Bits 'n' bobs

Well last week was one of 'those' weeks. You know the type....nothing goes right and you feel like you're running around like a headless chicken. It was so manic that I didn't even get time to update my blog...or get around to reading and commenting on anyone else's blog. So this week is going to be a kind of catch up with all the little bits that have been left unfinished ...including some stitching projects.

So the first 'bit' is that I have had my Samurai framed. And here he is...

I was really pleased with how it came out with regard to the matts and the frame. I chose two different shades of green for the matts and they are very close to the greens in the tree.

As some of you may remember, this was supposed to be an anniversary present for my hubby but since I didn't get it finished in time it then became a Christmas gift.... last year!  Ah well, better late than never eh?!!And if I do say so myself, it was worth waiting for!

And my second 'bit' would be the follow up to the Christmas stitching - you remember the one with the metallic threads? Here it is made up in to a card. I had a really hard time trying to photograph this so that the metallics sparkled the way they do in real life.

It doesn't look very sparkly, does it?

Here it is again from a different angle.

Still not sparkly!

This is about as sparkly a picture as I could get.

It's such a shame as it is really beautiful. It's stitched on a very pale sage green coloured aida called 'Light Seafoam'  (the middle picture is about the closest to being the correct colour) and the metallics thread is DMC Jewel Effects E135. The nice thing about this design is that it could be stitched using different coloured fabrics and threads for a very different and dramatic look. Can you imagine it on black aida with gold metallic thread...how christmassy would that be?!!

I'm trying to pluck up my courage and make it into an ornament, but as you know, that would involve some sewing with sharp needles. For the record....sharp needles are not my idea of fun!

And for my last 'bit' (or should the last one be the 'bob'?!!)

Here's a delicious calorie free cupcake!

I decided to do a couple of things differently with this design. First, I decided to make the card a top fold - for no particular reason other than I wanted to make it like that! Secondly, I decided to use some slightly more masculine colours for the card. The browns and blues were already in the design so worked wonderfully. Made using these colours, this would be a great card to give to either a male or a female, and we all know how hard it is to get designs for males! For the sprinkles on the cupcake, you could easily use up all those little odds and ends of threads you have in your thread box.

Or......

Use some coloured seed beads! 

The charts for these designs are available here at my website.

So here's wishing you all a week (not just a day!) sprinkled with fun!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Tusal

Well this month my ort jar overfloweth! What a great feeling!

You can see all the metallic bits from the Samurai and the Christmas card...amongst many others!

Speaking of the Samurai...I think a big trumpet fanfare is in order because.....

HE'S FINISHED!!!

Here are some close up pics of the last details that I worked on.

Metallic lazy daisy dragonflies

The beading at the hem.

The cording at his swords

Hope the strange angles don't make you dizzy, but I thought it was kind of arty looking at the time, and if truth be told, it was really the only way to show the details!!

And, ta-da.... here he is in all his glory.

So now, of course, I'm thinking about what to stitch next.  This is what I have had my eye on for a long time, but I think I may have to ask Santa to bring it to me!! I even know where I would hang it when it's complete! (how sad is that!!)

I also have some fantastic news which I will reveal...tomorrow. I know, I'm such a tease!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona



What to do?

So....I should be doing a happy dance as I have finished my Samurai (all except the cording).....but..... I guess the happy dance has been put on hold because after finishing the stitching, I did as I always do - I washed my stitching. And this is where the happy dance comes to a screetching halt. What's the worst thing that can happen to a stitcher when he or she washes her finished piece? Yup, you guessed it. The colours bleed. That's what happened with my Samurai. It's not too bad, believe me I have seen worse, but I'm just so disappointed that the colours on a Dimensions Gold kit would do this. Afterall, isn't that why these kits are more expensive, because they (supposedly) contain quality fabric and threads - well that's what I thought anyway. So today I have to take my courage in both hands and decide what to do with the Samurai....

leave it as it is (spoils the whole piece),

wash it again and hope that nothing else bleeds and that the stains fade (wishful thinking?)

or maybe try using some vanish and a little cotton bud right on the stains.

Oh, what to do? This is certainly not how I planned spending my day!

Wish me luck!

Until next time...happy (without washing it) stitching!

Rhona

Almost there!

Can you feel the excitement? I’m almost there…it’s the home straight….all the cross stitching is done, just the details (but there’s lots of them!) then Mr Samurai will be completed!

But now I need your opinion. Here is a photograph of the cover of the kit….

And here’s my stitching…..

So, other than the details, can you spot the difference?  Let me give you a clue…it’s bright yellow and missing in my stitching. Yes, you got it, it’s the sun.  I have deliberately not stitched the sun as I’m not sure whether I like it or not! It seems, to me anyway, just like a big yellow blob of an afterthought, stuck in the design. It’s all one colour, with no shading or colour change, which is so unlike the rest of the design. So, my question is this….do you think my stitching works without the sun?

Here's the bottom of the design finally finished, well cross stitched anyway- still got  the back stitching etc to do!

Unfortunately, the replacement threads were a slightly different shade, so I had to be 'creative' to make it work! Ah, the challenges of being a stitcher!

Thanks for all your wonderful comments about me stitching with metallic threads – you did make me chuckle! You’ll be relieved to know that normal service has been resumed and I have been stitching with good old regular DMC once again!

Here are the colours I am using…

See, no metallics!

And this is my design so far…

I know, there’s not much to see. But all will be revealed soon. I’m almost there with the Tangled Threads web site….finally! lol I’ve been busy photographing samples and will be detailing everything here, so you will be the first to see the designs!

I also want to give a warm welcome to my new followers. Thank you so much for joining, and also a big thank you to everyone who leaves me a comment…I love reading them all.

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Dragonflies

Part of the reason I was drawn to The Mighty Samurai kit was that the fact that his clothing had dragonflies embellished on them. I LOVE dragonflies. Funnily enough though, I have only ever stitched one dragonfly design. I think it's because I am so fussy about the colours and whether or not the dragonfly looks delicate enough! Yeah, I know...I'm a bit strange!

Anyway, I have been working on the dragonflies, and for the past few nights have been doing 'lazy daisy' stitches with....you've guessed it....metallic threads! There's no escaping them on this design! It's been slow progress, only because I was determined to have them done right as unpicking with metallics is a big no-no!

So here's the progress pictures. For some reason the camera is a bit like me and doesn't seem to like  metallics! It has a hard time focusing and then when it does eventually take a picture, it really doesn't capture the sparkle of the threads!

Some of the wings are done in two strands of metallics and the ones that are more in the shade or folds of the fabric are done with one strand. Sorry the pictures are so poor but you get the idea.

So now I'm off to work on the Tangled Threads website and decide which designs to put up first. I still have a few pieces to stitch so I had better get that needle warmed up!

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Tusal

I'm so unorganized that I have had to trained myself to write everything down. I'm the queen of lists and notes on the fridge! And thank heavens that I wrote down all the dates of the new moon, otherwise I would have completely forgotten about this....

Can you see all the metallic threads that I have been constantly moaning about? There's not many threads in this months jar, which either means I have been far more economical on my thread usage or that I haven't done quite as much stitching this month. Sadly, it's the latter!

Here's a picture of the total collection of orts for this year so far...

Quite a collection!



And here is the progress of The Mighty Samurai....

The photo doesn't really capture the sparkle of the metallics, but I have to say.....he's looking good! I found the couching a bit tricky to do, but the effect is stunning. I'm really enjoying working on him again. Who knows, maybe I will get him finished in time for Christmas!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Hurricane Stitching

Continuing with last week’s 'eventful week' theme, we can add experiencing a hurricane to our list! Yes, we were in Hurricane Irene's path. Luckily we only experienced the edge of the hurricane, but it was still strong enough to cause considerable damage. Luckily we had cleared our patio of the garden furniture, plant pots, birdbaths etc and had stored them in the garage, otherwise we would have been collecting them from several streets away!

Since Sunday was such a dark and miserable day, it made good sense to just sit and stitch. Bliss! Hubby watched the football while I concentrated on my other fella…..my Samurai. I felt as though I got quite a bit done, although it would have been significantly more if those dratted frogs hadn't come in to escape the hurricane! Even though I had to unpick the same spot several times (I had made a mistake cross stitching the sleeve and couldn’t figure out why the couching wasn’t right) I feel as though I made good progress. I have decided just to use the cart as a guide and not follow it exactly, after all, no-one else will know – well, you won’t tell will you?

This is how my Samurai is looking now....

I aslo re-did the border accross the shoulders as I wasn't too happy with that either! Gee, I'm such a fusspot!

And as a wonderful surprise, this is what my son gave me before he went back to college.

Aren’t they wonderful? (And isn’t he a sweetheart!)

Anyway, time to get on with the rest of the day. I did think about doing some housework but I managed to talk myself out of that! Phew, that was a close one! Maybe some more stitching?!!!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Too hot to stitch!

Slow progress with the backstitching as it is, quite literally, too hot to stitch. We are in the middle of a heat wave in NY and it’s too hot to do almost anything! I have managed to get a bit of the backstitching done and also managed to add a few of the missing stitches….you know the ones where you have half a dozen or so stitches left to do but only enough thread left in the needle to do two. I don’t know about you, but I just have to move on to another colour! Which, of course, means that I have to go back and fill in the blanks!

As you can see from this picture, there were a few blank spots.

But now they are all filled in! (well, top part anyway!)

And some backstitch detail too!

I’m hoping that the heat wave will end soon so that I can get some more of my fella stitched without having to worry about sweaty hand marks and metallic threads getting stuck in the fabric!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

The devil's in the details!

Ah! The dreaded backstitch.......it looks great when done but seems such a chore to do. I have to admit that I'm not one of those people who hates back stitching....I dislike it, but usually I'll get on with it as I know it will pull the design together and look great when completed. But, after a few nights backstitching the Mighty Samurai, I'm beginning to fall into the 'I hate backstitching' category! At first it was quite easy. I was backstitching the branches and that wasn't too bad. Then came the backstitching of the Samurai, well as if it wasn't hard enough to figure out the colours on the stitching (they are all blended with very, very subtle colour changes), but the chart is AWFUL! The backstitch lines are printed so that the line is almost half a square below where the backstitch would/should be. There are two different coloured lines in the same space but it doesn't tell you which to stitch first. And does anyone else have a problem distinguishing the  difference between the 'thick red lines' and the 'thin red lines'  on the chart? I've a feeling it's going to be slow going!

This is where I've got to so far....

This is a close up of his face....

I'm not sure about his nose....something doesn't seem quite right, but I've checked the chart and all is as it should be. Maybe I'm just focusing too much on his face and once more backstitching is done, hopefully all will look fine.

Anyway, I think he's growing into a handsome fella!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona



Metallic Threads

Ahh, metallic threads....kinda like Marmite, you either love it or hate it! I fall into the 'hate it' category (especially for the Marmite!! lol). Don't get me wrong, I think metallic look awesome when stitched, it's just the actual stitching with them that I hate. And for now, there's no way to avoid stitching with them on The Mighty Samurai.


One of my goals for June was to have the ground stitched around the Samurai's feet. Mission accomplished! (Other than the parts that I am waiting for thread from Dimensions). This is how it looks.

 So, the goal for July is to move back to the top of the design and have the trees backstitched and also the Samurai's face backstitched. Of course, not being one to follow the rules (even though they are my own!) I decided to start stitching the metallics. As I have mentioned before, probably several times, I hate stitching with metallics. It never seems to end up very neat when I do it....other people's stitching still looks good, but mine, not so good. What makes it even harder is that it is so hot and humid here just now, and the metallics seem to just drag through the material. The chart calls for two strands of metallics and one strand of regular thread, and I always seem to have a bump of metallic thread in each stitch. I think for the sake of my sanity I will have to do very small sections of the metallic stitching! Someone suggested putting the metallic threads in the fridge as that helped.......sounds a bit weird, but I'm willing to try anything! I will let you know if it helps.

This is the small section that I managed to stitch.

The metallic part didn't show up terribly well on the photo, but it's around the collar and part of the motif on his chest. Also a few stitches on his head....

I promise to try not to grumble too much about the metallics!

Anyway, I'm off to finish off a commission I have for the magazine Cross Stitch Crazy for some Christmas designs....quite literally Christmas in July!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Guilty Stitching!

Well it's a miserable wet morning here.. a real 'dreich' day as we would say back home in Scotland! Not a good day to have plans for doing anything outside, but it should mean that I can spend some guilt free time stitching! It's true, every cloud has a silver lining!

I've been having major computer and internet problems this last week or so and haven't been able to visit many blogs. Fingers crossed that everything is sorted out and I can come visit with  you all, I miss seeing all that lovely work and hearing about what you have been up to!

Anyhoo, what have I been up to? Well, the Mighty Samurai  seems to have taken a back seat to stitching  sample designs. Luckily I had posted here that one of my goals for June was to have the ground around his feet stitched by the end of the month, and oh boy, is that an incentive to pick up the needle! Here's the progress from last nights guilt ridden stitching!

And would you believe it......I've run out of a third colour! A blue/grey colour that, of course, does not match any of the threads I have in my stash. So, I have written (again) to Dimension's asking for some replacement threads. Hopefully they wont take too long in responding to my plea.

As for the sample stitching I have been working on......it is of course for Tangled Threads which I am hoping to have up and running in the next few months. Exciting!!!!

This is the sample that I am working on at the moment. I'm still fiddling around with the colours so this may not be what the finished card will look like!

I have also done another similar design but in more masculine colours. I really didn't think a 16 year old male would like anything saying 'sweet 16'!! lol  Don't you find that it's really hard to get designs for males? Unless they are into sports, it's almost impossible! So, my question for you today is this....what would you like to stitch for the males in your life. Hopefully, with the help of your suggestions, Tangled Threads will be able to solve those problems!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Progress you can see!

Yippee! You can actually see the progress on The Mighty Samurai....boy does that make me feel good! lol

As you can see the ground is taking shape. It's rather boring to stitch and I have to confess that I made a mistake but couldn't find where the mistake was, so I just fudged it! I figured that if I can't find the mistake, no-one else will....you'll just have to promise not to tell anyone about it! Promise?

On to non stitchy news....

Ever had a time when wanting to help meant doing absolutely nothing? It's awful! Every instinct makes you want to help but doing something would make things worse. This is the dilemma I faced last week, I just had to sit and watch while the drama unfolded.

I looked out of the window as I heard such a commotion with the birds and found this...

The poor little fella had fallen out of his nest! He couldn't fly and his poor mama was beside herself! She was screeching and hollering and being very protective. It was amazing to see how she chased the other birds away. The poor little thing was flapping his stubby little wings and exhausting himself.

I didn't get too close to him as I didn't want to frighten him or to upset his poor mama!

It was so hard to watch. I kept my eye on him all day and he eventually managed to get himself into a lilac bush where he somehow managed to jump or fly to the bottom branch. We left out some water and bird food in the hope that he or mama could get to it. Next morning we could hear him calling, and Mama was still close by! Every morning we have gone to check on our little friend, but the last few days we haven't seen him, only heard him. But yesterday, we saw the little bird and he was able to fly! Now he just has to perfect the art of landing! I've got the camera at the ready hoping to get a picture of him.

So, thanks for visiting today, and I appreciate all your comments.


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Look Closely!

Yes, you really will have to look closely to see that there is some more of the background stitched in the Mighty Samurai!

There were some areas of the design where there was maybe two or three stitches of one colour, so I made  the effort to get those 'odd' stitches done, so it doesn't really look like there's that much change since the last picture, other than the background. Still, as many of you said before...progress is progress no matter how small! (My new mantra!)

Anyway, one of my goals for June, is to get the background stitching completed. Since much of it is half cross stitch this should be perfectly do-able! (And now that this statement is in black and white, I really do have to get it done!!! lol)

Thanks for visiting today!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Prunes!

I can’t believe it’s been a week since my last post! I try to update my blog Mondays and Thursdays, but this past Thursday I changed the company that I get TV, internet and phone service from, so couldn’t post because of all the work that was going on. Then with the long weekend, Monday felt like Sunday and it wasn’t till late evening that I remembered I hadn’t posted! So what I’m wondering is if there’s a blogging equivalent of prunes…something that will help keep me posting more regularly!! lol

Not too much stitching going on…the weather turned really nice so I have been trying to catch up with all the gardening chores that hadn’t been done. Here’s a picture of the progress on the Mighty Samurai….he’s such slow progress! Hope you are not getting bored with him!

And since I have been working in the garden I thought I would show you one of my old designs that seems rather appropriate!

She appeared in an issue of World Of Cross Stitching, but unfortunately I did not receive a copy of the magazine so can’t tell you which issue it was.

Here's a close up of the beads from the watering can as they don't really show up well on the previous picture.

Isn't she sweet? If only she could work her magic in my garden!

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona



What a week!

As you can probably guess from the title, it hasn’t been a great week!

MONDAY

Monday afternoon I went down to the basement only to discover that I should have taken a canoe! The water heater had burst and there was water everywhere. (Luckily all of the stitchy stash that’s down there is in plastic storage boxes!) So then it was a trip up to Lowe's to get a new water heater….yeah a real fun shopping trip! (That was sarcasm just in case you hadn’t noticed!) So, was told by the salesman that the installer may be able to fit the new water heater the next day – yippee!

TUESDAY

Got a phone call from Lowe's first thing in the morning saying that the installers would call with a time for the installation. So I waited all day for this call, only to get it 7.30 pm saying it would be lunch time on Wednesday before he could  get here.  Not much to do but wait – without any hot water! All I needed was for the electric kettle to break!

WEDNESDAY

Installer arrives, has one look at the burst water heater then tells me that I had bought the wrong type of heater! Arghhh!

He very kindly took the new one back to the store and the salesman called to tell me that luckily they had the correct one in stock…sounds good? I thought so too, till he told me the price! Half as much again. Couldn’t get any worse? Well, it could. Installation would be double the original price!  Sheesh, my little plastic credit card is in melt down mode! Although I have to say, thank heavens for credit cards!

Anyway by 5pm we were back in the land of hot running water, with the washing machine and dishwasher checking that the new water heater could keep up! So, it’s beans on toast for the next several weeks! (For non British readers that means a cheap meal because of the lack of cash!!!)

So do we breathe a sigh of relief? Everything back to normal? Well.... no!

I had been working on some new designs and had been struggling to get the lettering to fit and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working. Persevered and got things to a stage where it was looking fine, then discovered that my cross stitch program was showing a ten square grid instead of the usual fourteen square grid! No wonder nothing fitted. Then I realized that the designs from early on in the week would be the wrong size too! I ‘m not sure how this happened, but it’s probably got something to do with my cat who has a habit of walking across the keyboard so she can sit and block the screen!

Anyway, so here we are on Thursday and I’m hoping that since troubles always come in threes, the week should only get better!

So, on to the stitching, which is no doubt why you are here!

Well I have a few little things to show you. First we have the progress with the mighty samurai….

The tail is as complete as I can get it until I get the threads from dimensions. I’m actually a bit disappointed with the kit as there is yet another thread that I have run out of. I’m almost finished the regular cross stitching and will soon be on the cross stitch that includes the metallic threads. I always leave the metallics to the end as I find they are such a pain to work with! So be warned, once I’m on to the metallics be prepared for the blog posts to be me moaning about how much I hate metallic threads! lol

I have been busy stitching up a design for a magazine, and since I can’t show you the front, I thought I’d show you the back! I love the colours of this one and it has stitched up pretty quickly – still loving those gold needles! This is one of a set of four which I hope to be able to show you soon.

And lastly, this is some stitching that I’m doing with my daughter. She wanted to make one of the little door hangings for a friend who is taking her black belt test this weekend.  Yes, my daughter has an ‘I can leave everything to the last minute and it will all be fine’ attitude! She probably realizes that I can’t go past a half-stitched design without picking it up and adding just a few more stitches! So, hopefully, she (or maybe that should read we) we will get it finished in time!

 It doesn't look much like anything now but it will be a girl in a Taekwon Do uniform and my DD is going to add the girl's name and the date of her test. I will post pictures when it's done!

In my haste to post the winner of the giveaway, I forgot to link to Lynn’s blog so you could check out her amazing work. I know this is probably really bad blogging etiquette so I apologize and send you all now to check out Lynn’s blog!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Time to Announce the Winner!

And the winner is......

Congratulations Lynn!

As you can see I'm very high tech! All the names were scribbled by my own fair hand and entered into the bowl  - there weren't enough to put in the hat! lol.

I'd like to thank everyone for entering and becoming followers, it was lovely being able to discover new blogs, although blog reading does seriously eat into your stitching time! I've found that it also adds to my 'I really need to get that chart' list also! Anyone else have that problem? There are just so many talented stitchers and wonderful design out there, how on earth can cross stitching be a dying art?  Big thanks also to the wonderful stitchers I have met from http://www.cross-stitching.com/ who entered, I know many of you don't have blogs but I hope you will continue to visit here. For those of you who don't know, there is an amazingly friendly forum there and definitely worth checking out!


So, on to The Mighty Samurai and some progress has been made! This is how he looks now.

The body of the peacock is almost complete, the only bit that still has to be stitched is the small part where his legs and body meet. That, would you believe, is where I need some more of the dark purple that I have run out of!

The tail is coming along nicely too, but also needs some of the dark purple! I'm going to have to have a good look at what I still have to stitch and see what threads are left then get in contact with Dimensions, again, for more thread. Surprisingly there seems to be quite a bit of the red threads left and, of course, I've finished all the red part! Ah, such is life.

Anyway, thanks once again to everyone who entered my first ever giveaway. As always, I appreciate the fact that you take time out of your busy day to pop on here and see what I've been up to.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Happy Monday!

Another weekend gone and not as much stitching done as I had hoped/planned to get done, but that’s life!

I was delighted to see that I have a few more followers, so thank you to those people who pop on and become followers…much appreciated!

And now on to the stitching, which is more than likely why you are here! So there has been some progress on the Mighty Samurai. The peacock, suddenly, is almost stitched! When did that happen? Maybe I did get more stitching done over the weekend than I had first thought.

And now for the Scottish Thistles.

The first one is complete! I have to say this was a joy to stitch, although maybe by the time I’m on number four, I will have changed my opinion!

I’m thinking that since I have four to do that I might just change the colour of the thistle so that each one is slightly different. One could be more of a pink colour, another more lilac and the last one maybe more of a heather colour. I shall experiment and see what they look like. That’s the thing I love about cross stitch – you can change just one colour of thread and give a design a completely different look.

Well that’s all my stitchy news for today, thanks for stopping by.  Please do leave a comment...even if you only want to say 'hi', you have no idea how much that makes my day!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Where to start?

A few little bits for today…

Firstly, I need some help. This picture is of a piece that is very precious to me as it’s something my mother stitched. My Mum was very ill when I was growing up and I cannot remember her ever stitching. Family members tell me how good a needlewoman she was but sadly this, and another small tablecloth, are the only examples I have of her work. I’m hoping that some family member has a box of her work stashed away in an attic so that I can see some more of her work and then pass them on to my daughter.  Wouldn’t that be lovely!

The reason I need some help is this…..

The ink stain is over the threads and I really don’t know what to do about it. Is there a way to get the ink stain out successfully, or do you think I should  leave it as it is rather than taking the chance of ruining the piece? I would really appreciate any advice!

As for the Mighty samurai, he’s coming along. I’m still stalking the postman in the hope that the threads from Dimensions have arrived….sadly, not yet. I have been working on the peacock and guess what? If you guessed that I’m almost running out of another thread, then you would be correct! Now I really don’t think I’m a wasteful stitcher, after all us Scots are renowned for being thrifty, but it’s at the stage where I can hardly get the needle through the fabric as there is so little thread! It’s a good job I’m working on samples for Tangled Threads otherwise this month's ort jar would be rather like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboards!

Here’s the progress on the peacock.

And this is the whole thing to date.

I got really excited when I saw this in my garden…

I know it’s not much, but it does mean that Spring is definitely on its way. For those of you who don’t know, New York winters seem to go on forever, so the smallest sign of Spring is such a welcome sight. Sadly though, the weathermen are forecasting more snow for this area… between 6 – 10 inches was the last I heard! Can you believe it?!!!

Lastly, I  have to apologize to the people who left comments. My Yahoo account for some reason didn’t send any of the emails I had written – just as I get organized and on top of everything! I just want everyone to know that I do appreciate the fact that you visit my blog and especially that you take the time to comment. I will get cought up on the emails again soon - I promise!

Until next time…happy stitching.

Rhona