A Start and a UFO I dug out

Good afternoon! I just got home from visiting my niece's church and seeing their children singing with other children. They did a good job.

Stitching for me has been a struggle this month. I struggled through a Mickey Mouse-Minnie Mouse piece and ended up throwing it away. It was a mess and I was in no mood to frog all that had to be taken out. So I got out this piece I did a few years ago and my sister asked me to do it for her daughter, she'll make it into an apron. I am really happy with this piece and I love working with Gentle Arts Threads, I love seeing the different shades. This piece only took about 3 days to do.

I dug out an old UFO piece I started about 6 or 7 years ago to finish up. It's a Christmas piece that I think is so pretty when done. It's so pretty, I hope to finish it this year. My mom loved Cardinals so I'm thinking of her as I do it.

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

Happy Happy Dance! Live Today is Finished

Good evening! I finally have completed Live Today! There were many times I wondered if it would ever get done and even thought about just putting it away, but I'm glad I stuck to it. It will go out in the mail Sat. to a friend.

I have kitted up a much easier Mickey Mouse Minnie Mouse piece for a friend who likes Walt Disney Characters. I'll start it tomorrow.

If the weather is descent and my sister doesn't get mandated to work Sat. morning then she will be coming to town. So guess I better get some housework done. It really doesn't take that much to clean an one bedroom apartment.

Anyone have plans for Thanksgiving? We're going to my nieces house.

Have a Happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Last Update on Live Today

Good afternoon!
Well I'm full after having our annual Harvest Dinner at church. As usual it was good. We had plenty of food.

This piece is finally coming to the finish line after 3 months of working on it. It's taking much longer then I planned and there were times I wished I wouldn't have tackled it especially that basket, other times I vowed it would have an accident with the scissors but I perseveered and it's all paying off. I'm glad I stuck to it. Hopefully it will go out in the mail end of the week. Then I can look for a small fall or harvest piece to do and Dec. start Christmas stitching.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching.

I know it's been over a month I'm a bad blogger

I have an excuse.....well sort of. I lost my stitching mojo for a while and I don't blog unless I have stitching to share. Then when I got it back I had problems with my computer and scanner. Finally with the help with a couple online friends I figured out how to find the scanned pictures. Saturday I do have someone coming to look at my other computer issues.

October until this week was really very warm and dry. I was looking forward to the cooler weather, now we have it and I want some of the warmth back earlier Oct. had. Not as warm but a little warmer would be fine. Because it was so dry we really have very little color to the leaves, most of them were so dry, that when we had the winds, they just fell of. Disappointing...Hopefully next year will be dryer.

Saturn was sick for a little while and I took him to the Vet. He had fleas. He's indoor only and I never had a cat get fleas. We figured that since I got into the Intake room at the shelter (even though I wasn't suppose to) a flea jumped from one of the cats to me and I brought it home. I ended up flea bombing the apartment. Saturn got to the point he wouldn't even walk on the floor except to go to use his kitty litter once he felt better and started eating again. The Vet said he'd walk on all the furniture and would not walk on the floor. I even fed him on the coffee table. But sorry the kitty litter wasn't going there. He's much better now back to himself and is trying to get me off the computer and pay attention to him.

I am enjoying BSF this year. We are studying the book of Romans, my favorite book.

At the cat shelter things are finally picking up. The summer months were slow. I think we have had as many cats adopted in Oct. as we did in July, Aug., Sept. put together. It has helped that we are now able to adopt out our cats at two other places on Sat. (Petco which we always did although we've had so many kittens this year over 200 we adopt the kittens out from Petco. Once they are adopted out the cats will go there.) Tractor Supply is new to us this year and they allow us to adopt out cats and kittens on weekends.

Speaking of cats, please if you are going to have a cat or dog for that matter, please realize it is a life time commitment. Yes unexpected things come up, but please don't dump the animals off somewhere....take them to an Animal Shelter preferably no kill. Granted sometimes they can't take the animal right then, but if you hold them long enough they will be able to accept them in time. We adopted out our little Quinsy and after a week the owners decided he wasn't a good match. Rather then return him to us like they were suppose to (and yes we take them right away if adopted out to us), they just let him fend for himself on a busy highway. A neighbor was feeding him. When we heard fliers were put out and the neighbor called us. A trap was set, Quincy went right into the trap and was so happy to see Melody (who set the trap). She brought him back to the shelter and he is very happy to be back. Needless to say those people are on our Do Not Adopt list. Okay I'm off my soapbox!

Thanks to Younkers and a good yard sell we had earlier this month money is coming in for us to stay afloat. We had so many kittens and their mothers this year it nearly broke us and money was very tight. Younkers has Community Days coming up and we get to sell coupon books for a $5.00 donation, the shelter gets the $5.00 and there are lots of coupons for the person to use. We've sold close to 100 books and there is still a couple of weeks left.

Friday it will be 3 years to my mom passed away. Last month it was 4 years that my dad passed away. Needless to say Sept. and Oct. are hard months. We really miss them.

Well until next time.....Happy Stitching. Eventually this piece will be done but it still has a ways to go yet.

He Gives Us Peace is done

Good Afternoon! It's a cloudy cool day here, possibly more rain coming. August is usually a hot month but this year has been rather cool. I even turned off my air conditioning and opened the sliding door to get fresh air in. Later this afternoon my sister will arrive. This will be her last visit until Oct. now but that's not that far away.

I just got home from Physical Therapy. One more session in mid Sept. and to get exercises to do at home. I could do more but the out of pocket cost is just too much to continue on. It's doing some good so as long as I keep doing the things at home I should be okay. The headaches and neck pain has subsided and even the light headedness is getting better.

I finished this piece the other day. It was fun and I enjoyed stitching it but was so intricate. It will go to a teenage girl at Love Quilts who chose Religious as theme of her quilt. The piece I'm working on now is from the same book but not as difficult to stitch. It's called Live Today also by Stoney Creek. My last 4 pieces have been by Stoney Creek. You think I like their designs? I think I'm done close to 100 SC pieces.

When my sister gets here we're going to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday (it was last Monday the 14th). I'm trying to decide where I want to go....I'm so picky.

Well until next time....Happy Stitching!

Update on He Gives Us Peace

Good afternoon! I thought I would give an update on this piece. I'm enjoying this piece but I think I will retire the pattern when it's done. It's a cute piece but not the easiest to do. The next piece I am doing is also from this book called Cherish Yesterday.... I love this book I've done several pieces from it and will do at least 3 more.

Next weekend I'm going to try my hand at painting. The cat shelter is having Painting for Paws and usually I don't do it but this year I am. I figure if I have to spend all this money to get a tooth pulled, and for Physical Therapy then I'm spending money on something fun or will it be stressful. And since my birthday is in about 9 days I plan to order some CS patterns! I know I'm being naughty and will probably regret it when I get the credit card bill. I know I'll regret it I should say.

My niece and her 2 boys are here from NC for a couple of weeks. Imagine driving up here by yourself with a 2 year old and 3 year old! She's braver then most of us. But she's young too. She said the first day was rough but the second day was much better. I got to see them earlier this week and will see them sometime this coming up week. Next weekend they are all going to Unity Festival. I stay away from it. It's a Christian Music Festival we've had in town a few years now. I went one day one year and did not like it. The music was too loud and too many people. But most of my friends and the family here in town are going.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Follow Your Dreams Finished

Good afternoon! I finished this piece earlier this afternoon. I loved every minute of stitching on it. Now I have started a free pattern I found on line by Gloria and Pat. It's a Patriotic Precious Moments piece that is so cute. It's a boy holding the flag and his dog is there. It's going quite well so far. I'm surprised at how fast it is going but I barely started it so better not speak too soon.

Anyone have special plans for the 4th of July? I really don't so I'll spend the day relaxing and stitching! We never made a big deal out of the fourth. Although we did go to fireworks that night and I do miss that. Now days people are shooting fireworks off in their neighborhood and although it's not allowed in our apartment complex people very close by do shoot them and we hear them at night.

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

Finished John 3:16

Good afternoon. I finished this piece about an hour ago. And I have kitted up Behold the Lamb that was in Mar.-Apr. 2015 issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. I saw it on a post on 123 stitch and I had to have it so ordered it. I'm anxious to start it. A friend from long ago asked for this John 3:16 piece to give to her mother who is a retired missionary and recently widowed. I hope they like it. Unfortunately I am not perfect and my stitching is far from perfect. But it'll look better in a frame.

This year has been busy at the cat shelter. We already had over 50 cats find their forever homes, a couple were retunred because they didn't work with the other cat in the house but that happens.

Anyone have special plans for Easter? I'm not sure what we're doing....I may just buy a ham and have my brother come here, unless our other brother has us over. We don't always know until a couple days before.

I am so anxious to start seeing flowers in the garden. Some are just barely blooming. I love this time of the year.

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

Finally Finished

Good evening. Well it's early evening. I just finished Today I shall Live in Faith late this afternoon. Man those butterflies were hard. I was so happy to finish the piece. Tomorrow my sister in law will pick it up and it will be made into a pillow and our local Child Evangelism Fellowship can sell it at a craft sell this Sat.

Last Saturday I went out to eat with my brother and sister in law and my niece and her family. We celebrated Melissa's birthday. Afterwards we went to Melissa and John's house. I played 3 different games with little Katelyn (7) and of course I lost them all.

It looks like spring may be coming in. There isn't any snow in the forecast and they say now through June it's suppose to be warmer then average. Good. I was really sick of the snow.

There isn't much happening right now so until next time.....Happy Stitching!

First finish of 2017

Good Afternoon. I have finally gotten my stitching mojo back. I laid down America for now....I just couldn't get into it and picked up this piece. It's part of Kitty in Window Seasonal series by Eileen Gurak of HandBlessings. I really liked doing this piece and will do the other 3 in their appropriate seasons this year.

I'm now doing a kit that I had called Today I will Live with Faith. It is so pretty, it has 3 butterflies, and I love the colors. It is not going to be an easy piece to do but it's going okay. The pattern is a little small and hard to make out with all the backstitch lines but I have my magnifying glass handy and that's helping a lot.

I babysat my brother's cat, Snowball, for a little over a week while my brother was in hospital. I just couldn't leave her home so I had a friend help me and we brought her here. Things really went better than I anticipated. Before when I attempted to have her here things went so poorly that I had friends come and take her. This time Snowball and Saturn were pretty good. There was very little hissing and growling. I kept Snowball in a kennel when Saturn was roaming around the apartment but when he went into the bedroom to sleep for awhile Snowball let me know by meowing and looking towards the bedroom. It was so cute, and of course she was let out. Both Snowball and Saturn figured out how to open the bedroom door so I did have to watch for that. I really think had I had her a couple days longer though she wouldn't need the kennel as the two were getting along, even kissing each other.

There is a lot of flu and colds going around here. That's the problem with mild winters, everyone seems to get sick. So far I've been lucky but so many of my friends have gotten sick I'm surprised I haven't caught anything from them. Knock on wood.

Things are going great at the cat shelter. We saw a lot of cats go out and unfortunately many have come in. We are filled to the max right now so need to get the cats adopted out. In Feb. our FIV cats and black cats were only $25.00. The black cats sold pretty good we have a few left. People are afraid of the stigma of FIV cats. They are afraid they'll catch the Aids virus from the cat and no they can't. However we do not encourage people with young children to see the cats because young children do have a lower immune system then us adults. We don't encourage people with other cats in house either but some have adopted them and things are going well. Just because they have the virus does not mean they will get aids and it's not a death sentence for the cat. If kept inside the cat can live long healthy lives. Though we do encourage taking them to the vet at least once a year and if they do get the sniffles or eye infection, uti, or other things take them to vet immediately. We've had the room for almost 18 months and all the cats we've had in there are still doing very well. It's some of our other cats that were healthy that got sick and died, but that's only been a few. And now we have a new Vet who keeps right on top of our cats. Like adults, the cats are getting colds and sniffles and our sick room is full. But then we just had 10 cats brought in to us from a hoarding situation 8 of them were sick. But they are all doing better.

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

I am still alive and stitching.....sometimes

I know it's been a while. I just haven't gotten into stitching like I use to. It took me over a month to do a half page. I think it's because of the colors in the Empire State Building are so dull. The more interesting colors are coming up so it should go faster now. I thought for sure this page would be done and I'd be into the last section by now.
January was sort of an uneventful month not much happened. So there really hasn't been anything to blog about.
So until next time....Happy stitching.