A Weekly Check In

I had planned to try and do a weekly check in post today, but with all that is going on I am struggling to decide what to do.

New territory for sure.

I have decided to do a lighthearted update with lots of pictures, but I can assure you I am on alert as we all are over the happenings around the world. I do not make light of them.

I have a weakened immune system so I am pretty much on lockdown per instructions of my family. I need something happy to look at in between the sad.
Lots of prayers needed for this thing to calm down medically and for our country. I can only imagine if it goes on long what it could do for the economy which affects us all.

ALL that said, let's move on to some lighter notes and a story.

I finished Redbird. I can't wait for Bluebird to come out to add it to this one. The called for color was Lancaster Red by Weeks. I had some in my stash and thought I had plenty. I ran out towards the end. The substitute was DMC 221. I decided to keep on stitching. I may be a tad bit lighter but it worked enough to keep on trucking.

I hope to fully finish into a pillow for this one much like the pattern cover model.

I am now trying to stitch quickly on the Easter hoopla by With Thy Needle and Thread and then it is back to the blue jays exclusively until they are finished. I think you will be surprised when I share that again.

Around the house I have added more spring. I added my bunnies to the side table in the dining room. Mother gave these to me in the 90s when craft fairs were everywhere. The kids always loved them. I am going to share my story with you about my impulse purchase in brief here. As I share the story I will break it up with pictures from the week. How does that sound?

When I first started this blog I saw some McCarty bunnies on another blog. Her style was similar to mine (miss her blog terribly) and I thought I just had to have some. I ordered one off of Ebay. I could never find another one the same size to match and it really needed a pair because I like symmetry. I had envisioned one of each side of the sidebar.

A closer view of these little cuties... and that cup has some cute little eggs and a story too. I am full of stories.

Fast forward a year and I ordered another one of those McCarty bunnies and when it arrived I was simply not impressed.  This one didn't stand up but was huddled over and time had me not liking it at all.
A combination of factors. I had ordered both impulsively to begin with would be one. Another is I like things in the house decor that kind of have a story to them. *When you are my age there is not a lot of space anymore so things must have a story or some sentimentality to be worthy of the space they take up.

Along came another cute little McCarty bunny and this time it looked like a match that I had looked for with the first one. I quickly ordered it and it was quite pricey. It arrived and was half the size of the first bunny. Mind you when I looked back it was clearly stated. See the quick decision made. Now I had three odd bunnies who didn't really go together. No story except I was uneasy about the whole dog gone thing. For some odd reason it really was like a bur in my saddle.

Really ridiculous in light of real world problems. Anywho...I sat on it a few days and then began to think there were probably some little ladies in Mississippi who were wanting these to go with their McCarty pottery. I didn't love them. Mississippi is where the McCarty pottery started and it is a big deal over there.
I listed all three separately on Ebay. My goal was to get out of all three what I had paid for the final one. I had three boxes sitting in the recycling bin that all three would fit in, some packing peanuts and bubble wrap in a closet so I wouldn't need to buy that. Like I said I didn't want to gouge anyone as I felt I had been sucked into...just break even.

They all three sold almost instantly. I broke even and I feel so much better.
A win... a silly frivolous win in light of things but a win.

My sewing room. The Easter basket is mine from when I was a little girl and Lindsay used it. It was well made.

Also a lesson in thinking a bit more before I buy. I think we all make mistakes every now and then and we live and learn even in a more mature age.

Now, that I bored you with all that...I do hope you enjoyed some pictures along the way with the story.

I will share a few of Tucker and Lemony. It might seem like Gus is always in the spotlight but that is because he loves being on camera. Lemony ---not so much. I baby her and she got to go on a walk with us without Gus. She needs no leash. She would never dream of being disobedient.

Notice the leaves...I have shared before that the live oaks drop leaves in the spring. It will be an all mass of them soon.

Tucker has been sick. He is on the mend, but you can see how weak his eyes were the other day.

Now, for my finale. My pots along the wall are just showing off with spring like temperatures. 

I do hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I hope my post served as a bright and happy diversion. I am well aware of the seriousness of things and it is meant to be a momentary distraction.
Sandy

Nothing New Under the Sun

Spring is very slowly popping out in the house. Keeping Tucker slows me down on the "bring out the box and put it all out at once" I suppose is my excuse. The more likely truth is I don't enjoy bringing out the seasonal decor as much as I did a couple of years ago. There is nothing wrong with me or the decor. I am just in a phase of liking stuff to stay the same!

My foyer remains decorated the same except from October to December. It gets some fall for two months and then Christmas for one month. The remainder of the year it is the same regardless of the season.

Do you see my neighbors pretty azaleas in the mirror?

The book stack has orange in the fall and red at Christmas, but otherwise it has the blues stacked there. The day lilies and butterfly piece were from my mother-in-law and I love it so much that I literally have a hard time putting it away in fall and can't wait for January to put it out again. I have said it many times here since winter is semi mild here I just can't decorate with snowmen. IT might be more than I am just simply not a SNOW person. That is most likely the truer story there. Those of you who are---don't hate me.

My Christmas cactus did this last year as well. I got a second bloom. I think it has more to do with the lighting in the foyer and the winter season rather than anything I might be doing to it. I also added the little goose in the foyer. It was given to me by my mother-in-law way back in the 1980s. The little hanging hearts have mine and Jeff's names on them. It was tucked away in a closet and in my January clean out I decided to let it sit out again.

Inside the foyer in my front door hallway stands a bunny who is out year round. It got a pink checked bow. It gets a red bow at Christmas, but otherwise no bows. The church pew got her Spring pillow out a little early. I did NOT make the Springer Spaniel pillow.

I do enjoy decorating the kitchen table with linens and candles according to the seasons.

The flowers have a cute and sweet story with them. On Sundays, Jeff gets up earlier than me (no surprise there) and heads to church to do his serving chores. He sets up things in the parking lot, gets the golf carts out of storage for driving families right up to the door from our long parking lot. Stuff like that. 

I sleep in a bit and then get dressed. He arrives home and we attend a service along with Mom and kids. Then I stay to teach my girls (4th and 5th grade) while he usually comes on home and starts lunch for me. Yep, the man is a definite keeper!!! 

We had talked Saturday evening about upcoming meals for the week and I made a grocery list. I usually shop on Sunday evenings or Monday mornings. I had written flowers on it because with the new month I thought I would get some grocery store flowers. They have $3 bunches and I usually snip some greenery from outside and do a once a month arrangement. He told me as he was leaving church he would go ahead and get groceries. I always say yes to that as I don't particularly like to grocery shop.

I arrived home from church to my lunch and flowers on tulips on the table in a stainless steel tumbler from the glasses cabinet. He had chosen some for me:) I have since cut them down as they are not wanting to open. 

The kitchen table picture was taken this morning with another cloudy day. Florida or at least north Florida has forgotten we are known as the "Sunshine State."

And most times the cloth napkins are in one pile rather than out because real life happens at the kitchen table multiple times a day.

When the flowers have expired, I will add a bunny to the table rather than flowers for April. I have a cute bunny and some adorable bunny dessert plates. I will share again because why not?!

Almost always, I put out something seasonal on the kitchen counter. The bunny came early there.

Up close view.

I will share the dining room when I add some bunnies in there later and maybe the living room and sewing room as I add some spring with stitching there.

Speaking of STITCHING!

I have steadily working on my blue jays.

I am also working on Redbird by Heart in Hand. Bluebird is due out soon and I decided that would be a new purchase when it is released, so I needed to get the redbird done. I hope to finish both sometime this spring with a pillow finish.

We have had some very warm weather hence storms too. None bad here, but we are back to cloudy weather. I got two days of sunshine and it was GLORIOUS!

Other than that nothing new under the sun much. I kind of like that!
I rather like being home, just walking down the neighborhood street, playing with Tucker, checking on Mom, cooking supper, laundry, etc.
Looking forward to the time change this weekend,
Sandy

And...most of the time this is what is happening. Tucker!

Oh and one more thing.... It seems as if we all had a basket story. I felt better about it just telling y'all and knowing we had all been there. I came up with a solution for my failed impulse purchase. I will share it one day. Life is just full of fun lessons!