Friends, Crafts, and a Mystery!

Today is a super fun day, because I have so much I get to show all of you! Let's start with an extra special blessing I received at the very beginning of my last vacation:

That's right! I got to meet our very own Casey from Writing for Christ!!!

Casey came and spent a couple of days with me and my family at a home we rented in Sunriver, Oregon. We had such a blast! It was almost unreal--getting to meet a dear friend I had known online for over a year in person!! I even got to have lunch with her family one day, which was a real treat, as well. Casey is a beautiful person inside and out, and I consider myself very blessed indeed to call her my friend!

Here's us at the park! We put together a picnic lunch and bicycled to the park, sat on the grass, and talked forever! ;) Loved it!

Of course, we had to get a picture of us together with books! ;) Forget snail mail when you can swap books in person!!

We packed a lot of wonderful memories into one weekend. Casey's friendship, as well as the friendships of all my dear blogging friends, are blessings I'll be forever grateful for!

Also, while I was on vacation, I finished this:

The hummingbird counted cross-stitch piece for my grandma is complete!

For those of you who attended Camp Humility 2011 here on the blog, you might recall me showing you this piece as a work-in-progress during our craft time. Well, my grandma and I spent some time cross-stitching together during our vacation. So my "hummingbirds" didn't turn out to be a complete surprise after all, but we had fun working on cross-stitching together, and the memories were even better than the surprise!

My sister was sweet enough to take a picture of me with my completed project!

As for the mystery? The mystery is what the schedule will be like for "Mystery Week." ;)

First, here are the results of the "Mystery Week Poll":

Do you enjoy reading mysteries? 19 votes

• 14 Yes, very much!
  
• 5 Once in a while.
• 1 Nope.

(Amber's Note: Good to know!)

Do you watch the PBS Masterpiece Mystery season? 19 votes

• 2 Yes, I love it!
• 6 Sometimes.
• 7 No.
• 5 What's PBS Masterpiece?

(Amber's Note: Oh, dear! Ya'll are missing out! I do hope this upcoming week might help some of you discover the wonders of PBS Masterpiece. Remember, you can watch some of these shows online for free for a limited time!) ;)

Which of these books would you be interested in discussing this week? 21 votes

• 9 Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  
• 6 Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
  
• 7 A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  

Which of these movies would you be interested in discussing this week? 18 votes

• 7 PBS Masterpiece: Sherlock, A Study in Pink (2010)
• 4 PBS Masterpiece: Poirot, Hallowe'en Party (2011)
• 5 PBS Masterpiece: Miss Marple, The Pale Horse (2011)
• 1 PBS Masterpiece: Zen, Vendetta (2011)
• 2 Other (Inspector Lewis, and a voter noting that they hadn't seen PBS Masterpiece)
  

~ ~ ~

Thank you to all of you who voted! So, here's the game plan for "Mystery Week" (July 18th-22nd):

• Monday: Special Book/Author Feature (Who's the author? Well, it's a mystery that you'll have to solve by checking in on Monday!)
  

• Tuesday: Miss Marple, "The Pale Horse" (Movie review and discussion)
  

• Wednesday: Death on the Nile (Book review and discussion)
  

• Thursday: Sherlock Double Feature--Review/discussion of the 2010 episode "A Study in Pink" and the book A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  

• Friday: Murder on the Orient Express (Book review and discussion)

• Saturday: I might throw in a review of "Hallowe'en Party" or "Vendetta" if I find time!

~ ~ ~

"Mystery Week" is no longer a mystery! I hope that this overview helps you--now you can get a start on reading these books and/or watching these movies that we'll be discussing.

Yesterday I should have included a link to the PBS Masterpiece website, and I should have let you know that some of the movies I listed are available to watch online for free! So, here's that info in case you're interested:

• Visit the PBS Masterpiece website to learn all about this summer's Mystery season!

• You can watch "Hallowe'en Party" (Poirot) now through August 2nd, "The Pale Horse" (Miss Marple) now through August 10th, and "Vendetta" (Zen) starting Monday, July 18th, online! (As you can see from the schedule above, we'll be discussing "The Pale Horse" on Tuesday, so you can watch it online before then!)
  

I know this is a lot to take in, so please feel free to share any and all thoughts (or questions!) on Mystery Week, crafts, blogging friends, or whatever! ;)

Craft Time!

Today let's gather together in the lodge and spend some time working on crafts! The craft I'm working on right now is top secret: a counted cross-stitch piece for my grandma. She was the one who taught me how to cross-stitch, so I want to surprise her with a project I've made on my own. So, shhhh! It'll be our secret. ;)

Here's what it looks like so far:

I have a tad bit more to finish on the flowers, and then I have to complete the two hummingbirds and do the back-stitch to outline the picture and put it all together.

This is the back of the piece. Not quite as nice looking as the front, but I try to keep it somewhat clean like my grandma taught me!

And this is what it will (hopefully) look like when I'm done! I love these kits, because I would be so lost without step-by-step instructions and the chart!

The chart uses different symbols to color-code the project. (Don't worry--they also include a legend so that you know which symbol is which color!) I like to cross out the stitches I've done as I go so I can keep track of my progress.

I love cross-stitching! Once you learn how to make the stitches, it's really pretty simple (at least for the more basic projects like I make), and it's so neat to see the picture coming together before your eyes! There's something special about counting out the stitches and poking the needle in and out of the fabric to make something beautiful, especially when you know who you're going to give it to!

So, are any of you currently working on a craft?

(And before you leave, I just want to remind you to stop by tonight for the last campfire, where we'll say our farewell to camp and I'll announce the gift card winner!)

Craft Time!

First of all, I didn't forget that this morning was supposed to be our craft time. I'm actually rather embarrassed! I first submitted the post of my review of A Summer Secret to BookSneeze as a combination post with crafts and my bonus review. But then I decided to post the review separately. And would you believe it! On BookSneeze right now, it's still showing a blurb from my first post with my words about crafting as an excerpt from my review! Oh, well. I was just rather eager to sign up for a new book they have available! (However, please do look at my review in the first post for today. It was a cute book!)

But you joined me today to talk about crafts, huh? To be honest, I don't think I'm very creative when it comes to making crafts. I like doing activities that come from kits and that show you step-by-step instructions!

I guess my creativity is more in the writing department! But one "craft" I do enjoy is cross-stitching. (I'm not sure if this counts, but we'll pretend it does!) My grandma taught me how to cross-stitch, and I really appreciate her patience in teaching me. I love spending time with her!

My first cross-stitch piece was from a kit--a blue fish with sunglasses that is now hanging proudly in my sister's and my bathroom. Both of my other completed pieces were from kits, too, but I think I've improved some! It's been quite a while since I last cross-stitched, but I'm so glad I learned and I hope I can remember how to cross-stitch for the time when I decide to pick up the needle and fabric again!

How about you? Do you have any "crafts" you really enjoy? Is there a particular person who taught you this craft or that you enjoy doing this craft with? Maybe we can make some friendship bracelets while we're discussing this. (Anybody want to teach us?)

(Don't forget that I'll be announcing the winners of the giveaways tonight at the campfire!)