The Northwest Obsession!!!

If you live any where near Seattle , I'm sure you have heard (many times) about a football  game tomorrow. (SeaHawks vs the 49er's for the NFL title). It has been fun seeing how involved and excited everyone has become.  We have what is known as the 12th man.  These are fans.  I should say REAL fans.  At the stadium, they try to register on our earthquake monitors. They have done so twice.  They also have broken  the noise level at a stadium and are in  the book of Guinness World Records. I'm here to tell you it is even very noisy on the TV, almost too loud for my liking. The 12th man does include all fans, even those who can't get tickets to the games.  As we were doing errands I took some pictures just to give you an idea of what is going on out here.

 These cookies are in honor of two favorite players, Lynch, who they call the beast, and Wilson, the cute young quarterback.

 Just to honor the fans.

These are from another bakery, the one in Poulsbo.  In fact, all the rest of the pictures are from Poulsbo.

 All kinds of memorabilia from the window of a little gift/antique shop.

 A great little coffee shop!

 

 Same little coffee shop.

 Our great little book store.

 Another coffee shop.

Even the Viking who welcomes everyone to Poulsbo is a fan today!

A private home on our street.

My favorite 12th man.  GO SEAHAWKS!

A brief Cross Stitch Update and Go Seahawks!

Many thanks to all of you who wished me well.  I am doing so much better but it seems that lots of people out here are getting the same thing.  It is a nasty virus that visits your chest and then makes it's home in your sinuses! Maybe it is partly because while the rest of you have been freezing we are sitting at the mid 40's.  It has been very rainy and gloomy the last few days.  Today is a HUGE day around here.  The Seahawks are playing the Saints and we are right in the middle of a rain/wind storm!!! I said I would not go even if I had tickets but the DH and the SIL would go no matter what! The good news is none of us have tickets! So we will watch the game in our warm cozy homes.
We are planning a trip to Arizona for a few days the end of the month.  We will be visiting my SIL.  That

 means I can go to the Attic.  I have heard about that shop and Chris at the blog, Tot Hill Farm Stitches, highly recommended it.  Maybe I can solve my color problem with the old sampler there. Meanwhile, I am enjoying the CHS design.  It is just perfect for Feb. full of hearts and flowers.

I hope you all have a great week-end! Stay warm and for us,dry!  And of course, Go Hawks!

Cross stitch and Snowmen

A nasty virus has kept me from updating this blog! It came on me New Year's Day and is just now getting better. I really appreciate all your encouraging comments about my antique sampler project.  I now know the problems facing the designers who reproduce antique samplers.  I stitched half the border.  When I added the alphabet, I did not like the way it looked.  The little stitcher used different colors for each letter.  The first thing I did was change the linen.  Again I stitched half the border and ran into the same problem when I added the alphabet.  It looked more like a colorful circus poster than an old sampler.  The new plan is to put it away until I can get to a needlework shop that has a good selection of floss.  I still plan to stitch the sampler.  The design will be accurate to her design but not the colors.  I chose a quick little pattern to do in the mean time.
 As I have seen on many blogs, snowmen are coming out all over the place.  I have just a few to share with you.  I'm so glad the temperatures have moderated a bit.  All of you in the frozen parts of this country have been on my mind.

 I have had this chart for quite a long time.  I thought it would be perfect for February. Plus I think it has  a folk art look which I like.

 January Word Play is on the wall.  I changed the word snowman to white and mittens and January to Mulberry.

This is one I did many years ago. I just have it out for Jan. and Feb. I think it is a Homespun Elegance design.

I found this cutie on sale before Christmas.  Most of the designs had  signs with Merry Christmas.  I chose this one so I could use it in Jan. I have it on the blanket chest in the entry.

 

Finally a Woolpets snowman in my antique fish bowl.

Thanks so much for joining me and stay warm and healthy!!

A New Year and a New Project

Thanks so much to all of you who joined me on my winter walk!  I hope those of you in the Mid-West and the East are staying warm.  Your weather has made big news out here and I have all of you in my thoughts.  Stay warm and safe!!
I want to share my next project with you.  Last winter my sweet sister gave me an old sampler. Here are photos of it. You are able to see it - (  Here ). As it was winter and he was a bit bored, my DH charted the old sampler.  You can see it -(  Here ). I don't know how I became distracted but I never stitched it.  This was the year!! Last night I stitched part of the border.  I am very excited about this project.  It will be truly one of a kind but more importantly, I feel it is a tribute to the young girls who stitched the early samplers. They didn't have the choices we have today in fabric and floss.  I have tried to stay fairly close to the colors she chose but I am stitching on 28 count linen and hers was a much bigger count, closer to 25. 
Thanks again to my DH, the genealogist, we found Elizabeth  her family in England in 1881.
Here is my very humble beginning:

The border she chose was a bit more orange, but I like this color much better. 

Thanks for joining me today and I hope the week-end will be great for all of you.

A Mid-Winter Walk

It is so hard to believe that 2013 will be over tonight!  We are not big celebrators of New Year's Eve so we are having dinner with good friends and will be home by 10.  Now fireworks are a big thing here so it might be a bit hard to sleep around mid-night but I will be trying.
I tried to get my Word Play for Jan finished but I think it will be tomorrow not today.  I am going to show my  start for the new year tomorrow.  Today, I'm taking you for a walk around our yard.  Our average temps this time of year are in the 40's. I hope you enjoy this short walk.

 This is one of two planters by the garage.  It looked very sad after our very cold snap in Dec. but it has come back nicely.

 A red twig dogwood at the front entrance.

We use this little front porch a lot.  It is covered and we often sit out there and read or have our coffee even in the winter.

This bush is called Garrya Elliptica.

We planted it because of this winter interest.  Some call them flowers.

I love the dogwood, mid-winter fire. It is spectacular when it snows!

 I hope the front door says welcome.

 Helleboras niger,"Winter Rose" is blooming right now!

These Hellebors are on their way!

The little Anna's hummingbird we fed through the cold spell each morning very early as they feed around sunrise.  ( I do have a very sweet DH, he did those early morning feedings).

Look who finally arrived !The pileated wood pecker.

Have a great New Year's Eve and a most Happy  and healthy New Year to you all!!!!!!

A Gift and Some Cross Stitch

This post is full of thank-yous!  First, to all of you who read my blog. Second,a special thanks to those who comment.  A huge third to Veronica at the blog,"An Arizona Stitcher" I won her give-away.  I was very lucky. She is a great stitcher so if you haven't seen her blog, I suggest you head over there for a look.  In addition to the wonderful things in the photo, she included a gift certificate for $30 to 123 Stitch.  I use them all the time!! I already have planned what I will order. I'll show you that later.  For now, here are my goodies:

 The little buttons are a Christmas tree and a cute little snowman plus a needle slide, a cute little clip  and a magnet.

 Here is the beautiful sachet. She included this partly because I knew the pattern and chart.  The minute I saw it on Veronica's blog I recognized the chart.  Last winter I stitched "The Christmas Garden"  by BBD.  As I was stitching it , I thought that several of the motifs would make great little designs.  Here is one of the trees.  I love it.  Plus, the sachet has a wonderful holiday smell!

Here is the very pretty back with a wool tree. Thanks so much Veronica!!

My current project-  when I finish this , I'll have all the Word Play's finished except, December (I was waiting for this fabric), June, and Oct. I love all of Brenda's designs!

I'm sort of doing a 12 days of Christmas idea this year so all my decorations will be up for a while.  We are having friends for dinner tomorrow and my DD and I had a wonderful day in the city(Seattle) yesterday! I hope you all have a very good week-end and I had better say, GO HAWKS!!!!!

The Day After

First, a big thanks to all of you who wished me and my family a Merry Christmas.  We did have a nice day.  We were invited, along with our DD and SIL, to his parents home for Christmas dinner.  We had a very delicious dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the company. Normally, I would not show gifts but this year, the gifts came from the hearts of our children.

  Isn't this the best Santa ever?!! Our DD made him for us.  I just love him!

 This picture was taken by our SIL in Tofino BC.  He titled it "The laughing Eagle. "

Our son sent photos of our wonderful grand children. This is lovely Hannah.

 And her handsome brother, Caleb.

 Our beautiful DIL and Hannah.

Here she is with Caleb. We loved those pictures that she sent to us!!

The ending of a wonderful day.  Albert our sweet grand-dog!

Merry Christmas

My wish is that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday!

A Little Finish, A Friend, and A Beautiful bird!

I really enjoyed the comments on my last post.  The ornaments that my DD made are at least 25 years old!  I also appreciated the advice you gave me on my last finish.  I did find the perfect frame so it will be framed.  It is not big so I do like the idea of putting it on a table. As many of you know, I am a bit of a finishing coward so framing was fine with me! I was waiting for some linen to arrive to begin my January Word Play, so I stitched this little Santa.  The design is from the JCS Ornament Magazine 2011.  It is a Sue Hillis Design called Lantern Santa.  I did it pretty much as charted but skipped the back stitching.  For some reason my stitches were crowded and I didn't think it would work to try to back stitch much of the design. I used some left over fabric from Caleb's Halloween design.

 Last week I spent a delightful afternoon with my good friend Joan.  She stamps the way many of us cross stitch.  She has a wonderful collection of stamps and paper which she generously shares with me.  She usually invites me for an afternoon of stamping before most holidays. We always have a great afternoon!

 Pictures of her vast collection of stamps!

 See the hearts! We have made Valentines for several years.  My family loves them!

Here are some of the beautiful cards she made for Christmas.

 

My good friend Joan helping me with the stamping.

 

 We woke up to a bit of snow on Friday morning and look what we saw at our feeder.  Beautiful!! According to our bird book it is a Varied Thrush.

My wish is that you are all having a wonderful week-end before Christmas and taking time to enjoy the wonders of this amazing time of year.

A Finish and Some Memories

We have managed to finish a lot of the rushing around things and I hope the same is true for many of you.  This is partly due to the fact that most of our family lives far away and we do need to get things in the mail. I love Amazon, they even wrap for you!! I just finished the project I decided would be my Christmas stitch this year.  I did want something I could use beyond the holidays. 

 Here you have, " Christmas Colors:MD's Sampler " by Shakespeare's Peddler.  The designer indicated this was most likely done by a young girl due to the fact that all things are not quite even.  The sampler is not dated or signed. I took the liberty of making some color changes.  A somewhat aqua was used in the original.  I substituted using golds and GA endive green.

 There is a lot of bright red and green in this sampler.  I used DMC 355 and 356 for the reds. I used the suggested greens except where I used the GA endive.

I love that little basket of fruit.  I can't decide what to do with it now that I have finished.  Should I just frame it or try to make a little wall hanging out of it?  Any  ideas?

 When my DD was little, 4th-5th grade, she did a lot of cross stitch.  These are Christmas gifts she made for us many years ago.  You have seen the Woolpets she now makes.  I am one lucky mother to have such a talented, sweet daughter!

Have a wonderful week!  I hope you are all able to slow down and enjoy the beauty of this season!