Knitting and reading bliss

Update, my mom is home and getting healthy. The initial test came back fine. It appears she has an upper GI tract problem that is causing some bleeding that wasn't helped by her blood-thinner. I am so grateful for all your prayers and well-wishes. 

I have been happily knitting away on my Butterfly Baby Blanket. 

I love the way it looks.

I also finished reading my latest book, The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs.

  I really liked this book. I had trouble putting it down. It starts with a few sad occurrences, but it becomes a very uplifting story with a nice ending. 

I put a few stitches on Jingle this week. I started the last word " Ye". I really want to finish it soon.

Spring is here and the bunnies have returned to our back yard. This one just wouldn't look my way.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I think I will try to finish all the red stitching on Jingle today and possibly make a few more mask so that everyone has two.

Thanks for stopping by!

SAL update

First a request, I have to ask for your prayers for my 92 year old mother. She was taken by ambulance in the middle of the night last night to the local hospital as she was hemorrhaging. I do not know what is wrong and I can only call the hospital periodically for updates. There is no visiting allowed. We live in New York so the hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19. I am beside myself. 

Now for my original post:

I have been working on Three Boats on and off over the last three weeks. 

Here is where I was for the last update.

I had finally added some blue stitches. Well all that I have been stitching since then is black. Lots and lots of black.

This is where I am now.

There are still another 400 black stitches to stitch before I move on to another color.

This Stitch-a-long is graciously hosted by Avis from Sewing Beside the Sea. There are 30 of us participating now so there are plenty of projects for you to look at. We are welcoming Sherrie to our Stitch-a-long this week. Here is the list of participants:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Sherrie

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching also. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I will be putting a few stitches on Three Boats today. 

Stay safe! Thanks for stopping by!

Quarantine sewing, baking, reading, crafting,

During this time of quarantine have allowed me to do the things that I usually love to do during summer vacation.

Of course some of what I am doing is because of the "stay at home" orders from our New York governor as well as the recommendations of the CDC. I have been making masks for Hubby and I to wear. I had a lot of both of these fabrics in my stash. 

 I also sent one to my son in PA and two to my daughter and her husband in MA. My mom and MIL each have one also even though they aren't leaving their homes any time soon. 

As for baking, I tried my hand at Hot Cross Buns this week. 

They came out pretty well. I am not that comfortable making yeast breads so I was pretty happy with the result.

I am currently reading Shadow of the Night by Deborah Harkness.

This is the second of a trilogy that I started a few weeks ago. I am reading it for the second time and thoroughly enjoying it again.
I also started knitting a blanket with yarn I bought when ACMoore was liquidating. It is called the Butterfly Baby Blanket. No, I don't have anyone in the family expecting at the moment, but I needed a new yarn project and this is the yarn that I chose to work with.

I think it looks very pretty.

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Easter Sunday Stitching

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Easter is a little different this year. I will be making a spiral ham with raisin gravy accompanied by mashed potatoes and lemon carrots. Dessert will be brownies and maybe some chocolate covered strawberries. I am making enough for Hubby and I as well as our mothers. We will be delivering Easter dinner to each of them.

There are more signs of Spring here. Another group of daffodils 

and some hyacinth are in bloom.

It would be nice if the weather would warm up just a little so that it would actually feel like Spring.

I have been getting a decent amount of stitching time lately.

I have finished all of the green stitches on Jingle. 

Now I am working on finishing all of the red. A few berries and the last word "Ye" are all that is left of that color. After that is a lot of white confetti snowflakes and some yellow balls. The end is very near now.

I also added another 100 stitches to Three Boats.....all black again. There is still a lot of black to stitch until I get to more interesting colors. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I will probably spend some time stitching on Jingle today.

Happy Easter!

Thanks for stopping by!

Crafting and Baking

I cleaned off my sewing machine table and came across a UFO that just needed to be framed. It is a small piece that I stitched a few years ago, but hadn't decided how to finish. I went online and found a YouTube video that taught how to lace your needlework. I decided to learn a new technique on a small piece and then use a frame that I had on hand.
First I laced the long sides and folded in the short ones.

Next the short sides were laced.

It is even and just the right tautness (is that a word?).

Here it is in just an ordinary 5"x7" frame.

It now resides in my son's room as he gave me the kit as a gift. Isn't it adorable.

I have also made some progress on Three Boats. 

There is a whole lot of black still to stitch.

I have been filling up some of my days with baking. My MIL loves pound cake.

I have never made a pound cake before, but I had a Betty Crocker cookbook that had a recipe for Sour Cream Pound Cake with a Blueberry alternative so that is what I made. 

My MIL loves anything with blueberries. I tried a slice and it was really good. MIL liked it too.

That same day I made Nestle Toll House cookies. 

These are my absolute favorite cookie. I think I will be making them a lot now that we are home providing I can buy chocolate chips and flour.  I just have to limit myself to no more than one or two a day. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I think I will add some stitches to Jingle today.

Stay safe, stay healthy and STAY HOME!

Thanks for stopping by!