Illinois Trip and Back Home!

We are back from the week trip and I'm back to the blogs.  I tried to keep up a bit but for the most part it was not very convenient. So if I have failed to comment on your great blogs, I'm sorry! The folks we visited were having problems with their computer and we were very busy! At the end we visited the SBA's Granddaughter at college and the hotel was also having problems with their system.  So I was only able to do a little blogging. The only bad part of the trip is I came home with the cold from h___ ! I thought I'd show just a few photos and tomorrow, I'll show you my purchases.  I found a great cross stitch shop in a community called Orland Park.  But for today, it's Chicago and university shots.

This is called "The Bean" because of it's shape.  The weather was fantastic so it was the perfect day for pictures. My friend Carlynn, gave me a wonderful tour of the city!This is located in a beautiful park along Michigan Avenue.

The reflection of the buildings was amazing!

Our good friends have a condo in the city and this was the view from the sun room at the top of their building!  Just beautiful!!!

I love the contrast between new and old buildings!

Another view of sculpture in the park.

We had a great visit with the SBA's family.  Here is his lovely Granddaughter.

She took us to a wonderful book store and this was a little black cat resting in a box with antique maps!

Thanks so much for joining me!

A Finish!

I was so pleased that many of you seemed to enjoy my spider web!! Either that or you were just being very polite. Thanks also for the kind comments about the mystery sampler.  Well, I finished it Sat. night and even got the frame ordered! That means that when we get back from our trip , the SBA will be able to get it framed.  We also picked up Halloween Town and got that mailed to our Grandson.  I'm just hoping he won't be too sad that it isn't a toy.  Usually a package from us means a toy! At 7 I think toys probably still mean more than Grandma's stitching! I was very happy with the way the frame turned out but we had to get it in the mail so I didn't take time to get a picture.  Here are a few of the highlights from the Lizzie Kate Mystery Halloween Sampler.

 This one is long and skinny.  It would probably make a good bell pull.

 I (along with a few others) did not like the choice of a blue-green color for the first level of grass.  I chose to do WDW bullfrog.  The level near the house was done with GA English ivy. I also did a backstitch between the two colors.  This was not called for but no matter how careful I was not to pull, you could see the linen.  I'm hoping it just looks like a different level of grass.

 A cute charm was included.

 The black button star was used in two places.

 

Again by the owl.

We leave on a short trip tomorrow.  We will be visiting one of my dearest friends and her husband and we'll be visiting the SBA' Granddaughter at her college.  We're looking forward to seeing all those people! I will post when I can but I'll try to check your blogs each evening.  I'll be back in about a week. Enjoy the beautiful autumn!

The Halloween Mystery Sampler and a spider web!

First, I want to thank all of you who commented on my blog and said such nice things about the Witches that were made by my daughter.  She reads my blog and also extends her thanks!(Lucky Laurie is at the beautiful Pacific beaches this week). I have finished all the cross stitches in the Halloween Sampler.  Now I have all the satin stitches,charms, and beads  to add.  We are going out of town next week so I hope to have it done by Mon.  that way , I can order the frame so it will be available when we get home.

 I really like that candy corn border!

Ready for the satin stitch grass!

 See those little leaves, they gave me fits till I got a rhythm going!

I may be crazy, but I think these webs are beautiful.  We saw this as we opened our garage door the other morning to go for a walk!

I hope you are all having a terrific week!  Our weather is beautiful , sunny and 70's.  I could enjoy it if it weren't for the lack of rain that is causing so many fires out here!

Witches and Mountains!

Thanks to all of you who looked at the blog and commented on the Mystery Sampler and the "Witches Garden." The end of the week got crazy busy!  On Thurs. we went to the mountains for a picnic with friends and Fri. was volunteer at the school day. Then on Sat.  our DD and SIL took us to the city.  We owed Kevin a birthday dinner.  We told the kids if you show us the way, we will treat you both to dinner.  We took the ferry, a city bus, the light rail, and finally the Seattle Street Car to a terrific restaurant called Cactus!  As you can tell, we needed them to show us the way!! We had a great time! Today, I started getting out the Halloween decorations. Since I have more followers this year, I'll show my things as they go up.  I have collected witches for many years. Of all that I have, my Woolpet witches made by my DD are my favorites!! So today that's what I'll share.

 I think they all have such personality!

Little green face is the first one she made for me.  I put it on top of my Halloween tree!

I just love all of these!!!!!!!! Laurie is such an artist! 

 Here is the site of the picnic.  Our beautiful Olympic Mountains! It was very hazy due to the fires in Eastern Washington.

 There was still a bit of snow in the shade.

 On our way home from Church we stopped at my favorite nursery.  They had these pansies.  They are called orange whisker.  I love to put them in containers with black plants for Halloween!

All their outdoor pots were 40% off!  Who could resist!

Have a wonderful week!!!!

Mystery Sampler Part 3

I'm really happy that many of you enjoyed the pictures of the floating homes.  I loved reading your comments! Thanks so much for taking time to look at this blog. 
Now I'm back to cross stitch.  I fogot to mention the colors I used in Halloween town.  I used the suggested DMC for the black(310) and green(3052).  I am interested in trying Sullivan floss for the black as the DMC didn't cover as well as I would have liked.  The leaves and pumpkins were stitched with Weeks Dye Works "Copper" I did soak this quite a bit as it ran when I tested it.  For the moon , I used GA "Grecian Gold." I used a very soft yellow for the pumpkin faces and the windows.  I hope this information helps if you want to add color to Halloween Town.
I made quite a change in Part 3 of the LK Mystery Sampler.  The house was suppose to be purple.  I changed it to GA Wood Trail.  I didn't want a purple house.  The purple looked good but just not my taste.  I'm also using Wood Trail for some of the Cadet Blue color in the sampler.I got some new stash today from JJ's so I want to get this sampler done. 
I have a question about a CC color, Calico Kitty.  The one I got had lots of tan variegation in with the red.  If you have used this color, is that typical?  The Christmas Garden by BBD calls for lots of this color and I'm not sure about the tan. Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks. Hope everyone is having a good week.  Lots of things in the news today that have me concerned.

 Part 3 as it stands today.

 My Wood Trail house.

I framed the "Witches Garden" in one of my5x7 frames that I have used many times before.

Floating Homes

Thanks to all of you who left such kind words on my last blog.  I'm so happy you enjoyed seeing the pictures of the floating homes tour.  Today I'll show pictures of a few of the homes. On yesterday's comments, Judy mentioned the film "Sleepless in Seattle." The floating home in that film was on tour a few years back and we got to tour it. I think it sold for a million plus dollars.  The SBA and I think this might be a great place to go when we are too old for yard work!!

 We saw this house the first year we went on the tour.  It is still my favorite.  It was full of fine quality country antiques, quilts and Shaker things, not what you would expect on a floating home.

 These old logs are floating and supporting most of the older homes.

A lovely master suite!

I'll be back to cross stitch in my next post! Let's all take a bit of time today to remember.

Houseboat Tour 2012

I always like to start by thanking all of you who take time to read my ramblings!  I truly appreciate it! I think today's post will be something you have rarely seen unless you live near water.  There is a fairly large community of folks in Seattle who live on houseboats. They seem to prefer to call them floating homes.  They live on floating docks much the way we live on streets.  Each dock is its own little community.  Every two years they have a tour of homes.  Seattle government  has given these little communities lots of trouble and much for the money spent on tickets for the tour goes to pay legal fees so they can keep their community. I hope you will find this interesting.

This is sort of a back alley.

Who says you can't have trees if you live on a floating home? Beautiful Japanese Maples.

 Here is your street.

A nice car!

 A street lamp on one of the docks.

If you have a second floor, you can spy on your neighbor.

 The docks are full of flowers so you can have a flower garden.  We also saw tomatoes and lettuce growing on a deck.

 Your houseboat can be built to look like a craftsman bungalow.

This might be the view from your porch.

If you enjoyed this, join me tomorrow.  I'm going to post photos of some of the prettiest houses.Hope you all have a great week!