July Stitching - on vacation

In years to come, when I look at this sampler, I will think about the long conversations I had with my mother and dad while working on this sampler. Since they are 86 and 82, I really treasure this time.

I don't know about anyone else, but I stitch in memories when I do my needlework. I can look around my house at my needlework and remember when and where I stitched so many pieces. I see my son as a toddler when I look at a crewel surrounded mirror. When I see my flower thread sampler, I think of the yearly trip to the Peaks of Otter in Virginia. My needlework charts my children's growing up years and when I go to the houses of some of my friends and relatives, I see the pieces I have done for them and remember that time again.

When I look at Celle, I will remember this vacation and the time I spent with my granddaughter, Eli (Elizabeth Anne), sitting on the porch watching the birds, and the time I spent talking to my folks. I'll also remember the genealogy side trip to Boonsboro, MD where I saw the same mountains and hills my ancestors knew, and the time I spent with one of my favorite cousins when I researched my Hawn family in PA. In every stitch, I think there is a memory.

I also stopped in Charleston on my way back home and saw the Southern Girlhood exhibit there. It was fantastic and being alone, I could spend as much time as I liked viewing it. I went back and forth between the samplers and a nice little bench out front where there was an antiques magazine on the exhibit. Of course, I would love to have had someone to "ooh and ahh" with, but only a sampler lover would have wanted to take the time I took reading each description and looking over each sampler thoroughly.

June Stitching

House sitting for my sister in rural Virginia provided lots of opportunity to stitch and I got a lot accomplished. My sister has dozens of plants and hanging baskets on her wide wrap-around porches and a porch and yard full of bird feeders. I got books on tape from her library and sat on the porch watching the birds and stitching. Doesn't that sound like heaven? She also has a large flower garden with a goldfish pond and waterfall, benches and ornamental trees and a food garden as well. It's idyllic, but takes a lot of care, hence the house-sitting.

I also got my granddaughter, Eli, 4, and brought her over to make doll clothes and have a picnic on the porch. She enjoyed watching the little hummingbird defend his feeder from his "wife" and "children." He was so selfish, she thought he needed to go to "time-out"! Hummingbirds will share their feeders during the courtship and nesting, but once those hatchlings fledge, it's every man for himself! We enjoyed seeing the fledglings hiding in the bushes and attempting to sneak a sip of nectar.

Just as hummingbirds are more aggressive than I ever imagined, we also saw 2 bluebirds dive bombing squirrels at a feeder. What a shock! I had no idea they could be so aggressive either. Since they don't really use the feeder much, we figured that they must have a nest near; probably in the tree above the feeder.

There was even more raw nature to hear about when Mary Beth and Bobby returned. They have a screech owl box with a tiny camera in it and we have enjoyed seeing the owls care for the little babies, but one night an owl got a cardinal that was feeding on one of the feeders. Bobby checked the owl-cam and sure enough the owls were feeding the cardinal to the babies.