Back in Paradise!

This news bulletin is coming to you from the beautiful shores of West Maui...(tee hee)! We are reveling in being back in Maui, enjoying our ocean front condo for a week of sunshine and fun. The weather so far has been just perfect, and we are taking daughter Amy around to all our favorite spots. She is so excited as this is her first visit to the islands! Saturday we spent shopping and walking in Lahaina, and took in a keiki (children) Hula show...some of the girls were in their early teens and were absolutely gorgeous in their long dresses and graceful moves. It was a real blast to watch the tiny girls doing Tahitian hip shaking!

Yesterday we drove the Hana Highway, putting in about a 10 hour day by the time we got home again. It was as beautiful as always. Amy swam in the O'heo pools (Seven Sacred Pools) and we all had a marvelous, though exhausting time.

Today will hold breakfast at our favorite restaurant, called the Gazebo at Napili Bay, and then to the aquarium and a sunset dinner cruise out of Lahaina.

Aloha!

Online Needlework Show!

Lacey Thread Designs has a featured design at this week's Online Needlework Show! Colleen from Loose Thread Stitchers called me last week and asked if she could feature Sunglow Memories on her page! This is a wonderful resource for stitchers to view dozens of new designs by over 150 designers right in the comfort of your own home! When you find something you really like, give your LNS a call and ask them to order for you!!
You'll find Sunglow Memories at the Loose Thread Stitchers page! Come and visit!

Someday I hope life will slow down...just a bit!

Well, this has been a very busy, hectic and stressful couple of months at the Dunton residence. We had to buy a new dishwasher (the bottom pan got a hole in it and leaked water everywhere!); repossess and deal with an old motor home that no longer was driveable, and get it towed to a place where we can someday recycle everything; take care of a very ill daughter for two weeks when Amy got an abcessed wisdom tooth (never thought I would ever have to learn to change IV's!); and then deal with plumbing problems, which forced us to move out of the house for a couple days. Just all seems to prove the old adage, it never rains but pours!!! I'm tired. Exhausted. Overwhelmed. In all of this, we were trying hard to get two new designs to the printers, but kept running into obstacles with the cover photos not printing correctly!

So now for some good news! Lacey Thread Designs has published two new leaflets!

The first one is called Sunglow Memories. Display your favorite pictures in a gorgeous memory frame, using unique and creative corner photo holders. Photos can be easily exchanged as desired without having to reframe each time. Stitched with basic hardanger (NO cutting!), and pulled thread stitches, detailed directions for the corner photo holders are included.

The second design is My Child's Heart. It is an exquisite birth sampler containing hardanger, pulled thread, specialty stitches, and ribbon embroidery. This sampler could also be easily customized as a wedding sampler, or stitched without words as a band sampler. A Mother of Pearl heart bead is included with each leaflet.These two beautiful designs are available at our website: www.laceythread.com.

25 Things about Me. A meme thingie I got talked into.

Okay, Karie-Leekie (sister) this is for you!!
1. My natural tendency is to think that 25 things about me is self indulgent. My sister tells me it isn't!
2. I am an introvert. I LOVE being an introvert, except when I am around a lot of Extroverts that expect me to act like them, and I can't think of a darn thing to say!! Stupid brain. I can always think of just the right thing to say a day or two after the fact.
3. My earliest memory is flying in an airplane with my parents. I remember lying on my mom’s lap and seeing the little round porthole windows that planes used to have. My mom says I was about a year old at the time. Someone has said that very early memories indicate a high intelligence. (How’s that for self indulgent! SMIRK).
4. I love to travel. I think it has something to do with #3. If I don’t get to travel for an extended period of time I feel deprived and sorry for myself.
5. My favorite place to travel to is Hawaii. I have been there four times, to three different islands. I am so lucky. I get to go for the fifth time in April, 09.
6. I LOVE Hawaii and we are planning on moving there when we retire. Unless we can figure out a way to go before then.
7. When I was 18 I spent a year traveling with the singing group “Up With People”. We got to do some amazing things…giving two performances at Carnegie Hall, doing a television show, singing at the governor’s mansion in Santa Fe, New Mexico, performing for the President’s daughter, as well as making lifelong friends and learning how to sing on a corded microphone and dance at the same time!
8. I earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Whitworth University, graduated cum laude, while working and paying my own way through college. (see #3 again!! SMIRK)
9. I love dark chocolate and crème brulee. Not necessarily at the same time.
10. I spent a month in Paris studying while I was in college. The first week I didn’t like it there very much. At the end of the month I didn’t want to leave and would have stayed for another semester if I had had any money.
11. Believe it or not, I like to garden and to have a pretty yard. Something about working in the dirt soothes the soul.
12. I got my love of gardening from my Dad, who in his 80’s still has a gorgeous yard.
13. I have never been fond of my middle name…probably because it only got used when I was in trouble as a kid! (Sorry Mom and Dad!)
14. I felt better about my middle name when my second granddaughter was also given it as her middle name.
15. My middle name is Lynn.
16. I had mono in 9th grade and had to stay in bed for week.
17. While I had mono, my Mom bought me some printed pillow cases and embroidery thread, and the passion of my life was born.
18. I have been stitching and doing some form of embroidery continuously since I was in 9th grade. Let’s see…40 years now. (How good is your math??? HA!)
19. Last year I started my own embroidery design business, designing and selling embroidery patterns nationwide.
20. I drive a PT cruiser. Ever notice that most of the drivers of PT cruisers are over 40?
21. I don’t really like to cook, and only do it when I have to. I dislike potlucks for just that reason. Love to eat, hate to cook.
22. If I had all the money in the world, I would have a cook.
23. I crave order, beauty and quiet in my surroundings. Without these three things I quickly fall apart.
24. I love to read. My favorite outing as a child was going to the library.
25. I love having grandchildren! It’s worth having kids just to have grandkids someday!

"All That Glitters"

Last week we (Lacey Thread Designs) received a letter from Nordic Needle describing the stitching retreat they are having the end of April, and asking if the designers/suppliers/retailers would like to contribute toward a door prize and/or the goody bag that will be given to the 75 stitchers attending this years retreat. I immediately knew I would send some patterns for the door prizes, but then got to wishing I could do something for the goody bags, but providing for 75 people seemed overwhelming. Then I remembered I had a needle book pattern that I designed and never done anything with, so I excitedly brought it out, made some modifications, like adding NN (Nordic Needle) Retreat, and the date, and added a gorgeous heart bead! The patterns are being printed up this afternoon, and I am so excited about this project and gift for the stitchers. This pattern will not be published again by me until 2010, so it will give them a year of exclusive use too!!

Here is a snippet of the pattern. The model is stitched with Sunglow Waterlillies and perle cotton. The theme of the retreat is "All That Glitters" so I added some blending filament to the lettering. I love how it has turned out!

It's amazing how quickly they change!

Silas, 6 weeks old.

Where did the time go?

Well, January is just whizzing by. My calendar tells me there is only one more week to go until February, but I can't seem to wrap my mind around that fact. I seem to spend too much time going to work and sleeping!!! Oh, for more hours in my day!

Alana had her tonsils removed on January 8th, and did remarkably well. She was up playing in the hallway of the hospital that evening. The nurses finally decided to unhook her IV tubes as we were having trouble keeping up with her (pushing around that lovely pole!). Amazingly, she never lost her voice, and spent only about 2 days eating soft food before resuming her normal diet! Oh to have the resilience of a three year old!!!

Gracie is ever the sweet joy she always is. She is learning a few signs along with her spoken words, and is quite proud of herself everytime she uses the sign for "more" correctly. She is getting pretty good at saying "night night" and "baa baa" (bottle).

Silas is growing rapidly, and is already one month old. He's gained quite a bit of weight and is almost 10 lbs. now. It is fun to see him spending more time awake and starting to make eye contact with us.

We have watched two more seasons of "24" since Christmas, finishing up season 4 last weekend. These shows are incredibly addicting and we have to be careful not to start watching a new season until we will have enough time to watch the whole 24 hours (actually about 20 hours of viewing time, minus the commercials) in a few days. It can get quite difficult to turn off the TV and head to bed..."just one more episode and then we will" as it gets later and later, LOL!!!!

Amy and I are in the process of layout for two more designs. One is about 99% done (Sunglow Memories) , and will go in for proof copies this weekend. I still have a lot to work on for the second one (My Child's Heart), but anticipate getting it mostly done this weekend. It feels so good to see the designs come together into a real pattern.

We bought our plane tickets for Maui last week, we will be going for a week to our timeshare on April 24th. We are taking Amy along with us this time, we are excited to introduce her to our favorite places on the island! And it will be fun for Lizzie to have a "companion" this time, freeing up John and I to have more time to ourselves.

John and I are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary in July, so we have decided to spend 6 days in San Francisco to celebrate. It's a city that I have always wanted to visit, and tho I am tempted to go back to Hawaii instead, I think it will be fun to explore a new place. We've seen so many movies set in SF, that I know there will be many places that will be familiar even though we've never been there.

Not much stitching getting done, though I am working on a layout for a new design. I am itching to begin stitching on it...man I miss stitching when I don't get to do it for a long time!!!

Back to Normal, I hope!

Well, the holidays are over. Things are beginning to return to normal, and I hope that they stay that way for awhile. Christmas was so "off" this year. Not bad, just different. Most everyone I talked to said Christmas was good, but it just didn't really seem like Christmas. I can only attribute it (at least in our home) to the fact that two weeks of deep snow and ice really put a damper on activities that make it seem like Christmas...driving around to look at Christmas lights, leisurely shopping, Christmas parties, Christmas Eve services were cancelled at most churches, etc. Add in being stuck at home, the birth of a new grandson, work being closed down, having less money to buy gifts, and the whole season just seemed a little subdued. I am thankful that our whole family was able to get together for Christmas dinner at Mom and Dad's home (23 of us this year!). It was a very nice Christmas and the grand kids loved opening all their gifts. This was our first White Christmas in many many years.

Baby Silas is doing very well, two weeks old now, and starting to put a little weight on. Alana loves to hold him too, Gracie just gets mad if her mom (Amy) holds him...jealousy I think!!! Is there such a thing as sibling rivalry in first cousins??? LOL!!

I have been working a bit here and there when I can on another new design, one I had started some time ago, and put away because...I don't know why. I think I didn't like it anymore, but now I do...and it is coming right along. The working title of it is Beyond the Garden Gate...and has a hardanger fence in front of an embroidery garden. (see preview picture in the sidebar). No ribbon embroidery, just floss in this one, and I am pleased with the results. We have begun the process of the layout for Sunglow Memories and My Child's Heart...just have to finish writing the directions and they will be off to the printer!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

Enough already!!!

It has been snowing here for over a week now. By the looks of the amount of snow accumulating on the outdoor tables and birdbath (see picture) we have well over a foot of the white stuff. We cannot drive our cars as the snow is too deep and the city is unable to plow our neighborhood streets so we can get to the main roads. John rode the bus to work today, a first in our lives, and my office is completely shut down.(there are over 1000 people in my building). The State government has shut down. Schools, thankfully, are on Christmas break. The forecast is for more snow and more snow through the end of the week. It's pretty rare for us to have this much snow for this long, guess this is only the third time since they started keeping track. The last times were in 1949 and 1969. I do remember in 1989 having lots of snow for a few days, and being housebound....but not for this long. Hmmm, it is almost 2009. Interesting 20 year pattern here.

Pretty boring post for anyone not living here in the Pacific Northwest. Sorry. But I feel the need to record this for my history if nothing else.

Looks like we wont be "dreaming" of a white Christmas this year. It will be a reality!!!

Pictures of Silas!

Silas Martin Phillips, born December 19, 2008.

Sharing a birthday with his cousin Holly, and almost with his great grandma Marge (the 20th).

He has arrived!

Announcing, with great pleasure and excitement, the birth of our first grandson, Silas Martin Phillips, born at 1:05 pm on Friday, December 19th. He weighs 7 lbs, 13 oz and is 19 inches long. He looks like a nice combination of his mom and his dad!!
Alli is doing great, the birth went really well. Pictures tomorrow!

Snow, Snow and more snow!

It has been snowing for the past 16 hours now....what a pretty picture!

Can't believe it's almost Christmas!

I've been sadly neglectful of keeping up with this blog in the last month. Beyond being insanely busy, I just haven't felt much desire to write anything. Not sure exactly why...it just kept getting pushed to the bottom of my to-do list.


We had a great Thanksgiving, with lots of the extended family, and even some of son-in-law Chris's family joining us. Gracie and Alana both had birthday's in November, and they had great fun opening presents and eating cake. Alana didn't want it to end, and wouldn't let us take down the decorations for about 2 weeks!







I put up the Christmas tree yesterday, and today it has snowed enough to make everything white...it looks nice and Christmassy around here now. Still can't believe it's only 10 days away. I have a major amount of my shopping yet to do, which is par for the course! It all seems to get done in time every year.


The little stitching I have accomplished this month has been mostly working on new designs. Lacey Thread Designs has had a very good opening, we are quite pleased with how well the designs are selling. Nordic Needle has been very supportive, putting in a large order and they are even taking a couple of our models to the TNNA show in San Diego next month. (My Heart's Garden and Allison's Ring Pillow). It's so exciting to see this all coming together!

We are still waiting for baby Phillips to make his/her appearance (Alli and Chris). Alli's due date is Wednesday, so hopefully very soon! I'll keep you all posted!

Open for Business!

Lacey Thread Designs is open for business!! All of us are so excited to have finally reached this point!You will find 4 beautiful designs in our design catalog. Feel free to order from us online in our shopping cart, and we have a special section just for Shop Owners!!! We have three more designs to be released by the end of year! Quaker Inspirations, Volume 2, will further develop the Quaker theme with a sweet desk set. My Child's Heart, a sweet birth sampler based on My Heart's Garden, brings in the same elements of hardanger and ribbon embroidery. And our third piece, Sunglow Memories, is another design of kloster blocks and pulled thread in a lucious overdyed silk. It is a unique picture frame that needs no cutting, and pictures are easily exchangeable!! Be watching for these great designs!!

First Four Designs Published!

We at Lacey Thread Designs are pleased to announce that our first four designs have been printed and will be available on November 5, 2008!! Here are pictures of the covers of the new designs:

Be sure and check out our web page http://www.laceythread.com/ after November 5th!!!

'Twas a fun evening....

Granddaughters Alana and Gracie and even baby to be born dressed up for a night of parties and merrymaking last night...they all had a great time and came home with loads of goodies and toys...

Gracie dress up as a pink butterfly....

Alana dressed as Cinderella....

And Allison dressed up baby-to-be as a jack o' lantern!!! Isn't that a great idea?

Heavens! Where has the time gone?

(note: Content updated)

For those of you who read this blog, my apologies for being gone for so long from blogland. I have no excuse other than being overwhelmingly busy! At the end of a long day, my brain was in no shape to compose a post! So here is a quick catch up of the last two months!

John and I went to a Mariner's game. It was fan appreciation night, so it was a fun evening. The Mariner's even won their game!

The last Sunday in September my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with an open house! It was a wonderful day, the weather was perfect, the setting was comfortable, and we were able celebrate with good friends and family. Congratulations Mom and Dad!

We had a baby shower for daughter Alli and baby to be last weekend. It was such a nice afternoon and Alli received some very nice things. She is almost ready for baby to come!

Granddaughter Gracie is walking now! She started about three weeks ago, and is already walking and running like a pro! She is starting to say some words....baby, baff (bath), ba-ba, bye. She is lots of fun, laughing and smiling alot, but a bit of temper is also starting to show!! LOL!

Surprise Visit with Von

I got home from work last Friday afternoon, and had an email from Von that they were on their way over to Olympia/Lacey from their home in Eastern Washington for a cross country meet! I was so excited! We haven't seen each other since we attended the Victoria Sampler retreat in April, so it was wonderful to spend all day Saturday with them at the beautiful Capitol Lake Park. In between cheering and clapping for all the runners, we had a great time catching up with Von, hubby Gary and two of their kids, Kevin and Kyle, who did very well in the freshman boys race.

This is a picture of one of the girls races. They ran all the way around Capitol Lake, about 2.2 miles or so. Amy and granddaughters also joined us...it was a gorgeous day and we all ended up a little sunburned!!! After a late lunch/early dinner at Taco Bell, we exchanged hugs and kisses and said goodbye. What a treat it was to see Von again. There is just something about long-time friends that warms the soul!! Especially when we share a passion for stitching!!!

Life has been very busy this month, with school starting, and new routines to have to get used to. I passed my Insurance Test last week, Hooray! That's two parts down and one to go, but I'm not going to tackle that until next year.

My parents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary next week!!!! Wow! I have been helping Mom with invitations and getting ready for a big party on Sunday the 28th. It should be a fun afternoon! Congratulations Mom and Dad!!!

Daughter Alli had a high-resolution ultrasound this morning to check on the baby. She was also scheduled for an amniocentesis, but they ultimately decided against it. Her blood tests last month that check for Downs Syndrome were all very, very normal, and the regular ultrasound they had done found no indications in head and brain size for anything but a normal baby, but they found a small spot of calcification in the baby's heart, which can be a marker for DS. The high resolution ultrasound found NO other markers, (Back of the neck, brain, fingers, etc), so the risk of the amnio was greater than the risk of finding Downs. We are all a little relieved that no other markers were found, and so are trusting for a healthy baby....little dickens wouldn't open it's legs, so we are still going with the "probably a boy" from the last ultrasound!

A break from our labors....on Labor Day!

John and I had the opportunity to spend the long Labor Day weekend at my parent's cabin in northern Washington State, very close to the Canadian border and about half way between Bellingham and Mount Baker. It had been about 4 years since we had been able to stay at the cabin, due to the river flooding and doing some damage to the cabin. My parents had emptied out all the furnishings during the flood, and it has just this summer had the damages repaired and the furnishings moved back in. It was so wonderful to be able to enjoy this peaceful retreat again!


On our trip up last Saturday (about a three hour drive from our home in Lacey), we did a little remembrance sight seeing in Bellingham, the town I grew up in.

We drove by my old high school (dare I say it? Class of '72!!!)

and the house I grew up in. ( I wish I could go inside again!)

It is always amazing to me to see how the trees my father planted and tended have become huge. Monstrous really. To think these tall trees used to be our Christmas trees when I was a child!!! The tree that bears five kinds of apples (due to my father's patient grafting) is still producing fruit. Wow. I wonder if my kids will ever drive by our house 35 years from now and remember the trees we planted?


Oh, and Dad...the ponderosa pine that you and I planted at the cabin when I was in junior high survived the flood just fine...the bottom branches are bare, but the top is healthy and full. And very, very tall!!! I'm very, very glad it is still there. Hopefully it will still be there in another 40 years! Kind of a cool family heirloom, don't ya think?