What a Year!

 I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. It was quite around here which is the way I like it! The boys are grown now so that early morning excitement has been replaced with sleeping in a little longer. It's just amazing how much better I feel when the Grumpy Ol Gazer is home instead of the hospital!

 

I was asked to show the inside of my journals by Journal Junky over at Etsy. When I have hand cramps, I type out my journal entry and paste it on the page. My journaling drawer got too full so I switched it over to a tote bag (with journals, stickers, adhesives and more) until I can find a bigger drawer!

 

I also wanted to show the covers. You can leave them plain or you can have a quote (or anything else) put on the cover. You can get the inside pages plain or with lines. I like the lined pages.

While catching up some Flosstube programs at YouTube, I watched the most recent one by Hands Across the Sea. One of her recent releases, Cicely Margaret Ingram is such a sweet little design but I knew it was a must have when I saw that Cicely's birthday was the same as mine!

 

One of my birthday deliveries was this stitching frame that I have had my eye on for more than several years. It was too expensive in the past but I found a sale that was just right!

 

I also got a new boom box. My old one was really OLD and just did not work very good. This one is small enough I can leave it by the computer and wear my headphones to listen to some music while I surf the web or bring it out to sit by stitching chair.

 

One of my journaling prompts was "What time of day do you enjoy the most?". I would have to say early mornings. Usually everyone is still asleep and I can enjoy my coffee in peace and quite while catching up online. Even if someone else is awake, they are usually too tired to even acknowledge my early rising so it is still like being the only one up and stirring around.

 

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

He's Home. Again.

 Thank you to everyone who sent sweet birthday wishes!

 Well, I had my birthday all planned out. I was going to to go down to my LNS with my birthday coupon and go crazy. Then we were going to go out to eat at my favorite place and on the way home, we would stop and I would get my free holiday birthday coffee. None of that happened.

 

Two days before my birthday, the Grumpy Ol Gazer landed back in the hospital.This time it was pneumonia and he was on a ventilator again. Luckily he got home about a week  before Christmas. I did not go the first several days because of freezing rain and I did not want to risk  another fall plus the hospital wanted me to wait for some of his test results to come back. So for my birthday, I ate left overs and just hung out by myself. Life happens. I am glad he is home and well.

 

Several nice books for keeping track of my cross stitch arrived from Amazon and now I get to work on filling them out.

 

I also have some PDF printable stitching record sheets from BlackCrowDigital over at Etsy to help me keep up with my stitching.

 

My journals arrived  this week (Journal Junky at Etsy) and I am over the moon happy with them! I was going to save them to start on for the New Year but I am so thrilled with them, I just couldn't wait! I will probably go ahead and order several more after the first of the year to have on hand!! LOL While letting my old bones heal some more, I set up my journaling drawer so I would have everything at my finger tips when needed!

 

My arms are starting to feel a little better. I have been exercising them about 30 minutes a day to loosen them up. I may just pull out a new start now that the Grumpy Ol Gazer is home.I just don't have stitching concentration while he is in the hospital!

 

I had a list of threads and charts I wanted to get at the LNS on my birthday. Instead, I just ordered them. Not as much fun but I still got what I had wanted except for a few items that were out of stock and I can get later. Several other goodies arrived that I will show off later. Plus there is more to come. Double the fun when your birthday is so close to Christmas!

 

Right now I am SO SO ready for some dull days! LOL

 

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

Hello December

 They say that bad things happen in three's. The Grumpy Ol Gazer's hospital adventure can easily count as two. The other day I took a nasty tumble on the front porch and have been stiff and sore ever since. Hopefully our bad luck is over for a while now!

 

I made a stitching schedule for 2021. I love to make list but have a bad habit of not sticking to them or changing them around. Hopefully I will do better next year!

 

What are several of your very favorite stitching threads that you keep on hand just in case you want to switch out some colors? I always have a good supply of Gentle Arts Mulberry thread. It just screams the perfect red! A close runner up is Weeks Dye Works Teal Frost. I fell in love with this last one while I was stitching Feliz Navidad by BBD.

 

We had both been craving some Oyster Stew so I made a pot last week. I think I will have to double the recipe from now on! It was definitely GOOD! I found the recipe and picture at Addapinch.com Here is what I used to make it.

 

3 T butter melted

1 cup half and half

3 cups milk

2 cans of oysters (drained)

several splashes of Worcestershire sauce

Cook on low or med. low so the milk does not curdle.

 

With a new year right around the corner, it is time to get a new journal. I found this one over at Etsy in the Journal Junky shop. I bought 2. I keep a basic journal, a creative journal and my blog is my hobby journal.  I am anxious to get them and be ready!

 

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

Another Year Older

I had another birthday come and go this month. I have always loved being a December baby. It has just always felt like all the lights and hub-bub made my birthday even more special. I celebrated by spending a nice relaxing day with my husband (who always takes vacation at this time of year). What did I get?

A new journal to start the New Year with

The quilt kit pictured in my last post. Bubblegum and Chocolate from Private Source Quilting on Etsy. Be still my heart!!

Every year I buy myself a new coffee mug as a Happy Birthday to Me gift

And a nice dinner at the local steakhouse.

It is time to get my infusion project rounded up and get a head start on it. I will try to get to that before January 1st. I hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas!

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

And the Week Goes On.

As I have read other stitching blogs, I have envisioned my own theme walls! Samplers, A&E, birds and even a wall about stitching! In my last post, I mentioned that I had pulled my next new start. Oops! I did, indeed, pull the next "intended" start but then so many others began to get my attention and they all seemed to be crying "me! me! pick me!" so for right now, I am stuck in indecision. I may be using eenie, meenie, minie, moe for this pick! Oh, and these are only a few of the ones screaming for my attention! Will the last part of June be full of multiple starts?

Simple! And the older I get, the more I want this style to be a part
of everything around me. Not just in my hobbies but in my day
to day life as well. From time to time I feel the need to do some major
de-cluttering. A cleaning out of the soul. Getting rid of those things I carry around within my heart on a daily basis until the weight of it all is more than I can handle. Time to toss out some things! Being able to rid myself of hard or hurt feelings & knowing that I was strong enough to let it go & move on is a great feeling! I’ve lived the drama & turmoil side of life. Now I crave the less cluttered road. No baggage needed!

Maren at Stitchery Doo asked me what kind of bush I had pictured from the "mud pit". It is a Burgandy Barberry. I had wanted several more Rosey Glow Barberry bushes but couldn't find them available anywhere. Maybe they will be out later in the season!

Until next time, I wish you simple days and an uncluttered heart! Come back and see me soon!

Christmas is a Comin'

The blogs are starting to slow down and get quite now with everyone spending more time with family around the house in preparation of the holidays!

This is the Holiday Stitching Journal I made to use for my year of Christmas stitching. I also made a journal for my 2009 stitches and one for Special Stitches (quilts, gifts, ect). Who knows, someday a person may pick up this book at a yard sale! My work and the work of others will live on no matter what through these journal.

We went to see my parents yesterday for our holiday get together and it was very nice because for the first time in years all the kids were able to show up at the same time. Me, my stepsister, two stepbrothers and all the spouses! This hasn't happened in at least 15 years or more.

Wow! Once again I was bowled over by the responses for my birthday give-a-way! I wish I had enough to send something to everyone but there can only be one winner and it is Karen! Karen, please contact me as I need a mailing address so I can send you surprise pack out this week!

The Mouse
Long ago there lived a mouse in the forest. The mouse was very clever and was able to hide from a sly fox that was always trying to catch him. One day the fox was very close and the mouse knew he could not run away so he decided to hide in a Douglas-Fir cone. Unfortunately, the cone was too small. That is why - even today – you can still see the hind legs and the tail of the mouse sticking out from the Douglas-Fir cone!

Getting Ready for the New Year

Do you have a Christmas collection? What is it? Reindeer? Snowmen? Santas? Something different? I collect Santas. I just love them and keep them out year round! My collection changes from time to time with some becoming too tattered to enjoy and being discarded but a new one always comes to take it's place

This was my stitching journal for 2008. It is pretty full even though I really didn't get as much done as I had hoped to. I just took alot of extra pictures to fill it up! LOL! Last night I worked on fixing up my stitching journal for 2009, a holiday stitching journal and a journal of special stitches where I put photos of gifts, quilts, hand me downs, just those "special" stitches, ect along with notes about them. I also want to want to fix up a journal for all my beloved collections. I will show these later.

The Legend of the Silver Pine Cone

There once lived a poor family without enough food to eat or enough wood for their fire. The mother decided to go into the forest to search for pine cones. She was planning to use the pine cones to build a fire for her family, and she was also hoping she could sell some of them to get money to buy food.

After walking for hours, the mother finally reached the forest and started gathering pine cones into her basket. Suddenly, she heard a voice say, "Why are you stealing my pine cones?" With that, an elf appeared beside her.

She explained her sad story to the elf. With a crooked smile, the elf said, "Go into the next forest. The pine cones there are much better."

Hesitantly, the mother set off to the next forest, which was even farther away. When she reached it, she was very tired. She leaned against a tree and sat her basket on the ground.

No sooner had she set down her basket, and dozens of pine cones started falling to the ground. Filled with renewed energy, she gathered all the pine cones into her basket and returned home.

Tired again, once she returned home, she set down the basket for a moment on her doorstep. When she looked down at the basket of pine cones, they had all turned to silver.

The family would never be poor again.

Because of this legend, many people believe that a silver pine cone is lucky. It is customary to keep one on your dresser or hearth to make sure good fortune comes your way.

*I would like to find It's A Wonderful Life by the Sampler Girl in my stocking!"

Thank you for coming by to see me today! I enjoy your visits and comments so much! It means alot to me to share my love of collections, photography, needlework, cooking and more with you!