Stitching, Flowers, and a Really Big Boat!!

Hi Dear Cloud Friends, I  hope all is going well in your parts of the world.  Thank goodness we have had a break in the heat.  With lots of clouds, the temps have been in the beautiful 70's! However, more heat is expected by this week-end! Still no rain and the fires continue to be a problem in  Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
I am still working on "For Thine is the Trick or Treat".  I am really enjoying it as I was in the mood for both a Quaker  and a Halloween.  I may break my pattern of doing one design at a time and start a few small ones for Fall.  By the way, the Hallmark shop had Fall candles and Halloween cards! Yea!  I always feel guilty when I feel this way as my dear Mom always told us that it was wrong to wish your life away!!
My last pictures are of the aircraft carrier "Stennis"  We had our duty at the lighthouse last Fri. and this huge Navy ship was going past and out to sea. It was fun to see.

 I decided to use gold on some of the stars and the moons, white on the skeletons, orange(a nice subtle shade of orange) on the pumpkins, and all the rest black.

 The lilies are now blooming in the garden.

 My DH is about 6 ' so look how tall that plant is growing!!

 This year I have fallen in love with annual rubeckias.  If we have a mild winter some will come back.  But they are worth planting even if they don't return.

 This one came back this year!

 The Stennis!

 I wanted to show you how huge this boat is so I used that good sized sailboat to compare with the Stennis.

Thank you so much for joining me and have a great week!

Happy July 4th!

         ABIGAIL by BLACKBIRD DESIGNS

Happy 4th of July!  I absolutely love these word of John Adams!

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

Have a wonderful day!

A Finish and a Start and I'm Way Too Hot!!

Well cloud friends, I could devote this entire post to telling you how very HOT and DRY it is here but instead, I will show you my latest stitching and some flowers from my garden. However, please do keep the poor folks that live east of the Cascades and are in the triple digits and living in fear of fire  in your thoughts and prayers!
 I finished " For Spacious Skies" by Heartstring Samplery a few days ago. The only change I made was to the house.  The chart called for WDW Schneckley.  I thought that color looked a bit like a log cabin and I wanted it to look like a small house on Nantucket.  So I changed the floss color to galvanized.  It is a very pretty grey.  I really like the vine on this design.  I'm still not sure how I will to finish it,  maybe just a small pillow. 
Really hating the weather, I have enjoyed reading a few blogs that are talking about Fall!  So that inspired me to look at my Halloween charts. Ranae at "Stitch by Stitch" and Jo at "Serendipitous Stitching" have both inspired me to stitch, "Thine is the Trick or Treat."  I  have had that chart for a few years.  So now, as I sit on my deck trying to catch a breeze, that is what I'm stitching.

 Please excuse the wrinkles! I forgot to mention that I put soft gold in the windows.  A cottage on Nantucket needs candle light even in the summer!

 Off to a good start.  I'm using Lakeside Linen Vintage Sand Dune 32 count and lots of black. I'm trying to decide if I should stitch the stars gold and the pumpkins a lovely shade of orange or leave it all black.  What do you think?

 My dahlias usually bloom late July and August.  As you can see, they are already blooming.

 There is usually a lavender festival in Sequim in mid-July.  I wonder if the lavender will be all bloomed out by then?!

 The sea of blue!

 And white

and pink.( I do love that little blue center.)

Thanks so much for joining me today.  I hope to get one more post up before the 4th to share all my patriotic stitching! Have a wonderful week!

Hi Cloud Friends!( Remember that's the name my DH has given to all of you).  I hope it has been a nice week-end.  I am sure the weather has gone completely crazy.  I know rain exists because I have read about it on your blogs.  I sure haven't seen it around here for so long!!-Yes this really is the Seattle area!  Everything is turning brown unless it gets watered.  That ,plus our temps are ranging 10 degrees above normal.  I am watering my garden and that's about it.  So you will see some of the flowers that are blooming now. 
I'm still working on  For Spacious Skies by Beth Twist of Heartstring Samplery.  I have made lots of changes to the cottage.  I want it to look like a Nantucket cottage so I have gone from browns to greys.  I will most likely finish it this week. 
I also want to wish all the fathers a very happy day.  My DH has gone to the US Open at Chamber's Bay so he will not be around at all.  I hope he has lots of fun.  I put the photo of the St. Francis in my garden on the blog today.  This is to honor the memory of my wonderful Dad who always had one in every garden that  he grew!

 I did lots more on the house last night.   The grey does show up better than on this photo.

 I love day lilies.  However, we have been hit with a very nasty bug, the hemerocallis gall midge.  It deforms the buds.  These two aren't as affected as some of my other day lilies.

 My DH has a great sense of humor.  He saw this little guy in a garden shop and just had to add it to the garden!

 I think this has been the best year for the Mock Orange.  It is almost finished blooming and I will miss it's wonderful scent!

I love you Dad and I will always miss you.

Thanks for joining me today and have a wonderful week!

A Catch Up !

Greetings Cloud Friends!  I hope all is going well with each of you.  We are still very warm and sunny.  As you might have heard, the US Open Golf Tournament is here this week and week-end.  The DH has tickets for the final round on Sun.  I will be home sitting on my lovely cool deck stitching, no golf crowds for me! I have head some people say that they are worried about the world seeing how beautiful it is out here.  The golf course is along Puget Sound , a lovely location.  That plus the week-end is to be sunny and warm, dispelling the myth that it rains all the time up here!
Anyway on to stitching.  I finished ,"In Full Glory" by BBD.  I used linen and threads that I had so I didn't follow the chart. The great thing was, it fit perfectly into an antique frame that the DH and I had bought several months ago.  It is another walnut with a small black inner border.  I love it. 
Since I am still in a patriotic mood, I started Heartstring Samplery's "For Spacious Skies".  I love the big flowers on this design.
I have also added a few pictures of our house on Flag Day and the hydrangea bushes.

 I can't wait till this is all blue!!

Thanks for joining me! Have a wonderful week!

Cross stitch and Lighthouse Views

Hi to all my cloud friends!! I hope you are all getting ready to have a wonderful week-end!  Here in the Pacific NW, the weather is just incredible, maybe even a bit warm for me.  I love the 70's but the 80's are getting a bit warm. I finished Miss Mary Jane this week and started a small patriotic piece by BBD.  Today the DH and I were on duty at the lighthouse.  We do this once a month from April to Sept.  What a beautiful day at the beach! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

 A finished Mary Jane Smith!

 I did change a small portion.  Where you see my initials there was a very strange looking girl, no arms.  Plus it was all in over one.  I didn't think it was worth that effort.  I do like the way the initials look in that small space.

 This is my current project.  I'll have photos in a day or so.

 I stitched this a long time ago.  I think I will get around to finishing it this year.

 Welcome to the Point No Point Lighthouse!

 I have shown lots of pictures of the lighthouse so today I am focusing on the drift wood furniture and sculptures by the Keeper's House. We have no idea who has done this work.  You can rent half of this house. What a great place to spend a hot week-end!

 Room for a snack or an adult beverage!

 Do you see the eye on what I think might be a  porcupine??!!?

 Mount Rainier.  It is quite a treat to see the mountain from this far away!

 Makes me want to sing,"Oh beautiful for spacious skies......"

 View from the door

 View from a window! I'd say not a bad place to spend a Fri. afternoon!!!!

Thanks so much for joining me and have a great week-end!

A Gift and Some Stitching

I very quietly celebrated a birthday last week and my DD made a wonderful gift for me.  She had been experimenting with copying NW native designs in wool.  The raven is a very important symbol to the NW tribes.  She presented me with the most beautiful raven! 

Isn't it just lovely !  I am very proud of her talent as an artist.  Of course, this is a one-of-a-kind.

Now on to some stitching.  I am really getting close to finishing Mary.  I was in a mood to do something more patriotic but decided to finish her first as I am within a week of being done. She is growing on me. I am now doing some of the over one verse-not my favorite part!

As you can see, I have the red flowers in the middle to finish but decided to get to that over one verse.

Finally, here are a few flowers blooming in the garden right now.

 

 

Thanks so much for joining me and have a wonderful week!

Memorial Day 2015

Many of us in the U.S. are taking time today to think about the many men and women  and their families who have sacrificed so much for our nation.  While it is a time to remember those who did not come home, it is a time for our family to be very thankful for the one who did come home, Major Jeffrey Stvan.

 Jeff flew 2 tours in Iraq in  a Blackhawk helicopter.

 About a year ago with our grand daughter Hannah.

 A few years ago when he became Major with Caleb.

 Last Fall enjoying some football together.

 Last July he married Kacey  and gained another son Ian.

Thanks for joining me today.  Tomorrow, I will do a catch up post on stitching.