Happy Reformation Day!

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his "95 Theses" on the church door at Wittenburg, Germany which was his disputation against the Pope and the selling of indulgences to pay for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. To say that Luther was a revolutionary is an understatement. The Lutheran Church is a direct result of his break with the Roman Catholic Church. Most other Protestant denominations can also trace their beginnings to the Protestant Reformation.

To read more about the Reformation and Reformation Day, visit these sites.

Wikipedia

Question & Answers about the Reformation

Sunday School Lessons

To read Marin Luther's "95 Theses" (in English), visit Phil's History Info

To read about Martin Luther's contribution to furthering Christianity and Reformed theology, here's a great site: Martin Luther and the English Bible

Now then, on to stitching!! As you saw in my Wordless Wednesday post, I have completed the LHN Seasonal Saltbox, "Blessed are the Meek". I have moved on to "Blessed are the Pure in Heart". Here's my progress so far. I plan on working on this tonight. And since we fall back tonight, I get an extra hour of stitching! How cool is that?!?



Lastly, my sweet friend Jan of Tree of Life Samplings, has unveiled her latest design. I absolutely LOVE it!


For the "scoop" on how to order it, you can visit her blog, Tree of Life Samplings.

This afternoon after I got home from work, I worked out in the yard for a bit. I planted the rest of my garlic, transplanted some blanket flower plants, collected seeds for Blanket Flower and an unknown cuphea, and sprinkled out some poppy seeds, bluebonnet seeds, and Drummond Phlox seeds. Can't wait to see if they germinate and sprout!

A few days ago, on my whirlwind tour of the flower bed, I found this little cutie trying to bloom. I thought I'd lost this plant early in the spring when the doodle bugs (sow bugs/pill bugs) ate all the leaves off it. I'm so glad it's making a reappearance!

Thursday's Captions from Wordless Wednesday

1. My progress on Plum Street Samplers' "Give". I'm stitching this in a fall palette with Belle Soie silks. I'm so loving this piece!

2. My first finish in the Seasonal Saltbox series from Little House Needleworks. Blessed are the Meek is stitched on 32 ct. Maritime White linen. I've already started the next one in the series!

3. Rock Rose seedlings I found when cleaning out my winter sowing jugs. I thought the seeds didn't make it, but I guess they just needed some really hot days and drought conditions! LOL After the first fall rains, these little things showed up.

4. Broccoli plants waiting to be put in the ground. Another "after-the-rain" pic. Seems like all we've had lately is rain.

5. The Chocolate Chocolate Chip Poundcake I baked for a co-worker's birthday. She turned 21, is away from home, and loves chocolate. It was awesome!!

Wordless Wednesday

Quack!

Does anyone happen to have a spare ark I could borrow?? Goodness, we've had such a wet October! We got another 4.5" of rain yesterday. Thankfully there were no serious storms, just gentle rain, but a couple of inches would've been plenty for me. The rain did usher in a cold front which left behind some wind and much desired cooler temperatures. There was a bit of sun today, but the clouds quickly came back and sent Mr. Sun back into hiding. We'll enjoy the cooler temps and the relief from the heat they bring. Pretty soon, it'll be downright cold and nasty and I'll be complaining about that! LOL

Here's the scoop on yesterday's pictures.

Hannah Grace, chillin' out on her comforter

Callie, chillin' out in one of her many sleeping spots. Just love that her rear paw is up on the side of the bed!! Such a character!

My progress on Blessed are the Meek after stitching on it during Saturday Night Stitch.

Bees enjoying the Blanket Flower. Did you spy 2 bees? One is on the flower and the one on the right is in flight.

Some of our fall lettuce seedlings. They are enjoying all the rain we've been having, as evidenced by the sprouts of weeds or seeds or something that doesn't belong in the veggie garden.

One of the 2 remaining pumpkins. I hope this one makes it to maturity!

My gorgeous Toad Lilies finally blooming!

Wordless Wednesday 10.21.09

Wordless Wednesday (Semi-Wordless Anyway)

Nine years ago on this date...


Wedding Pictures

I Met my Great Nephew!

I've been a great aunt for 21 years, but now I'm a Great Aunt! On September 19th, my niece had a little boy, named Lucian Zayne. He's such a little cutie, even if he's a bit on the little side. My niece and both of her brothers were chunkers and weighed almost 9 lbs when born. They all had chunky little legs and arms and chubby cheeks. Little Lucian is a skinny little guy with long, skinny arms & legs and long fingers. He's such a good little baby, for which I'm thankful.

My niece and her brothers all call me "Aunt Stef", but when they were learning to talk it came out "Aunt Tef", usually run together so it was really "Auntef"! LOL So, here's little Lucian meeting his "Aunt Teffie" for the first time. (Yes, I cried!)




He's a very attentive little boy, listening to everything and studying me. Then, he started cooing and smiling for me!! I even got to see the tiny dimple in his left cheek! (Awww!) He definitely looks like his Dad, but has his Mom's coloring and hair. He definitely has her lungs! LOL

Here he is playing party games with his mom. He was the star of the party, after all.



Here's my niece, Lauren, Lucian's mom. His dad came to the party, but had to leave early to go to work, so I didn't get a family pic. :(



I think I'm in love....

Introducing....

...my finished "Heart of America" by Little House Needleworks piece!! I'm just beyond thrilled to finally have her finished and ready for hanging in the closet with the rest of my finishes waiting to be framed! LOL


Design: Heart of America by Little House Needleworks
Fabric: 32 ct. Vintage Examplar Linen from Lakeside Linens
Fibers: Crescent Colours included in the kit

A view from my garden to leave you with...

"Give" is Coming Along

I have been working on Plum Street Samplers' "Give" this week. This is my piece for the incentive round on the Only One Ewe message board group. I know that some of you have requested a conversion. I'm working on a complete conversion and will post it soon, so stay tuned! I played around with the settings on this scan and the colors are much truer to the colors in real life, at least on my monitor!

In the garden, things are enjoying the cooler temps we've been having. We have 3 baby pumpkins. These aren't big carving pumpkins, but smaller baking pumpkins. My hope was to get enough to make canned pumpkin to use in baking and for our kitties. Callie, my older cat, has kidney problems. As a result, she also gets constipated and the pumpkin keeps her regular. We give it to Hannah just because she likes it.



DH transplanted the lettuce and spinach seedlings into his new garden plot. They took a beating a couple of days ago in a rain storm, but they're looking good. We're expecting more rain this weekend, so we'll have to wait and see how they fare. He also transplanted some of his cantaloupe seedlings. Don't think they'll do anything, but he's so proud the seeds sprouted at all, so into the ground they went!



Until next time...!

Words for Wordless Wednesday's Pics

My first purple coneflower bloom! I sowed these during the winter as part of my winter sowing project. Planted them out in April and now I've got a bloom! Ain't she purdy?


This is one of the blooms on my bulbine plant. These things have been blooming like crazy all summer.


California Wonder red bell peppers. This was the plant I was harvesting peppers off of when I tried to take off my finger. Look at all those luscious peppers!


These are my lettuce seedlings. I write the variety on the handle of the fork so I'll know later on which variety I'm harvesting. Lettuce likes cool weather, so we have to grow them in the fall and early spring down here. My DH transplanted the seedlings yesterday.


Part of our harvest this past Sunday. We had twice as many cherry tomatoes as shown in this picture! We've had them with everything served this week! LOL


My new start, "Give" by Plum Street Samplers. This is really a bad pic as the colors are really much brighter in person. I'm so loving this piece!

In other news, I only get 2 of my 5 stitches out on Tuesday. :( I have to go back tomorrow to see if the rest are ready to come out.