Saturday, May 29, 2010

Hello, Folks!





"Hello, folks!" Hope you've all had a wonderful week! The weather has turned quite summery here in Pennsylvania--not sure if this poor snowman likes it very much... For my May Christmas ornament finish, I chose an old chart from the 1998 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cross Stitch magazine designed by Louise Young. This funny fellow just made me laugh for some reason--perhaps it was his long ant-like body!


Anyway, he was a quick and easy finish. I used 36 ct. Picture This Plus linen in "relic," DMC threads, and black beads for his eyes, mouth, and buttons. The nose was supposed to be beaded, too, but since I had no orange colored beads, I did it in satin stitches and I'm very happy with the way it turned out...For the ornament hanger, I stretched out a spring and simply inserted each end into the linen. So easy! I then tied on a torn strip of the backing fabric for a little accent in the upper right corner. He'll look mighty dapper on my snowman tree this winter!

The noise from the birds chirping, cawing, and squawking in our backyard routinely wakes me up each morning. It sure has been a busy spring here with all the new little nests popping up all over the place. We found this robin's nest with those sweet blue eggs in our pyracantha bush as we were pruning last week. And look how lovely the cream and brown speckled eggs are in the cardinal's nest. Would you believe the cardinal re-used a nest left over from last year! Is that common? I suppose it was built in such a secure location that the bird felt safe to nest in it again. The picture in the upper right is of the little robins that nested on the upper lattice work of our back porch. Don't the poor things look like they wished their mama had built them a bigger nest--they are positively squished together in there. I really love birds and was surprised to see a woman on television the other day talking about how much she feared them. The main creature that I'm truly terrified of is bats--I am petrified of them. How about you--any other animal phobias?

I hope all of my U.S. friends have a wonderful and relaxing Memorial Day weekend. What are your plans? Picnics? Reunions? Parades? We're heading down to Washington, D.C. with my youngest son who will be beginning a summer internship with the Department of Justice. He is so excited for this opportunity and eager to explore life in our nation's capital. But, I'll have to say I'm a bit misty-eyed because I've come to realize that, with his last year of college looming in the fall, he may never truly be at home for an extended period of time again. Sigh...

Thank you for your visits, your emails, your comments, and most of all, for your friendship. I hope your week is as special as each of you are to me :)

43 comments:

valerie said...

Love your snowman ornie...the finishing is very unique with the spring!

Wow, you have so many nests! I hear lots of chirping near my apartment. I wonder if there is a nest nearby but I haven't spotted one.

I fear bats...and spiders (way too many scary encounters in my lifetime already), roaches and snakes. I guess I'm a scaredy cat! lol

Happy weekend!

Rowyn said...

Hi Carol

I love your snowman finish. He's really cute. The spring and the fabric accent add a lovely touch.

The robin chicks are adorable, there look to be quite a few huddled up in the nest. The colour of the blue eggs is amazing.

No animal phobias here. My brother-in-law doesn't like flying things (birds, moths etc)... I think it's the flappy wings he doesn't like.

I hope you are enjoying your summery weather. It's been very wet here for a week or so, and has turned cold too. I can't wait until Spring :-)

Enjoy your trip to Washington DC and the long weekend.

Theresa said...

Love your ornament finish!!!! Sooooo cute!!! The wire hanger is such a great idea!!!

Your bird nests are so neat. I've never peaked into a bird nest before. It is so interesting.

Hum... I can't think of any phobias right this moment... Maybe cockroaches, especially those flying ones....

Raven/Missy said...

I love the snowman ornament, he looks fantastic! I think he will look great on your tree!

The pictures of the nests are wonderful. What a beautiful thing to be able to watch, the birth of baby birds.

I'm hoping to get stitching done this holiday weekend. We may do a cook out on Sunday evening. Either way it will be a relaxing weekend. DH is very happy to have 4 days off.

Lesleyanne said...

Your ornament is gorgeous. Love the birds nests. I don't like mice.

BronnyB said...

Oh dear, I do like your snowman - I keep finding bigger snowman charts for my '2010 the year of the snowman' - and really should go looking in older publictions for snowman ornaments - Yours is a great finish!
No spring or birdsnests here - just autumn leaves and kangaroos! I'm not afeard of anything, but slugs make me slightly hysterical - go figure!
Reading back over the past few posts, you have some lovely stitching completed. Very enabling of you!

Lois said...

What a cute ornament Carol! I love how you finished him too.

I'm not keen on large spiders and should a mouse ever dare decided to come into the house I can be pretty phobic about it being there and trying to catch it!

Have a good weekend! Hope the traffic isn't too bad on your drive to Washington DC and I hope your son enjoys his internship.

Shari said...

what an adorable snowman Carol! He is so cute....yeah, he will probably melt if he goes out side this week...
love the bird nest/egg pictures. you take wonderful pictures.
I totally understand the feelings you have about your son. I am in the same boat this year. Our youngest will be a college senior in the fall.
time sure flies.
enjoy your holiday weekend.

Myra said...

What a cute snowman! He will look wonderful on your tree this winter. I really enjoy birds too and loved seeing your nest pictures. I would love to put out feeders and houses and such here but Ziggy would probably lie in wait and terrorize the poor things. Dang cat! I can't say that I have any animal phobias, there are some I dislike.

I hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Kathy A. said...

Love your little snowman and the finish is just perfect.
Wow, that's lots of baby birds in the neighborhood. I would love to see a photo of the cardinal babies - have never seen them.
There was a positive racket here this morning with all the birdies. Maybe they have spring fever!

Margaret said...

Love your May ornament! So cute! And those bird eggs and baby birds -- how wonderful! I do love hearing the birds in the morning.

Nancy said...

I love your ornament, and you did such a beautiful finish! I think your satin stitched nose looks better than the beads would have. He makes me smile too!

Don't you love bird nests, and the eggs are so pretty. How sweet are those baby birds!

Blu said...

Love the snowman. His skinny body does bring up a chuckle~

Not a phobia, per se, but I am uncomfortable around cats and dogs. Cats I'm more comfortable with because they ignore me, but dogs tend to bark, jump or stare, and that makes me very nervous. And don't get me going about big dogs or noisy ones.

Lainey said...

Carol your snowman is just adorable!!! Love the spring hanger idea.
I dont;t like spiders or as we say in Scotland any wee beasties..lol.
Hope you have a lovely week-end. Hugs.

Melanie said...

Love the snowman ornament! The wire hanger is just perfect. I'll have to remember to do that next time I finish up an ornament as it's a nice little touch.

I freak out over any bugs that are near me or touching me. I just hate bugs. Hate 'em.

mainely stitching said...

Love your cutie snowman, Carol, and the birds' nests photos are amazing!!! We have a bird nesting near the temporary coop for the chickens and they make such a racket (birds, not chickens) at sunrise that I have to leave my bedroom window closed on that side of the house. LOL!

Viooltje (Violet) said...

Supercute snowman, wow about the blue coloured eggs!

I'm fearless with regards to all animals *Ü* ...only if I ever meet an ice bear IRL...

~~~~~~~~ help ~~~~~~~~>

;o)

(((HUGGG))) for you empty nest feeling.

Mylene said...

A very cute ornament and i love how you finish it off. Great job!

Wonderful bird's nest and beautiful egg colours.

Happy weekend!

riona said...

I really love your ornament and particularly like the way you made the hanger ... next time I use up a inexpensive ball point pen, I'll have to salvage the spring before tossing the pen.

Jackie's Stitches said...

Those eggs are so very blue!

Cute finish and it's a good idea to use the spring as a hanger. I don't think I would have thought of that. I really like your fabric choice too.

Is seems like our kids grow up quickly doesn't it?

Barbi said...

Your snowman is WONDERFUL!!!! I love looking thru old stitching magazines and finding all these lovely things to stitch again. My tastes change as time goes on and all the things that I skipped over all seem new again.

I am deathly afraid of moths! I know it ridiculous, I just have this heebie-geebie fear of them, and I would crawl out a window to get away from one. Woosh, that prickly feeling just ran down my spine thinking about it.

No picnics, outings, cookouts for us here...We had our long weekend last week here...oh .... yeah... did I mention that it SNOWED last night and all morning too. ARGH!!!!

BrendaS said...

Great ornament finish! Love that skinny snowman!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Get lots of stitching done.

Cindy's Stitching said...

The snowman ornament is cute. The blue eggs are so pretty. Love the color of the eggs. I also have birds all over the place. They make a lot of noise in the morning. I am working saturday and sunday. I will relax on monday. BBQ some food. I am petrified of SNAKES - Hate them. Have a great memorial day.

Lee said...

Your snowman would be most appropriate here... after being away for a week, came home to a good covering of snow on the mountain.
What a wonderful colour the robin's eggs are, almost too good to be true.

Dani - tkdchick said...

He is a great ornament there are some gems in those old magazines!

Wendy said...

your snowman look so cute, a great finnish !

Michelle said...

Your snowman finish is so cute! He certainly has a unique shape for a snowman, but he does make you smile :)

Anonymous said...

Oh I love the snowman! Very cute finish! Did you machine sew it or back stitch around and lace together, if you don't mind sharing. I don't finish enough pieces.
Beautiful nest and baby bird pictures. Thanks for sharing them!

Anonymous said...

Oh I love the snowman! Very cute finish! Did you machine sew it or back stitch around and lace together, if you don't mind sharing. I don't finish enough pieces.
Beautiful nest and baby bird pictures. Thanks for sharing them!

Brigitte said...

Your little snowman is just so cute. Isn't it amazing how many wonderful patterns we can find in those old magazine issues? I have two folders full of patterns from my old magazines and they are just as inspiring as the new patterns that the designers are creating.
I also love birds very much. We have many in our garden but this spring I couldn't see any nests anywhere. It might be too cold still.
I hope you have a wonderful long weekend.

Edit said...

Your snowman is really great Carol :) I like it very much :)

Here it is almost summer, the only difference is that we still have some breeze, while in the summer the air doesn't move at all.


Have a nice week,
Edit

Lisa Clarke said...

What a cute finish! I have this started somewhere in my sewing room - I think you have inspired me to dig it out!! Thanks!

Sally said...

What a cute snowman ornament! Love how you've finished it.

How wonderful that you have so many nests. I love watching the birds in my garden.

Meari said...

I love waking up to the sounds of birds singing and carrying on! The photos of the nests are wonderful. :)

Growing up a country girl, not many animal truly scare me. In my last apt, I had bats wake me up a few times, lol. Circling my bed! I just covered my head up and went back to sleep. In the morning, I woke up to it "hanging" off my drapes. Out came the plastic shopping bag to catch it, and release it back outdoors. (I can imagine you sqirming now, lol)

Your snowman ornie made me smile when I first saw it. Adorable!

Martine said...

I love your snowman finish, Carol !
It is very cute and very funny too !
Thank you for your baby bird pictures !!! I love watching the birds in my garden but I hate when they eat all the cherries in the cherry tree....
Here, it is raining and the sky is grey.
Have a good week, Carol !
Hugs.

Julie said...

A super ornament and not a design i have seen before, he did make me smile too.

Awww those poor little robins, i bet its lovely to sit in and listen to all the comings and goings of the parents feeding your newborns.

Good Luck to your son, i hope he has a wonderful time

BeckySC said...

I just love your snowman, Carol :) It turned out adorable :)
((hugs))

Siobhán said...

What a super cute snowman, Carol! I love it. Too cute. :) I enjoyed seeing the birds' nests, too. My FIL was big into bird watching and he said that some birds will reuse their nests, or come back to the same spots to build new ones. Last summer we had house martins build a nest out of mud below one of the roof's peaks. We had the house painted and despite my furious hand motions making hearts about how I loved birds and aren't they so pretty and NO, the nest is not to come down, the painter who struggles with English as his second language some how got it wet and the nest was kaput. I was so upset. I had hoped the birds would come back this year & put up another nest but no such luck.

Best of luck to your son! DC is a great city. My daughter couldn't find a job this summer and I know she's upset but secretly, I am enjoying what will probably be her last summer with us. I know we raise them with their ability to spread their wings & fly being our ultimate goal, but sometimes it's hard to smile around that lump in our throats, huh!? Hang in there!

Shirley said...

I love the rustic/vintage look of this ornie and another great finish. Thanks for your kind comment on my blog - surprising how much I missed stitching and stitching blogs. kind regards, Shirley

Carolyn NC said...

Love the ornie! The nest is awesome, too. We have one in our overhead porch light with the little birdies chirping up a storm. So sweet.

claudia said...

very nice your blog,Compliments from Tenerife!!!!

Pumpkin said...

He's adorable Carol! I wonder if I have that magazine...I'll have to check :o) I love how you finished him.

Love the pictures of the nests and the little robins. Too cute!

Congrats to your son! That's wonderful!

Hazel said...

Oh wow I love that! I love the way you have finished him with the spring thing. Gorgeous. I might have to pinch that idea off you. The birds nests are soo sweet. Thanks for sharing. x