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!

Chicken stories....

These are the last 2 eggs of the year... from my last lonely chicken. Look at that tiny one! So cute!

The good news is I still have one chicken. The bad news is the rest are gone... seemingly from a fox. We came home from a movie one night, and I went to close the coop... and I found 2 of my girls outside the coop. Only one was in. I couldn't find the rooster. I sent my husband out to see if he could find him. He was several feet away... doing his job to protect his alpha hen. I was devastated. That was back in October.

So, I have one lonley hen. She's adjusted fairly well. I will get her some friends soon....

We celebrated New Year's Eve with friends at dinner at Millie's Diner in Richmond. Yum!

Stay safe... and Happy New Year!

Vacation pics....

It's been a looooooong time since my last post, I know. My hard drive on my laptop died, and it has taken me a while to get everything on here back to normal! But, all is well. I hope to start posting on a more regular basis!
My husband and I promised our girls a real vacation this summer where they would have to fly and use their passports. We decided to take them back to the place where we honeymooned: St. John in the USVI. At the last minute, Ralph's parents decided to join us, too, and we had a great time!
The journey was complicated by the arrival of Hurricane Irene... in fact, the outer bands arrived in Richmond minutes prior to take-off! We were flying up to Philly to make our connection to St. Thomas, and there was a slight chance that the airport would close before our outgoing flight! But, we did make it! We even got to see the outer bands of the storm from the air.
Here are a few pics...

 Cruz Bay... the main hub of St. John.

Foxy's Bar in Jost Van Dyke, BVI

 Sir Foxy himself. He's quite a character!

 One of many collections at Foxy's... had to take pics of the VA plates!

 Taboo, Foxy's dog.

 Trunk Bay on St. John. There's an underwater snorkel trail around the rocks in the middle of the bay. Ralph and I were really sad to see how much the coral and water quality have deteriorated since we were last there in 1999.

Loved this picture... the first one I took after settling in on the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John. We waited for the ferry in a bar on St. Thomas, watching The Weather Channel's coverage of Hurricane Irene, even footage from my hometown's NBC affilliate, WAVY TV-10, which services the Outer Banks of NC. So strange!

I will update you all with more later... including some crafty creations and some thrifty finds! And do I have stories to tell about my chickens... and it's not all good. :(

I hope you all enjoy the holidays!

Anne