Whippy Wednesday

My first whippy Wednesday of 2025.

Let's start with Mary Jane Kerr 1876.

This sampler will be a homage to my grandmothers.

I will be changing up the motifs in the middle 

just a bit to reflect more of my memories

of my grandmothers.

This is what I started with.

The border had a cool color

with a warm color...and then

two warm colors for the first set of letters.

The artist in me had to make a change here. 

I changed the gold to a tan for that row.

Am now done with the alphabets.

Now onto the motifs...

which as I stated before will change up.

Left side.

Right side. 

I did add in the numbers 202

for the year...started that in 2024...

so will need to add in the number 5 now

for this year.

In front of the year is my initials.

The pattern just had initials in it,

so this was changed a bit as well.

Below these motifs I will add 

my grandmother's names.

Speaking of motifs, here is the first one.

The pattern of the morning glory was in red.

These color of morning glories were on

both of my grandparents farms...so of course 

I had to change the color.

The second motif I kept because 

both of my grammas had dogs.

I just chose my own floss colors.

The third motif will be different altogether.

I thought I had the floss for this one...

but had to order it. UGH

I don't have an LNS (local needlework store)

store close to me...

wish I did.

Hopefully it will come in before Sunday,

as I like to work on my sampler this day.

Could not do it last week.

Then I picked up Cupid's Sampler.

This is a Brenda Gervais design.

I actually started this back last April.

I only got this far, then put it away.

I am a seasonal stitcher,

so not sure why I even started this in April.

Oh well.

During my vacation I worked on this

for 2 days and cupid is finished now.

Also finished two rows of the alphabet.

The letter "C" for Cupid was a specialty stitch.

Am not a fan of specialty stitches because 

they take longer to stitch,

but I did it anyway.

This one was a Smyrna cross stitch.

Then I realized that each row of the alphabet

has one letter that had the four sided stitch. 

I could have just done these letters 

in plain cross stitch...but took the time to do them.

Am glad I did now as I actually like the look.

Finally I picked up Little Pear Pinkeep.

I was disappointed in myself

that this was not finished by 

Christmas last year.

Hopefully it will be this year.

Am almost finished now.

I just love how cute this lil bird is on the right...

holding its own little pear.

I did change the hearts from blue to orange

to compliment my un-traditional colors

for my Keeping room Christmas tree.

They look the same color as the pears, but are orange.

In other news,

I saw my first bald eagle Monday afternoon.

We only get to see them when there is ice.

They follow their food source into the river

this time of the year since the lake near us

gets frozen.

Last year we had no ice though

...therefore no ducks...

which in turn no eagles.

They are such an awesome bird.

Majestic for sure.

The ice remains in the river.

The Canadian ferry has shut down now.

The island ferry runs only during the daytime.

Plus the Polar Vortex is gone now....

however we may have a mixed storm

come in on Friday with snow, sleet, rain...

who knows??? 

Well have to get to work.

Hopefully the drive wont be bad.

Mid Week Blessings To All!

Janice

  

 

January CupboardScape

Today is my first CupboardScape of 2025.

Cannot believe this month is almost over already.

Just hoping Spring comes early this year.

When I was a kid I enjoyed sled rides.

I never wanted to come inside.

While at my gramma's though she would

always have soup to warm ourselves up 

when we did come in.

Decided to add in some floral to this display.

These flowers are a bluish gray.

Antique Skater's Lamp.

My mom made me this pillow eons ago.

Will cherish it forever...

and it comes out each Winter.

Red Mittens.

I myself choose to wear gloves now...

but as a kid my mom had mittens on us,

with those thingies that attached to our coat.

Forgot what they were called.

A faux tree at an angle on purpose.

Just liked the look of a falling tree.

There you have it folks.

A nice mixture of reds and blues,

which compliment each other.

In other news,

Mr. February has arrived.

I was unaware Bob entered Tundra as 

a candidate for this calendar.

When he was selected and I first saw the pic...

I did say to Bob that we have 

better pics of Tundra though.

Well Mr. February as we call him now,

is being his usual self.

The celebrity status has not gone 

to his head too much. LOL

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend,

whatever your plans are.

Warmer January Blessings To All!

Janice 

 

First 2025 Winter Display

When I take my Christmas down,

its time to do a bit of Winter decor. 

I have always liked to mix greens with 

the color blue in these displays.

I placed greens inside this rye basket.

Topped it with an antique pierced tin lantern.

I love these new candle lights.

They run on one AAA battery.

They stay on for six hours and then turn off

for 6 hours and repeat.

Best of all they move at the top to mimic a flame.

I left my one Christmas tree up.

In the place of the other tree now resides

my snowman that my friend made.

I finally found his broom.

It is a vintage child's broom.

Could not find it for years until I saw it in

the garage this Summer.

Bob had it thinking he could use it.

Oh Bob.

My snowman lost his wool hat over the years,

so I recently crocheted him a brown cap.

I so love keeping the lights up for January.

It makes the long Winter nights more bearable.

Even better when Bob

 puts a fire in our fireplace.

In other news,

you know it is cold when a Samoyed 

goes outside just to do his business

then wants to come in.

Speaking of Mr. February;

still waiting for the calendar to arrive.

Checking the tracking it arrived 

in Michigan Jan. 17th. which by all account

the next stop should have been our

local post office and then out for delivery....

but no... its now headed for 

Indianapolis, Indiana. UGH

The Polar vortex has arrived though.

Monday's morning temp was 5.

The high was 13. 

This morning (Tuesday) it is 4 right now.

Fingers crossed our furnace makes it.

We continue to make a fire

in the fireplace daily. 

We saw a flock of Robins yesterday.

I know they usually come back 

to Michigan in February, so seeing them

now was quite a surprise.

Also a surprise was seeing 2 deer without

their winter coats....

does this mean Spring will come early?

One can only hope...but animals usually

know more than we do.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Warm Winter Blessings To All!

Janice

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