September 2018

September is starting to become a blur so I might not have much to write. My short term memory isn't as good as it once was but then it never was great. I'll just jump in and see what happens.

This was a finish the first of September. I have a young friend who makes me smile and who has some serious medical issues. It was a very scary time for his family and for those of us who feel like he is family, especially my son. He was my son's best friend in high school and his best man at his wedding. Somehow he has acquired the nickname, "Frog", and I thought this would make him smile. I plan on making it into a small pillow hopefully soon. I'm trying to ignore Mr. Procrastination's tiny whispers of doing it another day. *sigh*

The October Guardian. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this stitch. I am completely caught up and there's only 1 more for December. This I am definitely getting framed.

I won this in an auction for a stitchy friend's Alzheimer's Fund. It's a clear front vinyl tote and a floss roll. There are 40 individual pockets which hold floss bobbins or skeins all in one place. I'm currently using it on a SAL and it makes it so easy to find the next color. I love it.

The final motif in my youngest grandson's birth sampler. I now need to chart the border and get it finished and framed along with Jellybean's.

This man! He turned 65 in September! We've been together for 47 years and married for 46. I don't know where I would be without him by my side. He does so much for me and is always there when I need him.

The newest SAL I'm participating in. I'm getting in deep in this stitching thing. I don't know how many WIPs I have at the moment but I do know it's way more than I should have.

While I was working in my craft room, I came across this piece. I think I've had it for about 4 years and never started it. It is a full coverage piece and will take a while to do so I've not yet started. Well, I've put in a few stitches but nothing much.

The Quilt Sampler by Carolyn Manning Designs. I have worked quite a bit on this one and I really enjoy the big blocks of color. It's almost mindless stitching and sometimes, that's just what I need.

Even though the last game of the month was a great win, my dear Cubbies didn't make it to the World Series. But that's okay, I still love them and love watching them play. 

As of the end of September, I had read or listened to 62 books. Those books were:  "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J K Rowland; "The Dry" and "Force of Nature" by Jane Harper; "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Lawson; "I'll Take You There" by Wally Lamb; "Secrets in Death" by J D Robb; "Sleeping Like a Baby" by Charlaine Harris;

"The People vs. Alex Cross" by James Patterson; and "Wicked Appetite" and "Wicked Business" by Janet Evanovich.

That's pretty much the extent of September. Nothing else came to mind while I was writing so I'll just stop here. I'll try to get October up soon and then my plans are to try to write once a month with the happenings. I have been looking back at my past blog posts and I'm happy that I wrote them. They serve as a great diary even if I did miss big chunks of time. 

Thank you for reading my little blog and being my bloggy friend.

Hugs,

Sharon

5 Months!

What do I say? 5 months and no posts. 5 months of living life and not touching my blog.

Thanks to a gentle push from Betsy (http://betsy-thesimplelifeofaqueen.blogspot.com/), I'm trying to get back into blogging and will try to catch up the last 5 months.

Where to start? I guess it's best to start in June when I last posted. (If I can remember, HA!)

My summer was fairly quiet. Just the day in-day out happenings in a retired home. My health has been slightly good this summer. Other than a constant pain in my low back, I have not had any problems. I've thankful for my relative good health, even though I'm dealing with RA on a daily basis. I'm currently in remission with my RA, but occasionally, there is pain in my toes and other joints. I'm still dealing with my left shoulder pain. My orthopedist is still letting me wait until I'm ready before pursuing a surgical option. 

August was hot, hot, hot here. I wasn't able to open my windows at all. The heat was miserable and as much as I like fresh air, I just couldn't breathe or function without the air conditioning. We started looking for some kind of overhead protection for our patio about this time. We've lived in this house for 42 years and have never had a roof or shade umbrella on the patio. The back of our house faces southeast and afternoons are nice but even then, with no shade, it's uncomfortable on a concrete patio. There are no trees close to the house because our septic tank and field line are in the back yard and the roots of any trees planted when the house was built (42 years ago) have interfered with them and caused some issues. So no trees close to the house in back.

We decided to purchase a screened in square gazebo and found a good deal on a nice sturdy one at Big Lots. It has zippered screens on all 4 sides with zippered curtains also. The canopy is high and it is a wonderful place to sit and cross stitch or crochet.

Notice all those trees on the neighbor's property. They are no longer there!

There was a "sort of" mobile home park next door to his property and he ended up buying it and started clearing away all the scrub trees and really large trees between. As of today, all the homes are empty except the one at the bottom and he has sold all of them to another fellow who owns a park.
Soon, very soon, they all will be gone and the area will be reclaimed as yard. He spent the whole summer grading, burning, taking down trees and fences and generally, cleaning it all up. The fence you can see in the photo is now gone and for the first time in over 30 years, there is nothing separating his property from ours. Thank goodness, he and his family are wonderful neighbors,

I have been doing a lot of cross stitching and reading this year. I'll post some of my cross stitch photos here through August. If I don't stop with August, this post will be uncomfortably long.

 

This was a cute little chart included with a project bag order. Sadly it's not finished as I have become easily distracted by "all the things" !

This is August Guardian in the "Guardians of Notre Dame" SAL by Ingleside Imaginarium. I have loved every stitch of this one and I'm working on November now. I can't wait to finish it and have it framed. I'll show you the finished project when it's fully finished.

This little cutie is a Halloween SAL from Tiny Modernist. It is a house with a scene in each room. It's not finished yet either but I continue working on it a little bit as I think about it. There is another SAL for Christmas by the same designer and Oh my, it is adorable. But I'll show you that later.

A start on Farmer's Daughter by Carolyn Manning Designs. It's a very adorable quilt design and I love it, but again, easily distracted by all the things!

This is a SAL (stitch a long) from 2017 by Linens and Threads. It is a type of band sampler and was released one band per month in 2017. There's also one for 2018 which I have started yet. These samplers are free on their web site.







Sadly, my beloved Cubs were not able to make it past the playoffs this year but I'm still a very devoted fan and can't wait for Spring Training in February. My summer was full of baseball and cycling and I was a very happy camper.

On the reading front, I have had a very good year. Being retired has opened me up for a lot of reading and my choice in genres is all over the place. As of today, I have read 74 books this year. I read in both Kindle and paperback versions with the occasional hardback thrown in. I also listen to a huge amount of audiobooks as it is relaxing to sit in the evening and stitch and listen to a book. I'm not much of a TV watcher nowadays but with a ROKU stick, I can pretty much watch on my own schedule when I feel like turning on the set.

The books that were finished in August were: "Last Scene Alive", "Poppy done to Death", and "All the Little Liars" by Charliane Harris; "Tricky Twenty-Two" by Janet Evanovich; "The Long Walk" by Stephen King; "Sometimes I Lie" by Alice Feeney; and "The Brutal Telling" by Louise Penny. All of these were paperbacks with the occasional Kindle and audiobook from the library. I use Tennessee Reads on Overdrive to get books from our library and I love it.

I think that about wraps up June - August. And now I have a reason to come back and post at least 2 more to cover September and October. :)

Thank you for reading my little blog and for being my bloggy friend.

Hugs,
Sharon