Progress on Christmas Present

Well, I've made some progress on my Christmas present for Chris & Annette. Believe it or not, I've accomplished quite a lot. The solidly stitched area in the middle is going quite fast and once that is done, it should be finished very quickly. I've actually had fun stitching on this. I love stitching over one. The Chinese characters are stitched in silk and that is a real joy to stitch with. The rest is DMC except for the gold. That is Petite Treasure Braid from Rainbow Gallery. I actually like it better than Kreinik braid or blending filament. It's much easier to use. I also might try to find an overdyed to stitch 2 long panels of the sides rather than using several different colors of dark red. I haven't decided about that yet. Hopefully this should be done in time to get it framed and sent off to Minneapolis for Christmas. Otherwise it will be a birthday present for Chris in late January.

These Items for Sale!

Now that I've cleaned out the file cabinets, I've been trying to decide what is the best way to sell off my stash. A friend of mine suggested that I try to sell some of it on here. So I thought I'd try with a few items and see how it goes. I tried to post pictures but for some reason blogger isn't accepting them right now. If anyone wants to see pictures, I'll be glad to email them one. All of these items have never been used and are in excellent condition. They all come from a non-smoking home. I do have pets but they don't have access to my craft room so that shouldn't be too big a concern. Here's what I'm offering up today:

Remember the Ladies: Rabbit's Patch Sampler (includes the pattern and 10 half skeins of Silk Mori floss from Kreinik) $5.00

Remember the Ladies: Flowers for My Friends (includes the pattern and 9 half skeins of Silk Mori floss from Kreinik) $5.00

Sister's Needlebook Kit from Stitches & Spice (includes hand dyed fabric and floss, pattern and finishing instructions) $5.00

Pink Dogwood Sampler (OOP chart) from La Broderie $2.00

Garden of Virtues (includes pattern and button/charm pack) from Lorri Birmingham Designs
$4.00

If interested, please email me and we can arrange for payment and shipment.

Our State Fair Is a Great State Fair!

My apologies for stealing a line from the move State Fair. I just couldn't resist. The weather was gorgeous here in Phoenix today. 76 degrees with a cool breeze blowing. Ok, it was a pretty hefty wind but I love windy days so it was fine with me. Dave and I decided to go to the AZ State Fair in the morning and beat the large crowds. We had lunch, as usual, at the Piggly Wiggly booth and ended the day with our usual massages. We are such creatures of habit! I did see something new which I thought was really cute. It was called the Banana Derby and had little cappucine monkeys riding really big dogs. Apparently the monkeys decided to ride the dogs first and the owners decided that maybe others might enjoy seeing them perform. Both species seemed to be having a really good time and I don't think it bothered either the dogs or the monkeys. My other favorite thing was the animal barns. They had some 3 day old chicks that were adorable. They were all huddled under the heat lamp to keep warm. I also loved the bunnies. I wonder what Squeak would do with a rabbit. I was really surprised that there wasn't more cross stitch on exhibit. There must have been over 100 quilts on display and maybe a dozen cross stitch and needlepoint pieces. I guess that's the way it's been for a while now. I believe cross stitch will make a comeback, It's just a matter of time. Well, the animals need fed and David's is (im)patiently waiting for me to watch a movie with him. Happy Fall, y'all!