Gorgeous Gardens in Early Autumn

The Waterlily Garden

One of my favorite gardens is Gibbs Gardens in the North Georgia Mountains.  I have an annual garden membership and I usually try to go a couple of times each season.  They are open from March to November.  Last year I was unable to go for the Autumn so I was really looking forward to going this year.  I enjoy photography as a hobby and love spending time during the weekend snapping a few pictures and wandering around this beautiful area of Georgia.  I'm definitely not a professional but I take enough pictures to make it seem like I am! :-)  Of course, it's really hard to take a bad photo of this gorgeous place! 

This past Friday, 10/18/14, I took the day off from work and drove the 45 minutes from my home to Gibbs Gardens.  It was a beautiful early fall day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I've included a few of my favorite photos so you can hopefully, see the beauty of this magical place as I do.  I definitely hope to return in another week or two when the leaves really begin to change colors and the Japanese Maples are really colorful.

A section of the Waterlily Garden

A gazebo and pond near the entrance of the Daffodil Gardens

The Monet Bridge at Gibbs Gardens

A reflection pond in the Japanese Gardens

A pathway through the woods

It's Been a While...

Much has been going on in my life over the past several months and unfortunately, blogging was moved to the bottom of my to do list.  My husband left his job of 15 years to tackle a new position with a company in Charleston, SC.  We will eventually be moving to Charleston after being in the Atlanta Metro area for just over 14 years.  It's a big challenge for us and we are both excited and nervous.  I too will be leaving my current job of almost 15 years in the next couple of months.  We've been making weekend trips to the lowcountry area to try to learn the city layout and look for housing.  It's been a crazy few weeks to say the least!  

Add to that the arrival of one friend's baby girl Dakota and another friend's soon-to-be baby girl Samantha, two baby showers, our vacation and the arrival of a friend from Australia who stayed with us for about 10 days, cleaning out and organizing the garage for our impending move, my birthday, and my hubby and I both being sick with a nasty stomach flu and it's been a jam-packed few months of activity.  Even with everything going on, I've still tried to make time for working on my crafts.  I've made a little more progress on my cross-stitching, my latch hook rug, and my rag wreaths (both for me and as gifts).  I've even started making fabric Christmas ornaments to give as gifts for friends and family.  I'm amazed that I've been able to get started on this a bit early this year!  I'm normally struggling to complete my craft gifts in early to mid-December!  

With everything going on, I will probably not be blogging as regularly as I would like but I'll try to pop in periodically with an update.  Happy crafting! 


P.S.  Here's a photo of my latch hook rug that is coming along very slowly and another of my baby boy "supervising" my latch hook to make sure I am doing it correctly.  I think it will be wonderful when it's finally complete. :-) 

Making Progress...

Just thought I'd post a couple of pictures of two small designs that I am currently working on.  I hope to have them completed very soon.  

The first is going to be a greeting card design for Christmas.  It's a group of ornaments hanging from a string of Christmas lights.  It's a pattern from one of my cross-stitching magazines from the UK.

The butterfly piece is a sample I am doing for my friend Kim.  She is expecting her 2nd daughter in early November and would love to have the baby room completed with a butterfly theme.  She would really like a small baby quilt with cross-stitch butterflies to use in the room.  I found this pattern in a cross-stitch magazine and thought I'd show Kim the finished piece to see if she would like this design for the quilt.  If not, I can always use it for something else, but if so, I'll have one of nine butterflies completed.

This last one is a small design for another Christmas card.  I completed it last month and added it to my "2014 Smalls SAL - Completed Projects" page but I thought I'd add it to the main blog page as well.  I think he's cute!

TUSAL Progress - May & June 2014 Update

Last month, I accidentally forgot to post my ORTs for May so this month is a combination of both May and June 2014.  I did do quite a bit of cross-stitching and Hardanger during this time, completing a piece for a friend's wedding and at least one small item that I hope to make into a Christmas card.  I started working on two other small designs for cards that I hope to have finished soon.  And I did manage to work on the Scenic Bridge a little.  Just a little. :-)

The next posting is due July 26, 2014.  If you're not sure what the heck a "TUSAL" or "ORT" is, be sure to check out the link to the TUSAL Challenge by clicking on the link on the main blog page.  

Happy Stitching!!! 

It's Back from the Framer!

The Hardanger piece that I worked on for my friend Kelley's wedding is finally back from the framer.  I had a hard time choosing a frame for the piece.  They really didn't have exactly what I was looking for or at least what I had in my head; however, I think the one I found is pretty too.  And I'm please with the way that it turned out!  You can't even see my little "boo-boo" if you don't know where to look.  I'll present it to her next Tuesday when my entire team is in the office.  I really hope that she likes it and enjoys it in her home.  It was nice to sit and work on it in the evenings and it made me really remember why I love Hardanger.