The "ABC's" of dealing with crude people

I had placed an order two weeks ago with a store in New Hampshire (it's a famous one with a large website) and never received confirmation or anything from them. I went to my local LNS yesterday and was able to purchase all 3 of the patterns I wanted. Well yesterday afternoon I emailed the store to cancel the order was blasted by the owner Marie. She was the crudest, rudest woman I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

On Jan 10 I placed an order for 1 yard of linen. Again, I never received a word from them concerning this order. Yesterday when I mentioned this to her, her reply was that it was on backorder from the company. Now I ask you....if you were selling items on a website, would you picture them and sell them when you don't have them in stock? To me this is just stupid.

All I can say is if you deal with this woman Marie, I hope you have a better experience than I did and I can guarantee I will never be dealing with the cross stitch store again. I would rather do without something then ask her for it.

As always,
Barbara

A Wonderful Day at the Market

Today was the day that my local LNS displays all the new goodies she returned with from the Nashville Market. As you can tell, I was in 7th heaven and it was very hard to get my feet back on the ground. I limited myself to just my favorite designers so I could keep the expense under a manageable figure....I'm not sure my DH would agree. LOL

Dinky Dyes new scissor case which comes with the silks and the matching scissors. Very cute!!! I love doing the Sweetheart Trees designs on the checked Graziano linen and this one looks very sweet. Shepherd's Bush had a freebie when you purchased the silver charm that went with it. This one is a darling sheep atop a hill with a tulip charm.

These are two of the designs I have awaited impatiently for. I am dieing to start the Lighthouse biscornu from Rosewood Manor and the With My Needle Huswife from Ellen Chester is just beautiful. I love stitching her designs.

Prairie Moon has come out with Black and Red Sampler II and since I had number I it was a no brainer that I had to have it. LOL And then there is La-D-Da. I absolutely love all of her designs and love stitching them.

Just Nan had some wonderful items this time but I limited myself to just these two. The vintage winder I have plans for so stay tuned to see what I do with that and the Needle Tweet is for my daughter, Jenn.

Ever since I stitched the Jenny Bean pinkeep, I have fallen in love with these designs. I broke down and purchased the fiber pack for this one....saves on time pulling threads don't ya know.

And last but not least....Blackbird Designs. I truly think they outdid themselves this market and there was nothing that didn't make it into my bag. The Manor book has some of the most beautiful pincushions they have ever produced and my fingers are itching to start them.

So let me know what you think about my purchases and what you think I should start first. I always have a very hard time with that one.

As always,

Barbara

Pictures from a Friend

A friend sent me these pictures in an email and I just loved each and every one of them. These are the treasures that make our lives so rich. Enjoy!!!

I HATE FROGS!!!!

Have you ever had one of those days where you knew you should never have started a project? Well today was my turn. From my previous post about the Eiffel Tower, I made mention that I started a design that had to do with France. I have decided that this design doesn't like me at the moment and that I should put it away for awhile. The "froggy" has been visiting one too many times and I'm about to get out my scissors and do some real permanent damage.

I am going to work on my Toccato #3 for awhile and get my emotions back into balance. Hopefully this "frog" will jump on down the street.

As always,

Barbara

The Eiffel Tower????

Now I bet you are wondering why I have a picture of the Eiffel Tower on my blog. Well it's not because I'm planning a trip there, but to give you a hint of what I'm stitching. If you know me you know I love French blogs and their use of the color red. Well the design I am working on is like a salute to all the French blogs and their beautiful use of color. If you haven't treated yourself to looking at some, here is one to really get you started off right. http://plume-de-lin.over-blog.com/ When you see what this lady has in her own back yard, you are sure to start drooling. I know I did. LOL

I will let you think about what I may be stitching and tomorrow I will post a picture of what I have started.

As always,
Barbara

Have You Seen These?

As soon as I saw these I fell in love with them. They are not very expensive but they will look great attached to my work that I give away as gifts. Just gives them a little extra punch.

Ladybug, ladybug Fly Away Home......

Yes it's a ladybug biscornu that I stitched for a sweet friend who collects them. If the pattern looks familiar, it's because it's a Sweetheart Tree one but done with different colors. This was fun to do and I'm hoping C.......... likes it.

As always,

Barbara

Happy Anniversary

On February 22, 1946 my parents were married and began a beautiful journey together. Today would of been their 64th wedding anniversary and I just wanted to acknowledge their time together. Love and miss you Mom and Dad.

GOS 4th Challenge Entry

Here is my entry for the fourth Gift of Stitching contest. It's a little tin with the design stitched on the front with a pincushion attached to the top. It's just waiting to hold all those little doodads we stitchers have.

Just Being Whimsical

When the winds of March are wakening the crocuses and crickets, did you ever find a fairy near some budding little thickets,...And when she sees you creeping up to get a closer peek, she tumbles through the daffodils, a playing hide and seek.~Marjorie Barrows

Another Cutie Patootie

This very sweet design comes from Carol Tinson of Heirloom Embroideries. I stitched this with a new fiber I found from DMC and it's called Floche. It's a cotton with a beautiful sheen to it and a dream to work with. If you get a chance to try it, I highly recommend this fiber.

I love the name of this design....April Rose. It just brings to mind beautiful pictures of spring in all it's glory. Hopefully, it will be here soon.

As always,

Barbara

An Update on the Letter J for Jenn

I thought you might enjoy seeing what my daughter, Jenn did with the Mirabilia J that I stitched for her. She comes up with some of the neatest finishing ideas and this one was no exception. I love her choice of coordinating fabrics that she used to finish the journal. You can see the rest of her pictures of how she went about the finishing on her blog at http://leftsox.blogspot.com/.

As always,

Barbara

A Late Valentine's Day Finish

Yep I was hoping to have this finished by Valentine's Day but as you see, I'm just a little late. This was a fun project and the HDF silk I used was called "Cherry Cheesecake". Now I ask you....how can stitching with just a silk not be fun? LOL The whole time I worked on this I swear I was hungry for cheesecake but was able to control myself. The linen I used was a flax 28ct from Zweigart which is a very nice linen to stitch on. I recommend it if you are looking for a nice light neutral to show off the colors of floss you are using. It doesn't distract from the design.

There is a mistake in my stitching but I just couldn't make myself fix the mistake. I believe in the Amish belief of leaving your mistakes in your work because nobody is perfect except God and your work should reflect that. Let me know if you can find the mistake....

As always,

Barbara

Spring Fever

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"

This was a fun stitch....but I'm glad it's done!!

I finally got this finished!!! I feel like I've been stitching on this for over a year instead of just a month. I used HDF Old Grey Mare 36ct. linen and stitched it with HDF OMOT Vineyard. This will be added to the large project I am planning but don't have the details on yet. This pattern was designed by A Mon Ami Pierre.

My next stitch is another "small" that will also be stitched in silks.

The Winter Blues

I think everyone is so ready for spring to peak it's head out from under all the snow that the north has been getting. I was looking thru pictures on the web and came across this one. When we lived in Pennsylvania, we lived in what could be called the farming district. There were large rolling fields with barns or sheds in the center of them to house animals or feed for them. This picture takes me back to the day of living there and seeing this as a common occurence in the winter time. I love the simplicity of it and what it reminds me of.....living in a part of the country that I will always love and hope to have as my last resting place. I'm not trying to be morbid, but my family is all there and there's nothing more loving as family.

Just Adding to the Stash

Today was a nice sunny day here in Orlando and I felt like adding to my stash. First I went and purchased 3 new pairs of scissors for my collection.

I went to my local LNS and purchased some more of the DMC Floche thread. If you haven't tried this yet, do try and find some in your area or on the net. It stitches up just like silk and lays beautifully. Today I bought it in red and black for some french designs and the black is for the AMAP Frou Frou which I can't wait to start.

I'm still plucking away on the AMAP Octagonal Quaker and hopefully I'll have that finished today or tomorrow. I absolutely love doing AMAP designs and the french designers....I'm not sure if it's because of the colors they use which is primarily red or the designs themselves. They have such different designs than what you find from American designers. I will be sure to post a picture of the Octagonal design here when I get it finished. I'm stitching it on Vikki's 36ct. Old Grey Mare linen with Old Maid of the Vineyard silk. If you haven't tried HDF silks yet.....don't waste anymore time....just order some and try it....you won't regret it.

LET'S GO RACING!!!!

Yes it's that time of year again when Nascar boys hit the track. I'm a big Dale Earnhardt Jr fan and I'm hoping he does a heck of alot better this year than he did last year. Tomorrow night starts the season with the Bud Shootout and Jr is in it. Let's hope he gets to the finish line first because that would start it off great.

Finished Victorian Pinkeep

I was able to get my hands on this oop Drawn Thread design called The Victorian Sampler and I loved stitching it. I did it on a small count linen so it turned out quite small. I wanted to finish it into a pinkeep and it worked out just fine. I love the soft colors that Cynthia always uses....can you tell I love her designs?

As always....

I Love This Idea!

If you know me you know I love to look at french blogs. I saw this way of displaying your "smalls" on several of them and thought I would do the same. In this container are just the biscornus I have finished. I have another basket full of different types of "smalls". I think it's a great way of displaying your work without taking up alot of room but still allowing you to see them all. What fun I had stitching all of them!!

Well today the sun is finally shining and I couldn't be more pleased. I had to run some errands this morning and it's so much easier when you can feel the sun on your shoulders. I'm still not over this winter cold but it is getting better. Hopefully this sun will just bake it on out of me.

Rainy Day Mondays

I hate rainy Mondays!!! Mondays are bad enough but then to get rain on top of that is just being cruel. This picture sure does show the Rainy Monday Blues.

GOS - 3rd Challenge Entry

I absolutely love doing these entries for their contest....lets the creative juices flow. LOL Anyways, here is my entry for the latest contest. Can you tell I love biscornus? The part I had to use is the house with the bird on top. I added the little white picket fence around it and the decorative red and green stitches. It was alot of fun to stitch.