Another UFO

I got out this piece to finish up. I've been itching to get back to it for a little while. Me being a seasonal stitcher just felt this was a good piece to get out. It will go to Love Quilts. What child I don't know but it'll be done in advance for a music quilt or I'll send it to any child quilt. We'll see.
My sister just called me to see if she could pick me up now. Since I have clothes in the dryer she'll wait until 3 and go see mom at the Nursing home. As far as mom goes, she will probably be there at least through next week. We had hoped she'd be home by time Amanda, Luke, and Baby Scott got here from AL but it doesn't look like she'll be ready. And it's too hard on dad if she gets out too early. We are concearned about dad as we can see him going down hill. He has CHF and a bronchial condition and both are taking their toll on him. Even people at church are telling us they are concearned and he's been so instrumental at church. People say the church would fall apart without him...I don't think it will, they will have to rely on themselves more is all. But it's so hard to see him go down hill. He is 81 now. Anyway we are looking forward to seeing Amanda and Luke again and meeting baby Scott. I love Facebook and getting to see pictures of my great nieces and nephews. They live all over USA so at least we can get to know them through pictures and videos. It is great!
My sister and I are going to go order our parents anniversary cake for their celebration Aug. 28. We are having an Open House to celebrate their 60th anniversary. It'll be held at our church. One of the men from our church said he would cater it for free. We do plan on giving him money to pay for the cost of the food as we don't feel it's fair for him to pay that.
Well I'll get off the computer now, go do my dishes and that. Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Splashing Fun finished

I didn't think I would finish this tonight but I did. So first thing tomorrow I'll start on the Lighthouse bookmark. This was a fun piece to do and really didn't take all that long. Until next time Happy Stitching!

Splashing Fun

This week I decided to try to stitch a couple of bookmarks. I started this one last week and hopefully will be finished Wed. This is an AOY (All our Yesterdays) by Faye Whittaker piece. When this one is done I found a Lighthouse Bookmark I want to do for the Carebaskets. I love doing lighthouses.

My mom and brother are still doing okay. Mom seems to be doing somewhat better. She wants to be home by the weekend as Amanda, Luke, and baby Scott will be here from AL the middle of next week, then a couple weeks later several family members will be coming in for mom and dad's 60th anniversary celebration. Amanda and Scott can't come in then because they are taking college classes and will be in class then. That's okay as it's been 5 years since we've seen them, and we can just enjoy them without so many others being around.

How many of you watch Design Star on HGTV? I love that show, but it seems like this year the designers are not as good as in the past. Just my opinion though. Usually someone really stands out as really wanting to win and really excel, but this year there seems to be no clear cut winner. Although I am rooting for one of the girls or Alex to win as they do seem to be pretty good.

Well, I better go do my dishes before I forget about them. Until next time Happy Stitching!

A week's progress on The Caretaker

Because it is dark and dreary outside and not a whole lot of light inside I decided just to scan the area I was working on rather than take a picture of the whole piece.
I've made quite a bit of progress on it. I would have liked to of had this page done but it will be early next week I think.

Neither my mom or brother seem to be progressing from their surgeries the way they should. I don't know why. It just seems like both are still in a lot of pain and neither seem to be healing quite as fast as in the past

LOL My cat is so funny. He wanted me off the computer so he put his back paws on one side of the keyboard and his front paws on the other side stretching across it so I couldn't type! He's not dumb! I can't believe he'll be 18 in 3 months!

In less then 2 weeks my niece and her husband and baby boy will be up here from Alabama. I can't wait to see them. It's been about 5 years as she was stationed in England with the Air Force for 3 years. She now has a 3 month old baby boy and is expecting another one. They are all excited! Can't wait to meet the baby, by his pictures he is so cute he has big blue eyes and blond hair.

Well----until next time Happy Stitching!

Remember The Caretaker

I've been working of it off and on for about 3 years now. And at the rate I'm going I will be for the next 10 years! Anyway, for the first time in 14 months I got it out to work on. It's going pretty well for now. The body of the elk is coming in nicely. I really enjoy working on it from time to time. When I get tired of it, it goes back into my UFO pile until next time. I told my brother he'd have it anywhere between 2012 and 2020. Seriously 2015 is my goal. It's a large piece and lots of confetti stitching. It has 25 pages...20 full solid pages, 5 half pages all solid.

Thursday afternoon my sister came to town for a quick one day trip then was going to her daughter's house to do some work for our parents 60th anniversary celebration we are having end of Aug. We went up to see mom and played Push Rummy. Then yesterday morning she came and got me and we went down to Lake Michigan. The white caps were so pretty. I can so understand the people of the Gulf Coast being so upset about the oil spill as if it happened here, we would be devasted. The shorelines of the Gulf Coast and Lake Michigan are so pretty. After going to the lake she took me to our brother's as she wanted to see his new house. Then I stayed there as Kevin and Beth were taking me with them to Melissa and John's Cottage about an hour in a half south east of here.

Once we got there it seemed like there was a thousand steps to climb and all were steep with railing only going 3/4 of the way. But once I got up there it was worth it. The cottage is so cute. It's almost like a tree house as it's high up among the trees and you look across over the lake and area. It's a very secluded and wooded area but so nice. Some of the people live there year round and have to plow themselves out in the winter. I can't image being there in the winter although it would be beautiful. Johnny and Kate were as cute as ever. Kate is 4 months now and growing and doing more and more. She's a happy baby for the most part. We went down to the lake and had a lot of fun with Johnny, who is 3 1/2 now and thinks he's 10. Although in a lot of ways very much a 3 year old. We had a nice chicken dinner and then went home.

Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments. I really appreciate them and it means a lot to me. I will sign off as in a few minutes I have to leave for an 80th birthday celebration for a lady at church.

Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Buckeyes are finished

After 138 hours and about 4 months of stitching off and on this piece is done! It was so much fun but had it's times. Now I'm just doing a couple of easy pieces, like that Unity piece I started last week and a couple of bookmarks. My parents want a bookmark in their Care Basket which I hope they will get next month. If it's this month then I'm in big trouble Lol.. I think they are going to be the featured people for month of August at church. The head of the CareBaskets wanted them to be this month but we (my parents, church secretary, and I) talked Char into this other couple instead we felt they deserved it more.

Today my mom goes to the Nursing Home for Rehab. It's been a strange few days. She doesn't come out of surgery too well and gets confused. My dad spent 3 nights at the hospital...last night I talked him into going home and just trusting the Nurses. We were really impressed with them. More so than any other time she had been in the hospital and I hope there is no more surgery for her!

Well...I need to do a couple other things and then go wash my dishes so until next time.....Happy Stitching!

One Last Update on Buckeyes

I sort of think the lower butterfly looks funny. That right side of the butterfly gave me fits and there is a lot of improvising. I'm not sure I'm happy with it. I hope to have this piece done tomorrow. Then I can go on to something else. Probably a book mark. Something easy. Although I am anxious to get back to The Caretaker too.

Well...until nezt time... Happy Stitching!

Progress on Buckeyes

Hopefully this piece will be done at the end of the week. I don't have that much more to go! Hooray! I love doing these and they are a lot of fun but that lower butterfly the right side is giving me fits. I finally found my mistake but just improvised rather than take so much out. This whole piece is a seriese of improvisions as I noticed too late I was suppose to do half stitches on the butterflies and I did whole out of habit. Next time read the instructions first!

How was everyone's fourth of July? Mine was quiet and uneventful. I had really hope my brother and sister in law would have offered to take me to Melissa and John's cottage but they didn't. Oh well..... I went to church in the morning and it was a nice service, very Patriotic music. Plus one of our missionaries was there. He didn't speak, he surprised us. He is getting remarried this Sat. I don't know if you remember a couple of years ago I posted a picture of my friend Ruth with her quilt. Members of Cross Stitchers for Charity stitched it for her and she received it just 3 days before she died. Anyway, John was her husband. Ruth's family is very excited for him and they are attending his wedding on other side of state. I'm sure it'll be mixed as they'll probably think of Ruth and John's wedding in our church 20 plus years ago. John and his new wife, Wendy will return to Spain after their marriage. She was a missionary elsewhere but decided to go with hi to Spain.

Well-until next time Happy Stitching!

Progress on Buckeyes and Another New Start

I've made some progress on the Buckeyes over the past week, and I started a new piece. I wanted to do a Patriotic piece for the 4th of July. This one is called Unity by Brittercup Designs. It has the Australian, Canadian, and English flags on it but I am leaving them off and may possibly order the charms later. I know, cheat, rather than go through all that stitching!

The Buckeyes piece is moving. I need to have it done in a couple of weeks so I can get it into the mail. It's due Aug. 1. I thought I gave myself plenty of time but I don't know.

Sunday we went to my brother's new house. It's really cute. They downsized quite a bit but all 3 of their children are grown and living on their own. So this house is much easier to keep up with. They bought a 3 bedroom home with a finished basement. The basement even has a bomb shelter. They have a really nice sun deck in back of their house and Beth will be spending a lot of time back there. That may be her craft room! The one extra bedroomn is an office and the other is for Johnny and Kate when they spend the night with them.

It's going to be another warm few days....but I'll take this over winter any time. I just keep my air conditioner running. Yea, pay the electric bill but it's not that bad, the apartment isn't that big.

My brother, Tim is now home after having back surgery last week. So far he is doing very well....Hopefully mom will do as well next week when she has her knee replacement surgery.

I saw the cutest video of my great nephew, Nicholas on facebook today. He's 9 months old and he was lifting the hose over his head and then after success lifted his arm as a "hooray", even his facial experession was that of a weight lifter, only he was sitting down not standing up. I say we have a future weight lifter in our family. But we'll see...I sort of hope not.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Bunny piece is done

This was such a fun stitch! I will be doing more pieces from the book for sure.
Now I will be going back to the butterfly piece for a few days anyway. But it is so nice out today I may look for something with water, a beach scene or soemthing. Something easy to do on side of Butterfly piece. This piece is for a quilt we are doing at Cross Stitching for Charity. The quilt will feature the animals from Stoney Creek's Farm Babies book. I signed up to do the pig too but will do that later. The two pieces aren't due until Oct. or Nov. There was an awful lot of white on white stitching but I back stitched as I went along and that helped a lot. I really loved doing the backstitching. It really makes this piece.
Saturday we have a picnic at a friends house. She does it every year for those 50 and over at church. It's a fun time.
My brother had another back surgery on Tuesday. So far so good. He's in a lot of pain but hopefully this time the surgery will work and relief the pain.
Kids say the darnest things sometimes. Johnny apparently got mad at his mom and dad and his baby sister was screaming so he told his sister he would start taking care of her. (Of course he was mad at his parents about something and wanted to throw them away!)
Well, I'm going to read some blogs. I love reading blogs. Some of you do such nice pieces and are so good at writing I'm jealous.....Until next time Happy Stitching

Progress on Bunny

This piece is flying. I may just decide to finish him on out as there really isn't a whole lot to do on it. Hopefully early Friday he will be done. I've made a little progress on the butterfly too, but I'll continue on him after this one is done. I also am wanting to do an easy beach or Patriotic. It's that time of year. It seems to work having an easy piece to go along with a more detailed piece. And yes, even though by Stoney Creek this piece is quite easy.

Thank you for your comments to my blog. I want to clear something up. The little ones I talk about, Johnny, Addie, Kate, Nick, they are my great nieces and nephews. I have 12 of them with another one on the way. Some of you thought they were my grandchildren. I couldn't love them more if they were my grandchildren though.

Tomorrow I have Care group. The lady that is picking me up and I are going to the Flea Market just before it. So guess I better make my 7 layer bars tonight. I love going to the Flea Market, I love red potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and may even pick up a couple of tomatoes. My mom has a tomato plant and sometimes I can get one from her plant but I don't get there but once a week. This time of year I love fresh vegetables! I get tired of the same meals all the time so love vegetable meals from time to time.

Lately, when I eat my little companion, Whiskers, jumps on the shoulder or back of the chair and makes his presence known the whole time I'm eating making me pet him etc. And if he can have it, I will offer him a couple of bites. Lately he's been on my lap a lot and when he's not he'll come up to me tap me and want me to either pet him or give him a kiss. It must be because he's getting older. He's 17 1/2 now so getting up there for a cat. What will I ever do without him. I know I'll get another cat but it won't be my Whiskers.

I also found out by way of our church prayer chain my brother is having back surgery tomorrow. What a way to find out. Actually I knew he was having it by mom told me July 22. She was only off a month and I talked to her earlier today and she mentioned nothing about it. Now I'm trying to call them and the line is busy...that means dad's home and talking to people on the phone. We joke he's married to church first, computer second, and mom 3rd. But that isn't necessarily true.

Today is my niece, Heather, birthday. She's 33 today they grow so fast. Today she's married and has a 2 year old daughter of her own. Right now they are all up north camping. Her, her parents, brother and sister in law and sister and brother in law and of course the important 2 Addie, and Nick are all up there. Bryan and Chrissy have to leave tomorrow though as they have to work Wed. The rest will be there to the end of the week.

Well....I knew I was feeling chatty, but I better go do my dishes and make those 7 layer bars! Until next time Happy Stitching!

More Progress on Buckeyes

The second butterfly is coming into play here and the first leaf is almost done. I think I've made a lot of progress this week.
Today is rainy. We've had quite a bit of rain lately and will have the next few days I guess. They say pop up storms. Hope it's nice for my sister and her family as they are camping up north. The one daughter and son in law are coming up from CO and wanting to get away from all the rain they've had. Think they are bringing it with them. It'll be an interesting week for the family as they'll have a 2 year old who is sweet and adorable who knows she owns grandma and grandpa, and a 9 month old who is up from CO who doesn't know grandma and grandpa but will by the time the week is over. Hopefully there won't be too much jealousy between the two. I love living in the age of electronics. Although family is far away through pictures and videos you feel like you know the child as they are growing up. Such is the case of Nicholas and Chelsea. (Chelsea lives in MO). Though I haven't seen either baby since they were 2 months old I feel like I know them. Can't wait to see either one in August.
Well until next time Happy Stitching!

Bunny Start

I got eager to start this piece from Farm Babies by Stoney Creek. I seem to love those Stoney Creek Patterns don't I? I love this piece. There is a lot of white on white so I'm doing the white first to get it over and done with. White on white is not easy to work with and harder to take out if there is an error. Fortunately I haven't made too many errors. This one I'm doing for Cross Stitchers for Charity. The squares will all be pieces from this book.
I have made quite a bit of progress on the butterfly piece too. The one butterfly is completely done and the first leaf is almost done. I just laid it down for a couple of days as I hit a snag, and when I do that it's best if I just lay it down for a couple of days then go back to it and it goes smooth again.
Did you see the new templates Blogger has. I love them. I had a hard time choosing but in the end chose this as it reminds me of beach sand. And in the summer I love to go to the beach a lot. There are a lot of lakes around here plus Lake Michigan. Usually we go to Lake Michigan and walk on the trails. I love it. Only now the friend I walk with can't walk right now as she injured her foot so until it heals I'll just do my own walking around here or the exercises. I found a new exercise program on TV that I really liked though I didn't buy the program I memorized the different steps. It's a workout believe me. With my asthsma I'm puffing 5 minutes later so I just do it 5 minutes 2 or 3 times a day, and walk a lot. (Living on the upper level of the apartment doesn't hurt either I'm up and down those steps a dozen times a day it seems like sometimes.
Today my brother and sister in law are moving after living in their house about 24 years, and raising all 3 children in it (2 were born while they lived there). They decided to downsize. They are moving closer to the Lake which will be nice. It's a 3 bedroom house so when Johnny and Katelyn sleep over they can. Johnny saw them take down his bed in the room he slept in and was a little unhappy as he didn't know where he would sleep. But he'll love his new room at the new house. Katelyn is only 3 months old now and is growing. She's getting so cute!
Thank you to everyone who reads my blogs and thank you for the comments. I don't get a lot of comments but I do appreciate them. I really appreciate the fact people come back and read my blogs from time to time.
Well...until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Progress on Butterfly piece

I just love stitching this piece. It is very challenging yet fun. It seems like I'm not making any progress but then I notice how much progress I've made after a couple of days stitching. This piece isn't due until Aug. 1 so little by little I'm getting it done. I am getting anxious to start the barnyard babies though so I keep thinking of them.
Well, until next time Happy stitching. This is short as I just posted yesterday.

It Is DONE!!!! Happy Dance

In the end I hated doing this piece. It started out so much fun and it was so cute. The cuteness deceived me! I made so many mistakes and did so much improvising it isn't even funny! Yet I would do another piece from the book but give myself more time. I rushed through this and even feel the stitching is sloppy. Why send it, because I did put in so many hours and hopefully it will work well into the quilt. Jeanie may have to redo the shoes.
Now I'm anxious to go back to the butterfly piece which I really enjoy and is clicking with me and start the barnyard babies.
Sadly two members of our family lost members of their own family the past two weeks. Wendy first lost her grandfather last week, Then yesterday her step father who raised her died after battling cancer the last few months. And Sunday my nieces husband's grandfather died.
Our Pastor and his wife are on vacation this week but one of the things they are doing is making a CD down in Memphis. They have good singing voices. Char especially, so we'll see how it goes for them. At this point they have no intentions of changing careers.
Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Almost done with Boy Soccer Player!

I know I have spent entirely too much time on him and I really need to get some housework done and what am I doing? Stitching of course. I really hope to have him done at the end of the week. I know he looks a little funny as I wanted to get the legs and feet done. I knew those shoes would drive me nuts so i wanted to get them done and over with. They are almost done. I hated doing those shoes they drove me nuts. Tomorrow, I'll finish the shoes, put in the grass and finish his pants, and do outlining. The outline will take time but the others will all be done in a couple of hours. Then Thursday, I can finish the shirt and ball and be done with it I hope!
Last Thursday my sister came to town for a couple of days. Friday we went shopping. I got floss and material. Why is it all that floss and there were still colors I was out. I bought plenty of floss so hopefully it'll be awhile before I need more. I also bought some walking shoes. I hadn't bought shoes since my niece, Heather, wedding 5 years ago. I hate buying shoes. So I am wearing them to break them in but they will be strickly walking shoes.
Saturday my sister went to Heathers. Heather told Addie who is just 2 Grandma was here when she woke up from her nap. Addie asks "Great Grandma too?" Awww, that melted our mom's heart when she heard that story.
Well, now that I can get to blogger, like so many others today, I couldn't get to it for a few hours to make comments, I'll go to some of the blogs and make comments I wanted to. Until next time.....Happy stitching!

Progress on both pieces

How was everyone's Memorial Day weekend? Mine was nice and quiet. I got a lot of stitching done. I've made quite a bit of progress on both pieces. Yes, I've been stitching a lot.
I really am enjoying the butterfly piece a lot. I now remember why I like Stoney Creek patterns so much after the Giraffe piece almost killed them for me. The soccer player is a great piece to work on in the afternoon after spending most of the day on the butterfly, the soccer player is nice and easy. He actually is due today but I knew when starting him I wouldn't have him done on time. It's for a quilt at Cross Stitching for Charity. The butterfly piece is for a girl at Love Quilts who chose Butterflies as theme of her quilt. That will be a beautiful quilt.
Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Buckeyes start

I started this piece before starting the soccer player. I have made progress on the soccer player but decided to lay it down for a few days and go back to this piece. This piece is very detailed. It's called Buckeyes in Stoney Creeks "On Butterfly Wings" I love that book and have done several pieces. This piece is due Aug. 8 and I really don't know that' I'll make the deadline. I have a back up piece in mind just in case I don't, but want to give this a good try. The problem I am having here is there is one symbol * used twice, red and black, problem they have both in red in the color key and I have to figure out which is which Hopefully I get it right.

My problem is right now there are so many pieces I want to do. So I may be starting a lot of pieces and finishing few. Soccer Player is due June 1 I knew right from start I wouldn't make the deadline but I don't see where too many people are so I can do it a couple hours a day and then go to this piece.

My sister got home from CO earlier this week. My niece posted darling pictures of baby Nicholas. The older he gets the cuter he gets. It's great having internet as when your family is so spread out, you can still see pictures and videos of the little ones and feel like you know them. When Nicholas smiles his whole face lights up and those dark brown eyes just sparkle. He seems to be a very happy baby. She's coming here for a couple of days next week. Of course she'll spread her time off between here and her daughters about 45 minutes from here. Something about wanting to see her grand daughter, Addie! Lol. She never use to go to CO so much and never use to divide her time between here and her daughters, but something about those grandchildren she just has to see when she can! LOL. It's going to be interesting this summer the week they are all together to see how Addie likes sharing grandma with Nicholas and Nicholas the same since they both seem to "own" her when they have her.
Well, until next time.....Happy Stitching!

A lot of Stitching and some frogging

I've been working hard on this piece since it is due June 1. It won't be done by then but it will be done next week some time. Somewhere I made a mistake and although I frogged some I could not find it, so I improvised and am hoping for the best. The problem area was in the boy's face. Hopefully the people receiving it won't notice. It is going on a quilt Cross Stitching for Charity is doing from Ruth Moorehead's book Go Team Go.
I think summer has come early, we have 80's this week, then over the weekend upper 70's. That will be nice for Memorial Day Weekend. Anyone have special plans for it? I don't think I do.
Does anyone watch Dancing with the Stars? I love that show. I know who I want to win and I know who I don't want. So far I've been on the mark on who was going off so we'll see tonight. If Nicole and Derrick win then I'll have a perfect score on guessing this season. Tonight is going to be hard though as usually I go back and forth between DWTS and NCIS on Tuesday nights.
Well. until next time Happy Stitching! Thank You for reading my blog.

Soccer Player

After the disaster with the Birth Sampler I started a flower and butterfly piece, but then this piece came up. Cross Stitchers for Charity was do a quilt from Ruth Morehead's book "Go Team Go" published by Gloria & Pat. One of the ladies had signed up for 4 squares and could see she wasn't going to get all 4 done so I took the Soccer Player as it had more color than the other piece did. (White on white just doesn't go with me). Thing is it is due June 1 so I've been spending a lot of time on dit the past few days. Like most Ruth Morehead pieces the hair and face take up half the pattern I think. But he's finally starting to take shape. I also have a little bit of the soccer ball in there.
It's been a busy week. We did have our last BSF meeting this past Wed. Boy this year went by so fast. I'll miss it during the summer months. In the fall we start back up and will be studying the book of Isaiah which should be interesting. We are all looking forward to it.
I just got an invitation to our GRSBM Alumni reunion in June. I wish I could go but not this year. Speaking of which today is the anniversary of my graduation from Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music. Never mind how many years ago! lol but it's been at least 30 but not 40.