Last Day of June

Wow!  It's hard to believe that 2013 is half over.  We've been having hot, muggy weather around here lately, so it's been nice to stay inside and do a bit of stitching. 

I worked on Little Paradise last weekend and for a while today.  I love the design and I love the colors, but I'm using the called-for Silk-N-Colors silks and, while they're lovely, they're a pain to stitch with.  It's probably partly my fault for cutting the working strands a little too long.  I'll cut them shorter from now on, but I only got a little bit done on the pink house before I got frustrated and put it away.

 I finished a few rows on the left side, the row across and then the right side and little bit in the middle before I laid it aside and switched to Isabella Johnstone.  I finished the top row of alphabet from letter E to the left and did a little bit on the dividing band below.  I'm using DMC for this one, stitched on 40-count Pearled Barley from Lakeside Linens.  Lovely fabric and wonderful to stitch on!

Thanks to Anna, aka Stitch Bitch, whose MIL identified my mystery shrub from Ireland.  It's a type of japonica and is available on this side of the pond.  I've found a mail-order source (Wayside Gardens), in case my  local garden centers don't carry it.  It's supposed to be easy to grow, which puts it right up my alley!

Finally, I broke down this week and bought the chart for Mary Beale's Days of Advent sampler.  I have a couple of questions for those of you who've stitched it...  If you used NPI silks, did you need more than one skein of any of the colors?  Also, I remember seeing pictures of the coolest finishing jobs; the sections of the sampler were stitched separately and finished into a little "book".  Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Wishing everyone a good week and a happy 4th of July -- happy stitching!