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...  

Buzzing in with some mid-August finishes

Another month half over... Can you believe it? It's been so, so dry here that our grass is burning out and our plants are withering on the vine. We got a teeny-tiny bit of rain Wednesday night--the first in over two weeks! But, certainly not enough to make a difference. We've noticed the hummingbirds staying longer at their feeder and even some non-hummingbirds stopping by that same feeder to take a sip of the nectar. I guess the poor things are just parched. I've never seen anything but hummingbirds drinking from those feeders before in my life!

August is normally my month to decorate with bees and sunflowers, but I've been feeling lazy about changing out my cross-stitch smalls so I didn't even bring out the whole collection this year. I did stitch two new bee-themed pieces, though, and created a small display using just them. 

My very small bee-themed display for August

The larger framed piece is by From the Heart NeedleArt and is called "Quaker Bees." I used the suggested overdyed threads on 40 ct. flax Newcastle and am so pleased with the final piece. It fit perfectly in this black 5X7" frame that I purchased from Marshall's--love it when that happens! I wish more designers would chart their designs to fit in standard size frames, don't you? It sure would save us a lot on framing (and leave us more money for purchasing charts, fabric, and threads!). 

"Quaker Bees" finish (with some tiny yellow flowers from our garden)

My second bee-themed finish is part of Jeannette Douglas's charming "chubby series"--may I introduce "Chubby Bee." So far she's designed Chubby Fox, Chubby Bunny, Chubby Ewe, Chubby Bird, Chubby Bee, and Chubby Squirrel. Have you stitched any of them? I have the Chubby Squirrel chart which I hope to stitch this fall. "Chubby Bee" is stitched on 40 ct. vintage country mocha Newcastle using a combination of the suggested colors and some substitutions (the greens and the purples) that simply worked better with my chosen fabric. The year was supposed to be stitched in the middle bottom, but I don't like dates my finishes (unless they are samplers), so I simply substituted a few more flowers and vines to round out the final look.  I also added pale yellow Smyrna stitches to the flower centers.

"Chubby Bee" with a few added vines and flowers

To finish it, I created a flat round ornament and then glued it to a larger round form covered with black and beige checked gingham fabric. Then I added gold cording (just glued it on with a teeny bit of Aleene's Tacky Glue on the end of a toothpick) and topped it with a jute bow.The back is covered with a round piece of black felt. This is a very simple finish and if you're interested in trying the round shapes yourself, I highly recommend this tutorial from Pinwheel Ponders. Give it a try--it honestly isn't difficult. At my age, I don't do difficult (if I can help it, anyway :). 

I just love this little chubby guy!

Finally, I stitched yet another "Remy Rabbit" by Brooke's Books ornament for a new baby. This was the fourth time I've stitched this one! I first stitched it back in 2021 and have used the same fabric (40 ct. water green Newcastle which, sadly, is no longer available) for all four. I left off the charted border and added a variety of snowflakes to make it into an oval. Such a sweet ornament for a new baby girl. 

My fourth finish of "Remy Rabbit" for a new baby girl (I've blurred the name out for privacy)

So, what's next? I'm working on my Christmas ornament for August and another Prairie Schooler which is taking more time than I anticipated! Then, I think I'll start something for fall... How about all of you? Have you begun fall stitching yet? Any recommendations? 

More summer fun... In my last post, I shared the birthday celebrations that we held at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland in July. Today, I'll share a few photos of our week-long visit. It was so peaceful there and easily ten degrees cooler as it's in the mountains. We all enjoyed our visit so much! Here are some of the highlights...

The view from the balcony outside our bedroom.

  

This part of the lake was very quiet--perfect for kayaking and paddleboarding. That tiny figure in the front of the kayak is Mister B! He is becoming much more comfortable with the water and really enjoyed his time by the lake.

We all loved this firepit set-up under the tall shady oak trees. It was a perfect place to read, snooze, watch the water fun, or hold Baby N (definitely my favorite activity!).

When we wanted a break from the water activities, we ventured over to  Swallow Falls State Park which stretches over 250 acres. Of course, we just hiked a tiny bit of it since we had two-month old Baby N in tow. We'll just have to go back again to explore more when he is older! It was quite crowded that day, but I'm sure it must be a beautiful park in all seasons. 

Hiking along the creek

  

One of the pretty waterfalls we spotted along our path

Mister B and nature--two of my favorite things!

 

On our drive back to the AirBnb, I spotted these cute musicians made entirely of old farm machinery parts  displayed in a farmer's field. Aren't they clever? 

Back at the rental home, we all kept busy with puzzles, and Legos, and games. Mister B sure loved having all of his uncles and aunts there to play with. I had brought a giant bin of Legos (saved for decades from when my sons were small) and all the guys had a great time creating space bases  with them and having pretend battles. It really warmed my heart to watch them having so much fun together.  

Mister B playing chess with his uncle, adding to his Lego space base, fishing (no luck), and watching the ducks walk up the dock to say hello. When it came time to leave on Friday, he cried and asked his daddy if we couldn't just buy the house and all live there forever. I'm so happy we can create these wonderful memories for him each summer! 

We got very lucky with the weather and it only rained all day the final day we were there! Hope we can return again next year. If you haven't visited the Deep Creek Lake area in Maryland, I highly recommend it!

Such a happy week with family!

Our garden has struggled this year, but we still managed to grow a few pretty flowers and some juicy tomatoes. 

Such royal colors from our glads this year!

 

The sunflowers in our garden always make me smile with their bright yellow and brown heads. The goldfinches love to visit and eat their seeds, too.

Oh, how I love the salmon color of this geranium. I'm thinking of trying to propagate it and overwinter the cuttings--any advice?

My husband is loving this time of year with all the fresh tomatoes. I don't eat them, but he is in heaven!

And that brings me to the end of yet another post. Oh, wait! I forgot to announce the winner of the "Christmas Sampler" chart that I offered in my previous post... The winner of this sweet design is...

Isabel (from Alromasar blog) 

 

Isabel (from Alromasar blog) you are the winner of this chart! Please let me know your mailing address and I'll get this out to you soon!

We are having a sweet little visitor for the next four days! Can you guess who? Yes, Mister B finally got up his nerve to come visit Nonna and Pampa all by himself. Today, we are meeting our son and daughter-in-law half-way to pick him up and then he'll be staying with us until Tuesday. I love seeing his excitement over coming all on his own (each time we chat on FaceTime). We've been working on this for almost two years now, hoping he would become brave enough to make a solo visit. I think he's very excited to be doing something that his baby brother can't! We have lots of fun plans in the works to keep him busy and, hopefully, to keep any homesickness at bay. We'll certainly be tired, but a good kind of tired at the end of each day.

Thank you to all who take the time to comment and say hello after each post--I truly look forward to hearing from you! I know blogging isn't really "in style" these days, so I'm glad that there are a few of you who still pop in for a vis each month. Hope the rest of August is good to you--stay cool! Bye for now... 

Christmas in July

How's everyone doing? Staying cool, I hope? Whew--this heatwave is beyond anything I can remember in all of my 70 years and I'm so very thankful to have air conditioning... Just last evening, my husband said, "I can't imagine this summer without AC." I know it's not common in some parts of the U.S. and many countries internationally. Do you have it in your home? When I was growing up in upstate New York (south of Buffalo), we did not have whole house air conditioning. We had wall units in the kitchen and in my parents' bedroom, but that was it. I remember a few nights each summer just lying in bed unable to sleep due to the heat and humidity. But, that was only three or four nights each year... With today's summer heat, those long sleepless nights would be more like half the summer, I fear.

But, the good thing about the heat? It forces me to sit inside and stitch! Lucky, aren't we, to have this hobby of ours during seemingly endless hot summer days? I got a bit behind on my monthly ornament stitching due to all the time I've been spending with my grandsons this summer, but am finally caught up with my June and July ornaments. I think you'll recognize both of them as Prairie Schooler designs--always my favorite! My ornament for June comes from an old PS free chart which is unnamed so I'll just call it "Santa Paddling His Canoe." It is stitched on 40 ct. R&R Salt Marsh linen (which has a pale sage green hue) using the suggested DMC threads (except I Smyrna-stitched his eye using 3031). 

My ornament for June--an old freebie from Prairie Schooler.

I felt like this piece deserved a rustic finish, so it was back to my camp counselor days (yes, I was a counselor at a Camp Fire Girl day camp the summer I was 19)--time to create another twig frame. I've made this type of frame with two other PS pieces and am so pleased with how this one turned out. I simply went outside to our brush pile and found a relatively straight branch from a birch tree, cut it into pieces, and glued them on to the sticky-board mounted piece to form a rectangle. At the top, I glued on a branch of artificial evergreens, some dried berries, and a corded hanger. The back is covered with a piece of felt. Love how it turned out!

Love the way the greenish spots on the birch twigs pick up the color of the fabric.

Here are the three PS twig-framed Santas... My favorite is at the top, stitched "over one" on 28 ct. black Monaco, that I created way back in 2011. I just love this green-robed Santa with his bundle of tiny logs. You can read about the Santa on black in this post. And the one driving the truck full of Christmas trees can be viewed in this post. 

A trio of twig framed Prairie Schooler Santas--do you have a favorite?

For my July ornament, I chose to stitch the annual Prairie Schooler annual Santa from way back in 1998. He is stitched "over one" on 25 ct. mushroom Lugana using the suggested DMC threads. The only change I made was to omit the giraffe that was hanging from the ark--it looked (to me, anyway!), like he had a broken neck! What do you think--you can see the original chart here. 

Stitched "over one"--so tiny and cute!

I finished this as a simple pillow using green cording and a green and cream gingham bow. Nothing fancy--I like to let the stitching shine when it comes to these handsome PS annual Santas.

The 1998 Prairie Schooler annual Santa is my ornament for July

 

June and July 2025 ornaments

 

As I mentioned in my last post, my entire family met up for a week of celebrations at a rental house right on beautiful Deep Creek Lake in Maryland earlier this month. I don't think I've ever eaten so much cake in my life! My oldest grandson, Mister B, celebrated five years, my youngest son celebrated 37 years, and my husband had the biggest celebration of all as he turned the big 7-0! Yes, he's caught up with me--the older woman! I have him beat by six whole months. 

Mister B originally wanted a Batman themed party, but at the last minute he changed his mind and decided he wanted a Snoopy party. Quite the change for sure! So my oldest son scrambled and ordered some Snoopy/Peanuts gang decorations to decorate the rental house. 

Aww... can you believe Mister B is five years old already? He loved his Snoopy themed party and his excited smile says it all!

Upon hearing about the change to a Snoopy theme, I found a quick-to-stitch design of everyone's favorite cartoon pup online. I think it took me all of two days to stitch and finish it--probably my fastest fully finished item ever! Isn't it cute? I stitched it on 28 ct. dove gray Monaco with three DMC colors: black, white, and 498 for the red. On the back of the frame, I wrote that it was lovingly stitched by Nonna for his 5th birthday and that whenever he looked at it, I hoped he'd remember how much I love him... 

The sweet Snoopy finish that I gifted my grandson on his 5th birthday.

My youngest son didn't mind sharing the Snoopy decorations with Mister B and together they blew out their candles on some tasty cupcakes and a Boston Cream Pie (which is my youngest son's favorite dessert). 

My youngest son and oldest grandson celebrate their birthdays which are just one day apart. I wonder what they wished for?

Two days later, my husband turned 70. Unlike me, when I turned 70 in January, he was very excited and appreciative just to still be here on earth. I need to think more like him :)  I would have loved to bake him a cake, but being away and in a rental house, I decided to just order one from a local bakery. I wanted it to be biking and beer themed--two of his favorite hobbies. I sent the baker a photo of an inspiration cake and, although it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it tasted wonderful and that's what counts, right? It was a carrot cake with vanilla buttercream icing and I think we ate it for the next four nights. A little slice went a long way! 

I asked the baker to design a biking/beer themed carrot cake using various signs that I found online and emailed to her. She forgot to add the spokes on the wheels, but that was still one tasty cake! 

Before we left for our lake vacation, I secretly designed some candy wrappers for my husband's big day using baby photos of him and various birthday greetings. I printed them out using our home printer and then wrapped them around Hershey's Miniature candy bars. For his party, I scattered them around the table--they were a big hit!

The little Hershey Miniature candy bars all wrapped up for the party. Wasn't he a cute little baby?

And here we are--the two 70-year-olds, still smiling after all these years. I've known him for over 50 years now as we met when we were just 19. In fact we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary just last week--getting very close to the big one! We both feel very blessed to have shared so many milestone moments together...

Celebrating my husband's 70th!

Since this post is already running long,  I'll share more on our family's lake vacation next time. Hope you'll pop in to visit again...

Giveaway time... In the meantime--since this is a "Christmas in July" post--how about a little Christmas-themed giveaway? I actually stitched this pretty sampler years ago (way before I began blogging and back when I was still stitching on Aida). I love it, although I've never framed it for some reason. I'm not crazy about the color of fabric I used, but it is still frame-worthy. I'll have to go down to my bins of thrifted frames in the basement and see if there isn't one that would work. 

My finish of "Christmas Sampler"--stitched nearly 20 years ago!

Anyway, I know I'll never stitch this one again, so who would like to win the chart? It's called "Christmas Sampler" and is from a 1994 edition of "Cross-Stitch Christmas" magazine. If you'd like to be entered in the drawing: 1)Please say so in your comment below, 2) Make sure you leave me your email address (if I don't already have it), and 3) Tell me the name of your favorite Christmas Carol and why you like it so much. Mine is "O Holy Night" which takes me right back to Christmas Eve services in my childhood church each and every time I hear it. Just love it! I'll announce the winner of the chart in my next post--good luck to all! (Please note, I will be folding this chart in thirds to fit in a legal-sized envelope in an effort to save on postage).  

I'm having a giveaway for this "Christmas Sampler" chart. Just follow the guidelines above if you'd like to be entered into the drawing. 

So, here we are--the end of July already. I want to thank all of you for your kind comments on my newest grandson's birth sampler in my last post and for weighing in on what I should do about joining the train cars or leaving them as they are. I'm still very undecided! Perhaps I should just flip a coin :) I truly appreciate your input and all of your sweet comments and emails. Hope August brings each of you lots of stitching and relaxing time. Stay cool out there! Bye for now...

Christmas is coming...

...in 223 days! Although the way I've been stitching anything and everything Christmas this year, you would think it's arriving next month! In my attempt to have some bigger Christmas pieces on my walls by December, I've been pretty much stitching Christmas all year so far. I may just have to take a break and stitch up some patriotic pieces soon, though--they've definitely been calling to me!

So, how is everyone doing in mid-May? It sure doesn't seem like May here as our truly nice spring days are few and far between. We get one picture-perfect day and then a string of cloudy/rainy/gloomy days. And the weekends? I don't even want to mention them! It doesn't really matter to me being retired, but I do feel for all the folks who only have the weekends off and are met with gray, soggy days. 

I've managed to stitch another big (to me, anyway!) Christmas piece. Would you like to see? This is "Christmas is Coming" by Shakespeare's Peddler and it was such a fun piece! I love stitching words and little motifs so this one was just perfect. Stitched on 40 ct. vintage country mocha Newcastle linen with "most" of the suggested colors, I'm so happy with how it turned out.

"Christmas is Coming" finish

How about a closer view? My main changes were to the house portion of the design. The year was supposed to be stitched above the fence, but I substituted five snowflakes. I also changed the color of the house itself to WDW Brick (front) and WDW Havana (side), changed the paint on the door to WDW Charcoal, added muntins to the windows, and added more snow under the house. And do you see the comma and the period? Yep--had to add them to make my librarian's brain happy :) 

In the lower portion, I changed the goose in the box to match the pair of geese above. It was charted as just a silhouette in black, but I preferred a full-color goose. I also added some snowflakes inside the box and to an empty space to the right of it. The long flower had leaves that weren't symmetrical so I changed them, too, and altered the flower's color a bit. I centered that bottom row of holly to match the spacing in the row at the very top. And yes... more punctuation :)

So, I have another large Christmas piece to add to my "to-be-framed" drawer. I need to get busy and place an order for frames soon!

Now to find a frame...

Speaking of frames--I managed to frame one of my Christmas finishes from last year! This finish is actually the result of what I like to call two "happy accidents." Happy Accident Number One: First of all, the "2019 Twin Peak Santa" was not stitched according to the chart. I accidentally started the design off-center so I didn't have enough fabric to stitch the bag of toys that was originally charted. To fill it in a bit, I chose random snowflake designs from various charts and added them along the sides. You can read about my finish of this handsome Santa in this post. I really love how it looks with the pretty snowflakes falling gently down on both sides of the blue-robed Santa. And then Happy Accident Number Two: I placed an order from my favorite online frame shop, Franken Frames, last year. (You can read about the frames I  ordered in this post). Well, the frame you see below on the Santa was in that order, although originally intended for a Prairie Schooler Thanksgiving piece. When it arrived and I held it up to the PS piece, it was way too small. Thinking that the framing company had made an error, I checked out my original order, and sure enough--it was me! I had sent them the wrong measurements. Ugh! But... I just happened to hold it up to this Santa piece and, lo and behold, it was an almost perfect fit! What do you think?

Framed finish of the 2019 Twin Peak Primitives Santa

The color of the wood in the frame perfectly matches Santa's staff and the size was excellent--a bit wider on the sides than the top and bottom, but that's okay. It sure feels good to have a framed finish checked off my list. For those of you who wonder how I do my framing, I'll link to the instructional post by Brenda Gervais that I follow right here.

Giveaway winner... Wow! I was amazed at the number of you who wanted to stitch the "Cycling Santa" chart that I offered last month as a giveaway. I truly appreciate all of your book recommendations, too. I'd read many of them, but did add a few new titles to my "must-read" list. I so wish I could send each of you the chart, but there can be only one winner and that winner is....

Rita H. 

Rita H.--you are the winner of the "Cycling Santa" chart!

Congratulations, Rita! Please send me your mailing address and I'll get this chart right out to you. Hopefully, you can pass it on when you are finished, too, and keep the kindness going. For those of you who didn't win, luckily, the chart is still readily available for purchase. In fact 123 Stitch has it on sale right here for just $7.19!

The ups and downs of May... May used to be one of my favorite months, but that has changed over the past several years. You see, my mom's birthday was May 14th (she would have been 97)  and my mother-in-law's birthday was yesterday, May 15th (she would have been 96). It was always such a fun, festive time of year with Mother's Day falling right before their two birthdays. But, now that they are both gone (mom in 2020 and my mother-in-law in 2022), I tend to get pretty sad. This year it seemed to really hit hard... The fact that none of my boys were able to be here for Mother's Day on Sunday didn't help. The tears were flowing pretty frequently over the past couple of weeks. 

But...

I found a feather this week! Yes, a teeny tiny white feather in the middle of my kitchen floor. As I bent to pick it up, I just knew it was a sign from mom--that she was nearby and watching over me. I felt such comfort the moment I found the feather.

A message from mom? I believe so!

I know a lot of you are probably rolling your eyes right now, but I truly believe in signs and my mom has sent me feathers before. Anyway, I carefully placed it in "her" spot in my Pottery Barn cubby with other special things I've received from her over the years. How about you? Have you received signs from a loved one that bring you comfort and a sense of peace?

The cubby space dedicated to my dear mother

Our Spring flowers continue to dot our green, green yard with brilliant spots of color...

Love the shade of purple in this clematis

And the pink is pretty sweet as well!

Our Korean Lilac bush has never had so many blooms!

The rhododendron bloomed about two weeks earlier than normal this year

And the wildlife... I think I've mentioned (probably many times over the past 15 years that I've been blogging) that we are blessed with a large yard. It's a bit over an acre with a good-sized pond in the back. I thought you might enjoy seeing an aerial photo of it taken by my youngest son with his drone back in 2018. On the left is the pond, in the upper middle is my husband's vegetable/flower garden (which he's since made half the size for easier maintenance) and the garden shed. The little bluish "blob" in the lower middle near the pond is the top of the big bird house that you often see in my photos.

An aerial view of our home and back yard from 2018.

Because of the pond, our back yard is filled with  animals who are drawn to the water. The pond contains probably two dozen koi. The koi are huge--18 to 24 inches long--and are orange, white, black, and a combination of those three colors. During the spring, summer, and fall we feed them special koi food, but when the temperature falls below 52° we stop feeding them for the winter and they survive just fine. You can see a portion of the pond and a couple koi in the photo below, taken last summer in 2023. My little grandson, Mister B, was almost three years old here and looks like he really wanted to jump right in with the fish!

 

"Look, Nonna!"

Here are some of the many visitors we've seen in our back yard this spring...

The blue heron is a frequent visitor hoping to grab a koi. They are simply too big for him, though, so he often flies away still hungry.

 

Can you spot the blue heron flying above the birdhouse near the top of the photo? What a wide wingspan!

This mallard duck couple has been spotted a few times this spring. They sometimes wander up the lawn from the pond and feed underneath the bird feeders. We were hoping they would choose our pond  to build their nest, but I think they've gone elsewhere.

Spot the bunny! And the squirrel and the mourning dove couple! All gather at the base of the bird feeders to enjoy easy-to-get treats.

I honestly can't imagine living in a city... Every time I look out my window, it's like a moving picture of wildlife. From the silly squirrels chasing each other round and round the tree to the mischievous bluejays stealing all the bird seed, to the herd of deer that roams through our yard (eating many of our flowers!)--it's always something new each day. I get so much joy from watching nature!

My husband was on a bike ride for five days earlier in the month and sent this sweet photo taken while biking on Assateague Island. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Assateague, a 37-mile barrier island located on the shores of Maryland and Virginia, is home to over 150 wild horses which are descendants of horses from the 17th century. If you'd like to read more about them, you can click on this article. I'd love to see them in person some day!

Three of the wild horses on Assateague Island. I simply love this sweet photo of the little foal nursing from his or her mother. A perfect photo for Mother's Day weekend, I'd say!

I always think I don't have much to write about when I first begin a post, but it seems to mushroom as I look through the photos on my camera! I hope you don't mind these longer posts... I'm not sure if I'll be back by the end of May or not. It's going to be a busy time with many doctors' appointments, shopping for flowers and planting them, and a trip to visit my grandson. Just a bit uncertain if I'll even get much stitching done to share with you. As I mentioned, I think it's about time I began a few patriotic pieces. After Christmas stitching, red, white, and blue stitching is my favorite! Hope you all have a great month with lots of sunshine and stitches--and as always, thank you so very much for your kind comments and emails. Bye for now...