Summer Stitching

The nicest thing about the cottage, besides the peace and quiet, is the amount of stitching time I have.
There are few obligations other than a mandatory bathroom clean and floor sweep that need to be done.

And so I stitch.

My stitching progresses

Rahenna's Band Sampler RR. This was a quick and very satisfying stitch. I loved how it came together.

My Desert Mandala. I have completed the top two borders and the two corners except for the specialty stitches and the beads. I can now see an end in sight for this 5 year WIP.

I stitched up Oakley Owelet from Just Nan.

From the Chicago Retreat by Cathy of Hands on Design I stitched this.

When I returned from the cottage, I had a very full mailbox. These are some of the things in the box.

 I have joined Stephanie's Fabric of the Month Club. My first fabric is Bewitched 32 count lugana. I ordered two special dyed pieces Melody (for the 2014 Passione Ricamo 20th anniversary Mystery) and Red (for a Raise the Roof  design). Here are my beautiful fabrics.

I belong to a Facebook exchange group and I won this lovely giveaway from Marie and stitched it up.

My Birthday Floss Exchange group on Facebook has a Secret Stitcher Sister exchange running right now. Here is my gift from my SSS. Pretty, pretty threads and a girl can never have too many pairs of scissors.

From my dear friend Ginny - this lovely project bag made by Karen and other goodies. I had stitched a piece on Ginny's Joan Elliott RR that was blank.

 I so enjoyed stitching it and did not expect such a lovely gift in return. 

On my way home from Arizona this winter during those long hours in the car I wove this afghan for a dear family member who has moved into their beautiful new home. It was well received.

If those of you out there in blog land are still reading my blog, please leave me a comment so that I can say hello to you.

Madame Muriel's adventures are in the post below.

and now, since the Laundry fairy has not arrived for her regular shift, I will say goodbye and get on with my laundry.

Madame Muriel goes to the cottage

I will let Muriel tell her story of visiting my family cottage.

Hello Everyone. I had a very adventurous trip to the Ayotte family cottage for 2 weeks. The drive there was quite long - over 7 hours. The cottage is way off the beaten path as in gravel roads (not liking those) and trees. I have seen more evergreen trees than I could ever imagine.

We finally arrived late afternoon. Here is my view of the cottage when we pulled in.

Hmm - I think I can handle this for two weeks.

What a busy two weeks it was. I spent a lot of time on the card table in front of the window. My view from there was spectacular.

There were gorgeous sunsets!

The dock was always busy with some activity or another.

I even tried my hand at fishing.

I learned very quickly that I am a better stitcher than fisherwoman. I will leave the fishing to the young folks.

One day, my hostess sat me on the window ledge above the sink. 

Thank goodness she didn't hand me either a dish towel or dish rag. I would have been exhausted and had dishpan hands in no time. I have never seen a sink so busy. The nice thing that I noticed while perched here was the women did the cooking and the men did most of the dishes. I like that plan!

And the food - OH HEAVENS! There was pork tenderloin, turkey and all the trimmings, steak, hot dogs, hamburgers, spaghetti and meatballs, fresh corn on the cob, bbq sausages and salads galore. They caught enough fish - walleye and smallmouth bass that one night we had a fish fry with coleslaw and homemade french fries. I can still taste that wonderful fish.
My hostess is quite the baker and there were coconut macaroons, peanut butter cookies, gingersnaps, birthday cake (for the BIL) blueberry cobbler and twice - blueberry pie. 

And visitors - Wow these people like guests!
My hostess BIL and his wife were there for the two weeks as were the two grandsons Jack and Hunter. Those boys were busy. They were swimming, fishing, taking apart an old dock,

playing cards or Rummoli, playing on their DS or tablets or eating. The world seemed to revolve around them. I did my best not to be jealous of them.

And then it was Friday evening. People started pulling in. The boys parents arrived to lots of hugs and kisses. In came the cousins and more cousins and again more cousins. There was a big travel trailer, a tent trailer, a tent and numerous cars and trucks. Soon the place was filled with hugs, kisses and lots of laughter. There were children - more cousins. We were all introducted to baby Ella who is 4 months old. You should have heard the fuss they made over that baby. These people LOVE to laugh and talk.
There is a sauna here and it was well used on the weekend when all the relatives were about.

I heard the ring of horseshoes, the clinking of ice in glasses, the pop of the beer caps, the crackle of the bonfires and the late night hooting in the sauna and the lake. 

Other family and friends dropped in and out for the two weeks. That old screen door slammed a lot.
I heard my hostess warn the grandchildren "Slam that door again and you will be going home tomorrow". I wonder if she meant it. 

The blueberries - let me tell you about the blueberries. It was a very plentiful year. The DH and BIL picked and picked lots. The grandchildren pretended to pick (as did I). 

There was enough for that cobbler and those two delicious pies. The family all took some home to freeze.

All in all, it was a wonderful time. We are back in Trenton now and I must say it is quiet and restful here. This will be my resting spot until our next adventure. My hostess is not giving me a clue as to when or where. 

My hostess has informed me that she will post her stitching progresses in a later post.
Until next time

Madame Muriel signing off!

Madame Muriel's Latest Adventures

Madame Muriel and I need to have a chat. She reprimanded me after my last post. She and her previous hostess Erin spent time picking out the perfect gift for me and I forgot to post it.

This is the lovely bag that they chose. Erin knows that I am a lighthouse collector.

To make up for my earlier neglect, I have kept Madame Muriel very busy the last few days.

My BFF Beatrice came for a quilt afternoon. We included Muriel in our afternoon.

She seems to like our finished block. My block will be one of many that will be put together to make a raffle quilt. My quilt group raffles a quilt at our annual quilt show and the funds are donated to local charities. Last year, we raised $1100 that went to Amberley's Place (battered people shelter) and Crossroads Mission.

The next day, I took Muriel to my stitching group. We get together every Thursday either at one of our houses or Knowledge and Needles.

Here is Muriel with the group.

Muriel stitching with us and beside her is an ort holder.

Muriel informs me that she had quite the educational afternoon. She learned about orts, Gingher scissors and their compatriots, Halloween and Christmas Ornament magazines that all seem to be hunting for and quilt blocks for a special series of quilts.

Myself and several other Canadian stitchers are stitching blocks for quilts that will be made and donated to the families of the 3 RCMP officers that were killed a short time ago. If you are interested in contributing you can contact Ann at Knowledge and Needles. This is my contribution from a DMC freebie chart.

She oohed and ahhed over my finished Joan Elliot Swirling Peacock stitched on 32 count Lugana called Silvermist from Stephanie at Steph's Fabbys.

 

And this lovely ? I was talking about the fabric for my finished Bent Creek Stitching Row.

The fabric is called Chocolate Vanilla Swirl and Madame Muriel thought it was ice cream ROFL!

Then she and I went off to Knowledge and Needles. I had to pick up a chart that I had won. She had a browse around the shop and met our lovely owner Ann.

She had her picture taken on top of the sign. Now don't you think I didn't hear about that one. "What do you think you are doing perching me way up here!"

This morning Madame Muriel and I are all packed up for our trip to the cottage. There is no phone or internet there so posting will not happen again until our return on August 10th.

In the meantime, please take care. Offer up a little prayer for me that I can keep Madame Muriel happy on our next adventure.

Muriel Arlene Myrtle Ethel Adelaine "Flat Flossie" St. Claire, the travelling Grandma comes to visit.

What a long time it has taken me to get back to my blog. Life is just soooo busy these days and it seems much simpler to post to Facebook.

I am returning with a wonderful new guest.

Please say hello to Madame Muriel, the Stitching Granny. Madame Muriel is a world traveller and Erin from Fairy Tales and French Knots www.ftnfk.blogspot.com has sent her to me.  For the next few months she will be travelling throughout my home area and country. Madame Muriel comes with a journal in which to write of her adventures. She will be posting to this blog on occasion to fill you in on her stay. I will let her speak for herself.

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Hello to all my fellow stitchers. After a very uncomfortable trip stuffed in a plastic container and a cardboard box, I have arrived in Canada. Now, I don't know much about this country so I am hoping to learn lots. My new hostess brought me out of the box, plunked me down on her sewing machine and started snapping pictures. I gather that is the Canadian flag that I am holding. It is bigger then me. After taking the photos, she plunked me back in the plastic container and promptly forgot about me. Apparently, she was busy entertaining guests. I did see a lot of beer cans, wine bottles and a great deal of laughter. This morning she finally remembered I am here and is now introducing me to you. I understand we are leaving on Friday for a 2 week trip to the "cottage". I'm not sure what that entails but I will fill you in. I hope I am better treated from here on in.

Hmm, I can see that Madame Muriel is going to be a demanding guest. I will try to be a better hostess from here on.

I do have a couple of finishes to show you.

Bent Creek's Stitching Row on Zweigart's 32 count Lugana -Vanilla Chocolate Swirl. This was a quick stitch and I am very happy with it. I will make it into a small roll pillow later.

My next finish is Joan Elliott's Swirling Peacock on 32 Count Lugana - Silvermist (custom dyed paler) from Stephanie  Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. I loved this one. It is so sparkly and there were lots of beads and Kreinik. The entire moon is Kreinik! I will finish this into a pillow. I will be on the hunt for some peacock feather fabric to use.

A fellow stitcher stitched this lovely piece - Nora Corbett's Letter M. She is not a beading fan and she sent it to me and I beaded it for her. She was so happy she added my initials to the piece when she had it framed. I was thrilled.

My BFF Beatrice and I quilted these fun wallhangings together. 

I will be posting much more now that Madame Muriel is visiting. I am sure she will keep me motivated. LOL

Until then, keep those needles smoking and be sure to stay "frog free".

A new Round Robin.

Oh my goodness, you all blew me away with your kind words. Thank you so much for all the lovely posts about the mermaid.

I have been stitching but cannot show much. I worked on a secret stitch that has been passed on now.

I stitched a block for my newest Band Sampler RR. I really struggled with a theme for this RR and then ran across these charts in my search.

These are blocks from SanMan 2006. I decided to stretch the rules a bit and consider 3 rows of 4 bands lol.
I stitched August because it is my birth month and it has lighthouses! I loved this stitch.

I sent and received a package for the Winter Exchange on the Stitch Create Exchange blog.


Here is the gift I sent

And here is the lovely package I received from Janet. The little mouse is so very sweet!

I am currently working on a Valentine stitch for that exchange so photos will have to wait there too.


I am trying, really trying to revive my blog. I hope to do better this year. I was surprised when I saw that I had only done 14 posts last year.I also found that I did not keep a very good record of the pieces I stitched last year. I have been hunting for several days to try and find the photos and information. Hopefully, it will come together soon.

And good news! I am off to Las Vegas for 4 days for a stitching get together. My BFF Beatrice is flying to Phoenix and we will meet and then head to Vegas. Looking forward to some quality time with some fellow stitchers.