Almost a finish

I decided to continue to work on Winter Into Spring today. Now that I had it going again, I really wanted to get it done. But, it wasn't a day with many available stitching hours, so I could not quite get to the very end. I still need to do the beading from below spot motif band, as well as add the little heart bead next to the year. Then it will be all done. Well, maybe tomorrow before I start in on the LTD SAL... we'll see what time I get home from the office :-)

I noticed today that my DT Lily of the Valley is also at the halfway mark. I think I started that one even longer ago than Winter Into Spring! Why did I quit? No idea! It was either 1997 or 1998, because I can remember where I was when I started that one. I will find a time to finish it up really soon too!

And, that is about it... picked up some perennial phlox for alongside the driveway today. I think Mike will be planting it tomorrow, should look nice there :-)

Stitched on today: Winter Into Spring

Reviving Winter Into Spring/M9 Part 5 is Done

I was feeling really inspired today by Isabelle's beautiful finish of DT's Summer Into Autumn... as well as by Katrina's relatively recent finish of DT's Winter Into Spring... so I dug out my old Winter Into Spring WIP/UFO... who knows when I started this... it came out in 1998, and that is probably when I started it! I worked a bit on the "spot motif" band, and even stitched the year this afternoon, to reinforce my finishing it soon!! It was fun, and I am glad I took it back out. Who knows, maybe it will motivate me to pick up An Open Heart again... Now on to M9 again...

And... Bless Martina for giving another small section for Mystery IX... Part 5 is done now. I loved the pinky (WL Rose Blush) eyelets in these two garden triangles... so delicate and sweet! So, since there is still quite a long time to go on the laundry right now, I will go back to Winter Into Spring :-)

We planted some super pretty shrub roses today, called "Pink & Proud," and one Explorer Shrub Rose in a pale baby pink too... can't wait for them to bloom now! It's that time of the year now when my stitching needs to share time with my gardening :-)

Stitched on today: Winter Into Spring and Mystery IX

Early Password for Mystery IX Again

For some reason, Martina released the password for Mystery IX early this month. She has not done so for Medieval Town Mandala as of yet, though (??). So, instead of doing whatever I wanted this weekend, I am first starting off with doing Part 5 - should be done tomorrow, and then I can pick up Mermaid Heaven :-) I did not get as much done as I had hoped I would tonight. I found that there is a significant charting error in part 5, which led to about an hour of deciphering and frogging for me. What Martina told us to do in the triangle at 3 o'clock back in Part 3 was not charted the same in Part 5 - it all works out in the end, but I relied on the previous stitches to place some of my new ones... and that threw a lot of things off! Yikes!

There were some pretties in my garden today :-) I am surprised again this year how quickly I am getting iris blooms in the south/southwest section of my garden! Here, already, is a pretty apricot iris... my gardening brain is so numb right now that I cannot even recall what the proper name for these short irises is! (**Brain cramp has passed, it is a "standard dwarf iris"). Let alone the name of this specific cultivar. I just know right now that it is pretty! (I got a little obsessed and looked at my photo database for ages... my guess is it is Peachy Face, but that one should have a ring of paler peach at the outer edges... have no other peach dwarf irises in my garden log though??)

And, some daffodils blooming around the butterfly house for the first time ever. We bought these bulbs in Boston at Faneuil Hall last fall. The package card with the variety's name is hanging on the wall in my garage. But I am too lazy to go look for it! (I went and looked, it is called Trepolo).

This is one of my all-time favorite daffodils, been coming up here since our first year (planted them right away). They are called 'Amor.' I have some other pics, but I don't want to overload the entry with all that many graphics for you!! Oddly, I really don't lean towards the standard big yellow daffodils... yet, I do like them! I will plant some this fall - I think I need some!!

It is the weekend - finally! I stopped off for a hair cut and eyebrow wax after dinner tonight... off to a good start :-)

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Mystery IX

Mermaids of the Deep Blue Update

I am really happy to report that as of night all of the stitching is now completed in the hair of both mermaids - the gaps you see will all be beads, which I hear will be a lengthy project according to those who have finished this project already LOL! Anyhow, I am excited that I can go back to stitching their bodies now - those colors are fun!

And, I hope that Mermaid Heaven will find it's way out of my project tote sometime this weekend too!!

I apologize for not leaving many comments in blogs today. I had a super busy day at work, but I did manage to read quite a lot of blogs during lunch. Unfortunately, my left hand was busy with my fork and salad, while my right hand was mouse clicking! No hands for typing while eating! Loved all the blogs today though - saw some gorgeous things!

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Mermaids of the Deep Blue

Little House on the Prairie Schooler

That's what I call my block on Su's
RR. The house is almost complete now, I just have to finish back-stitching in the window panes.... then on to the garden between the house and the birdhouse. The house took quite a bit longer tonight than I had expected it to. Probably because I am using the center top square on a large Q-Snap.... lots of long reaches to do the stitches. But I don't want to stitch it in hand, I want these stitches to lay nicely for Su (although have found this linen - what kind is it?? - to be difficult to stitch on... the weave is a tad loose and some of the stitches want to go floppy - have never stitched on a linen like this one before). I hope to be stitching the garden for her sometime this weekend :-)

I forgot (again) that yesterday was New DVD Release Tuesday - got three - Aeon Flux for Mike, and Casanova and Tristan & Isolde for me :-)

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Su's Neighborhood RR

One Big Honker of a Sampler

Ooops, I found out too late tonight that my SAL mate, Jo, is not able to stitch on her GSS tonight due to the upcoming funeral of Pete's aunt... I am so sorry about your news, Jo. I hope you will either choose to work on GSS another night this week, or I will take next Tuesday night off for you! Just let me know when things settle down for you!! This is really a huge sampler... and here is a tiny part (wow, the R&R linen in the Q-Snap doesn't scan well. It looks nicely taught in the Q-Snap but not when you see it in the scanner.... maybe my scanner is sensitive?). Anyhow, I can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel now!

Another short entry - was distracted tonight by a dramatic Red Sox win, and then a desire to quit so I could eat some sugar free ice cream... such a rare treat for me... now off to bed!

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden (moving along very nicely on this one) and Garden Spot Sampler

LTD SAL Night

It is the second week of the Liz Turner Diehl SAL today, and I really enjoyed working on Emerald Jeweled Garden. I hadn't realized from the chart photo what a colorful and delicate little garden this is! LOVE IT! Sadly, it won't take long to finish it, and I think I will miss it :-) How did my SAL mates do today??

Back to work today... lots and lots and lots of work, so really very little else to say LOL!

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Emerald Jeweled Garden

MTM Part 7 is finished

With the backstitching now completed, Part 7 of MTM is now complete. Wow, that means half of the town around the border is now finished! That is good news. My goal for the weekend has been met :-)

Other than that, not much to say :-)

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

A sneak peek at my Neighborhood RR :-)

Looky! I got to peek at what my Neighbor-hood RR looks like now... Annemarie posted the start of her work in the RR's blog... but I figured I would post it here for those who do not visit that blog... I LOVE the brick house she is starting with... it is part of Here Kitty Kitty by Sheepish Designs. Thanks Annemarie!
I gave Medieval Town Mandala a whole lot of attention throughout the day and evening today... and now I am down to just some backstitching left to finish Part 7. This side of the town has little buildings at the extreme ends that are really rather non-descript. They are simplistic, lacking much detail. I much prefer the first side (top) of the town... but it is late right now and I may just be babbling LOL!! Anyhow... I don't think the side of the town fits in my scanner any longer... that's how big it is.

Brrr.... colder here today and tons of rain coming for tomorrow... I can't wait for May, that is when the warm weather breaks loose on us :-)

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

The push toward the finish line

The weekend has begun, and now also begins my push toward the finish line with Part 7 of Medieval Town Mandala. I made it all the way across to the edges now, but have one medium sized and one small building still to add atop them, then some specialty stitches and backstitching. I am amazed, though, that Judi emailed me today saying she just started this part today and has found it to be a quick stitch. Huh? Makes me wonder what I am doing wrong... unless she has more than 3 hours per day to stitch? I asked her to tell me her secret! This is such dense stitching, how can it be done quickly?? LOL

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Medieval Town Mandala

Finally making it across the town

I am making it across this right hand side of the town on MTM, that is. I am not quite all the way across this edge, but getting closer now! I plan to work on this for the weekend, and maybe I will finish. I realize I have been putting off doing the backstitching this month. Last month I did it as I stitched along. This month I will probably have to spend one day's allotted stitching time just doing backstitching. I am not sure I like that! I usually would have been working on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow tonight, but the ladies who are SALing with me on this one are not posting any updates, so I am not sure where folks stand with it... so I took the night off from it. I am sure the other ladies will update me soon on theirs.

Q. Do you do obligation or deadline-based stitching? Why or why not? If you do, do you tend to get in over your head and why?

A. No, I don't do obligation or deadline-based stitching at all. That just doesn't appeal to me, I guess. But if I did it, I sure would get in over my head. That is my personality for sure! LOL Who knows, maybe someday I will stitch a wedding or birth sampler...or anniversary sampler... for one of my pals, and that would be relatively deadline based...Hmmm...now, would the Chatelaine mysteries count as deadline stitching? After giving it thought, I think they do, at least for me... here I am watching the calendar to finish part 7 of MTM....my answer changes, then, if this is considered deadline stitching :-)


Other than that... really nothing to say, just another long day at work, but glad it is the weekend again tomorrow!

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Medieval Town Mandala

Quaker Garden

I started Quaker Garden at work yesterday and here it is as of today. My scanner does not like this fabric (R&R Reproductions Garden State Java) - it is actually olive green! Anyhow... a fun quick stitch but not a ton of extra allowance on the two sides! I am using a fat eighth of what is marked as 30 ct... might be more like 28 ct.... have about 1.5" on right side left over...should be 2" per my math. My framer can handle that as it will not be matted and the frame will go right up to the stitching as in on the model... so, here is what I did, and now on to MTM again while I watch the Red Sox!

To minimize monotony just a tiny bit, I decided to post a pic of how MTM is looking in its entirety so far... I managed to finish the next elongated roof and some of the building under each of the elongated roofs, as well as a little bit of greenery tonight.

Totally forgot - yesterday was New DVD Release Tuesday and Mike got Hostel

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Medieval Town Mandala

Hey, it's Tuesday again!

So, that means I was SAL'ing tonight with Jo on Garden Spot Sampler - of course!! About three hours of stitching in front of the Red Sox game (yes, Karen, they won and are 10-4 now on the season!) resulted in most of the green carnation vine, and a little of the orangey carnation flower. Someday, I swear, Jo and I will finish this huge honker of a sampler - we sure have been diligent enough on Tuesdays to reap the rewards of finishing it someday! LOL

I enjoyed a new start at work today - no scan yet, sorry - it is out in my Jeep, and really, not enough to show yet! But I started Quaker Garden by Blackbird Designs. And, I already love it! As I mentioned a day or two ago, I am putting the Bordeaux Mystery Sampler aside for a tiny bit while Anne gets hers kitted up to SAL with me... yay! Anyhow, as soon as I feel I have something to show, I will post a pic here in my blog of the new start!

Hi Carol S - nice to see you today!!!

Stitched on today: Quaker Garden and Garden Spot Sampler

Liz Turner Diehl SAL, Day One

Karen, Judi and I started a Liz Turner Diehl SAL today (Judi started hers earlier this month, actually, and is doing Colonial Garden). Karen and I set today as our start date. I am doing Emerald Jeweled Garden and she is doing Sapphire Jeweled Garden. Our plan is then to swap charts when we are done :-) I had today off due to a holiday that is not celebrated by many states, Patriot's Day. So, I had a chance to get a pretty good start on mine while I watched the Red Sox have a very dramatic win this afternoon. This is the center knot garden and then working down towards the bottom. The chart describes this design to be started from the bottom, but I started at the center. That is my point of confidence. Anytime I start at the top or bottom I end up too close to the edge of my fabric at one or the other ends. It is inevitable. Anyhow, I loved working on this today, even though the only specialty stitch I have yet encountered is the waffle stitch. I noticed at least one of the specialty stitch diagrams is a bit iffy.. but I am sure I will figure it out when I get to it. Karen and I will be working on our Jeweled Gardens on Mondays, while I think Judi is doing hers as it fits into her schedule. Now I am going to put some time in on MTM, as I do not know how much time Karen had to devote to her Jeweled Garden today.

Ah yes, here it is... yet again... kind of making some progress on it now. I realize the orangey red (Thread Gatherer's Autumn Foliage Silk 'n Colors, to be exact) looks blotchy in the elongated roof I stitched tonight. But we did this same building last month too, and I found that once the rather intricate black backstitcing goes on top of it, you don't even notice that the area is so block-like from the variegation of the silk. I continue to forge on... Mike commented tonight on how nice this one is, so I am renewed with confidence and desire to continue... along with all the sweet comments from my fellow bloggers around the globe - thanks for the motivation!

Speaking of lovely comments - thanks to those of you how left comments or emailed me seperately about A Christmas Spirit. I appreciate all the positive feedback on how she is coming along on the "ugly duckling" - you are right, it does look pretty good!

I have decided to remove An Open Heart from my current rotation... at least for a while. I am just not enjoying it, and along with my Chatelaine group commitments, it makes sense to me to work on projects I enjoy between these big projects... it will be back soon, but probably not until MTM ends this fall.

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala and Emerald Jeweled Garden

Happy Easter!

I spent quite a bit of time today trying to decide what to stitch. My conscience was telling me to work on MTM. It seemed like the most productive thing to do, as there are only 14 days left in the month. But, I didn't work on MTM. I suddenly picked up Passione Ricamo's A Christmas Spirit and dove right into working on this one. It had been ages since I last picked her up... January, maybe? Tonight she got her face :-) I didn't backstitch it yet, as I really can't due to her furry collar of her jacket touching her face... but her face is there and she has a lovely green eye :-) I am not sure what drove me to pick this up... after all, today is Easter, so why stitch a Christmas project? (And, didn't I just say last night that I don't stitch Christmas projects? I must have lied...). I didn't want this project to be neglected any longer, after all Jenn was so generous with gifting me with this chart a few months ago :-) I am stitching this on that ugly duckling Silkweaver jobelan solo that I received in my ill-fated Halloween Treat Bag... I couldn't just toss it away, and it is too blah to either to try sell it or even pass it to a friend. But, the bright colors in the design really help the fabric out a lot... tonight I realized that a more flamboyant fabric may have been distracting anyhow.

Another reason I picked this up today may well have been that Sue and I have had a few conversations about Passione Ricamo charts recently while I have visited her shop. Those conversations did renew my interest in having a Passione Ricamo project going in my rotation regularly too :-)

Happy Easter everyone! Karen emailed me this cute picture a couple of days ago, and told me to go ahead and put it in my blog... thanks Karen! I hope everyone had a wonderful day! We didn't do anything - Mike has never been much for celebrating Easter, and my Mom was busy today with church activities down in Massachusetts. No worries - I loved watching the Red Sox win and working on A Christmas Spirit... and I still have tomorrow off too for Patriot's Day (a Massachusetts holiday - yay for me, I work in Massachusetts)....

Stitched on today: A Christmas Spirit

Arguing with MTM tonight

Medieval Town Mandala and I did not really get along very well tonight. After stitching a bit more on the brown side buildings, I decided it was time to finish the backstitching and specialty stitches on the buildings already stitched. That is when the arguments began. The biggest argument we had was over the tedious backstitching of the green roof of the tall center building. I mindlessly stitched too many backstitch lines on the roof. I was so annoyed with myself when I realized this error. Ripping out one strand of silk that is stitched over silk cross stitches is brutal... so many pulls and little damages made to the green cross stitches. Sigh... I got through it. And, we had a few smaller arguments, the project and I did, that is, over how to read Martina's backstitching lines for this part of the chart. I quit a little early to save my sanity tonight...

I stopped at Colonial Needleworks late this afternoon to pick up the fibers for Quaker Garden, and Sue had a new Blackbird Designs chart in. Here it is to the right, and is called Merry Christmas Ella Vaughan. I picked it up. I am not entirely sure I really like it, though. I don't really tend to stitch many Christmas designs. I figure I will just give it some time and see if it grows on me some more. Anyhow, I plan to start working on Quaker Garden at work for a while now, as Anne is going to kit up Bordeaux Mystery Sampler soon, so we can SAL this when she is ready... gives me a great opportunity to work on Quaker Garden now :-)

We had a lovely spring day here today. I managed to plant some new primroses in the garden today and weeded a little bit... nice :-)

Oh, I almost forgot! There is a sweet freebie from The Sampler Girl on the Hand-Dyed Fibers site now... you can get it here - scroll down a tiny bit to where you click on a link called "webpage" - it is called Camille's French Sampler.. very sweet! Thanks Tanya, for making this pretty freebie :-)

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

I finally have spring blooms in my garden!

I went back to work on Su's Neighborhood RR tonight. I chose to stick with Prairie Schooler after having stitched the birdhouse that she wanted. Now I am adding the house from "Good Huswifes in Summer" in Prairie Schooler's Summer Samplers leaflet (c. 1999). Some of the garden next to the house will be stitched too... at least as much as I can fit :-) I own many Prairie Schooler charts, but I think this may be the first one I have ever stitched. I love them. Now I want to stitch both of these samplers that I pulled parts from for the RR! I think it will not be too long before this RR will be mailed off its next destination in Holland :-)
And, as I mentioned last night, here is the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler through Part 3. I finished this at work yesterday. This is such a fun sampler to stitch.

I picked up my flosses for Su's Neighborhood RR and LTD's Emerald Jeweled Garden on my way home from the dentist this morning. Oh, I just love the colors for Emerald Jeweled Garden, so I scanned them here to share! So vibrant! One of the colors has no DMC conversion from the Madeira floss.... it is a magenta/violet type of color. After I got home it occurred to me that the Crescent Colors Boysenberry Jam that I bought a few days ago for Blackbird Designs' Strawberry Garden is going to be just perfect as a substitute :-) Too bad I realized that after I took the scan... Karen and I start this SAL on Monday (she is doing Sapphire Jeweled Garden), while Judi started hers (Colonial Garden) earlier this month... this is going to be fun, it is only 2 3/4" x 11 1/2".

I finally have spring blooms in my garden!! Yay!!! I live so much further north than most of my American blogging counterparts, so it took longer for spring blooms to show up here... these tete a tete daffodils are special to me. After we sold our first house in 2000, we stayed in an apartment for about nine months until we moved into this house. I had no garden at the apartment, and that made me sad. So I bought a pot of tete a tete daffodils in WalMart in the spring of 2001 and put them in a window in the hallway of the apartment. Then I transplated the bulbs into my garden here at the house that summer... and they are my first garden blooms every year since! Here they are, abundant as ever!
And... this year I got a few snow crocuses again! I thought these were gone. The previous winter came with an overabundance of snow. Ice was atop these crocuses until about mid-May, so these never came up or bloomed. I thought chipmunks may have eaten the bulbs. There are fewer this year than in previous years, but I was happy to see that some survived :-)

Thanks for all the well wishes about my dental appointment - I appreciated those. The visit went just fine. I have a great dentist. The bill, on the other hand... geesh...

Stitched on today: Su's Neighborhood RR

Another HOHRH Update

Another evening stitching Houses of Hawk Run Hollow = not a whole lot of obvious progress... that's certainly becoming the theme... this project sure is a tortoise, but someday it will win the race, so to speak...

OK, now I have four days off (trying not to count my big dental appointment tomorrow morning!!)...

Stitched on today: Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler (finished part 3 at work - will post a photo tomorrow, it is out in my Jeep right now), Bordeaux Mystery Sampler and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

It's almost the long weekend.... :-)

After I work 9 AM - 6 PM tomorrow, I will be off for the next four days due to the holiday weekend!! Monday is a holiday here in the States, Patriot's Day... which is also Boston Marathon Day :-) Yay!! But... before I can really enjoy myself I do have a rather huge dental appointment at 9 AM on Friday... a filling and getting a crown made... eewww....

So, anyhow... back to MTM tonight. I stitched as much of the backstitching and specialty stitches in the big center building as I could stand tonight, and then moved on to do the side buildings some more. I think this side is actually moving along well... the buildings are not as tall as last month (the ones that are coming up, that is), so I figure with some diligence I will be done soon. To be frank, I have yet to come across a blogger who is stitching MTM who is really enjoying this one. Martina really gave us too much to do for five straight months on this one - first that busy month of turquoise and gold in February... and then March, April, May and June are super busy with the village sides.... (I am only assuming that May and June will be the rest of the village). But, the design is a beauty, so I forge on...

I blog so late at night (right before bed, awfully close to midnight), that I often forget things... I can't believe I forgot this! I was RAK'd again on Monday! This time it was Annemarie. Annemarie sent me Jan Houtman's Frienship Sampler chart! She knew I was particularly fond of this one and she went to a shop that carries his charts - she scooped it up and sent it to me! She is so sweet - thanks Annemarie! And, I know she likes the Red Sox T-Shirt (she likes things with red socks on them, not really into the baseball - LOL) and chocolate bunny for Pelle that I sent her, so that is awesome! Welcome back Annemarie!

Q. For those of you that stitch while riding in the car or on the train, how do you cope with the bumps and the motion? Do you have any tips for others?

A. I submitted this question to Renee after I stitched for a bit in the car last Saturday. I rarely ever stitch in the car, and had not even tried to do so since last summer (when we had a very long ride to go to a wedding). On Saturday, we had about an hour + to go for an errand and most of the trip was via Rte. 128, a major highway in Massachusetts. I figured it would be a smooth ride - Mike's car is a rather large luxury auto, and I thought the road would be smooth - silly me! I guess it has been too long since I drove or rode on Rte 128 - soooo bumpy! I was working on the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler, which is small, rather simple, little motifs on 32 ct belfast... so I think my project was a good choice... but geez, all the motion and bumps made this so hard! I stitched on the way to the errand, but did not even bother to on the way home - I look forward to any advice others will give in response to this question! Thanks!!

I need to remember to do this very important errand during my break from work: go to the store and buy the floss for the LTD SAL which starts on Monday, and buy the rest of the floss I need to finish Su's Neighborhood RR - this is very important! LOL

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala and Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler

Tuesday...

And... this week's progress on the Garden Spot Sampler... yep, it is crooked... not just in the photo but in my Q-Snap too. That R&R fabric does like to move itself around and not stay put for me.... last time I use that fabric! (Ooops, oh right! I ordered the 30 ct Garden State Java for the new Quaker Garden by Blackbird Designs... only because that color is so unique... hope I don't hate it as much as I hate this linen...). Anyhow... I opted to go with a scan of the area I am currently stitching again, because I think the scanner captures all the colors so much better. I think this sampler is actually taking me longer to stitch than did The Marriage of Minds...

New DVD Release Tuesday once again - a fun one this week, Fun with Dick and Jane...

I really enjoyed coming home a bit early today and watching the Red Sox home opener - very fun! (Oh yes, we won...)

Stitched on today: Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler and Garden Spot Sampler

Determined to make progress

I went back to work on Mermaids of the Deep Blue tonight. I really want to make progress on this, as it really is supposed to be part of the Mirabilia SAL, on which I had fallen off track. The good news is that this is really an enjoyable piece to stitch :-)


Red, I wanted to get back to you about the comment you left about the Olde Willow Stitchery threads for Women of the Mayflower. I found your blog but seemingly you have opted to not allow the posting of comments, nor have you left an email address. So, hopefully you will read this here. The threads are not at all discontinued. I got mine from Stitching Bits & Bobs. There is no need to try to convert the fibers. Congratulations on getting the issue of Fine Lines and being able to stitch this now too :-)

Stitched on today: Mermaids of the Deep Blue and Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler

MTM

Today was just one of those days when I couldn't get myself very motivated to stitch... but I finally did pick Medieval Town Mandala up for a bit... not a whole lot of progress to share, but it it is still forward progress :-)

I'm trying to figure out why I have a skein of NPI 695 in my MTM kit, when this color is not on the color key.... just discovered that tonight as I was using the gold colored silks... it falls in that range... but I think it is probably there in error... or the key is messed up...

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

Mermaid Heaven

This was a nice treat today. I really enjoyed working on Mermaid Heaven again. I just noticed as I was uploading this photo that my WIP photo file indicates that I have not stitched on this one since February 4th! Shame on me! I am hoping to put more emphasis on it now, as I see it is really quite far along and could easily be my next finish. I just love the colors in this one! I started this as a SAL with Jenn several months ago, and I am wondering if she would be interested in getting back into this one again now too...
I stumbled across some more stash that I had gotten in recently. It was stashed away by my stitching chair and not on my desk with the rest of the items I posted yesterday: a couple of new UK stitching magazines, Drawn Thread's new Wayward Garden, With My Needle's An Emblem of Love, and a fat quarter of this gorgeous new belfast from Silkweaver called Enchantment. I know of one blogger who plans to stitch Mirabilia's Fairy Moon on this stunning fabric - that sounds like a great idea! I haven't decided yet what to stitch on mine....

And, I was RAK'd today!! I just received Victoria Sampler's Heirloom Memories chart in the mail from Carol! We have been having a nice email relationship for a few weeks now, and she saw this chart in my wish list file... and had it sent to me via an ebay seller. Thanks Carol, how sweet! I have wanted to stitch this one in memory of my dad who passed suddenly in December of 1995...


Time for a new word cloud - I like this one

Stitched on today: Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler (in the car while running an errand with Mike down in Foxboro, Massachusetts - right by Gillette Stadium, home of the NE Patriots) and Mermaid Heaven

More MTM Progress

I am happy with tonight's progress on MTM, so tomorrow I am going to dig around in my project tote and pull out something I haven't touched for a while, for a change! :-) There is a good sized flaw in the belfast linen for MTM that I see will not be covered by any of this month's stitching... or likely not even when MTM is done. I am so disappointed and a bit aggravated. The linen in general is poor quality. I bought it as a kit from one of the Chatelaine distributors (the one many of us use) - but my piece is full of flaws. Yucky.

***I see Blogger Pics is working again, so I switched the photo back over... I am sorry some could not get the big Photobucket picture to load... you should be able to see this one now.
I haven't posted a stash update for a while, so this will be a bit of a big one :-) I have a bunch of new charts now... Flowers of the Field by Eileen Bennett, Country by The Workbasket, Bliss by Just Nan, Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly Summer 2000, Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly Winter 2000 (love that Quaker on the cover!!), Fruit Samplings by Hillside Samplings, The Counting House by Little House Needleworks, Morning Berries by Little House Needleworks, Jeanne's Sampler by Chessie & Me (great flower arbour with kitties underneath it, that is destined to show up on someone's Neighborhood RR!!), Meadow Hills by By The Bay Needleart, and Fox and the Grapes by Prairie Schooler (again, I was thinking Neighborhood RR!)... Missing from the photo is Ellen Chester's An Emblem of Love...
Of course, more fabrics... Silkweaver's Elegance Belfast Reflections, Picture This Plus' Relic Belfast, Silkweaver's limited edition Mississippi Mud 40 ct Newcastle linen, two Silkweaver 36 ct solos, Stormy Night 28 ct Monaco by Enchanted Fabrics, Silkweaver's Starquest 32 ct lugana and Sugar Maple Fabrics' Butterfly Kisses 28 ct lugana (fat eighth)...
And, some more fabrics... Silkweaver Desert Sky cashel, SMF's Butterfly Kisses 32 ct lugana (fat quarter - more colorful than the fat eighth), large cut of 25 ct ivory lugana for a HAED, SMF's Peach Grove 28 ct lugana cut for Passione Ricamo's Once Upon A Time, and SMF's Shimmering Sand Art opalescent cashel (fat eighth)... and... my little collection of Kreinik #4 braids that represent my Monthly Bits option from Stitching Bits & Bobs... a busy month. Missing from picture is Lakeside Linens' Vintage Maple Sugar 32 ct linen that I will use for LHN's Morning Berries...

We had some time to use up today while my Jeep was at the dealership getting work done (the UConnect system in my car doesn't work... new parts must be ordered, so there will be yet another day to waste up in Concord, NH soon). We stopped at Circuit City for a while as we waited, and I got some new DVDs for my collection: Just Friends and Transporter 2...

And, congratulations to Ryan Newman on his strong second place finish in tonight's IROC Race - way to go! I hope he can carry that momentum to the Nextel Cup race on Sunday...

Stitched on today:Medieval Town Mandala

HOHRH Update

Well, House 4 is beginning to look like a house now... there is still a long way to go, but at least it looks like something now :-)

I'm really excited about the feedback I got about going to CATS in September - wow, looks like I have a chance to meet quite a few blogging pals - Jo, Cathy, Leslie and Margaret!! (Already know Margaret in person, and thrilled to get to see her again too!). Yay!!!!!!

And... in from ebay today... a copy of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park... since I now plan to stitch Sampler Girl's Mansfield Park Sampler, I figured it would be a good plan to read the novel so that I understand the details of the sampler :-)

Stitched on today: Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

I'm going to CATS this year!

I decided to get back to working on Medieval Town Mandala tonight, after reading in Bine's blog that she felt this part is taking even longer than the last part. The big center building really does seem to take a long time to stitch... I spent most of this evening doing the Caramel Waterlilies inside the building... and didn't even get to the Pearl Waterlilies tonight... but tomorrow is Houses of Hawk Run Hollow SAL, and I am really looking forward to that one.


Q. Do you stitch "on the go?" (On the commute to and from work, during
your lunch break, waiting for the kids, etc.) If so, do you have a
specific "travel" project or do you just grab whatever you happen to
be working on and take it with you?

A. Oh yes, I do! I have a couple of projects slated for this purpose, although "on the go" for me pretty much just means "at work." Right now I have Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler and Sampler Cove's Bordeaux Mystery Sampler packed up for at work... I hope to travel fairly soon, Mike is trying to figure out a vacation for us... so if we do, I will definitely pack something up to take along. We took a cruise to Bermuda in 2004, and I stitched much of Dragon Dreams' Fairy Tale Sampler on the trip.

Oh.... geez, before I forget! I chatted with Mike and he sees no reason why not to go to CATS in Hershey, PA in September!! Yay! I hope to get to see Jo and Margaret while there (Margaret and I are taking the Betsy Stinner class together at Celebrations in May too!). I definitely want to take the 18th Century Historical German Garden class with Liz Turner Diehl! I will work on getting my registration in as soon as I can! We will have fun visiting Hershey Park while we are there, and Mike wants to take his new car for the drive down there... I am so excited!

The commute was bright and sunny - see how it is around here? LOL! But, credit where credit is due... the weathermen weren't totally wrong. I noticed when I ran out for lunch and coffee at 1 PM that it was snowing... but the snow was landing as rain... the ground is just too warm now for any real snow. Winter always seems to have to have a last gasp or two in New England.

Stitched on today: Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler and Medieval Town Mandala