Stitch by Stitch...

Stitch by stitch, evening after evening, my own version of Sarah Barker's sampler is finally complete 186 years after Sarah finished hers. I began this piece in January. Everything about working on this sampler has delighted me. If you've been a reader here for a while you may recall a post that I did many years back regarding a thimble that my grandmother gave to me. I am including the link here, for context. A friend discovered this sampler pattern and alerted me to it a few years back. I have done some research through my hometown document center to see if this sampler could possibly be one made by the original owner of my thimble. The dates align. There were six nine year old girls named Sarah Elizabeth Barker living in the United States in 1840. Considering the fact that this child had her own gold, monogrammed, thimble; and the high quality of needlework skills exhibited in this piece of work, chances are high that this sampler was made by the same person as the one buried in my hometown. I am going with that. I have switched out the colors of mine from the original. Now to look at framing options. Here is the pattern as printed:

Moving on from handwork to the longarm~ "America 250"  is finally quilted and the binding has been prepared. I ran into a huge obstacle on this one! Somehow my upper thread path became undone somewhere along the line and while advancing the quilt to do the next row I discovered a huge tangled mess of threads on the backside. That one single row that took, maybe, 15 minutes to stich took me 2 days to pick out!  Lesson learned~ slow down, pay attention! Groan. This quilt will be the ultimate patriotic picnic quilt, take a look at the backing fabric; isn't it just great? Just add fried chicken and lemonade!

"America 250" ~ pantograph is "Becker's Shooting Star" from Urban Elementz.

God bless America!

SEW, what's under your needle these days?

Life is Good!

Midnight Munchers and Other Happenings

Yesterday morning I sat down on the front steps to tie up my walking shoes and suddenly stopped... where there had been abundant Geranium blooms only the afternoon before, now there were only chewed-off bare stems!  Groan. The midnight munchers (deer) have been at it again. I use a product that works well in the perennial garden but hadn't even considered our front steps! I've never known them to eat Geraniums before either. I mixed up a batch of "I Must Garden" after our early morning walk was concluded and discovered the Hosta blossoms and the entire Clematis vine climbing up the lampost just behind it had been torn apart as well. Time to be proactive and spray around everything. The product is linked above; I've been using it for a few years now and find it to be highly effective. I just need to remember to be diligent in its use.  

So, while I am trying to repel some living creatures from our yard...

...I'm also determined to bring others back! The Goldfinch had been conspicuously absent this year; until a neighbor told me about feeding Sunflower Hearts & Chips. Well, what do you know? Slowly, a few more each day, they have returned. They absolutely love this seed... maybe a little too much! $$$!! My plan is to switch them back to Thistle seed, which I already have on hand but now I'm worried that they may leave again if I do that. I just don't know.

The Bluebirds have returned to raise a second family already.

And this, from the orchard. Our first ever apple. But, on the entire apple tree, only the one! Why? Maybe it's the same old story as I started with... perhaps it's the midnight munchers; they're particularly fond of our peaches out there too. It's hard to keep up.

Meanwhile, back inside the house... is there a quilter in this country who's not working on a R,W & B quilt in celebration of America 250 this year? Count me in with all the rest. 

Even the trimmings are patriotic!

Work on my version of the Sarah Barker sampler continues in the evenings; seemingly with no end in sight. When I embarked upon this project I had no idea it would take forever; however, it is actually larger than I had envisioned as well as a labor of love; I must say that I am truly enjoying the slow pace and the results. It's a pleasure to return to night after night. Undoubtedly, I will be sad when it's completed, she and I have become a good friends. 

I've got a surprise (WITH ATTITUDE!) loaded onto the longarm right now (speaking of projects that have dragged on for an eternity) and am eager to reveal it soon (I hope)! Someone is keeping an eye on me while I work, it's good to be held accountable. 

SEW... what's new with you?

Life is Good!

Lent

We are already in the second week of Lent. Right on cue, the Lenten Roses are blooming, time marches on and spring is appearing sporadically. One day it's here and the next we're plunged back into winter.

It's been a very sad time this past week, our dear daughter-in-law lost her precious mother to a horrible and aggressive brain tumor that appeared, so suddenly, just last summer. We will miss Phyllis terribly; she was a dear and accomplished woman, an always-cheerful friend to all and a wonderful, loving grandmother to our mutual grandchildren, Gregory and Lynnleigh. 💔 Thank you to all that have prayed for Phyllis. She is now in the loving arms of her creator. Gregory told me, just the night before she died, that he knew he would see her again and that she'd be well when that time came. Amen. I am strengthened by his faith. 

I have finished up the central portion of Sarah Barker and am moving on the border now. I have switched up the colors to my own liking and added a few elements. You can click on the hyperlink to see the original. 

I joined a fabric swap over at Red Rainboots Handmade and am currently participating in the Red, White and Blue "Sparklers" QAL. This one will be fun. Our daughter was a Bicentennial baby, born in July of 1976; this will be perfect for her, not only in celebration of her 50th but also in commemoration of America's Semiquincentennial.

As we continue through Lent and this in-between season of not winter anymore and not yet quite spring I wish you quiet times of prayer, peaceful reflection and sunshine to warm you. 

Life is Good!

Winter Wonders

I finished this cross-stitch pinkeep over this past snowy/icy weekend; I hope and pray that you were spared any dangerous conditions and/or power outage. We are experiencing severe cold today; but thankfully, we only received several inches of sleet which didn't accumulate on the trees or powerlines. I've begun another cross stitch piece, this one is a sampler~ Sarah Barker. 

If you've been a reader here for a while you may recall a post that I did many years back regarding a thimble that my grandmother gave to me. I am including the link here, for context. A friend discovered this sampler pattern and alerted me to it a few years back. I have done some research through my hometown document center to see if this sampler could possibly be one made by the original owner of my thimble. The dates align. There were six nine year old girls named Sarah Elizabeth Barker living in the United States in 1840. Considering the fact that this child had her own gold, monogrammed, thimble; and the high quality of needlework skills exhibited in this piece of work, chances are high that this sampler was made by the same person as the one buried in my hometown. I am going with that. And so, my version of Sarah's sampler has begun, I am switching out the colors of mine from the original, though. Here is the pattern as printed:

This magnificent Amaryllis continues to bloom forth and be a bright spot on the kitchen table against the frozen landscape beyond. 

Patience has received a border! This particular black-on-black print has been in my stash since the late 1990's. I was glad to put it to good use at long last! I hope to add another, wider, border beyond this one but I have stalled out on the decision making process for now; and so, Patience is hanging neatly in the closet while I ponder what's next.  There was supposed to be a quilt retreat this past weekend, it was postponed and rescheduled due to the weather. It's just as well, I have pulled out a mostly completed BOM from a few years ago and am using the time between now and the upcoming retreat weekend to cut pieces for the blocks to finish up this one. All the blanks will soon be filled in with smaller pieced blocks. 

Sew...what's new and exciting at your place?

Stay warm and safe!

Life is Good!

2025 Holiday Wrap-Up

Consider this a post-Christmas, end of year, holiday wrap-up post. You might remember my initial foray into needlepoint, my birthday plaid. Our daughter took it back for finishing and surprised me by attaching it to the lid of this sweet little basket. I absolutely love it! It will hold my treasures and be a constant reminder of a wonderful weekend that we shared together. 

I don't know how many of you work the daily Wordle puzzles, I've been doing them for years. Imagine what a big surprise two of last week's puzzles were for me: QUILT was the answer a week ago on Sunday, and a few days later the word SPOOL solved the puzzle. A needleworker's delight!

Cocoa Quaker by Primrose Cottage was a Christmas cross-stitch start for me. 

This tea, from Metropolitan Tea Company, a brand that is new to me, was included in a Christmas gift basket from friends. It is absolutely wonderful! The tag reads : "Good Tea tastes better", that's certainly the truth! I can highly recommend this one. It's the perfect accompaniment for cold winter evenings as I work on my stitching. 

These were four of my favorite movies watched while I was hand-stitching binding on the Christmas quilts this year. The first three were movies that I hadn't seen before but the last one shown here, Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas is one that I must watch each and every year; I adore it and probably can recite the entire dialog of each Muppet by heart! I will never tire of the sweet story, the songs and the precious characters.

I finished this book earlier in December, it was one of those that I couldn't put down. 

The character development and the historical references were rich additions to this one,   definitely a story to remember!

I'm back to piecing a scrap quilt that had been set aside temporarily while working on the Santa's Puzzle quilts. I have my sidekick perched in a chair right alongside of me as I am piecing. It's always great to have company in the sewing room. 

And I'll finish up today's wrap-up post with the birthday boy (and Augie again, he's Mr. G's companion too!) My sweet husband, today is his birthday. Since we have been married 50+ years and we each have a birthday, that makes 100 birthdays that we've celebrated together!

Holy Cow!! How can that be? 😮

Life is Good!

Hello, September!

I'm afraid that this post is yet, another, catch-up post which will be strangely reminiscent of that old beginning-of-school assignment we all remember: "How I Spent My Summer Vacation"! I do have lots of show and tell, bear with me. 

As the weather allowed, and it wasn't too hot, I spent many an afternoon stitching out on the porch where the light is perfect!

These are a sampling of the seasonal pin-keeps that I managed to get finished over the past months. I've been trying out a variety of edge finishes on these. I ordered a few different trims from Lady Dot. 

I did get Amarillo Skies quilted and bound; it has joined the growing stack of "to be finished up by hand". 

An outer border was added to last year's Lemoyne BOM, it was loaded onto Snowbird...

... and quilting commenced using the "Easy Peasy Baptist Fan panto and Glide thread.

Voila! I still need to name this one. I'm attaching the binding today. 

With space opening up on the design wall it was high time for the Be Attitudes blocks to reappear. 

Working from this book by Nancy Halvorsen, this one must've been pushed off the back burner years ago. In fact, I found this post, dated May of 2008, when I bought the book and the fabrics. 

Instant vintage!! 

No time like the present, right? 

Stay tuned... I'm on a roll. 

Life is Good!