V is for Valentine!

How can it be (almost) the middle of February already? I always look forward to February because it is such a short month and it leads into March which means... spring! I also love February because of the beautiful Valentine's Day designs that are out there. It means stitching with pinks and fuchsias and reds--not colors I use very often. I managed to stitch two Valentine's Day pieces this month (I try to add a couple new ones to my collection each year) and I'm so happy with how they both turned out. 

First up, is a finish for me to keep--and there was a lot more stitching in it than I originally thought there would be. That basket! Anyway--isn't it pretty? This is "V is for Valentine" by Heartstring Samplery and I adore those colors together. The red thread is a gorgeous Gloriana silk called "Poinsettia." Other than changing the red and that pale pink color (I substituted Gentle Arts Cameo Pink), I used the suggested colors and stitched it on a beautiful 40 ct. linen called "Alabaster" (which is the palest of grays). I ordered the linen from this Etsy shop in Hungary: xjudesigns. Her linen is lovely and she offers free shipping when you spend over $50.00 (be sure to use the code mentioned on her Etsy page).

"V is For Valentine" finish

I added a bow made of a sheer black ribbon and then topped it with a smaller bow made of black and white gingham check. A sweet silver heart charm was then sewn to hand down from the bows. I thought the background fabric really picked up the colors of the stitching perfectly. Surrounding the circle is black pompom trim. The frame is one I've used before for a previous finish; will just pop in this piece each February and then replace it with what normally lives there. This was a thrifted frame that I chalk painted and distressed. 

Love the pretty filigree heart

 

Did you notice that wonderful old key in the photo? That was given to me years ago by my mother-in-law and I so wish I knew the history behind it. I will  have my husband check with her, but at almost 94 years of age, I doubt she'll remember. Anyway, it is old and crusty and huge--almost 9 inches long (which gives you a better idea of the size of the finish). I love it so much and usually have it as part of a seasonal vignette on the table in my entryway.

The special antique key was given to me by my mother-in-law

My second finish may look familiar to you long time readers because it is one I've stitched before--in fact this is the third time! This Lizzie Kate design (called "Be Mine Valentine") was sent to a friend for her February birthday. I thought it would be perfect for someone with a birthday so close to Valentine's Day. I used 16 ct. natural Heatherfield (which has been discontinued) with most of the suggested overdyed threads. The pink gingham shown is the backing fabric and I used my handmade cording to surround it.

"Be Mine Valentine" for a friend

Here is a closeup of the double bow and the sweet silver-toned key charm. I'm happy to say my friend loves her birthday gift!

Love the effect of the double ribbon, pearl topped pin, and key charm!

 

Behind the scenes, I'm working on a very special Christmas themed piece. Remember I told you I planned on working on some larger Christmas pieces this year? Well, I spent my Christmas gift certificate at 123 Stitch last week and these goodies just arrived! I'm thinking about stitching the "Christmas Rules" in the upper left for my little grandson at some point in the next year or two. But, I wonder which one I should start for myself? Which would you pick?

I foresee lots of Christmas stitching in my future!

 

Giveaway winner... Oh, how I loved reading about your early jobs in my last post in the "Getting To Know You" section! Thank you so much for joining in--it's fun to learn a bit more about our fellow stitchers, don't you think? I had quite a few entries for the pretty "Thistles and Flowers" chart and the winner's name pulled from the hat was...

CLARE (in England)

Congratulations, Clare! I hope you love stitching this sweet design. Please email me with your mailing address and I will get it off to you as soon as possible. Thank you to all who entered--and please keep an eye on this space for future giveaways.

Blog book... As many of you know, I have my blog put into book form using blog2print.com. I wait until I have two years worth of posts to send in for each book and my latest one covers the years 2019 and 2020. It's a big one--the biggest one yet at 437 pages! Can you imagine?! The good thing is that blog2print offers discount codes fairly regularly and I got this book for 45% off the normal price. I'm very pleased with the quality of the book--my only complaint (as usual) is that the captions don't end up centered under the photos. But, I can live with that!

 

I chose "Winter's Wisdom" for the cover of my latest blog book

 

And the back of the book my finish of the "Birds of a Feather" sampler by With Thy Needle and Thread

I love having an actual book that I wrote filled with photos of my stitching, travels, holidays, family memories, and baking. This 2019-2020 book is especially meaningful because it contains photos from...

... our special anniversary river boat cruise down the Danube in 2019

...photos of every single piece I stitched in 2019 and 2020

...recollections of some of my life's biggest milestones including the birth of my first grandchild in July 2020 and the death of my dear mother just 16 days later. The Covid pandemic also haunts nearly every post of 2020.

Here is the stack of all six books! I can hardly believe I wrote every single word in each book and took most of the photos. My 2019/2020 book is dedicated to my mother and my little grandson. 

 

That's a heavy stack of "Stitching Dreams" from 2009-2020!

 

It's still very wintry here... haven't seen the grass since early January. I took this photo the other morning as the sun was peeking up over the hill. Everything looked so very calm and tranquil. The ice storm we got left everything shimmering--like a fairyland! Of course, the ice caused some branches to fall, including a large one in our pond. But, we were lucky--we didn't lose power at all. How did you all fare in that latest winter cross-country storm?

A sparkly February morning view from my bathroom window

 

I'll leave you with this little vignette of a few of my Valentine's finishes. I actually didn't put all of my Valentine's stitching out on display this year for some reason. The snowmen in the Pottery Barn cubby refused to yield their spaces so I simply left them there for the month of February. I may need to get tough with them in March, though--ha ha! I did put together this little display shown below  containing my newest Valentine's finish along with three little gingham hearts that I made last week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

I hope each of you has a lovely Valentine's Day... Nothing special is planned here although I will probably make a tasty dessert. How about your plans? Thank you so much for stopping by today--it's always wonderful to hear from you and see some new stitchers' names among the comments. Welcome to all of my new followers--I'm so glad you are here! Take care, my friends! Bye for now...

Feeling the Love (and giveaway winners!)...

Well, all I can say, is I wish everyone could feel the sense of love and the spirit of kindness that I experienced when I read through your wonderful comments on my Stitching Dreams 10th Anniversary post. Your thoughtful and heartfelt messages really got to me--a few even brought tears to my eyes. I've said it many, many times before, but I truly believe the cross stitching community is the most supportive group one could ask for. Don't you agree? I mean how nice is it to have an online community that actually builds each other up, encourages each other, and is there to offer support or a shoulder to lean on in times of need?  Aren't we the lucky ones? Thank you, one and all, for taking the time to leave your comments... Whenever I'm feeling low, all I'll have to do is scroll through the comments from that post and I know they'll instantly make me smile!

I've been doing a little pink and red stitching in honor of Valentine's Day... I'm sure you'll all recognize my first finish as a Lizzie Kate design. This is "A Little Love" and is stitched on 40 ct. white Newcastle linen with most of the suggested overdyed threads. To finish it off, I added a few pale pink beads to the flowers and the middle of the letter "L," and used a few trims to embellish it. Layering the trims on a little pillow like this makes such a difference, don't you think?

Lizzie Kate's "A Little Love" finish

And, although I'm really not much of a "pink" girl, this sweet freebie turned out so cute. It is from the Italian blog Cuore e Batticuore and is available right here. This one is stitched on 40 ct. antique white Newcastle with the suggested DMC threads and is a perfect example of a piece where the finishing took longer than the stitching! Again--note all the layers.  For someone who doesn't really like pink, this one is actually growing on me!

A "Pretty In Pink" Valentine freebie

My final Valentine's finish is something I am truly proud of because it really wasn't charted as a Valentine's piece at all! Over the past few months, I've fallen in love with the charming children from French designer Perrette Samouiloff and decided I wanted to have a Valentine's piece featuring them. My French blogging friend, Nathalie, has sent me several French cross stitch magazines in the past and the two children I used in my finish were taken from the November / December 2017 issue of Création Point de Croix.

The children were actually charted to be part of an Advent Calendar featured in this issue. Here is a photo of it shown below... I had only one year of French in college so it's a bit hard to read the magazine (who am I kidding--I can only make out a few words!!) but, luckily, the language of stitching is universal!

I used the charts of the girl from Day 10 and the boy from Day 16 (stitched in reverse so he faces his sweetheart--simply take a photo of the design in a mirror to reverse the chart and make stitching easier!).  I changed every single suggested color because there were too many orangey reds for me. My tip for changing colors is to simply turn to your favorite designer. Have you ever noticed that most designers tend to design within a certain color palette? Well, you all  know my favorite designs are from Prairie Schooler so, voilà--I converted everything to those colors and am so pleased with the final result! This is stitched on 32 ct. bay rum jobelan with all DMC threads.

Two Perrette Simouloff children in Prairie Schooler colors!

In other changes, I made  her bouquet smaller and added a tied bow to the back of her dress. I decided to finish this one as an oval ornament and here is the result.  After ruching some burgundy and white checked ribbon, adding a small bow, and a silver key charm, I'm proud to call this one a finish! Isn't it sweet? I know I'll be stitching more Perrette Samouiloff designs in the future...

Too cute for words!

So, what else is new in my world? Oh, yeah--that's right... I'm another year older. Sigh... It wasn't a "big" birthday, but next year will be. I'm now 64 and can hardly believe I'll be an honest-to-goodness "senior citizen" in January of next year. I mean I don't feel old (well, most days, anyway) and many people tell me I look young for my age, but, wow, how on earth did I get to be this age?  It was a quiet birthday as most of mine are; mid-January in the cold, wintry northeast is not exactly conducive to going out and partying, is it? I've often envied people who had birthdays in warm, sunny months...

Birthday cards and flowers from family and friends helped brighten my mid-January birthday!

I received birthday gifts from two dear blogging friends, June and Cindy.  You two have been such wonderful friends throughout my blogging years--thank you each so much for your thoughtful gifts, but thank you even more for your continuing friendship!

Birthday gifts from June in England included charms, ribbons, bookmarks, and notecards!

Birthday snowman from Cindy in Tennessee. I love the little checked scarf that Cindy embroidered with my initial!

And from a very sweet friend, Barb in Michigan, came two charts that she wanted to pass on to me as she had purchased duplicates (I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that!). Thank you so much, Barb--I will be sure to pass these along when I'm done stitching them!

My brother and sister-in-law took a trip to Arizona last fall and brought back this southwest themed kit for a miniature  rug as a gift for me. I was so touched--and very surprised! Thank you both for feeding my stitching addiction!

And my last gift was a very special one from a blog reader turned friend (who wants to remain anonymous) who wanted to help me celebrate the 10th anniversary of my blog. Just look at these sweet goodies! A cute Christmas banner and buttons and a day planner were included along with the chart for that gorgeous Mirabilia tree and all the beads and specialty threads needed to stitch it--wow!! Thank you so much, my friend--I was so touched that you would think of me...

GIVEAWAY WINNERS... I both love and hate this part! I love giving things, but I truly wish I could give each of you something. At least, five stitchers will be happy and I'm thrilled to know that these little gifts will be flying all over the world to both bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Congratulations to all!   Please contact me (my email is in the "A Bit About Me" in my sidebar) with your mailing addresses and I will get these out to you as soon as possible. Thanks to all who entered--and if you didn't win this time, please know I will be having future giveaways... So without further ado, the winners are as follows.

Winner of the Leisure Arts book is:  Natureluvr57 (no blog -- not sure where you are located)

Winner of the Just Nan "Snow Faces" chart is Katie (Jeremiah's Mom blog) in Indiana

Winner of Lizzie Kate's "A Good Night" chart is Kay (no blog -- in Lincoln, United Kingdom)

Winner of the 2009 Prairie Schooler Santa chart is Jutta (Stoff and Nadel blog) in Germany

Winner of Sue Hillis's "Yankee Doodle Dandy" chart is Karen (no blog -- in Williamsburg, Virginia)

It was so interesting to read the answer to my question about what you most enjoyed in my blog posts. Many of you said (beside the stitching!) that you liked reading about my travel adventures, my baking photos and links, and even the backyard nature photos that I post. Thank you so much! I always worry that I'm boring you so I'm glad you enjoy these non-stitching portions, too...

So, do you celebrate Valentine's Day? We keep things pretty low-key here--exchange cards, eat chocolate, and if I'm lucky my husband brings me some cheery flowers. I wanted to make a special dessert for Valentine's week when my middle son and his girlfriend were over for their usual dinner this past weekend. So, when I spotted a perfect sounding recipe in the Sunday morning paper, I was delighted. I mean what could be a better combination than chocolate and raspberries? The recipe for this Chocolate-Stout Vinegar Cake With Raspberry Coulis can be found right here. It was quite good, although the cake was a bit dry for my taste. I didn't have the suggested 8" round cake pan so I used a 9" and forgot to adjust the baking time so that could account for the dryness. But, hey--plop enough whipped cream and raspberry sauce on and the cake moistened right up!

Chocolate-Stout Vinegar Cake With Raspberry Coulis

A long awaited love... My dear mother received the very best Valentine gift of all in the form of her first great-grandchild, this precious baby boy born to my niece in late December. She held him in her arms for the first time last week and I think that radiant smile of hers says it all... Mom will be 92 years old in just three months--doesn't she look fabulous?! ♥ ♥ ♥

The best Valentine mom could ask for!

And that's a wrap for my Valentine's Day post! I hope you've enjoyed your visit with me on this chilly mid-February day and I want to wish you each a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow... Thank you all for your sweet comments and emails--I do  read each and every one and so appreciate the time it takes you to let me know you've visited! I'll be back with a big (for me) finish in a couple weeks...  Bye for now... 

♥ ♥ ♥ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL ♥ ♥ ♥

A pair of elves, an old red truck, and a surprise destination!

I'm getting better! It's been less than two weeks since my last blog post--can you believe it? Since then I've  lived through that horrid heat wave that hit much of the U.S. and then experienced a string of almost perfect 75° days with low humidity. I think they were our reward for putting up with all of that heat wave nonsense! But, the good thing about a heat wave is that you can't be outside very long which left plenty of time for sitting and stitching in air conditioned comfort. I only have two finishes to share with you today, but two more projects are "almost done."

Oh, it was so hard to part with this little cutie... I stitched this sweet pair of elves  (on a 32 ct. mystery linen from Lizzie Kate's "Tiny Tidings XXII") for a gift for a former co-worker who just moved into her first home. She is a baker and she loves little creatures like gnomes and such, so I thought this cute elf couple sharing a giant chocolate chip cookie would be perfect for a Christmas ornament. If any of you have stitched this, you'll notice I made a few changes... In addition to a few color changes (the main being the face and cheeks where I used DMC 950 and 758), I didn't care for the row of flowers that was charted under the elves. So, I simple stitched "Merry Christmas" and added two small hearts. I also added some "steam" rising from the mug and changed the hair color to resemble that of the recipients. What do you think?

Lizzie Kate's elf couple from "Tiny Tidings XXII"

I thought a wooly flannel in green would be the perfect accent fabric along with a cheery red print and a bit of white ric rak peeking out. The cording is made from the same shade of green as in the elf boy's shirt.  This one just may have to be stitched again for my own tree!

The baking elves finish--so adorable!

My second piece was finished just in time for the 4th of July and is from our friend Nurdan who used to blog, but now has an online Etsy shop under the name Twin Peak Primitives. When I posted this on Instagram last week, I had so many people requesting information on where to buy the chart. Well, all you have to do is go to the Twin Peak Primitives Etsy shop, right here... there are so many cute designs to choose from!  This design is called "Patriotic Olde Truck" and it is stitched "over one" on 28 ct. black Monaco.  I did change a couple of the colors--used GAST Mulberry for the rusty red color and GAST Freedom for the blue. I also changed the tire colors to DMC 844 because, well, DMC black would never show up on the black Monaco, would it? I also changed the font of the words and stitched them in white so they would really pop against the dark background.

Twin Peak Primitives: "Patriotic Olde Truck"

And here is my finish--simple and patriotic using fabric from a checked towel that I purchased at a local store along with ecru colored ric rac and a rusty star that I glued into place. I love it!

A star-spangled finish!

Giveaway winner... I had eight entries for the little Uncle Sam Flatbed chart so I simply drew a name out of a hat (well, really a bowl!) and up came the winner....

MEARI of Meari's Musings blog

Meari, congratulations...  please send me your mailing address and I will get this out to you as soon as possible.

Meari--you are the winner!

If you didn't win, keep an eye on this space. More charts will be given away soon... In fact, why not now? Would anyone like to give this pretty chart a new home?

♥♥♥ NEW GIVEAWAY for July... I was recently given this charming Butternut Road chart called "Children's Garden" from a very generous reader (who wishes to remain anonymous). It is a fairly large chart at 199 stitches X 133 stitches, but it calls for only DMC floss. I think this perfectly captures the innocence of childhood from a bygone era... Since I already own a copy of this chart, my friend wanted me to simply pass it on to someone who might want to stitch it. So, how about you? If you are a follower and would like a chance to win, please let me know in your comments. As always, please include your email address if I don't already have it... Best of luck to all who enter and I will reveal the winner's name the next time I post.

I'm giving away this "Children's Garden" chart

"Oh, the Places You'll Go: Part II"   Do you remember when I teased you with the "Day 3" happenings in my previous post? I asked where you all thought we went during our third day in southern California? There were some great answers: Balboa Park, the beach, the San Diego Zoo, and even Phoenix. Nope... We walked into Mexico! Yes, that's right: walked...into...Mexico! Who knew that you could simply park your car on the U.S. side of the border, 20 miles south of San Diego, and casually walk over into the city of Tijuana  after presenting your passport and signing one quick form!?

Now I can just hear you whispering... "but, was it safe?" I was nervous--I have to admit; but having my wonderful daughter-in-law, (who is of Mexican-American heritage), with us, gave me extra courage. She helped us navigate the city on foot and via taxi and Uber rides very easily. Things have improved, in terms of safety, since the major drug cartel era of the 1990s and early 2000s--and as long as you stay within the heavily traveled tourist areas, it is supposed to be pretty safe. We had no problems whatsoever on the day we spent in Tijuana.  At the same time, I felt like I needed to be quite vigilant and aware of my surroundings. The city has come a long way from the drug wars that engulfed it a while back--but it has a long way to go. There is a lot of poverty and street crime (and much worse) outside of the well-traveled tourist spots.

So, would you like a little tour of Tijuana? First of all, I learned that I've been mispronouncing Tijuana my entire life--I had been putting an extra "a" in there (Ti-a-jua-na) and that is not correct. It is simply Ti-jua-na.  From the time we stepped onto Mexican soil, it was just a short walk to the main touristy area:  Avenida Revolución. Restaurants and souvenir shops abound and the strangest thing for me was how the owners of these establishments would stand outside their shops and call for you to come in and shop or dine. 

This huge arch was the first thing we spotted as we began our walk down Avenida Revolución.

It was a rare cloudy, cool day in Tijuana, but these vibrant banners helped brighten the visit.

My husband and I pose behind the colorful Tijuana sign. It was very chilly--so glad I wore a jacket and long pants!

A zonkey?? Some of the most interesting sights were all of the "zonkeys" that were waiting on many of the street corners. What is a zonkey? Well, from a distance--they truly do look like zebras, but they are really just donkeys painted to look like zebras. This is a long-standing Tijuana tradition (going back over 100 years) in which serape-draped donkeys carrying sombrero-wearing tourists are photographed for a fee. Years ago, with only black and white photography,  the donkeys would simply fade into the background and the customers were disappointed with their pictures. So someone came up with the idea of painting the donkeys with black paint, hair dye, etc. to resemble zebras. It worked! The newly created "zonkeys" were a hit and many a Tijuanan has made money photographing his favorite animal and a willing tourist. Of course, there are arguments about whether or not this is hurting the donkeys, but the "zonkeys" have become an important part of Tijuanan culture--there is even a basketball team named the Tijuana Zonkeys.

Barbi the Zonkey chomps on corn as she waits for her next customer!

Colorful street art and Mexican flags lined Avenida Revolución

My son suggested taking a taxi ride over to the Pacific Ocean and it was quite an unforgettable experience. At this spot, is the westernmost point of the 1954-mile border between the United States and Mexico. As you can see, there is a rusty 15-foot high fence that separates the two countries and juts out into the Pacific Ocean for several dozen yards.

On the left: Tijuana, Mexio  ~  On the right, California, U.S.A.

The Mexican side of the fence has been painted with different sentiments and names and photos of various Mexican deportees

In this photo, a Mexican woman visited through the fence with her family or friends who were on the U.S. side.

There are many large decorative fiberglass hearts on display. This one overlooks the Pacific Ocean and says "El amor es una verdad,  la unica verdad" which translates to:  "Love is a truth, the only truth."

So, would I go to Tijuana a second time? Probably not... although I'm glad I went once. I've heard that people are braver when they are on vacation--that they step out of their comfort zone and try new things. This was definitely the case for me! Have you ever tried anything out of your comfort zone while on vacation?  It was an eye opening experience that I will never forget and it certainly made me appreciate how very blessed I am to live in the United States of America.

All creatures great and small... Returning to my little corner of the world after being away from home always makes me smile. I am a true homebody, that's for sure. Lately, all sorts of critters have been visiting our yard...

One of the two darling fawns recently born (who promptly bent down and ate my lavender plants as soon as I took this photo!)

This crazy groundhog has made himself right at home. I caught him gnawing on the fibers of our front doormat last week. After he'd had his fill, he just plopped himself right down on our front porch and watched the world go by!

A handsome male Black Swallowtail loves the dianthus plant that my middle son and a friend brought me on the 4th of July!

This fuzzy buzzing bee enjoyed the salvia plant, but was so hard to photograph. Can you spot him in the lower left?

So, what does the rest of July hold? Well, I'll be heading up to New York State to attend my 45th high school reunion! What??? How can I be that old? Several of my best friends from way back then are going to be there also and I haven't seen most of them since I was 18 years old. Will we recognize each other? I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous... I've only been to one of my reunions and that was the 20th--25 years ago.  How do you feel about reunions? Wish me luck! 

Thank you all for stopping by today; whether just to see my stitching photos or to read about my travels--or both, I so appreciate you taking the time you take to say "hello!" I hope to be back in a couple of weeks with the winner of my giveaway and a new finish or two.  Until then, bye for now...