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!

Another cute piece from SC's Barn Yard Babies

Good afternoon. Well....we have our first snowfall of the season. They said it was coming and it came. Only I was hoping see how Saturn would react to seeing it but he was in bedroom under bed sleeping. So maybe when he comes out he'll see it. Last year he was at the Humane Society so I doubt he saw much snow falling out any windows. I started another of the cute Barnyard Babies by Stoney Creek. This is my 4th one . They are so cute. I tend to leave the sound they make off and I probably will on this one too. I love doing these baby animals. This will go for a quilt featuring farm life at Quilts for Older Children. How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was great. We went to my niece's and really enjoyed it. Of course I ate too much. And I got to take home some Sweet Potato Pie and ate the remainder of it today. It was good. Tomorrow my parents, another brother and sister-in-law will have another Thanksgiving dinner. Way to gain weight. Not big on turkey, but I love everything else. My niece lives on a lake and in the later afternoon we saw at least one ducks all lining up across the lake gathering together to fly south for the winter we figured. It was a site to behold and a once in a life time scene I'm sure. The Holiday Season has officially begun. Has anyone ventured out for Black Friday? Not me,.,.I'm not going near a store! Some friends did it last night and they posted on face book today, never again! Well.....until next time Happy Stitching!

Hello. I stitched on this a couple of hours a day. It's about all I could handle since my vertigo acted up again. It seems like I think it's leaving and all the sudden it's worse again. Getting very frustrating. Anyway I did a lot of frogging on this and still probably should have frogged again but I was ready to be done with this piece so just improvised. Now to kit up my next piece which will be a calf from Stoney Creeks Barnyard Babies. I've done about 3 other pieces from that book they are so much fun and cute. Does everyone have special holiday plans? We are going to my niece's house for Thanksgiving. We get to see Johnny and Kate. This time it'll just be Melissa, John, my brother and sister-in-law and my sister-in-law's mother. Should be a nice fairly quiet afternoon. Well-until next time Happy Stitching and Happy Thanksgiving.

My Cat's Favorite Place

Is actually my computer chair! Good morning everyone. I said my cat's favorite place is my computer chair because right now he is in back of me trying to kick me out of the chair so he can have it! But I thought this was so cute, and would be my cat if I had a basket full of cross sttiching supply within his site. He does like to play with the floss when I stitch. I found this piece and couldn't resist it. This is piece 34 towards the 50 challenge. I'm getting there! Next I want to try to stitch from 10 books I haven't stitched from before buying a pattern for myself. My sister got to town yesterday and will be here until Sunday. So this morning we'll do a little running and then maybe this afternoon do some running with our mom. It tires her out to do to much shopping and in the morning her caretaker is there so we like to be out of the way when she's there. Yesterday I had my first P.T. appointment. Parts went well other parts didn't go so well. I really need to work on my balance. I never had the best balance but with the vertigo it's way off. I'll go 1 day every other week and do most of the excercises at home. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

An easy, quick finish

This was another fun, easy piece to do. I did it as an Amish Stitch along in one of the groups I'm in but I don't remember which one. When stitching this I kept thinking of the song "The Wise Man Buit his house upon the Rock." We sang that song as kids. And one of the verses was the prayers go up and the blessing will come down. Our Harvest Dinner at church yesterday was very good. We had a lot of good food and as usual I ate too much. Right now we are having a food drive at church for our Food Pantry. This year so far doesn't look as good as last year but food is coming in. In January we are going to start something new hoping that will help. I think people forget about the food pantry and by promoting it once a month will help people to remember. I'm trying to figure out what I want to stitch next. I'll figure something out. Well....until next time....Happy Stitching.

Another new start

Hello again! Thanks for your comments to Great Is Thy Faithfulness. I love getting comments. This piece is moving very fast. So fast, I really think I will have it done late Monday afternoon. It is an Amish piece. One of the yahoo groups was having an Amish Stitch a long but I don't remember which one. This is from an old Stoney Creek Book called Gentle Unity. (Book #21 shows you how old it is!). This piece will help get to the 50 mark easier. I think this is piece #33 so slowly but surely I'm getting there. My youngest niece, Christina, and her husband are moving out east after the first of the year. So that's another state a family member is in. His job is taking him to North Carolina. So this Christmas we will be sending another one off. Last year her brother, Jeremy, moved to MO, now living in AZ. I told their older sister, Melissa the other night she better not plan to move, and she said she wasn't. They were staying. Good thing or like I said to her, her parents would hide the kids from her. She laughed and said she knew that. Well, not much is happening. Tomorrow we are having our annual Harvest Dinner at church. They are always good. Looking forward to that. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Another Finish

This piece went fairly fast. I loved doing it. It will probably go to one of our Pastor's next October. Last night I went to a Premiere Jewlery Party. I wasn't going to go but I let my friend talk me into going. Much to my surprise my niece, Melissa was the hostess so I got to see her and that was nice. I guess we are going to her house for Thanksgiving. Of course I ordered a necklace from her. My vertigo is doing a little better, now it comes and goes but night is the worst, I am scheduled for PT starting next Thurs., but, they called today and told me I have a $30 co pay with each visit. So I may go on Thurs. and hopefully get a list of excercises I can do on my own. Or maybe work out a payment plan. We'll see. Thirty dollars a visit can really add up! Well, not much to write about I mostly wanted to post this finish. Until next time....Happy Stitching.

This piece is moving fast

Hello everyone! How is everyone this Monday morning? I'm doing better and better with my vertigo. It's not completely gone but it's getting there. My big problem is when I try to do my excercises for it my cat thinks he has to help me! He's so funny and cute! I love him! I have made so much progress on this piece. It's moving much quicker than I anticipated. In fact I have my next few pieces picked out to stitch so I'm glad this is going fast. Besides it helps me get to the 50 challenge quicker. I think I have done 30 pieces toward it now so I'm getting there. I am wondering has anyone been to Cyber Stitchers or found their new site. I need to contact Anita again I think. She said they were moving the site and working out all the kinks that was over a month ago. I really miss seeing the new pieces everyone adds to their rooms and adding to my room. But I love going to the different blogs and seeing everyone's works. It's just there were certain people I followed their rooms there and while found some of the people haven't found everyone I would like to find. Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!