Gingerbread House

This is a JanLynn Wizzer, an old kit out of my stash, stitched on 14-count white plastic canvas. I started it on 12/23/2013 after finishing the Christmas Cat and finished it today (12/28/2013). I haven't decided whether to attach a ribbon or a magnet, but I do know I won't be using the wire that came with the kit. And yes, it is definitely for me.

Christmas Cat

Every year I make Kyleigh a Christmas ornament in the hopes that when she moves out, she'll have a small stash for her own tree. This year's ornament is Christmas Cat or Cat in a Hat from Cross Stitch Crazy #131. It's stitched and back with scraps of white 14-count Aida from my stash. It was charted in light tans and white, but both of Kyleigh's cats are all gray so I changed the colors to match them.

Here are her cats in real life. They're not related and one is two years older than the other, but it's really hard to tell them apart.

And here is the ornament I made. It was started on 12/21/2013 and completed on 12/23/2013. I didn't actually make it into an ornament until Christmas Day after Kyleigh had unwrapped it.

It Snowed on Christmas Eve

Living in southern California, we seldom, if ever get to see snow on the ground. Our church decided to remedy that situation this year and brought in several tons of snow today. There were two areas, one for building snowballs and building snowmen and one for sledding.

This is how you dress when going to the snow and the weather is 80 degrees outside.

This is the snowman that Janice and Kyleigh built.

Kyleigh really enjoyed the sled runs and spent most of the time on those.

She doesn't know how she managed to get turned around, so she thought it must have been magic. She actually turned a full 180 degrees and ended up going backwards.

11 Pipers Piping

This is the 11th in the series of Margaret Sherry's 12 Days of Christmas from the book "The Ultimate Margaret Sherry Collection". It's stitched on 25-count potato Lugana, 2 over 2 with Anchor floss. I started it on 12/16/2013 and finished it today (12/21/13).

Stuffing a Bus

Every year, ABC News and the local fire departments sponsor "Stuff a Bus" at various locations around the Los Angeles and Orange County area. Today was the day for stuffing buses at the Honda Center and since I got off early today and so did Kyleigh I picked her up after lunch and we went to Target to purchase a couple of toys so she could donate them.

Here she is with the toys she helped choose--one for a boy and one for a girl.

The next picture is of the bus where her toys went--I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch her tossing the toys on the pile.

Stuffing the bus wasn't the only activity available. She also got to have her picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus

and hold a fire hose which is something she's never done before. The hat is courtesy of a boy about Kyleigh's age who was dressed as a firefighter and whose grandfather removed the hat from his head and placed it on hers.

A little Polar Bear

Since Kyleigh loves to do crafts--she must take after her mom--Janice has ordered her a monthly craft kit. This month arrived yesterday afternoon, but Kyleigh didn't have a chance to look at it until this morning. One of the projects was a polar bear's paws and ears. Kyleigh brought it with her to breakfast and worked on it while waiting for David and I to arrive. There are two pictures showing both sides of the paws.

Hello!



Kyleigh's aunt, uncle and cousins are visiting from Oregon and Kyleigh is spending the week with them, her other aunt, her other grandma and her great grandpa at the Grand California hotel at the Disneyland Resort.

David, Janice and I met them for dinner at Big Thunder Ranch this evening.  Here, Janice was holding Jasper who will be a year old in August, but Jasper was more interested in David. 

First, he tapped on his shoulder to get his attention

Then when David appeared to be ignoring him, he got bolder and grabbed onto him.

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Kyleigh and her Cousin

 Kyleigh spends every other weekend with her father and Nonnie (her other grandmother).  Her great grandfather is here for the summer and her aunt Wendy and cousins are here from Oregon for a couple of weeks.

When I checked Janice's facebook page this morning, I found these pictures taken by Kyleigh's other aunt, Amber.  They were taken at a local pizza restaurant and it looks like the kids are keeping themselves entertained with a couple of tablets.  Kyleigh's cousin is named Teddy and just turned four years old last week.

Kyleigh will be spending the night at our house tonight and David will kidsit tomorrow.  I know they're planning on going out to breakfast after they take me to work and also recycling bottles, but I don't know what else. 

Kyleigh's father will be picking her up in the afternoon and she'll be spending the week at Disneyland with the rest of his family.

The 4th of July - Angels Game

I celebrated the 4th of July by sleeping in, going out to lunch, watching Stage 4 of Le Tour de France and attending the Angels game last night.  Bob always has other plans for the 4th of July so it was just Janice, Kyleigh and I.  It was a fantastic game with the Angels pulling out a win in the bottom of the ninth.  Kyleigh says it's because when one of the ushers asked her who was going to win as we headed to our seats, she said "the Angels". 

Janice bought some face paints earlier this year and she's used them quite a few timesso far.  Kyleigh had an Angels A on her left cheek and flag inside a star on her right cheek.  Here she is posing for Mommy.

Prior to the game there was a huge flag displayed on the field and the Star Spangled Banner was followed by a flyover.  I think the gentleman sitting beside me said they were F-58s.

Since David works in the Control Room, I knew the cameraman manning the high third camera.  I took Kyleigh over to introduce her before the game and he wanted to know where our seats were so he could put her on the scoreboard.  It turned out that he wouldn't be able to get a good shot because there were too many people between us and the camera, so he asked her to come back down after the second inning so she could be on the Smile Cam.  Below, they're prepping for the shot.

And here is the picture that appeared on the scoreboard.  Isn't that a pretty smile? Grandpa took the picture off the monitor inside the Control Room and I can't remove the black borders.   

After the game there were more fireworks and they were pretty good except for a glitch where the fireworks computer froze so there were no fireworks to go with two of the songs.  They were able to fix the problem and there was another amazing finale.  I'm going to the game again tonight, this time with Bob so I'll get to see the regular Friday night fireworks as well.

3rd of July

Well, it's been a long time and a lot has happened that I've missed blogging about.  I finally realized that these are memories that won't be captured for future reminiscince.  So, I've decided to resurrect my blog and start capturing those memories again.  Whether I'll blog about the one's I've missed remains to be seen.

The 3rd of July is a celebration event in Orange held every year on July 3rd.  There are bounce houses and slides, food booths and information booths detailing city services, sponsors information, etc.  There is also a patriotic show followed by some amazing fireworks.

Janice, Kyleigh and I went this year (David had a game).  Kyleigh had a lot of fun playing in the bounce houses and slides and visiting the various booths including one where she got to create a card for a serviceman.  She drew an American flag with the pole on the wrong side, but I'm sure the person receiving it will appreciate it anyway.

In the picture below, she's hugging the new City of Orange mascot.  She could see a person through the eyes so she told us it was just a man.

They also had a ladder truck and Kyleigh decided she had to visit.  This fireman gave her a tour of the truck and let her sit in every seat and play with the headphones.  He probably spent about 15 minutes with her and she enjoyed every one of them.

Here she's talking on the headset.  Once she put it on, the other fireman in the picture put his on too so she could talk to him.

After a dinner of corn on the cob, hot dogs or hamburgers and kettle corn, we went up into the stands for the show.  I didn't realize that this was the city of Orange's 125th birthday and that was celebrated as well as the introduction of Miss Orange and the singing of patriotic songs.  One of the song medleys that I espeially enjoy is the singing of the various armed services anthems while the veterans of those branches stand.  The gentlemen sitting beside me was in the Navy and two gentlemen just behind us were in the Marines and their voices carried very well.  Of course, now Kyleigh has all kinds of questions regarding the military, wars, etc.

This was followed by the fireworks, which are some of the best around.  The finale lasted a very long time and was full of red, white and blue offerings.  The whole display was backdropped by some of the songs we'd sung earlier.



In the Mail Today

I received two envelopes in the mail today that weren't bills or junk mail.  The first was another birthday card and skein of floss for the Birthday Floss Exchange at the Shared_Crosses Yahoo Group.  Ann sent me this card and a skein of the new DMC limited edition floss.

The second was a package from 123Stitch.  When I was sttiching the mystery heart, I was afraid that I'd run out of floss so I ordered another skein on Friday.  Since the shipping charge is exhorbitant for just a skein of floss, I decided to add a couple of things.

I've been wanting to do one of the tropical Santas so I added Hawaii Santa and I Love Stitching which will be made into a magnet to go on the filing cabinet in my home office/craft room.

Mystery Heart

The Quilts for Older Children and Adults Yahoo Group is in the process of doing a Mystery Heart SAL.  We were given the stitch counts for eleven heart charts, but no other information.  When we signed up for one of the numbers, we received the corresponding chart. 



I stitched this heart using DMC Variations #4122 (Fall Harvest).  It's not my usual choice of color, but I wanted something bright.  The completed squares will be sent to Love Quilts, Brazil.

Ornament Finish

One of the Mill Hill kits I bought on Saturday was for Oli Elf to make for Kyleigh as her annual Christmas ornament..  I was so in love with it that I started it Saturday evening and finished it tonight.

It's stitched on tan perforated paper with DMC floss, and of course beads.  Since I scanned it, I've backed it with red felt and attached a hanger.  I'll give it to Kyleigh the next time I see her since I'd had trouble finding something for this past Christmas.

Birthday Floss Exchange and Mill Hill Stash

Our Shared_Crosses yahoo group is doing a different kind of birthday floss exchange this year.  Each member entered their address and birthday information into a database and other members can send a card, floss or other stitching related item if they want to, but there's no obligation to do so.  My birthday was last Sunday and over the past week I've received several cards, skeins of floss and a small stitched piece.

The stitched piece was from Sue, the group's owner and I am really happy that she stitched it for me. It's beautifully stitched and finished.  It originally had a blue plastic hanger attached, but the hanger was in three pieces when it arrived so I removed it, fringed the top edge and added a magnet to the back and it's as good as new.  It's currently attached to the filing cabinet in my home office.

I also went to my LNS today for the first time in several months.  She didn't have any ot the items I was looking for, so I'll have to place an order with 123 Stitch sometime soon.  I did find three Mill Hill kits that I decided I couldn't live without.  Peaches and Berry Jam will become magnets for my refrigerator and Oli Elf will be made into a Christmas ornament for Kyleigh.

Since I finished my latest project last night, I've decided to start stitching Oli this evening.

Second Finish of the Year

I had my second finish for 2013 this evening.  Again, it's a quilt square for the Quilts for Older Children and Adults Yahoo Group.  This square is for Natalie.  She asked for a favorite things quilt with Eeyore, Angels, Roses and Hearts and I fell in love with this chart when Jeneen posted it as an option.

It's stitched on white 14-count Aida with DMC floss and took just about a week to complete.

Crowded Bed

I talked to Janice about 8:00 last night and asked her if Kyleigh was in bed yet.  She told me that she was in bed, but was playing instead of sleeping.  Guess what she was doing?  . 

This morning when I checked Janice's facebook page, I was greeted by this picture that Janice took when she went to check on her later. 

The pink mouse pillow at the top of her head is a needlepoint I made for Janice when she was a little girl.



Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday and we spent the day at the Disneyland Resort.  This wasn't because it was my birthday, but because my nephew (Doug), his wife (Nikki) and their six year old son (Caden) are visiting from Oregon and were going to be there today.

We rode the Radiator Springs Racers twice as well as a bunch of other rides in the DCA.  We also watched the Phineas and Pherb show in which Kyleigh had fun taking part.  She tried very hard to mimic the dancers, but definitely enjoyed herself.



This is my nephew keeping Kyleigh occupied while we were standing in line for Toy Story Mania this morning.  He's doing lifts with her. She loved it and kept asking him to do it again.   I stole the picture of Janice's Facebook page where it was captioned "Best Workout - Kid Lifting!"



After spending the morning at DCA, we went over to Disneyland for lunch at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ.  We also rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Haunted Mansion and Small World before deciding that our feet were too tired and headed home.

Birthday Surprise

My birthday is Sunday and I had a coupon for a free entree at Famous Dave's Barbecue Restaurant.  Kyleigh's been wanting to go there, because on Friday's during the Spring and Summer, a man would be there on Friday making balloon animals so we decided to go there tonight.  Unfortunately, the balloon man doesn't go there anymore, but we had fun anyway.

We'd finished eating and I saw them bring another table a huge sundae with a sparkler candle on top.  I mentioned it to Janice and she said I was getting one too because the waitress had said that's why she was clearing the plates away.

It came with four spoons and we actually managed to demolish it all.  Ours did have the sparkler too, but Kyleigh had blown it out before Janice managed to take a picture.  I guess the coupon I had wasn't only good for a free entree, but a free sundae as well (and it was good!)   You can tell Kyleigh enjoyed it!

1st Finish of 2013

I had my first finish of 2013 this evening.  It's called Bear Hug and was stitched for Quilts for Older Children and Adults.  It will be used for a raffle quilt for the Montana Hope Project.  The fabric and chart were provided by the group, but I think the fabric is an Antique White Aida.

Happy New Year!

One of my goals this year is to blog more often, which shouldn't be too hard since I've been a very sporadic blogger in the past.  Part of my problem is that when I have stuff to post I don't have time and when I have time, I don't have anything to post.  But, I'm going to try to do better starting today.

Yesterday we had Kyleigh because her mom had to work so we took her to Downtown Disney.  We had two objectives: 1) to fill a box that we got as a freebie in December with Legos and 2) To stuff the bunny Kyleigh got for Christmas.  We accomplished both.

At the Lego store, we were greeted by one of the Friends (Girl Legos according to Kyleigh).  Kyleigh wanted her picture taken and by the time I had the camera ready, David was in the picture, too.

David spent almost 40 minutes stuffing his box and since he's an engineer, he built a structure that fit the box perfectly.  While he was doing that, Kyleigh and I looked around at all the displays and built race cars and raced them.

Our next stop was Build-a-Bear to stuff her bunny, get an outfit for it and get it's birth certificate.  Here she is with the bunny and the certificate, declaring that the bunny's name is Clover like the bunny in Sofia the First.

When we got home, David got out several containers of Duplo and he and Kyleigh had fun.  They started building a garage, but their ultimate goal became to see how tall a tower they could build.

Kyleigh got to go home at 3:30, but she and Janice met us later for dinner.  We did stay up until midnight, but only because a friend of ours calls every New Year at midnight.  He's decided that he'll call us at 9:00 next year.

What am I stitching?  This little cutie is called Bear Hugs and he's being stitched for Q4OC.  He'll eventually be added to a raffle quilt for the Montana Hope Project. Hopefully, I can finish him up this week.