It's that time of year................

 

to bring home the perfect tree for Christmas!

I cross stitched this in early September as an  early finish before the holidays. 

 Not from a vintage book, which I usually love to stitch, but this pretty design was very easy and quick to cross stitch and can be found in last year's Dec. 2019 issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine.

  14 count Lt. blue aida was used for this piece. 

Instead of framing this piece, I decided to use it for 

a wood serving tray. 

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving!

 

O Infinite Father, I'm grateful to Thee

      For the moon and the stars and deep rolling sea;

      For beauties of nature, where e'er they may be...

For the handclasp of friends, so firm and so true;

      For sunrise and sunset and glistening dew;

      The fleecy white clouds and the Heavens, so blue;

      For these wonderful gifts, dear Lord, I thank you!

~Gertrude T. Buckingham, "My Song of Thanksgiving"

There's is comfort in hand stitching

 

the hours away, slowly in the late afternoon.

Do you agree?

Even when you are tired........or things may be heavy 

on your mind ........or heart.......

the stitches of colorful floss and the time

you have to say a prayer or sort out

the day's stress, while you stitch,  

come through in such a beautiful way. 

Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare,

And left the flushed print in a poppy there:

Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came,

And the fanning wind puffed it to flapping flame...

Francis Thompson

Wishing you comfort and peacefulness 

as you stitch the day away. 

With the end of the year and the holiday season upon us

I have spent these days going through my fabrics

and cutting out new dinner napkins.

The present dinner napkins are looking very tired and worn.

With the help of my vintage sewing machine, 

and my supervisor, Taboo, watching over me,

I am able to quickly get the linens sewn and 

finished in a day. 

Hand stitching these would have taken forever.

However, I do like to hand stitch a decorative blanket stitch on my napkins.

They look prettier and the stitching keeps the edges lasting longer.

I managed to get a good amount of table napkins to last

for the year.

They are perfect for mix and match 

either on new dishes

or with a table set with vintage dishes.

Vintage plates seem to go with any fabric chosen

for a napkin.

I also crocheted new dishcloths........these

get very tired after a while of dish scrubbing.

It is also a great way to use up all of my scrap yarn.

Wanting to try something new, 

I crocheted, soft, cotton wash cloths

These will be perfect with a pretty bar of soap 

tucked into a basket for a gift for a friend.

However.......

 I think I am at the phase in life where

gift giving is not important.

I would rather have a chat/visit, 

an email to catch up, over a gift any day.

Sharing and catching up with friends  over a table set with pretty dishes and linens

and the warmth of friendship

just says 

"Come, Sit, Stay"

 

OCTOBER

 

We stood at the edge of the forest,

The friend of my heart and I,

Where the sunset glow of the dogwood

Met the sunset glow of the sky.

The breath of the coming winter

Came down from the pine-clad hill;

Its shadow crept over the landscape

And over our hearts its chill.

Edith Palmer, "October Violets," c.1872

The color orange

Our first apartment, when my husband and I started our lives together,  had the color orange almost everywhere on it and in it.  We were just starting out and the apartment was very reasonable for our budget, and so the little white 2 story apartment , with very bright orange trim, became our home.  

I am not sure whether the landlord found a great deal on orange paint, or whether his interior decorator wife just loved the color, because the carpet was burnt orange as well.

Yet, it was a happy sweet home for the newlyweds, but I knew in my heart that I would never buy orange paint for anything that we would come upon later.

As the years passed, I found a passion for growing pumpkins..........mostly because of their large beautiful green leaves and the way they stretch over the grounds................then it happened.............

my first beautiful orange orb sprouted and grew and grew.  My heart was never the same!  I fell in  love with pumpkin growing and with the color of orange.

I am in awe of the shades of orange and tangerine in the 

early morning sunrise and the late afternoon sunset

I love it for decorating the dining room table

and I enjoyed every stitch in my latest cross stitch

because it had so many shades of orange.

This is another vintage pattern that I have had tucked away

with the floss, waiting for me to cross stitch.  

It is cross stitched on 14 count fiddler's cloth .

The pattern comes from a vintage Leisure Arts magazine

from 1994.

And as you can guess by now.......I love the color orange.

How about you?  Was there ever a color you at first did not 

like, and then all of the sudden, you grew to love it?

I would love to hear

Just for the moment, a thought, to ponder