Eight Years Ago...

This post is a bit self-indulgent. I don't do a 'blogversary' post each year. I don't even like talking about personal 'stuff' on here. But here goes....

I can't believe I started this blog eight years ago today.  Where has time gone?

So much has happened in our lives here. My father and father-in-law have both passed away in these eight years, we've taken on the care of my elderly mother who now lives with us, our daughter married and became a teacher, two grandchildren were born to our now SAHM daughter, our son graduated from college and has a rewarding career in his chosen field, we moved to a different home and city thirty some miles away from where we'd lived 23 years, my husband switched jobs, and I earned my master's degree.  There are many more changes, of course, in our lives but those are some of the major ones.  We are so grateful for all the blessings in our life.

Thanks for reading the blog. Not many leave comments, but I do appreciate them so much.  I can see there are page views, so I know folks are reading even if they're not talkin', and that's fine too. :)

I'm still stitching, but not near as much as I would like to be doing. My job teaching elementary school keeps me very busy, as do other responsibilities in my life. I dream of projects, just the same--and I do find time here and there to pick up my needle. I know that someday when I retire I will have more time to pursue it.  I miss my SAHM days at times, as I loved the freedom to create.  I am fortunate that in my job I am allowed to be creative, and it is something I enjoy immensely.

The old blog used to be here, but then it got hacked. I moved it here several years ago, and in the process I lost a lot of organization in the 'old' blog.  It was so frustrating to go to that older blog three years ago and find out I actually couldn't even get to it. It was completely hacked!  I was finally able to get there and send a reference to this one, but that's it.

So Happy Blogversary, and Happy Stitching!

Antique Sampler Framed

Several years ago I found an old and damaged sampler in a drawer at my parents' house.  It was amazing to me as this spot sampler had a red floral design in the lower right corner, just as I had put a red floral design in the bottom corner of a sampler I put together and finished in 2009. I put this design in my sampler one hundred fifty years later--and BEFORE I saw the antique spot sampler, ever. Amazing to me!  You can read more about that and see the comparison of the two samplers here.

The antique sampler was stitched by my Great-Great Grandma when she was around ten years old, across the ocean in Switzerland before she and her family moved to this continent.

I finally got it to our wonderful framer, and I am so  happy to see it displayed in our home.

The Spinning Wheel and Armoire are also from the 1800's

Thanks for stopping by today!

Back to the Routine

Sigh. Summer is over for me.

I returned 'unofficially' to work over two weeks ago, and I returned officially a week ago today.

Bye, bye summer. You were so relaxing....no stitching done for a few weeks now.

Updates on my Minnesota sampler are coming as well as a framed family heirloom --the sampler made by my Great Great Grandma in 1849.

Hope you're enjoying summer, if it's still summer where you are.

 Part of the Sampler stitched in 1849 by my Great Great Grandma