Second Stitch Along Update of the month

I am thoroughly enjoying stitching the Woodland Animals birth announcement. Here is where I was three weeks ago. 

I had just finished the tree. Now I have several animals completed. 

You can see a frog, a lady bug, two butterflies, a fox, a chipmunk and a deer. 

 Aren't they all so adorable? 

Thank you to Avis at Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch Along every three weeks and sending us the needed posting reminders. 

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take some time to visit the other talented bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along. There is a wide variety of stitching projects. These talented stitchers are from all over the world so please allow for the time differences and check back for each post. We are welcoming Mary Margaret back to the stitch along. I am looking forward to seeing what she has been up to. 

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, MaryMargaret

Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching

I have been busy since we returned from our California trip. You can see the second post about that trip here.  I have been adding creatures to the Woodland Animals birth announcement. Isn't the fox just so adorable. 

Trust me, there are many, many different brown colors in that fox. Speaking of color changes. Those little butterflies are each made up of a mere 30 cross stitches in 10 colors. 

I was so happy to get to the back stitching because I could at least stitch more than 2 stitches at a time.

I have also, finally, added some rows to the first sock that I am crocheting. I have stitched the heel flap that I now have to shape. At first I didn't understand the directions, but I found a video that helped a lot. Now I can start the heel shaping. 

I finally got a photo that shows the true color of green of the yarn.

One of my friends on Facebook had some of her mother's fat quarters for sale. She had 5 different groupings of which I liked 3. I'm thinking I can used these reds for some Christmas placemats or table runners.

Blue is one of my favorite colors and I really like these fabrics.

I am not sure what I will do with the light colored fabrics below, but the colors and patterns appealed to me.

Hubby and I took an afternoon trip to the east end of Long Island. We stopped at one of our favorite places, Macari Vineyards. We shared a bottle of chardonnay and a cheese platter.

The weather was clear and not too hot with a light breeze.

The vines were heavy with grapes.

I have been dabbling in the kitchen also. I made a Blueberry Breakfast Cake midweek. It is not good for my weight loss goals, but it is very delicious.

Yesterday, I was in the mood to make my red cabbage slaw. This will last us for several days and is a nice, light healthy side dish.

I don't know what magazine I clipped this from years ago, but it has become a family favorite.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are up to. I will be working on the chipmunk that is just to the left of the tree in the top photo.

Thanks for stopping by!

The rest of the California trip

The majority of my photos from our California trip were taken at the zoo, but we were there for a few more days. On Day 2 we traveled to Temecula for a wine tasting at Leoness Cellars. The view from our seats on the terrace was fantastic and the wines were quite tasty.

Afterwards we stopped at a local quilt store called Between Stitches. I bought a yard of the purple/orange fabric you see below and the fat quarter bundle of black/white/mustard. 

I have no idea what I will do with them yet, but they caught my eye and I will remember this trip when I use them.

Day 3 was a quiet day of relaxation at our son's apartment. We had plans to have dinner with our daughter-in-law's parents in Laguna Beach. We went to a restaurant called Las Brisas and had a wonderful meal outdoors with a view of the Pacific Ocean. 

Below are some views of Laguna Beach.

On Day 4 we spent the afternoon at Del Mar Racetrack. My husband is a huge horse racing fan. The quilt shop was my treat, the racetrack was my husband's treat. I didn't have a single winner all day, but everyone else had at least one small cash.

This is the saddling area.

This is a rear view of the racetrack building.

A view of the tote board from the stands.

The next day, Hubby and I went out to breakfast in Carlsbad while our son worked from home in the morning. The restaurant had trouble with their computer system and it took over 40 minutes for us to get our breakfast. We had eaten there on the first morning of our trip and the service was wonderful, so we knew this was unusual. The food was delicious though and the restaurant didn't charge us for it at all. We needed to kill some more time while our son was in a meeting so we walked around the town and down to the ocean.

That afternoon we flew home and our first true vacation in many, many years was over. I know we will be back out there sometime soon. The weather was wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting our son and daughter-in-law. I think we tired them out as they gratiously cooked dinner almost every night. 

I hope you enjoyed the photos from the rest of our trip.

Thanks for stopping by!

HQAL - Hand Quilt Along

I may be crazy, but I have joined a Hand Quilt Along group run by Kathy at Sewing Etc. I want to keep the mauve baby quilt in the mix of items that I am working on and I think this will motivate me to stitch on it.

 I've been stuck trying to figure out how to alter the stencil I am using to fit the long side border. It easily fit on one of the short ends with just a slight adjustment, but it isn't working for the long side. Yesterday I made a paper template of the area that I want to stencil and then used a pencil to try to figure out the stencil. Although it is difficult to see in this photo. I decided to continue the braided stencil to the center of the border where I will then add the same type of flower that is in the maroon cornerstone.

I am happy with the way this should look. I will start bringing it with me to work on when I visit my mother. A reminder, this quilt is one that my mother hand-pieced, but never finished. I want to finish it now that I will have a granddaughter. She can use it when she visits. 

The HQAL is an opportunity for hand quilters to share and motivate each other. The talented quilters below post every three weeks to show our progress and encourage one another. Stop by their sites to see what they are working on. If you have a hand project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, Cathie and Tracy

I haven't added many stitches to the Woodland Animals birth announcement as Hubby and I actually took a vacation. Please check out my post about the first day of our trip to California.

I did manage to add a frog, a ladybug and the paws of the fox.

I have decided to backstitch the critters as I go so I don't have to go back at the end. 

I am also joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!

California Trip - Day One

You may have been wondering why I was late to respond to your comments on the last two posts. Hubby and I went to California for 6 days to visit our son and daughter in law and have a little vacation.

On our first full day we went to the San Diego Zoo. 

Oh my is this zoo big! We walked over 6 miles that day. There is so much to see. The day was warm and eventually somewhat cloudy. 

Here are some monkeys.

 I didn't keep track of the correct name of each type.

The aviaries were by far the most fascinating. Trust me there were lots of birds who had very little fear of the humans in their space. My son had to duck a few times due to low-flying birds.

The nests were fascinating.

I know, you want to see some of those birds! This is a Senegal Laughing Dove. It truly makes a laughing sound.

I think this is the Blue Eared Glassy Starling.

Below is the White-Bellied Go Away bird. Its call is like the Bwoop-bwoop of a warning signal. I didn't realize the sound was coming from the bird at first.

Here are Hubby, Son and DIL.

There were some pretty flowers and ferns also.

Don't you love that heart shaped flower.

This little bear was sitting sweetly for us to see.

Some gazelles

and a giraffe

 and a zebra.

There was quite a variety of flamingos.

One decided to allow me to get a close up photo.

Can you see this adorable sleepy little fox?

This Cheetah was tired also.

A couple more monkeys/apes/baboons.

As I said, there were several aviaries. Here are some more birds.

Here the nests were holes in the rock wall.

And a few more birds.

Penguins!

An absolutely beautiful animal whose name I have forgotten. She stayed statue still for quite a while.

And of course, an elephant.

There were many, many more animals and birds, but I think I have shared enough. We skipped the reptile area. None of us were really interested. 

When we left, we stopped for appetizers and cocktails in the gas lamp area of San Diego at a restaurant called Barley Mash. We sat outside across the street from this interesting sight called the Yuma building.

We ended our first full day in California with dinner at our son's apartment. 

I will recount some more adventures in a future post.

Thanks for stopping by!