Grow Your Blog Day!

Grow Your Blog Day is Vicki's brainchild and it is a way for bloggers to discover new blogs, get to know one another, and maybe get some new followers or find new blogs to follow themselves. I know that I am always looking for new blogs to read. There are so many wonderful and talented bloggers out there...of course, there is never enough time to read them all every day, but I love to pop in and visit when I can, and I hope that some people might also like to do that here.

One of the things that was suggested is that we give an introduction of sorts. I can't remember if I ever did that when I started this blog!Apparently, I have been on blogger since August of 2006, but I am far from a prolific blogger. I think that I have been posting more lately, but I know that when I first started, my posts were few and far between. I think that at that time I felt that I didn't have much to say or share. I don't know that I have that much more to say or share now either, but I don't care about that as much. I just enjoy what I am doing more!

So...if you look in my sidebar, you will see that my name is Lynda. you will also see that there is not a photograph there. I hate having my picture taken. My husband is always threatening to take my picture and put it on Facebook! Not nice, hubby! Maybe at some point I will give in, but not quite yet! You will see Flat Lynda there however. If you have children, you may be familiar with Flat Stanley. Anyway, several years ago, one of the online groups I belong to had a retreat. It was too far away for some of us to go, but we could go "virtually"...so I sent along Flat Lynda...she actually does resemble me a bit. I've used her ever since.

We live in Oregon, having moved here from New York nearly 19 years ago. I love it here, and even though I had lived on the East Coast all my life, when I got to the Pacific Northwest, I felt like I had come home. I have never had any desire to move back. We live with our two dogs, a Golden Retriever and a Brittney Spaniel/Lab mix, and out two cats. We have two grown daughters...one lives in Quincy, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), and the other lives here in Portland, with our adorable grandson. We are so fortunate to have him living so close because we get to spend lots and lots of time with him. He is almost 4 1/2.

I have been a librarian for nearly 39 years (yikes!). I used to work as a school librarian back East, but since we have lived here, I have worked in public libraries. I am currently the manager at an old Carnegie Library. We are looking for a new site for a bigger library because, although this building is beautiful (and will be 100 years old this summer), it is really too small for our needs.

I love reading, especially cozy mysteries and biographies; love watching baseball, especially the Seattle Mariners, even though they lose a lot!; love spending time with my family, especially my grandson; love exploring new places; love cuddling with our furbabies; and love cross-stitching.

Cross-stitching is the reason I started blogging. This blog is mainly a place for me to share my love of stitching and to post pictures of some of the designs I have stitched. Sometimes I'll talk about other things too. I started blogging myself after reading and enjoying other stitcher's blogs, and I hope that there are some people out there who enjoy reading mine as well.

One of the fun things about stitching, other than the actual stitching itself, is just enhancing your stash...buying stuff you know you will probably never live long enough to stitch. I know this is true with other crafts as well. But it is part of the fun! I am one of those people who is not as organized as I would like to be when it comes to my stash, which often results in my buying the same patterns more than once. This actually happens way more than I feel comfortable admitting to! One of my favorite designers is Sandra Sullivan of Homespun Elegance. And while looking for a design for an exchange the other night, I realized that I like her designs so much that I repeatedly buy them more than once! So I would like to offer a giveaway of a selection of these beautiful designs. You can see her designs here . Anyone can enter this giveaway...all you have to do is leave a comment saying that you would like to enter and please include an email address where I can reach you. The winner will be posted here on February 1.

Lately, I have been discovering lots of other fun blogs, not just ones that talk about stitching. There are so many wonderful blogs out there and I am living vicariously through some of them. I love to look at the beautiful handmade things that others make, and the wonderful ways people find to decorate their homes. There is so much creativity out there...it boggle the mind. There is so much to learn, and one of the things I love most about blogging is that so many people are so willing to share their talents and knowledge with the rest of us.

I am hoping to discover lots of new blogs through this Grow Your Blog Day, and meet lots of new friends. Thanks in advance to all of you who continue to expand my horizons, thanks to those who have come to visit here, and thanks for your comments...they are always appreciated!