Summer has arrived......

Well, it at least felt like summer yesterday and the crowds were here so it fooled us into believing summer had arrived. I hope your Easter was as nice as mine. Saturday before leaving the shop, Greg (the bike rental guy out front) brought Dove Chocolate bunnies to Sara and I. This threw off my whole Easter gifting program as I never included him in it since he never did this before. But I figured I'd bake some cookies or something for him. I should have known better as I tend to sit the minute I get home and start stitching and never get around to doing anything else, but each day I think it's going to be different...a game I play with myself apparently and I haven't won yet. Each hour I'd remind myself that I had to get off the sofa and start baking. However, as usual with each passing hour I kept thinking, I can still get it done if I start in a minute...and yet the minute to start baking never happened. Then I thought, well, since I seem to wake up at the crack of dawn I'll do the baking and get my Easter ensemble ready when I wake up. But as fate would have it, I woke up close to 7:00 a.m., which meant I had no time to waste before church as I go to the 8:00 service. And I was the "reader" of the lessons on Easter so I had the added pressure of going over the lessons all week so I wouldn't make any mistakes. I was confident I knew the lessons well enough so I grabbed something to put on, not the Easter ensemble I had envisioned since I didn't have time to get the wrinkles out of it. Drat...already my perfect Easter was disappearing. So I get to church, looked at the bulletin and realized I had been practicing the wrong lessons. Yes, I spent the week reading and memorizing the wrong 2 lessons and the wrong psalm. So, now I'm panicking. So I spent the rest of the few minutes I had (before I had to read) going over the correct readings and was confident I could get through this with no problem. And I did...whoppee.....no one knew I screwed up! Yes it's turning out to be a great day regardless. But, because the choir sang at 8:00 (usually we have no choir at that service) it meant the service ran longer so I got home with just 45 minutes to get the cookies done for Greg. I tore off my clothes (O.K, not quite tore off after all I need the clothes for church, and I was in the kitchen in my underwear (that's an image many of you will want to burn out of your brain)...when there was a knock on my door. Are you kidding me? at 9:00 a.m. Who the hell was that. So I screamed "just a minute" and ran for the bedroom to put some clothes on. (I didn't want to traumatize anyone in my underwear.) There stood little Solomon and C.J., with my Easter basket from Mary. I grabbed the basket, told them I was sorry their baskets weren't ready and they'd have to come back after work (crap...what kind of grandmother was I becoming)...and ran back to the kitchen. I got the cookies done along with some chocolate covered strawberries, packed the stuff up and I was off. I managed to make it to the shop by 10:15...whoopee!!!! By 10:30, Candi and Linda arrived with an Easter present for Sara and I (this was turning out to be a great day). They had tote bags they purchased embroidered with "Sally's Stitch'n" and inside another bag (decorated felt...cute) with candy in it. Now I have a new tote to fill up with stitching stuff. I'm excited. The day was just getting better and better. Jennifer joined us as we stitched and we spent the day in the lobby of the hotel having our little stitch & bitch. Good times...except it was during the afternoon that I found out I did indeed need a keeper. I was in the bathroom when I wondered why the tag on my slacks was in the front.... apparently in my haste to get some clothes on when the knock on the door happened, I just pulled the pants on without even looking at them. After all they were stretchy pants so I wasn't dealing with a zipper, and in my defense I was in a hurry. Thank God I didn't have to use the pockets since they now were positioned on my butt instead of in the front. And since no one noticed I just pulled those suckers up and went back out to the lobby and continued stitching, with my front pockets still on my butt. Just so you know I'm not completely without class...I did turn them around before I went out to dinner. (like that's going to give me class) After everyone left, I decided to leave a little early to get the kids Easter baskets finished. Sara and Vernon were taking me out to dinner so I was feeling free to stitch for a while after the baskets were together. The kids picked me up for dinner and I had a wonderful meal with Sara and Vernon. Then it was home to more stitching and The Amazing Race. Great day! I feel very blessed and I hope your day went as well as mine (excusing the pant episode)! Last Monday, since it was raining we decided to close a little early. I mean we had seen only one person all day (with the exception of each other) and that was at 10:00 a.m. I spent the day pricing merchandise, shipping off mail orders, well that was until 11:00, but then I got bored and read my People magazine, ate lunch, and then searched out things on the computer...but at least it was related to stitching since I did place a couple of orders. Anyway, since we closed early I decided that meant I had to work from home. So I came back to the stitching room and finished a couple of pieces. "The Girls" from 2009 which is actually a cancer piece , ( Sara has loved this piece ever since she saw the chart, and since it was easy I decided it would be a fun piece to stitch) and now that my Quaker Christmas is finished I wanted something easy. It was fast and fun since it's simply lettering and doing the outline of the dress in cross stitch. So I pressed it, centered it and framed it in the frame from Crescent Colors. Loved it! Then I was so proud of myself I decided to do another finish, " Lila Needle Tweet." Now I stitched this in all purples, (didn't use the blue that came with the kit) nor did I use the blue/white polka dot tail. I liked the purple tail that was in the Pinkie NeedleTweets kit, so I took that tail (why didn't I just go to Michael's and purchase new ribbon? Too easy), so now I have to stitch Pinkie and find a tail for her. Anyway, pretty straight forward finish as the directions come with the kit. So that was 2 finishes in approximately 1 hour...it wouldn't have taken so long except I had a few questions that the picture wasn't helping me with. I spent at least 1/2 hour arguing with myself on the placement of the Tweet's tail. (that was way too much time for that question). I don't think I showed you my finished Jenny Bean pin cushion so I'm showing you now, along with the specific pins made for this pin cushion. This went together fairly easy once I used the double stick tape. I started two other finishes, but got bored and went back to stitching. Finishing just isn't my bag! Baby steps, baby steps. The girls returned to the shop to work on Friday so we're now open 7 days a week again. Friday I spent the day in fabric hell, cutting up and bagging the fabric that had accumulated on the cutting table. It's so nice to have Renee, Connie and Pat back .... yes, folks summer has arrived for us. I got home to hear a banging noise and loud music and looked up and there on the boardwalk sat a man beating on an overturned bucket as his ghetto blaster played on. This is a normal event in the summer on the boardwalk, but in April. Please...it wasn't as if the person was doing a good job. He was beating on the wrong beat, but I give him credit for endurance...he was there when I got home from work at 3:30 and was still beating on that bucket when I got home from the restaurant at 7:30. I'm thrilled to say that at 3:30 a.m. when I woke up Monday he is no longer out there. My street is now empty from cars (everyone has apparently returned to the city) and quiet reigns once again. Sara and I will be busy this week getting ready for Jane Timmers class, which begins Friday night. The girls start arriving on Wednesday so we have a lot to do....as usual it will not shock you to know...I haven't finished the goodie bags...I'm a bit behind! But I'll be ready by the weekend....hopefully the sun will be shining and we'll have a great time. Talk to you later....have a great day!

Getting old stinks...in so many ways.

As I have gotten older I have those horrible skin tags popping up all over and while I'm not into beauty, these are really annoying. I've had one on my eyelid for several years and it doesn't really bother me unless I look in the mirror...which I try not to do on a regular schedule. Anyway, while I can semi hide it with makeup, I just don't want ot bother with it anymore...or at least I thought I didn't. Renee has been telling me to get the tags cut off for years. She does hers the minute they pop up, but then Renee is cute, yes even at 61 you can be cute...and she is. So I can understand why she doesn't want them...but when you are overweight (by a lot) and you don't have a husband or boyfriend (can it be a boyfriend at 61 or that unrealistic) looking at you daily, you tend to let things go a little. But when I was in the eye doctor's office in January, they asked if I would like it removed. I thought they were just going to snip it (I should have known better) so I said sure. Then he says, "well we don't do it here, you will have to go to the Azar Eye Institute". While I was thinking "shit" I still went along with it and let them make the appointment. I think I talked about that appointment, and an earlier blog, where all they did was charge me $400 to tell me I had an appointment to have it done in March. So Thursday was the day. I started the journey at 1:30 for a 2:30 appointment in Salisbury which is usually a half hour away, but I didn't want anything to stop me from my appointed rounds (I'm sounding alittle like our postman)...so I arrived at Azars' office 1/2 hour early which made it last that much longer. At 3:04 I was calculating how long I would actually sit there in the outer office before I told them to shove the appointment and leave. Why is that doctor's time more important than mine? After all I am working on taxes and I have a ton of finishing and stitching still to do! Around 3:20 they came and moved me into the inner santuary, where they laid me flat on a guerney (flat...do you know how hard it is for overweight people to get up when they are laying flat?)...and then they started the prep work. They got the solution in my eye and then got aggravated when I started to dab at the eye when the burning began. They gave me a stern reproach and told me to keep my hands off my eye. So then I was blinking like hell, and they told me not to do that. If they didn't want me to do that they shouldn't have let the solution get in my eye. Anyway, I tried to grit my teeth and get through it when they decided to do both eyes. Oh, yea I forgot to tell you that the first person put a dot on the eye that needed the tag removed so the doctor wouldn't do the wrong eye. That should have given me pause since I have only one tag ... hello people...anyone with an eyeball could see it. Anyway, they put a drap on me (I envisioned gushing blood) and then got aggravated when I touched it ...apparently you aren't allowed to touch that either. Seems to me it would have been better to do all this closer to the time the doctor was due in since I had to lay there approximately 20 minutes with them talking to each other and ignoring me, which was fine with me since I was trying very hard not to pee on myself. I knew I should have gone before I got in there. Then I was concerned I might pass gas the minute he cut me....yes I was having all kinds of issues and visions. What the hell was I thinking when I made this appointment. It has been my ambition since my last child was born never to step foot in a doctor's office ever again. Anyway, he finally showed up for the party and put a needle in my lid .... all the while telling me I might feel a pinch. I felt like asking him to let me shoot it into him and he could tell me what it felt like. But I got through that and the rest went fairly smoothly except apparently a couple of the snippers were no good and hadn't been disposed of and those were the ones they kept handing him. All I kept hearing him say was, "who keeps putting these back in the drawer...throw them out they don't work." I wish I had brought my own from home...I'm pretty sure my Dovo's would have done the job. He gets done and they say, "O.K. you can sit up now." Yes, in theory I could sit up, but when you are as heavy as I am, getting up from laying down position isn't easy. So now I'm stewing over this. I knew I wouldn't ask those bitches to help me so I just put my mind in it, pretended I was laying on my sofa, turned a little to the side and slowly I rose from the guerney. Then it was all about getting the hell out of their office. Of course they want to see me back in a week...but I can't figure that out since the stitches fall out on their own...so if there is no problem why the hell do I have to go back and sit there for an hour....I think I hear a cancellation coming up...yes, I'm certain of it. O.K., that's my tale of woe for the week....but leading up to this point I have had a wonderful week. Well, aside from working on taxes all week...I'm almost there...I've been stitching like there is no tomorrow. I finished the Quaker Christmas Quaker last week, along with the needle tweet. This week I finished the Prairie Moon Spring Egg, Crescent Moon's..The Girls, my Jane Timmer's class piece and I've started the Hornbook from Milady's Needle...on 40 ct...oh, my God...but as Linda Wimbrow loves to say, "it's over two". With my triple magnification, I'm doing O.K. I also pulled out the ABC Sampler from Drawn Thread to finish. I'm on a roll I tell you, I'm stitching like crazy, unfortunately, I'm not finishing like crazy. The things are just sitting on my cutting table looking at me like I'm a failure. O.K., my mission this weekend is to finish a couple of pieces, just a couple, yes that's the mission. Oh, yeah, did it turn cold where you are, because according to the news although today was in the 60's, this weekend it is going back down to the 30's. Oh, Crap! Where is that spring I keep hearing about. We were so close to it, so close.

I'm sure it's coming...and we are working!

The weather has taken such a lovely turn that I just had to show you what is happening down here. What better way than to show pictures of the ocean and the boardwalk. If you look closely you will see a surfer heading toward the ocean (of course they are also heading to the ocean in the freezing weather too, but this time it's sunny), walkers on the boardwalk wearing shorts and in each picture I think you can see the glistening waters of the Atlantic Ocean. We are really enjoying this weather...if you think about it, one month ago we

still had 10 inches of snow on the ground. Oh, this is so much better. It won't be long until we are back in the swing of things 7 days a week, but right now we are still open only Friday through Monday, except if you happen to be in town and give us a call, or know you are going to be in town on one of the days we are closed...if you call we'll open for you as we've done a couple of times the last couple of weeks. We can always find work to do in the shop so going in is no problem for us. My Internet was down for a few days, so I'm backed up with information so here goes. Wednesday I stayed home and worked on a couple of finishes. I did the first piece several years ago and it was put in the pile for finishing while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with it. I wanted a different kind of finish as I think we need occasionally to step out of the box. So I decided to make a stand-up my way. I was thrilled to have it finished and even more so to have it off the table. It's a design from Ewe and Eye and called, "Spring Two". Then I finished "America", one of the large count kits from Shepherd's Bush. This has been sitting on my desk at work for at least 2 years and then at home for at least a year. My third finish was "Dew Drop" from Just Nan. As usual, I dropped a few items off the design. Nan had Easter eggs hanging from the border and I wanted a more universal bunny, one that can sit out all year and this is perfect. The frame was also the frame it was shown in and I thought it brought it up to a more elegant piece. Loved it! All were fun fast stitches. Then Sara e-mailed me a picture of the piece she finally got out of her to-do bag and found a cute way to finish it. From With They Needle and Thread, "The Bunny Cart" punch needle, has been finished for over a year but Sara couldn't decide what to do with it. Well, one trip to Michael’s and she was on a roll. Isn’t it cute and the tin bucket makes a fabulous decoration for Easter. She filled it with eggs and it is too cute for words. And what an easy finish...she sprayed adhesive on the bucket and stuck the piece to it. She also finished one of Just Nan’s "Needle Tweet’s" and she did a wonderful job of finishing it. This is so cute I’m now working on the Lilac Tweet. I think these would make wonderful little gifts for a stitching friend. Just that little something to say, “thanks for being my friend.” The next picture is our 2010 Annual by Renee. Isn't it cute? That is the end of my stitching report...now for regular news. The weather was so crappy (north easter’ and tons of rain) we were inclined to stayed closed on Saturday, but Sara kept saying she was going in and then I thought it would give us time to stitch together, something Sara and I don’t get much chance to do, so I showed up, sat down and started stitching and Sara ran around the shop working. Apparently she didn’t get the memo about sitting and stitching. I told her we’d close around 2:00 since with the rain we probably wouldn’t see anyone. Wrong, I’m thrilled to say we saw several people…a few during the height of the rain, Thanks Karen and Stacy, and then around 2:00 the sun came out and the people were out in droves. The boardwalk looked somewhat like summer with so many people walking around. Then the rumor about a beached whale made everyone that wasn’t on the boardwalk at that point come up on the boardwalk to see the whale. Since Michael ran off to get a close up look at the whale, Sara took my camera and followed him so here is a picture of the little whale who perished and rolled up on the beach, and Michael and his friend at the whale site. They finally carted him (the whale not Michael) off the beach and on Sunday Linda and Candi saw them taking him down the road on a flat bed truck. We're still not sure where he was headed. Sad day for whales! I didn't get pictures today but we had the usual crew stitching together today, Linda, Candi, Greg and Jennifer. And then around 3:00 here came Barbara Cohen, passing through on her way to dinner at Sunset Grille. She's such a hoot and always a good time is had when talking to her. Sara and I snuck out of the shop a little early...hope no one came to the shop looking for us. Well that's the news...have a great day. Talk to you soon.

Another week I'll never get Back!

Tuesday night was our Stitch ‘n Bitch meeting and we have a nice turnout, we may be on crutches or using walkers, but we'd crawl to our Stitch 'n bitch. In fact the only stiitchers missing were Pat and Candi, (who debated missing work but we encouraged her to go to work)…we think we have our priorities straight (although there are times when that would be questionable). We hadn’t seen Jackie Janovsky or Kay Fletcher(who came on crutches) in a couple of months so it was good to have them back in the fold. Jackie brought the most gorgeous show and tell….her casket completely finished. She also brought in several other finishes, however, the casket was so unbelievable that it was hard to focus on the other items, even though one of them was a Maureen Appleton biscornu and scissor fob. The design Jackie used came out of an out of print Sampler book, but the casket is locally made and there are other designs that will fit in it. Anyway, Jackie, it is gorgeous. We have actually had two of our stitchers that have finished the Casket. Linda Wimbrow finished hers last year (I think it was last year) and she did a Quaker Motif design that is also magnificent. I have the casket to do but as usual can’t make up my mind which of the designs to use. There are a few out there that I like I just have to narrow that choice down. It was wonderful to have Joyce Carter with us on Tuesday. She’s been dealing with recovering from surgery on her leg (and has to use a walker) so we haven’t seen her since December. That is way too long to be missing a member of our group. We have a great group without one person that creates drama for us. It’s so nice to have a drama free group because that usually doesn’t happen. It has been my experience that every group has at least one person everyone else in the group would like to “vote off the island.“ We don’t have that…oops…could that person be me? I guess we might have that one person, but since it’s me no one wants to say anything. Crap, sorry I brought this up. Anyway it was a fun night for us to reconnect and I want to thank Connie Heppding who supplied all the food….it was delicious, and of course I finished off the Fisher’s caramel corn on Wednesday. So thanks so much!

Spring has to be around the corner!

The weekend was simply gorgeous! Temperature was in the high 50's and the sun was shining, the ocean was glistening and people were out in mass. There were even a few diehards laying on the beach....but it wasn't quite beach weather. You just know spring can't be far behind. Michael had an all day pool party on Saturday for his birthday so I handled the shop all by myself and managed to get through the day without too many problems. One bathroom incident (not mine) that I would like to forget, but overall a good day. Went to Sara's house Saturday night for a birthday dinner for Michael and left shortly after dinner thinking I would go home and spend the night stitching. I really am anxious to get the Quaker Christmas done....I love stitching it but it's time to be finished. Mary asked if she and the kids could get a ride home as they had walked down, but now that it was dark they wanted a ride. Solomon screamed the entire 2 blocks. Mary couldn't figure out what he wanted. As it turns out, he just wanted to sit in the other seat, but honestly I was never so glad to get home and get away from them. I had just gotten my soda, ice in my glass when there was a knock on my door. Crap, I thought...this can't be good. It was C.J. asking to borrow my house keys as I have a key to their door. While I found the doorknob key, I don't know what happened to their dead bolt key...I know Brian had to borrow it the day after he gave it to me, and I don't think he brought it back...but there is an argument concerning that issue right now so I'm just saying...I couldn't find it. So C.J. ended up running back to Sara's house and getting their keys. In the meantime, Solomon, Mary, Izzy and Brian stayed in my house...apartment... Solomon got comfortable, taking off his shoes, jacket, sweatshirt, hat...etc, and getting his trains and trucks out. At least he had stopped screaming, but suddenly my night of sitting on my sofa with my diet soda and my stitching was so far away from reality, because when C.J. got back Solomon still didn't want to go upstairs because he wasn't done playing. By the time they went home I was over it all, got my soda, sat on the sofa trying to get up the energy to pull out the stitching, finally gave up and went to sleep. Sunday would have to be better. Sunday started off too quiet. Greg texted Sara to let her know that he wouldn't be coming in and Linda and Candi were a little late so we started to think it was going to be just she and I...oh, no that could spell trouble...but that all changed as Linda, Candi and Crystal came in followed shortly afterward by Hedy, Stacy Stinson, and then Betsy and Sarah her niece came down from Delaware to spend time with us. We had a regular party going on. Candi brought in her framed Shepherd's Bush "America" and you can see it is simply gorgeous. But this really has to be seen close up. It is one of the most stunning pieces I've seen by Shepherd's Bush and you know how much I love them. They outdid theirselves with this. Kudo's to Candi with her choice of frame and matting. Beautiful, simply beautiful. Candi is now working on her Lauren Sauer class piece, Linda is working on her Bent Creek Round and the Blue Ribbon Schoolgirl Sampler box...also spectacular. Crystal finished and brought in two pieces, Shepherd's Bush, Best Witches and Raise the Roof's, Witchy Washy. I finished my Jeannie Bean's Pin Tuffet and I can't tell you how pleased I was to finish a 40 ct. project without losing what little mind I have left. The day was spent laughing, eating (of course) and stitching.

Can't explain this one....

Got an e-mail from my friend Cynthia Radley who with our friend Crystal had just spent a 2 days on a mini retreat here, and she was on a rant. I bring this up because I want all of you stitchers to know I can't imagine why anyone would even design this, let alone a shop carry it. "Be the kind of stitcher when you arrive the LNS shop owner says "Oh *@##&" she's here." While it might have been designed, tongue in cheek, I really think it sends the wrong message. In fact when I first saw it I said to Sara, "I can't believe this chart...I think it should read, "oh Thank God she's here". So I knew exactly which chart Cynthis was talking about. Perhaps I just don't get it, but I want all my stitchers to know I am grateful for their visits, for their business and I do not think that way. This is a small world due to the internet and I realize as I'm sure all shop owners do, that you stitchers can take your money anywhere and give it to any shop. You are not required to give it to your LNS at all anymore. You shop globally. At this point, in this economy, I'm sure all of the shops are saying, "oh, thank God, she's here," instead of elsewhere. We need the stitchers to love our stores, not dread walking through the door, because they feel unwelcomed. We are thrilled to see the door open, as so many times we sit stitching alone. While I use to love my Sunday morning stitching with Sara, I love my Sunday morning more now because I know someone will be coming in to join us and we will have laugher and stories to tell. I thank God everytime someone walks through my door, especially since so many of the stitchers have become friends. Without the stitchers coming through the door, my doors would be closed permanently...so I don't understand that piece and will never have it in my shop. We have always been the type of shop that should you come by when we aren't open, and call us to say you would like to get in the shop...we open the doors just for you. We are closed during the week until Easter. This week Sara got a call from a couple of ladies who asked if we were open, as they were going to Virginia Beach and thought they'd stop by here on the way. Sara said we are normally open Friday through Monday, but if they just give her some idea when they were going to be at the shop we'd open the door for them. I was working next door in the hotel office when Sara called me to tell me she'd be opening the doors for 2 ladies and I said I'd run over for her not to bother. (I love the break in paperwork). I got there just as the ladies were coming up the ramp and they stayed for about 1 1/2 hours and I couldn't have been more pleased. Stitchers are my bread and butter. I am thrilled that they have chosen our shop to come into. I'm even more thrilled if they purchase something, although that is never a pre-requisite to visiting our shop. Just love the trip! This is a journey and I want us all to travel it together. So just to get off this rant....please know that I value your business and would never consider even having this chart in my shop, let alone think that about our customers. Now, I'm going to work and pray some of you show up to share your laughter, stories and your stitching. Hope your day is as bright and shiny as ours is going to be. It's suppose to be sunny and in the high 40's perhaps even 50's. Glorious day, just a Glorious day and Michael's 9th birthday. Happy Birthday little man!

Are you kidding me?

Sara asked if I would watch Michael so she and Vernon could go somewhere and of course I said, "Yes." I decided to take the opportunity to take Michael and C.J. (Mary's step-son) out to Sunset Grille, one of my personal favorite restaurants. We were having a nice dinner when a elderly couple was seated beside us. It is hard to ignore a close table...I'm always checking out what they ordered as their dishes come out. In this case the gentlemen got something that looked interesting, but I couldn't figure it out. Luckily, a waiter saw me looking and told me it was...fried green tomatoes. I saw the gentlemen picking at it, taking one of the tomatoes off the stack and then poking at the next one (or what I assumed was the next one) and then I went back to my own meal. But then I overhead the woman say, "I don't think you read the menu..you just saw green tomatoes and ordered." Apparently this was a combo dish of fried green tomatoes and something else. So he eats part of it, gives one piece to his wife and then asks the waitress to take it back because he didn't like it. So he orders something else. In a few minutes the waitress returns with his order and he says..."I want to cancel the order....I'm no longer interested in eating." I couldn't help staring at this man...he orders, it arrives and he cancels the order. Don't you cancel something before it arrives, and once it arrives the option is no longer on the table. I have to give credit to the waitress who just said, Oh, Yes sir and turned around and took it back to the kitchen. I really expected a manager or someone to come out and question this jackass, but to their credit no one came over and then I heard the woman say, "Maybe they won't charge you for it." Some people should just stay home! I've ordered things (believe it or not) that I haven't liked once I got it and didn't eat all of it, or I was full from appetizers to eat it, but it would never occur to me to cancel the dinner when it arrives at the table. These aren't clothes that can be resold to the next customer...this is food...if you don't eat what you ordered it's trash! Is it just me? Am I the wrong one here? It's crap like this that raises the price of our meals when we eat out. Moving on....I've seen nothing but overcast skies and rain and it's becoming very depressing, however, I'll still take this weather over snow. I have taken this opportunity to stitch, stitch, stitch. More progress on the Quaker Christmas which I still love working on. The end is in sight and it gives me an enormous break as I struggle through the 40ct. Jenny Bean's Pin Tuffet. With the triple magnification (peepers, clip on magnifier, and the Daylight magnifier) I'm doing better than I expected, however, it's still not as easy as working on my 28 or 32 ct. linen. I also struggled with putting Jenny on this piece. I understand, somewhat, the concept of reproduction pieces, but I don't get putting someone else's name on something I stitch. So I struggled with putting Jenny and 1824 or Sally and 2010 on it. I felt better when on one reproduction chart it said, "you may add your name in place of ..........", but Jenny won out simply because I was too lazy to graph Sally (surprising I don't have it graphed due to differences in alphabets). Anyway, a couple more nights should have this piece finished...hopefully...and then I get to pick out another new project...oh, how exciting. I don't know about you, but I start picking out new projects as I finishing the one I'm currently working on. No need to wait until I'm finished and it gives me a little push to quicken the stitching pace. With Nashville market stuff in the shop I've got all kinds of projects in my "to do" tote. Got to run...time to get ready for work...have a great day!

It's sunny and bright in Ocean City....

Yes, finally sunny skies and milder temperatures are here for a week, or so they say. I can't guarantee after that but this week we are suppose to be experiencing plenty of sun and temperatures going up to 50 degrees. Normally that would seem a little cold but after the winter we've had this is almost summer weather to us. And in the sun you can throw off your coat and walk around in just a shirt...ahhhh, we're almost there folks...summer, it's right around the corner! I got word from the girls in Pennsylvania that they got 14 inches more of the white stuff last week...sorry about your luck. Right now it's every woman for herself so I'm saying ..."feel sorry for ya, but don't want to be ya." I prayed for a power ball win (this is what I'm wishing for now that my snow prayer worked so well), unfortunately, apparently you have to buy a ticket first. Strange, I didn't have to buy a ticket for snow! The weekend wasn't all that busy at the shop, except Cynthia Radley and Crystal Szymansky were here from New Jersey staying in one of the apartments and so we spent time with them, (they are in the background of the first picture with Crystal working on a Merry Cox piece while Cynthia is studying my needlework roll made for me by Debbie Honch..which I use all the time) and then of course our Sunday crowd was here, Greg, Linda, Candi, Jennifer and Stasy who stopped by in the afternoon and Hedy. My God, it's like we have Stitch 'n Bitch every Sunday. The only problem with that is with so many people I never get any stitching done, or if I do it's all wrong and I have to pull it out. There's just too much talking and distractions. It was great to have Crystal and Cynthia here though. They had to dig out of the snow that fell Thursday night, but they made it here on Friday. We had fun going through the Nashville stuff all over again and oohing and aahing all over again. I, of course, ended up gathering up a couple of projects to take home...oh, my..overload! Stacy Stinson had asked for the Jenny Bean tuffet and of course as soon as I saw it I had to have one and discovered it is stitched on 40 ct. What I love about this is everyone always says, "but it's over 2" like that makes seeing the 40 ct. any easier. However, I put on my peepers with the clip on magnifier and got under the magnifier on my daylight (triple magnification) and took a look at the linen and decided that I could see it well enough to stitch so I began stitching.... over 1. (there are no indications on the chart so who knew). After stitching 1/4 of the border I decided it was way too small, got out the Sudberry Shaker pin cushion that it goes on and yes, it was too small...so I pulled it out (of 40 count) and began again over 2 threads. Amazingly things went pretty well after that. But since it was a little more stressful than 28 ct., I also stitched Lizzie Kate's Chicks Rule at the same time. Needless to say I got Lizzie Kate's done way before Jenny Bean's. Chicks Rule is a quirky little piece that is just right for Easter and for us the best part is we already had a finishing piece ready. Adams Original did a stand up for small rectangular or square designs and the colors are very spring like and we just never came up with anything to model the pieces. Sara and I both came out with "let's use the Adam's Original" stand ups. Isn't it perfect? Now back to the tuffet....and now more work on Quaker Christmas...I'm determined to get this UFO done. And I'm proud to say I've started a revolution. Yes, I've gotten several e-mails from stitchers who are following suit and pulling out UFO's to finish. The Pennsylvania group had a contest...the most UFO's finished during the Olympics won. I'm not sure what was won, but someone won the satisfaction of getting some UFO's finished. That is the best feeling isn't it? Got to run...have a great stitching day. Talk to you later.