Sorting through my quilt basket this week revealed some wonderful unfinished quilts that I decided needed to be finished, at long last.  I hate to admit how long it has been since I took any stitches in my quilts, but I decided that now is the time to finish them up!

My friend, Ellen, who is a wonderful quilter, was a part of making this friendship basket quilt with me.  There were seven of us, who passed our chosen fabrics to one another over the course of many months, and we each stitched this beautiful basket design for each other.  Yesterday afternoon, Ellen and I  laid out all of the basket squares and stitched some borders between the baskets.  It is completely hand-stitched, which is my favorite way of stitching quilts.  I know that it is more time consuming, but I find it very peaceful, and I can stitch while I sit comfortably in my recliner.  I don't enjoy hunching over my sewing machine for long periods.  Soon I will have the long strips pieced length wise between each row of baskets and then it will be finished and quilted as a wall hanging.  Can't Wait!


I also finished my "Mystery Sampler" (With Thy Needle & Thread), and selected a rustic looking frame for it. It is currently in the process of being framed.  Hope to have some pictures as soon as the framing is finished !

As I turned the Mystery Sampler over to my favorite framer on Wednesday morning, I decided to begin working on the sweet little pincushion by Primitive Betty's at our LNS stitching group. A little progress so far...


Last weekend, we traveled to Vermont to visit some dear friends, who had experienced power outages and severe flooding in their area.  Would you believe that the flood waters from a brook across from their house, stopped only yards from their front door?  Their next door neighbor had water up over their front porch, but our friend's house was spared.  They say that it was the power of prayers!  The brook washed out a road bridge and the road, just yards from their house was broken up from the rushing water and an entire cliff came down too!  What a sight!  They had construction workers working almost day and night the entire time we were there, and they had been working since the hurricane and heavy rains had subsided.  

This is the West River near their home, with it's rushing water, coming close to the banks, last Sunday.

A beautiful old covered bridge above the rushing currents of the West River.

We had a wonderful weekend with our friends.  I kept telling my friend, Liz and her husband, Rick, that we felt like we were staying in a beautiful little Bed & Breakfast Inn.  Their rooms are very comfortable and cozy, and decorated with all sorts of very special and unique little collectibles everywhere.  Liz has a great collection of little German wooden pieces, which she has gathered over the years, when visiting her cousins in Germany. 

 More cute German figurines, adorable bear collectibles & beautiful "Blue Onion" china pieces.

Liz has an amazing Hummels' collection too.  These are only a few of her favorite ones.  She had a second figure of the little boy with the duck, resting on his feet, and she gave it to me!  I was so thrilled!  I have a few of my own collection, most of which belonged to my dear husband's mother, but they are very special treasures!


And the best is for last.....these are our friend's two beautiful Himalayan cats, Doodles and Elizabeth.

This is Doodles.  Isn't he the perfectly perched cat?  He was so quietly serene and perched anywhere that took his fancy.

Elizabeth is a real beauty.  She has the most amazing eyes....you could get lost in them.  Her favorite place to rest was in the kitchen, atop a little shelf on which she nestled next to a basket.  It was almost too small for her to fit, but she managed to curl up there anyway!

In front of this lovely arrangement, there is a card with a beautiful sentiment written on it.  Here are the words:

This is a beautiful blessing for everyone who visits our friend's home.  It is a blessing to take into one's heart and treasure the words and the sentiments.


I'm counting you, dear friends as blessings in my life, for sharing these quiet moments together with me.  I hope that you have a beautiful week! 


Thank you for visiting.  I cherish your friendship!

Oh what a week it has been!  I am so thankful that dear husband and I decided to take a little time off for one more special day trip last week, before I had to go in for some more medical testing this week.  I can only say that the procedure this week was akin to my memories of the agony of labor and delivery, if you can believe that!   Needless to say,  I was so thankful when it was finally over!  It has taken me the rest of the week to recover, and finally my head is starting to clear!

Last week, I felt the urge to pamper myself and indulged in two new little delightful designs, to add to my stitching stash.  Our LNS was having a sale, and I couldn't resist these two precious pincushions.

                                                   "Pure and Pleasant"
                                                                  by
                                                   Primitive Bettys

                      "Small Token" (Reward of Merit Pincushion)
                                                                By
                                                  Blackbird Designs

If you ever visit New England, you must be sure to treat yourself to a visit to "Pickity Place", located in Mason, New Hampshire.  This charming little, 200 year old, red cottage, and the winding ash tree, in the foreground, served as models for "Grandmother's House", in the famous story of  Little Red Riding Hood, written in 1948, by Elizabeth Orton Jones.  

Inside Grandmother's Cottage, is a  bedroom, featuring the Big Bad Wolf in Grandmother's bed, along with all sorts of Little Red Riding Hood memorabilia.  It is great fun, and there is also a little bookstore with a collection of various other Little Red Riding Hood books, dolls, hand puppets, and lots of cookbooks that feature the use of  many of the sorts of herbs grown in the gardens at Pickety Place.  


One then steps outside of the little bookstore room into the tiny hallway where a menu is displayed on the wall, describing a 5-course gourmet herbal luncheon, which is served in the dining room of the little red cottage. 

Each month there is a different luncheon menu, created with fresh herbs and edible flowers, grown in the gardens at Pickety Place.   Believe me, when I tell you that the meal was not only beautiful to look upon, but just as delicious too!

"Fontina and Pancetta Beef Roulade" (This was Bruce's lunch.)  All of the flowers are edible too! 

                        "Zucchini and Garden Tomato Casserole"

                                              Raspberry Rhubarb Pie
No meal is complete without dessert!  This pie was "melt in your mouth" delicious!  


We also enjoyed walking around the gardens before and after our fabulous luncheon.  I loved the little herb house on the grounds, in which we discovered bunches of herbs, which were hanging from the ceiling being dried. We even discovered a dark grey cat, curled up on a tabletop, having a nap inside.  A lovely, sweet and peaceful setting for a nap I thought.

                                     Hanging Dried Flowers and Herbs

There is also a barn, attached to the little red cottage, which has been converted into a lovely gift shop, with a variety of herbs, dried flowers, and all sorts of goodies.  No visit would be complete without exploring the wonderful shop too!

I'll leave it to your own imagination, what sorts of wonderful things we discovered inside.  You'll just have to come and have a visit for yourself!  This is a truly fun and magical adventure for anyone, and even husbands enjoy it!  At least mine did!  What man could resist such delicious food?  


Well, my fingers are tired from typing and wanting some diffierent activity.....say, some stitching perhaps, along with a nice cup of tea?  That sounds very inviting...


Until Next Time.....
Crossing in Stitches & Friendship With You!

                                                  

I've been rather in a bit of a fog lately..... I tell myself that it must be the "heat of summer".  At least it sounds like a good reason to blame my lack of stitching and blogging:)

In the midst of working on "The Mystery Sampler", I decided that I needed to take a little break and work on something "small" for a change of pace.  I guess that I just wanted the satisfaction of being able to complete a piece of needlework in a few days.  This is my finished pincushion!

                                "Antique Locks and Keys"
                     (Shakespeare's Peddler)   

                                                 Pincushion Top Portion     

                                            Pincushion Bottom Portion
                                           
                    Fabric:  36 Ct. Fresco Linen (Picture This Plus)
                   Fibers:  Plush Plum Crescent Colours Belle Soie
                   

         The "Mystery Sampler" is coming along, and I am now working on Part III, so it is in the "Home Stretch" mode, and I must admit that I really love it!  It is a very unique sampler.  The colours are wonderful and it has been lots of fun to stitch with the girls in my LNS stitching group.

Our stitching group is a wonderful group of ladies, all of whom share in our enthusiasm of stitching addiction, for sure!

This is Shirley, an incredible stitcher, who recently finished the "Anne Grant" Sampler.  It is stitched on 40 count linen.  Isn't it beautiful?

Here is Bev's gorgeous Flower Garden Sampler.  To really appreciate the fine work that Bev has done on each hand appliqued block here are a few of my favorite squares.

Wish that I could claim the fine stitching and quilting in these lovely squares.  I definitely have been feeling inspired to consider taking out my quilting again.  In fact, I have a queen sized quilt that I have never finished quilting, although it is completely basted and just waiting for the quilting to begin!  I think that I just need to take it out and have the quilting done so that it can go on one of our beds!

Oops!  Where does the time go?  My blogger photo mode has been giving me grief this afternoon as I have been trying to write this post.  Now it is almost time to prepare dinner, and our son, Ryan and his wife, Alissa, are coming for dinner!  Guess that I had better get going!  All for today,but hopefully I won't be away for as long since my last time blogging.  I miss all of my dear stitchy bloggy friends too much when I am away!

Blessings to you, dear friends!

News About Two Fabulous Giveaways!

A Beautiful Giveaway that Will Delight

Your Heart!

Tea Cup Stitches

lynn-teacupstitches.blogspot.com

Drawing on August 15th!

A Wonderful "Parisian" Style Giveaway!

                       A Wonderful "Parisian" Style Giveaway!
             "Happiness Is Cross Stitching"!
                    http://www.happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.com
                    Giveaway Drawing on August 28th!


Hope that you will visit these two special blogs and check out all of the details about their wonderful giveaways!  Who doesn't love giveaways? More fun than we can ever imagine!


Crossing in Stitches With You!

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are...no more, no less. That is the moment when you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought."
(Matthew 5:5 (The Message)


My thoughts are with you, my dear friends, on this warm Sunday afternoon.  After reading some of my favorite blogs, I feel blessed to have been able to spend some special time with you.  It is a wonderful feeling to feel connected to so many special friends.  Sometimes, after reading about your lives, your stories and savoring special moments with you, I feel as though I could reach out and touch you.  


Friends are among the most special gifts that God gives to us.  Your stitchy bloggy friendship means so much to me.  Thank you so much for all of your visits and your comments too!


I don't have any stitching progress at the moment to show you, but am working on a few projects...so some pictures coming along soon!


May you be blessed with love, serenity, joy and peaceful moments in your life this week, until we "cross in stitches and friendship" once again!

"TOGETHER, WE CAN DO SOMETHING WONDERFUL!"

Recently, having celebrated yet another birthday, and perhaps because the years keep ticking past more quickly now, reminding me that I am not getting any younger!  Our children keep telling me, "but Mother, you are just getting older and much wiser!"  How sweet!  The other day I opened up a journal, in which I keep very special writings that have touched my heart.  One of them spoke to me so clearly that day, about this journey we are all following, called "Life"...  

" What I do you cannot do, But what you do, I cannot do.
The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things,
But we can all do small things, with great love, 
And together, we can do something wonderful!"
(Mother Theresa)


Every day is a blessing, just to wake up each morning and be able to say, "I'm still alive! I still have another chance to make a difference in someone else's life today!  I sweetly recall a scene from Anne of Green Gables, when Miss Stacey, Anne's teacher, said to her, "Today is a brand new day with no mistakes in it!"  


One of my dear stitching friends, Linda, made this really sweet little pincushion for my birthday!   Her thoughtfulness is genuine and brought a sweet smile to my face when I opened up her thoughtful gift!  Thankyou, Linda!

I just love it!  It also happens to match Molly Bear & Raggedy Annie!  I love teddy bears too, in case you didn't know!


Among a few of my other favorite things are teapots and teacups, colored glass collectibles, vintage lace and buttons....Well, I think that these are among some of the greatest little treasures.  They make me think of special times I played in my Grandmother's attic, when she let me play with Mother's antique china dolls and tea sets, and showed me how to make beautiful button necklaces.


Imagine my excitement when we visited the Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, MA on our little getaway!  We were able to watch a glass blower give a live demonstration of making a beautiful fluted blue and white dish.  It was fascinating.  

Miniature replica of a glass blower, preparing hot glass inside of the firing kiln.

Miniature replica of glass blower blowing glass.

                          Sandwich Glass "Cup Plates".

              Aren't these "Cup Plates"  just beautiful?

It was fascinating to read about the actual purpose of the little cup plates.

When the tea had been drunk from the little cup plates, the "dregs" of the tea leaves remained in the teacups.  Hence the art of "telling one's fortune" from the arrangement of the tea leaves....  In one of my favorite BBC Victorian Series, "Larkrise from Candleford",  one of the village older women is gifted with "reading of the tea leaves".  So fascinating, although I do not subscribe to reading one's fortune in my tea leaves!

                          A lovely blue "cup plate"

I recall seeing one of these crystal rolls on my great aunt's dinner table and thinking how beautiful it was, but never saw it being used.  The carving knife and fork are to rest on it at an elegantly laid table.  Lovely!  

  Ruby red crystal plate....it looked like sparkling diamonds!

And the best for last...   "Caroline Ewer" Sampler...Aged 14

                          "Hannah Jones" Sampler  (1830)

I apologize for the poor photography, but the sampler was inside of a glass case with lights above it.  I believe that Hannah was aged 12.  Amazing!

In my opinion, every really special outing should end with a lovely cup of tea and a special treat, so we stopped at a wonderful little tea shoppe!

                      

                         Beautiful artistic display of tea cups,

                         teaspoons, and other little things...

    "Grandma Loves Me" ... such sweet sentiment!

Thank you for allowing me to share with you today.  I appreciate your visits with me here, and  I treasure all of  your sweet comments too!

Blessings in Stitches!