A June Hello

     Actually approaching the middle of June, and seems it is going by so fast.  I hear people not only planning Father's Day get togethers, but July 4th. plans as well.  It will be here before we know it! It has been so hot and humid here.  We did finally get some much needed rain here through this past week.  We could still use more.
     I did bring in my first zinnias this week.  Had to stick a Queen Anne's Lace in with them.  Love them both.  The zinnias go in every year to carry on a tradition that was my grandfathers.  No one went to his house without leaving with a bouquet of zinnias.  They last a good long time once picked.  Of course the Queen Anne's Lace is a wildflower, and who doesn't love a pretty wildflower!

Here's a little different shot of my Queen Anne's Lace in our backyard.  I love looking up at them as well as watching them sway in the breezes.

     I finished another motif on my cross stitch piece, and have started another.  I decided that if nothing else, I wanted that one hour each morning for my stitching.  I think it really does help me get off to a good start, and I feel that I've accomplished something.  Here's the motif I finished..... I'm still loving the whole piece.  Love the colors also.

     I love the wildflowers that just show up, unattended each and every year, and I would love to start a wildflower garden in our back yard.  I see tall purple ones in bloom right now, and need to find out what they are.  They just may be the first in the new spot.

     I'm going to let ya'll go for this time around.  Not a lot going on here at this time, but do want to let ya'll know that I'm thinking of you.  I pray that you're all well and stitching up a few little storms out there.  Or doing other things that you're enjoying.

     Keep in mind to not only see the colors around you, but actually look into them and try to feel them.  If you love them, you can feel them.

     By the way.....I'm so pleased that I still have sweet friends here that are following my blog, and I appreciate all comments.  Thank you dear friends.

More

     I just wanted to post a couple of pictures this morning.  I have more done than the picture showed yesterday.  It was an older picture.  So here is the piece now, and at this point, I have 39 hours time into it.  I really love this piece.  I did it once before as a gift, and this too is for a gift.  The colors show very little difference between themselves.  I have changed a couple on my own.  Also, the light when I took these two pictures wasn't all that bright.  What I have done thus far though.

     Actually going to a water park with my sister and her family today.  Hoping to escape the heat for a few hours.  It will be fun and refreshing I think.

     Just a few pictures of some things in my garden.  The Queen Anne's Lace is a native plant of course, but I always make sure I have some.

     Ya'll have a wonderful and blessed day.  Enjoy every minute of it and remember that "If you love colors, you can feel them." Love to you all.

Back Once Again Even

     To each and every one of my faithful followers I want to say,

It has been months since I've posted as you can see by the dates on my posts.  I've come to realize that though I'm still the person I've always been, I'm needing to slow things down a bit.  My health is fine and has been, but I'm no longer fill with the energy I once had.  There is still every bit as much to do during every day, but more and more is being left undone.  I've heard people joke about their get up and go, has got up and left.  I always thought it was funny.  At 73 though, I have to face the fact that I'm no longer the energetic person I was.  I hate this about me, but that's the way it is now and probably will be in the future.  I've ignored housework.  Shopping.  Yard work, and even a lot of the things that I love.  Such as my needlework of all kinds.  I have a couple of things in the works but it seems like it's taking me forever to get back in the groove.  Now that is indeed sad.  I will keep trying.  If any one else has been experiencing this and have found things that help, please let me know.

We've had a box turtle in our yard for the last few days, and our new pup really doesn't know what to think of it.  We've found that the turtle loves cantaloupe and watermelon. First the turtle here.

Beautiful markings and only about eight inch long total.  Now for our new pup, Guthrie. 

He's our little eight pound Yorkypoo that we got from a local ASPCA.  Stole our hearts and he knows it.  Doing pretty good with the potty training.  He already sits and stays on command.  So now we have two adopted dogs and one adopted cat.  Love them all.

I've been working some on a pullover summer top for a birthday gift.  Need to get with it though as the birthday is right around the corner and I still have quite a bit to do.  That thing that I was talking about earlier, creeps up on me in the early evening, and I just don't seem to have the strength to pick it up.  LOL  Sounds like a sad situation! The red is actually brighter than what it looks here.  Loving the shell stitch that it calls for.

Another thing that I've had in the works for so long is this cross stitch.  I do love working on it with the colors it calls for and all.  It calls my name, and I've been ignoring it! I love cross stitching as you know.  Just need to get back into the groove.  This too is for a gift.

It has been very, very hot and humid here, so outside work is at the minimum anyway.  Must say though that the three raised beds that we have are looking nice with the herbs, veggies and flowers we've put in.  I love working with God's earth, and He has been kind enough to give us a small portion of it.  He is good all the time.  Hope to make some fig jam and can some green beans this year.

It looks like only seven more followers to go here and I'll be drawing a winner and shipping off the giveaway box.  No, I haven't forgotten and still look forward to drawing that name.  So, if you haven't entered to win it, please do.

That's all for now my dear friends and followers.  I do hope to make this the start of a permanent comeback to my blog.  I enjoy blogging and I love meeting new friends.  Love each and every one of you.  So stay well and remember to "feel the colors".

Another Special Giveaway!

     Nancy over at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is doing it again! This time it's even more than usual if you can believe that! She gives away so very much! This giveaway is called,

Be Ye Thankful Give-away, enter NOW!

You need to go on over and check out the rules, and good luck!

Victorian Motto Shoppe

     Is having another beautiful giveaway.  Lovely threads.  Please go over and check it out.

!

victorianmottosamplershoppe.blogspot.com

Now there's some beautiful colors

Down to Georgia and Home Again!

     We took a much to short trip down to Florida to see a big part of our family there.  Amazing how the kids all grow so quickly.  Here are some pictures below.  Families are amazing!

     I did a lot of crocheting on the afghan I'm working on while on the road.  I never know if working on something or reading is going to work for me while riding as at times, just checking our location on a road map will make me feel dizzy and queasy.  All worked out well this time and here's a picture of the afghan so you can see the colors.  Not the usual colors I would choose or work with, but I wanted something for the porch that would brighten it up come spring.  I think this will do the trick!

Just an easy shell stitch.  Easy to work with and using knitting worsted.  I haven't done much crocheting in quite some time, so this is something different.  I miss my cross stitching, but I do have one piece started.  Just haven't picked it up in a couple of weeks !at least.

     I've been busy throwing away, sorting and cleaning out still.  I've gotten a lot accomplished.  A lot of things organized, but let me say this! I have already found that being organized hasn't helped me find everything.  I have a pair of mag eyes that I love using when working with tiny stitches.  All my cross stitch things are organized and put away where each belongs.  I haven't found my mag eyes anywhere! I wound up ordering another pair before we left for Georgia!

     I've also been enjoying changing our home somewhat.  Loving the farm and primitive look.  Everywhere I turn, I see things that I just have to have, and it's hard telling myself I can't! You understand I'm sure! LOL.  Doing a room at a time, but have been working on our bedroom the last week or so.  Loving the comfy look and feeling.

     Still have lots of large branches and lots of debris in the area from the two storms.  It's a shame what people have lost, and continue to recognize how much God was watching over this family.  I happened to see this below, at the end of our drive and just had to take a picture.  Being Halloween and all, I'm not sure if this is what's left of a downed tree or twin goblins!

     I should let ya'll go for now.  I pray that tonight and tomorrow will be full of blessings for all.  Be well and safe, and don't forget to "feel the colors".

     

   
 
   

Old Folks In a Tizzy!

     Yes! Bill and I in a tizzy indeed! Nothing bad at all and as a matter of fact, many good things put us there! It started the first of June when we decided to spend some time in NH and Maine.  We have a son and a beautiful daughter-in-law up there.  A beautiful daughter and her significant other in Vermont.  Two grandsons and a dear sweet young lady who is engaged to one of them.  Last but not least, we have our great grand, Isaiah.  Here he is here with his daddy, Dylan.  Needless to say, we had so much fun and spent lots of time with everyone.  Enjoying a beautiful lake and mountains.

   
     New England is a wonderful area to find lots of classic and antique pieces, so we visited many shops.  Found some beautiful pieces for excellent prices.  Also went to a lot of thrift stores and church yard sales.  Amazes me how you can walk up to a register with an armload of treasures and they say, after looking over what you have, "Ummm.  How does five dollars sound! s to you!".   I got into that kind of buying real quick like!
     We enjoyed church at what we still call our home church in Milton, NH.  Nute Ridge Bible Chapel is full of wonderful brothers and sisters and grows in leaps and bounds.  Also went to our son and daughter-in-laws church as well in Portsmouth.  Had some wonderful Sunday fun days with lunch and fun after the church services together.
     Billy and I went skydiving for the first time ever! A tandem dive for both of us and it was amazing! I thought for sure I'd chicken out at the last minute, but we both stayed so excited.  Here are a couple pictures below.  We jumped from 14,000 feet and free fell for 15 seconds.  Dropping at a rate

of 135 miles per hour.  Dang cold up there.  Once the parachute opens you have lots of time to enjoy the view.  Beautiful mountains and lakes.  I'd do it again in a heart beat.

     We also went zip lining for the first time ever and loved it and went for several rounds of tree top adventuring.  Another couple of pictures.

     We got some mountain climbing in as well with my beautiful DAL, Liza.  She's such an amazing lady and just never stops.  God has blessed my son so much with her.

     Now for the tizzy part! Once up in Maine, the postal service didn't deliver all that was to be delivered.  Two packages, to this day has never come.  Some monthly bills that we have always paid, the day they arrive in our mail box never showed up.  The Daily Bread wasn't delivered.  So we started calling back here and checking with the postal workers up there, and in the meantime, calling our utility companies down here and paying the bills online.

     Though we loved the house where we were staying, it was like we had a hard time actually ourselves enjoying it completely.  We tried to settle in but knew that we weren't going to be there but a few weeks.  Our normal routines got lost in all the vacationing and fun.  I know it all sounds crazy, but it's true. 
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     Once home, we went back to attend Isaiah's dedication service and had to head right back as our area was expecting Florence.  The day we arrived home, we had a mandatory evacuation and left again in less than two hours after we got here.  Praise the Lord, we were able to stay with our dear friends, Pete and Sheila in the mountains of NC. Then of course there was Michael when we got back.
     From the two storms we have just a little damage.  Insurance will cover what we need so we're very blessed compared to so many others in this area, but not this area alone.  People have lost entire homes and everything that they had in them.  They've lost automobiles.  They've lost jobs as their places of employment have been destroyed as well.  Pray for all of these people when you think of them please.

     So we're home again to stay and we now feel that we so ignored our beautiful gardens and all here.  Weeds galore and plants I'm afraid, lost for good.  I know some will be back come spring and I'm grateful for that.  We're back to our usual and what's normal for us routines, and things are now starting to feel real again.  Please don't get me wrong.  We feel so blessed that we had the opportunity to spend the summer in a beautiful area with people that we love.  I always used to think that people who could live in two different areas, depending on the time of year were so fortunate.  Now that we've had the chance to do it ourselves though, we realize that we couldn't do it without feeling like we would just be so out of it.
 
     Well, I've prattled on and on here and I'm sure you've heard enough about the wows of this old couple.  I am excited to say that next weekend, I'll be driving down to Georgia for a few days to visit and be with family.  Some I haven't seen in a good two years if not longer.  I'm looking forward to it.

     I'm doing a little crocheting.  An Afghan for next spring for our porch.  A simple shell stitch with five different colors in it.  Will post a picture when it gets some size to it.  Also working on a small cross stitch piece for a Christmas gift.  I normally work on 14 to 18 count Aida, and this is on 28 count linen over two threads as well as an area over one thread.  Quite different for me, but I am enjoying it.

     It's good to be home.  I love our porch first thing in the mornings with our cups of coffee.  I love watching the birds at our feeders that have finally all come back.  I've missed ya'll.  Stay well and safe until next time, and don't forget to "feel the colors"

       

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Giveaway

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Is having another giveaway.  As always it's a nice one.  A half yard of Linen or Aida dyed to your choice of neutrals.  Check it out to enter.

A Giveaway at Victorian Motto Sampler Shop

     Yes! Nancy is having another giveaway, and her threads are always beautiful.  You need to run over to her blog and check it out.  Beautiful charts as well.  Good luck to all who enter.
     victorianmottosamplershoppe.blogspot.com

A Little Progress

     A little progress is better than none, and I'm feeling good about my hour of stitching each morning.  I used to think that one day I could sit in my stitchy chair for as long as I wanted to and stitch for as long as I felt like it.....I must not have figured at the time that my house would continue to get dusty.  Yes.  Dust bunnies hold meetings under the beds from time to time still.  I also didn't figure in that clothes and linens would still need to be laundered.  Bathrooms would still have to be cleaned.  Floors washed.  Well.  I'm sure ya'll get it! So, I really am satisfied with the time I do get for my needlework.  Below are a couple of pictures.  The first of the piece I've been working on, and the second is to show the other houses that go with it that I have finished.

     I need to show you a few more things in our yard.  I love this time of year as it seems every day holds something brand new to discover.  One of my Clematises is loaded with buds this spring and some have just started to open.  Not all of their true colors are showing yet but they will.

Love my Wisteria.  It grows outrageously wild in our area.  Is considered a pest by many, but I have my own in my yard and can keep it in control.  The smell is delicious!

Our Egyptian Onion, or Walking Onion as some people call them are looking nice.  We started what we have of them over 20 years ago from one that we were given.  They do well no matter where we plant them.  I use them a lot in salads as well as my cooking and all.  These sit in one of my herb gardens.

     One more of a perennial type of Oxalis. Oxalis Articulata Shamrock to be exact.  Again! These aren't  fussy at all.  Plant them and they'll grow for sure.  I love the splash of bright pink here and there..

Well once again.  I need to let ya'll go.  Thanks for stopping in and come back soon.  Love every one of you.  So until next time, stay safe.  Stay well and of course.....Don't forget to  "feel the colors"

A Little Progress

     Yeap! I've gotten back into the habit of reading the Daily Bread as I have my first cup of coffee in the morning and it's good to be keeping up with it again.  I've decided that since I have that down good now, that I would add another little thing to my morning routine, and that being, to stitch some.  Whether it be for a few minutes or an hour.  Yesterday morning I did get in a half hour and then this morning a full hour, and I can see some progress on this small piece I'm doing.  This is a picture from 123 Stitch and what the completed piece will look like.

!
And this below is what I have done so far.  It's progress for the Year of Finish, so I'm pleased.

   
     It was so pretty out this morning that I read and stitched on our back porch.  So while I stitched I listened to the birds and watched them at our feeders.  Also watched the Bluebirds feed and go in and out of their nesting boxes.  I am so very blessed! Took a picture also of my first Spider Wart in bloom.  Years ago, I was trying to find just one of these so I could put it in one of our gardens.  Now....I'm trying to give some away every year.  They multiply like crazy!

    To let ya'll know! I have a new lovely follower here! We're up to 95! Please now! If you can drop over to see Lesley at one of her blogs.  The first being where she shows you her beautiful cross stitching and some of her knitting as well.  Yes! She's a very sweet and talented lady. The second blog is full of her beautiful knitting.  Oh just wait until you see it! Very inspiring.  Her two blogs, you can find here.  You'll love them both I think. 

• NorthWest Knitter
• Lesley's Stitching Diary

     Headed outside to work a little in my gardens.  Ya'll have a blessed day and don't forget to "Feel the Colors".

Year of Finish.....and Giveaway Reminder

     As I work on these pieces in the near future, I'll put a name to each one and a picture of what it will look like when finished.  Until then though, I'll rotate each one to get it closer to the finish! I used to, for many years, start a piece and stick to it until done.  Not starting another until the first was completed.  What has happened in the last year or more has boggled my mind.  I can't understand how I've come up with so many unfinished, beautiful pieces.   Oh! This has happened deliberately indeed! There are so many beautiful pieces out there.  So many beautiful colors to use.  So many ways to display the finished pieces.  How though, I might get any of them to that point though is beyond me at this point! So.....They all need to be finished to be appreciated.  Therefore, I've decided that this is going to be the year of finish! The pictures you see below are just the cross stitch pieces that I have going.  The first is the beginning of a scene of a farmhouse and a field.  Ducks flying over the property.  I have loved this one for years and finally ordered it.  This is how much I did before I moved on to another piece! Sure is sad.

Then there is this piece below that is all beautiful soft greens, blues and purples.  Once finished is will have "cross stitch" in many different languages on it.  I love it.  Only got this far though.

Then there is this angel which was given to me many years back.  I got this far on it and put it away during a time when I kind of lost interest in the art itself.  Thank the Lord I came back to cross stitching as I really do love it.  Not that much left  to do, but the fact is, is that it is still not finished!

     Then the last few nights I've been working on the piece below and am enjoying it still.  It is just one piece from a series from Little House of Needleworks.  I have three of the series finished and this is the "IJK" one.  So there is a ways to go before all the little houses are complete but I'm wanting to make them into tiny pillows to display in my dough bowl.  I'm loving the soft muted colors in these pieces.

While I'm at this horrid look at myself stage! LOL I'll keep going.  I also have the beautiful crocheted shawl in the works.  Well only about ten rows of it done really.  Done with a yarn that I love because of the color variations.  This is how far I've gone.....so far! By the way, for those of you that enjoy crocheting and knitting as well, like myself, this is Scheepjes yarn and if you want to see some beautiful things that is made with it, go to official scheepjes - international group on Facebook.  Be prepared to be lured in once you see these beautiful creations.

So there! I confessed! Not is it just cross stitched pieces I have hanging about unfinished, but a a crocheted shawl as well as a knitted pair of socks and a close to finished crocheted afghan as well.  Shame of me! Also want to add that I haven't gone through all my stash at this point and don't really dare to.  I'm sure there are other things that need finishing as well.  

So as I work on the things that I've started up until now, I'll share updates with you my dear friends and we'll celebrate together as they're finished with a cup of coffee or tea and a few minutes relaxation time.

I may have mentioned that I've gone into a different style in decorating at our house.  I love the farmy, primitive look and have been doing one room at a time.  I found these two little critters over the weekend and they fit right in.  They're both over seven inches tall and six inches high.  Paid just $5.00 for the set.  Can't beat that! 

At the same place I found this doily which is over 31" in diameter! It is beautifully done.  Now I have the pattern for this as well as the thread, but for $8.00 I felt it would be smarter to grab it up and use it than to wind up with another unfinished project! I am learning! It looks lovely on my dining table.

Keep in mind my dear friends and followers, that when I get to 100 followers that I'll be giving away a box of pretties which will include some thing that everyone likes.  Crafty things and just fun and pretty things are in it, and it's anxious for a trip.  So let your friends that may be interested know also.  Hope to be able to get the box on the way soon.

Until next time, please ya'll, stay well and safe.  Enjoy some beautiful weather and come back again soon.  Love ya'll. Oh! Of course, last but not least......"Feel the colors"