Pig with Flower

This is from the Crazy for Summer Piggies section of Cross Stitch Crazy #125. It's stitched on white 14-count Aida with DMC floss. I started it on 1/20/14 and finished it today (1/21/14).

I was originally going to stitch this one for Kyleigh's quilt, but she decided she didn't want a pig on her quilt. Then when she saw me working on it, she said she wanted to wait until it was finished to decide whether she wanted it or not. So I'm not sure where it's going. If she decides she doesn't want it, I'll send it to WOCS.

Fun with Tiny Tim

Since Janice had to work today and I didn't and Kyleigh didn't have school, Kyleigh spent the night and most of the day with us. She also brought the class turtle (Tiny Tim). She was supposed to write about her adventures with Tiny Tim as well as take pictures with him. So, we took some pictures in the backyard.

The first picture is of Kyleigh and Tiny Tim riding one of our lawn tractors.

The second picture is of Kyleigh and Tiny Tim riding a kid size car that David was planning to turn into a remote control car, but hasn't gotten around to it yet. In this picture you can also see the turtle's cage. BTW, it isn't a real turtle.

In the final picture, Kyleigh is attempting to fix the car since it wouldn't start when she pushed the ignition switch.

Flowers in Green Circle

This is the second chart in the free cover kit from the World of Cross Stitching #212. Again, I used 28-count Jobelan and DMC floss. The felt cutout and a ribbon to hang it with were included in the kit. I started it on 1/18/14 and finished it today (1/19/14).

The design is just sitting in the cutout right now; I still have to finish finish it. I haven't decided whether or not to add the ribbon hanger or a magnet to the back, but I am planning to keep it for me.

Little Archer

Kyleigh spends every other weekend with her dad and this was one of those weekends. Her dad is an archery coach and he gave Kyleigh her first bow and arrow for Christmas this year. Kyleigh was also "Kindergartner of the Week" last week and got to be responsible for the class pet--a fake turtle--which she took with her this weekend. Janice asked if they would take pictures for the story Kyleigh has to write for class and Chad sent her these three.

The first is of the little archer herself. That bow's as tall as she is!

The second picture is of Tiny Tim sitting on a couple of arrows.

And in the third picture, she's showing that her arrow hit the gold part of the target.

Flowers in Pink Heart

This is the free cover kit from World of Cross Stitching #212. I switched out the supplied Aida for a scrap of 28-count Jobelan and the floss for the corresponding DMC since I ran out of one of the colors before I had it 1/4 of the way done and the floss in the kit did not match the called for DMC. I started it on 1/15/2014 and finished it today (1/18/2014).

The design is just sitting in the cutout right now; I still have to finish finish it. I haven't decided whether or not to add a ribbon hanger or a magnet to the back, but I am planning to keep it for me.

Valentine Heart #2

This is the third heart motif I'm doing for WOCS Valentines Day card project. It was a fairly quick stitch since there are only three colors and I left off the french knots and backstitching. This chart was also found in the World of Cross Stitching Magazine #212 in the Subscriber Bonus Pages. It's stitched on white 14-count Aida with DMC floss. I started it on 1/11/14 and finished it today (1/14/14).

Our Day at Griffith Park

David worked the Monster Truck event at Angels Stadium last night and did some surfing on the internet during his breaks. He called and said he'd like to go ride the Live Steamers and visit Travel Town today. So, after church this morning we took off for Griffith Park which is about 45 minutes north of us.

Our first stop was the Live Steamers. I'd been there before with my parents, but the others hadn't so it was kind of a surprise for them. It was about a six minute ride through tunnels, over bridges, past various vignettes, etc. and we really enjoyed it.

They were doing some maintenance on the engine before the ride so the conductor took our picture.

This is the train we rode.

Just inside the gate was a layout with a smaller train running.

After riding the Live Steamers, we drove over to Travel Town. We also rode the train there, but we enjoyed the Live Steamers more.

We also explored a couple of train cars.

It was about 2:00 when we left so we stopped at Harry's Coffee Shop in Burbank for lunch. David used to eat there when he consulted for a couple of companies nearby. I was looking at the salads, but when the waiter told us that one of the specials was leg of lamb, my decision was very easy--I love leg of lamb, but rarely get the chance to eat it since I'm the only one who likes it. I even had enough left for lunch tomorrow.

Valentine Heart #1

This is the second heart motif I'm doing for WOCS Valentines Day card project. It was a fairly quick stitch since there are only three colors and I left off the french knots and backstitching. This chart was also found in the World of Cross Stitching Magazine #212 in the Subscriber Bonus Pages. It's stitched on white 14-count Aida with DMC floss. I started it on 1/8/14 and finished it today (1/11/14).

Family Fun Day

We're members of the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista, California and yesterday Janice saw a Facebook posting about today being a Family Fun Day where kids could visit the various buildings and learn about what goes on in them. When we arrived, Kyleigh received a card and got a stamp at each building/venue she visited. When she was done, she visited the prize table and received a pencil and a free admission to a future show. They also had a raffle which we didn't participate in, but one of the prizes was a telescope that Kyleigh really wanted. Fortunately, Janice remembered that Kyleigh was given a telescope by a neighbor so they were going to go home and test it out, once it got dark of course.

We visited the farmhouse where we saw an old fashioned kitchen and parlor and learned about what various appliances were like back then. (Unfortunately, I don't remember the time period.)

We then visited the Schoolhouse of Times Past where we learned about one room schoolhouses and the discipline and methods of learning, etc. a long time ago. Kyleigh wrote "I like" and is drawing a picture of herself shooting a bow and arrow on a slate with white chalk.

We then visited the blacksmith shop where we were able to watch several blacksmiths at work.

We also took a train ride and ride in a hay wagon (without the hay) pulled by a John Deere tractor and did a scavenger hunt at the Model Railroad Building. The scavenger hunt involved finding various items such as a campground, a scarecrow, an alien, etc. somewhere in the layouts which were all N-gauge and Kyleigh got a pin that said I trains.

Our final stop was the Weavers' Building where Kyleigh got a Kumihimo project. She's done these before, but needed a little reminding. This is a heptagon (I think) with seven threads and eight holes and you move the third thread on the right of the empty hole to the empty hole. I showed Kyleigh a trick where she could tell which thread to move by it's position rather than by counting.

Valentines Day Cupcake

Each year, WOCS (World of Charity Stitching) makes Valentines Day cards for seniors in a care center and I've decided to do a couple for them this year.

The first one I did is from the World of Cross Stitching #212 and is the cupcake of the month for February. I started it on 1/5/14 and finished it today (1/8/14). It's stitched on white 14-count Aida with DMC floss.

I did make a couple of changes. The chart called for french knots scattered around the frosting and small outlined hearts and single cross stitches scattered around the cupcake. I couldn't tell what the color was underneath the dots indicating the french knots so I just used cross stitches instead. And as you can tell from the picture, I left off the scattered hearts and cross stitches.

I'm currently working on another heart from the subscriber's page in the same issue.

My Birthday

Today was my birthday and we went to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton. I discovered that they have a senior menu (they're not picky about your age) with a smaller portion of spaghetti and a lower price. Janice commented that it was the perfect size for me since I ate it all for a change.

When I picked Kyleigh up from school, she told me she had wrapped up some toys for my birthday because mama hadn't been able to get me anything and she wanted me to be able to unwrap something. According to Janice, she picked out the wrapping paper and bows and did all the wrapping herself. Here is a picture of what she gave me:

They were in two packages and there is one toy missing from the picture because Kyleigh asked if she could have it.

Puppy with Ball

Puppy with Ball came from Cross Stitch Crazy #125. It was stitched as charted on white 14-count Aida using DMC floss. It was started on 1/2/2014 and finished today (1/4/2014). This will be a square for Kyleigh's quilt.

Since Kyleigh has seen me stitch squares for so many quilts for charity, she has requested that I stitch one for her. It will be mostly mismatched alphabet squares with a few others mixed in. My goal is to finish most of the squares this year.

Fairy Ladybird (Yellow)

This cute little design came from Cross Stitch Crazy #127. It's stitched on 14-count white Aida with the called for threads. I started it on New Years Day and finished it today (1/2/14).

I had originally intended to use it on the quilt I'm making for Kyleigh, but have decided to restitch it with the dress in the pinks used for another design in this article and give this one to WOCS instead.

MS 12 Days of Christmas Completed

I finished 12 Drummers Drumming today which completes the entire project. This appeared in several old UK Cross Stitcher magazines, but I actually stitched it from "The Ultimate Margaret Sherry Collection" on 25-count potato Lugana, 2 over 2, using Anchor threads. I started it on 12/28/2013 and it's my first finish of 2014.

Here is the entire piece. I'll be making it into a wallhanging once I find the appropiate fabric, probably sometime later this year.

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.