June Update

So far so good!  I have not bought any addition craft supplies, well that is not any purchases that are not totally justifiable.    And yes, Kathy, it is a pledge we make and remake to ourselves on a regular basis. 

I was in OCMD for the Air Show.   We were on the boardwalk just above the VIP tents so we had the best view!  

A trip to OCMD always includes a stop at Salty Yarns. I saw some things I liked and wanted but I resisted.   I did however buy a pair of cheaters which fall into the category of "needed to finish a current project".

That justification is not even a stretch! It is totally legit.  And I have to say, the real cheaters and not the 4 for $12 Amazon cheaters are nicer.   I'd been using 4.0's for some time and had started to  struggle with focusing.  These are 3.0's and  everything is crystal clear!  LOL  20 days and counting on the pledge to make no purchases.  I wonder how long I can keep this going……

March/April/lMay as well as September/October/November seem to be my busiest months.  At the beginning of the June I had a day at home, with no where to go and nothing pressing on my list.  Usual days when I have no where to go, I get up, put on garden clothes and head out side to dig and weed and transplant and then, quite frankly, collapse mid-afternoon sweaty and dirty from the lifting, lugging and  heat.    This particular Monday, I decided the yard and gardens would wait and I sat down to write out some cards, send out from checks (yes, I still write checks occasionally) balanced my checkbook (and yes, yet another archaic thing I do) did my report for my EGA meeting 4 days in advance rather than 30 minutes before the meeting and just generally sorted paper work on my desk.  By 10 a.m., I was done and felt great.   Those nagging tasks that niggle at the back corner of your brain, the ones I tend to put off because I’d rather have my hands in the dirt or holding a needle, were gone.    I don’t know why I make some tasks seem so tedious when if I actually just do them they are no big deal.   I think it is that retirement thing....I'll do it tomorrow.  Just like I used to tell me kids…"you have have the time if you take the time".  Pass the salt while I eat my words!

We have had some beautiful weather the beginning of June. Sunny but not hot.  It carried over through much of one week.   One such day I looked at my infamous to-do list and decided to start cutting the hundreds of 2 1/2 inch squares of holiday fabric I needed for an EGA class in July…and another marvel, not waiting until the week of to start the cutting.   Not wanting to miss the beautiful weather, I took everything outside to work.   It was a great thing to do.  Although more than once the wind did take a square or two and sailed them into the strawberry patch.  

I resolved by the end of the day that once day a week I would do no yard work, go no where, but rather work on something totally different, not necessarily on my to-do list and just maybe I wanted to do rather than something I felt like I had to do.  Mr. Wonderful suggested I take more than one day a week off.   Well let’s not get crazy here, I do have my lists.  He doesn’t understand how I never run out of things to do. Ahhhh, but life is so good.   Two and a half years retired and not bored yet.....just living the good life.

I watched the Queen’s Jubilee as I am sure many of your did.  Just love the Pomp and Circumstance.   And oh that Prince Louis!  Many of us have had a child like him!  He is going to be a scamp for sure.

I caught up on my Garden of Stitches SAL.  I am enjoying this piece but I have hit a wall for the time being.  

I am not necessarily enjoying these 23 rows of modified herringbone stitches.   It is not a quick section.    I will work on this next week and be sure to get my June assignment done before July starts.

I have let my i-Stitch Band Sampler slip behind.  Five or six weeks left until the end.  I'm hope to finish Week 22 today and work on Week 23 tomorrow.  I am done being bothered by not keeping pace with others.......enjoy the journey, it's not a race to see who gets done first.    (Hmmm, this philosophy has contributed to my tons of WIP's)

My band sampler may have slipped but I have almost doubled what I had done on my hexie quilt.  

I am not sure how big I am going to make it.   I will just continue to add to the right side until I say enough....I will not keep adding until I run out of hexies as that would make a Jolly Green Giant sized quilt.  I'd really like to set a goal of September to be done (total fantasy).   Because of the size I think I will pay to have this long-armed rather than me attempt it on my Husqvarna. 

I saw Top Gun Maverick - Awesome.   It was the perfect thing to do before going to the air show with the Thunderbirds in OCMD.  One of my favorite things was the use of the music from the original movie.   The music is so synonymous to Top Gun I would have been disappointed if it was not in the second movie.   

I am working on catching up on both guilds blog posts as well as the website of one.  One guild done/one almost done.  Talk about a niggling task that I put off.  I dread doing the website updates.  They are not needed frequently. It always seems once I learn to navigate the site, there is an upgrade to the platform and therefore the steps change!   But once I get into it, it is usually not as difficult as I imagined it to be before I started.  Just do it Robin!

On the same lines….just when I thought I would dedicate one morning each week to catch up on other blogs and make comments, there is a snafu, more commonly know as some kind of darned update.   Some blogs have a new comment form where I must ‘identify’ myself as "Not Anonymous" but when I do it, it only takes me in a loop.   Ugh!   After a few go ‘rounds, I donned my garden gloves and go sit in the dirt!  So Bloggers, don't despair, you are being read.   Receiving my comments is a whole other issue.

My son gifted me with something.   He has been pulling out the garden edging and the stones in his flower beds and wanted to know if I could use them….thought about half a minute and I had a plan.    I replaced the bricks lining the my garden path in my Back 40 project and dug in the edging and then laid the stone and various pavers and bricks to create a better path through the area.   See, one person’s trash is truly another person’s treasure.   Now I don't need to get out the weed wacker for the path, just a spritz here and there for any grass that comes up through the stones.  One of the things I like most about this area is that I have spent next to nothing on it.   I’ve bought a couple of wine bark bushes and a couple of cone flowers but for the most part the flowers are transplants or seed packs just tossed in to grow.  It is about 98% sweat equity!

And this would be why I don't accomplish as much stitching as I would like to.

Time to get some more stones from Rich's place.   I am babying Monday and Friday this week so I will have more than enough.   I'll keep going until I am done with the path or run out of stones and bricks, whichever comes first.   Got lemons, make lemonade.   Got stones and brick, make a walkway.  Just like stitching, slow and steady wins the race.

Looking ahead to Christmas (what!) it's only June!  There are five of us that are doing an Advent Exchange at Christmas and I have 19 or 20 of the necessary 24 already.  I need to start the ‘assembling process’, make the gift tags and even start to wrap them.  I think I have  this on my August to do list to start August 1st.   Five times 24 is 120 packages to wrap!!

Here’s to smooth sailing the rest of June, July and August.  These are not the Dog Days of Summer, but the Robin Days of Summer.  Much relaxing will be done, the pool water will warm up; this is the latest it has been before a first swim!  Last weekend it was in the upper 60's.   Beautiful weather, albeit not swimming weather.  And much stitching will be done and much enjoyment will be taken from looking about the yard at the results of my hard work in the spring time.   Oh, and yes, William has asked if he could come spend a week as Damma's now that school is out…watch out Damma!   

I'll leave you with some early morning photos of my yard walk.   This is one of my favorite times of the day to be in the garden, when the shadows are long, and the fragrances are strong.   Heck, who am I kidding, I'd prefer to be out here most of the time as is evidenced by breakfast, lunch and dinner on the deck.

Lavender is doing great.

My Dill AND my Hosta are shoulder height!  Probably supposed to do something with the dill, like trim it.....

In addition to strawberries, I have already harvested lettuce, peppers, cilantro and green beans.  Tomatoes are not yet ready.

Volunteer Foxglove and Black-Eyed Susans in my Back 40 area.

Orange cone flower I planted last fall.  Either he is a dwarf plant or he needs Miracle Gro!

My sentinel...Mr. Squirrel.     The colors in here were at a peak last week.....this is an area in need of thinning.

Even out front, the colors abound......not so much the rusty color of the dead azalea blooms.  I just transplants some of the Russian Sage yesterday into the Back 40.   It was being smothered by the shrubs growing over it and I thought, hmm, I know where I can put these!

Time to thin this bed out.   The coreopsis and Shasta Daisies have seen better days. And I'd really like to eliminate all the Spiderwort.   Believe me I have tried but the bugger just keeps coming back.  It does add a nice pop of color and then.....it just falls over and covers everything around it.   The Stella Doro lilies in the background have not yet blooms, but wait until the do......yellows and oranges all over the place!

Thanks for stopping by.   Keep safe and keep in stitching.

R

A Finish and a New Start

Good news/bad news.    I made some delicious zucchini bread.  Bad news I ate the whole loaf myself.   Not in one day mind you.   And the zucchini keeps on growing!




Wahoo!     I fully finished 4th of July by The Humble Stitcher.  Just made a quick and easy little pillow which I sewed twine around the edges.   I did use the walnut spray stain.    I could have kept spraying but it is kind of like when you do you hair or make-up and think just one more touch-up and then you wish you hadn't.  The use of twine was not my idea.   I wish I could remember who posted it on Instagram .... thank you for your idea of the twine around the edge.

I started work on Holly Hock, the second in the set of  the Summer House Ladies Garden Journal Series.   The same colors are used throughout the series which helps to tie them together.  I am trying to keep current with these especially since I have two SAL's coming in the fall!!!!

I found a new place to sit and stitch.....under our new SunSetter awning.  It's great except when the AC comes on.    On a good note, the AC has been running less now that we open the awning over the slide glass door.  It is really helping keep the heat out of that room.

I finished a quilt top.  I have more intersections spot on than ever before.   I guess I am getting better at this.   I want to do something with the leftover scraps to incorporate them in the back and hope to get some squares made before the fabric for the  backing arrives.   I am hoping the online color is a good representation of the true color.    Well if not, I'm going to make it work!  I can always tea stain it if necessary.
































































How is it possible for me to get so much accomplished this week you ask......I have lost the battle with the heat/humidity/yard work and have been staying inside.   No more yard work until this heatwave passes.

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

Every have one of those days.....

That was my yesterday.   It rained all day.  Or rather it poured all day.    I think we got almost four inches of rain.   It was needed but I sure did look like the kid who’s mom said they couldn’t go out and play in the mud puddles.    I kept walking to the sliding glass door and looking at the rain.  I couldn't find anything to hold my attention all day.  I even took a mid-morning nap!   I read a bit.   I picked up my stitching and put it down so many times.   I just couldn’t find a thing to interest me.  Played solitaire, played Sudoku, surfed the internet and was quickly bored with everything.   I was just a slug all day.  I didn’t even cook dinner.  It has been about four weeks since we ordered take-outs so I decided it was time again.  

About 10 pm last night I finally managed to finish the Fourth of July from The Humble Stitcher.   The pattern is an easy pdf download.

I am not sure how I will finish it and I hope it doesn’t languish in the basket of shame for too long.  I think one of my  2020 goals was to decrease the number of pieces in that basket this year wasn't it? 😬

Rain is coming again today and it is downright yucky outside right now.   Mr. W. has one of those handy-dandy-dad-type digital thermometers that tells us everything......sunrise, sunset, highs, lows, winds, millibars, barometric pressure and so on.   I came in from doing a bit of yard work around 9:30 this morning and it said the humidity was 87%.  When I got up I decided to spend just a minimum time in the yard and THEN shower and change clothes.   So glad I did.   I was only out about an hour and a half and was drenched.

Even Buddy Cat has decided to just lounge around.  No attacking bugs or flowers in the breeze or going off on an explore for him today.

This morning all I did was pull a few weeds, pick some veggies and helped Mr. W. install some lattice to keep Gueirrmo the ground hog out of my garden.   We had installed pickets along the bottom edge of the shed but Guillermo managed to spread a couple apart and sneak in and out to eat my lettuce and kale.   I caught him in the act the other day I didn’t even scream like a girl......I put my hands on my hips and told him in no uncertain terms he'd better run along home and stop eating my veggies and scurry off he did.  

Look what I did for fun!  Last week I hung these chandelier prisms in my garden to keep away the birds.   I bought them years ago at a craft fair and just recently found them when sorting through my plant foods and orchid soil cabinet.   It is cool to see them spin and cast rainbows around the back yard.   I know, simple things make me smile......or maybe it is the enhancement of a glass of wine in my hand that makes these appealing to watch.














So today I think I will finish my quilt top; I think I should make zucchini bread since I have zucchini coming out my ears; I think I might spray Fourth of July finish with walnut dye to give it an aged look and pick a background fabric for finishing it; and I need return to working on Ornaments ala Round.    I am close to 3/4's done and need to finish before the next SAL starts!

At least I have a plan; whether any of it is executed it a whole other discussion.





Sorry folks but other than the trees growing taller in my town, not much else is happening  here in slower-lower Jersey.

Things are starting to get scary again.   An increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations for Covid is troublesome.  More states moved to 'red'.   And now I hear this morning there is a new strain of Covid that is more contagious that has come from Europe.   I am going to hunker down and keep myself busy at home awhile longer.

Stay safe and stay healthy and remember of all the things you can choose to be, choose to be kind. Keep on stitching.  Thanks for stopping by.

And then I slept until 8am

Stitchy wise I completed Sweet William from Summer House Stitche Works before I went to visit my grand babies.   Time to start the next one, I think it is Hollyhocks.

After much discussion and knowing I had not been anywhere and they had not been anywhere except for my son going to work, I headed to State College and boy did I have a nice time.   I got the biggest hug from Willy.   He just wouldn’t let go.  Melted my heart.   He was my shadow the entire four days.  As Heather and I were driving away, I understand he told his mom that she was the meanest mom in the world because she wouldn't let Willy come home with me.

This is kind of how I spent most of my first day there.   If I was anywhere, Willy was right there with me.

We played games, both board and video, did puzzles, read stories, took hikes, laughed and snuggled.  Mario’s Dance Party was a hoot and unfortunately both my daughter and daughter-in-law  thought it appropriate to video Damma dancing.   I’m sure we will have side splitting laughs on holidays when they replay it.  My little, not-so-little, grand daughter...weighing in at 20 lbs., has to be the happiest little baby.  She lights up when you talk to her with a big smile that gets only bigger if her daddy comes into sight.  Good meals, good times, great memories made.  I loved hearing those little bare feet of William's running down the hall in the morning to jump in bed with Damma......which is why I slept in on my first night back home!  

Out for a nature walk on a local trail, we saw some pretty sights.  I think it was Musser's Gap Trail.

A chipmunk, or rather a Chee-Pump, sat on a log with us when Damma needed a break from the incline!

Little boys have boundless energy!

All the pretty flowers gave Damma a lot for playing I-Spy will William as we climbed the trail.

 I have made no progress on Ornaments ala Round.   I am outside from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. putzing, deadheading flowers, reading in the shade on the deck, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner on the deck, swimming (so thankful in this heat that I am a mere dozen steps from the house to the pool!)  Ornaments ala Round  is really not a good one with take outside.   I have done it but I don't do too well.  Too many moving parts between floss and beads and kreinik and patterns and a big old giant q-snap.  And since my usually stitching time on this has been substituted with me being outdoors, I am lagging behind.    I am sure I will be the last of the three of us to get this completed.  Yes, the self imposed deadline of 7/23 has been pushed off to ....maybe 9/23!

And even though I should be starting Hollyhocks as the next in the  series, I started this little patriotic pattern from The Humble Stitcher.   My buddies all ordered and are waiting for United We Stand by Blackbird Designs.   I resisted.   I've already done more than my fair share of supporting the needlework industry these last 4 months.   I saw this completed by Stasi of Bee-Mused and Bee-Stitching and really liked it.   It works well for stitching on the deck and is an instant download from Etsy.  I am not sure how I will finish it.   Toying with using a mattress style finish.

 Stitching this on 32 Ct. Confederate Gray linen with DMC from stash.

Yard work continues in an abbreviated format.   I sit on the ground, tug at a vine, if it offers resistance, I cut it.   I have a million and one little pieces of sticker vine and ivy but I am making progress.  It has been so humid, that I can only manage about an hour and a half before taking a break.  I've managed another 8 by 25 foot section.   Having fun  scouring the internet for shade loving, non-invasive ground cover and plants.   Oh boy!  

I'll let Mr. W. pry out those cinder blocks and bricks.

My vegetable garden is producing.  Also harvested radishes and zucchini and tomatoes already.  No cucumbers yet.

The hydrangea is beautiful and even more in bloom today then when I took this photo last week.

It is about six foot tall and apparently I should be pruning it.   Not now but I am sure an internet search will tell me how and when.

And the last bit of nature on this trip around the yard, I spotted 7 little frogs on my pond this morning.  The largest of the leaves is 4 to 5 inches across so you can see they are little guys.

Thanks for stopping by,  Stay safe and keep on stitching!