End of Year Wrap Up! Goodbye 2023!

We are at the end of another year. It turns and turns whether we want it to or not. I haven't done much stitching at all, but finishing up Summer Bouquet was a years long goal of mine. I have always loved that sampler and I am so happy I finished it! I'll take it in for finishing soon! I'm not that confident with pinning and framing linen, so I'll probably leave this one to someone else to do. I do hope to continue to work on stitching that I love this next year. It's just been tough lately. 

Here's a pitiful update on All Good Witches by Pineberry Lane. The lighting on these is awful, lol. Oh well. You get the jist!

I did lots of amigurumi projects this year and I was really happy with that! I need to keep using up all this yarn, so I'll be crocheting more this year too. I also started designing here and there again, but haven't officially released anything just yet. Maybe I'll get there soon.

Look at my second gorgeous embroidery from my amazing daughter in law! So beautiful! I'm in awe of her embroidery skills! I am so appreciative of her time and effort in making these things for me. Just awe inspiring.

Our Christmas was so wonderful. The kids came over in the morning and after an incredible opening of gifts in which they got us the most thoughtful and great things, we cooked a big breakfast and we all sat around and enjoyed it at our table. My father in law lives with us now and it was so nice for him to celebrate his second holiday here with us.

Thanksgiving was good. I got to see my nephews for the first time in 2 years. Dynamics change when people get divorced and that is what happened here. I sure miss seeing them, but they are busy boys now with lots to do and two households to do it in. One of them is graduating college soon and they've just grown up while the world was spinning and I have missed out on most of it! Seeing them, and being with my kiddos was the best thing about it. I could honestly do without Thanksgiving though. Not really my favorite holiday or event. Am I weirdo feeling like that? Anyone else who isn't fond of Thanksgiving please chime in, lol!

My sweet little boo boo had to have surgery this past Friday. She's doing OK, and recovering well. But this pup is 17.5 years old! She is s tough little Jack Russell and keeps on trucking. This past year has been tough on her with losing her eyesight and most of her hearing. She still loves to eat and has a good appetite. One of us usually always has to be home with her as she gets stuck in corners and her legs may splay out on the wood floor areas. Poor baby. Sweet little Jenny. She had this same surgery last year, when she was ONLY 16.5 years old, and it was a totally different game. She is just much more delicate this year.

She is officially the last pet we'll have. I just don't have it in me anymore. We've given 7 doggies, 2 kitties, quite a few fish, and two guinea pigs a good life. I'm done! 

Well, I'm tired from caretaking for a little doggie this weekend, and it's NYE, so I'm going to sign off. I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and new start to 2024! Take care of yourselves and one another. Be back soon!

It. Is. Done!

Whew. Finallly finished her and can move on to other things! It turned out beautifully and I'm so happy I perservered and made myself finish all the fiddly backstitching! Cedar Hill Summer Bouquet on 28 ct PTP linen in Ale.

 

Just seemed to have been a lot going on this year. Keeping up with doc appointments, work, doing some crocheting and taking care of my pupper--some time just got away from me. But it's done now and that's all that matters!

Now look at this amazingly gorgeous embroidery!! My beautiful daughter in law made me this and I was so surprised! She has been embroidering for the past year or so and I can't believe her progress. She is really talented and excels at pretty much everything she sets out to do! I can't wait to find the perfect spot for it in my bedroom where it will stay out all year long! 

I'm going to set about doing some designing and working on All Good Witches this weekend I think. Unless I come up with something else I'd like to do, like sew up a primitive winter doll or something. I want to do more craft sewing this coming year. And I'd like to learn embroidery too! 

Take care everyone and have a wonderful upcoming Thanksgiving! I truly hope everyone reading this blog has a great time and is surrounded by those you love and cherish. I'll check back in after that with new stitchy progress!

Fall Updates and Crochet!

Summer is gone. Halloween is over and I guess it's Merry Christmas time! I have not stitched on Summer Bouquet in a while. No update there. Haven't stitched on Good Witches either. Something is always taking away from the attention I want to put towards things lately. So I have been focusing on quick crochet/amigurumi project for a bit to take my mind off some things. 

 

I'm telling you-I LOVE these little ghosts! They are so squishy and cute. One of them made their way to my daughter in law, because OF COURSE! I love giving her stuff and she loves it too!

And I've made quite a few of these little mushrooms too. I won't bore you with all of them, but I flew through these and made a set for my friend's daughter. They should have arrived today in fact. If anyone wanted to see them, you can peek at my Ravelry Page HERE.

How does a person with no kids at home and a (basically) part time job NOT have time for things? Well, I have an almost 17.5 year old doggie who I love and she requires a super strict schedule, lol. That's one thing. The other thing is that my mental capacity just cannot deal right now. My husband had an emergency surgery and needed to be off work for a month, etc. Don't get me wrong-I WANT to stitch. But something always comes up. I hope it won't be that way for long. I need to get over it and start doing it. Story of my life sometimes!

And, shhhhhhh!, I started designing again. I have several designs I'd like to get out, but I need to update my Etsy shoppe and get some things in order before I do that. But I am filled with ideas, which is super weird to me right now. But I made myself a strict goal and I stuck to it and voila! Imagine what I could do it my brain was at 100%!!  LOL.

So many projects I want to do and create!

Need to get back on the walking and WW wagon again. I have goals there too. My mom and I went on a walk at the park recently and the weather was absolutely glorious! 

We literally went from 88 degrees to 47 degrees in ONE DAY yesterday. The day before Halloween, it was so warm and beautiful. Yesterday was super chilly and felt like a different world!

I hope anyone that comes across this blog is doing well and taking care of themselves. As the wheel of the year turns to chillier weather, it's time for reflection and introspection. I plan on trying out some new warm and cozy recipes, tackling some interior DIY projects, along with some more designing and stitching. I need to come up with a schedule for myself so I can utilize my time better and be more productive.

My plans do not include waiting so long to update again, and maybe this will be the kick I need to get some stitching in this weekend!

Take care and I will see you soon with more updates!

Stitching Updates and Vacation!

Whew, it really has been a couple months??! Got busy with life, doggie, family, etc. Did do a bit of stitching and Summer Bouquet is SO CLOSE to being done. I'm hoping to have it finished this week. Here she is so far. So many fun little details in here. It'll look nice all framed up.

Speaking of framed, I finally got around to pinning and framing Shoo! by Pineberry Lane. I thought I had that thing perfect, but I did not. And guess what? It's fine. I doubt anyone will notice but me. Love this design! If I can't stand it I can always undo the back and repin.

We just came back from vacation with my son and daughter in law. Had a nice time, but BOY was it super hot there in OCMD. We were not prepared for the heat this late in the season. For my beach stitch, I purchased and took along another Pineberry Lane. This one is called All Good Witches. Stitching her on PTP 14 ct. Wren. It's beautiful fabric.

And vacation would not be complete without a trip to Salty Yarns! They moved from the boardwalk to Berlin, which is only about 8 minutes outside of OC. I so miss their old location, but wow, is their new store to die for. My goodness, it's amazing. I was in there a good hour and I know I didn't see it all. I only bought a few things. I'm trying to be more mindful about buying patterns. I came back with a few pieces of fabric that I have plans for, so that's good too! 

I'll have more stuff to post, but I'll catch up next time. Just wanted to say again how much I enjoyed spending a whole week with my kiddos. It's been a few years since we were able to vacation together due to jobs, etc, so I am so thankful! Taking along two dogs was a trip, but it worked out fine since we had separate rooms. The food was awesome and I managed to bring back a couple pounds with me. Totally worth it.

I hope everyone reading this is doing well and enjoying life. Today is 9/11, and it's something I will never, ever forget. If you are looking for something new to watch regarding that day, please check out National Geographic's 9/11: One Day in America. It is 6 episodes of about 45 min. each and well worth it. It is graphic in the descriptions and images from that day of course, so be forewarned. But it's amazing to me to see this day from so many perspectives. I don't ever want to forget, and so I make an effort to spend some time reviewing what happened, and looking for new information every year. 

Be back soon with a finish and some more pics and updates! Take care everyone! And lets hope next time I post the weather will be cooler here in VA!

 

Goings on and Summer Bouquet!

Happy July! Hope everyone is well. Been working on a few things and trying to put some stitches in Summer Bouquet too, when I can! Here she is so far. 

Those bleeding hearts are awesome. I did something I've never done before and tried Anchor spooled floss! The hearts called for DMC 221, so I took it to JoAnn's and eyeballed the closest thing I could find and it was Anchor 0045. Here's a comparison pic for you.

At least for this experiment, I thought the Anchor was more vibrant with a very nice sheen to it. It was also "stiffer" or not as soft as the DMC, which I kind of preferred. It was also not nearly as fuzzy as DMC tends to be anymore. I usually wet and straighten the floss and use Thread Magic conditioner on it to try and cut down the fuzzy halo. 

So there you go. Just my own opinion on this first try of the Anchor. I would definitely use it again and wish I had decided to that with the brown used for the alphabet in this piece. Oh well! Next time!

My sweet kid turned 27 last month. Becoming his mom changed my life so much. I cannot imagine it without him or his wife and all they've brought to my existence. I sure miss them not living here, but I'm so happy they are enjoying life on their own and we see them all the time! 

My little Jenny turned 17 last month too! WOW. She's not as strong or as able as she was as a young 15 year old Jack Russell, but she's aging gracefully and still capable of trying to take down a rabbit (if she sees it of course) and showing up on time every day for breakfast and dinner! It's been 17 years of entertainment with this one!

I've been working on creating this simple little fun pattern of a chick. SO fun and SO cute. You can get the pattern HERE. She has other super cute ones too!

It has been SO hot here. Humidity too for good measure. I have tired of VA summers. And winters. I always love the sky in summer however. I caught a pretty cloud display the other evening.

Can I just please get paid to go around and take pretty pictures? Is that too much to ask? I think not. Oh well.

I hope everyone is getting lots of stitching time in and life is treating you well. I'll be back again soon with more updates and hopefully a near or full finish of Summer Bouquet. 

Take care!

Getting there on Summer Bouquet!

Been a while again! I have some progress on Cedar Hill's Summer Bouquet. She's so pretty. 

Hopefully I can get it done by the actual start of Summer in a few weeks! 

There hasn't been too too much else happening lately. My son will turn 27 next weekend, and I absolutely cannot believe it. He's really accomplished a great deal and I'm so proud of him. Love that kid.

Speaking of birthdays, my sweet little Jenny will be 17 at the end of the month! She likes to snooze a lot, but has a great appetite. Her joints give her some problems and I bought a light therapy tool I've started using today. It has great reviews and people have said it really helps their pups with arthritis, so I hope it can help her too. Her eyes and ears have given out on her the past year, but we accommodate that. And sometimes she will really run around the yard and actually fence fight with the dog next door, LOL. It's so hard seeing her getting older and all that comes with it, but I'm so so thankful we've had all this time together! Looking forward to as much more as we can get!

Take care of yourselves and enjoy this warmer weather. I heard we've already entered hurricane season. Seems like we just got out of hurricane season! Wow.

Get lots of stitching time in and I'll be back soon with another update!

 

Happy Mother's Day! It's been a couple weeks!

Wow, it's been a couple weeks since I checked in! Mostly due to slow stitching progress, but I did complete an amigurumi I'd had in WIP stage for a while. So I did do something! 

First up, progress on Cedar Hill's Summer Bouquet. 

More sweet little french knots. So much fun to do. The DMC violet color is just gorgeous!  I really enjoyed stitching those violets.

The peony bulbs we got my mother in law two years ago finally bloomed this year. I am so sorry she missed the first blooms. They were her favorite flower. We miss her very much, and these will always remind me of her.

I'd been working on this little elephant amigurumi for a while now. I finally finished her up. I was going to give her away, but I think I need to downsize my hook for this yarn first. When I stuffed her, it made the holes a bit bigger than I would have liked. She's super cute though!

Of course, I have another one on my hook right now and it'll be even smaller than this one! Just too sweet, right?  LOL.

I made a REALLY good strawberry pie last week with some gorgeous fresh picked strawberries the kids brought to me after their berry picking date. You can find the recipe for this super easy to make, no-bake, pie HERE.

Everyone gave it rave reviews, so it must have been good! And it's a really pretty pie too, especially if you dress it up with some whipped cream and a fresh berry on top.

Today is Mother's Day and my son and daughter in law treated us to lunch out at a nice restaurant. We had such a nice time chatting with them and they gifted my mother and I with some really sweet and thoughtful gifts. I love those kids so much. And my husband got me a couple more charms for my Pandora bracelet-perfect gift for me anytime! Very thoughtful and I love them.

My own mother is just the best. I cannot say enough about all the things she has done for all of us without batting an eyelash. I really can't. She means the world to me and I don't know what we'd do without her! Love you Momma! 

Well, that's it from here. It's been nice weather in VA and I am loving it! I hope wherever you are that you are experiencing great weather and lots of stitching time and family time. 

Happy Mother's day and I will see you soon with another stitching update!

Summer Bouquet - Purple makes an appearance!

What another beautiful week it has been! And the appearance of purple in this sampler just made me so happy. The color is gorgeous. It's DMC 791 and it's an ultraviolet purple. So so gorgeous and nice to work with too! 

It's been a wonderful weekend too. We had some downpours yesterday but nothing like the apocalypse they had been predicting. The perennial garden is taking some shape with a few plants put in and the moonflowers are beginning to come out of the ground from seeds we planted a couple weeks ago. Ah, Spring!

My kids and I saw John Wick 4 this weekend. I absolutely love Keanu Reeves and these movies. I know, super violent, but I can't help it. Just love them. LOL. 

The sweetie Grand Dog, Franklin, had his ONE YEAR birthday last week!!!! He's a ball of energy and just super happy and sweet. He got lots of toys and love on his birthday--all in all, not too different from any other day, but he had a banner and some things that made it special. We had fun watching him open his presents.

And my little girl, Jenny, has been good. Her birthday is in a couple months and we will have a nice one for her! She loves to sleep in, as evidenced here on Saturday morning.

This baby has such a routine. She knows in her bones what time breakfast and dinner is and she sticks to it, regardless of what the daylight savings time says. She also knows what time bed time is (8pm at the VERY latest), and she will do laps around the house and then look up at the staircase leading to the bedroom to let me know that "hey mom, have you lost your mind? It's time for BED!"

Well, that's it for me now, but I hope you all have a lovely upcoming week! Temps back down in the 60's with some rainy days this week, but the plants need it, so it's all good. Take care of one another and get some stitchy or crafty time in if you can!

See you soon with more Summer Bouquet!

Summer Bouquet Update and Unofficial Summer!

This was a beautiful week in VA! Temps have been awesome, no rain to mess up the days, lots of eating outside and listening to music. I should have worked this weekend, but couldn't bring myself to do it.

On to the stitching update! I had initially cross stitched the areas on the red flower that were supposed to be filled with french knots. I looked at it and mulled it over for about 20 minutes and decided I really wanted to do those french knots. So I brushed up on them in a little corner of the fabric and then went to town! There are 4 smyrna stitches right in the middle. The black-eyed susans also are filled with french knots. So pretty!

Been enjoying this one so much! I have a bunch of Cedar Hill charts and am always on the lookout for a few of the seasonal "bouquets" that I don't have. Just so pretty.

I know it's still early Spring, but my mind is in Summer.

We've had some hummingbirds already, bought petunias and ferns, and started the digging for a perennial garden! I can't wait to fill it with coneflowers, black eyed susans, daisies, and other beautiful things. We also put in the moonflowers and got some trellises for out front. We had tons of bees in them when we had them out back, so we'll change it up this year.

I really hope everyone has a fantastic upcoming week! I plan to stitch some more and see how far I can get this week. Be back then for more updates!