By the months ...

What have you been up to lately?  I've just been hanging around with a bunch of fun and crazy people ... in May ... Lisa, Yvonne and I heading out of town for our annual girls weekend at Ocean Shores ...

 the first of many drinks .... and by far the best bloody mary!

 and in June ... Terry and I spent 4 wonderful days on Lopez Island celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary!!!  40 year?  OMG couldn't believe it has40 years!  We've been through a lot of ups and downs throughout the years ... have watched (and helped) our two boys grow into amazing men ... we got through the loss of both our moms and now we are trying to help our dads with life and health issues ... we've remodeled and lived to tell about it ... we've learned together about my MS struggles ... and we are getting closer to a new stage in our lives ...  and just think, after 40 years we still wanted to spend 4 days disconnected from the world on this quiet lovely island ,,,

 

but wait!  there's more in June .. besides our anniversary, June is also my dad's birthday, Father's Day and Mike and Tammey's anniversary ... so we got the whole family together for a Seattle Mariner's game... well almost the whole family.  Nick and his girlfriend Cecilia weren't able to attend the game.  We had a couple extra tickets and the time was perfect for Monica's mom and dad to be able to join us.  A good time was had by all ... at least they said they had fun lol

  

 

and that brings us to July ... had a blast with Ken and Lisa on the 4th.  We headed to Bellevue for drinks and dinner and then over to the park for the fireworks ... ran into Lisa's son Jairid and his fiance Michelle ... and last Sunday I got to celebrate my friend Dawn turning 50!

 

 

 

 I was able to do some stitching in between all the fun and was able to finish a couple of older wips.  This is Lizzie*Kate Christmas Spirit.  I started this series in 2008, got half way done with it and forgot all about it.  Nice to have it finished!

 Lizzie*Kate Christmas Spirit.

Stitched on recommended fabric with

recommended WDW threads

Here's another old wip, well not too old ... I started this design last year ... so fun to stitch and love it!

 Patriotic Poppies by With They Needle and Thread

Can't remember what fabric I used

Stitched with recommended GAST, WDW and CC threads

Here's a little finish. Design is from Summer House Stitche Works Postcard series. It was fun picking out all the embellishments.

 This finish drove me crazy ... I've stitched about half of the Word Play series.  I don't know why but this one was the hardest to finish ... just didn't keep my interest I guess ... but I love it now that it's done!! lol

May Word Play by With Thy Needle and Thread

Stitch on 35 Ct. Abecedarian linen

with recommended GAST and WDW threads  

Here's one of  my new starts ... I'm really loving it ... although the stripes are a little more pink than I expected ... stripes are next!  The design is called Seaside Stars and Stripes and can be found in this magazine http://www.craftideas.com/magazines

 Here's what the finished design will look like.

I've missed chatting with everyone ... I hope your summer is going well and you are stitching up a storm!

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for blogging ...

Happy April!

Good Grief!  I started this post at the beginning of Apirl and never finished it ... and now it's almost May!  Hope Spring is treating you well!  Our weather has been all over the map, other than snow, we've had rain and sunshine and rain and pouring down hard rain, sunshine, hail and sunshine again ... and sometimes all on the same day!  lol

Back in February I went to visit my friend Elaine for the weekend ... she's a stitcher too.  We had been talking about learning some new finishing techniques ... we both like learning new things together.  So I went through my drawer of "needs to be finished", gathered all my finishing supplies and headed to Elaine's.  The first new technique we picked was flat fold.  Thanks to Vonna of Twisted Stitcher we had the most awesome instructions!  You can find all Vonna's tutorials here.  this picture

Here's our stitched pieces and our packing fabric ... now the real fun begins!

Elaine was the reader of the instructions, she did an amazing job *smile*

Now were have everything ready to assemble ... and just waiting for a little more glue to dry ...

Hours later ... we have two finished pieces .. These are Elaine's ... The Bunny is the flatfold and the bell is a mounted flat ornament ...

and here's mine ... Celebrate is my flatfold and the other reindeer is my mounted flat ornament.  We both loved learning new things ... more practice is needed with both finishing techniques ... but not bad for our first time!

I stitched these two fun Easter designs but didn't get them finished in time for Easter ... there's always next year!  I think Hop would make a cute little flatfold ...

Hop Squared by Lizzie Kate

Stitched with recommended

 fabric and threads

Hip Hop Easter by Lizzie Kate

Stitched with recommended

fabric and threads

I'm going to frame Rise and Shine and hang it in my kitchen ... such a cheery design

 

Rise and Shine by Hizneit

Stitched on a misc piece of fabric with 

recommended DMC

For the last few years all the girl cousins have tried to get together for a weekend.  This year we stayed at my Aunt Georgene's apartment in downtown Seattle.  Aunt Georgene and Uncle Dick spend most of their time at their farm, so they were glad to lets us use the place.  It's actually two apartments opened to be one big one ... so there's plenty of bedrooms and two kitchens! lol  We all arrived Friday evening and enjoyed a lovely dinner out.

Saturday afternoon we picked up my Aunt Betty and drove up north and had lunch with my Aunt Georgene ... quite a lovely group of ladies!  From left to right, Jan is the oldest cousin, Aunt Georgene is the oldest sister, turn 93 years young last January (my dad is the baby), Val is an adopted cousin, married Kris last September.  Kris and Jan are sisters, next is Aunt Betty, Kris and Jan's mom and last is Sue.  Sue and I being the daughters of the boys in the family.  Totally confused?  lol  I know I am!!!

When we got home from all the fun with the aunts it was drinking time!

and Mexican train time!  Lots of laughs!!

and a last picture .. I love these women!!

I really hope April has been a great month for you and here's hoping all the best with May coming fast!  Thanks for hanging with me even when I'm blogging every few months.  Love ya!

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for all my cousins ...

Happy March!!

How's March treating everyone?  I know most you have had just a miserable winter.  We usually don't get a lot of snow except in the mountains, but this year has been horrible ... no snow!!!  The mountains look so weird all bare except for the very tops ... the ski resorts are struggling big time and I'm wondering what our summer will be like with no snow runoff for the reservoirs .... could be a hot dry summer, which won't be much fun.  We've had one of the warms February's on record ... I'm afraid the weather is changing, and not for the good ... anywhere!

I had a fun couple of weeks with stitching.  I was going through all my project bags and found 3 designs that were in varies stages of being done ... so I decided to finish them up ... what a great feeling that is!!!

I started this freebie design last year ... not sure why I didn't finish it back then, but I'm glad I found it and got it done ...

 Easter Freebie by iStitch

stitched on misc piece of white linen

with WDW's Sweetheart Rose

Now this design I know is at least 2 years old and I remember getting to a certain point in the stitching and didn't want to do the vines ... when I pulled it out all I needed to stitch was the basket, the vines and the leaves/flowers ... a few hours later it was done!  Can't wait to get it framed!

 A Little Easter by Lizzie*Kate

Stitched on a misc piece of linen

with recommended threads

 My last finish ... I've been working it the longest last month ... I really enjoyed this one too!

Delivery Yummy Goodness by Homespun Elegance

stitched misc piece of linen

with recommended threads

In between all the Easter stitching I threw in a St. Patrick's Day stitch ... this one was quick and soooo cute to stitch!

A Little Bit of March by Lizzie*Kate

stitched on misc piece of linen

with recommended threads

Thanks for all your lovely comments and well wishes for my father-in-law.  Yesterday he turned 93!!!  Monica and I didn't go visit him because we've been fighting colds ... I've been done with one horrible sinus infection, my first one ever!  and hopefully my last ... omgosh it's been ugly!  But Terry, Chris and Robert went to visit him ... took him some cards, a balloon and a cupcake to celebrate 93 years.  He had a nice visit with everyone.  Hoping he gets to come home in a couple more weeks.

I hope you all stay safe and warm out there in the snow covered states ... and wherever you are, I hope the frogs stay away and you keep stitching and sharing.

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for finishes...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Valentine's Day with your loved ones or all by yourself, as long has you have some chocolate!

I did a little more finishing last week ... this was a freebie by Cathy of Hands On Designs, you can find it here.  I really like how this turned out .. gave it to Chris and Monica for Valentine's Day

Doing a big happy dance .. I finished this love last night and I'm over the moon in love with it!  Thinking of sending it to Jill for framing ...

Quaker Christmas by Midnight Stitching

Stitched on 32ct RR Antique Cotton with 

recommended threads

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your Saturday and Sunday .. Nascar racing starts tonight ... so excited!!!

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for red ...

A few pictures to share ...

Happy February everyone!  Can't believe January is already gone ... where the heck is time going??  Moving way to fast in some areas and not fast enough in others! lol

We are still trying to get over our Seahawks losing the Superbowl ... shakes head ... but we still love them!  Should be interesting who comes back next year ... keeping my fingers crossed the team stays pretty much intact.

Now that football season is over I'm looking forward to a great Nascar racing season and some great soccer ... yep, I do love my sports!

I got a bug up my butt last week about all the finished stitching I have laying around that needs to be finished so I can enjoy it.  I'm sending a few things off to be finished but thought I'd do a little finishing myself ... ya know I don't like to finish things, but well they turned out pretty cute, even if I do say so myself! lol ... I stitched these two Bent Creek snappers last year ... now I get to enjoy them *smile*

I stitched a couple of these reindeer I think last year, might have been 2013 ... I love how it looks in the watch fob!

Let it Snow is a new design from Cathy of Hands On Designs ... the series is called A Year In Chalk ... looks like a fun series and I like Let It Snow a lot ... but stitching with white is never my favorite thing to do lol ... I found this chalkboard easel at Hobby Lobby ... I hope my idea works!

This is a wip of mine from 2 years ago ... don't know why it took me so long to be back to it, cause I'm loving stitching it.  Do you find some designs are calming to you to stitch?  This one is!  It's been a joy working on ... it's Quaker Christmas by Moonlight Stitching ...

Our life has been upside down lately.  My father in law, who will be 93 on March 1st, ended up in the hospital on January 11th.  He's been battling congestive heart failure and took a fall on the 11th that put him in the hospital .. didn't break anything, thank goodness!  He spent about 3 weeks in the hospital, now is in a rehab center.  We've been very lucky all these years ... his health has been great and his mind is sharp has a tack.  He's been living alone since his wife passed about 10 years ago.  Terry's the only sibling living close ... his sister lives in New Mexico, so Terry's been the one to help his dad with most everything.  Since his hospitalization, Terry's been living down at his dad's house, taking care of the dog, the house and the bills, plus being there at the hospital/rehab center for his dad.  It's been odd not having him around ... we meet on Saturdays for a movie and lunch ... catching up ... and he comes to the house about once a week to help with stuff around here and to do any work that he can't do at his dad's.  He's pretty flexible working for himself and being able to work from anywhere, for the most part.  We don't think Al, my FIL, will be able to go home and be as independent as he was before the fall.  His strength just isn't coming back very fast and his driving days are over.  Not sure what the next few months will bring us ... but positive thoughts and prayers would be wonderful!  Ahhhhh another stage of life for us.

Thanks for visiting ... love hearing from you all!

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for a loving and supportive husband ...