Who? Me?!

Stitchers are such a warm supportive group! I have been nominated by stitching blogger Kim for a Kreativ Blogger Award, and am humbly honored.

We learn so much from each others' blogs, and gain valuable insight, inspiration and motivation every day! I feel especially privileged to have made your acquaintance through this blog.

Here, in no particular order, are my 5 nominees:

A Sampler of Stitches

Garden of Stitches

Coastal Stitching

Tangled Threads

Santa Stitches

Thank you, gals, for keeping me in stitches!

Where is my Head?

After trips to Portland, OR, and to Portland, ME, I am back to stitching and blogging. Throw in a bad case of poison ivy, and a boring budget meeting in Cleveland, and I am ready for summer to end. Never even got the swimsuit out of the drawer!


Oregon was fun, especially the afternoon I spent at Acorns & Threads. Wagon, what wagon?? Just had to get the large check fabric used for Summer Soapbox, and lots more goodies.


Visiting my folks and my daughter, who is staying with them for the summer before returning to UMaine, was very enjoyable and restful. Of course, we had to have our traditional lobster feed:



This is about how far I was on Sailor's Knots before my schedule went haywire:


And here is my progress as of this morning!

On the Rocks

Today was a day off from the courthouse, so I found myself at Hancock Fabrics and Hobby Lobby taking advantage of holiday sales. Too much fun! As you can see, I have been stranded on the the "rock bound coast" with my summer piece.

Guess what?! Just realized that dark-ish blue in the clouds is the wrong blue (shows- to-go-ya that working off the floss organizer at the stitch-in way back when was not a smart move!) Have now frogged and restitched it, and it looks so much better - DUH!

Stay tuned for the next pic...

North by Northwest

I got so anxious to get to the compass I "navigated" my way down there!

First Light

Here's about where I am with "Sailor's Knots." It is really a fun stitch. The shadows in this picture do not do the colors justice. You can see where I had to frog a little (two of the floss colors for the rocks were labeled incorrectly. I had to rely on the kit picture to fix it. Think I'll be staying with this project for a while.

Start-itis Attack!

Had a real bad case of start-itis the other night, and since I'm shopping in my stash these days, I dove head-first into my kit cabinet, and, lo and behold, came up with this beautiful nautical design:



In case you can't read the fine print, it's call "Sailor's Knots" and was put out by Needle Treasures. I've googled and ebayed it, and can't find any mention or picture of it, so it must be long OOP. I had, in fact, started it at a stitch-in at Creative Cottage many years ago, but, because it's very large, had a hard time holding the q-snap at the table. And, it's on ivory Aida, which I am sticking with. I actually think some designs stitch well on Aida. Do need to get rid of the pesky "color organizer" it came with, and wind or baggie-up the floss, though. Who knows, this could be my summer project...

Time for a Clambake, Right?

Whoa, can't believe it's been over a month since I have posted here. That's what comes from working 60+ hours a week!! Anywho, here's my finished Oberlin's Clambake. You'll remember I found this gem during our shop hop last summer. Makes my mouth water...

3's About Me

My good stitching pen pal Jan sent me an email the other day with her list and it got me thinking, so here's a few of mine.

3 things I love about my life:

* my great kids
* my endearing friends
* my wonderful man

3 favorite things to do:

* cross-stitch (naturally!)
* listen to NPR
* watch a good movie

3 favorite foods:

* seafood (esp. lobster, shrimp, and scallops)
* rhubarb pie
* mom's potato salad

3 favorite TV shows:

* House
* Grey's Anatomy
* Bill Moyer's Journal

3 favorite places on earth:

* Maine
* Chicago
* Seattle

3 things I am looking forward to:

* selling my house
* retirement (more time to stitch!)
* travelling more

3 places I'd love to go:

* Scotland
* Greece
* Bahamas

My Christmas Village

Prairie Schooler's classic Christmas Village is fresh off the Q-Snap. I'm pretty pleased with it.

Snow means HoHRH

Here in Southwest Ohio, it was a mess of snow. So, it was no problem hunkering down to finish House #3.

Music and Books Cubed !

Since Stephanie is home for Spring Break this week, I was reminded that I never did post the stand-up I made for her for Christmas. She loved it!

New Prairie Schooler !!

Just plunked my money down to my eBay seller for "Weather Wise," one of the new Prairie Schooler designs. It has lighthouses, so I just couldn't resist.....

Stitching as Therapy

Don't you just love that feeling of seeing the end in sight. Stitching has been so therapeutic for me lately. What with the house on the market, prodigal son returning home, and working two jobs, I try to find itsy bitsy times to stitch. It shuts the rest of the world out, if just for a few precious minutes.



This is my favorite house by far.

Christmas Village Update

My dear friend Vickie and I decided to stitch Prairie Schooler's Christmas Village together. It is so much fun! My fabric is a very pale green linen, which may not show up in this photo. I have decided to do all the cross-stitch, before doing any backstitching. Rounding that SE corner of the border really made me feel like I was close to the finish.

Remember When You First Learned How to Stitch?

Take time to pass your craft on to a young person.

Christmas Village - Making Progress

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was quiet but nice. Pulled out Prairie Schooler's Christmas Village, and stitched on the trees for a while. I'm using a pale green 32 ct. linen.

It's All in the Hunt!

One the funnest parts of having this cross-stitch obsession is hunting down patterns that I fall in love with. Recently, I saw a picture of the absolute cutest angel stitched by a stitching blogger for her dear grandmother. I won't snag the pic, but check out her blog (it's a great one!). I have managed to track down the recent issue of the French xs magazine it came from (Point de Croix), but I'll be darned if I can figure out (high school French was a long time ago, people!) how to buy it. Anyway, just on the off-chance one of my readers gets this, here's the one I would love to get my hands on:

What October ??

I guess blogging has taken a backseat to getting my house ready to sell, including sorting thru boxes and BOXES, painting and cleaning. So I have been a stranger to the stitching blogosphere. Even stitching has been slow, since I am really trying to read more (so far My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen, and now The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards). I did finish this one up though (CCN's Geranium House), stitched on 28 ct. French Vanilla. Found an almost-finished Stoney Creek - Rock of Ages Lighthouse, which I am plugging away on. The rope was fun, but oh that anchor with the filament thread (UGH!).

Finishes Close To My Heart

Two recent graduates of my "Currently Stitching On" list are posted for your viewing. Music & Books from LHN, is for my daughter, who is a 2nd year student at UMaine. She is an English major/Womens Studies minor, and plays in the UMaine Symphonic Band.



My Prairie Schooler Santa from 1992 was finished this weekend. I have been wanting to stitch him for SO LONG! This was my first time using 18 ct. New Khaki Davos. Gotta watch that tension all the time. Love the lobsta!

Introducing Beth's Designs

My faithful readers will recall the July shop hop my friend Vickie and I embarked on in July. In my July 23rd post to this space, I mentioned Inn Stitches in Bay Village, Ohio, and it's very talented owner, Beth Gantz. It was so refreshing to meet this young, enthusiastic, and super talented needleworker, who introduced us to the most darling "monthlies" she had designed. Here are the two that I purchased, and have now stitched up. Just love 'em!