New Beginnings

Sometimes, you buy charts that you don't plan to stitch immediately. This is not one of those times.

Yesterday Alison, Theresa and I went out to Tawny's. Alison and Theresa were having a couple of pieces framed, and I went along to hang out. I had only a short list of some fabric and blending filament I need for a design called Lunar Harvest. It's an old one by a designer I never heard of before, Danelle Marie Designs. My niece has a moon-and-stars-themed bedroom and I thought this would fit in nicely. I also have an ulterior motive here. Angela will be visiting soon for a week-and-a-half, and I'm hoping to get her to stitch a little bit. I doubt she will want to take up cross-stitching at this point in her life. But it never hurts to plant some seeds that may take root in the future.

The only design I had any intentions of buying on this trip was JBW's French Country Rooster. There weren't any left when the Metrostitcher's last visited Tawny's a couple of weeks ago. Famous last words.

While browsing through the basket of Carriage House Samplings charts, The Garden Glade caught my attention again. I had resisted this one on the last visit. Then I noticed The Gingham Dog and Calico Cat. The colors in both these designs really grabbed me. I was a goner, though, as soon as I saw this: The Village of Hawk Run Hollow. Not only houses, one of my favorite themes, but a village full of them. A church, city hall, blacksmith shop, grist mill, schoolhouse, cemetery (not a house, but it just added to the whole design.) The photo of the model is not the best, but there is so much detail in each block. I can only imagine how long it took to design.

Before I new it, I was buying the special cut of Lakeside Linen 40 count fabric (40 count, what was I thinking!) and the Needlepoint Silks for the church block. (Silks! 54 of them! Where was my resolve to only start projects I already had the majority of supplies for? Paving the road to hell with all those other good intentions, that's where.)

When I got home, I had some work I needed to do which I didn't finish until about 10 pm. Normally, I would never start stitching at that time. But this wasn't a normal day. Here's my progress so far:


I took a risk since Tawny was out of some of the NPS. As you can see, I had to skip the roof of the church. I counted and recounted, but it's 40 count linen (what was I thinking!) I'm a little concerned I already have made a mistake. I definitely need to get a pair of stronger magnifiers to work on this one.

So here I am with two new projects in the making -- and I still need to start Seaside Cottage, which I'm planning to give as a gift to my manager for her wedding this August. Happy stitching!

Other progress: Part of the reason I went along on this outing was to knit on my socks with Alison. She kept me on the straight and narrow, giving me advice about when to start turning the heel. Got that under way so I'm hoping to have a sock soon. It's a good thing I'm on vacation for the next week and a half. I can get in some good stitching and knitting time.