Quite a bit of progress

Happy Labor Day! Anyone have special plans for today? We usually don't do anything on Labor Day. I will say last year on Labor Day it was Sept. 2 and we were with our dad at Harbor Hospice as it was our parents 63rd wedding anniversary and their last. As dad died 20 days later. My sister-in-law, Beth had made him Meat Pie at his request. It is a Finnish dish with Hamburg, carrots, and potatoes inside pie crusts. We had it a lot when growing up and he wanted it one last time. He loved it and even had 2 helpings.

I made a lot of progress on this turtle and am getting anxious to get it done. I made a mistake somewhere, and really don't know exactly how. All I know is to correct it I would have to rip off half the piece, I'm not doing that. I'm just improvising.

Not much is happening here, so until next time....Happy Stitching!

A Turtle start

Good afternoon. After a stormy, rainy morning it's going to be a steamy afternoon. Grand Rapids is suppose to reach 90 I don't know if we will.

Last week was a busy week. My niece, her husband and children were in town from VA Mon.-Wed. It was great to see them again. We had only seen Scott who is 4 when he was 2 months ago. We had not seen Connor who is 3 or Emma who just turned 2 before. They were cute. Hope it's not another 4 years before we see them again. Amanda isn't looking too forward to doing the trip every year though. Like all little girls Emma loves the movie Frozen. I don't quite get why little girls like it so well, but I do like that song "Let It Go" We took the kids to the park Tuesday as they had so much energy and needed to run. That was a lot of fun. Next year they'll have a baby to add so it will be 4 small children. Also my sister came in for the weekend.

My sister and I went to Jo Ann Fabrics and I got material and floss and a cute book by Stoney Creek called Bug Babies. So I now have Woodland Babies (this turtle is from that book), Farm Babies, and Sea Babies. Wonder if there are anymore of those animal baby books.

I can't believe how early school starts in some places. My little great niece, Chelsea started Kindergarten Aug. 13. She loves it. My niece-law-posted a picture of her on facebook doing her first homework assignment. Kindergarten and they have homework already. Although Addie told me in Kindergarten they were teach computer so I shouldn't be surprised. My great nephew, Nick, who will be 5 in Sept. started school today so I'm wondering how he likes it. He lives in CO and Chelsea lives in MO. Yes, our family is all over the USA!

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

Sea Horse and Shells is finished

Good eveneing! I finished this piece early this morning. But I left not long afterwards and didn't get home until a little while ago.

My niece and her husband and 3 children are in town for a couple of days. They live in VA. It was the first time in 4 years they came for a visit and may be another 4 years before they come again. Their 3 children were more then ready to get out of the car when they got here and were pretty wound up all that energy. I can't imagine traveling with three small children like that and expecting a 4th one. Scott is 4, Connor is 3, and Emma just turned 2. But they were so sweet. I can't wait to see them tomorrow. They are going to Wisconsin from here to see his family. Since his parents are also divorced they'll only spend a couple of days with each parent too. They only have a week's vacation. I suggested they fly next year but that would be way to expensive for a family of 6. So they said we'll have to visit them the next few years. Don't all parents of small children feel that way when traveling. Their 4th child will be a girl due in Jan. but since all 3 of her children were born early Amanda figures a Christmas baby. I told her to check herself into the hospital a month early so she's at the hospital when the baby is born. Emma was born on he highway on way to hospital delivered by Amanda herself as Luke was calling for help. He went to help her and found her holding the baby! I'm not kidding she came that quickly.

I have barely started a turtle from Stoney Creek's Woodland babies for a surprise baby quilt we are doing. I can't wait to get it going. Well...until next time.....Happy Stitching.

Seahorse and Seashells Start

Good evening.
It's been a nice day. Today was my birthday. I worked in the Food Pantry this morning then went out to lunch with some friends. It was really nice. We went to Mr. B's Pancake House and while they do have lunch menus most of us ordered breakfast. My friend, Debbie paid for mine. And unbeknown to me she had a cake reserved. It was sort of funny and awkward because Louanna had left and I saw her purse and I was going to hide it just to give her a scare, when the waitresses came up with the cake singing Happy Birthday so everyone in the room sang it too. I was sort of embarrassed by the attention but thought it was special too. Debbie got me a plaque that says Faith makes all things possible. (That would make a good CS piece). Also a cat paper weight, and a devotional book. I loved all three items. So it turned out to be a good day. Then I got home and my mom and sister had left messages for me. I got all kinds of messages on facebook.

Yesterday I started this piece for an emergency quilt we are doing at Quilts for Older Children and Adults. The theme is Sea Life. Since it is an emergency not much time has been given so the squares are smaller. Being a smaller square it sure is tricky. I had to frog most of the second seashell and may have to do a little more tomorrow, so I didn't get much done on it today. I'll get more done tomorrow.

Well...not much is happening so until next time Happy Stitching!

Finished!

Good Morning! I just finished this earlier this morning. As much as Minnie Mouse gave me fits and I almost grew to dislike her, she had to be frogged so many times, the piece was worth it. And I am happy with it. This will go to a 3 year old at Love Quilts who has Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as theme of his quilt. Now on to starting the sea horse and sea shells for Quilts for older children and adults.

Until next time....Happy Stitching!

August Turtle Trot

I did do stitching on 3 of my Turtle Trot pieces. No finishes, but one will be finished either tomorrow or Tuesday morning at latest. Two of them I don't have the previous pictures on my new computer. Now to see if I do it right this time! Mickey Mouse as of July.

Mickey Mouse as of today


Here is Strengthen Me being done in memory of my dad.


And the last one His Eye Is On the Sparrow.


So there are my TT pieces that I made progress on. We'll see how well I do in the next month as I do have two more quilt squares to do and when Mickey Mouse is finished I will be doing them.

Thanks for looking. Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Back to Mickey Mouse

Good Morning. It looks like we will have rain later today. We need the rain.

I decided to get Mickey Mouse back out and finish it off as it is due Oct. 1 and I have 2 other quilt squares due, one Sept. 15 (a smaller piece to be stitched on 7x7 fabric within 5x5 for an emergency quilt at Quilts for Older children and adults. I'm doing a sundial as theme is by the sea. The other piece is a turtle for a surprise quilt at one of the groups I'm in. Anyway I've made quite a bit of progress on Mickey since I last posted it. I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the week.

Yesterday we went out to the campground where my sister, and her family was camping. Also several other family members joined us as we celebrated my brother Tim's birthday. It was fun. Since today is going to bring rain I had suggested to my sister and nieces they take the kids to the Mall. Anyway when talking to my niece Michelle, I suggested it and since 4 year old Nick was right there I spelled out the word train. As they do give train rides at the mall. Nick's face lit up. Michelle and I looked at each other and Michelle says"I think he knows what you spelled, he can read." I said "I figured that by way his face lit up." So Michelle asked Nick if he knew what I spelled and he said "Yes, Train," the little smarty! He'll be five next month and is starting kindergarten. I told my sister later and she said Michelle and Scott read to the boys a lot and Scott and Nick get up earlier then Michelle and Chase and they spend time together reading. Here I thought it was amazing that Addie who just turned 6 and entering 1st grade could read. But then she has been keeping a journal for a year now and you can tell she doesn't get help because most of her words are spelled right but some you can tell she spelled the way it sounded. I have smart great nieces and nephews. Although I don't think their your brothers are quite as smart as Addie and Nick. But they are only 3, barely 3. I mostly wrote this post to brag about Nick.

Thanks for reading my blog and leaving comments, I really appreciate them. Until next time Happy Stitching!

What a Week last week was, It was great.

And this week will be another busy but fun week.

Last week we had VBS at our church. It started out really low but each day we had more kids and the last night we had more than we had in years. We also were excited about the outcome and the positive responses we received this year. To top it off we had our Annual Community Wide Pig Out on Saturday. There again we had more from the community come then we ever had and had very positive responses from them. This year too the people from church reached out more to the community then what they had in past. Both were preceded by much prayer by our church members preceding Bible School and the Pig Out and we attribute the success to the prayers of the people. We really needed that encouragement as our church has had a very rough year. Loosing 3 pastors, having several active members die, others leaving the church and a robbery, plus someone stealing money from the church and from the elderly. We needed something good to happen to turn us around. Several from the Pig Out and VBS were in church Sunday. We thank God for that. We hope to see them again!

This week my sister and brother-law and their 2 daughters and families are camping near here so we'll get to see them off and on. The one daughter is just here with her 2 little boys as her husband had to get ready for his students. Classes start middle of Aug. But Michelle and the boys are here. he weather would be warmer for them. As the 4 little ones are all going to want to go down to the lake and swim. Well they can at least play in the sand. Lake Michigan's waters are 20 degrees cooler then normal this year they say. That's pretty cold.

Now about stitching. I stitched a little on Mickey Mouse, then went to His Eye is On the Sparrow, and now I'm stitching more on Strengthen Me. I'd like to have it done by Sept. 22 as it's in memory of my dad, and that will be 1st anniversary of his moving to heaven. Phil. 4:13 was his favorite verse. By the way, the word hens, is actually end of strengthens, I just haven't stitched the first few letters yet.

Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments. I really appreciate them. Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Hmmmm Not sure what happened yesterday

Good afternoon. I think I'm going to delete yesterday's post. I had posted this picture of progress on His Eye is On the Sparrow and a link about a drawing and neither one of them worked so I'll try again today.

This piece will be laid down as I made a mistake, and I don't have the floss to continue on the lettering. Hopefully it will come tomorrow. Getting more of the lettering in will help me find the mistake I hope plus make sure the borders are even with each other. One thing I am noticing, because it's been a few years since I started the piece, I think the floss dye changed a little bit as I notice a different shade on the right side, then what is used on the left and I know I used the right colors. So I'm blaming it on DMC changing their dyes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a nice drawing for her birthday, (which is same day as mine). She'll have 10 winners. I am going to try to retry the link. It didn't work yesterday when I tried it. So I'm retrying today. Okay it's not working so I guess just go to her blog.
Well until next time....Happy Stitching!

Dug Out an old UFO Piece

I got tired of working on the Mickey-Minnie Mouse piece so dug this out of my UFO drawer. It is one of my original Turtle Trot pieces so thought I would finally work on it. I started this years ago and if it wasn't for joining TT I probably wouldn't have thought of it again. Anyway I've been wanting to get this out for a couple of months now. The Walt Disney piece isn't due until Oct. so I can work on some TT pieces for now.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Now we're moving along

Good Afternoon.
How is everyone doing today?

After having to frog two days of work over the weekend, I have restitched Minnie's head. And believe me I pouted for a little while when I had discovered the mistake and how much would have to be ripped out. But it was the kind of mistake I couldn't let go or even think about improvising. I knew I'd be happy I ripped it out in the long run, and I was right. Now I'm sailing along on the piece.
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Next week we are having Bible School at our church. I'm helping out with crafts. I'm not very good at crafts, other than cross stitching and that may be a matter of opinion. Anyway, I was reassured that the crafts were easy. I told them I had the ability of a 4 or 5 year old in crafts, they told me I'd fit right in with the kids then. (LOL)

Our Bible Study group has been meeting ever other Sunday and the study we are doing now on Prayer is great. It really has challenged us and convicted us to take Prayer more seriously and to start the day off reading the Bible and praying. It really makes a difference. I have enjoyed this study, and learned so much more than I did from some of our other studies. In fact Saturday we are handing out brochures about Bible School and our Pig Out in two weeks, and this time I'm going to help. Usually I don't but this time I'm stepping out of my comfort zone. Also in the next two weeks they are having prayer for our church as right now we are really hurting and going through one of the rougher patches I have seen it go through in all the years I went there. (Since I was 4 or 5, but I was in GR for 25 years, but came off and on then.) Anyway I committed myself to two times, both on Wednesday, tomorrow and a week from tomorrow. We expect to see answers to our prayers and for Bible School and the Pig Out to be successes. Hopefully we'll have a new pastor this fall but we'll see. We've been without one for over a year now.

Oh I have a question for you dog people out there. My brother has a Llapo who is almost 11 and loved by our whole family. Anyway lately she's been wetting on the floor and leaving messes, even if we walk her, we'll get her back home and she messes sometime later, especially when my mom, brother, or nephew leave the house. Someone said this is typical of a llapso when they get older. Is this true, or is she just loosing control (which is what we think). If that is the case they may have to put her down. Which that is a decision my mom and brother will have to make.

Oh yesterday, I finally decided I was going to have to downsize my cable because man it was just getting too expensive and I couldn't affford that every month. So I called them, and well long story short. I get to keep HGTV after all plus they added a few channels and knocked over $60.00 off my bill a month for a year anyway. I'm very happy about that.

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

Progress on both Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Ex. 20:15

Good Morning! It's finally starting to feel like summer again after a cool spell.

I have made some progress on Exodus 20!15 and progress on Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I'm waiting for some floss to come in to go further on Ex. 20!15. It's on it's way to me. I ordered it Monday and sometimes I'll get my order 2 days after they mailed it and other times it may be a week. I'm hoping to get it today. They mailed it out on Monday.

We went to my niece's house on Tuesday and had a great time. Of course Addie and Nolan and their dog Cheerio were the center of attention. Addie just turned 6 and will be entering 1st grade. She showed us a journal she is keeping. For being so young, she is good at reading and spelling things. She misspelled a few words but that's her age too. We told her to keep the journal through the years. She started it a year ago. We know 10 years from now she will not show us her journal. She just needs to work on getting her printing neater is all. She also showed us her gymnastic skills. She's taking swimming lessons and gymnastics this summer. Nolan just turned 3 and showed us his room, and his cars and trucks. Love those two kids. It should be illegal to be as cute as they are.

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

Another new start and another win

Good morning!
I got anxious to start Ex. 2:20 piece by My Big Toe Designs. It was the one I won at 123 stitch. It's going well. I sort of wish I would have changed the colors but that's okay. This piece will be added to Turtle Trot.

I entered 3 drawings this past couple of months (first ones I had entered in years) 2 of them at 123 stitch. This is the one I won there. It'll be fun to do for a Patriotic Love Quilt Square. Isn't it cute?

I will probably do Miss Liberty for Love Quilts and possibly a portion of the Teddy Bear one. Then Mary Ann (Just Stitching) had a drawing on her site and I won that. I look forward to seeing it. Only problem, Mary Ann, I don't have your e mail address so if you don't see my reply here is my e mail address....Barb k 28 at yahoo dot com. I'll send you my address when I get your e mail. I look forward to getting it and will do it this summer. I love Patriotic pieces and summer is when I do them. So now I'm trying to decide if I want to keep entering drawings, or just lay low again. My mom won a lot last Friday at Life Circles, then over the weekend her winning streak continued she won my sister and I all but one time on Push Rummy and Mexican Dominoes. Our two favorite games to play when we're together.

My sister came to town on Friday and will return Wed. She was going to go back yesterday but because of a family emergency (I won't go into here) she's staying until tomorrow. She came because some lifelong friends were speaking at our church on Sunday. They are missionaries to Mexico and on furlough for 6 weeks. Anyway when we got to church Sunday it was a surprise! We not only saw Jann and Paul but we saw Paul's brothers and sister, plus 2 other couples and another friend all who had been friends of ours most of our lives. We had a reunion, I was so excited I was so hyper. It was great to see them all again. Most of them went out to eat afterwards but my sister and I chose not to go, as we felt it was more for the family but we didn't realize the others were going too, oh well. At least we had a good time seeing them and some pictures were taken of some of our old youth group at church.

Last night I got a call from my mom at about 9:30 pm asking me to see if a certain little 4 legged llapso was at my door. My brother's dog just loves me and she thought maybe she snuck out when my sister took me home. Kay drove around twice looking for Autumn. About 10 I called back and said, "Kay why don't you come get me, I'm sure she's in the apartment somewhere, if she is, she will come when she hears my voice." So Kay came got me, and sure enough I went into the bedroom talked to my mom and called Autumn and she came out from under the bed! We all laughed so hard, so of course my sister and I took her for a walk together since it was dark I wouldn't do it alone. So my sister took me home and called back later and said "After worrying about Autumn and searching for her, and even walking for her, what does she do leave a mess for Kay while she was taking me home. Kay goes, "That's the thanks I get." Autumn is an older dog and to be honest we are questioning how much longer she'll be with us as she is constantly wetting on the carpet and leaving messes. Of course if my brother and nephew would take her out more when she wants she wouldn't do that. You can believe my brother is going to hear about last night and he'll laugh too. She wouldn't respond to Kay or mom but boy did she respond to me. Kay says, "We should have thought about this 3 hours ago instead of all that worrying we did and the driving around I did. Next time Autumn disappears, they'll come get me.

Later today we're going to my niece's house. She recently moved to a house they had built for them. We'll get to see Addie and Nolan too.. Can't wait.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching. Thank you for reading my blog and for the comments you leave. I appreciate them.
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July Turtle Trot

Hello! My computer crashed last month so I couldn't show my Turtle Trot. And to be honest I only worked on one Turtle Trot piece since July 10,and I can't show the before because it's on the computer that crashed. Here is progress on Friends are Flowers in the garden of Life

I finished Sterns and Great Blue Heron pieces for Love Quilts but they weren't added to my Turtle Trot anyway. Mickey Mouse giving Minnie Flowers is added and here is progress from the other day. This piece is really moving fast and I am enjoying it.

Sorry I don't have more to show but I really needed to get these Love Quilts pieces done. Mickey and Minnie isn't due until Oct. so I will definitely get some more progress on other pieces in Aug. I'm sure...I hope.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Sneak Peak at WIP

Can you guess what it will be? I think it's obvious. Anyway this is after 6 hours of stitching.
I just wanted to give you a sneak piece and see if anyone can guess. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Great Blue Heron is finished

I finished this piece this afternoon. I really enjoyed doing him. Now I only have two more quilt squares to do I'm committed to. Then I can work more on some of the projects I have started and laid down. I also am anxious to start the piece I won. Oh and I won another drawing at 123 stitch for a Patriotic piece. I'm anxious to get that pattern too and start it this summer. I rarely enter drawings or contests, but the two that I entered I won. Maybe I should enter more. But I don't enter if I don't think I'll do the piece.

Anyway I have my next piece all kitted up and ready to start tomorrow afternoon. Not saying what it is except it's cute, I'm anxious to do it and is for a very young boy. Oh and from an old, old book.

Not much is happening right now so until next time....Happy Stitching!

A reminder of days gone by

The last two places I worked at in Grand Rapids had ponds. The one Assistant Care Center had ducks the Nursing Home had Ducks and Swans. There was on Great Blue Heron who visited both places. I use to love seeing him fly in his wing span was so awesome and I thought he was beautiful. I found this pattern and it made me think of him so I decided to have it be my contribution to another Sea Life piece. I love doing sea life pieces, but I'm almost running out of patterns for them. Time to buy some more?

Well....maybe next year or the following year. I have to pay my credit card down after having to charge the computer, printer and everything else that went with it. There went the gain I had been making on the credit card, set me back over a year!

Can't believe this is already July 1. Boy this year is going by fast. I guess it's true the older you get, the faster time goes.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Finished Walk into the Sunshine

Hello again!
Boy I'm blogging a lot this month. Anyway I finished this piece today. The backstitching drove me nuts and I did it as I went along. But it made the piece so worth it. Now I have started Great Blue Heron for a Seaside quilt.

I have a complaint. This one phone number calls me 3 or 4 times a day saying this is last chance to lower my credit card interest rate. I finally started answering the phone to tell them to take me off the list. The first time they said no problem we'll do. But they called back two days later several times that day, so I told them again take me off your list. They hung up on me before I got the words out, and they have done that 3 days in a row now. I've had it with them. Oh I called the number back to see what would happen and I get "you have reached a nonworking number" but these people just called me from that phone! Monday I think I'm calling my bank. What can I do? I want off their list, I'm sick of their calls I've tried everything to get them to stop!
Well I'm of my soap box.

Until next time....Happy Stitching!

See what I Won!

Good Afternoon!
Earlier this week I received an e mail from Debbie at MBT Designs that I won her contest at 123 stitch. She had us guess a number between 1 and 500 I chose 448 and came closest. I was delighted. I could choose any chart or accessory I wanted. That was hard as she has so many nice ones. So I chose this one. I plan to do it for a future girl at Love Quilts. I am so anxious to start it in a couple of months.

Question--How do I get my cat to quit trying to chew on cords to my back up system on the computer? Especially when I print something out. I think that's what gets him interested. He tries to greet the paper as it comes out and the back up system box is right near there....just so tempting. I just moved it to the side of the computer desk instead of in front of it so we'll see.

Well....I'll probaby have a post tomorrow night or Saturday of the finished Walk into the Sunshine. So until then....Happy Stitching

Backstitching is a Necessary Evil

Good afternoon!
It's a cloudy day here. We've had so much rain lately but we need the rain.

I have come to the conclusion that backstitching is a necessary evil! It's a pain at times but it sure makes the piece look a lot better. Anyway, this piece is moving right along. It should be done Friday morning. I like doing it but oh so much backstitching. Sorry the scan isn't very good. When it's finished I try from a different angle and maybe the whole piece will get on it.

Saturn has discovered paper comes out of the printer! This morning I was trying to scan this piece and was having problems, so decided to print something out. He was right there ready to catch the paper. Then he decided to proceed and rub himself against it and the cords to my backup system, then he tried chewing on them! What is with him and chewing! Do all cats do that. I don't remember Whiskers doing it, but I remember having a problem with Buffy on that, she was so bad at that I had to unplug everything whenever I left the house. That was before I had a computer.

Has anyone seen, "Letters to God"? I saw it with my mom, brother, and sister-in-law the other day. I really liked it and it made me realize what our kids at Love Quilts and their families go through. Made it more real to me.

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