It's time...

to share a peek at my offering for the exclusive club, A Colonial Gathering, that is being hosted by Dyeing to Stitch.  Paulette Stewart from Plum Street Samplers and I each designed two projects, with a collaboration for the fifth one.  Each kit will include everything needed to complete the projects.  There's still time to sign up...go to dyeing2stitch.com , and click on the link 2014 A colonial Gathering Club for the details.

 

feeling ashamed...

So, my good friend recently chastised me for not updating my blog in awhile.  This is the same friend who doesn't blog AT ALL, although she is very creative and would make a great blogger.  Obviously, she doesn't have time to share her ideas, creativity, and life in general with us, but thinks that I should.  I will NOT mention names, but trust me, she is extremely interesting and fun.  Anyhoo, she made me feel guilty, so here goes.  When we left off, I was still sharing photos from my trip, so I'll continue.  The highlight for me was Fiordland National Park.  It was pure heaven.  Here we are entering one of the sounds.  I can't describe the experience.  It was just incredible to be there. Such untouched beauty!

 

 

The water was smooth as glass.  I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, and I kept imagining different scenes that were actually filmed in New Zealand.  I never did see Frodo, an elf, a hobbit, or a dwarf though.

 

 

Who doesn't love a waterfall?

 

 We were fortunate to have beautiful weather that day.  The sky was brilliant blue, and the ocean was amazing in color.

 

 

Surprisingly, I loved Tasmania.  It was such a cool place.  The air is reported to be the cleanest in the world, and I believe it.  It was one of our favorite stops. 

 

Hmmmm, Melbourne.  I'll try not to be too hard on Melbourne, but good golly it was blistering there.  We visited during their summer, granted.  And, I like it hot, tolerate the heat well, and hate being cold for even 5 minutes, and still I thought I would DIE.  It was so incredibly hot and humid the day we docked with record breaking temps.  They also have flies, called bush flies which are huge, and beyond annoying.

 

 It was a nice city, the people were gracious and friendly.  The shopping was great, everything was very nice.  It was just hot!

Here I am dipping my toes in the ocean, because it was TOO HOT to walk on the beach.  Have I mentioned that it was HOT that day?

 

 Ahhhh, Sydney.  What an absolutely beautiful city!  The Opera House in Sydney Harbor is stunning!  We unfortunately had to head to the airport after docking, so didn't have time to explore.  I'll just have to go back sometime.

 

But, as disappointing as that was, I was very excited to meet these two!  My sweet friends, Sandra and Suzanne drove down from the mountains to meet me at the airport.  It was beyond wonderful to meet them in person.  I think Suzanne's blog was one of the first ones that I started reading back in the day.  And Sandra is just the most amazing stitcher ever.  We both have a love of sheep and samplers.  Nothing more is needed to form a great friendship, right? 

 

They surprised me with goodies, lots and lots of goodies, and I was extremely touched by the stitched pieces.  I truly love homemade gifts and things from the heart, and that they both stitched something for me was just so sweet.

 

 

 Here is a sampling of what I was gifted with.  Talk about a welcoming committee!  What you don't see is all the junk food that Sandra's sweet husband took the time to send home with me.  They wanted me to sample some Australian candy, and I sure did.  It was a long flight home, remember?  I think I was still sampling at 2:00 am on the plane.  What made it back to Arizona was quickly gobbled up by my husband who has a major sweet tooth.  I was also given a jar of Vegemite, and I was all excited to get home and make a Vegemite sandwich like Men at Work sing about.  Unfortunately, the crabby guy at customs wouldn't let me keep it.  Evidently, he thought I was going to feed it to everyone on the return flight, or he was out at home.  Either way, I had to surrender it with a pair of scissors.  Now that really irritated me.  Thank goodness they weren't my favorite pair of Dovo's, or you'd have seen my tantrum on the news. Thanks again, my Aussie girls!

 

 

I'll leave you with my latest release, Seven Sheep Sampler.  I really had hoped to release it when I returned from my trip, and in time for market.  It wasn't meant to be, but better late than never. 

Charts are making their way to shops now. 



Dream Trip Part Two

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to check out the neighborhoods and houses.  We stopped in Akaroa, NZ, and found it to be totally charming.  I loved these cottages with the tin roofs.

Since it is the middle of summer there now, the flowers and gardens were in full bloom.

This one, complete with the picket fence was my favorite.  I wasn't sure if the 1876 on the sign was the house number, or age of the original house.  It was probably the house number.

 

 Imagine our surprise to find Crocodile Brochette on the menu one evening.  Not something I see every day, and I was less than enthusiastic about trying it.

 

It was beautifully served, but still I wondered to myself how bad it could be.  Maybe it was the wine that gave me the courage to give it a go.  It wasn't THAT bad.  They say it tastes like chicken, but I'm not so sure.  It was chewy, so I just swallowed my little piece, and washed it down with more wine.  At least I can say I tried it, which is more than one person in our group can say.  Right, Kelly?

 

My sisters camera had a better zoom than mine did, so she shared her photos.  I could see the little dots (sheep), but couldn't get good pics of them.  I was told by a local that the sheep population is way down from what it used to be.  I still like any place that has more sheep than people. 

 

 

 The scenery was so beautiful in New Zealand.  I've never heard anyone say that they didn't love visiting there, and now I know why.

 

More to come, but for now I need to get back to model stitching.

Dream Trip Part one

 

 G'day mates!  It's been a week since I returned from New Zealand and Australia.  It seems like only yesterday that we started planning it, and now it's over.  I think we would all agree that it was a wonderful time, well worth the two grueling travel days that included more than thirty hours combined in air time.  I wasn't sure if I would survive the 14 hour straight flights, but watching several movies, the occasional cat nap, and a few glasses of wine helped.  I have so many photos to share, so I'll do it in several posts.  Here we are at the very top of our ship, the Celebrity Solstice.  We flew from LA to Auckland, and met up with our two week home on the Pacific and Indian Oceans, plus the Tasman Sea.  Yes, that is a grass lawn at the top deck of the ship.  Lawn games took place there, along with a glass blowing exhibit.  In this photo, we were all a bit frazzled, sleepy, and a bit grumpy (me), but still looking forward to the adventure ahead.

 

 If you look to the right of the big X, and about halfway up from the middle tender boat, you can see our balcony.  We were anchored off the Bay of Islands, NZ here.  Our rooms were fab.  We had a little sitting area to stitch, of course.  I got quite used to having breakfast delivered, not to mention the chocolates on my turned down bed.  Even though we were a day ahead with the time difference, we watched all the football playoff games.  My friend, Patti below is a die hard 49'er fan.  I'm sure they could hear her yelling all over the ship.

 

 We were on the tender boat, on our way to explore and shop.  Not sure if Patti was flashing gang signals or not :)  Actually, I believe that was for day 2.

 

 Beautiful Bay of Islands.   I've never seen so many boats in one place.  The crystal blue water often matched the sky.  The sea water did nothing for my hair, however!

 

 This photo needs no explanation.  It was the first happy hour on the ship.  We played musical trivia every afternoon in the lounge.  We did so well, and ended up getting first place several times.  It will be one of my favorite memories.

 

Until next time, I will leave you with a look at what I do best...  Be back soon with more to share that will include meeting up with a couple of very special friends.  I had my very own welcoming committee in Australia. 

Sleigh Rides and Snowflakes

Greetings on a gloomy, overcast day from AZ.  I love these days.  We feel like we're experiencing fall weather like the rest of the country, but it will be 77 degrees this afternoon, so maybe not so much. 

 

 

First of, I'd like to show you a new design called, Sleigh Rides and Snowflakes.  I stitched the model on 40ct, vintage Pearled Barley from Lakeside.  I need to stress that my fabric was very grey, it does not have as much pink as the norm.  I have the luxury of being able to see linen in person, but I realize that not everyone does, and dye lots are often not the same.  I would suggest that if you can't find similar Pearled Barley, a natural linen would work great.  Threads needed are all from The Gentle Art:  Dried Thyme, Forest Glade, Country Redwood, Wood smoke, Tin Bucket, Chalk, Picnic Basket, Wood Trail, Deep Forest, and Espresso Bean. 

Please let this proud grandma brag a little about granddaughter, Quinn.  Over the weekend, she became the AZ state champion on bars for Level 2, Child D Group.  She also took 2nd place on beam and vault, and 4th on floor.  In the All-Around, she took 2nd place.  The team is the Level 2 state champions.  Way to go, girls!

Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

A Colonial Gathering

One to show, one in the works, and six adorables

 

 Here is the one to show.  Ann Topley 1802 is heading to shops.  The antique was stitched on a coarse natural linen, but I thought it would be fun to do something different, so I went with 36ct. Double Dyed Black Forest from Lakeside.  I kept the thread colors true to the original, but opted to use sampler threads from The Gentle Art.  I love, love, love how the colors stand out.  The stitch count is 122 X 181,  and the GAST's needed are:  Claret, Old Brick, Terra Cotta, Pebble, Soot, Old Red Paint, Sarsaparilla, Chamomile, Pomegranate, Mustard Seed, Old Hickory, Roasted Marshmallow, and Picnic Basket.  It is all over two with the exception of the word sin, which is over one.  An eyelet stitch over four is used for a row of letters and the checkered band below that.

 

 I'm trying to get the model done for my next release, but life keeps getting in the way.  It will be done this month at some point, and will be called Sleigh Rides and Snowflakes. 

The grand kids were all decked out and ready for treats last night.  Above are Kai, Olivia, and Remy.

 

Here are Rowan, Quinn, and Sawyer hiding behind the mask.  I hope they save some chocolate for Grandma.