R.I.P. SoCal Debbie

I'm just back from a few days away and was looking forward to sharing my stitching progress with you.  It's amazing how much you can get done in the evenings when the internet is not there to distract you!

But if it were not for the internet then I would never have "met" Debbie or learned of her passing.  Deborah aka SoCal Debbie started following my blog (and vice versa) back at the beginning of 2013 and we exchanged regular comments and emails over the months.  As a Brit I had never heard of the abbreviation SoCal for Southern California and read it as "Social" which those of you who know Debbie will agree was a great description for her.

Sadly Debbie suffered a sudden heart attack while out walking her dog and despite the best efforts of her neighbours and the medical profession she passed away.  I know there will be alot of posts mourning her and I hope she is watching us all and appreciating the sentiments.  Debbie was also a contributor to our Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog where she will be greatly missed.  She leaves behind some beautiful stitching as well as some treasured emails.

Gosh, here's a serendipitous happening.  I went to find the last progress picture of the holiday stitching and right underneath is Debbie's name as she chose the Theme-a-licious link for the next month.

Anyway, after that, here is the photo from March 2014 when I last stitched this design:

And here it is now:

Jannlynn - Gathering Honey

Pretty impressive?  The gaps in the outer border are where flowers overlap the stitching.  I concentrated on plain border stitching as much as possible to avoid changing colour too often.  There is going to be alot of confetti stitching in the flowers in the middle.  The symbols on the chart are not the easiest to follow and I haven't made a working copy to colour in (yet).

Finally, the Summer Postcard Blog Hop has been continuing while I have been away.  Kaye has had internet issues as the current list is as follows:

First postcard from Marcy goes to Gracie at Needles, Pins and Dragonflies

Second postcard from Krista goes to Jocondine at Jocondine

Third postcard from Michelle goes to Sharon at Shebafudge

Fourth postcard from Mouse goes to Vickie at A Stitcher's Story

Fifth postcard from Christine goes to Marcy at Stitching Plus

Sixth postcard from Astrid goes to Krista at Just Stitching Along

Seventh postcard from Vickie goes to Michelle at Michelle's StitchCraft Place

Eighth postcard from Jocondine goes to Deborah at A Patchwork of Crafts

Ninth postcard from Gracie goes to Maggee at Stitching Devotee

Tenth postcard from Deborah goes to Heather at It's Geek to Me

Eleventh postcard from Maggee goes to Mouse at Tales of a Stitching Mouse