Homestead Chronicles - New Toys, Gifts, and Greenery

A couple months ago, I decided to retire my Cub Cadet lawnmower that was given to me.  A refurbished mower that resulted from a dumpster dive.  It's jury-rigged to 'electric' start by attaching clamps to a motorcycle battery.  It's worked well for the past 7 or 8 years, however last year the starter became harder and harder to get going.

After some research, I bought a new lawnmower that is self-propelled and had an actual real electric start. Over the past couple years, I've had difficulty getting a pull-start mower started.  Getting old sucks is not for the faint of heart.

I purchased a Toro Personal Pace.  It's a mulcher and has a bagger.  Not only is it electric start and self-propelled, it determines the speed according to how fast or slow the 'driver' is walking.  I even tested it by running around the yard with it, LOL!  It does indeed keep up.  I mow every week and haven't had to re-charge the electric start battery yet.  I'm thrilled with my new mower!  My only complaint is that the front end is on the light side weight-wise and tends to tip up a bit when going over lumps and bumps in the yard.

All electric start mowers have a safety feature whereby a bar needs to be engaged in order to start the mower.  The downside to this is that if the bar is released then the mower shuts down.  Annoying if you have to bend down to pick up branches or trash from the yard.  Back in the day, I was chit-chatting with my Dad about it and he tied an old shoe string on my Cub Cadet.  So, when I got the Toro, I removed Dad's shoestring and put it on it.  It's a reminder of how smart he was at hack solutions. :)

A while back, I received some beautiful gifts from India.  My friend, Akila from Mostly Cross Stitch and More, sent me beaded ornaments and a set of four little vases.  The ornaments are so pretty and oh-my the vases are adorable!

Thank you Akila and V!

I haven't had the gumption desire to do any gardening since my parents passed away five years ago.  This year, I made up several planters with flowers, tomato plants, and basil.  They are coming along quite nicely.  I have two large 24" long planters with beautiful molded designs on the front. I put quite a few plants in each one.

A month and half later, they filled in quite nicely.

Last year, I saw a 3-tiered planter at my local Aldi store.  I didn't get it when I saw it and when I went back, they were all sold.  At Aldi, you never know if they'll get seasonal items like again.  When I saw they had them back in stock this year, I grabbed one up and filled it with flowers.  It fits nicely in a little alcove I have next to the side entrance steps.

The basil grows profusely and is so fragrant when harvested.  I ate my first cherry tomato off the vine yesterday. It was SO good!

Until Next Time...

RAK's!

BLOG LAYOUT
It's been years since I've changed my blog layout.  I'm looking for a new three-column layout template.  Does anyone have suggestions?

RAK's
I've said this before and I'm going to say it again:  Stitchers are the most thoughtful people ever.  Last year, I was RAK'd three times!  (Yes, i'm just now getting around to posting about it... bad me.)

Vickie from Reading and Stitching was going through her magazines and asked me if I was interested in various Asian-themed charts.  A nice package arrived in the mail that made my mind whirl as to which one I want to do first!

Fantasy Cards by Joan Elliott

Land of the Rising Sun by Maria Diaz

Graceful Geishas by Joan Elliott

Oriental Elegance by Lesley Teare

Oriental Sampler by Susan Bates

Sacred Serenity by Joan Elliott

Winters Beauty by Lesley Teare

Aren't they wonderful?!

Thank you, Vickie!

I've been a long time reader of the Stitching Dreams blog.  Carol does such a wonderful job finishing her ornaments.  She is always sharing stitching eye candy.  Recently, she hosted a giveaway for a patriotic chart called Uncle Sam by Bent Creek.  After Asian-themed designs, Patriotic designs are my favorite.  I'm also a fan of Bent Creek.  She pulled my name from the hat!

 Thank you, Carol!

This is the cutest thing ever!  I want to stitch it up now, but I'm finishing up a mailart exchange.

On Facebook, Glenna in KS had posted a July 4th photo of a towel she stitched a while ago.  I had admired it in a comment.  Much to my surprise, she sent me the chart.  

Coincidentally, I have towels I can stitch the designs on.  I'm so excited to start the July 4th one!

 Thank you, Glenna!

Until next time...

This, That, and The Other

DABBLING WITH PAINT
Most of you know that I can sling a mean paint brush... when it comes to refurbishing filing cabinets or side tables or even painting walls.  Recently, I took a watercolor class offered by the park district.  Not wanting to be totally uneducated, I jumped on YouTube to learn some basic watercolor skills.  Here's what resulted from my using my niece's Prang watercolor paints from grade school (many eons ago!).  The tutorial I used was very good in that it went step-by-step on how to draw and paint.  My result:

A few days later I went to the class.  I was disappointed that there wasn't more instruction.  We were basically told to draw the flower and then paint it doing the lightest shade first, followed by medium, and then shading.  There was no demonstration or anything.

We were allowed to use primary colors to paint with: red, yellow, and blue.  After the teacher had difficulty mixing up a gray with them, he got me some brown... and still couldn't get it.  After trial and error, I finally got a color that worked.  Since I was late to class (didn't know where the community building was), I was stuck with the only flower left which was a white rose... hence the gray paint.  Roses are hard to draw and white is hard to paint!  I came home with this:

FITBIT
Over the past couple of months, my Fitbit band started pulling away from the face. Not a big deal. A little over a week ago, the button on the side of the face fell out somewhere.  It controls being able to scroll through the data screens.  Even though I can tap on the screen... hit or miss at best... it's easier to press the button.  It's disappointing that a piece of equipment that costs so much didn't hold up better.  I've only had it 10 months.  I contacted Fitbit and sent a photo collage.

Since it's still under warranty, Fitbit sent me a replacement.  I even got to choose a color!  I'm hoping this one holds up better.  ::fingers crossed::

FAMILY
A few weeks ago, my niece graduated high school.  She also was accepted into the College Now program her junior year of high school, so a week before graduating high school, she graduated with an Associates college degree.  Both with honors!  I am so proud of her.

STITCHY STUFF
It seemed like it took me a lonnnggg time to finish Part 5 of the Words SAL.  I haven't had a lot of time to stitch lately.

Part 6 didn't seem to take me as long.  I'm working on getting more of the border done since this part is the top of the design.

If you're interested in seeing what other participants have stitched, you can see them HERE.


Earlier this year, Kim from Wisdom with Needle and Thread announced she would be having a big birthday this year.  She turned 60! To celebrate, she decided to RAK 60 gifts.  I was one of the lucky recipients.  Using my needlebook tutorial, she created and sent me this:

Don'tcha just love the measuring tape ribbon?  So cute!

(It can be found on Amazon... I asked, hee hee)

Be sure to visit her blog to see all the other RAKs she's given out.  She is so talented.  And which her a happy birthday, too!

I almost forgot!  Back in April, I received my Stitcher's Day Exchange from Jennie K in Rhode Island.  She sent me a lovely felt backed heart.  It's perfect for a bookmark.  Jennie also sent me a Sweetheart Tree quadrille ornament chart.  One of my favorite designers!  Thank you, Jennie.

FREEBIES
If you like summertime and beachy motifs, DMC has a freebie that has some very cute designs!

 Click HERE to download the PDF.





THROWBACK STITCHING
A while back, I mentioned being invited to a Facebook group called Throwback Stitching.  I thought I'd show my recent post here on my blog, too.

This was the first patriotic design I'd stitched.  I matted and framed it myself adding the wood patriotic hearts.  The design is from the premier issue of Cross Quick magazine.

Until next time...

 

Marvelous Monday Update 2/10/14

WEATHER
It's pretty sad when the temperatures get into the 20's, people here say, "It's pretty warm out today!" LOL, amazing how perspective changes when there's weeks of subzero temperatures.

 

 The colder temps have created some gorgeous sunrises.

 

A new term was coined at work:  Tunnels of Terror.  This is a view from the front windshield of my car.  See how high the snowbanks are?  Normally, I can see cornfields, bean fields, and farms.  Now, nothing but snowbanks.  This one is actually pretty good because both lanes are fully cleared.  There have been times I've driven to work where half my lane was covered in snow and ice.

 



Over the weekend, my area received another 4" of the light fluffy stuff.  My snowblower barely throws the snow up and over the banks of snow on the side of my drive way.

 

STITCHY STUFF
My ort bag was quite full, so I pulled out all the orts resulting from 2013 stitching.  I was surprised at how many snippets there were:

(As you can see, Froggie insisted on sneaking into the photo!)

 

I have two new starts this week.  The first is You Are So Loved by Snowflower Diaries.  If you look at the original design, you'll notice I have changed the colors.

 

The second start is N is for Nurse by Sweetheart Tree.  It will be a pretty quick stitch once I finish the nurse.  You can see the over-one stitching on her hands and face if you click on the image.

 

More BFC arrived in last week's mail.  I received an adorable card from Sue and Peanut (who is her "baby" chihuahua).

The sweet "SM" (surrogate Mom) that she is,

she also sent a couple of gifts for me:



 

Thank you for being so thoughtful, Sue!

 

Japanese Garden saw some progress, too.  I finished all the lazy daisy stitches for the bamboo stalks at the 9 o'clock bridge.  (Never thought I'd get them finished!)  Here's what it looked like before:

 

And now: 

 

 

Random Acts of Kindness

Did you know Feb 10-16 is Random Act of Kindness Week?  I plan on doing a RAK at least once day for the entire week.  What about you?  Next week, I will post the kindnesses I did.

 

Until then,

 

 



Marvelous Monday Update 7/2/12

Welcome to July!

WEATHER

Over 16 states are currently under a heat advisory.  My area isn't as hot as others, but we're going into our second week of steady 90-100F temps.  Normally, I'm not one to use my AC but it is just so darn HOT! 

GARDENING

My poor garden is hanging in there with my diligent use of the water hose.  I've got baby green tomatoes and peppers. The squashes have flowers galore.  And, I can now see my onions after a tremendous amount of weeding.

If you remember a while back, I mentioned I started a compost bin.  I'm happy to say it's coming along nicely!  The shredded newspaper and food scraps are actually breaking down into dirt-like compost.  To answer people's questions:  It doesn't smell and there are no flies.  Some spiders have taken up residence in the corners, though. LOL  I figure by fall, I should have a nice pile of compost to add to my garden for next year!

NEIGHBORS

I have mentioned my backyard dog breeding neighbors a time or two.  Their entire backyard (which isn't that big) comprises of dog kennels.  This year, the two females had 13 puppies between them.  Add in the two males and you have 17 dogs less than 20 feet from my house.  Over the course of the summer I have called the police numerous times because of whining puppies.  Other times because one mama would get too close to the other mamas babies.  I couldn't even take a nap in my living room because of dog noise! 

There is no ordinance in the city that prohibits dog breeding.  There's a limit to the number of dogs over the age of four months that a person can have... and that's four.  Since puppies are under four months, it's perfectly legal to have 13 of them!  Oh, did I mention they are Siberian Huskies??!?

This is the kennel minus the "temporary" puppy kennel that took up one car size of their driveway. In addition to the noise, it's an eyesore!  I came out one day to find remnants of plywood and wood planks leaning up against MY garage!

THEATRE

Over the weekend, one of the local community theaters put on To Kill A Mockingbird.  Having read the book and seen the movie several times, I was really looking forward to the play version.

The director took liberties I really didn't care for, but overall the play was really good.

GIVEAWAY

Shelley from Shelley's Artsy-Fartsy Life is hosting a Britty Kitty giveaway on her blog.  She recently finished them all and has shown them on her blog as well. Go check out her recent finishes!  They are so adorable.

STITCHY STUFF

It took almost a week for me to get back into the groove of life after getting back from the Colorado retreat.  I managed to get unpacked, restock on groceries, and do some stitching.

Sampler aux Bouquets

I did some stashing right before the retreat.  This kit is called Woodland Friends.  I think it's so adorable.  I will probably switch out the aida for an evenweave, though.

I found this afghan fabric at a thrift store for $3.99.  When I got to the counter, I found out certain colored housewares tags were 50% off that day!  What a deal!!

RAK'd

I received a recent edition of a magazine called Oriental Cross Stitch Favorites from Sue.  She is so generous!  She had emailed me that it was coming, so I politely stalked the post office waiting.  There are so many awesome designs in it :)

Debi sent me one of the 6 Fat Men charts from Lizzie Kate.  It's so cute!

A big THANK YOU to Sue and Debi!!

Until next time,