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

Snow in the forecast? But... it's spring??!!

It's Tuesday, so of course it is no surprise to anyone anymore that it is Garden Spot Sampler SAL night. My camera needs charging, so I went with a scan of the newly stitched area tonight. I am pretty glad I did - this shows the reals colors, finally! Pretty, isn't it? I hope Jo enjoyed this tonight too :-)

I forgot to share this generous early birthday gift that I received from Karen yesterday! OK, it is like three months early... but Karen is smart! She knows that if she doesn't send it now, I will end up buying it before she can surprise me with it in July ~ LOL!!!! She is right! I was getting ready to buy it! Just Nan's limited release, Bliss! Ooooo, back to her old style, and I am so thrilled. Karen is so sweet! Thank you, dear friend!

I ordered the Lakeside Linens Light Examplar belfast today for Ellen Chester's An Emblem of Love... I can't wait for that to come in, I am so attracted to that one. Actually, I chose the Vintage version of the linen... liked it better with the GAST and OW threads. I thought of buying the silk conversion, but just like the overdyed cottons so much!

Snow in the forecast? Yes, I should be driving to work tomorrow in either light snow or slush or something like that - yuck! I better dig out some shoes I don't care about for tomorrow! I had put all of those away already - I should have known better, I have lived in New England most of my life!

Oh, and of course! It is New DVD Release Tuesday - and, of course, we got the much anticipated The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - I remember reading this series as a child, so I need to block out some quiet time to enjoy this movie now!!

Happy 9th Birthday Beau!! My eldest kitty is (gulp) nine today!

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

Starting MTM Part 7

Tonight I started Part 7 of Medieval Town Mandala. I figured that counting tonight there were still 27 stitching days left in the month. This is a smoother month than last month, as I won't be rushing to get my Neighborhood RR finished and posted off, and I also finished Mystery IX Part 4 quickly... so I can do rotation stitching this month, and finish this too... barring any crises :-) Now we are working down the right side of the design. The central building is the same, but most of the buildings on each side of it are different this month.

I visited a Little House Needleworks trunk show at The World in Stitches. It was great to see a few of the models stitched up - both of the new Dear Diary pieces, Liberty Tree Inn, Kitty Cottage Sampler, Colonial Homes, Lakeside Lodge, The Old Doll and The Bookshelf... I think that was all of them.... and TWIS has a freebie to give out to all who visit the trunk show and purchase an LHN chart... I got the new release, The Counting House - just love the little owl in the tree!! Hmmm... can just see parts of this showing up on someone's RR before too long!!

Oh, speaking of the Neighborhood RR, today I stumbled across exactly what I shall stitch in the rest of Su's block! It will work well, as it is also by Prairie Schooler - I will keep it a bit of a surprise until I start working on this again :-)

Snow in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon/night... welcome to spring in New England!! They say it is only supposed to be snow showers, but you never know... we had hail this afternoon despite fairly warm temps.

And.... Go Red Sox! The season officially started today - and with a dominating win in Texas, 7-3 :-)

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

Su's Neighborhood RR has its official start here...

Here is what I did off and on today... I got a decent start on Su's Neighborhood RR. I am the first to receive it from Su. I am starting with stitching much of the birdhouse from Prairie Schooler's Garden Samplers leaflet, c. 1994. Su specifically asked if someone would stitch this for her, so I am happy to oblige since I do own the chart. She admired it on the original Dijon RR that has inspired this group. It has been a bit of a challenge. The two houses Su stitched to start off her RR are really quite petite. This birdhouse looks like a towering Redwood tree in comparison. So, using my minor in art and my heritage as the daughter of an artist, I put some thought into this and decided to place the birdhouse down in the lower corner of my block. This should result in giving it the appearance of being in the foreground of the block. I then plan to stitch my house, maybe a tree, and surely some flowers/probably at least one animal, a bit higher up in the block so that they do appear to be distant behind the HUGE birdhouse... This birdhouse does still need the centers of the flowers filled in.... and two big birds still to be stitched on it. I really hope that Su will like how this comes out!!

Stitched on today: Su's Neighborhood RR

Always a Mirabilia....

I made a decision today. I have decided that I would like to always have a Mirabilia in my rotation. I just enjoy them so much! I haven't met one yet that I did not enjoy thoroughly. As an added bonus, they are Mike's favorites. He calls them "the works of art." He seems to like them even better than Lavender & Lace, which along with Chatelaine, are my personal favorites too. Another reason this is a good plan is that I own almost all of the Mirabilias (it is easier to list the ones I don't have than the ones I do - I am sure that sounds familiar to a lot of stitchers!!), so the only way I would ever hope to get them done is to keep them in the rotation. I realize they are not every stitcher's cup of tea, but they sure are mine :-)

Goal recap time:

March Goals:
1. Finish Part 6 of Medieval Town Mandala - yes
2. Finish Part 3 of Mystery IX - yes
3. Finish Part 2 of Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler - yes
4. Continue Mermaids of the Deep Blue SAL - yes
5. Continue Garden Spots Sampler SAL - yes
6. Finish my square (Gardener's Cottage) on my Neighborhood RR and post off to Annemarie by 3/15/06 - yes, and it is safe in Holland now
7. Start Sampler Cove's Bordeaux Sampler at work - yes
8. Continue Houses of Hawk Run Hollow SAL - yes

April Goals:
1. Finish Part 7 of Medieval Town Mandala
2. Finish Part 4 of Mystery IX -actually finished on 3/31/06
3. Finish Part 3 of Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler
4. Continue Mermaids of the Deep Blue SAL
5. Continue Garden Spots Sampler SAL with Jo
6. Start Emerald Jeweled Garden in the LTD SAL with Karen V. and Judi
7. Start Su's Neighborhood RR square
8. Continue Bordeaux Mystery Sampler at work
9. Continue Houses of Hawk Run Hollow SAL
****My biggest goal for April, though, is to get myself back into some kind of rotation - I disliked being out of my rotation last month :-(


I was RAK'd again :-) Bine has gifted me with these two beautiful sampler charts by Der Feine Faden! Sommerblau (Summer Blue) and Papierblumen. I love them, thanks so much Bine!!!!


OK, now I am off to start pulling threads for the charts I want to/plan to use for Su's Neighborhood RR.... I sure hope the things I am planning will work out well in my block... we shall all see quite soon!

Oh, I cannot forget again! I was up so late last night finishing M9 that I did forget this! I must say hi to Sue! One of her customers (I believe it was my pal Carol) told her about my blog, so now I know she checks it from time to time. I had a nice visit with her and got some pretties that I will share soon in my next stash update LOL!

Stitched on today: Mermaids of the Deep Blue

Congratulations Kiwi Jo!! :-)

***WE HAVE A WINNER - CONGRATULATIONS KIWI JO, YOU SURE DO KNOW YOUR BLOGGERS!!!***

How well do you know your fellow stitching bloggers? Be the first to answer the following 35 questions correctly, and I will send you this pretty fabric! Kronos is a luscious berry/mulberry fabric with lavender swirled in it. It is dyed by Sugar Maple Fabrics. I had always thought Mirabilia's Fairy Moon would look outstanding on this! Anyhow, email me your answers at carolsutcliffe@comcast.net. ***Contest "Rules": I realize that there may be more than one answer to some questions, and I will check your answers before I assume you are wrong, OK? If a lot of correct ones come in at once, I will draw for the winner... Any stitcher is eligible to take guesses, whether I know you or not! LOL


Which Stitching Blogger...

1) Teaches and/or taught at the Sorbonne? Isabelle

2) Has a family that enjoys geocaching? Von or Chris

3) Got married in October of 2005? Katrina

4) Is pursuing a master’s degree program in computer science? Nicole

5) Turned 30 years old on March 27, 2006? Dani

6) Got a job promotion in the customer service field of the airlines industry in March? Anne

7) Recently got pregnant after years of fertility trials? Karen

8) Stitched DT’s An Open Heart – and made it into a lovely tribute to her mother who passed several months ago? Karen

9) Had her computer stolen earlier this year? Barbara or Christin

10) Recently moved to a new apartment with a lovely seaside view? Vash

11) Owns her own needlework shop (both brick and mortar, and online)? Karen

12) Hangs around with lab rats? Jo **but Jo informs me she actually only hangs around with lab mice, not lab rats :-)

13) Recently attended a U2 concert? Jenn or Dani

14) Has a dog named Lily? Erin

15) Has a son named Adam? Zohrah

16) Has a BF who dresses like a fish? RosieKiwi

17) Stitched Oh, Christmas Tree for her mother, Christmas 2005? Becky

18) Gave us a yummy stew recipe for St. Patrick’s Day? Christine

19) Runs the SBQ for us every week? Renee

20) Is stitching the whole CHS alphabet series as one huge, stunning piece? Patti

21) Just traveled to London for a visit from her own homeland? Linda

22) Has a daughter named Marion? Heather

23) Has a son who is stitching L&L’s Fairy Dreams (and like a pro, I must add!!)? Lelia

24) Is stitching Jan Houtman’s gorgeous Patchwork Sampler? Annemarie

25) Is stitching Mermaids of the Deep Blue on Silkweaver’s Dew Drop (gorgeous!!)? Kathy

26) Stitched Guard This Keep (Dragon Dreams) and recently finished and framed it? Amanda

27) Speaking of Dragon Dreams, which blogger is a model stitcher for DD? Dani

28) Is taking a Jeannette Douglas class in May? Carol

29) Recently started up the very amusing coffee cup challenge amongst many of us bloggers? Kim

30) Lives in Germany AND is stitching Medieval Town Mandala? Bine

31) Knits socks as much as she cross stitches? Rachael

32) Celebrated her 30th birthday on March 28, 2006? Cindy

33) Stitched LHN’s Coffee Menu and Lavender Hill already this year? Bea

34) Has newborn kittens in the house? Rosa

35) Is stitching TW’s Woodland Faerie on fabric she dyed herself? Dawn

Here was a bit of a treat - Martina released the April passwords a day early, and it turns out that Mystery IX was quite small. I managed to start and finish it already tonight. The good news really is that it appears that the next three months will be similar, which is very fortunate since April, May and June of MTM are all huge parts. Looks like I won't necessarily fall behind on either. I had fun stitching turnips and beets tonight - LOL!!

Stitched on today: Mystery IX

HOHRH Update

Here is my latest on the super slow to stitch project that CHS calls Houses of Hawk Run Hollow!! I don't know if it is because I am using 40 ct fabric or if this is just one of those projects that takes a long time to stitch?? Hmmm, either way, I love this one! And I actually worked on it during SAL night tonight - I am proud of that.

Oh, I am so far behind in reading blogs! Note to self: Make time to catch up this weekend!! Geez, what a long work week this has been.

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

Enjoying the Mermaids

I am really enjoying my few days of being able to get really into Mermaids of the Deep Blue! It is a fun and relatively quick stitch.... I will be working on the Houses of Hawk Run Hollow SAL tomorrow night... but then I can devote Friday to the Mermaids again (which should be a longer stitching night) before all the new passwords start up on Saturday :-) ***And those who know me well also may have noticed that this is a good day for me... I got the second face done! I love to get faces done as soon as I can!! LOL

I am sorry to those who are wondering what is up with me... I know I have been a little quiet lately... I am just loving every minute of non-Chatelaine stitching I can get right now (I don't regret my Chatelaine commitments at all, but I love the freedom this week)... so sorry! I will get back to my regular emailing habits quite soon, I am sure! (Plus... my work days sure have been long this week - I thought the nice warm weather would evoke some client cancellations, but not the case at all...)

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

Spring Gardening

With our needles, that is. Tonight was Garden Spot Sampler SAL night with Jo. I worked a lot on the upper right corner, but it may be hard to see the progress as a lot of the lighter colors were used. They are easy to see in real life, but not so easy in photos :-) Moving along OK now...

And, it is New DVD Release Tuesday again - this week, the long-awaited King Kong

Only four more days until the 2006 Baseball Season begins :-)

Stitched on today: Bordeaux Mystery Sampler and Garden Spot Sampler

I feel a bit like a little kid on school vacation

Because I get to stitch whatever I want right now - LOL!!
Here is the requested updated WIP pic of Bordeaux Mystery Sampler. I am stitching this while at work. I am using Silkweaver 40 ct Atlantic Storm linen (limited edition). This sampler is so delicate! The wording is being stitched over one. I did not get to finish this first band of wording today, but not due to its being over one.... just had too busy of a day at work today... I will continue to post progress pics as this sampler grows... I know one or two of you are seriously considering stitching this mystery, so I will continue to keep you posted :-)
I decided to stick with Mermaids of the Deep Blue again tonight. I have fallen woefully behind in this Mirabilia SAL, yet I really love stitching on this one... I am sure they will be back a couple more times this week :-)

I was RAK'd again today!!! Barbara sent me this adorable Mansfield Park Sampler chart by The Sampler Girl! Barbara and I share New England roots and this sampler is so fitting. To be honest, I had been eyeing it and planning to get it. Thanks Barbara!

I have some questions to answer...
Gill - I will definitely be stitching the Fleur de Lis kit of Waiting for Neptune first.... but the jury is still out on the HAED chart... I do want to start Revelations soon and that will take a lifetime, so maybe I will only get around to the Fleur de Lis kit :-) You mentioned wanting to get these kits - try ABC Stitch Therapy in my sidebar... you can either email Marie at the shop or surf around - the kits are on sale right now :-)

Carissa - Yes, I am most definitely stitching the mermaids' arms using quarter stitches (and half and three quarter stitches too). This is pretty typical with Mirabilias... I find sculpting the pattern comes out better than how it is charted... you know what I mean, I am sure!!

Kath - glad you asked how many parts there are to MTM, as it made me smile to realize that I just got to the halfway point :-) There are 12 parts in all, will be ending in September, if I do manage to keep up with this each month...

Yay! Spring-like weather is finally working its way in here to New England - Woo Hoo!!

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

MTM Part 6 is in the books

It's a wrap! I managed to finish Part 6 of Medieval Town Mandala today. Now, I am off to stitch on something different - something of my own choosing - Woo Hoo!
And... I reached into my project bag, and out came the much neglected but highly loved Mermaids of the Deep Blue! I pretty much just got to work on the upper mermaid's arms, but this was still so much fun! Darn! Now it is bedtime, and away they go again :-(

I know a couple of people have asked me to post my update pic of Bordeaux Mystery Sampler. I promise to do that tomorrow night - I want to finish the over one stitching band at work tomorrow first :-)

A pretty good points day for Ryan Newman today, by the way :-) I know many of you are NASCAR fans, and a good many of you know I adore Ryan :-) Anyhow... he finished 9th and made a large jump up to 12th in points... not without bouncing and banging around - but everyone did that today, anyhow!! LOL

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala (yay, Part 6 is finally complete!) and Mermaids of the Deep Blue

Down to a bit of backstitching now

All righty then! (try to channel Jim Carrey to read that right!). I am now down to just a bit of backstitching left on Part 6 of Medieval Town Mandala. Wow, these past two months have been huge portions, and I would suspect the next three will be same! I cannot agree more with Karen and her feelings about this project. I may end up falling behind at some point too. I have been thinking about this quite a bit, as she apparently also has... So far, I am OK, but if I get a huge urge to stitch something else during any month, I don't plan to restrict myself just because there is still more MTM to do.... this is hard for me and my compulsive personality, but keeping up with two large Chatelaines is quite the task. I am not complaining, just being realistic here :-)

Mike and I went to Boston for a while today - Mike really, really has been wanting to go. We ended up at Faneuil Hall and ate lunch at Dick's Last Resort - which reminded me so much of when Karen andher husband, Bren, came to visit us last June... we also went to Faneuil Hall and ate at one of the Dick's Last Resort locations with them too.... we had such a fun day with them!

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala - and I hope to finish Part 6 while I watch NASCAR tomorrow!

An excellent way to spend my day off...

First... tonight's installment of the saga of Medieval Town Mandala :-)

I had the day off today, and Mike suggested that we do something that I felt like doing. Well, being a stitcher, this was not a terribly difficult challenge for me! We drove up to ABC Stitch Therapy in Grantham, New Hampshire - I had never been there before, despite living in NH.... it is about an hour north of my house, in the mountainous ski area of NH near the Vermont border. The ride was really nice, despite the cloudy weather and intermittent light mist of rain. The shop was wonderful! Although they primarily do their business over the internet, they have tons of stock and customers are welcome to come on in! The only drawback was that they have no prices on anything, so I had to keep asking for price checks! But... I was able to get the Anchor kit for Waiting for Neptune for 50% off!!! I never thought I could get that kit for only $26!! It does need a good piece of hand dyed linen for it.... so, this was the right place to be! I don't think I got the linen for the kit, but I did spend a good hour or so fondling and drooling over their huge stock of Silkweaver, Sugar Maple Fabrics and Kiwi Illusions fabrics in stock! What a treat to see all of these goodies in real life!!! I limited myself to only two fat quarters of 32 ct opalescent lugana - and barely even broke the surface of their huge collection in the process! I got Silkweaver's Dew Drop and Sugar Maple Fabrics' Reflected Majesty Opal. I can't wait until I can go back again!! This was the most xs shopping related fun I have had in the longest time!!

It was a busy week for stash overall, so here goes.... today I received this gorgeous fat half of Silkweaver's new release, Startquest Cashel! Gorgeous! I am considering this for Mirabilia's Stargazer (had to buy the fat half, as it was on discount as a special for FOTM members). I also got in the fat eighth of Silkweaver's 36 ct Golden Harvest from ebay (aka KarenV - turned out to be the seller - LOL), plus a fat eighth of 36 ct Heritage I ordered on my own... these will be for some of the new Blackbird Designs.... plus a fat eighth of light grey limited run Lakeside Linens (32 ct) from the recent Odds & Ends page at Silkweaver... and I got in a whole bunch of various threads from ebay, plus the Hand-Dyed Fibers (Vikki Clayton) silk conversion set for Goode Huswife's 1798 Quaker Sampler (I am going to be sooooo busy now!!)

But, the week didn't end quite there.... I got more... I got in Barrick Samplers' Beneath the Waters, Forget Me Knot in Stitches' Strawberry Moon Sampler and Blackbird Designs' Evergreen from ebay.... and my dear pal, Karen, RAK'd me with a fat quarter of SMF's Heavenly Sky belfast too! Oh gosh Karen, you are too generous and kind!

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

I don't have much to say about this tonight... just still working away at it, so don't feel compelled to think of something new to comment about it! LOL!! Many of you have been very creative in finding new things to say about my MTM... you are too sweet! No need, though - I hope to finish this this weekend. I have tomorrow off, and don't know what Mike and I will do with the free time, but hopefully there will be some extra stitching time.

I have been giving a lot of thought to what I want to stitch on Su's Neighborhood RR. I haven't quite selected which house I will stitch, but I have decided on some of the extras that go with it that will flow with what she has stitched already. I hope to get some stitches in on that before the month ends :-) I am really looking forward to it.

Stitched on today: Bordeaux Mystery Sampler at work (I am now in the midst of doing the over one stitching on 40 ct. - not bad at all, as I am quite surprised how well I can see this fabric in the light in both of my offices - surely no Ott-Lite there!!) and Medieval Town Mandala

It's back!

Medieval Town Mandala, that is... Not a whole lot to say, just still plugging away at it! How did Judi stitch this part so quickly?? Amazes me!!


Q. Have you ever participated in a needlework mystery (i.e., a design that you started before knowing how it will look in the end and by which you receive parts of the design via the internet, magazines, or leaflets at spaced intervals)? If so, why did you decide to do the mystery? What appealed to you about it? Did you enjoy it? If you have not done a mystery, would you ever do one?

A. I submitted this question to Renee a few days ago after I found myself wondering how I ended up getting so involved in stitching mysteries lately. My answer is, yes, I do participate - a lot (at least lately). I think my first involvement of some sort in a needlework mystery was several years ago when Curtis Boehringer put out the "Needlewoman Murder Mystery" leaflets. This actually had a mystery for us to read! I collected all 12 charts (I think it was 12) and read the mystery, but I have to admit, I have yet to stitch it!! Then in 2004 I started the freebie "Le Jardin A Decouvrir" on the internet. I was really enjoying it, but got sidetracked. I didn't seem to save all the chart parts to my hard drive, and I think I just printed them out... Now I don't know where they all are... or even where the WIP/UFO itself is!! Yikes!!! But also in 2004 I started my first Chatelaine mystery, Mystery VI. After seeing Convent's Herbal Garden, formerly Mystery II, stitched up on the internet, I knew I would love this one. And, I did. At that point, I was hooked! Now I am stitching Mystery IX. And... I am also stitching the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler in The Gift of Stitching, Bordeaux Mystery Sampler by Sampler Cove, and am downloading the charts for the freebie Quaker Mystery Sampler on the internet too. Oh, and I also am in the American Quaker Sampler SAL by Stickideen van der Wiehenburg (spelling??) but have yet to start the stitching.... I guess I like the suspense?? LOL

Stitched on today: Bordeaux Mystery Sampler at work, and Medieval Town Mandala

PS - No Karen, it is not that warm here yet! The quilts were in the laundry last night LOL!!

Typical Tuesday Night of Stitching

Very, very typical Tuesday night - I put in three hours on the Garden Spot Sampler SAL, and as is typical, stitched two motifs... This is starting to feel like it is going slowly, but I figure we are actually making good progress overall...
As you can tell.... the sofa was a bit crowded tonight!! The cats displaced me to the recliner to stitch (well, OK, that is usually where I go to stitch... my Ott-Lite is there LOL!!) and Mike to his computer desk for much of the evening! I guess we know who really runs this house!

And, of course, it is yet again New DVD Release Tuesday - fun ones today that I have been waiting for: Derailed and Chicken Little.

Sad to see Adam Vinatieri also leave the Patriots today... but truth be told, I am getting jaded and all too used to seeing Boston sports stars leave the city.... sigh...

I am also a little disappointed with ebay... I put up several really nice hand dyed fabrics that I still love and paid a lot of money for, but hey, I have many, so I put them up for auction... and got really lousy bids on them. What's up with that? Some folks just got some really amazing deals on great stuff, and I lost big $$$$. I have to really rethink selling my good stuff on ebay now.

OK...now I am not known to be negative, so I will end with fantastic news! My Neighborhood RR arrived safely at Annemarie's house in Holland today! Excellent! What a relief!

Stitched on today: Bordeaux Mystery Sampler at work, and Garden Spot Sampler

S-P-R-I-N-G!!!!!

I kept plugging along on Medieval Town Mandala tonight. Why, when there are still 11 days left in the month? Certainly not to rush other MTM stitchers along (sorry to those who feel that way!!), but rather because, like I wrote a few days ago, I really want to slip in a few days on projects I miss like... Mermaids of the Deep Blue, Mermaid Heaven, Little Wings, Girl with Cat, and the like... before the month ends and new passwords come out... So, it doesn't look like a whole lot of work tonight, but it was. I did a lot of backstitching.

Someone asked today if each side of MTM is the same (the buildings, that is). No, they aren't :-) Martina says they are similar but there are differences to make the entire mandala look like different parts of the town.... and I figure I will be stitching more and more buildings in April, May and June too :-)

OK, we have survived another winter here - it is spring, finally, today!!! It is going to feel like winter (very much like winter) here this week, though. But, it is spring!!!! Yay!!!!

Stitched on today: Bordeaux Mystery Sampler at work (have I told you yet how fun this one is?? And... Hand-Dyed Fibers has announced that they will now release parts twice a month instead of only once... so, best keep cracking LOL!!) and Medieval Town Mandala

My little Bavarian Town

It took me a really long time today to feel like I wanted to stitch, but finally, late this evening I did pick up MTM again and I was able to stitch most of the two twin brown buildings today. They just still need their "stained glass windows" added. I don't think I have yet shared why I am so enamored by Medieval Town Mandala. I am of primarily German descent. I adore the Bavarian look of this town, and once I saw it I knew I had to stitch this one. This will be a special touch to the decor of my home when it is done, a real tribute to my heritage. For those who did not know me back in July, I asked my husband to buy this kit and enroll me in the online group for my birthday. He was very willing :-)
Blogger is moody again tonight with putting up photos, so back to Photobucket again tonight.... I figured it was time to do my latest stash update. Here are my latest charts - Birdsong I by Prairie Schooler, Floralie by Papillon Creations, The Beatitudes by My Big Toe, When This You See by Blackbird Designs, and Mary Heaton by Little House Needleworks...
My latest fabrics are a fat quarter of Rue Green 36 ct Edinburgh, a fat quarter of Silkweaver Desert Sky 32 ct Belfast, an 18" x 18" cut of Cream 40 ct Newcastle (for Floralie), a nice cut of Lakeside Linens 36 ct Pearled Barley, a stunning deep blue and deep lavender 36 ct Edinburgh 16" x 16" solo from Silkweaver, and a beautiful fat eighth from Sugar Maple Fabrics - from a "get what you get" ebay auction directly from SMF - Mindy sent me Shimmering Morning Meadows opalescent belfast - soooo nice! I might use this for Mirabilia's Easter Fairy :-) (Then I went ahead and ordered two more... hope I am not pressing my luck here - LOL).
I got in some pretty new fibers too... mostly for the new Blackbird Designs, as well as the silk pack from Vikki Clayton for the American Quaker Mystery SAL...
Some new magazines came in over the past few days too... I recently subscribed to Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly. This is not their most recent issue, but is apparently the one with which they decided to start my subscription. I guess the recent one will come soon now too. And, I just received the next issue of what is now the reborn Cross Stitch & Needlework... yes, it is getting better! Yay!!!
And.... I can't believe it has taken me this long to post this! I was RAK'd about a week ago by a lovely stitcher named Laurie in Iowa. Laurie apparently is one of my blog readers, but I don't think she has a blog of her own. Laurie saw that I had BOAF's All Hallow's Night on my Wish List... she had it and did not want it, so she sent it off to me!! Wasn't that so kind?? Thank you Laurie!!!! Laurie sent me the names of two charts she desires that are tricky to find.... but I am on it! I hope to find at least one of them for her :-)
And... here is how well Ryan Newman did in the race in Atlanta today... LOL. The race was postponed until tomorrow morning (God Bless my DVR, I can still watch it since it is going to take place during the work day!). Anyhow... there is Ryan's car (#12) sitting on pit road in the rain in his 2nd place starting position. Good luck tomorrow!!! (photo is from nascar.com). Speaking of Ryan, I really want to thank my friend Carol S. in Nashua, NH - Carol sweetly sent me a wonderful email article this week about Ryan putting out a fire in a restaurant a week or so ago. Great article. Carol, I had not heard about that! I wanted to thank you via email, but that article hung up my email program and when I had to delete it I mistakenly lost your email address!!
And finally, I wanted to share a photo I took of my little twins yesterday, doing what they do best - sleeping with each other on Mike's end of the sofa :-) (They are Lily and Anouk - I call them my twins because they are littermates).

And now Spring is only a few short hours away... yay! But it won't feel like spring tomorrow - it will only be about 36F, and little warming for the upcoming week as my area here in New England remains trapped under very cold Canadian air... yucky!!!! Oh well, at least the cold blast is keeping a major snow storm from reaching us! Whew!

I got a few emails from stitchers commenting that my daily emails were not arriving to those who subscribe to my blog... so I looked into that - it happens once in a while - it just needed a quick click of a button in the inner mechanics of Bloglet, and I am back up and running again. You should get this entry in your mailbox tomorrow - please don't hesitate to let me know if that happens again - fixing it is very easy, but I don't always know when it happens :-)

Stitched on today:Medieval Town Mandala

More MTM

I was pretty busy today with working on Medieval Town Mandala... but Blogger pics doesn't really care to work well tonight... here is a rather tiny view of what I did :-) It moved along pretty well today :-) Will be carrying on with it again tomorrow...

Von asked if I ever use a magnifier when I stitch over one. No, I have not needed to yet... but I am sure that someday I will.... LOL

Stitched on today: Medieval Town Mandala

The first RR has arrived :-) & Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am back at it again with Medieval Town Mandala. It seemed to take forever tonight to finish the large central building, what with all of its little details, but I did get it done! I am hoping the rest of it will now move along smoother. One thing that did not help tonight is that Martina's diagrams for the Jessica stitches on the large building were hard to read. Even blowing up the image on the pdf file to an enormous size did not help. Rather, it just became further distorted. But, I was able to figure it out after some rotating of the chart and figuring out the rhythm of the stitch... no biggie.

And, the big news of the day today is that Su's RR arrived safely from the UK today. It is the first for me to receive in the rotation. Her stitching is just lovely! I am already thinking of what house and details I will be stitching for her. I have not yet heard that mine has arrived at Annemarie's house in Holland yet - but it did go by Global Priority Mail back on Tuesday... so... really it should be there any second. I am dying to hear that it is safe on the other side of the ocean...
My silks arrived today for American Quaker Sampler SAL, and here are three floss tosses... I am strongly leaning towards one of them, but would love your input - This first one is Silkweaver Sandcastle 40 ct Newcastle linen (so much darker than the Sandcastle on Belfast that I am using for the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler).

Here is Lakeside Linen's Meadow Rue 40 ct linen. This is gorgeous fabric, but I fear that the Cardamom silk, third from the right (I think) just fades in too easily on this fabric.... reminds me too much of how easily this same color is fading in on my Garden Spot Sampler....

And, for my third try... here is the silk on a Silkweaver Solo, 40 ct Newcastle linen. This solo turned out to be a bit rosier than I had thought it was, and I am not sure I care for how the Rust silk (near the center) looks on this fabric... But anyhow... I can be swayed, if you want, please let me know which one you like?? (***I have decided to go with the Sandcastle... the responses I got from you all were interesting! I do think all three fabrics would work well. Thanks for your input and advice!!)

I hope that everyone brought out their inner Irish today and had a great St. Patrick's Day! Mike and I celebrated in odd fashion with enchiladas at Shorty's... Oh well, had the craving :-)

Oh.... and another highlight today - I went to Colonial Needleworks this afternoon, as I needed three skeins of Crescent Colours floss... while there I also picked up another of the Blackbird Designs houses that I adore, one of Prairie Schooler's new treats and some Weeks Dye Works and GAST for the Blackbird Designs house... I guess it is time to put up a new stash report this weekend. And, Sue, the owner, is much better this week - she has a bit of her voice back now :-)

Stitched on today: Bordeaux Mystery Sampler at work, and Medieval Town Mandala

Finished Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler Parts 1 and 2

I had some free time today, so I worked on Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler at work. I finished both parts 1 and 2 today, so now I just have to wait until next month for part 3. I hadn't planned to stitch any of the partial motifs until I had the installments that completed them. However, with the free time today and no other projects in my briefcase, I stitched them anyhow. I love this little sampler. The colors are amazing - Vikki Clayton did a great job with these!
I know I had planned to stitch on Medieval Town Mandala tonight, but I needed something else to bring to work now. So, I decided to start the Bordeaux Mystery Sampler tonight so that it would be available to bring in my briefcase. I didn't want to have to do the math and centering, etc at my office. I had originally planned to use the 36 ct Summer Khaki, but after a few stitches I used my Cross Stitch Guage and saw that the fabric is actually 32 ct. I can't use it. This sampler is 394 stitches long, and using 32 ct that comes to about 24" long... and would not fit on the fat quarter. I then remembered that I had a super pretty fat quarter of Atlantic Storm 40 ct Newcastle by Sikweaver. It looks like a storm brewing, but has a greenish tint to it - just perfect for these three silk floss colors (there are only these three colors in the sampler). Plus, it reminds me of a marble topped cheese board, that would surely go perfectly with red wine :-) So... here is my start! I love it! But... it will be interesting when I stitch the verse over one on 40 ct - LOL!!! I am up for it, though!! (Tomorrow I will go back to Medieval Town Mandala and stitch away on that all weekend!)

Q. Do you stitch “over one?” If so, describe your experiences. If not, have you considered it?

A. Yes, I most certainly do! I love it!! As you can see by my project above, I will soon be on an interesting adventure of stitching over one on 40 ct!! I do have some very signficant visual problems, but they are well corrected with my contact lenes, annual visits to the eye doctor and, of course, my Ott-Lite!

Stitched on today: Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler and Bordeaux Mystery Sampler