Spring has Come to Poulsb!

For those of you still in winter's grip, I hope these photos give you a nice preview of what's to come! Enjoy! All of the pictures were taken on a walk in Poulsbo.

 You can't have Spring without Forsythia.

 Or lovely azaleas, pink or

white

 Camellias, red or

 pink

Cherry trees and a bright blue sky

 The little grape hyacinth

In the NW, the rhododendron are wonderful.

 A little wild daffodil

Even the cormorant was enjoying this wonderful day!

Hope your day is as lovely!

Thanks to all of you who  read my blog.  I promised that I would show you the great way Janet finished the back of  my "Word Play" frame and I also said I would show you a close up of the frame.  So this will be a very short post.  I am adding a photo of the finished Dutch Strawberries.  I love the way this one turned out.  The frame can stand by itself so I can put it on a shelf or where ever I can find a spot. Today was beautiful so we went into Poulsbo just looking for spring things.  We found so many beautiful blooming plants.  That means I'll have to post again tomorrow!  I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

This is great, I can easily change the "Word Plays" each month.  I can either stand it on a shelf or hang it on the wall. 

This is the same frame , a 5x7, that the PS Santa was in last Dec.

I love the colors in this design and they were all just good old DMC floss.

Thanks for joining me!

A Gift and March Word Play

I am so happy that many of you enjoyed the pictures we took of our walk last Sat.  I can't believe it has been a week already.  Time just flies!!  Last Mon. I had a great day.  I had won the give-away from Teresa from "At Willow Tree Pond."  She offered me the choice of receiving it by mail or  meeting her over at the one and only LNS in Seattle.  Of course, I was very excited to meet a fellow blogger and stitcher.  Teresa is a great lady and we had so much fun!  She took me to meet a very nice group of stitchers and then we had a very good Mexican lunch!  All this after adding to our stash at the LNS.  Plus her give away was super. I can't wait to stitch them. Teresa also gave me lots of information about local stitching activities.
I do have a bit of stitching to share with you.

 Here is the wonderful gift from Teresa,

 This little Flip It has a clam shell inside.  I love lighthouses so this will be a fun stitch. Plus look at the cute ribbon she used!

 I will definitely do this one before next Valentines Day.(Sorry it is so dark)

 Another beautiful frame by Valley House Primitives!! Janet fixed the back so it will look finished as I change out the "Word Plays" each month.  I will get a photo of that tomorrow as well as a close up of the frame. Their frames are wonderful and they are so great to work with!!

Well, Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you all!  We are having Corned beef and cabbage( I got the recipe from the great blog "Octoberfarm". This is not a favorite of the SBA but he will love the reubens I can make with the left overs! Have a great day!!

Oh, I almost forgot to share this adorable little Nuthatch at the feeder.

Cross stitch, Birds, and a Walk!

Thank you so much for all the kinds words about my Spring finishes.  I almost have all the Easter/Spring things up around the house.  I like to do bunnies and eggs for Spring so I will be leaving them up for a bit beyond Easter. We had another wonderful day, temps in the 50's and sunny so the SBA and I took a nice walk to a place about 40 minutes from our house .  It is a state park called Penrose Point State Park. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

 I am really enjoying this quick little stitch!

Tonight I will be stitching some of the strawberries.

 We heard a loud banging on the deck and look who was at our suet feeder. That bird must be at lest 10 to 12 inches long.

 The flickers are especially pretty!

Now we are on the walk.  Can you believe a wild flower was blooming?!

 There were some very big trees.  Thanks to the dear SBA, you can see just how large the trees are.

 And the ferns.  Almost as tall as the SBA.

This is actually under water. Notice the floating seaweed.

 I thought is was such a pretty spring green color.

 We do have lots of moisture up here. Love that hanging moss!

From the point, Mt. Rainier was spectacular!! Notice the reflection.

 Notice the mountains to the left.  That is part of the Cascade Range.  That let's you see just how tall Ranier is compared to other mountains. 

Lots of sea birds were in the water.  I'll have a few more pictures tomorrow.  I hope you are having a nice restful week-end!

Framed for Spring!

I am so happy that my pictures of Spring coming to the Northwest were enjoyed by many of you, especially those who are still in the grip of winter.  It looks like many places got more snow today!! We just got rain and quite a bit of it.  Yesterday I went on a field trip with the class that I volunteer in. We walked all over Seattle so I was very happy that it was not raining.  We went to the Seattle symphony to hear Peter and the Wolf.  My little group of 6 was fun to be with and  the class was just great on the ferry ride of one hour each way. 
I have shown the two spring projects that I did awhile back.  I am not really happy with either of them so I decided not to spend any more time or money on them.  So both are framed with frames I have  used for other things. 

My main objection to Meg's Bunny was the very pastel appearance of the sampler. It is framed in an old frame that usually has a mirror in it.  I like the frame.  We got it years ago at an antique show.  

I have used this frame for several seasonal pieces.   As I have said before, the white egg needs to be much whiter.  If I did this again I would use the DMC white or even the bright white.  Also, I was not happy with the coverage of the floss.  However, it will do ok for a seasonal piece.

While I am getting my materials together for the sampler"This is the Day" I am doing this little flower design.  I have had the chart for a long time plus it will fit into one of my faux finished frames.

I hope you are all having a good week! And let's hope for a nice early spring and lots of flowers!!

Spring is coming!

First, I want to thank all of you for taking time to read my blog.  If you comment, I try to respond.  I have had trouble sending e-mails to some of you but please do know how much I appreciate the time you take to comment!!
I went for a yard walk two days ago and just have to share my wonderful signs of Spring. The paper said today that we are almost past the time for lowland snow. We live in what is considered the lowlands, not the Cascades or the Olympics. They will still get lots of snow! We had snow only one time this winter and it did not last.  I feel we are very lucky.  Of course, we have tons and tons of gray, misty, dark days! I do hope you will enjoy this garden walk.

 This does not show Spring but does show the view from my craft room.

 I feel like my craft room is in a tree house.

The wild bush in the woods is showing green buds.

 Future day lilies.

 Future hyacinths.

I'm not sure we have ever had daffodils this early.

 Hellebore

 I love this double hellebore.

St. Francis and the little iris.

We will have chives for the salad!

 I hope you are  having a good week-end.  If you are a stitcher, hope you have lots of time for stitching. Thanks so much for joining me!

March and the Craft Room

We have had a busy week.  On Mon. we went over to Ikea and got the rest of the craft room furniture. 
The SBA worked hard and got it all together. If you know Ikea, you buy the furniture in pieces and you have to put it together.  It is not expenssive but just fine for a craft room in a spare bedroom.  Tomorrow, I'll show you the view, one of my favorite reasons for using this room. I finished Bunny & Co.  Here was my problem.  I used 36 count R and R fabric. I am not at all happy with the coverage.  If this were not a little seasonal piece I would either forget it or do it over.  Two strands were too thick and one was not thick enough. It will fit in an old frame so I'm not spending any more time or money on it.  I almost did it over but decided that that was silly for a piece that would be out no longer than a month. I still love the design so I may do it over another time. I have decided what to so with the Word Plays.  I have stitched them on 32 count so they are a bit bigger than called for.  I ordered a frame from my favorite framers, Valley House Primitives, and I will change it out each month.

 Here is my start on March. The directions called for stitching the word shamrocks in Walnut.  I thought NO WAY so I have started stitching them in a pretty green!

Here is the partially finished craft room! I love putting family pictures on the shelves I am not using yet. The grouping  is made using 3 units that are 4 squares by 2 squares. 

 I love having my wonderful fabrics where I can see and enjoy them. They had all been stuffed in a closet!

 My cross stitch books and magazines are now out where I can easily find them.

One basket is for things I have partially kitted up.

The desk looks empty but won't for too long. It is still a work in progress. Isn't that a great little shelf for my small TV?  The SBA made it for my room.  He 's such a sweetie!

I hope you will all have a wonderful week-end.  We are still dong the spring cleaning so when spring does come, we can be outdoors!!!

Cross Stitch and Craft Room

Thanks  so much to those of you who looked at my UW Arboretum pictures.  Really rainy weather is predicted so I'm glad we made that trip.  The huge Northwest Flower Show is this week-end and we are hoping to go.  We wanted to go on Fri.  but "sideways rain" is predicted.  We would have a bit of a walk from the ferry to the bus so we aren't sure, maybe we'll wait till Sun.  It is always an incredible show.
I'm getting close to finishing my "Bunny& Co. " project.  I have changed the colors a lot because I wanted to use what I have.  It has ended up a bit too pastel but I love the design.
We have started a big project to improve my craft room.  We have lived in our house for 8 years and that room is exactly the same as it was when we moved in.  I have been inspired by the craft rooms that many of you have shown on your blogs.  The dear SBA has been looking for projects to do since he finished the kitchen so this is a perfect one for him.   I don't usually stitch in that room because I stitch in the evening in the family room while the SBA watches TV. I do sew in that room however and I need a place to put all my "stuff". I will show our progress on the blog.

 Sorry for the wrinkles.  As you can see, I just have the right side and top border to finish.

 I used a fuzzy thread on the bunny's tail.  It and the egg show up much better on the real  project than in the picture. 

Craft room, more accurately the junk room!!

 Old builder white paint. Cheap builder trim.

 Step one, empty out the room, add nice trim and paint a warm color.

Much better but not great! Our next step in to get some furniture.  I want shelves with room for fabric and baskets. 

Thanks so much for joining me today.  I hope you are all having a great week!