Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Memorial weekend at the yurt (PICTURE HEAVY)

For Memorial Day this year we joined our good friends at the Eagle River Nature Center at a yurt they had rented for the holiday. We just spent the afternoon (not enough room for us to stay all night) and it was raining so we just gathered together and had fun watching the Eagle River flow by.  It was a lot of fun and the company was awesome.
So the ERNC is about 10 miles from our house and is one edge of the Chugach State Park. There are 10 miles of trails that start there and many different views to be seen. We hiked in about 2 miles or so to one of several yurts available to rent in the Park.
 At the turn in the path we came across the notice that bears had been seen in that area the day prior. They are all around out there but the particular path we were on runs by the river and in August every year it is closed due to high bear activity as that is when the salmon runs are ending and they can get lots of salmon little effort. They are very territorial when food is scarce and the sign says two bears (grizzlies) were acting aggressively toward each other in that area.  All the years I have lived here I still am not fond of the bears. Brisk walking on towards the yurt for me.
 picture taken from the yurt down to the river, the rope is necessary as it is steeper than it looks and there are lots of rocks to slip on in the rain.
 the yurt. this is one of the smaller yurts, sleeps 4 it says-2 bunks, 2 on the floor. It has open screened windows that overlook the river.
 The path behind the yurt. Rock as far as you care to walk.
 The small green box on the right of the picture is the food storage away from the yurt. It is bear proof  for all the edible stuff to go at night.
 Coffee is a necessity for some of us and our friends teenager brought his Miniexpresso machine.  I just had to laugh. Nothing like expresso in the woods.
 We had planned to do a fire pit but the rain kept us inside. The park supplies the wood. We cooked our food over Sterno ovens and were careful to keep all the food away from the Yurt as much as possible. Bears have a strong sense of smell....we did cook S'mores over the sterno oven with metal tongs the Park provided in the Yurt. We made sure that all the crumbs were cleaned up and got the dog to do a final pass through for crumbs around the camp.


 Another shot of the Eagle River. It is glacier fed that is why the gray color to it. It is a fast moving river with rapids that are not for the faint of heart or untrained.
 Outhouse not far from the camp. With bears around I am afraid it would not be a trip I would be making at night.
 I love the mist over the mountains. Am always fascinated by watching it.


So no stitching on this trip but thought you might like to see a little bit of my corner of Alaska. Next update will have stitching updates I promise. I am off to stitch and hope you have lots of stitchy time in your day. 

Marjo










Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Stash Enhancement

I have gotten just a couple of new things in the mail. I am only getting small items or things that might be gifts for some of my favorite stitchers. I am quite taken with the small kits by Cherished Stitches. I am currently using the Winter one as my travel around so I got the Spring one as next up in the travel bag.
I love to shop Etsy especially for handmade stitching accessories. The fob is from TJB Designs

TJB designs on etsy

Next on Etsy I found this lovely Bird Needlebook. I loved the soft colors and the line drawing effect. The name of the Shop I found it at is Country Garden. Lovely items to look at there as well. The kit is the next in the Cherished Stitches Kit A Spring Gathering continuing on with the bird theme. These are fun stitches that have lots of nice colors and come with all you need including the fabric for finishing. Great to grab and go.
Country Garden needle book and Cherished Stitches Spring Gathering Kit

And last but not least is the next installment of Shepherd's Bush Fold a needleroll. It is the same lovely colors as the rest of the items in this series. These are another quick take along size pattern and easy to finish especially for someone like me whose is finishing challenged.
Shepherd's Bush Fold addition

Well that is it for today. Have you found any stitch related great finds lately. Feel free to share in the comments. I love looking at new items to help with our great hobby. Hope you find some stitchy time in your day, Marjo

Sunday, May 24, 2015

A whole lot of stitching going on (from last year)

For some reason I wrote this post last year and never posted it. This is from our last stitching retreat that our little stitching group had last year. I wanted to share all the wonderful work that my friends were stitching on.

Retreat!!!!! Instead of a call to move back this was a long awaited call to dig in and stitch, stitch, stitch and stitch we did. There were finishes. There always are even when we have gone to one day retreats. I seem to always be working on such large things that finishes are few and far between for me but I love to see all of the ones everyone else has accomplished. It is always fun and inspiring to be with this bunch of ladies.

Kay's Rosewood Manner 

close up of darning pattern

Kay and her start on the darning pattern by Drawn Thread I think


Spring Quaker by Rosewood Manor

Jeannette and her progress

Gretchen hard at work on her blue and white piece

Joan stitching on the bunny

Joan's Homespun Elegance design bunny from a pillow 

One of the Bride's tree ornaments



Map Of USA update

Besides stitching we had great food with everyone contributing something special. We never have to worry about running out of food.
I took the map and was pleased to be able to spend some concentrated time stitching on it. I also took the Home Ornament that I wanted to finish since I had gotten the threads I needed. I also took a long time WIP that I really want to get done for myself but didn't spend a lot of time with it because I really want to get the gift stitching done. Like many people there is so much to stitch and so little time in the day to get it all done. For me it is soothing, for the most part anyway.
We had a great day. Lots of laughter, and for real a whole lot of stitching going on.
Hope you have a day full of stitchy time.
Marjo

Friday, May 22, 2015

Long overdue, stitching updates

I have so much to update since last I posted to my poor neglected blog. Life has been crazy busy and it has just gotten in the way of my doing several of the things I love and so I am resolving to add more of the things I love back into my life and that includes my stitching and writing about my stitching, and seeing what everyone else is posting about their stitching.
I still stitch with my wonderful stitching group every Thursday evening. I love those ladies. We are all quite different but I enjoy every minute I spend with them and look forward to it every week. I just got back from the beach where I got some stitching time (among other fun things) with my best friend of many years. I am blessed.
Sue Hillis Map of USA on 36 ct with DMC
So to the MAP. Yes, I am still working on it. I have stitched on it almost exclusively since I got the pattern but it is a half yard of 36 count and it is slow going. I am excited to say I am nearing the light at the end of the tunnel. Please ignore the wrinkles but this was just a quick photo as I move the q-snaps. I still have a lot left to do but compared to where I was I have come a long way. I was able to show it to the recipient and she was thrilled and we were able to iron out some of the personalization that she wanted done. It is definitely a labor of love.



last section finished
last section to go
I was not able to stitch on the map on the airplane, too big, too afraid to get it dirty and not enough light so I pulled out a small travel project that I keep with me. I still don't travel with scissors. I just don't trust loosing them in security so I am challenged by keeping up with cutting the threads on an airplane. I had a small needle threader I had gotten as a free gift from The Silver Needle in a mail order long ago that I kept for that purpose as it had a small cutting edge on it. It is missing in action buried in my still messy stitching room. Hope to spend some time this holiday weekend working in there. This is Winter Wonders by Cherished stitches that I worked on during the plane ride back to Alaska from our vacation. Fun stitch.
Winter Wonders by Cherished Stitches
 and the progress after the next leg. I am so excited to get back to the blog. I hope to keep up more often with updates. I hope you too have some stitchy time in your day.   Marjo