Just one band left

Wow, this sampler works up quickly - LOL! I only have one band left and it is finished. I hope Katrina won't mind, but I plan to stitch that band tomorrow. I think I will need the extra day next Thursday to work on M9 Part 10 - the sands are running low in the hour glass this month on that project. The scan I took tonight came out great - until Blogger got ahold of it! Now it is shrunken down and hard really to see all the pretty specialty stitches.

If you are looking for a good deal on some standard fabrics, please go to my entry below this from earlier today - let me know if you want any of these fabrics :-)

Daylily: Painter's Splash

Stitched on today: a gift at work, and Violet and Lace Sampler

Fabrics for Sale

I have another little batch of standard fabrics that I want to sell. I will post them here before I try them on ebay :-)

Shipping is $1.00 in the US - if you are not in the US, let me know and I will get you a very good shipping rate. I accept PayPal, checks, money orders. If you are out of the US, PayPal only. Prices are next to fabric.

25 ct Apricot lugana, 18" x 27" (great for HAED) - $6.00 - sold
28 ct Ivory Jobelan, 9" x 27" - $3.00 - sold
28 ct Natural Light Linen, 18" x 27" - $6.00 - sold
28 ct Prairie Grain Jobelan, 18" x 28" - $7.00 -sold

Please email me (see my profile in my sidebar) or leave me a comment here if you see a fabric you like, thanks!

Just 1/4 Finished

It took me all evening, up to 11:30 PM, but I finished the pool in the corner. So, now I am 1/4 finished with Part 10. The colors on this garden are fantastic. But, since I take my photos at night before I go to bed, you keep seeing photos taken in artificial light with my lacking photography skills - tonight's is quite overexposed again. When this is finished, Mike will take a good photo to share. So... anyhow... I was trying to do some calculations tonight to try to determine a schedule for getting Part 10 finished this month. There are 9 more motifs to finish for Part 10 (ponds and hedges) - initially I figured that would be about 9 more nights to stitch. But, the big pool took two nights to stitch. So that is more like 12 nights still to stitch. OK, something else has to give in order to meet this goal. Angel of Love and Mermaid Heaven will be the first sacrificed this month - they will have to wait. I think Houses of Hawk Run Hollow will (sadly) also see less time. But I really do want to keep up with this mystery each month. What the heck Martina, why is Part 10 so huge? It is bigger than any part was on Medieval Town Mandala... sigh.
Daylily: Grape Ice

***I've got no BlogRoll today - I visited their site and it says FATAL ERROR, with a note saying they are working on the problem. So, I am sorry I did not get to visit your blog today...that is where I store your links!

Stitched on today: Gift while at work, and Mystery IX

Most shocking news

I am shocked to learn that the pilot of the small plane that hit the Manhattan high rise at approximately 2:45 PM today belonged to and was piloted by Cory Lidle, pitcher for the New York Yankees. I watched this story unfold for a good hour or more this afternoon before his identity was disclosed. I remain in shock. Cory was flying his small plane home to California from New York after the Yankees were eliminated from post-season play over the weekend. His wife was on a commercial flight heading to California at the same time. Cory had no passengers in his plane, although there were other fatalities (from 1-3 others, depending on what source is read). Apparently, he crashed very shortly after take off with what may have been a fuel problem. My deepest condolences to Cory Lidle's wife and young son. This is a most terrible tragedy. My deepest condolences to the families of the other fatalities, and to those who lost their homes, as well. (photos from www.cnn.com)

Paradigm Lost SAL Update #???

Here's another update on Paradigm Lost. I stitched one of the motifs over to the left side of the sampler tonight. I only managed to finish it because I stayed up late watching the baseball playoff game. I hope Jo is enjoying this sampler as much as I am. I hope she brings hers up to Celebrations in May so we can look at them together - they should be close to finished then :-) Julia Line really has some lovely geometry in her imagination! I know it won't be long after I finish this sampler before I start either The Token or Mouline Rouge.
I heard some meowing this evening and went to investigate. Here is what I found - Ava taking over Mike's computer chair. I think she was meowing just to brag!

It's New DVD Release Tuesday, of course - this week Click - Mike and I had watched this movie at the hotel in Hershey and loved it! Now I can watch it again sometime when I am not so exhausted from travelling!
Daylily: Big Wine - this daylily's bloom is as large as a dinner plate.

Stitched on today: Blessings Be Thine at work, another new gift - there are a lot of stitching birthdays right now, so I cannot share it yet... and Paradigm Lost

Columbus Day Holiday

How nice it was to have the day off from work. It was in the 80's F here, and probably the last time for several months. It was nice! And, I worked a bit more tonight on An Emblem of Love. The swan is finally stitched :-)
I received two RAK's in the past week (or more) and forgot to share them. Becky sent me this beautiful Truly Thine chart, one of the retired Loose Feathers Club designs from Blackbird Designs. And, Karen sent me a stunning custom cut of Days Gone By belfast by Silkweaver for Jeannette Douglas's My Stitching Treasures! What lovely gifts, thank you!!!!
Daylily: Swedish Girl

Stitched on today: An Emblem of Love

Still working on the pool

Nope, I didn't finish the corner pool. I spent several hours today stitching a gift - which I finished, yay! - but, of course, I cannot show it until it is received. But after that, I did find some time to work on Mystery IX... so, here is some of what the corner pool looks like. I will definitely have to revise my goals and my schedule this month if I am going to finish Part 10 before the end of the month. Those who know me well, which is most of you, know that my OCD is not going to let me not finish this unless some kind of dire circumstances arose. So, time to rethink my goals/schedule. I will keep up with my SALs, though.

I am really struggling right now with the onset of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) - this is by no means a major depression, but with the season changing now and the quality of the light we get each day is diminished, my brain chemistry is acting up and leaving me feeling dull and lifeless (sounds like a hair product commercial). So, I hope this will resolve pretty soon! I am pretty tired of feeling so yucky.

I am getting pretty concerned about a package Mike posted for me to Karen two weeks ago last Friday. It should have arrived in the UK several days ago, but there is no sign of it. Mike doesn't recall what service he used, but I always write "Air Mail" on packages, and he says he goes by that. (Mike sends a lot of packages daily for his business, so remembering this one package is close to impossible for him, although he knows he sent it because he has seen the gift - a baby gift for Riley that I stitched up). I really, really hope it arrives soon! I have never lost a package going overseas before, so this is a bit alarming. If it is lost, I will restitch it for her.
Daylily: Night Beacon (I think it was Barbara who asked this a few days ago - yes, Mike did take all of the garden photos himself - he is pretty good with a camera, so very unlike his wife - LOL)

Stitched on today: A gift I cannot share yet, and Mystery IX

Double Header Day

I had some time to stitch earlier today while we were waiting for a call to pick up Mike's car, which was in for some service. I didn't feel like getting M9 out that early and going through the laborious process of getting it set up on the Q-Snaps, only to have to dismantle it when the call came in. I dug through my WIP bag for something small that was not already committed to a certain day... and ended up with Women of the Mayflower :-) I realized today that I need to get more serious about finishing this since I already put the date on the sampler. It is October already - gulp - must get moving on it!
Later, I did get back to M9. I finished the top pool (minus the beads and center crystal) and stitched the green hedge... I hope that tomorrow while I watch football I can do the corner pool by the hedge. Then, after all of this work, I will be only 1/4 finished with Part 10. I do love how this looks now. It is getting that nice look of finally coming together now, and the colors are just amazing!
I had recently sent a DVD off to Missy - an extra in my collection, and she volunteered to adopt it. Today I got a surprise package from her - she crocheted this sweet dish cloth for me, sent along some pretty threads and a nice variety of tea bags! You may notice the Vanilla Nut Creme Decaf is opened. I drank it right away! There is an autumn chill in the air, and when I was bringing in the mail, I was thinking of making some coffee to warm up. Instead I drank the lovely tea - thanks Missy! You guessed right, I do love tea! My prayers to Missy during this sad time in her life as well - she is such a sweetie :-)

I stayed up last night and read the rest of the article on the Haverhill Claw Hammer Murder. Mrs. Ellis did not pass away until March 7, 1931. However, she never regained consciousness in the hospital. It was discovered that one item was missing from the home after the murder - a wrist watch belonging to the victim. A 17-year-old high school student, who was also a paperboy, brought it to the police station. As they interrogated him, his stories kept changing. Initially he said he found it in a snow bank near the home. Not sure how his story changed, but he was charged and convicted with the murder. Very sad. And, that is pretty much what I learned about the murder that took place in my office building some 75 years ago.

Daylily: Mae Graham

Stitched on today: Women of the Mayflower and Mystery IX

Working on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

Although I thought for a while today that I would have liked to have used my time tonight on Mystery IX (considering I just cannot see getting Part 10 done easily this month - if at all). But, working on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow as a SAL with Becky on Fridays is meaningful to me. So, I stuck with HOHRH :-) I managed to finally fill in all of the house on Block 3, and started the post for the birdhouse on the left. Hopefully next week I can finish this block and then will get to decide which block to work on next. SALing this with Becky on Fridays is such a good thing - I started HOHRH in January of 2005 and am just approaching 1/3 done - this SAL is keeping me focused on getting this done :-) I will try to figure out other times to get Part 10 of Mystery 9 done instead.

OK, I got more info on the "Haverhill Claw Hammer Murder" today. I caught up with my landlords and they gave me a huge file of info on the house and the murder for me to look through and copy. The details of the murder were in there in a very old issue of "True Detective Mysteries." I want to see if I can find this issue on ebay - all I have, though, is that it is a December issue. The magazine, oddly, did not show the year anywhere. It is from the 1930's though. And, I do know what the cover looks like, so I can at least go by that!

I still have to read all of the info I copied, but so far I know this. The victim was Mrs. Clara E.C. Ellis, a society woman who, it turns out, is related to Lucy, my landlady, somehow. The murder was committed on February 26, 1931. It was first considered to have been a suicide. Mrs. Ellis was not yet dead when she was found by one of her servants. She died at the hospital (thus, the house likely is not haunted - at least that is my theory). Figuring out who committed the murder was difficult for the detectives... and that is the part I am up to now, so I will update you as I get more info. I got a lot of emails about this, so I will keep you informed. I plan to read the literature this weekend :-) Oh, the house was also part of the Underground Railroad! This is a seperate bit of history, but was also in the folder. The house was built around 1840, and I have photocopies of several photos of the house during various time periods... the murder, the Underground Railroad era and more recently. It's kind of fun to learn such things about my new office building. Oh, and it appears from what I have read so far that the murderer may have gotten into the house through the door to the sunporch - that door is directly behind my back when I sit at my desk - shiver!!!
Daylily: Bess Ross

We are likely to get our first frost tonight... sigh... my geraniums, begonias and nasturtiums will soon die. I dislike this time of year for its killing properties in the garden.

My Kingdom Sampler is back from the framer now - it came out so nice. Mike was too tired to take a good photo of it tonight, so I will ask him to do so tomorrow and will then post it. And, I enjoyed a nice visit with Sue this afternoon too.

Stitched on today: Houses of Hawk Run Hollow

New SAL with Katrina: Earth Threads' Violet and Lace Sampler

Tonight I started a new project :-) I don't feel badly about this - I managed to stitch the first 10 of only 21 bands just in the one sitting. I figure it will be such a quick stitch that it should not interfere with my huge list of WIPS, right?? I am stitching Violet and Lace Sampler as a SAL with Katrina, and we had decided to do this one together several months ago. Now we finally started it! I don't know how to pace myself with this one as I have not yet seen Katrina's progress. But, knowing her turbo needles, we are probably at about the same point - LOL!! The sampler is being stitched on olive green belfast, but the scanner makes it look more like natural or summer khaki belfast. The colors in this sampler are amazing. I know this has been in my stash since at least 1998. When it came out, TG Silk 'n Colors were not easy to find in shops - and the internet was not a great place for needlework shopping yet. So, I had written to Betsy Stinner, the designer, asking her for help with finding a resource to buy the silks. She sent me plenty of two of the colors for the sampler - I guess I had been able to find a skein of one of the colors before I wrote to her. How sweet is she?? (I adore Betsy and have taken three classes with her at Celebration of Needlework in Nashua, NH - I am sure I will take more, as long as Betsy keeps teaching). The postmark on the envelope with the silks is March 23, 1998. I guess it really is finally time that I stitched this sampler!

I found out something interesting yesterday. My landlady at my new office in Haverhill, MA was talking to me, and I made a comment about how lovely the reception area is in the building. The building is a beautiful old blue Victorian house - a huge, huge house that was clearly built for a rich family. Lucy, my landlady, made some comment about the gorgeous spiral staircase outside of my office, and said, "that leads up to the bedroom suite where she was killed." My jaw dropped - "What??" Apparently, there was some relatively famous (at least for the area) murder in the room above my office at some point. My client arrived and I couldn't get more details from Lucy. I hope to get more from her when I go there tomorrow. She said it was the "Haverhill Claw Hammer Murder," but I couldn't find anything on the internet... help Lucy, I am dying to know more!
Daylily: Tom Wise

Stitched on today: Blessings Be Thine (finally making progress now, but am about to run out of GAST Dried Thyme - the chart calls for one skein, but the project really calls for very close to two skeins - will have to pick up another this weekend at the LNS!!) and Violet and Lace Sampler (second sampler down on the website)

Starting Part 10 of Mystery IX

Part 10 is huge! I am a bit skeptical right now as to whether or not I can get Part 10 finished this month. Tonight I was able to stitch only part of one of the pools - this one is at top center. It still needs water and some gold before it is finished... then three more of these along the sides, and then four larger pools - one in each corner... and that is not all! Then we also have to stitch a hedge all the way around the border connecting all of these pools... lots and lots of stitching, the inevitable huge part that Martina always adds to her online projects. I hope I can get a bit done on it this weekend, and then maybe that will give me some idea of how this will move along. The pools will be pretty, though. I will certainly do my best to finish this part this month - don't really want to break my long standing record of meeting each monthly goal with Chatelaine projects :-)
Daylily: Mokan Bouquet

Stitched on today: Mystery IX

Thank You :-) and Paradigm Lost

Thanks for all the sweet words about Mermaids of the Deep Blue! I highly recommend this one as a very fun stitch! What a breeze they were, and the beading... not so bad as it looks! The hardest part about the whole entire project was choosing the right linen! I had to send two fabrics back to Silkweaver and tried a few from Sugar Maple Fabrics before I ended up finding the right one all the way around the world in Australia, at Stitches & Spice :-) I love seeing the fabrics others are using too - all are great! Anyhow - thank you - I love my blogger friends!
It's Paradigm Lost night again. Time to get to work...stitching...again with Jo! I went back to work on that huge, huge motif in the upper right. Maybe next week I will take a break from it and go back to the left side for a bit... I have been working on that big motif for three weeks now - may be time for a break :-)

It's New DVD Release Tuesday again! And Mike has already settled in with a bag of Oreos to watch X-Men: The Last Stand! No, I am nowhere near those Oreos!!
Daylily: Land of Cotton

***The high school many of my teen clients attend is under some kind of "Columbine-like threat" for Thursday! What with the incident in Colorado last week and then the one in Amish Country earlier this week, I guess it is our turn for at least a threat. I know the police are on this, but... Please pray for my kids! Thank you!

Stitched on today: Blessings Be Thine (why is this one taking me so long?? I am lucky if I can even get one leaf stitched when I pick it up each time) and Paradigm Lost

Mermaids of the Deep Blue is Finished

Mermaids of the Deep Blue
Mirabilia
Stitches & Spice 32 ct Ocean Waves Belfast Linen
DMC, Kreinik #4 Braid, Mill Hill Beads, Mill Hill Treasures
Stitched 12/31/05 - 10/2/06

Since I did not have to work today, I sat myself down, watched some syndicated sitcoms like What I Like About You, Reba, According to Jim, My Wife And Kids, and such... and got all the rest of that beading done. They are done!!!!! This was a fun stitch! Mike took this photo with his digital camera and he captured the color of the linen much better than mine ever has.
So... then I really didn't have a whole lot of time left over to work on An Emblem of Love, so the swan is not stitched yet. Everything in the medallion around the swan is finished, plus another little pinkish heart to the right of the medallion - next week, I really hope to stitch the swan :-) I still adore this project!
I finally took a photo of this incredibly adorable scissor fob that Su made for me. Isn't it cute? My photo is blurry! And, I thought I had done a good job! This fob got some nice compliments at CATS :-) Su also sent me the chart from Shepherd's Bush's St. Peter's Fair, which she must have seen on my Wish List - thanks again Su! (The fob says, "roses grow in a sweet little row" - Su knows me so well!
And, another giftie - Becky must have seen a comment I left somewhere saying that I feel like Charlie Brown since I owned zero needlerolls - she took care of that and sent me this sweet little Halloween one! Now, at last, I do own a needleroll! I need to go and buy a basket for it - it will look a bit lonely in there, but I do believe these are to be displayed in baskets - LOL! Thank you Becky and Su - you are both sooo sweet!

Now, I don't want to panic anyone about yesterday's comment about my concerns over two friends suffering losses. I got some very concerned emails - nobody has passed away, nobody is ill, everyone's children are safe... I am just feeling sad over other losses my friends are experiencing. I did not mean to alarm anyone. Sorry about that!!

Stitched on today: Mermaids of the Deep Blue and An Emblem of Love

Even Sparklier Mermaids...And Goal Review

I beaded for a long, long time today - while watching NASCAR, the New England Patriots, the Red Sox... even Friday's episode of Men in Trees (love that show!) on the DVR... but still not done. I am now down to beading the flippers on their tails and then I will be done! But I have to bead those in hand - the project outgrew my big Q-Snap, and it is too wide to use my Q-Snap with the extenders. I have found beading in hand to take much longer than with the Q-Snap, and they beads do not fall in line as well either. So, it is going to take me a bit of time still to finish.

It is the first of the month, so time for my goal review :-)
September Goals:
1. Finish Medieval Town Mandala - yes
2. Finish Part 9 of Mystery IX - yes
3. Work on Paradigm Lost SAL with Jo - yes
4. Work on Mermaids of the Deep Blue - yes
5. Work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - yes
6. Work on Bordeaux Sampler SAL with Anne - yes
7. Work on Blessings Be Thine - yes
8. Work on Emblem of Love SAL with Karen - yes
9. Start Violet and Lace Sampler SAL with Katrina - no, we decided to wait until October
10. Work on Women of the Mayflower SAL - yes
11. Finish Veronica's Neighborhood RR and post to Annemarie by the 9/15 posting date - yes, it is safe in The Netherlands now
12. Work on Mermaid Heaven - yes
**Also attended CATS and took 17th C. German Garden class with Liz Turner Diehl, and I revived another UFO - Mermaid and the Sea

October Goals:
1. Finish Part 10 of Mystery IX
2. Finish Mermaids of the Deep Blue
3. Work on Paradigm Lost SAL with Jo
4. Work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
5. Work on Bordeaux Sampler SAL with Anne
6. Work on Blessings Be Thine
7. Work on Emblem of Love SAL with Karen
8. Start Violet and Lace Sampler SAL with Katrina
9. Work on Women of the Mayflower SAL
10. Work on Dianne's Neighborhood RR - pick charts
11. Work on Mermaid Heaven
12. Work on Angel of Love
13. Work on Mermaid and the Sea

This may be a bit of a tall order for October, as Part 10 of Mystery IX is rather large this month. But it looks like it will be pretty - we get to add some pools to the garden now :-) And speaking of Martina, I think it is wonderful that she submitted a new little mandala garden, Lavender Garden, to this month's issue of The Gift of Stitching Magazine! Not only is it a pretty garden that I now want to stitch, but it is also a wonderful way for stitchers who have been attracted to her designs to get a chance to try a small one out and see how they like it! Great idea! (The whole issue of The Gift of Stitching is wonderful this month - I also love the design from Rosewood Manor!).

It is a bit of a sad day today - I have been praying for two different stitching friends who are dealing now with some losses. I am worried about them both, they are very special to me and two of my friends are very sad tonight, and will be for a while. I am here for them, and I hope that they know it! ;-)

I am two weeks behind on SBQ, have to take a photo of the cute gift from Su, and also of a special RAK from Becky - I will try to get to those SBQ's, and I hope it isn't raining tomorrow so I can go outside and get relatively decent photos of my gifties to share!
Daylily: Indy Waltz Time

Stitched on today: Mermaids of the Deep Blue

**********I don't know about the rest of you, but my Blogrolling is virtually empty - I figured folks were being quiet - turns out I have been missing out on a lot of good posts by my friends! Sorry I have been absent - Blogrolling tricked me!!!!

Sparkly Mermaids

I decided to cheer myself up today with sparklies - lots and lots of sparklies. I got about half of the beading done on Mermaids of the Deep Blue today. Boy, do they ever look different now. I just figured out tonight that what they must be doing is bringing treasure up from the bottom of the ocean - you all knew that, but I just figured it out - LOL! I see a finish coming soon :-) But before I finish I need to dig out my digital camera manual and find out how to increase the resolution on my camera - you cannot even see all the beading in this photo.

Thanks to everyone for the many emails of concern regarding my early return from Hershey. All is OK. I don't want anyone worrying!!
Daylily: Chicago Sunrise

An early return.... :-(

I don't have any photos from Hershey today. After a nice breakfast this morning with Patti, Joanie and Nancy, Mike and I went out to investigate Hershey. We did not get very far. An issue arose at home and the need to leave and return ensued. All is fine now. I will spare the details as this is a public blog :-) Anyone wanting to know more, email me :-) But.... smiley faces aside, it was very sad to have to leave a day early! I missed out on meeting so many people that I was really, really looking forward to meeting! I am so sorry! I hope everyone had a good time in the Stitcher's Lounge and I cannot wait to read your blogs and see your photos.

So... 7.5 hours later, we finally got back to NH. We hit every possible construction and traffic jam between Pennsylvania and NH, including one right near our house that had to have been an accident on the highway. Fortunately, we were close enough to home to know how to get around it easily. To find the bright side, I did get to finish the ship on Mermaid and the Sea while I watched the Red Sox win a game tonight! **If I go to CATS in Hershey again, I will fly - that ride was too long. I might fly to the one in Las Vegas next year - anyone else interested?

And, here is my stash from CATS - I didn't break the bank, but had fun! Our first stop was The Silver Needle's booth where Nan Caldera was a special guest. Couldn't get near her. Although I got into the area early, there already were folks standing around her and looking like they had no plans whatsoever of moving anytime soon! But I did pick up "Be Witchy!" which was an exclusive for the show (little witch chart you see in the photo), along with LHN's new release, Two Blue Houses. We then moved on.... so many vendors there, about double what we see at Celebrations. I picked up a fat quarter of R&R's 32 ct Mockingbird linen for half price at the Sunflower Samplings booth... then on to Liz Turner Diehl's booth to 1) pick up a copy of a missing page of instructions from the class, and 2) to buy her stunning new Pollyanna's Summertime Lamplighter Garden kit - which had not impressed me until I saw the stitched model - then it was a must buy!.... and I did splash out a tiny bit at the Picture This Plus booth, but did limit myself to one piece - a pretty fat quarter of Crystal Glacier belfast... a final purchase made at the CATS Souvenir Booth - the chart commemorating this year's event (by Stoney Creek) - and I got the matching mug too :-) All in all, no major spending, but I feel I got enough good memories in the stash department.


Stitched on today: Mermaid and the Sea

Class Day & Shopping!

Today was class day! Leslie, Margaret and I took the 17th Century German Garden class with Liz Turner Diehl. I took a photo of Liz's model of the garden while we were in class, because the real thing is so stunning! The photo on the chart does not do it any kind of real justice. I think we all really enjoyed the class, even though there was at least one obligatory teacher's pet wannabee that we had to suffer through ;-)
Mike and I were able to get ahold of two of the coveted chairs in front of the fireplace in the hotel lobby for a while this morning. This turned out to be a good vantage point to find my friends as they arrived. Mike took this photo of me working on Women of the Mayflower.
And, here is my ever-dutiful husband working on his laptop in the lobby too :-)
It turned out to be a rainy day in Hershey. By mid-afternoon there were some really heavy thunderstorms that came into the area. Here is a photo from our hotel room window - not a great photo, but our room did not have much of a view (not complaining here). Irregardless of the rain and thunder, stitchers just kept arriving non-stop all day. We stitchers are like the postman, rain/sleet/snow cannot hold us back from our stitching adventures - LOL!
So, while it rained and there was down time to relax before the shopping area opened up, I put some more time in on Women of the Mayflower....
At 5 PM, the shopping opened! Here is one small portion of the huge line that formed about a half hour beforehand! I think the long lines truly amazed Mike, who noticed there were likely no more than four or five husbands or boyfriends there at the time - LOL!! (Blogger won't let me upload my stash photo right now, so I will put it in tomorrow's entry - it lacks photos anyhow).
Mike and I were then lucky enough to have dinner at The Bear's Den with Leslie (seen here)...
... and her husband, Allen, along with Margaret. It was really great to meet Leslie and Allen, and to see Margaret once again (Margaret takes classes with me at Celebrations every year - this time, I came to her turf!).

Stitched on today: Women of the Mayflower

Off to Hershey, PA

Mike and I left for Hershey, PA this morning around 11:30 AM. It was a rather interesting trip. The weather couldn't have been a nicer - a warm, early autumn day. But, for some reason, Mike opted to take the GPS route option that took us through New York City and Newark, New Jersey. We managed to get to the city at rush hour. Suddenly, our trip was taking us much longer than we had planned.... we finally pulled over in New Jersey, near the Pennsylvania line, to get some dinner around 6 PM. We did not care for the restaurant at our first stop, so we decided to get back into the car and drive another half mile or so to another restaurant. But, when we got in the car, the GPS screen was black! A little bit of a panic here - we had not brought along any alternate directions to the hotel, we had been relying solely upon the GPS to get us there! Mike was annoyed, since his car is so new and now the GPS was not functioning! So, we went into the second restaurant, had a light dinner and returned to the car. The GPS was working again! We figured the screen simply got too hot from all of the driving we had done so far - and it was a warm day! Anyhow... we got there, and it took us 8 hours including the dinner break.

A quiet night and really nobody else was there yet. Not a lot of stitching to report, but did work on Blessings Be Thine in the car (until we got to the city - then it was sightseeing time) - and a tiny bit in the hotel room later, so here it is :-)

Stitched on today: Blessings Be Thine

I am addicted to the Panda Cam

More of Paradigm Lost - because it is Tuesday. I was a little busy tonight with getting organized for tomorrow's drive to Hershey, PA. So, I didn't stitch for very long. But I did get a good amount done on that huge motif near the upper right corner.

I have to admit this - I am totally addicted to the Panda Cam! I keep catching myself checking in on Lun Lun and baby girl - they are sleeping/cuddling right now. LOL

I loved watching The Lake House (today's new DVD release) tonight - sweet movie, and it did take me a while to figure out what was going on... which is a good thing. That reminds me, Mike and I enjoyed watching another sweet movie, Shopgirl, on Saturday. That was a recent ebay bargain with no regrets. I do love sweet movies, and am glad the film makers are getting better at making them again :-)
Daylily: Lighthouse Peach Jewel

Off to CATS in the mid-morning - as soon as MIL shows up to house/cat sit for us. I will give you daily updates when I get back - I hope I have photos for you too! Now, for the important stuff - to go figure out what WIPS to pack!

Stitched on today: Blessings Be Thine (at work) and Paradigm Lost

Monday, Monday

Let's see... the Red Sox lost a game... there was another funny episode of Two And A Half Men on TV... I am working on An Emblem of Love... yep, it must be Monday! So, here is tonight's progress. Next week I hope to stitch the swan in the medallion. The swan is my favorite part of the whole sampler :-)
Daylily: Gloria Hite Best

I just had to share this! Here is Lun Lun the Giant Panda with her newborn daughter, yet to be named (she will be named in a naming ceremony after she is 100 days old - right now, she is only 19 days old). The photo is from the Zoo Atlanta website, and the little girl was born the first week of September... how precious is this? Lun Lun holds her baby much like a human momma does. Zoo Atlanta has a Panda Cam that lets you watch Lun Lun and the baby!

One more day of work, then off to CATS!!

Oh, I got Dianne's Neighborhood RR in the mail today - and in it was a packet of belated birthday gifts from Su! She sent me the chart for St. Peter's Fair by Shepherd's Bush, which I am sure she saw on my wish list - thank you, sweetie!! And... she stitched me something so incredibly sweet! I will try to share a photo tomorrow, as I could not get a good one tonight!

Stitched on today: An Emblem of Love