Going to Grandpa's

Greetings all~ We have been thinking long and hard on what to do about our Daisy. Yes I know I was mad at her for tearing up my basket and breaking a mug... and more recently for chewing up a heat lamp we had in her doghouse. Alas , this is not the reason for a decision we recently made. She has been bullying our other dog for sometime now . My husband Jack talked to someone he works with who has worked with animals a long time and used to work for a vet. He described her actions against our other dog and she made some suggestions. They haven't worked. He talked to her again and she said that she is just one of those dogs that needs to be an only dog. With a heavy heart we have been pondering what to do, how to find a home for her, would they be good to her. you know . My dad, who, if some of you recall, lost both of his dogs last year within a week of each other, suggested that he take her. That seems to be the best solution. He has been wanting another dog and we will get to see her when we want without having to worry if she is being cared for. Our other dog Brittney will no longer be bullied and hopefully she'll be back to normal before too long. Daisy loves all of the attention and she will get plenty with my dad. He just has a way with animals. If you ever see and elderly man out in the woods with all kinds of animals just flocking to him, that's probably my dad! LOL!

We love you Daisy!!

Yesterday the snow was finally packable and we could build a snowman. Alex and I got on all of our outside gear and went to town on it. Ok... so we're not Michaelangelo! But here is our best we could pull off.

I guess it's not too bad for as quickly as it was thrown together. With my asthma I can't be out in the cold too long before I start having problems. I thought about a snowball fight and then we said 'nah'. Before we went inside, I did launch a good one at Alex when he had turned away. It was funny because he quickly spun around and started packing. I knew I was in trouble! Sure enough, he nailed me good! We had a lot of fun! We finished up by coming inside for some hot cocoa.


For those of you who like to scrapbook or make cards and use a Cricut, here's a little tip you may not know about. I seen this done on a youtube video a while back so it's not my original idea. I'm sorry but I can't direct you to the video as I do not remember the person's name that had it. Anyway... if you have a Cricut , you know that after a few afternoons of using it your mat isn't as tacky as it could or should be. It may even be close to needing to be replaced. Replacing ANYTHING for a Cricut often can get expensive. A good thing to get to make your mat tacky again and extend the life of your mat is a 2-way glue pen from Zig. They have different sizes but you want the big fat one so it doesn't take so long to do. Not just any glue pen will work , you need a 2-way because you want it to be repositionable. I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $5.99 but Michael's carries them too.

You'll need to pump it for a little bit to get the glue going. Just press it up and down on your mat until the tip is all blue. Start from one corner of the cutting area to the other and keep working until the entire mat is covered with an even coat. It will be a little blue for a bit. It will dry clear. Now you don't want to put anything on it until it is completely dry. If you don't wait until it is dry ( no loner blue for several mintues) anything you put on it will be there permanently! You really need it to dry to make it repositionable.

While you are using the pen on your mat, you'll notice a buildup happening on the tip of the pen. Remove that with a toothpick. Try not to get it on your hands, or you
ll have sticky hands. Not a good thing to have if you're going to the bank! LOL! Once the mat is covered you can take a toothpick and remove the buildup ( which is paper fibers ,lint, hair) on the mat with a toothpick . Don't forget to replace your cover on your mat when it dries. It will be pretty tacky when dry which is the whole point, but if you wait, say half an hour, you'll be safe .


Yesterday I wrote about working on a pair of socks for Alex. Here is that progress so far.



Thank you all so so much for your comments ! Yesterday Sadie asked if I made the table runner in the picture of the LHN box. Yes ,I did that one a few years ago. If I remember correctly , it was from an American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It was titled Cross My Heart and I think the designer was Kim Diehl. At least I think that's correct. I like her patterns.

That's it for me! Hope you all stay warm and can use this time to stitch or be creative!
'til next time,
Happy Stitching,
Sharlotte

Just incase you wondered...

Greetings dear blogging buddies~ I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine went pretty well but we were COLD! Worked on my "what did I do today" lists and it was amazing what all I had written down that I got accomplished. I'm not feeling so depressed now that I see that I am accomplishing much more than I realized. Thanks Jennifer! I owe you one! Still haven't made that snowman yet though, the snow hasn't been packable.

I haven't had much cross stitching on the blog lately , so I thought you all might be wondering if I still stitch. Yep , sure do. I just usually switch gears in the fall and winter to quilting and knitting. I did get this little prim/country style box done over the weekend. I had the stitching done for quite some time and had just not got around to finishing it out. It is taken from Little House Needleworks Little House Neighborhood. I changed the colors just a tad. I didn't get it on the box completely straight , but I guess that just adds to the prim style charm. :) The tie around the lid has a raw edge to allow it to kind of fray over time .I thought that would make it look cute.

My mother-in-law painted a box for me a few Christmases ago . I keep a tablet of paper and a pencil inside. Makes it nice and handy for grabbing it to write down what all I've done or for whatever. The marble top coffee table itself came from my husband's grandmother when she moved in with his aunt after his grandfather passed away last January. I don't vacuum under it unless my husband is home. It's super heavy to move!


We went fabric hunting over the weekend to try to find something for that naked window that's been bugging me. I bought a few yards and brought it home and draped it across the window to get an idea of what it might look like. I still have to take it down and sew up the edges , but here's an idea of what it will look like. Better than nothing don't you think? :)

I did a little knitting on some socks for Alex. I will show the progress later. He's been begging me for some time now to knit him some and I thought now was a good time. I also worked some on his quilt. Other than shopping and housework , we didn't do much else. We did watch a few movies over the weekend. They were "Groundhog Day" , "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and "The Fugitive". We also watched some History Channel stuff.

Flylady update~ on target and ready for Zone 3! That's it for me today. Thank you all so much for all of your wonderful comments . They make my day!
'til next time,
Happy stitching,
Sharlotte

Moose and dogwood

Greetings~ As we move in to the weekend I am pondering what I will be doing .Staying inside mostly with as cold as it is. Well, with the exception of building a snowman with my son like I promised. :) Most likely will do some more redwork, work on flylady zone for this week, do general housework, and work on Alex's quilt. Yesterday a post on another blog , Jennifer of feathersinthenest.blogspot.com to be exact, got me to thinking about what all I get done in one day. Jennifer had mentioned what all she had done in one day, and I realized that I have never wrote that down for myself. So yesterday I tried it.

This is what I did:

cleaned and dusted the living room

read for a bit

posted on blog

worked on an exchange piece while watching Dr . Quinn

assisted with Alex's schoolwork

did a load of laundry

cooked breakfast and lunch

traced another redwork pattern

stitched on that pattern

baked a batch of snickerdoodles

baked cornbread for dinner, hubby cooked the rest

worked on Alex's quilt

checked comments on blog and posted comments on a few others

worked on flylady zone for the week

fell asleep while watching Home Improvement.

It wasn't until I wrote down everything that I realized what all I was getting done. I'm sure some of your task lists would be longer and some shorter. It would be interesting to see what you all do.

Here is some more progress on Alex's "Winter at the Lodge" quilt. I don't think you can really see much of the handquilting in the picture. It was pretty bright by the window. It's been months I think since I showed any work on it.I really need to get it done soon!

Here is another redwork block done. It is the Dogwood and is block #4. I am going to be doing them in order from here on out I think. Again , for any of you interested, you can still download the 12 Days of Redwork for free by visiting http://alexandersonquilts.com/

Flylady update: still working on zone for the week. Should finish up this weekend.

Thank you all for all of your comments on the redwork blocks and the fabric bobbins. Yesterday Peg asked if I was going to be making holes in the bobbins so they could be placed on a ring. Nope, haven't gotten that brave! LOL!

Hope you all have a great weekend , and STAY WARM!!

'til next time,

Sharlotte

Redwork and bobbins

Greetings all~ I hope you all are staying warm and cozy! It is still in the low low temps here and we got more snow last night. Our furnace has been running a lot. I hate to see the heating bill when it comes!!

I have finished another 12 Days of Redwork block. This one is actually the first one in the series so I'm obviously not doing them in order. : ) It is the sweet pea. Just 9 more to go! I am seriously thinking now of adding some other redwork hearts to this as I'm not really wanting to do this as a wall hanging and the blocks are working up pretty small. I was wanting to increase the size a bit but I couldn't get the printer to do it. However size it ends up, I know it will look really cute.

I have also been working on some fabric covered bobbins. I have seen them on various sites so there really isn't one particular one that I followed. I liked making them and plan on making more. They're actually kind of fun once you get the hang of it. It's a great way to use up little fabric scraps that you aren't sure what else to do with them. I haven't made any with different fabrics on both sides but I suppose that would be cute too.

Not much going on in my creative world right now. Been trying to play catch up with a few other things. I will probably pull a few things out to work on since I won't be out and about much with this snow! Take care all and hope you all have a super day!

'til next time,

Sharlotte

Just a pictureless post!

Greetings everyone~ Here I am writing a 'naked' post! Boy I sure do miss it when there are no pictures! We're swaping out computers with our son and a lot of our programs are not on the computer right now. What's missing this morning that's usually there ? You guessed it, the program for the camera. So... I'm just updating on a couple of things.

I just about have the next redwork block done. That will only leave 9 more to go! I am considering combining those blocks with some other Alex Anderson heart blocks that are a little bigger. If I use those I figure I can use the smaller ones to border those. Not sure yet.

I am going to be adding a 'stash for sale' link soon. I am culling out my charts and I had some that I know I won't be stitching again or saving to stitch for someone else. Right now, most of the ones I have that I will be putting up for sale are Just Nan patterns. I'll have others later I'm sure.

As I was looking through my WIPs this morning , I have decided that I am going to work on some of those and get the number down a bit. I only have a couple of them that I am really interested in getting done right now, but I really should finish them all and decide what I will keep and what I will 'gift' to others. One in particular I wanted to work on from Little House Needleworks, I can't find. :( I just seen it not too long ago too! Isn't that the way it goes?

I spent the evening working on an exchange while watching Home Improvement. I miss that show! I have signed on for two exchanges this year so far and am considering a third. I'll need to see how my eyesight goes as I will probably need a break after getting the first two done.

Well that's it today! Thank you all for all of your wonderful comments. They brighten my day!

'til next time,

happy stitching,

Sharlotte

Brrr.. It's cold!!

Greetings~ I hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of great things! It is so cold here. This morning it is 6 degrees without the wind chill. It had actually dipped down to 1 degree last night. It is going to be low temps like that the rest of the week. I should pull out Alex's quilt and work on it some more!

I am hanging my head in shame this morning as I don't have any FlyLady update, other than I didn't get it completed. I have two really good excuses though. First, we got snow that we hadn't planned on and needed to get to the store and get stocked up on the things we were out of because that naughty weatherman predicted more snow through out the day. Here's hubby cleaning off the car.

We also had to go to the auto parts store to check on getting the heat fixed in the car .Not a good thing to be without right now! LOL! Then later before I got much of a chance to breathe ,my sister whisked me off for a surprise birthday party! I took a few pictures of it with my phone as since it was a surprise, I didn't have my digital camera with me. I don't know how to transfer those to the computer yet , I'll have to learn soon. We had a lot of fun . My sister had her special china all layed out and pretty candles on the table. She had her best linens on the table and everything. It was a really nice treat. My BIL took a few pictures and when I get them I'll put a couple on. It was just my two sisters that live here and my mom and I. My BIL hid out in their computer room and came out only to take pictures. She served wonderful coffee, and made my favorite cake with chocolate icing ,and served Welch's Sparkling Grape juice. She gave me a rice cooker and my other sister gave me a sweet little snowman lantern. It is so cute. I love snowmen and I like to keep them out past Christmas . Usually 'til about the time I set things out for Valetines' Day. My mother gave me cash, which I'm not quite sure how I'll spend it but I'm thinkin' stash!

Hubby gave me the Dennis The Menace dvd , which is one of my favorites that I didn't yet have.

He also took me to get some supplies to start working on the Alex Anderson's 12 Days of Redwork quilt that I wanted to start on. Here is the two blocks that I have done so far.

I like to use DMC's 498 for redwork but the store was out and I just had to get started on it. You know how that goes. So I chose a shade that was comparable and that I could live with, 304.

We did some movie watching this weekend while I worked on some stitching for exchanges. With it being so cold out, we didn't want to go anywhere other than was necessary. We watched Tim Burton's "9". I wasn't too awfully crazy about it but it was do-able. The other movies were "Steel Magnolias" , a mega favorite of mine, and "Mrs. Doubtfire". I caught a tiny bit of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". I meant to watch it but with the excitement of the day I forgot it was on. I watched my normal Sunday night routine of back to back episodes of Newhart on WGN and that was pretty much our weekend.

Well dear ones, try to stay warm and get lots of stitching done!

'til next time,

happy stitching,

Sharlotte

A Fish Tale

Hello everyone and Happy 2010!! Did you set off any fireworks last night? We had some left over from the 4th and thought they were only quiet ground ones that just have colors. Apparently there was one in the bunch that was a noise maker. Scared my husband as he was not expecting it. At least it didn't wake anyone up thank goodness! What a way to start the morning . I got up around 6:00 am and it was 9 degrees here! It has warmed up to 12 degrees. Believe it or not , that measly little 3 degrees has made a difference in the feel of the air.

I have been working on a needlepoint from Bucilla called 'Catch of the Day'. I actually started this about this time last year but I got busy with other projects. I picked it up again this week and put a couple or so hours worth of stitches into it and this is how it's coming along.

I've been working on it without a frame and I know it's a mistake as I can tell that I am going to have to do some serious blocking. It is my first needle point attempt and didn't see how important the frame was . I know now! Hopefully it will 'pull' straight when all of the stitches are in place. I have my doubts. May have to get it professionally framed and see if that helps.

Here's a little closer look.

Alex took a picture of his Grinch pajama bottoms he got for Christmas. I think the idea is to take a picture before you put them on son. That way you get a better shot. (you're so funny!) I think they are a hoot!

Flylady update... today is the day I need to work on the dining area of my house as the entrance is done. The dining area is actually at one end of the kitchen. I should finish that from floor to ceiling over the next couple of days. That table has a pile on it! What is it about flat surfaces collecting clutter?

Thanks for you comments . They're always welcome.

'til next time,

Sharlotte