Honestly I am not sure what inspired me to start a story along with this chart. It just kind of popped up randomly in April of 2022 lol The chart just spoke to me from the moment I saw it online. If I had, had the space I probably could have easily written a whole book about this little town. But anyways lol Here are the basic parts of it as it went while I was stitching it… Again there is really no “start” to it…
April 23, 2022
Meet Annie Belle, Annie to her friends. Annie just moved into the neighborhood. A open lot came available right across the street from the local flower shop and she just couldn’t resist buying it right away as she just loves to plant flowers and have fresh flowers in all her windows.
With Annie’s love of flowers and gardening this lot of land was perfect for her to build the home of her dreams on. The neighborhood park is just down the street all loaded with flowers and an adorable cat that seems to be taken care of by the whole street.
To make it even better rumor has it her next door neighbor, Elmer, is an avid gardener and she cant wait to meet him. She heard from the florist that Elmer was quite a catch. She will just have to see for herself, though it would be nice if he was as into gardening as she was, on a friends level of course *wink*.
But until then she needs to meet with the builders to get the plans finalized for her house. She already has her list of things she wants. Lovely big windows with beautiful window boxes just begging to be filled with all kinds of blue and purple flowers as those are her favorite colors.
She already got a head start on the lot as she is getting the grass planted, weeds pulled, and the fence mended. Some tulips came up from last year and she is building her garden fence around them as who can pass up on free tulips already growing. It was a sign you know.. that Annie belonged here when the tulips popped up to welcome her.
Today she is off to give the tree out back a little bit of a trim so it will grow better. She can just make out at the top of the tree a birds nest and being that its Spring she is pretty sure she heard babies up there. Maybe she can get her new neighbor to climb up there and check it out for her.
Stay tuned for more Annie adventures to come. I cant wait to see what she does with her house can you?
Welcome to the neighborhood Annie!! 😊
P.S. Annie Belle and Elmer were my grandparents. 🥰
April 24, 2022
Annie Belle was right! There was a nest up in the tree. She is so excited as it seems there is a whole family of birds that live up there. How fun it will be to have babies to watch grow up and learn to fly.
Mean while spring is making itself known as the tree has started to bloom. The pink blossoms smell just lovely! She has the perfect little lantern with a candle to hang from the lowest branch to have some fairy light at night out there in the yard. She cant wait to sit out there in the evenings under the candle light, listening to the bees buzz and the baby birds chirp as they get ready for bed each night.
She heard from the builders about the house and the plans are about final. Should be able to break ground soon and shooting for a completion date by the end of May. They are just magically fast builders that came highly recommended. Annie will be glad to be able to sleep in her own bed again. The local bed and breakfast is nice but there is just something so much nicer when its your own bed.
Annie is off to find that lantern so she can see how it lights up this evening before she leaves for the night. No worries its battery powered so she wont have to worry about any fires. Annie would never put the baby birds at risk.
That does reminder her to pick up some bird seed at the local hardware shop tomorrow when she comes back to work some more in the yard. Still a bit of lawn to trim and that darn fence is giving her a bit of trouble.. might have to check to see if Elmer is home and if he is handy with a hammer…
It’s good to be Annie… all her dreams are coming true. ❤️
May 18, 2022
The builders have arrived and Annie Bell Goose is getting her house built finally. She is super excited. She has picked out a lovely shade of pink for the siding, white for the doors and windows and of course there will be great big window boxes to fill full of flowers. She estimates she will be able to move in by the end of this month. She so looks forward to being a resident of SpringInTheCity-ville. She still hasn’t caught sight of her neighbor Elmer Rabbit (not Bunny he prefers Rabbit) but rumor has it he and his sister (Edna Bunny she prefers Bunny there is a whole family drama there but that is for another day…) take care of the park that is between Annie’s house and theirs. Due to the pandemic Elmer’s sister moved in with him for a short time along with her 2 cat’s Bennie and Sophie. Its amazing the gossip you can hear at the local flower shop. Great place for good coffee, beautiful flowers and of course all the latest SpringInTheCity-ville news.
May 19, 2022
Annie Bell Goose is so excited! The siding people have finished up getting her siding on the house. Roofers called to say they would be here after lunch to get the roof on and the window people stopped by with window samples to confirm the look of the windows she selected. If all goes well with the roofers the window people say they can be in and out in a a few hours to get the windows and the doors installed either late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Her dreams are all coming true!! While the roofer are here this afternoon Annie is going to run down to the flower shop to pick out the flowers she wants to get put into the window boxes as soon as possible. She is seeing blues and purples and maybe a pop of yellow here and there. Will all depend on what the flower shop currently has.
Will be wonderful to check in with Florence the flower shop owner to share how things are going. She has been a wonderful supportive person in Annie Bells move to the neighborhood and they have become fast friends. Plus she seems to be most in the know about Elmer and Annie Bell is always up for a bit of news about the mysterious stranger that is her neighbor. Not that Annie Bell is prone to gossip of course.. but if Florence just happens to bring him up what is Annie to do right? Ok off to lunch and then the flower shop. Hope the roofers aren’t late as a spot of rain is expected tonight so would be lovely to have the roof up before the weather moves in. We will just have to see!
Later that day…
Annie Bell Goose got to plant her window boxes!! The flowers are blooming and totally loving their new home. Getting close to move in time!!
May 20, 2022
Annie Bell got her dream house with the window boxes full of her favorite flowers. Now that her home is built she can move in and start enjoying being a resident of Spring In The City-vile. She heard they were looking for volunteers to help Edna and Elmer with the small park that is next to her house so she can’t wait to sign up in June to help tend the flowers and plants in the park and FINALLY she will hopefully get to meet the mysterious Elmer and of course his sister Edna. See you in June!
June 22, 2022
Annie got to meet Edna and Elmer. Elmer asked her to lunch it was a lovely time well till he asked if she wanted to help paint his house LOL Which he quickly followed up with wanting an excuse to spend more time with her so it was all ok. He is such a charmer. She of course agreed as long as she got to help plant the window boxes.
July 25, 2022
YAY Annie Bell and Elmer spent the week getting Elmer’s house painted and it looks delightful! Even Bennie ( sitting on the fence ) and Sophie ( up on the house ) agree that its a show stopper of the neighborhood. Annie Bell was tickled when Elmer shyly asked her to plant matching flowers in his flower boxes so “when he looked out his windows every day he would have a sweet reminder of her”. They have a lunch date next week where Elmer hopes to be able to cook her a lovely carrot soup and fresh salad straight out of the garden they have been tending with his sister Edna in the park between them. Oh and there was also good news on the Edna front! A lot opened up on a street over and she is finally going to have her own place, she has been living with her brother Elmer since she came to town a couple months ago. Though they love each other both are excited to have thier own spaces in town but still be close. Apparently they are building a whole new neighborhood on the next street over. Will be interesting to see how it develops and who moves in. Hope they love flowers too!
August 24, 2022
Exciting news!! The developer that is building all the little bungalows on the street spoke with all the buyers and they all agreed to holding off finalizing anything until all the little houses were built. That way they could all sit down as a group and decide between them which bungalow would best suit each person. One of the perks of a small town is neighbors working with neighbors so this is a wonderful start to a wonderful future for the whole area. Edna is tickled because she was having a lot of trouble deciding on which floor plan to go with. This way everyone will know exactly what they are getting for their forever home.
Elmer doesn’t mind that Edna will have to stay a little while longer. They told everyone they would be done by the end of September so a few more weeks and all will be settled. Annie Bell and Edna have been having great fun with making plans for decorating both inside Edna’s new home and outside in the gardens.
Elmer and Annie Bell have a huge city park between there houses but the street of bungalows has several small parks spread between them. Elmer will be in charge of the whole area’s city parks and he has asked Annie Bell to help him so they will be spending a lot of time together in the future. I wonder which house Edna will pick. Its all so exciting! Annie Bell and Elmer are getting closer. I think there is a real future there but I see a bit of troubled waters ahead. Elmer really wants to ask Annie Bell to move in with him but he is afraid she wont want to leave her new home. He has really fallen for her though and she has in return fallen for him so fingers crossed it will all work out.
September 10, 2022
Painters are here! Painters are here! The roofers and window installers were supposed to be here earlier but supply chain issues caused a snag so painters said they could come in early and get that part done while we wait on the supplies the roofers and window installers are waiting on. Best part is they heard from the tree people and they should be getting the big tree planted in the next few days which is awesome because the fence guy wants to get in and get the fence put up asap so he can move on to the next project. Edna is beside herself with joy as she is pretty sure she has picked out the little house she wants. Of course they have to talk to the rest of the people moving in first to decide who gets what but between me and you I think she has her eye on that first little yellow house. We will have to see how that all plays out. Exciting things going on in SpringInTheCity-ville! LOL
September 10, 2022
Painters are done! Just in time to cuz its getting dark. They put in a full days work and the little houses look beautiful!! I know Edna has her eye on that little yellow one but I will be honest I am alllllll for that purple one. I mean how fun would it be to live in a purple house. Love that. Anyways no word on the roofers or the window and door guys so not sure when they will be able to get started. If for some reason supplies come in on Sunday they might start then but its looking more like Monday. Guess we will all wait and see. Annie Bell is so excited about the new houses too because Florence ( the florist ) asked her to help with planting all the window boxes in all the new houses. SO EXCITING! They are not sure when they will get to start but Annie Bell is looking forward to it so much. Elmer said he would help with the building of the boxes but he will also be busy with helping the tree people since he is in charge of the little side yard park at the end of the street. Time will tell how and when it all comes together but the whole neighborhood is a buzz with excitment to see how it all turns out. Stay tuned!!
September 12, 2022
Painters came and went. Roofers came and went. Window and door people came and went. Annie Bell and Florence got to work on the flower boxes and they came and went. Fence people came and went and Elmer is now hard at it with the tree people to finish up the little park a the end of the street. Its all coming together. There is going to be a big BBQ with all the new neighbors along with the ones that already live in SpringInTheCity-ville so they can get to know each other and work out all the final details on who is moving into which house. The whole town is a buzz with excitement. Only thing they will have left to do is to get some of the utilities strung around the town to tie everyone in the community together ( aka the borders that I left to the end lol) and it will officially be a place to call home for generations to come. Cant wait! Oh and a little birdy told me that Elmer has a big surprise for Annie Bell but shhhh dont say anything… I am pretty sure I know what it is… can you guess?
September 13, 2022
All I have left is the borders but out of time this month so it will have to get wrapped up in October. Thats ok. Elmer needs time to get everything in place for his surprise for Annie Bell. Edna is still in talks with the other people who will be moving into the new small houses on Sunshine Lane to see who is going to get what house etc.. So lots of details needing to be ironed out there. But they are all in the down hill slope and before we know it everyone will be moving in and getting settled.
October 4, 2022
Almost done!! Communications vines are going up everywhere! SpringInTheCity-ville got a new sign to reflect its population expansion. Edna has a few finishing touches to do on her new house before she can fully move in. Annie Bell and Elmer are helping their new neighbors get settled into bungalow row. Florence is busy delivering flowers to help get all the parks and gardens set up and growing well. Bennie and Sophie the neighborhood cats are loving chasing the birds in and between and over the new houses. The whole town is bursting at the seams with excitement and joy. And between you and me and Elmer he got over to the next town finally for a bit of shopping. I wonder what he went shopping for hmmmm…. I feel a very happy ending to the story coming soon!
October 19, 2022
And with a few finishing touches to the communication vines and bungalow row Spring In The City-ville is complete.
The new neighbors are all settled in and the whole town is preparing for the big event. Annie Bell and Elmer’s wedding. Yup you heard that right. He got down on one knee the day the last nail went into the the last new bungalow and surrounded by the whole town he asked her to marry him. She of course said yes.
There will be a grand ole time had for the wedding with the whole town jumping in to help and to be there. Florence the florist is providing all the flowers. Even Bennie and Sophie the cats will play a part as flower cat and ring bearer cat. Annie Bell doesn’t have any family so Edna, her soon to be sister in law, has offered to walk her down the isle. It will be a lovely affair. Afterwards they decided not to take a honeymoon as they really have no other place they would rather be than home.
Instead they will be moving Elmer in with Annie Bell because he said he just couldn’t let her leave her dream house and he would be happy anywhere she was. So with that he left his house to his sister so she doesn’t have to move after all. Edna is over the moon about it as it means she still gets her little yellow dream house.
Its been a joy to stitch along, sharing the adventures of Spring In The City-ville and it will be hard to move on, but move on I must as my time here is done. Who knows where my next adventures will lead me. I hear the next town over, Fall In The City-vile, has some great going on’s and is worth the visit to check them out so maybe I will pop over there next and see the sights.
Thanks so much for journeying along with me. I hope you were able to get a smile out of my little story. Felicia
▪︎ Chart – Spring In The City by Crocette a gogò @ricamidimarula that I purchased on Etsy here https://www.etsy.com/listing/959738250/pdf-file-digital-chart-spring-in-the
▪︎ Floss – I am using the called for colors except I added DMC 211 purple to the colors. I also added S5200 to add some shine to some of the “glass-ish” areas and birds wings etc. I had to change the blue 3761 to 3766 to make it pop better on the fabric. Lastly I added DMC 304 so that the ladybugs could be red and pulled it up into a house at the top to help add a bit more color to the over all look.
▪︎ Fabric – 18 ct aida that I dyed myself with a mix of RIT Denim Blue and Aquamarine dye colors to look like sky and clouds. I am stitching it 2 over 1.
▪︎ Plan For Fully Finishing – I am just going to frame it
▪︎ Notes – The french knots & bows are not called for at all in this chart.