A Day Late

Last week was a killer week, with no stitching. And the weekend continued in the same way, so I'm going to show you something art-related, if not entirely stitching-related.

The first two pictures are of an art acquisition by Big Law. We have lots of very interesting (and probably very pricey) art in the building. I like that we have sculpture and photographs and etchings and paintings and weaving and glass. We actually have some Chihuly glass, which is just beautiful--a series of ruby-colored ewers. Most all of our artwork was done in the 30s and 40s (although I don't know why since Big Law was founded in the 1800s), and much of it is devoted to work: farming and factories in particular. Some it is sly, referencing our larger clients (which must remain secret, but which are household names) in a flattering way. This is a folk art rendition of the White House, which I love especially since the real White House is across the street, but which a lot of people here do not like at all. The carving is amazing, and the scale of it is eye-popping; you can't tell from this picture, but it's probably a bit over three feet up, sideways and deep. It sits on a pedestal in our reception area which is a bit problematic because the reception area is Italianate and formal, all cold white marble, white leather and white orchids in clear glass vases.


Mostly I worked in my garden. Now that mid/late-spring is seriously, solidly here, I can see what the previous owners of our home planted, and I am adjusting accordingly. Mostly there are lots and lots of hostas, which I like well enough, but not in such quantity. I don't know a lot about them, but I overheard someone in the garden center saying that they tend to take over a garden bed. They sure do! I believe there are flocks and flocks of irises, which I love. Hopefully there are some yellow ones as well as blue/purple ones. The azaleas are in bloom; most of them are scarlet. And there appear to be some lilies, some hydrangeas and some stuff that I can't identify yet. I went to the nursery and purchased a modest supply of peonies (my favorite flower on earth), two enormous pre-planted pots for my front steps and stuff for the veggie garden. The house came with a 20 foot by 10 foot raised bed which we think the previous owners used as a kind of play area/sand box for their kids. We're filling it with dirt (the landscaper is trucking it in tomorrow) and then planting tomatoes and other stuff. When I wasn't planting, I headed for the library (gardening and landscaping books) and stopped along the way at a community yard sale where I bought this for $5. Even though it's done on aida, I really liked the vibrant colors and the folky design (it looks like a Charles Wysocki), so I bought it. The yard seller told me she had stitched it, and that it took her a long time because it was a lot of work. We all know how true that is, don't we? I don't know if it's cheating to buy someone else's stiching, but I'm going to enjoy it anyway because at the rate I'm going, I'm never going to complete anything!

And since we're talking about other people's art, here's something I bought from a lovely blog that I read called http://beachyscapecodcupboard.blogspot.com. Beachy is such a wonderful artist (she hand made this card using a photo of an old house she spotted on her walk to the beach) and is a fellow Cape Codder as well.

Sampler Sunday

Just a quick post today--we've been working ourselves to death in the yard, planting, weeding, edging, now that it's finally warm and sunny. For a change, this week I got a bit more done on a project--Procession:
Here's a sampler I picked up last week at my Alexandria LNS, In Stitches. It's called The Plantation Sampler, by Canterbury Designs, by Donna Vermillion Giampa (and it has a 1987 copyright on it). This is a little different style for her, I think. I'm working on her Glorious Fruit design, and of course, I love the fruit pillows. I particularly like the stone work appearance of the plantation house.

Strawberry Sampler Sunday

Yesterday I headed to the thick of Northern Virginia to pick up some fibers (Au Ver a Soie) I ordered nearly six months ago (for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow). AVAS is always like that, apparently, whether mail-ordered or purchased in the LNS. The woman at the LNS admitted to me that it takes so long to get certain colors that they forget they've ordered them, so they keep reordering a particular color, and then they get a dozen of something when they really only needed two or four. In the meantime they run out of something else, place an order and wait for months. I'd like to go to France to the AVAS factory and investigate this and perhaps suggest ways they could automate their production process to eliminate this dead time when people who need 2516 for instance, wind up substituting fibers from one of their competitors. In the meantime, here's some progress on Procession which uses Soie Crystal by Caron.

Since one does not brave Northern Virginia traffic simply to pick up two skeins of fiber from In Stitches, I scoped out their new charts and came home with several new projects. Check this one out! It's called "Strawberry Fields Farm," by the Victoria Sampler. I loved it when I saw it, so I bought the chart, the wonderful Zweigart 28ct Olive Green Cashel Linen (not olive green really, but more a dusty spring green--so lovely), and the packaged bundle of fibers and beads containing Gloriana, Kreinik, Au ver a Soie, Needlepoint Inc., and Gentle Art fibers and a variety of SJ designs beads. Here are some pictures of the entire picture as well as close-ups of some of the panels. I found some other wonderful charts also, and will show those to you later.

Easter Bouquet

I like the Tulip Welcome sampler, and in fact, would like to get going on it as I have the idea to do a bunch of "Welcome to our House" kind of things for our foyer, but it was taking so long with all its many backstiches and quarter stitches that I gave in to the startitis, beginning to stitch Procession, by the Workbasket. I'm doing it with the recommended fibers, Caron's Soie Cristale, on the suggested fabric, R&R Reproductions' "Apple Brown Bindy." Except the fabric is not nearly as dark as it is in the chart photo, so the "yellow" silk disappeared into the yellowish fabric completely. As there was no time to get to an LNS yesterday, I borrowed from my bag of HoHRH stash. The Au Ver a Soie is very similar, but just a bit thicker, so it worked well. I used a darker gold, and it's showing up nicely against the paler-than-expected fabric.

It's been terribly cold here, as it has in the rest of the country, but here's the Sunday sampler: It's "Springtime Delights" by Stephanie Lynn Pearson. I like the picture of the chickens at the top (I'm a fool for little yellow chicks on samplers), and the eggs and flowers and the colors are great, but frankly I think the verse ("Spring time hatches heavenly packages") is just drippy and makes me think of the maggots that hatch in my trash can. I was reading in someone else's blog how they believed they'd outgrown some of the charts they'd once found so appealing.

And here's the Easter Bunny, tearing around our still-empty dining room, looking for the basket of eggs he misplaced. We're still holding our breath that the contract on our house won't fall through somehow (although we have received the lender's commitment letter), but once we safely have the money in the bank, it will be time to think about putting furniture in some of these rooms. I'm planning an antiquing trip in the next few months through rural Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and hoping I turn up some treasures that way. Also I'm hoping to get to the Brimfield antique show in Western Massachusetts in May. I also need to take some vacation time to repaint those dining room walls. They look mauve in this picture (my least favorite color in the entire world), they're darker IRL--sort of maroonish--the Ralph Lauren color that we saw in so many homes. There's also a wallpaper border of big white magnolias which doesn't particularly appeal to me. There's nice chair rail and crown molding which the loudness of the wallpaper strip and the paint cause to disappear. I'd like to paint it all in a nice creamy yellow or in a barely peach, painting all the woodwork in a glossy white. More ideas than time! And who would put white wall-to-wall in a dining room? I overturned a glass of tomato juice at dinner tonight, but fortunately, we were eating in the kitchen, which has wipeable floors! Picture that on a white rug!

Happy Easter everyone!

Cupcake Sunday

I felt like making cupcakes today, so I did. Actually, I've been wanting to make the edible kind as well. I've got a tasty-looking recipe that calls for chopped up Milky Way Bars to be melted with the butter and whipped into cupcake batter, but I'd like to lose some weight, so I made the inedible kind instead. This took me just a couple of hours. The pattern is by Lisa Johnson, and it's called "Just Desserts," and I bought it on ebay. I bought wool felt from the Primitive Cupboard. They have a fun selection of stuff: primitive doll patterns, some quilt stuff, a few primitive style needlework patterns and a bunch of other things. The wool felt is lots of fun to work with--the colors are great, and it's stretchy enough to allow you to ease things together so they stitch up smoothly. The DMC floss came from my stash. I got the beads on sale at Michaels. I have fiberfill left over from an earlier project knitting little mice wearing dickensian clothes for a Christmas display. Oh! I'll have to find one or two of them (although I gave most of them away) to show you!

I'd do a couple of things differently on the next pattern: I'd add some weighted plastic craft beans before stuffing it with the fiberfill, and I'd stuff it tighter. I'd add the flower to the "frosting" top before I attached the frosting. But overall, it was a hoot to do, and will make a fun little gift for friends having a birthday or celebration. It might make a fun little pin cushion, too.

I knitted some also on the soft yellow sweater I've been working on. Getting the new Vogue Knitting always makes me want to dig out my needles, although it's rare for me to actually find a pattern I want to make in that magazine these days (they've gone unwearably cutting edge, I'm afraid), although I still read the lessons and look at the ads. This week I did just a little more on Tulip Welcome while stuck in traffic on the bus, but didn't do much other than that.

And here's the Sunday Sampler: "Ocean Daughter" by Who Knew? Darn--forgot the instructions/materials list, but it appears to be done in a single color of something on a sparkly/metallic hand-dye. I love the use of the negative space to define the carb, shells, starfish and coral.

Lcome! Sunday Sampler

A little more progress on Tulip Welcome this week:

I didn't try to load a new sampler photo though, as we're still working on dial-up at home since the move. Oddly, even though we moved from an older neighborhood just two miles away, you can't get Verizon DSL here. So disappointing (and by the way, if you haven't received a comment from me, that's why--I surf at work when I can since I don't have the patience to surf from home, but don't have the time at work to formulate replies--I'll be back soon though, especially since I've seen so many nice things on your sites, and have discovered some wonderful new sites as well.) We'll remedy that with satellite service, but that takes time to set up, since they actually have to come to the house and it involves an initial outlay of Big Cash. Looks like we'll have the cash though, because:
Sold, in 48 Hours!!!!

We were so worried, buying a large house and moving into it, and then putting our little house on the market. Common wisdom says that a house will sit on the market for six months or more these days, and it's certainly no fun paying a pair of mortgages. But it would have been so hard to show our little house while we still lived in it; it was pretty stuffed full, even after moving things into a storage unit (12 years in a place will do that), and with six cats and the bunny, we figured we were virtually guaranteed that a cat box would contain an eyewateringly smelly load to meet a prospective househunter. So we took a deep breath and a leap of faith and aided by a team of painters, carpet layers, a handyman or two, a realtor, a whole lot of elbow grease and a statue of St. Joseph buried in the garden just behind the "for sale" sign, we had a contract within 48 hours--a good contract with no contingency and accompanied by a qualification letter from a mortgage company. Phewwww--fingers crossed that it works out all right--the subprime loan thing may bite us in the rear, since it means mortgages are being tightened up, and folks without sturdy credit or a nice down payment may have more trouble getting a loan than previously, so a lot of contracts have been falling through.

The job front is not so pleasant these days, and I have an appointment to talk with another law firm about doing structured finance instead of the horrible antitrust litigation I've found myself involved in since my beloved corporate team picked up their marbles and moved to Baltimore. If I get the structured finance job, I'll be going back to a fairly regular commute to Manhattan, since that's the heart of the finance world, but that's ok. I remember from my last Manhattan stint that living in a hotel room during the week, despite massive homesickness, allows plenty of evening stitching time (if not necessarily enough light in the hotel room to see). And there's the consolation of really good Chinese food (something we lack in the Virginia suburbs) on nearly every corner.

And it's finally spring in the DC area: a whole lot of these were blooming Friday around the Mall reflecting pool. I'm not sure if it's a type of magnolia (although it doesn't have leaves, and they're evergreens generally) or if it's a tulip tree, or something else. The cherry blossoms are beginning to come out, and the willows along the Potomac are greening up. Yay!

Still Wishing for Spring: Sunday Sampler

This week was not one of my better weeks with the needle--too many distractions and events at work and home. Work has been busy enough to necessitate my working through lunch--which is my normal stitching time (and which I resent like heck giving up). And in the evening and during the weekend, we've been putting the finishing touches on our now-empty townhouse, which will officially go on the market Monday or Tuesday. The Realtor, knowing that I enjoy blogging and photography, has tasked me with writing the blurb and taking the photos that go into the MLS. Photographing empty rooms is difficult, it seems (oh, for a nice fish-eye lens), and wading through the standard "gleaming hardwood floors" language is not very inspiring, even if they are gleaming hardwood floors. Maybe the property would get some notice if I wrote "pamper yourself with a shining black-market toilet!" (BF used to be a plumbing rep, and we had lovely toilets with a water-wasting, hearty flush. Now, I'm sorry to say, we have quite pedestrian toilets that do the job with a teaspoon of water or so and a "power assist.")

Well, then--enough about my toilets. On to the needlework! Here's Tulip Welcome--this part of it is stitched with two threads over one. Fussy work--I'm looking forward to the flowers.

And here's a work in progress, nearly complete. It's by The Drawn Thread and is called "The Easter Egg Sampler." It came as a kit (so long ago I don't even remember acquiring it); the fabric is 36 count Antique White Edinburgh linen with silk floss, silk ribbon, beads and a gemstone heart trinket. It was a fun stitch because there were a number of different stitches and I love springy/Eastery samplers with rabbits. All I have left to do is sew on the rest of the beads.

Which brings me to this week's sampler: Little by Little's "Caught in a Garden" which is designed to be stitched with DMC and a few colors of Gentle Arts threads on 40 count Hand-dyed Gold Finch Linen by R&R Reproductions.

Happy week, everyone!

Sunday Sampler: Almost Spring

A little more this week on Whale Hunting:
Temperatures have gotten warmer here--hard to believe there was snow on the ground two weeks ago. I went to my LNS in Fredericksburg today and picked up two projects in honor of spring. I almost bought the Mermaid Folly design and a couple of other things I've been seeing around the 'net but resisted for now. This design is by the Trilogy and is called "Easter Line Up." It's charted for 32 count Summer Khaki linen and Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art threads, although a DMC/Anchor conversion is offered as well. It comes with a "posey" trinket that I find a little unnecessary; I don't think the trinket adds anything but expense to the design. What I do enjoy is that it looks as though someone has taken a bite out of the chocolate rabbit's foot; the design says "yum" at the base of the rabbit--funny. I don't know about you, but I'm not much of a trinket, button or gee-gaw person on my projects, although I love beads.

I like this design as well. It's by the Sweetheart Tree and has everything included to stitch the design in a plastic clamshell box, including 28 ct. blue linen, threads, beads and a sunflower trinket.

Sampler Sunday: New England Style

I made some progress on Whale Hunting this week, although I'm still working on grass. Because I'm tired anyway and the grass is boring to work on, I found myself falling asleep over my needle more than once. But, still, it's progress, especially since the left edge is actually the margin of the picture.
Yesterday was fun; my sister came to visit me at the new house. In the spirit of things, she wore a jacket color-keyed to my kitchen rug! Hi, Sis!

Most of you, like me, have probably looked around that the newest designs from Nashville. I liked a couple of them a lot including Mermaid's Folly (I think it's called) from the new designer, Courtney Collection. But here are two new ones (not part of the Nashville group) by Brenda Keyes that I stumbled on when I went onto Em-Li's site. I love shopping at Em-Li's--a nice lady in North Carolina (who volunteers her age, which is something north of 65) answers the phone in person and takes your order and ships out the samplers to you quite promptly. Anyway, these samplers are in the style of the Plymouth Sampler and Providence, which so many stitchers like and are working on (I'm doing Plymouth myself). It's kind of funny that a designer from the U.K. creates the quintessential New England Sampler. The top one is called "Puritan," and the one on the bottom is called "New England." These pictures are borrowed from Em-Lis's website. The only thing I find jarring is the flame stitching around Puritan. I think I'd substitute something else for all that zig-zagging which gives a nice 3-d effect but makes me dizzy.

Challenges and Blessings: Sampler Sunday

The past week was quite an adventure. We closed on the new house Tuesday, and on Wednesday the movers showed up bright and early while I was still transferring our six cats and the bunny, some of whom were traumatized by the trip. The bunny is typically calm during all events; a couple of the cats are real nervous nellies. BF greeted the movers and pointed the way to the furniture and the roughly 80 boxes we had packed, and 7 hours later and a busted lamp or two, we were in our new home.

Thursday day was a blur of unpacking and running back to the old house for things that we didn't want the movers to transfer (electronics, etc.) and to start the final clean-up before the painters and carpeters come and we put the place on the market. Friday was more of the same, but we took time on Friday evening to make a proper meal in our new kitchen--yummy meatloaf. At that time we noticed a little odor of gas which we shrugged off; the gas smells a bit when you first turn on a burner. Besides, the smell of the meatloaf filled the air. Exhausted, we went off to bed. We got up early the next day to the overwhelming smell of gas, so we called the gas company, who advised us that a tech. guy was on his way and to get out of the house immediately. We stood around in our pajamas in confusion processing this information and wondering where our glasses and keys were and if we should take the cars out of the garage. At that point the gas guy showed up with his wand and meter and shouted at us "get out of this house, don't make any phone calls or turn on any lights." Seems we were in far greater danger than we realized, and we could have blown up! Seems also the lame previous homeowner decided to substitute or fix the old gas range that conveyed with the place by installing a part inexpertly. Words fail me--even though I have the vocabulary of a sailor IRL generally--when I contemplate the danger that person put us in to save a few bucks.

But all is well now, things are largely put away in the new place, and the old house is looking clean and spiffy (I've been putting about five hours a day into the place while I'm still on vacation). We bought a nifty new electric skillet until we can get a new range delivered sometime next week and went grocery shopping for food that can be cooked in the microwave or the skillet in the meantime. This morning we woke up to this:

Tonight I am finally, finally picking up my needle after almost a week away from my needlework and stitching in my new needlework room. Later, I might soothe away my aches and pains with a bath in my new tub.

This is a UFO I pulled from my stash. I can't remember what it's called, although I would imagine it's probably "Watermelons." It's from a book that I loaned out or lost long ago, but fortunately, I made a working copy of the chart so I could tote it around. I haven't finished it (I started it probably 20 years ago) because it's on aida, not my favorite cloth to work on. But it seems a shame for it to languish in a drawer, so I'm going to try to get it finished soon.

Flowers in the Snow: Sunday Sampler

I don't have any progress to show you today, as the little bit of stitching I did since I last posted was on a large project, and it doesn't look any different than the last time I showed it to you. Mostly we've been packing for the move on Wednesday and doing errands relating to making sure the house is ready for us. I'm going to miss our little yellow crocuses, which I planted and are always the first flowers to bloom each year.

I decided against making a move from Big Law to Even Bigger Law. They weren't very appealing when I went over for the interview. There were lots of don'ts--don't make a mess, don't leave cases lying around, don't put file boxes around your cubicle. Sounded mostly like don't have fun to me. Everyone there seemed subdued. So, notwithstanding the extra pay (to make up for the benefits I would no longer have), I'm staying behind. My best work friend is staying for the same reason I am, which is good, but it was hard to pack up all my other friends. As our clients faxed in their releases to have their files moved, we pulled stuff from file cabinets, loaded them in boxes and gave them to the moving crew who came with a truck to haul it all away. In the end it was about 450 boxes of documents. On Friday I started to cry early in the morning and never really stopped the rest of the day. I was efficient though, and everyone pretended not to notice, except for various people from Human Resources who'd come by to pat me on the arm. It will be good for me anyway; I've been bored, unchallenged and too comfortable. It's time to get out and find something more interesting to do, once we sell our present house.
Here's a wintery little sampler I bought on ebay. It's by Eileen Bennett--I like her classic designs--and it's called Frost Worke Sampler. It's to be done on 32 ct Belfast Linen in cream and is stitched with DMC and tatting cotton in a variety of stitches.

Here's an extra sampler for today: "On Peace," from Designs from Pamela. Her photo is unclear, but the design is very intriguing. Someone is fishing in a stream, watched by what look to be a dog and a cat. Fun! The sheer drop of the property is a bit scary-looking though!

I've had fun buying fabrics on ebay to make into curtains, drapes and valances; for a while you may be looking at more of that from me than stitching. But I still set some time aside to stitch--there's nothing quite as calming, really.

Day Off!

We've been packing:

We had an ice storm that started yesterday afternoon. When the government closed at 2 p.m., we were sent home as well. The road home was traffic clogged and slippery so it took about 2 and a half hours to get there. The bus was packed, but we had a group nap. We looked like a bunch of kindergarteners--hats, mittens, wrapped in coats--heads bobbing in the stop-and-go traffic. I stayed home today, as the commuter bus wasn't running, which was a nice break from the tension at work. Those of us being asked to join the new firm were given the figures at which we'd be hired. The question is, would you give up generous benefits in exchange for cash? That's what it comes down to--the wooing firm can't change their benefits structure for the new folks, so they give you more salary. I'd lose two weeks of leave, lose my year-end bonus, lose some profit-sharing contribution. In return, they'd give me a 20% increase in salary and a nice signing bonus. But I don't really think I want it, although more money is always seductive, especially when you're buying a new house and have seen lots of things at antique shows that you'd like to put in that house...like this vintage work bench. It's simply beautiful and beats any new piece I've seen in furniture stores as we've looked for a center island type of thing for our kitchen. Actually, it'd make a great craft table too, perfect for holding a sewing machine and all my cups and jars and boxes of notions. It was probably a lathe table (the well in the center held the equipment), and the beautifully pegged holes would have held tools and vises. We passed on it that day, but we took the card of the seller.

Late in the afternoon when the roads were mostly cleared I drove over to the box store to buy more packing cartons and stopped at Michaels to buy the DMC skeins for the Book of Hours project. And I worked some on Meadow Hills since I'd left Whale Hunting at work. BF noted I was cranky this afternoon since I lay down to take a nap and he woke me up to tell me it was time for dinner. Poor guy had a crabby valentine for a while until I fully woke up. He made a lovely roast, mashed potatoes (I was in charge of gravy), salad and corn. Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Packing Up: Sampler Sunday

I've been working on Whale Hunting a good bit. I'm at a fairly tedious part of the design, stitching lots of grass in huge blocks of the same color. For those of you who asked, this design is large (certainly larger than I figured when I purchased it online): 21.75" x 9". There's lots and lots of grass to go, and more sea, and two more major structures, one of them a church.
All the tedium on this is a bit soothing though. It's a nice break from packing to move to our new home on the 21st. We've very excited about going, and we've been decluttering for months in anticipation of it, but we still have tons and tons of stuff to sort through--BF has lived here 17 years, and I have lived here 12. What I didn't anticipate was the bombshell that got dropped on me at work Thursday: it seems the corporate practice that I've worked happily for is picking up and moving to another, larger law firm. I'm invited to go as well and have a concrete job offer; it's just a matter of ironing out the kinks in benefits; unfortunately in a few respects, their benefits aren't quite as good. I have the option of remaining behind and working for the Food and Drug Administration practice. Not sure I want to do that--they're litigators primarily, which is a whole other kettle of fish from transactional law, although I could stay with the firm I like with its cushy benefits (not least of which is six weeks of leave per year). I have about a week to decide, right on the eve of my own move. And whether I go or stay, I still have to help the corporate folks pack up their files and cases--I feel like curling up in a packing box and sleeping until both moves are over. I'm grateful that I have a job either way, of course; I've had law firm friends in similar situations wind up with a job at neither place.
So in honor of my stress, I've chosen a happy, hoppy sampler for today: Bunny Parade, by The Workbasket. It's stitched on 32 count fabric using Weeks Dye Works or DMC. And it's a LOT smaller than Whale Hunting!

Here's my own dear bunny parade, sticking out his tongue at me.

20% Off Sampler Sunday

To celebrate Superbowl Sunday, my LNS, Everything Cross Stitch, offered a special sale today. Everything in the store except Anchor and DMC threads was 20% off, and some pre-cut gorgeous fabrics were as much as 35% off. When I arrived around 2 p.m. there was happy mayhem, with a line at the fabric table. I got some lovely things (too dark for a decent photo) including some beautiful colors of R&R linens, and lots of odds and ends to fill out projects I was working on--everything from the beads for the Book of Hours bellpull to the project pack threads and embellishments to Christmas Village (Victoria Sampler) to threads I was out of for Whale Hunting. And speaking of Whale Hunting, here it is. I've become enthusiastic about it once again--never really lost that, but it had gotten bumped down the list a bit.

I didn't buy any new samplers today, although I was tempted, but here's a design from my collection called--surprise--"Noah's Ark at Sea." I've long intended to collect various Noah's Arks and do them. There are lots of them out there, some quite elaborate. This is a simpler (therefore more realistic project for me, time-wise) version. What I like, especially after carping a couple of weeks ago about the Procession sampler that showed a second, more complex version but required that you send away for the fancier version, is that you have your choice on two variations of the Noah's Ark design. The first, done on 32 ct "dirty linen" Belfast has an alphabet punctuated by little animals above and below the boat; the second design--my favorite--is done on 28 ct blue linen and shows ocean waves and little fish under the boat, as well as the stars and moon above, and an alphabet border. Nice to have the choice, all in one chart! The chart is designed by Sandra Sullivan and is offered by Homespun Elegance.


Have a great week--I'm off to monitor some drapery fabric I'm bidding on at ebay...

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....

Five Servings a Day

It's so cold and bleak outside, that I reached this week for a nice warm-looking project, the Vermillion Stitchery's Glorious Fruit.

This is the little guy that we rescued from the backyard. Like the rest of our six, he was unwanted by someone, and in this transient area, probably left behind in a move. He got into a fight with another stray and wound up with a serious eye infection, so off he went to the vet and then to a pet ophthalmologist (something I didn't even know existed). She fixed him up, and his peepers, as you can see here, are just fine now. It's bad and good when bad things like that happen in our back yard; there's the worry and expense of course, but the good is that when we've spent the money on them, and they've become de-flea'ed and dewormed and used to a nice indoor cage at the vet while they heal and are de-crittered which seems to civilize them, BF allows them to retire inside the house. So here's Scratchy, the sweetest of our six. His favorite thing in the world is to sit on a willing lap, which is just about perfect in this weather.