SBQ & Went to the Beach

This week's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Do you have any good internet links to tutorials for your favorite finishing techniques that you would like to share?

I usually just go with ideas and a "vision" of what the finished item should look like...but I did buy Summer Truswell's Ultimate Big Book of Finishing last year. She used to have the tutorial online *for free*, but I guess that it got so popular that she realized that she could make money off of it from idiots people like me. It does have some great ideas in it and I think that if you are at a total loss, it is a good deal. I do like how it is spiral bound, so it lays open flat.

Other than that, I just kinda wing it. I like seeing pictures of other finishes and figuring out how to do them based on a picture.

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The weather was nice this weekend...scattered showers, but what can you do? We decided to take the dog to the beach. Because she loves it we think that it is good for her to get out of the house & yard every now and then. Aren't we nice? She doesn't particularly love swimming, she does however love to ride in the car. If you leave the car door open in the garage, she will get in and just sit there. If you haven't caught on yet...Lady is not so smart. But she is a good dog and will be great with our kids.

DH also took my new camera for a test run and since I don't have any flattering pictures of this pregnancy yet (only ones I take in front of a full length mirror to track the belly growth), he wanted to get some shots of me. I guess that this is as good as it gets.

This is a local fisherman, he was walking the beach when we first arrived. I think that they just look for good spots where they think the fish are and throw their nets out and hope for the best. I don't know. We use fishing poles at home. And I have yet to actually catch a fish using a pole, so maybe a net is a better deal.

This one might be my favorite:

Of course, I had to take some of DH & the dog.

And these are the hermit crabs that I just love to watch. They are everywhere on the beach and on the rocks.



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I finished "November Twirls" snapper from Bent Creek. I started it a couple of days ago. It is part of my 50 project challenge. Now on to December. I want to be caught up through January when the baby comes. I already have February, March & April done so I can take a break then. I stitched this on some kind of ivory 28 ct evenweave that I won in a lot off of ebay. My plan is to take the ones that aren't finished yet (Oct, Nov, Apr) and stitch them into a pillow case and then just make one form and slip it into the coordinating case for the month. That way I don't have 12 pillows sitting on the shelf taking up valuable room.

I have also started to crochet again. I am obsessed with baby hats. Why? I dunno. I have 2 skiens of baby yarn and don't want it sitting around so I have been making all sizes of hats...mostly preemie and newborn though. Believe me, I have enough hats for the baby treehugger already in it's dresser, so these along with the scarf (and any other ones I finish up) are going into a flat rate box and going to The Baby Project. I put a couple of the hats on onions just so you could see how small they are. I know that babies come in all sizes. Hopefully they can use these for someone that really needs them. Or someone that has a doll with a cold nugget.

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I noticed that BlogRolling has taken a vacation again, so I have been trying to keep up with GoogleReader. Sometimes I forget though. Whoops.

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My Granny sent us a tin of home made cookies that she baked with my Aunt J and the girls. Oh Mylanta, were they ever good! She sent spritz cookies and I ate them first. Sad to say that they are almost all gone : ( But, I did talk to Granny yesterday and asked for some of her double layer rice krispie treats. She makes a batch of red (more like pink) and green (like mint color) and then in between them she puts melted butterscotch chips and peanut butter...holy cow they are deelish. I miss those alot. I think that she will send me some in the next couple of weeks. Granny rocks!

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Not much else going on here. Can I just say that not "doing" Christmas has been so freaking stress free? No cards to mail, trees to put up, last minute shopping to do, worrying about going over budget or if the recipient will even like what is picked out for them...I might be able to get used to this.

We are seriously considering buying a new dining room table though. One of the furniture stores here is relocating to Guam at the end of the month so we went in and looked around and found a nice Teak set that we like. I think that we might go back today and take a closer look at it now that we have talked about it more. I will for sure post pictures if we decide to go for it. It really is pretty.

Peace