It's A Beautiful Day after the Storms!

Isn't it amazing how fresh and clean the air is after a storm!  We had a bumpy time last night with storms, rain and tornadoes around our area.  We escaped the destuctive weather at my house and had only torrential rains.  Just two counties over to the west and a few counties to the east of of us there were a couple of tornadoes with lots of property damage but thankfully no physical harm to residents. And today, the skies are that beautiful blue with fluffy white clouds and the wind is gently blowing with a touch of fall coolness, a perfect day.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me.  I have not seemed to accomplish much but I have been busy doing it. LOL

My youngest son and his wife and baby came for a visit last weekend.  I had so much fun playing with my grand-daughter!  She is 4 months old now and just the cutest little thing!  We all went out to the State Fair on Sunday afternoon along with my oldest son and his wife and baby.  We had a great time checking out all the sights at the fair.  We saw some of the calf judging which was a new experience for me.  It was fun to try to figure out what the judge was looking for in the calves. After a couple of rounds of judging I was able to at least figure out which calves would be in the top half of the class.  The babies at 4 and 6 months old really were not too impressed with all of the hustle and bustle of the fair so we only stayed for 3 hours.  It was a fun time though!  I would share some pictures with you if I had remembered to take along my camera, cannot believe I forgot it.

EDIT!! My sweet daughter-in-law shared a couple of pictures with me so you could see us at the fair! Aren't they soooooo cute!



Sweet Babies!

 

Hi cous! I want to eat you!


I really enjoyed looking at all the crafts at the fair.  There were only about a dozen cross-stitch entries.  They were all very nice but one was just gorgeous...it was a large Quaker Sampler stitched in dark blue thread with dark red accents in a few of the motifs!  The alphabet was across the very top of the sampler and then just rows of beautiful Quaker motifs...I have tried to research to find the pattern but no luck.  If anyone has an idea what this pattern might be let me know by email or comment.  I would love to stitch this sampler myself.

It is a shame that there are so few entries in the cross stitch division.  There was a time that half of the large craft building was filled with cross stitch.  Are there so few stitchers out there or do they not enter their works in the fair?  I don't know but I do miss seeing the entries in person at the fair...guess that is why stitchy blogs are so popular!

I do have one finish to share with you from what I shared last post. I finished The Prairie Schooler February design.  When I was stitching this one all the brown was really a little depressing to me but after adding the bottom row the reds really made this one pop.  Now I love it!





Prairie Schooler February
stitched on Lambswool 14 ct Aida with DMC Threads

That's another UFO finish for me!  Yea!!

Well, that's all for me today.  I get to babysit my 6 month old grand-daughter tonight and on Sunday she will be spending the night with us!  Wish me luck!

Blessings and Happy Stitching!





What I Have Been Up To This Month!

Time sure has flown by...One day it's the beginning of September and now here we are at the end!  It's officially autumn even though the temperature outside today still thinks it's summer.  But as they say "stick around and the weather will change again."  We have had a lot of rain and a lot of cloudy days these last few weeks, so I am not going to complain to much about today's weather because the sun is shining and the skies are a beautiful blue. 

I went to the Outer Banks with a friend earlier this month.  It was a wonderful, gorgeous week!  We had rain the first day and it rained the last day but in between the weather was perfect!  It was so relaxing to just roam the beach each day looking for shells. We had so much fun shopping at all the outlet stores and little shops in the area and trying out the restaurants.  It was a good week!

Kitty Hawk Beach, NC

I took several stitchy projects with me to the beach.  Decided it would be a good time to finish a UFO or two.  There was not much time for stitching but I did manage to finish one project and get about halfway on another.  Here is my finish...



PS Autumn stitched on 14 ct. Fiddlers Cloth with DMC Threads

The above project was 3/4 finished and did not take much time to complete. 

And here is the progress on my second UFO...


PS February stitched on Lambswool 14 ct. Aida with DMC threads

 This one is about 2/3 finished now.  I'm not loving this one but am determined to finish it. 

These projects were perfect for the beach because the lighting was not the best in our room and stitching on aida cloth enabled me to be able to see my stitches without bringing along my stitching lamp.

Next up is my progress on two more of my Crazy January Challenge pieces.

BBD Their Song stitched on 28 ct Irish Linen with recommended WDW thread

LHN Little House Neighborhood stitched on linen 32 ct with DMC Threads

They are projects #10 and #11. 

I have not been stitching on these much because my turn came to work on The Traveling Pattern!  Yes, the pattern and scrapbook arrived in my mailbox last Friday afternoon!  Thanks to Myra for sending these along to me and thanks to Jennifer for organizing this project.  Peggy Lee provided the pattern and Jennifer added the scrapbook.  Peggy Lee, I have to tell you, you will just love looking at the scrapbook and seeing all of the finished samplers!!

Here's my take on the sampler....


La D Da "A B C D" stitched on 32 ct Stony Point linen using DMC #924, #4210 & #310

I just love the varigated thread for the alphabet. My initials were stitched with #310.  I decided that the leaf design should be stitched with a lovely blue/green with just a hint of gray.  You can't tell by the picture but the linen is a lovely shade of gray/green.  The colors look so nice together.  Can you tell I am pleased with the effect?  I chose not to stitch the border around the design but would like your comments on whether you think that the border would add to the finish.  I am still on the fence a little about adding the border. This pattern will be on its way to Cat at Bramblewood Stitches by the first of next week.  I need to add to the scrapbook before I send it on its way.

A special welcome to my new followers!  I hope you all are enjoying visiting with me and I really look forward to any comments you might be inclined to leave.  It's so much fun making new friends!

Thought I would leave you with a picture of the mate to the cardinal in my header.  She has been hard to capture by the camera but one day she seemed to want her picture taken and posed a little for me.

She was looking at me like "Are you happy now?  Take the picture and don't bother me anymore!"  LOL I love it when the pair are in the tree next to the feeder chirping back and forth to each other.  Their calls are so distinct, I can always tell when they are outside the window.

Wishing you all a Blessed Autumn season!

Two New Finishes! And New Stash Too!

This week has just flown by! Hard to believe that it has been a week since Hurricane Irene paid us a visit. The weather has been beautiful all week, starting to feel like fall, warm sunny days and cool nights!

I have gotten a lot of stitching done this week! "Pumpkin Farm" was finished on Wednesday. I just couldn't put this one down until I finished!

"Pumpkin Farm" by With Thy Needle and Thread
stitched on 28 ct. evenweave with DMC threads

"My Ways" was completed on Thursday. My goal was to finish it by the end of August, but I am pleased to finish it only one day later. It is an easy little sampler to stitch but I did get bored with the alphabet stitched all in one color so I had to stitch on other projects in between working on this one which is why it took longer than I expected.

"My Ways" by La D Da
stitched on 32 ct. linen with DMC threads


These finishes are #8 and #9 of my Crazy January Challenge pieces! I don't know if I will be able to complete all 15 starts this year but I am making progress toward my goal!

Project #10 is "Little House Neighborhood" by LHN. I picked it up last night and was able to complete the vine part of the border before bedtime. I gave a little cheer when it matched up!

"Little House Neighborhood" by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 30 ct. linen with DMC threads


My postman delivered some new stash this week! I had been trying so hard not to buy any new projects from the Baltimore show but the temptation was too great. So I limited my purchases to only 3 projects...

"Weeds Make Haste" by Shakespears Peddler, "Halloween Eve" by BBD, and the new Inspiration Boxer by Lizzie Kate.

Don't you just love the beautiful colors in "Halloween Eve" and "Weeds"?

In family news this week, my youngest son and his wife purchased their very first home. They are so excited! And the best part for us is they are only a hours drive from us now so more frequent visits with our granddaughter are in our future! Yea!!!

Well, that's all for this post. I wish everyone a fun and safe Labor Day weekend! Hope you get to have some fun and some stitchy time too!

Blessings and Happy Stitching!

Made it through the storm!

Well Irene came with lots of rain and wind. We lost a few pieces of siding and have two trees down on the power lines. We will be busy picking up all the twigs, leaves and small limbs for a couple of days and I hope we can get our power back soon. But, that's all the damage we had and I am so thankful!

Others were not so lucky. Lots of trees fell in the area and landed on cars and houses doing much damage. And there were a couple of fatalities due to trees falling. My prayers go out to those families.

To those still in the path of Irene, I pray that God will keep you safe and sound!

I have been SO busy stitching!!

So glad that today has been less eventfully than yesterday! We have had a couple of aftershocks but none for several hours now. Now we get to focus on hurricane Irene which could possibly cause us some weather this weekend. Gotta love Mother Nature!! Never a dull moment!! LOL

As I said in my last post I have some finishes to share! I have been a very busy stitcher...the frogs have been staying away most of the time which allows for much progress!

First up is

Totin' Hare by La D Da, stitched on 28 ct grey linen with DMC threads

I just love this finish and can't wait to get it framed!

The next three finishes are small ones but it still feels good to be able to check off a couple of finishes on my Crazy January Challenge!

Winter Sheep by LHN stitched on 32 ct. Amber linen with DMC threads

Wool Needlebook by LHN stitched on 32 ct. Amber linen with DMC threads

Joy to the World by LHN stitched on 32 ct Amber linen with DMC threads

I have made good progress on "My Ways" by La D Da this month and hope to finish it in the next week!

And I have been busily stitching on "Pumpkin Farm" by WTNT. The colors of autumn are calling me on this stitch!

The weather has been so nice the last couple of days with warm days and cool nights and NO humidity! Wish it could stay this way, I am really looking forward to the coolness of autumn.

I will leave you with a picture of my granddaughters. They both were at my house for a visit on Saturday. They were so good while the grown-ups were having dinner as you can see in the picture. They are getting so big!

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my posts! I really enjoy your comments, they make my day! Thanks for the visit!

Blessings and Happy Stitching!

Shake, Rattle and Roll!

We had an eventful day here in Virginia today! An earthquake measuring 5.8 hit this afternoon at 1:51 p.m. I never felt it because I was driving home from shopping but my poor husband was home and I think it shook him up a bit. He said he began to wonder if the house might fall down around him. But really no damage just pictures hanging crooked and a few items fallen from shelves. We only live 20 miles from the epicenter so we may feel some after shocks, hopefully not. And I was glad to know that the nuclear power plant near the epicenter automatically shut down the reactors when the quake hit. It's a bit of a comfort to know that the safty plan worked when needed!

I have been stitching away on my Crazy 15 Challenge pieces and will post about the finishes (Yea! More than one finish!!) as soon as I take pictures to show them off!

Until then wishing you Blessings and Happy Stitching!

Stitching Update...Sorry no Pics today

Just wanted to check in and say that I have been keeping my needle flying on my two challenge pieces My Ways and Totin Hare by La-D-Da! I have made good progress on both but have not taken pictures yet.

Had a great week at Vacation Bible School last week! It is always so much fun to be with the kids of the church and teach them about God. We learned about some of the Jewish festivals and how Jesus changed them after he came to earth. The kids made unleavened bread which only one child thought tasted good and they made butter to put on the bread which most of them loved. We learned about the elements of the seder meal and how Jesus evolved it into Holy Communion at the Last Supper. And we learned about the Festival of the Weeks after Jesus rose from the dead and how our celebration of Pentecost took place during that Festival 50 days after His resurrection. All in all it really was a wonderful week!

This week has started off on a down note. I am not feeling very well at the moment. Been having trouble sleeping and feeling sick and unable to eat much. I went to the doctor yesterday and he switched one of my medicines so hopefully that will do the trick and get me feeling better in a few days. So until then I am trying to hang in there.

I have been trying to keep up with your blogs but haven't been commenting as much. Just know that I am enjoying reading about your days and projects and will get back to commenting when I feel better.

Wecome to my new followers and as always I appreciate your comments to my posts. It is so nice to get to know you all!

Blessings to you and Happy Stitching!!