Sewcialites 3, Block 23 and Table Runner for Charity

Hello, dear friends. I hope you had a nice weekend. It was rainy on and off here but we still made it out to get fresh veges from a local farm stand.

The Ten Acre Garden is a family owned and operated flower and vegetable garden. It is a U-Pick business but they also have packaged products available so you don't have to go into the gardens yourself.

They have a sunflower maze you can walk through.  They will have a corn maze in the fall. It is a great place for family's to visit.

The dahlias were stunning.

A couple of stations for doing different crafts

A tic-tac-toe board played with painted rocks

In the sewing room I finished Sewcialites 3, block 23.
                                          
With Love Block was designed by Jackie MacDonald of Sweetfire Road.
                                            
I also assembled the first table runner for the charity raffle I told you about in a previous post.
                                                    
Freshy Picked is a flimsy. I'll share more details once it is quilted and bound.

That will not happen until possibly next weekend. As I mentioned in Friday's post, we were expecting to make a trip to Ft. Walton Beach for a funeral. My aunt passed away Sunday morning and we are waiting to hear about the arrangements. My mom is doing very well...considering.

I want to thank all of you who sent well wishes.

I will try to post a cross-stitch update on Friday. It will depend on whether we are home or not.

Enjoy the week ahead and I'll see you soon.

Floss Friday -- April Stats and Cross Stitch Update

Happy Friday and May Day, Friends. Are you dancing around the maypole today?

Here we are at the beginning of May already. This year is passing by quickly. I still need to put away Easter décor and get out the “May” pieces.

Before looking ahead, let’s see what I accomplished in April.  I had two starts and finishes…

Patriotic Pears Blue

Patriotic Pears Red

I had two new starts…

Summer Stamp by Melisa at Pinker n Punkin’ Quilting and Stitching

This week’s stamp is Summer Harvest. Melisa added straight lines to the carrot to give it more definition and also french knots to the strawberry to act as seeds. I may still include those at some point.

Patriotic Pears Red, White and Blue (pathetic start)

I touched one WIP…

Salute to Abigail

All of those projects totaled 3,643 stitches in April.

Cross Stitch plans for May:

• Finish stitching the last Patriotic Pear and fully finishing all three.
• Finish stitching Salute to Abigail.
• Continue stitching along with Melisa at Pinker n Punkin’ on the Summer Stamp. This has turned into my Tuesday evening stitching.
• Get back to stitching American Sampler by Crocette a gogo.
• Start Happy Day by Plum Street Samplers.

Happy Day will be stitched on 36 count linen by Fiber on a Whim in the color Silver Fox and using the called-for floss. I am stitching this with Christi of Java Girl Stitches on YouTube and Instagram.

Here are some nature photos from this week…

Mama, Daddy and babies resting in the shade at the lake.

Cardinal waiting for his turn at the feeder.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the feeder. He wouldn’t turn around so I could photograph his vibrant red chest.

My rhododendrons are in full bloom.

Fat Quarter Shop releases another Sewcialites 3 block, as well as a Fat Quarters by the Dozen block today. Hopefully, I will get those sewn this weekend and share them on Monday. The lake is having their annual plant sale on Saturday morning and I plan to attend. That may lead me down a gardening path…we shall see.

Enjoy the weekend ahead and I’ll see you soon.

 

 

Sewing, Stitching and Baking

Hi, Friends.

Is it my imagination or do the weekend days pass more quickly than the weekdays? Or perhaps I try to fit in more on the weekends?

There were a lot of domestic duties that had to be fulfilled last weekend; a trip to the farmers market, bakery, clothes shopping for an upcoming wedding and major league baseball games to watch. Maybe that last activity can’t be classified as domestic but it is a necessity this time of year.

 

I enjoyed time sewing up my Gene’s Flying Stars.

I’m using a layer cake of Miss Kate by Bonnie and Camille for Moda Fabrics. I’ve had this for a while, and it makes me smile.

I’ll have to put these aside (not back in the box) for a few weeks.

 

In the hoop is May’s Calendar Crates by Stitching with the Housewives.

 

This is the monthly cross stitch piece that is placed on the board next to the garage entrance. 

I have to stitch and fully finish May, June and July. All other months are stitched and fully finished.

 

I also baked some of the best cake-like cookies we’ve ever had, and you KNOW I love good cookies. They are sour cream cookies with buttercream frosting.

You can find the recipe here at Preppy Kitchen.

 

As we were sitting in the downstairs family room, watching baseball of course, we noticed a rather large bird at the feeder. He was actually eating off the ground underneath the feeder.

I suppose he thinks it is safe since Thanksgiving is still seven months away.

 

I’m also very happy to report that I didn’t kill the hydrangeas.

I hope their blooms will be as impressive as their leaves.

Spring is finally sprouting here in the mountains.

 

Speaking of spring, hubby and I are off this weekend in the Airstream to get her de-winterized and cleaned up for the camping season.

 

I’ll be away for the next five weekends on some trip or other. I’ll do my best to share the journey. This most likely means that there will be more cross stitch and less sewing to show, but you never know.

 

I sure hope you are having a great week so far. 

Best Wishes!

 

Pop-up Retreat, Cross Stitch, Felt and Sewcialites 2

Hello and happy Friday, dear friends.

I promised a recap of last Saturday’s pop-up retreat.  First, I should explain…

Anabella’s is a cross stitch store on Etsy as well as a brick and mortar here, in Waynesville, NC. They host cross stitch retreats all over the USA. Big name designers are featured and they always sell out.

They have recently joined the world of virtual retreats, which are typically hosted on some platform like Zoom or EventHub.

Last Saturday, Anabella’s hosted their Autumn Pop-Up Retreat using the EventHub platform.  They featured some wonderful designers but due to technical difficulties, I didn’t get to interact with all of them. It was suggested to use a laptop or desktop for best results, and they even offered a Zoom dry run so that participants could troubleshoot their devices before the actual retreat.  I won’t go into all the boring nits but it just didn’t work smoothly.

We were sent a box ahead of time to open during the retreat.  Items were wrapped in tissue paper…

A Bundle of Goodies

A Bingo Card

Patterns, floss, needle minder, sticker

The event began at 11:00 am EDT and ended at 6:00 pm. You were free to come and go as you wished. When there wasn't a presentation to view or game to play, we were in "rooms" where we stitched and chatted with others. I met some nice cross stitchers from all over the US and Canada.  That was the BEST part.

 

I pulled a WIP from last year to work on during the retreat…

Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street Sampler. I’m stitching this on 32 count evenweave “Ruth” by Fortnight Fabrics. And I’m using the called-for flosses.

 

Then I finally found some buttons I thought may work for the felt project I told you about last week. This is one of Carole’s projects for Autumn Jubilee.

I wasn’t sure of the button color so I haven't sewn them on the felt yet. I posted this photo in the Friends of From My Carolina Home facebook group to get everyone’s opinions. Folks were supportive and I knew it would be ok when Carole commented they would go with the embellishments she will reveal next week. How intriguing!

 

And to end the week…

I finished putting the Sewcialites2 blocks into a simple layout.

I’ve selected some grunge fabric from my stash for the binding.

 

Hubby and I took our walk around Lake Junaluska Thursday morning and I took a ton of photos.  Fall is truly in the air. I will share a few here…

We are attending Waynesville's annual apple festival this weekend and then we’ll be getting ready for another trip to Florida next week.  Mom’s 80^th birthday celebration is set for October 28^th so I’ll be busy once I get there.

 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Friday Finish and Hydrangeas

Happy Friday My Friends!

I was able to squeeze in one more patriotic finish before the ‘season’ ends.

This is Freedom by Cricklewood Crossing. It is part of their Hometown USA series.

I stitched it on Zweigart’s 40 count Mallow in Raw. I changed most of the DMC colors.

The stitch count is 111 x 71 and because it is full coverage, that means I made 7,881 Xs. Being on 40 count means it made a super tiny, but oh so adorable little pillow.

 

There are actually two charts in this pattern but the next will have to wait until next year. I want to move onto sunflowers and bees. I need things to fill the new Hoosier cabinet.

 

I want to show you the three baby hydrangeas in our yard. 

I couldn’t be happier with their growth. 

I need to learn how to care for them going forward so we are going to a local nursery this weekend.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!