Slow Sunday Stitching

Another action-filled week has passed.  I spent a lot of the week trying to finish daughter Kristen's BD presents.  One of them I can't share as it is my Polar Bear Plunge Blog Hop Project which starts next week.   

Most of the week was trying to find a crow SVG design that I could cut out with iron on vinyl on my Cricut.  I found a design I really loved, but it was too intricate.  Daughter Kristen when she went to her sister's house in October discovered I had given Katie a pillow cover and didn't give her one at the same time.   It was for Katie's BD, so I told Kristen I would make one for her BD.  She requested something with a crow.  Crows or ravens have significance for us, as we have seen them since John died a lot.  Plus he remarked to me numerous times I always seemed to make things with black birds.   So I was looking for a crow or raven on it I could cut out.  I cut out my preferred design 3 times, but it was so intricate that when I was weeding out the vinyl that was not wanted I kept tearing off parts that weren't supposed to be weeded off.  

So finally I found one that worked, and this was the result.  Kristen loved it!

Another thing I made was this cardinal vase.  I copied this picture from the Jennifer Maker website.  This is where I have been getting a lot of project ideas for the Cricut, and I had enrolled in one of her classes.  I had tried to take a picture of the completed vase but the lighting was not right.  

The video for the instructions are found right here:  https://jennifermaker.com/cardinal-remembrance-vase/.  She had gotten these blank vases at Dollar Tree, and I spent several days looking for one.  I finally found one at Joann's on sale, but it was not a dollar.  Today I was at Goodwill looking for pots I could put my new orchids in.  I didn't find any vases but I did find another one of these vases for 49 cents!  

This week I also attended the guild meeting and they were looking for sign-ups for Quilter of the Month, and no one was volunteering, so I volunteered for June.  I am not very good at speaking in front of a lot of people.  I hope I am brave enough to do this!  

So daughter Kristen took the day off on Friday for her BD and invited me to come with her and husband Jeff to Half Moon Bay.  My happy place is at the beach and I jumped at the opportunity.  I had been thinking about driving myself the 2-1/2 hours to the beach, so I was happy to get the opportunity to ride.  We got there about lunch time, and went to Barbara's Fish Trap where we had a delicious lunch.   We had been there once before and vowed to go back again.  

In Half Moon Bay there are several nurseries along one road, and a succulent nursery in the main part of town.  Kristen wanted to get some succulents so we stopped at the one in town first.  Then we went to the orchid nursery we had been to last July.  I was able to buy 3 orchids this time.  They didn't have the selection they did last time, but I did find some beauties.  The lighting is poor tonight, but it was too bright this afternoon.  

We were able to spend a little time at the beach before we came home.  We  couldn't have asked for a better day.  The weather was beautiful.

We left Half Moon Bay at 4:30, had back to back traffic going into San Francisco, all the way across the Bay Bridge and almost all the way home.   It took us until 9:15 to get home.  

When my family have a birthday I usually pull out old pictures and post them, wishing them Happy Birthday.  

These were a few I pulled out the other day.  I look like I am a baby when I had Kristen, but I was actually 28.  That photo session with Kristen's portrait pictures, she had 6 different expressions, this is the one I loved the best.

This week the senior swimmers at Kyleigh's college were highlighted, and this was the picture she had taken.   She will be graduating from nursing school in May.  

Last week I was so busy driving around looking for supplies for Kristen's BD gift I didn't get my Ella Maria Deacon Block done.  I will also probably work on my next Kathy Schmitz embroidery.  

So this is what I will be doing for Slow Sunday Stitching this week.  I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts.    Head on over and check out what everyone is working on.  It is my favorite place to spend time on Sundays.  

Thanks for stopping by!