Decisions & Distractions...

 I've snapped a photo of this robin.

 She is a sassy robin and can be found most days chasing other birds away.

  She likes to forage in the seed droppings on the ground.
 I'm not sure if she is eating seeds or finding bugs in the seed droppings, or both.
She likes grape jelly, too!

You can even find Miss Sassy Robin on this sampler.

I chose lighter shades of floss for this piece.  

I was aiming for a more prairie style feel, something that will fit in nicely with
lots of old farmhouse whites and ironstone collections.

For the past week I been trying to decide a finish for this piece...
frame it,
or something more special?

I am finding,

 the older I get,

 the harder it is for me to

 make a decision...

Here is a sneak at a second sampler,
 waiting for a finish decision.

This piece is worked on the Corn husk linen and I love it!  

The greenish-yellow linen is a perfect canvas for the selected spring-time shades of flosses.
Frame it?
Make it into a pillow?
I can't decide.

Maybe there are too many distractions to make decisions...

Like this...

(Miss Sassy Robin has built her nest in this tree)

and these...

My last blog posting I showed you photos of the Baltimore Orioles. 

 These are snaps of the Orchard Oriole.  

They are a deeper rusty orange and smaller in size.

  Not quite as showy as the Baltimore Oriole.

  Males are rust and females are yellow.  

They are a very skittish, nervous, sort of bird.

 Any movement by my window and they are gone. 

 It has taken them some time  to get comfortable

with the lady on the other side of the window,

and I was able to snap a couple pics yesterday. 

When is it my turn?

And then there was this guy

 distracting me at lunchtime yesterday...

Who is he?

A new dinner guest?

It's a smaller bird, and

I figured it was a warbler of sorts,

but,

 I couldn't identify him...

My bird book tells me this is a

Cape May Warbler.

I only have seen one male and no females.

According to the book, he is off his normal migration route. 

 He is a  further west then normal.

He seems content with the Orioles.

Maybe he thinks he is an Oriole!

This Cape May Warbler is migrating 

to the forest of the Northern United States and Canada. 

 He has made his way here,

all the way from the West Indies,

where it winters. 

 During the winter months he fed on nectar

 that it collects with it's unique curled, semi tubular tongue.

  During the nesting season 

it will feed on spruce bud worms.

He is currently enjoying grape jelly and oranges in Iowa

 with the Orioles.

From my reading,

he is

 awaiting for a strong southerly wind 

that he will ride further northward to it's place of nesting.

Amazing!

Isn't he beautiful?

Look at those delicate little bird legs!

Wishing you all a day of good decisions and good distractions,

Brenda

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you Mom's & Grandmother's,

Happy Mother's Day!

 

 

I have enjoyed a day of phone call greetings from both of our kids,

and

a day of quiet stitching.

Yesterday was spent having lunch and shopping with

my 85 year old Mother & sisters...

 

Mom was pretty quick to let every

waitress and store clerk know

that she was our mom...

she is so cute!

 

 

Mother's Day weekend also marks the return of the 

 Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and Baltimore Orioles to our backyard.

Like clockwork, every year!

 

They are hungry little buggers...

so I've been busy with bird chores.

 

Hmmm....where is that grape jelly?

 

 

I am on my third large jar of jam,

 since Friday

and I've lost count on the oranges!

 

 (male Oriole in front, female in back)

 

I will enjoy this spectacular view from my kitchen window for about two weeks,

and then they are off...

 

 

 off to the rural countryside

 where they'll find some big old Cottonwood tree

and weave their hanging

pouch-like nests,

in which to raise their young.

 

 

 The grosbeaks are here just to enjoy the feast of safflower

 and then...

 

(male Rose Breasted Grosbeak)

 

they will continue their journey

a bit farther northward

to their nesting grounds.

 (female Rose Breasted Grosbeak)



 

life is good.

 

Wishing you all a week full of sunshine,

Brenda

New Patterns!

Happy to show new patterns for your stitching pleasure!

"PATRIOTIC POPPIES"

 

Probably my favorite piece from this release group,
I hope you all like it as well!
 It was an enjoyable stitch
 and
so fun to add the little wool embellishments.
 Design is worked on 40 count Doubloon linen over two threads,
 using hand dyed threads.  

"SWEET VIOLET"

This is sort of outside of the box for me...

I don't use a lot of purple when I design,
but I enjoyed working with a different color palette. 

The 2014 color of the year is Radiant Orchid,

 I thought it would be fun to design a piece around this years color.

Orchid flowers didn't quite do it for me,
but the little wild violets growing in shady spots in our yard came to mind...

 what mother hasn't received a small handful of these from their child? 

Pattern or a finish of this design would make an a sweet Mother's Day gift.
Add the Kelmscott Pansy Needle Minder (found here), linen and floss kit
along with this chart and you have lovely gift for Mom!    

This piece is worked on 40 count Espresso linen over two threads,
using hand dyed threads.

"TIME FOR HALLOWEEN"

 Seems like we are always looking for different and fun ways to finish our work.
 These sweet little Halloween fobs are just that!
  I sold these finished a few years ago
 and
decided to offer them as a chart for all those of you
who have inquired about them over the past years.
The pattern includes one pocket watch to get you started
 and
I have extra watch frames for those who want to stitch more.
The  little Halloween creatures are worked on 40 count Confederate Gray linen
over 2 threads.
Letters taken from pages of old books
 and
sheet music spell out spooky words.
These little fobs are fun to place on a chain and wear,
 or use as hanging ornaments.

"MANOR AT STRAWBERRY HILL"

 Pattern for a larger punch needle piece that makes for a wonderful little table-top mat.
 Various old school girl samplers that hang upon my walls
 inspired me to create a punch needle design
 that had a sampler feel to it
.  The piece is worked entirely in hand dyed threads.

You can visit our website for more detailed descriptions of these new patterns.


After a cold and rainy week,
I think we are in for a warm up today!
I could use a little solar energy.

It's Friday....yay,
Brenda

For Thee From Me...

Please accept this free little chart

in celebration of May Day.

From me

to thee...

Pattern Name:	For Thee From Me
Designed By:	©2014 With thy Needle and Thread

 Click here to download charts pdf file.

The colors listed on the color key are just suggested colors, please feel to use your colors of choice.

Remember to send photos of your finishes, I look forward to seeing all the different finishes!
 I'll be sharing finishes of this design on future blog postings.

When posting photos of finished items or online postings relating to this chart, I ask that you link back to this page and credit given to With thy Needle & Thread.  This chart is for your own personal use only.
  ©2014 With thy Needle & Thread


"The fair maid, who the first of May goes to the fields at break of day & washes in dew from the hawthorn tree, will ever after beautiful be."- Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme

Have a good day,
Brenda

Hello Monday...

how are you?

It's going to be a busy week!

Patterns are scheduled to print this week,

the wait is about over.

I really enjoyed stitching these,

here are a couple final peeks...

PATRIOTIC POPPIES is a quick stitch for your summer decorating.

 Fun patriotic piece, but not totally dedicated to the month of July.  

SWEET VIOLET  is just that, 

sweet!   

Have a good week everyone,

Brenda

Punching a Sampler!

I know there are many needle punchers (if that is a word?)

who don't cross stitch,

but are drawn to old samplers.

It is probably the sweet little motifs

that catch their eyes,

I would imagine...

I often times get email request

asking if I have any plans of converting

a particular cross stitch pattern to punch needle.

Often times,

 I do.

This weekend I sat with sketch pad and drew up 

a design using some of my favorite

cross stitched motifs.

Rather then stitching thousands 

of tiny X's,

I am punching thousands 

of tiny loops...

a sampler in punch needle!

A blue fruit basket to symbolize

 fertility,

 wealth, 

health & happiness....

A little man to symbolize marital fidelity.

{There will be a little lady as well,

she is the symbol of life.

She is in her favorite chambray dress

and big-brimmed straw bonnet.}

The buildings on the old schoolgirl samplers symbolized the young embroiderers

home or school.

I punched a big house,

 with a red front door,

this is my house...

Strawberries, the perfect fruit ~ because there is no rind or pit to throw away...

they symbolize righteousness.

&

strawberry blossoms

for 

purity & foresight...

And this concludes the little sneak peeks, 

at what I've been up to,

and

 your days lesson

 on sampler motif symbolism.

Tis a very windy & chilly Sunday

with rain and storms in the forecast.

Spring seems to tempts us with a nice upper 70 degree day

and then we are back down to the 50's for several.

Spring,

 where are you?

Tomorrow it looks like we are in for

some severe weather and chance of tornadoes.

I am off to settle down in my stitching chair this afternoon,

and hope for a finish on this

 "larger then normal"

punch needle piece 

by evening.

Hope everyone has a good & productive week,

Brenda

E F G H I....where are you?

A big package arrived yesterday,

with a new, old sampler inside.

I opened it

and just sat with it on my lap and admired it.

So long, that I forgot to make supper... ;)

The fact that our needlework will outlast us

makes every stitch seem more worthwhile.

It's verse reads:

Why should I say tis yet too soon

to seek for heaven or think of death

a flower may fade before tis noon

and I this day may lose my breath.

Margaret was 11 years old.

She completed her sampler in 1825.

Sweet little meandering strawberry border...

There is some stitch loss in the alphabet.

It may take a bit of research through my library of sampler books to locate this alphabet

for the missing letters

if my eyes and magnification fails me. 

 The missing letters were probably stitched in purple floss. 

After studying many of my samplers,

front side to back,

I notice that the purple floss always fades

to a faint gray,

and was more susceptible to stitch loss.

Probably had to due with the dying process of that color of thread.

If you look real, real hard you will also see a little border between the rows of letters.

I can make out that there was a tiny orange center stitch with probably 4 purple stitches around it.

I may need to personalize this portion of the sampler, as it is pretty hard to make out what was stitched between the portion that I can make out.

E F G H I....where are you?

The antique is worked in wool and silk threads on canvas ground.

I will be working the reproduction in silks.

Looking for those exact floss matches...

Little red houses always tug at these heartstrings...

The bottom portion of the sampler is filled with all sorts of fun things to stitch...
a  red brick house with a garden,  a shepherd,  and a shepherdess tending their flock of sheep.

This will be my next project to tackle.
Hoping to start charting this weekend
 and it will be my "casual summer stitch".
 Hoping to release the chart sometime this fall.

With thy Needle & Thread,

Brenda

I Spy...

It's a beautiful & sunny Saturday morning!

The earth is starting to warm up,

green plants are beginning to stretch and yawn,

peaking from under winter blankets of leaves.

My most favorite time of the year.

I spy

 Columbines...

Tulips...

 Wild violets...

{Note to violets} Hurry up sweet violets,

I need a small handful of your little purple blooms!

You are needed for a prop in a photo shoot...

 and,

I spy...

a fluffy spring sheep!

Sweet Violets will include a spring sheep.

  The vast majority of  those that left comments here,

and on Facebook,

 wanted a sheep.

The sheep can easily be omitted

for those who don't do sheep,

just extend the flower stems down to meet the pasture.

The sheep just seemed to work for this design,

am glad I went with this version.

 

I am going to spend the day outdoors,

 cleaning off the flowerbeds.

  Am also thinking,

 it would be a great day to put some meat in the smoker....

maybe some ribs or pork shoulder,

 and a couple of chickens.

Hope you are enjoying a beautiful,

 sparkly,

 Saturday in your little

 "neck of the woods".

With thy Needle & Thread,

Brenda

Violets & Eyelets

You may recall from my last post 

that I've been busy stitching

Spring Violets.

I hinted about adding wool accents...

Simulating the cross stitched violets

into wool ones...

I found  the perfect match,

in wool felt,

to create these tiny little wool violets.

Precious...

about the size of a dime.

See the little bumblebee?

I think I am close,

perhaps just a wee-tad smaller

in size...

 

Love the texture that this will add to the overall piece.

And since this piece has added detail,

I thought adding some little eyelet stitches for the grass was in order...

When I chart a design, it is never a "one and done".  How's that for some basketball terminology? 

 Any UCONN fans here? 

If so, congrats!

 They knocked my team out (ISU) in the Sweet 16, so I cheered them on. 

Okay, back to stitching...

When I chart a design, I always have 2 or more versions of the design.  They are all slightly different.  Then I get to choose which one I like best.  I am to the point of my stitching on this design that I need to decide if I am going to go with version 1 or 2.  Do I stitch the sheep on this piece, or do I leave it off?  Help me!  Do you want a sheep or not!???

The overall size of this piece is what I would consider small. 

 Not sure if a frame is in order

 or a finish into a little cupboard tuck or hanger.  

Our snow is now gone, 

we had a nice little shower last evening.

It smells like spring outside today,

yayyyy!!!

Spring Violets coming soon...

real ones,

wool ones,

and cross stitched ones!

{P.S.}

I have been having issues with spammers commenting.

Argghhhh...

I have switched my commenting over to moderating them,

hoping to deter these spammers.

Anyone else having problems with this?

Have a good day,

Brenda

Happenings...

I could have run outside this morning 

and shot a picture of our 5" of  wet & heavy snow

 that fell overnight...

but I won't,

I will spare you.

Am sure you are as ready for some spring-like weather,

 as I.

A few weeks ago we traveled to Colorado to spend a long weekend with Matthew.

He and a group of friends rent a condo for the ski season.

I am deathly afraid of heights.  

He failed to tell me this condo sits at the top of the mountain.

I should have known better, I know.

Look out the windows and you are at the tree line.

Pretty view, 

I don't disagree.  

However,

 I don't like that out of breathe feeling...tends to put me into panic mode.

Walking up steps is an effort,

getting dressed is an effort,

putting your groceries in the car is an effort.

I think I could lose weight if I stayed there long enough!

Everybody skied, but me.

  I ventured down the mountain,

 white-knuckled,

 and shopped the outlet mall that sits at the bottom.  

A stream runs through the outlets and it is always fun to watch

people fly fish the stream.

There was plenty of time for stitching, too.

However, my arm is still not allowing me to stitch for extended periods of time.

I did finished the Mary Jane Smallman sampler on the Colorado trip.

She is awaiting her frame...

The following week I spent a few days with the grand kids.

Daddy was in Iceland on business, 

and Dave and I helped out with the kids,

and kept Mommy company.  

They are growing up so fast.

Beckham starts kindergarten this fall

 and 

Avry  turns two this month...

how did this happen so quickly?

I've had some time to chart some new designs.  

I use two computer monitors at my desk.

  One for charting and the other is currently set on the Decorah Eagle Cam.

The first eaglet hatched on Wednesday.

  I happened to be sitting at the computer charting a design

 and was able to witness the first hatch...pretty cool!

 Bob, the Decorah Eagle Guy, was on our local news last evening.  

He mentioned they were afraid that there would be no eaglets this year due to the 20 plus degrees below zero weather that we had during the incubation.  

These eagle parents are amazing birds. 

 They are dedicated to their eggs, 

no matter the weather conditions.

  He said something along the lines that the eggs have to remain at some 90 degrees and cannot get over some 100 degrees (can't remember exact degrees).  

When bad weather approaches the parent doesn't leave the nest.  

They can't, or the eggs would freeze.  

However, 

setting on the next too long

can raise the temperature of the eggs, which isn't good either.

There is a pip hole in egg number 2,

 guessing a hatch will happen today.  

Moving onto some new stitching...

I was looking at my floss color ring the other day.  It happened to be sitting on the kitchen table,

as I was eating a bowl of soup for lunch. 

  The above is how the colors laid out. 

 How pretty, I thought.

  Love those shades of purple,

 with the green and yellows...

 I don't use too much purple in my design work.  

What could I do with these colors that were haphazardly placed in front of me?  

So, I went to work.

The colors reminded me of all the little violets that are scattered in the shady spots of our yard,

each spring.    

What mother hasn't received a little hand filled with these spring-time flowers?

Spring Violets...

 and with any luck, 

the snow will be gone

 and I'll have real spring violets 

to use as props in the photo shoot

 for this piece.  

 Have planned some dimensional wool applique, 

along with the cross stitch in this piece...

we shall see where this takes me.

Have a good weekend,

Brenda

Lots of new goodies!

Good Tuesday Morning!

Some new arrivals in the shop to share with you...

A wonderfully prim candle holder that I am excited about and makes me think outside of the box a bit...

While it works for holding a grubby candle,

 looky at what else you can do with these great pieces!

Perfect bases for pinkeeps!

 

Here I am showing the Brambleberry Bunting Pinkeep Biscuit on top of the candlestick base.

Perfect!  I love it!

The black tin clamp easily adjusts to accommodate varying widths of table tops,

with a gentle squeeze.

I have a few design ideas swirling around in my head...

  watch for future designs incorporating these bases.

Speaking of pinkeeps...

Another new arrival in the shop are these wonderful smelling crushed walnut shells.  

Lavender buds are sprinkled within the shells.

Fill you pincushions, small pillow tucks, etc with these for a nice feel and wonderful aroma! 

The crushed walnut shells also come un-scented.

Also new,  wonderful primitive Easter grass. 

 Doesn't this create a great bowl filler?

Also comes in a wonderful green.  Bags are 8 oz, a very generous amount!

New patterns are flowing in daily as well, and I continue to add those as they arrive.

Hop on over to Country Stitches to see what's new!

 And for some stitching news,

 I am on to the words and border of a sampler that I am reproducing.  It has really been a fun stitch and I am loving the colors on this one.   The border  is very delicate, simple and small, the stitching of it is going rather quickly....yay!!  

Here's a little sneaky peeky...

Weather man is saying for the next week plus, we will be above zero degrees!  

Thank goodness, 

we been in the icebox all winter..

.maybe we will get to thaw out our toes!

Have a good day,

Brenda