Bunny Tails is Here!!

A woolly appliqued Peter Rabbit with vintage sheet music and cross stitched accents...

+

a sweet little Spring-time Peep perched upon a pin keep of cheery daffodils, bunny & rippled vintage seam tape trim...

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a prim & proper bunny, made from wool, resting in a bed of blue bells... (i said resting, she has NO intentions of a blue bell breakfast)

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"Bunny Tails"

Introducing you to a NEW Spring-time-fresh pattern filled with quick & easy to stitch projects. Each project can easily be completed in a day!!

"Bunny Tails" pattern is now available for purchase here.

&

be sure to check out other NEW patterns from some of our favorite designers...

look for these patterns under the NEW ITEMS category & also check out the PATTERNS BY OTHERS category when visiting us online at www.countrystitchesonline.com

Do you want to hear a little bunny secret?

The kitty of our house has been naughty again...

Guess where our human Mom found me this morning? In the fireplace, lying in ashes. Thank heavens I landed bunny ears up! This means that that "puddy-tat" of ours was tip toeing up on the mantel and thought I was going to be his kitty toy for the night. Thank goodness the fireplace screen kept me safe and out of harms way from those big white paws of his. There for a while I thought I was having a bunny night mare! I heard our human mom tell him this morning, as she was dusting soot from my bottom, that he's very lucky that I've already had my picture taken for some pattern cover that I'm going to be featured on...

Whew, I'd say that that kitty of ours is one lucky kitty...hmmm, what say you?? No kitty treats today!

Love,

Bunny

Saddened by the news...

of the passing of Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle pattern designs.

Lisa was on her way to work when her car was swept away in flood waters, due to the raging floods/storms that crossed the mid west section of the country, earlier this week. Her body was found this morning.

While many of us never had the opportunity to personally meet Lisa, we knew her through her work. I loved everything she did, no one did Halloween better then Lisa.! Lisa's sudden passing is a major loss to the needlework industry, we will all miss her dearly. We can find comfort in knowing that the memory of Lisa will live on through her work that hang upon the walls of our homes.

Please keep Lisa and her family in your prayers.

With a heavy heart,
Brenda

More new colors...

We've added 7 new colors of the vintage seam tape ribbon!

Lavender

Spring Green

Turkey Red

Posie

Melon

Deepest Navy

Black

Check out all of the colors of this wonderful vintage seam tape ribbon here. It adds just the perfect finishing touch!

Have a good week,

Brenda

Bunny says,

"Just in cased you missed the above scrolling marquee"...

"Bunny Tails Too" will be released on March 5th! This will be a larger formatted pattern, including pattern instructions for 3 lovely Easter & Spring inspired projects. We call these our "3 for 2 Patterns"...3 patterns for the price of 2!

Think bunny tails, bunny whiskers, pretty silk bows, cross stitch, woolly appliqued tulips & daffodils...ahhh yes, tis it Spring yet???

I did see a Robin when visiting Des Moines last weekend, but that is further south and they are usually 10 degrees warmer and Spring arrives 2 weeks earlier there. Grandpa Dave & I are packing our bags and looking forward to a G-ma & G-pa weekend with little Beckham...should be full of fun!

Have a good weekend everyone,

Brenda

Spring-time Arrivals & Dust Bunnies

They're here...

the fresh tulips, daffodils and mini iris's have arrived!

It is this time of year I do the "to me - from me" thing and buy myself a bouquet of these lovely Spring-time flowers each week. I love that on one side of my window it may still be cold and snowy, but on the inside it looks fresh & Springy. I love this contrast....the overlapping of seasons, if you will.

So I carefully filled one of my favorite pitchers with the bouquet, added a few eggs and my very favorite antique treasure...a bunny who's made from a very coarse/scratchy sort of wool and filled with straw and has a cute little furry-type tuft for it's tail.

I came home from work yesterday and noticed this clump of fur on the floor and thought....hmmm Agassi (our family cat) must be doing some Spring-time shedding...you know, losing his winter coat, as they say... Upon picking it up and inspecting closer, I realized it was my bunnies tail. I look up and over to my little Spring-time flower display in the window and the bunny is missing! I now have a missing bunny, who's missing it's tail, and I'm pretty sure the said family cat is the guilty bunny snatcher. What would you think? I immediately went and checked out his water and food dish as this is usually where I find his "treasures"...but, no bunny. After more searching around the house I find my poor bunny wedged under one of my old cupboards, tail missing and well lets just say this bunny had a few dust bunnies on him! Bunny was a cat toy for the day. Isn't there a saying that goes, when the cat's away, the mice will play??? Doesn't he know he's not the mouse in this scenario????

Well...

After all is said and done, Agassi dusted my floors for me while I was at work yesterday, wasn't that nice of him??

Now, if I could only get him to do our laundry...

Have a good day,

Brenda

Look who's hopping down the bunny trail...

Our 7th in the "3 for 2" pattern series is nearing completion! Just as the other 6 were, this pattern too, will feature wool applique with our signature cross-stitched accent motifs & sheet music adornments, plus punch needle and more!

"Bunny Tails" coming soon!

PLEASE don't sneeze George!

George, as in George Washington...
In looking through some old photos from 2006, I stumbled upon a folder of photos taken by the dear husband. And since we are celebrating President's Day here in the United States I thought it would be fitting to share these pictures with you.

The dh was invited to hike the backside of Mount Rushmore (which is in the Black Hills of South Dakota). The park ranger each year invites a small group of people for this adventurous hike up the backside of the monument.

Standing on George Washington's head, hoping he doesn't sneeze or hiccup...

Makes my knees feel like rubber just looking at the picture!

The hike up the backside takes you through a craggy-rocky terraine lined with towering Ponderosa Pines.

And for the average tourist that doesn't get this opportunity of viewing Mount Rushmore from the backside,
take a peak...

Just kidding! Sorry, couldn't help myself...

This is the Hidden Hall of Records. It too is located on the backside of Mount Rushmore. It's original purpose was to house the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The original plan was revised, but the intent remained and in 1998 tablets with the story of our nation were sealed in a vault in the Hall of Records. They were placed in a teak wood box and placed in the titanium vault and finally sealed under a 1200 pound granite stone. The Hidden Hall is closed to the general public, due to the climb and public safety.

Upon reaching the top...
the fog rolled in,

adding peace & quietness of this spectacular monument

honoring our founding fathers.

Happy Presidents Day!

Have a good week,
Brenda

Can you guess...

where in the world is Walter??

Sorry, couldn't help myself... (tee hee hee)
Let me rephrase that,

Can you guess where in the world the dh was when he took these pics??

To be continued tomorrow...

Letting go...

the decision has been made

&

its been a tough decision...

I really wanted to stitch the "Ann Sandles - 1864" sampler myself

BUT

I know

if I don't get this out of sight & out of mind

SOON-LIKE,

it will be on my frame

and then I'll have 3 relatively large pieces in the works...

Aren't her colors lovely?

The sampler is of Scottish origin and spent some of it's life hanging in the Ottersburn Gallery - Dumfries Scottland. Ann Sandles was 13 years old when she made her last stitch on this Adam & Eve themed sampler. Verse reads - Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees.

So... it is with some sadness that I shall pass this off to one of my stitchers, but at the same time, know it will be in good hands and stitched meticulously.

Watch for this antique reproduction chart in late Spring/early Summer.

Good Bye Ann.

Your wish is our command...

I've had numerous emails asking, requesting & pretty pleasing whether I will be offering any of our new Easter-time punch needle patterns in cross stitch form.

I'm happy to inform you that the "BUNNY & CO" design has been charted for cross stitch and is on it's way to April, one of my stitchers. She said she would have a "hot needle" and get 'er done quick! I knew I couldn't possibly take one more cross stitch piece on. I am currently STILL working on the Ann Dickinson sampler while watching TV in the evening and another piece while supper is in the oven. Yes, remember I have ADD when it comes to stitching!! Then there is the "Ann Sandles 1864" piece that is totally tempting & teasing my needle. But I keep telling my self, "I must refrain" as I play with the floss pallet of this piece...the colors in this piece are wonderful! This is a reproduction of an antique Adam & Eve sampler from my collection. There are lots of reds in this piece (yum, love red samplers) and it's been charted using Gentle Arts flosses.

I'd like to say "THANK YOU" to all of you who ordered our new patterns...wow, there are going to be some busy folks out there! A large portion of these orders have already shipped...get your needles & threads ready!!

Do you like my hand's dish in the above photo?? This is a new treasure of mine and I love it to death. The dish is an old AVON piece and the moment I saw the raised wording "AVON" on the bottom of it, I knew I had to own it. You see, I spent most of my summer-time days as a young girl playing Avon lady, in fact my very first blog post was about this. I'd have my bag filled with those tiny little white lip-stick samples that my Mom's Avon lady would leave her and I'd sit on our front steps, pretending...talking to myself...and writing up AVON orders. My hot pink LOVE IS notebook folder was my order book. Anybody remember the LOVE IS character? Hmmm...wonder whatever happened to the hot pink LOVE IS folder??

New arrivals...

Tis always exciting getting packages in the mail from these two talented women! New patterns from Cheri @ Wednesday's Best and Wendy of Pineberry Lane arrived yesterday.

Cheri's new patterns incorporate simple piecing & cross stitched motifs.

A great mix!

Wendy's new sampler just hints love & Valentines...a piece that really could be kept out year round.

Stop by and visit us online to view all these wonderful stitching goodies...they are all temptations, that's for sure!

Love is knocking at your door...

A tiny little box of artisan chocolate sweets

for

my sweet heart ~

Remember... to remember your Valentine today with

a hug

a kiss

and three simple words...'tis the best gift ever!

Wishing you all Happy Valentine's Day,

Brenda

Hop on over...

to see all the new spring~time goodies

at

Country Stitches

We'll just pretend, shall we...

that this little junco really isn't freezin' his little bird legs off. We'll just pretend he's in a bed of spring time flowers, shall we???

There, now he's not freezin' his little tail feathers off...the magic of digital photography!

We are all freezin' our little behinds off here....brrr, this is much, too much, too cold for February!

But I remind myself that our feathered friends begin to think about nesting, courting and singing their territorial bird songs in this very month of February. These little sights and sounds give one hope, hope that warm, sunny and melting days are coming!

Did you know that in the month of February (in our neck of the woods) these little things are going on outside your very window...

The Great Horned Owl is nesting.

Cardinals begin to sing before sunrise, loud & long....this is their courting song.

The woodpeckers begin their drumming.

Melting begins and icicles begin to decorate the edges of roofs like lace-edging.

We have gained an hour and 2o some minutes of day light since the winter solstice.

Raccoons are out now most nights and become very vocal.

The house finch begins to sing their territorial songs.

And the true messengers of spring-time arrive! The first sightings of the Robin usually occur in this very month.. Hard to believe isn't it??

With that thought in mind...bundle up, stay warm...

just 38 days until Spring!

Have a good day,

Brenda

Just sitting here -

patiently waiting

much like a bird on her nest

does...

waiting for her new arrivals to appear.

NEW spring-time arrivals coming soon!

The wait is about over...

See the cute little grass-lined bird's nest? See the robin & quails eggs above? When the order of these arrived it was like a fresh breath of spring-time air...even though it was 20 degrees below zero the day they arrived. These sweet spring spirited items are now available for purchase on our website. Yesterday I tucked a dozen of them in an antique Ball jar with a zinc lid...simply wonderful!


I sat down last night and got my dear Ann Dickinson sampler out. I haven't had that piece in my hands for over 2 weeks. After 30 minutes of stitching, I realized I had used the wrong color of floss for the houses roof top...so needless to say not much progress was made. I hope to get back to some serious stitching on this piece, once again...error free stitching, of course!

Have a good week, gonna be another arctic blast coming our way this week....ugghhhh!
Brenda

I've gone loopy...

believe me, I reminded myself of this a time or two as I punched the detailed border of this 9" x 9" soon-to-be released design! A relatively large design for punch needle, but I'm really loving it. Will be well worth all of the labor of all those little punched loops.

The floral border consists of tallow berry sprigs, flower filled urns and tiny bees & butterflies...

See the tiny bees??? So sweet, they measures a mere 1/2" long. This detailed border opens up to a center cartouche featuring a quaint homestead, brown stag and an alphabet sampler. I'm thinking this larger piece deserves a frame...but stay tuned, that could change.

Do you see the bee?
The piece will be titled, "The Homestead Samplar".

New patterns coming soon...titles are as follows:

Cheep Cheep (punch needle)

Peter & Peep (punch needle)

The Homestead Samplar (punch needle)

Proverbs 31:13 (in punch needle & cross stitch)

Easter Frills (cross stitch)

We are still in the deep freeze here, but feel we missed the worst of the last winter storm.

Stay warm where ever you're at and be safe when digging out.

With thy Needle & Thread,

Brenda