It's Saturday morning and I've been up since just after 7:00 am,
which is kind of early for me. But DH was up to feed the cats
before leaving for the monthly mens breakfast at church and I
woke up when his radio alarm came on. I've had breakfast,
made the bed, coaxed Phoebe into eating her breakfast, showered
and dressed, and walked to the hairdressers where I got my hair
chopped off. Boy, does that feels good!! Now I'm updating my blog.


And to start, here is this weeks progress on Cottage Garden.
The final square is probably two thirds done, and I am
loving it. I thought that this one would be using paler
coloured threads for some reason and so wasn't looking
forward to stitching it. But as it turns out the threads
are much darker then I remembered them to be and
they look great. Perhaps I'll finish this square, and this
project next week, and then it'll be on to something else.

I've been poking through my stash and come up with a
few choices for my next project. One is an older Leisure
Arts pamphlet from around 1991 called Wreaths for All
Seasons. I think I'd like to stitch the Fall wreath. I've
also thought of starting a Bent Creek design, Blue Bird
Sampler. Decisions, decisions....

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My Mom is still in hospital and so is now into her fourth
week there. She has had set backs and small improvements,
been sent for tests and scans, and had a blood transfusion.
She is stable and the tests have shown that the various
infections and complications seem to have been cleared up.
Knock on wood that this is true, and nothing else occurs to
complicate things again.

But she is weak, and food continues to be an issue. As many
of you have noted in your comments, hospital food is
infamous pretty much around the world for being something
less then appetizing. She's been moved from isolation to a
ward, and has been sitting up in a chair for some time during
the day, and has walked from her bed to the door of the room
and back.

But she needs to be much stronger, and dependable on her feet
before she can go home. So she may have to be moved to a rehab
facility for a time, which she is not happy about. We just hope
that if the doctor does send her to a rehab place that it's some-
where close to us so we can continue to visit as often as
possible, if not every day, as I've been doing so far.

I want to thank all of you who have left encouraging and
supportive comments here during the past week. I've
passed them on to my Mom and it makes her feel good to
know that so many people are thinking of her and wishing
her well. And it's helping me to keep my spirits up too.

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And another boost to my moral came this week in the mail.
An interesting little package that arrived on Thursday. I
wasn't expecting anything and so was quite intrigued. I
tore open the outer envelope and found the above
beautifully wrapped package. Something from Staci,
(Snippets and Stash) stitcher and finisher extraordinaire.
Oh Boy!!


And here is what she sent me. A gorgeous floss tag in
the most yummy variegated red thread colour and
meticulously finished. Staci keeps insisting on her
blog that she's just learning how to do all this finishing
stuff. Well, if this is just learning then I'm really looking
forward to what she does in the future. And in the
meanwhile I have a wonderful new treasure to add to
my small but growing collection of stitched pieces.


Here is a view of the back of the floss tag. Staci's
stitches are so neat and tiny. I can't keep from
looking at the tag and delighting in her talent.
She also sent along a lovely pair of embroidery
scissors, and a fob with my first initial stamped
on it. Looks like old fashioned typeset, doesn't
it?

Thank you Staci for thinking of me, and for
being such a wonderful and thoughtful blogging
friend. Your gift has given me a lift and I really
appreciate that so much.


This week's package from Stitching Bits and Bobs was my
monthly collection of Crescent Colours threads. Just when
you think that they couldn't possibly have any more colours
that would make you smile and sigh.... I really love the
colours available from Threadworx too, and have ordered a
few of those to add to my stash. I can see some of the Tante
Solders designs being stitched with those beauties!!


I've been reading Girls Like Us for a week and a half
now, and am almost finished it. I wanted a complete
change from the fantasy trilogy that I'd just finished
and since I've been eager to read this book ever since
I got it a few months ago I picked it up and dove in.

As you can clearly see by the cover this is a book about
Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon. It also
documents the transformation and evolution of the
roles and life choices and expectations of women during
the time period that these incredibly gifted women were
dominating and changing the music scene. Basically the
late 1950's until the 1980's. And how the lives, and the
music of these three singer/songwriters reflected those
changes. And influenced them.

It is mind boggling to contemplate the catalog of music
that these three woman have created during their
careers, often in spite of the male dominated world that
they were living in, and while juggling children, husbands
and lovers, demanding careers, and their own self doubts
and regrets. I'll bet many of you consider at least one song
by any one of these women to be a personal favourite. And
I also bet if you read this book you'd be caught thinking...
"she wrote that???? I had no idea."

This can be an intense book at times, but it's a fascinating
read and is well worth the effort. And these three ladies
deserve to be recognized for their hard work, their vision
and their spirit.

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Sandra, the Magic trilogy is probably more suitable for
a reader older then thirteen, and it may appeal more to
a female reader then a male.

And speaking of Sandra....go check out her latest finish
(Sampler Lovers Blog) which is just spectacular!!
Sandra stitches exquisite historic samplers, but
replaces the original stitcher's name and birth dates with
the names and birth dates of members of her own
female ancestors. A wonderful idea that makes the
sampler even more of a family treasure then it already
is. And she stitches some incredibly complex and time
consuming projects that make my hair curl when I see
them!! And she is a super nice person too!!

And have you seen that Rebecca (Rebel in Ontario)
has finished Lizzie Kate's Living with Charms flip-it
and she stitched hers on black 28 count Jubilee!! It
looks fantastic!!

And a big Hello and welcome to Lucy from Folk n
Fancy who left a comment on my post from last week.
I've been visiting and reading your blog Lucy, but
haven't yet been able to leave a comment. I'll try to
rectify that soon.


I guess that I should bring this weeks epic post to a close.
It's getting close to lunch time now and I'm feeling peckish.
Hope you all have a wonderful week and get lots of time to
stitch and read and spend time with your loved ones, both
human and furry.

Thanks for being out there, and for stopping in here.

Cheers!