Tuesday, April 28, 2020

A Stitching Post

I didn't plan on doing a stitching post so early in the week, but when great stitching friends send you mail you have something to write about.

You may remember I finished the red bird and the blue bird patterns and then they were sitting in the box to be fully finished. Late yesterday afternoon the mail was brought in and Jeff says you have a package. Hmmm... what could it be?!!!

Sweet Mary from Stitching Friends Forever sent some fabric that went with the redbird perfectly. Now, I was so excited that I went right to the sewing/work room and started stitching. I think it is perfect, but my color man, aka husband says I chose a too bright cording. Dang it...he may be right especially in the light this picture provides. 


I may even leave it off. The fabric is a pretty match and might need to be left alone...

I am going to rest on it today and mull it over. It is only attached at the edges and and can be quickly changed out if I decide it needs to be a more muted blue, BUT

I decided to go ahead and do the stitching post because I also dug around and found something for bluebird too.
I rather like this one a lot.



I had sort of planned to group these over time in a basket, but I am thinking I might like them apart. The pictures you have seen were just plopped on my sewing room shelves yesterday after working on them. I have to go back and glue the cording down now OR change it.

I also finished a favorite verse. It is special to me. Now, I will admit the pattern is way prettier than I chose to do mine. IT is done on a pretty ivory linen with silk threads. I just really wanted to stitch this the other day and so I pulled out some things I had.



I plan to self frame this. It will fit in an 8 X 8 frame which I ordered a cheapo one from Amazon. I think my plan is to paint blue and play up the blue in the stitch. I have some in the garage so it will be an easy do.

I also have been working on my blue jays each evening and a little patriotic stitch every now and then. I have realized I can't do too many stitches at one time. It makes me nervous!!!

That is all for today. 
Thanks Mary, you made my day yesterday!
Busy in the house and outside. 
Keeping busy helps not to focus on Coronavirus.
Sandy

Friday, April 24, 2020

A Little too Much Excitement and a Finish

First let me say I did an update on my computer and now NONE of my comments are coming to my email, therefore I can't reply to them via email. I learned a long time ago that when you reply in the comment section that often the commenter never sees them unless they go looking for it.

I have also learned with the Apple updates if you are patient in a few weeks they will remedy themselves, so I will reply in the comment section for now which means it will take longer because I don't readily look there all that much either.

Now for the meat of the post. Along with this gorgeous spring we have had the usual amounts of what is known in the south as "Spring Storms." Severe thunderstorms along with the dreaded tornadoes. I am a weather watcher so I follow along as the lines move across Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia and us. Often we are lucky and they some how leave Mobile and move sort of northward and we miss them here in Fort Walton Beach which I don't mind a bit. I never take my eye off of them though.

I have lived in the Deep South and my family and Jeff's are just weather alert people.

Yesterday was a weather watch day. I got up early to make Katie a dessert. It was her birthday and I made her a strawberry pretzel salad. For those that might not know what a dessert called a salad is, it is three layers of pretzel crust, followed by the cream cheese filling, and topped with jello and strawberries. I started early because it takes a while to make all the layers. Standing in the kitchen with pajamas, Jeff said I needed go ahead and get dressed and put on lace up shoes. Both of us always wear substantial shoes in stormy weather. Just a family thing. Broken glass means needing good shoes.

After lunch, the weather did turn very dark and started blowing. It ended up that we did have a tornado in the area and I think it managed to stay above us but somehow managed to blow over all three of us. We all were scurrying. Jeff and I came from different directions to the living room and I was opening the downstairs door to head down if needed. Lindsay had to grab Tucker and head to the bathroom. We ALL got the flickering lights and strong winds and enough to frighten us all, but that was it thankfully.

Later we drove around and saw a few places with trees or fences down, but gratefully no homes damaged. I think the biggest story was a picture of it behind a neighborhood near Hurlburt Field and a boat in the middle of Eglin Parkway which is the largest highway running from north to south in our area. It had blown it into the highway from a boat store.

THAT is all the excitement I needed. It is always so hard to hear the stories about the tornadoes each spring. IT is one of those things you really can't do much for because they happen so quickly.

The picture is from the Sherriff's Department Twitter page.
Now onto stitching and good weather.

I started Katie a stitch after seeing Priscilla's freebie with chickens seen here. http://priscillas2000.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-little-chicken-love.html

I starting personalizing with Katie's TWO chickens, one white and one grayish black. Then she added another white one making three chickens so I improvised and added another chicken. I wasn't all that crazy about it and stuck it on the shelf.
Then I started feeling so bad for her because Reece, her Boxer is not going to be with her much longer. Paul Allen says she is very close to having to put her down. She has begun to have seizures and a host of other issues. I pulled it on Tuesday to finish it up into a little pillow.


Well, here is the thing. Dansby, the Blue Tick has a thing for chickens. They let the chickens out to roam around their back yard and the dogs stay inside, but occasionally someone forgets and out runs Dansby directly to a chicken. Paul Allen has had to rescue one a couple of times.

The way he rescues them is to bite Dansby's ear. Apparently Dansby will immediately release the chicken if you bite his ear. A little yucky to think about I KNOW!

Well, Tuesday evening, yes the same day as I finished up the stitch with THREE chickens, Dansby struck and killed the newest chicken. So then I was like do I even give it to her? Paul Allen said yes. 

So I gave her a pillow with three chickens. I don't know if it was a good idea or not. I hope she knows I love her. She is actually far more concerned about Reece, the Boxer who she has had since she graduated from high school. 

I guess the silver lining of all of this is she is home with her. She teaches 4th grade and has to do Zoom meetings but she can be with Reece and take care of her and baby her. 

Despite the chicken debacle I think the other presents we got her were huge hits. I have learned what she likes.

I lined the pillow with the below fabric and MRS. T...


do you recognize the other button you sent? Katie loves sunflowers and somewhere on the blog is a picture of her with the sunflowers she grows in their backyard. The button was just perfect for the pillow.

I also stitched up something the other day before I put a book back in the storage bin. After stitching the rabbit, I decided to stitch up the apple. I have stitched this before but I have lost it or thrown it away. I restitched it and look forward to a late summer display with these stitches.


I had finished the bunny and hadn't cleaned out the project bag when the notion struck me to do the apple again.


I have had these apple buttons since the 90s as well. Win Win for using stash.



The much used book will go back to the storage bin. I may pull it out again one day as there are still some cuteness in it that I haven't done.



And that wraps a long post. I will leave you with a hello and goodbye from Lemony and Gus.

Lemony

Gus
Until next time,
Sandy