Beautiful Weather

We were so fortunate to have had a string of absolutely gorgeous days and these beautiful sunsets each night.   Days with no humidity that actually felt crisp at times when it got breezy if I were in the shade but I loved it.   Great sleeping weather but unfortunately not doing to much to warm up that pool water.  The humidity has started to roll back in this past weekend, the AC is back on and that may be the end to outside crafting all day long.  

Seems I've got my very own reflecting pond right out my door.

Do you know stitching all day can be exhausting?   Lol.    I had to make it a point to move about each hour and to incorporate the stationary bike a couple of times each day.   This sitting still and not doing yard work is for the birds!    I've got to move;  I've got to be outside when it is so nice or even when it is not so nice.   Between stitching and listening to books on tape and reading while pedaling the bike I have got a lot of reading done.   I may reach my 2020 Goodreads Challenge of 24 books by July 1st!

I just finished American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, 5 stars;
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys,  5++++ stars; and
Then She was Gone by Lisa Jewell, 4.75 stars
Next up, is The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

Things in NJ have started to open back up.   It is scary when we hear reports of increased covid cases in states that have already opened.   We will have to take our precautions, not take unnecessary risks and see what happens.  

Hair salons in NJ re-open today and I have an appointment on July 8th.   Good thing because I am about ready to take Mr. W's clippers, put the 1-inch guard, retract the blade and shave away!

Keeping my current ornament supplies at the ready.

I am another couple of ornaments closer to the finish line with Ornaments ala Round.   This is my go to piece with my morning coffee that I work on first thing - even before breakfast.  I would have liked to finish this by June 23rd but that is not going to happen.  Next self-imposed deadline is July 23rd.  (It's  numbers thing - I started on March 23rd).   I am working on No. 24 of 32 motifs.

My latest order with Salty Yarns included some new-to-me beading needles.   Why oh why did I never know about short beading needles?   And for a whopping $4 I should have brought two packs.
Thank you Pat L. for suggesting I use the shorter needles.   They are a dream compared to the bent filament type I was using.

My Thursday stitchers have started meeting again.  We are keeping our distance but it is good to see everyone again.   I put in some more work on both the Terri Bey Lotus Box and Ladies Stitching Journal.  Both are good take-a-long pieces for these get togethers.

I am on hold until the #5 perle cotton arrives - it is in the mail so this won't be sidelined too long.

Nearly finished the first page of the Ladies Garden Journal.  

I am heading west to see my grand babies this week!  Willy can't wait until his best friend (me) is back to see him.  With my son's essential workers job, they had been more concerned with what they may give me versus what I germs I may bring but with their OK, it is now a go!  Starting to pack the car today; hitting the road on Wednesday.

   


I haven't seen this little one since she was 10 days old.  She is 4 1/2 months now.  So  fortunate to FaceTime with them but it is not the same as snuggling those cubby little cheeks.  On the right, I think she is wearing more applesauce than she got inside.  She looks so much like my eldest daughter that we all find it hard to believe my daughter-in-law had anything to so with her creation except for the delivery part.  Of course there with be good times with Willy.  He wants to take his Damma fishing.  Oh boy!  When I get home, maybe there will be stories of the one that got away.

Thanks for stopping by and keep in stitching!

Sidelined

I’ve been sidelined.   I have an eye issue.    I used the medical degree I obtained from the internet and was smart enough to see a real professional.  Glad I did and as long as I don't do Zumba, run on a treadmill or get on a pogo stick, it should heal fine.  Which the funniest this is I am more likely to get on a pogo stick than either of the other two.  Surgery is not necessary unless it progresses to a retinal detachment which is why need to stay relitively sedentary.  Ugh!   Until it heals I shouldn’t be doing things like pulling vines or lugging cider blocks and logs or digging holes.  I’ve got to tell you I was really jonesing for the first few days....taking laps around the yard and seeing things that needed to be moved or picked up or dug up; unable to focus on anything.  Some may say I don't  know how to relax.....but I love to garden, it is relaxing as well as rewarding to me.     Mr. Wonderful threatened if I didn't do as the doctor said and had an issue he would be picking the clothes I would be wearing.   The thought of that and him doing my make-up leads to the strong possibility of me looking like Mimi from Drew Carey Show, I decided to behave.  I think Mr. W is secretly happy I need to stand down from yard work.  He told the neighbor I was wearing him out.   You’ve got to remember this is the first summer in 20 years that he has spent at home.

He cut the bushes with the new hedge trimmer and I'm not  saying a word.   They will grow just like your bangs grew after your mom cut them to within a 1/2 inch of your scalp on the morning of school picture day.    


But enough of that.

Last week he about pushed me out the door to go to the beach for the weekend.   No yard work caused me to be a sad lost puppy just moping which forced the issue.  A friend was going to her condo for the first time of the season and since we both had been staying away from people we felt it was safe for us to spend the weekend together.   I’ve got to say that contrary to what you see on the news about beach towns, for the most part OCMD people were behaving and doing the right thing......unless of course if they were  under 25.

It was nice to get away and of course I went to Salty Yarns.  My friends and I are doing our best to keep the needlework stores in business.

For stitching, I let my 52 weeks of blackwork slide partly because I temporarily deactivated my Facebook account and partly because I was working outside.   This week I logged back in,  printed the latest pattern and finished 6 weekly installments.   I think I am one square away from being on schedule.

I got a goodie in the mail.   I received my Prim Stitchers Bag from Carolina Stitchers.   Put a project in it right away.




 

I started work on Summer House Stitches Workes Ladies Garden Journal.   If I can’t work in the yard, at least I can stitch a garden.   Ornaments Ala Round is just sometimes bigger than what I feel like working on.  My Thursday group has started to meet again sitting on each others patios when weather permits.  Ladies Garden Journal is a  piece that is easy to take along.




















I also started a Terri Bey Lotus Box.   It is an EGA project for my guild.   We are to stitch it twice; once for the inside and again for the outside.   I don't need it until the fall but I was worried it would be difficult and take a lot of time.    Not so, this is about an hour and a half of work.   A fall meeting will be dedicated to learning how to assembly it.    I will only be able to stitch so much because I need No. 5 perle cotton and with the Corona virus some fibers have been hard to come by.

For Ornaments ala Round, I sort of took a break.   I haven't worked on it in ten days.  It is too large to carry to the beach or even at home on the deck.   My plan is tomorrow morning I am back on it.   We all agreed we hate the branches so I decided to start each stitching session with one length of each of the three greens in the pine boughs.  I refuse to put it aside other than for a brief hiatus.   This piece is not landing in a UFO pile!

It sparkles so much in the sunshine!

So that's all I've got.  I hope to get caught up on all your posts since I am temporarily a lady of leisure.....sitting on my deck with nothing but time.....it's not that bad, we have beautiful weather here at least for the next week, the birds are chirping, the breeze is blowing the wind chimes, I can smell all the flowers and I can just stitch away.  Going to have to set my watch to remind to get up every hour and take a lap!

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.

Stitchie Update

Not a ton of stitching going on.   I have still been dedicating every free minute to being outside.   The other evening I was inside making dinner and heard a chain saw.   I didn't think too much of it but I should have.   My neighbor, Fabian, came over with his chain saw and starting cutting down the trees at the back of the property.  OMG!   He had seen me out there for a week pulling up the briars and bramble and trying to clear up the undergrowth and told his wife he was going to help Miss Robin clearing but wow, I never expected him to cut down the trees!

So let me back up......about 5 years ago.....See "Then"   A storm blew down a 70 foot oak tree on our property.   Well maybe not on my property but the back of my yard.  There is a 150 foot deep land locked lot that runs the length of my street.   Slowly over the years, we have all 'recovered' some of the property for our own back yards.  Until Fabian cut the trees down the trunk of this oak was the back drop of the yard.  So you know what this means.......more clearing and such for me.

I'm getting there.

I am finding a lot of junk in and among the undergrowth.   Cinder blocks, bricks, beer cans, flagstone, soda bottles, an ax! (probably a tool from the garage that the kids lost when building a fort in the trees)

You can see  Fabian has planted grass and created a park-like back yard.   I've been going through plant catalogs selecting some shading loving, native plants to create a perennial shade garden with something to bloom each season which will have no grass but little paths for me to name after my grandchildren. This is going to be a several year project.

Good thing I love working in the yard.......just when I thought there were no more yard projects in my future ever ever ever!  I think I need my head examined.