Progress on 1888 Ohio Quilt Posey and stashing

On the trip, we found a neat needlework shop called Needlework Cottage. I finally found a pattern clip holder and enjoying it while working on 1888 Ohio Quilt Posey by The Sampler Girl.

At the shop I got several odd cuts of linen, small enough to make Christmas ornaments or 1 over 1 designs.

And this was something I wanted for a long time........Little House Needleworks Home of a Needleworker 2. I got this Quaker cloth 28 ct to work with.

And in the mail , goodies this week include The Sampler Girl patterns with fabric for finishing and the itty, bitty red Kelmscott scissors. Also got the Gingher Cross pattern. Deb was so generous to grab these at her local Joannes Fabrics for half-off and I just know I will enjoy them! Thanks Deb!!!!!!

The pretty little red beads at the bottom, actually got that at The Cracker Barrel and supposed to be for a watch but I will attach with a ring to either my Sarah Ginghers or these red scissors for a fob.

Well, slept till 12 noon after getting in about....ooohhhh....can't remember what time in the morning from our trip. Ren is back from the vet and they have put him on some anxiety medicine called Composure....so maybe he will gain his composure!!! LOL Not funny, but what a name for a medicine!

Thomas was actually very upset about our leaving for a couple of days and he is usually very gentle and loving. He thus swatted Bodyguard twice last night. He has a little bitty attitude today.

Talk later,

Jennifer

Life is a matter of perception

We are so tired that we can hardly slow down and its 1:20AM here. Too tired to post alot of pics but this was the funniest. In front of the warped mirror, we had alot of laughs! We thought of Meghan's favorite show, Big World, Little People........Hilarious fun in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge today........ Wow! what long feet and big butt! Sometimes life is warped up, and all we can do is laugh.........
will post more tomorrow.
Jennifer

Having a Blast in Pigeon Forge Tennessee

On the ride here, working on the 1888 Ohio Quilt Posey by The Sampler Girl. My bag and needfuls here~~ using DMC floss on 32 count ivory linen, 2 over 2.


The Knife Store pics

The Body Guard is the guy in the picture, rushing to his favorite store at Pigeon Forge. The Knife Store.....biggest knife store in the country. The place is huge, has alot of cookware, baskets which are local made, every cooking gadget immaginable, every knife in the world, and more. They have home made jellys and jams, honey. This is the equivelant to stitchers Gingher scissors and needle shops. LOL You could see the adrenaline rush as we were approaching the store!!! LOL

Here is a roadside distraction.....an elk, right by the road.

And the biggest day lilly population ever all up and down the main interstate!

Today we left early and went by the post office and sent our little packages to the little ones.

Then we moseyed through Sylva N.C. and ate at a great bakery that had the best sweet tea in Tennessee with pecan cookies. Browsed through the famous used bookstore and got 3 books for 5.00 including a hardback copy of The Lacemaker! Can't believe the prices!

Then the general store....on to Gatlinberg, Tennessee and to Pigeon Forge where we have finally got to the room after all our adventures. Dinner at Olive Garden.

Now for some late night stitching to get sleepy for bed...........

Tomorrow.......the quilt shop......YIPPEE! AND, we have mapped out a stitching store at Pigeon Forge. Tomorrow will be a full day and night and then we will head back home.

Have a good evening....

Jennifer

I Broke the First Vacation Rule ~~~today

Ok, it's midweek and it's been a great week off but I"m missing home cooked food. I did break the rule of no cooking on vacation today. Last night we were up until 1 am eating leftover Chinese food and laughing about "remember when" stuff. Some stuff we can laugh at now but at the time it was not so funny.........

Anyways, going out of town for a couple of days and decided------let me cook with whatever is left in the refrigerator! Actually, it's turning out quite well. There's one thing about living in the country I learned and that's how to substitute ingredients, how to mix up almost anything, and s-t-r-e-t-c-h.
Summer time is for pasta salads anyways, so I decided to throw together some cooked pasta, chicken breast, boiled eggs, and whatever left in the veggie section of my refrigerator which included bell pepper, celery, left over corn on the cob. Added some varieties of different sauces and it's chillin' for supper right now.
We also had some fresh brocolli and fresh green beans, so cooked those up for sides. We had 4 peaches in the frig so I halved the peach cobbler recipe and we will have a little peach cobbler for dessert.
Tomorrow........back to no cooking again :)

Sending an angel

Tonight, I made a pillow to send to Brandon in Afghanistan. I finished this piece about 2 years ago and tucked away to either frame or make into something else. I'm embarrassed to say I don't even remember the designer or this piece, name, etc. and wish I could give credit where it is due, so if you know the designer, I will be glad to post. I remember that it was kitted together already with the buttons and threads. I stitched this on a Chicago trip. Anyway, sending this with a couple of other things. I don't believe he has Internet where he is so he will probably not be able to see this before he gets it in the mail. My camera doesn't really get the color well but it is a deep burgandy and linen color.

And, this morning and into the afternoon, my progress on the Pinkwork Pinkeeps by The Sampler Girl. I'm glad I picked up 2 skeins of this color DMC floss! But I am enjoying the monochromatic pieces.
Excited to make pinkeeps when I get finished. I stitched most of this while watching the news channel. Watched the Michael Jackson memorial and even though I have a lot of reservations about his charges with children, I enjoyed listening to other singers at the ceremony and thought Mariah Carey sang the best at the beginning and of course, I like Stevie Wonder as well.

Now, on to work on a couple of things for Meghan that are late in the mail as well.

Tonight~~~ an early supper of Chinese food and I may go peek in the frig for a snack on leftovers. We had ordered a variety of things to eat and had so much leftover!

My goal is to get things in the mail for them by Thursday morning as we have decided to go to Pigeon Forge for a day or two by the end of the week. They have a great quilt shop there and I will take the Pinkwork to match some ribbon and fabric. I think we like stopping at Sylva, N.C. at the used bookstore and the general store as much as gettting to Pigeon Forge! Sylva is a neat little town, we actually found by accident when we got lost going up there the first time. Now, we take this way through it so we can look at different places.

Talk later,

Jennifer

The Hummingbird

We are vacationing this week.......at home (or at least for today).......
tonight we went into Helen and got a total stranger to take our picture! Thought we'd greet you first........LOL We went to Paul's restaurant and had seafood. It was great! No cooking on vacation is a hard and fast rule! After a weekend full of waffles and ice cream, we strategically planned our seafood tonight.


Then we moseyed over to a spot we go about every 3 months. We look at this house to see the changes because........we loved this house and would have bought when we moved here in 2001 if the price was a little better and if it had not had too many structural problems at the time. But, oh does it ever have character. The house is actually very old but someone did fix it up back in 2002 and then left it. Strange.

We call it the Humingbird. Don't know why, but we look at each other from time to time and say "let's go see the Hummingbird". It's like our spot.

Unfortunately, it has been rented a few times but hardly ever occupied so the views, the breathtaking views on the back are not enjoyed by anyone. But, we get to enjoy it.
I took a few pics of the Hummingbird tonight.

This pic is through the window here at the family room. The fireplace at the time was different but those windows still look out into the sky.

A few structural problems though but I love the dormers.

This is the front of the house.........if we had bought it , the front door would be a different color and the roof would be metal. The front window would have flowers. A nice grapevine wreath on the front door.

It's begging for someone to take care of it.

The reason my hubbie loved it was for the endless large decks. He loves decks. Makes him feel like a kid in a tree house or something.

I didn't get pics of all as the sun was setting. This is the right side of the house......just on the second level.

Body guard is assessing the changes in the structural issues while I'm flipping out over the sunset view in the clouds and looking at all the lightening bugs waaaaaaaaaay down there.

oh, and look up here, a cozy little balcony off of the master bedroom....I often, very often thought of putting one on the upstairs of our house off of the bedrooms but haven't looked into that yet.

And then this is what I look at from the large back deck.........

breathe in ............hmmmmm.......and close my eyes and try to hold this thought........

It's just a little piece of heaven to me.

Ren in motion

Ren is almost 16 years old. Although he is not suffering, he has developed an anxiety disorder that has surpassed what we can deal with. He is in and out of his kennel, gate is always open and he paces the floor, runs into things, then back in the blanket with his teddy. He only does this about 3-4 hours a day, but it's getting unnerving. So, the vet today is ordering him some anxiety medication. They said Ren has dementia......you think?

He is still loving, still recognizes me, and is not in constant pain. He enjoys his food better than any dog I've ever seen but he is picky about it. I know I didn't make him that way (I'm dodging that one!)
Nope, I did make him that way.
He has lightly buttered toast for breakfast, he loves popcorn and french fries and his favorite food is pototoes.
He has eaten a hotdog, in a bun, from end to end, in about........4 seconds.....at an auction before. You should have seen the people watching him. Then he passed out from the amount of food and just laid in my arms.
His hair has been loved off and he is blind but he still is my baby...... in motion at the present, until his medication from the vet comes in.

Ren has been through lots of rough times with me. He had a little attitude when he was a younger dog. He used to hike his leg on my X husband, that was hilarous. If he could talk, boy would he ever be able to tell you lots of drama. But, that's one thing about pets, they don't argue with you, they love you as you are, they still are there for you through thick and thin.

And that, my friends, are traits that are very hard to come by these days.............

My Pinkwork Pinkeep Progress and Other Goodies

Joannes Fabrics has fat quarters for 99 cents for the July 4th weekend. And this we found on Thursday in Atlanta. Here's my picks. I told you I was in a candy store! LOL
Working on some more in The Companion Booklet by The Sampler Girl number 3. These next 2 are actually the same page. The reason I have pulled this one again is to show you the Hornbook one at the bottom. I finally found a hornbook on Ebay (yes, Deb, I know why you call it the Bay of Evil) that I can finish this one with. So, this will be another one of my summer finishes. This one is called Joshua's Hornbook. Very cute. Now ladies and gentlemen hornbooks are the foundations of our text messaging now........just joking......

This is the Sampler Girl Companion Booklet 4 that I have and the Pinkwork Pinkeeps I'm working on. If you haven't checked out Tanya's website, you must because these booklets are wonderful to work with and are making my summer fun. She also has a great blog and webshop. Check it out! http://www.thesamplergirl.com/

Oh, yeah, and if you like scissors, she has Kelmscott Design scissors in almost every color. Very cute and travel friendly at less than 2 inches........

Well, starting on the second Pink Pinkeep from The Sampler Girl Companion Booklet 4.

The Lady one.........finished the gentlemen yesterday. I know, I know.........ladies should be first.........LOL But this was the order in the packet so, here ya go with the lady one......not much at all.......

this is the gentleman........I turned side ways for you to visualize better. I asked the Body Guard what this looked like to him about halfway through it and he said..."Oh yeah, that's a lady!"

So, as I finished it, he said, "oh I see now, a guy". Anyway, isn't this gentleman sweet holding flowers waiting for the lady........awwwww

I thought one would work with the pinkeep....but now I think it's too busy and I'll work on a different backing.....However, I have several fat quarters for my stash.........I digress.........LOL

Now, this fabric was in the "cut to the bottom"sale at Joannes Fabrics. Almost a giveaway, I suspect that this 4.5 yrds left will make a good curtain topper in my stitching area.

And then, I couldn't resist this fabric. I couldn't choose between colors, so I got 1 yard of each.

I can't believe it is 6pm. This has been one of those days of not really doing much at all. I hope I get out of this rut by tomorrow.

Stay safe,

Jennifer