wallpaper

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Lilleliis' Crochet Mouse

I was really excited to get started on this one for my niece who is about to have her 3rd birthday.  She's also going to be the flower girl in my daughter's wedding and so I just had to make her something to help remember this day.  And because she's a little dancer, I was in search of a ballerina pattern that could be made into a bride as well.  I found Marie-Liis Lille's pattern and had to buy it.  This is not a free pattern, but is worth every dime spent as the instructions and pattern are easy to follow.


I tweaked some things and made it my own.  I made the clothes, shoes, and bows removable so that she could have different outfits.  I also made her body and sleeves white so that they'd coordinate with the different outfits.  The wedding shoes became little Mary Jane's.  I'm fairly certain she is going to be loved by a special little girl.  Can't wait to package her up and send her off!









Thursday, February 23, 2017

Porto, Portugal

I'd been hoping for a sunny holiday and Porto did not disappoint.  We had mostly sun with one day of rain....ahhhh!  I can still feel the sun shining on my face.  We ventured to Portugal with some friends on a three night trip.  The first day we walked from Gaia to Porto across the bridge.  We walked about the city and visited an old bookstore where the library in Harry Potter was designed after.  Took some photos at the train station and some of us took a 240 step climb up a tower to get some awesome city views.  Day two was our Douro Valley wine tour.  We did some wine tasting and got to see where they grow the grapes for Port wine.  Just beautiful countryside, however, rugged terrain as the grape vines grow in shale.  They have cold, cold winters and very hot summers in this region.  The tour included a river cruise and a Portuguese lunch family style, as well as two winery tours.

For more amazing photos of Porto, please visit  http://aimeecunninghamphotography.zenfolio.com/porto.

Looking out over Gaia toward Porto from our flat.  Gaia is where the port cellars are located which is mostly what you see below, the roofs of the cellars.


Looking across the River Douro at Porto.









Train station well known for it's tile art.





Douro Valley tour






The start of our river tour.












Two story bridge, metro and walking across the top and auto and walking across the bottom.



240 steps up this tower! 
 

To get these views!!




Inside of the church at the bottom of the tower. 
 
 
 




The Gift

  Delivered this week, a gift I never expected arrived in the mail.  This story begins, it seems a lifetime ago, when I worked at Owens Comm...