Fun with monochromatic samplers

I am working on that freebie sampler. It's coming together really nicely. I love the color I chose, a steely grey blue. I think it works so well with this chart. I was watching SVU last night, enjoying stitching. Much easier to just make little xs with plain cotton floss than to do the fancy work with the metallics from my ornament exchange piece. I do hope my partner likes it.

My HalloFall exchange partner liked her goodies. She said getting the things out of the pumpkin trick or treat bag was like the scene in Mary Poppins where she pulls things out of the satchel. I am so glad she liked my little box. I know I have some room for improvement on that, but I did try, and I do like how it looked for a first-time try. I think putting the batting on top of the foamcore really helped a great deal to make it look nicer. I need to work on my twisted cording, but it was a good start, and I'll learn. I hope she wears her kick-butt tee shirt. We all need an article of clothing that blinks!

I bought the fabric to start that piece for Mom from Victoria Sampler. I think it's called Strawberry Farm or something like that. The chart called for Olive Green linen, but comparing the chart photo to the fabric, it didn't look right, so I picked a blue color. I figured that made sense--after all, it's usually sunny with blue skies when you go strawberry picking, right? And I don't need the whole cut of fabric for this project, so I can use it on another project!


Has anyone else noticed major mistakes in the JCS Ornament issue? I normally do not complain about these things, but I was working on my ornament and it called for the ray stitch. Y'all, I have been stitching since 1988, full on 2/3 of my life, and I have NEVER seen that stitch before. Not in cross stitch, at least. I am sure it's not one of the commoner stitches. So, I thought it would be in the back with the stitch diagrams. It was not there. They had variations of it, but not it. The variations were useless because they were over 8 threads, and I needed over 4. I was so upset, because I want to do the ornament the way it was designed to be, and, if it's not there, how can I? I had to search back through my collection of old issues to the 2002 issue to find it. SO ANNOYING. And there was a note that said, "Refer to finishing instructions on page ???." (shaking head). Ummm, what page is that after? !!!? &&&? Give me a hint here? I know Sue Hillis' ornament was altered in some way. Some one said recipes were missing.

On the subject of the recipes: How many recipes for sugar cookies does one really need? There were 2 or 3 in there this year. I forget that not everyone purchases their sugar cookies in a roll from the refrigerated section, but seriously? As well as several for pumpkin cake. These are not recipes that lend themselves to variation to retain their true nature, ya know? And really not many recipes for something you could eat as a main course or a side. I was pleased to see a recipe for margaritas from Glory*bee. I think it was her. I don't drink that particular beverage, but I appreciate having something a little different. I personally would be sharing a recipe for a food dish--someone in 98 did mashed potatoes that were awesome--those were my New Year's food in 2002.

There are a lot of really cute ornaments in there, though. I really liked looking through it.