Good Morning!

Yesterday, DH and I visited one of our favorite spots in the area.  Kline Creek is a living history farm dating back to the 1800's.  The wind was blowing, but, we ambled along the site saying hello to the chickens, horses and sheep.  Lets hope 2017 comes in as a lamb (picture of sheep as the lambs have not been born yet).

The battery in my iphone drained, hence, lack of more pics.  

Although I have more projects in mind than I can realistically handle, I think this daily stitching project is fairly realistic and should be a nice companion to my story cloth.  Here is the link: 

http://www.brwnpaperbag.com/1-year-of-stitche

So many wonderful stitches out there to learn.  Anybody game?  

Blessings for your day!   

Merry Christmas!

Just a few pics to share of decorations.  

May each and every one of you and your loved ones be blessed this Christmas Season.  You are a blessing to me.

Peace...

Sharing a few items

This is the start of my story cloth which runs from November 28, 2016, my 60th birthday and going forward to November 28, 2017.  Using Liz Ackerts's Patchplay method http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Patchplay and Jude Hill's invisible/gluebastingtechnique http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/.services/blog/6a00d8341c8bd453ef00d8341c8bd853ef/search?filter.q=invisible+baste.  Also, the three white patches with birthday cake, balloon and streamers are designs from my Etsy friend, Mollie Johanson.  Mollie has a delightful blog http://wildolive.blogspot.com/ and a terrific Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/wildolive.

I will be featuring more of Mollie's designs throughout the year. 

The hexagon mat and little red reindeer ornament were made last Christmas using patterns from Mollie.  

These wee wool mittens are from my Etsy friend, Tammy Volk.  I have been purchasing a mitten from her each year for awhile now as she attaches a "year disc" to the backside.  They are so sweet. Tammy's Etsy shop is https://www.etsy.com/shop/BananaBugAndZod?ref=search_shop_redirect.

Here is a pic of some of the strawberry pinkeeps which I collect.  Most of them are handmade by my Etsy friend, Liz D., - her shop is filled with treasures.https://www.etsy.com/shop/GoneToTheBeach.

Have a blessed day!

Great Expectations...

Not the book.  Not the movie.  Great Expectations of the holiday season which I struggle with each year.

Self imposed, familial, social.  Although I have always loved Christmas and, as an adult, became more and more aware of the Reason for the Season, the "struggle"  lies within.

Yes, I realize that I cannot please everyone.  Ha!  It is the time for families to draw near.  Unfortunately, its not always Currier and Ives or Norman Rockwell, is it?  I tell myself, its two days out of the year to grin and bear it  Expectations!  More considerations.  More "zip my lip."  I am far from perfect.  Expectations...

No doubt, others feel this way when including me in their plans.  Ho Ho Ho!

So, here is my little sunshine patch from Jude Hill's threadcrumbs.bigcartel.com/ shop, using http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/faces / technique for face details.  As many times as I have looked at his face, I cannot quite define the expression.

Today, I think he is pondering about Expectations.

Have a Blessed Day!

Good Morning From BRRRRRRRRRRR IL...

 Will finish posting pics from vacation here today.  Texas was quite an adventure.  Wished we had more time to explore further West to see prairie lands.  Next trip!

First, please excuse the quality of the pics!  The first is the Alamo in San Antonio.  No inside photography permitted.  The second is a fish pond (more like a canal) located on the Alamo grounds. These fish were huge!  Note to self:  learn how to take selfies!  DH was trying to scrunch down to give room to the Alamo in the background.  Don't you like the Lone Star Flag protruding from my head?!

Took a boat ride through the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Lovely place.  visitsanantonio.com

If you are familiar with the "Fixer Upper" series on HGTV, you will recognize the Magnolia Silos.  magnoliamarket.com  Fun place.  Would like to spend more time in that area.

We also visited a Texas Military Museum (good choice for a very rainy day) texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org - I only took one pic (see below):

Can you guess why I took this pic?  The moment I saw it, Jude Hill's mending came to mind spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/2009/12/mending.

A true highlight of this road trip was meeting a Kindred Spirit http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016_12_02_archive.html.  Since we did not know exactly where we would be on any given day, an e-mail was sent to Liz the night before we met.  It was meant to be!  So grateful we had the chance to break bread together before we continued on the journey.  What a true pleasure to have actually seen and felt Liz's story cloths.  She also graciously bestowed a heartfelt token which will be treasured: (pics of front and back sides).

From Texas, we started heading home through OK, MO and IL as your's truly developed a sinus infection.  Just grateful the the malady manifested itself on the flip side of the trip.

Later or tomorrow, postings will return to "stitchy things."

Have a blessed day.

Good Son Day Morning!

The snow is falling here.  Appropriate time to show more warm weather pics from the trip.

We were traveling the day of my birthday (November 28).  Originally, we had planned on spending a few hours in New Orleans; however, after hearing about a shooting around the French Quarter that day or the day before, we decided to have our treat of Beignet and Chickory Coffee au Lait at a satellite Cafedumonde   cafedumonde.com near the motel we stayed at outside of NOLA

Nice drive along the Gulf Coast through FL, MS and then, on to LA.  Although I don't recall the name of the restaurant and the food was marginal, dining along the coast was nice.  

The quilt blocks were at a "comfort stop" along the way through Louisiana.  The bear sign and Hot Pepper Express train were at the McIlhenney Tabasco Museum on Avery Island tabasco.com/avery-island.  Was so surprised to see quite a few signs throughout LA for bears.

Next post, Texas, pardners.
Blessings to all!

Seventeen Days, Sixteen Nights and 3,143 miles...

DH and I returned a few days ago from an extended road trip.  When we started out, we had a sketchy idea of how long we would be away from home and several ideas as to which direction we would head.  

The first six days of the trip were spent in Pensacola FL, where we celebrated Thanksgiving with DH's Aunt A.  Lots of eating, sitting, visiting, eating, sitting...well, you get the picture.  While in Pensacola, we visited a favorite antique mall milesantiquemall.  Purchased a few odds and ends.  Oh, by the way, we did have lunch at a favorite spot in Pensacola (wonderful Grouper and smoked gouda grits) fishhousepensacola.com.  Here are pics of the Christmas tree outside the restaurant:

Six days flew by before we knew it.  On Nov 28, my 60th birthday, we headed west.  More to share in next post.  

Snow predicted here in IL - possibly 2-8 inches depending on path.  That is 2-8 inches more than we want.  Gratefully, we did not have to deal with snow or inclement weather while on the road.  Blessings for sure.

Bless you all!