Finished Come All Ye Faithful

After I scanned this piece yesterday this piece just flew into place. So I did finish 31 projects this year. Although I didn't join Debbie's Crazy Challenge (I think that is what it's called) I did 31 pieces. Wonder if I can do that next year. Anyway I loved this piece.

Tomorrow I will go back to the America piece, I got most of the floss out tonight. I had a little 4 legged helper so decided I would finish getting the floss when Saturn wasn't so helpful.

Anyone have plans for tonight? I'm planning on staying home. If I'm awake at midnight which hopefully I will be I'll watch the New York ball drop. I never make a big deal out of New Years. So I'll just watch the Rose Bowl Parade listen to my CD player and stitch. I might run up to the store but we'll see. I didn't want to go today because I thought the grocery store would be too busy. Hopefully tomorrow it won't be and hopefully they'll be open. If not well then Saturday, I don't need much anyway.

Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Progress on Come All Ye Faithful!

Hello again. This piece is really moving along. In fact I made quite a bit more progress since scanning this 3 hours ago. I have 2 of the 4 windows completely done and the other two half done plus some of the inbetween windows done. I didn't think it would go so fast. I had hoped to finish this piece tomorrow but I'm not sure, I may finish it early New Year's Day if not tomorrow. I don't have any plans for New Years Day.

New Years is never a big deal today. I'll watch the Rose Bowl Parade on HGTV because it's without commercials and then decide from there what to watch, or I just may play CD's the rest of day. Watching HGTV's Dream Home just doesn't appeal to me and neither does football.

Usually I'm happy when the holidays are over, well actually I celebrate! This year I enjoyed them, first time in several years. And this year was so much better then the last two years. Last year, things were in an uproar, this year much quieter.

Have a Happy New Year, stay safe New Year's Eve. I can't believe it's here already! Where does the time go!

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

Come All Ye Faithful

Good afternoon. The designer says this piece is for beginners. I love working on it, but I think it's more for intermediate stitchers because of all the detail and back stitching. Unfortunately I didn't have the Krenik braids for the cross so improvise. That cross may be coming out next year and I may buy the Krenik 4 braid thread it calls for. I'm not happy with the cross but I have to pout for a year first! LOL. The rest of piece is going well though.

How was everyone's Christmas? Mine was fine. I got to see my brother and sister-in-law and their two daughters,and their families on Christmas eve. Christmas Day I went to a friends house we had a nice time. I got spoiled this Christmas.

Unfortunately my crock pot died, yesterday. I was trying to heat up Chicken Noodle Cook as it tastes better cooked in the crockpot. Unfortunately it tasted alright yesterday, but when I had reheated it today the chicken was like rubber! I threw away a whole bunch of chicken noodle soup. I wasn't thinking and dumped it down the garbage disposal and thought "oh no! Noodles back the disposal up and plug the sinks up!" I'm really hoping that will not happen hoping to have bitten the bullet on that one. We'll see. A neighbor down the hall walked down and gave me 3 cans of canned chicken to try next time I make soup. I do not do good chicken. I can boil it but that's about it.

Well...until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Another quick stitch

Good evening! Well now that we have passed Winter Solice our days will get longer. Hurray! Little things excite me but I love seeing it get lighter and lighter although so gradual at first. We notice it more in evening then morning.

Anyway I did this quick stitch. Red is not my favorite color at all, probably my least favorite but the designer called for red and I'm one that follows what designer recommends. Although it was tempting to do it in dark blue, and if I do it again I will. I have started my next piece which also looks to be a quick stitch although a little larger then the ones I have done this month. It's a church and has "Come All Ye Faithful on it. It's by Glendon Place.

The weekend proved to be really busy, my sister decided to come in after all. We didn't do a whole lot but played Push Rummy with our brother, Tim and played Mexican Dominoes. We use to play both games with our mom all the time when Kay came to town. In fact I found a score sheet with Mom on it, Kay had won that game.

The next few days will be busy. It seems everyone is busy at Christmas. Once again as far as our family getting together, it will not happen this year. But we did have Christmas with Kay Sunday. Christmas Eve I'll have Christmas with our brother Kevin and his family. Our brother, Tim's son is coming in to town, so he's spending Christmas with him.

If I'm not here before Christmas, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Another small finish

Good afternoon! At one time I saw a blogging group doing smalls I should have joined for Dec. as December seems to be a month of smalls for me. I couldn't resist this cute piece and it was such a fun and easy stitch, very enjoyable. It probably will be made into a flatfold later on.

Now I'm doing Sharing the Christmas Story by Eileen Gurak. She's a new designer to me so was Country Cottage new to me. I really like these silhouettes that Eileen Gurak has come out with.

Yesterday I got my Christmas shopping done, thanks to my sister-in-law taking me. She said she was getting her hair cut so I said "Wonder if she has openings, I should get mine cut." Well she had an opening right after Beth so she cut mine. It really needed to be cut and my family had been after me a long time to get it cut. It does look better now. But it was a fun day yesterday.

I have sad news, little Andrea, (the cat I wrote about in my last post) kept getting weaker and weaker by the day. Yesterday they said she couldn't even walk so they made the hard decision to put her to sleep. They tried hard to save her but just couldn't. We think she had a blood disease. When I saw her last Sat., the first thing I thought of was Nomi, who was my parents cat. She also died of a blood disease, and Andrea just reminded me of her, so I wasn't surprised but was sad. She was such a sweet cat, with us for only a little over a month but we all fell in love we her.

My sister might come to town this weekend if she gets it off. She asked for it off a while back but since she put in her resignation and with everything going on there, I have a feeling she'll be working.

Well....until next time......Happy Stitching!

Four more ornaments

Goof Afternoon. Even though it doesn't look much like Christmas there is all sorts of Christmas activity being done. I did these four tiny pieces from Leisure Arts Holiday Quickies. They'll be made into individual ornaments later on. Actually the Santa and Teddy Bear were much more enjoyable then the Gingerbread man and Bells. They were boring but the Santa and Teddy Bear had enough detail to make them fun. I think each piece took about 4 to 6 hours at most. I'll probably be doing more mini pieces. My next pieces isn't this small but it's small like about 4 x 4. I have to kit that up

Yesterday I went to church with my brother and sister in law to see 3 of their grandchildren in their Christmas program. The 2 girls and Johnny had speaking parts and they did really good. Afterwards we went to Melissa and John's to have Johnny's birthday dinner. The poor child he had some things on his list he didn't get but he was told he wouldn't get them. He wanted a bee bee gun, 22 rifle, bull dog and chuwawa (sp) those real small dogs. He was okay with not getting them, he got a lot of other nice things. And no he isn't getting them for Christmas either.

I just talked to my sister and she told me after 25 years she is quitting her job. Something she never thought she would do. She's a RN at a Nursing Home near their house, and it was bought out this summer and since then things have been getting worse and and worse so many have quit. An opportunity came up for her and she looked into it and got hired. So she has mixed emotions right now, nervous about starting a new job and leaving the residents and staff she worked with. Twenty-five years is a long time to work at a place and then quit.

We were able to find homes for 4 of our cats at the shelter over the weekend and 8 others at Petco. (The cats and kittens that we have in foster care go to Petco, sometimes a shelter cat will go there.) But we were happy. But one of our very favorite cats, Andrea has only been with us a little over a month got really sick and I asked today and they said she's not doing good at all so we are worried about her. We had hoped she'd be adopted for Christmas and probably would be but now if she recovers it'll have to be Jan. at earliest. Speaking of cats my own cat is meowing at me to get off computer well he just jumped up and got in front of screen he means business. So until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Another ornament finish

Good afternoon. Most of my finishes this month (if not all of them) are going to be ornaments for my family to put together hopefully this summer. A lot of them will come from Christmas Quickies by Leisure Arts. I have discovered that while small these ornaments are not the easiest to do they are very detailed, but I like stitching them and most of them are so cute.

Tomorrow our Johnny (my great nephew) will be 9! I can't believe it. Where did the years go. Today would have been my grandfather's birthday and we were hoping he'd be born today but he waited to be born on his aunt Denise's birthday. We have so many birthdays and anniversaries from now to the end of Dec. it's not even funny. Without exageration at least 12.

Well until next time.....Happy Stitching.

Bread Cover Finish

Good Afternoon. I'm watching Family Tribute Ice Skating. I had seen it once before but since it's on again thought I would watch it.
I can't believe it's December already. Where has the year gone. I have my Christmas patterns out and will be doing some of them. They are all small for when we have our family gathering hopefully this summer to make them into ornaments.

This bread cover I made for my sister I thought but today she told me she wanted it for her 2 daughters and daughter in law. But each one will be a different pattern. I struggled through half of the first Christmas tree and then decided to make a working pattern and the tree went much easier. I think the problem was fighting with the book. Anyway the first tree took 4 days and the 2nd 2 days, and it was the very same pattern!
Don't figure.

With Christmas comes the Christmas Programs. Next Sunday I'm going to go see my niece's church and see their older 3 children in their program. Plus Johnny will be 9 later this week so we'll have a family birthday dinner for him. He's 9 already! I can hardly believe it. I blogged the day he was born that we were expecting his arrival any time. So I have been blogging for 9 years as I started shortly before he was born. Today he has a younger sister Katelyn, and baby brother Isaac. And Melissa and John are in process of adopting their 6 year old foster daughter. I can't say her name until she is legally theirs. They are hoping early spring at latest, but her birthday is in Feb so it would be nice to have her adopted by then. The adoption process takes a while.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Letter U to Autumn Bell Pull Done

Good Afternoon! I finally finished the letter U to the Autumn Bell Pull. I thought it would never get done! Here when I started the Bell Pull I thought for sure it would be completely done by end of November. I was completely wrong. I have 2 letters done. The others will be done next year I think. I am doing Christmas stitching now. Starting with a bread cover for my sister.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas again. I guess it's true, the older you get the faster time goes.

For Thanksgiving my brother, Tim, and I went to our niece's house and had dinner with her family. Another niece and another brother were going to be there but they were sick. All year Christina looked forward to getting her new house built in time for Thanksgiving Dinner and wanted everyone at her house. But her 2 year old son got sick and then her husband got sick so we had to move it to Melissa's house. It was fun though. Baby Isaac is growing. He's 4 months old now and just is the happiest baby.

We had a big day at the cat shelter last Sat. We had 3 families come in for cats. Goldilocks was wanted by 2 of them but the older couple who chose her first but left the room let the family with the little girl have her. The couple carried Goldilocks all over the hallway with them and spent a long time in the room she's in. And in mean time this family with the little girl were going into all the rooms and no cat was really clicking. (Not too many of our cats are child friendly but most of them in room 7 where Goldilocks was are.) Finally the older couple left room 7 and the little girl went in there sat on the floor and Goldilocks jumped on her lap and was all over her. Needless to say the little girl wanted her. We didn't have the heart to tell her she may be taken. Fortunately the older couple was nice about it and they chose another cat. Then we had a 3rd family come in and they took a cat from the declawed room. After a dry spell our cats are starting to get adopted again. They probably will be through Christmas. Goldilocks was one of our favorites, and if I could of had a 2nd cat it would have been her. She was only with us a month we knew she'd go fast. We'll miss her but she got the perfect home for her and that little girl was so happy. Goldilocks even let her carry her in the hallway and when they got to outer hallway the mother took her and took her to the car. That cat didn't meow, didn't scratch or bite or try to get out of either one of their arms. She just is a very good cat. I'm partial to all the cats in room 7 they are my favorites so I try hard to get people to adopt from that room. Room 6 too but those cats aren't quite as people friendly so harder to get adopted out. In fact only 2 or 3 from 6 have been adopted since I started last year, and about 14 from room 7 it's had quite a turnover, only 2 cats are in there from when I started, the others came and went. You do get attached to the cats, but you are happy to have them go to good homes.

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

Letter A of the Autumn Bell Pull

Good Afternoon! I finished this early this morning and am just getting around to posting it. I started the letter U and it seems to be going quicker. I only worked on it a couple hours this morning. I really haven't had that much time to work on it this week.

Today I finished the letter A then started U and from there went to the cat shelter for a little over an hour. Then my sister, niece, and nieces two children came to see me. We went to lunch and came back here and played games. Nolan and Addie went through my cross stitch books and told me what piece they want me to do for them. Hopefully it'll be done before May or June.

Last Sunday we had our annual Harvest Dinner at church and as always was so good. I loved the ham and have some left in my freezer to eat later. Thursday we hosted the monthly senior dinner. That was fun too. Both were a lot of work and I came home exhausted. But I loved doing the dinner. The Board I'm on is in charge of these dinners.

Tuesday we had another meeting about the resource room. This Tuesday we will start setting it up, get the shelves in there and some items. We're having pizza too! Yum! The Resource room isn't opening until middle or end of Jan. I can't wait.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching.

Finally a Finish

Good evening. I know this isn't the most exciting finish but it's a finish. I found this as a freebie at Cyber Stitchers and was done for Cross Stitch for Older Children & Adults. I believe it will be sent to Love Quilts-Brazil. This only took a week. Now tomorrow I'll kit up Autumn and start it.

This weekend will be busy as we are having our annual Harvest Dinner at church. I'll make Green Bean Casserole and finish baking a Pumpkin Pie I ordered from Swans for it. I signed up for two things since I refused to make a turkey or ham. I'm on the comittee heading this up. Then Thursday the monthly Senior Dinner is going to be at our church so we are in charge of that too.

My niece and her husband brought in a kennel for when Snowball comes to visit she can be in it from time to time. Saturn has taken over it. I wonder if he'll let Snowball in it even. Right now he's wanting my attention. He meows an awful lot lately and that's not like him, especially since Snowball left. I wonder if he misses her. Sometimes I think about getting a second cat but we can only have one cat here.

Things are going strong towards the Resource Room at church and we're excited about it. We have our Food Pantry through Love Inc. and this is just an extension of it. Only this room is only for those who attend the classes at Love Inc. they earn points and they can cash in their points for something from the room. We'll carry cleaning supplies, household items, towels, wash cloths etc. The room we want to use got approved last night so it's full steam ahead towards opening it mid Jan. We also hope to get the mentor program going to which is also through Love Inc. I've already started asking people to think and pray about that. We're excited.

Well... until next time Happy Stitching!

Page 13 done!

Good Afternoon! I finally have page 13 done! I didn't do a lot of stitching this week. It really hasn't been a good week, but it's getting better.

I ordered the fabric for Autumn Bell Pull but for some reason it's delayed in Grand Rapids, says they found a problem. Hoping it will be corrected and proceed on to me. I'm thinking maybe the package broke open or the material tore in one of the machines, or it was too bulky for machine, who knows. So in the mean time I'm going to do this dump truck from Cyber Stitchers for Quilts for Older Children and Adults.

Well....until next time happy stitching!

I fell off the wagon!

Good morning! It was these two patterns that made me fall off the wagon! I saw the Spring one and loved it. And since they had Autumn I got that one too. I don't think the have Summer and Winter out yet, but when they do I'll be getting them. I wanted to start Autumn but didn't have a long enough piece of material so I ordered it from 123 stitch. It'll be here at end of week I hope.

Well I need to get off and head for church. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Where is October going?

Well...October is just flying by and I've posted very little this month. I've been stitching a lot on this piece. Now that the worse of it is done, I think the rest of this piece will go quicker. Right now I have about 750 hours of stitching in and it's a little over half done. I love working on this piece.

I had really thought I would get some fall pieces in. I might yet. I fell of the wagon. I ordered 2 leaflets by Stoney Creek one was a Spring Bell Pull and the other an Autumn one. In Nov. I might start the Autumn on we'll see. When my sister was here she asked me to do a Christmas Bread Cover so I need to do that. I'd like to have it done before she comes again so she has it for Christmas.

It's hard to believe Tuesday it will be a year that our mom died. It was on Sat. my brother came and got me from the cat shelter and said she took a turn for the worse. She died 2 days later.

This weekend we are having a pot luck at church tomorrow to meet the candidate for Youth and Christian Ed Director and her husband then Sunday we'll vote on her.

Yesterday I went on a color tour and we stopped to eat. There were only 5 of us but we had a nice time. Unfortunately this year the winds have been so strong and it's been cold we didn't get much color this year. Most of the leaves died or were blown off the trees before they had a chance to change color. But we saw some color anyway.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching.

Page 9 is done. Seven pages to go!

Good evening! I finished page 9 a couple of hours ago. I love this page and can't wait to do the following pages. It's showing more personality now and more colors too. I am almost half done with this piece and right now I have no desire to lay it down so hopefully I will finish page 13 before I lay it back down to do Christmas things.

There really isn't much going on so this is a short post. Until next time......Happy Stitching!

Update on America

I know it's a little crooked. Sorry about that. I don't know if you can tell I've made progress on this or not. I have made quite a bit of progress in the last couple of weeks actually. Pages 3 and 4 are almost done. Page 4 only has 14 columns so it's a short page.

I've had my brother's cat here for about 10 days. My friend was going out of town for the weekend so had to bring the cat back here. Another friend loaned me her son's dog kennel so I could keep Snowball in it. She did pretty well in it until today. Today she had had it with being in the kennel. I would let her out once in the morning for about an hour, then after noon 2 or 3 hours, and evening 1 hour then she'd be in kennel for the night. Saturn (my cat would be in bedroom. Only problem he figured out how to open the door when he wanted out. Until today he hadn't opened the door for a couple of days, and Snowball was meowing to get out as soon as I put her in kennel. So I did let the two cats be together, things went well until Snowball decided to make a dash for the bedroom and Saturn would not have that! Fortunately no cat fight, I grabbed Snowball and brought her back out to living room and kept Saturn in bedroom until he got out again. But they got along. Finally Tim was released from the hospital. First he was then he wasn't and then he was again. He came and got Snowball and boy was she happy to see him. He just called a little while ago and said she hasn't let him out of her sight and she is cuddling up to him on his lap. She is loves to cuddle. I thought Saturn was a cuddler but not compared to Snowball. I will miss her but I'll get to see her off and on.

My sister is coming in to town next weekend I already have plans for her. Go to Jo Ann's get floss for one thing. I'm crossing my fingers that I have enough 890 to finish pages 3 and 4.....it's going to be close.

Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Progress on America

What a morning this has been. My brother called me and said he needed to bring his cat over as he was going to be in the hospital for med adjustments for a few days. So I said fine. The last time Snowball was here Saturn (my cat) and her got along fine. So when Tim dropped her off I immediately opened the carrier and let her out. BIG MISTAKE!
Saturn tore right into Snowball even under the bed fighting. I broke it up within a couple of minutes. Left Snowball in the bedroom and brought Saturn to the living room. I was so upset! I called my friend Jody and asked her if Snowball could stay with her and she said yes. So Jody came and got her, we went to Tim's to get the kitty litter box as here I had planned on them sharing it like they did before. And I had to buy Kitty litter from the store. We got to Jody's, of course snowball hid under the bed while I was there. Believe me I was a complete basket case I was so upset and hyper. After I left Snowball warmned up to Jody and snooped around the house. Snowball had seen Jody before so she wasn't a stranger. I'm calming down now. Last time Snowball was here she wouldn't let him on his cat tree. Maybe that's why he wasn't welcoming. But they say cats are territorial and don't exactly welcome new cats right away. So much for my thoughts about adopting Snowflake or Adam from Faithful. Not going to now.

I ran out of floss this past week to finish page 9 so I started page 4. These two pages are both going fairly easy, not so much confetti stitching on these two pages. I needed a break from that!

Today being 9-11 a significant day in history so this piece is appropriate for this time of year. Do you remember what you were doing when you heard the news. I had just woken up and my brother called me. I turned on the tv and basically was glued to the tv for most of the day.

Well...until next time! Happy Stitching.

Back to Stitching on America

Good afternoon! I have gone back to stitching on this America piece for my brother. I plan to finish page 9 and page 3 this time around. Pages 3 and 4 look very simple as they are mostly of the sky. Page 4 only has about 4 columns. It's going quite fast right now not so much confetti stitching on left on this page.

Well....not much has happened these past 2 days so until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Summer Flowers Finished

Good Afternoon. I just finished these a couple of hours ago. Later in the week I'll mail them, the Disney Car, and Ladybug Baby off to my nephew's wife. They will finish them off the way they want. These flowers were so much fun to do. I hope to do the fall flowers in Oct. or early Nov. We will see.

Sunday our church had their annual neighborhood picnic. The church service was held outside. We were so pleased with everything. We had so many people come in and are excited. In fact in a few minutes another friend and I are heading to the church and helping our Pastor and his wife write out the thank you for coming cards. Usually I do it by myself but that's only when we just have a few visitors, that many I need help. It was such a beautiful day for it. We had the police and fire dept. there, plus a minor league basketball team, games for the kids. It was a fun day.

So I guess I better go get ready to leave, get off the computer. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Barnyard Kitten is finished

Good afternoon. I finished Barnyard Kitten today. I loved doing this piece. I volunteer on Saturdays at Faithful2felines and they asked me to do a cat piece for a big event they are having next month so I chose this piece. This cat looks a little like my cat, Saturn. Now I'm getting the flower piece back out to finish that up.

Sorry this is so short but not much to say today so until next time Happy Stitching!

Progress on Barnyard Kitten

Good evening! It's hot and humid outside, a good day to have spent inside with the airconditioner on. Tomorrow will be hot too for a while, they say we'll have a lot of rain the next 3 days. We need it.

This week has been a wierd but busy week. Monday my internet and phone service went out again. I called comcast and asked why it happened so often and I was sick of it. I was nice of it. They sent someone out Friday. He replace the wall plate. Oh my phone service and internet service were out when he arrived. But he got it to working again. He thinks it might be something in wiring in the wall but he thought maybe the wall plate would help. Also that day I let firefox update something and I never should have. Finally called or I should say got through to Geek Squad and they helped me get things going. Also reocommended I use google chrome. Well I uploaded that today, and I don't know. I ended up using firefox so I could upload a picture here. I think I will be going back and forth between the two. I couldn't find where chrome put the picture I uploaded.

Friday was also my birthday. I did go out with some friends and had a nice lunch. But most of the day I fretted over my computer, and cat. My cat is fine and the computer is fine now.

Wed. I got to go with my sister-in-law and niece and great nieces and nephews to Dutch Village in Holland, MI. It had been years since I had been there. It's changed a lot. They had rides and animals. The kids got to ride the rides, especially the girls. Johnny was more interested in learning things. He liked seeing how they made wooden shoes, and in a little Dutch Schoolhouse, took in some of the Dutch words on the chalk board also dressed up like a dutch boy. The girls got into dutch girls costumes. To be honest, they looked natural on them, even though they are not dutch at all. The kids got to feed the goats, all three liked that. The girls and I did the dutch dance with the dutch dancers after seeing a performance by them they asked the audience to join in. Well, at least those that would. I couldn't say no to the girls. But it was a fun day. Isaac being only a month old needless to say slept through it all for most part. It was first time I saw him.

Thursday was a funeral. It was a sweet spanish lady from our church. Half the funeral was in spanish the other half english. It was a huge funeral which we knew it would be as everyone loves the family.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching. Hopefully this piece will be done mid week.

Barnyard Kitten Start

Good Evening. I laid down the flowers for a week or two to get this piece going. One of the workers at Faithful2Felines asked me to do a cat piece to sell at the Open House we are having next month. So I thought I better lay down the flowers and do this so she has time to frame it.

This weekend is Unity weekend here in our town. It's a Christan Music Festival that goes from Wed.-Sat. and brings in thousands of people. While I like Christian Contemporary Music I hate crowds and loud music so I tend to stay away from it. I did go one year and it was fine. It draws huge crowds to our city.

My sister is coming in Friday for the weekend. So it'll be a busy weekend. I love it when she comes and hate it when she leaves.

We are having Bible School this week at our church. I worked at it Monday but they had more workers then kids. That's not good, so I decided they didn't need me. It was so unorganized Monday at first. We were told to be there at noon and Bible School would run from 12:30 to 3:30. The people doing the Bible School didn't show up until 12:45. At first we thought we'd have to wing it and then call CEF to see what happened. They thought it was 1. Either way they should have been there earlier, giving us some direction as to what they were expecting. Oh well.... the kids seemed to have fun and learn so that's the main thing.

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

Progress on Summer Flowers

Good morning! I thought I would share the progress I made on these this past week. I love stitching these. I'm thinking these will be done early next week.

Remember I mentioned in my last post about a potluck at church and Pastor asked everyone to bring a big dish to pass. Well everyone did. I made a huge bowl of macaroni salad. Problem was so did 2 other people. Oh well....we had had plenty of food, and I had enough macaroni salad left over for the next 3 days, throwing away what was left. Considering there was so much macaroni salad there I was satisfied with what was taken at the potluck. We did vote on our Worship directors and they will be moving here from AZ in the next couple weeks. They want to get up here so they can get their two children in school at the start of the school year.

My niece and her husband and two boys are now in Sweden until next August. They seem to be doing okay.

One of our favorite cats at Faithful to Felines and his brother finally got adopted this past week. We are so happy for Felix and Fester, both are nice cats. Fester was the quiet, lay back one, sort of shy and that's why they wanted them adopted together, also they had been together since birth. Felix was a loveable little character. Always scratching at his room door to get out, going to anyone who would pay attention to him. He often was my little escort. He also was full of mischief and personality. We just loved him. He probably would have been adopted long ago but he and Fester had to be adopted together and not too many people want two new cats. We just hope they get all the love and attention they deserve.

Next week is a busy week as we are having Bible School at church, and plus other things will be going on so not much stitching will be done. I do hope to start a small cat piece to be sold in Sept. when we have our open house at Faithful to Felines. They asked me to do one.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Butterfly Baby Finished

Good Afternoon! It's a beautiful summer day out there. I finished this piece earlier today. It was so much fun to stitch. So bright and cheery! It also was easy. This will go to either Love Quilts or my youngest great niece, Holly. I'll ask Holly's mother if she wants it. Now I'm doing Summer Flowers by Stoney Creek. It's from the same book Spring flowers were from and much the same colors as those. It'll go to my nephew's wife, Chrissy. She asked me to do some flowers for her.

Last Friday I got to spend the day in Rockford with my nieces, Heather and Michelle. Michelle was here from CO with her two little boys. All 4 kids were so much fun. We made cookies and I think the kids liked the cookie dough more than the cookie! I wish I could have gone up north to the cabin with all of them for the week. My sister and brother in law rented a cabin since they couldn't get a campsite like they would have preferred. Michelle, Heather, their husbands and children, and Bryan and his wife and children are all up there. Fun and noisy! Three of the children are 4 year old boys, and another boy is 5. The two girls are 7 and 1. They've been posting pictures on facebook so they are fun to see.

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

Off and running!

Good evening! After struggling so on the Disney Car I decided to do something easy, fun, and cheery. The colors on the Disney car were so dark and drab and so much confetti stitching drove me crazy. This piece is by Stoney Creek and for being Stoney Creek is fast and easy. I've worked on it about 12 hours and just about half done. I like these babies. I may do one other one right after this one is done. Then I'll see if I can find the seasonal flower book and do summer flowers from it. I'm doing easy pieces for the rest of this month. In Aug. I'll pick up America again.

I am looking forward to seeing my nieces and their children tomorrow. Right now I'm nervous about my brother's car making it but I know once we get on the road I'll laugh at how silly my fears are. I always do.

Also tomorrow another niece, Melissa, is being induced. The baby isn't due until Aug. but something in her blood work made them want to induce tomorrow. It's only a couple weeks early as she is due Aug.4. So much for my brother hoping he would be born on his birthday. Melissa and John have Johnny 8 and Katelyn 5. They also have a 6 year old foster daughter who they hope to adopt. This baby is a boy. It just seems like yesterday I posted that Johnny was born and he's 8 now! Man time goes by fast!

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Doc Hudson is Finished!!!!!

I finished this late yesterday afternoon. I am so happy it's done. This was a hard piece to do, but I'm happy I stuck with it. Now I'm doing a Butterfly baby from Stoney Creek's Bug Babies Book. I'm doing some easy pieces for a little while

Well....until next time happy stitching!

Trying to beat the storms

So this is progress on Doc Hudson. It is now half done and I hope the next half goes quicker then this half did.

Well I had a lot to say but I hear the thunder and the lightning flashed so better get off computer. Until next time Happy Stitching!

This looks like a mess but will be....

Good Evening everyone! I've been able to stitch quite a bit the last 2 days, thanks to my eye doing somewhat better. It looks like a mess right now but I'm hoping it resembles a car. It is a Disney Car....Doc Hudson, but right now you can't tell it. It will go to my great nephew, Wyatt. When it's done I'll mail this and Aubrey's Lady Bug piece to their mother. She'll either frame it or have it sewn into something for them.

I finally gave in and went back to eye dr. this week. The good news was it isn't an infection and the implant is fine. He could tell something was irritating my eyes though and they were sore but he doesn't know why. I asked if it was an allergy and that's why my eyes were so runny. He said no the eyes were runny because of the irritation. Anyway he gave me some eye drops to take for 2 weeks and hopefully that will clear things up and no more problems. I hope.

Now that the weather is warm the flowers in my garden are coming up and pretty. Well most of them are pretty. There are some that are really ugly. I'd like to get rid of those. I have to find out if those are flowers or weeds. If weeds they are going for sure. If flowers maybe at end of season I'll dig them out and plant something else. I didn't plant the flowers actually I'm allergic to flowers, especially roses and there are a couple of rose bushes out there. I still think that's part of my eye problem but we'll see. The roses are pretty, and I figure as long as they are outside and I don't have the sliding door open should be fine. The lady that lived here before me planted the flowers. Now I get to take care of them. I love watching them bloom.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

A very quick finish

I loved doing this piece. I think it's so pretty. It stitched up really fast, done in about 12 hours.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Finished! Spring Flowers

I loved doing these. They were so much fun and so pretty. For sure I will be doing the other 3 patterns in the book. Now I'm doing Believe by Stoney Creek. I hope to do a car pattern for my great nephew, Wyatt after this piece.

I am starting to wish I never had the cataract surgery. The first one was a piece of cake but this one, it's been about 2 months and I'm still having problems with my eye!

Last Friday my brother, sister-in-law and I went up to Hesperia and met up with our aunt and uncle. It was a lot of fun. We also stopped at an Amish store that was really fun. I could really spend a lot of money in there.

It seems nice to have the warmer weather here to stay. I have never had a garden before but the lady that lived here did have a small garden. I'm trying to keep it up. It does look like the lilacs are dying now, so I'm going to need to cut them down. I'm home the rose bushes produce roses even though I'm allergic to them. We'll see...

Well...until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Spring Flowers

Good Morning! It looks like it's going to be a nice sunny day out there. I finally turned on my air conditioner for the summer I think. So good bye low electric bills for the summer. Although they say they are not too high here......we'll see. These apartments are smaller then Carriage House but I still say bigger then most apartments.

How was everyone's Memorial Day Weekend? Mine was nice and quiet. This Friday is when my brothers and I are going up to the cematary where our parents are buried. We'll meet our aunt and uncle up there and then go out to eat. Wonder if the restaurant will have their anniversary. Last year we went up in April I think it was. And the restaurant was having their 11th anniversary. We all are fish eaters and were luck enough to get 10 pieces of smelt for $1.10 I forgot if potatoes and vegetables were included. Anyway for 7 adults my uncle only paid $25.00. Now that was a cheap meal.

I love stitching this piece. It is so pretty. I have to lay it down every so often because my eye is still having problems especially in the sun. And I live on the side the sun beams in. In a way it's nice because you get so much light compared to the apartments across the hall who have the trees. But you don't get to enjoy the fresh air or feel the wind as much on this side because there are no trees so air conditioners go on and electric bills go up. This piece will go to Quilts for Older Children and Adults. Then I think they are sending it to to Love Quilts, Brazil. There are four different flower patterns in this book and they are all so pretty. (One for each season) I think in time I may do them all.

Thank you for reading my blog and making comments. Also thank you for following my blog. I see I'm getting more followers and I appreciate that. Some people have such nice blogs and chat about almost anything and make it interesting. I'm jealous of those people, but I sure enjoy their blogs.

Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

A Very Quick Finish

This was one of the quickest finishes I have ever done. Especially when you consider I had to frog half the lettering because I read the pattern wrong and did it in wrong color. Fortunately it came out easy. After I had the border completely done....I discovered one of the two colors in the border was wrong. See it's the designers fault for confusing me! She used two different color schemes and actually 924 was suppose to go with 3726 or 3802 was suppose to go with 991. I used 3802 and 924 together! I almost did the lettering in 991 but discovered that and frogged half of the lettering to right color. Like I said designers fault for confusing me . That's my story and I'm sticking to it! LOL!

Thank you for reading my blog and for your comments. I really appreciate them.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Lady Bug Baby is finished

Good Morning! I finished this past about 3 hours ago. I had very little to do on it this morning. Last night I was just too tired to finish it. I'm happy with it. Of the EMS Animal babies I've done, this was the easiest and quickest to do. It was a fun stitch too. When these animals first came out and they were free I thought they were the dumbest things and I would never do them. Now we have to pay for them and I love them. When they first came out they had pacifiers in their mouths, I think that is what I didn't like about them. This one will go to one of my great nieces. It'll be made into a pillow or a blanket, or wall hanging for one of them.

Now I'm doing Housework by My Big Toe Designs. This looks like it's going to be a quick finish. I saw this pattern and I had to get it. It is so me. It just called out my name and said it was worth falling off the wagon for. And since I fell off the wagon anyway I bought about 5 or 6 or 7 other patterns. Although most of those I had someone in mind for.

Anyone watch Dancing with the Stars? I was so mad at myself last night, I fell asleep after Noah danced woke up to see his second dance and fell back to sleep again. I saw portions of last night one GMA and looked like it was good. Wonder who will win? In a way I think Amercan sentiment is with Noah, but those other two are really good dancers.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Lady Bug Baby Started

Good morning. After a few cold days we are finally starting to warm back up to 60 today and warmer as the week heads on.

I started this piece for my great niece, Aubrielle, as her mother always calls her her lady bug and has several lady bug things in her room. It's really going quite well. I am happy to have the head all finished.

Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

May Turtle Trot

Good Evening and Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there. I'm not a mother except to my cat but my brother's family took my brother, Tim, and I out to a late dinner. We went to Handsome Henry's. That's a different name for a restaurant. I got a delicious perch sandwich. There were 13 of us altogether when you count 19 month old Trice and 11 day old Ryker. All 5 of the kids did really good. Afterwards I went to my brother's with my two nieces and it was fun. So it was a good day.

Now the first picture is where I'm at on America. I'm sorry it's crooked and I don't know how to piece it together so you won't be getting the whole picture until it's finished some year.

This piece is one I sta orted a few years ago and dug it out to stitch further on. The fox and also the owl piece I'm showing next are from the same Stoney Creek book. Here is the Owl.

I also started Ladybug Baby by EMS today. That one seems to be going fast.

Remember I said in my last post I fell off the wagon. Well later yesterday I got 3 of the books I ordered. I can't wait to get the others. Like I said I probably will be having a lot of new starts.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching and hope you mothers out there had a good day.

Diamond Head is finished

good afternoon I finished Diamond Head late this afternoon! I was happy to get it done and I'm happy with it I think. It really went sort of fast considering I had problems with my eye and didn't stitch on it that much a day. Tomorrow after church I'll get out the Lady Bug Baby by EMS and get her going good. All the thread has come in now so I can get going good. I don't know why but no matter how much DMC floss I have I always need a number I don't have or ran out of!

I fell off the wagon. I ordered 7 pattern books this past week. Three of them came in today. Most of them will be done for either charity or family. But the other day someone posted a couple of patterns by My Big Toe. One was a friendship one which I'll do for a friend. But the other one is Mine! It said Housework a waste of good stitching time! I had to get it for myself. It's in the mail on it's way to me and I can't wait to get it. I really can't wait to get started on most of the patterns I ordered. I just may have a bunch of starts in my next few posts!

Well....Saturn slept most of the afternoon....I get on the computer and he's now on the floor looking at me wanting me to get off computer. Soon he'll be on keyboard. So until next time....Happy Stitching! Oh I'll post my TT pieces tomorrow.

Diamond Head

Good Afternoon! I know I said I was going to do a Lady Bug piece for my great niece. But I was looking at the May Love Quilts kids and I had to do one for this little boy. He chose Hawaii as his theme. I have very few Hawaiian patterns but I found this from a very old book. (Maybe one of the first ones I bought and never did anything from it until now.) I'm happy with it so far. I think my stitching has improved since the eye surgery even though I am having problems with the eye. (I can't wait to see eye dr. on Thurs.)

Thank you for reading my blog and for all your comments. I really do appreciate them. I love reading everyone's blogs.

Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Progress on America

Good Afternoon. I made some progress on this piece. I know I scanned it crooked. Sorry about that. I thought I would have more done on it than this but my eyes have been giving me problems so it's been slow going. This morning I laid it down to do an easier piece. I'm doing Lady Bug Baby by Ellen Mauer-Strohl. It looks like it will go easy. I am trying to get ornaments done and larger pictures done for some of the great nieces and nephews. The lady bug baby will probably go to 1 year old Aubrielle.

Speaking of great nieces and nephews. No. 20 was born Wed. They named him Ryker. I know it's a little different but I've heard the name a few times and really like it. So now I have 11 great nephews (no 12 due in Aug.) and 9 great nieces.

Today is Addie's (one of my great nieces) birthday. Tomorrow she is having a big birthday party with her school friends and girl cousins at the gymnastics club she's a member of. Hard to believe she's growing up so fast. She won't be a little girl much longer.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Page 6 of America Finished-12 pages to go!

Good Morning! It's early but I'm already up and about. My sister is here for a couple of days. Later today we'll go do some shopping! I need some DMC floss. I guess I'll be making a trip to the eye dr. I'm having problems with keeping my eyes open and they are a little red and draining. The eye dr. said I may have to do drops after all. I was hoping not but guess I will be.

I made a lot of progress on America the last few days. I've started page 9 but it's laid down until Friday morning now.

What is it with my cat and chewing on cords! He's really been determined this morning especially. Usually he'll try to chew on a cord if he wants me off the computer. I think he was just being naughty because Kay is here and slept on the couch last night. He likes the couch part of the night and with me the rest of the night. Last night he was with me all night. I think I need to buy a squirt bottle to spray him with water when starts chewing on a cord rather computer, or lamp.

Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Back to America

Good Morning. It's a nice April day out there. We are enjoying this spring winter. Today is suppose to hit 70 for first time this year. Next week will be another cooling off, but we'll enjoy this weekend.

I have gone back to stitching on America. I am happy with the progress I have made on it these last few days. I will be finishing off this page probably next week. Then I can start the 5th page. The rest of this page looks like it will go easy as there isn't quite so much diddly-squat stitching. I call just doing 1 or 2 stitches of a color diddly-squat. There is some confetti stitching left on the page but I can deal with that.

Next week my sister will be coming to town for a couple of days. It's been a couple of months since she's been here so I'm anxious to see her again.

Well...until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Turtle Trot and a finish

Good afternoon. It is the 10th of the month and this month I have 1 TT progress for sure and since I had said the Ornaments and Flat folds would be one of my 10 projects I have finished Here Comes Santa Claus. I'm enjoying doing these smaller pieces for the kids.

Also I have made progress on the Lilacs which will go to Quilts for Older Children and adults. This piece is proving to be more difficult then I contmeplated but I have until Nov. 30th to get it done. I'd like to finish it sometime this spring or summer and then do the 3rd challenge piece.

How was your Easter? Mine was good. After church I went to my niece's house and had dinner with her family. My brother and sister-in-law and another niece and her family was there too. Christina's baby is due end of this month and she's really popping out. She's hoping to have it on our mom's birthday if not before. She has an 18 month old, Trice who is a doll. He's a smart baby too. And of course, Johnny and Katelyn were there. I played Memory with Katelyn and lost every game but one, that one we tied. Man it's humbling to loose to a 5 year-old. They also have a foster daughter living with them. So there were 4 kids and us adults.

Tomorrow I plan to pick America back up and do some work on it. I haven't picked it up in a couple of months.

Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Spring Showers

I finished this piece last week but wasn't able to put it on here until tonight. With all the rain we are getting this week, this piece is very appropriate. It really was a fun piece to do. It is going to WOCS well actually they have it now. I'm not sure if it's going to a quilt or what it's going to be made into.

Currently I am stitching Here Comes Santa Claus by Lizzie Kate. It's a piece I've eyed for several years and thought it would be great for the little ones ornament pieces or flat folds or whatever we make some of the pieces into. I'm thinking it'll be done Friday. I haven't been doing too well on my TT pieces. But I will have one piece to show. Plus the pieces for ornaments and for quilts were part of the 10 so I'll have 2 or 3 finishes. I do plan to pick America by Mystic Stitch back up after this piece. I'm anxious to get back to it.

Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Happy to have scanner working!

Good afternoon!
I finally called Geek Squad and they showed me how to get my scanner working again and made sure I had no viruses in the computer. My cat was so funny. He made sure he got as much attention from the guy. Fortunately he was an animal lover and very tolerant of Saturn, even provoking him at times.

Anyway I did this piece for my 2 year old great niece who asked for a Minnie Mouse ornament. So here it is.

I haven't added a picture of Saturn in a long time so I'm uploading one today.

Currently, I'm stitch a small Here Comes Santa piece for the ornaments this summer. It's a picture of santa skating.

I had my cataract surgery yesterday. It wasn't as easy as the first one was. It wasn't bad but not the piece of cake I expected. I'm glad it's over with.

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

Going back in Time

Good afternoon! It is raining out. Maybe the rain will get rid of the remaining of the snowbanks. Hopefully. It's been in the upper 40's and 50's even 60 yesterday so they melted down a lot.
I have a problem, my computer and scanner will not communicate with each other. I have unplugged the printer/scanner and that hasn't helped. I've gone to search typed in printers, and checked HP7520 series which usually does the trick. Well it's not. This time instead of saying no computer found in beginning it lets me do the preliminary scanning fine, but then when I go to scan it the final time it spins for a while then says No computer found. Anyway I'm frustrated. So yesterday I had my brother come over with his camera and he took pictures of my cat and the piece. And when he went to put them into the computer he couldn't do it! Frustrating! So I hope I can have a friend come over next week and reload the printer/scanner. Otherwise rather I want to or not I will be buying a new printer....Grrrr....this one isn't a year old or barely a year.

So what I've done is found some pieces that were done before I started blogging and just posting them when I feel like blogging. That way no one thinks I've dropped off the face of the earth. Oh by the way, I doubt I will be able to post my TT progress on 10th of April unless Debbie can fix my problem. I don't know if some bug got into them. Maybe I should call Geek Squad and have them see. I even tried trouble shooting and they aren't finding a problem. Anyway this piece I did a few years ago for Love Quilts. It was a fun piece to do.

What are your plans for Easter? I'll go to church and then go to my niece's afterwards. My sister is flying to CO today to see her oldest daughter and family for a week. Her youngest daughter and her family are leaving for FL Sat. His mother won some money, and with the money is taking all 5 of her children and their families to Disney World. The children are so excited. They'll have fun. They are a very close knit family all live within 5 miles of each other. I lost count of how many children but I dare say there are about 7 of them between the ages of 6 and 9. About 4 older, and about 6 younger. Okay I may be exagerrating a little but not by much.

Our church has been sprucing up for Easter. We have a new pastor and he has big plans for Easter Sunday so I'm looking forward to it. They are going to have Easter Lillies which makes me nervous as I'm allergic to them, but if I have a problem I will go to the foyer and listen back there. I don't feel like missing church because of them.

Well....Have a Happy Easter everyone! Until next time....Happy Stitching! Hopefully I will have my comper/scanner problem taken care of by then.