A trip to Amish Country

My stitching girlfriends and I spent last weekend in Amish country ~ Shipshewana, Indiana.

I think it has been almost 20 years since I was there last. I had an Amish friend, Leanne, who lived outside this town that I would visit frequently. Unfortunately, after the birth of her fourth child, we lost touch as life became too busy.

Not much has changed in all those years, thankfully. 

On our way, we stopped at House of Stitches in LaPorte, Indiana.

A very nice large shop with a great inventory and a very helpful staff.

Here is our group, except that we are missing two - Gladys was in Japan and Kim was in Louisville.

You were both missed and thought of often!

Here are the treasures that I found there.

Linen for Heartstring Samplery's newest projects and some great linen scraps for small pinkeeps. I stocked up on magazines and that sweet little mother of pearl rabbit floss winder.

Our next stop was this fun quilt shop - the fabrics were inspiring and the staff so friendly and helpful.

We finally reached Shipshewana where we visited a store like no other.

A store that you can spend an entire day in with interesting sights down every aisle.

Clearly a shop that has both Amish and English customers.

Beautiful oil lamps and replacement shades

A huge selection of cookie cutters

Have you ever seen so many?!

As a frequent baker of cutout cookies, I had to quickly leave this aisle, before temptation hit as I already have dozens of cutters...

Where else can you shop and go home with such a variety of purchases from just one store???

In a household of men, it was such fun to shop with my girlfriends. 

Susan is especially talented at helping me step out of my fashion comfort zone :)

A hounds tooth cape and red shoes?! Oh my! 

I love them and hope that I will be brave enough to wear them soon :)  

And a wool applique pattern and hand dyed wools from the same store?!

What fun!

 I have much more to share and will return soon...

"Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus."

~Phillipians 4:21

Blessings, Patti

Excited to Share this Finish!

I feel like I've been working on the Country Sampler Stitch Camp Sewing Tray by Stacy Nash for the longest time. But today it is finished!

This is a peek at the bottom. I tweaked it a bit by changing the centers of the flowers, adding an extra bird because they are so sweet, and switching the bottom motifs to my favorite Stacy horse and my ever present Orion, the dachshund.   

And here is the grand reveal:

with inside lighting

and outside lighting

We had put together the sides at Camp and afterwards, I was thinking that since the inside was linen that I should have cross stitched on them. Since they were all put together it was too late for that, so I decided to wool applique the same flower motif instead.

I went through all my wool and found that I had a pretty close match to the flowers and the stems / leaves.

I wanted to add something to the short sides as well, but thought the flower would be too busy going all the way around, so...

I added the same flower to the outside of the tray on the short sides.

That way the "vine" goes all the way around while not making it too busy.

I really wanted it to look like a set with our other camp projects, so I added the same little velvet berries  to the four corners of the sewing tray.

I think that it makes a pretty sweet set :)

On the bottom, I added another ticking tag like in the book.

as if I could ever forget Stitch Camp '14 :)

I love the way it looks surrounded by real flowers :)

Lantana - a favorite flower of mine and also of the butterflies.

Thank you so much for letting me go on about Stitch Camp with Stacy Nash at Country Sampler.

It was a magical time with heartfelt projects and finishes.

If you ever have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it.

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

~ 2 Corinthians 13:14

Blessings, Patti

Indian Corn

I like to grow corn.

Living in an urban area, my yard gets some looks once the corn is taller than the fence.

But I love to watch it grow and the way the stalks rustle in the breeze.

My little urban garden in early August.

The corn reaching the gutters on the garage.

Enough of a garden to make me happy :)

Only one week later!

While we were gone the corn had tasseled and the ears had formed.

(And the sunflowers grew so tall and developed their flowers.)

This past weekend I decided it was time to pick some corn.

This year I managed to beat the squirrels to six ears of Indian corn so far!

I love to pull the husks back and to discover the colors on each ear ~

it's like a gift! 

They are drying inside right now and as they dry the colors become brighter and more intense.

I'll share when they are all set :)

I hope that you are enjoying the delights of early autumn harvest!

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

~Philippians 2:3-4

Blessings, Patti

September Mantle and More...

Every time I blink, it seems that a week has past.

Time for my September mantle.

My theme for September is acorns, apples and pears.

I'm usually ready by now for autumn, but not quite ready to decorate with pumpkins and Halloween decor. So these decorations of early autumn harvest help bridge the gap for me...

Acorn needle roll - an old Maggie Bonanomi Club piece from Country Sampler.

A sweet Steiff squirrel with a velvet and wool acorn. 

A collection of velvet and leather acorns.

Velvet pears made by me...

Chalkware acorns

Another old Maggie Bonanomi club piece from Country Sampler with a Maggie Bonanomi original penny rug in the background.

A collection of folk art and antique pears.

An oldie but goodie.

"Johnny Appleseed" by Prairie Schooler

I may have stitched this 14 years ago, but I love it as much now as when I put in the final stitch...

A Stacy Nash Club piece from Country Sampler.

Oh, the Lord is good to me,
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun, and the rain, and the apple seed.
The Lord is good to me.

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary.

Is that really possible? Who knew when we first got married the wonderful and incredible years that were to follow :) We are so blessed!

Blessings, Patti

Late Summer Flowers

Has it really been a week since I posted last?

How can that be?!

I have been working on my Stacy Nash Stitch Camp sewing tray. I wanted to change up the center of these flowers a bit and finally am happy with my tweaks. The stitching is now done and I have dreamed up some ideas of tweaking the tray itself. Hmmm, I am thinking that this is going to take longer than I thought. I just hope that it turns out as well as it looks in my mind's eye :)

The zinnias in the garden are still happy and going strong.

I didn't realize that butterflies like Zinnias.

This swallowtail with touches of blue spent several hours around the zinnas one afternoon. He would flit around up near the trees and then come right back down. 

The next afternoon the same flowers were visited by a Monarch butterfly. I remember when they used to be so common and plentiful, but we haven't seen many recently. I heard that they are now threatened. Many of our neighbors are now growing milkweed in an effort to help and I am thinking of putting some in our alley myself.

I'm trying to enjoy the flowers while I can...

knowing that their days are numbered.

This happy bouquet came home with me from the farmer's market. 

I won't be cutting any more of my own zinnias now that I know that the butterflies are enjoying them so...

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

~Romans 1:16-17

Blessings, Patti