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.

Snow Day!

Only one thing better than a snowy Saturday.....that would be a snow day during the week which would mean a Snow Day Off.....I will settle for a Saturday snow day.    The forecast keeps changing and I have no idea what the final snowfall amount will be.....I know for sure we won't be getting what is forecasted for my friend Stasi in Richmond.   (Stay safe my friend and see you next weekend!)

So what does a snow day mean to me.....beauty, silence, big pot of soup, and.....wait for it........crafting all the day long.   Yeah!   Yes, I have done the obligatory cleaning and making of beds and I have started a big pot of potato soup.   Now don't get excited, it is not from scratch.   It is a mix to be doctored up with bacon, sour cream and cheese.   I look forward to a side salad and a steaming bowl when I take my dinner break later today.

I am not sure what I will get into today but after that War and Peace missive of a post of my last post - and I applaud all the diehards that lasted through that post in its entirely - I forgot to share Miss Mary Mack!    She was my last finished for 2016.   I have plans to finish her as a  pillow with a flanged edge....but we all know that sometimes what I envision does not always turn out as it was in my minds eye.    She was stitched in R & R's 28 count Winter Bran with WDW Molasses, pattern by La-D-Da.

 I stitched the dress on a diagonal and like how the color variation in floss played out.

"Miss Mary Mack, Mack Mack,

All dressed in black, black, black,

With silver button, button, buttons,

All down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother,

For first cents, cents, cents,

To see the elephants, elephants, elephants,

Jump over the fence, fence, fence.

They jumped so high, high, high,

They touched the sky, sky, sky,

And didn't come back, back, back

Until the 4th of July, July July."

I thought I knew which fabric I was using for my finish - the center one because of the scale of the print.   However the color above is more true than as it photographed below.   Now I don't know which one to use.

Some of the silver buttons I have pulled from stash.   I really like the one with the black center.   It has a large shank and would be perfect at the center of a biscournu.


Also there was another big project  I started in 2016 that I didn't share.   This is something I have been contemplating and been advised against by professionals for several years.   But I took the plunge and started the process.    Intrigued?   LOL......I stopped dying my hair last June or July.  Of course a hairdresser is going to advise me against it.   I am letting the gray grow in and I like it.  The long months of a technicolor mane of hair are behind me.  I am about maybe a haircut or so from getting the last bits of dye cut off.  In my little pea brain I choose to view it as natural frosting.   Maybe it was turning the big 6 0.   Or it was seeing pix of friends on their boat sharing his catch of the day and noticing how gray he has become that got me thinking why do guys look distiquished or sexy with gray hair and women don't.   I can tell you it is very liberating.   If I was any good at taking a selfie that look more like me and less like some sort of big eyed alien head looking like a dazed deer in the headlights, I would share the color.  

Enjoy your day whatever you decide to do.  Hopefully I will have something more than a tale of cleaning, sorting and purging stash to share for my day o' crafting.   Life is good.  Happy week everyone!