Long May She Wave - HIH FINISH

"Long May She Wave" from Heart In Hand, stitched on a piece of dirty raw linen, with WDW - Deep Sea and Lancaster Red, and DMC 822.

I had started this design last week and stitched on it alittle at the retreat. I actually fell asleep last night stitching on it.. he he.

So I thought this was appropriate for July 4th. :)

I hope that everyone enjoys their weekend!! I have to work.

Pics of Kaylee & Natalie

Tonight while I was downloading the ornament pics to the computer, I forgot I had some pictures of the girls, Natalie and Kaylee. I took these pics while waiting for my sister to return from getting her vehicle.

The one to the left is my sister's favorite, and I had to add it to her MySpace.. he he.

Here are some of my favorites of the girls. The one with Kaylee sitting on Natalie's back was cute I think!! Amy said its usually the opposite.. LOL And why dont I find that hard to believe. Too precious!!

As if Natalie is saying, "Only this one time for you, Aunt Kim" he he

The one where they are both on the grass, I can see my sister in Kaylee, in her face. I always thought my sister was cute as a little girl with her black hair, long hair.

It was a blast to spend the weekend with them, and their Uncle Brian loved spending the time with them at the hotel too.

Now my nephew, I bought him a firefighting shirt, and I couldnt even get him to give me a high five, as he was afraid of me.. broke my heart.

I also found out that Im going to be expecting another niece in November.. its great to hear the news, but when is it going to be my turn!?!

ILCS 2007 Retreat

I have to say - I had the most wonderful time at the retreat that I wish I had someone in my area that I could sit and stitch with, as I loved that feeling!!

Well for me, it all started on Tuesday, as I had the day off and I had to make the final packing and arrangements of the prizes, and the last minute printing of the thank you certificates for the donations. And of course pack all the clothes and stuff to bring to the retreat.

Wednesday we left home around 11am, made a pit stop at the eye Dr for Brian's glasses (just made it in time for the lady to turn the "be back at 1p" sign, or we would had to wait another hour). We went to Neenah with my sister and the girls and my Mom to visit Julie (my sister's MIL that was involved in the accident the Saturday before, with Natalie). We stayed at my sister's place and my Mom was to be by before 8am Thurs. morning, so we could pack the truck, and be on the road ASAP.

Thursday morning, my Mom was knocking on the patio door @ 7:30am, and Brian & I were sleeping on the couch still.. LOL We got the truck packed and everyone strapped in, and was on the road by 8:30am. We arrived in Indianapolis around 6pm (we even missed a Chicago toll, as we were forced to stay in the I-Pass lane.. lol) It was great to meet everyone, and stitch and stitch - once I was settled. Natalie joined me, and she wanted to cut threads - since I had give away floss along, I let her cut the threads. Red seemed to be the color of choice. LOL

Friday morning after breakfast, I helped Shari with her quilt, and then after we were off shopping!! We hit Persnickety's, Needle Fever, and a Hobby Lobby. And had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack - cute place!! We arrived back at the hotel, and it was time to stitch again. :) I stitched the backstitching around my biscornu, and Natalie again joined me for the evening, and lots of memories were made. :)

Saturday morning I hung around with my family, as I was feeling guilty as I was sorta abandoning them - since the earliest I was to bed was around 2am each night. I had breakfast with them, and took them to another Hobby Lobby and Michaels. Arrived back to participate in the pinkeep class, and the biscornu class. During the day, we had two guest. Lori from Enchanted Fabrics (who was on vacation in the area) stopped by during the pinkeep class. Around 4, Karen Kluba from Rosewood Manor, graced us with a mini trunk show! It was such an honor as we got to see a model that was yet to be released and Katie (who model stitches for her) met her "boss" for the first time. Karen, as I had requested, brought Katie's model along that she stitched for ABC Tapestry. The look on Katie's face when I told her Karen was coming, it was priceless!!

Saturday evening we had a pizza party, and cake to celebrate the group's 3rd birthday. And we stayed up and stitched.

Sunday morning we took off for home around 9:30am, and around 7pm, we arrived back to my sister's place. Brian and I came home Monday, and I was soooo tired. I even had Tuesday off, and I was still tired!!

Natalie really loved being with me, and my "stitching friends" as she called them. Thanks to Karin, Shari, Vickie, Debra, Meari, Michelle, Katie, Annette, Julie, Coleen for attending the retreat, and it was so great to meet you in person!! And I hope to do it again. :) I came home with lots more goodies from the prizes, shopping, and the swapping.

I hope to post a few more pictures, as I need to get permission from the picture taker. :)

Can't wait till ILCS 2008 Retreat!!

Grandmother Framed

I just wanted to share with you that I finally have Grandmother framed! I had to wait till I returned from the retreat as my Mom does look at my blog. And I didnt want to blow the surprise. :)

Its been a long struggle with getting it framed. And I'm SOOOO happy with the results. A refresher - I used Sassy's Hyacinth, my Mom chose GAST Hyacinth threads.. and I went at it.. LOL

First off, I had a hard time finding a frame that I liked. I don't do frame shops, and so I had to find the correct size frame for it. Luckily I found it at WalMart. Of course when I bought it was black - and it had mats inside for 3 - 4" X 6" pictures. So I bought some spray paint.. got it home.. totally the wrong purple I wanted. So two week I was at WalMart again - I found some craft paint and it was the PERFECT purple!! Had a heck of a time getting the paint to coat it right. It survived the trip down to my parents and the revealing of the gift to my Mom... no chippin yet (knock on wood).

When I first bought the frame it was still to big.. LOL So I used one of the mats, and I cut the dividers out, and thought.. man that is too white! The idea came upon me to send it to my sister's and have Natalie color all over it, with a purple crayon! So you can see she had her help in my Mom's Mother's Day present. :) First born daughter, and first born granddaughter :D So here is the end result.

My Mom really liked it! And Natalie helped me give it to her also. Yeah I know I'm late in getting her my Mother's Day present.. bad daughter!! I had my Dad's Father's Day gift too.. had it over a month now. :)

BC Ornament Exchange

Several of us on the Bent Creek Trilogy Group on Yahoo signed up to do an ornament exchange, with the open date June 25th.

I received the package a week ago, but couldnt open till the 25th. Well if you have following my blog I was gone to the ILCS retreat and didnt get home till the 26th. I was soooo wiped out and tired (and still wiped out and tired), that I totally forgot to open it yesterday. Tonight when I got home from work, I had to open it!!




This is what I found inside!!!!



The ornament - too cute! I love it!!
Christmas Motif Sampler II from JBW Designs
Holly & Ivy from Country Cottage Designs
My Favorite Time from Lizzie*Kate
A Christmas themed needleminder from Kelmscott Designs
Bush Christmas floss from Dinky Dyes
Colorado 2008 pocket calendar - Love the pictures!
Lional Richie (almost put a "t" in there.. LOL)Christmas Cd

Thanks to Mary Kathryn for the wonderful exchange THANK YOU SOO MUCH!!!

This is the ornament which I stitched and finished for Renee. Renee said that she really liked her ornament and has emailed me a couple times thanking me for her ornament. My pleasure Renee!!

I love doing exchanges like this. And I wished that I could find a group that does more of them. :)

I'm HOME!!

Yes, home from the ILCS retreat - will give a report later. Just wanted to post that Im home... extremely tired!! And about ready to crash.. will be back later to read the over 800 emails I have missed and open the goodies I have received... and unpack!

Thanking My Angels

My 3 1/2 yr old niece (Natalie) and her other Grandma (Grandma Julie) - Julie is my sister's MIL, were in a very serious car accident last night (Sat). Julie was air lifted to the hospital, while Nataile had to be transported via the ambulance. They were on the way to pick up Nat's sister Kaylee, whom my mom was watching for my sister.

What was so heart wrenching was my Dad (whom is a fire chief) was called out to the scene, as the Jaws of Life had to be used to get Julie out of the car. When my Dad saw the car, he did not recognize it, and asked whom the driver was. All they could tell him that her name was Julie. He preceded to ask if there was a passenger, the first responders said that there was alittle girl in the back of the ambulance, waiting to be transported, his grand-daughter

Julie suffered multiple broken bones. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow, to repair her leg. She is expected to make a full recovery, that will take up to 8 weeks.

Natalie, well the car seat saved her! The only marks she has on her are from her shoulder harness. The car seat has to be thrown away as its just covered in glass, and the stress of the accident. She seemed to be in good spirits when I talked with my sister this morning.

Edited to add -

While on the phone with my sister tonight, she told me - "you might get goosebumps when I tell you this"... I said, ok.

When I typed this earlier tonight - I was unaware of something that Natalie said to her mom, today on the way to go out to celebrate Father's Day for my Dad.

When they were in the car, and my sister was driving. Out of the blue, Natalie claims that her Great Grandma (who passed away in Nov '05) was sitting next to her, and told her "everything is going to be ok"

I bursted out bawling!!! Natalie had her Great Grandma Leona in the car, sitting right next to her. And I truly believe this!!! I have not seen pictures of the car yet, but according to my sister, it is not a pretty site. They can see Nat's car seat, and of course it was right behind Julie's seat. Nat's door had no damage. All the windows on the car were shattered.

My Grandma Mathison died on my Dad's birthday, Nov '05. Natalie was the last in the family to say goodbye to my Grandma, before she died. And I believe that my Grandma held on til Natalie came and said goodbye, as she died shortly after everyone left to go and celebrate my Dad's 60th bday.

Edited to add -

I found this posted online in the newspaper - Five Hurt In Winchester-area Crash

SBQ Catch up

June 6's SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

What has been your most challenging project and why?

Well I do have to admit - I do have a UFO, that should be up for adoption. I will never finish it... hence that is way I call it a challenging piece. LOTS of color changes.. to detailed. Heck I dont even want to look for it, as it will bring back nightmares.. LOL

June 14's SBQ was suggested Jennifer and is:

How do you store your WIPs and other projects that you have kitted up?

Well, umm let's see. When I kit up a project, I use a gallon size Ziploc bag to store everything. I put the floss in a sandwich size ziploc bag. I use the sandwich bag to store my floss in while I stitch on the WIP. When Im not working on my WIP, I put a large plastic bag over it to keep the dust off it.

Check this out!!

This was the scene last night in our kitchen!! I had sorted out all the prize donations for the retreat next week!

The designers that sent charts were VERY generous!!

I cant wait to share the prizes with the ladies that are going to be in Indianapolis next week!!

The blue plastic bags hanging from the knobs on the doors are the goodie bags! You can see that the ironing board is covered, along with the card table I had out to hold everything! Of course you cant see the floor well, but there was goodies down there too!!

Pics from Brian's Bday

Well Brian's bday was Tuesday -

I came home from work, with KFC. Talk about being stuffed!!

As I started to get comfy in my chair - the phone rang. Brian's Mom was calling to say that Brian's brother and wife were next door and wanted Brian to come over, as they had something for him.

Brian went over, since I was falling asleep in the chair. He came back over to say that they had brought cake and ice cream. And I had to bring the camera to take a picture of the cake.

So here is the birthday boy, with his cake.

I guess there was alittle story behind the cake. One of the boys in the family use to eat bugs. Well Brian's brother saw the cake, and thought of Brian (thinking he was the one that ate the bugs.. LOL). Thank goodness it wasnt Brian that ate the bugs.. LOL The cake was delicious - and so was the ice cream.. hehe

Thanks to those that left Brian a bday wish - he says "Thank you!"

Happy Birthday Brian!!

Happy 39th Birthday Brian!!

Love you!!

Rainbow

Today I had to work at Wardo's and I came home and I was just pooped. All my working days are catching up with me. I got the clothes off the line, since I had done 4 loads of laundry before I left for work. I had hung some bath towels in the house last night, and I thought I would just take them out on the line and let the dampness out of them.

I came back into the house, and about 4:15p, I sat down in my chair. I fell fast asleep. I woke up at 5:10 to a down pour of rain!! Since then I have been waiting for the rainbow.

Looky at what I found a few minutes ago!!! Yep, and I even got lucky!! A double rainbow!!

And of course, the bath towels went back in the washer... lol

Checking In

Hi Everyone!! I'm here... well I think I still am! Man oh man... where do I start

I will sum up my past umpteen days as.. EXTREMELY BUSY!

I have worked straight since a week ago Wednesday and my next day off is June 15th! I have been working less days at the nursing home, and picked up a couple more days at the quilt shop. And for some reason I have become swamped with QSnap Huggers. So someone out there is advertising for me (thank you to whom ever it was!!

I finally got my truck back! It was the fuel pump. I'm happy I got it back - heck I haven't even driven it yet..LOL Kinda disappointed about having to wait a 1.5 weeks to get it back. Now, do you think I should wait 1.5 weeks to pay the bill?!?

We have our water situation figured out! Poor Brian has been struggling with this situation for a week or more. Our water in the bathtub started acting funky, and then all of a sudden the water on the cold side stopped flowing. Then all of a sudden we had no water in the whole house!! Well Brian had to investigate why we had no water... that's when all heck broke loose. He had to dig up the water line to see if it had water. The hose was all plugged up!! Well long story short, I'm so proud of my DH. He and along with my BIL got the water situation all fixed, and it was so nice to take a long awaited shower, let me just say that!! I have become a frequent shopper at Ace, I wonder if they will expect me tomorrow.. LOL

Umm what else.. oh yeah. Today in Iron River, they had their Market Day, which runs along with the rodeo, which is in town this weekend. Well tonight was "Pink Night" at the rodeo. They were selling these tshirts - I just had to have one! You see I'm not a fan of pink at all. When I saw this shirt I had to buy and wear it that instant. LOL I was really excited about this shirt. It was only $10, and half the amount went to cancer research in our area. I thought that was awesome! So I wear that shirt in honor of a coworker, Bev, Missy's Mom, and Cathey, who have battled that struggle, and one that is fighting it now.

Deanna Favre, the wife of Brett Favre, battled breast cancer herself, and has a foundation. This was on the back of the tshirt.

Tonight while Bri and Jon were working on the faucet in the bathtub, I decided to have a campfire and just get out of the house and RELAX! I had mowed the lawn earlier, and thought I would just take a moment and just be by myself. Well that didn't last long as I had wonderful company join me. My SIL, Lia and her two kids, Destiny and Stevie joined me. And next thing you know, the s'more were out! I love campfires! Oh and our camping trips were getting planned. Sounds like next Thursday might be the first one.. he he.

Well I suppose I should get to bed. Gotta work this weekend at the quilt shop. And I'm sure it will be busy cause of the rodeo in town. Looking forward to my first hour watching the rodeo parade... hehe

Showing off the winning QSnap Huggers

These are the winning QSnap Huggers. Sandy selected the coffee fabric, Rita chose the Liberty, Justice and Freedom, Marjean selected Pinkeep fabric.

So I sat down tonight after work and worked on them. I got hooked into watching Most Haunted Live last night, and I was up till 2 am watching it.. he he.

These will be going out in the mail on Monday.

Winner of the 8" QSnap Hugger

is.....

Drum roll please.

It only took 9 pages of paper to print out all the comments. Thanks to the ladies that took the time to stop by and look, and enter the contest.

Not yet...

With having 51 entries... I have decided to allow 3 winners.

1. Sandy (larsan)
2. Rita (stitcher722)
3. Marjean

Thanks so much ladies!!! I'm off to email you now!!

Thanks to the ones that left comments of appreciation of their QSnap Hugger that they have ordered!!! It means so much! And I look forward to all those that have said that they will be ordering a QSnap Hugger in the future.

Liberty House Sampler - HIH FINISH

This finish has memories in its short life.. lol

It even got to ride in the truck as it was getting airlifted on the back of a wrecker on the way to the repair shop. Talk about traveling in style!

Here is Liberty House Sampler from Heart In Hand. Stitched on 28ct raw linen with DMC floss. I had seen this on someone's blog, and since I have seen it framed. Talk about needing to do this design!!

Ok, so you wanna know what is wrong with my truck huh?! Brian had a DR appt on Tuesday in Iron Mountain - 40 miles from here. Well we were thru with his appt, we were all in good spirits as the appt went well with his new DR, and we get in the truck (my MIL was also with us). I turn the key to start. It struggles to start, and I keep trying. Brian thinks there might be water in the gas. No close by gas station, but a ShopKo... so I took a walk about .5 miles to get some ISOHeet. I have the blisters on the bottom of my feet from my leather sandals.

I put the ISOHeet in the tank, and we wait alittle. In the meantime I'm calling my BIL for advise. Well fast forward. I had to call a tow truck to come and haul the truck somewhere!! Well, the mechanic is 46 miles from where the truck is. Well $169 dollars later and an hour drive, me and the truck are in Iron River, at the repair garage. BIL & SIL offered to pick us up, well the wrecker driver said that he couldn't wait too long, so I said, why don't I just ride in the wrecker, and you (Brian and MIL) ride back with BIL & SIL. Well guess what!! BIL & SIL couldn't find the clinic that Brian and MIL were stranded at.. LOL So I had to wait a bit to get picked up from the garage.

Of course, I needed a vehicle to drive since my truck was out of commission. Brian's van needed a new battery since the one that was in the van was not staying charged. We stopped to pick up a battery, we thought we got the right one. Nope, got home and it didn't work. I had to call into work and say I had no transportation as my truck was at the repair shop, and hubby's van needed a battery and we needed to go to the mechanic and tell him what was wrong with it.. LOL

The mechanic called at 7:30a to find out what was wrong with the truck. He stated he would have a diagnosis of what is wrong before we got there at 9am. We borrowed my MIL's car and we went to the repair shop, and found out that its the fuel pump. So I need a fuel pump for my truck.. here is the good news. He might not get to it till Saturday or Monday, possibly Tuesday!! We stopped and picked up the correct battery for the van, and I was off to work.