Summer Stitching

One of the first things people ask me when they come in the shop is, "Did you stitch all of these?" (meaning my shop models). "Most of them," I say. I really like to stitch, and I'm fast. I have a number of pieces in the shop made by friends of mine. A few by model stitchers. But I've probably got well over 100 pieces in the shop that I've stitched (and those are just the ones here...that I haven't given away or have hanging at home.) I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you. (You can click on each picture to make it bigger and easier to ogle.)

Blackbird Designs pieces are fun to stitch. I love Barb & Alma's use of color, and their kind of shabby-chic look. This one is from their "Souvenirs of Summer" book, and I think this design was also featured in a magazine at some point. It didn't take too long to stitch, but I remember it being a great summer piece. Patriotic, but not too "primary" in terms of color.

This is another Blackbird Designs piece -- you may recognize it as their Mystery Sampler which came out in pieces during their Loose Feathers club of 2008. I finished mine a long time ago, but only recently stretched and hung it. I stitched mine on a 40 count R&R Reproductions linen, and did a little tweaking here and there. This was another really fun summer piece to stitch. Again, great summer colors that I don't need sunglasses to look at.

I stitched this one quite a while back. It's Prairie Schooler's Farmer's Alphabet. I love veggies, and this design is so pleasing to me. One of the most fun things about stitching this piece was feeling a great sense of accomplishment as I stitched each letter. I could bang a few out at a time, and before I knew it, the piece was finished. Just DMC floss, but I used 32 ct. Lambswool linen (I think it called for a Jobelan.) Even though I've had this one for years, I still really love it, and it makes me think of veggie stands on the side of the road, and the nothing-better taste of still-warm tomatoes from the garden.

As much as I'm enjoying summer here in Hattiesburg, I am not enjoying the 100+ heat index temperatures we have every day. It rains. Then it heats right back up, but the water evaporates, so it's hot and humid. A few positives: my hibiscus out front is VERY happy right now; our air conditioning is in working order; and I have several different types of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the freezer. Hope you're enjoying summer. I'm going to go home and stitch!

We clean up purty good

Last week, my husband's sister was married up in Fargo, where we're from. I held Christine when she was a brand new baby (she was born when Steve and his older brother were still in high school.) Now she's almost 24 and a married lady. Everyone looked great, and we had such a nice time. Christine and Ryan did a great job keeping the ceremony and party tasteful and simple. What a great weekend.

Now, my boys were feeling pretty dapper in their dress clothes (Graham grew five inches this school year, and needed new ones). He was kind of crouching down while everyone was talking, and I told him he looked pretty cool. Pretty soon, Harrison was in the spirit and popped a GQ pose. Those guys are handsome! Graham refused to ask anyone to dance, because he wanted to be true to his girlfriend of two years here in Hattiesburg (as far as I know, THEY'VE never danced, but I suppose he wants to save the first one for her!)

Of course after all of that dancing and walking around in less-than-comfortable shoes, we were all a little sore. And when we were packing up the car to head back to the airport in Fargo, at four o'clock in the morning, I fell down a couple of stairs in the garage carrying my luggage. I made a big, "Oomph" sound, and Steve said he thought at first that I was just chucking luggage into the garage. Turns out, I was chucking myself, and on my knees onto cement, no less. All I could do was laugh.

In stitching news, I am now going to have several months at home, uninterrupted by the traveling I've been doing for the past few months. This means, more samplers, more original pieces, and bestly -- more stitching time for moi!

An Introduction

I am very pleased to introduce you to the next reproduction sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler. I am working on charting this, and have a model stitcher/friend lined up (and anxious) to stitch the piece. This will be my second "Ragamuffin" sampler (the first was Anne Harrison, my first reproduction). It's a Ragamuffin, because at some point, someone CUT OFF the bottom of the sampler! Who knows how much bigger it was? Maybe it was just the name and the date? Maybe it was cut in half? But it's still lovely. I purchased this for around $200.00 online about a year ago. (You can click on the picture to make it larger.)

Now here is the other mystery. Looks kind of Quaker-ish, don't you think? Some nice primitive birds, and keys, and hearts. Stars. Cursive alphabet. Colors are plum, pale teal, a few beiges/browns, and a gold or two. Actually ... I believe it's either Spanish or Mexican (or was stitched by someone with that heritage.) The alphabets have the ñ and ll! Anyhoo, the colors are lover-ly, and I know it'll be a fun one to stitch, and an even more beautiful one to hang. Let me know what you think about it.

Also, here's a picture of my "little" Graham. He's 13 and came to work with me on Monday for Take Your Kid to Work Day. While some of his classmates were watching open heart surgery and drug busts (I am NOT kidding!), he was working in a needlework store. We painted, organized, re-hung a bunch of pictures, took out garbage, cleaned, ran errands, and had a delicious lunch. He thought it was fun. And so did I!

Magic Garden Sampler Finished

Summer isn't here, but summer is here, you know what I mean? We've been living in air conditioning already, and even though our pool isn't open yet, you can feel the change of seasons. Humidity. Bugs. Heat. Storms. And flowers (that's one of the best parts.) Just in time for garden season, I've finally finished my Magic Garden Sampler, and hey, I love it! It was fun to stitch with all of those little motifs. You can order the chart through me now -- the distributors will all have it soon (but if you're a shop and can't wait, go ahead and give me a call.) I hope you like it.

If you don't follow me on Facebook, a few weeks ago, I asked everyone about his/her oldest UFO (UnFinished Object.) Seems like a lot of people are harboring projects in the bottoms of drawers and backs of closets. Will they ever get finished? I'm trying to come up with a way to host a UFO Adoption Agency online. If you have any ideas for how this could work (and be fair), let me know!

A lot of you write and phone and ask about my cats. I will report that they are all doing just fine. Ruby (she's our black kitten we adopted in April) has a new trick. If I'm in the kitchen, and she wants to see what I'm doing, she takes a running jump, climbs me like a lumberjack climbs a tree (only FAST!), and perches on my shoulder. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but for sure it's putting holes in my legs and back. Good thing she's very cute and I find the whole thing so darn funny! (The other cats just kind of roll their eyes. KITTENS!!)

Magic Garden preview and family news

I'm back from Fort Mill, South Carolina, and the retirement community my folks have moved to. My dad is still working, but my mom is loving golfing, playing bridge, learning paddle ball, and hanging out with friends, old and new. My sister was able to meet me for the trip, and we had a great time shopping at Ikea and the Prime Outlets Mall (we did some damage!) and eating at various delicious restaurants, usually outside in the sunshine. (I am not ashamed to say that I came home with four loaves of Panera bread in my carry-on.)

The above picture was taken in downtown Charlotte. We took the commuter train in for $3.00 round-trip. Since the business people of Charlotte are home on Saturdays, that's a perfect day for tourist-y type stuff, and it's a lovely city. My mom walked around holding her camera, stopping periodically to take pictures of trees, and statues, and buildings. She looked quite the wide-eyed tourist, and my dad stopped me and said, "She wouldn't last five minutes in New York City." (My dad is from northern New Jersey.) "The police would call us and say, 'We can't find her; she just disappeared.'" "Yeah," I said. "They'd say, 'All we found was a flip flop and a lens cap.'" We chuckled, but she did get some pretty pictures. If we seem especially sparkle-eyed in this picture, it's because, once again, mom counted to three to take our picture, but then realized she had the lens cap on.

My sister had been especially excited about Ikea, and her husband is probably thankful they don't live near one. If you've never been to one, it's a Swedish housewares store that sells everything from kitchen wares, to sofas, to kids' toys, to meatballs. And everything is cheap. We walked in, and Laura immediately began shouting out prices. "Look at this! It's only $1.99!" "And look at this! It's only $2.49!" "Just so you know," she finally said, "I'm going to shout prices the entire time we're here." I joined in, of course. Because hey, where are you going to find the cutest cupcake paper liners in fuchsia and black for only 99 cents? And a six-pack of Scandinavian printed glasses for only $5.99?

I don't know why I always think I'm going to get a ton of stitching done on my trips. But I promise to be diligent this week and get my Magic Garden Sampler done. I'm going to order a frame today, and hopefully will be able to release in about two weeks. It's turning out super-cool, and I love the black flower border on the left hand side. It was semi-inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I think the purple-fleshed watermelon slice is neat-o. It's on 40 count Lakeside Linens Vintage Light Exemplar linen in Sampler Threads.

I had a bit of a shock yesterday. My son, Harrison, came in at 10 to help me pack orders until his dentist appointment at three. At about 11, he said he had made the decision to cut his hair. Now, his hair, originally, was a bit of a difficult topic for me. He wanted to start growing it out in eighth grade, but I made him wait until his sophomore year in high school. And he's been wearing it in a ponytail since his junior year. He has gorgeous wavy hair, but wanted to be a rocker, and in high school, he ended up being "that guy with the long hair."

On Monday, after a heart-to-heart with his roommate and good bud, Davis, they decided that he had done his "long hair time," and now was the time to spruce up a bit for the ladies. I called over to the Aveda Salon just about two hundred yards from my shop, and they had an opening at noon. Harrison gulped, and said, "All right, let's do it." The stylist was nice enough to keep Harrison faced away from the mirror during the hair cut, so he didn't have to watch his locks being taken, one-by-one. ("There was a big pile of hair at the end," he told me.) I've included before and after shots. I'm sure you'll agree that he's quite a looker. He was absolutely thrilled, and he kept popping into the bathroom to look at his new do in the mirror. Then announced that he needed some new clothes, too. (sigh). Teenagers!

A new pattern and a kitten name update

Here's a new sampler I've been working on stitching this week. I need a few more days to get 'er done, but it's turning out REALLY cool. It was inspired by the Alice in Wonderland movie, sort of. The colors are gorgeous, and I'll post a picture of the stitched piece when it's finished. I'm calling it "The Magic Garden Sampler." I hope you like it. It will be released sometime in the next few weeks.

And I have a kitten name update -- Steve decided yesterday morning that our new little kitten is "Ruby." It suits her so well. She's very affectionate and playful, and so brave and friendly. Thanks to everyone for name suggestions. What a community effort!

The weather here has been gorgeous. Steve, Graham and I went to the Hattiesburg Zoo yesterday (the MOST fun you can have for $2.00, I declare.) It's not a huge zoo, but it's got lots of pretty foliage, and some neat animals. The most amazing thing was the alligator pond. It was FULL of tadpoles just getting ready to start growing their legs to become frogs. They were about the size of golf balls, and there were probably a few hundred of them. We also got to hear the Kookaburra, and just to show how universally-understood that little bird is, the little three-year-old boy next to us said, "Mom, he's laughing!" Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh!

My husband fell in love with someone younger, cuter and hairier

It was bound to happen. We've turned 40, and Steve hit his mid-life crisis and found himself someone new. We went volunteering the other night, and there was a litter of five kittens. Graham and I played with the kittens, the other cats, and Steve just kept holding on to this little one while she licked his arm and then curled up and fell asleep.

And then we put all the cats away, and there Steve sat with this cat on his lap for another half an hour, a goofy, blissed-out expression on his face. "Take her home, Dad," Graham said. "I don't care," I said. Steve thought, and thought, and thought.

See, he has wanted a black cat since we got our first one (Kitty) for Graham. And then I brought home the infamous thread thief, Boo. And Steve would always stop and look at the black cats in the pet store and say how he got to pick out the next cat.

"They're a lot of responsibility," he said.

"We have a big house and plenty of time. Harrison moved out, and Graham's not far behind."

"We already have two cats," he said.

"She's teenie," I said. "She hardly counts as a full cat -- she's more like half a cat."

"They live a long time," he said.

"If you don't get this cat now, you're going to regret it, and it'll be a long time until we're down to one cat again."

"Come on, Dad," said Graham.

Steve was quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Then he said: I say, "Yes."

And we took her home. And she's wonderful, and sweet, and funny, and she comes when you call for her. And the other cats are starting to tolerate her already. She's got the prettiest teal-colored eyes, and her little toenails look like rice grains against her black feet, and she's quick to purr, and slow to hiss. She probably weighs less than two pounds right now (my hand will go almost all the way around her midsection). And no accidents so far (alleluia!!!) She's perfect, and we love her already.

But what to name her...? Ideas?