Falling Into Autumn

Hello friends.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

We have had Summertime weather,

with no rain in the forecast until this weekend.

Today am showing off my Autumn decor

in our keeping room.

This was the wood quilt block 

I purchased last month.

Looks a bit crooked here though. UGH

Need to fix it now.

Some drieds and a red faux pear in my rye basket.

A faux mum on the floor.

If you notice the window moulding

being a bit shiny...it is because Bob 

added plastic to it for the Winter.

We are in desperate need of new windows

in here...but other items need updating

before we get to these.

The plastic does its job.

A small vignette in the corner.

The other corner.

Some faux Chinese Lanterns 

inside a metal pitcher.

Pumpkin I made in rye baskets and my

newest pewter plate.

Draped my Fall looking coverlet over my chair.

Added the pillow I made.

Stepback cupboard filled with Autumn colors.

Just draped another wrath over my wood hornbeam.

Yellowware on top.

Display on other corner.

Display on table in front of fireplace.

In other news,

I use to love sitting here the few weeks

I decorated in here.

Now it is a total mess.

We had to re-arrange furniture

in our living room to accommodate

 my mom so she could walk better from 

our living room to the bathroom

and also the bedroom.

Move chairs and furniture into our

keeping room that totally

just looks like it got crammed in there.

Tundra is lost now. He has no idea where to go.

The programs Bob and I like to watch,

my mom does not.

So Bob sits in the messy keeping room

to watch tv,

while I sit in the living room and watch 

the tv programs my mom likes to watch

as I feel bad.

I had to take a half day off work yesterday.

So very glad I have an understanding boss.

My sister and I took my mom to her

doctor appt with her primary care doctor.

It was a 5 hour round trip for us.

My sis was glad I went because it took

the two of us to get her in and out

of the car.

Unfortunately the last hemoglobin test

 was back down from 8.4 to 7,8.

They may have to do another blood

transfusion before surgery.

Her doctor cleared her for surgery Tuesday,

but is worried about her blood levels again.

Well have to get to work and tend to my mom.

Working at home and taking care of her is not

that easy.

Sometimes she forgets I am working...

 and wants something NOW.

Then when I ask her if she wants something 

she always says no...

then 2 or 3 minutes later she wants it.

UGH

Am trying to be patient but it is hard.

Summer or Autumn Blessings To All?

Janice

 

Sunday Start

Decided to start something new for Fall.

This Prairie Schooler pattern

is for the month of October.

I actually purchased all of the months

but have yet to stitch any of them.

Each month comes with 2 patterns.

I love the funky pheasants at the bottom.

When I was a kid we had so many pheasants.

My dad even hunted them.

Nowadays you would be hard pressed

to find any anywhere here in Michigan.

The loss of their grassland habitat

was a contributing factor along with

less farmers in our state.

My paternal grandparents had them on their farm.

They grew alfalfa which was a great nesting

area for them,

while the oats they grew they would feed on.

I have not seen any on our side of the state

since the late 1970's.

This pattern called for all DMC floss.

Love these Autumn colors.

Which reminded me.

I had received an email from a site 

that I purchase floss from that I should

hurry and stock up on DMC 

before the price increase.

This got me wondering where it was manufactured.

Turns out DMC floss was invented by a

man named Jean- Henri Dollfus in 1746.

In 1800 Jean-Henri's nephew 

Daniel Dollfus-Mieg took over

the company and built a factory.

Thus DMC became a household name.

D- Dollfus

M- Mieg

C- Company

In 1961 DMC merged with Thiriez & Cartier Bresson.

While keeping the name they just added

the horses head to its logo.

To this day DMC floss is still made in 

the same factory in Mulhouse, France. 

They have over 5000 different colors.

Not all are shipped over here though.

Thus the tariffs might mean a price increase.

So here is my start on this October piece.

Am doing this on 32 count Smokey White

using 2 strands of floss over 2. 

In other news,

My mom has shoulder replacement surgery

on September 23rd.

She decided to do it because 

the surgeon told her no driving

with her arm the way it is.

He also told her that he would need

to evaluate if she would be able to drive

when the time comes.

It will take 9 months for her to heal.

Us kids will address her driving next year.

Her insurance company is kicking

 her out tomorrow.

We could have appealed again,

but decided she needed to have more

therapy days when she comes out of surgery.

She is only allowed 100 days per year.

Currently she will be in there 50 days.

My boss has allowed me to work from home 

until her surgery date,

so my brother and sister will be bringing

her to our house tomorrow.

She will stay with Bob and I until surgery.

Saturday was Family Day at MSU for Mikayla.

My daughter was sick and did not go.

Unfortunately two students

 tried to commit suicide. 

One succeeded.

Of course it happened in Mikayla's dorm.

She watched the stretchers take them

both out from her dorm window.

So very sad.

Well better get dressed.

Going to visit my mom this morning.

Am going to stop at Tim Hortons

on my way to get her a coffee and pumpkin muffin.

They dont serve coffee or soda where she is...

but we can bring it in for her.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Pops of red and yellow are appearing here now.

Sunday Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Whippy Wednesday

Its that time where I show my 

stitchy progress.

First is Antique Birds and Angel. 

Finished all of the flowers and border

on the bottom left.

Almost finished the flowers on the right.

Still have this huge flower to go,

along with a few little flowers and vines.

Once I complete that,

will add in the initials of all of my

great grandparents, grandparents,

plus my parents initials.

Then it is off to the framer.

My second stitch for this

 Summer Sampler Stitching

is Feniscowles Hall.

Now remember I am doing my own

color conversion for this piece.

The tree is stitched in Camouflage

by CC and Wood Trail by Gentle Art.

I chose Juniper by Weeks for the Junipers.

Wagon Wheel by CC for these deer.

DMC 730, Wood Trail by Gentle Art,

along with DMC 926 for the bird.

The other two deer were also

stitched with Wood Trail.

The fence stitched in Hickory Sticks by CC.

The flowers were the same colors as the top border. 

Am loving this piece thus far.

I also added in my paternal 

great-grandfathers name at the top.

My paternal grandmother's parents

will be stitched at the bottom...

once the grass is finished.

Cannot wait to get to the house & grass now.

It will take me forever to finish these...

but I will plod along.

Not much stitching done on Sarah Casey Unwin.

I completed the red deer, 

the tree and started the red house.

Its another biggie.

Finally an update on Hello Fall.

Not a big update, but one any hoot.

The Gold I chose is Grecian Gold.

I decided to go down a bit in lieu

of doing all of the words.

In other news,

appointment has been made

for shoulder replacement surgery.

My mom opted to do it because otherwise

the surgeon told her she would

not be able to drive.

Us kids are not sure she should be 

driving anymore anyway, but 

that will be addressed far much later.

Once surgery is complete,

it will take nine months to heal...

with more therapy.

Monday the therapy place told us

that her insurance would no longer

pay for her stay and we had to make

other arrangements for her.

We appealed saying she is going

for surgery now in 2 weeks...

and would be right back in for therapy.

We also said if she goes home now...

and something happens to her, they

will be held responsible for releasing her.

The insurance arbitrator agreed and the decision 

was made yesterday she could stay now.

Thank god...but not sure how long. UGH

Well that's it for now.

Thank you for all of your prayers

 for my family.

When it rains, it pours.

My daughter now lost her job.

Egad what else can happen????

Well have to get my butt to work.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week.

Family Blessings To All!

Janice

 

September CupboardScape

Happy first weekend of September

my friends.

Today I wanted to share with you 

my September CupboardScape.

 

Butter molds.

A prim Apple cider jar.

Butter mold up close.

Another close up.

My prim pumpkin fella.

Created him years ago.

Gotta love that sweet smile.

He is happy he is out for the season.

His tag reads~ Gone With the Frost.

My lil girl print.

Sorry but it seems blurry to me. UGH

An antique bonnet and to the right

an apple butter paddle.

This display in one of my many baskets.

The basket in my trencher.

A long wood spoon.

If you can see the theme in this...

well most of the items would have been

used in the making of apple butter.

Except for the butter molds.

There is no butter in an apple butter recipe.

It just refers to being apple butter because of

the consistency of the apples used in the recipe.

Its really a fruit spread.

Also just added in some Autumn items

like the mum, pumpkin man and pic

for some Autumn color.

I imagine one of our foremother's

wearing her bonnet stirring the

apples with her paddle to make her butter.

In other news,

the endoscopy procedure my mom had

on Thursday only revealed a small polyp

in her throat which the surgeon said was

nothing to worry about.

Nothing else was found,

so back to square one one why she is losing blood.

She had another blood test yesterday,

but we wont know the results until Monday.

Monday she has an appointment to see

the second orthopedic surgeon  

regarding her dislocated shoulder...

and whether or not surgery for that should happen.

My SIL underwent a heart test.

She has two arteries completely blocked.

So as long as she can

can have the heart valve surgery,

she can then be put back on 

the kidney transplant list.

She goes for another test at the end of September.

It is a radioactive test of some kind,

so my brother cannot go see my mom.

That same week my sister

 is going back to North Carolina,

then to Phoenix, so that leaves me to see

my mom that week. 

So I am taking this weekend off from seeing my mom.

Will do some much needed house cleaning,

laundry and some stitchy time. YAY.

Yesterday it was so windy here

that we lost internet and our cable service.

It came back on about an hour

after losing it, so not that bad.

Their were white caps on the river around

2-3 feet because of the wind.

Then yesterday just before dinner my daughter

calls to tell me Mikayla's dorm is on fire.

WHAT

Apparently someone decided to put something 

on the stove and forgot about it.

Mikayla and a few friends she met

were on the third floor playing a game in the lounge.

Mikayla smelled smoke and went to the door

which houses the small kitchen.

She could smell something burning,

but the door was locked.

She pulled the fire alarm.

Thankfully she did because there was a fire.

2 hours later she was able to go back in.

Thank goodness she was there.

It could have been worse.

Afterwards I said to my daughter....

did that bring back memories?

If you remember, my own granddaughter

Mikalya left popcorn on the stove which started

a fire in my daughters house. 

Well off to eat some breakfast.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

First September Weekend Blessings To All!

Janice

Autumn Is In The Air

The air is crisp and foggy most mornings now.

The crows and squirrels are chattering more.

Autumn is in the air both outside and in. 

My favorite season of the year.

The colors of brown, red, orange and yellow.

My friend made me this tree.

This year I decided to place my wreaths

in odd places...like this one just tucked in a bowl.

Indian Corn inside a brown pitcher.

Love the simplicity of this Autumn mantle.

with its corn husk and gourd swag underneath.

With bits of orange on our

Keeping Room mantle, here is 

an orange pumpkin tucked into a rye basket

on top of some wool.

A gathering of leather books with that

hank of flax in front I just purchased.

More flax in a wood bowl.

This is the crock jug I also bought

which I forgot to show.

I added some orange flowers to it.

Faux bittersweet hanging below

makes for another simple mantle design.

Am loving sitting in both Autumn rooms now.

Looking forward to soup season too.

Bob and I love making 

homemade soup and chili

for dinner.

In other news,

Mom has opted to go through with the

Endoscopy procedure.

It is scheduled for Thursday.

Hopefully the news wont be so bad,

but this should tell where she is losing blood.

She has been walking up a few stairs now

with the help of the therapist.

Hopefully soon she will be able to come

to our house for however long she wants to.

Also next week she has another

ortho appt for her shoulder

with a different surgeon who was

referred by the other surgeon.

We will see what he says, but the last

xray showed now that her shoulder is

totally dislocated and just hanging.

Well off to work.

Cannot believe it is September already...

but closer to my retirement.

YAY

Pre Autumn Blessings To All!

Janice