Small Finishes and a Big Harvest

Good morning, my stitching friends! I sure hope the worst of our heat wave is behind us and those of you who suffered the widespread power outages last week are recovering and returning to normal. What a week! We "only" reached 99° here in the Pittsburgh area and I feel very lucky when I hear of the 100°+ temperatures so many of you in the mid-west had to deal with. And my poor blogging friends in the United Kingdom seem to be faced with day after day of nothing but rain. Is there no happy medium? At least those high temperatures gave me a very good excuse to sit inside and stitch and read...

I managed to finish the first of my small pieces for my July "bowl" and I had the best time stitching it! This is "Love Liberty" by Chessie & Me and I stitched it on 32 ct. Confederate gray Belfast linen with the recommended threads. The only change I made was to use two threads for the cross stitching rather than the one suggested on the chart. One of the main reasons I enjoyed stitching this (outside of that adorable black cat--I love black cats in case you didn't know!) was the fact that it incorporated so much "over one" stitching and lots of Smyrna stitches. The entire roof, stars, leaves, and border are all made up of Smyrna stitches. Sure, they each took more time than a plain old cross stitch would have, but they give such nice dimension to the finished piece.

"Love Liberty" by Chessie & Me

And here it is all finished up! The crows, flag, cat, and heart are all stitched "over one"--don't you love how detailed they look? For the finish, I chose a burgundy fabric dotted with gold stars and applied some handmade gold cording (DMC 3045) and a burgundy colored star. I seem to have managed to get this one quite straight (compared to my poor crooked Lizzie Kate finish in the last post) so thanks to all of you who suggested pinning and lacing the finish and making sure my mat boards were perfectly square--what a help! I took your advice and I think this one is much less "wonky!"

"Love Liberty" by Chessie & Me

My dear friend, June, had a birthday last month and I wanted to stitch her something special. For those of you who are familiar with June's blog, Butterfly Wings, you'll know that in addition to her being an amazing stitcher, she is also an avid gardener. Her flower photos are an instant pick-me-up on a gloomy day. So, what better piece to stitch her than "Earth Laughs In Flowers" by Prairie Schooler? This tiny pillow is stitched with DMC threads on 40 ct. antique white Newcastle linen and surrounded by handmade cording in a yellow-gold color. I did add in more pinks to the mix to coordinate with the fabric backing. June seems to love it and I hope she'll think of me each time she looks at it--I so enjoyed every stitch!

"Earth Laughs In Flowers" by Prairie Schooler

Another stitched creation was made for my dear friend, Cathey's (also known to many of you as "Pumpkin") sweet new baby boy. I thought this marching teddy bear proudly carrying the Canadian flag would be just perfect for his very first Christmas. The chart is a freebie which can be found here. I did change the maple leaf on the flag a bit--made it larger and a bit more detailed. It is stitched on a mossy green evenweave using DMC threads and finished into a small hanging pillow with red ric-rak and a coordinating green flannel. (Cathey's son's name is stitched under the bear, but I've covered it up for privacy). I hope this happy bear makes her little guy smile for years to come!

Canadiana Teddy freebie


2012 Garden

Even though we've been faced with extreme temperatures, "our" garden (well, honestly, my husband deserves 99% of the credit--all I do is enjoy the fruits of his labor) has flourished with all the sunshine. Just look at this crop of goodies that he picked on Saturday! Now, all of my long-time blog readers know I'm not an eater of green vegetables (remember this post?), but I will eat lettuce, peas, and uncooked spinach. If the zucchini is disguised in breads, cookies, cakes, or muffins, it will also make its way into my mouth, too! My husband can't possibly eat every green vegetable that he grows, so much of it is given to friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Are any of the rest of you green-vegetable haters? I sometimes feel like a little girl who never grew up when it comes to eating my vegetables!

A bumper crop of vegetables from this year's garden

To use up some of the zucchini, (well, exactly one of the ten zucchini on hand!), I made this yummy Blueberry Zucchini Bread. To make it even healthier, I substituted 1/2 cup of the vegetable oil with 1/2 cup applesauce. Look closely--can you see the little bits of green? At least I consumed a teeny portion of green vegetables this weekend! Does anyone else have any tried and true zucchini recipes that I might like?

Blueberry-Zucchini Bread

And here's a little bit of garden trivia... Do any of you know what the mystery plant below is? Hint: it's something my husband uses in another of his hobbies!

Can anyone guess what plant this is?
(Answer is at the bottom of this post!)

July is a month filled with celebrations in our family. My youngest son turned 24 yesterday (yes, he's bemoaning the fact that he is "getting old!"), my husband catches up with me on Saturday and turns 57 (yes, I married a younger man--six months younger!), and my dear parents celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary tomorrow. 59 years together--quite a feat in today's world!! I'm heading up to New York tomorrow to see them for my monthly visit so I'll be able to help them celebrate.

♫♪♫ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ♫♪♫

to my parents, dear husband, and youngest son. I love you all so very much...

Thank you for taking time to visit me today--I know it is especially hard in the summer months to read blogs, let alone comment, so I truly appreciate hearing from so many of you! I plan to be back next time with some Christmas stitching--fingers crossed! I hope the remainder of your July is filled with things for you to celebrate as well. Bye for now...


(ANSWER to the mystery plant question: it is "hops". My husband brews his own beer and uses this in the process. I'm not a beer drinker so I can't tell you how it tastes, but he certainly seems to enjoy it! Cheers!)