Sampler Update

Here's the 10th house, finished:


I also had the chance to add some details around the home that's in the middle row, far left. Here's the 'before' photo of that house:


I added these details yesterday, and plan on adding a few details soon. In fact, I'm thinking of a black cat and a few pumpkins---just for fun!


A view with more houses added to the photo:





And finally, one more view:




Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I did stitch some on Wednesday, and I finished the 10th house!

I will have to take a photo soon when the lighting is better. I also had the chance to add a few details to another house's yard, including a few sheep. It was lots of fun and I'm feeling more inspired to add other details around the entire piece.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Sunsets are beautiful...

I love fifty!

Degrees, that is! I am lucky to have the entire week off, but I'm still battling the cold I started with over a week ago so that's a bit annoying. Who cares? It's FINALLY cooling off here. That's what I am grateful for today.

Just now I went out to feed the birds in the backyard and it felt really, really crisp. You know, fall crisp? I think it's around 50 degrees right now. Hurrah! One day last week it got to ninety degrees, and by this time in the morning it was over 70 degrees.

It might be freezing where you are, so I apologize for complaining about the heat. We're just glad that it's finally cooling off around here. Chudi and Windy, is it cooler in your neck of the woods?

To celebrate this fine weather we're having, a photo of our daughter and one of our many cats:


Maybe this week I'll get a chance to stitch. Right now it's catch-up time around here.

Nearing the End of November

No time to stitch at all lately. Life has been quite busy and full of both work and fun, but in all that frenzy there's been no stitching time.

It's finally cooled off a bit here. Hurrah!

I took this a few weeks ago when it was one of those ninety-plus degree days.




Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to get in some stitching time soon.

Thanks too for your plant suggestion, Tanya, on the previous post! Thanks too to Chudi and Windy for their comments. :)

Disaster, WIPs , Claws, Overgrown Bushes, and Trees

Thanks for your get well wishes and nice comments on my previous post. I still am not feeling great but I'm on the mend and that feels wonderful!

It was over ninety-three degrees yesterday, and a lot of our area suffered from hideous fires and heartbreaking loss. My heart goes out to those who lost their homes in the fire.



It's hard to imagine the fury, loss, temperature, and weather created by these huge fires we have been experiencing each year in the area.

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On a completely different note, an update on stitching, our dog, some overgrown bushes, and a huge tree:


Last time I posted a picture of my sampler, it looked like this:



I stitched a bit today and here are some photos of how it looks now:





And our cat Sassy enjoying the piece again:


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Last week our dog Eddie hurt his paw and had to go to the vet. It seemed his dewclaw was injured and he was in great pain. The vet had to remove it, as it was barely in place. Our dog is 80 lbs, but he's known at the vet for his dramatics.

Here he is, after going to the vet and having his paw wrapped:


As our daughter says, in the photo above you can see Eddie wincing from the camera's flash. He is so, so ultra dramatic!

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Awhile back I shared some photos here of a fence corner (I can't get the link to work after about six tries, but I talked about the fence corner on August 4 of this year!) that we were in the process of renovating, so to speak. Last weekend we continued on our quest for improvement, and we had the juniper shrubs removed.

Here's a 'before' of that corner. This is a major 'before' (I'm embarrassed of this look in our own yard!), even before the new fence:





Finally, here is the same area after we had the old junipers removed, along with the new fence:





Now we have to get going on some planting! What should we plant there? All suggestions are welcome, so please leave a comment on your ideas. The area gets full sun, and it's hot here in the summer.
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Thanks for stopping by today! Please give me some suggestions on some plants for the back corner. We want something tall that will give us privacy. :)

My View Today

I had to stay home today with a nasty cold and fever. This is what I saw today from the family room sofa, along with the TV that is just to the left of the window. No energy to stitch, nor read, nor anything but doze and watch TV. It was all sofa, all day long.

I also got to experience 92 degree heat today, (yes, in mid November!) and gusting winds that made the backyard look a bit different than when I took this photo a few days ago when it was calm, and I felt good!

I hope this virus ends soon.

Treasured Needlework and Hydrangeas

I haven't had the chance to stitch in quite awhile. Life is just too busy lately, but I know there will be more relaxing days coming soon.

I love hardanger needlework, but I've never tried it myself. Here's a photo of a gorgeous hardanger piece that I have in our living room. It's sitting on top of an antique armoire that happens to be filled with a lot of my needlework projects, thread, and patterns. My mother-in-law bought the hardanger piece for me back in the early nineties. A friend of a friend had stitched it, and sold it to her. I sure was lucky to receive it as a treasured gift! Once I nearly ruined it with a deep red candle wax stain, but a clever dry cleaner was able to get it perfect again.


I also want to share a photo of an antique embroidered doily that used to belong to my mother-in-law. I love how it looks with these old cups and saucers. I wonder who embroidered this piece? I have no idea, but I sure do appreciate her work.



Another view:



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I also want to share some fall photos of our backyard's hydrangea blooms.




I loved the gradation of color on this bloom:



Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great day!

Stitching and Decoupage-"Not Mine"

Here's what our daughter stitched for my niece Windy and her husband in honor of their marriage:



It was her first big project, and I think it turned out great. The design is Mirabilia's Titania.

While we were down at Windy's house that same day last spring, Windy pulled this out of the closet:


I was stunned that she had this gorgeous piece all stitched up and ready for framing! It turns out that her husband's grandma stitched it and Windy inherited it after the stitcher passed away. Isn't it beautiful? It's by Lavender and Lace and it's called The Bride.

While I'm showing off other things that I didn't make, here's a photo of a great decoupage item that our daughter made for me. I love how it turned out, and the white dog with the pink wig looks a lot like our Eddie(The original photo was in a Juicy Couture ad, some sort of dog cologne...):


Another view:


On the left is a picture of two greyhounds that my sister-in-law brought me after a trip they took. Isn't it lovely?

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you have a great day.

Blog Links Disappearance

We had so many trick or treaters this year. I love seeing the children come to the door in their different costumes, and I get a kick out of the big teens who trick or treat, too. Yes, I know that many people get annoyed by the big ones who still run around like little kids but to me it's just part of the fun.


Time is flying by, no time to stitch at all. Just time spent working, working, and working with a few other fun things thrown in AWAY from work. I am so grateful my kids are grown and out of the house and that I was able to stay home when they were growing up. I don't know how working moms do it. I don't have that kind of energy or stamina. On top of all that I don't know how they handle the stress of work, and raising kids. I'm a 'one big thing at a time' sort of person. Juggling too much is not for me!

I completely lost my list of non-stitchy blogs early in the week. I pressed buttons too quickly and it all went "bye bye". I have just made up a new list, so if you notice your blog is missing please let me know and I will happily put it back there again. I enjoy reading so many different types of blogs, and I'm sad that I've lost the addresses to some that I enjoyed reading off and on for a long time.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Tea Towel

I am so elated that it's November. I just hope it continues to cool off with each passing day. It was supposed to be in the high eighties yesterday, but as I walked around outside at work it felt much hotter than that, and the sun was exceptionally bright.

Today I wanted to show a towel I embroidered over a year ago, but I never posted it here. It is one of three tea towels that were begun by my mom, but she decided I would like to finish them more than she would. I have so many embroidery patterns just waiting to be stamped on tea towels, pillowcases, and dresser scarves for stitching but I never seem to get to started on anything new.


Here it is:




I did two other similar ones for two other days of the week, but I neglected to photograph them. In the past year I've used them quite often so I don't think at this point they're worthy of any sort of display.

I have a ton of work to do this weekend for my job. Perhaps I'll find an hour or two to work on my sampler.

Thanks for stopping by here today!