Wordless Wednesday

Closing in on a Finish & Other News

My latest progress scan on Heart of America. It's creeping ever closer to a finish!! I've run out of English Ivy which is used on that bottom swirly thing that's not finished, but never fear! I have more in my stash closet, I just have to put my hands on it. I so want to get this one finished before starting on my new incentive piece, so I'm torn as to what I'll stitch on today. Do I try to finish this or do I go ahead and start "Give"? Decisions, decisions, decisions!!

In other news, I had a little gardening accident this past Tuesday while out harvesting bell peppers. I tried to lop off the side of my finger using my hand held pruning shears! OUCHIE!! This resulted in a trip to the minor emergency clinic, a DPT shot (diphtheria, pertussis aka whooping cough, and tetanus) in my arm that is STILL bugging me, and 5 pretty stitches on my finger. The stitches only impaired my stitching for a few hours. LOL I go back to see the nurse practitioner (a fellow stitcher btw) on Tuesday for the removal of the stitches. Things are healing nicely. I'm still putting some Neosporin on the wound and also some vitamin E gel on it to reduce scarring. At home, I try to go without a bandage, but if I'm going to be out and about, like at work, I put a bandage on it. I'm down to one band-aid now. Progress!

Here's the finger, all mummified after my visit to the clinic, with Callie investigating and protecting me:


When I first cut myself and was sitting on the couch trying to get the bleeding to stop, Callie immediately jumped up behind me and settled down on the blanket up there. She wouldn't leave me as she knew something was wrong with me. She was watching over me and wouldn't let Mark move her one inch! LOL When we got home, she followed me around constantly and was either on the floor near me or laying next to me at all times. I just love that cat!

Here are my not-so pretty stitches:


Surprisingly, I've not experienced much pain from the actual wound. Most of the pain and some bruising I've experienced were from the nerve block shot the NP injected into my finger to deaden it before beginning her little stitching project. I did experience some throbbing in the finger the day it happened and some tenderness, but mostly it's been pain free. Of course, if I manage to whack it on something, then it hurts, but left alone, there's no pain. I can even type normally now.

We have a few firsts in the garden! We have a pumpkin! After battling the squash vine borers, drenching rain, and heat, we've discovered at least one baby pumpkin on the vine. Woohoo!


We also have our first winter sown Purple Coneflower (echinacea)! I planted the seeds for these way back in February of this year. They've been slowly growing but have really taken off with the cooler temps and rain we've recently had.


Lastly, our first Green Zebra tomatoes! This was one of the heirloom tomato plants we got for $0.50 at a local nursery in May. We've babied these all summer and now they're producing babies! This tomato will not turn red, but will stay green with greenish stripes. If you click on the pic to see it larger, you'll see the green stripes already starting to form. Will be so fun to watch them mature. There's a total of 3 babies on the plant so far.



Fall is definitely here with football season well underway, the temps down to near 90º, and the days getting shorter. This is my favorite time of the year. Enjoy your fall!

Blessed are the Meek Progress

This past week has been a booger! We've had people call in sick at work which makes everything more stressful and busy. I came home worn out every night with little desire or energy to do anything but veg out on the couch or in front of the computer. I did manage to get some stitching accomplished though. Here's my progress on Blessed are the Meek, one of the Seasonal Saltbox threadpacks from Little House Needleworks.


In other news, I'm a great aunt! (I've been a great aunt for 21 years, but now I'm a Great-Aunt!) I don't have pics to share, but I hope to have some soon. My niece gave birth to a little boy, Lucian Zane, on Friday morning. He's 20" long, weighs 7 lbs, 5 oz, and has pretty auburn hair like his momma. I'm thinking a trip to see the great nephew is in order, but I just have to figure out when that will happen.

Lastly, I'll leave you with the bats flying out in my garden.

Quaker Silence by Tree of Life Samplings

Jan has posted a sneak peek of her second design, Quaker Silence, on her blog. I have seen the whole piece and it's absolutely beautiful. (Neener, neener!!) Again, Jan has done an excellent job of choosing fibers and fabrics that are just gorgeous!

Hurry over to the new Tree of Life Samplings blog and check it out!

Wordless Wednesday

Slowly Progressing on Heart of America

Here's the latest progress scan of Heart of America. I'm on the final block. I've been stitching on this on Sundays so I only get a couple of hours on it each week. I need to hurry up and get it finished, though, because our next incentive round starts soon and that will need to be my Sunday focus piece. Thank goodness NFL's back as I'm an avid football fan (GO COWBOYS!) and will be on the couch watching games on Sundays. LOL

It's a Wrap and I'm Building an Ark!

Design: City Stitcher Country Stitcher
Designer: Little House Needleworks
Fabric: 32 ct. Autumn Harvest from R&R Reproductions
Fibers: DMC and Crescent Colours

I'm so happy to have this one finished! It's a former incentive piece project from 2007. I remember stitching on it while my husband was in the hospital after falling from a ladder. After I brought him home, I was so busy taking care of him and doing everything else, that this went by the wayside. I did leave off the weather vane on the "country" house on the right. It has French Knots on it and I was having all kinds of problems getting the knots to stay on the top side of the fabric! I love doing French Knots and normally don't have any problems, but today was not my day!!


This was our rain gauge on Friday night. We had 3.75" of rain on Friday night between 6pm and 11pm. That's an insane amount of rain for such a relatively short period of time. It rained fairly hard for about 2 hours with lots of thunder and lightning. However, it didn't stop there! This morning, I dumped out another 3.5" of rain, and we've received almost another 1/2" today! We're supposed to get more this evening and into tomorrow. I feel like a hurricane has come ashore and we're getting the after effects. I'm thinking I might need to start building an ark! Here are some pics from my morning stroll of the yard in the drizzle this morning.

Crepe Myrtle blooms laden down with rain

Rock Rose (I LOVE this plant!!)

A very wet Blanket Flower. I have another one that shows a very soggy flower head.

Black-Eyed Susan


This bucket hasn't been emptied since the rains started. Just think, there's more water in it now!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Labor Day and My Project of the Week

To those enjoying a break from their labors this Monday, Happy Labor Day! To those like me, who must work on Labor Day, I hope you have a wonderful day and get to spend some of it relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family.

Mark and I worked out in the yard yesterday morning and evening, so I didn't get anything stitched on Heart of America. I did however, look through my WIP basket and pull out a different LHN design, City Stitcher Country Stitcher. I put a few stitches in her last night while watching the late news and Sunday night sports wrap up. I decided I could actually get a finish out of this project this week, if I work diligently on it and don't slack off.

Here's the most recent pic I have of her, taken in March (yikes!). Last night, I finished the flowers in the bottom border on the left (those things that look like "w"s on the bottom) and started on the 2nd row of green sprigs of grass under the house on the left.


All I have left to do is finish the grass sprigs and sunflowers on the left, put the berries on the tree, and do the long stitches on the window panes of the houses and I'll be finished!!

Thursday Follow Up

Thank you for the lovely comments on my pics. I really do enjoy sharing my pics with you. Yesterday's pics:

1. Clouds after a late summer storm last August.

2. Hannah snoozing in the sun room. She seldom sleeps stretched out like this and we hardly ever see her pretty tummy. :)

3. Pink Oxblood Lily, aka Schoolhouse Lily or Hurricane Lily. The pink form is very rare and this is the first one to bloom. I planted this one last spring and have been waiting so patiently for it to bloom. I'm hoping it will multiply as it's such a pretty color!

4. Green maters, baby!! (Getting ready for the fall growing season.)

5. Red Oxblood Lily & Indian Blanket (aka Blanket Flower)

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Progress on Heart of America

I pulled out HOA again this past Saturday and Sunday. I'm slowly but surely progressing toward a finish!! I did go ahead and put my initials in the "Honor" block. I'm still not sure I like them! LOL I am so tired of that black stitching, though! I might have to go ahead and start on the words in that bottom banner just for a change of color. (I think that's why I don't do more monochromatic pieces. I am easily bored of the same color stitch after stitch.)

By the way, my piece really isn't crooked, it's just an optical illusion thanks to the scanner!