Always date your work

One day while visiting Washington, DC, the boys went to the Air and Space Museum.  I love the sculpture in front of the Air and Space Museum, but I didn’t want to look at boy’s toys. 😉

              

I went to the National Gallery of Art instead.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  One exhibit was chock-full of period furniture and beautiful tapestries, including these pillows.  You can see by the sign when they were crafted.  I’m not sure when the right one was made, but I know where and when the left one was made!  Gouda, The Netherlands, three hundred fifty years ago!  Amazing.  I don’t expect my works to last that long, but I tend to be surprised when I look at my works’ dates.  They have a way of being older than I expect. 

            

What else did I see on my vacation?  So many wonderful things!  I’m still remembering it all fondly.  I’m trying to make a slide show for a friend (she asked!), but it’s slow-going.  I have more images I want to share here, though.  After DC we went to Gettysburg, PA.  We saw the monument memorializing my great-great uncle’s regiment.  That was very moving.  Perhaps I’ll post the photos another time, but today I want to share items from the museum.

What the sign says: Women on the homefront scraped lint from linen cloth, twisted it into bundles like this, and sent it to army hospitals.  Surgeons used damp lint to cover wounds.

         

What its accompanying sign says: Back to Normal  After the battle, the people of Gettysburg tried to reclaim a normal life in different ways.  This piece of canvas from a hospital tent was embroidered, edged in lace, and transformed into a table runner.

And now my personal favorite from the museum:

What its sign says: Patriotic Apron, about 1861  Mary Himes Fox of New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania wore this apron during the war.  The bib contains one white star for each of the 34 United States.

 I’m sure what you’re really curious to see is what I’ve been up to.  I know I would be. 🙂

Betsy by Sheepish Designs

I’m itching to start something new; something not on my goals list, or from my newly acquired stash.  I don’t know why such urges overcome me, but there it is.  Today the boy and I are scheduled to do Zelda papercrafts. 

dandelion clock

One GINORMOUS dandelion. Look at the Queen Anne’s Lace in the background. That’s a seriously tall, and large, dandelion. I love it.

Here’s a close-up of the Queen Anne’s Lace. So pretty! These photos were taken at Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park, VA, where we spent two nights during our trip.  I would have linked to the official park page, but as I type, it’s not working. 

Why do I share a dandelion picture, you ask?  I mean, besides liking the picture, of course.  Because I love how it relates to my recent (yesterday) finish, Dandelion Clock!  OMG, so cuuuuuuuttttte! I adore him.   He will live in my son’s room. 

Vitals:
Dandelion Clock by Margaret Sherry
stitched on 28-ct. Summer Sky Jobelan using DMC threads
Changes: I shortened the tail and stitched it in DMC 762 and white to make it a hamster instead of a mouse, and instead of stitching the dandelion seeds in DMC 535, I used 640 and Wisper thread.  I only had the gray and some white Wisper thread, so I used gray.  White wouldn’t have shown on the fabric.  If I’d gone to the LNS for another color, I would have spent a bunch of money, so I made do. 🙂

22, 7+, 1,858, 232/574, 12, 6, 1

Our road trip by the numbers–

22: is the number of days our trip lasted.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

7+: is the number of states we visited (+ the District of Columbia). Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, DC, Maryland and Pennsylvania. North Carolina and Maryland were first-time visits for the boy.

1,858: is the approximate number of miles traveled. Not the actual number driven, of course. I didn’t keep track of that.

232/574: is the number of miles my husband rode (232) out of the number planned (574). His back went out severely after he rode 127 miles (of 469) on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He was down for a week, and then he rode the entire Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National park (105 miles).

 

12: is the number of hotels we stayed in.

Oak Park Inn in Waynesville, NC.

6: is the number of bears we sighted on the trip.

Mama bear and cub, Shenandoah National Park, Luray, Virginia

1: is the number of cross-stitch projects I completed.

Vitals:
Shepherd’s Bush 2008 fob
Used supplies included in kit:
32-ct Peach Whisper linen
DMC and WDW cotton floss, button

Road Trip

So, if you’re hankering to take a long bike ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and you’ve been thwarted two summers in a row, what do you do?  If you’re my husband, you quit your job. 😉

Like all good lies, there’s a kernel of truth to that statement.  Let me ‘splain.  No, there is no time.  Let me sum up: The husband quit his job July 24.  He doesn’t start his new job until mid-September. We leave Thursday for Cherokee, NC.  We’ll be gone three weeks. We plan to spend 3 days in Washington, DC and hope to make it to Boston, and possibly Bar Harbor ME, with the husband riding Adventure Cycling’s Atlantic Coast bicycle route. 

These are the projects I’m planning on working on, if there’s time.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and happy stitching!

Home again

We had a lovely, lovely time!  As you can see, I suck at Photoshop.  *shrug*  We saw a bear!  We didn’t have the camera out, though.  😦

We went to Anacortes (and Ana-Cross Stitch) and Orcas island.  They have dwarf deer there!  Very short, and very unafraid.  The boy and sister went to Mt. St. Helens while the husband and I went to Acorns & Threads (OK, he read in the car.  The staff deemed him a keeper.  I agree.) and Powell’s.  We spent 5.5 hours there!  I kid you not.  I had no idea.  I thought maybe three hours.  It was heaven.  My niece got married!  Good times. 🙂

Oh, and we had clam chowder.  Did I mention clam chowder? 

Seen in the airport:

It reminded me of my crane memorial.  Was it made of paper cranes? 

No, that was a trick!  It’s made of…
 
Sharks!  Beauteous.

Vacation stitching:

Dandelion Clock by Margaret Sherry

 

 Betsy by Sheepish Designs.  OK, I started her before we left.  But I did stitch on her in WA, so it counts.

Since I’ve just come back from a trip, and I’ve seen this about, I’ll play along.  I really wanted a North America map, but that’s not a choice.  I’ve never left North America, but I’ve been to Antigua and British Columbia and New Brunswick and Quebec and Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and Mexico in addition to my USA map. 

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Forty-seven states!  I want to go to Vermont in autumn, and Nebraska whenever I can manage it, and I want to not take a cruise to Alaska, but if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.  Now I’m itching for a road trip, even though I just got home. 😀

Vacation

We’re headed for Seattle tonight, to visit the husband’s tribe. 

I’m bringing Betsy and Dandelion Clock with me.  Maybe I’ll get some stitching done, who knows?  I’m stitching Betsy with NPI silks, one over two on 36-ct. fabric.  It’s like popcorn, I tell you, I’m loving it.  I had to stay up late to clean the hamster cages b/c I was delinquent about preparing for the trip.  Can’t wait for the airport so I can stitch some more. 😀

Have a good couple of weeks!

Because I am a Brat

Cathey asked me not to tell her about the chocolate I bought in Hershey.   Because I am a brat, I will tease her, and treat the rest of you. 😉

In my defense, I didn’t buy this chocolate. 

The men in their matching wolf shirts they got at Zoo America

Katie falls victim to the wolves.

We all know chocoholics can be dangerous…

CATS

For a spur-of-the-moment trip, Hershey and CATS was fun!  It’s a shame it was their last show. 😦

I got to see stitched models of a few Cat’s Whiskers designs.  Some of them are bigger than I expected, especially the Peacock Stitching Chair and Feed My Soul Stitches. The Peacock Stitching Chair was especially surprising.  I’ve seen completed projects here and there online, and never got a sense of its size.

At the Silver Needle booth, I saw a beautiful WIP of Threads of Gold’s 1724 MH Sampler, which made me wish I was done with all of my WIPs so’s I could start it!

At the Sweetheart Tree booth, Dave Vanosdall told me they’re starting a biscornu series in January. WooHoo!  He showed me notes on one design of kitties, with notes about adding paws to them–for the bottom piece of the biscornu?  Can’t exactly remember.  And she’s on the lookout for a mousie button!  They’re going to be sooo cute, I just know it.

At the Brit Stitch booth, I got Michael Powell’s Fairy Castle kit for $45.  Considering it’s not on their site, and it’s listed for $56 at Rose Cottage Needle Arts (whose booth I didn’t manage to visit–too crowded)  it’s $54 at ABC Stitch Therapy and $74 at Stitching Bits and Bobs, I think I got quite a deal.  Score!  I have wanted this kit for a long time.  I don’t like it as much as his Pots of Love, but then, I don’t like a lot of things as much as that.

I spent too much money at Chocolate World, and I don’t care. 😛

More paper?

Yes. 🙂

The mobile is actually finished (Cathey, you knew I could).  But, I had problems with assembling it, and it took me way too long to realize that glue can be my friend.  So, it’s lopsided.  It is currently weighted down with an AA battery to balance it.  I decided to re-string it next week.  It’s too important to me to accept ‘good enough,’ or ‘at least I tried.’  It has to be just right.  It has to be the best I can do.  M deserves that.  So do I.  In the meantime, here is more paper:

You can probably figure out what it’s for…

If not, all will be revealed next week.  Tonight, we’re going on an impromptu trip to PA.  We’ll zip through Pittsburgh and pick up the step-daughter, and it’s off to Hershey.  The husband wanted to get outta town this weekend, and I realized the CATS festival is this weekend.  I made a half-hearted suggestion, and well, we’re goin’.  It’s a long drive for a basically overnight trip, but that’s how we are.  The step-daughter and the boy will visit the Hersheypark, I’ll stay at the Hershey Lodge for the festival (no classes, just shopping and drooling), and the husband will go for a bike ride.  Then, home again, home again on Sunday. 

Have a good weekend!  I know I will. 😉

School’s Out For Summer

No more teachers, no more books!  My son graduated from elementary school yesterday.  The last day of school was today.  Vacation starts tomorrow.  Disney World, here we come!!  I’ve printed out our boarding passes, now I just have to pack and attach our special tags to our luggage so’s we don’t have to wait at baggage claim.  Or transportation.  Or directions to Disney from the airport. I’m procrastinating, as usual. :o)

On a cross-stitch note, this morning I shipped an ornament to my secret exchange partner from Yahoo’s Bent Creek group.  We open on June 25, the day after I return.  The fun never stops. 😀

I am bringing a cross-stitch project, but I don’t expect to get much done. 

Have a great week, lovelies. 🙂