Finish #15

This was a quick stitch. I did it for a Charlotte's Kids quilt at Love Quilts. The theme was Inspirational Words. It's one I had my eyes on for a long time and was just waiting for the opportunity to do it. Like I said a few posts ago I am redoing the 10-25-50 challenge and chose to do 50. Why when I never made it to 25 in several attempts? Mostly because I'm more motivated. I have over 1,000 books and have done pieces from less then 300 of them, I need to stitch from what I have. Plus I really need to get my Credit Card balance down. That's a big motivator and so far this year I have been really good. I think I bought 7 books all to do pieces for Love Quilts, and that was early this year.

The weekend was fantastic! We had a great time together. Friday we decorated the church for the Open House, then later we went to my nieces house outside of Grand Rapids. The 4 little ones were as cute as ever. The older 3 had a great time playing on Addie's slide and Addie and Johnny enjoyed the pool too.

Saturday was our parents 60th Anniversary Open House. We had a very good turnout. We were surprised by how many relatives came in from out of town, not just our immediate family. Nick, Addie and Johnny, had a great time at the church trying to climb all the steps run up and down the wheel chair ramp etc. Sadly all together too soon the weekend was over and everyone had to return to their homes. It was so good to see Kenn, Denise, Caleb again, and so good to see Michelle and baby Nick. Nick will be a year old in a couple of weeks and just starting to walk really good. Nick, Johnny, and Addie all seem to have a good time together.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Farm Baby Pig is finished

I finished him earlier this morning.
This little pig is a happy pig because he will be able to live out his life on a special quilt made by Cross Stitching for Charity stitchers, featuring him and his other friends. Some lucky child will enjoy them on his/her quilt. This pig was so much fun to stitch.
Well, today is the last fairly quiet day for the next few, but they are going to be fun. We've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time now. In fact it's all dad has talked about the last two years, their 60'th anniversary.
Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Progress on pig

I have stitched some on the pig. He's an excited and happy guy. I'll tell you my version of why on the next post when this is done, (Wed. or Thurs. I think). I think that is realistic to expect to have it done.

Yesterday was our church picnic. It was a beautiful day for it. We had it at the same park we always do. The food was good as always.

This vertigo is no fun. I think I'm licking it and then I have a bad day. I'm beginning to wonder if this will ever end and if I'm going to be walking on air all the time. I'm okay if I sit still or am laying down, but try standing up and man I feel so weak and faint, I feel like I'm going to pass out. At least I'm not dizzy like I was but still.....anyone have any suggestions? People are teasing me by asking me what I've been drinking...nothing stronger than pepsi I promise. I recalled the dr. today asking for exercises they said they'd call back so far they haven't, so I'm assuming they did put some exercises in the mail for me to do. They usually call back.

This weekend is our big weekend. Our parents 60th anniversary is Sept. 2 but we are having an Open House for them at our church this Sat. Quite a few family members are coming in from out of state for it. It'll be a fun but busy time. Friday, my sister is coming to town, and her and our sister in law and I will decorate the church in the morning and get the tables ready. Then in the afternoon my sister and I will head to her daughter's in Rockford and get ready for the rest of the family to join us. At least those that can, a couple of the kids have to work. Then Sat. will be the open house. So much excitement so much planning, so much hoopla and Sunday everyone will be returning to their homes and some we won't see again for another year or so. It's great they are coming in for their grandparents.

Just out of curiosity is anyone else doing the 50 challenge? This time I am really being serious about it after several failied attempts over the past 2 or 3 years. That's another thing coming up my 3rd year anniversary of blogging or is it 4th? I don't know. Thank you. everyone for reading my blog and making comments. And special thank you to those that follow my blog, I appreciate everyone!

A New Start

Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog and to those who have left comments. I have really appreciated them and they encourage me. I love reading everhyone's blogs and I know mine doesn't compare to a lot of them out there. There are some talented stitchers out there and talented writers Some people have the gift of gab.

I thought I would do the second barn baby I signed up for at Cross Stitching for Charity. It's a pig. I thought he was cute so signed up to do him

Unity Music Festival was great last Saturnday. It endended with Wayne West and then Jeremy Camp. There were a lot of people from our church that went but I sat with my brother and his family. It was so much fun. The first 2 or 3 hours were hot but had a nice breeze from the Lake so wasn't bad. Then later it cooled down considerably. I tried to convince my 3 year old great nephew, Johnny and his cousin, Maddy age 7 that it was my birthday party to myself I just invited a few friends but neither one of them bought that. It was my birthday but not my party.
Johnny was so cute and he really had fun, especially in the end.

Today I went to dentist and had a root canal done. It didn't go too badly. I'm just not a fan of going to the dentist. The thing is this tooth never gave me a tooth ache or anything. I only went to dentist to get my teeth cleaned and found out this tooth was really bad. I did know it needed filling as I could see that and had planned on having it filled. Oh well, just is going to cost me more than planned. I have another tooth that isn't bad yet but I think I'll have it filled before it goes bad.

I think I am finally getting out of this vertigo episode. Hope I don't have too many of them. Today is best day so far. I even managed to finally do my dishes first time in 3 days! And I swept my kitchen floor this morning. Hopefully tomorrow I can mop the floor and vaccuum the floors. For some reason if I don't do the housework it doesn't get done. Haven't trained Whiskers to do it. Whiskers is in his favorite spot laying in front of the window! I can't believe he will be 18 in Oct. It sort of makes me sad too as I know I don't have too many more years with him. Yet I'm happy to have him this long and consider myself very fortunate.

Well, until next time Happy Stitching!

Treble Clef is finished

I finished this a few minutes ago. It will go to Love Quilts for a future music quilt.

Does anyone have Vertigo? The past two weeks I have had a hard time with it. Especially this week, it's been almost continual since Sunday. The only relief I get is when I sleep, Although this afternoon I'm doing better than what I have. I was miserable this morning got home from the Food Pantry (which no one came today) and slept for a couple of hours so doing a little better now. But man I feel like I'm drunk or walking on air. My gait is so off and I am so off balanced it's not funny. It is no fun....woe is me!

We are in the midst of a heat wave right now. Tonight starts the Unity Festival (Contemparary Gospel Festival) This is 10 th year of it. I have never gone before but this Sat. is my birthday and my brother and sister in law are taking me as my birthday present. Under two conditions, the heat lessons and I can walk straight. I'm looking forward to it.

Well I have my next piece the pig for the CSFC quilt featuring Stoney Creek's Barn babies all kitted up. I did the bunny earlier for it.

Scott and update on Treble Cleff

I haven't had a lot of time to work on Treble Clef this past week, but I am pleased with the progress I made on it. It's so pretty and fun to stitch on. It's detailed but not overwhelming.

This past week my niece, Amanda, her husband, Luke, their baby, Scott and their dog Bella were all up here visiting. Later today they are heading for WI to visit his family. Scott is so cute and such a happy baby. I never heard him really cry much. We had a nice time with them. It was the first time in 4 or 5 years they had been here as they were stationed in England for 3 years years. It may be awhile before they come up again and I don't blame them as next year Scott will be a toddler and the new baby will be about 4 months (yes she's expecting again). It's too hard to travel with young children from AL to MI or WI. So we may have to go down there to see them.

We are finalizing plans for our parents 60th Anniversary Open House at the end of the month. It's actually Sept. 2 but for our family for as many as possible to come we had to do it the weekend before Labor Day. As it is Amanda and Luke came early as they couldn't come then and her two brothers and a couple of other of the grandkids can't make it up then either. Face it we will never have every member of our family together, we never did. It won't even happen for any of our funerals we're just too spread out and too many of us. Lol! Oh well....That's the American Family today!

I am certifiable. Our Pastor just says he unleashed a monster! We are having a Mystery Dinner at church in Oct. and I am a little too excited about it. I've come up with a few ideas for the "Who Done It? skit we are doing. And I'm one of the characters but what I'll be doing I don't know. I'll tell more as the time comes. Right now it's 78 days away and I feel like going to my Facebook and startubg the countdown but it's a little too soon, just to add mystery to the event. I am so bad but I love to have fun with mischieviousness and that's what I'm doing!

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

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.