Market already

Have you been reading all the previews for Market already? It seems this time that there are way more previews than there used to be. I enjoy it as it allows me to shop ahead as I don't have a local store to be able to see the items. This way I get to peruse the pictures and look at the lists for floss and fabric. This is really the only kind of shopping I like to do besides maybe the antique or consignment stores.  I mostly buy  samplers now but there are a lot of pretty things being previewed.
I have mentioned before that the counted canvas appeals to me for a change of pace. The latest one to be released at Market By Nancy's Needle is Quilt Market and that will have to go on the Wish list for sure. Especially after my recent trip to Amish country. I have purchased from her online shop a couple of times and I highly recommend it for good prices and fast shipping.
Another Market pre-release is from With My Needle Miss Trenner's Needlework Academy boxes. I love the way Ellen Chester has painted those and lined them. They are just so cute. She also has a new sampler reproduction that is a lovely floral that is on the wish list.
I have purchased a couple of designs from Heartstring Samplery in the recent past and her new ones for market this time are definitely on the must have list for me. They are called Matchless Grace and Permit me not to stray. I also want a couple of her prior releases that strike my prim side.  The one I want the most is Simple Bounty Cupboard Sampler which is a purely simple design that I love.
I am intrigued by Rosewood Manor's Crabapple Tree design. I would love to see it up close and personal. Several of her new ones look really nice.  Blackbird Designs new book of all the class pieces is on the please purchase for me list for sure. The Flood by Plumstreet Samplers is a fun one that looks really big. Another one I would love to see in person. GPA designs has released two pincushion dolls that look lovely as well. I could go on and on. There are so many great designers and I have picked just a few. I have many more I could list for sure.  So what is on your list either to buy or to wish?
 Oh, so much to stitch. Speaking of which I need to turn off the Mac and get back to that.
Hope your day is full of stitches. Marjo

Samplers

I love samplers. I love the alphabets, the houses, the over or undersized people, the colors, the whole thing really. I love reading about them, I love looking at them online or in person on the rare chances I get to somewhere to see them. I just plain love samplers. I love the idea of the hours spent stitching that brought pleasure and creativity to the hearts of the young girls and women who came before us to give us samples that talented designers have reproduced for us to stitch. I go back through the old newsletters of the Attic just to look at all the samplers. I just really love them. I collect the patterns and wish I stitched more quickly so I could have more of them on my walls. Yesterday while I was browsing the usual sites I came across one for sale on Scarlet Letter website. I usually don't even look at the antiques as I know that there is no way I could ever afford one but this time I decided to look.  I really hope they make a reproduction of this one. I absolutely love it. The colors are so pretty to me. And I really like the bargello section. The picture is from the Scarlet Letter website. You really need to go to her site to see it in more detail. Lovely,  Sigh.
Hope you have a very stitchy day. Marjo
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Edited to say, that I had written to Marsha Parker to ask if she was going to reproduce this lovely thing and she already had and for those of you who love it as much as I do, it will be available in a couple of months according to Marsha of Scarlet Letter. She has close ups of this lovely on her site. Check it out.

So is it safe?

To finally add the date to the CHS Alphabet sampler? Here I am with just the fill in left to do and 3 letters. I have gone back around the vine where I missed a flower or leaf and got those all caught up and I am examining each square as I fill in the bottom part so I can be sure when I am done that I am really done. I took some time away from this piece for the last two weeks as it seemed the more I worked on it the larger it grew and I had doubts that there would ever be a last stitch for this one. I have been working on  Merry Stitcher ornament, ATS, Happy Hearts by VS and Anniversaries of the heart BBD but now it is back to the CHS Alphabet.  I really hope to finish it soon. I really thought I would be done by now. I still have quite a bit of of fill in left to do but that goes pretty well when I have something to watch on TV or a good book to listen to. This picture represents the colors better than the last one I posted, not sure why the last one was so yellow.  I am already contemplating what I will pull out to replace this one when it is finished which I think is why it seems to be taking so long. As you can tell from my side list of WIP's I  have many to choose from.
Cathy, from Inspired Needle came through yet again for me with rush deliveries of the much needed Linen colored floss from WDW that I know is here somewhere but not sure where that would be. Sure I will find it now that I have replaced it. I will spend some time on Anniversaries of the Heart now that I have that color as it is a large portion of the design for Snow Garden. I will work between the two of them today and then move on tomorrow to something else.
 I think I  would like to focus on ATS for a while. It has been so sadly neglected for so long. I did not get the sun and the cloud finished the other day like I wanted so maybe it would be best to just focus on it until I see some progress.

 I am taking some breaks from the large items to stitch on my ornaments as I really want to get several done this year. Sorry about my shadow on the picture. It is snowing here (no surprise it is Alaska after all) and I couldn't get a true color shot without a shadow on it somewhere.  I have collected the Just Cross Stitch Christmas ornaments for years and never get many of them stitched. I have now kitted several up thanks to Drema and her sale at Needlework corner and would like to get them all done as well. She has a specific section with the fabrics and threads needed for the JCS ornament edition each year. She tells you up front what she carries and what she doesn't so you can make your list. I think that is a great service.  Now if I could order TIME I would be all set.
 SO much to stitch, so little time. Have a stitchy day.

Rotation update

Late last year I joined the Blackbird design group in a SAL for the Anniversaries of the Heart. I am stitching them all on one piece of 40 count LL Vintage Light Exemplar that I had left over from another project. I started the Snow Garden yesterday after spending quite a bit of time trying to find all the thread that should have been in it's box ready to go but wasn't. Found all but one color I need and of course it is one of the main colors but I will order that today and just keep moving around it. I am loving this stitch. The greens and grays are pretty much what I see out my window during the snowy part of the year up here so it suits life right now but I am looking forward to a finish of the first one to move in the reds of the Valentine house block which is next. It is definitely a fun stitch.
I have finished the poor Homespun Elegance Santa who had been languishing in the Christmas ornament stitching tin for the better part of a year and moved onto another one Called Merry Stitches from the same designer. (See last post) Another one that I needed two colors to be able to finish. You would think with the number of skeins of GAST and WDW I have that I would never be missing one but not true. Thanks to Cathy at Inspired Needle for sending me those two needed colors, I will email her soon for the MIA WDW Linen I need for Snow Garden.  She has been so easy to work with for the last two years since I found her brick and mortar shop on a trip to the lower 48 to see the boy child.  I really appreciate her along with all the other shops who are so helpful to those of us who do not have a LNS.

I also decided I needed something new from the WIP to stitch and ATS has been just screaming at me lately so I pulled it back out and have put it on my floor frame so it can get some attention. Since last touched I have finished the middle portion of the cloud and if I get the time to stitch today I hope to get the sun and the cloud finished. I just think it will move faster if I can get the cloud done. Underneath that section is a bunch of smaller motifs that will be fun to add in as well.

I am not done with CHS Alphabets but just needed a break with it for a while, it seemed the more I stitched on it there was still much more to do. It will be my Thursday night stitch until finished but bringing some new old stuff into the rotation.
Thought I would show my stitching bag complete with all the current projects seeing the light of day. I will rotate them based on what is screaming loudest that day at this rate. I used to be pretty strict on a rotation when I didn't work full time but those days are gone and I have enjoyed this weekend just working on  a bunch of different things throughout the day to mix it up a little bit. There is an article on the Shakespeare's Peddler website that speaks to working on something for ten hours and then moving to the next project. I might try that but even that may be more than I can do. I tend to just work on something till I fill the need to change and then move onto something else from the WIP pile. I used to stitch on a rotation of 4 pieces with a week on each piece but with my work schedule I can't do that as some weeks I barely get to stitch. But I am still having great fun with  it and to me that is what it is all about.
Hope you have some stitching in your day.
Marjo

Ornaments

I am working on several ornaments this year. I love stitching them but finishing them is always a challenge for me. This year I hope to stitch the entire set of LHN including the new ones she is designing for  this year. I have also been collecting the ones I like from Homespun Elegance. I think they are fun. I really want to do a the new bird designs from Victoria Sampler, the button up bird designs. I can dream can't I? I want to do some ornaments for gifts this year, some to add to our tree, and plus I can at least have some small finishes this year. I have one of the Homespun Elegance ones completed and one more started named Merry Stitches and the fabric and threads to do the bird designs from Victoria Sampler.

I hope today is day full of stitching. Marjo