It has happened again!

Last year, I caught a bad case of startitis but this year it has really taken hold. I should be busy working away on my hand quilting of Noah's Ark. And I am as you can see...


I am also going along well with my Mary Poppins so much so that my head is spinning with my finishing idea. I am excited and hoping it will all come together as I have planned.

But I also have had 5 charts from Blue Ribbon Designs sitting in my stash waiting for me for ages. I even purchased the 5 frames I want to use for these. The frames are plain oak so I wanted to play around with aging some linen. I never see anyone is blogland working on these sayings, yet I just adore them. Such great reminders in life to live now and be cheerful. But startitis has taken hold as I said so I dug them out along with my frames. I had to figure out which count of fabric would produce a result that they would all 5 fit. I will have to play a little with one of the designs but I ended up with 34 count and am stitching them 1/1. I also pulled out my overdyed thread that Clare had sent me one year for my birthday. It is from Needle Necessities and the first time I have used this thread. I really like it and the colors are so perfectly autumnal. Just what I love!

So off I went with my needle, last night, to just get a little start made as medicine for my startitis. I am loving the look of these letters!

Of course, that was only after I had literally let my fabrics cool down yesterday.*grins* I am not kidding. I started off with scrunching the fabric up and placing it in a tea bath. Then I baked it but did not like the evenness of the dye. I sponged on more tea and then scorched it on our woodstove. The first one frightened me and I pulled it off too soon. I let the others steam more and they came up beautifully aged. Just hope I can get the tea marks off the top of the woodstove when it is cool. *wink*

The woodstove is working overtime here as it is a delightful REAL winter this year. I am loving it and all the cozy stitching time it allows. I had to laugh at how Holland comes to a stand still on some days with a small amount of snow but I am so thankful we have it. I do have to admit that I don't like all the ice on the roads as our city does next to nothing about salting them. Yesteday, it did start to melt away but I have my fingers crossed there will be more to come in February, if not sooner. Yes, perhaps I am a glutton for punishment.

While surfing, I found the cutest new words set to the old familiar song Let It Snow. I think Katrina Werpetinski who wrote this new version is a genius who knows just what we stitchers are like at heart...

One More Row
[to Let it Snow]

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But this needlework's delightful,
Since we've no place to go,
One more row, one more row, one more row.

Shows no signs of quitting,
From the comfy place I'm sitting,
I'll just sit here and sew,
One more row, one more row, one more row.

When we finally kiss goodnight,
How I'll hate putting down all my floss,
But if you really hold me tight,
I'll forget stitchin' time lost.

My energy is dying,
But French knots I'm still a-tying,
And as long as there's one to go,
One more row, one more row, one more row."

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Thank you all for your kind comments about Mary Poppins and my Noah's Ark stitchery quilt! It means so much to me. Many people commented about the mugs and wondered where I got them. You can find them here. I ordered them years ago and Lonneke designed them herself. She will be getting more in again although I am not sure if she still has the blue ones in production. Just drop her an email to ask.