It feels so good to stitch again.

Thi is going to be a difficult day as it was three years ago today that my grandson collapsed at basketball practice and died of sudden cardiac arrest.  I know he is in heaven and that I'll see him there someday, but right now I just miss him so much that it is almost more than I can stand at times.  Keith, I love you and miss you.  You brought such joy to all who knew you.

I haven't been able to stitch for the past month due to a major problem with my right eye.  I had cataract surgery and two weeks after the surgery, I awoke with what seemed like a white gauzy curtain on my right eye.  I immediately went to the eye dr. and have been going 2-3 times a week since.  It seems my rt. eye developed massive inflammation and it is going to be a slow process getting rid of it.  They have done laser surgery as well as a shot of cortisone directly in the eye and I've had so many different eye drops that I've lost count.  Right now, I'm down to a strong cortisone drop every two hours, a dialating drop twice a day, a pressure reducing drop 3 times a day and prednisone by tablet once a day.  I can now make out lights, shapes, and some movement with my rt. eye.  Thank goodness, my left eye is doing fantastic. 

This is a project I started for a class at Celebrations in St. Charles MO in September.  I'm finally getting back to it.  The blue flowers are Algerian eyes over one.  I'm anxious to get this stitched so I can get to the finishing before I forget how it was done.

Keith Urban Concert

My granddaughter Taylor has been with me all week and Wednesday night we went to St. Louis to see Keith Urban.  We first went to the Hard Rock Cafe to eat and then off to the concert.  We had a wonderful time.  Harriet, a fellow stitcher and friend, went with us.  Keith rocked the place for over two hours and at one point was five rows from us to do a couple of songs.  If you get a chance to see him perform, go, go, go!!!

A New Member of the Family: Miss Ginger

I finally gave in and got another dog.  I swore after having to have my darling sheltie Sally Ann put down a year ago, that I was through with dogs.  I was tired of having to get up early and stay up late to take them out and having to kennel every time I wanted to go somewhere overnight.  Then my granddaughter Taylor called and told me about this toy Pomeranian that she wanted me to get.  I've had her for about 10 days and so far she has managed to chew just about everything that isn't at least two feet off the floor.  She drags in my underclothes, chews on my shoes, tears the stuffing out of a pillow, and on and on.  But she is a dear and I'm slowly but surely getting her house broken and making her behave better.  I have to admit that I've really missed having a dog.  I have a cat, but they just aren't the same.  So, here is Ginger at 3 months:

French Alphabet Sampler is finally finished.

It took 1 year and 21 days to stitch this huge sampler that has all the names and initials of my immediate family worked into the various alphabets.  It was stitched with Vikki Clayton Hand-dyed premium silks on 32 ct. linen.  I don't know the name/color of the linen as it was a yard piece I had on hand.  I'm ready for some very small projects that do not require 12 letter sized sheets to show the chart.  

At the retreat

Here in Branson with all my stitching buddies and having so much fun.  There are 13 of us here from the St. Louis Stitchers.  We have shopped and shopped and shopped again and have only been to one store....Cecelia's Samplers.  It's 4 p.m. and I haven't taken a stitch yet today but I did stay up until 3 a.m. this morning stitching.  Fuddruckers just pulled up to set up their grills for a cookout.  I hope they have those wonderful brownies again this year.  Be back later.......

I'm sitting in a hotel room waiting for Harriet to arrive.  Tomorrow morning we are on our way to Branson for Cecelia's Samplers' Spring Retreat.  I'm so looking forward to this.  It's a miracle that I made it this far as it seemed that everything I did took twice as long to do and nothing seemed to go right.  It was a two steps forward 10 steps back kind of day yesterday.  I at least got this new computer up and running and have the wireless network at home installed.  I hope I get used to Windows 7 soon.  I have the software to upgrade my desktop computer and will do that when I get home. 

I've started back re-stitching that blasted border on FAS.  I found a mistake over half way back on the bottom border and had to rip out almost 12" of stitching.  Of course, it had to be this scroll border which is a bear to stitch.  That probably why I made the mistake in the first place.  If it hadn't been for all the frogging, I would have FAS finished by now.  I hope I get it done at the retreat.  It would only be fitting to finish it there since it was at the 2010 Spring Retreat that I started FAS.  More tomorrow on my retreat adventure.

It's Feeling Like Spring

The window by Sawyer's perch is open and he loves watching the birds and dreaming of catching one.  I think I can finally put away those winter sweaters. 

I realized I hadn't posted a picture of Taylor's birth sampler that I finished last year, so I' ll get one on here. The pattern is Bienvenue by Long Dog Samplers.   Two of my stitching friends have stitched this same sampler and all look different as we did them on different fabrics and with different fibers.  I used a mauve hand-dyed silk fiber from Vikki Clayton on 28 ct. cashel porcelain from Silkweavers.  I modified the chart at Taylor's request to include her late brother's initials and the years he lived. 

This is Terri Martin who stitched her sampler for her daughter Natalie and used a pastel variegated silk. 

Cheryl stitched her sampler for her granddaughter and did it over one.  It is stunning and she picked the perfect mat and frame for it. 

FAS Update

I guess I need to update my progress on French Alphabet Sampler.  I hope to have this finished within the next 6-8 weeks.  I could do it sooner if I would do nothing but stitch but can't really do that. 

On another note, an 11 year-old girl's life was saved by the use of an AED that was purchased with the funds we raised after the death of my grandson.  If only there had been one there when he collapsed, more than likely he would still be here today.  That is why we raised over $25,000 to put AED's in every school in Grayson County, KY as well as one to go with each athletic team.  KY is so ignorant in that they don't require schools to have them and the Grayson County school board was too tight to buy them.  Instead, they bought life insurance policies on each athlete.  I'm just thankful that this girl's parents and grandparents didn't have to go through what we did.  We can't change the past but we can influence the future.  I'm sure Keith is smiling down from heaven this week, knowing that he helped this little girl. 

Catching up......

The holidays have come and gone and now it is time to settle in for the winter.  I sometimes feel like a bear that goes into hibernation and doesn't come out of the house until spring.  Lowe's finally replaced all the trim work in my living room, dining room, and hallway this past week.  The original installers did an absolutely horrible job and Lowe's had to have someone else come in and redo it. l They even painted it.  I'm a happy camper now.  Here is the kind the work they had to replace:

I've been stitching on the French Alphabet Sampler again.  I'm making progress and am finally on the bottom third.

I'll be so happy when this is done and I can work on some small projects.  Some people have multiple projects going, but that would drive me crazy.  I am a true one-at-a-time stitcher.