31 August 2016

Sweet Baby Penguin for the Keeping Christmas Project

I've had this adorable little guy in my stash for quite some time, and finally decided to bring him to life. He's a freebie available here. I stitched him on 28 ct. Glacier linen from Picture This Plus, and changed the color of the border to DMC 4040. I have a small aqua-colored tinsel Christmas tree that has retro aqua glass and grey penguin ornaments on it, and he'll be made into an ornament for that tree. Isn't he cute?

30 August 2016

Stashy Goodness Update

The mailman has been bringing lots of goodies lately!

Charts and fabric (spot the fox?):


From sweet Robin in Virginia, a wonderful wad of Wildflowers! Thank you, Robin!

From sweet Bonnie, all the way from Canada, a precious little fox kit! He will be on my Fox Christmas Tree this year. Thank you, Bonnie!

And here's a peak of a quick project I'm whipping out. I love the color of this fabric. It's 28 ct. Glacier from Picture This Plus.

Bonus: Tiger Lily napping in a sunbeam.

25 August 2016

Happy 100th Birthday, National Park Service!

Mr. Wonderful and I are huge fans of National Parks. If you gave me a choice of a week in London or Paris or in any one of our National Parks, the National Parks would win hands down, every time. 

The last one we visited was Acadia in Maine, three years ago. I'd go back in a heartbeat.



I was absolutely thrilled to see that Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery is doing a National Parks sampler to commemorate the centennial. They even have an adorable little matching needle minder (it's made of wood).

We're in the planning stages of a trip to Zion National Park in Utah this fall. Cannot wait.

Happy 100th to "America's Best Idea"!

20 August 2016

Saturday Sampler: Pottery Edition

Where have I been? Pretty busy, and also on a road trip. I think I've mentioned before that Mr. Wonderful is a pottery nut. We celebrated his 40th birthday by heading to Seagrove, North Carolina, the largest and oldest community of potters in the country. It's pretty much Pottery Disneyland. We had a wonderful time wandering around through the beautiful North Carolina countryside, talking to the potters, and eating great southern cooking. We bought way too much stuff, but we had a lot of fun doing it. I only photographed my part of the haul, since showing everything he bought too would break my blog. 

Small milk mugs, about 4" high. Yes, I almost passed out when I finally found a fox!

Gorgeous small vases. On the left, crystalline (crystals are grown on the pottery when it's fired), and on the right, salt glazed.

Soup mugs. I wanted a pair for us, but decided to get them from different potters instead of a matched set. Can't wait to use these when the weather turns cold.

Small mixer. Too cute and functional to pass up.

Small baker. This came with a recipe from the potter's family for cold oven pound cake. 

Batter bowl. I love this thing.

Here you can see how it's designed to be held for easy pouring. 

Small cornbread/pie dish. This is from the oldest pottery in the area.

I love, love, LOVE all of my pieces, but especially my kitchenware. They're not only pretty, they feel so wonderful; they're heavy and smooth and fit the hands so well... because they're made by hand. And the really cool thing is that for most of these pieces, I have a personal memory of meeting and talking to the potter. When I pick up that baker to make a little pound cake, I'll remember the hilarious conversation we had with the delightful woman who made it. What a wonderful trip it was, and what great memories we have to go with our new treasures.

In case you're wondering, I'm hard at work on my Keeping Christmas Project. I didn't pick up a needle for about two weeks, what with being so busy, getting ready for our trip, traveling, etc. But I'm back at it. Here's a little peek at what I'm working on. I must confess, I am not a fan of over-one stitching, but I make exceptions for certain designers!

Mr. Wonderful is leaving tomorrow for two weeks, so Tiger Lily and I will be here all by ourselves. There's no telling what we'll get into, so stay tuned!

PS: Shout out to my parents, who celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary yesterday! 

04 August 2016

Why she does this, I have no idea...

...but Tiger Lily loves Mr. Wonderful's uniform. She does this a lot.