Stitching and Gifts

I got there lovely gifts from Lisa S for Falling into Halloween exchange on the  Stitched with Love blog.  I LOVE the  cat ornament and the back of it is a little heart charm saying  Made for you.  The wooden box is going fun to paint before next Halloween.  The bats are so cute and I have used a couple already.  The fabric is adorable and I can't wait to start the pattern and ribbons.  Thank you Lisa! You put a lot of thought in my gifts and I appreciate it very much.

 The  two pictures above is what I put together for my partner, Jen.  I had Colleen to email Jen asking her favorite Halloween candy was, and I put a Halloween tin can with Hersheys bars, Reese's peanut butter cups, and Sweet tarts. I gave the rest to my brother, well the Sweet tarts at least, lol. I stitched Punpkin Kat from Bette Ashley in the Simply Cross Stitch Magazine, No 37, 1997.  I wanted to do it in the ornament but it came out too big.  I added Glendon Place  Witch Parking Only, the fabric that was recommended, a few hand dyed threads, stickers, needles, and a pair of socks.  

I made this Witch's Hat by The Stitchworks in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue.  I made a couple of  changes, I used gold metallic thread for the stars instead of the orange (didn't have any) and use one of the bats I got from Lisa.  I made it into an ornament and added a gold bead hanger. It was for Vickie H for the ILCSing Halloween Ornament exchange.  I almost kept it for myself.  I like how it came out and Vickie likes it.

 This is Witchy Brew by Witchy Stitches.  It was stitched on 30 count linen and used WDW Lavender for the words. Both the pattern and fabric came from Cape May at my retreat.  I added one of my new bats.  Did I tell you I like the bats a lot?  This one is for me for a chance.

 This lovely needle book is from Denise of UK, sometimes in Saudia Arabia,lol. It was for the Autumn Exchange in the ILCS group.   I love it.  She did a great job.  The below picture is the inside of the needle book.   Thank you Denise! I am waiting for  my partner to get my exchange, than I can show it off. 

As I was writing about the snow, the mail came in and I got a package from my Secret Penpal.  She  sent two mini Christmas ornament and a beautiful Thanksgiving post card.    Next month I get to find out who my penpal is, and I can't wait. I have no idea who it is.  

Until next time,
Vicky

SNOW!!!!

When snow is falling, it is so beautiful!  I could watch the snow fall for hours.  It is gorgeous and the romantic side of me comes out, lol.  Last Saturday, Connecticut and few other New England states got hit with our first major snow storm.  Usually around here, the foliage is at its peaks and leaves are falling.  Instead of rain, it snowed.  Pictures below is what it looked like outside of my kitchen the next morning. Its a winter wonderland.

 This snow brought a lot of damage, because it was very wet and heavy.  It you look at the first picture on this post, and compare to the above picture, you can see the branches are hanging very low.

 These trees are exactly down the end of the street.   I just love zooming in with my camera and I didn't have to step outside.  These trees are just a fraction, maybe less, to all the damage this storm did.  Mother Nature was not very nice.

 These are bushes between my building and the next building.  I wish I took a before picture of these, because the bushes are a good 5 feet tall and were beautiful.  They are destroyed and will be pulled up in the spring.

This picture is from my right side and I like how the stop sign is covered.  Usually by the time I get up after a storm, the snow is off the sign.  We lost our power around  4 pm on Saturday.  I was about to start supper.  I thought I would stitch a little before it got dark, but with the storm, dark came very quick.  I listen to the radio under my bed covers and hearing the numbers of power outrages kept climbing.  Sunday morning the guys took a quick shower and used up the rest of the hot water.  There were only 3 Dunkin Donuts stores open  in our area.  Dad got egg sandwiches and coffee for  breakfast and KFC for supper.  Luckily they were open and very busy.  We ate in the candle light.  I tried to crochet using a flashlight and I think I did 4 granny squares.  I was a little slower but I was able to do something instead of twiddling my thumbs.   Monday morning was more egg sandwiches and coffee.  We went to  my aunt's, who did not lose power, and took a shower.  It was so  nice to have a hot shower.  After  we got home, I stitched until it got dark and than I switched to crocheting. I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for supper.  Than the power came on around  930 pm.  I was so happy and the first thing I did was to put the heat on.  It was getting cold.  I can't imagine how much colder it would have got. Unfortunately there are communities still out of power as I am writing this.  I hope they get their power back soon.  The electricity company says 99%  of all towns by midnight on Sunday.  

I Got Mail and update

Hi!  Parsley from Seasons of My Mind,  put a challenge for her readers to show a picture of ourselves.  So I figure,  what the heck, why not? I rarely put pictures of myself because majority of the time I am the one taking the pictures, even at family gatherings. This is my recent picture of me when I was at Sandwich, Cape Cod, taken by my aunt this past August.

I did some more fabric dyeing a couple weekends ago. It has been gorgeous lately on the weekends.  I went with a blue theme.  The fabric on the left  was dyed with Rit Evening Blue, the middle one was brush painted with Mediterranean Blue acrylic paint and the right fabric was Rit Aquamarine Blue with a dash of Evening Blue.  I wanted more of  a bluish color, instead of a blue-green color. I love how they came out.

 On October 15, my nephew, Anthony, turned 7 years old. My sister hired a magician for Anthony and his friends.  The magician put Anthony in this get-up. Doesn't he look ridiculous? Of course, I had to take a picture. I think its my favorite one.  I going to get a 4x6 picture for this one to  put in my room.

 There was cupcakes instead of a cake this year.  Dawne made the cupcakes, Amy frosted them and I decorated them.  There was a pinata,too, a SpongeBob Squarepants.  There was one last year and they weren't going do another one but the night before, Anthony started bawling because he wanted a pinata again.  So his dad went out to  get one. When it came time to hit Sponge Bob, Anthony went first and then the next kid went and gave it a big whack, and BOOM!, candy went flying out.  No other kid got a chance to whack it,but they did get candy!

Here is Anthony right before we sang Happy Birthday to him.   The balloon next to him also sings and Anthony kept hitting it.  He loved it.  When I got home, there was a package waiting for me.

Meet Carver the Pumpkin!  He is adorable!  My Secret Pen Pal send it to me.  He is now sitting in my basket with my other stuffed toys.  Thank you so much!  Than Monday came along, and I had went to the store and came back, and there were 5 packages waiting for me. It was Christmas in October for me.  One was a small order for a couple gifts, and another was a secret exchange which I can't show until I get the word its okay to do so. However, here is the other 3 packages.

This  lovely package came from Carissa of the i-love-cross-stitch Yahoo group for the 10th Anniversary exchange.  The group  has been  around for 10 years and I have been a member since 2003.  It was the first group I ever joined and I had met so many friends in  this group.  Carissa send me DMC satin threads(which I never used before), 2 Carrie's threads, Stitchy Kitty "The Hamster Did It" pattern, Angel Stitchin  "Long May She Wave" pattern, a Silkweaver solo piece with a needle, a card she made and a bookmark, which is in a book I am reading and didn't made in the picture.  Thank you Carissa!

 This package came from Mary from The Stitcherhood group.  The exchange was a Halloween Treasure hunt which we had to find items to represent Halloween from a list we were given.  For the pumpkin, it was the Pez candy which cracked me up, plus it glows in the dark.  For the witch was a Mill Hill needleminder,   candy corn  was a dish shape as a candy corn and a bag of candy corn, cats was a pair of cat earrings.  (Sorry Mary I have to give them to someone else.  I am allergic to earrings),  And for Happy Halloween saying was a spool of ribbon. I love everything and it was so creative.  Thank you Mary!

 This package came from Cindy B.  for the Fall Exchange from the ILCSing Yahoo group.   She send 2 patterns, Lizzie Kate Flip-Its October and November and a package of needles.  She had 123Stitch send them to me directly and when I opened it, I was thinking it was my order.  I am looking at the items and thinking "This is not what I ordered", then I looked at the slip and saw Cindy's name and I went "Duh!"   Just a senior moment for me,  lol!  Thank you Cindy! 

Last night I got my Halloween ornament from Viv of UK from the ILCSing group. She stitched me a Mill Hill Spooking ornament and included a Mill Hill Kitty Treats with some candy and a card filled with Halloween confetti.  I have the ornament hanging from my bookshelfs.  Viv knows I love Mill Hill kits and  I love it.  I can't wait to start on the Kittys.  Thank you Viv!

I can show you a finish. I stitched this for Mary from KraftersKorners group.  We had to stitched a freebie, finish it off and add 3 specialty threads. I found this SanMan Autumn freebie in my stash and I finished it as an ornament.  I  uses Carrie's threads Autumn for the wording and gold beads for the hanger. 

This finish is Sandy's RR, the Snowbaby from Ellen Maurer-Stroh.  I had this done awhile ago, but I forgot to post it.  I used the beads instead of confetti stitches for the snowflakes.  I think it came out wonderful.  I sure hope Sandy likes it.

I want to thank all of you for your good thoughts on my upcoming surgery.  I appreciate all of them.  I saw the surgeon on Oct 6th.  The surgery has been delayed for 6 months, but for a good reason.  The doctor, also,  does the gastric bypass but won't be taking my insurance for another 6 months to do the procedure.  I do want to  have the gastric bypass done and trying to avoid to put me under twice, it will be better to wait.  However,if my gallbladder does act up too bad before than, he will do the surgeries separately.  It makes sense to me.  I do need this gastric bypass done because I know it will change my life for the good of  things.  I have told my family  and I have their support and love.  I know I can do this, just playing the waiting game for now. 

I will be going to Virginia after Christmas. My friends are going to Florida in January and they want to house and pet sit for them.  They said I could come  even if they do not go, so my trip has been delayed for another 2 months. That means I could save up more money.

I have reached 200 followers, so I will be doing a Christmas giveaway in a couple weeks.  It will be so much fun!

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January Owl and Redecorating

I finally started on the OakHaven Owl SAL.  Kelly from i-love-crossstitch blog and I started on Sunday. I just finished the owl today. I was hoping to finish it on Monday but my bedroom was being redecorated, thanks to my lovely aunts.  They did most of the work.  Monday was moving furniture from the walls and painting the walls.  Here a couple before pics  before the painting.

Tuesday was whenwe moved the furniture around and brought things back into the room.  I love it. Here is the results.

The wall is pink called  Fading Roses.  It took me a long time to decide what color and to find the comforter.  I still have a wall with no pictures on it.  I better get back  to stitching so I can fill up the wall. 

Arlette got her bookmark and needles from me.  The pattern came from Leisure Arts Bookmarks of the Seasons.  I used DMC 4215.  I love how the colors of the thread came out and so wintery looking too. 

Health note:   Sunday, Sept 18, I went the hospital for a pain on my right side with nauseous and a fever. I thought it was my gallstones acting up again.  They were but found out I had an urinary tract infection too. They admitted me in and I was there for three days.  The surgeon  decided it was best to have my gallbladder out but as an outpatient.  So I am seeing the surgeon on Oct 6 and the date for the surgery will be set than.  I am hoping it will be in November so I could go to Virginia for Halloween.  I know I will have appointments before the surgery but I could work around it.  I will know on the 6th whether I will be going or not.

Many hugs until next time,
Vicky