~ Something Old and Something Even Older ~

Well I finally took the plunge and decided it was time to be brave and attempt to finish   Black Bird Designs Flowers for Sarah  from Thank You, Sarah Tobias.  This was a SAL I did with Sandra last year and although the stitching part was duly finished, the assembly part  kind of scared me so until a couple of days back it was hidden in the drawer with my other 'finished but not yet assembled 'WIP's.  I was always concerned about the putting together part of this beautiful design as it was stitched on a very long piece of linen, something like 54 inches long, plus it was quite an open weave linen and I could foresee issues in trying to get it all nice and even.  Anyway, here are the results.  I wasn't really happy with the colours either as although I stitched it in the suggested colours, it always looked rather 'wishy-washy' to me and didn't have the aged, vintage look that I was hoping for.  So, after I had put it together, I decided to once again be brave and dunk the whole thing in some coffee!!  Still not quite right so Plan B then came into play and I gave it a  spray with Parisian Essence.  I am now  pleased with the results - not perfect but okay and I am liking the rather crumpled look and don't plan on ironing out the wrinkles as it looks a bit rustic and  lets me dream that  it perhaps is something that has been hiding away in Great Grandma's workbasket for many years. Oh and yes, there is an extra bonus....the coffee makes it smells gorgeous :)

Now onto the 'something really old'....well, kind of really old!  Back in June, I took a trip back to New Zealand to visit my dearest, longtime friend who many years ago taught me to cross stitch and is now really ill. I think the second thing I ever cross stitched was this little picture  - very simple and and nothing special except for the sentiment... Forever Friends.  I know it meant something to my dear friend even though the threads I never tidied at the back showed through.  When I was there, she asked me to take it back home with me.  So this little simple picture, now hangs with pride in my craft room and I thank you my friend for teaching me to stitch - something that has become a real passion for me and over the years has made me lots of 'Forever Friends' just like you.

While surfing some blogs this morning I came across this beautiful quote and thought of you .....