March Update: Home from Florida!!

Greetings, my faithful readers!  And a very big and humble "Thank You" to you all, as I have just reached 200 followers!  That just amazes me, that anyone would want to follow and read what I have to say, all my ramblings and goofy pictures.  I may not post as much as some, but it sure is nice to know that some are reading.  So again, thank you very much!!

On to the update!  My family and I went on vacation to Florida for some rest and relaxation!  We drove down thru NewYork, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and finally Florida.  We rented a lovely house, with four bedrooms and screened in pool!  With a jacuzzi!! It was marvelous!  We had the most relaxing time! 

Our Florida home!

It had everything and more that our own house had!  It even had a garbage disposal!  That was so much fun to play with!!  LOL!  We played in the pool a lot, and I LOVED the jacuzzi!  It was my favourite place of all!  I even stitched by the pool one afternoon!  Bliss!!

We spent the Sunday before we drove home at Universal Orlando, at their Islands of Adventure theme park! We had a whole lotta fun!

 DD and I were really excited about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction!  We toured Hogsmeade and Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, rode dragons and hippogriffs, and even rode brooms with Harry, Ron and Hermoine!  We ate at The Three Broomsticks and sampled Butterbeer!!  Mmmmm.

 Rooftops of Hogsmeade.

 Hogwarts School.

It was really impressive!  We felt like we were actually there!  Everything looked just like the movies!  Hubby didn't know much about Harry Potter, but he was a really great sport about the whole thing.  And he LOVED Butterbeer, which surprised him!

On to the stitching!!

Here is my Mirabilia's Cinderella before we left.  I put her away while I was gone, and haven't picked her up yet!

 I decided to take only small projects down to Florida with me to work on, and am ashamed to say this was all I accomplished.

 It's a freebie biscornu from Faby Reilly.  I changed the colours to pinks instead of purples.  It's for DD as she  informed me that she is the only one who doesn't have a biscornu.

I finally managed to make it to a JoAnn's!  I bought a couple Cricut cartridges that I have been wanting, and they were on sale!!

 I also picked up some more perle cotton and DMC Memory floss to play with there as well.  The Crescent colors and GAST and silk ribbon were from a LNS that I went to, which I will tell you more about below! 

 I also picked up some beads to make some scissor fobs for DD and I!  I wanted to find some frog beads, but they didn't have any.  The Halloween beads were so cute, though, it will be fun to make these up!

 Hubby promised me that we could go to a needlework shop, and I found one fairly close to where we were staying!  Yay!  It's called Needle Craft World !  And the owner Cathy is so wonderful!!  Chatting with her I discovered that we are both members of the Victoria Sampler Yahoo group!  What a small world!  I went there on Friday, and then again on Saturday!  It was small, but she had it packed with the most fun stuff!  I had a ball there!

 I found the second Janice Love book, and it found its way back to Canada with me!  I can't wait to delve into the stitches!!

Remember me telling you in my last post that I would buy Mirabilia's new chart, Silver Moon Tea?!  Well, it too found it's way home to Canada, almost completely kitted up!  Just need a couple of Mill Bead packs!!  Cathy spent time with me choosing fabric.  We choose a lovely soft purple in the dreaded 32 count linen!!  I have started it, but won't post just yet, I only have a very few stitches done!

 Mirabilia'sSilver Moon Tea and 32 ct linen.

And also while at the store I saw this chart!  I have never seen this one!  Thea has been talking about her farm series on the Yahoo group, and I fell in love at first sight! I completely kitted this one up as well!  Fabric and specialty floss!

 Ravenhill Herb Farm by The Victoria Sampler

While I was away, I got an email from Val B. from the Friendly Stitchers Yahoo group, asking if I had received a visit from the postie.  I responded that I might well have, but couldn't check as I was away.  Low and behold in my mail when I got back was a lovely envelope with this gorgeous biscornu from Val B., with a note thanking me, saying it was stitched with Caron Waterlillies and Needlepoint silks!!  I had sent her a Told in the Garden Baby Sampler chart that I had, but would probably not stitch again.  I just wanted to help a fellow stitcher out, and  never expected that I would get something in return.  Thank you so much, my friend!  It is beautiful!  It has a place of honor with all my other biscornus near my stitching nest so I can glance at it often and think of you!

 Front

 Back

Also in my mail, was this chart that I won in blog giveaway!  It's from Riona's blog .  Not sure when I'll get to it, but rest assured I will!  I should go away more often if this is what comes in the mail!  lol

TW's Tracery Dragons

I don't have any bird pictures to share this time, and didn't really see any in Florida to take pics of!  I have seen a robin since we've been home, so will try to snag a photo of one soon!  Now that I have the laundry all caught up, I should get to some housework, but I think I'll stitch instead!  Housework will be there tomorrow!

Shhh, don't tell!  Chat soon!