July 4th weekend...

First off let me say that I got practically no stitching done over the holiday weekend and I'm okay with that. ^_^

7-4 work - Red bow and start of blue present

Got to spend Friday and Sat with the in-laws and Sunday with my family.  Jason and Sarah brought Emma for the family get together so I was supper excited to finally get to see and hold her.  She was sleeping when they arrived and I got to hold her. She's a cuddle bug! She was completely content to sleep on my chest all curled up.

Emma snuggles

Not the best picture quality because I was taking the selfie with my phone.  Which is another thing Thomas and I did over the break, get new phones! We both got the Samsung Galaxy s5, his is black and mine is white, and actually the camera takes much better pictures it was just hard for me to do with one hand. lol

Isn't she adorable?  I know, I'm slightly biased.  I was also asked to be her Godmother!! Of course I said yes! So I'm not only an Aunt but a Godmother! ^_^

Emma's hair is turning brownish now rather than the jet black it was when she was born. We'll see what color it ends up being.

Besides getting to cuddle with Emma on Sunday I also made a discovery up in my room.  My Mom had found 3 old books when she was going through boxes in the garage looking for baby clothes and she put them up in my room on my bookshelf but forgot about them.  I discovered them when I went up there to feed Roxy.

 3 books of cross-stitching and needle point patterns!

I knew my Mom used to cross-stitch but I never saw any of her work and the one big project she had been working on, along with the floor stand it was on, got pitched or sold during the last move. Which is sad because I was too young to have really shown an interest in cross-stitching at the time, otherwise I'm sure Mom would have kept it. 

This book was actually bought by my Grandma in 1974! The same year my Mom was a senior in high-school, for class on needle point. Unfortunately the cover is detached and a few of the pages are loose. Going to have to be VERY careful with this one.

Inside we found not only handwritten notes that we believe were made by her, one that my Mom made, but we also found the home-work sheet with notes that Grandma used along with the certificate she received when she finished the class. :)

Homework sheet and certificate

Left note - Grandma's? Right note - Mom's

Inside front and back cover

 Published in 1975 it has a few nice alphabet fonts that I might use in the future but most are not my taste.  Still a nice book to have in my collection, if only for the sentimental reasons. I'm not sure if this is one my Mom bought or one my Grandma bought.  Either way, it's mine now! ^_^

Published in 1986 (a good year since it's my birth year ^_^) this pamphlet was actually in a plastic sleeve along with a piece of fabric, I think aida, two ribbons and some slips of paper with instructions on how to cross-stitch.

I know this one was bought by my Mom since my Grandma had already died by the time it was published.

What it came with

These will now join my collection of stitching books/magazines/etc and who knows, I might make something from one of these patterns some day. ^_^

Hope you all enjoyed my stitching find as much as I did!

And because I still can't get over how absolutely adorable my niece is, here are more pictures taken from this weekend. The black and white mobile is one that my Mom had for us when we were babies.  It's needlepoint and the only thing Mom made that we still have, or at least that we can find. She thinks it was a kit.

isn't she cute?!

sleepy time

holding Emma while Jason & Sarah open presents

Sarah with finished birth record

Uncle Thomas feeding Emma