No Retreat for Me

 

I should be on my way to Maine right now to attend a cross stitching retreat in Augusta. My bag had been packed, my cross stitch pieces packed, and Emma’s bag had been packed for a stay at her home away  from home. (I’m blessed to have friends whom Emma loves and who welcome her when I go away.) My plan was to leave this morning and take my time heading up the coast. I was going to stop at Portland Head Light to do some photography. Unfortunately, a foot issue will keep me from attending. As you know if you follow my blog, because of a foot issue, I recently had to cancel attending a guild quilting retreat on the Cape. Things had been healing well, and I was really looking forward to this retreat, but it was not to be. Yesterday there was a problem which means no retreat for me. Yes, I will be off my foot again for at least a week until an infection clears and things heal once again. :-(

I’m super grateful that it happened while I was home and not while I was away. So, it means time again to just sit and stitch and read. I had preordered and received yesterday Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book An Unfinished Love Story - A Personal History of the 1960s, which I know will be a fascinating read. 

I’m also grateful that I had a visit with my cousin Kristin and her girls (the Ladies Lunch group) on Tuesday. It was a perfect day for outdoor dining and our destination was Tony’s along Wollaston Beach. Tony’s is the place if you love lobster rolls which I do, but the other day I was in the mood for a whole belly fried clam plate . . . Yum! Yum! Yum! 

The cross stitch piece above by designer Priscilla Blain of Stitching with the Housewives was completed last year, but I wasn’t crazy about how I had finished it. When I saw this display piece on the Paisleys and Polka Dots website, I knew it would be perfect for this piece. Paisleys and Polka Dots sells kits that you paint and then assemble. I glued a magnet to the wood  piece and a washer on the back of the cross stitch, so that I will be able to use it to display other pieces.

Lastly, here’s a look at the table mat that I had made for the retreat. The small green wool square is where I could park my needle and next to it is a place for my scissors. The little Campbell Kids lunch box was a thrifting find, and it contains my other stitching accessories. 

Well, that’s it. I have a jigsaw puzzle on the sunporch, and if it isn’t too cool, I may work on it for a while. Sit, stitch, read, puzzle . . . decisions . .  decisions . . . decisions. :-)

Greetings from My Castle

It’s Monday, two days after Christmas 2021, and I spent this morning fully finishing three cross stitch ornaments for my new cross stitch tree. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

This little tree was a total impulse buy at Lowes earlier in the month. I am not an impulse buyer, but this tree had caught my eye. Ho Ho Ho is a pattern by Priscilla Blain of Stitching with the Housewives on Etsy. Isn’t Santa adorable in his red long johns! ***

Joy was a complimentary design from Misty Pursel from Luminous Fiber Arts, and this sweet little design with Mrs. Claus, Christmas in the Kitchen: Candy Canes, was a pattern that I had purchased last year but which I did not get stitched until last week. This pattern was also from Misty Pursel. 

 

These last three tiny pieces were stitched during my needlepoint phase. I was delighted to see that one was dated . . . ‘88. :-)

Recommendation: If you have Amazon Prime, definitely watch Being the Riccardos; it’s wonderful!!! Nicole Kidman gives a marvelous performance as Lucille Ball. The film deals with the sometimes stormy relationship of the couple, the filming of “I Love Lucy,” and a political crisis which threatens the program.    

Please do watch it; it is really well done.

Stay safe everyone.

*** Yes, I was curious, so I googled to see why they are called “long johns.” There was a famous boxer named John L. Sullivan who wore this attire into the boxing ring. People started calling them John L’s, and eventually they became long jones. Now you know. :-)

Rain, Rain, Go Away

 Rain, rain, go away

Come again another day.

Make that : Come again another week, please!!! We have had rain eleven of the first twelve days of July. This morning it was torrential. I put Emma’s raincoat on her, opened the porch door, and out she went. As I was  thinking how lucky I was to have a dog who didn’t mind going out in all kinds of weather, she turned around, and pressed her face against the door. Her face said it all, “ Let me in” which I did. If only we could share all this rain with areas of the country that need it.

Yesterday, there was a break with no rain until evening, and I was able to do a tiny bit of gardening and take a few photos. Isn’t this coneflower gorgeous! The photo doesn’t begin to do it justice as it positively glows in real life.

The daylilies are also in bloom.

On Saturday, I framed “Red, White, and Blue,” a cute cross stitch pattern by Priscilla Blain of  Stitching with the Housewives. I love this cute little Uncle Sam :-).

Stay dry. Stay cool. Stay safe. Have a wonderful week.

FFOs Patriotic Cross Stitch Pieces

I’ve been stitching patriotic pieces since May, and I haven’t even made a dent in my collection of patriotic patterns. ;-). Two of the small pillows are part of Lori Holt’s “Stitchy Stars” pattern. The pattern calls for stitching seven of the designs into a long narrow piece. I chose to only stitch two so far and put them on my tiered tray. Maybe I will add a few more next year. “Old Glory” was a freebie pattern from Pinker ‘n Punkin. “Land of the Free” is a pattern by Priscilla Blain of the Stitching Housewives on Etsy. Their patterns are positively irresistible! 

“Land of the Free” was stitched on 14 count blackboard aida. I used sparkly etoile floss for the fireworks which do not sparkle here, but they do in person.

“Liberty and Love” from Primrose Cottages was added to my trench bowl. Behind it on the right is a teenie quilt which should be draped over a mini wooden quilt rack. I had tucked the rack away in a “safe place” to make room for my trench bowl, and you guessed it . . . I had been looking for it for a week. It hadn’t been tucked away after all; I spotted it this morning in plain sight on the bottom shelf of my bookcase! Good Grief!

 I have another stitched piece that I haven’t framed yet, but it. will be done by my next post.

Handy Dandy Hummingbird Feeder Ant Trap . . .  Though my hummingbird feeder has a good size ant cup, I was still getting ants. So, I checked online to find a solution and came across many different ant traps. From all those ideas, I put together this simple gizmo which cost absolutely nothing but works great! I think the photo makes it clear, but if not, here is what I did.  Start with a plastic tonic, pop, or soda bottle. :-) Use an awl and poke a hole in the cap. Use an exact-o knife to cut a three to four inch section on the cap end. Once you have made the initial cut you may use scissors to cut the soft plastic. Cut a piece of wire about eight inches from a wire coat hanger. Thread the wire through the cap and bend one end into a small hook and the other end into a larger hook. Before screwing on the cap, fill the cap with E6000 glue. (E6000 glue is my go-to fix-it helper.) Let the glue dry/cure over night and then just fill it with water. . . no more ants.

Following by email . . . If you read other blogs, I am sure that you know that Feedburner is going away this month. Feedburner is the ‘service’ that sends some of you an email when I have a new post. I’ve been looking into Follow.it and Bloglovin, but frankly I do not know which one to chose. So, I am going to suggest that if you enjoy my ramblings, please just bookmark my blog and check in once or twice a week too see if I have put up any new posts. (I am seeing ads on some of the blogs I read, and these blogs never had ads before.)

Okay, that’s it. Stay safe and stay cool.