An Angel for my Sister

This is the angel I cross-stitched for my sister. I'm going to sew it on a denim totebag. I found this pattern in a magazine I purchased recently, but I can't find the mag. right now. I'll find it and add it to this post later.

My sister collects angels. I really liked this folk-art angel. She was a lot of fun to stitch. I'm thinking about adding a narrow border around her. It looks better on the totebag. Also I fringe all four edges back to 1 square from the border.

One of my WIPs

I am having problems with my blogger. And I still haven't quite figured out how to post pictures the way I want them. The picture above is one of my WIPs. It really looks wrinkled scanned. This came from the book Bears for all Seasons from Stoney Creek. I really like Stoney Creek charts. This is for my mom's totebag. She wanted something with bears and a border.

Another Ornament

I finished this ornament (on the bottom) yesterday. It is another kit for one of my teacher-friends. I really like the way this one turned out. I can show pictures of these, because I haven't told my teacher-friends that I have a blog yet. I'm going to wait until after Christmas to tell them. On the top is a bookmark that I am giving my great-niece as part of her Christmas present. It is stitched on vinyl weave. I really like working on vinyl weave, and it makes finishing the bookmark very easy! I am also making her a totebag.

I went shopping a little today. I was able to get the denim totebags I need at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 each. These are going to be very reasonably-priced Christmas gifts! I hope all the women appreciate the work that I am putting into the cross-stitching! I also went to Barnes & Noble and they had the Cross-stitcher from the UK. I was really excited to find it. I really wish I could subscribe to this mag. I think it was from a few issues back, because the date of when the next issue comes out has already passed. It had the free 2007 cross-stitch diary. But that's okay. Barnes and Noble also had Cross-Stitch Gold from the UK, but I couldn't afford both of them. I'll probably go back and get CSG, too, when I get paid on Friday.

Got to go and do some cross-stitching! Have a happy day!

Charity Work

These are pictures of the squares I have stitched so far for charity. The first is a small square for Friends 2 Seniors. I had a hard time with it. I kept messing up on the cats. I'm not a cat person and didn't really enjoy stitching them. They must not like me much either! LOL This pattern came from a leaflet named Towels & Mugs & More Oh My! by Graph-it Arts.

The dinosaur square is for Quilts 4 Kids. It will go in a dinosaur-themed quilt for any child. This pattern was in an old magazine named Cross-Stitch Plus, Jan., 1993.

The last square is for a little girl named Taylor at Love Quilts. This pattern is from Priscilla's Babyland by Gloria and Pat.

I really enjoy stitching for charity. I can't wait to get back to it after finishing my Christmas stitching.

I had an awful time with these pictures and trying to type beside them. It just kept messing up!

KD left for Hilton's Head after lunch and I have really been lonesome since then. I got kind of used to him being around. We watched football games together and talked a lot. Things we didn't do when we were together. He will be back at Christmas.

Yesterday DD told us she wanted a new CD player for her car, and that they had them on sale at Best Buy. So her dad takes off to get her one after she left for work. They had sold out; so he decided to stop in Columbia today on his way back to Hilton's Head and see if the Best Buy there had one. Then in comes DD today, after he had left, with a new CD player for her car. I quickly called him to stop him from buying one, but I was too late. He had gotten her one at Wal-Mart in Columbia. He's going to return it, because the one she bought had more "stuff" that she wanted on it. Why do teenagers tell you what they want for Christmas and then go out and buy it themselves??? We ought to just give her the money and let her buy her own presents!

Well, it's very late and I should head to bed. I started this post Sunday night and finished it on Monday. Have a good day!

Finally - Some Pictures

DD finally showed me how to post pictures on my blog. So here are some pictures of the Christmas ornaments I am cross-stitching. These are little kits I got at an "everything's a dollar" store. I think they are turning out very cute. They came with little clothes hangers that you put them on. I haven't finished any yet - just done the cross-stitch. I'm going to cross-stitch all of them first, and then take a day to finish them all at once.

DD just left for work. She is working the lunch shift and then returning later for the dinner shift. She works at a sports-themed place, and today is the Clemson University and University of South Carolina football game ( big rivals). So they are going to be extremely busy. She is hoping to get a lot of tips.

Her dad and I ate there last night. It was very good. They have a dessert they call "Fried Oreos." They dip Oreo cookies in pancake batter and deep-fry them. Then they put them, still warm, on the plate with a big scoop of ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce drizzled all over. We shared one and it was WONDERFUL!! We had enough to bring half home with us. I can't wait to have some of it for a snack this afternoon.

Well, I'm here alone now. Katie's Dad(KD) has gone to do some Christmas shopping for me. KD is living in Hilton's Head, SC, right now because he's building a house to sell down there. When he comes up here to visit a few days, he stays at our house. As I said before, we are really best friends now. We have been separated 15 years (I know - really weird). but we have always done the family things together: celebrating holidays and birthdays, taking vacations, etc. I'm really glad we were able to have this kind of relationship. It was good for the children; they never saw us argue or be hateful to each other and when our son died, we were able to deal with it a little better because we had each other for support. Anyway, he's going to pick up something our daughter wants for Christmas. I have a hard time doing Christmas shopping because I keep seeing things I want to get for my son. And when I do that, I forget for a second or two that he is gone and the shock of it hits me full force again. It's really horrible. So while KD is here, I'll "let" him do most of the shopping. LOL Better go and start cross-stitching on those Christmas ornies. Have a happy day!

After Thanksgiving

I had a very quiet Thanksgiving. I stayed home and cross-stitched, while DD went with her dad to his family's get-together. My family did not get together this year - too much tragedy in the last year. In addition to my son's death, my father passed away 10 months after my son. So I watched The Closer marathon all day. I stitched on an ornament and finished it. I keep in touch with my teacher-friends from the middle school that I taught at 23 years. We get together once a month and have a big party every Christmas. I make each of them an ornament each year. I have to make 15 ornaments. I have finished 4 of them so far. I really need to get them done. Our party will be in about 2 weeks.

Today my son's best friend came to visit and ate lunch with us. He has really had a hard time since my son's death. He is like my own son and has always called me Mom. When he was little (he and my son had been friends since they were 4-years-old and in daycare together), he would not eat hardly anything! It was so awful trying to fix something he would eat. My own children were not picky eaters at all. They would always eat anything I fixed. Finally, I made sloppy joes (my recipe) and he loved them! Since then he always wants me to fix sloppy joes everytime he comes. We had a very good time today and shed a few tears together.

DD left to go to work. She is a waitress in a local restaurant. I haven't eaten there yet. She's only been working there 2 weeks. Her dad and I are going to eat dinner there tonight and sit in her section. She doesn't know; we are surprising her! Well I THOUGHT we were surprising her - her dad just told me that he told her we were going to eat there! He can't ever keep a secret!

I will post pictures of my c-stitch work real soon. DD has promised to help me; she has a site on my space. Got to go and start another ornament.

Computer Problems

We had some problems with our computer, and it took a few days for my daughter to get it straightened out. I've been furiously cross-stitching, trying to make a big dent in my Christmas stitching. I'm cross-stitching designs to sew on denim totebags for the females in my family. I have done one for myself. It is a design from Stoney Creek - a teacher teddy bear with student teddy bears around her. (I will show a picture of it when I figure out how to do that!) It really took me a while to do that one. It was the first totebag I made. I am really pleased with the way it looks. I carry it when I substitute. When my mom and sister saw it, they both wanted one. So - I'm making totebags for everyone. Better go - my daughter is back and wants the computer. Teenagers! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

First Day

My first day of blogging! I have wanted to set up my own blog for quite a while and now that I have, I can't get started. Guess I'll just jump in! I am a retired teacher, who substitutes to supplement my retirement check and to keep my hand in teaching. I taught school 30 years: 23 years in 6th grade in middle school and 7 years in elementary school in 5th, 3rd, and 2nd grades. I really liked teaching, but a catastrophic event last year totally changed my life: my 18-year-old son, Glenn, was killed in an automobile accident. My teaching career ended that day; I could not return to teaching other people's children when my precious son was gone. My life as I knew it ended that day! Thankfully, I was eligible for retirement. Now I am busy doing all the things I have always really wanted to do, but thought I didn't have time to do. I have learned the hard way to slow down, enjoy little things, take advantage of every precious moment I have with the ones I love, and trust God. I live one day at a time and rarely make plans past the next day or the next few days. My wonderful daughter, Katie, is 17-years-old. She has had a hard time dealing with her brother's death; they were very close. We support each other in this adventure of building a new life. Their father, Jerry, (we are separated, but remain good friends) is a big part of Katie's life. Luckily, Jerry and I were able to be there for each other when our son passed away, and continue to support each other. I am addicted to cross-stitching, and have found a wonderful outlet for my grief in charity stitching. I stitch squares for Love Quilts, Cole's Quilts, and Quilts 4 Kids.I have been cross-stitching since 1979 (WOW, am I old!) My other main hobby is my pets. I have 2 poodles: Sugar, a black female, and Coco, a chocolate brown male. Sugar weighs 11 lbs. , and Coco weighs 6 lbs. But Coco thinks he's as big (if not bigger) than Sugar. They both have personality plus, and have kept me half-way sane this last year. Pets can be so therapeutic! I refer to them as "the Kids." I also have a parakeet, PD Bird. This is a bird with attitude! Some days he loves me, and some days he pecks the fire out of me. But he is a great listener! I spill out my heart to him and he never interrupts or tells anyone else what I said!
Labels: Family
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by Vicki
11/17/06
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