Got the Blues

We just finished this adorable little frame for The Marking Samplar's reproduction of the "Lavinia Merritt Young" sampler. This sampler is worked in just one color of Crescent Colour's Belle Soie silk, and it is just 5 inches wide by 4 1/4 inches high on 40 count fabric. Mom loves alphabet samplers, and this one is very pretty in shades of blue.

The frame style we chose here is Hartford, and the color is Hamilton Blue. The graining pattern is new - and we call it Whisk. It actually took a couple of tries to come up with a grain that complements this delicate sampler without overwhelming it! (Now I have a blue birdseye grained frame to stitch something for.)

We're within a few weeks of releasing the website. The design for the welcome page is stitched, framed, and photographed, and the logo is nearing completion. After a bit of housekeeping and polishing, we expect to be ready to go!

We were also pleased to again be featured in Attic Needlework's August 14th newsletter. Two of our frames appear about two-thirds of the way through the newsletter - one framing Needlemade Design's "A Best Christmas Blessing", and the other framing Carriage House Sampling's "Spot the Horse". We're delighted with the way they turned out!

Stay tuned for much-anticipated news on our web-launch and more!

Getting there!

I'm so excited! Things are really coming together with the web site - today I finished graining the feature frame for our Welcome page, and it will be sealed and ready to go by this weekend. It looks fantastic, and I can't wait to share it with everyone! It is going to be so perfect for the cross-stitch pattern Mom has designed.

I've been really busy lately and every time I get something done and off of my list, I feel so accomplished! We're getting so close to having the site ready it's hard to be patient - I just want to get it launched and out there for you all to view. But we want to make sure everything is "just right" as well, so I'm finding new reserves of patience I didn't know I had.

The construction dust has nearly settled!

Lemonade

Well, it's certainly not getting any cooler here in Arizona, we've been over 100 degrees for over a month now and it's looking like it will stay that way for a while longer. We had the hottest month on record (in 110 years of keeping records here in the valley) in July! We did have an unseasonably cool June though so I guess this is the price we pay. With the heat, we've been making homemade lemonade and orange-lemonade. Mom has the greatest citrus squeezer - it is a vintage Wearever aluminum juicer like the one my Grandma used to have and it is so much better than the juicers made today!

I'm amazed at how much juice this extracts!

The recipe we've been using is so easy, you'll be running out to buy lemons (and oranges and limes!).

Juice from 3 fresh lemons (if making orange-lemonade, use 2 oranges to each lemon - you'll end up with about 3/4 cup of juice. You can make limeade too - again - 3/4 cup of juice)

1 cup sugar (you may need more or less to taste - adjust to the tartness you prefer)

Water

Pour juice into a 1/2 gallon pitcher

Add sugar and mix well.

Add water to fill pitcher, stir until sugar is dissolved

Serve over ice.

Depending on the size of the lemons, you may need to add a little sugar or water - we had some this year that were REALLY juicy and that batch of lemonade was too tart! (Kind of like drinking those lemon-drop candies) We diluted it a bit and added a touch more sugar - cool and refreshing!

The new cross stitch design for the website launch is coming along nicely - it's so cute and I can't wait to get the site running so everyone can see it! It'll be the centerpiece to our new home page. We've also been busily making new frames for some very special designs that will be coming out soon through Attic Needlework. We're excited to get these done and see the finished pieces - and we'll be showcasing them here very soon! In the meantime, here's another sneak peek at one of our favorites:

This frame style is 'Cambridge' the color is 'Lichen' and the graining style is 'Leaf'. We weren't sure how it would turn out when we first started experimenting with the grain, but it has quickly become a favorite - and it photographed so well!

Well, back to the workbench!

Be My Love

This was our first frame - the molding is Worcester, the color is Olde Red, and the graining pattern is Herringbone. This sampler is Be My Love by Carriage House Samplings, and it's a personal favorite! It is stitched with Needlepoint Inc. silks on 40 ct. Vintage Pear Lakeside Linen.