Halloween Envelope Swap

Today, Ingrid of Miistitch, posted what I sent to her as part of the Halloween Mail Art Swap..
I had so much fun working on this swap.  Ingrid is a great leader, and I had the pleasure of having
her name to stitch for.
I was so excited when she announced this swap, that I was had been looking for cute designs, even
before I knew who I would be stitching for.

This is the back of what my envelope looks like.
I am still feeling my way around this whole concept.
I have to say I am loving it.  I hope Ingrid will do this again.

I also made the cover for a small notebook.
I enjoy working on small designs, as they go faster, and are so cute.
I love flowers, so this is a great choice.
This design is "Nature au point de croix".

Here they are.  I am pleased they turned out.  Today Ingrid has written that she is pleased.
All of the swapper's are to have theirs in the mail by October 1 so that we can have them in time for Halloween.

Have a great day!  I am off to do more stitching.

Mary

Cross stitching and patchwork

Good Morning.
Time to do a little catch  up.
When I was on the Alaskan cruises end of June, and July, I could not help but pick up a little
cross stitching to work on.  In one of the quilt shops I found this cute little kit for Forget Me Not..
As I was running out of other handwork, the cross stitching came out.
I had also found this great fabric of Forget Me Not.
A new pouch was in the works.

Stevii Graves was the instructor for this applique on the quilt cruise.
I showed pictures of the unfinished piece before
Well, I finished it up into this large pouch.
I hand quilted all around it and then sewed it up into this large pouch.
You can never have too many pouches.
I love making them, and find so many uses for them.

The basic pattern I draw my inspiration from is, "Atkinson Designs, Zippy Strippy"
by Terry Atkinson.
Pattern number ATK-149.

While I was ad it, I decided to make up a few more bags.
This one is using 2 1/2 inch squares in a random pattern.
I love making drawstring bags, too.
It is a great way to used  those cute little charm packs, as well as miscellaneous scrapes.
These can use a certain theme, like this one, or color scheme, let your imagination
be your guide.  These bags are all fully lined, so that a variety of fabric can be used.
Fat quarters can be used easily.
You know those that you bought because you like it, but had no real use for it.
The pattern "Lined Drawstring Bag" by Jeni Baker, gives you  8 sizes to choose from.
Once you get the hang of what the lay out is, anything goes!

You know my usual plan of, if one is good more is better!
There are at least 6 more in various stages of completion.

These always make great gifts, as well as carry bags for projects,
cosmetics, holder for chargers, I even have one for my Garmin. I love the versatility of them.

Hope you are having a creative day!

Mary 

Lego fans at the Morton Arboretum

Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois has a wonderful
display of Lego Creations  from now until November 1.
We decided to go over to see it.
I could not image what this would be like.  Thinking they would all be on display in one are, boy was I wrong.
They had them in several areas around Meadow Lake and in the Children's Garden.
The wheelbarrow is 70 x 34 x 33 inches, and has 29,900 pieces and 205 hours to build.

In the Children's Garden, are several ponds that kids can wade in, along with the bull frogs.
They were so still and quiet.

I thought they (bull fogs) were part of displays in the gardens.
They are very real, and a surprise for me to see.
I had never seen a real bull frog.

This one is Grandfather and Granddaughter Gardening.
It does look like they are working in the garden.
The Grandfather has 35,646 pieces and the Granddaughter 11,294.
Amazing. 

How about this birdbath with the cardinals and squirrel handing on it?

I had seen pictures of the hummingbird and flower, and wanted to make sure I found this one to see.
Look at the suspension of the hummingbird.

This one was suspended from the ceiling of the Administration Building.
It is the Corn Spider. It only took 135 hours to build.

For real life Andy and I got to see a hummingbird moth. They are a bit smaller then a real hummingbird,
but their wings flutter just like the bird.

We were in awe of the deer.  The buck has 46,563 pieces.

A bit of a close up, so you can see the detail.

I love the Monarch and the milkweed.
Who knew you could do this with Lego's.

Look at the vibrancy of the Peacock.  This is the most intensive display.
There were 68.827 pieces and took 625 hours to build it.

How about the attention to detail.
This is the backside of the peacock.

The Roseate Skimmer Dragonfly is 8 feet long.

Got to love the pansy and bee.

Real waterlily!

Flowers at the entrance to the arboretum.
The colors are beautiful.
This Lego Display  was created by Sean Kenney.
In the bio from the arboretum, it ways he "is a renowned, award-winning artist, and "professional kid", who uses Lego pieces to design and create contemporary sculpture for high-profile clients, major corporations, and venues around the globe.  He is the world's first Lego Certified Professional."
I can say with certainty, we were all impressed.

Maybe you too can have a "Lego" building kind of day.

Mary 

Corpse Flower, Chicago Botanic Gardens.

Spike has been making the news lately.  The whole month of August he has been on display at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.
I needed to go see what all the commotion was about.
We took a trip over one day and got to see Spike up close and personal.
On the day we were there it had grown to 67.75 inches tall.
It stopped growing at 68 inches,

I did ask the volunteers a few more questions about the "corpse flower".
It is a native of the rainforests on the island of Sumatra.  It can take its time to grow, as long as 10 years.
It is said to be huge underground as well.  It has the largest corm, (a type of tuber) that can be as big as a bowling ball,
and can weigh up to 200 pounds.
It sends up a leaf each year to absorb energy from the sun.
When it finally has enough energy it sends up a flower bud.
According to the botanic gardens, they did not know if a leaf or a flower bud was sent up.
Eventually it was determined that a flower was in fact being sent up.
Then it started growing 4 to 6 inches a day, and the Spadix was seen coming up through the Ruffly spathe, (the ruffly part around the center.)

The day we were there, it was thought that spike would open that weekend.
It was making the news by this time.
We had that one in Denver had just bloomed.
Every one has been anxiously waiting.
The garden even had a live feed, so we could watch it around the clock.
It is believed that at least 50,000 people came to visit Spike.
Then one day it was noted that they was a bit of smell coming from the flower.
Then nothing.
They even turned the live feed off for a couple nights. Still nothing.
It was finally determined that it did not have enough energy to complete the process.

This picture courteous of the Chicago Botanic Garden.  

The employees at the garden decided to help Spike along.

They cut off the ruffled bloom, which was a series of spongy, rubbery leaves.

The plant was not sick, it just happens that sometimes they do not open.

The odor that the plant emits is very strong and pungent that attracts the pollinators, which are beetles and other bugs.

It is said that the flower usually emits the strong odor in the afternoon, then in the middle of the night will burst open.

The whole process usually lasts 24 hours.

The smell is likened to a corpse, thus its name.

The scientists at the garden did take pollen from the plant and will attempt to pollinate it with the plant from Denver.

Spike will live on, just not on display.

The botanic garden says they have 7 other plants in a greenhouse that does not allow visitors.

Who knows, we may get to see another "Spike", another day.

I hope I get to have the chance to see another "Spike".

WE had a beautiful day at the gardens.

It has been years since we were last there.

I hope you have a wonderful day, and take time to smell the flowers.

Mary

Except for the one picture from the Facebook website, all the others are my own.

Mary has a little lamb

Some times in the mail you can receive some very beautiful gifts.
I am in love with my newest pincushion.
I had picked out this half doll and my special friend was kind enough to make "Mary" into this lovely pincushion.

Some of you may have been over to Sew We Stitch and see the wonderful little purses
 Madame Samm has been making with all the beautiful handkerchiefs she has been collecting.
Well I just had to try this out.
I seem to have a few handkerchiefs of my own.
What better idea then to use them in a creative way.
I like how the outside turned out.
Still need to work on how to do the stitching to attach the frame on the inside.
All in all not a bad job.

Now can you believe, one special lady talked to another special lady, and "BB" the lamb
that follows Mary was created.

I don't know how she does it, but "BB" is absolutely adorable.
She has a little bell tied under her chin.
The gingham bow, perfect.
I had to tell Cori that her little lamb had caused quite a stir with one of
our resident kitties.  Charlie, thinks she is adorable too, and the perfect
toy to play with.  Each time I have had her on the table, Charlie thought it would
be fun to run off with her.
No way he is keeping her.

Like I said some days, it is a joy to get the mail.
Wonderful surprise packages can show up.

I hope you have a surprise in your mail today.

Mary

We are heading home

Time to be starting home.

Andy few home the day before as he had to work that evening.

We had lunch with Ron's mother to celebrate her upcoming 91st birthday.

We did make a couple of stops.

They called their row, "Water, Water Everywhere".
This was the first shop just over the line in Pennsylvania, Calico Patch Quilt Shop.
They are in North East, PA.

On our way out we had made a stop in Erie, and picked up this row at TaDaQuilting Studio
H    TWO   OH

Here is "Go take a walk on the beach" from Super Stitch, also in North East, PA.
They had a special ruler to make the steps.

After another night in Cleveland, Ohio, we had decided to make a stop in Shipshewana, Indiana.
We wanted a chicken dinner at the Das Dutchman in Middlebury.
We stopped at The Cotton Corner in Shipshewana to pick up their row.
They had a winner already.

The bottom row is this years, "Wana Waves"
The one on the top "Hoosier Harvest: was last years row.  They still had patterns left for sale.

This area has a lot of Amish residents. Love to see their modes of transportation.

Pumkinvine Quilting, in Middlebury has a neat row.  It is "Krider Waterwheel Cottage"
It is after a historic building in the area.

They have had a winner as well.

Here is my last one, well at least from Indiana.
"Splash Time!" is from The Quilt Shop at the Essenhaus shops in Middlebury.

At the Das Dutchman, was this cute quilt.  Love the gingham fabric for the border sets it off.

How about the yo yo's on this table runner?

At the Das Dutchman restaurant they have this area showing off several antiques and quilts.

Love those baskets.

This Loan Star is so pretty. The combination of blue and yellow is fresh looking.

Well that about does it for the time being.
Time to settle in for a while, and get some more sewing done.
I still have pictures of more quilts to share that I have finished.
I have done a lot of embroidery that needs to be made into  purses of set as pictures.  I am still considering what to make them into. Still have a lot of rows to now work on.
A couple of retreats will be coming up soon. Who knows what else I will get done.
I have to say it feels pretty good to be able to say I have completed some of those projects that have been on that
UFO list.  There are at least a dozen more to work on.  Then there are any little things that come along that will be fun to work on.
Got to keep busy.
Hope you are having a wonderful summer.
Mary

Quilts, Winegar's and Niagara Falls

When we left for this trip east I took a bunch of quilts that needed to be bound.
I had machine sewn the binding on, but now needed to finish hand binding  them.
Here is the first one that got done.
This quilt started out to be much bigger. It dates back to about 2003.  There were more white areas and were to have even more butterflies.
I decided it needed to get done.  Took some of the blocks apart, and inserted the butterflies in other places.  This is the end result.  It has instead turned into a nice size lap quilt.
I said I wanted as many quilts quilted before my friend moved.

Here is another one.  This is a Bonnie Hunter mystery, Celtic Solstice.
It is made all from my stash.  I forgot to take a picture of the back.
It is all fat quarters in the blues and oranges sewn together.
It came out pretty nice.

I did get 6 quilts bound, but did not get them all photographed yet.
I had found what I thought was a great spot to take the pictures.
I was in the process of putting the third one out, and a man came out from his shop and told me to leave, as his land was not a photo studio. So I packed up and left.

On to the Winegar Family Reunion.
It is so much fun to get together with the Winegar side of Ron's family.
As you can see there are not a lot, but it is continuing to grow.
Andy will hopefully be the next one to add to them.

Here are the rest of us taking the pictures of the others.
I am the one taking this picture of them taking pictures!!
After this fun day Ron was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel we were staying at.
Andy and I decided to take a drive to the Falls.
It is only a 40 minute drive from where we were staying.

Here is the Horseshoe Fall seen from the American Side.
Actually, Andy had to take the photo, as there was chain link fencing up, keeping us away from the former viewing area.
They are redoing it.  There was a lot of construction and updating being done around the falls.

The power of this water is amazing.

This is the viewing tower looking toward the Horseshoe Falls.

The American Falls.

One of the most beautiful natural wonders.

Looking into the water gives you shivers.

Looking up a small portion of the Niagara River.

Just when you think you have seen it all.  How about a man walking a kitty in a harness and leash.
None of our kitties would ever stand for that.

Now that is a nice brick of fudge.  Wonder what flavor it is.

Got to love the flowers.

The amazing water.

The Canadian side of the falls.  So many sky scrappers.

Another view up the river.
Please explain to me why someone would be compelled to walk in on an edge to try to pick up some of the coins that are tossed in.
Any and I noticed that there are places all along the fencing for rescuers to hook up before they would even attempt to go in that water.

We left just as the light were coming on to illuminate the falls.
It is a beautiful sight.
What a great day we had.
Mary