Blast from the Past

These are pictures of some beautiful finished cross stitch I found at a garage sale today. My husband and I were looking at some furniture and out of the corner of my eye I spotted these beauties on a table in the back of the garage. Its like they knew I was there and just called my name...saying were back here...take us home with you. There are four total and the nice lady let me have them all for $25. My husband had his money out in his hand as soon as he saw me looking at them. He knew I wasn't going to leave without them. I forgot to ask the woman what her name was. But she told me these were done by her Aunt Gabriella who had recently died. She kept her favorite ones and wanted to sell these. They were all done between 1981-1994. They look like they were all done on 14ctAida. She cross stitched the date on all of them and as you can see one has her name stitched. Some of them have notes written on the back as the backs are covered with a brown paper. They are very nicely framed and I can't wait to find places to hang them up. Thank you Aunt Gabriella for leaving such beautiful work behind for others to share and admire and thanks to the woman who sold them to me. I feel blessed at her generosity in sharing her Aunts cross stitch and that I was the lucky one to find them first. They are a treasure. Please comment and share your stories about cross stitch you have collected from garage sales or any other place you were lucky enough to find cross stitch items that were stitched by a stranger for you to enjoy. Happy Stitching!

Christmas in July

Being retired now I have alot of time to think about things....all day long. After over 35 years of working long hours and sometimes 2 and 3 jobs at the same time, I now have all the time in the world to contemplate...and contemplate...and so on. Sometimes its just weird the thoughts I have! But I take it as it comes and accept it for what it is..one memory at a time. Now one memory leads to another or reminds me of a time, place or object. So this post is about Christmas. When I was a kid, I never had the Christmas you saw on tv with the happy family eating dinner and then in the morning waking up to a pile of presents to open while still in your pajamas and then eating your pancake breakfast. We were poor, my mom did the best she could, but as a child it was always disappointing and sad. I would have just preferred we didn't celebrate at all, for more reasons than I will tell. So as a young adult I developed my hatred of the holiday and it has always been this way, always. Im sorry to tell all you Christmas lovers...but I hate Christmas. I always sucked it up and made a good Christmas for my children. I didn't think they should suffer because of my hatred of the day. So they always had a great Christmas and I always felt like a hypocrite. But now I have taken on a different way to deal with my feelings. I'm going to make Christmas a spiritual day for myself, therefore allowing myself the joy and happiness I feel, and to pass this on to my family and friends and enjoy the day. I will not think about the greediness, the materialism and all the stress that everyone puts themselves through...I will just be. I belong to a message board named the 123 cross stitch board and have been there since 1994. I have never signed up for any of the Christmas exchanges, just choosing to ignore them. But not this year, this year I signed up for a Christmas ornament exchange. I love cross stitch, I love being creative with cross stitch and I will make an ornament to make someone smile when they see it. That is what makes me feel joy! This decision has me remembering a tv show. Little House on the Prairie, the first episode was a Christmas episode. The three girls received a pair of red hand knit mittens, a drinking mug, a penny in their stocking, and a candy cane from a family friend. All three girls were thrilled and happy with just the gift of love they had received. At the end of the episode with the snow falling all around their small cabin they were enjoying each others company being so happy and Laura said, what a fine Christmas this is! Thats what I want my Christmas to be like. I received my ornament from a very nice lady named Cat in Pennsylvania. I love and adore anything hand made and so I hung it proudly under my wall candle holder with a red candle because I am going to celebrate this ornament for Christmas in July. Thank you Cat for the lovely ornament made by your own hand. It means the world to me to enjoy the feeling of Christmas in July. What a fine Christmas this has been. I hope you all enjoy the picture I took of the ornament. Merry Christmas in July!

Northern Exposure

Finally with the air show over, we continue on our travels homeward. While I was sleeping soundly in the back of the RV, my husband pulled into Roslyn, Washington waking me up with "surprise baby, guess where we are"!The place of my favorite tv show ever...well except for The Sonny and Cher show back in the 70's. Remember Northern Exposure where the townspeople of Cicely, Alaska lived out there lives and made me laugh with all their antics. I loved it and wondered what it would be like to live in a town just like that in Alaska.I guess my husband finally decided he better reward me for all those underwear of his I've had to wash. I really got a kick out of it. Here is myself and my daughters Katie and Jazmin in front of the Roslyns Cafe sign.Then there is The Brick, the hang out for all the townspeople to relax and socialize after a hard days work.Well back in the RV and back home it is! Until next time, have a wonderful day!

How Owl and Thistle Came About

My husband and I with my daughter(who is 16 years old this month) went to Seattle, Washington a few weeks ago in our RV. We were on our way to Arlington for an air show and stayed in Seattle a few days to sight see and ride the ferry. My husband was an air traffic controller there for four years so he knew his way around pretty well. We were walking around looking for a restaurant and my daughter just belts out "Mom the Owl and Thistle is right there, your favorite things in the whole world." We all looked up and there it was, an irish pub named The Owl and Thistle right before us like a beacon of light calling my name. But alas, it was not to be. My husband would not eat anything they served in there, just not his type of food. So the hope was lost and we went to another restaurant where he could have a hamberger and my daughter and I feasted on seafood until it was coming out of our ears. So we went on to the pikes market and I believe I had a short circuit of the brain with the size and magnitude of things on display for sale. It was hard to decide what I could buy...too much information going through my eyes to my brain! So to finish up this story I have always had a fascination and love for owls and Scottish Thistle (Im Irish and Scottish)so I collect them wherever I find them. I could only take a picture of the Owl and Thistle Pub sign, but I love it and it makes me happy to look and it and remember how we found it! Happy Sunday everybody!