Winter Reflections: First 4 lessons completed

My joint venture with Sharon D. continues and I have now completed lesson 4. Only one more lesson remains to be stitched and it is the border around Winter Reflections and I will get to it right away. Next and last photo of this project will be posted sometimes tomorrow morning.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Winter Reflections: First three lessons completed

I have been doing a little bit of stitching since I received Winter Reflections from Sharon D (see previous blog entry).
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The photo above shows the three first lessons completed in full.

I have taken a second photograph here so that you can see a little better the work that has been completed, both by Sharon and myself.

And even took a third one for good measure (grinning). On this one you can see even better what has been done so far.

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Two more lessons remain on this project as I need to square both extremities and add a border all around it.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Winter Reflections, Mystery #2: Loretta Spears, designer

I am a bit at a loss for words here and not entirely sure how to start this blog entry this morning and it has all to do with this lovely design called Winter Reflections, Loretta Spears' Mystery #2.

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You see, the photo above has not been stitched by myself, but by another stitcher named Sharon D. from South Carolina. At this point, you may be wondering why the photo is on my blog since I am not the stitcher and here goes the story, at least a bit of it.

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It all happened when I was working on another Loretta Spears' mystery called Superstition a week ago or so. I was almost done with stitching it when I received a message from Sharon D. saying in a nutshell that she had Winter Reflections partially stitched and that since she could not continue working on it for personal reasons, she was looking for a good home for it and that if I was interested it was mine to have.

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Yesterday afternoon, Winter Reflections arrived in all its glory with the remaining threads so that I can finish stitching it myself. I immediately had a good look at the charts and will be having a good read this morning of the included instructions and you can be sure that I will start work on it immediately.

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I have also learned from Sharon that Winter Reflections has actually been purchased directly from Loretta Spears herself somewhere in Colorado while Sharon was traveling there. Sharon had the pleasure to meet her in person. Isn't that nice? I always wonder who is the person behind the designer.

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So today I find myself in a situation I have never been before as a stitcher, having two different stitchers working on the same piece, sort of a joint venture, and I find it quite exciting and having Loretta in the shadows is also a nice feeling.

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In a little while I will start reading Loretta's instructions to see what has been stitched by Sharon and what has not and will take it from there. What fun this will be.

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Pat has already stitched Winter Reflections in August of last year, I think it was, and I will for sure go there and have a peek from times to times, just to make sure I do not err. My philosophy is why reinvent the wheel all the time when it is already there for us to use.

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I would like again to thank Sharon D. for her kindness and generosity towards me. This was totally unexpected and I find myself so very grateful to her for this beautiful gift.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: 2 Blackwork patterns stitched

A few weeks ago I have started working on a checkbook cover. You can see the outline here on this post.
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This checkbook designed by Marjorie B. Berleur contains both Blackwork and Needlepoint elements. Since I have been doing a lot of needlepoint projects recently, I have decided to start with the Blackwork patterns and here are the first two.


This photo shows gives you a general idea of what has been stitched so far.
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Some of you may laugh at this, but before I started looking for some Aida fabric for this project, I had no idea that Aida came in different count sizes. After my initial surprise at this, I started wondering why I had come to that conclusion as it does make sense that it does just like any other fabric.
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I so do enjoy stitching Blackwork so am enjoying myself with this one and just at the thought that I will end up with a beautiful checkbook cover instead of those plastic ones that the banks provide us with is a sure incentive for me to want to finish this project as soon as possible.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Hollyhock House: Roof added

April assignement has been completed with the addition of the roof on Hollyhock House. A good thing that the wallpapers and furniture have not yet been added as we have been having lots and lots of rain recently with a few tornadoes here and there just to keep us on our toes. The last tornado, an F4 touched down about 25 miles from where I live. Lots of hurt people and also a mother and her new born babies have died. I think the baby was only 7 weeks old. What a tragedy.
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I have told my husband that this one is my own house and if he is really really good he can come to visit me at times (grinning). He won't have to pay property taxes on it, nor do any painting and gardening. It is all on me. He can just come to visit and relax. Seems to me like he is getting a great deal here.
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Thinking of it, why not have this beautiful house on an island with great weather year round. Have been to Hawaii and just loved it, so I think that this will be Hollyhock House new setting. Flowers all year round, surrounded by oceans. Can you imagine me sitting on my porch, looking at the ocean in front of me and just stitching away? What a life! Can't ask for much more than that.

Just added a close-up photo of the roof.

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I have stitched 38 pages of instructions so far and there are 145 pages total, so there is still a long long way to go before this piece can go to the framer. Next assignment will be about stitching the two angels that will be protecting my house. Can't wait to get going on that.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Superstition: Mystery #13 by Loretta Spears, designer

Just finished adding the last beads this morning at 7:30. I know what you are thinking but I am an early riser (grinning).
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As far as I know Loretta Spears has designed 14 mysteries in her series and this one is Mystery #13, also called Superstition. Been wondering why Loretta called this one Superstition and must confess that I have not been able to come up with any clues, except that perhaps she never thought that she would get that far in her series, but that is all speculation from my part.
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This was an absolutely fantastic experience to stitch this gorgeous project, which had in addition to needlepoint which of course was to be expected, pulled thread and beading.
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The project measures 5 inches square, so it would probably go nicely in a box cover, but I will have this little jewel framed. Loretta suggests to put some silver lame under the piece before finishing. That will add even more sparkles than it already has.
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I have also added a photograph of the only other piece I have stitched from Loretta this far. This one has not been blogged as it was stitched before my blogging days.

This is Loretta Spears' Mystery #8 also called Bargello Symphony. This is a much bigger piece and was also an absolute joy to stitch
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I have been lucky enough to get both kits with original threads.

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I am still on a "high" from having stitched Superstition (smiling). I can't say it enough, this was such a beautiful project, with full of surprises at each steps along the way.

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I can't wait to see what my husband and framer will come up for this piece. They are quite a team at finding just the perfect frame and mat, so I always let them surprise me with it and have not been disappointed yet.

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Pierrette =^..^=

LovetoStitch99@comcast.net

Superstition, Lesson 4, pattern 2, step 1

I am almost done, but not quite. Just completed lesson 4, pattern 2, step 1, which is the border. I still need to do step 2, which is the beading part of the border.
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I have noticed that the colors of Superstition have not always been as exact as they should have been in past photographs, so I making sure that my last photographs are as close to reality as possible and this is pretty close. Noticed that I missed a part of the upper border in my photograph but this was such a good photo otherwise that I decided to use it just the same. I will make sure that my last one shows everything and is as close to true colors as possible.
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I will try to add the beads today and will be back with the FINALE photo sometimes later (grinning).
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Pierrette =^..^=

Superstition, Lesson 4, pattern 1

For lesson 4, pattern 1, the task at hand was to square off the pattern once more by working another pulled thread stitch, the Single Faggot over 2 threads.

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I now can't wait to see what the border and beads will look like so will get to it right now and see if I can finish Superstition today or not.

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Pierrette =^..^=

HAPPY EASTER! Easter egg designed and stitched by Anne Stradal

(Designed and stitched by Anne Stradal)
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I always like to put something special for all our main holidays, so I was thinking about what I had stitched for Easter in the past and the answer to that question is not much, not much at all.
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I participated in an Easter egg exchange some years back and had to make a decision as to which egg design to select and stitch as part of my exchange. They have a very bad habit in these exchanges to insist that you give one in order to get one (grinning), so I went on ABS Designs and checked out what kind of eggs Anne had designed at the time. I was happy to see that I had plenty of designs to choose from and selected to stitch this one . I have always enjoyed nature scenes so that one was just perfect for me.
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Since Anne has selected my only stitched Easter anything project done so far a few days ago as an example on canvas interpretation for her blog, I could not very well used it now, could I, so today I found myself with a tiny problem with what photo to put on my blog, that is until I thought of this little darling egg that I was lucky enough to receive in that exchange. This was Anne's design and she stitched it herself for that exchange. The only thing that she did not do is the finishing. Apparently she is "allergic" to finishing (just kidding). Her original was stitched in pink and was called "In the Pink", so I guess the one I got should be called "In the Blue" (makes sense to me).
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I have been thinking of stitching another one as this one is feeling pretty lonely all by itself. I do like the one called "Crocus" so maybe that should be my next one and will keep it this time around as I am still missing "In the garden". The only consolation I have is that "I think" it went to a good home, but still, I do miss it (boohoo).
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Lots of blabla here just to explain my Easter egg selection in order to wish you all a very "Happy Easter". Have fun eating all that wonderful chocolate. Don't overdo it though. If you have too much of it, you could always send some to me as I LOVE chocolate :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Superstition, Lesson 3, step 3 & pattern 2

I have now completed lesson 3. Photo below shows step 3, a series of additional double cross stitches and then in the photo above you can see more of the same pattern already used a few times stitched in different colors. The only exception with these last ones was that those were a bit bigger than previously.

One more lesson remains which is lesson 4 and guess what, some more pulled thread to do, but a different design this time around, in order to square the pattern off again and then there will be a border and also some beading added to it, so that should be interesting to see how all this will turn out in the end. No doubt, it will be quite beautiful.
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I will now go and study how to do the next pulled thread pattern and be back later with additional photos when that stitch has been completed.

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See you all a bit later :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Superstition: Lesson 3, steps 1 & 2

I am so impressed by this gorgeous design that Loretta Spears created.
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At every step of the way, she manages to add something so very special to her mystery #13.
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The photo below shows step 1 of lesson 3, which is a series of double crosses made in Waterlilies Flamingo. The photo above shows step 2 of the same lesson, which is a filling of eyelet stitches done in Waterlilies Opal.

There are still more to come before this little design is all done.

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I have stitched only one Loretta Spears prior to this one and it was Bargello Symphony, her mystery #8, which was stitched before I started blogging so we can only see the finished project.

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Most of us who are Loretta Spears' admirers had seen it on ANG National website. After seeing this wonderful piece, of course I just had to stitch it and it was quite an adventure too. It was a big help to have the ANG website photograph to serve as a guide.

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Superstition is probably much less known, as personally I have not seen any photograph of it anywhere on the web, but it is my belief that it is just as impressive as Bargello Symphony, though smaller in size. My congress cloth is 8" x 8" so I will venture a finish size between 5 and 6 inches squared. I will be able to tell more precisely after lesson 4 has been completed.

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Since I am on a roll here, I will now proceed to step 3 of lesson 3 and then pattern 2 of the same lesson and will be right back with two more photographs for you.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Superstition: Lesson 2, pattern 3

I am sure that Loretta Spears did not intend to throw me a curve here, but she did just the same.

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I must say and repeat that I do not like stitching mystery projects for many reasons, and one being that you have no photo of what it is supposed to look like. In this instance this pattern was a "pulled thread" pattern, for which there was no graphic of how to do the stitch and many times, like it is in this instance, I have been told the same stitch wears many names making one's life more difficult when you try to research it by the name given by the designer.

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I ended up sending an SOS to the stitching world and some generous souls came to my rescue. A big thank you to you all. I especially want to thank Diana Snyder who went beyond the call of duty and stitched me a sample of one of the corner so that I would actually see what it is supposed to look like (remember no photograph and no graphic about this specific stitch in the instructions provided. Loretta did provide written instructions but somehow I found them confusing, having not much experience with this technique.) Diana sent me a total of 5 photographs for the different steps necessary to do the corner pattern. With that in hand, I was able to manage to do a fairly decent job of it, at least I hope so (grinning).

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That pattern squared off the design, but I bet starting with lesson 3, it will not stay squared for long.

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I really do love this project and after Superstition is all done, I really need to add a pulled thread project to my list of current projects as I would love to learn the technique properly as it is quite beautiful.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Plaid & blackwork checkbook cover: Marjorie B. Berleur, designer

This is a project that I have been wanting to start stitching for a little while now, well ever since a friend showed it to me. She has made a few for herself in different colors and graciously offered it to me and I can't thank her enough for doing so. I am pleased to no end to have the opportunity to stitch this.
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When I saw the stitched design, I knew it would be perfect for me for a few reasons. First, the overall design is just beautiful. Second, there are blackwork patterns in it and I love doing blackwork. Third and not last, I have always wanted to stitch plaid and up to now never had the opportunity, so finally I will be stitching some .............. and I want to have a nice checkbook cover for a change instead of those cheap plastic ones that the bank gives you.
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This is a beautiful design by Marjorie B. Berleur. The front of the checkbook cover (bottom part) is a plaid using 4 different colors and the back (upper part) is composed of 5 different blackwork designs.
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The first thing I had to stitch on this project are all the outlines. For this I have used a DMC Perle cotton #12 in one of my very favorite shade of pink called Shell Pink. I have never thought of myself as being a pink lover but if I look back at my latest projects, there has been lots of pink in them. I love it when a project has more than one stitching technique. I think it makes it so much more interesting.
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I always say that I love all colors but not all shades, but I sure love that shade of pink so that will be a real pleasure for me to stitch it.
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The first photo above shows you a close-up of all the little Smyrna stars all around it and also to separate the different pattern areas.


I have taken this photo above so that you can see the entire checkbook areas. The little rectangle at the bottom is for my initials.

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Unfortunately I will have to put it aside for a few days while I do a bit more on Superstition and also on Hollyhock House.

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Projects are just piling up for me these days so I took some time last evening to write myself some kind of schedule for them, which I will probably not follow knowing myself, but at least I am hoping that it will serve as some kind of guidance for all the stitching I need to do.

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See you all very soon :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Coaster B: Brenda Day, designer

Coaster B

Coaster C

I should really have been stitching on something else, but I just had to stitch a second coaster out of my 4 coaster series. Post about coaster C is here.

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I am stitching those four coasters using exactly the same colors as Brenda Day did in her book called Bargello: A fresh approach to florentine embroidery. This forces me to go outside my color comfort zone at times and see if I can discover new combinations of colors that I will want to use in the future.

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Looking at those first two coasters, I have a favorite. Now is it because of the design or the colors used or a combination of both? I would love to know which one you like best and what plays into your decision? If the colors would have been switched around between those two coasters, would you have picked the same one as your favorite? Would you have liked to see darker colors or other color combinations in those two coasters? I would love to know your thoughts in the comment section.

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Once I stitch the 3rd and 4th one, it will be interesting to see if we all keep our first selection or if we pick a different one.

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Looking forward to hear your comments :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Here Kitty framed

Remember when I stitched Here Kitty for my friend Terry's birthday a little while back, a Cheryl Schaeffer design? Well she has just framed it herself and sent me a photograph of it to add to my blog.
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I will let Terry tell us more about it on her blog when she is through having her tea. Terry lives in Great Britain as you may already have concluded (grinning).
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Pierrette =^..^=

Soldier Kissing Pillows: Geraldine Trappey, designer

Stitching Guild Chapter members around the country like ANG and EGA and perhaps others too have been and are still stitching these little "Soldier Kissing Pillows" and our new Cyberpointers chapter, which I am a member of, has also embarked in this project by adopting a battalion that is due to deploy later this year.
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I have committed myself to stitching 6 of these little pillows and this is the first one, so 5 more to go :-) They take approximately 3 hours each to make I was told, but since I am a slow stitcher, it is taking me a bit longer than that, but it may be because it was my first one. I may be able to get my act together after this first one and gain some speed. Let's hope so :-)
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What made me want to participate in this project is what I read about it. Here it goes:

"These hand-stitched little pillows are designed to be used as a keepsake for the children and loved ones left behind by the soldiers departing for service of the United States of America. The soldier should kiss the pillow and give one to each of his or her loved ones to hold onto until he or she returns from war."

and then it says:

"We hope the pillows will be a comfort during the lonely times both for the family and for the soldier. They were lovingly stitched with gratitude for your service to our country by ...........(here goes the name of the chapter)".
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I will be stitching the others in between other projects as I usually do not stitch multiple of the same project, but this is for a very good cause so I felt that I just had to stitch them.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Bargello Coaster C: Brenda Day, designer

I am back after not feeling well, but I am doing just fine now, so I have restarted stitching yesterday.

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This is the first one of a series of 4 different coasters: 4 different designs with different colors. I am using Brenda Day's colors for the first series, forcing myself in using colors that perhaps I would not initially chose. I will be making a few extras for Christmas gifts. Some of you might be thinking that maybe I am starting a bit early, but I can tell you that I can never start too early as I always end up racing against the clock the closer Christmas gets.

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I am stitching the four of them on the same piece of canvas, so that means that unfortunately I won't be able to do the finishing as each one is done stitching. On the other hand, it may entice me to work on this project quicker than I would otherwise have done.

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This series of coasters are all four-way bargello, which coincidentally is the second installment of The Bold and The Beautiful Bargello articles in Needlepoint Now, March/April 2009 issue. Usually projects in books are not all that detailed, so reading the article gave me extra information which made my task easier. Always nice to have many resources when working on something that you have not done before.

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I can't believe how much behind I can get in all my projects whenever I am sick and that does not have to be for a very long time either. Anyway, I will get there, eventually (grinning).

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Yesterday it was a very distracting day as we were having very bad weather with tornado warnings, sirenes going on and off during the day and me watching weather reports direct online. In a sense I like the fact that I can follow things online instead of having to go downstairs watch the TV in order to know how things are going weatherwise, but this is not the relaxing, peaceful stitching day I had in mind when I started my day. There was one tornado touch down but it was not near where I live, thank goodness for that.

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Anyway, all is good and well and I will move on to my next stitching and might be back tomorrow with another posting if all goes according to plans :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=