I dealt with it in my own special OCD way by getting some SMF fabrics from the sale at The Avid Stitcher - I was so surprised they were still there! I got fat quarters ofKronos 32 ct lugana, and Tartan 32 ct lugana.... I wonder if Sugar Maple Fabrics will be going out of business soon :-(

Q. What is your most unique/interesting stitching quirk? (This could be
something concerning the way you stitch, how you organize your stash,
etc.)

A. Geez, had to think about this for a while.... I came up with two possible answers.... One quirk is that I have severe OCD... not in the sense that I just like to be organized, but that I have the full blown anxiety disorder. So, I have found that if I stitch every day, even for just a few minutes, I am significantly more relaxed, my world is more orderly. That is quirk #1. Well, my other quirk is still directly related to the OCD. I collect. Oh boy, do I collect - stash, perennials (especially daylilies), DVDs, Cat's Meow Village buildings... so quirk #2 is my extreme stash collecting (readers of my blog are already aware of this)... so, OK, not feeling real proud to talk about my anxiety disorder, but there is the answer to the SBQ for you... :-(

****3:15 PM - The Boston Red Sox Medical Director released a statement: Matt Clement stayed overnight in the hospital and was re-evaluated this morning. His second C-T scan again was negative. He was released from the hospital and will travel back to Boston with the team after the game tonight. He will then be evaluated back in Boston. Released from the hospital - a very good thing!

It was pouring when I got home this afternoon - after reaching 96F today, we got quite a thunderstorm during the afternoon commute - which was a very tough drive, really.... no chance to photograph the garden, but I did spend some time today identifying five of the daylilies I photographed recently:
Daylily: Chicago Gold CoastDaylily: Small GestureDaylily: Wind SongDaylily: Emperor's DragonDaylily: Golden Gate

Red Sox 4, Devil Rays 1 - if all goes well when Matt Clement sees his docs in Boston, he should be pitching again soon.... Trot Nixon, however, is now on the 15 day DL and we may have lost him for a while :-(

Stitched on today: Legends of the Dragons... and a bit of Story Time at work too :-)
posted by Carol at 1:45 PM 6 comments

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

A Tragedy for the Boston Red Sox Tonight

More progress on the lily petal skirt of Petal Fairy tonight. I didn't get as much done as I thought I would due to witnessing the tragedy in the Red Sox game tonight (see end of entry for the details) which totally distracted me and turned my stomach... Now she gets put aside for at least a day because tomorrow is Legends of the Dragons SAL day, and I plan to keep up with that one.... just as well, I am sure you are all getting bored with seeing this same fairy every day anyhow.
I didn't expect to be buying a Silkweaver Solo today, but came across this one while surfing. Karen has been asking about doing a Fairy Idyll SAL, and I was thinking this one might the right size and a good green color to use for it.... :-)

The mailman brought me my Holly Noel chart/embellishments today... as well as a pretty chart I got on ebay to surprise yet another one of my friends :-)
Daylily: Orange VolsDaylily: Brave WorldDaylily: Chicago CardinalDaylily: Mulberry MarvelDaylily: Red Twister (better photo)Daylily: Little CadetDaylily: Mother Superior (not doubling yet this year)Daylily: Star of AfricaDaylily: FarthingDaylily: Ida's Magic (a better photo)Daylily: Lady Laura Jane

Red Sox 10, Devil Rays 9 - it was a hard fought 10 inning game.... which appeared at first would be a rout, until bottom of the third inning when... oh, when our pitcher, Matt Clement, got smacked in the right side of his head (near his ear or was his temple, no word where quite yet) and was knocked down, didn't move.... Very scary!! He was taken off of the field in total silence on a back board on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital in Florida. The first update came in about an hour later as a statement from the Red Sox saying he 'never lost consciousness, was alert, aware of his surroundings and knew what had happened to him.' Another hour or so later, another update came in that his CAT scan was negative and he was in bright spirits... this, however, still is a bad thing. On top of that, Trot Nixon pulled/twisted or somehow damaged his left oblique muscle even earlier in the game while he was batting.... ouch, he will be out for a bit! Darn! But thanks to Johnny Damon and Jason Varitek, we did pull out the win! Thanks to the whole team, really. I hope they did it for Matt :-)

New DVD Release Tuesday - Mike picked up XXX: State of the Union, but it is going to be weird without Vin Diesel in this one....

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 5:21 PM 7 comments

Monday, July 25, 2005

Thank you Katrina!

Oh my! I just received the most lovely birthday package from Katrina today! Just look at all the lovelies she sent me! She even sent me a fantastic Victoria Sampler heart pillow featuring New Zealand - and the pillow backing is a cute NZ themed fabric too! Katrina also sent me an older Indigo Rose chart which I did not photograph. Thank you so much Katrina - you are so sweet!!
Well, yesterday was all about DMC 745, and today was strictly DMC 3820.... but any of you who have stitched this fairy knows what I mean :-) At least her lily petal skirt is really starting to take shape now :-)
I received this pretty Ice Blue on Silver metallic lugana from Sugar Maple Fabrics today.... mmmm, lots of possible ideas for this one! And I also got in the Scent of Old Roses chart and the skein of Desert Sage Silk 'n Colors... lots of pretties for me to look through today :-)
I ordered the final skein of Silk 'n Colors from Paw Prints Cross Stitch that I need for Un Petit Paradis today... while I was there I picked up one of the Liz Turner Diehl historical garden charts that I did not have yet... 18th Century Colonial Garden :-)

I heard some disappointing news today. I heard that The Enchanted Stitcher in Somersworth, NH is closing its doors on Friday :-( Mike and I just found this shop last month, and I loved it. They carry just about every fiber imagineable, many hand dyed fabrics and all the top designers. Now they are closing. I was hoping Mike and I could go up there this weekend while I am off for four days... yikes, if I don't get there Friday I won't get there at all! We have an appt to close on our refinancing of the house on Friday, so that trip all the way up to Somersworth likely won't be able to happen. Oh darn! I liked that shop, it was just too, too far away to frequent often...

There were a lot of blooms again today in my garden, but I can only name a few of them today :-) I apologize to those who cannot see all of the photos. I do have a high speed cable modem, and realize some of you do not... again, I am sorry :-(
Tall Phlox: LauraTall Phlox: StarfireDaylily: Designer JeansDaylily: Nowhere to Hide (my all time favorite)Daylily: Absolute ZeroDaylily: Real WindDaylily: BubblyDaylily: Purple De OroDaylily: My KeeperDaylily: American RevolutionDaylily: Rose CherishDaylily: Siloam Merle Kent

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy...oh, and a bit of Story Time at work :-)
posted by Carol at 7:00 PM 2 comments

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Lots of DMC 745 today.... :-)

And, still working on Petal Fairy today... every stitch today in DMC 745.... but now at a point where tomorrow I can change colors, so it was worth it :-)

I ordered a couple of new charts today from Stitching Bits & Bobs' sale - Manorah Thai Dancer (I've been eyeing that for weeks) and Spring Ride - after Karen mentioned wanting to get that one, I got us each one at the sale price - we think we see another SAL coming up... anyone else want to join us??

Still a few more new daylily blooms in the garden today... it just goes on and on :-)
Daylily: Russian EasterDaylily: Siloam CinderellaDaylily: Little Fat Dazzler (much better than previous photo)Daylily: Jason SalterDaylily: Sea UrchinDaylily: KwansoDaylily: Beautiful EdgingsDaylily: Mallard (much, much better pic!)Daylily: Royal HeritageDaylily: Ida's Magic (typical to look like this)Daylily: Red TwisterDaylily: Heaven Sent

Pretty good day for Ryan Newman... he came in 5th in the Pennsylvania 500 this afternoon, and remains 6th in the points standings... good, but still not that elusive win!!

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 7:17 PM 6 comments

Saturday, July 23, 2005

An exhausting day - Mike threw me an early birthday party (my birthday is not until next Sunday) with my brother and his family, and many of Mike's family here all day.... my mom couldn't make it because her water heater broke down and she was awaiting the plumber, and my sister is in London on business. So, lots of beer today... finally some time to settle down and stitch.... so I will post my progress pic and my garden pics as an edit tomorrow :-) Don't want to waste any of my stitching time right now doing other things :-)
***OK, here is my edit - I know this is a blurry picture of my little bit of progress on Petal Fairy, but it truly is the best I could do at 1 AM :-) Not much, but figured I would still share it....

The garden was lovely for the party today - I got sooooo many compliments from my friends and family that came by... and my SIL wants divisions of most of these daylilies now. I told her sure, but first she really must bring me some divisions of her lily of the valley that are soooo hardy - her mom gave her cuttings years ago from her garden on Cape Cod - those are the ones I want :-)
Daylily: Mardi Gras ParadeDaylily: Ed MurrayDaylily: Fresh AromaDaylily: Mahogany MagicDaylily: Orchid CandyDaylily: Trahlyta (better than previous picture)Daylily: Bimini RunDaylily: Chinese Temple FlowerDaylily: Brief EnchantmentDaylily: Sunshine LovelyDaylily: Siloam William PryorDaylily: Anne-EvanDaylily: Siloam Royal PrinceDaylily: Wild OneA rose with a lost name... thought the plant had died :-)Daylily: Pixie BeautyDaylily: Radiant GreetingsDaylily: Gamester

Red Sox 3, White Sox 0

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 10:09 PM 3 comments

Friday, July 22, 2005

Still going with Petal Fairy....

I kept working on Petal Fairy tonight. I figured I am so far behind in the Celtic Band Sampler SAL, since I joined it late, that I would just put it aside for this one week.... I kind of missed doing it tonight, but it felt good to keep this fairy going.
Here are the two Sugar Maple Fabrics handpainted fabrics I received today - on the left is Ink Belfast, and on the right is Silvery Impressionism Metallic Lugana.... nice :-) And, I used the "save your receipts" program at the LNS today and was able to get Sunflower House as my freebie - also got a skein of GAST I need for that, the Burnished Gold Silk 'n Colors for Un Petit Paradis and all the beads for Celtic Spring (so now that is completely kitted and ready to go at my whim....) The belfast came in today for Catherine Agnes so I can restart that one anytime now too - and I got in a card of Petite Treasure Braid for the new Passione Ricamo chart :-)

I found a UFO while I was up in my stitching stuff tonight - Lanarte's Girl with Cat - I totally forgot about this! I started in either before we sold our house in Derry in 2000 or while we were renting in 2001...??? Love it, and have to get it into the rotation soon! It is so delicate. I will post a pic of what I have done soon...

Another big day of daylilies:
But first... an out of focus shot of one small area of the garden in the back - lots of daylilies blooming here - and apparently some activity around there today as I see the squirrel feeder is all askew...hmmm... :-)
Daylily: PanochaDaylily: Hunter's TorchDaylily: Cameron QuartzDaylily: Sweet SurpriseDaylily: American IndianDaylily: Forbidden CityDaylily: Siloam President BarnesDaylily: Longfield's PrideDaylily: Siloam David KirchhoffDaylily: Dashing DoubleDaylily: Frances JoinerDaylily: Carolyn CriswellDaylily: Red RibbonsDaylily: Gloria Hite BestDaylily: Siloam New ToyDaylily: Royal RobeDaylily: Calypso DancerDaylily: Tangerine TwistDaylily: Night BeaconDaylily: Bill CrockerDaylily: La MerDaylily: Stand Up DoubleDaylily: BrutusDaylily: Frosty BeautyDaylily: Water WheelDaylily: TrahlytaDaylily: Betty WoodsDaylily: Etched in GoldDaylily: Priscilla's RainbowDaylily: OutrageousDaylily: Siloam Angel's VoiceDaylily: Calgary StampedeDaylily: Fruit LoopsDaylily: Prairie Blue EyesDaylily: Siloam Ethel SmithDaylily: Little Fat Dazzler (very irridescent, doesn't show up)Daylily: Little FredDaylily: Indy Waltz TimeDaylily: Jason Mark

Stitched on today: Story Time and Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 6:38 PM 3 comments

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Focusing on Petal Fairy

OK, I got a lot of encouragement in my comments section and via email to plug away now on Petal Fairy to get her done. So, I decided I will. I have my weekly SAL commitment tomorrow night, but I can work on her again on Saturday.... then again on Monday.... then I have a four day weekend coming up for my birthday.... she should get done by then :-)
Michael Powell charts/kits are really hard to come by here in the US, so you can imagine my glee when I was looking in my new July 2005 issue of Cross Stitcher (UK magazine) and saw that they will have a Venetian scene by Michael Powell in their August issue!!! This is already available in the UK, but I can't get it around here yet (heck, the July issue only just came in to the book stores here)... but you can be sure I will be watching for this!! I got this Cross Stitcher (July 2005) and this Quick & Easy (July #128) today.... And the mailman delivered my Garden Muses chart and my fat quarter of Summer Romance Jubilee by Sugar Maple Fabrics.... so it was a good stash day today, indeed.

Barbara asked some questions about Martina Weber, who designs under the name Chatelaine. Barbara asked what a "mystery" is. The Medieval Town Mandala is not one of her mysteries, it is an online class. She will be giving us passwords to part of that Medieval Town Mandala chart each month for 12 months. Along with providing the password to the chart piece, she runs a Yahoo group that enables the stitchers to chat together, Martina answers every single one of your questions personally (what other designers do that??) and offers you great support. Her designs are far from basic cross stitch - she adds in tons of fun specialty stitches and helps you through anything. She does the same with her mysteries, except you do not know ahead of time what the final design will look like (although you can get a small hint ahead of time to help you decide if you want to sign up - for instance, I knew that Mystery VI was going to be an autumn themed garden - the one starting in January 2006 is a French themed garden, and I hope to join that one too!). Each month is a treat to see what that part of the chart will look like. I did her Mystery VI last year, and it can be seen in My 2004 Finishes near the top of my sidebar. These are great fun, but very pricey. Martina does not scrimp on fibers - she loves to use NPI silks, Waterlilies, Gloriana Silks, Thread Gatherer Silks, Victoria Clayton Silks, Petite Treasure Braids, delicas beads.... so when I do one of these I really have to save up :-) This one is running Mike about $260.00 USD for me to do - $32.80 to Martina to receive the chart passwords, and about $220.00 or so for the full kit. To see her full line, check out the European Cross Stitch link under cross stitch shops in my sidebar... Kathy Filosi and her colleague Cindy kit up these classes for you - if you are in Europe or Australia, you may want to get your kit from Karen Kirk at Dragonfly Dreams (also in my sidebar). Gee, maybe this info will encourage some other stitchers to sign up :-) And, if you are new to Chatelaine and want to try her stuff out, there is a link in my freebies section to her latest little garden piece, Springtime Roses. Enjoy! I hope to stitch it soon too :-)

Ready for more daylilies?? I had tons again today, so I again selected just the ones I can name... someday when it is rainy or the end of the season I will post my lost tags and unregistered seedlings :-) I took a few of these this morning after the sprinkler system had been on....most were this afternoon in the sun.
Daylily: RespighiDaylily: Dorothe LouiseDaylily: Twin DragonsDaylily: Jedi Cream PuffDaylily: Spanish MasqueradeDaylily: Christmas IsDaylily: Pimiento PepperDaylily: Breathless BeautyDaylily: Cape CodDaylily: Frankie's Fantasy (all blooms have been odd like this this year....)Daylily: Indian GiverDaylily: Ruffled ApricotDaylily: Clymer's PrideDaylily: Caprician FiestaDaylily: MallardDaylily: Lynn HallDaylily: All American TigerDaylily: Flaming PoppaDaylily: Decatur Cherry SmashDaylily: Flower BasketDaylily: Nacogdoches Bing CherryDaylily: Cherry Eyed PumpkinDaylily: War CloudsDaylily: Eenie AllegroDaylily: Double RedDaylily: Lavender IllusionDaylily: Lulu's Knobby

You Belong in London


A little old fashioned, and a little modern.
A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock.
A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything.
No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong in? Take This Quiz :-)

Red Sox 6, White Sox 5 :-)

Stitched on today: Story Time (about 30-40 little x's in 822, but finally got some in at work!) and Petal Fairy

Off to go look at Stitching Bits & Bobs' storewide sale... I noticed sale prices went up yesterday, but tonight they finally announced the dates of the sale... mmmmm, let's go look :-)
posted by Carol at 9:39 AM 5 comments

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

A lot of daylily photos, a huge thank you & an early birthday treat!

And, today was Legends of the Dragons - more knotwork, but didn't do any of the backstitching still :-)
I am really excited about this! I made a decision and talked to Mike, and he had no problems with this birthday choice of mine - I signed up for and ordered the kit for Chatelaine's Medieval Town Mandala online class starting on 10/1/05. I really enjoyed doing Mystery VI, so I think this one will be extra fun. I think I read somewhere in Dani's blog that she is also doing this class, so that will make it even more fun :-) Everything is all ordered up, so now I just have to wait - LOL!!
Heaven Lee Creations sent me my FOTM invoice today - and it was already marked to tell me I will be receiving Vanilla Sky 32 ct jobelan this month - looks neat, so I paid the invoice... can't wait to see it in when it comes in :-)Meanwhile, my July FOTM from Silkweaver came in today - this one is really pretty - a greyish, greenish stone type of color... wonderful neutral background!

And, I was shown yet again today that stitching friends are the best friends!! Thank you, Jenn, for the copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" that I received in the mail today! I love it and I will read it!! Jenn wants me to know that I am never too old to read Harry Potter. You are the sweetest, really love you! I feel very spoilt :-)

Q. Have you ever done a color conversion? If so, what did you think about
your results and would you do it again? If not, would you like to try
someday?

A. No, I have never been brave enough to come up with my own color conversion for anything. I have substituted a fiber here and there.... sometimes I add beads instead of metallics as I am on L&L's Earth Angel.... but along with not being brave I often feel that the designer puts so much into a project and I never want to second guess her (or him....).... Yet, having said that... I plan to stitch L&L's Celtic Autumn and Celtic Christmas using conversions by Victoria's Needle...

OK, are you ready?? I took 66 new photos in my garden today! No, I am not posting them all - although I would love to! Instead, I have selected most of the ones I can name.... not even all of those.... I will save the others until I can find their names (for now...). You will see in some that the very hot and dry temps here today affected the ability of some of the red and purple blooms to retain the pure color :-( Thank you, everyone, for your wonderful feedback about my garden! I think that by next summer I will be able to meet my goal of being able to divide some of the plants (many are finally getting to be huge) and begin to sell on ebay.... and outright to friends too :-)
Daylily: Lullaby BabyDaylily: Oomph PahDaylily: Rocket CityDaylily: Feather DownDaylily: Swedish GirlDaylily: Champagne TaffyDaylily: Siloam Ury WinnifordDaylily: PatternsDaylily: Morning SunshineDaylily: Mae GrahamDaylily: Black EyeDaylily: Hamlet (faded by sun and heat)Daylily: Jedi Irish SpringDaylily: Double Pom PomDaylily: Gypsy LaceDaylily: Critic's ChoiceDaylily: Driving Me WildDaylily: Rainbow SkiesDaylily: Yazoo Jim Terry (usually doubles, didn't today)Daylily: Vintage WineDaylily: Mickey MarcotteDaylily: CondillaDaylily: Tom WiseDaylily: Little PeanutDaylily: Dark AngelDaylily: Little Witching HourDaylily: Black PlushDaylily: Red RumDaylily: DauntlessDaylily: Purple Waters

Red Sox 9, Devil Rays 4 - day game today, had to listen on the radio when I could at work...

Stitched on today: Legends of the Dragons
posted by Carol at 5:57 PM 8 comments

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

A sweet dilemma

Tonight it was time to work on Petal Fairy, and I finally realized she is getting pretty close to a happy dance! This presents a really sweet dilemma for me... suddenly, I have at least three projects all nearing happy dances - Petal Fairy, Miracle Butterfly and even Earth Angel.... so what do I do? If I were not rotation stitching, one of these would be done this weekend :-) I have to decide which of these will take priority like Fairy Flora did when it was nearing its end... what a sweet dilemma :-)
Please meet the latest acquisition to my stash collection.... Ink Belfast (fat quarter) by Sugar Maple Fabrics.... the sale over at The Avid Stitcher continues - nobody else is scooping up these gorgeous fabrics at these great prices, so if no one else wants them, I will adopt them :-) I can see several great possibilities for Ink :-)

I still have to try to research the names of most of the daylilies in bloom today... but many of today's blooms are:
OK, not a daylily - this is a little twig of a hydrangea I planted in 2001 - nice little bloom this year :-)Daylily: Pandora's BoxDaylily: LookDaylily: Constant CommentDaylily: Peaches and CreamDaylily: Xia XiangDaylily: Root BeerDaylily: Bubbling Brown SugarDaylily: Camden BallerinaDaylily: Bone ChinaDaylily: Lavender DealDaylily: Phenomenal Phoenix

Red Sox 5, Devil Rays 2.... something good to say today :-)

It's New DVD Release Tuesday! This time it is Constantine for Mike... but he couldn't watch it tonight - I hogged the TV for the Red Sox game :-)

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy... still no time to stitch at work, but really going to try to get some time tomorrow (my days in Haverhill, MA - Wednesdays and Fridays- tend to be slower than are my three Lawrence, MA days)
posted by Carol at 9:34 AM 10 comments

Monday, July 18, 2005

Thank You Isabelle!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

I came home this afternoon to a lovely early birthday package from Isabelle. I am just so overwhelmed by this! Isabelle is away in Ireland right now, and I am dying to thank her for this! She made me this gorgeous needlework set with roses on it! And, she also sent me a Dolly Mamas kit to go with my other one - she sent me Is It Hot In Here? - too funny, did she know I will be 42 later this month?? OK, not even at peri-menopause yet.... but by the time I get to this kit, I likely will be, so she is right on target there - LOL!!! Thank you Isabelle, you are just too sweet!! And, yes, I loved the Monet's Waterlilies card too! Waterlily is my favorite fragrance, so you are right on there!
I picked up Angel of Love tonight for the first time in over a week. I really like stitching on this one! Anyhow, she looks a bit more balanced now that her other arm is under construction. I also added some more fancies to her skirt. I have been doing some thinking about how to tackle her heavily beaded skirt. I decided tonight that I will take it in little zones - do all the x's in one designated area, then bead it... then go to the next area. I will determine the area, but that looks like it won't be too much of a challenge. And now I am really looking forward to getting on with that, so maybe this angel will be showing up more frequently in my rotation now :-) We'll see....
I also received my latest order from the sale at The Avid Stitcher - two absolutely lovely fat quarters of handpainted belfast linen from Sugar Maple Fabrics. These colors are outstanding! On the right is Tumult, and my first impulse is that it is perfect for one of the L&L angels that have white dresses... and the one on the left is Pussywillow - these both exceeded my expectations :-)

I did a tiny bit of ordering for myself today too - I ordered a skein of Desert Sage Silk 'n Colors, one of the last colors I need for Un Petit Paradis, and Mirabilia's Scent of Old Roses. I have admired it since seeing Bea's completed one in her blog a couple of months ago... :-)
I had a big "duh" moment this afternoon - really an important one of life's lessons for me... it was beginning to rain when I got home this afternoon. I rushed outside with my digital camera to try to get pics of today's many more gorgeous blooms. Well, I learned today that one should never go outside with a digital camera that has been in an air-conditioned house into 82F rainy temps.... the lens fogs up! This is just one example of many flowers I photographed that now look like this today! You would think I would already know this about cameras... a couple of years ago we were on a Caribbean cruise, and we very quickly learned that if you leave the digital camera in the air conditioned cabin and then go right out on deck to take a photo... you will get an interesting fog effect :-) I am a slow learner.... Oh well, will get these flowers next time they bloom!!

A little bored at the office today, so I took a quiz... :-)

Which Disney Princess Are You Most Like? (thorough!)
created with QuizFarm.com
Congratulations Red Sox!!!! The Red Sox won the 2005 Espy for Best Team and also for Best Game when they turned the ALCS series around against the Yankees last year! Very nice!! And... Best Championship Performance went to Curt Schilling too! The more I read the awards list, the more I see the Red Sox on it :-) This long-suffering Sox fan is pleased :-)

Stitched on today: Angel of Love (but, too busy to stitch at work today...)
posted by Carol at 2:53 PM 7 comments

Sunday, July 17, 2005

I didn't really feel much motivation to stitch tonight, but I did find a couple of hours this evening to work on 17th Century Irish Garden... so now my garden has yarrow, camellias, irises, rhododendrons, clover and little black cats... :-)
Daylily: GlamourDaylily: Novelty NumberDaylily: Luxury LinerDaylily: Unregistered SeedlingDaylily: Wally NanceDaylily: GlendevonDaylily: Pocket of DreamsDaylily: Love Those EyesDaylily: Pink Super SpiderDaylily: Eye Yi YiDaylily: Haunting MelodyDaylily: Canadian Border PatrolDaylily: Pasha's PassportDaylily: Rainbow SpanglesDaylily: Ruffles EleganteDaylily: AdahDaylily: Siloam Sugar TimeDaylily: Tropical FreezeDaylily: Dream Blue

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden
posted by Carol at 1:33 PM 2 comments

Saturday, July 16, 2005

An Earth Angel Update

Mike has a friend up from New York this weekend. Off they went for a boys' day in Boston today - I happily passed on that so I could get some gardening and stitching done in peace - loved every minute of it!! I worked on Earth Angel a bit this evening, and now her wings are really starting to take their shape - and I think they are the prettiest things!! I have a tiny bit more of this shading color to do, and then next time I can add the little bit of darker shading that is still needed at the tops of her wings, and then it is all white from there on.... I don't know if I will take a break from the wings to work on the flowers and ribbons, or just get the wings out of the way first... it will be about a week now before that decision gets made as she gets put away now. Can you even see the work I did tonight? I have a hard time photographing light stitching :-) It was really weird today too, because if you scroll down to my photos of my garden, you will see that a daylily named Earth Angel bloomed today too - kismet!

Oh, I just saw I am high bidder for a lovely fat quarter of 28 ct Summer Romance Jubilee by Sugar Maple Fabrics... oh, and speaking of Sugar Maple Fabrics, I contacted the owner, Mindy, and I am now officially in their Treat of the Month Club, and have made my payment for the July installment. Yay! Can't wait to see what pretties I will get.... and now it is time to ditch the fiber clubs for a while :-) They were great, but just not meeting my desires right now :-)

Another booming day in the garden. I took way too many new photos to post here, so I selected a random variety to put into Photobucket... here is what came out :-)
Daylily: Strutter's Ball
Daylily: Fairy FirecrackerDaylily: Earth Angel (hmmm...sounds like something I am stitching!!)Daylily: Jan JohnsonDaylily: Femme De JoieDaylily: Charming HeartDaylily: Buttered PopcornDaylily: Mokan BouquetDaylily: Bandit ManDaylily: Rose TalismanDaylily: Magic Carpet RideDaylily: MalachiDaylily: Open HearthDaylily: Hobbit
Oh, I heard some good Red Sox news today! Gabe Kapler is returning to the team!! He is one of my favorite outfielders, but is not one of the starters. Over the winter, he opted to sign with the Japan league. With Jay Payton being cut a week or so ago, we have the opening available, and apparently Gabe wanted to return - because he is coming back now!! Yay! Oh, and Johnny Damon extended his hitting streak to 28 games today! Go Johnny! ***And... THANK YOU Seattle Mariners for beating the Baltimore Orioles today, leaving us alone in first place still! Whew! Holding on for at least one more day to that slot - LOL!!!!

Stitched on today: Earth Angel
posted by Carol at 8:02 PM 6 comments

Friday, July 15, 2005

Celtic Band Sampler Update

I made it through band 5 tonight - so far, it has been my favorite band on the sampler. I didn't think I would like the winged creature (phoenix??), but I really do. I put in a start on band 6 because I still had some time and energy... and I was anxious to peek at how it will look :-)

Some stash goodies in the mail today! I received my Secret Santa, Royal Holiday, The Kiss (hmmmm.... Kreinik #8 braid on 32 ct linen... never care much for that combination....) and Weeping Willow Keep charts - lots of fun to look at them all :-)

Oh what a bummer! Stitching Bits & Bobs changed their server a few days ago, and now all the many, many links I have used in my blog to charts that are in their catalog, are broken! Only the ones from the last couple of days work now - yuck!
Great news! Ryan Newman and the Alltel Dodge are here in New Hampshire!! I wish I had tickets!! He led Happy Hour with the fastest speed... again... hope all this adds up to a win this weekend - finally, in my home state... please Ryan and the Alltel team.... let's get a win! (photo from www.nascar.com)

Fantastic news! Well, to me it is.... Red Sox 17, Yankees 1, a total rout! David Ortiz had a grand slam tonight - amongst other highlights by most of the team members. Great pitching job by David Wells! I hope that Jenn is feeling better about the Sox tonight!

It is a gorgeous summer day here, in the upper 80's and low 90's all day... the end result... 35 garden photos! But I have limited myself to 13.... maybe I will save the rest for (literally) a rainy day... on rainy days the pics come out lousy, so at least I have some in reserve for then :-)
Daylily: Best of FriendsDaylily: Holiday DelightDaylily: Paige's PinataDaylily: Watermelon TimeDaylily: Mokan ButterflyDaylily: Karen SueDaylily: Celebrity EliteDaylily: Bess RossDaylily: StreakerDaylily: Quilt Patch (love this one's name!!)Daylily: El DesperadoDaylily: Carpenter's ShavingsDaylily: Luau Meow

Got some fun DVDs today! Trapped in Paradise, Only the Lonely and Bewitched: The Complete First Season - classic comedies that are like candy to me :-)

Stitched on today: Story Time - finished the leaves underneath the last bird on the right... still have the chatty bird on the left to stitch and all the outlining - I figure I will put a WIP scan up this weekend... and Celtic Band Sampler
posted by Carol at 4:37 PM 3 comments

Thursday, July 14, 2005

I was really motivated again when I saw a model of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow stitched up while I was at my LNS yesterday. When it was time tonight to think of what to stitch, that decision was easy. For those who do not know, I am using the Victoria Clayton silk conversion for mine (or as I call it, "the watercolor version"). It struck me funny tonight as I was stitching and I realized that at the start of 2005, I really wanted to stitch this piece. I then got all distracted by all the projects you see me doing every day.... and I may be lucky if I just finish this one house square by the end of 2005 :-(

It was a busy day at work today, and I don't have a lot to say.... so I will just add my garden pics now... I was glad I thought to take my photos in the AM today, as a very severe thunderstorm came through this afternoon and now these pretty blooms look mushy!! I did get the picture of the pink tiger lily at my mailbox when I got home though... that bloom held up better than the daylilies did in the storm :-)
Daylily: Paper ButterflyDaylily: Kindly LightDaylily: Persian MarketDaylily: Siloam Gum DropDaylily: Chicago Sunrise (complete with a bee... for Becky!!)Pink Tiger Lily - sturdy enough to withstand the thunderstorm :-)

Stitched on today: Story Time - I finished the second bird, so now only one left to go :-) .... and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
posted by Carol at 11:07 PM 4 comments

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Some more work on Legends of the Dragons tonight... doesn't look like much, but I managed to outline Majesty's square now and begin some more of the knotwork across the top of his block....

I made a hop to my LNS today... after all, summer can be a slow time for therapy with kids.... and I picked up four of the shades of Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors that I need for Un Petit Paradis...... I think I need two or three more shades (Latte, Desert Sage and Burnished Gold), but since it calls for about a dozen or more shades, I can only do this in small amounts without going bust :-) I am absolutely dying to stitch this one, though! I also picked up a small gift for a friend (but she reads this blog, so I can't talk about it....). And in the mail today, I received my order of Petite Treasure Braids that now makes my Celtic Summer and Autumn Fairy Spirit kits complete... that is a good feeling. I love having projects ready to go when I feel like the time is right to start them :-)

Right before I went to bed last night, I made a quick online purchase.. now, I never looked twice at this chart that has been out for quite some time, but after seeing it stitched up, I loved it. It is Mirabilia's Garden Muses...

OK.... opinions would be appreciated, but I have made a decision about the two fibers of the month clubs I am in. I sometimes like what I get... I usually like about half of what I get, actually.... but I adore hand dyed fabric! So, I am going to cancel both of these clubs and sign up for Sugar Maple Fabrics' Treat of the Month Option #4... about six to seven dollars cheaper and I think I will like it better. I see they are kind of "off duty" until September, so I have to look into that and may not be able to make my switch until then... but I think it sounds like a good plan to me :-) And, speaking of Sugar Maple Fabrics... why do they have to keep coming up with gorgeous new colors?? They are killing me... today I found this: Wintry Ice Blue, a 28 ct lugana with silver in it... sigh...now to think of what to use it for... already, about 20 ideas!! I have to stop looking at their auctions. I keep telling myself this - stop looking! I also need to decide what to use for these fat quarters of SMF belfast linen:Pussywillow, and Tumult.... Like these?? Check out the big sale at The Avid Stitcher - her inventory is small, but her savings are huge right now! (Nope, I am not affiliated, just love this seller!)

I have some more garden pictures for today. I blog for myself, so I really don't want to bore anyone with all my daily garden pics and stash acquisitions... please just skip what you want, of course... I love to garden as much as I love to stitch, so I indulge myself here :-) And I do use this as my gardening journal as well...
Daylily: Fires of FujiDaylily: BoagieDaylily: Leebea Orange CrushDaylily: Bahama ButterscotchDaylily: Miss JessieDaylily: Mary ReedDaylily: Siloam June BugDaylily: Cameroons

Stitched on today: Legends of the Dragons, and a little bit of Story Time at work again today...
posted by Carol at 6:36 PM 8 comments

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

American League 7, National League 5

Great All-Star Game tonight... and the American League will again have home field advantage in the World Series. Our Red Sox manager, Terry Francona, made great use of everyone on his bench, and all but about two of his pitchers to get it done. Congrats to Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles for his MVP award too :-) (I can't figure out, though, why Shea Hillenbrand of the Toronto Blue Jays always looks so annoyed, no matter what is going on... would he rather be somewhere else, doing something else??)
Petal Fairy night... I stitched the cream colored outline of the petals on the left side of her skirt.... which was a lot of counting while also watching baseball, but it all lined up just right :-) I am not sure, though, if tonight's work even shows in the picture.

Q. What do you do when you have some sort of obligation stitching to do,
but don't want to do it?

A. Quick answer this week - I really don't like obligation stitching, as it takes all of the fun out of stitching... so I just don't do it :-)
Received my silk fibers of the month from Paw Prints Cross Stitch... let's see, this month looks interesting... still thinking on whether or not to continue this club for much longer... received a skein of Waterlilies in Plum, a skein of Kreinik Silk Mori in 1098, a card of Rainbow Gallery Splendor in S916, and a skein of Eterna Silk Overdyed Twist 8 in Venice (might look nice for kloster blocks in a hardanger project....).

I forgot - I was high bidder for a neat treat last night.... Holly Noel... it will be a fun stitch for a gift for someone....

A little more garden today - not as many new blooms :-)
Daylily: Asian ArtistryDaylily: House of OrangeDaylily: Buffy's Doll...And had to post this scrawny little thing... you see, I planted the bulbs for this asiatic lily back in the summer of 2001 when we built our house. Every year since, some creature has come along and eaten its buds... this is its first year blooming... now I remember they were pink bulbs!! LOL!
It's a cat's life! Little Ava is a bit flirtatious tonight... and Angus is being suckered in :-)

Stitched on today: Story Time... I snuck in just a little at work today... and Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 1:58 PM 5 comments

Monday, July 11, 2005

A big decision about Catherine Agnes... :-(

I am going to restart this piece. I added the next motif onto it this afternoon and realized something I thought I had noticed yesterday... the reticello/cut work motif is not placed quite right. Now the motif below it does not line up evenly. This is surely not good enough for me. So, in the next few days I will reorder the linen and give it a new start.... good thing I had not gotten that far along, and I am pretty sure I figured out what went wrong too, so next time should be OK.
And, this evening I put in a couple of hours on 17th Century Irish Garden... no problems with this one :-)
I just received the Gold & Jewels 28 ct gilded lugana from Sugar Maple Fabrics via their ebay auctions.... and all I can say is... WOW! What stunning fabric! It looks exactly like the pic I posted of it a few days ago (July 3rd).... so.... I went back to ebay and ordered a fat quarter of their Silvery Impressionism 28 ct Lugana... I am sure this will be lovely, as I am using their Impressionism Cashel for Mermaid Heaven and think it is the most wonderful colors! I am now so very excited to see this new piece with the silver in it :-)
I also received all of this lovely stash from Stitching Bits & Bobs :-) ... ... and all of these gorgeous hand dyed fabrics were in the package too - Silkweaver 32 ct Romantic Interlude lugana, Picture This Plus 28 ct Crystal Meditation lugana, Sugar Maple Fabrics 32 ct Merfolk's Morn lugana and Sugar Maple Fabrics 28 ct Summer's End lugana.... pretty yummy stuff... and I got a free gift too - two skeins of Kreinik Milkpaints, as well as a nice small cut of a neutral evenweave and several nice charms, all in a cute little plastic purse shaped container... so cute!! Love it! Bobbie does a great job with her shop!

I took a whole bunch of new garden photos today, but am too tired to take them off my camera. I spent the last 3 1/2 hours watching the Home Run Derby on ESPN... this is an event held annually the night before the MLB All-Star Game. As usual, I just loved it! Congratulations to Bobby Abreu, what a massive win! And, congrats to Boston's own David Ortiz... he also broke the record in Round 1 :-)

***Edited to add in today's garden pics - Julie asked if I could post one long photo of my garden, but I cannot... sorry. My garden is massive. It goes all the way around my house, around my walkway, up my driveway, around my mailbox... and then another side garden as well.... one big pic will show tons of green with a tiny flower here and there - it sure does not all bloom at once like in a painting - LOL!
Daylily: Chance EncounterDaylily: Always AfternoonDaylily: Seminole RubyDaylily: Painter's SplashDaylily: Bette Davis EyesDaylily: English WitchDaylily: Clinch Mountain Aurora...And a blurry photo of the bloom on my passion flower vine... thrilled to see it bloom. I have to overwinter this in my kitchen due to our harsh winters... and boy does it make a mess with its leaves dropping... and then the cats move them all over the place... argh... sweeping all the time! But when it blooms, it is all worth it :-)

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden and Catherine Agnes
posted by Carol at 5:01 PM 6 comments

Sunday, July 10, 2005

A little work on Catherine Agnes today!! :-)

Well, OK, I took a deep breath and picked up Catherine Agnes again for a bit this morning. I needed some motivation to get back to this one, and I got some from my SAL mate, Karen V. - I needed that LOL! I was brave and did the cut work. I hate how the dove's eyes work up in one strand of silk, and so tiny. Up close they are perfect, but they don't have the great tension you get with perle cotton :-( Oh well. My fabric is the proper size, yet so small to work on with these specialty stitches. I realize now my hesitation is less from the cut work and more from how hard it is to keep the fabric in a small Q-Snap while working on this.... so now a bit of a break with easier motifs to stitch... until that dreaded bullion knot rears its ugly head :-)
And, then I also worked on Miracle Butterfly since it is Passione Ricamo SAL day... but I didn't really stitch much at all today.... was hot and sunny, which did not motivate me to stitch much :-)

I forgot to mention that I received Spiritdancer yesterday.... and in the wee hours of the morning last night/this morning I was surfing and visited The Avid Stitcher... she is having an inventory reduction sale, and I bought Royal Holiday and Weeping Willow Keep on sale.... :-)

Tons of blooms today! Here are a select few:Daylily: SchnickelfritzDaylily: Wilson YellowDaylily: MattDaylily: Yazoo StarfireDaylily: Raspberry PixieDaylily: Seductor (but yuck, every bloom this year is marked like this...hmmmm...must do some research and see if something is wrong with the plant or its location)

Stitched on today: Catherine Agnes and Miracle Butterfly
posted by Carol at 5:11 PM 6 comments

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Mermaid Heaven Update

It was a busy day here today, but I did manage to find some time this evening to work on Mermaid Heaven. This one is just zipping along so quickly - no fractional stitches or outlining (except for the baby's eyelids so far....). Unfortunately, my camera does not take a decent enough photo for you to see the gorgeous color of the fabric. Maybe I will take an outdoor pic and see if it shows better... hmmmm....
Well.... I thought there was going to be some great news on Ryan Newman today. Boy, it sure looked that way! His #39 Dodge was absolutely dominant all day in the Busch series race in Chicago. He led something like 118 of 200 laps today... but a very costly mistake by a rookie pit crew member cost it all for him. Before feeling too down about it, Ryan did rally all the way back from 18th to 3rd after the mistake. I wish he could use his Nextel Cup pit crew in Busch races, but simply cannot.... so the error cost the win... yet he had a great attitude about it anyhow... better luck tomorrow in the Nextel Cup race :-) (photo from www.nascar.com)

Congratulations to Matt Clement for making the All Star Roster in light of Roy Halladay's injury :-) I just knew there would be a way to get Matt on the team :-)

Well, my daylily pics came out pretty horrible again today, but here are three that are about worth showing: Daylily: Inner ViewDaylily: Little Wine Cup

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Hide and Seek while I was stitching tonight... I find it funny, being a therapist, how screenwriters like to make psychologists have difficulties with family events in their films.... good movie, though! There are four alternate endings still for us to watch too :-)

I want to thank everyone who emailed me with various color conversions for Celtic Christmas! The response was wonderful! As I wrote last night, I did get the one I was looking for, but I also really like all the other ones you sent me! What a great community we have here - thanks again!
Here is the conversion for Celtic Autumn that I will be using as well :-) Thanks for that one too!

Stitched on today: Mermaid Heaven
posted by Carol at 6:43 PM 10 comments

Friday, July 08, 2005

Stuck in the land of DMC 3362.... :-)

I put in my weekly evening on the Celtic Band Sampler SAL tonight.... stuck for about four or five hours in the land of DMC 3362. I can barely believe I got nothing more done than adding the 3362 to the green leaves and stems I stitched in last week. I was thinking when I chose this project that it would be fun to add a band sampler to my rotation. What I had totally not realized was how huge this band sampler is.... how wide it is... with the exception of the alphabet band, I have not yet completed one full band in one sitting. Makes me feel like a slow poke. I guess I just underestimated this project. No regrets, though. I am just a bit surprised by it :-)

I totally forgot to post this a couple of days ago when I found out, but Karen is also going to join us for the Celtic Winter SAL... I think I totally coerced her into joining us, but since she and DH just opened their new shop in Katoomba, NSW at the start of this month, she surely is going to need it as a shop model - LOL!! Hope she doesn't mind that I did coerce her :-) Anyhow, check out her site, please - she is having a sale celebrating her shop's birthday!! Cool!
I picked up two new UK cross stitch magazines today - The World of Cross Stitching Issue 99, as seen above, and Cross Stitch Collection Issue 119 (couldn't find a picture on the net of this one...). They are OK, but neither are spectacular. I buy them, though, because I really want to support the cross stitch magazine industry. I adore my magazines, and if I get a bad one, oh well.... but I don't want them to go out of business :-)
I am looking for this color conversion for Lavender & Lace's Celtic Christmas. I am wondering if anyone who reads this blog happens to have this conversion? I know it is available from Victoria's Needle, but I already own the original chart and am hesitant to have to pay about $15 USD for the chart again.... I think I prefer the blue conversion over the red. While the red is stunning, the blue matches my decor much better. If anyone can help me, I sure would appreciate it... thanks so much! (******Thank you so much to everyone who sent me conversions for Celtic Christmas! Guess what?? I found the conversion I was looking for on a BB! If anyone wants it, let me know. I saved it to a word document!!).

I broke down today and ordered a fat quarter of Romantic Interlude 32 ct lugana, as well as all the Soie Cristale shades and one of the Gloriana silks needed for the Merry Cox sewing roll... which I plan to alter into a sampler... sigh. Like I think I have all this time to get everything done, right?? (The fabric is not for the sewing roll, it was just on sale at a good price... don't want anyone to think I plan to stitch this on pink and lavender lugana - LOL!!)

The remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy are upon us... my garden is quite wet, and photo taking was truly difficult today - could not seem to get anything to focus (??), but here are the best three of the lot today:Daylily: Mayfair SeasonDaylily: Suzie Wong

Red Sox 7, Orioles 2 - ah, that felt good! The Red Sox looked and acted totally unbeatable tonight! You know, I realized I pretty much degraded my feelings about this team in an email tonight to a fellow stitching blogger. I regret that. I do have full faith in this team and do hope they will return to the World Series. I am just a bit befuddled by such things like possibly putting Curt Schilling in the bull pen (how will he get himself ready for long innings of pitching that way?), or by resting four starters all at once last night... anyhow, my faith remains intact :-)
OK, Ryan Newman got bumped off the pole by Jimmie Johnson for the Nextel Cup race in Chicago... he has to sit on the "outside pole" in that one :-) No big loss! But... 'Rocketman' Ryan Newman had no problem getting the pole for the Busch race in Chicago for tomorrow! Only his second Busch race this year and already on the pole! I love Ryan! Just look at that face! ...And he is a college graduate too :-) (photo from www.nascar.com)

Stitched on today: Story Time and Celtic Band Sampler
posted by Carol at 9:36 AM 12 comments

Thursday, July 07, 2005

My prayers to my British friends...

My thoughts and prayers are with all my dear friends in the UK right now... may God bless you and keep you from harm.... please drop in, if you can, and let us all know you and yours are OK.... thank you!
Well, I felt some pressure today to keep going on Legends of the Dragons as my SAL mate just won't seem to slow down and let me keep up... so I finished the backstitching on Majesty this afternoon... but it has to go away now because I have other stitching plans for later this evening. I wish I did not feel this pressure, and hopefully soon I will not let it get to me. But for now, I still struggle to keep up. I am a fast stitcher, and I know this, but I am doing 12 projects right now and still trying to keep up with someone who is only doing a small number of projects... silly me!
And then I worked for the rest of the evening on Earth Angel. I focused on the first shading color in her wings, and this is about 2/3 of that part completed now. It is not as tough to do as it looks :-) I think her wings will move along quite nicely now.
I ordered a fat quarter of this pretty Planetarium 28 ct jobelan from a shop I just learned of on the Needle & Thread Bulletin Board: Stitcher's Dream - they came highly recommended, so I decided to give it a go - I will let you all know how it worked out! I was psyched that they take PayPal!

Some garden photos from yesterday and today - there are a few this time, so I made them smaller :-)

I received the latest issue of Stitcher's World today: Unfortunately, not very impressed.... nothing in it of any real style this time around... oh well :-(

Stitched on today: Story Time, Legends of the Dragons and Earth Angel
posted by Carol at 2:41 PM 5 comments

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Wednesdays are for dragons....

...so, of course, I went to work on Legends of the Dragons. I just have some more backstitching to do in his wings, and I might do that at work sometime this week so I can kind of catch up with Nikki. Unlike Nikki, though, I am not really looking forward to having border to do again... :-) I am glad to be done with Majesty's wings. As you can see, they are really colorful. Well, I would stitch a color and think I am done, get a new color on my needle and realized I had missed a patch of the previous color... and this just kept happening over and over again - stubborn little dragon - LOL!

Q. Do you think that you stitch neater on Evenweave than you do on Aida
cloth? If so, why?

A. Wow, I can barely even recall the days of stitching on aida. However, I doubt my stitching is neater on evenweave (or linen) than it was on aida... it is about the same... except fractional stitches are more even, I imgaine, on evenweave or linen :-) If the question today were, do you like to stitch on evenweave better than aida, then I would have to say "YES!" But that is not the question.... so I will stop chattering away about that...

I picked up the floss today for Celtic Spring... little by little I am getting the whole series kitted up so I will be good to go....

I forgot last night to mention that I got two MLI charts on ebay for great deals... Secret Santa and Spiritdancer... I figured they would be fun to have in my stash for those low prices.

It was a bit damp, kind of drizzly, when I got home this afternoon. I took garden photos but may retry tomorrow to see if the weather is better. Otherwise, I still have some pretties from today to post tomorrow....

Red Sox 7, Rangers 4 - Matt Clement pitched 8 2/3 innings... sure wish he was left out there for that last batter to make it a complete game... he deserved that, great job! And, what is this? Curt Schilling is going to finish his rehab as the closer in the bullpen while Keith Foulke is on the DL?? Amazing... interesting...hmmm...

Stitched on today: Story Time, finally for a little while at work again today... and Legends of the Dragons
posted by Carol at 3:51 PM 2 comments

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Lots of new fabrics!

Back to Angel of Love tonight. I got her collar done, and a bit more of the stitching in her skirt, preparing it for all of that incredible beading that is yet to come! LOL!

When I got home from work this afternoon, my husband commented that the mail was like Christmas today - he sure was right! I got in a whole lot of fabric today :-) First is my Celebration Bag from Silkweaver. I always love receiving these bags that Silkweaver sells when new colors come out in their various lines.... you receive random colors, and I received a fat quarter of 28 ct Reflections lugana in Rock-A-Bye, a fat quarter of 32 ct Expression jobelan in Elegance (nice lavender!), and a fat quarter of Expressions belfast in Jubilation, which just might be what I am looking for when I do the future Fairy Idyll SAL with Karen (must check it with the floss to truly decide, though).... I also received the Blue Diamonds Reflections for the Celtic Winter SAL and the Green Apple Reflections that I might use for Celtic Summer.... I also received the odd cuts I ordered from Dyeing4U...small cuts in various sizes of lugana and jobelan in Manhattan Myst, Nautical Lights and Majestic:OK, I got more stash from ebay in the mail too - a fat quarter of 32 ct antique white linen, a fat half of Silkweaver Antique Gold Cashel, the Stitcher's World magazine featuring Teresa Wentzler's Dragon Ride, the chart I bought to surprise my friend, the Winter Visitor chart by Crossed Wing Collection, the two charms by The Trilogy, and the DMC Lavender Fairy chart.... I bet the mailman had tons of extra room in his Jeep after he stopped here! When it rains, it pours, I guess :-)

I stopped at AC Moore's this afternoon and picked up all the DMC for Celtic Winter, Celtic Summer and Moon Fairy Spirit.... getting ready to go soon on all of these :-) I also ordered the Petite Treasure Braid for Celtic Summer from Paw Prints Cross Stitch, and I am going to contact them tonight to also add the three colors I also need for Autumn Fairy Spirit... along with Night...or Resting Butterfly (seems to have two names, depending on whether you use the booklet, as I am, or buy the kit...) that is already now kitted up and ready to go...I should be set for a little while... or until something else that is pretty comes along.... like the SAL Isabelle and I are thinking of doing: Cats' Eyes - LOL! Someone help me!! :-)

A lot from various spots in the garden today:
Daylily: TutankhamenDaylily: Black-Eyed StellaDaylily: Butterfly GardenDaylily: Starlift
New DVD Release Tuesday again!! I am anxiously awaiting a chance to watch my new DVD: Hide and Seek!!

Red Sox 7, Rangers 4 - at last, the Red Sox are ready to look into what is wrong with Keith Foulke! I feel for the guy - the highest highs to the lowest lows.... and Mike Timlin showed no problem with stepping in and taking over that closer job tonight! And how about Manny Ramirez' huge grand slam... with Bill Mueller on his heels with a HR of his own! Woo Hoo guys! Still sitting pretty (for now) atop MLB's toughest division!!

Stitched on today: Angel of Love
posted by Carol at 6:04 PM 13 comments

Monday, July 04, 2005

Happy Fourth of July!

Back to Petal Fairy tonight. I think she is going to be a happy dance soon, but first I have to work my way through all the yellow petals of her skirt. I took her off the scroll tonight, and now you can see her in her entirety.

It was a quiet holiday here. We slept in. We stayed up until 2 AM - 3 AM all weekend, so it will be hard to get back on schedule tonight! Erin said she enjoyed her quiet weekend up here playing The Sims and one of my Mike's PC shooter games too :-)

And the explosion of daylilies in our garden has begun!...
Daylily: BrandyDaylily: Lighthouse DivineDaylily: Jungle PrincessDaylily: Brocaded GownDaylily: Violet CharmDaylily: Siloam Jim Cooper

I totally forgot to mention yesterday that four Red Sox are going to the All-Star Game! Congratulations to Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, David Ortiz and Jason Varitek! I hope to see one or two of them in the Home Run Derby too! It amazes me how strong the American League is, and how weak the National League is, this year.... it will be interesting to see if that shows itself in the All-Star Game on July 12th.... hmmm.... (no offense to NL fans, that is not what I am trying to say... just reading SI articles and watching SportsCenter, plus what I saw during our interleague games...)

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy
posted by Carol at 1:35 PM 6 comments

Sunday, July 03, 2005

It is Sunday... and Sunday is Passione Ricamo SAL day. I worked for a while on Miracle Butterfly. I noticed when I first started working on the dress that the shading seemed dark. Today I really noticed how much different the shading is with the DMC than it is on the computer generated photo on the chart. I still like it a lot, but wow, is it much darker than it appears in that photo. Anyhow, it is really cruising along quickly now, and it may well be my next happy dance... we shall see, since it is a Sunday project I don't know for sure how much longer it will take as Sundays are kind of up in the air... sometimes I have tons of free time and other times it is a great day for family events or other adventures... :-) Either way, I don't expect it will take too much longer to finish this one.
I decided to try out this new Gold & Jewels hand dyed fabric that Sugar Maple Fabrics has listed up on ebay right now. It is a fat quarter of 28 ct gold metallic lugana. I know it is likely a little lighter than this in reality, but I still thought it was pretty neat...

Erin and I let the kitties have some supervised play in the front yard for a few minutes today:Here Anouk is playing lioness, hiding under the cover of some daylilies :-)Erin scoops up Angus when it is time to come in.... :-)Daylily: Green Eyes WinkThe Peace rose is much more open today...

Almost forgot! A small ebay win late tonight... The Kiss :-)

Stitched on today: Miracle Butterfly
posted by Carol at 6:00 PM 6 comments

Saturday, July 02, 2005

I finished the baby's face today :-) I would like to continue on tonight with Mermaid Heaven, but I do have another stitching obligation for tonight.... so back into the satchel it goes now...
And, here is tonight's progress on Celtic Band Sampler. I finally made it through the blackwork band and have a much more enjoyable band underway now :-)
I received my FOTM from Heaven Lee Creations today - it is 32 ct jobelan in their new shade, Grapefruit. I could not be more pleased! It is a fairly deep sunny yellow with pinkish tint to it swirled in! Gorgeous! And I also received from them the specialty fabric for Emma's Garden. Gorgeous! I was warned that this company has had problems in the past... I had good luck with them way back when I ordered the Dragon Myst lugana I am using for Legends of the Dragons. I did not want to be scared off about them, as the Dragon Myst is so well dyed and is outstanding, but I do recall it took quite some time to receive the fabric. Well, my report on how this company does is the same.... gorgeous, high quality fabric, but you have to be patient about receiving it. I think the specialty fabric took a month to come in. The FOTM took a week, but the PayPal invoice was delayed from them.... so patience is a virtue, and since their fabric is so high quality, I elect to be patient and stick with them :-)

I also received a large package from Stitching Bits & Bobs today containing a few orders all together (which is great - Bobbie always refunds the extra shipping paid... cool!). I received the fat eighth of Crystal Splash Cashel form Picture This Plus:I think a dragon or other fantasy design will look great on this! Also in the large package were all the Mill Hill beads and Needlepaints for Celtic Summer (mmmm, can you tell I want to start this one soon??!!), Autumn Winds (really nice chart, and I think that new Grapefruit FOTM may be just perfect for it!!), Red Dragon Bookmark, Thistle Stop and a skein of Finley Gold Crescent Colours for Summer House (but the skein of Dandelion Stem is backordered... maybe it will come in with the backordered magnifica beads I am still waiting for...).

Also some goodies from ebay today! I received the back issue of The Stitchery that has Black Swan's Wisteria Fairy in it, plus the Fire Dragon chart also came in - wow, was opening packages for quite some time this morning!

I am feeling so much better today to have learned that Karen is doing very well today in light of some personal difficulties that could easily be devastating. She is a good girl and a tough cookie, and I sure do love her! I hope she continues to just keep growing and enjoying her new life :-)
Daylily: You DevilDaylily: Pixie ParasolThis is not any kind of spectacular picture of my Peace rose, but I am so thrilled to see it! My father in law gave us this rose bush the first year we moved into this house. We had to move it last fall because we lost a lot of rose bushes the previous winter due to having someone else plow our driveway and not knowing where the roses were - he uprooted most of my bushes. Then my mother in law apparently ran this one right over and we thought it was dead. But no, here it is! I am thrilled!!!!! I love this rose :-)

Thank you to everyone who has sent comments about my garden. Yes, it is large. But right now the blooms are just scattered here and there.... around mid-July there should be more larger clusters in the garden in bloom - then I hope to put up photos that will show areas instead of single blooms.... And, no, I really don't remember the names of most of my plants any longer. I used to know and kept a database, but my plant tags rarely survive the winter or the wildlife, so I had to give up on that! :-)

***I was up until 2 AM watching the NASCAR race and stitching, so this entry was edited with the CBS WIP pic and this sports update (a pretty good night): Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 4... and Ryan Newman moved up to 6th in points after coming in 14th in the Pepsi 400 in Daytona, FL...after a 2 and a half hour rain delay (which was really OK with me.... the race started just moments after the Red Sox game ended.... which saved me from missing any of either!!)

Stitched on today: Mermaid Heaven and Celtic Band Sampler
posted by Carol at 1:29 PM 6 comments

Friday, July 01, 2005

July Goals... and a review of June Goals

I have goals to review today, but first here is my first WIP photo of the Mermaid Heaven SAL that started today with Jenn and Amy. I am stitching mine on Impressionism Cashel from Sugar Maple Fabrics, and I do love how the floss colors look on this fabric. I am stitching this in page blocks, as the chart is set up that way... this is a first for me, kind of interesting!!**I am stitching the highlighted part, part 2, which is what I mean by a "page block." I had hoped to get the baby's face finished tonight, but too tired now, so will finish her face tomorrow :-)

June Goals:
1. Continue to work on Fairy Flora - yes, and Happy Dance!!
2. Finish Peacock Cypher SAL with Karen - yes, and Happy Dance!!
3. Continue to work on Petal Fairy - yes!!
4. Continue to work on Earth Angel SAL with Jenn - yes!!
5. Continue to work on Miracle Butterfly - yes!!
6. Put some stitches into Catherine Agnes, and set up a stiching schedule with Karen V. to keep us both motivated - no, and I really, really have to get in gear on this one...
7. Continue to work on 17th Century Irish Garden - yes, thanks to some time with it last night, which was it for the whole month!
8. Continue Legends of the Dragons SAL with Nicole - yes!!
9. Continue to work on Angel of Love - yes!!
10. Continue to work on Little Wings - yes, even though it was only for one night again this month
11. Continue to work on Celtic Band Sampler SAL with Dani and Katrina - yes!!
12. Start Valerie Pfeiffer's Story Time as next "at work" project -yes!!
13. Continue to work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - no...

July Goals:
1. Start Mermaid Heaven SAL with Jenn and Amy
2. Continue to work on Petal Fairy
3. Continue to work on Earth Angel SAL with Jenn
4. Continue to work on Celtic Band Sampler SAL with Dani and Katrina
5. Continue to work on Angel of Love
6. Continue to work on 17th Century Irish Garden
7. Continue to work on Little Wings
8. Continue to work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
9. Continue to work on Catherine Agnes SAL with Karen V.
10. Finish Story Time
11. Start House Samplings as next "at work" project
12. Continue Legends of the Dragons SAL with Nicole
13. Continue Miracle Butterfly SAL on Sundays
I received an order from Silkweaver today. I just love this Wandering Ivy lugana so much - it is much prettier than I had expected it would be! I also received two of the solos I have shown in earlier entries, and they are also lovely. Plus, I received the fat quarter of Winter Breeze belfast from the trade with Jenn... as it is belfast and not lugana as she had thought it was, it is not gray and white, but rather is a brownish and white. So, this will give me a challenge to decide what to stitch on it. My original plans likely won't work out.... still very nice fabric though :-) Thanks Jenn - I will ship your lugana out to you as soon as the piece I ordered for you comes in :-) **Any thoughts on what might work best on this linen would be appreciated - Jenn has suggested Autumn Queen :-)
Daylily: Ice FogClimbing Rose: Joseph's CoatThis was such a fat caterpillar I found on my daylily today - he is going to be one huge butterfly soon!!

Stitched today: Mermaid Heaven
posted by Carol at 1:26 AM 5 comments