September 29, 2026 - Catch Up Day

 Today felt like a "catch up" day around here. We have a burn pile and it had stacked up so high. We don't burn trash but we burn limbs, spent plants, leaves, etc. We've had a burn ban forever it seems. With the rain we had a week or so ago, it was good but not quite enough to cancel the burn ban but we've had a bit more rain this week. Today Vince called, he was told there are no burn bans in our area so he was able to get the pile burned. 

I make our brown sugar from regular sugar and molasses. I had been needing to make it for a few weeks and was being very stingy with the amount of brown sugar I use but today, as soon as breakfast was done, I made four gallon jars of brown sugar. That should get me through the holidays - hopefully way longer!

There were bags of grains - spelt, hard white, soft white and rye . . it all needed to be put in buckets and sealed. Vince got the lids on the buckets, I dumped the grain into the buckets, labeled them and got the lids on. 

I did make a good recipe today - Pork Chops with Apples.

I meant to take a picture before I filled our plates but I forgot so . . it isn't such a pretty picture but it was delicious.

The recipe calls for it to all be cooked on top of the stove but I didn't want to stay upstairs and watch it so I browned the pork, cooked the onions . . did everything, then put the chops into a 9 x 13 dis, added everything on top and baked it all at 350 for about 45 minutes.

The recipe called for 2 pounds of pork chops. I used almost 5 pounds because I wanted to have leftovers so I pretty much tripled everything else. 

I baked a sweet potato for Vince and a white potato for me so I hadn't planned to make rice but then when I tasted how good that gravy was, I opened a jar or purple rice that I had canned.

It's a recipe I will make again.

No stitching yet today. September is about to end and I haven't finished my project for Blackbird Academy. I think I'll finish it by about October 3 but that's ok . . my October project is smaller and I'd rather borrow some time from October than end up with an unfinished project. I'm surprised that I got as much done as I did in September . . just shows what I can do when I make it a priority!

Tomorrow is my day to stitch with Debbie so when I get off here, I'm going to get everything packed and in the car . . because last week, I was so unorganized. I didn't even have the right project to work on - I had the bag with the floss and the chart was on my tablet but I didn't actually have the piece I had been working on. Thankfully I had brought something to show Debbie and there was a good bit of linen at the bottom and I was able to start something new in that empty space on the linen.

It's almost 5 p.m. now and I'm going to stitch for at least four, maybe five hours tonight. Maybe I'll share a picture of the September Blackbird project before I put all that away tonight . . later . . 

September 28, 2026 - Another Friend Gone Too Soon

 It's been less than two months since I posted about my friend, Denise, passing away. In this post, I mentioned my friend, Sheryl, who had been instrumental in Denise and I meeting and becoming friends. This morning I got the news that Sheryl had passed away last night. In the post about Denise's passing, I talked about Sheryl, who hosted an online quilting group, The Quilting Post. Sheryl and I met at the Houston Quilt Show one year - probably in the late 70's and became instant friends. She lived in south Louisiana and any time she would be passing through Lake Charles, we would try to meet for a meal together; several times I was in Baton Rouge and she would come there and spend time with me. 

There were four of us in that online quilting group who ended up becoming close friends - Denise, Sheryl, Susan and myself. Now I'm the only one left!  Today I was feeling really sad and then I thought . . Sheryl, Denise and Susan are probably having a grand reunion in heaven and feeling bad for me because I'm left behind!  :) 

One of the best things about my friendship with Sheryl is that I would never have met Vince except for her. She's the one who decided we could all join Delphi, which was an ancient internet . . I don't even know what you call it . . like AOL but smaller and you had to know at least some DOS to be able to use it. Sheryl somehow knew DOS and gave us a quick "class" and we all joined Delphi. I needed a screen name and Sheryl had preached to us about not using real names. I couldn't think of a name and my perfume bottle was sitting there by the computer - Cabotine - so I used that for my screen name. Vince was online one night and saw my name and thought maybe I was Italian and started talking to me. You see where that chance meeting got us!

So . . another day where the tears fall without warning  but I'm a much better person for having had Sheryl as one of my friends. I will miss her.

I went back to our last emails back and forth about a month ago and this is the last thing Sheryl wrote me:  "I think about Denise all the time.  It’s still such a shock that she’s gone."

Now, I have both of them to think about and miss!

September 28, 2026 - A New Stitching Plan

 This new stitching plan may be my best, easiest to follow, most likely to succeed plan yet (and you know there have been many plans!)

Tara Sullivan (again) was talking a month or so ago about her new stitching plan. If you're interested, Tara talks about it in this video.

I watched the video and thought it was kinda dorky and didn't even watch her Stitching Roulette videos #1 and #2 but then #3 came on and I was in the middle of something else and it was kinda just playing in the background and I thought . . that sounds interesting.

Then Saturday I was watching Brenda and the Serial Starter and they were talking about it and wanting to do something similar to what Tara is doing.

Then . . Vince was watching a very late night football game Saturday night (Georgia Tech playing on the west coast) and I start thinking about Tara's Stitching Roulette plan and that's when it hit me -- As I was cleaning to make room for the furniture guys to get through the sewing room, I came across a box of some of the first charts I had purchased back in 2020 and 2021. Then there was a drawer in a chest that had a bunch more. There are so many charts that I have that I want to stitch so my plan is going to be a bit less strenuous (not sure that's the right word) than Tara's plan but here's how I plan to do this.

1. I will pull 15 or 20 charts that I've had for a while (at least a year) and that I really want to stitch, kit them all up with floss and linen, place them in a bag or envelope.

2. The envelope will be closed and there will be no indication on the outside as to what's inside. 

3. Once they're all packed up, I will shuffle them up so I have no idea which one is which, then I'll stick number stickers on the envelopes and stack them in numerical order in a bin.

4. When I'm ready to start a new project, I will grab #1 and work on it until it's finished. Then I can work on a WIP - something else that needs to be finished. When I'm ready to start another new project, I will grab the #2 envelope and get it stitched. And that's how it will go.

5. Before I can buy a new chart, I have to have finished at least five projects. They can be older WIPs that are already in my bins, or they can be some of the numbered projects but . . five finishes before I buy a new chart. Honestly, when I have so many that I want to stitch and not as many years left to stitch as I would like . . why am I buying new charts anyway? 

Sound like a good plan?

Once I get all my charts pulled, I'll share photos of them. I'm only pulling charts that I really (REALLY!) want to stitch so that should help me get them done!

I'm pretty excited with this new plan. I think there are going to be quite a few stitches doing something similar to Tara's plan!

September 27, 2026 - A Grateful Heart Stitch Along

 I'm a sucker for a good Stitch Along, even though my record at sticking with it and finishing on time (or ever!) isn't very good, I jumped in on the stitch along hosted by Tara Sullivan and Nichol Spohr. The project is A Grateful Heart by The Scarlett House. I love everything produced by The Scarlett House! This project was one of the exclusives for the Homespun Needlework group on Facebook a year or so ago and I wanted to get it then but it was only available as a kit with linen, floss and the chart. I have enough floss and linen - didn't need that so I just waited until the chart was released to the public. 

The Stitch Along officially started Saturday, September 26. I got it all set up on Markup R-XP and was ready to start that day. Tara Sullivan created a "plan" and this is the assignment for the first week (and we can really stitch whatever we want): 

I would love to keep up with this project! 

Because I have no stitching frames that are empty but I have several that I loaded with linen for other projects that I never started, I grabbed one of those. I know it's a Picture This Plus linen and I'm pretty sure the color is Sand and I thought it was 36 count. When I started stitching, I got concerned that it might be 32 count and, if it is, it isn't going to be wide enough so I went ahead and stitched across the top row of the border to be sure I wasn't going to run out of linen and I'm not so it must be 36 count.

Here's my progress. I did a little more than the required amount for Week 1, which is ok.  The plan said to stitch two flowers on the left but I stitch right to left so I stitched the two flowers on the right. That's ok too - they don't have any serious rules.

When I was getting this one set up in Markup, I set my daily stitching goal to 450 stitches per day. I usually set it at 350 or 400 but with the Blackbird Academy going on, I need to get in a bit more stitching time each day.

You can see that I stitched 743 stitches on the 26th and 568 on the 27th. 

This project gets put away for a few days while I try my best to finish Come into my Garden before the end of September.

September 22, 2026 - Progress on Come Into My Garden

 Come into My Garden by Blackbird Designs is my September project for Blackbird Academy. For anyone not familiar with Blackbird Academy, it's a Facebook group by Leah Bloom (The Blooming Stitcher on Youtube) and Holly Jones (Mrs. Jones Stitches on Youtube). We have a different prompt every month. September's prompt was birds. I'm not done with it . . I may not finish it in September and if I don't, I will use this as my project again in January when the prompt is "House" or in March when the prompt is "Flowers". Or, I can finish it if I have time next month (or any other month). My plan was to stitch something different each month but my bigger plan is to finish the 10 months of Blackbird Academy with 10 finishes so . . we'll see. 

You can see why I was so happy to find this linen that I knew would be perfect for this piece. It's Sassenach by Fabrics by Steph. I only ordered enough for this piece and I feel like I may need a piece of this in my stash so I may order another piece of it. I really do love it so much. This is my memorial piece fo my grandmother, who was responsible for my love of sewing, quilting, canning and probably cross stitch even though she never did cross stitching but she taught me to do embroidery when I was about 5 years old. She probably desperately needed something to keep me out of trouble and, for the most part, my love of needlework has kept me busy and probably out of trouble (unless you count Vince's frustration with all the packages that arrive).

There's still 8 days left in September but two of those days are Wednesdays and I don't work on this piece on Wednesdays (that's my day to stitch with Debbie and I stitch on something with 32 count linen on those days), so, I basically have 6 days left to stitch on this. I could get it finished but it isn't likely.

The Furniture Shuffle

 We've probably just decided we're never moving again and if we do, it will not be by choice. Just moving things around to get rid of the old chairs and bring in the new chairs has been a huge chore - but mostly because of the "stuff". Normally when adding furniture downstairs, the delivery folks will want to come in through the basement and the easiest way is to come in through the sewing room and then into the family room or a bedroom. The sewing room has truly filled up to the brim with "stuff" that does not need to be in there.

Of course, there's a sewing machine, a cover stitch machine, a serger, a longarm that has never been fully set up in the six years we've lived here but the table is set up taking up 12' x 4 or 5 feet of space! Then there's a cutting table and an ironing table that I made years and years ago.

There are at least 6 of the shelf units with quilting fabric and linen on them. 

Then . . things that do not need to be in the sewing room - a love seat with a console in the middle, a recliner, a bed, two end tables, LOTS of jars of canned food . . and I somehow had to make a path big enough for two guys to bring recliners in and our. It's hard enough to walk through there without carrying anything.

So, I spent all day Saturday, most of Sunday and Monday morning cleaning, tossing stuff, filling bags for donation - making a path through the sewing room. There was so much that needed to be thrown out and so much that needed to be donated and there's still so much in there. 

Monday about noon, the furniture store called and wanted to know if they could bring the chairs Monday afternoon. Oh, YES!! The sooner those chairs are here, the sooner I can sit down and stop cleaning because there was no stopping point in that sewing room!

The chairs arrived and Vince and I are both seriously impressed. Vince can't believe the difference in these chairs and the ones we've been buying.

In the end, the delivery guys wanted to come through the front door and down the stairs so other than removing the recliner from the sewing room, they didn't even come through there. I did make good progress getting an area cleaned but the cutting table, the sewing table, the bed, the love seat -- everything is piled high with "stuff" so I still have to go through all that. Before I start that, I'm going to organize the quilting fabric, see what I want to keep to use for finishing cross stitched pillows and small things and donate the rest of it. Once I get some shelves cleaned off, I can organize the cross stitching supplies and the rest of what's needs to be put away.

We've only had them less than 24 hours but . . as of now, we're very pleased. It's a Zecliner by Flexsteel and there are several models. This chart provides a comparison among the various models. We got the Model 2 (Standard). The only things I see that Model 2-Advanced and Model 3 have that our model doesn't have are: (1) Cooling Pillow - These chairs are in the basement - everything stays plenty cool down here. (2) Nanobionic fabric - Our store didn't have this and we weren't willing to wait 5 - 7 months (or longer) to get a chair that wasn't in stock. (3) Heat - Don't need that. I have two dogs and a heated small blanket/throw that I use if it's cold. There are times Vince might like heat on his back but he will use a heating pad for that. (4) Air Massage - We might have liked that but, again, it wasn't in stock here. (5)  Lift - Nope, didn't need that . . at least not now. (6) Rocker - Definitely NOT! That's one thing I absolutely didn't want because dogs wiggle and that makes the chair moved when I'm trying to stitch!

Probably if a 2-Advanced had been available, we might have considered that but, for the extra $$, maybe not. We won't be missing what we didn't get.

The literature says this chair is for people 5'6" to 6'. I am not 5'6" and it seems fine to me.  

One more thing - the specs say the chair is 40". I have not measured it but it is probably at least 5" wider than the chairs we had, which caused a bit more furniture shuffle once the chairs arrived but the chairs really are SO comfortable.

I'll try to post again after a month of using it.

September 18, 2026 - Another Stitching Chair

 I just had to look at my phone to make sure the date was right! How on earth is the first half of September (plus a few days) already gone? Time truly flies.

There has to be a point where I find the perfect stitching chair. Heck, I don't even mind if it isn't perfect . . halfway perfect would make me happy.

In the past five years, I've tried an electric recliner that I didn't like because I got it before we got Oscar and it swiveled and rocked so any move he made while sitting with me caused the chair to wiggle and you know that's not good for stitching.

Next I got a love seat with an ottoman thinking that might work. I don't even remember why I didn't like that one but I didn't.

By then, we had Cooper so I got an oversized recliner and it wasn't comfortable at all for stitching.

Then I got a love seat that had recliners on each end but to put the legs down, you have to use your feet so once I hurt my knee, that didn't work.

I've been using one of the old recliners that the people we bought this house from left (after asking us if we wanted them and we said yes). Now, they're really old and I thought it had gotten terribly uncomfortable so a couple of weeks ago, I moved the love seat over to my stitching spot - the one you have to use your feet to put down, and put the ottoman in front of it so I can rest my legs on the ottoman. Cooper has decided he wants to sleep right at the edge of the chair, half on the ottoman and half on the chair but it doesn't take long until the ottoman has moved just a small amount and Cooper is falling through. I have to put my stitching frame to the side, move the stand that holds the tablet, gently hold on to Cooper while I push the ottoman way with my feet. I know - there are plenty of people in this world who wish their troubles were so small.

Last night I was sitting and thinking . . maybe the problem is that both the reclining love seats and all the recliners kinda lean back a bit when in the reclining position so I'm having to stay hunched over a bit to stitch plus, I keep sliding towards the end of the chair and probably my feet are pushing the ottoman away and that's what's causing Cooper to fall.

I decided what I need is a recliner that the back doesn't lean back when I put the foot/leg rest out. I was thinking even a chaise lounger type chair might work. We were going to town anyway so I asked Vince if he minded going by a furniture store or two. He didn't mind going by a furniture store but he was NOT happy that I wanted yet another chair!

It isn't like I buy new furniture often or just for the sake of having new furniture. Our sofa was 30 years old when we got rid of that. Our breakfast room table is 20+ years old. Pretty much everything we have in this house is 20+ years old and most of our other furniture is even older. If I could find a comfy chair, we'll probably never buy any more furniture.

So, we went to the first furniture store and the lady there showed me the chaise loungers. None of those were what I wanted. I explained about wanting something where the back didn't recline and she went straight to a sofa, love seat and recliner that were all electric, had one button for the feet/legs; one for the back to change the reclining position; one for the lumbar area. It was so comfy and I loved it but there isn't room for the loveseat (it has a console in the middle with a place to stash floss, needles and scissors and it has two cup holders. I liked that idea but it wouldn't fit in the space where I want to put it. In the family room downstairs, there's one area where I can put my chair. The other wall has the TV; the other wall has a fireplace and the other wall . . if I put it there, the magnifying light bothers Vince when he's watching TV so . . the love seat was too long for the spot I have. The recliner was fairly narrow and it would be tight for me to stitch in it with two dogs. We said we would talk about it . . and we did . . but we decided to go to the furniture store closer to our house. It has free delivery (the place in town wanted $150 to deliver) and the place closer to us isn't in the city so there are no city taxes so that saves about 5%.

We got there and they took us to two recliners. The first one had an open space between the two sections of the feet/leg rest. That won't work with the dogs. They will either fall asleep and fall through or be running and jumping and land in the open space and potentially cause a back injury. 

The other recliner seemed perfect!! I went on to look at others because I was hoping to pay less than what they wanted for this one.

We checked out a few others and they weren't great. Vince sat in it and loved it. He talked me into getting this one. Then he was talking about how bad his chair is. Yes, it's as old as the one I was using. It is worn out too. They said they had two still in boxes. Hmm .. we'd have to think about it.

We keep slipcovers on our furniture so I'm not worried about the color or the fabric. It is electric. It has the lumbar support so I can be sitting with my legs propped up AND have the back straight up with extra support.

On both sides, it has the horizontal pocket on both sides - probably for the remove but I can also put TV remotes in there; then there's also a regular pocket just below the horizontal pocket . . on both sides! I can stash my project bag for whatever I'm working on in there so the dogs don't bother it.

It's scheduled to be delivered Tuesday. I'm so hoping this will be the perfect recliner! Really hoping . . because Vince decided he needed on too so we got both of the ones still in boxes. When he paid for them, he said "I just spent more for two chairs than I spent on my first new car!" Yes, that's what I say every time I go to the grocery store!  :)

So hoping we both love these chairs . . and love them for a very long time.

Fire Cider, Salves and Tinctures

 It's that time of year when I make fire cider to get us through winter and harvest the things I need for tinctures and salves. Most anything within reason can be used in fire cider. Today I used oranges, lemons, garlic, horseradish, turmeric, rosemary, ginger, onion, dried elderberries and jalapeno peppers. Everything except the oranges and lemons came from our garden.

Left side is rosemary in vodka which will sit for at least two months, probably three or four because I still have plenty of this tincture left. I made it today because the rosemary needed trimming.  The center jar is the fire cider. The jar on the right is a jar of olive oil with dried American Beauty Berry leaves which will steep for about six months before I make that into a salve. Also, there's another jar that was upstairs and didn't get into the picture that has American Beauty Berry leaves that are infusing into witch hazel and that will be our bug spray for next year.

I will make another jar of fire cider. One will not be enough if both of us it daily but, I'm out of half gallon jars. I have more on my next Azure Standard order but I'm sure I'll empty one soon and can use it to make more cider. 

It's been a fun day in the kitchen!

Okra!

 Vince tells me that every year, I'm in a panic because the okra isn't growing and producing as I want it to do . . and every year by the time that first frost comes along and wipes it out, I'm happy with the okra we got and glad to see the plants go! Okra is the last thing left in the garden . . I guess it's the last thing I really care about at this point. There are still peppers, still lots of those crazy tomatoes Cooper loves and I still have to dig the sweet potatoes. I planted a late crop of cow peas, which may or may not produce but I wanted them mostly to add nitrogen to the soil so I planted those after most everything else was pulled out. 

For the okra, I started out blanching, slicing, flash freezing and putting it in vacuum seal bags. I ended up with about 45 pints. I will use that for "frying". I take the lazy route - add a little oil to the pot, put the okra in and stir it til it's done, add a bit more oil and some cornmeal, lightly brown that and even though each piece wasn't battered and fried, it tastes just like fried okra and is much easier.

There's plenty of freeze dried okra from last year so I'm not freeze drying any of it this year. I did run out of okra in the freezer this year and used some of the freeze dried for rehydrating and frying. 

Saturday I canned 19 half pints of stewed okra. I will use those in soups and gumbo.

Everything I get now I will can in pints and those will be jars I open up, add tomatoes . . or not, and we eat as a side dish.

I have to cut the okra every day and what I got yesterday and today was enough for 7 pints. I'm hoping to get at least 30 pints total before the first frost. I save seeds from one year to the next and I've already got the seed pods for next year. I managed to miss too many pods and they got huge so that will be what I use for next year's seeds.

We both love okra so I will put up all I can get.

September 8, 2026 - Bread - Buns and Rolls

 Since yesterday was our Azure pickup, put the spelt in a bucket this morning and realized it looked a little wimpy. I'm guessing it's because so much of the grain this year has been grown in drought conditions but I wanted to test it and make sure it's ok.

I don't know if you can see it but the grain in the white lid is grain from last year and the grain in the bucket is the new grain.

I figured the best way to test it was to make a tried and true recipe I've made often - Hamburger buns made with hard white wheat and spelt.

I've been having a problem with my right ear - it pops sometimes but this morning it was popping way more than normal. Every step I took, the ear popped. I had just shaped the buns and rolls to rise and decided I should have the doctor look at the ear. I called and the lady said "Can you be here in 30 minutes?" I wanted to say "No! I'm farther away than 30 minutes." But, I said YES because I was about to scream with that ear popping constantly.

I stuck the rolls, that had just started rising, in the fridge and went to see the doctor.

You know sometimes weird things happen to me. The doctor came in and looked in my ear and said "There's a hair in your ear." I thought "Oh, great . . does hair growing in my ears come with old age?" Nope, not growing - just a hair resting on my ear drum and every time I took a step, that hair was kinda like it was beating a drum! They did an "ear flush". Guess where the hair came from! Cooper! It was a Cooper hair in my ear. Who would ever have thought that could happen? Hopefully it never happens again.

Came home, got the rolls out of the fridge, let them rise, baked them and here they are:

Five hamburger buns and four little rolls. 

I cut the smallest roll in half, added way too much butter and it was delicious. I love the nutty, buttery flavor of spelt. I love making bread! 

September 8, 2026 - Weather

 Is everyone's weather crazy? Ours sure is. We've had weeks and weeks of temps over 100. Our home weather station has shown temps as high as 115. I don't even remember the last time it wasn't over 100 in the daytime - it's probably been well over a month. And the last time we had rain . . I would guess two months and my water bill will confirm that guess!  :)

Tomorrow we're supposed to break yet another record. The weather guy says 102 for a high but I'm betting at our house, it will be warmer. We're in a valley and it always seems to be a few degrees colder than it is in town and apparently in the summer, we're a few degrees warmer.

Then, look at our low for 9/20 -- just 12 days later.

Many nights that low and my okra will be done. When the okra is done, that's the end of the garden for me. I'll put the rosemary in the greenhouse. It's all in small pots but I'm pretty much ready for this year's gardening season to be over . . though I do hate to lose my okra this early. One 47 degree night may not hurt it but several in a row will and if the forecast says 47, it well might be 43 at our house. 

It's ok . . not much I can do about it but I'm ready to get out the sweaters and wool socks and sit and cross stitch all day vs. pulling weeds, squishing bugs and watering plants!

September 7, 2026 - A New to Us Breakfast Recipe

 Last night Vince sent me this video and said it looks good. It did look good so I told him I would make it for breakfast this morning. I did and it was super easy and delicious! I will make it again but I think I will add jalapeno peppers next time.

The stuff that looks like icing on top is actually melted cheese. I love the Rumiano mozzarella. I like it so much that I try to not even buy it!

There was over half of it leftover and I think it will be great reheated in the air fryer.

Our Azure pickup was supposed to happen today at 12:30. We had decided we would eat in Lamar (that's where we pickup) and Vince had found a Mexican restaurant to try. About 7:30 we got an email that our delivery was delayed because the truck had been damaged in a storm last night and they would let us know when they knew more. About 1:30, we hadn't heard anything and I hadn't planned lunch so I told Vince I'd grab a jar of something. 

I wanted red beans, sausage and rice so I got a jar of red beans and sausage and I add ground beef to it when I'm canning it. I wanted to add extra sausage so I got a package of sausage. I made coleslaw and dressing, rice and cornbread using soft white wheat and dried dent corn.

This is one of my favorite meals! Before we were quite finished eating, we got an email that the Azure truck was fixed and would be at the drop off location by 3 p.m. Oops . . that was about 45 minutes from when I got the email and we're 45 minutes from the drop so we finished eating, put the coolers and ice packs in the car and took off. It's a good thing I cooked because there was nothing but fast food open in that little town. The Mexican place was closed. The BBQ place we like was closed . . we would probably have come home and had a sandwich.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I don't think we have to leave the house . . that's my hope anyway.

September 6, 2026 - Organizing The Floss

 Organizing the floss will take much longer than organizing the linen. It's a mess. Several months ago I added a page (or more) to my journal and when I order floss, I write down what it's for and immediately put it in a project bag when it arrives. Up until I started doing that, floss would get tossed into a bin when it arrived and I would never remember what it was for so . . here's the mess I created.

There's a bin for Weeks, Gentle Arts, Classic Colorworks, DMC, Colour & Cotton, Vicky Clayton Silks and Roxy Floss Co. and Victorian Motto are in one bin. There's more to go into these bins and once I'm fairly confident I have most of the floss in the bins, I'll start with a bin and alphabetize it, except for Colour and Cotton and Victorian Motto. I keep those together by color. Then I will add the new floss to the floss I already have that's organized. I put it on large rings and hang it in a closet so it's away from most of the dust and dog hair and light.

In my defense, when I first got back into stitching in late 2020, floss (and linen) was hard to find and that just fed the frenzy of getting it ALL so I never have to search for it again.

It's going to be so nice to have the linen all in one place (except for the bins that block the dogs' illegal activities) and the floss easy to find. I would like to think that will give me more time to stitch but . . you know how I am! I'll find some other rabbit hole to go down.

September 5, 2026 - Linen Organizing

 Today I almost finished organizing the linen. It was a mess. It isn't 100% fine and may never be because we keep plastic bins/totes full of various items to use as barricades for the dogs. Here is one of the bins (there are four in that "grouping") that keep the dogs from jumping from Vince's chair to the loveseat where I sit. There are others to keep them from pulling paper out of the printer, and another set that keep them from jumping up on the windowsill and scratching the wood trim. I guess it's a good thing we have so much "stuff" to build walls to block the dogs. :)

But, most of the linen is in the bins on a shelf unit in the sewing room.

I had planned to get it all rolled onto the comic book boards so it would stand up nicely and I can open the bin and see all the colors but I didn't have the time to do that. I do, for the most part, have it all separated by dyer.

The top bins are Roxy Floss Co., Colour & Cotton, Grace Notes and Tropical Stitches. The bottom bin is X-Ju and there's another bin of X-Ju linen. I'm not sure if there's more X-Ju or Picture This Plus - those are the ones I seem to have the most of.

I did keep out these two linens for family pieces. 

This is the one I stitched for my dad:

This is the one I'm stitching in memory of my grandma:

I thought those two pieces of linen go nicely with these two. I didn't want to use the same linen twice but I believe these two will go nicely with a family grouping. I still want to make a memorial piece for my aunt and my grandpa and of course, some day I will make one for my uncle.

One of the things I found while cleaning in there was this chart. Denise and I were too often doing weird things (like ordering the same chart on the same day without telling each other we were going to do it, or starting the same project on the same day) and I would tell Vince and he would say "Y'all Ain't Right!" Denise and I would laugh and laugh about how often Vince would tell us that. She even has a post or two on her blog about it. I saw them when I went back to see if she had shown this piece as being finished. One of us found this chart and we both ordered it. I am going to stitch this and then put her name on it and, though not a traditional "memorial" piece, it's going to remind me of my friend when I see it and I will smile, even though I miss her!

Vince is planning to watch the Clemson/LSU game tonight and there's a LONG lightning delay so he'll be up late tonight. It will be nice to have company while I stitch.

September 3, 2026 - Furniture Moving Day

 I hope this doesn't come across as whining because I don't think I'm whining but . . I have had the hardest time finding a stitching chair I like. 

First, when we bought this house in 2020, the owners weren't taking the two Lazy Boy recliners that were in the basement. They said they would leave them if we wanted them but otherwise, they were donating them. Our furniture wasn't coming for six months (because I came here before Vince came here). We bought new furniture for the upstairs family room but had nothing for the basement, which is where the only TV is, so we were happy to keep their recliners. They were older but didn't look bad. Six years later, they look bad, they aren't comfortable anymore. They're still in the basement, which is where I stitch and where I sit probably way too many hours per day. 

I have truly tried to find a better chair/sitting situation. First, we didn't yet have Oscar and I bought an electric recliner. It was ok until Oscar came along. First, when I need to get up quickly to get something away from him, the chair goes down slowly. I can pop that foot rest down way faster manually. Second, Oscar is always on my lap or next to me and every move he makes would cause that chair to wiggle because it was a rocker/swivel recliner. That could make for some not so great stitching. I have a neighbor who has teens and they have a "rec room" type room and I figured they would use it. They were happy to get it.

Next . . I thought maybe a loveseat might be better. It had to go in a different location in the basement family room and no matter where I positioned my magnifying lamp, it was in Vince's eyes.  The loveseat itself wasn't so perfect. It felt like it didn't have enough stuffing - just felt wimpy. We talked to the store where we bought it, they sent someone out to look at it, agreed, took it back and had more stuffing put in. 

By then, I had decided I just wanted a new recliner and I wanted a bigger one so Oscar could sit comfortably next to me without us feeling crowded . . I should say without ME feeling crowded. Oscar manages to get all the space he wants and it doesn't seem to bother him at all.

So, the new recliner arrived. It's one of those kinds that you could comfortably sleep in. It's HUGE but the handle was all the way down near the floor and I almost had to crawl out of the chair to reach the handle. I know the one I sat in at the store was not that far down - almost completely on the floor. Vince sat in it and decided he loved it so he took it upstairs and brought his old recliner downstairs. Definitely not comfortable for me.

Then we bought a love seat that wasn't a recliner but had an ottoman. My legs are short so if I had the ottoman close enough that my legs could rest on it, there wasn't enough room for me to get up because the ottoman was in the way of putting my feet on the floor. When we looked at it in the store and I sat in it, the ottoman wasn't there.

I know . . there are millions of people who wish there problems were this small but really, I want a comfortable chair.

We got rid of the old sofa that I had bought when Chad was 3 years old. He's almost 40 now. I kept saying "It looks so good and it's comfortable!" It was a sleeper so it was very comfortable to sit on .. not so comfortable to sleep on. It was in the sewing room in Texas and a couple of times when the A/C wasn't working in the house, we would sleep in the sewing room on that 

As you can imagine, Vince isn't very happy when I mention that I need to find a better chair!

Earlier this week, my back was hurting so I decided to move over to the loveseat - the one that's a recliner. It's in the family room. The one that isn't a recliner is in one of the basement bedrooms.

It's a love seat. There's room for two people. I had to stack up boxes on one end to try to keep my light out of his eyes but where it's sitting, I had no place to put my pens, scissors, etc. The tablet and the lamp were right next together . . it just wasn't working.

This morning Vince left to go to PT and I thought . . I'm moving everything! The loveseat was heavy but I managed to move it over to where the recliner was; moved the recliner to where the loveseat had been. I had to plug some open areas with storage bins to keep the dogs out of trouble. 

This is the recliner that I have to use my legs to put it down. I definitely can't do that with my knee so I'm kinda sitting in the middle. I keep the left side extended and sitting in the middle, I can still stretch my legs out but I can also put my feet down and little to the right and not have to put down the foot rest to get up.

Another good thing about having the love seat is if I have a longer project (I use scroll frames and don't have a whole lot of space to move the project to the left or right), I can scoot over to the left or scoot over to the right and be right where I need to be.

I had to stack more storage bins between the loveseat and Vince's chair because Oscar jumps from Vince's chair to the love seat and I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself.

I really like the place where my recliner was and now where the loveseat is (I can see almost all of the family room and know what the dogs might be getting into). I think everything as far as where the magnifying light is; where the stand for the tablet is, where the Lowry stand is . . just hoping the loveseat is still comfortable after sitting for hours and hours.

Once I get everything put back where it goes, I'll share some photos.

Vince got home from PT and I asked him to come downstairs for a minute. He came down and talked to me, sat down in his chair . . never even noticed that the furniture was all moved around. Let me order one piece of linen and he notices that!  :)