almost done...

Here It Is!

It still has a few little details to be filled in...

But soooo close to being finished.

Cullen and Grayson are NOT going to El Paso this weekend,

so my mother-in-law will not be receiving it.

I guess I'll have the time to really finish it up the way I want to

so I can give it to her in a couple of weeks

when I see her myself.

The other day, my friend Charlotte showed the "backside" of one of her stitched pieces....

What an INSPIRATION! I am learning to not "knot" each piece of thread when I am done with it......and wind the thread through on the back instead. Aren't the colors happy?

I really like looking at the back.

for Ann

I started a project a couple of weeks ago...

It is for my mother-in-law.

Next Monday, August 1st, her husband of 56 years will be entering a home. His dementia has reached a point that makes it difficult for her to care for him, so she has found a sort of foster home for him. It is a smaller place than one of those large Nursing Home-type places and is close to the house where they have lived for the past 20 years.

Only three people will be living in this home at one time. It will be confusing for Bruce, I imagine, at first and a little lonely for Ann to be home alone for the first time in so many years.

Ann's birthday is on the Summer Solstice - June 21st. I did not do anything for her this year since I was off "at camp" in Colorado. I hope that this will make her smile. I wanted to do something special for her to know how much I love her and think about her.

It still has quite a bit that is unfinished and Cullen is driving down this weekend to be with her after she delivers Bruce to the home. I hope that he will be able to take this with him to give to her when she might just need a little "something"

My Creative Friends

Can't believe it was just last Sunday that Oolie was here and we had our Creative Lady Group at my friend Stephanie's house. The ladies got to meet Oolie and she got to meet them....

We ate like king's and then sat down to work on some papier-mache, inspired by Miss Arkell.

Oolie really wanted to test out the stitching on paper before applying it to the box, so that is what we all did - FUN!

Here is Oolie's first attempt at stitching on paper and I think it came out fantasticallY!!!!!

This is the lid of a small box and I love that the word "heart" was found and applied...

And here are Oolie's felt flowers. She could not quite recall the ones she had done last fall, so we looked at the photo of the little garden jar that she made for me and reconstructed the tiny blooms.....aren't they sweet?

It is Saturday and I plan to stitch off and on all day long! What a luxury...

Hope you are doing something luxurious, too....

Los Poblanos

Here are a few photos of our day at LP today.

Oolie and Stephen were walking around, talking about distilling lavender to get the essential oil out so it can be used in products like shampoo, lotion and lavender salve.

It is a very long process, but sooooo cool!

We dropped in to see the animals and

this chicken was making a LOT of noise.

It hopped out of the pail and had left this lovely egg behind -

such an announcement!

This is Eeyore. He is a tiny donkey (tiny miniature donkey) who was rescued after his mom died. He is very young and small enough to pick up in your arms - smaller than many dogs (!)

He is precious and weak, but in the perfect place to heal and grow strong....

Here are the three "kids" that were born yesterday

sooooooo cute!

zinnias in the garden

Oolie posing while smelling the zinnias

(don't you love her turquoise shorts?)

goats eating up extra zucchinis

(or "courgette" for some of you out there)

Check out these squash!

The cow got a few, too

yummmm

More photos tomorrow....

xo

BUGS!

Thanks so much for the positive feedback on the BUGS!

This is actually the original image that started the whole thing.

I have always loved bugs and the images of them and sent this off to Spoonflower a while back and LOVED how it turned out. When I showed it to my fabric company, they really liked it and asked me to develop a collection from it. The ladybugs I shared in the previous post is part of the group. As I get the other images "tightened up" I will share them with you for your comments. Sure is helpful to get a fresh perspective - thanks!!!

By the way - this image is BIG! The "purple FLY" has 4" long wings (!)

ladybugs

Here is one of the possibilities for my next fabric collection....

Whadya think?

Good colors and a little fun thrown in.

xo

just a glimpse

I have been slow at getting photos together to show from camp last week.....

Here are two to just give you an idea.......

the house

the lake

I promise to make time to get more up in the next couple of days.....

hmmmmm, makes me smile to look at these....

xo