A Quick Update

     Just to let all my dear friends and followers know that my son's wedding was beautiful and very unique.  We've been so busy here and will be headed home first thing tomorrow morning.

     Pictures to follow soon.  We've met so many new people from Lisa'a wonderful family and we love them all.  We are so blessed.

     I made a trip to the local Ben Franklin Craft's Store here and picked up some nice Aida and two skeins of the yarn I'm using to make more scarves.

     I will certainly post again once home and pictures are all downloaded.  I love and miss you all, and until next time, be safe and well and remember to feel the colors.

May's Snips and Bits Plus!

     Just realized that it's T.U.S.A.L. time again! So I decided to use the picture of this months snips and  bits jar, as I call it, for my blog header.  You can see that quite a bit of extra threads.  Mostly from the "Quaker Diamonds" piece, but also from my patriotic pillow that I made as well.

     I was thrilled to find out that I was one of the winners of a beautiful Vera Bradley tote.  Gifted to me from Vicki at 2bagsfull.blogspot.com .  She gave away several bags.  All different and all beautiful. Leave it to Vicki to wrap the bag like this below.  She makes beautiful nests from all types of yarns.  The bow on the wrapped package was made from just a few of the yarns.  She attached a lovely card as well.

Now for the most beautiful tote.  I just love, love, love the colors in this.  Thank you once again Miss Vicki.  If any of you haven't checked out her blog, you must do so.  

And look at the other side! How pretty is that? 

I picked up "A Good Marriage" from the framers today 

and am very happy with it.  All ready to wrap up with a big bow for the wedding on the 18th.  I am so excited about the wedding.  The trip up to NH.  The wonderful event and all the get together's before and after.  I am so happy for my son and his beautiful Lisa.  Thank you so much Father for an answered prayer.

We had our first spring peas from our garden this evening with dinner.  We both love fresh peas. 

Wish the season for them were longer, but we'll take what we can.  The gardens are really looking great this year, and I'm hoping that they continue to do well.  Even the Hollyhock I have has amazed me this year.  I've gotten a total of two blooms every year for eight years.  For some reason, this year, I have five stalks total and all five are covered with blossoms.  Bill planted potatoes all around it last year, so it must have been something he used in the soil at that time.  It should be beautiful!

I must go for this time around.  I see that Riley has decided that he wasn't ready for bed after all and has escaped from the bedroom! Left out here on his own, he'll have to check every noise he may hear through the night, and that means he'll bark at anything that sounds new to him.  Gotta' love him.

So good night to all my dear friends and followers here.  Be safe and well until next time.  

Love you all and you're important to me.  One last thing.......Remember to "feel the color".

Here Comes The Sun

     After three days of drizzly, rainy and cool weather, the sun is out bright.  The sky is a beautiful and a clear blue.  We had some thunder and lightening last night, but it's a pretty morning.  I'm looking forward to getting back outside and get the last of my plants that I picked up put in.  I believe it was Saturday when I picked up quite a few at a wonderful farmer's market in Morehead City.  See what I got below? Mostly things to put around the mailbox, but I did pick up a couple more herbs and a couple perennials as well.  Now that I look at the picture, I see that I had room for more! Drat!

I picked up a beautiful hanging pot of pink begonias yesterday at Walmart for $3.59.  Now would anyone in their right  mind leave such a bargain there? I think not!

This is my completed herb garden.  Plants have room to grow and it's looking great.  Now to keep the cats out of it! I love cats, but I don't like working with their poop in my gardens.

     Now on to some stitchy things!  Remember the Spider Wart plant that I posted a picture of a couple of posts back? Well here is what happens when you squeeze some the the old blooms.  A beautiful purple liquid falls out of the flower.  I decided to take a small piece of Aida and experiment! This is the outcome! The Aida was off white anad now it is a very pale purple with deeper purple

accents.  Every time I look at it, I think of the line, "When I am old, I shall wear purple".  I love playing with colors so much, and I'm anxious to see what happens when I use the Poke berries when they come out.

     I saw this Sugar and Cream yarn yesterday and decided to grab a couple of them.  I'm a person who loves wearing a scarf and wanted to see how this would make up for a light weight summer scarf.  It's certainly soft enough and the color makes me think of a lime Popsicle! When was the last time you had one of those treats?  So here's how far I was when I took the picture.

     Oh my goodness! I do have new followers.  I first welcome you here.  So glad you decided to join in and I hope you enjoy my posts.  If you have a post of your own, please let me know.  If I can find them, I post them here so others can enjoy them.  First of all, there is Shirlee over at farmhouseponderings.blogspot.com, and she is the "Easily Influenced Stitcher".   Her blog is so much fun to visit.  She covers many different subjects and takes us to some very interesting places.  Check it out!  Then there's Jo at serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com.  Jo has several wonderful blogs and you'll love each one of them.  Jo does beautiful needlework.  Last but not least is, Susan.  If you have a blog Susan, please let us know so we can visit you.  If not, I'm still glad you're here and welcome your comments and all.

     Now I must get busy here at the home front.  I can't believe that it is becoming quite cloudy again! So out I go to get the last of the plants taken care of.  Then I'll have the day to bond with my cross stitching work.

     Until next time, be well and be safe and remember to "feel the colors".

A Gift. A Win and a Finish!

     This beautiful stitched card came several days ago from my birthday twin, "she's younger", Sue D. over at "Stitchershideaway.com".  I was totally surprised, and I must add very happy about it as well.  This is the first stitchy gift I've ever received, and I thought it was so sweet of her to think of me.  Thank you again Sue.  Look at all the different types of stitches in this! Sue said that I could make this

into a fob, ornament or whatever, but right now I'm wanting to just enjoy the card itself the way it is.

     Shortly after I received Sue's gift, I found that I was a winner for a mystery gift from Nancy over at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  Oh my goodness! Have you ever ordered from Nancy? Beautiful hand dyed items.  So the package came and here's what I won! So generous! I love all the chenille trims.  The threads of course.  I mean what stitcher doesn't love threads? She was thoughtful also in send me the Alphabet Ornament Collection for the letter L.  How cool is this win? Thank you so much Nancy.

     As for the finish mentioned in the title of this blog goes.....Remember "America" by Heart in Hand?
I had dyed the Aida with beet water, and loved the way it came out.  Just three different color threads needed for the stitch, and here's the finished results.  I love the way it came out and will use it in my

patriotic holidays display.  I got the star material at Hobby Lobby, and with that alone, it just wasn't enough, so I went into my material stash and found the red.  Perfect I think.  The stitching alone took just
six hours and 15 minutes.  A fun quick stitch.

     Our cherry tree out front has all bloomed and now it's all green with new leaves.  I meant to post this picture sooner so you could enjoy the color with me, but did forget to.  This was taken when it was still not in full bloom.

Until next time my sweet friends and followers, be safe and well.  Beautiful weather is here.  Get out and enjoy it as much as you can.  Whether is be for a short walk everyday or just sitting on your front porch with your stitching or a good book.  Breathe in some of the beautiful fresh air.  Always remember of course, to "feel the colors".  Love each and every one of you and thank you so much for stopping in.  Means a lot to me.

Slacking Here

     It was brought to my attention by my good buddy "Uncle Dave" that I haven't posted in a while! I'm apologizing to my dear friends and followers for that, and will try to catch you up on the past
couple of weeks.

     You can see in my header how far I've gotten on "Quaker Diamonds", and I'm still enjoying it with all the beautiful colors so much.  I love the hand dyed fabric also, as it gives it an antique type look.  So pretty together.

     I did start, "Little America" and picked up a piece of material this morning at Hobby Lobby to add to the piece once finished to make it into a small pillow.  Here it is so far, with the material as well.  This is the Aida that I hand dyed with beet juice!

     Our little gardens are looking good..  So glad Bill put in the new raised beds.  He loves working with God's good earth every bit as much as I do and I love watching him.  We were also given some tomato plants and squash plants this morning, so they're all in as well.  Forgot to ask what kind of squash, so we may not know until after they've bloomed and set the squash! Love them all though.  This first picture was taken a couple of weeks ago.  The second is the same garden today. Going to be some nice cabbage and Brussel sprouts.

                                       
     Also noticed that we have pea pods now.  Not the clearest picture, but they're there!

     Check out all the berries forming on my Firebush!  I'm so glad that it's doing well.  Come summer all the berries should be bright red!

     Last of all.  I always have to post one picture of my Spider Wart.  I put in one plant two years ago and last year I divided them.  They'll be divided again this fall.  They're in the front, back and one side of the house now.  I love their simplicity, and how they stand so tall.  This is just two of the hundreds of blooms that I have right now.

     Want to be sure to let you know about some new followers. 

    First there's Cindy over at homeofaflossjunkie.blogspot  Check it out.  She has a great blog and a sweet stitching helper named Elvira.

     Then there is Jo who has several great blogs.  One is http://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/

Check that one out and you'll find all her others as well.

     Last new follower is Linda over at LifeAsIKnowIt blogspot.  What beautiful creations she has over there.  Check them all out and enjoy!  Thank you my new followers for jumping on board.

     Until next time.  I love you all.  Stay safe and well and don't forget to "feel the colors".

         

New Followers and Their Blogs!

     As I find out the blogs that some of my new followers have, I want to post the addresses here.  If you don't see your blog listed here, it's only because I don't have the address.  Please let me know if you do indeed have a blog or two or three so we can all enjoy them.  Thank you so much, and thank you for joining me here.

     Cathy H.  has a great blog over at http://handsondesign.blogspot.com/  She finishes other's needlework pieces.  Makes the pieces into all kinds of beautiful things.  Go check her blog out!

     Poppy! I'm now a new follower of her lovely blog over at http://poppystitches.blogspot.com/  Poppy does some great stitching and has a fur baby, Snowball.  Gardening inspires a lot of what she stitches.

     Mary Ann's blog is over at http://just-stitching.blogspot.com/  Mary Ann stitches all kinds of beautiful things for charities.  Stop in and see her!

     Shanda is over at Stitch Crazy at http://stitchcrazy1.blogspot.com/ She just finished up a beautiful piece of the "Lord's Prayer" and is trying to calm an adopted fur baby.  Beautiful stitching.

     Welcome newbees, and if I've overlooked anyone, please, please let me know.

     A picture of my snips and bits container for this month.  Nice progress this time around I think. Colorful to say the least.

   
     Some pictures of new garden beds, and some herbs I put in yesterday also.  We love working outside.

     New Parsley, flat leaf and curly.  They are indeed perennials in this area, but if they get eaten by the butterfly larvas, they're gone!  A new Rosemary also.  I have one in the back which is three feet by four feet.  I want to try trimming back this new one every fall to keep in small.  We'll see what happens.

Until next time, be safe and well, and remember to "feel the colors".  Love to all my friends and followers.

Happy Monday!

     It's certainly a beautiful one here.  We've been outside a good part of the day working with God's good soil.  A little weeding.  A little planting and some transplanting as well.  What a wonderful day.

     Wanted to give you an update on "Quaker Diamonds".  Just started another motif last night which is mostly rusts, but will have a touch of blue in it here and there.  Colors in this shot look a

little washed out, but there will be more pictures to come soon.

     I just may take a little break from the diamonds tonight and do up a quick little piece from Heart In Hand called "Wee One". Should have thrown the other colors in that will be used, but I had just picked up the blue and red and never thought about the others.  Should be able to do it up this evening I think.  I'm going to use the piece of Aida that I dyed with the beets.  We'll see what happens.

    To my new followers! Thank you for deciding to join me here.  Looking forward to getting to know each one of you.  You, my dear friends and followers are very important to me.  Latest new followers are, Karen over at http://mystitchyramblings.blogspot.com/ I was over visiting her the other morning at three o'clock and found some eye candy there! I don't mean stitching ladies!
Another new follower is Theresa at http://needleblingdesigns.blogspot.com  Cathy H. is also a new follower but I can't seem to find a blog for her.  If you do have one Cathy, please let us know so we can get to know you and all.  Same for Bonita.  Glad you're here Bonita.  Last but not least is Kevin.  He's over at http://cabbagenkings.blogspot.com/ and I've kept a check on all his stitching  for a couple of years now.  Then found out recently that he has his own blog.  Check it out.

     We had a great weekend and ate out a couple of times with our good friend, Dave.  Here's a picture of hubby Bill on the left and Dave on the right.  He helped Bill with an auto repair over the weekend.  We should all have a buddy like "Uncle Dave".  Love him lots.  Had to get one of Bill

under the car of course.  That's our old license plate from NH that you see over Bill.  We have our NC plate on the back as it should be, but wanted to keep this one on the front.  Doing any type of

mechanical repair on any car is not something that Bill had ever done before.  After removing the pan that hold the transmission fluid.  Cleaning it and having the hole in it patched, he put the pan back in place.  Found no leaks whatsoever.  Excellent job Billy, and thank Uncle Dave for keeping an eye on the whole procedure.

     Going to let ya'll go for now.  Until next time, be well and stay safe.  Love you all and don't forget to "feel the colors".