Spring Colors

Thank you all for your sweet compliments on my progress photos last time and for the anniversary well wishes. This weekend we are going on a little day trip that Eric had planned for our anniversary, but due to car trouble we had to postpone. I am really looking forward to it! Anyway, as promised I am showing you my new start above. This is the new Loose Feathers by Blackbird Designs. I love the linen for this little pinkeep. I am stitching with the recommended Belle Soie silks as well, which are luscious. I've made a little more progress on my peacock since this photo was taken, but I have to admit I got slightly distracted. In case you didn't know, Blackbird Designs have a blog now! And, of course it features the lovely photography that I have grown to love on their charts. There is a freebie offered that is a sweet little reproduction sampler. And I couldn't resist making a little start on it. So, I've been focusing on that the past few days. I hope to show you a finish on it soon, and then I can get back to my little peacock.

At my last guild meeting, one of our members gave a wonderful presentation on darning samplers, as a great introduction to our SAL on the darning sampler we've chosen from SANQ. That is one of the thing I have just loved about belonging to this guild, the things I am learning. So far, my two favorite meetings have been the one about Adam & Eve samplers, and now this one. Such knowledgeable women! At our meeting, I received my linen and silks for the darning sampler, aren't they lovely? I'll be stitching this on 40ct. I believe the color is Sand. And the silks are Au Ver A Soie. Two of them are missing from this photo, one is on its way and one because I'm a dork and left it out of the photo. Lovely though anyway.

I've been continuing with my photo a day project, and you can see more of those over at my other blog, if you're interested. Thanks for stopping in, I really appreciate all of your comments and friendship!

I am grateful for time together.

Surf's Up

Long time, no blog! You may be wondering what have I been up to? Well, as you can see I did finally manage to get my waves stitched on block 1 of Shores. I'll be moving up to the top half of the block now. I had hoped to catch up and get through blocks 1 and 2 in April, but well...we'll see. I haven't done a ton of stitching lately between migraines and just tiredness. But I have done some reading, which has been really nice. I think maybe my brain just needed a break, you know. I sat aside Pillars of the Earth (which is excellent, by the way), and picked up Dead Until Dark, which is a very fun read. Anyway, I'll be getting back to Shores soon. But, I am glad to have those waves finished!

I've also made a bit of progress on Adam & Eve too (also by Carriage House Samplings). This is a fun little stitch. And I am stitching it over one on black. I decided to take my progress photo with my scissors in there, just for scale. I love the size this is turning out to be. Please excuse the cat hair, my hair, and general fluff that this black fabric seems to attract that for some reason shows up glaringly in photos. Don't those little scissors look giant sized?! I dearly love that little squirrel. He now has a little perch to sit on, and I've stitched in Adam's head (which still needs to be filled in), and I've begun work on the tree trunk.

Saturday, I had a pile of mending that needed to be attended to, so I spent some time with my sewing machine. After everything had been repaired, I decided to get out one of my quilts that needed quilting and worked on it a bit. You may remember that this little Valentine's Day quilt had previously had quilting on it, which I have been ripping out because I wasn't happy with it. I've now finished the ripping out, and I've started on the quilting again. It's turning out nicely so far.

This past weekend was also Easter, so we went to visit family and I took some photos of some fabulous ornaments that my MIL made out of ribbon. Aren't they fun?

Her good friend made one for me, and then taught her how to do it. I'll have to remember to take a photo of mine too to share!

And finally, last week Eric and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary. Even with his father in the hospital (now home and doing well), my sweetie surprised me with two dozen red and white roses as well as a single white rose in our special vase from the Rose Ceremony at our wedding. I am so happy, and I am a lucky lucky girl.

I've got a new start to show you next time, and I also have some lovely new stash to share as well. Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for stopping in!

I am grateful for my ability to embrace change and to move through what seem like difficult times and see them in a new light.