OMG! What a Time We have Had!

Our long standing pine and spruce trees have been no match for the strong March winds!

We had a huge spruce tree come down at the beginning of March! This tree was about 40 feet tall! Annoyingly, I had the tree cutters here just days earlier. I told them to trim anything that might fall near the house.

The tree in question really wasn't what anyone would have considered "near the house", but down it came!

I will never get over the tremendous jolt to the house! All things considered, we were lucky that this was a "glancing blow"! Still and all, it managed to take out a good portion of our deck, make a sizable hole in the roof, and destroy the back storm door, as well as several window screens!

Here is a photo of the tree diameter against a yard stick:

Something like this leaves quite a mess behind, that we are still cleaning up!

Our insurance paid for the tree removal, and some of the materials, but everything was pro-rated of course with a deductable, etc, etc. etc. It is a very good thing that Keith will be able to repair the deck himself because the the payments didn't come close to covering the labor!

Every time now, the wind blows, my eyes go upward. Unfortunately we have several more of these trees that are around the same age, and one of them is atleast 15 feet taller than the one that came down!!!

On the bright side, my Daffodils have finally come up, although it is still very cold here. We have had a lot of rainy, windy days! I am looking forward to some sun and warmth in the days to come!

I have been plodding along on Eleanor Parr. It is very slow going, with color changes every few stitches. Some of those color changes are hard to justify in my mind!

I have just started on page 9. Only about 17 more pages to go after this, and then the verse. I think I will have to stick with the original verse at this point, or I will never finish this up.

Here is the latest photo:

On that note, I will sign off.

Wishing you calm days and lots of creativity!

I sure hope spring is coming soon!

 It has been such a long cold winter here in New York! I have been reading all of your blogs and I am seeing lovely photos of flowers and buds. Not here! It seems like we have a new snow storm every 2 days! And I don't even live upstate in the snow belt! I would love to see a crocus popping up!

Well, my chickens have been laying a few more eggs lately, so maybe there is hope! They don't lay many during the winter.

I sneaked in a little Valentine's Day stitch in between Eleanor Parr.

Chablis Hearts - Country Garden Stitchery

I added our initials to the middle heart.

and, I think I found the perfect fabric in my stash for the backing!

Now, all I need is the time to finish it! Ha!

In between I have been plodding away on Eleanor Parr. I am now working on page 7. I think there are about 25 pages in all I am running out of steam on this one. I have been having second thoughts on substituting the verse with the bird poem. I do like the bird poem, but it would take a while to graph it out. I am anxious to getting this one finished. I don't know! Still trying to decide. This is a very slow stitch due to all the color changes every few stitches!

Here is where I am:

I have miles and miles to go!

Here's hoping spring will come soon!

Best wishes,

Erica

Happy New Year!

 I hope it's not too late in the year to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

The holidays seemed to come and go very quickly this year. We were distracted by the health of my 97 year old mother-in-law, who was suffering some issues. That always seems to bring up other family issues.

I miss the quiet time my husband and I shared over the years. No matter how hectic our jobs and family issues were, we managed to carve some time out just for us. That seems much harder to do now. I miss those days!

I didn't do as much holiday stitching as I usually do. I did manage to finish stitching Merry Little Christmas.

Merry Little Christmas - Willow Hill Samplings

 

I haven't quite decided how to finish it.

Then I stitched Bon Noel.

Bon Noel

My apologies to the designer, but I have had this for a while, and I don't remember where it came from. Another one that needs to be finished!

Then I knitted a pair of socks.  They are such a little luxury in this cold weather!

After that, I knitted up this cowl from some recycled cashmere yarn I had from a previous project. The free pattern is from Purl Soho.

It called for a long tail cast on, but I really don't have the patience for that. I used the crochet cast on method to give it a little extra ease, and it worked out just fine. It is a quick knit, and is a good way to use up that extra yarn.

Well, I have a lot of finishing to do in 2025. That was my resolution for 2024, but I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. Hope springs eternal!

I hope all of you have a wonderful 2025, full of good health and happy surprises!