Flowers and Shells

The past couple of days have been spent packing up Christmas and saying 'Good-bye' to my parents.

Christmas is not completely gone but I at least have the kitchen and living room back to 'normal'. I've left out some snowmen and set piles of romantic books all over. I've also been stitching some little cross stitch Valentine decorations. Nothing is fully completed yet. Yet.

My parents have gone back to Florida and weather much like our own here in Michigan.
I miss them terribly, as do the kids. Kids make it both easier and harder to deal with the separation. Easier because you are concentrated on being strong 'for the children's sake'. Harder because they keep bring it up!!!:)

So, yesterday and today I started working on the flowers, white violets, for my 'Mary, Mary' mat. I sketched, in colored pencils, exactly what I wanted. I studied beautiful photos. I willed my fingers to make my flowers a reality. And my fingers said, 'Whatever!' Snotty, little fingers:)

My first attempt was not what I had in mind. So I grabbed my seam ripper and ripped that blossom out! I hated to do it 'cause I get frustrated thinking about the wasted time. But, in the process of seam-ripping, I had an idea. We'll call it 'divine inspiration'. I cut out new petals and stitched away. After getting the main part of the blossom created, and liking it, I set the mat aside and moved on to something else. I remember learning a long time ago that you have to know when to stop, step back and, sometimes, move on.

So this morning I woke feeling excited about adding details to my little blossom. I did just that and am pleased with the outcome. I also finished one of the cockle shells and am happy with that, too. (Although there was a wee bit of seam ripping with those shells, but I'm over it.)

Enjoy the pics and enjoy your day!