Happy Dance Lady and the Tramp is finished

Good morning! Saturn woke me up at 5:30 again this morning just starving! Yet there was food in his dish but he wanted breakfast in bed. He isn't spoiled isn't he.

I finished Lady and The Tramp. Don't let Lady's cuteness fool you, this time she was a beast to do~! I don't remember her being so hard when I did it the first time years ago. I did make a major mistake but unless I tell you what it is or you have the pattern and compare it to what I stitched you won't know it so rather then frog I let it go. Besides by that time I had had it with the piece. It will go to a little girl at Needle Hearts and be put on her quilt.

We have had several days of 90 degrees or above, very unusual for West Michigan. In fact our county broke records by having 8 or 9 days in a row of 90 or above. We are getting a break if you call upper 80's a break now. We are all wondering what Aug. will bring as that is the hottest month of the year usually.

I don't know what to think or what is going on with Saturn. He isn't eating as much as he was and is drinking so much more. I'm thinking maybe feline diabetes. He's using his kitty litter a lot too. Anyway he has a Vet appointment in about 12 days. I called around to see if other Vets were taking new clients and could get him in earlier but no one could. He wouldn't eat for a few days but then I started hand feeding him and that got him to eating a little. He's a big 22 pounder so as long as he is eating a little he'll be okay. He won't like that Vet visit as he will be getting blood drawn.

Well....until next time. Happy Stitching! I'm going to start the bird piece for my sister in law and read some blogs.

A new finish and Mya with her quilt

Good afternoon! It is hot out there today, around 90. I watered my garden and got my walk in before it got too hot and now I'm enjoying the air conditioning!

I finished this piece early this morning. It will go to a friend in IN who's family is really musical. It was a bright, loud piece, not my usual choice but it caught my eye. I really enjoyed stitching most of it. That treble clef I didn't enjoy but the butterfly as intricate as it was, I loved stitching on it. Now I'm doing Lady and the Tramp for a little girl with cancer. I think it will be a Disney Quilt.

I do have a picture of Mya with her quilt. I was not there when it was given to her, but her parents said she really liked it. That little girl got 3 quilts in one week. Ours was different in that it was cross stitched and it's a lap quilt rather then a full size quilt. But she's so tiny it fits her perfectly as a full size quilt. The other two quilts she got that week, and the one she got earlier she gets lost in, but loves them too. As far as an update on her goes. A couple of weeks ago, she had a setback and landed back in the hospital. (So much for her two week break). She was taken to Grand Rapids and then the next night sent to Ann Arbor because of another setback. She was only there a couple of days, she got a blood transfusion went home day after that, and was in church the day after that. She is back in Ann Arbor now for another round of chemo. She is such a sweetheart, because her parents had to work, her grandma took her this time and the day she left she sent a text to her parents saying she loved them, she hoped they had a good day at work, she would be brave and she would be okay. That helped her parents. Today her mom posted Prayer changes everything but didn't say anything more, so I have the idea, that possibly Mya's cancer is responding well to chemo and her future looks better then it did. I don't know. But that little girl is a sweetheart and she deserves a miracle, the miracle of complete healing. Please if you pray, add her to her list. Thank you.

Well until next time....Happy Stitching!

Southwest Scene

Does this look like a Southwest Scene? I've never been Southwest, (just CA or CO) so I don't know. Anyway I finished this yesterday. I've been wanting to do a Southwest piece for a long time and this just never appealed to me until now. So I pulled it out and stitched it. It was a fun stitch.

Today my sister in law and I are making a meal for Mya's family and taking it over there with her quilt. I am anxious to see the quilt. I don't know if Mya will be there if she is I doubt we will see her. She just completed 5 weeks of agressive chemo treatments and was given 2 weeks off before it starts up again. She was doing well, the cancer in her leg was shrinking (they don't know if it is in the lungs), she was pain free and even walking again first time in weeks. She got home last Thursday and all was well until Wed. night when she ran a high fever so they took her to a hospital closer to home. I don't know if she's still there or if she's being discharged. We'll just give the quilt to her mother and her mother will give it to her when she gets home. She needs prayer. She is only 11 had just barely turned 11 when what they thought was a gymnastic injury to her leg turned out to be 4th stage bone cancer that spread to her lungs. She'll be undergoing chemo therapy the next 30 weeks at least (off and on I assume), plus will be loosing her femur bone after she's had 30 treatments then undergo 20 more chemo therapy treatments after that. Because of her immunity being so low her parents are being very strict on who sees her and I don't blame them. Hopefully they'll take a video or pictures of her with the quilt and put it on her caring bridge page.

This year I got aggressive with my garden. I got sick of the weeds being so tall and grass was growing in the garden and the roots were deep. So I asked a friend to come help me. She dug the grass out by hoping on top of the shovel and pushing it in, it all took about 2 hours. (I have a small garden). Then we went to the store and bought a few more plants to plant. Hopefully I'll buy 2 or 3 more Monday. There is lots of space. I've been able to keep ahead of the weeds.

Things are finally starting to open back up here in Michigan. Restaurants can open on Monday. They still are not opening up Hair Salons or Barbershops. Hopefully by end of the month.

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

Two finishes

The first one My sister-in-law called me and asked me to do Jeremiah 29:11 as a center piece for Mya's quilt. No border, just the words. I searched my pattern books for good lettering then remembered I had a shortened version of the verse in one of my books I had done years ago. So I just used the lettering from that book (it had some other verses in it.) The difficult part was figuring out the centering and making sure it was within the size requirements. It's not washed or ironed here but my sister in law has since washed and ironed it. We will deliver Mya's quilt hopefully sometime next week. I don't expect to see Mya as her immunity is so low because of the chemo but we'll give it to her mother. Right now Mya and her mother are in Ann Arbor for additional chemo treatments. Anyways here is the piece

The second piece is a bird piece a friend at the cat shelter asked me to do. I loved every minute of stitching on this piece. It just went so smoothly and made me think spring! Here is the Carolina Wren piece.

Our weather has been very rainy. A couple of days ago a city in Central Michigan had a once in a 500 year flood. It was bad. Even here there is some flooding especially along Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake. Lake Michigan reached an all time high on water levels last year and expected to be higher this year. I've been down there a couple times this year and the level is quite high. We've lost a lot of the beach and one of the roads is flooded so we can't go down it. It was a main road. We are suppose to get more rain in the coming days.

Since restrictions have been lifted a little we are able to go back to the cat shelter soon but still can't have open hours. If people want a cat they have to select the cat on line make an appointment to meet the cat and adopt it. Actually we've had quite a few adopted out considering the circumstances we are under. Don't worry, the cats have been fed, and taken care of, they allowed a handful of volunteers to come in and take care of them. I'm getting anxious to get back to the shelter and to the food pantry. Our food pantry remained open but because of being high risk and at request of my family I did not work in the pantry.

Yesterday my brother had lung surgery. Because of the restrictions no one could be at the hospital. They did call and say he was doing well. Was going to be in ICU overnight then moved to a regular room today and go home Sunday if all goes well.

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

Cat piece done

Hello! I finished this cat piece for Mya yesterday. Now I'm doing a bird piece for a friend at the cat shelter I volunteer at. I love working on that piece, it's so refreshing and the colors remind me of spring.



A lot of cute squares are coming in for Mya. We closed her quilt and my sister in law is going to start the quilt next week sometime. She was getting anxious and I do have 12 squares so that's enough for a lap quilt.

Well until next time. Happy Stitching!

Max is finished

Hi again! I just finished this cute dog yesterday. I have organized a quilt for a little girl who is only 10 years old and was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Her leg kept bothering her and they thought it was because of her injuring it in gymnastics. It got worse and worse so they ran more test found out she has stage 4 bone cancer, started in her leg and went to her lungs. She is an animal lover so her theme is animals. I asked people to do them soon as we don't know how much time Mya has. She is going through 12 weeks of agressive chemo treatments now. Anyway here is Max. The squares for her are just starting to come in. My sister in law is making the quilt as Mya is a neighbor of hers plus goes to her church. I'm now doing a cat that might go on Mya's quilt. My sister in law asked me to do a blue bird for her birthday so I may start on that real soon.

We are still basically under lockdown but some restrictions have been lifted. Hopeflly we can get back to normal by end of May hopefully May 15 but I don't see May 15 happening. Although our numbers are getting better. I'm ready to be back to normal go back to volunteering at the Food Pantry go back to the Cat Shelter.

Speaking of the cat shelter they can now take appointments to see a cat but the people have to know what cat they want and the cat is brought out to them. Last week 9 cats found new homes which was great. Hopefully that will get the momentum going. Not so much this week I don't think as next week Bissell Foundation is having empty the shelters all week and the animals are only $25.00 so I think people will wait.

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

Another small finish

Hello again. Like I said in my last post for now I'm just doing small pieces, to get back into stitching and to use up scrap material that I have. I'm not spending as much time a day stitching as I use to but that's okay. It took me about 4 days to do this really small easy piece. Because I didn't have the Specialty thread colors this pattern called for I just picked my own colors. I was trying to make it look eastery, and if I do it again I think I'll use a darker purple for the lettering and cross and maybe lighter colors for the border and flowers.

I just went to Meijers today first time I had been out in a month! It was nice to get out. It wasn't as crowded as it was when this virus first came out. No Bathroom Tissue but it had everything else I wanted.

For those of you who pray. There is a little girl named Mya who really needs a lot of prayers right now. They just found out last week she has bone cancer stage four. It started in her leg and spread into her lungs. This is devastating to her parents, grandparents, and siblings. They are strong christians and trusting God for healing and to get them through this. They have very strong support from their church and from the school Mya and her siblings go to.

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

Long Time I know

Let's see if I even remember how to post a picture. I think I do. Anyway I know it's been well over a year since I have posted. Reason being I haven't stitched at all. A couple of months I dug out a pattern I did back in 2008 and started it but never picked it back up until yesterday. I finished it today. Since I have lots of scap material I am doing small pieces to use that up and to really get back into stitching again.

I quit stitching because of the neck pain and headaches and I still have them but I decided to push my way through them. Some days are better then others.

How is everyone doing during this quarantine period. I'm ready for it to end but I don't think it'll end too soon in Michigan. Actually it's Detroit area that is getting struck so hard the rest of the state really isn't. So maybe just the Detroit area will stay closed. The rest of us can slowly get back to business. I miss going to the Food Pantry, going to the Cat Shelter. (We were doing so well on adoptions until all this happened). The cats are being well taken care of by a few people but the rest of us miss them.

I;ve had You tube on a lot (nothing any good on tv during the day and not that much good at night.) I've watched a lot of Gaither Videos on it and some others. Also one of the former Kingsmen and his wife do a mini concert around 4:30 most week days but not every. I enjoy them. If you enjoy contemporary christian music and some southern, plus they talk a little to give encouragment just go to Facebook page and in search type in Friends of Bryan Hutson and you will find them.

My sister has moved to this side of the state now which we love. We see her more often, and she's not by herself on the other side of the state. Her husband died a year in a half ago. So she bought a condo only about 10 minutes from where her youngest daughter lives and loves it. She's doing really good.

On the other hand, our oldest brother moved from MO to TX so he's further away from us. We keep track of him on Face Book. So thankful for Facebook we get to keep in touch with family that has moved away. Our family is scattered all over.

Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Finally a finish!

It took close to two months to finish this but it is finished. Between problems with my eyes and the headaches this small piece took a while. I'm hoping Cardinal and Dogwood goes faster. Looks like it will be easier the print is bigger and not as much back stitching.

August 14 was my birthday. My niece took me out for breakfast and then I spent the day with her and her 4 children. It really was nice. Since my brother totaled his car and won't be getting a new one soon she has taken us grocery shopping a couple of times. Which is nice. Also Tim's son has helped us out.

We've had a lot of hot days this summer and the streak continues. Although it is suppose to cool down Thur and Fri then get hot again. I'll take this over winter though. Why do summers go so fast and winters go so slow?

August was a slower month for the cat shelter which we knew that, but we still adopted out 6 cats and I don't know how many kittens were adopted from Petco or us. I think they said there were 24 adoptions. We were happy as we've had more adoptions so far this year then we had all last year put together. Last weekend I think we broke records for us. I was a "Doubting Thomas" thinking "It's Labor Day Weekend no cats or kittens will get adopted." Boy was I wrong! Five cats adopted from the shelter plus 2 put on hold and at least 10 kittens adopted from Petco. WOW! Of course last week we took in a mom and 4 kittens, then a mom with 8 kittens (which floored us. When the lady down the hall from me told me about them, she thought there were only 4) But when Mel went to pick them up from Marlene's brother's there were 8. Then later in week another mom and 4 kittens came in. It's kitten season! We had some new volunteers come in from another agency who told them they were no longer needed because they had paid staff so they came to us last year. That Shelters lost was our gain, they really got things moving for us knew how to market us, brought in the Shelter Manager and really were able to promote us more then we had been able to in the past.

BSF starts next Wed. I can't wait. This year's study will be Children of the Promise Land (I think is title of it) Part 1, Judges-Song of Solomon I think they said, that's a lot of books. Some may contain more then others will though. Probably next year will be Part 2 Lamentations-Malachi). Since we did New Testament 3 years in a row I imangine we'll do Old Testament 2 years in row anyway.

Well, I'm going to read a few blogs and start my new project. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Mayflower (MA State Flower)

Good afternoon! I thought it was about time I posted on my blog. This is a piece I've been working on for about a month. My kind of piece small but detailed. I think I need to get more ink for my printer though as it says I'm out and I see each scan I do is lighter then the one before.

It's been an eventful month. My brother totaled his car and he was the one that took me everyone. He's not getting another one. His son is taking us some places and a friend of Tim's is taking him other places or he's taking the bus. So far I've been able to get rides when I need them. Like to the Church, Food Pantry and Cat Shelter. Tomorrow Heaven Can Wait and us are having a booth at a craft fair in Fruitport. I'll be working at it noon to 4. They say it's a big fund raiser for us.

Speaking of the Cat Shelter as expected August has proven to be a fairly slow month. People are taking last minute vacations, going camping one last time getting kids ready for school so they don't think about getting cats. Although our kittens are getting adopted. I fostered a kitten for 5 days in July. He showed up at a lady's down the hall and she couldn't keep it asked me for help. So I called our Director and she said we could take him if I fostered him. So I did and I named him Smog. He's a real cute gray kitten. Anyways Smog quit eating on me and I totally went bonkers. Finally someone at the shelter told me to get ahold of Janie (our director). Janie came and got him Sunday and he wouldn't eat for her so she got him in to the Vet on Tues. He was teething, had swollen gums, diarhea and a fever. So they took care of eat, and by the weekend he was eating and very happily playing with the other kittens she was fostering and the cats. She's keeping him until he's ready to be neutered or until we can get him in. It should be fairly soon.

My niece and her husband made a huge announcement. They are adopting a 15 year old from South America. He was one of those that came up illegally and got sent back to the orphanage. He spent a couple nights with them but he stayed with friends of theirs and they did things together. My niece and her husband took in over 60 children . Most were reunited with their families after a week or two, a couple others stayed longer. Right now they are taking a break from it and just enjoying their own 4 children. It's a long process but probably next summer they will be going to South America, living there 4 to 6 weeks then bring the boy home.

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but my brother in law was diagnosed with a terminal illness earlier this year then had a heart attack a week later. So it's been a roller coaster ride as sometimes it looked good for him to get a new liver (especially since he never smoked, or drank or did drugs), and other times it didn't. This past Monday he was finally strong enough for them to put a stent in his heart and they found a second blockage so put another one in today. After that if all goes well, they will be able to evaluate him in 6 months for a liver transplant. Let's pray it all goes well. He is in end stage of the disease but he can live a while yet. They can now proceed with tests on his liver. It was a circle they couldn't do anything with his heart because of his liver, they couldn't do anything with his liver because of his heart. Finally they said it's now or never, while the disease had progressed, Ken is feeling stronger. So hopefully it will be an uphill climb from here on out.

Well, until next time, Happy Stitching!

Our Flag was still there

Good evening. I said I was just doing small pieces for a while and this is another one. I wanted to do something Patriotic and dug this out. I think this is one of the designs that came out right after 9-11 about 9-11.

My niece is home now and seems to be doing well. Monday she gets her hemoglobin checked again just to be sure. She is so creative, she loves to sew and she made herself some colostomy bags to put over the bag itself.

How was everyone's fouth mine was quiet. I had the chance to go to a pool party but it was so hot that day I passed on it. I stayed inside with my air conditioner.

Well.....until next time....Happy stitching!

Remember The Alamo!

Good afternoon! It is so hot out there I'm staying inside with the air conditioning on! We are in middle of a heat wave that goes through next week although at least after Monday it'll be down to the upper 80's. This is Michigan we do not tolerate warm weather like this! I get out earlier to water my plants, they seem to be doing well. Most of them like the sun.

Sorry if this picture shows up twice. I don't think it worked the first time so I did it again. Anyway this is second kit my brother sent me to do for him and his wife or their grand daughter. One for them, one for Chelsea. I loved doing these pieces. They were small but detailed. I've now started another small piece. With the 4th of July next week I am doing a patriotic piece called " Our Flag was still there"

This past week has been a rollar coaster ride but it looks like it's better now. My youngest niece was told her colon had to be removed. She wasn't responding to those expensive infusions she was getting every month, wasn't responding to steroids and it got to point where she couldn't keep anything down and was in constant pain. Wed. the colon was removed, Thursday she was doing great, but then Friday she blacked out and ended up in ICU, she was bleeding internally but didn't know where. This morning at 6 it showed her hemoglobin dropped during the night and they were going to do a cat scan on her stomach to see if they could find where she was bleeding from but at 9 am her hemoglobin was fine so they cancelled the cat scan. She is hoping to go home Monday. Her father-in-law is with the family for a few days to help them, and her mother (my sister-in-law) is flying out there the end of week to be with them for two weeks. Their church has really been helping them out with their 3 and 4 year old boys while Jared works. Christina is very anxious to go home to her babies. Through all she went through the past two years never did she complain or whine. In fact early this morning she posted she has troubles for now but she had a big bat and soon her troubles would have a huge problem. She never lost her faith never asked "Why God" or anything she just knew God would get her through this. She really is an inspiration and encouragement to people and someone to look up to.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching.

A Small Finish

Good afternoon. Between the headaches and now an eye infection I've done very little stitching. I finally am getting back into it but may be small pieces for a while. My brother sent me two kits. One to do for him and his wife and the other for their Grand Daughter Chelsea. Chelsea really liked The Alamo when she was down their visiting them This piece is the smaller of the two kits. I like this designer but man her kits are expensive. I do love the needle she has with them. Like other designers doesn't really include enough material to frame the piece. Fortunately I had some material here that's a very close match to hers so I did it on that.

I love the warmer weather and seeing the flowers start to bloom in my small garden. (I live in an apartment so they don't have large gardens.) I can't wait for the hydrangias to bloom they are so pretty.

We had a kitten shower a couple of weeks ago and were really happy with the results. A lot of people came through so the kittens got a lot of food, toys, etc. And 4 kittens were adopted out. Plus we got $100.00 in donations. It was a rainy day that day so we were really afraid no one would come out, maybe just the volunteers but we were pleasantly surprised.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching. I'm off to read some blogs.

Update on European Finches

I have laid this piece down for now as I need to get a cat piece done for a girl from the cat shelter. She graduates next week. Hopefully Whiskers will be done by end of June. I've had a lot of trouble with headaches etc. lately so have done very little stitching, Hopefully I'll get back into it. Also had problems with my eyes. Hopefully I'll get new glasses in about 3 weeks since my appointment is next week.

We were adopting out cats and kittens right and left for a while. Now the summer months are here so it will slow down. People go on vacations and don't want to worry about having to find someone take care of their cat when they are gone. But so far this year we've adopted out 120 cats and kittens so far this year which exceeds any of the previous years so we're happy. Sat. June 9 we are having a kitten shower so more kittens will go that day. Last year was a blast I loved working in and we got a lot of food, litter, etc that was needed.

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

Just a quick post

My brother framed the Cardinal piece and will be sending it to his Grand Daughter with a note telling how her Great Grandma loved Cardinals and a little about her. She only saw our mom once when she was 3 years old and she's 9 now. I hope Chelsea will like it.

One flower down, 1/2 bird down Two leaves down and a lot more to go

Oh and a finish!

I finished this a couple of weeks ago and never posted it. It probably will go to Faithful to Felines to sell. I love these cats but they are tricky. If you don't concentrate you make mistakes, I ended up frogging a whole lot of it but was glad I did. Speaking of the cat shelter, we had 55 cats and kittens adopted out in March! We are thrilled, people are finally finding out we are there.

My new stitching obsession are designs by Crossed Wing Collection I love them. I ordered a couple of them with some other patterns last month or was it Feb. as I ordered the one I finished a couple weeks ago at the same time. I was bad one night and ordered 8 patterns then a 9th one a few days later and I don't regret it.

Slowly but surely I am getting my books and patterns in order according to subject. I had them that way but over time messed them up. I must have over 1,000 books plus the patterns!

How was everyone's Easter? Mine was very quiet. I just had my brother come over and he wasn't feeling well so left soon afterwards. We had a real exciting meal....Lee's Chicken! With the headaches I've been having I didn't feel up to cooking. Last Wed.-Sun. were horrible. Finally feeling like I'm on planet earth at least. But I've had it with these headaches.

Tomorrow my sister and brother-in-law are coming in with their two grandchildren for a few hours anyway. It's Spring Break and both Kay and Ken have just retired so they thought they would go to their daughter's a couple of nights. Heather and Bryan are putting a couple of bedrooms in their basement so Kay and Ken can stay there when in town, and any other member of Heather's family that comes in from out of town or state. Kay and Ken had planned on moving to this side of state but Ken was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness and for now has to stay on that side of state. Maybe in a couple years they can move over here if things go well.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching! I'm going to go catch up on blogs. I've not only been bad about blogging but bad about coming here and reading posts.

Mickey Mouse Finished

Good Morning. I love this weather we are having. Not quite spring but at least no snow! I'm not naive enough to think we won't get any more snow for rest of season, we're not in clear until mid April or a little later.

I finished Mickey Mouse piece and have given it to a friend who likes Disney things. Now I'm doing another easy piece by Brittercup Designs called Lucky Cat. That too is very easy

In Feb we adopted out 43 cats which has to be a record for us. Last year was a really good year from us as far as cat adoptions and this year so far is even better. Petco is having an adoption event this year and gives so much money per a cat adopted as long as we do 5 adoptions so Barb (not me another Barb) took a bunch of kittens out there plus some cats. We should get at least 5 adopted out over the weekend. Although another organization was taking about 60 kittens out there so we'll see. Right now we don't have 60 kittens and not all the kittens are ready to be adopted. But kitten season is coming right around the corner. Last year we took in over 300 kittens and their mothers, most of the kittens were adopted some of the mothers.
This year they said we would not take in that many, they are going to put a limit this time. May be easier said then done.

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

Cardinal finished

Good morning. It is finally warming up around here but now we are due to get a lot of rain and with all the snow we've had there are fears of flooding. Not so much in my area I don't think but closer to the Lake, River and other lakes. I'll be glad when winter is over it's been a harsh winter.

I finished this Cardinal in memory of my mom last week and have mailed it to my brother who wanted it for his grand daughter to have a link to her great grandma. It'll be a link to him to as the HS we went to had nickname of Cardinals. Now I'm doing a Mickey Mouse piece I've done once or twice before for a friend who likes Disney Designs. I may even do Lady and the Tramp for her too.

About 3 weeks ago my brother-in-law got diagnosed with a terminal illness which shocked his family. Then last week he had a heart attack. Fortunately it was a mild one. For the last 5 years Kay and Ken said they were going to retire. Ken in Feb. 2018 and Kay in March 2018, sell their house, move to this side of state. (Grand Rapids area near their youngest daughter and family. Then travel to see their older daughter in CO and son in Chicago area (in Toronto area for next year in a half). They still plan on retiring both of their companies have their notices. Ken is hoping to work half days to end of this month once he gets clearance from the Dr. And they do plan on moving, in fact when the kids were all there last week they took a lot of their parents furniture to Good Will. We're hoping their house sells fast. As far as traveling well....we'll have to see on that. My sister is just mentally exhausted by the events of the last 3 weeks and she isn't too willing to talk about any of it at this point.

I also have some pictures of "My babies" from room 6, at the Cat Shelter. Room 6 is known as the "Shy room" and the "Cat Maffia" as these cats are so bonded and quite a few have been there 4 or 5 years because of their shyness. Anyways my very favorite cat, Cloud, who is the big gray one bumping heads with Neeson, and his best friend , Sunny, (the orange cat ) left the shelter for good. One of our fosters left room 6 and came in the hall and says to me "I just love Cloud I want him for my Valentines Day present so bad." I said take him, if he is one of the few he'll even let pet him, take him, take Sunny too, he'll do much better with Sunny. I talked hard to her and she wasn't sure yet said she'd be talking to our Director about Cloud anyway. I PM'd our Director (who fostered Sunny and Cloud and knew they had to be together to do well.) and asked her to talk Jordan into taking Sunny with Cloud. SUCCESS she took both Sunny and Cloud last Tuesday and said they were not coming back. And both are doing better then expected . It only took a couple of days for them to come out of hiding but they go up on a shelf not making it easy for Jordan to pet them, but they have let her. I will miss them so much especially Cloud who was my "special baby". He let so few people pet him but those he did he gave good head buts too, and even let us kiss him and even cuddled up to us. The picture of Cloud and Dax shows the bond the cats in that room have. Topper, Neeson, Dax and Barnetta along with some newer cats remain in that room and we so hope to get those 4 adopted out 2 by 2 as they would do best. Also Adso was adopted from that room last week, he was the newest cat in the room and wasn't with us long. I knew he wouldn't be he was so friendly and such a nice cat. So I go back to the shelter tonight and will go to room 6, swallow hard as my baby won't be there but happy for him. I do have Jordan on Facebook and she will give me updates on those two. Tonight Cowboy and Reese from room 3 will be leaving together. Cowboy is another my favorites but he deserves a home. He was found in the dumpster outside of the shelter, the people didn't even have the courtesy to bring him in. He was in rough shape but he's fine now and has a great personality. He lost a part of his ear from either abuse or ear mites. Reese is another very shy cat so we're glad she's going with one of her room mates even though it's not her sister. Well enough on the shelter.

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

Getting my stitching mojo back

Good Morning. I know it's been a while since I've blogged. I started a couple of pieces and they ended up in the garbage. Finally got this piece out and it's going great. I love doing it. An online friend did a lot of pieces by Crossed Wing Collection that I loved. I'm not a bird lover at all but I loved the pieces she was showing so I ordered a couple of their patterns and I love them. This is only after about 8 hours of stitching. It's going quickly and I've had to do very little frogging. I do have to improvise just a tiny bit as I can't find the mistake I made but no one will ever know not even me as it doesn't take away from the final outcome of the piece.

It's been hard to get into stitching until now because of the headaches and neckaches I've been having. I have arthritis in the neck and that's also giving me some good headaches so I've only stitched a little at a time. Plus my eyes are changing I think so I am picking easier patterns for a while. I think in the Spring when the weather is warmer the arthritis pain will go away and so will the headaches. I hope anyway.

We've had our share of snow this winter. We did get the Jan. thaw which was great. Now we are in the deep freeze and lots of snow again. At least there are only 28 days to Feb and then it's March. I know Mar. and Apr. bring good storms but at least there are nice days in between and we know the snow is coming to an end.

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

A Start and a UFO I dug out

Good afternoon! I just got home from visiting my niece's church and seeing their children singing with other children. They did a good job.

Stitching for me has been a struggle this month. I struggled through a Mickey Mouse-Minnie Mouse piece and ended up throwing it away. It was a mess and I was in no mood to frog all that had to be taken out. So I got out this piece I did a few years ago and my sister asked me to do it for her daughter, she'll make it into an apron. I am really happy with this piece and I love working with Gentle Arts Threads, I love seeing the different shades. This piece only took about 3 days to do.

I dug out an old UFO piece I started about 6 or 7 years ago to finish up. It's a Christmas piece that I think is so pretty when done. It's so pretty, I hope to finish it this year. My mom loved Cardinals so I'm thinking of her as I do it.

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