New FREE Pattern

My goodness but it has been a long time since I had any new patterns to post! My designing has been put on hold due to health challenges and it has been very hard to not sit at the computer and put the images I'm thinking of into charts. But when my publisher asked me to donate a design for their free monthly pattern series this year I couldn't say no. It is titled "October Leaves" and it was supposed to be for the month of October, however, I was surprised this morning to see that it was moved up to their September offering so stitchers might have it stitched for the season. Just go to everythingcrossstitch.com and you can download it for free.

New Series, Proverbial Sampler #1

I really wasn't expecting to have another pattern done before the year was out, but happily I can post what I hope to be the first in a series of old fashioned samplers featuring biblical proverbs. How often in a rather challenging year have I found comfort and encouragement in the wise sayings of David and King Solomon and I'm hoping to share them so others can find the light in what has become a very dark time for our world. Hope you will enjoy Proverbial Sampler #1 - the pattern can be found through Everything Cross Stitch and as soon as the new page is up for it at Creative Poppy I'll post a link. And one of the sorrows we had in June was losing our almost 9 year old Chessie, Jasper. His illness was sudden, dramatic and sadly fatal. We had no intention of getting another pup until next Spring but through sheer Providence I looked at the area sales newspaper online the next day and to my complete amazement there was an ad for a puppy that is a breed we've tried to own for decades but could not find in our part of the country. So meet, Grady, a Boykin Spaniel and if you go to you tube and search for Boykin Spaniel 101 you'll find what an interesting breed history they have.

We'll always miss our Jasper, but Grady is definitely helping to heal the hole Jasper left in our hearts. Here is Grady now almost 8 months old. He is getting homemade food and loves to 'help' Dad as he puts his 'puploaf' together.

Still Here & Still Designing!

Hello stitchers! I can't believe the last time I posted a new design was last June! What have I been doing??? Lately, I've been inside by the fire looking at the snow that still lingers. The piles that came off of roofs are still prodigious but pathways are appearing and seeds are coming up in the greenhouse and I look forward to being able to touch garden beds again soon. I've also had months of fighting bad bouts of ME/CFS and because of that I haven't even been able to dream of being creative. But thankfully, I finally was able to spend some time designing and am happy to introduce the latest Gracewood Stitches pattern - "Arts & Crafts"

It is my tip of the hat to a favorite style the images found in Arts and Crafts design. I love their natural colors and stylized images of familiar things. I hope you like it. If anyone is interested in purchasing the pattern you can find it at Everything Cross Stitch or at /Creative Poppy Hoping it won't be so very long between posts/designs, be well ya'll.

Monochrome Serendipity 2 & Record Heat Wave

Hello stitching friends from an inland pacific northwest that is hotter than ever recorded and it is only June! Yikes! A whole new type of 'lockdown' is being imposed on us. In the 41 years we've lived in this part of the country we've only experienced a day or two at most during the summer of over 100 degree heat - a big part of why we wanted to live here - but this heat wave is not only putting us in 110 degree range but it is lasting for a week.

Winter is not the only stitching season it seems, lol, since I can hardly poke my nose out the door after we finish watering the poor sweltering gardens. We're up at 4 am to get things ready for the day's heat. Thankfully, we had a lot of shadecloth on hand and the plants we worked so hard to start, plant and tend are making it through so far. Terry is braving the heat of the day to check on any emergency 911 situations out there. The heat loving things like tomatoes, peppers and corn are doubling by the day while the lettuce and spring greens melted days ago.

Praying that this ends soon and does NOT come back again!

While in this heat prison I made another edition of the latest design, Serendipity Sampler #2 that is in monochrome shades of mahogany. It is just fun to see what happens to a pattern when you take it to sepia type tones. It can be purchased through ICG Everything Cross Stitch and will soon be available on Creative Poppy

Serendipity Sampler #2 Monochrome

One of the beds that is getting a lot of water cause I do not want to lose them is the rose bed that I overfilled with poppies this year.

Pandora Poppies from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

And finally proof that a 'cool cat' can be cool even in such heat.

Nanny Cat after her garden inspection

Stay cool as you can, stitchers!

New Design - Serendipity Sampler #2

Serendipity Sampler #2

First, a quick note, if you've been getting email notices of new posts and want to continue receiving them please take a moment and enter your email in the box on the top right of this page. The service that blogger had been using to send out such notices has changed and you'll need to indicate once again if you wish to receive notices. I've been looking forward to doing the Serendipity Sampler series to have the opportunity to gather some of my favorite images/motifs together and see what happens :) The second in the series is complete and for sale - it can be purchased through Everything Cross Stitch and soon through Creative Poppy . You can also send an email to me at bungard.gracewood@gmail.com and I'll send a paypal invoice for $8.00 and I'll send the pdf charts for the pattern.

Greens Gone Wild

Almost summer on Gracewood and the green things have gone wild.

Chijimisai is a Japanese superfood that we like much better than spinach and heat isn't bothering it at all, great in salads or frittatas!

And after a winter with little to no salads and greens this bed of lettuces is getting a nice clipping daily.

Hoping all are well and you too are enjoying the bounty of late spring almost summer!

ME/CFS and Me

Today is May 12th and for a lot of years it has been designated as ME/CFS awareness day.

I've been afflicted with ME/CFS for 40 years and I've known that when I would get older if nothing has been identified as an effective treatment for this awful illness (and there is none yet) the symptoms would only get worse. In a couple of weeks I'll have my 71st birthday, God willing, and I can verify that indeed ME/CFS does NOT get better with time.

The last two years have seen rapid escalation of lots of very painful and debilitating muscular/neurological symptoms and one of the things I'm missing more than I can express is my ability to stitch! It has always been something that got my mind off of some of the challenges and I've fought hard to maintain it, but finally have had to accept I can't do it any more. Thankfully, I can still design and hope to have a new pattern out soon.

One major change I'm announcing today is that I have closed the gracewoodstitches.com website. If anyone wants to order patterns directly from me just send an email to bungard.gracewood@gmail.com telling me which patterns you wish to purchase and I'll send a paypal invoice to you. I'll still post on this blog for all new designs and hope I'll continue to create patterns you may wish to stitch. Hoping all of you and yours are well, please stay that way :) Happy stitching, Kathy

Serendipity Sampler #1

Serendipity Sampler #1

New design, Serendipity Sampler #1 - all cross stitch - 121 x 118 stitch count

The snow is almost gone on Gracewood and the hoop greenhouse is fully loaded with trays full of seedlings, thanks to Terry! This second year with the greenhouse he's making even better use of it this spring, AND, is planning on building a second and bit larger one by our larger hugelbed garden beds.

So the growing season is getting a jump start here thanks to being able to heat greenhouse, and my attention has to go towards planning what to grow and where to plant it after our last frost date - May 15th.

Knowing my design time is going to be more limited for awhile I wanted to publish this latest pattern, Serendipity Sampler #1. What is ‘Serendity”? Where did this word come from?

It has a great origin – coined by author, Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes ‘were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of’. Don’t you just love that? Well that is pretty much what happens when I design a pattern. I start with a general idea and find as I go along that I end up in places I hadn’t thought I was going. So I introduce my Serendity Samplers and hope you’ll enjoy the journey into unexpected things you might find along the way.

Available on my website Here

Looking foward to including some 'growing things' pics in next post and hoping all reading this are well!

'April~Spring has Sprung' Calendar Collection Series Complete!

This is a short post, because I wanted to tell you that the last entry in the Calendar Collection is complete, yeah!!!!

'April~Spring has Sprung' is the last entry in the collection and can be purchased on my Website

Hoping you all are well and if you are in the northern hemisphere enjoying spring being just a few weeks away!

March~Aesthetic Sampler

Hello all! It is February 1st and here on Gracewoods we're having our usual winter weather which means it changes daily. One day is cold and snowy the next warmer and rain, evidently it is a 'la nina' weather winter that always brings us such changeable days. One thing for sure is it is great weather to stay in by the woodstove and stitch while planning and dreaming what to plant this year. Some may love catalogs of clothes but I'm far more excited looking at seed catalogs, especially Baker Creek's!

I can hardly believe it but we're just a few weeks from starting seeds in the greenhouse.

It also seems to be a time of inspiration for creating designs and I've got lots lined up in my head at least, lol

This newest design,'March~Aesthetic Sampler', is something I've wanted to do for some time and was saving it for the March installment of the Calendar Collection. It is available on my Website

Bert & Nan are enjoying birdwatching under the feeders this time of year, the problem is they make themselves so obvious the birds disappear till the cats give up and come back wanting back in by the fire.

Hoping all stay well, happily stitching!

Calendar Collection's "February~Vintage Coverlet"

 Hello all!  It is a snowy December day here on Gracewood and I'm reaching for warm clothes, covers and cups of tea!  

The February entry in the Calendar Collection is Vintage Coverlet inspired by the colors and motifs of vintage fabrics.

February~Vintage Coverlet

I love the light and movement found in such textiles.

For sale at my Website 

Stitch count is 150 x 150 

Most of the stitches are cross stitch along with some 3/4 stitches.

May everyone who celebrates Christmas have a most blessed and Merry one and a Happy New Year to all!

New Design "January~Cozy Cabin"

 Hoping all of you and yours are doing well!

This will be a short post just introducing the latest pattern in the Calendar Collection and that is - "January~Cozy Cabin" 

It is for sale for $8.00 on my website  

January~Cozy Cabin

It has been a challenging year for all of us and I'm sure many have dreamed of a retreat to just have some peace and quiet and of course stitching time :)

While everybody doesn't have a place to escape to, all my life I've found my own 'retreats' in things like reading, stitching and watching things produced from great writing.  Just brought out my dvds of Anythony Trollope's gems.  Want a cozy night? Try stitching while watching the Pallisers series.  

Sending hopes you'll have a blessed Thanksgiving and lots of your own retreats.

Calendar Collection ~ May Design

 It took far longer than I'd hoped, but finally, I'm publishing the May entry in the Calendar Collection of patterns.

May~It's Raining Violets

Four shades of violet and stitch count of 170 x 176, Assisi style of stitching only the background.  It can also be stitched as needlepoint using a white or off white wool for violets and other vacant stitches.

May is such a beautiful month in our part of the world.  Usually wet and very green it is the time so many wild violets cover the floor of the forest.  

 And while the design is definitely for Spring, it is the first day of October and Fall fills the air.

Fall in the Selkirk Range of the Rocky Mountains

We've had our first heavy frost though we're now in a few days of 'Indian Summer' with warm days and chilly nights.  Definitely time for fall chores like firewood for winter.

Terry had one big chore for summer and that was building a new carport.  He did a craftsman like job on it too!

Have a lovely October wherever you are!

Still Here!!!

I can't believe the last time I posted was in February!!  And I can't let it be July before I post again, so here on June 30th, though I have no new design to share, I wanted to say hello and that indeed I am still here on glorious Gracewood ~

Why no new design?  Because I'm still having a very bad crash of ME/CFS as well as Fibromyalgia that has included such severe rib cage inflammation and pain - Costochondritis - that I can't hold anything in front of me so stitching is only a memory at the moment :(

'Eden' climbing rose and mad Honeysuckle

I'm also experiencing vision problems that these illnesses can bring with them, so I'm pretty much limited to ... well not much..lol

If nothing else it is all making me realize how much I love doing it and how much I miss it!

Knowing what all the world has been enduring I know I am not the only one 'confined' at home and I hope all of you are as well as you can be and using the time to do lots of stitching!  Hopefully you'll stitch lots of Christmas gifts!

Morning raindrops on cabbage leaves

Lots of mints that grow like this even when harvested daily

Heirloom May Queen butter crunch lettuce

Another heirloom lettuce - Merveille sooo buttery!

My dear dh, Terry, is not only taking care of all the things I can't do inside the house but has also planted a beautiful garden that is going great guns!  I'm so blessed to have him!

Please all stay well and remember all we have to be thankful for!

Hoping it won't be as long till next post and next design :)

Not One but TWO New Designs

How did this happen?  Not one but two new designs?

It happened because after trying my best to recover from the latest crash I experienced with both Fibromyalgia as well as ME/CFS I've come to the realization that sitting and stitching for any length of time is probably not going to be something I'm able to do any time soon. 

Up to this time I haven't released patterns until the model was stitched.  However, after talking with publishers who assured me it wasn't necessary I've decided to go ahead and publish new patterns as they are created. 

So, I've completed two designs recently, one is the next month in the Calendar Collection - and I've begun going in the opposite direction now, June to January - and I also took an older pattern, 'One May Night', and converted it to an assisi style. 

First up - 'June~Roses & Hydrangeas' which was inspired not only by the beautiful flowers that are brightly blossoming here in June, but by a vintage table runner type of textile.

'June~Roses & Hydrangeas'

The pattern is stitched with a background of squares in close shades of green.

The second design is 'Moonlit Garden', the older One May Night made into Assisi style.

'Moonlit Garden'

 As you can see, roses & hydrangeas are the 'theme' this month, maybe the big piles of snow still outside the window is making me dream of such things? lol

Gracewood in February

'June~Roses & Hydrangeas' is available on my website Here and
'Moonlit Garden' is available Here

Both are available on ICG's Everything Cross Stitch Here

There will be a brief delay in Creative Poppy's listing but should be listed there soon.

How I hope all of you are well and making some 'artful' stitches!

December Design for Sale & a Time Out

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year fellow stitchers!

December~Celebrate!

I know, it has been too long since I last posted on the blog and I'll tell you why I've been forced into a 'time out' when it comes to stitching :(

I also want to announce that for the first time I am putting a pattern up for sale on my website and with my publishers before finishing stitching the model.  I like to be positive there are no errors in a pattern and also to provide a photo of the stitched model before allowing any of them to be sold.

However, due to publisher's request since I have finished enough of the pattern to be as sure as possible that there are no errors in the design I'm listing it for sale now.  It is available on my website Here and through Creative Poppy Here 

I'd prefer not to go ahead before the model is done, but it may be some time before that happens.  I've mentioned in past posts that I live with a chronic illness that can be very debilitating and subject to cycles of getting some better only to then crash with symptoms that you don't know each time how deep it will go or how long it will last.

I'm thankful that I'm usually at a level that I can at least stitch, however, this crash has involved a very bad case of costochondritis, inflamed cartilage of the ribs.  I've experienced it before but this has been the worst and the longest yet with no sign of abating any time soon.  With such painful ribs I find it hard to even breathe and sitting holding something to stitch is literally impossible.

So I'm bending my personal rule and making December~Celebrate! available now.  Hope you find it worthy :)

And a photo to show how those two rascal kittens I recently introduced to you have grown... into much bigger rascal kittens!

Bert & Nan 'helping' dad at the laptop

Jasper overseeing the rascal cats!

May you all have a very Merry Christmas and most blessed New Year and may we all make lots of beautiful stitches in it~

2019 JCS Christmas Ornament & December~Celebrate! Both Debut

It is only the latter part of September but around Gracewood it is feeling a LOT like Christmas!!

I'm happy to announce that the special 2019 Christmas Ornament Edition of Just Cross Stitch magazine is coming soon to your mailbox and will then be available on news stands.  This is what it looks like this year.

The ornament I contributed is this one listed in their 'Home for the Holidays' section.

Homespun Thistledown Christmas

A salute to my Scottish ancestors, this is a pattern I've had in mind for a while and was happy to use it for the ornament issue.  I found the vintage piece of homespun fabric on ebay and I thought it really worked well with the design. 

Another reason it seems like Christmas is that I'm introducing the December design for the Calendar Collection series.  I hope you'll find it a fitting pattern for the month.  It is a time of so many celebrations and this design looked like something that would dress a traditional table filled with all the goodies you can think of, lol

December ~ Celebrate!

I've chosen to stitch the model using Gloriana's variegated silk floss in their beautiful 'Holly Berry' shade. 

I can't promise to finish it by December but I've promised publishers to try so I hope I'll be able to achieve it!

Lastly, it feels like Christmas can't be far away,  because it has been quite cool and wet and everything is just shouting that fall has arrived!  Leaves are turning golden, mushrooms are everywhere, and for the last two nights a bear has raided our bird feeding station and that usually happens when their thoughts turn to that long winter's nap they take!

Hope it is lovely where you are as well~

November~Bounty Completed & Combat Gardening!

November~Bounty

Yes, it took me a while longer than usual to stitch the latest design, but I'm happy to say it is indeed complete!  I am very happy with how it stitched and I think it captures the feel of a vintage placemat that might have been saved for use on that special family gathering on Thanksgiving Day.

It is posted for sale on my web site and will soon be available through ICG's Everything Cross Stitch and Creative Poppy.

This year we've filled the huglebeds Terry made in the garden last fall and this far into July they've been as fruitful as we hoped they might be.  Here are a few pics of our raised beds and huglebeds in what can only be called 'Combat Gardening' style.  What is combat gardening?  It is putting LOTS of plants everywhere and then letting them fight it out! lol

Like this -

Borage & Nasturtiums battling it out!

Two huglebeds planted with corn, beans, squash and Lots More!

My dear Terry, the one who does all the work!

Brussel Sprouts & Fennel and I think the Sprouts are winning!

July has also brought some additions to the Gracewood family.  We had a pair of black and white 'Tuxedo' cats for many years that were littermates and terrific hunters that kept the pesky critter's population low.  We loved them loads and couldn't bring ourselves to replace them as they aged and passed on. 

Until, a few weeks ago when we saw chipmunks disappearing under the truck and we know that chipmunks/mice, etc., can do expensive damage to a vehicle.  So we knew it was time to look for a new generation of hunters and were so happy to find another couple of Tuxedo's who are also brother and sister. 

Meet Nan & Bert (I'll send some Gracewood calendula salve to the first poster who knows the literary source of those names :) - at 8 weeks they are still inside till they are big enough to head outside.  They were very quiet the first days, she had an eye infection and he was extremely shy, thankfully, now they are all well and are having a ball playing with each other and learning how to hunt.  Definitely a couple of rascals!

Bert is on the left and Nan has the black nose

Hoping all is well with you in your part of the world!

November~Bountiful Progress & Visitors

It is definitely Spring in the Rockies~!  That means some days rain, some days snow, some days warm and last night we had a heavy frost that took some of our early plantings.  The forecast was for a good bit warmer so we didn't put our covers on, oh well, such is a gardener's life.  Thankfully, it is early enough to get some things started again for our short growing season.

I'm finding that November~Bountiful is a fun and rather easy stitch so far.  Photos don't do the color justice, I'm using Rainbow Gallery's Splendor silk floss in their most deeply purple shades.

Spring always brings hungry visitors to Gracewood, like this pair of Canada geese that stopped by for a snack on their journey north.  Aren't they beautiful?  Noisy, but beautiful.

Canada Geese

And the deer who have had a tough winter with a lot of snow are SOOOO enjoying the grass of Spring.  Every morning there are at least half a dozen deer gorging themselves in our meadow and then they lay down and snooze like this young one.

As we enter the busy time of year when chores call from every corner and I do enjoy all the loveliness of April, I also am going to miss the more mellow and cosy time of being indoors and not feeling guilty about something being done in the garden!  That's why I love four seasons, just when you are tired of one the next one arrives, lol

Wherever you are, spring in the north or fall in the southern hemisphere, I hope you are enjoying your days and of course enjoying some stitching!

New Design in Calendar Series & How Terry Spent His Winter

Hello all, hope everyone is well and getting stitching time!

After finishing 'October~Homespun Oak' I went through the usual feeling of going crazy without something in my hand to stitch so immediately sat down to try and create a pattern that would both catch the feeling of our Novembers and also play well with the first four designs.

It always takes a few days of drawing in ideas on the software only to remove, reshape, polish and tweak my ideas into the next new design.  I think I was successful in translating the themes November brings in the northern hemisphere of bountiful times when we can finally rest from all that storing up of what we grew all summer.  So here is the next pattern and hopefully, since vintage textiles are the basis of much of my work, this one will be reminiscent of a placemat that might be used on a festive table, especially at Thanksgiving!

Created in shades of pure purples, here is 'November~Bountiful' and so far it is a fun stitch, hope you'll find it so as well.

November~Bountiful

And I wanted to share what my talented husband, Terry, was working on this winter when his inside days were long.  You may remember early last year that I posted some photos of chickadees at our feeders?  Well Terry is attempting his own series of work and using the four photos I posted to turn into some wonderful watercolor paintings.

These photos can't capture all the detail of his work, but it will give an idea of what he created.

First two chickadee paintings

I know I'm prejudiced but I think these are so finely done, I look forward to having professional photos taken so we can upload them to his Fine Art America page and you can get a really much better idea of how beautiful they are.

Not much time for art these days as he is dealing with spring weather, one day plowing snow and the next getting seeds started to be ready for the day it is finally and truly spring and warm enough to begin planting things.

Life on Gracewood is about to swing back into outdoor action, hope it is lovely wherever you are~

Homespun Oak Model Stitched!! And Snowpocalypse Happens

October~Homespun Oak pattern's model is complete, yeah!! and I'll have it up for sale on my website and through publishers in a few days, but I wanted to get a quick blog post of it up first.

I'm very happy with it, hope you like it too.

Thankfully, it plays well with the first three months of this series.  I'll post a photo of the four of them together soon.

October~Homespun Oaks

It must be frustrating for my publishers that my designs don't always (make that rarely) 'match' the time of year they come out and so may not catch the mood of the season they are promoting at the time, but I'm afraid it is the only way I can work.  Even if I design them at the right time they don't get stitched till the next month/season comes along.

Right now the calendar is telling me it is time to get some plants started indoors if I want them to be of any size to go into the garden, however, the actual weather - which has been termed 'SNOWPOCALYPSE' this year in the northwest - is not allowing me to even get to the area where we mix up soil, make soil blocks and get seeds planted.  Photos below will prove the point -

Peat Moss, Vermiculite and Compost waiting to be made into soil blocks.

Looking out back door, the snow is higher than the porch.  The ghostly humps are garden beds.

Icicles Galore!

So I'm sitting here with $200 worth of organic heirloom seeds for everything from tomatoes, beans, corn to melons, strawberries, and asparagus to get started and it is completely impossible.

Oh well, things have a way of getting done somehow if you don't give up.  At least the huglebeds we made last fall are getting a great dose of moisture before we plant them.

Hoping all is well in your neck of the woods!