New Projects

I decided I didn't have enough to stitch ;) so I started 2 more projects. I got the BC freebie border for spring summerland so I started that on 32ct Dove Grey wichelt linen. It looks so cute and I have 3 chickens done on it so far. I also picked up The Sheldon Hawks House by The Goode Huswife and started that on 40ct Antique Copper by R & R. This is the first project I have done on 40ct and I really like it. I sense a new trend coming on. I also stitched some more on PS.

Yesterday I picked up the pup and brought her to her house, she is such a sweetie. She was covered in dirt from rolling around with the other crazy dogs. Then I went to my parents house and we met my aunt and uncle at Prescott Park in Portsmouth. They have musicals each summer and the one this summer is Oliver. So, we had a picnic and even though it was 95 degrees out, it was shaded and really nice. I went for a walk downtown and went in some shops during the intermission because I had to stretch. Portsmouth is so much fun. There are so many restaurants and shops and people walking around. I can't believe the weekend is over; it went by so fast I don't feel like I had one. Sharon asked a few posts ago why I was unhappy with my stitches on Haunt the Night Away. Well, the stitches are kind of over one another instead of separate. They just don't look like stitches should look. :) It happens from stitching with the sewing method with hand dyed thred and the way I do it. The problem is I like to go fast because I have so much stash and I want to stitch all of it, well, now. Yes, I am being too hard on myself. I am happy with my stitches usually but for some reason HTNA is giving me trouble.

Thank you all for all the sweet comments about Chester aka The Boy. He is a tuxedo cat with long fur and is the sweetest thing. He appreciates all the attention. And this week on Project Runway there is a scandal. Someone gets sent home before the judging for doing something they aren't suppose to. I love that show. And for all you fantasy book fans, Phantom by Terry Goodkind is soooo good. But if you are going to pick it up I suggest reading books 1 - 9 first or it won't make any sense. He is a great writer. Oh, and I also went to an Arbonne party at my friend Gail's house friday night. We had so much fun doing facials and trying on make-up. I love makeup so.....I bought makeup. A lot of makeup, just in time for fall. I love the fall, it is my favorite season.

Finally, Red, thank you for your suggestion of putting the name of my friends cat, Chex, at the bottom of the Starry Cat design. I am definitely going to do that. Awesome suggestion! Thanks.

PS is almost done

I am so close to being done with Plymouth Sampler. I really can't wait to finish it and frame it. I filled in the green background of the alphabet and started the right border. Hopefully I will finish it by the end of the weekend and frame it next week. Project Runway was good last night. But I think Angela should have gone home because she seems a bit nutty. I just don't like her very much. Miami Vice comes out in theaters tomorrow and I really want to see that. I also get to puppy sit this saturday for a few hours. My neighbors are going to a Dave Matthews Band concert and won't be home until saturday night so I am on puppy patrol. I love it.


I stitched this little house fob up for my friend Sue and sent it to her monday. It was so fun to stitch. I put a nice red fabric on the back and learned from another blog how to make cord with a drill. It is so easy I couldn't believe it. I am really happy with how it came out. (I have been trying to upload a pic of the back but blogger won't cooperate).

My friend Diane lost her cat Chex this past weekend; he was really sick. I know from experience how awful that is. The "cat" from cat and turtle, whose name was Bonzo but I called her Meows, died 2 years ago from kidney disease. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her. I still have that turtle. She carried it all over the house and every day I would come home to find that turtle in a different place. Watching her carry it up and down stairs was the coolest thing I have ever seen. It was like her baby. I waited with a camera for 20 minutes to get that picture of her coming out of my bedroom with the turtle in her mouth. So, I found a Chessie & Me design called Starry Cat that I ordered and am going to stitch up for Diane in honor of Chex. The cat in the design looks exactly like her cat.

Been wearing glasses for 2 days....can't take them anymore...must have new contacts.

Movies, movies, movies

I can't believe how many times I have been to the movies this week. Friday night I saw Lady in the Water and loved it. M. Night is so creative and intriguing, I am so in awe of his movies. Then yesterday I saw Pirates of the Carribean 2, which was great too. It was a little long at 2.5 hours, but Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow is so awesome. Then tonight I saw The Devil Wears Prada and that was great too. Meryl Streep was so good, I hated her. And Anne Hathaway in the lead was wonderful too. I need to figure out how to do my eye makeup like she had in the movie. I love eye makeup.


So, Chester finally let me take a halfway decent picture of him. He's such a sweetie cat. I took friday and yesterday off and yesterday hung out with my Dad for the day. It was great, we had a lot of fun going to the movies, lunch and dinner, checking out the woodworking shop (he helps me with my framing), etc. Cool day. I worked on Haunt the Night Away tonight. I did the tree, porch, and headstone. I am not as happy with my stitching on this piece so I am glad the picture is blurry.

Should have called it Needles in my couch

There seems to be a black hole for needles in my couch. I have lost 3 of them in there somewhere which freaks me out because I don't want the cats to get a hold of them. I have been quilting! Yeah. I am finishing up two wall hangings today and will have pics for you tomorrow or tonight. I finished the alphabet on the bottom of PS and started filling it in. I also did almost all of the Mayflower in WOTM. Carol, you asked if I was going to stitch that SAL once a week. I am not sure. I would say at least once to twice a week. I don't do well having specific nights for certain projects...it's more of what I am in the mood for or what I need to get done. Who are the other people in the WOTM SAL? It is so much fun to stitch. I don't know if it the design or the colors or what but it is awesome. I am also working on something else but I can't post a pic of it yet. Oh, I got my green frame for the Halloween Fairy and will put that together today and post a pic. I am so excited about that frame. I got it from my LNS. Anyway, more later. Off to quilt and finish stuff. :)

Women of the Mayflower

Well, I finally started it...Women of the Mayflower. So far, I love it. It's a fun design and the colors are wonderful. I had some trouble getting a good, close picture so the fabric doesn't look right but it is 32ct cream belfast linen. The threads are Olde Willow Stitchery and are so soft and really great to stitch with, like CC threads.

So, check this out. You may have already read about this on Jenn's site. I asked her last week where she lived in CT and not only did we live in the same town growing up but we were in the same high school together, 2 years apart. How weird is that? It just blows my mind that out of the little group of blogs I visit about cross stitch I meet someone I was in high school with. Wild. It is certainly a small world. Hi Jenn!

One of my favorite shows, Project Runway was on tonight. The 3rd season started last week and I am hooked already. I love any show that shows something created at the end and the steps it took to get there. I love watching how things work and how things are made so this show is right up my alley. And, one of my favorite authors, Terry Goodkind, finally got his next book out called Phantom. It is book 10 in his Sword of Truth series and is just an incredible group of books. I love fantasy books, epics of magic, dragons, wars, an unlikely group of heroes. Good v. Evil....I love that stuff. Anway, I have 40 pages left on Dragons of Autumn Twilight and then onto Phantom.

Back to Plymouth

Well, I couldn't stay away from the Plymouth Sampler for very long. Here is an updated pic of it and I can't wait to finish it and pick out a frame. Today I ordered mats for 2 pieces I have had finished for a while, Welcome Spot from The Drawn Thread and Red Roses from Heart in Hand. I hope they come out with Blue Violets soon. And I am so excited...Bent Creek has put out the first chart in their Summerland Snapperland series called Whale House. It is so cute and there's this tiny little crab in the background. yeah! I have all the snapperland series; snapperville, winter, and spring and just need the freebie border for spring. I really want to start those asap but I need to at least finish Plymouth Sampler first.

So, has anyone else had trouble with Weeks Dye Works threads? Lately they are driving me crazy and I am finding them to be extremeley prone to tangling and knotting up quite a bit. I know there is that thread conditioner stuff and I have some but what a pain to have to do that to each piece of thread. I like GAST better although that tangles and knots too. I must say after working with Halloween Fairy and on Leslie's Peacock Sampler, the Crescent Colors threads are really awesome. They are so soft and don't tangle or knot much at all. I think I am going to start trading those for WDW on charts. Here is a picture of the Peacock Sampler. The color combinations are so soft and it is really fun to stitch.


I haven't been quilting much lately. I have about 5 quilt tops I need to bring to my quilting lady to have quilted. Well, first I have to save up the money and in order to do that I need to "gulp" break from buying cross stitch for a while. I don't know if I can do it. But I have this spot in my entryway when you first come in that is bare wall so I found this cute welcome panel with all the colors of my first floor; red, green, gold. It is so cute and completely my style. It is just a panel with the binding cut on the bias so the stripes are diaganol. I am really happy with how it came out. I am working on a big quilt with this beautiful pink and maroon paisley fabric in it. I have to make 264 4-patch blocks and I have 190 completed. This is where I typically lose momentum, right at the home stretch of a project.

Halloween UFO

So, I have this bag full of UFOs that I have become bored with or they are currently out of season. It really bothers me that there are so many projects in it and I want to finish them. Today I decided I would finish Eekology by The Trilogy. I had 2/3s of it done and it was really silly to not finish it. Besides, it is a Halloween piece and I love stitching Halloween stuff. I finished it and it is so cute. The frankenstein with the crazy eyes is my favorite block, besides the cat block, but that's a given. I also did some more work on Haunt the Night Away. This is the most perfect fabric to stitch this piece on. I can't imagine it on anything else.

So, my favorite Director, M. Night Shyamalan, has his new movie Lady in the Water coming out this friday. I can't wait. I love his movies...Signs is one of my favorites and The Sixth Sense and The Village are awesome too. He is so wonderfully creative. I need to see Pirates 2 too and I hope to see that soon. I was suppose to go tonight with my friends John and Sarah but John was a bit under the weather from his sister's 30th birthday party. We won't go into the gory details but let's just say I will be staying far away from the garbage pail in the mail room for a while.

Progress and Pictures

It felt like such a production to take out the camera, take the pictures, upload them, etc. that I have blown this off for the past few days. :) I have been working steadily on Plymouth Sampler and a new one that I picked up at Colonial Needleworks last weekend. Yes, shopping again. I really feel one can never have too much stash, right Sue? Patti's pretty bad too and why I started putting all my designs in binders. Enablers, all of you. And I love it. So, above is the progress on PS. And a picture of Haunt the Night Away by Brittercup stitched on Silkweaver Autumn Sunrise which is yellows and oranges. It looks so cool and matches the design perfectly.

My friends David & Tracey visited today with their 2 children. Their 3 year old was dying to meet my cats and had a blast playing with Bella. Chester and Maggie were freaked out under the bed the entire time. They don't have contact with short people (kids) and it had Chester in a panic. He's such a scaredy cat. Oh, I also took a picture of the finshed and framed Little Angel Birth Sampler I did for them by Sisters and Best Friends. It is so sweet with the silver stars and moon. I made the frame and the color is perfect. I don't know if I have mentioned that before but I have a framing business for cross stitch. It comes in handy when I finish a project ;).

The baby Mags

This is Maggie the fat cat but since it is a close-up you can't see the fatness. She is the sweetest thing and my baby. The other two are upstairs pretending they are on a NASCAR course running around like lunatics. I love it. One of the main reasons I adopted Bella is that she is a free spirit with the heart of a kitten and Chester was loosing his spunk. He needed someone to run around and be crazy with. It worked.

And now onto stitching. I spent a few hours tonight stitching Plymouth Sampler. I plugged in the iPod and went to town. It was very relaxing. My friend Sarah's birthday is tomorrow so I am going to make her a pair of earrings. Blue and silver ones I think. I will put up a pic when I finish them. I enjoy making earrings and bracelets and I recently got a book of wire and beaded jewelry. I think I will make a stop at Michael's this weekend for supplies. I worked on my blog a lot today and joined blog rolling which was easier to set up than I thought it would be. It lets me know when the blogs I read have been updated by the authors. Very helpful. BTW, miraculously enough, my house is still clean.

the package has arrived

Well, guess what finally came in the mail yesterday? My package from Stitching Bits and Bobs that had the Olde Willow Stitchery thread in it, which was the holdup. That took way too long but the colors are beautiful. I am going to start WOTM soon so I can catch up to Carol and whoever else is doing the WOTM SAL. In the meantime, I started Leslie's Peacock Sampler from Examplars of the Heart, a La-d-da piece, and a Halloween haunted house from Brittercup. Oops, started too many....again. I think I need a stitching schedule. Anyway, the picture above is of Plymouth Sampler. I just love stitching this piece. I have done quite a bit since the last picture of it. I did all my homework today so I am going to focus on stitching, quilting, reading, and cleaning tomorrow. I hate cleaning, it is the bane of my existence. I got this little plaque that says "Housework won't kill you but why take the chance". My thoughts exactly.

The fairy is done!

Well, I am glad I had 4 days off for the Holiday so I could finish the Halloween Fairy. I really love the design and the beeds look so sparkly when the light hits them. I did run out of Black Coffee and had to use black for some of the backstitching but it is okay and you can't tell a difference in the 2 black colors. I also ran out of dandelion stem which is the green in the wings. I definitely recommend getting a second skein of each of those 2 colors, just in case.

I am definitley going to get the Christmas Fairy when it gets closer to the winter. Good god, winter. I need to not say that word again for a few months. It actually hasn't rained in a few days which is a nice surprise for a weekend. I have been cranking on Plymouth Sampler and will post a picture of that soon.

The needle test

Okay, so for ever I have been a Piecemakers staunch supporter. They are the best needles ever and I have been addicted to them since 1993 when I started stitching on linen. So, the Halloween Fairy came with a John James needle and I said, what the hell, mind as well give it a try, make sure I am not missing anything. I am happy to report...I am not missing anything. I have stitched the whole Fairy with the JJ and it isn't as strong as a Piecemakers for one thing. PM are stronger needles and they never bend or distort and well, this JJ needle is distorted. So, I decided as soon as I was done the Fairy body I would ditch this thing and stitch the fairy wings with a PM. I will continue on my Piecemakers crusade. :)

I still love stitching with the Crescent Colors threads and I love the names. Chocolate Cream Pie, Eve's Leaves, Bunny Honey, they are really fun names.

I finished another book today called The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman. It is her second book; the first was Lake of Dead Languages. SOW was really good. I have her 3rd book, The Drowning Tree and may start that tonight. Happy 4th of July.