Hi, stitching friends!Happy July! What are your plans for the month? For my American friends, are you doing anything fun for the Fourth of July? Are you taking part in "Jolly July" stitching?
While trying our best to stay safe and considerate of others, we are keeping our plans fairly low key. We are going to visit my husband's mom and my mom in central Idaho. The county they live in has 4,280 people and has had only 5 cases of coronavirus, so we feel pretty safe going there. We are going to keep our germs to ourselves, though, and wear our masks to keep others safe. (I hope you are doing the same.)
The town my mom lives in usually has the best small-town Fourth of July festivities - a breakfast at the Legion Hall, a big parade down Main Street, a free town barbecue at the city park, games for the little kids and fireworks set off above town by the local volunteer fire department.
This year, however, they are scaling things down to keep everyone safe. The parade and fireworks are still on because people can social distance and enjoy the show. In fact, the area where they set off the big fireworks is very close to my mom's house, so all we have to do is set up our lawn chairs in the front yard to watch them.
The photo above is yours truly (on the left) getting ready to compete in the "potato sack race" along with my little friend Lachelle. It was years and years and years ago (1970-something!). It must have been a chilly morning, with our little jackets on. (That, or my mom is going to email me and say, "That wasn't taken on the Fourth of July!") Anyway, the potato sack race was always one of my favorite events on the Fourth.
We are bringing my son's girlfriend with us and he is excited to show her all the amenities small-town Idaho has to offer. My husband's mom lives on a 1,000-acre cattle ranch so there are all sorts of adventures there. They might set up some aluminum cans and practice target shooting with a .22, or go for a ride with Dad into the forest to check on cows or fences. In my mom's town, there is a beautiful public golf course above town with a pond stocked with fish for kids, and there is a 2-1/2-mile paved walking path around the golf course that offers beautiful views of the entire valley. I'm looking forward to time with our moms.
On to the stitching!
Until this week, I had zero patriotic finishes, aside from my "July Cottage" from Country Cottage Needleworks. I'm happy to say that I now have three more! I featured these in my last blog post, but they weren't fully finished until now.
The first is "Pursuit of Booty" by Sue Hillis Designs. I finished it into a flat-fold using Vonna's wonderful tutorial at The Twisted Stitcher. I added handmade cording and I think it pops!
The second is "Stars & Stripes" by Little House Needleworks. I bought this cute little birdhouse at Michael's last spring. I did my best to finish it "Priscilla & Chelsea" style, with lots of torn red-stripe ticking around the edges. It's a little busy in my opinion, and I don't think I will do this again, but I wanted to give it a shot. The stitched piece is attached to the birdhouse with a magnet so I can change out the stitching with the seasons.
And the third is "Old Glory" by Little House Needleworks. I painted a thrift-store frame and mounted the stitched piece onto some green fabric that Mary from Stitching Friends Forever sent me. I attached some lace that I found at a thrift store a couple of years ago to the back of the stitched piece. I really like how this cutie turned out. I love thrift-store finds, don't you?
Here are all of my stitched pieces together on the cabinet in my foyer. I got the "Great American Sparklers" sign at Michael's a couple of years ago.
Getting to Know You
My friend Carol has started a "getting to know you" section on her blog, Stitching Dreams, and I really like it. I hope you don't mind, Carol, but I'm borrowing your idea!
What is your favorite summertime food? For me, it's grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. They remind me of camping and cookouts. As far as hot dogs go, I like mine charred over a campfire the best. I make homemade sweet relish that is out of this world. When I have a hamburger, I load it up with thick bread-and-butter pickle chips (sweet!), a thick slice of tomato, sliced avocado and leafy green lettuce. So messy and delightful.
What about you?
Until next time, friends, stay safe and be well. Thanks for stopping by to visit!
