Throwback Thursday---A little Sampler Revisited

Blooms in August

designed by Feathers in the Nest

Just a little bright thought of my past creative spirit to a pattern I created back a couple or few years ago in August in memory of my son Aaron. I'm sad to say I haven't stitched this one but it's calling me to do so.

In August, it's always that last heat, the last flowers bloom from the Summer to make room for the beautiful Fall mums and other varieties more favorited for cool weather.

Although it's been posted before, I thought I would repost this year because it's one my favorite samplers that I have designed. Being small in nature, I should start on it and maybe I will now.

 Please use the colors in the design as they have special meaning in this sampler. You can choose any blues or golds/yellows. 

Linen --- of choice

Thank you for keeping copyright guidelines for designers!

I hope you have a great day! Today is nice and sunny and really not too humid for the past couple of days. I'm sure out in the sun, it's pretty warm, like August is usually, but we can sense the change, the ever-so-slight change towards Fall air at night.

 September is right around the corner with promises of new beginnings and opportunities for us all if we seek them.

“Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.” 

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Annual Design For Aaron: Aaron's Flowers 2012 sampler

Aaron's Flowers

designed by Feathers in the Nest

copyright 2012

Every July, when the hottest of the year yields it's heat, I know that Aaron's (my first born son) birthday is soon around the corner. For the past few years, I have designed a sampler in memory of him. This year, I was inspired by the flowers that grace his memory. Blue and yellow were his colors in many ways. He was born and died in 1985 and I can't believe this August 16 he would have been 27 years old.

This sampler, as most all samplers has some symbolic meaning interplaying in it's design.

There are 27 blooms in honor of his years we have been apart. Some small and large hearts in both colors are representative of his sweetness and the love and have and will always have for him. The one blue and yellow heart represents the overshadowing of his death on my life throughout the years.The small cross represents his innocence as a baby and that he lives in Heaven but his spirit is with me all the time. His initials for his name Aaron Franklin and the year of his physical prescence as he was nurtured to full term but left way too early. The yellow centered heart flower, the large one, standing alone represents his yellow outfit he was buried in and the surrounding lighter blue of which covered him with a blue and white blanket that said "Thank Heaven for Little Boys". The overshadowing top Morning Glory color border reminds me of the rain that followed the day after he was buried. I can clearly remember this as if it was yesterday.

This memory for me is bittersweet even after all these years. I often wonder what he would have been like if he had lived until today. Butterflies outside frequently remind me that his prescence is always near me and will be for the rest of my life. I think of him as my little angel and God needed Him at that time.

Posting this does bring a tear to my eye but it's not for pity or sadness. It's just in remembering how his birth and death shadowed my heart. For all who have had the loss of a child, I'm sure you can relate to what I'm saying. I look forward to the day I will be reunited with him in Heaven and because of his innocence and sweetness, I'm sure he will meet me there with open, not closed, arms.

His footprints.

Fibers of choice on this piece but I really like Gentle Art:

Morning Glory

Presidential Blue (darker blue)

Butternut Squash

Gold Leaf

Apple Cidar ----the base of the flowers

Strawbonnet for the word "in"

Baby Spinach--green

linen of choice and this would be gorgeous in 1 over 1 on linen, but also good for 2 over 2. I would make this a pillow keep and use the gold fabbie I got this week at the quilt shop in the making.

One of the things I need to do as a goal this year is to stitch more of my own designs! I keep saying that but there are so many I want to do!!!!

This one will be in my basket soon though. 24 hours in a day is just not enough!!! :)

Hope you are having a bright, sunny day just as we are in the mountains today.

Lots of good plans for the weekend. I slept really good last night and right now I have Abbie staring at me in the face awaiting some playtime with her toys. ;)

Till later,

Jennifer

Thursday Thoughts

I'm just taking a breather from this week and it's already Thursday!

 There is definitely a busy period before going on a road trip which Body Guard and I will be doing soon. Even on my days off this week I've had so many things to do and I'm glad I did get it accomplished. Body Guard is the planner. I'm the dreamer. We like roadtrips, although, we don't take alot as we get older. He has alot of patience with me as we stop quite frequently for any store related to:

Ann Taylor
Ann Taylor
Ann Taylor....
oh and ummm.....
Hobby Lobby
Michaels'
Joannes
any cross stitch store
any quilt store.......
and shoe stores.

So you can see that our trip to the big DC next week will be a long undertaking but I plan to take some stitching with me as he drives to keep me distracted from saying..."pull over here.....now....please. hurray" and then he sighs and goes across 3 lanes of traffic and mumbles something but waits patiently while I have happy dances in exploring. I am blessed by his patience in this area.

This week our black car turned yellow-green while I made a trip to south Ga. HOLY MOLY! The pollen down there is getting thick. And I know it's heading our way soon, in fact yesterday I could tell the pollen has started but it hasn't coated our back porch yet.

Speaking of quilt stores, I had the pleasure of cruising through one last Saturday and she had some totes that were very cool and I'm definitely a large tote girl, even though I'm a small person, I love big totes. This one is a plastic-sort-of -feel on the outside with a lovely paisley pattern but inside it's another pattern in cotton cloth.

I like this especially as I drink coffee on the way to work and I can protect my stitching and work  stuff.

I wish I could remember the product name but I've already taken off the tag.

My books, DVDs stitching work, lap top, Kindle can fit in here with ease.

a new journal book where I can write "the rest of the story" LOL

It's totally made from recycled banana peels! Cool!

My stitching bag that Carol made for me is treasured and carried in here too! Thank you again Carol!!!!  {{{{HUG}}}

Well, hey, Abbie!  Isn't she pretty this morning.......I miss her already. The little princess slept with me last night, close because we had a little rainey storm with alot of wind. She gets more afraid of them the older she gets.  Brings back memories of Ren where he would literally sit and pant fast before the storm would even get here.

Raven and Ruby (i.e Thelma and Louise) are covered this morning with water. They took a trip down to the lake I see and now sunbathing.

Abbie is now on the "Snack Mat" where she stays under the stitching chair while I write or stitch.

I have to bribe her with treats and she is trained pretty well if I say the word "busy", she plays by herself.

At the quilt store I got 3 yards of this rick rack which is the largest I've ever seen.

The camera makes it look bright yellow, but it's actually a rich old gold color and perfect for making tie backs for some panels upstairs.

I couldn't resist 2 fatquarters. This is one of them.

And another.

This one is my fave. I love these colors for Spring and Summer!

I also got 2 pretty spring wool felt for making a matching needle book for my new tote.

I love this teal color. It's my 2nd fave color.

And Pepsi's sampler is almost done. I haven't picked up the needle since Monday as I've been very distracted with other stuff. But, hopefully to work on it today while catching up on the news.

Spring in action here. This is the dogwood tree out of my kitchen window today.

And this pic taken of the same view just 4 days ago! Can you believe the growth?

I love to see progress in Spring.

And the iris's and the violets and forget-me-not's are thriving. I would get a close up view but this is out of my window right now.

Purple is the inspiration for this Spring.

Carried a bit of it Tuesday to put on Aaron's spot of the world 4 hours away. The ribbon and the flowers from Hobby Lobby.

I added a white Dove.

And a nest with eggs and plenty of Forget-Me-Nots, a few "bees" here and there, and Purple Iris.

Sat back and watched the biggest fleet of blackbirds land all around and a beautiful sunset.

Here's to hoping that your journey this week involves a special spot where you can find peace.

 Till later,

Jennifer

Watching a sunset from a different view

The day was a day full of missions. Do you have those sort of days, when you have to pack several large missions in a 24 hour period?

  I know we all do day every day, I just stretched this over many miles today.

Packed an overnight bag just in case I was too tired to drive but I just kept driving, and driving because I'm such a homebody that I had to get back home even if it was midnight.

The best part of my day was to put new flowers at the cemetary and this time, I happened to be there at sunset, which was so peaceful. I was surprised the weather was 75 and hardly any humidity. The grass was deeply green and lush and I just threw off my shoes and watched it.

I watched the clouds change shape and imagined what they could look like.

I love sunflowers so when I saw these, I had to put them into the mix.

Until October when I get back to put Fall ones out.

I started with these wildflowers from Hobby Lobby....my next to favorite store.

Then added the others. I know this is a wild mix but it all worked out.

Some folks may think this is morbid, but for me it's something I look forward to every 3 months at least. This spot is 4 hours from our house. I wish it was much closer and maybe one day it will be with a miracle.

Today I was by myself, so I just took a rest for a while and watched the sunset in the most orange of colors I wish my camera could fully capture.

Then onward again to my journey back home.

For I know his spirit is always with me and this is just his resting place many miles away and as long as I'm alive and able, I will always be the one to take care of this spot on the Earth.

Aaron's Sampler 1985

With inspiration today, just wanted to share a sampler for my firstborn son who would have been 25 years old on August 16th. When I see yellow butterflies, I always, always think of him. He was buried in yellow with a blanket that said in the corner, Thank Heaven for Little Boys, in baby blue.

If you or someone you know has been through the death of a child, take a look at The Compassionate Friends or better yet, look for your local chapter. There are chapters all over the world, as this is an international support group for bereaved parents. I miss participating on the board of the group in Augusta, Georgia for 5 years before I moved here in 2001. As a board member, I got to help plan community activities, memorials, serve on panels to answer questions at the Medical College of Georgia medical students, and a phone resource for newly bereaved parents.

The butterfly symbol has been the group's logo. That's one of the reasons I love having the butterfly bushes right outside my window because I know his little spirit is here.

I have added this to the growing list of patterns to stitch. You certainly are welcome to substitute the name and date  if you would like to personalize it.

The colors are for whatever you choose but the DMC I selected are numbers:

728

727

645

310

519

368

367

603

602

Hope you enjoy your evening!