Just a little update

I don't have a lot to show you this week. I have been doing a whole lot of stitching, but it is mostly items that I can't show as yet. Here is a sneak peak of the backs of a few stitched ornaments. I was able to use a few really old scraps of fabric for backing. Yes I had to use the seam ripper on two of them as I didn't sew right sides together. Ugh!

I thought I had some polyester fill to stuff these with, but I must have used it all at one time and I didn't replace it. I need to finish these this weekend and did not want to make a trip to the craft store. I looked through all of my scraps of quilt batting and I found this.

When I tear it apart it comes away in clumps just like the polyester fiberfill, so this is what I used. There wasn't enough of the batting to really use in a quilt anyway so this was the perfect solution. I can't even remember what I originally used this batting in. 

I started stitching one of Santa's arms. You can see the dark maroon on the left. I just didn't want to go back to working on the package. It isn't much, but it is a little progress.

Yesterday Hubby and I went to the local Basketmakers Guild show.

 I had gone to it years ago with my mother and bought this pretty a basket.

I bought another basket this year, but it is will be a Christmas gift so it is another thing that I can't share as yet.

I have to tell you that we had some wicked weather last Saturday when my daughter was visiting. After that walk that I shared last week we had wind, rain and even some hail. There were 6 small tornados that touched down on Long Island! Thankfully we didn't experience them in person, but afterward there was a beautiful and bright full rainbow. I was standing in the street in front of my house to take these photos. 

My daughter was standing in front of our house which is barely visible on the left.

It was a pretty end to an interesting weather day.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I need to finish stitching those ornaments. I will share them soon.

Thanks for stopping by! 

A reveal

I am tempting the fates a little bit here by revealing one of my secret projects today. I was invited to the bridal shower of one of my daughter's childhood friends. I have known Annmarie since she and my daughter were in elementary school. They met on one their early soccer teams. Here they are at age 7. My daughter was missing a front tooth.

 Annmarie was one of my daughter's bridesmaids and now my daughter is going to be one of hers in January. Here is a pic of the two of them at my daughter's bridal shower.

Well I decided that I needed to make a simple wedding sampler for Annmarie and her fiance. Since I have another more extensive secret project that is time sensitive, I couldn't start something big, so I found this pattern in an old Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine from May 2011.

It was only three colors and very symmetric so quite easy to stitch. I didn't have the recommended floss, but I had some similar colors in the floss that I had inherited from my aunt several years ago that were very close. I also had just enough Aida cloth. I kitted it up and brought it to work. Thankfully I had one week where I had a whole lot of free periods on and off during the week. Once it was finished, I washed and ironed it and I even framed it myself.

I hope she and her fiance like it.

I have also been adding a few rows to the Elephant baby blanket. I have finally gotten to the hooves (I think that is what you call elephant feet). I have finished 42 out of 105 rows. 

Before the rain came in an washed out the afternoon, Hubby, myself and our daughter went for a walk in the local preserve.

There were a whole lot of geese.

There were a few ducks.

It was nice to just spend some time looking out over the lake.

We got a selfie on our walk back to the car.

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!

November Stitch Along Update

 Lately, Santa is giving me fits. Here is how Santa looked at the last update.

I was adding the dark green of the gift and realized that the bottom half of what I had already stitched was off by one stitch. Yes, this is a really BIG problem. Here is how Santa looked recently with the incorrect stitching.

 I spent a couple of days unstitching and then restitching. I dedided to fill in near the top of the gift before I started the restitching. It appears that my counting has been off lately....the symbols on the chart are not really well contrasted which is part of the problem. Here is where I am after I fixed the problems.

I have checked and double checked and everything should be fine now. Fingers crossed. I really don't think I will be finishing this for Christmas as I am immersed in backstitching on the secret stitching. Here is a small sample.

I have also been busy with another secret cross-stitch project that I have been able to finish at work. Here is a peek of that too. 

I will be able to show you the finished project in a week or so...after it is gifted.

As usual, I need to thank Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks.

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. You will see 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, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

 Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy,

 Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen  

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Overall Sam

Last weekend I started assembling my mother's Overall Sam quilt. Mom had completed 6 of the blocks and cut out most of the pieces for the other 3 blocks. I recently finished sewing those last three blocks and adding the embellishments. Last weekend I sewed on the sashings to put the blocks together. 

I didn't sew on the side pieces yet, because I have to fix the bottom right vertical sash that doesn't line up with the rest. I brought it over to mom to show it to her. I would love to finish it soon, but she hand quilted her Sunbonnet Sue and I want to finish this similarly. I am glad that I was at least able to show her how it came together.

I added a few stitches to Santa's gift. 

I also started another ornament.

I was hoping to get a whole lot of stitching done this weekend as Hubby and I got our COVID booster shot Friday afternoon and I planned on taking it easy and stitching. Hubby felt a little tired, but I was wiped out with chills, a massive headache and sheer exhaustion. I spent all day Saturday in bed and only started feeling human again this morning. Now I have to drink a bunch of water, because I can tell that I am very dehydrated. I am still glad I got the booster shot, because one day in bed is better than getting sick and possibly hospitalized. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I am hoping to add a few stitches to one of my projects. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

A variety of crafts

I have been doing some crafting when I have free time at work. Hubby and I get our local newspaper delivered each day. The paper comes in a plastic bag. I have been cutting those plastic bags into strips and making plarn (plastic yarn). When I thought I had enough plarn I started crocheting a pumpkin. It is stuffed with even more plastic bags. Here is the way it came out. 

 It looks like it was made with a tweed yarn, but it is all clear bags that have some black printing on them. 

Next I have decided to stitch some small Christmas ornaments on my free time. They are small and easy to put down when a student comes into my classroom for math help. 

I have added some stitches to Santa. I am going to try to finish whole areas of this at a time now so I can see the progress. I am still hoping I might finish this for Christmas. Of course having to frog a whole section that I had just stitched yesterday did not help that goal. 

I have added a few rows to the Baby Elephant Blanket. I have 37 of 106 rows completed.

I have also been remiss in not mentioning a wonderful purchase that I recently made. Isn't that wooden quilt block in the photo below absolutely wonderful!

Rick, the honey of Kathi from Designoriginalsbykc, made this gorgeous piece. He is a very talented woodworker and I am in love with my purchase. It is a great addition to my living room.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I will be working on the backstitching on the secret project.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stitch Along Update

You would think that now that I have completed the cross-stitching on my secret project and only have the back-stitching left I would have found time to add lots of stitches to Santa. You might think that, but you would be incorrect. Work, physical therapy and visiting mom leaves me too tired to stitch most nights. This is where Santa was for the last update three weeks ago.

I have adjusted the scroll and I did manage to add a some light green stitches on the gift as well as start a little bit of the medium green stitching on the left of the gift. Sorry for the photo quality, it was getting dark outside when I snapped it.

We have also had visitors the last 3 weekends, including yesterday. Two of my cousins and their spouses came from Connecticut and Rhode Island to have a visit with my mother. They brought delicious homemade chicken soup and cold cuts for all of us to enjoy for lunch. Mom thoroughly enjoyed their visit and actually ate some soup and half of a sandwich. Sadly, I forgot to take any photos of all of us together. We see each other so infrequently that I was just enjoying their company. After visiting with my mother a couple of hours, they drove a few minutes to my house and got to visit with Hubby and my son also. My cousin Penny then surprised me with a beautiful and thoughtful gift. She gifted me these pretty silver thimbles that were her mom's. The smallest one in front is too small for my pinkie finger. It must have been made for someone with very small fingers or for a child.

 Aren't they just gorgeous?! My aunt was a wonderful seamstress. I remember that she made me a beautiful long velvet skirt to wear to my grandmother's 80th birthday celebration. I also remember that it was an unusually warm November day in the high 70s and I sweltered in that skirt, but I loved wearing it.

Thanks so much to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks.

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. You will see 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, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

 Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy,

 Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen  

Thanks for stopping by!

  

Some fun!

 I didn't post last week. My son, his fiancee, my daughter and her pup all came to visit last weekend. Yay!

 We enjoyed a beautiful day apple picking. I have no idea what kinds of apples we picked as nothing was labeled, but we had a good day.

Hubby was surveying the scene.

Can you believe how blue the sky was?

There were rows and rows of apple trees.

Another pretty view of nearby lands.

Don't ask me what kind of apple this is.

Don't ask about this one either.

We also stopped by the Riverhead Ciderhouse with the thought of sampling some hard cider and having a snack with it. I knew that they had an outdoor patio and it was fairly empty. Thankfully, prior to ordering we realized that the reason the patio was empty was the multitude of yellow jackets. My son bought two cans of hard cider....one a honey crisp variety and the other called Cinnamon Toast.

We came hope and I set out a charcuterie board of meat, cheese, hummus, crackers, olives and grapes and we all shared the Honey Crisp hard cider. Yum.

I wasn't able to work on any crafts with all the visitors. We played games at night and spent the days amusing Ruby. I think we tired her out.

This week since everyone left, I have concentrated on the cross-stitch on the secret project. I finished it yesterday. Now all that is left is outlining, cording and french knots. I am hoping to get that done by mid-November. 

I moved the scroll on Santa. I am going to work on his hands and the package he is holding. I have started adding some more green!

I have been adding rows to the Baby Elephant Afghan also. I am now about 1/3 of the way done with the graphghan part. 

I am almost done with the physical therapy for my shoulder. I have gotten most of the range of motion back and am concentrating on making it a little stronger now. I will be starting PT for my left knee now. I am not sure what I did, but I hurt it in March 2020 just before everything shut down due to the pandemic. Every once in a while it still feels swollen and stiff as well as a little weak. I have been walking a hilly neighborhood near where I work on one of my free periods and it has been acting up. I finally asked my orthopedist and he thinks I just tweaked the knee cap by stepping wrong. So I will add PT for that to get it all back on track.

As for my mom, she is mostly stuck in her new hospital bed now. She has absolutely no strength in her legs to help the aides get her out of bed. I would like her to be sitting in her wheelchair part of the day, but the aides can't physically lift her every single day and she is too scared of the Hoyer lift that has been provided for it to be safe to use. She was out of the bed was last weekend when her grandchildren visited her and one other day this week. There are days when she is very aware of what is going on and hopes to change it and other days when she just seems to accept where she is. She is mostly refusing to take her medications. She is also eating very little at this point. I am struggling to find food that even interests her. She will eat baked ziti or ravioli. She no longer seems to like my meatballs and sausage that was a staple. The hospice nurse has said to just keep trying different things and let her eat what she wants. Each day is different and some are quite draining. 

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!