New Stash and Baby Sampler Update

I like to get away a for a few days, but I love coming home. It always means doing a pile of laundry, tidying up again, and putting away luggage, but I get to sleep in my own bed! I am a creature of habit, and I love my bed!! It is a four-poster, three-inch foam masterpiece I call my "Happy Place"! What does this have to do with stitching, you ask? Not much, except as a place to display some stitched cushions. Oh, and if I sleep well, I can more stitching done!

DD and I went up to Hubby's grandma's cottage on the lake last weekend. It is always a fun place to visit. And cottage does not do it justice! It has two floors with four bedrooms, one and half bathrooms, livingroom and kitchen! Plus satellite TV! And the lake is about 75 feet away! This is my idea of roughing it!! LOL! I don't do well camping, obviously!! Anyways, we got up there about noon on Saturday, after stopping at a local corner store run by the Amish (this store has everything from cheese and deli meats to hardware and fabric and china and books and toys). Then we stopped at local produce place and bought all kinds of farm fresh fruits and veggies. Yum! DD swam and went for boat rides and stayed up late! The Sunday we were there was hot and muggy and grey, really kind of dismal. So Gram and I stitched the afternoon away, watching movies! She does needle point! We oohh'ed and aahh'ed at each other's work. A friend of hers, named Evelyn had some fabric that she wanted to get rid of as she can't see well enough any more to stitch, and she asked Gram if she could use it. Gram said no, but that she knew of someone who could, ME!! So I got some lovely new Aida, waste canvas and a little hardanger! Aren't I the lucky one! Thanks for thinking of me, Gram!

On Monday afternoon, after swimming, DD and I packed up and stopped Hubby's Aunt Bev's for a little visit. Now she always spoils us! DD got a new purse and after seeing what DD has been stitching, Auntie Bev gifted her with a small stamped cross-stitch kit and a fairly large needlepoint kit! DD is loving the needlepoint! She says that it goes much faster that cross stitch as she only has to do half the stitch! LOL! But she will have to put it down for a week as she goes to horse-back riding camp! I will post more on at a later date!

As for me, I got a bunch of scrabooking supplies! Some paper packs, chipboard accents and a new circle cutter! Yessiree, I was spoiled!! Thanks Bev! And if you get a chance, stop by her blog and see what she is creating! She does such beautiful scrapping! http://beeceecreativity.blogspot.com/

I have been working exclusively on the Told In A Garden baby sampler. Here is my progress picture. It is coming along quite nicely! But I didn't work on it much last night as I watched a movie "The Young Victoria". It had ladies stitching in it, so someone was stitching! I thoroughly enjoyed that movie, but then I like period movies. And as it had a couple subtitles, I needed to pay attention!

I am a little nervous as the face and hands are done over one thread, and I have never done that. I think I will save that for last. My mother told me that she was giving me a challenge! Thanks. Hopefully, I can work on it more next week while DD is at camp. But Hubby is due home today, after almost two weeks on the road! He was stuck out in California last weekend while we were away. This has been a long trip for him, so I hope he is home for a little while. We have really missed him!
Hope everyone has enjoyed the update! Be well and enjoy the last of the summer!

An update, a new start, and a few finishes

Well, August is here and I have finished my goal for the month. I have worked on and finished parts 13 and 14 of my Papillon Creations SAL, CITA. I love how the blackwork looks like wrought iron. But I made a small change. I didn't think the metallic thread I am using would look good for the fleurs de lye atop the pillars so I went with black floss. To me it just stands out more.

Here is the left side (sorry it's so wrinkled, had it in my Q-snap frame and folded to reach it better).

And here is the right!

Now it's finished and waiting for Part 15 to be released mid-September.

And that gives me time to work on my surprise baby sampler. I started it on Friday night and it's coming along. I plan to work on it more this afternoon, but here is a progress picture.

It is very delicate looking. But I think it will be a fairly quick stitch, as I hope to finish it this month. So then I can get back to my Spring Carousel Horse.

My DD Samantha has been stitching up a storm lately. She has been looking thru my magazines and charts and picking out projects to work on. Here are the ones she has finished in the last 2 weeks.

More of the Egyptian motifs. Again sorry they are blurry, but I wanted to get in close so the background didn't interfere.

And this last one, she did for her best friend, Brooke. And she added the writing on the bottom all by herself. She is becoming quite accomplished! Now all we need is a nice little frame for it. She has been doing a lovely job on all her stitching. I will keep you posted on her work. She loves it when I put her projects on my blog.

Last weekend, Samantha and I went up to Peterborough to visit my sister and her hubby with my parents. We had a lovely time just visiting and shopping. This weekend we are just taking it easy and relaxing, as next weekend we will be heading up to Hubby's family's cottage. It's always nice to visit family! Till next time, keep stitching!