It's Been A While

Good Morning to All,
I'm finally back. I've just been in a "funk" since mom passed away. Thanks to all of you for your kind words,and prayers. Since my last posting lots has been going on. I'm continuing to clean and sort moms house. There hasn't been alot of free time to do "fun stuff". I haven't picked up a cross stitch needle since mom has been gone. Just couldn't get into it. I have been quilting on a Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt that mom started decades ago and never finished. Here's a pic of it.

What free time I have have, I've spent working on this. This has always been my favorite quilt design. I haven't quilted for about 30 years. Since discovering x stitch, I really wasn't interested in getting into any other craft. Mom had several pieced quilts started from years ago, but she hadn't worked on them much since she started doing the stamped emborderery quilt tops. She also did all her own hand quilting. No machine quilting for her. I think that made all her quilts even more special. It kind of weird because I haven't had the interest to make a quilt in the past, loved hers but not interest in doing one myself. Now I want to finish her tops and quilt them. Maybe she passed a little quilting bug onto me as she passed in hope they got finished.
I went to our stitching get together Thurs. night. I hadn't been there either since mom passed. It was a small group of us,but very fun. I think I needed that little kick in the butt. I did get back to stitching on my Prairie Schooler ABC.
Denise, you are so funny. I always enjoy seeing you, no one can be in a crappy mood around you for long. You make everyone have fun.
Two weeks ago we added a new member to the family.

His name is Buddy.

Notice the saying on the rug.
He's about 2 years old. I had one of our managers at work tell me his daughter wanted to give him away. He is full pomerainian,but his fur was trimmed down because he stayed out side most of the time. I'm anxious to see what he coat will look like when it grows out. He's just a love bug and between him and Emmie, one or the other, or both are on my lap when I'm sitting down. He has not been nuetered yet so nexted Monday it's off the the doggy hospital for his little snip-snip. And to top everything off Emmie is not spayed and in heat. So I have to keep them seperated if they are not right with me. Buddy thinks he's in love. We keep telling him Emmie is his sister not his girlfriend but he doesn't seem to listen.
I have more to tell but will need to stop for now.
I will try not to be so long posting from now on.
Deana

Mom

Not much to say today. Mom passed away Thurs morning. She was in the dining room at the nursing home when she slumped over. They took her back to her room and called us to let us know we needed to come. Steve, Angie, Sabrina and I left work immediately but about 1/2 way to Moberly, Hospice called my husband and said she was gone. Steve had stopped by to see her last Monday and she made the comment "If I'm going to die, I want to go fast!" She certainly did that. It's been a rough 8 months for her since her stroke, so at least she's in peace now. Sometimes that helps me,sometimes it doesn't. The only thing that would make things better for me is to have her back at her home, baking her apple pies and sending one home with us. Since she lived just around the corner from us, I have to go by her house everytime we go somewhere. It's hard to drive by and think she will not be there anymore. Her funeral is tomorrow so I just need to get thru Monday and try to keep myself together which has not been going so well so far. I appreciate the cards and calls from everyone. Your thought and prayers give me comfort knowing you care.
Deana

House # 7 Complete

Hi All,
I finished house # 7 on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow last night. I'm not getting much time to stitch right now. Mom is getting worse and she spent a few days in the hospital week before last. She is now back at the nursing home and is back to eating and drinking. I am in the process of cleaning and boxing her house. We're not sure what we are going to do with it yet, so I'm just sorting, trashing the junk, boxing and labeling the rest.
It doesn't seem like I've stitched much this month but I decided to keep track of the number of stitches I've done since the 1st of June, and it's surprising how many I've managed to get in. Most of my stitching is happening later in the evening after I've give up for the night, and just have to set down. After working on moms house yesterday, I decided it was time to set and stitch so after I cleaned up dinner and Steve left for work, I spent the entire evening stitching. How nice. After I finished house #7, I pulled together the threads for house #8. But, I think I'm going to put it aside for a while now and pick something from my rotation. Maybe Mermaids from (I think) Little House Needleworks. i feel like something "beachy".
We were to leave this Friday on vacation to the gulf, but with moms condition, we decided we better stick around home so we cancelled and hope we can still take one later. I was already for a visit to Needle Delights in Pensacola but guess my list will just get longer.
Steve had to work Sat. and yesterday so his Father's Day will be celabrated this Sunday. The girls and guys will be here for a BBQ. We haven't had a get together since Mothers Day. It will be nice to have them here.
I'll take a picture of "houses" and try to post next time.
Guess that's all I have for now.
Have a good week and happy stitching.
Deana

Hi to all,
Hope you had a nice long holiday weekend. The weather was perfect here in Mid-Mo.
Saturday, my daughters and I had a garage sale and did very well. Love to sell those big items. After lugging all the boxes and tables around, my back was letting me know it. Sunday and Monday, I just took it easy. Spent some time stitching, along with a little laundry.
Here's a pic of the zebra finches. They are now 1 month old and still a little on the ugly side, but have flown the nest and are fluttering around the cage.

The two babies are one the top perch. Mom, Dad and brother are below.
We went camping last weekend for the 1st time this summer. Spent some time stitching on my Prairie Schooler ABC stitch a long. I started R is for Rabbit but realized last week, I skipped over Q is for Quilt. Since I have been working on them in order, I will have to go back and do it after I finish this one.

It looks a little warped but it's just the way the velcro is attached to the rod.
While we were camping, we did a little antiqueing. Here's a couple pairs of scissors, some trim and an old box of mending tread that I picked up in one of the shops.

Also, in one of my favorite shops I bought this cute beach bungalow birdhouse and a sign that says "Welcome To My Happy Place" which is what I call my outdoor room on our deck.



Also, here's my Yellow House Sampler that I have been stitching on when we are in the basement watching tv. I'm stitching it over 1 and the colors are so intense, I'm anxious to add more colors to it.

I just remembered yesterday that I hadn't sent my picture of my May Stitch a Long to Needle Delights. Got it sent just in time. That's the second time I had it stitched early in the month and almost forgot to send the pic.

I leave you with a couple of pics that shows when the kids are quiet, you'd better go look and see what their into.


WHAT!!! WE'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING!

Quaker Christmas Finished!

Looky,Looky! It was a long time coming but now it's finished.

I really like it. Now a plain frame or fancy? narrow or wide?
Need to think on it for a while. I did change the colors from what it called for. I just picked a green, red and gold DMC that I liked and thought looked good together.
Now that I have this finished, I have pulled out Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I have also been stitching on my May Stitch A Long. Sorry, no picture. Not much but the border done for now.

Here's what we have new since my last post. Our zebra finches had babies. They have laid numerous eggs but they have never hatched. This time 2 out of 4 hatched. One fell in the bottom of the cage a while back, and I don't think the other egg is going to hatch. You can see how ugly they are and how fast they change.
The 1st one hatched May 1st.

And the second one on May 3rd.




And here's momma sitting on the babies with dad an big brother looking on.

They orginally belonged to my daughter, then she passed them to me. She had bought a pair at the time,and they did hatch out one egg several months ago, before she gave them to me.
And here's a pic of Little Miss Emmie, tucked away for a nap.

Until next time,
Happy Stitching
Deana

Hi everyone,
I'm still around. Although I posted only once in April.I have been so busy with everything that I have fallen behind in computer "stuff". I've been on the computer long enough to check email and that's been about it. I love reading all the other blogs and need to get caught up on them.
Since my last posting, Steve and I had our 35th anniversary on the 12th. We have been trying to work on our basement bathroom. We are now putting up the molding, then comes the paint. We have torn up the old tile in his workshop and have about half the new tile down. We had a load of dirt delivered so I have been moving it to low areas of our yard with a wheel barrow. Not easy on the back so I'm doing a little at a time. The rain has not been very cooperative either with it. I've also been planting flowers. We got our screen room put up on the deck so I would like to spend some time just sitting and stitching out there.
We received a call a couple of days ago from the nursing home my mom is at, and due to her aggressive behavior, we are going to have to move her to another facility.
This is going to be hard for her and us because it will have to be in another town. The home where she is now, found one place that is about an hour away. We are going to see what else we can find in the next few days. It's hard to go see her now because she is so angry and just doesn't understand that she can't go home.
We have always went to see her every week but it has now been 3 weeks since our last visit. And actually it wasn't really a visit, but an hour and a half argument with her as to why we couldn't take her home. She can say some of the most hurtful things to us. I feel guilty because I can't do what she wants. Yet, there's nothing else we can do. She just doesn't understand and thinks we are being mean to her. She keeps saying she is fine and can take care of herself. And I think in her mind, she can take care of herself because of the things she says. She keeps telling us the nursing home says she doesn't need to be there and is ready to go home, which is obviously not true because she has use of her left hand and left leg. She has to have 24 hr. nursing care. It has been tough.

On a lighter side of life, I have been stitching on Quaker Christmas as much as possible. Here's the newest pic taken just this morning. I'm so close to finishing, that I just don't want to stitch on anything else.

I finished April Stitch A Long earlier this month and almost forgot to email my pic to Kathy at Needle Delights in Florida.
Here's a couple shots of it.


And I actually have a cross stitch piece completely finished and assembled. Although it wasn't finished in time for Easter. I really like the trim I used. Found it at JoAnn's Fabrics.
This picture looks like the piece is not square but it is.



I hope I can get some stitching time in this weekend. I have laundry, cleaning and more planting to do. I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.
Deana

Wonderful Weather

Today is just perfect weather. Sunny and warm. Spring is really showing itself this week. Everywhere you look there is color. The white pear trees,the red bud trees, magnolias, daffodils, the trees are popping out with green. Don't you just love this time of year? It has to be my favorite time. Then comes allergy season,just around the corner. I refuse to let it keep me inside so I will just take my allergy meds, and probably end up getting a steriod shot before it's over, but I will just go right on outside and thumb my nose at the allergies. I have a whole list of "To Do's" so I thought today would be a good time to start. Steve pressure washed the deck earlier this week, so I started this morning staining it. I'm so ready to get the screened-in gazabo up so I can get the deck all "prettied up". I had a massage this morning first thing, and on the way home stopped by the hardware store to pick up a few things. They are getting their plants in now and I couldn't resist buying a few flowers and tomatoes. One of the tomatoes I bought was called Homely Homer, ever heard of it? It says they are very ugly but have the best flavor. I had to buy one just to see what the tomatoes look like. I'm still stitching on Quaker Christmas. I did get Prairie Schooler R is for Rabbit started when our stitching group met.
I didn't make much progress though, so will get a pic posted a little later.
This is just a quick post while I take a break from staining the deck. My back needed a rest, along with some ibuprophen.
I leave you with a pic of the Divine Miss M.

And another one when I found her stealing my chapstick and playing in the flowerpot on the deck.

Have a wonderful Saturday,
Deana