Just over a week from now...

I will be going to MB for the Pals Fall Fling. In some ways I think I don't deserve to go because I really haven't been much of a sticher this year, and in other ways I think I really NEED to go. So, need won out, and I am really looking forward to getting away. I am hoping that it will also get my stitching mojo motivated a little more. In preparation for going, I have already done some stitching so that I am not totally embarassed when I get there, so that is good.

I tried really hard to have my Lizzie Kate wall hanging done before I went, but it is not to be. I do have the pieces put together, and actually I have it made into a wall hanging that looks just terrible, so it is going to be taken apart before I go. I am not sure if it was that the backing fabric was too light weight, or if it was my poor sewing skills showing. Whatever, I did not like the final results. I will take it with me and hope some brilliant person there can give me some abilities I don't already have. Fat chance, huh?

Two weeks ago I went under the knife to have a large fibromatosis removed from my right clavicular area. It had been putting constant pressure on a nerve and giving me a lot of grief, so I had it removed. I have a six inch scar, but the pain is gone so I am happy!! I go see the surgeon Monday for a final wrap up. Today I started back at cardio/pulmonary rehab. I figure I could go this week and next, miss my time at MB, and get back at it when I get home. I really need to work on my strength and stamina.

I am going to spend this Sunday picking out what projects I am going to take to MB because I will be gone the rest of the week, and Lily's birthday party is next weekend. This really will be my last chance to pet my stash before I go!!

We are going to spend tomorrow down at our favorite campground with a group of very close friends. We were supposed to camp all weekend, but we have had heavy flooding showers all day today so we decided not to camp but just go down and sit around a campfire for the day. I have to go now and make some taco soup to have for dinner there. Aren't crockpots wonderful?? LOL

Hope everyone is having a happy and healthy fall. To those that are going to MB can't wait!!

WOW It's almost September!

Where did the summer go? I spent a lot of it reading books. I went through(actually am still in) a reading addiction. Things are somewhat stressful here what with the economy and some major household repairs that had to be done this summer, and I just needed to escape. While I love to stitch, I am still able to think when I stitch. When I read, I fall into the book, and lose myself completely. Therefore, I read.

And since I am confessing my sins, another is a pretty heavy duty obsession over Susan Boyle. She is the lady that had the audition for Britian's Got Talent that was seen round the world on youtube. My adult niece sent me the link to that audition, and I was blown away. Yes, she had a really wonderful voice, but I was really uplifted by her bravery and the results. Her apparent joy in being allowed to go further put me in tears. So, now I am a member of her fan club (first time ever for that), and I am waiting very impatiently for her CD to come out in November. I have probably watched either her audition or the semi-finals or the finals at least once a day ever since April. They never fail to captivate and gladden my heart. Go figure - I don't really have an explanation just a statement of fact.

I have started working on putting my Lizzie*Kate Monthly Stamps together into the wall hanging. I hope to finish putting the pieces together tomorrow, and I think I am going to take it out and look for some different backing material. I bought some for the backing, but I think I can do better - wish me luck!

Last weekend I finally decided that I really NEEDED to go to MB this year with the PALS. I really need a little time to get away. So, I have started stitching a Christmas Ornament for the exchange, and hope to get at least two done before I go. That way, I will have a least done a little stitching before I go.

I am going now to catch up on all your all's blogs - I haven't even done that is summer - bad me. I am looking forward to catching up - "see" you later.

Spring has come to Kentucky

Right now is one of the nicest times to live in Kentucky. We generally have moderate temperatures, and blue skies, and everything turns green. The grasses, the leaves on the trees, the flowers coming up - it just all explodes. Last Sunday, I got to spend most of the day outside in my gardens, weeding and mulching, and in general enjoying being outside. Once the dog days of summer show up, I can't really be outside with my COPD. I guess that is why I really love this time of year. The picture on the left is our iris bed out in the far back yard. The center picture is main flower bed and a little wagon we filled with left over bulbs. It sits right outside my kitchen window, and it is a fun thing to gaze at while working. The far left is a flower bed which is behind our garage. In a couple of weeks, my lily bed will be blooming - I will upload a picture then of that.

Because of the beautiful weather, my stitching has lagged just a bit. I am working on Christmas is Forever by Lizzie Kate, but not really getting very far. I also need to spend time putting my Lizzie Kate Monthly Stamps together into a wall hanging. I am hoping to get that done soon.

Hope everyone is having a lovely spring.

Lots to catch up on!

It has been a really long time since I have posted, and I am sorry. It has been a very varied time -LOL. The later part on March and first part of April I was pretty sick. After being at the doctor's a couple of times with sinusitis and bronchitis, I felt like I was improving. However, because of all the drugs I was taking, I had an adverse reaction and ended up spending seven hours in ER (not the show) and overnight in the chest pain section. What a waste of time it really was, but that is so much easier to determine in hindsight.

The weekend after all those fun and games was the Derby Festival kickoff, better known as Thunder Over Louisville. Here is a picture of our family with a few hundred thousand other folks enjoying an incredibly beautiful day and a fantastic show. There is a huge airshow with lots of really cool acrobatic airplane teams and many of our newest and finest aircraft. You can really feel the power of the Air Force jets as they come over the show area and do a right angle turn and fly straight up - WOW!! They also have helicopter rescue demonstrations that are amazing. I know it looks like he is under that bridge, but not quite. The airshow lasts from early afternoon until just after dark. There is a very special time where there are two of the big helicopters flying with huge American flags hanging beneath them while God Bless America, I am Proud to be an American, and finally, The Star Spangled Banner play over the loud speakers. The crowd is amazingly quiet during that! After that comes THUNDER!! It is the largest annual fireworks display in the country, and it is fantastic. It lasts about a half an hour, and it sounds like the climax the whole time. It is probably my most favorite thing to do every year. And my whole family loves it with me which makes it even more special.

The weekend after Thunder, we had our group of close friends down here for a project. Grandaddy (my DH Bill) and Uncle Paul had to put together a playhouse for Lily. We had found the kit at Sam's during a Grand Opening at a price we could not pass up, so we didn't. So the "boys" got together and built it. The "girls" had to go out and get some plastic tea sets and other "necessities" for the house. And then, even though we were going to wait until it was my daughter, Lisa's birthday to give it to Lily (her birthday is in October, and there was no way we were going to wait that long) we had to call Lisa and get her down here so that she and Lily could see the house. Lisa was blown away, and Lily just started playing as if she always had this house. We thought she might be scared at first, but not our Lily! We all got a real kick out of seeing her enjoying it so much. And heck, that is just one more reason for Lisa and Lily to come visit us. (Lisa lives in an apartment, so the house will stay with us until they move into a home of their own) It was fun to watch the guys putting it together - I think they were really enjoying it.

This weekend was Derby, and since we had tickets, we were actually at the track which is quite an experience. Not only is it a day full of horse racing, it has to top the list of the best people watching experience ever. There are people there from all over the world (one young man sitting near us was from Holland), and in all forms of attire. There was a lady near us who had on an exquisite silk suit with a amazing hat, sitting next to a couple in jeans and sweatshirts. This year was a wider range of clothing because we had such bad weather forecasts. It was only in the low 60's and threatened rain all day long. So, some people dressed for the weather, and some people wore their fancy clothes that they had bought special for this event. We had quite an experience for the actual Derby. One of our good friends sent us out there with some money and several bets they wanted us to place for them. Well, two of the bets were on the winner, and if you don't know, it was the second biggest upset in Derby history, and paid a minimum of $100 a ticket!! I was actually shaking when I turned in the ticket and got the payoff. That was the biggest I had ever seen.

The only real time I have had to do any stitching was during the wait at the ER - LOL. It did give me an opportunity to finish my April Stamp and therefore the whole series of stamps. I did spend a great deal of time carting Lily around to different fabric stores trying to find some fabric to make the wall hanging, and while I was at it, finding someone to tell me HOW to make the wall hanging. I got the how, and I got the solid color fabric to frame each stamp with, but I did not get the muted calico print I want to make it look quilty. I think that it was a successful shopping trip all in all. I am going to try and start cutting out the fabric pieces and trimming the stamps next weekend. I don't know when I will actually get around to sewing it - hopefully very soon.

Well, I have babbled enough for several posts, so I think I will be going to pack for this week's trip to Louisville. Oh, by the way, Renee was the "lucky" winner of the PIF, and I will be contacting her soon to see what we can arrange.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week full of fun and stitches!

An award and a PIF

I have been very lucky for a beginner blogger. BarbMI gave me an award which I am very pleased about!! Thank you so much Barb! I am to pass it on to eight more bloggers which I will do at the end of my post.

Also, I was thrilled to be given a PIF from KarenSC which is my first!! Thank you so much, Karen! Now, I can PIF to another blogger that would wish to get something stitched by me within 365 days of the finish of the drawing. I will draw one name from the people who comment on this post that they would like to be considered. I will do the drawing next Friday, April 3rd.

Well, we made it back from California, and I was really happy that we went. My brother would have loved both of the ceremonies that were held in his honor, and would have loved the fact that we got to spend four days visiting with our relatives at his house. Lily was a dream to travel with, after all our concerns about keeping her happy during the flights, she slept mostly all the way through all four flights!! She also slept through all five nights of us sharing a hotel room with her - can you beat that?

Stitching wise, I had very little opportunity to stitch. The hotel we were staying at did not have an indoor lounge where I could go stitch in the mornings before everyone got up. I guess that is what happens in Southern California, you are expected to sit out on the terrace. That would have been fine, except there was no light, and more importantly( I brought light with me), it was COLD!! So that was frustrating. Oh well, each day I did sleep later - just so that I would be really messed up by the time we got home - LOL!!

This week I hope to start being on a more reasonable schedule, and I hope to be able to work on my Peaceable Kingdom UFO tomorrow, and on my April Stamp during the week.

I have come to the hard part of this post - picking 8 folks to send this award to is very difficult - I can't say that I have any favorites - I love to see what everyone has to show and say!! Okay, if I must, here are the eight I picked:

Shelleen (Shelleen's Musing)

Amy (Amy Stitches)

MicheleWA(Just Another Stitching Blog)

KarenAZ (Stitching & Sharing)

Renee (Renee's Reflective Stitcher)

RuthAnn(The Musing Badger)

KarenSC(Karen's Handiwork)

Lisa(Stitches Along Life's Road)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week - full of love and stitches.

Another finish!

Happy Sunday everyone. I am trying to figure out what all I should take to California this week and also what all I need for the first part of the week.

I am happy to say that I do have another finish for 2009 - hey two is better than nothing! Now that I have finished December, I have started April to redo. I am taking that and my Mystery Sampler and Santa Clothes with me on the trip. Don't know how much I will get done, but I am sure there will be some opportunity to stitch.

We spent this weekend with our good friends trying to schedule our monthly gatherings. This year seemed harder than usual to find times for us to get together. Part of the reason is that my honorary niece is getting married in September, and we will be doing many fun things related to that occasion. I think we all are a little subdued in our plans worrying about the economy and what impact it will have on our lives. I am guessing everyone is in the same boat over that.

If I don't get back here again before I go - everyone have a great two weeks and do a lot of stitching!!

An interview and an invitation...

Ruth has asked me to do an interview, so here are my boring answers:

1. If you could do anything you've never done before, what would it be and why? I guess my choice would be to travel on the train through the Denali National Park in Alaska and stay at the lodge for a week. I have been lucky enough to have gone to all the states, but I only skimmed the coastline of Alsaka on a cruise. I would really love to travel the inland areas of that gorgeous state.

2. Of everything you've stitched, what piece are you most proud of and why? This is a hard one, I think if this was asked to me this summer, I would say my Lizzie*Kate Monthly Stamp wall hanging quilt. But, it isn't done yet, so I guess I am not allowed to give that an an answer. I have a couple of other LARGE projects that when I get done could be considered, but then, they have the same problem _ not completed yet. So, I guess of my completions, I would say that I am most proud of my Witchy Washy

3. Are you going to teach all the grands to stitch... at least a little?

Yes and no would have to be my answer. My oldest Grandchild, Harrison lives in Maine, and I only get to see him once a year if I am lucky. So, that time has not been spent teaching him how to stitch. BUT, my little Lily, who is still too young to learn much yet, has visited Michael's almost every two weeks that she has been alive. I want her to feel and be comfortable with the ambiance of the place. I have already bought her sewing cards, which I figure will be the first step, and I have a child's needlepoint kit ready for her when I feel the time is right. I sure hope that I can brainwash, I mean teach her the love of the needle. I was an abysmal failure with her mother, my daughter. Now, in fairness, Lisa does do crafts, but no needle ones - too slow for her.

4. If you could live in complete comfort anywhere in anything (ie. Antarctica in an igloo), where would it be and why? I think that I would have to pick a cabin on a hilltop overlooking a lake where our boat was moored. This would mean air conditioning and great screens around a large deck with a lake view, and a way for there to be no mold. Also, there would have to be a golf cart type thing to get me to and from the boat. I sure couldn't hike the hill!! The cabin would have to be big enough for a studio for my crafts and a number of guest rooms for my friends and family. Don't want much, do I?

That completes my rambling, and I would like to invite any of you who read this to allow me to interview you. It really is kind of fun.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!