Counted Blessings Project

This is where I will chronicle my progress in the Counting My Blessings (a group stitch along project). We will all be embroidering 100 one inch squares with examples of how we are blessed. When trying to figure out a name for this blog I came across the Cherokee Blessing which is under my blog title. I thought is was so beautiful and since my husband and our son are part Cherokee and I count them both as the blessings I am most grateful for it seemed natural. I am new at embroidery and excited to see how it all unfolds!

Monday, May 31, 2010

3-Latte


Love my latte! I start the day every day with a nice homemade latte. If we are out of town the first thing my husband does when he wakes up is go to the nearest coffee place to get our morning coffee. We used to bring our cappacino machine with us on the road but now there is a Starbucks in many hotel lobbies so no need to lug the machine. One of my favorite moments of the day is sitting outside early in the morning if I should happen to be out of bed before anyone and drinking my latte while reading my daily inspirational books and getting ready for the day. Our backyard is surrounded by trees and sometimes the only sound I can hear are the birds and an occasional rustle of the trees if a breeze is in the air. It's so magical to be out of the city and living in the country without the sounds of traffic. I truly am blessed!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

2-RWH

My second blessing represents my husband. I put his initials and plan to make a couple more blocks dedicated to him as well as several for my son. We have been married for 22 years and he is truly the love of my life. I can't imagine how or why I was so blessed to land such a catch! He is a great father to our son as well as a wonderful husband. He travels quite a bit and is in England right now which is probably why I am so gushy writing this because I miss him! He will be home on Monday.
One thing I am discovering while working on this project is that it is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I was hoping my embroidery skills were better than they are :) The large weave linen would not be my choice again as it is difficult to draw a design on and stretches out of shape easily. I guess practice is what I need though and what better way to get it than committing to 100 squares. Hopefully there will be some improvement in my stitching before the end!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

1st Blessing!




Well I haven't finished outlining all my squares but just couldn't wait to get started! My first blessing is the sunrise which I see outside my bedroom window every morning. Although I am not a morning person once I do get moving I love to sit outside and look out over the hills which surround our house and start the day with prayer, meditation and gratitude for all that is possible.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Still Stitching my grid!

Before

Now it will be easier to trace onto my square

Almost done, one more day and my grid will be all outlined. I am glad I stitched it first because the lines are already fading and they would really be difficult to see after a week or so but geeez, I thought I could knock it out in about 3 days. It has taken me over a week and lots more floss than I thought. I am so excited to get started stitching my blessings. I have been working on ideas and the first 2o or so are pretty easy to come up with but then it gets a little more difficult. I found a tutorial that shows how to take a photo and turn it into a line drawing so that way I can transfer it to my squares (from the transfer tutorial that Amy has on her site Early Bird Special. ) I don't draw well so this will be a big help. The first one I transformed is a pic of my dog, Angel. If anyone wants the instructions let me know as it is really easy.