Last finish of 2005

This is my last finish of 2005..

I designed this block. Called "Greetings From Long Lake" I designed it for a personal challenge that I had. I think it turned out adorable! Will be finished some how...;)

It is stitched on 14ct aida, and is 5 inches square.

Our new T.V.

For Christmas, my dad presented a check to Mom, Glen, Scott, Amy & I. It was money that was shared with us from Grandma and Grandpa Mathison. It was a tearful moment! Dad said that we can do anything with it, as long as it was in rememberance of Grandma and Grandpa. Since this was our first Christmas with out Grandma.. since I can remember, we spent Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Mathison's house.

Brian and I pondered what we wanted to get with the money. I kept thinking tv, tv, tv. Brian thought maybe a riding lawn mower, but I just couldnt think of it used for buying one.

Well we went to Walmart on Monday, and "looked", studied the models they had there.. and came away with a 32" flat screen HDTV tv! Since I was wanting to get a smaller entertainment center, we even used money to buy a new entertainment that the tv sits on. Its black, and I love it! It took me from 4pm, till about 10pm to have it all somewhat set up. Now I have to find a new home for the other entertainment center.

Brian even said that with the tv, he thinks of Grandma alot, and thinks of her laugh, and her visits. And I say the same! Thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, and Dad for allowing us to improve our goodies in the house.. and now to figure out what else to get. :)

Prize From Tree Decorating Contest

On Tuesday I received the prize from the Tree Decorating contest that was held on a cross stitching site ( http://www.moonflowerneedleart.com/html/gallery.html ) What a generous prize!

I won the Grand Prize
12" X 12" meditation color fabric from Picture This Plus
12 1/2" X 14" carnival color fabric from Picture This Plus
15" X 21" davinci color fabric from Picture This Plus
14" X 14" cherub color fabric from Picture This Plus
4" finishing form
Cabin In The Snow Doddle from Hob Nobb
Charts: Hearts Entwined, Flower Doddle, Star Doddle.

Home for Christmas

We left our home about 11am on Saturday & got down to Winchester about 2:30p, we picked up Mom, & the three of us went over to see Kaylee. She is just adorable! Lots of dark hair, & long fingers! We had a nice visit with Amy, Natalie, Julie - Amy's MIL, & of course Kaylee. Brian, my Mom & I met up with my Dad, Glen, Lisa, & Katie. Katie was just adorable in her dress. We had a nice dinner at a supper club in Butte des Mort, we went back to Glen and Lisa's house, & helped Mom wrap presents, & helped Lisa frost cookies. We watched "Elf", & the "Polar Express". Brian & I went back to my parent's house about 12:45, & were in bed not much later.

I got up late on Christmas morning, & I went over to help Lisa & Glen with Christmas breakfast. Well I wasn't much help in preparing, since they were almost done. I did help with Katie's diaper, & getting her dressed for Christmas. The rest of the family arrived around 9am. We had breakfast, & opened up our gifts. Lisa had my name, she got me an adorable fiber optic snowman display, a $30 gift card for Hobby Lobby, an gingerbread ornament, & some Bath & Body lotion & soap. Scott had Brian's name, Brian got the Dukes of Hazzard DVD, a Dukes of Hazzard shirt, 4 - five pound weights, 4pk of tank tops that he likes to wear. The funny part of Bri's gift was that it was wrapped in duct tape... LOL It looks really neat. It was a joy to watch Natalie & Conway open their gifts. All the kids got some really nice presents. The floor was filled with paper, bows, & ribbon. We had to leave around 12:30p, cause Glen & Lisa, had to go to her dad's place still.



Bri and I went back to my parents house, & I ended up taking a 2 hr nap. About 4pm, we left to go and visit Brian's brother Jimmy, his wife Lisa, who were at Jimmy's son's house for Christmas in Oshkosh. We only stayed about 30minutes cause my parents were waiting out in the van for us.. LOL We went to Haase's in Winneconne for Christmas evening dinner. They were the only place open for the evening in the area. It was busy, but not a busy busy. It was a nice time.. just my parents, Brian & I. The only bad thing about the whole evening is that the Packer's lost.. blah.
After dinner we went back to my parents house. I cross stitched for a few hours, while watching TV. I got to bed after midnight. And was up early, to visit with my parents before we left to go home. On the way home we stopped at Hobby Lobby, and I spent all but $.15 on the gift card, went over to Hancock Fabrics and got some fat quarters for a new quilt I'm going to be starting in January. Went over the Wal-Mart in Appleton. Man oh man! Dang was it busy! We were there to spend some money, and that we did. We walked out with a new 32" HDTV television, a new stand, & a few other odds & ends. We were home by 3:30p. We got the TV, and the stand set up... but it took forever (till about 10p) to get the satellite and VCR recognizing each other. But its all set up... will have to make the another blog .. since I need to take a picture of the set up we have now.. LOL.

Snowbound Finish

This is called Snowbound from Bent Creek. It was a very quick stitch.

I started it last night, thinking I would take it along this weekend to stitch while visiting family. Well with having plans change today, I finished it :)

Dang Roads

Well I should have listened to Brian, but the roads werent that bad when I left home, but as I got further from home... I really should had stayed home.

Well in the split second, my back end on the Explorer started to move, and I thought "Oh sh!t"







I ended up in the ditch... I did manage to drive some in the ditch, and I was making it great out of the ditch, till I hit the snow that had piled up from the snow plowing.

I had managed to bury the axles. I was stuck, couldnt go forward or in reverse. Got on the cell phone - barely had reception. Managed to call Brian, who got ahold of his brother Jimmy to come and pull me out.

In the mean time.. I watched the other traffic fly by me, some continued on, and some stopped. I dont think some of them realized how icy it was till they went to brake to see if I needed help. Brian and Jimmy arrived, and in the meantime, the county plow truck was coming thru, so the driver put down lots of salt for traction. Jimmy and Brian got the truck out of the ditch very quick. I think that they got me out faster than it took me to go into the ditch and get stuck.. LOL

Coming home, the 4wheel drive was stuck in low range, cause we are guessing that the snow was affecting the controls. So we had to drive 20 mph home all the way, cause of being in low range. It took about 45 minutes to drive 14 miles.

Since I was on the way to work, I called and said I wasnt coming cause there was something wrong with my 4wheel drive, and besides going in the ditch (which was very upsetting). Today is the resident Christmas party ~ but my supervisor said that I should just take it easy, and not worry about coming in.

So, next time, Im listening to Brian!

Natalie ~ Conway ~ Katie

This is about the best Christmas present I have gotten so far this year. I love pictures for my nieces and nephew! Arent they adorable! Now I need one of Kaylee Mae that was born earlier this week.

Natalie Elizabeth (left) ~ this is her 2 yr old picture. Such a little Cinderella.

Katie Marie (right) ~ dont you just want to pinch those cheeks! Watch out boys!

Conway (along with his half sister Alyssa) (right) ~ such a cutey! I love his laugh!

Cant wait to spend the weekend with them all this weekend for Christmas! :)

WOOHOO!!

I won "Most Favorite" in the Tree Decorating contest that was held at http://www.moonflowerneedleart.com

Grand Prize winner Kim R. from WI
runners up - Debra & Dylan, IN & Vicky L, CT
Go to the Gallery page to see entries!!

If you would like to see the other competition ~ which are all beautiful! Take a look ~
http://www.moonflowerneedleart.com/html/gallery.html

The host of the contest is sending a prize, and I cant see what she is sending me.. mmm more stash!

Im quite honored for winning. My Mom just loves the pickle on the tree .:)

She is here!

Kaylee Mae is here! She was born 12/19/05 @ 1:58pm 8lbs 5oz 21" long. Full head of hair :) Proud Auntie Kim here! Cant wait to see her this weekend!

Oh I hate..

Wrapping.. LOL! I spent a good 1.5 hrs fighting with the paper, and the tape. They are not perfect, but there is paper covering it all.. LOL Have a few more to wrap, but I need to pick up more paper.. just one roll. Off to bed. Have the next 2 days off.. YEA!

Yellow Snow

Tomorrow @ work we are having "Our Weekend To Work Christmas Party" (for me its the day shift group) with a dish to pass, and a gift for the person that you drew a couple weeks ago. Im taking my "famous" Yellow Snow, with deer crap on the top. :).. LOL

Directions to make the Yellow Snow - taste just like dirt cake rather with vanilla ingredients than chocolate.

1 large package of vanilla sandwich cookies - use a food processor to make really fine crumbs
2 packages of vanilla pudding
4 cups of milk
1 large tub of cool whip
1 package of chocolate covered raisins (deer poop)

Whip the pudding mix and milk, add cool whip together. In the container you wish to use to serve the Yellow Snow in, layer the crumbs and pudding mixture to the top, ending with the pudding on the top. Kinda plop the chocolate covered raisins on the top of the pudding to resemble a fresh batch of deer poop. Its lots of fun when you take it to the potlucks, the reaction it gets is alot of fun!.. and its yummy in the meantime. ENJOY!

Christmas Decorating Pictures

Here are some pictures that I took of the tree and the decorations that I have up. Nothing fancy.

Mitten Finish

Stitched for a contest, Mitten Color Contest for a cross stitch group Im in. Stitched it on preforated paper (wishing I would have used plastic instead). I finished it into an ornament. Which is hanging on the Christmas tree that I put up today!

Yeah, you read right. I put up the tree today, and decorated for Christmas and Winter. Got all my snowmen hanging around the house. I received a snowman ornament last night from a resident's family, and that little snowman gave me the motivation to get the tree up! So its up. I will try to take a picture of the tree and the decorations. But I gotta get to bed, gotta work this weekend.

Another Xstitch Finish

I saw this little design on a website today, and I dont think that the ink was dried on the paper yet, and I was stitching the design.

Its from The Cricket Collection ~ called "Cup of Cocoa Mitten" It was fun to stitch.. only took me 5hrs to stitch, from start to finish (with break inbetween of course!).

XS Finishes

I finished 2 more cross stitch designs.

The Christmas Tree one was a challenge. We were given a design of a Christmas tree, and we had to come up with our own design. I enjoyed doing it. Gave me a chance to brainstorm the design out. I stitched the "ornaments" with metallic floss, used beads for the lights or garland. I even stitched a pickle on the tree.. he he he.

Of course the scan of the design does not do it justice! Much better in person than on the screen.

So now I will enter it in the Christmas tree decorating contest on ILCS and with a website that is also hosting the contest ~
http://www.moonflowerneedleart.com/html/gallery.html

Think Winter is a design from Lizzie*Kate. I used some of the design. I added the snowflake charm as an added.

This is for a block swap, the theme is called Winter.

This is called Little Angel On The Clouds from Heart In Hand. I stitched it in a SAL exchanged. Vickie sent me all that I needed to stitch this little angel. I then send the finish project back to Vickie, and I get to keep the pattern, and whatever else was left over. :)

Something is wrong with me...

Im starting to hate shopping.. I dont know what it is, but its getting to me lately! Maybe its the Christmas season, or its the fact I dont know what to buy anymore. Brian and I went on Tuesday to Iron Mountain. I had a list of things I had to get, I got about 75% of the list - mainly DMC floss, and material for the USA quilt ~ oh yeah and the battery that I needed for my truck. I had on my list to buy Christmas gifts for our ppl that we have to exchange gifts for.

This morning I went to Iron River to stop by the quilt studio, I visited with Laurie Jean for a bit, and went on to McD's for lunch. I drove over to Crystal Falls to a variety store, since I was looking for beads for a Christmas tree Im making for a contest. Bought what I needed there. Went over to another store, and did make a dent in the Christmas shopping, bought some odds and ends that I needed. Drove back to Iron River, stopped @ Pamida to do some clothes shopping ~ I have 3 residents that I volunteered to shop for. I was able to get what I wanted for the residents. I looked around and found some more ideal presents for the exchanges. Then I went over to Wardo's and was looking for the snowflake buttons I need for a design I was working on. Didnt have them. But I found a shirt that Im getting for the staff exchange @ work. And I found a moose shirt for myself. So I had to treat myself.

So Im home now, and just relaxing. Im planning on cross stitching that tree I want to enter in a contest. Wish me luck, or the bed might find me soon.

WOOHOO Its finished!

I completed the U.S.A quilt - that is going to be a Christmas gift for my Mom, since I have found out that I have her name for Christmas exchange. This is going to be a perfect quilt!

Since this is my second storm at sea variation, it went quite fast. It took me less time to sew and work on, than the first - for some reason. Im so pleased with the results that Im thinking of making another one. Im so happy with it. All that is left to do is get the backing material for the quilt, and to have it quilted, and put the binding on. So it might not be till after Christmas till I have it quilted. But the quilt top is done :)

I went to Laurie Jean's to work on my quilt - since she has Motivational Monday's. I took advantage of it. All I had to do was put the borders on. I needed the space to measure out the quilt.. so its 62.5" X 84.5" (with the borders). When I first showed Laurie Jean and Carolyn (another quilting friend) they were in awe! They pointed out that they could see stars in it, come to find out (I thought they were talking about the little stars on the fabric) when you look at the quilt you can see star designs made up by the white in the quilt. We had a great time gabbing away, that the time went by really fast. I had to call Brian to let him know that I was going to be awhile, since I hadnt planned on staying long.

AWESOME NEWS ALERT!!!!!
Laurie Jean really liked my quilt colors, and she asked if she could take a picture of it, once it was quilted. And have it displayed on her pattern!!! To replace the one that she has on it now. So what do you think my answer was... Yes of course!

Now what to start on next...

My aching hands

I have spent the past two days.. yes of course OFF days :) well, I spent them stitching something for my Dad and sewing on my Mom's quilt.

Since Sunday, I have put in about 2,1oo stitches into the cross stitch picture called "Firemans Hat and Flag" A.K.A. ~ BAP (Big A$$ Project) (I figured there are 31,840 stitches in the design... Oy!) So Im about 7% done. Im using a copy of the actual pattern that is in black and white. This design is the largest, most intense pattern I have ever worked on. Since the pattern is so detailed, I have been highlighting the stitches that I do, and when Im done as a reward to myself I take a black marker and shade in the completed box of 100 stitches. So I have a mixture of black and yellow on the chart.. LOL But the detail on the fabric is just AWESOME. The details really make the design "pop". I will have to take a picture of it the next time Im off, which is on Monday (which Im planning on going up to the Golden Needle Studio, and work more on my Mom's quilt, and help alittle around the shop for Laurie Jean, whatever needs to be done ~ need to talk about the webpage, and pick up my quilt that she was quilting for me :) )

The U.S.A quilt is turning out AWESOME! I have all the blocks finished! I finished the other 49 blocks tonight. I did begin to cut out the fabric last night for the block, but I was more interested in the stitching on the BAP (Big A$$ Project). I got 5 of the blocks put together and I love it! I was doubting using the one of the material that I had to go and find. But I really like it, and I think my Mom will like it too. She has seen the material, but she hasnt seen the quilt, since Im going to try to get it done for Christmas.

My sister Amy called this morning~ had a nice conversation with her.. I thought she was calling to say she was on the way to the hospital to have her baby, but nope, she was actually sitting the hospital parking lot, waiting for her hubby... LOL

The radio station in Iron River is 24 hr Christmas music .. OY! I need to schedule a time to get our tree up, and decorated. I have no Christmas get up and go decorate energy. I thought that this music would get me in the mood, but it hasnt yet. I wonder if I would regret not putting up a tree this year? .. I will see, its still early yet. In the past my tradition was to up it up over opening deer hunting weekend, but I had to work, and with my Grandma's funeral, my days just have kinda ran together, and here it is now Dec 2! Man oh man.

Well I should get to bed... and rest my hands.