Finish # 6

I just finished this about an hour ago. This angel will go to Ashley V at Love Quilts who chose Angels as theme of her quilt. This was a fun piece to do. Now to start stitching on the Monkey's for our Youth Pastor's baby.

It's hard to believe 2007 is now at an end. It's been a very interesting year and ended in a way we never thought it would. It's been a year of the good and bad but we all got through it. Now to move on to 2008. I hope you all Have a Happy New Year. Until next time Happy Stitching!

A New Start

I am a little past half way on done on this angel. There is a lot of white but I really am enjoying it. It's fairly easy and is coming together well. Much better than Baby Jesus was. (That one I will try to finish next Christmas Season. I promise.) It's too cute of a piece and I put too much time into it to not finish it then. As far as this piece goes I hope to finish up Monday but we'll see. It'd be nice to start a new piece (an Endangered Young'uns piece) on the first day of 2008.
If I don't have this finished then I hope you all have a Happy and Safe New Year. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Family Christmas

I am having a problem with my asthma and acid reflux so I thought I would come to the computer and try posting some pictures of our family Christmas today. I didn't get very many pictures though most of them had either Johnny or Ashton in them. They were our two little stars today anyway. Hopefully I am doing these right. It is almost 2 am I'll try going to bed after this post as things are finally starting to calm down and I think I'll be able to sleep. My brother Tim's grandson, Ashton found a friend in John (my niece's husband and liked roughing up with him.
This picture is of my sister in law Beth and her grandson, Johnny, yes she got him a few times.
This one is of Ashton and John. Ashton really took to John..
This one is my brother Kevin and his Grandson Johnny who is now 1. He loves his Grandpa and pretty much stuck to him today. That is when he wasn't crawling around to get into mishief. He's at that age curious about everything.
I can see I didn't do this exactly right but this is first time I was able to do Multiple pictures and at least have them gone almost the way I wanted so practice makes perfect. Sorry if you get confused. On the picture of Beth and Johnny you can see my Niece, Christina, and Nephew, Jeremy in back ground, Jeremy is really blurred he must have moved just then. and on (I think Ashton and John roughing it up you can see my dad in background. I also see some of the pictures aren't the best quality. Sorry, I'll try to figure out later what I did wrong.
On the stitching front I have quit stitching on Baby Jesus. I just couldn't handle it any longer, so laid it down until next Christmas. I am stitching on an Angel for a little girl at Love Quilts. I'll post a picture of it in a few days. Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

More Progress on Baby Jesus

It's been a little while since I posted. I've been gone day and night the last few days. It's been really busy. My poor cat had his nose out of joint as I was never home and when I returned he could smell my parents dog on me! How dare I dessert him for another animal! Today I'm staying home all day! Neither one of us are going to know how to act. Oh I have housework to do but I'm stitching instead!

I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday! A friend took me and we really had fun. It was so nice to do something away from church and with someone other than family. Not putting either one down, but it was just a nice break. Now to get those Christmas Cards out! They are on my table, and some are addressed.

My mom is doing really good. She continues to have a great attitude which really helps in her recovery. In a couple of weeks she'll get fitted for her prosthesis.

Baby Jesus is going very slow. I do fear a little more improvising is going to be done, so I'm going to the angel on the left and just do the improvising on the blanket. I'm still really not enjoying this piece. I will be so glad when it's done. Hopefully before Christmas which is 4 days away!

We are having our family Christmas Dec. 26, at least those who can be there. Several are out of state and my niece, Tabitha, lives in town but she might have to work so we don't know if her or her little boy, Ashton will be there.

Well if I don't post before Christmas Have a Merry Christmas. Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Baby Jesus WIP

This is the piece you have heard me whine about. The verdict is still out as to enjoying it, but it does go better at times! This is #6 towards the 50 challenge and no. 5 towards the 25 challenge of stitching from 25 books or magazines I haven't stitched from before.

It is snowing heavy out sides. They are huge flakes falling from the sky. Keep that up we'll be buried in a few hours! LOL! Oh well it is Dec. and it's early in the season. Maybe it will leave in Feb. instead of March or Apr. I can only hope! And maybe we will have our White Christmas. We haven't had a pure White Christmas for awhile. Last year it was green and the year before very little snow.
It is pretty to look out at but I'm going out in it in about 30 minutes to go up and see my mom.

Today is Johnny's first birthday! Can you believe he is already a year old. We had a party for him on Sunday. It was fun but so many people were there. There were 5 babies (including Johnny) under 1 2 or 3 toddlers, and about 5 other kids 10 or under plus 3 older. It was noisy! But Johnny was so cute. He wasn't sure he liked everyone at his house and he definitely wasn't sure about the babies playing with his toys, but he was good.

I'm going to go back to stitching. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Swirly Snow

This is finish #5 towards the 50 challenge. I started this a while back but got it back out yesterday to finish it. I love the look of white on black fabric so I chose to do it this way. You could use whatever color and whatever material you wanted. I enjoyed this piece so much I may try using another color of floss and material in the future, just for the variation.

Well until next time Happy Stitching

Swirly Snow Update

I have been working on this a little the past couple of days just to get a break from Baby Jesus. That one angel is just giving me fits. Maybe Monday I'll post a picture of that. I hope to finish this piece tomorrow but not sure. I have a busy weekend ahead. I'll get some stitcing in tomorrow morning I think.

Our SS class is having a Christmas potluck at the church tomorrow. We were to bring a $5.00 gift exchange. I got told what to bring for the potluck and as a gift. My 7 layer bars. I don't like those things they are too rich but so many people like them. So tomorrow I'll make 2 batches of my seven layer bars, one to eat and the other as a gift. Hmmm....wonder if I would get away with that for our family Christmas Dec. 26, having the 7 layer bars be a gift too. We'll see. I still have to get 3 more gifts so I may just pick up a gift then too.

I just got back from seeing my mom. She's doing really good. She is in Rehab right now and will come home for good next Friday.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Just an Update

This particular piece was done a couple of years ago but thought I would post it now with the events of this past week.

My mom decided to have her foot amputated. She really was at peace about it. Thursday, my mom, dad, and sister all met with the Dr. to really have a discussion on mom's options. Yes they could have attempted to save her foot but it would have meant 2 to 4 surgeries in the next few days and no guarantees. Then when they finally did put the new rod and screws in that the screws wouldn't break loose again. Each surgery now and future would also increase the risk of another infection and going higher in her leg. If it went obove the knee because of her age she would not get a prosethesis. Whereas now she could and probably walk better than she has. So she decided on the amputation. She is recovering very well and will probably go to Rehab tomorrow.

My procedure went fine. They did find some palyps which the Dr. does not expect to be cancerous and they can usually pretty much tell on site. He did send one of them to be biopsied just to make sure. He did say to start eating 5 small meals a day rather then 1 or 2 big meals. I tend to skip breakfast and supper just eat lunch. That is difficult for me.

We have been hit by winter! It's been a dreary week but we got hit by the storm Friday and Sat. nights. We woke up to lots of ice this morning. And it's still yucky out there, dark and dreary, rainish. Just not a nice day out there. We told dad not to go see mom tonight as it's so slippery out there. Rather or not he'll listen who knows. Mom would rather he stayed home too.

I am slowly working on Baby Jesus by Stoney Creek. I will post my progress on it in a couple of days. I just haven't had that much time to stitch on the piece with all that's been happening. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Shocking News

This isn't the shocking news that will come after this. But this is a piece I finished last fall and my sister framed it brought it back with her Monday. It's hanging in my parents room now.

I haven't had much time to stitch this past week and probably won't until stitch a lot until the weekend. The next few days are going to be rough and hectic.

I've mentioned my parents health problems before and that my mom had a second ankle surgery taking out the screws putting in earlier as they broke loose. The surgery was a month ago. It was healing good but then last week in Physical Therapy the therapist noticed a blister on back of her foot. So the therapist called the Dr. Her regular Dr. wasn't there and she saw one of his partners. That partner was not nice and just says..."That is just a popped blister." and put a small bandaid on it and left. Yea right with all that drainage! My dad rewrapped it. Thursday morning she found a second popped blister that was draining very bad so dad called the office emergency. That Dr. was really nice told dad how to wrap it and prescribed a strong antibiotic. That seemed to be working so we thought. Although mom and dad could feel the screw at bottom of her foot. She went back to the Dr. and received really bad news and her and dad have 24 hours to make their decision. One is they can redo the surgery clean everything out and put a rod in. No guarantees that will work. Or two lose her her leg up to the shin bone. Needless to say mom is very upset and dad is concearned. My sister left yesterday but she's coming back today to be with mom. Kay is a RN and she wants to talk to someone in the Dr. office etc.

Also tomorrow I have a scope scheduled to find out if my Acid Reflux Disease has progressed or if something else is going on in my stomach. I've had problems with my chest and upper stomach for months now and the past couple weeks have been worse. I was going to cancel it by my family will be very upset if I do. Don't know how I'll get to the hospital as I don't drive. Maybe if my sister is still here she will take me. I just hope it isn't bad news. If it is I'm not telling my parents at this point.

I usually don't ask this and I usually try to be up beat but we are really concearned about our parents they are up in age and both have CHF. So please pray for them as they make this decision. Thank you.

At last a Finish

This is finish no. 4 towards the 25-50 challenge. (Twenty five books I haven't stitched from or 50 pieces altogether. So far this counts as 4 both ways. It was a quick easy finish. Now to go start the Christmas piece I kitted up.

I'm keeping this one short as I've said plenty the last few days. Until next time. Happy Stitching!

Thanksgiving

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Ours was good. This picture is funny. My niece's husband held up this big Turkey Leg asked who wanted it and 12-year-old Andrew spoke up for it. So here he is holding up the Turkey Leg before we all get ready to eat. He didn't eat quite all of it, but he gave it a good try. We had so much food and it was fun.

My nephew Bryan and his fiancee Krissy made it in from Chicago. They just announced their engagement and Krissy has a beautiful ring. It had been a couple of years since I had seen Bryan and he has sure matured a lot. He was a 21 year old kid and Krissy had just came into his life when I last saw him at Heather's Wedding 23 months ago. He was a man now not a kid. Michelle made it in from OR. Michelle the vegetarian, and Heather who had never made a turkey before made the turkey and did a good job. The meal was so good. Bryan did take some teasing from us because he was asked to bring the ingrediants for Greaen Bean Casserole and Krissy would make it up at Heather's house. Well, he brought a can of Peas along with the other stuff. He felt peas belonged in the casserole.

My sister and brother-in-law made it in with their dog from other side of state. Because of a skin problem healing up they didn't want to kennel Maveric. He got along well with Heather and Brian's dog, Trisket. The dogs were in the basement most of the time, but some of us went and saw them and the dogs were brought up a couple of times to greet everyone. Michelle and I took the dogs for a walk and Trisket for being so big was so good to walk with. She didn't pull, she just walked beside me. Maverick is on a mission when he walks, he just wants to walk, Trisket wanted to "stop and smell the flowers" and observe everything.

It was a fun day that ended too soon. Fortunately the weather was decent for us I don't know about those going to other side of the state. Today it is snowing out so let the Christmas Holidays begin I guess.

Well until next time Happy Stitching! I hope to have Autumn's Harvest finished tomorrow morning so I'll post then.

Start No. 4-Swirly Snow

I decied to lay down The Caretaker for a few days to do a couple of easy projects. This piece is called Swirly Snow. It's a SAL with some members at 123 stitch. One of the members designed it and we really liked it. I will have to lay it down for the day since it is on black and the sun just isn't out today and it's getting drearier out so lighting is poor. I'm going to start Autumn Harvest by Brittercup Designs. That one I will work on in the car tomorrow on our way to my niece's house. We call it my "shut up" piece that way I'm not all over the driver who in this case will be my dad. We are taking the back way as it is much quicker and easier than getting on to the expressway. As long as we don't get behind a slowpoke.
Hopefully the roads are clear for my nephew and his girlfriend coming in from Chicago and my niece is flying in from OR. Hopefully she will miss the messy weather.

Michelle will be in MI for a week although most of it at her parents on other side of state. Tues. we are having a mini get together as some won't be there tomorrow. We are hoping Tabitha can take her noon hour and join us and meet Michelle. She looks so much like Michelle. (Tabitha is my niece but we only recently learned about her long story I don't care to go into at this point). Michelle has a job interview at a college near here on Monday. In the spring her Internship ends so her and Scott have applied to be Professors at several different colleges. Needless to say they are applying all over but going to live where they can either be at the same college or a college near by. (Both have their Phd.'s in Chemistry)

Our weather is iffy the next couple of days although they said today would be bad and so bad it's not. Tomorrow is suppose to be okay, snow or rain at times but not bad.

Well Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. Until next time Happy Stitching!

The Caretaker 200 Hours

I've done a lot of stitching this past week and got quit a bit further. Three in a half pages are now completed. Page 4 is going quite fast and so far it's been my favorite page. You can see the elk just barely coming in. I have now stitched on it 200 hours and will still keep at it.

My mom felt like she was Queen for the Day at church. This lady gave her a lot of jewlery she had made. It was beautiful stuff. This lady is very talented in crafts she can do almost everything including cross stitching, quilting, fabric painting, sewing, jewlery making. Well you got the idea. Than another lady made some Pecan Pie and gave her a piece to make sure she took home with her. Mom loved it.

We had our annual Harvest Dinner after church today. As usual the food was really good. And there was lots left over. We had a large turnout. On the way home we had a little excitement. One of the ladies on the bus lives in a bad part of town and we saw a fight. The bus driver gets off the bus yells at the boys to stop and after 3 attempts at calling 911 he just got through when a police car came behind and he stopped the car to tell them what happened. The lady that lives in the neighborhood also got off the bus to talk to the boys. Man Jim was lucky one of the boys didn't pull a knife on him or have a gun. But they really were beating that boy bad and we were nervous they'd kill him. But all is well that ends well....well hopefully the boy will be okay. Hopefully they won't get the boy later.

Does everyone have Thanksgiving plans? We are going to my niece's house. They just bought a new house so we'll get to see it.

Well, I'm going to try to get a little more stitching in. Just wanted to show the progress after 200 hours stitching even.

The Caretaker

Almost 3 complete pages are done. I'm going to start the 4th page in a few minutes as the blue is getting monotonous. I'm really anxious to get to the next section as I think the Elk will start to come in and the pattern will really look like something then. I am really enjoying this piece. So far I've put in a little over 160 hours and I have worked on it 5 weeks now. I started it 5 weeks ago today infact, so you can see I do have spent probably more time than I should have on it. Oh well.....I'll keep at it for awhile anyway.

We had a Pizza Party for the 3rd-5th graders from Adventure Club last night. They played a lot of games and had pizza. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. They played a couple of games that usually aren't played at Adventure Club.

I had the Ultra Sound yesterday to see if it's my Gall Bladder causing my problems. We really don't think it is, we sort of think it's the Acid Reflux Disease in large part. And I think it is but man the discomfort and nausea I feel at times. A part of me wonders if I'm just drinking too much Pepsi.
Afterwards I went to my parents to unpack some of their photo albums etc. But the ones mom really want are still in storage so we'll need to get them out. Also spoiled the dog some more. I missed that dog. She's quite a character and when I left I told her I'd try not to stay away so long and she just looked at me and listened intently. Of course she got a couple good walks out of me. She leads me where she wants to go!

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Our Little Pumpkin

Johnny was a little Pumpkin on Halloween night. I love this picture of him so had to share it.

I have a feeling I'm in for a 3rd night without heat! I called Maitenance yesterday, he came and fixed it and at night it went out again. He came again today and now tonight it's not working again. I am very unhappy. Tomorrow I can call the office. I'll just tell them I need heat at night. Right now it's not so bad as it only gets down to 30's but tomorrow is suppose to turn cold I really need the heat then. As it is I'm fighting a cold from not having heat!

I'm still stitchng on The Caretaker. Not a lot further. Well until next time Happy Stitching!

"Trunk Or Treat"

Unfortunately I didn't think to take my camera to church last night but the Trunk or Treating seemed to be a big success. This is new to us but is common on other side of the state. People from the church put candy in their trunks, decorate them and the Trick or Treaters get candy from them. Since our church is fairly small and this is our first time we only had 7 cars but lots of Trick or Treaters. I was inside with the Adventure Club kids. We had about 20 kids which is more than we thought we would. We took the kids to the 7 cars where they got some candy. Than while the kids and some of us leaders were listening to the chalk artist some other leaders took their bags and filled them up with candy donated from members of our church and from us leaders. The kids were amazed how much candy they got! That should keep them happy for a couple of weeks. I'm sure their parents love us for loading them up with all that sugar! Those bags were filled!
The kids really seemed to enjoy the Chalk Artist it was something different from our noraml program. Fortunately the rain held off. In this area you can only Trick or Treat between the hours of 6 and 8 pm. It's for the child's safety. Most of the trick or treaters are done by 7:30. My parents had a few kids come to their apartment but their favorite two were their Great Grand Sons, 4 year old Ashton brought by his mommy Tabitha and 10 month old Johnny brought by his mommy, Melissa. I can't wait to see the pictures of those two. My nephew Andrew (12) decided at 12 years old he was too old to Trick or Treat so he handed out the candy instead.
I've been working on The Caretaker quite abit. Page 2 is almost done, but I went to page 3 as I knew it would be a boring page so I could go back to page 2 when 3 got too boring. I know I'm wierd!
Well I have a Board Meeting at church tonight. First we have a joint meeting of all boards to discuss something than we'll meet in our own boards. Usually they don't do that but are tonight.
Until next time Happy Stitching!

Another week goes by

I've gotten some progress on the Caretaker this week. Page 2 is about 2/3 done now. I have about 5200 stitches in only about 120,000 more to go! LOL! This is progress after about 96 hours so I am picking up some speed on it. At this rate I figure it will take about 1200 hours to do all 25 pages. I ran into a couple of rough spots and hope it turns out right. I got lost in a couple of areas so sort of had to wing it and hope.

My sister was in town for a couple of days. She just left our parents and was going to go to pick up some things at her daughters then go home. Thursday we worked in the Storage shed, looking for things we were missing and putting more things in, taking some stuff out and putting things into storage bins instead of cardboard boxes!. Then we played Mexican Dominoes later.

Yesterday we did a lot of shopping. I didn't get to Jo Ann's or Hobby Lobby like I wanted to as we didn't start until noon and had other things. However I did basically get ready for winter, got a new winter coat with my birthday gift cards. Than the had 15% off if you used your credit card, so the remainder balance was $6.59 now that is an expensive coat! LOL! I think I can pay it off easily next month. Also got boots and gloves at another store. So I'm all set for winter, rather I want to admit winter is coming or not is irrelevant. My niece Heather came in to town to eat supper with us. We went to where my cousin works and she waited on us.

I see I got the You Make Me Smile Award from Carolyn. I will post Monday the 10 names etc. I need to go looking for people that haven't been selected. But Thank you Carolyn.

Well until next time Happy Stitching.

Lots of Progress

Page 1 is completed now and Page 2 is well underway. It seems to be easier than what page 1 was plus more fun. I can actually see it turning into something! I love the colors so far in this piece. But may feel differently when I get to the Elk and the grass!

Today I went and got more DMC Floss at Hobby Lobby. It seems no matter how much floss I have I keep having to get more. I think I got 70 skeins the last two weeks and already have my list started for next time. I've really been good about not getting patterns lately. I'm starting to make a list of my books, leaflets and kits. I thought maybe I had 300- 400 at the most. I'm not even half way through the stash and already have over 300 listed. So guess I might have 700+ without exagerating!

I saw the Question of Week. I don't remember the exact phrasing but it was asking what percentage of your pieces goes for gifts verses keeping. (If I remember it right). So much of mine goes to gifts and Love Quilts, etc. That I really have to say about 90% of my stitching is given away. This particular piece will be going to my brother.

Our fall colors are starting to come out now. They are so pretty. Next week will probably be peak. They said we wouldn't have much color this year now they are saying we will have a lot of color. A group from church was going to go on a color tour the other day but cancelled because of bad weather forecasts. Actually the day turned out alright as far as when they were going. It was later the bad storms and tornadoes swept through. We didn't get the tornados as we are right on Lake Michigan and that protects us. We did get the wind, and the storms though. Very odd for it being so late in year.

I have enjoyed going through so many blogs. My blog roll keeps growing and growing. I love seeing everyoe's pieces.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Update on The Caretaker

I'm still trying to convince myself I'm not certifiable on this piece. It's coming slow but sure. Let's see I've worked on it 44 hours and might have 2200 stitches in. That's 50 stitches an hour, moving right along on this aren't I. I have figured it out that it will take 2 weeks to comlete this page if I get it done Sat. like I hope. At 2 weeks a page and if I don't do any other piece (like that is going to happen), I can have it done end of Sept. 2008. Guess what I will be laying it down and I am hoping to have it completed in early 2010. That's a more realistic goal. I am breaking rules on this one as you get lost if you don't do 10 square blocks plus I am finding colors in one block are not neccessarily repeated in the one next to it. So I can see the 10 block ridges. I do plan on working on this for a while yet, I'd like to have 3 pages done before I lay it down.

Thank you for all the comments you have written to my posts. I really appreciate them. Even though I haven't posted this past week I still read the blogs and make comments when I can. Some blogs for some reason blogger hasn't always let me comment or may not one day but will let me the next. Strange...Oh Well....

Our fall colors really aren't coming out at all this year. Disappointing. A group from church are going on a color tour Thurs. but I'm not going. I've been going to my parents house a lot, and sometimes I just want to be left alone to stitch. Plus my stomach and chest have really been acting up the past few months, and it's getting worse so I'm finally going to give in and go the Dr. and get an Ultra Sound scheduled. I don't know if it's my Acid Reflux Disease acting up or if it's my Gall Bladder. Hopefully it'll be an easy fix!

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

The Caretaker

My brother asked me to do this piece for him. I already know it will be an on and off piece. I am hoping not to lay it down more than 2 months at a time, we'll see. I really do like this piece and can see it taking shape. It is a lot of confetti stitching which is time consuming. Today I made an agressive effort on it. I woke up at 5:30 went to computer, than about 6:15 went back to stitching on it and stitched on it a big part of the day, just laying it down at 4:30. Although I did washing, had to go over to church and put the new sign up, but I got in a good 8 hours on it today which is more than I usually stitch. I also forgot to put my leftovers from lunch in refrigarator and had to throw the speghetti away! Oh well...

Today is suppose to be the last of the "summer stretch" we've been having. We had 80's then today was much nicer in the 70's. Tomorrow is suppose to rain and be in 50's or 60's. Oh well....it is getting to be middle of Oct. That means Whiskers is going to be 15! We don't know his exact date of birth but figure it's around the middle of October, so I always claimed Oct. 12. Wonder what he wants for his birthday! Me to stay home with him? That would be nice, but I think I'm going to be gone most of the day. The 12th is Friday I think...

I also have started a smaller piece, Dear God Kids, which I should have done by Nov. 1 to get in mail. That piece is boring though.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Michigan Map is finished

Here it is with it's changes. This will be one of three maps to go to my oldest niece, Michelle.

Well I think I did my good deed for the year. I'm not sure. There was a stray cat coming to the home my brother lived in. The owners allowed him to feed it and befriend it, but because of their allergies, he really needed to find a home or take it to Animal Control to be put down. I talked him into taking it to the Humane Society so today we did it. She was a beautiful orange cat and so sweet. If Whiskers wasn't 15 I would have kept it but I have to watch out for Whiskers first. She really was so good in the car, not wild not meowing loudly or anything. I just called the Humane Society and they said she passed the physical and is such a pretty, sweet, friendly cat they'll have no problem finding a home for her. Our Humane Society doesn't put the animal down unless it is ill.
I started # 4 towards the challenge. We'll see if it drives me crazy. It's an easy piece but I've had to frog so much. Plus at my parents house I couldn't concentrate on it so that didn't help.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Lots of Progress

This is my State Of Michigan Map two days later. I''ve made lots of progress on it. I am wanting to put a pup tent in near Lake Michigan. I found a pattern on the Internet, we'll see if I have enough space, if not I have a couple other motifs I found off the internet. I really am enjoying this piece.

Until next time Happy Stitching!

Need Opinions

This is my progress of Map Of Michigan so far. I am revising it as there were some animals on it and my sister just didn't like that. So at this point I took out the pig and put in the log cabin. I was trying to keep the color sceme basically the same, I also forgot to put a window in the cabin so it's the back side okay. There will be a tree put on each side of the cabin. I chose a log cabin over tent as it was easier, plus it is a big hunting and camping area up in Northern MI. Michelle herself would tent it, I'll try a tent in one of the other states. I also found a small Lighthouse Pattern, and sand dune to put on West side of state. Does the cabin look okay?

We had a Workers Appreciation Dinner at church Friday night it went well.

I haven't talked about the Food Pantry, it's going okay. Just when I get discouraged and think why have it, then someone needs it. Right now the church is having Oct. be Food Pantry Drive Month so I expect a lot of food to come in.

Sat. starts our Monthly Sat. Contemporary Worship Service. I am in charge of the children. So I have the first Missionary Story and Bible Story all picked. The children are going to be acting out the stories. I don't want this to be Adventure Club or Jr. Church. It's a Contemporary Service so Contemporary is what we will get. David and Goliath is going to be first story.

Well, I'm going to go do my dishes then go back to stitching. Please let me know what you think on the cabin, is it a good match with the piece or not? Until next time Happy Stitching!

Start #3

`I started Map of Michigan for my niece and her husband this past week. This is progress after about 16 hours of stitching. It's going quicker than I thought it would. I am doing the maps of Michigan, New York, and Oregon.

I've been staying with my mom quite a bit the last few weeks. She's doing okay but we don't want her to be alone when dad is out and about. Her stitchres will come out next week. Because of drainage they couldn't be taken out earlier. Usually my dad golfs on Fridays but he golfed yesterday so didn't want to today. Plus we have a dinner at church to go to tonight and he really tires easily these days. He's 78 so he's getting up there but thinks he can still do as much as he always did. The dinner at church is Worker's Appreciation. Usually it's a potluck and we have poor turnout. This time it is being catered and it's going to be a large turnout. Plus we have some good music tonight which is bringing in the younger crowd more then usual. Usually they don't come at all.

Thank you for all the comments to my blog. I really appreciate them.

Well, until next time. Happy Stitching!

Johnny in his Jump chair

Here's a picture of Johnny just taken today. We had a birthday dinner for his Uncle Jeremy and he was there. Why is it he was bouncing and smiling, saw the camera and quit smiling! He's growing so fast. He gets on all four's but has quite figured out the crawling yet. But he sure gets into things scooting around!

I started the map of Michigan for my oldest niece, Michelle. My sister asked me to do a map of Michigan, Oregon, and New York for Michelle and Scott. I'm not loving it though, but take it slow it'll be okay. I'll probably get a couple of smaller pieces done while working on this piece. It's by Sue Hillis.

Well...Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Finish # 2 towards 15

I just finished this this morning. It was a quick, fun, easy stitch. I loved doing it. It will go to Native American-SW Quilt we are doing at CSFC. I love these Ted de Grazia graphs. They are so cute. This is no. 2 towards the 15 challenge and that is from 15 books I haven't stitched from yet.

Last night we had dinner with my niece, Tabitha and great nephew, Ashton. Tabitha and Ashton are new to our family and we are enjoying getting to new them. Tabitha and her father just met each other last week. You can tell she is a member of our family, she looks like some of the members. Plus she is highly motivated like some in our family. It was like we knew her all her life. Ashton is all boy. He is a very intelligent, loveable little 4 year old and so cute.

We found out my niece, Heather's, baby is due on same day as her sister's 1st Wedding Anniversary and our Mom's birthday. But we all know babies don't come on their due date at least not usually.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

World Grand Campion is done

I finished this piece earlier this morning. The picture isn't real clear but hopefully it's clear enough. This will go to Rachel W who chose Horses as theme of her quilt. I just retook the pictures as the earlier ones aren't real good. Since I have to start all over this is start # 1 towards the 10-25-50 challenge. How many times have I started over?

I'm going to be having the children for our Common Grounds Service. That's a Contemporary Worship Service we have on 1st Sat. night of each month. So I'm planning what I'm doing with that. Definite Missionary Stories, and any Bible Story we have will be acted out. Maybe a discussion. Similiar to what the adults are doing but on the child's level.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

My First Anniversary of Blogging

Today marks my first year of blogging here. I've enjoyed seeing everyone's blogs. You can tell by the length of my Blog Roll it keeps growing. I keep finding more blogs I like. I also have enjoyed reading all your comments through the year.

Since it seems to be fallish outside, the cooler weather is here, I changed my template again. A new year, a new look I guess.

I am hoping to finish off World Grand Champion over the weekend. Monday at the latest. I've been going to my parents house quite abit so haven't stitched on it a whole lot. My mom is doing well but because she is unable to get around easily we prefer to have someone with her as much as possible. That way if she were to fall someone would be there. Of course, their dog, Autumn just knows we are there for her and for her to command! LOL! She loves it when I come as I do take her for good walks. I should say she takes me.

Okay, I give up on the Wagon! I keep falling off. Once again, I bought patterns I could not resist! I have no will power! Even trying 10 was impossible for me should I try again?

The other day my mom and I watched a really good video I highly recommend but is hard to find. It's called The Ultimate Gift put out by Fox Studios. It's about a young man who has to pass several "tests" before he gets his inheritance from his grandfather. At first he is very self centered and arrogant. Than a mother and daughter enter his life and teach him a lot. Warning you will want to have kleenix nearby as it is a tear jerker. I have to find it to buy it, my niece loaned us her copy.

The piece I am showing here I did for my brother and sister-in-law several years ago. It really was a fun piece to do and I really was happy with how it turned out in the frame. It is called Evening Gathering by Sporting Masters if I remember right.

Wednesday night was the first night of Adventure Club for the year. We didn't have very many kids as the Teens don't start until next week so more will come in with the older brothers and sisters. It was a fun night for those who were there though. I'm working with the 5th graders this year. I had this group when they were Preschool & Kindergarten, then 3rd grade, and now again in 5th. We know each other well. I've also been asked to do the Missionary Stories for the kids that come with their parents to our Contemporary Service on Saturday evenings this year. We have the service once a month. The turnout has been very poor for that which is disappointing. Hopefully it'll get more publicized this year and more will come. We just started it out last spring and didn't do it through the summer.

Also Sunday our SS Contest launches off. We also are having a push for the Food Pantry. We did well for the first year but now the donating to it has slacked off. One Sunday morning I went to the pantry and about had a heartattack we were so low on food. I knew a couple of people got food but they must have really taken a lot. So I asked Pastor to announce we needed food, it's coming in and this Food drive will help us. For the Harvest Festival Drive this year people can either give food or donate money to it. Then I get to go shopping and that's fun. Shopping for food for the Pantry that is.

Oh you will notice I added a few links to sites I like. The one is my church one. There are pictures of me. One of the spots is Featured person. I've been featured person since almost the beginning of the site. But my ugly picture is there, and a few other spots. I wanted to give them my cat's picture but they wouldn't let me!

Well, I've chatted plenty this time. Until next time. Happy Stitching!

One Last Update Also remembering 9-11

I hope to finish this Thursday for sure on Friday. Now the rider is done it's going easily. That rider had to be taken out 2 or 3 times that's why there isn't any more progress than what there is.

Since this is 9-11 I thought I would add a picture of Brooklyn's View I did about 4 years ago for my brother. Who can ever forget when they heard the news. I was home and my brother called me and told me 2 planes hit the Twin Towers. My first thought was "Terrorist" and as the events unfolded that day I really didn't know what would happen next. Later we learned a young man that had gone to our church played baseball with the church team was among the missing and later dead. He had a job at Windows and was working that day. I didn't know him very well just had his daughter a couple of times in the Nursery. I basically just saw the couple in passing. My brother asked me to do this piece for him.

We had our SS Class Party Saturday. It was a beautiful day out for it and everyone enjoyed it. Cheryl and Steve (host and hostess) always go all out for us when we go out to their house. I don't like Steak so that got me a chicken breast and 2 hotdogs and expected me to eat it all! I took the hotdogs home and had them on Sunday. Personally I could have filled up on the hourdeurs and other things they had. Those meatballs were great! We played a couple of games but mostly talked and just enjoyed the weather.

My mom is home from the hospital now and doing well. She has to use a scooter in time. That must be fairly new as until earlier this summer I had never seen them. You have the bad leg on the scooter and use your good leg to push it. For now she's using the wheel chair. None of us can see her using that scooter. It was fine for a little girl at our church but she was 65 years younger than my mom.

Anyone else watching Design Star? I'm really hoping Kim wins and have been voting for her. Todd is good but lets just say not as conservative as Kim. Kim's style is more to my liking. We'll see Sunday night who wins.

Well I have clothes in the dryer down stairs that I need to go get and I have lunch on. I'm having a BLT sandwhich. All this talk about food am I hungry or something!

Until next time Happy Stitching!

World Grand Champion Progress

I laid down Wild Menagerie probably until spring now. Here is progress on World Grand Champion. It's moving right along.

Yesterday my mom had her ankle surgery and she's doing quite well. She'll be home later today. My sister came to town for it and probably getting ready to leave for home now if she hasn't left.

Did I tell you my niece, Heather, is going to have a baby? She just found out. My sister is finally going to be a Grandma. We are all excited as it'll be another baby near us. Plus Heather and Brian have wanted a baby for quite some time. They just recently bought a house and hope to close today. The house they bought was in foreclosure and the bank is so backlogged it isn't getting the paper work in. They have to be out of their own house by next week as they sold it fast. It was only on market 3 days! They'll stay with his mother and step father until they can move.

Well until next time....Happy Stitching!

Guess I'm more Creative than I thought!

You Are 62% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How Creative Are You?

Update on Wild Menagerie

This is progress after about 174 hours of stitching. It's coming along pretty good.

Last week was really busy and this week will be busy too but I'll get some stitching time in on it.

We had a family picnic at a park not far from the Lake yesterday. It was a beautiful day for it. We got to see Johnny. He sure is growing and ever changing every day. I'd wave at him yesterday and he'd put his little hand out to wave and try to say "Hi". He's not quite 9 months old.

Today we got the news that another niece is expecting her first child. They didn't make the announcement at the picnic as they wanted to tell her parents in private and before the family knew. We are so happy for them. So we will have baby no. 5. But only the 2nd one we'll get to see or know. The other 3 are down south and their parents are divorced so they won't get up here

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Wild Menagerie (UFO)

Remember this piece? I stitched on it some in June and I got it back out yesterday to stitch on the next couple weeks. At least off and on anyway. This will go to my youngest nephew so I have more incentive to stitch on this from time to time. It still will take a long time yet.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

World Grand Champion Start

Thank you for all your comments to my blog posts and for reading my blogs. I really enjoy reading everyone elses blogs. As you can tell my Blog Roll is growing and growing!

This is my progress after 15 hours of stitching. It's quite detailed but fun to stitch and now the horse's face is done the rest is going easy. I had to frog a lot on the face but faces were never my thing. I always have a rough time with them.

We have had so much rain this past week but we needed it so bad. I think we had more rain the last few days than we had all spring or summer. We were suppose to have a Steak Fry today but the people hosting it had no power for 2 days. They were suppose to get it back last night or today. I just hope they didn't have to throw too much food away. They buy the steaks and all the other food themselves and ask for no help from anyone else. But that was my first thought "Oh no I hope they didn't have all the food yet!"

Next weekend is a big weekend as we are having a family gathering. My brother and sister-in-law from MO were going to come in but cancelled as he got a new job and has to work next Sat. We figured something would happen to prevent them from coming it usually does. But the rest of us are still going ahead with our plans and are going to have a good time without them.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Happy Dance!

Pigeon Point Lighthouse is Finished! I am so happy. That piece took a lot longer than I contemplated. Plus I made little mistakes I didn't discover until I had too much done on it but it's mostly with the colors so it can still go on the Quilt.
It will go to a Lighthouse Quilt we are doing at Cross Stitching for Charity. I love these Lighthouses as they are so realistic I'm sure I'll do more. Growing up on Lake Michigan I loved the Lighthouses!

Thank you for your comments to my last post. My mom is doing much better now. It was a medication that was created the problem, so they reduced it.

We are getting lots of rain compared to what we've been having. Today is nice but is suppose to rain again Thurs. and Fri. I haven't heard any complaints we needed it so bad. We were starting to worry about loosing Lake Michigan! LOL! Well not quite that bad but it needed the rain too.

I have World Grand Champion all kitted up to start tomorrow. It's a Horse and Rider in the Winner's Circle. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

This is my progress as of yesterday on this piece. I'm getting anxious to get it done. This is progress after about 42 hours of stitching.

My mom is not doing well at all so I've been going over there when dad needs to go somewhere. We are not wanting her to be alone. Her heart is acting up again. Plus she has numerous other health problems. She's suppose to have ankle surgery Sept. 6 but her heart has to straighten up first. Dad was going to go golfing today but decided not to. We had wanted him to go but he says they have 8 men without him. So instead he's going to take me a couple of places and a couple of places he wants to go to while my brother is with mom. Wish he would go golfing though maybe he will Monday. He does so much for everyone else he needs to do something for himself.

Thank you for the birthday greetings. A couple of you sent e cards which I did receive the notice but for some reason couldn't open them up. I needed to download something first and I'm unsure of it so didn't do it. My computer has been wierd lately so I tend to be very cautious. I did appreciate them.

Yesterday I found out my best friends when growing up daughter died earlier this week of an anuralism (sp). She was expecting her first child and no they were not able to save the baby either so that's a double tragedy for the family.

It seems like an awful lot is happening lately it's almost overwhelming but we know God is in control.

The meetings at church are going well. The speaker is really good.

I hope I haven't offended anyone in my blogs it seems like I'm not getting the comments I use to or compared to what I give out in comments. I really appreciate the comments and these days even lift my spirits. I also know though from trying to leave comments on some blogs blogger doesn't always cooperate so that could happen on my blog.

Oh Q o W How did you get started cross stitching. For me my sister got me started back in 1980. She lived in Iowa at the time and did it at the time and introduced me to it. It came slow at first but once I got my first piece done. (A birth sampler for my niece Melissa who is Johnny's mommy) I was hooked.

Well, I've chatted enough. Until next time. Happy Stitching!

Isn't he the cutest

Baby you've ever seen? Of course I am prejuidiced. This is my great nephew Johnny taken about a month ago. He's such a sweet baby boy I just love him. He gets on all four now and hasn't quite started crawling. He does roll from one place to another to get what he wants. He's going to keep his parents on their toes! Of course he has doting parents so he'll be okay.

Until next time Happy Stitching!

Birthday Stash

Yesterday I received my birthday package from Kajsa. I loved it. I was bad I didn't wait for my birthday to come which is Tuesday. I love that little needle holder, the cross stitch is so pretty. She did a good job on it. She also gave me a couple of leaflets on my wish list. I love the Margaret Sherry Cats and John Clayton Scenery pieces. So she gave me one of each of those. She also sent material. So I was very happy. Thank you Kajsa. I also have close up of the Needle case.

Today my dad and I went down to Farmers Market. I love fresh homegrown tomatoes, plus picked up cucumbers and red potatoes. I wish tomatoes lasted longer around here but they don't. The other day I picked a couple of cucumbers and some green beans from my brother's garden. Boy there is nothing better than fresh vegetables from the garden. So I had a good lunch today!

Tomorrow starts our Evangelistic Crusade at our church. We've been preparing for it the past few months. The speaker is from VA.

I was picked again to be UFO task accomplisher of the month. This time they picked Santa I can explain. So I got that out and started working on it. I know why it's a UFO.....it's small but it's not easy! I know my carpet needs shampooing bad! Almost did it this week but something came up and couldn't. Just pretend it's not there okay!

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Birth Announcement is finished

I finished this earlier today. It was the hardest piece to get into as it was so easy and boring I could do it in my sleep. I am unhappy about the bees in the corner, I may be taking them out. I'll see when my niece sees it what she wants. I don't think you can tell those are bees. This will be the center of the Winnie the Pooh wall hanging

I will post tomorrow as I just got my birthday package from Kaysja and I love it! Thank you Kaysja.

I just walked in a few minutes ago so I need to get organized here. I've been with my mom for a couple of hours. She is not doing too good, we're not sure if it's her heart or what. But my dad is there now. There has been a whole lot going on in our family and it's taking a toll on her.

Well until tomorrow Happy Stitching! Barb

Whiskers

The other day I was at the computer and just happened to look down and there was Whiskers looking up at me me so sweetly. I don't know how long he had been there.
But 5 minutes later he knew he had my attention and he wanted me off the computer! What happened to my sweet little boy! Needless to say he won I was off the computer

Today is suppose to be a stormy day so if I want to vaccuum I better do it soon. My sister is coming to town later today she'll stay with my parents until Thurs. She is bringing her deep steam vaccuum to do their rug and then bring it over here and I'll do my rug it needs it bad. Then we'll probably go shopping and try to figure out things to do for most of the day since we won't be able to be on the carpets for a few hours.

Oh I'll get some stitching time in today too. Until next time Happy Stitching. Hope these pictures did what I wanted but I have my doubts. I added a photo as an after thought a couple hours later. Sorry I accidently added two photos of the same picture. The Lighthouse is coming along much better now the worse is over.

I got Tagged!

Okay I got tagged. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I got tagged by Jacky. The rules are you are suppose to tell 10 wierd things about yourself and then tag 10 other people . (That is if I remember that was all there was to it) So I'll do the 10 things first '

1. I'm not sure I can tag 10 other people

2. I spend too much time Cross Stitching

3. I love my cat.

4. I'm not big on eating out

5. I prefer to be left alone I'm not much of a mixer

6. I do not like Steak

7. I do not like Ice Cream

8. I love to watch HGTV

9. I Love Chocolate Chip Cookies!

10. I will not get on elevators I am afraid of them!

Okay I tag

Michelle (Natvie Texan Stitching
Jen Jennxstitch
Jen Jen's Stitching
Sarah Just Another Flamingo on the Lawn
Cath Pumpkin Patch
Margaret Stitch or No Stitch
Johanna Jo's Stitching
Janice Amazing Stitches
Meari Meari's Musings
Barbara Mainely Stitching

Pigeon Point Lighthouse Progress

I have stitched somewhat on this this past week so thought I would give you an update. The clouds aren't my favorite part but they are getting close to done now so the rest of the peice will go smooth. I tend to like to do the what I think will be hardest first and get it out of the way. Here is progress after about 22 hours of stitching.

Until next time Happy Stitching!

Birth Announcment Sampler

I am doing this piece on the side. Just when I have a little time now and them. This morning I made an aggressive effort. Now that it is well underway I like it but at first I couldn't stand it which is why I moved so slow on it. (I started this piece middle of July. It just took forever plus a thousand years to get it to look like anything. The corner squares are suppose to be in pink and a flower but Melissa didn't want that for her boy so I found a bee in the same book and I knew she would go for that as she likes bees. (Not the real ones.) I really don't like doing the corners at all. Oh well..... This will be piece no. 5 towards 25 challenge as I have stitched 2 other pieces from the book and have two more to go for Johnny's wall hanging pieces to be done. This his Grandother is going to make the wall hanging.


I haven't talked about my stitching goals for the month for a while so I did make some for this month. We'll see if I keep them or not. They are to finish Pigeon Point Lighthouse and this Birth Announcment. Possibly do a deGrazia graph for an Indian Quilt. Stitch more on Wild Menagerie or another UFO piece. I also would like to start Tigger.

Our church picnic was fun on Sunday. It was a beautiful day for it and a lot of us took advantage of just walking down to the Lake. (The park is on Lake Michigan).

The heat is continueing. We really need the rain bad. I'm just staying in with the air conditioning.

I have enjoyed seeing all your blogs. Some of your blogs I can't make comments as the Security bar that asks if you want to see the pictures of the people keep popping up. I say yes and it comes right back up. Some of you I just close it and then re enter and I can post but others of you like both Jenn and Jen I can't do that to. So sorry, I'm am not ignoring your blogs and if I could post I would. Somnetimes I don't get blogger but oh well....

Well until next time Happy Stitching!