Well, it's been an interesting few weeks...in case you've been wondering why I haven't updated in a while, and why I've been so busy lately...it's because we have been celebrating with our son who turned 21 last year. We asked if he would like to go somewhere for his Birthday, and he chose Las Vegas, Nevada. Because it's so hot there, we decided we would go when the weather was a lot cooler! The last time we were there, it was before he was born...and my oh my how things have changed! So we saved all our spare change for over a year, and divided it up between the three of us and that is what we used for "fun money" to use any way we wanted. I haven't had time to stitch while we were gone, and even before I left, so no stitching to show here, but I'm going to post a few pictures of our trip.
First off, the Birthday Boy...he loved that there are no open container laws in Vegas...and had to try some of the local brews from Las Vegas.
You can't visit Las Vegas without having your picture taken next to the famous sign...
Las Vegas is an interesting place...and I jokingly told my husband that we visited several places (Paris, Venice, New York City, Rome, England, Egypt, Ireland, Camelot, and even the bottom of the sea) and we didn't even need a passport! LOL
We got to taste some Coke products from around the world too! This a fun experience, but one I probably won't repeat...I think I liked the Smart Watermelon from China was my favorite.
I did happen to see one place I thought might keep me there the rest of my life....who wouldn't like a giant Statue of Liberty made up of chocolate or Twizlers for their very own? Yes, I think I could live at Chocolate World the rest of my days!
There are so many amazing places to eat, too! We found a wonderful place for pizza at the New York Pizzeria in New York, New York casino and Chicago style deep dish pizza at Giordano's just outside Bally's Casino.
We found the best Fish and Chips at Gordon Ramsey's Fish and Chips outside the Linq Casino!
We had a lovely Irish dinner at Hennessey's Tavern down on Freemont Street,
and the BEST pretzel balls with cheese fondue at the Culinary Dropout at the Hard Rock Casino.
We learned about a place called Freemont Street from an Uber driver who told us the best casinos to visit there and about the "Freemont Experience" show where they have a video under the canopy set to music. You can also take the zip line, and though I told my husband he should go, he vehemently declined.
We loved the old part of downtown with all their famous signs. It was worth the trip down there to see them lit up at night.
That is where we found Hennessey's Tavern...and learned about the Heart Attack Cafe (we didn't actually eat there, but just HAD to take pictures!) The food there is cooked in lard, all the customers had to wear hospital gowns, and if you didn't finish your dinner, the nurses (waitresses) would spank you before you left. LOL!!
We also found the Toy Shack. We watch Pawn Stars which is a TV show about a Pawn Shop near Freemont Street and when someone comes into their shop with unusual items, they call in experts. The owner of the Toy Shack is frequently featured on the show, and he happened to be in the shop the day we were there, and he graciously posed for a picture. I took a picture of the Pawn Shop featured on Pawn Stars as we flew by in the Uber, so I didn't get the whole sign...
We made a side trip to Hoover Dam and took a tour of the Powerhouse there. Sadly they have been experiencing a drought, and where you see white along the walls of the canyon is where the water once ran. I hope they get some needed rain soon!
We saw a few shows while we were there...
First off was MindFreak with Criss Angel, a Goth style magician. Ben and I used to watch him all the time on A&E and talked for years about going to see him. He didn't disappoint!! We got to talking with the usher for our section (at first we were seated in the very last row in the theater) and talked about her family, Cirque du Soleil who sponsors Criss, and how long we've waited to see his show. She disappeared for a bit, then came back and told us they reserve seats for special guests and would like to upgrade our seats. She moved us down into the theater near the aisle, and when Criss came out into the audience, he ran right by us!! What fun that was!!
Then we went to see Terry Fator. He won America's Got Talent several years back (2007 I think). He is the best ventriloquist I have ever seen. He is so funny...and our favorite act that he did was a puppet of President Trump (search for it on youtube...it's pretty funny). When we left, we mistakenly let Mike buy some souvenirs, and he left with Winston. He stowed him away but later we found out that Southwest let's puppets fly free. Turns out Winston was a good luck charm at the penny slot machines at the airport!!
The night before we left, we went to see Love. It's a Cirque du Soleil show using all Beatles music. We thoroughly enjoyed the music, and the talented acrobats who performed. It was our second Cirque du Soleil show we have seen and they never disappoint. It's hard to know where to look when there is so much going on on the stage. But it's so much fun to watch!
At one point I almost had the guys convinced they could join Cirque du Soleil!!
We did a lot of walking....one day we even walked more than 20,000 steps. Whew!! You can bet we slept well each night after all that exercise! We enjoyed some of the free shows they offer, the erupting volcano outside the Mirage...
The Poseidon show at Caesar's Palace...
And the fountain show outside the Bellagio. I caught a little bit of one of the shows...they were set to music and played every 15 minutes. Unfortunately I can't upload the video...so I'll show some pictures instead...
We spent one night on the Vegas Strip watching the street performers. So many of them are talented, and we happened upon an artist. We stopped to pick up this picture done in colored pencils. I would love to know the back story, but the picture spoke volumes to me.
Mike had to stop and help a starving college student...at least that's his story. He has always liked Wonder Woman...and now he has his picture with her...LOL!! The look on his face is priceless!!
And then...there was this guy....no idea how he does this, but ... there he is...he was not sitting on the fence, he was sitting in mid air...
So....these are the highlights...I'll be back to posting stitching again soon. I hesitated to post this but what the heck, someone out there might be interested in a trip to Las Vegas...haha. We did a lot in 6 short days, but as I said before, it was an absolute blast!! I'll leave you with a parting shot at a sunrise...
Wow...where on earth did the past month go??? I've been crazy busy with this and that and the month just sneaked away. I participated in Jo's blog hop yesterday and she mentioned in her post that Gifted Gorgeousness was the next day, thank heavens, or it would have completely slipped my mind!! It only heightened my awareness that I have some deadlines coming up and I'm waaaaay behind schedule.
Ok, if you haven't heard of Gifted Gorgeousness where have you been? LOL Just kidding!! Jo from Serendipitous Stitching has been hosting this for quite some time, and I jumped on the bandwagon last year. It's been fun digging out patterns and kits that folks had given me, or showing things I had stitched for others and keeps the idea of gifting in my mind. It's also given me incentive to stitch and blog, so I thank Jo for all her positive encouragement. If you want to join you can read more about it here! And if you want to see what others have been stitching, you can see who is participating here.
So what have I done? Hm....I've been posting a bit as I go along, but I'll recap a bit here. Sorry if you've seen these before but I do have one new one and I'll show that first.
Last year, while I was back in NY, I did a private exchange with a lady from Canada. She sent me this pattern and I've been chomping at the bit to stitch it. As I'm stitching from stash this year, and wanted a little quickie to stitch, I dug this out and got er done! This is Believe from Stoney Creek. EVERYTHING came from stash, wasn't I lucky to have all the threads, pattern and material on hand?
I've been keeping up with the Linen and Threads Mystery SAL that is going on. Again, everything is from stash, and the pattern is free. It can be found here. I have finished up February so I'm all caught up!
I've been working on Sweet Nectar for my Mom. This will go to her when I'm done. It's been a bit difficult to work on because I have it on a scroll frame and it's a bit heavy, so I can only work on it in small amounts. Here is where I'm at right now.
Last is Winter's Majesty. The last time I picked it up, I was working with Marlitt and I struggled so much I thought I would put it down and stitch a little bit more later.
I picked up Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor yesterday. This one really isn't part of Gifted Gorgeousness, but I thought I'd show my progress on this one. I haven't worked on this one in a few years. It's stitched on 32 count over one with confetti stitches all over the place. I'm using Valdani thread, and for some reason it doesn't like me!! I've had more knots than I can shake a stick at so progress is slow. Here is where I am now. As you can see, I jump around a bit, it's because it's in a book and has so many pages, I'm trying to finish one page at a time, but ... oh no more excuses, I'm just that scatterbrained when I stitch...LOL!!! This, Winter's Majesty, and Sweet Nectar are on my Wipocalypse list to finish this year. Wish me luck!!
I'm all over the map with things lately, I just can't seem to settle on one thing and finish it through....but at least I haven't started anything new unless I knew I could finish within a day or two. I guess it kind of mirrors my life at the moment, which seems chaotic and unconquerable right now. Between my being sick, DS's girlfriend being in and out of the hospital (keep the lovely Ms. K in your prayers, won't you?) and other things grabbing my attention, it's been difficult to stay on any one task. I'm hoping by the end of this month I'll have things a little more under control. So...if I disappear until then, don't worry...I'll be back!
And that's all the news that's fit to print! Off to get a project finished up for an exchange. I'm determined to get it done today and in the mail this week!! Have a great day and Happy Stitching!
Hi! It's my first EVER Blog Hop! I'm glad I chose Valentine's Day to be my first one! I know a lot of folks say that Valentine's Day is just a money maker for card and gift companies, but hey....any day set aside to show love for others is a great idea in my book!
There is a list of people participating over on Jo Who Can't Think of a Clever Nickname's blog, Serendipitous Stitching. You can click here to head over to her blog and follow the blog hop. I have posted the picture of my secret stitching partner. Now I will go over to Jo's and hop through the blogs to find the person who has my picture! Should be a fun way to see what other folks have been stitching!
Over the years I've shared this day with others who would otherwise be alone. I don't consider it a day just for "lovers", so just go out and share the love you have and make someone's day brighter! While my husband was deployed one year, I attended a Valentine's dinner with another lady whose husband was deployed. I bought her a corsage and chocolates...and it was a lot of fun and it helped us not to miss our husbands so much on that day. Life is what you choose to make it, so make it a good one!
Happy Stitching!!
Hi, just a short update here. I had plans for the weekend....but somehow things went a little awry. So...I got a little more stitching done than I expected. I was going to rotate on a daily basis, but that didn't happen either. I picked up Renouveau, and got so entranced, and then determined to finish this certain motif that I just didn't put it down. Here are before and after pictures after working on it for 3 days. It is stitched over one on 32 ct.
Just in case you can't see the detail in the blanket she is hanging, I have a close up ...
I hated to put it away before I finished this blanket because it was driving me batty!! It was a pain to stitch such a concentrated area, but I really like how it came out! One more motif in the lower left corner and then it's mostly lettering for a while. It should go faster then (she said laughing to herself because she knows NOTHING goes as planned in DJ's world). Thank heavens for reruns of the new Roots...that kind of distracted me from the tediousness of that particular area!
Come back tomorrow for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop being offered over at Serendipitous Stitching! Should be fun seeing all those Valentine's!
Happy Stitching!
Hi There! It's been a while, and most of the time that has flown by has been a blur!
Well, the stomach virus and cold/flu bugs have hit DJ's Digs pretty hard of late. I was out of commission last week for a few days with some sort of virus...was well enough to go to DS's hockey game on Saturday with DH and the lovely Miss. K,
and church Sunday, then the next wave of whatever it is hit. I blame DH, he brings all sorts of illnesses home from his place of employment. He was sick first! Thankfully DS is doing ok. They both got the flu shot back in October, while I was still in NY...so I'm wondering if that's why it has hit me harder than them? Who knows...thankfully I'm not important so no one has missed me!! LOL
I've mostly been sleeping, but I have managed to put a few stitches in here and there. Last month I worked on Winter's Majesty. I put in a few more stitches before the month was over. I did a few snowflakes working with Marlitt...ugh!! I like the way it looks, but taming that thread has become my nemesis!! It seems to take me twice as long to stitch with it than other threads. I keep staring at it hoping the backstitching will somehow stitch it's self. The backstitching is done with metallic thread, and though I've been schooled on Thread Heaven, I learned about it after I had done all this stitching with it, I can't switch horses in midstream...can I? There are times I wish I were Samantha Stevens....where I could twitch my nose and magic happens (please don't tell me I'm the only one who remembers Bewitched...the TV show...ok now I feel REALLY old!!) So...here are before, after and close up pictures, so you can see all the backstitching there is left to do around all those *&^% cherry blossoms and snowflakes...
I decided I would work on Sweet Nectar this month. I had all kinds of good intentions, but this one isn't as fun to stitch on. I have it on a scroll frame which is kinda heavy. DH made this lovely stitching frame made of PVC piping, but it takes a while to get set up with it, and I've been impatient, so I did stitch a bit, but decided I wanted something smaller to work on for a bit...here is before and after to show my progress right now...
I finally settled on working on Leave a Light On. This is nice to work on because it's smaller, lighter, and I'm enjoying stitching on it even though it's 28 count navy over one. I was hoping switching WIPs once a month would help me finish up some things I've had sitting around for many years, but all I've done really is waffle on what I should stitch. LOL I have so many, and some days I just feel like doing something different. So I decided I'm going to stitch whatever I feel like stitching. I won't start anything new until I finish something...or unless it's something small I can finish in a day or two. I'll eventually get those things finished, right? LOL I'll keep telling myself that and maybe it will actually happen!
Last, but not least, is my Linen and Threads Mystery SAL. This is stitched on 28 ct black over one using up some vintage Bucilla threads I had sitting around for ages. I've had fun choosing different color schemes, and from the posts I've seen on Facebook, others have seemed to like my choices, although they think I'm crazy for stitching over one on such a dark color. This has been a challenge for me as I really like structure and for someone to tell me what colors to use and what looks good. I guess it's good to stretch yourself from time to time! I like that I've had so many affirmative comments! For some reason, all the pictures I took today seem a little off in their true colors...it must be the cloudy day we are having. Hopefully they will be better next time!
Well...yesterday was a lovely day, it actually broke a record...it was 72 degrees and I had the windows open for a while. It felt good to get some fresh air without leaving the house. But today it's in the 30's, the wind is blowing and it feels like winter again. We were supposed to get snow, but looks like all we are going to get for the time being is wind. I know there are bad storms across the country, I feel like I live in a bubble. I hope the folks I know in the rest of the country and other countries too, are staying safe. Happy Stitching!!
