Blackbird Designs Halloween stockings!!!!

I got the following information in an email newsletter from Wasatch Needlecraft today. I love the Blackbird Designs monthly stockings even though I haven't stitched any yet. But Halloween is my favorite holiday! I've already ordered the complete set from Karen at Wasatch Needlecraft so I can start it the very day it arrives. I don't like wishing my life away, but I wish it was mid-August already!!!! Here's the excerpt from the newsletter:


Blackbird Halloween Stocking Book

The rumors are true....Blackbird Designs is releasing a stocking book that will include 13 different Halloween stocking patterns. Planned release is Mid Aug but I need to have orders in by Aug 1st to guarantee first delivery of fabric and threads. I do not have detailed pricing yet but this is what I know so far-.

The fabric will all be on R&R linen and will cost $42.90 for all 13 stockings. The threads used are Weeks Dye Works, Crescent Colours and Gentle Art but I do not have the colors or number of skeins for pricing yet. I will let you know as soon as I have exact information.

If you want to pre-order this and guarantee first delivery in August let me know no later then the close of Thurs July 30th. Email orders to karen@wasatchneedlecraft.com .

Once I turn in my pre-orders in I am financially committed to my distributors so due to a large number of customers canceling on pre-orders/series I will need to get a pre-payment on Aug 1st of 50% and the remaining will be invoiced once they are ready to be shipped out to you. Thank you for your understanding!

Clydesdales are framed!!

The Spinning Wheel in Fenwick Island, DE, did a perfect job framing this piece. I had brought the piece with me to wash and iron while on vacation at the beach over the 4th of July. She had the perfect frame (a sage green) and I left it to be framed. What a great job! I love it!

I also had an oldie but goodie sampler in the trunk of the car that I'd finished back in February 2009. I had her frame that one, too. It looks lovely. Both pieces will be entered in the local county fair and the state fair in August.

Knitting cupcakes

I took the best class on Sunday at Eleganza Yarns on Shad Row in Frederick, MD. The teacher/owner was fun and knowledgable. The class, free by the way, was on making knitted cupcakes. She had a great model with "coconut" topping (my fav!). Unfortunately, that yarn was no longer available. I did find several other combinations including red, white and blue (4th of July, of course!).

There were 3 of us making cupcakes and a 4th working on a beautiful sweater, plus the instructor working on a light shrug. I liked that even though I've been knitting since 1982, taught knitting at the yarn shop I worked at, and judged knitting for the fairs I still learned some things! I like that about me. :)

Class was great fun and a real treat for me. The day was clear and sunny (it's been so rainy for the last couple of months) and the breeze felt wonderful. We all chatted and had a great time and made good progress on our "fat-free" cupcakes. It cracked us up when another knitter came into the store, asked what we were making and said that she had "too many projects started to be spending time knitting cupcakes!" What a hoot!! I'll stack my knitting, crochet, needlepoint and cross stitch started projects against any one, any day, any time!!! Yet I had time to knit cupcakes. And, yes, us cupcake makers laughed at her after she'd left the parking lot.

One of the other cupcake knitters brought in a skein of "coconut" yarn that she'd bought at the shop many months ago. Although I looked at the label and had pen and paper handy, I didn't jot down the name of the yarn. All I could remember was "FFF" for the manufacturer. Never heard of 'em!

Well, I'm not the Google Queen for nothing! I found the yarn, FFF's Moira, online AND found a shop selling it for 50% off!!!! You may touch the hem of my garment. (LOL)

Ash came back from the framers + clydesdales

and, boy, is it gorgeous!!! I framed it with one inch at the top and tail, 2 inches from the nose, and 4 inches above the bottom since I wanted to give the appearance that it is flying. I have no memory in the computer for scans so I am unable to post a picture of it or of anything. :(

I am still "plowing" (LOL) away on my clydesdales pulling the old fashioned plow. I stitch for 3 to 4 hours a night and it still shows no daily progress. After a couple of days I see progress, but it takes a while. I'll be glad when it's done and I can stitch on other things. I might have to take it on vacation and to a framer while on vacation so it'll be done in time for the county fairs. They can ship it to me, if it comes to that.

I have many things I'd like to stitch next. Little Mill Hill musical instruments as ornaments, MH sled and MH train ornaments, needlerolls, HIH, the new BC branches, anything Shepherd's Bush (I have so much, it won't matter what gets stitched), Dictionary of Bras, Language of Flowers, Sweet Treats, and my needlepoint and knitting!!

I finished Ash the dragon

As soon as I saw Ash I knew I had to stitch it. I don't call myself a dragon-type person, but there are some I like. This was one of them. I didn't like the charcoal dragon on deep red fabric so I found a sky blue fabric (Aerial from Picture This Plus) and an aqua ThreadX. Soooo beautiful together! I like the swirls in the wings. It took exactly 5 skeins. I have a single strand about 11" long left over. I used purple metallic Petite Treasure Braid for the eye and eye accent.

Sheep & Wool Festival is this weekend!!!!!

I'm so psyched!! I love going to the Sheep & Wool Festival. I pre-ordered my t-shirts and tote bag so I don't have to stand in the God forsaken line. I work my t-shirt all weekend. Only one person noticed that I had the new shirt on (not bad actually!). www.sheepandwool.org

Observations on the Woodlawn Exhibit

I didn't make it upstairs again - that staircase is trecherous! Maybe next year.

I entered three items that were well displayed and all in the first room. No award winners, but it just makes me want to try harder for next year. I noticed that most of the award winners were stitched "over one". The best in show was one of the early Lavender & Lace angels (winter??) and it was done over one thread. Awesome! Needless to say all the stitches were perfect, but I wonder if it would take all the joy of stitching out of it to be that precise.

The tea room had some of Martha Washington's Ginger Cookies for sale. I believe these are from the same recipe before they changed the last room on the first floor into the tea room. They were in a tin bucket on the mantel! They were good, but not as good as I remember. I believe the cookie I really liked was a molasses cookie rather than a ginger cookie.

I made the mandatory (and highly anticipated) stop at In Stitches needlecraft shop which is north on Rt. 1 and right at the McDonalds. I like that they open on Sundays throughout the exhibition. This shop is an extended lunch hour away from where I work, but I hadn't been in a very long time. It was great to see everyone and pick up some things from my list as well as some new things. I didn't see anything at Woodlawn that I really wanted to stitch (that I didn't already own!!) so I didn't need their help in finding anything. In past years, they've pointed me to the charts of items displayed at Woodlawn.

Then we picked up lunch and parked at Gravelly Point to eat and watch the airplanes take off and land at National Airport. It was a beautiful day.