To Market

 To Market, To Market,

To buy a fat pig.

Home again, home again,

Jiggety-jig.

Hello friends.

Well I could not resist purchasing a few

cross stitch patterns from the March cross stitch market.

I was constantly getting emails almost daily

on new releases.

I did end up purchasing these.

This one reminded me of my gramma H's 

wallpaper in one of her rooms....

so this will be a fitting sampler tribute for her.

(I actually already have this one kitted up)

{ linen and floss purchased}

George Washington's horse named Nelson.

Had to have him.

My parents were married in a church on a hill.

When I get to this sampler, 

I will add their names and wedding date.

Since I love both snowman and hearts....

well this one I had to have.

I dont have anything for St Patrick's Day.

I thought this was so sweet.

Along with this one with the clover.

I may try to add in a bunny in here,

since they love eating clover.

Finally a Fall one.

I dont like the red, so will chose a different color

for this one.

Who knows, maybe a few colors.

We do have gray squirrels here...so maybe

I might make him gray.

Where the heck am I going to find all of the time

to stitch all of these?

Not to mention the ones I have already purchased.

Are you mad woman? EGAD

For all you cross stitcher's out there.

Did you purchase any new patterns at market?

I heard that if you went in person to Tennessee,

it was overwhelming and you would have not

been able to see everything.

I truly have caught the cross stitch bug.

Have not really cross stitched since the 80's.

Now I am gung ho on every season it seems.

Once I have Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

finished, I will be able to do more of

my other stitching.

Hopefully it will be finished by Halloween...

finished but probably not framed.

In other news,

Mary I started to write the recipe for my mom's rolls,

then there was a part that had me stumped.

She will be here later today, so I will ask

her to clarify and I will then post the recipe.

I want to make sure it is right.

I have never made them.

Not sure if we will be able to see the partial eclipse

here in Michigan.

For all of my friends in the zone,

I sure hope the weather cooperates for you.

This is an amazing sight to view if you can.

My mom will be here for 2 days,

so I look forward to her visit.

We will go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant

which is 45 minutes away.

Its been a long time since we have been there.

Well have to get to work.

Hope everyone has a magical day today!

Market Blessings To All!

Janice

Re-Visiting With Old Friends

 Hello friends!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Today is an update on our keeping room.

I think I showed this old rug before.

I purchased it right off the floor 

from an antique store.

I knew the owner and asked her if it was for sale.

Guess it was since I bought it. LOL

When I brought it home I had it on a table.

Then one day the light bulb went off.

Janice I think it would look good in front of the fireplace.

Well it did and I think it looks really good here now.

You can see my big Halloween project to the right.

This is where I stitch at night while watching tv.

I had purchased this leather shot bag

last year and just decided it would look good here.

It now resides on the mantle.

Bob finished the wood trim around the ceiling now.

He had a nice day a few weeks back,

Decided it was time to finish this.

So glad he did.

The wall where my light is will become

the heritage sampler wall.

I need to at least finish one more,

before I decide where to start hanging these...

so stay tuned.

At the rate I am going with 

Little Quakeresque it may be at the end of the year.

Finally one more old friend.

Our happy dog Tundra.

He is here on our couch with daddy 

laying next to him.

In other news,

I will post my mom's roll recipe next time.

I did not have to post for this one.

Bob and I went out to our favorite 

Italian restaurant last evening.

It is a half hour drive up the river,

but well worth it.

Bob had Eggplant Parmigiana.

I had Cajun Chicken  with artichokes,

fresh tomatoes and capers

in a rich cream sauce with angel hair noodles.

They have the best bread with dipping oil too.

I could not eat all of mine so will have the rest 

for lunch today.

Well have to get to work.

Old Friend Blessings To All!

Janice

Sunday Starts

Hello all of my dear friends!

This latest project

started back on February 4th.

This one is called Patriotic Pinwheel Parade.

A perfect stitch for July 4th decor.

Perfect also for a bunny lover like me!

I plan on doing this one the 4th of each month.

Hopefully it will be completed by July 4th.

My first day progress.

February 4th.

Almost completed a quarter of the flag banner

at the top.

March 4th flag progress.

Its gonna be a long one...

Once I get to the bunnies it will be 

fun stitching on this one,

since I so love bunnies.

Stitching this one on 36 ct Cream & Sugar

from Fiber on a Whim.

Using most of the called for colors.

Swapped out the orangey red for Red Licorice.

Who wants orange for July 4th?

Not me.

Also changed the white to White Lighting.

Both Weeks Dye Works.

The other colors are DMC.

My next attempt is this one.

This is my next sampler for my heritage wall.

It's called 

"A Little Quakeresque"

but for me it has been nothing but

"A Big Headache"

I think I told Lauren there were 4 motifs stitched.

I lied. Only 3.

I thought this would be a fun pattern.

A no brainer with only one color floss.

These little motifs seem easy, but are a pain to me.

Every one thus far I have had to frog. Grrr

I really have to count these motifs.

There are 81 of them....this is going to be a long stitch.

Even though I love blue, may get bored with one color.

I will not be stitching the four corner border.

When finished this will have all four

of my great grand fathers names/ dates.

Hopefully it will look as nice once completed

as my other family sampler.

Using only one color of floss.

Classic Colorworks Blue Corn.

Again this should be easy because there are 

no color changes to deal with.

Again GRRR.

In other news,

my mom loved the tribute sampler I stitched

in memory of her parents & grandparents.

Her eyes lit up when she looked at it.

I was so glad my first one was for her family. 

She even wondered what glass it was.

She also told me she now found out her

paternal grandfathers birth year.

All we had was his death year.

We now know he passed 

when he was just 34 years old.

Other than he died from pneumonia,

we know nothing else about him.

I will include his birth date

in this current sampler.

Larry's 100th birthday party was a success,

even though it was a rainy day.

He told us the story of him going into the army

at 18 years old in World War II.

He was wounded in the leg and spent 4 months

in a Paris hospital before returning back to his

regiment in Germany.

In the final days of the war, many gathered

in the arena that Hitler used for his speeches.

There remained a Nazi swastika hanging.

At the beginning of the celebration,

they covered the swastika with the American flag,

amid heavy cheers from the crowd.

It was here that Audie Murphy (the actor)

was honored for his bravery.

At this time we thanked Larry for his service

with a round of applause by all.

He spent 27 months fighting for our country.

Thank you again Larry for your service.

Thank you again to those who sent in cards.

Well I best get ready for Easter Brunch.

We always have our dinner at noon.

Ham and fixins.

Cannoli and strawberry rhubarb pies for dessert.

Hope everyone enjoys their Easter who celebrate.

Sunday Start Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Whippy Wednesday

Hello my friends.

Today I have a few WIP's to share.

First up is Love Always.

This is my daily lunch project now.

I really would like to get this one finished,

even though it will be put away until next

Valentine's Day.

I sure do need to get some projects completed. LOL

 

As you know am not a fan of pink,

but the rosy pinks in this piece I am loving.

I hate putting it down every day.

I thought there would be lots of frogging

in this one with the right side of the house,

but surprisingly I had none.

Was debating on whether to keep the kitty

gray or change to brown.

Bob said keep it gray for our Shadow kitty.

Not finished though.

Here is pattern cover.

So glad the called for floss colors are more muted.

Next up is Spring Gathering.

I decided to stay with the called for floss

for the bunny.

Sometimes you just have to trust the designer.

I may do an outline around his tail though,

since it is hard to see with my linen choice.

Alas this one did not get done in time for 

my Spring displays.

I worked on this one for a few hours last Saturday.

So many projects I want to do...

so little time to do them all.

Here is the Spring Gathering pattern.

Using all the called for floss,

even though my eggs are not pink.

Also the bunny's chest is white in the pic too,

whereas more of a cream in the called for floss

This is also fine by me.

Sometimes these patterns pics are not the colors at all.

Finally Block 5 of

Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.

This baby was almost a full coverage block.

It took me 16 evenings and 2 Saturdays to complete.

Was not a fan of this one from the get go.

To me this did not SCREAM Halloween.

If not for the 2 bats and 2 skulls in the water,

to me this was just an under water scene.

Also the larger necklace above the skull was suppose

to be completed in all French knots.

I chose to do cross stitches....

did not want to do that many knots.

The next block will actually be 2 blocks in 1.

I will start on the left side first.

Do you want me to show you 

my progress next month?

Or should I wait & show in 2 months?

Hopefully I will finish by then...

Let me know.

At least I will enjoy doing this next one.

Yaya will love it too!

Blocks 1, 2 and 5.

Blocks 3 and 4.

Smell my feet and little pear were kept

in the cabinet this month.

Too much time spent on this big project.

In other news,

The workers who took out my daughters dishwasher,

did something with the waterline.

Now she has a leak....

She is running on empty.

She works full time.

She has to take my granddaughter 

to school and back since she cannot walk now.

She continues to go to the house for inspections.

She continues with her back therapy.

She still has her charity planning event weekly.

She was so tired the other day, she fell asleep

at her jobs parking lot when she arrived for work.

So glad she did not fall asleep at the wheel. 

My mom will be coming on Thursday.

I will see if she can bring her roll recipe.

Will share for those who wanted it.

Also thank you to those who sent cards for Larry.

You know who you are.

I will give them to him on Saturday.

Whippy Wednesday Blessings To All!

Janice

March CupboardScape

Hello friends.

Mother Nature got mad at us.

We had almost 5 inches of snow yesterday.

The Robins are flying back South....

at least I would if I was them.

Today's cupboardscape is all about bunnies,

mixed in with a few other items.

Most of the bun buns I made. 

 

I did hook the egg, just like I hooked the mat from

my last post.

This wood bunny basket is special

because my dad made this one.

He made tons of these in all colors and sold them

 at craft shows in the late 80's.

This is a very old wood egg crate.

The crocks are both cake crocks.

These would have been placed in the coals

to make your cake.

Not much going on right now.

Will spend my weekend doing

the normal chores and getting in some stitching.

We will go to the grocery store 

for all of  the Easter fixins.

I am hosting.

What will you be doing this weekend?

March CupBoardScape Blessings To All!

Janice

Spring Is Here

Spring is here,

although we had snow off and on yesterday.

Here are some snippets of my Spring displays.

I know Robin will be drooling at the last pic.

Saundra and Lauren may like my mat.

For those who like bunnies like me, will like this too.

 

So this bunny mold was something Bob brought

home a few weeks ago.

A customer came to the store and just gave it to him.

She would not take any money for it...

and because Bob still has short term memory loss,

he does not remember who gave it to him.

When he showed it to me, I was in shock.

This is a $500 antique mold.

This treasure will be loved forever by me.

I could never imagine spending 

this kind of money for this piece. 

(which is why I never had one)

There was a lady from Germany whose blog I followed.

She stopped blogging now.

Each Easter she showed her antique bunny molds.

I always drooled looking at them all.

Thank you, thank you to the customer

who gave this to Bob.

You have no idea what this means to me.

In other news,

Chatty Crone asked me what museum glass is.

It is a glass that is non- reflective while being

super clear. 

In other words, 

it will not have a glare like normal glass.

My daughter and kiddos stayed at a hotel

over the weekend, and now will be temporarily

housed in an apartment near them until

the house is fully cleaned..

It will take approximately three months.

They will need to remove everything from

her house, then determine what can be saved

or what needs to replaced.

She took what she wanted and also took pics

of everything just in case something comes

up missing.

One of my co-workers who had fought cancer,

has passed away the other day at only 46.

She has 4 school aged children.

She went on disability about seven years

 ago to spend more quality time with 

her family.

At that time she was only given a year to live.

She frequented the University of Michigan

hospital for all of her treatments.

Which is hard, because it is almost a three

hour drive from us here.

Please say a wee prayer for her family.

Her husband's father and my father were cousins.

It is a small world out there. 

Well have to get my butt in gear to drive to work.

Hope everyone enjoys their first day of Spring.

Stop and smell the flowers.

Or in my case, stop and count the robins.

There were over 25 robins on the lawn 

yesterday at work. I did stop to count them.

The most in one area I have ever seen.

Spring Has Arrived Blessings To All!

(at least on paper now)

Janice