Thanksgiving week......

In a world filled with so much uncertainty and turmoil, 

it's good to take time to remind ourselves of the blessings 

in our lives and all we do have to be thankful for.  

At the top of my list is that my cancer was caught early

and that I have a

VERY GOOD

chance of never going down this road again.

I am thankful for my wonderful family, the roof over my head 

and the food on my table.  Simple.  True.  Timeless.

* * *

We ended the Sampler Tree Ornament series with this design,

Christmas Angel

For now, there are no 12-month series in the works. 

 I am taking a break from the pressure of them for now.  

I hope that 2016 will give me more peace than I had in 2015 

which would include a little time to just "be."

I did however start a new line within the company called "These Are My Sheep."  

The first, Born in a Manger, gives you a good idea of the style 

and theme of the line.....biblical sheep!

The third design we released is called "Three Snowy" Hills."

It's a classic LHN design featuring houses.....my favorite!

Next month we will have a new Hometown Holiday design and a

 return to our pattern line, All Dolled Up! with a cute wintry piece.

Gracie and her brother Luke just celebrated their sixth birthday!  

I count you all among my blessings!

Diane

October things.....

When I looked at the date of my last post my first reaction was, "really?"  

Three months came and went pretty quick.

All of the newest releases are on my web site so if you need to catch up, it's best to do it there.  

I wouldn't know where to start!

This month I am releasing the design, "Fear Not" that I created for myself to help me through my breast cancer surgery and treatments.  I'll be the first to admit that the whole thing made me extremely nervous, even though I had just seen Ron through it a year and a half earlier.

Fear Not

The design is centered on one of my favorite bible verses.....Isaiah 41:10.  I stitched it in pink but it can easily be stitched in colors for other cancers or simply to match your bedroom decor.  

The tenth ornament in The Sampler Tree Ornament Series is called "Christmas in the Country."  

This reminds me of folks who would venture out on holiday to homes removed 

from the hustle and bustle of  "modern" living.  

Christmas in the Country

There is one more ornament to release....."Christmas Angel" will be shipped in November.  

No new monthly series are planned at this time.

However............I will be releasing a new line of designs that are full sized and feature sheep.  

I love sheep.  I hope you do too.  

The first one comes out next month in time to stitch for Christmas.

I will also be resurrecting the "All Dolled Up!" line of designs that get "dolled up" with pretty beads and buttons.  The first one is already at the model stitcher getting ready for a December release.

Last bit of news.....I am breaking the unwritten rule of only releasing two 

Hometown Holiday designs a year.  

There will be three........the next one releases in December.

And for those of you who enjoy pics of Miss Gracie.....

here she is after visiting

the groomer.  

She's looking all dolled up too!

Gracie

Happy Stitching,

Diane

A few updates . . . . . . . .

Last week we released new patterns.

"Peace" is the newest ornament in The Sampler Tree

line of patterns.

"Pretty as a Peacock"

"Thread Keeper"

A simple pocket for your current project stitching threads.

All three are available in shops now.

It's a VERY gloomy day in Arizona so there is no such thing as a chipper looking photo right now.  This is my progress on the cancer design. 

 I know I am slow but radiation is soooo tiring I just can't seem to get much done on it.  

And too, I am trying to stitch smaller models and work on other areas of the business. 

 It will get done but I feel my treatment will be finished before the design!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Diane

My Journey........

I've made a good bit of stitching progress.  

This design not only fills an important need in my life but 

it is giving me peace when I work on it.

That's me up there.  I look happy!

The bright pink is Classic Colorworks new color, 

Strawberry Parfait.

Yummy!

There is more stitched than what is showing but I'm saving it for later.

Maybe next week.

Regarding treatment, I am in limbo right now.  

There is a problem with my right arm and it may 

prevent me from starting radiation on time.   

I should find out Friday.  Nothing I can do about it so I am trusting 

that God has this covered too!

Thank you all for your posts on this blog.

Everyone is so positive and encouraging!

Happy Stitching,

Diane

My Design As It Unfolds . . . . . . .

It was a very different experience when I created Ron's cancer design.  

I was on the outside looking in.

Not this time.

I am a woman of faith in good times and bad.  The scriptures are a source of strength and encouragement to me.  I knew one of them would become the very center of my life while I went through my surgery and treatment.

I will admit that there is nothing about having surgery that appeals to me on any level.  

In fact I find it all a bit terrifying.  

On the day I went in to the hospital I had written this verse on a small slip of paper and rolled it up in my hand and held it there.  Close to the time for the surgery, the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me as they do.  I asked him if he would keep the paper with the verse in my hand during surgery and he vowed he would.  

Once I woke in recovery, the first thing I said was, I'm thirsty and where is my paper!  The paper was held tightly in my left hand, badly wrinkled but with me.  

I remember kissing it and feeling relief that the words written on it made that journey with me.

This is Isaiah 41:10 as it unfolds...............

I took my first stitches two days after surgery.

Progress in the first week.  

All is well......my recovery is taking time but that's ok.  

I feel I have a lot of it going forward.

Diane

The Merry Month of May

Hello Stitchers........this blog has become an epic "fail" for me.  I always want to do better but I seem to fall apart between the desire and the action.  I do apologize to those of you who don't follow Little House on Facebook.

First things first.........our web site has all of the patterns we have released so far so I won't add them here.  I even have the new ones up that we ship tomorrow.

This is "My Lady Liberty" which is the third "My Lady" in an on-going collection.  She has been very popular with stitchers.  She reminds me of a paper doll that gets a clothing change with the seasons.

The frame is a perfect complement to the design.  

Shops can order it from Family Tree Frames.

My Lady Liberty

Also ongoing is The Sampler Tree which is a twelve month series of ornaments from Little House designed in an old-fashioned way which resemble colonial times or the simple life.

Sweet Apples

"Sweet Apples" the most recent release which ships to our distributors May 19th.

Moving on to other things..........in March I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I have already had surgery and am waiting to heal up so that I can start radiation.  Between times I am working on more patterns for the end of the year and stitching my own cancer journey cross stitch design.  Very soon I will share the progress on it in the same way I did with Ron's.  They are worlds apart in style but each in it's way reflects the character of the person and their walk through the Big C.  

To put it bluntly, it stinks that this happened at all but it's worse because of the timing.  We still aren't finished with Ron .  Oh well.....we are made of pretty tough stuff so we'll get through this too.  I feel very positive about my outcome!

Last but not least is Gracie and her brother, Luke, on Mother's Day.  Cutie pie fur babies!

Happy Stitching!

Diane

Welcome 2015 - News

It looks like I simply hopped over the latter half of 2014.  Sorry about that.  I admit to not being the best blogger any more.  I haven't made any resolutions to do better but I will attempt to do it more often than I have for those not on Facebook.

Rather than recap the last three months (those designs are on our web site) I am looking ahead to the future.  I was invited by Ann and Pat at Dyeing to Stitch to create a four part series for their new club which is titled, My Dwelling Place (not to be confused with my pattern by that name).  

The club starts around the first part of March.  

Important to note:  you must email dyeing2stitch@aol.com to sign up.  

That's the only way to get the 4 part series.

All of the designs center around house and home so I know you will love stitching them all!  

The photo below shows a snippet of the first design.

Second little bit of news is that I am doing a Hoffman Distributing exclusive this year for Nashville.  I opted out last year because of all we had gone through with Ron and the cancer stuff but I'm back this year!  I just know you will love it AND the bonus design that is included in the pack.  Nashville is the end of February so there is a long wait for the reveal.

And by now I'm sure you all have heard about the new ornament series inspired by my friend, Vonna.  It's called The Sampler Tree which simply means the designs are sampler-ish.  There may be a few that are a little on the cute side but only a few.  They will still fit in with the series.

This is the second ornament we will be shipping called "Oh Christmas Tree."

Don't start looking for it just yet.  We ship the end of next week.

Lastly, I've expanded my designing beyond that of our own business and I am designing for Classic Colorworks.  You can see the Storybook designs Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and The Queen of Hearts at www.classiccolorworks.com.  Make believe isn't just for kids any more!  Right?

And here is Gracie, exhausted after the holidays.

  

Happy New Year and Happy Stitches,

Diane