Cat #2 is DONE

The second "Cat" project out of three was completed a couple weeks ago. Jan, the woman I am stitching them for, took a picture the next day but she was unable to e-mail me the picture until yesterday. (She has been having computer issues and actually had to go buy a new computer). I like how it turned out. I started stitching on the third "cat project" -- "Rough Day" probably the day after I was done with "Creation" cat. I have not gotten very far on him at all. (Rough Day is the picture on the right). I believe that is because I was stitching on other projects as well. I got involved in an exchange in one of my stitching groups and felt like I needed to stitch that project. I am stitching a bookmark for Kelly. I am not complaining at all! I like stitching things like bookmarks, I just hope Kelly likes the bookmark. I am nearing the "backstitching stage" on the bookmark. But before I got involved with the exchange, I did decide to restart the elephant project for my Uncle as a memorial of my Aunt. The picture on the left is the last picture I had of this project. I think I stitched a little more on it before I finally decided I really didn't like the way it was turning out. I had purchased the kind of material I really wanted for this project and just decided I was going to re-start the elephant. My progress on the restart is on the right. I have not noticed any uneven squares or anything else that makes me unhappy that I am using this material! I think that this pattern, even though it is a fairly large project, will not take that long (if you calculated stitching hours per project). I have not scanned a picture of the bookmark for Kelly yet, but I think I will wait until I am done to scan it since from what I understand, I'm not really suppose to post any progress pictures on exchanges so the person receiving what you are making doesn't see.

Well, I did get a small job that ended up lasting a week. I may get called back to it, but for now it is on hold. I started working for an older couple (private pay) helping her get in/out of bed, on/off toilet, her bath, dressed, and to the table for breakfast then to her chair in the living room. It was 2 hours in morning and then 2 hours at night, every day. Yesterday the weather was beautiful here in Danville. She wanted to go for a ride. Her husband wanted to take her. She ended up falling on her way back into the house after the car ride. He called me to help get her up, but because of the way she had landed I was unable to get her up. She was not being cooperative. Paramedics came and took her to the hospital because she was complaining of her arm hurting. Nothing was broken, so they sent her home. I went to her home when she got there last night after her release from the hospital and she was still having issues about walking as well as she usually did. Not that she could walk perfect before, she uses a walker, but she could walk quite a way without any new issues. Well when she got back from the hospital, on the way back into the house she fell again, twice. This time I was able to get her up. Jack was in our car [yes, its fixed...hold on for that story]. I asked him to call Sarah to help me get her to her bed since she was having so many issues. Sarah and I were able to get her into her pajamas and into bed. He then told me I could go home for the night and he'd see me in the morning. When I came in this morning, I was able to get her to the bathroom, but she said she was in a lot of pain and was not really wanting to try and do much of anything. She said her back hurt too much. I told her I understood that she was hurting because of her falls yesterday but that she needed to at least try to work with us. She refused. After my shift this morning her husband ended up calling her doctor and explained what is going on. He put her into the hospital. From there she will go into a nursing home. I feel badly for her, because if anybody understands how much a person hurts the day after a bad fall it is me. He did tell me that he will call me again, when she needs elp again. This tells me they do not blame me for any of this.

Now about my car...

The majority of last week the car would not start in my driveway. It was having the same issues it had been showing for weeks now. We finally had it towed to the second mechanic again on Friday. When he got it, he said the battery was completely dead and that was the issue. We had a very hard time believing that the battery was the issue because of the symptoms the car had been doing with us. Evidently when they got the car there was no lights coming on, no dinging sounds, nothing at all. They said they had charged up the battery and it had started right up. Jack told them to let it sit over night and see if it would start the next day. It did not. Then they went and put a battery in it they knew was good and left it alone until the next day and it started right up. That was when we went ahead and brought it home -- yesterday. So as Jack said this afternoon, God granted me this small job long enough to have the funds to pay for the car repair and make a payment on another bill. God is good!

I was also able to recently finally get a new printer! I ended up printing out the big HAED pattern that I recently purchased as well as another pattern I have been wanting to print out for a long time but have not been able to since our printer had taken a nose dive. Now I need to buy the material to stitch this pattern on. Hopefully very soon!

I know you all are interested in how my doctor appointment went with the doctor about the seizures I had recently. She increased my medication a little at a time to a total of 300mg more than I was taking. Next month I am suppose to have a blood draw to show her where my levels are now. They were on the low side of 'okay' range when she had them drawn before, back in October. I see her again in May. So everything is being taken care of.

I need to be signing off for now. Jack and I have a store run that we need to do. Take care everyone, and happy stitching to those of you who stitch!

Because of My Car I could Stitch!

I figured out that I have done at least 1900 stitches on ”Creation” cat since my last update. I know that each "graph like square" is 100 stitches being that it is 10x10 and I have completed 17 of those as well as at least 200 stitches in the stitching that is not every square in the 10x10 stitched. Thus far on page 2 of ”Creation” cat I have just worked on the cat's body. He is made up of three colors so far, DMC 975, DMC 976 and DMC 3827, on page 2. I know when I get to his paw area on this page he will have a couple of other colors, but, so far, page 2 has just been those three colors. I had to have Jan take me over to the local LNS and get a couple more skeins of both 975 and 976. I was almost out of the darker of the two and I knew I was going to need more of at least it and suspected I'd need more of the lighter color. Jan bought me two of each color just to make sure I have enough, especially since I still need to stitch the third project for her and we do not know exactly what colors it calls for. Next week Jan and I will go to Champaign and get the material I need for the third project.

Because Jan wanted “Creation” Cat done on the dark brown material, I felt like I needed to have the writing of the project in a lighter color. The pattern called for it to be done in the darkest color of the leaves. (That was DMC 3345 – Dark Hunter Green). Honestly, to me, that just didn’t look right, with the project on dark brown. So I asked Jan what she wanted me to do. She looked at it and said to use the color that was just a shade lighter from the color in the leaves. Honestly, that still didn’t look quite right. I asked Jack what he thought and he said to have it in a lighter color green, almost what he called a sea green. He asked me to bring him my green colors so he could see what color would be best. After looking over all the greens, which meant me pulling out all my thread boxes, he picked out DMC 955. I did show Jan after only putting in a few letters, just to make sure she liked how it looked and she loved it! She agreed that the greens either the color of the leaves or close to the color of the leaves just didn’t look right. She also agreed that DMC 955 looks excellent!

The car issues are still happening! We are so baffled! I went out to the car Sunday (2/19) morning to go to church and the car would not start. A friend came and picked us up for church and then took me by CVS so I could get my medicine and took me home. Later in the afternoon Jack really needed a store run done to get a couple of things related to dinner. I decided to try the car, since the grocery store is a three or four mile walk, one way. It started! Monday morning it would not start again. I had it towed to Mark’s. They looked at it and tried to diagnose it since it wasn’t working all day Monday and Tuesday,. The shop and Jack discussed something about putting in a starter button to bi-pass the electronic ignition but then it started by itself on Wednesday and so I walked about halfway to the shop and then a friendly family took pity on me and gave me a ride the rest of the way. It is soooo maddening!! Jack had me go down to the store that makes keys and make another key to the car in the event that we do end up doing something else to the car. The car is working fine for now.

I finished stitching the project about friends being the best presents Sunday afternoon after church and before that grocery trip. (2/19) I think I’d have to say that was a ‘quick stitch’. I know that I worked on it only, when I started thinking about it, but it only stitched on it three days. I kitted it together Friday (Feb. 17) when we were talking about having the car towed to Mark's Electric and having me stay with the car and have the guy tell me what he did to the car to get it going. I wanted to take something to stitch, but I didn't want to take my cat or even the elephant, which I know I need to pull out and stitch on again. I got it all together and ready to go when the tow truck got here and then the car started even though for me it didn't an hour earlier. Can you see the steam coming out my ears?! I ended up driving the car to Mark's but because it would start, they could not help me. Is anyone besides me getting mad at this yet? Anyway, when I came home from Mark's with the car Friday, I sat in my room and stitched the day away. My stress level went to zero. I did stitch on Saturday too, but I did other things as well; Friday it was a stitch and only stitch day. So, the stitching that you saw in picture 1 of this project (last post) was done on mostly Friday and a little on Saturday and then picture 2 progress was done on Sunday.

The tulips I planted in September before going to California when my friend Michele was here, have started making an appearance. I am so happy! I honestly was unsure if I was planting them right, since my dad is the “plant person” and I know very little. But I did good this time. I was also concerned on whether or not the squirrels would dig them up. I am unsure when the mums are suppose to be making a comeback, but I did what I was told to them this winter, in early December, cutting them severely back. We will see if they come back to life this spring. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they come back.

My Nordic Needle order arrived on 2/21. I was right. The order had counting pins, beading needles and one package of black beads and one package of white beads as well as something called a Star De-Tailor. What it is supposed to do is help you get your short threads tucked away properly on the back of the material. I haven’t tried it yet, but I am sure there will be a time that I can.

am using the counting pins on “Creation” cat now. I think if I ever order counting pins again I’ll buy the longest length I can get. These seem awfully short to me. They work, but they are short. I ordered the black beads because I want to put them on both of the cat projects where French Knots are called for. They look so much better than my French Knots.

Jack made me happy! I have been worried about him because he hasn’t done much of anything except read fan fiction on his computer for the past several years really. I know that his health is not the best and I know he lost his leg to diabetes in Nov 2010 and I have been praying that he start doing something. Well today he told me that he wants to start going to the Y! If he follows through on that he may start to lose some of his weight. He was talking to me about how he needs to get his blood sugars under better control and move around more and even exercise. So maybe my prayer is answered?

I have still waiting to hear from Pam Kifer so I can get her address since she is the winner of drawing 1, the hoops of various sizes and lap stand.

I Instant Messaged Wes the other day and we talked for probably at least 20 minutes. I told him that Sarah got his package and told him how Rachel was in the paper (you can see that on my facebook). We had a good talk. I think he knows how much we all love and miss him.

Well, I neeed to be going. I am not sure if I am in charge of dinner or if Jack is, but either way, it is time to start cooking!

Take care everyone and know that I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

Drawing Day!

I feel like I have made a lot of progress on “Creation” Cat. I have taken time to stitch during the past week and I am feeling pretty good. I do not feel stressed at all right now. I am done with page 1, except for the E-N on the word GIVEN. The pattern is a full 2 pages. Page 2 is the lower half of the cat. He is standing on his hind legs. At his feet is a "mouse flower". I am hoping to give you an updated picture by next week. Maybe I'll even be done? I don't know that for sure. That is a hope, I guess.

Yesterday I woke up before my alarm went off, by at least an hour and I wanted to stitch, but I honestly didn't want to stitch on "Creation Cat" because I wanted to scan him before I stitched on it again. I have a book of smaller cross stitches and I started flipping through them and found a really nice one that I thought my friend who is getting the Irises might like. I found some material that would work for it and discovered that I had all the necessary threads, so I just started stitching away. I did go swimming at the Y yesterday, but didn't really do any chores or get on the computer. I just basically stitched the day away. But you know, that's okay because sometimes we just need to do a time out and not worry about anything at all. I basically stitched 90% of the day and got almost everything done here done. The only thing that I have done on it today was color DMC 333 and DMC white as well as all the backstitching that is done I did today. If everything goes according to what I am thinking, I will have it done some time tomorrow. All I have left to do is finish the backstitching on the bow as well as around the yellow and purple and then backstitching in the phrase. What the phase says is: Friends are the best Presents. It really isn't a huge pattern (57W x 41H) but I just thought Mary-Beth would really enjoy it.

I have always considered her a good friend, even though we have only met in person once and that was just a few years ago. She came to my area with her employment and while she was in the area, she came over and had dinner. We have been friends since we became pen pals way back in fifth grade through Girl Scouts. At the time I lived in California and she lived in Massachusetts. It would have been hard to put many more miles between two girls becoming pen pals through Girl Scouts! We use to write each other once or twice a month. It slowed as we became adults, but we do still keep in contact.

I am so jazzed! I have been looking around for a red rose pattern. My daughter-in-law really likes red roses and I wanted to do a pattern especially for her. I recently was looking at Dickey's completed projects (Dickey from ILCS). I saw this project of a bouquet of red roses in a gold vase and fell in love with it. I e-mailed him and talked with him about this pattern. I told him that I saw this pattern in his completed projects and was wanting to see about where could I get the pattern. We agreed that I would send him a gift certificate to 1-2-3 Stitch and he would send me the pattern. The package form Dickey arrived earlier this week. I am so excited! I know I need to 'kit it up' and get the material too but I really want to have this completed for her as a birthday present. Her birthday is August 31, so I feel like I have plenty of time.

We had car issues again. I went out to the car Saturday morning to get some groceries and the silly thing would not start again. GRRRR! Jack worked on the car all day Saturday (2/11) and got no where but mad. Sarah drove me to the grocery store with her pick up. We got a ride to church on Sunday. On Monday we ended up having the car towed (again). This time we had it towed to Mark’s Auto Electric. They had the car most of the day and figured out that it was some sort of fuse that needed replacing and the area around that fuse needed cleaning. The fee was very minimal. I ended up spending more money between the two times towing the van to get it fixed than the cost of replacing the fuse! (LOL) Thus far it seems to be working fine. I don't want to jinx myself though.

Ordered and received a huggie from Forever Cowgirl. I had originally wanted this huggie before Christmas because I wanted to give it to my sister on a q-snap as a Christmas present, but now I guess I’ll give it to her as a birthday gift. I may do it as a “Just Because” gift, since her birthday isn’t until June. The huggie is made out of a material that has the Marine Corps Symbol on it. My sister’s oldest son was discharged from the Marine Corps in October 2011, after completing a four year stint. He has recently enrolled in college. I am not sure what he is studying, but he is talking about once he is done with college, going back in the Marine Corps but that time going in as an officer. I am very proud of him.

I recently placed an order with Nordic Needle. I am excited about it as well. I am also getting frustrated about it though because it has been over a week now since I placed the order. I called them on Wednesday and was told that the order was shipped out on Tuesday. I have not received it yet and it is Saturday. North Dakota isn't that far from Illinois and previous orders have never taken this long.

In my order I got two different colors of beads. I have a real problem getting my French knots to look right, so I thought I'd try it with the beads. I have done it that way before and liked it. But the last beads I bought were too big to use for French knots. I also got beading needles. I just hope that threading the needle isn't too hard. I also bought some counting pins. I have heard a great deal of good about this tool and thought I'd give them a try. I thought they might come in handy, especially once I do start the HAED. I still need to get my printer working and buy the material for the HAED, but hopefully I will be able to do that soon. I know that there is at least one other thing that I ordered, but I cannot remember what that is right now.

As far as my drawings...

I had Rachel draw for the winner of the first contest and her friend Mariah choose the winner of the second contest. The winner of drawing 1 Is Pam Kifer and the winner of drawing 2 is Ayjah. Congratulations!!! :) I need both of you to send me your addresses and I will mail your packages to you as soon as possible. Ayjah, if you live out side the USA I am not sure how long it will take for your package to arrive, but I will get it off as soon as I can.

Well, that is about it for now. Please take care, everyone. Happy stitching and if everything goes right I'll have at least one finish to report by next week.

There are Two Drawings!

I apologize for taking so long to do this post...the past couple weeks have been on the crazy side!

1) I had a seizure on a Wednesday afternoon that I didn't really completely recover from for a couple of days. That is unusual for me. I do have seizures, but I generally recover within a few hours from whatever seizure I have. (Yes, I am scheduled to see my doctor in a couple weeks because of this). My seeizures have been happening more frequently, which is scary to us. More frequently in my case is instead of one every seven years or so, is since December 2010 I have probably had four seizures. One in December of 2010 and then one in September 2011. Two of them were the other Wednesday that knocked me silly. I have never ever had two seizures in one day.

2) My van's starter went out.

3) My older daughter's tires needed replacing. Jack and I got two tires at the recycle store and had them mounted.

4) My van did a mysterious, "I won't start" and I had to have it towed just to have it start at the repair shop. This happened the same day Sarah's tires needed replacing, so ended up having both our vehicles towed the same day.

5) My younger daughter developed ear infection.

6) I did finish irises and start "Creation" (the second project I am being paid to complete).

7) I placed an order with Nordic Needle that I am excited about. I am expecting a couple different colors of beads, some beading needles, counting pins, and a tail catcher.

8) I believe I have landed myself a job besides cleaning a couple of houses. I am excited about this. The job won't start until mid-March because the person that is there now isn't leaving the position until then. I will need to be trained and everything first though, so I am okay with it. The pay is very reasonable.

9) Figured out what I wanted to give away in my giveaway here. I sure hope everyone has fun! I have never done a giveaway, so this is new for me, but I have seen giveaways done on other blogs and I hope to do this one similar to what I have seen done. I will put the names entered in a hat and have my daughter draw the name. I will have two drawings.

Drawing #1 will be for a Lap Stand, a wooden hoop 8"x12", a 10" wooden hoop, an 8" wooden hoop, and two 6" wooden hoops.

Drawing #2 will include a 12x16 piece of Aida material that has sparkles through it as well as red and blue threads. It is very pretty. I will also put in Leisure Arts Leaflet 958 'The Lord's Prayer and Dale Burdett Love Bears All Things pamphlet and a personal wares Janlynn 986-42 gold lame fanci ruffled hoop (finished size 4" x 5.5").

If you want to be entered in either one or both drawings, please say if you want to be in drawing 1 or drawing 2. You may enter both if you would like. I will be drawing the names February 18.

I am excited about how my Irises turned out. I have not framed this yet. I am not sure how Mary-Beth wants me to finish it. I have to talk with her about if she wants me to just send it to her as I have it now and then let her frame it or if she wants me to frame it and then send it to her. I think it turned out very nice.

I have started my second cat project that I am being paid for. This one is called "Creation Cat". I think I have made a lot of progress on him. I am still working on page one. I am almost done with the cat part of page one. Then there is a fish between his paws and tree leaves on this page. Fish are growing on the tree much like fruit. Jan wanted me to put this picture on brown material. I wasn't real sure that it would look good on brown material, being that the cat is a tiger stripe kind of cat. I think it is probably going to turn out alright though. Page two is the lower half of the cat...he is standing on his hind legs in the project...like a human does. There is a "flower" by his hind legs. The "flower" has leaves, but the stem is the tail of a mouse and the middle part of the flower is a mouse. The phrase on this one is: If I had been present at creation I would have given some useful hints. The thing I think I am going to have to change in this project because of the material being brown is the color of the lettering is suppose to be DMC 3345 (Hunter Green - dark). I am wondering, with the material being brown, should the phrase be written in a light color? Opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day. I know I will. Jack and I will be celebrating our 24th Anniversary. We were married on Valentine's Day in 1988. We chose that day because my favorite color has always been red and I wanted red in the wedding. My girls wore red taffida dresses. We are planning on having a special dinner out, just the two of us. We don't do that very often.

I Have a Couple of Announcements....

Hello, Everyone! I wanted to announce that I am going to be having a couple of giveaways. When I reach 100 followers (I have 87 now) I will be having one giveaway to give away several sizes and shapes of wooden embroidery hoops. I will have a second giveaway that will have some patterns, and maybe some floss and a couple of other things. Have not completely decided yet. Will let you know more about both giveaways when I reach 100 followers.

Here is the progress I have made on Irises this week. You can see the flowers much easier since I did the backstitching around them. I now have the length of the project completed. I don't think it will be too much longer before I am done with this project. For the most part it has been a fun stitch. I went and tried out some of my newer threads in the stitching. A blue satin and a yellow light effects. I think they turned out great. The satin threads are very soft, but not hard to stitch with.

I saw some scissors on nordic needle that are specifically made to cut metallic thread. I am thinking of ordering them. Do any of you have a pair meant for metallic threads? Are they worth the price? I was thinking about getting them because I have found myself stitching with metallic threads here and there and don't want to ruin my scissors.

I am getting a pattern of red roses in a vase or bowl of some kind from a fellow stitcher. I am excited. My daughter-in-law loves red roses and I have been looking for a pattern I could do for her. When I saw this stitcher had a pattern, I asked about it. They are sending me the pattern and I sent them a gift certificate to 1-2-3 Stitch. I don't know how big this pattern is but I am sure I will love doing it.

I need to start on 'Creation' cat for Jan. I want to get that done soon, but I also want to finish Irises for Mary-Beth and even the elephant for my Uncle. And then there is the HAED pattern, but I still need to get a printer that does more than scan. So many projects to do!

Irises is the only thing I stitched on this week. I wanted to get back into my routine of working out at the YMCA. I have been doing that. I haven't gone everyday in the last seven, but I have gone several. On Friday I swam 32 laps. That is only 4 laps shy of one mile. I wasn't feeling the best yesterday, but made myself go. I ended up walking on the treadmill. I didn't go very far (only about .84 of a mile) but I can say I did work out. Today I swam 23 laps.

My niece, Danielle, had a baby boy last night. She named him Khaleb and he weighs 7lbs 10oz. and is 21" long. I just spoke with Danielle and she sounds wonderful. She said the labor was relatively easy. From the time of arrival at the hospital to the time of birth was about three hours. She said he does eat a lot. She will be staying at the hospital tonight too, not because anything is really 'wrong' with either of them but because her doctor wants her to be able to rest a bit before going home. Daniele has a 13 month old too.

Sarah went to the eye doctor last week and ended up needing a new prescription. We got one pair that day because I paid for them but we also ordered what we are calling 'the back up pair' because the ones the insurance will pay for are not going to be here for 6 to 8 weeks. Sarah's glasses had broken and she needed a new pair now, that was why I paid for the first pair. I really need to see about getting me a new precription too. I have been able to tell for the past while that I need new glasses.

Jack is doing okay. He made the front page of the local paper last week. The article was about how the city has helped disabled people improve their homes to make it easier for them to get around their homes.

I intended on being home when the reporter was here, but we were having car trouble at the time and so I wasn't here. The night before the reporter came over, we ended up at the Emergency Room with me. I was transported via ambulance. Jack was worried that I was having a heart attack because of where I was having sudden pain that wouldn't go away and having a hard time catching my breath. The hospital released me a few hours later. They did run all the heart related tests and said I did not have a heart attack. When Jack and I went to the car after my release, it would not start. A friend of ours happened to be visiting a friend of his. He took us home. I got a ride back to the hospital the next morning and security tried to jump the car. It would not come to life. I hjad it towed to the shop. They replaced the starter which got the car running and then also fixed the master cylinder, which made my brakes work properly again.

Rachel started practicing with the jazz band after school last week. She will be playing the piano in this band. She is pretty good. She has been playing the piano off and on since she was six. She plays the eliptical in the regular band.

I joined the bell choir at church last week. We practice every Wednesday night at seven o'clock.

Well that's about all I have to announce this week. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Take care!

Been Stitching to My Heart's Content!

Hello everyone! I have been busy stitching. Not every day, but trying to do something, even if an hour, here and there. I finished "Control Cat" a few days ago. I love how he turned out. This is the first one completed of the three patterns that I am being paid for. I am thinking of delivering all three at the same time. This pattern did not take me very long to complete, once I got started. The 'method of stitching' I used was what I have observed being done with the HAED that I have watched come together from fellow stitchers. I wanted to practice the technique, because I did buy my first HAED pattern a few weeks ago. I haven't been able to get started on it yet, but hopefully I can soon. I need to buy a new printer, because we got the scanner part of our printer running, but the printing part is uncooperative. Until I get a new printer, my HAED and any other pattern I want to print, is just going to have to wait.

I need to start on the second cat, "Creation Cat" and will in the next day or two but I wanted to stitch colors other than brown, blacks, greys for a few days.

I have been stitching a little bit on "Irises" since I finished "Control Cat". Can you tell that these are flowers? When I showed Jack last night, he said he couldn't tell that they were flowers. I think that the backstitching on this project is going to make these irises really pop out. I am so tempted to do some of the backstitching now so that the flowers are more noticeable.

I haven't touched my elephant pattern for quite awhile. I am not really happy with the way the half stitches are laying. Now I am wondering if I just stitch the bull elephant part of this pattern instead of the entire pattern, would that be alright? I am almost done with the Bull Elephant and that thought came to me. I just don't like the way this material is. I'll probably just keep plugging away at the pattern instead of giving up on it, but boy am I frustrated with this one! The elephant is a full 'X' but the scenery is half stitches. You may be able to see where I started some of the scenery at about tusk level on the right side of the elephant. Can you see what I am talking about in the way the half stitches are laying?

I forgot to mention in my last post that my cousin's wife sent me all of her cross stitching supplies at the end of last year. Thank you, Donna! She and my cousin David were the recipients of the first cat project I finished ("Nobody"). Donna sent me everything from DMC threads to hoops, a lap stand, pattern books and material. I am thinking of trying to do some sort of game with a prize or giveaway of some of the stuff because some of the stuff I just wouldn't use. I'd hate to have it just sit in my closet. Any ideas about how I should go about it? Donna use to cross stitch all the time but was forced to stop because of medical issues.

I have received several birthday cards and floss in the first couple weeks of January. Thank you, Everyone!

Both of my girls received their second quarter report cards. Well, actually Rachel was given hers and Sarah's was mailed because the high school takes finals and calculates them into the grade, where the middle school doesn't take finals. Rachel received A's in all but two classes. In those two classes, she received B's. She, once again, made either the Honor Roll or High Honor Roll. This has been the norm for Rachel her entire school life. Sarah, with her finals calculated in, received a couple of A's and the rest B's, if I remember right. Either way, we are proud of both girls and their grades.

The position I was hoping to get has been postponed. My heart kind of sank when I was told this. But, that just means I need to put my head high and keep looking. God will put me where He wants me, when He wants me there!

I bought some goggles and a swim cap with some of my birthday money. Last week I swam 32 laps for the first time ever! I have always had to get out of the pool before I reached that far because the chlorine was burning my eyes badly. I'd end up with blurry vision and sometimes my eyes would swell after my swim sessions because of the chlorine. Last week, when I swam I was using my goggles and swim cap and had no problems because of chlorine. The next time I swim (hopefully tomorrow) I hope to make it to 36 laps. Thirty-six laps at the YMCA pool (where I swim) is equal to one mile. I am not the fastest swimmer, but I get the job done. (Like my stitching!) What slows me with my swimming is my right side paralysis. I cannot kick as well with my right leg or make the motions with my right arm as big as with my left side. But, I can swim!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and hope to give you another stitching update in the next week. Talk with you later!

The OVERDUE Update!

I know, I know, its about time! Sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog. I have been wanting to update to the point that I was probably driving Jack crazy. Sorry it has taken so long to update, the last time I updated was a week or so before Thanksgiving, but I really wanted to be able to post pictures with the blog. My printer/scanner was acting up and I don't have a decent camera, so I was unable to take or scan pictures myself.

This picture, "Looking Down" cat is the one I did for my cousin and his wife. I finished it about a week before Christmas and mailed it to David and his wife and asked them to e-mail me. They were very pleased with the picture. They sent me the picture right around my birthday but Jack had been telling me he was going to see about getting my printer/scanner fixed, so was trying to wait till I could post more than one picture. Just yesterday Jack got the printer/scanner to the point that it will scan pictures again. It prints, but not properly. The color is all askew. This means I won't be able to print out my HAED that I bought, which is disheartening. :( I have other things that need printing too, but those of you who have done or are doing HAED know how important it is to print out those patterns. This is a actually true for any patterns you buy on line.

I still do not have a picture pf the Precious Moments finish I gave to my niece. I am hoping she will send me a picture of it soon. When she does, I will post the picture, I promise!

I have been working on three other projects since my last post as well. I worked some more on the elephants for my Uncle Curt. I am actually almost done with this bull elephant. When he is done, the project is probably close to 45 or maybe even 50% done. The other elephants and then the trees and bushes in this pattern are very small in comparison to him. I am doing the elephant on 28ct, which isn't a problem, but it isn't the type of 28ct I have used before and it almost seems like the material is not 'uniform'. It is very frustrating. I like the evenweave much better than this stuff. I am concidering stopping the elephant where it is and then starting all over on a different piece of material. I started to do some of the background bushes (which are a half x) and it looks like I have pulled the stitches wrong somehow, but I know I haven't! GRRRR!

Another thing I have been stitching on is some irises for my long time pen pal and friend who lives in Rhode Island. We started writing each other as pen pals through Girl Scouts when we were in fifth grade. Several years ago I stitched her and her husband a wedding announcement. A couple of years ago they ended up in divorce. She asked me if I wanted the wedding announcement back. I told her no. I told her I'd be happy to make her something else. That was when she told me that she likes irises. A couple months ago I bought a book from a fellow stitcher which had irises in it. I think I am around half way done with this picture. Not sure, exactly. I do know that I decided to use some light effects in both the yellow and blue flowers. I was thinking of doing the same thing for the flowers that require DMC 340 and 341, but I do not have the proper light effects color and do not know what color to buy. I like how it has turned out so far. I think my girl friend will be happy with it.

The third thing I have been stitching is the first of three cat patterns that I am being paid for. I think I am somewhere between 45 and 50% done with this one. This one is called "Control". He is splayed out on a rug stating that he cannot be controlled.

My Thanksgiving was quiet. It was just the four of us for most of the day. Our good friends in town came over after they had eaten at his mom's house and stayed for a couple of hours, but other than that it was just us.

Christmas was quiet too. That was okay because we don't like to make a huge fuss about Christmas. We did have a nice ham for dinner, but we don't go way out on gifts and the like. Jack and I bought ourselves a television for our room with the money my parents sent us. We actually combined it with the money my SIL sent. We had to. The television took up all the money from one and so we used the money from the other to pay for the thing to put it on the wall and everything that entailed as well as the fee of the person installing it. He was reasonable, but still...I also got some pajamas, a coat, a hat and some perfume.

My birthday has been spread over several days. We had a family game night on the actual day, we had the cake and gift the next day and two days after that Sarah took me to get my nails done. I received my parents gift today in the mail (five days after the actual birthday). With the money my parents sent me for my birthday I bought myself a new swim cap and goggles for my swimming at the Y. I have been wanting/needing to do that for awhile and I just did it. I also bought some stitching supplies.

I need to sign off for now. I promise, I'll update more often now that my scanner is working.

Take care everyone!