Friday, August 26, 2011

Quick Post & Hurricane Preparation

I can't believe an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week. We have always been pretty lucky here in Delaware. Most of the bad weather usually misses us, so I guess we are overdue.

I haven't gotten much stitching done this week. My son started back to classes, and with the exception of one class, they are all morning classes. That is a tough adjustment for two night owls! I stitch a little, read a little, and nap a lot. I have done a little more on Mary Rayner and On Diligence, but not enough to show. Unfortunately, I have started two more things.

Beatrix Potter Quaker:


and The Raven by La-D-Da:


Also had a small finish:

Carolina by The Goode Huswife

I purchased the New Castle Sampler at Two Morrow's Stitches That Count in Old New Castle. I'm tempted to start it now. While I was in the store, I saw a piece that won 1st place in the Delaware State Fair. I was so in awe of it that I can't remember the name of the piece. It was done on 52ct silk gauze. I think there should have been a special prize for it!!

It seems a certainty that we will lose our electricity at some point, so I have a lot of things that I need to do today when I would rather be stitching. I also need to make sure my parents are ready for our little blow. They have outdoor animals to take care of, and they aren't quite ready to admit they have limitations at their age. I worry that my mother, who is prone to falling, will fall. Most of the time she is fine afterwards, but a couple of years ago while feeding the horses, she fell and broke her hip. I don't want any of us to go through that again.

I took this picture last week when we went to the beach. It looked kind of cute in person, but somehow the picture looks a litte creepy.


They looked like twins, and it seemed kind of sweet that they were walking together, leaning on each other.

Stay safe everyone who is in the path of this hurricane.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Stitching and a Visit to Old New Castle

First of all, I want to thank everyone again for all of your lovely comments. I've been made to feel very welcome. My husband has been on vacation the last two weeks and I feel like I'm having stitching/reading withdrawal. I find myself getting up way too early to try and squeeze in a little bit of both. By the time we get home from whatever we've done that day, I can't keep my eyes open long enough to do anything. My husband kind of vacations in a strange way~he takes Monday-Friday off but works on the weekends. Unfortunately, most of my weekend has consisted of catching up on the laundry and cleaning. It's amazing how turned upside down this house can get with three supposed adults living in it. The cats contribute their fair share to the mess also. Still I have been determined and managed to finish a couple of things

The Adam and Eve Sampler by The Goode Huswife

I'm afraid the Algerian Eye stitches may not be the best, and I cheated and omitted the row of Queen stitch. Still I'm happy with it~it's the first of what I hope will be many Adam & Eve samplers.

Be True by Little House Needleworks

I've also been trying to work on Mary Rayner by Threads Through Time a little bit. I had done part of the border and the flower in the upper left, back in the spring. The rest I've been able to squeeze in little by little over these two weeks.


I've not done well with my reading. I finished Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian. Maybe it's because everything has felt so chaotic during this vacation, but I really didn't enjoy it and the ending was predictable. Siobhan, you were right, I am enjoying The Heretic's Daughter. I find I don't want to put it down.

I love to go to Old New Castle and look at all of the old houses and beautiful gardens. I'm trying to get used to this camera so the pictures really aren't that great. This garden and little house have always been one of my favorites.




Even when I'm out I can't shake cats. This one was VERY friendly.


I always seem to pick the hottest day to visit and I kind of wished this place was still open~something cold to drink sounded very appealing.


I get so caught up in looking at everything, that I invariably trip over something like this


Well, I think my alone time is coming to an end for now. Thanks again for visiting!

P.S. Thank-you to my son~I don't know if I would have been able to figure this html stuff out without his help.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

On Diligence

I'm hoping that this blog will help me be more diligent in finishing things. Sometimes I'm good at settling down and finishing one thing before starting another and sometimes (actually more often than not) I'm no good at settling down at all. As proof of this... I'm still working on Rainbow Row, which seems to be going about as slow as building an actual house. Another large piece I'm working on is On Diligence.



This is my progress so far






The Porcupine has reproduced this sampler, as well as, 'a few' others (Mary Slatter, Jane Ballard, and Hannah Lancaster) that are on my long list of samplers I would love to stitch.


I found them at Silent Stitches. I'm always hesitant to order from someone I've never ordered from before and was pleasantly surprised at their quick service. Since I'm not the fastest stitcher in the world, I have to have something smaller that I'm working on at the same time so I feel like I'm accomplishing something. This is The Rising Harvest Sampler by Pineberry Lane


I really like their designs. When I need a break from stitching, I love to read. These were recommended to me by a friend, and although they don't sound like the type of books I usually read, I think I'm going to enjoy them.


Finally, a picture of my petunias. Despite the heat and the worms, they seem to be doing pretty good. They're my kind of flower, the kind that don't require a lot of fuss.


Time to get off of this time stealer and hopefully squeeze in some stitching before everyone expects dinner.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Rainbow Row

One of the places in this country that I would love to visit is Charleston, South Carolina. While looking at the June 17th newsletter from Attic Needlework, I discovered Barbara & Cheryl. So, until I can actually get to Charleston, I can stitch it. I've started Rainbow Row.


Houses are one of my favorite things to stitch, so when I saw all of these colorful houses in a row I couldn't resist. The colors are a little different from what I'm used to, but I'm really enjoying working on this. Here is a picture of my very small start.


This is a picture of Lola, one of my five cats. I usually have plenty of help from at least one of them no matter what I am doing.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Mabel Lee



This is a little sampler by Chessie & Me that I recently finished. It's nice to have a quick finish after working on a large piece and when it comes to samplers, I love the color red. Now if I could only find a way to stitch and read at the same time. I tried listening to audio books, but found that my mind wandered too much. Maybe I will give it another try.