Here''s an organic paper shredder

Next time I'm away in another room reading and I have this haunting instinct to start a new stitching project for this weekend, I will do it immediately.

 Heard of Mother's Intuition, right?  

 Well, I kept getting this thought to get up from my reading and start a certain project, Mother's Prayers by The Sampler Girl and upon entering the room, I found this, along with a snoring husband:

She already started it for me. Of all patterns because I love, love this one!

It could have been worse but still.......I never leave my patterns out but I think I forgot to put this one up higher than doggie level after taking a pic of it this week. I know it was my fault for leaving it too low for her to get too.

I'm pretty sure I can tape it back. Hopefully she didn't swallow any grid lines in between.

I've had a stitching lag this week. Work has been busy and when I come home, I'm either reading or asleep so this is all I have on the With My Needle sampler by Heartstring Samplery. I need to pick up speed. I'm off through Wed. so I'm happy to say I'll have some extra time.

Is that not a guilty look?  

I live and learn every day.

Feathers in the Nest Volume 4 book

Another volume of Feathers in the Nest published by Sharedbooks.

It's been quite some time, I think, last August when I published the first volume.

Of course, these are not sold but just kept for cherished writings for personal use. They are a bit costly if you blog with alot of pictures and there is limit to so many pictures per publication. So, I went back from March 1 until this week for this volume. When I save enough money for the one before I will publish it.

I am really impressed by the quality of the paper and picture clarity, organization, etc of it and pleased with this second one just as much. The front of the book, I picked out a picture I took in a town in South Ga. (can't remember the name) and had hubbie pull over so I could see it. Very unusual to me.

http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/cutestblog/index.html

click on this link above if you want to publish your blog for personal memories!

It's a great way to capture your thoughts for years to come.

What holiday is this weekend????

Yep, I don't know if it was the barametric pressure change or the "I gotta accomplish something today" mood, or the feel-good feeling of cleaning out and finding this sampler that needed finishing. I really didn't buy this fringe for this piece. I was going to leave it plain but as I was clearing and putting away my ribbons and trimmings I saw it and thought it added a little touch.

This is Clara's Christmas Dance sampler by The Sampler Girl. It's been so long now, I can't remember what threads I used but I think this is on 32 ct cream  linen with DMC and Crescent Colors.

I know it's not Christmas but I finished this at Christmas, had big plans to make into a pillow and Christmas was a blur this past year, sooooooo~~~

I hand sewed some fringe on it and made into a pillow with a fat quarter of green to compliment the backing.

Take a look-see~~

So, I'm a little early on Christmas.

I always get off-track when cleaning up........is that ADHD? It's just so convenient to have my sewing area by the laundry area. But it still doesn't make laundry any fun. LOL

But what's a girl to do when hubbie is snoring with Abbie in his chair and watching.....the History Channel?

Ahhhhhmmmmmm, Yawn........

EDIT:  It's full moon tonight.......that's what it is...

Thursday Thrills!

Today was a good day, nice and steady at work and then some mail goodies when I came home.
I did get to stitch Abigail's name on the sampler at lunch hour and will post progress when I get a bit more done.

A quick surprise from Aunt Parsley was in the mail addressed to Abbie. Isn't it sweetly wrapped?

Guess what's inside?

A homemade toy by Aunt Parsley in Oklahoma. We all loved it, Parsley!!!

We call it the Rainbow toy, and she really played a long time with it.

She immediately took it to "her" sofa spot near our chairs.

And wanted to play again!

Thank you, Auntie Parsley!

And then I got this from The Sampler Girl. My first needleminder. I picked the Beehive for summer.

And her new design, Open Windows.

And it's neat because it holds my needle on my pattern holder on the Needlework 4 system:

Cool!

So how was your Thursday?

It's clouding up now and hearing that we are going to have rain through the Memorial Day weekend......but that may always change you know as the weather in the South goes.

Well, back to cleaning up and laundry........

Things that start with A Today

First   A is for Aloe.  A friend of mine heard me say I burned my arm accidentally this weekend on the iron while I was ironing and she brought me this Aloe plant. She popped open the end of a piece and we experimented with root medicine in practice today.  I can say it does feel much better. I put it in this little Dutch shop odd piece that I've had for a long time. I think it was a canister and the owner sold it for 2.00 instead of 30.00 because she broke the top off accidentally in the store. I immediately thought of a good planter for it. My friend says Aloe is great, not hard to take care of either.....loves the shade! Perfect!

Second A is for Arranging

During the winter we move the furniture where we can enjoy the fire. We rotate the sofa all the way to face the fireplace and really make it cozy. At the beginning of summer, we rotate all around facing the TV and the other chairs. It's a strange custom for us.....but we like it. So you can imagine all the lovely things we found under the sofa after rotating this around.....and the old joints we moved too.

BG did the moving. I did the finishing of arranging and vacuuming.

The third  A is for Area. This is the neglected area of our house that could have alot of potential. It's former owners had a large firepit in the back and then a court yard with nice flowers and rocks. I need to tend to it but we have all shade so mostly whatever grows, grows.  But one day, when they make more than 24 hours in a day, I want to really spruce it up.

This  A is for AWESOME!  I ordered my first Jane Austen DVD and can't wait to watch it! It came in the mail today.

This A is for Airish. It's quite cool out this evening on the porch. This is a spot I like to cozy up on summer evenings.

And this A is for Abigail. Not a whole lot of progress but a little stitching time tonight.

The final A is for ACCIDENT.

We  should be both quite tired. Last night/this morning......about 3am, we both shot straight up in bed when a large crash sound came from the lower level and immediately the security system went off. We have external sirens as well when this happens so everybody in a 5 mile radius probably heard it. But anyway, we could have made quite a funny commercial for the security system. Body Guard runs in jammie bottoms and gun outside the house while I'm screaming on the phone with the security system and enclosed in the bedroom. It sounded like someone burst through a window downstairs. He goes outside to chase this person down.......or to see where they entered while I stayed on the line with the company.

Finally I peeped out the bedroom door, and little Ren had gotten up from his quilt to go to the potty paper and had evidently turned over a wooden cornice board we had propped to the side and when it hit the hardwood floor this set off the downstairs like someone broke a window.

Needless to say the little criminal was completely oblivious to all sirens and alarms and survived not getting hit in the head with a board on the way to his potty paper.

Case solved.  LOL

It's funny now.....but not at 3am.

But a great fire drill.......

New Chatter

Today was my day off and it was a good one!

The weather couldn't have been any better with cool mornings and evenings, low humidity.

Oh how I wish it would stay like this.

I'm comfy and ending the evening in my wicker chaise on the back porch enjoying the cool mountain air and also a new long cushion for it. We love the back porch during the Spring and Summer months. It's like an extension of the house completely.

Happy news today that we sold our camper that had been sitting idle for 9 years now and we can fix our porches that are in so much need for attention with paint and replacing some of the old boards.

Blessings come at the best times!

We both were a bit sad at selling the camper because we had some good memories with it but now at this point in our life, we don't use it and hopefully, the new owners will enjoy it as much as we did.

It is a 1970 old Airstream camper but it needed alot of work and upkeep and since we are both quite homebodies, we let it go today and will put the money towards our own nest here.

The birds are in full song right now as the sun is setting. I'm too comfy to get pictures of it but it's pretty.

After a day of running errands and catching up a bit, I'm ready to sit my buns in a chair to stitch and watch a little Nancy Grace show. I'm still working on the With My Needle Sampler but I have so many more I want to stitch that it's hard not to start another new one right now.

Dinner tonight was shrimp fettacinni with peppers and veggies, and garlic rolls, all quite easy to make and tasty too.

Well, back to stitching. Hope your mid-week is going well.

Till later...........

Monday Patterns

Mail goodies that went into one of my stitching baskets......I have alot of them......but so excited to see this in the mail because I really NEED to stitch this at this point in my life........it's by The Sampler Girl, called Mothers Prayers.

I love the fabric. When I opened it, BG  really liked this so I have so many I want to stitch at one time, I'm a bit ADHD right now.

I think of Brandon when I see this.

And Miss Abbie got a good bath when I got home in her Lavender Bliss smelling shampoo.

How do you like her patterns?  LOL

Her hair is long and thick, thick.

She is very active and doesn't like the time for me to stitch.

She will bring her "bear" and drop it on my foot to play with.

"Bear" is her new "chicken" because "chicken" completely came apart at his last washing.

Her favorite though is the laser pointer and to get some stitching done tonight BG gets her chasing the laser light around the house and then she is fully entertained for a little break.

Between her chasing her wild tail in circles and Ren walking in circles at night from dementia, it's quite a zoo here this week.

Walking in circles is definitely a pattern at our house lately.

While I'm working on the sampler With My Needle, she is dragging everything to me including her own bed and flipping it in the air, putting her toy on my foot....anything so that I will play with her.

She enjoyed a nice stroll ride again tonight and growled her little growl at all the big dogs to show them who was boss!

Well, back to this pattern for the next hour or so, until I nodd off to sleep. I'll have to admit that the ziggy lines I'm starting on are a bit harder to follow as there is no pattern to them.....reminds me of heart palpitations at this point...... ;)

Airing the laundry

yes, my buddy Ren, is going down hill fast. He will be 17 on September 27th  but for some reason since about March, he doesn't eat as much, sleeps more and is very feeble on his feet.

I know most would have put their dog to sleep at this stage but I just can't do it.

I just can't. I tended him all weekend and will make him comfortable as I can.

I had taken the quilt off one of the beds and put in the hall floor to take down to the laundry and low and behold, he had crept over and made himself a happy napping spot while BG and Abbie and I went strolling/walking.

Needless to say, I didn't grab up the laundry and let him sleep in peace.

I held him alot this weekend, more than usual and between him and Abbie getting her attention, I didn't get but a few stitches in and that was tonight about an hour ago when Abbie was fully worn out from being up with me since 4am and Ren was settled down after his timely drink of water at 10pm.

He has a routine.

But mostly he walks in circles and that drives me nuts. I know he still knows who I am and he just rests his head on me while I talk to him and love him.

I can say firmly that letting go is not one of my strong characteristics.

As long as he is not hurting and still eating, I'm going to hang on.

I keep remembering this one day that I went back to the store to get him.

He was 8 weeks old. They had put him in the back because I was deciding on whether to spend that much on a puppie at the time. It was alot. I remember the day I went on to the back and he was in a kennel and that look he gave me, like "take me home, please?" and an I love you look.

I then promptly told the store owner I wanted him.

Ren and I have been through alot. If he could only talk, I would let him write the book.

There's a video that Parsley had on her blog and I asked her if I could use it. It's from U-tube.

If you haven't seen it please take a minute, especially if you love dogs.

Scroll down to the bottom and mute the volume of the playlist and the video is right above it, 1.4 minutes and make sure you have a kleenex.

Watching the sunrise in the mountains, Sunday morning

Hardly ever do I watch the sunrise here. I'm either busy getting ready for work or sleeping.

But this morning I woke up at 4am and couldn't go back to sleep so at sunrise I took a stroll along the side porch to get these.

I couldn't get the pictures to capture it as beautiful as it was. There was a dense heavy fog that the sun was beaming though and the color through all that fog was breathtaking.

Still standing off my side porch and focusing closer.

I looked back and saw the sun then beaming on some of our roses. These are my favorite climbing ones, of course, in pink.

Their tiny buds promising to open soon.

into these.

And I thought through the singing birds I did feel a presence of something.........peeping at me, quietly, waiting for his breakfast.

Thomas, still standing still, knowing I was just doing my thing and that he would surely get his breakfast soon if he posed by his empty bowl.

Then I looked back and the reflection off of the pond with the fog in the background illuminating the trees, reassured me of many things.

Psalm 104:31-32 NLT

31 May the glory of the Lord continue forever. The Lord takes pleasure in all He has made!

32 The earth trembles at His glance; the mountains smoke at His touch.

The mountains of Sautee, Ga., Sunday morning.