Happy Halloween

Today I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of my current dining room decorations.  Since today is Halloween I'll be taking them down soon to make way for  Thanksgiving.

Have a wonderful day.

A Finish and A Start

Last night I was able to assemble Beggar's Night.  I am pleased with the way this turned out. I chose to use green chenille trim instead of the orangey color that I had.  I liked the green better.

Beggar's Night
by Threadwork Primitives

I also started His and Hers Thanksgiving Stockings by Plum Street Samplers.  I am using 36 count Lambswool since I had some of that in my stash.

I tried to upload my photos earlier today but had some trouble.  Seems to be working ok now.

Have a great evening.   I'm off to the happy chair.

Beggar's Night - Last Stitches

Last night I took the last stitches in Beggar's Night. I hope that I can finish this tonight or tomorrow night so that I can at least have it out on Halloween Night

 

 

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Beggar's Night and Do Nothing Day

So, how was your weekend?  Mine was good.

Saturday I spent a fair amount of time getting my living room and hall floors cleaned.  It took way longer than I had estimated.  But, I am happy with the result and that makes it worth all the time it took.  I'm not so happy with the wax that I used and will have to look for something else. 

I don't know about you, but I am feeling like it is time to get the house all cozied up for the months ahead.  The long time of being in at night.  I think that explains my recent bout of nesting or maybe more appropriately nestling.

Yesterday, Sunday, was what I designated as Do Nothing Day.  I had intended not to do any housework or necessary tasks.  Of course, due to my contrary nature, I couldn't help but put away several loads of laundry.  And do two more loads of laundry so that the baskets would be empty at the beginning of the week.

I did however, find some time to work on Beggar's Night.  I am pleased with the progress I made yesterday.  I hope to finish stitching this guy in the next couple of evenings.



Beggar's Night
by Threadwork Primitives

Have a magnificent Monday!

Little Sheep Virtue - No. 7 Patience

I finished stitching this at lunch on Wednesday.

Little Sheep Virtue - No. 7 Patience
by Little House Needleworks

For now he will join his other friends in the to be finished box. 

I hope to be able to sit down this weekend and put a few of these together. 

Have a thrilling Thursday.

Beggar's Night - Wednesday

Here is a little picture of what I accomplished last night.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Beggar's Night - Monday Update

I made more progress on Beggar's Night yesterday.  I've moved beyond the Pumpkin Pie and am adding some other colors.

Maybe I can start on the pumpkin tonight.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Beggar's Night - Progress

I was able to spend some time last evening stitching.  And, I made some progress on Beggar's Night by Threadwork Primitives.  And, not too much frogging this time, and I have the border done.

 

Have a wonderful Sunday.  It looks like a beautiful, sunny, autumn day here today.

Little Sheep Virtues

Here is a little progress update on the piece I keep in my bag to stitch at lunchtime, waiting at the doctor's office, and other odd times that I'm away from home.  This is the seventh piece in the series.  I do have other 6 stitched.  I'll have to show those another day.


Little Sheep Virtue - No. 7 - Patience
Little House Needleworks

Have a great Saturday!

Beggar's Night Progress

I've spent a couple of evenings working on Beggar's Night by Threadwork Primitives.  I had made more progress.  Wednesday night just when I thought I had the border done, it was off by . one . stitch.  A mistake I had made in the top it turns out.  So the result you see here is what I had left after some major frogging.  But I am ready to start in fresh again tonight.

Please excuse the wrinkles. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Retreat

Weekend before last I had the privilege of attending a retreat sponsored by the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild.  Twice a year these ladies meet at the Lankford Hotel for a weekend of stitching, eating, and relaxing.  Sally and Sara of Salty Yarns are there with the shop open for our pleasure all weekend.

When I arrived on Friday I was given this goodie bag which also included a packet of Bohin needles which I have tucked somewhere in my stitching bag.

When I opened this I thought what a great Shepherd's Bush kit and I can probably stitch this in the weekend.  And, I haven't opened it yet.

Sara and Mary put out a lovely spread of appetizers and desserts for us on Friday night.  Sara is a wonderful cook, make that chef.  She has something new and wonderful to tempt your tastebuds each time she does one of these. 

We spent time stitching on the lobby on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  And walking on the boardwalk, and of course, eating boardwalk food.  And staying up too late stitching, of course.

I got to meet lots of the attendees.  This is the first thing I've done with this group.  I had met some of the ladies at other events held by Salty Yarns.

I had the privilege of spending time with Theresa Baird of Heart's Ease Examplar Workes.  Her personality is as lovely as her designs.  She is such a happy, bubbly lady. 

She brought the most wonderful show and tell, most of which you can  see on her blog.  She kindly consented to let me post these pictures of her miniature blanket chest and the smalls she has designed for it.

She has pictures on her blog that show these in a much better way than I have done here. 

She also brought along her Cottage by the Sea Sewing Set which she will be teaching in Ocean City in the future.  I can't wait for that class! 

Please skip over to the guild blog and take a look at their pictures from the weekend. I always take my camera but seldom use it.  Thanks goodness others are more attentive to these things than I am.

Have a great day!

A Start

I decided to start a new project.  This one is Beggar's Night by Threadwork Primitives.  She is a fairly new designer to me.  I gotta say, I'm loving the prim. 

I am doing this on 36 count something or other that was in my stash.  The chart calls for DMC threads.  I found a conversion here and am using the Gentle Arts fibers from my stash. 

This picture shows the cover of the chart pack.

Also, check out header she has on her blog.   What a nice, easy finish and it looks wonderful.  Sometimes less is more.

This is the first piece I've started in my new stitching room.  It felt good to be able to actually find things again. 

Have a great day.

A Finish

 

This is the only finish I have to show for the entire summer. 

 

 

What I Love About Home
by Pine Mountain

I did stitch some other things, but don't have anything else finished.  I did add some UFO's to my pile!

A Teaser

One of our projects this summer has been to add laminate flooring to some of the bedrooms.

Baby Girl's room was first so that she would move back in there.

Next, up, was my soon to be stitching room.  This was Little Boy's room for many, many years. 

A view of the room, there is a daybed behind all those boxes.

The elk head in the foreground will be moving to the basement.  I love this color. 

An honest to goodness closet for my stash!

As you can see I have started to move in.  My son has to finish cleaning out the closet.  Then I can unpack and settle in. 

I will be moving the happy chair and my farm table in here.  I am trying to work with what  I have before I go out and buy anything else.

September

September was a little more normal.

Baby Girl was back in school.

Baby Boy was also back in school in Kentucky.  He did come up for a visit in September.  We spent a day together walking around Longwood Gardens. Although I have lived in this area for 40 years I had never been there.  We had  a nice day.  I got over 10,000 steps that day.

Little Boy moved back home with his dog.  My husband and I have never had a dog.  This has been an adjustment for us.  I can say that we do miss him when he is not here.

Later in September I took a break from work and went to Ocean City, Maryland for a solo retreat.  I stayed at the Lankford Hotel.   I stayed in a unit called Wren.  I've stayed there before and really like that room.  While I was there I walked on the boardwalk, a bit.  I spent three days stitching on the beach.  I made several visits to Salty Yarns.  And I did some stash enhancing. 

I am so glad I took that break.  I needed to get away and rest.  I did do quite a bit of stitching. 

Before I came home I took a little ride over to Assateague to see if I could see any wild horses.  I found these right by the road.

 

 

 

These aren't the best pictures but they were taken from the car window.  So they are pretty good for when you consider that. I hadn't realized how close I was to Assateague until a co-worker told me about his trip to Ocean City. 

 



How I Spent My Summer - Part 2

My July was pretty quiet. Not much travel or stitching either. I did do some reading, but not much else. My baby girl was home. She and I shared my car this summer which was challenging since I work 20 miles from home. We have did a lot of riding together on work days. My husband spent a few weeks working on the boat and got her in the water in late July. I went out for the first time in early August. We had a wonderful day, caught 7 keepers and had lots of action otherwise. I think I needed to be out on the ocean in the wind and the sun. The boat ran well. And I was surprised at how nice the ride was. The best part was that we stayed dry. In our old boat we would get wet on a good day. Now, we stay dry because of the pilot house. Such a nice improvement.

The remainder of August was fairly quiet. Baby Girl and I did take a trip to Virginia Beach in late August. I visited Dyeing to Stitch while we were there. Unfortunately, we did not have beach weather. So we spent most of the time shopping. Lots of shopping in Virginia Beach. Dyeing to Stitch is a wonderful store with a huge selection of models. I was in heaven. If you are ever in Virginia Beach it is worth looking into.

In late August we took Baby Girl back to Temple for her sophomore year. This year she is sharing an apartment with three other girls. The apartment was nice and a pleasant surprise.

Boat Pillows

My husband asked me to make him some pillows for the boat. 

I found some fabric on etsy and made these for him.

I only made two pillows.  These pictures show the fronts and backs.

They look nice on the boat.  I thought I  had a picture of  them in the cabin, but no.

Giveaway Alert

Julie over at I'll Cross That Leg When I Get To It is giving away the cutest ort container!  Pop over and have a look.

It's Been Way Too Long Since My Last Post of How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Whew, it's been a long time since my last post. I never know if I want to do a total recap in one post, or spread it out over several posts. This time I think I will spread this out over several posts. Remember when you were in school and had to write an essay about your summer vacation? I don't ever remember having to do that, but those sitcom kids were always given that assignment. I seemed to get assignments like what is your favorite color and why. Seriously??? Those required way too much thinking on my part. Reporting on summer vacation would be easy peasy compared to that one. Any how. My summer was interesting. In June, we bought a boat to replace the one we had lost in Superstorm Sandy. This involved two trips to Baltimore before we were finished. The first trip was an early morning trip to go and actually look at the boat and do a quick sea trial. I'm glad I went along for that. I did get some time to stitch and work on my Fun Every Day pieces. We decided then and there that this was the boat for us. We had been actively looking online and in person for months. We left that day with our instructions on how and where to send the balance of the funds and an estimated timeline for pick up. That took about two weeks. The Monday before we went on our vacation we went back to Baltimore to pick up the boat, towed it to the Jersey Shore and returned home to Pennsylvania. I think we were in the truck about 8 hours that day. Again, some more time to work on Fun Every Day.

The following Saturday we went to Kentucky to visit our son the grad student. We stayed in a nearby (two blocks away) hotel. We were busy all week. We went to Mammoth Cave and did a tour. We went to Keeneland to watch the horses exercise and have breakfast at the track cafeteria. Great food and wonderful photographs of horses. Another day we went hiking in Daniel Boone National Forest. Our 3 hour hike lasted about six hours. I learned several things from that experience. One is to wear hiking boots. And, take more water than you think you will ever need. And, don't leave the snacks in the trunk of the car. And, do not carry your purse (yes, my purse) but instead have a proper backpack. Oh, and when the trail map shows the trail leading out of the back of the parking lot, that does not mean you need to cross the road to get to the trail. This was our biggest mistake of the day. Apparently, GPS had taken us to the wrong parking lot. And when we got out we could see a trail across the road. And, there was a sign on that trail for the trail we were looking for. My son assumed that the trail map in the book was outdated and we set off. On something called Rough Trail (not the thing for this overweight, arthritic, out of shape mama to do) which explains the need for hiking boots. Now, it had rained the day and night before. So, the trail is wet and sandy. Oh, and did I mention it was hot and humid? So we hiked for about two hours and finally came to a sign that said our destination was 3/4 mile away. We hiked for about another hour and came to another sign that said our destination was 1 mile away. That seemed wrong, but apparently we had made a wrong turn somewhere. We finally reached our destination and began what was to be the difficult part of the hike. I thought we had already done that after crawling over some rocks on my hands and knees.

We continue on our hike and I am not so sure that the map we have is accurate. My feeling was that the map was so wrong for the first part of the hike, how could it possibly be right for this part. So, now, I am hot, and panicky. We had to climb up several flights of stairs and walk about another hour to get back to the road. I must say that this is beautiful country. I truly enjoyed the breaks we took to look at the scenery. I was getting very tired of looking at where I was putting my feet. We finally arrived back at the road, or more accurately a road. And we are pretty sure that we know where we are on the map. But, just to be safe, we flagged down a passing Ranger truck and asked them for directions back to our car. They told us that we would have to hike back a mile and a half over Rough Trail to get back to where we left our car. The ranger told us that we had already hiked 5 or 6 miles ( this was supposed to be a 3 mile hike.) They also gave us water since we didn't have any more with us. It tasted and felt so good to drink that water. We get to the parking lot, where we should have parked. I look at my husband and my son and tell them I cannot go back the way we came. Please, go get the car and come back to get me. It took them about an hour, but they did it. My husband said that we were about 15 minutes by car from where we had originally parked. My son told me that there was no way we could have gotten there on the road we were going to take. Thank goodness for the park rangers. I did learn several lessons on that hike. If we had been on the correct trail we would not have seen this:

I would like to go back to Daniel Boone National Forest and hike some more. It is truly beautiful and I would like to see more of it. We learned that if the map looks wrong, we are probably in the wrong place. We also went to Churchill Downs. I only gambled on one race. I just wasn't that into feeding my money into a machine and losing it. I did like watching the horses race and all the ceremony that accompanies each race. We went to look at the horses before each race and they were paraded around in a ring.

And then back to watch them on the track. I had heard a horn blow before each race, I think at post time. I was at the track itself one time the horn was blown and saw a gentlemen in a red jacket come out and blow the horn. I had assumed that it was a recording. A very interesting place. And, if you are in the market for a hat or fascinator that was the place to buy one.

One day the guys went fishing. I went shopping. I went to a needlework and yarn shop in Lexington called The Stitch Niche. I did buy some fibers that I needed but not much else. It seems to be geared more toward knitters and crocheters than stitchers. And from there I went on to Berea to The Kentucky Artisan Center. That was a really nice place with all Kentucky made products. I bought a birdhouse for our back yard. A couple weeks later I saw that wrens had taken up residence there and could hear their babies. And then I went to the town of Berea and did more shopping. The guys met me at Papa Leno's for dinner. We had pizza. It was so good, I'm not sure what they do, but it's like the bottom of the pizza is dusted in garlic powder, so you get a mild garlic flavor from the crust. And we did lots of shopping in and around Lexington. If you can't find it in Lexington, I don't think it exists.