Some days...

Have you ever had one of those days when everything goes straight into the dumpster? I had one yesterday. I was stitching my Hannah Canting and was wondering why the rows on the top half were not extending all the way to the edge (I had basted in the right and left margins, as well as the centre.) I kept checking my pattern, and it was what was charted, but it felt....wrong. I got out my copy of Edwina Ehrmans book The Judith  Hayle Samplers, and Hannah Canting is on the cover. The chart was not matching up with the picture. There seemed to be about an inch, give or take a few stitches, missing from the end of the rows of the top half of the sampler graph. I started to add to the rows using the picture as a guide, but the pic is really small, and my eyes were starting to hurt. Starting and stopping threads in order to add such a short section of stitching was also a problem. I then sat back and took stock. Did I really want to do this? I have been unhappy with Hannah this week because, for some unknown reason, I had started her on 40 ct instead of 32. Some of the thread colours were also not showing up on the fabric (I was using antique ivory, probably my favorite linen for repros) and I was wishing I had changed them. I went and took a shower and while the water was smacking me in the face came to a decision. I trashed Hannah. I cut the stitched section off and will use the fabric for something else. So I am back to square one, trying to decide on a sampler for Nicola`s Scarlet Letter Year blog.

Lord help me!

Here are the samplers I am considering:

Margaret Gatis, or:

Ruth Bacheler, or:

 The Unicorn Sampler, or:

Dorcas Haynes, or:

 Mary Moyse.

These seem to be the main contenders. I think i`ll sleep on it and do a little (a lot!) of cleaning and organizing in my sewing room while I decide. I am leaning towards Mary Moyse, Ruth Bacheler or Dorcas Haynes as these are all kitted up. Hopefully I can make a decision soon.

Keep stitching ladies!

Oh crap!

Just when you think all is well in the stitchy world, someone drops a bomb. Has anyone else noticed something different about their Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly (SANQ) magazine? It is no longer published by Hoffman Media. Apparently, both it and Just CrossStitch magazine have been sold to Annies, a publisher of craft and assorted other mags. Now i`m sure Annies is a fine publishing house, but Phyllis Hoffman started Just CrossStitch....she is a stitcher, and I think that is what made both SANQ and Just CrossStitch so great. She knew what we wanted and it was served up regularly and we were rarely disappointed with an issue of either magazine. It remains to be seen if the magazines survive or dwindle away into less quality publications. But what really pisses me off (pardon my language) is that there was not a word in the previous issue of SANQ about the change. Their publishing anniversary was being discussed, with a skein of new DMC to celebrate.

ETA: It was in the last issue of Just CrossStitch that the anniversary was being discussed, not SANQ. Does anyone know if Just CrossStitch will continue to be published? I have heard that it isn`t. But then why would Phyllis Hoffman start a multipart sampler with the pattern to be published in 6 issues? If I had started that sampler (and I was very tempted) I would be irked, to say the least!

Does anyone else feel hosed, or is it just me?

Keep stitching ladies!

Not much to report here...

I have a really miserable cold, so I haven`t been stitching much. I tried stitching on the Band Pattern sampler but my sore head wasn`t up to keeping track of the pattern, so I dug out a WIP, one of the squares of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. Just plain cross stitching, so maybe it will take my mind off my throbbing head. Here is where I am.

I am not altogether happy with the colours of the house...the orange windows just look odd, don`t you think? I am using the DMC recommended colours. This is the fourth house I have stitched from HoHRH I think. I am going to pick some from Village of Hawk Run Hollow also and frame them all alike and hang them in a group. Someday!

Keep stitching ladies!

Christmas and this and that

Let me start right off saying I haven`t put a stitch in for over a week. I took my needlework with me on the road...it was the first thing I packed. But no stitching happened. Travelling makes me sooo tired, and when i`m tired I get eyestrain, so that killed the stitching time.
We had a lovely visit with my husbands family, including the grand babies (I didn`t have kids, but I now am lucky enough to now have stepsons and grand babies!) The weather was great, cold for Texas (we were in San Angelo) but sunny.
We have discovered we don`t like driving at night....the eyes are not what they used to be, and frozen road kill makes a big bang when you hit it. It`s 12 hours to San Angelo. We used to make it in one drive, but now we have to break it up with a hotel stay. It stinks getting old!

Anyway, I hope to get back to stitching quickly...who needs to unpack right away anyway?

Keep stitching ladies!

I guess the world didn`t end...