From Grandma's House

My uncle made these roadrunners out of railroad spikes.  He paints them according to tractors (like green and yellow are the colors of John Deer tractors).  The red and white one he made last year for my grandma.  The two green ones he made for me.  They are still in my car.  I need to play around with where I'm going to put them in my yard.

This is old.  I remember seeing this on my grandma's wall when I was younger.  Someone took one of those cheap plastic fly swats and cross stitched it.  Then they glued two fake flies on it.  It never occurred to me before how the plastic of the fly swat is like the cross stitch plastic.  

My aunt bought this in Guatemala.  I think that it would be fairly simple to make.  I like that it has 3 pockets, so its useful.  It would be cute in a little girl's room.  You could make a princess version.

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies

During our road trip we decided to take a fun detour and go to the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, TN.

They did a great job painting this mural over the large fish tank.  You can look down into this tank and then go below and travel under it.  It was amazing.  I also like looking at the picture for color inspiration.

The carpeting was also pretty cool.  

I love the color story in this picture.  Its hard to see, but there is an angler fish behind the orange coral.  I tried to get a good picture of it, because I had knitted one in December for my oldest son (link to the pattern here).

The lionfish is my favorite fish.  Inspiration can be easily found in its striping.  

This was a fun extra to the penguin exhibit.  This painting was made by Maureen the penguin.

Walking back to the car I saw this window display.

I really love looking at these stripes.  Right now my thoughts go to knitting socks, scarfs, and hats inspired by them.

Home Sweet Home

Driving through Gatlinburg, TN

I'm back from vacation and I will be posting about my trip later.  We had a great time, but it is nice to be home (and not in a car).  

Day 3: Knitting on the road

We were in Pennsylvania all day yesterday, and we hit the road today.  Here is a picture from the car of some farm land.  One day I want to make a quilt that is inspired by an aerial view of farm land.

I've been working on my market bag yesterday at my parents' house and today on the road.  I've screwed up somewhere, because my stitch count isn't always right.  Its hard to tell where I went wrong and where to frog because of all of the yarn overs.  Since the bag is for me, I'm not going to worry about it.  It looks fine.  You can see the pattern on the dashboard with the magnets next to my place in the pattern.

We went through Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia today.  We are currently in Virginia on the border of Tennessee in a hotel.  Every time that I saw something cool, it was to late to take a picture.

The juice pouch car bags are a big hit with my kids.  All of my 3 year old's toys fit in it just fine.  He was able to get things out while in his car seat.  He has been keeping his markers in the jeans pocket.  Another great thing about the bag is that you can take it out of the car and bring it in the hotel (or where ever) to use. 

The hotel has a pool, so my kids were able to swim and get some of that energy out before bed.  I find water reflection very beautiful.  So much so that my senior thesis in college was on water reflection (via ikat weaving).

Here I am, with my new hair cut, relaxing by the pool.

Day 1: On The Road

Rosy Maple Moth

While at a rest stop in Connecticut, we saw the coolest looking moth.  We had never seen anything like it before, and I had left my camera in the car.  I did an image search on google and found this image of a Rosy Maple Moth.  I love the colors.

We stopped to visit my in-laws for a little while.  They are on the way to my parents' house.  While there I saw this t.v. remote holder that my father-in-law had made.

He just sewed two pot holders together.  So simple.  I thought that it was a great idea.

I had made this picture frame for my father-in-law years ago out of left-over puzzle pieces.

Then in the bathroom was this cross stitch tissue box cover.  I remember seeing these in everyone's bathroom when I was a kid.  I don't remember ever seeing a fake flower attached to one before (cute addition).  I think that it would be fun to make one of these in really fun colors and designs.  

Road Trip

Photo by Pierre Giroud

I'm on the road going to visit family.  I'll be back home in 2 weeks.  I plan on blogging about my crafting adventures whenever possible.  I've packed 4 projects and some crafting magazines.  It should be fun.

A Second Juice Pouch Car Bag

While blogging about the juice pouch car bag yesterday, I realized that it would be good for my 11 year old as well.  So I asked him if he wanted one to, and he said yes.  

I found a pair of super holy jeans that belonged to my husband.  There is no way that he will be wearing them anymore, so I cut out both back pockets for this bag.  These pockets are a lot bigger than the one that I used on the other bag.  If you look at the bottom left you will see the loop that was attached to the jeans pocket.  I kept it on there in case my son wanted to hook something on it.

There are a few other things that I added to this bag.  It has the 2 large jean pockets, 2 side juice pouch pockets, and I placed the colorful side of the back panel on the inside.  Just in time for our road trip tomorrow.  My 11 year old loves that he has the "better" bag.  He says that one of the side pockets will make a good drink holder.  I'm looking forward to seeing these bags in action.  Now to go finish packing.