New Beginnings and An Old Friend....

Hello, hello! I certainly wanted to get a post in sooner, but alas the month of February has flown by, like it usually does, I might add! It is my birthday month, and with the few days short that it boasts, it is almost always quick and over, with the blink of an eye! I hope that all of you have had decent weather, although we have had some weirdness going on at times and with the creeks and rivers being at flood stage, that is always a concern! But all is good for now, supposed to dry up and warm up (a bit) for a few days, before the weekend and the forecast of more precipitation!

With today being the last day of the month, I am determined to get this post, posted! I have been working on several things, so it doesn't appear that I have made much progress on anything, but I have had a blast doing what I am doing, so that is what counts!! Progress will come, I just need to stay at it!

I actually have Three "New" Beginnings this month, which is a great deal for me! Many of you, might think that is silly, especially those of you that joined in the January Crazy Challenge of starting how-many-new-starts-was-that-again???? Anyway, I love and have loved looking at all of the wonderful new starts out there, but to be honest if I had started that many, I would have been definitely found certifiable!!!


First off is Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart, A Wish For You:

I am doing this all on one piece of fabric, 40 ct Silkweaver's Purely Primitive, one thread of recommended over dyeds over two threads (with a couple of substitutions). I am doing them in NOT the same order as the talented ladies of Blackbird Designs is releasing them. I just felt that this one would look better first, and I will be doing this particular square to celebrate my youngest daughter, Ashley. Hope to finish it up in the next week, we shall see!

Secondly is Mary Glover:

Very little done on this project, but it is started! Thanks to Siobhan and her wonderful enabling, when I saw this sampler and the details on her blog, I just had to do it myself! Please visit Siobhan's blog, if you have not already been there, her projects and pictures are a true feast for the eyes and will definitely not disappoint! Also she has the details on how to sign up, obtain and take part in this SAL. She also has a recent picture of her progress and she has quite a bit more done on it! I did convert the DMC to NPI's, if you would like to have that list, please let me know, and I will edit this post later, with my conversions! I am such a silk snob when it comes to sampler stitching these days! I am stitching it over two threads, with two threads on 32 ct...I forget the name of the color now, although I do know it is an R&R!

Thirdly, here is my birthday start, Needleprint's Marianne Wenn Sampler:

Again, very little accomplished, but it is a start and I am so loving this one! I shared with you all, in a previous post, my conversions from the DMC to NPI silks and I chose 36 ct R&R Flax Fields, stitched with one thread over two threads. I WILL finish this sampler, someday!

NEXTLY (oh my goodness, I am going to have some friends all over that form of english usage, but I don't care,  I like the sound of it!) a re-introduction of a very old friend, Plum Street Samplers Seven Days of Creation:

I am not sure what YEAR I started this, Paulette, do you? Sorry, dear friend, I am not putting you on the spot! I do know though, it has been several years, and when I got it out of the wip bag, I thought to myself, self, you have that almost half done, it needs to be finished and on the wall! So, I vowed, once I got it in the scroll rods to work on it as often as I can and get more progress done on it. Because it is so very pretty!! I am stitching it on 36 ct R&R Creme Brulee with my conversion of DMC to Crescent Colours cottons.

BTW, Paulette is a very dear and old friend too, and if you haven't yet purchased or stitched any of her designs, you are missing out! Her creativeness is so heartfelt and she puts so much of herself in to each and every design! I have them all, and hope to live long enough to stitch many more of them!

Well, I guess that is it for this month! Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read my posts; everytime you leave a comment, I am blessed immeasurably! Today, I am thankful to the Living God for friends such as yourself, whom I have learned from and developed many, many happy memories!!

I hope this video works....it is of my 20 month old Allie Bug, going on 30 years, reading the daily paper!

Love, Jan

Her Sampler Fini and Mariette Swift Progress!

A very quick post, first of all, hope you are enjoying a bit of warmer weather, like we are here in the midwest! What a joy it was for me today to be able to go out on my deck and sweep, without any sign of snow or ice! A breath of Spring is in the air!

I finished Her Sampler a week ago Sunday, and just now sharing a picture of it! It was such an enjoyable stitch, but to be honest, I had more then a few frogging moments with it. If I hadn't loved it so much, it probably would have gotten tossed in a pile somewhere, but I thought it was adorable when I first picked it up to stitch and still do, so all is good!

Carriage House Samplings

Her Sampler

DMC recommended fibers

R&R 32 ct Old Towne Blend Linen

Another sampler that is on my Up For A Challenge list this year, is Mary Garry's Sewing Cabin Mariette Swift 1804. I first saw this stitched by Siobhan and had to have it for myself, so was lucky to win it shortly thereafter on ebay, since of course all of her designs are OOP. Anyway, I started this cutey back in 2008, after converting the fibers to Belle Soie Silks. I don't know why I didn't finish it, just one of those gazillion times that I got side-tracked I am guessing. Anyway, nice to be back to it, and this is really a lousy picture, but at least gives some idea of my progress. Hope to get it finished and soon.

This shows it a bit better:

Mary Garry's Sewing Cabin

Mariette Swift 1804 (Reproduction Sampler)

Belle Soie Silks

(Don't remember the color of linen, but it is 32 ct)

Incidentally, speaking of Mary Garry's Sewing Cabin and those hard to find OOP's, if anyone has her Peace Sampler, I would be most interested in obtaining it. Either purchasing or borrowing, please email me concerning this. It is one that I have long sought after and do not have in my possession, and would so love to stitch it. Thank you in advance for your help!

That's all for now, I do hope that you have some fun with your stitching this week, I hope to get caught up on my blog reading and commenting. Doesn't take but a day or two for me to get behind with that. Also anyone that has inquired about my stitching retreat this summer, be expecting to receive via email Registration information and other pertinent information!

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment! It is such a blessing to me, I have almost reached 300 followers, which totally amazes me! Thank you for being interested enough in my ramblings to visit again and comment!

Sleep Tight!

Love, Jan

Marianne Wenn Conversions and Giveaway Winner!

Howdy from Belfonte Lane in Indiana! Luckily we did not lose our power, during the Winter Storm of the Century'! So fortunate because in our town alone there were 16,000 outages with about 1/2 that many still without power! My heart goes out to them! I did everything I could to 'button up the hatches' and make things ready just in case the power did go out! Candles and flashlights at the ready and I even made a pot of coffee the night before, and put the fresh made coffee in a thermos! LOL At least if the power went out, I could have a cup of my beloved brew!! But fortunately, it did not, but I still drank the coffee from the thermos, which was still very fresh and hot and saved me from having to make it the next morning! LOL

We did get very strong winds and a mix of precipitation, mostly in the form of freezing rain and sleet, which left us with around two inches of ice! My driveway still looks like a skating rink and they have the schools closed for the third day here in the valley! But my daughter says that the roads are much better this morning.

I did mention that I was going to have another new start on my birthday, which is the end of this month, and that new start was going to be Marianne Wenn from Needleprint! After playing around with it for a while, I wanted to convert to all NPI's and was successful, but also I wanted to calm down the color palette a bit and even more importantly I wanted the color palette to compliment each other. The picture below is on the fabric I have chosen, 36 count Flax Fields from R&R Reproductions with the Needlepoint Silks laying just under the DMC that is called for in the chart. I did change out one color entirely, I am using NPI 871, in place of dmc 842, which is considerable lighter: 

Marianne Wenn

Not the best picture, but maybe you can get the idea. This picture below shows the first set of needlepoint silks that I chose, I have since re-worked them, but wanted to share the picture, because it definitely shows the hues of the fabric so much better, although it is a bit darker, then the Flax Fields that I have, isn't quite as dark:

Here are the conversions, if you are interested:

DMC 304 ~   NPI 208

DMC 3706 ~ NPI 205

DMC 3713 ~ NPI 531

DMC 725 ~   NPI 474

DMC 744 ~   NPI 472

DMC 890 ~   NPI 646

DMC 3818 ~ NPI 353

DMC 906 ~   NPI 547

DMC 312 ~   NPI 746

DMC 3761 ~ NPI 742

DMC 433 ~   NPI 957

DMC 3863 ~ NPI 301

DMC 842 ~   NPI 871

DMC 844 ~   NPI 976

NOW, for what you have all been reading to find out, and I thank you for suffering through my meanderings, before I got to the most important announcement.....

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The winner of the Blogoversary Giveaway IS:

 Kellie 


Congratulations dear Kellie! The name of her blog is The Stitching Post, and is a wonderful place to visit. If you haven't visited her yet, be sure and do so! Kellie, can you please email me your snail mail address, so that I can mail out your box of goodies as soon as I can!


Of course, it was so hard to just pick one entry, there were over 90 of you that signed up. So I decided that if the following three blogging friends are interested in receiving a Tree of Life Samplings design, I would love to send it to you! Parsley, Terri from dixiesamplerdesigns and Diana (no blog), please email me as soon as you see this and please tell me which design is your favorite! Thank you all for participating in my 2nd Blogoversary Giveaway! It has been such fun and I always love seeing new blogs that come to visit!


I was planning on sharing a finish of Her Sampler by Carriage House Samplings...however she isn't quite done yet! Mostly because I could not resist starting Anniversaries of the Heart by Blackbird Designs this week! I was so excited about locating just the right size fabric in my stash and pulling together the designs that are released and tentatively assigning squares to my family members! So I just had to put the first stitches in the first block! I do hope to finish up Her Sampler yet this week...maybe I will have it to share on Saturday with you all!


Before I leave, I want to show you a couple of pics, one of my visitors yesterday, the Carolina Wren, the Cardinal (male) and the Tow-Hee (think that is how it is spelled!) in my makeshift birdfeeder! I have had such trouble with squirrels of late, that I have had to be more innovative in getting my bird friends their food. Also with the recent inclement weather, I have not even been able to get a foothold on my decking, from all of the ice. So the pie pan with bird feed and square of suet to the side, right outside my french doors, is as good as it gets! They have been grateful, there have been many visitors, this is just a sampling, if you click on it, it will be larger and you can maybe get a closer look:

And my sweet girl, Boo, aka Sugar Smack, of course, just wanted to get a closer look too, but they weren't having that kind of closeness and flew away:

That's all for now! I do hope and pray that everyone is safe, cozy and warm after the recent storm that hit so many, many starts, and from what I hear stretched over 2100 miles! Thank you for visiting and following my blog and taking the time to write me a comment. So appreciate those, as always!

Today I am thankful for blue skies and sunshine and melting ice...well almost!

Love, Jan

Day After Simply Saturday!

Hello my kind and dear friends! I almost feel like chirping, now don't you laugh, but the sun is finally shining and has been all day! I needed to have some sunshine, after so much gloomy cloudy skies for at least the last two weeks. After a bit, it really brings your mood down! But today, well it is worth countless words, but won't trouble you with anymore on the subject for now!

First of all wanted to remind you, if you haven't yet signed up for my Blogoversary Giveaway, to please go here and do so, before midnight February 2, 2011. Which happens to be Ground Hog Day...wonder if that rodent-type fellow will indeed see his shadow this year? Anyway, don't forget to sign up and I have added a picture of the goodies, if you would like to share on your blogs! Thank you!

I have a small finish to share with you all...this is Belle Pepper aka Addison Rose:

Little House Needleworks

Belle Pepper

32 Ct Lakeside Pearled Barley

Recommended CC and GAST, substituted 2 fibers

I am celebrating my youngest granddaughter, Addison Rose, with this sampler, and the year she was born, 2010. It will hang in my home. It is not a substitute for a birth sampler, I still want to stitch one for her and her sister, but have yet found one that I want to use. I am probably going to design one, to get it the way I want!

I will return on Wednesday the 3rd with the results of the giveaway drawing! Also I have some conversions for my birthday start, Marianne Wenn I am going to share with you all. As for stitching, I am trying really hard to finish up Her Sampler by CHS this week! After that, I really don't know, but it will either be a new start, or one of my wips, from the list on my sidebar!

Hope your week is grand! I appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to read and comment. Your thoughts are always so uplifting, and it is a wonderful feeling to read them all!

Today I am most grateful for the sunshine on this special Lord's Day! This is the Day the Lord Hath Made, Rejoice and Be Glad in it!

Love, Jan

PS I hope and pray it doesn't happen, but there is a winter storm warning in the forecast for these parts, through Wednesday! They are anticipating an accumulation of 2 inches of ice on power lines and trees, and that makes for trouble! There is a strong possibility of losing power, so if I don't get here to announce the winner on Wednesday, that will be why! Maybe this will one of the times, the forecast isn't that accurate, let's hope! I just wanted to let you know!