Ta-no Da

This is my gift to my mom for Mother's Day. As you can see it isn't finished, hence Ta -no Da. I am down to the back stitching on this one and I think it will be lovely. I got some lovely beads at the needlework hideaway retreat to finish it as a wall pocket for her glasses. It was in the JCS a couple of months back and she saw it and fell in love with the daffodils.She has always planted them in her yard and loves all varieties of them. There were some unusual ones blooming at the post office where she takes her mail now and she kept saying she was going to thin them a bit for the post office. That translates dig them up and replant them at her place! She is becoming more of a mess as she ages. I guess we all do. 

 I don't believe I ever posted the stash from the last retreat. Fabrics that called my name. I actually managed to buy a piece of 40 count I needed to start Dorthy Walpole. I thought I had a large enough piece but they we always a bit small when I pulled them out. I have the thread already to go so now I can begin the lovely lady.

 One of the ladies at the retreat was working on the Blue Ribbon Design piece called Blue Jeans and Daisies. It didn't do much for me until I saw her progress! Then it was a must stitch! I fell in love with the fabric, fibers and design. Belinda is such a fun person and the happy memories of her class at New England Stitchers Retreat will make it a fun stitch.

 One of the 6 shops we ventured to had these great older charts. I have always loved BrightNeedle and they are getting harder to find so I grabbed them up. I also found some Ewe & Eye & Friends charts I have always loved. 

  I also found these 4 Prairie Schooler charts to add to my seasonal themes collection. This might be interpreted as hoarding charts by some but I prefer to think of it as collecting. I might even stitch them one day when I retire if I can still see by then! 

My last thought for today are with Moore, OK. My prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones and all their worldly treasures.My area of the country has been hit many times in the last few hears with the destruction of tornadoes. I spend way too much time in the basement in spring riding out tornadoes so here in Alabama we have a strange kindred spirit with OK right now. We are sending relief and workers to help the recovery.  Romans 8:28 says "And we know that God causes all things to work together to those who love God, to call that according to His purpose." It is difficult to see how this disaster in man's eyes could be a part of "all things" but I believe it can, anything that causes us to return to God becomes good.That may be sickness for some or difficulty in marriage or with children or one the job or natural disaster, whatever it is,  if makes you call out the the living God then it is good. So as I hear teacher talk about praying for God's protection though this storm and teaching children about that in the mist of it. I believe it can be used for His good. So I pray His Divine good will come from yet another disaster in our land.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam

Retreat Review

They days before Teresa arrive for our retreat I prayed for my Azaleas to be in bloom. I know it may seem silly but I wanted her to be able to enjoy the bright pink flowers while she was visiting from her bedroom window. We had the typical spring weather of 80 one day and 45 the next so I was a bit worried they had been damaged by the sudden weather changes. As you can see they bloomed in full glory. This is one section, there are just as many on either side of the center section. 

We began our journey in town with a visit to a tea shop and a bit of no stash shopping. The next morning we set out for day one of what could have been a 6 hour road trip.We went to 3 shops the first day. One was new to me, the other I had not seen in at least 10 years and the third I go to from time to time. We shared the wealth and bought a little at each place! I was able to pick up several charts I had wanted for a while and some yummy fabrics as well. We stopped at a tea shop for lunch before the third place and had a nice rest there. After the 3rd shop we drove a few hours to Memphis and spent the night. Just about an hour outside of Memphis we found a great quilt shop. I really could have spent some cash in that shop. The best quilt shop I have been to so far a wonderful selection and the nicest owner.  There was a shop  in Memphis we hit on the way out of town the next morning. It was a great place and nicest ladies running it. I could have shopped there for the day but we felt shops around Little Rock calling our name. After a bit more time one the road we navigated around Little Rock and found a great antique mall. Teresa was able to get some vintage clothes pieces for her daughter and I was on the look out for a creel basket and old fishing gear to decorate the lake house. Off we went to another stitch shop that had the nerve to be closed an hour before their scheduled time. What were they thinking? Oh well, I was able to spend more in a shop where they wanted it! We arrived at the Red Apple Inn. It was just perfect! nice but not stuffy and comfortable tables and chairs for a weekend of stitching. 

Gloria and Donna were our table mates! They made lovely progress on their pieces and were good company to stitch along beside.

This is Pat Dugan the host shop owner and Tracey Schultz who does some really amazing bead designs at the Make it/Take it table that they had set up. It is a great idea for beadwork and you can give yourself a break from stitching to work on some lovely pieces. 

 Additional shopping in the center of the room to paw over when your back or eyes needed a break.

Or you could enjoy the views from the lovely patio. 

These nice ladies were table mates on the other side. We had such a nice group of stitchers present. They were very welcoming and great stash enablers! I'll have to post the stash another time. This post is so very long winded and picture laden. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam 

heartbreak

My heart is breaking this week. The people of Boston,Ma and the people of Waco, Tx have seen too much pain this week. So may people who have been effected by hardship in our great country. And yet we can have hope in a merciful, gracious, faithful and loving God. He allows hardship to draw a nation that is turning its back on Him to give us a chance at repentance. That is the message that resounds in my heart as I see the really big picture of His plan for all mankind.It is not a popular thought pattern and not one that will leave you warm and fuzzy but I believe it is truth. 

Matthew 24:1-8

Jesus came out of the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age.?"And Jesus answered them and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name saying, I am the Christ and mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place but that is not the end yet. For nation will rise up against nation, an kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But in all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

This section of scripture has been in my mind all week. We cannot and will not coexist,not in our country, and not in our world. There will always be conflict until Christ return. The children of Sarah(Isaac) will always be in conflict with the children of Hagar(Ishmael).All the conflict in the Middle East can be traced to their lines. Every event points to the return of Jesus the Messiah.I pray for the people of Israel to see that Christ satisfied every sign of prophecy, every piece of the temple is seen in Him, every feast a reflection of Him, it all points to Him. Just as God made a way for the Jewish people through sacrifices in the temple He made a way for the Gentile people with the blood of  Christ, the perfect Lamb, is all the sacrifice required and enough for all mankind that we might have relationship with Him. Not religion as man so commonly confuses God to bring but fellowship and relationship with a loving God. 

I cannot make sense of the events we are facing without the reference point of the word of God and the balance of what it teaches about the character and nature of the Holy Lamb of God. How do so many people survive without Him? Once again I am back to heartbreak and I am certain His heart is breaking for a mankind that will not turn to Him.

If you made it this far, thanks for spending time with me,
Pam

NINE

Nine is the number of flowers which should be showing in my garden now but as usual life has been a bit of a whirlwind and only 5 and a half are showing (missing leaves on the hydrangea). Nine is also the number of nights I have left before I have a stitching break from reality. Teresa and I are going to of all places Arkansas at the needle work hideaway. Hopefully this will be a much needed break for both of us. At the very least is will be tons of talking and stitching. We have 6 stitching shops mapped out on the way and plan to include quilts, thrift shops, antique shops and tea/coffee shops for refueling the body. Hopefully we will be blissfully worn out from all the finds along the way. 

The lake house remodel is still coming along and still taking much to much time out of life. I am sure it will be worth it in the end just hopefully not the end of me to get it there. If the weather is working with us this weekend I'll show some photos of the completed projects. We have new kitchen counter tops and back splash.Painted all the rooms but one. New bathroom for my mom. New electrical and plumbing as well - noting pretty too look at there but at least you can sleep well knowing it is up to code. Last but not least, the most important thing to me is a proper working AC for June through October in the less than blissful heat and humidity of the south. If you have never done 102 with 100% humidity you just don't know what you are missing. 

This is a cute little shop we stopped at a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon ride in the country. And look at this gem that was waiting inside....

Surely I am not the only one who sees a lake house scissor holder in this fish. It stated it was a candle holder but they really didn't know what they had. Any stitcher can clearly see this is a scissor holder. As wonderfully tacky  as the fine fish is I did leave it at the shop. It does just scream lake scissor holder though so we might have to swing by and pick it up-only 19.95 before the necessary haggling for a better price. The piece is so not me it is actually me- does that make since to anyone else? :)

Hope you have a wonderful Easter this weekend and enjoy family and friends. Thanks for stopping by and spending a few minutes.

Pam 

Another great exchange!

Isn't this a fantastic warm winter exchange. I received the snowman ornament, lovely piece of linen, 3 snowbelles charts, snowflake fabric, snowflake buttons, craft glue and some cute pokadot notecards. I loved it all!

The picture above is what I mailed to Melanie. The stitched piece was from a recent JCS issue and it is a Home Spun elegance chart. I stitched it in blue for myself. 

There has not been a huge amount of stitching time this week. I took a few days off to help my mom paint at the new lake house. We sold the smaller cabin and bought a larger place with more room for family and friends. It had been sorely neglected and needs a good bit of TLC. Hopefully we can finish up the remodel before summer so we can all enjoy our summer on the water. I was only able to stitch one night this week. The funky flowers piece is moving along and should be a nice addition to our bedroom at the lake. I knew I wanted to put it there from the first moment I looked at it. 

This morning when I woke up I could write my name on several surfaces in the house.Time to break down and clean. I will be good and get on it in the morning before I start stitching. Or at least that is my intention... Hope you all have a great weekend and manage to make a few X's.

Thanks for stopping by,
Pam

Spring fever

It is a bit early but I am beating the winter blahs with a round of fresh cuts spring flowers. I picked them up Saturday when I was grocery shopping it perked me up a bit. I am sure I was just feel in the shock of returning to normal after the week in Jamaica but a was in a winter weather blah.

The winter effected my stitching choice as well, I got the new JCS when I got home and knew I had to start the funky flowers in this issue. I had been wanting to do them since I went to the Yankee Cross Stitch and saw them all stitched up. Teresa and I hit that shop on our trip to New England Stitcher's Retreat year before last. I was planning on starting on Dorthy Walpole a Scarlet Letter piece but the flowers won me over.

This is my progress as of last night. This is a fun stitch and moving fast after all those quarter stitches in the snowman piece. I hope to get the snow fever back and finish of those 4 little fellows before next year. They need some retreat time or a few days where I can sit and stitch on them and focus. There are a couple of stitching events on the horizon. Teresa and I will be headed to Arkansas of all places for a stitching workshop in April.As usual I am counting the days.(41) Next week the not-so LNS has a market night after Nashville market that I plan to go to as well.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit,
Pam  

No Worries Man

How is this for a fantastic sunset? My wonderful husband surprised me with a week in Negril, Jamaica. We stayed a a small mom and pop style placed called the Samsara Hotel . It was a very laid back and relaxing time. The Hotel was not as high end as a lot of the places down there, but it felt perfect at only 50 rooms and a welcoming friendly staff. The visitors were from Germany, Amsterdam, Brazil, Italy and northern USA. The food was very local and we loved it. Spicy and filling  and not at all Americanized. Exactly what we were looking for. Most of the guest return every year we were told. One couple had been there over 20 times.

The morning agenda was breakfast followed by either snorkeling or suba diving.  Then the lazy days began relaxing on the covered cabanas and reading and even a bit of stitching while listening to the waters hit the coral cliffs. I loved that there was no sand to stick to me and we could just walk to the edge and jump in and swim. 

 How fantastic does that water look? My husband really did good on this one. Lots of brownie points were made in just a few days. 

Treasures from the sea found by one of our snorkeling friends. Harry.

How about a bit of fresh lobster on the grill? It was more yummy than I can express. We went back several nights as the price was very reasonable.  

Yes! It really was this perfect. Temperature in the day in the mid. 80's and a nice cool breeze in the evening to watch the sun go down and listen to the sea.

The day we left I received an amazing stitching exchange which I cannot share yet. But many, many thanks for the wonderful package. I stitched on a Valentine freebie from primitive hare which I was able to complete. No picture yet, I wanted to get it assembled first. It will be the first piece for my Valentine tree. So this is a not so stitchy post but I hope everyone took a little vacation.

    Thanks for stopping by,
Pam