End of July

I can't believe today is the last day of July. Where did that month go? Oh wait, it was way too hot to do anything outside, so it was mostly spent inside. That means that I made a lot of crafting progress. I almost finished another 10 blocks for the Log Cabin Star quilt. This time the second to last log assembled fairly easily...except for a couple of pieces that were cut a shade too small. I started adding the last log on Friday. 

All that is left are the y-seams that I may work on today.

The stitching on the Woodland Animals birth announcement is going at a quick pace. As you can see, the tree is almost done.

Next, I get to start stitching some of the animals. I think I will complete the backstitching as I go this time as it is all the same color for the entire piece and then I will know that an area is done. 

Hubby and I have been going down to Jones Beach at night a couple of times during the week. We walk the boardwalk and sometimes walk down to the water. It is very peaceful. 

We went to Wantagh Park this past week also. It was a sunny, hot day and there were surprisingly few people. We watched a few boats leave the marina and looked out over Flat Creek towards Jones Beach.

You can see the Jones Beach water tower and the outdoor theater in the distance.

This is the sunset driving home from the beach last night.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I have plenty to keep me busy.

Thanks for stopping by!

A midweek post of crafts and books.

I have plenty of time for crafting now that I am off for the summer retired. That means I have more updates to write about than I can manage in just one post a week. At least right now.  

I have been adding stitches to October Morning. I have stitched all the way to the lower right corner and finished the fence. 

I also finished all the rust colored stitching above the mailbox.

I added some rows to the my first crocheted sock. It seems to be going well. Although the yarn looks grey in this photo is is actually a variegated forest green.

I was reading "The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post" by Alison Pataki, but I didn't finish it before my loan ran out and I am now on the wait list to renew. It is a novel based on Marjorie Post's interesting life. For many years a local college was called C.W. Post Community College (now LIU Post) named after Marjorie Post's father and established on an estate that he had built specifically for her. I have actually worked near that college for the past few years. 

I read "The Huntress" by Kate Quinn in the meantime. I can't say that I really liked this book. I almost stopped reading it when I was a third of the way through. It is very dark and I just didn't like the characters. I decided to read some of the reviews of this book before putting it aside and they were glowing, so I decided to continue reading it. I am glad that I finished this book, but I wasn't impressed. It was easy to figure out the plot line and the intervening events were mostly depressing. 

I am now reading "The Address" by Fiona Davis. I have no firm opinion of it yet, but I am not enjoying it as much as some of her other books. 

I thought I would leave you with a view of the beautiful sky Hubby and I saw on our evening walk on Monday. 

It was after a cold front came through with thunderstorms, but not much rain. It is now about 10 degrees cooler than it has been lately.

Thanks for stopping by!

Returning to some UFOs

 I have taken out a couple of projects that I put aside a while ago. I have finally returned to working on the Log Cabin Star quilt. That is my name for it. It is Judy Martin's Timberline Log Cabin quilt from this book. I am making the queen sized version. Here is a picture of the wall-hanging size.

I had 10 blocks that were close to being finished. I had to add the last log to three of them and then do all 10 y-seams. The final 2 logs on each block are not easy as you have to match seams on the diamonds. No matter how precise I am in my stitching....and trust me I do a whole lot of seam ripping...it seems I can't get those last to logs to go together easily. Surprisingly, the last log worked perfectly on those three blocks and all that was left was the y-seam. The first 6 were a breeze. The next 2 gave me fits and then the last two worked fine. I now have 41 out of 196 blocks completed. 

I started the next 10 blocks right away. 

I hope to work on this quilt at least 2 days a week each week. 

I have started bringing this wooden box with me to work on when visiting my mom. It was a birthday gift from a friend a few years ago. It uses a lot of floss to make the stitches as the lid is easily a quarter inch thick.

It isn't easy to slip the needle under the stitches when ending off either, because, of course, the box is very rigid. I am using this thimble to help. 

I had bought it for my mom a couple of years ago, but she never used it. I found it in one of her fabric drawers and it helps a lot with this project.

I am working the the tree branches and trunk of the Woodland Animals birth announcement. There are a whole lot of different shades of brown in this tree.

  If you haven't seen it already, I posted about my daughter's baby shower here. I am going to try to post twice a week now that I am retired as I am working on too many projects lately to share in one post a week. 

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

Thanks for stopping by!

A baby shower

This past weekend Hubby and I made a trip to Rhode Island and then to Boston. First we had dinner with one of my cousins and his wife as well as our daughter and her husband at a great restaurant called Besos Bistro in East Greenwich, RI on Friday night after a very long drive from Long Island.

On Saturday, Hubby played golf at the Warwick Country Club with my daughter's husband and father-in-law, while the women enjoyed my daughter's baby shower. There were games like guess the number of diapers in the diaper cake

and guess the total price of all the baby items in the box. 

We had a delicious buffet followed by cupcakes and macarons for dessert.

Each table had its own single layer diaper cake topped by a stuffed animal as well as a photo of one of the parents as a baby.

There were also some crafts for the guests to do. They could write a funny or uplifting message on a diaper.

There were some very clever messages.

Guests could also decorate onesies and undershirts.

These were displayed on a clothesline during the shower.

Yes, there is a beautiful view of the Greenwich Bay out the window.

My daughter received many adorable items for the baby.

Here she is opening my gift of embroidered bibs...

...and elephant afghan.

She has always been a big Harry Potter fan and often waited on line at midnight for the next book release with a good friend who gave her this sleeper.

The grandmothers enjoyed the shower almost as much as my daughter did.

Here are my daughter and her husband with his grandmother.

It is not too much longer until my granddaughter will be here!

After the shower we went back to my daughter's house near Boston. Her dog Ruby was very sleepy after spending a day and night in Rhode Island.

She snoozed while we ate pizza.

We enjoyed breakfast on her patio the next morning.

I hope to be able to make one more trip up to see her before the baby arrives.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stitch Along

I have been stitching like crazy lately on many different projects, but in this post I will just update my Stitch Along projects. First I want to share the finished Santa Stocking. Tada!!!

The birth announcement cross-stitch is stitching up quite quickly. I hadn't started it 3 weeks ago. Now I have almost finished all of the leaves on the tree. 

I am getting ready to stitch the tree branches and trunk. So far I am finding stitching 2 over 2 on 18 count very easy to do.

Thank you to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other talented bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie

Thanks for stopping by!
 

A finish and a lot of other crafting.

Oh my, have I been stitching up a storm. I have stitched almost all the leaves on the tree for the birth announcement. 

Each leaf consists of just two colors so it is nice and easy stitching. I often sit down and easily complete 100 stitches. I love all of the different shades of green.

I really want to start working on the Log Cabin Star quilt for my daughter again. With that in mind, I decided to clear up my sewing area and finish the Winking Santa Stocking. In my last post I shared the lining and backing fabrics that I had chosen.

I stayed with the red felt as the backing, but I had to change to a plain white fabric to line the stocking. 

The little Christmas tree fabric that I originally shared showed through to the front of the stocking. I mostly followed the finishing directions by Vonna Pfeiffer, The Twisted Stitcher that you can find here. First I added the piping.

I love how the stocking turned out.

I have also been busy with the lamb bib. This is a larger bib than the last little kitty cat and taking more time to stitch, but I am perfecting my blanket stitch as you can see.

I am hoping that once I add the stitching for the tongue it will look less like the lamb has a mustache. LOL

Finally, I have been adding stitches to October Morning. I finished the mailbox and another post of the fence. 

On an personal note, Hubby and I celebrated 37 years of marriage on Thursday. We ate dinner at a local restaurant overlooking a pond.

The view was nice. The dinner was very good, but the cost was excessive. We are sharing a tiramisu for dessert here.

Now, I wonder if you can guess what I am making below.It is certainly an odd use for a cake pan. It will be revealed in a couple of weeks.

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

Thanks for stopping by! 

First week of summer vacation!

We are celebrating Independence Day on the Fourth of July here in the USA! Hence, the change in the header photo. Except for the local (illegal) neighborhood fireworks, it should be quiet here. Hubby and I will be visiting our moms and then just staying home. We may go in our pool if the weather is good. 

I have been enjoying my first week off from work. I started the baby announcement cross-stitch and have made a lot of progress. These are the leaves of the central tree.

I have all of the needed floss now so I can just keep on stitching.

I want to get back to sewing my daughter's quilt, but the sewing area needs straightening and I think I want to assemble the Santa stocking first so I can put it away with the other Christmas stockings and get it out of the sewing area. I looked at my own cross-stitched stocking and decided to use some red felt as backing fabric. I have a nice tree fabric for the lining. 

I have to make a trip to Joanns to get some piping.

I have started another new project. I am crocheting a pair of socks with some yarn that I remember buying in ACMoore's bargain bin. I bought it specifically to try making my first socks. I have the cuff of the first sock completed. 

It is a somewhat drab colorway, but I believe the skeins were only 50 cents each.

On Thursday Hubby and I went to the nearby Clark Botanic Garden. It is a 12 acre garden with some beautiful flowers and foliage. I have a bunch of photos to share.

Below is my husband's hand to give you an idea of the size of those flowers!

A beautiful Japanese maple tree.

There was a wide variety of colorful daylilies.

And some more.

I loved the dark edges on the leaves of the hosta below.

Only a few more photos to share. I hope you're not bored.

I have the golden coral bells below in front of my house. I love them.

It was a nice morning adventure. 

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 more stitches to the baby announcement. I am really enjoying working on it.

Thanks for stopping by!