A Birthday....Mine!!!

Now that our naughty Lili (you know I'm only teasing you my friend) has let the cat out of the bag about my birthday I might as well confess. Yes yesterday was the big day -- for the 59th time as a matter of fact. Thank you all for your wonderful birthday wishes - they are very special to me.

Thought I would share a picture of myself from long ago. I don't know exactly how old I was at the time but I do know that it has always been a favorite of mine. The cape was knit by my oldest sister who later saved it for me so that she could give it to me when I had children of my own. M was 17 when I was born and I think she did a wonderful job. Although she's much older than I am (I'm one of those after the war family additions) and was already engaged to my BIL when I came along, we have always had a great connection.

Yesterday was a lovely day with all those birthday wishes via telephone, mail, email (including a newsy long email from dear D in China) & the blog. I must admit I spent a great portion of the day on the phone with our children (Germany & The Netherlands) and family and friends from Canada, The Netherlands & the US. It is always so good to hear familiar voices and those of you who know me well also know I don't run out of conversation easily. That meant that as the day progressed people had spent hours trying to get through. I'm sorry folks and thanks for keeping on trying. DH bought me the deliciously fragrant "5th Avenue" by Elizabeth Arden, DS gave me Michael Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union' and 'Art Nouveau Cross Stitch' by Barbara Hammet (which I have already spent hours dreaming over) and DD & her DBF gave me Michelle Ferrari's wonderful 'Las Vegas an Unconventional History'. Ah they know me so well!! Last night DH took me to dinner at Binion's. I had a delicious lobster bisque followed by a tender filet mignon accompanied by a loaded baked potato & fresh vegetables and of course a glass of great wine.

A great day ..... life is so good!!!

Josie's Quilt

Just a quick note before I run this to the mailbox. The square will form part of the 'Love Quilt' for Taryn G. http://lovequilts2007children.homestead.com/TarynG.html

Josie's Quilt
freebie design: Whispered by the Wind
http://hometown.aol.com/wispwindxs/freebies.html

Meeting Juls

How many of you have had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger in person? Well after a year of blogging I can raise my hand and say: "I have and boy was it fun!".

Juls http://afairyprincessdreams.blogspot.com/ and I discovered this past February that we live in the same city, both love to cross-stitch and even frequent the same LNS - yet we had never met. Since that time we've kept in touch via our blogs knowing that the opportunity to meet in person would certainly come.

Last week I read she planned to go to Stitchers Paradise on Thursday to choose some fabric for a new project. Since I attend the stitching get-together there on Wednesday I asked if perhaps she could come then instead. And she could!! What fun it was to finally meet one another. Let me tell you a little secret - our fairy princess doesn't just dream of stitching - she creates masterpieces. If you visit her blog and scroll down to February 21, 2007 you will see her 'Cinderella' which graces the wall of SP. It is stunning!!

Juls, it was great meeting you and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Just a little piece of my own stitching to show. Thank you Isabelle for telling us about Maryse's patterns. So much love & care has gone into the designing of these gems and Avril was a joy to stitch. The stitching is 1/1 on 25 ct cream evenweave creating a sweet 2 1/2" square picture. Although I haven't quite decided how to finish this I do know I'll be stitching some of the other months in the near future.

Hope everyone had a good week and wish you all a wonderful weekend.