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Friday, June 30, 2023

Catching Up

Hello, Friends!


Porch Flowers


My last post was on March 23rd (bad blogger!), so I thought it was time to tell you what I’ve been up to.

 

Since then, we’ve bought and moved into a new construction home, been to Florida four times, Ohio one time and attended two cross stitch retreats.

 

Rather than take up your time covering all of that at once, I thought I would share about the move first. I’ll cover the retreats in a separate post.

 

For a recap of how we ended up in North Carolina, read my post here.

 

We didn’t have much luck with purchasing an existing home but we did find a new neighborhood being built on a ridge. There will only be 10 homes in this development and I can handle living on a ridge much better than way up a mountain.

 

What I’ve learned during our house hunt is that the roads can be a bit sketchy and the weather is a little crazy.  Many of the roads are only one lane which means if you and a neighbor are traveling towards each other at the same time, someone will have to back down. (There is no shoulder…no moving to the side)

 

If there is a power outage in the upper elevations, you may not get it back for a while. It brought back memories of hurricanes. And the big reason I prefer a ridge at approximately 3000 feet above sea level over anything higher is reliable internet service.  Since I still work from home, consistent and strong internet is a must. Our utilities are underground and the road is easily managed.

 

The drive leading to the house. I need to take photo of the front.


The back of the house

 
We have met with a landscaper and are on his list for two new paver patios and steps to manage the slope. I may try my hand at plantings…but, we’ll see.

 

Some of our neighbors

 

Turkeys



Tom said "Hey Chuck, the feeder is empty!"

Deer




We brought my mom to stay for a couple of weeks and she made a new friend.  We do not know who this kitty belongs to but he seems friendly and loves to hang out underneath the bird feeder.


Tufted Titmouse drying off on the deck railing after a rain

 

Friendly black snake keeping all the bad ones away (I hope!)


Morning view from the deck

 

In other news, I recently “fully finished” a cross stitch piece.




This is Sweet Land of Liberty by Blackbird Designs. The fabric is 28 count Monaco that I coffee-tea dyed and I used the called-for floss which is mostly Gentle Art and one DMC. I finished stitching the design on February 21, 2021 and promptly placed it a drawer.

 

Here it is with two other designs from the same Blackbird Designs book Sweet Land of Liberty.

 

The pillow on the left is In Full Glory and the framed piece is American Eagle.

 

I’m hoping to finish more items from that drawer now that I have crafting space again.

 

If you made it this far…Thank You!

 

I’ll be back soon with a post about the cross-stitch retreats and an update on my stitching projects.

 

In the meantime, for those in the USA, I hope you have a safe and wonderful Independence Day.



 

9 comments:

Gene Black said...

Wow, that ridge is quite a change from almost anywhere in Florida!

A Left-Handed Quilter said...

Bad blogger - LOL - Welcome back to blogland!! Your house - the ridge - the view - and the "neighbors" are awesome. I'm looking forward to reading more about your "adventures" - ;))

www.self-sufficientsam.blogspot.com said...

I'm so glad you're back! What a beautiful home you have and new with nobody else's dirt in it! LOL! I've never lived in a new home...I've always been attracted to the old ones...the older the better but yours is a beauty especially with those views! Yes, black snakes usually hang around if there are rodents or varmints of some kind. I was watering one day and one went right between my legs. I wasn't scared as I knew they were harmless.
Your cross stitch pieces are lovely. Is it hard to work with the trim? I've been wanting to try it on some of my pieces.
Congratulations on your new home and new location. I've been there before and it is a beautiful area.

Jeanette said...

Lovely to see a post from you Jeanna. Your new home looks lovely & that view is spectacular. Lovely finish, it's cute.

Rosemary Dickinson said...

Your new home is gorgeous! It looks like the area is beautiful too! I wish you lots of luck in your new home. I love the cross stitch pieces you finished. I don't know where you found the time with the house move! So glad you're back to blogging. I missed you!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

That must be quite a change for you - from Florida to N. Carolina. It looks beautiful there! I love your sweet cross-stitch design, too. I've been trying to finish up a couple little ones in a similar way to yours, like a little pillow. They make a fun display!

Vicki in MN said...

Looks like you have quite a view from your new house. I'll bet this fall will be a gorgeous riot of color! Thanks for updating us:) And congrats on finishing up a cross stitch project. I too have a few that need finishing.

Linda said...

LOVE your beautiful new home, and the setting is glorious! I would give almost anything to live in the mountains. Do you think your Mom might be persuaded to move there? Thanks for the link back to January, I had forgotten all about that post! Looks like you made a great move.

Lin said...

What a beautiful house and view! Hope you will be very happy there. xx