HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

Today is my middle son, Adam's, 28th birthday. I hope he is having a wonderful day.

I had a nice brunch for Mother's Day. It was my weekend to work and since my son works on Sundays we opted to have a Saturday brunch. My daughter and her family were also in attendance. It was yummy. Ryan made a couple of bacon mats, pancakes - blueberry and plain and scrambled eggs. What is a bacon mat? Why, I'm happy to show you! Here it is uncooked.
And here it is all crispy and ready to eat. It has a lovely crunch and then woosh of bacon fat. It's worth that woosh.


The rain eased up for a couple of days and while I had the chance, I bought my summer flowers:
I got my flowers from one of my favorite local growers Blooms and Berries Farm Market Loveland. Here are some more views of their lovely farm and great flowers. They have a great pumpkin festival every fall too. And new this year is a butterfly house.






This is a picture of Monarch butterfly chrysalis's. They are a beautiful color with a small strip of gold that looks like a couched gold thread. Really awesome. These were going into the butterfly house.


Yesterday was planting day because today and the rest of the week it is going to RAIN!

Marsha

More Needlework from Guild Members

This is a closeup of the house in the previous post. I love the colors.

Here are more pictures from the Queen City Sampler Guild members from our stitch in last week. Some people are way ahead on their Christmas ornaments.

I've been working on my 'Beneath the Sunlit Sky' and 'From Sea to Shining Sea'. Both required some frogging. I'm working on the borders for both. Today is haircut and watch my grandson day. I'll take pictures of my W'sIP later. We are back to gray skies and rain.

They announced the sampler winner over on Blackbird Designs - One stitch at a time. Congrats to the stitcher that won the goodies from France.

Marsha

Been a while

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted anything. Time sure has a way of slipping away.

All I can say is when spring has sprung the garden calls - very loudly. Things need raked up, cleaned up, cut back etc. I had a field day with the clippers (the big ones that required both arms). Messed up all the work my chiropractor and I had accomplished. Oh well. The yard's in pretty good shape now. Soon it will be flower planting time. It's been a beautiful spring in this area of the world.

I've been really busy stitching this past week. I've been trying to finish a sampler for Blackbird Designs - One stitch at a time . They've been in France this past week shopping. Doesn't that sound like a blast. They will pick a winner and that person will win some items that they shopped for in France. If I were a little kid, I'd be jumping up and down - a lot. So, here is my entry:
I used cream linen from Vicki Clayton and Needlepoint silk in the Chinese red range. I could have done a better job centering but I figured the person that stitched the original wasn't perfect either. Hattie Bauer was my grandmother. She was a quilter. Our family still misses her. She died on my 10th wedding anniversary, May 1st, so I'm especially pleased to have it completed.

April 23rd was a Queen City Sampler Guild stitch in. We had a fun time together, stitching, talking, and making tassels. We have two stitch-ins a month. One in the morning and one in the evening. Here are a few pictures of things people have stitched and brought in to show.

Isn't this glove awesome? The cuff side opens as a needle book. One of our members, Judith, has stitched on the jacket in Plimouth. She is very talented. You can't see the gold work very well or the sequins in the ruffle. It is gorgeous in person. The Embroiderers’ Story » 2008» January has a lot of wonderful information on the embroidered jacket that's being stitched. I will post more pictures later of other stitchers' talented work.

Hope you're having a great spring.

Marsha

Winter Vacation

My DH and I went to PA last weekend to visit our parents. While we were in Erie, we took a short jaunt to the penninsula. It juts out into Lake Erie and is a pretty drive with the bay side and the lake side having their own personalities. My husband and friend took a walk and I tried out my metal detector on the beach side. There is still a lot of ice on the lake and beach.
The only thing I found was a spring and after 30 min. I was COLD.

Here is an over-view of the bay side,



Here are a few of the lake side,

















After Erie, we traveled to Pittsburgh to see my parents. We had nothing planned so my Mom and I went to The Quilt Company. If you ever have the chance to go there, do so. It is fabulous. Bright and airy with lots of room to move around and shop in. We picked out a purse pattern that we both liked, 'cause it looked simple, and then the fabric to make them (with no promises on when it would be done).
Here's the purse pattern with my Mom's fabric choices on the left and mine on the right.




Fat quarters etc.








It was a good trip. The weather was nice and sunny (unusual for Erie, PA).

The mail man brought our vacation 'hold' mail on Thursday and I had lots of goodies. The linen of the month from Hand Dyed Fibers which has been one of the best things I ever signed up for. It has a soft feel and the colors are perfect for samplers. A new file-a-floss box. I spent Friday night and part of Sat. bagging up my silk threads and filing them. ('ll show pictures later) I also received a gift from my secret stitcher. What a wonderful surprise. She included everything to make it and green pins so I can make a pinkeep. Lucky socks too. How awesome is that!










While I was working on organizing my sewing supplies and Queen City Sampler Guild
papers, Clark found himself a cozy place to take a nap.

Marsha

Fun Day

I had a busy Saturday 2 weekends ago. My DH attended a day long class so the hours were mine to fill. My first stop was Keepsakes Framing and Floral Home Page my LNS. They had finished some framing for me. Annie Beez Folk Art 'Sunflowers!' and Sheepish Designs 'Meg's Bunny'.

The Sunflowers piece will go in the new guest room. The frame matches a Workbasket piece I had done a while ago.

The Sheepish Designs I've had a LONG time. I've always liked it and knew I would stitch it eventually. I stitched it for my niece's birthday. I hope she likes it. (she will know why the bunny is green) This was stitched on a linen I had on hand. I converted the DMC colors to Vickie Clayton's hand dyed silks.

From Keepsakes, I went down the road to the Valley Thrift store. I've found some great bargains there. From fleeces to linens to old sewing items - some days better than others. This day I found an old crocheted piece and I have no idea what it was used for. I will show it in another post. Then I found a table runner that has huck weaving. The color is different but I couldn't pass it up. In all, I spent $1.79 there, and that includes sales tax!

I haven't been to an antique store in years. I found an antique mall, even better, just down the road from the thrift store and the LNS. I've been looking for the smallest fire king bowl to finish my set. I bought this one but it's the same size I already have. I love these bowls. I'll keep looking.

I also found a cool crochet covered pincushion and another small bowl with my favorite flower.

I also saw a chair that would also be perfect for the guest room. I couldn't decide whether to get it or not so, I left it behind. The next day I mentioned it to my DH. He said 'Let's go see it'. So we did, he bargained and the next day picked it up and brought it home! I love it!

It was a great day!

Keep stitching. Marsha

I thought I would start with a pretty picture of my orchid that is blooming. My son, Adam, gave it to me a couple of years ago. I'm always surprised when it blooms again.

I got some wonderful mail this week. I had stitched an ornament for each of my three children two Christmas's ago. They were the same pattern done on different linens. I finished my daughter's ornament myself but never got around to finishing the boys'. One of them was stitched on a larger count so it was pretty large and would have made too large an ornament. Soooo. I sent them off to Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher's, along with a scissor pocket that I've had ready to finish also. I decided the larger ornament would be perfect for a flat fold. We had lots of good communication - no bows on the boys' pieces, only 1 bow on the scissor pocket to hold it closed etc. She is very fast. They turned out very nice. Go to her blog (The Twisted Stitcher's) to see even better pictures and what else she can do. She's very reasonable and they are fantastic. So here are some pictures. First is Clark with them before I opened them. (He likes to be involved)

Then we have the scissor pocket, front and back:

Then the ornament and flat fold, front and back. MY pictures aren't that great. They are much prettier in person. The fabric on the back of both pieces has sparkles in them to make them more winter like. I like them both and hope the boys will like them too.

Our local LNS, Keepsakes Framing and Floral Home Page, had a sale over Superbowl weekend.

I took my Annie Beez piece to be framed and my niece's sampler unfinished to order the framing. I put the last stitches in her sampler this past week, so it is now safely at the shop being framed up. As soon as they are back, I will show you the results. I am working on a piece for my secret stitcher through the Queen City Sampler Guild. I won't be able to show it to you, just in case she's watching but I can tell you it's a Blackbird Design and very cute. While stitching it, I've been listening to Lovely Bones. I didn't think I wanted to read the book, but hearing it on tape is a good option and I do like it.

Since you can't see what I'm making my secret stitcher this year, I will show you what I made last year. I made this pin cushion last January.

The pin cushion on the left I made for my Mom and I kept the little tutleneck on the right. They are made from felted wool sweaters I got at Goodwill. A fun little project.
All for now. Off to work.