Bits and Pieces....

Last night I was really tired but I didn't want to miss the meteor shower that I had read about 573 times that I saw a post about it on Facebook.  Well, maybe not that many posts but a lot.  :)  I went outside about 10:00...here at the mission there are lots of lights but I found a couple of dark places where I could stand and peer upwards.  Beautiful night; hot, but beautiful.  Lots of stars.  No meteors.  So I got up at 5:15 this morning and went out again because I read that there would be a better chance just before dawn.  I even walked, in the dark, alone, down the path to a "pasture" that is between my apartment and the warehouse.  It was a little cooler and there was a nice breeze and there were lots of stars.  No meteors.  If I had seen some meteors it would have looked something like this.

Obviously, since I didn't see a meteor I did the next best thing and found a picture on the internet.  :)

It's hot here.  It's even hotter at home.  I try to walk in the early mornings but even then when I step outside it feels like a blanket lays over me and it's hard to catch my breath.  I'm working on a cross stitch piece from Little House called Hands To Work - a really sweet pattern - but I'm thinking maybe I should find a Halloween or Thanksgiving pattern to start in an attempt to fool myself into believing cooler temperatures are just around the corner.  What can I say...I'm gullible.  I could probably fool myself.  :)

This is what I'm working on but I've just finished the house and the fence and the grass.  I've decided to leave the sheep off and probably the bird too.  This is obviously summer....right?

But what if I did this one?  Would I be thinking cooler thoughts?

Are you thinking this is a rambling post?  It is.  I can't seem to focus these hot summer days.  But if you'd like to have a good laugh....to take your mind off the heat....check out this guy.  He has a bunch of short videos on YouTube and he makes me laugh!

Sometimes A Women Needs....

As many of you know my husband and I make frequent trips to a mission where we volunteer, usually for two months at a time, about 450 miles from home.  A lot of people don't understand how we can do that....leave home for so long.  But it's a calling that we feel in our hearts and a privilege to serve.  Last year I had a back injury and my husband went without me for six weeks.  This summer he had some business that kept him at home and I went without him.  It's not easy but with God's help we do fine....I really believe God invented cell phones for just such times as this.  :)  I drove down right after the 4th of July and two weeks later my husband came to spend the weekend with me. We talk on the phone 2 or 3 or 4 times a day. Now, two weeks after his trip, I came home for a long weekend.  A wise older woman told my sister one time that "sometimes a woman just needs to sit in her house and look at her stuff."  Oh how true that is!

When I first got home I walked through my house, fluffed a few pillows and adjusted a chair and put away dishes that were in the drainer....simple little things but actions that meant I laid my hands on "my stuff."  God created women for many things but one of the primary ones was to make a home for her family.  We clean and we do laundry and we cook....and we stitch.  Some of us knit or crochet, others quilt or do needle punch, and still more embroider or applique.  Among all the needful things we do we want to add a bit of beauty to our world and as we sit among our creations it's okay to be prideful of our work.  After all, God created us for this very work.  Since many if not most of us also have careers outside the home this small act of creating something of beauty is a balm to our souls.

I had lots of things to do while I was at home - a doctor's appointment, a visit to Lowe's to schedule a contractor for new siding, visiting both of our daughters, church, dinner with friends, a haircut, the library.  But I also made a brief stop in the sewing room and finished a couple of small things.

"Land That I Love" is a Lizzie Kate pattern that I made into a pillow---it's a bit plain but all those stars were catching my eye and I couldn't add anything to it.  I tried - a button, a cord, another border.  I think I'll just leave it simple; it's the perfect size to tuck into an antique child's rocker I have.  The photo ended up a bit dark but time was short so I did good to get a picture at all!

Faith is the first of the Sheep's Virtues from Little House that I've stitched.  I have several others, but not all, so I'm still on the hunt for the rest.  :)  That border - oh my.  For some reason I kept missing a stitch and took out two sides of it not once but twice!  I left off a center color in the border and changed the dot of the i from a heart to an x and I like it I think.  The buttons that I added work well I think and I see now that I need to fray the ends of the cord a bit more but all in all it's just what I wanted.  A bit on the primitive side....which is exactly how my house is.  Just a bit on the primitive side.  With a lot of farmhouse thrown in.  :)

I'm heading back to the mission tomorrow for just a few more weeks.  And I just added about a half dozen patterns to my bag, which was already pretty full, so how in the world will I choose?  Those long evenings just might mean I get more finishes before I get home!