February 22, 2026 A. D.

 I finished stitching my patritoic stitch. 

The pattern was purchased on Etsy. It is called "Let Freedom Ring" by Needle Treasures Nook. I plan to make it into a pillow but have procrastinated a bit on that. After all, I have until end of May, right?

I want to add something else to commemorate America's 250th birthday. I have several patriotic small pieces and love them all. I usually put them out around the house the week of Memorial Day and leave up until the second week of July which just so happens to coincide with the home show for the Blue Angels in Pensacola. We haven't been in the last couple years, but we may try to fit in it this summer. It has always been one of my favorite summertime activities. 

My conundrum on what to stitch for the America 250 has been - do I stitch some more smalls and make a little basket or something to display (at which I am horrible at doing that display thingie) or do I stitch a sampler type thing???  Now, here is my thinking. I love a ton of the samplers that I have seen and really really like, BUT would I actually hang that in my house or on the sampler wall in Auburn? I am on the fence and haven't preordered. All of these new patterns are coming out the first week of March. All that thinking on the patterns I have seen come out are being filtered through that lens. 

In the meantime, I did pull out 2 stitches that I had started or wanted to get done this calendar year. You may remember I stitched the 2 bells and messed one of them up while trying to finish it into the bell. I am going to try and finish up the second one because I originally had a plan for them.

FYI, I think this linen they are stitched on is gorgeous, but I loathe it. I will stitch this and pass the extra on to someone with much better eyes than me. The holes are just so hard to see,.

***

I had a rough week last week!!!

Without the details, sometimes life can just catch up with you. When you leave no margin for an area such as time for your brain to handle all the incoming, you can get very overwhelmed. I am an only child which means I like alone time. I am also one when too much comes in too quickly or things get too disordered, then I can get disordered:)

That was the case last week. A series of events just piled on in a short period of time. The final day's events on Wednesday that brought tears to my eyes was as Lindsay said, "A series of unfortunate events." She was drawing from an old series of books from elementary school but nevertheless such an adequate description.

I saw this quote today in our Starting Point book which Jeff and I are leading at our church at the moment.

"I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous Presence."

---Christopher Columbus

It brought me back to what has become my favorite verse and promise of God in the past few years.

Let us therefore, draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need."

---Hebrews 4:16

Today, I am trying to give myself that margin. Nothing on the agenda and praying it stays that way.

To lighten things I am going to share 3 scans of me...

The first is at my cousin's wedding. Remember when weddings were such a wonderful small event with friends and family at the church and the reception there too? I picked this one because I was having a great hair day!!!

This next one is an example of the many wonderful clothes Mama made for me. This was me at about 15 for a holiday dance. Blue velveteen.

This was me in the summer before college. I bet those of you 65 remember that belt. It could change the belts and then clipped together.

Digitizing photographs will be a long on-going process but no rush anymore. I was working to get them done for Mama's birthday next month. I bought her a digital frame which said it was good for seniors. I thought she would like to look back at the old ones. I will probably take a rainy day or too hot day to do more or just whenever to continue digitizing the family photos. I actually love how they look on the screen, even the oldest ones look so sharp. 

I bought a rather cheap scanner from Amazon, but it turned out to be very good. You can put a whole page from an album on it and if the pictures are not too close it will scan and separate them making it very efficient. 

I have booked our summer vacation to Cape San Blas for the family and looking forward to long sunny and warm days. Ole Mr. Winter decided to burst my bubble today. He is blowing as hard as he can with a cold wind. He is telling me he is still not done. Boo...

That is all for now. I am certain I will have my stitching plans in place by next month.

Until March and spring,

Sandy