Little by little

Greetings.  My week is starting out with more confusion than menobrains can handle.  But first, here it my slow progress on Eliza the Colorful.  There are four colors in the border I'm working on now and one final row of rice stitch before moving on to the eyelet alphabet.

My nephew will be here shortly with his tractor so we can cut our grass this evening.  No decision on a new one - I'm glad to see a man in his 60's is just as incapable as this woman in her 60's when it comes to choices.

I got a call this weekend that my guy can give me a day to start our project which means this will be hit and miss.  This of course, is my fault.  Same old problem with deciding on the kitchen, where the ceiling light should be, do I want a header over the doorway, beams....??????  And so it starts.

 

 

 

My husband found this very large funnel in a pile of junk at work and thought I would like to line it with landscape fabric, fill with dirt, and use as a planter.  I said no, I'll turn it upside down.  This size is very hard to find so I would like to make it into a hanging light.  It needs more rust though.

 

And will you look at these paws?  They want to come in the house for a snooze and then I can't get them to leave.  All my family member's cats are clean!  These little pigs play hard.  The back of their white legs have never been clean and their fur is filled with outdoor particles.  The new cat has brown stripes and I got within five feet of her today.  The others still circle with threats, but no fights recently unless she comes closer to the house.  Wonder how many kittens I'll be dealing with.

Here's my brother's little girl after her spaying.  She's gained weight and the vet said she is very healthy.  A recent article in our local paper was focused on the huge number of strays and kittens our valley has.  Terrible.  They try to trap and spay, then release.  I don't agree.  They are starving and homeless with no protection.  Euthanizing them would be more humane to me, but they claim it is more expensive than spaying. ?????? 

I hope she finds a home.

The tractor just arrived and my guy is ready for his break so I'll close for now.  There's nothing like the smell of burnt wood from a dull drill bit mixed with a little drywall dust.

Have a great start to your week!

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Happy Mother's Day

 

Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day.

 

My mom with hers, 75 years ago, and my mom with me, 61 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missing all the family that has passed, and I know that mom and the pups will be watching, waiting, for me.

If I had the chance to repeat a part of my life, it would be the years I spent taking care of you.  I miss you every day.

Two summer tips

Hi everyone.  This isn't a stitching post. 

 Just wanted to remind you of this product, invaluable for sandals and summer sling backs, tank top and spaghetti straps, and peeking bra straps.  My legs are crossed and I'm twisting my ankles, and look how the straps still hold.  I was never able to wear these because of the sling constantly falling down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can buy it wherever they sell support hosiery or at a home health care store.  Water soluble, easy to remove, doesn't stain.

My other tip is how to cut your or your kid's bangs.  When you pull from the sides to the center and make one cut, the center will be shorter and the edges slightly longer, so you don't have that straight across chop look.

 

 

I just killed this little devil in the kitchen.  Having a husband that goes into prophylactic anaphylactic shock,  I can't mess around and need to kill every one whether I can identify it or not.  Some are wasps, some yellow jackets, some hornets, and they are entering the house from a location we haven't determined.
We have the tractor narrowed down to three choices and no idea which we will choose.  I've gained 20 pounds since fall and nothing fits, so to burn a few calories, I will try cutting the yard with the little push mower a little at a time until we decide.  I hate to exercise but Leslie Sansone and I need to get back together.

Enjoy your weekend - thank you for visiting!

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Leftover tags

Good day to you.  My baskets are dyed and I moved on to the next unfinished task.  Leftover tags from the last batch.  I will probably be making more but the orders have slowed down considerably so I may take a break and move on to the boxes.  I've listed what I have left - no orders - on the Box/tag page.  If you're interested, please leave your purchase in the comments on that page.  All the old comments have been deleted so you'll be able to see if the number is available. 

Here's the baskets after their Rit dye bath of Pearl Gray, Black, Orange, and a touch of green.  Rit's brown and black have a red tone which I don't like, therefore, the green to tone it down.  Each basket dyed a little differently.

 

 

 

This basket that I wove 25 years ago came out beautifully.  The material took the dye in sort of a striated pattern - hard to tell from the photo but you can trust me.

 

 

And my Sargent Crabs made it!  They were almost dead last summer so I was hoping to see blossoms this spring.

My brother's little cat was spayed yesterday and she is doing better today.  I need to take a photo of her to post at the local pet stores and vet offices.

That's all I got!  I'm on a roll of getting these small tasks completed that have been hanging around for some time.  Feels pretty good.

Thanks for visiting - stay safe - enjoy the blooms.

 

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It's gone!

Greetings!  The garbage pickup was this morning and it's gone!  There's no getting it back.  I deliberately toss right before pick up, otherwise, I'm second guessing and dumpster diving.   The usable items are already at Goodwill.   I always get sidetracked when I'm unsure what to do with items.  Then I  get an idea for a project and start playing. 

 Isn't this cute?

I burned a dozen very small wood boxes that I planned on painting and was tired of storing, and found this little dome in with them.  I covered it - sidetracked.  Now I'm playing with the large heart boxes and some others instead of completing my work.  Which led to another idea I'm working on and can't wait to try.

I've been holding on to a dozen Currier & Ives calendar prints from the 60's and 70's.  They've yellowed but are still nice.  I will never have them framed and matted.  Why have I kept them?

 

 

  

Then I found these two tall baskets with wood lids, the small market with divided lid, and some others waiting for stain and paint.  I'll do that today.

 

 

 

 

Not much stitching or blog reading lately, and this is all the progress I have.  The letters I and J are the dyed 351 and it's beautiful!  I switched back to a 24 needle and like it much better.

 

 I'm heading out with a tub of dye for the baskets and hope to also get some weeding started.  Our lawn tractor died yesterday and we'll be shopping for another this evening.   The kitchen man is waiting for the final drawings and hopefully that will be started in July.  I'm trying really hard to put an end to procrastinating.

 

Thanks for visiting - hope you're having a great day.

 

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Pinkeeps - fact or fiction

Hello people!  My weekend is starting with bad coffee and lots of sunshine.  One out of two ain't bad.  Hope your odds are better.

Pinkeeps.  We all stitch them - do you use them?  Are you afraid to stick needles into your beautiful stitching for fear of splitting a linen thread?  I use my new one and my little box lid with Nan's design that I did a while back.

 

Both are 28 count and with the thicker threads being spaced further, I didn't think it would matter. 

 

Bingo!  Right on target.  If I made it as a pinkeep, I guess this is to be expected.  Do you ever stitch a design for this purpose, or do you display as such and not use it?  If you've used a 35 count tight weave, your chances of splitting would be greater, right?  Just curious.

My progress on Eliza is very slow because I've been very tired after scrubbing screens and windows, plus I'm still throwing things out.  Linen closet and clothes closet.  You have to know this is hard for a person who is indecisive, but instead of thinking about the item, I toss and don't look back.  It's the only way and it's working. 

 My next color was 351 and I removed the letters after seeing it in place.  The brights are growing on me, but this one was like a nerve conduction test.  So I decided to use the 351 that I dipped in a speck of gray dye.  Pretty isn't it?  Some floss took the gray with one quick dip and others, barely a change.  This was a quick dipper.

That's all I got!  Thank you for stopping by.  Welcome to new followers.  I appreciate all of you very much!  Without you, I don't think I would have starting stitching again.

Stay safe and have a wonderful weekend.

 

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