Happy Easter!

This is a small watercolor I did for my church's bulliten. I used a resist technique with a clear crayon. Happy Easter to all of my Christian friends.... and to all of my Jewish friends, happy Passover! (I'm looking forward to eating Matzah at work!) Hope everyone is doing well!

Anne

Meet Ellie!

Meet the newest member of our family. This is Ellie. She is a lab mix rescued from the Richmond Animal League.

Now, my friends who know me well are scratching their heads... I know... WHAT IS SHE DOING WITH A DOG? Well, I've always said that if we found a dog who was as docile as a cat, I might consider adopting one. Add that whim to a husband who is desperate for a companion for all of his outdoor activities and two kids who are constantly begging for a dog, and you get Ellie.

Ralph, my husband, had been looking online at various shelters in our area for a puppy. He came across this litter of 3 yellow lab mixes. We went to meet them last Sunday. Ellie was the smallest of the litter and very sweet and calm. She even let me pick her up and hold her for several minutes. That was it for me. Adoption papers were filed, and she came home with us on Wednesday.

Our cat Tigger, who is 12, is taking this quite well. I was worried... but he and Ellie have even touched noses without hissing. In fact, for about 30 minutes on Thursday, Tigger was asleep on my lap while Ellie slept at my feet. And, on Friday, Ralph walked our daughter to the bus stop and took Ellie with him. Tigger sat at the door and cried the entire time they were gone. Crazy!

So... I have to learn how to be a pack leader and all of that stuff.... wish me luck! We started puppy training classes on Saturday.

Now I'm the crazy cat, chicken AND dog lady. What will we add next to our little farm?

Anne

More Embroidery!

The first is a letter sampler. I've seen several on Pinterest and was inspired to create my own! I mounted this in a shadow box I found on clearance at Michael's, and it's now hanging in my living room :)

The next one is a map of St. John to commemorate our trip. It was easy to do... I just printed out a map of the island off the internet and traced it onto the fabric! My next project may be a skyline of Richmond... or Chicago... or NYC!

In other news, our family keeps growing... not only did we add new chickens, but we have also added a puppy. Me, the crazy cat and chicken lady, am now a dog owner. Wish me luck...

Anne

Embroidery

 This project was something I created over the Thanksgiving holiday. (I know...it's taken me a while to get back to blogging!) This is the name of my favorite hymn. I had bought a bunch of fabric scraps from my favorite local quilting shop in Richmond, Quilting Adventures, and was inspired by all of the colors of fabrics to create something wonderful. I also drew inspiration from some fun lampshades I saw on Pinterest from Anthropologie... it's where I got the idea to knot the strips of fabric. It "ties" in so nicely with the theme... :)

And here's another project from that week. My song crush for about 2 months was Studio Hearts by Gym Class Heroes... and I just had to embroider a quote from the song!

I plan to hang these in embroidery hoops in my bedroom.

Hope you are having a great weekend! I have more embroidery projects I will share soon!

Anne

Introducing.... My New Flock!

You've met my red hen before... this is Isabella, the former Alpha hen from my first flock. She's a red sex link. She has fought hard to maintain her diva status, but as my new, awkward teenagers mature, they are asserting their dominance. My new hens, Josephina, Francesca, and Sophia, are black sex link hens. (One of my patients helped name my new hens!) They are about 5 months old in these pictures, and have grown considerably since I took these. They should be laying soon!