Progress on Iris

Good morning I think. I'm not sure. I think my scanner/printer quit on me. I was trying to print off a document and it said there was a paper jam so I don't know what I was thinking but I meant to turn off the printer (which you don't need to do) and accidentally pushed the button to copy again, and the printer shut completely down. I can't get it to restart. Any one have an idea how to fix it or do I need to take it in? So I'm not happy with myself. Can't you be allowed to make a stupid mistake in the world of computers? Guess not. So this may be my last blog for awhile until I can fix it or take it in.

Anyway here is progress on Iris by Paula Vaughn. I am so enjoying this piece.

I also am enjoying seeing the snow melt little by little. And having the days get longer. I can tell spring is coming as already allergies are coming up. I'm not the only one having a problem.

Well...I need to get some housework done, starting with dishes, then vaccuuming, clean the bathroom. Well in my head I'm doing them, so guess I better get started. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Iris Started

Good afternoon. It is such a nice, sunny day out there. It's been a nice weekend weather wise. It's great to see the snow melting little by little. Tomorrow is suppose to be 60 then Tues. back in the 40's. Forty's is still above freezing. So nice compared to a little over a week ago. Well, the sub zeros and below 20's are done for the season. We will have morning lows in the 20's according to the forecast but warm up to 40's by end of day. We know this is only March and we can still have a good snowstorm in April. Boy March is going by quickly.

I do have a case of spring fever and these Irises make me think Spring. Also makes me think Easter! I love these, they are so pretty and going pretty good now. At first I felt like I wasn't making any progress but now I am. I love stitching these. But I have a problem, right now there are so many projects I want to do. Someone sent me a graph of Mighty Mouse and someone else sent Spider Man, and I'm anxious to start them, plus a couple of other pieces. I know these Irises and the Gymnasts are going to be TT pieces, since there is no deadline on them. Whereas I do need to get more ornaments done for this summer.

Yesterday I went to Faithful to Felines to work. Remember last week I said Neeson got adopted. Well he was returned just two days later! The lady said he wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, wouldn't use his kitty litter, he just stayed in a corner and meowed a lot. I told when she took him to give him time to adjust and she responded, "I know, I've had cats all my life." Anyway he seemed happy to be back. I really think he missed his cat friends, and didn't like being an only cat. Maybe he needs to be adopted with another cat. Whatever. She should have given him more time he would have adjusted. I was glad to see him though as he is one of my favorites.

This may be a long spring season, my sinuses are really acting up. I can't get rid of this cough for anything. I had made an appointment with my ENT earlier. Maybe I can get him to give me Prednizone for a couple of weeks, my sister said that worked on her.

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

Gymnasts Start

Good afternoon. We are enjoying great weather right now, it's going to be in upper 30's and 40's all week. The snow is slowly melting. Still has a long ways to go though. My cat is really enjoying that sun. He lays up on his cat tree or next to the patio door right where the sun can hit him.
This piece is a little crooked sorry. It will go to my niece, Addison, who loves gymnastics. Only this pattern isn't easy. It has so many quarter stitches it isn't funny. As it is I made a mistake but cannot figure out where. I hate it when that happens. So I guess I will do a little improvising.
Last Saturday some of our cats from Faithful to Felines were taken out to Petco to hopefully get adopted. They had a great day out there that day, about 8 cats got adopted. (Some of them were in foster care. But 4 from Faithful 2 Felines got adopted. Three of them were from the two room I like to do, and I just knew Lollipop, Nina, and Carina would get adopted and they did. We had one cat adopted from the shelter too. The lady came wanting to adopt a couple of other cats from one of my rooms, so they came and got me. Only neither Sunny nor Cloud wanted any part of her, but Neeson was all over her, so she went home with Neeson. So needless to say I was on cloud 9 Saturday. Especially when I heard the other 3 got adopted along with others out at Petco. Unfortunately the shelter cats don't get to go out to Petco too often.
Oh about Turtle trot this month. It didn't happen. I just got caught up in other stitching so I really won't have anything. But I have a feeling this piece will be turning into a Turtle Trot. I started it intending it to be one. It will be worked on every month. Or most months. I have an Iris piece that will also be added to TT this year. I'll start that soon. Well--until next time Happy Stitching!

A very small finish

This was a very quick finish to be made into an ornament later this summer.

Mickey Mouse finish

Good morning. This piece is hot off the iron. It was a quick finish and will be made into a flat fold later this summer. Oh I have to find the instructions for the flat folds somewhere on the internet! Now I'm going to do smaller Daisy Duck and Donald Duck. Then I'm not sure which of 3 pieces I'll work on.

They say we are not going to have any more sub zero weather here this season. Not saying we won't have snow but we know better than to even wish or think that. They say this was the coldest Feb. on record and 4th coldest winter so far this winter. We may move it. Although we are heading for a heat wave, upper teens, twenties and even a couple of thirties in the forecast. Nice.

Well, I have to think about getting ready for my Uncle's funeral so until next time....Happy Stitching!

Harpist is Finished

I'm happy with the way this turn out. It was so much fun to stitch I almost hated to be done with it. Now I'm doing a Mickey Mouse that will probably be made into a flat fold when we get together this summer.

This morning we learned our Uncle Kayle died yesterday. We weren't expecting that. He was the last Uncle on mom's side. So it was sort of ironic I finished this harpist today. I'm sure Mom, Dad, Aunt Gerri, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Jean and Uncle Kayle are hearing all kinds of harps in heaven, maybe even singing to some of them. His funeral is going to be Saturday.

Not much is happening. We are still enduring the deep freeze. Until Feb. I thought this winter was mild compared to last. Now I'm not so sure. They say it's been the coldest Feb. ever and I believe it. No wonder I'm getting so much stitching done! Well....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Progress on Harpist

Good afternoon! Is everyone staying warm and safe? Burrrrrrr it's cold outside. Around here all the schools are closed because of the temperatures being sub zero. The roads have been slippery all week.....it's too cold to put salt out, it won't do any good. Until Feb. I thought this winter was much milder than last, but then came Feb. and it's comparing to last winter! Even the snowfall is starting to catch up!

I got a lot of progress on the Harpist this week. I hope to finish it up Monday or Tuesday....depending on how much I get done on it this weekend.

Because of the weather not much has happened this week...We've all basically stayed in and hibernated it's too cold to want to go out and we've had a lot of snow. So until next time....Happy Stitching!

Happy Valentines Day

Good Afternoon! I hope everyone is staying warm and safe. It is cold outside and nasty out there. I've been staying in and stitching! I am wondering if we will even have church tomorrow if this keeps up. The wind is really blowing the snow around! It's beautiful to look out at but dangerous to be out in.

I am doing this piece for a music quilt at Quilts for Older children and adults. It's going fast for it being a Stoney Creek piece. I've had to do a lot of frogging especially her face and hair but I finally got it right. I don't think the material was going to put up with much more frogging to be honest. Her face and hair looks like it gave me problems and it really did. I've ordered the thread for the harp strings so they'll be put in next week. Only I couldn't find Balger thread, but did find Krenik so hopefully that will work fine. I believe the quilt will be going to Love Quilts-Brzil.

Thank you for all your comments to my last post. I love getting comments and reading them. I really appreciated them.

Well I hope everyone has a good Valentines Day and those getting this storm stay safe. Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Feb. Turtle Trot

Good Morning everyone! This is the 10th so it's Turtle Trot time. This month I can show progress on three pieces. First is the progress on America by Mystic Stitch. This one I plan to do some each month. I'm happy with it so far. I know this will be in TT for the next couple of years it's a huge piece.

I got out Swallow Tail by Stoney Creek. This piece is challenging but worth it.

And last of the 3 is Friends are the Flowers in the Garden of Life A kit by Jann Lynn. This one a friend actually started it but her eyes got so bad she couldn't stitch anymore so she gave me this and several other pieces.

This morning I kitted up a music piece and will start that after I run some errands this morning.

Thank you for reading my blog and your comments. I love reading them and I love reading your blogs. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Small Cute Reindeer

Good afternoon! I finished this piece a couple of days ago but have been busy so am just now posting it. This will be another one for the ornament collection. I thought this reindeer was so cute and he was so easy to stitch. Now I have pulled out a UFO that is more complicated. Swallowtail Butterfly by Stoney Creek. I now know why I laid it down, but it's going pretty good for now. I am determined to get to some of these UFO's this year and either finish them out or make a great deal of progress. I am trying hard not to buy any new patterns this year. So far so good, but it's only Feb.

We got my brother all moved into his apartment yesterday. We even got a lot unpacked. He's going to have to donate a couple of pieces of furniture as he doesn't have room for them. After we got him moved, him and I went up to Pet Smart to get his cat a cat tree as he is on garden level so the cat could jump on it to see out the window. I have one for Saturn and when she stayed here a couple of days back in Dec. she was on his all the time and wouldn't let him on it. We got a good deal. The tag under it said it was on sale for $39.00. So Tim jumped at that, but I kept saying it also says original price $79.00 this one has $129.00 on it. Well come to find out someone put it in the wrong spot. However they did sell it to Tim for $59.00. What a good deal, because of the inconvenience. We were happy. His cat loves it. It's different from mine. As mine has three levels all the same, hers she can hide on the second level which is what attracted us to it as she loves to hide. (It has a covering over it. Anyway we just hope and pray Tim and the cat are safe, as the Apartment Complex doesn't have the best reputation in town. But a young lady from church and her daughter lived there a year and never had a problem. Tim doesn't go out at night or anything so he should be okay.

It was bittersweet as our sister and her husband came in to help Tim move and we know Kay won't be coming to town so often anymore. I figure maybe once every three months. Then Ken (her husband) totaled his car on Thursday. (Everyone is fine, just the car is totaled) so they are down to 1 car. So that limits them too.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Another ornament finish

I really think by the time Christmas gets here this year, I will be tired of stitching Christmas projects. I'm trying to average 2 a month through this summer or early fall so we have plenty to work with when we have our craft day. My nieces and nieces in laws asked me to do ornaments for the children so I am working on them. So far I have 6 done, and there's possibly a total of 20 children involved. We'll see think I'm tempted to say wait a year! We'll see what happens. Anyway, this was a cute, quick piece to do. I have 2 others selected for this month a reindeer and a sleigh which are smaller yet. I half expect to have both of them done tomorrow, depending on how much time I have.

Friday my brother moves. It's kinda sad. As so many memories of mom and dad are at that apartment complex. But Tim doesn't need a 3 bedroom apartment since mom is gone and his son moved out. And he can't afford a 1 bedroom place there anyway. I can't believe how expensive those apartments are yet they get so little for their money. They washer and dryer and maitenance service is about it. Maitenance also does the yard work and snow plowing.

We have gotten quite a bit of snow the past few weeks and another storm is suppose to come in Sunday. I've heard it both ways so we'll see what Sunday brings. The snow is pretty but I'm looking forward to spring. Once I get the reindeer and sleigh stitched I'm going to try to finish a pansy piece that is cheery, bright and colorful.

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

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

Page 5 of America finished-3 done 13 more to go

Good afternoon! I know it's been a couple of weeks since I posted. Just not much has happened and this piece just didn't go too well on this page. It was very slow going. Lots of confetti stitching that drove me nuts. I swear half the time I spent on this piece was on horrible page 5 that's what I called it horrible page five. Well that working copy has been torn to pieces now. I'm doing page 6 and that seems to be a much easier page and going faster. I still may be laying this piece down for a couple of weeks soon though. Those colors just are not the most colorful.

My brother found an apartment. We are so happy. We were afraid he'd be homeless after Jan. 31. But he found an apartment he can afford. Now he just needs to keep his finances in line. He really hasn't lived alone until three months ago and does have mental disease.

I got to return to Faithful 2 felines yesterday. I missed my cats in rooms 6 and 7. My favorite cat, Jacy, got adopted which I was so happy. I missed her but happy she has a home. Now there are several other really nice cats that need to be adopted. Although they will live out their lives there if they don't get adopted. And they have it pretty goo there. This past week one of the volunteers came in and said there was a cat meowing to get in so the people in charge went to get it and found tape on it's back legs. Needless to say they were upset, got the tape off, fed the cat and gave it water then sent her to a foster home where she will be taken care of. Like they said even if she's chipped the people aren't going to admit to owning her. We sort of think she was dropped off there or near there.

My sister is coming in Tuesday. She's hoping to return Tim's cat to him. She took care of her while Tim was in the hospital. We're going to help Tim pack up for his move. I'm hoping to get out to Jo Ann's to get some floss. It's funny all that floss I have yet I always find numbers I don't have or low on!

Well, I'm going to go read some blogs. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Back to America by Mystic Stitch also Turtle Trot

Good Evening. I just also realized that this was Turtle Trot Day. Well----This is the only one I made progress on. I'm keeping the same TT pieces I had last year. Oh I decided not to do the America piece I said I was going to do.....It was more challenging than what I wanted to take on. So this is really the only TT piece I made progress on. My other TT pieces are. 2) the Pansies 3 Count Your Blessings 4 His Eye is On the Sparrow, 5) Strengthen me 6) was one by My Big Toe Designs I forgot the name of it. The remaining 4 I have to decide yet. So much has been happening I haven't given TT a thought.

Like much of the country we got hit hard by the winter storm. There was a huge pile up on I 94 down by Kalamazoo yesterday, involving now they say 200 cars. Conditions the last 2 or 3 days were hazardous, many times you couldn't see in front of you, the white outs were frequent. I don't drive but did have to go out in it 4 of the 5 days that were so bad. Yesterday stayed in. Compared to last winter though this winter has been good. It's suppose to clear up and warm up starting tomorrow and then we'll have a heat wave next week 20's and 30's.

I had problems with my scanner and computer a few days. Finally today I called Geek Squad and they solved the problem so I got to scan this piece.

Today would have been my dad's birthday. This year mom is in heaven with him too. We are sure they are playing golf together with some of their friends, old and new ones. So I've been thinking of him a lot today.

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

First finish of 2015

Happy New Year!It's the start of a whole new year. Hopefully a better one than the last two. While there were highs the last two years there were the lows.

I finished the snowman ornament. For as small of a piece it was it was very detailed and took long enough. But it was a fun stitch.

I am going to do Turtle Trot again this year. Some of the pieces will be carry overs from last year. But I am going to have the Ornaments be 1 major project as my goal is at least 1 ornament a month. Also pieces done for charity will be classified as 1 major piece too. I am thinking of adding Let Freedom Ring by Nancy Rossi (a kit by Sunset). It's going to be a major piece I can see that. I plan to start it tomorrow and see how it goes.

Well since I just posted yesterday I'll say Happy Stitching and Happy New Year!

Final Post for 2014

Good afternoon! I hope everyone has a Happy New Year.

I have to admit I'm not sad to see 2014 end. I hope 2015 is much better then the last two years. They had their highs but also had the lowest of lows.

I started this piece last week, thinking it would only take 3 or 4 days. For being a small piece it's taking a long time, but it is very detailed. I think I'll have it done sometime Friday, hopefully in the morning. The last couple of days I have been able to stitch on it more then I have the previous days.

Last Friday I went to my niece's in Rockford. We unwrapped our gifts for each other and my sister and I spent the night. Saturday I had to get back to work at the cat shelter. It was great to see the cats again I missed them. I hadn't been there in two weeks.

Then later Sat. we had Christmas with our brother and his family. It's so much fun to be around children at Christmas. They are so excited, Yes noisy, but it's fun.

We aren't sure what is going on with our brother Tim at this point. I can't go into details but he needs prayers. Sunday my sister returned home taking Tim's cat with her, hoping it would be only a few days, or end of Jan. at longest. But it looks like it will be much longer then that, maybe at least 6 months. We aren't sure. Tim hasn't been told anything yet so hopefully they'll make some decisions beginning of next week.

Now for some great news. On Dec. 28 at midnight, our niece, Amanda gave birth to their 4th child. They named her Holly. They now have Scott who is 4, Connor, 3, Emma 2 and Holly. They have their hands full and they say this is it as far as kids go. Holly is beautiful and healthy. They live in Nebraska so it will be awhile before I get to meet her. I now have 21 great nieces and nephews with 2 more on the way.

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

Merry Christmas

Good Morning and Merry Christmas. Our Christmas plans got postponed today because of illness. My niece invited us to her house but my brother doesn't want to go. So later I'll go eat with some friends. I don't feel like spending Christmas alone. Last night I went to our Christmas Eve Service last night and enjoyed it.

These are two more mini pieces to be made into ornaments later this summer. My next pieces will be larger. I'd like to get 2 more done then right around the 25th of the month work on ornaments. I'm really a seasonal stitcher so we'll see.

Tomorrow I'm going to my nieces in Rockford have Christmas with them, then come back on Sat. and have Christmas with the brother that cancelled today. Kevin and Beth have really bad colds and when they get a cold they get hit. Hopefully they'll feel better on Saturday.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Season's Greetings

Good Morning. I finished this a couple of hours ago. Yes I was up early this morning! I thought of my mom as she loved cardinals and loved the Christmas season. Once I got past the border it was an enjoyable stitch. This is another one to be made into an ornament later this summer.

We've had a busy week. My sister came in and help me unpack everything and rearrange things. I love it here. It's nice and quiet. Saturn really has settled in and adjusted rather quickly. He seems to like it here too.

Thursday night we had our ladies get together. We had white elephant exchange and finger food. We had a nice time. I wasn't going to go. I skipped the dinner on Wed. I just am not in the spirit of Christmas this year too much going on. But I thought Thursday night rather then sit home and feel sorry for myself, I'd go and get out and have fun.

Saturday we passed out a thousand beanie pillows around the neighborhood. The neighbors seemed to really like them. It was a lot of fun. Our new Pastor and his family arrived in so some of the people went and helped them empty out the van. It took no time to do that there were so many people.

Sunday we had our children's program and it was cute. The children did a good job. Sunday night was a cookie exchange but I skipped that. I don't know where my cookie recipes are or even if I have any Christmas cookie recipes let alone come up with 6 dozen cookies to take. I hope there was a good turnout as it really was to get acquainted with our pastor's wife, Becky.

We had my brother's cat here from Friday until last night. My brother and I were going over there to feed her but the weekend was going to be so busy neither one of us would get over there so I told Kevin to bring her here. She did pretty good here adjusted immediately. Her and Saturn did okay together, better then I expected. I was surprised though that 6 lb Purty with no claws was actually the agressor. Saturn her is 17lbs and has claws backed off. He even let her take over his cat tree which he loves. But Purty was not going to let him on it when she was there, not even on the lower level. Tim came and got her last night. I told Tim next time he has to leave for a while we'll just bring her here as she does so much better. Most cats are best left home, but Purty seems to need the human companionship and better off being brought here.

Well, time to go do some housework and then get to stitch my next project. Until next time......Happy Stitching!

Finally a finish!

Good afternoon! Finally things have settled down here anyway. I am all moved in. My sister came for a couple of days and we got the furniture in place, everything put away and even the pictures were hung. Before she came she said "Do you think we can accomplish anything because if we won't then I can't come." I told we'd get things accomplished and we did much more then I thought we would. Saturn has adjusted very well and seems to like it here. I do too, no steps to climb. The people seem to be friendly. Also I don't feel so crowded here. Even though the apt. is said to be smaller it sure doesn't seem like it. Maybe it's the way I laid out the furniture I don't know.

Now to worry about my brother. He's still in the hospital out of town. He's suppose to come home today or tomorrow but earlier they said he'd be home Mon. or Tues. and he wasn't and we haven't heard anything as of today. I may just be going to his apt. and bringing his cat here after all. Especially since the one friend who said she'd take her until the 27th leaves for CA that day, and the other got her daughter's cat as it wasn't adjusting to her daughter's dog. And it seems to be doing well with her, so unless I find a 3rd person she's coming here and I feel at peace about that.

Now on to stitching. Needless to say I stitched next to nothing the last couple of weeks so this ornament took a while but I finished it today. It's the first of several ornaments I will be doing. One of my nieces suggested to me on facebook I do some ornaments for the great nieces and nephews. Another one said we could have a craft weekend at her house this summer or early fall and make the pieces into ornaments etc. So that is the plan.


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

I have moved

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Things just got crazy. Plus I found out my new apartment was ready for me so last week was spent packing etc. Very little cross stitching has been done.

My brother is in the hospital for a week to a month. We left his cat at the apt. thinking that would be best for her but she's not eating! So tomorrow a friend and I are going to take her to her house until my brother gets home. I know it's preferred the cat stay at home, but to get there every day since I don't drive is impossible. I went there Thurs. and another brother went there Friday and Sat. today she'll be left along, but tomorrow morning my friend and I will go get her. She is a very social cat. And since Aug. she was taken to Friends to felines, then my brother adopted her, my mom and nephew lived with my brother, my mom died, my nephew moved out and now my brother isn't there, she needs reassurance that she is okay. I feel it's best for Jody to take her, and hopefully my brother will be home before Jody goes to CA. Another friend will take her then if not. I'm almost thinking it would have been best just to let Marilyn take her now but I had already told Jody she could take her. I hope I'm not making a mistake.

Saturn seems to have adjusted to this move pretty well. He's checking everything out. Fortunately he is a calm cat. I really think I'll like it here once I get settled. But man was I a mess yesterday. And so disorganized. Tomorrow I'll go back and clean up and then be done with the apt. It's just a block away, same complex. Just on main level. Which I needed. I hope to find my stitching and get back to it this week.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Remember this one?

I didn't do a very good job of scanning it. I dug this piece out this morning to get going on it and hopefully finish it up. It's Red Bird. I started it last December and didn't get it finished. The tree is a challenge to do but other then that I like the piece. The red bird will come in hopefully at the end of the week.

I've started packing everything up, I still need to get a date that I can actually move on. I actually started packing last spring or early summer, hoping to move by now. So now I'm getting serious about packing again. My cat isn't sure what to think he keeps meowing at the boxes. Like he doesn't like them. Most cats like to play in boxes, not Saturn. Like him, I'll be glad when it's all done and I'm over to the new apartment. Also my brother needs to move by end of Dec. Hopefully tomorrow he'll hear he got the apartment. His cat has claimed all his boxes for herself, she loves to play in and out of them.

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