I began "Where Hearts Rest" just the other day. It is so much fun and should be a quick stitch. I have such a love for birds. I suppose I get that from my maternal grandfather, my "Poppa." We not only idled for hours in their garden beds together during the summers I spent with my grandparents, but "Poppa" was honoured upon his deathbed an award from the city...an award for building and maintaining the numerous bird houses and bird feeders along the walking trails of Olathe, Kansas. My favorite seasons are fall (who doesn't love the crisp air and the vibrant colors of their surroundings?), winter (I hibernate as much as possible, and find I read and stitch more), and spring (longing to get my seedlings planted, with various herbs amongst them). After a long winter's sleep, I listen with a smile with our bedroom window open a crack just simply to hear the songs of the birds returning to the area. Thus, it is only fitting that I fell immediately in love with this piece when I saw it in C.C. & Company in Blue Springs, Missouri. It was such a blow for the community when Anita Boatright, who owned the shop "The Sunflower Seed" (Topeka, Kansas) and designed hundreds of her own pieces, had to close her shop to fight the battle of health battles, cancer. I only found out over this past summer that she had since passed away in May. Between losing my mother-in-law six years ago, who accompanied me on several trips there, and Anita's passing, it broke my heart. One could walk into her shop and walk out having spent an unmentionable amount of money...because she cut her fabrics to fit what you needed, had on hand so many various fabrics and colors, and if you needed a certain type of thread and color, you could be sure she had it. I have to drive a bit further now, but I finally found a shop to equal hers and I am thrilled. The ladies at C.C. & Company probably thought I was off my rocker. So, in closing, I walked out of there with this new pattern and another that I will post once I begin it.
