Ornament Challenge Underway

Well, I decided to get a start on my 2009 Ornament Challenge by picking out a few ornaments, bagging up the supplies, cutting and fray checking the fabric. I even managed to start the first ornament which is from a book I picked up Friday from Michaels. It is called Ornaments Galore by Ursela Michael and seems to have a lot of cute, whimsical ornaments in bright colors. I decided to stitch a reindeer first and so I have started working on it and was quite surprised with the progress which I made. I am by no means a fast stitcher, so it will take me a few days; especially when I return to work tomorrow. The true challenge for me will be the finishing techniques since I have not finished an ornament other than adding a piece of felt onto the back of the piece. I would love to learn all the different ways of finishing ornaments and pieces and become more confident in this so I guess I'll start practicing.

My mom was very well tonight, she even got up while I was there with minimal help and went to the bathroom and got into the bed. She is starting to feel more like herself although she still has good days and bad days. She becomes frustrated when she has a bad day but that is to be expected when you consider the extent of her surgery, other medical conditions and age. She is 81 years old with two knee replacements and is a cancer survivor.

My finish(es) in stitching and knitting

Well, I FINALLY finished the LK Blessings of Christmas that I have been working on forever. It had been a UFO earlier this year and I decided that it was time to pull it out and finish it. So yesterday while sitting in my Mom's hospital room while she was sleeping, I put the final stitches in the linen. Woooooohoooooo!

Earlier this month I also finished up my daughter's scarf which is my first completed knitting project. I have another scarf which still requires a fringe to be added before it is marked as done. I am hoping to finish a 3rd scarf which will be a belated Christmas gift (for Mom) later this week as well so I won't post that picture until it is received.

I also am adding pictures of the kids Winter concert which took place a few days before my Mom's heart attack. Becky performed on the recorder, violin and in

the chorus. Ray performed on his flutophone. What is a flutophone you may ask? (I know I did!) It is basically a recorder with raised finger holes which aids younger students with the finger placement.

I have been working on two of my BAPs - Dance of the Roses (Told in a Garden) and I See the Moon (M Designs) but I haven't made enough progress to really post a picture yet. I have been working on America by Trail Creek Farms and also on Don't get your Tinsel in a Tangle by Lizzie Kate. I am hoping to start some new ornaments this week for next Christmas since I would love to set up a small tree one year with all handmade ornaments. I even have joined a blog called the 2009 Ornament Challenge. There is no exchange, just you are encouraged to stitch and finish a ornament a month. The location is http://2009xmaschallenge.multiply.com/ if you are interested.

I am hoping to see Mom tomorrow and will hopefully continue to see the improvement that I have been seeing for the last few days. Will keep you posted. Thanks for the prayers and kind thoughts ~ they are working!

Merry Christmas 2008

I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with their families and loved ones. As most of my friends know, my mom underwent quintuple bypass surgery on the 16 December after experiencing 2 heartattacks. She is still hosptialized at the Washington Hospital Center but we are hoping that she is released and able to go to a rehabilitation center by 2009. I want to thank everyone for their prayers, kind thoughts, and concern for all of us during this time. I am going to be going over to the hospital later today and spending time with her. She does have a Christmas tree that I bought to her earlier this week and we are planning a HUGE family Christmas celebration when she is home and feeling better.

Here is my picture I had taken of the kids with Santa yesterday morning. We lucked out and walked into the mall first thing in the morning and right into his workshop.

Merry Christmas!

A long, relaxing weekend

Our family went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a weekend of fun and excitement. Initially, we had planned to pull out with the RV on Friday night, but the forecast was calling for severe snow squalls in the Lancaster area and when we called the campground; we were told by the owner that it was not safe to travel up there that night. We waited until Saturday morning and left early and drove up without incident. We sat up in a snow squall when we arrived, and then jumped in the vehicle to head to the Bird-in-Hand Amish market. I bought fresh apple cider, bread, concord grapes, homemade fudge, cheese, bolgona and other goodies. George and I was sad to see that the local fire department had taken down our favorite sign. The Amish will ride on the fire apperatus but will not drive it. Of course, their beliefs against motorized vehicles also causes them to respond a little differently than most of us are familiar with as well. I took this picture last year while we were there and I guess they had so many people taking pictures of this sign, someone decided it had to go. We had bought tickets to the American Music Theature's Christmas Extravaganza for Saturday night and we really enjoyed the show. The kids loved the Celtic fiddler and the dancers. Becky is studying the violin in school, so she was thrilled when she found out that the 20-year old performer had started in 3rd grade just like she did. Ray enjoyed the comedy acts and we all enjoyed the singing, dancing and other performances.

A walk along the stream between the campground and Amish farm.

Our view from the camper.....

Sunday we spent the day relaxing and hanging out at the campground for most of the day. I just had to include a picture of my bulldog, Dudley; getting a belly scratch while hanging out with the family. That evening, we took the kids to Dutch Wonderland which is an amusement park that is specially geared towards kids under the age of 12. In November and December, the park decorates in Christmas lights, has carolers, shows, and some rides for famillies to enjoy. The Christmas light show was a newer attraction this year and was neat to watch. It was very, very cold but the kids loved running around looking at the reindeer, visiting Santa, riding favorite rides; we even took a Skyride over the park so we could see the entire park from above.

Becky and Ray hanging out at Dutch Wonderland....

We had befriended a Amish family that comes around the campground during the summer and sells their baked and canned goods a while back. When we were at the campground on Saturday evening, they had came through in the buggy and invited us to their farm on Monday. The kids were excited to think they were going to see an Amish farm.

I didn't get much stitching done this weekend but I did have a chance to kick back and spend some quality time with the kids and the rest of the family. We all enjoyed the snow and a beautiful view from the camper. The crisp air and seeing the Amish farmer preparing their fields for winter really was a wonderful site to see.

Stitching, scouts and stuff

I went to a podiatrist last week and was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, which is a precursor to heel spurs. Unfortunately I have developed this in both feet at one time and so I ended up taking two days off and stayed off my feet! Stitching goals were worked on and I'm hopeful that I can complete a few projects before the end of the year. I completed the Hinzeit Lighthouse (will provide a picture later after I attach the charms) and also completed 2 more blocks on my Lizzie Kate Christmas Blessings! I even completed about 1/2 of the last block so there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.......

I received a lovely package from Tineke in the Netherlands last week from a exchange in my one group, Stitch-It-Quick. I received 2 speciality thread packs from the House of Embroidery which is hand-dyed in South Africa. Thanks Tineke for the wonderful threads and needles - I'm looking forward to stitching with them in the future! I'm also participating in a few exchanges online for Christmas and I have enjoyed picking out gifts and will be sending them out by the end of the month.

Girl scouts had a weekend trip to the Naval Academy Farm for a Country Hoedown including hayrides, square dancing, a cake walk and barbeque. Everyone had a great time and Becky came home with a cake and worn out as well. This is a picture of some of my girls during their hayride and a picture of Becky playing around the hay stack.

Today we recognized the Vetereans at the Glen Burnie United Methodist Church and the Cubscouts received their God and Me awards. This is a program designed for scouts to learn about their faith and based on the scout motto which states, "A Scout is reverent. He is reverent toward God." Ray completed the first of five levels of study in this program and will continue through the path as he continues through scouting. The picture of me and Raymond was taken by Becky today and she is so proud of taking this picture. She really did a great job!

Well, it is time to get ready for work this week. Hoping to complete LK's Christmas Blessings by next weekend. The family is also going on a camping trip to Lancaster and going to the American Music Theature for their Christmas show which is always outstanding. Hopefully, I can keep the stitching needles going and finish up my Christmas project. Wish me luck!

Is it Halloween Already????

The kids are looking forward to Halloween trick or treating, but it doesn't seem like it can be Halloween already! The Girl Scouts had their Halloween party last week and the CubScouts party was tonight. School had a PTA party last Friday night and of course, tomorrow is the big night! :) I love watching the little kids when they come to the door and Ray enjoys handing out candy as much as he enjoys receiving it. Becky is all about the candy - all that she can get!

I have been reading Phillipa Gregory's lastest book, The Other Queen, which is about Mary Queen of Scots during her 19 years of captivity. The book is written in a unique style; there are 3 different narrators to the story, Earl Shrewsbury (chosen by Queen Elizabeth to house Mary while in captivity), his wife Bess and Mary herself. It has been a good read but not many references to the Queen's passion of needlework. She was an accomplished stitcher and many of her pieces are still intact and can be viewed still today, such as the one posted here. I would love to go to Scotland and see her works in person. A great deal of it survives to this day housed in the collection of the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the Queen's official residence in Scotland and Mary's home between 1561 and 1567. Phillipa Gregory is one of the best known authors to write fictional accounts on the Tudor line and I have always been facinated by this era.

I am looking forward to stitching this weekend and hopefully enjoying a peaceful weekend at home. Hope everyone enjoys their Halloween; stay safe and talk with you soon!

Happy Halloween!

A Long Overdue Update

Wow! I really have been amiss in keeping my blog updated and I need to apologize to anyone who has been folllowing along on my blog. The kids have been keeping me busy between school, scouts, martial arts (Tang Soo Do) and my mom and her health. I am happy to report my mom's health seems to be on the upswing and she is doing better. She had a sleep apnea test about two weeks ago and they discovered that she has severe sleep apnea which is causing her to stop breathing while sleeping. She is being fitted with a special device that will monitor and keep a good quaility of oxygen going into her at night which may help explain some of the heatlh issues she has been experiencing. Becky has been diagnosed with asthma and is now on medication for this condition. Ray has been going to Kennedy Kreiger for several tests in the past month and his progress seems to be going well except for some fine, motor function. Kennedy Kreiger is a wonderful place and I am so thankful for all the work they do for the study of autism and the other developmental issues which they study and help families with the diagnoses.

Stitching wise I received a wondeful surprise from the Online Needlework Show. I won a prize from Ink Circles which really made my day and I just received it tonight when I came home from work. I won the chart "This Heart of Mine" which is a Quaker inspired piece. I am looking forward to changing up the fabric and colors and making the design a little more me. I have completed the Monsterbubbles Halloween Bat and almost completed 2 more of my LK Blessings - Peace and Faith. That leaves only one more block to go! I made myself a promise that I would have it done by the time for Christmas framing (not necessarily have it framed but to have it done in time for this deadline) and it appears that I might actually make it. I have also started a Heinzeit piece called "Lighthouse" which I am going to make for my brother and sister-in law's 20th anniversary. Why lighthouses? Well, they both enjoy going on lighthouse challenges where they travel to all the lighthouses in a specific state over a weekend. Their family room is decorated in all lighthouses so I thought it would be a nice addition, especially since I haven't given them a stitched piece yet. I have made a little progress on Dance of the Roses and Starlight Sampler. I am hoping to finish the Hinzeit Lighthouse and LK's Faith and Peace blocks this week. This will definitely be my most productive cross stitch year ever and I have to think it is due to my joining the on-line stitching groups on Yahoo. So thanks to all my internet friends that have inspired me to keep up the stitching!

Stash, stash stash!

Well, after my eventful week last week and my weekend being cut in half since I worked 12 1/2 hours on Sunday; I decided to do a little retail therapy. I went to my LNS, Stitching Post, and while there bought a variety of items I needed for current stitching projects, Christmas project supplies and a few items which just called my name. So, my grand total ended up being the 2008 Christmas Ornament magazine, LK's Special Edition Christmas is Forever Kit, 2 LK patterns: Dont get your tinsel in a tangle and Housework never killed anyone... but why take a chance? and Doodle for leftovers by HobNobb Designs (Holiday Sprinkles). I also picked up a piece of Guacamole Weeks 30 count linen for LK's Hocus Pokus and a few Just Another Button Company embelishments. Afterall, she who dies with the most stash wins or something like that!

I have been working on a few of my smaller projects. I have been working on a bat from Monster Bubbles from the Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue and also on Trail Creek Farm's Simply Spring. I ordered the few embellishments I needed for the Spring and Winter Trail Creek Farm pieces so when they arrive, I will be donw with this series. They turned out to be a cute stitch and I'm planning on turning them into mini-pillows for decoration. I am going to work on LK's Christmas Blessings this week because I would like to complete 2 more of the blessings leaving only 1 more to be done! Woo-hoo! Also, I did some work on my LHN Starlight Sampler which I am planning on hanging in my RV when done. I just loved this piece and the saying on it which is, "Stars light up the heavens when evening draws near guiding thy travels til sunlight appears." As you can tell, I almost have the saying done. A little more work and this piece will be halfway done.

Well, time to do some stitching! :) Have fun!

What a busy week!

I am so glad the past week is finally over. My mom has been hospitalized twice, admitted for observation once, taken to her primary doctor once and I've forgotten the number of perscriptions that had to be filled. It all started last Sunday when she called and said she wasn't feeling well; we ended up in the local hosptial from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 pm. that night and they only found a urinary track infection at the time. The hospital had ran blood tests, a urine test, a CAT scan so they sent her home with a prescription for antibiotics and said she would be fine. NOT! The next morning she called me really sounding upset that she couldn't get her eyes open for the amount of infection in them, she had gout acting up in both legs and she was nauseous. We ran her down to her regular physican who gave her eye drops for the infection there, medication to calm her stomach, and suggestions/medication for the gout. When the doctor called the hosptial for the results of the urine culture they said it hadn't came back yet...... Does my story end here????? NOT EVEN CLOSE!

The hospital called on Tuesday, changed her antibiotics and we hoped all would be fine. The gout and eye infection seemed to be coming along okay at this point. Everyone made it through Wednesday with no major issues but Thursday the bad luck cloud rained down again. My mom was sent to the hosptial with chest pains, shortness of breath, and dizziness. She arrived at 11:00 that morning and we did not hear anything on any test results until well after 5:00p.m. that night. After blood tests, Xrays of her chest, and a VG test (some sort of pulmonary test), they wanted me to take her home because I quote, "Antibiotics can cause some sorts of chest pains sometimes, we don't know why." Well, after the week so far, I just had to ask how they could send home an 81-year old woman without having verified that there was no heart related issues; no EKG, no Cardiac enzymes, no complete cardiac workup. The doctor actually says, "Well the e-coli your mom is suffering from may be causing some other infections in areas of her body we don't know about"......... I just looked incredulous at this guy and said, "You mean you are going to send her home, I don't think so!"

Well, the good news is after 24 hours of observation and the necessary tests required to ensure no cardiac damage had occurred; she is home and resting comfortably. She has been diagnosed with acute COPD and I think I'm going to need to look into oxygen as needed for her next week with her physician. The antibiotic change seemed to have caused her stomach reflux to have caused burning in her esophagus that was causing the chest discomfort. I actually stayed over with her last night to make sure she was okay and made her take it easy today while I cooked and cleaned her house, did her laundry, etc. Tomorrow I have to work 12 hours again (yeah - can't you tell I'm excited) so I'm hoping to have a chance to stitch and catch up on all my emails; all 500 of them.

What a weekend!

Friday night started off on the right foot. I decided to go to Lazy Boy and pick out a new recliner since my old one which is about 7 years old had decided to finally break. While I love the color green, I could not find a true green color like hunter, emerald, kelly at any furniture store. The "in" colors for this year are sage, a moss green, pea green; just one word could describe the current fashions........yuck! I ended up going with a burgundy recliner and am looking forward to getting it sometime this upcoming week.

Saturday ended up being a day of cleaning and lazing around. I started off the day on messenger with Lynn from ESC and Beth from Stitch It Quick and Heirloom Stitchers talking about the horrible destruction down in Texas from Hurrican Ike. Later in the evening, George, the kids and I decided to ride down to the county fair and enjoy the sites and sounds. I showed the family my ribbons I won at the fair. Be My Valentine took first, LK's Ask me about my Grandkids, Glory Bee's Stitching Days, and Milady's Needle Christmas Blessings took second and Grandma's Attic Remember Me took third. The kids had a blast seeing all the animals; Becky loved the rabbits and for Ray it was the pigs. We enjoyed walking around seeing all the vendors, tractors, and just spending some quality family time. I had to post the picture of the kids posing at one of the many board displays at the fair; enjoy!



Sunday was holding some promise until I received a call from my Mom at 7:00 a.m. that she was feeling really sick and nauseous. We ended up at the hospital for most of the day before being released. I did grab my small sewing bag; affectionately known as the "Clown Bag" while running out the door so I did some stitching on a Halloween gift for Ray while waiting. The Clown Bag earned its name for being able to hold all my supplies for 2-3 projects at a time (fabric, threads, charts, needles, scissors, thread heaven along with various other items) all within a small Vera Wang purse; the smallest one out there. I will need to post a picture one day of this item but it is a well known joke among the stitching friends that have seen it that it holds all but the kitchen sink; and if you looked hard enough you might find that too.

Finally, if you are looking for a really good read; might I suggest Nora Robert's Tribute. It is one of her newest writing efforts which is well written and contains interesting characters, a solid plot including suspense and action. Definitely a book that you will have problems putting down - which can explain why I have been falling to sleep late this last week when I picked up my book to unwind after a long day at work.

Take care of yourselves and here's hoping to an uneventful and peaceful week!

Patriot Day - Never forget

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve." - George Walker Bush

"We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail." - George Walker Bush


Seven years ago, it doesn't seem possible that time has flown by so quickly. Tonight was our Cubscout meeting and our Pack decided to visit the local fire house and thank the personnel there for the service they provide to our community everyday. Before we went, we sat down with the boys and explained to them what had happened on that fatal day in 2001 and what it means to be an American. We created cards and each child had a bag of cookies to give to the firemen. We marched down behind our flag and when the firemen came out, we saluted them and then sang, "God Bless America". It was a truly touching moment and seeing how much the firemen appreciated it meant a lot to me. I have included a picture of my son giving his present to the lieutenant. I am so proud of my Cub Scouts tonight.

Friends, stitching and movies...what more could you ask for???

I spent another care free day on Tuesday enjoying my day since I had worked the weekend. The county fair was taking entries for judging and so I decided what the heck, I'll take some items down and see what I could do on Monday afternoon. While there, I started up a conversation with a lady and while one thing led to another, the next thing I knew, I was asked if I could help out. After finishing taking entries, I was asked if I would like to be there during the judging which sounded like fun so I decided that my "weekend" would be 2 days afterall. The day was both fun, busy, hot and brutal. I had take entries to judges and watch them pick apart entries that I thought was wonderful, wonder what in the world were they thinking on some and sometimes we agreed. Of course, I couldn't say anything during this time so after the judging was done and I finished the set up of displays, I was ready to just sit down and relax! Of course, I can tell you it was exciting to see my entries with their ribbons at the end of the day. I entered 5 entries and recieved a first, 3 second and 1 third place ribbon! Woo-hoo! Pictures will have to follow later since I didn't take my camera. Yesterday evening, I attended the kid's back to school night and met their teachers. Both seem to be very wonderful instructors and I think the kids will have a very good school year.

After returing to work today, I called Beth H to see how she was doing. She was admitted to the hospital on Monday afternoon for IV antibiotics but I didn't want to post anything about it until I had her permission. She was doing better but had been bummed about missing the stitching group meeting on Tuesday night. Well, my best friend, Kim and I decided to drop down with our stitching goodies and surprise her with a visit for a while after work. The visit ended up lasting over 3 hours and we didn't leave the hospital until after 10:00 at night! Luckily the hosptial has private rooms for all patients, so we were able to enjoy company without disturbing the other patients. We stitched, talked, admired stash, and watched the movie, P.S. I Love You. Beth loves this movie and while I had already seen it (thanks to Beth's recommendation), Kim got to experience it for the first time. I enjoyed seeing it again and watching/listening to Beth say the entire dialogue of the movie (she has it memorized!). Beth kept telling Kim and I all the little facts on each actor/actress we talked about and after I while I teased her about being the "Movie Cyber Stalker" which caused a good laugh and a lot of good natured joking all around. This was a perfect end to a work day that was aggraviating to say the least! Beth and Kim had their camera so we took a picture so everyone could enjoy looking at the 3 crazy stitching ladies after their impromptu stitch-in. Enjoy!

Monday, Monday......

Well, today was a busy day for me although I didn't have to go to work. Since I had worked all weekend, I had the option of taking a day off since I only have to have 40 hours in a week's time. This morning, I already had 25 hours on the books, so I decided it was a day for me. Beth H had wanted to join the local EGA chapter, so she was going to meet me at 10:00 this morning at the Howard County Center of the Arts. The lecture covered all kind of needleart tools which included beautiful mother of pearl tatting shuttles, ivory knitting needles, Victorian needle cases, and other goodies that had Beth and me oohing and aahhing very nicely.

While at the meeting, Beth and I got a little stitching done on our respective projects. I worked on DOTR, which I realized I had forgot to post last night. I have included a complete picture along with a current progress shot. She is the biggest project I have ever stitched, but I love the colors and the detail in the project. I'm hoping to complete this project next year sometime.

This weekend, I'm planning on meeting with some ladies that are in 2 of my online groups, Every Stitch Counts and Stitch It Quick. I looking forward to meeting up with Laura, Sue and Barb. Stitching friends are definitely some of the nicest people you will ever meet hands down. Sue and I will be doing a stitch along on Carriage House's Shores of Hawk Run Hollow soon. Will post pictures when I get started. I decided to do the picture with the Needlepoint Silks and on the Autumn Gold 36ct. fabric. As the saying goes, "So much stitching, so little time." How true this is!

Stitching, school and scouts

Well, I haven't gotten done as much as I wanted to finish by the end of the August, but I am still pleased with the results. The kids returned to school the last week of August and things seemed to fall back into schedule pretty quickly for them both. Ray started 2nd grade and Becky began 4th grade, both are in advanced classes. Becky is playing violin again and is now a Junior Girl Scout. Ray is a Wolf in cubscouts this year and I am the leader for both troops. Our first meetings for both scouting units was this week. There are 15 girl scouts ranging from 6 (1st year brownies) to 9 (1st year Juniors) years of age. The cub pack is up to about 40 kids with 7 boys, all 8 years old, being in my den.

Stitching wise, I have a few finished items to show off, a few pieces stitched and waiting for finishing, some waiting for buttons and some progress on my WIPS. I will include some pictues at the end of this post. My LNS completed the finishing on 2 of my stitching projects, Milady's Needle Christmas Blessings (as a treasure box)and LK's Be My Valentine (framed). I completed Trail Creek Farm's Sweet Summer and Adore Autumn along with completing the following blocks on my LK's Blessings: Caring, Family, Joy and Giving. That leaves me only 3 more to go before this UFO can be completed! I'm hoping to finish it by the end of October and I think I'll have it finished up as a serving tray.

I have finished the stitching for Trail Creek Farms' Wish Winter but I need to order the buttons from the Stitching Post. I made some progress on Dance of the Roses and I'm going to try and keep this in rotation for the rest of the year along with M Designs I See the Moon as my BAPs. I also want to finish up a few smaller projects before the end of the year as well.

I'm ready to go camping again in my Sunline! The fall is the best time to go camping because you can enjoy a campfire in the evening and look up at the stars. I love to stitch in the mornings before everyone else starts getting up while sitting outside under the awning. Here is a picture taken of my home away from home up in Mexico, Pennsylvania during our RV Rally. It was a luau weekend so it had some flamingo lights, Welcome to Paradise banner, the monkey, and other decorations as well.