It has been a while now since I worked on 17th Century Irish Garden, so I dug it out tonight and stitched away - I was really distracted all night what with an exciting Red Sox game and also an acting out client paging me via the answering service and needing some attention, so I did not get as much done as I had hoped I would.... Funny, my irises are really starting to bloom in my garden now and that is exactly what I am stitching on this garden right now too :-)
I just received my May installment of "Surprise Me" threads from the Monthly Bits Club, and after communicating nicely with Bobbie about this last month, I am now receiving more subtle threads... and am soooooooo much happier! These are all very useable this month - thanks Bobbie!! I got Crescent Colours in Snips and Snails, Dragon Floss in Jolly Joker, Dinky Dyes in Whitsundays, Needlepoint Inc silk in 131, Soie Cristale in 1092 and Needle Necessities in 175. I look forward now to next month!

Congratulations to Jenn!! She just won the bingo game I was calling over on the New England Cross Stitchers board! Her gift certificate will be ordered this week for her!

I also got in that good sized order from ebay - The Bookshelf chart, Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors in Spring Pastels for when I eventually get to stitch Zella's Garden, 02031 Mill Hill beads for Autumn Fairy Spirit, and a whole pile of 12065 Mill Hill Treasures for Lilly of the Woods (that larger cut blue solo I ordered for this should be here any minute now, so I plan to start her soon... as if I need yet another big project in my rotation, but I have to start this one!!)... oh, and also in the package was the new Mirabilia bee freebie chart! Yay!!!

You Are From the Sun

Of all your friends, you're the shining star. You're dramatic - loving attention and the spotlight. You're a totally entertainer and the life of the party. Watch out! The Sun can be stubborn, demanding, and flirty. Overall, you're a great leader and great friend. The very best!

What Planet Are You From?

**Playing little blog "games" again today :-)

Red Sox 5, Orioles 1... catching up towards first place now, while the Yankees fell back a game... gotta savor this while it lasts - but at the cost of Johnny Damon being taken out early and needing four stitches on his brow after crashing into the wall... sigh... hope he will be OK for tomorrow! (Hope he will be OK, period!)...

Got some cool news last night! OK, nobody cares about this except for me... but I was watching a NASCAR show on the Speed Channel before going to bed last night, and I learned that Ryan Newman raced in the Busch Series race on Saturday - he now has a Busch team! The car looks the same, but bears the number 39... Michael Waltrip was saying it is his old open wheel driving number. This is so exciting! I was really hoping Newman would run some Busch races, and now he is! Poor Mike, he has to suffer through my watching Newman up to twice a week now instead of only once - LOL!!

And of course, DVD New Release Tuesday again today, for us this week it is Boogeyman!!

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher and 17th Century Irish Garden

Happy Memorial Day (aka No Work Today)

Angel of Love tonight - even if only for a couple of hours - busy day today with gardening, entertaining my niece and then driving her home to Massachusetts in holiday traffic... but my angel is taking some shape now -
A sweet little treat in my garden today - but it has lost its name tag :-(

YOU ARE BASIL


What herb are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Found this little chipmunk hiding in the edging by my front door steps today -
And, back to the dregs again - Orioles 8, Red Sox 1.... what happened Bronson Arroyo? Guess everyone is entitled to a bad night :-)

Stitched on today: Angel of Love

Red Sox keep on slugging, and Ryan Newman is fourth in points!

It is Passione Ricamo SAL day, so of course, I worked on mine... but with Red Sox on, NASCAR on, laundry going and baking chicken at the same time, it was put aside for a couple of hours.... but managed to get the sparklies done in one of her wings...
My niece, Nicole, used one of the DMC Mentor kits this weekend - she just plugged away and finished her kit tonight. She loved it. Betsy Stinner says at her classes, "Each one, teach one," so I took that to heart! Nicole did a beautiful job - if I can find where she put it, I will scan it in. She just gave it to me to scan... And, Anouk helped her... LOL!

Well, the clicky finger has been bad again today - all the Memorial Day sales are just too tempting! Today I visited the sale over at Stitching Bits & Bobs (I just love how she has sales so often....) and I ordered all the beads for Celtic Winter (two of each, but may need more... MLI did not specify on her website) and the two WDWs for The Good Neighbor - just in case I need them, as Gold and Blue Spruce are so popular I may be running low... and I figured this one would look good with the DMC/WDW conversion - it doesn't cry out to me as needing to be done in the silks... :-)
A much better photo today of my Sky Rays iris... :-)
And one of Lily playing on the lawn :-) My cats are indoor cats, but in nice weather they get to play under heavy supervision. She was literally "setting up camp" on the lawn this morning. She was not pleased when it was time to come in :-)

Red Sox 7, Yankees 2 - that was another sweet treat tonight! Thanks guys! David Wells, you were awesome!!! And, more outstanding news! Ryan Newman came in fifth in the Coca Cola 600 - bringing him all the way up to fourth in the points standings!!! Not a win, but still a great night!

Stitched on today: Miracle Butterfly

Red Sox 17, Yankees 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Red Sox 17, Yankees 1 - not a typo! I have gone silent on reporting my beloved Red Sox's scores most of this week as they lost four in a row to Toronto and the Yankees - but today was worth mentioning!!!!! It was the worst rout of the Yankees by the Red Sox in MLB history, so it is good to savor the sweet when we can get it.
I felt like working on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow for a little while tonight.... I was exhausted after a family BBQ here for the Memorial Day Holiday... but I got this much done :-)
My Victoria Falls tall bearded iris, and my Galleon Gold standard dwarf bearded irises bloomed today.... as did my Sky Rays intermediate bearded iris, but that photo came out blurry, so will redo that one tomorrow :-) I love spring - even though this one is several weeks behind in terms of blooming!!

Looking for a needlework sale for the holiday weekend?? JJ's Collectibles is one of the many who are having a sale... and I forgot to mention I visited the sale on Friday and ordered all the Anchor floss I need to stitch Kingfisher: - I am excited about this one. While there, I also ordered four cards of Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid in PB01 for when the Celtic Winter SAL starts up (the general response has been for the end of the summer, early fall.... sound good ladies??)....

My DMC Mentor kit also finally arrived on Friday, and my niece Nicole, who is up for the weekend, already started one of the kits last night!! Let's see if she makes enough progress here to share it.... right now, she is hooked on playing Sims 2 on our server computer :-) Can't blame her - I love that game too!

So nice to have a three day weekend and to have Nicole, age 13, visiting.... and I hope Karen and Brendon Kirk landed safely in Washington, DC yesteday too!! Can't wait for my cell to ring and it is Karen!!! :-) Meanwhile, Nicole and I enjoyed watching Are We There Yet?, White Noise and Final Destination 2 (she loves the "scary" movies)...

Stitched on today: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Oh yay, another crooked scan :-( Anyhow, I decided to work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow tonight, for the first time since January (I believe). As you can see, I am still on the first "house" - Carriage House Samplings calls each block a "house," yet this block is more than one house -LOL. Anyhow... I decided to pick this up because I really want to hang this in my dining area. Plus it was a really pricey project to kit up, so I could never live with myself if I let if become an UFO! I am stitching this using the Victoria Clayton silk conversion. I really wanted to stitch this in silk, and the VC conversion was the most affordable way for me to do so (still expensive, though). I think this conversion makes a more "watercolor" version of the sampler, but I love that about it. It matches my decor well :-) My house has a lot of my mother's watercolor paintings on the walls, so this will compliment them quite well. (I shall have to share pics of those here in my blog soon - she does amazing work!). I am using the 40 ct Pearled Barley linen from Lakeside Linens, as is called for. And, I truly loved working on this tonight.

I received The Good Neighbor and the linen for Toccata Number Two directly from The Drawn Thread today - I can't wait to start both of these projects!! I also received Angelica from the ebay seller today. And, while I was in WalMart on errands today, I also picked up a Janlynn chart I have always thought was sweet, Collecting Shells...

My day, however, started off pretty rough. As many know, the Northeast has been hit by a rather strange May Nor'Easter - very cold and rainy for about five days, with very strong winds. Well, when I arrived at my Haverhill, MA office today, I saw that I had a massive leak in my ceiling. Several ceiling tiles were soaked, and one had broken and crashed down, soaking my loveseat in the process. It was a disgusting mess. The landlord came right over to remove the damaged ceiling tiles and put down plastic. I moved my furniture too. I don't work there again until Wednesday, and he assures me he will have it fixed by Tuesday. Now, he is not at all reliable with his promises, so this will be interesting! Anyhow, I hope my loveseat dries out nicely. Mike is going to bring our dehumidifier down to help dry it out... yucky!!

Thank you to everyone who expressed concern and wished me well about my oncoming head cold. Yep, it came, but it could have been worse :-) It is more like backed up sinuses, so I better take care of that. But, tonight I had no problem with sitting up and stitching, since I went to bed early last night and got a great night's sleep! It is great to have such good friends showing concern - thank you!

I really like this list of 25 Most Asked Stitching Questions that is popping up in stitchers' blogs, so I decided to do it too :-)

1.How old were you when you started Cross Stitching? Age 9, I believe, when my Mom gave me a stamped pair of baby bibs to stitch.
2.Who taught you to cross stitch? I am mostly self-taught, with some help from my mother. She is more of a knitter than a stitcher, but she helped get me started.
3.What inspired you to begin Cross Stitching? I really don't know. I think I just always loved crafts and gave this a go - it stuck with me.
4.What has been your most difficult Cross Stitch Piece? Oh no, I really am drawing a blank on this one. I really don't find cross stitch to be difficult, yet some projects are surely more challenging than others. I recall when I stitched SB's Twined Heart as a shop model for a friend, it was a challenge as it was my first drawn thread work that would be displayed.... It worked out fine, though.
5.Do you have friends that stitch? I used to have one non-online stitching pal, but we grew apart. Now all my stitching pals are online, and my mother delves into it once in a while too.
6.What is your Favorite stitched Piece? Chatelaine's Mystery VI.
7.What is your favorite Fabric? I have no favorites. I just like to use what works best for a project. I do adore hand dyed fabrics, but since I also like to stitch samplers, I have a strong appreciation for 36 and 40 ct standard linens too :-) I don't stitch on aida any longer, but will stitch on a small hand made bag with an aida insert that Isabelle recently sent to me :-)
8.What is your favorite Fiber? I definitely love silks.
9.What is your favorite Needle? I most often use a size 28 tapestry needle - I like size 26 as well.
10.Do you prefer Black & White or Colored Charts? It makes no difference at all to me, I just like clear charts...which sometimes is a problem with internet charts...
11.How many Works In Progress do you have at this time? Not counting UFOs, I have Celtic Band Sampler, Little Wings, Petal Fairy, Peacock Cypher, Fairy Flora, Earth Angel, 17th Century Irish Garden, Miracle Butterfly and Legends of the Dragons... right now that is 9. (oops, Karen V. has just reminded me that I am also working on Catherine Agnes - glad she is on the ball :-) - so that makes 10 WIPS) - LOL! Thanks Karen!
12.How many UFO's do you have at this time? I have to list them to count them too - SB's Bee Garden, Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, Bag Ladies, Harvest Moon, Random Thoughts... I think that is all of them... oh, and Lacy's Garden, so that is 6. However, these will all get finished, I just have no idea when they will get done... :-) Oh, that's right - I also have Mermaid and the Sea, as well as Convent's Herbal Garden and Gathering Eggs started.... hmmmmm.... that's quite a few!
13.How many cross Stitch charts/kits/mags do you own? Far too many to count - surely in the thousands!
14.How much fabric do you have in stock at this time? Also too many to count - well over 100, close to 200.
15.Where is your favorite place to stitch? My "stitching nest" is my end of the sofa in the family room, as well as my overstuffed chair in my office at work.
16.What is your favorite time of day to stitch? Absolutely anytime :-)
17.How many pieces have you stitched in your lifetime? I could never even guess... many.
18.Do you give your stitched pieces away? Sad to say, no, not often. I like to keep my "babies." Do I frame or finish them, though? Not until lately... !
19.How many different fibers do you have in stock at this time? Pretty much a bit of everything such as DMC, Anchor, perle cottons, Gloriana, Needle Necessities, Rainbow Gallery fibers, Kreiniks, GAST, Weeks Dye Works, Dinky Dyes, Eterna Silks, Six Strand Sweets, Stranded By The Sea, Ozark Sampler, Au Ver a Soie, Soie D'Alger, Silk Mori, Needlepoint Inc Silks, Caron Waterlilies, Wildflowers, Watercolours and Impressions, Victoria Clayton silks, Thread Gatherer fibers, etc... :-)
20.How many pairs of scissors do you own? 5
21.Do you use stitching enhancers (lights, scroll frames...etc)? Hmmm.... I use a Q-Snap or a scroll frame quite often - I like my fabric to be a little taught, but will stitch in hand on small pieces. I also love my Dololly... that is about the extent of my gadgets.
22.How many pieces that have been stitched but not yet framed or finished off in some other way do you have at this time? Way too many, if not most.
23.Do you have a craft/stitching room? Sort of. I store my stash in a spare bedroom, but it is still a bedroom.
24.Why do you stitch? I like the repetitive rhythm of stitching - and I love to create things - this is soothing to me. It shuts my mind off from the residue of the day, which I need as a psychotherapist who works a lot with abused children.
25.What is your most memorable time related to cross stitching. Meeting my exceptional online friends - that has got to be the most memorable part :-) Of course, taking classes from Catherine Strickler and Betsy Stinner was very memorable... and best of all is yet to come, as my dear pal, Karen, is coming over from Australia as I write this (her flight is today!!) and with luck, she and her DH will be here to spend time with Mike and I on June 4th! Yay!!!! I just hope their driving plans do go as predicted and that is the actual day they arrive, since my DH just rented us a limo to go to Boston for that day!

Stitched on today: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Uh-oh... head cold on it's way :-(

Well, this is as far as I got tonight on Celtic Band Sampler before my sinus headache and oncoming head cold got the best of me.... and I will be off to bed early tonight (very rare for me). Too hard to sit up and stitch with this headache.

I received some neat mail today - 1798 Quaker Sampler from a chart swap (I have long lusted after this one!) and also the Forget-Me-Knots in Stitches chart, Knot Garden, from ebay too :-)

I got tagged again tonight by Dani, this time for a movie meme - OK I will give it a try -
1) Total number of films I own on DVD/video:At present, 1303 DVDs (yep, I am a compulsive DVD shopper!)

2) The last film I bought:Are We There Yet?

3) The last film I watched:White Noise

4) Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):The Notebook, The Patriot, Captain Ron, The Matrix, and Chocolat - amongst many others!

5) Tag 5 people and have them put this in their journal:I tag
Jenn, Becky, Cathy, Nicole and Julianna :-)

Hey, lookey lookey! (photo from nascar.com). Ryan Newman is on the pole for the Coca Cola 600 this weekend - apparently he shattered the previous speed record :-) Now, Ryan, time to get a WIN!!

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher (just came to the revelation today that I really don't enjoy working on this one much, and as a result will not meet my goal of finishing it this month...) and Celtic Band Sampler

Petal Fairy tonight - working away on the flowers now :-)

I got it! Found it on ebay! Issue 71 of Cross Stitch Crazy with the all important Felicity Wishes chart in it! Just have to stitch this one!! It is coming to me from Scotland, and I have to go and fiddle with some new online payment service, but I will get it done - I am so glad I got this! (My little addiction to UK stitching mags is about over now, save for the subscription to Cross Stitch Gold... I just so much prefer the US magazines, as limited as they are in number...)

I picked up some fun stuff at the LNS today - I got a chart I have wanted for a bit now, Earth Angel and the Crescent Colours floss I need for it, and a chart from a local designer (Maine) that I never would have bought had I not seen the model at the shop - This is American Way by Kitty Kats Originals. I really liked the one with the seacoast scene, but they didn't have the chart at the shop :-( Oh well, maybe someday... it is not like I need more charts!

In the mail today was Angel of the Sea from ebay, as well as gifts from Becky and Isabelle! Becky sent me a Liz Turner Diehl garden chart and a Barbara Baatz booklet that features that Flower Garden Fairy she is stitching (which I adore!). Isabelle sent me a lovely DMC garden booklet, a little bag with an aida insert that she made herself (!) and a bag she machine stitched with teabags on it... full of lovely mocha cinnamon tea bags! I shall try to get some pictures to share soon! I have such lovely friends! Thank you ladies!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, another little ebay purchase today - a set of five new GAST shades: Gingersnap, Aged Pewter, Sweet Pea, Harvest Moon and Tea Rose... well, not very new, but except for Tea Rose, not in my stash yet :-)

There is utter joy in New England right now! This happened yesterday, and I forgot to mention it - Troy Brown has re-signed with the Patriots!!! Whew! (photo from www.patriots.com) But, a downer too - Blue Jays 9, Red Sox 6 (tied in the bottom of the ninth, but the Jays hit a 3 run walk off home run off of Alan Embree... sad).

New DVD Release Tuesday again today - and for us, that had to be Are We There Yet? - neither of us really care to see a movie about Howard Hughes' life (and Leonard Di Caprio, not appealing to me... so ditch that new release...I am sure many love that movie, though)

Stitched on today: Petal Fairy

Monday is Angel of Love night lately - but I did not get a whole lot done because tonight was the two hour season finale of 24, and that required a lot of my attention. Can't wait to see how they will start next season with the ending they gave tonight!
I received my May silk fibers from Paw Prints Cross Stitch today - they look a bit like ice cream colors this month, with Creamsicle Waterlilies, 1411 Soie Cristale, 986 Needlepoint Inc Silk and 7126 Kreinik Silk Mori... :-)

The bargains keep coming on ebay - today I was high bidder for $6 for Angel of Winter :-) I just wonder if I will ever fit it in and get it done - LOL!!

Speaking of Lavender & Lace, I have decided that Celtic Winter is a "must have" - she is very bride like - I love her! Now I have to stitch up those Celtics too! One of my friends is giving me the other Celtic charts, so... maybe some SALs are needed to get these done!!

Oh, I was thrilled to receive the Margaret Sherry hedgehog ballerina chart today that was not printed in the UK magazine I bought a few days ago - they got that to me lightning fast! I am impressed! I believe that was Cross Stitch Quick & Easy... bravo! And thank you! I picked up another UK magazine today - Cross Stitch Crazy! - but it did not have the knitting fairy chart in it that I was expecting... anyone have issue 71 of that magazine that they are willing to trade for something I have?..I got this one: Issue 73...it has some really nice mediterranean vase pictures that made it worthwhile... I shall try to post a picture of the cute knitting fairy tomorrow.... really want to stitch that one for my Mum. I hope someone can help me :-)

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher and Angel of Love

Passione Ricamo SAL, Week 9 Now!!

Since it was rather cool and rainy today, aside from having an errand to run, I was able to get a bit of stitching in on Miracle Butterfly. I think that next week I will work a bit on her colorful wings, as I have spent the past two weeks heavily focused on white, grey and black - I think I have earned the chance to switch to different colors now :-)

I hit ebay hard today - LOL! I found a seller who lets you put all you can into a Priority Mail envelope for $3.85.... so I ordered up a bunch of the remaining MH Treasures I need for Lilly of the Woods, a fat quarter of Cobblestone belfast linen, The Bookshelf chart (saw this being worked on in Samplerlady's Journal this morning, and decided I liked it...), a package of beads for Autumn Fairy Spirit, and one of the skeins of Silk 'n Colors I will need for when I finally get to stitch Zella's Garden (I still need soooo much for that, but breaking the supply list down little by little... LOL!). Whew, that was a busy hour or so getting all that stuff!

Awesome news today! Red Sox 5, Braves 2 - Matt Clement pitched a full game with only four hits and no walks.... the first time a Red Sox pitcher has pitched a full game since Pedro Martinez did it last August :-) And, Manny Ramirez broke out of his slump with a two-run home run too - feeling like the Sox are getting it on again!

Dani has tagged me to do this book meme, so I will give it a try:
1. Total number of books I've owned. Gee, I really don't know. What I do know is that I have not purchased a book for pleasure reading in about two years now... at that time it was one of the Betsy Devonshire needlework mysteries LOL! My work, stitching and gardening dominate my time nowadays, but I used to be a very avid reader when I was younger...
2. Last book I bought. Ultraprevention by Mark Hyman and Mark Liponis - one of the authors is the brother of a good high school friend, and their theories on health directly match my theories. I have found this book to be very useful with my clients!
3. The last book I read. Ultraprevention by Mark Hyman and Mark Liponis
4. 5 books that mean a lot to me. Ultraprevention by Hyman and Liponis, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein, and When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase
....Now I shall tag Nicole and Becky (her site is down, so I will tag her via email....) Hope they don't mind!

We picked up a few miniature roses for the sunny portions of our front walkway today... Now we need a break in this rain to plant them....
Earlier this weekend we also picked up a few new DVDs.... we got Alone in the Dark (I have always loved Christian Slater...), NASCAR Adrenaline, and the Die Hard Trilogy (as a 3 DVDs for $20 pack).... :-)

Ooooo, I just discovered that I was high bidder today for Caring Wings for only $5.50. I was surprised how low that lovely chart sold for.... quite cool!

Stitched on today: Miracle Butterfly

I didn't really get the time I needed tonight to try to catch up on Celtic Band Sampler, as I am two weeks behind Katrina and Dani in this SAL. So, I might work on this part of the night tomorrow to see if I can get some more done... still have not even finished band one yet :-)
Here is what I feel is an outstanding ebay win today - this is Knot Garden by Forget-Me-Knots in Stitches - it is a design that was made for an EGA Chapter and I have been looking for it for quite some time now! I really do love to stitch gardens!
While a bit bored at work today I was surfing around, and I found this pic of one of the magazines I bought yesterday. This one has the photo of the cute garden fairies sampler, but, of course, you cannot see anything quite that small :-)
And a little more surfing, and here is the other magazine I picked up - this one has some cute Margaret Sherry designs of hedgehogs doing ballet - I love them! But, I have discovered that there are three designs and three charts... well, two charts... you see, they printed one of them twice and omitted the chart for the super cute pirouette one! I have to write to them and see if they will send me the chart they did not print... my niece is a ballerina at the competition level - I have some ideas for how to use these designs - kinda disappointing, but I imagine they will make it good!

I really need to vent something for a second - non stitching related - but I just have to! Thank you ebay, ever so very much, for selling my email address to every Tom, Dick and Harry you could find! I now get more junk email every day for prescription pills, computer products, mortgages and who knows what else, than one could ever nightmare about receiving! What the ????????? Thank you so much!

No Red Sox tonight - good, they need a rest!! Oh, but Donald Trump is on my Christmas Card list as of tonight! He did the right thing and hired Kendra as his new apprentice tonight - that Tana really irked me, and boy did she show her lack of class near the end of the show as she was hooping, hollering and pumping her fist like she was at a football game and not in The Boardroom. That woman has some real growing up to do - but it won't be with the Trump organization :-)

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher (made it through the third line of over-one code today!) and Celtic Band Sampler

Legends of the Dragons Day

Crooked scan as usual!! Geez! Anyhow, today is Wednesday, and lately I noticed that that has been Legends of the Dragons night. I kept that tradition going for at least this week. Now Magic (the Dragon Dreams dragon) is all outlined and I have started the border. I have found out now what the stitching pace is for the border, and it is excellent - moves really quickly using the Waterlilies instead of as it is charted :-)

Q. How many strands of floss to you prefer to stitch with? Why?

A. This totally depends on the fabric count I am using. I prefer two strands with 28 ct and 32 ct... while only one strand with 36 ct and 40 ct. Sometimes I like the effect of one strand on 32 ct as well - for samplers as an example - The Drawn Thread does this often too in her charts... I don't enjoy stitching on counts lower than 28 ct, and truly dislike ever using more than two strands in my needle...I've noticed something in others' responses that I had overlooked in my own reply - my aforementioned preferences apply only to cotton floss. If stitching with silk, my strong preference is for one strand, but Chatelaine often calls for two and I follow her instructions and like them :-) If any other fiber, I go with recommendations from the designer - one strand for Wildflowers, etc...

I picked up a couple of new British stitching magazines today - I now have plenty of Margaret Sherry charts... and a super cute Garden Fairies chart that I have to do - I will scan that in soon! And, while I was out I also got this really cute kit (ditch the aida, though!) from the Dolly Mamas line (Janlynn) - I thought this was the funniest thing - your thoughts? LOL! I have a freebie near the bottom of my sidebar by this designer - you can see the freebie being stitched up right now by Jo :-)

I received my Fabric of the Month today from Dyeing4U. Just as I was thinking I should cancel my membership because I did not care for receiving a big fat quarter of Cameo Peach last month... well, this month they sent me a lovely pale aqua that is a FOTM Exclusive Color, as well as Silver Ice, which is much prettier than their scan shows.... more like lilac and pearl gray with significant mottling. I cannot wait to decide what to use this for - it won't take me long! I do plan to drop out of the club fairly soon, though. Not because I am unhappy, but because they send two fat quarters - and I will never be able to keep up with that much fabric!! LOL!! I wish they had a one fat quarter per month option....

I also received my most recent order from Stitching Bits & Bobs - this one came lightning fast with the three skeins of Soie Cristale for Skyler Wayne, the newly released Daisy Lane Cottage and the pack of black pebble beads for a Mary Engelbreit design - and in the package, a backordered spool of #4 Kreinik for Queen Mermaid :-)

Nothing good to report about the Red Sox today - they got crushed 13-6 by the Oakland Athletics - David Wells, not ready to start - what did they get against him?? Was it 5, 7 or 9 runs in two innings? I am too traumatized to remember. I feel bad for him, though. I am sure he is just as disappointed. Well, at least they finally flew home tonight - if even only for three games. The Red Sox have been on the road so much this season - so much more than most teams. I think they are getting a bit worn out... that is at least part of the problem.

Oh, and this was not just a day for cross stitch - I picked up a Siloam Ribbon Candy daylily for the garden... but I am starting to think this particular cultivar is already in my huge garden... somewhere :-)

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher and Legends of the Dragons

Happy Birthday Erin!

I realized I had not stitched on Petal Fairy for several days - and I enjoyed working on her tonight.... the stems are done, now I can enjoy stitching the bright flowers :-)
Speaking of flowers... much to my surprise, my Gnu Blues tall bearded iris is in bloom! It actually bloomed a few days ago, but it was raining out and I could not get a photo. The second bud opened today. My dwarf and intermediate irises always bloom before my tall bearded irises, but not this year - at least not in this one happy spot in my garden!
Look at this super cute chart, Three Little Maids, that I received as a trade with Karen today - I just love it! I sent her one of my Valerie Pfeiffer charts in exchange :-)

I was high bidder for Angel of Mercy on ebay today - great deal, great stash addition too :-)

DVD New Release Tuesday again - we picked up White Noise - I saw the previews, it looked like it could be fun to stitch to one night :-)

Oh, and Happy 12th Birthday to our niece, Erin!!

Red Sox updates from Monday and Tuesday - both games were at 10 PM EST and ended at 1 AM and 1:30 AM respectively, so they did not make it into my blog entries :-) Monday May 16th was Mariners 6, Red Sox 4.... yikes! Blew a lead, couldn't manage to score 13 base runners! What is up with that?? Tonight, Tuesday, was Red Sox 7, Mariners 5 - managed to let a lead slip away, but clawed our way back! Keith Foulke, excellent save tonight!! Welcome back David Wells tomorrow (yet it may be rained out??)!! Might go home early tomorrow to watch that one!

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher (lost in the sea of tiny blue stitches at work... still...) and Petal Fairy

Teresa Wentzler is going on Leave of Absence.... :-(

From the TW BB today, Teresa has made an announcement that is a bit sad to take.... I will surely be missing her outstanding designs! I am glad I have stocked up on most of my favorites... but have a few more to get... I hope they don't go OOP any time soon...

It was, however, a fun stash delivery day :-) First, I received Colors - I plan to stitch only the tree with the birds, and leave out the border and the words. DH and I both agreed on that. I also received the cute little snail charm for Take Time To Stitch Too :-) Then I also received Sun Sampler, Busy Bee Sampler and Village - lots of pretties to look through today! Oh, and I got that deal of a century embellishment pack for One Good Urn :-)

The Red Sox are on late tonight - 10 PM... so I can expect to be posting today's progress pic (via editing) around 1 AM or so.... yawn.... oh, what I do for my Red Sox!!

Bottom of the 7th inning, tied game 4-4...so I guess I should post my progress pic!Here it is! I am loving this project so much! It really glows on this fabric, but I cannot seem to get a photo to show you that effect at all. (*****I am so sorry if these photos are blurry! They looked fine on my laptop and on my desktop at home - but here on my office computer they are very, very blurry - what's up with that? I hope they are not blurry for you!)
When I got home this evening, I brought my camera out to the garden to see if there were any blooms to photograph, and I saw my two calicos in the office window... I went to take their picture, and up popped Beau between them :-) I thought this picture was a little cute :-) (Lily is on the left, Ava is on the right)

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher and Angel of Love

Here is today's progress on Miracle Butterfly. I am not sure if anyone who started this SAL is actually still participating - it has been a couple of weeks since any of them have posted anything. That is kind of sad, but I just keep plugging away on mine... I enjoy stitching this one. She is similar in dimensions and size to a Barbie doll - LOL!

The sale at Stitching Bits & Bobs ends tomorrow (unless she extends it again...), so I ordered the three skeins of Soie Cristale I need for Skyler Wayne and a pack of black pebble beads I need for a Mary Engelbreit design,and I could not resist also ordering Daisy Lane Cottage.... Meanwhile, DH continues to sort out ways to develop that stash inventory/project manager program... today he is trying to wrap his head around such things as Caron Collection having so many different kinds of fibers.... some brands label by words not numbers (as a programmer, he prefers numbers and is not liking the lack of numbers too well - such as GAST or Six Strand Sweets!!).

Mariners 5, Red Sox 4...ouch, lost that series! But Manny Ramirez did get his 400th career home run today!!!! Better luck the next three days in Oakland, I hope!

Stitched on today: Miracle Butterfly

Planting Daylilies Today :-)

I really wanted to get some work done on Fairy Flora today - I didn't manage to be consistent with my stitching tonight, but I did at least get the bottom left corner done and am finally working on that final rose. I feel like I have been stitching this for such a long time now.

I received a lovely box of daylilies from an ebay seller I buy from very often. I bought these back in September and here they are now - I wanted to share these beauties here - the pics are from the seller, Beth W.Country Music Queen....Festive Art... And, It's Ours... I planted these in the best, sunniest section of my garden. When they bloom for me this summer, I will surely be sharing those pics.

We also bought two new rose bushes and planted them in the garden in front of our house today - we got Korde's Perfecta and Playboy. I am really looking forward to these!

We had a bear visit us last night. It took down our birdfeeder again. Back to the drawing board.... oh the joys of living on a wooded lot!

I totally forgot - I was up so late last night! - but one of my orders came in yesterday from Stitching Bits & Bobs (their turnaround time has definitely improved again!) - this one has the lovely Gloriana silks for Take Time to Knit, and lots of beads and Kreiniks for Moon Fairy Spirit and Once Upon A Time... such a colorful baggie of goodies :-) I just LOVE new stash!

Today I was high bidder for Angel of the Sea... and I treated myself and ordered The Good Neighbor, as well as a cut of cream edinburgh for Toccata Number Two directly from The Drawn Thread. I am saddened to have read of Cynthia's health issues and her need to slow down her design schedule for now... :-( I hope she feels better soon - I suppose a reduced schedule should help her with that.

Some good incoming stash today :-) I received my Vintage Meadow Rue linen for Six Hem Sampler. And I received Angel of the New Dawn from the ebay seller. Best of all, though, was a gift package from Karen K. - four adorable DMC kits featuring Australian birds (which she knows I have been drooling over) - they look like Valerie Pfeiffer designs - this Single Kookaburra is one of them - just too cute! I thanked Karen via MSN Messenger, but wish to thank her again publicly - thank you, they are soooo cute!

Red Sox 6, Mariners 3, thanks to a Grand Slam homerun by Trot Nixon! And, Karen K., you will be happy to know that Keith Foulke came in to close and it took him only nine pitches to retire the three batters he faced to end the game. Yay! Also.... Ryan Newman started on the outside pole in Richmond, VA tonight - he came in third and is now up to 7th in points :-)

Stitched on today: Fairy Flora

Three project scans to share tonight!

I know, it doesn't really look like much progress since my last scan.... but this is actually almost three hours more of backstitching on Legends of the Dragons - it was just one of those days when I decided to take a nap after dinner, then a bath... then groom Angus (our black persian cat with fur from hell), and then, finally, stitch!
And, here is my latest progress scan of Peacock Cypher - I remembered to bring it home from my office today (I stitch this one exclusively at work, when I can....). This is Sections 1 and 2, plus some of Section 3 now. No beading has been done yet - I don't plan to do that part at work.... could get crazy doing beading at the office - LOL!
And, tonight, while digging out my Celtic Band Sampler chart (going to start this one soon - it is another project on my list to do for 2005), I came across my WIP of Random Thoughts, stitched back in 2000. I still have the hemstitching to do, so I plan to get to that soon now. I remember stitching this near the end of 2000, and we sold our house in Derry, NH at that time. So, the project got packed away and was put in the garage of the apartment we rented for nine months while this house was being built. I never got back to finishing it.... Sorry for the lousy scan, but am just too tired tonight to re-scan it....

Q. Given the option, would you rather buy a chart and get the material
and floss together yourself, or buy a pre-packed kit?

A. Well, for the most part I much prefer to kit my own projects up. I usually do not like the fabrics that are supplied in kits. I do not stitch on aida, so that is always tossed immediately when I do get a kit. I have a strong preference for hand dyed fabrics, so will sometimes toss a plain fabric for a hand dyed... or just use a fabric that is a different color to suit my tastes.... so it is just easier then to kit the project up myself :-) I also tend to stitch projects that do not even come in kit form.... But there are a few wonderful exceptions - I recently bought Teresa Wentzler's The Guardian kit and will use it as it is packaged. The same is true for Marjolein Bastin's Birdhouse Artistry (though, I actually just might swap that fabric to a different color too!) But when I started Bag Ladies, I did swap out to cashel... I plan to do the same for Frederick the Literate when I get around to stitching it too....Kits that I will absolutely always buy and use all items in without changing anything are: Shepherd's Bush, Chatelaine, The Drawn Thread, Liz Turner Diehl gardens and Just Nan Class Projects :-)

Red Sox 6, Athletics 5 - get out the brooms, that is a sweep! Karen K, you won't believe it but Keith Foulke blew the save again today (it was a day game... yikes, radio in the office, missed most of the game....). I am a bit worried about him. We had the game in hand until Foulke gave up 4 runs in the ninth. But thanks to Jason Varitek's two run walk off home run at the bottom of the ninth, we win again! Now no baseball until 10 PM Friday night as the Sox are off to Seattle now...hate those late west coast games that run til at least 1 AM, but at least they are over the weekend this time...but there are more coming Monday and Tuesday, so I better get my rest! Those games will give me extra stitching time though!

Stitched on today: Peacock Cypher and Legends of the Dragons