Suitcases In and Out of Storage

Well my traveling suitcase is stowed for a while.  Just back from another girl's weekend in Princeton, NJ.   Deb and I stayed in Princeton for our four days of wandering in the New Hope, PA/Lambertville, NJ area.  As always she and I had a great time sightseeing and shopping.  It's a shame the that weather this summer and fall seems to have delayed the changing of the leaves.

View of the tow path canal in Lambertville.

View of the Delaware River from the bridge between NJ and PA.

On the way home we spent the day at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton NJ.   What a fabulous way to spend the day.   Not the normal stuffy museum-type place and we'd like to go back in the spring when everything is in bloom.  

Monet's "Woman with a Parasol"

The grounds/museum are the vision of J. Seward Johnson, grandson of the founder of Johnson & Johnson.  Such wonderful foresight to establish a place like this.  The bronze statues were astounding.  Around every corner was a surprise as well as a different view created by standing at a different vantage point.

The "Girl with the Pearl Earring" - a great book to read.

 The iconic Marilyn Monroe in bronze.   

The features so detailed you can see the stitches on her hem.

Outside, the variety of statuary was diverse and only limited by Seward Johnson's imagination.

Inside a stone building peering out....

and the surprise outside at this........

Or looking through another window and seeing a seated couple...

And then outside, the statues by the boat.... Eduoard Manet's "Boating"

Monet's "Water Lilies" below and our then view from the French restaurant, Rat's, at lunch

And then you walk around the corner and Oops! catch a young lady in an outside shower with real running water splashing over her.....even her hanging clothes were make of brass.  (I've always wanted an outside shower in my back yard....of course Mr. W. thinks I am crazy.   I think I would insist on a door on my shower though.)

Renoir's the "Luncheon at the Boating Party" was brought to 3-dimensional real life....

The detail on the leather coat, the zipper, the crew neck of the t-shirt......all so unbelievable.    All the statuary was quite approachable.   We were encouraged to sit, pose, photograph anything without a red-tag......and I think I only saw one red tag.

 Renoir's "Two Sisters on a Terrace"

(that's a real seed pod in the marsh)

Not all statues were interpretations of paintings.....and some were more abstract than others.

Look's like we happened upon some lovers......nope, life sized bronze statues......

Well I could go on and on about this place.   It was such a relaxing day and one that stirred the imagine and left you in awe of the talent and the whimsy.  Fall foliage or not, Deb and I had our usual good time together.   I feel embarrassed to say this is an hour and a half away from where I live and I only just discovered it!

So fall traveling and more weekends away then home behind me...... the worse part was most time home was spent prepping to go or recovering afterwards!   So I have little stitching progress to report.    I think I spent a short period of intense stitching on my Boo to You witch that I hit a wall and put it down.....so much for being stitched and finished by Halloween.   No worries, she is close and will be easy to finish.  I am on a mission to not be the last of the group to complete it......I'll take incentive in any form.

My only progress is Miss Mary Mack from La-D-DA. I was stitching along fine and then......see that empty WDW card?   I surely did not calculate the amount of floss I needed correctly.   I knew thought I had two part skeins at home and bought two more at Salty Yarns in early October and thought I was good.   A little more than two skeins used with a little more than one quarter stitched and I am out of thread.   You guessed it.....got online and ordered 8 more skeins of 1268-Molasses.  I am hoping  Sara packs them up quickly and that the dye lots are close.   I have a neat finish in mind for this one.....stay tuned for that.  

Now for my great brainstorm of what I envision for the old suitcases in storage.......First how did we ever lug and tote and carry those things that were heavy empty?......my idea in a nutshell is......I just got a set of twin beds for my sewing room for when the kiddos come home.   I plan to pull the old hard side samsonites out of the attic, stack them and make a bedside table between the beds.   Better yet, I plan to use the insides of each suitcase for my fat quarter storage, thereby eliminating a bookcase that will help make more room for the twin beds.......in my mind it comes together EZ-PZ.   However,  I have learned thru the years that my 'ideas' often are a lot more work that I envision.    I will have to report on my progress and outcome.  

OK, happy stitching all and, if all goes well, I will post again tomorrow about a Stitch-A-Long  I will moderate in February 2017.

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Viva Las Vegas

Last week I spent four fun packed days in Las Vegas with some friends from High School and what a great time we had.  Now I am not one for gambling....I mean I did play the slots...but I remember the early days of marriage when $20 was all we had in the checkbook for the rest of the week so I kind of have a hard time wrapping my head around throwing money away.    I set my limit of what I am willing to go home without and then I was done.  Gambling aside there was far too many other things to do.  I knew we should have stayed another day!   I went for the 'mini reunion' and was pleasantly surprised by all there was to do besides the casinos.

Inside the hotel lobby

Out front of my hotel - Paris Las Vegas

Our early morning flight was good.  The pilot pointed out the Mississippi River and we saw the Grand Canyon from the air.  On the ground we met up with a classmate who now lives in Arizona.    We saw a couple of shows, we walked the strip, we were guests in the Diamond Lounge, we ogled and ah'd at the opulence of the casinos, saw the light show on Fremont Street and saw some scantily clad folks and sights for sure.

More of my hotel entrance

The Bellagio waiting for the fountain show.

The Paris Las Vegas across the street from the Bellagio

The Venetian and The Flamingo.......they may look close but the Venetian is about a 30 minute walk from where we were.

When at full force the sound was incredible.   It was like the whoosh you hear when fireworks go up as the high water was sent up......even higher than above.

View from top of the Eiffel Tower of my hotel below

Another view of the city below the Eiffel Tower

Classmate Darlene and I went to the Hoover Dam, took a boat ride on Lake Mead and a bus tour of local homes and gardens. We want to go back to kayak on the lake, to zip line on Fremont Street, to see some more shows, see the Grand Canyon, and more.   There really is so much to do there.

Above, the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

Yes, I did the tourist thing.....one foot in Nevada and one foot in Arizona.    They removed the state line that was painted across the roadway on the bridge as seen in the Selma Hayak movie "Fools Rush In".....seems it was creating traffic jams will people stopping for photo ops.

Inside the Hoover Dam generator room.

By pass pipes that are so large they had to be built onsite.  What an amazing engineering feat!

Approaching Lake Mead from our bus ride.

The white line is the high water mark from the snow melt in 1983.   That line is approximately 135 above the water level.

Approaching Black Canyon

The dam from Black Canyon

Such a hardy little bush......we were told to look for Mountain Goats feeding but we saw none.   Amazing anything can grow and thrive in this climate and terrain.

Leaving Black Canyon and heading back to the dock.

New York, New York Las Vegas

 Statue of Liberty made out of Twizzlers!

Fremont Street and oh the sites.......the casinos turn out their lights each hour for a laser light show displayed across the doomed cover over the street.

Bye bye Las Vegas......I think I will be back.

So not much stitching has been done the last two weeks.   I did take Miss Mary Mack from La-D-Da for the plane.  EZ-PZ right.....small, one color.  Well when you sit in the middle and you feel like a T-Rex with your arms all squeezed in....not as much progress as I thought I would be able to accomplish.      I've added the second "buttons" and start "All" since I got home and BAM......looking at this right now and singing the song.......I see I am short one line of "buttons".....time to frog I guess.    Geez, this piece is not proving to be as EZ-PZ as I thought it would be!

So back home and on my way to Thursday night stitching I had to pull over and take a photo of the beauty from where I live.     

Now time to regroup, clean house, winterize the deck and yard, finish fall decorating and head out again next week for a get away with a work mate.

Stay tuned for information on a Stitch-A-Long that I will be announcing before the end of the month.

re·treat rəˈtrēt/

re·treat

rəˈtrēt/  noun

1. 1. 

   an act of moving back or withdrawing.

And that is just what we did...we all withdrew from the hustle and bustle of the madness of day-to-day life and enjoyed a long weekend at the beach.

The weather was not so good but we didn't notice.   Seems the locals were quite well versed in the weather and we were just bee bopping along like a bunch of blue-hairs on a bus trip.  Only when we tried to order take-outs for delivery and the 'natives' weren't venturing out did we get a clue that hey, it was pretty bad out.   I think OCMD received something like 10 to 12 inches of rain in about 36 hours.   What do we know......we just want to hang out and stitch together...

 From our house's front porch....above and below.  It was rough surf at the beach.

 Saturday morning a walk on the boardwalk showed the aftermath of the wind and rain.

Enough of bad weather.  Stay inside and stitch!  I don't see a problem.

What is more important is to know I am blessed.   I am so fortunate to not only belong to a group that meets weekly to stitch but I am lucky enough to have them as roommates at a weekend at the shore where we stay with others of our 'tribe'.    There were 19 this time around and a few regulars were missing.   Our room was missing one member this weekend....she's  in Florida......hmph!    (she was missed)

Friday dawned and the weather improved enough that we were able to go out to one of our favorites restaurants, The Sunset Grille.    I had the angel hair pasta with crab meat.  Of course, every meal is something to do with Maryland crabs.

As for stitching,  I was able to finish Random Thoughts by Drawn Thread.   So much for sewing the border on my flight on Thursday.    Guess I'd better pick out something else to stitch on the plane.     The border was interesting with a complete change of color and stitching about every three inches.                

I like to challenge myself and stitch a piece that has something new in it for me.   I have never withdrawn threads so this was a nice introduction.   And I had never done scoring or the hem-stitch before.   Scoring was not too difficult but tedious if you know what I mean.....I really needed another set of hands almost.  As for the hem stitch, it was time consuming but I got 'er done.   I am a bit off not the lower left corner and I think I need to adjust the mitered corner to pull it in for a straighter line.

I picked up charms and the bell pull hardware from Salty Yarns.   They did not have exactly the called for charms but in my 'need' to have it,  I picked up the bird and shovel instead.  Each are meaningful for me.

Once I finally finished the hem stitch which took me the better part of a day, I set to work on my witch.   This is where I was when I started the weekend of my Boo To You from Pat Thode at HeartStrings.  And below, ta-da! Look how much progress I was able to make!  A bit of hem on her dress and a black cape down both sides and I may be able to stitch and finish her for this Halloween.  And believe it or not, now that I am home and unpacked, I just want to stitch some more.

Upon checking out of Salty Yarns on Sunday morning, I was declared the winner.....again.....I won the honor of spending the most from our group.  Mainly because  I bought a ton of NPI silks for an upcoming project which I justified!

Of course, on the day we are leaving there was actually a bit of sun.....no matter.....we got to enjoy what we came for.....a weekend of laughter, sharing, great food, great times......and some stitching and shopping too.  See you in April  January Lankford Hotel and Salty Yarns.