A Random Assortment of Things to Document

 I need to record quite a few things, and yet I wonder if I really do. You see I have been thinking about this blog for awhile. I won't get into that too much tonight, but seeing as how dear friend Diane had her blog removed without warning and for no good reason, it has made me even more contemplative.

Diane's story is here. https://lavenderdreamsnew.blogspot.com/

AS I typed the above it seems her old blog has been restored as seen here. https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com
How could blogging about hikes and crafting be wrong?

I will write more about my thoughts on the blog on another day. For tonight...I am just recording my usual things.

I got my shuttle back from the framers. The photo doesn't do it justice. I love it.

My progress on my May wordplay.

Speaking of flowers and gardens I have started to putter.

The roses have been pruned and fertilized. I need to redo my straw in all my beds. That will hopefully get done this week or next.

New leaves are popping. Daylillies have broken ground. I get excited just seeing those leaves poke their pretty little selves up.

Azaleas are beginning to bud around here, so it looks like March will be the month for the show. Around here that can happen anywhere from late February to April. With the mild winter it looks like it will be an early show.

I have been puttering with my potted plants all around.

The dianthus and dusty miller are still going strong. I will have to change them out later.

This may be my last year for pansies in my pots. They just don't do well. One year as I almost gave up and sat them down on the ground behind the wall they bloomed like crazy until it got too hot for them. I think they just don't like the wind that hits them on the wall.

I may just go with geraniums instead of the pansies. They are a winner in my zone pretty much year round.

I never recorded these sweet flowers my mom brought me on Valentine's Day. I should have been getting her some and bless her heart she came and brought me some. Of course, she likes yellow and she knows I like pink, so she bought yellow. I had to chuckle. She stopped at Goodwill to get a glass to put them in. 

I thought it turned out quite cute.

I was digging in some boxes looking for something else and thought I would share these Valentine's cards from my 5th grade year.

The large one folded four times rather than two like the above ones. I remember I was so excited to get this one. The boy that gave this to me actually went onto Auburn and lived in the same apartment complex as me our senior year. We remained good friends. I was pretty smitten though in 5th grade.

Lindsay had a baby shower at her home on Saturday for one of her friends. I thought she and the girls had everything looking so pretty, but I only took this picture.

After I left the shower I headed to my hometown of Range, Alabama to my aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary. It was so much fun to see all my family at a fun event rather than a funeral. 

I have to share the old and new pictures. My mother had the first reception all ready at their home 60 years ago. She and my dad were married in December after this so had he lived they would be celebrating 60 this year as well. Mother was always the doer in the family. I don't think she remembers where she got the cake, but she had everything looking great.

This is my Aunt Faye and Uncle Muncie 60 years ago.

This was Saturday. My cousins Tim and Mitch put together a great party with the help of their wives.

I think the couple didn't quite understand they were supposed to drink the punch from the Mr. and Mrs. cups with arms intertwined.

Anyway the reception was a surprise and a hit.

My Uncle Munsie was in the hospital just a few months ago and didn't think he would make it to the 60th anniversary. I think that is when my cousins knew they needed to celebrate it in a big way. 

That is what I have been up to the past few days. 

Hopefully more garden puttering this week.

Sandy

Weekend Wrap-up

We left Friday evening for a weekend at the Auburn house. We took in a softball game, a baseball game and ate too much. All of it was delicious though! Back to my meal plan starting tomorrow morning.

As always Auburn is just far enough away to get a different landscape and I love seeing all the different kinds of trees there. Many were bare reminding me it is still winter. There were so many pretty daffodils and tulips though. The doggies loved their romps at the dog park. Auburn has the most amazing dog park out near the vet school.

I stitched at night and finished my birdie stitch. I am not sure how I am going to finish it though.

I didn't put the buttons on it. Well, I did, but didn't really like them and took them off and just added more border around it. It seemed to fit me better. Maybe the buttons would have looked better on the called for linen.
The colors were not as bright as the picture on the pattern, but I did like them very much.

I started the May wordplay that many have done.

I also bought some more of the same shelves to add to the master bedroom upstairs. I will take some books and stuff from here to finish them off next time. I really only need lamps to finish up the Auburn house. *I actually have plenty of room to stitch some things to add up there😍

Tomorrow is back to the normal week and taking care of Tucker. I missed him so this weekend.

He is lovable!

Lavender for Valentine's Day

I chose purple and lavender to do a quick stitch. This was a freebie found here.

As you can see I did it on a loose weave so I have threads showing through. Oh well... I still like it.

I chose the colors to remind me of a special Valentine way back when I was a little girl in Columbus, Georgia. I remember going with my daddy to buy Mother some Valentine's candy similar. We drove up to the store and went in to buy some candy in a heart shaped box similar to the ones pictured below. He let me choose the color and I chose lavender. Mom kept the box until we both decided it had seen better days and we would remember without it.

This little pillow will be a reminder of a special time.

As for this Valentine's, I am blessed to be married to a great guy and we will be eating out at Whataburger. We decided a while back that we would just eat at Whataburger. We both love it and it is a treat. All the fancy restaurants are always so crowded and with it being a weeknight we especially need to keep it a short evening.

I also got an early treat in the mail yesterday from Meg at http://livetostitch.blogspot.com/.

Just look at my goodies. I had to show you how cute she had wrapped it all first.

And then all opened.

Yep! IT is cuteness! I will be starting on the cross stitch project she sent very soon.

Enjoy your day,

Sandy

Sewing Project Finished

I started making more project bags. I don't need more project bags, but I had some pieces of material that were just the right size and calling for them.

I did the bags assembly line style. I cut out each piece according to size and then the interfacing. I began sewing all the zippers, etc. They actually went very fast that way and I finally have the directions down so that I don't have to look at the video each time. I got up Saturday morning like someone obsessed and finished them while Jeff was busy with a garage project that someone was over helping him. I finished just as he finished.

Now I have some adorable bags from some fabrics that I have loved and collected and let sit in my stash with no purpose for a long time.

With my previous ones I now have 9 project bags to fill or not fill and let decorate my sewing room:)

Here are some smalls of each one.

Another birdie one and a space one to hold my upcoming planets stitch.

A pea pod and retro Christmas piece.

My Dick and Jane one. This is the last piece of this cloth. I may have enough to do a small pillow around a stitch. I used this one time for curtains in my classroom. LOVE IT! You can see those curtains here on my old blog for the last couple of years I worked.

And then some good old Florida oranges.

I have one more sewing project for the spring and then that is going to satisfy all my sewing desires for all of 2019.

Stitching, Books, and Cuteness

I completed the space shuttle stitch last night, and I am totally in love with it. I can't wait to pull the Q Snaps off and get it framed. I am going to try a new place here in town. I was there the other day and they said they had hired a new lady that was good at framing stitching. She is supposedly a stitcher herself, so we will see.

I know there are more of these in my future plans. I have quite a list to do and finish for the immediate future, but I would like to do at least two more and make a trio of them. Maybe the Voyager one with the planets when I get a chance to come back to it. I have never stitched on black. Maybe I should do a small one on black to practice before I tackle the planets.

I finished this book on January 31st, but am just now getting to tell you about how much I liked it. IT was a delightful read. I met my goal for January reading.

I have always been a Jackie O and Barbara Bush fan. I always loved Jackie because she was so pretty and the kids were similarly aged to me, therefore I love looking at old photos of them. Barbara Bush captured me when they were running for White House. My mother-in-law had a book about her and I read it. I don't remember who wrote it or a title. I have always loved her because I think she represented how to age gracefully well.

I remember a portion of that book where she is talking about trying to keep herself young looking and fighting that early gray hair. She had used Fanci-Full Chocolate Kisses to darken it up on a hot day of campaigning. IT begins to melt so to speak and she gets a chocolate drip line running down her neck. She decided that day to never color again. She endured those who said she looked older than George. I guess I totally resonated with this because I was graying so early myself. Oh and what is not love about a woman who wears pearls?!

Does anyone else remember Chocolate Kisses Fanciful rinse? I used it quite a bit myself, but I don't think my peers used it. I think it might have been a bit older than me and came from my rural background. Beauty shop days!

https://www.amazon.com/Roux-Fanci-Full-Rinse-Chocolate/dp/B0001XQNNE

Back to the book I said was good.

I just thought it was the sweetest book. I learned a few things. It is a very quick read as it has tons of pictures and primary sources. A story with letters and memories from the granddaughter too. I hope my little Tucker and any other grands will view me as warmly. 

I only had one set of grandparents alive when I was born. One set died so very early. I adored my grandparents, so I feel honored to have this time with Tucker.

Here are a few pictures from the book so you can see how quickly it would read.

I loved the next picture. The purse is a needlepoint purse she made. She was an avid needlepointer. I learned that she has a rug in the Houston house that she has every grandchild's initials stitched in the rug.

She stitched the bags while on the campaign trail back in the Texas days and gave them out. I wonder if anyone still has one.

I did enjoy the book. Y'all know I love my biographies.

Next up is several bloggers have beat me to talking about Marie Kondo. I didn't read the book when it came out because honestly there was so much hullabaloo about it on blogs that I was pretty sure I knew was in there. 

ALL OF MY BOOKS spark joy!!! 

I could have a problem!

Anyway, she is popping up again with the Netflix series. I went out to my daughter's one day while she was still out for work with Tucker and she was folding clothes in her drawer. She had just watched an episode on Netflix. I couldn't believe she had never heard of her. 

I have to tell you I am not a konmaried my whole house and don't plan on it. I have decluttered for the past four years and feel almost guilty about how much stuff we have accumulated and I do want less. I will never be a minimalist because I like a house that tells your story when guests walk in. 

I will tell you I changed the way I dealt with my t-shirts and shorts drawers after all the stuff came out. I hate the stacks of stuff and you try to pull out something and all comes with it.

I have two very not deep drawers in my dresser. I ended up rolling my t-shirts and shorts. They don't wrinkle and haven't been any trouble to do while folding. I love it and have kept that way for over a year.

I have run on long enough for one post, so I will leave you with a Tucker post. I stopped in at a secondhand store and added to Grammie's Daycare. He is a bit young for it just yet, but I think he liked it.
I also got mine own stroller as we are loving to get out and walk down the street.

Cuteness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lindsay after work chatting with her dad.

I have been sewing too. More later.

Busy Busy Busy,

Sandy