Sea Life Continued

I stitched all day yesterday and got this much finished. I love the coral shell. It makes me crave ice cream for some reason. lol I'm going to work on this all day today, too. I have to get it finished quickly to have time to do the policeman bear I have to do next!

Things have been pretty quiet around here. We are excited about one thing! DD's Dad has his own construction company. He has been trying to get some contracts for work since he moved back from Hilton Head and moved in with us. He does house add-ons and small repair kinds of things. He's been working on a bid for a family that wants to have a sunroom added to their home. Yesterday he found out that he got the job!! The family also knows another family who also wants a room added to their house - so we're keeping our fingers crossed! Things are beginning to look up around here.

Well, I need to get busy stitching! Have a happy day!

Sea Life

This is my newest charity square. This is Treasures of Summer from McCall's Needleworks and Crafts Magazine, June 1986. Again this magazine is probably older than some of you; so you know I'm OLD!! lol This square is for Samantha D. at Love Quilts. The theme of her quilt is sea life.

And this is my progress so far. This is the sand dollar. It's going pretty quickly; there are no fractional stitches. I'm going to try to finish this very quickly, because I have another square due on July 1st!

On Saturday DD's Dad worked on the kitchen sink. For those of you who are new to my blog, I call him DD's Dad because we separated 16 years ago. We never finalized the divorce. We've always been best friends, and he was a big part of my children's lives. Our 18-year-old son was killed 2 years ago in a car accident. We went through this terrible tragedy (and are still going through it!) together. Our daughter is all we have left and we both wanted to live with her, so he has moved in with us and is renting a room and helping with the bills. We are trying to be a family again and so far, things are going great. He has been here 2 months. He has done a lot of work around the house - repairs and all. My garbage disposal had died some time ago and then that caused a leak in that sink (I have a double sink in my kitchen). He took out the g-disposal and added pipe and a drain. We're going to live without a g-disposal. It took him all day to do it. And he actually cleaned up the mess. It's really nice to have a man around to fix everything!

Last night we went out to eat - the 3 of us. It's so hard to catch DD when she doesn't have anything planned! We went to the Cracker Barrel and had a great time. This was to reward DD's Dad for all the work he did on Sat. The Cracker Barrel is one of his favorite places to eat. After dinner, we sat out on the porch in their big rocking chairs and played "The Car Game." This is a game my brother and sister and I made up when we were young. As the cars pass by, you take turns saying it's your car. I hope that makes sense. We played it with our kids when they were little. It's funny to see what vehicle you get. I know the other customers thought we were crazy when they left, hearing us say "That's Daddy's car. That's Mom's car. That's Katie's car," and laughing hysterically. It doesn't take much to entertain us! lol

Well, enough rambling for one day. I need to eat lunch and get started on the shells! Have a happy day and may God bless you!

Drama, Drama Everywhere

Happy Dance!! I got her finished! I really like her, but there was an awful lot of backstitching! She is going to be in Nevaeh's quilt at Love Quilts. The guardian angel was too late to be in Briannah's quilt, so she will also be in Nevaeh's quilt.

I wanted to show all the backstitching that went into her hair! It took me 2 days to stitch all her curls and only half a day to do the rest of the backstitching! I don't think I'll do her again - unless it's for a grandbaby in the future!! I tend to choose patterns that are too complicated for my charity squares! Then they take too long to stitch! But I just love doing the beautiful squares and knowing that they might bring a smile to a sick child's face!

It's been a very busy week around here. My aunt by marriage lost her brother last Sunday. He had cancer and committed suicide. He was 65 and the cancer was in his mouth, and they wanted to do surgery and remove most of his tongue and jaw. Mom and I went to the service and to my aunt and uncle's home after the service. They live about 1 and a half hours from here. My uncle is my mom's brother. He also has cancer. It's in remission right now. But he also has heart problems and needs to have 5 bypasses, but he refuses to have the surgery. He really doesn't like doctors and is one of those guys who doesn't want to confess that he isn't invincible! He's also a diabetic. So we worry about him all the time! My mom has already lost a sister to cancer.

Then we had a big episode with DD. She got a letter about a summer job opportunity. She called and made an appointment for an interview. I had a funny feeling about it, because there was no return address on the envelope or letter and it didn't say what kind of business it was. I called the business and tried to get some info, but the receptionist was very vague. Even DD's Dad called, and he didn't get much info either. She left to go to the interview at 5:3o and did not return until 8:30. I was almost out of my mind!! I can't help but worry when she's gone very long! It turns out that it is a door-to-door kind of thing. You sell knives by setting up appointments with people and going to their homes and doing a pitch for the knives. You have to pay $150 for a kit up front. It turns out that it was a "group interview" and there were several other teenagers there. They told them they could make $15.00 an hour. So, of course, DD wants to do it. There's no way we're going to let her go to strangers' homes to sell KNIVES!!
Plus we don't have $150 to spend on a kit of knives!! She went ballistic and said she just wasn't going to get a job then! We finally talked her out of it, but I know she will use that as an excuse not to try to get a job! Life with a teenager!! I don't know if I'm going to survive!!

So I woke up the next day sick from all the stress of the night before. I was sick 2 days! I finally felt better yesterday, so we decided to have a cook-out. I NEVER buy steaks - can't afford them, but last week the grocery store had T-bone steaks on sale. So I decided to splurge and bought 3 for us to cook out. DD, DD's Dad and myself - that makes 3. 3 steaks - 3 people. Then DD invites 2 of her friends to the cook out without asking first, and she told us they were coming 30 min. before we started grilling! We ended up buying some more steaks, but the T-bones weren't on sale anymore, so DD's Dad gets breakfast steaks which are paper thin!! We ended up cutting the T-bones in half (they were VERY big) and having both kinds of steak. At least everyone got a little bit of the T-bones! If they made a movie out of my life, it would be a hit comedy!! Or a tear-jerking tragedy!! lol

I've started a new piece. It's another charity square. It's sea shells. I got a good start on it last night after the grilling episode! My stitching keeps me sane! I'll show a pic when I get a little more done. Got to go! I'm going to spend the day stitching. Have a happy day and may God bless you!

Pictures of the New Puppy and Others

The picture above is DD and her new puppy, Bebe. This was taken the day she got the puppy. Bebe is part miniature dachshund and part miniature pincher. She was 6 weeks old in this picture. Isn't she adorable?! (the puppy and my DD!)


This is a picture of Bebe in her playpen. She really likes it and it's really helped us out a lot. We don't have to watch her every minute.

The picture above is so dark, but this is our other 2 dogs checking out Bebe when she first arrived. On the left is the back of Coco, our miniature poodle. On the right is our black toy poodle, Sugar. The 2 older dogs have finally gotten used to Bebe and love playing with her. We still keep an eye on them, especially Coco. He tends to play too rough. The female, Sugar, likes babying the new puppy.

This is a picture of DD and what she is cross stitching. It's a whole line of puppies getting into a basket of laundry. She has finished this puppy. She's a very good stitcher! But she doesn't pick it up too often; she's too busy being a teenager and running around!

I finally got a picture of the piece I did for my new little great-nephew, Thomas, framed. I am proud of the way it turned out!

And last is a better picture of the spring pillow I did for myself. I really like this in my den!

I had a lot of errands to run today. I am so tired! I used a 40% off coupon at Michael's and got the JanLynn Autumn Sampler. I have been wanting this for ages! I can't wait to start it. But I need to finish a couple of charity squares before I can start it.

Well, I'd better go. The puppy wants me to rock her to sleep. She is so spoiled! Have a happy day and may God bless you!

Happy Father's Day

Here is my progress on the newest angel. I am enjoying stitching this, although her hair had a lot of quarter and three quarter stitches. I really like to go ahead and stitch the faces, but her eyes are French knots, and they sometimes get messed up while I am finishing the piece. All that's left to stitch is the wings. Then it's just a lot of backstitching! I'm going to try to finish her today or tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day to all fathers out there! Hope all the fathers that you stitcher ladies know have a wonderful day! We're taking DD's Dad out to dinner tonight. He wants seafood. Sounds good to me! lol

I've been pretty busy with my mom. She lives in a very nice mobile home, but lately she's had a good many repairs that she's had to take care of. Now she's talking about moving into an apartment. She has never been content no matter where she and my Dad lived. They had a very nice house, but she was never happy there. They sold the house and moved into an apartment. They were upstairs and she didn't like going up the steps. So she and Dad moved to a downstairs apartment. She didn't like that because she could hear the people around her. SO they had some land on a lake, and they built a very nice house on that lot. She didn't like that either - too far from the rest of the family and isolated from neighbors. So they moved back to an apartment. The noise still bothered her. (She's very picky about every thing!) SO they found this very nice mobile home and moved into it. She has it decorated beautifully! My dad said he would never move again, and he would only leave the mobile home in a box. She tried several times to get him to move, but, bless his heart, he held strong and refused to move. He always gave her anything she wanted!! Now, she's talking about moving and she's 78-years-old!! She's in very bad health and we're all too stressed out to move her again!! Although I have a brother and sister, I'm the only one that looks out for her and takes care of her. I have always been the one to watch over Mom and Dad. My sister helps a little more now, but I'm still the main one. I couldn't survive moving her again, and I know that once she's in an apartment, the noise and all will drive her crazy and SHE'LL WANT TO MOVE AGAIN!!! I went over to see her yesterday and I think I finally talked her into staying where she is! Surely she has had everything repaired and the mobile home will be okay now. Please pray that she will be content where she is and be happy!

Well, I guess that's enough rambling for one day. I'd better go and fix some lunch! Have a happy day and may God bless you!

Moving Along

It's hard to see on this pic, but this is the progress I made on the newest angel for Love Quilts. I'm not sure I like the pinks I chose. I'm afraid the darker pink might be too dark. But I'm not going to change it now. I think it will look okay after it's backstitched.

Not going to say much today. I've got some kind of virus, and my stomach's bothering me. DD's Dad and I sat out in the backyard for a long time last night. It was just about to storm, and it was really neat. There was a breeze, and it was that time of night right before it gets dark. That is my favorite time of the day! We really enjoyed it!

Better go. As long as I sit, my stomach doesn't bother me very much. Maybe I will at least feel like doing some stitching. Have a happy day, and may God bless you!

A New Angel

This is the next square I am doing for Love Quilts. This is for Nevaeh R. This pattern is in Priscilla's Babyland by Gloria and Pat Designs. And the other picture is my progress so far.

My migraine FINALLY went away! I have felt much better. SO - I've been able to get back to my stitching. This pattern has too much ecru in it!! I don't like to stitch with the same color forever! I'm going to leave the ecru and work on another color for a while. I'm going to change the green parts to pink, because Nevaeh wants angels with pink. I want to do some summer pieces, but I have a lot of charity squares to do before July.

Things are going very good with DD's Dad here. He actually washes the dishes! Every Day!! I never saw him wash a single dish when we lived together as a married couple! He even washed the dishes yesterday while I was cross stitching. Because of my guilt trips, I started to say, "I'll do those; don't worry about them." But, I bit my tongue and let him do them and kept right on stitching! When we were together, I said something to him about him never helping me around the house. We both worked! He said, "You won't let me do anything!" Thinking about it, I guess he was right. I have a real hard time letting people do things for me. I got that from my mom! (the guilt trips,too) lol So, I'm trying real hard to "let" him do things around the house for me.

The puppy is doing good. DD is a little upset because the puppy wants to sit in my lap a lot. We've figured out that she wants to sit in my lap when she's ready to take a nap, and she wants to be with DD when she's ready to play. Sometimes I have all 3 dogs in my lap at once. Really makes it tough to cross stitch! My children sat in my lap (at the same time) until they were teenagers! I guess I have a good lap for sitting on! lol I will post a picture of the puppy as soon as I get the pics developed. I need a digital camera!!

Diet is going great! It's very easy to stick to. We're just eating the right way and watching the amounts we eat. I've been trying new recipes and found some really great ones that don't have many calories. If you're going to diet, I highly recommend trying different recipes; then you don't get tired of it so quickly! Also I make sure I have some kind of treat everyday that is on the diet. Then I don't crave something sweet and fattening!

Well, better go. Bebe is climbing my leg which means she's ready to take a nap. I also need to get to stitching! Have a great day and may God bless you!