Stitching gifts as summer begins

Has it really been a month since my last post? I never planned on being away so long, but, you know... life! Thanks to those of you who have checked on me. As I mentioned in previous posts, my month of May was filled with doctors' appointments (mostly good results, although there may be a follow-up appointment or two in my future). Right now I'm dealing with a random attack of hives on my arms and I have no idea of the cause! They're fading and most of the itching is gone, but it was not a fun two weeks...  I did manage to get some small gifts stitched, but that's about all since my last post. Our weather is finally warming up and I'm sure that next week (when it gets into the 90s), I'll be kicking myself for complaining about the cold. But honestly--it was down in the 40s a couple nights  this week and our heat even came on. In June! I just love 80° weather with no humidity and today has been exactly that sort of day. 

Two blogging friends, June and Vickie, both have June birthdays so I managed to stitch a couple of sweet designs to make into cards. 

A pair of stitched birthday cards

 

For June, in England, I stitched a pair of bunnies by Brittercup Designs from "Bunnies Galore." Aren't they sweet? I forgot to note the fabric that I used, but I think it was a 32 ct. white linen or evenweave of some sort.

♥ Bunny love ♥

 

And for Vickie, I stitched the little "Hello Spring" design by Primrose Cottage Stitches. This one was stitched "over one" on 28 ct. white Lugana with a variety of pastel colors. I thought it might make a nice addition to Vickie's cubby that she changes out monthly.

Such a cute design for Spring

A new baby boy was born into my middle son's girlfriend's family so guess what I stitched? Yep! The cute JBW Designs gingerbread boy from the "Baby's First Christmas" chart.  This marks the tenth time I've stitched this little cutie; in fact, I stitched it for this little guy's big brother just two years ago. The parents are always so happy to receive a personalized and unique ornament! I used 32 ct. black Belfast linen with DMC threads and added a white pom-pom and red beads along with the candy cane colored cording. I wonder if I'll be stitching any more of these for baby boys in the future? I certainly hope so!

A Christmas ornament for a new baby boy (the name is whited out for privacy)

And this next one came as such a surprise to me! My best friend sent a photo of the little "Welcome" piece that I had stitched and given her years and years ago. It is so old, I don't even recall stitching it! She took a photo of it to show me that it is now hanging in her daughter's home and I was so touched. My friend downsized her belongings when she moved away and gave each of her five children a piece that I had stitched. I'm honored to think that my work lives on in their homes. Unfortunately, I have no idea where the chart came from, but it may have been in an early Just Cross Stitch magazine from the 1980s or 90s. If anyone knows, could you let me know?

This piece is so old, I can't even remember the source or when I stitched it!

So, I've turned my attention to patriotic stitching and am almost finished with a cute piece that I'll share with you next time. I'm very behind on getting my patriotic stitching out and on display this year. I usually like to have it out by Memorial Day, but I just wasn't motivated to take the Spring stitching down. Finally, I pulled out my patriotic finishes today and hope to get them on display tomorrow which is Flag Day here in the U.S. A perfect time to get these out--there sure are a lot of flags in these pieces, aren't there? I think you all know that Christmas stitching is my favorite, but after that comes patriotic themes. I just can't resist a good red, white, and blue design!

Can you tell I love patriotic stitching?

Here are a few close-ups for you...

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An unexpected visitor arrived in our yard a couple weeks ago. We saw some sort of blob out in the middle of the grass and it turned out to be... a large snapping turtle!

Our pond's newest resident

We believe he was heading to our pond from the creek across the street. That is quite a distance, but "slow and steady" wins the race as they say. This fellow looked like he was in pretty rough shape. He had a small notch out of his shell toward the back and was so muddy. We tried to give the turtle something to eat, but he wasn't interested so we left him alone and watched as he ever-so-slowly made his way back to our pond. I did see him sunning himself on the pond's bank a couple of times since,  so I'm hoping he's found himself a welcoming new home!

Can you spot his very dark eye?

New flowers are blooming, adding their pretty colors to all the green, green grass in our yard. 

Love the wispy catmint!

These elegant white calla lilies with their dappled leaves are some of my favorites this time of year.

Our purchased flowers waiting to be planted. The yellow dipladenia on the left was a Mother's Day gift from my middle son and his girlfriend

Okay--this is a strange one! I was given an amaryllis bulb as a gift back in December and it never bloomed. The stalks  grew about 4 inches tall and then just stopped. So last month, I asked my husband to take it outside and plant it--never dreaming it would actually bloom. Surprisingly, two weeks later we had these bright red flowers!

 

In early June we visited my grandson in the D.C. suburbs and had a grand time! The main purpose of this particular trip was to take my middle son's old bunk beds down for him. Oh, my! He'd been so excited about moving from his toddler bed into bunk beds and talked about it for weeks. On the day we put them up in his bedroom, he was almost jumping out of his skin. He wants, so badly, to sleep in the top bunk, but, for now, his mom and dad are limiting him to the bottom. In addition to that big event, he helped me make some very tasty banana bread and helped plant the very first garden in his new house. I just love this photo of my husband holding the carrot seeds as Mister B carefully places them in the ground. He proudly announced just this week that the carrots were already sprouting! I've never seen a kid love vegetables the way he does, so I'm sure all the tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and cucumbers that were planted won't last long once they ripen!

My sweet grandson patiently planting some tiny carrot seeds

This coming Sunday is Father's Day here in the U.S. Do any of you have special plans? We are going to my middle son's place for dinner (which is also a gift for me since I don't have to cook for a change!). It's kind of a bittersweet day for all of us whose fathers have passed, though, isn't it? I do hope to be back for a visit again in a couple weeks and return to my twice a month blogging schedule. Thank you, one and all, for visiting today--hope your summer is off to a great start (yes, I know summer doesn't officially start until June 20th, but I've always considered it to start on Memorial Day!). I really appreciate each of your comments and emails--you stitching friends are the best! Take care now and enjoy your weekend. Bye for now...