The Circle of Life

I have been away from my blog experiencing the circle of life in our family.

I mentioned previously that we are expecting grandchild #5 in December.  When the little one arrives, we will have 4 grandchildren 3 years old and under.  (The oldest is 10)

 

It was past time to get one of these-

 

We just got finished assembling it yesterday.  I'll bet you can guess how we spent July 4th this year!

 

And as the circle of life works, we lost my mother-in-law last month. She was 89 years young. She died on the 66th anniversary of her immigration to the USA from Germany in 1949.

 

 Here she is with my GS#2 in April.  The good news is that we know where she is and are confident we will see her again.

 

I shared this photo because this is NOT how things are done in Washington state.  Here caskets are not seen by mourners.  We have memorial services where photos of the deceased are displayed.  Absolutely no graveside services except for immediate family!

 

This type of service is very Midwestern (specifically in Indiana) and sometimes the casket is open during the service. After the service, we walked out of the chapel and had a short graveside eulogy.  It was very touching.

While I was in Indiana, I wanted to check out the local Civil War cemetery.  There was a prisoner of war camp located in Lafayette during the Civil war and any soldiers that didn't survive were buried here.  Just a few photos-

 

The gate was open along the left of the left brick column for foot travelers only. It says "Greenbush Cemetery. Here rest our old settlers"

I actually found these 3 markers for local Revolutionary War soldiers.

 

Many of the markers were too worn from age to read.  But I got this Civil War veteran from Indiana's 51st infantry.

 

 

 

Don't think my celebrations of the 4th passed without some stitching!

I have a patriotic finish or two to share-

 

Threadwork Primitives Beggar's 4th

 

Birds of a Feather Land That I Love

My final AuryTM Heart (I think, it might be 2011 or 2012?) I have a total of 5 different ones now.

 

And a patriotic start.  Who can guess what this it?  I think it is too easy already :)

 

I had a couple of emails regarding the Aury hearts.  I found her blog and I guess the charts are no longer free. She has expanded her business and is selling them.

 

More finishes and lots of new stash in the next post.  I promise it will be soon. Have a great week!

Catching Up!

I can't believe it is June already!  I have been keeping up on reading your blogs and think we are all feeling the same way---time is moving way too fast!  Here's a little of what I've been up to.

 

A dear friend passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack.  He was only 62 and suffering from dementia.

 

We found out grandchild #5 is on the way.  Should arrive in early December.

 

Another proof that time is moving too fast--my middle daughter turned 30 in May!  Now, wait..... I'm going to have to move to 49 instead of 39  :)

 

Here are my 3 beautiful daughters and me at Emma's birthday party in a Victorian house that has been turned into a tea shop. Emma is 2nd from left. I actually thought my hair looked ok that day.  Hmmmm.... a photo tells the truth!

 

 

Here is our delicious tea luncheon! Plus all the tea you can drink-Dozens of flavors to choose from.

I have been stitching as time allows.

Pat Mazu Star in the Meadow Petite Stocking

I am in 2 round robin band sampler groups now.  One thru my local EGA group and one thru the Northwest Sampler Guild. We are over halfway finished with the NSG round robin.  But, this is the first sampler I have stitched on for the EGA group.  I did the top band-it is a section from Blackbird Designs Joyeux Noel booklet.

Gay Ann Rogers Christmas Mittens Heart-I didn't have mittens for the center space. So I substituted a Christmas pudding/cake button.

A retreat is coming up soon and there will be an exchange of smalls.  Here is what I stitched for the exchange. It's an old freebie and sorry, I can't remember who the designer is.

This is Aury's Patriotic Heart 2013

This is Aury's Patriotic Heart 2012.

 

I still have a large stack of smalls I'm trying to get thru.

 

I joined L'Atelier Perdu's Stitching Club 2015 and am waiting on the first part to arrive.

 

 

I joined Chrysanthemums in Autumn project at the Binding Stitch and it just arrived today.

 

 

 

And I joined in Judy O'Dell's Royal Book of Needles Cross-Over Design group.  This has coloring with crayons included in this project-sounds like fun!

 

Definitely plenty more stitching to do for the rest of the year! 

2015 Pacific Beach Retreat (picture heavy)

It was another fabulous year of stitching, food and friends! The weather was mild and sunny. No rain. Temps in the 60's

 

We had a charity auction and raised $1225 for Pediatric Interim Care Center (local charity that cares for drug-addicted newborns while they detox)

 

We had several sales tables (no vendors, just the stitchers destashing).

And the most wonderful show and tell-so sit back and enjoy the show (not so much tell :)

 

 

This picture is called Paradise Meadow by Teresa Frank.  It just won 1st place in a competition at NAN.

 

 

Here is what I stitched-Margaret Bendig's 6 sparklers from her online class.

 

And look what I was gifted by a very talented stitcher.  The tray and ort bag match my weekend project, scissors and scissor fob!  It says Stitch On inside the tray. Thanks, Lori!

Stitching Smalls

It's been 3 weeks since I posted and so much has happened that I will take two posts to tell you all!

Lately I have been stitching smalls.  Here are the results-

 

Finish #1-Blackbird Designs Noel

Fabric and threads from kit from Dyeing to Stitch club

Finish #2-I pulled this one from my stash, stitched it and sold it at my retreat last weekend (more to come about that later).  Canvas and threads from my stash.

 

Meanwhile I have completely forgotten the name of the designer!  The stars above will be stitched on the white band.

 

Finish #3-La D Da Angel Scissor Block Kit

Fabric and thread from the kit

The letter and star will be finished into a heart-shaped scissor fob.

Finish #4-The Primitive Jewel Gem Keep II

Misc linen and GAST Hyacinth thread to match the scissors

Finish #5-Jeannette Douglas Tag Trio

Pins and Needles

Fabric from kit.  I switched the GAST Soot wool & cotton floss for GAST Old Red Paint in wool and cotton.  It was the first time I've ever stitched with the new wool thread and I really liked the texture it gives to the project. 

Finish #6-Blackbird Designs In Full Glory

Misc linen and called for threads

Finish #7-Marnie Ritter Our Heart

This kit can be bought on Marnie's website. She contributes $2 for every kit to Susan Komen Breast cancer research.  The side panels are bells and her directions call for French knots.  I thought they looked like trees, so I used a brown/bronze bead so they could go either way.

 

I have a drawerful of small projects like the above.  It is wonderful to see how fast so many will work up and the drawer now has extra room. (Not for long I'm sure :)