Opposites! Snow Lady and the Desert!

Thanks so much for joining me today.  I am finally getting around to my final desert trip photos. But first, good news, I finally finished the snow lady!! What a lot of solid stitching!  She is worth it.  I am liking this design more and more as I stitch it.  I will explain the final Arizona pictures as I go.

This is the beautiful Mission San Xavier del Bac .  It was completed in 1797.  It rises up right out of the flat desert.  

They  are working on the front of the Chapel.

A beautiful ceiling just full of paintings!

The benches show the strong Spanish influence. 

 All of the walls are covered with beautiful paintings and carvings.

This hill is right outside the museum.  No, we did not climb it.  We were headed to Tubac and did not take  the time. The Mission is still an operating Church.

Tubac is a charming little artist town very near the Mexican border.   They were having an art show the next week-end!  Bad timing for us, I would love to have been there for the show.

Again, a strong Spanish feel to all the art.

Great painting of an owl on an old piece of wood.

Isn't he cute? Maybe St. Francis?

I hope you enjoyed the Arizona photos as much as we enjoyed taking them.  

Time at The Attic

Thanks to all of you who looked at the photos of my Olympic Stitch and the Desert Museum.  I had planned to share my final desert pictures today and then the DH reminded me of the pictures we took with our small camera.  They were all of the Attic.   When I looked at them , I realized that I should have spent more time there! I missed so much!! I went with a specific agenda.  By the time I had that finished, it was time to go.  Now, I want to go back to see all that I missed !!!!!!

 Because I have more charts than can be stitched in one lifetime, I didn't really look at the charts.  I should have-who knows what I missed?!!

 Look at those walls!!

 Floss heaven!

Somehow I didn't see this at all!

 I hope my stitching friends enjoyed this.  I wonder if the people in Arizona know how lucky they are??!!

Thanks for joining me, more desert pictures tomorrow!

Olympic Stitch Project and the Desert

Thanks so much to all of you who looked at my last post and a special thanks to the people who commented.  We spent 6 days in Tuscon visiting the DH'S sisters.  The first full day they took us to the Desert Museum and the Saguaro National Area.  Both were fascinating places.  I had never been to the desert before, at least not that I could remember. My family went when I was very young. I hope you enjoy the photos of this fascinating part of our country. First, I will share what I am stitching while watching the Olympics.

 Here you have "Paper Snowflakes"  by Country Stitches-With thy Needle&Thread.  I am using 32 ct. antique ivory linen and the recommended floss. Once the Olympics are over this will become a WIP since I won't be framing it until next winter. 

 The snow ladies dress is quite the big area.  I love GA Heirloom Gold but I am getting tired of the skirt!

Here we are in the desert so very different from our lush green Pacific NW.  The DH was willing to pose so you could see just how big the cactus's are!!!!

 We took this picture as it was getting close to evening.

 I hope that the Scout leader is nowhere to be found!!! ( Remember the guy who knocked over the very old rock structure!!)

Birds actually make nests in the cactus.

 I would not want to fall into this bush!!!!

 This was quite pretty. I didn't know a cactus could be so pink!

They had a hummingbird area at the Museum.  What a fun place!

 This one just sat on the nest with lots of people looking on.

 I enjoy learning about the local native population when I visit a place.  The rock art has always fascinated me.

Thanks for joining me. I will have a bit more tomorrow!

Back To Normal- CrossStitch Shopping and Birds!

A big thinks to all of you who enjoyed my football posts! We are now settling back into a normal routine.  We spent 4 days in Arizona. Actually we were there during the Super Bowl.  It was a good trip and I got to go to the Attic Needlework Shop in Mesa.  The DH and his two sisters gave me time to shop till I almost dropped!   We came home to some of the coldest weather of the winter.  We have been busy keeping the bird feeders full.  We are back to the early morning Hummingbird feeder patrol.  This will be the last night to worry about that.  We are suppose to go above freezing starting tomorrow.  This post will show some of the bird's that have been visiting and my goodies from the Attic.  Tomorrow I will share some of the interesting desert photos we got and show you my Olympic stitching project.

 These are threads that I chose to work on the antique sampler.  I gave up on the colors a month ago but I really want to stitch the sampler so hopefully these colors will work.  While at the Attic, I mainly shopped for floss and linen.  I can get charts on line but it is hard to get the colors right.

 I love this chart by  BBD in the book "Sisters."  I wanted to change out the purple look so I did that, the other colors are in my stash.

I got all I need to stitch this BBD design.  I just love it and now I can get it stitched well before next fall.

 Here is the new visitor to the feeder.  We are fairly sure it is a Townsend's Warbler. It loved the suet.

 This bird has a touch of yellow under it's wing.  So far, we haven't identified it.

We all knew this goofy daffodil was blooming way too early!!!!!!!!!! 

Have a wonderful week-end , stay warm, and thanks so much for joining me.

Seattle Celebrates!

If you are tired of my football posts, feel free to stop reading now.  We have been in Arizona the last 5 days and I will have some posts from there, including The Attic needlework shop very soon.  However, we had an amazing day today in Seattle.  It was a parade for the team. I would more accurately call it an entire city celebration of the Super Bowl win.  Just a few stats: over 700,000 people were in the city today.  That number represents more people than live within the city limits of Seattle.  One third of the school children did not go to school (about 17,000), and over 500 teachers called in sick! I hope you enjoy a few pictures of the great event!

 The Quarterback, Russell Wilson

 Typical crowd

The famous running back Marshawn Lynch

 As I said 700,000 people!

 The team all rode in these open military vehicles according to their positions.

Wilson with the trophy. There was a giant sold -out rally in the stadium. The stadium was full. I don't know if that was part of the 700,000.

 Last night on the ferry coming home from the airport we saw this tall building honoring the 12th man.

Our water-front Ferris Wheel decked out in Seahawk colors!  I think all of the region thanks the team for the fun football season! Thanks to all of you for joining me!

WE WON!!!!!!!

This is the best night ever!!!! GO HAWKS!!!!!

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!

Go SEAHAWKS!!!!!!!!!

A Winner, A Finish, and a Gift!

It has taken me a few days to let you know the winner of my drawing for the chart Hearts & Flowers.  My DH pulled the name of Pam out of the hat on Sunday.  Pam has a great blog called "My Stitch-N-Stuff." Thanks so much to all of you who entered the drawing.
 I have started Paper Snowflakes by With Thy Needle and Thread, but not much to show yet.  Blogs are just great.  I would not have done this design from the pictures but I saw it finished on a blog and it was so pretty, I decided to stitch it up.  It's another one of those designs that can stay up all winter, not just for the Christmas holidays.
We have had another dry mild week here so I have a few more garden photos to share.  We actually hope it will rain soon!! I talked to a very good friend who lives near Chicago on Sun.  I am so sorry for the nasty weather many of you are experiencing.  I hope my pictures give you hope that Spring really will come!

The colors of this finish are so much prettier than they show on this photo.. It is a gray day and the colors are just not showing up.  I love it in the antique frame.  It reminds me of one of the old fashioned Valentines.

I'm not sure of the name of this bush. It is blooming in our neighbor's yard.

My white hellebore is in full bloom now.

 This hellebore has a pretty pink tint.

On Sat. we went to visit my BIL and SIL.  They live about an hour north of Seattle.  If you were following my blog around Halloween you will remember that I have a witch collection.  They saw this picture and thought it would be a great addition to my collection.  I agree.  Thanks Rick and Cheri!  By the way, my BIL says I look just like the one third from the left.  I'm sure he was just joking!!

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope you all have a good week!