Wintertime

Today's a snow day.   A winter storm is blanketing much of the Mid-Atlantic.   Fortunately I am on the west and less snow side of the event.   It is giving me a good time to take down and stow all the holiday decorations.    I should have taken them down last weekend but had a surprise party to help with on Saturday and went to Longwood Gardens on Sunday.   So today it is.....and I believe it will include some culling of the decorations creating a separate pile to donate.  

 Sorry the flash didn't work on my metal cardinal.  He really is a pretty bright red.

But back to Longwood Gardens for a minute.    If you are ever in the area of northern Delaware or south-eastern Pennsylvania it is a definite must see no matter what the season.    Heather and I spent the most of the day there on the last day of the holiday display.   An evening visit is awesome as well with all the lights on all the trees and outside displays.

We walked the grounds and found some new 'favorite' spots and were just as happy to just tour the conservatory.

 It's hard to see but these trees were suspended over the pond.

 Each year they pick a theme for the 'drawing room' area and this year was books.  Pages were strategically folded to create images.

 The garland around the fire place was created from pages of books.

Bows on packages were also created from pages of books.

The orchid area is always a favorite.

This one looks like the face of an alien!

 Suspended in one of the greenhouses was this tree made from rectangular pieces of glass, hanging on a fishing line sort of fiber of different lengths to create a perfectly shaped evergreen tree surrounded by amaryllis.  It was another great visit......looking forward to a trip back in the springtime when the grounds are alive with the colors of spring.

For stitching and my EGA Challenge - 

I finished my challenge piece for December.   This is My Stitcher's Heart, a collaborative piece from Elegant Stitch and Hands on Design.   The project consists of several smalls, a hexagon box to store the pieces and this stitched piece for the box top.  

I think now have all the pieces except the scissors fob completed.   Time to schedule an uninterrupted  day to do the finishing.    I'll put it on the list!  Best part is to pick a new #4 for the challenge.

This month at my EGA, Number #3 is our focus piece.     I should be able to easily accomplish the completion of this piece during this rotation!  I am really enjoying this challenge so far. 

My starting point this month.

Two motifs completed since Thursday.

Camp WannaStitch at the end of this week should really help me move this to the finished column.   It's another win-win.    A finish and a chance to sort through my stash to find a replacement #3 project.

So that's a wrap from me.   Off to un-decorate and leave the house with lack of color and looking blah.   :-(   

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.