The House Is In...

Where does the time go?  Sometimes life sure gets busy; can't really complain though - glad I'm still on this earth to experience it!

It has been a busy spring - it kicked off with the Stitchville retreat about a month ago, followed by another Saturday of stitching with friends at the end of April.  Since re-joining our needlework guild, I've been taking full advantage of every opportunity offered, including their annual meeting which also occurred in April.  All these various stitching events have been fun and have kept me hopping.  My daughter is coaching her high school's girls lacrosse team this spring and we've been trying to go to as many of those games as possible.  Somehow I manage to work full-time too; pays the bills, pays for my addiction.  Yes, it's been a busy time but enjoyable.

Not too much stitching to show, but I do have an update.  I'm close to finishing I Sigh Not For Beauty.  The house is in and I'm working on the landscaping!  The trees are in, the grass will go in next.  This design was originally charted for DMC and I'm using Belle Soie silks.  The house was charted with a dark red stitch and then a lighter red stitch, with the two alternating throughout.  It was suggested that I could divide the pieces of Belle Soie into dark and light sections, but I have to be honest, I don't like stitching with short pieces of floss; the longer the better (but not as long as what Chris uses - Chris, you know who you are!)  I decided to use the entire length of Belle Soie and stitched every other square of the house.  Then I went back and filled in the remaining squares of the house. In doing this, I was able to eliminate the "stripey" look that I normally would have had, and IMHO I feel that the end result looks more like an actual brick house.  I'm happy with it.

So, now I have a story for you about this sampler. You all know Ellen Chester of With My Needle, and hopefully many of you read her monthly newsletter, With My Needle and Pen.  Every year, she selects two samplers and if interested, her newsletter subscribers work on those samplers as a SAL.  There are group leaders who include monthly "assignments" for the SAL.  In theory, everyone completes their sampler and has a lovely finished piece at the end of the year.  (Key words in that sentence are "in theory.")

One of last year's projects was the piece I'm working on, I Sigh Not For Beauty from C Street Samplerworks.  Many of you wonderful stitching bloggers worked on it last year along with the others who were doing the SAL.  Me, not so much.  I am determined to finish it this year though.  Ellen happened to notice that I was working on it and asked me to send a progress photo for her newsletter.  I happily obliged and not only sent a photo of this piece but also two other C Street Samplerworks designs that I had stitched and a nice little article to go with them.  If you would like to read it, please go to Ellen's website for With My Needle and then click on the link to With My Needle and Pen Newsletter (#4, April 30, 2012.)

Now, you'd think that might be the end of it, but it wasn't.  A couple days later, I received an email from Jean at the Attic asking if I would be willing to send her a picture of my sampler for her newsletter.  You see, I had purchased my supplies for this sampler from the Attic.  Remember, it was charted for DMC.  The Attic had done a lovely conversion to Belle Soie silks and a lovely Lakeside Linen fabric.  I happily obliged. It was kind of fun to see a picture of my sampler in the Attic newsletter last week!

Story is not over yet...a couple days later I get an email from none other than Ruth Ann Russell, the mastermind behind C Street Samplerworks!  What a delightful lady!  In our email exchange I encouraged her to publish more of her designs; of those that I have stitched, I have enjoyed stitching each and every one. Many of her offerings were originally published in SANQ magazines, but many of them are so old that they are impossible to find - even on the bay of evil (eBay).  However, when one has connections, sometimes they are successful in locating those very old magazines......there are more C Street Samplerworks designs in my future!

Well, I've rambled on long enough for one day.  Here in Minnesota the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping - I think it is going to be a lovely day!  Thank you for stopping by.  Hope you find some time today for some stitching!