A Finish and Some Fall Decorating!

Thanks so much to all of you who said such very nice things about Caleb's Halloween project and Laurie's witches! He should have his package by this coming Thurs.  As a little thank you for all the wonderful Woolpets , I stitched Laurie and Kevin  a black cat.  They adopted a little black cat and named her Inky.  So this is in honor of little Inky.  I'm also adding some of my fall decorating.  I hope you all have had a relaxing week-end.  We are suppose to have Indian Summer here this next week.  I think it will be a great time to go out and get some wonderful fall photos!

 A JBW chart stitched with Sullivan's black floss. I'm not sure of the linen.

 From the double glass doors in our kitchen, this is what we see on the deck.

We have a few Japanese Maples in pots out on the deck.

  When you walk in the front door, this desk greets you.  It is one of my very favorite antiques. I tend to decorate it for all holidays.

I really  enjoy this little feather tree.  You see it in almost all of my holiday decorating.  Now it is ready for Halloween!

 Next to the feather tree.

 These little witches got lost on my larger tree.

Thank you so much for joining me today!

A Finish and More Witches

First, thanks to all of you who said such nice things about my header.  She is one of many witches that my DD, Laurie , has made for me.  I decided to show you even more in this post.  I love her work.  She commented that she got her creative talent from me, not quite true.  Laurie is more creative than I will ever be.  She is truly an artist and wool has been her medium.
I also finished Caleb's Halloween design one day early, on Sunday.  I think it is a great design for a little boy.  I don't think I ever put so many things  on one design, beads, glittery rayon floss, and several buttons. It was quite a challenge.  We now have to get it in the mail to him.

 Dancing  In the Moonlight by Praiseworthy Stitches (in the JCS Halloween magazine 2013 issue) stitched on 32 count Haunted Belfast( a bit more blue than the photo shows) by Picture This Plus.  All threads and buttons were the ones suggested except the spider web, that I stitched with DMC rayon floss.

 I love the iron fence!

 Now the witches and a few other Halloween decorations from Laurie of Woolpets.

 She is almost too happy to be a witch!

 This was my first witch.  She sits on top of my Halloween tree.

 Both the beautiful owl and the bat are from my DD.

 I keep him up all year with different little things at his feet.

Thank you so much for joining me today!  I hope the week is going well for all of you!!!!

Cross Stitch and Fall Comes to the Market!

Thanks for joining me today.  I hope this will be a fun post to read.  I was shopping at my favorite market(Central Market in Poulsbo) the other day and I noticed all the seasonal beer and ales.  I thought it would be fun to show you all that I found! 
In the cross stitch world, I'm making great progress with Caleb's Halloween design.  My goal is to have it done by Mon. Then we can get it framed and off to the dear boy!

 I have a few more motifs by the fence, buttons, beads, long stitches, and spider webs to add.

 The entrance to the market.

Some of these cabbage heads weigh 25 pounds.  They are for making sauer- kraut.

 Here comes the beer and ales!

Now here is my problem.  I recently joined a group at the Y.  It is designed to prevent diabetes.  I have it in my family.  I need to loose 7% of my body weight.  Unfortunately that means no or very little beer!!!

I hope all of you have a terrific week-end!! Thanks for joining me!

A Trip to Portland!

Greetings to all of you and I hope you are having a wonderful week-end! We are being hit with two storms straight from the Pacific Ocean! They are predicting very strong winds tonight!  Well, enough of the weather! This post is all about a recent trip to Portland.  My Sister and BIL spent a great week with us.  We took a short road trip down to Portland as many years ago they lived there.  This post is all about that trip and a bit photo heavy.  As for cross stitch, I am happy to report that Amy's winnings( she won my give -away) will be in the mail on Sept. 30-my goal date.  Plus, I am working very hard on Caleb's annual Halloween project.  I will put some photos of it on my next post. I hope you enjoy the trip to Portland!

 Portland is famous for the food trucks.  We spent a lot of time at Powell's Book Store.  I found two books on my to- read list and they were both used so great prices. This book store is so big they have a map!(sorry no photo)

  Interesting park! No idea what it represents!

We ate at a wonderful restaurant called Mother's.

 Yum!

 This is a very interesting store.  They sell salt, chocolates, and bitters.

The salt wall.

 They recommended this for chocolate chip cookies!

 Not sure what to use this for.

The wall of chocolate.( My favorite part of the store).

 Piles of pink salt everywhere!

 Guess where I got to shop? But not for nearly long enough.  I did get some linen I had been wanting to try including 40 ct. Newcastle linen.(Recommended to me by Carol over at the blog Stitching Dreams-thanks Carol. )

We drove pretty far out into the country to a Winery that my family was eager to visit.

 The Elk Cove Winery.(Great Wines)

This was the view from the porch of the winery.  Thanks so much for joining me on this trip!!

A Big Thanks!

I'm finally back!  We have had family visiting for a week so I have not taken the time to post.  They came a long way(Florida) and it was wonderful to see them. I will do a post about their visit, but first, I owe a BIG thanks to Peggy Lee from the blog  "Kentucky Sampler".  I recently won her give -away.  Even though she had things going on with her family, she worked hard to get a give-away that I would love.  Needless to say she succeeded!!

 Here is my entire gift.  It is obvious that Peggy Lee knows how much I love Halloween!! Notice there are 6 charts!!

 She included the fabric and NIP silks to do this project.  I love NIP silks!!

I love all these wonderful fall colors!!!

 Peggy Lee said that this was her first attempt on black, I think she did a super job!

 Isn't that pumpkin wonderful?

Plus she included a journal and very pretty little doily!

Thank you so very much Peggy Lee.