friday, again

My favorite day of the week. All week I had planned to take my morning walk but with late nights, it just didn't happen. However, this morning I was able to kick myself in gear and glad I did. The birds were tweeting and the breeze was golden. Great way to start the day. Especially a Friday. Next week, every morning...my goal.

The website is down this morning for monthly maintenance ~ sorry for any frustration. It should be back up very soon so check back. The SUMMER SALE continues through Wednesday, August 5th. I took a slew of orders to the post yesterday and all I can say is, I'm always grateful for IKEA blue bags!!! If you are an IKEA girlie like me, then you know the kind I mean. They are so useful and BIG.

We are off to run some errands and get Ben's massive locks cut, again. Zack is running around the house with a wind up dinosaur saying ribbit, ribbit...methinks we need to go over the reptiles again. Ok, enjoy your day!!!

piecework

Over the week-end, we went to Historic Occoquan for a Saturday jaunt. My mission was a quilt shop there that I hadn't ventured into as yet (imagine!) and I wasn't disappointed. I had just missed their Moda sale (of course) but they had some little charm packs left which caught my eye. I don't know if I registered the colors first or the name but the 'Tranquility' charm pack had to come home with me. Couldn't we all use more tranquility in our stressful days? So, today I put the finishing stitches in my little quilt of tranquility, as I call it. I didn't use all the squares and good thing too because this size project was just right since I'm no master quilter. I still have to decide how to finish the sides. May you, too, have calming stitches ahead of you!

Chinese food for dinner ... this piecework made me starving!

return to the sea

Stacy in MD emailed in a picture of her finished Return to the Sea with Jane Austen. Great stitching and lovely frame for it!

We are headed to the beach for a week in August ~ I can't wait!

it did it again

Call to me. This recipe from last week. Don't they look perfectly delightful and eager to sit on the plate? Green beans and roasted potatoes to accompany. Hungry yet? Me too! Off to check on the beauties and hurry up the clock. Enjoy your night!

in august...

There will be some new patterns released August 1st and they are...

*A Mourning Sampler for Jane Austen

Oh I love this one...a tribute to Miss Austen comes this endearing sampler graced by 1800s verse as well as a verse written by me! Model stitched by Ann Slater and framed by Valley House Primitives. Wait till you see!!!

*The Sampler Girl Companion, Christmas Booklet No. 1

This is fashioned as the other TSG Companion Booklets and will be available in epattern and mailed format. The style of this booklet is a wee bit different though as there are no color photos of models ~ it rings closer to the style of Victorian handcraft periodicals which tempted the needleworker with the pattern and ideas leaving the end result to the hands of the finisher. I am really pleased with this booklet and hope you like it!

***The Sampler Girl will be on vacation August 7 - September 7 and resume sending orders on the 8th of September.

annabelle bradshaw, finished

This sampler designed by Beth Twist turned out very sweet. This morning I coffee dyed it and thrilled that a frame my grandmother found for me worked perfectly. The colors are the same as suggested except for one overdyed in the top alphabet and I messed up again in counting somewhere along the way during Miss Marple last night but you can't tell. The Miss Marple story was weird, by the way. The previous weeks episodes were better, in my opinion. I need to finish my cape code girls so that will be next for me...unless another pattern lends my ear first.

going well...

...this week-end of ours.

The summer sale at The Sampler Girl begins next week. Till then!

week-end

Week-end ~ doesn't it sound sweet and restful just by hearing the word touch the air? I don't know about you but I always have such grand ideas for the week-end ... little handwork projects, messy crafts with the boys, laundry sorting (heavens - not that!), recipe box tending, fabric shop visiting...I could go on and on. Truth is when a week-end comes to an end, I store up the undone, unfinished pretty little plans that were neglected and bring them out again on another late Friday to yearn over once again. Maybe that's what makes them ever so special and dear ... they float around my thinking bramble which is my brain so often that they almost get done if not visibly!

That said, my biggest plan this week-end is to finish up the Bradshaw Sister samper and do something crafty and make something yummy and most importantly enjoy the children who run around this house. Sounds splendid and even more so in print. I'll let you know on Monday what happened.

I hope whatever you do this fine week-end that it will be something deliciously fun.

summer 101

We didn't have to go far for summer fun today. Zack had collected some rocks on one of our recent outings and I thought he would enjoy painting them this morning. Oh he did. Apparently, riding one's bike afterward is a must. After VBS, Ben got a haircut and then we started up the slipnslide and filled the pool for our own waterpark action. I joined Flickr so if you haven't seen enough pictures ... check the Flickr box in the sidebar.

I'll get around to posting some stitching pictures soon. Promise.

work & play

Last night I finished working on TSG Companion Booklet Five! This one is Christmas themed and the last booklet for 2009. I've fashioned this one a wee bit different and really pleased with its outcome. Many years ago I researched old periodicals of the Victorian era at the Library of Congress and they have inspired me all these years with the format and charm of their pages. TSG Companion Booklet Five will be available on my website in August and sent to distibutors in September. A Mourning Sampler for Jane Austen, the chart, will also be released in August. Valley House Primitives is making the frame.

Just another grand summer's day here. We seem to be at the playground a lot. A lot. It's the place that Zack dreams about and talks about incessantly. He was a lucky muffin today with the place to himself and oh the shovels, deciding which one to use was hard. I think he asked the tree for advice on this task. The slurpee gave him the energy to play more, or examine the straw more, I never was quite sure. It was Zack's first slurpee and clearly made a hit with him as you can see he gave it a ride.

So, did you play today, even just a little?

the recipe that called to me

Last night I was blog reading and trying to pin down a recipe for tonight's supper. I was pretty much sold on the idea of blueberry waffles after a picture of the very same that just about reached through the laptop to me but THEN I clicked into one of my favorite recipe blogs and her post of success with Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken called to me and soon began printing. I went to bed eager for today to begin...so supper could be had! Pathetic but golly, I was excited to get cooking! I wasn't disappointed. It was delicious and all gone. I used the oven grill pan instead of a shallow pan and loved the result. Salad and farmers market sweet corn and we were good to go. You must try this recipe. I didn't make any gravy as she did because it was divine on its own. Just look at our platter ~ doesn't it call to you too?

None left, sorry. However, if you come over in a few minutes I'll have dessert ready. . . peaches on ice cream with fudge sauce. One scoop or two?

a view

Here's a little view into how I decorate with needlework around the house. How do tuck your stitching pieces around your cozy abode? Post pictures on your blog today and I'll come take a peek!

I leave you with fresh flowers from the market this morning ~ sure wish my zinnias didn't die but I can enjoy these instead. Don't they put a smile on your face?

i heart faces ~ foot photo contest!

When I saw a link to this theme contest at iheart faces, the photo popped into my mind of memory immediately. It's one of my favorites. Zack's feet, last August on our beach daytrip. Those toes were soooo sandy. What a fun few hours we had that warm day ... before the skies opened and we ran for the car.

lil bo peep

Nancy just brought me this! A sampler she stitched in 1999 and she thinks it is a Sheepish pattern. Does anyone know the name of it? I love it, Nancy, ~ thank you soooooo much. You stopping in with Doxie made my day. Off to hang this beauty!

oh my boys

We went out for a bite tonight and the manager came by the table to see how the meal was. Zack told him it good, I all finished. The man was bald and when he walked away, Zack turned to me and said, he took his hair off. Kids says the funniest things!

Since Ben is in vacation bible school starting tomorrow, I told him that he had an earlier bedtime this week. During the summer months, I don't set a bedtime really for Ben like I do during the school year. Anyway, I told him lights out at 10pm and he grumbled, of course, about it. (Hmmm, wonder where he gets the night owl tendencies?) When I went in to tuck him in, he proudly showed me his block creation which explained his thoughts on the matter. He called it the boy with a talking bubble - see the boy's face and the bubble above, saying 10:00?

one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

Sara in Italy emailed me her finish of a design of mine from TSG Companion Booklet One with some thread and embellishment changes and wow!, what a great creation. She added the dates of the 40th anniversary of the first man on the moon to commemorate the historical event. Sara, you are so clever!!! Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon 6 months to the day before I was born.

18 July 1817

Jane Austen was 41 when she died. Her sister, Cassandra, took the grief most hard. In a letter she wrote to their niece, Fanny Knight, Cassandra wrote:

'I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow; I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself... '

Researching Miss Austen more through the years has been most satisfying for me and as Janeites, we are never finished finding out all things Jane or gathering anything Darcy-dear to heart. There are forever versions of her few novels and yet we eagerly devour their beauty into our life and perhaps add just a tiny amount more of Jane within, if that were possible. Her novels are read all the world over while still being personal to the reader with story of heart by an almost magical pen that spans the years.

I am always thrilled to meet new stitching Janeites, as I call them, who embrace my designs that are combined with Jane's imagination. Such a joy and folly it is create such patterns as they seem to dance before me in my mind all at once. My next design, A Mourning Sampler for Jane Austen, is a personal one for me and I think you'll like it too. While my Jane Austen-inspired designs embrace her novels and the words from her pages and letters, this one is devoted to Jane herself and is a thank you, with needle and thread, for her life and legacy. Chart will be available in a few weeks.

A line from the same letter reads:

'...there is such a sweet, serene air over her countenance as is quite pleasant to contemplate.'

a bag, a border and Bob, the bunny

At Walgreens today I was giddy in the aisle. Please tell me you get that way sometimes. It usually happens at Target...or that new bead shop but today, of all places, Walgreens. They had colorful, faux Vera-type bags with three inside zippered pockets. Wasn't it nice of them to display them on an end cap so I would see them? I picked out a blue one and it's already filled with my current stitching project.

Beth's Bradshaw Sisters is a lovely chart pak and I've opted to begin with the smaller sampler chart. Eventually I'd like to have them both framed and hanging side by side but let's not get crazy. I already misread the symbols and stitched the top and sides border in the wrong color and guess what? I like it so it's not coming out. I changed the bottom border to the blue color since it looks like waves and guess what? I like it. I think I'll do the other symbols as they are charted but who knows what will happen. I love the DMC colors in this design; they'll match my living room very well.

This morning I was awoken by the boys' begging me to get up and come see Bob, and fast! Ben has named one of the wild bunnies that live in our backyard by the clever name of Bob. Here's Bob munching on his breakfast as he sits very close to our living room window with all of us watching him eat. He went to town on grass and roots; made us hungry so we ended up having our breakfast. Bunnies have good ideas.

just a summer's day here

How did this happen? My boys are getting so big. It's another very warm day here, not so humid, but sunny hot. We spent a short while in the heat playing in the sand and trying our hand at volleyball.

Every wake up and wonder where yesterday went? This summer is going by too fast for me. I have so much I want to do. So many things I want to do. This is one of them. I've decided on the smaller of the two. Beth's designs are a delight. I hope to start this tonight!

to market, to market

Last night I told the boys that we'd walk to the farmer's market this morning after breakfast. The only wheels we had were Zack's stroller. It was a beautiful, yes warm, walk and along the way we saw a neat stone tower, horses face to face, and flowers with bees all round. (Ben wouldn't let me take pictures of those - too many bees, he said.) We reached our destination and it was an abundant color of freshness.

The boys' mouths were decked with cookie crumbs, raspberry scone fragments and juice from peach pieces (well, not Ben - he's the picky one). Oh the sweetness of it all. Yum. My favorite treasure though was a jar of apple butter ~ the girl who made the batch was telling me it took her 15 hours to make it and she sure hoped I would like it. I love apple butter! On the walk back, we nearly reached home when toot, toot, my grandmother was driving by and turned around to meet us. The timing was too perfect so we opted for the ride home from there. Isn't summer grand?

a little something

Fresh blueberries. Good ice cream. Fudge sauce. That's right ~ just a little something.

trunk show . . .and new pattern

Long day. Sleep calls but I wanted to update the website with the new release information and pictures from the trunk show. The afternoon hours flew by with meeting stitching Janeites and chatting about Colin Firth! Such a splendid time seeing faces that match names online and thank you to ALL who came. I won't name all the names here because I'd forget someone and don't want to do that but you were ALL so sweet to stop in, visit me and see my models. Thank you!!! I will say that it was an absolute delight meeting a lovely 14yr old named Emma who radiated excitement for all things Jane.

It was a busy and whirlwind of a Sunday. Once the shop opened, I had Pride and Prejudice playing on the laptop (yes, the Colin Firth version!), followed by Sense and Sensibility which created the mood for a Jane day most pleasantly. A big thank you to Ellen at In Stitches for welcoming me to her shop for the afternoon. I had a grand time.

I leave you with the new release of the day, By the Ocean with Jane Austen. This was the most popular chart sold today, followed by Jane Austen on the Weather. Looks like I'm not the only one with the summer heat on my mind. Stay cool!

my new favorite place

Oh wow. Going through Old Town this afternoon after lunch I told DH to stop the car - let me out - I need to go in that store. That one right there. Now. My new favorite place - The Potomac Bead Company. I didn't even know it was there before. Where have I been? If you have a location near you, you must visit. They have cases of gorgeous pendants not to mention the rows and rows of beads on the walls. They offer beading clases too. I was tickled to find a sweet amber pendant and a ribbon with clasp to wear tomorrow. Hope you have a Saturday find that made you giddy too!

getting ready

"Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We will know where we have gone – we will recollect what we have seen." Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

All models are ready for their showing. Patterns are tucked away to go out for display. I spent the day (and evening too!) out with my Mom and Grandmother trying to find something lovely and light to wear on Sunday. The initial plan was for Mom to make me a dress, a Jane Austen dress, and she still is, oh she is!, but it didn't get finished in time and I didn't want her to push herself so we spent a day of shopping here and there and found something delightful for the occasion. Wouldn't Miss Austen love Talbots? Oh my what a fancy of linen and color to behold to oneself there.

Should you find yourself in my region this fine Sunday, be sure to stop in at In Stitches Needlework! I'll be there 12:30-4pm; chat Jane Austen with me and see the models and charts. Today my brother made the frame for my new release, By the Ocean with Jane Austen, and it's ready. I'm ready. Till then.