Just One More Stitch

Kevin was in a car accident - Rachelle came home for a visit - I have lost my mind

2007-08-26T15:12:00.000-05:00

Kevin was a passager in a car driven by a friend. There were four guys in the car and they were on their way to a White Sox game last Monday. They were on Cline Avenue and the road was wet. The driver lost control of the car and hit the cement divider. The car bounced off of the cement divider and hit the steel guardrail. The car then flipped on the drivers side. The car went down the road on it's side and then hit the cement divider and went back and hit the steel guardrail. It then righted itself. Had the guardrail not held they would have plumeted down onto another street. They all walked away with minor injuries. The drivers shoulder popped out and he had surgery the next day. He is now at home and on the mend. Kevin had a bruised neck and his back was hurting him. He goes back to work tomorrow. In the midst of all of this Rachelle decides to come home for two days. We had to go and pick her up at the airport Saturday morning. With out of the flooding we had a hard time getting to O'hare Airport. Tomorrow morning she is taking the bus back to the airport. She got to visit with her friends and I am sure she will go back feeling better. I need a padded room and lots of meds. In my stitching world I have been working on my Big Toe Designs pattern and am moving right along. I am having trouble posting pictures right now, but as soon as think quiet down I will put more work into getting this done. I am wondering if my world will ever quiet down. I really need peace in my life right now. Does having children mean you will never be able to have peace???????????????????

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2007-08-20T15:24:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh. It will just not stop raining. I think that God told someone to build an ark and they ignored him. The basement has started to take in water at the bottom of the steps. I had to take a vacation day to stay home to vacuum up the water all day!!!!!!!!!!!
It is suppose to rain all week. I already called some one to come out but they cannot fix it until it stops raining. The backyard is starting to go underwater. This is unreal. If any one know of a dance to make it stop raining please start dancing.
When not vacuuming I was stitching. I was working on snowman ornaments. The pattern is Becky Boo's Let it Snow. They are so cute!!!!

The Weekend

2007-08-19T19:10:00.000-05:00

I went to House of Stitches on Saturday with Kay. They were having a Stash Exchange. It was fun. We ran into Sue and Amanda and Carol who were working there. Maybe next year I will do the Stash Exchange. While at HOS I ordered my frame for the Snappers. I haven't finished added the snaps yet but I thought that I would do that when I received the frame. I am still working on the My Big Toe Designs pattern. It is the Building Block - Love. I am making it for my mother-in-law for Christmas. This is going pretty fast and it looks like I might actually get it done for the Christmas that I want it for. Tony will look at something that I am stitching on and ask who it is for. I will tell him and then tell him the holiday that I am trying to get it done for and he always says what year???????? So hopefully it will be Christmas 2007. There are so many things that I want to be stitching on right now but I am determined to get this done for Christmas this year. I also bought the Cirque des Cercles from Ink Circles. I am going to do it as the pattern shows with the black fabric and the DMC variegated gold 111. I also picked up the second part to the Bent Creek The Big Zipper. Considering the fact that I haven't done the first part I have alot of stitching to do to now get the first and the second done. I will try and add a picture of my Love pattern the next time to show my progress.

Bent Creek Snappers

2007-08-13T21:18:00.000-05:00

I have almost finished the Bent Creek Snappers. I haven't decided what to put on the front and the end. The pattern has the years on it. I really don't want to put the year on it especially since the pattern has 2003 and 2004 on it. Maybe I will put a swirl on it. I have to look at it for awhile, maybe while I add all of the snaps to it. I have gone back to working on the My Big Toe Building Blocks Love pattern. It is working up pretty quick. Camp is over and I am so glad. It was a long hot week with alot of storms. For next year I have been promoted to the Craft Lady. I cannot wait. If you know of any small crafts for kids please let me know. I can use all of the help I can get.

Camp Quality of Illinois

2007-08-05T04:52:00.000-05:00

I am leaving today to go to Camp Manitoqua in Frankfort, Illinois for 1 week. Camp Quality is a group that helps kids with cancer. I am a full time volunteer there. It is a lot of hard work but it is so worth it to see what a great time the kids have. I will try and take pictures of everything but normally I am so busy that I either forget or just don't have the time. See you all in a week.

Scottsdale, Arizona

2007-07-29T10:19:00.000-05:00

Got back from Scottsdale and made it through the week of work. I have to say that I found the best needlework shop in Scottsdale. It is called Old Town Needlework 7134 E. Fifth Avenue. Thanks Teejay for recommending it to me. Alice, the owner has unbelievable customer service. It is at least 110%. I had the best visit with her. You can see what I bought. The cross stitch pattern is Superstition Mountains. I thought that I would bring back a memeory. I am going to stitch it up and then it will remind me of my first visit to Scottsdale. I am stitching it on a hand dyed Jobelan called Raspberry. You can see by the picture that it uses a lot of different floss colors. The cactus is their version of the pink ribbon for breast cancer. This is my first attempt at a hand painted canvas. She said that it has an excellent stitching guide and she said that if I get into trouble to just give her a call. She was so friendly that I will not hesitate to call her if I run into a problem. The fibers are just beautiful. I cannot wait to stitch this. We had a great visit with Rachelle and her friend Adam. Adam was a great tour guide and we were able to see everything that we wanted to. I will post more about my visit with Rachelle and Adam next time.

Not Only Finished - But Also Framed

2007-07-12T19:22:00.001-05:00

Of course these three are Laura J. Perin. They are from her Impressionist Collection. The orange colored one is called Prairie Star, the blue colored on is called Sapphire Star and the maroon and green one is called Victorian Star. I really enjoyed stitching these. I cannot wait to see what the next one will look like. These are now hanging in my bedroom. I am moving along with the Bent Creek Snappers. I almost finished September but found out that I don't have one of the fibers. I am almost done with October. I cannot wait until I get the months done and finish the border. 3 more days until I go to Scottsdale, AZ. I cannot wait until I get to see Rachelle.

Finally Finished Stitching It

2007-07-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

This picture is really bad. But I finally finished stitching the Shepherd Bush quilt pattern. Like the Bent Creek Snappers pattern I have had this for way to many years. Now all I have to do is get it finished. I will work on that when I get back from Scottsdale. I will be in the air(fingers crossed) at this time next Sunday. I cannot wait to see Rachelle. It has been at least a month since I have seen her and while she is doing great out there I still miss her terribly. I finished August last night on the Bent Creek Snappers pattern and started September. I cannot wait to get that finished also. I am then going to work on a My Big Toe pattern that I bought with Sue when we went on our weekend to Nashville, Indiana. It is called Love and I bought it to stitch and give to my mother-in-law for Christmas. So, if you see her don't let her know about her Christmas gift. LOL Gotta run, I believe that it is Starbucks time.

WIP's

2007-07-07T07:40:00.000-05:00

I am currently working on the Bent Creek Snappers. I am sorry to say that I have had this for 4 years and I am finally getting around to seriously working on it. I am going to get this done if it kills me. And of course knowing me I would have to be working on a Laura J. Perin. But not just one Laura J. Perin but two. The first one is from her American Quilt Collection and is called Mardi Gras. The blue colored one is also from her American Quilt Collection and is called Color Study:Starry Nights. I have been working on the Bent Creek pattern about 90% of my time and the Laura J. Perin's the other 10%. I started on the Mardi Gras one on my Mother's Day weekend away with Kay to Essenhaus Haus. I made great progress on it there. Kay you can probably see there is not much more done on it. Does it sound like we need another weekend away? I think so. It is going to be a hot one today so I am going to go to Starbucks before it gets to bad. See you all later.

Another Finish - Another Laura J. Perin

2007-07-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

Here is another Laura J. Perin that I finished months ago. It is also from her American Quilt Collection and is called Indian Summer. Kevin says I should call it off centered. See what happens when you have worked to many hours and come home and "feel" that you can start a project and it will end up fine???? Off centered. I am hoping that it will still be able to be framed. There is not alot there on the two sides. Maybe an inch, not much more. That is one thing that I need to get moving on and that is getting these things framed. Wow! Here it is Friday night and the fireworks have finally stopped. Think I will try and get some sleep. See you soon.

Happy Fourth of July

2007-07-04T11:40:00.000-05:00

It is already the Fourth of July. Summer is flying by and I have nothing to show for it. This sure is a loud holiday with parades and fireworks. I cannot wait to see the fireworks tonight. I am hoping to stitch all day and watch soap operas. How patriotic is that? Maybe we will barbeque later today. Already went to Starbucks and was in the middle of reading my book, Step on a Crack by James Patterson when I got to a sad part and started to cry. I didn't want to bring attention to myself so I left and came home and finished reading it and crying. Good book. Brought in a new character. Michael Bennett. I didn't think that I would like him. I am pretty attached to Alex Cross but Michael Bennett was not bad.
Happy Birthday Judy! You are missed. I can only imagine the birthday party that is going on in heaven. I am sure that they have never seen anything like it before. I think about you alot. Still can not believe that you are gone. Have a good life in heaven and get the room ready for the Thread Heads. We will all be together again one day.

I have been away to long

2007-07-01T14:33:00.000-05:00

Hi All, It only took 8 months to post this. I forgot my login and my password and I cannot remember how to put a picture on this. I hopefully will get the hang of this again. Work is finally slowing down and we are getting to a crazy normal level again. I have been stitching a little. A lot of times I have come home from work and gone right to sleep. Stitching in the morning is long gone. I have no time now. I am at work between 6:00 and 6:30 now. This is of course a Laura J. Perin from her American Quilt Collection called Color Study Flying Geese. OK, I am off to take more pictures to post later.

Dishcloths X 100,000

2006-10-01T12:31:00.000-05:00

In the spring I took a road trip with some friends. Sue was knitting in the back seat. I asked her what she was knitting and she told me dish cloths. Kay and Amanda went on and on about how they loved the dish cloths knitted with the 100% cotton yarn. I had never heard of them. Sue happened to finish one and gave it to me. They looked simple enough so I asked her for the instructions. She e-mailed them to me when we got home and I went out and bought a small skein of the yarn just to see if I could do it or not. Well, I actually knitted right through that dish cloth. I was really pretty impressed with myself. So, I thought that I would go out and buy the cone with the yarn on it. I have been knitting and knitting these stupid dish cloths. I swear that the yarn never goes down on that stupid cone. I cannot tell you how many drawers I have filled up with dish cloths. Sue, when does the yarn end or does it just keep coming back while I am asleep. It that it, I am suppose to knit 24 hours a day?????? Sue, you really need to help me with this. My fingers are getting calloused from all of this knitting. In the beginning Tony was so happy to see the dish cloths but not his answer is "another one?". I am really trying to finish projects before starting another one but I feel that my hair will be blue before I finish the yarn on this cone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any help would be appreciated.

Third times A Border

2006-09-29T19:06:00.000-05:00

Hi All,
I finally was able to get this border stitched. I had to rip it out two times before I finally got it right. That is when I found out that the canvas was not cut the right size. The top and bottom have 3 extra inches and the sides have only 2 extra inches. It didn't help that the pattern was sooooooo helpful. "Start in the lower left corner". It doesn't tell you the size of the pattern. So, I struggled. But as you can see I not only got the border in I got in three more rows as well. I am on a roll now and nothing is going to stop me from finishing it now. What I really like about this pattern is all of the different stitches and different threads/fibers. It calls for Watercolour, Impressions, Perle Cotton, Neon Rays, Splendor, Grandeur and Treasure Braid along with beads. I cannot wait until I finish it. Have a great weekend.

Here's the pattern

2006-09-20T20:01:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I couldn't get the picture of the pattern to download yesterday. So, here it is. Today is was alot easier than to do this than yesterday. I am going to get a hang of this yet. I am not going to let it defeat me. Love Always,Tina

What I am working on

2006-09-19T21:51:00.000-05:00

This is a pattern by Glory Bee called America. The pattern calls for Wichelt 28count Natural Light Linen. I am doing it on 27 count Iced Cappuccino. I hope that this will look as nice as the picture.

Water, Water, Water and more Water

2006-09-17T17:53:00.000-05:00

With all of the rain that we had on Wednesday I cannot believe that it is raining again. Thank God that we did not have any water in our house. Tony's Aunt and Uncle had to be taken out of their house in a canoe. I took Tony over there today so that he could help them get the stuff out of their house. It was so incredibly sad to drive down the street and see all of someone's possessions sitting at the curb waiting for the garbage man. I felt so sad. If any of you had any flooding I am so sorry. If there is anything that I can do please let me know. I have just found by camera and it is charging. I had taken it camp with me but was so busy that it never came out of my bag. When I came home of course the house was already under construction. So hopefully pictures next time. Love Always, Tina

I finally did it.

2006-09-15T22:54:00.000-05:00

Just one more stitch. . . . . . It seems that I am always really close to finishing a project in the morning before going to work. I cannot decide if I should go ahead and finish it or be on time for work. My friend at work Starla says that I should finish the project and be late for work. She says that I should tell my boss that I had diarhia and he won't go any further with that conversation. I always feel guilty though. I feel as though it will be there when I get home. What do you think? I am really going to try and post often because I know how much I enjoy reading other blogs and how disappointment I am when there is nothing new. I am also going to try and include "Tony Stories". For those of you who don't know what "Tony Stories" are in you will learn real soon.