Two finishes!

 I made a list the other day of some of the crafts that I have that are currently in progress. Two of them just needed the finishing touches. The first is the pretty sweater that I knitted for my granddaughter. All that I needed to do was weave in a few ends and sew up the side seams. The pretty confetti yarn was something I found in my mother's knitting bag.

This sweater will join two others that appear to be similar sizes. This first one was made many years ago for my daughter by my friend Randi. I was surprised to see that the stitch is actually the same one that I just used.

This crocheted pullover was made by my former sister-in-law for my daughter...also many years ago.

I will bring these to my daughter the next time we visit. They may fit my granddaughter sometime this Fall or Winter. The one I made is a 2 and my granddaughter is currently 9 months. 

I also finished my daughter-in-law's Christmas stocking! I just needed to sit down and get on with it. It took me one whole morning to cut the fabric out and stitch the pieces together.

I like the fabric that I chose for the backing. It has the blue background with Santa and a snowman and a tree.

I chose a light blue snowflake lining fabric so that there was no chance of it showing through to the cross-stitch side.

I feel a great sense of accomplisment having finished both of these projects. Two lines are checked off of my WIP list. 

I have been steadily working on my granddaughter's Christmas stocking. Santa is done now.

There is an ice patch and a reindeer to add as well as a few snowflakes. I am currently 2/3 of the way finished with this stocking. I just asked my son and his wife to look for a stocking that they would like me to make for my grandson. 

Speaking of my grandson, we visited CA last week for 5 days to meet him and lend a helping hand to the new parents. Here we are enjoying a cuddle. Isn't he adorable?!

I brought the crocheted pup that I made for him.

I guess that is actually a third finish that I have to share. 

I can tell you that I didn't want to leave. Hopefully we will be able to travel there again this summer. Of course we are always available if they need some help. 

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

Thanks for stopping by!

June Stitch Along Update

It is Father's Day here in the US. This is the first year of celebrating my husband as a Grandpa and my son and son-in-law as dads! Our family has expanded with 2 grandchildren in one year. It's a wonderful thing!

So far the weather in June has been fairly cool here. Not a lot of lounging on the back deck or sitting on the front porch. That means I've been inside doing a bunch of stitching on October Morning and other crafts. 

Here is where October Morning was for the last update.

There is a big tree trunk just above the mailbox that I have added many stitches to. I have also started adding a branch to the left. There is a whole lot of brown stitching to complete. I am also filling in some other colors as I move up the tree trunk. I hope you can see the progress.

It is really filling in now.

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 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, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, 

Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Thanks for stopping by! 

Living on Mars

It has sometimes felt like we are living on the red planet here on Long Island, NY this past week. Or at least the sky has been yellow and orange due to all the wildfires burning in Canada. This is an image from a local newspaper of one of the NYC bridges. 

It hasn't been quite so bad here (our sky has had a yellow tinge), but I have had to forgo my daily walks and most any outdoor activities. The smoke smell makes it feel like you are standing down wind of a bonfire. I feel incredibly sad for those Canadian residents who live near the wildfires and are dealing with not only the smoke but the fire damage.

On the bright side, that means there has been plenty of crafting going on as I am staying indoors on the bad days.  

I am almost finished adding all of the parts to Santa on my granddaughter's stocking. He still needs holly on his hat and his second arm.

I am almost close to finishing the second sleeve of the sweater that I am knitting for my granddaughter.

I like that the sleeves are knitted directly onto the sweater. Once this is completed there are just a couple of side seams to sew up.

I started this little project on Friday.

I am making a little stuffed pup for my grandson.

We will be meeting him soon. I made one of these for my granddaughter so, of course, I had to make one for my grandson. As you can tell from the little balls of yarn, I am using up some scraps.

At the beginning of the week, before all the smoke arrived, Hubby and I decided to walk at Belmont Lake State Park. There was a heron precariously perched on a branch over lake.

There were several dogwood trees in bloom.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to. I think I will add some pieces to the stocking today.

Thanks for stopping by!

June is here!

June is here and so is my new grandson! Lucas Matthew arrived this past week. He weighs 6 lbs. 15 oz and is 20.5 inches long. 

I have finished the large kitty bib. I don't know why, but this just seemed to take a long time to stitch. 

Now it needs to be washed and ironed. I will be bringing it with me when travel to CA to meet my grandson.

I have to stitch his name and statistics on the birth announcement now. I charted it all out yesterday. I want to bring that to CA also and find a framer out there to finish it. I will share it when it is finished.

I have been steadily working on the Christmas stocking for my granddaughter. Santa is well on the way to being completely stitched. 

His face was somewhat small to work with when embroidering.

I spent the Memorial Day weekend planting my flowers. My MIL had bought a flat of begonias for me for Mother's Day so those were planted along the edge of the back yard flower bed. 

Some of them were planted in this pot too. I also bought the perennial Thrift which you can see to the right.

I only bought one tomato plant and a zucchini plant for veggies. We will be traveling a bunch this summer and I don't want to have to rig up too many watering systems. 

The rest of the pots contain salvia, petunias, impatiens and a few others.

I always plant geraniums in the two pots at my front entrance. It faces South and they do well there.

We bought 2 double bloom impatiens hanging baskets that are hanging beneath our Kousa dogwood tree. It is in full bloom right now.

I planted more than I planned to, but less than last year. I do love seeing flowers on my deck. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I have a birth announcement to finish.

Thanks for stopping by!