New Starts, New, Old Friends and New Beginnings (not necessarily in this order)

Dear friends!

I hope this finds you well and happy.

I have had a great last few weeks but have been virtually absent from blogging, Facebook and Instagram. 

Thank you for the many notes of concern. 

My folks were in town for an almost three week visit. 

It was wonderful! 

They will be moving to Michigan to live with us in late April or early May.

You may or may not know that my beautiful mom has Alzheimer's disease, as did her older sister and as does her younger sister.

We used the time of their visit to figure out what did and didn't work well for them.  As a result, we will be making some home renovations to accommodate them and hope to be ready (or almost) for them when they move.  I will have to take some before and after pics to show you when it's all done, which may not be when they move, but at least we have a plan. 

Her having Alzheimer's, as it is for everyone, is absolutely devastating, heartbreaking and painful. 

It seems to me to have progressed quickly but she is still functional and still knows who we are (thank God).  She has a lot of confusion though and really needs someone to watch over her at all times.  Moving in with us is a safety net for her and for my dad and
we are very happy to have them join our family. 
My mom loved being around Sophie and Gracie (and the rest of us too) so I think this is a great move for her. 
My dad will be joining Rob's golf league which he is very excited about.  He hasn't been able to go play a round of golf (and trust me, he's GOOD) in a couple of years so that should be fun for him.  All in all, the stress of caring for someone with Alzheimer's will be spread among several people rather than all on my dad.

"It's a good thing." 

In stitching news, I have completed the gorgeous, yellow house on the Yuletide Welcome Sampler from Plum Street Samplers (Paulette).



I totally love how this is turning out and have decided what to do with the grass so that I can leave it out year round but you'll have to wait for that!

Love this deer.

I recently put this aside to start on a SAL called Joyful World.  I'm sure you've seen this on many blogs/facebook/instagram posts.  The first block, with its darling fox, drew me in but I still resisted.  

The problem was, the 2nd block sort of put me off - it was a couple of ducks in love but they just didn't do it for me.   Then I saw the March block, thought it was super cute and had to jump in. So, as you can see, I changed the February block to a couple of Shepherd's Bush inspired sheepies and changed the purple flowers to red.  For me, February just had to have some red in it.

Is this a boy and girl sheep in love or a momma in love with her baby? 
You decide! 
I think it turned out pretty cute.  If/when Maja uses sheep in the design, I may have to do something else.
Time will tell.

I am stitching this on 32 count linen, one over one with a combination of fibers in my stash.
I am not keeping track of colors used, just toss them in a bag once I've used a color so they'll all be together to use again, if need be.

The other thing I'm not doing is filling in the lacy corners of the border.  I kind of like the lacey look and think the symmetry will be really pretty.



In fun news, I got to meet Chris from Tot Hill Farm Stitches blog.  She often travels to Detroit and we finally got to meet up.
We had a lovely time chatting and the few hours I got to spend with her really just flew by.  Chris is a fascinating person with great stories about her travels.  I admire her for doing all the things she does when she's on a trip - far more than I'd EVER do by myself.  I look forward to the next time she's in town!





Because my folks will be moving in, in the next few months, we've been doing some contracting and some shopping.  Rob and I had a great day looking at closets for the room they will occupy (currently the dining room) and then we hit a fun bar for lunch and a few cute shops.  I thought you might enjoy a few pics.

A beautiful antique desk top cubby….



The shopkeeper's chair.  I have two round-seat chairs that are similar in my craft room that I may have to do this to.
Love.


A collection of fun tape measures:


Either an old box, covered in vintage inspired paper or an actual old cubby.
It was not wood but heavy cardboard.
Loved it.


Darling bunny hand towels.




My new family room arrangement, which used to be my living room.  We moved the brown, family room, leather sofa into the living room where it will better go with the two red, leather recliners my folks will be bringing with them to Michigan.  
The boys hate this room.
HATE.
It's not as lay around comfy as before.
But I kind of love it.
I do need a new shade for the hanging lamp and it will have to be moved back into the corner a bit, but I like the arrangement.
.

This is the little gathering of goodies on the small chest on the left.
It includes a pic of Rob and Matty when he was about 1 month old,
a few stitching treasures and Tyler's first pair of glasses that he got when he was 8 months old.
Treasures, all.




Finally, to go with the blue checked chairs are Rob and me in blue, too.
He's wearing checks, I'm wearing stripes and I didn't notice till we went to take this goofy pic in the mirror that we looked like Mutt and Jeff.


That's it for today, my friends.  Thank you so very much for all the wonderful comments on my last post about how you build your houses.  There are lots of similarities and lots of differences, too.
But, we all get to the same place in the end.

Have a most wonderful week ahead.

Be well.
Peace,
Terri