I Got Some NEAT Things!

Perfect Coffee Cup

I am excited! The stitching friend who is in charge of helping put the retreat together that I am going to showed me a coffee cup she purchased on line. She gave me the link she used (thank you, Jennifer). Ever since then, I have been trying to get it myself! With no luck! Grrr! Well, at the beginning of April my loving husband (thank you, Jack, I love you!) found another place that sold it. The

Cross Stitcher Adict?

sight that Jennifer gave me, never got back to me. Brats!!Anyway, He ordered it for me!!! Yaaaaay!! It was on back order (must be a popular cup LOL) but it finally arrived today! I love it!!! Now if I get the shirt I want, I'll be all set!!! I shared this shirt on my time line on Facebook and then on each of my kids time lines, saying I want it for Mother's Day, so we will see if I get it! Keeping fingers crossed!!!!

I did something a few days ago (4/11) that I had never done before. I don't know if I will ever do it again, but who knows? Jack may need me too! We had been having car problems. Jack realized that one of the problems was the battery cables were corroded, thus needed to be replaced. To take the old ones off a couple of Rachel's male friends (Jesse and Coby) helped him. When it came time to put them back on, one was at his job and I can't remember where the other one was. At any rate, he needed help tightening one of the cables from underneath the car. Jack is not a skinny guy, so he cannot get underneath a car without it being on jack stands. Anyway, I got underneath the car and was able to tighten the cable for him with him holding the tool in place from the top of the car. Most people, say, slide underneath and back out on the same side of the car. Which would have you come out from under the car the same side of the car you went underneath. Anyway, I had to be different. Because my right side is paralyzed, I could not do that. I slid underneath the car on the passenger side, stopping where Jack told me to. I worked the ratchet, then slid out, coming out on the driver's side of the car. I cannot slide going to the right because of my paralysis. Turns out that the car also needs a new starter, but at least I can say I helped a little bit in the fixing of the van. :)

The new starter arrived today (4/15) via UPS. Jack was able to put it in without help, though it argued with him big time. He did put it on jack stands this time and chalked the back tires. He was getting very frustrated. Rachel offered her help when she could see how frustrated Dad was, but he would not accept any help. Her philosophy was, “grease can be washed off”. He was able to finish it within a few minutes of Rachel's offer. The van was completed in time for Rachel to go to church. I started to take her, but got nervous about it so didn't, The red warning light indicating “battery” was coming on. We never left the driveway. It wasn't staying solid, but it was coming on. I turned off the van and came in. I told Jack what was going on. He thinks the battery might just need some extra charging, so we will put the big charger on before I have to go to work tomorrow. Lord willing, Jack is right, and a short amount of time on the battery charger will take care of it. 

Heaven as of Now

Jack looked at the car this morning  (4/16) and discovered a wire going to the alternator had come loose yesterday. That was why the battery light was going on and off. He tightened it and then put the car on the charger. The car is running perfect!

I have had good days and bad days with my pain because of the discs in my neck. I have only been stitching on “Heaven”, since my last post. I showed yet another

Where I Keep my Supplies

stitching friend (Kim, your the best!) my progress since my Resurrection Day post. She says I am making great progress. I need to stop being so hard on myself. I need to keep in mind that because of my disc problems, I am going to have to take breaks more often, thus things will take longer. Such is life! When I started stitching the bank if flowers at the top, I started to just do one flower at a time, working from left to right. I was feeling like I wasn't getting very far, very fast, so I decided to work a color at a time, left to right on the green. Then, when that was done I decided I would work on the pink and salmon shades of the flowers, right to left. What I am doing is working with the length of the color right to left. Why I am doing this is because the material is not exactly centered on my q-snap, thus it is hard to get to the furthest left. I am having to constantly adjust the part of the q-snap on the far left to get to the part of material I want. That has become a major pain!! By working a length of thread of each color, I am getting enough stitched on the right side that I won't have that problem anymore. I'll be able to just move the material enough that I can complete the stitching on the left side! I'll do that with the rows that need to be put on the top to match the rows at the bottom as well. I started taking a good look at this project, and realized Kim was right!! I am making very good progress on “Heaven” . At last post, I had none of the bank of the flowers and greenery done. I also only had the straight lines on either side of the word, Heaven. Now the leaves on those lines are done, all of the greenery in this bank of flowers, and the flowers are coming along nicely. The three on the right only need the darkest color [salmon] and then they are done. Then I have the four rows of stitching, exactly like the four on the bottom on the top. Then I can frame it and give it to Micki! She told me the colors of this project will go perfect in her bedroom! Yay!!

I have been seeing several people talking about how they store their stitching stash. I

How the Inside of a Numerical Box Looks

thought I'd put in my two cents into that. :) LOL Anyway, I had been storing everything in a couple of those white plastic containers that almost look like file cabinets. I bought them at Walmart, and it does do the job and has worked for a long time. But, when a house cleaning client I had (RIP Patty) gave me a cedar chest, I figured that would be the perfect thing to store my stuff. Patty was ill and knew she was dying. She gave the cedar chest to me about a month before she died. We had become very good friends. She actually had two and asked me which one I wanted. Hers, or the one that belonged to her mom. Then she told me her son wanted the one that was Grandmas, so it was obvious which one I'd take. I cleaned her place once a month, on average. Sometimes, though, I'd just go over

How I Label my DMC

for a cup of coffee. Okay, get back on task, Lyn.

The little box you see atop the cedar chest is what a call a WIP box. I pull the bobbins I need for a project and put them in that box. I have about four of those. I put a note on the inside of the lid with the name  of the project. That way, I can keep them straight. I do have one big box that I use for my project threads of my big projects. Lets face it, "Life's Little Tangles" 90+ colors would not fit in a little box!

I put all of my cotton DMC on bobbins. Sometimes, I write the number, sometimes I use the stickers DMC sells. I prefer the paper bobbins, because I can write on those. That isn't true for the plastic bobbins. I do have some of those. I will admit they do last better, but how can a person identify the floss, if they DON'T HAVE the stickers? I have bobbin boxes that I store my cotton DMC in. I label these boxes numerically. I think I have a total of five boxes that go from the lowest number to the highest number. One bobbin per number in the numerical boxes. I have some cotton DMC on those same kind of bobbins, in these same kind of boxes, but they are my extra of those colors. Those boxes are still, more or less, kept in numerical order. I don't have them marked like I do the ones that have one skein of each color. If I am low or out of a particular number, if I need it, I go to my overflow boxes. If it isn't there, I go to the bags of floss that still need to be wound. Never ending job, as you know. If the color isn't there, then I will buy the floss.

I don't like to wind the metallic threads. What I do with them is put them on the bows and slip them into this plastic sheet meant for them I try to keep them more or less in order. I have them in a binder

My beads are in a smaller container, similar to which I keep my cotton DMC. I want to get more beads, but since I don't do a great deal of beading, I don't have a lot of beads. What I generally use beads for is where french knots are suppose to go. I stuggle with those.

I have some material that is not in use. I have some. I either keep it in a large ziplock (air tight) bag or in whatever it came in, if it is air tight. Of course I'd love more material. I'll get it, little by little. With the cedar chest, I have the room!

My stitching supplies, such as needles, sticky bob, soft pick, etc., are also in the cedar chest. I need to organize that part better.

Well, I think I should be signing off before I turn this into a book! Happy stitching Everyone!