My Needle and My Floss... They Comfort Me...

Hello my dear friends, I am still here... I know it's been ages and I am so sorry to have worried you all as I know I have... I withdrew into my shell yet again... As most of you know, I tend to retreat when life gets to be a wee bit much... however, my stitching has been a faithful companion and as always my comfort during the storms... And lo and behold... I have a few finishes to show you all and a couple of new starts... and of course I know some of you are eager to see my ever so creepingly slow progress on Waxing Moon Designs My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me... aka *The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pattern*... For those of you not familiar with The Sisterhood... see my previous post...

So without further ado... I'll let my pictures ramble a wee bit for me tonight...

Deciding to go with an Autumn theme, I changed most of the colours on Waxing Moon Designs My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me... The wonderful ladies at The Stitch in Frame Shoppe helped me choose the threads when I was there back in August... and Oh, My! Joy, Rapture... but what a wonderful time I had browsing through all the stitching goodies... alas, I'll leave that tale for the next time along with piccys of all my lovely new stash... ;-) Anyway, as I was saying, I changed all the colours, I'll post them when I post the finished piccy if anyone is interested... and I'm stitching her on Belfast Vintage Autumn Blush...

My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me...

by Waxing Moon Designs

Stitched on Belfast Vintage Autumn Blush...

With Crescent Colours, GAST, WDW Threads...

and The Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colours...

and Gloriana Silks...

And here, my dear Sisters, is my creepingly slow progress thus far... Once again, I find myself much akin to the fabled White Rabbit of my dreams dashing willy nilly off to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party... Oh, and don't forget if you want to be included in the drawing for The Sisterhood of the Travelling Chart post a comment here on my blog and I'll drop your name in the hat once I'm finished stitching... which I hope will be within the next week... It truly has been a joy and comfort to stitch thus far and I love the colours...

My Needle and My Floss, The Comfort Me...

by Waxing Moon Designs

Stitched on Belfast Vintage Autumn Blush...

With Crescent Colours, GAST, WDW Threads...

and The Thread Gather Silk 'n Colours...

and Gloriana Silks...

Sharon, Ranae and I started Salem Sisters by Plum Street Samplers on the 22 of August... And yet again, the lovely ladies at The Stitch and Frame Shoppe helped me with my fabric choice and thread colours... Did I mention what a Wonderful day that was? ;-) They did not have Lakeside Linen's Vintage Autumn Gold in 32ct so I went with 32ct Vintage Sand Dune by Lakeside Linens and ended up choosing Crescent Colours Belle Soie Silks in Eggplant and Noir and Caron Waterlilies Silks in Copper...

Salem Sisters

by Plum Street Samplers

Stitched on Belfast Vintage Sand Dune

by Lakeside Linens

With Crescent Colours Belle Soie Silks

and Caron Waterlilies Silks...

Ranae and Sharon are a lot further along than me... and oh my, but both of theirs are looking gorgeous thus far... I really must see if I can't persuade the stitching faery to leave me one of her magic needles so I can try and catch up with them... Hmmm I wonder what I could use to tempt her... Perhaps she would trade a magic needle for some Chocolate... :-) I'm not that sure about the Belle Soie Eggplant I'm using for the words... I don't know if it's too purple or not.... It looks more Halloweeny with the Eggplant and I think I would like it to look more Autumny... But it's been difficult finding a silk I like online that doesn't clash with the Waterlilies Copper... I suppose I'll make up my mind once I get further along with it... This is one of the times, well one of the many times when I wish I lived closer to an LNS so I could just pop in whenever I needed to... it would be so wonderful to see all the glorious threads in the flesh so to speak... and it would make it a wee bit easier for me to make up my blooming mind... ;-)

Salem Sisters

by Plum Street Samplers

Stitched on Belfast Vintage Sand Dune

by Lakeside Linens...

with Crescent Colours Belle Soie Silks...

and Caron Waterlilies Silks...

And now for a couple of finishes... As some of you may remember, I am stitching along with some lovely folks in the Heartfelt Friends Round Robin... We are all stitching designs by Little House Needleworks for our RR's... and I chose Diane's Dear Diary Series for my RR.... I stitched Abigail Winslow before I sent it off to Edgar... and he has now finished his bit... he stitched Lucy Fairchild in Savannah and it's absolutely gorgeous... I love it!

My bit of my Round Robin

before sending it on it's Merry way...

Abigail Winslow

by Little House Needleworks...

along with the other seven charts

in the Dear Diary Series...

Stitched on Cashel R & R Iced Cappuccino

With DMC, WDW and Crescent Colour Threads...

I asked everyone to stitch their Name and Town, State or Country in place of the names and towns on the charts... Of course my last name will not fit so I think I'm going to stitch my signature Blackbird underneath Lizzy when it comes back to me... I am also going to stitch a border around the outside using Crescent Colours Almost Auburn... Oh, and if you want to see Edgar's finished bit mosey on over to the Heartfelt Friends RR blog or Edgar's blog and have a peek... :-) It's gorgeous!

My bit on my Round Robin

for the Heartfelt Friends RR...

Dear Diary Abigail Winslow

by Little House Needleworks...

Stitched on Cashel R & R Iced Cappuccino...

With DMC, WDW and Crescent Colour Threads...

For the Fair and Square Friendship Exchange I stitched Autumn Blackbird a freebie by Waxing Moon Designs... My dear friend, Tuula was my partner this time and I loved stitching this beautiful design for her... I stitched it on Light Mocha Belfast and yet again, I changed some of the colours...

Autumn Blackbird by Waxing Moon Designs

Stitched for Tuula for the

Fair Square Friendship Exchange

on Light Mocha Belfast

With GAST, WDW and Crescent Colour Threads...

I am sad to say I made a wee bit of a boo-boo in counting the border and it's off one stitch on the bottom right side, which of course threw off the entire right side of the border... I didn't even realise it until I was stitching the *nutmeg* stitches scattered here and there along the border and when I reached the last one at the top of the right side I realised the entire bit was off... talking about being *away with the faeries*... I still can't fathom how I managed that one... sadly enough there was no time to frog as I had to dash off and post it away to Tuula... I suppose one can call it an *Original* ... at least I try and think of it that way, because every time I think of sending Dear Tuula my poor wee square with the stitching boo-boo I cringe... I think I'll have nightmares about it for the remainder of my days... Oh, dear... I won't think about it today... I'll think about it tomorrow...

Autumn Blackbird...

by Waxing Moon Designs...

Stitched on Light Mocha Belfast...

With GAST, WDW and Crescent Colour Threads...

And here are the gorgeous Friendship squares my dear friend Tuula stitched for me for the Fair Square Friendship Exchange Blog... I love the red and the design is so lovely... Oh, and she stitched her signature square over one... so very beautiful!

The beautiful Friendship Squares

Tuula stitched for me...

A design from

The Gift of Stitching Magazine...

I will try and post more regularly now so you all won't worry... I am so behind with all of your blogs... I'll try and catch up a wee bit over the next few days with my blogging and emails...

Thank you all, my dearest friends, for your emails and for stopping by my blog so often to check on me... I am ever so grateful for your friendship... Your love, thoughtfulness and support have been a constant source of inspiration... and your comments and emails, as always, are golden rays of sunshine through the mists...


*** Edited Friday morning... I don't know what I was thinking... Autumn Blackbird by Waxing Moon Designs was stitched on Light Mocha Belfast... not Cashel as I originally stated... ;-) ***


Blessings and Love in Stitches...


I am grateful for precious moments... special friends and blessings in disguise...

Oh, Joy! Rapture! Fair Square Treasures... Healing Hands... and Deathly Hallows...

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of Vonna and Annemarie's ... Fair Squares Friendship Exchange group... And if you haven't heard as yet... mosey on over to the blog and have a gander... They are taking sign-up's for the next round until Tuesday night at Midnight... 24th of July... so do dash on over if you're interested... it's loads of fun! :-)

Anyway... lest I get further distracted... last week I received the loveliest squares from my partner and dear friend, Sandy... I'm so happy to have met Sandy and I know our friendship will continue to blossom... She's a lovely, sweet Soul and such a dear and thoughtful friend... We share so much in common and she knew just what to stitch for me! I love them and they are absolutely gorgeous... Some of the ladies are finishing theirs into friendship quilts and yet others are finishing theirs into various *smalls*... I'll most likely finish mine into a pinkeep... When I learn how to make one! ;-) Whatever I decide to make with mine... they will be treasured always...

City Stitcher * Country Stitcher by LHN

Stitched by Sandy

And here are the Fair Squares I stitched for Sandy...

A Friend is a Gift...

by The Prairie Schooler...

Stitched on Light Mocha Belfast Linen

With Crescent Colours, GAST and WDW Threads ...

I have also been busy with some secret stitching I should have finished a wee while ago... thus, as it's a secret, I can't show you any piccys yet... ;-) Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, I'll have a remarkable finish... for me at least, by the end of the week... ;-)

My youngest son, Jamie had his girlfriend, Paige had their LPN Pinning Ceremony on Saturday... he and Paige are now LPN's... well, they still have to take the NCLEX... but they are both well prepared for it and I am so very proud of them! :-)

My dear son, Jamie

I'm sorry my posts are so infrequent of late... I have good days and bad days, much akin to everyone else... and on the gloomy days I always look for the sun through the clouds... and follow the rainbow when I spy it... and on my days off... I rest and stitch and time seems to slip through my fingers... I was off this past weekend and I spent a fair lot of it trying to keep up with time and looking for rainbows... and lounging about reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows... ;-) I had planned on going to the Harry Potter party at one of the Barnes and Noble Book Shoppes Friday night... However, we all know about the best laid plans of mice and women... I just did not feel like driving an hour and a half there and back again... arriving home around 2:00 in the morning only to rise again at 6:00 to get dressed for Jamie's Pinning Ceremony... So, I toddled off to my local Wal-Mart in the wee hours Saturday morning and snatched my copy off the shelf... eager to return home and lose myself in Harry's world for a wee while... however, the day was not my own... thus I could but snatch a few pages here and there that afternoon...

My dd, Brandy and her dbf, Nick, knowing how much I wanted to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix invited me to go with them Saturday night...and needless to say, I was thrilled, and perked up quite a bit in the course of the evening... We had a lovely dinner at Ruby Tuesday's... Nick's parents went along as well, and we all had a lovely chat about *the book*... Nick's Dad, Brandy and I are huge Harry Potter fans... and Nick's Dad and I were both eager to return home after the film and start reading... lol {Brandy does not have her copy as yet and will most likely try and filch mine when I least expect it! Not to worry, it's well hidden and guarded by my Dragons no less! lol} After dinner we went on to the Cinema... My anticipation was mounting... I had been waiting to see the film for ages and now that the moment was nigh... much akin to a child on Christmas morning... I could scarcely contain my excitement! I won't say I was disappointed... maybe just a wee bit let down as the film was a wee bit shorter than I expected, thus leaving out far too much... albeit Brilliant nonetheless... perhaps one of my favourite to date... as indecisive as I am, it's rather difficult to chose after one viewing... I'll have to see it a few more times before I make up my mind... ;-)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows...

by J.K. Rowling...

However, the book... Oh, Joy... Rapture.... *The Book* was absolutely Brilliant!!! I loved it and I savoured every word and didn't stop reading Sunday until I had devoured the last word... and then I wanted to flip back and begin all over again... I will say I read it with a mixture of sadness and elation... saddened to reach the end of such a remarkable and unforgettable journey... and elated to walk again through the extraordinary imagination of such a gifted bard! I've started reading The Philosopher's Stone again... thus the journey continues in heart and memory...

Oh, I'm so glad you all like my new blog name... I do hope my updates, however infrequent of late are showing up on your blog rolls, feeds, et cetera... you may have to change the name to my new blog name if you haven't already so you'll know when I've come out of my shell... ;-)

And my heartfelt thanks to you all, my dear friends, for your continued visits, words of encouragement, lovely wishes and thoughts... akin to the first stars twinkling in the gloaming... they are ever beacons through the mist...

Blessings and Love in Stitches...

I am thankful for precious moments... stitching friends, Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling...