tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72725835617572456142024-03-13T16:22:35.872-04:00Chris' Stitching and StrummingChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-23515869162998004722014-02-14T21:19:00.000-05:002014-02-14T21:23:17.912-05:00From My Needle - End of 2013 and Start of 2014First to share my stitching finishes from the end of 2013. The first ones are small needlepoint kits I purchased at the Cross Stitch Pals Retreat at Myrtle Beach this past October. The kits are from Foxwood Crossings. She was one of the many wonderful designers attending the Pals Retreat at Myrtle Beach.<br />
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First one….</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FdW_rjF4ago/Uv7EOI1NO3I/AAAAAAAAAn8/uYZbCbHNf1U/s1600/2013Nov29_RibbonWreath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FdW_rjF4ago/Uv7EOI1NO3I/AAAAAAAAAn8/uYZbCbHNf1U/s1600/2013Nov29_RibbonWreath.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Ribbon Wreath" by Foxwood Crossings</div>
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Completed on November 29, 2013</div>
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Second one….</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o7jHPwPH0yk/Uv7EmgigYyI/AAAAAAAAAoE/rde4tVaWoZ4/s1600/2013Dec17_RibbonBasket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o7jHPwPH0yk/Uv7EmgigYyI/AAAAAAAAAoE/rde4tVaWoZ4/s1600/2013Dec17_RibbonBasket.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Ribbon Basket" by Foxwood Crossings</div>
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Completed on December 17, 2013</div>
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Third one was completed while I relaxing at my Dad's for the Christmas holiday.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tVE6dAKPB1A/Uv7FIPD23-I/AAAAAAAAAoM/8F8mJLu1J3M/s1600/2013Dec24_ChristmasCrown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tVE6dAKPB1A/Uv7FIPD23-I/AAAAAAAAAoM/8F8mJLu1J3M/s1600/2013Dec24_ChristmasCrown.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Christmas Crown" by Foxwood Crossings</div>
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Completed on December 24</div>
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The last of the four kits was finished in January. I'll show it to you in a bit, but next in the list of finishes is my last finish for 2013, "Christmas Donkey". I stitched the donkey in a Stitch-A-Long (SAL). Not sure what was more fun, the actual stitching, or each of saying "DONKEY!!!!!" practically every time one of us posted an update on our stitching.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6kqUuWToH1M/Uv7GDRQdAcI/AAAAAAAAAoU/lt7UsR4ea8Y/s1600/2013Dec31_ChristmasDonkey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6kqUuWToH1M/Uv7GDRQdAcI/AAAAAAAAAoU/lt7UsR4ea8Y/s1600/2013Dec31_ChristmasDonkey.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Christmas Donkey" by Forgotten Farms</div>
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Stitched on Silkweavers 32ct lugana, color Creekstone</div>
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Completed on December 31, 2013</div>
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And next is the last of the 4 Foxwood Crossings needlepoint kits, and my first finish for 2014.</div>
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"Ribbon Tree" by Foxwood Crossings</div>
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Completed on January 1, 2014</div>
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Next up, the SAL group that did the DONKEY wanted to stitch something in honor of upcoming Valentine's Day. We chose Samper Pear VI, a freebie pattern from <a href="http://samplers-and-santas.blogspot.com/p/pears.html">Sampler and Santa's - Pear page</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bY-NOi7c84w/Uv7KdJrHUVI/AAAAAAAAAoo/d_-P_-O_nk8/s1600/2014Jan18_Pear_VI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bY-NOi7c84w/Uv7KdJrHUVI/AAAAAAAAAoo/d_-P_-O_nk8/s1600/2014Jan18_Pear_VI.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Sampler Pear VI" by <a href="http://samplers-and-santas.blogspot.com/">Sampler and Santas</a></div>
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Stitched on 28ct mushroom lugana</div>
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Completed on January 18, 2014</div>
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I love the freebie Pear patterns from this site. I plan to stitch some of the other pears, maybe eventually all of them. And I have a huge piece of the 28ct mushroom lugana, should be enough to stitch all of the pears on the same fabric.</div>
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And last but not least --- my latest finish from this past weekend.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C5qmbISWtbI/Uv7MLUYvm3I/AAAAAAAAAo0/-kjReMd4zsM/s1600/2014Feb09_Yikes_BentCreek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C5qmbISWtbI/Uv7MLUYvm3I/AAAAAAAAAo0/-kjReMd4zsM/s1600/2014Feb09_Yikes_BentCreek.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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"Yikes!" by Bent Creek</div>
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Stitched on 32ct platinum lugana</div>
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Completed on February 9, 2014</div>
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I had started stitching on one of the other freebie Pears. Will see if I finish it before my mood has me either starting something else new, or switching back to one of several UFO's from 2013.</div>
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Hope all have had a great Valentine's Day.</div>
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Happy Stitching to All,</div>
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Chris</div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-47970259272756530082014-02-14T17:36:00.002-05:002014-02-14T17:36:40.725-05:00Happy Valentine's Day, and a new year for blogging<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, once again, I have been a horrible blogger, being that I haven't updated my blog in a year. I decided today that it was time to start blogging again. And to also plan to comment on posts made by my blogging friends (I've been reading blogs from time to time, but not commenting -- yes, I know, I've been very bad).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I've changed my background (hope you like it). As I'm starting to type this post, I realized my last post was one year ago today, Valentine's Day 2013. No, I did not plan to start blogging again on Valentine's Day, but I do find it amusing that it has worked out that way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More later. I plan to post pictures of completed stitching projects from the last couple of months, and I need to grab the photos. I will work on that post a little later tonight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Talk to you soon,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chris</span></div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-12346299045072964972013-02-14T13:36:00.000-05:002013-02-14T13:40:29.599-05:00Happy Valentine's DayI hope everyone is having a great day. Whether family members, a spouse, children, friends, or a mixture of all of the above, there are people in the world that love you no matter what. Today is a day to remember....think about....embrace, if you can....those that love you and those that you love.<br />
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I owe some update pictures, but I don't have any handy at the moment, so no pictures today. I have made progress on the UFO I started working on a couple of weeks ago. And this past weekend, I started working on Red Cottage by Plum Street Samplers.<br />
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I went on a 3 day weekend with some local stitching buddies this past weekend to Williamsburg, VA.
When we arrived on Friday, we did a little shopping first. First stop was a cross stitch shop, <a href="http://www.haustirolonline.com/">The Stitching Well at Haus Tirol</a>. I was good and only bought a couple of things. A few doors down, I visited <a href="http://www.knittingsisters.com/">The Knitting Sisters</a>. I bought a kit for a very cute scarf that is knitted with 5 yarns, all shades of red and each very different in texture. The scarf is knitted lengthwise, which makes the changes in yarn texture really stand out.<br />
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After shopping, we had dinner at <a href="http://bluetalonbistro.com/">The Blue Talon Bistro</a>. The food was outstanding. I had lamb shank which was delicious. It fell off the bone and was so tender you could eat it with a spoon. Yummm!<br />
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Saturday was a day of relaxing and stitching. A few of the ladies drove to Virginia Beach to shop at another cross stitch store, <a href="http://dyeing2stitch.com/">Dying 2 Stitch</a>. I opted to stay at the condo and stitch. It was a great weekend. One we hope to repeat sometime later this year.<br />
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That's all for now. I'll post pictures in next day or so.<br />
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Hugs and Happy Stitching,
ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-89500048144636484212013-01-27T17:25:00.000-05:002013-01-27T17:39:02.116-05:00My adorable dragon is finishedWooHoo, 'The Needle Guardian' by Teresa Wentzler is finished (well, the stitching is finished). This is the first of what hope are many UFOs finished this year.
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I made a couple of changes. There was an outer border of Nun's Stitch and the instructions had you fringing the piece beyond the Nun's Stitch border. I didn't want to fringe it, so I left off the Nun's Stitch border too. As I fold under the edges and attach a backing fabric, I'll add a running stitch just inside the outer border. The design also included a similar cluster of braid lines (what I called the "Medussa Hair" that is around the Dragon's head) and beads on the tail. I made decision to leave it off. Now to pick out the fabric I want to attach on the inside, and then to find some pretty wool felt for the inside for the needles.<br />
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Next up on my to-stitch list is another UFO:
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This is a stitching project from a Susan Greening Davis stitching retreat from 2008 (I think it was 2008). When finished, it gets attached to the purple pansy bag you see behind it.
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I hope everyone is having a great Sunday afternoon. I'm currently watching Braveheart on TV while I stitch and blog.
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Hugs and Happy Stitching,
ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-60429842652078533782013-01-21T00:28:00.000-05:002013-01-21T00:31:36.252-05:00Progress on my DragonHello all. I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I have made good progress on 'Needle Guardian' this weekend. Here is what it looks like now...
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There still a little stitching to do, below the words and in the corners, but after getting my name and the backstitched words done, I was in the mood to get a little of the other backstitching done. I'm loving how it is turning out so far. Hopefully it will be done in a few more days.<br />
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Before Christmas, I had signed on for the Stitch A-Long for <a href="http://stitchingsantasvillage.blogspot.com/">Country Cottage Needleworks 'Santa Village'</a>. I had started the first piece, but didn't like the fabric I initially chose. I'm waiting on a couple of fabric options to arrive in the mail. Was hoping to have decided on fabric by now. Oh well, once fabric has been decided, I can get back to working on them.<br />
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I hope everyone has a great week.
Hugs and Happy Stitching,
ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-58531756083794884512013-01-14T00:33:00.001-05:002013-01-14T00:37:47.033-05:00Belated Happy New YearIt's time to start blogging again. At least to keep track of my stitching projects during the year.
I'll start with my last finish of 2012. The finish below is a pattern that Tanya from <a href="http://thescarletthouse.blogspot.com/">The Scarlett House</a> made for us at the PALS Fling in Myrtle Beach this past October. It's stitched over 1 on 25ct evenweave. I finished it December 31, 2012.
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Next is my first start and finish for 2013. It is 'Halloween' by Threadwork Primitives, stiched on 28ct antique white evenweave.
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I've decided this year to split my time between working on new projects AND finishing some of the many UFO's I have in various boxes and craft bags. Here is the first UFO that I pulled out about a week ago. It's 'Needle Guardian' by Teresa Wentzler. This is what it looked like in it's last touched state:
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And here is what it looks like tonight:
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The dragon will look much better once the backstitching is added at the end. This is a cute design I stumbled on years ago. Can't wait to get it finished.
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That's it for now. Hugs and Happy Stitching to all.
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-51965141669276786422010-10-24T19:54:00.015-04:002010-10-24T21:01:15.354-04:00Don't faint, yes, this is a new post...FINALLYI have so many wonderful stitching friends, friends that laugh with me, friends that listen to me when needed, friends that stitch with me. And most importantly, friends that remind me that I haven't updated my blog in over 6 months. Well, I have just returned from hanging out with several of those wonderful friends. I have been in Myrtle Beach, SC, attending the 13th Annual Cross Stitch Pals Fall Fling. There were many familiar faces there and there were several new faces there this year. It was wonderful to see everyone and, for those that were attending for the first time, it was great to meet you and I hope to see you there again next year.<br /><br />This year, the Fall Fling was at a new location, the <a href="http://www.springmaidbeach.com/">Springmaid Beach Resort</a>.<br /><br />Here is a photo from the balcony of my room:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTJUnrJrQI/AAAAAAAAAis/seyVpsFnr94/s1600/IMG_2116.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTJUnrJrQI/AAAAAAAAAis/seyVpsFnr94/s400/IMG_2116.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531767598402350338" /></a><br /><br />This was the view from the front door balcony side of my room:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLSgQtngI/AAAAAAAAAkE/M-MKBdRElhE/s1600/IMG_2121.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLSgQtngI/AAAAAAAAAkE/M-MKBdRElhE/s400/IMG_2121.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531769761075928578" /></a><br /><br />And here is a view from the beach I took this morning before I left:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLc4BdDCI/AAAAAAAAAkM/MFETc5phSY8/s1600/IMG_2124.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLc4BdDCI/AAAAAAAAAkM/MFETc5phSY8/s400/IMG_2124.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531769939253070882" /></a><br /><br />Stitchers from all over the place attend the Pals Fling. This is MichelleKS. Michelle was my roomie this trip:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLKr6rMdI/AAAAAAAAAj8/OInEMcCTUaE/s1600/IMG_2086.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLKr6rMdI/AAAAAAAAAj8/OInEMcCTUaE/s400/IMG_2086.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531769626765767122" /></a><br /><br />Here's a photo of MicheleWA (no, I didn't spell her name incorrectly, she spells Michele with one "L"):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLDfXkgaI/AAAAAAAAAj0/uYfsQzaN3KI/s1600/IMG_2089.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTLDfXkgaI/AAAAAAAAAj0/uYfsQzaN3KI/s400/IMG_2089.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531769503138218402" /></a><br /><br />Here is a photo of DawnNC and her daughter Emily. Dawn and I have been best friends since 1st grade and have attended all 13 of the Pals Myrtle Beach trips. Her daughter Emily has attended all 7 of her years and has many "Aunts" from the Pals stitchers:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTK3C1IhmI/AAAAAAAAAjs/HmI95RnB2TI/s1600/IMG_2091.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTK3C1IhmI/AAAAAAAAAjs/HmI95RnB2TI/s400/IMG_2091.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531769289319155298" /></a><br /><br />Here are KarenAZ (right), SharonPA (middle) and DianeIN (left). This was Diane's first trip to the Pals Fling:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKuIuhdYI/AAAAAAAAAjk/xaFyD167F0M/s1600/IMG_2100.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKuIuhdYI/AAAAAAAAAjk/xaFyD167F0M/s400/IMG_2100.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531769136283219330" /></a><br /><br />Saturday night was the last night and many group shots were being taken. Here is a group photo of the crowd I was hanging out with. You see that DianeIN (up front) fit right in with the rest of us crazy, silly stitchers:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKVS8q69I/AAAAAAAAAjU/DeOK4rKZBQ8/s1600/IMG_2114.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKVS8q69I/AAAAAAAAAjU/DeOK4rKZBQ8/s400/IMG_2114.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531768709530184658" /></a><br /><br />One of the most popular activities from the PALS Fling is the grab bag exchange. Grab bag containers can be anything. This year's containers were great. Here are photos of some of the containers:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKLDW8ADI/AAAAAAAAAjM/3yK1wjXyS6w/s1600/IMG_2093.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKLDW8ADI/AAAAAAAAAjM/3yK1wjXyS6w/s400/IMG_2093.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531768533546696754" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKDSJnjBI/AAAAAAAAAjE/9G2VNA5Avp8/s1600/IMG_2095.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTKDSJnjBI/AAAAAAAAAjE/9G2VNA5Avp8/s400/IMG_2095.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531768400078408722" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTJ68lp_CI/AAAAAAAAAi8/Ky_PEgw3j9I/s1600/IMG_2097.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTJ68lp_CI/AAAAAAAAAi8/Ky_PEgw3j9I/s400/IMG_2097.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531768256851475490" /></a><br /><br />The "penguin" container from the middle photo is the one I ended up getting and it was packed with wonderful goodies. I have a few more things to share, but need to take photos first. I'll do that and share in my next post.<br /><br />Last photo to share for this post was this beautiful view of the moon coming up over the ocean's horizon. I was walking back to my room Saturday night and happened to look up and saw the moon starting to appear. I grabbed my camera and this is one of the photos that wasn't blurry:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTJrWWsLGI/AAAAAAAAAi0/TBhrX_zQo8Q/s1600/IMG_2104.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/TMTJrWWsLGI/AAAAAAAAAi0/TBhrX_zQo8Q/s400/IMG_2104.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531767988890119266" /></a><br /><br />I wasn't up early enough any morning to capture a photo of a sunrise over the ocean, maybe next year.<br /><br />That's it for now. I'll take photos of a few other things to share and will post again in a day or so. To all those that attended the Pals Fling, I hope to see you all there again next year. And to those that couldn't attend this year, I hope to see you there next year too.<br /><br />Hugs and Happy Stitching,<br />ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-17887538473696780272010-03-27T09:05:00.003-04:002010-03-27T09:14:49.878-04:00So long since my last postWhere does the time go? Oh wait, a bunch of that time is spent at work, and another bunch at various rehearsals, oh yea.<br /><br />Today, I'm in Manning, SC, to spend a day of stitching with friends. I drove down late last night, checked into the Holiday Inn Express a little after 12:30am. Slept okay, but woke up a few times. The folks in the room next to mine had at least 2 small children and apparently were getting up very early, my guess to continue their adventures on the highway. Why do I say this? Because I woke up around 6am, and there was giggle-fest going on next door (at least 2 gigglers). It was probably 20 minutes before I fell back asleep and they were still giggling when I fell back asleep. I woke up again a little after 7am, heard the gigglers still giggling away before I rolled over and fell back asleep.<br /><br />I've had my breakfast, the Holiday Inn Express had some yummy sausage gravy this morning, which I had over a split biscuit. I'm going to finish sipping the last of my cup of coffee and head over to the meeting place for the stitching today. I do have my camera with me, hopefully, I'll remember to take some pictures, and will share some photos tomorrow once I'm back home.<br /><br />I hope everyone has a great day today.<br /><br />Hugs and Happy Stitching,<br />ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-55703405990373589012010-02-01T19:55:00.004-05:002010-02-01T21:35:22.093-05:00Wear Red Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S2eDQfhbu1I/AAAAAAAAAhc/wujV2ByW_7I/s1600-h/logoGoRed.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 123px; height: 84px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S2eDQfhbu1I/AAAAAAAAAhc/wujV2ByW_7I/s400/logoGoRed.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433455794808666962" /></a><br /><br />This post is for all my blogging friends out there. For all women. But, let's not leave out the men. To the men out there, is there a special woman in your life - your Mother, GrandMother, Sister, Wife, Daughter? Then <a href=http://www.goredforwomen.org/WearRedDay/>Wear Red Day</a> is a day for you. On Friday, February 5th, 2010, wear RED to show support against the fight against heart disease in women. Heart disease is the number 1 killer of women in the U.S. How many of you can wear RED on Friday? Come on, wear RED for the women in your life, including yourself.<br /><br />Click on the Wear Red Day link for more information. And please help pass the word. Mention this post on your blog. Or post your own Wear Red Day post on your blog.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-11151880673569252232010-01-19T14:06:00.006-05:002010-01-19T14:53:36.166-05:00Happy TuesdayI hope 2010 is starting off great for everyone. The weather here has been great the last few days. Not that the eastern half of NC gets dreadful winter weather (compared to those that live to the north), but we were having a spell of temperatures in the upper teens to lower 20's at night and barely getting above freezing during the day. Last few days have been upper 50's to low 60's, which has been much better.<br /><br />As for stitching, I am just about finished with an ornament for <a href="http://musingbadger.blogspot.com/">Ruth</a>. It's the last ornament I had left to finish in the <a href="http://hohohoexchange.blogspot.com/">Ho, Ho, Ho Ornament exchange</a>. I thought it would have been finished, mailed and received by now, but no, taking a little longer, mainly because life has been busy last few weeks and I haven't had much time to stitch during the week. The backstitching should be done tonight and it will be stuffed, finished, and mailed in the next few days. Sorry I can't share a picture yet, I'll post a picture once it has been received. The only other thing I've stitched a little on is Lizzie Kate's "Believe" (from the Double-Flip series), at Monday night stitch-night a couple of Mondays. I had threads for the Christmas ornament spread out on the sofa cushion and didn't want to gather it all into a bag. The Lizzie Kate Double-Flips were handy, so off they went with me to stitch-night.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S1YKrP5P60I/AAAAAAAAAhU/AaST9fmTsMI/s1600-h/LKdoubleflip.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 295px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S1YKrP5P60I/AAAAAAAAAhU/AaST9fmTsMI/s400/LKdoubleflip.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428538138959014722" /></a><br /><br />I am stitching them all on one piece of fabric (as in photo to left). "Believe" is the 7th design out of 12, so I'm officially over 1/2 way finished (ok, ok ... barely 1/2 way finished). I'm sad to say they were last touched a year ago (end of December 2008, first of Jan 2009). They do stitch rather quickly, so they are staying in the WIP pile, as I want to get the rest of them done. I've been attaching the charms as I finish each design. I'm going to have to detach one of the charms and sew it on again. I apparently got a little tight with my stitches when attaching it and it's not laying flat / dangling on the fabric. Don't know why I attached it so tightly, oh well. Once the double-flips are finished, I'll start working another Lizzie Kate Flip-It series, also a UFO not touched since a year ago.<br /><br />Sorry no pictures today. I'll post WIP pictures soon, plus have some quilting pictures I need to take and share. More on quilting, with pictures, later.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-33604085348673284732010-01-03T22:01:00.008-05:002010-01-03T22:37:51.053-05:00Final stitching projects from 2009First a photo from Christmas. I took my camera with me to Daddy's for Christmas, but never did take pictures of the snow. I did take a couple of pictures of Daddy. Here is Daddy, relaxing in "his" chair (the recliner), with his dog "Buttermilk" in his lap.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0FfBmqfXGI/AAAAAAAAAgY/LwT9ylsuHD8/s1600-h/IMG_1736.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0FfBmqfXGI/AAAAAAAAAgY/LwT9ylsuHD8/s400/IMG_1736.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422719907494059106" /></a><br /><br />Now on to stitching. I look back over my list of completed stitching projects for 2009 and can only say one thing regarding the number of projects finished for 2009 .... "pitiful". I was doing okay the first part of the year, but the second part of the year, I had a long spell of not hardly stitching. Oh well, I plan to stitch much, much more in 2010. Here are the last four stitching projects for 2009. These are 4 ornaments stitched for members of the <a href="http://hohohoexchange.blogspot.com/">Ho Ho Ho Ornament exchange</a>. I was the total slacker of the group, rushing to finish ornaments in December and get them mailed before Christmas. They have been received so I can post photos. These are the last 4 finished stitching projects for 2009:<br /><br /><a href="http://karenaz.blogspot.com/">Karen's</a> ornament:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0Fb77uY8gI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/khE6IPNnu7E/s1600-h/IMG_1728.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0Fb77uY8gI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/khE6IPNnu7E/s400/IMG_1728.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422716511533462018" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://shelleensmusing.blogspot.com/">Shelleen's</a> ornament:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0Fb3tJgtOI/AAAAAAAAAgI/srjg2j9aNXw/s1600-h/IMG_1733.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0Fb3tJgtOI/AAAAAAAAAgI/srjg2j9aNXw/s400/IMG_1733.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422716438901208290" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://michele11wa.blogspot.com/">Michele's</a> ornament:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0Fbw9e9FWI/AAAAAAAAAgA/gk0mBM0DaHA/s1600-h/IMG_1731.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0Fbw9e9FWI/AAAAAAAAAgA/gk0mBM0DaHA/s400/IMG_1731.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422716323027031394" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nicolesneedlework.com/">Nicole's</a> ornament:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0FbpypA1JI/AAAAAAAAAf4/0vmO3SgJI1M/s1600-h/IMG_1729.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/S0FbpypA1JI/AAAAAAAAAf4/0vmO3SgJI1M/s400/IMG_1729.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422716199857345682" /></a><br /><br />There is one more ornament to get finished and mailed, the one for <a href="http://musingbadger.blogspot.com/">Ruth</a>. Ruth's ornament will be my first "finish" for 2010 and hopefully will be in the mail by the end of this coming week.<br /><br />Hope everyone has a great week.<br /><br />Posting my list of finished projects from 2009. Posting here to have it documented before clearing it to start the new list for 2010.<br />1. LK 2007 FEB FlipIt - Jan.1<br />2. LK 2007 MAR FlipIt - Jan.2<br />3. Reindeer ornament - Jan.12<br />4. With My Needle - Quaker Pattern Book, Chart A - Jan.23<br />5. With My Needle - Quaker Pattern Book, Chart I - Feb.8<br />6. SGD Small Christmas bell in snowman tin - Feb.21<br />7. SGD Embroidery-Topped basket - Feb.21<br />8. Stitched surprise for my buddies - Mar.24<br />9. Flamingo nametag for me - Mar.26<br />10. F&S round 12 squares - Apr.20<br />11. BBD Petites Lettres Rouges - Apr.30<br />12. LHN Schoolgirl Lessons - May 11<br />13. Karen's HoHoHo exchange ornie - May 28<br />14. SGD Needle Roll - Jun 2<br />15. Quaker Flag freebie - Aug.10<br />16. Sarah needlepoint diamond ornament - Sep.3<br />17. Victoria Sampler 'Trust" freebie ornie - Sep.24<br />18. Shelleen's HoHoHo exchange ornie - Dec.16<br />19. Michele's HoHoHo exchange ornie - Dec.17<br />20. Karen's HoHoHo exchange ornie - Dec.20<br />21. Nicole's HoHoHo exchange ornie - Dec.21Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-53641244812154121782010-01-01T00:02:00.001-05:002010-01-01T00:02:29.516-05:00Happy New YearWelcome to the year 2010. Let's enjoy some fireworks....<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sz2A-q9uXUI/AAAAAAAAAfw/tMnqyfENs68/s1600-h/fireworks_1_bg_070402.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sz2A-q9uXUI/AAAAAAAAAfw/tMnqyfENs68/s400/fireworks_1_bg_070402.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421631340597370178" /></a><br /><br />I hope 2010 brings happiness and health to all.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-15189263101375590322009-12-31T14:47:00.003-05:002009-12-31T14:55:07.705-05:0010 Holiday Eating TipsI came across the following list on a few websites over the holiday. I realize it is too late for you to keep this list in mind for Christmas, but hey, you can keep it in mind for New Year Eve and New Year's Day, before we all get back to normal life and eating habits next week.<br /><br />A word to the wise:<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1.</span> Avoid Carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrot sticks on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas Spirit. If you see carrots leave immediately. Go next door they are serving rum balls.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2.</span> Drink as much EGGNOG as you can. It is rare and can only be found at this time of year. Who cares if it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It is not as if you are going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">3.</span> If something comes with gravy. Use it!! Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the Volcano.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">4.</span> As for the mashed potatoes, always ask if they were made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">5.</span> Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. the whole point of going to a Christmas Party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6.</span> Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. This is the time for long naps, which you will need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and a vat of eggnog.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">7.</span> If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and do not budge. Have as many of them as you can. They are like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">8.</span> Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">9.</span> Did someone mention Fruitcake? Granted, it is loaded with mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it all cost. I mean have SOME standards. (Basic Grey's next Christmas line is named Fruitcake- You can have as much of that one as you want. IN STORES JUNE2010)<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">10.</span> Remember this motto to live by. " Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the attention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and screaming, "WOO HOO what a ride!"Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-26576267909656306362009-12-31T01:45:00.002-05:002009-12-31T02:42:53.502-05:00Last Day of 2009As I start typing this post, it is 1:45am, December 31st, so, yes, it is the last day of 2009. It's raining at the moment, I think the rain is expected to stop by sometime this afternoon. We appear to be getting our share of rain lately, in short spurts lasting a day or two, which has been happening about once during each week for the last month or so. If this trend continues over the next couple of months, eventually the temperature is going to dip below freezing and it will be some form of frozen precipitation (snow, or more than likely around here, a mixture of sleet, freezing rain, and snow). The weekend before Christmas, the western part of NC got a good dose of snow. My Dad, who lives in the northern foothill area of NC, measured 10 inches in his yard. Daddy was very happy with the snow, and I heard that his dog, named Buttermilk, enjoyed romping in the snow tremendously. My area, Raleigh, was on the edge of the "frozen" line. For a brief 15-20 minutes that afternoon, it was snowing beautifully at my house, and a little later, early evening, there was some sleet mixed with more snow before turning to rain.<br /><br />As I think back over 2009, I think about the good or nice things that happened this year, and I think of things that fall onto the "I could have done better" list. I guess most of us can put together similar lists each year. For my "good or nice" list, there's nothing on that list that would be earth shattering to others, but they were note-worthy to me. For example.... 1) I went on my first overseas trip in June, something a few years ago I would have thought would never have happened. 2) I got together earlier this year with a few cross-stitching friends in Arizona. That was the first trip I have ever taken that involved me flying somewhere that was purely a "get together with a few girl-friends for a short vacation" type of trip. On that trip, I got to visit the Grand Canyon, another first for me. 2009 brought continued enjoyment with various musical groups in which I play, especially with the dixieland band. For the "I could have done better" list, again, nothing earth shattering, but I did plan to spend more time at the gym (I started going in May, but not so much these last few months). And I could have spent more time practicing banjo, working to improve my "picking" skills. And I could have spent much more time cross-stitching the last 1/2 of 2009 and could have been much better at posting to this blog. Overall, 2009 has been a good year, but ending with the usual thoughts of "I could have done more".<br /><br />For the end of 2009, I've been enjoying being off from work almost 2 weeks (2 week end-of-year shutdown). I am working Friday, January 1, but can work from home. For Christmas, I drove to my Dad's last Wednesday. There was still plenty of snow on the ground from the 10 inches of snow that fell the Friday before. I visited my GrandFather (my Mom's Dad) on Christmas Eve, got to see my cousins and their children while there). While at my Dad's, I mainly relaxed, spending time with Daddy and my StepMom, stitched a little. I stayed till Sunday, headed back home after church.<br /><br />Since getting back home Sunday, I have consistently been staying up late every night. Tuesday night I went to bed around 2, which was the earliest I've gone to bed this week. I didn't plan to stay up late every night, just something that has been happening, most of the time getting into watching a movie that's on late, while stitching a little. Currently I'm watching "The Caine Mutiny", a classic. Before "The Caine Mutiny", I watched "Julie & Julia". I won't be staying up too late Thursday night since I'm working Jan.1. I'll probably stay up just long enough to watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV. Here in Raleigh, the New Year's Eve celebration includes the dropping (or lowering with a crane) of the "acorn". Raleigh is the "City of Oaks" and they lower a large acorn (made from copper I believe). If watching the local CBS station here, which is usually the station showing the lowering of the ball in Times Square in New York, they will have a small insert square in the lower corner showing the lowering of the acorn, so one can watch both the lowering of the ball in Times Square and the lowering of the acorn simultaneously.<br /><br />Tuesday, I went to the movies for a matinee showing of "The Blind Side", which I have been wanting to see. It was a great movie. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.<br /><br />Well, it's now a few minutes past 2:30 and I probably should go to bed. "The Caine Mutiny", which still has another hour and a 1/2 to go, will have to continue on without me (not like I haven't seen it before).<br /><br />I do have a few pictures to share, which I will try to do in the next day or so. Hugs to all of my friends and family. May 2010 bring good health and happiness to you all.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-37613277154559908742009-10-25T14:44:00.024-04:002009-10-27T22:10:52.523-04:00Home from PALS Fling in Myrtle BeachHi honey, I'm home. I have pictures to share from the 12th <a href="http://www.crossstitchpals.com/">PALS</a> Fling in Myrtle Beach, SC. The weather was great. It rained a bit Friday night, but mainly when we were in the conference center, so the rain didn't bother us. I did have to remote into work a few times during the day to keep an eye on "work", but other than that, had a great time.<br /><br />Sharon and I missed the other members of the GCGC (Grand Canyon Girls Club), currently consisting of 5 members - <a href="http://michele11wa.blogspot.com/">Michele</a>, <a href="http://karenaz.blogspot.com/">Karen</a>, <a href="http://paparazzimama.blogspot.com/">Sharon</a>, <a href="http://musingbadger.blogspot.com/">Ruth</a>, and myself. To Michele, Karen, and Ruth, you were missed. We did pass along your "Hello's" and that you would be back next year.<br /><br />To Ruth, who normally flies into Raleigh, spends a night or two with me, and rides to Myrtle Beach and back with me, I have pictures especially for her, so she will feel like she was with me. First we have a photo of <a href="http://www.thesouthoftheborder.com/">South of the Border</a>, at the NC/SC border off of I-95. Yes, I was driving at the time, but it was directly in front of me, so only had to hold the camera right above the steering wheel, and with the digital camera, you can take a photo using only one hand, and there was very little traffic at the time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSnKx0jSrI/AAAAAAAAAfo/AU2hIcaLBSs/s1600-h/IMG_1666.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSnKx0jSrI/AAAAAAAAAfo/AU2hIcaLBSs/s400/IMG_1666.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396622057110981298" /></a><br /><br />On Thursday night, a few of us go to a seafood buffet restaurant called <a href="http://www.crabbymikes.com/">Crabby Mike's</a>, it's become our Thursday night tradition. Here's their sign and their crazy "crab" van:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSnHZUwoTI/AAAAAAAAAfg/LycDaZ0YaQA/s1600-h/IMG_1671.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSnHZUwoTI/AAAAAAAAAfg/LycDaZ0YaQA/s400/IMG_1671.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396621998995579186" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSnDcWfN_I/AAAAAAAAAfY/v5MfibybK48/s1600-h/IMG_1672.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSnDcWfN_I/AAAAAAAAAfY/v5MfibybK48/s400/IMG_1672.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396621931088656370" /></a><br /><br />Here's a picture of Dawn's daughter Emily, posing with the dolphin near the restaurant entrance. Dawn and I have been best friends since the 1st grade. Dawn and I have attended all 12 PALS Flings. Emily is 6 and has also been to the PALS Fling, and Crabby Mike's, every year since she was born (her first trip when she was about 1 month old).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSm_adoYxI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/C1ncxx-giH0/s1600-h/IMG_1675.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSm_adoYxI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/C1ncxx-giH0/s400/IMG_1675.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396621861862269714" /></a><br /><br />A photo of Emily again, with Mother Dawn and Aunt Susan. Can you tell that Emily is NOT camera shy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSm51Y_ThI/AAAAAAAAAfI/MVGsfe89bBs/s1600-h/IMG_1676.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSm51Y_ThI/AAAAAAAAAfI/MVGsfe89bBs/s400/IMG_1676.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396621766011342354" /></a><br /><br />One of the reasons we go to Crabby Mike's is for, of course, crab legs. Here is plate of crab legs that were beginning to be attacked:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSm1g8_dxI/AAAAAAAAAfA/hcKfi_GxAio/s1600-h/IMG_1678.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSm1g8_dxI/AAAAAAAAAfA/hcKfi_GxAio/s400/IMG_1678.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396621691805726482" /></a><br /><br />Excuse the fingers in the above photo. That was Emily's fingers. Did I mention that this child is NOT camera shy? I had another photo of the plate of crab legs, without Emily's fingers, but that photo came out a little blurry, so the above photo was the best shot of the crab legs.<br /><br />And finally, we have Mama Ida (Dawn and Susan's Mother, Emily's GrandMother), about to eat a piece of crab meat (that Dawn shelled and gave to her). Ida never understands the effort and work required to crack crab legs to get such small pieces of edible food ... these comments sometimes include a shaking of her head. Can you read the look on her face. It's the, "ok, I'll eat it, but I don't really like it that much" look.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSmv4riQXI/AAAAAAAAAe4/I7yauChUmKM/s1600-h/IMG_1681.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSmv4riQXI/AAAAAAAAAe4/I7yauChUmKM/s400/IMG_1681.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396621595095744882" /></a><br /><br />Now on to PALS Fling photos. On Friday night, everyone gathers in the conference center. Activities include a grab bag exchange and an ornament exchange. There are always certain grab bags that get stolen often, based on the creative look of the grab bag "container". This was one of the popular grab bags. Actually, I believe this is by far the most interesting, grab bag container I've seen in the 12 years I've attended the PALS Fling:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSmKWHGhtI/AAAAAAAAAew/Zkh4j3q3v_Q/s1600-h/IMG_1699.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSmKWHGhtI/AAAAAAAAAew/Zkh4j3q3v_Q/s400/IMG_1699.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620950160967378" /></a><br /><br />The above grab bag was brought by <a href="http://amystitches.blogspot.com/">Amy</a>. It tied for 2nd place for number of times stolen. First place was a canvas bag with pretty cat pictures on it (I think that was first place). If you click on the above photo to see a larger image, you'll see that the sign attached to the panties says "Put on your big girl panties and cross stitch." I don't remember who ended up with it at the end of the night.<br /><br />Here is the grab bag I got, which was brought by ConnieNE and was packed full of goodies and had a reindeer ornament hanging from the corner. Thanks again Connie:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSmF7WPY2I/AAAAAAAAAeo/tTVMcKAGVxs/s1600-h/IMG_1696.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSmF7WPY2I/AAAAAAAAAeo/tTVMcKAGVxs/s400/IMG_1696.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620874257228642" /></a><br /><br />Here are photos of other grab bags. In the second photo below, the small rectangle tin was the grab bag I brought. It had contained chocolates I brought back from Brugge, Belgium earlier this year for my co-workers. It was packed with various overdyed flosses and silks.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSl8gyc3oI/AAAAAAAAAeg/4pDWffAImuQ/s1600-h/IMG_1692.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSl8gyc3oI/AAAAAAAAAeg/4pDWffAImuQ/s400/IMG_1692.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620712508972674" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSl4HJixOI/AAAAAAAAAeY/lZaI9oTT-IE/s1600-h/IMG_1693.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSl4HJixOI/AAAAAAAAAeY/lZaI9oTT-IE/s400/IMG_1693.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620636907029730" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlyliF-8I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/1kex7gCtecE/s1600-h/IMG_1694.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlyliF-8I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/1kex7gCtecE/s400/IMG_1694.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620541983849410" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlrX7BFbI/AAAAAAAAAeI/2FhxOC6nVmQ/s1600-h/IMG_1695.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlrX7BFbI/AAAAAAAAAeI/2FhxOC6nVmQ/s400/IMG_1695.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620418071205298" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlkR0gd3I/AAAAAAAAAeA/pZroCARLeps/s1600-h/IMG_1698.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlkR0gd3I/AAAAAAAAAeA/pZroCARLeps/s400/IMG_1698.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620296174204786" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlfpICjRI/AAAAAAAAAd4/JG3Yyxbpaz4/s1600-h/IMG_1700.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlfpICjRI/AAAAAAAAAd4/JG3Yyxbpaz4/s400/IMG_1700.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396620216530799890" /></a><br /><br />And, here are the ornaments for the Ornament Exchange. All of the ornaments brought were beautiful.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlMEcyQnI/AAAAAAAAAdw/llKQsFFbT7M/s1600-h/IMG_1704.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlMEcyQnI/AAAAAAAAAdw/llKQsFFbT7M/s400/IMG_1704.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396619880268186226" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlIMhs0rI/AAAAAAAAAdo/nkWel2hXnZs/s1600-h/IMG_1705.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlIMhs0rI/AAAAAAAAAdo/nkWel2hXnZs/s400/IMG_1705.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396619813716808370" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlDur7XqI/AAAAAAAAAdg/frU_iD1J434/s1600-h/IMG_1706.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSlDur7XqI/AAAAAAAAAdg/frU_iD1J434/s400/IMG_1706.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396619736987164322" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSk_B8WTGI/AAAAAAAAAdY/B8fzdTJgTaE/s1600-h/IMG_1707.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSk_B8WTGI/AAAAAAAAAdY/B8fzdTJgTaE/s400/IMG_1707.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396619656256965730" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSk4QbVglI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/0pv_kv_EVQA/s1600-h/IMG_1708.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SuSk4QbVglI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/0pv_kv_EVQA/s400/IMG_1708.jpg" border="1" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396619539885949522" /></a><br /><br />I have a few more photos I'll share of ornaments stitched by Dawn, her sister Susan, and Mama Ida. For cross stitch "shopping", I mainly bought fabric. Plus I did get some things from the stash room. I'll share the rest of these photos in a few days.<br /><br />I'm already quite comfy sitting on my sofa, watching a few TV shows I DVR'd while I was gone (bouncing between those and football). Time to put down the laptop and pick up some cross stitch. For those at the PALS Fling, it was great seeing you again. There were a few that had not been in a long time, ConnieNE for one. There were also some new faces at the PALS Fling, who will hopefully come back next year. For those that could not make it this year, you were dearly missed and I hope I'll see you there next year.<br /><br />Hugs to all.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-12702649155459585522009-08-18T17:11:00.002-04:002009-08-18T17:20:57.726-04:00Ker-plunk....ker-plunk, ker-plunk....ker-plunkAh, the quiet hummmm of a new, working, refrigerator/freezer and the repeating sound of "ker-plunk" of newly created ice cubes falling into the ice bin inside the ice maker.<br /><br />The delivery men arrived in the window of time I was told this morning. I had forgotten about the door to the garage being not as wide as the front door, so they had to take-away the dead refrigerator and bring in the new one through the front door. AND, since the front door doesn't open far enough to allow room to maneuver a refrigerator past the front stairs, had to take the front door off of the hinges.<br /><br />Gotta love free delivery/installation/take-away. Thank you <a href="http://www.lowes.com/">Lowe's</a> home improvement store.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-4909918797385860982009-08-17T16:28:00.009-04:002009-08-18T10:22:36.433-04:00Death of a refrigeratorThis is the first time I've posted in over a month... oh my, how horrible I have been. I owe you all the remainder of my European trip highlights, including photos of cross stitch stash bought while in the UK. I have been stitching a little, in between work and rehearsals, I owe you updates on that as well. I also need to finish up 2 ornaments that should have already been mailed. But for today, I'm sharing the story "death of a refrigerator".<br /><br />A week ago this past Sunday, I came home from the grocery and put away the groceries. This included a new Ben and Jerry's item I saw in the ice cream section called <a href="http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/flipped/">"Ben & Jerry's Flipped Out"</a>. Later Sunday evening, I decided I was going to try one of these, but when I got the small container out of the freezer, noticed the contents inside were sloshing. "Hmmmmm," I said, and then noticed that a small piece of ham-hock I had in a zip lock freezer bag (yes, ham-hock, if you don't know what a ham-hock is, we can discuss that in a later post), no longer had ice crystals on it, and a poke from my fingers confirmed that it was partially thawed. Again, "hmmmm", I say, and "this is not good." The compressor was not currently running. I checked the settings on the frig, even threw the breaker off and on a couple of times. A few minutes later, the compressor came on and very cold air was blasting from the freezer section. Next morning, Monday, everything in freezer was frozen once again. I went off to work with plan to check things when I got home Monday night. Monday night, I get home and things in the freezer are thawing again, "crap", I say. Tuesday, a day I normally work from home, I had a repair man come to see if it could be fixed. The prognosis... compressor dying, cannot be fixed, it's working enough to "cool", but not to "freeze", your freezer is now an extension to the refrigerator section. Dumped everything in the freezer section the next morning (Wednesday being trash day), since most things had been thawing (or thawing/refreezing/thawing/etc) for who know how many days. Kept a few things in the frig (didn't toss milk right away since the frig was keeping the things cold in the frig section. I had rehearsal Tuesday night and Wednesday night, so I scouted out prices and choices Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. I had to go to the NC mountains Friday for a gig with the dixieland band. Last I had checked the frig was Thursday morning and it was still spitting out fairly cool air. Saturday afternoon, I came home and realized the compressor had completely stopped working and probably had stopped working between Thursday morning and Friday (no more cold air, nothing cold and the milk carton was starting to bulge....not good). So what little was left in the frig is now is in the garbage bin, and I unplugged the frig since there was no point in it sitting there, running, and wasting electricity ..... I hummed 'Taps' as I pulled the frig away from the wall enough to unplug it.<br /><br />Yesterday, I returned to Lowe's home improvement, who, by far, had the best prices, and best deal on delivery and take-away of the old frig (don't get me started on the frustrating conversation I had with the salesperson at Sears when I was checking out refrigerators there on Saturday). They had no delivery spots for today, so my new refrigerator is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. Here's a picture of my new refrigerator:<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Soq5BTUWWWI/AAAAAAAAAdI/bLJ2cM572vU/s1600-h/frig.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 208px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Soq5BTUWWWI/AAAAAAAAAdI/bLJ2cM572vU/s400/frig.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371308937609369954" /></a><br /><br />Soon after my new refrigerator is humming away, I will be off to the grocery store to buy MILK.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-54269467622416159802009-07-02T14:48:00.022-04:002009-07-02T16:26:51.337-04:00Europe/UK Trip --- Part 1Sorry it took a few days longer than I thought to start posting trip details and pictures. Returning to a hectic routine of work and rehearsals has kept me busy. I did get all of the photos uploaded to my computer and have gone through the photos, eliminating the bad shots (shots taken from tour bus when I would "snap", capture a traffic light, duplicate shots, and very blurry shots). But fear not, a couple of days ago, I uploaded all the remaining photos to a webshots album, and there are over 500 photos for your viewing pleasure.<br /><br />Since the trip covered 4 countries and over 2 weeks time, I decided to share my trip with you in multiple posts. So, let's begin with:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Part 1 - Brussels and Brugge, Belgium.</span><br /><br />My 2 traveling buddies (Kim and <a href="http://xstitching5.blogspot.com/">Carolyn</a>) and I arrived in London around 7am on Saturday, June 6. We took the Heathrow Express into London's Paddington station (very cool looking train station - some of London's older train stations are quite beautiful in architectural detail). From Paddington station, we took the London underground (the tube) to St. Pancras station, to catch our train to Brussels. Once in Brussels, we took a taxi to the center of town, Market Square, and started walking around. The architecture of the buildings was breathtaking.<br /><br />Note: Feel free to click on the photos to see them full size.<br /><br />Here's a photo of the Town Hall:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CpXGssSI/AAAAAAAAAbY/UdlJp1oihkY/s1600-h/IMG_0968.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CpXGssSI/AAAAAAAAAbY/UdlJp1oihkY/s400/IMG_0968.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353938441613390114" /></a><br /><br />For me, my first glance, and usually my initial photo, is an overall view of a building, or group of buildings. But then I would start to notice the level of detail on various buildings. Using the Town Hall as an example, look at the detail of all these small dormers covering the high-pitched roof:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CdqrRPEI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/3gWjCkdcypc/s1600-h/IMG_0977.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CdqrRPEI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/3gWjCkdcypc/s400/IMG_0977.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353938240708623426" /></a><br /><br />And here is a zoomed in shot of the details of the rows of statues on the left side of the front of the Town Hall:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CYATDuoI/AAAAAAAAAbI/_e8JvroYChw/s1600-h/IMG_0981.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CYATDuoI/AAAAAAAAAbI/_e8JvroYChw/s400/IMG_0981.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353938143433439874" /></a><br /><br />Here's a picture of other buildings in Market Square:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0HJGs0pNI/AAAAAAAAAbg/zgPsN10yTQs/s1600-h/IMG_0970.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0HJGs0pNI/AAAAAAAAAbg/zgPsN10yTQs/s400/IMG_0970.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353943385012217042" /></a><br /><br />After having lunch at one of the restaurants in Market Square, we continued walking. As we approached a corner, there was a crowd of people to the left. They were gathered to look at, and take pictures of, the famous "Little Boy Peeing" statue. Here's my photo of him:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CQr3K1BI/AAAAAAAAAbA/NsUpmC4-_5E/s1600-h/IMG_0983.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CQr3K1BI/AAAAAAAAAbA/NsUpmC4-_5E/s400/IMG_0983.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353938017688671250" /></a><br /><br />I didn't realize the statue would be wearing clothes. After I was back home, I google'd the Little Boy Peeing statue and learned that over the years, he has accumulated over 600 outfits.<br /><br />As you walk around the streets in Belgium, you pass by many shops selling lace, tapestries, and, yes, CHOCOLATE. I did buy chocolate, but waited until I was in Brugge, Belgium. Another popular treat in Belgium is waffles, usually covered in one of a variety of toppings. On one of the streets, we passed by a shop selling waffles, they had a window open to the street with all of the varieties on display. Here is the one I bought and ate (I had to take a picture before I ate it):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CHz9x0FI/AAAAAAAAAa4/KMAP_QKvGJI/s1600-h/IMG_0984.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0CHz9x0FI/AAAAAAAAAa4/KMAP_QKvGJI/s400/IMG_0984.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353937865245053010" /></a><br /><br />I'll admit, I didn't eat all of the waffle. I did eat all of the strawberries drizzled with chocolate (I love strawberries), and ate about 1/2 of the waffle. It was yummy, I just wasn't hungry enough to eat all of it so shortly after eating lunch.<br /><br />Later that afternoon, we were back to the train station and took a train to Brugge, Belgium, where we spent our first 2 nights. Similar to Brussels, in the center of town in Brugge was Market Square, or Town Square. It's an open area, statue in the middle, surrounded on 4 sides by various buildings and side streets spreading out from the corners like spokes of a wheel. Here are a couple of pictures of buildings around Brugge's Market Square:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MjvImMNI/AAAAAAAAAcg/8WuN6KlkQSM/s1600-h/IMG_0988.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MjvImMNI/AAAAAAAAAcg/8WuN6KlkQSM/s400/IMG_0988.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353949340100866258" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MfdnTgfI/AAAAAAAAAcY/ybpXtJWN2bE/s1600-h/IMG_1004.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MfdnTgfI/AAAAAAAAAcY/ybpXtJWN2bE/s400/IMG_1004.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353949266678350322" /></a><br /><br />The second photo above is the Provincial Court building. The red building to its right is the Brugge Post Office. Many of the buildings here were built in the 1700's. The level of detail in the buildings was amazing. Here is another photo taken while walking along the streets of Brugge:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MZZ2YD_I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/zIgX1TOyirY/s1600-h/IMG_1001.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MZZ2YD_I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/zIgX1TOyirY/s400/IMG_1001.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353949162588606450" /></a><br /><br />Brugge has miles and miles of canals. I've never been to Venice, but from pictures I've seen of Venice, I image Brugge to be very "Venice like" at least in regard to the canals. Here's a photo I took as we crossed a bridge over a canal:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MTYG5ryI/AAAAAAAAAcI/t_oWgaBR2P8/s1600-h/IMG_1016.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MTYG5ryI/AAAAAAAAAcI/t_oWgaBR2P8/s400/IMG_1016.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353949059041832738" /></a><br /><br />Sorry the above photo is a little crooked. We took a bus ride that drove you around the city and I sometimes had only a second or two to try to aim, focus and take the photo. You can take a boat ride on the canals, which we were about to do here:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MOO30mgI/AAAAAAAAAcA/wq0L2L79NI0/s1600-h/IMG_1028.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MOO30mgI/AAAAAAAAAcA/wq0L2L79NI0/s400/IMG_1028.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353948970663320066" /></a><br /><br />Here are a few photos from the canal boat ride:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0Ry-yZ9aI/AAAAAAAAAco/_c7eGepYtUk/s1600-h/IMG_1031.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0Ry-yZ9aI/AAAAAAAAAco/_c7eGepYtUk/s400/IMG_1031.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353955099558933922" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0SmID-NXI/AAAAAAAAAcw/k-SpHW1zyLM/s1600-h/IMG_1039.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0SmID-NXI/AAAAAAAAAcw/k-SpHW1zyLM/s400/IMG_1039.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353955978221860210" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MGxz2bFI/AAAAAAAAAb4/xPHHajVuSwY/s1600-h/IMG_1042.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MGxz2bFI/AAAAAAAAAb4/xPHHajVuSwY/s400/IMG_1042.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353948842602949714" /></a><br /><br />The lace shops had the most beautiful lace, huge pieces that could be used for a tablecloth, narrow runners of various lengths. When walking along one street, we came across a woman sitting in a doorway, making lace (bobbin lace making). I asked if we could take her picture, she nodded yes. Here she is:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MBS6VSNI/AAAAAAAAAbw/oLxNT7xzHro/s1600-h/IMG_1045.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0MBS6VSNI/AAAAAAAAAbw/oLxNT7xzHro/s400/IMG_1045.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353948748409293010" /></a><br /><br />Also in Brugge, in Our Lady's Church, is Michelangelo's statue of Madonna and Child. It's the center statue in the following photo:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0L8dMxr4I/AAAAAAAAAbo/guZvXPdd514/s1600-h/IMG_1047.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/Sk0L8dMxr4I/AAAAAAAAAbo/guZvXPdd514/s400/IMG_1047.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353948665271660418" /></a><br /><br />It's the only statue by Michelangelo to leave Italy while he was living, and the only one in what is referred to as the "Low Country" of western Europe. I don't know why I didn't zoom in on the statue to get better photo of the statue.<br /><br />Ok, that's it for post #1. I'll give you cross stitch shopping update as I progress through the trip.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cross Stitch purchases in Belgium: Zero.</span><br /><br />There was a cross stitch shop near our hotel that we walked past each day, but it was closed when we arrived late Saturday and did not open on Sunday. There were some neat looking cross stitch designs hanging on display in the window, but based on the price seen on an Anchor kit also on display in the window, I don't think I would have bought anything there.<br /><br />Tommorow, I'll post Part 2 - Paris.<br /><br />If you would like to look through all of the photos I uploaded, here is link to my webshots album:<br /><br /><a href="http://family.webshots.com/album/573314230Zlxdnc?vhost=family">2009 Vacation - Belgium, Paris, England, Scotland</a><br /><br />Hugs and Happy Stitching.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-52701221918267593012009-06-23T12:42:00.002-04:002009-06-23T13:18:52.338-04:00Hi honey..... I'm homeWow, what a trip. I will admit that a 2+ week trip is a long trip and by the last couple of days, I was getting to the point where I was looking forward to heading home. I was still having a great time, but starting to look forward to being home. My flight from London landed a little before 3pm yesterday, I was home around 5pm. Not too long into the evening, I felt like I was melting into my sofa, so around 8:30 I dragged all the luggage upstairs, open the bag which contained my 'toiletry' bag to get my toothbrush and was getting into bed at 8:52pm. I think I was asleep by 8:53pm. Was wide awake at 5am this morning, and back to work I went.<br /><br />Scotland was the last few days of the trip, and was by far, the most favorite place I visited. Edinburgh is a beautiful city and looking up the hill at Edinburgh Castle is breathtaking. We also did a 12 hour bus tour this past Friday that took us into the Highlands and down past the lochs (including Loch Ness where we could 'look for Nessie'). Scotland is a beautiful country and I could easily see going on a return trip to Scotland to see more. Brugge Belgium, where I visited the first few days of the trip, was also a beautiful city to visit and was my second favorite place I visited on the trip.<br /><br />Since I was up early this morning, I took the time to unpack the luggage. There are currently 3 'piles' on my bed:<br /><br />1) The pile of stuff I bought. This includes much more stitching stash than I would have thought I would have been buying. We visited 2 designers (at their home) while in England, and another designer visited us on our "stitching day" at the hotel, where we also received our stitching project from Susan that she designed for the trip. We also visited the Royal School of Needlework in London, and yes, they also had a gift shop with stitching kits and books. More details on the designers we visited on my future posts which will include photos. The pile of stuff I bought also includes the other souvenirs I bought (frig magnets, post cards, etc).<br /><br />2) The pile of dirty laundry.<br /><br />3) Small pile of other things that didn't fall into the above 2 categories (few items of clothes/socks that didn't get worn, hair clips, ziplock bag of Splenda, charging adapters, etc).<br /><br />No photos to share today. I'm working on the photos. First to move them from camera memory card to my Macbook, then I'll get ALL of them uploaded and categorized on my webshots page. I'll be working on that tonight. And the reason I have everything I bought in that one big pile on the bed was to have everything together, not scattered in different rooms, since I'll need to spread it out and take a photo of all the new stitching stash to share with you, and can take another photo of the non-stitching stuff I brought home.<br /><br />So, give me 24 hours or so to get the photos uploaded, and I'll start a series of blog posts with more detail and photos of the trip.<br /><br />I hope everyone is having a great day.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-48506903401064339332009-06-17T12:04:00.003-04:002009-06-17T12:33:39.961-04:00London part of trip wrapping upOk, quick update I hope. I've tried to add a post twice and keep getting an error when I try to 'publish' the post. Trip is still going great. Tomorrow we head to Edinburgh for the last part of the trip, I fly home Monday.<br /><br />Hugs to you all. I have hords of photos to share once I get home.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-28736060007094732702009-06-10T14:57:00.002-04:002009-06-10T15:00:02.021-04:00Hello from London!!!!!!!Hi everyone. The trip has been great so far, lots of walking, so my feet and ankles are usually getting very tired toward the end of each day, but after a good night's sleep, I'm okay for the next day. Trip over was fine, no problems. After landing in London, we were off to the train station and the chunnel to Belgium. Brugge, Belguim was great. Then to Paris for 2 nights, which was also great. Today we came to London and the rest of the tour group arrived. I have lots of pictures and many more to take.<br /><br />Ta for now. I'll try to post again in a few days. Hugs to all.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-8894684346014240962009-06-04T00:33:00.008-04:002009-06-04T00:54:47.925-04:00A finish and upcoming vacationHi everyone. Here are photos of my completed needle roll project. Here's the outside of the needle roll:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SidTKjpcB5I/AAAAAAAAAao/Xb-MOgkbc6M/s1600-h/IMG_0962.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SidTKjpcB5I/AAAAAAAAAao/Xb-MOgkbc6M/s400/IMG_0962.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343330923731224466" /></a><br /><br />And here is the inside of the needle roll:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SidPPdIuFvI/AAAAAAAAAag/3gBmjCaPvlo/s1600-h/IMG_0964.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SidPPdIuFvI/AAAAAAAAAag/3gBmjCaPvlo/s400/IMG_0964.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343326609836218098" /></a><br /><br />And, no, I did not crochet the items on the inside. The project kit did include the small zipper pouch that is mounted inside. Sally Criswell (feel free to visit her at <a href="http://www.cross-stitchandmoresally.com/">Cross Stitch & More</a>) crocheted these. Sally is also part of the England trip I've mentioned. She has all kind of adorable crocheted items that hold various things. For my crocheted items, the one on the far left holds a small 6-inch wooden ruler, the one to the right of it holds a small pencil. The one to the far right holds a wooden needle holder. And I have a small pair of scissors in the zipper pouch.<br /><br />My overseas trip starts this Friday, leaving Friday evening for an overnight flight to London. I am not taking a computer with me (personal nor work computer). However, a friend traveling with me is taking her computer with her as she will have to work a little while there. She has said I can use her computer if needed, so I will try to post a few times with a vacation update. I will be taking lots and lots of pictures. I'm not going to upload photos while there, since I will want my use of my friends computer to be brief. Once home, I'll upload all photos to my webshots page and will post updates for you.<br /><br />I also upgraded my personal cell phone to a blackberry a couple of weeks ago, the world edition that is supposed to work while I'm overseas. If it does work, it will give me access to my personal email, even lets me write messages on my (or my friend's) Facebook Walls.<br /><br />I hope everyone is having a great week. Happy Stitching. Hugs, ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-24694711418165881112009-05-22T11:08:00.003-04:002009-05-22T11:29:05.474-04:00Thank you VeteransAs we enter into Memorial Day Weekend, remember our soldiers, past and present. I stumbled upon the following on YouTube and thought I'd post it here. It's John Wayne talking about the history of Taps.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/usk81XVsE9o&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/usk81XVsE9o&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I'll be playing with the Raleigh Concert Band for a Memorial Day Ceremony at Raleigh's National Cemetery on Sunday afternoon. Other than that, I have very little scheduled for the weekend and hope to get plenty of stitching done. May you and your families have a very enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-73529502641434054892009-05-20T15:01:00.004-04:002009-05-20T15:23:18.739-04:00Have you seen the new Nora Corbett designsI don't have any stitching projects to share. I did finish the stitching on a Christmas ornament for <a href="http://karenaz.blogspot.com/">Karen</a>, but can't show you photos until it's finished, mailed and received. I'll finish it by this weekend and have it on its way to Arizona by first of next week. My needlewrap is further along than it was from my previous progress pic, hopefully I'll have the stitching finished on it by the end of the week.<br /><br />Now, for those that like the Nora Corbett "flower" designs, have you seen the latest two new ones that will soon be finding their way to your LNS. They are:<br /><br />Pansy<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/ShRV_fjgGOI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/Qy9tejOeHYA/s1600-h/nc132.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 288px; height: 375px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/ShRV_fjgGOI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/Qy9tejOeHYA/s400/nc132.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337986007631403234" /></a><br /><br />Sweet Pea<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/ShRV6e1JcmI/AAAAAAAAAaI/SiUjbwmLf6w/s1600-h/nc131.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 288px; height: 338px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/ShRV6e1JcmI/AAAAAAAAAaI/SiUjbwmLf6w/s400/nc131.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337985921537634914" /></a><br /><br />You can see details on them on <a href="http://www.wichelt.com/newprods.html?type=Books">Wichelt's New Products/Books page</a>.<br /><br />I think both of these are adorable, especially Pansy. Although when I get around to stitching Pansy, I'm going to call it "Bearded Iris", not Pansy, because I think it looks exactly like a Bearded Iris (I hope Nora doesn't mind). There are a few of these I adore and have in my stitching-to-do pile: Tiger Lily, Lily of the Valley, Lilac, Poppy, Holly, and now Pansy (aka - Bearded Iris) and Sweet Pea.<br /><br />I hope everyone is having a great week so far and your stitching needles are flying.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7272583561757245614.post-70979649555807709452009-05-12T17:30:00.005-04:002009-05-12T17:49:16.531-04:00A finish and a WIP.Howdy everyone. Hope everyone had a great weekend. For all my cross stitching buddies out there that are Mothers, I hope you had a very Happy Mother's Day. I had a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon.... stitching, stitching, and stitching. I did get up a few times getting laundry done and to heat up something for supper, but mostly I stitched while watching a season review/marathon of this season's ANTM (America's Next Top Model). I almost finished Little House Needleworks "Schoolgirl Lessons" Sunday night before realizing the time and going to bed. I did finish it last night while stitching at Monday night stitch night at my LNS. Here's a photo:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SgnsIx8bzbI/AAAAAAAAAZw/Hifn85spf-E/s1600-h/IMG_0956.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SgnsIx8bzbI/AAAAAAAAAZw/Hifn85spf-E/s400/IMG_0956.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335054869186989490" /></a><br /><br />I also spent time last week and Monday night continuing to work on a needlewrap project for my upcoming trip to England. Here are a couple of photos.<br /><br />Here's the entire needlewrap:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SgnsiP5KadI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/aySCqvfPauU/s1600-h/IMG_0958.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SgnsiP5KadI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/aySCqvfPauU/s400/IMG_0958.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335055306723060178" /></a><br /><br />And a close up of the top half:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SgnsmnfGjDI/AAAAAAAAAaA/2F7szne3HV8/s1600-h/IMG_0960.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E9Y4-Z4x2Uc/SgnsmnfGjDI/AAAAAAAAAaA/2F7szne3HV8/s400/IMG_0960.jpg" border="1" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335055381775682610" /></a><br /><br />The verse is stitched over 1, I finished it last night. The needlewrap was designed by Susan Greening Davis (it's her London trip / stitching adventure I'm going on next month). From her design, above the bottom motif are the words "England Tour", "June 2009" and a line for your name, with a vertically flipped motif over the words. A couple of ladies and I are extending the trip a few days, and going on short side trips to Belgium, Paris, and Scotland, so I want to change that section to include England, Belgium, France, and Scotland. I need to sit with the graphing software and get that plotted out. The inside of the needlewrap gets a lining of black felt and a small zipper pouch Susan included, plus some crocheted holders. Hopefully, I'll have completed photos by end of next week.<br /><br />I'm off to dixieland band rehearsal soon, need to put on some shoes. Ta for now.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15895643980021963700noreply@blogger.com5