This year I am looking forward..................

but also looking back. Not in the sense that we all usually associate with the New Year holiday and the past...........

no, this year I look forward to all of the new possibilities that wait for me to explore and to research.............

new stitches, new teaching methods, new projects to jump into.

I am looking back over the decades of embroidered linens filled with vintage charm........

I am working to incorporate that charm into my embroidery.

Something new............yet nostalgic...........with a hint of

yesteryear.

How about you?  Do you tend to look back over the past year with regret.............or perhaps with fond memories?

Or are you looking forward with anticipation..................maybe excitement?

I would love to hear.

Happy New Year

dear blogging friends!

A "white Christmas" came to our Texas home

along with my daughter's visit. We have had such a magical Christmas time!

Snow, mistletoe, memories shared, and memories made..........

Guess what I am going to start embroidering on next?....................

That's right, this rather rough and unsightly chair..............

however, that is not what I thought when I saw this..........

I had gone into town with my husband and he had to stop by the city dump on the way........a place I usually will not go to visit with him............however,

a man was pulling up in his truck with this chair........

ready to be tossed away............and all I saw.......

was potential........

a blank canvas.............waiting for some kind of stitched beauty to adorn it.

I told my husband to ask the man if  I could have it.............and he graciously gave it to me!!

 Can you see what I see??

This back panel would look lovely with a cross stitched piece.........maybe in roses or wildflowers........

don't you think?  A new fabric seat cover to match and maybe a dark cherry stain

or possibly dark paint on the trim? I will post the idea design when I decide on such and let you see the progress............as I go along?

What do you think?

How was your Christmas............

did you have lots of guests and snow?

I would love to hear!

Christmas is almost here............

and I am looking forward to this Christmas more than I have the past few that have slipped so quickly by..........

you see..........

my daughter is coming home...........traveling a great distance to get here.....

taking a break from her busy Navy life.

For the first time in many years, all of my children will be with my husband and I to celebrate this season...........together!!

So I am taking a small break from blogging.............

to just enjoy...............

family.

For you who visit here,

Have yourself a very Merry Christmas!

In several boxes,

I have stacks of small cuts of fabric. I always plan to make quilt squares and create a quilt, however, once in a while, I can find good use for such small pieces. I created this little hanging heart,...........to give to friends when we get together..........with some little surprise tucked inside of the pocket.

Sort of "let's remember this day" kind of thing..........

 I enjoyed making the beaded flowers so much, I decided to stitch them on to the front panel.

I think this would also be cute with a small embroidered design or initial stitched on to the front.............what do you think??

There's a tree out in the backyard

in front of my greenhouse

a mesquite tree, just like the many others that are here on the farm grounds,

but for some reason,

 out of all of those trees,

 this is the only one that has a lovely bunch of mistletoe growing on it. It started out last year and I have watched it in anticipation

and was so delighted to see it looking like this the other day. Of course, my creativity has kicked in and I can envision satin stitched leaves in sage green with pearl clusters for the mistletoe berries to stitch...........what do you think??

A heavy snow blew in and covered the grounds and the mistletoe in the early morning hours

and the trees are now dressed in their sparkling array of frozen leaves and branches.

I'm in between stitching projects right now, but the inspiration is overflowing.

How about you? Are you underneath a snowy blanket?

Are you finding inspiration to create something from Nature's beauty?

I would love to hear!



I hear it........on the radio

while I'm driving the lone country road back to home..........

making me want to sing along.............

bouncing up and down in the seat as I drive...................

not caring if the cows I am passing see me............{:

I hear it in the stores while I ponder away at my grocery list........

making my mood so light and happy, that I want to purchase things that are not on my list............

Those cheery Christmas tunes...................are stuck in my head

and in my heart............

I just had to stitch something with the holiday in mind. This will be a table runner when I am through stitching on it. It has the same design on the other end and a small poinsettia on each center side. It will make a cheerful holiday table. Don't you think??

How about you?

Does all of that Christmas music get you excited.........inspired?

I would love to hear!

Vintage blue and white dishes

are another one of my favorites in sets of dishware...........

 I always try to capture those beautiful hues of blue in my embroidery while working on designs like this. Tea pots are also cherished treasures I collect............either in dishware or in embroidery.I  stitched it on a little dish towel that has dark blue pin stripes running through it.

Do you have a favorite type of dishware that you like to collect?

 

I stitched the top rim of the pot and the spout, as well as  the knob on the lid in a darker blue. The flowers were embroidered in a lighter shade of blue.

I also embroidered the handle tip in a darker shade of blue. I almost embroidered the floral spray in blue and white, however, I wanted the tea pot to stand out...............the rose colored petals and green vine worked well with this............don't you think?

To finish it all up, I put a floral blue and white edge to the bottom of the towel along with a decorative blanket stitch.  It gives it a "cottage look"..........I think.

How about you?

Do you collect tea pots or blue and white dishware?

I would love to hear!

Thanksgiving is here..............

And I want to take the time to wish all of you who stop by here to visit a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. We are blessed as this is a time where all of my family members get the chance to "slow down" and to get a break from the "busyness" of life. I have planned out a wonderful Thanksgiving meal for family and friends and then I hope to get in a few stitches of some new projects I am beginning. Are you expecting a house full of guests?.................or are you traveling?

Will you get the chance to slow down and stitch or create something?

While I am away and if you tire of reading my past posts, I have a wonderful

 wonderful cobbler recipe for you to try............just hop over to my country cooking blog........

My Country Kitchen

. If you would like to read about my life on the farm that  I am trying to create..........hop over to my country living blog...........

Eggs In My Pocket, A Needle In My Hand

and meet some of the critters that I share every day life with.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

My Life A Little Less Crazy...........is finished!

I am so delighted with how it turned out....................and I have to say..............I will probably do another quilt.....................someday.This measures about 20 x 16 inches and is ready to hang. I backed it and binded it with a floral green fabric, that was soft enough in color to let the embroidery stand out.

This is the first "crazy quilt" I have ever stitched.

As you remember, a few short weeks ago,  I started this quilt with this one center block..........with the idea in mind to build around it............the things I hold dear in my life.

Soon  a butterfly and beaded flowers found their way to flutter and to bloom...........

as well as a beaded dragonfly.............

the spider web along with the crawling spider..........even though it might freak some of you out..........represents the love I hold for  nature's insects............... and then there are pumpkins that I grow every year. As you look through each photo..........notice the different embroidered borders I used to stitch the blocks together? Some I used in traditional "crazy quilt" method and some I used my "creative license" to stitch..

Another sweet insect.............the lady bug, crawls on the leaf

of a cluster of roses.  I embroidered on all of the printed roses, leaves and flowers as I went along.

I added some embroidered sample pieces I had of my embroidery...............

and I had to add a set of china...........another thing I love. I stitched over the roses on the china to make the design pop.

I love flowers that grow wild and on the vine so I went a little "more crazy" with these.........

another snippet of embroidery work.............

my favorite fabric that I used years ago for my children's nursery............I stitched over the flowers and added the bumble bee............. when I see this piece.........I think of my family and the sweet times we shared.

I love trees and leaves..................

especially in the fall............

and of course............I had to add my rooster walking among a cluster of blackberries.........to represent my country life of raising chickens. I embroidered over the printed rooster and added some color to his tail.

The blackberries were made by sewing clusters of seed beads together..........I totally love this effect.

I finished the quilt and was ready to put the backing on.............when my sweetie husband said

"wait.............where is the needle and thimble??" He was so right...........that is exactly what sums up my life............so I quickly added that to the corner.

It's been quite a journey doing this quilt. I loved the stitch techniques along the way and the way I was able to let my imagination take complete control in how this whole design worked out.

And now I am off in search of another project to stitch.

A new creature has landed

in the upper corner of my small crazy quilt.

Sometimes, while I am deep in the middle of working on a project............my creative flow comes to a halt and I take some time off to reflect and gather inspiration.............and sometimes, it flies right to me..........as a colorful dragonfly did one day as I was ambling along the pond's edge..............

A dragonfly at the pond's edge in November?.........you might ask?......

Yes, here in the part of Texas I live in, although some days and nights have gotten chilly, the weather is still warm and balmy, with wildflowers still blooming, bees still gathering at the water dish and ............dragonflies at the pond.

Life is sweet.

After I watched it dip into the water and eventually buzz away, I quickly went to work at creating it for my quilt. . I embroidered the legs with regular embroidery floss, and I then embroidered it's wings with a decorative gold filament kind of thread that I usually use in counted cross stitch. I then whipped over the inside wing veins with a metallic blue filament thread.

 I then embroidered the dragonfly's head with a decorative silver, rose embossed bead, and for the body I used a gold bead. I then used jewel toned bugle beads for the tail and one jewel toned seed bead at the end of the tail.......making the dragonfly look as if it is ready to take off in flight.

How about you?

In your area, is it still warm enough to see bees.....dragonflies......or a graceful butterfly perhaps?

I would love to hear.

In my early days of designing..............

I was a little shy to "let the sky be the limit" in my designs........staying simple and secure in my "comfort zone". Taking a step into the water...........slowly. Although it looks quite simple...........I have to say, this little house sampler holds a special place in my heart. I designed it when I was a young mother of 3 small children and we were living in our first home............a fixer upper in a scary neighborhood. Yet within the walls of this old house and surrounded by my world of happiness, I tried to express that through my needlework design. That is why I have  hearts coming out of the chimney..........something that has now turned out to be my trademark and for the customers who know me well...........they know to look for that in certain designs.

As you can see..........house designs are one of my favorite......and even though we were still living in the "unfixed" fixer upper..........I had a dream of a home out in the country...........

with the picket fence.............more full bodied trees and yes...........those little love hearts coming out of the chimney.

Years have passed and my life has turned into a mother of 3 grown children and I live in the middle of mesquite filled woods with coyotes for neighbors.

Although I had worked these previous designs in cross stitch...........hand embroidery is my passion over all...........so I decided to make a sampler with hand embroidery, instead of cross stitch.

A country cottage..........with those hearts still flying out of the chimney.

I really liked stitching this piece in regular embroidery stitches.

I did not stitch a date on this sampler..........there is still room to do so ..........and I think I should add it..................as it shows the difference in how I design today.

How about you?  Have you changed the way you design, embroidery, paint, or in any other area you are creative?

Do you have a "trademark" that is known in your work?

I would love to hear! 

A bumble bee has found it's place

on the fabric that was once  my children's nursery fabric.

When I started this small crazy quilt, I knew I just had to incorporate a piece of this precious "memory" fabric into it.

 I then embroidered the bumblebee and I also embroidered the main part of the small flowers, including the trunk of the tree....................

I did not want to add too much embroidery to this piece..............

I want the delicate design to remain...........

I think this small stitching adds just enough..........

don't you?

As you can see in the bottom right hand corner........I have embroidered a daisy or two.........

but that will be for a later post to see.

I also decided to create one more border stitch........the little red french knot flowers add just enough "life" to this red piece of fabric.

I am almost through with this little piece of "craziness" and I will soon show you the whole quilt.

I am still not sure what kind of border I will add...........

do you have any suggestions?

I would love to hear.