Denver Trip 2019

I had always wanted to make a trip to Denver.

I have an Aunt and Uncle there and I wanted to visit them, as well as see the sights. I got to go with my friend, Sue, from work. Our first stop was a tour of the Hammond Candy Factory. Their candy is all handmade. Some of the equipment is over a 100 years old. It was a lot of fun to see and taste.

 And of course there is obligatory gift shop.

We then went to the Colorado History museum. We didn't have time to make it all the way through, but we really enjoyed what we saw. This is Sue next to a sculpture that honored school teachers.

 They had a fun exhibit where you could similate driving a model T.

There was a section on skiing. This is an outfit of someone famous for night skiing with lights.

Olympic medal.

 I had always been a fan of Molly Brown since seeing the movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown as a child. Turns out her life story was a little different from the movie, but she was probably an even more amazing person in real life. I enjoyed touring her home.

That's a polar bear skin under the painted piano.

  For a time, a private secretarial school was run out of the home.

Another day we spent with my Aunt Doris and Uncle Don.  We drove up to Estes Park and into Rocky Mountain National Park.

  Out of order, but this is the butler's pantry at the Molly Brown house.

Sue and I with Uncle Don and Aunt Doris.

On the way to Estes Park.

  This little girl climbed up on the sculpture to be with the other kids.

  Sue and the water wheel in Estes park.

  The park was beautiful, but crowded on a Saturday.

This is the Stanley Hotel in Estes park. It was used in the movie The Shining.

  Sue and I starting out at the airport.

  There was a 3D photo op at the history museum.

Uncle Don and Aunt Doris took us to Johnston's Corner, a famous diner/breakfast place, for giant cinnamon rolls.

  The State capitol in Downtown Denver.

We spent some time on antique row. I thought this coin operated child's ride was fabulous.

  We drove through some of the neighborhoods with amazing historical homes.

We made a quick visit to Union Station. It's still an Amtrak station, but also has shopping and restaurats.

Our last day, we toured another historical home, The Byers-Evans home. It was really amazing. 90% of the contents were from the original owners.

  Fireplace tile

   Painted Ceiling

  Dining room

  I loved this original poppy wallpaper!  It was a great trip! Thanks for coming Sue!

Embroidery Projects

 I hadn't embroidered in a long time, and yet I decided I would do some projects for Christmas gifts.  I had accumulated some really cute patterns and pattern books. First, I was overwhelmed with the thought of trying to buy blouses for some friends, that would fit and they would like. So I asked them to give me either a blouse they already had or buy one. Give it to me to embellish and I would give it back to them as a gift. Sounds a little cheap of me, but it worked.
The above pattern is on the front of a short sleeved summery blouse with eyelet sleeves. It's a modern flower mandala and I thought it went with the blouse and the person.

The second blouse was a long sleeve button down. I couldn't put one big design in the front, so I put these raccoons on the back. I love the raccoons.

Then I put this squirrel on the upper right front area.

And this owl on the lower left area. A cute long sleeve white button down with wildlife on it.

  Then I did some pillow cases. I had some border patterns. This first one had a lot of good luck symbols in it, four leaf clovers, horseshoes, bees.

I loved the bees.

  Then I have 3 friends that I camp with often. I had a camping border. So I made 3 camping pillowcases for them. Each one was slightly different color choices.

I did a couple of canvas'y tote bags. This is another flower mandala. I really liked how it turned out.

  There was a bunny, flower, heart border that I did on another pillow case.

  The next pillow case was a pair of cute squirrels.

I did these songbirds on another pillowcase.

And this paisley mandala was on another tote bag.

  My last pillowcase was a series of four mini mandalas.

  A male friend wanted me to embroider this stylized Medusa on a shirt cuff for him. The shirt was a very dark blue. He wanted dark on dark. I had a lot of trouble trying to transfer a pattern on the fabric. I wasn't able to find anything that worked. Finally, I pinned the paper pattern to the cuff and sewed through it.

I didn't have an exact match for the thread, but it was the best I could do. You can kind of see what it is, if you know what you are looking at. 

Doing all these projects in time for Christmas, was a little stressful. It did, however, ignite in me the enjoyment of embroidery and stimulated my mind for several future projects. Stay tuned!