Off the Needles at Last!

It's been an interestingly crazy week which included singing at our former pastor's memorial service, a visit with the GK, volunteering at the hospital, choir practice on Tuesday night instead of the usual Thursday, helping a friend whose husband is ill, and of course, Thanksgiving.  Needless to say, not a whole lot of stitching got accomplished, but I do have several finishes, one of which I can't show yet.  Here are the others, however.

I finished another Seahawks hat and still have yarn leftover! They won yesterday, hurrah!

Mere's Almost Lost Dishcloth is a fun and quick knit and looks great in all different colorways.  If you've not tried it, you should.  I also discovered another fun pattern called the Mrs. Merryweather Dishcloth which is a good way to learn/practice the linen stitch.  You can find this pattern free along with 51 other dishcloths at KnitPicks!  So long for now, I'm off to the grocery story in between rain storms. Remember to check out the projects at Patchwork Times.

A Very Special Weekend!

If you ever find yourself in Seattle, one of the places you might want to visit is the Space Needle, which has been here since 1962, and is a Seattle landmark. A rather new attraction is the relatively new Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit. This past weekend we went to both places with Dick's brother and our sister-in-law, who were visiting from Palo Alto, and both places are wonderful. On a clear day we can see the Space Needle in the distance from a hill near our house, but there's nothing quite like looking down on the city and the surrounding area from on top of it! This past weekend the weather was clear and very crisp (COLD), and the view was spectacular.  If you double click on the photo, you can see Mount Baker way off in the distance.

After a very tasty lunch a some time at the observation platform above the restaurant, we went across the way to the Chihuly exhibit. It is wonderful!

I loved this ceiling and the way the colors reflect off the walls.

This is one of two glass-filled boats floating in water.

A beautiful arrangement of glass flowers fills the upper part of the conservatory which Chihuly designed.  As you can see, the flowers also frame the Space Needle.

This glass tree is located in the conservatory for the upcoming holidays and is filled with golden cherubs.

The gardens outside are lovely also. The pieces of glass are skillfully situated among the plants and are very interesting.

The glass just glows in the sunlight, and I loved the way the log is placed among the pieces.

Every so often there's a piece that reflects the Needle in all its glory.

Of course our weekend also included a visit with two of our favorite little people.

Stella just woke up from her nap

and  Max enjoyed looking at pictures of the Chihuly exhibit with Uncle Bob. It was a very nice weekend!

Quilts Galore!

Believe it or not, I didn't take a picture of every quilt in the show, but I did find many that I liked and hope you will, too.

I spotted this one as we walked through the door. Those reindeer were so cute!

Hearts and anything red and white always catch my eye.

Rainbow colors and autumn leaves~

Marine life and woodland creatures~

I loved the flowers and birds on this one and just had to take a close-up.

Aren't these houses interesting?

I think the centers of these blocks are done with a process called  "stack and whack," and the results always remind me of a kaleidoscope.  Guess what this quilt was called?

And then there were the cats~

The detail on this one is amazing, and if you double click on the photo, you'll agree.

This one has such peaceful colors while

                               the colors on this one are practically vibrating!

Yes, every one of these quilts is unique, and every one of them has something in common, the hours and hours of work in creating them. Next time I'll show you some quilts by a talented lady in our quilt group and some other ones that are truly unique in their construction. But, that's all for now as it's getting late.

Quilt Show Part One:

This past Friday I went to the Block Party Quilters annual show and took a whole bunch of photos, way too many for one post.  In addition to the quilts, there were lots of vendors and the temptations were mighty.  I resisted....mostly. As you can kind of see, the quilts on the first floor were surrounded by the vendors, and then smaller quilts were shown on the second floor which is a balcony that makes picture-taking a challenge.

Janet Fogg was the featured quilter.  I really liked her cat quilts!

Here's a cat that reminded me of one of mine from log ago.

Isn't this beautiful butterfly colorful?

Whenever I go to quilt shows, I look for crazy quilts, and they are usually few in number and hard to find. This time, small but interesting, they were all on on one wall up in the balcony.

Here's one more shot of Janet's work from the balcony, a daisy, a seahorse, and another cat, and a partial view of two others.

That's it for this installment. (Remember, if you double click on the photos, you can see the details.) I'm off to the grocery store.  Bye.

Just Sticks, String and Some Quilts

Despite our incredibly wet weather which should produce lots of stitching, I don't have a lot to show, or at least that I can show. (I am working on two of three Christmas stockings that have to remain secret for a bit. I have turned the heel on the first one at least.)

Last week I caved in and started a new KAL from the Knitters Brewing Co., a sock called Snow Dancer.  I just had to know how that snowflake was created, but there are lots more of them to do, and the flakes on the cuff have beads.  It's a fun and challenging project, but I don't expect to finish it any time soon even though 2 flakes are now done!

This washcloth, however, is both fast and fun. Mere has made lots of them! The pattern is free at Ravelry and is called "The Almost Lost Washcloth.  A washcloth coupled with homemade soap makes a great gift, and I've been very happy with soap from Cranberry Morning's etsy shop.

~~~

This morning my friend Becca and I made our annual trip to the Block Party Quilters show at the Issaquah Community Center.  Janet Fogg is the featured quilter, and you can see a couple of her quilts in the distance. If you live anywhere closeby, I'd recommend that you attend. It will be open on Saturday and Sunday, too.

So there you have it in a nutshell! I'll post photos of some of the quilts so Have a happy week!   Oh, and remember to check out Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting this week.

The End of the Story: Leipzig Memories

The last part of our recent trip took us to Leipzig, the fourth largest city in Germany.  It is located in what used to be East Germany and is quite a distance from Cologne, so we only traveled to Berlin the first day.

We had been to Berlin before after one of our choir trips and enjoyed our visit, but this time we arrived late in the day and only stayed over night.  The view from our hotel was quite impressive.

Those boats are on the Spree River, and that bridge is one of 1,700 that crosses the many waterways and canals of this city.

Our hotel was a 5 minute walk across the plaza from the huge train station. Cranes and other evidence of new construction was visible everywhere. The next day found us back on the train headed to Leipzig to visit this family.  Udo stayed with us in the late ninties when he was studying about leukemia at Harborview Hospital and the UW. Now he's married, has twins, and practices medicine in Leipzig.

We had a wonderful time exploring this city with their help! First Udo took us to a concert at the Thomas Church where J. S. Bach spent 20 years, directing the choir and composing music.

The inside was beautiful also.

We explored on foot and on a bus tour. 

The streets were filled with vendors and decorations celebrating the fall season.  In ancient times two heavily traveled roads intersected in Leipzig, and they have been incorporated in the layout of the current shopping mall.

We saw several of these small organs being played in unison!

We walked through a garden connected with the university that listed all of the medical uses of the plants.  Even though it was all in German we were able to mostly  figure it out.  The kids had fun there, too.

Elly and Linus enjoyed the printen cookies that we brought them from Aachen.

On our bus tour of the city, we learned that Schiller and Goethe both spent time in Leipzig.

We felt really fortunate to have finally visited this city  and hated to leave.

So with one last look from our hotel window, 

we headed to the train station where we found this fun amusement while waiting for our train.

The trip back to Amsterdam took us first to Frankfurt where we spent the night.  The view from that hotel window wasn't as spectacular, but it was interesting!

In case you haven't figured it out by now, we love traveling by train, watching the scenery go by, and chatting with the passengers.

We knew we were back in Amsterdam when we saw this!

And this definitely reminded us of home.

We had a wonderful two weeks away, but it still is always good to come back home.  Hope you enjoyed reliving the memories with me!