Cross Stitch and Flowers

Hi there cloud friends!  I just looked at my header, I had better get busy and change it quickly! Oh well, tomorrow will have to do.  I have some cross stitch and some very pretty flowers to share.  All is well here, our 80's are gone and the very typical cool damp weather has returned, my garden and I are very happy.  I have really enjoyed stitching on the vine next to the big house.  I had to do lots of careful counting but I was ready for that after all the house stitching.  I'm also showing you the bag that I sent away to Faye at the "Carolina Stitcher."  She did a beautiful job changing my simple design into a fun bag!  As I have told you before, finishing is not really my thing so the bag was just a bit too much!

 Here we have Barbara Ana's " Mary Pepper". Notice the pretty gold color on the top.  The entire bag is lined with the same gold fabric.  It matches the stitching so well.  I can't wait to put some bittersweet in it this Fall.  Thank you Faye for the wonderful work!

 I totally changed all the colors on the vine except the green.  The DMC colors were not to my liking as charted, so I switched. Some are DMC and the others are Gentle Arts.  I first chose the GA Gingersnap and then coordinated  the other two orange colors to it.

 It's almost as big as the house!

 These are my DH's alliums.  He planted them last Fall .  They are about 5 inches across.

I will close with this lovely peony!  Thanks so much for joining me today. Have a terrific Memorial Day week-end if you live here in the US.  Please take time to remember why we celebrate this day.

The House is Finished!

Hi there cloud friends!  I have been a very bad blogger and just not kept up with posting.  I have no real excuse! However, I have definitely done quite a bit of stitching.  I have always stitched one thing at a time.  That has changed for sure!  I got the idea of decorating with my patriotic things from Memorial Day to the 4th of July.  That way I will enjoy them longer. When I put things up for the 4th, they seemed to need to come down rather quickly and I love the patriotic colors. Well, I decided to make some little patriotic pillows for my antique wooden bowl.  I have 5 finished or at least the stitching is finished.  I ironed them all yesterday so now I need to get the real finishing done. I plan to add a few each year. That's not the big news!  The big news is that I have finished the very big house on Plum Street's A Ghoultide Welcome.  That vine on the left is really fun to stitch but I have to pay close attention!! I have also added a few pics from my garden.  We have been quite busy with that as we failed to get a lot done last Fall with my accident.  I hope all is well with you all and Spring is being kind.  But from your posts, I know that is not true everywhere.  We are having a very warm , dry Spring.  We are already watering!

 As I mentioned before, that house is 81 stitches wide! I am changing most of the colors in the big plant on the left.  The chart calls for NPI silks.  They are beautiful but have gotten very expensive.  I did not like the DMC equivalents at all.  So I'm going on my own.  The main orange that I am using is Gingersnap by Gentle Arts.  I am building all the other colors around that one.  The greens are fine so far. The house is Onyx by WDW. All the little stars are done in the colors suggested on the chart.

 I love this dainty little iris.  I can't get any more of these as the nursery where I bought it has gone out of business.

 

A few years ago I saw this iris root at the local Fred Meyers( kind of like a Walmart).  I bought it for 50% off.  This is three years later.  I finally saw these lovely blooms.  Patience payed off!

This beauty is my favorite.  Right now it has nine blooms with still more buds to come.

I hope you all have a terrific week-end!  We are suppose to cool down and get some rain.  That is good news!  Thanks for joining me today.

Tulip Festival

Hi there cloud friends.  Today I want to share some pictures we took last week when we went to the Tulip Festival.  Normally, this festival is held during the entire month of April. This year everything has been so very early that most of  the tulips are gone now.  We were lucky to get up there before the heat that we are now having.  This week has broken all the records for temps over 80 during the month of April.  That's just too hot for the tulips.
I have been working on lots of stitching but that's for another post.  I hope you enjoy the tulips!

 The fields look like a rainbow on the ground.

 

 There is a wonderful garden demonstrating all the different kinds of tulips.

 The garden also mixes the tulips with other pretty Spring bulbs.

Thanks for joining me today.  I hope you are all experiencing a nice spring if it is that season in your part of the world!

A Cross Stitch Update!

Hi there cloud friends!  Thanks so much for all the sweet things you said about my family.  I am really missing them.  The good thing is we have had a very busy week!  The weather has been very nice and we have worked in the garden a lot.  After breaking that vertebrae and the surgery, the garden was really ignored last Fall.  So now we have a lot to clean up. But it's great to be able to do it and enjoy the outdoors!
I do have several cross stitch things to share.

Here is the framed Ann Topley by Scarlett House.  It looks very different from the one on the chart as it was stitched on a very dark fabric.  I do like the way this turned out.  It seems bright and cheerful to me.

 The frame is from Valley House Primitives.  If you have followed this blog, you know that Janet is my all time favorite frame builder.  Janet and her DH run this wonderful business.  The frames are just perfect for samplers or anything else you might stitch. Plus Janet is very helpful!  This is a new design she was working on.  I love it. It reminds me of the old frames made of tiger maple.  Now to find a special place to hang it. Thanks so much Janet for all your help!

 Here is my impulsive project.  I saw the design and decided to get it going at once!! I usually stitch on one thing at a time .  I think I am changing.  I am still doing my monthly Santa and one Halloween ornament plus the long term project. However, I fell in love with the pretty Fall colors and I have wanted a bag for quite a long time.  This seems the right project for the bag.

 Sorry for the wrinkles!

This is "A Ghoultide Welcome"  by Plum Street Samplers.  I have nick-named it the monster house.  It is 81 stitches across.  This is the long term project.  When I fly, I like to have a very simple design to stitch.  See those big solid spaces at the top and above the last row of windows, that was the airplane project.  I figured that I stitched 404 stitches each way on the trip.  The good news is that the solid rows are now done for the house! Actually that's not true as I still have the roof to stitch!

Well, thanks so much for joining me today.  Have a wonderful week-end!

A Visit!

We just spent a wonderful week in Alabama with our son and his family.  We had not seen them for over a year because of my back accident.  That's way too long!  Especially when we have a 10 year old grandson and a 2 1/2 year old granddaughter.  We also got to know our wonderful DIL and her son so much better.  We could not ask for a sweeter and more thoughtful DIL and her son was just amazing with the two small  children.  We also had lots of time for quality talks with our son as he took 4 days off to spend with us and the family.
If you just read this blog to see the stitching then come back tomorrow.  I have lots to show, but since I think of this blog as a kind of  diary, this one is all about family.

 I have a picture of my DH and Caleb when he was just about this age.  I'm going to have this made into a picture that I can frame and put it next to the one of Grandpa and Caleb.

 Our wonderful DIL, Kacey, and Hannah.

 Ian and Hannah.  This shows the kind of big brother he is to the little ones.

 

 Sweet Little Hannah!

 Very special Caleb! 

 This is the only picture I could find of our son Jeff, not a great photo but it will have to do. 

Just a cute picture!

Thanks so much for joining me.  My next post will be really full of stitching!

Tulips

Happy Spring and to those who celebrate it, a very Happy Easter!!!

It's been awhile!

Hi there cloud friends!  I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted.  We have been busy.  I blame it all on the PT I have to do each day.  I do exercises for about 30 minutes every day.  Every other day I add about 20 more minutes.  That plus walking on the tread mill or outside for 30 minutes a day.  Yes , it is all helping my back more slowly than I would like.  Considering what could have happened with this type of injury, I know that I am very lucky and try not to complain.  Well, on to more interesting things.
I am keeping up with the Santas. I even have March finished.  I decided that I want to have at least 5 little pillows for my bowl by summer so I have added that to the mix.  They will be patriotic/summer designs. I have started Plum Street's " A Ghoultide Welcome"  for my long term design. That is quite a project.  The house alone is 81 stitches across!  Finally, I have added some pretty flowers that are blooming right now. 

 This is Happy 4th by Threadwork Primitives.  I used linen and thread that I had in my stash. The reds were DMC 355 and 356. I'm not sure about the blue and brown. I put them back in the stash already.

 This is by Little House Needleworks, the Sampler Tree Ornament Series. This one is called 

"Deer Valley Inn."

 

 Here we have a Santa from Book #36.  I changed the color of his suit and put in  snowflakes instead of the date and an anchor.

 The garden is really looking like Spring.

I love this double Hellebore.

I hope you are all doing well and  thank you so much for joining me today!!

Cross Stitch and Flowers

Hi there cloud friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We had a nice quiet one here in the very rainy Pacific NW.  As my title says, the rain has been good for flowers.  Plus the temps have been fairly warm(50's) so things are starting to grow.  After my PT 30 minute walk, I treat myself to a stroll through the yard.
I stitched my second Santa. As I said in my last post, I am trying to do one a month for the tree that I bought.  I am very close to finishing Ann Topley 1802 by The Scarlett House.  It looks very different from the original as I did not use the suggested dark linen.  However, the colors are nice and soft.  I think they would stand out more on the dark fabric but I do like the way this looks.  Ann used lots of colors.  Who knows, maybe she just had scraps way back in 1802!  I am thinking of my next big project.  I am enjoying the rotation of 2 small designs each month (one Halloween and one Santa)  and one big project to work on when the small ones are finished.

 When I said soft colors, they are not this soft.  It is so hard to get a good photo when it is so gray outside! Just a few more days and Ann will be finished.

 I love the rocking horse in this design. 

 That hyacinth flower is coming out of the ground!

 Tulips!

 I have never seen these little guys this early!!!

 Flower buds, not just stems!

 Of course, the beautiful Hellebore's are starting to bloom.  That's more what I expect this time of year.

 This should be lovely in a few days.

 Here's one of my Valentine gifts from my DH.  I look out this window every day.  It is right by the kitchen sink.  We went shopping for these Primroses last week and he did the planting.  I smile every time I look out of that window!

Thank you so much for joining me today.  I hope you all have a great week.  Here in the US , Mon. is a holiday so enjoy President's Day!!

Another Catch Up!

Hi there cloud friends!  It seems that I am always catching up these days.  If you are in the East, I hope you have managed to stay warm and safe.  I heard how many people died of heart attacks shoveling snow.  I am thankful we have very little snow out here, at least  in the lowlands where we live.  My DH would be one of the ones out there shoveling like crazy.  We are just dealing with lots of rain-no surprise there.  It's what Seattle in known for, that and coffee.
Last week we stopped in a shop in town and found a cute Christmas tree for 60% off.  I thought it would make a great Santa tree so I am stitching one PS Santa a month.  It will take awhile to fill the tree, but in the mean time , I can put other things on the tree with the Santas. I'm also still working on Ann Topley 1802.  I will stitch a Santa at the beginning of the month and then go back to Ann for the remainder of the month. At least that's the plan for now.

 Here is the tree.  Sorry for the mess, it is already in the attic waiting for next Christmas!

 This is my second Santa.  It is from Book No. 20 "St. Nicholas". I changed the red and the gold.  The red is 3777 and the gold is 437.  I also changed a few of the minor colors. I used a small piece of linen from my stash. I'm not sure what it is.

 I have most of the letters stitched.  This design has a lot of different colors. I am enjoying the stitching but still not sue about all the colors.

 I picked this up at the grocery store for $7 after Christmas. These two flowers are worth that money!

I closed with a mountain view last post.  This time I will close with a beach post.  We had a nice sunny day last week and part of my PT is walking for 30 minutes.  This was the perfect place to take that walk.

Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you are all having a great week, stay warm and safe.