Hot Air - an Update

Not necessarily MY hot air, but that of balloons - as in the 39th Helen to the Atlantic Hot Air Balloon Race and Festival, which we went to on Saturday, for the local launches. Not sure HOW we've not known about this for the last 17 years, but we do now, and the Canon got a great workout - 300+ pictures in roughly 4 hours, and lunch at the Troll Tavern, where I got pretty close to actual German food - red cabbage, sauerkraut, and German potato salad, with a knock wurst & a bratwurst. Which, in a town that is supposed to mimic a German village for tourists, there seems to be an awful lack of sauerbrauten, one of my favorite German dishes... Anyway, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, though the breeze was pretty chilly, especially for June - felt very April-ish out there, but I got LOTS of great pictures, and we had a great evening.



Stitching-wise, I did very little over the weekend, and not as much as I had planned during the week - work crawled all week, and my free time just flew past! I do have a finish, finally - the Ink Circles Halloween ornie is now done (but not finished yet - still deciding if it will be an ornie, a pinkeep, or a small flat-fold):



I did not go to the Tuesday nigh stitch-in - work kicked my butt on Tuesday, which, after the memorial Day holiday, was a Monday & Tuesday all rolled into one :( So no progress on Rainforest this week.



I did get further on Desert Mandala, though Part 1 STILL isn't done, and not to beads yet. But I did get the middle done; on the lightning bs, I did some with one strand, some with two, just to vary it a little bit. Now I am working o n the outer medallions, and finally getting to use some silks :)



Also over the weekend, we did a little playing in the dirt. I saw that Home Depot had gardenias 3/$10, so we went to get some Saturday afternoon, before leaving for the balloon fest. BUT, surprise, that's a great deal, so they were OUT :( But we were told more were coming later Saturday or Sunday morning. So we got 3 Sunday morning - the last 3 of the variety that grows to 6', which we've put along one side of the deck, so when they grow & bloom, we'll be able to smell them while sitting out there - yum! I love gardenias, though they make me hungry... I did NOT take a picture of them, but will remember to do so one day this week.



While at HD, we also shopped the cactus department - and I now also have a little cactus garden out on the deck, as well as DH re-potting our BIG cactus with the prickly pear from the side of the house that just refuses to die. Now if we can just keep the dumb dogs out of the big ones, we'll be doing good, though the pokies don't seem to bother Dummy.




And yet another project for DH while we were at HD - I want a scroll frame that combines scrolling with Q-Snap technology. So, with some oak and some PVC, and some of DH's time with the saw & drill, hopefully I will have a BIG scroll frame (to hold Tuscany and those kinds of projects), BUT where I can put a project on quickly, and remove it quickly, just like a Q-Snap, but still have the ability to scroll up and down, with batting over the beads!! If only I could find the equivalent of the Q-Snap clamp material in a long length that I can cut to size... Until then, I figure I can fit however many sections of clamps on as I need, since it'll just be there to hold the fabric so I can wrap it around however many times I need to, to get to the section I need :) I'll post pictures when we get it done, and have something on it :)



So this week, I plan to keep on on Desert - would like to finish Part 1. Then, Secret Victorian is coming out, hopefully on the newly-made scroll frame, so I can start beading when I get the stitches done in the current parts! I am also planning to go to stitch night tomorrow, assuming the barometer head cooperates, so may work on Rainforest, or may start BC Glory :) You know me - what's one more WIP? LOL



Happy Stitching to everyone!

(I had to save this little guy out of the middle of the street one morning as I was walking Dummy before work - I set him to guard the pepper plants, but he was long gone by the time I got home that evening - the peppers were all still there, growing like crazy)