CJ's RR Complete!/Last Finish of 2008

Monday night I started to stitch on CJ's RR. After getting home from work last night, and settling in to stitch. I was looking at the pattern and the difficultly to stitch.

I was chatting with Vickie at the time, and I told her.. this RR is going to be done and in the mail tomorrow. I got to a point last night, and stayed up till 3am, and stitched away on it.

This morning I was chimmed at 9:30am, to get a cup of coffee for MIL. I sat up and visited awhile, and shortly later I was stitching away.

I was done and finished with the stitching on CJ's RR.

So, the details - Robin, from The Prairie Schooler - Prairie Birds (Book No. 24) stitched with DMC, on 14ct.

So this will be the last finish of 2008! Amazing!

Natalie's quilt

Jeez Louise!

I was going thru my camera and found a picture of Natalie's quilt that I made for her and gave her last week when we had Christmas with my family.

She opened her present, and I'm like... "wait I forgot to take a picture of it". So here it is.

The girls weren't excited about getting the quilt.. but I figured as it wasn't a toy. But I'm sure once they get their twin beds, they will think of me :).. LOL



This was the 1 of the 2 quilts I made in a span of a few weeks. They were a blast to make! The pattern is Yellow Brick Road from Atkinson Designs.

You can see Kaylee's Quilt here.

Garden Inspiration Table Quilt

I got a steal of some charm packs on eBay a couple weeksago. I as soon as I got them in the mail I made up this little table quilt. I think its so darn cute!

What I did was cute the square in half, sewed two different fabrics together. Then I cut them again in half. And then arranged them in to this layout.













It was so quick and easy to make. I actually was working on sewing the binding together the day of MIL's fall. And I had started the project at 11am that morning, and got the call about 3:15. Well with everything going on, I brought it along last weekend to work on the hand sewing of the binding. Well guess what! I ran out of thread..LOL I was able to finish it up Christmas Eve.

This is going to be gifted to a coworker.

Teresa's RR finished

The mailing deadline has passed, and with all that is going on.. I really needed to get the stitching on Teresa's RR so I can send it on to the next person.

Well last night about 7pm, I started on the stitching. I had to help MIL get ready for bed, and once she was settled, I got to stitch and chat some with Vickie. Brian fell asleep about 10:30. I got all the branches and the pine boughs stitched and I was in bed around 12:45am.

I shouldn't have stayed up that late. I was woken up by the chiming of the door bell @ 4am. Meant MIL needed something. Come to find out, FIL had been pestering her since 2am to get up, and get started with the day. I found them in the living room. It was an all out verbal fight, and I even got in on it. LOL I told Brian, if FIL swung @ MIL or myself, would he defend us. He said he would, but he would have to be careful he didn't do any damage.

It was after 5am, and Brian told me to go to bed, as I hadn't slept much before then. I woke up around 8am to use the bathroom, and everyone was back in bed. I was chimed again at 9:30 to make something to eat for MIL.

I went back to stitching once I got everything settled. Around noon today I had a finish!! I think that this finish was a quick stitch, despite all that is going on in my world.

So, the details - Cardinal, from The Prairie Schooler - Prairie Birds (Book No. 24) stitched with DMC, on 16ct.

After I finished up the stitching, Brian and I took off for grocery shopping so Brian has food to prepare for his parents. We took our time, but our relief help was eager to get going when we got home.

If you are keeping count... tonight will be night 14 we have spent away from our bed. I'm sure it will be about Jan 5 before we get to stay a night at home.. unless someone in the family steps up and offers to spend the night for us. But ain't happen yet!

Models for Glory Bee are released!!

Im so behind in reading blogs, and message boards, and I thought I would take a break and check out the 123 MB. Seen that Nancy from Glory Bee was asking if anyone has seen the new designs from Glory Bee at their LNS.

So I found the two models I stitched for her.. all looking spiffy in their new frames, and for sale.

Besty Ross - the model I stitched

Quaker Alphabet - the model I stitched

So please stop by Glory Bee Stitch to look at the other models. Thanks to looking!!

Christmas 2008

This past weekend, Brian & I went down state for the weekend to spend the weekend with my family. And since I have to work December 24, 25, & the 26th, we celebrated Christmas early this year.

















Saturday, we were able to get on our way after getting someone to parent sit for us. We were on the road and headed south. Once we got to my sister's house, I left Brian there so he could catch up on some sleep, and I took the girls and we went to finish up my Christmas shopping. They were really good for me, I couldn't believe it! Saturday night, Brian and I watched Nat and Kaylee while their parents went out. We worked on something special for their Mom, and then wrapped some presents. We even watched "Horton Hears a Who!"

Sunday - we all slept in till 10:30am. The weather was awful! Blowin like crazy and a temp of -4 and the windchill was unbearable. We headed off to get our supplies for Kaylee's 3rd bday party (she turned 3 on the 19th). The party started at 3pm, there was a nice turnout, despite the weather. After we had the party and my brother's arrived, we had our family Christmas. We exchanged gifts amongst the adults, and we had presents for the kids. After we were thru with presents, my parents treated us all for dinner at The Viking. It was a great time, I love spending time with all my family at once!

We have a tradition, of taking a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree... my have they grown since last year!!

On the way home we were singing Christmas songs, and looking for Christmas lights (and deer). It was a great way to end the evening.

On Monday, I headed over to YDS, which is a quilt store. I found a couple panels I liked and I'm looking forward to making something out of them. In the afternoon, we took Natalie to Preschool, and Brian, Amy, & Kaylee met my parents for lunch. After, we went shopping for a GPS. One trip around the parking lot with my parents GPS, I was begging Brian to go back in, and purchase one for ourselves.

Monday evening was spent watching TV (watched Wall-E - I fell asleep watching it..LOL) , watched the Packers lose. My sister made lasagna, and we had a quiet evening.

Today, we left my sister's at 11:30am, stopped by my parents to show them a few things I had discovered on the GPS, and we went for lunch. On the way home, we stopped at Hobby Lobby, so I could get some pellet stuff for a little something I wanna try. The roads home were terrible. We saw 3 cars in the ditch, and heard of several more along the way, on the radio.

We got home about 5pm, and got unloaded, and guess what.. I'm typing this post from my inlaws again. This will be the 9th night we have not slept in our bed (or in the same bed for that matter, since the inlaws have twin beds for use to sleep in, and we were on the couch or love seat at my sisters..LOL)

So, all in all.. I wanna do over of the weekend!

Looking forward to the weekend

Even though I live like 60 strides from home, I haven't slept in my bed since Sunday night. Yep, still at the inlaws taking care of MIL. I have really enjoyed taking care of her.. but then I have been going to work for the past couple of days too. Brian has been doing most of the helping care for his mom (and really his dad too).

Tomorrow morning we are leaving to travel down state to spend the weekend with my family. We had already had this planned out for some time, and we feel as though we need a break too. We do have someone coming to stay, and look after them.

MIL is doing well. Is getting around the house better.

"Uncle Brian" a drawing by Natalie

I had texted my sister to tell her something, and she called me back to talk. As we were on the phone with my sister, and we were talking away - and she tells me that Natalie (my 5 yr old niece) was drawing a picture, and my sister mentioned it looked like Uncle Brian.

My sister told me that she would send me the picture of the drawing Natalie had done... this is it.












We received it via email, about busted a gut laughing. I showed it to Uncle Brian, and he said that he needed a body and more muscles. So I texted her back and told her that it was OMG IS THAT CUTE!! Brian asked for some muscles next time!!

This is what came several minutes later .... this time with help from Mom of course.














Thanks Amy and Natalie for the laughs tonight!! We sure needed them for all that has been going on lately!

MIL Update

As I type this from the kitchen table of the inlaws... thank goodness for wireless internet, from our house!

I just finished up the dishes from the supper I made. I love playing Betty Homemaker, helping and caring for people. Now I know what you people feel like when you are surviving on 3 hrs of sleep, and your agenda keeps flying past you.

Well, we are home. As in *we* - MIL is home. We left about 12:45 this afternoon, stopped and picked up my BIL & SIL.. and off to the hospital we went.

We got MIL in my Explorer, and back to home we came. I went home to take some groceries home (like we really needed any, as we are staying here for a few days, and leaving this weekend for my parents). But I came back and made us Spaghetti. I even made a plate for FIL as he is a picky eater, and he returned his plate to me all clean. (I was expecting him not to eat it, as MIL didn't prepare it for him.. big pat on the back for me!)

Well I'm going to finish up this post, and probably go and work on a little something I started yesterday, and hoped to have finished..... but something interrupted that finish.

Thanks to the ones that left a comment and the emails. Its wonderful to know that people care!

On the ride back, the guys were even asking MIL what she has planned for next year, as this is her 3rd breakage in the past 3 years.

If It Ain't Mine, It's His...

It all started with a phone call Brian made yesterday. He called his Mom to let her know that he was coming over to salt the step and driveway. He was then informed that she had fallen on the ice, and she hurt her ankle.

Brian went next door to find out how bad it was. Alittle later on, Brian came home asking me for the Ace bandage wrap. I said, well if its that bad, I better go check myself. I'm not a nurse, but having twisted my ankle several times in my life, I could make sure that everything was ok.

Found my MIL sitting in the chair with her foot propped up. Looking at it, her ankle was very swollen. I said that she needed ice, but I was told that her other son was going to bring some, but he had to wait alittle as he had to put it in the freeze. I just went to her freezer and pulled out a bag of chocolate chips and covered her ankle.

We were hem hawing about what to do. It was to the point where she was going to wait till tomorrow to go to the DR. And I said, I think you really should go today to get it checked out. That way if you have to get up during the night, you might fall and break something additional.

It got to the point I was in tears, and had to leave. I told Brian that I was sick of waiting for everyone else's opinions. And that she needed to go now. Just get an xray to find out what is going on.

My FIL has real bad dementia. My MIL is like his comfort blanket. He gets himself worked up so much, that she needs to be with him 24/7. (Read on.. read what happens) So FIL was telling MIL, oh, its not that bad. You can walk on it tomorrow. MIL asked FIL to get a pair of underwear out of the dresser in the bedroom, so she could change. I heard the request and watched FIL come back with a long sleeved white dress shirt, that is where I took over.

I was VERY proud of Brian. He stepped up and told both his parents that he was getting sick of this situation, and that Mom was going to the hospital with Kim to find out what is going on. Brian stayed with his dad, while I took MIL to the hospital.

We got seen, xrays taken. Guess what.. what we thought was a sprain was TWO BROKEN bones! Yep. She fell, and broke her ankle. And guess what the best part of it was... she was getting transported to another hospital for SURGERY!

There was no stopping at home. Off in the ambulance she went. I called Brian to inform him on the news. I wasn't going to let them know the outcome till she was in the ambulance and on the way.

She ended up having surgery last night at 10pm. Brian and I of course went to Rhinelander. Brian's nephew stayed with FIL. (Hold on that parts still coming).

Headed over to WalMart, did alittle Christmas shopping. She got out of surgery about midnight, and was put into a room at around 12:45am this morning. She has screws, pins, and wire holding her ankle together. We left the hospital alittle after 1am.

Brian and I got home about 2:30am. It was -17 degrees on our ride home. We came home, and have been at Inlaws house since 2:30 - Father inlaw was WIDE awake when we got here.. finally got him to settle down around 4am. Brian and I slept here, and we were woken by Brian's dad at 7 this morning.

So, I will be leaving shortly to go and get her from the hospital. And bring her home.

So we both are making it on 3 hrs today.

Just wanted to give you an update as to what is going on.

Water can be used as 'Prop 101'

Picture this.. your stitching away in the living room, and you hear this thud. DH says - "it just tipped back on its own, now it wont stay open on its own."















Your thinking 'oh great'. Walk to the kitchen to investigate. And you find DH is holding on to the monitor of the laptop.

Seems there is a crack along the hinges, the part that connects the monitor to the body.

DH was thinking duct tape and super glue - I'm thinking your crazy repair shop.

Solution to the problem... water jug.

So, for the past couple days, the water jug has been doing its job.

Calling tomorrow to find the fate of the fix.

Christmas Ornament Exchange

Yesterday was opening day of the Christmas Exchange that I participated in with a group of ladies, on the BC_Trilogy Yahoo Group.

Irene sent to me. And when I found out who I was receiving from when the package arrived, I knew I would love it! Last night after I got home from work, I opened up my envelope to find inside this ADORABLE, SO DARN CUTE, little ornament. Its so stinking cute! Its now hanging in the kitchen from the knob on the cabinet door.

Irene, thanks for spending the time to stitch and finish your ornament for you. You must have had a heck of a time parting with it!

I had Julie's name, and for her exchange I was told that she loves Men - (snowmen and gingerbread men). So, I thought humm, I think I will stitch a gingerbread man, since I don't stitch them very often. So I found the perfect pattern to use. I used two of the gingerbread men from Gingerbread Trio by Little House Needleworks. I thought what could I stitch for the back, and I thought, another gingerbread man! So I did.

I LOVE how it turned out. I had a blast making it. For Julie, I had some gingerbread man fabric, so I made up a QSnap Hugger for her to grace her qsnap. :)

Girl's Quilt # 2 done

WHOO HOO!!

Thursday I got the backing fabric and batting for the girls quilts. I came home from shopping, got the material washed, cut, and sewed back together. I spent about 1.5 hrs pinning the quilt top (had to use my inlaws table as my workspace), and then I came home that evening and quilted. I got it all quilted, and I was super happy. This was my first *bigger* quilt top I have done machine quilting with my sewing machine - there is nothing fancy at all. Just stitched along the seam to square out the fabric squares. Gives it a good puffy effect.

While quilting the quilt, I had a hard time pushing the fabric thru at times. I got an idea! I had pair of garden gloves that had a rubber texture on the outside of the gloves, and they helped!! But, I couldn't use them much, and I found out that when quilting, I needed my sense of touch to feel if the batting or backing material was bunching up. But it helped when I needed the little help.

I worked Friday, and was super tired, and I was in bed early.

Saturday I worked at the quilt shop. I closed the store and had to actually let people know that the stored closed at 5pm, when it was already 5:15pm. After I got out of work, I stopped and bought dinner. Got home, and started working on the binding for the quilt. I used the remaining fabric from the backing of the quilt. Worked out great! I started to hand stitch the binding on last night, and then I started playing slots on Pogo, and then I discovered Yahtzee on Pogo, I was hooked! After I played several games awhile, I went back to the binding.

Today I spent about 5 hrs on the binding, and finally am happy to say its done! Kaylee's quilt is finished!

The pattern is Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs. I used 18 fat quarters in different "girly colors". I made a twin size.

This is not the quilt top that is pictured below. I have now to work on that quilt top, and get it quilted and bind, before the 19th.

Catching up...

Since the posting on Saturday night - Ive had a hard 3 days. I had worked a 4 day stretch, on by Tuesday night, I was already in overtime. 2 hrs to be in fact - and I still have to work Friday (but that is where I get the overtime, once I work that day.) And the fact too.. I'm only part time - only suppose to be working 30 hrs a week there. So, that's where I have been for the past few days.

Friday night I did put about 250 stitches, and then last night I did about another 250, so I'm just moving right along..LOL Its just a big blob of grey, but its 500+ more stitches in.

I received word on Saturday that the table runner I made for Michele arrived, and she really loved it... you can read all about it here. She said her husband said that she couldn't take a picture of the table runner till she had a table cloth to compliment the runner. :) I'm sharing the picture that she shared with me.

Also, Vickie posted on her blog a picture of the Winnie the Pooh tree skirt that I helped her create. I love how it really turned out since seeing it under the tree. On her blog she also has a picture of her whole Disney Christmas tree. Check it out!!

Ladies, thanks again for contacting me and allowing me to help put your ideas to work, and that you love your end result :)

Whats on the agenda for today - well, I have the "plan" of putting the quilt #2 together - but its one of those days, where my oomph has no umph. So I'm just taking it slllllooowwww and steady. But stay tuned.. I'm sure you will be hearing a hooting and hollering. Tomorrow the goal is to get the backing fabric for the two quilts, as I have to make a trip to Rhinelander (the big city) to take my MIL to her Dr appt. So I'm going to stop by the LQS there and go to WalMart to see what kind of selection I have to chose from.

And, I got some exciting news yesterday .. Ive been staying away from eBay for some time.. well I was "snooping" around, and I found a really good auction. I put in a bid... was outbidded a couple days later. Put in another bid, had 35 minutes left in the auction. Left for work. Got to work, checked to see if I won. And I DID!! I got a really awesome deal! So stay tuned till I get my awesome deal! I was so happy, it made my rest of the day go better, yesterday.

Also, I want to wish my parents - a HAPPY 42nd ANNIVERSARY today!! Love you Mom and Dad!!

Christmas Edition of Getting To Know You

I have received this email a few times, so I thought I would include it on my blog, so everyone can see what my Christmas is like ...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper & Gift bag for that odd shaped present to wrap.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? Use to be the weekend of opening deer hunting... but I haven't put up a tree in the past two yrs, and this will be a third year.

4. When do you take the tree down? Before New Year's

5. Do you like eggnog? No.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Money!

7. Hardest person to buy for? A secret gift exchange

8. Easiest person to buy for? Myself... he he Actually Brian, as I know what he needs.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Those gifts that turn into white elephant gifts, the following year

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" - remember growing up watching the movie every year on tv. Two Christmas ago, my brother made a comment that was his favorite Christmas movie too - so last year I found it on DVD, and we watched it on Christmas Eve. Such memories!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? A few days before the gift giving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Lefse, and pickled herring.

16. Lights on the tree? Clear - don't like colored lights on my tree.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Yes I will be traveling Christmas - to work! Plan is to go down the weekend before to celebrate Christmas with my family.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Whenever the family can get together.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Listening to Christmas songs since before Halloween.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Homespun/Primitive

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Having pizza with the family

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Peace in the World, but since I'm not going to get that. I just want a new electric blanket.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Hopefully everyone that sees this post :)