One last post for 2013

Good afternoon! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. We did. It was our first without dad and we felt it but mom kept saying, "This is about Christ's birth, and we will celebrate it that way." So we did. We had our family Christmas on Friday night. It was fun with all the little ones.

I had hoped to have this finished before end of year but it may be finished Jan. 1. But that's okay. It'll be the first finish of 2014.

This is September Aster a freebie by EMS. I am doing this for a special quilt we are doing at Every Stitch Counts. The quilt will have all the monthly flowers on it. It's a very detailed piece so I really like doing it. My next piece will be by Mystic Stitch. At least I will start it, it has the Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge and another landmark on it, plus a football player.

I just got home from the funeral of a special lady at our church. She would have turned 92 yesterday and died suddenly Christmas Day. She was active in our church right up to the end. Christmas Eve had Christmas with her son's family. Christmas morning she talked to her son on the phone, that afternoon her son and daughter-in-law went over there and found her dead. She was God's gift to heaven or gave her a special gift by taking her to heaven on Christmas. She was a very Godly lady and practiced what she preached. At end of service they read the poem "My First Christmas in Heaven" then sang "When we all get to Heaven." That did it I was in tears thinking of my dad, as it was his first Christmas in Heaven.

I can't say I am sorry to see 2013 leave. It really was a difficult year and was a roller coaster ride really. I hope 2014 is better.

Well....I hope everyone has a Happy and safe New Year. Until next time Happy Stitching!

West Quoddy Finished

Good Afternoon. Unfortunately Red Bird is done for the year. I left the project in my sister-in-law's car yesterday. She was going to have my niece bring it to me today but because of the weather out there I didn't want her to drive anymore than she had to especially with the baby. So I won't get it until Christmas, I decided to work on something else and lay Red Bird down for the year. That second tree was driving me nuts anyway so I'll pick it up next year refreshed and probably will take no time to finish. So I got in my drawer looking for material for the floral pattern and I found this piece. I had been looking for it for about 2 or 3 months! There wasn't much left to do on it so I finished it off and after the first of year it'll get mailed off to Love Quilts. (I think it's who I promised it too.)

We will definitely have a White Christmas this year. We are getting plenty of snow. Today is more of an ice storm but more snow is coming.

I haven't said much about Saturn lately. His latest trick is to jump on my shoulders and just stay there until I get off the computer. He can be sound asleep in another room, I get to computer and he's there. Especially if he wants my attention! He's not too spoiled is he. Right now he's sleeping on his cat condo.

I finally have my Christmas shopping all done. My sister-in-law and I went the other day. Now it's arranging to get the gifts to Johnny, Katelyn and Trice.

Last Sunday I went to my niece's church with my brother and sister-in-law to see Johnny and Katelyn in their Christmas program. It was well done and they were cute. I don't think Johnny likes being on stage, he seems nervous on it. Whereas Katelyn just handled it like she was in the classroom. Afterwards we went to Melissa's house to have a birthday party for Johnny. He turned 7 a few days earlier. Remember when I posted the day he was born? Can't believe how fast time goes by.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Not my stitching piece yet, but it's coming along. But outside it keeps snowing and snowing and snowing. And it's suppose to be like this tomorrow too. We should have a white Christmas if it keeps up. I hate it when it snows early then we have no snow or little snow for Christmas. I'm also hoping winter just stays and then leaves in Jan. Another thing I hate is like last winter it never came until mid Jan. and it stayed and stayed and stayed. But on the positive note it is more like Christmas. I'll finish my Christmas shopping Monday. The fun ones, the kids. My sister told me not to get for her 5 grandchildren so guess I'm not going to, but they are so much fun. Beth is taking me shopping for her 3 and I'll get some Christmas Cards then too.

Here is my progress on Red Bird, only the male cardinal won't show up until later this weekend or early next week. I am plugging away on the tree, that is a hard one to do. I did get quite a bit done on it.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Start on Red Bird

Good Morning! It is snowing out this morning. I didn't think it was in the forecast until later in the weekend. Oh well....it is Dec. and makes it seem more like Christmas.

I started this piece last week I think. The tree was difficult but I finally got that in. The female cardinal is now underway and is going quite well. I can't wait until more of this piece is done. There is a second tree to go in and the male cardinal plus the wording and some branches so it's a long ways from being done. It's another one by Stoney Creek.

Well, not much is happening so until next time Happy Stitching!

Finished!

Good Afternoon! How was everyone's Thanksgiving. Ours was good. We went to my nieces house to celebrate it with her family. The traveling wasn't easy, glad we only went about 15 miles. It took close to an hour to get home it was so nasty out. Johnny and Katelyn were as cute as ever. Noisy but you can't ask a 3 year old or 6 year old to be still and quiet, especially when excited. My mom did pretty good yesterday for it being our first holiday without dad.

I finished this piece earlier today and I love it. I hope it makes a good addition to Savanah's quilt.

Now to start Red Bird in Stoney Creek's Home Again Christmas. It's an old book and I've done so many pieces in it it's actually ripping up. I seem to like Stoney Creek pieces. I'm sure I've done over 50 of them. Has anyone done more of them then me. I think I would win that contest.

Well now to go start it and read some blogs. Until next time....Happy stitching!

One Last Update on I Will Give You Rest

Good Morning! Hope everyone is doing okay in the storm areas and gets to their destinations safely. We are going to my niece, Melissa, for Thanksgiving. They are having us and John's dad over. Melissa and John are picking his dad and I up early in the day and my mom and Tim will join us for dinner. Mom really isn't up to being around everyone for a great length of time. She really misses dad a lot. We all do. This is our first holiday season without him. At first I just wanted to sleep through Thanksgiving but that's sort of foolish. Only we aren't having turkey I guess, John couldn't find one so he bought Cornish hens. We'll still have the dressing, etc. I have to make the green bean casserole this afternoon. I am almost done with this piece. I love doing it. I hope it's suitable for a teenage girl. At first I thought it was then I thought it's more for an older lady. Hopefully it will fit into Savanah's quilt fine. We are getting plenty of snow. I just hope we have it for Christmas. I'd love to have it like this over the Christmas season and when the kids are out of school they can enjoy sledding, skating, skiing, tobogoning, luging etc. I remember we loved skating, sledding and skiing when we were kids. Those dunes of Lake Michigan we great for that. Now you can't sled or toboggan down them but they still have a skating rink and have other places you can go sledding, skiing or taboggoning. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with your families. Until next time...Happy Stitching!

Progress and a Finish

Good Morning! Did everyone survive the storms of yesterday? For us the storm lasted about 5 minutes as far as hard rain and thunder and lightning go. Lighter rain and the winds lasted longer. It did do some damage but fortunately no tornadoes here, but we don't get tornadoes. Lake Michigan protects us. East of us may have had a tornado or two but that will be confirmed today rather it was tornado or straightline winds. I finished the Sabine Bank Lighthouse in LA. I love doing these Lighthouses even though it has been years since I did one. They are small but detailed. This is Fifth one I've done over the years.

L am making great progress on this piece. I love working on it and it seems to be moving fast, especially for a Stoney Creek piece. I've done about 50 Stoney Creek pieces, I love doing them. Wonder if anyone has done more than me. My sister was in town for the weekend. She had planned to stay for church yesterday but after hearing the weather report she thought she better head out before the storms came in, so she left Sunday morning. Good thing she did or she would have been caught. We had our annual Harvest Dinner yesterday, after church but none of us went. We didn't even make it to church yesterday. While she was here, I was able to get Christmas presents for my mom, brother, and nephew. I'm holding off on the kids as they are so much fun and waiting to hear when/if we have a family Christmas this year. It's so hard to get a time that is good for everyone. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

A Pretty Start

A

I just love this piece it is so pretty. I can't wait to have more done on it. For some reason I really like Stoney Creek pieces. I may not be a fan of the owner but she does have some good designers. I haven't seen the owner in years so she may have mellowed since I knew her 20 years ago. I think I've done about 50 Stoney Creek pieces over the years, more than any other designer that's for sure. I saw the comments on a couple of blogs about why they don't blog so much any more. I know I'm guilty of being real lax. At start of year I wanted to have 88 posts this year. Not even going to come close. I just decided my posts were boring, so I decided unless I had something I really wanted to share like cross stitch pieces I wasn't going to post. Last night we had our first Thanksgiving dinner with my brother and sister-in-law and their two daughters and families. Kevin and Beth are going to AZ for Thanksgiving and will be gone two weeks. They are going to visit Beth's dad and their son. Jeremy lives about 2 hours from his grandfather. So they'll see a couple different parts of the state. Mom had a really hard time as it's the first holiday without dad. Personally Thanksgiving Day if I had my way, I'd sleep through it because I'm not looking forward to any of the holidays this year. They say each year gets easier. Anyway Thanksgiving Day we are going to my nieces. So it'll be fun. We got to meet baby Trice for the first time last night. He will be a month old tomorrow. He was so cute, and sweet, and so tiny! Next Sunday we are having our annual Harvest Dinner at church. Rather or not I'll go or not I don't know. There again it just won't be the same without dad. Plus it's been a very rough year for our church and attendance has dropped terribly. We need to find a new Pastor soon. Our former Pastor left in May for another church. Well.....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Finally a finish

I finally finished this earlier today. It was fun to do but it had to get done. It's due on Friday, so it may be out there a little late as I'll mail it tomorrow or Wed. Now I'm working on a Halloween witch by Ellen Maur-Strohl. I usually don't get into witches but this one is cute. We moved my mom and brother into their new apartment a couple of weeks ago. Mom couldn't live alone so Tim and his son moved with her to a 3-bedroom apartment that mom already lived in. I seem to have caught a nasty cold. I have had it for 4 weeks now and the cough was ridiculous. I haven't been to church in 3 weeks or gone to anything. I finally called the Dr. and went today after my mom and friends kept after me to telling me they thought I had walking pneumonia. So I went today and it's a sinus infection which is what I thought it was. I hope by Thursday I feel good enough as I'm suppose to help with apple cider and donuts for Trunk Or Treat at church. I love doing that but if I'm coughing all the time that won't be good. Well...until next time....Happy Stitching!

Another new project

Good Morning! I know it's been a while since I posted but there hasn't been that much happening and no stitching has been finished. The lighthouse only had a few more stitches to go and I can't find that piece! Grrrr! All those hours and I lost the piece in the end! I hope I didn't throw it away by accident. So I got this fox out to do for Cross Stitch Addicts as it's due Nov. 1. I love doing it and it's about 3/4 done now. When this piece is done I'll look for another Lighthouse pattern, an easier one and get that in mail by Dec. 1. It looks like winter is getting closer and closer. My sister is in town for 3 days so yesterday she took my mom and I shopping and I got two new winter coats since I had to throw my other 2 winter coats away last year. I had them both for several years and the zipper gave out on the one and Saturn got sick on the other so that settled it. Sears had a good sell on their winter coats so I got a good deal. (Actually my brother paid for them for me he's sending my sister the money.) I finally broke down and turned the heat on here. I have one bad cold and decided the only way I'd get rid of it was turn on the heat. Dumb me, it took me forever to figure the new system out. At first I couldn't even get the heat to kick in so thought the furnace was broke. Last night I finally got it to kick in but the temp kept dropping. I read the instructions this morning and found out it was doing what it was suppose to do, drop at night and early morning, then warm up during the day. Helps to read the instructions. I'm glad I didn't call the office! Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Quoddy Lighthouse Update

Good Evening! I know my blogging has been off and on but things are getting back to normal now so will be blogging a little more than the past couple of months. Stitching has also taken a back seat but I have made progress on this piece and hopefully it'll be done at the end of this week. I am noticing on the grass though it looks like two different colors, I had to start a new skein and it looks like the shade is different but it's still 3347 so the floss said. I don't like doing that grass so not going to rip it out. In earlier posts I mentioned my dad was at a Hospice Home here in town. On Friday, Sept. 20 he took a turn for the worse so we were with him almost constantly. Especially my mom and sister. Then at 2 am Sunday, Sept. 22 dad died. It's been a difficult week. Though we know he's in heaven and more alive than ever we already miss him. Yet we know we'll see him again some day. The picture is of my dad and sister taken earlier this year. It's one of our favorite pictures. My brother did not make it in from MO before dad died but he was here from Wed.-early this morning. My sister came in Sept. 19 and will leave tomorrow. Last night our church got broken into! They really tore the office apart and the sound board although the guys got the sound board working for the morning service. They took cash and some keys. Earlier this year another church in the area was broken into and the thieves came back and finished the job a couple weeks later. They did not take anything from the food pantry that we could tell but the key to the food pantry was among the keys they took. Basically we think they were scoping the church out to see what they had and did take some cash. This week we will be packing my mom up to move. Her and our youngest brother and his son are renting a 3 bedroom apartment in the same complex she lives in now. Mom can't live alone and Tim moving in with her was best solution for now anyway. Well....until next time Happy Stitching.

A Finish Finally

Finally got this piece clean. This cute lion will go to a newborn baby. Her quilt theme is Jungle Babies by Stoney Creek. Well... since I just posted another piece last night nothing else is going on so until next time Happy Stitching!

Back to Quoddy Lighthouse

Hello! I know it's been awhile since I've blogged. It's just been busy and to be honest I haven't even stitched that much let alone blog. I did finish a Jungle Lion which is in the sink soaking for a few days. I finished it yesterday but it had some bad stains on it. Most of them are out, but there's one though faded it's still obviously there. So maybe tomorrow it'll be clean enough to iron and post. I decided to go back to the Lighthouse. It's going easier than it was before I laid it down. I really enjoy these lighthouses even though they are a lot of work. Since my last post my dad has gone to a Hospice Home. He's holding his own, but it's day by day. He's lasted longer than anyone thought he would. We all thought when he decided he didn't want the meds that were keeping him alive anymore, that he would live maybe a week at the Hospice Center, but so far it's been about 3 weeks. It's a really nice home, they only have 14 patients and we're happy with the care. We had heard nothing but good things about this place so when told there was an opening there we were delighted. So I've been going to see my dad a lot. My brother and sister in law were here from MO a couple of weeks ago, and my sister was here. She will be back Tuesday. We had our annual pig out at church a couple of weeks ago. Though thrown together at the last minute it was a success. Then yesterday was the Kia Club Kick Off Carnival. While I didn't go to that, I heard that was much more successful than they expected. A lot of neighborhood kids came which was good, now to see if they come to Kia Club. I'm not working in it this year because of my balance problems. Well, until next time Happy Stitching Everyone. Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday I can post the Lion Baby.

Swallowtail Butterfly Start

Good Morning! It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged and this is a new piece. This piece is due Oct. 1 so thought I better lay down the Lighthouse which isn't due until Dec. 1. This summer has been a busy summer and not the best one I've ever lived. What am I saying, this year hasn't been the best year. My last post I mentioned my dad had a quadruple by past. After almost 2 weeks in the hospital and he came home and did well for a couple of weeks. Then things started going down hill. For one thing he got an infection in his leg. That is healing up fine now. But Sat. the nurse came to change his dressing and his blood pressure had bottomed out, plus he wasn't feeling good. He was very short of breath when we walked that morning. A five minute walk and he had to stop twice. He kept saying he felt like there was fluid in his lungs. The nurse called the Dr. and had him go to ER they admitted him to Critical Care. His sodium count was really low too which accounted for some of the confusion he had. Also his kidneys aren't functioning right and they did find fluid on his lungs. Oh and they discovered he had sleep apnea. He's doing okay right now but he'll probably be there a few days yet. Wed. is my birthday, guess we aren't going out to eat for it like we usually do. Oh well...Last year my birthday got lost with mom's surgery and a couple of other things, I survived, so I'll survive this year too. My niece and her 2 little boys came in from Colorado and so my sister and another niece came in to town camping out by the Lake. It was so much fun to see them. The four little ones (Addie 5, Nicholas almost 4, Nolan and Chase both 2). They love Lake Michigan so spent a lot of time there. It wasn't the best week for camping but they all had fun. Now Michelle, Nick and Chase are on the plane on their way back to CO. Hopefully the boys are being good as Michelle felt absolutely rotten this morning so it's a long flight for her. Like I said I laid the lighthouse piece down to do this butterfly plus have two other pieces due before that one. This piece is slow going. I really don't like half stitches, I get too lost. I would almost rather do quarter stitches. It's the butterfly that has a lot of 1 strand half stitching in it. I'm thinking it would go faster and easier if I just did whole stitches and not care, but I'm not doing that now. Well, until next time. Happy Stitching.

Quoddy Lighthouse Start

Good Evening! It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything. It's been a whirlwind of activity around here. It started 2 weeks ago when my dad had a heart catherization. We all figured no big deal, they may have to put a couple of stints in and he'll go home Wed. Wrong. He didn't do well after the catherization and they found 3 blockages one 100%, 90% and 80% so they kept him and scheduled a triple by pass for Friday, which turned out to be a quadruple by pass. He's still in the hospital and is getting stronger every day. My sister came in a couple of days last week and my brother came in from MO this past weekend. So I've been busy. I went to eye dr. today because I was really having problems with the eye they removed the cateracts from. I was afraid there was an infection. Fortunately there isn't. My eye just wasn't ready to ween down from the prednizone drops so they just increased it. I hate doing those drops. Now I have a beef and I don't usually use my blog to do this but man this is bad. A lady I added to the food pantry in the beginning was over powering and controlling. And I sort of got to the point of praying something would happen she wouldn't work in food pantry anymore. Well....it happened....she got caught stealing money from the Sunday School fund. A little each week over years. My first thought was "I always knew she would show her true colors I never trusted her." But I also felt really bad about it. Here this lady who's husband had been a Pastor and demanded we call her husband Pastor Dave, and a lady who played the piano and sang solos so many Sundays. A lady who everything was black and white and very judgmental of others, and a lady who claimed to be so spiritual. Claimed to love God claimed to love our church (she grew up in it. It was beyond my comprehension how she could steal from the church when she knew we were not a rich church at all. Then come to find out she did the same at a couple of other churches they had gone to. Not only that but had been shoplifting from stores, got caught in NY and had to be bailed out of jail. Oh she claims to be completely innocent but she got caught red handed stealing the money. Anyway, she'll loose her membership to our church. Her husband claims he knew nothing and claims she's innocent. I don't think so. Well enough on that. Now unto something more pleasant STITCHING. I lost the Patriotic piece. I don't know what I did with it! So I started this lighthouse. I tell you, the sky will bring the death of me! But I am enjoying the piece and the worse of the sky is done I think. I did another lighthouse from this book a few years ago and loved doing it. This is my progress after about 20 hours of stitching and 10 days. It's going slow but starting to go faster now the sky is well under way. Well this book is long enough so until next time---Happy Stitching!

Red, white and blue SAL

. Good afternoon. How was everyone's 4th of July? Mine was quiet. It's one of my favorite holidays to be honest. Only thing I don't like is people in the neighborhood think it's fun to shoot off fireworks well into the night even though they are suppose to stop at 11. Saturn seems to tolerate the fireworks better than my other two cats did. He just looks around when he hears a loud bang, my other two cats were under the bed. They are doing a Red white, and blue SAL at 123 stitch and I decided to join in late. It was getting close to Independence Day so I waited until now to join in. So far it's going good. I'm not too crazy about the birdhouse but it's going fine so far. Thank you for reading my blog. I love seeing where everyone comes from and I do read your blogs. I'm not a big on writing comments but once in a while I do. I still enjoy seeing the pieces and some of you I'm so jealous of. Your pieces are so pretty and great and you know how to write a blog and make it interesting. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Carousel Horse is Finished

I finally have this piece finished. It was fun to do but so very detailed. I was happy to get it finished this morning. This will probably be my last piece for the Sandy Hook Project as the deadline is right around the corner. Right now I'm doing America by Sue Hillis. It being the 4th of July this week I wanted to do a Patriotic piece. It's funny, I can actually see the squares and holes now and not have to feel for them. I went to eye dr. earlier this afternoon and did the eye chart very well. In fact I did better without my glasses then I did with glasses before my cataract removal so I'm pleased. It went real well yesterday. It was a piece of cake to be honest. But I had heard from others cataract surgery was very easy so I wasn't worried at all. Well....until next time....Happy stitching!

Mystery Sampler Part 1 Finished

I just finished Part 1 a few minutes ago. I am looking forward to part 2 coming out and stitching that. This was a lot of fun to do. My sister was here for the weekend. It was nice. We did some shopping. I needed bath towels and wash clothes and socks so went to Kohl's. I was surprised even on sale they costed a lot. Good news is I saved $150. Also stopped at Pet Smart to get my cat cat food, treats, and kitty litter. He had enough to last 2 or 3 weeks but as long as Kay was here and willing, I had her take me since I don't drive. I'm swetting tomorrow out now. I just hope I am doing the eye drops right so I can get the cataracts removed from left eye tomorrow morning. I think for most part they went okay but someone told me today I was suppose to have been given instructions how to do them as each time is different. We'll see tomorrow morning I guess. Well....until next time Happy Stitching. I'm going to finish the carousel off in the next couple of days.

Mystery Sampler

I got to eager to start the Mystery Sampler so laid down the Carousel Horse for a few days. Besides I needed a break from it even though I only have about 6 hours of stitching to do on it. This is the mystery sampler by Little House Needleworks. I love doing this piece and look forward to receiving part 2. Part 1 is not completely done but about 2/3 done. Needless to say when I get going on part two I'll be scanning in two parts. Today my sister is coming in from other side of state. We'll do a little running around today like pick up my brother's desk from his ex-girlfriend and get mom and I state I D's. I lost my I D 2 or 3 months ago. Monday I'm having cataracts removed from my left eye. I started the eye drops today and hope I'm doing them right! They say having cataracts removed is a piece of cake so I don't expect any problems. Well....until next time....Happy Stitching

Carousel Horse

Oh this one is so much fun to do. I can almost see and hear the carousel in my mind. It takes me back to when we use to go to the carnival and all the fun we would have. The pretty animals on the carousel and the music it played. All a part of summer. This one has a lot more color than I like, but it's so much fun to do and is moving really fast. This is after only 15 hours of stitching, so it'll be done in no time. I received my LHN Mystery Sampler in the mail the other day, at least the first part of it. I'm anxious to start it. Anyone else have their's yet and want to do it as a SAL? I'd love to do this one as one. The end of June and it brings a lot of birthdays. My great nephew, Richard turned 10 earlier this week, today is my niece, Heather's, birthday, tomorrow is my niece-in-law, Elaina's, birthday, Monday is Heather's little boy, Nolan's birthday and next Saturday is my great nephew Chase's birthday. So that's a lot of birthday's in a short time, oh and my nephew's step daughter will be 5 in there somewhere, coming up. Nolan and Chase will be 2 years old. Well....until next time. Happy Stitching. There is a storm coming in so I'm going to need to shut down the computer. Wonder if Saturn will give me back my stitching chair. Hmmmm....

Cape Florida Lighthouse Finished

I loved doing this piece. It went fairly quick and very easy. My type of project, small but detailed. Plus I love Beach Scenes, especially Lighthouses. This will also go to Sandy Hook Project. I wasn't going to order a pattern for myself, but.....Well Yesterday I was looking at different blogs and saw Little House Needleworks, one of my favorite designers. Diane had a mystery sampler posted. I've wanted to do a mystery one for awhile, and I felt confidant enough that I would enjoy doing it. Figuring it would be about birds which aren't my favorites but okay. I was hoping it was about music too, so we'll see. Anyway I had to go to 123 stitch and order it. I can't wait to get it. It comes in 3 parts and the next part is available in July, and the last one Aug. I also figure it will be four different seasons of birds. We'll see. I went through LHN section at 123 stitch and man I think I could have spent a couple hundred dollars just on her designs. But I was good I only ordered that. Now when I order the July and August patterns I may order a couple other ones with it. Guess I'll start the 15 challenge in August! LOL Well, I'm going to read some blogs and then look for my next project to stitch. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Florida Lighthouse

Good afternoon! I am a seasonal stitcher and I love doing beach scenes and this one I really am enjoying. It'll probably be done quicker than I thing though. I left the Lighthouse to do the trees as I knew they would be more challenging. They went easier than I thought they would thought. Growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan we use to go down there every week in the summer and the lighthouse was the star attraction. We would walk the pier, and go swimming etc. We loved Lake Michigan. Even today when family and friends we grew up with that moved away, have to go to Lake Michigan with each visit because of all the great memories we have of each other and the times we spent there. Tomorrow being Father's Day, we are going to my brother's for a late dinner. We usually don't make a big deal of Mother's or Father's Day. Our parents just wanted a card and a phone call, but now they are getting older we try to do something special on those days, as to be honest, we don't know how many more special days we'll have with them. Mom is 80 and Dad 84 and both have Congestive Heart Failure and other health issues. Well....until next time. Happy Stitching!

Fifty Finishes!

For being such a small piece, this piece was a dickens! I had to frog so many times. Maybe it was because it was my 50th finish! I can't believe I made it although some I ordered intending to do for charity and discovered size wise they wouldn't work. I will probably wait until Aug. to order anything for myself. I am old. I knew for a couple years I had cataracts, well the one in my left eye will be removed in 2 or 3 weeks. I'm not worried about it, every one says it's simple and no problems. I'm hoping I'll be stitching on even weave, or even 18 count material again. I'll probably have the right eye cataracts removed next year. Another sign of old age, arthritis and today my hip really hurt bad. I could hardly move this morning so didn't go to the Food Pantry to work. We had the storms last night, several of them, but fortunately none were severe. South of us got hit hard though. Lake Michigan really protects us. Well until next time....Happy Stitching!

Finish 49!

Only one more finish and I will have reached the 50! At first 50 seemed so over whelming. But the further along I got the more determined I was. I did buy some patterns to make for gifts or charity. And some of them (about 3 or 4 were not what I thought they would be so maybe I shouldn't have counted them but my intent when I ordered them was for charity or gifts. So does that count against me and I have to go back a few. I'm not doing that. But I have set a goal of 15 projects without buying any patterns for any reason. There were patterns along the way I thought I'll get after the 50 mark, and now I forgot what they were. I'm also wondering if I will actually do something for myself let alone spend the money on framing it. That's the second trick. I'm trying so hard to get that credit card down! But it's hard. Especially since I see the eye doctor on Wed. and we talk about removing the cataracts left eye first. It will help me see better, and who knows maybe I can even work on evenweave or linen again, or even 16 or 18 count aida. Some hard to figure out charts may even be easier. This was a really quick finish I found in an older book called Summer Children by Cross Stitch Originals. I thought it would be cute for Sandy Hook project. My next one is in same book and just as easy I'll then have my 50. Okay I cheated found easy charts to end on. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

The Old West Finish

I finished this earlier this evening. It was such a fun stitch, I'll probably do it again down the road. I have a dumb question, sarcastic question really. Why must mosquitoes bite and night and on the back? I dare that mosquito to show itself during the day and bite my arm or leg, something I can get at it! LOL Bible Study Fellowship ended last month. But this month a few of us ladies from church are doing a Beth Moore Bible Study she has several. But the one we chose is Breaking Free. I was really excited about that. I've been wanting to get in a Beth Moore study for a long time. There really isn't much of anything going on. My life is very unexciting and that's fine. So until next time Happy Stitching!

I know the picture is a little crooked. Sorry I'll do better next time. But this piece is really moving along. Once U get the Alamo done, the rest will go quickly. We have been very fortunate in missing out on the storms. However I can't help but feel for those in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri. My brother and his family all live in St. Louis area, and while they got the tornadoes, they came through them okay. Some property damages but their homes made it through and they made it through. So did my sister and her husband the other night. Six different tornadoes went through their area but they came out alright. Well, until next time Happy Stitching. One of these days I'll have a lot to say.

A Western Piece

I love doing Western Pieces but I have so few patterns that I don't get to do them very often. I've been eyeing this piece for a couple of years now, and finally got it out of my stash to do it. I'm not sure if it'll go to Love Quilts or Sandy Hook. There is a little girl at Sandy Hook that loved the west and wanted cowboy boots for Christmas. But this piece may be too boyish. I don't know yet. It's a fun piece to do. Unfortunately because of the size requirements some of it is being left off but this is type of pattern you can do that too. I may do this 2 or 3 years from now for one of my great nephews, only the whole pattern then. Well, until next time.....Happy Stitching

Finish no. 47

Good afternoon. I finished this piece earlier today. I love doing these Inspirational Words pieces. This one went real fast. Now I'm doing a piece called The Wild West by Little House Needleworks. I like their pieces too. I don't know that I'll do the whole pattern as it's too large for either Sandy Hook or Love Quilts. Just which one I'll send it too I don't know at this point. Hugs is going to Sandy Hook Project. Anyone have special plans for the Holiday weekend? I really don't. Boy lately my mind is been dry when it comes to thinking of things to say here. I wish I had the gift of gab like some of you do. I am goi9ng to go read some blogs now. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Finally stitching again.

I finally am getting back into stitching after 2 failed projects attempts that went into the garbage. This one is going to be a quick one. And I may revise it a little by doing complete stitches instead of half on the flowers. We'll see. Sunday was our farewell to our Pastor. It was a somber day. He and his wife did a mini concert for us. Already people are thinking of names of people to give to the search committee once it's formed. Which will probably be at June's Elder board meeting. There isn't much happening right now so until next time Happy Stitching!

Music & Books

This was a fun, quick finish. I loved doing it. This one will also go to Sandy Hook Project. There isn't anything going on right now. So until next time....Happy Stitching!

Finish no 46

I think it's #46 maybe 47. This was a fast cute piece. Most little boys like to go fishing so I did this for the Sandy Hook Project. So far I've done 7 or 8 squares for them. Not sure. I am so glad this week is over. I worked hard on cleaning things up had my sister in law , Wendy come over. Wendy has a couple of steam cleaner that are amazing! Wed. was the inspection and thanks to Wendy, I passed it in flying colors. Just as they were leaving from the inspection my sister came to pick me up. I told her I wanted to get a steam cleaner and she bought me one. I'm going to love it. Today I made a tuna bagel with cheese on top. Went to take it out of the oven and dropped it in the oven. Right away I tried cleaning it up. I didn't spend all that time on my oven for nothing! And it was hot so burned my fingers. That was not smart at all. I don't remember if I said anything last week or not, but our Pastor of almost 8 years is leaving. He's going to a church about an hour in a half east of here. Sunday was a hard day when he announced it. Well he actually emailed everyone that he had e mail address for, and he put letters in our mailboxes at church. So everyone pretty well knew what was coming. It was sad as we really like him and his wife a lot. I think it'll be a while before we get another pastor or we will compare him to this one and that won't be fair. It took over a year to get Pastor Shane after Pastor Brian left. So a week from Sunday is his last week, and we are having a Mexican Dinner after church. He loves Mexican food. Well....I'm going to go back to stitching on this music piece. It's called Music and Books by Little House Needleworks and going fast. I love stitching on it. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

A very quick finish

This was a very quick finish. I loved doing this pretty piece. It was detailed but small. Well our church got some sad news this week. Our Senior Pastor is leaving and going to a larger church about 60 miles east of us. He's been at our church 8 years and the people just love him. Though a few of us sort of new he would be leaving we read the writing on the wall. I found out Monday night and had to keep it quiet all week, that was hard. Then today he e mailed everyone and told them. He had planned just to tell everyone Sunday but someone let it slip to the people at prayer meeting Wed. I guess so he decided to e mail everyone and still announce Sunday. He'll be with us 2 or 3 more "Sundays. When Pastor Brian left everyone thought his shoes would be hard to fill and Pastor Shane was perfect and did fill the shoes even better. Now it's going to take someone really special to replace him and his wife. I am trying to get ready to have the apartment ready for it's annual inspection Wed. These people are very critical of housekeeping. I have my sister in law coming Monday and Tuesday to steam clean the rug and floors. My sister comes to town Tuesday again so looking forward to seeing her. Well...I think I'll go back to stitching on the Fishing Boy for the Sandy Hook Project. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Finished!

Hello! I have finished Roses and Music. I just loved doing this piece. It was so pretty and so much fun. Now I'm doing a much smaller and easier piece called Peruvian Butterflies. It's only 3 1/2 by 3/12 and being done on 7x7 aida. It's going to be a fast piece and probably will be done by end of the week. Saturday night something unimagineable happened in Norton Shores just a few miles from here. A young mother was just ending her shift. She had contact with someone at 11 pm. At 11:15 a customer walks in and finds no one, her purse and keys were there, her car was there but no sign of her. She was to close up at 11:30. She has not been seen or heard from since and police are treating it as an abduction case. Her family is devastated. On a lighter note my niece, Christiana has announced she is having a baby boy. They have chosen the name which is different. I like his middle name alright but the first name will have to grow on me. They are naming him Trice Seth. They are so excited. Chrisitna and Jerad wanted a boy. Well until next time Happy Stitching

One Last Update on Roses and Music

Hello again! I have one last update on this piece before it is finished. I love stitching on this and will do it again I'm sure. Maybe a year or two from now. There are very few patterns I choose to do twice and this probably will be one of them. I'm thinking I'll do it as a wedding piece for my nephew who has been married about 4 years now. Maybe for their 5th anniversary in Feb. So guess I'll do it later this year! Today is my mom's 80th birthday so we're having a brunch at their house. It's hard for my mom to get up my brother's steps and right now she is waiting for her new leg so Kevin and Beth are bringing the brunch to her and Christina will come we'll celebrate mom's birthday. It is going to be 60's the next few days, even hit 70! Alright it's about time spring got here. Guess it is time to turn the heat off! Hopefully until late fall. Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

More Progress

Hello everyone! Well....this piece is moving right along. I am enjoying it so much I have a hard time laying it down. I hope Alyson will enjoy it on her quilt. It looks like Spring is finally here! It's cool yet high 40's low 50's where it will be all week but we'll take it. It's been a long winter. One of my friend's daughter left Australia today with her little girl to move back to the States. It's a long long story and been a road with many ups and downs but finally tomorrow evening Cari and Jordan will arrive to town. Her parents have been counting the days down. Cari's story is one of the nightmares you hear about when you meet a guy on line and move away to be with him. Fortunately everything finally worked out and her parents have been counting the hours the last few days. At Sandy Hook Project we are now going to do quilts for the Boston victims and West Texas victims. So we'll be kept busy for a while. Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Update on Rose and Music Piece

Hello! I just wanted to update you on my music piece. I just love stitching this piece it's so pretty. (I'm not a big fan of color red but I do like this piece). It's stitching up fairly quickly. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

I started this piece a couple of days ago. So far it's an enjoyable piece. It is United in Love by Kappie only I'm not doing it as a wedding piece but for a quilt for a lady at quilts for older children and adults. One of the things she likes is music, so I chose this piece. I just hope I didn't start too far over. My thoughts keep going back to 1 year ago. One year ago this was the last weekend I had my sweet little Whiskers. I pretty much knew I'd be making the appointment Monday morning. I remember laying on bed in the middle of afternoon still fighting tears over this decision and Whiskers came up and laid on top of me for the last time. It was like he was saying goodbye and thanks for a great life. I had him for over 19 years. On Friday of that weekend I made a trip to Pet Smart hoping to get some food that Whiskers would eat. I saw Saturn from a distance and he was watching me close but I couldn't bring myself out to go near the cats . After putting Whiskers down on Monday I did go back to Pet Smart looking for a declawed, neutered, 2 to 5 year old cat. But this 9 month old kitten named Mo kept meowing and meowing and when his kennel door was open he ran to me and rubbed against me, I was hooked. Needless to say I applied for him, and on the 18th I got to bring him home and it's been a great fit. While he's not Whiskers he has created his own spot and life does go on Even though Monday morning, April 16 2012 I thought the world was ending. I still miss Whiskers I still shed tears but I really think Whiskers, and my first cat, Buffy sent Saturn a special message to make himself known to me. And I'm sure they approve of him and laugh at how he has gotten his way on everything. Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Girl Kissing Doll

Good Afternoon. I finished this piece this morning. I had to do so much frogging on the girl's dress but I'm glad I did as it turned out right then. This will go on a little girl's quilt at Sandy Hook Project. What little girl doesn't love her doll? So I thought this would be cute for one of the quilts. Now I am working on a Music piece for Quilts for Older Children and adults. Its actually a wedding piece but I'm leaving off the wedding part of it and just doing the rose, musical notes and bars. So far it's a fun piece. I love doing music pieces. Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

More progress on Hummel piece

Hello! After a busy weekend I am back to stitching on this piece. It goes fast when I stitch on it and as you can see I did get a lot done on this piece. My sister was in town from Thurs. until yesterday. We took mom to the mall Thur. afternoon so she could get out of the house. We had planned on Friday but it was suppose to rain that day so we set that day for playing games,etc, and same with Sat. Well....we did other things too. But in playing about 8 games over the 3 days, mom won 5, Kay won 1 and I finally won 2 yesterday morning. We played our two favorite games, Push Rummy and Mexican Dominos. I usually loose the games but I always say if I can't be a good looser I don't deserve to play. Besides no one wants to play with mom, Kay, and I when we play together as we help each other out a lot, and let each other cheat and ask permission to go out before we go out. Most people don't like that and don't think it's fun we do. Well...the next few days we are suppose to get a lot of rain. They do say "April Showers bring May Flowers." I am staying inside cleaning my apartment and getting stitching done. Of course Saturn supervises me. Well....until next time Happy Stitching.

Progress on Hummel Piece

Good afternoon! I hope everyone had a nice Easter. I had a nice quiet one. I went to my parents where my dad had made ham, and sweet potatoes and cheese cake for desert . I made green bean casserole. I was at my parents today to stay with my mom while dad was gone and there was still cheesecake left! I had a hard time not grabbing some but since there was only a little over 2 pieces left I decided to be nice for once and let them have it. It was mom's recipe and as far as all of us are concerned mom makes the best cheesecake in the world. Nothing compares to her recipe. On the way home dad said he had all the makings for my sister to make this weekend. Hopefully her and I will. It's soooooo good! I just thought I would update this piece and I need an opinion. Does it look like the girl is kissing her doll? I hope it doesn't look like she is kissing another girl. This will go to Sandy Hook Project. I may get 3 or 4 other pieces in to them and that will be about it. A few days ago I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to stitch next, now I have about 7 pieces I am itching to stitch! Guess I am getting my stitching mojo back. Well.....until next time Happy Stitching! I'm going to go read some blogs now.

A Brand New Start

Hello again! I know this looks funny right now. It is a Hummel piece called Girl kissing doll. Now I hope when it's finished the doll actually looks like a doll and not another girl. It will go to Sandy Hook project. There are a couple of other Hummel pieces I'd like to do for it too. I just started this piece this morning and it's going fast. I have a lot more done on it than I thought I would. So hope the rest of the piece goes just as fast. To be honest, I have about 5 other projects (3 for Sandy Hook) I am anxious to do plus finish up the golfer I started. Well, until next time Happy Stitching! Happy Easter tomorrow!

So Much Chocolate/Four Basic Food Groups

I finished this piece this afternoon. It was a fun stitch but I'm glad to have it done. Now I have kitted up a Hummel pattern of a little girl kissing her doll. I hope everyone has a good Easter Weekend. I'm going to my parents house for dinner on Sunday. Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Four Basic Food Groups

Hello everyone! My last post I was debating on rather to add the phrase "so little time" to this piece as the child only lived to be 6. I posted the question on the face book page for the Sandy Hook Project and they all said not to add it. So instead I decided to add The Four Main Food Groups only will leave off the wording. It goes with So much chocolate. I received a message from my cousin Toni that she received her quilt and really likes it. Before I go any further I better tell you Saturn is on my desk being my little "helper" actually he's playing with a pen that has him entertained for now until he decides to help me. My brother bought me two new winter coats and I received them today and much to my dismay they were too small! So he said to donate them to charity. First I'll take them to my mom tomorrow and see if they fit her, the one I'm sure will but the other I don't think so. Just because a coat says a certain size doesn't mean it is it. I looked at the price tag and wow winter coats are expensive. He said he did not pay what the tag said. Good! Our snow is S-L-O-W-L-Y melting. We are finally hitting the 40's and the sun is out. Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Progress on Chocolate!

Good afternoon! I have made progress on this piece, actually I am a little further than this as I have the word Chocolate all in now. Those letters drove me nuts, I'm happy to have them done. I just have to put in the bear's hand and icecream cone. Then on bottom instead of having so little time I'm going to put in a small cake, pie, and candy on the bottom. Because the little boy died at age 6 so little time seemed cruel to put on the piece. Saturn had his Vet visit yesterday and got his rabies and distemper shots. He did really good. But I think it was more upsetting to him then I thought as he got sick 3 times last night, one on my stitching bag, the other on my coat which will be thrown away since it is about 15 years old and not washable. And he got the couch and carpet. Today he is sleeping a lot but he slept very little yesterday so I expected him to sleep a lot today. My brother called me this morning and this afternoon. Him and his wife went and bought me two coats. I should get them Wed. I hope I'm home when they get here! He said one was black and the other dark green. One is more for church he said. I hope they fitr me! It looks like Spring will come after all. The next few days calls for no snow and low 40's. A little cool but will melt the snow anyway. Besides we don't want it to melt too fast or we'd have floods. Well, I'm going to read some more blogs and drool over everyone else's stitching. Until next time Happy Stitching!

So Much Chocolate-So Little Time

I started this piece about 3 days ago. I needed a break from the golf piece. I thought this piece was cute. I'm doing it for the Sandy Hook Project. One of the little boys shot and killed that day loved chocolate and the group was wondering if anyone could do at least one chocolate piece for his quilt so I am doing this for him. It is a fun easy piece by Linda Gillun of American School of Needleworks. Speaking of quilts I had requested a quilt for my cousin, Toni, who has stage 3 ovarian cancer. (Has had it for several years now). I requested it a few months ago, and we all stitched the flowers for her quilt. But the owner got sick and never mailed her quilt. Knowing the owner was doing better and mailing out other packages I point blank asked her about Toni's quilt, and said I wasn't stitching anymore squares until she got the quilt. She e mailed back saying she was still ill and her husband was out of town until Easter. Fine, I understood that. But today I got an email with the tracking number so I figure finally Toni's quilt is in the mail. I can't wait until she gets it. She was told she'd have it before Christmas, then shortly after the New Year. And now it looks like she will get it the end of March. Toni's had a rough year as her cancer returned, then her mother died, and then her step father who raised her as his own died very suddenly Thanksgiving Day. So I was anxious for Toni to get her quilt. Toni, herself, never complained or said anything to me so she is more patient then I am. Monday my niece, Michelle, and her baby, Chase, along with my sister came to town for a couple of hours before Michelle and Chase flew back to CO. We had a nice visit with them. Chase is so cute. He hung unto Michelle pretty much the whole time but he saw a lot of people he didn't know over the weekend. He's 20 months old. They will be back in August with the other half of their family (Scott, and 3 year old Nick). They are camping at a camp ground near here for a week in Aug. My mom is doing okay at home. We are all getting after her to be nice to dad. She tends to be mean to him. And he's 84 and his heart is not very good at all, in fact he was told to avoid stress and take it easy. Yea right with mom, yea right. Part of it is though we don't know if she completely comprehends the seriousness of dad's heart. She still gets confused and mixed up a little. It is the first day of spring but you would never know it by all the snow on the ground. It snowed some today and will tomorrow, then it's suppose to be dry and cool in the upper 30's low 40's for several days. Good enough to melt the snow gradually. We want to fire the ground hog for giving us false hope saying spring will come early. It's not they say mid April may get 60. We'll see when it gets here. Well...until next time....Happy Stitching

Start on Golf

Hello! I started Golf the other day and it's going fairly well. It's really detailed and keeps me on my toes but it's a fun piece. It's about half done now. And yes it is another piece by Stoney Creek! I seem to like those patterns! I had problems with my scanner so had to scan in a different mold so hopefully it turns out clear. My niece and her youngest son are visiting my sister for about 4 days. They'll be coming in to town Monday for a few hours before flying back to CO. I could have gone to my sister's for 4 days. She was at our parents on Thurs. and asked me if I wanted to go to her house, but 5 days and 4 nights is an awful long time to leave my cat unattended. Had she asked ahead of time I could have made arrangements for my cat. That's okay....I'm not sure I could handle 3 small children for 3 days as another niece is there with her husband and children. I'll see all of them this summer. Kay is camping a few days, but Michelle, Heather, and their husbands and children will be there the whole week so I'll see them a couple of days then. We can't wait to see Michelle and Chase we haven't seen them since Christmas 2011 and Chase was 6 months old then. Tommorrow I'm going to my brother's for my niece's birthday. I can't believe Melissa will be 31 and has 2 children of her own now. The first piece I ever did was a birth sampler for Melissa. She still has it only it's been taken out of the frame and made as a center piece for a quilt her mom made along with other pieces her mom CS for her when she was really young. Next Saturday is the annual Easter Egg Roll at church. Usually we have it outside but there's too much snow on the ground and even if a lot of it melts it would be nothing but mud so it's being held inside the church this year. The next day we have a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for camp scholarships. We like to have as many kids go to camp as can and many can't afford it so we have a special fund to send them to camp. I remember going to camp every year as a child. A lot of great memories of Center Lake Bible Camp and it's an experience any child should have. Well....until next time Happy Stitching

SMILE Finished

I finished this piece earlier today. It was a fun stitch. I had to improvise just a little bit. This piece will go to Love Quilts featuring Inspirational Words. I started a Golfer by Stoney Creek for a Sports quilt at Love Quilts. I thought it would be a different sport to do. So far it's going much better than the skier did and it's in the same book. I never posted progress on the skier because I figured it would end up in the garbage and it did. Tomorrow my mom is going home. Her and dad are so excited. We just hope things go well. Tomorrow my sister is coming in for overnight. They also have help coming in like they did before. So we are happy about that. Well--until next time.....Happy Stitching.