Back to Holland Springtime Mandala

I am back to being enthralled with this project. I put it down in February, before our vacation trip to Arizona, because I knew I would not have time to dedicate to it, and it was too bulky to take with us on the plane. I haven't picked it up before now, because I knew it would take all my stitching energy once I did, but now I have time to get back to it.

It is not quite confetti stitching. There are usually 4 to 6 stitches together rather than one or two, but it is still quite involved. You can just start to see that this has a house/building on it... but you cannot see what else is in the picture. You will have to wait for that!



I love stitching with the Needlepoint Inc. silks. They are smooth and soft, but not filament silk, so they do not get caught or snagged on skin that is not perfectly smooth.

I think I will take another picture tomorrow and post it, so you (and I) can see how much progress I make in one day. See you then!

Lovely Mother's Day and a surprise

I had a very nice weekend. On Saturday I finished this project:



It was a lot of fun. I do enjoy stiching on felt. It is very forgiving. I think this turned out very nice. Now I have to find a place to display it where the pets will not fill it with fur. That should be interesting!

On Sunday I had a real treat. I rode into Chicago with friends for a concert of the Protege Philharmonic Orchestra. It is an orchestra for high-school kids who are interested in pursuing music in college and beyond. The concert was held at Navy Pier, and as we were walking up and down the hall we came upon the Stained Glass Museum. I did not have a chance to stop and take good pictures, but I got in a couple of snaps. This is a Tiffany window.



And another Tiffany:



All the windows were beautiful, but the Tiffany windows were in another category all-together. They just glowed! There were examples all the way from antique Church stained glass windows to clear glass in the shapes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright originally. I didn't have time to figure out how to get nice pictures, which is probably good for you. I would have taken pictures of all of them!

The music was lovely and I really enjoyed the concert. It was held in the Grand Ballroom at the tip of the pier. This is the inside of the dome.



It is a lovely room, but I was disappointed by the way they arranged the room. The orchestra was set up in front of the windows overlooking Lake Michigan. It was interesting to see the boats gliding past, but it was very difficult to see the musicians with the back-lighting. When I am at a live concert, I love to watch the musicians playing, and I found that this arrangement made it very difficult to see them. It made the concert a little less enjoyable than it could have been.

After the concert DD1 and her SO (significant other) picked me up, and treated me to a meal in a Vietnamese restaurant. It was the first time I had experienced Vietnamese food, and I hope it is not the last. We each had a large bowl of soup. Mine was so generous that DH also had my left-overs for his supper. The soup was filled with noodles, won-tons, vegetables, and bbq bacon (!). It was delicious, and the company was the best. Then they drove me home, back to the suburbs, and we were able to hang out for a while at home.

Thanks to everyone who made the day possible!

The surprise is that I am now at leisure; I am no longer employed. If you want to contact me, please do so at the e-mail address in my blogger profile. I am hoping to be able to tackle some of the larger projects on my "to-do" stitching list. There are plenty to choose from!