Tree in the Neighborhood

Tree in the Neighborhood
Originally uploaded by loves2stitch2

I am having problems posting today, so I'll just leave it with this as there's too much to do right now besides tinker here. :)

Everything Old is New Again

I always liked that song, and I know it's an oldie. It seems to me that it was perhaps sung in the original stage musical "A Chorus Line", but it was probably an oldie even then. I remember that musical well as it was the first Broadway show I ever saw, and I was just in high school. My mother and her friend drove my best friend and I up to Beverly Hills to see it at the Shubert Theatre. I can't believe it now, really, as my mother is terrified of driving on the freeway. Perhaps I drove, but she and her friend were with my friend Jenny and me. Yes, that was probably what actually happened! Jenny and I were both really into dance and ballet, and oh how we loved to drive to L.A. and see professional ballet companies, as well as Broadway performances.

If I had the energy to find out the origin of the song "Everything Old is New Again" I'd do my usual schtick and google it, but I am too tired to really care enough to research it at this moment.

Sorry to have bored you with all of that. It was very tedious, wasn't it?

What's old is the look of this blog, as when I started the blog two years ago it was just like this only in hot pink. It also lacked the photo at the top as I lacked the basic 'no how' to know how to do it. I really want a new template, but I haven't gotten around to figuring out how to do one.

I still haven't stitched in at least two weeks. I wish I had time to do some stitching, but things are just too busy and overwhelming right now. Soon, someday soon.

Thanks for your comments and emails regarding my father. It is actually his birthday today,and he turned seventy-nine years old. There were 9 of us there to visit him, but he isn't doing well at all and I am sure he was perhaps not aware it was his birthday. He is declining steadily and it's very hard to see him suffer. I thank God that I have a loving family and friends at this time so we can all be there for each other. It's hard to see someone get to the point where they can't even utter a word, but that's just how it goes. We don't sign up for these diseases, do we? My dad's mom also suffered from it, so he's been on the other side of it. It is what it is, as people say.

I will leave now with a photo to hopefully end this on an upbeat note. My children and I bought Mr. Stitcher S a new camera for his birthday, and he loves to tinker with it. He took this one of a hydrangea in our yard:


I hope seeing the bright color lifts you in some way.

Take care, and thanks for your kind words.

Two Years Ago...

I first started this blog two years ago today. I guess some people would call this a "Blogversary", although I don't know if I like that word. I tend to have the habit of overanalyzing words and language, so don't pay any attention to me. Either way, hurrah! Happy Blogversary.

I started it as all my local stitching friends already had a blog, and I wanted to play, too. Blogging looked like fun as well as being a great way to keep in touch with those friends. Thanks to them for visiting here, and commenting.

It has been wonderful to see so many other bloggers from all over the globe checking out the blog, and returning again.

Thanks to all of you for visiting here. Whether you leave a comment or not, I appreciate that you read this blog.

Since I started this out as primarily a stitching blog, I thought that it would be all right to share some photos of one of my first needlework projects. I know I shared some of these photos here a year and a half ago, so if you already saw them I apologize. I noticed that when our computer crashed in July all my Picasaweb photos were lost, so truly these photos aren't on my blog anymore. So then it's not quite a repeat, right?

With that being said:



I stitched these in 1976 after I'd been embroidering a few years. I didn't have a pattern for this pocket, just had fun with french knots. I still have the shorts tucked away somewhere. Maybe I should wear them sometime? That's a laugh. I was into ballet when I was in high school, and was very slim. I couldn't even fit my thigh into the waist at this point.

The front of the shorts: (That's my daughter modeling them.)





Finally, the back belt loop:


As you can see they're well worn as I used them a lot. Before they were cut-off shorts, they were jeans I wore all through ninth and tenth grade.

I haven't had a chance to stitch in over two weeks. I truly miss it, but it's just too busy now with getting my classroom ready, and with family stuff. C'est la vie.

Thanks for stopping by here, and for returning!

Some people just don't 'get' this blog thing at all, do they? I've told a few people about it and they rather look at me like I've gone mad, or should I say completely mad. Either way, I'm glad we get it! :)

Great Summer Memories & Old Stitch Book

Here is a photo of a day some family members came over:




This weekend we had a ball playing "Rock Band" on my brother's birthday:






My brother and sister in law's dogs enjoying a dip:


Some more photos from yesterday at my parents' house:




This one is so funny as my great niece Hannah looks so much like her mom in an old photo I have somewhere, when she was the same age. It's sure fun having a great niece!


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Wanted to share a few photos of an old treasure I have. This is a needlework book I bought back in 1975. I love it as it explains so well how to do so many surface embroidery stitches:




Do you have any old needlework books that you treasure?

Enjoy your day, and thanks for stopping by!

Summer Dreams...Sigh

A year ago today we were on our way to Kauai for a wonderful tropical vacation. I can still smell the orchids on the leis we got at the airport that day, and at the hotel. I so remember this sunset view in the evenings when we were in Kauai:


Back to reality. This summer has been very different, and it's almost done. This week I have attended training all day, and thankfully I have just two days left.

I haven't had much time to stitch this summer, but that's just the way it is.

I promise to share an update soon of my sampler, as I have made a bit of progress since my last update here.

I hope your week is going well!

Creepy Fence Corner

Have you ever lived with something rather dreadful-aesthetically speaking- for way too long a time? It just kind of becomes part of your environment, and you don't even notice how wretched it is anymore. It becomes even worse than ever over time, but still it kind of just blends into the environment. That especially happens when it's off to the side, and it's not something you have to look at each day. That's how it was here for over 18 years, with a corner of our yard away from our main living and patio area. Here's the dreadful thing I'm talking about:

A few more views of that charming corner of the yard:



I can't believe it really--it looked hideous. The tree was helping hold up the fence, no kidding!

So in late May we had a new fence constructed:






It sure does look better. I truly can't believe how hideous the old fence was. How did it stand in the Santa Ana winds?

This summer we were going to paint the new fence, and create a new planter near the fence. I wanted to fill it with all of our favorite plants. Sigh. That will all have to wait, but at least for now the creepy fence corner is no more!

I have been stitching a bit, and will have an update soon.