Welcome to Cranberry Samplings

Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Few Good Things

The mail was good to me this week. I love the PS October chart. The rest are the new ornament, Sarah Street and Tall pines from LHN and Happy Birthday and Rose garden from BBD. The fabric is vintage maple sugar from LSL.
Over the weekend I started Midnight Watch by BBD. Using the called for fibers and the linen is 32ct LSL Maple Sugar. It's alot of stitching but Iam enjoying it. Forgive me for not ironing it.

I picked up Olga from the framers. I just love this piece. The frame is black with alittle gold beading on the edge.


It's been a busy here. I steamed cleaned 4 rooms of hardwood floors and then put on a lovely coat of floor shine. It was alot of hard work but the floors look wonderful. When I finished, I made this really good blueberry crumble. OK, I needed to reward myself.



Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Speedy Recovery

Just a short post to send out love and prayers to my dearest friend, Cheryl and her Mom, June. She is currently in Canada with her Mom. June under went surgery to have a number of tumors removed from her neck. They will not have the reports on the biopsy's for a couple of weeks. I pray for a speedy recovery and good results.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Is It A Hamburger or a ...

It was a busy weekend at Chez Sammi. Saturday night we went to see friends Sue & Marge for a BBQ. I brought dessert. It's not a hamburger, it's a 3 layer cake. Isn't it great!! They have a very busy household. They currently have a friend staying with them, as well as a relative who needs alittle help. The pictures below are just a few of the furry children that they have.
This is Big Maggie.

This is Lucy.


This is Peggy.

Sunday afternoon we were invited to my friends, Mike and Kathy's for Kathy's birthday. Kathy is one month older than I am, so I really never let her forget it. She is such a good friend.

I would like to thank everybody for visiting and leaving comments. They mean alot. I will post some stitching pictures tomorrow.



Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Girls

After coming home from New York, I had to do the usual cleaning, laundry and yard work. I did manage in the evenings to finish Salem Sisters II. I think that I am in a Halloween mood because I am wishing and hoping for some wonderful fall weather! This week I received the pillow and Cheryl sewed the piece on for me. Isn't it cute?

I did go to both of my stitching groups. On Thursday we have snacks. Yummy! Joanne made "This isn't your Mommas banana pudding" by Paula Dean. It was really excellent. We ate about of the pan. Yes, we also had watermelon. Jeanne always tries to have something healthy.
Blog It has a wonderful giveaway of a chart by CHS named A mind Independent and Free. Go to her blog and leave a comment.
I would like to thank everybody for visiting and leaving comments. I love them.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

New York

While we were gone Sammi went to camp ( the kennel ), which she hates. She had a spa treatment ( bath and nail clipping ) another thing she hates. I know that the picture looks like she was happy, but believe me, she is till pouting. She managed to ruin one of her puppy beds while she was there, so yesterday a trip was made to the store for a new one.
We took a water taxi tour on the Hudson. We stopped in Brooklyn, Pier 22 and cruised by the Statue of Liberty. We were going to go to the statue and Ellis Island, but the line had a 3 hour wait. I'll get there on my next visit.


On Saturday night we went to Little Italy for dinner. We ate at great place with wonderful food. Italian food is my favorite so it's rare that I find a place that has bad food. The above picture is Little Italy. They close the streets on the week ends so it's like a street festival. Outside dining, street vendors and music. We had a great time. It you look closely at the above pic, you will see the Empire State Building. On Sunday we went to Brooklyn to get Italian pastries, cookies and bread. So much bread, so little time. Joanne was raised in Brooklyn, so she knew all the good places to go. Then off to Long Island to visit family. We shared our goodies with them. Wasn't that nice of me? LOL


Just a few more shots of the wedding. Outside arrangements, part of the garden and the happy couple. I loved the flowers. They were all gorgeous.

Thanks for visiting. I love all your comments.




Monday, July 19, 2010

The wedding


I am back from the 4 days in NYC. I went to a wedding with Joanne. The above picture is the happy couple. Caryn is Jo's only niece. She waited awhile to get married but she found the perfect man for her. Caryn is a cop in NYC and Chris is a fireman in NYC. Hard to believe this very tiny woman carries a gun and catches bad guys. They are in front of the mounted police officer that was at the wedding and the fire boat that came as well. The setting was at Battery Park on the Hudson River. The gardens were a beautiful backdrop for the ceremony. The weather was bright and sunny. If you tried very hard you could forget that is was 94 degrees and humid. The reception was inside, thankfully. We spent the rest of the week end site seeing and eating some wonderful food. More on that tomorrow.

Olga has a new home with Katrina! Please email me at sammi916@comcast. net with your address. Congrats.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Great Olga Give Away


As you may already know, I loved stitching Olga! She is much better looking in person. The fabric is a gray with a lavender undertone, the fibers are brighter and prettier than the pictures show. I would like to gift the pattern to someone so that they can enjoy it as much as I did. Just leave a comment on this post only. If you mention it on your blog, you will get two votes. It would be nice if you followed my blog. I will draw a name next Monday. I know that I haven't been blogging long and don't have that many followers but what the heck. Good luck!





We finally have rain!! The garden is looking much better. I even have some raspberries. Life is good.




Wonderful Give Aways

I would like to tell about two great blogs that are having give aways. The first is www.belfonte notes.blogspot.com Jan has a wonderful Vera Bradley bag full of stitching stuff. The next is http://www.threadgather.blogspot.com/ She has a a fabulous flower frog. Please visit both blogs. They are great!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Rockstars


I know that the pictures are lousy, but believe me the design is awesome. It is so much fun to do. The fabric is tarnished silver, which is gray with a hint of lavender. GORGEOUS I will iron the fabric before I show Olga again. I love her.

These wonderful things came in the mail Saturday. Olga by Plum Street, 3 small Halloween designs from Lizzie Kate, new scissors and a great needleminder. I did something I never do, I put down the design I was doing and started Olga.





Today was first day in over a week that we could turn off the AC. This how Sammi spent the day. Gazing out the door watching the world go by. Happy happy happy dog!!
Friday night was the night I learned that I turned a corner. Live Rock & Roll is no longer in my radar. This is Mellissa Etheridge, who I have seen many times and I love her music. She had a band that included 2 guitar players, keyboards and a drummer. The band was so load that you couldn't hear Melissa. The venue was the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis,MA It was like a sauna. Hot and humid. Did I mention the oppressive humidity? Not to mention the Friday night cape traffic. Oh God, don't I sound old! It's CD's for me in the future.






Thursday, July 8, 2010

Finishes, veggies and goodies

Important stuff first. It is my turn to bring snacks for stitching group tonight and I baked at the Plum Street bakery. We each get two and believe me they will all be scarfed down quickly.
My friend, Nataly, is away on a well deserved vacation. She told me that I could could veggie shop in her garden. This is my bounty. I think that I will be making a vegetable quiche his week end.

Sammi went to with to Nataly's with me and walked around looking for her. She did see a bunny eating in the garden. The bunny was dining on either raspberry or blueberry bushes.


Picked up this little jem at the framer yesterday. The frame is black and has a wood feel to it.
Sorry about the lousy pic.


I finished Liberty Belles last night. I'm just waiting for the pillow by Ipie, Hattie and Bea. This was a fun stitch and really quick to do.

Last but not least, Phyllis from my Wednesday stitching group became a grandmother for the first time. Emma Nicole was born last week. Mother, baby and grandma are all doing well.


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I don't get many pictures of Sammi awake. She is 16 and sleeps alot and she hates the camera. She gets that from me. :)





Well yesterday's weather was just horrible! 101 and very humid. I went out to water and took these pics of the latest summer bounty. The daisy's are one of my favorites, so I couldn't stop myself from cutting a bunch for the house.
Stitching group was excellent today. We have a couple of women who only come during the summer and school holiday's. It was good to see them. I'm stitching Liberty Belles by LHN and will post my progress tomorrow. Thanks for visiting.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

A finish and some stash

I received these lovely things Saturday in the mail. Halloween Cove, the latest LF from BBD, some fibers for different projects, the Just Cross Stitch preview issue and the bluebird from LHN. It was a good mail day for sure.


This the farm house from BBD. I used 28 ct. lt. mocha linen and the suggested fibers. It's much prettier in person. We had a quite week end here in southern MA The weather was in the mid 90's and humid. Only left the AC to do alittle yard work early in the day and to BBQ, of course. Watched the Boston Pops at the Hatchshell. It was a great weekend of stitching, good food and season three of Grey's Anatomy.

Friday, July 2, 2010

happy 4th

I am wishing everyone a great weekend full fun, friends,fireworks and BBQ!!

A new start

I fixed the picture. You have no idea how proud I am. I would even be happier if I could have fixed it on the original post, after it was posted. It's a learning curve.

A finish and a start


I finished the ABC's of Halloween last night at stitching group. The top picture show the color of the fabric, which is dirty linen. The blank is where a spider is should be stitched. I am going to put in a JAB spider instead and then off to the framer we go. I think a plain black frame should work.



This is going to be my next start. I am stitching the houses separately and popping them in and out a frame that I picked out earlier. Don't know why my picture is screwy and I don't know how to fix it. Sorry.

Thursday, July 1, 2010








Just a few more varieties of day lilies from the garden. I love day lilies. They are easy to grow, flower profusely and you can't kill them. What else could you want from a flower.