I was able to finish 2 more this evening and they're kind of vintage looking.  The top one has old fashioned labels on it so I thought it needed a label of it's own.  I do like how that one turned out.

The bottom one is for coffee lovers....which I am not.  I even have to hold my breath when I go down the coffee aisle at the grocery store.  That one has vintage style coffee labels on the fabric.  They are both in my store......oh and if you couldn't tell what the design was in the first bag today....it's a black cat's face with green eyes.  I love that design!

Blessings, Barbara

Yep, I've been sewing again and came up with some new ideas for my project bags.  I have 6 embroidered and I was able to stitch this one together this afternoon.  I'll do the remainders tonite and tomorrow.

This one is done using prequilted fabric in golds, browns and blacks and the fabric I used for the embroidery is a gold Dupoini silk that matches perfectly.  These are becoming habit forming to me.  Now there's a question for you.....can certain types of needlework become habit forming in a "harmful" way.

Anyways, this one is over in my store if your interested.

Blessings, Barbara

Good morning everyone!  It's kind of cloudy and overcast here in Florida and I'm feeling the blues.  This is going to be one of those rambling posts where the reader doesn't know if she/he wants to keep reading or not....I'll leave that up to you.  On one hand I have the good news to report that we went to Shand's Hospital in Gainesville yesterday to meet with the heart surgeon and his recommendation was to wait.  The leaky valve is not causing much trouble and the anyurism (sp?) is small and his advice was to keep a watch and wait.  My DH cardiologist here in Orlando will perform heart echos every 6 months and CT scan once a year and relay the info to him.  When he deems it's necessary for surgery, we will be informed by the docs here.  Now for the bad news from Gainesville.  When they did the CT scan yesterday, they found a spot on one of my DH's lungs.  Seeing that he use to smoke years and years ago, this must be looked at immediately which it will be on the 16th of this month.  And again.....we wait.

Do any of you belong to message boards or groups online?  I belonged to a knitting/crocheting community and it's so cliquey (word?).  I love talking with other stitcher's of any kind, but it's hard to find a place where there's no problems to solve.  That is one of the reasons I started this blog.....to talk with ladies who wanted to talk about stitching or other topics that we chose.  I've made some very sweet friends thru this blog and I cherish you all.  I just don't understand the mentality of some of the message boards.  Why the cattiness?  Why the being mean and nasty to newbies?  Beyond my comprehension.  On this one board, I mistakenly posted about something that apparently I wasn't suppose to talk about on that thread and was attacked for doing this.  What?  Are these people perfect?  Have they never made mistakes?  I think I've learned my lesson and will stay close to home on my little piece of the internet.  :o)

I hope all of you had a fantastic weekend and that your week has started out great.   I don't know if anyone else is following the horse California Chrome and how  he's won 2 of the triple crown races this year...but I will be watching the Belmont Stakes this weekend.  It could be history being made right before your eyes.  The last one was in 1978.  Whatever you'll be doing I hope you'll have a fantastic week and stay out of trouble.

Blessings, Barbara

Thank you!

Well yesterday I went in for my second mammogram and ultrasound and everything came back okay.  I just want to thank all you ladies who wished me good luck and said some prayers for me.  My niece also got some good news on tuesday - no cancer in her anywhere.  We keep in touch and keep each other upbeat and positive.

Blessings, Barbara

And the winner is.....

Calamity Jr

If she would be so kind as to email me her information at grammy5822@gmail.com, I will get her pincushion to her asap.  Congratulations!

Now for some news about my store.  I've added some project bags to my store and there's some linen on there that's very nice.  Project bags at top of page, linens are at the bottom.  If you're looking for something inparticular, let me know......I might have it.  I also sew custom project bags so if you have an idea for one for yourself or a friend, please contact me.  We'll work together to make it perfect for you.

That's all for now except this Wednesday I have that appointment about my girls.  I don't mind telling you that the closer it gets, the more nervous I am.  I'm 62 years young and this is the first major illness that I might be dealing with.  I've been lucky except for about 5 cases of kidney stones and that  one that got infected and gave me blood poisoning and put me in intensive care for 5 days.  Other than that.....things are good.

I hope all of you are enjoying your Memorial Day and please take a moment to remember why we celebrate this day.

Blessings, Barbara

It's Time for a Giveaway....

I can't believe how long it's been since I had a giveaway....months.....years?  Well it's time.  All of you know how much I love making pincushions and I saw one the other day on Pinterest that caught my eye.  She had piece quilted one end and on the other end she had sewn a piece of tape measure to hold your scissors.  Well I thought to myself.....I can do that (maybe) and this is what I came up with.

The scissors that are shown are 4 inch ones so you can tell how big the pincushion is.  I'm thinking this would be great to have beside your sewing machine.   If you would like a chance to win this, just add a comment to this post and we'll have a drawing on May 31st. 

(btw, scissors not included)

Blessings, Barbara

Good News!

My niece Aleisha came thru her surgery with flying colors.  They didn't have to cut any muscle and her lymph nodes were clear. She is now at home recuperating and as soon as she's healed, they will do reconstructive surgery.  I want to thank all of you for your good wishes and prayers.

Blessings, Barbara

PS. After I read Jo's comment on my last post, I will start saving my threads from projects and have a giveaway for the foreign ladies who have to pay dearly for floss.  I'm thinking every three months or so this will occur.  Great idea!

Everything happens at one time

What is it about life that you can be going along and nothing happens and then all of a sudden it's like the clouds parted and you are bumbarded with everything once!  That is my life so far this week.

First, DH has an appointment for the Shands Hospital on June 2nd only there's a hitch.  All the tests that the doctors here in Orlando did are too old for the doctors up there so it looks like he's going to have more tests at the Shands Hospital.  Now why didn't the doctors think of that problem here?  I mean....would they accept tests this old before cutting a chest open?  Doctors!!!!!

All of you that have been keeping up with me know about my problem and that I have a doc appt on the 28th of this month.  That's good.  But this morning I received a phone call from my SIL on DH side telling me that my niece who just turned 41 has to have a double mastectomy this coming friday.  I have known this sweet girl since she was born and I doubt if she's ever hurt anyone in her life and now she must deal with this.  My heart just crumbled......and then it comes to mind that I might be dealing with this same thing in about a month or so.  Please add sweet Aleisha to your prayer list and send good thoughts her way.

Now onto stitching.  What was I thinking when I said I could give it up?  LOL  I'm crazy I swear it.  I did keep some of my things that I thought maybe if I get back into it, I might stitch these.  Well here's one of them....

Recognize it?  It's a Blackbird Design called Blessings be Thine that's been hanging around my drawer for years so I started it over the weekend.  It's an easy stitch and I'm going to follow someone elses's way of stitching.

When I worked at Itch to Stitch in Altamonte Springs here in Florida, we had a customer who did things a little differently.  She had no stash of any kind..  She would pick out a pattern and everything to make it and go home and stitch that one design.  She would then throw out everything that had to do with that pattern and start a fresh one.  This might seem like a waste of money but I see what she was doing.  How many times have you started something only to find another one 2 or 3 days later that you love?  You then go out and purchase everything to stitch that one.  On and on this goes until you have so many started that you rarely finish any and you've spent alot of money.  This way she concentrates on the one she is doing and is not sidelined by another one.  When I cleaned out my stash, one of the things I did keep were my beads so those will not have to be purchased again but I won't be keeping any floss.  This design only uses 4 colors so it's a good one to start this on.  I'm not saying that it's not gonna hurt when I start pitching threads and such but any patterns that I stitch will be given away......trashing patterns is just over board I think.

Another piece I'm working on is a cowl for my sweet sister in law up in Pa.  She was so cold this past winter that I decided to make her one of these large enough that she can use it as a cowl but also pull it up over her head for a hood..

I'm using a very soft olive green yarn from Dark Horse Yarns that is very nice and warm to the touch.  It's machine washable and dryable so it won't be any trouble for her to keep clean.  It's a worsted weight and if I have any left over, this will also be given away.  No more keeping odds and ends for years and never using them.

Well that's all for now.  I just finished frosting a chocolate cake for the boys to snack on and I'm thinking I better get a piece before they get home from school or I'll never get one.  LOL

Blessings, Barbara

Blessings, Barbara

Just thought I'd check in to let some of you know what's been going on in my life.....the ups and downs of daily living.

First off, we still don't have anything set for when DH will be having his surgery....even if they have decided to do it.  Right now we are waiting on the surgeon at Shands Hospital in Gainesville to view his records and all the tests that the doctors here have done.  Waiting is the hardest thing to do.

I'm worried about something that's going on with me.  About 3 weeks ago, I had the "girls" squashed and they found something in my left one.  I go back on the 28th of this month for another mammogram and an ultrasound and then I guess they'll let me know the results.  There's no history of breast cancer in my family so that's good, but you can always be the "first".  Wish me luck please.

The family is doing great except for about 2 weeks ago, everyone had the stomach flu except the 2 men.  Dang them!  It was horrible!  I really felt sorry for the little ones.  

I'm still working on my 3 quilts I have going and I'm really enjoying all the hand stitching.  I'm determined to finish these quilts with absolutely no machine stitching in them.  So far so good.  One is for Jenn, one for my oldest brother and one for myself.  I'll post pics soon.

That's about all that's going on around here.  Summer has hit Florida and it's already very humid and hot.  Just another day in Paradise!

Blessings, Barbara