Stitched 2 over 2 on China Pearl Jobelan with Dinky Dyes Silk in Midnight
DH and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary a few weeks ago. I've had this stitched up for a while, but I never know if he reads my blog or not, so I thought it best to keep it under wraps. I've seen this design on a few blogs and decided it would be just perfect, so I picked it up and selected my fabric and thread colors based on our wedding colors of blue and silver (of course they were blue and silver. We ARE Cowboys fans, after all!)
I picked a pale grey for the fabric and the most delicious Dinky Dyes silk. It's the first time I stitched with the Dinky Dyes, but it won't be the last. I don't generally stitch with silk because it can get expensive, but for an anniversary gift, I wanted to do something special. The Dinky Dyes was just lovely to stitch with, and I was actually a little sad when I finished the piece.
As you can see, I did make some modifications to it. I didn't decide until I got the precut fabric home that I wanted to extend the pattern just a little to include our wedding date, so it was a good thing I opted for a 3 inch border instead of my usual 2 inches! Luckily, what I had in mind fit, and I'm going to frame it in a slightly more ornate carved black frame so this piece won't need a mat. I was able to extend the border by adding in extra loops near the hearts in the center of the sides, and I carried the hearts over to fill in the space between the words and our wedding date. All in all, I am very pleased with how this turned out, and my husband loved it as well. Once I get it framed up, we'll hang it in our front hallway along with our collection of family photos.
As for the anniversary itself, we decided to do a weekend trip to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. DH and I are into lighthouses and things of a nautical nature, so this was a nice trip for us. We drove up on Friday, which was our anniversary, spent Saturday in Mystic and Stonington, then took a long, scenic drive home on Sunday, checking out lighthouses along the coast on our way back. We had wonderful weather, and it was just a very relaxing, peaceful trip.
And if you happen to be in the Mystic area, I'd recommend checking out the following restaurants:
- Mirch Masala - Groton, CT. It's a converted bar in the Ramada Hotel, but the food is excellent. It's one of the few places I've found meat samosas (which I love), but really, everything we had was just wonderful, and the service was great. It wasn't far from our hotel, which was good because we were both tired of being in the car! (Warning - there is music on the website)
- Noah's - Stonington, CT. The menu changes based on what's in season and what's fresh, so don't expect everything listed on their website to be available. If scallops are on the menu, I'd recommend ordering them - they're absolutely divine. And the clam chowder? Mostly clam, with a little chowder scoop them up with. Soooo good!
- Kitchen Little - Mystic, CT. They're not kidding when they say "little". The food is good, but the quarters are QUITE close. We ended up practically sitting with another couple (their table was about 4 inches from ours. But it's right down the road from the Seaport, and the view of the Mystic River is lovely.