More Projects than Brains or Time: Sampler Sunday

Am I the only one stressed because I have too many projects? I'll bet not. I was busy planning projects and gathering materials this week. Here are a few of them: First, a little progress on By the Bay Needleart's "Meadow Hills." It's a fun stitch, and a perfect size to pick up and put down when you've got a lot going on.


I spent some time stitching on "Whale Hunting," "Plymouth Sampler" and "Glorious Fruit" as well, but didn't take pictures, because it was a corner here, a few lines there, or part of a large section, none of which really looked like progress. Here's something I ran onto on the web and thought it was so cute that I ordered it. It's called "Cupcakes with Sprinkles," by Just Desserts. The pattern is for making different flavors of "cupcakes" with wool felt and beads. I ordered the wool felt online as well; hopefully it will arrive soon. Not that I really need a felt cupcake, but it's so cute! The same company offers patterns for faux cake slices, eclairs and doughnuts as well. Maybe I'll quit my job and do them all--shrieks of crazy laughter....

I'm accumulating fabrics. I've been to G Street Fabrics (if you sew and you live in or near the DC metro area, be sure to check them out) and bought large remnants from their home dec. department. I've purchased some designer fabrics from ebay, and I bought a bolt end of the glimmering bronze semi-sheer fabric from Calico Corners. My plan is to sew a lot of the drapes and curtains for the many windows in my new house. Thank goodness my mom taught me to sew! Custom window treatments cost the earth, and ready-made are almost uniformly cheesey (have you seen what Bed, Bath and Beyond sells for a ridiculous amount of money?). I've got half a dozen patterns and several books on window treatments, but I'm still looking for that perfect set of instructions to guide me through the process (these are not my first window treatments, but I want them to look really professional). I'll make my practice lined drapes on the bolt ends and remnants, and I'm haunting ebay for just the right reduced designer fabrics. I have a particular hankering for Scalamandre, Brunshwig & Fils and other normally out-of-reach decorator fabrics. I did snag nine yards of a P. Kaufman fabric (not pictured) of hot air balloons. Normally fabric like that is priced at over $20 per yard, but I got all nine yards for less than $45 total. The green fabric at the bottom of the picture is a Waverly Fabric that I got for $20 for 4 yards--it'll be enough to make pretty set of valances.

And here's the sampler of the week, "Lemon Tree Sampler" by Praiseworthy Stitches. This is one of these designs that I might have overlooked had my LNS not had a stitched model of it on their wall. I love yellow, so this will definitely be making an appearance one of these days.

Plans for Superbowl Sunday next week (2/4). If you aren't into football and you live in N. Va, it might be worth it to drive to Fredericksburg and check out the sale at Everything Cross Stitch--everything but a few flosses (Anchor, DMC and a couple others) will be 20% off. I'll be headed down there to stock up on project bags, fabrics and maybe even another sampler or two....