The Sisterhood is Moving On... Again!

My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me
Waxing Moon Designs #119

Stitched on 28 ct. natural linen with DMC, GAST and WDW threads

Our girl is packing her bags and getting ready for her next adventure, so head on over to Sharon's blog and get signed up for her drawing by leaving a comment. Sharon will be drawing the name of the next sister to join the sorority on Saturday, August 15, so make sure you visit her before then. Good luck!

And if you haven't been following her journey, here's a wonderful recap of her travels around the world, and how different stitchers made her their own.

Harmien in the Netherlands (November 3, 2007)

She sent it to Lili in France (June 17, 2007)

Who sent it to Barbara in Malaysia (June 25, 2007)

Who sent it to Tessa in Australia (July 16, 2007)

Who sent it to Lizzy in North Carolina, U.S. (February 26, 2008)

Who sent it to Barbara in the Netherlands (March 11, 2008)

Who sent it to Sarah (no blog) in Ohio, U.S. (April 11, 2008)

Who sent it to Anna in Pennsylvania, U.S. (May 28, 2008)

Who sent it to Wendy in Ontario, Canada (July 4, 2008)

Who sent it to Sue in Michigan, U.S. (August 2, 2008)

Who sent it to Jennifer in Pennsylvania, U.S. (September 2, 2008)

Who sent it to CJ in Texas, U.S. (October 25, 2008)

Who sent it to Claire in Nova Scotia, Canada (January 20, 2009)

Who sent it to Kathy in Arizona, U.S. (February 18, 2009)

Who sent it to Carol in Indiana, U.S. (March 15, 2009)

Who sent it to Carolyn in California, U.S. (May 20, 2009)

Who sent it to Sharon in Oklahoma, U.S. (August 8, 2009)

(Note: If you’re not familiar with the story of this traveling pattern, Lizzy has recorded the history of it here.)

Well look what we have here!

I was catching up on my blog reading the other day and when I got to Michele's blog, look what I spotted... These are the finished product from my F&S Exchange with Michele last year. Isn't it GORGEOUS?

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

Karen is responsible for the lovely finishing, which I think is an excellent advertisement for her finishing service, Finely Finished. While I haven't used Karen's services myself (yet, I'm sure!), Michele can't say enough good things about the finished products, so be sure to stop over Karen's blog and check out her services.

I have a really good reason for being behind on stitching

You see, my husband and I are expecting our first child, a son, in October. Yep, I'm pregnant. I've kept it quiet for so long because I have some complicated issues with my family and didn't need the additonal stress of dealing with that. But the cat seems to be out of the bag for the most part, so I thought I would share our happy news with my stitching friends.

So far, so good with this pregnancy, except for a ridiculous amount of exhaustion in the first trimester. I have never been so tired in my life! And dizzy to boot, but most of that seems to have passed, and I am into my third trimester now. Baby has been very active lately, and according to his ultrasounds, right on target for growth and development. We're very excited to meet him.

But being so tired and dizzy made it very hard to concentrate on stitching, and I really slacked off for a while, only managing to get in the bare minimum, which is why you haven't seen much from me lately. (I especially want to apologize to my two remaining PIFs - Deirdre and Tammie. I didn't forget about you ladies, I swear!!! I have your pieces stitched up, I just have to finish them!)

Since my DH and I both love the beach and lighthouses, we knew we were going with a nautical theme for his room. This is the bedding we selected, Nautica William.


We'll be painting the walls a light blue, coincidentally called Sailboat (okay, maybe the color name did have something to do with my selection) and going with cherry furniture, including the crib my in-laws bought for their grandson.

I, or rather my husband, did pick the sampler for the baby. It's from Seguin Designs and it's called A Fishing Village Sampler.

Maine is one of our favorite places, and this was the sampler that DH liked the best of about a dozen different ones that I had found. I'm making some modifications to the piece to include his name and vital information. I haven't started stitching yet, but I do have the fabric and the threads.

So if you've been wondering why my posting has been sporadic this year, now you know why. :-)

A prize! A prize!

Saturday, DH and I went to our hometown (about 90 minutes away) for his cousin Kerri's engagement party. I absolutely adore Kerri - we've been thick as thieves since we met, oh.... 17 years ago. She was 10 at the time, and announced at our first meeting, "When you marry my cousin, I am going to be in the wedding!" The poor girl had to wait 12 years, but yes, she was in the wedding. :-)

This time, she's the one getting married, and I'm one of the lucky bridesmaids, so it was off to the engagement party we went. Granted, the weather wasn't the greatest, but the food was good, the company even better, and I can't think of a better occasion to celebrate that my little Kerri getting married. Can't wait for the wedding!

The weather was a little overcast for the party, and SUCKED driving home (visibility was near zero and I was glad DH was driving, not me!), but I did get the sweetest surprised when we got home. Tucked away in our mailbox was an envelope all the way from Canada, containing a wonderful prize from Christine (Mtrl Girl) as a reward for guessing the pattern she was stitching on. Since it was a pattern I had stitched myself, it was easy for me to guess, and you MUST check out the gorgeous piece she stitched! I stitched the same design in a purple thread, but she did hers in a beautiful multicolored floss, and it's just lovely.

In my package, Christine included a beautiful piece of Silkweaver Fabric (Blueberry Delight), something I've been wanting to try, a skein of Glorianna Silk in a raspberry color (another goodie I've been eyeing up!) and a a sweet Just Nan pattern called Primrose Path. Plus a beautiful little card / note to go with it all. (I must say, I've gotten some stunning cards from my fellow stitchers - you all have the best taste in stationary!!)

I never expected such a generous package, and I am deeply appreciative. Christine, THANK YOU!!!

Trying to catch up...

It's been a while since I've blogged (I've seen this statement on more than a few blogs lately though! LOL). We've had some things going on here that have kept us busy, and of course, a family vacation in there as well. The weather has been so nice - warm but not hot during the days, and comfortably cool at night. Other than a ridiculously rainy June, we've been spending a TON of time outside. Sure, the wireless works out there, but the glare on the laptop screen makes it a little hard to see.

But here I am, catching up. (I have been trying to keep up with reading blogs, though not commenting quite as much)

I really need to start with my Fair and Square Round #13 exchange from Marie P. She sent me the loveliest squares, a Prairie Schooler lighthouse design -

Marie did a beautiful job stitching, and these are a very welcome addition to our lighthouse collection. I'm on the hunt for some proper finishing materials for a no-sew cube for this one.

And these are the squares I sent to Marie:

The Victoria Sampler's Hearts of America Collection "Texas"
Stitched with recommended DMC threads over 2 on 32 ct. Antique White

I selected the Texas Heart for Marie to honor her recent move to Texas. What I didn't mention to Marie was that there was a matching gold heart stitched on the signature square, or mostly stitched. Just as I worked up to the other side of the heart, I discovered my stitching was off by ONE SQUARE and the two sides didn't line up. SO frustrating, especially working with a metallic thread. I was just about to miss the mailing deadline, so I had to pick out the stitching and sent it off without restitching the heart. I felt so bad I included two of my handyed threads!

AND Marie was kind enough to send me her punch card for the Strawberry Sampler, even after I lead her into the den of temptation by sending her their site when she mentioned she'd be in the area for her son's graduation from college. Marie made a trip to see the girls, and came out with some lovely goodies.

The Sampler used to be my LNS until we moved back to PA. It's still within driving distance for me, though it takes much longer to get there (but not as long as it would take Marie to get there from Texas!) So once again, a big thanks to Marie for sending me her punch card - you can bet it will come in handy at some point!

I have a couple other projects under way - Country Cottage's Little Ballerinas is almost finished for my niece. It was one of the pieces I took down the shore with me, and she helped me stitch on it for a while. She seems to really enjoy stitching, even though she's not quite seven years old. I told her mom to pick up a stamped cross stitch pattern for her at the craft store for her to try on her own, so we'll see how that goes. Right now, when she stitches with me, I put the needle in the right holes and she pulls it through. It adds a lot of time to the project, but I don't mind a bit - I love being able to share this with her, and she loves being able to stitch on a piece that's for her.

Of course, now her brother wants his own special piece, and ended up picking the matching Little League one for himself. I just have to pick up the pattern at some point and get stitching on it for him.

5th Annual Long Island Lighthouse Challenge

Fire Island Lighthouse, Long Island, NY

This weekend, DH and I are headed back to Long Island for the 5th Annual Long Island Lighthouse Challenge. We missed it last year because we were in the process of buying a house and moving.

The Long Island Challenge is the newest of the Challenges, and they're still working out the kinks here and there, but overall, it's a fun experience and a nice way to spend the weekend. For those of you unfamiliar with the "Challenge" concept, basically it involves visiting selected lighthouses over a 2 day period and collecting a souvenier (provided by the challenge sponsors). When you've collected all your souveniers, you present them at the last lighthouse you visit and you'll be given a completer souvenier. Past souveniers have included postcards, bookmarks, pins and wooden coins. There's no cost to participate in the Challenge itself, although some sites have nominal admission or parking fees. Of course, any donations you'd like to make towards lighthouse preservation are always accepted and greatly appreciated.

If you happen to be in the Long Island, NY, area, and are looking for something to do, check out the challenge. You can download a brochure with directions from the LI Lighthouse Society's webpage, and you're not required to visit all the sites. The nice thing about the challenge is that lighthouses that may not normally be open to the public are open this weekend and staffed by some pretty knowledgable volunteers.

And if you can't make it this weekend, there are challenges in both Maryland (September) and New Jersey (October). DH and I have done both of those as well, and always have a great time.

Fair and Square

Seems like some of the only stitching I'm finishing these days are for my Fair and Square exchanges. I am also stitching on CC's Little Ballerinas for my niece, but I haven't taken any progress pictures. It's a cute piece, and I've made a few changes to it that I'm pretty happy with. Hopefully it will be done soon so I can show you all.

First up, the beautiful Spring Round squares I received from Gillie K. (no blog)

Spring Flowers by Debbie Draper Designs
Stitched over 2 with Glorianna Silks Highland Gardens

Gillie did a wonderful job with these squares - even the backs are beautiful! Thanks so much, Gillie! I think I will probably turn these into a no sew cube to go along with the Squares I received from Susan.

And these are the squares I sent to Gillie

Springtime Violets by Châtelaine Designs
Stitched over 2 with DMC Threads (Converted from Anchor) on 32 ct. Antique White

I did consider putting the Diamond eyelets in, but after I stitched the first one, I didn't think it added much to the piece and frogged it out. And I know it looks like I stitched it on 2 different color fabrics, but it's actually the same fabric (in fact, one long 6" x 12" piece that's easier to put on a scroll frame than 2 separate 6"x 6" pieces). For some reason, the lighting in the signature square photo came out darker, and I couldn't get it to match the first picture. But you get the idea.

5th Anniversary Gift for my Husband

Always and Forever by Little House Needleworks (LHNPC-18)
Stitched 2 over 2 on China Pearl Jobelan with Dinky Dyes Silk in Midnight

DH and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary a few weeks ago. I've had this stitched up for a while, but I never know if he reads my blog or not, so I thought it best to keep it under wraps. I've seen this design on a few blogs and decided it would be just perfect, so I picked it up and selected my fabric and thread colors based on our wedding colors of blue and silver (of course they were blue and silver. We ARE Cowboys fans, after all!)

I picked a pale grey for the fabric and the most delicious Dinky Dyes silk. It's the first time I stitched with the Dinky Dyes, but it won't be the last. I don't generally stitch with silk because it can get expensive, but for an anniversary gift, I wanted to do something special. The Dinky Dyes was just lovely to stitch with, and I was actually a little sad when I finished the piece.

As you can see, I did make some modifications to it. I didn't decide until I got the precut fabric home that I wanted to extend the pattern just a little to include our wedding date, so it was a good thing I opted for a 3 inch border instead of my usual 2 inches! Luckily, what I had in mind fit, and I'm going to frame it in a slightly more ornate carved black frame so this piece won't need a mat. I was able to extend the border by adding in extra loops near the hearts in the center of the sides, and I carried the hearts over to fill in the space between the words and our wedding date. All in all, I am very pleased with how this turned out, and my husband loved it as well. Once I get it framed up, we'll hang it in our front hallway along with our collection of family photos.

As for the anniversary itself, we decided to do a weekend trip to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. DH and I are into lighthouses and things of a nautical nature, so this was a nice trip for us. We drove up on Friday, which was our anniversary, spent Saturday in Mystic and Stonington, then took a long, scenic drive home on Sunday, checking out lighthouses along the coast on our way back. We had wonderful weather, and it was just a very relaxing, peaceful trip.

And if you happen to be in the Mystic area, I'd recommend checking out the following restaurants:

• Mirch Masala - Groton, CT. It's a converted bar in the Ramada Hotel, but the food is excellent. It's one of the few places I've found meat samosas (which I love), but really, everything we had was just wonderful, and the service was great. It wasn't far from our hotel, which was good because we were both tired of being in the car! (Warning - there is music on the website)
• Noah's - Stonington, CT. The menu changes based on what's in season and what's fresh, so don't expect everything listed on their website to be available. If scallops are on the menu, I'd recommend ordering them - they're absolutely divine. And the clam chowder? Mostly clam, with a little chowder scoop them up with. Soooo good!
• Kitchen Little - Mystic, CT. They're not kidding when they say "little". The food is good, but the quarters are QUITE close. We ended up practically sitting with another couple (their table was about 4 inches from ours. But it's right down the road from the Seaport, and the view of the Mystic River is lovely.

Fair and Square Round #12

I received these beautiful squares from Susan P. yesterday. Aren't they lovely?

Freebie from Gazette 94, available here.

I love the squares, and I think they'll be perfect for a no-sew cube, which is good because we are sadly in need of some decorations for the holidays. Living in an apartment, and even a townhouse, wasn't all that conducive to having a whole lot of decorations (severe lack of storage space), but now that we're in a house, it would be nice to have a few things to put out for the holidays. I'm envisioning a very cute cube with a pretty spring bow on my forthcoming living room shelves, just in time for Easter next year.

As for my contribution to the round, I stitched up X-Appeal's Call of the Ocean for Susan. As soon as I saw "lighthouses" on Susan's list of likes, I knew I was going to stitch this piece.

Call of the Ocean by X-Appeal Designs
stitched over 2 on 32 ct. Picture This Plus Fabric in Dwarf
with overdyed and DMC threads

In case you didn't know, the designer behind X-Appeal is also one of the owners of my former LNS, The Strawberry Sampler. If you ever happen to find yourself in the Brandywine Valley / Chadds Ford area of PA, definitely stop in and check out the shop. They have a ton of stitched models, plenty of fabrics and threads, and the staff there is really wonderful.

This was the second time I stitched this piece. (Mine's still sitting in the stitching drawer, waiting to be turned into an ornament for our lighthouse collection on the Christmas tree.) But I had a great time stitching this again. I know the F&S rules call for neutral fabric, but I emailed Susan ahead of time and she didn't mind if I stitched on blue fabric. LOVE THIS FABRIC! It was the first time stitching on PTP fabric, and I'll definitely use it again. It was so soft and just a joy to stitch on.

See? I really HAVE been stitching!

Trying to come up with a pattern

One of my oldest and dearest friends is buying her first place and I want to stitch something for her. I've been wracking my brains for a few days trying to think of something and it's been hard.

She lives in NJ and works in NYC, so she's definitely more of an urban girl than a country girl - ruling out most LHN and CCN type designs, as well as primitives. I looked at a few NY / NJ designs and didn't like them much. I don't want anything cute or cartoony. She was down to visit a few weeks ago, and really like the Moire pattern by Pelin Tezer I was stitching, so I thought maybe I'd look for something along those lines - a little fanicer, a little elegant, but not too foofy.

I finally came up with the idea of stitching her last name in a series of illuminated type letters, similar to the ones used in Isa Vautier's Grand Marquoir, and using some of the other blocks between the letters. I had also considered using M Designs Celtic Alphabet, but thought it would end up being too busy to do a whole name, even if it is just four letters.

I definitely want to do all the stitching in one color (probably a varigated), and do the lettering straight across. I'm not completely sold on the Isa V letters yet, so if anyone has any ideas where I can find something similar, either a freebie or a chart for sale, feel free to share. I looked through some of the alphabets I have, and they're too small to do what I want to do - I'm looking for letters that are a little larger in size, at least 50x50 or so, with a little flair to them.

Ideas???