Lake Days

Lately, I have been spending some time retreating from the real world into a world of mystery novels, cross-stitching, doodling, canoodling, fishing, swimming, eating, talking, napping, hugging, and laughing: in other words, vacation.

It is a nice break from the near-constant work on our new house, and a wonderful time to reconnect with family and nature. I have decided I really NEED some Adirondack chairs in my life on a regular basis.

I am stitching a pattern out of Anna Maria Horner’s Needleworks Notebook. She really is too precious, and I absolutely love her style. Her color choices are so daring and I wonder in amazement how she makes the choices she does—colors that I think would clash terribly are beautifully balanced.

Here is my little peacock, the start of her pattern “menagerie at midnight.” Of course, I couldn’t find the black Aida fabric so I went with traditional white. I call it “menagerie, around 2pm.”

Traveling with my little mason jar pincushion for all my embroidery supplies

We’ve had some rain, but that doesn't stop us from having fun. The dog is barking at the squirrels intruding on the lawn, the guys are watching Wolverine on tv, and we're all returning as white as we were when we left!

We will miss you, lake! But now it is time to head home and make some more clothes. This trip killed two birds with one stone! This covered list items 3a and 3c: "pool time and attempt to tan" (and fail miserably), as well as "visit family!" If I can just fulfill 3b ("blueberry picking") I will have followed all traditions from last summer and all that will be left will be to expand my horizons and finish my books.

The Roald Dahl book is pretty fascinating, btw. (You should check it out).