Long Time, No See...

Please accept my apologies for having been absent from my blog for so long. Thank you for your notes of concern.

Our family has been dealing with a lot over the past few years. We have gone through health issues and the deaths of my father and both of Tom's parents (along with my back and eye surgeries). Our parents' health issues and deaths have caused us to be away from home for long periods of time.  (An indication of how long we've been gone is that we've only seen one snowfall in the last two years. Yes, that's right!)

Between November 2014 and March 2015 we drove to Florida three times and we were there for slightly more than seven weeks total. Tom's father was in the hospital in November and again in February. Sadly, he died on February 23rd. We stayed in Jacksonville eleven or so days longer for his funeral and then to prepare the home, where he lived for sixty years, to go on the market when we returned there a few weeks later.   

We've mainly been playing catch-up whenever we have been home. This means that, other than fulfilling teaching commitments, I've done very little new With My Needle work or updating my blog. I hope to get back to my design activities soon.

Over the past few months I've received quite a few photos of completed With My Needle projects that I plan to show you soon as well as photos from my classes with the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild in April and from Stitchville USA's Spring Fling last weekend. While on these teaching trips, I also had the opportunity to visit (and take photos of) two shops: Stitch Niche in Arlington, Texas and Stitchville USA in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Throw in some photos of the beautiful blue bonnets in Texas and a quick stop in Springfield, Illinois (on my way home from Minnesota) to visit some of the Abraham Lincoln historical sites, and I have LOTS to show you.

We got some exciting news in late February when we learned that our son and daughter-in-law are expecting their second child. (Big brother Garrett thought a good name for the baby would be "Duck Duck Goose". I guess that is why you don't let a 4-year old name his siblings.) Then about a month ago, we got even bigger news--they are expecting twin girls!! Our family has truly been experiencing the circle of life over the past few months.

Since I believe every blog post should have at least one photo, here's Garrett getting ready to be a big brother by putting one of his stuffed animals in a carrier for one of his sisters.