When the cat is away...

or in this case, when mom is away, what do Dad and I do?

Meet up with our friend that works on HAL Statendam when its in port and take her to the zoo.  Love my membership, especially since I can now take someone in with me for free.

Polar Bear Plunge

  While waiting for her we walked around the waterfront and I got a picture of The Kiss.  Some of you are familiar with this statue, for the rest, here's the condensed version.  Its inspired by the famous photo taken in Times Square and the original statue in San Diego was only a temporary exhibit, made out of fiberglass.  It started looking grungy so it was taken down, and a huge hubaloo broke out about the permanent (bronze) replacement.  The San Diego Art Commission rejected it, stating it was tacky and not the look desired for that area of town.  The Port Authority said screw you, we want it, go ahead since its Port Authority property.  The Midway was given 3 months to raise $1 million, which they did in 8 weeks.  Now we have The Kiss back permanently, and it has a 96% approval rating.  Take THAT San Diego Art Commission!

The Kiss

Star of India, part of the San Diego Maritime Museum

Princess Annie got a haircut.  This was only half of what got cut off.  For some reason mom likes her fuzzy, even though she gets dirty faster, she itches more, and is just generally harder to keep properly brushed and groomed.

I went to a Painting and Vino class and made a masterpiece!  Ok, not quite a masterpiece, but I had a lot of fun.  I learned I can't draw straight lines or make a balloon symmetrical if my life depended on it, but I do great with text.

And I've done some stitching.  Horrible picture of Santa's Hamlet, but you get the idea.  I think I want to make some adjustments to the cookie shop and make it a bakery.  The cookies just look strange.

CCN Santa's Village, on 36 ct Light Sand with assorted overdyed cotton floss

Jane Rees finally saw some progress as well.  Not a lot, but I've made it all the way across the top of the chart.  Obviously I was too lazy to take it out of the Qsnaps to take this picture.

Scarlet Letter Jane Rees, on 40 ct Ricamo with HDF silk

Thank you everyone for stopping by and a special thanks to those leaving comments.  I know I've been absolutely horrible about responding back to them.  Please forgive me, and know they're all read and appreciated.

Elizabeth Burrows finish

I chose to skip Santa Sunday stitching so I could finish up Elizabeth Burrows.  She had been so close to a finish for the last week, but I'd either been working on other things, or just not stitching.  I'm sure my current Santa won't mind, since he received attention on Saturday instead.  I chose to add a band at the bottom as my "signature" instead of changing any of the original initials.

I loved learning the Montenegrin stitch, but just tolerated the Italian cross over 3

Satin stitch always looks lush and fabulous, especially with silk, but I had more frogging in the satin stitch bands than the whole rest of the sampler.

Eyelets, lots of eyelets.  I'm rather proud of myself for actually stitching them instead of swapping them out for smyrna crosses like I usually do.  Dare I say, but I actually got to enjoy stitching the eyelets.

I think its time for Jane Rees to come out and play.  The last photo I can find of her is from April 2009.  I know I've worked on her since then, but not a lot.  As you can see, there's a LOT more to be stitched.