Latest Issue

I bought two magazines Tuesday night: the latest issues of Stoney Creek and Just Cross Stitch. Both were slightly disappointing. I like the funky purse on the cover of JCS, and while I would never carry such a thing - too impractical - I view it as an alternate way of displaying cross stitch. I am sending away for the Monsterbubble freebie that Wichelt is offering, "Home is where my bed is". That freebie is the ONLY thing in that magazine I would stitch. I bought JCS out of habit more than anything else and I'm starting to think that if they keep with the "Precious Moment" patterns, this will be the LAST year I buy them all.

Stoney Creek was better. I love the afghan they are doing this year. I don't know that I would ever stitch such a large piece, but I enjoy the fantasy of thinking that I would and that others would ooh and ahh over it. But, like JCS, there is nothing in the magazine I would actually stitch - except for the "Home Town" patterns, but it is better because there are other patterns I might stitch for my future grandchildren, whereas there aren't any patterns in JCS I would stitch, unless my taste changes. There was a pattern for a "Mourning Sampler" in Stoney Creek and it got me thinking that I would like to stitch something to honor my grandmother. It really bums me out that I never stitched something for her - I was either to busy with kids or too sick - either way, I am thinking that perhaps I should stitch something to honor her, since I wasn't able to stitch something for her while she was here.

Today's feature of the day is the CATS Cruise which will be January 23-30, 2005 from Miami aboard Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas. Teaching will be Lorri Birmingham, Liz Turner Diehl, and Marilyn Vredevelt. I don't know if these folks know that the Caribbean is at its worst during the winter, but they are probably snowbirds who wouldn't know the difference and are just trying to get away from the cold. (Isn't it Jelly Fish season too???)

Last but not least, did y'all notice the news yesterday that the Census Bureau put out? They issued their yearly report and it showed that the ranks of the uninsured and the impoverished grew in 2003 for the third consecutive year while incomes stayed level. Level being a euphemism for FLAT, as in incomes did NOT increase. Gee, I wonder who's been in office for three years...

I posted the latest scan of my Sampler Gameboard to my website. I added some pictures last night too.