This may be more like "Creature Feature" to some of you, but I'm honored to be Hoffman's featured designer this week. If you care to check it out, here's the link:

Friday Feature

This was a fun interview! 🙂

I finally got around to taking some pictures of my Frances Eden, framed by Rensel Studios in Utah. I love the moulding Jill chose!

Because of the angle it's hanging, it appears crooked, but trust me – it's not!

Remember, this is the sampler passed on to me by Kim. She wasn't fond of the fabric (Glenshee) and fibers (DMC) she chose, and decided to one day start over.

I'm so happy with it! It's hanging over my bed next to Paradise Lost, as my goal is to fill my bedroom with Adam and Eve samplers.

Kim, I noticed your SDW sampler is progressing nicely. But if you ask me, it doesn't look like the type of fabric and fibers you would like, so…  just sayin'.  😉

I've been couch-ridden with the stomach flu these past 24 hours, but hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow… I'm taking Sabrina to Lincoln to enroll for the fall semester, and it's a full day's agenda for the incoming freshmen.

But before I crawl back over to the couch, I thought I'd share some finishes that some of you have sent to me recently. As always, I love seeing your creations, and I'm honored that you would take the time to share them with me.

From Joy in Texas…

Joy completed this for her mother.. I love the beading!

From Darlene, The Queen of All Things Adam and Eve…

She turned HallowEden into a needlecase to give away as a door prize at one of her A&E lectures. How generous you are, Darlene!

I had three more images from Marion to share with you, but for some reason my blog won't load them. But take it from me – Marion is a very busy stitcher! She had finished Still Waters, HallowEden, and the To Thine Own Self Be True freebie – all beautifully framed. 🙂

Thank you again for taking the time to send me pictures of your finishes. They're always a pleasure to see!

Crawling back to my couch now…. wish me luck for tomorrow!

It's been ages since I've had any personal stitching accomplishments, as I'm usually working on models. But with a little (er, a lot of) determination, I got this sampler finished. Finally! Here is Frances Eden (on Glenshee with DMC), who was aged 10 when she stitched her sampler…

Now I'm kind of at a crossroads with my stitching… do I work on Dutch Beauty? I've wanted that stitched for-ev-er, but I'm only at the half-way point. I'm thinking maybe a page per month… and I just started Elizabeth Sheffield with Mom, which I posted about a few days ago. I have a little bit done on that one, so I may do a page per month on that too. And models in between.

Mom, you can quit snickering now. I realize how grand these plans are.

One more thing… Frances was actually bequeathed to me by my dear friend Kim, who started the sampler, got it just about half-finished, and then decided she would one day re-start it on a different linen and with silks (instead of DMC). I've kept the sweet note she enclosed with the kit, and it still makes me smile.

I didn't realize the entire note isn't here, but it went on to say that she knows Fran will have a better life and that maybe she can come visit Fran once in a while. She signed it, "Love, The Surrogate Stitcher." 🙂

Now that Frances is finished, perhaps I can convince her "real mother" to come visit her here in Omaha. 😉

Just working on some new designs…

I'm looking forward to all the goodies coming out at the the online needlework show on April 14th! I'll have a couple of things, and Breanna will be releasing a new pattern too. She's really been working hard on getting some models going, and I'm so proud of her. :) 

Speaking of models, we had a bit of a model fiasco here recently. Breanna had asked on her Facebook page if anyone was willing to stitch a model for her, and a very sweet lady by the name of Jessica signed up. Since Bre was away at school – and all of her supplies were here – she asked me to please kit up her model and send it to Jessie. I said I would, and Bre trusted me to do just that…

I pulled her colors she chose and grabbed the right color of linen.

I wrote out a note on behalf of Bre and tucked everything in an envelope.

I took it to the post office and away it went, off to Miss Jessie's house.

A little while later, Bre checked in on Jessie to see if everything had arrived and was working out okay. According to the email response Bre received, Jessie seemed to be finding the experience a bit challenging…

My phone rang.

BRE: "What, exactly, did you send to Jessie?"

ME: "What, exactly, do you mean?"

BRE: "What did you kit up?"

ME: "What you told me to, ya goofball. Linen and threads and your chart!"

BRE: "What kind of linen?"

ME: "36 count. Why?"

BRE: "I told her I was sending 32 count!"

ME: "Ohhhhh….ummm….oh gosh…. I didn't see any 32 count. But it's only 4 more threads? I mean.. umm…. isn't it okay that it's only 4 more threads?"

BRE: (silence)

It was the uncomfortable silence that made me remember the time I thought 45 count would be a breeze bc it was only 5 threads more than 40 count. That 45-count sampler is still sitting in my closet, and my eyes go cross when I look at it.

A few more days passed, and Jessie explained to Bre that she was sorry the model was taking longer than expected, so Bre assured her that it was no big deal, and she could certainly send the model back.

When the model came back to the house, I opened it up to see how far Jessie had gotten…

Oh no. Oh no no no.

I called Bre…

ME: "Umm.. Bre?"

BRE: "What's up?"

ME: "I got the model back from Jessie.:

BRE: "Cool! How far was she able to get?"

ME: "Welll… she certainly did a lot of work, and her stitching is impeccable, but it has to be stitched over."

BRE: "Why?"

ME: (silence)

It grieved me to have to explain to Bre that when I looked at the note I'd included in the kit, I about messed my knickers. Glaring back at me in black ink were these words, in my own handwriting:

"Hi Jessie! Just use one strand of floss over one linen thread…"

36 ct…. one linen thread. Poor Jessie! (Laurie Arp still hasn't forgiven me for this same task when she stitched the Joshua model!)

Jessie, if you're reading, your work is absolutely perfect! And I'd like to once again apologize for my blunder. Oh my… Please don't run for the hills if you ever see Bre in your inbox again! I'm pretty sure she's fired me by now!

Shared with me, shared with you!

First we have Vaida from Lithuania's "Olga" and "Boris" finishes. She used Antique White Belfast with DMC and Crescent Colours… I love how they turned out on the lighter fabric. (And nice job on those photo backgrounds, Vaida! I looove how you photographed Boris.)

Here is Naty from Italy's "Hares' Fathers Day" finish… this was stitched using 32 ct. Graziano and DMC in slightly lighter colors than what the chart called for. I love it when I get to see how stitchers change a pattern's colors to something that suits their tastes better, and I love the changes you made, Naty!

Here's another finish from Lynn in Park City. (Remember her version of "A Sweeter Love"? ) This is her "Paradise Lost," which is on display at The Craft Center of Fine Stitchery… she changed the colors of the peacocks to her mother's favorite colors. Beautiful stitching again, Lynn!

Love this frame!

And here is Michele from Washington's finish of the St. Patrick's Day freebie (located a few posts back)… she stitched hers on 28-ct. coffee-dyed fabric using Crescent Colours (in Four-Leaf Clover, Erin-Go-Emerald, and Khaki Mocha) – and her husband helped pick out the backing fabric! Good job, Mr. Michele!

Thank you so much to everyone for sharing your finishes with me! Of all the patterns to choose from out there, what an honor it is that you chose to spend some time stitching one of mine. You make my day!