Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Finished projects from the retreat

I have finally finished the projects from the retreat that was held the first of November of this year. I think I took almost every class offered as they were all wonderful.


My favorite has to be the Russian Leaf necklace taught by Carol. I have wanted to learn how to make a Russian Leaf for a very long time. They use a version of the Peyote stitch and there are many different versions of the leaf. I love this one. I also liked the necklace the leaves are on.


This is Jan's Garden Bracelet. I used all leaves. It is a fun bracelet to wear. I want to do another with summer flowers.


Genny taught us this Inverted Round Chain maille bracelet. There are 4mm crystals captured inside the bracelet.


Kassie taught us this wavy Herringbone bracelet. I love the Herringbone stitch as it feels so soft and flowing. I really like this pattern. It was such fun to walk around the room and see all the different colors.


The retreat was a great deal of fun as they all are.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

It Snowed!

The recent snow storm that moved up the East coast leaving much of the area covered in white left us with rain. I have had lots of fun looking at snow pictures on the web, but really wanted to see real snow. With that thought in mind, we ventured up to our property in North Carolina to see snow!

This was the first view of the snow as we approached the North Carolina boarder.


And here is one of the roads near our property. They were all fairly clear as plows had been along the road at some point. There was the occasional abandoned car to dodge along the way.

The view of the private drive to our property. Hmmm No tracks on the drive. The neighbors were either hibernating in their homes or had gone to town for the duration.


We did start up the drive. It is a narrow drive that curves and changes elevation often. It had rained during the night. The snow was packed and more ice than snow. Even though the truck had four wheel drive, we were slipping on the steep, curvy portions. We had tire chains that would have helped, but there was no real reason to drive all the way. It was fun to walk on the road and see how everything looked covered in snow. We saw the tracks of the animals like those of the deer below.

The pond was beautiful with snow all around.


This is one of the streams.

The deck at the over look.

Our neighborhood bear had wandered through sometime after the snow. Our game cameras showed us that he wandered around the night of the major snow fall. He came on to the property near the pond.


He wandered around the pond and headed toward the neighbor's property.
They have put out food for the raccoons in the past. He was probably hoping for a midnight snack.


I later found his prints where he had come back on the property. The last tracks were heading down the mountain. It was fun to follow his path. The prints seemed huge, but that might have been due to the way the snow melted away from his imprint. I guess this blows the theory that the bears hibernate during the winter in the South.


Snow makes the woods look so different.

More tracks in the snow. I don't think the tracks between the tire tracks were deer. The deer seem to cross a road or path while these tracks went right down the middle. Perhaps they were coyote.


It was a fun adventure.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A seasonal favorite

This is one of my favorite You Tube Christmas videos