Stitchy Weekend

Ah, tulips. A true sign of Spring, right? Well, it's suppose to be Spring, right? If you look closely though, you'll see snow on the deck railing in the background. Perhaps a better picture would be this:



This was outside our front door yesterday. And yes, those big pieces of white stuff are snow! When will Spring ever get here????

I took advantage of the miserable weather though (and I think also took an extension on my "do nothing" attitude) and stitched.


I finished up Block 2 of Shores:


I started the City Stitcher's Adam and Eve Sampler. Excuse the rather bad pic, but again, it's cloudy around here.

Then I decided to start another A&E sampler. This one is from Examplars from the Heart called The Evil Serpent Sampler. Kind of wonky colors, but I think it's fun to have something that looks a little different.

My do nothing attitude (as far as housework, etc.) continued through the weekend because of a purchase my husband made this weekend. I was miffed. I don't usually get miffed. I'm pretty laid back. But on Friday night my DH came home with a 52" TV. Could this purchase have been because of the NCAA Final Four Tournament coming up? I don't know, but probably. You know how those men are? Need that big screen for the games and then laugh outrageously at those dumb-assed beer commercials! Men are definitely a different breed. I'm thinking that it was an impulse purchase because we have other things that need to be purchased. Like how about a dishwasher because mine hasn't worked in two years? Or how about a new cooktop because my current one has a burner from hell and while I've told my DH over and over again that it's getting hard to cook on the thing, it wasn't until he set the damned thing on fire that he finally said let's get a new one. We haven't yet! My son even told me that my DH said that I would probably blow a gasket! I didn't, but there are ways to get even, which I did a little later.

Okay, I should explain here. We're doing some renovations and trying to hold off until we decide exactly what we're going in the kitchen. But still, I could buy a dishwasher instead of having dish pan hands (I don't, I use gloves, but that's not the point) - it could be used after the renovations as I know what appliances I'm getting. But no, we need a large screen TV. The boys are in heaven. My son instantly grabbed his Xbox and played some shoot-em-up game with his buddies on Xbox Live (love those blood splatters). Then DD swooped in with her Twilight video because she just had to see Edward large and in her face! Then of course, there were the NCAA games. So I just parked my hynie in the chair and stitched.

At some point they all looked at me with expectancy in their eyes - the expectancy of dinner. Now here was pay back time! I slowly raised my eyes up from my stitching and said, "I wonder if I can cook dinner and wash the dishes on the big screen?" All male eyes went to the floor and DH slowly slithered off the couch and made dinner. I had myself a good laugh. I think my point was made! HA!!!! I may just continue this "do nothing" attitude. I have an excuse now, right? Now, I can just sit on my butt all week and find movies with my favorite male actors and drool! BTW, I didn't know that Ann Curry had that many moles on her face! Nothing like a big screen!

Hope everyone gets a lot of stitching done this week. I sure plan to!!

In Sponge Bob Land

I had a pretty productive week for once. I was selfish. Yes, a mom who got a little selfish. I decided that this was "ME" week. I went back to bed after I got the DH and kids out of the door in the morning, made minimal dinners, had a manicure and pedicure and did what I wanted. I know I'll pay for this at some point, but it's been so good. Oh yeah, no cleaning either! What's a little dirt once in a while, right? (actually, I did a little bit this morning just because I felt guilty). LOL


I managed to get both some stitching and quilting done this week! Woo Hoo! It was wonderful! Anyway, all this week, while working on Block 2 of Shores (still not quite done), this song kept going through my head. I'm sure that most of you have heard it, especially if you have kids. I kept praying that I'd get this block finished so that the sounds in my head would go away. You probably know the lyrics, "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" "SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS!!!" UGHHHH! It's been driving me crazy!!

I was going to go digging around for a Sponge Bob character type item that I'm sure was given away at McDonalds, Burger King, or one of those places that is sure to give our kids heart attacks by the time they're 25 to accompany this pic, but thought I'd spare you. Going through closets would also remind me that I need to weed out the kid's closets instead of stitching! Anyway, I'm hoping to finish off this block today and then maybe the crazy sounds will go out of my head. Oh yeah, and when I was putting in the seahorse, my daughter started making these "WEE SCHNAW" noises. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she was doing. Well, she informed me that is the noise that seahorses make. At least they do in Spongebob land! Go figure!

I also got a little quilting done - something that has been low on the priority list for quite a while.


Just four blocks (although I actually am working on eight more, but they're not done), but I think I'm off to a good start. This quilt is king-sized though so I think it's going to take me a while. But it actually felt great to hear the hum of the old sewing machine and my favorite tunes playing in the background.

I'm still debating what my next start will be once I get this block done. I was tempted to go to Block 3, but it doesn't have to be done until the end of April (according to my self imposed stitching schedule). I think I'm leaning towards an A&E sampler, but we'll see what happens. I'm debating between the one by The City Stitcher or a smaller one I found in my stash. Which reminds me too, I need to put in some stitches on the CHS A&E. Then I've also been enabled by some great WIP pictures of seen of the This is the Day sampler! I think I'm as happy as a hog in you-know-what with all these projects. Perhaps another mom's week is in order!!!

Thanks again for all your comments and have a great weekend!

Changing of the Quilts

Every spring and fall, I have my version of England's Changing of the Guard - The Changing of the Quilts. I love quilts - have for years. When I first learned how to make a quilt, everything had to be by hand - cut out templates from cardboard and everything hand stitched. After my first class, I ran like H-E-double hockey sticks as far as I could get. Don't like that hand stitching. I figured that I would be buying whatever quilts I wanted from that point on because it was just too much work no matter how much I loved the things. A few years went by, and then inventions to make quilting easier appeared on the scene. I went into it full throttle.


This was last year's fall quilt. It's made from Thimbleberries fabrics, for those who are in the know about fabrics.


This isn't the greatest picture, but it was the plaid fabric that originally caught my attention and the floral fabric in the center of the basket . I had to make something out of those fabrics! There is a great store in Minnesota that carries the whole line of Thimbleberries fabrics so it was just a matter of waiting for the postman to deliver the goods (that poor postman - the hairs on his body probably stand on end when he gets near my house)!




This is my Spring quilt and also my favorite. There is a story behind this quilt. I saw it, with these fabrics, in McCalls Quilting. I HAD to have it!!! I was like a raving manic. I had to have those fabrics!!! I'm sure, you as stitchers understand that feeling that if you don't get your grubby hands on it, you will split into a million pieces. Well, that's what happened to me. So I made one of my famous road trips - two hours west to a quilt store I knew (or hoped would have the fabric). They had most of what I needed, but not all. But I felt I did good, but still had to have the remaining fabrics. So another trip was made to another quilt store in the area - this one an hour north! YA HOO! They had the fabric. I was good to go. But what I didn't know about this store when I drove up (as I'd never been there before) was that it was a quilter's mecca - 11,000 bolts of not only the latest and greatest fabrics, but rows and rows of those fabrics that you might just need a little piece of for another quilt that you ran out of the fabric for. All color coordinated in rows as far as the eye could see. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. When I walked in the door, I must have made some kind of weird gurgling noise (and probably was foaming at the mouth a little) because one of the women who worked there asked if I was okay and if I needed a glass of water. That's how overwhelmed I was. I will not even mention how much money I spent that day! I didn't need a glass of water when I walked into that store, what I really needed was to be married to JD Rockefeller for all the damage I could see myself doing in that place. I tried to restrain myself, but suffice it to say that DH was not pleased! LOL He did get over it though - after a while.


These quilts are all on display in the guest room. This is my santuary where I can do pretty much what I want (and also run to when DH snores like a gale force wind). My Shepherd's Bush samplers (or most of them are in this room too - DD ran off with a couple of them). But I'll save those for another day. You can probably make out part of a couple of them over the bed in the picture above:


The Earth Gatherers - Not the greatest picture - but one of my favorites. Also one that I broke down and ordered the Jill Rensel mats for this one.



Harvest Moon - I love the moon's cheeks!

Stitching wise I've gotten some done on my Shores Block 2 and I'm hoping to have that done by the end of the week! Have a great week everyone!

An Award

I was totally surprised to see that I had received an award from Gwen today! I'm to send this award to eight (8) people whose blogs I enjoy! That's a real hard one because I like them all whether they're about xstitch, quilting, knitting, etc. That's a hard thing to do. But I chose those eight in no particular fashion. I also tried to pick people who were not mentioned by Gwen.

1. Michelle

2. Dany

3. Diane

4. Terri

5. Nicole

6. Loreta

7. Veronique

8. Gio

The rules for this award are as follows:

1. Copy the Kreativ Blogger Award into your blog.

2. Make a link to the person's blog who nominated you.

3. Nominate eight (8) other blogs

4. Add their links to your blog

5. Leave a comment on their blogs that they have received the award.

I can't thank Gwen enough for the award. It was a surprise. And a big thank you to everyone who visits my blog and leaves a comment or just passes through. I wish I didn't have to pick eight because I really like them all.

The Sea Babe is Finished!!!

TGIF is all I can say!!! It's been another one of those crazy weeks. I always have grand plans for stitching time during the week, but then stuff just gets in the way! Errands, etc. I'm sure everyone is familiar with that drill. But, I do have a finish!!!! The Mermaid Sampler by CHS, affectionately known by me as the "Sea Babe".

The Mermaid Sampler
Carriage House Samplings
32 ct. Vintage Country Mocha
DMC threads - two over two

Now, of course, my son had to make a comment about the Babe's tata's! I had thought about omitting the offending "girls", but I knew that later I'd be sorry that I didn't put them in. What is a mermaid without tata's????? He's 15 so I guess he's a little sensitive to those things. Of course, the bathroom I'm doing in the mermaid theme is the basement bathroom. And of course, who uses that bathroom the most - my son and his friends. Hmmmmm. Well, maybe they'll get a good laugh out of this - who knows.

It was a fun and fairly quick stitch. Not as quick as I would like with all the fill in, but still fun. Now it's back to Shores. I'm looking forward to the second block now. I guess I just needed a break. Although I've been hopelessly enabled by a board that I'm a member of. The same board that I'm suppose to be doing the CHS Adam and Eve sampler with. Well, they started talking about The City Stitcher's Adam and Eve, and I may have to have a go at that one too. After doing the "Babe" sampler and liking just stitching on 32 ct (whereas everything else is either on 40 ct, 35 ct or 25ct on black), I realize that I need an easy stitch too. Something when my brain and eyes don't want to get into sync. So I'm going to start this one too. Ah, the pleasures of multiple projects and the freedom to rotate!

Not too much else happening this week. I do have to thank everyone that made comments about my poor bird last week. I plan on doing a little brain surgery this week. My MIL is one of those people that buys into all those Infomercials - you know - As Seen on TV things, and recently she got sucked into the one about the glue than mends everything from skin scratches to clothing. She opted to get the package of three of this glue and gave one to me. Funny thing, this stuff actually works! So with a toothpick and a little glue, I'm going to fix my little bird.

One of the comments concerning my poor bird mentioned having a cat placed next to it and blaming it on the cat. Well, my mind went a little wild and here's the result:

Not the greatest picture, but you get the scenario. Thanks for all the comments and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Slight Mishap

Don't look too closely otherwise you'll see that my bird is unraveling at the head! Bird brains! AUGHHHH! I have wanted to stitch this little thing since I first saw it. Unfortunately, while turning this little bird right side out, I poked the turning tool (chop stick) right through the fabric. There is really no way to fix my poor bird. The fabric called for has a really loose weave. Being the sewer that I am, I did hear a little voice saying "iron on some featherweight interfacing". Did I do that???? Did I listen to that voice? NO! Of course not. I only listen to that voice when it says, "It's margarita time"! I should have listened. I'm not going to get crazy about it though. It didn't take long to stitch and I found a tighter weave fabric in my stash, so I'll give it another whirl. Of course, I didn't mention that it took me three times to stitch this darned thing right, I kept miscounting.

But I shall not complain. I'll just wait a little bit before trying it again. As my daughter would say, "Save the drama for your mama!" This is one of her favorite sayings and last week while in the mall, what do I see??? That's right - a shirt with the saying on it! Did I ever mention that my daughter is a drama queen? Yep, almost 12 years and the world is full of a lot of drama. You know how those 'tweens are!


Other than the mishap with my poor bird, the weekend was great and the weather even better! Hope everyone had a great weekend too!

A Pair of Hands in Too Many Pots

Yesterday, I spent a good part my day reorganizing my stash and making my priorities. I think that I need to get "back to basics" and just keep myself to two projects - one large and one small.

I've been throwing things all over the place and my craft room looks like a disaster (sorry, no pictures, I'm too embarrassed, but the offending upstairs stash area is listed as Exhibit A below).

Anyway, the other day while Terri and I were driving to our Guild meeting, she told me that I should post all the stitching that I have done! Well, after all the years I've been doing this there is a lot. But, I'm not going to do that today. Instead, I'm going to shame myself a little. Hopefully, this will result in getting the lead out, so to speak, and cleaning up some of these WIPs I've got going on. All are not cross stitch though.

I've made a little progress on The Mermaid Sampler. I really love how this is coming out - brighter than the chart picture. It's a fun stitch too, and hopefully, I should be done with it next week. There is a lot of fill-in which is perfect for those times when my brain has shut down - around 9:00 at night, which by the way, seems the time that I finally land in my stitching chair at night.

I haven't made any more progress on CHS' Adam and Eve nor Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. I've been playing with some small things just to give myself a break - some of the Country Stitches patterns. They're so adorable. I'm kind of hooked right now. They're almost like instant gratification. Although my attempt at that bird on the oil can has resulted in me having to start the darned thing over three times just because I can't count! But I think I'm good to go now and should have, at least the stitching done, today. It feels good to get some small things done.

The other day, I was back in my craft room digging around for supplies to make the bunny and I came across a bin - my WIP (or so I thought) bin. But what do I find inside:

1). An almost finished sweater vest. Okay, that's a WIP of the knitting kind, but what is my problem? All it needs are the side seams sewn and buttons put on!

2). A sampler from the Scarlett Letter circa 1990!!!! AUGGGHHHH! The only reason I can pinpoint the year so well is that there is a picture of a friend of mine with her newborn baby in with the sampler. That brought back memories of me stitching in the lounge while I was still working and I was working on this!!!! And there is masking tape all around the edges (back in the days when I stitched in hand and not on scroll rods)!!! A stitcher's conservation nightmare! What was I thinking??? Obviously I didn't know better. But I pulled this out of the bin along with the sweater and brought them upstairs to my upstairs stash closet (see Exhibit A). I think they both need a little bit of TLC. A nineteen year old UFO!!! I'm still shaking my head.

Exhibit A:

I'm embarrassed. Usually, my stuff is so organized. I realize that there is just too much stuff in here - what was I thinking? I know what I was thinking - I thought I could start all this stuff at once and have some fabulous finishes! NOT! And what you don't see are three bags full of charts, fabby and threads in bags that need to be dealt with next to this area. So most of this will have to go back to my craft room and be put back in their proper places.

Then I found this from The Examplary in the WIP bin too.

Obviously, this is not a WIP - it's never been started. How it made it's way into the WIP bin I don't know (maybe wishful thinking on my part - you know, that little stitching faeries would start the darned thing for me). I brought that upstairs too. Which got me thinking that I have just too much darned stash. Well, there are worse things right????

Then to make matters worse, I found this unfinished quilt that I would really love to finish. These are only three of the twelve total blocks:

Like I said in the title - A Pair of Hands in Too Many Pots. My problem is that I love to do all this stuff and just can't find the time to do it. I should have made New Year's Resolutions, I think (not that I follow them, of course - LOL). Or maybe what I really need is a maid and personal servant - you know, someone to clean, cook, do the wash, grocery shop and run errands, run the kids around to their activities and play dates, and bring me bon bons while I'm stitching! Yeah, right - in my dreams!

No new progress on Adam and Eve. I missed my Wednesday stitching time due to teacher conferences and massive quantities of homework that required my help and Thursday was spent cleaning (and craft room organization), and escorting my daughter to dance and running errands while she was there, so I'll probably work on it tonight. And then finally, I'll start back on Block 2 of Shores. My Sampler Guild extended the due date for Shores to next June! Kind of music to my ears. I've been having too much fun with the smaller things - the bunny pattern really set me off - it was almost a one day event from start to finish. So because the deadline for Shores has been extended I've gotten a little respite, but I'll probably start knocking off Block 2 this weekend.

To shame myself further, I've made a list of my current WIP's. Maybe I should use this as a checklist. These only include cross stitch (if I included the knitting, needlepoint, quilting, etc., we'd be here all day):

1. Ann Medd Sampler - probably 1/4 of the way done

2. The Houses of Hawk Hollow - in the middle of working on Block 5

3. The Village of Hawk Hollow - Block 1 done

4. The Shores of Hawk Hollow - Block 1 done

5. The Mermaid Sampler - maybe 1/2 done

6. The Adam and Eve Sampler - Very little done

7. Convent's Herbal Garden - maybe 1/5 done

8. Provence Mandala - hard to gauge - this thing is huge!!!!!!!

9. Frances Eden Sampler

10. The Marquoir de Justine

11. The Ideal Landscape Sampler

12. CHS Hearts and Flowers

Okay, the dirty dozen off the top of my head. I'm sure that there is something else lurking around, but I think that these 12 are quite enough! All are BAPS except for the Mermaid Sampler, Adam and Eve and, Hearts and Flowers. Now I've shamed myself and hopefully this will give me the kick in the keister that I need to keep going. Doesn't help though that I want to start everything that I recently purchased from market!

Sorry for such a long post. I intended to make this short and sweet, but I guess I got carried away. So, I'm going to go stitch now. Maybe I can get a small portion done on one of those above mentioned things before the kids get home.

Hope everyone has a stitchy weekend and thanks for all the comments you've made!

Honey Bunny

Isn't she sweet? She's 'Hoppin Along Sampler' from Country Stitches. The pattern came in the mail last week and I couldn't wait to start it (I think all the stash I ordered from Market is coming via Pony Express for as long as it's taking). Anyway, I loved her so much, I threw all those SAL's aside and started right in. I changed all the colors though as I wanted something a little more springy and backed her with muslin instead of more Belfast Linen (muslin being so much cheaper than linen). She was so much fun to do! Although in the construction phases, when I just had the body done both my kids asked me why I was making a dinosaur (I should have taken pictures). KIDS!!!

That's it for today. I've got progress pics to show, but I'll do those another day. My kids are home from school today and they want to go shopping and try to set the charge card on fire! They both need so much with it becoming warmer now, I have a funny feeling that's going to happen!

Curleys or Swirleys????

I'm not sure what you call them, but I've got a few done (or almost done - there still is a row of yellow inside of the swirley/curleys)! I finally started on the SAL for the CHS Adam and Eve Sampler. I'm only working on this for one day out of the week, so progress will be spotty depending on whether all heck breaks loose during that day! Seems there is always some errand, some household task that rips me away from stitching. Anyway, after all the problems I had with that crazy Oxyx fabric, I finally settled on 25 count Lugana and I'm loving it. I wasn't sure at first if I would, but decided to forge ahead because I wanted this to be somewhat smaller in size. The holes are really easy to see even on the black. It should end up being about 8 x 7-1/2.

It's been another busy week. I think that I am honestly more busy now that I'm a SAH mom than when I was working. I did get a little more stitching done on the Mermaid Sampler (but not really enough to post) and worked one day on another project. Problem is that I've got so many great patterns here, that I want to start them all at once, putting myself in a tail spin and not getting much stitching done. I think I've got every scroll rod I own loaded with something, but then I'll look through my stash, and and want to do something else! OY!!! My stitching area looks like a disaster with rings of floss for all the projects, scroll rods and charts spread all over. Luckily, DH hasn't said anything - he obviously knows what's good for him!

Offending stitching area (ignore the white towels - it's to protect the leather from the scroll rod knobs).

This is suppose to be the wetbar. Obviously it's become the catch-all for all my projects. The cabinet area right under the floss explosion is my secret upstairs craft suppy cabinet (don't tell). Best if I clean this up today!

Anyway, Sunday I'm starting back on my self-imposed stitching of Block 2 of Shores. I'm still having a little bit of a hard time with the rotation thing, but it's nice to see a little bit of progress on everything. Knowing me though, I'll hit a brick wall at some point and just stick with one thing.

Well, I'm making this short and sweet this time. It's going to be 65 degrees here today and the sun is starting to come out! Woo Hoo! It has been a long, long winter. I'm sure it's not completely over because it's still early March, but hey, I'll take this. I know spring is coming because the geese have returned to the ponds, the chipmunks have woken up and are running around like their tails are on fire and the deer are appearing in my backyard again every morning.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

A Finish and Frustration

This weekend was really one of frustration. But on a good note, I have a finish! Woo Hoo!! I finished the first block of the Shores of Hawk Hollow. I finished it on Friday in plenty of time to start on the CHS Adam and Eve SAL. Or so I thought.

I had the fabric mounted, threads gathered, ready to settle down on Friday night and get a little head start on the SAL. Did it happen? No! AUGHHHHH!!!!! The fabric I ordered (35 ct Onyx) - well, let's just say, I couldn't see the holes to stitch. After trying all means of illuminating the fabric (i.e., flashlight on my lap, tap light, etc.), I still could not see the holes. When I smelled the distinct scent of burning cordoroy, I decided to get the lighting paraphenalia off my lap and abandon ship. Instead of stitch ass, I was going to have hot crotch if I didn't give up. The fabric and I were just not going to get along. After an hour of fooling with it and trying to put in some stitches (six, if I remember right) that didn't look like any stitch I'd ever seen, I gave up.

So I went to plan B - stitching one of the Country Stitches designs

In fact, I was going to stitch both of them on the same piece of fabric - so I'm all set - fabric mounted, threads gathered. Well, I was going to start with the bird first as I had the oil can that I found on Ebay. The problem, the key didn't match up to the chart! Now, this shouldn't have been this hard for me to figure out, but by now I'm in a totally frustrated mood. It's getting past my bedtime and I just don't feel like trying to figure out what color goes where by the picture on the front. After the black fabric fiasco and now this, I was done!

During all this time, my family is watching me warily and they're keeping their distance. They know that something is amiss because mom is running in circles around the house, her hair is flying around her head and numerous trips are made to the craft room. They all sneak off to bed after a quick kiss (perhaps they were afraid I was going to bite them, smack them with the scroll rods or throw needles) hoping that mom will have settled down by the morning. After a while I try to settle down and start on Block 2 of Shores. But this isn't what I want to do. So, I start on the angel instead, but I really had my heart set on doing the bird. You know how that is??? I finally end up going to bed thinking that (in the words of Scarlett) tomorrow is another day.

I wake up the next morning still obsessing about the A&E sampler. I really wanted to do it. The lightbulb goes off that maybe, just maybe, I have some good old Belfast black linen downstairs. Black fabric is definitely not something I have an abundance of. Well, a quick visit to the bottom of the trusty linen bin produces not only Belfast but a piece of 25 Luguana. These pieces of fabric have probably been there for 15 years when my eyesight was better. Whoopie! I think, and bound back up the stairs. But then I sit down and think this over. 32 count over 2 or 25 count over one - that is the question. I start thinking that most of the A&E things I have tend to be on the bigger size, so maybe I should do the 25 over 1 and make it smaller. My head starts swimming again - 6:30 in the morning is too early for my brain to do any heavy lifting. So I decide not to start anything until I can kind of envision the patterns and how I want the wall to look when these are all stitched - some big, some small, some medium.

I finally end up going into my upstairs craft supply cupboard (conveniently located next to my stitching chair and the liquor cabinet ) where I keep projects that I think that I'm most likely to start next (of course, this changes as the moon goes through it's phases). I pull out The Mermaid Sampler by Carriage House. I was tempted to pull out a bottle of something at this point but refrained. No sense my family coming down to an intoxicated mother first thing in the morning (although Kahlua in my coffee sounded tempting).















I'm doing this on a lighter fabric than the chart called for because it seems like such a dark project color-wise (although my picture lightens it up a bit) so I'm using Vintage Country Mocha and I think it works pretty well. I'm liking this so much that I'm planning on spending a couple more days on it before I go back to the angel, start A&E and start on Block 2 of Shores. Whew! It was a welcome relief to sit down and stitch last night. And yes, I poured myself a glass of wine and stitched my heart out. My husband and kids crept slowly back into the room and all was well.

I didn't mention during all of this was that I was doing my normal trolling of the internet and came across the new Sampler Company "Sailor's Wife Sampler". This got my heart going because I love her designs and it would fit in quite nicely with the nautical bathroom (although at the rate I'm going that nautical themed bathroom is a long way off). So this got me going through my Sampler Company patterns and I pulled out Kind Fond Love (I also saw someone doing this on one of the boards and started obsessing - these blogs are very bad things!). So Sailor's Wife is a definite "gimme" as soon as I pick up the phone and order it. Oh, and I slapped the fabric for KFL on rods. I never know when the mood is going to strike. Threads are at the ready and this time I'll be prepared.

My relentless pursuit of the postman did pay off a little and I did get a little bit of the stash I ordered. There is still more out there, but for now I'm a happy girl.

Ode to Mary Needleroll by Dames of the Needle and Temptation by Praiseworthy Stitches. One seaworthy pattern for that future bathroom scheme and another A&E pattern.

Two of the Prairie Schooler charts. April and July are on their way and I hope to group these all together at some point - possibly doing them over one on 25 count.

Some fabric and threads. In going through my patterns, I realized that I was severely thread deficient. I'm one of those people that buy for what I'm working on and wait on getting anything for a future project, just because I change my mind so much. But in going through my patterns I realized that there were some threads that could be used for whatever project I set my mind to working.


And just today, the postman brought the other A&E that I've been waiting for - The Primitive Needle's A & E. Whoo Hoo. I don't know what it is about this one, but I love, love, love it. If I had the fabric in hand (still out there in snail mail land), this could really tempt me (and the snake wouldn't even have to be present!).

Well, I think that's enough for today. I'm hoping for a restful week of stitching and I hope everyone else gets that too. Thanks to all of you for stopping by and making comments. I love hearing from everyone!