A new start

Many of you know that I am not a big fan of Halloween. I have my reasons, but for some reason I had the urge to work on a Halloween cross-stitch. I was looking through some cross-stitch magazines and this popped out at me.

It is from the September 2011 Cross-stitch and Needlework magazine. I had the fabric and most of the floss. I ordered the glow-in-the dark and the satin floss. Now I am ready to stitch.

I have also made a decent amount of progress on "Jingle as ye come, Jingle as ye go". 

I need to add some snowflakes to the upper left-hand corner and then I can move on. 

My new Stella Dora day-lilies are in bloom as is one of my hydrangea plants. 

My other two bushes don't have even a single bloom this year. I don't know why. 

My tomato plants are yielding a bountiful harvest.

This is only one of two bowls, this one being the smaller.

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Bridal Shower and Secret Stitching reveal

My daughter's bridal shower was Saturday at my home. I can finally reveal the secret stitching!

I took a photo that Katie had taken of she and her fiance. 

I added it to a pattern designed by Ursula Michael called Best Friend Wedding Sampler that I found in a "Cross-stitch & Needlework" magazine from July 2013.

 You can see the changes that I made.
We had a wonderful celebration!
Her bridesmaids were extremely helpful.

There was plenty of food. Appetizers

 and lunch

This is a delicious Mimosa Sangria that I found online. I used Prosecco instead of champagne.

Of course we had to toast the bride!

There were games... 

and more games...

with prizes made by the groom's mother, mason jars filled with a delicious nut mixture that is the groom's specialty recipe in keeping with the mason jar theme.

I made the mason jar floral arrangements for a little decoration on the food and drink tables.

The weather was beautiful. This is the bride-to-be and me

and with her future mother-in-law.

Most of the guests came from out of state.

A few were from nearby.

Thankfully two of the grandmother's were able to make the party.

Everyone brought a recipe card to help fill this personalized binder.

There were lots of presents too.

Katie was quite surprised by my special gift.

The cake was beautiful. I gave the baker a copy of the invitation and she matched the colors and flowers.

Katie also thought that the bridal bear is adorable.

That is my wedding veil hanging on the door as a decoration. The crown was also my mother's. Katie wore it at the end of the day for a picture. She will have a different veil on her own special day.

The gift bow bouquet was made by one of the bridesmaids who also made the sash. 

She will use it during the rehearsal.

That same bridesmaid made the cookie treats that everyone got as a favor.

All-in-all it was a wonderful day!

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching now that I can share what I was working on for many Sundays. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by.

Slowly Stitching

My cross-stitching is quite slow lately. I finished the holly leaves, but the bird is taking me quite some time to stitch.

I am still loving my magnifier, but I just don't have the desire to stitch a whole bunch. I think I have too many projects in the works right now. I need to finish something.

I am more than halfway done with my variegated donation scarf.

 It tends to be what I am most often picking up. I do 4 or 8 rows, then put it down to do something else. 

I also sometimes crochet 4 rows of the lavender scarf too. This is the right side, but I really prefer the wrong side.

I was messing around in my yarn stash and came upon this skein of Lion Brand Homespun yarn that I think I picked up at clearance one time. Oh what the heck, why not start another crocheted donation scarf with it. 

I now remember how much I really don't like to crochet with this yarn. It is all double crochet back and forth and growing fast thankfully.

It is HOT here on Long Island as it is for much of the eastern part of the US right now. I am extremely thankful for central air-conditioning. I hope everyone is staying cool.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I hope to finish stitching my bird today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stitching Christmas in July

I thought I would work on my Advent Calendar, but I am loving my new magnifier so much that I have been busy stitching "Jingle as ye come, Jingle as ye go". 

I am currently working on some holly and will then stitch the bird that sits on top of it. 

I was not enjoying stitching this at all until I started using the magnifier. Now stitching is a breeze. 

I have also been adding rows to my sherbet knitted scarf

and my lavender crocheted scarf. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site and see what other bloggers are stitching.

I think I will take some coffee or tea out to the front porch and work on Jingle this morning.

My front porch view has changed somewhat this week. The landscaping in front of our house was looking quite sad. We had a hinoki cypress that was very sparse and many of the original bushes had died over the years. We also had an out of control grass that detracted from the flower bed. 

We contacted the original nursery that we used 16 years ago and they came and updated these beds. We kept the pine tree you can see on the right and the two variegated plants on the bottom left, but all the other plants are new. The rock wall and the stepping stones are original also.

Isn't pretty? Just in time to look nice for my daughter's bridal shower.

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Bows

It all started when I decided to make a bow to decorate a gift. I had this ribbon in my stash

and found this bow maker in my craft room. I have had it for a very long time and rarely use it. I am glad that I didn't throw it out.

Now I am making tulle bows to decorate my house for my daughter's bridal shower at the end of this month. One of her bridesmaids has a Cricut and is designing a banner and some other items, but I wanted something to make the rooms festive.

I went to ACMoore and bought some tulle.....white, white lace, blue and sequined gold. Here are a few of the bows that I made for my front porch from blue and white tulle....

and for around the house in lace and gold tulle.

I want to make some lace with blue and some gold with plain white also. They work up quick and easy with that bow maker.

I wanted to get out of the house and do something different last Sunday, so we went to the Vanderbilt mansion in Centerport, NY.
The mansion is a museum that is right on Oyster Bay, just off of Long Island Sound. This is the view from the back of the house.

I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed with the mansion itself. We didn't take the tour, but the first floor rooms have been transformed into a museum for William Vanderbilt's specimen collections (taxidermy, sea shells, bugs, sea life, an Egyptian mummy and other artifacts). I remember coming here as a kid and these items were in a separate building. The mansion was not air-conditioned and I can't believe that that is a good environment for the preservation of these items. 

The mansion also needs some basic upkeep. There was broken concrete outside and a cracked and peeling ceiling in a room that was being advertised for parties. 
I was interested in going to a garden exhibit on the grounds. This was one of the prettiest garden-scapes just outside of the mansion itself.

I liked this one also that was right outside of the planetarium.

Here is the Vanderbilt Rose Garden.

There is a pretty fountain in the middle. There is a gorgeous view of the bay just beyond that railing.

The prettiest rose was the William Shakespeare below, most of the others were past bloom.

The rest of the garden-scapes were somewhat disappointing too. Some were in desperate need of watering. I guess I expected more from what was once a grand Gold Coast mansion.

Sunday evening Scott and I went out to dinner at Harbor Mist restaurant with our son to celebrate our anniversary that I mentioned in the last post.

We had a window side table that overlooked Cold Spring Harbor. Dinner was fantastic....scallops for me, linguine and clams for hubby and a veal chop for our son, Matt. The three of us shared tiramisu and a flourless chocolate cake for dessert. Both were delicious! The restaurant gave us chocolate aperitifs to celebrate our anniversary. 

We have a baby bunny that has been entertaining us lately. It has visited our back deck and enjoyed the grass in our front yard.

It is more skittish than the adult bunnies that just let us walk by them.
It is quite adorable though.

Thanks for stopping by!