Seasonal stitching and a visit to Pisa and Lucca

Oh, what a beautiful October we're having here in southwestern Pennsylvania! Day after day of sunshine and brilliant blue skies with temperatures in the high 60s. For an area known for a lot of cloudiness, this has been a real treat! How about you? I hope you're all enjoying the same lovely fall weather...

October has been a quieter month here, but my blogging mojo has pretty much disappeared. I'm not sure why, but it makes me sad... I'm hoping something will pull me out of this blogging funk soon! At least I haven't lost my love of stitching! With Halloween in the air, I once again stitched two cute-not-spooky ornaments for my little grandsons. Both of these are free designs--I just love all the freebies that designers so generously offer at Halloween and Christmas, don't you? 

My grandsons' Halloween ornaments for 2026

Both of these stitched up very quickly and I'm so pleased with the finishes. "Haunted Hounds" by The Blue Flower features a trio of ghostly pups begging for treats--aren't they adorable? I stitched them on 40 ct. stormy night Newcastle with most of the suggested threads. I had a hard time deciding which ornament to give to which grandson, but, in the end, this one went to six-year-old Mister B. He's always loved dogs (or puppos as he has called them since he was a baby) and I think he'll get a kick out of this one. If you'd like to stitch it yourself, you can find the freebie (along with many others), right here. 

"Haunted Hounds" finish

For 17-month-old Baby N, I stitched this not-so-scary looking cat perched on a grinning orange pumpkin. Once again, I used 40 ct. stormy night Newcastle with some of the suggested colors and some choices of my own. I changed the oranges to DMC 976 (lighter orange) and 977 (darker). I also changed the cat's eyes and the flower centers to DMC 729. The other change was to add more stars around the outer edge to form it into a more circular shape. This freebie can be found right here, if you are interested. Both ornaments were bordered in a handmade orange and black cording and topped with orange bows.

A Tiny Modernist Halloween ornament for my youngest grandson

I'm enjoying this Halloween tradition even though this is only the second year I've been stitching the ornaments for my grandsons. You may remember last years cuties which you can read about in this post. Again, both are freebies from Melisa at Pinker n Punkin blog.  I gave the boys a black wrought iron tree last year where they can hang their yearly Halloween gifts. I hope they'll come to look forward to each year's offerings as much as I look forward to stitching them!

My ornaments for the boys from last year

 

In other stitching news, I've been working really hard to frame some of my older finishes and this one may be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in my drawer of unframed finishes. Stitched all the way back in 2011, "Thanksgiving Comes Again" by Prairie Schooler has been hidden away in a dark drawer for the past 15 years. Isn't that a shame? I've probably had the frame for at least 8 years now, but I kept procrastinating! I was nervous about framing something with those straight border edges, but I finally got up my courage and within an hour, I had a brand new framed Thanksgiving piece! It's not perfect, but I'm pretty pleased with it... I'm so mad at myself for putting it off. All these years I could have been enjoying it each November. 

Finally framed--"Thanksgiving Comes Again"

For this piece I used 32 ct. flax Belfast linen--something I rarely stitch on anymore because I simply don't enjoy stitching with two threads at all. Give me a single thread using 40 ct. linen or 'over one' stitching on 25 ct. or 28 ct. and I'm much happier. I do appreciate the nice full coverage that two threads gives, though. If you'd like to read more about "Thanksgiving Comes Again," please check out this post from 2011!

I honestly don't think anyone does fall designs better than Prairie Schooler!

This little squirrel display in my kitchen is one of my favorites each autumn. Although the mischievous fellows outside can drive us crazy as they launch themselves at our bird feeders in an attempt to steal the bird's food, these stitched ones inside are just plain cute! 

A scurry of squirrels on the sideboard

 

The sweet carved wooden squirrels are from my grandmother--a real treasure!

 

I'll keep this display up until November and replace it with Thanksgiving decor. 

Giveaway winner... My last bit of stitching related news is to announce the winner of the giveaway from September. I offered this "Autumn Quaker" chart to one of you and the winner's name drawn from the hat is...

Ellen S.

 

Ellen S.--you are the winner of this chart giveaway!

 

Congratulations, Ellen S! Please send me an email with your mailing address and I'll get this chart out to you soon. My email is in the right sidebar--just click on the "A Bit About Me" section. Thank you to all who entered--please keep on eye on this space for more giveaways in the future!

Driveway update... You may remember from my September post, that the workmen had just begun digging out our old asphalt driveway to replace it with concrete. Oh, what a tough and exhausting job those men had! It was so interesting watching them through our Ring camera that overlooks our driveway. The poor guy in the fluorescent green shirt was the foreman of the group and he ended up in the hospital after injuring his back while on our job. We felt so bad... My husband ended up doing a lot of the final touches after the driveway was poured including filling in along the edges with gravel and then topsoil and then planting grass seed. He worked so hard that I worried he would end up in the hospital, too! But, it's done... still have it roped off so no delivery trucks can use it for another week or so, but we are able to use it again. A big job crossed off the list--whew!

Getting ready to pour the concrete (photo taken from our Ring camera)

 

Leveling off time (photo taken from our Ring camera)

After leveling off, they brushed the surface and snapped lines for control joints (photo taken from our Ring camera)

All finished up! It's hard to see it clearly with all the shadows from the trees. And just look at that sky--the bluest blue. Can you spot the two squirrel's nests way up high in that birch tree?

 

Back to Italy we go! As my regular readers know, we were in Italy in early June for my youngest son's wedding. After the wedding we were able to stay for another week in Tuscany spending time in many of the smaller towns. Today we'll be visiting a town I know you've all heard of because of it's famous leaning tower. That's right... 

 

Pisa 

 

Now, I had a lot of well-meaning folks telling me not to bother with Pisa, but I'm glad we went. It was only about a 45-minute drive from our rental home, so why not?! I really enjoyed our visit and it wasn't too crowded on the morning we were there. The main attraction, of course is the leaning tower, but we enjoyed the other sights in the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles) as well. We were only spending half a day in Pisa so we didn't go inside any of these beautiful buildings.

 

Construction on the Pisa Baptistry of St. John was began in 1152 and concluded in 1363. It is the largest baptistry in all of Italy and, like the tower, it also tends to lean a bit due to the poor soil on which it was built.

 

 

The Pisa Cathedral is the oldest structure in the Square of Miracles with it's construction beginning in 1064. Notice the black smoke in the sky behind it--the day we were there, there were terrible forest fires not far away in that part of Italy.

And, of course, the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa which began leaning soon after it was built in the 12th century due to poor soil and bad ground preparation. As time went by, the tower began to tilt more and more and by 1990, it tilted 5.5°. Remediation was deemed necessary and the tower was closed to the public. By 2021, the tower tilt was reduced to under 4° and is, once again, open to the public.

Depending on where you stand, the tower looks more or less tilted

I thought this huge statue, "Fallen Angel" created by Polish artist, Igor Mitorag was particularly thought provoking. It was installed on the grounds of the Square of Miracles in 2012 as a symbol of suffering and human frailty.

The Baths of Nero (Bagni di Nerone) are not truly linked to Emperor Nero. That is simply a medieval legend, but they do actually date to the late 1st century AD and are the only Roman monuments remaining above ground in Pisa. 

Before lunch we walked into the town of Pisa and along the Arno River. I'm not sure if its water is always that shade of brown, but it sure was a muddy looking brown that day.

The town of Pisa itself was relatively quiet

Love the golden yellow color on many of the homes

We had a lovely lunch outdoors in a little alley--fresh pasta, simple yet delicious!

Pisa memories

After lunch, we got in our rental car and drove to another lovely Italian town just 30 minutes away...

Lucca

Lucca is known for it's charming more laid back walled-in town. I do wish we had done a walking tour here because I feel like we missed out on a lot of history and sights. But, our time was limited and we just touched on some highlights.  Lucca is known as the "City of a Hundred Churches" and we could see why!

As we walked up the street, the bell tower of San Michele in Foro loomed in the distance.

 

The beautiful facade of San Michele in Foro which dates to the 11th century. At the very top is a sculpture of Archangel Michael defeating the dragon.

 

My husband and I were simply too tired to walk up the steps to the bell tower, but my son, his girlfriend, and my brother-in-law all ventured up and shared their photos with us.

The view looking down over Lucca from the bell tower of San Michele in Foro

 

The oldest church in Lucca, Chiesa dei Santi Giovanni e Reparata  contains the most stunning architecture and paintings. Just look at this gorgeous ceiling... 

...and the paintings and sculptures in the apse.

Perhaps the most interesting thing, to me, was that the church has a secret... You can actually walk down below the church to view ancient Roman ruins that have been excavated! 

In the bottom of this photo you can see the caged in area that looks down over the Roman ruins. To actually go down there and walk through them you had to pay a fee, but it was well worth it. 

 

Metal bridges allow visitors to pass over pieces of history from this church site dating over the centuries from ancient Roman times to the Middle Ages. Fascinating!

A close-up look at the ancient baptistry under the church. Fragments of the original black and white patterned flooring can be seen. The baptistry wasn't excavated until the mid-1970s. 

The Cattedrale di San Martino (Cathedral of Saint Martin) is considered the most important church in Lucca. 

I found these intricate carvings outside of the church to be especially beautiful. The top row depicts stories of St. Martin and the bottom row features labors of each month such as treading on the grapes in October, harvesting wheat in July, and so on. 

These carvings are attributed to the workshop of Guidetto da Como and date back to the early 1200s

Churches weren't the only things to see in Lucca. Just look at this ornate carousel--wouldn't you love to ride in Cinderella's coach?

As I mentioned earlier, Lucca is known for its famously intact wall which surrounds the town. On the left is part of the wall and on the right is the area outside of the walled-in town.

A beautiful walkway open to both bicyclists and walkers/runners forms a 2.65 mile loop around the town at the top of the wall. We would have loved to walk the entire loop, but, at the end of a long day of sight-seeing, our whole bodies ached so we only walked a short portion. It was so lovely, though--a tree lined shady spot would be just the thing at the end of a long day for both residents and tourists alike.

My husband strolling along the wall that surrounds Lucca at the end of a busy day.

Okay... I imagine few of you have lasted this long, but that's okay! I write about our travels in order for me to remember our trips and if even some of you enjoy reading about them, so much the better! Our next stop in Tuscany will be our very favorite spot on our post-wedding adventure--hope you'll stop in again... Thank you so much for taking the time to visit today and for your always kind comments and emails. They really make my day... Hope the rest of October is a wonderful time for each of you. Bye for now! 

A few framed Santas as fall begins...

And here we are... already the last few days of September! I hope you've all had a great month since I last checked in. It's been a busy one here and I'm looking forward to a less busy October. We made two trips down to Maryland this month. One for Baby N's baptism and the other to help with our grandsons while their dad (our oldest son) was away for a few days. Oh, those darling boys--at 6 years and 16 months old, Mister B and Baby N sure keep us busy. On our visits, we fall into bed each night very early and thoroughly exhausted, but filled with so many wonderful memories from our day. 

My stitching time has been limited, but I did manage to get a trio of Santas framed and I'm thrilled to share them with you today... I stitched these delightful Teresa Kogut Santas (all can be found in her "Hello Santa" booklet) last year and am so amazed that I've already framed them. Usually, I'll procrastinate for years when it comes to framing my pieces. I ordered the black, rustic frames from my favorite online framing site, Franken Frames, in Tennessee. As always, I used this easy framing tutorial from Brenda Gervais which she posted on her blog back in 2011. Click here to view it. And to answer a few common questions that I had on Instagram when I posted these: No, I do not use glass in my framed finishes. Ever! And yes, I do use a thin piece of batting (Pellon 988) under the stitched piece. I attach the batting to the acid-free foam core mounting board with Aleene's Tacky Spray Glue and then pin my stitching over that. Framing things yourself is not hard--especially smaller pieces like these (the biggest is only 9" square) and you'll save yourself tons of money to use for more threads, fabric, and charts. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

A trio of framed Teresa Kogut Santas--which one is your favorite?

My plan is to gift one of these jolly Santas to each of my three sons when I'm ready to pass them on. I'll share some close-ups below and a link for each one so you can read about my changes. 

This is "Mister S Claus" and will eventually be given to my middle son. He is the thrifter in the family--loves hunting down special, old things in vintage shops, antique stores, etc. So, I thought this red Santa would be perfect for him. You can read all about my finish by clicking here.

 

"Right Jolly Ol' Elf" is one big guy, isn't he? I've decided to pass him on to my oldest son and his family because I like the fact that this design has two snowmen--the larger representing my oldest grandson, Mister B, and the small one in the sack representing my younger grandson, Baby N. You can read all about my finish of this wonderful gold Santa right here.

And finally, "Green Coat Santa" will go to my youngest son. From the time he was a tiny baby, his wonderful smile has always brought us so much J-O-Y. The two deer remind me of him, too, because whenever he sees one in our yard, he always exclaims, "He's a good boy!" (even though our deer are far from "good" as they eat everything in sight!). You can read about this green Santa right here. I hope each of the boys will treasure their Santas when I'm ready to pass them on!

This black ridged molding from Franken Frames is what I used for all three frames on the Santas. I like the simple look which allows the stitching itself to shine. 

Fall is definitely in the air! The mornings are noticeably cooler, the daylight disappears earlier and earlier, and the green leaves are beginning to change to golds and oranges and reds here in the northeast. Are you ready for fall? My house got a little makeover earlier this month when I pulled out my fall stitching and spent an entire afternoon changing summer bees and sunflowers over to autumn leaves and squirrels. I'm always surprised at just how many fall things I've stitched over the years...

My fall stitching includes lots of squirrels, pumpkins, and leaves.

Do  you have a favorite? I think mine is the Prairie Schooler Autumn piece on the far right with the turkey. But that squirrel couple in the bottom left (above photo) is pretty darn cute, too! Here are a few close-ups for you. 

My fall stitching is mostly featured in my kitchen in the corner cupboard, on the sideboard, and in the center of the table. We had some guests for dinner last week and I took a photo of the kitchen. I'm loving my new orange and cream checked tablecloth that I bought on Amazon! The little tassels are so cute and it washes like a dream. Here's a link if anyone is interested--it comes in many colors. (I'm not making any money from this endorsement--I just like to pass on information on products that I've been really pleased with). 

All dressed up for fall! 

I'll share some close-ups of my fall decorating in my next post. Hope you'll stop by then!

Family news... As I mentioned, we spent a lot of time in Maryland (a four-hour drive from us) this month with our grandsons. Baby N's baptism was held on Sunday, September 6th. The service was done in Spanish so I didn't understand much more than a word here or there. But, it was still beautiful. You should have seen the big grin on Mister B's face as he watched his little brother being blessed with the holy water! Afterward, my son and daughter-in-law had a lovely dinner for friends and family. As always, Baby N provided much of the entertainment--he's just the most smiley, lovable little guy who chatters non-stop in a Minion-like voice with a few genuine words (both in English and Spanish as he is being raised bilingual) scattered in. At 16 months, he's already a little flirt who definitely has this Nonna wrapped around his little finger.  

The cake at Baby N's baptism

Our second visit was also cause for celebration because Mister B lost his first tooth while we were there! Oh, my--I've never seen a child so excited about a lost tooth. You see, he was pretty much the very last one in his first grade class to lose one (he's one of the youngest in the class) so he was very ready to join the other kids. So, did the Tooth Fairy pay him a visit? No! He was visited by El Ratón Pérez, who is the Hispanic version of the Tooth Fairy. He's a little mouse who also visits children who have lost a tooth and leaves them a little gift or money underneath their pillow as they sleep at night. Mister B was thrilled by the $5.00 and the letter that El Ratón Pérez left him as he slept.

Mister B was delighted by the note from El Ratón Pérez that my husband is reading to him.

 

There's always entertainment involved with these two! They love donning their sunglasses and dancing to music! As soon as Baby N hears the opening notes of Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) he starts wiggling and smiling and bopping to the song. I dare you not to do the same when you hear it (click here)! 

We wish we could have stayed longer on our second visit, but we had to get home because our new driveway is being installed. On Tuesday, the crew came and jackhammered out the old asphalt driveway, scooped it up, and hauled it away. They then built the molds around the driveway in which to pour the concrete, and tomorrow and Tuesday the new driveway will be poured. We won't be able to drive on it for at least a week. It's a huge project which I'll be glad to see ending. I'm not one who enjoys having workmen around the house!

Removing an old driveway makes for one very loud, dirty week around here!

A little giveaway... I thought this sweet autumn chart (passed on so kindly by my lovely friend, April, to use as a giveaway) would make a perfect stitch for one of you this season. Would anyone like a chance to win "Autumn Quaker" by Primrose Cottage? If so, please follow the guidelines below:

1. Leave a comment specifically mentioning that you would like to win the chart.

2. Be a follower of Stitching Dreams

3. Make sure to leave your first name and email address if I don't already have it.

4. Tell me about the favorite fall piece that you have stitched over the years. 

 

If you'd like to win the giveaway for this cute fall chart, please follow the guidelines above. 

Good luck to all! I'll pick a name randomly and will announce the winner in my next post in October.

Back to my Italy travels... Whew! It's been a while since our Tuscany trip in June to celebrate our youngest son's wedding. I need to hurry up and get these travel posts written before everything has left my mind (and that seems to be happening more and more as I get older!). After the wedding, my husband, his brother, my middle son and his girlfriend, and I all traveled northwest to the small town of Montecarlo, Italy where we had rented a villa for the next week.  Our plan was to travel to a different town or two each day and use the villa as our home base. It worked out perfectly as there are so many charming hilltop towns within an hour or two of Montecarlo.

One of the major symbols of Tuscany, rows and rows of Italian cypress trees, can be spotted everywhere. They were introduced to Italy by the Etruscans and, throughout the ages,  have been a symbol of spirituality, fertility, and the connection between earth and sky. 

 

Flocks of sheep dotted the Tuscan landscape on our drive to our rental home.

 

I'm sure you've seen many painted landscapes of Tuscany which look just like this photo that I took on our drive--simply magical!

The rental house in Montecarlo was a delight! Three bedrooms, three full and one half baths, a beautiful kitchen/dining/living area and a gorgeous pool and gardens in which to relax at the end of a long day of sightseeing. 

Our rental home (they call them villas) for the week after the wedding. When I saw that beautiful front yard filled with red roses, I knew we'd rented the right place!

 

The gardens in the back yard were so lovely--pink roses, lavender, purple Russian sage, and yellow St. John's Wort filled the hillside beside the swimming pool.

 

The house even had its very own ruins in the side yard!

 Relaxing by the pool after a busy day of sightseeing made for the perfect end to our busy days. And any time I see mountains like those in the background, I can just feel myself totally relax.

This was the view from our bedroom window--such  beautiful sunsets.

The town of Montecarlo, Italy (not to be confused with Monte Carlo in Monaco, the  glamorous, famed resort and gambling area!), is very old dating back to the 14th century. Monte Carlo, meaning Mountain of Charles, was named in honor of Charles, son of King John of Bohemia. It is small and non-touristy which we loved! The streets were not crowded with shops of souvenirs and bustling tourists--it felt more authentic than many of the other towns we visited during our trip. 

We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the uncrowded streets as we explored Montecarlo. This street led to the ancient Porta Fiorentina. 

 

Look at that massive door! 

 

 

 

We are dwarfed by the arched opening to Montecarlo.

 

So many pretty rustic scenes adorned the walls along the streets. Pots of colorful geraniums and potted palms added to the beauty.

 

Montecarlo memories

The old Fortress of Montecarlo was the highlight of our visit. Apparently, the Fortress is now owned by a private family and is only open at certain times for self-guided tours. The cost was 5 Euro per person and, although it would have been nice to have a guide, it was also fun exploring on our own.

The Fortezza di Montecarlo under those bright blue Tuscan skies. If you'd like to read more about the fortress, click here. 

 

This pretty Italian style garden in the courtyard was added in the 20th century. Originally, this space would have been used to store supplies and weapons and to train soldiers.

The view from the top of the fortress was breathtaking!

It was fun exploring all the nooks and crannies, peeking out of tiny windows, and imagining what life was like here over the hundreds of years it has been in existence. 

Our next stop will be in another Italian town which I'm sure you have heard of (hint: it has a leaning tower). Hope you'll come back and join my Tuscany town tour in October! Thank you all for taking the time to read my little blog and, perhaps, leave a comment. I know blogging is fading away, but it is still my favorite way to record my stitching and travel photos along with keeping a journal of family activities. Hope you each have a wonderful October and don't forget to enter the "Autumn Quaker" chart giveaway if you are interested! Happy stitching everyone. Bye for now...