My Baby is 7!

My sweet boy, who came home so very tiny and fragile (5 pounds 4 ounces and 3 weeks early), now stands 53 inches tall and weighs 80 pounds. At 7 years old.

He's up to my armpits already, unbelievable as it seems... and he is the light of my life.

We celebrated on Saturday so that he could have all weekend to play with his new toys. It was such a great day, enjoying his joy, delighting in his delight (I totally cheated... pressing M&Ms into frosting just didn't feel like much of an accomplishment, but boy, did he love that cake!)

And I'm sure you understand that my Mama's heart also felt grief. So many of those little lives taken in Connecticut were the same age as my baby. Just 7, or turning 7 soon. I held him (and her) tighter, cherished him (and her) with more vigor.

Purposed to make this celebration so special, so that he feels how much he's loved down to his very bones.

I also hugged his teacher extra tight this morning when I dropped him off at school. She understood.

And later this morning, I'll be arriving with a cooler full of TCBY to share with his classmates. Each of those little people is so precious, and I look forward to sharing a special treat with them.

This boy of mine has the power within him to change the world.

We all do.

He may spend most of his free time playing wii games and building with his LEGOs and giggling with his sister, but he knows how to LOVE.

And Love is the only thing that can make a real difference in the lives of this hurting and broken world.

Happy Birthday, my kind, clever, persistent, uninhibited, happy-hearted Boy. I love you with every atom in my body.

*NEW* Sarah E Schall 1850 & Sarah's Companion (Two Faithfully Reproduced Antique Samplers)

Found in two completely different locations, within a few months of each other, there is no historical connection between these two sweetly naïve samplers. However, there are so many similarities in condition, style, color, that I felt I had to put them together in one pattern booklet.

Sarah E. Schall was nice enough to include her name and the year, along with miscellaneous motifs and another name. Her teacher perhaps? The linen of her sampler is worn to a gauzy-thin web.

The sampler I’m calling “Sarah’s Companion” is undated and unsigned. Her linen is also worn to a soft and fragile state.

I imagine the girls that stitched these letters and motifs were of similar background and means, and most likely worked their samplers within a decade or two of each other.

I do hope you enjoy this charming pair. Just because their stitches weren’t so skilled or spectacular as many others of their time were, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be added to the selection of authentic reproductions available today.

Sarah E. Schall 1850
Stitch Count: 106 x 98
Model stitched on Picture This Plus 28ct. Mello
Using flosses from The Gentle Art: 7019 Pomegranate, 7048 Old Hickory, 7092 Otter Creek
Frame by Valley House Primitives

Sarah’s Companion
Stitch Count: 102 x 145
Model stitched on Picture This Plus 28ct. Mello
Using flosses from The Gentle Art: 7019 Pomegranate, 7048 Old Hickory, 7060 Picnic Basket, 7061 Caramel Corn, 7080 Endive, 7092 Otter Creek
Frame by Valley House Primitives

This booklet is now available in my etsy shop, and will be going out to my distributors and the shops on my automatic shipments list soon. If you prefer to bypass etsy and order directly through me, you can send me an email: beth@heartstringsamplery.com 

PDF Patterns

Did you know that a portion of my designs are available as PDF downloadable patterns? Well they are.

I have not, nor do I ever intend to give permission to any other seller to offer my designs in this format, so be aware that if you see them out there in cyberspace, being sold by anyone other than me, that they are pirated copies (and please let me know!).

I just decided to add two designs to my list of available PDFs...

I Sew'd My Heart, which many of you received as a free chart when you sent me a photo for my Around the World collection. Now available for purchase in my etsy shop or by contacting me directly (and still available for free if you want to play along and follow the rules as seen here).

And Partrige, Pare, & Turteldove, an early Christmas design of mine that I originally made available for a just short time. I still get requests for it from time to time, so I've permanently added it to the list.

Our Tree

12/12/12... I feel like I should be posting something ground-breaking in significance. I have a friend whose son is turning 12 today... that's pretty significant.

But no... I have nothing. Just some pictures of our Christmas tree.

One morning, late last week, the Farmboy left for work with a promise that he would do his best to get home before dark so that we could cut down our tree in photo-graphable light.

The kids were waiting with much excitement when he pulled into the driveway... Santa hats on! Boots on! Festive happiness bubbling!

The tree had been chosen days before... last row, sixth one down from the kennel... tallest, fullest one in our collection.

But not so tall and full that the almost-seven-year-old couldn't help by carrying the top end.

I had my trusty camera out, but wasn't holding my breathe that I would be able to capture any of the moments with much clarity. But once again, my gem performed better than expected, and although blurry, drew in so much more light than I thought possible.

This is the second year now that we've cut a tree from our own little Christmas tree plot. Fat and full, but still a bit on the short side, we were still so proud to bring it into the house and bedeck its branches with sparkling bits of memories.

We made sure to hang those new Beaver ornaments far away from the trunk of the tree, just in case they decided they wanted a snack.

Where Mushrooms Grow

They're all over these days, those little umbrella funguses. Popping up in groups and as individuals. We like to play "Mushroom Hunt", and constantly have our eyes on the ground when we're out walking.

There's something about these little microcosms that always get my imagination firing. They make such whimsical little vignettes, growing there among the mosses and leaves.

Sprouting inside rail holes in fence posts.

Brown and white, purple, pink, slimy or dry. They are sure to shelter tiny little fairies during our plentiful Pacific Northwest downpours.

I know that if I were a fairy, I would certainly spend time cozy under one of these fabulous parasols.

I would probably also swing around their center poles just like Gene Kelly and the lamp post.

And then, when the rain stopped, I would bounce from cap to cap until I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

Too bad I'm not a tiny little fairy, eh? I'm sure I would put on a good show.

If...

If I were a Magi, I would have left the Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh at home.

I would have brought Him coffee. Dark roast. Organic.

Meanwhile...

Down in our canyon... the Beaver Family has been busy.

Just a few months ago, the view from above our bridge looked a bit like this:

It now looks like this:

Talk about a Front Row Seat! To be able to meander down our road and see nature at work right before our very eyes is pretty cool.

We are being much more watchful of this new development than usual though, because they are building such a system of new dams that there is potential for our road to get flooded. As our only connection with the other half of our property, we're not thrilled with the idea.

The Farmboy already has a plan of action figured out in case he has to do a bit of de-construction.

There's also a new dam built just below the bridge and around the corner... where we used to have a gravel bar perfect for rock-skipping...

 we now have rising water.

Our fascination with these incredible Beavers is growing. We hope we don't have to tamper with their industriousness, because we want to remain Good Neighbors.

In honor of our farm mascot, I picked out a special ornament for the kids' 2012 Christmas tree...

Can you even believe how perfectly adorable they are?

The etsy artist who made them was so easy to work with and quick to get them finished. She even offered to add the thread loops for hanging when I told her they were to be ornaments. Go check her shop out, and if you can't resist one of her offerings, tell her I sent you!

For Reals

Many, many years ago... can't remember exactly how long, but most likely before our firstborn... a friend from church gave us a sad little root-bound shrub that her nursery-owning father was going to throw out.

She told us it was called a Glory Bower.

We kept expecting it to die. But it grew, slowly but surely, and now is taking leaps and bounds each Spring.

We never did much research on it, just waited to see what it would do.

A few years ago, it put out its first blooms, pretty little white pods that opened into fragrant starburst blooms.

That was the year we noticed that the leaves smell like Peanut Butter.

And this year we spotted something new.

This.

For reals... I did nothing to re-touch these photos.

Have you ever seen such a combination of colors? Other than in some tropical climate, I mean? This is the Pacific Northwest, after all.

Right now, at the onset of the season of bleak colors, to see such vibrance is absolutely delightful.

It took a long time, but this fabulous shrub is certainly living up to its name.

Read more about it here.

Happy Monday!

May your day be filled with unexpected smiles!

A New Kind of Advent Calendar

I saw the idea a year or so ago, and immediately started planning to implement it this year. Instead of a traditional open-a-door-each-day, or other type of Countdown to Christmas, this "calendar" consists of a stack of wrapped books, each one telling a tale about Winter or Christmas.

It wasn't very hard to accumulate enough titles to make up the 25 days. I know... traditionally there should be 24, but I have 25, which means the last one gets read ON Christmas day. Its more about the fun of building excitement and learning all at the same time.

My stack of books is partially random, having accumulated about half the number needed over the last several years, gifts from friends, thrift store finds, hand-me-downs. The remaining books I chose based on reviews read online. I've read about other families who have the same tradition, but borrow the books from the library instead of purchasing them.

Each day between now and Christmas, the kids will get to choose a wrapped book at random from the pile, and we will read it together as a family. I can hardly wait to get started!

I figure that as the kids get older, we'll probably swap out some books for others, but a good portion of them are going to remain staples of this tradition.

If you want to see the list of book titles, I created a shelf over at Goodreads for you to peruse.

Do any of you have a similar tradition? Do you have favorite Christmas stories that I don't have on my list? Have I inspired you to start the same tradition?