An Emblem of Love Monday... and reaching Singapore!

Here is this week's update on An Emblem of Love... I made my way to the right side edge of the sampler now (although it was a tight fit on the scanner tonight). Too tired to finish that half medallion tonight. Severe insomnia last night leaves me pretty exhausted tonight. I know I will sleep just fine when I go to bed in just a moment :-)

Meanwhile, I just got an email from Zohrah letting me know that her belated birthday gift has safely arrived in Singapore. I had to stitch this little fob for her, as Zohrah and her little boy Adam are in the process of buying their first house right now (well, pretty much Zohrah is buying the house, but I am sure it will be Adam's too!)...Zohrah says the fob smells beautiful like clean linen - how nice to hear, considering I am married to a smoker! LOL

Spring's Notice Fob
Blackbird Designs, freebie available here
32 ct Cream lugana, GAST, WDW and DMC floss, Mill Hill beads
Stitched 11/16/06 - 11/18/06

(***Anne, the fob is modeled on my new Jamie Ginghers... that guilty indulgence of mine... which, so very sadly, is now compounded by a) I bought some Alyssa Ginghers a few days ago, and b) now today I bought some Julia Ginghers thanks to sale at Joann's online store.... add to this the pair of Lanell Ginghers I got from Cathy recently... somebody has got to stop me! I don't need this fetish!).

Stitched on today: An Emblem of Love, and worked a little bit on the gift I have been stitching on for a bit now...

About online mystery samplers...

While I did again spend a bit of my stitching time today working on a gift, I then made time this evening to work on Part 11 of Mystery IX... I made good progress and now have very little left to do - one more small area of the green "meadow" border and the queen and eyelet stitches to make the flowers. I finally figured out (with Mike's help) how to up the resolution in my camera, so I am hoping the photo is better tonight?

A few people have asked me via email and via comments if I really like how the mystery is turning out. My answer is, yes. I like Martina's style very much. While a mystery may take a funky turn here and there on any given month, it somehow comes together in the end. I know these questions are primarily being asked by stitchers who are contemplating starting a mystery - many are interested in the upcoming Mystery X. I say, if you can afford the kit and online subscription with Martina, to go for it! As an example, here is the mystery I stitched in 2004:
This is the former Mystery VI, now sold as Indian Summer Reflections. (I apologize this photo is crap - you can see it better on Martina's chartpacks - LOL - I should take a better photo of it someday when I think of it). I did this one online on a monthly basis as well, and did keep up with it. It had many strange twists and turns, but I just love how it came out. All Martina told us was that it would be an autumnal themed garden following her mandala themed format. Other than that, we could peek at the supplies on her boards and Yahoo groups. The rest was a surprise. I like surprises, I have no complaints. The same goes with Mystery IX - what we knew ahead of time was that this would be a French garden. It turned out to actually be the King's Vegetable Garden, or Le Potager du Roi. I am looking forward to seeing what Martina will offer us to stitch in the center of Mystery IX - I love the wreath of leaves with the personalization that she gave us for Mystery VI, and I hope it will be similar, but following this theme rather than an autumn theme. So, long story short - I say, yes, try an online mystery! You don't have to keep up with it month to month. Many stitchers don't. You can do it at your own pace. It is just my OCD that keeps me driven (and many stitchers as well) to keep up with the monthly bits. (However, I am done with these monthly commitments - I am considering signing up for Mystery X, but taking it at my own leisure this time... won't even be buying the kit right away, no stress with that one, I have way too many other things I want to stitch - Now, I know many of my friends are proud to hear me say that!).

And, this is just my desire to share some excitement here! I have seen many do this already, and this weekend it was my turn - I got an outstanding deal on a brand new pair of Gingher Alyssa Designer Scissors on ebay! Yay! I have been coveting these for a while. Now, to go camp out by the mailbox to wait for them. I think I want to stitch Brightneedle's Something Blue fob for them (whenever I get the free time to do so!).

Stitched on today: Stitched on a gift, and Mystery IX

More Progress on Part 11

I made more progress on Part 11 of Mystery IX late tonight, after I spent the bulk of today's stitching time making another gift (from start to finish, want it to get there on time!). I really like stitching the leaves on the trees, so I look forward to finishing those up really soon. And after that, I will only have to do another outside border of flowers with the green border. Should be no problem :-)

Kathy from Canada, thanks for visiting my blog :-) Paradigm Lost is by Long Dog Samplers. You asked where to get a copy, and you can get it at many places, but it is currently on sale here (click). Enjoy!

Is anyone else who reads my blog a member of Sugar Maple Fabrics' Treat of the Month (TOTM)? If so, have you received your fabric yet? It is November 25th, and still no sight of mine... I know sometimes Mindy's fabrics are late, but figured I would ask if anyone got theirs yet... thanks :-)

Stitched on today: Started and finished a gift, worked on another gift, and Mystery IX

Finally working the last corner now

I guess I was looking for every excuse in the book today to avoid working on Mystery IX yet again. So, I started and finished an entire gift today.... then got around to working on Part 11. I am glad I did, as I finished the third corner and have now made a dent in the final corner - with a week left to the month.

I heard from Bea today, alerting me that my gift to her also has made its trans-Atlantic voyage successfuly, and I grabbed her photo of it from her blog (the photo I took before posting it off was very overexposed and I was hoping I would not have to use it - thanks Bea, for a better photo!). I kept the construction simple on this one as it is a Prairie Schooler Design... there is a small primitive silver charm with a heart on it attached at the back of the fob's ribbon - you can sort of see it leaning against the scissor package. I wanted to give it a little something. I am really glad she has this now, as I totally missed her birthday back in September.

"B" from Christmas Alphabet
Prairie Schooler
32 ct Sage Jobelan, DMC floss
Stitched 11/14/06 - 11/15/06

I hit WalMart today - had to, needed shampoo and a condolence card for my FIL who lost his dog recently - and they had a big DVD sale - picked up The Omen for half price.

Stitched on today: Started and finished a gift, and Mystery IX

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends :-) I couldn't think of a better project to work on today than Women of the Mayflower. And, now I am coming down the homestretch with it. I realized I had a skein of Olde Willow Floss in Gratitude Olde Rose in An Emblem of Love's kit. It is a mucher darker skein than the one I had been using for Women of the Mayflower. I used it to stitch "Women of the Mayflower" and it looks great - I did not need to go with a different color after all. Granted, this sampler is truly impossible to photograph well. The colors are so delicate and do not show well in photos, but they are stunning in person. I will definitely try to get a natural daylight photo of this sampler when I finish it (weather permitting - it is late autumn and relatively gloomy most often now) - hopefully a photo in daylight will show it more realistically.

I also worked on the current gift today - for quite a while, I just hate putting that one down!

Mike and I had a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year - I got to stitch and watch football. How rare! It was his mother's year to host, but for some reason Mike declined that invitation and wanted a year without having to travel. Fine with me :-) He made his first turkey, and it came out just perfect!

Stitched on today: Sitched on a gift, and Women of the Mayflower

Thank you US Post!

I am so distracted today - I started another gift earlier today (wow, there really are a lot of stitching blogger birthdays in November and December!), and I am really enjoying working on the gift. But I put it aside to devote my attention to Mystery IX again. Well, I got more done on the corner, but I need to get a bit more dedicated to it within the next week... December is creeping up. (Blogger is acting up, so I used Photobucket to post the photos today)

I heard from Karen today that she received a little gift I had made for her - a RAK this time around, as she is very, very good to me! The US Post got this to her in only 9 days! I got her all interested in the Boston Red Sox in 2004.... she loves sports as I do! Sadly, her favorite player, Keith Foulke, is not likely to be returning to the Red Sox in 2007... The photo is poor, but if you click to her blog, you get to see a much better photo! There is a tiny silver heart charm on the back of the fob - along with our initials - because I wanted to girlie it up a little bit - I think you can see a hint of that charm in her photo -

Boston Red Sox Fob
Nomis
Opalescent White Cashel linen, DMC floss, Mill Hill Beads
Stitched 11/11/06 - 11/12/06

OK... off to put a few more stitches in on that gift!!

Stitched on today: Started a gift, and Mystery IX

Almost Thanksgiving

It's almost Thanksgiving now! Half a day of work tomorrow, and then off for four days! Nice :-) Good chance, perhaps, to make more progress on Mystery IX.... In the meantime, tonight's update of Paradigm Lost. I finished the big motif with the strange birds tonight, and as I cleared that one I realized I am heading straight on to another huge, monster sized motif! Not as frilly as the last one, though. It takes up almost a whole page of the chart, though. I get to stitch a little elephant first - neat!

Michelle, Jenna and I have decided to start an SAL of Barnabee's Quest starting on February 1, 2007. I am really looking forward to that! I stitched Lady Scarlet's Journey a couple of years ago, and it was recently framed by Bren, Karen's husband, for me. I just love it. It hangs in my bathroom (Mike and I have seperate bathrooms), and I look at it everytime I brush my teeth! (**Mike actually has Just Nan's Catnip Tea in his bathroom!).

My Yahoo albums are different now - Yahoo Photos changed its format. So, I will need to fix my links. I think all the links take you to the main page, and that is easy enough to navigate, for now...

New DVD Release Tuesday - You, Me and Dupree - very funny one, we watched it already tonight :-)

Stitched on today: Women of the Mayflower and Paradigm Lost

Weekly EoL Update

It was time again tonight to work on this delicate little sampler. I have almost made my way over to the right edge now - the scan makes it appear as if I have, but I haven't. There are some more partial medallions still to stitch along the side. Getting very close now :-)

I spent some time at the craft store today, after I went to pick up my new glasses (the prescription ones - not the "readers" yet, still resisting that for a few days!!) and I bought the supplies I believe I need to try out another finishing technique... gotta have at least two tricks up my sleeve!

Stitched on today: Finished a gift, and An Emblem of Love

Very, very little

That's what I have to show tonight - very, very little. I spent a good portion of the day starting another gift and got all of the cross stitching completed on it. I hope to get to the finishing in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I really didn't get an awful lot done on Bordeaux Sampler tonight. I did manage to get another cluster of grapes done, which is in and of itself something to consider to be an achievement! Better luck next week!

Stitched on today: Started a gift, and Bordeaux Sampler

I have to wear "readers" now :-(

This is the only bit of my stitching today that I can post - I put some time in this evening working on Mystery IX again - I got the leaves onto the trees in the bottom left corner, and added some swirls by the pool. The rest of my stitching time today, which was limited anyhow, was dedicated to finishing the gift I had going - and finishing it took longer than anticipated - but I just love how it came out.

I had an eye exam today - the general every 1.5 to 2 years deal - and while the doctor increased my prescription a bit in both eyes for my contact lenses (sigh), she noted that my up close vision is still very good. However.... while I can easily stitch away on 40 ct linen for hours without a glitch, it is now difficult for me to look up from my stitching and focus on a clock, or the TV.... so... now I have to go out and buy a pair of +1 "readers" to wear while I stitch - LOL! I have to laugh, or else I will cry :-) She warned me that eventually my needlework is going to catch up with me - well, I could just tell she is not a stitcher! LOL. Oh well, at 43 I would say my vision is still excellent for up close work.

I received such a lovely RAK from my pal Karen today! She sent me Drawn Thread's Boo Scissors Keeper & Scissors Purse chart pack! She knew I wanted to stitch this set, and suddenly it appeared today! Thank you so much Karen! I can't wait until my gift stitching and my PIF stitching is done, so that I can get right to work on this! Karen is the sweetest - she spoils me rotten!!! I am trying to get her to post a WIP of her South Seas Mermaid in her blog for us (hint, hint)....

Stitched on today: Finished a gift, and Mystery IX

The Mermaid and the Sea

I spent a while today working on the gift I started last night - it is belated and has a long way to travel, so I want to get it done. That included trips to a couple of crafts stores on my way home from work this afternoon to get just the right finishing materials. I will get it done this weekend, as I made a lot of progress. When I put that aside tonight to start my regular stitching, I easily talked myself out of Mystery IX. I wasn't in the mood to spend all the necessary time to remount it on the big Q-Snaps. So, I dug out The Mermaid and the Sea, which hasn't had any attention in about a month now. I just love stitching this one. I started on the border in the corner tonight, and realized it is not a tedious border at all.. which is good, because there is a lot of border that will need to eventually be stitched on this one.

I forgot yesterday to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who commented and emailed me about the By the Bay Needlearts freebie that I was looking for it. I have it now! Boy, did I get a lot of help from you ladies - thank you!!! If I can ever help you, please let me know!! Thank you also for the lovely comments on the Peppermint Rose fob :-) The chart was a GWP (gift with purchase) from CATS - directly from Nan who was a guest in Silver Needle's booth. It's not a freebie chart, but maybe it can still be obtained through Silver Needle? I got a few emails already asking about it.

Ever wonder who reads your blog? I sure do! It seems that new people keep popping up daily now.

Oh, I still have the following fabrics available for sale - $1.50 each for shipping in the US :-) Thanks!

Zweigart 32 ct Dark Teal Belfast, 14" x 19", $7.50
Zweigart 32 ct Mulberry Belfast (discontinued), 13.5" x 18", $7.50
Zweigart 32 ct Willow Green Belfast, 18" x 27", $12
Wichelt 18 ct Twilight Blue linen, 14" x 18" (great for Shepherd's Bush), $8.00 -sold
Zweigart 28 ct Steel Grey Cashel linen, 18" x 27", $12
Zweigart 25 ct Bone Lugana (great for HAED), 18" x 27.5", $12 -sold

Stitched on today: Stitched on a gift, and The Mermaid and the Sea

A Mystery IX Update

Back to Mystery IX, but I quit early tonight. Tired. But, working my way well around the third corner now... nice to have a month when this project does not cause a lot of stress just to get it done before the month ends. Still have a ton of unused fibers, though, and will they actually all get used up in Part 12?

I got an email from Dianne tonight letting me know that her birthday gift arrived safely...Dianne loves gardening as I do, so the choice was easy for her... here it is (surprise, surprise - a fob - LOL):

Peppermint Rose
Just Nan (GWP Chart at CATS)
Zweigart Putty Cashel Linen
DMC floss, Kreinik #4 braid, Mill Hill Beads
Stitched 11/9/06 - 11/10/06

Q. Do you stitch Christmas ornaments? If so, how many do you stitch each
year and for whom? If not, why not?

A. The answer for me is easy - not yet. I am just now trying to learn finishing techniques, and I am hoping that next year my friends certainly will be receiving Christmas ornaments from me!

Stitched on today: Women of the Mayflower, started another gift, and Mystery IX

Women of the Mayflower... Fabrics for Sale

I haven't had much chance to work on Women of the Mayflower, or any other stitching, at work lately - so I brought it home tonight and worked on it a bit... not too much further to go now :-)

Thank you so much to everyone who is leaving me such nice comments and emails about the little fobs I have been busily stitching. I feel so much like a one-trick pony right now - getting good at fobs, but nothing else - LOL! I promise you, I am working hard at learning some new tricks so it won't be quite so boring for you all!

Does anyone know how to access By the Bay Needlearts' freebie called Bay View Estate? I would love to get this, but cannot locate it anywhere... any help would be great, and am willing to trade for any freebie I have that you want, my stash is huge! Thanks!!

More fabrics for sale... everytime I visit my stash, I see more purging I can do! $1.50 shipping in US per piece (found out real cost of postage last time around) - if not in US, let me know and I will give you a good deal! PayPal highly preferred.

Zweigart 32 ct Dark Teal Belfast, 14" x 19", $7.50
Zweigart 32 ct Mulberry Belfast (discontinued), 13.5" x 18", $7.50
Zweigart 32 ct Willow Green Belfast, 18" x 27", $12
Wichelt 18 ct Twilight Blue linen, 14" x 18" (great for Shepherd's Bush), $8.00
Zweigart 28 ct Steel Grey Cashel linen, 18" x 27", $12
Zweigart 25 ct Bone Lugana (great for HAED), 18" x 27.5", $12

Stitched on today: Finished a gift, and Women of the Mayflower

Paradigm Lost & The World in Stitches

It's update day for Paradigm Lost - I mastered the huge motif in the upper right, stitched the crab and started another motif on the left by the acorns. Moving along pretty well. I have heard from one or two stitchers ( a while back) that this chart has several errors in it. I don't think I have come across any yet. It seems to be well charted. Jo, have you noticed any?

I got an email from Amanda tonight letting me know that her birthday gift from me finally arrived. Mike posted it to her on Thursday, and it only had to go to Maine. The postal holiday on Saturday slowed it down a bit, but I think it did get there before her birthday, which I think is actually tomorrow... I knew Amanda liked fantasy designs, and I had a lot of fun coordinating this one for her. Here it is:

The Runekeeper
Dragon Dreams
Starry Night 28 ct Jubilee from The Dye Shop, DMC floss, Kreinik #4 braids, and Miyuki Seed Beads
Stitched 11/3/06 - 11/8/06
I visited The World in Stitches today for the first time in many months. Every time I go there they have a stunning trunk show by a popular designer. Last time I went, they had Little House Needleworks. The time before that, they had Patricia-Ann Designs. Today, they had Rosewood Manor. Oh ladies, the model for And A Forest Grew is simply amazing! If you are near TWIS, you might want to stop in and see it (Littleton, Massachusetts). While I was there, I picked up Needleprint's Sarah Moon's Quaker Sampler. Randi had three of the Ackworth Samplers charts there today - it was impossible to make a decision!! But, I did finally choose this one. Now I have yet another huge sampler to put in my pile to do!! I think I really want the companion to the Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler too.... next time... :-)

My Silkweaver FOTM came in yesterday - I am thrilled to bits that they sent Intrigue this month! I have been hoping for that one for quite some time now, and seeing it in reality was no disappointment! After two months of linens that did not appeal to my tastes very much (Autumn Sunrise and, I think, Sundown) this was a real treat. Thanks Silkweaver!!

New DVD Release Tuesday, and it was a big one - The Da Vinci Code - we already thoroughly enjoyed watching this one tonight!

Stitched on today: Started a gift, and Paradigm Lost

An Emblem of Love & Pay It Forward

As with all Mondays of late, it was An Emblem of Love night. I finished the entire left side of the sampler, and have a bit of the right side still left to do now... my scan is a little crooked, though.

I joined another Pay It Forward through Su's blog - so, here it how it works:

The first five people to respond to this post (via the comments section) will get some form of "art" made by me. It will be a hand crafted item made from sewing, crocheting, drawing, or of course stitching. I will try to make the item something special just for you. After you comment, please email me your snail mail address (carolsutcliffe at comcast dot net). I'm going with a personal deadline of 365 days. So, it will be a bit of a random surprise in the mail for you, but something you can look forward to. There is a catch, of course, the way this works is that if you sign up, you have to blog this as well and continue sharing.

Back to work tomorrow - I'm ready - it was a lazy long break with the rain keeping me from getting any yard work done...

Stitched on today: An Emblem of Love

Keeping Up with Bordeaux Sampler

I did manage to do those specialty stitches on Part 11 of Mystery IX today. I enjoy doing queen stitches, but last night it was after 1 AM when I put this down, and I couldn't have stitched another x let alone a queen stitch at that point. I thought I might stick with it and even started another tree on the third corner...(which points me past the halfway point now)... but then I realized I had not picked up Bordeaux Sampler yet this week...
So I did! I am determined to get back into the swing with this SAL that I am doing with Anne (and when I added the link, I just saw that she worked on this sampler today - very cool!). I love this delicate sampler, despite the over one grapes on 40 ct - those take quite a while to stitch (an entire episode of Without A Trace and an episode of Seinfeld to do the two clusters I did tonight!!).

Q. How many different brands of "complete" embroidery floss sets do you
own? How do you keep track of it? (i.e., spread sheet program, index
cards, palm pilot, etc.)

A. I don't think I own any complete sets of any flosses, including DMC. I buy tons of DMC, but I also use tons of DMC. I doubt my huge piles of it add up to a complete set - LOL! I might have a complete set of GAST, not sure... they release new colors often enough that I don't know if I am caught up... Oh, I do have a full boxed set of Silk Mori Milkpaints - not sure if that is the complete set or not?? My husband made me a very useable database using MS Access - very lovely job he did with it. I plan to use it as soon as I find time to enter my stash into it (that could take years!).

Stitched on today: Finished another gift, Mystery IX, and Bordeaux Sampler

Too tired to stitch those queen stitches

I almost made it to the half way point of Part 11 tonight, but I was just too tired to stitch those queen stitches on the flowers (or the algerian eyelets either). Maybe tomorrow... just maybe :-) I sincerely appreciate all the motivation from you all. Thanks :-)

Meanwhile, still stitching gifts, so can't show much of what I have also been up to...

And, of course, Happy Veteran's Day to all of the men and women who work so hard to keep our country safe!

Stitched on today: Started another gift, and Mystery IX

More Gardening

I spent most of my stitching time today finishing a gift (I am caught up with current birthdays now, but have some belated ones to address still). But after that, I put in some time on Mystery IX. I was able to put leaves on the trees in the bottom right corner tonight. Then I got tired. I am fighting off a cold or sinus infection, not sure which yet. Time to just relax and watch a movie or something.

Thanks to all who left sweet comments and emails about A Christmas Spirit. I really did enjoy working on her last night. If Mystery IX's final part is not too huge next month, I should be able to get her back into my rotation - wow, a rotation! I will finally be back to a rotation after Mystery IX concludes. I am really looking forward to that. I was also happy to learn that several of you have A Christmas Spirit in your stash - I hope to see you all starting her soon :-)

Stitched on today: Finished a gift, and Mystery IX

The Return of A Christmas Spirit

I wasn't really in the mood to stitch on Mystery IX tonight... or HOHRH... so, I dug into my WIP tote and found A Christmas Spirit. I had so much fun working on this one tonight. According to my photo files, I have not worked on her since 12/29/05! Tonight I worked on her fur collar of her jacket with Wisper. It worked out well, although threading Wisper onto a needle is not a whole of fun, now is it? LOL! Passione Ricamo designs make me feel a bit sentimental. I had a friend who loves these designs, and this stirred up memories tonight. I sure would like to find even more time to work on this and get it done sooner than later now...

This is the official start of a 4 day weekend for me now - I hope to get a lot done around the house and yard, as well as stitching.

Stitched on today: Women of the Mayflower, started yet another gift, and A Christmas Spirit

Started another corner

I spent a while tonight doing the finishing work on yet another gift (it is a really busy birthday time for stitchers right now!!), so I cannot show yet much of what I did today. But after I finished that and packaged it up for mailing, I did get back to Mystery IX for a bit. I didn't do a whole lot, because I also spent a bit of time on MSN Messenger with Karen tonight - a rare treat for us both to be on MSN Messenger at the same time.
I still have two fabrics available for sale, so I figured I would show a photo of them... I imagine not everyone is familiar with them, and they are hand-dyed. Let me know if you want either or both of them - shipping is $1 each in the US, otherwise contact me. You can either email me or leave a comment here.

Stitches & Spice Ghost Gum 32 ct Belfast, 18" x 27", $15 (on the left) - sold
Wichelt African Daisy 28 ct Jobelan, 18" x 27", $12 (on the right)- sold

Stitched on today: Finished another gift, and Mystery IX