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

Where Does The Time Go?

Happy Holidays, blogging friends! I hope all of you haven't been caught up in a last minute Christmas rush like I have. I spent most of the afternoon and evening wrapping presents, and I still have two ornaments I'd like to get "finished" before Christmas Eve.
I spent a lot of time last week making vinyl mesh project bags. I made two large ones and two small ones. One of each for a friend and one of each for me.

The two large ones are trimmed with this wonderful sampler fabric I found at Shakespeare Peddler. I love it and can't wait to use the rest of it for something.

The two smaller ones are trimmed with Moda fabric by Blackbird Designs. I've got more of these to sew into something too. I've been doing very little stitching but did manage to finish LHN's Winter Sampler. I've got some candycane fabric that I hope will work to make it into a pillow. But I'm sure that won't happen until after Christmas.

My only other finish this month was an ornament for a dear friend. I stitched Homespun Elegance's 2009 Santa for her.

I hope to get back here before Christmas to show you a wonderful gift I received. I still need to take the pictures. But if I don't I want to wish you all the Merriest Christmas and a wonderful time with family and friends.

Kathy

Rainy Day Ramblings

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. All 13 of us gathered at our youngest daughters to celebrated Thanksgiving and two birthdays. Our oldest grandson turned 15 on Sunday, and our oldest granddaughter was 13 on Thanksgiving Day. I brought the stuffing and the pumpkin pies.

Don't you love the birthday candles in the pumpkin pie? He wanted his own candles to blow out. After dinner three of the younger grands and I made Christmas ornaments from one of those foam kits I bought at Michaels.

Not much stitching to show because I have been stitching some Christmas surprises. I have done the finishing on a few ornaments.

                                            Believe by the Sampler Girl

                                          Quaker Snowman from Erynne Chard's blog

                                                     Fa La La by LHN

I did some stash shopping at my favorite ONS  Jan's Only One Ewe. I have no will power and, of course, bought too much.

I had planned to spend today doing some more finishing but my friend called and asked me to meet her at Macy's. I came home with a new purse that was 50% off. Then my daughter called and wants to go to the outlet mall on Thursday. So I'm glad I made my stash haul while I still had money.

Many thanks to Jan for changing my blog background for me. Blogger and I were having issues.

Until next time Happy Stitching!

Kathy

A Great Giveaway!

Belinda from Blue Ribbon Designs is having a terrific giveaway!