Welcome Fall

I hope everyone has been enjoying the beginning of Fall. I have to say this is my favorite time of year! I just started a new job, so I haven't been on lately. I will catch up with every one's blogs throughout this week. I'll be going to the park this weekend and hope to get some beautiful foliage pictures to share. I hope you have all been well and I look forward to your updates, take care!

Vacation in Pennsylvania

I'm back! I hope everyone has been well and have a bunch of posts for me to papoose.

Last weekend my mother had a school reunion and we took the opportunity to have a mini family reunion. Here is a picture of my mother, sisters (sans Vikki), my niece and my Mom-Mom. I ask you, is she not the most beautiful grandmother ever! I'm in the top row, second in from the right.

Now Johnstown, PA is known for two things. 1- The flood of 1889 which claimed 2,209 lives and 2-the Inclined Plane, the world's steepest vehicular inclined plane thank you very much. It offers a beautiful view of the valley. Sadly it was rainy so the wonderful pictures were few and far between

Here I have a two examples of Mom-Mom's cross stitch work.

She also made tons of afghans and quilts and Aunt Cathie was kind enough to dig some up for us. Here are the afghan and quilt I was given. The quilt is a beautiful butter yellow, the pic just doesn't do it justice.

And with that I am going to go check in on all of your blogs.

Hail, count 2ce stitch 1ce and new beginnings

Hail in June, never good for the plants. We had a quick and determined little storm blow through the other day. We got a layer of hail, some scary wind and all the trees got a trim. As I cleaned the leaves off the deck I found that some of the tomato plants took a hit. I planted too many this year so it's no big loss, and we got off easy, parts of Jersey got several inches of hail!







Here is my next problem. I miscounted or the pages bred while I wasn't watching. In either case I am coming up short on Dutch Beauty! I will have just enough to finish the first line, though not the right side border. I can scrap it and start over on a larger piece of linen or I can attempt to weave/stitch an extension piece on the end. Now here is where I need advise, is the latter even possible? My kingdom for an ounce of patience!

On to better things, I have an interim project going. It's called Once Upon A Time from the Children of Southern Roots I booklet by Janet Powers. One of my friends asked me to stitch something for him and I decided on this one. He hopes to have kids sometime soon and thought this would be perfect for a nursery. It should be a quick stitch, it's on 28 ct sand linen using DMC floss one over one.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Mother's day! I have been a bit lax in my blogging lately, though for a good reason. Habitat for Humanity has kicked off it's National Woman's Build Week (May 2 - 10). At the local chapter that I attend we tore down, literally, an old restaurant (Big Mama's - loved the name), and we'll construct a new house in it's place. My poor sissy arms are done in form the rubble removal, sledgehammering and salvaged brick stacking. I am especially in awe of my beloved blue-heads! These woman do not know anything but full steam ahead. I have only managed to finish one more page on Dutch Beauty. I did however read a really interesting book titled 'My Lobotomy' about a twelve year old boy whose step-mother pushed this NORMAL boy into undergoing a lobotomy! He is fine now, but had an rough life. It's a quick read, I recommend checking it out of your local library.
Last month we went to Minnewaska on a beautiful day and the falls were so pretty that I though I would share a few pictures of them.

Our Mulberry trees are in full bloom too.

That is a lovely house

While out and about today I decided to take pictures of some of the beautiful houses in the area. Sadly the trees were conspiring against me, but I thought better of getting out of the car and skulking about front yards to take better pics. I will one day make a sampler out of them... some day. I hope you all enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Stalking Nature

There is a beautiful oak right outside the the back door, the perfect spot for the Mourning Doves to keep an eye on the wee bits.

The Cardinals are soo skittish (perhaps bright red isn't the best camouflage), I was lucky to get a shot off. I have decided to forgive the deer for ravaging my poor roses over the summer, and have left some good bits in the snow for them. I have stocked up on 'Invisible Fence' in preparation for the spring. If there is anyone who hasn't heard of this stuff, it's a spray that when applied to plants it keeps the deer at bay for weeks. There is one unfortunate downside though, for the first 10 - 15 minutes it smells like a foul poo / rotting corpse combo, however, once dry it no longer smells. Oh how the neighbors love me...

I have a rather weak Dutch Beauty update, after a week I am little further ahead. Yep this is going to be an endurance piece. Wendy, the stitch count is 330 x 630, it's going to be a monster. Glenna, I'm sorry to hear about your MIA stitchery. I ordered/received this and a few others from Criss Cross Row at least a year or so ago. I'll check your site for a wish list and see if I have anything you might like.

I hope you all enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Home Pics

I recently got a new camera and thought I would post a couple of my recent pics. This is an amazing sunset we had a few weeks ago. I still have to download the cameras software, and will hopefully be able to clean up the pics a bit, this just doesn't do the actual sunset justice.

Then we had an ice storm, just enough to make the roads a bit nasty and coat the trees. Regrettably the mid-west bore the brunt of the storm, there are still parts without power.