Snippets from the edge....

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long.   Let me try to give you the Reader's Digest version of the last couple of months.  The operative word being 'try'.

When last I appeared, I was working on Karolin Beringer Sampler.   It is finished and at Michael's to be framed.   I took advantage of a 70% off coupon and took this and 3 others over on Memorial Day.

Looking forward to picking it up with the others.

I spent Easter with my son's family which was also William's birthday week.   We had a blast and a half.   Always a good time when I visit.   I love that we FaceTime a couple of times each week.   Willie and his daddy are coming for a visit next weekend.   Time for "Dam-ma" to get some Willie goodies in the house.

Home from State College and I was out the door to my Guild's semi-annual retreat in OCMD.   It was another good long weekend with old friends and new and I DID NOT win the prize for the most spent.   Some of my stash.......my walls are filled so I opted for some small holiday and seasonal pieces I can finish quickly and use to decorate for the seasons.

 Can't wait to start this guy.......not too sure I want to tackle assembling him when I finish stitching .....that's a ways off

 Bunch of tiny stitches that I can finish and use as seasonal accents.   Could also be good size for take along projects and the plan is to stitch from stash.

After OCMD, I had a one day turn around and was off to Memphis for the Prim Stitchers Society Retreat.   As retreats go, this is one of the best.  Dixie, who coordinates is all, just does an absolutely fabulous job.   We added a couple of extra days to sightsee on our own.  We did a tour of Graceland - which even though I am not a big Elvis fan, I have to say the tour and museums were second to none.    We did a walking tour of Memphis.   

As part of the walking tour, we visited the Peabody Hotel.   This organ belonged to Frances Scott Key and was on the mezzanine.

 Quite a display of showmanship (in the best way) as the Peabody Ducks entered the lobby for their daily swim in the fountain.


Gorgeous handprinted elevator doors and a snippet of the original tiled floor.

 The memorial park overlooking the Mississippi River that once was home to all the statues of confederate leaders.    To me, and I may be alone in this opinion, it is sad that part of the history has been taken down and is stored in some secret warehouse.

Beale Street on the lest and some of the beautiful architecture on the right.

Graceland.   Not the gigantic Hollywood Mansion we would see today.   Just a stately home sitting well off the street.   Below, even at a young age, your can see the start of the curl to his upper lip!

 Imagine that!  A needlepoint version of the front of his house.    Only a stitcher would find this interesting while on the tour.

 His living room

Having had a series of golf carts for fun around the yard, Lisa Marie's golf cart key caught my eye.

 After touring the house, we toured a well thought-out and well laid out museum documenting Elvis' life.    There is another wall of just the gold albums.

 Cars!  Did he have cars.   From Bentleys to purple Lincolns to the Red MG Spider from the movie with AnnMargaret.

And somewhere along the way, drinks were had.    And food.  OMGosh did we eat good and did the scale show it when I returned.

I'd love to share the fabulous retreat gifts, class pieces and purchases but they have not arrived yet.   Since I was traveling by plane, I left my purchases with a bestie in Tennessee.   She will be bringing them to me later this month when she comes to visit her family.    It will be like shopping all over again when I unpack my goodies.

So after being away 15 out of 20 days, I needed to catch up.   I have my yard in great shape other than a foundation bed that needs to be raked out still and the area under the pool deck.    I did get my veggies are in.   I have already enjoyed salads with my very own lettuce.    

 I love the bursts of color I get with every turn around the yard.

We went back and forth on whether to build a pergola, but a pergola, put up an awning........and decided on this...it is 15 by 21 and I am in my happy place when I sit on my deck.   Still working on the furniture arrangement.

I am loving sitting here eating breakfast and having coffee each morning.  

I can tell you that my egg chair is the best seat in the house.  It is a great place to stitch or read.

We had some pool issues to deal with.   A leak around the output.   Got that fixed this week and should finish refilling the pool to day and start the vacuuming and chemicals.    

Also, got a hiccup in what I planned as a kitchen upgrade.   Seems the spring checkup of the AC resulted in a new AC and heater.   Ugh!   It was on the horizon that it was going to need to be done in the next couple of years but when the repair estimate mounted higher and higher we bit the bullet and gave the go ahead.  Kitchen counters and back splash had to be delayed.

All that and some website and blog support tackled out of the way I did get some stitching in.  In addition to finishing Karolin Beringer Sampler, I started Patriotic Poppies from Brenda Gervais and I am about 80% down.   I am stitching it on 14 count and it will be finished as a pillow.   From my purchases as Salty Yarns in April, I started and hope to finish Easter Peep Parade also from Brenda Gervais.   This is being stitched on 18 count fiddlers cloth and I think I will also finish as a pillow.    Both are so close, I hope to get both stitched by the end of June if not before.

Yesterday I created this cake.   I had the concept, read some Pinterest tutorials and put this together for friends celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.   I was really happy with how it turned out.    It took a lot longer than I thought it would to roll and arrange all those dollars.   They will 'bless' me as they 'earn' those dollars when they disassemble it!

 So that is where and what I have been doing.    For today, more enjoying the outside and maybe a little stitching.  

Thanks for bearing with me for my NOT Readers Digest Condensed version and thanks for stopping by.    Keep on stitching.  

Oops!  All that and I forgot something.    My laundry room window has been bare since I remodeled it several years ago.   I got the brilliant idea to create a window covering.   I made a frame to fit inside the window out of 2 by 2's.  I painted it white.   I planned to stretch lace over the frame and staple gun in place.   Well like all my brilliant ideas, there is usually an equally as brilliant flaw in the planning.  Seems I had no lace like fabric.  Instead, I stretch and mounted two old stained dresser scarves.   Not like I envisioned, but happy just the same.   Just more of my attempt to reuse and repurpose.

Before

After

Flowers, Flurry and Frustration

Well here I am again so soon.  Going to try to make it a quick fly-by to catch up on my progress of all things.    I've got to start with flowers.    Two of my four orchids are in blooming; one already flowering and another with buds.   Yea!    They may only bloom once a year for me but it always makes me so happy.   They really are not as hard to grow as one would expect.   You need to find a place they like, basically ignore them and be patient.

The world outside is coming in to bloom too.   Another ten days or so and this Dogwood will be in full bloom.  I may head to the nursery this morning get buy another dogwood.   Friends are recommending a Kousa Dogwood but I really want a pink Dogwood.

I am slowly making my way through weeding the flower beds and it feels so good to get outside.   This morning however, it is foggy and misty and hampering my desire to get my hands in the dirt and get a wet butt at the same time!

Over the years, my collection of daffodils and tulips has suffered from the multitude of flower bed rearranging, lack of proper feeding and generally being left in the ground for 30+ years.   Today I will start with taking some photos of what is blooming and where it is so I can add more bulbs next fall.

I think fall time planting is my favorite.  It gives me something to watch for and look forward to each spring.

I finished Elizabeth Pusey Chester County Sampler and am absolute elated to have this out of the basket of shame.   Unfortunately it will go from the basket of shame to the basket of to-be framed.   I need to watch for a Michael's coupon and set aside some time to take a trip to the Dover Michael's.   I have a friend who has had much success with framing from there.



















I picked up the Karoline Berringer Sampler from Summer House Stitche Works for my EGA Challenge piece this month.   Each month I have managed to pick up a WIP and finish it.   This piece was the reward of a new start after I finished one month's challenge piece.   I can see that I will be able to finish this one in the next four weeks EZ-PZ.   And then it will be off to the basket of UFO's to tackle another.

A quick update on my file box find a few weeks back.   I have cleaned it up and placed it next to my stitching chair.   It is perfect to set my shaker tray on.   I love putting my pattern in the top drawer so it is always close at hand without digging through the project bag.

 I can reach over mindlessly,  and grab scissors,  store a needle or get hand lotion without even looking.  I am so glad I didn't hesitate when I saw this.

Here's a fun trinket that sits in my tray.   It is a metal, magnetic spool about the size of a large spool of thread where I can put my needles.  It was a gift from my daughter which makes it even more special.

And then there is Buddy, the source of my frustration.   My in-and-out-all-hours-of-the-night-cat.   Good thing he is a good mouser or POW! off to the moon with him.   Some say, why let him bother you?   Well, about 1:30 every morning he wants to go out.   How to do I know?   He claws at the corner of the bedroom chair until I get up and let him out.   Not only is he waking me but he is clawing the heck out of the chair.  I have tried doubled sided tape on the chair, but he just claws at something else.    So out he goes....only to want to come in at 4 a.m.  And how do I know this?   I can hear him pawing at the front door.  So cute some think that he has worn the paint off the door.   Well I guess I have turned a deaf ear to it on some evenings that he has now starting clawing at the weather striping.   And that is not bad enough, he will sometimes stand on the porch rocker and claw at the window screen.   De-claw him?   Not possible.  We tried to keep him an inside cat when we got him but there is no way this is an inside cat.   He is a truly nocturnal barn cat.  I've talked to the vet about him and she said some cats are just outside nighttime cats.   Ugh!  



See that 'white' area by the molding.....its freaking daylight from where he has clawed the weather stripping off.

Just a little frustrated from the months and months of not sleeping all night.   I do so enjoy an uninterrupted night of sleep in a hotel room!

Been busy busy busy being out 8 nights a week.  I continue to try to dedicate my early morning to stitching before I hit the treadmill and head out the door to work.   It is what is working right now for me.  I am happy to continue until I hit that wall.

Upcoming is my semi-annual Salty Yarns Retreat with DVHSG.   It is always so nice to sit and stitch and catch up with friends and of course, shop.   I will be back from OCMD one day before I fly to Memphis to the Prim Stitchers Retreat.   Got my tickets for Graceland already and need to firm up some other tours today.  I guess I should have shown some restraint and stayed away from Salty Yarns this spring but then again, why not!  That means sometime in the next few days I need to kit up some projects I want on the horizon and make a list of what I need for each.   It's a rough life but someone has to do it.

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching!

Needles are flying

And I have progress to show.   In part because I spent a day and a half stitching my heart out at retreat style stitch-in at the home of a friend.   OMGosh!  Forget about the stitching!  We ate like you wouldn't believe and it will take me two weeks to drop the pounds I put on and that we with me being very moderate with my portions and staying away from things.....but those jelly beans and desserts did me in.   Time to increase the time on the treadmill I guess.

Anyway, apart from that, I was able to get my two pieces of linen joined for the Pamela Darney sampler I will be working on.   No start date set yet for this one.  Pamela was a guest speaker at recent guild meeting.   Neat lady.  Very talented and I love her designs.   After the regular meeting I  participated in afternoon class where we learned how to join two pieces of linen for a sampler.   Not difficult, just a running stitch over and back but all the same tedious on 35 count and......when talking one sometimes drop down a thread unintentionallly  and there was the need to frog back several inches multiple times.    Glad that part is done!

I also finished this prim tulip.   It is a pre-stitch for Prim Stitchers Retreat in early May.     We are mounting it on a box lid.     I have the second pre-stitch started but not finished.   They are small so it won't be a big deal.

I  threw out the window my whole plan of attack to stitch one letter/stitch one row for finishing the Elizabeth Pusey Sampler.   I have six letters and a bottom border to finish.   While I am really thrilled to be able to see the finishing line on this one I really want to push and get it finished by our Thursday EGA meeting.  However, the temperature is in the upper 60's and the yard is calling me.  

Maybe I can eek out a letter each morning before work.   Lord knows it won't get done in the evenings...... I hit that easy chair and must activate a 'to go sleep' button in my back-side because I am never long before falling asleep once I sit down.

Met with the contractor and plans have taken a different turn.   I got sticker shock for sure.  The estimate I was looking at - although is was as much as the entire existing 16 by 22 foot deck cost 5 years ago - was only for ONE thing....the 9 by 11 addition.  It did not include the pergola.  Time to regroup and re-evaluate and launch a different plan of attack.  Contractor has all my thoughts and questions and went off to give me a new quote.    Here's hoping.

OK, that's all I've got.  So excited to finally be getting outside and get my hands in the dirt.    We'll see how excited I am when I am bone tired this evening from all the stretching and lugging and pulling.......it will be glorious while I am at it at least!  

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching!

Spring has sprung

....finally.    And with it lots of stuff to do.   One thing is enlarging our deck and pergola.   The existing pergola is a baked aluminum one from Lowes that I love expect for the scraping and painting part.   The new one with be out of the trex decking and in addition to being larger, will be maintenance free.   Now I haven't decided if I am a contractor's dream or nightmare....I'll let you know after I share my before and after drawings with him on Monday.

I went to the 2nd Annual Needlework Emporium put on the by the Women's Club of Bethesda MD.   Well worth the trip.   Lot's of vintage pieces, lots of buttons, lots of pin cushions.   I scored this vintage file box.  Shout out to Stasi at BeeMused and BeeStitching.   Check out her post.   She thought to take pictures at the show.   It was a great day with two great Stasi's/Stacey's and me!

We pulled the drawers out and bagged them separately to made the walk to the car easier.   It wasn't until I was putting the drawers back that I saw papers wedged in the back.    Well the Nancy Drew in me has her interest piqued but I wasn't sure how I could get them out.    Good old gravity did it.

I turned it upside down and after a few good shakes and twists everything came out.   There was just enough room at the end of each drawer slide for the papers to wiggle free.

The papers are dated 1934, 1946, 1949 and 1976 with locations of Roy, Indiana and Flemington, New Jersey.   What a story this file box must be able to tell.

 My other treasures today included the small red and white bakelite buttons, a sock darner, a half round drum button, more ribbons and trims and 5 old chandelier prisms which I can't wait to hang outside with the sun with catch them.

 And look what fits perfectly in the draw.   I am going to have to move a couple of things around to somehow manage to get this beside my stitching chair.   It will be the perfect place to set my shaker tray of scissors and notions.

 I am on the Hot Mess Express with me huck embroidery project.  I am too far in to want to start over.  I am just going to stay in my lane and keep moving forward.    This was taught at our last EGA meeting.  It actually is quite easy if you don't try to create all your own motifs and use every single row available!   Restraint!  I need to show restraint!  Just do it, don't over do it!

My focus project has been my EGA Challenge Piece No. 4   I have made great progress since picking this back up and can actually envision me finishing it......but maybe not before the new Challenge No. is chosen.

 It's all the darned 'bleeping' eyelets!  I think I have 9 more letters to do.  Ugh.   In between the torture of the eyelets I have been completing the lower rows.   I know how my analytical brain works and I'll conjure up some mathematic approach to the letters..... kind of like those old grammar school problems....if a car leaves Chicago, traveling east at 60 mph and a car leaves Pittsburgh at ....... stitch a letter and a half and then treat myself to stitch a row and both be done at the same time. 

I hope to be able to post again soon with some updates on other projects as well as life in general.    Now off to check off a few more items on the to-do list!

 Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.

Alas......

Alas, I've been a bad blogger.   Not only have I not posted, I haven't even read any of the blogs I follow.  Now since I am more of a 'creeper' than a 'commenter" chances on I wasn't missed.  I can't account for what I've been doing.  It certainly hasn't been work because that is finally going along like a normal job and not a demand-every-ounce-of-your-energy job.

I do know that I seem to be singularly focused which is funny since I always talk about how woman can multi-task and man cannot.  I feel like lately I spend all my spare time on crafting.   Not a bad thing, but I am feeling one dimensional.   Spring is coming and I'd better learn to strike a balance between crafting and yard work for sure.

So, let's recap.   Sweet William made an appearance for a long weekend and it was so sweet having him here.   He is close to three now and just chatting up a storm.  Such a fun age and for whatever reason, he just thinks his "Damma" is the bestest.   I surely feel the same way back!   Willy G helped me make blueberry pancakes for breakfast.    Of course it was OK with me he stole some sprinkles.

I have kept up with my quilt block project and in fact I am two weeks ahead.  I had the bright idea to sew the blocks together as I go to save all the piecing at the end which originally seemed brilliant.   Now I am wondering if it was the right choice.   I don't know if I will have enough fat quarters to complete all 25 (x 3=75) blocks and now I am worried about colors clashing and thinking I should have planned on intermixing solid blocks.........well, this will surely end in a landfill once I am gone so I will stop stressing, stay in my lane and just keep on piecing.

Since I finished my monthly EGA Challenge piece and before the next meeting, I dug into the WIP basket of lost projects and found and finished this snowflake humbug from a Christmas in July piece of several years ago.   I only had one snowflake completed so I am happy I picked it up and got it done.  One less WIP in the basket.






For an exchange piece at an upcoming retreat,  I rooted through my fat quarters and I have pulled the fabrics for making a project bag.  I just need to dedicate a couple of evenings to cut and assemble.







At this week's EGA meeting we were taught Huck Embroidery.  Here is my progress so far.   I really like being introduced to different stitches and different methods of stitching.
We started with six strands of floss but I came home and pulled out my pearl cotton.   It's EZ PZ for sure but it is trial and error right now.

I have made progress on my 12-Days of Christmas ornaments.   I am kind of on schedule with the SAL if you think overall project progress and kind of bend the timeline.   #1 and #2 are due to be finished.   I finished #1, have stitched #2 and #3 but not assembled either.   So I am listing is as a break even.    Anyway, that's my story and I am sticking to it.

The new number for my EGA Challenge piece is project #4.   There was an audible sigh when from me when I opened the project bag marked #4.   I added this to the challenge because it has been languishing for too long.   I picked this pattern up at the Chester County (PA) Historical Society after a private tour I had there a few years ago.   I actually got to see the original this was charted from which was pretty awesome.   Problem being those dog gone eyelets.   Ugh!   That's why I keep putting it down.   Now that it is my challenge piece, I hope to get this one closer to, if not across, the finish line.  I am second guessing the linen thinking it looks to pristine......I do have a bottle of that distressing spray and I might try it on a corner of the linen to see what it looks like.  For now it is forge ahead like a good little stitcher!

So what's up next......the weather has finally turned to spring and let's hope we have a spring and don't just jump right into summer.   It will be good to get outside and start putzing around the yard and get the wintertime decor down and replaced with springtime flowers.

Willy is already enjoying the hanging egg chair I got for my deck.

 Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching......