It's Friday!

I am so glad that it is Friday! I am ready for a nice relaxing weekend. :) Who am I kidding with my 3 kids around there is no such thing as relaxing. LOL

I worked on ES again yesterday. I was hoping to get the bird back stitched but that small thing called life just keeps getting in the way.

I am not sure if I am going to stitch tonight. I bought the Feb. issue of Stoney Creek's Cross Stitch magazine and have a feeling I might be kitting some small projects up. :D

We are still waiting to hear from the doctors when Mac's CT scan is supposed to be done. They told me if I didn't hear from them by today to call them. I did and now I am waiting for them to call me back.

I received my Valentine's exchange this week from Nela...well sort of. Somewhere between here and Venezuela some crummy person developed sticky fingers! I was horrified! Not because I didn't receive anything but I was going to have to give the bad news to Nela. After I sent her an e-mail explaining what had happened she showed me what she did stitch for me. Oh my gosh! It is amazing!! Look here to see her exquisite stitching. I really can't put into words how beautiful it is...you just have to see for yourself.:)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

February/March Goals

It is hard to believe that it is the end of February already! This month has gone by really fast.

February Goals

1. Work on Topaz Fairie. Yes!

2. Order Beads and Kreniks. No.

3. Work on Egyptian Sampler. Yes!

4. Work on Harvest Witch with Renee. Yes!

5. Work on Freebies. Yes!

6. Start Mine All Mine for Mac. No.

7. Start/finish Valentine piece for me. No.

March Goals

1. Work on Topaz Fairie.

2. Work on Egyptian Sampler.

3. Harvest Witch SAL with Renee.

4. Start Tour des Marques SAL with Dani.

5. Stitch freebie patterns

6. Start on Mac's Stocking

Hopefully, I will be more productive in March than I was in February!

SBQ of the Week

This week's SBQ was suggested by Rachel and is:

What is your cross stitch weakness? (i.e., What do you have to have when you see it, even if you are supposed to be on the Wagon?)

My biggest weaknesses are patterns and fabrics. I find it extremely hard to walk away from a mythical/fantasy themed patterns. If it has a dragon in it you can almost guarantee it won't last long at my LNS. LOL! As for fabrics, I have a serious love affair with the opalescent fabrics. Again, this is another thing that doesn't last long around me at the LNS. :)

I worked on ES today and finished the medallion and started on the other bird. I think my stitching mojo has fully returned as it seems to be calling me as I type.:)

Have a good night!

Purrrfect Pinkeep

Last night I started working on the finishing for Purrrfect Partners. I finished it into a pinkeep. I am happy with how it turned out except for my bow. I tried several times last night and this morning but they all came out looking flat. Making a bow rates right up there with French Knots. I don't like doing either!

Here is the fabric I used on the back.

Cathy C. asked me if Mac has a hearing loss because of all his problems. I have been asking that very question for several years! Mac had an extensive hearing test done and we found out that he does have "Moderate Conductive Hearing Loss". He tested at 50 dB which means anything below that he can't hear like quiet conversations, rustling leaves, etc. However that is just in his left ear. His right ear appears to be fine so far. What is bad is neither his teacher or us noticed that he couldn't hear things with his left ear. Dr. L tells me that this is because his good ear is compensating for his bad ear and more than likely Mac has learned to lip read without realizing it.

I want to thank everyone who has left comments regarding Mac and his surgeries. All of the comments are greatly appreciated!! Although Mac is having the surgery, I am the one who feels bad about it. I feel like a horrible mother because of his hearing loss. I feel that maybe if I had been more persistent in telling them (the doctors) it was more than an earache maybe it wouldn't have arisen to this level. Although, I don't know what more I could have done. I begged, pleaded, cried, and screamed to have tubes put in since the first time his ear drum ruptured at 11 months.

Enough of my rambling on, if I want to stitch later tonight I had better get in gear and get dinner in the oven!

The Good And The Not So Good

I manged to have a pretty good stitching weekend for me. I worked on Egyptian Sampler and finished the border on page 2.


I also worked on Harvest Witch last night. :) I made some good progress on her blue/purple part of her cape.

I am not sure what I will get to work on tonight. I am going to join Dani and stitch Tour des Marques on Monday nights but I still have to pick up the Anchor floss. Silly me forgot that my regular LNS doesn't carry Anchor and so I had to to go the other LNS but there were closed today. :( It didn't surprise me they way my luck runs!

This morning we had our appointment to see Dr. L this morning about Mac's surgery. We got some good news and some not so good news. The good news is Mac's recovery time after the surgery will only be about a week. Whew...I was worried about him missing too much of school and not passing. He is having a tough enough time right now! Also, he looks like a good candidate for outpatient surgery so he can come home that evening. :)

Now for the not so good news, after looking at the bones inside his ear Dr. L discovered that his Stapes bone is completely eaten away from the infection. Great....that is another surgery! (We are up to 3 surgeries now!) While looking at the other ear (the good ear!) he says he see the signs of one starting in the other ear. For now, he is just going to watch it closely but surgery might be needed on that ear later on down the road.

Our next step is for Mac to have a CT scan and then Dr. L can set a surgery date (hopefully). We have spoken with Mac about his upcoming surgery and it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. He just keeps asking if we will buy him some new XBox games while he has to be at home getting better. That's my boy! LOL

I don't want to leave this post on a down beat so here is a cute picture I found of my girls that Mike must have taken over the weekend.

Happy Stitching!

Future WIP's

This week was a pretty slow stitching week for me. After I finished Purrrfect Partners I lost my stitching mojo! I made a small run to my LNS this week and picked up some more linen and a spool of the glow in dark Kreinik threads that is needed for Harvest Witch. I have been dying to know if the the threads do glow in the dark and they do! :) I can't wait to see Harvest Witch all finished in the dark now! LOL

Since I couldn't get interested in stitching this week I dug through my stash and kitted some patterns up. So far here is what I kitted up this week:

1. A Child's Prayer-Calico Crossroads
2. Fairy Roses-Mirabilia
3. Snowman & Friends-Kooler Design
4. Mine All Mine (Mac)-X's and Oh's
5. Summer's Magic-Dragon Dreams (SAL w/Renee)
6. Tour des Marques-The Silver Lining (I blame this one on you, Dani! LOL )

Becky K. asked me a few days ago what breeds of dogs I have. I have to admit I have been shy on saying that Gracie is a Pit Bull Terrier because I do not want the controversy on if they are good dogs or bad dogs. I will say I am a firm believer that dogs are just like humans, they are born good but due to bad circumstances can turn bad. I know Gracie will be a wonderful pet as all of us spoil her with love.

Girly is part Black Lab and part Rat Terrier. I like to call her my Miniature Lab. :) She looks just like a lab except she is only 13 inches from her shoulder to the floor. For a dog with short legs she can move pretty fast when you show her a Frisbee!

Have a great weekend!

Purrrfect Partners Done

I worked on Purrrfect Partners yesterday and here is where I stopped last evening.


And here is it finished this evening. :)

I am always amazed at what a little back stitching can do for a piece! As of right now, I am not sure how I will finish this one. It is about 5 X 7 inches so more than likely I finish it into a flatfold or pillow.

Have a great night! :)

Hearing Test

I had wanted to spend an evening stitching on Harvest Witch but I only ended up stitching for about 90 minutes instead. I really am amazed on how fast this one is stitching up. Maybe it just seems like it because I am working on it with Renee. I have to admit I enjoy doing SAL's because I think it is neat to know that someone else is working on the same thing at roughly the same time as I am. :)



This morning we took Mac back to see Dr. B. and find out exactly what is going on with his ear. The swelling has finally gone down enough in his ear for Dr. B to get a good look at what is going on in the inside of his ear. He does have a skin growth in his ear causing all the problems. It is called a Cholesteatoma. This relieved us some but not much since it is going to require surgery to remove it and it has to removed. This of course brings up the question how much hearing loss does Mac have in his left ear now. We were able to get his hearing thoroughly tested today and in his left ear Mac has about 50-60% hearing loss. Which means if he has his left ear to you and you are talking more than likely he can not hear you. The upside to this is the nerve that runs by the ear is still good so surgery to repair the damage done looks like it is a possibility. However that won't be for at least another 6 months to a year after the first surgery.

The irony of all of this is the doctor said this wasn't an emergency so there is no rush on the surgery! Excuse me....hmmm hearing loss I would consider that an emergency! We are scheduled to see the surgeon next Monday and we will see where it goes from there.

After being gone all morning I like coming home and seeing this......


and not everything all chewed up! Gracie sure has a good big sister who keeps her out of trouble:)

Purrfect Partners

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. First of all, 7 years ago we survived a terrible tornado when we lived in Mississippi. We were lucky that nobody was injured but we lost everything. Since that happened I tend to be very nervous during storms. Well, as predicted, yesterday we had lots of rain. And I mean lots of rain! In our backyard we have a dried up creek bed that runs the property. In the whole time we have lived here (almost 2 years!) I have never seen water actually run through it. That is until about 10:30 PM last night when I took Gracie outside and I heard the sound of rushing water. I wandered over to the creek bed and to my astonishment it was full of water and it was rushing fast!

Thankfully this morning the rain has let up and the creek is no longer full of water. However, that was just freaky seeing that last night! Since it was so rainy yesterday I was able to get a good start on Purrfect Partners. :)

This one came kitted up in the February issue of The CrossStitcher. I am using the threads but I didn't use the aida that came supplied with it.

Today I get to work on Harvest Witch. :) I will work on her later this afternoon after I have the laundry done. I am planning on ordering the Kreiniks this week so hopefully I can start filling the empty gaps soon.

Enjoy your day!

Jack-O-Lantern Fob

I had a much better stitching day today. :) I decided to stitch up this little freebie from Casey Buonaugurio. This was a really quick and fun one to stitch up!


I finished into a fob with some cording.

While I was stitching the date I almost stitched 2007! When will I get used to it being 2008?

My next small piece will be the Margret Sherry pattern from the CrossStitcher called Purrfect Partners. I should be able to get a good start on it tomorrow. It is supposed to be a cold and rainy weekend so I will spend it stitching and staying dry. :)

Enjoy your weekend!

ES and SBQ of the Week

It is sad to say but I have hardly stitched at all this week. Partly because I have been busy but mainly because I am bored of my 2 WIP's (Topaz & Egyptian) right now! The answer to the problem for me is to start a new project. However, that is where my dilemma starts....what do I start on?!

Here is my progress on Egyptian Sampler for this week.

This week's SBQ was suggested by Loretta and is:

Do you have any projects that you have scrapped and started over? What made you start over from scratch?

I can think of 2 pieces I have started over from the beginning. One is Woodland Fairie by TW and the other is Geisha by Nanci Rossi. I actually started Woodland Fairie completely over 2 times before I finished her. The first time I instead of stitching 1/1 on her arm I stitched it 2/2. The second time I didn't have the pattern centered right and ended up cutting up the fabric I was so frustrated. Geisha I only started over once due to a kitty catastrophe.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Gift for Jenna

You might remember the Quaker heart freebie I stitched a while back. Jenna let me know yesterday that it has arrived at her place safely. I finished it into a heart box. This one was the first time I have made a covered box that wasn't in a square shape.



I was a bad girl at my LNS yesterday. :) I currently and running low on fabric so I went in search of fabby. I went there with the intention of buying a fat quarter of 28 or 32 count linen. An hour later I walked out of there with a full yard of 32 count Belfast opalescent raw linen. It was quite pricey but well worth since I love opalescents.:)

Today looks like it will be another busy day for me. I have a PTC with Mr. H about Mac's grades. On top of that today is Mac's 10th birthday! It is hard to believe my baby is 10 years old. That is a decade! It is amazing how fast time goes by. Not only is it his birthday and has a PTC all in one day but his ear infection has returned to top it off. What a day for a kid!

Have a great day!

You Make My Day

I was honored to receive this award from Kathryn and Chiloe. Thank you ladies!!

I know most of you have already been awarded this but I will pass this on to 10 people whose blogs make me smile.:)

1. Renee

2. Jenna

3. Carla

4. Sharon

5. Cathy C.

6. Sylvie

7. Sandy

8. Dee

9. Sue

10 Judith

I worked on the border of ES yesterday but I wasn't able to finish it because I ran out of DMC 676. I'm not sure when I will make a floss run as there are other DMC flosses I need to get. Isn't that sad I wait till I have a pile full of DMC empty bobbins before I actually get around to replacing them?! I didn't take a picture because I am planning on working on ES some more today. :)

Feeling Better

First of all, I want to say thank you for all the get well wishes, they were heard and helped. :) Well, at least my face didn't feel like it got hit with a brick when I woke up this morning. LOL

I did work on Harvest Witch last night for a little bit. I was able to finish filling in the purples in her cape. I really wanted to work on her more but I was just too tired so I put her away. I will just have to make up for it this weekend when we work on her for the SAT weekend. :)



Today I am going to work on giving some color to the border on ES.

It looks like this week is going be a busy and crazy week for me. Tonight I have a parent/teacher conference for Allie. Wednesday is Mac's parent/teacher conference. This is the one I dread. Mac is so far behind in his reading class that I am worried that he won't pass this year. *sigh* All we can do is try. Wednesday is also Mac's birthday. Of course we can't forget about Valentines day either this week! Mike lucks out this year and gets V-day off (it just happens to fall on his rotating day off!) so I am sure we will go do something while the kids are at school.

Have a great week!

Egyptian Progress

I haven't stitched much yesterday and today because I have a bad sinus cold.

Have a good night!

3 Little Petals

I survived the shoe shopping ordeal with the kids yesterday but I didn't get to stitch any last night. The shoe hunt took a lot longer than I had hoped so that threw everything off for the rest of the evening. Mac is having his picture taken at school today so most of the evening was spent getting his clothes and shoes ready and taking a bath. Since Mac has had his ear infection the doctors do not want him getting water into his ear which mean I have to wash and rinse his hair.

My plan for today is to go pay bills and get those errands done so I can come back home and stitch for the day. :) I am going to work on Topaz for a little bit. I want to finish those petals in the lower right corner before I put her away and pull out Egyptian Sampler.


Happy Stitching!

My Stocking

Let me just say the weather has been completely freaky the past 2 days!! Yesterday we had tornado watches out in our area and by 4 AM we had ice and snow on the ground!

I went to Hobby Lobby this morning with the intentions of just picking up some fabric when I came across this treasure! There is a small story behind this certain book. I had seen in it December and was going to purchase it but when I went back to buy it, it was gone. Now I was really mad at myself for not picking it when I saw it before. So when I saw it today I did not hesitate, I snatched this baby up right away!

The reason I am so excited about this one is because the stocking in the middle will be the one I stitch for myself this year.:)

I forgot to post yesterday that we got a call from Dr. B's office about Mac's biospy. The results came back fine and now he think what he saw was just swelling of his ear canal/drum and no surgery will be needed. Whew!! We will still have a check up with him on February 18 to find out exactly what is going on. It does seem that Mac' ear is finally getting better with this 3 round of ear drops. I just hope the doctor will figure out what to do because I am really getting frustrated with this same problem every single year.

I am hoping on having time to stitch this evening. I have to take the kids to get new shoes after they get home from school and I am hoping I survive this trip! LOL

Last of the Flowers

I finished stitching the last flower last night!:) I really love the colors used in the flowers. I will work on her today to finish the stem/vine by her feet. As you can tell I am still avoiding the wings!

I want to thank everyone for their comments on Allie and Gracie. :) Another one of my goals for this year is to take more pictures other than my stitching pieces.

Harvest Witch Progress

I hope everyone had a nice Sunday. I played catch up with the laundry yesterday. When I was finally done with the laundry, I had the rest of the afternoon to work on Harvest Witch. I really love the colors in her so far!

Today I will be working on Topaz Fairie. Hopefully I can finish that last flower!

I will leave you with this picture I took of Allie and Gracie last Thursday when we got our first snow of the year. :)

Have a great day!!

Quaker Heart Freebie

I have been stitching this week. I just don't have a lot to show for it. I finished these little freebies up on Friday night. Pattern can be found here. I finished the finishing on it late Friday night but since I am sending this to someone who reads my blog I can't show it just yet. I stitched it on some 28 count fabric 1 over 1. I used DMC 75 and I am really happy with how it turned out.

I put the person's initial in after I took these pictures. I don't want to ruin the suprise:)

Yesterday I worked on Egyptian Sampler and I finished all of page one officially! After that I set ES aside and starting working on Topaz Fairie. I made some progress on the last flower but nothing major to show.

I want to thank everyone for their kind words on Mac's ear problems. They are truely appreciated at this time!

Have a great day:)

January/February Goals

January Goals

1. Work on Topaz Fairie
*Yes, all I have left to do is the wings, BS, and beading
2. Order TF beads and Kreinik
*Sadly no
3. Start Egyptian Sampler
*Yes, I am just about 25% done with this one.
4. Start Harvest Witch
*Yes, I got a good start on her also.
5. Start Mine All Mine (Mac Stocking)
*No :(
6. Stitch Freebies
*Yes, finished 3 designs this month.
7. Mail Frost Friends Exchange
*Yes, sent and received by Joanie
8. Mail Fob Exchange
*Yes, sent and received by Margie
9. Start/Finish Valentine Exchange
*Yes
10. Mail Valentine Exchange
*Yes, sent and received by Outi.

I did pretty good this month. 8 out 10 isn't too bad:)

February Goals

1. Work on Topaz Fairie.
2. Order Beads and Kreniks.
3. Work on Egyptian Sampler.
4. Work on Harvest Witch with Renee.
5. Work on Freebies.
6. Start Mine All Mine for Mac.
7. Start/finish Valentine piece for me.