Three small finishes and a giveaway

Hope all of you have had a good April!  To be honest with you, I'm extremely happy to bid this month farewell--it's been a tough one for some of our dear friends and extended family members. We're fine here--our hearts just hurt for their pain. We're simply taking things one day at a time and doing our best to be supportive. Stitching has helped a bit--I don't feel that I was very productive this month, but I do have three small finishes to share with you today.

My March ornament is this charming Soda Stitch Design piece that I purchased on Etsy for only a few dollars. (You can find it right here, if you're interested). I like my ornaments on the smaller side, so I stitched it "over one" on 25 ct. black Lugana using most of the suggested DMC colors. The only changes I made were to substitute DMC 3345 for one of the shades of green and to use DMC 3799 on the roofs of the teeny houses. I just love the sleeping Santa as he cradles the little town in his long, flowing beard. This is called "Santa Village" and, for the finish, I surrounded it with red handmade cording and topped it with two different bows and a silver bell. The red and white snowflake fabric in the back is what I used on the other side of the ornament. I'm so pleased with the final look!

My finish of "Christmas Village"

And, I stitched two Christmas ornaments for two new babies! Both will look familiar, especially the first one as this is the fourth time I've stitched it! Sadly, the chart is no longer available since the death of designer Brooke Nolan of Brooke's Books fame. It is called "Remy Rabbit" and I'm so glad I printed it off way back when it was first offered. Just a reminder--print off those freebies while you can! So many are removed from websites after a few years and are then no longer available. I used 40 ct. water green Newcastle and some of the suggested DMC colors along with a few of my own choices. Quite a few snowflakes were added to shape it into an oval and I added the baby's name underneath. The new mom told me it brought tears to her eyes when she opened my gift...

"Remy Rabbit" for a sweet baby girl

My second baby ornament finish (arriving a bit late as this baby girl is turning one in June!), is this cute piece by Tiny Modernist  called "Snow Much Fun at the North Pole." I also used 40 ct. water green Newcastle for this one (my last tiny scrap of this wonderful fabric). I changed up the colors for this one using pink and gray along with the black and white that were suggested in the chart. I then stitched the baby's name at the bottom of the snow globe, glued a miniature white pom-pom onto the penguin's hat,  added  pink and white cording, and topped it with a perky, pink polka-dot ribbon at the top. The backing fabric is the pink gingham fabric on the left. You can find the chart for this cute design in the 2017 Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine. 

I've always loved pink and gray together and thought they worked especially well for this little girl's ornament.

 

If the above ornament looks familiar, I also stitched it for my oldest grandson's second Christmas back in 2021 using different colors. As you can see, I used the more traditional Christmas red and green for his. This is such a sweet design and you could personalize it with many different color combinations. 

The same ornament stitched in different colors for Mister B for his second Christmas in 2021.

I'm nearly done fully finishing my ornament for April so I'll share that with you next time! What are you stitching these days? Or are you too busy with gardening this time of year? Our gardens are going to have to just limp along this year as my husband is still not able to do any heavy lifting or digging since he's still recovering from his shoulder replacement surgery in January. But, that's okay--I'd so much rather he fully recover before he does anything that might cause problems. 

Giveaway... As I mentioned in a previous post, my sweet friend April (in Virginia) gifted me with a wonderful assortment of small charts to share with you as giveaways.  I thought one of you might like to stitch these classic Lizzie Kate patriotic charts if you haven't already done so. I actually stitched the one with the tall, skinny house way back in 2009 and I'm thoroughly embarrassed to admit that I never fully finished it! Maybe this year? 

If you'd like to win this LK chart, please follow the guidelines below:

If you would like to throw your name into the hat to win the above Lizzie Kate chart (both designs are included in this one chart!): 1) Please specifically say so in your comment, 2) Be sure to leave your email address if I don't already have it, and 3) Tell me the name of your favorite patriotic design finish and why you like it so much. Mine is "Fourth of July Picnic" by Samplers Not Forgotten--just love the old-fashioned look of it, the button tree, and that cute pup!  I stitched it back in 2023--you can read about my finish right here. I'll pick a winner for the Lizzie Kate "Land That I Love" chart and post the name next month. Good luck to all!

My favorite patriotic finish: Fourth of July Picnic

 

Statin update... I want to thank all of you who weighed in on your experiences with statins for cholesterol control. I'm pleased to say that I "think" my body has finally adjusted to the increased dosage. My cardiologist doubled it from 5 mg. to 10 mg. back in January and I was truly thinking about going back to the 5 mg. dosage due to increased muscle and joint soreness. But, all of a sudden... things seem to be almost back to normal. I had my lipid panel blood test last week and all of the results were good so I'm happy! Hope they stay that way!

It hasn't been the best year for our gardens as I mentioned above. Many of the cherry blossom trees suffered from the black knot fungus this year and the crab apple trees barely bloomed, possibly from apple scab fungus. So, not the prettiest of springs. But we did manage to get a few colorful flowers...

Aren't these tulips beautiful? I'm so thankful that may husband planted the bulbs last fall for me to cut and bring inside this spring!

The little plant that could... My middle son brought me this hibiscus plant last year for Mother's Day. Because we were down in Maryland helping with our newborn grandson for two weeks, he set it out on our patio table not thinking about our neighborhood deer. When we got home, the poor plant was bitten down to nothing--the deer loved it! We never dreamed it would survive, but we brought it inside and nursed it along all winter. Lo and behold--it's blooming again! Aren't these orange blossoms stunning? I'm planning on keeping it indoors this summer and safe from the deer!

Love the combination of the orange with the beautiful potted hydrangea plant that my husband gave me before Easter! Blue and orange were the colors of my oldest son's October 2017 wedding--such a lovely combination! 

Random thoughts for the month...

*Believe it or not, my younger grandson, Baby N, turns one year old next week! How time flies as we've watched in awe all the changes a baby goes through during those first twelve months.

*I just finished listening to a book that I gave a rare 5-star rating to called "The Sunflower House"--the debut novel by Adriana Allegri. Have any of you read it? Set in Nazi Germany, it deals with the notorious Lebensborn program where young women of "pure" blood were placed in houses specifically to give birth to future Aryan children, thus perpetuating the "master race." Over 8000 babies were born in this program in Nazi Germany.

*Only another six weeks 'til my youngest son's wedding. I'm trying not to stress, but it's just in my nature. I did find a dress which looks fairly decent on my 71-year-old body. I think I'm going to be the oldest person attending the wedding--now that is really something to make you think!  

*My youngest son visited us last week for a few days and, boy, did we need his positivity and cheerful demeanor. You see, my husband lost his second biking friend in less than two months in mid-April. There was a core group of five guys and now only three remain. We always joked that the guys saw more of each other than they did of their wives as they biked at least three times a week for hours at a time. You just never know when your time is up, do you? Their biking community is still in shock after losing two such special friends so close together. That really makes you think about how to live your life, doesn't it? Surround yourself with positive people and treat yourself to beloved hobbies, travels, and new experiences while you can.
 

And, on that note, I'll say goodbye for this month. On to May! I want to thank each of you for popping in and saying "hello" whether in your comments or via email. I love hearing from you. Have a wonderful new month, my friends! Bye for now...