Don't you hate it when...

...you run out of thread for a project?! That sinking feeling you get as you stitch along, and start to think that the remaining thread just doesn't look like it's going to be enough... Well, it happened to me with the model I'm working on. Hopefully, more thread will be in my mailbox today and I can finally finish this piece.

However, one good thing that came of the shortage was that I was able to spend yesterday working on The Raven Queen with no guilt! I'm using a brighter color of Waterlilies silk in her dress, and so far I'm pleased with the results:

I do have one small finish to share, which I had completed a few weeks ago. It was a free SAL on By The Bay Needleart's blog, which came in four parts; the first three parts were regular cross stitching, then the final part added embellishing stitches. I had the first three parts done about a year ago, but never got around to the final touches, so I finally pulled it out and added some spider-web stitch flowers, lazy daisy leaves and French knot flowers. Here it is before:

And after:

There is also a kitty on the porch, because any home I'm in will always have a kitty in it!

Last week I offered to send needle minders to some of my readers, and I heard back from seven of them. It was so neat that a fairly wide range of countries was represented in such a small group; three in the US and one each in Canada, Italy, Sweden and the UK. All of them were mailed out this past Monday; a couple in the US have been received already, and hopefully everyone will have them soon.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Your comments are appreciated

Well, I'm about 2/3 done with the Rosewood Manor model, but since I can't show pictures of it I don't have any stitching I can share right now. Instead, I thought I'd just take a minute to say "thank you" to all of you who read my blog, and for all the comments you leave. While I didn't start this blog as anything other than a place to keep track of my projects, it has been really fun getting feedback and feeling like a part of such a great community of stitchers.

As a small token of appreciation, I have some needle minders that were made by my friend Gina; I had mentioned that people were always talking about losing their "stitchy bug", and that she should make a minder up so they could "find" their bug again; this is the result:

I had ordered a bunch to take to Italy to share with the retreat attendees, and these are the ones left over. I have gone through the last two pages of my blog, and the following eight people have left the most comments over that period, so I'd like to send them each a needle minder:

Marilyn

Le trame della Galaverna (Giovanna)

Justine

Linda

Annie

Heather

D1-D2

Rachel Tomkins

To these kind ladies, please send me an email at rrowe @ new.rr.com (remove spaces) with your mailing address if you would like to receive a minder.

And a big thank you to everyone for making my blogging adventure so much fun!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

She has a face!

The Raven Queen, that is:

I'm glad I was able to get at least that much done before I had to put her away. I would love to be able to start the dress, but the Rosewood Manor model came in last week so I'll be working on that for a while. I might try to take one day a week, though, to work on the queen.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!