September Stitching

Wow!  A whole month has breezed right by!  Where did September go??

I have been giving my focus to SDW and finished a few more bands....

It almost looks like those deer are breathing fire!  

When I am stitching I cannot believe how long this sampler is!  If this continues into winter I could use it as a scarf!! 

I will forge ahead on SDW but will also make some time in my days for this beautiful sampler!!  The gorgeous Saxony by Gigi R!  I will be doing this one on 36 ct Lakeside Linen in Vintage Lentil with silks.  I am so very excited to be working with silks!  

This past month I also got to a book signing.... Michael Symon, Iron Chef and host on "The Chew"!   It was so fun to meet him, I just love his laugh!  The book is chock full of great recipes that look so easy to make.  Only 5 ingredients seem easy-breezy! :)  

And this is the latest book I just finished, in fact, today!  Another by one of my favorite authors, Elin Hilderbrand.  Silver Girl takes place on Nantucket.  I really enjoyed this one.. some drama, a little romance, and true blue friendships.  

And that about sums up my September!  I am so happy we are in my favorite season.  I love the crunch of leaves under my feet.  I wish you a wonderful week full of stitching and smiles!  Enjoy all the beautiful colors of Autumn!  xxxxx

Pumpkins for Cathey

Wishing a Happy Blogoversary to Cathey of Pumpkin Patch & Co.  It is so wonderful to see all the pumpkins today posted for Cathey.  

Cathey, sending you lots of pumpkins and lots of love! xx

Summer Lovin'

Hello All!  Here we are at September already!  How was the rest of your summer?  We had a gorgeous August here in the Northeast, so unexpected!

Stitching update first... I continue on SDW.  I know, when am I going to get to the END?!  LOL!  I hope soon!!  Every time I pull this sampler out I cannot believe how loooooooong it is!  and that I have stitched it all!

I am working on the lower alphabets.  Love the pop of RED in the crown.  I love all the colors, although hated all the thread changes!

I also did give the peacock and mallard some ground to walk on...  

It has been a quiet month.  I enjoyed spending time at my favorite place, by Candlewood Lake.....

Got to see the new film, Blue Jasmine.  I give it two thumbs up, Cate Blanchett is awesome in it!

Here are a couple of feathered friends we had wandering around the town green at work...hope they find a hiding place before November!  

I did some summer reading and finished the book Summer House by Nancy Thayer.  I really enjoyed this one!  It takes place on Nantucket and the story is told by three generations of women, all from the same family about their secrets and the dramas of the family.  

And today, I went Oktoberfesting!  I always enjoy this annual event.  German weiss beer, German food, German strudel, German music, and German dancing... all great fun!  

Here is a video I took of the Schuhplattler dancers doing a traditional dance.  They are so lovely dressed in their lederhosen and dirndls.....

                                 

Enjoy the rest of this holiday weekend!  I have definitely gotten lots of primetime US Open Tennis watching in over the last few days!!  I love night time tennis in NYC!  

Have a wonderful week filled with miles of smiles!  

Happy stitching!  xxxx

Summer Stitching and Fun!

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are all having a great summer so far!  We have been lucky to get some relief from all that heat we had a couple weeks ago... it is almost bearable!  I am already counting the days until Autumn....only 56 days to go!!

After posting my last photo of my SDW Sampler progress I felt compelled to backtrack to the church band and get that completed before going forward.  

I have veered off from the pattern and made some of my own architectural details..... I made the doors brown and I used a 3 x 2 cross stitch on the roof which I think gives it features that are reminiscent of old European churches... dark, wooden doors and a tiled roof.  I also picked up the pattern in the berry trees to the right and left of the church and used it to give the windows a stained-glass effect....

SDW Sampler

So now I can keep marching forward....I feel a finish is not so far away now!

I also just finished reading a wonderful book.... The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier.  It came recommended by Marsha on the Scarlet Letter Year Blog, so when I saw it on the shelf at my library it was my new pick!  A wonderful story about an English Quaker girl who travels to America to live in Ohio in 1850.  It is a perfect book for a quilter, there is so much detail about the craft.  I found it so interesting to learn more about Quaker life and religion.   What I also enjoyed was the letters throughout the book that the main character writes back to her parents and friend in England.  Definitely two thumbs up!

I did get to a concert a few weeks ago.... I saw Lyle Lovett with his Acoustic Group.  Do any of you know Lyle Lovett's music?  Most know him from being married to Julia Roberts, lol!  I have seen him many times.  He is one of my favorites so when he is in town I am there!  He has a wonderful voice that I could listen to all day long.   He is great at storytelling and the stories are reflected in his music, kind of folksy, jazzy, country, a bit of everything.. with a pinch of humor too!  

Lyle Lovett

Lyle Lovett and Acoustic Group

I hope you are having a fun summer too!  

Have a great week!  Happy Stitching!!  xxxx

  

We're having a heatwave!

Is it HOT where you are??  Just too hot for me, I wish it would snow! lol!

So what's a girl to do in all this heat?  Well, keep cool and STITCH!

I finished another row across, the peacock and duck, except for the grassy ground underneath!  Looks like they are kind of floating along.  So funny, how the size of the birds are so disproportionate to each other.

SDW Sampler

Hope you are all having a wonderful week and keeping cool!

Gigi and I wish you miles of smiles and happy stitching!!   xxxx

Rocking out in Boston and Philly!

Hi All!

I hope you are enjoying the start of summer!

I have not been getting much stitching in lately.  The last couple of weeks I did some traveling instead!  First off I went to Boston for a few days.  Even though the weather wasn't the greatest the sun did finally come out the last day so I could get some sightseeing in!

I was so lucky to see this beautiful double rainbow!!!  So all that rain was good for something! :)

Boston is definitely a walking city.  I made the mistake of trying to drive around and it was just total frustration!  The subway T is the easiest way to go.  I came across this great farmer's market and Faneuil Hall Market area, lots of shopping and a great place for just chillin' out...

 

And there were great old buildings and pubs, and cobblestone roads...

Then I made my way over to the harbor and found a tall ship....

It was wonderful to see so many greens and parks everywhere I went....

And it seemed no matter where I went I saw this clock tower, it seemed to be following me!  lol!

It was great to see some of the city although the main reason I was there was not so much for the sightseeing but for another reason entirely.  Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I am a BIG Rolling Stones fan, so when they announced their recent tour I jumped in in a big way!  I just never know if it could be the Last Time so I wanted to see the greatest Rock 'n' Roll band and all my Stones buddies yet another time.  

So the challenge was 4 concerts in 10 days!  Could I do it?!   I certainly planned to get my Stones fix!  

The first two shows were in Boston.  The Stones were nothing short of AMAZING!   Lots of great hits: Get off of my Cloud, Brown Sugar, Tumblin' Dice, Honky Tonk Woman, Satisfaction, Jumping Jack Flash, Miss You!

Mick's energy is endless.  He just goes and goes and goes like the energizer bunny!!  lol!

With this being the 50 & Counting Tour, each show was a bit unique, had some guest stars and even Mick Taylor (one of the original members) joined them on a few songs each night.  One of my favorites they did in this tour was Emotional Rescue, Love that song!!  Here is one of the special guests, Gary Clark Jr. - he sure knows how to play some awesome blues!

 

 

So after Boston, I headed to Philadelphia for two separate nights the week after.  The ride to Philadelphia is sooooooo FAR!!  (and traffic is INSANE!!) but worth it once the show starts!  At each show there was a local choir to sing back up for You Can't Always Get What you Want. 

ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL! 

The energy the Stones put on that stage is incredible, I don't know how they do it!!  

It was a crazy, fantastic time, and I am thrilled to have seen them again and all my friends.  I do hope it is NOT the last time!  

So now that I am thoroughly exhausted!! I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend and getting back into the stitching swing while watching some great Wimbledon tennis.  

Have a rockin' week!! and happy stitching!!  xxxx

Stay-cation Stitching

Happy Friday!!!

I wanted to post this up on Monday, after my stay-cation, but this cute bird took a little longer than I expected.  I finished off the row of flowers and squirrel, and love this proud peacock!

SDW Sampler

And when I saw Shannon from Love to Stitch - One Stitch at a Time working on her Birds of a Feather Le Printemps, Springtime girl, I decided it looked like a fun stitch so I pulled out my L'Ete in the series, Summer and decided to stitch a long with her!

I ordered up some 36ct hand dyed Sandcastle linen and using some WDW and GAST threads I got started and finished up one of the birds.   I love this pattern so much with the water and boats, reminds me of both being by the lake and being by the ocean.  

L'Ete

This is a fun stitch with all the outlining, only a few hours shows quite a bit of progress! :)  If anyone else would like the join in doing these Birds of a Feather series, the more the merrier!

So during my stay-cation a lot of my time was spent Spring cleaning!  Fun stuff!  not so much!

But I did finally get to my favorite place for lunch by the lake, which is now open for the season...

It was a perfect day with a nice breeze off the water.  I could have sat there for hours looking at all the boats and ducks.  This cute guy was very brave... I think he was hoping someone would share a snack with him!  

I also snapped a pic of this pretty pink Iris, it was such an unusual color I don't think I have ever seen one this shade.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and happy stitches!  xxxx