Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2016

If you've hopped over here from Jo's for the Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop, hello and welcome! If you haven't, you might be wondering what is going on. Well, you're missing the fun, so please click the link above and join in!

You are here for a letter...it can be found right after the fairy who is getting ready for Easter...

Long-time readers may recognize her; she is an oldie but a goodie! =) I had something new I was stitching for this year, but I swear that I lost a day somewhere!! Oh, well, I will be prepared for next year.

And now for the letter...

In Kase you Kan't see it, the letter celebrating the resurrection of the King of Kings this year is K! =)

Now hop to it and find the rest of the letters! For easy hopping, your next blog is here! I hope you have a blessed Good Friday and a remarkable Easter!

'Tis the Season...

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...for tulips!

Every year the Atlanta Botanical Garden plants hundreds and hundreds of bulbs. Once you've tired of ogling orchids during the February premiere of Orchid Daze and see the daffodils fire the warning salvo that Spring is on the way, it's time to start stalking the Garden for tulips! We actually went the Saturday before my birthday (in mid-February), and the daffodils were already up, with even a couple of tulips peeking out of the soil. I whispered to them all that they needed to stay down for another couple of weeks, as there was sure to be another cold snap (and of course I was right).

We finally made it back last week, and some of the tulips were already blown and gone, but most of them were still in prime condition...

Not as many unique color combinations as in past years, but I will never, ever complain about pink tulips!!

Since we were there for a member evening, we also got to see a glorious sunset peeking through the trees.

I wish this photo had truly captured the deep lavender that was in the sky. It was glorious!

March is also when all the lovely new things come in from the Nashville needlework market. I tried to be restrained (hahahahaha)...here is what I ended up with from Needlecraft Corner...

The little scissors fob was a birthday gift from Drema...she is so great...a couple times I've called her up when I didn't like a color here or there and her substitutions have always been great.

I did not get the pincushion meant to go with the "BUZZ" pins, because I already have a bee pincushion in mind for them, but I obviously had to get them because my college mascot is named Buzz! =)

I used to be so averse to getting kits (I think because they used to have poor-quality floss rather than DMC, and often did not contain enough!) However, now these limited edition kits contain so many cute and hard-to-find little bits and bobs, I would rather get a kit in some cases! Here's what came with these designs...

I have some Eiffel Tower scissors already, though they are much bigger than the ones pictured here. I'm hoping there is enough of those cute pink fabrics to allow me to make the pocket big enough for my scissors...if not, well, c'est la vie!

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Spring is Springing and stash is stashing...

IHSW and a Desperately Important Thing

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Wondering what this is all about? Click the image!

The new season of Daredevil dropped on Netflix on Friday, and we managed to slam through the whole thing over the weekend! I don't know if that helped or hindered my stitching...you would think that much TV time would have helped, but this show is very suspenseful and not great to stitch to! It's a fantastic series, but INCREDIBLY graphically violent, so be forewarned! I'm still not "caught up" on April from The Snowflower Diaries...

I thought I was going to be able to take the day off on Thursday, but I had too many meetings scheduled, so I'm taking off next Wednesday and Thursday instead. I had vacation days that carried over from last year, and if I don't use them by March 31st, I will "lose" them!!

And now for the Desperately Important Thing (not really). You all know about Easter Eggs, right? No, not colored chicken eggs, but the little hidden gems that are sometimes put in DVDs/BluRays/computer games/etc. I saw a great one pop up on Twitter that I had to share. Go to Vogue UK, wait until the page is done loading, then using your keyboard, enter the Konami code: Up arrow, Up arrow, Down arrow, Down arrow, Left arrow, Right arrow, Left arrow, Right arrow, b, a...then keep hitting a for as long as you are amused. =D This also works on Wired UK, although with less variety. Sadly, the sites on this side of the pond do not have the same embedded awesomeness!

JiffNotes
I came, I bit my nails, I stitched, I wasted a lot of time with velociraptors.

March Gifted Gorgeousness

A day (or five) late and a dollar short as usual...

For more information on this stunning and serendipitous SAL, please click on the graphic!

Thank you all for the kind comments on my snuggly socks and skipping fairy. =) jocondine asked how many pairs of socks I have knit...I was shocked when I went to Ravelry and counted 16 finished pairs!!! =O There is another pair on the needles right now that just needs the toe done. Two of the pairs are no more (the first ones I ever knit were the ones that fell apart recently, and another pair felted when I washed them and the cuff was just too tight...they were toe-up and that is when I learned about Jeny's Suprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. So click on that link and there's your first Gorgeous Gift of the post...the gift of knowledge. ;) How's that for a shoehorn, Jo??)

Speaking of the gift of knowledge, I have signed up with the Shining Needle Society for a new class from Kathy Rees of Needle Delights. My kit arrived this week, and I kind of want to roll around in the colors, they are so pretty!!

I do actually have something stitched to show...a freebie pattern (gift from the designer!) that you are probably all already familiar with...

I've loved all the Snowflower Diaries Joyful World series so far, but I was avoiding starting them because I have so many WIPs. Then she finally roped me in by having a squirrel in the April design! I thought if I could stitch just five 10x10 chart blocks a day, I would have it done by April. But as you can see, a week later, I am very far behind! Oh, well, perhaps if I just finish it sometime *in* April....

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

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DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME!!! Hooray!

*ahem*

I love Daylight Saving Time; I really feel like we should be on this time all year 'round. I am NOT a morning person, so having light later in the day is awesome for me!

We went to see Cirque du Soleil in "Kurios" today, with gorgeous warm weather...by the time intermission rolled around, the sky was mostly sunny with just enough clouds to make for a beautiful sunset!

The show is "steampunk" style, and it was amazing! We were sitting in the second row and got to see all the performers' incredible costumes and makeup up close! I took a few pictures during the "pre-show", but just on my phone, so they're not the best...

You can't see it in the picture, but the two "tanks" on either side have sea creatures "floating" inside.

This "automaton" is person-sized!

Now for some random pictures of random stitchy progress...

I started Mirabilia's Bluebell Fairy on some beloved stashed Sugar Maple Fabrics hand-dyed lugana. I placed her so it would look like she was hopping over a swirly puddle. =)

My second Loopy Academy project is coming along well. The assignment was "two colors, one of which is variegated and one of which is solid or tonal".

I was too scared to try Fair Isle, so this is a mosaic pattern instead. You only knit with one color at a time, and the pattern is formed by slipping stitches. It's ridiculously easy to memorize the pattern for the round, so it's zipping along. I love that the blue/green/purple yarn is called "Spectrum". Since it doesn't actually have all the colors of the rainbow, I like to think it's a secret homage to Nathan Fillion. =)

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Hooray for Daylight Saving Time! I want it to stay this time all year...politicians, if you want my vote, make it happen!

Loopy Academy Sophomore Year, Semester 2, First Project!

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I have already finished my first project for Loopy Academy this semester! The assignment was to knit socks whichever way you have the least experience with--toe-up or top-down. Well, since participating in the Cookie A Sock Club for two years, I definitely had more experience knitting top-down! I also knew I wanted a pair in worsted (or maybe sport) for two reasons:

• I am a slow knitter, so I needed the yardage to be as close as possible to the required 225 yards! Socks knit in "sock yarn" (or fingering) run about 400 yards.
• The first pair of socks I ever knit, a super-snuggly pair in worsted weight, were very close to giving up the ghost, and my feet get very cold on cold nights!

I cast these socks on in the middle of February and had the heel turned before we went to Disney for my birthday. I finished them on the way down!

Mistake Braid Socks - Ravelry project page

Good thing I brought a "back up" project with me. =) They were mindless to knit, which is a good thing, because we were listening to the novelization of "The Force Awakens" on the way down (MELODRAMATIC NARRATOR IS MELODRAMATIC). I actually cast them off at home, since casting off socks knit two-at-a-time is not that fun in the car. The night I cast them off, my old socks literally fell apart!! Of course, the next day it was almost 70 degrees F. =P

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I have socks! Socks that are way too warm to wear now! Socks that I will probably forget all about until I'm moaning about how cold my feet are this Fall, but won't I be happy to have them then??

Thanks for the Love!

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Hey, ya'll! :)

Gosh, you guys made me feel great returning to the world of blogging! I appreciate all the comments. I missed you, too. I haven't had a chance to respond yet, but I will! I realized another thing that's been hurting my blogging is the fact that our Xbox 360 died, and that is what we used to watch things recorded with Windows Media Center (we rarely watch live TV!) What does that have to do with blogging, you ask? Well, I blog from my laptop, and since the 360 died, the laptop is the only thing we can use to get WMC programs to play on the TV. So while I used to blog while we watched TV...now, I can't! Nevertheless, I will try to do better!

I promised to show you the card my awesome spouse made me for my birthday. He gave it to me on my birthday, just before we took off to go to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

Rey is looking for advice...

...but I think BB-8 has some ulterior motives!

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Thank you for the warm welcome back! Hope you enjoyed my geeky birthday card from my hubby!

The Alphabet Club - H!

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It seems I'm even late for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"

No idea what's going on? Click the poster above for an explanation!

This is my first time participating in the fabulous brainchild of Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and chiara at the grey tail. I have really been enjoying reading everyone else's posts, though...I love hearing about local language and customs!!

The first "H" word I have for you is a typical Southern greeting...no, it's not "Howdy"...it's "Hey." It's also the thing that Stormtroopers yell when they see someone doing something, rather than trying to stop them!

Get it? Get it???

When I was a teenager, I'm pretty sure I had this conversation more times than I'd like to admit:
Me: "Hey, y'all."
Friend 1: "Hey."
Friend 2: "Hey."
Me: "Hey."

Yep, those were some articulate times.

And now for some H-related stitching!

During my hiatus, I went to Hardanger University. This is my in-progress Hardanger class piece from Meg Shinall:

The center is done; I am working on the lacy edge. You can see on the left where I started to cut it away from the supporting fabric threads. This is my favorite kind of edge; much quicker than blanket stitching!

And here is a barely-started Heirloom Sampler in a Year by Linda Driskell, sold by Nordic Needle. I did one of her other samplers-in-a-year and really enjoyed it...I even finished it! Is anyone else doing this one?

I found an actual finish that starts with "H"...this is my hedgehog, Tilly!

She was a class from Rae Iverson (Moss Creek Designs). We pre-stitched her back, and in class we learned how to assemble her. There is also a cute bag and other accessories that go with her, but of course she is the only thing I have finished! Here's a view of her "bow"-hind. :)

Of course, the last H is me...geeky Heather! =D

Well, that's all I have time for...check back next month for ramblings about the letter "I"!

JiffNotes
If you'd like to see more Alphabet Club posts, check out chiara's link-up post!

Anyone still out there?

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Hey, hey, it's 2016! Long time no blog. Is anyone still "listening"? =) Thank you to those of you that reached out to see if I was OK. Nothing big happened to make me wander away from the blog...my only real excuse is work-related, and who wants to be bored by that??

Rather than try to recap a year or so, I'm just going to move forward and try to do smaller posts so they won't seem so daunting when I think about starting! I don't have any good needlework pictures to share right now; I have finished a few small things and even more knitting (thanks to Loopy Academy). I'll share some in upcoming posts. For now, here are some pictures fresh off the camera from February.

It's Orchid Daze time at the Atlanta Botanical Garden! There was no theme like in years past, but the orchids were still pretty.

In the main atrium of the orchid house, they had these cool hanging grapevine balls!

My birthday is at the end of February, and we took a last-minute quick trip down to Walt Disney World so the Dapper Dans could sing me "Happy Birthday".

Birthdays at Disney are awesome; they give you a birthday button to wear and everyone says, "Happy Birthday!" to you all day long.  We were in the Magic Kingdom on my birthday, and the next day we went to Epcot, where they were gearing up for the Flower and Garden Festival.

Later in the day, we hopped over to Hollywood Studios, where we rode Star Tours many times (had to see all the variations!) and got to see the amazing Star Wars fireworks show!

Alas, Rey merchandise was sold out in my size everywhere, but my wonderful spouse made me an awesome birthday card (which I will have to show you later!)

Well, that was my quick post for the day...it's time to go make dinner!  See ya real soon!

JiffNotes
I am back after a long hiatus! As usual, Orchid Daze is happening and I went to Disney for my birthday.