A Super Win and Some Stash!

You are probably surprised to see me posting 2 days in a row , but I have to show you the wonderful package I received from Myra at the blog " Gr8dame's Place".  She made these wonderful little baskets and I posted my favorite on her blog. I won the drawing! Myra was so sweet and added several things to the package.  She knows about my love of all things Halloween. The package was full of  wonderful things!

 The things Myra included in the package: my basket, an adorable pumpkin wind sock, a yummy chocolate bar, and some really cute pumpkin napkins!

 I already have the basket full of my dry gourds! 

 Thank you so much Myra!!

What a great mail day!  In addition to the gift from Myra, I got these two charts!  I love them both.

I hope you all have a terrific week-end.  We have our last duty at the light house for this season.

A Bit of Everything!

What is it with the weather??!! It was 93 in Seattle yesterday. We had only one other day over 90 this entire summer. I know some of you have had heat all summer but the problem up here is, NOTHING is air conditioned.  That includes restaurants and almost all homes.  In fact, I can't think of anyone who has an air conditioned home.  Oh well!  Fall will eventually get here.  I went plant shopping to get my favorite pansies plus I am busy with 3 cross stitch projects. Takes my feeble mind off the heat!

Sept. Word Play.  The linen is not pink, as shown in the picture.  I love my camera but sometimes it seems to have a mind of it's own.

I especially like the little school house.  This was definitely school oriented.  That is one reason I liked it.

 Progress on Caleb's Halloween stitch.

 My favorite orange whiskers pansy! I love to use these in containers for fall.

I put them with these cool black ones. Tomorrow I hope to do lots of planting.

Thanks so very much for joining me today. 

The Winner Is.....

My fall give away winner is Amy from the blog "SewAmy" I will be emailing you later today.  But I just  can't thank all of you enough for commenting and I wish I had the time to stitch a Halloween project for each of you. Thanks so much!  I think I'll do this again next year!!

Here is the SBA choosing the number.  I took the list of comments and numbered them in the order that I received the comment.  Number 11 was chosen and that was Amy.  Congratulations Amy!

THANKS!

Wow! I was so happy that so many of you signed up for my give-away!  I even got 4 new followers.  Welcome and thanks to all of you who commented.  If you missed the post , just go back to my last post on Sept.1 and comment there. We will be choosing the winner on Sunday, Sept. 8.  I couldn't figure out how to put a link on this post-sorry!  I'm not the swiftest on the old computer.This will be just a short post to show my current projects.

 While we were in Alabama meeting our new grand daughter, I was able to purchase this magazine. Every year I stitch a Halloween design for Caleb.  I decided to let him choose the design for this year form all the great ones in this magazine.

 This is his choice.  Cute, but not one I would pick for myself. However, I think it is a great one for a little boy. It has lots of things going on, beads. buttons, and a very spooky fabric!

 Lots of great colors! Weeks and Gentle Arts

 Way cool fabric.  It is called Haunted Belfast linen from Picture This Plus.

 My other project is a cat for my DD.  She has a little black cat named Inky.  So when I saw this  chart, I knew I had to stitch it for her.

 Just a start!

Thanks again and don't forget to comment if you want to be in the drawing. I hope the week is going well for all of you.  I seem to be one day off-probably due to the holiday.

Celebrating Fall with a Giveaway

I decided it was about time for me to have a give-away.  Today is Sept. 1 so I think it is a great time to  celebrate fall.  To be more accurate, this will be more of a Halloween give-away.  The only thing you need to do is  post a comment on this Sept. 1 posting. The winner will get to choose one of the designs on the PS Boo Moon Chart.  You can then let me know if you would like it to be an ornament or a small pillow.  In addition , there will be lots of other Halloween themed goodies including a cute pair of spider web scissors. I will have the SBA choose the winner next Sun.  That will give me time to stitch the design and get it finished and off to the winner by Oct.1.  I'm really looking forward to this.  I think it will be fun.

 There are lots of cute designs to choose from on this chart! Good luck and have fun!

The Hoh Rain Forest

First, thank you so much for joining me on this short trip to Washington's Olympic Peninsula.  Today's photos are of the Hoh Rain Forest. It is located on the West side of the Olympic Mountains so it gets all the rain and storms off the Pacific.  Very specific things need to be in place to create a temperate rain forest.  They are all present at the Hoh. It gets 12 feet of rain a year. In contrast, Seattle only gets about 38 inches a year. In July of 2006  a giant spruce came down . A shock was felt at the visitor's center and all the car alarms were set off in the parking lot. Many of the trees are 300 to 500 years old. I hope you enjoy seeing this rare and beautiful place.  Thank goodness it is protected by the national park.  Washington had many old growth forests until lumbering cut most of the trees. Because of forward thinking people, the Hoh will always be there for us to enjoy.

 There were trees as big as this all over the place.  The sweet SBA posed so you can judge how really big these trees are.

 This is called a nurse log.  There were 7 huge trees growing from one log.

The rain forest is populated by many species of animals.  We were lucky enough to see this beautiful deer or young elk, we're not sure which as there is a large elk heard in the forest .  We even saw a warning sign telling you  to avoid the elk as they had become aggressive due to people feeding them.

Again, thanks so much for joining me.

More Beach!

I know that I said this post would be the Hoh Rain Forest but after coming home and looking at the pictures, I just had to do one more beach post. The rain forest will be tomorrow.   On the second morning we took a walk to a spot called "The Hole In The Wall".  You can only get there at low tide.  During high tide it is too far out in the water.  There are wonderful tide pools out there.  I hope you will enjoy one more day at the beach! By the way, if you are a "Twilight " fan, I have a few fun photos at the end.  The setting of the series was Forks , WA  the town where we stayed.  If you are not a "Twilight" fan , just stop after the last beach photo and thanks for joining me!

 At he beginning of our walk it was dark and foggy.  It is about 11 AM. This weather is very typical of our Northern Coast actually the whole west side of the Olympics.  The mountains block a lot of rain from the Seattle area.

We are now at the "Hole In The Wall."

I thought it was interesting to see the action of the wind and waves on rock!

  Looks like a heart to me!

 There was lots of the pink algae.  Or at least I think it was algae.

The Hole In the Wall!

 On our way back, the sun came out very briefly and the ocean turned a beautiful blue!!

 On the wall of a store, on the way to La Push (home of Jacob) .

This was the area where the Native Reservation started.

Thank you so much for joining me.  Tomorrow will definitely be the Hoh Rain Forest!!

Welcome to Beautiful Washington Coast

 Good morning friends! I'm so glad you could join me on this adventure.  The Northern WA coast is special in that it is part of the Olympic National Park.  That means no condos, no food stands,etc.  It is wild and beautiful! Enjoy!

Lake Crescent

 Drift Wood at Rialto Beach

 Many stones were very round thanks to the waves of the mighty Pacific.

These are called sea stacks.

 One very big log!!

We found a discarded 7-Up can.  I decided this was the ocean's message to people who leave their garbage around the beautiful beach!!

 Second Beach!  Now isn't that a clever name!!!

This is La Push.  If you are a "Twilight " fan, the home of Jacob and the werewolves.  ( A bit more of that later)

 What a treat to see pelicans on the Northern Washington coast!

An amazing sunset.  Tomorrow we will visit the Hoh Rain Forest!  Thanks for joining me!