Birth sampler, and the end of the Temari drought

This is the other sampler I visited while I was in Michigan.



You can see the date, August of 1992, which probably means it was done in 1993. (I usually request a year's grace to complete a baby sampler.) My niece, who this was for, is getting ready to go to college! I'm ashamed to say her brother never received a sampler; I should probably remedy that situation.

This is the temari I finished today:



I picked out this pattern on TemariKai (I think, I can't find the pattern back now) months ago and wrapped the mari. I marked it, but then it sat for weeks and weeks. Then several weeks ago I picked out the 12 colors needed, and then it still sat. I would pick it up, look at it, read the instructions, and then put it down again. I'm not quite sure what the problem was; I think I was intimidated by the pattern. It is an all-over pattern, and the final outcome doesn't look anything like the pattern you use to stitch. It took me a whole week of stitching. The outermost (darkest) bands are not all equal width, but you would have to study the temari very carefully to discover that. I love how it turned out, but I'm very glad it is done. Hopefully now the temari will start flowing again.

We spent the day today with kids and grandkids. We celebrated P's 7th birthday (a week late) and we had a lot of fun. We gave him a radio controlled car, the biggest complaint is that the batteries have to charge for 6 to 8 hours before he can play with it. He promised to call tomorrow to tell us how it works.

Blogiversary

While I was on vacation my blogiversary came and went without notice. I started on July 22 last year. I can hardly believe I've been doing this for a year, and I can believe even less how much I am enjoying it. The fact that other people enjoy it, and read it, is frosting on the cake.

I enjoyed vacation. My father's parties were a great success. The family stayed together at a hotel in Grand Rapids. We enjoyed the pool and the free breakfast; we had a pizza party together in the lobby, and a birthday party for my 10-year old nephew. We (the royal we; my SIL did all the work) held an open house for my dad on Saturday; we figure close to 150 people came. The family again joined together for a dinner at Pietro's in Grand Rapids on Saturday evening. We had a private room, and it was loud and chaotic, and so much fun! Then on Sunday morning we worshipped together. My dad is a pastor, and he shared how thankful he is for his life, his ministry, and each one of us. There was hardly a dry eye in the room when he was done. DH and I stayed through Monday, the official birth date, just so there wouldn't be too much of a let-down, and took my folks out for lunch.

I really enjoy visiting Grand Rapids; many of my projects from long ago live there now.

Jack in the Pulpit

Trillium

Lady's Slipper

I stitched these three pictures for my mom when she lived in the woods on a lake north of Muskegon, Michigan. The patterns are from Just Cross Stitch Magazine. I modified the bottom one from the yellow flower found in the magazine to the pink you see here, since the pink flower grew on their property. My parents don't live in the same place any more, but these pictures are a lovely reminder of that time and place.

I'm sorry the pictures are so blurry, I'm not sure how that happened.

I visited another project as well, I will share that later.