Howdy all-today is much like our wacky Wednesdays but in fact it is Tuesday-Mary Anne has the dropsies, my dogs and I almost ran into a young fox this AM (we did hear one last night at 11:30 PM), and what could go wrong here has...the good news for today was that Melba C and her friends came in! We got to talk about our Bichons-Melba's is Buddy! :) And then Ann N. (I had just been asking if anyone had seen her lately) stopped in too! So the day has improved! The above are futures from Amy Bruecken and By The Bay-check out Frankster-he is WitchiePoo's boyfriend (seen at the top)

Hope all is good with you all-and that you're not having a wacky Wednesday on Tuesday!!

Molly

Go Flyers! Wearing my orange in their honor!!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday to you all-I don't know about you but I have had enough of this whirlwind we call May! Racing from one activity to another-racking the old noggin to be sure I'm not missing some function or other! I know I shouldn't complain-but I am! And any spare moment isn't used to sit and stitch-it's used going to the grocery or cleaning this or that---egads! Please remind me when I'm bored how badly I complained!!

Well, enough of that--lots of good new items--be sure to see our newsletter section-Beth wrote another great one!!

Have a good weekend-and try not to follow my footsteps-get some stitching time in!! Molly :0

New Mill Hill Kits

Hi all-the weather is going to start turning today-and we are keeping an eye towards the sky looking for "Mr. Sun"! The Phils had a rough night last night-Halliday looked discouraged...understandably. Good news for the Flyers...how exciting for them!

My mom and one of her Lhasas are at Tufts again today for chemo-I'm saying lots of prayers for them..Zoe is a sweet girl-only 9 years and diagnosed in December with bladder cancer. Godspeed to them-I love them so much!

Have a good day-take care of yourselves!! Molly

Blueberry Coffeecake

For Streusel Topping
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoons margarine or butter

For Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup soft margarine or butter
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup blueberries





Preheat oven to 350.


Start with the Streusel topping-Mix all ingredients together until crumbly. Set aside.


Now for the coffeecake part--Beat all ingredients, except blueberries, in a large bowl on low speed for 30 seconds, then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.


Grease a 13x9 pan. Spread half the batter in the pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of blueberries over batter, then top with the rest of the batter. Add the streusel topping , then back in oven for 40 minutes.
I received this recipe at Christmas 1996 as part of a greeting card from LL Bean-I have used the recipe many times and everyone loves it-enjoy!

Good morning-what a gray day we have going, huh?! A great day to cuddle up and stitch--did you catch the Phillies game last night?? Go Ryan Howard-grand slam #4 of his career! I left them at that point and turned out the light(gotta get up before the sun!)...Have found some newbies---the next two in Nora Corbett/Mirabilia's Twelve Days of Christmas, a new release from The Stitcherhood, a dedication or birth sampler from Heartstring Samplery, and Primitive Needleworks by Caryn...Phyllis just finished stitching two primitive little pieces that will become pillow models here at the shop...I will get pics of them up so you can see them in the process...

I owe you all the Blueberry Coffeecake recipe which I FINALLY brought with me today-so I will put it up later---have a good day and stay safe!! :) Molly

Are your ears burning?

Well, your ears should be burning today as Ruth Ellen, Beth, Lise and I were talking about our stitching night on Friday and what a great time we had--I must thank you all for coming out on what was a cruddy night during a crazy month--it was a blast!! There were 25 of us and even thought the room was buzzing Francine said to me"It is so peaceful here!" And she was right!! To Barbara-Thank you for the Coconut Creams-gone!! To Jacki (aka Jacqui!) thank you for the Hello Dollies-gone! To Cat and Nikki-thank you for your kind words!! To Linda, Rita, Jenna, Michelle, Jean, Barbara, Nikki, Sue,Jacki, Susan, Cat, Jessica, Eileen, Mary, Bonnie, Deanna, Eve, Podzi, Cheryl. Francine, Marian, Beth, Ruth Ellen and Lise-thank you for making it such a fun night-we didn't even pack up til 10:30 and even then we were slow in closing it down because we just didn't want to see it end!! Until next month--:) You all make me smile!! Molly

New Goodies!

Hi all-It has been a busy couple of weeks here and I've been constantly looking for new goodies-I'm sorry I haven't found more for you each day but hang in there-these new designs are from Country Cottage, Little House , Blackbird, Tree of Life...

We have stitching tonight and am looking forward to all of the great gals coming-to Nicole and Phyllis we will miss you and we hope that grandpa is okay-we will keep him in our prayers!

To Andrea, Denise and Jane we hope you can make it next month...to Gretchen, we are sorry it is so far for you on a Friday night and we will try for a Saturday in autumn...

I'm looking forward to a weekend at home with some yard work and time with my pups-and definitely some stitching time with the Phillies!

Enjoy the sunshine, enjoy your family, friends(furry and not) and give someone in your life a hug! xoxo Molly

Good afternoon-I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day...I was up in Vermont and boy, was it chilly-even saw snow flurries. I went with my mum to the cemetery to put pansies on my grandparent's graves-I had three coats on! It was good to spend some time with my parents-I found some very, very old photos of my dad's relatives-he and I spent some of Sunday identifying people in the pictures-one is from the 1700's-it is a picture of my great great great grandmother-WOW! I'm starting to get into the genealogy thing--

The above are new, not yet release designs from Blue Ribbon, The Drawn Thread, and Primitives Needleworks by Caryn...

Don't forget about stitching this Friday-thank you to those that have informed us either way so we have a head count-if you haven't, please do let us know--hope you can come!!

Til tomorrow--Molly

New from Erica Michaels...Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

My Sincerest Apolgies

I just received a call from someone who kindly informed me that there is much going on about a blog entry of mine about what I had thought might be a spelling error or an old time spelling that might be perceived as a spelling error by some-my sincerest apologies if I offended ANYONE-I had been reading Little House's blog and had seen how a variation in Maid Marion (versus Merion) had created emails from readers and stitchers-that was all I had meant by "poor her"...If I did offend stitchers or Tanya at Sampler Girl , my deepest apologies...My error! Molly

Upcoming events

Hi all-while these won't get to us until June I wanted you to see these-beautiful!! Also wanted to post some upcoming events-the framing sale goes right through May so get your unframed pieces in for a healthy discount! See our front page for more info www.strawberrysampler.com Friday the 14th is our Stitching at the Ford-5:30PM until 10PM...be sure to let us know if you can (or cannot) come-we are already counting down the days! Lastly, don't forget that Sunday is Mother's Day-and if you are lucky enough to have your mum be sure to call her or visit and tell her you love her...one of our dear customers and friends just lost her mom...she came in yesterday as she said being here was like her cup of tea.
To my mum--Happy Mother's Day to a very special, giving, loving person and friend. You are the best! And to all of my friends that are moms or "moms" happy day to all of you-it is a special talent to be a mom (dog mom, kid mom, or "fill-in mom")...Love to you all and have a fan-tastic day! xoxoxo Molly

Wow it's May!

Who can believe that May is here, April is gone??! Our framing sale has begun and has taken off with a bang-Saturday was busy with lots of you in ready to start! Don't forget you have the whole month to get your pieces in--

The above are new designs from Victoria's Sampler and Waxing Moon-they are on order and will be in hopefully within the next two weeks...

We had some very sad news this morning-Phyllis called to say that a very dear customer had passed away on Friday-To Connie A. (not to be confused with our Connie here at the shop) we will miss you very much-it was always a pleasure to see you enter our doors...there is a special place for you in our hearts-we will always remember you when we see the Quaker Virtues Sampler-your grandchildren will always remember you when they see their stockings that you lovingly stitched for them...we leave such physical reminders of our hearts and hands...and she left beautiful pieces for her family to treasure...have our seats ready for us at that big stitch-a-thon in heaven, Connie! We will see you again!!

To those here on Earth, keep stitching...and take care of yourselves!! xoxoxo Molly
PS The Seasonal Bellpulls can also be used to stitch someone's name, a school name (for a graduation), Welcome, etc!