Good and Bad Week

Rose Bowl Feb 19

This week has been a combination of good and bad.

The Good:

1) Even though we had a bad storm of wintery mix Monday, the weather is now warming up. The storm didn't actually start until we were in Champaign, but when it started, it was bad!! I had to go to Champaign to have my new shoe on my brace Monday. I was glad Jack was with me.  He has driven winter type weather much more than me, being he drove semi for 25+ years before being medicaled out. I have probably driven as many miles forward over the years as he has backward. When he stopped driving truck he had 3.5 million safe miles. No accidents of any kind in the semi.

2) We could be in the 50's before the week is out. I am so ready for the snow to go away!!

3) I did get in some decent stitching time on "Rose Bowl" I am guessing I have less than 1,000 to finish page one.

4) Jack and I had a wonderful time on our Anniversary. He got the sewing machine I had put on layaway out, had the church wrap it, and gave it to me that night at the dinner. I have bought a pattern, material and needed supplies to make me some navy blue slacks. I have been wanting a new pair.

5) Chance did get the job for which he was applying!

The bad news:

1) My friend, Patti, for whom I was going to stitch the butterfly, passed away in her sleep Monday night. Cause is unknown. Her visitation is tomorrow and funeral is Friday. I am still going to stitch the blue  butterfly, but instead of it going to Patti, I will give it to her family as a kind of memorial to her. Maybe I could have it done by what would of been her birthday next year? That date is January 9.

Well that is about it for now...when I list the good vs bad this way, I can see it has been a better week than a bad week.

Have a great week, everyone!

I Have Stitched and Put a Machine...

My New Sewing Machine

on layaway at the local LNS store! I have been wanting a new machine for quite awhile because my current machine has been not working for quite awhile. Jack and I have been discussing what could be wrong. He was thinking it had something to do with the timing but didn't know how to fix it. I had delayed in taking it in because I was uncertain of the cost of the repair. I finally bit the bullet, so to speak, and took it in to ask about a diagnoses and or repair cost. Bill, the man who does the repairs, said if I just had it diagnosed that it would be $20. He also told me that if it is the timing on the repair the cost would be just $35. I spotted this Elan machine, very basic, which is all I need, for $154. He told me I could put it on layaway, so he is fixing my Bicor machine and I put the Elan on layaway. I am excited! I can also get

as many lessons as I feel I need with the Elan for free. I am not sure how long it will take me to pay it off, but just knowing it is there makes me HAPPY!

I have stitched a bit this week as well. I wanted to be further than this, since my last posting on

Rose Bowl

February 5, but I ended up with a high fever for 72+ hours, and could do nothing but lay in bed. I had zero energy. This started Thursday afternoon. When I awoke late Sunday morning, shortly after my Pastor prayed for me with the congregation, my fever was gone and my energy was back, and I was back to normal activities. It was hard for me to believe I had ever been ill. God works in mysterious ways for sure!

Yesterday I started working out at the YMCA again. I had to stop in January of last year because of massive pain in my left shoulder and upper arm. The doctors, after a few months, figures out I had a torn bicep muscle. When I was properly diagnosed, and prayed for, the treatment didn't take very long and my arm and shoulder were back to normal. I went on the elliptical for 35 minutes, including cool down time, and went 2.25 miles and burned 305 calories. Not bad for not working out for the better part of a year, if I do say so myself!

Jack and I have our Anniversary this week. We were married Valentines Day, 1988. This year will be celebrating our twenty-sixth year. We are very happy. Yes, we have had our ups and downs, as any marriage does, but we learned the key along time ago. Put Christ in the center of the marriage and let Him take care of any issues. We plan on attending the Sweetheart Dinner at church that night. They are serving a five course meal. We signed up and told them it is also our Anniversary.

Blue Butterfly

I am toying with the idea of setting aside Rose Bowl when I finish completing page one and either starting my Blue Butterfly or "Stop That Cat". I cannot show you a picture of the latter project because I downloaded the project and there is no picture, just the pattern and color numbers. I also want to get "Life's Little Tangles" guide threads in, so I can restart it soon. I want to use guide threads for the butterfly as well. I don't think I'll need guide threads for the cat project.

It looks as if Chance, Sarah's fiance', has landed a job! We are very happy for him. He has been out of work since early November and has been looking very hard. He is suppose to have his third interview with a new store in town. From what we have been told, during the third interview the company gives you your name tag, debit card - their way of payment, and sets up an orientation date.

I am also excited to receive, in the next couple of weeks, the CD of Sarah's graduation from high school last May. We were unable to get them at the time, which had upset me, but at least we can still get them!


Finishing wise, I still need to frame "Wedding Bells" for my cousin's son and his bride-to-be. The wedding is in June, so I still have time to pick out the perfect frame, get it framed and sent out to my cousin with plenty of time to spare.

Well, that's all for now. Everyone please take care and have a wonderful week! Stay warm!! We are below zero again tonight, but starting tomorrow it is suppose to start warming up. Yeah!

The Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl week 1 February

Hello Everyone!

I know, once again, it has been a long time since I have posted. This

Rose Bowl week 1 January

picture of my project for my Daughter-in-Law, Denise, has been stitched exclusively this month. I am completely done with page 2, the right side of the picture and probably have 1,500 - 1,700 stitches of page 1. I have made a great deal of progress on this project. I guess that is the advantage of being snowed in most of the time. I have been stitching as much as I can.  Pages 3 & 4 are mostly the "bowl" part, which is not nearly as wide as the flowers. If you look closely under the full flower on the right side of the picture you will see some yellow-gold thread and under the flower on the left you can see black thread. This is basically the width of the "bowl". I consider it more a vase

Rose Bowl week 2 January

than a bowl, simply because of the shape. At the bottom of the picture there is a couple of pedals and leaves.

I have other projects I want to do, some big, like restarting "Life's Little Tangles" and stitching the blue butterfly, both HAEDs. The butterfly is quite small for a HAED. As a matter of fact, it will fit in an 8x10 frame. I also have a project with a saying about friends that I want to do for my girlfriend since we were quite young. We met in second grade. We were in the same class and became best friends for life, quickly. I also want to stitch a project for my bathroom of a cat playing with a toilet paper roll, called "Stop That Cat".

I have some news that is exciting to our family. Sarah found shortly after Christmas that she is expecting her first child. She is due in late July or early August. This means I will have a grand child living near me that I can spoil. It also means that I need to stitch at least a baby announcement. Honestly, the main reason we are excited is because we were uncertain Sarah would ever be able to become pregnant because of surgeries she had as a pre-teen. She and the young man have been talking about getting married for quite some time.

Jack and Chance, Sarah's boyfriend, made Jack and I a new bed platform, headboard and foot board. The platform we had broke. We had a feeling it was going to, so we'd been planning this for awhile, but we ended up waiting until it had broken. It looks very nice!

Well, I need to go shovel snow...we got probably a foot of it starting yesterday afternoon. Have a great day everyone and stay safe in this weather! :)