Just Cross Stitch

Have you seen this new pattern in the latest Just Cross Stitch Magazine?

I love herbs...always have.  There are a few that grow well in my yard, but not a lot because we get so little sunshine.  But rosemary loves it here and lavender will always live and have a few blooms.  Parsley and thyme and oregano are pretty happy here too and lemon balm does okay.  I couldn't wait to start this pattern so this is what's been stitched the last two nights.

It's going to be so pretty!  Not as pretty as an herb garden I had a few years ago when I had a sunny spot, but pretty just the same.

(This herb garden is not mine, though I've had similar ones, but this one is my dream!)

Cleaning Blinds And Other Nonsense

We've had a bit of ice and a dab of snow and in Arkansas that means life comes to a halt.  We don't have the equipment to clean off the streets so other than a little sand and salt sprinkled here and there we simply sit and wait for the sun to come back out and the temperatures to go back up, which generally happens in an hour..or a day.  I've done a little stitching, most of which I can't show yet but here are a couple of cross stitch pieces I've completed and will soon make into something or use in some way...not sure what way yet.

You've seen this little Santa before on Madame Samm's blog, Sew We Stitch.  I know you don't recognize him because hers is gorgeous with a capital G.  I just couldn't get that beard right.  But since I didn't have a pattern and was simply stitching him from a photo I'm pretty pleased.  I added a few red beads in the holly leaves hoping your eye would go there instead of the beard.  I guess they might be a bit small to do that.  :)

I absolutely love this one.  It's so beautiful.  Really.  Right now, of course, it's like a newborn baby, all wrinkled and looking a little traumatized.  But when it's pressed and freshened up you're going to love it too.  I'd love to find a wooden box this would fit on the top of so I could keep all my scissors in it.  Hmmmm, wonder where I might find one of those.

My violets are happy in this cold weather.

Last week when my friend Connie was here she cleaned the blinds on one of my three windows in my bedroom.  She hates cleaning blinds so you know she's a good friend.  :)

Today I cleaned the other two, opened the windows and cleaned out the sills, then cleaned the glass on the inside.  I was wishing it wasn't so cold so I could do the outside.  Do you think I might be rushing spring?  Oh, and yes we really did have more snow than that but we waited an hour and most of it melted.  Tomorrow we might get some more.  They say "might" a lot here.

A Cross Stitch Delight

Last week I went to a new-to-me cross stitch shop in Little Rock, about an hour's drive from me.  The name of it is The Shepherd's Needle and, be still my heart, I wanted to stay all day and I wanted one of everything.  Now if you're not into cross stitch you might want to skip this post but if, like me, you've rediscovered the joy of those x's you'll enjoy these pictures.  Ann, the owner, was so sweet and gave me permission to take pictures and post them.

I don't even have words....I was overwhelmed by all the beautiful patterns and samples.  One of these days I'm going to learn how to shop this kind of abundance but so far I just wander from one side to the other and back again, only to do it all again.  I was please with the variety of patterns, from very large to very small, from primitive to Victorian to colonial to funny to profound to ornate.  I thought her prices were very reasonable and I think that one day soon I'll go back for her "Stitching Tuesday" when you can take your project and join a few others at a long table supplied with a magnifier/light and a thread holder that looks like an artists palette.  And yes, I bought several patterns.  The first was the pattern for this sample I first saw on her website (under construction right now).

She uses beautiful frogs for holding her scissors while she stitches and while I love the idea I don't normally sew in front of a table so I don't think that would work for me.  I've begun this pattern and have completed the three scissors in the bottom middle...the smallest ones.  I'm about half way through the larger scissors with points down to the left of them.  I hope to work on this one some more this afternoon.  Of course, I bought more.

This little Sheep one came with the small star buttons - so cute.

I loved the colors in this and since I'm so looking forward to spring this will probably be my next project.

This one I skipped until I saw the sample and then I went back to it.  It's beautiful when stitched.

And who could go and not buy a Christmas pattern?

This one was just gorgeous when stitched.

This pouch made my primitive heart skip....I'm not sure what I'll do with it when stitched up and finished but I know I'll love it.  And the one below you won't like unless you love primitives...but it would be a fun one to do with a child.

And yes, I did a little stitching this week and finished this small pillow/pincushion.

I think I'm going to add a decorative button just below the word but haven't found the perfect one yet.

If you ever get to Little Rock you should make this shop one of your stops - I loved it!

Happy Valentines Day!

Let Me Support You

I met her in the fall of 1959.  Some of you may not remember that year so let me remind you about that time....gas cost 25 cents a gallon and a loaf of bread cost 20 cents.  We loved our Barbies...each one cost about $1.29.  The Twilight Zone was new on television that fall and Sleeping Beauty debuted in the movies.  Etch a Sketch was invented that year and the first U.S. astronauts, John Glenn and Alan Shepherd were introduced.  Most of that meant nothing to us, except for the Barbies of course, because we were consumed by the fact that we were 7th graders.  Our first year in Junior High.  We had Band class together; I played the flute and she played the clarinet.  And every day we ate lunch together, forging a friendship that lasted 56 years.

We graduated from high school together and vowed never to lose touch and to always love each other.  And went our separate ways...to college, to marriage, to motherhood.  At our 40th high school reunion we made a new vow - not to let 10 years go by between reunions before we saw each other again.  And so it began - the Sisters of the Heart.  Seven of "the gang" came to my house for the weekend every fall.  We always got together the last weekend of October, which happened to be about Frances' birthday time, so she announced happily that of course we did it for her.  In 2007 she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She had a lumpectomy, did chemo and radiation, and promptly went back to her life...working, loving her daughters and grandchildren, all the normal things.  In 2011 it came back.  She took the bull by the horns, had a double mastectomy, more chemo, more radiation.  And once again she defeated it.

On October 12 this last fall we all gathered again, this time for our 50th high school reunion.  This is how happy and healthy she looked...

We had so much fun...we gossiped, we laughed, we shopped, we drank wine and giggled.  There were so many unforgettable moments.  Five days later she had a routine colonoscopy and found that it was back...this time in her colon and liver.  She fought again.  She wanted to live, she wanted to see her grandchildren graduate from high school, to go fishing a hundred more times, to meet her Sisters of the Heart on a fall weekend for a lot more years.  She left us on December 23.  I hate cancer.

I signed up for this hop before I knew the cancer was back.  And the plan was to make a fun pillow for her to laugh over - I was looking forward to giggling with her over it.  Ya'll, I can tell you that making this pillow was not fun, and I struggled with the whole idea of it.  I don't want to see one more friend or family member go through this.  And I didn't want to make this pillow when my heart was breaking.  But in memory of her battle, of her strength, of her laughter...I drug out the zebra fabric and made a bra.  (our high school mascot was the zebra)

On the back I embroidered all our names - those of us who loved her so much.  And in the corner I put her picture.

I thought I might like it in my reading chair in my bedroom.  But I think it will probably end up on my bed where I'll think of her every time I see it.

Thanks so much to Madame Samm for her tireless work on behalf of stitchers everywhere, and also to Pat who organized us and kept us on the right path.  Organizing quilters can sometimes be like herding cats so Pat certainly had her work cut out for her!  If you're interested in buying the pattern so you can "support" someone you love just e-mail Madame Samm at madamesamm@me.com and she'll give you all the details.  And be sure you visit the other blogs who are participating - I know you'll love seeing more support!

Feb 9^th 

Stitchin By The Lake

 Tea Leaf Quilts

Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc

Seams To Be Sew

Stitchen' My Life Away

Feb 10^th  

Creatin' In the Sticks

^{The Quilting Queen Online}

^{Everyone Deserves A Quilt}

^{The Quilted Cat}

Hill Valley Quilter

Feb 11^th  

Buzzing and Bumbling

In Stitches and Seams

All thingz sewn

The Slow Quilter

Crayon Box Quilt Studio

Sew We Quilt