Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!

I finally got the printer downloaded again!! The monitor on my home computer is working again! Sometimes it goes out, but it's really doing great today! This first picture is what I'm working on now. I need to finish this today! It's for Karissa at Love Quilts. It's due tomorrow; so I've got to get it in the mail tomorrow. She waits a couple of weeks before she makes the quilt. This is "Puppy Love" from the book Furry Friends by Gloria and Pat Designs.I'm really enjoying this. This puppy reminds me of my poodle, Coco. His eyes are just like this puppy's.


Here is the finished Belle! She's going to Cole's Quilts for Veronica's quilt. She wasn't too hard to stitch. She's also due tomorrow. I've been holding off on mailing her, because I wanted to post a picture of her and I don't have a digital camera.

This one is one of my favorites!! This was a joy to stitch!! She will be in Rachel's quilt at Love Quilts. Jerry even said he would like for me to do one for him and make a pillow with it! He never says he wants me to stitch anything for him!!

And last but not least, these are 2 little ornaments that I stitched this week. Aren't they precious! I did the one on the right first and cut it out and then read the directions that said to glue felt to the back before you cut them out! That will be a whole lot easier! They are from the book Christmas Ornaments by Kooler Design Studio. I did them on vinyl weave. I really like to stitch on vinyl weave! I put up a small tree every year with just handmade ornaments; so these will be perfect for my tree!

I haven't gotten back to the deer yet to do that frogging. The dreaded frog has been leaving me alone - thank goodness!! I had to get these charity squares finished first.

Things are going pretty good around our home. I subbed 2 days last week. They were both good days. There was a fire drill at one of the schools. Almost every school I've subbed at this year has had a fire drill while I was there! I went to a school that I had subbed at a couple of years ago and had had a bad day. I said I would never go there again! But they have moved into a brand new building, and I had heard that the students were better now. So I decided to try again, and this time I had a great day!! I plan to go there again if they call me.

I did my monthly marathon shopping yesterday - mostly for groceries! Using my coupons and store specials, I saved $115.39!! I do one big shopping trip once a month and then just pick up the few things I need in between. I'm still doing my diet - I've lost over 40 lbs!! I have totally changed my eating habits! I'm still trying new Weight Watchers recipes. There's only been 1 0r 2 recipes that we didn't really care for. We eat lots of fresh veggies and fruit. The new 100 calories treats really help, too.

Well, that about catches everyone up on my life! I'm going to visit my mom for a while today. Have a happy day, and may God bless you!

A Quick Post

I'll have to make this quick. We haven't got a new monitor yet, but the old one will come on for a few minutes; then it goes out!

I can't show any pics, but I have finished Belle and also finished a horse for Rachel at Love Quilts. The horse really looks good, and I really loved doing it! It went very quickly! I have started another charity square. It's 2 puppies - "Puppy Love" from one of the Precious Moments books. It's going pretty quickly, too.

My mom had the cat scan (I guess that's how you spell it! lol). The doctor was surprised because he couldn't find anything wrong with her aorta artery - the twist was gone! God still does miracles!! The dr. said her heart looked great and she's doing better than she has in years! I had prayed that God would not take another family member from me after losing 2 so recently, and He answered my prayer!

All of us here at the house are doing fine! I subbed 2 days last week, but one was an aide job and I get paid very little for that. I'll tell the story of how I ended up doing the aide job later. It's a long story!!

Mary Ann, I'm disappointed that I didn't win that Summer Sampler, but I'm very happy for the girls who won your contest!! lol That was so generous of you!! I can't part with any of my stash, because my tastes change so and I'm afraid I will want to do a pattern later! I'm awfully selfish when it comes to my cs stash!! lol

Better go! Have a day full of happy moments, and my God bless you!

Backstitching Belle

This is my progress on Belle for Veronica's quilt at Cole's Quilts. I spent last Sunday with my mom, and I stitched a good bit of the border at her house. Then I have been able to stitch a couple of hours each evening this week. I subbed Mon., Tues., and today at an elementary school. I covered for the music teacher. She had left videos for me to show; so it was a very easy job! The kindergarten and 1st grade students were so cute! I haven't gotten a job for tomorrow. I'm planning on just being lazy and stitching!



While I had the kindergarten kids, the fire alarm went off. I was afraid I was going to lose all the little kids! But, luckily, their teacher and aide found us and helped me. Firetrucks came and everything! I found out after school that they think one of the students pulled the fire alarm!



Our Walmart must be going to stop stocking cross stitch supplies; they have their DMC skeins for $0.10 each! I bought almost 70 skeins today! I got every color I was missing and a lot of colors that I know I use a lot! I plan to go back and get some more! The clerk said, "I have to swipe each one," and acted like she didn't want to do it. I told her it was okay; I had plenty of time! They're not restocking them; so they are out of a lot of the most popular colors.

It's been a while since I started this post. Our computer moniter has broken down, and I can't afford to get another one right now! I'm at another school right now. This is a middle school band class, and they aren't the best behaved class.

I've finished Belle and almost have her ready to be mailed. I've started another charity square. It's a horse for Rachel at Love Quilts. I'm really enjoying this square. It's not very hard, and it's going very quickly! I can't show a pic right now. I'll show it as soon as we get a new monitor.

I went to the doctor with my mom yesterday. She had to have a cat scan. The doctor said that in an xray he took of her heart it looked like her aorta artery is twisted. Please pray that everything is okay! I'm not ready to lose her, too. My son died 2 years ago, and my dad died 10 months after my son.

The class that's in here right now is very good! We're watching a video; so this should be a very easy day!

I've missed reading your blogs and comments! It's terrible when you don't have a computer! Since this is a school computer, it won't let me access my email! I'd better go and watch these kids! Have a day full of happy moments and may God bless you!

Not a Good Week

I finally got all the mistakes in the yellow out! It took 2 days! I haven't stitched much this week. I have felt very tired and blah this week. I guess I got too tired last week. Then yesterday I woke up with a terrible migraine!! I was in bed all day - we even had to order pizza for supper because I could not cook! I feel much better today - but it still hurts some!



I haven't even attempted to fix the mistake in the deer yet. I'm going to finish Belle first and get her in the mail! I need to start the square for the firemen quilt!



Well, that's about all for today! Have a day full of happy moments, and may God bless you!

Visited by Frog!

The deer for DB is coming along very quickly, but the dreaded "Frog" really pulled a whammy on me yesterday! I've made a mistake somewhere on his left antler, and I haven't figured out what I did wrong yet! I finally just put it up and will look at it again today with fresh eyes and see if that helps me find the mistake! I really like doing deer patterns, but this one bothers me a little! I don't like the mounted heads of animals, but BIL has one hanging over their fireplace and I know DB will like this! But it still kind of bothers me!! BIL hunts, and he shot the deer whose head is on their wall. DB doesn't hunt, but he likes collecting deer things. I guess it's better to have a "stitched" mounted head that a real one!

This is my newest start. I worked on her most of yesterday. It's Belle from a Disney Princesses book. She's for Veronica's Quilt at Cole's Quilts. "Frog" also got this one. I have to take out most of the yellow! But this one is not going to take me long to stitch. I'm trying to pick out easier patterns for my charity work. The last few squares have been too hard, and I really got depressed because I couldn't get them finished on time and I couldn't do any stitching on things for myself! I love doing the charity stitching, but I really have a lot of pieces I want to do for myself and for Christmas gifts!

We had a wonderful cook-out yesterday, and the steaks were delicious!! I fixed a salad and baked potatoes, and we even had strawberry shortcake for dessert! And it was all on my diet!!

I didn't get a sub job for today, so I'm going to spend the day doing the laundry and stitching (or rather "frogging"!) I'm going to sub as much as I can this year! I cooked and froze stuff yesterday - chili for hotdogs and chili and beans. I'm trying to get meals frozen so that when I sub, we can just take out something from the freezer and heat it up! I'm just too tired to cook after subbing all day! I'm very proud of what I got done yesterday! My big chest freezer is over half full! (Not just my cooking from yesterday!)

Well, better go and get busy "frogging." Have a day full of happy moments, and may God bless you!

Subbed All WeeK

He needs his antlers, but here is my progress on the deer for my DB. Yes, Mary Ann, I subbed all week! I didn't get to stitch any until last night! I got a call last Sun. from the assistant principal at a very good middle school. They had a class that they had not hired a teacher for, and she asked if I would sub the whole week. Four of the classes only had 6 or 7 students in them, because they were 7th and 8th grade language arts assistance classes for students who didn't do so good on the standardized tests last year. The other class was a regular 7th grade language arts class, but it was a block class - it lasted 2 periods. However, they were very good students, and I didn't have any problems. The only drawback was that I had to make up my own lessons, but I'm pretty good at winging it! lol But I was exhausted everyday when I got home!! I had to take a nap everyday, and we ate sandwiches or take-out every night! When you have to talk all day, and you're not used to it, it really wears you out!! I don't see how you stitchers who work full time get as much stitching done as you do!! I'm really impressed!

Everyday in each class I had a "warm-up activity" for them to do as soon as they entered. (This gets them seated and quiet as soon as possible!) On Fri., I had them write a letter to me telling me what they thought of my subbing - what they liked and what I could have done differently and any advice they had for me. The letters were really sweet! No one said anything bad about me. (surprise!) But one letter was so humorous. This is what one young man said:
"As far as over-all teaching skills go, I can see no flaws. I can tell you that you've succeeded in doing your job, for I have learned quite the number of things from you. I dicsarded one complaint of me feeling uncomfortable with you teaching this class, because of the mellow dramatic substitute switch." (They had a different sub the week before.) This one really tickled me! lol

Now in the picture above you can see Bebe's handiwork (the puppy). She chews on everything! I couldn't believe she got my cross stitch and chewed the corner! Thank goodness it was a corner! No matter where I put my cross stitch stuff, she manages to get to it!

We're going to cook out tomorrow for Labor Day. We're going to grill steaks!! I can't wait!

Better go! I'm going to rest today and stitch! Have a day full of happy moments, and may God bless you!