Update on Brian

Brian is doing good... thanks for all that said a little prayer. His eye lid around the eye is swollen and red, but its not brusied. He had his mom help him with his drops today, while I was at work.

Weekly SBQ Question - August 30

Today's SBQ was suggested by Carolyn and is:

How do you share your finished pieces with others? Do you frame them, scan and/or photograph them, or do you have another method that you would like to share?

Once I finish the design I iron and then I make a scan of the finished design. I then post it to my blog, to my Webshots album, and also to my 360' blog on Yahoo. I then notify the Yahoo groups Im in, and they go to the blog to check out the finish.

It depends on the design as to how its going to be finished. Whether a framed piece, tuck pillow, or a quilt block (which would be completed by the recipent). I do my own framing and since I make the tuck pillows, I just have to find the time to complete them :) I hope to make a fob soon with a stitched design.

What a day....

Well it really started yesterday... I got up to a phone call.. one of those calls where it says unknown caller, so I was up early! Went back to bed.. got up about 10:30am, played some on the computer, went ebaying, and watched alittle tv. About 1p, I went up to work at the quilt studio for awhile. After I was finished there.. did alittle shopping (got a hammock, and a screened gazebo). Got home about 6:30, not even barely out of the vehicle when my BIL is asking if I we want to go camping tonight.

Well long story short... we had our tent set up by 8pm!.. LOL It was our first time camping all year... better late than never! It got down to 52 degrees last night.. so it was umm uncomfortable sleeping at times. We were packed and home by 9:30am. Put the tent on the line to drive.. two of the lines broke.

Got home... I was eager to set up the hammock and screened gazebo. DH announces that MIL would like DH to go up to town with her. Well I thought .. heck I need a few things (umm clothesline for sure!). So before we left I had the hammock all finished, and the gazebo, the frame was all set up. Went shopping, got home, put all the goods away. Put a load of laundry in, and I was back outside finishing the gazebo. Got it finished. Actually sat out in the gazebo for awhile reading emails on my laptop, and waiting for the laundry to finish.

When I finished, I hung the clothes up on the line.. and since I had bought some new clothes line, I had to put it up. As I was hanging the clothes on the line.. Brian comes over to announce that he was hit in the eye by a stone while he was mowing the edge of the pavement.
After I dealt with him.. I tackled the flower beds that needed weeding. Worked on them for about 3 hrs. Around 6:30p, I started supper on the grill, we had pork chops (picked them up at the store today). I guess I was more hungry than feeling dirty, so I took a shower after I had dinner.

Ok, now Brian this whole time was complaining about his eye.. it was getting better than it was getting worse, and so forth. Well fast forward to 9:45p... we were on the way to the emergency room! He had scratches in two places on his eye. Brian is the type of person that no one touches his eyes.. so it was sorta comical .. cause he was acting like alitle kid while we were at the hospital.. LOL We were home by 11:15p. He needs to have drops for a week now.. and is now comfortably reading his Bible :)

And here I am.. dead tired, and wanting to stitch!

Stash Call!

If you are not a stitcher.. you just wouldnt understand.. LOL

But for the stitcher.. you WILL understand!... LOL

I came home from work to find that I had 3 goodies packages waiting for me!

Ok, the material, I received for the price of the postage, which was $5.00! I got some huge pieces. The colors were fiddlers, Smoketone, and a Kahki Putty color, and some samplings of perforated paper. Thanks Kathy!

I won "Colonial Houses" by Little House Needleworks off the 123 MB, thanks Kristin!

And lastly, I purchased "M'Lady's Strawberries, and "Colonial Dry Goods" by Little House Needleworks from In Stitches. Such an awesome deal! Spent $3.30 and $3 on the charts, and then $1 for shipping! WOOHOO! The markings on the charts were $6.50 each.. so thats $13 for the charts alone, but since they were on sale... what a BARGAIN! I also received the freebies - Liberty Ewe, Let It Snow by Lizzie Kate, and a design from Carriage House Samplings.

Im still expecting 2 more packages with stash to arrive, hopefully on Monday!

Flip Flop Finish

I just had to post this Flip Flop, its from a freebie design from Janlynn, called Flip Flops Rock. I only stiched one.. got plans for it! But just wanted to post my finish. :)

Weekly SBQ Question - August 24

Today's SBQs was suggested by Anna M and is:

What do you keep your WIPs and other stitching supplies in when traveling?




When we travel.. like down to my parents or even if I take my stitching to work, I use this black canvas bag. I have had this for about 3 yrs now. I stitched on the bag to make it more personal.

When I carry my projects in this bag, I do put them in a large ziploc bag just in case something happens (spillage of liquids or whatever).

I get a kick out of it.. when I get to work, some of my coworkers who are on break when I get there, know I have something to show when I come with this bag in tow.. LOL So I have to show what I got. :)

4th Wedding Anniversary!

WOW.. where has the time gone! Brian and I are celebrating our 4th anniversary today! Plans for the day are to go shopping! I can handle that! We are also going to stop at our favorite resturant in Iron Mountain. So just going to take it easy today! See what we make of the day!

Little Pumpkin In The Patch

This adorable finish is from Heart In Hand, called Little Pumpkin In The Patch. I used DMC floss to stitch, and a piece of 28ct linen to stitch it on. The fabric is hand dyed. The funny thing I didnt realize is that when I took the finish off the Qsnap, the design wasnt even close to being center on the fabric! Seems the chart was wrong with where the center was! Geez! Good thing I had plenty of fabric to allow for the charts OOPS!

Welcome Fall - Finish

With Autumn right around the corner.. with some of the leaves on the trees are even starting to change ... I thought I would stitch something Fall-ish! So here is 'Welcome Fall' from the "Autumn Things" chart - from Lizzie*Kate. I started this last night after I finished another project that I cant post pictures of till I actually finish it.. and I need some more info to complete the design. I stitched on 32ct Dirty Linen (atleast that is what I think its called) with DMC floss. I did make a change though. I couldnt see using the 794 that it called for since I wanted a fall color, instead I used 815! I love it!

Well I already got it 'finished' I received this adorable Autumn pillow from Debra a month ago.. and when I saw this design.. I thought humm what about that one tuck pillow. I think it looks awesome! And now using the garnet color makes it all better... what you think?!?!

Wahoo Life is Good

This is a design from Bent Creek called 'Wahoo Life is Good" I had started this awhile back, before I started on Pinetop Lodge, that I know. I chose a brownish-gray looking aida that I had in my stash pile. Going to figure out what I would like to finish it off as.

Weekly SBQ Catch up!

With all that has been going on this past week, I missed posting the SBQ for August 9th & August 16th, so here they are:

Today's (Aug 9th) SBQ was suggested by Ami and is: For those of you who use hand or over-dyed floss, how do you store it?

Well I just started to get into WDW floss (thanks to Missy), and so as of right now they are in a gallon size Ziploc bag, waiting to be called upon to be stitched with. I did take an inventory of the colors I have, to make it easy if I ever get the desire to stitch with the over-dyes.

Today's (Aug 16th) SBQs were suggested by Ami and Anna and are: Do you have an organizational system for your fabric? If so, what is it? If not, what do you store your fabric in?

How do people store their fabric, especially those small but potentially usable pieces? Do they sort by count? How do they label it or otherwise know what each piece is?

I do have an organization system with my fabrics. I have a 3 drawer plastic storage system (well I actually have a total of 3 plastic storage systems for my stash). My fabrics are in 4 different drawers. In one drawer you will find the packaged fabric, sorted by colors. In another drawer you will find the open stock (not in a package with no label) fabrics. I mainly check this drawer first when looking for fabric to stitch on - never know what I'm going to find in there! The packaged and open stock fabric drawers are PACKED! About a month ago I did reorganize my open stock fabric, and sorted them out by color, and size of the fabric. Another drawer you will find tubes of material. And lastly I have started a drawer for linen and evenweave fabric - Which is still in the growing process :)

The fabric that doesn't have a label of color or count. I guess the color, and for the count I have a count ruler - but when you stitch a lot, you come familiar with the size of the count.

Picture in newspaper

You might want to click on the picture to see the caption on the bottom :)

The picture that was suppose to be in last weeks paper was in this weeks paper (Yea!) The picture was showcasing the quilt that I took to Omaha, and gave to a friend, Debra

This picture was posted in the Vilas County News Review from Eagle River, WI. August 16, 2006

Thanks!

I would just like to thank the ones that have sent personal emails to me with prayers and thoughts. It has been very helpful at this time! From 4pm till about 11:30P we had family over in the yard. Sitting around the campfire, and visiting. It was nice being surrounded by family!

The funeral is later today.. 2pm, and then to the graveside after. So its going to be a long emotional day. Thanks again!

America Finished

This finish is from Little House Needleworks, called "America". I started two weeks ago, and finally put the last stitch in it last night. I had taken it along to Omaha, and stitched some while we chatted. Its stitched on 28ct linen.. Im not sure of the color, since I bought it as a remnent at the LNS when I was there in July. For some reason.. in person its hard to see the stars, but in the scan it shows up good... go figure!.. LOL I have bought a frame, that I painted white, and hope to get a nice mat for it and get it framed. :)

Pinetop Lodge Framed

This is the framed - well not totally framed - Pinetop Lodge by Little House Needleworks . I bought the frame in Omaha at Hobby Lobby. Went to get glass for it, and the back finished today, of course the framer is out of town. Hopefully I can get it finished on Saturday.

Retreat Report

We left Thursday morning at 3am for Omaha, we stopped for breakfast around 6am, and then lunch when we got closer to Omaha. We arrived at the hotel around 1pm, and were able to check in. We kinda just hung out in the hotel room. Since the other girls were arriving by plane, I knew it was going to be later before some of them arrived. There was one retreater there around 3:30p, so we met up at 4p. We visited for awhile, and then we decided to stitch in the lobby waiting for the other members to arrive. The third retreater arrived about 6pm, and shortly after she arrived we went for supper.
When we were finishing with dinner, the fifth retreater joined us! And then not too much later the final retreater joined us! They sure had the stories about the airports! We talked for quite awhile, and we all returned to our rooms about 10p... didnt take long for me to hit the pillow!

Saturday morning, along with my mom we all went for breakfast at Perkins that was down the street. After that we then went over to the Henry Doorly Zoo, we were there for about 5 hrs. WHAT a zoo! It was big, and hot! We were heading over to a LNS (where I got some Wisper Thread) when I heard a pop, not thinking much of it.. come to find out we had a flat tire! So here we are changing the tire in a parking lot in Omaha... just us woman! WOOHOO! We then stopped for lunch.. it was so refreshing to eat some veggies! After we finished lunch, we stopped a Firestone to have them patch the tire... and we were on our merry way! We went to Hobby Lobby, and come to find out it was the largest store in the country! Wow what a store!. We all made a major dent in the clearance rack! Got some GREAT deals for almost a few dimes and nickels! While in Omaha, I spent my $$ from the Survivor game - I bought a table lamp for my stitching (since the other one was soooo hot when you sat under it when it was super hot outside). I love it! Still getting use to the different color of the light - its a daylight bulb. I did get a frame for Pinetop Lodge (will post a picture shortly). Since two of the girls had never been to a H.L. and we needed to go and pick up the tire before Firestone closed, we just left them there and returned awhile later to get them! They had a blast! We put on 35 miles driving around Omaha on Friday.

Friday evening we had some pizza and showed our finishes off. I presented the quilt to the lady I made the cross stitch quilt for. You can see the video of the presentation here It was alot of fun to present the quilt... and it was hard to give it away, but Im so glad that she enjoyed the quilt.
We were given goodies, and we won prizes during the evening.. it was so much fun!
I got back to my hotel room about 1:30am, posted some pictures to the groups home page... Brian and I even went outside at 2am he was soooo happy, I hated to see him different, and we were enjoying the evening air. We got back to our hotel room, layed down, and falling asleep when the phone rang at 3am to tell us the news, of Brian's sister's death. That was the hardest thing I had to do in my life, tell Brian that his sister had passed away. The whole thought of the trip for him was to get away, hoping that when we returned back home, she would be better. God knew that taking her.. it was making things better. She had her second round of Lupus, and was to have an appointment today to find out the future of her condition. DH is still in shock. But the family is really supportive to each other, so that is helping. We debated staying and leaving, but we decided to leave.

We said our goodbyes about 11am, and were on the road heading home. We made it to Wisconsin from Omaha on Saturday evening (back to my parents, and then was home by 10am Sunday morning). And another reason we came home early is cause my Dad was not feeling well.

Back to the retreat - OMG did I have a WONDERFUL time! As I told the girls I was a bit nervous meeting everyone one at first, but in no time I felt so comfortable! I really loved being around everyone! Even my parents and DH enjoyed the company of everyone! I know that we were a small group, but man oh man the prizes we walked away with! It was so much fun to bring goodies back!

I just felt bad that I had to leave so early, but when Brian's mom said she "wanted him home".... we had to go.

These are some of the goodies I came home with from the retreat.. well not the fob on the scissors, that was from a SS exchange (sorry Michelle - I had to remove the tassle on the end)

As we all have said... cant wait for next years retreat!!!!

Sad News

While we were in Omaha, Nebraska - we were called at 3am Saturday morning by my BIL's GF, to tell us that Brian's sister had just died. Brian took it hard, and I was in shock. Brian's sister has been ill for the past month. Brian and I thought that Christine would be better when we returned - Brian even made the comment, that "I hope that Christine will be better when we get back" before we left.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days... you will know what is going on.. But we are home now (back in Long Lake).

So please have thoughts for Brian's family - the family is taking it hard, especially my MIL.

Christine Lenee Ritchie Barker

September 2, 1966 - August 12, 2006

We Made it!!!

Hi All

Just want to post that we ( DH, and my parents and I) are in our hotel room in Omaha! We ran into those bad storms that went thru Iowa this morning! Dang was it dark!

We left this morning at 3am, and arrived about an hour ago already (1pm)! 510 miles ... not bad - and I drove them all!!!

I have no idea if anyone else is here yet... do to the security with the airlines... but I will be done in the lobby around 4pm!

Gosh I'm sooooo nervous!

Omaha or BUST!

UNBELIVABLE! Brian and I leave tomorrow afternoon for my parents, and from there, early Thursday morning we are leaving for Omaha!

I just cant believe it! It came so fast! I'm sure a week from now, I will be thinking dang that went fast! I'm about 90% packed and ready to go. I just have to find all the laptop cords, bag, and the what nots to bring along. Our clothes are all packed and the luggage bags are sitting on the kitchen floor. I have to pack my take along project as I still want to stitch on it tonight yet. I'm bringing along the America design from LHN, its coming along nicely! It was a drag for a bit, but its picking up speed now!

My mom called last night, both my parents are excited about traveling along with us. My dad also found out that he has a 1st cousin living in the Omaha area, so he might be calling him when we are there. It would be neat! We are going to have a great time in Omaha! I'm really looking forward to meeting the other members of ILCS that are attending. Its sad to hear that there are only going to be 6 of us. But this is our first year of the retreat, and its always a small turnout with any function the first time.

I will post in Omaha how the retreat is going. What fun things we are doing or going to be doing. And I hope to post some pictures of the retreat, while we are there!

So if you can say alittle prayer for us in our travels.. it would greatly be appreciated! Talk with you from Omaha, next!

And you can find out the real reason I'm there! :) - Been keeping it in toooooo long!.. LOL

Stashy Mail!

Gosh this past week has been an awesome stashy mail experience!

From eBay wins.. I got

• A Brother from Lizzie*Kate
• Winter Wishes from Lizzie*Kate
• Just Be Claus - Santa '06 from Lizzie*Kate
• The White Cat from Bent Creek
• Raspberry Patch from Country Cottage Needleworks
• Merry Christmas from Brightneedle
• My Secret Garden from Lizzie*Kate
• America from Little House Needleworks
• Moon And Stars from Little House Needleworks

From Jillian she sent me her used chart of Liberty House Sampler from Heart In Hand

From Sandy... I got home from work yesterday, and found that her charts that she sent made it here safely! I was bouncing (well not literally.. LOL) when I opened the envelope - I found...

• Pumpkin Wishes from Lizzie*Kate
• In All Things Give Thanks from Lizzie*Kate
• Seeds of Knowledge from Lizzie*Kate
• Spot of Coffee from Little House Needleworks
• Ladybugs and Bumblebees from Country Cottage Needleworks
• Sweet Little Berries from Little House Needleworks
• The Old Doll from Little House Needleworks
• All the charts for the Spring Snapperland from Bent Creek along with the border

OH Im in HEAVEN!.. LOL Now back to stitching!

Weekly SBQ - 08/04

Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Do you have a favorite needlework tool that you like to work with?
What is it and why do you like using it?

I would say that every tool you need is important. Hard to stitch when you dont have a needle.. umm isnt it? Need a scissors to cut the snip-its. Well I need the scroll frame or the Qsnap to keep the material tight.

Pinetop Lodge COMPLETED!

You might want to click on the picture to see it bigger, the small pic does not do the design justice!
Now Im going to have to put this finish under lock and key as I have had several asking for me to send it to them! HA HA HA.. I gotta place on the wall that this is going to be on display!

Dang I started this design a week ago TODAY! This stitched up so fast! This design is called Pinetop Lodge, by Little House Needleworks. It was stitched on 14 ct Smoketone aida. This is for ME! I hope to find a frame in Omaha next week, so that it will be a special memento of the trip. :) Umm also.. I did iron this design.. but of course it doesnt look it.

It was quite comfortable to stitch today.. it was very pleasent in the house today.. so I took advantage of it! And besides I started packing for next weeks trip. Worked on my batting assignment for the retreat, organized my material, and made a list of things I gotta remember to take along.

Now I have to work the next 3 days, and there is talk we might go camping this weekend! Havent even gone camping yet this year! About time we go!