My kind of town....

Firstly, Happy 4th of July America and my Fellow Stitchers! :)

Chicago is...my kind of town :) I love Chicago. Having grown up only three hours away from the downtown area, my family used to go over there to just visit and have fun. And yes. I am a die hard Cubs fan.

The kids have grown to love it as well. Great place to visit, but I don't wanna live there. Back on the 18th we took our little family outing to the outskirts of Chicago to a suburb called Scuhamburg. They have already stayed downtown so we didn't want to hassle with the traffic this time. We started out on Father's Day and Dad made the choice of Fudruckers. If you've never heard of them, they are a 'make your own' burger joint. Good food and the laughter started....

I'z looking over your shoulder...eye balling your burger.....

The main visit was Brookfield Zoo. This lion statue is old. Really, because I had MY picture taken with it with my brother and sister when I was about three years old. It's in a different location but I was just THRILLED that they still had it. Now I have a picture of my kids with it. I loved that lion when I was a kid. It was storming when we got there first thing in the morning so we hung out in the gift shop until the rains subsided.....

"Hey....mom.....'sup?"

"Hey daughter...you're not right that's what 'sup!" (lol)


Once the rains went away, it got REALLY hot and muggy but being there right when the zoo opened paid off. The animals were being fed and we saw so many cool critters. Uh...did you know that Rhinos uh...well they uh *pee backwards*. No joke. Just a little public service announcement. This guy here thought it would be just a great idea to actually demonstrate that and we were all laughing so hard that people were looking at us like we had lost our minds. Yup..you'll find this family near the Dodo section of the zoo.

"humph....I am too handsome for you to take picture. You leave now"

They had a sting ray pond and with this one we got to FEED them. We didn't get to do that at the place in Tennessee last year but this was one word (my favorite one of course): AWESOME. They were so cool! They glide right over the top of your hand and they take the fish like little suction cups moving around. I had a couple of them head butt me too! Funny! Those must have been the confused ones...no glasses: couldn't see where they were going, lost their drivers licenses, their Tom Tom's sent them in the wrong direction and they were running into things....

The elephant exhibit hasn't changed since I was a kid except for one thing. They only had one there this time. I remember 4 when I was a kid! A zookeeper there said they are working on getting more in, it's just costly (uh YEAH! could you see taking one to lunch?...check please and hand it to the elephant) and time consuming. Still....very precious.

Well...what can I say about this one? Which one is the monkey?...seriously this is a statue of Bushman who is famous in the Chicago area. He was famous for both Lincoln Park Zoo (in downtown) and Brookfield for he was (at the time) and it was rare in the 40's to view an ape in captivity. He died in 1951 and is on permanet display at the Field Museum in Chicago (I've seen him...uh...he's HUGH). He was a pretty famous monkey for the time. This is a bronze statue of him; an exact duplication.

yet another shop......

"Hey mom...."Howdydo?! How 'bout this one ya'all?".....

"Uh......no. (shaking head...the child's not right)"(she had no idea she looked like Minnie Pearl)

Just before we left I finished my Smokey Cat ornie. I love how it turned out

Mine! Brittercup JCS Christmas Ornament Preview issue

32 ct Country French Latte

substituted Crescent Colours Black Coffee for Crescent Colours Old Blue Jeans (aka Smokey Cat color)

I started stitching LHN's Winter Wonderland in the car during the road trip and here are the progress pictures:

Day one (on the way there)

Day two (on the way back...traffic jams can be useful)

Days three and four of my vacation:

Ta da!

The plan is to finish it off onto the thread keeper that was made for this pattern. My initial goal was to do this pattern over one on opal cashel linen. I've seen it and it is REALLY pretty. I still may but now it's not pressing in the forefront right now.

Little House Needleworks Winter Wonderland

28 ct Natural Raw Linen

to be made into a thread keeper done by Impie, Hattie, & Bea

I'm on a LHN kick right now. Mostly because I've had these projects for a while, I want to get them done, and I'm finding a little time on my hands right now so watch out! I am a fast stitcher when I don't have kids bothering me lol...wait...I have kids? Next on the block is LHN's Rose Sampler. Now...I am NOT a sampler fan. Not at all, except for Daffycat's ornament (she is like me..tell me NOT to do something and I may do it anyway) and this pattern. There are some, and I mean some patterns that will catch my eye. I like this one because it's a simple sampler and it's little, and pink roses are my all time favorite ever. So when Impie, Hattie, & Bea came out with this thread keeper, I knew it was a keeper. Here is my start on it:

They also made a little pillow to go with this pouch however I didn't find out until it was too late and it was a limited thing. It wasn't advertised and I would love to get it to match but good luck with that one.

Finally my LHN Traveling Needlcase is done! Yeah! As much as I love it, I hate to say my husband is probably right...it probably will wind up downstairs in my craft room. I'm scared to get it dirty by using it! LOL Enjoy!

I leave you with.......

(I was catching up on my t.v. seasons and look who wanted to watch with me?....)

"I like dis guy mama....he's got pointy ears likes me!"