Thank You!

      Thanks to you all for your kind comments, e-mails, cards and gifts. It was very much appreciated. Emma took a chunk of my heart with her when she left. I never knew how attached I would become to one very special little Corgi girl.

      I wanted to invite you all to come and visit my new blog. It's time for New Beginnings.

My Little Corner of Iowa

Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would, I'd never leave.” 
― A.A. Milne

Rest in Peace Sweet Pea

April 26, 2008 - July 26, 2013

Emma collapsed on Thursday morning. She was rushed to the vet clinic and diagnosed with severe anemia. X-Rays and Ultrasound revealed a mass in Emma's abdomen. She was taken to the Animal Emergency & Referral Center of Minnesota in Oakdale, MN late Thursday night for consultation with a vet specialist. Emma had an inoperable tumor on her liver. I let my sweet baby girl go earlier today. I had no idea when I took Emma and Owen to the prairie on Wednesday morning that it would be Emma's last run on the prairie trails. I will hold fast to the memory of Emma running towards me on the trail, her ears flat back, a big Corgi smile and  joyous expression on her face.  Five years... that's all I had with my Emma... sweet memories I'll have forever. Rest in Peace Sweet Pea. You will remain in spirit, with Owen and I, as we continue on our journey called life. Gone... but never forgotten.

Summer Time and the Living is Easy.....

      Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and leave their condolences on Janet's passing. The funeral service was well attended by family and friends. Janet was honored and remembered by all. As her husband Jim said to me, 'we lost a good one'. 

      Corgi Cottage will be going on Summer Vacation. Emma, Owen and I want to spend our time enjoying the outdoors after being cooped up in the house during our never ending winter. 

     We wish you all a very happy summer.

See you in September

Gone Too Soon

Janet Lea Thompson

May 21, 1952 - May 23, 2013

 

"It is a sweet thing, friendship, a dear balm.

A happy and auspicious bird of calm..."

- Shelly 

Busy Doing Everything But Stitching

      I've been keeping myself very busy these days. Much of my day is spent in my gardens tidying up the beds after the long winter rest. I have much weeding to do... so please pardon the dandelions... I'll get to them soon.

I hope my Garden Frog keeps the Stitchin' Frog away this Summer.

I installed a new pine bark path to create a mud-free walking path.

          I recently inherited my paternal grandmother's treadle Singer sewing machine. 

It's been a few years since it's been used and I'm looking forward to seeing if it's still operational. 

      I finished the basic blocks for my Snow Globe quilt and now comes the decision  as to which background fabric to use.

Emma's made her fabric selection.

Owen would rather take a nap and leave the fabric choices up to me.

       
      I did spend some time in my stitching chair... but it wasn't much!

Rachel Howells - The Scarlett House

Sarah Pain - Scarlet Letter

        I was also the winner of a giveaway on Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year

A lovely book on the textiles at Sulgrave Manor and a Victoria and Albert 1840 commemorative thimble.

  Laurie

A Beautiful Weekend in Wisconsin

        Emma and Owen wanted me to thank you all for your Birthday greetings. They were less than thrilled with me when I left them here on their birthday and took off for Wisconsin for the weekend. 

Sorry pups... you know I'll make it up to you!

      Last weekend I headed to Wisconsin to attend my stitching guild's Spring Retreat at Sinsinawa Mounds. A last minute decision had my truck heading towards Madison, WI for a stop here:

          The Scarlet Letter had some of their sampler models and antique samplers on display at Lynn's. I wanted to see The Manifesto model in person as I'm participating in the Manifesto SAL. Glad I didn't see the model before I signed on for the SAL because I may have been scared off by the size of this beauty.

The Manifesto

      Hannah Carter moved to the top of my 'must stitch' list once I saw the model.

Hannah Carter along with other Scarlet Letter models.

      I was also delighted to see The Lady and the Castle as I'm stitching The Lady for one of the door panels on my 17th Century mirror surround.

The Lady and the Castle

       Imagine my surprise when I walked into Lynn's and discovered that a group of stitchers from the Chicago area were also shopping at Lynn's. They had planned a weekend away at the Country Sampler's Second Story. Read all about their adventures on Laura's blog, maude and mozart. Laura has wonderful photos of Country Sampler and all the lovely goods on offer in their shop. You'll even find a photo of me!

        Part of the pleasure of guild retreat weekend is a stop at .... you guessed it....

 That's my truck parked right at their front door. I didn't have far to carry all those great purchases. 

Lincoln

Colfax County

             I didn't come home with the kits for either the Lincoln quilt or the Colfax County quilt, but I do have the patterns. I think my collection of red French General fabrics are going to look lovely made up into the Colfax County quilt. 

         I did come home with the quilt kit for the Nottingham Star quilt.

Nottingham Star

      Next stop, Sinsinawa Mounds, for a delightful time with the Guild members and lots of time for stitching.  It's always tough deciding what to bring along to work on during the retreat. I find that projects on larger count linen works best as my traveling light/magnifier isn't quite up to the task of assisting me with stitching on the higher count linens. 

   So I started two new projects. The first is Esther Charlton. Esther came kitted with 25 ct. linen and fine English wool. I've stitched two samplers with the GAST Simply Wool and enjoyed both projects. The fine English wool included in the kit was thicker than Simply Wool and I had to take care not to shred the wool while pulling it through the linen.

The Esther Charlton Sampler - The Scarlet Letter

I also brought along Freelove Hazard. Most of the stitching on Freelove is done over one, but the border and the capital letters of the verse are done over two. I thought I could stitch some of the border while at the retreat. I'm stitching the sampler on 29 ct. Glenshee linen with  AVAS as charted. I did do a little of the over one and thought I could use a tent stitch rather than a full cross, but changed my mind. I'll have to go back over the leaf and add a full cross.

Freelove Hazard - The Scarlet Letter

      On Saturday night we had our gift exchange and I was the lucky winner of Barb's handmade stitching pouches, mouse pincushion, stitched floss bag holder and spool scissor holder. I was thrilled to be able to bring these all home with me.

 

       The pups were happy to see me when I picked them up from the kennel and couldn't wait to get home. Thankfully they forgave me for putting them in 'prison' for the first nice weekended, weatherwise, that we've had in 2013.

      Since coming home I've spent a lot of time selecting fabrics for my next quilt - Snow Globes by Tula Pink. Way back in 2005 I went on a quilting tour to France and purchased some cotton fabrics at the factory we visited that manufactured quilting cottons. I also purchased some Dutch chintz fabrics at the International Quilt show we attended while on the tour. Snow Globes is the perfect pattern to feature my special fabrics. I'm pairing them with shot cottons. Decisions still have to be made about background fabrics.

Snow Globes - Tula Pink

      I've been stitching too and I'm celebrating a finish this morning. It's not  finish finished and I am planning on doing my own finishing on this little beauty. Be looking for that finished finish in a future blog post. I used the over-dyed cottons as charted on 40 ct. Vintage Light Examplar.

Needleworker - Little House Needleworks

 Laurie

Happy Fifth Birthday Sweet Pups

Emma - My Little Diva

Owen - My Shy Boy

BFFs Forever