Cross Stitch and Some Fun

Thanks so much for looking at my blog.  I appreciate the nice comments that some of you left on my last post.  It was wonderful spending a week with our very sweet Grandson.  I have finished the border and all the pomegranates on "This is the Day"  but no photo for that. My only cross stitch picture is the framed April Word Play.  I am doing something I rarely do, work on two projects.  The May Word Play was waiting for me when I got home so I am also working on that  along with the sampler.  I find it very interesting that some of us stitch on many things at once and others are like me and tend to do one until it is finished.
This has been a very busy week in the garden.  My final photos show you what happened yesterday while we were outside.

 The finished April Word Play in its beautiful Valley House Primitives frame! I love the way I can just pop out one finish and add the next one.(The frame is even prettier than it shows in the photo)

 I wanted the daffodils in Word Play to look more like the following two so I used WDW Curry for the yellow petals.   I also used that color to stitch the word Peeps.  When I was in collage(many many years ago) my sweet Mom used to send me peeps.  They were always yellow. So when I see the word peeps, I think of those yellow marshmallow treats!

 My favorite gift store in Poulsbo had this adorable bunny for 50% off.  I had to add him to my white bunny collection! I'm going to put ivy in his basket and keep him out all Spring.

 Here is the funny part.  We have new neighbors.  Look what their dog did while we were working in the yard. 

Now there are two!

The SBA's solution.  We love dogs but I have no idea if these two would run if they got out.  They have two children under two and I know she would not like them out!! We would all be running up the street after them.

I hope all of you have a wonderful week end! thanks for joining me!

Back Home!

We got back home on Sat.  What a welcome home!  The temps were in the very high 60's and the sun was shining brightly.  Easter was much the same just beautiful.  Plus our yard is full of flowers.  We had brunch with good friends on Sun. and have spent the last two days catching up.  Our flight on Sat. left Atlanta at 7am.  To get to the airport 2 hours ahead, well we got up at 3:45am to catch the shuttle from the hotel.  That was 12:45am Seattle time.  To say the least, we were very tired.  As I mentioned before, there were family issues that made this trip important.  One of the benefits was taking care of our Grandson for his Spring break week. Again we were pretty tired after spending 8-9 hours a day with a 7 year old.  But we made more great memories with him.
I did get quite a bit of cross stitching done on the plane and at night.  My dear DIL and I picked out a sampler for the new little Granddaughter coming in June.  She selected Dawson's Sampler by Cherished Stitches. We still have not chosen the colors as yet.  She and the children will be moving into another home so I have plenty of time to get the sampler done. I want the colors to go with fabric she has chosen for the babies room.
I finished April Word Play and will show it all framed tomorrow.  I have a whole month to do May. I bought the additional threads that I will need at a wonderful shop in Decatur, AL called The Cross Stitch Peddler.

We started each day at Starbucks. Grandma is picky about her coffee and hotel coffee is just not quite there! Plus Caleb and Grandpa loved the snacks!

 A photo taken while Grandma was at the cross stitch shop!! Don't they look happy.  They finally came in and dragged me out!!

Another Happy Day about to begin!

I like to do borders on the plane.  I have added the pomegranates since we got home.  Oh by the way, this is the beginning of " This is the Day The Lord Has Made." This is part of my New Year's resolution last year.  That is to appreciate the wonder of each day and  be thankful for all my blessings.

I have changed some colors but will get to that later!

Thanks for joining me .  I'm happy to be back visiting all of you my cloud friends!!

Out of Town

Hi Everyone!  We are out of town for a bit.  I will be back to blogging as soon as possible.  We have been called to attend some family business. I have tried to keep up on commenting but have missed a few days. Be back real soon !

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!!