Stash in the Mail

This is what I won on Maryann's blog! I haven't gotten anything cross stitchy in the mail in years! Long ago, I ordered 3 kits from The Stitchery catalog: a baseball collage for my son, a ballerina for my daughter, and an antigue store for me. I started the baseball piece, but never finished it (one of my UFOs), and the other 2 have never been opened! DS's room had a sports theme, complete with sports equipment stenciled around the top of the walls. (I did a lot of stenciling in my house - I still love what I did!) DD's room had a ballerina theme - ballet shoes stenciled around the top of the walls. DS's room is still sports-themed, so I quess I could finish that piece and put it in his room, but DD and DD's Dad don't want any changes to his room. DD's room has been painted purple (even covered my beautiful stenciling! Does she realise how much work that was!!?) and DD has long passed the ballerina stage! Anyway, maybe I'll do those for grandchildren someday! I still plan to do the antique store. But back to my spring sampler, it came with Crescent Colour threads. I've never stitched with these threads; so I can't wait to stitch this! Again, thank you, Maryann!

The picture above shows my progress on Patchwork Garden. I'm really enjoying this! I don't have all the colors I need. I'm going to do my weekly shopping in a few minutes and will pick up what I need. I'm going to have to put this aside for a while and work on the guardian angel.

DD's Dad and I had our first "disagreement" since he has been here. DD was in one of her moods yesterday (she said she was PMSing - her excuse for any bad behavior on her part!). She didn't want anything we had at the house for lunch. She wanted me to order subs from Wedgys. We are very tight on money right now!! I told her we were not ordering anything until I start subbing again. She pitched a temper tantrum (yes, she's 18, but acts like she's 3!). Her dad and I were both saying, "No!" Then her dad gives in and says, "How about something from Taco Bell or McDonalds?" I couldn't believe it! I told him we shouldn't give in to her when she pitches fits! He went ahead and got her a hamburger and fries! I was furious!! When he got back, he knew I was mad! He wouldn't look at me and quickly went outside and piddled around. I gave him the silent treatment the rest of the day! I plan to have a "discussion" with him today about what happened. By supper time, we were talking again, just not about what happened. DD has to learn that she can't pitch fits to get what she wants!

Well, better go and get ready to do my weekly marathon shopping! Today is DD's Dad's birthday. We're going out for Chinese food tonight. It will be our monthly eating out! Eating out on birthdays is a family tradition! Have a day full of happy moments and may God bless you!

"New" Old Stash

Here's my progress on the Guardian Angel for Sophia's quilt at Cole's Quilts. This is going more quickly this time than the first time I did it. I'm enjoying it, too. I don't usually like doing the same pattern twice.

DD's Dad was cleaning his room yesterday, and he found a box of old cross stitch magazines that I had forgotten were in DS's room. After I did my cleaning, I had a ball looking through the mags. It was like I had never seen them before! So that's my "new" old stash!

And the piece above is what I am going to start today! (I have a big stack of pieces I found that I want to do!) But this one really caught my eye! It kind of reminds me of the Seasonal Samplers by JanLynn. It's called "Patchwork Garden," and it was in the Aug., 1998, issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework. I'm going to do it on white 18 count Aida. I'm one of those rare people who still likes stitching on Aida! lol It will fit perfectly in an 8" by 10" frame! I have too many started already, but I can't wait to do this! It looks so springy and summery! I'm going to take turns working on this and the Autumn Sampler.

Well, nothing but stitchy news today! Better go and fix lunch! Have a day full of happy moments and may God bless you!

P.S. - I was reading through my last few posts and realized that I failed to mention that DD's Dad finally got DD's car fixed. Yay! Yay!

I Won! I Won!

Mary Ann (Just Stitching) had a drawing for the spring sampler chart above and all the threads to do it. I entered my name and won! I am so excited! Mary Ann is a very special internet friend. She was the first person to leave a comment on my blog, and she also stitches lots of beautiful charity squares! Thank you! Thank you, Mary Ann! I can't wait to get it!

I did the little piece above yesterday. I did the spring one and had it hanging on my wooden perpetual calendar. I've been wanting to get this one done to hang there! I'm going to try to finish it as a tiny pillow sometime today. It's a freebie here. (Click on "Special Offers.") It was a quick little stitch! I couldn't see the finished picture very clearly and I thought the watermelon slice was a flower. I was really surprised when I got it finished! lol I love watermelons!

I got this much done on Autumn Sampler. This is really a challenge, and I really enjoy stitching it! I'm going to start my next charity square. It will be the guardian angel I did before. She will go to Cole's Quilts for Sophia. Then I will stitch her again for Allyson, also at Cole's Quilts. I have now stitched and mailed 20 squares. I have thoroughly enjoyed every square I have done. I'm sure I'm getting as much out of doing them as the recipient gets out of receiving them!!

DD's car is still on the blink! DD's Dad is trying to get it fixed as soon as possible! I'm just letting her use my car. I don't go out much, and I would rather stitch! lol

Tried a new recipe last night - a salmon pie. Surprisingly it was very good! All 3 of us loved it!

DB moved into the house he is renting. He doesn't have any furniture yet! He's sleeping in a lounge chair my mom gave him! He has all of his furniture and stuff in storage in Florida. It will probably be a while before he can afford to have it sent up here. He collects deer things, so I'm going to quickly stitch him a little deer magnet for his frig! lol I'm planning to do a deer pillow for him for Christmas. I did one for him in 1999 and it was the only thing he didn't put in storage. He brought it up here with him! It really touched me that it meant that much to him!

That's about all the news for today! Gonna get busy stitching! Have a day full of happy moments and may God bless you!

PM Princess Finished!

PM Princess is on her way to Love Quilts for Mikayla's quilt! I really enjoyed stitching her! They will really be surprised that she's there before the deadline. lol I'm going to do a quick little summer piece and work a little on Autumn Sampler today and start a new square tomorrow.

Just as everything seems to be going smoothly, DD's car konks out! Ah - such is life! lol DD's Dad is out there working on it. This means I will have to take DD to work and pick her up until her car is going again. I was planning to go visit my mom today, but visits with her are day-long events. I visited with her the other day and stayed 4 hours. Yesterday she said, "You came for a 'little' visit the other day." Mom is so good at "guilting" me. lol

DB has found a house to rent! Yah! Yah! Mom is having to pay the 1st month's rent and the deposit, but it's worth it to get him out of her home!! He is driving her crazy and Mom has bad nerves!

Better go! I'm still in my gown and housecoat! Happy stitchin' everyone! Have a day full of happy moments and may God bless you!

Housework - Bah! Humbug!

I'm working on the backstitching on the PM Princess. I would have finished it yesterday, but all 3 furbabies wanted to sit in my lap all day yesterday!! I think the 2 older dogs are very jealous of the new puppy. Whenever she's in my lap, they have to be there, too! I got so frustrated trying to stitch! I really wanted to finish this! I really like the colors in this piece.

I didn't stitch very much on Sat. I did housework all day -vaccumming, sweeping, dusting, washing clothes, etc. Plus I did a lot of cooking! I got very tickled at Sugar (our black toy poodle). After I had vaccummed the den, Bebe, the puppy, brought in a leaf and was playing with it like it was alive - poking at it, etc. When she finally lost interest and went to do something else, Sugar picked up the leaf and took it back outside! It was like she was saying, "Don't mess up Momma's clean floor!" Sometimes I think Sugar could talk if she tried hard enough.

Both of the poodles amazed me a few days ago. Bebe is still small enough that she can go through the slats on the wooden part of our fence (across the front). She usually doesn't unless we go out to get in the car, and she is outside. However, the other day both poodles kept going to the front door and barking and whining like they usually do when DD or DD's Dad has come home. I knew no one was at the door. Then they went to the door to the garage and did the same. I asked them what was wrong, and they came to me and went back to the door (which means, "Come with us!"). I finally realized Bebe was not with them. I opened the front door, and there was Bebe - out of the fence and on the front porch! The poodles were trying to tell me that Bebe was outside the fence! I'm sure they were thinking, "Boy! Humans sure are SLOW!" lol

Better go and get busy on PM Princess! Have a day full of happy moments, and may God bless you!

New Stash and an Update

Above is an update on the PM Princess. I've really enjoyed stitching her and haven't gotten back to the Autumn Sampler. I guess my cross stitch genie was happy just to get it started! lol I hope to finish the PM Princess in the next few days. Next I have to do 2 more of the guardian angel I did before and she takes quite a while to stitch; so I doubt if I will get back to AS any time soon. I'm one of those stitchers who usually stitches one thing at a time. Although I have several UFOs. lol The next 3 pictures are my most recent stash acquirements.


I got the book above with a 40% off coupon at Michael's. I love these "Wannabe Bears." My kitchen is decorated in red, white, and black. I collect cows - hence the black and white and I just love red! I'm going to stitch these on some towels I have.

I got the one above with a 40% off coupon at A.C. Moore. I got several of these striped towels on sale a while back, but haven't come up with anything to stitch on them. I love these patterns. I'm stitching towels for my (estranged) mother-in-law and sister-in-law for Christmas. Even though my husband and I have been legally separated for 16 years, the 3 of us still give each other a little something at Christmas! They really loved me!! lol And I really loved them! You don't stop being friends just because you're not in the family anymore!

And the book above was on a 50% off table at A.C. Moore. I can't buy anything if I don't have a coupon, or it's not on sale! lol Anyway, I love alphabets. I especially like stitching things for DD that have her name or initial on them!

Things have gotten better here and at my mom's house. I think I failed to tell my internet friends that DD's friend, who was staying here, went home. DD had a talk with her and told her I was in too bad a shape to have extra company and that we just don't have the room! And Mom and my brother are getting along better since he started working and isn't there ALL DAY LONG!! They're looking for an apartment for him. So peace reigns again! (at least for a while! lol)

DD still likes her job and finally got her application in at Tech. She's all set to start college courses in a couple of months! Yah! Yah!

I am still on the diet and continue to shrink! I try 1 or 2 new recipes every week and so far we have liked all of them. DD especially liked the French Onion Soup we made yesterday. She LOVES Fr. Onion Soup!! She made some more this morning at 1:oo!! And of course I had a mess to clean up this morning! lol

Well, better finish cleaning up that mess and get to stitching! I'm going to visit my mom this afternoon. Have a happy day and may God bless you!

More Charity Stitching

I worked all day today on the PM Princess for Mikala's quilt at Love Quilts. I didn't work any on Autumn Sampler today. I really got into the PM piece and couldn't put it down. I'm going to work a good bit tomorrow on AS. This PM girl is much simpler than the last one I did with the 2 girls with flowers!

I didn't really stitch all day today. I had a very bad anxiety attack last night. I started having them after my son died. At first I had them all the time. Now I don't have them very often, but every few days, it will all hit me again and then it's just like I am reliving the morning the detectives came to tell me that my car had been pulled from a lake and that a body was in it and did my son have any birthmarks or scars on his body so they could determine if the body was my son or not? I can't breathe - it feels like someone's hands are around my neck choking me. And it also feels like a knife has been thrust into my chest. I start screaming and crying and can't stop until I take my anxiety medicine. The next day after one of these attacks, I'm usually sick to my stomach all day or I have a migraine. Today it was my stomach and it was bad! As long as I stay in bed or sitting down, I do okay, but if I get up, I double over with my stomach hurting! So I was able to stitch as long as I was sitting. I couldn't cook so we ordered delivery for lunch and dinner.

On a brighter note - DD went to her first day at work in the bakery department of Ingles and she loved it!! She had to put the cookies on a big cookie sheet and put them in the oven. She also practiced cake writing. She said they're very laid back in that department and she liked the other 3 ladies she will be working with. She can't wait to go back tomorrow! I am so happy for her!

Better go. I need to get to bed and hope that tomorrow will be better! Have a happy day and may God bless you!