Sew Blue, (I'm) So Blue

Anyone remember the old song "Love is Blue" from the 60s? That's what came into my head when I ran out of the Peacock Blue GAST I was using to stitch Carol R.'s Sew Blue. I'd been going to stitch this on blue linen with some kind of overdyed white floss, but the peacock color just grabbed me. I seriously underestimated how much of it I had in my stash and by the time I realized it, I'd already stitched a fair amount. But I love the color and can't wait till I get more. Which brings me to an ethical dilemma - where to buy it? Part of me just wants to go online and click and buy - it's so easy to do it this way, as opposed to driving nearly an hour to my LNS. But if I don't patronize them, I'm contributing to their possible demise - it must be so hard to be a brick and mortar LNS with the competition of online stores. So I may just hold my horses and wait until I can take a trip.

So (I almost typed "sew") in the meantime I needed a little project to work on until I can get going again, and I picked this one by LHN from the 2004 Christmas Ornament issue. It's been great to work on while I sit by the steaming hot pool where my son is taking swimming lessons. And it had an unintended benefit. One of the lifeguards came over to see what I was doing, and it turns out she is an avid knitter who wants to set up a group that meets to sit and chat while crafting. No one in my 'regular" life here stitches and it would be so nice to find some company every now and then. I'm hoping she does more than talk about it, because if she sets it up, I'm in!

I have been stitching for awhile now, more than a few years looking back at my blog posts, and I'd like to be branching out a bit to something more complex than my usual choices. This is my ultimate goal - I bought this from eBay years ago, but it has always scared the heck out of me to try something large with real color changes. The chart came kitted with linen and all the DMC needed for it - when I first saw the linen I thought I would never ever be able to use it, but of course now I use nothing but, so I can't use that as an excuse anymore. Actually, looking at the pattern the color changes are not that hard - there are lots of blocks of color more than actual changes. I tend to be a one project at a time stitcher, so if I stitched it my blog would become awfully focused on one thing, but I do feel the pull to challenge myself a bit more. I'm not quite ready to try it yet, but it's in my sights. I'd love to give it to my mother - the verse reads:

You may have riches and wealth untold,
baskets of jewels and caskets of gold,
but richer than I you will never be,
for I had a mother who read to me.

That's the news from my little corner of the world. Hope all is going well in yours!

Button, button, who's got the button?

This is my almost-finished Button, Button, which needs, well - buttons attached to it. I decided to do the Button Box version rather than the Button Bag - now I have to find a box that it fits! This was a relaxing project to stitch. Of course, it was not without one of those "only God does things perfectly" errors - the U in the last button has an extra stitch, but I'd have to take out a number of letters and frogging the floss would leave a slight residue of color (I've had this issue with Belle Soie before, but I love stitching with it). So I've decided to leave it alone and pretend I don't see it (she says hopefully).

We're going to Florida for a few days to visit my husband's mother, so I need a plane project to take along. Carol R.'s Sew Blue fits the bill, so I started it the other day. It's fun! I'm looking forward to Sew Autumn and Sew Noel.

I have a stash question - what are good online sources for linen? I don't have a lot of it so I'm always running out to the LNS to buy some for a particular project. I'd like to build up a supply so I could start things on a whim (though I always want to support my LNS). If anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them!