Little French Sampler

I'm so excited for my mom - last night she finished her Marguerite Dumas french sampler. Our sampler guild had Lorraine Mootz do a lecture several years ago on french schoolgirl samplers and she repro'd this sampler from her personal collection. Marguerite is darling. Mom doesn't stitch on linen any more so she used aida lambswool with GAST Mulberry. We can't wait to get her framed - I am especially excited because Mom said she *might* could come and live with me when the framing is complete. YIPPEE - we already set up a date to go and have her framed and also mom's other recent completion CHS Scarlet Berries.

Wow - between my mom and my dad - they are putting me to complete shame with the completions this year. My dad just finished another Mirabilia - one of the older Santas and he is about 1/2 finished with my next mermaid - Blackbeard's princess I believe it is called - ooh la la - she is soooooo gorgeous and that will be on my coin to frame. One day soon I'll have to show photos of my other two gorgeous mermaid pieces he has completed for me.

I keep promising to show some WIP photos since of course I have no finishes - not yet - anyway but one day there will be something finished on my list.

This is the A&E by Primitive Needle - it is stitched on the called for PTP Mello but in 32ct instead of 40ct and with the called for NPI but I am doing the tree of life in Belle Soie. I thought I would give up before I could get thru the lettering - I don't know why I hated doing it so much and I'm sooooo glad it's done and I am able to start the tree. This was supposed to be incentive stitching on one of the yuku boards I frequent but I am obviously not going to make the deadline in August. However I love it and it will go beautifully with my A&E rug - I know I know - I have been promising a WIP on that one too but I keep hoping I'll get more done on it and have something more to show -

Hooking news is slim to none - I am still working mostly on the pomgranate runner - it will look great on my new dining room table so there is some motivation to get it done. We have a hooking retreat starting next friday at the Olde Green Cupboard - WHHEEEEE - I'm soooo excited about that - there will be some friends there and we'll have food and lots of hooking time on anything you want but no teacher - well what to take - I am torn whether to devote my whole 3 days to hooking on one project so I can really show progress or caving in to my ADD tendencies and work on 2 projects - heck - I could work on a different project each day and show some progress on all 3. I know I want to take Merrie Halloween - she has not seen daylight in quite a while and I also am feeling the pull of the A&E rug - what with all this bragging about how good my A&E sampler will go with my A&E rug - need to keep both of them in rotation. OK - I promise to show progress photos of rugs after my retreat.

Several people have asked about our possessions that were taken in the burglary - well they caught the scum that robbed at least 26 homes in our county but supposedly did not recover any of my stuff. I still don't have a penny from the insurance company. Oh well - it is getting easier to realize it is just stuff and stuff don't mean much in the grand scheme of things. I do miss certain pieces of my jewelry very much and my favorite purses of course but thankfully they did not take our TV's or laptop which would have been very annoying to say the least. We always can be thankful that it prompted us to get an alarm system and that no one was hurt in our home.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!

I know I'm early on this one but lots of people are taking off tomorrow and heading off for a 3 day weekend away from home and their computers. I hope many of you are planning a fun holiday weekend with some time for stitching, family, friends and great food.

Actually I have to work tomorrow and poor Jody has to work on Saturday - it is the first time that the natural food market where he works is open on major holidays. They were also open on Memorial day and will likely be open on Labor Day too. How sad that our economy has driven business owners and employers to do things that would have never been considered in previous years.

We will be going to the lake on Saturday afternoon. My mom and I have planned a great meal for Saturday night. She'll do part and I'll do part and we'll be done eating and cleaning up before the awesome fire works display over their lake. I expect to have time to do a little stitching over the weekend.

This weekend also marks the one year anniversary of our moving into the new (old) house. So in honor of that I thought I'd show you a photo of our favorite summer time spot.

here is our pool and garden taken a few weeks ago when the hydrangeas were looking so wonderful - they are about gone now and I need to spend some time deadheading them.

Still not much progress on anything I am stitching and I am feeling the lure of new projects since I just joined the Plantation Sampler SAL - WHOOOO - I am so excited that my DF Henrietta helped me out with the chart since I could not locate one anywhere. Henri has this framed and hanging - she does exquisite work. I will go to the LNS next week or I may go to JoAnn's on Saturday if they are open and pull the DMC colors for it but I am considering adding some overdyes in logical places. I love the colors on the sampler so I would not want to detract from the original charting but just maybe slightly enhance (in my opinion) by adding a few overdyes.

The other thing I am revisiting this week in my quest to "stitch in the season" is Betsy by Sheepish Designs. I knew I had the chart because I had my friend Katie draw off a rug canvas from it a number of years ago but never started hooking it. I love doing things "in the season" so I'm in the patriotic mode now so I was lucky enough to find the chart and even found a piece of 35ct R&R sheeps straw - I knew I had a big piece - another WHOOOOOOO - This design is already charted for silk but I decided to again put some overdyes in this one - I have a pretty complete collection of Belle Soie silk so I am able to add some BS in places that I feel enhance the design. Old Glory needs to be bright and new since Betsy is just stitching it so some things in the design I will leave in NPI. I'm excited about this one as I have wanted to stitch it for years. I'm just so impressed with myself for being able to find the chart and even the called for "sheeps straw" in about 2 minutes time.

Well - nothing much going on in the knitting world - For those knitters out there who follow my blog - I was led down the garden path by my friend Jackie (who should remain nameless but NOT) who was led by friend Teresa who should also remain nameless - Teresa and I were sorely tempted some months ago when we visited the Atanta crew ( you shall remain nameless LOL)and found out they were all knitting Jared Floods Noro scarf - WHHHEEEEEE - it was soooo beautiful and mindlessly easy. Well - I was able to supress my *need* for this scarf after coming home from Atlanta but poor Teresa was not. So friend Jackie saw Teresa's and found she must have - so Friday at Knit Night - I saw Jackies and found *I MUST HAVE* and so I have started the Jared Noro scarf in Yuzen - it is not as dramatic as Jackies but it is very pretty.

Hooking - I must show a photo soon of my Pomgranate runner by Searsport Rugs - it is coming along nicely and if I actually worked on it more - I would be able to use it on my new dining room set. We have a retreat coming up at the Olde Green Cupboard the end of July which is just to bunk in - stay cool - eat lots of food and hook hook hook. No teacher - just focus on WIP's - I could probably finish that rug in this retreat however I feel a strong tug from the lovely Miss Merrie Halloween - so we'll see who wins!

Wishing you blissful days full of big bowls of ice cream, giant hamburgers, ice cold belly washers ( a southern expression for sure)a hammock in the cool breeze or a lounge chair under a shady tree - many happy stitches and a safe and colorful 4th of July - Be thankful and celebrate our Independance Day!