Fall color and some stitching progress

I have been stitching and have made some more progress on my sampler.  I realized that I did not have enough thread to finish the sampler and ordered more.  That way I can start mixing the dye lots early in the piece.  It is fun to see the patterns emerge as I stitch.  I also like the effect of the back stitch areas.

Yesterday, I went to an estate sale for a woman who had been part of several of the needlework guilds in the area.  I bought a few things including the Plimoth Plantation Sweete Bag and the accompanying Accesories.  This piece is from The Examplarery and is an adaptation from a sampler that is in the collections at Plimoth Plantation.  I started on the scissors sheath.  It looks like it will be fairly quick to stitch and fun to finish.  I love the attention to detail in the design, the order of the colors are different on the sides of the scissor sheath and there are different designs for the front and back of the sweete bag.

The weather has continued to be nice so I took advantage of it and went to one of the nearby forest preserves this afternoon.  I took my camera instead of the dogs and took some pictures of the changing leaves and the end of season seed pods.

October at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Sunday afternoon, it was warm enough to be outside, it was not raining, and I did not have to drive anyone anywhere so I took some time to go wander around the Chicago Botanic Garden with my camera.  In addition to the obligatory fall pumpkins, gourds and colored leaves, there were some beautiful flowers, squirrels and birds.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I picked up a recording of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn from the Fremont Public Library and started listening to it in my car this morning.  I haven't read this book in almost 30 years, and I remember details from this book better than I remember things in the book I finished yesterday or the newspaper I read this morning.  They are odd details, like going to the store to buy a paper collar or the story of the blue baby that survives because it is born in a hospital.  I don't remember reading this book more than once, I also don't remember it as being a particular favorite but these details have stuck with me.  

It could be because I was a girl who loved the library and wanted to read through all of the books in alphabetical order.  It could be that I was Francie's age when I read the book.  It could also be that Betty Smith was very good at describing the details that make a place or shape a life.  The soup bone with scraps of meat attached to it that with some tired vegetables makes a rich and nourishing soup flecked with meat, the bowl of nasturtiums on the librarian's desk, or the immaculate linen and threadbare tuxedo jacket on Johnny Nolan.

I am not sure, but it is a bit magical while driving on the Illinois Tollway to hear something that reminds me of being 14.

Rose ATC

I finished and mailed my rose artist trading card last week.  It is now on its way to its new home in New Zealand.  I used some wool felt picked up at a quilting show, DMC color variations stranded cotton and Mill Hill beads to make my rose.  I modeled it on some of the wild roses that I have seen.