My lovely and talented daughter-in-law, Melissa, brought me this kit.  She saw it at JoAnn Fabrics and thought of me!  She knows me so well!

Success!

You might remember my difficulty in tracking down the congress cloth to do this project.....well, I got an e-mail from Freda Murfin, the designer, and she has located the congress cloth and it is in the mail on it's way to me!  I can't wait to start it!

Looking for Congress Cloth

Southpaw Stitcher showed a finish on her blog a little while ago, that I just felt the need to stitch immediately!  It's a counted canvas piece call Variations on a Rhodes Theme by Freda's Fancy Stitching.  Rhodes stitch are my absolute favorite, especially Rhodes hearts and butterflies, so I got the chart and started to kit it up.

Welcome Stitchery had the chart and all the fibres but not the congress cloth.  The chart says Pewter Congress cloth.  The search for this is proving to be much more difficult than anticipated.  After contacting numerous LNS, I finally called Zweigart, who told me they never, ever had a color of congress cloth named Pewter.



I then contacted the designer to see who the manufacturer was.  Freda replied to my e-mail very quickly to tell me that I must have an old chart.  When she originally designed the piece she used a sample that was mismarked, and that the real color is Dusty Blue.  I then started searching for Dusty Blue congress cloth and have not been successful.  Freda then let me know she had a piece and would be happy to send it to me.  I sent her payment via paypal, and had an envelope in a few days.  Right before the envelope arrive, Freda let me know that she had mistakenly sent me mono canvas, and would look for the congress cloth.  She did refund my payment, and let me know her LNS as ordered the congress cloth, which is labeled Zweigart color number 594 in Canada and was probably called something entirely different in the US.  She mentioned that it would take quite a bit of time to get it in and she would let me know when that happened to see if I still wanted it.

So....does anyone have a 12 x 12 piece of congress cloth in Pewter / Dusty Blue / color number 594?  I will be happy to pay you, or give you a pint of blood or my left arm.......

NOW, where did I put it?

A few weeks I was looking for a kit that I had promised to send someone and came across an unstitched runner that I forgot I had. 


I needed to stitch something for a silent auction and this was perfect!  I put the runner away carefully in a safe place so that I could grab it and stitch once I located the chart.  I found the magazine with the chart in it, pulled all the fibres and then went to get the fabric.......now, where did I put it?

I have looked, and looked and looked some more.  I found a lot of other stitching projects that I forgot I had, but still no runner......and the auction is this Thursday (yes, that's in two days.)  I had already promised the runner for the auction, so no what do I do?  I could give them the one that is already done, and restitch it for myself once I find the fabric....but, what if it is lost forever? 

I called Stoney Creek (from whom I originally purchased many of these runners) to see if they could point me in the right direction to find another.  Much to my surprise, and theirs, they had one (yes one) left in stock!   They are mailing it to me as I type!   Of course, the minute I finish stitching the new runner I will find the one I was looking for.....



Snow Belles!

Just released by Lizzie*Kate......will make a great companion piece to 6 Fat Men....who is up for a Stitch-a-Long?

What month is this?

I had a very long general membership meeting scheduled for Sunday afternoon, and knew I could get a lot of stitching done.


I just had a little bit of finishing left to do on a floss ring tag, which I will show you once the recipient has received it, so I needed to bring another project.

I grabbed my Tea Cup bag, and pulled out what I thought was the March chart, pulled all the floss needed, and went merrily on my way.

The meeting was long, and I stitched for a good two hours on the tea cup.......until all of a sudden I noticed I was stitching the April chart.

Oh well, I guess I will just stitch the March chart in April, and then be back on track.

Cloister Garden

Tonight is my first class at Welcome Stitchery on Cloister Garden by Drawn Thread. I have had this chart for awhile, and eventually want to do all of the Drawn Thread gardens especially Alpine Garden. I hope that after this class I will have the courage to do Alpine Garden on my own as that is the one I REALY want to stitch.

The class is for three Monday evenings, starting tonight, and then every two weeks for the rest of the month.

A Surprise in the Mail!

Last week, I was browsing on e-bay, when I came across a seller that looked to be selling illegal copies of cross stitch charts. They all had different names, and were advertised as being available on CD or as an e-mail attachment. Sounded very fishy to me. I contacted a few of the design companies via e-mail addresses on their web sites, but knew full well that not much would be done about the illegal activity.

I was very surprised, when just a few moments later I received a reply from Marc Saastad, the talent behind The Silver Lining. He was most gracious and thanked me for letting him know. Ironically, the chart of his that I had noticed was Humboldt Coast, one of the next large projects that I plan to start once I get few other things out of the way. We e-mailed back and forth for a bit about his charts, etc.

Imagine my surprise when I received an envelope from him this week. Enclosed was the chart pack for African Violets #4. It is autographed and there was a lovely note from Marc enclosed. I hope to be able to stitch it soon!

A New Favorite Designer!

Bleu de Chine, a French company , puts out these lovely heart designs! There are so many wonderful charts! My wish list just got a lot longer!

What's next?

Ever since I finished stitching the Texas Monthly Minis, I have been asked by a number of people what Texas themed chart I will be stitching in 2009.

Thanks to some on-line friends, Dianne from Texas, who sold me the charts, and Kim (Thank you, Kim) from Illinois, who sent me the fabric I needed (I wanted it to match this year's ornaments and Hobby Lobby doesn't carry it anymore), I am happy to show you the Twelve Days of Texas Christmas!

#1 son-in-law will end up with a Texas themed tree after all! (Justin, eat your heart out!)

For those of you that are wondering, the Twelve Days of Texas Christmas are as follows:

12. Bluebonnets blooming

11. Texas Rangers

10. Ten Gallon Hats

9. Texas Cowgirls

8. Longhorns grazing

7. Yellow Roses

6. Redbirds Flying

5 . Lone Star Flags

4. Chilli Peppers

3. Armadillos

2. cowboy boots

and a mockingbird in a pecan tree!

A Gift from an Anonymous Friend

I came home from work yesterday, later than usual after a particularly difficult staff meeting at work. There was a great deal of discussion about calendaring for the parish and questioning of how I do things and people who have no idea of what is involved telling me how things should be done even though their vision doesn't make sense, but I digress.

I found a large envelope in the mail from 123 Stitch, a wonderful on-line cross stitch shop. I was very confused as I didn't remember ordering anything recently. I opened the envelope to find the Seascape pattern by Silver Lining with a note that it was a gift from an anonymous friend! I contacted the owner of the shop, and she wouldn't disclose who this anonymous friend was.

The chart is lovely, and similar to Humbolt Coast by the same designer. I was going to stitch Humbolt Coast in the near future, but it is a horizontal design, and sometimes those are a bit harder to hang. Seascape is very similar, but vertically oriented, so it might fit better, but I don't quite know yet. I will have to study both charts and get some opinions.

I will probably end up stitching both, one for me and the other one to give away! Feel free to let me know which is your favorite of the two.

So thank you to "my anonymous friend" whoever you are, you are so very kind to think of me.

Looking Ahead to 2009 - Stitching-wise

I know it is a bit early to look to next year and make stitching plans, but that's what I started doing yesterday afternoon. I have soooo many things I want to stitch for myself as well as for others. I am behind on new stockings for each of my children as well as my bonus children (daughter and sons in law), as well as two wedding samplers (Kristin please pick out your sampler!!!!) and 5 baby samplers for babies that have already been born.

But the most important piece that I will be stitching in the first part of the year is Just Nan's Baby Garden. This will be the birth sampler for my very first grandchild that is due to be born around June. My friend Irene stitched this for her grandson last year, and I just fell in love with it and purchased the chart last October (of 2007) in anticipation of "someday" being an Oma. Well "someday" is getting closer, and I will be starting this piece right after the first of the year, so that it will be complete when baby Rill is born.

The important stitching for the second half of the year will be Baby Rill's Christmas stocking, but I haven't picked it out yet. I will need to wait until s/he is born to find just the right one.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm just a little too excited about the happy news!

Did you know that I am inspiring?

This chart is named Eva's Garden. Laura Tilson of Snapdragon designs, designed this a few months ago, and named it after me! She said I inspired her! I got my autographed chart before Christmas, so now I must make time to stitch it.