The Food Theme Continues

Visitors to Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA will recognize Rachel, the market's unofficial mascot.

The market is famous for the vendors who fling fish to each other.

Much more exciting than pizza dough!

It has amazing local, seasonal produce...

including mushrooms...

and flowers...

and wreaths of peppers.

There is a vast selection of seafood (yum!)

Pretty pomegranates...

...and live crabs!

Apparently Rachel the Pig left some hoof prints as she trotted about the market! 

Close to the market...Beecher's Handmade Cheese.

A must stop in my book!

Also nearby, is the 100 year old Three Girls Bakery!

What a pleasant way to spend the morning.

Still All About Food

I started stitching my Hershey's Kiss Turkey.  The body uses silver Kreinik braid.  As you know, braid is difficult to work with.  I thought one strand would be far easier to manage than two slipper strands.  I used one strand, and now I'm not sure that I have the coverage I want.  I think I'll try two when I start up again, and then I'll be able to compare and decide.  

We are not Black Friday shoppers.  We are Take it Easy and Digest Thanksgiving Dinner.

See, everyone is resting and taking it easy.

Mama Deer

Baby Deer

The Doe is a very good mother.  Though she no longer allows the fawn to nurse, she still watches out and grooms and is otherwise motherly.

My Big Boy Buck was back too - on the move in the early morning so I did not get a very good picture.

I hope that you are relaxing today and enjoying left-overs. 

Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a Happy and Uncomfortably Full Thanksgiving!

Design - "Thanksgiving Sampler"

Designer - Heart in Hand

Fabric - 32 count Clay Belfast linen

Fibers - GAST, WDW, DMC - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 16 November 2012

Completed - 20 November 2012 

Falling Leaves and a Glass Garden

Design - "November Twirls"

Designer - Bent Creek

Fabric - 28 count Country French Cafe linen

Fibers - GAST & WDW - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 16 November 2012

Completed - 19 November 2012

A nice commemoration of Autumn!

Back in late September my Mom took a trip to Seattle, WA and visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit at the Seattle Center. I looked at her photos and thought, "Wow!  I have to share them." 

If you are like me, as a gardener and / or stitchers you are mad about color."

Dale Chihuly is an amazing glass artist who resides in Tacoma, WA.  You can read more about him here. For this exhibition, much of Chihuly's inspiration came from the colors and patterns used in another Pacific NW tradition - Pendleton blankets.  You can read more about the history of Pendleton blankets here.

The exhibit is in three parts.  Outside there is "The Garden"...

Love this so much!

And this too - the contrasting vertical glass with the long horizontal fallen log.  So cool.

A second part of the exhibit includes "The Glass House" (i.e. The green houses used in Great English Gardens).

This is an amazing installation.  The upper left shows the entire piece - a study of the ocean and its residents.  The other photos in the collage are close-ups of a fish, a shell, a starfish, and another shell. 

This is a wooden boat filled with Niijima-type Floats.

Back in the 1950's and earlier, along the coast, large green Japanese fishing floats used to wash ashore after a big storm.  We are lucky and have one.  

This boat is full of Ikebana inspired pieces.

The third part of the exhibition is in "The Exhibition Hall".

It is an almost overwhelming sight of color and form. 

The neatest thing is that the exhibition is open day and night.  It can be viewed both ways.  The glass pieces are very different in natural light than in staged light.  For example, this is the same glass piece shown in the daylight earlier in my post - just below the photo of the Pendleton blankets.  If you are in the Seattle area - GO!  SEE!  ENJOY! 

Birds and Bunnies and...Turkeys

I'm almost done with my current stitch - I'll show it off tomorrow.

In the meantime, I found MORE fun November themed stitches.  How can you pass up a Hershey's Kiss shaped turkey? 

It began pouring buckets Sunday night, and it hasn't let up yet.  This is a HUGE slow storm covering most of the Pacific NW.  I read that Mt. Rainier in Washington is forecast to receive over 10 feet of snow!  I guess I'll be thankful that we are getting rain - over 3" thus far and no local flooding problems yet.  I expect Dorothy's Creek and our Big Creek are both roaring.  If the rain ever lets up, I'll have to take some snaps.  

This past weekend, Tom-Cat enjoyed some Outside Time.

There was plenty to entertain a cat.

We had chipmunks...

...and bunnies...

...and this rather magnificent Buck!

Look at his muscular shoulders and neck.  He is a grand boy. 

And I've decided we have at least two male Hairy Woodpeckers.  This one has quite a pronounced red stripe on the back of his head.  The other has a much smaller, almost dot-sized bit of red.  

The Winners!

Here are the winners of the 3 Part Give-Away:

The Marjorie Massey Book - Maggee

The Charts - Stitchinpeanut

The Fibers - Mouse

Congratulations Everyone!

Design - "Leaves"

Designer - Bent Creek

Fabric - 28 count Flax Cashel

Fibers - WDW & GAST - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 12 November 2012

Completed - 15 November 2012

I think this is a charming little design.  I like the autumn leaves swirling in the background.

We had rain beginning Friday night, and are scheduled to have rain as far out as the 10 day forecast can 'see'. 

But before this series of storms moved in, we were rewarded with a lovely sunset Friday evening.

The sky was began as orange...

...with a line of yellow.

This is the sunset at its most intense.

Then the colors slowly diminished...

...until we were blue/gray with a tinge of pink.