Special Friends, Special Gifts

Tomorrow, I'll celebrate my birthday and I've received some lovely gifts from some special friends that I've made through my blog. Though I've not met these ladies in person, they are friends who have made my life a richer and happier one.

The first gift that I'll share with you is from Julie in England. If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Julie's blog, I highly recommend it! Julie has a great sense of humor and is a very talented stitcher and finisher. She made me this lovely mattress pincushion.



The next gift that graced my mailbox was sent by the sweet Mylene.   Her package for me included a mattress pincushion with a design from Primitive Betty's.    Her finishing on this little piece is so perfect!   She also included some delicious chocolate bars, a bookmark that showcases her area of the Netherlands, and a very cute magnet of a sheep.


I have a couple of gifts that arrived yesterday that I'm saving until tomorrow. I'll share them with you in my next post.

Thank you so much for visiting me. I hope you enjoy the Memorial Day weekend.

A Flower For Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who have been blessed to be a mother.

I put the last stitch into this motif from my Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler last night. I dedicated most of my stitching time to it this week. I'm starting to enjoy the looks of the sampler a bit more. I had been regretting my decision to stitch the entire piece with the same color silk but I'm liking it more as I get more of it stitched.




I leave you with a picture of my mother on her wedding day. It's not the greatest picture because it's actually a picture that my daughter took of one of the photos in her wedding album.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope that the coming week is a good one for you.

A Pretty Freebie

I found this free design posted on the blog of Ravenelle. I started stitching it this weekend and just put the last stitches in it this afternoon. This was such an enjoyable stitch that I'll probably stitch it again with a different color. This one is stitched with GAST in blackboard.



Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your week is going well.

What I've Been Up To

A few weeks ago I stitched this little pansy freebie and on the other side I stitched the word "spring" and a bee from the Marjolean Bastin Four Seasons piece. I hand finished this little fob and sent if off to my friend Sonja in Germany.

The pictures shows this little fob attached to a new pair of Dovo scissors that I bought myself from Crewel Jewels. I recommend them for great service. I also got this other pair at the same time.






Thanks for looking in on my corner of the web.

Meet Tess

Many of you have seen the creative talents of Wendy on her blog. She makes the cutest bears and last week I received one as a thank you!

I am now the proud mother of Tess. Isn't she the sweetest little bear? She has a movable head, arms and legs. I just love her feathered hat. She looks like she's heading off to a tea party.



Thanks so much Wendy for sending me one of your special creations. I just love her!

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have a good week.

My Pride and Joy - My Daughters

Yesterday, my daughter Andrea (left) and I went to visit my daughter Justine (right). Justine is in her third year of college studying Nutritional Science at UC Berkeley which is about a half hour drive from our home. My husband stayed behind so it was girls' night out.



We are on a mission here to eat a healthier diet and Justine shared this link with me. Check it out. It's chock full of wonderful recipes. I've already made the black beans and roasted beets this week.
I wish you all a very Happy Easter. Thanks so much for stopping by.

A Finish After 20+ Years

I stitched this design way back when I was first married and it's been sitting in an unfinished pile since then. When I found out that Wendy makes bears, I thought it would be something she might enjoy. I finished it into a little pillow for her.



I went ahead and ordered a book of french designs that I've been wanting from Amazon.com in Canada. I've seen several of the designs from this book on French blogs and can't wait until it arrives.


I hope you all have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Ornament Time

I'm the recipient of Becky's ornament exchange group's April round, and Vonna got a head start on things, and sent me this beauty. It landed in my mailbox this past Saturday. It's lovely, don't you think?



Our recipient for March was Jill. She had requested that there be a pine tree somewhere in the design that we stitched for her. There are no shortage of pine trees in The Prairie Schooler's Christmas designs, so I chose this cute design from their leaflet Old World Santas. My daughter suggested the blanket stitched edge. I think it really adds to the design.



Thank you for stopping by.

A Week of Gifts

The weather here in Northern California warmed up a bit this week. This was a welcome change from the rather cool and grey days we've been having; and the fact that several lovely gifts were delivered by the mailman made it an even nicer week.

First to arrive was the lovely box that Becky stitched and finished. She generously offered her blog readers the chance to win her stunning creation and good fortune shone upon me. I won! It arrived a few days ago, and I've been admiring it ever since. Thank you Becky, for this beautiful keepsake.



The next surprise to arrive was from my friend Sonja in Germany. Sonja made me a very cute bag that I will use for my small WIP's, and a sweet little pincushion. Thank you again Sonja! I'm so glad that we met through our blogs and have become friends.






The last gift that came was a magazine from Mylene. Mylene surprised me by popping this into the mail for me and I've already found my next pattern for the Fair and Square exchange in this issue. Thank you so much Mylene for your friendship and this unexpected surprise :)



I also received my first ornament from the ornament exchange group that I'm part of. I'll be posting pictures of it next time.

CathyB's Round Robin

I'm finally done stitching for CathyB's round robin. I was happy to stitch this design that Diane Williams did for a UNICEF fundraiser in France. I purchased this chart through Gigi and this is the first time that I've stitched it.



Here is how Cathy's RR looks to this point. I'll be sending this off to Joan for her to apply her talented hand on Monday.