HI to everyone here and many thanks to Hazel for this great idea and terrific place.

My name is Teresa but I usually answer to LadyDoc or just Doc. I live in Philadelphia where I am a teacher at an inner-city Catholic high school.

My Gran taught me to crochet when I was 10. The following summer she tried to teach me embroidery but the free form of it just didn't work for me. I discovered counted cross stitch in 1985- through a chart book at the Smithsonian book store- and the rest, as they say....

I would probably be called ADD- in my time the nuns just said I had a short attention span. As a result I do many types of crafts and always have a bunch of things going on at the same time. I love to stitch but I also do cardmaking and scrapbooking, crochet, and make Hawaiian quilts. I used to make lace but my eyes and my hands think that is just too much stress for the satisfaction anymore.

I've never done a "spot" sampler before and I'm looking forward to it. I have some gorgeous fabric that I bought several years ago that has been waiting for just the right project and I think *this* is it. I have not yet decided on my floss colors but I am seriously thinking about some beautiful dyed silks from Victoria Clayton.

For health reasons I know that I won't be able to keep up with most of you in the progress department, but I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's work so that I will have the encouragement to keep going to get this beautiful piece done.