Happy Halloween!

Isn't this kitty scary? LOL! I didn't do a Halloween piece this year, I chose to to major on The Caretaker, so went back to a piece I did a few years ago. This piece has since been given away.

Our apartment complex doesn't allow Trick or Treating so I'm going over to our church where we are having Trunk or Treat. I talked Tim and Wendy into doing it too. They'll hand out our candy, I'll be inside the church serving Apple Cider and Donuts to those who come inside. We did Trunk or Treat last year for the first time and the neighbors loved it. Several called or stopped by to ask if we were doing it again this year. I hope the members show up. Our people usually come through but a lot of them have Trick or Treaters go to their homes so they have to be there too. We'll see. I know we'll have at least 10 cars. We really aren't that big of a church. Several people donated candy and apple cider and donuts so we are all set there.

I haven't made much progress on The Caretaker or Thankfulness so I'll wait a couple of days to post updates on those.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching.

A New Start and Progress on The Caretaker

I started a new piece yesterday. It's Thankfulness by Diane Arthur of Imaginating. I am using Gentle Arts Burnt Orange Floss for it. I really like doing these pieces.


Things have slowed down on The Caretaker mostly because the page has an awful lot of confetti stitching on it. Much more than any previous page. As you can see I am not far from done on that page but believe me it will be next week before it's done. I'll probably have half of page 13 done by time this page is done. I'm anxious to get to page 13 as it will get much more of the elk on it. This is progress after 400 hours of stitching on it.

I am happy to report Whiskers is doing very well now. He got the last of his meds last night. Believe me today I gave him his treat and he woofed it down it probably tasted much better to him! LOL! He's been spending a lot of time on my lap being petted and I love that time with him. I think he wants to know he is more important than my stitching and he is.

We've had a cool and windy few days. We've had snow, and we've had thunderstorms! Think it took care of a lot of the trees! Oh well, they were getting so pretty. I just love the fall season.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Stealing Oats is Finished!

Boy! Am I glad to have this done. In the end it annoyed me as I made so many stupid mistakes due to lack of concentration and had to improvise quite a bit. Plus I couldn't use the beads that came in the charm pack as my needles were not small enough so I just did french knots. It is a cute piece though and maybe a few years from now I'll redo it.

Now it's back to The Caretaker. I would like to get the page I'm on and the page with more of the elk finished before laying it down for a while. We'll see. The page I'm on has an awful lot of confetti stitching which really slows it down a whole lot.

I had planned to do Harvest Blessings and Harvest and a Halloween piece in Oct. and Nov. I don't know what I did with those three patterns. They are here somewhere! I'll probably find them in Dec. Too late then. So I got out Yesteryear to do when I need a break from the Caretaker next time.

Well, until nex time-Happy Stitching!

Stealing the Oats

I'm taking a break from The Caretaker to finish this piece and maybe do a small Halloween piece (if I find a cute small one). I should be done with this piece tomorrow morning sometime.
I did make a mistake though. I made the horse longer than what he should have been. I didn't see on the directions tht 2 stitches were repeated on the second page. Oh well....He still looks fine to me. I'm not sure what I'm doing with him yet anyway. You can see the kitten is just coming in. This piece is so cute.
Last Sunday night I got the shock of my life. I went to my mailbox at church and found an enveloped with my name marked "Food Pantry." It had a really nice note and I expected to find maybe $20 but I saw the first $100 bill and I was shocked and went to my dad and said "Dad they gave me $100 then I looked further there was several $100! Needless to say that money got turned over and now is in the bank for the Food Pantry. Plus so much food came in. I think we are going to go with Love Inc. now and let them send a couple of people a month to start and go from there. (Oh I need to call them don't I?)
An update on Whiskers here, He is doing fine. Monday was a rough day in that I couldn't get him to eat to take his med in the morning. Finally late that afternoon he ate and he's been good about taking his med ever since. I finally just said if he misses a pill I won't worry about it as he is doing well. He is almost to the end of his medication now.
Yesterday I went on a color tour with a group from church. There was quite a bit of color in spots but not quite to the peak yet. It still was a pretty trip. Then we ate a restaurant up in Grant. We went through a part of Hesperia which brought back a lot of memories for a couple of us. Mary grew up there and my grandparents lived there. We went close to the big hill they lived at the top of. Then went through some other small towns before reaching Grant. Nothing much changes up there which was nice.
Now we're all getting ready for Halloween. Trick or Treating isn't allowed in our Apt. Complex but our church is having Trunk or Treat so I'm going to be doing that only inside the church serving donuts and Apple Cider to any Trick or Treater that comes in. Trunk or Treat is where cars are lined up in the church parking lot and treats are handed out as the kids go to each car. We did it last year and the neighborhood loved it. The church had several people call and ask if we were doing it again. They finally had me put it on the sign.
Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Quick update on Whiskers

Last night, my cat, Whiskers who is now 16, got sick twice during the night. Then when we got up this morning he just wasn't himself. He went over to his water and meowed and meowed and meowed like he was really hurting, wanted to drink but couldn't. Finally he did drink but got sick right afterwards. So I called my brother and asked him to take us to the Vet. I was in tears so afraid I'd have to put him down. Because he was so upset at the Vet and he attacked me really good the Vet felt she better put him under to run blood tests on him. It turned out he has a Bladder Infection, just the beginning of one. So I have to give him pills the next 10 days twice a day. I just hope he takes them. I hope he doesn't get more in the future. I am not going to my sister's now. I would really be upset if I went and he got worse and to take him with me would be a problem. My sister isn't happy about that but she'll get over it. Here's a picture of my little sweetheart. It's been over a year since I posted one of him.

Sunday, Oct. 19. I am happy to say Whiskers is doing much, much better. I finally walked up to the store yesterday and got his very favorite treats, (Fancy Feast) and gave him a little, he devoured it. Later ate some of his regular food. Last night I put his pill in some more treats and he ate it. Sat. he even jumped up on my bed a little rather than lay in the corner like he was. He even woke me up at 6:30 am this moning first time in days he's done that, and he asked for some treats (he hadn't done that in a few days), watched me crush the pill and put it in his food, he still ate it. I'm a very Happy Camper! Thank you for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers for him. He's going to be fine.

Some more Progress

Progress is very slow at this point as there is so much confetti stitching on this particular page, it really slows me down. You can tell by the color shades there is an awful lot. I still enjoy this piece though.

This coming up week I probably won't get much any progress on this piece. I'll be out of town 3 days. Sat. we have a Bridal Shower to go to for my nephew's fianee on the other side of the state. Sat, so my mom, brother, and his fiancee and their dog Autumn, will all be going to my sister's. Her daughter, Heather, her husband, Brian, and their 5 month old baby, Addie will all be there. Sat. night will be interesting, Heather, Brian, and Addie, their dog Trisket, mom, Tim, Wendy, Me, and Autumn. Plus my sister has a dog. Their son Bryan, will probaly spend the weekend at his fiancee's parents house. (Bryan and Christy live in Chicago.) Let's see 3 dogs, 2 of them are large breed and Autumn is small. Both Autumn and Trisket get along with Maverick and both love that huge yard. We'll see what happens. Trisket and Autumn have never seen each other. I think Autumn will be more interested in Addie though. She loves the baby but we guard Addie when Autumn is around her.
Sunday I'm not sure what we are doing, and Monday I know we are going shopping at a huge outdoor Outlet Center. We have our favorite stores to go in. So I'm grabbing my credit card that's for sure!

Thursday we are going on a color tour. The leaves are starting to turn very nicely here now. Much better color this year the last. So I think the tour will be beautiful. I think we are heading a little to the North. It's a mystery tour but we think we know where we are having lunch. Tim and Wendy went there one night and saw the people hosting the tour there too. They had been told to check out the restaurant, then one Sunday in church Pastor Al said "those of you who know where we are going just keep it under your hats." So that was a dead giveaway.

I am going to take Stealing Oats with me to my sister's and work on it in the car for sure. It will be my shut up piece or I'm of the wall. So I'll show a progress picture of that next week some time.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

The Caretaker

Thank you for all your comments to Winter Silhouette!

Now I'm back to stitching my forever project, The Caretaker. I figure it'll be finished sometime between 2010 and 2020! I finished my 5th page on it so that conts as 1 more piece towards the 25 challenge, my 6th page is almost done so that will count as the 34d. I read somewhere where someone was counting each page of a huge project as a project toward their goal, and I thought good idea. Especially since there is more on 1 page then there is to a lot of projects.

I am real happy with this piece and do enjoy working on it. I can't wait to get more of the elk done and really start having it look like it's coming together. I may start that page next.

Oh I almost forgot. I gave 3pieces to a friend of mine to finish off. Two were made into pillows and the 3rd (Lizzie Kate Flip It's) was made into a Bell Pull. I already gave the Bell Pull to a friend going through radiation treatments for cancer. I liked how the two turned off she has done, the 3 rd one I'll get Sunday. The pillow really turned out nice. I think I will have the two pillows as an exchange piece. I've been shy about joining exchanges because I'm no good in finishing things. Mary said she'd finish things off for me when I wanted. I'll try not to over work her.

Well, until next time happy stitching!

Winter Silhouette is Finished

I put the last stitches in it about an hour ago. I love how it turned out and can't wait to do Harvest and Bethlehem. But I will work on Stealing Oats next and finish that off then go back to The Caretaker. The picture doesn't do the piece justice.

Thanks for all your suggestions on the TV. The TV is working now. My dad called Comcast and they walked him through what to do. We figure I used the wrong remote the other day and that's what screwed everything up.

Well-until next time Happy Stitching!

I Received My Thread

I got the Valdani Thread in mail Friday afternoon and immediately picked Winter Silhouette back up. I only have to finish the house I'm doing, do one more house and a couple of trees and another star and it will be finished. Oh yea the land to those houses and trees too. I hope to be done with the piece on Tuesday. We'll see.
I so enjoy doing this piece. I plan to do Autumn Harvest in Burnt Ornge (Gentle Arts) and Bethlehem in the near future. I'll do Autumn Harvest real soon. All are by Diane Arthur. I love doing these pieces. She also has 3 Kings and Snowmen which i I'll get those two next year and do them.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog and have made comments to it. I really appreciate them. I love going to all the different blogs (obviously look at how long my blog roll is!)LOL, and seeing the different pieces everyone is doing.

Anyone have any ideas as to what I could have done to my parents TV? I went to change the channel (they were gone I was there to keep the dog company) and got static. When my parents got home I told them what happened and they tried everything. They just got static and also the TV seems to be froze on one channel, I must have locked it somehow. They didn't figure it out yesterday and today my brother is there. So far I haven't heard that he was able to fix it either. I absolutely hate remotes and I am never touching a remote again!

Well, until next time. Happy Stitching

A New Start

Here is the start of Stealing Oats. I think it is so cute. I love the Britter animals and they are very easy to do. The cat isn't in the picture yet but will be eventually. Now I have the mane done the horse is going quicker. It took forever to do the mane. I'm still working on The Caretaker, but sometimes need a break from it.

I finally heard the Valdani Thread arrived to 123 stitch and they have shipped it to me with the rest of the thread I ordered. I can't wait to get it and get back to Winter Silhouette. I'll have 3 in my rotation. I'm typically a one at a time stitcher. I read on someone's blog on the large pieces like the ones by HAED and Mystic Stitch, etc they count each page as a project so I think I'll do that too. Hey it'll get me to 25 faster.

Last night Adventure Club started at our church. We didn't have very many kids show up, I think the lowest start ever. Once it progresses we get more kids. My little great nephew, Ashton, and 2 of his cousins were there. Ashton was so cute. I came down the stairs just as he was registering and said "Hi Ashton" he looked surprised, then covered his mouth and started giggling. He and his little cousin Mc Kenzie did great. I wish I could say the same for Kaily who is 8. She did fine until she saw her Grandma, then she was whining and crying the rest of the night. She's in my class and honestly did fine, Then when it was tme for games she grabbed my hand and was crying. Granted she is very shy and is definitely her grandma's girl. So Wendy just took her from there. (Wendy is my brother's fiancee). We really like her a lot.

Tomorrow I'll be spending the day with my mom unless it rains. Dad is going golfing. They are taking care of my brother's dog as Tim and Wendy are going up north for the weekend. (Crummy weekend to go up to the cottage but they are). It's just been cold here and really looks like it may rain. Since mom is so unsteady on her feet we'd feel better if I went there to walk the dog etc. I'll do my washing while I'm there, this time I can do it for free won't need quarters there!. I'll take this piece since it is an easy piece to do. But I'm sure we'll work a puzzle. I love doing puzzles. It's just I can't do them here Whiskers won't let me. Neither did my previous cat. Speaking of Whiskers, he is going t be 16 10 days from now! I can't believe it.

Well, I better go do my dishes, until next time Happy Stitching!

Remember The Caretaker?

While waiting for the Valdini Thread to arrive I have picked The Caretaker back up. (Makes my brother happy anyway). Seriously I am enjoying working on the piece. I have almost 5 pages completely done. I really can't wait to get more of the elk in but it's going to be quite awhile yet before I get him done.

I just go back from walking my brother's dog. I try to walk her almost every day, (although it's been a few days). She made up for it though. We walked for over an hour so that was good. The last time I walked her one of the neighbor ladies had her come in and gave her some chicken to eat. So today we went by her apartment and what Autumn stops on the side and starts whining. I finally go up to the door thinking something was wrong and Autumn was sensing it. No, she wanted more chicken but she didn't get it I wouldn't let her. She did get to see the lady though. The lady is 90 years old and lives alone in a town house. She doesn't show her age. She also does Cross Stitch though not as much as she use to. I hope I'm stitching at 90!

I also have Stealing Oats on the side that I am stitching. It's barely started, so maybe later in the week I'll show that.

Well until next time, Happy Stitching!

Decisions, Decisions

Here is the Bethlehem Pattern. I need help. Which of the three threads shown would look best with with? I'm leaning towards the Midnight Blue (darker of the three). But I think the Cornflower and the Lavender Potpori would be pretty too. It will be done on Oppascent material just like Winter Silhouette. Thanks for your opinions.

Out of Thread

I ran out of thread to finish this. I got quite aways so end of next week I'll get the thread (hopefully it'll come then), and I can finish it off. I am not happy about running out of thread, but at least it is coming. Now I'll pick up The Caretaker back up. See how far I can get on that.

This Thursday I am going up to Center Lake for a 1 day retreat. I can't wait. I grew up going to Center Lake Bible Camp every year and loved it. I've been up there off and on as an adult, but it's been about 4 or 5 years now.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

More Progress

Thank you so much for all your comments to this piece so far. I am overwhelmed and really appreciate them. I know the picture is a little dark I should have waited a few hours to take the picture I think. I do think you might see the glisten of the material better though. I am almost half done. I have gone through over one skein of the floss so I did order some the other day. It won't be here for a couple of weeks so I'll have to lay it down next week when I run out of this floss. I'm just happy to have found the floss without having to pay $12.00 like the original place was going to charge me.

Some of us at ESC (Every Stitch Counts) are going to do Bethlehem which is a companion piece, as a SAL at Christmas Time. So I need to order the material and floss for that. This piece makes me want to use Specialty floss a lot of love the shades. I'm trying to decide if I want to do Bethlehem in lavender which I love or the blue which I also love. So I think I'll order more threads. I also found another piece I love that is a harvest piece I want to get and do up. That one I'll do in Burnt Orange Shades. I'm hoping to find the Opascent Material to do Bethlehem on. I think it would be so pretty.

Okay-Confession time! Forget the 25 challenge! I just ordered several patterns from 123 stitch. Some are for gifts but not all of them. I discovered I didn't have Bethlehem like I thought. But could I stop at Bethlehem, the material and the
Gentle Arts Thread for that. Of course NOT! I ordered about 5 or 6 other patterns and about 20 Skeins of Gentle Arts Thread! Well I'm not buying anything else for the rest of the year! And have to start all over with the 25 challenge, at least I wasn't very far!

Well so much on my future stitching. Actually when this is done I'm going back to the piece I started last year for my brother. I'm anxious to get more done on that.

Winter Silhoutte

Wow! Three days in a row I'm posting. But I'm so excited about this piece I wanted to post a picture of the progress. I'm real happy with the progress on it tjos this is after stitching only 8 hours. I just love it! I just hope I have enough floss. Grrr...Not going there. Well my sister is on her way to town and I'm going to my parents in about an hour so until next time Happy Stitching!

My new project and a question

I have just started Winter Silhouette by Imaginating. I am using Specialty thread. My question is do I work the top row all the way across first then 2nd row so on so forth or can I do each individual picture? I have started the church. I love this piece. I saw it in purple at the LNS and it was beautiful but they didn't have the purple thread so went with blue. I am doing it on white opescent material, (14 count). It'll be beautfiul when done! Until next time Happy Stitching!

Double Flip It's is finished

I just finished this a little over an hour ago. I had planned for it to go to a friend going through radiation treatments. Than I thought she might like another piece better. I'll let one of her best friends decide between the two pieces tomorrow. This will otherwise go as an exchange gift at Christmas. Now to kit up my next project. I had planned to do Piglet for Johhnny, and Grrrrrr, I can't find the book! I had it a few days ago. It'll show up. So am doing a Bashful bunny piece for a quilt.

Oh, Because I fell off the wagon I have to start over this time going for only 25 not 50. This piece is counting as 6 towards it because it actually would be 12 if done individually, since the borders are left off I am making it 6 so 6 pieces towards 25. Off to a great start!

I've been thinking and praying for the people in the path of of Hurricane Ike. It's a good thing it wasn't a 3 or 4, 2seems to have done enough destruction. I know there are several of you out there, here's hoping you are all safe and don't have too much destruction in your homes.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

One-in-a-half words to go

It's getting there. It should be done by Monday if not Sat. I really am enjoying this piece. Some words took longer than others but other than that it's really a fun stitch.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how a church can have a Missionary Memorial? What did you do for it? I finally am getting a memorial set up for the very first missionary our church sent out. Catch is I'm going to have to include the other missionaries that we sent that died too, so far that's 3 possibly 4 then another one has end stage cancer so she'll be included when she dies. I had really wanted a missionary corner to promote missions but that fell through. A compromise is a missionary hutch and still get to feature a missionary every couple of months. I have contacted the families of the 3 missionaries and they are all excited about something being done. We'll do something after the first of the year right now we have 3 other major things we are working on coming up in Oct. and Nov. Just curious as to what if other churches did. I finally took it upon myself to upgrade our map as we had one missionary listed as being in Peru who for the last year or transferred to Mexico as the work he set out to do in Peru ended. Took down a retired missionary and have to get pictures of two other families to put up.

Yesterday there was a fire at the elementary school my little great nephew, Ashton, goes to. Can you believe a little second grader started the fire. Not much is being said on the news about it. My guess is he wanted to see what would happen if he started a fire with the bathroom tissue and didn't fully understand what he was doing. What a young child is doing with a match or lighter I don't know. Fortunately no one was injured, they sent the children all home and they are off until Monday so they can clean up the mess and get some of the smoke smell out. Ashton is in Kindergarten so was not in the area of the fire.

Well, guess I'll go back to stitching. Until next time Happy Stitching!

I Fell off the Wagon (again)!

Well........I went to a LNS the other day. I rarely get to one as we don't have any in our city but this one was only about a half hour away. And I bought 3 different patterns. I have taken a picture of the culprits and the Lizzie Kate pieces. This doesn't include all the floss or material I bought. I spent money thanks to my Stimulous check I finally received. The Lizzie Kate's I am doing as a gift. But I'm thinking Winter Silhouette, Believe, and Stealing Oats will be mine and I want to do one of them so bad! I'll go back to square one but will only go for 25 instead of 50. Also the Lizzie Kate piece will count as 3 projects toward it.


I am also showing a picture of my progress on the Double Flip It's. I have 6 done, y6 more to go.

Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Four Words Down, Eight to Go

Here are two more words to the Double Flip It Series. I didn't have much time to work on it over the weekend but did make progress. I really am enjoying this piece.

How was everyone's weekend? Sat. and Sun. were so busy for me they flew. So yesterday I just relaxed and stitched. Sat. my brother and sister-in-law arrived in from MO. Later that afternoon we all went to a Mexican Restaurant that was so good and it was so nice in there. We all enjoyed it. Johnny who is now 20 months, and an energetic bundle of fun and joy stole the show. He talks pretty good for being so young and does put small words together. If you remember, my mom lost part of her leg a few months ago, and now has a prosthesis. Johnny is so fascinated by that, he made sure everyone knew about it, by saying "See her leg? Where is it?" Then the owner of the restaurant came up and talked to us and in end thanked us for coming and Johnny turns around and says to him "Thank You" It was so cute. Not long after that, he came back with a big stuffed fish for Johnny.

Sunday afternoon more family members were able to join us at our niece Melissa's house. Johnny made sure he greeted everyone and hammed it up again. Another niece and her husband had their baby, Addie there. Addie is 4 months old now. Johnny loved her but he has this thing about biting. Fortunately he got caught and stopped as he just was about to bite her. He's getting better but still....He gave Addie his pillow to lay on and tried to share some of his toys with her. So cute. Ashton who is 5 and started school today was running around outside with his Uncle Andrew. We hardly saw Ashton. He did ask his mother for a baby brother or sister as he loves babies. He was so gentle with Addie holding her very carefully. I may be prejudiced but even Kenn and Denise said it, for their young ages, Ashton, Johnny, and Addie are all very smart. Ashton is in Advanced Kindergarten as he was too advanced for regular kindergarten so he goes to school all day 5 days a week. That sounds like a lot to me. Well enough of my boasting about our 3 little ones.
It was such a fun weekend, busy, and altogether too short.

Well, I need to run a couple of errands and then go back to stitching. Until next time Happy Stitching!