Cross stitch and Flowers

Thanks to all of you who are taking time to read this. Plus, I have a few new followers.  I am so glad to have you visit my blog.  I had 3 goals for my cross stitch this month.  First, finish the August Word Play, second to finish "A Wicked Plant", and third to finish Hannah's birth sampler.  I think I will make it.  That is, if I can keep the wicked frogs away.  They have been visiting quite regularly.
The garden is full of beauty this time of year.  I spend about a 1/2 hour each day watering and dead-heading the plants. We have had wall to wall sun and warm temps.  Who said it rains all the time in the Pacific
NW??!!

 August Word Play.  I changed several colors.  I thought the project, as charted,  was a bit drab for my kitchen where this wonderful Valley House Primitives  frame hangs each month. I love being able to just change out the stitched work.

 Now for the frog story.  See that little gray blob at the bottom near the date.  Well when I got close to the black cat, I realized it was too close.  The problem was in the border up by the bats so out came the border to the big bat,  both bats, the date, and the almost finished gray blob!!!! I am now back on track and am working on the words.  Two more days till it is finished I hope.

A dahlia that is new to the garden this year.

Thanks so much for joining me. Have a wonderful week-end.  We work at the lighthouse on Sat. and it is National Lighthouse Day so it should be busy.  I'll try to get some good pictures!

Cross Stitch and Flowers!

First, thanks to all of you who looked at  my last post and especially thanks to those who commented on my sweet grand children.  I really appreciated your very nice comments.  I am glad to be home but miss the children so much! The title tells you two of my favorite things!! I have been busy with both.  After reading blogs, I think there are two types of stitchers.  First you have the ones who enjoy many projects at the same time, just alternating work on them.  Then you have people like me who like to finish one project before you start another.  Well ,I find myself in the midst of 3 different projects.  I have the flowers to finish on Hannah's Birth Sampler , I started August Word Play(to get it up this month) , and worked on a Halloween chart- all at the same time! I'm a bit frazzled.

 I hope to have this done in a few days! Again, I have changed a few colors.

 Here you have a close to being finished, "A Wicked Plant" by Barbara Ana.  I have loved working on this design.  I started it before the Word Play because I had everything I needed at home before the trip and had to buy linen in Alabama to do Word Play.

Such fun!  I made the Jack-O-Lantern orange instead of black.

 I wanted the DH to be in the photo to show just how tall my lily is(he is 5'11")- he reminds me of one of those guys holding a rake in primitive pictures!!

 Another lily!

 Oh dear-NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!

The dahlias are beautiful this year!

I hope you are having a good week and thanks so much for joining me!

Trip and Stash!

We are back from almost two weeks in Alabama.  It was amazing to meet our new little grand daughter , Hannah and spend time with her big brother, Caleb.  When your choice of climate is cool and cloudy, the Southeast was very hot and humid , not really to my liking.  I have great respect for those of you who do live there.  That's what makes our country great, diversity! My DH did lots of projects for our DIL and I huddled inside where it was air conditioned with the children! There is a nice little needlework shop in Huntsville that I was able to visit.  I really wish I had time to go to the one in Decatur, but not on this trip.  I am so glad I did not stitch the flowers on Hannah's sampler, as my DIL and I changed  the colors  quite a bit from the charted colors.  When I finish, I'll show the final product.  I have stitched a lot on a Halloween project and will show the photos in my next post.  Today I'm starting August Word Play, then I'll finish the Halloween project, and finally Hannah's sampler. Thanks so much for joining me today!

 Three of my favorite people on this earth!

 Beautiful Hannah!

 Handsome big brother who just conned Grandpa and Grandma to another jump!

 When it is 96 degrees, nothing beats ice cream!!!

We spent a day at a cavern.  Caleb had gone earlier this summer so he made a great guide!

As I was shopping and talking to the clerk about my love of Halloween stitching, she said look what just came in the mail, you might like one. 

 Stash!( I'm stitching the cat in black for my DD who has a little black cat named Inky.)

 Doesn't that look like fun!!!!!

 I hope you are all having a good week!  For those of you in other parts of the country and even England, stay cool!

Chihuly Garden Day 2

"I want people to be overwhelmed with light and color in a way they have never experienced."  Dale Chihuly
I love this quote and I was!!!! Today I will show you the Glasshouse and the gardens.

 The Glasshouse is a 40 foot glass and steel building It was inspired by Chihuly's appreciation for conservatories and includes a 100-foot long suspended sculpture.

 Details of the sculpture.

In the garden, the plant colors were coordinated with the colors used in the glass sculptures.

 Some of the sculptures almost seemed alive.

 The ground cover had a definite blue cast.

This 10 to 15 tall sculpture was surrounded by black mondo grass-stunning!!

 Details of the above piece.

 I love cobalt blue in almost anything. The garden had many of these huge balls of glass in all kinds of colors. They  were all at least 2 feet in diameter.

That looks like a fern!

 Ferns and flamingos??!!

 This was about 15 feet tall.  The surrounding bushes had a red cast.  I was totally blown away by the color coordination.

Now we are in the black and white area.  The black and white balls sitting in black mondo grass were all different combinations of black and white.  Beautiful!!

 Red glass, coral bark maples,and red day lilies!  Wow!

 The DH and SIL have a little something after a wonderful morning.

The DD has a traditional NW cup of coffee!!! We had such a fun Day!!!

Tonight we head to Seattle to catch a very early AM flight to Atlanta to see the new Granddaughter and Caleb.  I will comment and post when possible but we will be very busy being Grandparents for a week! I hope you have enjoyed these photos.  I will be going there again, maybe at night next time!!

A FIELD TRIP TO CHIHULY GARDEN & GLASS

First, thanks to all of you who looked at my photos of the International District.  I have a real treat for you today!!  Our DD has a birthday in May and our SIL has a birthday in July.  For part of their gifts, we took them to the Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center.  I had wanted to do this for quite some time.  I was totally amazed.  If you ever get a chance to see one of his displays GO!  I have divided this into 2 posts.  Today it will  be the inside. Tomorrow, I will show you the garden.  I can't tell you how much we enjoyed this day!! I will warn you that there are lots of pictures but not too many words.

 The Glass Forest

 The Sea Life Room.  This was about 15 feet tall.

Amazing details!

 This is called the Persian ceiling.  The glass ceiling is covered with these incredible glass sculptures.  It is lighted from above.

 The Mille Fiori Room.This area covered about 40 feet at least.

 Ikebana and Float Boat.  The floor was mirrors so everything was reflected as though you were on a very calm lake.

 Chandeliers- about 8 to 10 feet wide.

 About 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.

Tomorrow I will take you outside this amazing place.