Catching Up...

The journey of our lives take twists and turns through bright, happy places and gray, sad places.  Hopefully, both bring us to a place of peace, and help us to evolve throughout the years and help us to gain greater wisdom and insight.  Unfortunately, my own journey had to progress down a sadder path recently as my mother lost her 3 1/2 year battle with breast cancer late at night on June 20th.  The past few months she was in a tremendous amount of pain, and gratefully, she passed peacefully in her sleep.  I am grateful that she is not suffering anymore.  Her passing was quite a bit sooner than we had estimated (there was a six month window), but as my sister says, "None of us has an expiration date on us."  My mother was an intensely private person, which is why I had not shared it up to this point.  I still need to honor her privacy, even after her passing, so please forgive me for not sharing more about her or her battle with this horrible disease.  It is as she would have wanted it.

I work for a really amazing employer and have a terrific boss.  While I already had some vacation time scheduled for the week of the 4th of July, my supervisor supported my taking additional time for me to process everything and get some rest.  So I ended up taking about 10 days off and we headed up to the very peaceful Redwood Coast of California, up in the Sonoma-Mendocino area, one of my favorite places.  There are about 40 miles of bluff trail there above the crashing surf, so I was able to take lots of walks with Liesl, eat some healthy food (and some unhealthy food), sleep and be peaceful.  It was extremely helpful, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to step away from life to regroup.

The house that we rented, right near the ocean, had beautiful water vistas, observable from a gorgeous window seat.

As you can see, I had everything assembled for a quiet afternoon: Liesl, floss storage box, books, magazines, stitchy project, ipad, pillows for napping and additional projects in the bag.  As I get older, I pack fewer clothes and more art supplies.  The benefit of renting a house is that there is generally a washer and dryer, so I can do laundry as needed.  So I spent a few afternoons, on my perch here, stitching and looking at the ocean.  Usually, if we are travelling, I can read a book a day.  This time my head was not clear enough to read, so I stitched a bit more, so that my mind could wander through its thoughts.

I did end up starting and finishing Little House Needlework's "Home Sweet Home".  It is a smaller project and was actually an easy stitch. Please pardon the wrinklies. I splurged on the designer's called for colors.  I used Priscilla Barnes' method of outlining the flower centers and petals first and then going around in a circle to fill in.  I do like how it turned out and I am thinking of how I would like to finish it.

Over the past few months I have made a number of stash purchases.  I am feeling a little guilty about that.  However, I have to say that I am particularly happy with the fact that I finally have my "unicorn" chart.  Several years ago, when Mirabilia made the announcement that certain charts would no longer be available, I passed on the opportunity to buy Seaside Kingdom.  I live near the Pacific Ocean and have always loved this chart. I have regretted all of these years not buying it at that time. I said to myself that if another opportunity for me to purchase it arose, I would make sure to get it.  I had no intention of buying it at the prices on ebay.  While doing so is a matter of personal preference, it was not for me.  So, I was pretty happy when the re-release happened. 

There was a lot of excitement around the re-release.  I was travelling on business at the time of the release, so I figured if it is meant to happen, it would be.  I did not go searching all over and saw that a number of people were buying up multiple patterns, so I let it go.  However, the evening I returned from my business trip, I saw a post on 123 stitch that Cecelia's Sampler in Branson, Missouri, still had some non-LOTF patterns left.  I placed an order with them and I am happy to say that Seaside Kingdom is here and ready for me to stitch.  If only I could place an order for more time to stitch...

Lastly, little Miss Liesl is turning 11 in a few weeks.  (Of course there will be a celebration!)  She is her usual sparkly and sassy self, however, is starting to have a few health issues, like arthritis and her heart issue now requires medication.  In addition, she is having an ultrasound this week, so I have been praying and thinking positive thoughts.   If you wouldn't mind sending up a prayer or good thoughts and energy for her, I would really appreciate it.    She means the world to me.  :)

Hope you have a week full of wonder and magical things!