Life and a finish and exchanges....

It's been a while since I've updated this poor blog. We've had lots of major changes in our life the last few months and finally moved back to Idaho and we are staying with my mother. I can honestly say I will be so glad to have a place of my own again. I wish I would have known how difficult it would be, I NEVER would have done it! Live and learn I guess...but that's for my other blog.

I've participated in a few exchanges the last month or two. Jennifer B sent me this cute little "Easter Surprise" pattern from Bent Creek for a Spring exchange. Thank you Jennifer! I love it and plan to make it for next Easter.

We recently did a patriotic exchange in KraftersKorner and Carein sent me this great collection of goodies. I can finally say I have my first ATC for a collection...LOL! I loved it, thanks Carein!

I haven't had a whole bunch of time, space and peace to stitch lately but I was able to finish a block for the quilt group. I believe we only have a few more letters to get stitched and then we can make a quilt! I love seeing all the blocks as the ladies stitch them and seeing how these quilts come together. It gives me a sense of peace...or something, I dunno, just feels good inside if that makes sense.

Anyway that about wraps up my world at the moment, not too exciting. Hope everyone is having a better summer than my family and I. Hugs to all!

Little stitching Going on Here...

So much has been going on in my life lately I haven't had much time to stitch. My 10 year old son had been bullied at school so much that he was going through a bad bout of depression and talking about suicide. After numerous trips to the school and talking with the teachers, counselors and prinicipal, nothing was being done about it. For those that don't know, my son has Aspergers Syndrome. It's a form of autism. He's very smart, but lacks the social skills that most of us come by naturally. Anyway, the bullying had gotten to the point of my son finally fighting back and he ended up punching someone (in the arm). His teacher told him that he was going to end up in jail since he can't control himself...well, I basically lost it. I've been fighting with this particular teacher all year long and this was the final straw. At this point I had taken my son to a Dr to see what we could do for his depression and the Dr suggested he stop going to school for the rest of the year. So I pulled him out and am now homeschooling him for the remainder of the year. Best decision I ever made! He's coming out of his depression and actually went outside to play with the neighbor kids a few times.....this is something he hasn't done in over a year! (Aspies are known for not being social) He's doing fine with school work...except for math and we are working on that part. But so far so good! :)

My 8 year old has ADHD and we have chosen not to medicate him up to this point. Finally took him to the DR and put him on a low dose medication to help him concentrate at school and it seems to be working fairly well. The first few days were rocky while trying to give him the right dose, but we now have him on an extremely low dose that wears off after about 4 hours. Just enough time to get him through the school day and not have the nasty side effects. I don't know how long we'll continue with it, but we finally decided to give it a chance. I think I have more issues with this than hubby or the kids...I just don't like the idea of medicating kids like this. It really bothers me but I'll do it if it's the best thing for him right now.

Ok, on to stitching.....I pulled out my Lizzie Kate "living with charm" piece and have done another word. I love the way this one is turning out! I haven't put any charms on it yet, not quite sure if I will. I like it just fine without the charms and mom wants the charts when I finish so I may just leave it like this and let her have the charms. I'm still not sure how I want to finish it. I think a nice white 'antique-ish' frame would be pretty...but then I think it might be cute as a little wall quilt. Just can't seem to make up my mind. Any ideas???

Next is another EMS freebie. This is from the "toy book" series. I'll be doing all 12 of these ones for another quilt. We are hoping to have 8 quilts done for the girls home by November...I think we are going to make our goal or at least get pretty close.

Next is a magnet I received from Marie for a magnet exchange we did in KraftersKorner. I love it! She also sent me some candy but the kids and I ate it..hee hee.

And this is two more magnets I recieved from Vicky. ( I had 2 partners this time) She also sent me some adorable little note cards and some chocolate. Yep, you guessed it, the chocolate is gone..... :)

That's it for my little bit of stitching...not much but like I said it's been busy around here lately. We are finally moving back to Idaho! The Uhaul is reserved for June 21 and we should be out of Oregon no later than the 23rd. I'm going to miss this area a lot, it's become home over the last 9 years. I'm kind of dreading it though, we will be staying with mom for about a year so we can get our finances in order and take care of things that we just can't seem to catch up on. While mom and I have a lot in common with our love of stitching and quilting, they aren't used to having 2 rambunctious boys around all the time. It's going to be a huge adjustment for all of us and I know how tempers can flare in stressful situations so I'm a little spooked.

The good parts to it are: the boys will be going to the same elementary school that my daughter went to so at least I'll already be familiar with the school district. I was born and raised there so I know places to take the kids for outings. We have friends & family that still live in the area so we will have some kind of support system. Mom has a huge back yard with a garden so lots of room to play and tinker with growing vegetables. And it'll give the boys a chance to really get to know their Grandparents. The boys were just babies when we moved here so they haven't had the chance to spend alot of time with them. And the best part is there is lots more places to go and people to meet that have autistic kids. I'm hoping to meet a few parents and join a few support groups. There just isn't anything in this area for families like ours and hubby and I have been winging it on our own for the most part. Hopefully being around people that understand the disabilities and the things we go through on a daily basis with the boys will help us to be better parents. Anyway, I've made this short little stitching entry into a personal book..oops! Hope all of my stitchy friends are keeping those needles smoking! Hugs to all!

Mothers Day Flowers and Final zoo quilt block!

I had a lovely Mothers Day spent cleaning out the garage and taking stuff to Goodwill, it feels so good to have some of the junk out of the way. This is a pic of the plant that my youngest son gave me for the holiday. Not quite sure exactly what it is since he took the poke out with all the information. I think it may be something I can plant outside, but I'm not sure so if anyone knows what it is, please let me know. LOL
I put the last stitches in this yesterday. It was the last block I needed for the zoo theme quilt. I am absolutely thrilled to have all 12 blocks done!

And now that the blocks are done, I get to start the quilting part. This is the fabric I'll be using:

The blue will be on the front of the quilt, the green is a soft flannel that will be used on the back. (Thanks Ethel for sending it!) I've decided not to use any other fabrics for this one so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

Next on the stitching block is things for myself that have nothing to do with the charity quilts. I've got way too many things sitting here needing attention...like moms bday gift and my LK words. Hope to spend the next week or two working on those things and putting 2 of these quilts together. Hope the next update will have some kind of finish to show..LOL Hugs to all!

Two More Quilt Blocks & A RAK!

I've been a busy girl the last 3 days and have finished two more quilt blocks. A cute little lion and a baby zebra. Only one more block to go and I'll have them all done and ready to be made into a quilt for the girls home. Yahoo!

Today I recieved a wonderful RAK from Carein! She sent me this cute little magnet that she made. It matches perfect with the little birdhouse she made me and it is already on my fridge where everyone can see it. Carein and her husband make the most wonderful little things out of wood, the craftmanship is beautiful and this piece will be treasured just as much as I treasure the birdhouse. Thank you so much Carein for thinking of me.

Nothing else to show for now, but hoping the next update will have that last finished block and a quilt to show. Hugs to all!

A Bit of Poetry & small finishes...

Can you believe its May already? Where on earth is the time going? I've been a busy girl over the last week or so. Last week my 8 year olds class had a poetry reading. The kids had been busy writing poems and invited the parents to come to their annual poetry reading. Here's a pic of my son reading the following poem that he wrote:

Who Am I?
A long 8 hours in the car but I am excited to get there.
We pull up and I see a small gray house with a large canal in the front.
I open the door and smell my old Grandpa.
It is a stinky old smell.
I hear him snoring.
I get lots of hugs.
I get to eat spuds all day.
They are awesome with a hint of coconut.
I like visiting Idaho, home of the potato.
I wish I could visit more.


Ok, so the kids poetry skills could use a bit of tweeking...but I thought it was hilarious! He did a really good job considering he was nervous about standing up in front of everyone. It was a fun day and I look forward to attending more things like this as the kids grow up.



On to stitchy news: I've been working on more quilt blocks for my zoo theme quilt. As of right now I only have 3 more to stitch and then I can start the actual quilt part. I was able to finish two blocks over the weekend...a penguin and a parrot:

I'm looking forward to getting the next 3 blocks done and getting this quilt made. These kids are going to be thrilled with all the quilts!

Against my better judgement, I've decided to go ahead and show pics of the magnets I made for an exchange in my KraftersKorner group. I have not sent these to my partners yet so I hope they'll still be surprised..LOL The first 2 are for Marie. It was hard to find just the *right* thing but I'm hoping she likes them.

These next 2 magnets are for Vicky. I hope she likes lighthouses and beach stuff...LOL!

I've been working a little bit here and there on moms bday gift. I will show a progress pic of that one in the next update. I seem to go in spurts with that particular project, a few minutes here & there but not any set amount of time to make good progress. Hope to pick it up soon and just get the darned thing finished.

I have been a good girl and DID NOT start the LK Christmas by the Letter charts yet. I am going to finish the Living with Charm series first and have brought it back out to work on this week. Hope to have an update on that piece next time too.

Well, now you know what I've been up to! Hope everyone is having a great Spring! Hugs to all!

A Dolphin & PIF winner.......

I had a very busy weekend stitching away my time. I was able to finish 4 magnets for an exchange, No pics yet, gotta send them off to my partners first, and another quilt square for my zoo theme quilt. An adorable little dolphin......

I've only got 5 more little animals to stitch up and then I'll have them ready to make into a quilt! I'm making progress! Yay!

Now for the winner of the PIF...yes I know I'm a day late. My son did the drawing of the name and Tara was the winner!! Congrats Tara! I will have this off in the mail to you this week!

I know this is a quick update but at least it's progress! LOL Hope all my stitchy friends are enjoying the Spring! Hugs to all!

a Finish, a RAK, a PIF.... and Snow??

Here we are in the middle of April and this is what I woke up to this morning......Snow? What happened to Spring?

The last few days have been a bit icky at my house. We have ALL ended up with a nasty stomache virus/flu. The one bright spot to all the ickyness was I recieved a lovely surprise from Carla for my birthday. She sent me 3 Just Nan charts complete with embellishment packs and she even supplied the fabric for 2 of them!! I am just thrilled!! I love Just Nan and am a firm believer that you can never have enough. Thank you so much Carla!

About a week or so ago I was looking through some of my "wip" bags and stumbled across this little teacher piece. I had started it last year thinking I'd give it to my sons teacher, somehow it got put away and never taken out again. The good news is, my youngest son has her this year so I took it back out and finished it up into this little pillow. Not too bad, eh?

Now for the PIF part....the above piece is a Heart in Hand chart called "teachers"....I have an extra star button and the chart is in like new condition. I would like to PIF the chart and button so if you're interested in recieving this chart please leave a message here with your email address so I can let you know if you win. If you mention this PIF on your blog I'll put your name in twice for the drawing, just let me know you mentioned it. I'll have one of my sons draw a name on Sunday (4-25-10) and I'll announce the winner here (and email you of course)

Until next time, keep those needles smokin'! Hugs to all!