Crafts Update

These seascape windows are so cool and I've been seeing them everywhere.  Needless to say when a class became available here in town, I jumped at the chance to do this!  Marsha signed up as well, and on a chilly, cloudy afternoon we had lunch at Chili's and then took the class.  It's super easy. Now that I know how to do it, I can do them myself.

It looks pretty good in the kitchen window.

Our grandson's first obsession is trains, specifically, Thomas.  I found a free cross stitch pattern online and this only took about a week to do.

So I finally joined a Planet Fitness.  One opened near our house and I signed up, but despite it opening in mid-March, it took till the end of April for me to start going.  I like it though.  They gave me a free tshirt when I joined but it was white so I got a tie dye kit.  Then I got a pack of 5 toddler tshirts to do as well.  I gave 2 of them to my friends for the toddlers in their lives, and the other 3 will go to Dale.

This is my planet fitness shirt.

I like how it came out.  I've never been very good at tie dye but this one was pretty good.

Once the embroidery was done, I was able to move my diamond painting into the craft room to finish it up.  The design is of Leonid Aframov's painting, 'The Loneliness of Autumn'.  I love his work.  

My next diamond painting is all ready to go and I have my new cross stitch underway as well!  

That Wacky Cape Cod Spring

It's so nice to see flowers again!  I suppose, overall, this wasn't a bad winter.  Not as compared with 2014 and 2015.  It was the cold mostly that got to me. However, this is also the time of year where I still have a space heater running in the bathroom, but the a/c on in the bedroom and fan in livingroom.

Rose of sharon on the side of the house.

Hyacinth

Japanese andromeda.

A woolly bear making his way across the lawn.  I've seen a couple of them. I thought they only came out in fall but they also come out in spring so they can turn into moths.  It's kind of ironic that I think the caterpillar is so fuzzy and adorable, but I won't hesitate to kill the moth that it turns into if it gets in my house.  

We had a super warm day that turned into an even warmer night on April 29.  The air was so velvety and the moon and stars were so bright.  

I was messing around with exposure times and I like this one with the rainbow reflection on the left.

It was hard to get a decent pic that showed the dark part without overexposing the crescent.

The very next day dawned sunny and cool, but by 3:00 pm, the temperature had dropped significantly and the clouds rolled in.

We'll be back up to warmer temps in no time though. 

Best. Project. Ever.

I've finished the Zenbroidery!  I really thought it was going to take like 6 months to do, and it only took a little over 2 months.  

Let's recap.  This was after I started on February 22.  This was a test of different flosses and techniques just to see how it would look.  

March 1

March 16

April 20

DONE! April 30!

While most of the colour combos are just randomly selected, I did do some in specific colours to represent things that have meaning to me.  You'll find a blue and bronze flower and paisley, for Ravenclaw.  I couldn't get It's A Beautiful Day's song 'White Bird' out of my head while I did that dove.  Gold & red for Gryffindor of course.

There's a green and silver paisley near the black star, for Slytherin.  The dark blue flower with the light blue and white beads are our high school colours.  The black star represents a Grateful Dead song called 'Dark Star'.  

I stitched a white lightning bolt with red & blue in that heart for the Dead.  

Bluebird of happiness.  There's a neon green & blue heart which are for the Seahawks.

There's a yellow and black paisley for Hufflepuff. 

Really enjoyed adding all the beads and sequins too, even though I stabbed myself quite a few times, and once even drawing blood.

Those two stars were the last bits that needed to be done today and I was so eager to finish.

Now I just need to find a frame, although I'm thinking about having it professionally framed.  And now comes the really hard part:  Finding room on the wall for it!

Talbot's Point

Talbot's Point is a small bit of conservation land in E. Sandwich.  I grew up right down the street but rarely ever went there.  It kind of scared my parents, the thought of me wandering around in there.  And in the mid 80s there was this ridiculous rumour...which turned into hysteria....that there was a satanic cult practicing in the woods here and were sacrificing animals.  It reached it's crescendo on Halloween 1986.  Of course nothing happened, and it was just a bunch of kids out there partying and drawing pentagrams everywhere.  

Russell's not crazy about my solo adventures to the beaches and woods so I dragged him with me.

There are several trails that go down to the marshes, and some that hook up with the trails at the old bird farm.

Skunk cabbage.

Any time the trees would start to get green would be good.

Low tide.

This is the bridge that links the point with the bird farm conservation area.  There are no more birds there now.

Cranberry bog.

No idea what these were.

Widow makers

And new growth

When I was a kid I would walk these tracks, from across the street from my house and all the way down to the end of Old County Road.  Russell used to walk the tracks to E. Sandwich from where he lived at Town Neck, hunting for rabbits and birds.  

This is looking towards the east, where I lived.

I'm glad that it's finally getting nice enough that I can get back out to explore again.  It seemed like a very cold, long winter.