Crazy January #3 - Heartsease Pansy

I love doing crewel, and don't do as much of it as I'd like, so... why not take this opportunity to start some?  The whole design's no larger than four inches round, so it should go fairly quickly.

On to the Edge

After doing a quarter of the heart, it's time to put some edge onto the piece.

Wandering the Old City

 When my son was here, we wandered through Ciudad Vieja, the part of Montevideo that was settled first.  We started at Plaza Independencia, the location of General Artigas' mausoleum.  His ashes are in the big urn in the center of this picture.  Artigas is Uruguay's George Washington, except they exiled Artigas.

This is the remains of the gate leading into the old city.  It's the oldest structure in Montevideo.

As we were walking down the pedestrian way, we saw a string quartet playing Vivaldi.

 A picture of the cathedral in Plaza Matriz.

Just a neat doorway.

Which evidently was the entrance to the Smurfs hideout.

Spiffy old lamp by the port market.

View up the street from the port market.

One of the many parillas in the port market.

Same here.

Crazy January #2 - The Gingkos

This piece will be stretching me in two ways - it's pulled thread on canvas and it's got a cut out to add in later.  Both are things I've not done before.  The canvas means you have to pull really hard to get it to make a big hole.  I'll definitely get back to this soon.

Beading for Arlene

 Arlene's block was mailed out on Monday; here's a picture of how it was before I got it.  There's still one more person to embroider on it after me.

Here it is after my work.  I added a sheer flower spray that I added beads to, and three jewelry findings to the bottom right.  They just seemed to fit well there.  A few bead-bullion roses and another seam, and it was ready to send to Peggy.  I hope Arlene likes it when she gets it home.

Two Thirds

Two thirds of the way done with Baumchen in this picture.  Slowly it comes together.

New Year's Party

The embassy New Year's party was held a couple of blocks from our house, and we got to go on the roof to see the fireworks.  Not only were people at the party setting them off, so was everyone else.  There were fireworks in 360 degrees!  Breathtaking.  There was also a lot of silly string and noisemaking.  Thank you Florine and Saint for hosting the party!