Sunny Days and An Amazing Coincidence!

Well, hello there! Have you missed me? It's only been three weeks since my last post, but it seems like much longer! That's what happens when you are traveling (and boy, have I been traveling!). You seem to lose all track of time and current events when you are on the road (or in the air!). We flew to San Diego to visit our oldest son for five days, flew home, then three days later, we drove to Washington, DC to visit our youngest son last weekend. And then this weekend I'll be driving to New York to visit my mom for Mother's Day and her 92nd (!!!) birthday which is next Tuesday. That will make three weekends in a row that I've been away from home! To say I've had limited stitching time is an understatement, but I would gladly give that up for a chance to visit with our sons and my dear mother. 

Stitching update... I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of stitching to share with you today... I do want to show you this cute bunny who flew out to California with me and liked the climate so much that he is now making his home with my son and daughter-in-law. I mean, can you blame him? The weather out there is so much sunnier! This is "The Little Bunny" by Bent Creek and is stitched on 32 ct. flax Belfast linen with overdyed threads. The frame is part of a set of about fifteen 5" X 5" frames that I bought used on eBay years ago. (I remember the seller advertising that they had been used to display his insect collection. Hmmm...) Anyway, I painted the once-brown frame off-white and distressed it and think it showcases Mr. Bunny very nicely! The bunny is mounted on sticky-board covered with batting and then glued onto the fabric covered green and white polka-dot backing. A very simple finish that will make a nice addition to my son and daughter-in-law's Easter decorations.

The Little Bunny by Bent Creek finished for an Easter gift

Here is a close-up of his face--I think he has the cutest expression! He looks a little bit lost and just a tiny bit wistful, don't you think?

That face--who could resist it?!

Before we left for California, I framed two older finishes by Country Cottage Needleworks. "The Bakery" (finished in 2015) and "The Flower Shop" (finished in 2016) have been languishing in a dresser drawer just waiting for me to stop procrastinating and frame them. I bought the frames from Franken Frames online and think the black was a great choice! As always, I used the framing tutorial that you can find right here. It seems that I'm becoming more confident in my framing abilities--guess the more you do it, the easier it gets!

Country Cottage Needleworks "The Flower Shop" and "The Bakery" are finally framed after 3+ years!

You can read about my finish of  "The Bakery" right here...

I'd love to have a taste of everything in that pretty bakery!

My changes to "The Flower Shop" finish are detailed in this post...  I totally changed the sign at the top as I wanted it to match the one on "The Bakery." It originally was charted to look like this. I so enjoyed stitching both of these and think they will be a wonderful addition to my kitchen right next to my back door!

Country Cottage Needleworks "The Flower Shop"

Those lovely flowers in the photo above are columbine from my garden and a branch of the gorgeous (and fragrant) crab apple tree near our patio that blooms so beautifully each spring. And below are some of the gorgeous tulips that my husband planted for me last fall--such a welcome treat after a cold winter!

Amazing that such pretty flowers grow from ugly brown bulbs!

I won a giveaway on Instagram recently from a very kind stitcher in England. She sent me three sweet JBW Designs charts which I know I will enjoy stitching! Thank you so much, Linda--I really love them... The Instagram community is so supportive and encouraging. If you would like to follow me on IG, just click here. There is an amazing amount of beautiful stitching from around the world to tempt any stitcher--I love it!

Three lovely charts from Linda in England

So, what did we do in sunny San Diego? Well, I have another hiking story to tell you--but, a good one this time (unlike the "hike from hell" that we went on in Panama!!). Garnet Peak Trail is located in  Cleveland National Forest and we decided that it would be a moderately difficult hike for a hot, sunny day. The hikes in southern California are mainly in desert areas--very little greenery like we have in the East. The pictures below give  you a good idea of the topography as we hiked and I've included a photo of the four of us relaxing at the top of the peak enjoying the views...

Scenes from Garnet Peak hike

Anyway, we had reached the top of Garnet Peak and were resting there chatting when another couple appeared. I asked them if they were from the San Diego area and the man said they lived in a nearby county and asked where we were from. When I told him we lived in the Pittsburgh, PA area, he replied that he had relatives in Bradford, PA which is on the very northern border of Pennsylvania and New York. I was shocked and told him that I had grown up just over the border from Bradford and he said, "Well, actually, I spent the first twelve years of my life in a tiny town called *******." (for privacy reasons, I've choosing not to give the exact name) I almost fell off the peak right then and there when he named it--that was my home town!! I spent my entire  childhood there from age five until I left home to get married at age 22 after college! Honestly, what are the chances that I would meet someone on a mountain top in California who grew up in my teeny village on the other side of the United States?! I mean this was one tiny, tiny town--a single traffic light and a few side streets--really just a blip on the map. Blink and you miss it--that sort of town. Unbelievable, really...  We reminisced about what a lovely place it was to grow up and just marveled at the coincidence... his street was just two streets away from mine! As far as I can tell, he must have left our town right about the time my family moved there in 1960. Anyway--what a fun discovery!

We also spent an afternoon on the USS Midway--an aircraft carrier commissioned right after WWII and decommissioned in 1992 after having seen action in both the Vietnam War and the Operation Desert Storm. What was once the longest serving U.S. Navy aircraft carrier of the 20th century that housed 4100+ soldiers, is now a highly rated museum. Today, there are 30 restored jets and helicopters on the flight deck that provide visitors with an audio history of each aircraft--often narrated by one of the former pilots. We got to tour not only the flight deck and captain's bridge, but the below deck areas that included a chapel, barber shop, laundry, sick bay, and the kitchen / food galley (which served an amazing ten tons of food each day). It was really an impressive and educational experience and I highly recommend visiting if you are in the area.

This isn't my photo, but I'm including it to show the huge size of the ship (in the middle) with the city of San Diego in the background

Here are a few photos I took onboard--I can't imagine landing a jet on an aircraft carrier out in the middle of an ocean, can you? Well, let's face it--I can't imagine landing a jet anywhere!

Scenes on the USS Midway aircraft carrier

My favorite experience of our latest San Diego trip was to see The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch. Oh--such beauty everywhere! The Flower Fields are most known for the beautiful ranunculus flowers that cover much of the 50+ acre farm. I think I may just have a new favorite flower and I'm planning to plant some bulbs soon! The farm is only open for two months each year and will close for this year after Mother's Day. I'm so glad we were visiting San Diego at the right time of the year!

The entrance to The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch

A rainbow of radiant ranunculus!

Wouldn't you love to have the view that the people living in those apartments have?

There were small gardens of other spring flowers, too--these delphiniums were my favorites (of course!) with all the blues!

Sitting in this giant Adirondack chair makes everyone look like a kid again! And notice the little birdie perched at the very top, photo-bombing our picture.

Memories of The Flower Farm ~ April 2019

San Diego truly is one of the prettiest areas of the United States--cool and sunny most of the year, its climate is nearly ideal (although a bit too cool for me this visit being in the low to mid 60s!). Just walking in my son and daughter-in-law's neighborhood was a feast for the eyes with all of these beautiful flowers blooming that I've shown in my collage below. I think I would enjoy walking for miles and miles if I lived there! Everything was green and lush as they've had more than the usual amount of rain this year...

Southern California beauties

If you've never visited the area, I highly recommend it. Living there is another thing altogether with the very high cost of houses--oh, my, I was shocked at how much they cost! Anyway, we loved our visit with our oldest son and daughter-in-law--just wish they lived closer as it takes almost a full day to get there since we have no direct flights available.

More goodies! Here is yet another fattening, but delicious recipe that I made for Easter. Since it was just the four of us, I made cupcakes rather than a large dessert. These are carrot cake cupcakes and you can find the recipe right here--very, very tasty and easy to make... I only made half of the frosting recipe and it was plenty! I am slowly learning to decorate cupcakes with the Wilton Cupcake Decorating Set that I purchased on Amazon last month. I think they turned out quite well for my first try!  

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

GIVEAWAY TIME!  In honor of Mother's Day, I found a pretty chart to give away to one of my stitching friends. Since my mother's favorite bird is the hummingbird, I thought this lovely chart would be perfect to give to one of you. This is a chart removed from an old "Cross Stitch & Country Crafts" magazine from March/April 1990. If more than one person wants this, I will pick a name out of the proverbial hat... The deadline for entering will be May 24th, 2019. To enter, please: 

 a) Be a follower of Stitching Dreams

 b) Leave a comment below telling me you want to enter and make sure to include your email address (if I don't already have it)

 c) Answer one of the following questions: What is one of your fondest memories of motherhood? or What is one of your fondest memories you have of your own mother? 

I think it's only fair that I answer the question, too--don't you? For me, my fondest memories were lying in bed and reading to my three sons each and every night--I absolutely loved those times. All of my sons (now in their 30s) are avid readers now and I like to think that those early days of reading to them before bedtime had something to do with that. (Rocking them in my old creaky rocking chair and singing them to sleep when they were babies comes in a close second in my list of favorite memories!).

I'm giving away this beautiful hummingbird chart

I hope all of you who are mothers have a wonderful Mother's Day this coming weekend. This will be the first Mother's Day in 37 years that I haven't been with one of my sons... But, I'll be with my own dear mother and I so look forward to our time together. I hope to be back with my Christmas ornaments for March, April, and May by the end of the month--yes, I have never been this far behind in my monthly ornament stitching. Wish me luck! Thank you all for your wonderful comments and emails--I truly appreciate each one.  Bye for now...

Three Birds, Two Bunnies, and One Decadent Chocolate Cake!

Mid-April already??? I can hardly believe it! This is the time of year I would always look forward to the most--the end of tax season and the return of normal work hours for my husband. The boys and I rarely saw him from January 2nd to April 15th when he worked as a tax accountant/CPA. He worked every single day of the week, often not getting home until past our bedtime. I honestly felt like a single mother for those 3 1/2 months every year. Thankfully, he changed jobs about 20 years ago and life has been much better. But, still, even after all these years, mid-April is a time I associate with good things--warmer weather, blooming trees and flowers, singing birds, and digging in the soil (well, not that one so much--I am not a gardener anymore due to the deer who devour things as quickly as we plant them!). It's just such a happy month, don't you think?

I have two finishes to share with you today--one large and one small. The larger piece is one you last saw in September of 2016. But, I actually started it over five years ago! (This is why I tend to stitch one piece at a time--if I put it down for any length of time, it is a true struggle to go back to it). The first time I put it in "time out" was because I didn't know what to do about the "J" that was missing from the alphabet. Yes, I know many older samplers don't include the "J" or the "V," but, that bothers me... So I put it away in order to "think" about what I wanted to do. In 2016, I picked it up and decided to just leave it as charted--no "J." But, then I ran out of Weeks Dye Works "Kudzu!" I mean there is a lot of kudzu in this piece--everything green is kudzu... Just look at all of the leaves, grass, and stems! The replacement Kudzu arrived and I stitched all the way down to the house. And then I put it away again--I was so very tired of stitching all that green! Fast forward to earlier this month and I came across it again and literally said--out loud--"Carol, just get it done!" My husband was out of town so I "stitched like it was my job" and, voilà--here it is! Don't you love it?

"Birds Of a Feather" is finally finished!

"Birds Of a Feather" is a With Thy Needle and Thread design stitched on 40 ct. flax Newcastle linen with most of the suggested overdyed colors. I did change the birds to a bluer blue, but I lost the tag that stated the exact shade and have no idea what the lighter color is! The darker color on the birds is GAST "Dungarees." Don't you love the border--just look at the reds in those pretty tulips? I photographed it next to my husband's grandfather's old pocket watch and one of my grandmother's hankies. The sampler reminds me of a simpler life in days gone by... just like the watch and the hankie...

I want to live in that little yellow house on top of a hill!

Green, green, and more green!

Now, to get it framed!

Bunny stitching... It wouldn't be Easter if I didn't create at least one small bunny pillow to add to my collection, would it? This is from a 1994 design by Patrick's Woods called "The Heart's Chase" which I just happened to see on eBay last year. I don't think I've ever seen this design stitched up before, have you? It really could be either an Easter piece of a Valentine's design.

"The Heart's Chase" finish

The pillow was stitched on 40 ct. flax Newcastle with a combination of overdyed threads and DMC. I changed the large heart color to black (from a charted dark navy blue). If you look closely, you'll notice some specialty stitches... in fact the "stairs" that the bunny on the right is running up are made of satin stitches. Don't they resemble tiny hearts?  To finish this off into a pillow, I used a tiny strip of pink fabric next to a black and white gingham along with some mini-ric rac, a stack of buttons, and some of my handmade cording--I think it gives the whole piece a cheerful, fun look.

Another pink and black bunny pillow for my collection

You don't generally think of pink and black being Easter colors, do you? But, I've found myself returning to that color scheme quite often over the past years. Just look at all the pink and black creations I've made in the photo below! Do you like my bunny chair? Oh, I absolutely fell in love with it when I spotted it at a thrift store in Florida last year. My husband was not impressed--it is very "chippy" and aged looking and I know he wondered what I saw in it. He asked me just how I intended to get that home on the airplane and I told him I'd find a way. I carefully padded it with plastic bags and brought it home in my little carry-on duffel bag. I was so scared it would fall apart, but it arrived in great shape and is now a treasured part of my Easter decorating. Not bad for $5.00, eh? If you'd like to know more about the other bunny finishes in this photo, just click on the name of each one and you can read the description of my finishes: black bunny pouch, two bunnies in black oval, bunny and pink house.

I tend to group my bunnies into groups of similar colors--these are just a few members of the pink group!

More thrifting goodies... I love visiting thrift shops, although I don't go as often as I'd like. I did stop in at my local Goodwill this week and came away with some treasures including that pale pink ceramic basket on the right in the photo above for a mere 98 cents. I spotted the adorable green bunny creamer below and had to have it even though, at $7.99, it was more than I wanted to spend. Yes, I'm very frugal!! 

My new thrifted bunny creamer

Fresh daffodils from my yard that the deer actually didn't devour this year!

I also came home with a new pair of framed 15" x 17" floral prints for my pale yellow sunroom (the room where I take the majority of my photos because the natural light is so wonderful). Aren't these pretty--can't wait to get them hung up. They are double matted and in absolutely pristine condition... And guess how much they were? Each one was only $3.98! Thrift stores offer such a great way for you to find something to change up the look of your room at very little cost.

Two new floral prints from the thrift store

A delicious dessert... Before I get to the winner of the cording giveaway, I'd like to share this decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe with you. My oldest son was visiting from California last month and I made this for his birthday--doesn't it look fancy? Well, let me tell you, this was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made! You can find the cake recipe right here (it is just a single layer) and the chocolate glaze recipe here. I only made half of the glaze and it was plenty. For both the cake and the glaze, I used Ghirardelli's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bars. For the pretty effect on top, I simply sifted powdered sugar over a paper doily placed on top of the glaze after it had dried and then lifted the doily straight up. This honestly tasted as good as it looked--just like an expensive restaurant dessert! Give it a try on your next special occasion...

Flourless Chocolate Cake--oh, my!!

Giveaway winner... I was so touched by all of your kind comments on my previous post--I'm very glad my tutorial on how I attach my cording was helpful. Have any of you tried it yet? I had 32 entries for my eight pieces of cording and the name pulled from the proverbial hat was... drumroll please:

SHELLY (An Arizona Stitcher)

Shelly (An Arizona Stitcher) is the giveaway winner!

Congratulations to Shelly! Please send me an email with your mailing address and I will get these pretty pastel pieces to you pronto. This was a fun giveaway for me to host as I truly love making cording. I'm thinking I'll do another giveaway for patriotic colored cording in a month or two so keep on reading! Thank you to all who entered--I mean it when I say I was very touched by your compliments and comments... I am way behind on emails so I will do my best to catch up with you soon. And please remember, if you have a question, make sure to include your email so I can answer it!

Our Easter will be quiet with just our middle son and his girlfriend here for dinner. I so miss those wonderful family Easter dinners that my mom used to prepare for us--she always made things so very special at holiday time. I don't think you appreciate how hard a mother works at holiday time until you are on your own and doing all those things yourself. So, thank you, mom--I love you so...  Hope you each have a blessed Easter weekend with family, friends, and lots of little chocolate bunnies. Until next time, happy stitching, my friends! Bye for now...

Wishing all of my friends here at Stitching Dreams a very blessed Easter weekend!

Chicks and Bunnies and Eggs... Oh, my!

Whew! I made it! Once again, I'm down to the wire in trying to squeeze in two posts each month. In a few short hours it will be April, but at this very minute--it is still March! So, how have you been during this changeable month? I'm still (believe it or not) dealing with a bit of a cough which is hanging on from my bout with the flu. Nothing terrible--just annoying. Hopefully, in another week, it will be gone for good. It was a busy month for me with trips to both Florida (which you read about in my last post) and to New York to visit my mom last week (who is doing well, by the way--thank you to all of you who ask about her! She and I both really appreciate your kind thoughts!). 

I was able to finish up the bigger spring project that I told you about last time and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. This is a very old French chart called "Paques" (Easter) from Bleu de Chine in Paris. I've been trying to stitch some of these beauties from my stash rather than buying new things and I'm so happy to have this one stitched at last! I began stitching this with the suggested colors on natural linen, but didn't like the effect at all so I switched out all of the colors (except the greens) and stitched it on 40 ct. antique white linen. These changes gave it a brighter, springier look--much better! I wish my photos were better, but it has been four straight days of cloudy, gray weather (and even a bit of s-n-o-w this morning).

Bleu de Chine "Paques" finish

Thank goodness I learned to make colonial knots as I am a complete failure (90% of the time!) at French knots--they always seem to pull through to the other side or look way too large. But, the colonial knots were much easier and fairly uniform in size. Just look at all of those little brown eyes I had to make for the chicks and bunnies! Click here for the video that I used for the colonial knots--it might be helpful to you, too. I love the yellow chicks running too and fro, some of them falling right over their large orange feet!

Such darling chicks!

As mentioned above, I changed most of the colors in this piece, but I especially wanted to change the one suggested for the bunnies. It was charted as DMC 919 which is an orange color. What? The bunnies who hop through my yard (nibbling at my flowers!) are brown so I used Classic Colorworks "Stepping Stones." for their fur. Much more lifelike, I think, don't you?

Don't you love that gingham heart?

After I was finished with the stitching,  I pulled a frame from my Goodwill stash (which I had purchased for $1.99) and painted it white using three coats of Waverly Chalk pain in the "Plaster" color. I then distressed it with some fine-grade sand paper. I should have taken a "before" photo as it was a gold color and looked nothing like this. I'm so pleased with how it turned out with the green polka-dot fabric background and pale yellow ric-rak...The finished size including the frame is about 10" square. It makes a perfect addition to my Easter decor!

All ready for Easter!

Oldies, but goodies... I came across a couple of very old finishes all rolled up in a drawer last week and shared them with my stitching friends on Instagram. I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I still liked these even after all this time. I'm guessing I stitched them around 2002 or 2003 which is when I got back into stitching after a ten year hiatus. Who else has stitched one of these Told In a Garden Amish pieces?  I chose to stitch these because of the colorful quilts, the beautiful homesteads and barns, and the depiction of a simpler, quieter way of life. They still call to me for those same reasons... I think I will try to frame them myself and get them out of hiding!

"Blueberry Homecoming" is my favorite of all of the Told In a Garden designs

"Bird In Hand" captures Amish life in the quaint Pennsylvania town of the same name

Now, look at that Amish buggy above and just look at what passed in front of me (in the photo below) when I was visiting my mom in January! As you can see I took this from my car window--imagine riding in a buggy like this in the middle of winter... Brrrr!!! The horse and buggy were clip-clopping through the parking lot of a shopping area on a very frigid afternoon. There is a large Mennonite population up in that part of New York State (near the Finger Lakes) and many of them still use the horse and buggy method of transportation. I came across this very interesting article about how these buggies are built... If you'd like to read it, click here. They cost about $6800 to build according to the article--a lot less than a new car, that's for sure!

Waiting for a Mennonite buggy to pass on a snowy day in NY

Anyway--back to the Told In a Garden pieces. If I decide to stitch more of these, I certainly have some wonderful choices  in my own stash. The question is, should I stitch them on Aida again or use linen? They really are such sweet pieces... true comfort stitching! I've always loved "Grandmother's House" and "Grandfather's Barn" along with "Raspberry Homecoming" and "The Garden." (Oh, and "The Quilting," and "The Courting"--oh, who am I kidding, I love them all!)

More than enough Told In a Garden Charts to keep me stitching for years to come!

How I Attach My Cording:  On to a few tips that may help when you attach your cording. I've had several Instagram and blogging friends ask me about how I attach my cording so I came up with this little tutorial back in 2015 to help them. This is not how to make cording (but, here is a great video of a woman making it and using the exact method I use: cording video). In her video, Kathy only uses one length of DMC and doubles it over. I use three or four lengths of DMC and do not double it over. She and I both use the Kreinik Custom Corder, but you can make cording by using a drill, an electric mixer, or even a dowel or long pencil. There are a lot of YouTube videos on these various methods. I do highly suggest the Kreinik Corder, though--it is fun and easy!

This is how I attach my cording--yes, I use glue so if you are anti-glue, there is no need to read any further. I have never had a problem with gluing on cording, buttons, bows, etc. in all the years I've been finishing. I use a teeny tiny bit applied on the end of a toothpick so it never oozes out. In my opinion, it gives a smoother look to a final finish than if it is sewn on. Just my opinion. However, I know there are some stitchers out there who would never allow glue to come in contact with their stitching so, if you are one of them, this method is not for you... You can click on all of the photos to enlarge them for more detailed views.

I start with the finished stitching and cording (of course!):

Then, I take the cording and tie a piece of the same colored DMC to one end and wind it around and around like the end of a shoelace and tie it off: 

Here is a close-up:

I then snip off the knotted end close to the thread that I just wound up:

Your cut end should look like this:

Then you take the wound up, cut end and start gluing it to the top of the ornament. I use just a bit of Aleene's Tacky Glue on the end of a toothpick--go slowly. DO NOT glue the entire ornament at once!

Keep applying the glue and winding the cording around until it almost meets the beginning of the cording, but stop before you reach the meet-up point: 

At this point, you want to determine how long you want your hanger to be. Then do the same thing that you did in the beginning with the thread wound around the end like a shoelace end: 

Glue the last bit of cording, matching up the two cut ends, after creating a loop (see where scissors are pointing): 

Adjust the loop so it is centered and the ornament will hang straight. You can either glue the loop's cording together or tack it with a matching DMC thread: 

This is what it looks like on the back:

At this point, add a little ribbon or whatever embellishments you want to add:

This is just the way I do it--I sort of made it up as I went along! I'm sure there are other ways of attaching cording that work, as well. This is simply what works best for me. I am not a professional finisher by any means!

Most of the time the "meet-up" spot of the cording is covered by a bow or yo-yo or something, but there are times I just have the two ends meet up at the bottom like in this small pillow. 

Here, the cording meets in the middle at the bottom of the pillow

Or you can tie it into a knot in the corner like I did in this little pillow. This is very easy--just tie the end of each end of the cording into a knot and cut the threads evenly to form a little tassle:

Cording tied at the side and embellished with tiny spools

Or you could even tie it into a bow at the top of the pillow like this:

Cording tied in a bow at the top

I hope this has helped--even a little bit! I am not going to get into the habit of doing tutorials--there are so many wonderful ones out there already including those that Vonna does and also those by Pinwheel Ponders. This may just provide a few tips that might make it easier for you. Give it a try--cording does finish off ornaments and pillows in such a lovely way! But, you must be patient--good finishing takes a ton of time so do it on a day when you aren't feeling rushed or anxious.

Cording Giveaway... Now, who would like to win some of my cording so you can get started embellishing your own pretty ornaments and pillows? I've put together a little giveaway of eight pieces of cording in some pretty spring colors. All are at least 2 feet long... I used three 6 foot lengths of DMC to end up with the 2 feet of cording for four of them and four 6 foot lengths to end up with 2 feet of cording for the other four.

To enter the giveaway, you, 1)  must be a follower, 2) need to leave a comment and tell me you want to enter and what your favorite thing you've stitched for spring or Easter is, and 3)  must leave your email if I don't already have it.  One winner will be sent all eight lengths of cording... Good luck to all--I will announce the winner the next time I post so you have until April 13th to enter... 

Giveaway for eight lengths of cording

It's a standoff... I'll leave you with this funny sight that I encountered while driving to get my hair cut a while back:  a real stand-off between some giant turkeys and some even bigger cars... Traffic was stopped for quite a while in both directions as the turkeys did not want to be the first to move!

I don't think the turkeys are very happy with me!

The turkeys finally conceded and the cars moved on--aren't they huge?! Such funny looking birds!

Doing the turkey trot!

This post took an awfully long time to put together, but I hope you've enjoyed it and, perhaps, learned something, too! Wishing you all a joyful April--I hope the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining wherever you are... Thank you again for being such supportive blogging buddies--I treasure your sweet comments and emails and so appreciate the time you take to stop to say "hello!" Bye for now...