Quoddy Lighthouse Update

Good Evening! I know my blogging has been off and on but things are getting back to normal now so will be blogging a little more than the past couple of months. Stitching has also taken a back seat but I have made progress on this piece and hopefully it'll be done at the end of this week. I am noticing on the grass though it looks like two different colors, I had to start a new skein and it looks like the shade is different but it's still 3347 so the floss said. I don't like doing that grass so not going to rip it out. In earlier posts I mentioned my dad was at a Hospice Home here in town. On Friday, Sept. 20 he took a turn for the worse so we were with him almost constantly. Especially my mom and sister. Then at 2 am Sunday, Sept. 22 dad died. It's been a difficult week. Though we know he's in heaven and more alive than ever we already miss him. Yet we know we'll see him again some day. The picture is of my dad and sister taken earlier this year. It's one of our favorite pictures. My brother did not make it in from MO before dad died but he was here from Wed.-early this morning. My sister came in Sept. 19 and will leave tomorrow. Last night our church got broken into! They really tore the office apart and the sound board although the guys got the sound board working for the morning service. They took cash and some keys. Earlier this year another church in the area was broken into and the thieves came back and finished the job a couple weeks later. They did not take anything from the food pantry that we could tell but the key to the food pantry was among the keys they took. Basically we think they were scoping the church out to see what they had and did take some cash. This week we will be packing my mom up to move. Her and our youngest brother and his son are renting a 3 bedroom apartment in the same complex she lives in now. Mom can't live alone and Tim moving in with her was best solution for now anyway. Well....until next time Happy Stitching.

A Finish Finally

Finally got this piece clean. This cute lion will go to a newborn baby. Her quilt theme is Jungle Babies by Stoney Creek. Well... since I just posted another piece last night nothing else is going on so until next time Happy Stitching!

Back to Quoddy Lighthouse

Hello! I know it's been awhile since I've blogged. It's just been busy and to be honest I haven't even stitched that much let alone blog. I did finish a Jungle Lion which is in the sink soaking for a few days. I finished it yesterday but it had some bad stains on it. Most of them are out, but there's one though faded it's still obviously there. So maybe tomorrow it'll be clean enough to iron and post. I decided to go back to the Lighthouse. It's going easier than it was before I laid it down. I really enjoy these lighthouses even though they are a lot of work. Since my last post my dad has gone to a Hospice Home. He's holding his own, but it's day by day. He's lasted longer than anyone thought he would. We all thought when he decided he didn't want the meds that were keeping him alive anymore, that he would live maybe a week at the Hospice Center, but so far it's been about 3 weeks. It's a really nice home, they only have 14 patients and we're happy with the care. We had heard nothing but good things about this place so when told there was an opening there we were delighted. So I've been going to see my dad a lot. My brother and sister in law were here from MO a couple of weeks ago, and my sister was here. She will be back Tuesday. We had our annual pig out at church a couple of weeks ago. Though thrown together at the last minute it was a success. Then yesterday was the Kia Club Kick Off Carnival. While I didn't go to that, I heard that was much more successful than they expected. A lot of neighborhood kids came which was good, now to see if they come to Kia Club. I'm not working in it this year because of my balance problems. Well, until next time Happy Stitching Everyone. Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday I can post the Lion Baby.

Swallowtail Butterfly Start

Good Morning! It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged and this is a new piece. This piece is due Oct. 1 so thought I better lay down the Lighthouse which isn't due until Dec. 1. This summer has been a busy summer and not the best one I've ever lived. What am I saying, this year hasn't been the best year. My last post I mentioned my dad had a quadruple by past. After almost 2 weeks in the hospital and he came home and did well for a couple of weeks. Then things started going down hill. For one thing he got an infection in his leg. That is healing up fine now. But Sat. the nurse came to change his dressing and his blood pressure had bottomed out, plus he wasn't feeling good. He was very short of breath when we walked that morning. A five minute walk and he had to stop twice. He kept saying he felt like there was fluid in his lungs. The nurse called the Dr. and had him go to ER they admitted him to Critical Care. His sodium count was really low too which accounted for some of the confusion he had. Also his kidneys aren't functioning right and they did find fluid on his lungs. Oh and they discovered he had sleep apnea. He's doing okay right now but he'll probably be there a few days yet. Wed. is my birthday, guess we aren't going out to eat for it like we usually do. Oh well...Last year my birthday got lost with mom's surgery and a couple of other things, I survived, so I'll survive this year too. My niece and her 2 little boys came in from Colorado and so my sister and another niece came in to town camping out by the Lake. It was so much fun to see them. The four little ones (Addie 5, Nicholas almost 4, Nolan and Chase both 2). They love Lake Michigan so spent a lot of time there. It wasn't the best week for camping but they all had fun. Now Michelle, Nick and Chase are on the plane on their way back to CO. Hopefully the boys are being good as Michelle felt absolutely rotten this morning so it's a long flight for her. Like I said I laid the lighthouse piece down to do this butterfly plus have two other pieces due before that one. This piece is slow going. I really don't like half stitches, I get too lost. I would almost rather do quarter stitches. It's the butterfly that has a lot of 1 strand half stitching in it. I'm thinking it would go faster and easier if I just did whole stitches and not care, but I'm not doing that now. Well, until next time. Happy Stitching.

Quoddy Lighthouse Start

Good Evening! It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything. It's been a whirlwind of activity around here. It started 2 weeks ago when my dad had a heart catherization. We all figured no big deal, they may have to put a couple of stints in and he'll go home Wed. Wrong. He didn't do well after the catherization and they found 3 blockages one 100%, 90% and 80% so they kept him and scheduled a triple by pass for Friday, which turned out to be a quadruple by pass. He's still in the hospital and is getting stronger every day. My sister came in a couple of days last week and my brother came in from MO this past weekend. So I've been busy. I went to eye dr. today because I was really having problems with the eye they removed the cateracts from. I was afraid there was an infection. Fortunately there isn't. My eye just wasn't ready to ween down from the prednizone drops so they just increased it. I hate doing those drops. Now I have a beef and I don't usually use my blog to do this but man this is bad. A lady I added to the food pantry in the beginning was over powering and controlling. And I sort of got to the point of praying something would happen she wouldn't work in food pantry anymore. Well....it happened....she got caught stealing money from the Sunday School fund. A little each week over years. My first thought was "I always knew she would show her true colors I never trusted her." But I also felt really bad about it. Here this lady who's husband had been a Pastor and demanded we call her husband Pastor Dave, and a lady who played the piano and sang solos so many Sundays. A lady who everything was black and white and very judgmental of others, and a lady who claimed to be so spiritual. Claimed to love God claimed to love our church (she grew up in it. It was beyond my comprehension how she could steal from the church when she knew we were not a rich church at all. Then come to find out she did the same at a couple of other churches they had gone to. Not only that but had been shoplifting from stores, got caught in NY and had to be bailed out of jail. Oh she claims to be completely innocent but she got caught red handed stealing the money. Anyway, she'll loose her membership to our church. Her husband claims he knew nothing and claims she's innocent. I don't think so. Well enough on that. Now unto something more pleasant STITCHING. I lost the Patriotic piece. I don't know what I did with it! So I started this lighthouse. I tell you, the sky will bring the death of me! But I am enjoying the piece and the worse of the sky is done I think. I did another lighthouse from this book a few years ago and loved doing it. This is my progress after about 20 hours of stitching and 10 days. It's going slow but starting to go faster now the sky is well under way. Well this book is long enough so until next time---Happy Stitching!

Red, white and blue SAL

. Good afternoon. How was everyone's 4th of July? Mine was quiet. It's one of my favorite holidays to be honest. Only thing I don't like is people in the neighborhood think it's fun to shoot off fireworks well into the night even though they are suppose to stop at 11. Saturn seems to tolerate the fireworks better than my other two cats did. He just looks around when he hears a loud bang, my other two cats were under the bed. They are doing a Red white, and blue SAL at 123 stitch and I decided to join in late. It was getting close to Independence Day so I waited until now to join in. So far it's going good. I'm not too crazy about the birdhouse but it's going fine so far. Thank you for reading my blog. I love seeing where everyone comes from and I do read your blogs. I'm not a big on writing comments but once in a while I do. I still enjoy seeing the pieces and some of you I'm so jealous of. Your pieces are so pretty and great and you know how to write a blog and make it interesting. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Carousel Horse is Finished

I finally have this piece finished. It was fun to do but so very detailed. I was happy to get it finished this morning. This will probably be my last piece for the Sandy Hook Project as the deadline is right around the corner. Right now I'm doing America by Sue Hillis. It being the 4th of July this week I wanted to do a Patriotic piece. It's funny, I can actually see the squares and holes now and not have to feel for them. I went to eye dr. earlier this afternoon and did the eye chart very well. In fact I did better without my glasses then I did with glasses before my cataract removal so I'm pleased. It went real well yesterday. It was a piece of cake to be honest. But I had heard from others cataract surgery was very easy so I wasn't worried at all. Well....until next time....Happy stitching!

Mystery Sampler Part 1 Finished

I just finished Part 1 a few minutes ago. I am looking forward to part 2 coming out and stitching that. This was a lot of fun to do. My sister was here for the weekend. It was nice. We did some shopping. I needed bath towels and wash clothes and socks so went to Kohl's. I was surprised even on sale they costed a lot. Good news is I saved $150. Also stopped at Pet Smart to get my cat cat food, treats, and kitty litter. He had enough to last 2 or 3 weeks but as long as Kay was here and willing, I had her take me since I don't drive. I'm swetting tomorrow out now. I just hope I am doing the eye drops right so I can get the cataracts removed from left eye tomorrow morning. I think for most part they went okay but someone told me today I was suppose to have been given instructions how to do them as each time is different. We'll see tomorrow morning I guess. Well....until next time Happy Stitching. I'm going to finish the carousel off in the next couple of days.

Mystery Sampler

I got to eager to start the Mystery Sampler so laid down the Carousel Horse for a few days. Besides I needed a break from it even though I only have about 6 hours of stitching to do on it. This is the mystery sampler by Little House Needleworks. I love doing this piece and look forward to receiving part 2. Part 1 is not completely done but about 2/3 done. Needless to say when I get going on part two I'll be scanning in two parts. Today my sister is coming in from other side of state. We'll do a little running around today like pick up my brother's desk from his ex-girlfriend and get mom and I state I D's. I lost my I D 2 or 3 months ago. Monday I'm having cataracts removed from my left eye. I started the eye drops today and hope I'm doing them right! They say having cataracts removed is a piece of cake so I don't expect any problems. Well....until next time....Happy Stitching

Carousel Horse

Oh this one is so much fun to do. I can almost see and hear the carousel in my mind. It takes me back to when we use to go to the carnival and all the fun we would have. The pretty animals on the carousel and the music it played. All a part of summer. This one has a lot more color than I like, but it's so much fun to do and is moving really fast. This is after only 15 hours of stitching, so it'll be done in no time. I received my LHN Mystery Sampler in the mail the other day, at least the first part of it. I'm anxious to start it. Anyone else have their's yet and want to do it as a SAL? I'd love to do this one as one. The end of June and it brings a lot of birthdays. My great nephew, Richard turned 10 earlier this week, today is my niece, Heather's, birthday, tomorrow is my niece-in-law, Elaina's, birthday, Monday is Heather's little boy, Nolan's birthday and next Saturday is my great nephew Chase's birthday. So that's a lot of birthday's in a short time, oh and my nephew's step daughter will be 5 in there somewhere, coming up. Nolan and Chase will be 2 years old. Well....until next time. Happy Stitching. There is a storm coming in so I'm going to need to shut down the computer. Wonder if Saturn will give me back my stitching chair. Hmmmm....

Cape Florida Lighthouse Finished

I loved doing this piece. It went fairly quick and very easy. My type of project, small but detailed. Plus I love Beach Scenes, especially Lighthouses. This will also go to Sandy Hook Project. I wasn't going to order a pattern for myself, but.....Well Yesterday I was looking at different blogs and saw Little House Needleworks, one of my favorite designers. Diane had a mystery sampler posted. I've wanted to do a mystery one for awhile, and I felt confidant enough that I would enjoy doing it. Figuring it would be about birds which aren't my favorites but okay. I was hoping it was about music too, so we'll see. Anyway I had to go to 123 stitch and order it. I can't wait to get it. It comes in 3 parts and the next part is available in July, and the last one Aug. I also figure it will be four different seasons of birds. We'll see. I went through LHN section at 123 stitch and man I think I could have spent a couple hundred dollars just on her designs. But I was good I only ordered that. Now when I order the July and August patterns I may order a couple other ones with it. Guess I'll start the 15 challenge in August! LOL Well, I'm going to read some blogs and then look for my next project to stitch. Until next time....Happy Stitching!

Florida Lighthouse

Good afternoon! I am a seasonal stitcher and I love doing beach scenes and this one I really am enjoying. It'll probably be done quicker than I thing though. I left the Lighthouse to do the trees as I knew they would be more challenging. They went easier than I thought they would thought. Growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan we use to go down there every week in the summer and the lighthouse was the star attraction. We would walk the pier, and go swimming etc. We loved Lake Michigan. Even today when family and friends we grew up with that moved away, have to go to Lake Michigan with each visit because of all the great memories we have of each other and the times we spent there. Tomorrow being Father's Day, we are going to my brother's for a late dinner. We usually don't make a big deal of Mother's or Father's Day. Our parents just wanted a card and a phone call, but now they are getting older we try to do something special on those days, as to be honest, we don't know how many more special days we'll have with them. Mom is 80 and Dad 84 and both have Congestive Heart Failure and other health issues. Well....until next time. Happy Stitching!

Fifty Finishes!

For being such a small piece, this piece was a dickens! I had to frog so many times. Maybe it was because it was my 50th finish! I can't believe I made it although some I ordered intending to do for charity and discovered size wise they wouldn't work. I will probably wait until Aug. to order anything for myself. I am old. I knew for a couple years I had cataracts, well the one in my left eye will be removed in 2 or 3 weeks. I'm not worried about it, every one says it's simple and no problems. I'm hoping I'll be stitching on even weave, or even 18 count material again. I'll probably have the right eye cataracts removed next year. Another sign of old age, arthritis and today my hip really hurt bad. I could hardly move this morning so didn't go to the Food Pantry to work. We had the storms last night, several of them, but fortunately none were severe. South of us got hit hard though. Lake Michigan really protects us. Well until next time....Happy Stitching!

Finish 49!

Only one more finish and I will have reached the 50! At first 50 seemed so over whelming. But the further along I got the more determined I was. I did buy some patterns to make for gifts or charity. And some of them (about 3 or 4 were not what I thought they would be so maybe I shouldn't have counted them but my intent when I ordered them was for charity or gifts. So does that count against me and I have to go back a few. I'm not doing that. But I have set a goal of 15 projects without buying any patterns for any reason. There were patterns along the way I thought I'll get after the 50 mark, and now I forgot what they were. I'm also wondering if I will actually do something for myself let alone spend the money on framing it. That's the second trick. I'm trying so hard to get that credit card down! But it's hard. Especially since I see the eye doctor on Wed. and we talk about removing the cataracts left eye first. It will help me see better, and who knows maybe I can even work on evenweave or linen again, or even 16 or 18 count aida. Some hard to figure out charts may even be easier. This was a really quick finish I found in an older book called Summer Children by Cross Stitch Originals. I thought it would be cute for Sandy Hook project. My next one is in same book and just as easy I'll then have my 50. Okay I cheated found easy charts to end on. Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

The Old West Finish

I finished this earlier this evening. It was such a fun stitch, I'll probably do it again down the road. I have a dumb question, sarcastic question really. Why must mosquitoes bite and night and on the back? I dare that mosquito to show itself during the day and bite my arm or leg, something I can get at it! LOL Bible Study Fellowship ended last month. But this month a few of us ladies from church are doing a Beth Moore Bible Study she has several. But the one we chose is Breaking Free. I was really excited about that. I've been wanting to get in a Beth Moore study for a long time. There really isn't much of anything going on. My life is very unexciting and that's fine. So until next time Happy Stitching!

I know the picture is a little crooked. Sorry I'll do better next time. But this piece is really moving along. Once U get the Alamo done, the rest will go quickly. We have been very fortunate in missing out on the storms. However I can't help but feel for those in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri. My brother and his family all live in St. Louis area, and while they got the tornadoes, they came through them okay. Some property damages but their homes made it through and they made it through. So did my sister and her husband the other night. Six different tornadoes went through their area but they came out alright. Well, until next time Happy Stitching. One of these days I'll have a lot to say.

A Western Piece

I love doing Western Pieces but I have so few patterns that I don't get to do them very often. I've been eyeing this piece for a couple of years now, and finally got it out of my stash to do it. I'm not sure if it'll go to Love Quilts or Sandy Hook. There is a little girl at Sandy Hook that loved the west and wanted cowboy boots for Christmas. But this piece may be too boyish. I don't know yet. It's a fun piece to do. Unfortunately because of the size requirements some of it is being left off but this is type of pattern you can do that too. I may do this 2 or 3 years from now for one of my great nephews, only the whole pattern then. Well, until next time.....Happy Stitching

Finish no. 47

Good afternoon. I finished this piece earlier today. I love doing these Inspirational Words pieces. This one went real fast. Now I'm doing a piece called The Wild West by Little House Needleworks. I like their pieces too. I don't know that I'll do the whole pattern as it's too large for either Sandy Hook or Love Quilts. Just which one I'll send it too I don't know at this point. Hugs is going to Sandy Hook Project. Anyone have special plans for the Holiday weekend? I really don't. Boy lately my mind is been dry when it comes to thinking of things to say here. I wish I had the gift of gab like some of you do. I am goi9ng to go read some blogs now. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Finally stitching again.

I finally am getting back into stitching after 2 failed projects attempts that went into the garbage. This one is going to be a quick one. And I may revise it a little by doing complete stitches instead of half on the flowers. We'll see. Sunday was our farewell to our Pastor. It was a somber day. He and his wife did a mini concert for us. Already people are thinking of names of people to give to the search committee once it's formed. Which will probably be at June's Elder board meeting. There isn't much happening right now so until next time Happy Stitching!

Music & Books

This was a fun, quick finish. I loved doing it. This one will also go to Sandy Hook Project. There isn't anything going on right now. So until next time....Happy Stitching!