Failure To Post

I must let everyone know my failure to post has been due to being very busy at times and just not in the mood at other times.
This has just been a very difficult year. Since my last posting, much has been going on. The kids came home for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed the company and a nice dinner. Steve and I did go shopping on Black Friday. I usually avoid the day, but Steve offered so I took him up on it.
Dec. 6th we lost our little pom, Buddy, he was fine one day, playing, acting normal, then the next day he was very sick. The vet said he had a sever bladder infection. By the second day he needed surgery, and 2 days later passed away on the 6th. We just got him in July and was only 2 years old. We loved him very much and miss his little face. Then a week later our other pom, Molly was diagnosed with Cancer on her lymph nodes. She seems to be feeling good, the nodes are extremely swollen, but she doesn't seem to feel it. As long as she feels good we will keep her with us and deal with the other as it comes.
Last Sunday, Angie, Sabrina and Austin came in so we could make holiday treats. Here's the results of 8 hrs. in the kitchen.



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Angie came up with the ideas for the mice and snowmen on the stick for Austin to take to school for his kinder garden class party. Their so cute. We made marsh mellow snowmen on a stick with mini M&M's and a chocolate covered pretzel hat. The mice are candy kiss, cherry dipped in chocolate, sliced almond ears. We had fun making them.

Holy Cow!.........Just looked outside, It's snowing like crazy! We've received about 4 inches over night and now it's really coming down. I don't really like the snow and cold, but it is really pretty falling.
I've quickly grabbed the camera to get some pictures of our wonderful neighbor out clearing all our driveways and the street. We live on a dead end street and most times don't see a snowplow until the 2nd or 3rd day. This morning they came down our street and cleared the way, but blocking in the cars and driveways. Now Dan (our neighbor) is out plowing all 11 driveways and unburrowing the cars and trucks. What a great guy.



Earlier this morning when Steve came home from work, I let Sage out to play in the snow. Here's some fun pictures of her. Dogs seem to get sooo excited in the snow. I wish I knew what they were thinking.



Here's the little princess in her holiday dress staying in where it's warm and cozy. Besides, the snow is deeper that she is tall.

Here's our big tree all ready for tomorrow when the kids come in.

And the pencil tree I have with all my cross stitch ornaments. Plus my Christmas village in the jelly cabinet.

On the stitching scene, I finished Austin's Christmas ornament just in time.

And one I did for my cross stitch tree this year.

I have not finished anything else for so long. I did finish Mermaids a good while back and had not posted the picture of it. There's a close up of the mermaids that I did a little changing on. I used the petite beads for eyes and white petite beads for their pearl necklaces instead of french knots.


I hope after Christmas I will have a little more free time for stitching.
I have this next week off work due to our yearly shutdown between Christmas and New Years. I'm looking forward to the days to be at home and maybe get some stitching and sewing done. Tuesday I get to have an injection in my back, I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm hoping for some relief with the back pain.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Until next time, keep stitching.
Deana

Good Morning,
I have several pics to show you this time. I've been taking more than usual.
I haven't shown you everything I bought on vacation so here are some of my purchases.
I stopped by Tuesday Morning in Gulf Shores and found 4 skeins of some pretty cool sock yarn at a discount, which is always good.

Steve had some test run this last Tues. and it took hours. So I started knitting a pair of socks while waiting for him. All his test came back normal so that's very good news.

I wanted to show you my finds at WalMart. They're rubbermaid with handles that lock on the sides. I really like them and bought 2 of 3 different sizes. There so nice for keeping projects in. I picked them up while on vacation also,and I haven't looked to see if they have them at our local WalMart yet, but if they have them, I can see more in my sewing room.

I finished a pair of handwarmers last night.

Last weekend the our crew got together for Angie and Darrells birthday dinner. Darrell wanted a certain kind of chocolate cake so Angie made this for him. I can't remember what the name of it was, but it was something like a double double chocolate. Chocoholics would love it.

A couple of weeks ago Steve, Sabrina and Brian wanted to go check out their deer hunting area to take a look around. I went along for something to do and for the 1st time in my life, I rode a 4 wheeler.
Austin wanted to give me a ride on his 4 wheeler so here's one shot with just a little of me. I'm not much for having my picture taken. He's a very good driver and we had lots of fun.

Steve out and about on Brian's 4 wheeler.


Another shot of Austin, he's soooo cute.


And one of Sabrina, Brian and Austin. They go 4 wheeling together alot.

While we were out there, I took a pic of this fuzzy woolie worm. Is he a sign of a mild winter? or a hard winter? I've never understood that.

And in the middle of the field was this old well. I thought it was pretty neat.

Until next time, enjoy the weekend.
Deana

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