The Magic of Threes

Three is the magic number today! (This reminds me of great play therapy training class I took last year - lots of neat tools in that one, including children's propensity to remember things in threes - you know, the three little pigs, the genie's three wishes, three blind mice, and so on... but, I digress!). I have three corners finished now on Medieval Town Mandala! It took me all day... but three down, one to go!

Another three! Ryan Newman, my very, very, very, very favorite NASCAR driver, came in third in a very close finish in the Daytona 500 today - this is a career high for him, and an amazingly great start to his season (at last) this year! He is now tied for second in points (he had bonus points for leading laps that the second place finisher, Casey Mears, did not earn). And.... with much controversy surrounding the winner and possible cheating by his team, there is some degree of chance that he will be docked points, leaving Ryan and Casey both tied for first place - if NASCAR makes that decision later this week... If they don't, no worries! Ryan is only 15 little points out of first place in the Nextel Cup Chase right now! Woo Hoo!

I joined a new stitching group today, Wiehenburg Samplers, thanks to Bine... I wanted to stitch that pretty quaker sampler she is stitching (and is shown as the cover pic in the group I just joined), but that group is closed. I found out in the group I can order the chart when it gets published though. And, even better, I have pre-registered in the group for Martina Dey's next Quaker Mystery Sampler! This is worth looking into - very pretty!!

Sigh, I see that Passione Ricamo has put a teaser up on her site of her next to be released design, The Night.... I can already tell I will want to do this one too!!



Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

Finally in the mix!

What is this, right? I finally jumped in with both feet, basted my fabric into nine 90 x 90 squares, and then started my house for the Neighborhood RR. I need to have this ready to mail off to The Netherlands by March 15th. It sure doesn't look like much yet, but it is going to be Gardener's Cottage by Elizabeth's Designs. I will be adding two little kitties stitched over one that are from LHN's The Friendship Tree... my request for each stitcher in this RR is that each stitches at least one cat in their block. So, I had to also figure out how to add one (or as it turns out, two) into my design - I figured I can do this by deleting the box planter of pink flowers and stitch the two aforementioned cats over one... I think it will work out perfectly :-)

Once again, my scan is crooked, but I am too tired to redo it.

So, originally I had planned to work on Medieval Town Mandala today. But, the RR really needs attention to make its posting date. I figure on giving Medieval Town Mandala a whole lot of attention on Sunday and Monday.

Thank you to all of you for your lovely comments about Celtic Winter. They are so appreciated! I want to frame her in a nice gold frame, but Mike and I were talking and we would like to hang all four seasons as a set - I am wondering if I should wait until they are all done (that sure could be a while!!) before framing this one??

Yay, the Daytona 500 is tomorrow! Finally, NASCAR!

Stitched on today: Basted my huge piece of Vintage Autumn Fields belfast, and started Gardener's Cottage for the Neighborhood RR

And, here she is....

Finally, I now have my first finish of 2006... and here she is...

Celtic Winter
Lavender & Lace, c. 2005
Silkweaver 32 ct Blue Diamonds Reflections Lugana
Stitched 9/8/05 - 2/17/06

This was started as a SAL back in September, and somehow Katrina and I both managed to finish on the same day... pretty cool! So, now you have it, my first finish for the year - nice to get that out of the way! I loved working on her and will be stitching the other three seasons, just not right away - too many other things on my plate right now! I also really enjoyed that this was a SAL with so many stitchers, and each has been so wonderful! (I am sorry the photo is so small - Mike took the picture in high resolution, blogger wouldn't take it, I had to put it in Photobucket and size it down a bit to fit the blog... and it turned out so small.... but you can see a bigger pic here).

I have been asked what will replace Celtic Winter in my rotation... right now, it will be a good slot to get some more time in on Mermaids of the Deep Blue :-)

There is a new blog for us all to read now! Please check out Karen's Blog when you get a chance. Karen is a very dear friend of mine in Leura, NSW Australia. She owns and operates Dragonfly Dreams, an exceptional needlework shop which many of you already love!! Karen is a talented and very avid stitcher... check out her recent finish of Drawn Thread's An Open Heart, and her stunning start on Mirabilia's Stargazer!! Please say hi while you are there too! I have bragged so much to her lately about how wonderful this blogging community is, and I am certain she would love to meet you too! Thanks!

There are several of us now ready to start Houses of Hawk Run Hollow as a SAL... anyone can join us, if they want! But those who have expressed doing it right now are: Becky, Bea, Barbara and Karen - OK, get stitching ladies so I won't feel like I am too far ahead of you!! LOL

Hand-Dyed Fibers (aka Vikki Clayton) is sponsoring a new online mystery sampler - Sampler Cove's Bordeaux Mystery Sampler - and it is exclusive to Hand-Dyed Fibers. Here is the top section. I love it! I just signed up. Thought you might want to know about it :-)

Whew! Finally - the newest Cross Stitch Gold arrived today. I was really beginning to wonder about it. I received the last one really early last month... but all is OK now.... There is a really cute Venice themed chart in this one... I love it, but cannot figure out why the designer, Maria Diaz, opted to make the water in the canal brown?? That might hold me back from stitching this.... but I otherwise really love this - Bea, is the water in Venice brown? I thought it was quite blue... at least in the films I have seen it is...

Here is what I hope is a better picture of the Venice project... OK, time to see if I can fit in some time on Medieval Town Mandala now while we watch Saw II...
And, I did get a chance to do a little... will put a lot of effort into it this weekend and maybe finish Part 5 (oh, I hope so!!). I really like stitching the gold swirls :-)

Stitched on today: Celtic Winter (Happy Dance!!) and Medieval Town Mandala

Coming around the bend now!

All of the beading is done now and I am finally working on the extreme outer border of Celtic Winter. I can see the finish line now. I hope I can finish her tomorrow night, in fact. I am really feeling ready to have my first finish of the year! She beaded up really quickly, primarily thanks to my Tacky BOB. Beading with four (or even more) colors is just so quick and easy with a Tacky BOB (yes, I know I sound like an advertisement, but it is my favorite needlework tool these days). I don't know why I have two packs of the gold beads and the magnifica beads. Did I read or hear somewhere that I needed two packs of each of those? I can't remember, but I didn't need them. All four colors of beads require well under one pack each!! Oh well, I am sure I can use them for something :-)

I am pretty excited about having registered for Celebration of Needlework this morning. It is happening during the first weekend of May this year in Nashua, NH. That is my wedding anniversary weekend (May 8th), so I get to use the excuse that signing up for classes makes a great anniversary gift for me. Mike didn't mind :-) I have signed up for two classes this year :-) First, on Friday afternoon, I registered for The Elizabeth Pickney Sampler with Betsy Stinner, and then on Saturday morning, I registered for Crystal Winter with Jeannette Douglas. I have to wait for confirmation of these registrations, but I have never had a problem getting into any classes at Celebration before, so hopefully that will be the case again this year. I hope to see a lot of my friends there this year! I had such a good time meeting some of my blogging pals there last year :-)

I need to get back to Medieval Town Mandala this weekend, and then begin to get my Neighborhood RR set up... but first, I really want to get Celtic Winter finished!!

I hope to surf some blogs right now, but my sidebar seems to have disappeared and I guess Blogger is having its issues... so if you don't hear from me tonight, it is because I can't get to your blog link right now!

Oh, Jenna asked what size Q-Snap I am using for my big projects - that is the large size, 17" x 17" and I adore it! Yes, I do get good tension with it. However, the R&R fabric I am using for Garden Spot Sampler is stiff and weird feeling... not the best tension with that one, so I use my tiny 8" x 8" Q-Snap for that sampler or stitch in hand in some areas...

And, another blogger asked if she could use my "Stitched on today" line on her blog - of course, please do!!!!!

Stitched on today: 17th Century Irish Garden for a bit at work today - finally - and I brought it home to post an update pic sometime this weekend, and Celtic Winter

Getting much closer now

My first finish of 2006 is finally approaching! I am getting quite close now on Celtic Winter. I finished the stitching of the left side border at work today, with ten minutes left to spare of my break (so I ate my lunch!!). Tonight I started the beading. I have to finish beading the two side borders, and then I still need to stitch the outermost border. That part is easy and can be done at work... so finally, I have a Happy Dance forthcoming! Finally!!

Q. Comment on your comments (giving and recieving): Do you love comments
or hate them? Do you check them every day, never check them, or find
them helpful? And finally, are you convinced no one is reading your
blog if you don't get any?

A. Yes, I love getting comments in my blog, and I do read them all. Sometimes I check in on them at work while I am reading other blogs. I love meeting people through the comments they leave... I make new friendships that way, get great offers to trade charts, learn some new stitching tips... it's one of the best parts of blogging. I also love to leave comments for other bloggers. I usually do get comments, and my counter shows that I get plenty of hits, so I get the idea that people do read my blog. But, it is really my own stitching journal, and it truly amazes me how many people actually do read it :-)

Stitched on today: Celtic Winter

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is my weekly progress update on the Garden Spot Sampler SAL. I contacted Vikki Clayton a few days ago about the shortage of three of the silk colors in her conversion, and she has just emailed me to let me know she is sending me another skein of each free of charge, and she updated her site to reflect the new info on number of skeins needed :-) I finished that pretty coneflower tonight!

I got some excellent news today! It turns out that the first mailing date for the Neighborhood RR is not until March 15th! I had thought it was March 1st. I re-read the info that was emailed to me, and it only said "March," so I assumed the 1st. I was last to join - really, they added me into their group because they are all so sweet! - and I did not get much of a chance to truly absorb the details. I am very excited - I don't need to rush now!! Whew!

It is, yet again, New DVD Release Tuesday! Strange releases for a romantic holiday: Saw II and Zathura (the latter of which we are enjoying right now).

Oh, and KarenV has pointed out the most lovely must-have chart to me - Liz Turner Diehl's 17th Century German Garden (I see she calls it the 18th Century German Garden when she teaches it at CATS, so I am not sure what it's real, true name is - but I really want this!!). I see it is sold as a kit... I hope it will also just be released as a chart. My heritage is primarily German, so how can I not stitch this one??

Stitched on today: Garden Spot Sampler

Can you guess what I am still working on??

Um, yep... Medieval Town Mandala.... but not a whole lot of it tonight. I have to quit early to get some more birthday packages ready for Mike to mail off tomorrow!! Busy, busy month for those birthdays!! Anyhow... now Medieval Town Mandala gets put away for two days while I do my SALs...
And, finally... at long last... look what I have here! Yes, that is my Autumn Fields belfast for the Neighborhood RR!! OK, now to get that done too!! Thank you Silkweaver! I will have to bring this in to work in the next day or two and start getting my squares basted, and then once Medieval Town Mandala is done I will stitch my house.... I just hope I can get it all done!

And, speaking of Silkweaver, today I finally received my FOTM. They mailed it a week late again. I love this one - it is Wandering Ivy belfast. So nice!

You know.... I have just been thinking about the incredible gamut of emotions right now in our little world of stitching bloggers... we have the extreme joy of Karen's miracle pregnancy, the excitement of Jo's new job, Katrina's recent nuptials and Nikki's new graduate program....and we have Barbara's home robbery, Isabelle's and Jenna's terrible migraines, and... the sudden and tragic death of Laura... from the most extreme joy to the deepest sorrow, we have really been going through a lot, haven't we? It's great that we are all here for each other, in the good times and the bad... hugs to all of you.


Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

I have found myself to be totally spoilt by Becky! My goodness, I am speechless over this lovely box of Valentine's Day gifts that arrived yesterday! She sent me this cute Lizzie Kate flatfold, an adorable little tote with a Bent Creek design on it, and this most amazing needlebook that I had been admiring on her blog! And, on top of all of that, she sent me a little journal too! She knows how much I love gardening, and she is right - she cannot go wrong with gardening themed items for me. As I said, I am speechless and I really don't know what I have done to deserve this. Becky, you are such a good friend, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Two corners down now...two more to go - finally, half way there!!!
And, a shot of part of my back porch... we did not get as much snow as originally forecasted. We got a little more than this much, but this pretty much says it all...


Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

On the storm watch

I really had a hard time focusing today to get to work on Medieval Town Mandala... I don't think it was because of the big corners, but rather it just took me some time today to get focused on stitching. We ran errands, went out to brunch, I did the laundry, I did a program on the treadmill and I watched a movie... and then I figured I would get to Medieval Town Mandala... and here is how far I managed to get. I hope to do better tomorrow.

A stash update today too - my Vikki Clayton silks came in for the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler... so now I don't know which one I will bring to work now... the Papillon Mystery or the Quaker Mystery.... very hard to decide! And I got in two of Silkweaver's new limited edition fabrics - the 40 ct Atlantic Storm Linen and the 28 ct Splash! lugana. They are so pretty! And the third fabric is the Silkweaver 40 ct Solo that I had forgotten to put in the photo last night - this is a gorgeous neutral one for a sampler.
Ack! Today we have a new forecast for the snow.... seems the totals up by me (and everywhere) just got a whole lot higher.... still a few hours away from us... but, yuck!! I am glad I can stay in and stitch, but going out Sunday afternoon/evening to clean all of this up and not going to be much fun... everyone in the northeast, stay safe!!

I am a little bit late with the SBQ this week...here is why :-)

Q. Describe your "perfect" project. (Include the designer or specific pattern, the fabric, the floss, and anything else that would make that project "perfect" for you.)

A. I fear I am late with responding to this SBQ because, honestly, I don't really understand it. I guess the perfect project to me always is the one that is calling to me next - they are all perfect to me

I watched Just Like Heaven today, and I have to say that it was excellent :-) Very funny movie.

And, I received a very special treat from a fellow stitcher today. I emailed her personally to thank her already, but will share it all in my blog tomorrow when I can get a better photo of my very stunning gifts!! (I am sure most of you can guess who the sender was!!)...

Oh, and while out today, picked up Elizabethtown, which I had somehow missed as a new release this week :-)

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

One down, and....

...And three more corners still to go! I did get the first corner done tonight, and just as soon as I finished it, I started up the outline for the second corner.

I am wondering how many stitchers signed up in the Medieval Town Mandala group will be able to finish Part 5 this month? Will I??? Hmmmm.... :-) I am pretty much thinking that I can find the time this month to finish it... but I won't be foregoing my SAL commitments on Tuesdays and Wednesdays just to do it - I like my SALs with my SAL-mates too much to drop those :-)

OK, here is a posting of stash that came in over the past week... John Clayton's Big Ben kit (a must stitch to commemorate our vacations in London), A Stitch in Time by The Workbasket (also a must stitch due to its verse: A stitch in time saves my mind), Mirabilia's Stargazer and Hands To Work's Best of Blessings. I also got two skeins of GAST that I felt I may need for this chart. More fabric too - Silkweaver's Sandcastle 40 ct linen, R&R Reproductions' Hog Wild Blue 30 ct linen, an opalescent brown cashel solo by Silkweaver.... and a pretty 40 ct Newcastle solo that I forgot to photograph.. ah well....

Oh, good news today from Silkweaver! The Autumn Fields belfast I ordered back in mid-January for the Neighborhood RR finally came in and they shipped it out today! The challenge ahead of me now is to finish Part 5 of Medieval Town Mandala and baste my fabric and stitch my house before the end of the month...
Well, it looks like I will get some stitching done this weekend! Here is our local snowfall forecast for Saturday night into most of Sunday! I live just northeast of where it says "Nashua" (Nashua, by the way, is where the wonderful Celebration of Needlework festival is held each spring - join me there??) - it is downgraded from the 12"+ that they called for earlier in the week, and only time will tell... but, for sure, it looks like I will be inside trying to catch up on Medieval Town Mandala! Can't complain much - it has not been a snowy winter so far.

I have recently noticed that some of my dear blogging friends are stitching a Quaker Mystery Sampler, and after seeing their starts on the project I was very attracted to it. So, I spent some time today enjoying the benefits of Google, and I found the site. Now I will be putting this together to stitch on at work... my current "at work" project has not been motivating me lately, so I will slide this one in and see if I can get back in the groove. I put the link in this paragraph for you in case you also want to stitch this - I will save you all that leg work that I did today LOL!

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

****Oh, someone asked what fabric I am using for Mermaid Heaven - it is Sugar Maple Fabrics' Impressionism Cashel.

Just ambling along...

Well, now I am just ambling along on Medieval Town Mandala... and cannot stop wondering why Martina gave us this huge chunk to do during the shortest month of the year - LOL! So, here I am looking at what looks like some fairly decent progress tonight, and really trying my hardest not to think of that fact that after I finally finish this corner... I have three more to do before the month ends!!

And, well.... still no fabric has arrived for my Neighborhood RR. I fear I may have to send my project off a little bit late to its first receiver. Oh, I would hate that!! I am glad the house I chose to stitch on mine is not all that very difficult... and basting the fabric out will take some time, but I could probably just do that at work on break... but I really can't do anything if my fabric does not even come in before the month ends :-( It might be time to recontact Sillkweaver about this... sigh.

The April 2006 issue of Just Cross Stitch came in the mail today - I think those Thea Gouverneur roses on the cover are just stunning, if not my cup of tea. But the issue is not bad... Julia Lucas contributes a house that may just find itself onto someone's Neighborhood RR :-) Spring is definitely the theme - lots of pretty florals dominate this month.

Wow, February sure is a busy month for birthdays amongst stitching bloggers! I don't know everyone's birthdays, and wish I did... But there are four this month that I am taking care of. I am so glad that Anne's gifts have now found their way to Australia. I have two more packages all set for Mike to post off tomorrow for two very special birthdays... and then there is yet another special birthday later this month that still needs to be attended to :-) Busy, busy :-)

Big snow storm forecasted for Saturday into Sunday - yay, quiet stitching time to maybe get something done on Medieval Town Mandala!! I have to admit, I am glad I am not stitching this huge portion in the middle of the summer, as some of us are... ugh!

You may have noticed the picture of The Gift of Stitching magazine near the top of my sidebar. I have put it there for charitable purposes. The small commission that comes to me from those who subscribe will be donated, in its entirety, to NAAR, The National Alliance for Autism Research. So, if you are interested, please subscribe - it is a great cause :-)

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

A Celtic Winter Update

Pretty quiet day today, but it was Celtic Winter SAL night... and I think I made some good progress. I have finished all the stitching on the right side border now (no beading yet). I think I am almost there now with this one :-)

Stitched on today: Celtic Winter

Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler... Anyone??

I got home a bit early today and found myself with a little extra stitching time. Therefore, before I started my SAL project for the night I put in a couple of hours on Medieval Town Mandala first. Not a ton of progress - but there is now some more blue and some more gold in the first corner... every little bit of extra time on this one will surely help this month. I remember when Martina gave us a huge chunk, around the fourth or fifth month, on Mystery VI back in 2004.... it took forever to complete - that one called for tons of black Marlitt, though. At least this time the huge part is turquoise silks and gold :-)
And then, on to Garden Spot Sampler, my Tuesday night SAL with Jo. I spent the rest of the evening working on the peachy colored coneflower on the right side... I had made a bit better progress, but around 10 PM realized I had to frog out a miscounted area.... it is slow going with that one because that flower is done with the one shade that is variegated.... but so pretty. I hope Jo is having fun with hers tonight too - we are really making some progress now.

I am going to stitch Papillon Creations' Mystery Sampler, which is in the new online stitching magazine, The Gift of Stitching. I have my silk pack on order with Vikki Clayton for it. It looks like fun - is anyone else interested in doing it? If you are and have not already subscribed to the beautiful online magazine, there is a link in my sidebar that you can use - or you can subscribe through links other bloggers are posting in their blogs as well, of course! This is a wonderful magazine - I hope some of you will want to stitch the Mystery Sampler too :-)

Big DVD day for us today - a trifecta - of course, it was New DVD Release Tuesday - we got Doom (totally a Mike movie - he is even watching it now - he used to play the game when it came out for PC years ago), Just Like Heaven and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (just love these guys!!)

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala and Garden Spot Sampler

OK, time to get to Medieval Town Mandala

OK, I started Part 5 of Medieval Town Mandala tonight. This is four hours work already.... there are four very heavy corners to do this month... oh my, I am going to be pretty busy!! I have SAL commitments the next two nights, but by Thursday I should be able to put a few straight days in on this... and I'll just see where I get from there... Judith, you've been a great inspiration while stitching this piece - I really love your fabric choice. It suits this design better than the white does.

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

Keeping the mermaid theme this weekend

I stuck with my plan to take a break from Chatelaine designs for the weekend, and also kept the mermaid theme going... tonight I worked on the Mirabilia SAL, Mermaids of the Deep Blue. This is a fun project on which to stitch, and it seems to move along pretty well. Once the Chatelaine commitments are done for the month, I will surely be giving this one more attention :-)

Su, you had mentioned that our fabrics for Mermaid Heaven look similar... mine is Impressionism Cashel by Sugar Maple Fabrics.

Thanks for all the well wishes about Gig :-) They are truly appreciated - he is quite well, and back to his old self today, after his big trip into the city last night :-)

Stitched on today: Mermaids of the Deep Blue

Gig is well :-)

I am so happy that Blogger is working for me again! I guess not everyone had this problem - what a pain it was!
OK, on to stitching business now. I want to take a break between my two Chatelaine pieces, so I worked on Mermaid Heaven today. This is an SAL I am doing with Jenn, and I have not had a chance to work on it since last December. Today seemed like a great day to get back to it - oh, I love this one! It is a quick stitch - progress is made so quickly with it being all in full cross stitch. The colors are so yummy. I had not remembered that I had finished Part 7/8 last time I worked on it, so that was a nice surprise today. I started part 3/8 today, which is now the sixth of the eight pages - this is going to move along quickly now, as long as I keep it going in my rotation.

Gig is doing very well. Thank you to those who have expressed concern. Our almost five year old Persian cat, Gig, has had a little bit of blood in his stool over the past couple of days. But the vet says his exam went well and it appears he has either colitis or IBS... or maybe he just passed one of his furballs through his colon. He is on a medication for five days, but should be fine. If the medication doesn't resolve the issue, he will be put on a special diet (well, all six of them will really - how can I change only one cat's diet - LOL).

I found my scissors in my dratted recliner today! Woo Hoo! I had to become a contortionist to get them out - but they are out! Yay! No sign of the lost needle - LOL!

Stitched on today: Mermaid Heaven

Mystery IX Part 2 Done

***This is my fourth try to post this blog entry - Blogger ate the first one I did last night, then it ate my re-post this morning, and on my third try the whole site was down when I went to publish the entry - maybe the fourth time is the charm? Thank you to those of you who have emailed me asking if something is wrong - No, all is well!
I finished Part 2 of Mystery IX, and then I did all of the beading for parts 1 and 2. The beading took a long time because I like to use a full "x" when I attach Delicas beads. It is laborious, but worth it - the lay so much nicer that way, and since Martina uses a ton of beads on her big projects, I think it would be terrible if any of them were to ever come loose.

My recliner ate my favorite pair of scissors tonight. It also ate one of my needles a few days ago. Mike and I cannot figure out where they could be in the chair... we tried looking several times. Hungry chair! I will try again tomorrow!!

I am always thankful for WalMart's DVD dump bin - Sliding Doors extra super cheap. A romantic comedy I have never seen? Will be great to stitch to!

Stitched on today: Mystery IX

Not a whole lot going on today, but I did manage to stitch some more on Part 2 of Mystery IX, and if all goes well, I will finish that tomorrow night. I just have some backstitching to do (although, a bit of it - LOL) and maybe I will do all the beading then since I figure I will have the extra time - can stay up late stitching on Fridays :-)



Q. With the exception of your online stitching friends, do you have any other stitching buddies?

A. No, actually, I don't. Although my life is abundant and rich with online stitching friends, I don't have any that are local that I can just get together with to stitch. I used to, but she moved to Texas... and well, we are estranged anyhow. If any stitchers are in the general Southern NH area, I would love to meet you!!

Amanda, yes, the Solaria chart in The Gifts of Stitching magazine appears to be quite well done!!! You might want to check it out!

Also, thank you to Becky, Barbara and Bea for joining me now in an SAL for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow! This will be so fun! Some of you do not have all your supplies yet, so hopefully we can take it slow until everyone can get caught up! I will email you all to figure this out! Yay!!

Stitched on today: Mystery IX

Password Day

It is the first of the month, and for me that means two passwords from Martina Weber... I decided to work tonight on Mystery IX. Martina gave us a very small area to stitch this month, at least by her usual standards. This is half of it now. She did note in her instructions this month that we will be "working harder" next month - thanks for the heads up, Martina! I will remember that when I set my goals for March!

I also received the password for Medieval Town Mandala, part 5. That is quite a large part, so Martina is still keeping me plenty busy :-) It is exactly the area I figured she was going to give us this month, but I don't think it will take too long, as long as I concentrate on it after I finish part 2 of Mystery IX.
Tonight was scheduled to be Celtic Ladies SAL night for me... so, anticipating the passwords coming in today, I brought Celtic Winter to work with me today. I made sure to find time to get some work done on the border today. This project is moving along so nicely :-)

Time for my next stash report, I guess. It is piling up a little bit on my desk. Over the past week, I have received a few items. The first is this neat online stitching magazine called "The Gift of Stitching" - it is super nice. The first issue became available today. It has a really nice mystery sampler by Papilon Creations in it - installment one - want to stitch it or subscribe? You can click the link in my sidebar. I highly recommend it - very well done, what a treat!! I also have in my pile Peter Underhill's Wizard chart (how cute!!), two 13" x 18' cuts of Flax 40 ct linen that were backordered from Silkweaver (one for ED's Nature's Alphabet, and one for ED's Nature's Alphabet II), and Marjolein Bastin's wonderful autumn sampler that has been OOP for a while....

And, some other fabrics.... SMF's new Keenan cashel (fat quarter), a pretty large cut 40 ct solo from Silkweaver... and two Lakeside Linens I was able to (finally!) get during one of Silkweaver's Odds & Ends postings! One is a fat eighth of 36 ct Navy Bean, and the other is a fat quarter of 40 ct Meadow Rue...nice!

And, just last night Katrina wrote in an email that she was wanting to stitch a Sweetheart Tree sampler - how ironic, me too :-) I got Fleurs de Provence and the silver charm/gemstone beads (stapled inside the chart), and the Country French Latte linen, perle cotton and Weeks Dye Works that it calls for as well.

And... finally, here is my last installment from SB&B's "Mystery Bits" - I changed my option over before I received this mailing today, but I am glad that I did. I am not a fan of orange. My record is supposed to note not to send me brights and oranges. I guess that was overlooked this month. Yucky. Starting next month, I am going to receive Kreinik #4 braids only - that will be much better!

January Goals:
1. Finish Part 4 of Medieval Town Mandala - yes
2. Finish Part 1 of Mystery IX - yes
3. Continue Garden Spot Sampler SAL with Jo - yes
4. Continue Mermaid Heaven SAL with Jenn - no
5. Continue An Open Heart SAL - no
6. Continue 17th Century Irish Garden - just a tiny bit, but yes
7. Continue Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - yes
8. Continue Mermaids of the Deep Blue SAL - yes
9. Continue Celtic Winter SAL - yes
10. Angel of Love yes, Convent's Herbal Garden no, Girl with Cat no, Little Wings no and A Christmas Spirit yes - time for those would be icing on the cake!

February Goals:
1. Finish Part 5 of Medieval Town Mandala
2. Finish Part 2 of Mystery IX
3. Set up my Neighborhood RR fabric, stitch my square
4. Continue Mermaid Heaven SAL with Jenn
5. Continue 17th Century Irish Garden
6. Continue Mermaids of the Deep Blue SAL
7. Continue Houses of Hawk Run Hollow if Becky, Barbara and Bea are all ready - we are now SALing...
8. Continue Celtic Winter SAL (hope to finish this month)
9. Continue Garden Spot Sampler SAL with Jo
10. Icing on the cake would be to find time for: Angel of Love, Convent's Herbal Garden, Girl with Cat, Little Wings and A Christmas Spirit!!

OK.... long enough here! I will do the SBQ tomorrow!!

Stitched on today: Celtic Winter and Mystery IX