several finishes

I have finally finished one larger project. My Snad Castle is now finished!! I am so happy to finish a project as big as that. I know it doesn't seem too big but for me it was.

I also finished a few small finishes. My second no-sew cube for the baby boy shower on Saturday and the baby girl pillow also for the shower on Saturday.

Here is a picture of the graduation picture I did for my great niece. She loved it when I gave it to her on Sunday.

I have had a very busy week and weekend. My DD and I worked very hard getting read for the double baby shower and our annual family picnic. We compiled a family cookbook of all the favorite family recipes from all the family members, typed them up and created a beautiful cookbook that the family really enjoyed. We also came up with a few games for the 8 kids. We put together a scavenger hunt at the park where the picnic was. What fun that was. We gave the teams 10 minutes to get 15 things. The winning team took 6 minutes and 14 seconds to get all 15 items. The other teams all came in at about 8 minutes each. We had enough "prizes" for everyone to get something but the winning team got to pick first. Gabbie was helped by the graduation girl and her boyfriend so they did win but everyone had a great time and nobody was complaining about who won. It was really interesting to see what the teams came up with for some of the items needed. And then we got the pinata out. We were having a great time then the end of the whacking stick came off and the stick hit one of the watchers. She was able to walk but the wound bled for a while and her cousins had to gather her share of the goodies inside. She recovered quickly and continued with the fun.

After everything was done we had all had a great time, ate some great food and had alot of fun catcing up with each other. My niece did take some pictures that I will share when I get them. (I forgot my camera at home, too much other stuff to remember.) So we came home and I sat in my chair with my feet up and watched a movie. I didn't stitch a single stitch all weekend. I hope I will find some time today to put a few stitches in my Boink project.

So, off I go to clean up the kitchen and then to my stitching corner. Have a Happy Stitching Week!

My no sew cube

So here is my first no sew cube. I will definitely be making more. It was alot of fun. I even put large beads on for "feet". I think it made the perfect finishing touch.
Happy 4th of July to my U.S. friends and Happy Weekend to everyone else.

I finally have some pictures

to share with everyone. I thought I would share pictures of the bookmarks I sent to Regina. I guess things got ahead of her as I did not receive one from her. I am disappointed but will continue in the exchanges as I enjoy stitching so much I want to share with others.

The dyed material was my first attempt at dying my own and I wanted something very bright as Regina said she really liked bright colors. The bear was an original that I came up with when she said that she liked bears. I will adapt the bear to a dragon for another bookmark for Christmas. I really enjoyed making these.

Here is a picture of the components for my very first no sew cube. I will be completing it this afternoon and will take apicture of it. The blue is for the no sew for another baby shower.

Here is a project I am making for a friend that graduated this year. Her party is July 11 and I am find that i have to frog alot of the project because I don't like the spacing. I was so close to being done but I just wasn't happy. I know she would have loved it but because I wasn't happy with it, I rip it, rip it, rip it!

What does everyone think. You can see where I frogged "School and Class of 2009" I am going to move that all up about 6 rows. I am also going to frog "don't tell me" and move it over about an inch and up about an inch. I hope that will make it look better. Opinions?????

Here is my progress on Snad Castles. I am about 85% done. Just a little filling in (now that I have more of the color I needed), and the water on the right side. I think I will definitely have this done for Christmas.

And here is the progress on my Ink Circles. I did do alittle change up so the tile with the 2009 appears in the tile where the needle is. I am really liking this project but i think I will go back to the smaller projects when I am finished. Although I would love to do this one again in pastel colors. I think it would be beautiful. Well, maybe one day.

Now, I have to thank everyone that sent me ideas for getting rid of the ants that were driving me to distractions. I got some Grant Ant Traps and put them all over (of course nowhere the cats can get into them and I had a very long talk with Gabbie about staying away from them). With in 24 hours the ants are gone. I can again go into my kitchen with out fear. I don't have to clean up ant carcasses any more. WOO HOO!!!!

So today, Thursday, I will spend my afternoon frogging the graduation project and working on it again. I intend to relax and stitch as much as possible and of course making the no sew cube.

Happy stitching!!!

Just a little update

I know it has been a while since I updated but it is just because not much has happened...at least until last night. I was walking out side and missed the small step onto my deck. I fell and after having my dd and dgd come running I managed to get up and hobble out to the car. I didn't get hurt except for the large lump on my left wrist. I put ice on it and this morning I have a large purple bruise on it. I can move everything but it is very sore and the fingers are slightly swollen. I guess I will be ok. Considering the fall, I am very lucky.

I have been stitching as much as possible and am trying very hard to finish my Snad Castle. I have run out of one of the major colors (didn't get enough) and will have to go get another skein of it. I will be traveling to a near by town to get that soon. I am now working on two small projects for baby showers. I have decided to try one of the "no sew cubes" that so many people at ILCS have done. Rene was nice enough to send me the instruction. I will post pictures when I get them done. They are basically the same pattern but one is in pink and one is blue. I was amazed how quickly they stitch up and the backstitching really makes things pop. I started the pink one last Friday and had it done on Monday. I started the blue yesterday and have more than half of it done. I won't be able to stitch until this evening as my day is full of errands.

My dd and dgd decided to go to Wal-Mart for donuts this morning and they called me to make a call to 9-1-1. In a large truck with the passenger window down about only 3 inches was a small white dog the was obviously not happy. At 10 AM it was already close to 90 degrees outside here in WI and the dog should not have been in the truck. I am appalled at people who think that an animal will be OK as long as they leave a (one) window open. I wish we could close them up in the truck and only leave one window down 3". I wonder how long they would last. I'm sorry but I am all for having a pet as long as it is cared for.

Now that I have made that point I will say "TaTa" for today. Happy Stitching.

My thrift store discovery

On Wednesday my DD and DGD went to a local thrift store that has only been open for about 2 months. The first time we stopped there the store had just opened and they really didn't have many things there. When we stopped again I was over whelmed. There were so many things in there that I had to stop and make a plan to make sure that I saw everything. I had to take each area at a time and not look around the store too much. I was having a ball then I went to the back aisle of the store and HIT THE JACKPOT!!!! There was a whole lot of craft stuff back there and on the bottom shelf was a whole plastic bin of linen and evenweave scraps in every color imaginable. (I have never tried using linen or evenweave and was affraid to purchase a large piece only to find I didn't like it so this was great.) I think I spent 45 minutes digging through the bin. I could have bought alot more but I chose 5 pieces. One piece is mauve in color and is only 7"x16", another is a small 9"x8" of white, a 13"x8" of hand dyed blue, a 18"x6" baby pink and a 24"x 10" piece of lt sage green. These are all in 32 ct and I got all five pieces for $1.00. I am so excited to try a piece but have to finish at least one of the 6 projects I am working on. I will make sure to take pictures of whatever I decide to do with my find.

Here in WI we are experiencing the late spring rains and it has been cloudy and drizzly for about 3 days. I an hoping today the weather will improve as I have some painting to do outside and really want to get to it. I hate to take away from the stitching but I have to take advantage of any nice weather I might get.

So, happy stitching to everyone and have a great weekend.

An update

Sorry it has been so long since I've updated here. My family is finally healthy again. My DS is fully recovered from his bout with pnemonia and is back to being himself. My DD still has her hacky-wacky-barky cough but is getting much better. My DGD did get slightly sick but only for about 3 days. She is her happy, playful self again. I doubled up on my vitamin C and was able to avoid any sickness. (knocking on wood) So far so good.

We had a great weekend here in Wisconsin. Saturday was sort of blustery with the wind but Sunday was GORGEOUS!!! I spent the morning with DD and DGD then we went to visit my sister and BIL. We had dinner with them and talked for hours. My sister is a very good cook so we were excited to see what she had come up with. She made a yummy pasta salad with crab meat, baked beans, corn on the cob (frozen from last year, it was very tasty), watermelon and BIL grilled burgers and hot dogs. Everything was terrific. Dessert was a cherry pie filling, whipped cream and angel food cake. So yummy. My sister didn't disappoint us. We were so full when we left. All in all it was a great day.

Yesterday, Monday, I took my mom and her dog down to my sister's house in Madison. My mom had an eye doctor appointment today, Tuesday, and my sister drives her. Mom always goes down the day before and stays for a few days. I had a good visit and lunch with my sister before returning home. My sister gave me my first piece of 18 ct linen and a piece of 18 ct evenweave. I am looking forward to trying these out. In exchange I gave her a 1 yd piece of Vietnamese silk in a beautiful iridesent(spelling) orange that in the right light changes to red. My sister quilts and wants to make a quilt with koy fish on it. The silk I gave her is perfect for that. I still have another yard of the silk. I found the 2 yard piece in an old army trunk. I have had it for years and never knew what to do with it. I'm glad my sister can now put it to good use.

Today, Tuesday, my SIL and BIL are coming to make an oriental supper for us so when I am done here I will have to get to work cleaning. Just the basic cleaning, vacuuming, sweeping, dishes, that kind of stuff. I am hoping to get it all done and still have time to stitch a while before they come.

So, ta-ta for now and happy stitching to all.

My Mothers Day is going to be a quiet one as DD Amber is still very much under the weather. I did make pancakes for breakfast and I am making baked chicken with rice for supper. I am also making homemade dinner rolls. I know it is my Mother's Day but it is also Amber's Mother's Day. I know that once she is healthy again she will make it up to me.

My DS and his girlfriend brought these flowers over last night for Amber and I to share. I thought that was so sweet.

I also tried my hand at a "stitch picker" today.

What do you think of my first attempt?

I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day!!!!