May Wrap up…..

First of all, I hope everyone is enjoying a great three day weekend and celebrating America and remembering those who have sacrificed to make this the land of the free and the home of the brave.    Here on the east coast of the US of A, we are on the third day of rain, rain and more rain and below normal temperatures.     No problem says I!   I can get some finishing done.

This month my WIPGO calls  were, first, Jeweled Baubles from Shannon Christine Designs.   I first saw these piece completed at my friend Diane’s.  I got on line immediately to order it.  This pattern is one of those that is definitely not captured in the picture.   Lots of color changes, half stitches, and confetti stitching, Kreinik and beads.  Most definitely not a take along piece to work on.

I put 5 to 6 hours of stitching in to this and met the WIPGO goal.  Four ornaments done and four to go.  It may look like a missed a lot of stitches but those spaces are where the beads go.   

 

My second call was Harvest Friends from Teresa Kogut.  This is being stitched  as a (yet another!!) Round Robin with two friends.  Each of us stitching the same ‘pumpkin head lady’ on all each other’s pieces and then rotating it back to the owner.  I put some time in on this piece doing the boarder outline.   I concentrated on getting the border done only to have outline not meet.   Out it came and I started again.   Another few hours and at least double the WIPGO goal but I am back on track.   The outline of the border that remains stitched IS correct.   You know how many times I have eaten the words I said to my daughters when teaching them to cross stitch…… “it’s not cross stitch if you don’t have to frog occasionally”…. Too many!

I did get my geraniums bought and planted in my pots.   I had to go with white this year as there were not enough of the reds I wanted.  Some vegetables are in but some more to buy.  There has been progress, albeit small.    I also planted an assortment of Coleus.  

This past week we had record breaking high temps but I did manage to weed some flower beds.   I paced myself, drank lots of water, wore a hat and took breaks.   I cannot believe Mr. W actually had the AC on before Memorial Day!   Then you get to this holiday weekend and it is 30 to 40 degrees cooler. 

I finished Primrose’s Star-a-day AND fully finish it.   Since I changed the number of Stars and Stripes I did not stick to the star a day assignment.    When I saw how my friend Ruth of  Spectrum Farms Needlework (floss tube) finished hers, I knew how I wanted to finish mine.   I am not 100% happy with my finishing work and I am debating about taking it apart.  Part of me is saying “from the top of the bridge it will look fine”  so it may stay as it is.  

I was able to keep up with HOD Patreon and stitched and fully finished this month’s ornament.  

Mid-month I attended the Creative Hands Gathering in Gettysburg, PA.    It was a great weekend.  Even though I pledged over and over again on the drive out that I was not buying anything that went out the window in the first half hour with all the fabulous choices.     I decided I needed to start including the wool kits in my X-Stitch ap under “Miscellaneous” and have already added the new patterns and my existing kits in stash to the X-Stitch ap.   Good news is that I have far fewer than I thought I did.  

Look at some of the Show ‘n Tell!

Our Retreat Gift was this lovely wooden box.

 

Each vendor designed a pattern suitable for inserting on the top.   It was hard to choose!   So I didn’t.   I selected one that was springtime like and a more fall theme.  Both are wool appliqué patterns.

Another goodie gift we received.

While there, I did stitch three perforated paper patriotic small patterns and fully finished them quickly once home.

 I am starting to fill up my patriotic tree.  These last three gave me 10 stitched ornaments.  

On the way home, we walked through the town of Gettysburg and visited the battlefields.  

 

 

The Pennsylvania Memorial

View from the top of the PA Memorial.  The arrows on the plaque indicate the direction and distant to other landmarks or cites.

We also visited Eisenhower’s farm.

View from the front yard.

View of the back of the home

Custom wallpaper that has the State Seals from all 50 states.

Chandelier over dining table where he hosted dignataries.

Much memorabilia was on display.

That squarish item at the bottom left of the round table is Ike’s remote control.    I am surprised it is not connected to the TV with a cord - IYKYK!

 

I am heading to Ohio later this week.   I am a member of the Western Reserve Sampler Guild and they are hosting a 25th anniversary weekend.  I think I will take the  French Alphabet to the retreat and dedicate all my stitching time to it because I have been neglecting it.    It seems like when I pick it up and start to work on it, I don’t want to put it down.  But then again, Harvest Friends could be what I take.  Hopefully there will be noticeable progress on whatever I take with me.  Lucky for me, these are my two largest WIP’s.

Thanks for coming along with me on my travels.   Thanks for stopping by and commenting.   Stay safe, stay healthy, don’t sweat the small stuff and keep on stitching.

    

Horray for May!

The garden is coming to life!   The hummingbird feeder is out.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner on the deck almost everyday.   

I think I lost my red tulip bulbs when the landscaper put in the mulch.  I still have the yellow and the purple!  Guess I better put in a Breck’s order.

English Woods Hyacinths

 Peony getting ready to POP

I love the early morning dappled sunshine in the back yard.

Hard to see but I did the best I could to catch the early morning dew on the strawberry’s.  It was kind of enchanting.  

Allium, like them so much I have ordered more.

 

Sentry to my Back 40 garden

I love listening to the birds and sounds of summer.   It is so relaxing.   Even the sound of the lawnmower in the distance sounds nostalgic.  I enjoy the birds so much that  I am thinking about getting one of those bird feeder cameras.  I just might treat myself  as an upcoming birthday present.  Hmmmm

  Enough of my garden vibes.  For May, I changed my stitching order and didn’t start the month with the completing my WIPGO calls first.   I really wanted to finish the Quaker Garden sampler first and since my WIPGO assignments anre both only to stitch 5 hours on each project, I pushed them off for a week.

Using the alphabet in the pattern, I personalized with the names of the Round Robin table mates from a retreat.  I added the date and location with over one stitching.  This piece was charted to be stitched in one color but I am happy with my color choices.  And happy to continue to whittle down the WIP list one at a time.

Is anyone else totally fed up with the current auto correct?   Man oh man, you’d better check and recheck everything you type before you get into a situation needing explanation!   I must have spelled “mis-spelled” wrong about because when I proofread it said “distrust”.    I changed it to auto correct!  Progress right?

I also am pushing to finish the Star-a-Day piece.   I am hoping to fully finish this by Memorial Day.  I am getting there.  I think I have 50 to 60 stars until I am finished.  

 

I did fully finished Plaid Tidings from HOD’s Merry Moments collection.  I am enjoying this collection and very happy to be keeping up with it.   This month’s was released this morning.  

I still have not managed to get my plants for my pots on my porch and deck.  Nor  have I gotten my vegetable plants yet.   Oy!   I have tided up all by one bed and have managed to divide and transplant some hosta. It might not be the right time to do it but I have so many, it is OK if I loose one or two.   Hopefully I get to the power washing of the deck and furniture in the next few or so.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time - stay safe, be grateful, give yourself the grace to say no, and oh, keep on stitching.

R

April Round Up

Lately I have been stressing myself about all the things I have to complete crafting-wise.    Like all of you, I have a ton I want to do and the few in the queue that are in the ‘process’ by decreasing my list. I am holding firm to not starting anything big until I get the long overdue bigger projects across the finish line.  Again like everyone else, I have charts I have bought because I ‘just had to have them/just wanted to do right away’ that keep getting moved down the list by newer and shinier ones.  I thinking if I just tighten up the purse strings when it comes to new stash, I could make progress, albeit small.  

In March, I purchased Clara 1876 from A Stitch in Time.   I decided to start her on the 4th of July.   She is giving me incentive to get a few more WIPGO assignments completed as well as making her a mid-year reward.  Rationalization at its best. So just one paragraph ago I said I was holding fast to no new starts and here you go……fifteen seconds later, squirrel.  But seriously, if WIPGO goes well each month until then that will be several completions and necessary progress on several others.   And I said hold fast on any new BIG projects and she is not a big project.  My friend Diane stitched her in an about 10 days.   My work won’t be that fast.   The final decision with be based on how well I am keeping up with WIPGO.   I really envy those who can be monogamous stitchers but I just can seem to keep on that path. 

So what have I been doing to lessen the load of half done projects?   I did not manage any sewing on my quilt.  However, I was away with a group of stitchers and quilters and I was able to cut the 2 of the  remaining blocks.   For me the cutting can be a major part of the quilt battle.

I fully finished Light the Way from Hands on Designs Merry Moments ornaments.   I  continue to work from stash on the finishing so mine may look different than others.   

I finished the stitching on Plaid Tidings.  I have picked up a great finishing tip with each video making joining this Patreon a great idea for me.

I managed to stitch and fully finish HOD Year of Celebration - October.   Believe it or not, these were a bit of a  pain.   On this one, I had trouble stitching in the dark fabric, probably because it is the floppy, older WDW.      But a finish is a finish and a finish is another WIPGO success.    Here is October.   It looks crooked but it is the shadows from early morning lighting.

Here are all twelve.  With each one, I adapted to what fibers I had.  I eliminated stitch motifs and added buttons or trim from stash on most of them.   A butterfly button for May, a sailboat button for July, a mini string of Christmas lights for December and so on.   They were done is no particular order with the smaller ones being the first to be stitched and completed.   No matter, they all fit in the space on the my perpetual calendar.  I am a bit ashamed it took me so long to do all 12.   Whenever I thought to work on them I was not in the mood to spend a week of precious stitching time. 

My Guild retreat in Berlin MD really helped me make progress on a couple of projects. Not as much as would have liked between laughing with table mates, chatting with friends old and new (Connie!) and playing the games.  And hear the roar of trumpets?   I did not buy A THING!   

I made great progress on my other WIPGO call, Quaker Garden by Liz Mathews.    The call was for 5 hours of work but I pushed through to get a near completion.   I am working on the personalization and have one motif left to add.   I ‘think’ I can eek this out before May 1st.

I did catch up on my star a day project.   I modified the pattern to include 50 stars and 13 stripes so the whole schedule of stitching a star a day for 250 days is out the window.   If I stitch  two stars a day/14 a week, I am on track to make the July 4th goal.   I like the way my friend Ruth (Spectrum Farms Needlework, Floss Tube) finished hers and I plan to finish mine the same way.   

And I have a fully finished piece.   Two fellow stitched and I got together for the day and put this piece together.   There was a lot of painting and assembly.

Chantelle and Teresa Kogut’s Blessings Drum

I hope to get to the nursery to get my vegetables and bedding plants in the next week or so.  Many years I wait too long and the pickings are slim.   My local garden shop closed, owners retired, and I am struggling to find just the right place to shop now.  I may go online and order some perennials from Breck’s or someplace similar.  

For May, I am planning to do the monthly ornament, do my WIPGO calls and get some more on the French Alphabet done.   I have a couple get-always scheduled in May and plan to take the French Alphabet to both.   All that and there is gardening to do!   Doesn’t sound like that will be any quilt work in May.  

How can anyone who is retired have nothing to do is beyond me!

That’s for stopping by to my corner of the world.   Remember, don’t sweat the small stuff - and it is all small stuff.   Call a friend, send someone a card in the mail, make someone smile, be kind to your server, hug someone……and keep on stitching.