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I love it all: embroidery, canvaswork, quilting, crochet. So much to do, so little time.





Saturday, August 31, 2013

45 Years of Tenacity

tenacious (adj.) 
(a) not easily pulled apart; cohesive.
(b) tending to adhere or cling, especially to another substance.

45 years ago today...

...these youngsters got married.
I like to say I was three.
As you can see, I was a little older than that,
but much younger than the typical age of
"kids" who get married these days.
 
This was taken about a week ago.
At least DH is smiling in this photo!
The giant loon lives on the main drag
in Mercer, Wisconsin.
 
(Don't you love comparison photos like these?)
 
Have a great weekend!
And thanks for visiting!

Monday, August 19, 2013

August IHSW

Hey Blog Buddies,

The warmer weather is creeping in and soon it will be hot in my neck of the woods, so I tried to balance out this weekend with some outdoor things that needed to get done before it gets too hot and humid.  But I did get some stitching and crocheting done, and I even have a finish to show you, to-wit:

My third and last crocheted bunny.
I think it's a little strange-looking,
but hopefully someone will buy it at the boutique.
This guy is over twice as big as
the pink/lilac bunnies I finished last week!
I may have to do something about
that red eye--it's a little crooked.
 
And on the stitchy front:
Prairie Schooler's Summer & Winter leaflet
yielded this little design for August.
The bee's wings were supposed to be white,
but I thought that they would be
lost against the platinum linen background,
so I went with DMC 168 (light grey).
I've gotten a little farther than this--
the photo got taken yesterday evening.
One or two more days and this should be done!
 
That's all I've got.
Joyce at Random Ramblings is
our IHSW leader.
Check out her blog, here, to see what
my fellow hermitters created this weekend.
And don't forget to drool over Joyce's
stunning Butterfly Lace Mandala
which she finished this weekend, too!
Hope your weekend was fun.
 
Thanks for visiting!

Monday, August 12, 2013

The Pumpkin and Friends

Hey Blog Buddies,

How was your weekend?  Did you get to do some fun summer (or winter) activities?  We had really nice weather here, so we biked, sat out on the deck and played with Molly in the yard.

She's a fast runner, and
my panning skills are lacking.
 
One can always get a better shot
just before throwing the ball!
 
And since I'm a little behind in showing you my stitchy stuff, let's not waste another minute.  I worked on the pumpkin (Debbie Stiehler's design--you can see the finished model on my sidebar), and I finished my first football!  Here is where we last left it:

Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea.
 
And here is what it looks like now:
 
You can see why I called it a "football."
There are 16 sections to each football.
They all repeat, but the stitches are placed
a little differently on each one.
 
Here is more detail of the finished sections:
That was a lot of stitching!
 
Here are some close-ups:
 
The darker section is an eggplant-colored
metallic ribbon couched with orange,
then diagonally backstitched with alternating
light and medium shades of green.  Fun!
 
Debbie gives great instructions
for stitching plaid designs easily.
The bottom right design is one of the layered stitches.
There is never a dull moment here.
 
I'll save other close-ups for later progress reports,
because I can see this might get
a little repetitive.
 
The first "friend of the pumpkin"
is a quilted table topper.
 
I pieced the top months ago,
and it's been sitting on the dining room table
in an unfinished state ever since.
I thought leaving it there would shame me into
finishing it a lot faster than I did--obviously not!
Yay, for a long-awaited finish!
 
The final "friends" of the pumpkin are two crocheted bunnies
which I made to sell at my guild's annual holiday boutique.
I was originally going to make just one bunny,
but you know how rabbits are--they multiply!
 
Here's my first bunny:
 
See how forlorn he is all by himself.
He looks like he's been run over by a truck.
 
I had an extra skein of yarn left, so...
...now he has a sister.
DH has named them Donnie and Marie.
(No, he's not quite right, either.)
You'll notice that the tips of Donnie's ears are rounded,
but Marie's ears come to a point
as per the instructions--but it was ugly getting there.
I used Cascade Cherub DK yarn,
and I found it somewhat difficult to work with
because it tended to split quite a bit.
The pattern is from Simply Crochet,
a British publication.
I learned the hard way that a British double crochet
is an American single crochet!
 
I guess Donnie gave Marie a tour of the backyard.
They probably climbed the tree
trying to get away from Molly.
Don't worry--I rescued them.
 
I have a third (and last) bunny in the works,
but he will look a bit different--
perhaps a third cousin twice removed.
 
That's it from here.
Thanks, as always, for visiting.
 

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Lake County Fair

Hi Blog Buddies,

It's been a while, and some of you may be wondering what I've been up to (or not).  Well, I have been stitching, and later this week I'll have stitchy stuff to share, but today I'd like to take you with me to the Lake County Fair.  This City Girl just loves county fairs (especially Lake County).  Wanna take a spin around the fair?  C'mon!

This Fair has been going strong for 161 years,
but they are not the oldest fair in Indiana.
That honor goes to the LaPorte County Fair.
 
Are you hungry?
 



You're in fried food heaven....
 
...with beverages to wash it all down.
 
There's always lots of heavy equipment on display.
 
I love watching the horse competitions.
Do these kids have bad posture? 
Are they checking their smart phones?  No!
They are all holding apples under their chins!
Last one who drops their apple wins.
 
Next there was the egg race.
Same principle:  last one who drops their egg
(sitting on a spoon)
wins.
 
This big guy comes every year with his owner,
who makes name tags for dogs while you wait.
 
And speaking of big guys...
...the biggest pumpkin always draws a crowd.
Yes, that's 754.5 pounds!
We are now in the Agricultural Building,
and we won't be leaving any time soon.
 
They grow their sunflowers tall in Indiana!
 
Who can resist the Wonderful World of Gourds?
 
They were keeping the (live) bees cool with a fan,
even though the day itself was pleasantly cool.
 
One of my favorite categories:  Freak Vegetable or Fruit
...because I'm weird.
 
DH loves the Industrial Building as much
as I love the Agricultural.
It's populated by building contractors,
cookware demos,
ShamWow salespeople
and even a company that sell caskets.
Nothing to see here--let's move on.
 
No visit to the fair would be complete
without a stop at this building.
But we won't actually be going inside today.
Do you see that gigantic bee guarding the entrance?
Instead, I'll send you here,
to see all the exhibits which my sister stitchers and I
entered into the fair this year.
We all had a blast during exhibitors' night.
If you've been reading this blog recently,
you can easily pick out my stuff.
 
This concludes our visit to the fair.
(There was so much that we didn't see.)
Hope you enjoyed my version of
the 2013 Lake County Fair.
 
And thanks for visiting!