A New Start, New Stash and an Update - Long post!

Thank you for all your comments about my Grandma and for advice on what project to bring. I had some idea I might be able to sit with her awhile and stitch if she was sleepy, so I had a few ideas in mind. 

Grandma with DD in 2014

It turns out there wasn't really a chair to sit in Grandma's room, so I ended up visiting a lot instead. I saw her the night I arrived, but she had been having a sleepy day, so she wasn't awake then. I saw her three times the next day and she seemed to know what was going on and with my younger brother and my sister we all 4 of us managed to complete a crossword. She came up with some answers right away and others she had to think about. The morning I left she was wide awake and called me by my name and knew where she was, etc. so she seems to be improving. Unfortunately at this point she may still need to go into a nursing home, which she doesn't want, but we'll see. We're all hoping it doesn't come to that. 

Xmas 2010 with Pine Glen design Welcome Mat

I believe positive thoughts make a difference, so thank you all for thinking about my Grandma! She is a really kind and giving person and has always donated her time and effort to local charities and her Church. 

On to the new start and stash! My Mom and I drove to London, Ontario to Thread & Eye, a superlative needlework shop. I had in mind that I would kit up one design to support a brick and mortar LNS and instead I kitted up 2! I had thought I'd only pick up this Ink Circles mandala:

Wings and Things

And I found a fabric there that was pretty close, although I forgot to take a photo. I'm going to use Dinky Dyes Down Under Blues

since they have a lot of Dinky Dyes silks in stock and I really liked the look of this thread.

I also fell in love with Handblessings Walk With Dad:

And I started it right away so I hope to have it fully finished well before Father's Day. I'll justify my new start like Jo of Serendipitious Stitching, the 5th Friday of the month deserves a new start!

I had planned on stitching the entire piece in WDW Lucky, but when I started the Dad character it seemed too stripey, so:

I frogged that part and restitched with DMC 895. I think the green suits well and I like the look of solid colour better. I'm trying to stitch this one in the evenings and DH is around, but hopefully not paying attention to what I'm doing. I keep the chart kind of hidden from him so he can't tell and I hope to work on this when he's not around when the motifs take shape a little more. I also plan on adding a little more hair to the child like in the other Handblessings designs:

Girl Hanging Stocking

I will try and post a photo of the actual fabric and thread for Wings and Things as well as the awesome fabric I won in Shelly of An Arizona Stitcher's giveaway. She's been cleaning out her stash, so there may be more coming up. 

Also, Thread & Eye had their new arrivals posted on their website and I knew my Mom would like to get one of them. Crossed Wing Collection released a new bird design, a beautiful loon! It's called My Space:

Kathy at Thread & Eye pulled all the thread Mom needed, standard DMC to make it easy for her, and took a lot of time to go through her fabrics to find just the right one. It's a little more green than the model fabric, which is hand-painted, but I think it will look great. 

Thanks for reading all the way through this very long post and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch