Know Thyself is DONE! Fall musings and thoughts.

 Another finish on the books, finally! I powered through and completed this little Blackwood and Briar pattern, Know Thyself, in just a couple days this week. I'm very happy with it.

As I stitched this, I not only thought about whether or not I know myself, but also, if anyone really knows me? I think this is a universal question. Not that I have any deep dark secrets, but who really knows all your aspects? This will hang in my bedroom on my witchy wall, to remind me about taking my own inventory and coming to terms with all aspects of myself. 

I may start this Pineberry Lane pattern next. We'll see. I dyed the fabric last night and got it all ironed and serged up. I need my husband to help me put the Q-snaps together. I have a big basket with all the stuff in it, and I get overwhelmed trying to figure out the pieces for a project, lol. 

Now, I know the fabric might look similar to the first one I listed, but I assure you, it IS different! This one is a brown/marshmallow-y looking fabric. I didn't want anything too crazy, but something a bit more fun than just plain old brown linen. I'm hooked on dyeing fabric. This is a Zweigart 32 count linen that originally comes in white.

Oh Autumn. How I love thee.

Maybe we'll hit up our local pumpkin patch next week and see what's going on out there. These are the times that I miss having a little one around. We had so much fun taking our son to the pumpkin patch!

Just a few stash items since last time. I have sold a ton of stuff too, in one of my stash unload groups on facebook, but I always seem to find something to replace it with, lol.

I got that Cricket pattern simply for the little elf in the upper right hand corner. I mean, c'mon!

I have to stitch this little guy. Is he surprised? Is he not supposed to be playing with that toy? I mean, what is the story here??!! He or she just makes me smile. 

I hope you all are having a lovely Autumn so far. Our weather has just been fantastic. A day or two of rain every now and then, but my gosh, Fall in VA has been awesome. BUT, I keep getting reminded of October memories on facebook and all the Fridays we spent at King's Dominion Halloween Haunt, and it just kills me. I miss it so much. I miss all the fun things we did not get to do this year. Vacations, birthday parties, summer get-togethers, King's Dominion, etc. And we made the awful choice not to have our relatives over for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. Heartbreaking. BUT, I want them all around next year, you know?

Time to sign off and go figure out what to do for dinner! Have a wonderful weekend, and get lots of stitching in! Until next time,

A La D Da Finish!

He's finally finished! I'm pretty pleased. I left out the dots because I'm too ocd about my stitches and I, 1) didn't want to carry the floss over large distances and 2) also did not want to do so many singular stitches.  LOL. So here he is.

It'll be a gift for my mom for her birthday, after I get it framed.

Now I just need to pull out Hurrah and finish that too. I can't really say I'm on a roll, but for me, this is a roll. I'm stitching one project after another and have been for more than a year now, and that makes me very happy. With everything else that has gone on, it's been a wonderful stress reliever and I love the feeling of accomplishment it gives me.

My boy turned 23! We had a little (very little) gathering at our house and got him his favorite cake from Olive Garden. Pay no mind to the huge chunk that came off as I unboxed it.

I'm really proud of this kiddo. Hard to believe so many years has gone by. Truly. Where did it go? What have I done with myself in the meantime? All I can say is my mom was right when she said "it'll go by so quick you can't believe it". As the mom of a two year old, I thought "RIGHT, lady. I cannot wait for these twos to be over with!" But now, I would almost give anything to have that time back again.

You never realize the last time your little boy cuddles on your lap or gives you a mushy kiss right on the lips. You never know the last time of anything they do as they grow. All you know is it doesn't happen anymore. And it makes me sad I didn't realize the last time would be the last time, you know? Such is SO much of life! It can be said for anything, really. But he's a lovely young man, and doing great.

Age 2 and 23 in OC MD

Father's Day was low key-we did nothing. My son and my husband worked over at my mom's house getting her yard together. It was much appreciated too.

I'll sign off with a gorgeous double rainbow captured after a storm last week here. I caught it just in time too!

Have a great week and I'll be back soon with a stitch update on Hurrah! Until then,

A few more letters on Spring Hare and some crochet!

I managed to do a few more letters on Spring Hare by La D Da. This is a fun stitch. And I'm loving the original floss color on the letters! I have a couple stitches that I need to complete that for some reason I left out. But he's coming along nicely.

I saw one of these done in all overdyed pinks for a little girl's nursery (I think!). It was precious. So many possibilities with this design.

Been doing a bit of crochet lately. I finished up another baby hat that I did just as a lark, because I wanted to learn the stitch. This was FUN to do! You can find the Ravelry pattern HERE.

The Jovie Pixie Bonnet

I have no babies to do these little things for. I just like doing them because they are so little and cute!

Been working on a crochet mandala for my mom for Mother's Day. Missed the cutoff, but she is a lovely and understanding woman, and I also made her oatmeal raisin cookies, so all was well. This pattern is also on Ravelry, you can find it HERE:

The Meghan Mandala

I have started walking again for physical and mental health. Two years ago, when things were very stressful in our extended family, I started putting on weight. I had lost 80 lbs in about a year and a half between 2015 and 2016, but in summer of 2017 it all went to hell slowly. Well, I'm committed to getting back to where I was by year's end.

I used to walk at a park near our home, and since we've moved, I haven't made it back. But I did this week. Normally I've been walking around our neighborhood, but I made a special trip back to the serenity of the park and gosh, how I have missed all the smells and sounds of the land and forest.

It's just serene and peaceful, the whole place. Part of the trail is a really nice cushioned rubber mulch path and it feels so nice to walk on.

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day. I'm thankful to have my mother. She's always so supportive of everything I want to accomplish and do. I hope she feels the same about me. I try!

My son's girlfriend, Tiara, and I, collect Rae Dunn pottery. Do you know if it? Well, it's addicting. Apparently, the little birdhouses are tough to get and she and my son got me one! OMG, I love it so much! They are very sweet to me and having them in my life is one of my greatest joys. How cute is this??

Rae Dunn Birdhouse

Back very soon with a pre-vacation stitchy post! Until then,

Quick update on Spring Hare

Just a quick update on Spring Hare with the alphabet stitched in the OLD version of Sable #110, that I was lucky to find in a design I had kitted up long ago!

It's really looking nice! I'm happy at this point. By the way, I did forward photos and an explanation to the floss company via facebook. A very nice man responded and said they had changed dye companies etc. over time and that " With that kind of changes there is a reasonable expectation that there might be some differences."

Probably not the response I would have given, but I'll leave it there.

Anyways, as I said before, that is a definite problem when purchasing hand dyed floss. If you can't get to stitching the pattern right away, and you want to use the dyed floss, you best get all of it you can, because there's no going back!

Until next time,

Getting there with Spring Hare

I forged ahead with Spring Hare and let cooler heads prevail. I did not trash him and instead, did my due diligence and found the exact place the error occurred (yay me!), frogged it out and re-stitched him! Everything is great now, and he's looking very dapper thus far.

Don't know what I'll do with his flower bouquet just yet. Maybe stitch it in another color, as I have seen some others do. And I am going to order the Classic Colorworks Bramble Bush for the letters on this. It's really a wonderful variegated brown/caramel color that I think will do great.

And because I don't want to pay shipping on one skein of floss, I was thinking about getting this, from Needlework Press.

OMGoodness. I am not normally a "sampler gal". I know there are many of you out there, and I love them, but don't usually stitch them. Some of them seem too fussy or too old timey, but this one just speaks to me! I've seen some photos of stitches in progress, and it is just gorgeous!!!  So, just maybe....

I was looking through some old photos to find a specific one of my sister and I on Easter, many moons ago and I came across a wonderful photo of Jim, my stepfather, that I hadn't see for many years. I didn't remember it at all. It was as if he was telling me "Hi there Tam!", which he actually WAS doing when I took the pic way back in 2006 or so. I felt fortunate to find it and it helped me to be present and enjoy the day ahead, regardless of all the changes that have taken place. It's what he would have done, after all.

Easter weather here was gorgeous and mild. A perfect Spring day, really! Had a nice time with family and made it back with 5 minutes to spare to get ready for Game of Thrones. I can't believe there are only four episodes left.  It's been one of my favorite series I've ever watched. If you've not seen it, I highly recommend!

Until next time,

VENT ahead, so beware!

Well, I'm not happy. First of all, my mom saw the project. Do not give your phone to your mother and tell her to just "keep swiping" to view some pics from the weekend. Just a tip for all you kids out there. UGH!

Secondly, the stitch count on my project, La D Da's Spring Hare, was off somehow. It took me forever for figure out where it is, (I'm missing some rows on the right side at the back of his coat) and I'm so mad! I will most likely abandon the project and start over. (Wow, does that sound familiar or WHAT?!)

Thirdly, how was I supposed to end up with the beautiful color variations on the alphabet, shown here in the model:

....with THIS floss?

Indoor pic

Outdoor pic

I don't exactly have a LNS close to me, so I just ordered this online, and the entire thing looks like it's the same all over. I know that some overdyeds are more pronounced, but this doesn't look anything at all like the model. I found another example online where someone used Bramble instead of Sable, and her results were great. I wish I'd found that sooner!

This is not my stitchy week. I think I'll try and take a crochet break for a couple days and come back to it. Maybe I'll just eyeball some floss at The Salty Yarn, when we go on vacation, and come back with something more suitable and it'll be a birthday gift instead of a Mom's Day gift. Until next time,