2016 .....a new year

Happy New Year to all of you.  It's never too late, is it?

All is well at the Williams house....

Ron and I are doing well and looking forward to a healthy year ahead.

We released some patterns in December that can be seen on our web site.  

There are two new ones that will be at our distributors soon.

First, Sing to the LORD.  It is the second release in our "These Are My Sheep." line of designs.

I love sheep.

Probably why I design so many of them.

The second design uses a fun deep pink fabric called Red Pear from Weeks Dye Works.  

The design is Loving You and if you would like, you could switch the fabric out easily.  

This design and one from December revive the "All Dolled Up" line of designs that use optional buttons and beads.  It's your choice should you wish to use them.

Vonna has this finished into a sweet pillow.  

Our release last month, Snowy Winter uses the same finish.

The twine tacked at the corners hangs beautifully from a peg or handle.

There are a few of you that have followed Gracie for her entire life.......here she is this Christmas......picture perfect for momma so I could get this shot.

Thanks for visiting,

Diane

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

Gracie Girl

This photo of Gracie is about a month old but as you know, we are just now trying to get back into the swing of things.  So many of you have followed her since she was a puppy.  

Gracie will be four in November.  If she would quit jumping on the couch to bark at people in front of the house, she would be close to perfect!

Diane

Gracie

Gracie has a pink nose and a dirty mouth. . . . just sayin'.  :)

I still think she's cute.

The last of summer. . . . .

Yes, I know summer is officially over but in the southwest, it isn't over until the temperatures go down and the butterflies go home.  So I guess it's still summer here because the butterflies are out in abundance!  Or are those moths?  Pretty creatures whatever they are.  And oh do they love our lantana bushes!  Remember Molly our last Golden Retriever?  She would have pounced all over these winged beauties.  Gracie acts like she doesn't even know they're here!

I know some of you have seen snow and felt cold temperatures already.  Looks like we're hanging on to summer just a little bit longer. . . . . .

Happy Stitching,
Diane

Gracie update and announcement

Yesterday Gracie went to the groomer and had her first ever professional bath and trim.  She looks so cute! It turned out so well that we're thinking it may become a regular event with her.  I'm not saying she liked it though.  When we arrived she looked like she had pretty much had it with all of the "attention" she was getting.  She smells good too if you like the way dogs smell after a bath.  :)

Now on to other things. . . . . . Social media has changed a lot in our industry over the years.  We have taken advantage of two of those avenues for a while now.   Because posts are being duplicated in three spots we're switching things up a bit.  

1.)  The blog is remaining but it will only be used for chats, how-to's or important announcements and of course, pictures of Gracie.  You will no longer see images of new releases here unless there is a special story or how-to attached to the design.

2.)  Facebook (where we have over 2200 followers) will be the spot where we release the new photos of upcoming patterns.  

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-House-Needleworks/336632165123  

If you don't have a Facebook account and don't want one, don't worry.  Patterns will still be on our regular web site so you won't miss a thing.

3.)  The LHN web site will continue to function as it has but we will be adding more pages with information such as supply sources for the materials used in our patterns.  

Moving on. . . . . . many of you probably saw the news release from Crescent Colours the other day regarding the change they made regarding sole distributorship of their products to Hoffman Distributing.  If you didn't, this is news to you!  Anyway, this included the thread packed "kits" that Little House and Country Cottage did for them.  They are still available but instead of getting them from Crescent Colours you are ordering from Hoffman.  

Happy Stitching,

Diane

An early evening walk . . . . .

Ron, Gracie and I took an early evening walk last night and encountered the sweetest little birds.  

The desert is blooming.  

I take my camera most places. . . . . it's usually hanging from my neck like a piece of jewelry.  You just never know when life will present a beautiful moment.

Happy stitching,

Diane

The weekend is here. . . . .

I'll be showing you May's new designs next week!

Diane

Does your dog do this?

Gracie has four legs but you would never know it to look at her in this photo.  This just isn't a one-time event. . . . she does this all of the time and so does her brother Luke.  It must be comfortable or I doubt she'd keep doing it.  Does your dog do this? One front leg is tucked neatly underneath her and the other three are out in plain sight.

It's a very warm night in Tucson which is why Gracie is laying on the cooler tile.  Temps are headed up close to 100 by Sunday.  Looks like we aren't going to get a spring this year.  :(

Getting some sun. . . . . .

These are not yet the dog days of summer but every afternoon Gracie plops herself in the warm Arizona sunshine.  This is a photo of her after she rolled around and around on her back.  She looks a little unkempt but that's what you get when you lay in dirt and grass.  :)

She better enjoy it while she can. . . . cold, wind and rain are on the way.  :(

Gracie is Two!!!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Gracie,

Happy Birthday to you!

Gracie and her brother, Luke are two today!

Gracie

In my opinion there are two types of naughty. . . . . . naughty bad and naughty "that's kinda funny".  Gracie has never been a naughty/bad girl but she has done a few things over the year and a half we have had her that haven't been quite in keeping with the rules of the house.  Every once in a while I'll walk into the living room and see her laying on the ottoman, regal as a queen without a care in the world.   I don't have a good picture of that. . . . yet.  But I did capture something else last evening that never fails to put a smile on my face even though I should be scolding her to get off the patio furniture.  Take a look:

She's camera shy. . . hates looking directly at it.

 She maintains her footing perfectly. . . gets up and down as easily as a circus seal on a rubber ball.

Here she is trying to get cozy to lay down. . . . . . she gave up and went back to "perching" on the bench shortly after I took this one.

After her "performance" she cooled off in the grass for all of 60 seconds and wanted in the house.  

Me too. . . it was 107 here yesterday.

Happy Stitching,

Diane

Gracie and the Arizona heat. . . . . . . .

Had I ever mentioned that Gracie does not like the heat. . . . . . .at all?????  She is the biggest baby in the summer, wanting to spend all of her time indoors except when she is playing in the hose or out for an early morning walk.  Her brother Luke still comes to play and wears her out a few mornings each week.  They eat ice cubes together to keep cool (the remnants you see on the driveway) and then pass out.

What a baby!!!

And here's Luke. . . .  . .just taking a moment to relax after a ruff-and-tumble morning with his sister!

She's 17 months old now. . . . . .

Our girl Gracie really looks big, doesn't she?  She is as fluffy as a feather boa!  Well she did have a bath (shower) last night and that's why she looks so poofy.  Here nose is all wet as Ron is watering right now and she keeps sticking her face in the hose to get a drink.

OK. . . . . . . don't you agree????  This is the top of one of our barrel cactus and I think the fruit (which holds seeds) look like tiny pineapples!  Aren't they cute?  Beautiful flowers will follow shortly.

I have just finished designing the last of the ornaments in the series.  They have been fun but this will be the last year for them.  But here is some happy news for those of you wanting another seasonal band sampler. . . . .  Rita just finished stitching Autumn and it is on it's way back to me.  I've seen a photo and I'm sure you'll like it (I do and so does Rita!).  It won't be out for a while yet but I thought I'd deliver the news to those of you who had requested another one.  Next year I'll get the spring and summer ones done and complete what is now, a set.

Keep stitching friends!
Diane

A Gracie post

Some times you take a picture and just laugh at what you see.  That's what happened when I took this one of Gracie so I thought I'd share it. She looks so silly. . . . . . . . . .

Hope you all are making happy little X's today!!

Diane

Spring has Sprung (and other things)!

One of the many things I like about living in Arizona is being able to grow geraniums in March!  After the very cold winter we had I am thrilled to start seeing flowers and buds in all of the pots.

 

The orange tree that I thought was dead has leaves all over it giving me high hopes it will make a come-back.

 

We shipped our new patterns to distributors today and I updated the LHN web site.  While looking at the back of the "Thirteen Colonies" pattern I had a laugh.  There is a typo I didn't catch. . . .  the fabric is 32 count, not county!  I do a lot of genealogy work on the computer and my fingers automatically type county more often.  So don't let that confuse you!

This is a photo of Gracie taking a little snooze in the living room filled with drop cloths and plastic.  We have been painting the walls inside and had been living in fear that Gracie would step in a paint tray or stick her nose in a wet brush.  As you can see here she became bored with the whole thing early on and we had no troubles with this one year-old.  Ahhhhhh. . . . . . . . .

Gracie then. . . . and now

Some things never change.  While so much of our landscaping died in the many hard freezes we had this winter, this vine did not.  When Gracie was a little puppy she'd head out to the vines and just lay down in them forcing them into flat beds underneath her.  Yesterday spring was in the air and she did the same thing only this time she is soooo much bigger! 

As you can see, the vines are in bloom and our warmer temperatures are here now.  It's one of my favorites times of the year.  I think Gracie likes it too!

Happy Stitching,
Diane

Gracie and the Tree Pretties

We put our tree up last weekend.  It's fun to see the old and new ornaments come out of the box one by one.  It was a bit of a challenge the first night as Gracie had never seen a tree before.  Well not in the house any way!  She has been such a good girl and has left it alone since that night.  She thought sitting for this photo was torture.  Poor thing!  Ron is standing over my shoulder with treats but she kept trying to perform to get one!

Happy Stitching!

Diane

Gracie and Friends

Gracie has a lot of friends and these two, Sparks and Tyson are a few.  Aren't the three of them cute together?  Every day of the week the neighborhood pups gather at the park for rough and tumble and general good times.  Last night Gracie hung out with another Gracie, a rescue Greyhound who was as sweet as could be.  Greyhounds are so soft!

Our big girl is 41 weeks old now and you can see, no longer resembles a puppy except that her feathers are just getting started.

Have a nice weekend!
Diane

Gracie at 37 Weeks

She's a big girl now!