Morning glories seem to grow

 on just about every place there is here on the farm. If there is a place for the vine to crawl up.........it will. From the old weathered fence in the front walk, to way out back to the corrals. The seeds that I miss while gathering in the fall, scatter in the wind, and then sprout where they land in the spring.

I finally finished the other set of place mats that I started on weeks ago!

A set of 6. And off to my Etsy shop they will go!

I tried to capture the colors of the Heavenly Blue Morning Glory in this pattern.

In all fairness..........I must confess............I am so glad to be finished with this set, even with all of the love I hold for morning glories and embroidery. There is a new project waiting in my basket that I am anxious to get started on.

How about you? Are you in the middle of creating something and can't wait to get it done so that you can start something new?

How long do you enjoy working on one piece, before you grow tired of it........or do you actually grow tired of it?

I would love to hear!



There are times when I embroider for business.....................

and then there are times when I embroider for my home,

or for my family................this is a set of pillowcases, worked in white stitch......

my plan...........to embroider each of my children a set of these.........monogrammed.......... and given if they get married, or when they settle in their own lives.........which might be awhile, since they are all just leaving the nest and starting out on their own.

One of my dearest passions in hand embroidery is cut work. I am working this piece and, although cut work is traditionally done in white,

I am embroidering it in the colors I love the most.

Of course, I have to have one of my own roosters in my kitchen........

this is one of my embroidery designs that I created. The farm rooster. {:

I am still embroidering on the vintage tablecloth that I posted on a while back.

The wild rose worked in shades of pink..........

the forget me nots in blue and the wisteria in shades of lavender,

(I removed the previous thick embroidery that the previous owner had started, )

and  I am embroidering it in my style of embroidery................. Soft cream daisies, with soft yellow centers.......... I can't wait to see this on my dining room table!

How about you? Is there something that you are creating for your home..........or for a loved one perhaps?

I would love to hear!

My Etsy Shop

My fingers have been busily stitching away and I finally have some things placed in my Etsy shop!

It takes me forever it seems to get things stitched............and I still have a dozen other things,.........almost finished, but not quite.

This is a set of " large size" dinner napkins..............6 in all. The flowers are intricately stitched and the ribbon has little eyelets worked throughout.

They go with almost any china setting...........I think. {:

The pillow cases I embroidered have a vintage floral design,

and I added a calico print border to them.

I also have large size dish towels and guest towels, with intricate hand embroidery and a calico print bottom edge. If you would like to see more or are maybe interested in purchasing these...........my link to my etsy shop is on the upper right hand side of this blog and by clicking on the picture, you will be directed to my shop. Or feel free to email me........I can also send more up close and detailed photos of each item.  I don't want to make this a selling blog...........but many did not know that I have finally placed my items for sale. Have a great weekend!

I recently had a visit from a friend................

from way back in my childhood................we spend these times catching up on each other's busy lives, but also reflecting...............



 on the fun times we had and the dear people we knew back then. One dear person, was her grandmother,

Lila Josephine. This is a vintage dresser scarf that my friend found in her grandmother's things, and brought to me.

I love to look at vintage embroidered linens. It's wonderful to see the colors they chose...........and I wonder.........which colors would I have chose for this design?

These look perfect, don't you think?

My friend and I would spend just about every Saturday night in our teen years, with her grandmother. We would watch the Grand Ole Opry on television, and wake up the next morning to go to church together. To this day I am in search of a church and a pastor just like the one we went to back then.

As you can see, this has been dated. I am going to carefully get the rust stains out of this piece, but I am going to be careful to not wash out the date. I am just delighted to have this piece, not for the date, not just for the embroidery............but because of who it belonged to and who it is tied to.

Thank you, Jane.  I'll treasure it always.

Only a few of my friends know that

I once embroidered and embellished garments for a designer in Boston, who showed their clothing line in trunk shows in New York.......................Have I ever told you that?..........dear readers??

Back in the late 90' s and very early 2000's, I was flipping through a sewing magazine and casually looked through the "wanted ads" in the back. There was an ad for these folks, looking for a seamstress, who would like to work in a creative work space.................in Massachusetts.The word seamstress did not register with me, nor did the word Massachusetts................what got my attention was the word creative work space............... Now, at that time, I was a stay home wife and mother of three young children. My husband and I have always lived in Texas. There would be no way, ever , that my husband would consider packing up to move to Massachusetts to allow me to follow my dream................nor would I at that time be brave enough to do so. However, all afternoon, that ad hung in my mind. I came up with a better idea, that just might work for the designer in Massachusetts, and for me. I decided to call them. What is the worst that could happen???  They could laugh after hearing my idea and hang up...............and no one would know ...............but me............I could live with that..............

So nervously, I dialed the long distance number.............to my relief, a pleasant sounding voice answered. I told her who I was, where I lived, and that I could not possibly move to Massachusetts..............but that I had another idea, if she was willing to listen...................she did!................and she did not laugh!!!

I basically told her about the idea of embroidering and embellishing her garments.............and mailing them back and forth.( By the way, this is before we had purchased a computer, so I had no way of emailing her photos of my work. )

To my complete delight.................she thought that was a wonderful idea. And within the week, I had samples of my embroidery stitched and ideas for designs all packed up into a portfolio and on it's way to the outside of Boston. Within a few days a phone call came to me, telling me that they loved my work and my ideas and so for about 4 years, I had a job of embellishing garments for them.

Some pieces had holes, where they had accidentally gotten torn from a model. I was able to stitch over these to make the piece sellable. Some were beautiful sleepwear gowns where I" cut work" the top neck line. I spent my days taking care of my family and my home..............and then I would stitch the night away up until around 3 A.M. The designer paid me fairly, but it was not an amount that would make me rich in the future. I was just excited that someone................out there.............wanted my embroidery! This job ended, on good notes............. due to life's interruptions with the designer,  that occur now and then..........we all get those.

One important thing I learned through this wonderful experience..................don't be afraid to follow your heart, no matter where you live or who might laugh at you! 

Through the years, I have had a cross stitch sample purchased from a company............who I foolishly allowed to keep the rights to my work after the payment.............never again..........

I have submitted various items to various magazines to have them either reject or to lose the item all together.......................never again..

And then, up until about a year ago............I did custom work for a lady who lived a space away from here. She kept me busy................but the pay was extremely small for the amount of work I was doing............and I grew to not like custom work...............

And so, here I am..............still stitching..............still trying to find that "creative work space"....................sure of what I will not do again..............but wondering............what is it that I really should do..................?

And that's the story of my journey in my life of stitches.

How about you? Have you had a journey.........doing what you love.............but still seeking opportunities or answers?

I would love to hear!