A Long-term Project!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day - those of you who are mothers and those who are lucky enough to still have your mothers with you.

We spent the day at home but I did get to talk to all my kiddos. I went and took new flowers out to mom on Friday.

I think I have one or two WIPs that are older than this one but I'm not sure if they will ever get finished (I need to dig them out and see how much I have done on them) Anyway - here is my 15 year project.

French Alphabet Sampler

Custom chart by Blessings Counted

I started this project on 11/11/2005

I worked on it in spurts here and there. This is where I was when I pulled it back out on 3/17/2020.

I worked on it exclusively until I finished it on 5/7/2020

I stitched it on 36 count Antique Cotton linen by R&R Reproductions

I used one strand of Gloriana silk floss over 2 threads. (on my computer, this photo is the closest to the actual color of the fabric)

I purchased 8 skeins and the photo above shows how much I had leftover. I might have done a little frogging and it might have some creative stitching here and there but it is finished!

Not the best picture, but here is the finished project! It is 23" square. Not sure when I will get the chance to get to the frame shop to pick out a frame and I have to figure out where I am going to hang it.

Happy to mark this one off the list!

Have an awesome week!

Getting the flower beds in shape!

We worked on the flower beds this weekend!

The window on the left is my sewing room

This is the tree we planted after we moved in (It's right in front of my sewing room)

I'm debating if I want to add flowers.

Nothing drastic. Just cleaned them out and added new mulch

32 bags of mulch! 

Took 3 trips to Home Depot to get the mulch.

(yep - grass isn't doing well on this side)

I'm searching the internet for a swing to go in this corner. Just gotta pick one.

My hydrangeas are looking good

                                     

The first little bloom!

I have never had dwarf morning glories before - we will see how these work out. 

Elephant ears started coming up a couple of weeks ago and hostas popped through last week. 

Can't decide what to do with this corner. The elephant ears overpower the hostas. I did not plant the elephant ears. There was nothing in this corner so I planted the hostas - no idea where the elephant ears came from!

Have a great week!

Well that stinks

This showed up in my email box Monday. I'm bummed. Not postponed - cancelled. Hopefully they will reschedule at a later date but I was sure looking forward to the show.

I decided I needed to drown my sorrows yesterday and made a strawberry cream cheese cobbler

This is not my recipe - I found it on Facebook 

It was easy enough to make and it was yummy. Would have been better with a big ole scoop of Blue Bell on top but that didn't stop me from eating it! 

Nothing much to report from here. Still working on my French Alphabet Sampler. Lots of mistakes I've had to take out - and some I'm working around. I'll post an update soon.

Hang in there. It's gotta get better sooner or later!

One Very Long Year

It's hard to believe it's been a year.

One year ago today, mom quietly slipped into a better place. 

We had no idea how hard the following 12 months would be.

So grateful you are no longer in pain.

Miss you every day.

Happy Easter!

Woke up to a tornado warning this morning

As in I was sound asleep when the alarm went off

You can't sleep through one of those

The rain has stopped for now

We have some sticks in the yard

and we won't have to water the yard today

The sun is trying to poke out 

and it looks like the rain is gone for awhile

We have no plans for the day

I'll stitch some

and we might watch a movie - if we can find one to agree on.

Hope you all have a blessed day.

A Little Stitching

Good morning! How are you doing in this strange time we are living through?

I'm hanging in there. 

I'm a bit claustrophobic and along with that I get anxious when I feel like I'm being held hostage. It's not that there is anything I need to get out for - just that I can't. I may have done a little online shopping. 

I have been getting out and walking through our neighborhood. I will see one or two other people out walking too but one of us will jump off the sidewalk and walk in the street as we pass.

I pulled out my French Alphabet Sampler three weeks ago. I thought this might be a good time to work on it a bit. I started this in 2005 and the last time I had it out was 2017.

This is where I'm at now. I've been getting a few hours a day to stitch (most days) but I'm a slow stitcher and this is a bit awkward to work with. The design is a little over 23 inches wide but by the time you add the margins on the fabric then the scroll frame and stand it is 36 inches wide. I don't know if I will ever stitch anything this wide again! 

I have 'more than a few' projects kitted up but I'm trying to make myself push through and finish this one. I'm a little over 2/3 of the way through. I have no idea where I will hang it when it is finished. I knew exactly where I was going to put it when I started it but that was two houses ago.

I hope you are all staying safe and well. Hubby is still going in to work every day. Two of the kiddos are working from home and one is going to work but there are only a couple of people in the building - and it is a huge building. 

Until next time. . .

The Bag Lady

So, I made a few project bags.

I didn't really intend to make so many, but I was on a roll and I had cute fabric!

I watched several you-tube videos and took bits and pieces of each one,

 along with some trial and error, to come up with what worked for me.

That pink one came out a little larger than I intended but it's still cute! 

I used some scraps to make some smaller bags to hold gadgets - love my gadgets!

Do I need this many project bags? Not really. Could I fill this many? Definitely.

I've already gifted a couple of them and I have a couple set aside for future gifts.

I will probably make some more later, but for now I've cleaned up my mess. I need to look for some more fabric. My sewing room is small and I have to set up folding tables to have space to cut and iron. I worked on these for about 2 weeks and I got tired of the mess.

How are you passing the time during these difficult days? Have your daily activities been affected? I'm staying home for the most part. Getting a little stitching done. Since the gym is closed, I've been walking around the neighborhood. It is normally a pretty quiet neighborhood but it seems even more so these days. 

I pass a few other walkers and sometimes see people doing yard work. I can tell others have been working in their yards (or they have someone doing it for them) because yards are freshly mowed and flowerbeds have been cleaned up. (neither of these things have been done here yet) It's been quite warm here this week - I've already had to turn on the a/c.

I hope you are all well and staying safe.