Rachel and retirement

My husband retired last week. It is still too new to really know how it is going to work out with my teaching and designing but anytime things change there is a period of adjustment.  He brought home all the personal things from his office and I found this photo of Rachel when she was somewhere between 2 and 3. I thought it was so precious that I wanted to share it with you. The other photo is of the 4 grandchildren about a year ago. Some how your heart is never the same when those little people come into your life.

Blackwork wall

My two oldest darling daughters, who have been staying with us to save some money, have moved out.
They were able to buy a house a couple of months ago and so I now have my dining room back (one of them used the dining room as her bedroom).  I miss them but am so pleased for them.
As I was putting things back into the room I decided to change the picture that had been on one of the walls for years. There are a number of my original embroidered pieces that have had no where to be hung so they are stored behind the chair in my bedroom. I thought it might be fun to take some of them and hang them on the wall. Here is the new grouping for the dining room. It is fun to see how my stitching has evolved over the years.

Here is the next installment  of Faith, Hope and Charity.  The quarter shows the scale of the stitching.

This project is going to take nearly forever but I have put in some more stitches on Faith, Hope and Charity Although it doesn't look like it would be, this project is relaxing because I don't have to make any decisions as I stitch.

We went to the cabin the first weekend in October for a getaway and it was so peaceful. The aspen leaves have started turning and the colors are wonderful.

Sanibel and embroidery

Here is the embroidery that I have been working on for quite a while. The rectangle is one page of the multi-page pattern. I figure that it is at least a 5 year project. This is one piece that the aim is to enjoy the process instead of looking for the end. As I finish significant sections I will post them.

The first week of September I went to Florida to teach at the national seminar of the Embroiderers' Guild of America. This year the seminar was in Naples Florida. I have been on the Atlantic coast but never on the Gulf coast before. This the view from the hotel room looking at the gulf.

We went to Sanibel and Captiva Islands and walked along the beach and looked at shells. Most of them were small but I have never seen so many intact shells. Usually the shells on the beaches where I have been broken. Because of a key locked in the trunk, we spent a few extra hours there but I did find some beautiful flowers on the edge of the beach.

We have just come back from the most amazing trip. My husband has always wanted to go back to New Zealand and I have always wanted to go there.... so we finally did it. The long plane ride was not too much fun but well worth it. We started in Christchurch on the south island and ended in Auckland which is on the north island. We were greeted the first night by a small earthquake but were so tired we just went to sleep anyway. We sort of zig zagged our way up the country. It is fall in New Zealand but it is still so green. I am used to the world turning shades of brown in autumn. This is picture of flowers on a beach and the next one is of the garden around a place that we stayed in Waitamo. This plant was so amazing - it is at least 2 feet across but I loved the great graphic image.

This is what we came home to.. the snow always seems to get my crocuses. ....Poor things sticking up out of the snow.

I am working on a new design and took it with me to work on. I ought to be able to get something done is three weeks, or at least that was the plan. I did get a bit done and here is the progress.

It has been a busy January and February this year. I have made progress on Faith, Hope and Charity. I decided that rather than move the linen to work on the top of the figure, I would do some of the background around the feet. Here is how it looks so far. I find it soothing to just stitch with out a deadline.

For much of my work the stitching is the third part of a process. First is the idea, then comes the design work, the stitching is next and then the hard work of writing the instructions for the pieces. Sometimes one of the hardest parts of designing is thinking up the title. This year for some reason as I thought of the design the title came with it. Here is part of one of them. I love to see how the thought turns into a stitched piece. There are always some surprises along the way.