Friday, April 17, 2009

Ahhhh Friday :)

We are having very typical Washington spring weather this week ... it rains, it's sunny, it rains and thunders, and then sunny again. Gotta love Mother Nature! Speaking of Mother Nature ... how awesome was the Grand Canyon. The pictures just don't tell you the entire story. It's more awesome that I ever imagined. If you've never been, go! and if you have been, go again! lol .. here's just a view pictures .. I know you've been bored to tears hearing out our trip! lol .. there's a lot more in my webshots album if you want to see ...

The clouds were so fluffy ...
still snow hanging around ...
I love this view of the Colorado River through the trees ...
and yes, they do wash their hands! lol .. I couldn't resist a picture in the bathroom ...


my GCGC GF's .. love you all!

and here's the bears that greeted us at the cabin .. what a great place to say goodbye :)


Of course we all bought little gifts for each other. Chris brought us each a new scissor fob .. she knows I love Halloween ...

here's some goodies from Karen ...

and this little sweetie is from Ruth .. love the flamingos :)


We had a grab bag exchange the first time at the cabin .. I received Ruth's grab bag. Her grab bag had a theme ... California ... She had re-names all the Belle Soie silks with California things and the fabrics had names too! We were all in hysterics reading all of them!

When we were planning our Arizona trip we were talking about some stitching things we would like to do or to learn. Karen's gotta to be such an expert with coffee dyeing fabric and making floss tags we decided to do both. The first night we arrived at the cabin (Friday) was grab bag exchange and floss tag construction. We were supposed to stitch our tags before getting to AZ and then put them together with Karen. Ruth, Chris and Karen got theirs done .. mine wasn't working out so well so Karen said she'd finish it for me. I was outlining with only one thread instead of two. I couldn't pick up a stitch! I will be making more though .. very fun relaxing finish! Saturday night, late, we decided to try coffee dyeing. We all had a blast! I think I want to get this a little darker, but I'm going to stitch Coffin Buzz by Plum Street Samplers. I think it'll be really nice .. don't you?!

and this is a piece of VERY orange fabric that was in my stash .. I thought the coffee would tone it down a bit and would be perfect for a Halloween design .. I just love how it turned out!

I do have stitching to show but I'll leave that for another post .. this one got kinda big in a hurry! lol
Thank you all for your fun comments ... I really enjoy hearing from everyone. Hope you have a great weekend .. looks like we are having sun all weekend! woo hoo!

I hope you find your joy in your stitches ...
I'm grateful for spring days ...

10 comments:

Karen said...

Love the Grand Canyon....your pictures are great! I love the orange fabric and never thought about coffee-dying my color fabrics. Great idea...I will definitely try this.

Lisa said...

I love the orange fabric. And, yes, it would be perfect for some sort of Halloween project! After reading everyones' blog - those of you who were together in AZ - it looks like all had an awesome time!
Have a good weekend!

Kim B said...

I love the Grand Canyon! It absolutely takes your breath away! And what great little gifties from your stitchy friends!!!

That orange fabric is amazing!

Brigitte said...

I loved looking at everyone's pictures. What a wonderful retreat in a great region. Thanks for sharing.

mainely stitching said...

What fun pictures! I've really enjoyed "living along" with your trip through your pictures. :D

Shelleen said...

I am having so much fun reading all of your blogs. Love the exchanges and especially what you did with the orange fabric.

Melissa said...

LOVE how your fabrics turned out. Your Coffin Buzz is going to look amazing on it! :)

Denise said...

Michele,
Love your pictures and hearing about the fun you all had. We are
going (hopefully!) to the Grand Canyon for the first time in October of this year.
I do a lot of tea dying, so it was great to see how the coffee changed your orange fabric.
I can tell you all had a great time!

stitcherw said...

Wow, I get a little behind in my reading and I find all sorts of lovely entries and pictures on your blog to catch up on. Your trip sounds (and looks) awesome. What a fun time. Also, great idea overdying the orange fabric, I'd never have thought of that, it looks great.
Sue

Cindy F. said...

Beautiful pics! Post card perfect!!
Sorry, I've been behind for a while now...but I had to tell you your trip looks and sounds awesome!! So glad you all had a great time:) (and really happy you girls wash your hands after your potty trips;)