Beating the Winter Blues

      It's that time of the year! Winter is keeping its icy grip on my little corner of Iowa. I long for Spring and it can't arrive soon enough. I've found the best way to beat the Winter blues is to park my butt in the stitching chair and ignore what's going on outside my windows.

      I certainly have enough projects to choose from and it didn't take long for me to settle in with an old friend. Here's my progress on Sarah Pain. I love those birds and the huge urn.

Sarah Pain - The Scarlet Letter

        In my last stitching blog post I talked about my unhappiness with the Lexington Green blending into my linen on Butternut Tavern. Several of you suggested that I use GAST Mountain Mist as a replacement for the Lexington Green. I couldn't have been happier with the results. I hope you'll agree that the switch was well worth unstitching  those alphabet letters.

Butternut Tavern - Stacy Nash Primitives

      Of course I couldn't ignore the Hex on the Beach quilting project. I basted another row of hexies, Rows 1 and 2 are now sewn together and I've basted and started sewing together Row 3. 

Hex on the Beach - Tula Pink

      I had planned on working longer on the hexie project but my mailperson brought me a much anticipated chart in the mail. Everything got pushed aside and I started on Rachel Howells. There isn't one thing I don't like about this sampler and I have been anxious to stitch her since I saw the antique sampler.

Rachel Howells - The Scarlett House

 I'm stitching my Rachel on 40 ct. Lakeside Vintage Light Examplar with the NPIs as charted. I can't wait to start on those big beautiful birds.

      We did have some upset at Corgi Cottage but I happy to report that Owen has recovered nicely from his neck injury. We'll go see Dr. Amy tomorrow morning for a follow-up visit and I'm sure she'll be as pleased as I am with Owen's improvement. Much to both Owen and Emma's displeasure they will both have to wear harnesses when going out for our walkies. Dr. Amy has warned me to never attach a leash to Owen's collar again as another injury to his neck could lead to permanent damage and neurological problems.  I made the decision that Emma should also wear a harness to prevent any possibility of a neck injury caused by a leash attached to her collar.
      As you can see by their expressions.... neither pup is happy! 

Really??? I have to wear this thing?

As if being in pain for days wasn't bad enough... now I have to wear this???

       On a much happier note... the sun was shining for approximately 45 minutes this afternoon....Emma took advantage of that lovely sunbeam.