Meet John Elijah

Mother and Son are doing fine.  He made his appearance at 9:27 this morning.

Blessed are the Children,

Barbara

Maybe a Halloween baby?

We got a phone call from Peyton this morning that she's at the hospital and is in labor.  We might just get that Halloween baby yet.

God Bless This Little Boy,

Barbara

UPDATE:  It will be a Halloween baby because he's decided to take his good ole time coming into this world.  I will post as soon as I hear anything from the Dad.

What I've Been Up To

Hello everyone...hope your week so far has been good.  Mine has been so so.  I did finish a shawl that I had been crocheting....

I haven't blocked it yet so that's why it looks a little small.  Blocking can enlarge a shawl and make it twice it's original size.  This I highly recommend.  It's a pain to do but the end result is worth it.

I completed some project bags for Debbie at Needle Orts.  If you are interested in any, just call her and she will take care of you.  These are all padded with cotton batting and have zipper closures.  They are also fully lined.

I'm starting a new cross stitch project and it looks to be alot of fun.  It's called Acorn House and I'm stitching it on 29ct. Cream Glenshee linen with Belle Soie silks.  After I've stitched it, then I will age it with walnut crystals.

I have a round walnut frame that I've kept for years and I think this will look very nice in it.

Well hubby has been getting his pre-op work done.  Today he had a heart catherization (sp?) to make sure his veins and arteries around his heart are in good condition.  The doc said everything looks fine except of course the aorta.  That's the part of the surgery that has me really scared.  On the 2nd we go back to the cardiologist for one last check up and then the 9th he goes for his pre-op procedures....blood typing and such.  Then we have to be at the hospital on the 10th at 5am and his surgery will start at 7:30.  We don't have any family down here except Peyton and John (Jenn no longer associates with us) and I don't want Peyton sitting in the hospital waiting with me so I'm going to be by myself.  I've had friends offer to come sit with me but I don't think I want anyone there.  Does that make sense?   I've been by myself for all his surgeries except one and that was when I broke my right leg and couldn't drive.  I would much rather sit there knitting or crocheting and concentrating on him instead of making small talk.  That's just me.

I hope each and every one of you has a fantastic week with your loved ones and don't forget to tell them you love them each day.

Blessed Be, Barbara

A Christmas pillow

I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to a nice weekend.  I started the Shepherd's Bush "Joy to Ewe" and before I knew it, it was finished.  If you are looking for a quick stitch for a present, this is it.  I had a collection of small charm squares from Moda called "Jingle" and I used them to make the pillow base.  The finished size is approx. 4 x 7 inches.

I just love his little hat button.  

Tomorrow I must get some bag finishing done for my LNS and I'll post some of them when they are finished.  I have about 12 to put together so tomorrow I'll be locked in my sewing room.

Question - am I the only one who's husband doesn't talk until I am sitting at my sewing machine trying to concentrate on what I am doing?  Every time it happens and I'm beginning to laugh whenever I hear his footsteps coming down the hall.  Oh well...such is life.

Blessings, Barbara

It's Finally Finished!

Yes as you can see below, I finally finished Blessings Abound by Plum Street Samplers.  I did make a change though.  In the upper right hand corner there is suppose to be a black bird holding a branch in it's beak with an acorn on it.  Well it is stitched over 1 thread and I had had enough of that by the time I was finished with the writing part that I decided to add a little brass acorn charm instead.  I don't think it looks too bad and nobody here will know but me.  :o)

My finishing skills left me down a little bit on this one because I miss calculated the twisted pearl cotton that goes around the outside and that bugs me.  Nobody is perfect....right?  I'm just glad it's finished.  If you would like to stitch this, you'll find the pattern in my store.

Next project should give me no trouble at all.  It's a Shepherd's Bush design called "Joy to Ewe" and it's stitched on 18ct Natural Linen over 2 threads so this should be alot easier for me to do.  Here is what it will look like

I don't think I will finish it like they did....I'll wait till it's done to decide.

I started a new crocheted shawl for myself.  This yarn I purchased on Etsy and it's lovely and the colors are just stunning.  This is what I have finished so far:

I swear it has every color of the rainbow in it.  I'm also going to start a scarf in this beautiful red yarn that I have.  No time for the weary and poor little Vallie gets tired of following me around.  I'll be sitting in my stitching place and all of a sudden I'm up and going to my sewing room.....back and forth.....back and forth.....and she follows me loyally and no complaints.  She's my best bud.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you have no visits from that nasty frog we all know and dislike.

Blessings Abound, Barbara

A Finish and More Bad News

Good afternoon Ladies.  I hope everyone is having a nice peaceful Sunday with family and friends around them.   I was able to finish the dark purple cowl today and I thought I'd share that with you.

This one was knitted using Tosh DK from Madelinetosh and it really gives you a good stitch definition.  It's soft to the touch and will be quite comfortable to wear here in Florida this winter.  The pin is one I bought at Joann's.  It seems that lapel pins are becoming quite popular this year.  I've also seen them worn on hats.  I do have a hat pattern I want to make for myself but usually hats and I do not get along.  We'll see.

Now for the bad news.  Last Thursday my hubby had an appointment with the cardiovascular surgeon and it was determined that he needs to have his open heart surgery sooner than we thought.  It is scheduled for Nov. 10th and yes I'm a basket case.  They have to replace his aortic valve in his heart and also replace the aorta that comes out of your heart at the top for about 3 inches.  That is where his anurysm is so the surgeon decided just to replace that part of the aorta.  To say I am scared is putting it mildly.  My hubby has had 3 surgeries in the last 8 years but this one is the worse.  I hope and pray that he comes thru alright because I don't know what I would do without him.  All he asked the surgeon was to keep him alive long enough to see his first great grandchild.  That brought tears.

So now I have a question to ask each and every one of you.  We all have movies that we watch when we are down in the dumps and these movies lift our spirit.  For me "It's A Wonderful Life".  I put that movie in and I just feel better by the end.  I'm going to need more movies like this in the next few weeks, so please share with me your pick me up movie.

Blessings to all of you and don't forget to tell your Love Ones that you love them, 

Barbara

The Winner of the Giveaway is.....

First off I would like to explain something about Vallie our sweet little Maltese.  She likes to ignore me and make me look like an idiot....as she did again today.  If I ask her to come here.....she ignores me, if I ask her to go to bed....she ignores me, if I were to ask her to fly to the moon.....she would ignore me.  And as you can tell by these videos, she ignored me again today.  You will find out the winner at the end of the videos.

I will be getting in touch with the winner via email and get her information to mail this out to her on Monday.
Everyone have a fantastic weekend.
Blessings, Barbara (and Vallie)

Slow doings

Hello my sweet ladies.  I hope each and every one of you is doing fine and getting alot of stitching in.  Me....I haven't.  Ever since I got those three shots....flu, pneumonia and shingles vaccine, I have been feeling lousy.  About all I want to do is sleep.  I have to call my family doctor and see what's going on.  I can't continue like this....nothing is getting done.

I have been making slow progress on Blessings Abound and I was hoping to have it finished this week but I seriously doubt if I will.  This is what I have done so far...

not much, is it?  

I have been knitting some because that is relaxing to me and truly makes me feel better.  I received my shipment of Madelinetosh yarns and I'm loving them.

This one is called "Well Water"

This one is called "Plaid Blanket"

and this one is called "Flashdance".  I love this purple....it has all different shades of purple in it and it's a dream to work with.

I made the Halloween costume for Debbie at Needle Orts but I haven't taken a picture of it yet.  She wanted a size 2 "Georgia Peaches" outfit from A League of Our Own.  The pattern wasn't the best in the world but I did get it finished except the belt....Debbie will make that.  I'll post a picture next time of it.  Made some Halloween bags for Debbie and that's about it.

It's finally cooling off down here and hopefully that will also help me feel better.

Blessings to All, Barbara

Had Exciting Weekend

It's cooled down a lot here in Orlando and I very much welcome the change.  Saturday night we went out to dinner at Kobe's Japanese Steakhouse with Peyton and John and I ate myself silly.  Their food is just fantastic and we all had a good time.

Saturday morning I had to run some errands and one of them was to find one of my knitting stores who had moved.  This store is owned and operated by a little Russian lady who really does fantastic knitting and I swear she has every kind of yarn ever made in her store.  If you want to look at what her store looks like you can check it out here.  She was having a nice reopening sale and also giveaways but you didn't know what or if you had won anything until the following morning on her website.  I bought some Madelinetosh Pashima

in a beautiful green and left.  The next morning I get up and check her website to find out I had won a $100.00 gift certificate.  I was floored!  I couldn't wait till today to go back because I had my eye on something I saw there on Saturday.  DH had off today for doc appts. so after them off I went.  I came home with:

a new Vera Bradley knitting tote that I've always wanted,

3 balls of Karabella Margrite Bulky which is Wool and Cashmere and really, really soft

and 2 skeins of Hand Maiden Casbah which is Wool, Cashmere and Nylon which will be made into a shawl for myself.

And if that wasn't enough, I came home to find an order I had mailed to WEBS for:

One is a Madeline Tosh Pashima and the other is an Alpaca blend by Asland Trends..  I am in heaven!!!!

I've started the Blessings Abound sampler for the hornbook and I want to share something with you.

Like I posted before, I decided to stitch this using Belle Soie silks.  When I picked the one above out, I thought I was picking a dark brown - idiot me never looked at the color name on the tag - but when I got to my stitching spot I noticed it wasn't brown at all but a very dark purple with hints of brown in it.  I decided to try it and see how it looked and it's fantastic.  I would never in a million years thought you could substitute a dark purple for a dark brown but in this sampler it works.

Well that's been my weekend - full of good food with loved ones and another basket full of lovely yarns which my knitting needles are just waiting to get in to.

I hope your weekend was just as lovely.

Blessings, Barbara

Ornie Time

And so now it's back to the Christmas ornaments for our tree this year.  I'm very disappointed in a Vikki Clayton HDF silk.  I used her red on the large ornament and it bled into the fabric.  I have never had that happen with any other fiber but just my luck, it did it with this one.  These two are both from the same pattern:  Winter, Postcards from the Heart.  I love this design - she just happens to be located in my hometown of Mechanicsburg, Pa. and her designs are quite nice.

Below is the pattern and you can find it in my store if you're interested.  The name of her design company is Summer House Stitche Works.

 I'm starting the Blessings Abound sampler to place on the hornbook today and the colors are wonderful.  I've decided to stitch it with the Belle Soie silks so it's extra special.  Also have ordered some scrumptious Madelinetosh yarns in worsted, dk, and sport weight for knitted items I want to make - as if I don't have enough yarn - but who's counting.

It looks like we are going to be missed by the hurricane but I'm worried about friends up the coast.  I hope everyone is safe and sound inside their homes if it hits your area and that nothing bad happens to those caught in it.

Blessed Be, Barbara