My 12-Year Old, Bear

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Bear. He has been uprooted 4 times in his 12 years. He was owned by a family who had triplets, and they no longer wanted him, so my sister-in-law took him. He lived with her for most of his adult life, then she moved from her apartment to a duplex she purchased in August of 2009. She worried about having to uproot him once again, but he adapted just fine. Very sadly, she was unwell and died in December of 2009, only 4 months after buying her duplex. Bear just slept on her bed and friends went to feed him till DH and his only other sister went 3 hours to pick him up and bring him to our home. There was definitely an adjustment period, as he hadn't been with other cats since kittyhood. We already had 4 females. You can see by the pictures that he has it made here now and has captured our hearts. He's too heavy in the middle and is pigeon-toed, but he's a dear, a love, and has me totally wrapped around his little paw. He follows me around the house and is my constant companion. I'm crazy about him! The pictures tell the whole story.

2nd UFO Finish of 2011

I'm so sorry for the blurry photo but I have -0- skills in photography, I'm just happy to have this one finished. I don't know how far back I put this one into hiding.

Just like magic, when I spread out this piece on the table with my camera, here came one of the cats: This one is Amber, who poses like those I see in TV commercials.

S.A.B.L.E. Which Means....

Stash Acquisition Beyone Life Expectancy. At 63, even though I've heard that it's the new 43, I've got way more than I can ever use. I was given some money by DH before Christmas and told to buy whatever I wanted, so I bought more stash! I know, it's crazy! These pix lack photographic experience, but I'm terrible with a camera in hand, so I've had to repeat photos of the same things in the first picture to explain what they actually are because you can't tell with my photography.

The first on the left in the picture is Rosewood Manor's "Quakers and Quilts" shown without so much glare in a photo below. The 2nd phot is The Stitching Parlor's "Pumpkins For Sale" with its button pack sitting on the bottom. Next are two patterns I love that I've also pictured below. On the bottom left is Lizzie Kate's "Winter Fab Fob" kit, then Sheep At Night needle minde by Kelmscott. Last is a new pair of Sullivan scissors.

This is Rosewood Manor's "Quakers and Quilts" that I saw made up and it was love at first sight. I notice that Vikki Clayton has a conversion of her silks that would do this pattern very well!

These are the patterns I just discovered and dearly love, With Thy Needle and Thread. They have detailed instructions as to how to get the pieces to look exactly like the ones on the front of the chart pack. There is "St. Noel" and "Snow Day." Very nice!

This is Country Cottage Needleworks' "A Place We Call Home" that I have kitted, ready to go, but WHEN?

And this one I kitted also. It's Country Cottage Needleworks' "Snowflack Serenade" that I saw done up at my LNS and had to bring it home. It's a "must do." Aren't they all???

The good news is that I'm organizing and cleaning my sewing room and going through stash that I will never do. The bad news is that I have an order of more stash coming from a New Year's sale at J.J.'s Collectibles! It was shipped yesterday. I was striving for free shipping so I added a couple of things to get it up there. Spend more to save a little... doesn't make any sense at all, does it?

First Finish of 2011!

 

This is my first UFO for the "up for a challenge" group. It's going to be framed and given to DH for Valentine's Day. Now I have my next UFO pulled out and ready to stitch on for a week. I'm a slow stitcher, but it would be nice to get at least half of my listed 15 UFO's done this year. Don't know about my BAP's though. I'm skeptical about those.

Here is my next project to work on: "The Promise" by Just Nan (terrible photo).

Started "Up For A Challenge" New Year's Day

On New Year's Day, I began my "up for a challenge." I pulled out a UFO that I would like to finish and have framed for DH. He's a golf fanatic, and I've lived with golfers all my life. My youngest kitty got in on the act as soon as the piece came out of hiding. I can't put anything on the table for photographing without a cat getting all over it - not so good on the fabric, but hey! What can you do?

I'm trying a rotation of sorts on my UFOs that I have listed for the challenge. I have been stitching on Little House Needlework's "Winter Wonderland" left over from before Christmas that I won't let become pushed aside for the challenge, and I'm thinking of a 10 hour, or possibly a week, stitching on one of my UFOs for the 2011 challenge. I will post progress at the end of this spot of rotation, then pick up a 2nd UFO. I'll soon show a progress picture of "Winter Wonderland." This is going to go on an Impie, Hattie, and Bea's Winter Thread Pal. Then I'll stitch the same in the Winter Thread Pal Marking Pin Notebook.

I've stitched on Charmed Golfing (by Hinzeit) for two nights. Today will be the 3rd day, with a couple of hours spent on "Winter Wonderland."

Happy New Year!!!

I hope all my dear stitching friends have a wonderful new year, full of health, happiness, and plenty of stitching time for all the projects you have in mind for this year.

Today I will be stitching on my agonizing choice of projects I listed for the "up for a challenge" blog. I haven't yet decided which one to stitch!