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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.