Spring In an Envelope

With winter still hanging on, this burst of spring

made my walk to the mailbox well worth the effort!

 This is the first of 3 Dropcloth monthly samplers, 

made by the lovely Rebecca Ringquist, 

which I recently won over at the inspirational

City Stitching with Christine Haynes.

Rebecca's packages always deliver cheer!

This time, she tucked in two of the sweetest hearts 

cut from other samplers she's made. 

Her thoughtfulness and attention to detail instantly transform 

an ordinary package into something truly special.

Amidst all that cheer, the star of the show is the sampler!

I can hardly wait to pre-thread my needles with happy colors 

(clearly inspired by the wrapping paper) 

and explore one of my favorite stitches, the blanket stitch.

If you'd like to try your hand at embroidery, 

Rebecca's samplers are the perfect way to begin. 

For starters, her drawings are irresistibly fun and sweet.

Rebecca's knowledge of embroidery is enviable.

Each month's sampler focuses on a specific embroidery stitch 

so you can master it just in time for the next month's sampler to arrive. 

My friend Marjorie had a fantastic idea: 

she purchased one of Rebecca's subscriptions for her 

Home Economics classroom to help teens learn embroidery basics. 

I want to be in Marjorie's class!

Rebecca has a Flickr pool so you can check out how other stitchers have 

handled her Dropcloth samplers. 

Get your needles ready!

To keep the spring time energy flowing, 

enjoy this beautiful and uplifting escape!

Órla Fallon performing Mo Ghile Mear from her latest DVD "My Land"