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?
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| 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.
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| "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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| A scurry of squirrels on the sideboard |
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| The sweet carved wooden squirrels are from my grandmother--a real treasure! |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| Getting ready to pour the concrete (photo taken from our Ring camera) |
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| Leveling off time (photo taken from our Ring camera) |
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| After leveling off, they brushed the surface and snapped lines for control joints (photo taken from our Ring camera) |
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| 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.
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Depending on where you stand, the tower looks more or less tilted |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| The town of Pisa itself was relatively quiet |
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| Love the golden yellow color on many of the homes |
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| We had a lovely lunch outdoors in a little alley--fresh pasta, simple yet delicious! |
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| 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!
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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The view looking down over Lucca from the bell tower of San Michele in Foro |
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| ...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!
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| 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. |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
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| The Cattedrale di San Martino (Cathedral of Saint Martin) is considered the most important church in Lucca. |
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| 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. |
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| These carvings are attributed to the workshop of Guidetto da Como and date back to the early 1200s |
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| 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? |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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!
