Merry Christmas- a Little Late

Christmas was a very difficult time emotionally for us since my husband passed away in August. My girls and grandkids were missing their dad and grandpa, and we all shed some tears but managed to keep our usual holiday traditions.

There were happy times too. We went to Mass, had dinner together, and exchanged gifts at my house Christmas Eve. I went to DD Beth's for brunch on Christmas and DD Laura's for dinner.

I managed to get ornaments made for all 7 grandchildren and gave them to them on Thanksgiving so they could put them on their trees.

Some dear friends get ornaments each year too.

This week I've been working on Penny America to hopefully get it finished before the ball drops on New Years Eve, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think I'm the world's slowest stitcher on 40ct.



Until next time I wish you all a Happy New Year and happy stitching!

Kathy

I know it has been forever since I posted, but since then my life has been completely turned upside down. My beloved husband of 45 years passed away suddenly in August. I find myself faced with all kinds of challenges because I was very spoiled. Thank goodness for my two daughters, their husbands, my 7 grandchildren, and the rest of my family.

My stitching and blogging mojo is slowly returning. Spending a week with Jan helped a lot. We stitched and shopped til we dropped. While I was there we took some of my pieces to her wonderful framer.

Quaker Lady

                                              

 


Beauty and Grace by Tree of Life Samplings



                                                                            

 

Peppermint Twist
by Blue Ribbon Designs

                                                

 
I haven't done much stitching for two reasons. One is most of the pieces are on 40 ct which really slows me down and the other is because I'm having trouble concentrating. But I'm improving. Here are some of my works in progress.

Earth Sampler
by Primitive Needle
on 40 ct Ale linen

                                            

I'm stitching this in a SAL with some online friends in Lisa's memory.
 

Penny America
by Tree of Life Samplings
on 40 ct Macadamia Nut linen

                    I'm loving this and can't wait to get it finished.

 

Waiting for the Harvest
by Blackbird Designs
on Tree of Life Pumpkin Creme linen
with Weeks Kris' Bon Bon 

  

 

Yesterday was my oldest grandson Wiley's 16th birthday. I can't believe he is that old already.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
Until next time Happy Stitching,

Kathy

Wonderful Retreat Weekend

Last weekend I was lucky enough to drive to Terre Haute, IN to a stitching retreat held by Jan Alexander who designs under the name Tree of Life Samplings. This is the third of Jan's wonderful retreats I've attended, and I have to say, Jan always outdoes her self making sure everything runs smoothly and works hard to be sure everyone is happy.
 I went there Wednesday to spend the afternoon and evening with my good friend Jan and helped her get some of her wonderful hand-dyed linens labeled and ready to take to the hotel on Thursday. Thursday evening was spent getting to know each other and stitching. There were twelve of us there, some old friends, Mary and Brenda, on-line friends Judith and Carole, and fivenew friends, Vonna, Yvonne, Diane,  Karen, and Sally, Mary's mom. We received the chart for the wonderful  retreat piece Jan designed for us, and it came kitted up in this cute envelope made by Natalia.

  Friday was busy with stitching time, a trip to Jan's home, sharing finished and WIP projects, and an ornament small exchange. I took two pieces to exchange a PS pinpillow

and a La-D-da pinpillow that I don't have a picture of. I was lucky enough to receive two pinpillows in return. One stitched over-one by Brenda and the other stitched by Carole.

Yes, they are the same BBD design but finished so differently and beautifully. Wasn't I lucky?!

Saturday was the day we were all eagerly anticipating. The talented Vonna taught us how to mount our stitched pieces, that Jan designed and we stitched ahead of time, on a box top with chenille trim and how to line the box. She told us how this same technique could be applied to other finishes.

Sunday morning found us saying goodby to all our old and new friends and hoping we would meet again next year.  I didn't take many pictures but Vonna and Yvonne have great pictures on their blogs.It was a wonderful retreat and I think I got my stitching mojo back.
Here is the progress I've made so far on the retreat piece Beauty and Grace. Two turbo-needle friends, Vonna and Brenda have finished their pieces and they are gorgeous!

Have a wonderful Fourth of July! We are off to a cookout at our oldest DD's and hoping the rain stops.

Until next time, happy stitching and thank you for the wonderful comments!
Kathy

Catching Up

It has been forever since I posted, so I thought I would do some catching up before I post about the wonderful retreat I attended. Since my last post I've had to face some roadblocks on life's path and with God's help I hope they will turn out alright. I've had two cataract surgeries, one was combined with glaucoma surgery. Both went well and I no longer have to wear glasses except to read and for the first tie since 1981 I don't have to use glaucoma drops. I've had a couple of other health issue and hope the final prognosis is good. My DH was diagnosed with a serious disease, and we are hoping all goes well with that.

But there were some good times in there too. My two youngest grandsons made their First Communions, and my twin grandsons were Confirmed.

We attended a family wedding and I managed to get a picture with all seven grandchildren dressed up and smiling for a change.

I have been doing a little stitching. I managed to finish LHN's Singing the Blues,

a PS pinkeep(with a blurry picture for which I apologize) for the retreat exchange,

and ornie for one of the twins from the 2010 JCS,

and the retreat pre-class piece by Tree of Life Samplings.

Thanks for reading and commenting. I hope to be back tomorrow with a retreat report.
Until then happy stitching!
Kathy

Happy Rainy Monday

The wind is blowing 40 mph gusts, and it's thundering, lightening, and pouring rain here in Southwestern Ohio today. It's a good day to finally update this blog. I swear my blogging mojo, both writing and reading, has gone with my stitching mojo. This is partly caused by stress andpartly because of my vision. I tend to retreat into books when I'm stressed. DH and our son-in-law have both had some health issues, but they are both recovering. My cataract surgery is scheduled for Wednesday for one eye. Looking out of  my right eye is sort of like looking through a fogged up window.Thank goodness for my Kindle with the adjustable font.

I have managed to do a little stitching and finished LHN's Belle Pepper and a cute little ornament for my animal loving granddaughter by Casey Buonaugurio from the December 2008 JCS.

Over the weekend I started LHN's Singing the Blues and I've been working on a PS pin pillow for a retreat I'm going to in June. Hopefully after the second cataract surgery at the end of the month my stitching mojo will return.
Our twin grandsons had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. They are 13 already. I don't know where the time goes.

Until next time Happy Stitching and thanks for visiting.
Kathy

One Eyed Flying Purple People Eater

Any one remember that song from many, many years ago, or are you all too young? That's what I feel like right now. I guess I should explain. I've got glaucoma and have had it for years. I've had three laser surgeries on each eye to open drainage holes and had surgery where they cut a slit in your eye on the right eye in Dec. 2009. I've also got cataracts on both eyes and the one on the right eye has decided to grow and has left me with very little vision in that eye. Cataract surgery is scheduled for that eye on April 6 and glaucoma and cataract surgery on the left eye on April 27 if all goes well from the earlier one. The good side is that my vision should improve and hopefully no glasses except reading glasses any more and no more daily eye drops.


Needless to say this is making it hard to stitch and it will be even harder for a while after the surgeries. I've been mostly stitching ornaments because I have 7 I need to stitch for my grandkids and some for friends.
I did manage to finish LHN's Snow White and love the way it turned out.

I've stitched three ornaments but haven't done the finishing yet. Britty Puppy and Angel Stitchin's Santa's Buddies are for the grandkids, and LHN's Peppermint Twist may just hang on my tree.

I've made some slow progress on LHN's Belle Pepper.

I hope to finish this before the first surgery and after that will probably be doing some large count kits I've had for a while. Enough whining though!
I'll leave you with a picture of my youngest daughter the night we went with her family to celebrate her birthday at a hibachi restaurant. When the chef heard it was her birthday he had her come join him to help, and this is what he had her do. And yes, the restaurant is still standing.

Until next time, happy stitching!
Kathy

First UFO Finish

Greetings from snowy southwestern Ohio. We only got about 4 inches of snow, and that usually shuts this hilly city down. But the road crews were out early so althought many schools closed, many stayed open. My grandchildren are bemoaning the fact that theirs did not close.

Back in November, when I thought about what I might stitch during this new year, I had decided to concentrate on series that were not finished. I have a bad habit of starting series and getting distracted and not finishing them. Then I found out about Up for a Challenge where you are supposed to challenge yourself to finish 15 UFO's. Dumb old me, I didn't think I had 15 unfinished projects, so decided to sign up any way and count the unfinished series as UFO's. I did find more than 15 unfinished pieces but decided only list some of them.

Several years ago, in 2007 I think, Janice(no blog), Elaine, and I started a SAL with LHN's Snowflakes. Spring arrived without our finishing it so we put it away until the following year. Unfortunaltely God had other plans and called Elaine home to him after a short illness. If you read Siobhan's blog, she wrote a wonderful tribute to Elaine back in October. Unlike Siobhan, I was never fortunate enough to meet Elaine in person, but still considered her a good friend. We shared many emails, and she was always ready to listen and find the good in everyone and everything. I couldn't pick Snowflakes back up until last winter when I stitched a little on it, but it brought back many bittersweet memories, and wnet back into the UFO pile. Last week, I felt the time had come to finish it as part of the Up for a Challenge. I still would like to put Elaine's initials on it someplace as a tribute to her.

I think LHN's Snow White will be the next unfinished piece after I finish my January ornament.

Until next time, keep warm and Happy Stitching,

Kathy