I'm racking up......

you name it.....I have been racking up the hours in the yard clearing beds or transplanting lilies and hostas, prepping my vegetable garden.   I do so enjoy being outside.  Once it was 45 and sunny, the sweatshirt on and out the door I have been for the majority of the day.   From enjoying my morning coffee on the deck, to lunch on the picnic table to a cup of hot tea in the evening.   I told a friend on the phone the other day that I missed her call because I was out in the yard working.   Her response......"What! Aren't you done out there yet?"  Well, all I can say to help non-gardeners relate is the comment is the equivalent of someone saying don't you already have enough floss and patterns?   

I have racked up a string of Wordless Wednesdays with nary a post.

Because I am in the yard, I have done very little stitching.   I try to put in a few stitches when I stop for lunch but even after scrubbing I still have ground in dirt on my hands even though I wear gloves.  That said, I somehow managed two new starts.   As always, I have total justification for them.  The first one is "With this needle, I thee thread" from Hands on Design.  Justification - I met with my Tuesday night stitchers for the first time in about 11 months and I needed something small to take along and stitch.  Legit, right?  It wasn't until I was stitching on the fob in the lower right that I realized I stitched every shorter spool of thread wrong....and guess what, they are staying that way!

The second start is "L. Genders" from Brenda Gervais.   I start this after watching Lori Holt on Floss Tube.   Lori is stitching Red Rhapsody from Rosewood Manor.   What she does when she sits down in the evening to start stitching, she puts in one length of red thread and then moves on to her main piece for the rest of her stitching evening.   It is amazing how much she is getting accomplished on Red Rhapsody with only 10 minutes every day.  And besides we all need to do at least one red sampler in our lifetimes.

The problem with spending only ten minutes a day of stitching time I guess I am racking up more WIP's too.

And I have been racking up time with the grand babies too.   At least two days a week of either me going there or them coming to my house.  We have gone to parks and playgrounds, ran around the yard, done puzzles, dyed easter eggs, giggled and laughed.

So this is what Will did the other day.   He collected a bucketful of monkey balls from the yard and he put them in a semi-circle around the door to pop-pop's shed while pop-pop was inside the shed taking a nap.   What is this Will?    Without hesitation I was informed me it was a porcupine surrender to keep pop-pop trapped in the shed.    Oh to be inside the mind of a little one.

And sorry to say, I have been racking up the pounds too!   I heard this morning n CBS Sunday Morning that since the CoronaVirus started, the average person has gained 18 pounds.  I have managed to make it all the way to the one year mark and then BAM, I get on the scale I had gained 8 pounds!  And from where?   I don't understand how because the pounds came on at a time of increased activity and constant movement.  I guess it is a delayed reaction to the sluggo life of January when I just sat and stitched and watched movies and ate.  The scale is not lying ladies as is evidenced that my bras and unmentionables are getting tight. A sure sign indeed of gained weight.  I need to get back into the daily walking.   It is so easy to fall out of the habit and hard to get back in.

I have been racking up bursts of blog reading trying with total futility to catch up on everyone's blog posts.   One to share with anyone who does card making is Nikki (aka Anna) at StitchBitch.   Each day during the month of March she is introducing a new stamped card she has made.  Poor Nikki, I have been bombarding in one day with comments on each of the last 10 days posts. When she made the announcement last month I was so on board to be stamping right along with her.   I knew it would be a great way to increase my depleted card stash.......and then I just couldn't seem to find the time. (Mysteries of the universe - How did I find time to work?)   Once the yard is done and mulch down, it will be clear sailing and maybe I will get out the stamps, paper and ink pads.  It always takes me back to what a friend told me years ago.....we make work for ourselves because we want to maintain our houses, our yards, ourselves at a level above what is necessary.  I don't know.  I just seem to look around and see something that has to be done where others don't.  Oh well, I doubt I am changing at this stage of life.

Thanks for stopping by.   Hopefully I will have more stitching to share next time. Stay safe - my second dose of vaccine is Friday!  Keep on stitching.

Stitching Catch up and Life Catch up......

This is a little after the fact since I am only now recounting the last week of February but that is what a catch-up post is all about.   I went out of my quarantine comfort zone traveling to State College PA in February to help my son and his family move.   When the movers said it would be a two-job, I was kind of like why?   Trust me, it was a two-day job because of the distance between the two places.  They were 95% packed when I got there and ready for the movers the next morning. We needed to work on the garage and clean the appliances and handle some laundry.  Forget anything left out in the yard as it was under 18 inches of snow.   They are now in, 100 % unpacked and only 50 minutes away.  Willy stayed with me for four days and trust me, his bed time and my bedtime were the same time!  I have seen them more times in the last three weeks than the last two years and I am loving it.

So, that said, you know there was no stitching accomplished if Damma was needed to build forts or watch a Disney movie or help with train tracks.  

Boy I can see my life is going to change.  I am used to a solitary, quiet, no interruptions life, just stitching or digging my yard or hanging out on my deck.  That is not the way it is going to be.   At the end of last week I was up there for breakfast and somehow a little someone was in my car on my return home. 

Obviously I will have to up my pantry supplies so I have 'treats' for the little ones at all times which will not help the diet for sure.   My house and shed are packed to the gills with things that won't fit at their place but it is temporary.....the packed to the gills part.  It warmed my heart when my son said he was glad to be moving back home and my daughter-in-law chimed in with him saying it felt good.

Sunday evening I pulled out my journal and created some a couple of yearly pages.  I am really enjoying this new discovery of bullet journaling.  I have other pages penciled in and am ready to get out the markers.  To me working on this is as meditative as yard work or stitching.

 

The last couple of days I did put in some stitches on Land That I Love.  Not as much as I would like but am happy with the progress I've made.   I'll get there.   My goal for this week is to get the house done and add the cat, dog and flowers below the foundation.   

I have only done some cursory quick fly-bys on blogs I follow.  I’m seeing such pretty things and need to take some time to catch up, read each post completely and add my comments.    And let’s not talk about my fly-bys on Instagram of new patterns being released from Market....I’ve sent off too many emails to Sara at Salty Yarns for things I want.  Yikes!  My pledge to work from stash has flown out the window for sure.  

Out the window went any thoughts of doing HOD March the first week of the month.  I did manage this much while I wait in the car for a friend at her doctor's appointments.  

Top that off with the weather is just perfect for being outside and I have put in four to six hours several days in a row in the yard.....and I am in love with being outside.   My "back 40"  yard project as I call it, is coming together.   It will probably be another year before I have the area completely cleared and replanted.   That said, I am so happy with the progress so far.   The top picture below is where I am now and below that, where I was nine months ago.  This continues to be a slow and steady process that might not look like anything to anyone else but I have a vision...... I just ordered a ton of perennials from Breck's and can't wait to get them in.   I want to get some forsythia for across the back, transplant a holly, transplant some lillies and hostas which need to be thinned anyway, add some structural items and whatever else hits me.   Love the feeling of the good tired after a day out there.    Only bad thing is it does take away from my stitching time while I am outside all day but also since once I sit down on the sofa for the evening.....I fall asleep.

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe, stay healthy, wear your mask and keep on stitching.

One Year Later

I got my first of two shots today!  Yippee.  

It was one year ago when we were all confused and wary of what was to come.   I had just returned from Florida and decided to self-isolate for two weeks and ......well we all know what happened.   I remember when hearing  TV doctor/commentartors were saying 12 to 18 months, it was hard to wrap my head around that long.

The mega site I went to was so super organized and so efficient and I was compelled to thank each health care worker and US Army personnel I passed.  

So what I have learned in the last year?

• Retirement is great, Corona Virus and all
• Not everyone follows the rule....wait I knew that
• I didn’t really mind staying home....I knew that too
• I learned to Zoom!
• I learned to use Instacart
• I learned that the automatic rolling into the next episode of a TV series is deadly!

I never ran out of things to do and on as a funny aside, I never ran out of so many things.....so what have I not had to buy in the last year.....here are a few of them.

• I didn't have to buy any toothpaste having just opened the last box from the big box multi-tube purchase that has been in my linen closet.
• Tea!  All kinds. Regular, herbal, bags and loose

• Jello
• I didn't have to buy of body lotion - time to combine these partial bottles and create a new fragrance!
  
  
  
• I didn't have to buy laundry detergent although I have been waiting for this last jug o' Tide to be empty so I can switch to tablets from Blue Land or Grove
• I didn't need to buy any Scrub Daddy's or scouring pads
• I didn't need to buy bar soap.  Buying hand milled soaps has always been a weakness to me.   Some buy candles or trinkets or jewelry from craft shoes or bazaars, I buy soaps.
  
  
  
• I haven't had to buy any candles either.....think of all those years of fundraisers for co-workers children and you have a cabinet full of candles.

• I didn't need to buy any make-up.....I mean I haven't worn any in a year!  I am sure it should be replaced.
• I didn't need to buy hair products either.   I think it is time to trash the ones I know I  will never use.  

• I didn't need to buy greeting cards, sympathy cards, get well cards......
• I surely didn't need to buy any stitching supplies BUT DID as I tried to single-handedly keep a couple of cross stitch stores in business.

So, I was able to remained showered, lotioned up, with clothes clean and teeth brushed and able to communicate by sending cards in the mail at no cost for a year....yes, I had a roll of stamps too!  It is not that I am a hoarder of supplies.....or maybe the harsh reality is that I am!   Could be I need an intervention.  It is the one thing I do blame on my parents who lived through the Depression - having provisions.  Isn't a good homemaker one that always has two of all household necessities on the shelf?   Snow storm coming, you will never find me at the grocery store.  

Thanks for stopping buy.......stitching update next time.......still wearing my mask......stay safe and keep on stitching.

Wordless Wednesday #27

 

Boomerang

We all know what a boomerang does......it returns to you.   A year ago I put together an auction basket for the Lamplighters EGA Chapter of the Mid Atlantic Regional Meeting (MAR).   COVID arrived and the MAR meeting and classes didn’t happen so the auction didn’t happen.   This past December, MAR sent an email to membership  for a last chance to buy tickets before a January drawing.  In the Christmas spirit, I bought $30/40 tickets donating to the cause and I moved on....

But like a boomerang, not only didnI win the Fiber Frenzy Basket, I am the winner of the basket I created.  Since I put it together I like everything in it!    

I had created this basket for Lamplighters to donate based on the apron pattern I found.  

I paired it with fabric and floss and a bunch of kitchen themed items that might make one nostalgic for baking apple pie with your grandmom.  Fabric for the 50's style apron, thread and floss and buttons.   A cross stitched table topper.  A vintage pyrex bowl and pie plate to mix up and bake your pie in.  Woodlawn Recipe book, recipe cards, dish towels and a bunch of needlework notions and kitchen type gadgets.   

The fiber basket is so full of things I am overwhelmed.   This basket was donated by the Lehigh Valley EGA and I need to get a thank you note out to them this week.   It is so chocked full I have had fun digging through it a couple of times and finding something I missed the previous time.   

The basket, the light, the Sulky Petites!

Splendor and Flair and Neon Rays, and Fiesta and Very Velvet and Treasure Braid and the Waterlillies! 

Trims and scissors and ort containers.   Oh my!

Lovely wooden laying tool......

And wools in a variety of colors....

Thread keeps, needles and a needle book.... 

And then I opened the plastic storage containers that were included to find silks, and Kreiniks

Look at these beautiful Sulky Petites!  I can't wait to find something to stitch with them!

Just more evidence that my craft room stash is not all my fault......somehow stuff just comes to me......

Thanks for stopping by.   Keep safe, stay healthy and keep on stitching.  

Wordless Wednesday #26