Gas Fireplace or Wood Stove?

 The Facts - The Current Setup:

1. We have a gas fireplace upstairs and downstairs. No real fire - just gas fake flames and a little heat - maybe. Both are 2003 models of a Lennox insert. We've been told some of the Lennox units from that era were about ambiance and not about heat. They do not put out much heat! Tons of cold air comes in around them during the winter. I think it has to do with the venting to the outside. I did put up magnetic "blankets" to block the cold air and I've stacked a dozen or more quilts in front of them but I still feel a real breeze coming through.

This is the downstairs fireplace but they both look pretty close to the same. The upstairs may be a bit larger.

2. The first winter I was here alone, I used the gas fireplace upstairs when I was sitting and stitching right next to it. There was some heat but not much and I went through a LOT of propane. That is an older, less efficient unit and I think you get about 2 hours run time on 1 gallon of propane. We had a 250 gallon propane tank at the time and I couldn't believe that in just a couple of weeks, it was down substantially. We turned it off. closed off the pilots on both of them and haven't used them since.

3. If the power was off and it was freezing, we could probably make beds right in front of them and not freeze to death but that's about it.

4. With a heat pump, our house is NEVER warm. This winter, we had three small room type electric heaters

More Facts - The Future Possibilities.

1. I have wanted a wood stove for as long as I can remember. We've only had one house that didn't have a real fireplace. But, I would much prefer a wood stove to a fireplace.

2. I think Vince sees the value in having something that gives off more heat and something that we can use when/if the electricity is off for an extended time.

3. Today we stopped by a fireplace shop and talked to the people.

If we get one, I think this is the one we'll get - the Endeavor by Lopi but, the red Vermont Castings stoves really are begging to come home with me.

I wouldn't get tired of red but Vince might.

The best part, besides warm heat, no drafts and the sound and view of a fire would be having a pot of stew or beans or chili simmering every day on the stove. I'm always downstairs and I have to go upstairs a million times a day with something cooking on the stove. OK . . there is a stove in the basement but it has canners on every burner. I leave them there even when I'm not canning. Sounds pretty lazy, huh?

The fireplace people are coming out Monday to check it all out and see if an installation is going to be as easy as I made it sound. I'm sure the answer to that is no because, as you know, I have no idea what I'm talking about - especially when it comes to wood stoves.

Questions:

I understand that not everyone loves a fireplace or wood stove. I know not everyone wants to deal with bringing firewood in on a cold, icy night or tromping through the snow to get firewood. We would keep some of it very close to the house and keep it covered. I know we're all different. I do not mind throwing logs on a fire. I don't mind pulling the ash drawer out and dumping wood ashes in my garden. 

We added the greenhouse a few years ago and it's just too hard/expensive to keep it warm during the cold nights of early spring so we aren't using it for much. It's about three steps away from the concrete patio so I figure we could keep some amount of wood in there and that would keep it dry so on rainy/snowy nights, we could grab wood out of the greenhouse.

It has been 45 or more years since I had a wood stove. What am I not thinking about that I will wish I had remembered? Are we too old to be doing this?

I have called our insurance company and it's less than $100 more per year added to our annual premium if we add a wood stove so that isn't a consideration.

One of the biggest thoughts for me is electricity. I don't feel like our grid is reliable. In the summer, we could survive in the basement without a/c. In the winter, with no heat, we could not survive - some winters. Not all of our winters get down to zero for multiple nights. Some do. In the six winters we've been here, about half of them have had multiple nights below zero. About half of them, it rarely got down to the teens. Who knows? I would feel like with the wood stove, we could stay warm in the winter; with the basement, we could survive in the summer so, for me it's about getting rid of these drafty gas inserts; having warm air, and having a way to cook/heat water if we needed it.

Thanks if you're still reading this far down and thanks for any info/thoughts you care to share.

2026 Week 12 Stitching Report

 Week 12 - 2026

This is the first full week of my new stitching plan. I hope to keep up with weekly reports. I'm sure there will be some changes/improvements in my reports as I go along but here's the first one.

Monday, March 16, 2026
Project: Seeking Refuge
Stitches Made: 521
Percentage Completed: 11.69%

Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Project: Seeking Refuge
Stitches Made: 817
Percentage Completed: 14.83%

Wednesday, March 18, 2026 
Project: Seeking Refuge
Stitches Made: 234
Percentage Completed: 15.66%

Thursday, March 19, 2026
Project: Seeking Refuge
Stitches Made: 484
Percentage Completed: 17.07%

Friday, March 20, 2026
Project: 4th of July Rules
Stitches Made: 565 
Percentage Completed: 44.76%

Saturday, March 21, 2026
Project: Seeking Refuge
Stitches Made: 743
Percentage Completed: 19.68%

Sunday, March 22, 2026
Project: Winter Rose Manor
Stitches Made: 478
Percentage Completed: 50.98%

Stitches Made in Week 12, 2026: 
Seeking Refuge - 3,277
4th of July Rules - 565

Total Stitches - 3,842 (average per day/549)

Here are a few pictures and a bit more info:

Seeking Refuse is the piece I worked on most this week. I didn't (and won't) make notes of everything I do but here's what I remember:

1. Finished the bottom line of text.
2. Added the red and gold flowers, finished the gold band beneath the text.
3. Started filling in the black and goldish green near the bottom.
4. Added a few more green squares on point.
5. Stitched the bird at the right side of the text.
6. Started on the two trees top right.
7. Filled in some of the trim work on the doors of the house.

This is my current project I work on when stitching with Debbie. I almost always work on this one day per week. This week I finished the flag near the bottom and stitched "and Honor the Fallen" along with the three pinwheels to the right of the words.

Finally, Sunday (today) I started back working on Winter Rose Manor.

It had been so long since I worked on this one, I didn't even have it set up in Markup so I did that, stitched a few more flowers in the border, filled in a bit more "snow" near the bottom. The snow wasn't finished when I took the picture but I did get it finished.

I will work on this one four more days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday). Wednesday I will work on Fourth of July Rules. Not sure what the next project will be but I will work on it Saturday and Sunday.

A Good Day

 My day started at 3:30 a.m. when Oscar woke up and decided there had to be something very scary outside. I don't think there was but I had to be up at 5 so by the time I got him calmed down, I figured - why bother with trying to go back to sleep?

This morning I had a colonoscopy. Yes, even that was good . . compared to what I went through yesterday with the preps. Before the procedure started, I asked the doctor . . If I have no polyps, can I go back to having a colonoscopy every 5 years instead of every 3 years? I'm thinking . . if it's every 5 years, I'll be old enough that I won't need another one. He said "Let's see what I find and we'll talk about that."

Turns out there were three polyps and he said "Once I get the lab report back, we'll see if you need a colonoscopy every ONE year or every three years." I suppose that's where "be careful what you ask for" comes into play!

But . . it was a good day. When we left the hospital, we stopped at Cracker Barrel and had breakfast. We used to love Cracker Barrel but after three not so great experiences there, we hadn't been back in probably two or more years. Today the food was excellent, our server was friendly and happy and checked on us several times and even got our order correct! 

In the picture of my plate (right to left): hash brown casserole (and it was as good as I remember it being), THREE scrambled eggs with fresh spinach tomatoes, mushrooms and green onions on top with a Hollandaise type sauce, bacon and apples. There were also two biscuits and real butter. I believe it was $11.99, which isn't bad these days. I ended up giving Vince some of my eggs. I had not eating since lunch on Monday (and today is Wednesday) and I barely ate it all - except those eggs I gave Vince and I could only eat one biscuit so he ate the other one.

The we stopped by Sam's because we wanted to get more dog food, salt for the water softener and something else that was heavy but I can't think of it now . . oh . . flour. I buy 25 pound bags of bread flour there. I use it when rolling out dough (dusting the countertop) and if I'm making bread or treats for people who may not love whole wheat bread, I use storebought white flour. 

The best news . . 

I can't remember if I mentioned it here but I've had this piece on a scroll frame for several years. I was 100% certain this was a Hands Across the Sea project (it wasn't) and I kept thinking I'd come across the chart. While I haven't been actively searching for the chart for months and months, for that long, it was in the back of my mind that I needed to find it. Last week, while organizing charts and formalizing my new stitching plan, I said to myself . . you HAVE to find the chart that goes with this piece. Nope, couldn't find it. I spent hours and days going through bins of charts.

Finally, out of desperation, I posted in one of the stitching Facebook groups . . does anyone know what chart this is? Everyone was nice and some really put some time into trying find it. After a few days, the comments became fewer and fewer and I figured no one would find it. I thought it was weird that I couldn't find it on Instagram or Facebook or anywhere. Did I buy the only chart that was out there? Did others buy it and lose it and therefore, don't recognize it?

On our way home from doing all the things this morning, I looked at Facebook on my phone and found a response from a lady with a picture of the chart and the name - In HIS Image by Teresa Kogut.

In a million years, I would never have guessed that was a Teresa Kogut border. YES! That was it. I looked on my X-Stitch app and I didn't have that chart listed. I looked on my spreadsheet - nope, not listed there either. What the heck??

I started searching all over again because MAYBE I had a project bag that had several of Teresa Kogut's charts in the same bag (Why do I do that?) and I had glanced at the chart in front but hadn't realized there were others in there. Nope - I wanted so badly to take a nap but I couldn't stop looking for that chart. 

I googled it and saw that it was an exclusive for Craft Gallery in Findlay, OH in early 2022. Then I remembered I had two bins of older charts that I haven't looked at in a couple of years. You know how you (maybe not YOU but me!) will buy so much when you first start something new and then find your niche and have charts you may or may not use?) I had taken those and put them in separate bins and apparently accidentally got In HIS Image in that bin. I need to go through all of those and see if there are other charts in there that shouldn't be. So I went to that bin and there it was . . chart, working copy of the chart AND the floss. I was a bit concerned about the floss because back in 2022, I didn't really worry about keeping the floss with the project but was so happy to see it there.

This afternoon I made the PDF and got it loaded into Markup XP, added labels to both the frame and the floss ring.

To further complicate this project, I made notes on my working copy and I don't have a clue what they say/mean. NOTE TO SELF: Write so you can read your own writing and make sure it makes sense!

I'm assuming when I get to that area (door is already stitched), I'll be able to figure it out.

I will add In His Image to my cross stitching plan and that will give me 17 projects. I definitely need to stitch faster, don't I?

OK . . it's been a full day. I'm going to try to get a few stitches done before I crash.

The Stitching Plan in Action

 There was a new addition to the list of projects, which makes 16 WIPS on the list, but there may be others that get added as I remember them or come across them. I don't mind if the list grows because having them front and center helps remind me to get them done and helps keep everything together in one spot.

The one that was added is Autumn Moon by Plum Street.

Yesterday was the first day I started stitching on the new plan and I realized that picking up a different project every 5 or 6 days is almost, at least for me, like starting a new project. 

My first project to work on was Seeking Refuge.

Yesterday I stitched 521 stitches.

And here's where it was when I put it down last night.

I finished the bottom row of text and I got almost all the way across with the gold band under the text.

Today I begin preps for tomorrow's colonoscopy so I probably won't get as much done today and may get very little (or nothing) stitched tomorrow.

Once I make enough progress that it's worth showing, I'll post again.

A New Plan

 If I had a dime for every time I come up with a great new plan, I'd be a rich woman!  :)

One thing for sure - I cannot be a monogamous stitcher! I started America - 250 on February 15 and planned to stitch right through until it's finished. I'm 34.2% complete - which means if I stuck with it, I'd finish it probably by mid-May but I just cannot stick with it. I try to stitch at least 400 stitches per day. The last four days I've stitched 143, then 190, then 154, then 124. I find myself looking for anything to do other than cross stitching. 

I had to come up with a new plan.

I pulled out about 15 projects I want to get finished . . no deadline except I would love to get America - 250 finished and framed by July 4. We'll see. If I don't . . I'll get it done eventually.

For me the hardest part of getting back to an older project is finding the chart, the floss, my notes and whatever else I need to find to get back to it.

Today I pulled out the projects, and for all of them, I put the chart and the floss in a project bag, put them all in a bit with the bag right behind the frame.

Here are the projects I pulled out to work on.

1. This is the Day by Plum Street. There's not much left to be done on this one.

2. These are in no particular order as to how/when I intend to work on them. This is G. Leger by Reflets de Soie. There's a LOT left to be done on this one.

3. And God Saw by Teresa Kogut. Another one with a lot left to be done but it's so pretty!

4. Live on Little by Plum Street. This one also has a lot left to be done. The original verse says:  How great the blessing and how vast the art to live on little with a thankful heart.

I changed the verse to read "How great the blessing and vast the art to live every day with a thankful heart." We aren't wealthy by any means but when I think of "living on little", I would feel a bit weird saying we live on little, especially compared to how many are struggling these days.

5. Prairie Life Sampler by Heartstring Samplery. Still lots of stitching to do but at least the border met up! I LOVE the verse on this one:  The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful, to be happy with simple pleasures and have courage when things go wrong. That's where I would have failed being a prairie wife - I don't have much courage! 

6. This one is Mary Ellen Turner by Fox & Rabbit. There's a lot left to be done on this one too. See a pattern here? Lots to be done! But, again, the border met up. Considering the border outline is stitched, I may be close to one-third or more done on this one. It is stitched on a beautiful pink linen by X-Ju.

7. I've done a ton of stitching on this one but still have a ways to go. It's Let Freedom Ring by Lila's Studio. It will not be finished before July 4.

8. Next is Seeking Refuge by The Scarlett House.

9. And Be Kind to One Another by Needlework Press. This one is kinda narrow but long (about 5" x 21") so maybe it will go quickly.

10. Forever & Ever by Brenda Gervais.

11. Winter Rose Manor by Brenda Gervais. I started this one quite a while ago and I hope to finish it this year.

12. New Year Sampler by Owl Forest Embroidery. There's a lot to be done on this one but these individual motifs are fun and fairly fast.

13. Noel Sampler by Brenda Gervais. This is one I started when I was a beginner and there are quite a few mistakes I have to work around but once it's done, it should look fine.

14. And Heaven & Nature Sing by Kathy Barrick. 

15. And, here's America - 250.

16. Autumn Moon

This is one I started in 2026.

17. In HIS Image by Teresa Kogut

This one was started in 2022 and kinda got lost (not the piece but the chart and floss). Just got "found" mid-March, 2025 so I'm going to get some stitches on it this year.

Here's how I plan for this to work:

1. One day a week I stitch with Debbie and I have a 36 count project that I work on those days. I usually keep the same project and work on it just that one day a week so it means that project will get four days per month of working on it and I usually stick with it until it's finished so that project kinda isn't in this plan but it does reduce my stitching days for this plan to six days per week.

2. I can pick any project I want to work on but when I pick it up, I have to work on it at least five consecutive days (As in . . days I'm stitching. There are days I may not be able to stitch at all so those won't count - but hopefully there will be few of those kinds of days.) AND I have to work on at least four different projects per month. So, in a 30 day month, take out the four days I'm stitching on something different with Debbie, that leaves 26 days. If I work on four projects for five days, that's 20 days so I can go back to one of the four projects and work more or those or pick up a fifth project and work five or six days on that. 

3. I can't work on the same project two months in a row except projects that have REAL deadlines (America - 250, a Blessing Sampler in January, a challenge every now and then).

4. New projects can be started but they are discouraged.  :)

This plan sounds like it may be challenging enough to keep my interest. We'll see. If it doesn't work . . I'll come up with a new plan! 

I'll keep you posted on how my plan works.

Winter is Back!

 No one that I know invited winter back but, nonetheless, winter is visiting for a few days. Our low tomorrow night will be 15; our high on Monday will be just around freezing and our low Monday night will be in the low 20's. I don't see any more temps that low through April 12, which is as far as I can see. I won't plant anything tender until after Mother's Day though.

One thing I don't have to worry about are the elderberries because . . they are gone!

It is a very sad story. I am NOT happy about it. I thought I was past the tears but . . I guess maybe not yet. These were the very first thing I planted when we bought this house in 2020. There are a few small bushes that I planted from cuttings but they're outside the fence and the deer will get most of those. I loved the elderberries and I loved the flowers. OK . . it's done. We move on.

Peonies will be blooming soon. I've covered those with straw. I've never grown them before doing it here so I have no idea how they will handle a hard freeze but hopefully with the ground being somewhat warm and a thick blanket of straw, they will be ok.

I've covered several of the raised beds with straw - onions, rhubarb, garlic. I'm thinking they will be fine without it but since we have the straw, I spread it over them. 

There is one mineral tub that has some kind of squash from last year that came up volunteer. I covered those hoping to protect them but I have no idea if they will survive. They don't like cold temps. I'm guessing if they don't make it, maybe there are some seeds that haven't sprouted yet and they may come up after the cold. I love volunteer plants!

I do have beets, cabbage and carrots planted and they haven't come up yet so I left them alone.

One thing I know we're going to lose . . 

The buds are opening on one of the pear trees. One tree had buds several weeks ago when we had a freeze so this means two of our three pear trees will not produce this year. A "critical temperature" chart tells me anything below 25 degrees will kill 25% of the ability to produce fruit and anything below 19 degrees will kill 90% of the ability to produce fruit so I'd say we'll be lucky to get pears off one tree.

My most precious and loved tree now that the elderberries are gone is the sour cherry. Those buds are still tight. I may lose 10% with a 15 degree temp but there are a lot of buds and I will need to thin some of the fruit if a lot of those buds produce. I'm pretty optimistic they cherries will be fine. 

The peaches and plums are pretty much in full bloom but we do have two trees that are in pots and they're blooming like crazy. Young trees won't produce much but a plum or two would be very nice. They will be in the heated garage, along with the bay leaf trees, for the next few days.

It's too expensive to heat the greenhouse so I've brought all my little seedlings inside the house.

I'll be hoping for the best - especially with that one pear tree and the cherry tree.

America - 250 Progress

 No one will be surprised to hear that I've changed my plans. Plum Street Samplers has several new patriotic charts and I was smitten with all of them. My original plan was to stitch America - 250 first.

I started it in mid-February, figured I could have it finished by the end of March (right!!), then I would start A Worthy Patriot and finish it by the end of May, have both of them framed and on the wall by July 4.

After a couple of weeks of stitching on America - 250, I changed my plans and figured I'd try to have it finished by the middle of April. That would give me the rest of April, all of May and June to finish A Worthy Patriot.

Now, I'm thinking if I get America - 250 stitched and framed by July 4, I'll be doing good!

Here's where I am as of March 9.

According to Markup, I'm 30% done and they say I will finish it on April 21. I suppose if that happens, I MIGHT could still start and finish A Worthy Patriot. We'll see. 

I also have Pledge of Allegiance and Freedom Flock, both by Plum Street. But, there's also We Are Blessed (along with the drum to be painted and put together.

If I could get two of those three done and then stitch A Worthy Patriot later, I would be happy.

Here's something funny and if there are any new stitchers here, this may give you hope. I had stitched years and years and years ago but hadn't done anything really hard. Then when I started stitching again in 2020, I was using linen and the designs were more detailed (and difficult) than what I had stitched before. 

The first few pieces I stitched when I started again, I had to get a bit creative to get things to match up. My borders would get so off that I started stitching the borders first. It was easier for me to have some "guidelines" once the border was stitched. It's still kinda rare for EVERYTHING to match up on my pieces. I know I need new glasses but I do use a magnifying light.

Anyway . . see the needle in the piece below that's just below the blue flower on the right. On this piece, I started at the top right, stitched over to the eagle. The middle of the eagle is the center of the piece. Then I started on the flag and then I started on Independence Hall. Then I stitched those letters "dent" (which is the end of "evident" - We hold these truths to be self-evident), then I started working back up towards the top.

I was shocked when I got to where my stitching had to meet up (at the needle) and it did! I told Vince this long story about how it used to never meet up and lately, it's all been matching up. He wasn't impressed. Please tell me you are!  :)

I'll keep stitching on this one until it's finished and then I'll decide what to stitch next.