It's a Beautiful Day

I love my mug rug here!

We're back after a week in Ohio visiting family.

I finally finished laundry.

 {again!} 

Part of my plans for today were put on a hold.  

I wanted to pressure wash the porch and deck but when Hubby went to the shed to get the pressure washer to set it up for me he discovered an important part was broken into pieces.  

I'm so tired of the cheap use of plastic in appliances on parts that need to hold up to wear and tear.  

This pressure washer only lasted a couple seasons and that is with only using it less than a dozen times.

  

Loved my time in Venice!

So Hubby went off to give our travel van a much needed drive because it's been sitting so long.  

He told me not to wash down the porch and deck with the regular hose..wait until we can buy a new pressure washer.  

Burano, Italy

Well, after he left I looked at the deck portion and it was so dirty with green mildew all over the rails.  

So I went and got a toothbrush and cleaner and scrubbed down all the rails on the deck and hosed it all down.  

Now, at least, that part is done. 

Deck rails all clean.

We don't want to put the deck chairs out until the porch is clean too.   

June's almost over and I haven't had a chance to sit out there yet!

Burano, Italy
Doesn't everyone have a pink house?

Hey!  

How do you like my coffee mug rug, "Gimme a Break," hanging in my kitchen coffee bar?  

It's too pretty to use. 

Someone has to hold up the Pisa Tower!

Thanks for visiting!

More photos of our trip to Italy coming.

Gimme a Break !

I missed my embroidery while touring Italy.  

When I got home and attended my sewing store's Embroidery Club I picked up 

May's Party with Patrick 

project...

Yes, I should have lined the cherry fabric so the background wouldn't show through.

This mug rug is called "Gimme a Break!"

You know how I love my coffee.  

I thought this was such a cute project. 

I have some fall colored fabrics that would look fine but my ❤️ Is with my favorite color...RED. 

After choosing my fabrics I selected the threads colors.  

I finally learned how to download the designs into my MAC and look at them in my digital software program, TruEmbroidery (thanks Hubby!).  

I can print out the actual size of the design and play a video to see how it stitches out the design.  

The last step is downloading the design onto a flash drive to put in my embroidery machine. 

Ready to stitch out on my embroidery machine.

I've learned so much about my embroidery machine this past year especially with taking the lessons, attending the Embroidery Club and Party with Patrick sessions.  

I stippled the background grid in black embroidery thread.

Such a busy background but I love it.  

It looks like red flowers & leaves falling.  

Added a quilting design, project name & my name and year to the back.

Just have the back to embroider and then add the binding in the black and white chevon fabric.

  

I used Roxanne White Glue to tack down the binding and then machine stitched it in place.  

That is so much quicker than hand sewing.  

And sturdier too. 

Have I mentioned I love these binder clips - no more pins sticking me.

Gimme a Break!  Mug Rug

It turned out beautifully.   

Now to have a cup of coffee!

I think I earned it.   

Back from Italy...finally!

Venice, Italy - the island of Burano.

Did you miss me?

Whew...I've been busy!  

We just returned from our 26 day Grand Circle tour of northern Italy. 

All packed and ready to leave for Italy!

What a wonderful trip...a trip of a lifetime.

  

Flying Business Class to Italy is the way to go!

This is the longest I've gone without blogging.  

A whole month!  

Because I decided to take a break and not post while in Italy. 

Rome's Colosseum!

It's a good thing because we were kept busy touring northern Italy (to name a few cities we visited:  Rome, Florence, the Italian Rivera, Pisa, Bolzano, and Venice).  

WiFi was spotty at some of the hotels.

Although our hotel in Florence had internet as good as at home.

And one of our busses had internet on board too!  

Did I mention we loved gelato!  

Hubby loved his chocolate flavors and I had two favorite flavors....Stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate chips) and Amarena (vanilla with cherries).

There was a gelato store on almost every corner!

Luckily I didn't gain any weight on the trip even with eating what I wanted. 

All that walking helped. 

And the food was excellent!  

I could live in Italy just for the pasta and gelato.  

Our first hotel in Roma..the Ludovisi Palace.

I'll be posting more about our trip so stay tuned.

Since we added a few days at the beginning of our pre-tour, we had to make reservations on our own for those days.  

When Hubby called the hotel to book our room he was told he had to do it on-line.   

We were either coming or going at the Ludovisi Palace.

 Our first hotel room was comfortable and clean.  

Nice bathroom with a tub/shower but it was so narrow only one of us could be in there at one time.   

Hotel room at Ludovisi Palace in Roma.

Now to unpack, do laundry and pick up the mail.  

And finally time to catch up on all my TV programs.

There were only two channels in English - both news channels (BBC and CNN) in all the hotels. 

So no TV watching while we were in Italy. 

But I've already caught up on Game of Thrones and Mad Men since arriving home.  

We celebrated my Hubby's 65th birthday today.  

I baked him a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.   

It was delicious!

Ciao!