Sunday, March 17, 2013

Aury's Teapot & Hooked on Tea

Hi there, you were probably wondering when I was going to post some pictures of the goodies I have been stitching.  Well, as I mentioned, I was working on a model stitch for Aury and now I am working on another one, hopefully they will both be published this year and I will proudly show them off (again).  lol 
However, in between the models, I did happen to get a bit of my own stitching done.  The first one is Aury's Teapot, she will be publishing this design but does not have a date yet and she has very kindly given me permission to show it to you.  Thank you Aury.  It was stitched with DMC variations 4240 - that beautiful blue/purple combination on a lovely piece of overdyed lugana from Picture This Plus entitled Calypso.  The second piece is entitled "Hooked on Tea" by Eileen Gurak of Eileen Gurak Needlework Designs. It was stitched on Rainbow sparkle lugana which is a beautiful delicate pink with hints of blue.  I used Northern lights silks - Fushia and Jade Green, Victoria Clayton silks - Primitive Black and Dragon Toes and Crescent Colors Bejeweled.  Hope you like them, have a great day. Louise
 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Some goodies from Mystic

Hi there, I am once again apologizing for not posting, it has been a whole week!  Debby wanted to see some of the wonderful goodies that I bought on my trip to Mystic CT.  I had so much fun shopping, I am like a kid in a candy store! especially when I am looking at the overdyed fabrics.  And Sudberry House... oh my goodness, I could have spent a whole lot more there than I did but I restrained myself... I did, honestly!  Okay so here are some pics of the goodies.  I had to buy the candle screen, so I bought the small and the large, then of course, I needed some more Mill Hill beaded kits and floss.  Oh my goodness, one of the ladies at the retreat was using this beautiful floss and I had to go and find out the name of it.  It is Bejeweled (you can see it in the front), it is the most gorgeous green and dark green (almost black) and it stiches up so beautifully.  Then of course, I had to buy a few charts, I love the one with the purse and the hat by JBW, I think that they will stitch up just lovely and I will have to have a few done for Christmas.  Then there are the other Sudberry House goodies, the beautiful Keepsake boxes, the octogon (that one is for me, it has a mirror inside with a cream velvet lined interior) and then I found this pillow with the corresponding JBW design Papillion/Butterfly and all these DMC cones for $3, so I of course had to buy them. 
Now did I have fun, you bet!  And I have even started stitching with some of the goodies that I bought.  So maybe tomorrow I will show you my finishes.  Take care, have a great day and remember, until we meet again, keep on stitching. Luv ya dearly. Louise


 




 

   
   

Monday, March 4, 2013

Mystic Aquarium

Hi there, I went through my pictures and pulled some of the good ones from the acquarium.  You will have to forgive me on some pics because they might be a little out of focus... those darn fish just don't stay still! So I have some pics of the Beluga whales, in the first one, the whale is actually looking at a tourist takes its picture and the second one is showing the whale on top and beneath the water as the trainer asks him to do his tricks.  This was the start of the aquarium for us.  How grand is that?
Then we saw the sea lion show, I didn't like the shots but I did get a marvelous picture outside of a big old sea lion showing off for me.  He poses in his natural haughty manner and then shows off his flexibility by bending his head backwards to touch his nose to his back!!
 

        






We also saw some African penguins who were just standing around and then they went into the water and one of them gave me the "eye".  



                        







      
         







Then we saw some other fish inside the buildings where you could pet a shark (I did), watch the seahorses (could have sat there for hours), looked at sea turtles and a large fish with a very long snout. But I have to admit this guy didn't want to have his picture taken because he kept veering off and when I did get a shot, another fish would swim in front!!  I did get a couple and I took the best one to show you but it could be a bit fuzzy. Sorry about that. Take care and have a wonderful day. Louise
 






Sunday, March 3, 2013

Aury's Wicked Accident


Hi there, well I finally had the chance to upload my pictures, didn't realize I had taken so many (197)! Here is the promised Wicked Accident and I finished another one of the smalls from the January challenge Ze Rink.  I have to admit that once I got back to the Wicked Accident, it seemed to stitch up fairly quickly, I just loved the motifs in the pumpkin and of course I loved the purple and black stockings! On the other hand, the little guy on the pond seemed to take forever!! He is actually skating on a pond (done in white) surrounded by snow (done in white) with snow (done in white) covered trees in the background.  Did I mention that there was a lot of white in this little guy... lol.  That's all for today, I still have to shrink some pictures of the Mystic Aquarium and the Naval Submarine base for later posts.  Love ya. Louise

Friday, March 1, 2013

Mystic Connecticut

Hi everyone, I really must apologize for not posting in quite some time!!  I was away in Mystic CT for a stitching weekend organized by Sue of Stitchers Hideaway.  Oh my goodness, we (Janice and I) had a lovely time.  The drive down was fine, we hit some blowing snow so we stopped early in Syracuse but we were up early the next day for the drive to Mystic.  This little town is right on the seaboard and is so cute and has an absolutely ton of things to do there (beside stitch!).  The first night we went out for supper with a group of ladies and found out during a conversation that Peggy was a very good friend of Debby who we met on the cruise last year.  What a small world!!  We had a lovely time at supper meeting our fellow stitchers. Then the next morning, lovely goodie bags awaited everyone and the stitching was on!!  I worked on Aury's Wicked Accident and guess what - I finished it over the weekend. Hurray!!  And we even had a chance to shop because Chris and Pam brought a whole bunch of goodies from their store .... I didn't spend a ton of money but she did have a great deal on aida cloth... fill a bag for $5, yup, I filled the bag!! Did some more shopping and then back to stitching. Unfortunately when people brought in their goodies, I just had to see what they bought and of course I had to shop some more.  lol  Chris must have loved me, I went back twice! oops.  I loved seeing what everyone was working on and the colour choices, simply stunning.  I even found out about a couple of new designers and then Donna told me about stopping in at the Sudberry House store.... ooooh, that was terrible news! (NOT).... I found out it was close by (half an hour down the road)... oh dear.... well... we had to stay over anyway.... so Sunday afternoon we explored the Mystic Aquarium (I petted a shark!), then on Monday we visited a naval submarine museum and got to go on board a submarine!  OMG, my hat is off to the men and women who serve aboard these machines - they are tiny! if I was to roll over in the bunk beds my hips would get stuck!!  I found it a little small and was feeling very closed in. But it was fascinating to see.  Then on Tuesday we went to Sudberry House and I did buy a few things (okay a lot) and Janice bought a lot of goodies as well.  Then we were off to a needlework store and spent a few pennies there and then we drove up to Springfield MA to meet our new friends Peggy and Roberta for lunch.  I have to say it was like we were old friends... what a great time - we definitely have to keep in touch!!  Then we continued on our way home stopping just north of Syracuse so we would have a shorter drive the next day.  I am very glad we did it that way because just over the border we hit some snow, not much but then we got onto the 416 we hit blowing snow, white outs in some spots and several cars were in the ditch! I just took my time and we got home safe and sound. 
Well folks, that's it for now, I will take some pictures of my goodies and hopefully post them tomorrow.  Hugs Louise.