The little stitcher who could

     I have been stitching my fingers to the bone this past week, trying to catch up on lost stitching time due to vacation.  Here is an update of ATS.  My last post had ended with the star motifs.

     Here is a picture of the whole sampler.

     Two feet or so of fabric remains and I have some decisions to make.

     Underneath these goofy looking guys holding the grapes is a row of large motifs, then the verse which is charted unevenly.  Some of the letters are crowded and some are underneath others.  Should I straighten the verse out?  One of my Facebook friends did and it looks nice but having that school girl charm to my sampler would be cute as well.  Also, if I move the words, other things have to move as well.  It reminds me of when my husband and I built our house.  We wanted a step down living room but the builder told us it would make the basement ceiling lower.  A beam would have to be moved and then a wall downstairs, etc..etc.  Really?  All that headache just to lower a floor eight inches?  Forget it, just leave the floor alone.  So I may just leave the verse alone as well.

     I have three more followers!  Yippee!  I enjoy checking out your blogs as well.  One of my favorite bloggers just finished Frances Eden 1809 by Handwork Samplers.  I have been looking for this sampler for several months but it must be out of print.  If any of my dear followers has this chart and would like to part with it, I will give it a happy home.  You can email me at dchronis@mchsi.com  Otherwise if you know of a shop that has it, please post a comment and let me know.  The end of And They Sinned will eventually come and Frances is on my short list to stitch.  Happy stitching ladies!!

Stash!!

     Hi ladies!  This is going to be a lengthy blog so if you are here for the pictures, they are first and then a bit about my trip below it. Some of you know that I went to Las Vegas and visited Stitcher's Paradise.  The name says it all and here are my finds.

     From left to right, top to bottom are Crystal Mercedes linen (with sparkles and all), Rainbow Dreams, Phoenix by Picture This Plus, Crystal Glory (sparkles too), Antique Yellow, and Carnival by Picture This Plus.  They are all 32 count and 1/4 yards.

     The linen pictured with the floss is Highland by Picture This Plus.  The threads are Sampler Threads for Permit Me Not to Stray.  I might use the blue linen for this piece.  It sort of looks like the sky.  Also pictured are a few more Belle Soie silks to add to my collection.  I am hoping to eventually have enough to only use those to stitch with.  They are so yummy.

     Here is part of the shop.  On the left is the end of the fiber wall.  Just look at all those models!

     This is part of the linen room.  Yowzers!  All the way to the right is 32 count linen in every color imaginable.  I had the owner take off the whole stack in the overdyeds and I thumbed through them, pulling out each one I wanted. 

     The shop is small so they take the older charts and place them in magazine holders by designer and then display them in alphabetical order. 
     So ladies, that's all the pictures I have.  Thank you for looking and if anyone gets a chance to go to this shop, GO FOR IT! 

     Top 10 things I learned while being in Vegas.

10  You can't carry a souvenir snow globe on a plane.  (Poor Evan)

 9  Quit while you are ahead.

 8  If you think your shoes are comfortable, you are wrong. 

 7  Cab drivers are crazy.

 6  The days of cheap buffets are over.  A plate of spaghetti will cost you $35 dollars.  Don't even think about ordering the steak.

 5  Get a map of the hotel/casino and study it.

 4  Don't wait until the 3rd day to get a player's card.  You will be out of money anyway.

 3  Don't go in July.  It's fricken HOT out there.

 2  Go to as many shows as you can afford.

 And the number one thing I learned in Vegas is...Never get a hotel room for four people with only one toilet.

I need a quickie!

     Why is it that I am on vacation and have less time to stitch than if I weren't?  Oh ya, because my husband keeps planning things without my knowledge.  He doesn't understand that I want to stitch.  I don't want to shop for bushes, go out for lunch, or clean the restaurant.  I also don't want to be sent a third party text message saying we are having company in an hour.  He just loves to do that to me.

      Here is the disappointing update for the week on And They Sinned.  I finished the last of the alphabet on the right side, the coral flowers, some of the vine border and a few motifs.  On a positive note, I am nearly done with the second page.  It might only be a couple weeks.  Well, actually three because I'm leaving on a jet plane early next week and this is too big to take on my trip.  Therefore....that's why I need a quickie.

      Get your head out of the gutter, I'm not talking about that kind of quickie.  A very small project is in order for the three hour plane trip so Shepherd's Bush's Happy Day is coming with me to Vegas.  Certainly I can get this finished on the plane as long as the turbulence is minimal.  Once I am there a trip to Stitcher's Paradise is planned.  They don't have a website in which to order supplies but I hear the shop is heavenly. 

      I will have to miss next week's blog but will update soon on my awesome shopping trip.  How about I post pics of all my goodies?  Sounds like a plan.  Happy stitching ladies!

A new view

Hi, my name is Dawn and I'm a stitchaholic.  I am addicted to stitching and I have to do it everyday or I get withdrawals.  I am also addicted to FaceBook, my iPhone, TruTV, and the Casey Anthony murder trial.  It is unfortunate that some of the memories I will have of stitching this piece will be poisoned (no pun intended) by the trial of this evil woman.  Here is the progress this week.

Most of the alphabets are done and fun stuff is ahead.  Here is another view.

Apologies for keeping this so short but the trial is coming back on.  Casey would be torn to shreds by the prosecutor if she took the stand so if she is smart she will just sit her butt in that chair and roll the dice with the jury.  Closing arguments are going to be riveting.  Till next Thursday, happy stitching ladies.

Now I DON'T know my ABC's!

This is the progress made in the last week on And They Sinned.  I stitched the right side of the grass under Adam and Eve, everything to the right of the fruit basket, the right half of the coral flower border, and more ABC's.  The alphabet is moving along quickly, even though each of the upper case letters have to be stitched individually so the thread will not show on the back between the letters.  The letters N and M are in reverse order, the J is missing, and the V and U are in reverse order as well.  Theo, my 16-year-old, was watching me stitch yesterday and said, "Mom, do you know that you got the alphabet wrong on that?"  Thank goodness he's not 6 and getting confused.

Most sampler stitchers know that alphabets change with the period of the piece and the style.  For example, the letters Q, X, Y, and Z are missing from some Dutch alphabets.  The Greek alphabet has no Y.  They use the G and pronounce it guttural.  There is no K in the Spanish dictionary.  I really don't think this sampler has a period to it.  I mean it seems pretty modern to me but one of my Facebook friends told me this sampler was meant to look like it was stitched by a young girl.  That is why the spacing is off on some of the letters and the flowers in the hill are not perfectly symmetrical. 

This will be the last week I will be able to take a picture of the whole sampler, unless I have someone hold it up.  It's growing quickly.  In about four inches I will be half way finished.  Total stitching time is 142 hours in 14 weeks.   Only one hundred and fifty more hours to go!!  Till next Thursday, happy, happy, stitching ladies. 

ABCDEFG....

I haven't been this excited to do my ABC's since kindergarten.  This coral colored flower band is so cute too.  There was minimal frogging this week but I did miss stitching for a couple days due to my son's 16th birthday party.  These past 16 years have gone by so fast.  Cherish your children everyday.  Talk to them.  Be involved because one day you will wake up and they will be grown.  Till next Thursday, happy stitching.

Let her rip!!

     There was no blog last week because there was no stitching.  Yes, it made me sad but seeing my mom and the rest of the family was necessary.  My grandmother never ages and my mom is shrinking.  She was at least two inches shorter than the last time I saw her.  When I got home, a trip to the pharmacy for calcium was on my short list as well as joining a health club with the boys.  Visiting with my mom was like seeing an age progression in live mode.  It woke me up.

     I did take my stitching with me and the hotel room had nice light but there were just too many people to see and too many places to go.  If anyone is ever in the Effingham, Illinois area, you must check out Firefly Grill.  It was ranked #2 in the country by Bon Appetit magazine for being eco friendly.  They grow their own produce, raise their own catfish, and buy only organic, localaly raised food.  The steaks are cooked over an oak fire (the oak trees grown locally as well), the tables were built by the Amish in Arcola, IL, and the martinis are shaken by the best bartender I have found.  Beware, take your credit card.  Just as organic foods are more expensive in the store, they are more expensive in the restaurant.  It was worth it though and when my server brought my leftovers to the table in a biodegradable box, I was able to write it off as a tax deduction under the column--field study.  These boxes would be very cool at my own restaurant. 

     Here is the latest on And They Sinned.  There was some frogging involved in the vine on the left and the basket in the middle.  I really thought that vine repeated all the way down and as I looked at it I was getting mad.  Why would Vilma make so many mistakes on her chart?  Just look at all the leaves she missed.  Silly me, I was the one screwing up.  Then I was one stitch off on the right side of the basket but didn't realize it until I started stitching the fruit and it didn't work out.  As always, I thought about leaving it but decided it would drive me crazy.  Some mistakes just have to be fixed.  By the way, the peacock is very proud to be under that awesome angel.  Her dress came out beautiful.  Till next week, happy stitching!!