Mister S. Klaus and a visit to Mount Pilatus, Switzerland

Another month is speeding by... how can February be half over? Things have been busy around here--doctors' appointments, trips to the dentist, etc.--not fun things, but necessary things. Hopefully, the second half of the month will be a bit slower... Our area of Pennsylvania has avoided all of the crazy storms sweeping across the country for some reason. We got no snow at all during the past week when places like the Washington, DC area (where two of my sons live) got almost 6 inches! How did all of you fare? I keep hoping these cold temperatures will soon be a thing of the past, but they keep hanging around. I hate to even venture outside!

The cold has made for lots of stitching time, although I have only one finish to share with you today. The other pieces I've been working on are for gifts so I'll have to wait a while to show them to you. I'm trying my best to get a jump on Christmas gift stitching this year by making a gift or two each month--we'll see how that goes once the nicer weather appears. 

I've fallen in love with Teresa Kogut Santas and this book in particular, "Hello Santa," which I received for Christmas from my middle son. I'm sure many of you have it, too! Isn't it special? There are seven delightful designs in the book--all on large color multi-page charts (so nice for old eyes like mine). 

One of the best collections of Santas I've ever seen are in this wonderful Teresa Kogut booklet.

Do you see Mister S. Claus peeking out from behind the booklet? Well, he's all finished now and I enjoyed each and every stitch! Would you believe this is the very first Teresa Kogut chart I've ever stitched? I'd definitely put her designs on my "comfort stitching" list. I love the old fashioned look of this one. It portrays Santa with his little snowman buddy pulling him as if he were a vintage pull-toy. When I showed it to my grandson, Mister B thought it was a skateboard :) Too cute! "S. Claus" is stitched on 40 ct. vintage country mocha Newcastle with most of the suggested threads. I made a few minor changes such as changing the color of the cheeks (I used DMC 3778), the snowman's eyes, mouth, and buttons (I used DMC 311), the snowman's arms (I used DMC 612), and the white on the candy canes is DMC white instead of 3866. 

The dapper Mister "S. Klaus" 

 

That little snowman is such a cutie, isn't he? I just love his expression as he gazes up at Santa.

Now, the hard part is deciding which design from "Hello Santa" to start next! They are all so charming, but I think it's between the very chubby gold Santa on the right in the photo below or the "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" winter scene on the left. Both have a lot of stitches and will take me a while! So... help me decide--which one should I stitch next?

Help me decide... which one should I stitch next?

What have you been stitching during this short month? I think this is the first year in a long, long time that I didn't stitch a single piece for Valentine's Day. In fact, I was too lazy to even get my Valentine's finishes out of their storage drawer at all... Hopefully, I'll be better for St. Patrick's Day next month.

So, today we resume our European trip--are you all packed and ready to go? When we left off back in November, we had just visited The Black Forest area of Germany. (I took a little break from these travel posts because they take so long to put together and I just knew I'd have no time over the holidays). So, here we are--back on the Rhine River sailing to Switzerland... Once the riverboat docked in Basel, Switzerland, the cruise part of our trip was over. From that point until our final flight home, we would travel by bus and train. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to spend any time at all in Basel. Instead we were bussed immediately to Lucerne for the destination on this trip that I had most looked forward to...

Mount Pilatus overlooking Lucerne, Switzerland

You long-time readers know how much I love the mountains and I couldn't wait to get to the top of Mount Pilatus to see that gorgeous view down to the blue waters of Lake Lucerne. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for our visit that morning. Our tour guide announced that because of the frigid temperatures and snow (in mid-September!), we would not be able to take the famous cogwheel train ride up the mountain as it was closed.  Built in 1889, it is the steepest cogwheel train in the world with a gradient that reaches 48% in places. Sadly, it was not to be. Fortunately, we were still able to take the gondola up to the viewing platform. 

You can see the gondolas (on the top right) that we took up the mountainside to a height of almost 7000 feet.

 

The map showing the conditions of Mount Pilatus on the morning of September 14, 2024. As the red x's indicated--a lot of things were shut down or closed due to the inclement weather.

Our guide Tamás (originally from Hungary) ushers us to the gondola entrance. He was an amazing leader--one of the best tour guides I've come across.

A close-up of one of the gondolas. The Panorama Gondolas include 132 cars which hold four people each--a perfect size for me, my husband, my sister, and my brother-in-law.

As we waited in line to board our gondola, this charming mural of the cogwheel train captured my eye.

As the gondola ascended the mountain, we got a birds-eye view of the pretty landscape and architecture nearby.

At times, the foggy conditions, made the visibility almost non-existent. I thought this carpet of silvery ferns was so pretty as we traveled over them.

One of my favorite photos of our entire trip! I just love the red gondola set against the backdrop of snowy Mount Pilatus.

As we climbed higher and higher, the trees grew taller and thinner and the air temperature dropped noticeably.

Just peeking through the thick cloud cover, you can spot a glimpse of Lake Lucerne down in the valley.

In less than 30 minutes, we had safely reached the top. And when we stepped outside, it looked (and felt!) like we had just entered the movie "Frozen"--ice and snow and crystals and frost were everywhere! 

Quite the winter wonderland, isn't it?

 

The view from the crystal covered window of the inside viewing deck.

The cloud cover came and went, but every now and then we were able to get a glimpse of the lovely Lake Lucerne. Imagine how beautiful it would be with a clear view in warmer weather.

Smiling on the outside, freezing on the inside :) We didn't last very long out in that weather!

We didn't spend much time outside, as you can imagine! The temperature was only 28° F (-2.22C) and the winds were wild. Although the guides told us to dress warmly for this particular excursion, no one was prepared for this unusually frigid weather. Normally it is in the mid-40s on the mountaintop in September (and back home in Pennsylvania it was in the low 80s!) so no one was dressed appropriately. I had a shirt and two lightweight jackets under my raincoat, but no gloves. The icy air just took my breath away...  Before we descended, we had some free time for viewing some of the indoor exhibits and eating a quick lunch. Talk about sticker shock! Our guide warned us how expensive things are in Switzerland, but I don't think any of us were ready for the shock of paying €23.00 for a simple hot dog (granted, it was a long hotdog, but it was still a hotdog!).  

Beginning our descent from Mount Pilatus

 

The view of the lake began to get much clearer as we descended.

Imagine living in one of these homes and having the gondolas passing overhead day after day!

As the afternoon passed, the weather definitely brightened.

Almost there!

So close now, that we could actually listen to the sheep baaing and hear their sweet tinkling bells from the gondola.

So, how did you do way up there in the air? Is anyone afraid of heights? I am, but I'm okay in an enclosed space like those gondolas. Up on a ladder or on an open platform, though, forget about it... Did you enjoy this first segment of the Switzerland travelogue? I have two more stops in Switzerland to share with you before we move on to Italy, but I'll save those for another post. 

Thank you so very much for stopping in to visit me today! I always love reading your comments and hearing about what you're stitching or doing... I do hope this last half of February is good to you all and I plan to be back before the month is over. Take care now, my friends! Bye for now... 

Two birthdays and a pair of Christmas finishes

Well, I did it! I turned 70 and the world didn't end... The lead-up to my birthday was far scarier than the actual day. My over-active imagination had me worrying about all sorts of scenarios that would happen as I entered my 70s. I'm happy to say that once the calendar turned to January 16th, I felt just fine about being in a new decade. In the end, it was "just another day."  We had a wonderful family celebration that weekend at a beautiful rental home on the shores of Deep Creek Lake in Maryland. So grateful to have had my entire family there to honor me on my very special day. I'll tell you more about my birthday celebration further on in the post, but I know some of you are here only to see my stitching so let's get to that first. 

My January ornament finish for the #12in25ornamentstitchalong (that I host on Instagram) is done and it's a cutie. I went with my "comfort stitching" favorite--Prairie Schooler (although many of you would not call stitching "over one" on black "comfort stitching," would you?). This sweet scene of Santa feeding the geese is from PS Book No. 110 "Santa  & Friends" and is stitched on 25ct. black Lugana with the suggested DMC threads.  I will say that if Santa attempted to feed any geese in our yard, he would be strongly reprimanded. We have several that try to nest by our pond each spring and they are not greeted with open arms. As soon as we see them, we run out to chase them away. They make such a mess as you might know if you have ever been around a group of them!

I love the detail on this one--even the bird seed that Santa sprinkles is charted!

The hanging pillow ornament I made is fairly simple... I just added a border of matching green cording and attached five red jingle bells to the bottom. In the upper right corner, I added a green gingham bow and another bell to finish it off. I'm trying my best to make ornaments on the smaller side this year because my Christmas tree (as you know!) is running out of room. This one measures just 2 1/2" X 3 1/4".  One ornament down, eleven to go!

My first ornament of 2025

 

My bigger Christmas finish is one I actually started in December and finished on my birthday. This was one of those designs that I expected would stitch up much more quickly than it actually did. But, when you study it, there certainly is a lot of detail. I used a lovely Christmas red silk ("Poinsettia" by Gloriana Silks) for this piece which is stitched on 40 ct. white Newcastle linen. I find stitching a monochromatic design to be so soothing, don't you?

"Redwork Noel" by Joan Elliott

So many sweet motifs in this design!

Wouldn't you love to live in this cozy village at the base of the wooded mountain? It looks so peaceful.

The finished size ended up being almost 6 inches square on the 40 ct. fabric. I plan on getting this one framed.

I received some lovely birthday gifts from fellow stitching friends which I will certainly treasure...

From my friend Vickie, I received this darling snowman ornament. He is feeling right at home with my other snowmen. Thank you so much, Vickie!

My friend, Claire from Canada, created this adorable snowman berry for me. Just love the fuzzy little fellow and all the beads and charms she added. Thank you so much, Claire!

From my friend, Charlene in Arizona, came two charming charts. Just look at that parade of animals following Santa featured in the top one--so cute! Thank you so much, Charlene!

June, Manuela, and Martina all created beautiful cards for me and sent them across the ocean from England and Germany. You are all very talented--thank you so much!

My friend, Gabi, made this sweet snowman card and included a chart to remind me of my September visit to Strasbourg, France, too. Love them! Thank you so much, Gabi!

And thank you to all who sent birthday cards as well--I was so touched that you remembered my special day.

On turning 70... Oh, how quickly the years have passed! I know most of you feel the same way--and I swear they pass more and more quickly with each and every year.  Below, is little Carol in a precious ruffled pinafore (surely sewn by my maternal grandmother) on my very first birthday in 1956. I think those old cards are so sweet--all bunny themed, I notice. My mother said my nickname back then was "Thumper" because I thumped my foot when I was trying to go to sleep so I guess the bunny theme (the bunny in the Bambi movie is named Thumper) was most appropriate.

Luckily, I seem more interested in playing with the ribbon and am paying no attention at all to the big lit candle on the cake!

Oh, how times have changed over the past 70 years... Just look at the price of eggs in 1955 (61 cents a dozen)! And postage stamps: 3 cents! You could drive to a (50 cent) movie in your brand new car that cost only $2100. The world, and life in general, just seemed kinder and simpler back then--at least to me.

Life in 1955

As I mentioned above, my family held a 70th birthday celebration weekend for me at a lake house in Maryland. It was a beautiful house with amazing views of Deep Creek Lake. All nine of us were there: my husband, me, my oldest son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, and my middle and youngest sons and their girlfriends. Nine of us just enjoying each other's company for three fun-filled days.

The beautiful view from our bedroom window of the frozen lake

We spent the weekend, doing puzzles, playing pool, eating way too much yummy food, and constructing Lego sets. My grandson told his dad yesterday, "I can't believe Nonna knows how to put together Legos!" Ha ha :)  Well, Mister B, I did learn something along the way while raising three boys who adored Legos just as much as you! We also exchanged late Christmas gifts. My oldest son found a series of fun birthday-themed games on Etsy and we all enjoyed reminiscing and laughing over them as we shared memories. One of my favorites was having each person write down four memories they had of me on individual slips of paper and then I tried to guess who wrote them. Such fun!

A beautiful birthday cake (apparently, I'm Nonna to everyone now. Hmm...)

And we got snow--lots and lots of snow! If not for my husband and three sons keeping up with the shoveling over the weekend, I doubt we would have been able to get our cars up that long, steep driveway on Monday morning. We got at least 8 or 9 inches of the fluffy white stuff. It was incredibly beautiful, though--a bit dicey making our way home on Monday, but everyone arrived safely. We love gathering together at Deep Creek Lake as it is about halfway between Pittsburgh and Washington, DC so it's not an extremely long drive for any of us.

The guys could barely keep up with the shoveling!

Some of our more intrepid crew braved the frigid temperatures to walk out onto the frozen lake.

Mister B in my favorite photo of the weekend taken by my middle son's girlfriend.

I took this photo as we were pulling away to drive home--such a beautiful house! I was sad to leave, but, hopefully, we'll visit again soon.

I had a couple of very special visitors on my actual birthday, too. The morning of the 16th, I spotted the female cardinal perched on a snow covered branch right outside my kitchen. I was just about ready to capture her photo when in swooped the male cardinal who proceeded to sit down beside her. I like to think that it was my mom and dad visiting to bring me birthday smiles :) 

Papa and Mama visiting on my 70th birthday

 

And the other birthday I mentioned in my post's title? Well, my little old blog turned 16 years old on January 24th. I still can't believe that I've been writing, photographing, and recording my stitching and other life events for so many years. I've come close to quitting many times as blogging has gone out of fashion, but I still feel that blogging is the format where I feel closest to my fellow stitchers so I'm here for another year! I hope you'll be joining me as I truly love hearing from you either through your sweet comments or by email. 

 

Many years of "Stitching Dreams" memories compiled into hardback books. I always include two years in each book so it's time to order another one for 2023-2024.

Next time, I hope to resume my Rhine River cruise travelogue that I left off in November. We'll be traveling to Switzerland and then on to Italy (obviously we are not on the Rhine River at that point!). Hope everyone has a safe and healthy February ahead.  Such a short month--spring is on it's way! Hooray, hooray! Bye for now...