I Caved...

I have a new start.    Oh whoa is me.   Really, oh what is wrong with me!     This is called Ornaments All 'Round.  

I am stitching this with two friends as a long distance  SAL.   Sweet jumping jehoshaphat there are constant color changes.  Ever the person that want to mathematically analyze the outcome,  there are 32 motifs so, theoretically, I could do a motif a week and be done by Christmas.    As I type this I hear Monty Python in my head saying that they laugh in my general direction.  Surely I have gone round the bend.  Above is three days of stitching.....yikes.   And let me tell you, this is not a carry along project between how big it is, how many colors, how my different beads and kreiniks are used. I can't even blame cabin fever on this purchase since I bought it the first week of March.

Not one to usually rotate projects I think I need the break from the blackwork compound that with the  I need the break from the ornaments and then I need to work on something simple.  This is a rotation that might actually work for me.

As for the blackwork SAL, I am happy with the progress.   Last week I was on Week 2 of 11.   I am up to working Week 8 and of course, Week 12 came out today.  I do really enjoy blackwork although some sections are a little more tricky than others.  It is also fun to see all the variations on the FB group.   A block a day and by next week I will be on schedule.




















My other and hopefully last purchase for a while is the Beth Seal/Summer House Stitch Workes Ladies Garden Journal. I bought the whole shabang....fabric, floss, pattern,  finishing kit.  A moment of weakness.  I promise, I’m steering clear of online stitching stores.....at least for the rest of the week.  Lol

 Aren't the colors just so pretty.   And how appropriate, the first page of the book is Sweet William

I am sure am looking forward to some warm days to be able to get some yard work done.  I spent some time in the yard yesterday and it was hard to think tin the midst of this pandemic as I listened to the kids next door playing kick ball and birds singing and dogs barking and trucks on the interstate.

I’ve checked into home delivery from the grocery store and it is available for me.   I don’t need anything yet but it is good to know it is an option.   Mr. W. has already told me I am not taking my elderly friend on our weekly grocery excursion and I didn't object.   My daughters are working from home as is my son-in-law but my son is in law enforcement so he is not and that is a concern.   He had to shave his beard in case he has to wear a mask/respirator.

On a lighter side,  I am still encouraged by all the positive things I am seeing; all the sharing people are doing; how the internet is really helping people whether it is books, games, concerts, exercise programs.   Can you just imagine what our parents and grandparents dealt with during WWII when it would be weeks or months between letters.   Ration books.  Calls home?  Not hardly.   Don't you just love what some of these elementary teachers are doing....driving through their students neighborhoods.    In my town, and I am sure in others, the school buses are driving the routes everyday and delivering the breakfasts and lunches the kids usually get in school.  I am proud of how everyone is showing their best.

This is what I did this week to brighten spirits.   I pulled out my box of greeting cards and my roll of stamps and started sending notes to friends.   So far to six different states.  This is yesterday's batch.   Another 5 when out today and more will go out tomorrow.    Writer's cramp.......can't do too many at a time!

One day at a time, we will get through this and keep in stitching.

Bless my needle and thread

My needle and thread are really helping cope with our current state of life.  Is it me or does everyone else feel like that have to keep touching their eyes and noses?   Maybe we are just all hyper-alert.

Most times I feel I maintain a positive outlook....always looking at the plus side.....seeing the silver lining....giving the benefit of the doubt.......being thankful for what I have.....but I have to say last Friday I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with the constant news reports.   Before I got myself wrapped around the axle I decided it would be best for me to swear off the continual broadcasts and keep informed by only watch one each morning.   In the past I've been told that I have a head in the sand type attitude but I choose to believe it is self preservation of my mental health and a maintaining a positive attitude.    Mr. Wonderful watches throughout the day and keeps me updated of any major change.  One day at a time, we will all get through this.

A bit of brightness to cheer.

We had an unusually warm Friday and I managed a couple of hours raking the leaves and pulling weeds out of a flower bed.  Even with my Air Pods in, I kept thinking about the current state of the world.   Ever the optimist, I put the tools away, came inside and picked up a blackwork project that I needed to catch up on.   I am weeks behind on the 52-Week Blackwork SAL.  I do enjoy the mental challenge of blackwork, weaving that path in and back, it proved it was just what I needed to take my mind off the news.   Win/win   I want to start a SAL with friends but I promised myself not to jump in until I was up-to-date on both my SAL's.   I had only two blocks/weeks completed and now I am starting block six.  Not caught up but on my way.

I am really pleased with what I have been able to do to  whittle down my Critical Eye Tour list of home projects.  Still to do is the never-seeing-an-end-to-it wall paper removal.   I have a love/hate relationship with this job.  Mostly hate.  It is in the upstairs hall so it is kind of out of sight/out of mind.  The second task yet to be completed is refinishing my kitchen cabinets and installing soft closing hinges when I do.    The wallpaper, I can tackle now but I don't have the supplies for the cabinets.  Today I finished the painting two 6-panel closet doors in the guest room and my craft room.  When done, I decided I needed to hang up my reno tools for now and focus on stitching. Wallpaper and cabinets can wait.








At a November class with Noteworthly Needle, we drilled foam pumpkins to cross stitch.   I finished the drilling and then stitched the pumpkin this week.

I fully finished the canvas bat I stitched last month.  

I fully finished the perforated paper pieces I did last month by adding an eyelet at the top and adding the ribbon to each.

I also finished theses two wool candy canes.  I bought an extra set after making these at an EGA meeting last year.

And I stitched and finished a St. Patrick's Day EGA project.   That is really not a wrinkle at the top center......more of a shadow.   Seems like I've done a bit of seasonal finishing.

To pass the time as I stitched I watched Anne with an E.   Last week I watched Season 1 and part of Season 2 of The Komenski Method on Netflix.   It is a male version of Grace & Frankie.  I was watching it Friday night and was hysterically laughing when my son contacted me on  FaceTime.   I was mid laughter when I answered.  My poor grandson and son were looking at me, looking at each other,  looking at me and had such a concerned looks on their faces as to what kind of fit I was having.   Between the scene I was laughing about and the looks on their faces the more I tried to stop laughing the more I laughed until the tears were rolling down me face.    My son was immediately texting his sisters that he thinks I have been drinking.  It felt so good to laugh.  Maybe that is also what I needed to break the tension.

So have you seen all the designers that are sharing patterns on the Facebook?  One of our members has put them on our guild's facebook page.   Check them out.   I've always said the stitching community is such a giving group of people.  I am so blessed to have found this tribe.

And like many of you, I've made a few Internet orders and they have started to arrive.

This is a a pdf download for a Terri Bey Lotus Box.  It is an EGA project that needs to be stitch before the fall.  This is going to be a challenge for sure.

Below are two pdf's from The Real Housewives of Cross Stitch.   Just thought these would be adorable for springtime decorating.

Next is A Robin's Discovery by Luminous Fiber Arts.   I saw this on some of the early previews from the Nashville Market and thought this was a fun, bright spring design.

This fabric is for my Ornaments All 'Round SAL arrived.

I am waiting for the delivery of Beth Seal/Summer House Stitche Workes Ladies Garden Journal pattern, fabric, fibers and finishing kit from Down Sunshine Lane.  I had a nice conversation with the gals at Down Sunshine Lane on Friday.   They were apologizing for the delay in getting back to me and said they have been overwhelmed with internet orders.   How fantastic is that.  I think it is time I stayed off shopping on the internet.  Unfortunately I think there may be more orders that I can't remember right now.

So that's about all I have since my last post.  I am excited about the prospects of what I can accomplish in the next few weeks stitching wise and especially not feeling guilty about staying home and doing nothing but stitching.

Everyone put things in perspective, stay calm, stay healthy and keep on stitching.

Stuff

The world is living through uncharted territories with this coronavirus.  These are scary times and I fear scarier times to come as it may get worse before it subsides.   And we have no idea what the long term devastating economic effects this pandemic will have.    On the positive side, I am loving how people are being innovative and how I am seeing a good use of social media.   From creating fun things to do with kids, to the students challenged to share their school musical songs, to sharing reading lists, to sharing binge worthy series to watch, to the innovative way a grand-daughter shared her engagement announcement through the window of her pop-pop's nursing home room.   I am not a big social media fan however I am loving all the positive things and random acts of kindness that are being shared.  Like the trainers with their workout videos!  We as a people are being adaptive and will be resilient and will get through this.  I have enough supples in my house to last for weeks and am deciding to stay home to practice my social distancing which I gather is the new non-offensive word for quarantining.

As for we crafters, we know this isolation is something we have been preparing for for years.   We have that STABLE Stash closet that others have commented...."why do you have all these patterns?"  Non-stitchers they were.  We always have a to-do list of projects that we'd love to get to if only we had the time.  

Last week before we didn't know how bad it would get, I managed to get one SUV load of "stuff" to the local church thrift store.  My attic had accumulated so much "stuff" at the top of the steps that there was a section of the attic of "stuff" to go that appeared as big as the "stuff" that stays. As I sorted through each box to determine if it was trash, donation bound, kid bound or consignment store bound,   I was good and only pulled out about five or six small things that I might need.   As I downsized my decorations, I took pix and sent to my kids on a group text and had a few things spoken for.   Now I have a new section in the attic of "stuff" to take to children.   Ugh.    All this "stuff" I am hearing George Carlin in my head.   One step forward, one step backward.   This is a task that has been weighing heavy on my shoulders for the last several years.   I kept saying once I retire I will take care of it.  It feels like a weight is lifted with each box I loaded in the back of my SUV.   One load down and several more to go and now that I am staying home I can see this completely tackled.   Everything will be boxed and ready to take to the thrift store once it is safe to do so.

This self quarantining is really allowing time to let my sprucing up continue.    I managed to paint and re-hang a mirror, get artwork and decorator touches for the backroom I had in place, hemmed the curtains I bought for the bathroom two weeks ago instead of making them, paint the downstairs hallway and touched up the walls and painted the trim in the powder room.   Sounds like a lot but really because I put my mind to it, it was EZ-PZ and done in just three days.  None of the jobs was any longer than half a day.  So my "Critical Eye List" is getting smaller.   Yeah for me!  Next up will be the "Critical Eye Tour - Yard Edition".   OMGosh, I am too much of a list maker.  It is an illness!   I have always loved the sense of accomplishment when crossing tasks off.

When I was taking a time-out from the painting, I sorted through my basket of current stitching projects.   With working on UFO's, working on pre-stitching and doing a bit of finishing since the first of the year, my EGA project rotation went out the window.    Sitting with a nice cuppa for an hour or so, I have identified four projects and put at the ready in the basket.   Each bag has scissors, needles, cheaters and necessary floss.   It's funny, that is how the bags start out but either glasses get taken out and laid somewhere or scissors get pulled and not put back or I need that skein of DMC 310 and "borrow" it from a project bag.   Now everything is back in order and  I have a real grab and go situation.  

This is my EGA focus piece for the month.   I have not added a stitch to this since
February 29th!    Better get moving.

Our EGA challenge is to select four projects for the year and to focus on a given project each month.   Last year this proved really helpful in diminishing the number of UFO's I had.    This month the project number is #2.   My Number 2 is my 52-week Blackwork SAL.    Since I am starting Week #3 and it is something like Week #10 or 11 of the year, it is a good one to work on this month.


If you have an EGA near you, you really need to consider joining.   Most meetings we have a fun little project where we learn something new or try a new project.    This month we had a St. Patrick's Day ornament we were given.   The new thing here was to use DMC Etoile floss.    Some of us had seen it before, but many had not.    It is much nicer than working with blending filament.   I should be able to finish the stitching in this by the end of the day.

Not a bad deal for $5 kit fee.

Too bad the sparkly bits don't show up.

My daughters and I decided to cancel our trip to Connecticut.   It was sad to do so but we will reschedule for the fall or next spring.   In light of the pandemic, Air B&B offered a full refund.  Actually, the turmoil of being up in the air and indecision and headache of thinking about the traveling and what was the right thing to do all went away when we made the decision on Saturday to cancel.

My trip to Asheville for the Prim Stitchers Society has been rescheduled until April 2021.   What a headache for sure for the organizers.  The angst of making the decision and dealing with the refunds and cancelling reservations and knowing there will always be someone you don't please.    What a mess for the gals doing the organization.  No small feat.   Bless this ladies to organizate and now rescheduling this event.

I have been putting in my request for refunds for the tours and events I had scheduled.  Gray Line Historic Trolley Tours was an instant refund.   Biltmore tickets will take 10 to 14 days.   I will keep watching my Capital One statement.

I have been ordering up a storm on 123-Stitch.   Yikes!  Like a need to.    I also downloaded this pattern for a Terri Bey Lotus Box.    This is not the exact pattern I downloaded.   I choose one with blackwork and pulled work.   This is another EGA project.   We are to stitch this two times (yes, two).  In the fall we will have a class on how to assemble the Lotus Box.    Again, I am trying something new.

Everyone stay safe and healthy until the coronavirus is over.   No need for the hysteria of cleaning the stores out of toilet paper, just use common sense practices.    Actually I was at the Acme yesterday taking my elderly friend for her bi-weekly shopping trip and I have to say - which is hard because I am not a fan of the Acme but it is the only choice we have - the Acme did a great job of keeping shelves stocked.   There was a shortage of paper towels, toilet paper and bottled water.   They were being held at the Customer Service desk where they were limiting the sales to one package to each customer.   Since my pantry is usually always stocked, I did not need to get in that line.  It pains me to say it but, great job Acme.   The only thing that  was completely out that I noticed was the Isopropyl Alcohol.   People had bought it up to make their own hand sanitizer.

For us stitchers, we all have stash to work from.  It would be a great time to clean and sort your craft room.  Time to curl up with a good book, to catch up by binge watching something good, go old school and hand write a letter or send cards to friends, to maybe attack that file of recipes that you were always going to get organized, clean a closet, spring clean a room.   We crafters will be fine.   I feel bad for the non-readers, non-doers, non-stitchers, non-gardeners, etc. that are already complaining that they are getting cabin fever.   Probably jonesing because they think they need to get out and buy more toilet paper.   See, I told you I was channeling George Carlin.

 So everyone  keep safe and stitch on to pass the time.   Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching!

Getting into a routine

isn't happening yet but I am trying to get a handle on myself.    I think I just need to stay home instead of galavanting about most of the time!

So I stay and and I see things.....Do you ever look around your house and think......everything is looking shabby?   Everything seems too cluttered?......well I did.    I took what I labeled "The Critical Eye Tour"  going room-by-room making a to-do list of things to be done.   I listed things like re-installing the guides for the sliding closet doors to things like painting the outside corners of the wall where either by kids, or dogs, or vacuums, or contractors, the paint was chipped, to the dining room where damage from roof leak was patched and never painted.  Or painting the frame on the mirror so it can be rehung.   It took the front and back of a legal sized paper for this little to-do list.   I added a list of supplies I needed, went to Home Depot and I started attacking these jobs.   It is feeling good to cross off some tasks and to spruce things up.   When I touched up the paint in the bedroom,  I also mounted a campaign to spring house clean the bedroom, flipping the mattress, washing the curtains, wiping the walls down and eliminating some of the bookcase and dresser top clutter.   It feels good!  One room down and a bunch to go.


I am making sure to reward myself with a mid-day hour break for stitching.  I am making progress on Blackbird Design's Easter Parade.    I used everything from stash - fabric and floss.   Stitching is moving along at a good speed.  As I am stitching I am  trying to think how I will finish it.

As promised, this is the beaded icicle I made when in Florida.  Mine has a few mistakes and I just say mine is a melting icicle that refroze.

I also bought a new pattern and have started gathering the floss and beads.   Three of the Jersey Girls are doing this as a SAL.  Just what I need, another new start.

Wow, look at all this floss that is needed?   Even with the stash I had, I still needed to buy 15 skeins of DMC.   The beads are on their way from 1-2-3 Stitch.  I do not have the fabric yet and was going to get at PSS or at Salty Yarns in April.  I like to buy the fabric in person.

I am making my final plans to attend the Prim Stitchers Retreat in Asheville at the end of the month.  I have tickets bought for touring Biltmore already.  With this coronavirus, the attendees are all watching the group posts.   As of this morning, the retreat is still a go.

Gloomy overcast day here and my spruce up agenda is moved to the sidelines today while I pull out all the spring decorations and put them up.  Once the winter greens, snowflakes and snowmen come down, everything looks plain.

Next week, my daughters are treating me to a 5 day trip to Connecticut for some antiquing and shop hopping.   They have rented the cutest Air B and B farmhouse.   I am sure the afternoons will be filled with crafting, beverages,  laughter and shenanigans.  I hope I will have some project progress to share when I get home.










And OMGosh, I forgot to share one of the sights we saw in Florida.   We were driving north on I-75 at about 75 mph and see a police car ahead on the shoulder with it lights on.   I am thinking, hmm, wonder what's up, there is no car stopped.    Guess the stopped car pulled away and the officer is completing his paperwork.  It is not until we were passing that we see the trooper with a NAKED man against the front of the car as the officer was cuffing him.   Naked as a jay bird!  No car, no backpack, no bicycles and NO CLOTHES.   Boy did we wish we were like kids who can whip out their phones and take a video.

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching and have your phone ready.....you never know where there will be a naked man on the side of the road.

Visiting friends in Florida

I had a great time in Florida visiting my friend Carol and her husband.  We went to Naples, visited friends in Cape Coral, went to the Edison Ford Estate, went to a neat little seaside town called  Matlachey that had some awesome shops, and had some great meals and times together.

Not a bad evening view.  This was the evening we made beaded icicles.

Me, the non beader struggled a bit but made it through with a great and patient teacher.   I signed up for an event in the fall  that has a class in peyote beading so I need to get better at beading between now and October.  Once I unpack this morning, I will find the finished icicle and replace the pix.











In Naples, we went to the Naples EGA Needlework show.  One of our snowbird friends is a member.   She had 13 pieces in the show and we found out later she took a third place.    Congrats BJ.  Sorry but no pictures were allowed.  All the pieces in the show were stunning.  Of course there was a stash relocation boutique where we shopped and purchased a few things to help the cause.    I mean, Kreinik for a $1.....we had to.   We also shopped at Needle in Paradise where we oh'd and ah'd at the canvases and threads of every kind and color.  Our credit cards were safe since we are not needlepointers but you know you always need to visit the local needlework shop when you travel.

One day we toured the Edison - Ford Compound in Fort Myers.   Both men had summer homes in Fort Myers which were located side-by-side.   It always fasinates me to see how and where people that were pioneers in invention lived and worked.   To think that I am walking the same paths and steps and having the same vistas to look at as they did.  

The following four are photos of Edison's workshop.

Some of the cars from Ford's garage.  This one a Cadillac Convertible.

This is an electric tractor from 1915 was used for over 55 years at the Elgin Corrogated Box Company.   It has 30 Edison batteries to power it.

Henry Ford's Living Room

I think this was a 1929 Model A.

Views in Edison's home.

The view from Edison's front porch

Another view of the water side of Edison's home

Palm tree lined walks

The dock where visitors and goods would arrive.

 

The banyan trees were gigantic.

As were the staghorns!

One day we jumped in Carol's VW Bug and went to Matlachey.   What a cute little seaside town filled with the normal touristy type shops.   But I tell you, don't judge the shop by the shop entrance.   More often then not we were treated to fabulous gardens and displays behind the shops that went right up to the waters edge.     I loved this bottle wall and wish I had somewhere I needed to create one.

We ate at the Blue Dog and where we were joined by Henry the Heron and his friend the pelican.

And so cool to see all the orchids just a growing and a blooming.   I may try to find a safe place to put mine outside this summer to see if it perks them up

It was great to see Carol and Paul, visit with  BJ, have dinner and spend the evening with Dave and Barb and day at the pool with Barb.  It was just a real nice all around week.

There was not much stitching time in Florida between visiting and going places.    We did get a lot of smiles and thumbs up when riding around with the top down.

 I made ever so little progress on a new start.   But the view wasn't bad when I was stitching.

For now it is back to reality and time for me to get myself in gear.  I need to create a list of household projects I need to attack.   I have spent the last two months just tackling stitching projects and now I must roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty.   First step, take inventory room-by-room to list what is needed and then make my plan of attack.  Just general sprucing up with paint touch up here and there that I need to take care of  before I start in the yard.  I have some art work or decorator touches I still need for the bathroom and need to pick out some fabric to make new bathroom curtains.  Surely there are enough projects to keep me busy.

Beautiful view as I start my flight home.

 Thanks for stopping by and ......keep in stitching!