I Love This Month

Hello Friends.

I love this month.

I so love being Patriotic.

Hope you enjoy more red, white and blue.

In other news,

Mary from Windy Meadow Farms

asked me about my thought on seances.

I oppose them.

Would NEVER want one performed 

in my home or business.

Carla from The River

asked how we got the paranormal to

want to visit our store.

The person who formed this group

came to Bob and simply asked

if his team could come in and

do their thing.

Bob agreed.

We did not give them any information.

We wanted to know if they could

really tune into our ghosts.

They did not disappoint.

Cathy from Acorn Hollow

said she sometimes smells cigarette smoke

in her home.

The day my dad passed away,

my mom and my kids went shopping 

the next day to get a nice suit for my son.

Everywhere we went that day.

I could smell the Old Spice he always wore.

I mentioned it when we got home that evening.

Both my mom and my kids said they smelled it too.

Coincidence???

Mary from Hill Top Post

made me chuckle at her response.

She never believed in ghosts,

but her intentions when she leaves this world

is to become one.

Thank you everyone for your comments.

I so loved reading each and every one.

So lately driving to work in the mornings,

I decided to count the number of trucks

going back towards my small town

in the first half hour of my drive

that were heading out fishing.

The average for the week was 12.

Am sure there were more, but

that's what I counted on my way to work

in that timeframe.

Monday I decided to count how many bridges

I had to cross on my way to work.

The little things I do in my hour travel.

Well I went over 10 creeks & 2 rivers.

12 bridges in total.

Tuesday evening I decided to finally 

go out on my dock.

Have not stepped foot on it since 2019.

Why would I not go out with this beautiful view?

Stupid me. I know.

This is the view looking up river.

Looking downriver.

Finally across the river.

This is Canada.

Unfortunately no freighters to be seen.

I told Bob I am going to try and make a point

to go out once a week now.

It felt nice.

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary.

This is our 16th year.

It was a second marriage for us both,

but my how the time has flown by.

Must get to work now.

Summer Time Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Sunday Start

 Happy Sunday to all my friends.

Well I decided to start another sampler.

this one is called

Feniscowles Hall 

by Heartstring Samplery.

This one will be a tribute to my

paternal grandparents and their parents.

Am not a green person...but something about

this grass drew me in to this pattern.

The entire sampler will be 

my own color conversion.

Will not do the verse first, but instead

add in the alphabet and numbers

which were included in this pattern.

 

For the upper row and alphabet,

these are the colors I chose.

Dublin Bay- Alphabet

Kudtzu- Vine

Old Red Paint- Red Leaves.

Now to be fair,

the red leaves are also in the pattern...

I just changed to a different red I had on hand.

My one day start.

This is the width.

I also decided that from now until the first

day of Autumn, I am going to just rotate

stitching on my three current samplers.

Those are Antique Birds and Angel,

Sarah Casey Unwin, and this one.

Am calling it my Sampler Summer Stitching.

In other news,

last night we had a paranormal group

come into our antique store.

They let Bob and I ask questions.

I talked twice to our one ghost visitor

whom we know was in the Civil War.

His name is Roger.

I was not able to find out which side he was on.

Did find out he was shot and lost his leg.

He was in much pain.

He is in an area of our store 

where our own antiques are.

Bob and I have pinpointed the object

he may be attached to.

One of the many whiskey jugs

or a creamy white cabinet.

Either way, we knew he was here even

before the paranormal group came in.

We also knew of the one man who 

resides in our military section of the store.

This ghost bothers me.

I told him last night he better get along

with me because I will be working here soon.

Yes I do sometimes talk with our ghosts.

Bob says Good Morning to them every

day he works.

We also have a child in there.

She likes to play.

The paranormal group was not able

to make contact with her last night.

It is possible she has moved on.

Our Victorian lady has also

moved on.

We think she was attached to the

Victorian furniture that was sold now.

She never bothered anyone.

We also have one more ghost

up in our attic. 

She is the only entity we think

will remain with the building.

We  do not know anything about her. 

They were not able to get anything on

her last night either.

Some may not believe in ghosts,

but we do.

We catch orbs on our store cameras.

We have seen shadows throughout

the 15 years we have been in business.

We both have felt cold spots.

Bob has heard voices.

Any hoot,

if you happen to have a ghost story,

please share.

Hope you have a great Sunday.

I will be back to cross stitching.

Was able to create a few items

for the store.

Not much, but will continue to create things

for the store on Saturdays.

Next year I will have more time.

Unfortunately back to work tomorrow.

Vacation is over. UGH

Summer Sampler Blessings To All!

Janice

Whippy Wednesday

Hello Friends.

Here are my WIP's for this month.

Day 10

I almost finished the bottom left side

of the angels body and banner.

Maybe the next day I can finish this angel.

Day 11

Could not finish the angel. UGH

Still have this tiny little part at the bottom right.

I tried though.

As dad would have said:

Close but no cigars.

Day 12

Finished the angel finally.

Stitched all of the leaves and flowers 

to the right of the rose. 

Finished the upper border and almost

 finished the right corner motif.

Purchased a new needle minder.

Just fitting for this piece.

Will look forward to getting her finished.

Then I can begin finishing the rest

of the flowers and other bird.

Day 13

I started the bird and added the berries

above him.

Also worked my way down on the right border.

The bird is taking a bit.

So many color changes,

but am loving this sampler.

Next up.

Blueskin

Am hoping I can get this one done

before I get tired of patriotic stitching...

getting close.

George's buttons on his coat were

suppose to be this green color.

I changed to Heirloom Gold

by Gentle Art.

Next change I did was his pants.

They were suppose to be gray.

Looking at all of the images online,

I decided to go with Caramel Corn.

Again by Gentle Art.

Next change was Blueskin himself.

The called for was Parchment (cream)

Blueskin was a gray Arabian.

Anyone who knows horses,

grays will turn white as they get older...

but in the Winter will have that undertone

gray come through.

So I decided to do my Blueskin in

White Lightning by Weeks Dye Works.

His mane in Pelican Gray.

Finally his tail in Weeks Dye Works

 Galvanized and Pelican Gray. 

Am happy with my changes.

Next is my monthly progress on

Sarah Casey Unwin.

I finished the motifs on the right.

Stitched more down on the border.

Then started stitching another border row.

Then went up and did these motifs,

Finally started the words. 

Although a biggie...

am enjoying stitching on this piece too.

Finally Patriotic Pinwheel Parade

Stitched more bunnies.

Plus another one. 

Am almost to the finish line...

Did not get completed for this July 4th though.

Hopefully will be done for next year.

That flag is MASSIVE...still not complete.

In other news,

no cross stitch this week as I am focusing

on stitching up things for Halloween 

at the store.

On August 1st we are celebrating 

our 15 year anniversary.

We will be doing storewide sales throughout

that first weekend.

Had to take my car in for brakes yesterday.

Bad news.

I was driving on a wing and a prayer.

God surely was watching over me.

All brakes including rotors were shot.

Now I have all new brakes.

Thank God also that I don't try and stop

 on a dime when driving.

I always leave space in car in front of me.

Today am going to the closest fabric store

near me which is 45 minutes away.

Bob is going with me.

I need some fabric...just a wee bit.

We will do lunch afterwards somewhere in town.

Lauren asked me how many days til retirement.

212 days....

Mid Week Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Being Patriotic

 This is my favorite room this year

for my patriotic decor.

I so love just sitting in here and taking

it all in.

I hope you enjoy the pics.

In other news,

the other night around 12:30am

Tundra wanted to go outside.

When Bob put him on the leash and

went outside in the backyard

he heard the weirdest scream.

Tundra was spooked too.

He quickly did his business and wanted inside.

Once inside Bob started hearing the screaming

in our front yard.

Tundra kept barking.

It woke me up.

Bob came in the bedroom and I said 

"What is Tundra barking at?"

He said open the window.

It is screaming in the back now.

So I opened the window.

I thought it was bigfoot or a cryptic

of some kind.

It truly sounded like something out 

of a horror movie.

When I got up for work,

I googled what animal would scream at night.

It came up with a You Tube video.

A video of a red fox screaming.

I played it...Tundra started barking again.

It was the sound I had heard.

When I got home from work, I again played

it for Bob.

He said yep that was it.

It seems that a fox will scream if it is

in distress, telling another fox this is his territory,

or looking for a mate.

  Since it is not mating season, 

that leaves 2 of the three reasons.

Yesterday was my dad's birthday.

He would have been 96 if he was still alive.

I called my mom to see if she was alright.

She was.

I still miss my dad all these years.

I am on vacation next week.

Plan I crafting up some Halloween 

to sell for the store.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Patriotic Blessings To All!

Janice

Friday Finish Again

This time on a Tuesday.

Hope I don't confuse you all.

Here are my latest finishes.

Voila

Viola Martini is completed.

This was a pattern I changed to

add in my great-grandmothers names

to pay homage to them.

If you remember, I started this idea

of stitching my heritage wall back in 2022.

Mom and I travelled to all of the cemeteries

so I could record the dates of my relatives

back to my great- great grandparents. 

So far I have completed 

both my great-grandfathers & great-grandmothers.

My grandmothers.

Bob and I.

My mom and dad's wedding tribute.

My maternal grandparents with their parents.

I have many more planned but currently

working on two birds and an angel.

 I will add in all of the initials of my relatives

for this one.

Bringing these together with thread and needle,

to me is like an artist putting paint to canvas.

I only work on my samplers on Sundays...

so it will be years before these are all finished.

Then again, once I am retired, 

I may be able to add more days to devote to these.

Then I finished this.

Strawberry House.

My big beautiful blue house is complete.

Decided to use the same strawberry fabric

for the back of this pillow.

Although I did not put a strip 

of fabric over my slit like I normally do.

I was so excited to get it finished...

that I opted not to.

You will see this again in one

of my patriotic displays.

In other news,

please pray for those affected by 

the horrible devasting flood in Texas.

I cannot even fathom having that much

rain come down in such a short time.

My heart aches for those who lost their lives.

Texas Strong Blessings To All!

Janice