Some of you may remember back when I used to blog a lot. Breanna and Sabrina were teenagers, Sophie was a feisty rascal (and she knew it), and I had The Yorkie and Tasha, who used to dress up every Halloween and make the occasional blog appearance.

I miss those days. When the girls grew up, and then people started saying “blogs are out,” I let my blogging go, only checking in once in a great while.

I’d really like to get back to it. I’d like to get back to a lot of things I love, things I let go of because my life got busy with a whole lot of unexpected things… but isn’t that how life is supposed to go? Maybe it’s a blessing to want things to come full circle.

So here I am! Whether I’m the only reader or not, here I am, because I loved it once. And along with it, an under-contruction website that I’ve been trying (read: thinking about) to get accomplished for some time now. Hopefully as I learn new ways of how to build it, you’ll see it progress into something that is a fun place to visit. Whether it’s the latest news from Plum Street, sneak peeks of coming-soon designs, free patterns, or just whatever my family is up to, I hope to update my site often.

Speaking of free patterns, you can still find all of them I’ve ever published over in the Freebie link on the right sidebar. Just scroll down, click, and then scroll through. They are organized by blog post, which isn’t very user-friendly, but in time I do hope to get them all uploaded under the menu item “Free Patterns.”

I suppose it’s time to dust off the camera (I always preferred it to my phone) and get busy! Thank you for stopping in to see my new site.. and please bear with me: I am learning!

P.S: My old blog is still over at Typepad, but all of those posts have been imported to this blog.

Goodness, it’s been almost 3 years (I believe?) since I sat here to visit with you.. inexcusable! Truth be told, I’ve really missed writing to you; things in my life have been so constantly changing that it’s hard for me to settle down and summarize how a day or moment went because it is suddenly and abruptly the next day or moment.

Here are a few moments that made me very happy…

I suppose I’ll stop there.. I could be here all day trying to decide which photos to share! There were so many wonderful moments, and I’m grateful for all of them.

So tell me how you’ve been. I really have missed you.

I just want to hop on here really quickly and let you all who inquired know that I will be mailing out the new releases to shops as soon as my printer can have them back to me! Right now, the shops that have them posted online are taking pre-orders. But they will be in-store soon! 🙂

I hope you all are having a lovely week!

Hi All!

How's that for a title to the post? Not very inventive, but to the point. 🙂

I've had such fun designing this year, and am so blessed to have met many new friends in my travels and over the internet. What a busy time 2013 was!

I hope you like my last two designs for this year.. thank you so very much for all your support and encouraging words these past eight years!

First up is a follow-up to Halloweenies…

Winter Wienerland

Stitch count: 170 x 73
Fabric: 32 ct. Plum Street Paddock by R&R

Fibers: The Gentle Art (Old Hickory, Roasted Marshmallow,
Caramel Corn, Cottage Blue, Dried Thyme, Garden Gate,
Chamomile, Espresso Bean, Weathered Barn, Old Red Paint,
and Oatmeal)

Stitches used: All cross stitch over two threads.

Framed by: Sherri Berkman at Total Framing. LOVE this frame!

Here are some suggested substitutions, if you'd like them:

Fabric: Perhaps a color like Lakeside Linens' Flagstone or something warmer,
like Lakeside's Meadow Rue. R&R also has a gorgeous golden color line,
including one called Espresso. Picture This Plus has Legacy, which is
also a good choice. Ultimately, the right color is what looks good to you.

Fibers: The DMC equivalents are 640, 644, 739, 928, 3011, 3021,
3022, 3371, 3858, 3859, and 3865.

And finally, two more stocking ornaments, along the lines of the His & Hers Thanksgiving Stockings; however, they could also make fun hostess gifts or ornaments for exchanges with stitching girlfriends! (Or not? It was just a thought!)

Wintertide Friends

Stitch count: Each stocking is approximately 40 x 120.
Fabric: 40 ct. Olde Towne Blend by R&R.

Fibers: The Gentle Art (Wheat Fields, Gingersnap, Walnut, Oatmeal,
Dried Thyme, Espresso Bean, Maple Syrup, and Cherry Bark)

Trim: Norfolk Pine mini rickrack by R&R.
Buttons: by Kelmscott Designs.
Stitches used: All cross stitch over two threads.
Stocking Tutorial is included in the chart pack.

Some suggested substitutions:

If you're not certain you want to stitch on 40 ct. fabric, feel free to use
a lower count! Some other color choices are Lentil or Buttercream by
Lakeside Linens, or Espresso by R&R.

These are the DMC equivalents: 422, 434, 646, 822, 3011,
3371, 3781, and 3857.

Both of these designs will be mailing out to the shops on my auto immediately, and all of the distributors should have them in their warehouses by early next week!

Thank you again, to everyone! I hope you've had a very good year of stitching. 🙂 Now I need to get back to the drawing board for the first releases of 2014!

 Spring break was quite an eventful one for Sabrina this year.. and quite a nervous one for me. She decided to go skydiving with a friend of hers, which completely surprised me, as my Bean has never been quite the adrenaline-junkie her dad and Bre have been. Mind you, Sabrina is a crazy-on-the-mountain ski bum, and all 90 pounds of her joined the women's rugby team last fall, but I never thought she'd be one to jump out of an airplane, 10,000 feet off the ground.

I was very much mistaken.

Here she is, waiting her turn in the plane, alongside her crazy, skydiving friend Nate. (She said she was fairly calm until the door opened, and the sudden rush of air and noise was more than what she was expecting, leaving her wondering what she may have gotten herself into.)

And here is my middle child's leg, hanging out of the side of the plane. I suddenly feel a need to go hug her blanket and her pillow and all her clothing to me and snivel. Don't you dare drop my baby.

And then the jump…

No way, no way, no way, not in a million, gazillion years. Not even for a Venti Vanilla Spice Latte.

But throw in a Pumpkin Spice Latte on the side, and we'll talk.

Some of you may remember Big Papa's skydive video, but this one was filmed differently. In Mike's, there was a videographer jumping next to him taking the video. In Sabrina's, the guy who was doing the jump with her was taking the video himself. I thought that was interesting, and quite a different perspective. Either way though, for the rest of my days my feet shall remain planted firmly on the earth, as God intended them to be. 

Sabrina Skydives! from Paulette Stewart on Vimeo.

By the way, Sabrina said that the wind you hear on the video is deceiving; once the chute opened, it was extremely calm and peaceful, and there was no sound at all, besides their voices. 🙂

We've missed Bre so much since she moved out to western Nebraska to her new life! A few weeks ago she was able to visit us, and she brought along a sweetheart of a guy. Meet Josh…

Here's what makes him a sweetheart:

He adores Bre, although she doesn't seem to adore his idea of kidding around sometimes.

But she seems to be a bit sweet on him anyway.

We sure enjoyed having these two visit. I've begged them to come back this fall and spend the day at the pumpkin patch with us, perhaps even joining us for our Annual Chills and Chili Night (we watch an old black-and-white "scary" movie, eat chili, and roast marshmallows and s'mores on the fire pit at my parents' house).

The only thing bittersweet about having them visit was having them leave… as we stood in the driveway waving goodbye to their taillights, Mike and I realized that we're doing what our parents have always done in their driveways. I'm just still very lucky that my parents are still around to wave goodbye until we turn the corner and they can't see us any more.

Come back soon, Bre and Josh!

P.S. Bre's crazy leggings are actually patterned in hex codes. I love them, and wish I could pull something like that off. But if I tried it, my parents – instead of waving goodbye to me in their driveway – would probably get in their car and actually back over me, several times.

Last week Sophie was telling me how she and a schoolmate got into an argument, and on the playground, the schoolmate stuck her tongue out at Sophie…

"I can't believe she did that!" Sophie said.

I felt badly for Sophie, and with a sympathetic tone, I asked, "What did you do when she did that?"

"I called her an oompa-loompa," she replied.

"What?" I asked, incredulously. "You called her an oompa-loompa??" SOPHIE!"

Sophie looked at me calmly and said, "Mom. I'm not always the nice girl, you know."

Ah well. At least she's honest. And at least she didn't call her Augustus Gloop.

I wrote the post below ("Fridays with Bre") yesterday morning and auto-scheduled it to publish today. But I felt it necessary to post again this morning, and ask each of you to pray for Lisa Roswell and her family. I am heartbroken.

(February 28, 2011) Multiple rescue agencies are currently searching the Huron River for Lisa Roswell, 51, of North Fairfield. Norwalk Fire Captain Don Helton says Roswell was swept away in flood waters as she drove to work on Monday. www.fox8.com

Lisa is a proud mother and lovely friend, and talented designer of The Primitive Needle.

ETA: Her body was found this morning. I pray for peace and healing for her family, whom she loved so much.

My oldest baby girl turns 20 today. She's grown into such a lovely, sophisticated young woman.

Well, she could be sophisticated, if she wanted to be.

Happy Birthday, Breanna! I love you so much.

It occured to me yesterday after I posted this photo…

…that one of the sisters looks a little like this:

I loved Beaker when I was growing up.

And then there's this character, who reminds me of pretty much any Muppet. He got a little bummed that Breanna's muscles are almost as big as his are…

I think he should be Mr. January in a Cop Calendar. I'd so buy that.

On to some great finishes people have shared with me! I love these!

First up, here is Pascale's Trifle for a Friend finish…

Gorgeous! I love the color!

And here is Nancy's Yankee Poodle, which she actually sent to me on July 4th… 

Soooo cute, Nancy, and the trim is fantastic!

Finally, here is the latest freebie that was posted on my blog, designed by my own Breanna, and stitched by Christie…

Christie left off the words bc she wanted to make it into a pincushion. I love it! Breanna will be so happy to see this!

Breanna has actually designed a few things that I'd love to try to get released under Plum Street, bc they are such sweet designs (with any profit going to the "poor college kid" herself, as she says). Someone suggested recently that Breanna design a French flag in the same theme as her 4th of July freebie, so she did! It's to celebrate Bastille Day, which was July 14th. At least there's plenty of time to stitch it before next year!

You'll have to head over to Breanna's new freebie blog, Blueberry Lane Samplers to download it. 🙂

Thank you to everyone who sent me pictures of their beautiful finished pieces. I love all of them!

ETA: For those of you who think Mike is a stripper, don't worry. He really is the police, with a real uniform and everything.