Buzzing in with a late summer finish!

Well, hello there! And how are my stitching friends on this fine morning? Well, it's not exactly fine here in western Pennsylvania--it is grey, drizzly, and extremely humid. And the outlook for the weekend doesn't look much different. Not a very satisfactory August in terms of weather, but other than that, all is good. Busy, but good! I only have one stitching finish for you today, but it is a fairly large one (for me, that is!).

I am, for the most part, a one project at a time stitcher... Oh, I have a couple of unfinished projects patiently waiting in the background, but I know myself. If I leave a project, I have a hard time going back to it which is why I tend to stick through my current project until completion. Today's finish is from a very old Prairie Schooler Chart called "Garden Verses"  (Book No. 49). Unfortunately, it is not one that has been reprinted yet so it is not easy to find. I'm sure I paid way too much for mine on eBay a few years back...

Prairie Schooler Garden Verses (Book No. 49)

For this lovely piece, I used DMC threads on 40 ct. burch Newcastle and I am so pleased with how well the white shows up. When I posted this on Instagram yesterday, several people commented that the colors look a bit different than those on the chart. Well, I did make some color changes! The main thing I did was to use more pink in this piece. I substituted DMC 356 for the suggested 632 and DMC 3779 for 407 in the flowers. For the highlighted words ("busy bee," "honey," "flower") I used DMC 420 instead of the suggested 632. Other than that, the colors are as charted.

One busy big bee

The hive seemed to take forever but I decided to just buckle down and "get it done!" And all those little bees--whew! I tried to add some little black stripes to their tiny bodies to look more like bumblebees, but they ended up looking like prisoners or something evil, so I left them as charted with just the white and gold.

And lots of tiny little bees

It's funny, but bee charts have been calling my name lately... This is just one example of how a stitcher's tastes can change over the years. I was never particularly interested in them before. Has that ever happened to you--a sudden interest in stitching a subject that had never appealed to you before? There are two other lovely garden themed charts in this booklet and I can picture myself stitching them in the future, too!

I "pinked" up the flowers a bit!

We've seen a lot of these fuzzy little guys on our zinnias this summer. If you click on the photo for a better look, you can even see the yellow pollen on him! Yay--spreading the love!

This fellow just flew from flower to flower

I wondered about the sentiment on this Prairie Schooler sampler and discovered that it was the first stanza of a short poem penned by English theologian,  Isaac Watts back in 1715 titled "Against Idleness and Mischief."  Basically, it was used to encourage children to stay busy and not be idle or they'll get into trouble! Hmmm... I think there may just be some truth to that.

When we were in Washington, DC a couple weeks ago to visit my son, we stopped in at the International Spy Museum because it was a rainy day and what else do you do on a rainy day in DC, but go to a museum?   Now remember, I am surrounded by all men in my family so this is the norm for us--we do not visit stitching shops or tea parlors or any of the fun things that I read about on your blogs. But, it was interesting and, guess what?! I found a giant piece of cross stitch!! I'm not sure if this is a vintage piece, but my guess is that someone stitched it in honor of Rose O'Neal Greenhow who was a Confederate spy during the Civil War, but just look at it! The full quote is actually: "God gave me both a brain and a body, and I shall use them both." The whole thing was huge--probably four feet long by a 18 inches tall, I'm guessing. Love the giant bees that flank her name...

A piece of stitching found at the Spy Museum!

Long-time readers of Stitching Dreams know what problems we have with the deer in our yard. Yes, they are adorable and fun to watch,  but they do take the joy out of gardening. We've pretty much thrown up our hands in surrender over the past two years and, unless we can plant within the fenced in portion of our yard, things don't get planted.  Anyway, my husband was able to capture this adorable video of a mama deer and her triplet fawns frolicking in our back yard. I love how mama simply stands and eats our trees while her babies cavort in the background! He took it on his iPhone through our kitchen window so it's not the clearest, but it was just too sweet not to share. If you click on the "full-size" symbol in the lower right corner, you can get a much bigger picture of it... Enjoy!

I have a busy weekend ahead with family visiting and dinner guests on Saturday so I'm off to clean the house and do some last minute grocery shopping. It seems like every weekend has been scheduled with something or other since early May and I am longing for a weekend of simply sitting and stiching. At this rate that won't happen until after our son's wedding, our Hawaii trip, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are all over--in other words, until next year! Oh well, at least we're making plenty of wonderful memories this year! Enjoy your weekend, my friends, and thanks for visiting and saying "hello"--you are the best!  Bye for now...