Quick Post

Hello again!

I am doing a drive by post...I feel the need to connect even though there's not many out there that still read this little blog.  I wanted to share a finish with you.  May I present:

Little House Needleworks

Loving You

 

I have only been able to concentrate on smaller things, I still have a lack of focus.  But this little piece came out just darling.  I used Weeks Dye Works Linen in Red Pear with the called for thread and JABCO buttons.  I backed it with Weeks Dye Works Merlot wool.  I think I overstuffed it but I also think its adorable.  I took my time finishing it using Vonna's wonderful floss tube videos.

 

Hands On Designs has some sweet freebies for Valentine's Day...check it out!  Hands on Designs Valentine Freebies

Right now I'm working on Be Mine.  Very quick stitch.  I am debating on how to finish it.

 

I joined Stitch from Stash on Facebook and also Year of Wips on Facebook.  I haven't done well on the Stitch from Stash side where you limit your purchases to a set amount each month.  The goal is to stitch from your stash. DUH.  I have been stitching from my stash but I haven't exactly been good about my *ahem* stashquisitions.  Actually, I'm out of control. And I know why....  Completely stressed from my job, limited  time to be creative, and when I am creative, I'm thinking I should be doing something else which leads to GUILT.  I feel like I'm on a rat's wheel to no where so, the answer is:

RETAIL THERAPY

 IT is the cure for what ails ya, I'm telling you.

 

 

The Year of Wips is coming along better.  I have finished up a few pieces that were "this close" to being done.  Now I have the projects that are 50% or less completed to work on.   Here are some of the completed items.  There are a few more but I can't seem to find them on Facebook to add them here.  I will post them when I do.

 

 

Prairie Schooler

Santa 2009

 





Prairie Schooler

Clear Moon Frost Soon

 

 

Well, I think that's all for now.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and are STITCHING ALL THE THINGS!!!!  



 







Late to the Party

Hello all!

Gosh, 8 months!!! Geez, time really goes by quickly.  I blinked and now we're in 2017!
The last time we visited, our family was counting down the days to our most excellent vacation to Tybee Island, Georgia.  My goodness!  It was heaven!

Four days of bliss with our son, daughter-in-law and our grandkids!  We can't wait to go back!!

A lot of stuff went on after that, I left my job to return to the job that I absolutely loved.  It's kinda like the twilight zone...I feel like I never left that job but it was 5 years.  Leaving the job in Cortland  was very bittersweet, I miss the people but I don't miss the job,  There were some animosity from my ex-boss, we had a love / hate relationship.  But that's behind now and I'm concentrating on getting my feet back underneath me and doing a great job at with my current employer.

Our holidays were quiet, starting a new job meant that I worked in between Christmas and New Year because I had no vacation.  It wasn't too bad, very quiet.  The holidays in general were quiet, the kids were in Georgia, they planned a Disney vacation, so Mike had no leave to spare.  We will see them in a few months and get to spend some Southern Spring with them.

Well, also there was much stitching!  I joined a Facebook group, Year of WIPs and I have to say, I've concentrated on completing some of my stitching that got put aside when something else captured my interest:

Little House Needlework

Loving You

Prairie Schooler

Clear Moon Frost Soon

Stacy Nash

Merry Christmas December 25

Plum Steet Samplers

Goodness & Plenty

Prairie Schooler

Pligrims

Prairie Schooler

Santa 2002

Prairie Schooler

Santa 2010

Prairie Schooler
Merry Christmas

Prairie Schooler

Santa 2009

Some of these pieces were WIPs and some were new starts.  And I am happy to say, 2017 seems to be a good year so far for stitching.  I have been concentrating on smaller pieces, since my thyroid incident,  I don't have much concentration.  

Classic Coloworks

North Woods Express

Hasslemere Museum

Mary Gibson's 1824 Sampler

I've started some new stitching too,  I just finished Hands On Design's "You Have My Heart".  I am in love with smaller bowl fillers and want to display them for the upcoming holidays and seasons.

I have been debating with joining the Floss Tube bandwagon but I can't quite pull the trigger.  I don't know how much I would be able to share and I'm not exactly sure if I would like how I look on video.  I like the media, I feel that it's like visiting but I'm not quite convinced that I would "like" me. What do you think?

Oh well, thanks for hanging with me...hopefully it won't be another 8 months!  

Take care....Happy Stitching!

Oh the things that happen in a month's time

HI everyone...I know that I said I would post more often and here we go, a month later.  Damn life, gets in the way of all the fun.

The biggest news is that I lost one of my horses last week.  We had the vet humanely euthanize Joey on Mother's Day.  (Great day, that was). A few weeks prior, he got really depressed and we watched him for awhile. He would brighten and then seem to get deeper in his funk.  We noticed he was moving a little bit funny, he seemed to step on himself a little bit so I got a recommendation from our farrier for a vet.  I called her out on a Thursday to do an examination and it wasn't positive.  Cutting to the chase, he developed some neurological problems.  He didn't know where he was in space, whether he was up, down or sideways. That was why he was stepping all over himself.  As she put it, I had a whole horse from the ears forward.  His neurogical symptoms were severe. She thought it could be a few things, Lyme Disease, EPM or he broke a vertebrae in his neck causing pressure on his spinal cord that affected his hind quarters.  We decided to put him on bute and have him tested for lyme, which came back negative.  We never did get to test for EPM but that was a long shot because our other 2 horses exhibited no signs of the disease and they eat the same food and sleep on the same bedding. Our guess is that he injured himself or his vertebrae was compromised by his age. He was 29.
To make a very long and painful story short, he got worse as the week passed and on Saturday, Dave found him laying in his stall.  He had fallen down and couldn't get back up.  He finally got up after much exertion and Dave and I had THE DISCUSSION.  Both of us agreed that if he fell down when Dave wasn't home during the week, I couldn't handle it by myself.  So we decided to wait until Monday to do the right thing.  On Mother's Day early morning, David found him again laying in his stall.  He never got back up.  He tried but he didn't have the strength.  So we called our friend out to help us, called the vet and then had to find someone with an excavator to dig a grave.  Fortunately, someone was willing to do that.  So at 2:30 PM on Sunday afternoon, after many, many tears and saying good bye to him,   I let Mighty Joe Navajo pass peacefully away.

I miss him more than I can tell you and his death has really played a number on my head.
I get that he was just a horse.  But he was MY horse and until you bond with such a creature, you will never know how big of a hole you have in your heart when they are gone.  I miss his nickers when I would come into the barn and he would lay his head in my arms every morning just to say hi.  His neck was big enough to cry onto and his ears were big enough to listen to all my secrets (which he never told a soul).  He was gentle, kind and honest.  He took care of my son who was just 4 years old when he rode him in big shows in Syracuse.  He took care of me when I was scared and so was he when we tried new things.  He always gave me more than I asked for and I hope that I did the same for him.

Anyway...I'm in a small stitching slump now, I haven't picked up a needle since the first part of May.  I started another small, even though I have eleventy dozen WIPS.  I get excited when looking at all of your beautiful work and reading all of your stitchy posts but I am "MEH" when it comes to my own stitching.
I'm thinking seriously of selling off most of my stash and just keeping what I think I want.  I don't know what to do.

So, I'm going to take some pictures of what I've stitched and post them. Maybe that will help. At least I will share them with you instead of sad news.

Hello Everyone!

Geez, Louise!  It's been a LONG time, hasn't it?

Well, let's just say time, life and a lot of navel gazing got in the way of my little blog.  I'm still here and I'm still in my crazy life but THIS year has been a whole lot different than before.
On my birthday, WAY back in June, I decided that I was going to make some changes, take a break and evaluate my life and that's exactly what I did over the last so many, many months.  And I gotta tell you, 58 was a rockin' year for growth.  You could say,  that Joanie, GREW UP!

And during this year, I've stitched and stitched and stitched.  I have tons to share with you so stay tuned. Cause I'm BACK.

And it feels really, really good!

Good-bye 2014, Hello 2015!!

Hello everyone,

I know it's been a long while since I posted and I am not even sure that there's anyone interested in my blog anymore, but I thought I would at least put up a post and tell you about 2014.

This year was a very interesting year indeed. 

We were blessed with a new grandson in July.  Bryson Michael was born on July 28th! He's now 5 months old and is such a joy!

Our grand-daughter, Alena, is 2!

She is quite the busy little lady!

The DH took a job 3 hours from here and commutes home on the weekend.  So, I am managing the homestead by myself during the week and commuting 90 minutes a day for my job which  sure cuts into the stitching time.  It really was hard for about 6 months trying to come up with a rhythm. But, I am getting better at managing my time so I have picked up a needle.  Mainly, I've stitched small things, ornaments, bowl fillers and the like, I've stitched Little House Needleworks, Prairie Schooler Santas and some Lizzie Kate.  Time is such a premium during the week and I may stitch an hour or two during the week so I do find a little time during the weekend to stitch, usually Saturday and Sunday nights.  I miss stitching larger projects but I find it more gratifying to stitch smaller things that seem to show some progress.

The biggest thing I did during 2014 for my stitching is Stitching from Stash.  I was really good this year and didn't purchase too many things.  I challenged myself to stitch from my vast (ahem) collection and I was so happy to do it!  I have many beautiful things kitted up or purchased that got put aside because of shiney new patterns.  So  when I got that "itch" for a new purchase, I just went up and did some stash fondling and found many treasures that I'd forgotten about. Now, I will be purchasing some things in 2015 that I can't resist, thread, fabric and my Prairie Schooler patterns.  I also will keep an eye on my favorite designers to see what they have to offer in 2015.  So, I'm not turning in my stash horder badge just yet!

For 2015,  I will continue to Stitch from my Stash and I will once again mainly stitch little things.  I do have a couple of larger projects in mind,  I started Mary Gibson last year and will continue to stitch on her and I have Jane Harris and Seven Sheep waiting for me. 

Anyway,  I just wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone that continues to visit here.  I hope to post more this year coming and take pictures too.

Wishing you all the very best the New Year has to offer you and I hope that you are blessed beyond measure!

Joanie

Yikes, Stripes, Running Out of Time!!! The Stitching Bucket List

Melissa at Words and Blooms posted something that made me take pause and think.  She asked this question:

Paula and I were chatting about a stitching "bucket list". Let's say you have 20 good years left to do stitching and you could stitch one big thing a year. What would be your top 20 items? I would love to see this on your blog.

So, I got thinking about my Stitching Bucket List. And like Melissa, I went on a treasure hunt through my piles and piles of stitching goodies and came up with this list. I know it will change but many of these samplers have stood the test and stay right up there with the latest and greatest.  There are many more that I would love to stitch but these are on the "A" list.

Here are my 20 in no particular order. 

1. Ann Hull
2. Anne Grimshaw 1818
3. Rebecca Robinson
4. The Plantation Sampler
5. 1837 Crown Sampler
6. Ann Grant
7. The Seven Sheep Sampler
8. Anne Priest 1841
9. JoAnn Woodward
10. A Yuletide Sampler
11. Jane Harris
12. Jane Pattison
13. Mary Gibson 1824
14. Francis Eden
15. Hannah Pepper
16. Isabella Gray 1838
17. Isabella Fox
18. Weeping Tree Sampler
19. Lucy Redd
20. Ann Sims

Most of these samplers reside in my stash and some are WIPs.  I am hoping each of them will grace my walls.  It's been a dream of mine to have a whole wall of samplers.  I guess I better get busy!  I only have 20 good years left!

Drive-by Post

Quick post -my Stitching from Stash report from March.

I purchased one item...the Seven Sheep Sampler from The Scarlet House.  Grand Total 22.00.

Not too shabby since I could have spent a lot more..  ;)