The sun was shining on Monday and it was nice to walk in my garden. The tulips are blooming, the peonies are showing buds and everything is greening up. And my bleeding heart plant is already in full color. I love the delicate little heart shaped flowers.
This inspired me to start a new sampler, one that doesn't have a house. (OMG - I can see you are shocked -me too! LOL)
This is a Cedar Hill graph called Country Flower Sampler. I've seen examples of this designer over at Beth's blog Garden Grumbles and Cross Stitch Fumbles. She does wonderful cross stitch and I love her pictures of flowers and wildlife. I'd never seen such blue blue jays as the Stellar Jays in her neck of the woods. Simply gorgeous.
Anyway, back to the sampler (I am so easily distracted by pretty things -big sigh.) I ordered 5 of the Cedar Hill samplers from a retailer I won't name because their customer service drives me crazy. Little rant here - when you order an item if it is out of stock, don't you want to know that before you place the order? I have bought from this retailer twice and I won't be fooled a third time. In each instance at least one of the graphs I ordered wasn't in stock and they had to wait almost 2 weeks to get it in, which meant I waited more than 2 weeks. I know I'm not ordering critical supplies but the instantaneous nature of the Internet has greatly shortened my ability to wait patiently. During that time I receive no communication from them -- an email would have been nice- and when I emailed them I got a very curt response that the item wasn't currently available and I could have looked up that info myself on their order status page. Okay, I can look it up but I didn't know the order status page existed and other companies I've done business with have prompted me at check out that an item is back ordered or sent me an email. I just think that is good customer service.
On the other hand there is 123stitch.com - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this retailer. Their customer service is excellent. I should have just gone to them and requested that they find the graphs I was interested in but I didn't want to be a bother. I still may have had to wait two weeks but they would have told me that right up front. End of rant, lesson learned.
Hope you have some stitching time this week. And I hope for better weather for all of us. Last night we had terrible storms, high winds and flooding. We need more sunshine, at least I do.
Happy stitching-
carol fun
Beautiful photos of your garden and great new start! I love 123stitch and order from Joanne quite a bit. I've had some terrible experiences with some other shops. It pays to have good customer service...means more sales for shops in the future. Oh well...hope the weather clears up for your soon!
ReplyDeleteGlad to have provided some inspiration - based on your rapid stitching start and think you are going to embarass me and finish up your Cedar Hills far before I complete mine! Lovely bleeding hearts too - ours are not yet in bloom.
ReplyDeleteI love that sampler all ready and you have just started it---I love bleeding hearts--so I must get that pattern--it is the first one I have seen with them on it!!! I know what you mean about some companies--I am still waiting on two felt patterns from ND and it has actually been a couple months now--just emailed them again--no word back--am hoping that means they are in the mail--they are really Easter/spring ones--sooo!!
ReplyDeletealmost too late to them this year--they also carry Cosmos thread which I love and would like to order a bunch more--but not sure because of the problems with this first order!!!!
I have ordered from 123stitch a couple times and have also had good results!!
Have a happy day stitching--
Hugs, Di and her miss gracie
I love your garden photos...thank you for sharing them! I agree with your thoughts on customer service.
ReplyDeleteLovely new start! I've not seen this one before, so looking forward to watching your progress.
ReplyDeleteUgh, Stitching shop service! I DO have some horror stories, both by mail and in-person. I also don't want to name names, but I will (indeed I cannot do it highly enough) recommend Anita of Anita's little stitches.
She's amazing, you just email her and tell her what you want, and she emails you back with a quote and will invoice you via paypal if you're agreed on the items and prices. Her shipping is cheap, and I love how her site lists the threads needed for each item she carries as a "thread pack"-helps you see what you need and is easy to order! Also, ALWAYS a discount! As for communication, I can tell you that I've emailed her after 10 pm several times and gotten a response within 20 min! (amazing!) That's extra ordinary, but I've never waited more than 4 hours for a reply (assuming it was sent during the day or evening.
Your bleeding hearts are so pretty! Mine aren't in bloom yet. It would probably help if we had some sunshine! LOL
ReplyDeleteLove this one! I have a few varieties of bleeding heart - my latest addition is a white one. So pretty!
ReplyDeleteThat is going to be one gorgeous sampler. I love the pic of your bleeding heart plant. I have fond memories of the one in my yard when I was a child. It grew beneath a Mimosa tree and I would sit underneath and play with my dolls by the bleeding heart plant. I can almost smell the sweet scent of the mimosa just by looking at your picture. :o)
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