We're back...

We're back from our annual trek to the North Woods...

A wonderful time of peace and quiet...


Hiking and sights...

Fishing and quality family time...

In a cozy little cabin on the water.

***Priceless***

"Botanical Wool Runner"

design by Maggie Bonanomi

I found time for stitching and a few finishes including this class kit from 2004, recently unearthed.

(I thought I might finish it as a bell pull, but think I like it as a dining room table runner for now...)

And we did a bit of antiquing and flea marketing. This granite ware bread pan was a fun find put right to work for my stitching supplies...

As much as we enjoyed this trip it is so good to be home!

I'll be back again soon with more finishes, finds and photos...

Blessings, Patti

July Brings...

“Hot July brings picnic joys,
Firecrackers for girls
and boys.”
~Around the Year by Tasha Tudor

It's that time again... The TDIPT Mercantile artists are updating their offerings.
Stop by and take a look at all of the creativity...

These are just a few of the items that I am offering on my page...

How beautiful this land we love

We cherish all good people of
With pride we call this home our own

Oh how our seed of freedoms grown
American is what we are

Our time has nurtured us so far
For truth and justice we do strive

Our laws are meant to not deprive
We know we’re not the perfect place

As we are of the human race
In God we trust along our way

His goodness near, both night and day
So please do stop and pray awhile

Ask help in facing each new mile
And now I’ll end with words so clear

Concerning freedom we hold dear
Let Grateful Thought – Well Deep Inside

For Soldiers Brave – Our Country’s Pride

~This Land We Love by Roger Robicheau

Wishing you a 4th of July filled with fireworks and fun!

Blessings, Patti

Busy as a Bee ~~~*

This pincushion sure got a workout this weekend. Where does the time go??

Wednesday night it will once again be time for the TDIPT Mercantile artists to update their first of the month offerings. My fingers were in overdrive trying to complete some of my offerings.

Hopefully I will be all set to update late Wednesday night...

I remember as a child and a teenager that summer days seemed to go on forever...

But I think that it is true that as you grow older time passes more and more quickly.

Oh how I do wish that it would slow down for just a bit!

Don't you just love this basket? When my sister and I were visiting our parents, I found a great antique picnic basket. It was $25 and I just couldn't decide... Of course, once I returned home I wished that I had bought it. Then this weekend I found this great antique basket at an estate sale for $5! What a deal! I guess that it was just meant to be :)


This month I pulled out some of my collection of antique tickings and antique patriotic homespuns ~ just the thing to get me in the mood for summer picnics and the 4th of July.

Well, the weekend was fairly productive.

I might just meet my deadline...

"Here in the country's heart

Where the grass is green

Life is the same sweet life

As it e'er hath been

Trust in a God still lives,

And the bell at morn

Floats with a thought of God

O'er the rising corn.

God comes down in the rain

And the crop grows tall -

This is the country faith

and the best of all!

~Norman Gale

Blessings, Patti

Happy Summer Solstice!

I hope you are enjoying sunny skies and blooming gardens in your corner of the world today!

We are in and out of summer storms, so I thought I would share stitched blooms instead.

" A cloudless sky; a world of heather

Purple of foxglove, yellow of broom;

We two among it, wading together;

Shaking out honey, treading perfume.

Crowds of bees giddy with clover,

Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet,

Crowds of larks at their matins hangover,

Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet."

~ Jean Ingelow

"A dripping June keeps all in tune."

(I'll keep reminding myself of that :)

Enjoy the longest day of the year!

Blessings, Patti

p.s. All pieces above based on Maggie Bonanomi designs.

Do you know what this is?

Can you tell what all those little red & white dots are?

If you guessed people, you are right!

About 2 million!

After 49 years of waiting, everyone wanted to come out to celebrate the

Stanley Cup Champions!

About an hour before the parade arrived and no one could move! I thought I would join in, but with temperatures at 88 degrees and muggy and crowds this size, I decided the views from the office were just fine :)


Finally the parade arrived!

13,000 pounds of shredded newspaper and who knows how much red, black and white confetti rained down from the skyscrapers.

You can see the people leaning out the windows and standing on the fire escapes to the right.

If you look carefully at the back of the last bus, you can see the Stanley Cup.

It looks like red snow!

The police horses are incredible to watch - they stay so calm in the sea of humanity.

It made me a little nervous watching the crowds try to surge towards the rally stage.

I'm thinking that a lot of the people deep in the masses couldn't see very much, but there is a thrill to be a part of the crowd. Nontheless, I think I made the right choice watching from inside. Amazingly, no one was injured.

The stage was facing away from our office, but we were able to see the players waiting to be called on stage. I love in the center of this pic one police officer taking the picture of another officer with one of the players :)

The entire city celebrated. Here is the IBM Building draped in a 10 story banner.

And the Art Institute Lions are appropriately attired.

Congratulations Chicago Blackhawks!

My son found this in the newspaper and thinks that I should stitch it up :) !

Well, I move from one extreme to another...

this weekend my sister and I travel to central Illinois to visit our parents in the Heart of Amish Country. I look forward to the peace and calm and to time with my family, most of all!

Thanks for your patience while I share our city's excitement.

Blessings, Patti

A few final berries

It was raining last weekend, so I made a few more Strawberry Sewing Companions...

They are $11 each plus shipping and can be purchased at TDIPT Mercantile or by emailing me at pgagliardi9@hotmail.com

The green berry on the left is still available.

Now I'll move on to another velvet summer fruit for July 1st...

I also finished stitching this Stacy Nash design ~ Queen of Spring. I think I need to take a day of hand sewing to put some of these stitcheries together and actually finish them :)

Blessings, Patti

Tiny treasures & fun for a quarter

I love to go to Estate Sales. I enjoy looking for treasures, but I also love looking into old houses and admiring the workmanship and character of older buildings. Lately there haven't been very many in my town. I guess that this is a good thing :) But I miss them. The past few weeks there have been a few and I have really enjoyed the chance to go.

I found this sweet little strawberry botanical framed print that I thought was so appropriate for me right now :) And this sweet little graniteware pitcher.

It's hard to get perspective with how tiny they are, so I added a spool of thead in this picture.

At another estate sale I found all of these treasures for 25 cents!

Who knew you could have so much fun for only a quarter!

And look at these treasures from another sale - all for $10!

*sigh*
I hope that I don't have to wait too long for another estate sale...


I did finish stitching this Stacy Nash design.
I'm a little nervous about finishing it as a standing pinkeep, but I do want to give it a try.
If anyone has finished this piece and has any pointers, I'd love to hear from you!

"No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be
hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come
in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are
good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body
also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not
darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it
dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on
you."

~Luke 11:33-36

Blessings, Patti