Thursday, March 31, 2016

Two Down And Many More To Go

It is March Smalls SAL check in time…
2016 Small SAL ~ March
Designer: Little House Needlework
Design: Tree Lot (partial)
Fabric: 32ct evenweave over 1
Floss: DMC

I enjoy stitching tiny designs and finishing them using the Tim Holtz pocket watch, this is finish #2. Once again I placed a few Mill Hill seed beads inside so that it looks like snow. My plan is to finish a number of these, all different designs, to give out at Christmas time.  I'm trying to be a tad more organized this year so that I am not in a mad rush at year's end.  

Designer: Little House Needlework
Design: Cardinal Winter (partial)
Design: Tree Lot (partial)

To see all of the March Smalls SAL postings go HERE.

I have been meaning to share my new portable photo studio, which was a Christmas gift. I have only used it twice, but realize that I need more practice to avoid getting shadows. It comes with 4 different colored backdrops, red, white, blue, and black.  It will certainly come in handy on those rainy, gloomy days when natural light is not an option.





Thanks for Stopping by…
Until next time…

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Minor Progress and More Travel

It's been a month…really? 

Where does the time go? 

And why have I not made more progress on this?

Design: Black Horse Inn
Designer: Carriage House Samplings

VS Last Month

My monthly update is not that impressive. I managed to grow a little more grass and build 2 sections of fencing ~ but that's it for the month!



Black Horse Inn stitching got suspended due to some Easter stitching.  We will be flying to Colorado next week to spend Easter with DS2 and his sweet GF.  In addition to Easter baskets, I wanted to bring them a stitched Easter design.  DS1 + DIL will be flying from NYC to Colorado to spend Easter weekend with all of us so I stitched her an Easter design as well.  I have almost completed the finishing and will post pictures next time.

We usually spend Easter in MA with my cousins and their families.   Although we will miss all of them, we have decided to head to Colorado.  I love it there and am looking forward to exploring Denver.  There are some LNS, quilt shops, and yarn stores that I plan to visit, and we are hoping to enjoy some spring skiing, especially given the dreadful ski season here in the Northeast. Since we missed out on being together as a family over Christmas, I am happy that we are able to all spend time together over Easter.

Speaking of last Christmas, here is part 3 of my California travels along the PCH….

It was a bit cool, but the sky was sunny, so we decided to stop at the beach in San Simeon. Not for a swim but to enjoy the Elephant seals, hundreds of these creatures dotted the sand.  The Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery spreads out over 6 miles of beach.  It is here that we got to see this… 






Our PCH journey began in San Francisco and ended in San Diego.  We spent Christmas day at the San Diego Zoo. Why the zoo? Because nothing else was open!  It was an odd way to celebrate Christmas but we enjoyed the day hanging out with these animals…




Look, I am getting more of that stink eye ~ but now from an elephant!



This just screams, "strike a pose" 

And another one…


Now THIS was rather disturbing…

Until we were told that the dog and cheetah are friends. It is part of the San Diego Zoo Animal Ambassador program, which paired these two together 7 years ago when the cheetah was 1 and the dog 2.  Apparently dogs have a calming effect on cheetahs, although in the picture above it does not seem so. Actually, there is a zookeeper behind that gate arriving with their food ~ both were quite anxious to get at it. 


At the end of our long day we felt much like this Koala ~ tired!


While we spent our Christmas with the animals, DS1/DIL spent theirs with her family in Arizona…



And DS2 spent Christmas with his girlfriend's family in Georgia…Quite the tree!


That's not the end of our California travels but it is the end of this post.  I'm thinking this might be a good time to put needle and thread to fabric and make some progress on Black Horse Inn so as not to disappoint next month.

Thanks for Stopping by…
Until next time…