Small's SAL for May

We just got back from a week in the mountains (I'll post about the trip tomorrow), so I missed posting my Smalls SAL update for this month and I also missed the update for April, but there hasn't been a post on her blog either so I hope all is well with Heather over at the Stitching Lotus blog.

I stitched this while camping and finished it off when we got back.

"The Mountains are calling and I must go"

A quote from John Muir.

I added it to the hubs coaster and it will go in the 5th wheel. I may redo this one sometime as I'm not a big fan of the lettering after I got it finished and just didn't want to pick out all that back stitching.

Now I just have to find the other coaster and stitch the one I designed for me. 

That's it for today, thank you so very much for stopping by, it means the world to me.

So until next post.......

💞 Take Care & Happy Stitchin' 💞

Hugs, Sandy 

Beautiful Flowers Around the Cabin

My yard is once again a playground for the Honey Bee's and Bumble Bee's.

Let me show you some of the beautiful flower's I get to see and smell as I walk around the Cabin.

It started with my tulips blooming last month and early this month.

This is just one small patch.

I had to spray with Deer-B-Gone when they first started to come up, then again when the leaves were tall and the blooms were just starting to come up then one last time when the buds were tall and just getting ready to start opening. Deer are very, very fond of tulips especially the yellow ones.

Then the pear and apple trees started to bloom.

This is one of five apple trees at the cabin. We only have one pear tree.

Now the Lilac's are out in their full beautiful glory.

There are at least seven of these beauties in different parts of the yard and every few years a new one will pop up somewhere from a bird or other animal spreading a seed here and there.

 

What I think is a Gooseberry bush grows at both ends of the back yard along the fence.

 

It does put off small greenish berries that look very similar to the Gooseberry.

We have an abundance of Chokecherry trees/bushes all around the yard thanks to years of the birds eating them and crapping the seeds everywhere. Even though we remove quite a few every few years there are still lots of them for the bee's.

 The bee's really love these and walking by you hear a constant hum in the air.

I don't Chokecherries not even as jam or syrup so they are left to the birds. 

The bee are waiting not so patiently for these two to start blooming.

 

I think it might be some form of Honeysuckle but I'm really not sure. It's just a pretty bush that smells wonderful. 

This is from last year, they are just starting to bloom, but will make the bee's happy in a week or two.

This what they look like up close. 

I believe they are an Allium, each one of those little flowers turns into a pod with three seeds. I am guilty of cutting off the seed heads and sprinkling them in different places and flower beds that I know are safe from the mower. 💞 

I love all of the flowers we have around the cabin and seeing their beauty always makes me smile, but when the wind blows just right the smell can be intoxicating. Soon the wild plums will start to flower but I'm waiting for the Honey Locust to start it's blooms, but it doesn't usually start until later in June, they smell so good.

It's safe to say I will be hearing the constant hum of the bee's for a few months.

 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a walk around the cabin with me.

What flower's do you have blooming in your yard?

Take Care Everyone & Have a Great Weekend

💞 Hugs, Sandy 💞

A Monogram for the Table Topper

I tried and tried to come up with a fancier monogram for the center of my bread cover turned table topper for the vacation home on wheels, but my mind kept going back to a simpler one that would not compete with the rest of the design. 

This is what I ended up stitching.

Simple M for Miller, using Caron Wildflowers in Chili and Burnt Toast.

These are the same colors used for the hearts and the branches.

That's it fir today, so until next post.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

💗 Hug's, Sandy 💗

TUSAL May Update Time

I haven't done a lot of stitching in the last month mostly just worked on my Bread Cloth/Table Topper for the vacation home on wheels. So there isn't much to show for this months TUSAL update.

 

That's all of it. So until next post.......

Take Care Everyone & Happy Stitchin'

💖 Hugs, Sandy 💖

Not All Who Wander

Hello Everyone; Hope you are all doing well. 

It's warm in the 70's with rain and overcast conditions here. 

My hubs is keeping his daily camping bastards tally. Told me when he see's ten or more it's time to go camping, yesterday he was more than happy to announce that he saw eleven Camping Bastards on his way home so a camping trip is in our very near future.

I finally decided on which of my designs to share with you. Had to do a couple of comparisons and some tweaking to the final choice, so here it is.

"Not all who wander are Lost" 

a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien

I set to print as a ruffly 5 x 7 chart. 

If it is to big for the page let me know so I can resize the chart. 

My printer ran out of ink so I can't test print right now. 

So until I can print an actual chart and scan it, this will have to do.

It is 60 x 74 stitches about 4.25 x 5.25 on 14/28 count fabric.

I picked DMC floss in.....

black dot - white arrow feathers and outline (2 cs, 1 bs)

u - 310 - small arrow heads, N, S, E, W and compass outline (2 cs, 1 bs)

X - 413 - large arrow heads and NW, NE, SW, SE (2 cs & bs)

square - 433 - tree trunks and words (2 cs & bs)

black heart - 498 - arrow feathers and outline (2 cs & bs)

clear heart - 729 - compass (2 cs)

0 - 3362 - pine trees (2 cs)

1 - 3363 - pine trees (2 cs)

2 - 3364 - pine trees (2 cs)

3371 - outline for pine trees (1 bs)

(cs = cross stitch, bs = back stitch)

I would really appreciate it if you would share a picture of your finished stitching of this design or any of my other designs that I have shared with all of you. It will keep me motivated to continue to share my designs if I know that they are being stitched, not just printed or saved.

Remember these are my original designs, please respect my copyright. 

Please do not mass produce the charts or post on any other sites without my written consent.

If someone you know would like to stitch any of my designs please direct them to my blog.

Thank You.

Well that's it for today, so until next post.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

 

  

Changes to the 5th Wheel

I made a change to our vacation home a couple months back.

I posted pic's last year after we got our 5th wheel and this is what the kitchen used to look like.....

Every time I had to wipe down the walls after cooking that wallpaper boarder would peel just a bit more across the top and bottom edges and it was driving me crazy. So after checking out what other people had done to their trailers on Pinterest and some camping sites, we went to Lowe's and bought some of those Stick-on vinyl tile sheets.

This is how it looks now.......

They were super easy to cut and put up and they are still sticking after being there with single digit winter temps, just have to wait and see how they will do with the summer heat, especially when the trailer is closed up. I like the look much better and I'll be able to spray cleaner on it and not worry if it's going to rip.

I'm working on a cross stitch design to share with everyone, but I keep changing it up almost every time I look at it. Should be all sorted out by Monday, since I'm going to work with the hubs this weekend. Bear in mind that I'm in a mountains, camping, and pine trees kind of mood with lot's of John Muir quotes thrown into the designs. Just a warning 🌲

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy 

Bread Cover turned Table Topper Finished

Happy May Everyone 

The year is just flying by it seems, and camping season has my hubs chomping at the bit and actually mumbling "Lucky Camping Bastards" every time he see's someone going somewhere with their RV in tow. I just pat him on the shoulder and say "I know honey, well get to go soon" his reply is "Not soon enough". If he could camp year round he would most definitely be one "Happy Camping Bastard".

While I'm on the subject of camping, my hubs has started a blog called "Camping Bastards.com" that he is filling up with lots of campground info and camping tips, tricks and product reviews for making your camping experience more enjoyable. 

The campgrounds are in Montana and Wyoming since that's where we go at the moment and include fee/pay sites as well as free/boondocking places.

So if you have any friends who love camping, have them stop by and see what he has to say.

Now on to the Stitchin' 

I finally finished the bread cloth that I'm going to use as a table topper in our 5th wheel. I'm still on the fence if I want to add "Wrought by Sandra Longan and the date finished in the center, so until I decide if I want my signature that large the it will remain empty.

Here it is on the table. 

I didn't have a tablecloth to set it on so I used one of the napkins that came with the trailer.

A close up of the center.

The first John Muir quote. 

I chose quotes that describe my hubs to a tee.

"The Mountains are calling, and I must go". 

 The second quote from John Muir.

"You are not in the Mountains, the Mountains are in you".
 

Closer views of the outside pine boughs and the corner bits.

That's a piece of dried grass that came out of the over head cabinet that the napkins were in, didn't see it until I downloaded the pics. I think I need to take the Shop-Vac out and clean all the cabinets before we go out.

A final look at the whole piece.

I didn't iron it since it will be folded in the trailer until we park. The hubs had the idea of getting a piece of plexi glass cut to fit the top of the table and putting it over the table cover so it doesn't get dirty. I may take him up on that offer.

Well, that's it for this post, so until next post......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin' Everyone

Happy Camping coming soon.

Hugs, Sandy