And now for something completely different...

My friend Rachael is thisclose to having her book Kickstarted. She needs to raise roughly $1500 $1100 in four days. She's a photographer who suffers from chronic migraine...and, well, here let's have Rachael explain:




Kehrer Verlag has given her a letter of intent, but she needs to shoulder some of the risks (ie costs) of production. I think Rachael's work is amazing and sure some of you might too.

And then we'll return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Whoa, Nelly!

Remember that lonely Chinese housewife who spent six hours a day stitching a reproduction of a Song Dynasty painting? Well, it's been three years. She's done.

Yup.

It's 22 meters long--about 72 feet. And you thought you were working on a big-ass project! Silly American.*

*Or, pretty much silly-everyone-else-who-thinks-they-work-on-BAPs, no matter what your national origin.

Reunited, and It Feels So Good

I found this interesting little story about three Amish samplers. They were originally stitched by a grandmother and her two granddaughters in 1868, 1910, and 1914 respectively. The pieces share a style and all record family history. The most famous is the 1914 version, as it had a starring role in the movie Witness. The pieces had been separated and were no longer in the family--if you can figure out the genealogy*. But now they are all together again, albeit in the Amish Farm and House, a little tourist destination in Lancaster**.

*The museum that houses them is having some trouble with that and seeks assistance. "Fishers married Fishers. The family trees become intertwined." {She says without comment.}
**Worth a visit even though you will pull in and say, "WTF? We're in the Target parking lot."

The Media, Cynically Yours

Cosmopolitan has discovered cross-stitch! Okay, they discovered it a long time ago, but this link fell to the bottom of my email box. Back in February, they had a contest where you could win a Katie Kutthroat cross-stitch. You can, however, shop her etsy shop, if you want to have the same cross-stitch in your bathroom as Hannah and Elijah do in Girls. I don't even know what I just wrote. (Her style is similar to Subversive Cross Stitch.)

And, speaking of the Subversive one, her needlework made it into a marriage proposal. Don't read if you think that over-the-top marriage proposals mean that you are young and have no idea what you are getting into. But if you think scavenger hunt marriage proposals are adorable, you will love this.

Busy Bees

 My mom was here last week. She was an hour away at my sister's taking care of the three dogs. We both spent a lot of time backing and forthing to be together. Too bad there's no good halfway meeting point. The first thing we did was get a mani/pedi. I don't usually bother with my fingernails because I use my hands so much, but this was the best one! My nails are usually rag-tag lengths, but they actually cut them all down to size. Sure they're short, but they're neat. My toes are sparkly. (My mom's are blue sparkles.) (Don't look too closely at that floor; Stella is shedding.) Anyway, we ate at lots of good restaurants, did some shopping, and found an awesome ice cream parlor just down the road from my sister.

One night when I got home the dude asked, "did you see the flowers I brought?" He came clean, though. His office had an event and his assistant asked if it was okay to bring flowers to his fiancee. My husband's first response had been to throw the flowers away. He claims his assistant is working on getting "an A in this marriage thing. I am taking it pass/fail." Still, a pass for that funny story. And, frankly, he did need to explain!  (I guess I should have taken a photo when they were fresh.)

I've been stitching every so often, working on the dude's anniversary present. Not much left to go now. Just the house and the couple, which I suppose is the important stuff!

I never would have put these colors together, but I love how the heart came out!

May Flowers

Wow---I did mean to write at the beginning of the month and post the schedule I created but I got so sick. Horrible cough. Sleepless nights. Couch surfing.

May 1-4 Ornament Stitchalong
May 5-11 Nutmeg Needle, Treasured Tulips
May 12-18 LTD, 16th Century Knot Garden
May 19-25 Watercolor Geranium
May 25-31 Raise the Roof, Off the Deep End

(Ignore that imposter of a list.)

While I've been sick, I allowed myself to forget about cleaning and cooking...even though my mother arrived in town yesterday. (She is at my sister's.) I've done something I am not sure I've done in the last four years. I watched teevee during the day. Technically it was the computer and streaming Netflix, but I have become acquainted with the dashing Neal Caffrey on White Collar. (Okay, completely addicted.) I've reached the end of the stream. Now I have to figure out how to watch season four in order. When neither hulu nor USA carry it. I'm sure I'll live. But my stitching may suffer. Because in the past few days I finished both my May ornament (debuts May 29) and Crazy Love... which is less crazy than originally designed but more crazy than it should be.

Crazy Love by Cricket Collection
Stitched with the called for DMC and Silk 'n Colors.
I substituted some kind of light blue linen for the called for stuff.

I'm going to work on the dude's anniversary gift for a few days. Then who knows? I'm in the kind of mood where I don't feel like making a list. Wait, what? I really must be sick.

Ninety-nine Problems but a Stitch Ain't One

Here is my ornament for the SAL or I should say "ornament" or maybe "SAL". At any rate, this is where this adorable ornament was stopped for lack of silk threads. It will simply have to do.

In the meantime, I was soldiering on with Crazy Love. Until I noticed...what the what? Look at that L. It's supposed to line up with the E. Yikes! That is one low-down and dirty L. As I see it, I have a few options. I could just go on with it as is. I mean, the designer designed the L backwards, why can't my L ride low? Or I could extend it so it was as tall as the V. Then it would look like a design element--or a capital. There are those of you, of course, who would suggest I rip it all out. I'm not listening to you. No matter what.