Lots going on here!

 I'm sure everyone is busy this time of year if you are having warm weather.  This week I've done trimming, watering all those new plants and seedlings which are coming up by the way!  There was grocery pickup yesterday and then I vacuumed and washed the kitchen floor.  I was going to do the laundry room too but the water softener is leaking again so I guess I will be calling a plumber soon.

I had a package to send to the grands and my new printer came which I installed this morning....it is slick!  It was easy to install and I am loving the white! This is an Eco Tank 2800/ET 2803...the 3 might be the white one.  I had an Epson before and I was very happy with it and I had it for quite a few years.

I researched all printers on Amazon and this one had good reviews and was highly rated.  So far so good!

I also received a new hose I ordered for the back yard.  It is 100 feet so I can reach the clematis as it almost died last year.  I can also take it to the front and it can reach the ditch if I want to burn stuff.  It is very nice and came with extra washers, a holder that slips over your faucet, and a very nice sprayer....if it doesn't leak!  Every one I've ever gotten has leaked and runs down my arm or sprays my clothes.  I got it from Walmart.  I am subscribed to them so I get free shipping and I get everything in 2 days.  I never got anything that fast with Prime and it cost me more!  Plus, I get free Paramount and discount on gasoline.  Now that I don't have Prime it seems I get the stuff from Amazon faster....go figure.

I'll let you know how the hose and sprayer works out.

I also cut out and glued more hexies and finished one of the half diamonds and I will be sewing the other one tonight.  I've been working on the 2nd Christmas sock and I'm almost done with the heel.

It feels like it's been a productive week.  I definitely need to get back to painting!  Where does the time go?

What have you been up to this week?

That's me and Miss Peeps! 

Happy Trails!!!

Memorial Day

 

Happy Trails!!!

YOP Week #48 Year 12

 Holy Cow!  This YOP year is almost over...I haven't even thought of next year.  I'm sure it will mostly be the things I haven't finished from past years! LOL!

This week was pretty good as far as accomplishing things.  I sewed block #5 of the Block of the Month quilt after I posted last weeks YOP......totally enjoying this!

the cross stitch that got some love this week are the following beside a Christmas present which will remain a secret........

Grayson's Wolf..........gosh this is going to be big!  Maybe I'll have it done by the time he graduates from high school....

I've been working on my Sabbath stitch every Sunday.....

and Black Bird Design Saturday.....I ran out of the brown for the bird's body so I will have to order more...meanwhile there is other stitching to be done on it....

I finished the back stitch on all the letters on page #1 of the embroidery sampler book...this is addicting...I don't want to put it down!

Now I have to do the whipped running stitch around the letters in a contrasting color........

I finished the heel gusset on sock #2 and now onto the heel!

I've been looking for a simple crochet project to work on at night while watching T.V. and I think I will either make a solid Granny Square blanket or a Battenburg blanket by Cherry Heart.

I got a little painting done this week,  planted a bunch of flower seeds, made soup, and cinnamon rolls and did laundry....today is making rice krispie treats, cutting out BOM #5, more embroidery and sock heel.

I'm still reading Revenge about the Royal Family issues with Megan and Harry and it is good.  I finished Morality for Beautiful Girls book #3 in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series.  Now, I'm reading Blood and Circuses , A Phryne Fisher mystery, book #6.  Time to order more books!  My tablet died and that is the 2nd time I have lost all the ebooks I ever purchased so I am done with ebooks for sure!  I always preferred the printed word but I was running out of bookcases so I thought it would save room.  Now, I only keep the best books and the rest I take to the thrift store.

I hope you are having a great week!  Have you started your plans for YOP Year 13?  It's right around the corner.  I love planning!

Happy Trails!!!

A little patriotic decorating...........

 

I got my red, white, and blue lights on the tree and the flags are outside........I have more but just this little cross stitch piece for now........

Miss Peeps in her "play pen"....those little specks on the rug are from her clawing it....she's ruined furniture, rugs, you name it....last animal I'll ever have, sad to say!  But it's too late now....she does keep me company....she's a cutie.........that's her "baby" and the other is a toy Santa brought her last Christmas.....

Do you have plans for the long weekend?  I'm doing the usual....cleaning, cooking, painting and sewing if I get around to it.  The weather here is beautiful and I hope yours is too!

Happy Trails!!!
 

Planting frenzy and a new printer......

 I finally got all the flower seeds planted except for sweet peas which need to soak over night before planting.......

I have vegetable seeds but other than lettuce there's not much I can eat as they all have seeds or skins.

I'll probably send those to my daughter.

My printer broke so I spent some time, yesterday and today, shopping for a new one on Amazon.  I had an Epson and I really liked it and it lasted for quite a few years.  I found a new Epson that has ink tanks that you fill and the ink costs less and it lasts longer plus it had good reviews.  It should arrive June 1st so I will show you after I get it hooked up.  Also, it's white.....YAY!  I really dislike black at it shows the dust.

I'm off to clean up my planting mess, make some soup and hopefully get some paint slapped on!  Are you working on any "projects" at your house?

Happy Trails!!!

Thursday already?

 I have been staying busy.   I had ordered an expensive bird feeding station but I sent it back as the birds weren't coming around but I had squirrels, chipmunks, crows and groundhogs!  The squirrel was going on my roof and then I noticed he was chewing my wooden stairs.  I'm done, so I sent the feeder back and brought the bird bath in to the garage.  I hadn't seen any hummers either but, of course, the minute I went to take it down and hang up a geranium...a hummer showed up.  

I decided to plant some flower seeds that I had but I had no soil.  I went uptown and got some and they had all their plants 1/2 price....I couldn't resist!

 a red geranium........

an azalea, a white rose (fragrant), an ever blooming lilac and a hibiscus........

I planted seeds in pots and labeled.  I have 9 so far but there are about 4 or 5 more to do.

I did manage to finish block #4 of the red and white quilt on Sunday.........

This week I am working on the Wolf XS in my rotation but today and tomorrow I am working on the baby Jesus Mill Hill kit on perforated paper as I work on Christmas XS on the 24th and the 25th of the month.

I need to finish up the planting and maybe do more painting although it is getting late for today....

I hope you are all doing well.  Are you gardening or planting?  My seeds are older so we'll see if any of them sprout.

Happy Trails!!!

 

YOP Week #47 Year 12

 I guess I've missed 2 weeks here!  I do have an excuse from my doctor though....lol!  I'm feeling great again.  I hope it lasts.  I  have been working on projects but many you've seen before and they haven't changed that much.  I'm on the heel flap of sock #2, I've worked on Blackbird Design Saturday project...still just a big brown bird.  I have worked on my Star XS..........over halfway done and such a joy to stitch........

I worked on my embroidery sampler book and finished page 4 and now I'm working on the cover page....this is so much fun!  It's from Under The Garden Moon if you're interested.  They have all sorts of lovely projects...and her tutorials are wonderful..........

I also finally got back to my Block of the Month Club and got going on block #4 which I am hoping to finish today.......

 On Mondays I work on Christmas presents and I have one  that is almost finished.  I've also kitted up Halloween ornaments which will get started after the Christmas present is done.

I got some treasures this week..........patriotic lights for my tree..........

some new highlighters........

and a flower press.......I was going to make one but my trip to Mountain Home to get the materials got canceled because of my illness so I figured I would bite the bullet and buy one or the flowers would be gone.......it's a very nice set and I plan on pressing some flowers this afternoon.........

mainly these flowers..........my beautiful pansies........

Yesterday I made soup and cinnamon crescent rolls and worked on the Block of the Month and my Blackbird Design XS.  Today is sewing, flower pressing, and Sabbath XS.  Plus, a grocery list and order.

Oh, I also finished my deep cleaning of the kitchen (walls, countertops, stove, and backsplashes) for now...there is much more to do but not now.  I'll be back to painting my bookshelves this coming week.

The weather here is gorgeous....no humidity yet.

I've read another Alexander McCall book; Tears of the Giraffe and now I'm reading book #3; Morality for Beautiful Girls.  So enjoyable.  I'm also reading Revenge about "the war between the Sussex's and the Windsors....very interesting.  One new thing that I discovered and I am really enjoying are BBC Radio Dramas on You Tube.  They are great to listen to while doing handwork as you don't have to keep looking up at a screen.  That's all for this week.  I hope you are all doing well and enjoying life! 

Happy Trails!!!

A beautiful gift from my cousin...........

 My cousin, Kay, has a Dept. 56 Christmas Village that she has been collecting for years and it is gorgeous!  It is reminiscent of our favorite town in Illinois where she grew up and where I spent my summers.  Each of her buildings are from that town.  She said she was sending me something and it is a Dept. 56 building...my first!  It is gorgeous and it is Sam's Butcher Shop!  

Take a look at the detail although for some reason (I took the photos twice) I could not get them to focus....here they are...........this is the front.......

the side......

the other side..........

and the back which has a smoke house just like our Uncle Homer Gray's meat market........

Gray's Meat Market is still there but it is now a restaurant, I think.  The old smokehouse in the back is gone.  It's funny, because my son, Jim, built his own smokehouse and would smoke  his own meat....genes are fascinating as Jim never knew our Uncle Homer.

Thank you dear cousin for the beautiful gift and the rabbit hole that I am now tempted to go down! LOL! 

I'm winding up the "deep" cleaning of my kitchen not including drawers or cupboards...just walls, back splashes and anything that was on them....hopefully, I'll get back to painting my bookshelves soon!

Happy Trails!!!

P.S.  I am still hoping to get around to visiting all of you....soon!

 

Back to "normal"?

 I'm feeling much better.  The pain is gone and I am sleeping well.  I went to the doctor yesterday and he agreed that nothing in my diet caused the flare-up.  He is concerned that there is something wrong and wants me to see a GI doctor.  He said it just so happens that there is a good one right there at the hospital.  He said he would never recommend anyone he did not think was a good doctor.  I trust him, and since I do not want that pain ever again...I agreed to go see him.  Not sure when the appointment will be.  I feel good actually to hopefully find out what it is.  I am thinking, of course, that whatever it is it can't be good, at my age I do have a lot of original parts! LOL!

I'm back to my Swedish Death Cleaning.  I'm packing  up things to take to the thrift store, deep cleaning the kitchen (I got interrupted when I got sick), and I'm still painting the bookshelves.   

I hadn't cross stitched or sewed when I was sick but I did do some reading....I read these books which were all good ones............these are real letters from a woman homesteader....non-fiction...very interesting.........

This book is the first book Sandra Dallas wrote and it is excellent.  It is fiction but tells a lot about the Japanese interment camps here in the U.S. during WWII..........
 

I read many of these books when they first came out but have decided to start over and read them again.  Plus, there are lots more to read now.........these are excellent also........there is a whole series of them...

Presently I am reading this non-fiction.........I am a true anglophile and I truly miss the Queen.......

for fiction I am reading the 2nd book in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series.......

I had a nice quiet Mother's Day.  I picked up my grocery order at Walmart, filled the car with gas,  and caught up on laundry and some other chores.  I spent some time reading and just enjoying the day.  The Cedar Rapid's gang sent me a nice Mother's Day and get well package containing all O'Keefe's products which I love.  Their hand cream, foot cream, lotion, and lip balm.  I just wish they had scents.  They are great products.

I've had some pretty visitors to the bird feeder and the ground beneath..........a little hummer...

Mr. and Mrs. Goldfinch.............

Mr. Bluebird and a mourning dove..........

I even managed to do a little cross stitch.....

That's all for now........

Happy Trails!!!

 

Relapse...........

 I ended up  in the emergency room with Diverticulitis again...so painful!  But I am recovering slowly.  At least there was no hospital stay and they said I caught it early enough.  What I don't understand is that I have followed the diet to a "t" but still had a flare up.  The one thing was that my back was hurting and I did not think it was from diverticulitis so I was taking Tylenol until it wasn't working anymore.  I started on the antibiotics but I still had to go to the ER because of the pain.

I am hoping to catch up with all of you and my housework too.  I hope you all have been fine.

Happy Trails!!!  

YOP Week #44 Year 12

 I  managed to get a few things done this past week but not much.  I was out and about Tuesday through Friday!  That is very unusual for me and for some reason  if I go out in the morning and come home, I can't seem to muster up any energy to do much the rest of the day.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday all had to do with my Tahoe but it is finely tuned and ready for another 20 years....I hope!  I just need to get it detailed now.  Friday was Walmart so...I was bushed after all that running around.

Yesterday was the first day all week that I got to stay home and it was a good one as it was rainy which made for a cozy day inside.  I did some laundry, made cookies and in the afternoon I got my BOM #3 finished....tada!   I've already received blocks 5 and 6 so I had better get busy!  Today I am hoping to get block #4 cut out.

I did work on my sock and finished the cuff and have about an inch of the leg done....

My focus XS piece this week was my tribute to my son.  He died in July of 2019....it will be 4 years on July 24th.  I'd tried picking this up several times to work on it but I just couldn't handle it but I think I can this time. The only problem I have with this is the part where it states "I will not shed a tear or be sad"....huh?  Are you kidding me?  I have shed plenty of tears and been plenty sad so I'm not sure what she was thinking when she wrote that.  She designed this piece to commemorate the death of  her mother.   Time does heal all wounds but some things you never get over.   I  don't dwell on it and I know Jim would want me to be happy and I am.  I'm going to have to do something with the hair on the woman....I need to make a grey topknot for her hair! LOL!

I know I showed you this bag last week but this week it has something inside it.....the very first Christmas project for 2023!  Yes, ornaments or Halloween and Christmas, Advent gifts and Christmas gifts are not all going to be making an appearance but know that there are things being worked on!

Speaking of ornaments....I ordered Lori Holt's box that holds her stitch cards and index cards.  It was on sale otherwise I would not have purchased it....I think her stuff is a little too pricey compared to others.

I also ordered her Set F stitch cards which are Halloween.....

I also ordered a covered button set, some hardware for zipper pulls on bags, and material for making the above ornaments.

So, for this coming week, I hope to get more done since I have no where I need to go unless it would be to Tractor Supply for flowers and bird stuff........oh yeah!

Otherwise, I hope to finish BOM #4, work on hexies, XS, and sock #2.

I had one of my favorite birds stop by....a mourning dove.........I always thought they were "morning" doves.....lol!

Have a great week!

Happy Trails!!!