The most precious gift -

Of all you have to give or share the most precious is your time. We took the time for the long overdue visit with my half brother this weekend. Due to no animosity or estrangement but just because we have never been close too many calendar pages have flipped since our last visit. Mainly I guess because of the age difference. It seems we only see each other as funerals and we decided it was time to change that. Anyway, we took the trip yesterday and had a wonderful visit. Stories were shared as well as photos of our father circa 1930's. It was a nice day as we sat and chatted with his 95 year old spry and whimsical aunt. Aunt Katherine poked fun as my brother offered us cake - "from a box" she whispered as Bill cut and served. If only I can hope to have some of her wit and energy. We left with hugs and promises to visit again and I think I will. Next visit I want to talk of antiques and auctions and get my brother's wisdom on these. Things I lost when our father past and I was left with no one to ask. A new chapter can begin......

My Nuthouse

We have a thing about squirrels in my family. Here is one I stitched for my husband.

The new fridge

Well it's like this, for my daughter and son-in-laws 10th wedding anniversary my husband and I decided to buy them a new refridgerator. Well they measured and remeasured to make sure the model they wanted would fit. Everything was good and delivery was set. I made the familar commute for north Philly for the arrival this morning. It is beautiful and I am thinking I should have got the new one and she should be getting my old one but hey what are parents for. So as I arrive and it is sitting in the dining room and not the kitchen I find there was one minor hitch in the whole deal. No one thought to measure the overall height. Several hours later, one less pantry closet later and the kitchen completely rearranged, all is well the world of chilling your food.

Just a little about me

Well I just recently hit that half-century mark and as long as I don’t catch my reflection in the mirror, it hasn’t sunk in. Face it, we all know the horror of seeing ourself in that department store mirror, especially when you left the house that morning and thought we looked pretty darned good. So about crafting and me… I have created things as long as I can remember – pen and ink, copper relief, sewing, calligraphy, crewel work, embroidery, cross stitch, basket weaving, stained glass, stamping… If you know anything about stash, then you can imagine I have stash for almost all of the above. Of those, cross-stitch is my favorite. I try to stitch every day. I do work full time and have long hours because of the commute. Unfortunately for me, I am driving and not on public transportation where I could use the time to stitch. I stitch first thing in the morning with my coffee and the morning news. Current status – I am on a mission to complete a minimum of 6 and hopefully as many as twelve projects before the Stitching Festival next September in Hershey PA. I have so many I want to dive into but I promise not to start anything new until I finish a few projects. With the holidays coming, it will be the perfect time. That may sound odd to some, but of all the crafts I do, cross-stitch requires the least amount of stuff to tear out and set up. Give me my hoop, my mini Daylite magnifier that clips to my hoop and floss and I am ready to go. Right now I am working on “Tavern Signs Too – A Needlewoman", Carriage House Samplings, 2006 . Imagine that, I am making it for myself and not for someone else. Oh I have several others started that I hope to get digital photos of and put them in an album. I need some help from my daughter with getting this up and running...