September Recap

This chubby little guys sits in my back forty.  It looks like he is enjoying the Moonbeam Coreopsis I planted earlier in the month. 

At last September brought a break in the heat and humidity; some beautiful days and glorious nights for great sleeping.  The weather  has had me in the yard trimming, dead heading and just manicuring in general.  Of  course closing the pool and putting away summer furniture is part of that.  Late August I took advantaged of some patio sales and I added a few touches to my back deck.   Loving how it is coming together and how it looks less one dimensional. Here’s a look pre-storage.  I'm sure more accessories are to come.  Saw the perfect turquoise pick-up truck planter today in Hobby Lobby but it was damaged. 

William had a great start of school but not so great with the bus.   He got roughed up on the bus on the way home the second day of school by two third graders. What ails kids?  My son met with the principal but the bus had no video camera so there was nothing to be done.  For the next week, my son took him to the bus stop and picked him on his days off while wearing his uniform.  Seems to have done the trick.  Other than that, he is loving his teacher and school.   I am sure he has needed to learn to not talk so much.   LOL.  Trust me, I’ve been on a four-hour car ride with him and he never stopped talking.  Bless those teachers.  Funny, if I had my life to live over  I would have been a kindergarten/elementary school teacher…….

September marked the one-year anniversary of the hit and run accident that caused my brother-in-law’s death.  It has been extremely hard for my sister.  She is still very angry.  I try to spend as much time with her as possible.  She has kept busy with a bunch of household projects that have been neglected for some time but I worry when everything is painted and closets are all sorted what will she do.  I just keep in mind of all the things I can give, my time is the most precious.

For my EGA Guild, we were able to meet in person for the first time in September.  Not sure for how long but it was great to see old friends and meet some new ones.    My Delaware Guild is still meeting via zoom since we have lost our meeting location.  Not to worry, we have had some great zoom programs with both groups.  Hats off  👏👏👏👏 to the officers and programming people of both groups.

I picked up this quick-to-stitch piece when I went stash diving one day.  It was from a Goody Bag a few years back when I was at Salty Yarns.  It is  a Shepherd's Bush design.    Another check on the finished list.   

Other stitching includes Just Jack from Val's Stuff.   I bought this as a kit. The pattern is actually free.  The kit included all the floss, the buttons, fabric, trims and the pattern.  It was packaged with 14 Aida which I switched out to 28 count PTP linen I had on hand.   I started it with 2 over 2;  ripped that out and restarted as 1 over 1; figured out the buttons would be too big for 1 over 1, frogged and restarted back at 2 over 2.  Talk about Pete and Repeat.     

I also finished September Year of Celebration from HOD.   Four down and 8 to go.

I turned Ye Olde Crow into a fall pillow. It was charted as all black.   I changed the pumpkin to an orange from stash, as well as added the green for the leaves and brown for the vines which I stitched in a wrapped back-stitch.

I made a flat finish for the Flag of Stars.  I thought about tea dying the fabric but decided the bright white and reds in the fabric match the floss colors better.

I did picked Winter Rose Manor from WTNT back up on Labor Day and I am making noticeable progress. I was kind of hoping to have Winter Rose Manor stitched by the end of September but no such luck.  As soon as it is finished I will be attacking  Teresa Kogut's Land That I Love for the finish.  

I received What Remains from BBD.  It is a limited edition for Traditional Stitches 20th anniversary.  I was in the sixth and final round of orders/shipments.  I don’t know if any more are available.   I am showing restraint because I really want to start this….but I have too many others in the WIP pipeline. 

For October  I have a few retreats I have signed up for.  First, I am off to Portland, Oregon next weekend - virtually - for a retreat  with Acorns and Threads.   The package has arrived and I have behaved and not opened it.   Myself and two others will be meeting at my house each of the three days to watch the event and do the stitching.

I head to Salty Yarns for Jamboree on October 8th and I am ready to go.   My guild retreat is the following weekend at the the same location and I decided to stay at the beach for the days in between.  I mean it makes sense not to waste the gas and wear and tear driving back and forth, right?  I don't care if I have to stitch in my room most of the time due to Covid restrictions.  It may  be dangerous to the pocketbook as I started my shopping list in August....I hope to finish Winter Rose Manor while there and make a sizable dent in Land That I Love.

Every couple of weeks I take the time to catch up on everyone's blog posts and see what lovelies everyone is working on.  I still have trouble commenting on some.   For awhile if I logged into Chrome and not Safari I could comment but now that sometimes it is still hit or miss.  Just know if you are reading this and have a blog, I probably follow you and I have probably at least attempted to comment.  That about wraps it up for what I have been up to.  

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