Wind Surfer is Finished

I don't know why but this was the most annoying piece for me. I think it's because of the bright colors, it's not why I would typically pick. But I love watching the wind surfers on Lake Michigan, especially when the waves are just right. They can do so many amazing stunts on these surfboards with sails. And they are so graceful! We could watch them by the hour!

Yesterday was a sad day as it was the funeral of a long time friend of the family. His in-laws and I were really close at one time. Now because we don't live near each other and many in the family have died we lost contact with some. One of them Jan, who was one of my best friends came in for his funeral, I hadn't seen her in 30 years. So we exchanged addresses and e mail and say we will get back in touch. We'll see. I confess I am not the best at answering e mails let alone snail mails.

I can't believe that July is almost over! Where did the time go! In a couple of weeks the Olympics will be going on. I'm looking forward to seeing the Gymnastics, Swimming and Diving Events and some Track and Field events.

Does anyone watch Design Star? Who do you think will win? Both Matt and Jen have been pretty consistent so I really don't care which one will win. I was rooting for Trisha but she came in 3rd. I did like Jen's design better than Matt's last week.

Well, enough chatting. Until next time Happy Stitching!

WOW Another Award

I received another award. I'm overwhelmed. Thanks Dani (Navy Stitching) I really appreciate it. For so long I wondered how many people were reading my blog then got excited after I got the map and saw. Now to get two different awards I'm honored. Because I want to keep the award going I will nominate 5 people. I'm not sure how to do the links but you will find them in my Blog Roll. It was hard to just come up with 5 when so many deserve it
Here are the rules of the award

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

My 5 people are
Mary Ann (Just Stitching)
Kitty (Kitty Stitches)
Kim (These are Days Well Rememberd)
Carolyn (Taking One Stitch at a Time)
Storm at Sea Stitching

Now to go notify these people.

I haven't done much stitching the last couple of days. In fact I lost the Waxing Moon piece. I think I left it at church yesterday when I went to work in the Food Pantry. I have to go back to do the sign today so I'll look. If it's not there, I can redo it at a future date as it is an easy pattern, I do have the pattern here. I really want my hoop. It was 25 years old and my favorite one. Oh well....

Until next time Happy Stitching!

An Award and Yet another start

I received this award from Meari (Meari's Musings). Thanks Meari! Here are the rules when you select your people. Here are the rules for the award:
1) Put the logo on your blog;
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on yours
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs
I do need to pick 7 other people for this people. See my Blog Roll it's long and I enjoy all the blogs, but I am going to name 7 people.

Sharon-Seaside Stitches
Kathryn NZ
Lennun Tekeleet
Virpi (Virpin R)
Dawn (Golden Angel's Works)
Jen (Jen's Stitching)
Sara (Just Another Flamingo, now I need to let these people know I gave them the award
Barb (Around Barb's Bend)
Barb (Barb's Stitches)

Okay I can't count I did 9 also I do not know how to do any of the links so just click on their name in my blog roll to see their blogs.


I have started yet another piece. I have this problem nothing is really holding my interest so I'm turning into a Serial Starter!

Today I went to the Dentist and had a tooth pulled. We had hoped to save it but it wasn't possible. I like this dentist so much better than who I was going to. Granted he's more expensive but worth it. I don't like going to the Dentist and it's hard for me to find one I like. I didn't find one in GR I really liked until towards the end, then I moved. Now it's taken 11 years to find one I really like! I talked my parents into going to him to. My dad likes him. I joke it's because he's a Finlander and you don't find too many of us Finlanders around here! (Two of those I gave the award to are in Finland) but I really do like their blogs and they do blog in English and Finnish so I like that. Not that I can read Finnish!

I cannot believe it's getting into the end of July. Next week it will be August already. Where does the time go?

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

This is almost funny!

This is wind sailing after about 14 hours of stitching. On 3 different colors I ran out and had to change to a new skein. The one there is little shading difference fine. The second pink you can tell very much that the two shades are different. Grrr.....but that is typical of DMC when they make new batches I guess the shades are a little different.

Now this is hilarious! Look at the shade difference. Both say 959! On the grounds I had several 959, I am throwing the one away as the other shades actually match each other. I think the one skein is a very old skein! I just had to show the difference.

Well I'm done whining and grumbling so until next time Happy Stitching!

Back to the Zinnia's

Progress on this has been very slow. It's been one of the most difficult pieces I have ever done, but it is so pretty. I love it and when it's done will be worth all the frustrations I'm sure. I haven't had much time to work on this piece this past week either as I've been at the campground a lot.

It was a nice week. Got to see Addison and Johnny. Addison is 2 1/2 months old now and smiling and cooing more. She's so cute. Johnny at 19 months kept everyone on their toes. What is it with Toddlers and roads. It's like the road just attracks them and calls them by name!

We played Ladder Ball a little. It's a game we play at our church picnics a lot but my sister and brother in law bought it recently. Once I caught on to the game it was great and my sister and I even won against her daughter and son in law. I got a Pepsi out of that deal! But my first few times I'll never live down. Hit my brother-in-law's car, got one ball up in a tree, which my brother and his girlfriend got on a picnic table and used a pole to get down! But I settled in and became quite good at the game if I do say so myself.

Well, the week is over and now it's back to reality. Next week I'll clean my apartment. I plan to do a lot of stitching now through the weekend. Maybe feel like I'm getting somewhere on this piece.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

For you Animal Lovers

I saw this on 123 stitch and loved it I had to put it on my blog.

Here is the story behind the picture. It is priceless!The fireman had just carried her out of a burning house. She was pregnant. After saving her he went back to fighting the fire. Exhausted he sat down to rest.

She watched him carefully and then started to walk towards him. A photographer from NC noticed her and grabbed his camera, not knowing what she was going to do. He snapped the picture just as she was thanking him. She thanked him the best way she could!

Finish # 18

The Brown Bears are finished now! They were fun to do as they were so cute but all the brown was a little boring. I finished these earlier this morning and they just got off the iron about a half hour ago.


We are enjoying some summerlike weather. Hope it continues through next week as we'll be at the campground a lot. My sister and brother-in-law will be camping. So we'll joing them from time to time. Also their daughter and her family will come in one day so we'll get to see baby Addison. She's 2 months old now. Heather sent me pictures of her last week and she's growing. I could tell she's developing her personailty now as she smiled more and I hear she's cooing now. Can't wait to see her.

I took Autumn for her walk. She's getting to think she owns the area now and knows who her friends are! Only today another dog had gone somewhere in the car with her owner and was walking ahead of the man, Autumn didn't like that. That dog was loose as far as she was concearned. She's usually good with smaller dogs, but this one she wanted to pick a fight with! She's home with my brother now.

Thank you for reading my blog. I love the comments that come in. And now that I have the Feedjit map I love seeing where people come from. Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Happy Fourth Of July

Today being the 4th of July I felt like posting a Patriotic Piece. This Liberty Bell I stitched for my nephew, Jake, after he got shot in Kuwait, just prior to the war. You really can't see the material around the pillow but it was blue with white stars that really added to the piece. My sister-in-law made it into a pillow.

We had a wonderful surprise when we went out to Meijers the other day. My niece and her baby, Johnny, were out there shopping. Johnny is 18 months now and is so cute. He's getting so he knows us each time he sees us. Every time he passed us in the store he would wave Byee to us.

Next week (13-18) my sister and brother in law will be camping in our area so maybe we will get to see Addison some time. She is two months old now. Heather sent me some pictures the other day and is so cute.

I finally figured out how to add Feedjit to my site. I can finally see how many visitors and where they are from. It took me long enough to figure out what I was doing wrong all this time. The only problem is often I'll go to my blog roll to see their sites then back space to my site, and it records that too so it will look like I'm going to my blog a lot when I'm really using it as a jumpoff to get to other sites. I also added sitemeter but not sure I did that the way I wanted to. Time will tell

. I started Windsailing to go along side of The Brown Bears. This is progress on it after about 5 hours of stitching. It goes fast so won't take that long to go. This will go to Love Quilts, either for a Sea scene quilt or Sports quilt

Of course I have to include progress on The Brown Bear. Hopefully I will be done early next week.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog and to those who leave comments. I really have appreciated them.

Well until next time Happy Stitching and Happy Fourth of July!

The Brown Bear

Here is my progress on The Brown Bear. They are a little over half way done. They are sure cute, although I do find all the brown boring after awhile. I'm doing it for an Endangered Young'uns Quilt we are doing at CSFC. I've wanted to do these bears for awhile as they are so cute.

Anyone have plans for the 4th of July? I don't think we are doing anything. I just think I'll stitch. I love the 4th of July Holiday though. It's just something in it that I love. I really like the music and the festivals going on. Our city is having it's annual Summer Festival. I think this weekend will be the craft fair but not sure I will get down there.

The Food Pantry drive for June is over now and I am very happy with the results. Granted we didn't get as much as before but I didn't want to we did get a lot of money donated to the fund that we didn't get last time. Plus we really got a good variety of food. Later this week we are moving the Food Pantry out of the SS office to a room a little more out of the mainstream and doesn't get as much activity. Hopefully no food will "walk away."

I'm so bad. I keep finding more and more patterns I want to stitch up and it's hard to concentrate just on the bears but they need to be done by end of July so I'm sticking to these cute little guys. I do have my next 10 -12 projects lined up. How far in advance do you line up your pieces? Usually for me it's just 2 or 3 but because of babies, weddings etc., I know what my next 10 to 12 pieces. Although I may throw an odd one in here and there.

I got some pictures of Addison the other day. She's 8 weeks old now and is growing. You can tell she's really developing her personality right now. I can't wait to see her maybe sometime this summer maybe Aug.

Oh....Did you notice my Blog Roll is growing! I've added several new ones. One in particular, Paula has done some beautiful stitching. She just started her blog earlier this month and has several entries. Just click on Paula's name on my Blog Roll and you'll see her beautiful stitching.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Just a quick finish

Thank you for all your comments to Monument Valley. I really appreciated them a lot.

I started The Brown Bear (Endangered Young'uns) and it's coming good. I'll post on them in a couple of days or so. I did take a break from all those browns to do this cute little Penguin. It will go to a Noah's Ark quilt we are doing at Every Stitch Counts for Love Quilts.

There isn't much happening around here right now. So until next time....Happy Stitching!

IT'S FINISHED ! IT'S FINISHED

I am Happy Dancing! Monument Valley is done. I didn't think it would be done until next Monday or Tuesday but it flew this past week, but it flew this past week. After 124 hours it is done!. This will go to Joshua at Love Quilts who chose Western as theme of his quilt. I got permission to do the whole piece for him and it will be turned into his pillow for the quilt. I really hope he likes it. Now I'll get going on the Brown Bears (Endangered Younguns) for Cross Sitching for charity.

Until next time Happy Stitching.

Grandpa's Little Helper and Monument Valley Progress

Last Saturday we had a family get together. My niece and her husband were here from OR so those that could be there were there. Of course Johnny, Ashton, and Addison were the 3 stars. Although Addison was only 5 weeks so she just was cute and had grown since I last saw her. The picture I am showing is of Johnny and his Grandpa, (my brother, Kevin). Johnny just loves his Grandpa so wherever Kevin was there was Johnny. In this picture Johnny is helping Kevin put the cooler away as we were closing up. By the way he had the cutest T shirt on that said "Ready or not Here I come. He was our social butterfly, going to all the pinicers at the park we were at especially if they had a child around his age. He kept us on our toes. We had a beautiful day. The storms did not come until after we left. Of course we saw by the clouds they were coming so we packed up in time.


Stitching wise I have made quite a bit of progress on Monument Valley. It's 3/4 of way done now and I really hope to have it done early next week. This is progress at 100 hours of stitching on it.


I also got RAK'd this past week Sue V from ESC sent me this off my wish list. I love it. She sent the pattern, the floss, and the material for it I can't wait to do it late fall or early winter.

It's been a busy week. I got to see Michelle again on Wed. Michelle and Kay came back to town on Wed. and stayed until Thurs. Then they went to Heather's and Friday Michelle flew back to OR to finish up her Internship. Later this summer her and Scott and their cat are moving to CO where both will work at Universities teaching Chemistry.

This past week we've had a lot of storms. We haven't had the floods in our county but all around us they did. Nothing compared to those in Iowa though. I was talking to a lady in church this morning who is visiting here from Iowa right where the floods are. She said where they are at they are okay but she can't try to go home before Thurs as she won't reach their home. My heart and prayers go out to those people it has to be devastating.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

More Progress on Monument Valley

Thank you for your comments to this piece I have appreciated them. I am barely over half way through it now. It's almost too big for my scanner so next week I'll probably be using my Digital Camera. It's going better than what it was for awhile but I still say if I get to do another John Clayton piece (and I hope I do) I will use evenweave the quarter stitches will be easier. I'm not real happy with the way this one is turning out only because I think it looks sloppy. Hopefully once it made into a pillow it'll look better.

My niece and her husband flew into Grand Rapids today (at least I think they are there). Michelle will be here a week and Scott has to go back to OR on Monday. Tonight they will spend at Michelle's sister's outside of GR and come to town tomorrow. Also my nephew and his fiancee are coming in from Chicago. We're having a family get together tomorrow down by Lake Michigan (weather cooperating)Otherwise we'll go to another niece's house. We're looking forward to seeing the kids again. For Michelle and Bryan it will be first time seeing their baby niece. Addison is 5 weeks old now. Can't wait to see her tomorrow and see how she's grown and changed. She's probably getting more personality to her now.

Our weather had been cool now it's getting into the 80's and muggy. Stormy too, yesterday we had storms off and on all day, and cleared out by evening. Today it looks like they will be coming soon.

Well until next time Happy Stitching.

Progress on Monument Valley

This piece is moving right along. My first week of stitching on it and it's over 1/4 way done. It has it's sour points though. I had never run across a pattern that has one color on top half of thread and another color on bottom half of thread, one color left side, another right side. The real kicker 1 color on top of one thread and another on bottom of thread under neath it and the middle is a 3rd color. I'm just doing quarter stitches but I'm not happy it looks sloppy. Fortunately it's jus a small portion of the piece but seems like a lot. The piece is moving right along inspite of my problems on it. Not ready to throw it down just yet.

Just an update on the Food Pantry. The people have really brought in the food to replenish what "walked away." I am very happy with the way they have rallied for us and the food drive really doesn't start until June. I like the variety of food we are getting too.

I'm wondering where May went. It seems like it just flew by! Here it is almost June.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

It's been a very quiet week so this is a very short post. Until next time Happy Stitching!

A New Start & Progress on Zinnia's

I laid down the Zinnia's to start Monument Valley for a young boy at Love Quilts. I got permission to do the whole piece and they are going to make it into a pillow for Josh. Josh's theme is Western. I've been wanting to do this piece for 4 or 5 years now and it's going quite well. I have the photo of what it is going to look like when done (hopefully) and my progress as of today. I love doing it

Now for the Zinnia's. Thank you for all your comnments on them, I really appreciate them. I love getting comments, shows me peope are reading my blog, sometimes I wonder. As much as I love doing them I seem to only be able to do them for 3 or 4 days at a time. I think it's because of the details and the colors. I don't know usually it's 2 or 3 weeks of working on a piece before I have to lay it down. This is how far I was when I laid it down. Hopefully I'll pick it back up sometime next week or the following week.


We are finally getting some nice weather to stay instead of a day here a day there. Just in time for the Holiday Weekend. Anyone have special plans. I don't think we are doing anything. Our plans are for two weeks from now when my niece and her husband are here from OR.

Update on the Food Pantry. The elders decided to have a food drive for us in June to replenish what "walked" off. The trustees are either going to find a new room for us or make it so we can lock the cupboard doors. I did find out one person took some food for a family about 3 weeks ago, so we wonder if people are just doing that and not telling us. We are trying to make it clear they need to tell us so we can account and keep track of the food. Also one couple bought a lot of food for us. I told Pastor, people see all the food they bought, people will think I lied. So I'm happy with the way things are working out.

Anyone have Yahoo Messenger. I finally got it this past week and so far enjoy it. One night I had 3 different conversations going at once. I didn't have the heart to tell any of them to call back later. It was interesting and I kept the conversations straight. Only by way of the internet!

Well until next time Happy Stitching. Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Weekend.

Zinnia's Progress

I love this piece. I think it is so pretty and love seeing it progress. It's going slower than I anticipated but it's okay. If I can have this finished early June I will be very happy. Then I'll be pretty much on target for finishing the other 4 pieces on time.

It's been quite a week. I took my cat to the Vet on Tues. It went much better than I thought. I bought a new carrier on Monday and it had a top opening. I let Whiskers play in and out of it Monday and part of Tuesday. Then Tuesday I got him into the carrier with no problem. He was such a good boy. He meowed when I carried him to the car and in the car but other than that he was really good. He got a clean bill of health. The Vet said he was very healthy for being 15 1/2.

Thursday I went to the Food Pantry and about had a stroke I was so upset. I knew someone was getting into the food a little had been disappearing each week, but between Sunday and Thursday, 5 cases of Vegetables, several boxes of Cereal, several cans of meat and several cans of fruit were gone. Oh they left most of the vegetables in the cupboards but did take corn and soup and fruit from them, and what was left of the meat and cereal. I ran upstairs and told our Secretary and Pastor I was close to tears to think someone would do that to us. Oh they left plenty of Green Beans and Chicken Noodle Soup! They obviously had children as they also took a lot of Macaroni and cheese and things like Speghetto's etc. So our Secretary put a list of our needs in the bulletin, and Pastor made an announcement from the pulpit to make sure they told me if they took food. Which they are suppose to do it with me there! Also we are moving the room out of the SS office to another room and putting it behind locked doors.

I was so upset Thursday I ordered some new patterns on line. Three of them are for my niece, and the others were to do for Love Quilts. So I was happy.

Sat. I went to a Missionary Dinner. The food was delicious and the speakers were great.
Well that's about it for now. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Noah & the Gang is Finished

I finished this piece earlier this afternoon. The french knots drove me crazy but other then that I enjoyed it. I now have 15 finishes toward the 50 mark. Not moving to fast am I. I started it late summer and only 15 done. Maybe in 2 years I'll have 50 done. Now this piece is done I'll go back to the Zinnia's tomorrow.

I got to see baby Addison on Tuesday. She was so little and so cute, so sweet. She barely cried while we were there. She's going to be one spoiled baby girl as she grows up if for no other than reason then my sister is going to dote on her grand daughter. She's wanted a grandchild for a while.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

The baby has arrived

My niece, Heather, had her baby at 9":30 PM May 1. Weighing in at 8lbs 11 oz. Addison Kay made her entrance into this world. We're all excited. Her middle name is after her Grandma, my sister, Kay. Kay and Ken made the trip to see the baby the next morning. Ken had to work at noon and Kay had to work that night. So they made a 4 hour round trip that morning.

Today Kay is coming in to town for the week. We have a busy week ahead. Tomorrow she's shampooing my carpet then mom's so then we'll probably do some shopping to get away from the fumes. Our brother, Tim, is moving into the same Apartment Complex I'm in so I am in between helping him. He'll call when he's ready for me to go back to the apartment. So Kay and I will be cleaning out his room at my parents house and turning it into Dad's office. Sometime during the week we'll go to Heather's to see the baby. Heather lives about 45 minutes from here. I have a Dentist Appointment Thursday. I hate going to the Dentist but I really need to I have a tooth acting up.

Friday I have to take my cat to the Vet to get his rabbies shot. I dread that. Although it's just a couple of blocks down the street, getting Whiskers into the carrier is going to be a chore. He's not going to like it. As it is I have it out and open and he goes by and closes the door. Those are just a few things we will do this week.

I've been stitching little by little on Noah & the Gang. It's slowed down quite a bit but I'm plugging away at it.



Question of the week was about heirloom pieces. There are several pieces I have done I hope will be heirlooms someday. This piece being one of them. I made about 20 years ago for my Grandmother and got it back when she died. I'm hoping one of mieces and nephews will want it some day.
Well, my Mom just called and said Tim and Wendy were loading up and getting ready to head over this way so I better go meet them.

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Noah & the Gang

I laid down the Zinnias as I saw I wasn't going to have them done by the date they needed it. The little girl just is not doing well so they wanted all the squares by May 5 so the quilter could quilt it and get it to her. Emmie is only 8 and her parents were told there was nothing more that could be done for her, just keep her comfortable. The Zinnias will go to another little girl in Emmie's honor.

I picked Noah and the Gang back up and decided to just work on it until it was done. It really isn't going as fast as I thought it would but I do enjoy it. It's typical of Sue Hillis Designs, a little difficult and tricky at times and I have a hard time clealy reading the color key. But they are cute and fun to stitch.

Tonight is Carnival night at Adventure Club. It is our last meeting for the summer and we always have a Carnival for the kids. Something they look forward to all year. It'll be a very noisy but fun night.

My niece hasn't had her baby yet. She was due last Sat. If she doesn't have the baby by this Sat. she will be induced, but that still doesn't guarantee a baby although we hope she has it by then if not then. I said if the baby wasn't born on mom's birthday then it had to have a May birthday as that was one of 2 months we didn't have any birthdays in our family.

Thank you for making comments to my blog I enjoy them. I love reading everyone's blogs and that is what I'm going to do from here.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

A New Start

I love doing this piece. It is so pretty. I intended it to go to Emmie at Love Quilts but she became an emergency and they won't be done by May 5 so they will go to any child in honor of Emmie.

It's been a great week weather wise. But today will be the last day of our 70 degress. Tomorrow it goes back to reality 40's and 50's for a few days which is more seasonal.

Tomorrow is my Mom's Birthday, Michelle's 1st wedding anniversary, and we hope Heather's baby will be born. It's her due date. So we are going to be hoping and praying all day tomorrow that baby comes. Heather said if the baby isn't here by May 3 they'll induce her. Hopefully it won't come to that. Today is Heather's last day of teaching for the year. She says if the baby isn't here she's going to do a lot of housecleaning next week. Maybe I should have her come here and clean my apartment. Heather is a spotless housekeeper. I'd rather stitch then clean house although my apartment isn't that bad and is easy to keep up with, just little things I neglect.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!