Oh, I forgot about this one...!

OK, I do still have a sampler in my rotation! I had forgotten for a bit about the Long Dog Samplers Mystery Sampler! I was wondering what to stitch on tonight, as I did not have time tonight to start pulling the floss to start Annemarie's RR (worked too late).... and there it was nearby and looked like it would be fun! So... I was wrong :-) But, I do still plan to start a new sampler next Tuesday anyhow :-)

I took another big pile of garden photos today - here are just a few, as it has been a few days, I think, since I have shared anymore of my garden... My garden is in full bloom now! I just love July!

Quilt Patch

Dream Blue

Watermelon Time

My Hello Neighbor RR Group 1 piece has been finished by it's first stitcher (Nicole), and I just love it! It can be seen here if you would like a peek - thank you Nicole :-)

I am so sorry everyone - I have fallen behind in blog reading/commenting yet again... the office has been so hectic this week. I hope to catch up soon.

Stitched on today: Started a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Ready for the post!

Earlier today, I managed to finish Barbara's Neighborhood Round Robin. I stitched the right hand side of Hopeful by Carriage House Samplings for her (although, I deleted the words "two sheep farm" from the hill as they did not suit her RR). CHS is Barbara's favorite designer, and she is a New Englander - this design remained me of a New England farm house :-)

And, here is how her RR looks now. Mike will post this to Annemarie tomorrow, and Annemarie will stitch the final block in the bottom center. Barbara put a note in her package letting us know she will use the top two corners to stitch our names. Wow, Barbara, it is almost home now!!

Then, I grabbed a little bit of time before bed to work on 18th Century Band Sampler (aka Long Dog Samplers Mystery Sampler) for a little bit. I was gently reminded today that I had not worked on it for a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it tonight. The roses are really a nice change to stitch.

I really need to spend some time tomorrow afternoon finally settling on what I plan to stitch for the Summer Quaker Exchange on the SBEBB. I have changed my mind three times already - enough is enough!! LOL

Stitched on today: Finished Barbara's Neighborhood Round Robin, and 18th C. Band Sampler

Getting Back to Normal Soon

OK, I kept telling myself all day, the guests are leaving in the morning, they are leaving in the morning! I am so anxious to get back to normal! I did find time to squeeze in a bit of the LDS Mystery Sampler before retiring to bed tonight, though. The next band is more colorful, and I am really looking forward to changing to pinks and greens again :-)

Thanks for the positive response to the Freebie Gallery Blog! Several stitchers have now signed on to be contributors, and have added some really pretty photos too! I added a whole bunch of mine at various times today - as I could sneak away to my computer for little bursts of time. Anyhow, I got a lot of comments saying it looked like a good idea. If you want to be a contributor, though, please email me at carolsutcliffe@comcast.net. I need your email address in order to have Blogger send you an invite into the blog - thanks!!

Stitched on today: Stitched on a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Christmas Ornament SAL Weekend...

Uh-oh! The Christmas Ornament SAL weekend snuck up on me... again! I dug around for a bit this morning, and virtually every ornament I wanted to stitch could not be done today... couldn't find the right fabric or floss.... but, I did come across this one, an old favorite from 1998 - sorry the scan is so poor, though...

RejoiceLizzie Kate36 ct Summer Khaki Edinburgh Linen, Gentle Art Sampler ThreadsStitched 4/29/07

Originally tonight, I did not plan to work on 18th Century Band Sampler (Long Dog Samplers Mystery Sampler). Rather, I was going to start on Barbara's Neighborhood Round Robin. But, this also did not pan out. I thought I found the house I wanted to stitch. I gathered up the floss, got out Barbara's fabric... and changed my mind! Tomorrow afternoon I have slated time to go visit my stash again and look at charts :-) I want to stitch the right house for Barbara! So, tonight I did a row of black hearts on the sampler instead...

Stitched on today: Rejoice, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Finished Band 3

I finished up the third band on the Long Dog Mystery Sampler, aka 18th Century Band Sampler. Yay! I look forward to having a new band to start next week. I just love Long Dog Samplers, although they sure are not quick, easy stitches.

***A non-stitching note that I add here as someday I may want to look back on it: Tonight the Boston Red Sox hit back to back to back to back home runs (that's four) in one inning against some unfortunate rookie pitcher for the Yankees. It was quite a sight! Kudos to Ramirez, Drew, Lowell and Varitek.

Stitched on today: Finished a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Mostly Secret Stitching

Blogger is going through another of its bouts with not wanting to post photos at times.. this is one of those times. If I had the energy to switch to another provider, I would, but for now.... This is all I have to share tonight - more of the Long Dog Mystery Sampler.... I dedicated a good portion of today's stitching time to a birthday gift, and I cannot show it, of course...

Wow, the NE is getting pounded with this storm. I am lucky in that we got about .5" or less of snow, and then some rain. Mike took the garbage out to the curb and said the driveway is icy, but otherwise we are not getting hit too hard in Auburn, NH. What I have seen on TV of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts is amazing - flooding everywhere! Stay safe, my friends!!!

Stitched on today: Started a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Happy Easter

I decided to stick with stitching the Mystery Sampler (aka 18th Century Band Sampler) on Sundays, and I am glad I worked on it tonight. Now that I look at it, it is starting to take some form. I like the band I am working on now - a nice easy rhythm that is moving along so nicely.

Thanks for the feedback about my blog. It was good, I guess, to put that feeler out, and I am glad that so many do like the daily updates. I don't want anyone to misunderstand, though, that I was not criticizing any bloggers who feel WIP photos are boring. I did feel badly when I had read that statement, but do strongly feel it is great for different people to have different styles. That said, thank you, everyone, for your nice words!

As for the DMC, I have been keenly aware for a while now that it is so pricey anywhere else, and I sure am grateful that I do live where it is cheap. I was just wondering if anyone had run into those great 8/$1.00 or 10/$1.00 sales that used to be so frequent here. I pay either 24 cents at Joann's or 29 cents at AC Moore... haven't shopped for floss at Michael's in the longest.... so, the general feeling seems to be that the best we can find is more like 5/$1.00 now. I wonder if importing the DMC has gotten to be pricier for the stores now.... ? I am glad I did stock up a lot during those big sales, but with the amount of stitching that I do, I often realize I have to run out just for a skein of something :-)

Happy Easter - hope everyone who celebrates had a good one! Mine was so nice - I worked out a little longer and a little harder than usual, and feel good as result :-)

Stitched on today: Started a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

First Blooms

We finally have our first blooms of spring in the garden now. OK, many of you have had daffodils for a while and your forsythias are in full bloom, but here in New Hampshire it is the crocus that is just beginning to show for us. I bought a spring bulb collection last fall from the two little twin girls across the street from my house. They were selling many things for a fund raiser for school. Knowing we did not want candy or cookies or candles, I was happy to see a spring bulb mix. What I received, of course, was a tiny box that was really no more than 4" square. All of the bulbs were tiny. But, as you can see, I did get some pretty crocus blooms out of it... and there are some tulips coming up behind them too.... who knows what will happen with the rest of the bulbs from the box. My expectations are not very high.

And, although I stitched an awful lot today, all I can show here in my blog is this bit that I did on the 18th Century Band Sampler (aka Long Dog Samplers Mystery Sampler). It has been almost a month since I stitched on this, and I am glad to be back at it. With the final installment coming out today in The Gift of Stitching magazine, I am really happy with the disclosure of the final part - very pretty! This sampler has a lot of flowers in it and really is very spring- like :-)

Goal Review:

March Goals:
1. Work on Barnabee's Quest SAL -yes, and finished it
2. Work on Dawn, Fairy Spirit of Grace SAL -yes
3. Work on And A Forest Grew - yes
4. Work on 18th Century Band Sampler -yes
5. Work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow -yes
6. Stitch some gifts -yes, I stitched 8 gifts
7. Work on Paradigm Lost SAL -yes
8. Work on Bordeaux Sampler SAL -yes
9. Finish Rachael's Neighborhood RR and send to Annemarie -yes, I finished it and it is safe with Annemarie, and I now have Barbara's
10. Stitch an ornament for the Christmas Ornament SAL -yes
11. Work on The Mermaid and the Sea -yes
12. Take Freebie Challenge on FGBB -yes, I stitched 10 freebies this month
13. Decide on what to stitch for biscornu exchange on FGBB - yes, decided, stitched and posted off
And, I also worked on Mermaid Heaven again this month

April Goals:
1. Work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
2. Continue Paradigm Lost SAL
3. Continue Bordeaux Sampler SAL
4. Continue Dawn, Fairy Spirit of Grace SAL
5. Work on Mermaid Heaven
6. Work on And A Forest Grew
7. Work on 18th Century Band Sampler
8. Start Monochromatic Exchange project for SBEBB
9. Stitch some gifts
10. Decide on what to stitch on Barbara's Neighborhood RR
11. Work on Mermaid and the Sea
12. Stitch an ornament for the Christmas Ornament SAL
13. Do freebie challenge again, if there is one for April on FGBB

Stitched on today: Finished a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Finally Finished Part 1

It was a quiet Sunday around here, and I had the chance to get quite a few stitching things done. Not the least of which, I was able to finally finish Part 1 of the Long Dog Mystery Sampler.And, I made some more progress on Rachael's Neighborhood Round Robin. The lighthouse and keeper's house are backstitched now and I began adding some of Liz Turner Diehl's fencing... I love it, and now my plans for the entire block are starting to gel a little bit in my mind. That odd shape in the bottom center will be a gate with an anchor motif on it - very cute. I look forward to picking this up again soon. My only dilemma is how to add water of some sort to this and not run into the block to the right, which has very different looking water. So, I left some space to the right of the upper fence to add a tree or something to break up the horizon line... we'll see what happens :-)

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Stitched on today: Finished a gift, Rachael's Neighborhood Round Robin, and 18th Century Band Sampler

It's Christmas Ornament SAL Weekend

Merry Christmas
Glory Bee
28 ct Natural Quaker Linen
Gentle Art Sampler Thread
Stitched 2/25/07

After I finished my ornament, I figured I should work on Rachael's Neighborhood Round Robin... but, I didn't feel like working on a big draping cloth, so I chose to get a bit more done on 18th Century Band Sampler (aka Long Dog Mystery Sampler) instead :-) It's been a while since I have had a chance to work on it, so I am glad that I did.

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Stitched on today: Merry Christmas ornament, 18th Century Band Sampler, started a gift

Just a little...

I got a really late start on 18th Century Band Sampler tonight, so I don't really have a lot of progress to show. I have a good excuse (not that I need an excuse in my stitching blog!) - I spent the better part of my stitching time today making a very good start on the next upcoming birthday gift. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with Part 1 now :-)

And, speaking of Long Dog Samplers... have you all seen this new beauty just being released now?


I believe this one is called St. Reatham. Oh my gosh, it is a huge one, but it may well be a must stitch! I even love the burgundy color used for the model. I can tell this one will take a long time to stitch (I think it's 380 x 293), but I don't think I will be able to help myself with resisting this one! I have already decided this will be on my wish list, and someday when I get to go stash shopping again, it will be a priority.

In the interim, there is another group of hand dyed fabrics that I will be posting for sale again in the next day or two - Angus' bills are coming due again :-) If there is anything I would give up stash buying for, it would be one of my loved ones, be it family, friend or cat :-)
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Sincerest apologies are due to a friend today... she knows who she is. I love you :-)
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Hey, we might have a big snow storm coming in on Valentine's Day! Might being the operative word, but I get the feeling we will be getting something at last!
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Stitched on today: Started a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

18th Century Band Sampler Update

Not much to say at all today... but did spend some time working on the Long Dog Mystery Sampler (18th Century Band Sampler) - and halfway through the row of carnations now... looking forward to Part 2. I like the personalization that goes on Part 2.

Angus update: He is holding his own, but is a bit depressed that he cannot have any dry food. He knows the others are getting some still, as we are trying to wean them off. But, he is doing a good job with his wet food and Mike thinks Angus is gaining weight now (I am not so sure). Thanks again for the continued emails asking about him! I regret that I cannot get to them all personally :-)

And, congratulations to all of the winners of the Silkweaver Showcase - well done, each and every one of you :-)

Stitched on today: Stitched on a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Love Ackworth School Samplers?

Not a whole lot of stitching going on around here today - too many other things to do. I am actually doing two Stitching Bloggers Birthday/Christmas Club people... and both of their birthdays in February, only one week apart from each other! I managed to get the package for the first one completely finished and packed up for Mike to mail out tomorrow. Keeping me on my toes! LOL But, then for a while tonight I did work on the Long Dog Mystery Sampler (aka 18th Century Band Sampler). If you have been looking at this here or in other blogs and have been thinking you might want to stitch it, yet don't have a subscription to The Gift of Stitching online magazine... you have three more days to get Part One of the sampler. On Thursday, Part Two is released and this issue will not be available to download (unless you want to pay an extra fee for a back issue). I only mention this because I have gotten a lot of comments and emails about it. That said, I had fun with this again tonight. I like that there is blue in the sampler now.

I love, love, love Ackworth School Samplers! Do you? I was thrilled yesterday when the new issue of Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly (Spring 2007) arrived in my mailbox. The issue has an article on the Ackworth School, and... oh my, look at this gorgeous design! I keep staring at it!!

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Mike and I were out running errands yesterday and had to stop in to WalMart. I found something there that I just had to buy! We picked up a heated mattress pad for our bed. We had the most wonderful night's sleep last night with it! Our room is always kept relatively warm - at least at bedtime, and then the heat comes back before it is time to get up... but this heated mattress pad is amazingly comfortable! Anyone else ever try one?

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OK... I have a veterinary question for anyone with any experience... even though I am a psychotherapist, I am not entirely sure that my human-based treatment ideas and trials are working here. Angus is on a strictly wet food diet since his illness and surgery. This is key to his health right now. He is on something called Royal Canin Urinary SO canned food. Mike also picked up a bag of Royal Canin Urinary SO dry food. I think he just asked the girl at the front desk at the vet for a bag. He is unclear whether or not the vet approved this. However, he felt the need to buy it because our cats have always had dry kibble available to them. But, I talked to him and we decided we don't want Angus eating that. He not only is prone to kidney stones, but he also has some stones in his ureter. Here is the catch - one of our cats, Lily, loves dry food. She really doesn't touch wet food at all. But, we cannot leave any dry food out. We have put Angus in isolation daily so that Lily can eat. This seems to be having a negative effect on Angus, who is not stupid. He is now sitting around with the wet food on his plate (he always loved wet food, and even this new diet was initially palatable to him) and trying to see if either of us will break down and give him the dry food. Also, this is forcing Lily, and any of the other cats wanting any dry food, to have to eat at a time we choose and only for a short period (since we are always anxious to let Angus out of the bathroom). Anyone have any realistic solutions??

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Stitched on today: Started a gift (which I think may be too big of an undertaking given when the receiver's birthday is....) and 18th Century Band Sampler

Colorful Bands

I decided to work on the mystery sampler tonight. This is by far the most vibrant sampler I am working on at the moment - I just love it! It is so "me", even if the stitching is dense and takes me a while to work on even a small section. Julia Line is an amazing designer!

We are experiencing some truly bitter cold weather right now. Not much for snow, but winter is truly here.

Blogger actually forced me to upgrade to the new Blogger tonight. I guess they are now ready for bigger blogs, because they took mine... not sure I liked the whole "forced" issue, though. Has that happened to anyone else??

Stitched on today: Stitched on a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

A little progress...

My eyes are so tired tonight, so I quit early. I did spend a bit of time today starting a gift, and did manage to do most of the stitching on it. But once I started 18th Century Band Sampler, my eyes were giving me troubles. I managed to still get a bit done on it.

I heard that Veronica received her birthday gift from me today - she received it early. Her birthday is the 1st of February, but I posted it to her last weekend. I didn't know how long it would take to get to the UK - as luck would have it, it didn't take long at all. I used a freebie from Passione Ricamo for her fob, and am showing you the back of the fob too... I added a "V" for Veronica on the back using the beautiful alphabet that came with the freebie...

French Collection Fob
Passione Ricamo - freebie found here
32 ct Cream Lugana
DMC Color Variations floss #4210, Radiant Ruby
Stitched 1/10/07 - 1/11/07

And, here is the back - I added a fancy heart charm at the base of the ribbon to compliment the hearts on the front of the fob:


Stitched on today: Started a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler by Long Dog Samplers

Some LDS Mystery Sampler Progress

Tonight I spent some time working on the Long Dog Samplers Mystery Sampler that just came out in The Gift of Stitching Magazine. I just love the colors on this one. But... I put it down so that now I can work on a gift that I also started earlier today - lots of PIF gifts to make, and February is a very busy month for stitchers' birthdays!

Go Pats! Our New England Patriots (ahem... the underdog today) beat the San Diego Chargers and have lived to see another week in the playoffs!

Stitched on today: Started a gift, and 18th Century Band Sampler

Finished that purple band

Yay - I finished the purple band atop the 18th Century Band Sampler (Long Dog Samplers mystery sampler that just started in The Gift of Stitching Magazine). Now, that may not seem like much, but it is. It took a while to count all of that out. Tonight I got to add a few more colors too, and really love how this is progressing now.

Then, I put it down to work on Dianne's Neighborhood RR. While I cannot show any of it yet, I can say that I have virtually finished the house (except for a bit of backstitching) and will soon be choosing some ways to give it some landscaping - and then off to Annemarie, hopefully by next Monday's deadline :-) And, I heard from Rachael tonight - she is doing better :-) More than likely, she will post my RR by next week and then actually stitch on it later. No problem!!

Thanks for your well wishes for Angus and Gig! Angus has a bit of a kick in his step lately - I took a cute photo, but forgot to download it - will make sure to do that tomorrow. Gig is a bit sulky and we have isolated him to see if he will eat that bland diet the doc wants him to eat for a few days. No luck so far. Gig is a seriously neurotic cat!

Also, thanks to those who bought stash in the past two days to help out - some was shipped today, and if you sent PayPal today, it goes right out tomorrow!! There is still some left, see yesterday's photo and info.

Oh, and thank you so much for the wonderful comments on Kathy O's fob... and the one I recently made for Mel too - you are all so supportive and encouraging!!

Stitched on today: Bordeaux Sampler (just the tiniest bit!), 18th Century Band Sampler and Dianne's Neighborhood RR.

Started the Long Dog Mystery Sampler Tonight

I decided to start the pretty mystery sampler by Long Dog Samplers that debuted this month in The Gift of Stitching Magazine. It took me a couple of days to decide on my fabric, and I ended up using Lakeside Linens 40 ct Vintage Bittersweet again - the same fabric I used for An Emblem of Love. It is one of my favorites, by far, and compliments the colors in the sampler so well. I still need to finish the third row of periwinkle at the top of the sampler, but as my self-imposed time to quit working on this tonight approached, I was getting a bit bored with the purple (especially after all the work of counting and centering), that I quit that for now and began some of the other colors. Then, off to work on Dianne's Neighborhood Round Robin.

I got an email from Mel earlier today letting me know that she has received the little birthday gift that I sent to her. Her birthday was six days ago, but still, the post to Dubai was quicker than I thought it would be - just a little over a week, I think. Mel is in the Medieval Town Mandala group, so I chose to stitch her a fob out of the center fountain of the design. What a relief - she is very happy with it!

Medieval Town Mandala Fob
Chatelaine
Silkweaver Belfast Solo - can only be seen on the back
NPI Silk, Caron Waterlilies, Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors, Gloriana Silk, Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid, Miyuki Delicas Beads, Swarovski Crystals
Stitched 12/17/06 - 12/22/06

I have some stash that I will post in my blog tomorrow that I hope to sell off to continue to support some of Angus' vet bills. Mike and I bought some stuff at a LNS a couple of months back that turned into a fiasco - we just put the items aside and didn't think about them - but anyhow... just stumbled across it all tonight and Mike suggested we sell it towards the little fund... so, I will try to get that up tomorrow!

As I was working on Dianne's round robin tonight, I was wondering how mine is progressing. The stitcher who has mine was going through some personal issues in the fall... we haven't heard from her lately, so I wonder if she even stitched mine? I will have to try to email her this weekend and let her know it is OK with me if she just wants to send it ahead to Dianne with her block unstitched.

Stitched on today: Started a gift, Long Dog Samplers Mystery Sampler (aka 18th Century Band Sampler), Dianne's Neighborhood Round Robin