A Blue Christmas

Hi, stitching friends!

Here we are, Christmas Eve Eve, and I am writing this with a heavy heart. We came home from our awesome, amazing, wonderful-beyond-belief vacation on the Oregon Coast, and I had routine scans Monday morning once we were back home.

Good news and bad news. The good news is that my cancer is still in the bone. That's REALLY good news. The bad news is that it has progressed. The last few days have been a flurry of doctor appointments and planning. I'm having surgery Friday to have a titanium rod inserted in my femur to stabilize it and keep it from breaking. After that, we'll be looking at several weeks of radiation to various parts of my body to kill the cancer and reduce pain.

After that, I don't know. Lots of fighting with insurance, probably. Maybe more chemo. One day at a time.

So. Much. Fun.

We've decided it's wise to stay close to home this next year, so we cancelled our 2020 Ireland/Scotland trip. But we are not sad. Shawn and I can have fun anywhere, doing just about anything together. Grocery shopping can be an adventure.

And, I'm so thankful that I have cross stitch as a hobby. I can't count the number of life challenges that stitching has helped me through. It keeps me centered. And I will have plenty of excuses to stay off my feet in the near future.

I would appreciate your prayers, though. Pray for strength, pray for healing, pray for wisdom and skill in my doctors.

In the meantime, we will have a wonderful Christmas. My mom is here with us, and with any luck, a family friend will be able to join us as well.

"Blue Christmas House," freebie from Live to Stitch

Blue Christmas House Freebie

My Christmas gift to you is a little ornament I designed called "Blue Christmas House." The design is based on a painting by Charles Wysocki called "Cape Cod Christmas." Click here for a PDF of "Blue Christmas House."

I owe the New England charm to Mr. Wysocki, though. I just adore his work. Here is the original painting:

I made some changes to make the ornament my own, but the spirit of the house is there. I hope you enjoy it!

Sweet Seventeen

My son turned 17 last week! I can hardly believe it. He is growing up to be such a kind, thoughtful young man, and I couldn't be prouder.

I asked him what kind of cake he would like for his birthday, and he said red velvet cheesecake. I made a red velvet cheesecake cake, and wow.... let me tell you, it was amaaaaaazing. See that picture above? That's MY cake! It turned out better than I expected, and my son was so thrilled. I have not been eating sugar since August, but I made an exception and had a piece of this. It was worth the calories. Click here for the recipe.

With that, I'll sign off for now. It may be a while before I post again, as life is about to get a lot more complicated for me. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and an amazing 2020!

Joy

Hi, stitching friends!

We enjoyed our last full day here by going to the waterfront in Newport. We saw the sea lions sunning themselves on the dock, browsed the gift shops and stopped at Beverly Beach again on the way back. It was pretty windy today and the tide was high, so we are saving our beach walk for tomorrow (fingers crossed). I finally pulled out my hat, scarf and coat today!

This evening we checked out the clubhouse at the condo and made a mental note to bring our swimsuits next year. Heated pool...check! We shot a few games of pool, and while I am not good, I am happy to report that I won two out of five games, so it wasn’t a total embarrassment.

After we check out tomorrow but before hitting the road, we hope to squeeze in one last walk on the beach. And, stitching friends, Shawn insists that I go to Starlight Stitchery in Corvallis one more time. What should I get? They have so many things I’ve never seen.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday hustle and bustle, and I hope you are taking some time to pamper yourselves. Thanks for all your sweet comments!

Tillamook

The ocean view tonight from the back patio

Hi, stitching friends!

The storm seems to be passing, but the water and wind are still wild tonight. We hibernated yesterday and watched the waves crash on the rocks, and I worked on writing Christmas cards. After dark, we turned off the lights and snuck out in our bathrobes to skinny dip in the hot tub! Nobody needs to see that! That’s one huge benefit of visiting in the off-season. The condos on both sides of us are vacant. (Thank goodness.)

We drove north to Tillamook today to visit the cheese factory and get ice cream. They have a fun self-guided tour and free samples.

Shawn took five turns going back for free samples. The man loves cheese!

Yours truly!

Shawn loves to get ice cream at Tillamook. Last year they had a limited-edition flavor with maple syrup and bits of pancake in it, so he was looking forward to some of that. They didn’t have it this year, so he got FIVE big scoops of birthday cake ice cream AND a big scoop of praline pecan. I envy that man’s metabolism! I got ONE scoop of white chocolate raspberry.

Hey! Who ate all my ice cream? You did! You ate all your ice cream!

On our way “home,” we stopped at a post office in little Hebo, Oregon (population 231) to mail our Christmas cards and a Christmas package to my dad and his wife. They are hard to buy for, but I found some socks for them at the novelty sock store in Depoe Bay. Here’s what I sent them:

Socks for my dad and his wife, Marcia

He will think her socks are funny, and she will think his socks are hilarious. Perfect!

Until next time, friends, I hope this finds you happy, healthy and finding lots of time to stitch!

Storm Clouds Brewing

Hi, stitching friends!

I took this picture just a few minutes ago out the back patio of the condo. Beautiful evening. Those dark shapes on the left aren’t hills; they’re storm clouds rolling in. The waves are starting to crash high and hard against the rocks. It’s going to be a wild night!

Today was sunny and calm so we took a long walk on Beverly Beach. I love the Oregon Coast this time of year. We have the beaches almost to ourselves, and while others may think it’s too cold, we think temps in the 50s are perfect. I haven’t worn my coat since we’ve been here.

After Beverly Beach, we drove down to Newport and visited Bridie’s Irish Faire and met the owner, Susan. Earlier this year we signed up for a tour of Ireland and Scotland in 2020, organized by Susan, so it was fun to introduce ourselves. A lot of people going on the trip are from Oregon, so we are the Idaho contingent. (If you ever want a small-group tour of Ireland, click here to visit Bridie’s online. Next year will be Susan’s 17th tour!)

Lunch at Nana’s Irish Pub next door followed, and now we’re back at the condo, ready to.....you guessed it... watch Monday Night Football!

Wish you were here. There’s a lot to love!

Until next time, wishing you fun and lots of time to stitch!

A Good Day

Hi, stitching friends!

Photo from whalecoveinn.com

Today was a good day. Shawn and I slept in, watched some football in front of the fireplace, and had a nice breakfast (although we found out that our well-stocked vacation kitchen had no salt!).

We ventured out to Fogarty Creek Beach just up the road from our condo and walked on the beach. I took lots of pictures with my Nikon, so I’ll have to wait until we’re home to show you. (I don’t have a way of transferring them to my iPad.) I borrowed the above photo from whalecoveinn.com, and it shows one of the pretty bridges we walked on at Fogarty. It was a gorgeous day, temp in the mid 50s. We forgot our rubber boots back at the condo, so we’ll be back again with boots maybe tomorrow so we can get wet and check out the tide pools.

After Fogarty, we went to the Christmas store in Lincoln City and bought some pretty ornaments. This Jim Shore Celtic Santa is my favorite.

We stopped by Walmart to pick up a few necessities (salt!) and came “home” to have some salads and watch football. I love our week away and how we can take it easy every day. Lots of down time. The perfect vacation for us.

I brought several projects with me, but I’m currently stitching “Simply Winter” by The Drawn Thread. After this, I’ll just have the autumn one to go. I decided to stitch with two strands of thread rather than the called-for one strand because I wanted the colors to be a bit bolder.

The light in the condo isn’t good for stitching, so I’m happy I brought my portable stitching lamp from home. If you travel and have a hard time with finding good light, I highly recommend this lamp from Amazon; it disassembles and packs in a suitcase. Here is the link on Amazon.

Tomorrow we plan more beach combing and exploring if the weather continues to cooperate.

Mr. Wonderful is sleeping now, pretty typical when Sunday Night Football is on and the fire is warm and cozy. It’s been a good day.

Wishing you joy and lots of time to stitch!

Whatchaupto?

Hi, stitching friends!

Whatchaupto? (Translation: What are you up to?) I closed my Facebook account about a year ago, and since then, my blog has become my only "social networking" medium for keeping in touch with my family and friends. (Hi, Mom!)

Here's what I've been up to the last month:

1. Halloweening...

Continuing work on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow, and I'm on track to finish by my September 1 deadline. Square five is so colorful, and with the nautical theme, I think it's my favorite. It took a long time to stitch because except for the strip at the top, it's fully covered in stitches. I was relieved to finally finish it, but it was so much fun. I thought about changing the color of the mermaid's skin to be more flesh-colored and less white, but then I thought, no, when I'm underwater, I look pretty bleached out, too!

Square six is half of a two-square spread in the middle of the design. It was hard for me to stop at that hard line on the right and not go pull out the pattern for square seven. I don't like leaving things unfinished!

2. Tracking Time...

I've put in 31 hours on the Summer Schoolhouse SAL with RJ and Mary from Stitching Friends Forever. (For my non-stitching readers, SAL stands for "Stitch-Along.") This is my first SAL, and I'm really enjoying it. I'm using the called-for fabric and threads, stitching over one on 28-count mushroom lugana. Do you like over-one stitching? Sometimes when I start I groan a little bit, but then I get into it and stop complaining! You can read more about the SAL and see photos of RJ's and Mary's progress at their blog linked here: Stitching Friends Forever.

This is the first time I've ever tracked hours on a project. It's mind-blowing to consider how many hours go into a project, isn't it?

3. Gifting...

Many of you have experienced firsthand the generosity of our friend Robin in Virginia. When Robin heard that I wasn't going to do the SAL with RJ and Mary because the patterns were cost-prohibitive at the time, she sent me the entire series. I'm still simply over the moon and in awe of her kindness. I asked what I could do in return, and she suggested that I make an ornament for her wrought-iron ornament tree. So, I made this little guy for her....

The pattern is called "All Dolled Up" by Little House Needleworks. I stitched him while we were on vacation in Oregon in December last year and finished him just for Robin. The "coal" eyes and buttons are matte black beads. I stitched the ornament on 28-count coffee/tea-dyed linen. The ornament is laced onto foam core, which is mounted on a fabric-covered backing. Handmade cording, a fabric bow and a fun "2019" charm finish it off.

I used the called-for threads, except I substituted coffee-dyed white thread for the white in the snowman. (To do this, take a skein of DMC white and drop a little bit of strongly brewed coffee on the thread here and there - a little goes a long way. Let the thread dry and voilah - a rustic white thread.)

4. Reconnecting...

April has been a great month so far. I've reconnected with a friend from high school I haven't seen in almost a year (or more?!). I spent a weekend with my husband and friends at their cabin in Crouch, Idaho. I spent Easter weekend with my mom, and we celebrated my niece's 19th birthday. My niece has grown into such a lovely person. She is a freshman at Boise State studying chemistry, and it was awesome to be able to help her celebrate.

5. Gardening...

I started a garden. We have a large (24' x 36') garden spot in the backyard, but I'm just not up to anything that big this year. My husband dug up a 3' x 3' spot for me, and we pulled out a 2' x 4' raised bed we used several years ago. I planted onions, carrots, kale, lettuce, beets and ONE cherry tomato plant. I LOVE growing a garden - from the planning (see the diagram to the right - I am a total planning nerd when it comes to the garden), to the day when the first little sprouts peek through the soil, to the harvesting and especially the eating....

This year's garden is scaled waaaay back from years past, but the last garden we grew was such a disaster that I needed some time to get over it. (We brought home some organic tomato plants, and it turned out they were all diseased. One by one, every plant in my garden died.) We usually have great success, so fingers crossed this will be a good year. We are only planting one tomato plant - we are still a little wary from last time.

6. Dreaming...

And, hmmm.... what else? Oh, yeah! Shawn and I booked our next trip to the Oregon coast for December. Don't you find that the anticipation of a vacation is almost as good as the vacation itself? So for the next eight months we will be dreaming of the beach....

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your spring is bringing you fragrant flowers, hopes in bloom, warm weather and lots of time to stitch.

Birthdays, Beaches and a Box... Oh, My!

Hi, stitching friends!

I hope this finds all of you snuggled in and all done (or mostly done!) with your December preparations. This time of year can be hectic for any of us, but this week is a particularly busy one at our house. My niece turned 27 on Monday, one of my best friends, Amber, turned one year older than me today (haha - she's only one month older than me, really), my son, Thomas, turns 16 tomorrow, and my mom will celebrate her 80th birthday on Thursday. What is it with all of these December birthdays?

This is my son, Thomas, almost 16 years ago. I think he could have given the Gerber baby a run for his money with those blue eyes.

We still tire each other out, 16 years later.

Here is my mom, on the right, with her little sister, Pat. I just love her little dress and shoes and that smile. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Shawn and I spent the first week of December in Depoe Bay, Oregon. We had a wonderful time doing a whole lot of nothing together (the BEST vacation). We stayed in a lovely condo right on the water and passed the week recharging our batteries. We watched the waves in front of the fire and watched Hallmark Christmas movies. We shopped and ate at Nana's Irish Pub and a Chinese restaurant we had driven past for years. We walked beaches and explored.

Back at the condo in Depoe Bay, we saw a whale on our second day! Every day we were there, the waves crashed onto the rocks right outside our door (the spray in the photo above is about 50 feet in the air). Sometimes the waves were so violent that they would send a gust of air toward the condo that would rattle the windows. We would both *gasp* and look at each other wide-eyed.

We drove down to the docks in Newport, and Shawn pointed out this sign. It was on both bathroom doors. I love it.

Down on the docks, the sea lions gathered to rest and soak up the sun. These are just a few of them. There were around 40 to 50 altogether, and they barked non-stop! I just love their sweet faces. They look like dogs to me.

On our way back to Portland we stopped in Corvallis, where I got to spend as much time as I wanted at Starlight Stitchery. A real treat for me since Boise does not have an LNS. It's a great shop because the new owners are very sweet and they carry a lot of out-of-print patterns. It was fun to dig through and find things I had never seen online before. I could spend hours more there and still not see everything. If there's something rare you're looking for, give them a call. They just might have it. (Their name above links to their website.)

❦ ❦ ❦

Yesterday was a Happy Mail day. This arrived from my amazing blogging friends, RJ and Mary over at Stitching Friends Forever. (Click on the blog name and it will take you to their blog.)

Eeeeeee! (That's me barely containing my excitement.)

I won their big giveaway a little while ago, and you can imagine my delight and surprise when I got to unpack this wonderful, generous gift. Inside....

Look at this beautiful tool caddy/pincushion stitched and finished by RJ! Click on the picture to open up a full-size version. I wish I could show you this in person. The stitching is so perfect and so tiny. The finishing is absolutely beautiful, and I love it. This will be by my side from now on as I stitch. Aren't the wings on the bee amazing and lifelike? And the goodies inside... You have no idea how thrilled I am.

A gorgeous assortment of finishing fabrics....

Buttons and charms...

Three beautiful patterns (not showing the third because it would be showing the actual pattern itself).

A very cute journal and card set...

RJ and Mary, thank you again for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

I have been stitching a lot lately but I don't have any FFO projects to show you, so I'll leave you with one of my favorite Christmas finishes. It's from way back in 2011. I have the chart somewhere, but I don't recall off the top of my head what it is, so if you'd really like to know, leave it in your comment and I'll find it and tell you.

I love the warmth in Santa's eyes.

Have a lovely week, friends! See you soon!

Oregon Coast, April and a Freebie!

Hi, stitching friends!

First, before anything else, I wanted to share with you another little pattern I designed. I know Valentine's Day was SO yesterday, but this is more of a love note to my husband and my son. It is for every day. I wanted to design and stitch something to show them that no matter what happens, I will be in their hearts. You can get the pattern here.

"Keep Me in Your Heart" stitched on 32-count country French cafe mocha linen with overdyed and DMC thread.

We're back from our Oregon Coast vacation, and I am just now starting to feel like myself again. We had a wonderful time with our friends Rob and Kristin, and we toured, ate, shopped, ate, walked on the beach, ate, and relaxed. And ate. But after just a few days of go, go, go, I was zonked!

When we left Portland and started our drive to the coast, we were hit with a huge snow storm! We left Idaho to get away from the snow! It was bad for just a couple of miles, though, but we did see someone stopped in the middle of the road putting on chains. Quite the overreaction, and definitely not safe. Rob did the driving, and he was a champ.

One of our first stops was Canon Beach. Some lovely beach photos.... but it was SO friggin' cold. We had rain every day except for a couple of hours one day. I'm glad I brought a hat, scarf and my wool coat.

Haystack Rock at Canon Beach

On the left, waaaaay out there, is the lighthouse, perched atop a lonely rock

The seagulls were feasting at low tide

On the way down Highway 101, we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for ice cream. Then, just south of Tillamook, we spotted the huge air museum (rather hard to miss, as you can see in the photo). The museum is housed inside a blimp hangar that was built in 1942. It's 15 stories tall and covers more than 7 acres inside. You could have 6 football games going on at once inside.

The Tillamook Air Museum just south of Tillamook, Oregon

The hangar is 15 stories tall. Those doors (6 total) each weigh 30 tons! The plane parked out side is a "mini guppy" cargo plane designed in the 1960s. They told us they call it the pregnant guppy. The back part of the plane opens on a hinge.

The hangar is built of wood. Lots of wood. There is enough timber here to build thousands of houses.

While the hangar typically housed 2-3 blimps at a time, it could hold up to 8. The blimps were used during World War II to patrol the coast and spot enemy submarines.

Inside the hangar today, you will find lots of cool planes...

trains...

and automobiles!

I loved the drive along Highway 101. There were so many beautiful, old barns, and the daffodils were blooming everywhere - in yards and in the forest. One of my favorite things to see were a couple of free-range chicken farms. Chickens everywhere! Cluck, cluck, cluck!

After a long day of touring, we checked into our condo in Depoe Bay. Our view was amazing! We watched the whale-tour boats go out every hour, and while we did not see any gray whales up close, we could see them spouting about a half mile out.

Our view right off the balcony in our condo

We took Rob and Kristin to see the lighthouses in Newport. The first one is the Yaquina (pronounced Yuh-quinn-uh) Bay lighthouse. It was the first one built in Newport.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, built in 1871 and decommissioned in 1874

The other lighthouse in Newport is Yaquina Head Lighthouse, built in 1872. It took more than 370,000 bricks to build! It is still operating today.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, built in 1872, still operates today.

We also took Rob and Kristin over the Yaquina Bay bridge, just south of the Yaquina Bay lighthouse.

The Yaquina Bay bridge in Newport

We went for a long walk on Nye Beach, and we found something....

Poor little guy washed up on the beach during low tide! He looked so sad and helpless (and a little gross), pleading with us with those beady little eyes to help him. I think I heard him say, "Don't eat me!" I wasn't going to touch him, but Rob wasn't afraid.

As soon as Rob picked him up, he came to life (and thankfully didn't pinch Rob).

Shawn, my husband, is such a big softie, that he walked the little fella out into the waves. I kept hollering at Shawn to get back - one of these days my dear husband is going to be swept away by a wave, I just know it. But he is stubborn! He saved the little crab, at least for another day.

On our way back to Portland, we stopped in Corvallis so I could visit Friendship Crossing, a cross-stitch store recommended to me by sweet Beth, a friend I've made through this blog. The shop was heaven on earth, and the owner, Ann, was so sweet. I could have spent the entire day there. Shawn promises me that it will be a regular stop on future trips. Yay!

Since it's finally spring (hooray!), I finally got around to framing a spring piece I finished last winter, while I was dreaming of spring. It's "Simply Spring" by The Drawn Thread. I stitched it over two on the recommended fabric, with one thread, and I have to tell you, that was a weird experience for me. I'm so used to stitching over two with two threads. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but now I do. I picked up the perfect frame on Amazon. What do you think?

"Simply Spring" by The Drawn Thread. Frame from Amazon.

The little buds on the tree are made with satin stitches.

While we were in Oregon, I spent a lot of time stitching the April cottage from Country Cottage Needleworks. When I got home, I realized that after stitching the parallelogram (math!!!) part of the roof, I had somehow turned my fabric 180 degrees and stitched the cottage upside down!

I had stitched the entire cottage and the tree before I realized my mistake (I was getting too close to the edge of the fabric - that's when I noticed). I had to take out all the stitches except for the roof and start again. That took nearly three hours (just pulling out stitches). Three loooong, hard, heartbreaking hours. I rinsed the fabric in cold water and pressed it to remove all the holes where my thread had been, and I started over.

And you know what? Several more times I made mistakes that required a lot of "unstitching." For a simple design, this thing sure threw me! That shows you how tired I was after our vacation.

April cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks, stitched on 32-count lambswool linen with called-for threads

I love that little bunny!

When I learned to cross stitch, I was taught to start in the middle. I notice that a lot of you start in a corner. Were you taught that way, or did you change at some point? If I had started in the corner, I would have saved myself a lot of work!

Happy April, stitching friends. I have another design in the works that I'm anxious to show you. It's a Christmas ornament, and I think you're going to love it. Until next time... Happy stitching!