An Autumn Of Memories

It's been a while, hasn't it? I've missed you! Two and a half weeks away from home for my son's wedding in California and our 40th anniversary Hawaii trip--the longest I have ever been away. Eight plane rides + nearly 11,000 miles flown = one bad head cold. I hadn't had a cold in nearly two years, but, thankfully, this one reared its ugly head after our trip! And at least now that I'm retired, I can rest here at home, drink lots of water and eat my chicken noodle soup... Anyway, I've been asked by many of you if I could share some wedding photos so I'll do just that after I show you my latest finish...

I blame this one on the squirrels--the trio of gray squirrels romping around the lower left border reminded me so much of those in our yard this time of year that I just had to stitch this one!  I'm sure you'll recognize it as a Prairie Schooler--it is from "Autumn Samplers" (Book No. 66) which has three gorgeous fall-themed beauties. I'd love to stitch the others some day, too. 

Prairie Schooler "Autumn Sampler" finish

This one is stitched on 40 ct. country mocha Newcastle linen using the suggested DMC threads.

Just love those squirrels!

I have to admit that those leaves were starting to get to me after a while, however I just kept plugging away! But, I loved the saying and the fallish colors, too. Oh, how I wish Prairie Schooler designs were still creating new charts--they are so timeless!

Aren't the fall colors perfect?

Being away for 2 1/2 weeks, I missed most of the really good autumn color here in Pennsylvania. When we left on October 18th, the leaves were still green--very unusual for that time of year. But, when we returned many had turned color and fallen, although there are still a fair number remaining. After the frigid weather that is moving in this weekend, though, I doubt many will hang on too long! Anyway, I hope to frame this one (famous last words!)...

Another Prairie Schooler checked off my "must-stitch" list!

When I got back from my travels, I was thrilled to find two little gift packages waiting in my accumulated mail.  My long-time blogging friend, Cindy, sent me two beautiful gifts to help me celebrate my retirement. Just look at this gorgeous needleminder and needlecase--and in blue, my favorite color! I love that pretty sunflower card, too... Thank you so much, Cindy--you  have been a special stitching friend through all these years!

Retirement gifts sent from Cindy

And Tawny (in New Jersey) sent me two cute charts to thank me for sending her a chart that she couldn't find. Thank you, Tawny--I look forward to stitching them!

Thank you gifts sent from Tawny

In other stitching news, I did get a new Christmas ornament stitched while in Hawaii, but I'll wait until it's finished off to share it with you. 

♥♥♥ So, the wedding ♥♥♥... It was such a beautiful day--in every way... I'm sure every parent of a bride or groom feels that way, but my husband and I were just beaming the entire day as we watched our oldest son and our now daughter-in-law start their life together...

The wedding was held at a lovely old mission style church in Oceanside, California on a day that couldn't have been nicer--sunshine and blue skies abounded! I loved the simple style of this church much more than the grand cathedrals I've seen in my travels. The ceremony was bilingual... since my new daughter-in-law is of Mexican American heritage, the priest spoke in both English and Spanish.

St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Oceanside, CA

I'll just share a few more photos...

The new couple made their way to the reception in this vintage auto.

Relaxing at the reception

My youngest and middle sons congratulate the happy couple and welcome their new sister! They were co-best men and did an outstanding job on their speech at the dinner. The middle gave it in English and the youngest in Spanish so that all of the guests could understand their words.

Blue and orange flowers complemented the bridesmaids' royal blue dresses

I just love this photo of my son and the three sweet flower girls. Although they didn't know each other previously, the little girls bonded and held hands and danced together throughout the evening. Just adorable!

The groom's proud parents--we clean up pretty well (although it looks like a vine is growing out of my head!). It's hard to tell in this photo, but my dress was a beautiful dark amethyst color.

The reception was held at Green Gables Wedding Estate in nearby San Marcos, CA. It had such great backdrops for photo taking with the old schoolhouse, chandeliers hanging from trees, a gazebo, and a turquoise vintage truck

The dessert table included traditional cakes, cupcakes, and an assortment of Mexican candy!

One of my favorite photos taken by a co-worker of the bride's

People asked me if I cried--oh, I got a bit teary eyed, but I honestly didn't cry. Well, that day, anyway! The day before the wedding I saw the following post on Instagram and it just set me off... Tears and so many memories swelled up in me as I read these words that were originally written by Tabitha Studer on her blog way back in 2011 in a post called "25 Rules For Mothers of Sons." This is her Rule Number 25: 

And my sweet new daughter-in-law understands this so well. The morning of the wedding she gave me a gift bag filled with a framed photo of herself and my son, some charms (one of which read "Thank you for raising the man of my dreams"), chocolates, a lovely blue and white handkerchief, and most meaningful of all--a beautifully handwritten note about her love for my oldest son and assuring me that I "wasn't losing a son, but gaining a daughter!" How blessed I feel to have this wonderful young woman in our family!

I am out of time today--my poor head is aching from this cold.  I need to go through my Hawaii photos before I can share them with you... so until next time, my friends! Thank you all for taking the time to visit and maybe even taking the time to leave a comment... Each and every one means so very much to me! Bye for now...

A Month of Changes!

It's here, it's here!! My oldest son's wedding month, that is! When he and his lovely fiancée announced their engagement a year ago, it seemed like it would take forever for the wedding day to arrive... But, the months have just sped by at seemingly warp speed and, all of a sudden, it's time. The next time you read a post from me I will have a daughter in the family--after all these years of being the lone female (even our cat was a boy!), I will have someone who may actually think a bit more like I do and see my side of things more easily. Because, no matter how much they may love each other, men and women think totally differently, don't you agree? (Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, her wedding dress finally arrived and the final fitting is Tuesday--thank goodness!!)

Before I go any further, I want to thank you for all of your thoughtful and heartfelt comments on my previous post about my retirement and my sleeping issues. I truly appreciate your well-wishes and your suggestions on how to get a better night's sleep so thank you for taking the time to leave a comment... Anyway, more about those two topics later. After all, you're here to see some stitching, right?

I try to add at least one little pillow to my Halloween collection each year and this one came from a chart I found in the October 2017 issue of Just Cross Stitching Magazine. It is designed by Teresa Murgida and is called "Boo Birdhouse." If you have seen the design in the magazine, you'll notice that I made a number of changes. I changed the color of the birdhouse roof and opening to gray (from purple), changed the color of the ghost's hat from black to orange, stitched a smaller bat and moved him down, omitted a white swirly thing under the bat, added some more green vines to the left of the pumpkin. Whew! And my biggest change--I added a teeny baby ghost peeking out of the birdhouse!

"Boo Birdhouse" finish from October 2017 JCS Magazine

And here is my finished ghostly pillow--I'm so pleased with it! The orange and black polka dot fabric is wool flannel (love that stuff!) and the backing is the fabric pictured. A bit of ric rak and a gingham yo-yo and black button finish it off. The fibers are all DMC and it is stitched on 40 ct. country mocha Newcastle linen. Every time I look at that baby ghost, I just smile :) This was my most "liked" photo on my Instagram account (if you'd like to follow me, please click here... It brought lots of wonderful comments and one of them said I was so "brave" to change colors and design elements. I replied that that is something I would never have done when I was younger, but now I'm more comfortable with color and I simply know what I like. I hope the designers never take offense--it is just my way of making the design more "me." And, after all, if I hadn't truly loved the original design, I wouldn't have chosen to stitch it, right? How about you--do most of you make changes?

How do you like the wee baby ghost?

Still plugging away on  stitching my monthly Christmas ornaments, but I am very concerned that I'll not be able to finish all twelve for the first time since I began blogging... Hopefully, there will be stitching time on my upcoming travels, although I am not the best at stitching on airplanes! But, I do have a new Prairie Schooler Santa to share with you... This handsome guy is the annual Santa chart from the year 2000 and is stitched with the suggested DMC colors on 40 ct. burch Newcastle linen. I did change the suggested ecru on his beard, book, and candy canes to DMC 3865, though.

Prairie Schooler Santa 2000

I have to say, that this one has special meaning as it brings back fond memories of when my boys would ask what I wanted for Christmas and I would reply, "All I want is good little boys!" I can't say that any longer so I do supply them with (usually stitch-related!) wish lists. I like to keep my PS Santa finishes pretty simple as they are such classics so I stitched a small pillow, added homemade cording, and tied on a pair of rusty bells in the corner. This is my monthly Christmas ornament for July (I told you I was behind!)...

My July ornament finally finished!

I had several entries for the pair of autumn charts that I was giving away in my last post and the name drawn from the proverbial hat was...  ROSE HECK!   Rose, please email me with your mailing address and I will get this charts off to you this week.  Congratulations and, if you weren't the lucky winner, please check back--I'll be having more old chart giveaways in the future!

Giveaway winner... Rose Heck!

Retirement update... Today marks the beginning of my third week as a "lady of leisure"--ha! Whoever said retirement brought more hours of free time? I spent the first week up in New York helping out my mom who continues to have health problems (prayers, good thoughts, positive vibes, etc. would all be very much appreciated!) and the second week packing and cleaning the house so I can leave it "spic and span" for our travels. Does anyone else do that? I just have to clean the whole place before I leave on a trip--can't stand coming back to a cluttered house!

My retirement farewell brought recollections of many fond stories and quite a few tears as I said goodbye to my wonderful co-workers at the library. I was treated to some beautiful gifts, a farewell lunch, a lovely cake, and lots of goodbye hugs and well wishes. My sweet co-workers know me well because just look at these lovely gifts they bought for me...

Yes, it's a personalized stitching pouch!! And the fabric is made to look like old library date due cards--how perfect for a librarian! The pouch was filled with a Michael's gift card, needles, floss tags, and threads. Absolutely loved this!

My second gift from my coworkers was equally special--a basket filled with baking goodies, a cute pie-themed apron, and a gift card to King Arthur's Flour Baking catalog. How very thoughtful!

And look at this giant cake--so pretty in shades of teal, pink, yellow, and green.

My lovely chocolate retirement cake was scrumptious!

To thank them all, I made these little thank you cards--only a librarian will truly appreciate them. They are made to look like old library catalog cards and you can generate your own personalized (and free!) card at this site. I added the Dewey Decimal number 179.9 which is for "thankfulness/gratitude" and the name of the library (which I have blocked out) along with a little note saying my "wonderful co-workers will forever be in my heart. Thank you for all you have done to make my 29 years at the library so memorable." And a personal note was written to each of my fellow librarians inside the cards... As many of you mentioned, I was so fortunate to have a job that I loved all those years; not many can say that!

Thank you note cards I made for my co-workers

Other retirement treats were received as well from my oldest son and his fiancee, my two sisters and brother, and previously retired coworkers... Even a couple of patrons brought candy and flowers! I felt very much appreciated and loved!

From my oldest son and his fiancée: a lovely pouch (will use it for my stitching, of course!)  and an action figure of Nancy Perl--America's best known librarian. She "shushes you" when you push the button on her back--too cute!)

Also from my oldest son and fiancée--these beautiful fall flowers and a box of delicious chocolates. They really spoiled me--do you think they are angling for a nice wedding gift?! (Just kidding!)

Beautiful roses from my youngest sister! The fall colors were stunning!

And a host of gift cards, flowers, retirement cards and other small gifts from various family members, friends, and library patrons.

Here is a photo of me on my last day with my lovely cake. Yes, that is a big smile on my face because I was pretty much cried out at that stage... The decision to leave now wasn't easy, but I felt the timing was right. To just be able to fly to my son's wedding and then on to our 40th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii, and then not have to return to work--it just all made sense! I'll be 63 in January, a bit young to retire perhaps, but, for me, it works! Thank you all so much for your well-wishes--I know I'll never be bored in retirement! And if I do miss the library, I can always go volunteer on a weekly basis!

Still smiling 'til the end--I was so blessed to have had a job I truly loved for all these years!

Sleeping update... Wow! I am obviously not alone in my sleeping problems. Based on your comments, a lot of you are having issues--either falling asleep or staying asleep (my problem). Things seem to be a bit better since I retired, but are still not great. Interestingly, there was just an article in the Wall Street Journal this weekend that was titled, "The Older You Are, the Worse You Sleep." Great...  Apparently, the older we get, the more our capacity for deep, restorative sleep disappears so that by the time we are age 70, 80-90% of our "youthful, restorative deep sleep is gone." Sad...  And that lack of sleep can really affect our health as we age. I loved reading your tips about overcoming (or at least accepting) sleep problems and plan to try some of them soon. Right now, the best thing for me is to get my Kindle out and simply start reading, but I worry about waking up my husband so I don't resort to that very often. 

Okay--I have babbled on for far too long. There is just so much going on in my life right now... Thank you, as always for your sweet comments--I read and appreciate each one. Can't always get back to you as some of you are "no reply bloggers," but if you leave your email address, I will certainly try to answer your questions. Happy rest of October, everyone... see you in November! Bye for now...

Catching Up With Christmas On a Very Special Day

Good morning everyone! Well, it's a special day for me, which I'll get to later in my post, but first I have some stitching finishes I'd love to share with you. Many of you have been asking about my monthly Christmas ornaments. Am I still doing them, when will I show them, etc. Well, I'm happy to say I've finally caught up--I hadn't finished a Christmas ornament since March so it was a lot of work, but I love how each and every one turned out! Below is a shot of the stitching along with some of the finishing materials I gathered. Sometimes I think finding the perfect trims, fabrics, and buttons to finish a piece is as much fun as the actual stitching!

Monthly ornaments waiting to be all finished up

My ornament for April was actually started last November and then got cast aside during the frenzy of Christmas stitching. Finding this little snow guy half-finished was like running into an old friend. How can you help but smile at that crooked grin of his? The suggested DMC colors and a mystery piece of 32 ct. linen were used. I think this finish is a perfect example of how you can take a simple design ("Let It Snow" by A Stitcher's Hands) and make it more special by adding fun fabrics and trims. The wee orange nose was called for on the chart, but I added the white pompom and jazzed him up with two fabrics, white ric rak, and a candy-cane striped hanger. The chart includes three other charming snowmen, all wrapped up in their warm scarves and knit hats, which I also hope to stitch one of these days.

"Let It Snow" by A Stitcher's Hands

I honestly enjoy (gasp!) stitching on black--in fact three of my seven ornaments for 2012 are stitched on black so far! The May ornament is stitched on 32 ct. black Belfast linen with DMC threads. I love how white just pops on the black fabric and with snow and wintry themed charts, there is always a lot of white on Christmas ornaments. This cheery piece is Sue Hillis's "Candy Canes" and includes a little brass candy cane charm. The color of the red is really more of a maroon shade than is shown in the photo. I changed it from the suggested DMC reds to DMC 815 which I also used to make the red and white cording. It is backed with coordinating red and white striped fabric and topped with a little white pin. I left off the backstitching for obvious reasons. That's another good thing about stitching on black fabric--no need to backstitch!

"Candy Canes" by Sue Hillis

For my June ornament, I stitched the winsome Trilogy design called "Cheer." This is the second one of their little trees that I've done. I also stitched the Spooky Tree for my dear friend, Myra back in 2010. If any of you are familiar with the original design, you'll notice I left off the rectangular border and one of the little stars and finished it into an oval shape with a ruched ribbon and bow in slate blue. It is backed with the beige and white homespun fabric shown. Some miniature white buttons serve as snowballs just waiting for that next snowball fight between this trio of little guys. I don't know about you, but the sight of them certainly brings me "cheer!"

"Cheer" by The Trilogy

And finally, back to my all-time favorite designer, Prairie Schooler, for my July ornament! "A Visit From St. Nicholas" is from Book No. 48, "A Christmas Visit" and is the second piece I've stitched from it. The first was Sunflower Santa done back in 2010. Again, I love every single design in this booklet and I hope to complete all seven. This one is stitched on 40ct. flax Newcastle linen using the suggested DMC threads and is finished very simply with handmade cording in DMC 221. A red and white gingham bow was added to the corner to cover where the cording ends meet.

"A Visit From St. Nicholas" by Prarie Schooler

And here are all four--April through July...ready and waiting for December's Christmas tree:

April, May, June, July 2012 ornaments

I've had some lovely gifts arrive on my doorstep lately from three blogging friends around the world. First of all, Suzanne in Washington state (no blog) sent me this sweet Lizzie Kate kit as a thank you for lending her an out-of print chart. Secondly, Melody from Bookwoman Stitches blog sent me this cute "Jolly Jack" chart to thank me for lending her two out-of-print charts. She's hoping it will make the cut for my "October Bowl"--I just bet it might, Melody!! And finally, all the way from England, came these gifts from Linda. Linda doesn't have a blog, but has written to say how inspirational my finishes are and wanted to send me a little token to show her appreciation. She sent me my first (and probably only!) souvenir of the Diamond Jubilee and a wonderful bookmark with "Desiderata" on it (boy, does that take me back to my college days in the mid-'70s. I think every girl in the dorm had a poster with that lovely verse on her wall. If you would like to read the whole thing for yourself, click here ). She also included some postcards and leaflets from Sandringham. I am so touched by all of your gifts, my friends. Really, nothing is expected when I lend my charts out, but I so appreciate your friendship and generosity!

A most special day: July 23rd, 1977...My wedding day--which makes today our 35th wedding anniversary! I seem to find myself humming that old Carpenters tune We've Only Just Begun quite a bit lately. (For all of you in your fifties and sixties you'll love this old video--does that bring back memories or what?! I think I wore out multiple copies listening to the Carpenters' records over and over when I was in high school!).

"We've only just begun, to live...
White lace and promises,
A kiss for luck
And we're on our way..."

We were so young and so full of hope. Our sons can't believe we married at age 22, but that's the way it was done back then... graduate from college, get married, work for a few years, and have kids. Today the order of things has definitely changed up a bit, hasn't it? And the time-frame has certainly slowed down. But, you know what, I wouldn't change a thing about the way we did things way back when...

Wedding Day Memories

Here is a tiny snapshot from our big day along with our wedding invitation (yes, it was the palest blue color!) featuring the quote "And this... our life, our beginning." The white lace is all that remains of my wedding dress which was damaged and discolored beyond repair from decades of storage in my parents' attic. So, I removed a few pieces to save before discarding it. (Having no daughters who might want to wear it someday, made that decision a bit easier!) And how about that 13¢ butterfly stamp--that just shows you how prices have jumped over the past 35 years--today it costs 45¢ to mail a card this size! (If it looks like there are no people in the pews behind us, that is because the minister would not allow photos during the church ceremony, so this was "staged" after the actual ceremony. There were actually nearly 250 people in attendance!).

So, how will we celebrate? Well, believe it or not, my husband is 3183.11miles away right now. He is on a week-long biking tour of Alaska! (This is not him in the photo, but I'm expecting some equally breathtaking shots to be taken by him this week.) I'm a bit sad, of course, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and biking is to him what stitching is to me. I know we'll celebrate later, in fact we already have plans to head down to the mountains of North Carolina (Asheville vicinity) this fall. And this is where I could use your help--have any of you vacationed there who could give me advice; the best time to go to see the leaves changing, must-see sights, good restaurants, even the name of a great place to stay (I'd love to stay in a little cabin!)? Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Well, that wraps up another very lengthy post--I hope you've enjoyed your visit today! Welcome to my new followers; so glad you've joined the fun. As always, your comments and emails are very much appreciated--thank you, my friends. I'll close with the final lines from Max Ehrmann's "Desiderata." Although written in 1927, it is still so applicable to today's world...

"With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy".

May your week be a special one! Bye for now...