Trick or Treat Blog Hop 🦇 2018

Happy Halloween!
You know what that means, it's time for Jo's Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Blog Hop!
Be sure to begin there to start collecting the letters for the Halloween phrase she's chosen this year.


This is Cottage Garden's Halloween Sampler, with some tweaks. I added several mini icons and changed others. I could have added more, but made myself stop so it could finally be done!

This year, I was able to spread out the decorations with the bookshelves we added.

The mini shelf was my purchase from St. Micheal's in May, I love it! I would have added more on top, but even DH had a hard time reaching up there.

Here's a clue for your letter, so many...

's!

Your next clue can be found at Jeremiah's Mom, (Katie's) blog, my fellow dragon lover!



Our mantel with Halloween stitching goodies.

Maximus and Ming just love their bling, maybe not?

Thanks Jo, for another frightfully fun hop, you are a fantastic host!
I hope you all receive more treats than tricks this year, hop on.

Geaux Saints 🏈 ⚜

My gf invited me to the Ravens/Saints game with her last Sunday and I needed to do some shopping!
I have Saints sweatshirts and tshirts, but no jackets. I looked online and found this on QVC of all places. Not just a jacket, but a vest too, I love it.

 So even though she's a true Ravens fan, she "allowed" me to wear my Saints gear (shirt, jacket, vest, scarf, necklace, bracelet, earrings, nail polish, and face tattoos!) What a great friend!

Drew!

Way too much purple.

Check out that moon.

I had to change my hot chocolate cup to support my team.

While we were there, I was able to witness Drew Brees throwing his 500th touchdown pass! The sad part? Nothing was said in the stadium about it.

Just before the game ended, this was our view.

Apparently mumbling voodoo juju at their kicker while he attempted to even the score worked... oops, who knew! Poor guy, he's never missed an extra point in his seven year history... until now.

But I did promise that if I went with her to watch them play against any other team, I would cheer with her. I'll even wear my Laps for Lexi purple!


And oldie but a goodie, the Saints ornament I made for my big brother.

Today I get to watch football with all my guys when the Gmen come over, they'll be cheering for the Redskins. But later tonight, the Saints play and I'll be able to watch it!

Mom's Home Again! 👍

Last Friday, this trio was waiting for me when I surprised my parents with a visit. Two of them got up when I opened my car door, but didn't run away.

Here's Momma!

She's back from rehab and so very happy to be home. Her last stay there was not a good experience so let's hope that was her last. She lost three pounds while there because the pureed food was so bad and they didn't notice her not eating. At least Dad knows how to make it tasty for her!

And Dad got a selfie too!

 This is their front room/dining room... filled with Dad's treasures! Can you find the Welsh Dragon I gave him for his birthday? And several Christmas stitching too!

Here it is, above what a friend send him for his birthday. Great minds think alike!

I had made this earlier in the year, but it had a black border around it. I frogged it because I didn't like the way it looked. It's not the best frame for it, but better than any I had seen. He was thrilled with it, so that's all that matters.

Words from my Dad when Mom came home,

Ulrike went to bed smiling and is so very excited to be worshiping in her chapel tomorrow morning and I shall surprise her with coffee in the gartenhaus on her way back to the house!

Life will be worth living again for both of us and I shall move mountains to make up for all my old love has suffered.

Kitties and some Beer 🍺

Ming "helping" me finish BOO.

Gman1's gf, C, with her new baby, Finn!

Such a sweet boy. Too bad Ming and Maximus don't think so!

Relaxing in Gman1's room.

Getting his veggies.

Attack kitty, he's not afraid of no Zombies!

A short visit from Gman2 last weekend, checking out Dad's brewing station.

And now they wait!

The People's Choice SAL Oct 2018 🎃

Go Jo! She's got a new SAL starting this month and it's changing every month according to what WE choose! It's The People's Choice SAL.
Per Jo, "Regular followers will be aware that for over 3 years now I have run a themed SAL on the first Saturday of each month.  First we spent 26 months doing The Alphabet Club and then 12 months of the Zodiac.  Now I have decided to listen to the People and post about your choice of theme.  In September I asked for suggestions on the blog and then made a poll in the IHSW Facebook Group from those suggestions.

The top three choices were:
Hallowe'en

Birthstones

Dragons

So I will do one for the next three months.  At the end of this post I will ask again for your suggestions and one of those will become the theme for January.  In November, we choose February's theme and so on.  I will post the results in my sidebar so you have plenty of time to decide what to show."

Did you see that... DRAGONS!

So here's my spin on Halloween for October.

No where near as many as Jo, but I like what I've done so far.

I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to finish this one yet.

My favourite stitched piece, love her!

Still working on this one.

And this one just needs a little bit more.

I doubt I'll get this done in time for Halloween, but at least for next year!

And all these goodies to be stitched.

So are you in? I wonder what we'll choose in the New Year?!

Meeting in the REAL WORLD! 💗

Yesterday I got a three for one deal meeting Jeremiah's Mom aka Katie, her mom, and Jeremiah!
I wasn't able to attend the retreat that brought them here because I was at the Laps for Lexi walk. Katie mentioned that they would staying beyond the retreat and from there we figured out a date. They ended up staying in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, only about an hour+ away - it was a beautiful day for a drive.

So we sat in the lobby and just chattered away like we were old friends (which in the blogging world I guess we are!) catching up on what's going on in our lives and the stitching world. She showed me what she bought at the retreat, all wonderful! I especially loved the Beer Dragon, but when I sent a photo of it to my DH he wasn't very interested. Let me clarify, Beer yes, Dragon no! That's okay, I like them enough for the both of us. And Katie does too, no wonder we get along so well!

I certainly hope this isn't the last time we get to see each other, maybe we'll even get some stitching done next time! Katie, it really was wonderful meeting you, your sweet Mom, and of course, Jeremiah, what a sweetheart he is!

Save travels on your journey home, be sure to tell me when you plan on visiting Maryland, there's plenty to see here too.

Game of Thrones 🎶🎵

Last Christmas, Gman2 gave me tickets for DH and I to see the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience in DC. It wasn't until September 25th, which seemed forever away. But then it finally arrived! 
This is what we got to look at while waiting for the music to begin.

The screen to the left would show the various faces, so I got pictures of them all.

The Throne!

Cheers and Jeers were heard everywhere when they showed characters on the big screen, it was great!

This was awesome, she was raised up as she was playing. That's one long skirt!

Photos by Debi Del Grande, Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience @ The Forum

The soloist and choir

The composer, Ramin Djawadi, playing one of many instruments that night. He was amazing, such talent!

He also wrote the music for Westworld, (among many other things) which I didn't know.

And then before we knew it, it was over.

So thanks to Gman2, we had a wonderful experience!

Listen here... 

This was from Madrid earlier in the year, found on youtube.
sights-sounds-opening-night-game-thrones-live-concert-experience-2018/


And now a question - I've seen lots of GoTs patterns, but have any of you stitched one? I thought about stitching something on the smaller side, one that won't take too long. I like the banners, but that's a lot of stitching! Has anyone seen any Christmas ornaments?