Happy New Year - Happy New Designs!

New designs are ready! There are some good stories behind a couple of these, so grab a warm drink (if you're as buried in snow as we are) and get ready for some giggles.

MBT-204 Better to Dwell - a Journey Through Proverbs

This is my favorite design out of all of them in this batch, for the season of my life that it represents. This past summer I was really struggling to adjust to a new normal. We moved into a new home and I had created a picture in my mind of all that life would be. Reality was far from my ideal. There were the hiccups of finding 'surprises' in a new place, but also the acceptance that we aren't going back to where we lived before - where I had dear friends and an incredible church. That isn't to say that God hasn't blessed the journey to where we are, and that I'm not surrounded by a community of friends and family in our new home, and not in a wonderful church - the people here are amazing and our church is beyond blessing. BUT, it was a hard realization for me to accept and it hit me hard. I struggled. During that struggle my husband was ever so patient, praying for me, encouraging me. He was willing to fulfill the most ridiculous demands and draw me in when I was prickly and could have easily been pushed away. I was quarrelsome - he had every right to be on the corner of a rooftop, it probably would have been safer!

The design is stitched over 2 on 28 ct. linen, with GAST threads. The border is designed to go into the side of the frame, in a reproduction style, with a gap at the top and bottom. When stitched on 28 ct. it will fit perfectly in an 8x10 frame. There are many many many Proverbs that could fit my life on any day, and I hope you will join me on a journey through them, with needle and thread, in the coming year.

MBT-205 Beware of Dog (and cat!)

Oh, my cat. My silly, silly cat. During our most recent move we have experienced a lot of adventures with our animals. One of them is not being able to trust our cat to do her job - keep mice out of the house. She not only watched as they helped themselves to her food, I woke up one morning to find her being chased around by a field mouse!This is why I had to add a rat button to this design - a taunt to our cat. She did end up redeeming herself by catching a mouse a week later, and then leaving it on the coffee table for me to find. I could have done without her proud display of bravery. 

The design is stitched over 2 on 32 ct. jobelan with WDW threads. Will fit a 5x7 frame and we used one from East Side Frames Crazy Daisy line. Adorably accented by JABC buttons. This is a companion design to MBT-171 and MBT-172 (cats/dogs leave pawprints, the snarky versions).

MBT-206 Be of Good Courage

This was a recent challenge piece for me. It was a challenge to my mindset, to focus on the blessings of life, being grateful, and getting back to what I am called to do - share the gospel and serve (even when there are mice in the house and the roof is leaking...) 

The design is stitched over three threads with three strands. This sounds really strange, and it is kind of weird to do, but the look is beautiful with the chunkier threads on the fine fabric. It could also easily be stitched with two strands over two threads, or on aida, or however you would like!

MBT-207 God Sustains

Along with my current theme of struggling and refocusing, it is building faith. Remembering that God has brought me through trials and challenges to build my faith, and that He will continue to sustain me. Are there days when he gives me more than I can handle? Absolutely! That is so that it is clear that it is by His strength, not my own. But I can look at His record in my life - He is always there, leading me back to Him, building me through trials and blessings with things that are for my good ( just not always my comfort!).

The design is stitched over 2 on 28 ct. jobelan with WDW threads. It is a companion design to MBT-193 Grateful Every Day, MBT-194 Seek the Lost, and MBT-202 I Will Not Forget Thy Word. They all use the same frame - and spray paint! 

Those are the four new designs that give you my life in a nutshell. It has been a wild, bumpy, joy filled, love filled, hard, easy, blessed ride through 2017. I have no idea what is in store for 2018, but I hope it involves fabric and thread. And maybe chocolate and coffee. Definitely coffee.

Last week we experienced what much of the US was dealing with - snowstorms and bitter cold. We also found out that what we thought had fixed the roof last month didn't, and we leaked. Again. A lot. I volunteered to climb up and shovel it off (it was a much easier job than shoveling off what I pushed down onto the deck) and this was my view from the rooftop.

I wasn't feeling quarrelsome that day :-)