I am getting ready to launch my website!

With each stitch that passes, my thoughts turn to the website I want to someday create to sell my embroidery on. It all comes from visiting you creative bloggers and visiting your etsy shops. You are so inspiring! Maybe it is the area I live in,and maybe the fact that embroidery is not really sought out, but when I tell folks that I hand embroider, they don't show a sign of interest. I have gotten more interest and more encouragement from you my blogging friends,.. thank you! This weekend, I visited with an email friend, who has a wonderful website, and she has encouraged me to use the website builders she uses as a way of selling my embroidery. Go visit Donna at Quilt books, Fabric, ect. http://www.freewebs.com/quiltingspecial/ when you get a chance, her many items are wonderful to look at. So I worked and am still working on the coaster set that I hope to one day sell. I thought a bee and a butterfly would be good to add to the spring set of coasters. As you can see, I am still working on the butterfly.

What is more endearing than a bee on lilacs?I still need to stitch the edging around it. If you click on the pictures you can see the stitch work much better. I know I need to learn to take pictures of my work better if I am to place them on my website. I really want to work on some of my own linen designs for this website. I hope to have linens for the kitchen, dining room, bedroom and bath. Which means I need to get to stitchin'! I am going to start off small, offering just a few of things I have made. Then slowly work my way up to more things. My biggest worry is how to accept payments and how to figure postage. Any suggestions? I will let you know when I get my website ready. I am hoping to accomplish this by the end of this month. Now my question, ..... should I keep the name Yesteryear Embroideries, or should I name it something else? Any suggestions? I would love to hear!

cross stitch and pumpkins

This has been a busy time of getting the cross stitch picture done for my friend's kennel club,....does it look like a dog yet?

And here are the pumpkin pictures! I am so happy that they pulled through the harsh West Texas weather we had in the spring, and it looks like I will be having friends coming out with their children for some fun pumpkin picking!


I have several large pumpkins and a lot of small pumpkins. I will decorate my porches also this year!

Here is the pumpkin patch,.... it always looks a little wilted in the heat of the day.

While Sophie and Sweetie were walking our grounds, they came upon this pumpkin vine that is growing by itself underneath a large mesquite tree. I guess a bird stole a seed from the patch and dropped it here. I have not watered it once and it is doing better than the vines in my patch. It is covered in small pumpkins. The only draw back, it is in an overgrown weedy area which is perfect for the rattlesnakes to den under. We will have to be very careful picking these pumpkins. Orange pumpkins, surprise wild vines.... these small things make me thankful for each day I have to enjoy!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!

Well summer is gone and now my favorite time of year is here. I love everything about Fall. My pumpkin patch is full of pumpkins even though I had doubts earlier from the bad weather.My decorative gourds are decorating the porches and the flowers are brilliant in their blooms. I love all of the wonderful fall treats to munch on as well. I find myself spending more time outside enjoying the pleasant weather and the beautiful sunsets in the afternoons. I have been tagged by Linda at Somewhere in Time. Go visit her, she is just a lovely person. So here goes Linda.

1.Where was I ten years ago?..... I was in a small town, in a neighborhood that had turned gang ridden and drug infested, constantly dreaming and praying for a country place so far, far away. But my life was sweet. At that time, our children were still small and the joys of motherhood masked all the unpleasantness outside .

2. What is on my "TO Do List" today? .... move some of my potted plants into the greenhouse because the night air is getting too chilly for them. And as always....spend the day embroidering!

3.What would I do if I were a billionaire? ....Give, give, give, ...live, live, live...! I would give and help out every one I know, send my children to the colleges they want to go and make sure their future is secure, put a big tall fence around our property to protect my pets from predators and start raising the sheep I want and also open up my antique/quilt and embroidery shop. Go to Montana to adopt wild mustangs!!

4. Five places I have lived.......well I have lived in Texas all of my life. I have floated from town to town through the years due to college, marriage. And now I have settled here.... in heaven on earth!

5. Bad Habits... I worry too much. I am a Christian and I know I am supposed to let God take control, but I still worry. That is one of my "new year birthday" resolutions, to trust God and to stop worrying.

Well, I think that is enough of hearing about me, I hope all of you have a wonderful fall weekend!

Where vintage linen designs came from

Throughout the years, I have researched different aspects of hand embroidery. I have always wondered where the stitchers got their beautiful designs from. A while back, I was fortunate enough to come across a website named The Vintage Cat. http://www.vintagecat.com They have so many vintage items, especially concerning needlework. I ordered this catalog pictured above.Notice the date is 1914. It is filled with dresser scarves, bedroom linens and women's garments kits for stitchers back at that time to order and then proceed their handwork on what ever they ordered.
A handy stitch guide is in the first pages of the catalog to help the stitcher with the stitches she encounters with each item she orders.

There are so many beautiful pieces of undergarments one could have ordered from this catalog.


The pictures are not that good(sorry) but if you click on the photo, you can get a better view. Here one could pick out the garment with the design she wanted to embroider. I am so amazed at the costs.....40 cents, and so on.

Pillow cases and sheet kits were also available.

How I wish there was still a source to obtain such beautiful pieces to stitch. The catalog is full of different types of items for stitching. There is also a section where one can order embroidery floss as well. Even though these are only pictures of the designs, I still get inspiration from them when I want to make something look vintage. Do you remember Grandmother or Aunts who might have had a kit or even one of these catalogs? I had never heard of these until I found them on the Vintage Cat website. Go over and visit Charlotte. She has some wonderful items!

Pearl was really a pearl

Her name was Pearl. Along with photos and vivid memories I have of her and of the wonderful old house in the woods she lived in, these few dishes are all that I have left to remember her. I am in the process of designing linens with embroidery that have the vintage look of these dishes. I plan to come up with a name for this design using my grandmother's name, Pearl.

Thinking back on my life and of the people I fondly recall, the memory of my grandmother stands out the most. In a time of plenty, it is difficult for me to supply all of the needs of my three children. I stand in awe of my Grandmother, Pearl, who had 13 children to supply for in the worst of times.... the Great Depression. Through terrible dust bowls of Texas and living in a tent with a dirt floor during cotton picking season, they still managed to love and feed these children with what little they had. Pearl was 16 when she married Frank who was 18. The day to day struggles they faced, the deaths of some of their small children, the hardships,and the worries, never drove them apart in all of the 62 years they spent together. They seemed to be bound by a thread that could not be broken. As hard as those years seemed to be for them, I feel they were blessed to know the true meaning of commitment and love. Do any of you remember stories of the Great Depression? I would love to hear.

My New Year

Although New Year's day is celebrated the first day of January, I make my new year's day the day of my birthday, which is tomorrow. I feel blessed to have a new year to look forward to. For the past few years, I have decided to make the new year starting with my birthday, a time to do something new, different, and worthwhile.

This year, I will finish the horn of plenty napkins and table runner so that I can have it by fall next year to decorate my table with. So far, I have one napkin done! Also, I plan to finish a cross stitch project to give away to the local kennel club. I also plan to teach myself to knit and to knit myself a sweater! I also plan to learn a new stitch or technique I have never learned before in embroidery.

I also plan to read more. I have a large collection of books that I have always planned to read. I have a wonderful front porch which would be great to sit out on and to do so.

I plan to take a lot of pictures of flowers and nature to keep in a book to make up new embroidery designs. And last, I want to find a way to make my embroidery into a personal business. Now what about you? How do you celebrate your birthday or your new year? I would love to hear.

A cross for different reasons

A cross from my friend Stacey

A cross from my friend Jane

Throughout my life, I have noticed so many different crosses on so many different people. Of course, when one sees someone wearing a cross, I assume they are saying they are a Christian. For me, I always wonder what made a person decide to choose Christ and at what age did they decide to do so. Sometimes, I comment on how pretty one's cross is and sometimes, they will tell me the reason they wear one. I soon found out, that not only was it a testament to their faith, but also at times, it was in remembrance of someone or some occasion. I received my first cross from my friend Stacey. She and I worked together and became friends. We have watched each other's children come into the world and cry together when they have grown up and flown away. We have spent so much time taking our children to play together at the park and so many hours and cups of coffee talking about life and our dreams. She gave a beautiful cross to me and not only does it show my faith, but I remember Stacey and the bond we have as friends. And now, the same thing has happened to me once again. This weekend, my friend Jane, came to visit me.She handed me this beautiful box, with the most beautiful cross inside. We have been friends since 6th grade. We spent as much time together as we possibly could get away with. We had so much fun. Then Jane introduced me to a special friend of hers,... Jesus. Soon my weekends were spent with she and I traveling to the next town only 10 minutes away to spend Saturday night with her Grandmother. We would sit up and watch the Grand Ole Opry together and the next morning, we would go to Sunday school and church. So many fun times and wonderful memories were made on these weekends. Because of this, I soon took Christ as my personal Savior. We then graduated, went to separate towns to separate colleges, but never lost touch. We were maid of honor at each other's weddings, she came to the hospital while our children were being born, and so many other life's events. Once a year, she makes it down to spend the night and to catch up. And now, I wear this cross.... to show that I chose Jesus, but when I touch it, I remember Jane, who took the time to bring me into her family and into the beginning of a wonderful relationship with the Lord. Do you have a special cross that you like to wear? Did you purchase it, or was it a gift from a special family member or friend? I would love to hear!