Spring/Summer Stitching and Such

             One, beautiful, Easter-basket green, peachy-pink and yellow peep, and egg-dying blue colors all wrapped in one skein of mercerized 100% Italian cotton. I wish I could give you the name but the label is hiding. I'll find it one day as I try to keep them.

I held on to this little skein (about 100 yards) for a while now but knew I would make something for the warmer months with it. The feel of it is like soft and shiny, with more luster, yet definitely a cotton. The width of the strand is probably a bit bigger than Perle Cotton floss but not as big as regular yarn.

I read up a little about mercerized cotton and found it to be a process in dyeing that is used to enhance the absorption of the dye more, and give the cotton a slicker finish without the "fuzz" of regular cotton yarn.

It sat in my yarn basket for enough time now, meeting and greeting all the other Wintery, thicker acryllics and wools and said goodbye this weekend as it's taking a new life to make another Lacy Keyhole Scarf. Yup, I'm guilty of making almost 4 of those now, mainly for a little gift or treat to my friends.

I finished the first part of the scarf this morning and while listening to 4 sessions of Joyce Meyer Ministries sermons online for this week, got much progress for the second part.

 I think I can.

I think I can.

 I think I can.........................am I stuttering? 

No joke, I think I will finish this up by tomorrow morning and it's looking great! The mercerized finish gives the purl ridges and lace much more definition and the color is so yummy almost.

Mr. Darcy says to me last night while I'm knitting with it, that it reminds him of Birthday Cake Ice Cream and he craves it everytime he sees it. :P  Methinks I will keep this one and wear it this Summer.

I love all the shades that are overdyed in this skein, especially the blue which is so accentuating to turquoise jewelry if worn with a bright T-shirt and jeans.

and counting my purls and knits and ridges and lace is alot easier with this counter.

And this is another fiber~~~ softest evah!  Alpaca and silk blend. In pink. Pink. PINK!!!!

I'm trying a free pattern for a different light lacy scarf on Ravelry.com.

I'm lovin' lace.

This one is on hold though until I finish the first one in pics. I'm so close to finishing it.

Gentleman.

That leads to reflections.

Exactly 2 years ago this week, I took these pics and now as I rode by the church this week, no blooms are out at all yet.  It's interesting how God's timing is different year to year but the end result is still the same promise and He never dissapoints when it comes to nature or anything that we seek in His will.

I put those in my kitchen cupboard that my dearest husband so carefully refurbished for me. For one year ago this week, we said special prayers in this church and my pictures I took of it previously, remind me of God's promises and how He certainly keeps them.

I'm sure in the next few weeks, those azaelas will bloom again as they have for years and years and will again for more years to come.

 I will again be reminded of that special week in 2012 and cherish it for the rest of my life.

Pictures.

 

Colors.

 

Scriptures.

 

Love.

 

Warm breezes.

 

Sunshine.

 

Long hugs.

 

Hand-holding.

 

Prayers.

 

Tears of joy.

 

Miracles.

 

~~~~~~~~My love is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June :

My love is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune~~~~~~~~~Robert Burns     Purl of Wisdom-----Everything blooms in it's own time.

Purple Irises and a beautiful, sunny day in the mountains!

Queen of May

designed by Feathers in the Nest

Jennifer A Dalenberg, designer

copyright 2011

freebie for this weekend only!

I woke up this morning and my usual hot tea and stumbled in the kitchen to find that Miss Abigail had left me this!!!

Yes, she got an extra treat too. LOL

It is the most beautiful, sunny day here in the North Georgia mountains and I snapped a few pics for you this morning and also started graphing out by inspiration 3 Irises. There is special meaning in the sampler and I hope you enjoy. Choose your colors of choice. I probably will use Gentle Art Purple Iris (dark purple), CC Purple Toile (for medium purple) and CC Heatherleigh for lighter purple. CC Finley Gold for the key, crowne and inner flower and Cross. Gentle Art Avocado for the green. However, use your imagination with the colors! I haven't pulled the colors so you choose what best fills your pallette!

The initials VG are for Van Gogh, who is a favorite artist and of course his Irises he painted was in 1889.

I put my initials and also 3 Irises, one for each of my children. Two on Earth, one in Heaven. I was very blessed to have them.

I wish I did more in our yard/woods up to the house but I honestly do not. I think I  will have a bit more time in the future to try to surpass the fear of snakes; and things grow wild around here.

My roses need so much care. I have a climbing pink rose that is close to the porch.

Pink is my favorite color and these roses have done very well, without much tending at all.

A rose bud spells promise.

Everything is lush and green here with all the rains, moderate to cool temps and sunshine.

Violets grow like weeds here and they are everywhere. They really have kinda pushed out the Iris's we do have in the yard. I wanted to get a few pics of them in peak bloom but I was a bit too late!  However, I hope that a few more will bloom.

Some years they don't bloom at all. And this is the first year in several that we have seen them bloom!

They are a beautiful purple and give such inspiration.

Our seasonal view of the mountains is coming to a close by the thick, green leaves filling in.

However, we can always have a glimpse at the pond below and the water is very tranquil.

If I could pick one to send to everyone, I would and this one is for you!

Till later,

Jennifer

Hanging Out with Me

I was slightly distracted today, working in the studio with this beautiful Dogwood tree outside the window. It's so big you can see part of it here and out the kitchen on main level.

It's so tall that a good picture would not be possible without a mighty tall ladder!

So, in my mantra of embracing serendipity, I stopped to take some pics to share.

Body Guard came home in a pensive mood as a small part of his tax forms are missing~~~ kinda called a W-2,  which could be on any of the 3 levels of our house. When in these pensive serious moments, I get distracted with other things in a lighter mood. It seems to balance out things like tax documents. Opposites do attract. ;)

Anyways, in the moment of snapping a couple of pics I decided to open the window that rolls outward and see if I could just barely sit on the edge a bit and get some closer pics of the lovely Dogwood tree in full bloom.

And then he came upstairs and went WHAT?

Well it put the tax form hunt in perspective.

He started sweating more then.

I love Dogwood trees. I especially love the pink ones. But the ones that sprout about our neck of the woods are white.

See, the glare with the window.

Well, let's fix that.

Speaking of Dog. That is a bear dog walking on a path. Yep, Raven. She doesn't know yet I'm up here.

yep, the path is getting worn. She has routines in the day. They take a good swim in the pond below and then we stop hearing the ducks quack too much........ yikes.

And that's how I got these clearer views.

I almost leaned too much.

Body Guard was getting squimmish by this time. Kinda like when we rode the Ferris Wheel years ago on a date. He really is not one for heights. That's a story for another day. I digress........

Yeppers that's about 30 feet down to a "supposedly" garden I have never yet tended.

I need to find some shade-loving plants for the middle. We do have some Hostas that come back year after year. After the third time I yelled "snake" I quit with gardening. Snakes scare me to death.

closer up and hanging out literally!

This was worth "hanging out" for! :0

Peak bloom.

And here a few bunnies hanging out with me in the studio while I come up with some basket goodies. Meghan, I just can't give them up. They are waiting for you to visit! ;)

Now back to sorting.

I hope you won't be dissapointed. I'm pulling some patterns that I've stitched and I hardly ever (really can't think of any) that I stitch twice. So a little love to share later. I've made a good mess of floss and patterns.

Methinks I need to get back to it.

Thanks for hanging with me,

Jennifer

Thursday Thoughts

I'm just taking a breather from this week and it's already Thursday!

 There is definitely a busy period before going on a road trip which Body Guard and I will be doing soon. Even on my days off this week I've had so many things to do and I'm glad I did get it accomplished. Body Guard is the planner. I'm the dreamer. We like roadtrips, although, we don't take alot as we get older. He has alot of patience with me as we stop quite frequently for any store related to:

Ann Taylor
Ann Taylor
Ann Taylor....
oh and ummm.....
Hobby Lobby
Michaels'
Joannes
any cross stitch store
any quilt store.......
and shoe stores.

So you can see that our trip to the big DC next week will be a long undertaking but I plan to take some stitching with me as he drives to keep me distracted from saying..."pull over here.....now....please. hurray" and then he sighs and goes across 3 lanes of traffic and mumbles something but waits patiently while I have happy dances in exploring. I am blessed by his patience in this area.

This week our black car turned yellow-green while I made a trip to south Ga. HOLY MOLY! The pollen down there is getting thick. And I know it's heading our way soon, in fact yesterday I could tell the pollen has started but it hasn't coated our back porch yet.

Speaking of quilt stores, I had the pleasure of cruising through one last Saturday and she had some totes that were very cool and I'm definitely a large tote girl, even though I'm a small person, I love big totes. This one is a plastic-sort-of -feel on the outside with a lovely paisley pattern but inside it's another pattern in cotton cloth.

I like this especially as I drink coffee on the way to work and I can protect my stitching and work  stuff.

I wish I could remember the product name but I've already taken off the tag.

My books, DVDs stitching work, lap top, Kindle can fit in here with ease.

a new journal book where I can write "the rest of the story" LOL

It's totally made from recycled banana peels! Cool!

My stitching bag that Carol made for me is treasured and carried in here too! Thank you again Carol!!!!  {{{{HUG}}}

Well, hey, Abbie!  Isn't she pretty this morning.......I miss her already. The little princess slept with me last night, close because we had a little rainey storm with alot of wind. She gets more afraid of them the older she gets.  Brings back memories of Ren where he would literally sit and pant fast before the storm would even get here.

Raven and Ruby (i.e Thelma and Louise) are covered this morning with water. They took a trip down to the lake I see and now sunbathing.

Abbie is now on the "Snack Mat" where she stays under the stitching chair while I write or stitch.

I have to bribe her with treats and she is trained pretty well if I say the word "busy", she plays by herself.

At the quilt store I got 3 yards of this rick rack which is the largest I've ever seen.

The camera makes it look bright yellow, but it's actually a rich old gold color and perfect for making tie backs for some panels upstairs.

I couldn't resist 2 fatquarters. This is one of them.

And another.

This one is my fave. I love these colors for Spring and Summer!

I also got 2 pretty spring wool felt for making a matching needle book for my new tote.

I love this teal color. It's my 2nd fave color.

And Pepsi's sampler is almost done. I haven't picked up the needle since Monday as I've been very distracted with other stuff. But, hopefully to work on it today while catching up on the news.

Spring in action here. This is the dogwood tree out of my kitchen window today.

And this pic taken of the same view just 4 days ago! Can you believe the growth?

I love to see progress in Spring.

And the iris's and the violets and forget-me-not's are thriving. I would get a close up view but this is out of my window right now.

Purple is the inspiration for this Spring.

Carried a bit of it Tuesday to put on Aaron's spot of the world 4 hours away. The ribbon and the flowers from Hobby Lobby.

I added a white Dove.

And a nest with eggs and plenty of Forget-Me-Nots, a few "bees" here and there, and Purple Iris.

Sat back and watched the biggest fleet of blackbirds land all around and a beautiful sunset.

Here's to hoping that your journey this week involves a special spot where you can find peace.

 Till later,

Jennifer