Spring has Arrived

Hey Blog Buddies,
Spring has arrived, at least here in the Chicago area.  We had a sunny, mild day yesterday, which prompted me to finish-finish Erica Michaels' Random Thoughts of Spring.  I did get the piece mounted and framed, but...

...the black color on the frame has got to go!

It looks a little funereal to me for a spring piece.

I got some green acrylic paint yesterday,

so the black will be just a memory soon.

The changes I made to the design were:

I omitted the bottom row of shamrocks,

and I changed the word "blarney" to "showers."

I love the way the name of the season

is done in Assisi embroidery on these designs.

The fabric is a 30-count springy green overdye

which you can see a little bit from the photo.

I recently entered a giveaway that Chris was having at

Tot Hill Farm Stitches.

I wasn't the grand prize winner,

but she drew two extra names out of the goodness of her heart,

and I won a bunch of goodies from Market:

Clockwise from top right:

DMC coffee/tea mug, 4 of the newest WDW floss colors,

an easel floss keeper, a lovely card,

small notebook and, last but not least,

a small Whitman sampler full of cho-o-ocolates!

Thanks again, Chris!

And speaking of the Nashville Market,

Linda from The House of Stitches was invited to

our guild meeting this week.

Alarmed because I was running low on stash -- :p

I bought a couple of things:

Lizzie*Kate's Flowers Limited Edition Kit and

Tiramisu from Glendon Place.

She also brought the La-D-Da trunk show,

and since I have almost no Halloween charts (cough, cough)

I got:

There was only one of these charts left--what can I say?

This one will probably be displayed all year long...

...once I get a moment to stitch it.

I think Linda should come to all the meetings!

Well, that's it from here.

Hope you have a grand spring (or fall) stitchy weekend!

Thanks, as always, for visiting!

The March Halloween Ornie

Hey Blog Buddies,
Hope you had a groovy weekend.  The weather here is still a bit wintry for so late in March.  Just another excuse to stay home and stitch!

So far--and I know it's only March--I am keeping up with Lainey's Halloween Ornament SAL blog.  This month's theme was haunted houses, so I chose the haunted house from Prairie Schooler's Boo to You booklet:

I changed the colors a bit because

I thought the model looked too cheery:

I used 40-count PTP Heritage linen

which is a mottled khaki green (hard to tell in the photo),

I "turned out the lights" in the windows,

and the door is purple instead of orange.

I used Gloriana Charcoal instead of DMC 310

and I like the coverage better.

The silk floss is just a wee bit fatter than the cotton.

I guess I will be using it for future ornies

in spite of the fact that I hate stitching with it

(it sticks to my fingers and continually pops out of the needle!).

And it's finish-finished!

I'm making these into ornaments as I go along

because I can't think of anything worse

than having 10 stitched-but-unfinished ornaments

come October!

Over the weekend, I started to think spring

despite the fact that we had a bit of snow here yesterday.

But I'm not complaining:  the folks south of here

got 10-12 inches and we got less than an inch.

I know my UK friends have had more than their share, too.

Here is my start on Erica Michaels' Random Thoughts of Spring:

The fabric is a 30-count overdyed springy green color--

I'm very bad about keeping track of fabric names.

And I'm using two strands of good old DMC 500

which makes me a happy camper.

Don't know how much stitching I'll get in this week.

Our local cable company is having a "Watchathon"

until the end of this month,

which means you can catch up on past seasons of programs for "free"

(read:  no additional fee).

So I'm planning on watching all three seasons of Downton Abbey.

I have one week.

And no, they don't allow you to record "on demand" shows.

I probably won't be stitching while watching because

when I listen to folks with different accents,

I usually have to pay more attention!

Well, I'm off to watch Episode 2 of Season 1.

And to those of you in the northern hemisphere:

c'mon join me in thinking spring!

Thanks for visiting!