More Finishes... and Galleria

My happy, chubby bird is finished!

Jolly Robin came as a kit from Bothy Threads.

I love the speckled aida that came with it;

it was fun to stitch.

My framer finished him in record time.

This Laura J. Perin piece, Nordic Valentine,

was finished recently, too.

I was attempting to attach the

called-for beads with invisible thread,

when I thought to myself

"Life's too short."

It looks fine without the beads.

This is the second piece from

Jeannette Douglas' Flower Tray set.

I'm going to find someone to make it

into a pincushion drum for me.

And, finally, just in time for October...

This is from Little Dove's Year.

I changed the lettering

from backstitch to cross stitch

and omitted the second spider.

I backed it with the fabric shown  in the 

background of the photo.

It reminds me of centipedes,

so it's appropriately creepy.

I almost didn't find this fabric

because it was at the bottom of a

large pile of various non-purple pieces.

I wound up re-organizing all my fabric by color.

I'll be able to find all of the purples now;

I discovered that I don't have a lot of them.

Almost two weeks ago

I went to the annual

Needlework Galleria

held in St. Charles, Missouri.

The event was bigger than ever this year;

the entire fourth floor of the

Embassy Suites was given over to it,

and about a half dozen shops were on 3.

This is just a smattering of photos

from some of the participating shops.

The bottom photo was from a

counted canvaswork shop,

participating for the first time this year.

See the tall skinny red/blue piece

in the top row.

Doesn't it have my name on it?

Of course it did!

My haul.

I went crazy at the fabric place (lower left).

If you look at the lower right part of the photo,

you can see the instruction booklet,

threads and blue canvas

shown in the model photo above.

These people (sellers) were from Canada,

and I had never seen their pieces before!

I saved on shipping!

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Another thing I really liked about the Galleria

were all the doo-dads at the various shops.

Here's a close-up of those that I bought:

A couple of "square" hoops; 

metal tea balls to cross stitch

for Christmas ornaments;

little rubber cylinders to use when

tightening a hoop or to grab a needle;

and the wooden octopus square

will measure a border of either

1", 2" or 3" if you place it at the

corner of your fabric!

See, not many!

There were many other cute doo-dads

that I didn't buy.

I do have some self-control!

I seem to have finished most of

my WIPs at the same time.

I'm currently working on just

one Halloween small

which should be finished very soon.

I need to start a bunch of new projects now!

Well, that's it from here.

Thanks for visiting!

The Northwoods and Some Finishes

Usually, this blog concerns all things stitching, but today I thought I'd share my little end-of-summer trip with you, too.  We went to a place that I'm guessing not a lot of people have visited - Upper Michigan.  It's a hidden gem.

When we were planning a trip this year, this describes my state of mind perfectly:

We drove up through the Lower Peninsula.

The two peninsulas weren't even connected before 1957!

In Mackinaw City there is a little museum

on the second floor of a pizza place

that tells the story of building the Mackinac Bridge.

It's interesting (and quirky) and free.

If you squint at the horizon to the right

of the bridge, you can see St. Ignace

in the Upper Peninsula.

The "mighty Mac" is five miles long.

We stayed at a cozy, rustic cabin in Hulbert.

The next day, we traveled to Munising which is the gateway

to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

We took a 2-hour boat ride to view the rocks,

which extend for miles up and down the shoreline.

They probably would have been more

brilliant if the sun had been out.

After the boat ride, we ate lunch at

a local cafe/book store where I found this...

The dust jacket is a little frayed,

but the pages are fine,

and for two dollars I'll be happy to

peruse it and pass it on.

Another stop was the

Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in 

Whitefish Point.

There have been over 500 shipwrecks

on the Great Lakes since records were kept.

The majority of them occur

in Lake Superior between

Munising and Whitefish Point.

This is the actual bell from one of the most

famous wrecks, The Edmund Fitzgerald.

A replica bell was made and engraved

with the names of all her crewmen,

and lowered down to the wreck

to serve as a memorial.

The crew remains at the bottom of

Lake Superior with the ship.

Just beyond the museum is a small beach

where you can walk or just gaze

at the big lake...

The clouds look ominous,

but we encountered only a few sprinkles that day.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park is nearby.

There are several smaller lower waterfalls...

...in the back among the trees...

and a larger upper falls...

On our way west across the peninsula,
we stopped at the
Michigan Iron Industry Museum
just outside of Marquette.
The Upper Peninsula was rich
in both iron ore and copper.

This was very interesting to me personally
because both of my grandfathers
worked in the iron ore mines.

Our last stop was at the
western end of the peninsula

where I got a chance to visit

with some of my cousins...

OK, enough blathering about my trip.

Here are a few recent stitchy finishes:

The Summer Foursome from

Prairie Schooler's Summer Breeze

leaflet was finished,

and I just happened to have

this frame in my stash.

Heart in Hand's Stitching Bird

got stitched and FFO'ed.

I added the four small buttons, 

which were from my stash.

Good that I'm using up stash, eh?

And almost in time for September

(it's not pillowfied)

is September,

from Little Dove's Year.

Well, that's it from here.

Hope your August was fun.

Thanks for visiting!