The Sky is Very Blue

The sky is blue here on Long Island. Cool and windy, but still sunny with blue skies. My daffodils are in full bloom and some of my tulips from previous Easter gifts have also bloomed.

 Hubby and I bought some pansies last week for our front porch.

I am in the midst of stitching blue sky also.
This is where I was last week.

I hope you all like seeing a bunch of cross-stitch for quite a while, because right now I am enjoying getting between a half-hour to an hour of stitching in each day. I really want to finish Baker Beach this year. That may be pushing it though because it is so large.
This is where I am as of yesterday:

I have had some followers ask me how big this is going to be. The finished picture will be approximate 18" wide by 11" high. You can see the finished height in the picture above, but I have to stitch two page widths to the left and two page widths to the right of the vertical part of the picture that is so far completed. There are thousands for cross-stitches in my future.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching today. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are hand-stitching. I will continue stitching Baker Beach and maybe work a little on my Prairie Schooler Santa. I would love to be able to sit on my porch in the sun and stitch, but it may not be warm enough.

Thanks for stopping by!



Finished

I finally finished my Jaunty Jacket. The collar was very easy to finish. I really just had to actually get it started.

It fits perfectly. I am so happy! A much better result than Mom's vest. 

I think that now I will return to my Granny Square Roses. 

I am sort of tired of seeing them hang around my house. I can also work on these anywhere which make them easy to work on anytime. I believe I will make these into an afghan. I just have to decide how large I want it to be and whether I want to break the rose squares up with plain colored Granny Squares.

I am joining Ginny for Yarn Along this week. What are you knitting/crocheting? What are you reading? Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to.

As for reading, I seem to be on a romance novel kick. This is not for any reason except that I have been able to download them for free from the Apple Store on my mini-iPad or on my Kindle through Overdrive. I don't have any large chunks of reading time right now so these fit the bill. 

I have finished reading Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight. I never really cared about any of the characters in this book. I found the story fairly bland. I would not recommend it.

I also read Country Heaven by Ava Miles. This was a fairly good romance novel that actually had you interested in the characters. I even teared up a couple of times. I would be interested in reading the subsequent books in this series to find out what happens to the secondary characters. 

I have just started reading The Beach Quilt by Holly Chamberlain. This appears to be a mothers/teens relationship book. So far it is an easy read.

Thanks for stopping by!

Page Three Started

I have been spending a little time every day working on Baker Beach. I finished the second page last weekend.

I have almost finished working on the first color of the page. Thankfully, there are big swaths of single colors throughout most of this page. I hope that means it will work up quickly.

Here is where I am on page three.

Oh it feels so good to say that!

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching today. My goal will be to finish that blue I am working on and maybe start the next shade of blue. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are hand-stitching.

I have also taken out The Prairie Schooler 2008 Santa to work on. I bought the 18 count Putty Khaki Davos that is recommended a couple of weeks ago. I don't have all the prescribed colors, but I am thinking of making some substitutions as I really have a ton of different colored floss and don't want to buy any more. I just really started it last night so I haven't stitched much yet.

Since it is so small, I can work on it while watching TV.

Spring has finally truly sprung here. My daffodils are in full bloom.

 That is my gazing ball stand, but I haven't put the ball out yet.

Thanks for stopping by!



One Lovely Blog Award

I am so happy to receive a nomination from Corrie at Plutonium Muffins this week for the One Lovely Blog Award. Corrie is a crafter from London (and many other places) who blogs mostly about her beautiful knitting and spinning. She also sells a variety of handmade cards in her Etsy shop Skinny Lizzy.

 

The purpose of this award is for bloggers to nominate fellow, mostly newer, bloggers that they wish to recognize. The goal is to bring attention to blogs that we think are "lovely" and enjoy reading. We hope others will enjoy reading these blogs also.

 

In order to accept the award, the nominated blogger must follow these rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you & link back to them in your post
• Share seven facts about yourself
• Nominate 10 other bloggers for the award 

Here are my seven facts:

1. I am a secondary school math teacher. I especially love Geometry. This is probably why I love quilts.
2. I love to bake. Unfortunately, I am the only one of my family who will eat more that one muffin or piece of cake or pie. I don't bake as much as I would like because I wouldn't fit into any of my clothes.
3. I taught myself to crochet in order to help my grandmother complete an afghan kit that one of my uncles gave her. I am still crocheting over 40 years later.
4. I started designing my own cross-stitch charts 5 years ago. I still enjoy working on commercial charts too.
5. My favorite place to vacation with my family is Woodloch in Hawley, PA.
6. My favorite place to vacation as a kid was Colonial Williamsburg, VA. I love the history of that place.
7. I have been fascinated with King Tut since the 1970s. I finally got to see an exhibit of his tomb's treasures a couple of years ago when it came to NYC.

 Here are my blog nominations: 

• Pumpkin Sunrise: Karen has a wonderful blog where she shares her knitting. Her dog Frodo makes frequent appearances also.
• Re-inventing Mother: Wanda shares her life, knitting, and her beautiful Drawstrings bags that she sells on Etsy.
• Kearnel's Korner: Lynn posts about her beautiful cross-stitch projects.
• Butterfly Wings: June shares here adorable cross-stitch projects and photos of her beautiful garden.
• Arrow Acres Farm: Leanne shares her knitting and her adorable alpacas. I want to visit her farm some day as it is in a neighboring state to me.
• Through Our Garden Gate: Kathleen shares her life as a creative, stay-at-home mom.
• Woolthyme: Stephanie shares her knitting, embroidery, reading and life in general.
• Happy In Dole Valley: Lisa shares her gorgeous knitting and her life in Washington. She has some great knitting patterns on Ravelry and a shop on Etsy.
• Small Things: I just had to nominate this blog because I visit it almost daily. Ginny shares her life, family, knitting and reading. She hosts the weekly link-up, Yarn Along, where many bloggers share their reading and yarn projects.
• Blacksheep's bit of the Web: Edgar has been blogging for quite some time. He shares his cross-stitch projects, thrifting, vacations, who-hounds and life in San Francisco. I include this blog because I thoroughly enjoy reading it and I look forward to each new post.

 

I hope you visit some of these amazing blogs and make some new friends.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Smithtown Stitchers Quilt Show

Sunday, Mom and I went to the Smithtown Stitchers Quilt Show. 

I won a fat quarter as a door prize. Yay!

There were some really beautiful quilts on display. 

This is my favorite of the entire show. It won first prize for professional quilting. It was quilted by Galyna Miller of Quilting Treats.

Here is a close up. Don't you just love the way the quilter echoed the fabric dots with quilted ones.

This beauty below is a miniature. Those little white triangles are only about 1/4 inch.

I will let you enjoy the rest.

You can't see the beauty of the trapunto on this quilt from this far away.

 So took a close-up.

Here are some more....

This is also a miniature.

 Beautiful mix of applique and piecing.

I hope you enjoyed some of the quilts from this show.

Thanks for stopping by!

Next page please

My fingers are itching to start the next page of Large Cross-stitch #1. Since it is no longer a secret to my son, I will now be referring to it as Baker Beach. 

This is where I was last week:

This is where I am as of today. I have less than 100 stitches on this page. Only four different colors to stitch in that confetti of spaces near the bottom. I hope I find the time for some slow stitching to finish up this page today.

 I am joining Kathy today to share that Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Spring has finally sprung here on Long Island. Not all of my daffodils are in bloom, but this rogue plant in front of my porch is in full bloom.

I also set my Easter tulips on my front steps. 

They are a pretty welcome every time I come home.

That is all for now. I am going to a local quilt show today. I hope to have plenty of pictures to share this week.

Thanks for stopping by!



Back to crafting

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover.

Hubby and I had a nice visit with our two adult children and my mother.
Hubby bought this beautiful flower bucket for me.

Mom bought me tulips.

 Now our daughter is back working in Boston and our son flew back to CA to continue his research at Stanford University yesterday.

I missed Measi's WIPocalypse check-in on April 4th. Better late than never. You can check out what other bloggers are stitching by clicking the link.
This month's question is:

Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects? Which do you dread?

Hmm, I really like French knots. I know that most people don't like them, but for some strange reason, I have a knack for completing them. I usually leave them for last because I know they will be completed quickly.

I have determined from my two recent apron projects that I really do not like to work the stem stitch. Thankfully this stitch doesn't show up too often on counted cross-stitch projects.

As for my WIPs, the only one I have been working on lately has been Large Cross-stitch #1. I hope to finish the second of 10 pages this week. Here is how this project looked last month:

This is its current state. I am getting really close to the bottom of this page. 

I see a lot of progress in the past month. WooHoo! 

I am joining Ginny's Yarn Along today also. What are knitting/crocheting? What are you reading? Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to.

I am still sewing seams on my Jaunty Jacket.  

I hope to start crocheting the collar later this week. 

As for reading, I borrowed Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight for my Kindle. I can't say I am really enjoying this book. I believe it is supposed to be some sort of romance novel, but it is somewhat sad and slow. I am not that interested in the characters or their struggles and the romance just isn't there. I am on chapter 24 and more than halfway through so I will finish this book, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Thanks for stopping by!



I need some sun!

I have lost my blogging mojo recently. Then again, I have also lost my crafting mojo. It is cold and cloudy, even rainy or snowy most days lately and my energy is lagging. I get home from work and I don't feel like doing anything. 

Of course, I also tutor after work and go visit my Mom some days. 

Over last weekend, I did finally start sewing together my Jaunty Jacket. 

I still have the side seams to sew together and the collar to crochet. I panicked a little at the beginning because I had never put together a raglan sleeve sweater, but after one misstep I figured it out just fine. Whew! What is even better is it fits!

I hope to have some crafting time next week when school is out. My children will be visiting for Easter and I am really looking forward that time. I should have a couple of days totally free next week though. I hope it is a little warmer then so I can get some walking in also. 

I have just finished reading The Murder Pit (A Moose River Mystery) by Jeff Shelby. It was recommended by another blogger and was free for my Kindle. I liked it, but it is definitely a light mystery...if there is such a thing. It is easy reading. Unfortunately, I solved the mystery about three quarters of the way through the book. I hate when that happens. Sometimes I think I have figured it out and am then surprised by the ending. Those are the best kinds of mystery books. I have also found that if you read a lot of a particular author's books, you can eventually predict the ending fairly accurately. That is what happened to me with Agatha Christie books. I had to take a long break from reading them.

I am currently reading Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight. I am not that far into it yet so I won't comment on it as yet.

Thanks for stopping by!