Stitch Maynia Day #17 and #18

I thought I had better blog now as storms are headed in our direction.  I forgot to show you the hand pies I made!  I used a recipe from All Recipes by Chef John.....he has the best recipes!
Before baking..........

 After baking.........

These are great for me as opposed to a whole pie.  I love them!  These are apple and only required 2 apples...I have 3 apples left so I might make some more this afternoon.  I want to make other fruits too...........yummo!
As for Stitch Maynia Day #17..........Snow Days...another free pattern from Glory Bee

Still loving my 'railroading' of the stitches.
Stitch Maynia Day #18....tomorrow's the last day for me......it's been so much fun!  Then on to finishing all of them before next year's Maynia!  Another Glory Bee design and Halloween...one of my favorites to stitch.......

That 'railroading' is looking pretty nice if I do say so myself

Wednesday I mowed, Thursday I planted herb plants and I have been splitting my time between cleaning inside and yard work and gardening(container) outside....a little Spring 'sprucing up'...........

 I potted up 2 basil plants, a cilantro, flat leaf parsley, thyme and mint.  The only safe place for plants...my front porch...........

and sadly...the last of the peonies...........so lovely to look at and to smell.....

There's a tornado watch until 8:00 p.m. for only 2 counties in AR......mine and the one next to me which I border.....not a good sign........I just moved the truck up close to the garage door to protect Nitty.  The girls used to always go down in the basement with me but Nitty can't do stairs anymore and I can't lift her, so we pray!  I also have the weather radio on.
Have a safe and cozy Saturday night where you are!
Happy Trails!!!

Stitch Maynia Day #9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16!!!

I really fell behind........and I showed you SM Day #11 yesterday.....the October one.....I hadn't taken pictures of the others which was the problem.  But I have now!

Day #9 -This is a free pattern from The Snowflower Diaries called Pumpkins for Cathey (2013) in memory of her friend Cathey from Pumpkin Patch and Co. She used fancy floss but I am using DMC but that pumpkin looks pretty yellow to me...........

Day #10 - This was a free pattern but I don't remember from who and the pattern doesn't state.  You can't see the letters very clearly because they will be outlined when done which is back stitch and that will make them stand out.

Day #11 - I showed you yesterday
Day #12 - This is a free pattern from Lizzie Kate called Liberty.......I'm almost done with this one!

Day #13 -  This is another free but unknown author.  This is on smaller count fabric and is going to take longer as there are half stitches and back stitching but it should be cute when done.  It says Happy Easter at the bottom.....

Day #14 is a free one from Glory Bee Designs at www.GloryBeeStitch.com   She has some of the cutest and she has pay for patterns too.  I have some watermelon decor in the Summertime so this will be perfect!  If you can't tell it is a watermelon.

Day #15 - This one is for October but not sure from what designer.......

Day #16 - Today!!!
This is another free pattern from Glory Bee.........this is on some Blush 14 ct Aida that was gifted to me.............

Aside from the fact that this is on some not tea/coffee dyed fabric...I am also using a new technique I learned last night from watching The Fat Quarter Shop's Stitch Maynia podcast.  Kimberly showed how to do "railroading" and I cannot believe how much better my stitching looks!  I wish I would have known this years ago.  It is truly amazing...it keeps it from twisting and knotting plus your "X's" cross exactly in the middle and they all look alike!  Here's a close up..........I always wondered why other's cross stitch looked so nice and mine was just 'okay'...this is why folks!  If you are a cross stitcher or thinking of it...I would highly recommend Kimberly's Fat Quarter Shop Stitch Maynia Episode from yesterday on You Tube......for me it was life changing!  Thank you, Kimberly! 

I hope you are all well and enjoying Spring but not working too hard.  Tomorrow I hope to be back to my "regularly scheduled programming" if there really is such a thing in my life.
Happy Trails!!!

The Best Laid Plans...............

Let me tell you my story.............first my pc screen went black last Friday and I could not get a hold of my Geek Buddy until Monday (come to find out I was given the wrong number) so I looked them up on my tablet and found it.  After an all morning session on Monday, they got it cleared up....updates from MS that didn't coincide with my security software.  I had my pc up for about 3 hours and was getting ready to blog and WHAMMO.......the internet went down and it was down until 9:00 p.m.!  I tried calling their tech support to see if it was an area wide outage.  They usually have a recorded message telling you.  When I went to call I got a message that all long distance lines were busy and to try again later.....I tried until about 8:00 p.m. and they were still busy.  So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Thank goodness everything is working fine now but I am behind on posting for Stitch Maynia for sure and several other FB Groups!
I took pictures and I will post them here but there are things missing so I will have to play catch up all week.
***I got this far last night until I tried downloading pictures and blogger wouldn't cooperate......are their sun spots or something?  Nothing electrical seems to be operating well.***
Here I am back again this morning trying to post....we'll see how far I get! LOL!
The prettiest loaf of bread I've ever made...........and great tasting too I might add....and easy peasy!  I use Jenny Can Cook's recipe on You Tube and her blog.

I think this is Stitch Maynia's Day #11 project....I need to go back and get 9 and 10!  I am really enjoying this and although there's not much progress in one day.....starting is sometimes the hard part...or for me personally...finishing! LOL!  We've had lots of rainy days so it's been conducive to stitching........

My floss came and I have been slowly carding it up and adding it to my Maynia projects..........

More treasures came in the mail..................a very sweet gal from Oregon sent the entire set of patterns for A Year of Celebrations by Hands On Design...this has been on my list from the get go!  At first I thought it was just January but upon opening I realized she had sent me the whole year of patterns!!  These gals are so honest too.....these are the real patterns.....no copies as that is unfair to the designer and against the copyright laws....I am very grateful....the only copies I have received have been for free patterns.  I can't wait to start on these!

Plus, she sent me this little cutie by Country Cottage Needleworks....part of her Glitter Village cottage patterns...........perfect since I am starting to 'ramp up' for Christmas gift making...but first I have all those birthdays in July!

I had ordered this for Christmas..........it's been on my list for several years and I was afraid they would discontinue it..........part of my 'wool' making..........it is from Buttermilk Basin.......love it!

That's all for today...I hope you have all been fine and if my pc cooperates and the stars are all in alignment I should be able to catch up with you all this week.  Today I am going to try and mow although there's a 50% chance of rain...I have errands to run, and of course cooking and cleaning....mercy!  The girls are doing as well as can be expected and all of us seem to be sneezing from the pollen and our eyes are all watering and blurry but other than that we are blessed!  I pray the same for all of you!
Happy Trails!!!