Making Journals

No stitching to show you, but I am making good progress on the model for Maria Tilley. Now that my planting is done and my garden is in, I had an urge to make some journals. These are currently available in my Etsy shop. This one kind of makes me laugh. I hope all you stash queens find it funny, too.

I love these sweet vintage images...and the birds. Gotta have birds.

What a look on her face! I wouldn't want to be her teacher.

I made this collage a couple of years ago, and I kind of forgot about it. I recently found it while cleaning the craft room. I call it the Scissor Sisters.

And last is the grungy fairy.

Planting time

It's the time of year that we love in AZ. While most of the country is preparing for cold weather, we are shopping for plants and flowers and enjoying outdoor living once again. Last weekend was spent trimming and planting. One more monsoon storm roared through last week and the yard was a mess. The temps are starting to fall and soon the 90+ degrees will be behind us. The old galvanized tub holds some chives, parsley, sweet cherry tomatoes, and marigolds for color.

The patio is my favorite "room" of our house. We literally spend most of our time out here. I love Boston ferns, so I hope these three will thrive. I used to have a huge one inside, but they can be so messy. As usual, I planted red geraniums. They are so easy and kind of my thing. If you look close at the ruby red grapefruit tree, you can see lots of fruit. It's going to be a great crop this year. If you get sick of winter...come for a visit.

This is what I came upon when I came in from taking pictures of outside. Mr. HB must think he's a cat. Lately he's been sleeping on the top edge of the sofa. It is sort of soft and squishy, but what a nut! He is a never ending source of entertainment.

Resuming Country Life...Literally!

Once Jane Tindall was ready for market, I worked a little on Country Life again. It is such a cool sampler, but that border...Geesh! Getting one flower finished is a major accomplishment. I probably won't get too far along as I am also working on another model for Needle Work Press. Next up is Maria Tilley 1835. I finished the chart before our vacation to Iowa, but I wasn't able to stitch on her much. I am using 45ct linen, and it was too hard to see in the car.

Here are some photos from the trip. We took our bikes along, and this path was near the lake that my in-laws live on. I was riding as fast as I could because there were snakes...lots and lots of snakes. I saw at least thirteen. They were only Gartner snakes and most of them had been run over, but they were still SNAKES. And we all know that I hate snakes.


Loved checking out this huge tree...while keeping an eye out for snakes, of course.

This is the lake that my hubby grew up on.

I wish we had more of the blue skies, but unfortunately it was cool and rainy most of the time. I skipped the county fair because it was a nippy 41 degrees. How was I to eat fair food in the freezing rain? Paul went without me and probably ate enough junk for the both of us.

Henry, Ruby, and Scarlett are now sailing dogs. They took a ride in the pontoon boat.

Bad weather can't stopped me from antiquing. I hit every store that I could. My favorite find is this pewter canister or tea caddy. I'm using it to store my tea, so that's what we'll call it. I've wanted one for some time but the prices always stopped me. This one was a deal.

I always look for more canning jars for my craft room. This one came filled with buttons, so in the cart it went.

Naturally, I found a couple of crocks that needed a home.

On the way to Iowa, we made a stop in Colorado Springs so I could see my good friend, Katrina. It was so fun to meet up with her, and we had a great time talking, eating Mexican food and looking through each other's stitching bags.

Many thanks for the very sweet comments left on my last post about Jane. It meant the world.