Happy News & Sampler Update

First of all, on a very happy note, my niece Windy's baby came home from the hospital last evening! He is just about 10 weeks old now, and he weighs over 8 pounds. He was born 10 weeks early, and only weighed barely 3 pounds when he was born. My niece was admitted to the hospital at the end of November with premature labor, so his homecoming has been a long time coming. Later on this week we'll go visit them and I'll share a photo here. Here's her blog for some photos of him taken a few weeks ago: Windy's Blog


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I finally have some stitching progress to share!

Here's the sampler last time I showed an update here:


I finished the flower in the righthand corner, and have started adding a Berlinwork bird in the lower left corner.

Here it is now:

A few close-ups of the corners:





I'm going to add a few more of these Berlinwork designs in other parts of the sampler. I'm still not sure what to add to the border, but I'm toying with a few ideas. We will have to wait and see.

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Finally, here's some photos my husband took this morning of our dog Eddie and our polydactyl cat Bruce. I love Saturdays! Bruce and Eddie simply placed themselves in this way, so of course we had to grab the camera and capture it! I love how Bruce is resting on Eddie's large greyhound paws.







Thanks for stopping by today.

Stitching Inspiration

 









I've always loved house patterns, and I also have a fascination with the sort of pattern shown here. This is Doll House by Brightneedle. I'll have to add it to my every growing list of 'to do' patterns!

I've had some stitching time here and there, and I finished the Berlinwork flower I was adding to my House and Garden Sampler, in the lower righthand corner. I will have to post a photo soon.

Finally, here are a few photos my husband took of a Western Scrubjay that visits my mother's backyard. I love to watch them carefully pick up peanuts, and fly off to hide them in the grass, or in the planter.





Thanks for stopping by today!

An Update on the House and Garden Sampler

I finally had the chance to stitch a bit this past weekend, and here is a photo of the finished apple tree:

 

I used a blended needle for the greens of the tree, and for the apples I used a variegated thread where I used two threads that started at the opposite end of that particular variegated thread's color.

After I finished the tree last night, I had to decide what to add next to the sampler. I decided upon a pattern from this book by Jane Greenoff~

 

I have always loved the look of Berlin work, so I chose a poppy motif from this pattern~

 

I decided to place it in the lower right corner, just as it is in the pattern.

While I was out today, I decided to purchase a magnifier for my Ott Lite. I am not sure if I like using it or not. Do any of you have any sort of recommendation for lighting? I always said that I would quit stitching when I required special equipment just to see the work. Well that was said when I was 20, so of course I knew nothing about how my love of stitching would grow throughout my lifetime.

Here's the work through the new magnifier~

 

Here's a photo of the work I've added in the lower right hand corner, as well as a photo of the whole piece so far:

 

 

The weather was cold and rainy today, which to me makes it ideal stitching weather. On top of that, I had the day off. It was great to stitch, sip some coffee, and relax a little bit.

Thanks for stopping by today, and please let me know what you do to handle seeing the work well enough when you stitch.

House and Garden Sampler Book

Here is a great stitching resource book that I should have bought before starting my sampler:

 

It's written by Mary Jenkins. Has anyone else seen this one yet? It is advertised to include all sort of tips and hints on how to design your own House and Garden Sampler!

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Still no stitching update from these parts. I have been down with a tremendous flu bug, so my needle has sat idle for quite awhile now. As someone used to always tell me, "There are better days coming."

Thanks for stopping by today!