Rough August

I feel very bad that I have neglected my blog for such a long time, but it has been a rough August. We got home from our wonderful vacation in Maui and began to deal with the reality that our 16 year old dog, Shannon, was going blind. She is the love of our life and I had a very hard time dealing with it. In reality we probably had a harder time with it than she did. She is completely blind now. She is such an inspiration and always has a happy wagging tail for us and lots of kisses. She has learned to negotiate the house pretty well, but I still worry quite a bit. This is a picture of her resting on her pillow. How could you resist that face?

Once she was in better spirits and seemed like she was getting back to her old self, I decided it was time to pick up my needle and thread again and start sewing. So, I have been quiet busy cross stitching, but have not found the time to get much of the finishing work done. Here are some of the items that I have stitched up in the last few weeks. Every time I got one project done I immediately started a new one.

Click on the picture to make it bigger and you will get a better view. As I get these items finished into pinkeeps and ditty bags, I will post pictures so that you can see how they came out. Warm wishes to all.
Nan

Maui Up Country

We took a drive up country yesterday and went through Kula and Ulukalapua. It was so lush and the views were heavenly. I just had to post a few pics so you could see the beauty. It's about 10 degrees cooler up here and the gardens up country are just lovely. It makes me think this could be the place for me.

This was our sunset yesterday from the condo. The beauty of Maui always amazes me every time we come here. I love all of this island from the beaches to the mountains.

Aloha !

Aloha from Maui !

Aloha from Maui ! Having a wonderful and relaxing time. Wish you all were here. What a Hoʻolauleʻa (party) that would be. : ) Today was the perfect beach day. We spent the morning at Ulua and Mokapu Beaches in Wailea. The water was a gorgeous blue.
We plan to drive in to Kihei for dinner. A local told us about a really good mexican restaurant that claims to have the best ceviche. Monday, our first night here, we went to Pupu's and had local fish that was just out of this world delicious. Well, Aloha for now. I'll post more pictures soon.

Happy 4th of July

A Happy 4th of July to everyone.
Hope your weekend is full of fun, family, friends and fireworks!

The Humble Pinkeep

Here's another pinkeep I finished this week. I used a new staining technique and love the real prim look of it. It's a Blackbird Design. As they say... sometimes less is more.
Fabric: 32 ct belfast linen that has stained. Threads: GA Dungarees, WDW Pecan, DMC 3051 and 3052. Backed with a stained mattress ticking and stuffed with crushed walnut shells. The ends have been blanket stitched closed.

All Finished

I wanted to show you my completed pinkeeps I made using my new Cross Stitch Bible book. I liked the first one so much I stitched up 2 more. The "D" and the "R" are spoken for but I will be listing the "M" in my Etsy Shop
I also finished another small pinkeep. The pattern is by Blackbird Designs. I think it came out rather sweet. This will also go into my Etsy Shop.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!
~Nan

My Cross Stitch Book Arrived !!!

I am so excited. I just had to share this with all of you. I treated myself to a new book that just came out and it is so wonderful that I almost squealed going through the pages. It's called Cross Stitch Letters Bible by Valerie LeJeune. It's an enormous collection of alphabets and numbers (739 different alphabets and 99 different numbers) They range from tiny to very large. I recommend it for any cross stitcher's library. Since it was raining again yesterday, I used my new book to create a new cross stitch pattern. It's all stitched up but needs to be backed and stuffed into a finished pinkeep. I really am happy with the design. Especially the very fancy date :)


I'm sure I will be using this for reference quite a bit in the future. Now I have all the alphabets and numbers I could possibly need. This was worth every cent.
Until next time. Have a wonderful week and may there be sunny days ahead.
~Nan