Eight States in Nine Days - Part 1

As I alluded in my previous post, I'm recently back from vacation.  Had a wonderful nine days away from work!  In those nine days, I traveled from Illinois to Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Washington DC (technically not a state), and Tennessee before working the interstate roads back to Illinois.  Despite rain to the southeastern part of the states and on the way back, it was still a beautiful drive -- Appalachian mountains and rolling hills.

Passing through West Virginia, the clouds were touching the top of the mountains.  It was so cool!

Sixteen hours later, I was in Virginia.  I was so happy to see my second Mom, Sue.  After greetings and hugs, luggage was unloaded, and to bed we went.

While in Virginia, I saw Yorktown Beach (again).  Weather was beautiful and people were actually swimming in the York River.  Not in this section, though.

The schooner Alliance is one of the Yorktown Saling Charts guests can book a ride.

 

This is a reconstruction of the Yorktown Windmill built in 1711 and was a guidepost on the York River for almost 200 years. The fully functional reconstructed mill sits less than 100 yds from where the original mill was built.

It was fun walking along the boardwalk.

 

In one of the used bookstores on the boardwalk, there was a cross stitched map of the U.S.  It was about 3 1/2 feet wide.  I was so tempted to ask "How much?"

 

The Coleman bridge is a double swing bridge that spans the York River between Yorktown and Gloucester Point.

Had the fish lunch at one of the many restaurants on the boardwalk.  The outside seating overlooked the river with the bridge to the left and docked Alliance on the right. Largest piece of fish I've ever been served!  Seeing as it was lunch time, I expected a plate about 1/3 the size.  It was so good, though.  Yummo!

On another day, a trip to the Mariner's Museum in Newport News was made. There is an excellent 3D movie... the museum and movie was only $7!  Well worth a trip if you're in the area.

 

Near the Mariner's Museum is a 5 mile walking path with a bridge that spans a river. At least a dozen turtles made a beeline toward the bridge.



Easter Sunday was spent at my Mama Bear's house. We had turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy.  Her friend, Ben, made a homemade apple tart which was very good. 

The Easter bunny left something on Mama Bear's front step.  I wonder what it could be?

 Oh, look... It's a mug and mug rug!

**If you look at the ribbon embellishments on the Easter bag, you may notice I used fabrics from the mug rug.  Cute, eh?!

The Easter bunny found me in Virginia and left me this lovely chart.

Stay tuned for the next installment of my vacation adventure.

Until next time...

Stitching and Stashing on Vacation

Hello friends and readers!

I'm back from a week's vacation on the east coast. Went through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee in nine days, plus Washington DC, too!  More on that in another post.

While I was on vacation, I stitched and stashed.  What and where?

I stitched on Swallows, which I am finishing up for a stitching friend, Debby in VA (no blog).  The section I'm working on has been challenging because there are blossoms and leaves randomly placed in the middle of nowhere of the white fabric.  Lots of stops and starts so that that dark thread doesn't show from the back.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of gridding this area sooner, but it sure did make stitching much easier.

Overall look of the piece so far.  I'm hoping it'll go much faster now that the leaves and blossoms are done.
 

While in Virginia, I did some stashing at Dyeing to Stitch.  If you're ever in the area, it's worth the visit.  The store clerks were very friendly and helpful.  Must be that southern charm :)  The charts are well organized.  An entire wall is covered in lovely specialty fibers.  Lots and lots of model stitching!  Their website really does not do the store justice.  I did some major damage to my credit card!

On the drive from Virginia to Tennessee, I stitched on the Land of Liberty by Shepherds Bush kit I bought at Dyeing to Stitch.  I finished it crossing the border to Tennessee.

In the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN area is another needlework store, Dixie Darlin.  The store is adorable!
 

It also is filled with lots of models.  I noticed they had a lot of Mill Hill kits as well as Dimensions.  Just like Dyeing to Stitch, their website really doesn't do the store justice.

They didn't have two items I was looking for, but offered to order them and mail to me:

Harvest Home by Mill Hill

American Sampler by Plum Street Samplers

I came home with the button packs for Scatter Freedom and Liberty Notes, a frame and mat for Harvest Home, sleds for ornaments, and more specialty threads (not pictured).

Until next time...
 

Snail Mail Ain't What It Used To Be

In all my years of doing mailart (about 12 or so), I've never had one go missing or arrived damaged.  As they say, "All good things must come to an end."

If you've kept up with reading my blog, you may recall back in June I finished a Quaker mailart.  As a result of that post, Deb H in TX offered to do a private mailart exchange with me since I hadn't receive one from TX yet and she wanted to try her hand at making one.  Her end went just fine!  I received a beautiful mailart envelope from her:

 

She sent along some wonderful goodies, but I forgot to take a photo before I put them all away.  Even her hubby got in on the fun and got me a Texas quarter/postage stamp set -- very cool!

Did I mention all good things must come to an end?

I stitched up my mailart for Deb and sent it off.  It never made it to her. It got hung up in Houston.  When I sent a screen shot of the address on the mailart, Deb informed me I had the wrong zip code.  I transposed to numbers which is why it ended up in Houston.... Ugh!  And, this was after I told her I'd never had one go missing.  Technically, it didn't go missing... LoL.

It was a lonnnggg two week journey from Houston back to me.  Thank goodness for tracking info!  Apparently, the Chicago area wanted to see my mailart because it went from Detroit MI to Palatine IL (Chi burb), Elk Grove Village IL (Chi burb), Chicago, back to Palatine, and back to Chicago before heading to my house.

I rushed home that day excited to fix the zip code and send it back out.  I opened the mailbox to find this:

Despite being in plastic and hand canceled (non-machineable), it looks like it got stuck in a machine or caught in something.  It was REALLY dirty!!

Now that it has arrived safe and sound in TX, I can show what I created.

Thankfully, the front wasn't damaged or dirty.  I was able to save it and re-stitch the back.  I was so pleased that you can't even tell I had to cut it apart and re-do it.  Using my Crop-A-Dile Eyelet and Snap Punch and colored eyelets, I created holes through which I laced ribbon to close up the back.  I will be using this method again. It's so fun!

Can't even tell I had to cut off the back and redo it.  I'm pleased as punch about it since I've never had to do it before now.

Here's what the front looks like:

 

The button is from the Feathered Friends set by Dress It Up.  The stamps are from when I originally mailed it last September.  I'm ashamed to admit it has taken me this long to repair it and get it back out in the mail.  Thankfully, Deb has been very patient.

 

I also tried a new method of closing up the sides of the envelope. Normally, I whip stitch the sides closed.  This time, I used a decorative stitch on my sewing machine.  I really like how it turned out.

This mailart was created by combining several charts and changing colors to coordinate.  For the front, I used Sing for the USA by Brittercup Designs.  The fence was widened the fence so it would span the width of the envelope and added an additional clump of  flowers.  The back is a combination of Land That I Love and God Bless America -- both by Lizzie Kate.  I stitched it on 28ct hand-dyed linen with DMC floss.  To add a little sparkle, I used Kreinik Blending Filament #091 on the stars.

Until next time....

RIP Deborah

It's with a sad heart that I writing about a stitching friend, Deborah Markham, who passed away on February 22nd.  You may have known her from Yahoo stitching groups, her blog (Here), or from Facebook.  She was a friend to many, a wonderful hostess, a fighter, and created beautiful cross stitch.  I had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband Max (RIP) on several occasions:  With Wanda, With Nancy, and a few visits on my own to both her home and when she lived at Sarah Harding.  Deborah's obituaries can been seen HERE and HERE.  RIP, my friend.  You will be missed by many.

Until next time...

A Finish and a Close One

NIGHT LIGHTS QUILT I used a decorative stitch to add the binding and quilted the borders perpendicular.

  
I started this quilt before I enrolled in the Beginner's Class.  Before the class, I was self-taught using books and YouTube.  I finished this quilt on my own. 

Who knew quilts were supposed to have labels?  Not me!  I made one with my sewing machine.  It's not an embroidery machine but does have alphabet and decorative stitches.

It's not perfect, but it's so cheerful and makes me smile.


BEGINNER QUILT CLASS
Since the weather has been so crappy dangerous, quilt class was cancelled two weeks in a row, then it was Valentine's Day so no class.  Week three class was on February 21st.  In week three, we learned how to square up our blocks, sew the blocks into rows, and then sew the rows together.  This is what I got done in class:

I finished my "homework" and added borders.  I made my quilt a lot larger than the 30x30" quilt the rest of the class is doing.  I wanted to be able to use my quilt as a blanket not wall hanging.

After I added borders, I realized one of the squares is not like the others.  Can you find it?

 

Our next class is this Thursday.  Since my quilt is a lot larger than everyone else's, I spoke to the instructor to get permission to do the quilt sandwich and start the quilting at home before class.

Until next time...