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Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Christmas Letter 2017

Dear Friends and Family,

We're approaching Thanksgiving and I find it hard to believe another year is ticking away.  John and I have had an amazing year.  We've traveled to some awesome places including Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Italy, France, and Belgium.  The UK is treating us well, with great friends and all the travel opportunities.  We have less than a year remaining on our three year tour, however, we are waiting to hear if John will be approved an additional year.  He is very happy in his job and the work he is doing here.  He works with a great group of people and has had the opportunity to meet some pretty important people including the Prime Minister and Queen Elizabeth's husband, The Duke of Edinburgh.

Expiatory Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Barcelona, Spain

Porto Portugal

Krakow Castle, Poland

Crete, Greece

Notre Dame, Paris

Venice, Italy

Dolomites, Sesto-Sexten, Italy

We also, as many of you know, celebrated with family and friends at, our daughter, Beki's wedding.  Her and Corey both graduated this year and have settled into new full-time jobs.


I continue to fill time photographing and editing lots and lots of pictures from the many trips.  Many of my photos are listed on www.Etsy/AimeesShoppe, stop by for a peek!  In my spare time, I continue drawing and crocheting.  And after over two years, I finally got a full size electric piano so I can once again get my fingers playing.  I sure do miss the "baby."

We are very excited to be spending our first Christmas back in the states in three years!  So we look forward to seeing our Ohio family soon!

We thank God for all our wonderful friends here in the UK.  He has placed some amazing people in our life.  And we count our blessings for all the opportunities we've had so far.  We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

RAF Summer Ball

Brugge, Belgium


Love,
John and Aimee

Monday, November 27, 2017

Crocheted Kitties



I've finished a special pair to be given to a very special pair!  I was so excited when my Alize Cotton Gold yarn arrived from Turkey.  I could hardly wait to start these guys.  I made them for Christmas presents for my niece and nephew who are 3 and 5 and they were so much fun to make.  The pattern is by Amigurumi Today.  I did make a few minor adjustments to the pattern.  The paws I made to look more like paws and the faces are a little different, easy adjustments if you choose to do it.  Continue to scroll for the directions on making the paws.  I also ordered the eyes and nose parts from a shop on Etsy.  You can find them here.  I used a 3mm crochet hook with ease, you might be able to squeeze down another step.  However, the pattern called for a 1.7mm hook...I couldn't do it!  I'd say experiment a little.  You want your amigurumi stitches tight enough so that the stuffing doesn't show through. 


The yarn was easy to work with and the company, Perfect Yarns, was very quick to get my ordered processed. They are based in Turkey as I couldn't find anyone in the states who sold this brand and it was very expensive on Amazon.


They turned out darling!  I can't wait to see the little people's faces when they open them.





The adorable wood buttons are another Etsy find...JS Laser Craft based in the UK. And I was super thrilled when I got them as now I can personalize my work.  



Here's a quick update for making the paws
Feet
Rows 1 to 3 same as original.
Row 4:  (sc, sc, inc) x 2, 6 inc, (sc,sc inc) x 2.   (28)
Row 5:  10sc, inc, 6sc, inc, 10sc.  (30)
Row 6-9: 30sc each row.
Row 10:  10sc, dec, 6sc, dec, 10sc.  (28)
Row 11: 8sc, 6 dec, 8sc. (22)
Row 12:  5sc, 6dec, 5sc.  (16)
Row 13-36: 16sc

Hands
Row 1 to 2 same as original.
Row 3:  3sc, 6inc, 3sc. (18)
Row 4:  6sc, inc, sc, inc, sc, inc, sc, 6sc. (21)
Row 5-7: 21sc each row.  (21)
Row 8: 6sc, dec, sc, dec, sc, dec, sc, 6sc.  (18)
Row 9:  3sc, 6dec, 3sc. (12)
Row 10-42: 12sc.







Friday, August 11, 2017

Friday Freebie

Worked up another freebie for you all this week.  The background photo is of a very special place, the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.  As I'm currently living in the UK, this photo has special meaning as I miss this part of being home very much.  We are in a rainy season right now so it has been a bit blah recently.  As I type, the rain is tapping away at the windows.  Dog gone it....if it's going to rain, couldn't I get a nice thunderstorm to go along.  Unfortunately, those are rare here and they are another thing I miss about the US Midwest.

FREE download HERE!


So you can get your freebie here!  Along with a few others that are still available.  Enjoy and thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to follow to receive updates for future freebies!  This picture can be printed up to 24x36 inch.

Aimee


Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Auschwitz-Birkenau Poland

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  George Santayana

Our trip to Poland included a day trip and tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration camps located about an hour and a half from Krakow, Poland.  We rented a car on this trip so we drove ourselves to the camp.  We were shuttled between the two camps as part of the tour.

It'll be hard to put into words the feelings I had while touring Auschwitz.  The horrors that people endured is incomprehensible.  As much as I didn't want to be there, I did want to be there.  I've tried to explain it to a few people who have said to me that they didn't think they could do it...go to a place of such tragedy.  And, yes, there were moments when emotions were overwhelming and tears came to my eyes, but as I stood there taking it all in, I knew I had to be there.  It was a way to show respect to all those who lost so much...generations of families that would never exist because of the atrocities of evil men and women.  We saw so much, the places they lived and slept and ate, the bombed out buildings of where the exterminations occurred, the roads they walked everyday trying to work in order to survive.  May we never forget.

All the photos from this trip are available here at  http://aimeecunninghamphotography.zenfolio.com/auschwitz

Auschwitz Entrance...original gate.



Commander giving a thumbs up for someone to live.




Personal items that were taken from prisoners.












The loss of so many children...breaks my heart.


Father and son both died...whole families lost.










Crematorium








At this point we were shuttled to the Birkenau camp.
Here you can see the railway they were brought in on.













 Bedding area.




Wildflowers now grow in the fields, betting the people kept here didn't get such a treasure to view.








The Gift

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