I jumped on the Blackbird Designs freebie bandwagon and completed this project over this past weekend. I found a piece of 40 ct. fabric (the color name escapes me) and stitched it in one of my favorite threads-Caron Waterlillies Cherry. I like the way it turned out. I think I might eventually either put it in a little frame or make it into a pillow/door hanger. My kitchen is red, and this would go perfectly in there.

I am still working on Mary Margaret. I have run out of two different skeins of thread so far. If you ever choose to stitch this design, you might need an extra skein of NPI 965 and 993. The design does not indicate that more than one skein is needed, but I certainly have needed extra. I will post a picture later when I have more progress to show.

I have purchased quite a few things lately between anniversary and birthday $$. :) My sweet husband, son, parents, and in-laws usually give me money for my birthday so that I can buy cross stitch supplies. Nothing says “Happy Birthday, I love you” to a stitcher like money to spend on stash. :) I read on Nicole’s blog that Kathy Barrick of Carriage House Samplings has been selling some of her OOP designs at her Etsy shop. I picked up Mermaid Sampler and Autumn Blessings from her. The rest is from Drema at Needlecraft Corner.
I have a few more things yet to come in—a couple of charts and lots of threads. I am in the process of trying to kit up several things. Sorry this is such a dark, far away picture.

(Top to bottom: CHS Mermaid Sampler, CHS Autumn Blessings, CHS Molly, CHS Susannah, CHS Elizabeth, two cuts of LL Vintage Autumn Gold linen, PN Earth Sampler, PN Cape Cod Girls, Criss Ginghers, and floss away bags)

I love Goode Huswife designs. Unfortunately I discovered them after she had stopped designing. She has started designing again much to my delight. And she is re-releasing some of her older OOP designs for purchase on her website!! :) I am very excited about this. I know some of you are Goode Huswife fans as well. I placed an order yesterday for 1807 Sheep. I am hoping she keeps putting her other OOP designs on her site.

In other non-stitching news, I recently joined audible.com. I LOVE it!!! I can't wait until I get to download another book. I signed up for the one-book-a-month credit, but could easily see myself upgrading to the two-book-a-month option. I am listening to the most fabulous book right now. It is called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It is one of their best-selling books at the moment, and I can easily see why. There are multiple narrators in the book, so there are multiple people reading it. Every single one of them is FABULOUS!! The beautiful dialects and the accents of the narrators add so much to the story. I am so glad I am "reading" this particular book in this format. I think it would lose something reading it the traditional way. (I guess technically this could be considered "stitching news" because all that I want to do lately is stitch and listen to this. I love either listening to an audio book or watching TV while I am stitching).

I also started the Sookie Stackhouse series...reading with my eyes instead of my ears. :) I am not far enough into the first one to decide if I am going to like them or not, but I have heard a lot of good things about them. I loved the Twilight series, and I have heard this series referred to as a good similiar series. We'll see...

I need to go and finish dinner. I am making homemade lasagna with garlic bread as well as a pound cake with strawberries and cool whip for dessert. I am starving!

Hope your day is going well.
Happy Stitching,
Kellie

Mary Margaret Update

I worked on Mary Margaret off and on all weekend. She is stitching up quite nicely. I ran out of black silk and have more on order. The design only calls for one skein, but it is going to take at least two to finish her skirt and stitch the various alphabet letters.

I am really enjoying stitching her. It has been awhile since I have worked on one project consistently for any length of time. I kind of like only having one "focus" project. When I first started stitching, I only stitched one project at a time, and never started another one until that one was finished. I took a stitching hiatus for about four years after my son was born. When I started stitching again, I did the complete opposite and started tons of projects--I have an embarrassing number of WIPs/UFOs as a result. I don't know that I will ever have my number of projects down to what I consider a "manageable" size. Not that it really matters. I constantly have to remind myself that this is FOR FUN...I do it because I enjoy it and it helps me relax. I do think somewhere in the middle between stitching one project at a time and frantically starting everything I get my hands on is probably the best route for me.

Hope you are having a wonderful start to the week.
Until next time...
Happy Stitching,
Kellie

I'm in love...

With Needlepoint Inc. Silks that is! Wow!! I have stitched with silks before but never with these. I really, really like them. They are so easy and smooth to work with. I started Mary Margaret last week and decided to order the recommended silks to stitch her with. I think I am going to have a hard time resisting the urge to purchase every color Needlepoint Silk ever made! J I am sure my wallet will keep me in check however. Mary Margaret is so much fun to stitch! My rotation has completely flown out the window the last two weeks, but that is okay. I may return to it eventually, and I may not. As long as I am having fun, it doesn’t really matter. J I am considering stitching all four of “The Girls” by Carriage House Samplings. Wouldn’t they look lovely grouped together on a wall? I have seen several others stitching them in blogland, and I have just went crazy over them. I remember when these first came out, I did not like them. Isn’t it funny how our tastes change? I think part of it is that I see other people’s stitching on blogs and it causes me to see things in different ways, if that makes sense? I am very inspired/enabled by blogs. None of my friends stitch. So blogs are really a lifeline for me in seeing and sharing stitching. Here’s my progress so far on Mary Margaret…

Something else I have fallen in love with this week….

The Lemoncello Cream Torte from Cheesecake Factory. DH and I went there over the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. This is the most delicious dessert that I have ever put in my mouth I do believe! Yummy!!

Not much else going on here. Everyone is settled back into routine after our fun vacation week. I have resisted figuring out how many days of school are left, but I finally gave into the temptation today. I have 34 more days to work before I am off for the summer. Jake has a few less. We have several workdays built in that students are not in school. I have to work a few days throughout the summer, but nothing too taxing. I definitely have spring/summer fever. The weather has been warm here over the last few days, and the lure of summer is strong. I keep thinking of all the things I would like to get accomplished and all the places I would like to go…

I hope you have a wonderful afternoon wherever you may be!
Thanks to those of you that take the time to comment. I love to read them and to visit your blogs as well.

Happy stitching,
Kellie

Quick update

Thought I would post a really quick update...
We got back from Disney last weekend. We had a fabulous time. My brother-in-law and his family went with us this time, and it was a great time. Jake, who is our only child, really enjoyed having the three cousins to be around, ride rides with, etc. One of the highlights was a princess breakfast that we went to for my nieces. To my surprise, Jake really enjoyed himself. He was not a bit shy about getting his pictures taken with the princesses and was quite thrilled when Belle called him her "little prince" and gave him a kiss on the cheek! :) The worst part was the trip home. Not only was there tons of traffic (a usual 13 hour drive took 17), but my sister-in-law accidentally left her purse in a restaurant in Georgia and did not discover it until we were two hours past there. So we parted ways south of Atlanta. We are all very thankful for the kind honest person that turned her purse in with everything still in it. She had not only her wallet, credit cards, money, etc. in there, but also her camera with all of her vacation pictures and a new iPod. She was really grateful that no one stole anything.

I have stitched a little this week. I am starting to veer off course with my rotation. The appeal of my former "screaming" rotation is starting to call to me again. :) DH and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary last Monday. His gift to me was stash shopping. I ordered two of the CHS "Girls" (Mary Margaret and Molly) along with the fabric and NPI threads to start Mary Margaret, as well as the fabric for Shores of Hawk Run Hollow and Primitive Needle's Earth Sampler. I am thinking about starting Mary Margaret tonight. I have seen several people stitching her in blogland, and I think she is so adorable!

I have spent the afternoon cleaning up my scrapbooking space in our basement, trying to find the motivation to do a few pages. Since I really got back into cross-stitching a couple of years ago, my scrapbooking has really suffered.

A couple more things... I finished a great book this week--Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult, and I started another one that I think is going to be good--The Lace Reader by Bruonia Barry. I love to read, but I don't always devote the attention to it that I would like.

Tonight is probably going to be movie night with BIL and family. We live next door so we end up spending a lot of weekends and off time together. Our kids love to play together. I am thankful that Jake has such great relationships with their three kids. They are his "surrogate" brother and sisters. :)

I wish all of you a blessed Easter. We will be celebrating at church and then lunch with my parents and an Easter bunny visit tomorrow afternoon.

Until next time...

Happy Stitching,
Kellie