Happy New Year!!!

Wow, two posts in one week!  :)

I just put the stitches in one final ornament and finish for 2014...  this is from Little By Little.. Sleigh Bird...

Looking back on 2014 I was surprised at how many finishes I have accomplished!  While not all were started in 2014 these were all done in the year...... 

And already I have BIG plans for the New Year too!  Lots of SALs to join in!  

There are two for the Scarlet Letter.... Mary Gail...still not sure about the fabric choice lol - either Peanut Butter Pie YUM! :) or PTP Wren, and Jenny Bean with Lakeside Linen Tarnished Silver.  

And I will make a second attempt at Hannah Pepper!  I am going with 36 ct cream.  There will be a lot of encouragement with this SAL and the dedicated facebook group.  

And yet a fourth!  Ann Tarbox is another facebook SAL..... for this one I am trying out 35ct cream Floba fabric.  

So it looks like is should be a fun stitch-y year with like-minded stitch-y friends!!  

I hope you are having a fun time ringing in the New Year.  I am sitting cozy at home with my Gigi... here she is sitting on her Christmas monkey lol.  We are watching Rockin' New Years Eve and the Times Square Ball drop.  Tradition.  :)  

A toast to you ALL for a Healthy and Happy New Year filled with happiness and peace and lots of stitching!!  xxxxx  Krista 

Summer Smiles...

Summer finish!

American Quaker Band Sampler

Summer stitching WIP....  still working on those eyelets!

Blackbird Designs her sampler SAL

Summer's beauty...

Summer naps......zzzzzzz.....

Summer lunch with a friend.... cranzinger chicken salad with pecans and cranberries, SO yum! 

Summer project planning...

Heartstring Samplery ~ His Eye is on the Sparrow

Summer book fair finds!

Summer black raspberry sweetness!  

It is so hard to believe that the end of summer is near.

Wishing you a week filled with miles of smiles and happy stitches!  xxxx

Wednesday WIP

Happy Hump Day!  I already have my eyes on the weekend ahead :)  

I got a bit further on my American Quaker Band Sampler.  Next up is some over-one!!...

I am very excited about some of the new designs coming out of the St. Charles Market, especially the BIG sampler from Heartstring Samplery!  It will be a fun one!!

I have been stocking up on some linens...  Not always easy finding exactly what I am hoping for on the internet.  All of you with LNSs are so very lucky!  On the far left is some Graziano that was supposed to be Antique White, but next to the Zweigart antique white it sure doesn't seem so.  Then I ordered some flax since I LOVED stitching my SDW Sampler on what I had originally ordered as flax.  Hmmm, that doesn't seem the case either! lol  Now I am waiting for some Ivory/Cream to arrive and hoping it will be just right!  

This week the Scarlet Letter Years group posted a new interview with an amazing stitcher, Karen.  I know many of you are in the group but for those who are not I thought you might really enjoy reading her story and seeing her beautiful samplers!   Karen's interview can be found here.  It is the 17th!! interview in the series, Beyond the Little X.  All of the interviews can be found at this page here.  Many who you may know from blogland such as Edgar from Blacksheep's Bit of the Web and Robert from a Gentleman's Samplings.  I enjoy going back to all of them for inspiration. Two of my favorites, an interview with Marsha Parker of the Scarlet Letter and Sampler Annie.  I hope you take a look-see.  You will be amazed and inspired I am sure!  

It seems to have been a very long week!  The passing of Robin Williams hit me harder than I could ever have imagined.  His talent was genius and like none other.  He could make me laugh so hard I would cry.  

And then to hear Lauren Bacall also passed on, more heartbreaking news.  Bogie and Bacall were quite the pair.  They made some fantastic movies in their years together.  

Here is my super moon shot from Sunday!  Enjoy the rest of the week!  Happy Stitching!  xxxx

 

Road trip to Long Island

TGIF!  The summer weeks are flying by!  I have made some progress on American Quaker Band Sampler.  I love the crispness of the black letters.  More than half way now!

Last weekend I took a trip to Long Island to catch up with friends and see my Mom for her birthday.  

On Saturday evening I went to a minor league baseball game with friends to see the Long Island Ducks!  It was a special military appreciation night.  There was a presentation to the forces attending the game and the home team guys wore camouflage uniforms.  Such a beautiful stadium!  

Lots of great fun with audience participation games between each inning, with the help of the team mascot - Quackerjack!  

A grand finish to the evening with a win for the home team and a fireworks extravaganza! 

On Sunday I took my mother out for a birthday lunch at her favorite chinese buffet.  We had a nice time celebrating and catching up.  Then I was on the road again back home.  

Hope you have a stitch-y weekend!  I hope to do the same!  Enjoy!  xxxx

So Peachy!

Hi there!  How is your summer stitching going?  I did pick up one of my WIPs over the weekend while watching the World Cup finale.  Hooray for Germany!  :-)

I am patiently waiting for some new fabric to arrive, some 36 ct linens, that I may use for Hannah Pepper.  Yes, second guessing already ~ how unusual!  lol!  So I picked up my Scarlet Letter American Quaker Band that was in progress already.  Here is where I had left off a few months back....  

... and here is where it is now!  I really wasn't diggin' the pale peach color as it seemed to disappear right into the fabric.  So I unpicked it all, and also that medium green color since for the life of me I could not remember what color I substituted it for and it was no longer in my bag..... it must have gravitated to another WIP!  So I found a wonderful skein of floss in my stash that I had gotten from Victorian Motto.  All shades of peaches so I decided to use it instead to brighten things UP!!  

Perhaps a little too far to the bright spectrum??  Not sure yet, it definitely looks happier!  What do you all think??   Since the main body of the this sampler is all done in black I think this POP! of color might suit it fine.  

I have to say too that Nancy's dyed floss is a real dream to work with, so much better than others I have tried!  Love it!

I also wanted to share a super sweet surprise that I got in the mail this week... a gorgeous emery berry from Nicola.  Thank you so much Nicola!  I love it!  These berries are made by Cyndi Foore and you can find all her beautiful berries at her fb page.... Strawberry Fields Needlework.  The finishing is exquisite!  

Hope you are all having some summertime fun!  Here are some pretty yellow daylilies that have been blooming here....

Happy Summer and Happy Stitching!!  xxx

Saturday Stitching and Sunshine

Happy Weekend!

I have started the Blackbird Designs SAL, her sampler.   Loving it so far!  Has anyone else started yet?

Blackbird Designs her sampler SAL
32 ct R&R french vanilla with sampler threads

I decided to pull materials from my stash so I have switched out a few colors.  I am using Toasted Barley, Grecian Gold, and Brethren Blue as charted, but switched in Raspberry Parfait, Hyacinth and Red Grape for the copper, purple and pink.

I also got a bit further on my Scarlet Letter American Quaker Band Sampler.  

American Quaker Band Sampler
36 ct Examplar Lakeside Linen with dmc thread

I recently finished the book Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland and absolutely LOVED it!!  Definitely in my top list of favorites now.  Next up is The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier and it has grabbed me right from the go.  Love it when that happens!

It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day here in Connecticut!  Here is a pic I snapped this afternoon.....

Seems apropos since today was the Preakness Stakes!  I was jumping for joy for California Chrome!  

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!  Happy stitching!  xxxxx

Stitching, Peeps, and Rabbits!

Happy Easter Everybody!

Got a bit of my itch to stitch back this weekend and continued on my American Quaker Band.  I love the bright turquoise!!   Feels good to be stitching again!

Today I picked up some purple Peeps!  My favorite Easter sweet!

I have been de-stashing lately and found this really sweet OOP Easter Wabbit!  I thought it would be just perfect for a giveaway!  I will pick a name on Saturday the 26th from those who comment on this post. 

And there is an 'Our Scarlet Letter Years' rabbit hunt here.  There are bunnies hidden in the Scarlet Letter gallery in 22 samplers!  If you find them there is a special discount for those samplers.  All the details are in the link.  Happy Hunting!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday!!

Happy Stitching!  xxxx

Feelin' Fickle!

Hi Everyone!  It has been a while!

After finishing SDW I have been very fickle with not knowing what to work on next.  I keep starting new projects but have not been that jazzed about stitching.  Maybe it is Spring fever?

I started on Scarlet Letter's Ellenor Wykcs with a small SAL group.  All the double running stitch seemed so foreign to me.

Then I worked a bit on N. Hinde from the Scarlet Letter.  This one seemed small and I thought "well, I should be able to finish that in a couple days"... NOT!  Working this one with some cherry Wildflowers silk.  

Next up, I went back to Gigi R's Saxony ATS.  I started this one also as a SAL back in October and have not gotten so far with it.  The colors are beautiful though....

Then, I came across another SAL on fb called Randje per week, a group from the Netherlands.  Looked like so much fun so I jumped right in!

And now I have jumped onto the American Quaker Band Sampler from the Scarlet Letter.  A small start but I am enjoying this one so far!

So what does it all mean??  Lots of WIPs!  

I also wanted to share with you the 'finished' finish of the moose parade.  My friend loved the stitching and decided instead of having it framed she wanted a pillow.  So I recommended, of course, our friend Carolina Stitcher Faye!   What a fantastic job she did!!  

And in an effort to do some Spring cleaning, I have started going through my stash to post up on Ebay.  I have posted up about 40 charts already which can be found here if you are interested in taking a look-see.  I have some very old charts from about 15 years ago, including some OOP.  I am amazed at how much I have... even duplicates!  Guess I liked some so much I got them twice!  lol!  

Thanks for visiting!   Enjoy the weekend and Happy Stitching!  xxxx