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.