Hello Summer!

 Awhile back, I posted on my embroidery blog , Yesteryear Embroideries, about a mushroom stitchery that I was currently starting.  You can see the post with this link:

MUSHROOM STITCHERY

and I wanted to add flowers and such to the mushroom design.

For weeks I stitched up a storm, thinking how wonderful this would all look when 

I finished......I was shocked at how awful it looked.......as you see in the photo above......the dark green thread, the beads, the over clustering of the pink flowers, took the eye away from the mushrooms.  Sometimes, 

too much........is......too much!

I never have a problem with ripping out stitches.....even days and weeks of stitches.

As you can see, decluttering the stitching now has made everything look pretty. 

I can now call this piece "finished" and get it ready to place into my 

Stitch Book.

I have been working and planning on a stitch book for quite some time.

It's not the typical stitch book where I show the work of different stitches in 

embroidery accomplished.  This is a book for the different pieces I embroider over

the years and ones that I do not frame.  I wanted a place to put them all......

so a stitch book seems to be the right place.

 I have always loved this design and 

embroidered it for the cover of my stitch book. 

This is the front

and when folded, this is the back.

I wanted the inside cover, front and back to have some 

of my favorite quotes, so I cross stitched these on 25 count, 

stitched it to the outside cover, and now when folded, it makes a great inside 

cover for the stitch book.

I only have a few pages, but am hoping to have quite a few more 

by the end of this year.  I am not sure whether I will complete the book this

year or maybe stitch more into next year. 

There hasn't been much else happening here.......our lives go day

to day at a quiet pace.  I did come up on a hognose snake

and scooped it up for a better photo.  No worries.....this little snake is quite

calm and nice........never tries to strike.

I also came across this whimsical toad......who seemed to smile at me as I said hello to it.

I hope this finds you are having pleasant weather and pretty summer days.  

 

We had ourselves a little adventure.....

We headed out to visit our youngest son by flying over snowcapped mountains and through fluffy clouds

We were offered very nice meals during our flight

Soon we were back on the ground and we found ourselves surrounded with flowers in  gardens,

flowers by buildings,

flowers on almost every street pole, along with flowers on the very busy freeway and roadside.

I could not take good photos of the freeway flowers or roadside blossoms because traffic was very much in a hurry.

There were mountain tops to look over the city and to look out over  the Cascade mountains.

Have you guessed where we have been?

There were wonderful markets filled with wonderful things and the offering of coffee was everywhere we turned

A robot named Jarvis......yes.....a robot........made me this wonderful latte. It tasted so good!

The most enchanting places of all......were the forests and 

waterfalls. I could have stayed among these areas forever!

Many of the trees were covered in a coating of soft moss

and other growth.

Did I mention waterfalls.....??......

and flowers??😊

The weather was rainy.......a gentle rain where we could walk with umbrellas and still enjoy the sites......the temperature was in the 60s and low 70s.  We wore jackets on some days.

There was so much for us to see......in the city.......outside of the city.........and above the city!

and then........there was the beach......a long stretch of magical sand and the Pacific ocean.

Yes, if you have guessed , we visited the Pacific Northwest.  

Time sped by so quickly and in a blink of an eye, we were saying goodbye to our son and  we were back on the plane, taking one last glance at Mount. Hood

As  Mount Saint Helens disappeared into the distance and we were once again in the clouds, 

my heart was already longing to be back among the trees, flowers, and waterfalls. 

We were welcomed home with a gust of 106 degree wind that blew through the west Texas airport doors. Now we are back to our normal quiet pace of life with so many wonderful memories to look back on. It was wonderful to get away and to see one of our children......and it is also great to be back home.  As one of my favorite authors once said........

I would be willing to go around the world

if I came back in time to light the candles

and set the table for supper.

Gladys Taber

So tell me........have you been on any adventure lately??.......or do you have one planned soon??

I would love to hear!