Teas, IHSW Report, A Few Gifts I Bought for Myself, & Something I Made for Someone : )

How's that for a blog post title   : )

I intended to write about the progress I made in my IHSW stitching this past weekend, & also to show you a few gifts I purchased for myself & one I made for someone else recently.  However, I'm adding a few words about teas.  Specific teas.  Teas from Lillie's in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  A dear friend who lives in Cedarburg recently sent me a gift of Peace Tea from Lillie's.  It is a delicious herbal tea ... so delicious that I feared it would be gone before I knew it & I would be left with none!  Full of hope, I searched for Lillie's online & was ecstatic to find not only her website but a link for online ordering!  I immediately ordered at least a dozen teas, most of them herbal.  It's kind of odd ... I never liked herbal teas & avoided them like the plague.  Then last year, or maybe the year before, I ended up drinking some chamomile for some reason & fell in love   : ) Anyway, Lillie's teas have names like Grateful Heart, Evening Repose, Dawn Chorus, Dream Tea, Relaxation Tea, & the above mentioned Peace Tea.  All are herbal blends & it's a real treat to have a cup of any of them! Lillie's also sells black teas.  I purchased a few of those as well ... Chestnut, Coconut Custard, Vanilla Bean, Orange Spice, & Winter Spice ... but by far I love the herbal teas best.  Strange, isn't it, for my tastes to have changed like this.  This morning I sat down at my computer with a cup of Grateful Heart, & as I took a sip I realized that I needed to include a plug for Lillie's in my post.  If you buy teas from Lillie's, I'm sure you won't be disappointed   : )

Now ... on to my IHSW report.  I fear that I don't have much to share with you except the start of a LHN ornament, Winter Forest. You can see the finished design here.

I stitched this design once before as a gift, but this time I decided to try stitching it on 40 count linen using 1 strand of floss rather than the suggested 30 count using 2 strands. I fear it might end up being too small, but I'm going to forge ahead & hope for the best.

I had actually stitched more than this.  I started another patriotic kit design, but as soon as I started stitching it I didn't like it. It's not the design I didn't like ... it was the fabric & floss that came with the kit.  I stitched a star motif & a few vines & at that point decided to just frog it all & maybe start it again someday using a different fabric & floss. 

With the exception of books & stitching stash, I really haven't bought much of anything for myself in a coon's age.  You may not have noticed but lately I've been on a patriotic kick, so when I saw Olde Lady Morgan post recently that she was selling some of her patriotic creations in her Early Work Mercantile shop, I rushed over there & bought these.

From left to right you see Miss Libby, Libby's best gal pal Betsy, & a prim Uncle Sam make-a-do.  Here they are a bit closer.    

I love the olde lady's creations   : )  I have several of them but alas, I packed all but one of them away a couple months ago in preparation for my escape from the devil's playground.  Alas, I'm still here, but I'm still clinging to the hope that I will be paroled any day now.  Clinging, clinging, clinging.  Sigh!

Lastly, Marly's (Samplers & Santas) birthday was last week.  With all the medical stuff, moving stuff, & a bit of bad stuff swirling around my life for the past 6 months, I have found it impossible to keep up with birthdays. Recently I've tried to play catch up but sadly have not been able to stitch gifts for everyone.  However, I saw this Little Stitcher design last year & knew I had to stitch it as a gift for Marly someday.  I had finished the stitching a couple months ago ... then when I saw it was her birthday, I finished it into a pinkeep & sent it off to her.  The design is called The Granny & the Deer.  Marly has often written about how she feeds bread to the deer who come to visit her.  I decided to embellish Laura's design a bit & add a slice of bread in granny's (Marly's) hand to make it more personal.  I received an email from Marly thanking me for the gift so I can share it with you now   : )   This was one of the mysteries I posted on my blog post this past Saturday.  You've already seen the back of it ... here's the front   : )

And that, I think, is it for this morning except to once again share a few new daylily blooms with you   : )   Have a blessed day!