Late on Everything

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but I did take a slight vacation from blogging and to a lesser extent stitching.  As the days start to get shorter, I feel myself having the need to start getting everything ready for winter although that need is not as necessary as it was when I lived in New Hampshire as we don't have much of a winter here in central Virginia (of course now that I've said that...)  A sure sign that the season is changing is the number of young that are being brought into the bird feeders now.  I've seen two cardinals and a wren coming in with their parents, along with the crows and finches and last evening a mother raccoon and two cubs.  I'm not as excited about the raccoon family, but the sighting explains the amount of feed we're going through.  Another sure sign is the hummingbird invasion has started.  I counted as best as I could with the things whizzing around 15 of them the other day. They are so busy chasing each other away from the feeders that I doubt they have time to feed.

So what have I missed since my last post?  Well, first IHSW but I can't go back and participate so will have to give that one a miss.

Then I missed posting my TUSAL, now that one I can show you:

Not a lot new in there, but the color mix is very pretty.

Next I missed the August WIPocalypse.  Another one I can fix.  I know you're very surprised to see this one aren't you?  67 done, 32 to go.

And one I haven't missed!  My August ornament:

This is Strawberry Delight Ornament by Tink Boord-Dill Needlework.  It's done on a 28-count Lambswool with DMC.  It is definitely more of a springtime pattern, but I like the colors.  Glad it's number came up for the ornament rotation.  I haven't run the random number generator to see which ornament/small is up next.

YOTA Saturday

The calendar say it's August, but I don't know where July went,and since it's the first Saturday, it's YOTA Saturday. Taking two weeks off from work sure did mess with my internal clock - not that I am complaining well except for the 300+ emails I had to deal with on Monday.  I did a staycation for a week and was off to my sister's and then my parent's home in Michigan, for a week thanks Mom and Dad and Nancy.  My mother's family had a reunion and it was fun catching up with folks that I hadn't seen in a while okay it had been 23 years but that's just embarrassing to say.  I definitely have to make an effort to see them all sooner.

I took 99 with me with some delusions grand thoughts that I would stitch all afternoon and evening, and managed to stitch one bottle.  Yes, one bottle, having nothing to do takes a lot of time.  I was able to do a few more once I got home, so there is progress to show but not what I hoped.

Here's where 99 was:

And here's where it is today:

Lots of catching up with housework and errands this weekend and then packing for a work trip to St. Paul, Minnesota.  I'm going to be more reasonable and not take any stitching with me - I'm training and know that won't have the energy at the end of the day to concentrate on stitching or much of anything as we're down a trainer.  I am behind, again, on my blog reading and commenting.  This time, instead of trying to catch up, I may just call a "from this day forward", certainly takes a lot of pressure off me pressure that I am so good at putting on myself.

July TULSA

I am a bit late with my TUSAL posting, but as I didn't do any stitching between Monday and today, my container looks the same as it would if I had posted on time.  Who would have thought that not stitching would be a good thing?

Given that the majority of my stitching has been beer bottles this is actually rather colorful.  There are some fairly long pieces in there - I am getting wasteful in my old age...

I have been rather remiss in welcoming new followers and thanking those of you that pop into my little corner of the world, it is not that I don't appreciate you taking the time out of your day to stop in, it's that old "life" thing. I am taking the next two weeks off from work so I hope to finally get caught up with my blog reading and commenting and maybe get some quality stitching time in.

YOTA Saturday and a finish

It is the first Saturday of July already!  I finally picked a focus piece for this year and have been steadily stitching on 99 by Ink Circles for the past month.

Here's where I was the beginning of June:

And here's how it looks today:

I stitch about a row and a half each month, I am taking a couple of weeks off the end of this month, so maybe I can up that count for July.

So that none of us becomes terribly bored with looking at bottles, I am still stitching on smalls on alternate Fridays and have another finish.

This is Heart in Hand Needleart's Wee Garden Gate:

The bird is charted to be white, but I don't have any white birds around my house and I like crows so a crow it is.  Since there is a finish, I also have a new start.

This is a freebie called Strawberry Delight Ornament by Tink Boord-Dill Needlework.  It's copyrighted 1999 but I'm not sure I have had it in my stash for that long.  It is stitched on 32-count Lambswool with DMC.

Strawberry Delight Ornament by Tink Boord-Dill Needlework

 The Smyrna crosses are charted as Algerian eyelets but I didn't feel like pulling this fabric as it is rather stiff.





 

30 years ago today

Happy Birthday Trevor

June Ornament

Here's my June ornament:

Autumn Blackbird by Waxing Moon Designs - stitched on 28-count Summer Sky Jobelan with Gentle Art Sampler Threads

I also  had a very good start on a second ornament:

Wee Garden Gate by Heart and Hand Needlearts stitched on 32-count Lambswool with DMC

A few more bottles and a gate

I didn't get as much time to hermit this weekend with my stitching, I did spend a lot of time hermitting in the yard - mowing, trimming and weeding.  Not fun but everything does look nice.

We had a new bird come into the feeders this weekend. As I glanced out the window, I thought it was another cardinal, but on closer look, it was a summer tanager.  It is a bug eater so it was using the feeders as a perch and not for the seeds but it was a very nice surprise.

No, I didn't take this photo, by the time I found my camera it was gone.  With the gold and house finches it was very colorful at the feeder station.

A bit of stitching progress this week:

99 by Ink Circles - stitched on 32-count Golden Walnut with DMC

I am hoping to get to halfway on this soon.  Would be nice to say I was on the down side of this hill.

And here's Wee Garden Gate by Heart and Hand Needlearts:

Wee Garden Gate by Heart and Hand Needlearts - stitched on 32-count Lambswool with DMC

A few specialty stitch flowers, back stitching and Mill Hill Treasures and this will be finished.  I am enjoying my smalls Fridays, I do wish I had the idea sooner, but it is something that I will continue with.