Two Posts In Twenty Four Hours

Happy New Year to all, I know its not the new Year yet but just in case I cannot come back to wish you all greetings I will do it this evening.

I have to show you what RJ made for me, this is beautiful, the stitching is positively beautiful, the thought and work she put into this charming Locket is amazing
I had to go buy a dress to wear it with, it is worthy of a new outfit of course.
(so sorry RJ I could not get a better photo)

I tried my best to get a good photo, outside it was so cold my camera would not click, I had to do the best I could inside, this photo does not show the Honeycomb that is stitched on this beauty, so sorry RJ, I promise everyone I will take a better photo when it is nicer outdoors, it was only -1 degree today for a high in our area.
Do you see the little Believe charm? that is going on my gold charm bracelet, I just love this little charm it is so sweet.
RJ also sent me a super cute snowman, he is adorable, I will add him to my snowman collection which I put out after Christmas, of course this is the first snowman of the year, he is sitting with my Believe sign right now in the bedroom, he will be moved out to the living room after Monday.
I am so Blessed to have so many lovely friends here in Blog Land, I have been lifted by your comments and friendship at my saddest times, thank-you to all of you who comment and who email me.

Blessings
Catherine
 

A nEw Year Is Upon Us

I never make New Year resolutions, I never keep them.
I do plan on trying to get fitter by doing Yoga, Mike my most wonderful Husband bought me a book on Yoga, at first he was afraid to give it too me, he thought he was insulting me, I told him no I really need this little push, I am ready to do some stretching and other things that make me hurt, I tried Yoga at a business expo once I was so sore the next day, so I will give it a try it is for the mind body and soul.

I was trying to take photos of our tree in the living room, I just could not get a great photo, no matter what I di, I tried in the day and at night, the night photo looks better then the day, it has been very gloomy around here, snow and cold, it is very cold here 5 degrees below zero with a wind chill of -20 degrees, brrrr.

I stood way back and way close the camera did not want to take a good photo, I am not sure why at night the photo made the tree look pink, maybe something wrong with the camera.

I took a photo of one of the Santa displays I have out, this was the last Christmas Photo the camera took.

The most beautiful and wonderful RJ over at http://stitchingfriendsforever2.blogspot.com sent me this beautiful Star, RJ also sent me a beautiful Stitched Locket with a Believe Charm and a super sweet Snowman, she is such a sweet and generous Lady, Thank-you RJ.

( I promise I will take photos of the Snowflake and other gist RJ sent me in the daylight outside.

I did this stocking for Mike way back in the muddle 90s, it was from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine, I never did one for me maybe this year I will.

I have been stitching the last couple of days, I finished my Scattered Seed Sampler Armchair needle keeper, and started a Brenda Gervais Pin Feathers, I just love this design, I have started a Blackbird Design and will show photos tomorrow.

I hope you are all well and enjoying this Holiday Season

Happy New Year
Catherine

He has arrived Hallelujah

May this Blessed Season find you happy and loved.

Merry Christmas
Catherine

Busy Time Of The Year

Thank-you to all your comments on my last post, I am so sorry if I did not email you a thank-you, some of you do not have a email to respond too, thank-you for your kindness.

I have been very busy cooking baking and making ornaments this past week.
I need to make fifteen before this Sunday, I am on a roll, they take about an hour and one half to make.
I love the way they sparkle in the light.
So far I have eight done, I will be sending some of them off tomorrow and hopefully meet the others at Church soon, to give them their gifts.

I found this sign at a second hand store I just love it. I do Believe and hope you all do also, Santa in my eyes is someone who is kind generous not just with gifts but time and kind words, he does exist.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and Happy Hanukkah To You

Blessings
Catherine

Cold Cold & More Cold

Happy Holidays everyone: It is so cold here it was only 14 degrees at 06:00, brrrrrr, even the dog who loves the outdoors could not get in the house fast enough.
Thank-you for all your kind comments and Prayers on my up coming test, some of you I could respond too some had no emails so thank-you from my heart.
So I have been thinking, I am where God wants me to be, if I get bad news I will handle it, enough of that.

I did some stitching this week but really screwed up I did not measure half-way as I was suppose to but its an easy fix I will stitch the other half and cut and paste the design, I am determined to make this work, I did not see the mistake until I was finished stitching the one side as you can see,  so checking once is good checking twice is really good but checking and counting three times is the best, I learned my lesson.

See where the pink pen is? That is the half way mark of the fabric I should have counted down about 34 stitch's, silly me.

I stitched this last weekend I just need to block it, I did not take a photo of the designer so sorry, this will be my mug rug after finishing the back. The stitch's are not very even, its okay it will get coffee spilled on it.

I want to show you my life saver, Mike bought this latte machine for me about five years ago, it is now acting up, Breville has a market on the fixing of this thing, it would cost about 300.00 and up to fix it, I am hoping it survives a couple of more years, I look forward to my Latte every morning, its kind of a ritual.

This is the grinder it is almost twenty years old, not a thing wrong with it so far, so this morning I was grinding fresh beans, I was thinking, what happens if one of these breaks down, I will not spend the money for a new Latte machine, I will not buy another grinder, I will learn to drink coffee from my percolator I still have one it old very old and still works, I looked at Keurig, not for me, holy moly the cups are expensive.

 

I am decorating the house this week I am not going over board this year, I hate taking down or maybe I am just getting too old for this, naw just kidding.

Its time for lunch and a little stitching, until next time my Dear Friends.

Blessings
Catherine

I finally constructed a stitched piece

Hello Everyone: I finally finished constructing a design I stitched on November 22, I am so happy with this adorable design, the Heart Pinkeep will hang on my tree for Christmas.
I used a light pad to align the fabric and linen to get the right finish.
I have had problems aligning the fabric sometimes, I thought that the light would help and it did.
I stuffed them both with crushed walnut shells,

 

I had a ball at the Christ Child Luncheon yesterday, we sold all out of the baked goods, I make a donation but came home with no goodies, I will be baking for Christmas soon, so no goodies to tempt me.

 

I have some news which may or may not be good, I need to see a ENT I have a large mass in my throat, please pray for me that it is only a gland or thyroid  problem and not a tumor, so sorry for the bad news, I will be going in on the 18th for a consultation then they will decide if I get the camera down the throat, ewwwww, I am being optimistic about this, whatever God hands me I will handle with Grace.

 

Time to stitch, then Mass at 5:oo and my date night out with Mike.

 

Blessings

To you All

Happy Holidays

Catherie

A Stitch And A Complete Finish

Happy Holidays to all who celebrate, it has been unusually warm here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota, I half expected to see loads of snow on the ground by now, no way Jose, after Mass on Saturday I noticed the grass is growing and Mike already wintertized the lawn mower, oh well its still green and makes me happy.

I did stitch the Adam and Eve Design last weekend and constructed it on Tuesday. I like Tammy Blacks Designs, they are so primitive looking, they come with all the things in the kit to finish except the stuffing.

I started this on Saturday evening finished the stitching on Sunday. So sorry about the wrinkles.

There was wool for making an apple in the kit, at first I did not want to make the apple but gave in I think it is adorable, so happy I did finish it.

I stuffed the top with a little stuffing and the rest with crushed walnut shells, I needed that weight for the drum to stand up, it was a stinker getting the top and bottom circles to fit just right.

I plan on starting on another project from http://scatteredseedsamplers.blogspot.com it is Hearts Content Armchair Pinpoke, I really like this design, I seem to poke my needles in the arm of my chair every once in a while and want to stop doing that, I do use magnetic needle minders but seem to forget they are there sometimes.

I will be constructing the  Sweet Gatherings Pinkeep and Heart Needlekeep tonight after we get home from Church.

We have to set up for the Christ Child Luncheon today, tomorrow is the luncheon, we serve over 200 people, the money goes to programs that are needed, I run the Sweet Shop, I have been doing this for 13 years now, we usually raise above 1300.00 dollars from the selling of cookies cakes pies canned goods and many other yummy donated baked goods.
I will post photos of the dining room they decorate for the Christmas Season for one day then everything comes down and goes upstairs into the main body of the Church for the Christmas Season.
Mike will be setting up the Nativity Scene outside the Church, we donated the figurines and the building about five years ago.

Well its time to do some stitching my dear friends.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the Christmas Season
Blessings To All

Catherine
 

Happy Thanksgiving And Some Stitching Updates

First of All Happy Blessed thanksgiving, it is a beautiful time of the year to give thanks, it is fall here in Minnesota, cold today a balmy 23 degrees, but I am still thankful for the spring we had, the summer and of course the upcoming Holidays.
I feel Blessed to be alive and healthy, I am finally over my pneumonia, I am positively getting the pneumonia shot next week.
We are taking our Families out to Thanksgiving Buffett, its not that we do not want to have them over but all the yelling during the football games and the prep and clean=up has gotten to me, so my wonderful Husband foots the bill, actually its a lot cheaper to take them all out then to buy two turkeys, all the fixin's and of course the dessert.
Yesterday one of the Catholic Church's in our area had a pie auction, I made two Snickers pies and one Milky Way Dark Chocolate pie, they were judged I am not sure where my standing is but hope I did well, we went to dinner to Mikes sisters place of work, I had chili and fries, Mike had hamburger steak.

Anyhoo here is what I did on my ISHW I received this little sweet pattern from the beautiful Frances over at http://asymphonyofstitches.blogspot.com I made a few changes, one I used a little darker threads and fabric, I also wanted to make it a smaller ornament to hang on the tree, I did the ornaments on the tree in a French knot instead of buttons,  I am hanging the tree on the bottom of the fabric instead of at the end of the wording, I will show a photo of the put together ornament to you very soon.

Next is the Scattered Seeds Sampler Sweet Gatherings Pinkeep and Heart Needlekeep Wrist Companion, this is from a kit series sent out four times a year, I am in love with this design, I have a hutch with nothing but Scattered Seed Samplers designs, I like Tammy's designs they are just the perfect primitive style for me, I will need to take a photo of the hutch soon.

 

I had started working on the Cookies but had to rip out the little house and the S due to I pulled out the wrong size fabric from my fabric closet, so here it is sadly.

I will return to it after I cool down a little.

 

 

I have been looking for a DMC Thread Color Card, you can only buy the ones with the paper printed colors of threads in the USA, I went to the DMC online, they also have the Golden Skein Box's on sale this week for only $39.99  regularly $115.00 Mike bought me back in September 2016, it is a beauty.

This is my next project, as you can see I am doing another Scattered Seed Sampler, I love anything Adam and Eve, I have never done a project with Adam and Eve, I have admired all the Blog Stitcher's that have done Adam and Eve projects, I will start this tonight, I have no prep for tomorrow so its a good night to relax.

I am asking you who believe in Prayer to please include all who are ill in your daily Prayers or just anytime Prayers please.

Have a Beautiful and Blessed Thanksgiving Day

Blessings
Catherine

 

New Blog Design

Found this fabulous photo on Pinterest, please feel free to copy from my Blog this snowy photo.
I will post my progress on my Cookies tomorrow.

Blessings
Catherine

My Finish

I have been busy doing some mending cleaning and lots of not so fun stuff, we have been getting things ready for three new patio doors and a couple of windows for the front of the house, Anderson Windows are the company we are going with what a great deal we got, its like getting one patio door for free with the deal we got, we will replace the rest of the windows next spring, only because I do not want all that work done in the cold weather brrrrr.
Anyhoo I did manage to get my Blackbird Designs Pin Pillow constructed, I love this design, I use the called for fabric and threads, lucky for me I had all the colors in my stash, specialty threads are not cheap, most of the colors came from a kit from a retreat I took a few years ago.

 

So sorry the photos are so bad, it evening here, the lightning is not so great.

 

I finished another design it is a Mill Hill  Santa, this is the Seafaring Santa, he is called a I was about half way finished when I posted last, now  need to construct him, what the heck happened to my letters they changed, does anyone know why this happens? if you do please let me know.

 

 

 

 

I will start working on Sugar Cookies from The Cricket Collection, I am using an  white opal, it has sparkly threads in the fabric, I will use the called for threads.

Time to walk the dog and get a little exercise myself, I hope you who are in cold weather stay warm and those of you in warm weather please send some our way.

Blessings
Catherine
 

Good News Bad News Some Stitching

Hello to all my faithful followers: Thank-you for your kind thoughts and prayers on Michaels healing and skin graft.
The good news is he did not have to have a skin graft, we went to the hospital on the morning of his scheduled surgery, he was prepped for the or, I asked the nurse if the surgeon would look at Mikes hand before putting him  under she said she would ask, now as we were waiting for him to come in to see Mike the resident doctor came in, she unnerved me with her attitude, she hat the anesthesiologist with her, I said the surgeon was coming in to see Mikes hand first she rudely advised me that they would look at his hand  in the OR, nope I said he will see the surgeon first before being wheeled into the OR, I stood my ground and won, after the surgeon looked at Mikes hand he said no surgery was needed, I want to thank-you all for praying for Mike and your kind thoughts.

The bad news I ended up in bed for three days in Mexico, I had a cold thanks to a boorish woman who coughed on me  the pig not only coughed once but three times, she never even said so sorry, then I cam home to find out it turned into pneumonia, I am finally recovered thanks to the creepy medications the doctor gave me, I am finally feeling good enough to post on my Blog this evening.
Two of the days I was in bed it rained so not all was lost in bed.

So I did get some stitching done while recovering, I did not stitch in Mexico due to the great weather and  the food was so good.

I started this Blackbird Design My Pin Keep  ( Reward Of Merit) a couple of days before vacation, I was at retreat with a great bunch of ladies, we had loads of fun and of course lots of stitching.

So sorry about the dark photos it has been very gloomy here, no sun.

Then I started this  Mill Hill Seafaring Santa it is the Boatswain pronounced Boatsin, odd how its written and how it sounds.

I just need to add a new Santa to my tree every year, this kit  includes beads which I love playing with.

I will check out your blogs tomorrow its time for bed, I am a little tired this evening and need my rest.

Blessings
To You All
Catherine

Many Things Have Been Happening

Blessings to all my wonderful followers and the ones that stop by to take a peek.
It has been very busy here at the old homestead, of course you all know Mike had second and third degree burns on his right hand and arm, he is doing well, healing is slow in one spot on his forefinger, however the rest is healing so good ( I know I know my writing would make an English teacher have a coronary) but he is feeling better but and its a big one he needs to have a skin graft on the 26th of October a day after we come back from Mexico, poor guy it just will not stop for him, we truly believe he is being tested, he will survive, I know he will he is strong in his faith and feels this is part of the life God had planned for him, as a Catholic he reads the Bible he is on his seventh reading, amazing I cannot get past the first five pages, some think Catholics do not read the Bible but we grew up this way, its just that it was a private thing for us as growing up.
Anyhoo please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

I was at a wonderful small three day retreat this past week-end, I had so much fun, we have cooking teams for the meals we spend about 10 minutes in the kitchen preparing and 15 after dinner cleaning up, cheaper then ordering  delivery.

I taught a class on making small snowflake ornaments, they are about an inch across but so cute, can be hung in a window or hung on a small tree. They really sparkle when they are in the sun.

I started a design it is My Pink Rose Pinkeep from Blackbird Designs, it was a little tricky at first due to getting used to the dots on the fabric, I love this design.

 

 

 So sorry about the wrinkles.

I will be starring a new Scattered Seeds Sampler on vacation, I stitch in the late afternoon when the sun is at its hottest, this is Hearts Content Armchair Pinpoke  I really like this design, I guess I am really excited to get started on it maybe on the plane.

Tammy Black does such a nice job designing and putting kits together, she chooses vintage looking fabric.

This is another of Scattered Seed Samplers, I stitched these earlier this year and finally found the time to put them together, I used  pillow stuffing on these two, again Tammy does a fabulous job of coordinating colors and fabrics.

 

  The above is Pins & Needles Pinpoke, she even sent the silver needle to attach to the Pinpoke.

This is Come Dance With Me Pinkeep,  I did finish them both last week but did a different finish of the trim, from what Tammy had suggested.

Now I want to show you what I bought from http://happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.com, I had looked at her blog and found the most adorable bag, I had to order it, I love bees and this bag is beautiful, she sent the cutest cards along with the order.

Look at the leather tag so adorable, this bag is an amazing bag it is perfect in everyway, the swing is amazing.

Look at the cute cards and the Bee scissor fob.

This is a good size bag for small projects. Thank-you Lynn.

Now the most beautiful gift arrived in the mail, we are a group of people in this Blogland that surpass amazing, I came home from an appointment with Mike and was very down, crying a lot that day he was told he needed to have a skin graft, when we picked up the mail there was a package from Frances she is over at http://asymphonyofstitches.blogspot.com, Frances is am amazing and beautiful Lady, she has touched my heart, I am overwhelmed by her generosity, as I sit here with tears in my eyes I feel so lucky to call Frances my Friend, God Bless you Frances for what you sent me, you do not know how it has made me feel.

You see Frances sent me some amazing and beautiful gifts, these two are from a visit she made to Rome, she even had them Blessed there, ( I am one Lucky Lady)

This little booklet is amazing and beautiful,  I am thrilled with it, Thank-you Frances.

 

 This  Bookmark is beautiful, I am already using it with my daily reading it is a lovely gold and light brown leather, my heart is touched by your sweet and lovely generosity, you are am amazing lady Frances, thank-you form my heart and soul, your gifts that day when I arrived home will never be forgotten.

She also sent along two very sweet Prairie Schooler designs, which I will be stitching while on vacation.

 

 This Lizzie Kate is one that was on my to buy list, again her generosity  is amazing.

 

 

 So sorry about the photos today I just did not have the right lighting, I love bee's and any farm animal, these are perfect for me, thank-you again Frances.
Please stop over to her Blog and see the different trees she puts up for the seasons, they are amazing.

God Bless You Frances.

Its time to pack my Dear Friends, I will post when I come back from vacation.

Blessings
Catherine