Not A Finisher…..

I have discovered recently, that I am not much of a finisher.

What I mean by that is, I have so many projects I have started and I

don’t seem to finish them! I start something, I seem to be going along

pretty well, and then it bores me and I begin another project. My

newest endeavor is teaching myself to embroider. I must say that

I have done some embroidering in the past without any real

knowledge of what I was trying to accomplish. I also have

some minimal knowledge, that I vaguely remember, from

my childhood. My mothers sister Olive taught me how to cross stitch.

Aunt Olive was so patient, kind and loving. 

I can still smell her perfume and see her crooked arthritic fingers.

That didn’t stop her one bit. When looking back

on it now, I can actually put a name to quite a few of the stitches

I was creating with her guidance.   So…just recently,

I decided to get serious about embroidery….well for as long as I can

stand it….I plan to walk right through that boredom …well at least until spring!  

Studying the videos at Needle N Thread has helped immensely. I also write

the directions out. I practice on a vintage white damask cloth napkin. It has stains and

a couple of holes in it. The first 2 stitches I taught myself were the stem stitch

and the French Knot. This is the result on the napkin………

 The French knots are pretty good but I have more

work to do on the stem stitch! Then, I wanted to get one of my absolute

favorite stitches down and I think I accomplished that….the Feather stitch….

I LOVE that stitch. Here it is… and again…

Once more, it is not perfect, but I can do the stitch without looking at the directions and

that was my goal. I started working on another stem stitch from one of the videos. It mentioned

working in a small rectangle. Once done, I was left with a not very good stem stitch in a

small rectangle!! So I decided to try another stem stitch and some French knots and

stenciling! This is what I did….. I can’t recall what my husband said it looked like

but he definitely saw my name and 2012 which was a big bonus because none of it was done that well.

Of course my motives in doing all this have to do with the bottle cap pincushions I am working on.

Like the embroidery, most I have made are practice pieces. I am getting a little bit better each

time I make them….here are some I’ve made that are rough…. The two

to the left and right of the Singer cover are not finished. It’s one thing to

put a French Knot on a flat cloth and a totally different thing to put one on a pincushion. It just does

not look the same because of the way you have to do it.

  

 I have a long ways to go and as long as I strive to be a finisher and not a

procrastinator,  I may just improve on my stitches. They may not be as messy and crooked as these are

in the future!! Oh well…I am having fun trying. Oh I got a nice card from Dawn from C and G Design the

other day. She is doing so much better!! When I first starting blogging, she was one of the regulars

I would go to and we ended up meeting. She’s a great girl who has been through some tough times and

is now turning the corner….thank God! I am hoping she comes back to blogging soon. And her mom

Jean comments from time to time on my blog. We met last year and she is awesome too!!  Well….any tips

would be much appreciated….thanks!  I’ll be back soon…..when I am done

with my Practice….Practice….Practicing!! Ha ha

THE DIY TWINS

Have any of you seen the DIY girls? I don’t know much about them

but what I can tell you is they are very clever when it comes to sewing.

I am always looking for pincushions that might inspire me. Of course

that does not mean I will be able to make them! I like looking at them

for some reason. Call me obsessive….I guess I probably am when it

comes to looking at Etsy stores and Googling pincushions. They are

just so darned cute. Another place I search and seek is a place

called Pinterest . I am sure you all know about that. What an addiction

that can become! Here is the latest pincushion I would love to try

that the DIY twins do a tutorial of……………………………………………………

Yesterday Bobbie and I went to Portland to see my daughter Carissa’s

new apartment down on the waterfront. While waiting outside for us

to arrive, she accidentally locked herself out! The beauty of that is

that she lives with two other room mates and they both work at the

same place as she does….a five minute drive from her home in the

wonderful Old Port section of Portland. We took her down to get a

set of keys from one of them! Whew! I forgot my camera but next time

I will bring it and show you pictures. What a cute place. I felt like I

had stepped back into the 70’s. She collects old albums….well….they

are not called albums anymore….they are “vinyl” now. What’s up with that?

Anyway….I will be on the lookout at yard sales now for them for her.

What’s old is new again. There were albums like

Taj Mahal……and my husband sat on a blanket on a chair with the head of

 

 on it. There were quite a few guitars, drums, tambourines,

and a music stand with some old Bob Dylan sheet music on it.

To say that my daughter is a bit of a hippie like her mother was is an understatement. And

of all of the characters and chotskies  (from my past and hers) on the furniture, the walls, the refrigerator and the

music stands, the one things that drew my attention the most was an antique Hoosier cabinet.

I used to have one years ago and sold it for little or nothing at a yard sale. Here’s a photo of

a nice one…. They are nice pieces. Apparently her room mate’s

mother lent it to them to use….neat. Well…we brought her out here for the afternoon/evening

with my grand dog Piper! I made little haddock casseroles and cheesy penne Rigato.  She and I

played  a game called Scattergories and had a lot of fun!! It was a good day. Any cute pincushions

you see with patterns, send them my way via a link would you? Hope you are all well…..see you

soon………….. 

 

 

THE SMELL OF SPRING….

These gorgeous flowers my husband gave me for Valentines Day have me thinking

of Spring every day!! And he made sure he got two of my

favorite colors….purple and pink. How about that Pink & White Hydrangea?? Isn’t it a

beauty? They smell awesome!! Now I am ferociously visiting

websites and looking at flowers I want to grow this summer! The

deep pink in the center next to the soft pink of the carnations draws me in…….Oh and by the

way….there were so many flowers crowded together (maybe because of the size of the Hydrangea),

that I was able to make two bouquets!! And that was my largest vase too! Here is the second

vase with flowers that were also in the bouquet…..  There are my

colors! Can anyone tell me what these tall purple flowers are? Is

it stock? And what about the pink ones above? I also cannot find the lavender one in the third photo

down? So….I am enjoying Spring right here in my house ya’ll……..ain’t that grand!! Ha ha ……….

                                                                                                                                                                            

VALENTINE LOVE

The longer I am with my wonderful husband  (23 years now) the more I love him. I truly don’t know

what life would be like without him now. We enjoy each others company still…we work together…

we have tv shows that we both love to watch and look forward to and we both respect each other.

Growing older with someone is not always easy. I think a sense of humor helps. He makes me

laugh and for that I am very grateful. He’s got my back and that is so important to me. We are

more than husband and wife…we are friends too. I hope you all have someone that loves you

and supports you in every way. This is dedicated to my guy……And since Love Is The Essence

Of God……him too….without him…we would not be together. Here’s my handsome guy…..

Happy Valentines Honey…….And to all of you!!

 

 

2012… The Winter That Wasn’t

So far, this winter has been pretty mild with no storms to speak of

on the horizon. Kind of a false start winter. We got a little bit of

snow and then it stopped coming. Warm days and cool nights have

definitely helped us all out with the fuel bills for sure. I do wonder

if the future for Maine winters in my area are changing and will

look more like a winter/spring mix? Maybe we should start calling

winter Sprinter? Something is definitely going on here. I overheard

someone at the grocery store talking about it the other day. He

said the lake near his home, has turned to ice in the winter for as

long as he could remember (and he was old). This year it had not.

That seemed very odd to him. In the little town I live in, there is

an annual fishing derby on our lake. It had to be cancelled for the

first time and rescheduled because the ice was not safe or frozen

deep enough. Do

any of you notice changes in your winter? Just wondering……

I have been getting through the days by crafting. I am making

bottlecap pincushions once again. Here’s a picture I got from

the internet of some pretty ones………………………………………………….

    They are a lot of fun to

make.   I will share some photos when I am done. Every Thursday

evening I have had a bunch of girlfriends come by and we read and

just hang out and talk. It has been such a blessing. Some days

when I think I am just going crazy from “stuff” happening in my life,

they seem to bring me back to where I need to be. There have been

some real tough  (emotional) times since Christmas,  but God is seeing us

through, no matter what the problem may be. I was told recently

that I need to set boundaries around myself. Do any of you do that?

Do you have boundaries? I don’t think I ever have had them in my

life. Here’s what wikipedia says about them…BOUNDARIES

It definitely makes sense and it’s about time I set some I guess. I

am looking for a good slow cook pork dish. Got any ideas? Hope

you are all well and getting through the winter or in some cases

Sprinter!…..without the blues…….