Friday, March 27, 2026

Friday Finish



This Friday I have 2 finishes to show off.


Bedelia Bunny by the
Artsy Housewife I finished stitching
last year.
I just decided to sew into a pillow.


I chose this floral fabric for the back.


 As usual stuffed with fabric...
but this time added a bit of
Tundra's fur.
He is shedding bigtime...and it is so soft.
Maybe Spring is finally coming.
This was stitched on 32 ct Cookie Dough.


This is the pattern photo.
I did not stitch any of the motifs.
For the flowers, my purples were more muted.
So were my yellows.


My Spring display with my new bunny pillow.


When last I showed you Sarah Casey Unwin,
I had this little corner left to stitch.


Here it is in its full glory already on the wall.
The shine on the right side of the house is the sun
coming in from the window.
(no ghosts) LOL


I chose a reddish brown frame because
I knew it was going to be hung above
our pumpkin pine cabinet.
I do have another pattern that I will
start soon...then when finished will
hang to the left of this one.
Hopefully they will still have the same
frame color because this new pattern
will probably take me another year to stitch.


I changed up the cabinet for a more Spring look.


My red curtains are really two blankets.
I hung one blanket on each side using clips.
Hung prim sheers for the middle
that are also stationary. 


For those who do not know 
what pumpkin pine is...
it is pine wood which was cut 
from the heart of a pine tree.
The oxidation from these old trees
made for the orange color, which they 
call pumpkin.
Hence pumpkin pine.
The older the pine tree, the more 
orange it would be.
Unfortunately you will not find
pumpkin pine sold now...
unless you find an antique one.

In other news,
I took mom to her monthly social
on Wednesday.
This month it was strawberry shortcake.
I brought both a strawberry rhubarb pie,
 and a strawberry cheesecake roll.
All was a hit.
My mom had a piece of pie and shortcake.
When we got back to her room, she
told me the pie was good. I told her that
I thought the shortcake was good and she says
"I did not have any of that"
I had to remind her she had both.

When I first got to her room,
her phone was not next to her.
I asked her where it was.
She said it was on the kitchen table charging.
I looked there and no phone.
I called her phone and could hear nothing.
Then I had to go on a hunt for it.
I looked everywhere for that dang phone.
Finally I looked in her purse which she
keeps in the closet.
Yep it was there.
She must have put it in there when took her
last Thursday for her outing.
She never took it out and it died.
Just sad she is getting so forgetful.

Well I have the weekend left,
then back to work for a week....
then RETIREMENT.
WOOHOO!!!

Friday Before Retirement Blessings To All!
Janice



Monday, March 23, 2026

Monday Market Mania

 
Hello my friends.
Each March the stitching world
goes ga-ga for the new releases
that designers bring out to market
which is in Nashville Tennessee.
Each year I look forward to seeing
what peeks my interest.
I purchased 6 patterns.
They are as follows.


Anyone who knows me...knows I love bunnies.
This Spring Rain bunny from
Theresa Kogut had to be on the list.
Ain't he adorable.


This small sampler from
Cross Stitch Antiques caught my fancy.


Then another sampler with a few bunnies.
Isabella Hardy from Needlework Press.


Then this charming snowman caught my eye.
This book from Teresa Kogut has
nine Winter patterns.


Am not usually a fan of white houses...
however this pattern from Annie Beez
had to come home to me.
When I do start this one,
will probably stop at the grass...
and omit everything underneath.


Finally I had to have  A Worthy Patriot
by Plum Street Samplers.

I dont plan on stitching any of these 
in the near future,
but am happy to have them in my stash.
I know most stitchers are already
stitching on a large Patriotic piece
to celebrate our 250 year anniversary.
I chose to work on smaller ones that will
be sewn into pillows.

Do any of these tickle your fancy?
If you are a stitcher, did you purchase any
market patterns?

In other news,
brother and I are headed back this morning
to clean more in my mom's house.

Last week mom was fine going to her house.
She understands what and why we are 
cleaning her house.
She also told us to take whatever we wanted
from the house before we sell anything.

 Wednesday I am taking a strawberry pie
to share for her monthly social.
This month is strawberries. 

I only have one week left of sabbatical...
then one week left of work...
then retirement here I come.
WOOHOO!

Well my brother just pulled into my driveway.
Gotta run.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Monday Mania Blessings To All!
Janice



Thursday, March 19, 2026

Treenware

 Decided our kitchen needed a refresh.


So I shopped around our house
to add just some treenware items in here.
Started with the table.
Potato mashers inside a piggin pail.
Cheese ladder and butter molds around.



More wood inside the pine cabinet.


Pantry boxes, butter molds,
bowls, potato mashers and spoons.
Firkin and grain measure on top.
Along with dough box, trencher,
 candy mold and latest butter stamp.


View of our table and chairs looking into 
our living room/ hall.
The table is a settle bench.
The chairs are even antique.
For their age, these are still sturdy.
Our bench seats two so we can have
6 folks sit here.

So what is treenware?
It is was any household utensil which was
created entirely out of wood.
Woman in their day had to use wood
items for everything.
No plastic back then.

In other news,
my brother and I went to my mom's
to do more purging on Monday.
We spent 2 hours cleaning off just her love seat.
Not only on it, but behind it, underneath it,
plus around it on the floor.
Then we spent another 2 1/2 hours cleaning
out her closet.
We still need to go through all of the clothes 
hanging in it....because we have found
money in so many different places....we need
to go through everything.
We got into the car for our drive home...
and felt like we accomplished nothing.
It is sad the things my mom had saved.
We found a full bag of powdered sugar
un-opened dated 2005.
Magazines underneath the seat cushions.
Little boxes with one item in each....
like one Lego brick, a few coins in another,
one matchbook in one and one puzzle piece
in another one just to name some.
We have to look inside everything.
We have been finding money everywhere.
The love seat area we found about $50,
while her closet we found $10.
No rhyme or reason why she put money 
where she did.... and when we asked her,
she did not even remember doing it.
She had 3 banks, and a safe deposit box,
 so not sure why she was
hiding money in her house.
All the money we find will go for her 
personal things she needs monthly for her
incontinence issue, vitamins,
Boost, Gatorade, soda and anything else
she may want.
It is still her money...not ours.
It is just a sad situation that my brother and I 
are dealing with.

We are taking my mom to her doctor
this morning for her monthly bloodwork.
After that brother and I will take her to
her house...my sister decided after her
episode with the aide not to take my mom
to her house...and we are glad of that.
Afterwards we plan on taking mom
to Olive Garden for lunch.
It use to be one of her favorite restaurants.

Well have to get ready for my brother to arrive.

Hope everyone enjoys their day.
It was cold again with flurries yesterday.
So sick of Winter.

Treen Blessings To All!
Janice



Sunday, March 15, 2026

Sunday Starts

 With Spring just around the corner...
hopefully...


I decided to start a bigger project.
This one is called Floral Motif Sampler
by The Scarlett House


I started with the border in black.
Stitched across the top and down
the left side halfway.
Then started on the first flower.


Almost finished with the first flower.
Some flowers will be smaller than others,
so may be able to tackle more than one
when I pick it up again.
Stitching this on 36ct Edinburg linen
with all of the called for floss.


My latest Patriotic stitch
is Parade Sammy
by Calico Confectionery.


Stitching this on 32 ct Flax.
Using all the called for DMC floss,
except 311.
Using DMC 336 instead for the navy blue.


Sammy's eyes were suppose to be the
lighter blue.
I opted to do mine in the darker blue.
His mouth was suppose be red...I chose black.


Am really enjoying stitching on this.

In other news,
well my sister did it again.
Her snarky attitude with the caregiver,
caused their manager to call my brother.
The manager told him she did not want
my sister berating or talking to her
employees anymore.
This is the second time my sister 
has ran her mouth.
My mom has only been in her studio
for 6 weeks.
My sister did apologize...but too late.
She is not liked by them any longer.
The first time she went off...
and apologized she bought them gift cards.
Now my brother is going to buy them 
gift cards and will tell them
my sister is not to speak to them anymore.
We hope she stops.

It was so terribly windy Friday night that 
I became restless and got out of bed.
Ended up sleeping on the couch.
The winds were 25mph with gusts higher.
Saturday morning we noticed that
our heavy metal old wheelbarrow was
moved at least 30 feet from where we had it
in our flower bed.
Even our antique copper boiler full of dirt
was tossed in our driveway.
Thankfully it did not hit our vehicles.

Well I am down to 2 more weeks of sabbatical
before going back to work one final week
to retirement.
It is going by really fast.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Calm Sunday Blessings To All!
Janice 
 




Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Whippy Wednesday

 It's that time of the month
for me to share my progress
on projects I have going on.


Potted Plant was started eons ago it seems.
This was where I started the first time
I shared my progress. 


Then I shared more progress...
and then was put aside collecting dust.


This is the true color of the dark background.


I hooked more on the right side.
The darker color was all I had
in my stash so had to chose
another wool.
This one is a bluish gray with flecks of red.
My lighting sucked as it continues to rain
when I took this pic.
Will also need to tweak the stem somewhat...
not happy how that stem looks currently.


Am using up remnants of wool I have.
Therefore no rhyme or reason to this.
I have enough to finish the flowers,
leaves and stems.
Will need to grab more wool 
for the background though.
I do have enough to finish this right side.



Picked up Faith 1831
by Samplers Not Forgotten.


I finished  the first half swag,
then the first full one.
This is another big sampler that 
I chose because of the saying.
"The best and most beautiful things
in the world cannot be seen or even
touched. They must be felt with
the heart."


Last week I picked up Spring Delivery.


I only did a little bit last year.


Five evenings of stitching and now
this is where I am at.


Finally Fenicowles Hall.
The big house is now completed.


Then I began stitching the remaining
motifs on the right.
Ended with the start of the final tree.
Once this is finished will need to 
add in the final borders at the bottom,
plus add in my paternal grandmothers
parents names.
Almost to the finish line with 
this big project.
Started back in May 2025. 

In other news,
The other night someone drove into 
our neighbors driveway across the street from us,
then backed out and went straight into
our water filled ditch.
They had to get towed out.
Now we have two tire ruts we have to fix.
We were already asleep, but Bob heard
some noise, got up and saw the tow truck
pulling the van out.
We have no street lights and live on 
a dead end street.
No one usually comes down unless
its one of our three neighbors, or friends
and family of our three neighbors.
We know everyone in our neighborhood.

My brother and I continue to clean out
my mom's house.
She has 3 bedrooms with closets, 2 full bathrooms,
2 more closets in the hall,
living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry,
enclosed sunroom, laundry room and mud room.
Not to mention the 2 car garage and attic.
All filled to the brim with STUFF.
It is just a mess.
We are trying to organize things in piles,
so that once completed, we can decide
if we want anything or just do the estate sale.
We have no more room on the beds or floors
in the bedrooms for anything else.
Its just a horrible situation...
However now since my brother had to go
back to work, we only go once a week now.
My sister is mad at us.
She still is in denial that my mom will
be going back to live at her home.
Before we started cleaning,
we did tell my mom what we were doing.
She understood...my sister does not.
My mom has important paperwork,
some antiques and things
someone might steal if they broke in.
My sister just does not get it.
The house has not been lived in now for
seven months.
Something needs to be done to it.
We told my sister we were going to take
mom to her doctor appt next week,
and then would take her to her house
to show her what we are doing.
Now my sister is taking her this Saturday...
and is going to tell her she did not know
we were doing this...
She told us she was going to tell my mom
that we did not have to do this,
once she acted surprised.
Egad woman...why are you causing issues?
My sister is a control freak...
and if you dont do things her way...
she gets mad.
Well we are not going to stop...
so it seems she can be mad at us.
Just wish she would not hurt my mom by lying.

Tundra woke me up at 3:30 this morning.
Thunderstorms rolled in.
We are under a watch until 10 this morning now.
So strange to have severe weather in March.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week thus far.

Wednesday Blessings To All!
Janice