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...

A cute Halloween finish

It's a cool, dreary, rainy afternoon here in western Pennsylvania... The perfect kind of day for stitching, but before I settle down in my stitching chair, I thought I'd drop in and say "hello!" Our weather has gone from sunny, summer-like weather just five days ago to today's more typical late October/early November gloom. But, I have an upcoming visit with my grandson to look forward to, so that helps keep me going through all the sad news and events that the world is dealing with on a daily basis. It's been an extremely difficult and sad month, that's for sure...

But, how about a cute Halloween finish to bring a smile? This sweet design by Luminous Fiber Arts is called "All Hallows' Eve" and is stitched on 40 ct. raw natural Newcastle linen. I did make a few color changes--mainly to the moon. I wanted more of a golden moon so I used DMC 729 and 680. I also added a few leaves in the same 729 color (at the bottom of the design) to the charted orange ones. 

My finish of "All Hallows' Eve" by Luminous Fiber Arts

I filled in the eyes of the bird and cat using DMC 729 and added gray (WDW Porpoise) and a bit of white to fill in the moon's eye. You can see the eyes better in the photo below.

Isn't that mischievous black cat the cutest thing?

That stack of grinning pumpkins just makes me smile! I am definitely in the "cute Halloween" camp--anything scary or gory is not my idea of fun. How about you? I know some of you don't stitch Halloween themed pieces at all and I've definitely slowed down since my dad passed away on Halloween in 2014, but I still like to stitch at least one design each October.

These adorable cat scissors were a gift from a long-ago blogging friend.

I framed the piece in a simple black frame found at Goodwill for only $2.00. Well, it didn't start out as black or as the right size for this design! My dear husband cut it down to fit perfectly and I painted it a matte black and there you have it. This will be a gift for my three-year-old grandson who loves both kitties and pumpkins and is so excited to be going trick-or-treating in just two days.

I love it when I can find a thrift shop frame to use in my finishing. Thank you so much to my husband for resizing it for me!

Here is a closer look at the frame. Notice our stunning Japanese maple with its leaves turning the most beautiful crimson color in the background outside the window. 

I'm almost caught up with the finishing on my ornaments for September, October, and November so I'll share those with you next time. I need to get busy and finish up some Christmas gifts and, perhaps, start a Christmas sampler next month. I feel like I'll have some extra time this year since we're not hosting Thanksgiving. I'll miss seeing our sons, but it's their year to spend Thanksgiving with their significant others' families. 

I only had a few entries for the monthly kitty chart... I was surprised there were so few, but I know people just aren't reading blogs as much as they used to. My readership statistics are way down and it does make me question why I keep writing my blog. Of course, I love having a record of my work, but I can also do that in a private blog and not put myself out there for the world to see. I actually got a horrible comment on an older post last week that was just filled with the word "DIE" repeated in capital letters over and over. I mean, what's the point of that? Honestly, it hurts and things like that definitely have me questioning the future of Stitching Dreams...

Anyway, the winner of the kitty monthly chart is...

 KATIE in Indiana!

Katie--you are the winner of this cute chart! Please contact me with your mailing address and I'll pop it in the mail this week. Hope you enjoy stitching these kitties!

With a frost forecast in our area last week, I made sure to run out to the garden and cut some of the last remaining blooms. Just look at these gorgeous hydrangeas and pretty lavender colored dahlias. Not exactly the colors of fall, but I sure have enjoyed the brightness and cheer they brought into my home last week. 

My favorite flowers!

These pale lavender zinnias are so delightful! I photographed them looking down on my white kitchen counter and love the effect.

 

My middle son found another old crock at Goodwill and surprised me with it when he visited a couple weeks ago. He gave me the large one on the left last year, the front middle one with the cow is from my mom, and his latest find is on the right. I love how they look grouped together holding some of my houseplants.

My trio of crocks--all gifts!

And here is one last photo to showcase the beauty of fall (which has now almost disappeared with the rain and wind we've had today!). I went out to retrieve the mail from our mailbox on Thursday and as I looked back toward the house, this was the sight... Isn't it a pretty scene with the fluffy fronds of the perennial grasses and the bright orange leaves adorning our maple tree? 

Home sweet home!

It's hard to believe there are only two months left in 2023, isn't it? How I wish time would slow down. The older I get, the quicker the days pass and I often seem to have wasted the day away. Does anyone else do that? I honestly felt that I was much more productive when I worked! I really need to examine my usage of time--maybe 2024 will be the year to remedy that. Thank you so much for your visit today--I truly hope November is a kinder month for all. Bye for now...

Coming Home and a Final Gift for Mom

Brrr... fall is definitely in the air here in western Pennsylvania! And I'm not sure I'm ready for it... My summer sped by so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to relax and enjoy it this year. But, on to a new season and crunchy leaves and fall decorating and all those spicy fragrances wafting through my kitchen. Today I'm making Molasses Crinkles (using this recipe) which always remind me of my dear maternal grandmother. Those were one of her signature cookies and she always fretted about whether or not they would "crinkle." She learned from experience that the humidity level was key and so today--a dry, cool morning, is perfect for baking. I wish you could smell the ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves in the cookies that permeate my house right now!

I've been thinking about grandma a lot since my mom died. Such a special woman in my life--she was so capable and could do just about anything with a needle and thread. One of mom's biggest compliments was when she told me how much I take after Gram B. Her talents went way beyond mine, but I love the fact that mom saw similar traits in us!

We said goodbye to my mother in a simple graveside ceremony in my tiny western New York hometown on Saturday--just us four kids and our spouses, a few grandchildren, one great grandchild, and the minister. It did my heart good to see her interred and resting in peace at last. I know my dad was thrilled to finally have her there beside him... Knowing them, they were up all night talking!

After the memorial service, my siblings brought me the boxes of items that I had given mom through the years and, of course, my cross stitch pieces were among them. Mom was, by far, my biggest supporter when it came to my cross stitching and blogging. She was always so interested in my next project or the way I had finished an ornament--she truly studied them and always said, "I don't know how you do it, Care!" with such an admiring tone in her voice. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss hearing her comments about my stitching and blog posts...

So, today, I thought I would take a little trip down memory lane and share with you each stitched gift that I gave my mom starting with the oldest and leaving you with one final gift that I gave her after her death. I tend to tear up just looking at these photos as I picture where they were displayed in her home all these years. Now, I'll have to find the perfect spot in my home for each one.

All of my stitched gifts to mom have come home

 

My first gift was one I gave mom way back in 1985 soon after I began cross stitching. It was her Christmas gift that year and is framed with a mirror below it as you can see in the photo above. This sweet piece was from a cross stitch book called "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady"--a truly beautiful booklet filled with the most charming nature designs. Mom kept it right by her door so she could quickly check her hair or make-up in the mirror before leaving her apartment. My mom--even at age 93--loved her lipstick and was applying a fresh coat each morning up to the final days before she died!

  

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady cross stitch

This Thanksgiving card, circa 1992, was one of a (very) few I did on perforated paper--it's not my favorite stitching medium, but it held up quite well after 28 years, I'd say! The chart can be found in a very old booklet (1988) called "Greetings Galore" which contained 24 designs for various holidays and special occasions. 

 

Gobble, gobble! Thanksgiving card from 1992

That turkey may have been the last thing I stitched before my "Great Cross Stitch Break" took place for an entire decade. Yes, between from 1992 and 2002, I was just so busy raising my sons, returning to work at the library in 1996, and supervising the remodeling of our entire home, that I gave up stitching altogether. I know... crazy wasn't I? Stitching brings such calm that I can't imagine exactly why I gave it up for ten whole years...

Anyway, let's flash forward to the next piece that I stitched for my mom and dad in 2003. For you long time readers of my blog, this will look familiar. This is the piece that brought me back to cross-stitching and, because of that, I've gotten to "meet" you wonderful stitching friends! I stitched this beautiful heart and flowers design for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary scrapbook album that I put together for them. I actually did an entire post on it in 2013 when they celebrated their 60th anniversary which you can read in this post. Be prepared to cry, though... it is a heartbreaking tale.

A heart filled with flowers stitched for mom and dad's 50th anniversary album

 

Here is a close-up for you... I've covered my parents' names, which are stitched at the top, for privacy. I'm sorry, but I can't remember exactly which old cross stitch magazine this chart was in. Their 50th wedding album has come home to live with me and will always remain one of my biggest treasures.  It is filled with letters and memories from friends and family, wonderful old photos, and so much love. I'm honored to be the caretaker of it for the rest of my life and then I hope my sons will treasure it just as much!

 

Love the sweet pearl heart buttons!

 

My mom even kept this simple little card that I stitched for her 80th birthday in 2007. I think this design was from a library book filled with cross stitch greeting card ideas. Mom displayed it on her bedroom dresser for the past 13 years and it always warmed my heart to see it there...

Mom kept even the simplest of my stitched gifts.

 

Mom's birthday was in mid-May, right around Mother's Day here in the United States, so I often stitched gifts for her. May 2008 brought this lovely Just Nan piece called "Robin's Wreath." As you'll notice, the gifts I stitched for mom often were of flowers and birds--she loved both. This hung on her bedroom wall until her death in late July. There are tiny robin's egg blue colored beads in the wee nest on the lower right--so dear!

Just Nan's "Robin's Wreath" finish

 

2008 was a busy stitching year for me as this one was also given to my parents for Christmas that year. This design is from the 2005 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue and is called "Outside My Window" by Lynn's Prints. It's always been one of my favorites and it, too, hung on mom's bedroom wall year round.

Love the peacefulness of this finish!

 

Mom framed this little Lizzie Kate card that I made for her for Valentine's Day in 2009 and she displayed it each February. She was always a seasonal decorator like I am and I've come to truly appreciate how she always made her home so warm and welcoming at any time of the year by putting out special decorations like this one. (If you are interested in the fabric and fibers that I used for "Be Mine Valentine," please check out this post).

 

I always stitched a lot of love into each of my pieces for mom!

 

Well, you knew I had to have stitched at least one hummingbird for mom, right? Actually, this one is a mystery as to when I stitched it, but I am going to guess that it was around 2010. Again, the chart was from an old needlework magazine and I have no clue as to which one. I framed it in this pretty pewter frame and she always had it sitting on her bedroom nightstand.

Mom kept this one by her bed for many years.

2011 brought one of the few Blackbird Designs that I've ever stitched. My mom loved violets and I've always associated her mid-May birthday with violets and lily-of-the-valley. So, this was a birthday gift and she loved it--again, it hung on her bedroom wall all those years. I changed the wording a bit on this one which you can read about in this post. 

 

♥ Violets and mom just seemed to go together ♥

 

Many of you recall mom's 90th birthday post (you can read about it here). What a grand celebration we had that day! To commemorate the occasion, I stitched not one, but, two pieces for her that month. The first was a With Thy Needle and Thread design called "Bluebird Out My Window." As I've said many times, mom represented home for me so this one, with the word HOME spelled out in the grass, will always have a special place in my heart. I do love the frame I chose, too. If you'd like to read more about this finish, please check this post. 

  

Mom = HOME

 

The second 2017 birthday piece is small, but it was one of mom's favorites as she kept it right by her bed until the day she died. The little freebie from Snowflower Diaries (which can be found here) was personalized to represent mom and her four children along with dad, who died in 2014, represented by the silver heart hanging from the tree branch. I think seeing this one, more than any of the things I've stitched, makes me cry the most. I'm not sure why--I guess it is just the depiction of a mother bird caring so much for her babies just like mom cared for us for so many years. You can read about "You Are So Loved" right here. 

 

Mom, you always will be so loved...

 

I think most of you will remember this next gift as it was one I shared with you just a few months ago in this post.  This sweet wren was stitched from a chart by Lucie Heaton which was published in the April 2018 issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. Although it only lived with mom for a few months, she loved looking at the colors and little bird as it sat on a table in her living room. Her eyesight was so poor by the time she died that I know she had difficulty making out the design, but I know it was special to her just because I made it. 

The last gift that mom saw--her 93rd birthday gift.

One final gift... As I mentioned above, we buried my mom on Saturday, September 12, 2020, a brisk fall day with a bit of sunshine peeking out from behind the clouds. Mom was cremated and there was a small amount of room between her urn and the vault (that you have to place the urn into before it goes into the grave) for some mementos. I thought I would like to add a photo of the two of us playing Scrabble and decided to put it in a little tin that had once housed some mints (it was about the size of a mini Altoid tin). I added a pretty red and white flocked fabric to the bottom (fabric I had once made myself a shirt of when I was in high school) and stitched a border (from the Prairie Schooler February chart) to adorn the top. Some red cording and a bit of ribbon finished it off. 

 

One final gift for my dear mother

Well, I put the little photo in the tin and it looked rather lonely... So, before you knew it, I was adding all sorts of tiny remembrances to it! Would you like to see what I chose?  I added four Scrabble tiles spelling out L-O-V-E and a copy of a Scrabble-themed greeting card that I made mom years ago to represent our mutual love of playing the game. I included a Canadian nickel for our many family trips to Lake Kashagawigamog in Ontario; two tiny seashells for her love of Daytona Beach, Florida; a button from one of her favorite jackets; a bit of periwinkle floss in one of our favorite colors to represent me and my stitching; a piece of cardinal ribbon in honor of my dad; a brass hummingbird charm; a little embroidered pillow she bought for me in Europe in the late '60s with a lone opal earring attached to it that she and Dad gave me on my 16th birthday (the other earring is long gone); a copy of her favorite cookie recipe, Scotch Shortbread, written in my grandmother's hand; and a tiny white cherub to watch over her. On the back of the photo of the two of us, I wrote a personal note to her. Thinking of, and finding, the perfect treasures to add was actually quite healing for me...

Little tokens of love for mom

 

And believe it or not--all of these things fit into that tiny tin! They are now resting for eternity with my dear mother and it gives me some peace knowing that some special things chosen just for her by me are there with her...

A final look

 

Grief is such a strange journey, isn't it? This grief I'm feeling for my mother is much stronger than I felt for my dad. In his case, I know it was because he had dealt with dementia for so many years, and it felt like he had left us long before he actually died. But, my mom was lucid right up until the end. I found this article on grieving which really resonated with me as I've been all over the place since mom died almost eight weeks ago. I've cried more over the past ten days than I ever dreamed possible, but I think that helps in my healing process. Everyone heals differently and at different rates--there is no right or wrong path and, as this article states, grief doesn't just follow five stages as was the popular belief for so many years. I want to share the last paragraph of this article written by Suchandrika Chakrabarti which really struck a chord within me.  

 

"Mourning is so much more than an act of endurance. Really, grieving is the task of taking the love that was once shared between two people, and transforming it to fit inside one broken but still-beating heart. That’s why it takes time; that’s why it hurts."

 

Well, my molasses cookies are done--and they crinkled--Gram B would be proud! I hope your day is filled with happy, little times like crinkling cookies and fleeting memories that bring you smiles. I'm looking forward to my (almost) daily FaceTime call from my sweet grandson who I get to visit in person in just two weeks... That now two-month old baby always makes me smile! I'm not looking forward to going to get my flu shot today, but, with the current COVID crisis, it feels especially important this year. Do you have anything special that you are looking forward to today (or not looking forward to)?

Fresh baked Molasses Crinkles--a perfect cookie for fall!

 

Thank you all for visiting me today--I always love hearing from you in the comment section. As always, if you have a specific question please, please make sure to leave your email address so I can reply. Stay safe out there--there is just so much going on with the wildfires, the hurricanes and flooding, and that darn pandemic looming over us all.  Bye for now...