A Mother's Day Bouquet for you

This is a beautiful tree peony that was given to us from a dear friend's garden down the street.  It was absolutely beautiful for days, but is now beaten down by the heavy downpour yesterday.  Happy Mother's Day to all.  I am very blessed to have my dear Mother and best friend living here with me.
Melinda

Some progress and photos on a beautiful spring day

Good evening everybody.  I hope you all have had such a wonderful day as I have...low 70's with no humidity.  First I'll share my progress on Scarlet Letter's Manifesto.  I have now been working on this for two months, and it is hard to put down.  I always want to stitch just a tiny bit more...  It is nice because when you don't feel like concentrating on a chart, you can just stitch mindlessly on the background.

I also made a small start on M Quertier, also Scarlet Letter.  There is something I love about the stark black Quaker medallion samplers...sorry the pic is slightly blurry.

On Saturday, I stopped at one of the antique stores in town, Midwest Memories.  Every time I drive through Tipp City, I always think that if there is a park out in front of an antique store, it is like karma for me to go in.  Do you ever see something in a store and think that is so unique it must be really expensive?  Imagine my delight at finding this darling vintage sewing box for $12!!!  It has nice little brass hinges and folds out to reveal a lined interior with pockets, and a large pincushion.  The other little pincushion I made.

Here are two of the horses enjoying the green grass.

I spent most of the day outdoors mowing, weeding, placing pots for annuals and filling them with potting soil.  Here is a picture as you come in the gate with the crabtree starting to bloom.

This big old lilac next to the barn I'm sure is over a hundred years old!  There are several of these old lilacs and used to be lots of big old mulberry trees scattered around, but storms have taken all but a few.

Just a part of the garden as things start to come alive.  Thanks for stopping by...I love to read your comments!   hugs, Melinda

A finish, progress, and a new start

Hello, everyone,
I know I have been missing for nearly a month and for that I apologize and shall try to do better.
I think I mentioned that I had the flu or something similar in March.  I don't get sick often, but when I do, it's a doozy and takes a very long time to get my strength back.  The weather is finally beginning to improve, and there is so much outdoor work to do, cleaning out the gardens of winter debris.  It's going to be harder to find as much time for stitching and hooking projects.

I did finish a small hooked rug a while back, it is a design from Maria's http://www.starrugcompany.com/ that I purchased last fall from her when taking a class here in Tipp City.

I have been working on The Manifesto for exactly a month now, and here is my progress (or lack there of).  I am filling in the background as I go.  It should be spectacular when finished, but that will take a very long time!

I also recently purchased a kit from Maria of Star Rug Company.  I usually don't do kits, but this time I wanted an exact reproduction of the antique rug.  Here is the kit, the beautiful wools (25 of them), her very detailed instructions, and my progress last night.  I plan to lay it on top of a footstool in the family room , the colors should be perfect!  I taped a small piece of each wool with the number onto a piece of cardboard so that I can keep everything straight.

I'll end with a few kitten photos, of course.

Till next time, which I promise won't be as long!

Hugs,

Melinda

Scarlet Letter Christmas Sampler Finished!

Greetings, all,

I am pleased that I have finished the Scarlet Letter Christmas Sampler that I was stitching along with Nicola's http://scarletletteryear.blogspot.com/

As you can see from the date, I actually finished it at the beginning of March, but I have been under the weather with a nasty stomach bug.  I really love this sampler, have wanted to do it for some time, and finally did it!!  Quite a few of you have inquired about this oop chart.  I have good news, Marsha of Scarlet Letter has decided to bring it back!!

I do have an old frame for this, but I need to clean it up a bit.  I have begun on Manifesto, but no pictures as of yet.  In addition to Manifesto, I also need to work on a smaller sampler for quick gratification, but have not chosen one yet.

Have a lovely weekend!!!  Is it spring there yet?

Hugs,
Melinda

American Samplers

Greetings to all on a very dreary Ohio February day.  I think Ohio is famous for dreary Februarys.   I probably should not complain, as we are going to miss the second midwest blizzard.

I thought I would share with you one of my most prized possessions... an original 1921 copy of Bolton and Coe's American Samplers.  Although it has a library stamp, this is the first edition published by the Colonial Dames of Massachusetts.  Those of you who are sampler lovers will know how much I treasure this book.

About 20 years ago, long before the advent of searching online for old books,  I was walking by the used book store in town, on my birthday, no less, and there is was in the front window for $15.00!  I think I had heart palpitations while I rushed inside to buy it!   The cover was in wonderful condition until my darling kittens tore at the paper photo...needless to say, I no longer have it on display.

I have another 1973 hardback copy that I use for reference and to read, as the old copy has all the original papers protecting the photos.

Hugs to all,
Melinda

Christmas Sampler Progress and Manifesto ready to go

Greetings on Sunday afternoon to all,
It is dreary here today, but I certainly can't complain about that after seeing the massive amounts of snow in New England!  My dear late husband was from Portland, Maine, where I see they had 30 inches...

First, I start with more progress on Scarlet Letter's Christmas Sampler, which I am stitching as part of  Nicola's http://scarletletteryear.blogspot.com/   I can see the end in site.  This will be my first finish for this group, as I did not have any WIP's that I could finish.  I don't usually have any UFO's, as I either finish them if I like them, if not, I just quit!   I am loving working on this sampler.  As you can see, I am jumping around as to avoid having tons of background filling in to do all at once.

Here are two samplers recently framed, the first is God Bless Queen Charlotte, I don't remember the designer (sorry) and the second is an oldie from R & R.  These were stitched years ago.   Both have been aged and framed to take into town and maybe try and sell.  It seems that people around here who buy samplers want them aged to look like antiques, although my initials and year are on them so they can never be passed off as the real thing.

Have you ever ordered from http://www.wyndhamneedleworks.com/  ?  I have ordered from Lydia for years, and I see she is now converting to a non-profit to benefit a no-kill animal shelter.  I think that is a wonderful thing, and plan on ordering exclusively from there.  Anything I can do for homeless animals...

Here is a picture of Oliver.  Little Charlotte (the calico) is very shy and is late to the game in discovering that she loves Oliver (you remember I have posted pictures of the other kittens loving on him).

Lastly, Manifesto is ready to begin.  That sure is one big piece of linen!  I chose 34 legacy for this enormous project.  I stitch with a hoop, and remember how nice and soft legacy was when I used it for Dutch Beauty.  I am going to start in the upper right hand corner as I stitch using a sewing method of right to left.  Dutch Beauty took me four years to complete, and this is about the same size, but filled in completely!  It will take forever, but oh what an accomplishment it will be when completed!

I am also still working on Hannah Lancaster, but don't have any new pictures to share.  I am saving all of my orts in a jar to put out for the birds to pick through for the nests.

Hugs to all,

Melinda

Christmas is over and all put away...

Thank goodness.  All of that climbing Christmas trees and pulling ornaments off wore me out...  :)
After all, I am an adult cat.

However, all of my extremely annoying little adopted  brothers and sisters are still going strong.

Two of them are twins.  See the white whisker on the right?  That is the only difference between Big Benjy and Little Benjy.

Now, a word from my human :)

Now that Christmas and New Years is over, and everything put away (well, almost), I find I'm in the mood to tweak things and rearrange.  A couple new additions, the first is the remnant of my great great grandfather's tool box, cleaned up and repurposed as a bowl rack.  The three bowls on the left were made by my mother in high school.

And then I found this...love the color and the size.  I understand it is actually a commode stand, but I prefer to think of it as a blanket chest. :)

I finally did get the big snow that I wanted...the day after Christmas.  I ran out and took all my pictures while it was pure, clean snow, without all the dirt.  So, then I had my pictures and was all ready for it to melt.  Had to do all the barn work by myself as my mother won't go outside in snow or really cold.  I got tired of it real quick, and it hung around for two weeks!  The best picture is at the top of my blog, but here are a couple of others that I played with on iPhoto.

As far as stitching, here is my progress in the Scarlet Letter challenge by Nicola.  http://scarletletteryear.blogspot.com/   I have chosen the original design, Christmas Sampler, as my first project.

I know many of you already belong to this challenge, but there is still time to join!

Melinda