To Everything There Is a Season and Purpose

Hello and Yes.....it's been awhile, 18 months or so since my last post. For the last 13 months I have been recovering from a major car accident. I was on the interstate on January 16, 2018 going to a new job that I know I would have loved for sure when my life changed in a crash. I don't remember much of the first 3 months except getting a concussion again a month later falling down stairs from vertigo. It has been a tough year but I'm so much better now. I had to go through months of speech therapy to basically learn how to speak again. It left me with a TBI and stuttering/stammering. Needless to say that was very isolating but I've since on most days sound normal again but if I'm tired or anxious I still may stammer or stutter.
At the TBI center I went through alot of memory work and still make it a point daily to exercise my brain using apps, games, reading, knitting, writing, etc.
For a long time I wondered why on Earth would God allow this to happen but then I remembered that everything happens for a reason and I may never truly know but............I do know whatever it is God will make it for the good!
Being grateful is top priorty!

Things I learned from the experience:

• life is short. Don't take one day for granted.
• God allows things to happen for a reason. We have to trust Him to heal us and prepare us for the next step in life.
• Persistance is crucial. Its 2 steps forward and 1 step back.
• We are stronger than we think we are.
• Don't take speech for granted.
• Make lists, and more lists
• write everything down!
• not everyone will understand but that's ok.
• do everything your doctor tells you. Everything.

I could go on and on but to keep it shorter, let's just say I'm lucky I'm alive. Although the journey is long, I have been through most of it. I'm more aware of things that matter. People that matter and those that really are draining.

The cross stitch bug is biting me again lately. I'm frequently torn between knitting and cross stitching samplers. I love both!!!!

I also started an ebay business last Summer that is doing quite well. 

I'm in the process or organizing a knit group. 

Alot going on but I'm so ready for Spring!!!!! 

And ummm........flipping through some ideas online and considering moving this in our kitchen for functional use. Found a really neat You Tube video of kitchen decor and functional use of the Sellers Hoosier cabinet that would work well in our house too and allow me to use the flour sifter in the middle (built in) and the extended ceramic top for baking needs.

Yep, this may just get a new purpose in the kitchen.

I think Mr. Darcy did a good job at refinishing this cabinet years ago.

Here's to new purposes on a Monday!!! ✍

Hope and Paying it Foward to Make a Difference

I haven't had time yet to really review this book but so far, it looks good. When I do, I will post about it.

A couple of things I picked up this week.

I went to the city this past Monday. Yep, it's a big day to go to the city when you are a country girl at heart!  I went to Joanne's crafts and rumbled around for probably 2 hours. I like to look at all the things in there.

They had quite a bit of knitting books. Very limited cross stitching though.

At last I found a really good book and grabbed a copy of Country Sampler magazine (quarterly favorite of mine) to check out.

While at the counter a young boy said, "oh you knit!"  I told him I was a novice but enjoyed both cross stitching and knitting. He said he was about to take a class on beginning knitting. 

I asked him if he had heard of Ravelry and he said no.

So I gave him the information because he had such excitement about going to his classes soon that I tried to give him hope for needlework. I told him that needlework of both kinds really helps stress and health in general. He was excited to go home and look through Ravelry.

The boy looked college age and although knitting or cross stitching is sometimes looked at by men or women as "feminine" things, there are some awesome and talented male knitters and cross stitchers who I appreciate so much.

I think the stigma is even worse in the South which is too bad because of all the benefits of creativity. I find the stitching and knitting community online to be a kind one in general.

The world needs alot more kindness today.

Families need more kindness.

Sometimes reading or listening to the world news (which I do not do alot of) is so daunting.

This is one reason why I listen to podcasts of cross stitchers and knitters alot and read blogs.

I rarely watch TV anymore. 

I'm reposting a freebie for you today. It's simple. I designed it in 2012.

You can use colors of choice.

If you stitch it up send me a pic and I will show your unique work how you interpreted the colors and why if you would like. 

Maybe you know of someone that really needs some hope right now. Someone who has given up.

Hopefully, you can share it with them. It may not solve all the problems but surprisingly so you never know how much our kindness influences someones' difficult situation.

Hope

copyright 2012

designer Feathers in the Nest

“Hope is the thing with feathers 

That perches in the soul 

And sings the tune without the words 

And never stops at all.”  

by Emily Dickinson

Till later,

Jennifer

New Freebie: Summer Time and Patience sampler

Summertime Patience

copyright 2014

designer, Feathers in the Nest

Jennifer Ann Fox

(Click on the design for bigger picture and to print out. Please do not sell, or distribute. Thank you for your understanding on copyright)

My inspiration for this sampler I designed is yellow butterflies and those green catepillars that I see every Summer. I love butterflies. Especially yellow ones. We have many out this time of year, soaring through the butterfly bushes and flittering around so we can see them through the windows or on the porch.

When I was a little girl, seems like Summers lasted longer than they do now. In actuality with school, we did get out earlier in the Spring and started back later in the Fall. Even though I loved the Summer time activities, I actually loved school more. My love for reading and writing persist to this day. I remember the best part of Summer was the reading book club at the library.

 As the years roll on, they get shorter and shorter especially if I fill up my life with too many "things" on my list.

Not only in Summer, but also any time of our lives in which we are going through times that seem to last forever and ever, the little catepillars can be a reminder that with time and patience they will become a beautiful butterfly one day.

As I get older, I seem to have more patience with things. I think it's because with time and many years of learning life lessons. I know the key to those long periods of wait are time and patience.

Introspection can really help me see the possibilities and set my perceptions to a positive direction, knowing that through those long periods, my patience is being sharpened for the next time and the next and the next. I am not perfect by any means  but I'm encouraged by a simple yellow butterfly to remember that with time and in the right time, beautiful things can happen. 

And I think yellow butterflies flying around are very beautiful!

Bottom line is, what we put our time and patience in, will yield something beautiful.

We may not be able to always see it, but we can always have hope. 

Summertime is shorter for me now. It flies by literally because the weather in the mountains is really not as hot as it was growing up in South Georgia as a child. However, I'm still reminded of situations in my life that keep trucking along at a catepillar pace sometimes but have been told many times to remember that with time and patience, things change for the better. 

I hope you like this little sampler and stitch it up for the Summer as a positive reminder when you pass it by in a special place in your home. We all need those positive reminders especially in this world of so much negative. 

For book lovers, you can stitch this one up on 40 count for a book mark for a special friend or a sweet pinkeep.

Colors suggested are

Gentle Art Spring Grass (light green)

Gentle Art Cinnamon (catepillar legs)

DMC 310 black

Week's Dye Work's Saffron (yellow)

I just love the Spring Green color! You can choose any that would match your decor, vintage it up, or whatever. 

I hope you start your week off with peace, happiness and hope.

With hope,

Jennifer

P. S.  Other natural beauty around homestead today were 2 deer. Just outside the window. A small buck and a doe. The buck was barely growing his antlers................sweet.

Seasons and Loss

Our weather here in the North Georgia mountains was so beautiful this morning, cooler, but the birds were chirping and the daffodils have bloomed nicely. Sitting on the back porch with my dearest hubbie this morning with coffee in hand, sometimes we have the most interesting discussions about things. I treasure that time. We talked about seasons and life. We talked about ebb and flow.

Later on, I went to Facebook and saw that one of my knitter friends who it felt like last week we were just discussing a confusing knitting pattern, had died yesterday. Her sons announced it on her page. I was shocked and so sad. It reminded me again that life is so short and can change in the blink of a minute. She was a really sweet woman who loved her family and crafting. Gone way too early in life. WAY too early. I hope and pray for her family right now.

Also the day before found out another very close friend of mine for years who I still stay in contact with......her mom died and they were very close. I knew her mother. She is someone else to pray for during this time.

Seems when Spring is coming, there are reminders that there are seasons that ebb and flow, lives ebb and flow, going through this balance in life, sometimes there are times of disaster and hurt we do not understand and then there are joyous new beginnings.

I did laugh today as I found a you-tube channel in which the presenter makes one feel like she is a positive spirit right in my living room and honestly, she touches many lives and has a gift I think she realizes and hopes she continues to make people laugh. And as she reminded me today, laughter is a good anti-ager! I just love that I found her videos. I have learned so much from her.  Brightens my day!

There is so much sadness in this world, and people who do not get to experience laughter and connection and a feeling of belonging. Without trying to sound all gloomy this evening, just wanted to write how very thankful I am for what I do have and more mindful of what could be lost in the blink of time. I am thankful for you, who read my blog and have sent me messages many times of encouragement and ideas, thoughts, laughter, etc.

Hang on to the laughter, love, and connection with people. Even my introverted self needs to do more of that.

 Remember someone else's Spring, might be someone else's Winter and vice versa.

We really don't know what we all go through sometimes and in this day and time, if it's not all beautiful, then we are felt to be shamed in some way to speak about it. In older days, people sat around on the porches, had family living really close (who actually cared and was not ashamed of us)  if not in the same house, multigenerational, to help keep spirits up, support each, laugh, cry together, do chores, and just be a functional unit of connection.

Now, many people simply don't want to take the time to listen or even know of anything that isn't bursting with laughter but if you find a true friend, a true gift, something that brings you immense joy---hang on to it.

If something brings you utter sadness and you are going through a season in life, although temporary or permanent, that is bring inner pain, try to remember the good, find someone who listens, make do with what you have and thank God for it. Because really all of us in the end, whether you are one to ignore someone's pain and decide to turn away from that or not, realize when you make a choice to not do something, you've already made a choice.

People are not things and cannot be replaced. Their laughter, their personality that brought us joy cannot be replaced. And most of all, try to be the person who brings joy. I haven't always been that way but I really do try and it's the trials in life that I had to go through who made me who I am today.
I think we all could say the same.

I don't know why this is on my heart today to write but it's in hopes that helps someone. Bad news like death, estranged children, loss of a career/job, financial strain, death of friends we knew, pets, loss of ability to help us in our craft we love as we age, divorce, etc.........all these really cannot be changed but if you know someone who is going through any of these, offer your ear, your love, your friendship, and time. It will mean so much to that person and there are all of us at one point in the Winters of our lives that will need it.

 

Dear God, help us to remember Robin and her family in these next days as they go through a horrific loss and sadness. She was a good friend and shared similar interests, and she brightened my day many times. Sometimes I take this for granted and  I'm mindful again of how brief our life really is. We pray and thank you for all the lives she touched through our interest in the needle arts as well. I also pray for one of my very best friends for almost 20 years now. She is going through a lot of grief with the death of her mother of whom she was very close to.

Be with her family as they all deal with this in their own way. Bring peace and love to both of these families today and all others unspoken who are in some big Winters of their lives.

Thank you, God, for loving us unconditionally and showing us that example so that if we are ever abandoned or alone, that you remind us of your presence unconditionally. I know this means so much to me and has for a very long time now to have you grounding me to people and things, relationships and such that bring joy in order to cope through those Winter seasons.

Thank you for signs of Spring which gives us a reminder of hope. I will never lose hope, no matter how much loss there has been. Your child forever, Jennifer.

 

 

Good night to all.