Ahhh, Summer in Maine. . .

Okay, I am pushing it just a little. Summer doesn't officially arrive until June 21st, which is also Father's Day this year, but I always feel as though it's summer once June is here. The gardens are starting to look beautiful, lupine starts to appear, the lilacs are in full bloom, and the lawn has been mowed several times by now! Oh yes, I did forget those little flying bugs.

We are lucky indeed to live on the coast of Maine.

Here are some of our favorite things this summer . . .

• Flip-flops (get that pedicure and let your toes sing). We'll be carrying OKAb flip-flops; pretty styles and colors.
• Colorful Bangles on bare arms.
• Seals sunning themselves on the rocks between Georgetown and Southport.
• Strawberry Rhubarb pie (I've made two).
• Colorful Dash & Albert rugs underfoot.
• Displaying shells in pretty jars.
• Vance Kittera candles in lovely pastel shades.
• Cut flowers from the garden in vases.
• A pretty pashmina over my shoulders in the evening (arriving soon).
• New summer pillows on the deck chairs.
• And of course, Lobster on the dock at Five Islands!
  

Thank goodness we live in Maine.

Ahhh, Summer in Maine. . .

Okay, I am pushing it just a little. Summer doesn't officially arrive until June 21st, which is also Father's Day this year, but I always feel as though it's summer once June is here. The gardens are starting to look beautiful, lupine starts to appear, the lilacs are in full bloom, and the lawn has been mowed several times by now! Oh yes, I did forget those little flying bugs.

We are lucky indeed to live on the coast of Maine.

Here are some of our favorite things this summer . . .

• Flip-flops (get that pedicure and let your toes sing). We'll be carrying OKAb flip-flops; pretty styles and colors.
• Colorful Bangles on bare arms.
• Seals sunning themselves on the rocks between Georgetown and Southport.
• Strawberry Rhubarb pie (I've made two).
• Colorful Dash & Albert rugs underfoot.
• Displaying shells in pretty jars.
• Vance Kittera candles in lovely pastel shades.
• Cut flowers from the garden in vases.
• A pretty pashmina over my shoulders in the evening (arriving soon).
• New summer pillows on the deck chairs.
• And of course, Lobster on the dock at Five Islands!
  

Thank goodness we live in Maine.

Acorn Hill

It's been a very busy time around here, and not much fun. Right after I posted last time, the truck went down again, and hubby was home for 12 days. There was a choice to be made, either fix the old truck, or try to get another truck. I kind a figured that we had put so much money into the old truck that it should be new again, but hubby didn't see it that way. And because he used the title for the old truck as security for purchasing a truck he wanted to put a driver into, and that one hasn't been paid for either, he couldn't use the old one as a trade in. Oh, the drama continues, and for the first time in my life, I hate trucks.

Have you ever seen an Irishman mope? That should be MOPE in capital letters. Irishmen are depressing when they are in a funk, or trying to make a decision, or worried about finances. And my Irishman does it all to the extreme. He must have made 500 phone calls, eaten me out of house and home, tracked in dirt and crud from the garage, did totally nothing for several days, and then tried to get everything he wanted done in a day. HE DROVE ME CRAZY!!!

I have to say, I'm very glad I was stitching on a Little House Needlework project--if it had been a Shepherd's Bush, I'd have made a cake of it. But, with LHN, I can not only enjoy the stitching but not have to worry so much about a certain person talking while I'm counting. Or snoring. And this piece really gave me the "soothing" I needed during this difficult time. So, without further ado, here is Acorn Hill.

This piece was charted for either Crescent colours cotton or Crescent colours silk, so with the choice, I decided on the silks. But, now I need to be careful. I have found out that Chad's cat loves my silks--she stood up on her hind legs and snagged my ring of silks and ran off with them. I caught her before she'd done any damage, but now I have to watch her when I get the silks out.

Now that Shawn is back on the road, I'll be getting the saw out and making a frame for this piece and for my newest project, "Sunflower Inn". About all that's been done on that is the stitched border and the sun, so I didn't take a picture of it yet.

This last picture is the gift Chad got me for Mother's Day. This is the 2009 Friends of Boyd's Bears club kit, with a basket, stuffed bear and a treasure box (I collect their treasure boxes). Wasn't this a sweet thing for him to do? Now I get to find a good use for this lovely basket.

Thanks for stopping by, and many thanks and appreciation for the loving comments you all left me. The encouragement, sympathy and love made me cry and smile at the same time. Thank you all so much. And thank you all for your posts. They really keep me entertained.

Stitch on, my friends--for you all are my friends, the friends of my heart. What blessings you all are!

Acorn Hill

It's been a very busy time around here, and not much fun. Right after I posted last time, the truck went down again, and hubby was home for 12 days. There was a choice to be made, either fix the old truck, or try to get another truck. I kind a figured that we had put so much money into the old truck that it should be new again, but hubby didn't see it that way. And because he used the title for the old truck as security for purchasing a truck he wanted to put a driver into, and that one hasn't been paid for either, he couldn't use the old one as a trade in. Oh, the drama continues, and for the first time in my life, I hate trucks.

Have you ever seen an Irishman mope? That should be MOPE in capital letters. Irishmen are depressing when they are in a funk, or trying to make a decision, or worried about finances. And my Irishman does it all to the extreme. He must have made 500 phone calls, eaten me out of house and home, tracked in dirt and crud from the garage, did totally nothing for several days, and then tried to get everything he wanted done in a day. HE DROVE ME CRAZY!!!

I have to say, I'm very glad I was stitching on a Little House Needlework project--if it had been a Shepherd's Bush, I'd have made a cake of it. But, with LHN, I can not only enjoy the stitching but not have to worry so much about a certain person talking while I'm counting. Or snoring. And this piece really gave me the "soothing" I needed during this difficult time. So, without further ado, here is Acorn Hill.

This piece was charted for either Crescent colours cotton or Crescent colours silk, so with the choice, I decided on the silks. But, now I need to be careful. I have found out that Chad's cat loves my silks--she stood up on her hind legs and snagged my ring of silks and ran off with them. I caught her before she'd done any damage, but now I have to watch her when I get the silks out.

Now that Shawn is back on the road, I'll be getting the saw out and making a frame for this piece and for my newest project, "Sunflower Inn". About all that's been done on that is the stitched border and the sun, so I didn't take a picture of it yet.

This last picture is the gift Chad got me for Mother's Day. This is the 2009 Friends of Boyd's Bears club kit, with a basket, stuffed bear and a treasure box (I collect their treasure boxes). Wasn't this a sweet thing for him to do? Now I get to find a good use for this lovely basket.

Thanks for stopping by, and many thanks and appreciation for the loving comments you all left me. The encouragement, sympathy and love made me cry and smile at the same time. Thank you all so much. And thank you all for your posts. They really keep me entertained.

Stitch on, my friends--for you all are my friends, the friends of my heart. What blessings you all are!

Brimfield Shopping Trip

We've just returned from a wonderful time in Brimfield. For those of you who haven't been, there are about 5000 dealers on field after field for a one mile stretch. You can find almost anything there, and certainly a lot of things that you've never seen before! Erin and I started our trip by picking up a 16 foot rental truck on Monday afternoon, and making our way to Brimfield that evening. We wanted to get there on Monday so that we could get up at the crack of dawn the next morning and start shopping. Fun, fun, fun. . . It's tiring, and a long day but we filled the truck and arrived back in Bath by 11:00 p.m.

We bought mostly "cottagy" type furniture and decoratives since summer is almost here and customers will be opening up their cottages. It's all in the shop and ready for Memorial Day weekend. Let the season begin!

Brimfield Shopping Trip

We've just returned from a wonderful time in Brimfield. For those of you who haven't been, there are about 5000 dealers on field after field for a one mile stretch. You can find almost anything there, and certainly a lot of things that you've never seen before! Erin and I started our trip by picking up a 16 foot rental truck on Monday afternoon, and making our way to Brimfield that evening. We wanted to get there on Monday so that we could get up at the crack of dawn the next morning and start shopping. Fun, fun, fun. . . It's tiring, and a long day but we filled the truck and arrived back in Bath by 11:00 p.m.

We bought mostly "cottagy" type furniture and decoratives since summer is almost here and customers will be opening up their cottages. It's all in the shop and ready for Memorial Day weekend. Let the season begin!

A New Frame and a New Finish

I sure didn't think it had been over two weeks since the last time I posted. I think I wait to have a picture or a finish to share before I post something new.

First up is the new frame for LHN's Sea to Shining Sea. Thank you for all the compliments on the first frame for this piece, and I really did like the style of the frame. But, what you couldn't see was that the corners didn't fit perfectly and I felt like that detracted from the look of this piece. I tried to match the frame color, but used the idea of what Diane used for her piece. I thought about going the blue she did, and I had the paint for it, but after using the stained frame, I thought that just brought out the color of the lettering so nicely that the new one just had to have stain. I would have posted several days earlier but here in northern Indiana, we've had nearly a week of rain, and the humidity caused the drying time to be really slow. So, what do you think of the new frame?



And now, my new finish. I was really inspired by the framing job Miss Jane showed on her blog of her My Needle's Work. It was fabulous so, of course, I had to get started on it. It went so fast, I was amazed! Got into a good rhythm and had it finished, for the most part, in three days. (or three evenings.) When it came time to stitch the picture she is holding, I just couldn't stitch that rooster. It's not that I hate roosters but it just didn't feel right that my needle worker would stitch a rooster and then be so proud to show it off. Now, I have stitched a rooster picture, but that was for my little sister for Christmas one year as she collects and decorates her kitchen with rooster everything. Anyway, I decided that my little needle worker would stitch a LHN design. I used the Traveling Stitcher chart, stitched only part of it, over one thread. I used the left side house, with the fencing with the bird, the fence on the other side of the house and the flower, plus some of the upper border. I didn't use the thread colors used in Traveling Stitcher, but the thread colors used in the My Needle's Work. Let me tell you--it took longer to stitch that tiny piece than it took to stitch the rest of the piece in its entirety. But, I was very pleased with the results. I am not the greatest over one stitcher but I'm getting better.


On the home front, things continue to go wrong. The truck was down again for another repair, we haven't seen a paycheck in three weeks (which makes it really hard to not only pay bills but to get groceries and prescriptions) and would appreciate any prayers that come our way. It's been a real difficult time but we're trying to keep our heads up and keep on keeping on. The truck is running again, and hubby is in Ohio and won't be home this weekend. All of these problems plus the week of gloomy weather and rain has got me down but I turn to my stitching and all of your blogs and can forget the problems. So, thank you, all of you, who write such lovely posts, keep all of us entertained and inspired. Your posts and your comments mean so much to me.


So, what's on board next in my stitching? I was trying to finish up LHN's The Angels Sang, (and it's almost finished) but I'm having a problem with the floss colors. Her dress and wings are nearly the same color, (antique lace and Garden Trellis) so I'm going to frog out her wings, find a nice pale color that will accentuate the piece, and restitch the wings. But first, I'm stitching Acorn Hill by LHN. I needed to stitch with some silks and this piece is charted for Crescent Colours Belle Soie. I love stitching with Belle Soie. It is so soft and it gleams sweetly and covers so well. I was going to show a progress picture but all I got done was the outside border and a start to the house's roof--so just some brown stitches. I'm stitching it on 32 count Vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens, which was a gift from a special friend--you know who you are and how special you are to me



Okay, dear friends. I'm going back to my stitching, and see if I can find something interesting on television to listen to. Stitch on and show plenty of pictures!

A New Frame and a New Finish

I sure didn't think it had been over two weeks since the last time I posted. I think I wait to have a picture or a finish to share before I post something new.

First up is the new frame for LHN's Sea to Shining Sea. Thank you for all the compliments on the first frame for this piece, and I really did like the style of the frame. But, what you couldn't see was that the corners didn't fit perfectly and I felt like that detracted from the look of this piece. I tried to match the frame color, but used the idea of what Diane used for her piece. I thought about going the blue she did, and I had the paint for it, but after using the stained frame, I thought that just brought out the color of the lettering so nicely that the new one just had to have stain. I would have posted several days earlier but here in northern Indiana, we've had nearly a week of rain, and the humidity caused the drying time to be really slow. So, what do you think of the new frame?



And now, my new finish. I was really inspired by the framing job Miss Jane showed on her blog of her My Needle's Work. It was fabulous so, of course, I had to get started on it. It went so fast, I was amazed! Got into a good rhythm and had it finished, for the most part, in three days. (or three evenings.) When it came time to stitch the picture she is holding, I just couldn't stitch that rooster. It's not that I hate roosters but it just didn't feel right that my needle worker would stitch a rooster and then be so proud to show it off. Now, I have stitched a rooster picture, but that was for my little sister for Christmas one year as she collects and decorates her kitchen with rooster everything. Anyway, I decided that my little needle worker would stitch a LHN design. I used the Traveling Stitcher chart, stitched only part of it, over one thread. I used the left side house, with the fencing with the bird, the fence on the other side of the house and the flower, plus some of the upper border. I didn't use the thread colors used in Traveling Stitcher, but the thread colors used in the My Needle's Work. Let me tell you--it took longer to stitch that tiny piece than it took to stitch the rest of the piece in its entirety. But, I was very pleased with the results. I am not the greatest over one stitcher but I'm getting better.


On the home front, things continue to go wrong. The truck was down again for another repair, we haven't seen a paycheck in three weeks (which makes it really hard to not only pay bills but to get groceries and prescriptions) and would appreciate any prayers that come our way. It's been a real difficult time but we're trying to keep our heads up and keep on keeping on. The truck is running again, and hubby is in Ohio and won't be home this weekend. All of these problems plus the week of gloomy weather and rain has got me down but I turn to my stitching and all of your blogs and can forget the problems. So, thank you, all of you, who write such lovely posts, keep all of us entertained and inspired. Your posts and your comments mean so much to me.


So, what's on board next in my stitching? I was trying to finish up LHN's The Angels Sang, (and it's almost finished) but I'm having a problem with the floss colors. Her dress and wings are nearly the same color, (antique lace and Garden Trellis) so I'm going to frog out her wings, find a nice pale color that will accentuate the piece, and restitch the wings. But first, I'm stitching Acorn Hill by LHN. I needed to stitch with some silks and this piece is charted for Crescent Colours Belle Soie. I love stitching with Belle Soie. It is so soft and it gleams sweetly and covers so well. I was going to show a progress picture but all I got done was the outside border and a start to the house's roof--so just some brown stitches. I'm stitching it on 32 count Vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens, which was a gift from a special friend--you know who you are and how special you are to me



Okay, dear friends. I'm going back to my stitching, and see if I can find something interesting on television to listen to. Stitch on and show plenty of pictures!