Hello from the desert!

Hi everyone - I'm Jeanne and I live in the southwest - Phoenix, Arizona to be exact. I am 52 (it sounds so old!) and I have been stitching I guess for about 30 years now. It was always my first love in needlework although I am also a quilter. I am married with no children except 2 spoiled dogs. I work full-time as an I.T. project manager. I like to stitch a wide variety of things - I'm just as happy stitching a little Prairie Schooler or Lizzie Kate chart as I am doing a big sampler. Like most of you, I have more patterns than I can ever stitch in a lifetime! This year I really tried to focus on cutting my UFO list in half and so far I'm doing pretty good. My long list of UFO's was really starting to bother me and this year I've started only a few small things like exchanges. Now I have a big case of "start-itis" and am looking forward to next year, especially "guilt free January"!

A few of my favorite designers are Carriage House Samplings, Little House Needleworks, Prairie Schooler, Blackbird Designs, Bent Creek, Brenda Keyes, Shepherds Bush, The Drawn Thread, and Victoria Sampler. I am fortunate to live 40 minutes from a wonderful LNS called Attic Needlework and they specialize in samplers. I can never get out of the shop without spending too much money. I also like stitching smalls although I really want to focus on getting some framed pieces on my walls.

I love being involved in the online stitching community and look forward to making new friends. The internet opened up a whole new world of stitching for me around the year 2000 and I have learned so much! As for Beatrix Potter, I have no ideas yet for my fabric and floss but I bought the pattern when it first came out. I'm thinking maybe a pink or raspberry silk thread - I would like to hang this in my sewing room when I'm done and I love pink. I'm glad we'll have a few months to plan as I want to get some sample silks from Vikki Clayton. I've found it's hard to pick out floss just from the website, you really need to see the colors in person. I have not tried Carrie's Threads although they look beautiful.

I'm glad to see so many younger women stitching and blogging - cross-stitch is such a great hobby and I'm hoping it makes a resurgence someday like knitting did. It's been sad seeing so many shops close in recent years and even the big craft stores around me have really reduced the amount of stitching supplies. Thanks Hazel for inspiring us and getting together this SAL! It's a lot more fun to stitch along together than by yourself.