The Geekend That Was, 1/13 (say cheese edition)

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This past weekend we took one of my Christmas presents out for a spin. Michael got me a new lens for the camera...a 55-210mm lens.

So of course, we headed to the Botanical Gardens...for some ZOOMING!

Here's a shot (unzoomed) of the Chihuly chandelier in the entry atrium, inspired by our collection of pitcher plants.

And now, zoomed all the way in!

 

This is now my desktop picture. =)

To use it to take picture of smaller things, I now have to stand farther away and zoom in rather than just getting closer like I did with my 18-55mm lens.

 

It still works great, though!

It's also great for taking pictures of flowers that are on, say, a camellia bush that's 15 feet off the path.

 

Works great for capturing far-away bees as well. =)

 

Michael took this next one (obviously!) while he was explaining about the tighter depth of field on the lens.

 

You can see how the daffodils are nicely blurred in the foreground. You probably didn't notice it as much on the camellia pictures, but if you go back and look, you can see it there as well.

But the real reason we were there? Scouting for wildlife!

 

SQUIRREL!

I did try to take pictures of some birds as well, but they didn't come out too well. That's OK; I learned a lot while trying, like how to adjust my LCD screen brightness, how to use the movable focus to zero in on the tiny animal I was stalking, and that this lens is less tolerant of backlit conditions (or at least it seems to be). It also take some practice to track flitting birds while you're really zoomed in! I was THISCLOSE to getting a great shot of a male cardinal sitting in a holly tree...then, flit! =) Even with the zoom lens, I would have had to crop it so you could see him, though.

The squirrels were much more cooperative!

 

These shots are not cropped at all, by the way. You can see the tight depth of field illustrated in these two shots.

I call this one my "squirrel hero" shot.

 

SO FLUFFY!

JiffNotes
I love my new ZOOM lens!!

Theme-a-licious Jardin January Check-in

I have to say that I have not made as much progress as I would have liked so far this month! I wanted to finish off my sister's ornament, which I finally did...and in case you're not sick of pictures of it yet, here's its final glory shot:

Totally garden-themed. =) I ended up taking off the pin hardware and backing it with some gold lamé by doing a sort of ladder stitch through it and the peyote stitch beads.

Then, I spent a bit more time on my January ornament than I had planned. I haven't gotten around to Shakespeare's Garden yet, but I will.

So on with the pictures! My EGA chapter is doing a stitch-along (SAL) of Drawn Thread's Toccata I, so I had to start that. I call this a Theme-a-licious project because I think that first motif there is vaguely flower-like. (Let's ignore the trailing threads for now...I may or may not have had to frog this motif. Twice.)

If you haven't been around for Theme-a-licous before, this is how we roll. You have a choice of challenging yourself to stitch something that sits firmly within the theme...or stitching whatever you want and figuring out how to justify that it fits! =) I do want to keep up with this project, so expect lots of justification. ;)

My tree ornament has been going slowly due to the 35-count fabric, but I did finish one of the three trees:

This next one should be easier to do in low light, since it's a modified ray stitch rather than cross-stitches.

A little announcement: We have a new graphic! This should fit easily on the sidebar of your blog, if you'd like:

<a href="http://lottloft.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://www.lottloft.com/images/themeButton_2013.gif"/></a>
It's already up on the Theme-a-licious page, if you need it later. Remember to link directly to the graphic rather than uploading on your own; otherwise the animation won't run.

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So are you relaxing in your garden, or do you feel like you're fighting off too many garden frogs?? Please add your link below (to your wrap-up post), and visit some other Themers if you can (everyone loves comments and encouragement!) Our next post will be on the 31st of January, when we'll wrap up Jardin January and talk about Figural February!

1. Shebafudge 2. Ruth's Little Leprechauns 3. Kerryp 4. Jo who's first again! 5. Tiki Stitches

6. Karoline 7. Katie 8. Just A Little Stitchin' 9. Erin (Movie Muse) 10. Bea's Thoughts and Musings

11. Kali's Creations 12. Laura 13. Christine~StitchbytheSea 14. Yana Hanim

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

TUSAL

(What the heck is a TUSAL?)

My orts, liberated from their oh-so-shiny and oh-so-difficult to photograph tea light holder, are hanging out with the Stickman figure Michael got in his stocking (well, not IN his stocking...the packaging was HUGE!)

Yeah. I don't really know what's going on here. CAUTION: 70s TRIBBLES (?)

New Year's Day Start

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So. This blogging thing...I'm still trying to get back into it after the holidays!

I did make a New Year's Day start...this is Milady's Needle's "Christmas Tree Farm" ornament from the 2008 JCS ornament edition.

 

It is over two on 35 (THIRTY-FIVE) count, and may not have been the best choice for the dark, dark days of Winter.

I also got the beaded border done on my sister's ornament...then promptly clipped a few threads trying to cut it off its backing.

 

I successfully rescued it, but I will NOT be finishing mine the same way. I do like the peyote stitch border, though...I just have to figure out a different way to apply it! And, GAH, the first lesson of my new stumpwork class was posted yesterday, so I should finish my bird up! I can't start on the new class 'til I get some bigger and better stretcher bars, though. Everything I have is either too big, too small or too splintery. Ugh.

JiffNotes
Really, the weekend was fairly uneventful...or at least, filled with camnesia-laden regret (we went to a basketball game at the new McCamish Pavilion...it's AWESOME!)

Epic Holiday Catch-Up Post

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Sorry I've been so absent! It was difficult to find time to blog during the holidays...I'm so busy in preparation, and then after Christmas I was just exhausted.

But enough excuses! Here are some random moments from my December....

The week before Christmas began with my favorite annual Christmas concert. A friend at work is in his church's handbell choir and they do a service every year that is nothing but congregational carol singing and handbell pieces. It's gorgeous, and I adore singing carols...no wonder it's my favorite.

 

I had the additional wonderful surprise of my DF Teresa coming in to town for work, so she got to come with us and go to dinner afterward.

 

Even though the weather wasn't very Christmassy, the crazily decorated Marietta Diner provided a festive mood.

 

Then it was all about trying to get the cookies done in time to give away. In other words, turning these raw ingredients...

 

...from this...

 

...into this.

 

That's seven different kinds: Buried Cherry Cookies, Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, Eggnog Thumbprints, Scandinavian Almond Bars, Peppermint Cream Bars, Snickerdoodle Cups, and Mexican Chipotle Chocolate Bites. I estimate that I rolled over 300 cookies, not including the approximately 96 bar cookies.

The Wednesday before Christmas Michael and I sang in a Festival of Lessons and Carols. It was a wonderful, worshipful evening, even though my body was trying very hard to get sick!

You may be wondering about this random squirrel picture...

 

I just had to give a shout out to Bloom Woodworks. In my usual last-minute fashion, I ordered a couple gifts (along with this squirrel for myself. Jodi and her dad were great; she responded to my desperate email right away, her dad made a special trip to the post office, and she even remembered I'd entered a drawing and had gotten an (expired! my fault!) coupon for free shipping, so she only charged me a few dollars for Priority Mail. Fantastic customer service, and the thread keep is BEAUTIFUL. It's so light, too. The gifts were also beautiful, but I can't show them to you because both of them haven't been given yet. ;)

 

We headed over to the Georgia Aquarium on the 22nd because our annual passes were expiring and we wanted to see the dolphin show one last time...with the addition of the Weeki Wachee mermaids!

 

On Christmas Eve, we went to lunch at my sister's house where we got to hang out with my nephew. He got surprise leave (at Christmas!) from his service on the USS Eisenhower (where he flies a jet). It was fantastic to see him (and the awesome in-cockpit videos he took of his takeoffs and landings)! After lunch, we headed over to Michael's parents' house for Settlers of Catan and general festivities. He was put in charge of pancakes for dinner...

 

...I can't even believe I got that shot. These weren't just any pancakes, either. These were Grandfather Lott's Famous Apple Pancakes!

 

Boy, were they good. Especially alongside the rest of the feast...sausage bake in phyllo, egg casserole and asparagus!

The next day was Christmas! After a gorgeous church service, we went to my parents' house for presents and feasting. Look at the beautiful package my sister gave me! I almost didn't want to open it...almost. =)

 

She's SO good at shopping for me. She gave me the most gorgeous scarves, earrings, hat and dress!

I brought some Christmas crackers for us to pull before dinner, and they went over even better than I'd expected.

 

Everyone immediately donned their crowns and we had fun chortling over the ridiculous jokes inside.

The rest of the week we pretty well hermitted. I did go out on Boxing Day, thanks to my sister and niece who wanted to go to the sale at Anthropologie (and thanks to my in-laws, I had a nice gift certificate to spend). It was so fun to shop and have lunch with them! The next day I had lunch (and did a bit more shopping) with DF Jean.

I'll leave you with a bacon angel Michael made me for breakfast. I love it when he cooks; his food is always so much prettier than mine!

 

JiffNotes
I love Christmas!!