Scavenger Photo Hunt - March 📷 🌺🍁

Welcome to this week's Scavenger Photo Hunt from Katie @I live, I love, I craft, I am me... The words this week are...

 Signs of Spring...

Our beautiful daffodils, although they always seem to bloom much later than our next door neighbour. I dug them out of this flowerbed in the fall because they were coming out of the ground and we need to redo that area anyways. I put them in the garage in a bucket where there are now starting to grow, have I killed them or what?!

Spring at my parents house, with my Mom's chapel in the background.

On one of our spring walks, I love seeing all the green after the dullness of winter.

This is where I left off with Gathering Honey, still quite a ways to go! It might be more summer, but the flowers make me think of spring.

Signs of Autumn...

Love that dragon on my parents roof, especially with the gold backdrop of leaves.

A sad fall, very quiet baseball games but nice to walk around the park.

Fall back...

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower."

~ Albert Camus

So many things to love about the fall - the colours, the falling leaves, the coolness, ahhh. 

Be sure to see what others have posting for spring and/or fall.

See you next week.

An Actual Stitching Update!🧜‍♀️

 So I picked up Sirena and saw that I hadn't worked on her since 2019?! Oh my, no way!

Then I remembered why I stopped, there was a frog that needed to be dealt with.

I did what frogging was needed and started stitching again to end up here.

The problem now is the chest that I stitched and the chest in the photo look totally different. I used the suggested floss, Blackboard, but mine looks sooo much darker and I don't like it! I'll look at my stash tomorrow to see if I have something lighter, otherwise I'm going shopping.

My car stitching is slow progress on this cute Mummy, but it's nice and easy while waiting on Nathan at school pick up.

It has been so nice to have Ming and Maximus sit with me again and have them roaming around the house like they used to before Chewie arrived. But it sounds like Chewie is ready to graduate from Boot Camp and come home this weekend! Hopefully he will remain calm enough with them and they'll come out more. Crossing fingers and paws!

Scavenger Photo Hunt - February 📷🍰

 Welcome to this week's Scavenger Photo Hunt from Katie @I live, I love, I craft, I am me... The word this week is...

Delicious...

Defined as highly pleasant to the taste.

I'm visiting my parents this weekend and my nephew is staying with them temporarily. I asked him if there was anything he'd like me to make him. He requested cheesecake with some fruit. I know we have fresh fruit in the store, but it's not the same as fresh summer fruit. So I cheated and bought the canned strawberry topping he asked for. It was a hit and now he knows he can ask for something other plain cheesecake, like pumpkin, Bailey's Irish Cream, chocolate/orange, cookie dough, or anything he can think of!

It was the first time I made this recipe and I'm glad it turned out well.

Another treat was DH's request for butterscotch/toffee shortbread for Valentine's Day. It was my first time making shortbread and in spite of it being a bit crumbly, he enjoyed it.

Apparently, this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting was very delicious to Chewie, at least the frosting was - darn dog was licking it when I caught him! So I had to cut that part off and readjust the frosting to cover it.

There are plenty of very tasty beers/sours/ciders out there, but right now, this is my favourite.

And the old standby, you can't go wrong with chocolate, super delicious!

Be sure to check out more deliciousness from the others!

Scavenger Photo Hunt - February 📷⛄

Welcome to this week's Scavenger Photo Hunt from Katie @I live, I love, I craft, I am me... The word this week is...

Unexpected...

Unexpected is defined as not expected; unforeseen; surprising

I moved one of our bird feeders on the deck so we could see the birds a little better, although it took them about five days to figure out it was there.

Not that seeing a cardinal was totally unexpected, but it's always a nice surprise to see them there!

Here's the female, she's pretty too.

And this little guy would have worked for last week too, good old Woody Woodpecker! He was an unexpected surprise.

I'm really not quite sure what kind of "bird" this is, but he's trying hard to get his share of the bird seed!

This is not my photo, but my Dad sent it to me this morning and I felt it was appropriate for this week!

My nephew is currently staying with my parents for a little while and he "promised Oma a snowman. However, the snow would not cooperate and so this cheeky little bugger greeted her on the windowsill this morning."

Be sure to check out what other unexpected photos others have posted.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop 💝

 Welcome to another loving year of Jo @Serendipitous Stitching's Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop!

It looks like there is lots of love out there to be found, please take a look at all the stitching love by heading to her post.

Can you figure out who stitched what before they reveal themselves?

This is the sweet piece I received, did you happen to stitch this LOVELY piece?

Just in case you needed some advise on love, here's what some kids have to say about it...

My Mother says to look for a man who is kind. That's what I'll do. I'll find somebody who's kinda tall and handsome. ~ Carolyn, age 8

(Worked for me!!!)

If it's your Mother, you can kiss her anytime But if it's a new person, you have to ask permission. ~ Roger, age 6

It isn't always how you look. Look at me. I'm handsome like anything and I haven't got anybody to marry me yet. ~ Brian, age 7

Love will find you, even if you're trying to hide from it. I've been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me. ~ Dave, age 8

And if all else fails...

Shake your hips and hope for the best. ~ Camille, age 9

Scavenger Photo Hunt - February 📷

WoW, I Wonder What Words I can come up With?! Welcome to the Scavenger Photo Hunt from Katie @I live, I love, I craft, I am me... This Week, it's...

The letter W...

It's been rather snowy here lately, so here's a Winter White Wonderland through the Window.

Winter Wind chimes in Western Maryland, taken by my Dad.

Weathered Welsh flag waving in the Wind.

This was just sent by my Dad this morning - it will be replaced by a new one I gave him last year.

Wee Nathan in the Water with Waves.

Woodsy Walkway in Alaska.

Winking With Uncle Peter!

Walpoo Falls in Walmea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii.

A Wayback photo by the White House in Washington, DC, with the Washington Monument in the background on the left.

Another one taken by my Dad, you can't take a photo like that anymore!

And finally, Woodsy Father Christmas that I stitched for my parents in 1992.

Who knew W could be so Wonderful?!

Thanks for another fun week, Katie. Be sure to see What others have posted.

Scavenger Photo Hunt - February 📷

  Wow, it's already February? Well, welcome to the Scavenger Photo Hunt from Katie @I live, I love, I craft, I am me... This week, it's...

A Lovely Memory...

This was a tough one to choose just one memory, so let's just say it's memories of Devon. In spite of me forgetting so many things, I do have wonderful memories of spending summers there with my family. My Dad took most of these, but there are a few that I took.

This was taken in 1976 (I think?), Dad and I were there on our own. Here I am posting a card to my Mom and brother at home in the states. I think they had been to Germany earlier in the summer?

We did a lot of driving that summer in Wales and Devon, I had my Dad sing this song constantly - 16 Tons!

My older brother got married at the All Saints Church in Clovelly in 1985, and we rented Clovelly Court and had the reception there. This was the second time we stayed there.

The entrance to the house. I'm sure the clock has been fixed since this photo!

A little sulky at 17?!

Way behind me is the ocean, we walked there one day and I think that was the only time we did it.

One the day of the wedding, it was absolutely beautiful! Which was a good thing because more people showed up than were expected and tables had to be set up outside the marquee.

This was one of the pictures that was taken inside of the house. I wish I had been more into taking photos back then, there were so many things I wish I had pictures of.

The summer house in the back garden.

From what I've seen online, it looks like the gardens have been flourishing since the last time we were there!

I stitched this for my parents way back when because it reminded me of Clovelly.

While we were there one summer, we took a boat ride to Lundy Island from Clovelly Quay. That's a ride I'd like to forget!

Another place we rented was Ducksberry, very close to Clovelly and Hartland.

Wow, a beautiful house with fantastic views. According to my Dad, this was built in the 1930's by a man who wanted to hide away his mistress! It was definitely private, with no running water or electricity, it was certainly an experience. Luckily Dad's aunt and uncle lived in Hartland and we went there for showers and lovely local fish and chips!

The view from the cliff, looking at Hartland in the distance.

This was the walk to the beach from Ducksberry.

Thank you, Katie, for having me go back down memory lane. I really have some wonderful memories of being with family and friends during those summers. I've always said I want to take my family to the places I remember, but I'm sure so much has changed since then it might not be the same.

Be sure to take a look at what other memories are out there!

A little Colour in the Snow 🌶❄

We finally got snow on Sunday, just a little bit to start.

Monday brought more snow and it sure was pretty! Sadly it wasn't all snow, there was some rain/sleet in the mix which made it a little crusty and slick out there. Then it snowed on top of that, so I think we got about 5 inches?

This was Tuesday and Chewie was loving it!

DH still hasn't taken down the lights on the fence, I like the way it looks in the snow.

I didn't quite clean up the "garden" so this is a true chilly pepper!

Here's some more colour. These are two of the kits DH got me for Christmas and I just finished this one. I think I'm going to add beads to hang them with and I still need to add the backing.

Although I did think about putting this one on a stake?

Mill Hill Come Stitch for a Spell

And maybe this one needs a stand instead?

Mill Hill Fall Tree

I've decided that I will only be stitching these kits while waiting to pick Nathan up at school in the afternoon. Otherwise, that's all I'm stitching even when I'm home and have plenty of other pieces I could/should be working on. 

At least picking him up has me stitching five day a week, I just include the weekends and this will be my third year of stitching every day of the year. Some days can be very productive, while others might only be five minutes, but any amount of stitching is good! I know Jo has me beat, by how many years?! Anyone else stitching every day, or maybe trying to?

Stitching with a view like this is an added plus, too bad it doesn't last long!