Beautiful Sunshiny Awards!

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I received two wonderful awards from Holly! =)

The rules for the Beautiful Blogger award are
* Accept the award Thank you! Thankyouverymuch!
* Thank the person who gave you the award Done! But thanks again, Holly!!
* Add a link to the person who gave you the award see above...ok, ok, click here: Holly's Stitching & Stuff
* Put the award on your blog Check!
* Write 10 things about yourself others might not know

1) When I was in the fifth grade, I was on the TV game show "Family Feud", hosted by Richard Dawson. My family wasn't playing; I was a "cute kid from the audience". That's another story for another post. =)
2) I do not know how to ride a bike. We lived down a huge hill, back a gravel road from a highway when I was old enough to learn. I'm trying to learn now!
3) My husband and I met when we were cast together in a musical at Georgia Tech.
4) I was accepted to MIT for Electrical Engineering, but I thought I'd freeze to death if I went. My dad has still not forgiven me for not going.
5) I won a piano composition contest in high school.
6) For a while right after I got married, I contracted in Orlando although we were living here in Atlanta. I'd fly out every Tuesday morning and back in Friday night. One week I thought: "The moderate resorts at Disney World are totally within my hotel allowance! I'm staying at Disney!!" It sounded like a good idea at the time, but leaving in the morning knowing I was going to work while every other person around me was going to have fun all day was too much for me.
7) I detest any deli meat that is labeled "oven roasted".
8) Someday I hope to live in a house with a pool. It's been my dream since I can remember.
9) I'd love to have a pet cat, bunny and squirrel, but I'm afraid the hubby would be violently allergic to all of them. I'm also afraid at least two of them would chew our wood furniture to shreds.
10) I was a cheerleader in high school. I was also the only cheerleader the Band would tolerate. They'd even let me march out of the stadium with them.

* Pass the award on to 10 other bloggers
Oh, my, this will be hard. I am afraid that I am so behind on reading blogs, my awards would be totally random. I reserve the right to hand out this award throughout the year as I catch up and see fit! =)

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogging world. The rules for the Sunshine award are:
* Put the logo on your blog or within your post
* Pass the award to 12 bloggers
* Link the nominees within your post
* Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog
* Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award
Hey, same goes here...I may pass out this award later!

JiffNotes
How do you like the new header graphic Michael made for me?? =D

Tiptoe through the Treetops

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Last Thursday night, we were able to attend the Member Preview of the new Canopy Walk at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The unique structure allows you to walk through the treetops.
The walkway is wide, with benches every so often so you can sit and drink in the quiet, calm atmosphere.
Most of the walkway is "hanging", so as not to disturb the trees. We got to talk to one of the consultants that helped protect the tree roots (as well as the trees themselves). They were constantly making the contractors move drainage and electrical lines, dig more shallow holes for new plantings, and go under tree roots rather than over (or through!) so that the old trees--most are around 80 years old--would survive construction. The support system for the walk is amazing.
They chose really great colors for the walk, so that it begins to disappear into the forest itself, and you think about it less and less.
But the Canopy Walk was not the only new feature of the Gardens that we got to explore that night. There is also a new Edible Garden, complete with a swanky outdoor kitchen.
They were serving a spicy, chunky gazpacho that was out of this world! I'm not usually a fan of gazpacho, but this stuff was great. One of the herb gardens there is grown vertically and watered with a drip system.
We have been getting art installations in the gardens for the past couple years. Currently, we have blown glass fruit adorning the beds of "real" food.



And until the real water lilies are fully in bloom...
...we have glass ones instead.

All kinds of things were in bloom around the rest of the Garden...



The delphinium were my favorites.
This is only one of the varieties they had...but it was the one that photographed with the truest colors. The kids had plenty to do with jumpropes and hula hoops in the field in front of the greenhouses.

We ended our evening at the Cascade Gardens, just off the Canopy Walk. This is sure to be a popular spot for receptions.

JiffNotes
If you're ever in Atlanta, don't miss the Botanical Gardens. And be sure to visit the Day Orchid Center. I'll have to post some pictures from Orchid Daze soon!

March Madness: Final Week

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The final week of March saw me working on what is probably the hubby's favorite WIP, Teresa Wentzler's Peacock Tapestry:If you can find those few leaves I've got done, you'll see how very far I have to go. Honestly, I may have spent more time trying to track down the purple pencil lead I was using to highlight the pattern than stitching! I love this piece; one of my favorite parts is the sassy partridge at the bottom left corner who has been one-upped by the peacock in his own tree.

The next day was stitch group, and I picked a pretty stress-free project. I had started on Berroco's Firenze scarf, but I really hated the way the base of the scarf was looking. Even though most of it would be covered with flowers, it looked icky to me. So, I decided to try a knitted lace net pattern rather than a crocheted one.It still needs a lot of work; the yarn requirements for the flowers was WAY off, I think, so I'm going to end up having to do some serious modifications, or throw in some more colorways. There's a lot of work to be done, but at least I feel good knowing I have a plan of action that I'll be happy with.

From extreme color to whitework, the next day brought a Linda Driskell class piece, Old Hedebo Heart Sampler.This was another class with prework; that bottom heart you see was finished in class. The top heart was cut in class, but just barely started. This night, I finished the first trip and got about half of the bottom one done.It was extremely relaxing! Once again I wonder just how long it would take to finish the piece....

Two peacocks in one week! I was really happy to see Just Nan's Keep a Little Secret come out of the pile, because I had actually drawn it earlier in the month, but not been able to start it. It was a birthday order that had not arrived the first time I drew it.It doesn't look like I got much done, but it feels like I did! =)

It was drawing near to the end of the month, but I was getting t-i-r-e-d! Not tired of the projects...I was feeling a big sense of regret that so many in the bowl had not been picked (I started with twice as many as I'd need, so I knew that was going to happen, but still...) I was tired because I had stitched more in one month than I normally do. If I get home from work tired, I may not do anything. But this month I'd pushed myself a little more...partly due to excitement! The penultimate project was Chatelaine's Sapphire, which had been languishing because I'd run out of gold braid. I'd finally ordered some, but it had been lying around for a while waiting for me to get motivated.Sooooo close. I really thought I might finish it, but I couldn't summon the energy to finish the beads. I did finish it in April, but that's another post for another day. =)

The final project was Dogwood Stitchery, yet another class project that hasn't seen the light of day since the class. You can tell how tired I was because by the time I figured out where I wanted to stitch on the thing, I only managed two words.This was actually stitched on March 30th. I drew for March 31st, but it was another one with no obvious starting point, so I ended up just staring at it for the night.

Hope you enjoyed the madness along with me!

JiffNotes
The draw-a-project-a-day madness of March has come to an end. But what should I stitch on now?

March Madness, Week 3

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After a weekend off (you'd think it would be easier for me to stitch on the weekend, but the opposite is true), I drew a slip of paper that said, "Hardanger Ornament". Now, when I wrote that slip, I took it off a WIP list I had made a while ago. I thought to myself, "I wonder what ornament that is! Oh, well, I guess it'll make sense when I open my ornament box." Well, I opened the box, and I still don't have any idea what ornament it meant!! So, I decided to start one of Moss Creek Designs' Hardanger Fancies.I got all the kloster blocks done in one night, and had I not played some games online, I probably could have finished the filling! It looks like these would not take much time to finish at all. It'll probably take me longer to do the holly leaves and berries.

The next night I was feeling under the weather, so I didn't get anything done. My next draw was a beginning lace project, Leafy Scarf.I am fascinated that according to the number of knitting versus stitching projects that I put in the bowl, the probability has come out just about right. There was one knitting project for about every ten stitching projects, and that's about how often I'd drawn them so far. I got about four or five repeats done on this scarf, and I think there are only 30. It's a nice silk blend and very soft. It'll look great once it's blocked! I made myself put in a lifeline (that's the pearl cotton you see woven in there) for practice (and discipline) when I get to more complex lace shawls.

The next day brought another Liz Turner Diehl project, this time in stumpwork.I need to redo at least one of the bee's wings, because my stitching has improved...you can see a difference in the buttonhole stitching on the first wing and all the others, and I know it will bug me. But I spent my time working turkey knots (the black and gold loops you see at the bottom of the bee). They are very relaxing!

Another day skipped, but the following day brought another Moss Creek piece:This is her Blackwork Band Sampler, the infamous class after which Teresa rescued me from overpriced hotel food, along with Jill. After a dinner of "cow", two great friendships were born. I had finished the needleweaving section at some point (I know it wasn't during class), but I stitched all the blackwork in my one evening of madness. That section was supposedly taken from Helen of Troy's bracelet, and it made me think of our cruise in the Mediterranean in November, when we got to stop at Athens and Ephesus and explore some remains of ancient Greek civilization. (Yes, yes...I know you want pictures. They're coming sometime.)

The final piece of the week was another new start!!This is Teresa Wentzler's Celtic Cross Bellpull. I've had most of the silks for this forever, although I'm still looking to replace the Silk Mori...'cause I hate that stuff! I got some Soie Cristale on sale (LOVE IT!) but I'm not sure the colors work.

So much fun to revisit (and start!) these projects!! One more week of madness to come...!

JiffNotes
Probability loves me. That, or it really, really wants me to start new projects. And if you're not sure what's going on, you might want to check out weeks one and two.

And the winner is...

Katri!

Thank you for participating in my contest (or just clicking to help me out). I didn't end up winning anything myself, but those are the breaks!

I just realized that I missed my blogiversary yet again this year, so I decided to give out another prize to celebrate that as well, a little belatedly. The second drawing (I say "drawing", but I numbered everyone's entries in order and used Random.org to pick a number) went to...

Annette!

Ladies, send me your addresses (at heather dot lott @ lottloft dot com) and your pick of one of the eight prizes. Annette, you'd better send me a second choice just in case Katri snags your first choice.

Thanks again for playing!!