May 2025

Hello all and happy warm weather season - words that I will be eating before the summer is over.  Other words I am eating are the ones where I said I would be doing less traveling this year.  With a little salt and some cracked pepper, the words  are edible.   

Back in the fall, I came across the Creative Hands Gathering in Hagerstown, Maryland.  I dilly-dallied about signing up because I didn’t have anyone to go with.   Boom!  Ask Stacy and yes, she would go.   We signed up late so we were put on the wait list.   Two weeks before the event, we got notified we got in.  It was a really great retreat.   There were eight vendors with the most beautiful projects and sumptuous wool for sale.  I did buy 3 wool projects and I finished two of them while I was at the retreat.  It was very nicely run, great vendors, very organized, great attendance gifts, fun games, fabulous door prizes and a spread of goodies to munch on to please everyone.  I am on board for signing up for the next one as soon as it is posted.    Working on wool appliqué pieces at a retreat is really the way to go.   You get so much done and it has got to be the easiest thing to work on it a group setting in a noisy room.  Prep your work ahead of time and it is smooth sailing.  

These are the wool pieces I worked on.   I prepped all the pennies for Christmas tree pillow project from my stash.  I bought the fall themed pin cushion.  I completed the pumpkin pin cushion and the ornament.

I have ramped up my yard time.  Ramping up from a complete standstill doesn’t take much.   I really must have been very thoughtful in the fall when I planted bulbs.   I am loving what is coming up.   Still no major yard plans for me, only normal maintenance.  The only downside is it means less moving about of an already sluggish body.  Having shoulder problems for the last 9 months has really curtailed my physical activity level but a couple of shots and PT are getting me back in (shoulder) shape.  Now for the rest of me I just need to get my back-side off the couch.  This stitching hobby of ours does not promote physical fitness.

I have worked on Land That I Love.   I didn’t follow my plan of attack.  The eagle is my nemesis.   Frogging an entire wing is what lead me to park this project last summer.    A teacher once recommending saving the challenging section of a pattern until last with the idea that leaving it to last you are more likely to stitch it since it is all that stands between you and a finish.   This is against my thoughts of getting the most difficult part out of the way first.   I am not beyond learning a new trick so that it was I have decided to do.   The eagle will have to wait for me to get to him.

Before and after

Life and obligations get in the way of stitching sometimes but overall I am happy with what I have finished.  I am aiming for a finish by the 4th of July.  🤞.  I think it is possible as long as I don’t stray.

Here is my progress on the Sampler Pumpkin which is my take along project.   For a smaller piece this has a lot of stitches.

I have continued early morning quilting at least a couple days a week.  I have completed all the blocks received to date.   I need to make additional cornerstone pieces and more sashing so I can assemble another row.  I do need to remove a row on the block with ‘red’ in it to match the corners better.

For the Booksy Project Blocks, I have fallen behind.  The website and Instragram site have gone silent so I am picking own patterns but using the same premise - a different block pattern each month with block colors inspired by the book cover of each book read that month.  I read a total of four March books, two April and two so far in May.  That’s 8 blocks!  Two are sewn and I have pulled the fabric for the other six which is part of the battle.

As for purging this month, I had hoped to do the laundry room cabinets but didn’t get to them.  I boxed up all the pool toys and beach toys in the shed.  I know I have sorted the Tupperware and plasticware somewhat recently but did it again and more got eliminated.    I got rid of  many of my reusable grocery bags.   My husband has caught the bug too and he is going through all his clothes and I am boxing them up for the homeless shelter.   More streamlining of things and I am loving the rewards of doing it. 

Coming up, the first week of June, I am driving to Wisconsin.   I am enrolled in Summer School at The Country Sampler in Spring Green.  It is a bucket list store to visit.     Five of us will meet up at an Air B&B in Dodgeville, about 20 minutes from the retreat venue.   It is a 14 hour drive over two days.   That amount of driving each day will leave little time for too many adventures.  I need to start my no buying mantra on the ride out so I don’t go overboard with the shopping.

I use the X-Stitch Ap like many of you do.   But I had never put in my linen.  I did recently, much to my chagrin.   I have 103 pieces of linen.   On the bad side, this number does not include linen that is kitted up with charts.   On the good side, many pieces are 10 x 10  or 10 x 12 and smaller that I have saved for  ornaments.  Many will be going to the Guild Yard Sale in the fall.   The pitfalls of being organized and knowing what you have.  Ugh.   If ever I need a deterrent from buying more, all I need to do is look at the Stats page of the Ap.   This brings to mind the perfect mantra  - Stitch From Stash - Stitch From Stash.

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.