What I Did on My Summer Vacation...Family Time at Yosemite, Neighborhood Excitement, Stitching

My family lives all over the US including my sister's and brother's family who live in HI.

My sister came up with an idea for some of us to meet up for a trip to Yosemite with some time in San Francisco too.  We'd never been there, so were excited to go.  The participants were my sister's family, my elderly parents, our DD and grandbaby, my brother-in-law's sister and 2 DD's, my DH and me.  We stayed in a suite near the park entrance.  It was what I'm calling a "Joyful Chaos" with many instances of "herding cats".  We all really enjoyed this special family time.

Everywhere we looked was so beautiful!  My BIL would often ask where we wanted to go and my response was that it didn't matter since everything there was so scenic.  One of my highlights was sitting on rocks up on Glacier Point to watch the sunset and the stargazing afterwards.

I may have mentioned a new house being built in our neighborhood.  It's huge and they're also putting in an infinity pool.  DIY/HGTV has been filming the pool building for their show Pool Kings and it was announced today that their episode will air on DIY on July 17 at 8 pm Central time.  This has been the excitement of our lake neighbors for the past few months and we'll be glad to see it on TV.


On the stitching front, I finished and mailed off the models before the trip so now I'm back to personal stitching.  Some friends and I are going to do a loose sal of LHN Elizabeth Hancock (Liz, as I call her) working 1-2 days per week on that one.  (I'd started Liz a while back but put it down to stitch other things.)  I started PS 12 Days 7 Swans but wasn't in the mood to stitch all that white right now so started 8 Maids a Milking.  I'm also working on a small patriotic piece for another sal (themed celebrations).

Here's Liz at my current starting point:

I'm also registered for Camp Gottastitch 2017 and am looking forward to it.  I attended last year and had a blast.

Happy stitching!

6 Geese A'Laying

I'm still model stitching (almost finished!) but managed to stitch my June block for an ornament stitchalong.  It's from Prairie Schoolers leaflet #74 Twelve Days of Christmas.

We've been enjoying sitting on our deck by the lake lately and I finished this block sitting out there the other night.  I thought it was appropriate to work on it there as we have geese on our lake.

I think once I've finished the model, I may pull out a patriotic wip to stitch.

Happy Stitching!

Graduation, etc.

Our youngest son graduated from University of Texas last weekend.  It was a nice weekend with something nice to celebrate.  He will be working at the same place where he's been working as an intern after taking a little time off.

I made another visit to spend time with my daughters family in April.  I so enjoy spending time with them!

On the stitching front, I'm concentrating on 2 models and making some nice progress.  I snuck in this Prairie Schooler for some personal stitching.

Happy stitching!

Just Chatting

We've been out "galavanting" a bit lately and since I'm model stitching, I don't have any stitching I can show.

A couple of weekends ago, we went hiking at Enchanted Rock in the Hill Country of Texas.  (One of our sons went with us.)  We planned well because the Texas wildflowers were in full bloom.  What a show!  I saw my first roadrunner (luckily no sign of Wylie Coyote!). The hike wasn't too strenuous although the last push to the top of the rock was a little challenging for me, anyway.

 The next morning we went with said son and another to brunch before returning home.

We just returned last night from a long weekend visiting our oldest son who recently moved to Philadelphia.  I'd never been so, in addition to seeing our son, I was pleased to get to see some of the sights in Philly.  (We saved some things to do/see for our next visits.)  We learned about Yards beer, that Philadelphians seem to like oldies music (we heard it in several places we went including the airport), that Philly drivers like to honk their horns, how to navigate their train system to and from the airport and city,  and that Philadelphia is the 5th largest city in the USA.  Also, we tried cheese steak....yummm!

One stitching note is that we found a display of Adam and Eve samplers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Wow!

Happy stitching!

Our St. Pat's Dinner and a Couple of Finishes...and a Model

If we're home, I like to make a dinner with corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes.  The best part is the Reubens the next day from the leftover corned beef.  (Although when our kids lived at home, often there wouldn't be enough leftovers for more than one sandwich.)

This year I made the corned beef in the crock pot with some beef broth, carrots, and onions.  I made colcannon (mashed potatoes with cooked shredded cabbage, lots of butter, milk, salt and pepper) and I tried making a new recipe of shortbread that incorporated some ground up oatmeal (in homage of my SIL's native Scotland).

The results were very good and we're looking forward to the Reuben sandwiches for tonight's dinner.

My friend came over the other day to stitch so, instead of working on the new model, I finished 2 French Hens and started 4 calling birds from the Prairie Schooler's 12 Days of Christmas leaflet.  I'm stitching these to be finished as ornaments and it's a sal theme in an ornament a month group.  (I was so close to finishing the calling birds that I finished them last night...will work intensively on the model from here on out.)

I don't think I posted about CCN releasing the last model I stitched...Lovebirds  It's a cute one and worked up quickly.

Happy stitching!

Beautiful Floss Giveaway at Victorian Motto Sampler Floss

Nancy's hosting another giveaway of some of her beautiful floss.  Details below:

Spring Flowers Collection Giveaway

Good luck and....

Happy stitching!

California Dreamin' and Pi Day

I just returned Monday night from a 2+ week visit to my DD's family to help out a bit with our sweet granddaughter while DSIL had some trips planned.  I got to pick her up early in the afternoons from day care and either took her to the nearby park or played with her at home.  I also did some kitchen help, ran errands, went to the grocery store, etc.  I stayed long enough (and DH flew in for) her 1st birthday party.  (We helped with the prep for that too.)  I made some play dough for the party.  While the kids enjoyed it, the "big kids" (adults) enjoyed it even more.  The party's theme was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and my DD made the cutest cake.

She's such a sweetie!  I got to see her first steps (walking independently) and DH taught her how to say "uh-oh!".

In the mornings, I would walk down their (steep, .6 mile) hill and over to a nearby park for a nice walk.  I saw deer, bunnies, and lots of birds there.  If you look carefully in the picture below, you can see a deer.

I didn't have time for much stitching but I managed to finish a couple of PS wips I brought with me.

It was really hard to leave (and I'm already thinking about my next visit there) but, I suppose, good to get home and back to "normal".  I have a new model to stitch that looks to be something I'll really enjoy stitching.

We celebrated Pi Day yesterday for dinner by having some of my DH's homemade pizza we'd frozen and a banana cream pie (with rum-soaked golden raisins and toasted almond slivers) that I made from a recipe of my late MIL.  (I'm going to have to do a lot more walking to make up for that meal!)

Happy stitching!