Whew....just in the nick of time! I've been working on some challenge pieces that I signed up for at the beginning of the year! Then all that "stuff" happened in NY and I've been bouncing around like a beach ball at a concert! LOL I worked really hard on finishing up the ornaments for the challenges though....so here goes!
For Stitcher's Circle, our goal was to finish two ornaments from any JCS ornament issue. And...for Christmas Ornie SAL 2018 we are supposed to stitch an ornament from the 2018 JCS Ornament Issue. I've combined the two! This month we were supposed to stitch both Blue Ribbon Designs and so I did! Here are:
Stags over Stars
And Caroling Cardinals
For the Christmas Ornie SAL 2019 there are three topics we could stitch from. I chose to do all three (am I glutton for punishment or what??)
Theme 1: 12 Days of Christmas - Three French Hens. This is from the Cross Stitch and Country Crafts March 1989 issue
Theme 2: Angels We Have Heard on High...which I misread...haha and stitched Hark the Herald Angels Sing by Mary Beal
Theme 3: JCS 2007 Issue - Noel by the Sweetheart Tree.
I'll be starting another challenge (I decided to do this challenge through our local LNS before all that happened with my Mom, and I think it will be a fun distraction. If it becomes too much to handle, I will give it up. I'll be posting pictures on my goals page when I get a chance). We will start in April. We had to make a list of 12 projects we wanted to work on throughout the year. The LNS will pick a number and we will work on that particular project that corresponds with the number on the list we made. It's just a challenge to see how far we can come working on things we have had kitted up or have started before. Once I get it all organized, I'll try to keep up to date on this blog. So...watch this space! LOL
I've had people asking how I'm doing. I'll just say that I'm trying to keep things positive even though I'm going through a really difficult time. There are a lot of crazy family dynamics going on and if I make it through this with my sanity intact it will be a miracle! So....if you are the type that will pray for others, I would really appreciate your prayers. It seems the past few years have just been one challenge after another, with this one being the worse one yet. Still I'm trying to remain positive, but emailing and blogging and all that will be hit and miss. I apologize in advance for that.
In the meanwhile, I wish you all, Happy Stitching!!
I've been trying to write this post for a while. I don't even know how to start. My world was turned upside down on February 16. Many times, over the past few years, I've had to rush back to my hometown in Northern NY to take care of my Mom. While it wasn't always convenient or easy to leave my family, I have been here for most of her challenges, surgeries and illnesses. I was here when my Dad passed away. I spent a few months with her when she had a ruptured aneurysm. I spent half a year with her after her stroke. I helped take care of my Grandparents estate after they passed. I was with her when her Mom died. I spent more than half my life tripping around the world with my husband while he served in the military, but more often than not, I was here when she needed me. I nicknamed her Timex, because she took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. But her last challenge, I was 500 miles away, and couldn't be by her side as she left this world. My sister called me and put the phone up to her ear while I told her I loved her and was on my way. She couldn't respond and I'm not even sure if she heard me. It's hard to imagine that the last time I heard her tell me she loved me would be the last time I heard her voice, only two days before she passed.
My Mom was the youngest of four girls, 16 years younger than the next oldest sister. She was the baby of the family, and a joy to her mother who lost her husband in a mining accident when my Mom was only 12. She was the daughter of a coal miner, and a dressmaker.
She worked as a maternity nurse for 25 years, going back to school after she was married with two children. I admired her for that because I know how hard she worked.
She was present at all the Grandchildren's births, even Ben who was born in Arizona. She dropped what she was doing in NY and drove with my Dad out to Arizona to help deliver him when he was born a month earlier than planned. She was esteemed by nurses and doctors alike for her knowledge and sensitivity to her patients. She was a seamstress, a knitter, a crocheter, a quilter, and a needle worker. She was amazing at whatever she touched, and found great joy in working with her hands. We did a lot of sewing together. We made all the dresses for my sister's and my weddings. She made many prom dresses, and even made my best friend's wedding dress. My greatest treasure is a quilt she made for me. We worked on it together, she did the sewing, I did the ironing, which is how we did things when we were working together.
She and my Dad were married almost 51 years. While they griped about each other, they loved one another and Dad was always doing such sweet things for her. She had wanted a swing for the back yard, and on the way home from a hospital stay, he stopped to order a swing for her and it was home in time for her to swing in the sunshine when she got home.
As I've been going through her house, working to settle her estate, I've found many treasures that she made. Here are a couple of crewel pieces she had finished.
I've also found some of my earlier pieces that she set aside.
As I wander around this house at night, it feels so empty without her. It's still hard to believe she is gone. I'm going to miss her so much and even now I reach for the phone hoping to tell her about one thing or another that is going on. I can't wish her back as her last few years in this world were not the most pleasant, so all I can do is wish her peace and rest on the other side, while I wait to see her again. Rest in peace, Mom, I love you always.....
I don't have much to show for Gifted Gorgeousness this month...I'm sounding like a broken record...haha, but I really do have a good reason. In case you don't know what gifted gorgeousness is, I'll send you over to Jo's blog Serendipitous Stitching for her to explain. You can read all about it and sign up if you like here. If you would like to see what others are stitching, you can connect here.
Basically we showcase what we have stitched that has been given to us, or that we have given to others. I have a little bit of both here....I'll explain as I go along.
I took part in an exchange with Friendly Stitchers. We were to stitch something "stitch" related to send to a partner. Though my piece arrived to my partner on time, she wasn't home, and I've lost track of her so I'm unsure if she has arrived home yet or not. So...I'm going to post it here now anyway. This is Take Time to Stitch by Jeanette Douglas, the 15th Anniversary issue. I was going to restitch it for myself, but I couldn't find the pattern when I needed it. I ran out of time to finish it the way I would have liked to, so found this little frame that I thought would suit it nicely. There are lots of specialty stitches in this one making a whole lot of fun to stitch!
I've also stitched something for an exchange piece in May, but I won't be able to show the finished project until then.
I was trying to keep up with a challenge I started in January, and have finished 3 of the 5 I had hoped to stitch this month. I have started number 4 and hopefully will finish both 4 and 5 before the end of the month. Two wouldn't apply to the GG challenge but #3 would, as it was on a disc of JCS magazines I received one year for Christmas. This is Noel, by the Sweetheart tree and was found in the 2007 Christmas Ornament Issue.
I am working on the 4th piece in the challenge which was a gift from a friend. This is Hark the Herald Angels Sing by Mary Beale. I'm stitching this on 32 count over one using the recommended DMC threads. I love it, I wish I had more time to stitch on it.
My husband told me this year I could start framing some of the stuff I've had hanging around, so I have a couple more that I have framed. I'm including them in the GG challenge because the framing is a gift from my husband. I don't remember the names of the patterns or their designers, but here are the lastest I had framed.
Thanks for stopping by, and when I get a chance I'll see if I have time to visit the other blogs that have posted. I hope you are enjoying what I hope is the beginning of spring, though I'm expecting a snowstorm where I'm staying at the moment. I hope I'm not too buried, but they are predicting 3-12 inches. Heaven help me!! LOL Happy Stitching!
