Quiet Time and Brenda's Giveaway

Thank you, Carolyn, of Antique Images

Good Morning,
I've spent the last two months reading everything I can get my hands on. I love reading in the winter, getting all snuggled under a quilt in my recliner with a book.
I recently ordered two books from Amazon, they are a wonderful source.
One is titled American Samplers by
Ethel Stanwood Bolton and Eva Johnston Coe. It's an older book; it contains 17th, 18th and 19th century samplers. It lists the schools and schoolmistresses that taught young ladies to stitch samplers, a section on sampler verses (great source),
a list of early schools and a section on materials, designs and stitches. It's a wonderful book.
My second book is modern-day, it's titled Sampler Workbook Motifs and Patterns by Caroline Vincent. She's given the meaning of a variety of motifs, like squirrels, trees, houses and other animals. Shapes and patterns are also explained. She has charted some fantastic graphs of them and quite a few alphabets and texts.
I'm looking forward to charting my own samplers.

This is Brenda's current giveaway. Visit her blog HERE to enter.

All of our snow melted the other day when we had 60 degree weather. I don't like the barren woods without snow!

Believe it or not, I'm still working on the Polly Daggett sampler. I keep picking up new work and my little sampler keeps getting put down. I made quite a few gifts at Christmastime and I've had 4 series of injections for my back since November, so I'm going even slower than I normally 

go, and that's pretty slow!
I'd like to post the pictures of the dolls and bear I made for Sis and Mom. Maybe the next post...
Susan

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!

Our lovely mail carrier had two surprises with her for me today,
and I wasn't in my jammers for once (Prudence, you know what
I am talking about)!
The first was a sweet card and Valentine from Diane of
Lavender Dreams.  Here is the card:

And here is the little vintage Valentine that you see peeking out of the corner:

Diane and some other bloggers are doing a challenge, I forgot the amount but the goal is to send so many pieces of mail out
this month. I gave Diane my address so that she could send me
something. We are all so computerized now that the mailing of
handwritten notes and cards has fallen by the wayside. I think
this is so nice that these gals are trying to bring it back. Check Diane's blog HERE to read about the post.
The next surprise was from Sheila of SEASONS OF THY HEART 
and COUNTRY IMPRESSIONS.
They are both her blogs but the Country Impressions is where she sells her beautiful florals. You can also, of course, see her beauties on the first link to Seasons...
Here's what she sent me JUST BECAUSE I told her I loved it and asked her to hold it for me until March 3rd, but she went ahead and sent it to me NOW. I was teary eyed when I got the Valentine from Diane but I bawled my eyes out when I opened Sheila's package:

 And a surprise (she always does this!) of these wonderful rag wrapped eggs that filled the whole kitchen with cinnamon:

The eggs are going in my Grandmother's dough trencher with my antique chocolate molds for Easter. 
Thank you Diane, it IS nice to get mail.
Sheila, thank you from the bottom of my prim little heart.
You made this little house a lot cheerier and brighter today!
Got some stitching to do on the giveaway sampler. It's coming along, I had a little setback when I fell the other night, but the hand and wrist are much better. Nothing broken!
Hugs,
Susan

VALENTINE FREEBIE ON THE FREEBIE GALLERY FROM THE PRIMITIVE HARE

Hi, Primmies ~
A little post from me to let you know to visit 
The Freebie Gallery where they always have
wonderful free charts to cross stitch.


Here is the link to The Primitive Hare free
Valentine chart. It's a lovely, simple little
stitchery:

Isn't it sweet? I'd love to get one of these stitched
before Valentine's Day!
Hugs,
Susan