Thanksgiving Cross Stitch

I hope everyone has had a good week! First, I want to thank everyone who looks at the blog and a special thanks to those who comment!  I appreciated the kind things you said about the November Word Play that I did for my DIL.  Today I decided to show my Thanksgiving cross stitch projects.  I didn't do one for myself this year because I've been working hard on the BBD"Christmas Garden".  I'll do a catch up on that one tomorrow. Personally, I don't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  I think I just want to stretch out fall a little longer.  I have lots of dried gourds and I put them all around for the fall decorating.  I also have some favorite Thanksgiving  Cross stitch that I put up each year.

 This has the words of my favorite Thanksgiving Hymn. I have gone to Church on Thanksgiving Eve just to sing this song!

 This is a BBD design that I pop into an antique frame(the same frame I use for Witchy on Halloween).For some reason the colors are much paler than in the actual cross stitch.

This is another frame I pop things in and out of.  It contains the PS monthly designs. I haven't done all of them, just the ones I like.

 This is another old BBD.  I love that frame.  We got it several years ago at an antique show.  I don't think it is that old , but it is solid tiger maple!

 Here's a little girl given to me by my DD.

A lovely Woolpet pumpkin!

 Another wonderful design done by my DD.

 I'll end this post with pictures of our pyracantha.  I read that the best way to age a new house is with vines, etc. on the walls of the house.  This covers almost our entire garage wall.

Such pretty red berries!  This will be good winter food for the birds.

I'm hoping you all have a wonderful week-end!  We will be getting lots of rain!  Sounds like a wonderful week-end for stitching!

This and That!

Thanks to all of you who looked at the photos of my final garden walk of the fall.  It's a good thing we took that walk.  It has turned cold and the rain has returned.  We had our first heavy frost on Sat. morning. Today, it has drizzled all day.  The SBA and I had to take our walk at the mall!! Yesterday we went to a nearby antique show.  It was so crowded!! I think that means they need to have a few more antique shows up this way.  The SBA got a mug for his collection and I bought a small primitive tin piece.  I'll show you them and then I'll show the cross stitch I did for my wonderful DIL. Hope it has been a good week-end for all of you!!

A nice stoneware mug.  It has the old type handle according to the SBA.( I have no great knowledge of mugs.)

Here is my little tin piece.  They called it a tin collection box.  I put nuts in it for fall decorating.  I can see it with greens for winter.

Here is the November Word Play.  It is one of the 12 Word Plays done by Brenda Gervais .  This was a fun stitch!! I used the recommended floss but changed the linen.  I used 32 ct. antique ivory.  I also made it into a picture instead of a pillow.  You can't really tell from the picture here, but the frame picked up the Walnut floss perfectly. A lot of the words were stitched in that color floss.  As I have said before, Thanksgiving is my DIL's favorite holiday so that is why I picked this one.  I have floss left so I think I'll stitch one for myself!

Brena did a wonderful job choosing the colors for this design.  They are perfect for fall.

Have a wonderful week!!!!

The Last of Fall in the Garden

Thanks to all of those who said such nice things about my post of my Grandson in his Halloween costume.  Today, I'm going to show you what will probably be the final fall pictures of our yard and garden.  It has gotten colder.  The price we pay for the beautiful blue sky you see in the first photo is cold temps.  The weatherman says it is coming down from the Gulf of Alaska-that even sounds cold!! I hope you are all going to have a super week-end.

 This is a crab apple called "Golden raindrops".

 Here we have the Fuyu persimmon.  The fruits even taste good when very ripe.

The last of the hydrangeas!

 This dahlia is still blooming.  We have not had a frost yet, maybe tonight.

 Two of my favorite trees.  This is the parrotia persica, also known as the parrot tree for it's beautiful color.

The always beautiful Sweet Gum tree.

Take care and stay warm wherever you are!

Oh dear, One more Halloween!

I just can't resist this post!  Today we got the Halloween pictures form our Grandson's Halloween.  He lives far across the country so it is very special to get these photos!

 Iron Man!

This was at a Pumpkin Farm.

Caleb and Dad carving a pumpkin!

Where are those two front teeth??!!

A Cross Stitch Update

I'm finally getting around to doing a blog post.  It has taken me two days to take down the Halloween decorations. Thanks to all of you who looked and commented on my two newest witches.  While busy with Halloween my fingers have not been idle.  I have been busy stitching the BBD, "Christmas Garden."  Last night I finished the motifs in the top part.  I'm stitching this on 32 ct. Belfast linen, antique ivory.  That is my go to linen .  As I have complained to you before, I live nowhere near a LNS.  I have to order most things online.  I have a hard time with linen because it is hard to get a true color on the computer.  I find this color and count works for many things. I like to stitch on 32 count.  That count doesn't strain my "old" eyes too much.  Any way here is the update.  Tonight I hope to finish the berries(or flowers?) down the left side.  Then I 'll get back to the next group of motifs.
 I have already voted as our county is totally by mail.  I'm so tired of this election.  I have strong ideas about the way I hope things go, but all the polls etc. have me tired.  (The dear sweet SBA is a news junky so I hear a lot of the news). No matter what happens, I hope the best for our country.

 Here is the entire top part. Much prettier than you see here.

 I used all the suggested floss except the red.  I had a problem with the red running.  With a sampler this big, I want to be able to wash it when I'm finished.  I chose my favorite two reds , DMC 355 and 356.  I'm just using them where I think they will look good.

This center motif took me three evenings.

 I have fallen in love with the color Heirloom Gold by GA.  It is such a rich looking gold.

Lastly, the SBA and I had our coffee on the front porch this morning.  We saw this web with the rain drops and thought it was so pretty! Have a wonderful week!

Final Halloween Post (Maybe)

Thanks to all of you who wished us a Happy Halloween!  Those of you who are having the big day today due to bad old Sandy, I hope your day is full of spooky fun. It rained all day and then about 5 it cleared up for a few hours.  That gave the children time to get in some good trick-or-treating.  We have a tradition at our house.  Our DD and SIL come over for dinner and then we all sit out on the very decorated porch and give the goodies to the kids.  As you know if you follow this blog, I am the lucky mother of the designer of Woolpets.  She is also a sweet wonderful daughter.  She has made several witches for my collection.  This year was no exception.  I thought I might be through blogging about Halloween, but I just have to show you my newest absolutely adorable Woolpet  witch.  Also the SBA and I were in town for a walk and saw that a shop had Jim Shore Halloween things for 30% off.  Of course we had to look and found a lovely lady to bring home.

I just hung her on the cupboard over the village.  I looked again and thought that was the absolutely perfect spot  for her.  She is just the right size to be flying over the village.

Isn't she adorable!!!!

 Guess she has had her treats and is leaving the village.

 I love crows and ravens so this was the one I chose.

I hope you all have a wonderful  week-end! Thanks so much for taking a look!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

 THE PUMPKINS ARE READY !!

THE CALDRON IS WAITING !

 

 THE WITCHES ARE SMILING!!

LET THE TRICK-OR-TREATERS COME!

HAVE A VERY HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

A little bit more Halloween!

First, I want to thank everyone who enjoyed our Olympic walk.  It has been raining ever since so I'm glad we took that walk.  Also, I wanted to add that my thoughts and prayers are going out to all the folks affected by this awful storm! I hate to see all that damage.  It was a bit like that last summer, (but on a lower scale) when the news kept showing us all the damage from the fires in Eastern Washington. When nature gets wound up, it is very scary! On to a lighter note! When we lived in Kentucky, we went to many antique shows in Tennessee, Ohio, and of course Kentucky.  We acquired some great hand blown jars.  They are very prominent in our kitchen. I love putting seasonal things in the jars.  I used to put candy but that was way too tempting for the SBA and me. Now I have fun looking for non-tasty items! Being the Halloween lover that I am, they get quite decorated for the holiday.

 Here are the first three.  On the far right you can see a beautiful celery vase given to us by my sister and brother-in-law.  All of the things you see are hand blown and quite old.

 See the Jack-or-lantern and spider web pasta.(Have to cook it to eat it!)

This is my newest addition.  It is some sort of pasta called forest couscous.  The minute I saw it I knew it belonged in one of my Halloween jars.

 This is my very special mustard jar, probably from 1850 or earlier.  It has black, orange , and yellow pop corn-not popped of course!!

 More pumpkins and bats.

Bright orange lentils!!

Wonderful spooky black rice!! I love it!!

 Nearby I have a great brass hand punched strainer,  little wax witch looks good hanging in front of it.

This is not old but from a special trip we took.  We went to Leland ,MI one fall. This is a Sue Bolt tile that I just had to have.

Well, tomorrow is the big day!  It has been pouring all day and they say tomorrow might be a repeat.  However, it might slow down by evening and just a few showers are predicted.  I have my pumpkins lit and the caldron ready for misting.  I sure hope the kids will come.  If not, oh dear, the SBA and I will have bags of candy to eat!!!!!!

A Day Trip to the Olympic Foothills

I'm so happy that many of you enjoyed seeing the Halloween village! Thank you so much for the comments and thanks to those of you who just look! Today's blog is about a little trip we took on Thurs.  The weather lady said that it would be our last sunny day for awhile so we decided to go for a hike in an area that is about 45 minutes from home.  It's not too strenuous and we get a nice bit of exercise! You can tell from the photos that we don't have the beautiful colors that you see in the East, but all the evergreens will still be beautiful when the leaves are all gone.  I hope you enjoy the walk!

 I couldn't resist this little pumpkin patch!

Just off the Hood Canal Bridge!

We saw several small water falls.

 You know you're in the NW when the trees are covered with Moss!

 A typical big leaf maple.

 Another you know you're in the NW when you can't travel too far without seeing espresso!( Thank Goodness)

  I hope you are all having a wonderful week-end.  We will be thinking of you in the NE as this storm gets closer!