Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Little Shelf & Square #3

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The little spice shelf now lives just below my large aqua mantel shelf in the studio. For the moment, these little cuties reside there. The wreath, by the way, was made by the very same Amy who is hosting our 39 Squares Stitchalong.

I stuck to my plan yesterday: text work on King Lear in the morning and early afternoon, then fun in the late afternoon. Don and I have worked out a system which we tried out for the first time yesterday. When he has to work on the computer, he must be upstairs in the office/guest room/music studio. I have a laptop so I am more flexible and can be downstairs in the den. With the dogs. Now, you know I love my babies but sometimes I need a break. They are sweet but demanding. On those days we are both home, Don comes downstairs around mid-afternoon, so that I can go up to my studio. Studio = happy place. Yesterday, I grabbed some time and spread out all my stitching stuff for the Stitchalong:


Love these little containers. I got them at Target. Aren’t they cute? I loaded them up with beads and other fun things that I might eventually add to some of my squares.

I sat by the bedroom window where the sunlight was pouring in and came up with Square #3.


“Ode to our Weeping Willow tree” – oh, how I love that tree. What will today’s square be? I have no idea. I’m trusting the embroidery muse will inspire me with yet another idea. I’m having fun with this challenge. I’m also thinking that a portable project like this one would be perfect for me when I am in San Diego. Last year, when I was there for a much, much longer span of time, I worked on the quilts. This year, I will be there for a couple of months. I always have to have a project going – why not some freestyle embroidery?

Have a great day.

Since some of you mentioned it in the comments, the chenille Scottie dog was made by my friend Joy. I bought it when I was in San Diego last year.

Little Pink Animals & Square #2

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My little pink pets are multiplying. Now we have two chicks (from Elyse) and a pink Scottie (from Meri.) Do you think they’re happy? They seem to be.


You realize, don’t you, that I am actually providing a close-up view of my amateurish attempts at embroidery? What am I thinking?

Square #2. A curtained window with a glimpse of spring – can you tell where my thoughts are? I’m making a discovery with each square – this one taught me that I should outline the square first, as I did in square #1. Lesson learned. I notice the window panes are a tad crooked, just like the ones here at MHC.

I’m off to start my research on the Shakespeare being done this summer at the Rep. The dollhouse has been cleared from the table temporarily. In its place: scripts and lots of books. I’ve made a deal with myself – I can do some fun things if I work on the texts in the morning. We’ll see how this works out.

(Pink flower watercolor from Helene)

Some Stitching & McCoy Monday

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Ah, it is Monday – we residents of Mockingbird Hill Cottage are hoping against hope that all is back to normal. We’ve had power outages, lots of heavy, wet snow and on Sunday we lost our cable, phone and going online was impossible for much of the day. Thankfully, every day we had power and cable by the time the Olympics came on. We are also very lucky – friends of ours who live south of us lost 2 trees and had no power for over 50 hours.

On to McCoy – this piece is a bookend/vase. For some reason, I only have one. The flower is hollow and is meant to be used as a vase. I found this early in my collecting days and it sits on the windowsill above the kitchen sink. It is one of my favorites – makes me smile! (Sorry the photo is a little dark but I didn’t get around to taking it until last night.)

I’ve stitching along with Amy’s 39 Squares. She makes these lovely embroidery samplers that consist of 1 inch squares in a grid. They have a spontaneous feeling to them – more freestyle and fun than traditional samplers. Amy has decided to do a square a day with a total of 39 squares in honor of her upcoming birthday. Those of us who are taking part will post a square a day so you will see, for better or worse, the fruits of my labor. I haven’t done any embroidery except for a stitch or two since I was a camp counselor in my early 20’s. Denim shirts were big then and each of us girls decorated our shirts with all sorts of embroidery. (I wish I knew where that shirt was!) Consequently, I am rusty. Today’s square is my first wobbly attempt at this.


The outline is a bit wonky – but I’m okay with that. I added a little flower button. I have to come up with a new square every day….Yikes!

Have a good day, everyone.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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