Such a Perfect Day

Good morning, my blogging buddies--hope you're enjoying a perfect day, today! We had a string of perfect days, weather-wise, over the Memorial Day weekend. I can't remember a more lovely trio of sunny, warm, non-humid days--just wonderful. Of course no day is truly perfect, is it? There are those minor annoyances that invade everyone's days--for instance yesterday a crazy, deranged fly just kept attacking me repeatedly in my bedroom. Honestly, he would just fly and buzz at me over and over again. Definitely a weird experience! And then there are the oh-so-sore muscles that I'm dealing with today after a weekend of gardening (and here I thought I was in relatively good shape--ha!). No, no day is perfect, but there are definitely some days that are more perfect than others. And I was lucky enough to have one of those days last week.

My two local stitching friends, Lee and Linda, and I met at Lee's house on Friday for a wonderful day of stitching, chatting, and eating. I wanted to give them each a little something to tell them how I feel each day when I'm lucky enough to spend time with them so I stitched up this little freebie from the e-sub rosa blog called "Such A Perfect Day." This is worked on 28 ct. taupe cashel linen, over one, with the suggested threads (I found that the symbols on the chart didn't match the symbols in the key, but you'll be able to figure them out since Esther provides a colored chart, too).

Such a Perfect Day freebie

Isn't this a darling design? It makes a perfect gift for someone's special day, doesn't it? I mean it has all of the things that, for me anyway, make up a perfect day: a cozy home, singing birds, pretty flowers, and stitching supplies. Oh, and don't forget the picket fence! I used the fabric shown in the background to back my finishes and edged it with a blue handmade cording accented with those cute spools. Lee and Linda both seemed to like my gifts and I hope there will be many more "perfect days" in our future...

Another little finish I want to share with you was sent to my friend, Robin (no blog), as a birthday gift. She happens to share a birthday with my mom so how could I ever forget her special day? This is one I've stitched before for my May bowl of flower finishes back in 2012 (which you can see here).  I used the same overdyed colors and 40 ct. white Newcastle linen as in that finish, but I made it into a little pillow. Isn't this a cheery, little piece? It is so representative of the flowers that burst forth in bloom each May and I thought it would be a perfect way to celebrate Robin's birthday...

Bent Creek: "May Blooms"

And I have a lovely belated birthday gift to share with you from my stitching friend, Linda. She stitched a Blackbird Designs motif in my favorite colors and then sent it on to Miss Carolina Stitcher herself, Faye, to do the final finishing. Faye came up with this pretty table mat and it couldn't be more perfect for me. I've set it on my kitchen side table right below a blue and yellow framed print and it looks wonderful. Thank you so much, Linda for your wonderful birthday gift--I'm so pleased to own a Linda-stitched and a Faye-finished piece!

Birthday gift from Linda

A lovely honor... This is hard for me to write about as I don't like talking about myself, but several of you have emailed to congratulate me on the little article that appeared about me in the June 2014 issue of the British magazine, Cross Stitch Collection so I thought I'd share it with all of you. A few months ago, a lovely lady named Rachael emailed from the magazine and asked if they could feature me and my blog in a brief article.  Since it was short and in Q&A format, I agreed, but requested that they not use my surname.  If you happen to pick up this issue of the magazine, take a peek at page five--there I am...

Rachael did a great job on the half-page article and it was quite a thrill to see some of my little pillows on display in the magazine. I love that they went with a "blue" theme, too.  I sent them a dozen photos of my creations and they selected the ones done in blues! I suppose it was to coordinate with the blue sweater that I'm wearing (taken on my 59th birthday back in January with the bouquet sent by my youngest son).  This may be the only time you'll see a photo of me on my blog so take a good look--ha ha!

I'm not one who loves the spotlight so this was a bit "out of my comfort zone," but I'm hoping that other shy stitchers will be inspired to take the plunge and create their own blogs. I explained in the interview how the experience of blogging has opened up a whole new world for me. I have to say it was a bit odd seeing my face staring back at me and being called a "stitching star," but I love the part in red that mentions my "uplifting posts." I really do try to be positive on my blog; everything is certainly not perfect in my life nor in anyone else's, but there is so much sad and bad news in the world, I like to keep things light and happy on my blog when I can...

My final statement in the article says it all: "I think the online cross stitching blogging community is very close and caring. They really are the kindest and most generous group of people I know!" You truly are and I thank you...

So, there you have it--the end of another post. I'm working on a larger, patriotic piece right now and hope to share that with you soon. It all depends on how much stitching time I get and it does seem like I have fewer hours to stitch in these warmer months--how about you? I hope you've enjoyed your visit today--thank you all so much for your kind comments on my last post and for the very helpful suggestions on teaching my niece's triplets to cross stitch. I'll let you know how it goes!  Bye for now...