I love to do jigsaw puzzles. Originally I only did puzzles for Christmas. You know, cozy at home, hot cocoa, puzzle, Hallmark Christmas movies playing in the background. But last year I expanded to Halloween. Since this is a special year I decided to do a July 4th puzzle. One of my favorite puzzle brand (Galiston) had just what I wanted.

This puzzle by Galiston is a Michael Storring design which I believe the same artist from the Halloween puzzle last year.

Halfway thru, so far very easy to find the pieces.

Completed in time. 500 piece puzzles are pretty easy and quick to put together.

Now onto the new exciting series. For a long time I have seen these companies that send you letters via snail mail for a whole year. You become involved with the characters and events. I decided to sign up for the American Revolutionary series.

Here is a sample of some content that I will receive. So for 12 months I will receive snail mail. I look forward to my first letter. This should be fun and exciting and if all goes well, maybe I can do another series.

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I love doing cross stitch projects and have many finished pieces (but rarely fully finished). I have been doing this craft since my late teens. I love how the industry has grown and there are so many great patterns and designers. Not like when I was young which was only white or beige Aida and DMC threads. Although I still love Aida and DMC there are so many other threads and fabric to choose from.

Being the 250th anniversary I wanted to do something special to commemorate the event. I have several in the pipeline which I know will not be done this year.

The one I am currently working on is from Lori Holt called Scrappy Americana Flag. Because this almost a full coverage piece it is taking me much longer to finish.

A lot of stichers are working on this one and I have seen many finishes. In fact my sister finished and framed this piece.

I only have the red stripes, the words and the border to finish.

Another stitch I have seen many people work on is Teresa Kogut’s 250th Celebration piece.

Other patterns I am interested in stitching are as follows:

I suspect none of these will be stitched before July 4th but some of them are easier so I may get them done shortly thereafter.

The Holiday Sampling from Primrose Cottage is part of a series that originally were the seasons. They now have branched out to holidays. I strongly suspect that a Halloween Sampler is coming soon.

I know my eyes are bigger than my stitching fingers but time will tell on which of these get stitched.

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I enjoy drinking tea, both hot and iced. I am always intrigued when one of my favorite tea companies comes out with a special blend during the holidays.

Smith Tea is a newer tea company to me but I have been eyeing their website ever so often. Well when I saw their patriotic red, white and blue tea for summer I could not resist.

Their three tea blends are Hibiscus Mango (red), White Peach (white) and Blackberry Jasmine (blue).

• 4 1-Quart Sachets of Hibiscus Mango Iced Tea: A bright mango forward infusion of juicy hibiscus flowers, orange peel and smooth rooibos. Caffeine-free for enjoyment any time of day. One sip and everything’s rosy.
• 4 1-Quart Sachets of White Peach Iced Tea: Delicate yet full-bodied white tea is rounded out with juicy peach, pineapple, orange peel and vanilla. A shimmering golden tea you’ll want in your glass all summer long, preferably poolside.
• 4 1-Quart Sachets of Blackberry Jasmine Iced Tea: A dazzling sapphire blend of premium Jasmine Silver Tip tea, sweet blackberry, orange peel, and mango. The beauty of butterfly pea flower naturally makes it a brilliant blue.

So far I have really enjoyed the flavor of the tea, very refreshing and tasty. The only thing I am missing is the fresh fruit to garnish the teas.

You should check out their teas.

So here is to sipping a cold drink during summer!

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Each holiday I like to decorate the porch and July 4th is no exception. Halloween by far is the most extensive decorations but a few patriotic pieces has spiced up my porch. I had this red, white and blue flower wreath that I added a few flags to make it more festive.

Then in the giant urn that is currently holding some summer flowers I have added a few more flags.

And not to be forgotten, I have added two garden flags.

I actually do not have a physical flag. On my roof facia I can see where a flag holder was put up but the previous owners probably removed it. After all these years I probably won’t buy a flag but I do remember growing up getting out the flag to hang in the front of the house.

I am not sure if my family felt any particular national pride per se but it was something you did in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Perhaps they felt more connected to previous wars and lost loved ones.

My maternal Uncle died in World War Two. He was aboard the U.S.S. Pringle that was attacked by a Kamikaze Pilot on April 16, 1945. The ship sank and my uncle perished.

If you want to learn more about the event and see photos of both crew and the ship, please check out this link. https://www.usspringle.org/uss-pringle–home.html

There is a copy of the final letter my Uncle sent home before his death please a few photos.

Ray Arvel England Aug 28, 1924 – April 16, 1945

So many have given their lives for our freedom. Don’t forget this important sacrifice, especially on the 4th.

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Today is flag day. Although not an official holiday per se, it is a day to recognize the meaning of my country’s flag.

I secretly think we cannot add any new territories into a state because how in the heck do you design the flag with 51 stars. LOL. Just kidding, if Puerto Rico wants to be a state, we will make room. Maybe Greenland?

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While researching for a good patriotic poem to share, I noticed that there really wasn’t much available out there. I found most “poems” were put to music and have become beloved patriotic songs. That’s ok, nothing like a catchy tune to remember our country by. I did check out a few Spotify playlists of patriotic songs. Songs varied from “Born in the USA” to military marching songs. A lot of variety. But I will stick to the classics.

Do you remember in school standing up and facing the flag and saying the pledge of allegiance. Every homeroom class started that way. I found out that my Grandnephew does the pledge in the quad of the school every morning. Good to know this practice is still in place.

Do you know what the red, white and blue represents in our flag? Red stands for courage or bloodshed of those who sacrificed for our freedom. White stands for purity. Blue stands for justice. Together they tell a story of unity, strength and our collective identity as Americans.

Some Interesting Facts

George Washington never ran for president

Unlike his successors, George Washington never actually campaigned to be president: He was simply chosen by the popular demand of the electoral college. This happened for both his first and second terms in office, with the elections of 1789 and 1792. He was also the only president ever to unanimously receive all electoral votes.

Half of all U.S. presidents came from four states

Here’s some presidential trivia for you: Virginia, Ohio, New York and Massachusetts are the home states of half of all U.S. presidents. Eight are from Virginia, seven from Ohio, five from New York and four from Massachusetts. Only eight presidents were born west of the Mississippi, and only 21 states were the birthplace of a president.

July 4th is a date that is repeated for Presidents

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both Founding Fathers, died on July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Another President, James Monroe, also died on July 4, in 1831.

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States, was born on July 4, 1872.

The 4th will be here in a short while, I need to get busy getting set up to enjoy the celebration. Thanks for checking out my blog.

I have a clear memory of me, as a 15 years old girl, walking home and thinking that we are about to celebrate the 200th anniversary of our country’s independence. I also remember thinking if I am still around in 2026 I will have the opportunity to celebrate the 250th anniversary. Well here are in 2026. The time is here and the celebration is next month.

Now I don’t remember what I did the celebrate the 200th. I assume I saw fireworks or did a BBQ. Life was simpler back then. No streaming services, no internet, no social media, no Pinterest to tempt you to celebrate big. Back then we probably still had TV without cable. Limited channels and limited shows. Education was restricted to PBS stations and was rather dry. But now we have the opportunity to learn and educate ourselves now with endless resources. I plan to immerse myself in the American Revolution and learn a little bit more about the start of our country. If time allows I will post my genealogy of the American Patriots in my family tree.

I don’t plan on celebrating big. I have a dog that will probably be scared by all the booms and bangs that happen on the 4th. So I will be home with the doggie doing my own thing. I will do simple things that give me pleasure and have this blog as a reminder of what I did. Below is my plan for patriotic celebration.

I know it is not a lot and is not involving other family and friends, but a quiet celebration is what I am looking forward to.

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I truly enjoy all things Lori Holt. She does the vintage, farm, homespun goodness that I gravitate towards. Before I retired I placed a reservation on her upcoming Farm Girl Quilt. Knowing I would have more time to quilt once I retired (not really true) but also a sort of retirement gift to myself. The goodies arrived this week.

I have a million quilts all ready to be sewn, but I have learned that sewing is only something one does when they are in the mood. Otherwise you make a lot of mistakes. See how cute and farm like this quilt is.

This quilt is very familiar to the quilt I made and sent to the county fair. Alas I did not win any ribbons (stiff competition) but I still like the quilt.

There will be similar blocks but the colors and overall it will be a different quilt. Besides one cannot have too many quilts.

So starting on January 26th I will start the quilt. I know there will be times I fall behind, but that is ok.

It helps to do a Quilt-a-long as I feel compelled to keep up. I would hate to have the quilt police knock on the door.

More to come later.

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I heard about The Jingle Ball last year but also very confused on how you roll out a whole stitching retreat online. But people raved how fun it was so I decided to take the plunge. This year the Jingle Ball was December 5th thru the 7th. The beauty of Covid is that it created new ways to meet people that was never an option before. So this is a new exciting way people can gather, stitch and learn. The cost to join the Jingle Ball was only $15 but if you signed up for a class it costs more and of course if you bought items at the shopping booth it costs even more. Bet your bottom dollar I spent a small fortune on patterns.

I decided to take one class with the kit. I went with Primrose Gardens stitching mesh bag.

I figured this would be a good introduction to the whole online retreat process. I am a huge fan of Primrose Gardens and their designs. Easy and so darn cute. The class/kit was expensive but it never hurts to have a good stitching project bag in my stash. All the ladies from Primrose cottage came to the retreat. It was their first jingle ball too. When you take a class you have 30 days to watch the classroom video. It is helpful if you want to rewatch a part of the lesson.

Yes I started the project bag, no I did not finish (yet). Stitching inside a bag is a bit more awkward than I thought. Sometimes my hands don’t work that good (arthritis) and it was not going well. I will finish, but not today.

Besides the classes there are stitching rooms you can join, entertainment videos to watch, speed dating, classes, meet and greets, and shopping. I was a little apprehensive about how you do speed dating but it was very easy.

The ladies I chatted with were very friendly and it was fun. I sure we would have been friends if we met in person. The furthest away was a lady from Australia. Most were in the States. The nice thing about the Jingle Ball is that it was open internationally and was 24 hours a day.

I did a lot of the meet and greets, tried the speed dating and watched most of the videos. I did enter a stitching room but it was not my cup of tea. It works great if you go with a friend so you can chat and share.

It was from Friday to Sunday with lots to do. I mostly watched and stitched during the meet and greets. So I got a lot of stitching done. One of my favorite sessions was a man who collected vintage LPs from the 1940-1950’s. His Christmas music was great. I asked him for the playlist so I can create a Spotify list. Love those old Christmas songs.

I excelled at shopping. Most of the booths had freebie patterns only available at the Jingle Ball. A nice gift from the teachers. Speaking of the teachers, there were 12 teachers from the different companies. As I mentioned I took a class from Primrose Cottage.

Steph from Lindy’s Stitches is the creator/hostess of the Jingle Ball. So many great companies like Primrose Garden, Hands on Design, Tiny Modernist, Teresa Kogut participated. I love these designers.

Every year they do an ornament book and the patterns are exclusive for a year. I was thrilled that the book was a PDF since I don’t need another book in my house. They also had last years book. Yes I added it to my cart.

There are many cute designs. The 2024 Santa from Teresa Kogut was just released and I have seen a lot of people do his jolly face. Each of the designers had a shop with exclusive jingle ball releases. I have seen a lot of people on Facebook asking where to get the patterns. Sorry you need to wait a year since you did not go to the ball.

Here are the patterns I got from Primrose Garden. I am hoping to start Winter Rules next.

The Winter Forest Ornaments was a 5 part mystery series that was exclusive to Jingle Ball. I finally got all 5 patterns (one a week). Tiny Modernist rolls out a lot of mystery multi part stitches. I never seem to know about it on time, so I was thrilled to grab this exclusive one from her shop.

Of course I bought from other designers.

Some I already have kitted up and ready to stitch others I am holding onto and will kit later.

Overall I really enjoyed the Jingle Ball and will probably do it again. They do have a harvest one and a spring one but I think the Christmas one is the big event. Maybe next year I can talk my sister into to joining.

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It is that time of year where I add to my Lenox collection. I have been collecting for several years so the options are getting less frequent. Lenox does retire pieces as they add new pieces to their collection. I happened to notice in my collection there was a set of plates (12) for each day of the twelve days of Christmas.

I completely forgot I had these plates. Looking forward to using them the next time I have a Christmas dinner party.

But onto what I bought this year. As I mentioned last year I have been focusing on the annual snowman figurines. So naturally I added the 2025 snowman to my collection. He is very cute.

I think he is a cute addition to the army of snowmen I have collected. They use the holly leaf design on his scarf that matches my plates. I can imagine a dinner table with all my snowmen down the center being cheerful and welcoming to all who eat at my table.

The other piece I bought was a small domed cover dish. I am thinking Brie or a cheeseball. Or perhaps some molded butter. It is not huge, but very cute.

Just when I think I was done, I got an alert from Amazon that this double dip bowl was on sale so I could not resist.

I have always enjoyed my Lenox pieces and have many Lenox Lynn Bywaters snowman figurines. I bought most of them many, many years ago. Of course back then I though $35 was expensive (or something close to that price, I guarantee that it was not even close to $100). LOL, now most of them are $150-$300. Oh that inflation. There is just something so cute about these figurines that my admiration for them has not waned even after decades of collecting.

Lets hope next year has a bunch of new goodies.

Thank you for checking out my blog and hope your holidays are special.