Sending an angel

Tonight, I made a pillow to send to Brandon in Afghanistan. I finished this piece about 2 years ago and tucked away to either frame or make into something else. I'm embarrassed to say I don't even remember the designer or this piece, name, etc. and wish I could give credit where it is due, so if you know the designer, I will be glad to post. I remember that it was kitted together already with the buttons and threads. I stitched this on a Chicago trip. Anyway, sending this with a couple of other things. I don't believe he has Internet where he is so he will probably not be able to see this before he gets it in the mail. My camera doesn't really get the color well but it is a deep burgandy and linen color.

And, this morning and into the afternoon, my progress on the Pinkwork Pinkeeps by The Sampler Girl. I'm glad I picked up 2 skeins of this color DMC floss! But I am enjoying the monochromatic pieces.
Excited to make pinkeeps when I get finished. I stitched most of this while watching the news channel. Watched the Michael Jackson memorial and even though I have a lot of reservations about his charges with children, I enjoyed listening to other singers at the ceremony and thought Mariah Carey sang the best at the beginning and of course, I like Stevie Wonder as well.

Now, on to work on a couple of things for Meghan that are late in the mail as well.

Tonight~~~ an early supper of Chinese food and I may go peek in the frig for a snack on leftovers. We had ordered a variety of things to eat and had so much leftover!

My goal is to get things in the mail for them by Thursday morning as we have decided to go to Pigeon Forge for a day or two by the end of the week. They have a great quilt shop there and I will take the Pinkwork to match some ribbon and fabric. I think we like stopping at Sylva, N.C. at the used bookstore and the general store as much as gettting to Pigeon Forge! Sylva is a neat little town, we actually found by accident when we got lost going up there the first time. Now, we take this way through it so we can look at different places.

Talk later,

Jennifer

The Hummingbird

We are vacationing this week.......at home (or at least for today).......
tonight we went into Helen and got a total stranger to take our picture! Thought we'd greet you first........LOL We went to Paul's restaurant and had seafood. It was great! No cooking on vacation is a hard and fast rule! After a weekend full of waffles and ice cream, we strategically planned our seafood tonight.


Then we moseyed over to a spot we go about every 3 months. We look at this house to see the changes because........we loved this house and would have bought when we moved here in 2001 if the price was a little better and if it had not had too many structural problems at the time. But, oh does it ever have character. The house is actually very old but someone did fix it up back in 2002 and then left it. Strange.

We call it the Humingbird. Don't know why, but we look at each other from time to time and say "let's go see the Hummingbird". It's like our spot.

Unfortunately, it has been rented a few times but hardly ever occupied so the views, the breathtaking views on the back are not enjoyed by anyone. But, we get to enjoy it.
I took a few pics of the Hummingbird tonight.

This pic is through the window here at the family room. The fireplace at the time was different but those windows still look out into the sky.

A few structural problems though but I love the dormers.

This is the front of the house.........if we had bought it , the front door would be a different color and the roof would be metal. The front window would have flowers. A nice grapevine wreath on the front door.

It's begging for someone to take care of it.

The reason my hubbie loved it was for the endless large decks. He loves decks. Makes him feel like a kid in a tree house or something.

I didn't get pics of all as the sun was setting. This is the right side of the house......just on the second level.

Body guard is assessing the changes in the structural issues while I'm flipping out over the sunset view in the clouds and looking at all the lightening bugs waaaaaaaaaay down there.

oh, and look up here, a cozy little balcony off of the master bedroom....I often, very often thought of putting one on the upstairs of our house off of the bedrooms but haven't looked into that yet.

And then this is what I look at from the large back deck.........

breathe in ............hmmmmm.......and close my eyes and try to hold this thought........

It's just a little piece of heaven to me.

Ren in motion

Ren is almost 16 years old. Although he is not suffering, he has developed an anxiety disorder that has surpassed what we can deal with. He is in and out of his kennel, gate is always open and he paces the floor, runs into things, then back in the blanket with his teddy. He only does this about 3-4 hours a day, but it's getting unnerving. So, the vet today is ordering him some anxiety medication. They said Ren has dementia......you think?

He is still loving, still recognizes me, and is not in constant pain. He enjoys his food better than any dog I've ever seen but he is picky about it. I know I didn't make him that way (I'm dodging that one!)
Nope, I did make him that way.
He has lightly buttered toast for breakfast, he loves popcorn and french fries and his favorite food is pototoes.
He has eaten a hotdog, in a bun, from end to end, in about........4 seconds.....at an auction before. You should have seen the people watching him. Then he passed out from the amount of food and just laid in my arms.
His hair has been loved off and he is blind but he still is my baby...... in motion at the present, until his medication from the vet comes in.

Ren has been through lots of rough times with me. He had a little attitude when he was a younger dog. He used to hike his leg on my X husband, that was hilarous. If he could talk, boy would he ever be able to tell you lots of drama. But, that's one thing about pets, they don't argue with you, they love you as you are, they still are there for you through thick and thin.

And that, my friends, are traits that are very hard to come by these days.............

My Pinkwork Pinkeep Progress and Other Goodies

Joannes Fabrics has fat quarters for 99 cents for the July 4th weekend. And this we found on Thursday in Atlanta. Here's my picks. I told you I was in a candy store! LOL
Working on some more in The Companion Booklet by The Sampler Girl number 3. These next 2 are actually the same page. The reason I have pulled this one again is to show you the Hornbook one at the bottom. I finally found a hornbook on Ebay (yes, Deb, I know why you call it the Bay of Evil) that I can finish this one with. So, this will be another one of my summer finishes. This one is called Joshua's Hornbook. Very cute. Now ladies and gentlemen hornbooks are the foundations of our text messaging now........just joking......

This is the Sampler Girl Companion Booklet 4 that I have and the Pinkwork Pinkeeps I'm working on. If you haven't checked out Tanya's website, you must because these booklets are wonderful to work with and are making my summer fun. She also has a great blog and webshop. Check it out! http://www.thesamplergirl.com/

Oh, yeah, and if you like scissors, she has Kelmscott Design scissors in almost every color. Very cute and travel friendly at less than 2 inches........

Well, starting on the second Pink Pinkeep from The Sampler Girl Companion Booklet 4.

The Lady one.........finished the gentlemen yesterday. I know, I know.........ladies should be first.........LOL But this was the order in the packet so, here ya go with the lady one......not much at all.......

this is the gentleman........I turned side ways for you to visualize better. I asked the Body Guard what this looked like to him about halfway through it and he said..."Oh yeah, that's a lady!"

So, as I finished it, he said, "oh I see now, a guy". Anyway, isn't this gentleman sweet holding flowers waiting for the lady........awwwww

I thought one would work with the pinkeep....but now I think it's too busy and I'll work on a different backing.....However, I have several fat quarters for my stash.........I digress.........LOL

Now, this fabric was in the "cut to the bottom"sale at Joannes Fabrics. Almost a giveaway, I suspect that this 4.5 yrds left will make a good curtain topper in my stitching area.

And then, I couldn't resist this fabric. I couldn't choose between colors, so I got 1 yard of each.

I can't believe it is 6pm. This has been one of those days of not really doing much at all. I hope I get out of this rut by tomorrow.

Stay safe,

Jennifer

Happy 4th....to July and to the Labs

Happy 4th to all. We plan to drive into Helen tonight for the fireworks. Last night was pleasantly cooler, at 67 degrees, so the back porch was inviting. Hope the weather stays the same tonight for the fireworks.


Well, this morning I decided to exchange some things I sold on Ebay for this pattern and frame which I have had on my wish list for about a year now. Little House Needleworks Heart of America. This pattern has the floss and buttons included with it. I'm so excited to get this in the mail soon.
I saw this stitched in a shop near Washington, when I went on my trip in March and it's really beautiful, kinda on the large side though. R & R reproduction linen Creek Bed Brown is the fabric. Yesterday was Raven and Ruby's Birthday. They turned 4 years old.---so another 4th celebration. They provide alot of entertainment for us. Ruby now sleeps half-way hanging out of the doghouse, on her back with legs straight up in the air. The first time we saw that, it was pretty strange. We haven't been able to sneek a picture of her through the porch screen yet.
BG had to take them one at the time to the vet for shots. Ruby has a death grip on the ground and then he has to pick up all of her 90 lbs to load her in the truck. Monday he has to wrestle with the cat. That will be a challenge!
Back to my coffee and catching up on blog reading..........

Here's what's in my stitching chair tonight

Trip today went great! Here's what I stitched on the way to and during the Atlanta traffic while Body Guard was driving! The needle did bob up and down a few times as we entered some rough interstate but I was determined. I love the Raspberry linen! Fabric and pattern from The Sampler Girl, Companion Booklet 4. Two complimentary pink pinkeeps which are very pretty.

MRI went good. Didn't panic in the tube and the report from the doctor was good, no progression of the disk prolapse, so good news.

Then, we used the On-Star program in the car to find the nearest IHOP for a good breakfast/lunch. After that we asked the On-Star program ......"nearest Joanne's Fabrics". I had not been to a Joanne's Fabrics in years, actually since we moved here several years ago. It was 13 more miles which I thought, no that's ok, but BG said no problem and zip we went and found it.

Hey, Deb, I saw those Ginghers scissors "Criss", and they didn't have any of the larger scissors so I"m glad you picked up those for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I knew I was in a candy store and looked for 2 hours. BG found a tool place while I was busy looking through all the buttons, threads, fabrics. Found a fat quarter that would go well on the back of the Pink Pinkeeps and some ribbon.

We got caught in 5 O'clock traffic so I stitched some more as we listened to CNN news on the satelite radio. Then we went by the mall, had a smoothie and looked around at Barnes and Noble, got Brandon a few books to send and then, Home Sweet Home again.

So tomorrow we are going to take all the animals to the vet for their shots. Oh joy! LOL

Then, probably do some cleaning, which never ends.....LOL

But in the mean time, I will be trying to finish the Pink Pinkeeps. I saw Vonna's comment and I did check out her blog. It's great on finishing! I will definitely be visiting again at her blog as I learn to finish some things. I really mostly framed most of my stitching, occasionally made pillows but this will be my first "pinkeep".

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Talk later,

Jennifer

Seems Like Friday

Well, today is my last day at work for the next 10 days!!!! Seemed almost like Friday....... So excited I'm off for awhile. No real big plans. Just going to enjoy home a bit. We may take some day trips here and there but no big trips. I'll be sure to take some pics if we go on a day trip. Hubbie and I are both home bodies. That is one thing we have in common. We may ride up to Chattanooga ,Tennessee or somewhere in South Carolina, or Pigeon Forge or somewhere for a day or two but not too terribly far.

Tomorrow is a big day in the city again of Atlanta. Going back for an MRI of my neck. I'm hoping they say surgery is not imperative now, but later down the road. So, in the tunnel of the MRI machine.......something I definitely can't open my eyes in. I don't know if you have ever had one but I panic if I open my eyes while I"m in the tube machine. Overall, I have been doing better, just the strength is a challenge sometimes. Getting an easier car to drive was a real plus.

On the bright side, maybe we'll wonder across some shops or something on the way out of the city. Michaels or Hobby Lobby or maybe a Joannes if I could find one. And of course, there's IHOP pancake house for lunch. Haven't told BodyGuard that's where we are eating lunch yet but......he likes it too. Maybe drifting back through Barnes and Noble to browse through the books and get a Cafe Mocha may be on the agenda as well. :0

Tonight we went for our walk and I was still hyped up from a long day but now after sitting down and starting to stitch, I have gotten very sleepy. Early to bed for me. ...........and that's by 11p. LOL That Atlanta trip in the morning traffic will be lovely I'm sure!

I'm having fun this summer with the Companion Booklets from The Sampler Girl..........my summer version of reading books I guess. Instead, working on the various pieces in the booklets. I've really enjoyed them and tonight started on the Pinkwork Pin keep pairs. The Raspberry linen is so pretty! Color therapy again.

I am making something for a late birthday present for Meghan, but it's slow coming right now and will post after I mail it out. I've still got to work at it a bit. That's the Virgo in me again.

Haven't heard from Meghan but I hope she is doing well at school studying hard.

Haven't heard from Brandon in Afghanistan yet but they do have Internet access so maybe he is getting my emails. Prayers for him every single day. Stitching helps the time go by faster while he is away, keeps my mind busy.

Well, off to get ready for a restful night.

Talk later,

Jennifer