Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!


Isn't this kitty scary? LOL! I didn't do a Halloween piece this year, I chose to to major on The Caretaker, so went back to a piece I did a few years ago. This piece has since been given away.

Our apartment complex doesn't allow Trick or Treating so I'm going over to our church where we are having Trunk or Treat. I talked Tim and Wendy into doing it too. They'll hand out our candy, I'll be inside the church serving Apple Cider and Donuts to those who come inside. We did Trunk or Treat last year for the first time and the neighbors loved it. Several called or stopped by to ask if we were doing it again this year. I hope the members show up. Our people usually come through but a lot of them have Trick or Treaters go to their homes so they have to be there too. We'll see. I know we'll have at least 10 cars. We really aren't that big of a church. Several people donated candy and apple cider and donuts so we are all set there.

I haven't made much progress on The Caretaker or Thankfulness so I'll wait a couple of days to post updates on those.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

A New Start and Progress on The Caretaker


I started a new piece yesterday. It's Thankfulness by Diane Arthur of Imaginating. I am using Gentle Arts Burnt Orange Floss for it. I really like doing these pieces.


Things have slowed down on The Caretaker mostly because the page has an awful lot of confetti stitching on it. Much more than any previous page. As you can see I am not far from done on that page but believe me it will be next week before it's done. I'll probably have half of page 13 done by time this page is done. I'm anxious to get to page 13 as it will get much more of the elk on it. This is progress after 400 hours of stitching on it.

I am happy to report Whiskers is doing very well now. He got the last of his meds last night. Believe me today I gave him his treat and he woofed it down it probably tasted much better to him! LOL! He's been spending a lot of time on my lap being petted and I love that time with him. I think he wants to know he is more important than my stitching and he is.

We've had a cool and windy few days. We've had snow, and we've had thunderstorms! Think it took care of a lot of the trees! Oh well, they were getting so pretty. I just love the fall season.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Stealing Oats is Finished!


Boy! Am I glad to have this done. In the end it annoyed me as I made so many stupid mistakes due to lack of concentration and had to improvise quite a bit. Plus I couldn't use the beads that came in the charm pack as my needles were not small enough so I just did french knots. It is a cute piece though and maybe a few years from now I'll redo it.

Now it's back to The Caretaker. I would like to get the page I'm on and the page with more of the elk finished before laying it down for a while. We'll see. The page I'm on has an awful lot of confetti stitching which really slows it down a whole lot.

I had planned to do Harvest Blessings and Harvest and a Halloween piece in Oct. and Nov. I don't know what I did with those three patterns. They are here somewhere! I'll probably find them in Dec. Too late then. So I got out Yesteryear to do when I need a break from the Caretaker next time.

Well, until nex time-Happy Stitching!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Stealing the Oats


I'm taking a break from The Caretaker to finish this piece and maybe do a small Halloween piece (if I find a cute small one). I should be done with this piece tomorrow morning sometime.
I did make a mistake though. I made the horse longer than what he should have been. I didn't see on the directions tht 2 stitches were repeated on the second page. Oh well....He still looks fine to me. I'm not sure what I'm doing with him yet anyway. You can see the kitten is just coming in. This piece is so cute.
Last Sunday night I got the shock of my life. I went to my mailbox at church and found an enveloped with my name marked "Food Pantry." It had a really nice note and I expected to find maybe $20 but I saw the first $100 bill and I was shocked and went to my dad and said "Dad they gave me $100 then I looked further there was several $100! Needless to say that money got turned over and now is in the bank for the Food Pantry. Plus so much food came in. I think we are going to go with Love Inc. now and let them send a couple of people a month to start and go from there. (Oh I need to call them don't I?)
An update on Whiskers here, He is doing fine. Monday was a rough day in that I couldn't get him to eat to take his med in the morning. Finally late that afternoon he ate and he's been good about taking his med ever since. I finally just said if he misses a pill I won't worry about it as he is doing well. He is almost to the end of his medication now.
Yesterday I went on a color tour with a group from church. There was quite a bit of color in spots but not quite to the peak yet. It still was a pretty trip. Then we ate a restaurant up in Grant. We went through a part of Hesperia which brought back a lot of memories for a couple of us. Mary grew up there and my grandparents lived there. We went close to the big hill they lived at the top of. Then went through some other small towns before reaching Grant. Nothing much changes up there which was nice.
Now we're all getting ready for Halloween. Trick or Treating isn't allowed in our Apt. Complex but our church is having Trunk or Treat so I'm going to be doing that only inside the church serving donuts and Apple Cider to any Trick or Treater that comes in. Trunk or Treat is where cars are lined up in the church parking lot and treats are handed out as the kids go to each car. We did it last year and the neighborhood loved it. The church had several people call and ask if we were doing it again. They finally had me put it on the sign.
Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Quick update on Whiskers


Last night, my cat, Whiskers who is now 16, got sick twice during the night. Then when we got up this morning he just wasn't himself. He went over to his water and meowed and meowed and meowed like he was really hurting, wanted to drink but couldn't. Finally he did drink but got sick right afterwards. So I called my brother and asked him to take us to the Vet. I was in tears so afraid I'd have to put him down. Because he was so upset at the Vet and he attacked me really good the Vet felt she better put him under to run blood tests on him. It turned out he has a Bladder Infection, just the beginning of one. So I have to give him pills the next 10 days twice a day. I just hope he takes them. I hope he doesn't get more in the future. I am not going to my sister's now. I would really be upset if I went and he got worse and to take him with me would be a problem. My sister isn't happy about that but she'll get over it. Here's a picture of my little sweetheart. It's been over a year since I posted one of him.

Sunday, Oct. 19. I am happy to say Whiskers is doing much, much better. I finally walked up to the store yesterday and got his very favorite treats, (Fancy Feast) and gave him a little, he devoured it. Later ate some of his regular food. Last night I put his pill in some more treats and he ate it. Sat. he even jumped up on my bed a little rather than lay in the corner like he was. He even woke me up at 6:30 am this moning first time in days he's done that, and he asked for some treats (he hadn't done that in a few days), watched me crush the pill and put it in his food, he still ate it. I'm a very Happy Camper! Thank you for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers for him. He's going to be fine.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Some more Progress


Progress is very slow at this point as there is so much confetti stitching on this particular page, it really slows me down. You can tell by the color shades there is an awful lot. I still enjoy this piece though.

This coming up week I probably won't get much any progress on this piece. I'll be out of town 3 days. Sat. we have a Bridal Shower to go to for my nephew's fianee on the other side of the state. Sat, so my mom, brother, and his fiancee and their dog Autumn, will all be going to my sister's. Her daughter, Heather, her husband, Brian, and their 5 month old baby, Addie will all be there. Sat. night will be interesting, Heather, Brian, and Addie, their dog Trisket, mom, Tim, Wendy, Me, and Autumn. Plus my sister has a dog. Their son Bryan, will probaly spend the weekend at his fiancee's parents house. (Bryan and Christy live in Chicago.) Let's see 3 dogs, 2 of them are large breed and Autumn is small. Both Autumn and Trisket get along with Maverick and both love that huge yard. We'll see what happens. Trisket and Autumn have never seen each other. I think Autumn will be more interested in Addie though. She loves the baby but we guard Addie when Autumn is around her.
Sunday I'm not sure what we are doing, and Monday I know we are going shopping at a huge outdoor Outlet Center. We have our favorite stores to go in. So I'm grabbing my credit card that's for sure!

Thursday we are going on a color tour. The leaves are starting to turn very nicely here now. Much better color this year the last. So I think the tour will be beautiful. I think we are heading a little to the North. It's a mystery tour but we think we know where we are having lunch. Tim and Wendy went there one night and saw the people hosting the tour there too. They had been told to check out the restaurant, then one Sunday in church Pastor Al said "those of you who know where we are going just keep it under your hats." So that was a dead giveaway.

I am going to take Stealing Oats with me to my sister's and work on it in the car for sure. It will be my shut up piece or I'm of the wall. So I'll show a progress picture of that next week some time.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

The Caretaker


Thank you for all your comments to Winter Silhouette!

Now I'm back to stitching my forever project, The Caretaker. I figure it'll be finished sometime between 2010 and 2020! I finished my 5th page on it so that conts as 1 more piece towards the 25 challenge, my 6th page is almost done so that will count as the 34d. I read somewhere where someone was counting each page of a huge project as a project toward their goal, and I thought good idea. Especially since there is more on 1 page then there is to a lot of projects.

I am real happy with this piece and do enjoy working on it. I can't wait to get more of the elk done and really start having it look like it's coming together. I may start that page next.

Oh I almost forgot. I gave 3pieces to a friend of mine to finish off. Two were made into pillows and the 3rd (Lizzie Kate Flip It's) was made into a Bell Pull. I already gave the Bell Pull to a friend going through radiation treatments for cancer. I liked how the two turned off she has done, the 3 rd one I'll get Sunday. The pillow really turned out nice. I think I will have the two pillows as an exchange piece. I've been shy about joining exchanges because I'm no good in finishing things. Mary said she'd finish things off for me when I wanted. I'll try not to over work her.

Well, until next time happy stitching!

Monday, October 06, 2008

Winter Silhouette is Finished


I put the last stitches in it about an hour ago. I love how it turned out and can't wait to do Harvest and Bethlehem. But I will work on Stealing Oats next and finish that off then go back to The Caretaker. The picture doesn't do the piece justice.

Thanks for all your suggestions on the TV. The TV is working now. My dad called Comcast and they walked him through what to do. We figure I used the wrong remote the other day and that's what screwed everything up.

Well-until next time Happy Stitching!

Sunday, October 05, 2008

I Received My Thread


I got the Valdani Thread in mail Friday afternoon and immediately picked Winter Silhouette back up. I only have to finish the house I'm doing, do one more house and a couple of trees and another star and it will be finished. Oh yea the land to those houses and trees too. I hope to be done with the piece on Tuesday. We'll see.
I so enjoy doing this piece. I plan to do Autumn Harvest in Burnt Ornge (Gentle Arts) and Bethlehem in the near future. I'll do Autumn Harvest real soon. All are by Diane Arthur. I love doing these pieces. She also has 3 Kings and Snowmen which i I'll get those two next year and do them.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog and have made comments to it. I really appreciate them. I love going to all the different blogs (obviously look at how long my blog roll is!)LOL, and seeing the different pieces everyone is doing.

Anyone have any ideas as to what I could have done to my parents TV? I went to change the channel (they were gone I was there to keep the dog company) and got static. When my parents got home I told them what happened and they tried everything. They just got static and also the TV seems to be froze on one channel, I must have locked it somehow. They didn't figure it out yesterday and today my brother is there. So far I haven't heard that he was able to fix it either. I absolutely hate remotes and I am never touching a remote again!

Well, until next time. Happy Stitching

Thursday, October 02, 2008

A New Start


Here is the start of Stealing Oats. I think it is so cute. I love the Britter animals and they are very easy to do. The cat isn't in the picture yet but will be eventually. Now I have the mane done the horse is going quicker. It took forever to do the mane. I'm still working on The Caretaker, but sometimes need a break from it.

I finally heard the Valdani Thread arrived to 123 stitch and they have shipped it to me with the rest of the thread I ordered. I can't wait to get it and get back to Winter Silhouette. I'll have 3 in my rotation. I'm typically a one at a time stitcher. I read on someone's blog on the large pieces like the ones by HAED and Mystic Stitch, etc they count each page as a project so I think I'll do that too. Hey it'll get me to 25 faster.

Last night Adventure Club started at our church. We didn't have very many kids show up, I think the lowest start ever. Once it progresses we get more kids. My little great nephew, Ashton, and 2 of his cousins were there. Ashton was so cute. I came down the stairs just as he was registering and said "Hi Ashton" he looked surprised, then covered his mouth and started giggling. He and his little cousin Mc Kenzie did great. I wish I could say the same for Kaily who is 8. She did fine until she saw her Grandma, then she was whining and crying the rest of the night. She's in my class and honestly did fine, Then when it was tme for games she grabbed my hand and was crying. Granted she is very shy and is definitely her grandma's girl. So Wendy just took her from there. (Wendy is my brother's fiancee). We really like her a lot.

Tomorrow I'll be spending the day with my mom unless it rains. Dad is going golfing. They are taking care of my brother's dog as Tim and Wendy are going up north for the weekend. (Crummy weekend to go up to the cottage but they are). It's just been cold here and really looks like it may rain. Since mom is so unsteady on her feet we'd feel better if I went there to walk the dog etc. I'll do my washing while I'm there, this time I can do it for free won't need quarters there!. I'll take this piece since it is an easy piece to do. But I'm sure we'll work a puzzle. I love doing puzzles. It's just I can't do them here Whiskers won't let me. Neither did my previous cat. Speaking of Whiskers, he is going t be 16 10 days from now! I can't believe it.

Well, I better go do my dishes, until next time Happy Stitching!