The Love Sampler

Hello readers and friends.  As I wrote in prior Memorial Day posts, I become a weepy gal on this day, thinking of the young men lost in the world wars and those that followed.  This year, much worse.  Sweet, gentle, Patti passed this morning.  We were friends in grime, always searching for the early grungy treenware and primitives and rust.  I can't tell you how much I will miss her.  Please revisit Memorial Day 2012's post, or the one from 2013, my sentiments are the same.  Just not up to searching for photos and such this year.

I am offering the Love Sampler chart that Rosanne was kind enough to give to me after spotting it at a unique craft shop in her town.  The craft and hobby items are all donated and the proceeds go to local seniors.  Isn't that a great idea?  This is my version after leaving a section out.

 

This is the chart cover.  I did mine on dark linen to show the details more and chose what I wanted to stitch (as usual).  Please don't be intimidated by the open work, it was my first time doing it and really easy.  Honest.  There are many options for removing sections and even just stitching the LOVE part into a little pillow. 

 

So if you would like this chart, leave a comment on this post expressing that desire.  Open to all as always, but please leave your initials.  More and more comments have become no-reply and Google continues the practice of making that change automatically.  Still not receiving emails from aol users either. 


Will draw a name on Wednesday 5/27 at 8pm. 

That's it for now.  Hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday honoring our heroes.

 

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The blues

Greetings all.  I just love these Blue Angels so much that I will continue to bore you with them.  I showed them on Saturday, this is Tuesday morning - they really sprout quickly.

 

Anxious to see how large they get this year.  I purchased them all at either Home Depot or Lowe's a few years ago, and the ones on the end that aren't pictured were from a garden center.  They have the same leaf, but are half the size.  Same card, same plant, different size.  My sister had that happen to her when purchased one year apart from our local hosta grower.  I just love the color and the thick wrinkled leaves.  Got most of the pinks planted yesterday, just a few left.  I may buy a shower chair to go with my bench.  Rustfree, comfortable, adjustable, and I can get up! Thought I could get away with a sandal after stitch removal but my toes look like our local meat market's garlic sausage.  Can't even get the swollen foot in the first strap.  It will go down and be fine, I just hoped to kick off the shoe earlier.

 

These leaves aren't the only thing blue around here.  I saw Ellen's post on Stitchville USA and got my email update from Country Sampler.  Both places were to be visited with my cousin (home-ec teacher and sewing fanatic) when I visited her in MN.  That was put off until we recouped from caregiving and all the losses.  Unfortunately, her early dementia came before I did and she continues to progress in the facility.  So when I saw the post, the special trip we would have had was another reminder of how she has lost herself.  She traveled the world and experienced so much before this and we're so glad she didn't wait until retirement for those joys.  And my friend Patti is slipping away.  How helpless family and friends feel.  She's always been private and not wanting Facebook pals and such to know so I don't mention her.  But she has been consuming my thoughts for weeks.  I finally went to the local antique mall that we both frequented, had not wanted to visit for a while.  The sadness overwhelmed me.  As soon as I walked in I felt it, and had no desire to shop.  She and I both love early pieces and her talent for decorating with them is evident in her home. 

 

Haven't picked up a needle either.  I keep looking through charts, reading their instructions, browsing for more online, but the needle has stayed ..... I don't know where it is.  Usually I keep it in the linen but because I started a second project and went back and forth, it's somewhere else.  I'll find it.  Maybe it's the excuse I'm using instead of getting a new needle - I do know where those are!  Tonight I will force myself to get a row in. 

Been visiting a doctor for a few months about the stomach and esophagus issues, was told last week - no more chocolate.  Already had to give up iced tea which I drank throughout the day even though it was decaf.  Good thing I hate the taste of booze.

 

Have a wonderful day stitching pals.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Pink overload

Hey.  What's happening?  What are you stitching?  I'm going back and forth, wasting time, and decided to stick with Sally but I haven't picked up a needle in days.  A small project (santa?) will be pulled for working while sitting outside.   I could start the Queen's bag which is mostly tent stitch completely outlined with black, and a bunch of queen stitches.   There's a lot of running/back stitching (a LOT) to outline all the details first.  Same with the other bags but they are mostly embroidery stitches.  So what is embroidery?  Does the term apply to all needlework?  What about crewel?  Or as I call it, cruel.  I guess I'll have to look up the terms but sometimes I'm too lazy.  This is one of those times. 

As for the flowers, once I set them into the dark barrels, I realized they would be great.  The color is vivid and the large barrel looks better with the larger flower.  We did go back though and got more for containers with impatiens and begonias that match.  And I don't even like pink but this shade really pops so I'm doing everything in it.  The shower seat is great for outside work.  Lower/raise for the task and wide enough to push off of to get up.  When did this happen? 

 

Here's the Blue Angel mammoth hostas starting out. 

 

I just love these leaves.

 

 

And just so you don't think it's me, here's what happens when I pick a paint color and purchase it.

The first is Windsor Greige (SW) from a sample jar, and the fricking pink corner is what the $40 gallon looks like.  I gave it to a girl at McDonald's drive through when I got coffee. Why?  Because they don't know how to adjust a color.  

 

The next is Khaki Shade (SW) also from a sample jar, so I brushed it out for a computer match this time instead of using the sample formula, and there's that fricking pink again on the bottom.  Under store lights, it's not as bad as in my house but they still act like you're crazy and a PITA.

 

And the biggest disappointment of all, this is SW's Relaxed Khaki sample card, and the sample jar that was mixed.  Its' green and no where near the card!  These are all from Home Depot and Lowe's.  Benjamin Moore can only mix the lighter shades in Advance, the water based oil that I hate, unless I want a wall paint.  Is that ridiculous?  They don't recommend it for cabinets/trim.  So I will wait for SW's sale, go to them, at least they can make adjustments.  Their sample jars are around $8 which is why I was going to the others and I like the other paint just as well as their $70 cans.

 

Stitches out Monday and the shoe for two more weeks.  I think not. 

It was chilly the other day and these little brats that once lived outside with nothing, are now a bunch of wimps.  It's sprinkling - let me in!  It's below 70 degrees - let me in!  The grass needs cut - let me in!

 

Have a good week.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Did you ever...

try to exchange flowers?  I let the Amish owner with the ice blue eyes, chiseled jaw, and v-shaped body, on his private breathtaking acreage and enormous white farmhouse with wrapped porch, majestic birdhouses in rows, floral landscaping, and hanging baskets bigger than my ass, influence me.  I don't know why. 

 

So instead of getting the pink mini supertunias, I got the bigger Bubble Gum supertunias.  I want the minis.  Saw this same plant in large hanging baskets this morning and they were very nice but the centers were empty and bare.  Not so with the mini supertunias I've had before.  How foolish would I look if we ride out there tomorrow and ask to exchange $70 worth of 4" pots?  Mark said he will drop me off and stay in the car which I already knew.  Flowers have been the only items that didn't beg his question, " are these going back next week?".   No longer.  I am the Queen of Returns but is it really my fault?  Has not menopause created a hesitation, confusion, lack of self assurance, indecisiveness?  No?  Well it sounds like a plausible excuse to me and I'm sticking with it.  I'm sure their response to my request will be "we don't know - no one has ever asked to exchange flowers before".  Either I will end up a happy crab or have more pink petunias than any one person should.  And I should have bought the yellow.  I don't like pink.  See what I mean?  It's like living with two people!  One's a crabby bitch and the other is a weepy wimp.

 

I've set aside Sally for the time being, almost started a few others, but decided on Mary Kiptin/Kitpin, whatever her name is.  Not being a border stitcher, this may create some frustration but it's not the size of Elena Tratman which was my other choice.  I am studying the packets for the sweet bags and the stitches required, mostly detached buttonhole, and although anxious to start I know I don't have the patience right now.  Even been thinking of a Santa.

 

Went to the doc for my after surgery check and dressing change, the gauze was fixed to the stitches from dried blood and pulled out a few when he removed it.  Yikes.  He said to let it go as is, and start following his instructions.  What?  ME?  Not do what I'm told?  How the hell did he know?  My swollen ankle is bigger than my shoulder...may have given him a clue.  So I am to elevate and stay off it.  OK.  Next week, after the paint is remedied and flowers are exchanged and planted.  Lowe's was very nice about the paint and we were there forever getting the sample formula entered into a gallon.  So sure it would be right - got home - it's pink.  Don't know what else to do except buy two dozen samples. 

 

After the high 80's and humidity of the weekend, the furnace is on.  39 tonight.  Right now I'm going to make a cup of coffee, pull out the sweatshirts that are neatly packed away, and elevate my foot for a while.  Sad news....my nephew and his long time love have split, and the blind groundhog that my brother has fed since last year disappeared two weeks ago.  Something must have chased him into the woods and Ron hasn't been able to find him.  He will not survive.  And, the primitive shop in Ohio that opened in 2012 has decided to close, to my surprise.

 

That's it boys and girls.  I know it's not Sunday but I am very unreliable.  Can't blame that one on menopause.

 

Have a great week.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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The errors continue

Hello everyone.  Why does it seem progress is slow?  I'm not stitching much, that's true.  But the errors have really cost time and I'm taking one step back for every two forward.  I finished the brown eyelet top row of that section, corrected and completed the green dividing bands, haven't corrected the chain stitch row, moved an entire row to compensate for a placement error, and now can't even spell correctly. 

I was working on the A in AD and realized it wasn't under the prior row's c as it should be.  Forgot the u in wrought.  It's not a lot to remove but I am tiring of doing so row after row.  Good thing I checked when I did.  Many times my mind is on something else and I just stitch blindly, following the entire row without checking placement.  Haven't decided if I will switch to an easier and smaller project.  This is way too cumbersome to take outside or to appointments.

 

I won the only bid on Ebay for the Queen's Sweet bag from Sharon Cohen so the book cover is the last of her designs I am watching for.  I ordered this book too, and it has great directions for constructing bags, but I don't care for the designs. 

 

While in Lowe's this morning, a gentleman pointed to my legs and asked, "accident"?  I said "no, intentional".  He looked at me rather odd, didn't understand that I meant the medical procedures were necessary and planned. 

Now what was I doing in Lowe's?  Getting the gallon of paint for the cabinets and trim in the lighter color that they mixed for me last week.  And here it is.  Even my husband who believes there is only one beige can see the difference and the PINK!  I am so ticked.  Why bother mixing samples if you can't follow that same formula for the gallon?

Two appointments Monday morning, then a haircut, then off to the Amish greenhouse for a few flowers with husband and sister.  I seem to not be lifting my foot high enough and catching this thick shoe on everything and anything.  I sure hope I don't catch a water hose and take a header onto his flats of flowers.  I could just see the domino effect leading to the eventual collapse of the greenhouse tent.

 

Have a great start to your week.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Happy Mother's Day

 

Wishing everyone a beautiful day filled with joy, memories, love.

 

 

 

As with so many of you whose moms are gone, the memories are met with tears. 

Her favorite trees are glistening like white lights in the sun.

 

 

 

 

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