Good Morning!
Well, remember on the last post I said I think I have a bad cable for my camera, and couldn't upload my last round of pictures? Last night I got the pictures uploaded from my SD card to my laptop. I'm not good with figuring out these things. That's why I hate electronics when they don't work. But I thought why can't I just put my SD card in the laptop? I swear, I tried this before and it didn't work. Anyway, tried it again last night, and how easy was that!!! I've always hooked the camera to the laptop.
Now I can show you my stamp quilt. Here it is,before I took it all apart.

Back to single squares.

Trimmed down and pinned together. Ready to start sewing.

Let's start sewing.

My assistant showing off our progress.

My assistant clipping apart all those little squares.

Assistant #2 catching a nap.

This is going to be a fun project.

Now here's all the new fabrics I bought on vacation. Get ready for several pics.








Here's a group of fabrics I'm thinking about using in a Grandmothers Flower Garden. I just love these.

My assistant's love getting in the pics.

Here's the quilt I showed Steve in a magazine on vacation. He really liked it so if we both like it, then I had to buy fabrics for it too.


Hope you have a nice weekend,
Until next time,
Deana

I finally have all the little stamps ripped apart, pressed, trimmed and pinned back together. I started stitching them back together Sat. Austin was here this weekend and wanted to help so I gave him a pair of small scissors and he set down and clipped away. He had fun and it really helped me out.
I would show you pics that I took, but my camera and laptop are mad at each other and not speaking. After screwing around with both of them, I think I have a bad cable to my camera. Now I've got to figure out where to find one of them.
I hate electronics!!!
I am left with showing you pics that I had on my camera with my last posting.
Here's a pic of some fabric I bought at this wonderful quilt store. Let me correct that. I meant pharmacy. Yes, pharmacy! When I was in Pennsacola at Needle Delights, I asked where I could find fabrics. They told me A & E Pharmacy has fabrics. What! A pharmacy carrying fabrics?? But it was on my way back to Gulf Shores so I figured why not stop by. GO MY GOSH! You wouldn't believe how much fabric they have. It reminded me of the old time dime stores we had as a kid. But 1/2 the building was all fabrics and crafts. The store was full of customers and had a great sale going. As I brought a cart full of fabric bolts to the cutting counter, another customer looked at me, smiled and said "You are going to be in sooo much trouble" I laughed and said "No I'm not! My husband's out deep sea fishing. He doesn't care what I buy." Good thing!! I came home with 62 different pieces of fabric. Most of it I got at 30%,40% and 50% off. They said they have this sale once a year, so lucky me!! I took pics of my stash but those are waiting to be uploaded for the camera. I do however have a picture of the fabrics I bought to make a table cover for when we're camping. Just a bunch of fun beachy fabrics.

Aren't they great? I also bought fabrics for a quilt I saw in a magazine when we were driving to Gulf Shores. I showed it to Steve and he made a comment that it was really neat. I bought the vintage fabrics for it. As far as all the other fabrics....Well, their just for stash.
I want to show you a very cool thing from vacation. Steve and I were walking along the beach when we came upon a sea turtle nest. It was roped off and had a sign posted. As I was taking a picture of the area, a lady with Share the Shore came up to check the nest. We got to talking and I went back two days later when they were going to excavate the nest. They had 75 baby turtles hatch out a couple of days earlier and were going to see if there were any that hatched but had not been able to dig to the top of the sand. There was also 2 marine biologist from the University of Florida that documented everything. 4 eggs did not hatch. I wish I could have been there to see the hatch. They talked about having to "herd" them down to the water. If you have never seen a video of a turtle nest hatching, you should look on the web. Their amazing to watch.




I'd also like show you something else we found on the beach.
THANKS BP!!!!!

I must say the beaches were very clean. We saw a few, what I'd call command centers. And some areas that were being cleaned. But all in all the beaches were wonderful. It's very obvious they will be cleaning beaches for years to come. The areas that we did see the tar balls, we also saw tar balls in the water.
But I leave tonight with a postive picture of what we should be seeing at the beach.

Until next time.
Deana

It's been a long time....

since I posted. Here's what I've been up to. We went on a much needed vacation to Gulf Shores, Alabama for 2 weeks the end of Sept. We had a great time. Steve did alot of salt water fishing, stocking our freezer in the camper for the next year.
I did a lot of stitching. And I do mean alot. Just being away from home gave me that relaxation I was needing.
Some days I spent the entire day at our camper, stitching, taking a bike ride or just sitting outside enjoying the campground.

One night Steve made the comment "In all the years we've been coming down here we have never seen an alligator anywhere in the campground" (except the lake) Then the next day I took a bike ride down the main road of the campground and see what I found in the drainage ditch.

You can see the concrete culvert to see how close I was to them.

I guess they just stay in the ditches. As you hear about other animals, Leave them alone, and they'll leave you alone. I had to take a picture of this sign at the swings though. Something about kids swinging beside Do Not Feed or Aggravate the Alagators sign, I found funny.

One day I took a really long bike ride down a trail that when thru the back areas of the campground.


I found some really large pine cones to try to make a wreath like the one hanging in the activity center at the campground.
Here's theirs, I hope mine come out this nice.

I took a stamp quilt that my mom had started with me to redo. Her eyesight was not as good as it once was when she was putting it together so the sizes of the squares were not the same, making the seam not match. I have all the blocks ripped apart and am in the process of trimming them down a shade so they are all the same size. Pinning them together in pairs. I have not started stitching them back together yet. I stitched on Mermaids to the point I didn't have a thread that needed so had to wait to buy it, I also started a Christmas ornament. I also stitched on one of my primitive embroidery pieces.
I still need to upload pics from my camera to show you so I'll close for now, leaving you with one of the sunsets I took from the pier.

Deana

A Fun Start To The Day.

Hi to all,
I'm still working on my sewing room. It's just going sooo slow. I pulled out all my fabrics this weekend and sorted them on the spare room bed. Here's a pic of the piles.

I've finished putting them away in my fabric cabinet and a chest of drawers that are now both full to the brim. 1 problem. I still haven't sorted the solid color fabrics and can't figure out where to put them for easy access. At least I don't have as many of the solids as I do the prints.

Over the weekend I took what I had on the walls in my sewing room and hung my Prairie Schooler ABC's. No picture yet because no one can see the mess they surround. I will get pictures posted when the room is finished.

A few days ago we awoke to these mushrooms in our front yard. I've been watching and taking pics each day. It's been fun watching how much they change and so quickly. Since they are right out our kitchen window, it has been a fun start to the day.
Pic #1 Day One
Early in the morning.

Pic #2
Later the same day.

Pic #3 Day 2

Pic #4 Day 3
Almost forgot to take the picture today. This was taken after dark.

They are still there but not really changing now. Guess they'll start drying up soon.

I've been stitching on my monthly stitch a long. I've finished August and am working on Sept. I have been stitching on Mermaids a little but not alot of progress there. I pulled my lighthouse sampler out of the rotation basket the other night and am stitching on block #4. There are 9 blocks total. I didn't realize I haven't taken updated pictures of these so will do so for next posting..... It just dawned on me, most everything I'm stitching on are multiples. Houses of Hawk Run Hollow are blocks of 12 house. Light House Sampler blocks of 9. The Prairie Schooler alphabet are 27.(26 letters and 1 extra). Monthly stitch a long, 12. Could it be my OCD????
Until next time, keep stitching.
Deana

Another Sad Day

Monday, Sept 6th,2010 Steve's mom, passed away.
The funeral was Thurs.afternoon.
After my aunt passing the end of April, mom the end of June and now my mother in law, I hope this is it for a long,long time.
It has been such a stressful summer,actually the last year. We have had many good friends that have been there for us with prayers, cards, flowers and visits. We appreciate and are very thankful for all of you.
Steve is going to work tonight so will be sleeping some today, I am hoping to work in my sewing room today. I'm still trying to get it organized with the sewing and quilting stuff from moms. I bought fabric for a really cute Halloween wall hanging about a month ago and have not had the chance to start it. Then I decided if I bought more of the same fabric, I could do an assembly line of 3 of them. One for Angie,Sabrina and myself.
Needless to say I have done nothing since my last post,so the Prairie Schooler ABC's have not been framed,the frames haven't even been assembled or painted yet.
I have ordered a couple of patterns for Needle Delights and think they may come today, I'm excited to receive them. They are the Halloween issue and the Christmas ornament issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. The other one is a cute Halloween design called Olga. I can't think of the designer and am too lazy to get up and look at my list, but it's a primitive Halloween cat sampler.
That's about it for today. Hope your weekend is an enjoyable one with some stitching involved.
Deana

A New Look

Good Morning,
After messing with my blog yesterday and this morning, I now have a new look to it. One simple thing, to change the picture at the top of my blog,became a huge ordeal. I tend not to change the layout and such because I always have to fight with it. Does anyone else have the same problem?
Yesterday Steve and I took a nice motorcycle ride around the Mark Twain Lake area with another couple. Stopped and ate lunch at The Rustic Pine restaurant and it was very good. Best onion rings I've ever had. After we got home Steve took a nap since he had worked the night before. I spent some time sorting and ironing fabric scraps I brought home from moms. Since ironing isn't one of my favorite things to do, I set down and did some stitching on my Lizzie Kate August Stamp.
Then just a quickie supper. I cooked a pork roast Friday, so I shredded it, added BBQ sauce, baked a couple of potato's and made stuffed spuds. Add sour cream and shredded cheese. Yum!
I'm really feeling like stitching on something fallish, but keep telling myself, I don't need to start anything new. But I already have everything I need for it, so why not? The last couple of mornings have that Fall feel to them. Maybe that's why.
I really need to work in my sewing room today. I have the frame mouldings we cut down for The Prairie Schooler ABC's that I have stitched. Maybe I'll put the frames together, paint them and get them finished up.
I guess I should start breakfast and wake Steve up so will say TA TA! for now.
Deana

Hi Everyone,
Hope your having a good week. Just one more day and then I have 3 days off. Yipee!
I finished R is for Rabbit the other night so here's a pic of it.

It looks really wavy but it straightens out easily with my hand, just won't stay that way long enough for me to get the picture of it.
We cut down frame moulding the other night so now I think I have 4 or 5 Prairie Schooler ABC's to frame.
Just finished my Stitch A Long for July this morning. After work tonight I pulled together the threads for August. I fell behind after mom passed away. I am hoping to get ahead so if things get hectic during Oct, Nov and Dec. I can have them done before the end of the year.

Steve worked the State Fair Fire Dept. mid August and the fire dept was having a raffle as a fund raiser. Steve bought $20.00 worth of raffle tickets and was the lucky winner of the cute Fire Truck pedal car. You don't know how long I have wanted a Fire Truck pedal car. We have quite a collection of fire dept stuff, so it will be so cute sitting with the it.

Here's a new pic of Sage with one of her many toys. My house looks like it did when the girls were growing up. These "kids" don't pick up their toys either.

And Buddy roaming around trying to find just the right spot to hide his toy. He put it in 3 different places, each time he just wasn't satisfied with the spot so he would go back and get it and try another place. Finally after roaming around for a while, he just gave up and got up on the couch and laid down with it.

And here's Emmie peeking out from under the love seat. She's the only one small enough to get under there. I think she likes to hide to get away from Buddy sometimes when she doesn't feel like playing. The toy in the floor is one of Sage's oldest and most favorite toys. It's a dinosaur I bought for her at a flea market. She chewed the head off, poor thing, and has so much mending done to it.
As you can see it even has had it's fur pulled out. But Sage loves it so much, I just can't bare to throw it away.

After a busy evening, I'm going to go sit down and do a little stitching now.
Have a good weekend and stitch, stitch, stitch.

Deana