Little Red Riding Hood Embroidery

Happy Saturday!  I hope it is beautiful wherever you are, and that you are getting to spend your weekend just as you'd hoped you would.

I finally finished the Little Red Riding Hood embroidery that I started way too long ago.  (You may remember it from here.)  I know this is a wonky mess, but it really ended up being a series of little experiments.  I say I'm finished, but in truth, I'm thinking of adding a little cloud or two to the background before I completely quit the hand stitching.  This has been a project that has kept growing.  I started out to do just a quick outline of the picture, but then what is Red Riding Hood without a really red cape?  I had to fill it in somehow, so I attempted a small chain stitch.  After I did, the tree called for more detail.  I stitched in just a little bit (I don't even know if that is a legitimate stitch.) to suggest a bark like texture, but it didn't look right with just a few here and there.  So, of course,  I went ahead and filled in the whole trunk.  You know where that led...  those green globs of  leaves had to be filled as well.  That resulted in a wonky, haphazard mess, but I just left it that way.  This was just for fun and to get me back into the swing of embroidery.  It still keeps wanting to grow,  now it seems to need a little background.  Especially since it got a stain on it that needs covering somehow.  Oh, well, I'll see what I can do with that and then try to figure out what I'm going to do with it when I'm finished stitching.  Any ideas?  I'm leaning toward making a small quilted wallhanging.

Latest Sewing and Embroidery

Here are a few of the things I've been working on lately

 another bag...

embroidered pillow cases...

a little owlie bag with vintage button eyes...

the end, for now

A Beautiful Quilt from a Beautiful Mother

Every year I try to find the words to express the love I have for my mom. I struggle in vain to paint a picture of her life in words. It always comes up out of focus, and not quite what I wanted to say. She is such a beautiful woman inside and out and has such a desire to help others and live for Jesus. She would do anything for anyone if she truly believed it will help them in some way.

She and my dad, who is wonderful too, raised the five of us kids, along with three foster kids. There were other children that lived with us for little bits of time while their lives for what ever reason was out of its normal sync, and they needed a loving place to land for a while. My mom took care of different senior adults, family members, and some that weren't, not because it was her job, or for any financial benefit, but just because she cared.

When she and my dad had a business, she had a way of getting into the heart of a person in a short amount of time. People who just walked in to look around or buy something would find themselves confiding in her, and would often come back just to seek her council or prayer. She is a prayer warrior for sure, and I'm sure there were many times she prayed for people's problems longer than they did themselves.

She can't do everything she would like to physically at this time. She's had a few health problems lately and her body, which has always been strong, is not as quick to back up her intentions as it once was, but we hope that will turn around soon. However, it hasn't stopped her from doing what she can for others.

I've always wanted to be the kind of mother she is. I know I'll never live up to that. I want to be a daughter that makes she and Daddy proud. That's a little easier goal, because they are proud of me without me having to earn it, but still, I want to live up to their ideals.

I am truly blessed and just to show my mom's special kind of love... while she has been feeling very poorly, she's been working to make this beautiful, hand embroidered quilt for me. Isn't it gorgeous?? Not only is it a thing of beauty, but I can just feel her love surrounding me every time I wrap it around myself. It will be like being hugged in a way only a mother can hug you as you drift off to sleep, and I'll bet I'll sleep just like a baby under it, content and full of the warmth only love can bring.