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.

Smile!

Hello! I hope everyone had a good week. Well...after several days of stitching on a skier I ended up throwing it away. It just was not coming together at all. So I got out this piece yesterday and started stitching it. It is for a quilt with Inspirational words for Love Quilts. We are seeing much more of the sun the snow is slowly melting. And I mean very S-L-O-W-L-Y but that's okay we had so much snow if it melted too fast we'd have floods. My mom is hoping to go home next week. She has improved so much she's pretty much back to herself and we didn't think that would ever happen. I am definitely getting anxious for spring. I don't know why as I'm already sneezing a lot so hope that isn't a bad omen that allergies will be bad this year. But I love spring. Everything is so fresh and new and the flowers are so pretty! I'm also in the mood to start some spring cleaning in the apartment. I'll start next week. Well.....until next time Happy Stitching!

Finish no. 40

Good Evening! I finished this piece earlier this afternoon. It was a fun piece to do. I am now only 10 away from the 50 mark! I think I am on a Stoney Creek kick as several of my last few have been their patterns and at least 2 in the next few I'm doing is also by them. My next piece is a skiing piece being done for Love Quilts. They are asking for boy pieces so I'm doing this one. It looks like there will be a warm up this week and we will have some of our snow melting. That will be nice. There isn't much to say. So until next time....Happy Stitching!

Start No. 40

This adorable Sea Otter is being stitched for Cross Stitch Addicts for Love Quilts. The Quilt will feature Stoney Creek's Sea Babies. That is going to be one adorable quilt. I love stitching on this and it's about half done now. I may just have to buy this book! I am only 10 away from the 50 mark although I may add a few more as I bought some patters intending to do them for others and so far haven't. Most of them will be done eventurally but some of them were not what I expected them to be We have had so much snow in Feb. we broke the records for the amount of snow fall in month of Feb. That is not including the storm we are in middle of now, but it's not a bad storm. I know it's selfish but I am sort of hoping that BSF is cancelled tomorrow. We'll see. My mom is doing much better as far as her confusion. She's almost back to normal. Unfortunately she has to stay in Isolation until Tuesday because of her infection. Hopefully on Tues. the blood test will show it's clear and she can go back to a regular room. We think she'll be happier then. None of us would like being confined to that room we don't blame her for being unhappy there. Well until next time....Happy Stitching! st

PM PIlot is finished

It is finished! I finished the pilot earlier this morning. It's a cute piece but I'm glad it's done. Now I'm doing the baby sea otter for Love Quilts. Its a quilt we are doing at CSA for Love Quilts. It's going pretty good and I'm so anxious to see it progress. I saw my mom today and she is slowly improving. She isn't nearly as confused as she was and she didn't choke on her food. So it was a nice visit. Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Update on PM Pilot

I stitched quite a bit on this this past week and am happy with the progress. It gets a little tedius at times, especially the plane as there is so much 225 in it but I take a break from it from time to time to do other parts of the piece, that's why it looks a little funny. Typical of PM pieces once I get the hair and face done the rest goes failry easy. I went up to see my mom today not sure what to think. She has been moved to a private room because her bladder infection is back again! We think they need to keep her on the antibiotic longer than what they are. She's also still confused and has a hard time swallowing. She chokes on her food so she doesn't want to eat. My fear is since they don't watch her eat if she chokes when she's eating and no family menmber is there, she may aspirate. She really eats very little. My sister thinks she's being stubborn I really don't know, if I choked every time I ate, I may not want to eat either. I do feel she's sort of mean and I don't like that. But so much of the way she's acting is not her, she'd be so embarassed if she knew what all she was saying. She always was short tempered with dad and I and dad, he just takes it rolls off his sleeve, me, I'll get after her. I sort of did that today when she got mean to dad. Even though we were never close it's hard to see her like this. We never fought or anything but we were never close. We always knew one of these days winter would gang up on us and collect for being so nice to us for one winter and half of the other. We've had so many storms in Feb. We can't wait until winter is over. Is it spring yet? Well....Until next time Happy Stitching!

Splish Splash Pillow

A few months ago I made this piece for two of my great nephews, (Nick and Chase who live in CO). I had my sister make it into a pillow so she did and then sent it out to the boys. My niece says they really like it and like the fact their grandma made the pillow part. Well, 3 year old Nick does. Chase is a little too young yet but he likes the animals on it. Oh I almost forgot it was Valentines Day so Happy Valentines Day everyone. I had wanted to do a Valentines piece for got involved in other projects instead. In the next day or two I'll update the PM Pilot one. It's moving along fine now that the worst of it is done. We moved my mom to the Nursing Home on Tuesday. She's just really confused but doing okay. She doesn't want my dad to leave her but he has to go home and get other things done sometimes. We are hoping the confusion will past but we're not too optimistic. Perhaps once she settles in she'll calm down a little. Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Back to PM Pilot

For now I have returned to the Precious Moments Pilot. There is a lot of 225 in the plane especially since I am revising the plane and not doing the words on it so it'll be all pink. Both Love Quilts and Sandy Hook Project are asking for pieces for boys so I went through my books and found some pieces. I am anxious to get going on a couple of pieces for Love Quilts. Love Quilts is my first priority and Sandy Hook Project comes second. Plus I have until Aug. on the Sandy Hook Projects. I figure if I do 7 or 8 projects for Sandy Hook Project I'll be doing good. We got hit hard by a winter storm Wed. night and Thursday and my sister drove through it from the other side of the state. She said it was nice until she hit Grand Rapids then the weather was terrible and sort of crawled between 35 and 40 miles per hour that's all the faster anyone left. She left yesterday and will be back on Tues. We are trying something new for the Food Pantry at church. Once a month someone from the food pantry will go up front and promote it then tell the people about drawing something from the basket and what ever is written on the card is what they are to bring. It may be 2 cans of spaghetti o's, etc. Oatmeal is just one. We are hoping that will keep the people involved in the food pantry. They come through big time when we have a drive but rest of year they tend to forget about us. Although someone recently gave us $1800 and then we got a grant for a local hospital, and smaller sums of money have come in. The money we save to use at Feeding America as we can get things so much cheaper from them. Our only problem is they only have certain things although this year I've noticed more items. That reminds me I have to put an order in to them tomorrow and it's a big order. Anyway we were really pleased with the amount of cards that people took now hopefully they'll bring the food in. We really need spaghetti o's and raviolli's really bad oh and pancake mixes, so we'll see. Well until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Another finish

Hello! This time I have a finish that really didn't take that long to do. Maybe about 20 hours altogether. It was a fun, easy stitch. A nice break from what I had been doing, and very colorful. More color than I really like but this was a fast moving, fun piece so it didn't bother me much. This piece will go to the Sandy Hook project. Rather it will go to the school quilt or one of the teachers I don't know. Most of the squares I do for this project I'm letting the leaders choose where to put the squares except for the Music Speaks piece, that had to go to Ana. I was so touched by that video of her singing and her brother playing the piano. She was playing to, that it had to go to her family. Then I saw her parents on TV and I knew for sure then. I think I'm going to finish the Precious Moments airplane piece next and then do a couple of pieces for Love Quilts. They are needing boy graphs so I dug out some. Things are not looking good for my mom right now. It's a rollar coaster ride. She'll be okay one day and the next not. She was doing well this afternoon and my dad was getting ready to go with her to PT so they could see how he does transfering her etc. He said the morning went well even though she was weak yet and she did tire out. Then I guess she had a spell in PT in the afternoon and they ran an EKG and some other tests, put her back on oxygen and back on the heart monitor. Her EKG turned out abnormal which it always does. So we doubt she'll have PT tomorrow. My sister was coming in tomorrow but we are suppose to have another winter storm. She works 3rd shift tonight so she has to sleep in the morning or she could leave in morning and be okay. It's afternoon we're suppose to get hit hard and then it's suppose to move east in the afternoon and since she's coming from the east she'll be hitting the storm most of the way here. So she may come in Friday or wait until Tuesday to come. Well....not much else is happening. Until next time Happy Stitching!

First finish of 2013

I finally have a finish! I started this piece in Nov. and laid it down to do some other stitching. It really was a fun piece to do. I love doing these cute animals in Stoney Creek's Farm Babies. I've done about 4 of them now maybe 5. This piece will go to Quilts for Older Children for a Farm Animal Quilt they are doing Now I'm doing a piece for the Sandy Hook Project called Those who Teach. It's moving quite fast so I'll probably just wait until it's finished to post it. It's a fun, easy piece. I went up to see my mom today. She is really confused these days and it's hard to see her this way. We asked the Dr. why her confusion and he said she had an UTI and sometimes an infection will confuse an older patient. Although she's been confused off and on in past and we chalked that up to her low sodiuim and potasium levels. I went to Neurologist yesterday and I'm not sure what to think. Basically he said along with my arthritis and virtigo issues I alos had Neuropathy and Ataxia and basically he said because I was in early stages there was nothing that could be done just call him when it gets worse. Well he was a little more tackful than that. He didn't even explain either one to me. I know some about Neuropathy because I knew a couple of other people who had it. But I know nothing about Ataxia. And as far as Neuropathy went I thought that was associated with diabetes but I guess not. Anyway I looked both up on line. While no, it's not a death sentence and not the worse thing in world, I still didn't like what I read. Anyway I'll continue on with PT and when I seen the ENT later this month I have questions. Especially about Ataxia since I know nothing about that. All the Dr. said yesterday was they were progressive diseases and will deteroate. I guess I'm in for a lot of pain beter arthritis, neuropathy and ataxia in the future. I'll deal with it then. Well....until next time Happy stitching!

Back to the Calf

Good evening! Well.....the rose was a complete disaster and ended up being thrown into the garbage! I kept having to frog and then nothing was turning out right so I just had had it and threw it away. Can you believe I even burned oatmeal because of that stupid piece. I was so concentrated on frogging I forgot about the oatmeal I put on the stove minutes earlier. So I got this piece back out to finish up. I do have to improvise a little and I think the calf looks a little funny so I will add a stitch on to the top three rows as they are one stitch short. I can't find the mistake which makes me mad. Everything coundts out perfectly to the pattern. Oh well...I just have the grass to finish up and the flower to do so probably will be done Friday. We are suppose to get hit by another winter storm tomorrow through Sat. morning. Yesterday and today it rained so much it melted all that snow we had from the last storm and we had like 10 inches on the ground. Needless to say flood warnings are out tonight. My sister came to town yesterday to see our mom and had planned to go home tomorrow but because of the incoming storm her husband told her to go as far as their daughters (outside of GR). He thought she'd be ahead of the storm then and wouldn't be in it as long as this seems to be Lake Effect to start tunring into wide spread. The past few days were eventful. Friday they ran some tests on my mom and decided they would do a heart catherization on Monday so she had to leave one hospital and go to another for 3 days. The catherization turned out okay there wasn't any blockage, a narrowing but they were able to correct that. She apparently had a heart attack about a month ago and didn't know it. Today she went back to the other hospital for rehab. She does seem to be doing better. For a while we weren't sure. Oh just a couple of comments about messenger. I never use it, if I could delete it I would. I keep getting requests to add my name to their list and I deny every single one as I don't recognize the name or they use a fake name. I did accept two or three and ended up deleting them from my list because I didn't like what they were szying at all so I do not accept anyone any more. Any one have the same problem? Well....I'm going to go read some blogs. Until next time Happy Stitching!

And Another New Start

Hello again! I started this rose about 3 weeks ago than mislaid the pattern. I found it early this morning so thought I better get back to it as it is due Feb. 1 Fortunately it is an easy piece and it's not boring for it being so easy and only having 2 colors until I get to the leaves at the bottom. I am really enjoying this piece and refreshing to do. I think I got twice as far today as I did the whole time I worked on it earlier. My sister was going to come in to town tomorrow to see our mom but with the weather as is we don't know. I called her today and told her not to come if it's like this. She's going to call our dad tomorrow and see what the weather's like. Only problem is I think between tomorrow and Sat, tomorrow is best day, and she had committed to baby sitting her two grandchildren on Sat. So if she's going to come, it'll have to be tomorrow. Maybe Heather and Brian with arrange for Brian's mom or sister's to babysit the kids if Kay can't make it in. Heather and Brian live outside of Grand Rapids about 45 minutes from here. In fact we joke there's only 2 roads between our places and Heather & Brian's subdivision. You stay on one highway 30 miles or so and the other one about 12 miles and turn into their subdivion. LOL! I have to admit this snow is pretty to look out at we have about a foot of snow on the ground now. This week is suppose to be cold and some snow, next week it's to reach 40 again. I think we have received more snow the last 3 days then we did last winter and this winter until now. Should help Lake Michigan's water level a little. Well until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Finally getting my Stitching Mojo Back!

Hello everyone! It's been a couple of weeks, I know. I just lost my stitching mojo and no piece was appealing to me and to get into this piece took forever! I think I stitched more today than I had the whole 2 weeks put together! This is a cute piece called Plant Manager by Good Natured Girls. It's in book called Plant Kindness. This piece has a whole lot of half stitches in it and keeping me on my toes. I finally have her head almost done, just a little more to do on the hair. It's going to take a while to do this, it will go to the Sandy Hook Project. I'm still having minor problems with my vertigo but the last couple of days really have been good. My mom is still at the hospital only in rehab and doing a little better than what she was. We are not sure she will be going home at this point, she may be going to a Nursing Home which she is fine with. She is a social butterfly so she will be happy there. It's just rather or not our dad is able to take care of her at this point no. He is 84 and has health problems of his own. Right now it seems like everyone is getting sick. Our church has so many in the hospital right now and some aren't doing too well. Well, after escaping major winter storms last winter and so far this winter, we got hit by this one. We have several inches of snow on the ground like now and it's not leaving any time soon. Well.....until next time.....I think I'm going to read some blogs now. I haven't even done much of that the last couple of weeks. Happy Stitching!

PM Pilot start

Good evening. It's been a few days but I have a good excuse. My start to this PM Pilot is barely a start. I've worked on it a couple hours a day the last few days. I haven't been up to much stitching. My Vertigo or whatever it is is really acting up bad. New Years Eve it got so bad I went to ER and was admitted for a couple of days. I came home with a walker, nebulizer and will get Lifeline set up. Today I went to my ENT and he prescribed more PT and is recommending a visit to a neurologist as he thinks it's more than Vertigo. Problem is yes, there is a problem with the balance between the ears but it doesn't last weeks or months and it's more dizziness, mine is more lightheadedness and weakness. Plus the attacks should only last hours, not weeks. And this has been about 4 months. For a little while a couple of times I was okay but then it came bacvk with a vengence. So we'll see. Only problem is the two best neurologist here in town are not known for their people skills and the ones wife I knew as a child growing up. She was my brother's age and I was just a year or two younger than her sister who I see all teh time at church. There is a third one so maybe I'll see him. I'll know more when I see my regular dr. in the morning. After the apointment tomrorrow I'm going to look at some apartments downtown that are really nice and will have basically everything on the same floor and no steps but if on second or third floor will use elevator. (Guess I'll have to get over my fear of elevators! Well....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Last Finish of Year

Hello! Well I can't believe this year only has one day left! It is true what they say, the older you get the faster time goes! And I can't believe I am as old as I am either! I finished this piece earlier this morning. It' the first of a few projects I will do for the Stoney Hook Project. I'm just letting my squares for most part where ever the leaders decide to put them. I'm not singing up for all the individuals like some people did. I'd never get the pieces done! Yesterday we had our Family Christmas, (well those that could be there.) We bought individual gifts for the children but the adults had a white elephant exchange. Next year we are doing a "Ugly Mug exchange" You just fill a mug with whatever you think will fit in it. Most of us were not crazy about doing the white elephant exchange. I finally am trying out a new recipe from the cook book my brother got me for Christmas. There are several I want to try. The one I'm trying today is Pizza Pork Chops which I had never heard of before. Only problem I added water to the crock pot and the recipe didn't call for it but I thought everything cooked in crockpot has to be done with some water in it. Anyway it may come out a little runnier than I would like, I'll know better next time. Well....until next time Happy New Year. I hope you all have a great year ahead. And until next year....Happy Stitching!

Boy and Butterfly

Hello again! How was everyone's Christmas? Mine was nice. I went to my parents house and my brother and sister in law had dinner with us too. We'll have our family Christmas this Saturday. We usually do it after Christmas it's more convienient for those that can go. I'm protesting to it being White Elephant gifts I'm tempted too look for a calendar around here from 1990's just in protest! My sister suggested I bring a CD I have here so maybe I'll do that. I started this piece a couple of days ago. I thought this would be appropirate for one of the Sandy Hook quilts. There is a girl one that goes with this I'll do when I get some more floss. I ran out of one of the floss numbers that is key in the girl one. In the meantime I have several other pieces I have picked for these quilts. None of them are hard. This piece will probably be done Friday or Saturday. I may do a variety of pieces but I seem to do a lot of Stoney Creek pieces. I like them I guess. I only have about 12 or 13 more pieces to do and then I'll have reached the 50 challenge goal. My next goal will be smaller. I want to do from 15 books I haven't done from yet and whatever I buy after I get 50 will count towards the 15 books. I'm tempted to do 12 or 13 real small pieces to get to the goal quicker. Well....until next time Happy Stitching.

Merry Christmas and Lighthouse Finish

Hello! First I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. I hope you have a nice time with your families. I'm going to my parents and one of my brothers and his wife will be there, not sure about the other one. They might drop in briefly usually Wendy does holiday dinners with her daughters and brother. Our family celebration will be Saturday. This piece was a fun stitch, I really enjoyed it a lot. It will go to a boy at Love Quilts who chose religious as theme of his quilt. It looks like we will have a White Christmas, not a lot of snow, but enough to make it white. We are suppose to get hit by a couple of storms or on the edge of them so we'll see. Well....until next time Happy Stitching and Merry Christmas!

A new start

Hello again! I started this earlier today and is almost half done. I love lighthouses. I am doing this for a young boy at Love Quilts who chose Religious as theme of his quilt. I know the white doesn't show up too well. I'm thinking of redoing it later this year on light color aida cloth for the Sandy Hook project. Today I went through my books and found about 20 of them I could use so far. We'll see how many I actually do for it as I don't want to forget about my commitment to Love Quilts. But I am excited about the Sandy Hook project. I think I am going to finish up my Christmas shopping on Friday. For some reason I cannot get in the mood for Christmas this year and I don't know why. A snow storm is to come in tonight or tomorrow night so maybe that will help. I didn't even buy Christmas cards this year. Oh well.... We are having our Family Christmas the 29th so being around the kids will help. I love the excitement of children at christmas time and I love the christmas music. Well....until next time....Happy Stitching

Tartan Joy

Good afternoon! I started this piece several days ago. The letter J took forever it seemed. Unfortunately I will not be finishing this piece as I am running out of 991 and I can't see making a special trip all the way out to Jo Anns just for that number so I'll finish it next year I guess. I'll start another Christmas project tomorrow. I hope to finish up my Christmas shopping this afternoon. A friend said she would take me to the final two places after she got out of work today. Not sure what time she gets out of work. Like so many others I am in shock and horror over the killings in CT. My heart goes out to those families. All I could think is our little Johnny is 6 and in that age group. One little boy had his 7th birthday just last Tuesday, same day Johnny turned 6. I saw Johnny and his cousin Jake so full of excitement and playing being noisy so happy and excited at seeing us at his birthday celebration and I thought that little boy probably was the same that day, and the family enjoying him little did they realize two days later he'd be gone. A group on line is doing quilts for the families of all the victims and I am excited to be doing at least 2 squares for them more if I can. They are planning on a quilt for each family plus some sibblings like a twin sister, of one victim, another's two little sisters ages 3 and 4 and a neighbor who took in and comforted 6 of of the children plus the uncle of the shooter who was his mother's brother. A big undertaking but they seem to be getting the stitchers. I just hope it doesn't take too much away from Coles Quilts, Love Quilts, or others as they still have the need too. My next piece after Christmas will be for a little boy at Love Quilts who chose religious as theme of his quilt. Well, until next time Happy Stitching.

Christmas Dove Finish

Hello again! I need to delete my previous post as this is actually the finished picture. (I'm not sure I like this new way blogger has. For some reason I can't get the paragrapghs in it all rambles together, yet when I type I do the different paragraphs. I can't edit as easily, etc. But oh well.... We went to Christmas on the Lakeshore yesterday. It was pretty good. All those in the play did really well. I would have prefered more music myself, but I'd go again if nights were better for me. We were celebrating Johnny's birthday today but Melissa and John are sick so it got post poned until later in the week. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Starting Over

The first attempt on linen was turning into a disaster so I ended up restarting it on aida cloth. It's going much better this time around so I think I'll be done with it early Monday if not before. It's a big weekend coming up. Well.....until next time....Happy Stitching!

New Christmas start

Hello fellow bloggers. I decided to get some Christmas stitching in. I found this material and thought this would be an easy piece to do on evenweave. I don't know if it's Lugana or not. Anyway it's going pretty well. I use to love stitching on evenweave and linen when I was younger. Maybe I'll get back into it. This piece is from a very old Stoney Creek book. Book #3, so it's from about 28 years ago. I think it was published in 1984. I have done several pieces from this book through the years, and this may be the 2nd time I've done this one. I think I did it for a round robin years ago when I use to do round robins. My sister in law took me Christmas shopping yesterday and we went out for lunch. We had a good time. I didn't get everything done but did get some Christmas and birthday presents. This Sunday we are getting together for Johnny's 6th birthday. Some of you may remember when he was born. He is going to be six already and is in kindergarten. Being home schooled by his mother. And he has a little sister who is going to be 3 in Mar. She adores him and he adores her. Today is a pretty good day. I even am walking a little better today and not as lightheaded. So maybe PT is working on me after all. So I'll keep at the excercises. Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Laying down the Calf to start Christmas Stitching

I had hoped to have this one done by now, but I've had to do a lot of frogging and I think I have to do more frogging. He isn't due until May 1 so I am laying him down to do some Christmas stitching which I'm getting anxious to do, and a couple of other quilt squares due before May. Tomorrow I am planning to do some Christmas Shopping with my sister in law, plus get 3 or 4 birthday gifts. I hope I can handle it, my vertigo continues to be a major problem. I have received lots of advice and am taking it. Trying hard to cut down on salt and soda which so far I'm doing okay on and start eating more vegetables. I'm going to take a cane with me and that should give support too. Between Dec. 11 and 18 we have 5 or 6 birthdays, 1 anniversary plus an anniversary on the 20th, a birthday on the 24th, and another birthday on the 31st. Plus Jan. 5, 10, and 18 we have birthdays. So it's a busy time. Our family does not combine birthday and christams at all. My mom had a sister born Dec. 19 and they always combined her birthday and christmas and my mom didn't like that. So when my brother Kenn, was born on the 18th, we didn't even have a Christmas tree in our house until the 19th. Oh the Christmas trees do come in earlier but we still refuse to celebrate their birthday and Christmas together. And since our fmaily is scattered throughout USA we really don't have that many parties, we just mail the birthday and christmas presents on separate days to those in other states. Yesterday I went to a Christmas Tea by CEF which was pretty good. Had a good time with some friends. I also saw some friends from BSF there. One of them didn't join this year so it was good to see her again. This weekend we are having Christmas on The Lake Shore at our church. We've had it every year for the last 4 or 5 years and each year gets better and we get more people. This year one of my friends wrote a play to tie in with it. We're going Saturday so I'm looking forward to it. Well.....I'm going to go kit up my Christmas projects. Until next time....Happy Stitching!