Stitching Update - Week Ended 1/8/2012

I did finish the Precious Moments, You're One in a Million project for Q4OC (Quilts for Older Children and Adults.  This is from PM64 - Love, Family and Friends.  It's stitched on 14-count white Aida with DMC floss as charted except that I left off the words.

I'm currently working on the Pretty Fence Snow Globe from Vee and Co for WOCS (World of Charity Stitching).  I would have been a lot farther, but I had to frog the entire yellow flower and it's leaves.  Fortunately, I hadn't started backstitching it yet.

Look What My Daughter Gave Me

Janice cross stitches and enjoys other crafts as well.  We've made many trips to Michaels, Jo Ann's, Needlepoints Ltd and Hobby Lobby together. 

For my birthday, she put together this stitching basket.  There's a booklet, some 14-count white Aida (which she knows I use a lot of), some DMC floss, a bookmark blank, a towel (that she wants me to stitch for her), some needles, a ball of cotton yarn for knitting dishcloths and a Michaels gift card (which is already in my wallet).  I think she did a great job, don't you?



Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my 62nd birthday.  Janice, Kyleigh and I celebrated on Tuesday by going to Chili's since they weren't going to be available today.  I love their Ribeye and loaded baked potatoes.  Kyleigh told them it was my birthday so they sang and gave me a free chocolate shake.

David and I planned on going to Famous Dave's tonight since we had a $25 gift certificate.  On our way we called Janice and she and Kyleigh were able to join us after all.

I'm participating in two birthday floss exchanges where you send/receive and card and two skeins of floss.  One of the ladies from the Shared_Crosses Yahoo Group stitched this card.

Since I love cupcakes and pink is one of my favorite colors, I love this card.  I had commented on her post about it, but never thought it would be coming to me.  Thank you, Lynette and also to all of the ladies who sent cards and floss.

Some pictures and the loss of a friend

Janice sent me some pictures this evening:

Kyleigh received a princess dress up box from Santa so this is what she wore to take out the trash on Sunday. 

Kyleigh has also discovered how to get in the freezer to get her own popsicles.  She can even get out the stool and open it up herself.  Note the child lock on the refrigerator--it doesn't do any good either.

This picture was taken at Downtown Disney the day after Christmas.  Kyleigh received an unstuffed Build-A-Bear for Christmas, so we took it to get it stuffed and buy an outfit.

We also lost a friend today.  My daughter's ex-husband's grandmother died this morning of natural causes.  She's been sick for a while so it wasn't unexpected, but it's still hard on the family.  When my daughter was married and before they moved from California to Indiana, we spent all of our holidays at her home and she was more of a grandmother to Janice than her "real" grandparents since she rarely saw them.  We were privileged to spend Thanksgiving 2010 at their home in Indiana on the way home from my father's funeral.  My prayers go out to her husband, daughters and grandchildren.

Stitching Update - Week Ending 1/1/2012

I didn't have a lot of time to stitch this past week since we had Kyleigh with us during the day, but I did manage a finish and a start.

The finish is my third letter for the Jungle Animals Alphabet SAL at Q4OC (Quilts for Older Children and Adults).  I stitched K and M last week; this week I stitched the N.

I really enjoy stitching these little alphabet squares, partly because they're so quick and cute.

The start is Precious Moments You're One in a Million, also for Q4OC.  This was for the 2011 Stitchers Challenge so I'm a little behind.  It will be going to Love Quilts Brazil once it's finished.

I had hoped it would be my final finish for 2011, but instead it will be my first finish for 2012.

Happy New Year!

We hadn't planned on doing anything for New Year's Eve, but Janice heard about a family friendly event at the Great Park in Irvine (a former Marine Corps Air Station).  They were going to raise and drop a hot air balloon at 9:00 p.m. and there were activities, music and food so the four of us decided to check it out. 

It was extremely crowded and there were lines for all the activities and food, but we did manage to eat dinner, look at the old cars and planes, call David's dad to wish him a happy birthday, send cards to those in the military and police force and find a good place to sit and view the balloon while watching the bands play on stage.  Kyleigh also made a new friend who shared his light up ball, party hats and glow necklaces.

Unfortunately, it got very cold and foggy and the balloon started to disappear so we left about 8:00 in search of hot chocolate.  We ended up at a McDonalds on the way home (love Janice's iPhone 4S).  I didn't realize that McDonalds made such good hot chocolate!

Today will be church and stitching and hopefully catching up on some DVR'd shows on the Food Network and maybe some laundry.