The mermaids are back again

After taking a couple of Saturday evenings off to catch up on some other projects, Mermaid Heaven is back again. I really love working on this one (too). It's a fun large project, because it is all full cross stitches and there is minimal backstitching (most of that will be done at the end with gold fiber to detail the scales on the tails). Very fun project!

A few of you have asked me about the Chatelaine designs that I am stitching. More specifically, I have been asked where one goes about finding these designs. If you are in the US, the best bet is to go to European Cross Stitch, Martina's US Distributor. (Chatelaine's designer is Martina Weber in Duisburg, Germany). She has everything you can need there - some of the older kits are being discontinued now, and are being marked down. Seems like now is actually a good time to go and peek - LOL! If you are outside of the US, another wonderful shop for Martina's designs is Dragonfly Dreams in Australia. I imagine there are a couple of other sources, but these are the two shops I use to get my full kits. Both can also help you get the Yahoo group links to join the Mystery Samplers and On-Line Classes too. Of course, both shops gladly accept both US and international orders. Enjoy!

My fabrics from Silkweaver's Customer Appreciation Sale arrived today, and I am super pleased with all three of them :-) I received the 36 ct Morning Dew linen for when I re-start Little Wings, the 32 ct Poltergeist Opalescent lugana for Pacifica, and the Midas Touch Opalescent belfast for Royal Holiday.

And, a bit of a magazine extravaganza today! Mike and I went to Barnes & Noble this afternoon, and I got four magazines - not the latest issues, but the ones that are currently out on the US newstands, of Cross Stitch Crazy, Jill Oxton's Cross Stitch & Beading (Buxom Bessie is in this one too - yay!), The Cross Stitcher, and Quick & Easy - I will have plenty to read later on tonight. My first glance through these show there are already a few appealing charts - I want to make the one of Santa and his reindeer flying over Egypt as an ornament for my niece, Nicole. She loves all things related to Egypt. Too late this year, but a definite for next year! (I'll probably have to send it off to Becky to finish it for me, since I am so inept in that area!!).

I am really excited to see that there is now a companion piece to one of my all-time favorite designs! Nature's Alphabet II by Elizabeth's Designs has just been released! I ordered my copy today from Stitching Bits & Bobs, along with Jeannette Douglas' new Winter Stitches, which is a companion to her very pretty Autumn Stitches piece recently published in Just Cross Stitch :-)

Stitched on today: Mermaid Heaven

And, this is for my dear friend, Karen K.: Karen, I caught Gig sleeping on the gorgeous quilt you made me, yet again today!! Poor Gig, even has sleep in his eyes! (He always has that black stuff in his eyes and needs daily cleaning, typical Persian cat, I guess).

You Are A Lily

You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist. People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you. You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words. Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize.

What Flower Are You?

That worked out right - it's my personal favorite flower (my regular blog readers already know my garden is overfilled with lilies), I named of my cats Lily, and well.. I am a therapist by profession - this time, they got one right!