Friday Finishes

I finally finished it.

I started this pattern on June 6, 2024.

Finished December 1, 2024.

I simply hated this pattern.

I really wanted to do the wreaths on each side.

The colors in the chart were so close in value

that it was very hard to read...

it was impossible for me to stitch them.

They were also a satin stitch.

I even tried re-doing on graph paper 

with my colored pencils and just gave up.

The symbols were also so very hard to read.

Dont think I will ever purchase another pattern

from this designer.

***UPDATE***

Unfortunately I did purchase another 

pattern from this designer.

Same issue with the symbols. UGH

Not sure when I will start that one...

if I even do.

 

I did keep the ghosted flowers.

I also changed the border a bit.

Opted for a brown and blue 

instead of the white and blue.

I added the steeple and cross at the top.

Omitted the pond at the bottom

with the person in a rowboat.

Wanted this to look like a church,

which if you remember me saying before

that I thought it was at first. 

Oh how wrong I was.

The wreath on the left now became lily of the valley

which were in my moms wedding bouquet.

The wreath on the left became a bowl of fruit.

My dad loved his fruit.

The only thing I did wrong was I should have moved 

the flower on the left down more.

Oh well.

I pushed myself to get this completed,

so I could get it framed in time

for our family Christmas party.

My mom loved it.

So did my sister.

It fit perfectly here on my heritage wall.

Now on to the next one which will be

a tribute to my grandmothers,

which I have already started.

My next finish is Button Up by Prairie Schooler.

I opted to stitch this in blues instead of the red.

I did do a bit of red in each square though.

I should have stitched this with 2 strands,

but again oh well.

When I thought about it...did not want to frog

all that I had already done.

Each square except for the first

and last one had gold in it...so I decided 

for the last square to add gold into

the scarf and glove of the boy.

Also the pom on his hat.

Cannot wait to fully finish this now.

I loved stitching this. Was kind of sad

that I finished it....but onto the next project.

In other news,

The US Coast Guard cutter

Bristol Bay is now docked each evening

in the town just down the road from us.

There was a freighter that was stuck in the ice.

This cutter got the freighter moving again.

The Canadian Coast Guard Cape Dundas

is now docked where Lake Huron meets

our St Clair River towards the North.

We are at the South end.

They tag team to assist freighters who

get stuck in the ice.

They will be here now until the ice is gone.

Shanty town is back in business.

(as we call it)

All of the ice fisherman are out

on the ice in the lake near us

with their portable sheds

which are called shanties. 

They will stay out their for hours

trying to catch fish.

Some even have portable heaters in them.

You wont catch me out on the ice...

nope...nevermore.

I did once on the Southern part of the 

lake and it was scary for me.

We now live near the Northern part....

yet I will never go out on it again.

When it really gets frozen they

snowmobile on it...which will be soon

as our temps are going to be in the single digits

for day time highs I hear and negative at night.

BRRR

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

Stay warm if you are in the cold area.

Those in the sun...bring some of the warmth 

back up please.

At least the days are getting longer now.

Friday Blessings To All!

Janice

Maker's Monday

 This year I want to once again

create items for our store.

I had been slacking in recent years.

Was just getting tired of it.

The juices are flowing now,

 so am back at it.

Bob and I visit Greenfield Village quite a bit.

This is a museum in Michigan which

Henry Ford founded.

Many famous houses are here.

Henry Ford's family home where he grew up,

The Firestone's family homestead and barn.

Plus the Wright Brothers family home

along with their cycle shop to name a few.

This reminded me of the one part 

of the museum grounds where they have 

Maker's Row where there are different shops.

Candle making, glass blowing, printing,

pottery and weavers shop.

This gave me the idea to start my

new Maker's Monday where I will

feature things I am making to sell,

or items for my home.

I first drew out my paper patterns.

Grabbed some beads and floss.

I usually like to hand sew my items like 

our foremothers did.

Took out some fleece I had.

Forgot to take a pic of the tan one.

I created these Valentine cookies.

This one is a sandwich cookie.

A heart sprinkle one.

One more heart.

These will be packaged in cello bags,

tied with red and white bakers twine.

They went into the store yesterday.

Stay tuned for more.

Already have a plan for a simple Valentine pillow.

In other news,

The ice came in fast and furious this year.

We had none last year.

Have been seeing the little diving ducks now,

however no eagle sighting yet.

The ice already jammed up and caused 

the ferries to shut down a few times now.

My nephew who lives in North Carolina

hit a deer last week on the drivers side.

The deer was killed and he is safe,

but his car will need to be fixed.

He lives in the valley which is about

an hour south of the mountains.

Back to work to today.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Monday Blessings To All!

Janice

Victorian Christmas House

I realize Christmas is past, however 

would you like to live in the Victorian Era?

I know that I would at Christmastime.

It was Prince Albert who introduced his wife

Queen Victoria to his German Christmas traditions.

Christmas trees, feather tress,

 with ornaments and lit candles on these trees.

Bob and I drove up 2 towns to the North of us

to see how this Victorian home decorated

their outside for Christmas.

This was the same house which did 

the skeletons for Halloween. 

Wreaths would have been in the windows 

in the Victorian Era.

Believe it or not, so would have been 

the Nutcracker... except not this large.

The Victorian Era was 1837-1901.

The Nutcracker Ballet play was first introduced

in Russia on December 18, 1892.

This Victorian house also had this

huge reindeer pulling a wagonload of wood.

Bob could not get a pic of the wagon

as we were on the wrong side of the road.

The house sits on a hill and was built

higher up on another hill.

Now do you think Santa's reindeer

would also have been in the Victorian Era.

If you guessed yes, you would be correct.

In 1821 a poem was written which mentioned

Santa and his reindeer...with an illustration

of Santa and his un-named reindeer.

This poem was called 

Old Santeclaus With Much Delight.

This was the first mention of Santa's reindeer.

In 1823 the published version of

A Visit From St Nicholas named Santa's reindeer.

This was the name first given for the book

we now know as

Twas The Night Before Christmas.

This book gave the names of Santa's reindeer,

minus Rudolf.

The original names were

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen.

Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem.

I am lucky to own three feather trees.

Not huge ones and only one do I add 

antique German cotton spun fruit ornaments.

Not many ornaments but would some day

like this tree full of them.

I also have a few strands of antique garland

and silver ornaments.

Unfortunately prices continue to rise on

anything antique Christmas...so it is hard to

acquire nowadays.

In other news,

Lauren asked me if I use

 the sewing method to cross stitch.

I use the stab and poke method

with a very short needle. 

I don't like the longer needles 

which many prefer or even size 26.

I seem to lose them though quite often,

so that is why I started to use

the needle minders with every project.

Monday I left work early and as I approached 

this one small town I drive through, 

the emergency test siren went off.

These go off in our county every

first Monday of the month. 

Scared the bejabbers out of me though 

because I forgot about it 

at the time and was not expecting it.

Do you have test sirens in your area?

Took today off to take Bob to his

doctor appt. I still dont want him driving

out of our county with his left eye not

at 100% because of his stroke.

Am not sure if he will ever totally get his

peripheral vision back in that eye.

One can hope and pray though.

I also hope you have a wonderful day.

Past Christmas Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Sunday Starts

 

I'm back folks!

Had a wonderful vacation.

Mostly restful and jam packed for sure.

It rained, we had freezing rain, snow.

More rain and snow on New Years Day.

Woke up to a dusting of snow Friday morning.

Then the temps dropped to the 20's.

Tundra loves it...me not so much.

What a crazy weather pattern.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays.

Let us hope 2025 will be a great one.

Work contacted me four times while I was on vacation.

Whatever will they do when I retire?

My goal is to retire in March 2026.

My first start is Eliza's French Birds 1849.

Am not a pink person really,

 but I was drawn to this pattern.

My paternal great grandparents came here

from France, so this might be why I wanted

to stitch this pattern. 

Stitching this on

 32 ct Rose Blush Belfast linen

by Wichelt.

Day one I stitched the first bird and some leaves.

Day two I finished the second bird 

with more leaves and berries.

Would like to have this finished by Valentines.

The color is so faint on this line, you cannot

really see it is a rose color.

Next up is Prairie Schooler

February Booklet # 160.

I am doing the mini chart.

The first block is almost finished.

I realized that when I took this pic,

I did not do the red backstitching at the bottom.

Using all called for DMC floss.

Am doing this on 32ct White Lugana linen.

It looks tan in this photo, but trust me it is pure white.

So white that I decided to stitch this pattern

2 strands over 2 instead of my normal 1 over 2.

Now when I do use two strands, I always

pull them apart and then put them together

again before stitching.

I learned this from a customer who came

into our antique store years ago

when I use to work our store.

Her name is Terri.

You may know her from her blog

Chocolates For Breakfast...well unfortunately

she no longer blogs, but I have heard she is

on Instagram now with the same name.

She is an awesome cross stitcher.

Started block 2 and added the backstitching 

on block 1 which I forgot before.

The border reminds me of 

the picot stitch in crochet. 

I once did this stitch for the border

on a baby blanket I crocheted

for my nephew when he was born.

Finally my blessings sampler for the new year.

They say if you can stitch a sampler

and have it finished in the month of January,

you will have good luck for the year.

I chose this very small sampler so it

would be finished this month.

This was my New Years day start. 

Halfway completed already.

Me thinks it will be finished in time.

This is being stitched on a mystery linen

I had from a previous project.

Using all of the fancy floss and DMC.

In other news,

Bob and I spent New Years Eve home.

We had Cranberry/ Mango margaritas

a small lobster tail for each of us and a few

appetizers I made.

Bob went to bed at 10 and I stayed up just to watch

the ball drop and then went to bed.

We have a celebrity in our house now.

Bob entered one of Tundra's pics into a doggie calendar.

We were notified the other day that Tundra was selected.

He will be Mr. February as we call him now. LOL

Once I receive my copy,

I will post a pic of him.

I have been staying up til 10 or later lately.

Getting up between 7 and 8.

Now I have to get back up at 5 for work again. UGH

Well I have one more day before going back,

so will enjoy my last day stitching.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Happy New Year Blessings To All!

Janice

December CupboardScape

Hello my friends.

Today will be my last post of the year.

Thank you all again for another wonderful year.

 

I bought this stocking on the antique trail

this past August.

Bob made the tree from an old door.

He sold quite a few again in all sizes.

I decided to keep one.

He also made the sign.

We sold these back some 15 years ago.

Making memories is so very important to me.

In other news,

it was a rainy chilly day yesterday.

Even Tundra did not want to stay out very long.

Our family Christmas was great.

We enjoyed telling stories and laughing.

I hope everyone enjoyed my 2024 

 Christmas decor.

Another year n the books.

I will be away from blogging until the  

New Year...

however I will pop in ad visit all of you

that post in the coming weeks.  

Plan on doing  whatever I choose

on my vacation...but I do have plans.

My hope is that everyone has a very

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

Holiday Blessings To All!

Janice

A Keeping Room Christmas

 Today's post is our keeping room.

I always call this my untraditional Christmas.

No red Christmas items in this room. 

Only my chairs and stone fruit have red in them.

Hope you enjoy this look.

Not all Santa's have to be red.

Just love the white and orange.

Close up of my tree.

Oranges, browns and golds.

This is why I wanted to get this stitch piece finished.

I bought this brown ribbon on the antique trail.

It was a steal for $2.00.

I placed it most everywhere.

Even the basket by my chair got a little festive.

In other news,

Thursday morning I got a call from my mom

that she lost power.

I left work early and Bob and I 

went and picked her up.

There is no way I would let my mom

freeze in her own home.

It was 19 degrees when we left her house.

Our family Christmas party is today.

She will stay with us until Wednesday now.

Hope everyone is getting ready for their

own Christmas festivities.

Have a magical weekend my friends.

Warm Weekend Blessings To All!

Janice