The States In Which I've Lived

A couple of years ago I scored cool cross stitch patterns by Sue Hillis Designs for the states I've lived in.  I knew I wanted to do them all on one piece of cloth and that presented a mathematical issue.  I suck at math and I really didn't know what I was doing.  Which resulted in CA being ripped out and restitched.  It's not as centered together as I would have liked but I can live with it.  

The other thing was that the pattern showed some pictures that were either in the wrong places or not items the states are known for.  That meant I had to omit, add and change a great deal.  

I did all the state outlines, rivers, state names and surrounding water first before working on the pictures.

First was MA.  There were a few things that made me scratch my head, such as why potatoes and a tobacco leaf were pictured.  I actually googled both of them to see if they were serious cash crops in MA and they aren't.  At all.  Corn on Cape Cod?  Not so much, no.  

I took all the potatoes out and stitched a bunch of cranberries above and below Plymouth.  The tobacco leaf is done in oranges for our foliage.  Technically the spool of thread should've been in Southeastern Mass, but it wouldn't fit.  The textile mills were in New Bedford and Fall River, not way out in the Berkshires.  I omitted the milk can under Plymouth too.  I also felt that the full 2 strand cross stitching of the water around the coastline and islands was way too overpowering, so I changed that to single strand half cross.  Finally, I added a red heart to where I lived.

Maine was less problematic, symbol-wise.  They actually are known for potatoes.  There are a few ski resorts, tons of pine trees and agriculture.  

The only change to this was again, the half cross for the water, and the added heart next to Sebago Lake, above Portland.

California was also fairly accurate with the symbols.

I did omit a boat and added my own little Golden Gate Bridge.  Hearts in SF and in Marin.  Oh and I also added a tiny Lake Tahoe at the bend under the N in Sacramento.  It bugged me that the pattern didn't include it and had just the white space.  Tahoe straddles the California-Nevada Line at the bend.

I saved Washington for last because I was looking forward to doing it the most, but also because the symbols were almost all wrong and would take a lot of fixing and moving. 

The first thing I noticed was that the Columbia River went down to the border b/t the apple and tractor and stopped.  I did a half cross stitch all along the southern border and joined it with the Pacific coast.  

Next, I had to move the wheat stalk from under Olympia and put it in Eastern WA, where the wheat actually grows.  I moved the cow head over because of the dairy farms in Western WA.  I also added the cities of Spokane, Yakima and Bellingham.  Omitted the potatoes again.  Added the heart and a Mt. Rainier which also kinda looks like the Tacoma Dome which is OK with me.  The Olympic peninsula showed a giant milk can.  I'm sorry but there's nothing out there but wilderness, rainforests and mountains, no farms.  I added Lakes Crescent, Ozette & Quinault and the evergreen trees too.

The final product!!  

Still have to try and find a frame and then even harder, finding a place to hang it!

Just Plain Lazy

This summer has, in a word, sucked.  And the reason it has sucked is the weather.  I do not remember a hotter, more humid year than this one.  It's been too uncomfortable to do anything.  I can't even remember the last time we had prolonged rain.  So as a result, I haven't taken any day trips.  My car is getting old and I really don't want to push my luck when it's this hot out.  I also haven't been super motivated to cook or bake so that I don't have to use the stove and oven.   That has meant a lot of take out this year.  Laundry has to be washed and dried by 9 AM, the latest.  

And the traffic.  Everyone is talking about it.  It's always heavy in the summer but this year has been the worst, with more idiots who drive like shit and don't use their turn signals.  

So in the house I sit.  Doing cross stitch and chores and watching TV.  I'm sorry I haven't been making the blog rounds.  There were quite a few real life issues that have come up the past few weeks.  I promise to visit everyone's blogs really soon!!

This one is called 'Wanda's Witchery' and it was a lot of fun!  So many pretty colours!  I bought the frame already painted and am thinking about doing a little touch up around that bottom star.

Here's a project that I stitched in tandem.  I wanted to make one for me and one for my friend Miki, but I knew I wouldn't want to start all over once I finished the first one.  It got tedious at times but it took about a week to do them both which wasn't bad, and I love how they came out.  

I dove right into this snowy owl when I finished the hippie ones.  This one had way more beaded cross stitch than the other kits.  I bought the frame already painted like that, from the 123 Stitch website.

Close up.  Hard to tell but most of the pine needles are tiny crystal and light green beads. Plus the dark blue and dark blue/grey were hard to see against the blue perforated paper.

This is my latest project.  I have 4 separate patterns for each state I've lived in and I wanted to do them on one piece of cloth.  But how to center them, since I suck at math.  Well I knew I had a 50-50 chance of messing it up and sadly, I fell into the bad 50.  I should have stitched Maine after Mass, but I did California after Mass, and it's all off center.  I have to move it way to the left, closer to the left edge of Mass.  Otherwise Washington won't fit under Maine.  And also, California is too high.  The top of the state needs to be at least 5 rows under the word 'Maine'.  That means ripping out all of CA and starting over.  I'm also making some minor changes in the pattern/stitching.   

Some moon shots, end of July.

Full moon a few days ago.

Been pawing through some shoeboxes of old pictures that I borrowed from my mom.  This is a picture of my dad (left) and Uncle Frank with their pet goat Meggy, probably taken sometime between 1927-29, in British Guiana.  It's one of only 2 pics I have of him when he was little.

This one is from my cousin Sandy's wedding in 1970 in Yonkers, NY.  It's been bittersweet to see these old pics and realize how many people have passed away.  Those are my parents, with my cousin 'Little' Anne sitting on my dad's lap, her husband Carlo behind, and Anne's sister Jeannie on the other side of my dad.  Jeannie & Little Anne were my mom's fave cousins so they always had a wonderful time together and a lot of laughs.  They'd stay at my parents' cottage on Spring Hill Beach for a couple of weeks each summer and we all looked forward to it.  Missing from the pic is Jeannie's husband, Skee, who used to tease me mercilessly when I was little.

Me, September, 1966, not sure if this is Sandy Neck or Spring Hill.  Hard to believe my hair was ever that blonde.

Looking thrilled beyond belief at Santa's Village in New Hampshire, 1973.

First or second day of 5th grade, September 1974.  That's a pencil case.

Intently tearing into a box of flashcubes, 1966'ish.  

Wearing my cousin Jeannie's sunglasses at the beach house, summer 1967

1967 in Yonkers with my Aunt Gloria.

Also in Yonkers, April 1976.  There are so many photos of me in Yonkers that it looks like I grew up there. 

I hope to be able to get out of the house more now that summer is drawing to a close.  Fall in this region is the best season anyway, so it's more conducive to day trips.

Lazy Hazy Dayz

The east coast heatwave continues with horribly uncomfortable temps and humidity, and no end in sight.  We desperately need rain.  Only one day was nice and dry, so I went over to my friend Sue's for a few hours.  She lives here in town on a fantastic piece of property on Bourne Pond.  It's so idyllic that I told her if I lived there, I would literally never leave.  

She has 3 adorable, white fluffy doggies that float around like little fuzzy clouds around your ankles.

Little moppet.

Side of their barn.

I loved the way she had the property decorated.

I'm not sure that anyone swims in the pond, but it's nice for kayaking or floating.

Looking straight up at the tree canopy

When I first moved here, I was driving around taking pics and I'd stopped to shoot this barn.  I had no idea it was Sue's property at the time!

I loooove this view from her front yard.

Besides the Canal walk, this has been the sum total of my summer adventures this year.  I'm just not willing to go out walking around when it's this miserable. Hoping for a cooler, dryer August.