It's Jo's Birthday - Happy Birthday, Jo!

Jo from Serendipitous Stitching has given me the year 1988 in her Birthday Blog Hop.

Here's what was happening in Jo's life in 1988:

In 1988,  Jo was 22.  She continued with her career in Insurance, making friends at work and enjoying the social life a busy office brings.  She also decorated her new home and enjoyed being able to choose her own colour schemes and finally having a bedroom without her little sister's pop posters on the walls.  Jo's new bedroom was blue with gold stars and moons.  She also went to lots of concerts with the Reading Rock Festival being the main one that year.  

In 1988 I also moved house - into the house in which I currently live, though I have to admit it wasn't my first house, and I was a good 2 decades older than Jo. I can recall moving in with little furniture - just beds, a refrigerator, and four kitchen stools.  Gradually other items were added, and now the house is full to overflowing with furniture and 'treasures' (precious to me, but not valuable).  It was also the year that cross stitch entered my life (and soon became an addiction).  I decided to make lavender sachets for my female relatives (mother, 3 sisters, 2 sisters-in-law, niece, and aunt), and was looking for a way to personalise them.  I wandered into a craft shop, and came out an hour later with a metre of 14 count Aida, an assortment of DMC floss, and a Vanessa Ann cross stitch book that included in its pages a floral alphabet.  It took me a full week to stitch the first letter, and I do recall resorting to coloured pencils to mark off my chart, to help me see where I had stitched.  By Christmas I had made personalised lavender sachets  for everyone on my original list, and a good few extras.  I had also started a long love affair with cross stitch, which has greatly enriched my life, provided many gifts for family and friends (and sometimes casual acquaintances), and decorated the walls of my house.  1988 was a good year for me!

Home Sampler designed by Linda Gillum, Dimensions

This is one of my favourite stitched samplers.  I wish I could have got a clearer pic, because I am aware that this is not the best quality.  I stitched it over 2 on 18 count Aida, so it is quite large. I stitched it in 1994, and it sits on my dining room wall, with a Australian floral alphabet sampler I stitched 10 years later.

I hope you are enjoying your special birthday, Jo.