Thank You!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your warm congratulations and sweet comments on my pregnancy announcement. I felt so loved and supported by all your sweet thoughts! This past week was eventful-- the good news: I had a lovely, restful vacation visiting friends in Ohio (eat. walk. nap. read. stitch. repeat!). The bad news: this weekend I ended up in the emergency room due to some unexpected and scary bleeding. The good news again: they did an ultrasound and all is well; the bleeding was caused by a small tear called a subchorionic hemorrhage, which is nothing too serious. It was a very anxious situation to be sure, but in the end I saw my baby's heartbeat and had a good explanation for the bleeding. Hoping that the tear will resolve itself and I will go on to have a healthy pregnancy.

Now, how about some stitching??

I finished the needlecase from LHN's "Travelling Stitcher." This was a sweet and fun stitch.

Here is "Spring Has Come" by Prairie Schooler all finished up!

And my progress to date on Beatrix. This is what I worked on most of last week. I am finally finished with the first page ... really need to step it up on this one. Loving the Victorian Motto threads on this -- they stitch so nicely!

Ta Ta For Now. Hope you all have a lovely week.

oh baby

Time to re-arrange some stitching priorities ... next January (Lord willing), we will be welcoming our first child! I am still pinching myself and getting used to the idea. So far I have not had any sort of morning sickness, so it hardly seems real.

I plan on blogging for my family over at Vox Vendsel and have a post up there about finding out, if you are interested in reading it.

I am having visions of a Beatrix Potter nursery ... I bought some of those Beatrix Potter leaflets by Green Apple about 10 years ago and have been saving them! So much to stitch, so little time. :)

Birthday Treasures

Just look at all these beauties! I was definitely spoiled this birthday. It was wonderful to be in Texas among family and friends, and to come back home to all kinds of treats awaiting me in the mail.

First of all, Carol sent me the prettiest package for the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club. She stitched the Bianca Scissor Pocket by Cat's Whiskers Designs on 32 ct. White Belfast with Caron Waterlilies in Hyacinth and Moss. It is so delicate and delightful -- I love it! She also sent along some DMC scissors, a big piece of hand dyed lugana, a fat quarter, some pins and pretty purple ribbon, and a La-D-Da freebie. Thank you so much, Carol!




And what would birthdays be without a little stash? I took advantage of Mary Kathryn's sale before we left and ordered several items from Blackbird Designs ... it seems like they have a huge quantity of new items out now, doesn't it? I also ordered the pretty spring colors for "In the Garden with Jane Austen" by The Sampler Girl. I can't wait to start this one. Speaking of Jane Austen, some dear friends gifted me with the most extraordinary book, called "Life in the Country with Quotations by Jane Austen and sillhouettes by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh." It contains beautiful reproductions of Regency era sillhouettes that Jane Austen's nephew cut free-hand from black paper, accompanied by texts from her novels. The patterns are exquisitely detailed.



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Also pictured above are a wonderful stitching journal from my wishlist that my sis-in-law and brother picked out, some gorgeous beads from another friend and poetry by Robert Burns from my father-in-law, and a little bird figurine and eggs painting that I picked up at a boutique in Dallas.

An abundance of blessings! Each reminding me of those I hold dear.
More stitchery picturs to come, I promise...

Updates Coming Soon ...

Oh dear stitchy friends... I have been away far too long!

Just returned from a 12 day trip home to Texas. I have several stitchy updates for you, which will have to wait until tomorrow. For now, you can see some of my trip pictures on Facebook here and here if you like. The second album contains some great pics of a fabulous tea room that all you DFW ladies need to visit, if you haven't already. It's called The Chocolate Angel and the pic above was taken there. Those ladies are my mom (middle) and mother-in-law (right) -- aren't they lovely?

I am almost done with Spring Has Come and eager to show you that progress. I also have a gorgeous birthday package from Carol to show off, some stash and other projects in the works. Just wanted to pop in and say that I've missed you and will be back soon!

ready for Spring!

Oh, I am so ready for real Spring weather, aren't you? I thought I might try to entice the daffodils to bloom and the leaves to green by pulling out this cheerful Prairie Schooler sampler, Spring Has Come. It has the most cheerful colors...

I'm enjoying stitching on it in a cozy chair with a brand new stitching lamp which is currently changing my life! It's amazing what good light can do.

I hope your weekend is pleasant as only a stitcher's can be. ~ Rachel

Snow day finishing

I used my snow day today to do a little stitching and finishing! I seem to be stuck on the hanging pillow finish. :) Thanks to Tanya of The Sampler Girl for these lovely designs.
Primitive Irish Cupboard sampler 32 ct. Creamy Cocoa by Sassy's Fabbys GAST Cornhusk, Avocado, Brandy and CC Fallen Leaves, Desert Mesquite and Cocoa Bean




The Inauguration Day Sampler (modified as a housewarming gift for our new neighbors) 36 ct. Tawny Buff by Sassy's Fabbys DMC threads
(Their living room and dishes are all black and white -- hence the color selection; the year is our friends' wedding anniversary)

February Wrap-Up

Well, here 'tis, the last day o' February. How time does fly!

Every year around this time, I love looking at the new Nashville offerings, and this year I decided to make myself a wishlist to keep track of the things I'd love to own eventually. I am positively drooling over the Primitive Traditions' Abigail Colby books. They are expensive, but so yummy! I'm also intrigued by The Goode Huswife offerings and her "new look" - how about you? I am crazy about that E is for Eggs especially.

I went ahead and sprang for My Big Toe Designs' Quaker Harmony - love this. Also, I couldn't put my credit card # down fast enough for Little House Needlework's new Travelling Stitcher, though I can tell you already that I will need some finishing advice from some talented someone on attaching the stitched pieces.


In February, I also stitched on several wips, including Beatrix... you can see my progress here. So far I am finding this a sloooooow but enjoyable stitch.

So I also have a couple of awards to acknowledge - thank you so much Nancy and Milly for the Special Friends Award and "Love" Pendant. The description for this award reads "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers. When you pass the award along please include these guidelines. I am to choose eight friends to share this with."

I choose: Sweet Pea Stitches, X Marks My Spot, Mainely Stitching, Dianne Rambling On, Lake Stitcher, With Needle and Thread, Quilt or Stitch? How About Both, and Suburban Stitcher.

And thanks again to Milly for the fun tag:


I am supposed to list my 5 favorite things and tag 5 others. Here are a few of my favorite things:

1. Stitching (of course!)
2. French press coffee
3. Cooking yummy recipes
4. Midsommer Murders, and any cozy British mystery show or book
5. Going to art museums

I tag: Suburban Stitcher, Cozy Egg, Sharon Stitches, Spinster Stitcher, and Stitchful Thinking.

Happy Valentine's Day

I finished my V-day present to my hubby tonight, a little hanging pillow with some festive fabric trim and heart buttons.

Here are some more cute pictures of Philo: he sleeps like this with his paws in the air all the time.

I think Mike and I are planning to visit a local museum for our date tomorrow. I hope you have something special planned, even if it's just to sit with your feet up and stitch. :)

Love,
Rachel

I heart stitchy mail

I came home to not one, but two great packages .... ah, stitchy mail! Almost nothing makes me happier. I won these great charts by City Stitcher on eBay, and discovered that the seller was our very own Nancy. I also purchased a back issue of Sampler and Antique Needlework from Karen V ~ thanks, Karen, it made the journey safely across the pond!

And, Mary Kathryn let me know that my little birthday pressie had arrived, just a small wish for blessings this year. This is taken from a Prairie Schooler chart called Garden Gloves.

Hope your weekend is blessed! For my part, I plan to spend the evening relaxing at home with Mike, then we have to work on our finances tomorrow (yuck) and various and sundry other weekend-y tasks. I'm sure I'll sneak some stitching in there somewhere...

Februrary snow

We had a big pile o' snow last evening, and two of my morning appointments cancelled due to the weather, so I have just a few moments to make a post here today. Here are some pictures that I snapped from my apartment windows. Everything is beautiful with a blanket of white and the bright sun shining.

At the top is a picture of a Valentine's Lizzie Kate in progress. I still need to stitch up the border and finish but I am pleased with the color changes. This is stitched on 28 ct. Mocha Java by Sassy's Fabbys.

Ok, must run for now!