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.