May is Here

 I can't believe it is almost May! And I haven't posted in almost a month! Where did the time go?

 

The first of the week was reserved for several dr. appointments and grocery shopping. Then I was house bound for the remainder of the week. We found a contractor to put in a walk way from the driveway around the back of house to the deck. Since my last fall, I stay away from the front steps and only use the back but it gets so muddy when it rains so this walk way will solve a lot of issues for us. Now I will have a nice dry path to the easy steps!

 

I went to the dr. about my shoulder. I have a dislocated shoulder.. I have consulted several other doctors because of other health issues that could affect this and they have all given me the green light as long as it is a minor surgery. 

 

I ordered some more threads. I needed the threads for Stacy Nash Rose Garden Sampler and others I never have enough of. I also ordered a few stitching aids, Seven Red Alphabets by Needlework Press plus several other charts and their threads. Some fabric from My Vintage Needlearts arrived. I am always thrilled to see a package from here.

 

While getting the last of my organizing taken care of, I came across an older chart that I wanted to do it but always opted to work on something else. Since it is a small design, I decided to add it into my WIP stack. Be who you are by Lizzie Kate. I am using the called for threads and stitching on 18 count Aida in Rustico.

 

Now I have a confession to make. People change. Well, so do stitchers. I can remember when I first began stitching, I would not dream of starting a new piece until I had finished the current one. Now I have piles of WIPs. When I first began stitching, I went totally by the pattern. No changes in colors or anything else. Now I like make the stitch my own. Also, when I first started, I liked the simple smaller stitches. Now I tend to go from medium size to BAP!

 

Part 2 of my confession. Whenever I stitch, my mind wanders to other pieces I want to work on. I am going to take the rest of this year (and probably into next year) to just work on ALL of these designs that keep creeping into my thoughts! Some will be new starts and some will be WIPs. I will probably only work on each one 2-3 days a month but I am in no hurry right now to finish up or frame anything. I just want to enjoy them all!

 

I have never participated in a StitchMaynia and really don't think I could handle the big numbers that people take on for this but I do have my own smaller list to concentrate on. I am not going to name any of the designs I have put aside for this because I may choose to do less (or maybe more). I will post pictures as I work on them though.

 

Brenda and Laura (Brenda and the Serial Starter on Flosstube) are going to have a BBD SAL beginning the first weekend in May. You can find it over at IG under #bbdweekendsal. I will be joining the fun and working on A Sisters Love from the Autumn Winds book by BBD.

 

Until next time may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Life is Good!

Life is Good! I finally got my hair trimmed up. The threads for Lizzie Kate's Things Unseen sampler finally arrived. The baby bluebirds have hatched!

Our hair salons are still closed but  we live almost on the state line and the hair salons in our neighboring state were allowed to open (with restrictions) so we hopped in the car to go get our hair cut! I feel like a person again!

It's that time of year again and daisies are in the store which means they are also on my table! I usually get them in time for Mother's Day but they were late coming in this year. As long as I get them, I am happy!

I have (almost) definitely decided on The Fall by Barbara Ana as my infusion project! I usually start on them about a week before infusions begin to get everything set up and started so I can just continue at infusion!

I spent a day sorting out my pattern stash. The ones I am interested in stitching were put in a special place that is easily accessible for me while the others that will probably not get stitched any time soon were put away where I can get to them but they don't clutter up the rest of the stash.

I ordered some more fabrics from My Vintage Needlearts over at Etsy. She had been out of the Beige (which I loved) and she got more in so I had to get some more of it! I would describe it as a light to medium pecan color.

I made my appointment at my LNS for their framing sale. I hope to have one or two more finished to take in by then. I will probably have between 6-9 to frame. I am looking to have at least 4 finishes for the Fall framing sale so I had better get busy! Whatever doesn't finished for this sale will be rolled over to the Fall framing sale! A lot better than last year when I only got 1 finish the entire year! LOL.

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well.

What Happened?

Once again, life has kept me from posting on my blog as often as I would like. When did everything get so hectic around here? I want my dull, take it one day at a time life back! Hopefully this is just a phase!

I picked up several new additions for my rooster/hen collection that I found on sale. I have no idea how or why I got hooked on these feathered fouls. Maybe I got one as a gift years ago and it grew from there or possibly I saw one I liked and bought it to fill a space but it all started somewhere. I don't buy them often and I don't have many but I am always on the look out for a special one or a good sale price!


I have been on a stitching break for awhile. First, it was because my wrists were bothering me. Then DH took some vacation time and we worked on catching up on life in general. After he went back to work, I kept telling myself to start stitching but it just never happened for one reason or another. I did use the time to straighten up my stash and threads though. I even kitted up a few more patterns and made a list of threads I have run out of so I can pick them up on my next trip out.

I mentioned several posts ago that I had ordered a couple of other patterns that I had been wanting. They arrived and with all my new stash to tempt me, I want to start them all! Wouldn't that be chaos! I know that Mother's Garden by BBD is in the top running. I just love it. I have an idea in mind for the initials that is a little different than what Barb used but it will work for me! After I get a start on it I will let you in on my idea! For now, I am going to start on a new freebie by The Primitive Hare to get my mojo up and running again.


Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Good Morning, Mr. Blue!

I have been absent lately from posting because of Blogger problems again. I was not able to sign on. It was extremely frustrating but after a lot of headaches it finally cleared up but, low and behold, when I was able to sign into my dashboard again there was a notice that the old Blogger interface will be discontinued! There are still a few other problems going on but I am not sure if it is Blogger or my computer.

No new starts yet. My wrist has been giving me fits making it very difficult to stitch. I thought my next new start would be from new stash but I have a hankering to work on something different. Once I decide, you'll be the first to know! During my time away from reading and posting on my blog and stitching, I took advantage of the extra time in other ways.

DH is off those horrible annoying hours and has been taking some well deserved time off. Of course, he may feel he would be better off still working since we have stayed so busy catching up on things that were put on the back burner during that time.

I made the trip to the LNS to drop of my stitching pieces for framing. It will be longer than usual in getting them back because everyone likes to take advantage of a framing sale! I love the frames I chose. Especially for the holiday pieces. Not really what I had expected to go with but sometimes you see something that just screams at you! Also, I placed another order. Just a couple of designs I have drooling over for awhile. They are both on the big side and have detailed borders (not my favorite thing to stitch) but if my finishes are as pretty as the pictures, they should be worth the extra xx's.

While we were at the LNS, there was a snow storm. Actually it was white fuzzy pollen coming from some trees behind the shop but it was coming down so heavy, it looked like snow. Everyone was looking up in confusion before realizing what it actually was! And of course I left my camera at home!

I walked around the yard and took in all the beauty that only Nature can take credit for. There are bluebirds nesting in one of bird houses again this year! I always enjoy watching them. To make it even more enjoyable, we put up another bluebird house, a wren/chickadee house and put the squirrel feeder back up! I can't wait to see the activity around them all!


My pyracanthas have grown so much since they were first planted. They were planted about 12 years ago with the purpose of covering up and hiding an old steel satelite dish pole that was cemented into the ground. Can you see the pole? It started as a practical reason but they are now one of my favorites in the yard. The Mockingbirds love this bush and take it over every Spring. Other birds try to enjoy it's shelter and fruits but those Mockers don't let them stay very long. Come Autumn, beautiful orangey berries will load the bushes and replace the white flowers.


My old dishwasher died last summer and I have been washing 4-6 sink full of dishes by hand each day. Boring and hard on my wrists but no more! My new dishwasher was delivered and I can load it up to run once a day now! How much easier and a lot nicer for me to just press a button and walk out while it does all that work!

I noticed that I have some new followers! How fun! I love finding new blogs to add onto my reading list! I have tried to visit your blogs as well but I may have missed a few out of my occasional "now, what I was doing?" moments. If I haven't visited your blogs yet or sent you a thank you for following my blog, let me say thank you now and I will try to get to it as soon as I can! My new followers and visitors are just as important to me as all the others. I added a few new blogs to my sidebar as well!

Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart! Thank you so much for dropping by!

Stitching Weekend!

My stitching order arrived! Fabrics, threads and wonderful charts! Included in my new stash are Christmas Garden by BBD, Gathering Basket by BBD, Hedgerow Birds by BBD (which is due to ship out soon), Wild Rose by BBD, Bless my scissors by NFF, Sergei by PSS and A Stitcher's Heart/Gentle Stitches by LHN and Shakespeare Peddler. Several of these included more than one design to stitch so I feel like I got double the order! And by the way, the soon to be released Mother's Garden by BBD is already on my next list!


One chart that made onto my order list came as a surprise to me. Boris by PSS. We are not pet owners at this time (although we occasionally think about making the leap again). I have always been a dog person and loved having one around. I do miss our sweet Whiner even after all this time. But back to Boris. I have wanted this pattern since Paulette first released it but felt I should wait until we decided to get another dog before adding it to my stash (just my own quirk). Maybe it was his sleepy soulful eyes but it was like picking up a puppy in a pet shop. I caved and brought Boris home!


They are all wonderful designs and several are designated to become pillows for my bench project. I really wrestled on whether to get Christmas Garden. I absolutely love it and all the ones I have seen stitched on other blogs just made me want it even more! But the size! I had promised myself that I would not start another BAP until a few of my WIPs were finished up but those deer, the family initials, the birds and beautiful trees just took control of my senses! I was under the influence of the stitching needle!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.