Good Times

What a contrast to last week when I was having a major meltdown.  
We had a great weekend.  Hollis and Paul came home on Friday and
 took Lehmer and I out to dinner.  It was a very unnecessary thing
 for them to do, but they insisted on thanking us for helping them get
 their home ready to sell and for babysitting their dog, Zeus while 
the house is on the market.  We didn't do anything special - 
just what most parents do to help their kids. 

We had a delicious dinner at a new restaurant called The Bavarian

Chef.  This restaurant has been in business for years in another town.

Thankfully, for Fredericksburg, they decided to open here.  Oh, my, what

a meal.  I have never seen so much food.  About half of everyones' 

meal came home in doggy bags.  On Saturday Hollis hosted a jewelry party at my house.  We had a

great turnout and had a really nice time.  Lots of goodies to eat and

drink.  The jewelry was stunning from a company called Stella & Dot.

Business wise, Hollis helped me set up an Etsy shop and I got that

infamous Paypal account straightened out.  I had a great response to

my "Boo Tyme" Project Pack.  All gone - thank you very much!!

Today I reached 100 "followers", in fact, I think I am at 102.  I am

so excited and grateful that so many stitchers have found me and

want to be a "follower".  I am delighted to do my first "give away".  Just

leave a comment on this entry and I will randomly pick a winner
 on Thursday evening.

Here is a sneak peak of my 2010 Sampler Ornament -

"Waiting For Santa"  --  hope you like what you see!!

"Many Happy Stitches"

Sandra

Crazy Couple Of Days

Tomorrow is going to be a better day I keep telling myself, and so 

far that has not proven true for the last two days.  As all of you know

 the first disaster was when I found a mistake in my first "freebie" 

design.  Correcting that was stressful enough.  Our Automatic

 shoppes had also gotten a hard copy in their shipment, so all of them 

had to be contacted.  Unfortunately, we didn't have all of the 

email addresses, so we had to call, explain the situation, and get 
their email.

Back to the basement I went to email them the corrected copy.

I tried to send a mass email.  After loading all of the emails

it did not send, so I had to send them individually, attaching the

graph each time.  Are you getting the picture, but I least I could

feel good about having corrected the problem.  Wrong!  A little

while later one of my shoppes emailed to tell me it was blurry

when it printed and looked even worse when they tried to make 

copies from it.  What in the world had I done wrong this time.  It

seems that I had not put it in a pdf.  Boy, this tech stuff is not

for sissies.  
So, back to the basement, figure out how to do that,

and then send them all individually again.  Remember, I still

had not figured out why I couldn't do a mass email.  I was so

frazzled and to add to that we got some really awful health news

about a dear relative.  At 3:00 this morning I was still awake.

The day's events had taken their toll and my mind just would

not shut off.  Six thirty came awfully early this a.m.
But remember today is suppose to be a better day. Wrong!

What is the first thing I see in my email.  One of the shoppes

said the attachment was not there.  So I had to go back to

the basement and redo hers, praying the whole time that

it was just a fluke, and everyone else got theirs.  So far I have

not heard from anyone else.  So I hope all is well with the

 graph - finally!

But I'm not finished complaining yet.  Are you ready for this?

 We have gone through the whole process to set up a Paypal 

account.  We were told to wait for them to make small deposits 

in our checking account to confirm our account.  When I went to

 Paypal tonight to do my first transaction, they informed me 

that I had waited too long since the deposits were made,

 and now my account was null and void and I have to start all 

over again.  

I think I am going to go to bed now. . . tomorrow is going to

be a better day.

Many Happy Stitches,

Sandra

Corrected "Freebie"

Only I could do this!!!!!

I was so excited about getting a "freebie" out there, that I

moved too quickly.

 I was making some hard copies of the "freebie"

and my eye caught a spacing error on the graph.  In looking closer,

it was definitely an error.  Fortunately, it will stitch fine with that

graph, but it will not be exactly like the stitched piece.

Therefore, I have replaced the graph on the original post, and

am posting it again here.

I am so sorry.  How many years have I been graphing and

proofing, 30 plus!  Faye and I both proofed this tiny little graph 

and we still made a mistake.  You would think I would never make a

graphing error after all these years. 

Please forgive me.  I'll try to better next time. 

Many Happy "Corrected" Stitches,

Sandra

My First Blog Freebie

Hi Everyone!
I had to run out for a few errands today, one of my least
favorite things to do, but guess what I saw?  My first glimpse
of fall - mums in all the wonderful colors.  Too soon to
buy them I think, but there they were, and I was so tempted.
Perfect timing for my post today.  It really put me in the mood
to share some Halloween spirit.
I didn't think I would ever be able to do this, but once again, I

am learning more and more about this computer stuff.  For a long
 time I have wanted to give "free" graphs on my website, but because

it is so old and has so many problems, it was just too difficult.

But I now have a Blog and am determined to make this work.

So here goes -- this is "Boo Tyme".  Just a cute, quick Halloween

fix.  I stitched this in a very short time, so it would make a great

gift for a Halloween loving friend.

For my Blog friends, I am offering the hand-painted frame

(retail value $31.00) for $20.00.  Along with the frame you will

receive our Olde Brass "Pumpkin" button (retail value $3.00) and a

piece of Weeks' hand-dyed linen - "Gingham Straw/Linen" (28 CT.) 

What a deal!!

The problem is I only have TEN Project Packs to offer.

First come -- first serve!!
ALL SOLD ~ THANK YOU SO MUCH!

You may choose either the Halloween Dot or the Brown

Grain Wood.  Just let me know.

The frame prices will revert back to $31.00 after the ten

are gone.  

I hope you like it.

This is  Halloween Dot    

 This is Brown Grain Wood 

This is a corrected graph.  Please use this one instead of
the previous graph.

This design is stitched on 28 Count Gingham Linen Natural/Straw,
using two plies over two threads of Week's Dye Works
"Bark" for all of the design (X), except the inside of the
pumpkin which is DMC 834 (O).
Just click on the design to highlight it and print the selection.


Hope you enjoy "Many Happy Halloween Stitches,
Sandra

Show and Tell

Good Evening Everyone!

I am so tired I probably shouldn't be doing a post, so forgive me if

I have some horrible punctuation or spelling error.  Even though

I'm tired I wanted to share my latest designs with you.  They

are finally finished and will be shipped early next week.

I promised them this week but that didn't happen.  Life

keeps getting in the way of my best intentions.

"Snowman 'A Gathering" is my Annual Ornament.  It

is stitched on 30 Count "Mink" hand-dyed linen by R & R

Reproductions with a variety of fibers.  The "Tiny Dove" 

brass charm is included.  Retail is $8.00.  The last in the

annual series, the Sampler, will be available soon.

Several years ago I started a series called Majestic Christmas.

This is the third in that series and I did it with my daughter,

Hollis.  We adapted an antique border and filled it with charming

little Christmas motifs for the ornaments.  The pillow simply

says "NOEL" and has so few colors that you can change them to suit 

your decor.  She and I are so much alike in that we like

both primitive and vintage, but also love that elegant olde style.

I think this publication can mix with both.  The pillow is stitched on 

30 Count "Mink" linen by R& R Reproductions, and the ornaments

are on 32 Count "Sandstone".  Retail is $9.00.

Last but not least by any means is "Witchville".  When it comes

to fun designing I think Autumn designs top the list.  They can be

warm and inviting or scary and spooky (not really by style), and

all things in between.  Throw in all of my favorite colors and

I am a happy person.  I hope you like my latest.  It is stitched

on 28 Count "18th Century Brown" hand-dyed linen, with a 

variety of fibers, and embellished with our "Ghost" brass charm.

Retail  is $7.50.

The frame is available from us as well. 

   

Well, that is it for tonight.  I have an exciting announcement that I

will be making soon.  So stay in touch for that.  

If you are still awake I hope you are making "Many Happy Stitches",

Sandra

Almost Ready!!

Just a quick note to let you know that my new designs will be ready next week and will be shipped to my distributors and automatics then.  Plan to post pictures in a few days so you can see the final products.

We have so many new things coming.  This is such an exciting time of the year for designing.

I must quit working for the moment though and head out to the garden.  We are experiencing our second day in the 80's and I have to take advantage of it before the sauna returns.  Hope to move mountains of weeds, dead annuals and transplant some edging plants.

Many Happy Stitches,

Sandra

Autumn Slide Show

Good morning everyone. 

 I am so tickled with myself today.  I don't know how long that feeling may last, but for the moment it is good.  With Cameron's help, as usual, I was able to make my first slide show.  I have been anxious to do something like this because my website has been experiencing difficulties.  The site was made years and years ago and after more than a few crashes, we have lost information and it is just impossible to fix it.  Most of the time we don't even know we have lost pictures until my customers say they cannot find something.  I'm hoping slide shows might be a quick fix for this problem while we are working on making a new website.  So, I am proud to announce that 99% of my Autumn/Halloween designs are on my first slide show now.  I plan to do other slide shows in other categories as time permits.  Naturally, Christmas would be the next logical choice, but I have dozens and dozens of designs.  That will be a project!!

Hope you will take a look at the slide show.  If you want a close up view of a design just click on it.  There you will also find the name of the design.  All of these designs are available from me.  Many are not carried by shoppes anymore because they are older, but you can still have them if you like.  Just email me and I will let you know the price and  the shipping. 

DECORATING WITH NEEDLEWORK

Over the years I've been asked many times what I do with all of my needlework.  Obviously I couldn't possibly put everything I have designed in my house.  Much of my wall space is taken up with my collection of antique samplers, so that limits my framed pieces.  I do change out designs for the seasons, and I will share that with you when the time comes.  For now, I'll share with you some photos of some of my pieces in places other than the usual.  I think you'll notice from the pictures that my house is a mix of "traditional" and "country primitive".  My dining room and living room are definitely a mix of the two leaning toward "traditional", but the keeping room (family room), kitchen, breakfast room are all very much "country primitive".  I love both looks and am constantly trying to tie the two together.

Here goes.  I hope you enjoy!

That's it for today.  Let me know if you liked seeing these and I'll do some more.

Hope you are enjoying a day with 

"Many Happy Stitches"

Sandra