Blog Book & Baby Update

 

My 2022 blog book has arrived, the smallest yet, and I have mixed feelings about it. I'm always glad to get a hard copy of my blog into my hands, but this was my last with Tiger Lily in it, and that's so hard. 

As always, she graces the back cover, one last time.

Next year's back cover will be the babies, although by then, they'll be all grown up. But I think because they were so tiny and fragile when we got them, no matter how old they are or how big they get, we'll always think of them as "the babies".

Baby update: Five months old! Marigold has reached 6 lbs, Butterfly is almost there. It's starting to get a little awkward to pick them up and hold them at the same time... almost 12 pounds of kitty! Hard to believe when they came home we could carry both of them in one hand! Marigold has joined her sister in learning to fetch. They both give kisses, and we're working on our household manners. Learning stitching manners is going to be a challenge for later. They are so very, very "helpful" with everything, and they have to learn not to "help" with stitching. We'll get there eventually (I keep telling myself)!

Tiger Lily

2006-2022

Oh, my beautiful, precious girl.

Swamp Sampler is Finished!

 

Finally finished my summer project, in October. *sigh* Here's Magical Swamp in all its swampy, green, critter-filled glory. I love it.

Hi. I'm back. September was a... challenging month. But I'm still here, muddling along. I haven't been in my sewing room in forever, I'm behind on this year's Christmas Open House, there's dust on my blog, and my brain seems to have gone into hibernation. That's mostly due to stress, but I do wonder if I'm so conditioned to that invigorating snap of cool fall air that its absence is slowing me down. I love fall and for many years this time of year has been a time of bustling busyness for me, getting ready for all the upcoming holidays and the long winter to come. Mr. Wonderful and I joke that when it's time, we'll be the first retirees to move north instead of south! Anyway, I'm slow, and my progress on stitchy things is slow, and I need to get moving.

Being slow

Helping

Sleeping

Exploring

And that's the super exciting update from my house. Baking is done, crock pots are simmering away, so I'm off to stitch now. Gonna see if I can knock out a couple of Christmas Open House projects over this long holiday weekend. Hope y'all are well.

Happy Stitching!

Treasures & Happy Places

 

Part of how we cope with the upheavals of military life and adjust to new areas as quickly as possible is to find what we call "happy places", local businesses and spots we can go to while away a Saturday and feel connected to our new home. We haven't done much exploring since we got here in April, partly because Mr. Wonderful's work schedule is slightly insane, but mostly because we now live in an area that is overrun by tourists from May to the beginning of September. A lot of locals seem to hibernate during the summer and emerge once the tourists have gone home, which is what we ended up doing. So this past weekend was really our first opportunity to go out looking for our happy places. We were successful!

We found a couple of really neat antique shops, a packed-to-the-gills used book shop, a great old-fashioned diner, and for Mr. Wonderful, an awesome record store (Yes, vinyl records! Remember those?). We had such a fun day and came home with treasures: pottery, some old books and records, a few very pretty homemade dishcloths, some homemade fudge, a couple of prints by a local photographer, and a sparkly little pin for me. There's a lot more around here that needs exploring, but we're off to a strong start. We know the antique shop lady--and the shop cat--and the book shop guy by name now, and our list of happy places is growing. Unfortunately, there's no needlework shop anywhere near me, but I know I've been unusually blessed to have shops at our last two duty stations, so I'm not going to fuss about that too much. Most stitchers don't have an LNS, but we still manage to acquire stash, don't we?

So it was a good day. This has been a hard move, and a hard adjustment, in a hard year. All the more reason to seek out happy places and snuggle down into them and appreciate the good. Oh! One more triumph to share... I found a stylist! I hadn't had my hair cut since right before we moved in March, so I was beginning to look like a sheep in need of shearing. Y'all know how breaking in a new stylist can be. A bit nerve wracking, especially if your hair/hairstyle is out of the ordinary. I finally got up the nerve to tackle this yesterday and I'm both tickled and relieved to report that she nailed it on the first appointment. It took us about an hour to get there (I wear my hair shortish but there is *a lot* of it) but we did it, so I'm counting her and my new salon as a treasure and a happy place. Yay!

Treasures and happy places... may you find them when you need them.

It's Happening!

 

Sewing room is up and running and I've actually framed something! It's my Northern Lights color conversion (all info in this post) and although it's out of season, I'm leaving it out to enjoy it because I just love how it turned out. The frame is from Hobby Lobby, but I've had it for a while and don't know if it's still available.

I'm glad to be back in my sewing room after all these months, surrounded by my stash and my finishing goodies. But I must say it's been a bit hard to settle down. Still working on that. I've got several projects ready to go and I've got my finishing and framing piles sorted. Now I just have to get my mind quieted down. Finishing is good for that. And boy do I have a lot of it to get done.

In the House

 

We are fiiiinally in our house after five weeks in temporary quarters. Base housing won't be available for 6-8 months so we're renting for the next year. Our shipment gets here Thursday, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. This is our backyard. 

I got some stitching done while waiting, but not a huge amount. Here's my baby fox I mentioned a few posts ago. Really, if you need a mindless but enjoyable stitch ("low threat" as Mr. Wonderful would say), these geometric animal designs are the best. Loads of them on Etsy.

One of the things I've been doing is mentally "decorating" the pretty little screened in patio we now have. Honestly, it's the thing I like best about this house. I've chosen a pale aqua and taupe color scheme and I can't wait to get it pulled together. Miss Tiger Lily is also getting a fancy new cat perch so she can enjoy the patio, too.

Moving is so tiring, sometimes you just fall asleep on your face. But we are almost there. My goal is to have the house completely done by the end of June. I always prioritize the kitchen and bedroom, and my sewing room is always last, so it'll be a while before we can get back in there and play.

I'm so looking forward to being able to post regularly and share my stitching and finishing. If you've been here for a bit, you may remember my Summer of Halloween (2020) and my Summer of the WIP (2021). When I decided to do Summer of Halloween, I wasn't thinking of starting a tradition. I just hadn't stitched any Halloween in a while and I was wanting a fun project to focus on during that first pandemic summer. I ended up enjoying having a summer theme so much that I did it again last year. 

With my dad passing and this prolonged move right on the heels of that, I haven't had the head space to devote to thinking about a summer theme for this year, but a few days ago, a little idea crept quietly into my addled brain. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but it's just patiently sitting there, waiting for me. 

2022: Summer of... ?

Quick Update

Just popping in for a minute and testing posting from my phone, which I've never had to do before. We're in temporary quarters at our new base. Very comfortable, but not like home, of course. Housing is a problem here and we're on a waiting list for quarters, but thankfully we did manage to find a place to live as we wait. Signed a lease yesterday. Huge relief. Our new place isn't available til late May, so we'll be hanging out in temporary quarters for a while yet. 

Tiger Lily has been a trooper, as always, but this upheaval has been hard on her. She's been a bit sick but seems to be feeling better now. She's chomping away on her snacks as I type this (with my thumbs... on my phone... *sigh*).

We're all kinda wiped out but hopefully now that we have the pressure of finding a place to live relieved, we can relax a bit before the next stage of this move: getting our shipment and unpacking. 

I haven't put in a stitch since early April. My brain has had two speeds over the last few weeks: "bag of squirrels" and "off". Not great for settling down to stitch. Maybe now I can.

Thank you for speeding us along with prayers and encouraging words. This has been a tough one, but I think we can see light at the end of the tunnel. 

Also, if this phone posting thing works, I may be unstoppable. Stay tuned.

Signing off for a while

 

Hey y'all. Packers come Monday, movers come Wednesday, we leave for our next duty station on Thursday. I don't know how long it will be before I can resume posting, but it may be a while. Thank you so much to each and every one of you for all your prayers and well wishes for our move, and thank you for the birthday wishes for Tiger Lily. Hope to see y'all sooner rather than later. Take care, and Happy Stitching!

Birthday Girl

 

Sixteen years old and still beautiful. Happy Birthday, precious Tiger Lily.

Saturday Sampler: Keeping Busy Edition

 

Before we get to important stitching news, I want to thank all of you for the continued prayers and the lovely messages for me and my family. I deeply appreciate all of them. This year has not started out as we had hoped, but we are blessed beyond measure and I count all of you among those blessings. I'm thankful to you and for you. (And for Tiger Lily, who has been my constant companion since I returned from Texas.)

Now, let's talk stitching, shall we? First, my 2021 blog book just arrived. This is a yearly tradition I treat myself to every January. I use this service and have always been happy with the books. There are discount codes on their Facebook page (you don't have to have a FB account to see them) and I recommend waiting for a current code if you're thinking of making a book. I am a paper and pencil, hard copy kinda gal, and I love having my blog in book form. 

As you might imagine, I didn't get to have my annual Stitchy Planning Week between Christmas and the New Year, so when I got back from Texas I started trying to put my mind to a little planning. At least for the first half of the year, my plans aren't as ambitious as they usually are since we'll be moving at some point. Don't know where, don't know when. Not stressful at all. So I needed some small, enjoyable, accomplishable (new word!) projects to get me through the coming months. Here's what I came up with:

Jeannette Douglas Bouquet Sampler 

This is free! Twelve pretty, seasonal bouquets and you can see all of them! I've only ever done one mystery SAL (large stitched piece with a common border, and you don't know what's coming) and from that experience I learned I'm not a mystery SAL person. I ended up going my own way on four of the last five installments, and while I'm very happy with the finished piece, I discovered that I'm a bit too much of a control enthusiast to put time and money for supplies into a large project I haven't seen. (If you love them, there are lots starting this month!)

And this is why I love this SAL. I'm stitching each bouquet individually as that's what works for me right now, but if you want to stitch them together, you can see what the finish will look like. January bouquet is up now.

She has also provided a list of all the hand dyed threads needed for the entire project, along with DMC conversions, so if you want to gather your supplies for the whole project, you can do so. 

I love the SAL explosion that happens every January. This did not used to be a thing, but in recent years it seems to have really taken off and while I don't do a lot of SALs, I'm happy to see anything that increases interest in stitching. If you'd like to join a SAL, this is a great list:

2022 Stitch Along List

There are all kinds available. Some are free, some not. Some are mystery, some not. Different techniques. 

I think more than SALs, I enjoy monthly series. I guess that can be considered a SAL, but maybe with a series you feel you can drop in and out as you choose, and you don't have to stitch every installment. Or maybe that's just me. Or maybe it's the lack of a border? Maybe I just have psychological issues? If it has a border it's a SAL and if it doesn't it's a series? I have no idea... 

Anyway.

2022 Bird Calendar 

This is my second choice and I am so looking forward to it. Last year I stitched her Tea & Coffee Series (still need to stitch December), and I loved it. I was hoping she'd do another series this year, and when I saw it was birds I just melted! I adore birds and I must say, it felt like a little gift just for me. Please do check out her Etsy shop. She has so many pretty things.

Also, keep your eyes open for Nashville Market goodies. I have noticed the very first few items begin to show up, one of which is a new edition of the Market cookbook they began producing a couple of years ago. Very cute little cookbooks with some small designs included. I'll try to remember to post Market preview pages when shops start putting them up.

Lots to look forward to in the stitchy world, and lots to keep busy with. Hope you're all happy and healthy and stitching up a storm!