Our Precious Maximus 😢

I'm sorry if you've seen this already. I posted it on fb and instagram yesterday, but wanted to post it here too.

Little did we know that not even half an hour after the 1st photo was taken on Sunday, our sweet Maximus would be gone. The 2nd one was taken the night before. He was just shy of his 16th birthday & couldn't quite make it.

We were hoping for a year after his 3rd degree heart block diagnosis, but we're thankful to have had six months.

We will all miss our precious boy, and I've lost one of my stitching buddies. His "specialty fiber" will be in so many of my stitched pieces which are now treasures. ❤

Ming will be busy being extra loved by us, and she won't have to share a spot in my lap anymore. Although I know she'll miss him, they were such love bugs together. 😿

On the 23rd, it was cold enough for a fire and he was enjoying the warmth.

The last photo I have of them snuggling together was on the 26th, when it was once again warm outside.

We are so heartbroken, he was such a sweet and special boy. He loved us all and would always start purring whenever Nathan came over to him.

When he was getting worse, he always wanted to be with me when I was sitting down or when we went to bed. Ming has now taken his place doing that, she misses him too.

Earlier in the month, we sort of recreated this adorable picture of Max and Nathan.

They share the same birthday on Nov 10th, just a year apart. That will be a hard day.

So rest in peace, our precious Max. I know the last couple of months were hard on you, if only love could heal.

Through the tears, I'll press on and my next post will be a happier one. 🎃

Fully Finished Gallery ~ October 2023 🖼

Welcome to Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery SAL for October. I'm still trying to finish up a couple things for Halloween!

Be sure to have a look and see what others have finished this time.

This one has been finished since 2020, but I finally fully finished it! I've had this wooden frame for a while, but it was too small to put anything in. So I decided to think "outside" the box and add it in front of the frame instead.

It's Boo Bee from Hinzeit.

This is Fall Fun from Mill Hill.

I changed the wording for a cousin who got married over the weekend. They had a barn wedding, so I thought it would be an appropriate reminder.

It was a beautiful wedding, and so much fun!

This barn was built on her parents property and will be used for horses eventually. I think they did a great job building it themselves!

Fully Finished Gallery ~ September 2023 🖼

Welcome to Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery SAL for September. I'm getting ready for October!

Be sure to have a look and see what others have finished this time.

Family Portrait - Just Cross Stitch Halloween Magazine 2013

Even better, I actually had the Tokens and Trifles sewing card. I filled in the background, I didn't like how it looked without it.

Pumpkit - Just Cross Stitch Halloween Magazine 2018

This was just too cute that I couldn't NOT stitch it!

And here they are together on my Halloween tree. Most of the ornaments are Mill Hill, but not anymore.

Not sure what I have planned for next month...

👻🎃🍁?

A sweet find!🧵

I saw this on our local Buy Nothing page for our area and threw my name in the hat to get it.

And I got it!

I cleaned it up as best as I could to display it asap. It needed some cover up until I fix the top, and since it's getting to be that time, I knew what to put on it.

The sewing machine inside was still there, but it came out and wouldn't stay in place. So I left it out and stored it away. Undecided if I'll clean it up enough to try and use it, it's a bit of a mess!

The 1st Grace Notes Retreat 🎶

Through friends, I heard about a retreat from Grace Notes Fabrics and I was ready to join them!

Three weeks ago today, I traveled to Pennsylvania, not that far from me.

You can already see the beautiful fabric they have to offer.

We had tickets in our goodie bag and could also earn more tickets with games in the booklet we received. These were the items available for the raffle. So many lovely things!

These were on the brag tables, all stitched on Grace Notes Fabric. Lots of amazing stitching on gorgeous fabric. I hope to be able to add to it next year.

The Grace Notes Retreat Crew, they all made it such fun!

Jamey, Hannah, Colleen, Corrin, John, Sheri, Allison, and Karla

This was my area of our table, just a little bit of a hot mess.

And what's a retreat without the giveaway table?!

This is what I came home with.

Our goodie bag came with this booklet, which included plenty of sweet patterns and games.

There were lots of goodies inside!

And also very generous stitchers who gave out their own goodies.

This was the set up for shopping, as well as patterns on the left side against the wall.

I was mainly interested in fabric, especially for this piece. I wanted to use purple for the witches and the one I had started before just didn't look right to me.

I found this and it's perfect!

I also bought all these smaller pieces to stitch who knows what on. I just love all those gorgeous colours!

Sheri (of the Notes Crew) made this beautiful quilt for a raffle to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation and Precious Life... $1000 was raised!

And with the leftover fabric, Sheri made every one of us a needle book, what a treasure!

And can I say, there were tears.

Each table had a frog and when announced, the person who had it because they were frogging, received a prize - I won the little imagine book.

Also shown is the needle book from Sheri and the boo boo stick that was in the goodie bag I forgot to show.

Last win was the actual frog which I got. Sadly, we spend quite a bit of time together!

Fran and I each had a finish, yay!

I then worked on The Snowflower Diaries, which I'm way behind on. October was a porcupine and a snail, but I wanted something more for Halloween and wanted to use one of Maja's actual designs. I decided to make her witch into a bunny, based on another one of her designs. I still have to finish the bottom part and add more flowers. I know it's not quite like the rest of the series, but I like it!

Here's a reminder of what the rest look like.

And besides cross stitching, there was some bobbin lace happening with Arlene. So beautiful, but I'm not sure I'd have the patience to attempt it.

Our Grace Notes Retreat Group!

And here's our table of stitchers.🥰

This is what I've been working on since getting the perfect fabric there.

Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.

So for their first retreat, it was an AMAZING one! Thank you for making it such a memorable weekend.

Everyone was so wonderful and friendly, and the place was perfect. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Fully Finished Gallery ~ August 2023 🖼

Welcome to Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery SAL for August. It was a sweet finish this month!

Be sure to have a look and see what others have finished this time.

I've had this stitched for a while, but wasn't sure how to finish it. I had this frame and decided it would look good in it.

I couldn't get it to align, only to realize I was a stitch off. Luckily it was only three stitches.

I love this little guy from Mill Hill, he was a fun stitch.

I glued this little piece on the back so it would stand up. It's actually a place card holder I found online.

A rather small beehive to go with the gnome?!

That is all for now, I hope for more next time!

I'll have a retreat post coming soon, it was a fantastic one!