A Few Special Frogs...

I am happy to say....the froggie quilt is finally finished!! This quilt will soon be winging it's way to a very special little boy named Joshua who is fighting cancer. Drum roll please.........

I'd like to say a very big and special THANK YOU to each and everyone who put time and effort into this project. All of you ladies deserve a big pat on the back for helping to make this happen. Ok, now off to see what more trouble I can get into..hee hee! Hugs everyone!

A little stitching and a Wonderful Birthday

I can't believe another year has passed by and I'm another year older. I still feel like a 20 year old inside, just a little smarter then I was back then. I had bypassed doing any birthday clubs this year since our financial situation is so "iffy" right now, but darn it my stitchy friends still made sure I had a wonderful birthday. This is a picture of the cards and floss I have recieved over the past few weeks. Thank you to Geneva, Christine, Annette, Crystal, Anita & Laura! This was quite the nice surprise!

Yesterday in the mail I recieved this wonderful package from my dear friend Ethel. Carries Threads are one of my favorites and this 28 ct evenweave came at just the right time because I had just used up my last little piece of this color! Thank you Ethel!

Next we have a surprise from Jennifer.....I love Just Nan charts and she picked the perfect one for me. This is something I would have chosen for myself...how she knew me so well, I have no idea, but I absolutely love it! I have a feeling this will be stitched up VERY soon. Thank you Jennifer!

I spent most of the day thinking that my hubby forgot my birthday. The darn man did that on purpose just to see if I'd yell at him! What an absolute turd! He came home from work last night with a dozen orange roses and a Carrot Cake (my fave) This picture doesn't show the true color...they really are orange! Just a little lighter than the fruit...but a bright bold orange...and they smell fabulous! I really wish I could figure out better lighting so you could all see the true color of them. I've never seen this color of a rose and it is just amazing.

On to Stitchy news......I do have a bit more done on my Lizzie Kate words but forgot to take a pic before I put it away. I'll show the progress in the next blog update. While I was digging through one of my "wip" bags recently I found this piece that I started last year for my sons teacher. I have no clue why it never got finished, but I had completely forgotten about it. My younger son has her this year so I have brought it back out and will be working on it this week until it is finished. I'll be turning it into a pillow for her classroom reading corner. She is an amazing teacher and I really wish there were more teachers like her. She has gone over and above for both my boys and has made sure they don't fall between the cracks with their disabilities. She truly is an angel.

Next is a very special project that my quilt group has been working on. We have been making little frog blocks for a young boy with terminal cancer. I have finally recieved all the blocks and spent yesterday cutting them up and getting the fabric ready to start piecing together. I thought I'd show a little teaser of what the fabric looks like together....

I really think this quilt will look amazing when it's done. The girls have done a wonderful job on all the blocks, I just hope the quilt does them justice. I should have a finished quilt in the next blog update so you can all see what it turns out like.

I know, not alot of stitchy progress to show, but I've had my nose stuck in a few books lately and haven't been stitching much. Hope to have lots of finishes and a quilt to show in the next update. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Spring. Hugs!

Kinda caught up..finally

What a week it's been! We are all still getting used to the changes since my daughter left. The boys are slowly adjusting to having their own rooms. My 10 year old claimed the empty room and had his bed moved in all by himself before I even knew what was happening..LOL! The boys have been out for Spring Break this week...usually they go visit Grandma for the week but this year things didn't go the way we planned so they stayed home. I really really wish I could have had the break!

I've pulled out the Lizzie Kate piece and did another word and some more of the border. Just finished this part this morning. I'm loving the way it's turning out! I had planned to frame this when I finish it but now I'm thinking it might make a cute little wall quilt. Still not sure what I'm going to do with it when I'm done.

Here is my next block for the zoo theme quilt. This is the cutest purple hippo I've ever seen! Just seems like she's batting those big eyelashes at you...lol.

Not sure what I'll work on next. I'm thinking I need to pull out moms birthday gift and at least put in a few stitches or it's not going to be done by July. The only problem is I have something else SCREAMING at me to start. Jenifer PIFed me with the Lizzie Kate "Christmas by the Letter" charts and I have all the floss & fabric to start them. I keep thinking I should just go ahead and start so I can send them on to the next person. (good excuse,huh?) I've got 6 more blocks to stitch for this zoo quilt and a couple of others to do also but I really really want to do the Christmas ones.....decisions decisions......

Anyway, not much else going on in my corner of the world at the moment. Hope everyone is stitching like mad! Hugs to all!

A Quilt Block & BIG CHANGES!

I've had some big changes happening in my world that last few days but first....here's my latest little quilt block.....isn't it a cutie?

We've been spending as much family time together as possible the last few days. Amber & Eric are due to be at the base in Nebraska on Monday so we've been cramming the days as full as we can with board games, family dinners and lots of laughter. Bodie has been growing his hair out the last few months so he can look like a rock star, but finally decided he wanted a hair cut just like Eric. We searched the bathroom closet and found the clippers and Eric went to town on Bodie's long hair. He now sports a nice clean military style cut!

Here's the last picture of all my kiddo's together....lots of tears. It's hard to believe they were so sad since they are all constantly picking on each other. LOL!

Last minute additions to the car.....love that "I'm so happy to be leaving home" smile!

And we can't forget their first "child"....poor Cosmo. He's lost all his dignity being put into that tiny cage.....and they even made him wear 'dog tags' with a bell..*gasp*

And here they are all packed and pulling out.......

This is it.....off to their new life in Nebraska..........

Yes, I'm a little sad...okay ALOT sad. Hubby and I cried like babies.....21 years since she came into our lives. Seems like it's went way too fast and I'm getting way too old.....*sigh* The boys shed a few tears for about 5 minutes, then the fight was on to see who gets to move into her room...LOL! The battle lines are drawn so I'll let you know which one wins in my next update.....I'm so not ready for this next part. Wonder how many chores I can get them to do for that empty room??

Stitching & Our final family day.....

I can't believe how fast this month is flying by! It seems like I just haven't had time to do much stitching and I'm falling behind on my plans for the year. I haven't worked on moms bday gift for a couple weeks and it took up till now to even get my monthly cube done. But I finally knuckled down and did it......I think it's kinda cute:
I didn't get my word for February done on my Lizzie Kate piece so I need to do two words this month. I stitched the second word (love) the other day and will hopefully get the next word done in the next week or so and I'll be all caught up as planned. I love how this piece is turning out! I haven't put the charms on yet and I'm not sure if I will. I like it just fine without them...guess I'll think about it and decide later.

As most of you already know, my daughter and her new hubby are moving away. They were suppose to be going to Japan but last week he got new orders and they are now moving to Nebraska! Eric was able to come home last Wednesday and they are all set to move on Thursday of this week. I'm kinda sad to see them go but I guess kids grow up and move on with their lives eventually. I'm happy that they won't be all the way in Japan.....at least we can take a few road trips and go visit..LOL! Aren't they just cute?

Since they are leaving this week they decided to take us all out for one final family day today. We had so much fun! A day of bowling, pizza, bumper cars and arcade games.......

Brady told everyone right away that he was in it to win! LOL

Bodie hoping it wasn't a gutter ball.....

Amber celebrating her split....LOL

Eric showing everyone how it's done......

Pat wondering what the heck happened.....LOL (camera got blurry here, darn battery)

And the winner is....drum roll please......

Our youngest family member: Brady! Here he is doing his victory dance....LOL

After all this bowling it was time for a dinner break. What better than pizza and appetizers??

After all the yummy food it was time for the bumper cars......

Here's Brady in a complete spin....how he did it I have no idea.

Amber getting surprised by Bodie.....

Hubby and I...still happy after 22 years. Who woulda thought it?

Me with all 3 of my babies. This is probably the last time we'll be together for a long time. It kind of makes me sad.

All in all it was a great day! My daughter and her husband were very generous to take us out for one last day of fun. I'm going to miss us being all together for days like this. Maybe the next family day will take place in Nebraska......

3 New Quilt Blocks & TUSAL Update

Mid February already! Wow! It seems like this year is just flying by! Soon we'll have flowers peeking out and sunny days....I can't wait!

I've got a few small finishes to show... This little polar bear is for one of the quilts my group is doing for the girls home. I've got 9 more little animals to do so there will be lots more coming soon. I think this one is kinda cute....

These next two are little froggies for a quilt we are working on. This quilt will be going to a young boy with cancer. We chose frogs for this quilt because this amazing young boy and his family believe F.R.O.G. stands for Fully Rely On God. I can't wait to get this special quilt put together for this boy! Just knowing that this will give him some comfort during his final time with us makes all of this worth it.

Next we have my late update for the Totally Useless SAL....my jar is getting quite a few threads and floss wrappers in it. I'm curious to see how full I can get this through the year.

Not much exciting has been going on in my world. Wish I had lots to tell everyone, but I lead a VERY boring life...LOL Hugs everyone!

An elephant, an exchange, a cube..Oh My!

Happy February! It's been a busy week for me. I've been able to finish two small projects! First is this adorable little elephant....he will be a quilt block for the charity quilts my group is working on. I'm doing 12 of these little animals and will be making them into their own little quilt with a zoo theme.


I can't wait to see the quilt blocks as they come in! Alot of the girls have already finished a couple and I know these kids will absolutely be thrilled to have blankets of their very own. This is a huge project to tackle, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

Yesterday was a great mail day for me! I received a Valentine exchange from Jennifer...she sent me a cute little Lizzie Kate Flip it with a Valentine theme, fabric and all the "special" threads to stitch it! She also sent some really cute little buttons and charms, and some chocolates but they didn't make it into the pic, they 'accidentally' made their way into my mouth. MMmmmmm, yummy!

And...*gasp* I was a good girl this month and actually made one of my goals! I just finished my February cube this morning! Ha! I've stayed on track and now have January and February done...woohoo! On March 1st I'll do the March one...it's a cute little leprechaun.

Well, that's my update for this week.... I know I'm suppose to have some progress on moms birthday gift, but I just haven't picked it up this week. I've been so motivated to work on the quilt blocks that I've put it on the back burner. I really need to pull it out and do something on it, maybe when I get this next quilt block done....

Hope everyone is having a great week! Hugs to all!