Merry Christmas!

This is going to be odds and ends of things that don't fit anywhere else, 

but I want to wish all my friends and family

Merry Christmas!!

Pretty iron heart candle holder from my friend Kim!

My Nisse that I made a long time ago...knit the clothes and then stuffed them. Super fine skis of tongue depressors and sticks of barbeque skewers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Super fine skis of tongue depressors!

 My daughter took this picture of my 6 grandkids sitting on a log.
 It was taken in August when they all visited.
I think it is the only one I have of all 6 and it is pretty special to me.

Masquerade... finished for my youngest, Darcy, for her birthday.

 

 

 

 

The pattern is from my daughter Tracy's Ink Circles.

I used all limited edition silks I had been

storing up. I love the colors from Carries Creation,

and the linen is Tarnish from Picture This Plus.

Have a Happy New Year too!!!

Thanksgiving to Birthday with a Gold Mine in the middle!

  

  What a fun vacation!                                                                                                    

Old bank vault door is now entrance to the mine

entrance to mine with wine cellar along sides

  

I flew to my son's in Nevada for Thanksgiving, then my daughter Darcy's family took me to northern Ca to visit their "cabin" with a gold mine on the property. We had a fantastic time in warm sunny weather. I was able to go way back in the mine. It has not been actively mined since the 30's.
It was owned by Germans until the 2nd world war and all the details of production and such were lost after the war. It was fun to see the old pick marks, left over cart rails and initials on the walls. I really love the beautiful design in the old bank vault door.
Just inside is a wine cellar with quite a few bottles in pipes aligned along the walls, perfect temp! It was pitch black inside so I was amazed how well my Cannon G10 flash lit up the walls, also in the later picture where I was knitting. The generator went off but I was pre warned and had my mine headlight. Again my camera lit up everything. It was REALLY
dark with no street or other lights!

    

tunnels go way back in and branch off

picked out roof

dates from in the 30's

My grandson mining, he is getting good at this!

curvy winding roads for miles to get there

view to west where my SIL proudly waves his flag!

living room with lots of deer, elk, moose horns and chandelier

 

 My children call this "the cabin" but I felt like it was a gorgeous hunting lodge!

Extremely comfortable.

Best view to capture the blazing sunset

antique bow and arrow

more antique tools

cozy kitchen

catch and release of 2 praying mantis, my grandkids

grandson with his bow

Darcy's chuck-it game after breakfast with Dex, Elsa and Leo

my "dog"grand child   6 month old Elsa

Leo and Elsa

Darcy climbing "the rope"

Knitting in the sun, even barefoot! it was so sunny

Truly tuff, continues to knit when generator was off  with

mine headlight!

totem pole SIL carved for cabin/ gorgeous!

Birthday present from my 3 children, painting of my dogs! 

                       They were also featured in our local animal shelter calendar! Miss and Mr "January"

Daughter Darcy's beautiful table for my birthday dinner!

What a fantastic vacation! I was wiped out for a couple days after returning home.
I don't have quite the same energy as the 4 grandkids and 3 dogs!

Published Today: Til Karin - 4 Elements

Til Karin - 4 Elements

                      Karin Larsson, wife to Carl the famous Swedish painter, wove
                      a tapistry in 1903 that was very modern for her time.
                      The first time I saw this tapestry shown in their home,
                      I thought it was about Pentecost with the
                      cross in the center and the flames. It was much later I 
                      found out it represented Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.
                      It has fascinated me for years. Her piece is shown in nearly
                      every picture of their dining room, on the back of the sofa.
                      It took me about a year to design my version, and
                      another 6 months to stitch the piece.
                      It is done on 36 ct Legacy linen from Picture This Plus,
                      Gentle Arts Sampler threads. The small details are in 
                      Assisi style with some backstitch. It is fairly easy to stitch and
                      to see the colors evolve. Their overdyed thread is a joy to use!
                      Karin has always been my heroine. She had 7 living children.
                      She wove tapestries and embroidered many pieces for the
                      home plus sewed most of the clothing for the family, cooked 

                      and took care of them all. She made the Larsson home a

                      beautiful,  warm environment.

                      The pattern for my embroidery will be at the
                       "Online Needlework show"  today.
                      It may be purchased by shops but viewed by all.
                      It will be available at needlework shops now,
                      but also at my daughters site Ink Circles in the future.


                      


                     

Stitch Weasels' Retreat at Olivia Beach

Granddaughter and her mum on left stitching

                           Actually it is the Oregon/Washington stitchers
                            but my husband calls us the "Weasels" and says we
                            bite off our threads with our tiny teeth!
                            The house rented for us was a real "Mansion",
                            It sleeps up to 30 and has 7 bathrooms.
                            It was beautifully decorated in Ocean themes.
                            People came from all over Wa, Or, and the coast. 23!

My Tracy with her new release for next week an addition to "Love Letters"

Happily stitching at dinning table

A  Maple leaf from our little Canadian

Some fine finishes!

A lovely piece of counted stitches from Sue

3 more stitchers in a cozy nook

More finishes!

Stairs that take you over the hill to the ocean showing the cottages and park

the beach at Olivia

                                      

132 steps down to the beach!

                          I walked down then went to a flat spot to come
                          back. Even then I had shin splints the next day.
                          We went on long walks every day in the SUN!!!

Past and Present, my new start I worked on with threads gathered mostly from silk LE's.

                         I have collected this silk in my stash for years for just such a
                         project.

My version of our Martina Dey stitch along

                          It is called "Coat of Arms Sampler" on our yahoo group.
                          I have been saving up old patterns to add to something
                          like this and used Carries LE crimson and new solid crimson.
                          I did nearly all this stitching in our 4 day retreat and
                          finished the first lamb last night. I plan on continuing with
                          Martina's chart from here. I am having an addictive

                          spell of stitching! That is what these retreats do to energize

                          you. It is already booked for a repeat next year!!!

Toledo/ Oregon not Ohio! Wooden Boat Show and Yaquina Fiber Arts

The Gal   This boat is featured on the "T" shirt

                Saturday the 20th was maybe one of the sunniest, beautiful days
                we could have had in Toledo for the annual Wooden Boat Show.
                There were many beautiful boats and I just loved the rock 'n roll
                of my friends, husbands band. It was great 70/80's stuff!
                They will be playing at "BurntWoodsStock" Aug 26.
                 It was about 75 with a cool breeze off the lovely Yaquina River.


                                   

Yaquina river with boats the day of the Wooden Boat Show

My friend Bonnie

A sailor with the
"Gal" T on, cute shirt, I bought 2!

Oregon sailor with his dog

The Eddie St Claire band with my friend Bonnie's husband center

Yaquina Fiber Arts Guild Aug 20, 2011

                   We meet every 3rd Sat at the Toledo library and spin,
                    knit or anything you want to do with needles and fiber.
                    I took home a nice bag of lovely chocolate fiber off my
                    friends alpaca. Makes nice yarn, especially mixed with a
                    little wool for stretch.

Only 6 of us this day but we had fun knitting and spinning.

                                                      Much quieter group than normal!

Margaret's really pretty single ply

Jan's very pretty first ply

Jan spinning, me knitting my newest pattern(this is a sneak peak!)

Lovely colors of Alpaca

Connie's Shawl

                                 As usual I put up too many pictures, but couldn't resist.