Ice Cream and Seals...

We had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend together in Monterey where we did a vast amount of walking and visited the piers and coastline. And probably every ice cream shop along the way!

We also were amused by the number of seals that were enjoying the sunshine. Some were sleeping at the boat ramp and sunning themselves.
Frank thought this was a cute boat house...it did have some cute lace curtains in the window...
We saw this seal posing for the cameras...really funny!
And this one just chilling on this rock with his belly in the air. He let out an "AR!" when the tide rose and covered him with water!
So back home again with memories of seals!! We also had a yummy bowl of clam chowder at one of the restaurants at the pier and did lots of walking. I even got to visit the Monarch yarn store in Pacific Grove and bought a very soft hank of silky mohair yarn!

Blackie's By the Sea

The years fly by, yet whenever I have a reunion of sorts with the pals I used to work with at Disneyland, it's as though no time has gone by...well, maybe not with the emotions...obviously, we have changed by way of having been married, had children or any of the other life changes.
But the sense of "family" and sense of humor and the fun times we've had will never change...
Such great old and new memories!!!
And reconnecting with people we so enjoyed in the past...revisited again!
I love seeing these happy faces...such a soft spot in my heart and a renewed appreciation for once working for the happiest place on earth!

Quaker Hornbook Finished!

I did the finishing work today for the With My Needle's Quaker Hornbook. Above you see that I had already carefully pressed my stitched piece with a hot dry iron using a tea towel inbetween to protect the hand dyed threads.
Here you see all my tools and supplies assembled. To the right is a small piece of Warm & Natural batting, while to the left is acid free self sticking mat board that's 1/16th of an inch thick.
I pinned the corners of the stitched design to block it a bit.
Here's the "craft size" of the Warm & Natural...only needed a little bit!
Here I adhered the batting to the self sticking mat board...got away without using glue here!
With my cord maker, I created a handmade cord from the same hand dyed thread that I stitched with...Cresent Colours Tartan Plaid...love the blues!
I had in my stash this wonderfully strong quilting thread by YLI which was the same color as my fabric Lakeside linen's Vintage Examplar.
Here I'm lacing the stitched piece to the batted mat board. I made sure that it was taunt and straight.

Here it is ready to be glued to the wooden hornbook which is made of maple...I had a hard time deciding which side to put it on since both sides had such character with knots in the wood. I almost hated to glue anything to it!
All glued on with cording delicately attached around the edges...gently tucked in the ends with a sharp wooden skewer...sure came in handy!
I love how it all turned out!! So glad I didn't put off the finishing like I usually do so that I can enjoy the hornbook! Finishing instructions were very detailed...reminded myself "Just do what it says!"
I added a thin leather strap and it looks so nice!!! You think someone will find it in an antique shop someday??

Mother's Day Weekend...

We had a very busy Mother's Day weekend...always great to see our children happy, and, boy, was Kara ever happy with her new car! It was ready for pick up, so on the way to my parents, we stop off at the Pacific VW dealership and Kara got her Jetta Sportswagon TDI...beautiful, safe vehicle!


Our salesperson, Nancy, was a joy to work with and took Kara under her wing showing her all the features and buttons of the new Jetta...wow, what a music system in the car, including an iPod hook in! The car even tells how many miles you have left in your gas tank...
What a happy girl!! And she had plenty to be happy about with this beautiful car!!
Off to show off the car at Opa and Oma's!! Everyone sure admired the car!
Peter was fascinated by the dashboard options concerning the iPod...

After all the excitement, it was time to celebrate a bit of Mother's Day! Mom got some yummy chocolates, a bunny statue for her garden, and an etui that was purchase on Etsy...


Quite a nice haul which made my mom very happy! We also took my parents out to dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant that they've been going to for over 40 years!!

Actual Mother's Day is a bit quiet as everyone went their separate ways...Kara and Frank back up north...poor Frank lost his driver! Peter studying and spending the last couple weeks in his dorm...Will working at Costco...so it's just me and the dog!! We'll be going for a walk soon...as I think about what a nice Mother's day this has been with a very happy girl in her new car...

More Quaker Hornbook progress...

I finished the stitching portion of With My Needle's Quaker Hornbook class project!
I really liked how the hand dyed thread looks...

Close up of the swan under the magnifier...
Now on to the finishing to make it look like the above...I need a piece of mat board, batting, some glue, and a ton of bravery!!!

With My Needle Quaker Hornbook Progress

I joined Stitcher's Hideaway's With My Needle Quaker Hornbook stitch a long...it's been a while since I've stitched last, so this is the perfect little project to get going again...
I've been using a magnifier to help with the 36 count Vintage Examplar fabric...and for the thread, I'm using Cresent Colours Hand dyed floss in Tartan Plaid...I found the listed Malady's Teal to be not cheerful enough with its gray instead of the blue tone I was expecting, so switched it out.
After stitching, the finished piece is to be adhered to the above hornbook which has holes along the side for the stitcher to store floss or thread on.
The alphabet is done with one strand of floss over one thread of the fabric, while the motif to the right is done with one strand of floss over two threads of the fabric. At 36 threads per inch, it's pretty small, but I have my magnifier and my petite needles.

So far, so good, except for when I first basted around the edge of the piece with the red thread...I thought it was going to be a consistent four over four, but in some spots it was three, while in still others it was five! Oops! So had a false start, but glad I did the basting since it helps with the placement of the design's stitches.

I'm happy to join this stitch a long!! It helps to motivate me...and keeps me on track!

Fun times!!

While anticipating the start of the move out process from Peter's dorm, I managed a get together with my friend Jann who I used to work with at Disneyland. We re-connected via Facebook, and joined this Obama group about having to sleep well at night since he's president, and I brought up the extra Obama fleece blanket that I wanted to give away and couldn't think of a better person to give it to! So we met up at Chipotle Restaurant near Cal State Fullerton, and my son Peter joined us. Jann insisted on treating, but more than that, it was so nice to visit with her and catch up a little!
In case you're curious, I bought the Obama fleece panels on eBay, and then I went to Joanne's for the fleece backing. I used to do those tie fleece blankets, but found that it wasted the fabric and shrunk them down too much, so now I just pin the right sides together, sew up the edges leaving a opening for turning, and then turn them right side out and wipe stitch the hole. That's it. Hey, even this sewing challenged pheebe can do it!

Afterwards, Peter and I went to his dorm and he packed a few boxes for me to take home. CSUF decided that move out day for the dorms would be the same day as the college's graduation, and with the limited parking, we both dreaded how busy it would be. Peter's last final is the day before move out, so we're going to do the rest then...Peter's first year in college sure went by fast! He disagrees, however, since he's the one that had to do all the work!!