The Official Start of Summer!

It is Memorial weekend a time when we visit the gravesides of our dearly loved and missed and reflect upon the memories we hold in our hearts of times spent with them.

As we finished up our visits to the last of the cemeteries in the southern part of the State, it was time to mark the official start of summer.  For me this includes a stop at Ellis Greenhouse down in southern Iowa to pick up some more flowers/herbs/veggies for planting as well as any other unique items we happen upon.

This year the unique items included 4 wrought iron trellises for our clematis vines...

and I couldn't resist this little sheep planter...

and yes there were boxes of plants, herbs and veggie plants.  There was a lot of planting going on the rest of the day.

The previously planted are growing well and so enjoy sitting out on my front porch and back deck with a good book or just for some peace and quiet away from phones and t.v.

More firsts for the summer - first ride out in the convertible.  Can you tell how much the guys are going to enjoy it by the smiles?!

First car show of the year at Crivaro Park.  Thank you Brian M. for the great family shot.

First case of car envy - I've always loved the Chevrolet Corvairs and blue is my favorite color.  Only thing that could have made this better would have been it being one of the convertible models.

Made my first set of sheer curtains for the side windows of our front door.  We had been using a frosted Plexiglas there to give us some privacy as they did not make tension rods to fit these windows and I didn't want permanent rods in there.  As my good friends know, I will do a search online 3 or 4 times a year to see if what I'm looking for is now being made.  Imagine how excited I was 3 weeks ago to find they now make tension rods in the size I needed.  I ordered immediately and then went on the hunt for sheer fabric.  I had a stroke of luck to find the exact same sheer fabric used in my living room/dining room sheers I had purchased pre-made about 10 years ago.  The texture on the sheer as well as the color are a perfect match.   Yippee!  It gets better - discontinued on clearance for $4 a yard!  It was meant to be.

As I commented in a previous post, I need an updated photo of the Mystery Sampler by With Thy Needle and Thread.  I'm actually past the halfway point and am looking forward to a finish soon - providing I can get a couple of lengthy blocks of time to work on it.

I enjoyed a wonderful day of catching up, laughing and stitching with my dear friend, Harriet on Wednesday.  We had a fabulous lunch at Bravo! Cucina Italiana.  The eggplant Parmesan was cooked to perfection. 

One of the topics we talked about was goal setting for our stitching.  I know some of you think this is a little early to be thinking about as most of you set your goals to begin January 1.  My stitching year runs on a different schedule.  Yes, I like to be different, unique and original.  There is a really logical reason for this as I always enter projects in the Iowa State Fair which runs early to mid-August and pieces have to be turned in the end of July for judging.  You can see where this is going as I base my goals around everything needing to be completed by July 1 to allow for framing/finishing.  True not everything I stitch gets entered in the Fair but it seems like the time I think about what I want to accomplish with my stitching for the next year.  

This year I've completed almost all of the projects I want to enter so have been contemplating where I want to go with my goals this year.  The last two years my goals have been pretty generic to stitch from my stash with some new items sprinkled in that I just had to have.  I've decided to streamline my goals a bit more this year.  I'm am going to concentrate on stitching my stash of Prairie Schooler designs and sprinkle in designs from my stash by other designers.  Once again cutting back on new designs being purchased and whittling away at my stash.

To that end when I was with Harriet the other day I started stitching Harvest Time by The Prairie Schooler.  I'm using a 28 count Jobelan called Copper Penny and the called for DMC threads.  I will admit that I'm changing out the color used on the church as it is a green-gray and it does not sit well with me.  Am going to use the grays (which range from light to dark) in the 400's to stitch the church.

Robin, thank you for your question about the fabric boxes.  I did respond to you privately but I did want to mention this was a purchased pattern.  I am in the process of seeing if she has a website/email  where it can be purchased or through the quilt shop that taught the class in California.  Will keep you posted.

I read the first pages in this book that Harriet recommended and have to say it had grabbed my interest by the end of the first chapter.  I am looking forward to reading the rest of this story.

Then it will be on to another book recommended by Harriet.  It also seems like an interesting story and can't wait to start this one.

Many people will walk in and out of your life, But only true friends will leave Footprints in your heart - Eleanor Roosevelt.