Traveling Stash!!

I cannot believe it's been so long since I updated my blog. Where does the time go? It's been a busy time here in the Tickled Pink household. With spring break, and my son home for over a week, there were things to do, places to see, movies to watch. My son can be such fun when he wants to be...but isn't that true of any teenager?

I first want to start by saying THANK YOU to Tricia from The Stamper's Stitches blog! I was the winner of The Traveling Stash! I have to say, I was so surprised when I received her package, it was so full of great stuff! I've gone through it a couple of times and picked a number of things!! It's a wonderful package!! Now I have to rummage and peruse my stash and find some things to replace what I've taken. If you would like to be next in line, please leave a message on this post only!! I have a busy two weeks coming up, so I will choose someone in two weeks time on May 10th. That will give me a little time to sort through my stash and decide what I want to pass on. I am so thrilled to be able to "pass on the blessing" as Tricia said! I will be willing to send it overseas, but whoever gets it there should be willing to send it wherever too. Are you game? Then please mention it a message below!

I can't say I've accomplished too much on the stitching side of things. I was finally able to finish off parts 7 and 8 of the Romantique Sampler. I must say, you can't tell by the picture, this is a BIG sampler, and hard to stitch when you've had surgery!! I'm glad to say I'm finished with this part and will have a bit of a rest from it for a while!


I have been working here and there on smaller projects, like the Tree of Stitches being offered on the Stitch Specialists yahoo group. Here is part 8 completed.


I've also been working on my Lighthouse Sampler from By the Bay Needleart. This is one of the crazy challenges...and secretly my favorite of the bunch. I can't wait to see it finished!!


Another SAL being offered on the Stitch Specialists yahoo group is this beginner hardanger piece. Again, I'm caught up on this one, and eagerly (*cough cough*) awaiting the next section which will be cutting. *knees shaking* That's the part that always scares me a bit until I've finished cutting and realize that all is well.


Last, but certainly not least, is my UFO. The next time you see this little beauty, it will have less stitching. I didn't realize until I had finished the last two groups of flowers on the left hand side, but there had been a mistake in the pattern and I had missed the correction until I was finished stitching. My bad for having laid this aside for so long. I am now two rows off and one column off. I can't decide if I should frog, or finagle. The side opposite is the reverse so I'm thinking frogging...and since this is stitched over one linen thread, I'm dreading the process. I may pick another UFO this week! LOL


Now you may be wondering, other than being preoccupied with my son being home on spring break, why I've been so quiet. Well, we decided, last minute, that we would make a little trip out of town. I have ALWAYS wanted to visit Monticello in Virginia, the home of one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. I had been reading about former president's wives on a blog one day a couple of weeks ago, and it sparked that longing feeling again. When I mentioned it to DH, he promptly ordered tickets to visit the home online and made hotel reservations! We are so different, he and I, I would have planned for months in advance, but he is a spur of the moment type of guy! Either way, it was a wonderful time to be there, the flowers were in bloom, it only rained on us just a bit one day, we saw even more than we expected, and enjoyed being a family without the constant dread of illness hanging over our heads. I must say, it did tire me out, but the guys were patient with me and we took our time so I was able to keep up. Not only did we visit Monticello, but Ash-Lawn Highland as well, home of another former president, James Monroe. We learned on the way home that James Madison lived nearby as well, so I think we'll be making another trip to the area down the line somewhere. Here are a few pictures...

The first is Monticello...Home of Thomas Jefferson. Now this man was 6'2", and the statue of him next to my son is life size! As you can see, the extra bit of "Mohawk" puts DS at almost the same height as that statue. I have a hard time looking up to my 15 year old!! LOL Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man, as you can see from his architecture (he designed his home and built it TWICE!! He was a man after any woman's heart as he knew how to make use of every square inch (lots of closets, almost unheard of in those days!!) and he was most interested in plants, flowers, and how to cultivate them to their full potential. I could go on and on, I have the utmost respect for this man, but I would probably bore you to tears...so here is his house, from the front, back and side.






The fish pond on the left was used to keep fish that he had caught until he was ready to eat them, then would catch them anew and eat them fresh (told you he was brilliant!!)



I love this shot of the vineyards that DS captured!!




The second home was Ash Lawn - Highland which was James Monroe's house, 2 1/2 miles from Monticello. They were friends, but their homes were vastly different. Monroe had a much more modest home, but they were both great statesmen and forward thinkers.

Here are pictures of the house from the front and both sides. The yellow portion of the house was the original house as it was built when they moved in, and the white portion of the house were additions that were made afterward.







My son kept me in stitches while he was home. While discussing where we might go to tour while he was on spring break, he mentioned that he would like to visit Tokoyo. I told him we couldn't travel that far, and I didn't want to fly. He went to "Google Earth" and got directions to Tokoyo without flying....It was a 4 page description of highways and byways until you reached the Pacific Ocean. From there (and I'm NOT kidding) it said to kayak across to Hawaii, travel across a few highways there, then kayak to Japan, then gave more highways to reach Tokoyo. It would only take 35 days to perform this Herculean task!! If you don't believe me, pick a spot on the east coast of the US and try it yourself!! LOL

Now don't fret if you don't see me for a little while. I will be headed out this weekend to the annual St. Michael's getaway! This is an annual trip some friends of mine and I make to a little place on the Eastern Shore where we gather ourselves and stitch for an entire weekend. It's a lovely spot, so quiet and serene, until we arrive that is. We stay up late, get up early, and stitch, stitch, stitch! We also laugh until our sides hurt. We choose the date for the following year before we leave, and then anticipate it for the entire next year. If you ever want to plant a smile on my face, just mention St. Michael's!! And I'm sure it would do the same for nearly every lady who goes on our retreat. The ladies are camera shy, but hopefully I'll get some pictures to share with you when I get back. I may have time for one more post before I go, but if I don't, don't worry, I'll be back with updates galore! Till then, keep smiling! *Hugs*