I love cross-stitch at any time of year; somehow Autumn brings even more enjoyment to this hobby. An ideal scenario is watching football and stitching! So, it's time for an update on a few projects!
My January 14 post was the last time I shared progress on the Christmas stocking for #1 Son - see the picture below.
On March 29, it looked like this:
Now, with 287 hours of love invested, I am putting the finishing touches in place. Outlining, details such as trees and grass. The most challenging element is stitching with the gold metallic thread for the sled and the edges of the ribbon - it's very fiddly!
My February 11 post featured a completed hexagon stitch-a-long. Today, I am happy to show you the framed piece, which now hangs in our guest bathroom! The experts at Michael's were invaluable in selecting the mat and the frame.
In the same post, I also described the process of selecting a pattern creator in order to develop a design of a wedding photo for #1 Daughter and our son-in-law. After some deliberation, I went with Gail at Busy B Crafts (creator of Stitch a Photo). She had offered so much free advice, and was also recommended by the owners of Shepherds' Bush, cross-stitch experts that I trust! This is the photo the couple chose.
#1 Daughter selected a Natural Rustico fabric - probably only a quarter of an inch will show around the final piece, which will be 11 x 14. I am very excited to start stitching once the stocking is complete!
I recently hosted a Munch and Make, and one of the attendees had a new quilt to share. She is a member of the Flathead Quilters' Guild, and its annual quilt show had just wrapped up. Below is a selection of the quilts that I saw at the 2024 Flathead Quilters' Guild Quilt Show.
Prompt for this week is: Do you like hayrides? Tell us about one you experienced.I believe the last hayride would have been with the kids when they were young enough to actively participate in pumpkin hunting in an open field. I love those fall traditions when it can be enjoyed with extended family, even if they are all adults!
Seven years in Montana, and hundreds of hiking miles, and one can be forgiven for thinking you have seen it all. And then you round a curve on a trail and your jaw drops. Mountain Lady's Slipper stands regally. The upper sepal shields the slipper like the hood of a cape; the lower sepals twist downward like strands of curly hair. Why haven't I seen this demure orchid before? Maybe it's because this trail is not often used, and the Slipper has managed to survive here. A quick scan of Internet sources suggests that Cypripedium montanum is "apparently secure", a technical term that means a plant is uncommon but not rare, with some cause for concern due to declines or other factors. Time of year is also significant - if I was walking this same trail a month later, the blooms would be gone. All the more reason to be delighted to be in the right place at the right time!
Early July took us to Glacier National Park, executing our responsibilities as citizen scientists to document Mountain Goat and Bighorn Sheep populations. I could stop there - the simple elegance of the Park's beauty is enough. And yet we are blessed to have many other delights layered into the experience. The sunrise at the house, with lake mist lingering in the valley. A black bear grazing along the roadside. Dashing through the rain at the new Kyiyo Mercantile for a Huckleberry Bear Claw.
Forecasters called for a full day of rain, and we were pleasantly surprised that it eased up early in the morning and didn't return. The hike along Cut Bank Creek is known to us, and yet we commented that we had forgotten how lovely it is.
In the afternoon, we covered new terrain via the Dry Fork Trail. The Two Medicine area is known for bears, and given the low usage of this trail, it wasn't a big surprise to encounter a grizzly sharing the area with us - fortunately, it took off in the other direction as soon as it saw us.
Have you noticed the lack of photos of goats and sheep? Yep, two hikes in and no observations. Sigh. The next morning, we popped in our favorite East Glacier breakfast spot, the Two Medicine Grill. Fortified for the day ahead, we hiked Scenic Point and we were rewarded with numerous sheep, including the nanny group in the photo below. Our second hike that day, along Rose Creek, yielded plenty of mosquitoes but no mammals!
In early July, Lupine and Penstemon are plentiful along alpine trails, and I am hoping the video below gives you a small taste of purple splendor as we walked back to St. Mary Lake.
Back at the house, the flowers were doing their best to represent for Kila, Montana. July is certainly the peak for native plants.
In the early years of the garden, I had Prairie Coneflower (pure yellow) and Mexican Hat (a deep burgundy coneflower). Now, cross-pollination (thanks, bees, moths and butterflies!) has delivered numerous flower shades.
I am constantly bragging about Head Chef and his cooking - the summer salads he creates are always a massive hit with me - I love the variety of colors, textures and flavors. A neighbor has a flock of chickens, and we are regularly purchasing a dozen eggs from her. As everyone knows, the taste and color of free-range eggs cannot be "beat"!
Another neighbor grows vegetables, and her arrival at the July ladies' gathering was like our own personal farmer's market! So many talents in our neck of the woods - check out the baby quilt one of my friends recently finished. I love our neighborhood get-togethers!
Summer in Montana also means guests, and the end of July started our string of visitors - my oldest brother and his wife came from Utah for a few days. For a year, we had been talking with them about huckleberry picking and a picnic at a location that we had spotted the summer before, while on a back-country camping trip. The site delivered, the weather delivered and Head Chef delivered with charcuterie and beverages that had been chilled in Mineral Creek while we picked hucks.
And it is our tradition to wrap up visits to Glacier with a cold bevvie on the back porch of Lake McDonald Lodge - this is livin'!!!
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Linking up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday. She has a super group of bloggers that always have something positive and interesting to share! The prompt for September 26 is "What is your favorite fall scent? Would you rather have a pumpkin spice drink or apple cider?" I love the aroma of slightly damp leaves, especially when you walk through them and you get the bonus of the rustling sound. But I don't miss raking said leaves!!! At our house here in Montana, the aspen trees are vastly outnumbered by pine trees, and we wouldn't rake the leaves anyway since they provide natural fertilizer for the trees and other plants. This is a huge change from the mounds of leaves we used to rake in Cleveland, Ohio.
I am obsessed with Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSL), so that gets my vote over apple cider. I go to coffee shops a lot, so I have to limit my PSL intake due to the high calorie count and so that I don't get bored with them!
Yes, I know it's August, but life runs in the slow lane when you're retired! I am so busy thriving that it does not leave much time to compose a worthy post. You do understand, right?
In Montana, summer is short and every hour is to be treasured and maximized. We squeeze activity into every glorious moment of sunlight, since it comes streaming unbidden into our bedroom at 5.30 in the morning!
Frequent readers know I relish outdoor dining, and it is even better when it features summer salads. Head Chef might as well be Michelin with the creativity he brings to his mealtime miracles.
While we are talking about the Man of the House, let's re-cap Father's Day! #1 Daughter took a page from my book and crafted a hand-made card.
#1 Son took a commercial, albeit no less creative route. Where DOES he find these things??? (in case you can't tell, these are sandals!)
As long as we are on the subject of parenting, I will show you the card #1 Daughter crafted for Mother's Day!
You all know my Dear Neighbor Friend, who lives on the farm across the street. Spring and summer bring new animals to the farm. First up, lambs.
DNF discovered a sweet kitten in the barn, and a momma was nowhere to be found. Little Baloo took up residence in the house (just 'til she grows up a little) - but between you and me, these two have gotten pretty attached and I don't know if Baloo will make it back to the barn!!!
And one day DNF called me about a turtle she had saved from getting run over on the county road. She brought it over in a box so I could release it down by the lake.
A post of mine would not be complete without a few flowers!!! I planted Lupine seed 6 years ago, and this is the first year that the plants have bloomed! Patience is a must-have for a gardener!
Caterpillars are welcome on my native plants - they are part of the ecosystem! Looking at this Paintbrush almost two months later, it does not seem to have been affected by the munching.
Naturally occurring roses.
This Arnica volunteered to be in the garden!
I regularly host a ladies' gathering, and in June, one of the ladies casually asked me, upon arrival, "Do you have an aloe plant?" When I replied no, she turned on her heel and went back to her car. Momentarily, she appeared with this beautiful, octopus-looking creature, unlike any aloe plant I have ever seen! What a surprise!
No Montana summer is complete without some time on the water, and even better if it is combined with a worthy cause such as weed pulling. For the second year, we were hosted in the boat belonging to Kenny and Mary during the Weed Rodeo. Yeehaw!
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Linking up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday. If you're searching for some positivity in a world that can focus too much on the negative, check it out! The prompt for August 8 is "Would you like being part of the group of Olympic competitors? Staying in the Olympic Village? Have you ever gone to view the Olympics?" I think I would enjoy being in the Village and meeting people, but the stress of the competition would be too much for me. I have family near Salt Lake City, and there might be an option to volunteer for the Winter Olympics 2034! I have not attended the Olympics, even though we had tickets for Atlanta 1996. I was offered a new position right at that time, and we gave up our tickets so we could make the move. Dumb younger me!!!! Linking to Thankful Thursday
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