Glorious Getaway - Part One

I spent almost a week in beautiful Virginia with my SM Sue and her entertaining DH Butch.  Oh, and let's not forget their doggie Peanut, who after three days finally decided I was friend instead of foe, lol.  I haven't been so stress-free and slept so well in I don't know how long!  I am normally a light sleeper... SM informed me that I slept through not one, but TWO storms.

Despite being 93F and high humidity, we did a bit of site seeing each day.

OUTING ONE:  

Yorktown Cemetery, Victory Monument, and Yorktown Beach

 There were a LOT of unmarked grave sites.

Victory Monument stands right next to York River.  

It's massive and an exceptional piece of art.

 An interesting bit of trivia....

Even though it was a hot day, there was a fabulous breeze at the beach.

I had to test the waters.

Stay tuned for the next installment...

Glorious Getaway - Part Two

OUTING TWO:

Virginia Living Museum

Before we set off on our museum excursion, Butch was kind enough to take our photo.  It was quite bright out and I now see that I've got my face scrunched up a little... but at least my hair is behaving in the humidity, LOL.  Overall, a pretty good pic of us  :)

Off to the Living Museum we go....

Where there is a FROG exhibit!

~ Frogs of every shape, size, and color ~

There was also underwater exhibits

  

Other (fun?) Creatures...

There was also an outdoor wildlife exhibit and aviary, but I didn't explore it much because it was so darn HOT!  My camera battery died... Boo.

This concludes your arm chair tour...  Stay tuned for Part 3.

Gorious Getaway - Part Three

OUTING THREE:

Haus Tirol - Williamsburg, VA

SM has mentioned her LNS a time or two (or three ::wink::) so of course we had to make a trip there. 

SO much eye candy to see!  Most of the models in the shop were stitched by the shop owner.  The entire front of the shop had all the models.  The back of the shop had the fabrics, floss, charts, and magazines.

This is the Vienna Chatelaine, designed by Martina Weber-Rosenberg.

Can you believe a stitcher gave this to the shop owner?

It's gorgeous! (and HUGE)

Neither SM or I left the shop empty handed.  

I picked up some fabric to finish my Monthly SAL 

and a few charts.

 

I thought this was absolutely adorable!

Even comes with a little scissors charm.

If I had only seen the chart, I probably wouldn't have gotten this.

There was a model stitched up and it was absolutely beautiful with

the charms and beads on it.

I've seen this one stitched up on FB quite a bit.

Since I have an affinity for Patriotic designs,

I had to get it.  ::big grin::

After shopping, SM took me to a Japanese/Chinese restaurant.  The food was soooo GOOD!  She ordered a bento box lunch which contained a lot of food.  I ordered a Seafood Delight that came in a taco shell-like bowl.  It was so much better than the SD I get in Illinois.  I ended up taking my leftovers back to the house to eat later.

Stay tuned for Part 4 of my Glorious Getaway...

Smalls SAL - June Edition

I managed to get in two small finishes in June:

Designer: Palkó 

Design: June Monthly SAL

Knob Appeal-Tomato Pincushion

made into a retractable scissor keeper

Marvelous Monday Update 6/8/15

STITCHY STUFF
The Patriotic Mailart arrived at its new home so I can finally show photos and do a proper happy dance!

I created this by combining several charts and changing colors to coordinate.  For the front, I used Sing For the USA by Brittercup Designs.  I widened the fence and added an additional clump of flowers so that it would span the envelope.  The back is a combination of Land That I Love and God Bless America -- both by Lizzie Kate.  The mailart was stitched on 32ct blue linen with DMC floss.  For finishing, I used a coordinating blue fabric with tiny white stars, white and red ric rac, 1/8" white ribbon, and two red wood star buttons.  The button on the front is Liberty Bird by Just Another Button Company.

Some of my long time readers may remember the Sing For The USA ornament I made a few years ago for another exchange:

I like this design so much that I will probably do it again for myself. I bought extra bird buttons so I can!

I also started and finished the May Monthly SAL... just in time to receive the June chart.

Designer: Palkó 

Design: May Monthly SAL
Fabric: 28ct Unknown Linen
Fibers: GAST Red Plum
and Carries Creations Boysenberry

TRAVELING PATTERN

I bet you thought I forgot about it, didn't you?  Well... I did, kinda.  I mean, it was there. Somewhere in my mind.  Do the drawing. Do the drawing.  Then it'd disappear for a while and pop up at the oddest times. You know, at times when you can't do the drawing?  Anywho, I did it the "old fashioned" way and put little slips of paper in a bowl.  Had the BF pull one out.

The winner is.......

Marlene from Stitchin By The Lake!

Please email me with your snail mail address and I'll get it out to you as soon as I can.



CELESTE

I have a heavy heart and tremendous sadness. Celeste went to doggie heaven last Saturday morning. She'd been having a hard time breathing when she woke up. I called the vet when they opened and just as they answered, I heard a thump. She'd fallen over. She got herself upright and then promptly laid back down. The vet's office told me to bring her in right away. It is a 5min trip. Halfway there, she lifted her little head and looked at me. Then she laid back down and took a big breath.  I wasn't sure if she'd passed.  I carried her into the vet's office.  She was limp and foaming at the mouth.  He told me she was bleeding out her nose and said it came from her lungs. The vet confirmed Celeste had passed like I thought.

This photo is the first one I took of her when she came to live with me almost 12 years ago. She was 4 months old and so very tiny. Only about 3.5-4 lbs. So full of energy and spunk.  She maintained her energy and spunk throughout her life.

I am so-so sad and miss her so much.