A token of my affection

While I had my beading supplies out, I ran across a frog charm I had and knew that it was destined for a special home with my dear friend Dianne.  Dianne and I met through stitching several years back, and she is one of the sweetest, kindest and loveliest women I've ever met.  (and as the mom of a boy, albeit a much more grown up boy than mine, she's particularly sweet on Little Dude, and she spoils us both!)

Along her many stitching and paper craft interests, Dianne is a lover of gardening and flowers and spends as much time as she can tending to her own gardens and flower beds.  She has a pretty little pond in her garden, and when spring rolls around, so do her croaking buddies out by the water. I thought she might like one she could keep in the house with her, and chose some pretty green flowered beads and some tulip shaped pink ones for this fob.

Now I know we all like to keep the frogs AWAY from our stitching, but perhaps this harmless little fellow will convince the other frogs that Dianne has enough to keep her company, and they'll hop away from her stitching??

Springtime Exchange with Robin

A few months ago when I started blogging again, a fellow stitcher named Robin (no blog... yet!) started commenting on my posts.  Through a series of emails, we started developing a friendship, and when I mentioned the Fair & Square exchange, she asked me a few quesitons about it, then suggested we do our own private exchange.

I thought that was a great idea, and we decided on a spring theme, following the F&S guidelines for size and a signature square.  These are Robin's squares - Mini Spring by The Sunflower Seed.

Aren't they just lovely?  Robin's stitching is so pretty and delicate!  Allergies be damned, I do love spring flowers and tulips are among my favorites.  I think these squares are going to make a wonderful no-sew cube, perhaps with a pretty spring colored plaid ribbon around the edges, depending on what I can find.

Robin also hit up my wish list and very generously included these two appropriately spring-y charts and some gorgeous silk threads from Dinky Dyes and Vicki Clayton.  Bent Creek's Shamrock Row will mean a trip to the LNS for a special cut of fabric, but Allesandra Adelaide's Little Blue will most likely be bumping some other pieces in the queue because I'm pretty sure there's a suitable piece of fabric in my stash.

Thank you, Robin, for your beautiful squares and generous gifts, but mostly for your friendship.  I so enjoy our emails!
 
And now on to what I stitched for Robin.  When she mentioned "springtime", I immediately thought of this one from Les Grilles des Liselotte, Amitie Brodee.  

Not only did the chart fit the springtime theme, but it expressed a sentiment that was especially appropriate.  Amitie brodee is French for "friendship embroidered" and I thought it was fitting to honor this new friendship that came about through a mutual love of stitching.

The original chart is done in purple, but I had a multicolor version of it saved in my stitching ideas file (I can't track down the original).  Since Robin prefers brighter colors to pastels, I chose a more vibrant palette, using WDW in Begonia, Sunset, Crepe Myrtle and Sally's Sunshine plus Carrie's Creations Purple for the flowers, WDW Meadow for the green, and WDW Heatherleigh for the butterflies.

I added a little bling with some copper color beads for the flower stamens, and hematite beads for the butterflies.

As I was stitching the piece, I kept second guessing myself and very nearly abandoned it in favor of another pattern, but I kept on with it, and it turned out exactly like I wanted.


I also hauled out my beading supplies and made this scissor fob featuring a butterfly charm and glass millefiori and iridescent beads.  I hadn't done any beading in a while, so it was fun to dig through my bead stash and play around with different colors and shapes.
 

Fair and Square Received!

Michele emailed me on Saturday to let me know that she received my Round #9 squares and that she really liked them! (I'm so glad - I was a little nervous stitching for someone else, but now that I've seen how much fun the F&S is, I've signed up for 2 more rounds!)

This is what I sent Michele:

Manuela's Sunflower by Chatelaine Designs
Stitched over 2 on 32 ct. Bone evenweave with DMC and GAST threads
Signature Square from Bread Cloth leaflet

The original pattern called for a green border, but since Michele's favorite color is red, I had to change it. I was concerned it might look funny at first, but once it was all stitched up, I was really pleased with the color change. And the sunflowers on the signature square came from a bread cloth leaflet I had. All in all, I think the squares came out great, and I'm so glad Michele likes them!

I also sent Michele a matching scissor fob, complete with a sunflower charm. When I saw the little packet of garden charms, I knew the sunflower one would be perfect for her. I had these beads in my stash for a little while now - I was inspired by some pieces I had purchased as gifts for my 2 interns when they finished the program. I got them each a set of earrings and a matching illusion necklace, and I liked the pieces I bought so much, I ordered beads for myself. (Of course, I have yet to make any jewelry for me from them, but they sure did come in handy for this project!)

Other than that, DH and I had a busy weekend. His 96 year old grandmother was hospitalized on Friday with complications from spinal fractures and a blocked esophagus, and had a procedure done today. Needless to say she hasn't been in the best of moods and it's been tough on my MIL, so we drove home on Saturday morning to give her a little bit of a break. My BIL, SIL and the kids came in as well, so it definitely cheered Grandma up, and gave my MIL a much needed diversion. Grandma's procedure went well today, so we're hoping she will get a little better every day.

And now back to our regularly scheduled stitching posts...

After several self-indulgent meme posts, it's time to get back to posting about stitching. I promised Kim I would post a picture of my latest finish - LHN's Princess and The Pea:

I stitched with the recommended threads over 2 on 28 ct. linen. I've loved this design since the first time I saw it and I'm really pleased with how it came out. If I were to restitch though, I'd probably go with a DMC brown - I'm not much for the varigated color in this instance. Also, I'd probably use a DMC white or off white instead of the recommended Toasted Marshmallow. I didn't see enough of a difference to warrant the extra expense of the overdyed thread. However, I do love how the pinks and greens came out! I don't have it framed yet, and it will probably end up in a little girl's room some day (I hope!)

I also stitched up this little cutie, designed by Emily at The Floss Box. You can find the pattern for the Mini Scientist here. I made a few modifications, and my scientist husband is now the proud owner of a new scissor fob.

On the back, I stitched his initials and the date. This was stitched over 2 on a scrap piece of 28 ct. evenweave with DMC floss. I'm not totally pleased with the finishing, so I may restitch it on a slightly larger piece of fabric.

And last but not least, I received a LONG AWAITED order from an ONS that shall remain nameless. I ordered way back in the beginning of December, originally just looking for some Wisper thread to finish up an ornament. I stumbled across a good sale and couldn't resist picking up a few patterns and some new needles at a very good price. Everything was in stock, I received and order confirmation and the credit card was charged. I was eagerly awaiting my new goodies and became concerned when they hadn't shown up 10 days later. I checked the website and found that my order was being delayed for an out of stock chart. I also noticed that the store would be closing for a 2 week period at the end of December into January.

I checked daily for the update, and nothing changed, so I contacted the owner after Christmas and was informed that they were still waiting for an out of stock chart. I was more than a little annoyed, especially since my CC was charged when I placed the order and I received absolutely no indication that this chart was out of stock when I ordered. The owner's email seemed very indifferent and offered no explanation or even apology for the delay. I briefly debated cancelling the order due to poor customer service, but scratched that idea when I read their cancellation policies (they whack you a 15% surcharge for ALL cancelled orders). I decided to wait it out and I FINALLY got my charts today, a good six weeks after they were ordered.

I personally feel that not indicating items are out of stock, delaying whole orders without contacting the customer, and charging a credit card six weeks before you ship are all indicative of poor business practices. I would have liked to have had the option to cancel the out of stock items out of my cart before ordering or at least been notified of what was going on without having to chase the owner down. I like ordering from independent needlework shops because it helps keep them open, and in return, I expect good customer service. I'm even willing to pay a little extra to help keep people passionate enough about the craft to run a shop in business, but I won't give my money to someone who doesn't seem to care about their customers. There are plenty of other shops to purchase from.

Anyway, enough ranting. I didn't take any pictures of my new stash, but I did pick up some Thread Heaven and some John James needles (I really like them so far - I was stitching with them tonight.) I also picked up The Sweetheart Tree's Snowflakes in the Pines, LHN's Blueberries and The Cat's Whisker's Alyssum Scissor Pocket.