Catherine from I Love to Stitch

We have a very special Blogger of the Week this week, someone known to most of us by her "sparkly" nickname and her lovely comments on our blogs.  She has been stitching for longer than some of the previous Bloggers of the Week have been alive and has some gorgeous work to share with us.  She also has a great secret to share with us, one I would not have guessed!  Please welcome Diamond C AKA Catherine from

I Love To Stitch

1. Please introduce yourself – name, where you are from, family, pets etc.

I am Catherine Laurent, I live in Annandale, Minnesota, I have a wonderful husband named Mike, I met Mike at work on November 17th 1976, I proposed to him on January 26th, 1977, we were married on June 11th 1977, everyone including the Priest at our Church said it would not last, I have been happily married for almost 41 years. We lived in a tent building our first home with our own hands, from June 12th to November 15th 1977, a time I will never forget.

We have a cat, named Blondie and a dog Krissy, they are both rescue animals.

We were not blessed with children, we tried to adopt but were told it would be a ten year wait back

in the late 70s.

2. How long have you been stitching and how did you start?

I started stitching back in 1979, I was given a gift of a craft magazine Needlecraft For Today, it had a design of a baby floating on a cloud that was my first attempt at cross stitching, it was a gift for my sister in law, I think she still has that little pillow.

I love stitching on 32plus count linens, I find some designs challenging, I am always up for a

challenge.

stitched on 50 count gauze

3. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start? Is there a story behind

your blog title?

I started my Blog in 2009, I was sitting in a coffee shop on my lunch break and came across a Blog, I was intrigued and started on the next day.

The story behind my Blog title is one day my mother asked me what I was doing and I said I love to

stitch, she said that would be a great title for my Blog so I changed it in honor of her suggestion.

Feltwork Heart

4. How would you describe your stitching style? Are you a serial starter, a rotator, a OAAT

(one at a time), highly organised, random and eclectic, etc.?

I am one at a time stitcher, I am maybe OCD when it comes to stitching, I get nervous when I have more then one design going at a time.

Blackbird Designs Lady Liberty

5. Do you have a favourite designer or style of design you are drawn to?

I cannot say I have a favorite designer, I think all designers are worthy of anyone's attention to stitching their designs.

Betsy Morgan Bristol Bag

6. Which piece are you most proud of in your collection?

I think the piece I am most proud of is a design I did from a magazine it is a couple of bunnies in a

lettuce patch, I only say this because there was so much green in there I almost stopped stitching it. I did frame it myself, it hangs in my Foyer so everyone can see it when they come and leave.

7. What has been your worst stitching disaster?

I have never had a bad stitching experience as of yet, that is always a possibility.

8. Which new technique would you like to try, either stitching, finishing or another craft?

I would love to learn Japanese Gold thread stitching, it is beautiful but a little intimidating to me,

maybe someday.

Beadwork

9. Do you have a box of finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces? Or is everything FFO'd?

What's your favourite way to fully finish a project and what do you do with them?

I do.   I am currently working on getting things constructed and framed or finished into pin pillows or needle books or whatever I can decide on, I will be gifting some things this Christmas.

Ellen Chester With My Needle designs, Kindred Spirits

Scattered Seeds Sampler Design

10. Which of your projects most represents "you"?

I would have to say a project I stitched a while ago and had framed just lately it is Brenda Gervais’s Paper Snowflakes, I love the fact that it has snowflakes and scissors, please do not ask what the significance is of those two things but I always seem to have a pair of scissors with me, I carry a pair in the car I do not know why, maybe I am a little eccentric, the snowflakes represent what a beautiful thing life is, not everyone is the same just as no two snowflakes are alike.

11. Tell us a secret about yourself. Or a joke. About anything!

I am a animated junkie, I love all animated shows, I salivate when Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter come around then I watch all the Charlie Brown movies, I also am in love with Hotel Transylvania, it tickles me to see them, I am 67 and they make me feel young.

12. Anything you would like to add?

Thank-you Jo for an opportunity to share with other Bloggers what I am about, I find all the

Bloggers of the Week have the same mindset, we are all friendly creative and of course loveable.

Class Project from Victoria Sampler