Mystery Sampler Part 3

I'm really happy that many of you enjoyed the pictures of the floating homes.  I loved reading your comments! Thanks so much for taking time to look at this blog. 
Now I'm back to cross stitch.  I fogot to mention the colors I used in Halloween town.  I used the suggested DMC for the black(310) and green(3052).  I am interested in trying Sullivan floss for the black as the DMC didn't cover as well as I would have liked.  The leaves and pumpkins were stitched with Weeks Dye Works "Copper" I did soak this quite a bit as it ran when I tested it.  For the moon , I used GA "Grecian Gold." I used a very soft yellow for the pumpkin faces and the windows.  I hope this information helps if you want to add color to Halloween Town.
I made quite a change in Part 3 of the LK Mystery Sampler.  The house was suppose to be purple.  I changed it to GA Wood Trail.  I didn't want a purple house.  The purple looked good but just not my taste.  I'm also using Wood Trail for some of the Cadet Blue color in the sampler.I got some new stash today from JJ's so I want to get this sampler done. 
I have a question about a CC color, Calico Kitty.  The one I got had lots of tan variegation in with the red.  If you have used this color, is that typical?  The Christmas Garden by BBD calls for lots of this color and I'm not sure about the tan. Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks. Hope everyone is having a good week.  Lots of things in the news today that have me concerned.

 Part 3 as it stands today.

 My Wood Trail house.

I framed the "Witches Garden" in one of my5x7 frames that I have used many times before.

Floating Homes

Thanks to all of you who left such kind words on my last blog.  I'm so happy you enjoyed seeing the pictures of the floating homes tour.  Today I'll show pictures of a few of the homes. On yesterday's comments, Judy mentioned the film "Sleepless in Seattle." The floating home in that film was on tour a few years back and we got to tour it. I think it sold for a million plus dollars.  The SBA and I think this might be a great place to go when we are too old for yard work!!

 We saw this house the first year we went on the tour.  It is still my favorite.  It was full of fine quality country antiques, quilts and Shaker things, not what you would expect on a floating home.

 These old logs are floating and supporting most of the older homes.

A lovely master suite!

I'll be back to cross stitch in my next post! Let's all take a bit of time today to remember.

Houseboat Tour 2012

I always like to start by thanking all of you who take time to read my ramblings!  I truly appreciate it! I think today's post will be something you have rarely seen unless you live near water.  There is a fairly large community of folks in Seattle who live on houseboats. They seem to prefer to call them floating homes.  They live on floating docks much the way we live on streets.  Each dock is its own little community.  Every two years they have a tour of homes.  Seattle government  has given these little communities lots of trouble and much for the money spent on tickets for the tour goes to pay legal fees so they can keep their community. I hope you will find this interesting.

This is sort of a back alley.

Who says you can't have trees if you live on a floating home? Beautiful Japanese Maples.

 Here is your street.

A nice car!

 A street lamp on one of the docks.

If you have a second floor, you can spy on your neighbor.

 The docks are full of flowers so you can have a flower garden.  We also saw tomatoes and lettuce growing on a deck.

 Your houseboat can be built to look like a craftsman bungalow.

This might be the view from your porch.

If you enjoyed this, join me tomorrow.  I'm going to post photos of some of the prettiest houses.Hope you all have a great week!

Two Finishes

First, I would like to thank all of you who read my blog, especially those who offered solutions to the single isolated stitch problem.  I tried Amanda's idea. Her blog is called Samplers, Silks and Linen.  That method seemed to work quite well. I finished Halloween Town.  I added some color and I like the way it turned out.  I think the color will be appealing to my Grandson, Caleb who is 7 years old.  Next we need to get a frame and off to Caleb it goes.  I also finished a small little piece.  I got the idea from "A witch's Garden " by The Primitive Needle. I only stitched part of the design so it will fit in my 5x7 frame.  I also changed the colors quite a bit.  The colors were a bit drab plus I like orange and white pumpkins. So that is what I stitched. I hope you are all having a great week.  I'm very tired today as I started back to my school volunteer job.  I can't believe that a short 8 years ago, I did this all day everyday! I do like the atmosphere of a school so that is where I like to volunteer. The class is a 4/5 split in what is called the highly capable program. Keeps me on my toes! Again, have a great week!

 The witch's garden!

 Here is the frame that this little finish is going into.

All finished!

 I love the bats and the spider!

And for me Halloween means witches!!!

Give-aways

When I posted my blog earlier today, I forgot to mention two great give-aways.  The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe and Samplers,Silks, and Linens both have great give-aways.  Go over to these blogs and have a look. have a good evening!

A Cross Stitch Question

Thanks to all of you who have taken time to look at the blog.  I have a cross stitch question.  How do you manage one isolated stitch ? I will finish Halloween Town tonight.  I have the spider web, a few bats and more isolated stitches.  I have noticed that designers often put these on a chart.  They always give me fits.  I know you should never put a knot in stitching but how else can you anchor these little single stitches?  I have googled this problem and haven't really found a good answer.  I'd love to know what you all think.  I will be starting the third part of the mystery sampler as soon as it arrives.  I am happy to get this one done so early.  I'll get it framed then off to my Grandson!

 Almost Done!!

 Here is an example of the little isolated stitches I was talking about.

More of them and I'm still not done putting them in.

 I believe in giving the little shops in Poulsbo business when possible.  So many local shops have closed since the recession started.  I found this little mouse witch in one shop.  She will look very good on my Halloween tree.

For now, she is hanging on a kitchen cupboard!

Hope the week-end is going great for all of you.  Those of us in the US have an end of summer holiday tomorrow so Happy Labor Day!

Final Whistler Pics

Thanks so much to those of you who looked at my blog about Halloween Town.  I also appreciated the comments.  I just have a few final pictures of Whistler. The first few photos show scenes of the village. Can you imagine this cute little village filled with snow? The final two pictures show what a beautiful drive we had coming home.  I hope you are all having a very good week-end!!

Cross stitch update and fall color in the garden!

A big thanks to all of you who read about our trip to Whistler.  I really appreciate the time it takes you read or comment on my blog! I will show a final few photos of the trip but not today.  We had a very long trip home yesterday.  The border crossing between the US and Canada was a pain.  We had to wait for over 90 minutes in a hot sunny car to get across.  We got close to home and because it was late and so close to a long week-end, we had an hour wait to ride the ferry home.  We were very tired and happy to get home.  The 6 hour ride up became a 10 hour ride home! The only good thing was I got quite a bit of stitching done while waiting in long lines!!

 I made good progress on this.  Most of that house was not done before yesterday.

 

 I like the way the color turned out.  I changed the pumpkins.  I had first stitched them a brighter orange.

 This is another project I'm going to start.  I have a 5x7 frame to put this in.

 So I'm only stitching this part.

 These begonias are just beautiful.  I have them in a pot sitting in my garden.

 The fall flowers are looking just amazing.

 Thanks again for taking a look.  I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day week-end! Don't forget the great sale over at JJ's Collectibles.  All cross stitch on sale!!

Nairn Falls

Thank you so much for your great comments and for viewing my blog.  I am so glad you have enjoyed seeing my pictures of this beautiful area.Tomorrow we head home but this has been a great short trip to our neighbor in the North.  Today we headed north of Whistler on a short drive to a waterfall.  We took about a mile or so walk back to the falls.  The walk itself was lovely.  It was through a forest on one side with the tumbling Green River on the other side. It least we have gotten our exercise!!! I hope you enjoy these pictures!

 It has been a little tricky converting everything to miles.

 The lovely Green River.

The SBA shows you how big the trees are in this forest.

This falls has several parts.

The mountains rise up above the river.

We are taking a pretty drive home so I hope to have those pictures next on this blog.

In the evening I'm working on Halloween Town so I'll have a update on that too.

Have a great Thurs.  We are all looking forward to a nice long week-end.