Friday Finish!

This week I have been getting ready for camping, but I wanted to make something that I could finish in a few days. I admit, I had to push it, to finish it fast enough, but I got it done.

The design is a freebie offered by Lori Brechlin in the punch needle facebook groups. Lori's group is called The Punch Needle Guild, if you are interested in joining her group, but it is offered on the others.

I used floss from my scrap box, lots to use up, that is nesting more and more. The orange is a variegated floss that I bought in a package. It is cheaper and with a coupon, you get a lot more for your money. I over dyed it to antique it a bit and it makes a fun pumpkin shade.

I used the twisted yarn method for the edge, a mix of black wool and a bumpy green. Once done, I antiqued it with walnut ink. It looks lighter and whiter than the actual piece, but I have to lighten some areas so you can see them, which ruins the rest.

We also attended the memorial service for my daughter's friend. They were very open about her death and that she lost her battle with her addiction. There was a lot of sadness and crying and a lot of laughter. I made up a little photo of Jenna and my daughter Danielle, as a tribute to them both. And it was confirmed that Jenna will be buried near my daughter, just a few feet away, so I think that is a comforting thought for both of our families, together again in death.

This is when the girls were little, at Jenna's house. I had never seen this photo, so was happy to see them together, smiling and happier times. The saying  I found online and changed to fit them both.

Friday Finish!

This week I worked on a stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's, One Stitch Club. This one was a fun one to do and I added some color for fun. I am leaving it for now, since I may add a wedding date and name. One of my nieces is getting married and I thought it might make a nice little gift. I will probably add a border and make it into a pillow.

Not the best photo, took with my phone, but it looks much nicer in person.

A short one tonight, my heart is heavy. I found out today that one of my daughter's best friends died. They found her unresponsive, so I am assuming it was a drug overdose. She had called me this week, out of the blue and now I wish I had the time to invite her over. I know the pain her family is going through and a loss for us as well, she spent a lot of time at our house too, when the girls were younger.

This is a photo of them together, now they are together in heaven.

Weekend this and that!

can't believe Christmas crept up on me again. This year is the first year I felt like decorating more and I love having the house lit up, especially when the kids come over and see it. I got a pencil tree this year, since a large one would get in the way of the tv, lol. I also have smaller trees around the house, as well as garland and string lights.

I found a new thing this year, string lights with remote control, I love it. I can use one remote and turn them all on at once. No more walking around and flipping switches.

Here is my tree, I put ornaments that are more prim and given to me, by friends, over the years.

And since I do not have a tree topper yet, I decided my kitty was prim enough. When we redo the basement into a family room, I can put up a bigger tree and do a tree with all my kitty ornaments and topper.

Another thing I needed was something to put on the sled, under the buffet table. I had this puppy I got for Nick a few years ago and he loves it, so it was perfect to put there and he and Alex can play with it, when they come over. The problem is, Bean is scared to death of it, so he will not go in that area and hides by my feet. Tonight I decided to put it under the tree, he is still afraid of it, but it won't keep him from sleeping on the couch, but it does keep him away from the tree and bothering me to play ball while I am trying to relax, so a good solution, at least for Christmas.

This weekend we picked up our DVD tapes. I was surprised that we had good video still, but it does not do well on large screen televisions. Bill and I watched them when we got home and it was fun to see the kids when they were little, one had our first halloween and Christmas at our new home.

This clip is Danielle and Billy at our Neighbors, she was like a grandmother to them, but passed away a few years back. Danielle had a witch mask, but she was getting hot wearing it.

We also did a little shopping, a few outfits for the boys and a few toys, we are keeping it simple this year. One fun thing we found was indoor snowballs, so we got a small box for Nick and a large pack to give the kids who spent Thanksgiving with us. They will be spending Christmas with all of us, so I got some stockings at the dollar store and I can put snowballs and some candy in each one, a little gift for them too.

The nice thing about shopping is getting down to the beach. We were able to get a nice day for walking and enjoying the views.

We saw this boat go by and at the same time, hundreds of cormorants came flying by. I guess they were chasing a school of fish.

We watched as it went by the sun, love the effect on the boat and the colors when I shot into the sun.

This guy was by himself, the tide was out and just starting to come back in, so I caught the waves coming up on him. We walked along the rocky beach and I found a few pieces of glass, it was nice to get out in the fresh air and get a little exercise. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Time for me to get busy with cards and presents, so I can get them out this week. I have a few projects to finish, so those will be done by friday, then that will be it for gifts. I will be making things for fun and maybe a few gifts and items that I can hide as surprise gifts for those that find them.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a nice day, no matter how you celebrate the holidays. One of the things I did to celebrate was to share the love and memories on a tree for Danielle, in our beach room. I think of it as her room and now it is my room, so it is our room. 

I found a prelit tree with pinecones, simple but nice. I made christmas cards using photos of her and her friends and family and printed them card stock. I hung those on the tree and yesterday I found two hanging signs, one says Believe and one for Joy. I turned it on, on Christmas eve and it will stay lit till midnight tonight, my gift to her this Christmas. I also wrote a little poem to her, not the best literary piece, but it came from the heart.

I made a special gift for you,

a little Christmas tree,

Filled with family, friends and love

and all our memories.

May you see the bright shining light,

as you celebrate Christmas in Heaven tonight.

Love you and miss you,

and this I do pray, 

to be with us in spirit, 

especially today.

Christmas Eve was spent at our house. We made a turkey dinner and let Nick open a few presents. He loves wearing my watch, so now he has his own. 

Today we visited her grave.  It was a nice feeling to be able to see her stone in place and I knew she is smiling down on us, when the sun broke out and the beam cast it's rays on her stone, creating a rainbow of color across the angel. 

The afternoon was spent with the kids, yes I still call them kids;) My son and  wife made dinner and after we enjoyed present opening with Nicholas and playing with his new toys.

We got him a little bike so he could learn to peddle and not have to worry about falling, this was perfect for a learning bike. 

He wasn't too sure about going in his new fort, but then he drove his new firetruck into it, so he had to go in to get it. The house is nice since it pops down and fits into a small carry sack, so he can bring it to my house when he plays here.

Now it is time for me to have some me time, lots of projects to finish, new ones to start and lots of ideas for new creations.

Friday Find and Fotos!

I am still working on my stitcheries, slow going lately, but they will get done;) Getting ready to go camping is taking up my time this week. I am stocking up with light weight items to keep the weight down and paper plates do not have to be washed;)

While we were looking for a rug at the home store, I found a fun item in the sale rack. I loved the painted wood design and the etching, had no idea what it was, but it was happy and only five dollars. Bill thought it was a chalk board sign, but I looked it up and it is a magnetic house sign. I guess it came with magnetic numbers but none with mine, thus the five dollar price tag. But I still love it and I think I will look for some fun magnetic letters to use with it and put it in my new room.

Camping brings back a lot of memories for me, especially at Burlingame, our state park. People come from all over to go there, so it is harder to get in now. It is a nice campground, has a beautiful lake to swim in and close the all the area beaches.

We went there when I was a child, all 8 of us. As you can see, I am wearing a summer outfit, not sure if that was my suit or clothing. My mom would dress me after we went swimming and I would run back into the water to swim with my brothers and sisters, I loved the water.

We took out kids there, they loved camping too. Bill usually does the cooking when we camp.

And as you can see, they loved the water too. We will be going for 4 days on Sunday, so I may be gone till then or back early, not sure if I will like being alone at the camp when Bill goes to work, so we shall see how it goes. No electricity so we will be on battery power for lights and no internet, but I will bring projects to work on and my art supplies so maybe I can relax and do some new designs. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

An Angel for my Angel and Giveaway Winner!

Today we went out to look for a basket. Our church is having a fair with a raffle, so I decided to share some of the winnings I have had over the years and make a quilter's gift basket. I also have books and an extra copy of a magazine, so putting together things like that and fabrics to go with the patterns. Now if I can only find a basket I like, most were the wrong shape and over priced junk.

I did find an angel though. She was sitting on the shelf with another that was not as nice and mine was on sale, it was meant to be. We are still waiting for the insurance and things to go through so we are waiting on a stone and I hate that there was nothing on her grave. I was looking at fake flowers and realized I could get fresh flowers and I love how she looks with the flowers, it just made me feel so much better, knowing she had something beautiful and an angel, watching over her.

The wonderful thing that happened today was, just as we got in the car, to go to the cematary, I looked up and there were two symmetrical angel wings over our house. 

I was looking at some old photos and found one of Danielle when she was little. Her great grandmother was celebrating her 100th birthday and when most kids avoid the elderly, Danielle was giving her hugs and helping her with the cards. In celebration of her compassion of others, I am sending out some cards and happy presents to a few friends who are going through a tough time themselves. I am not sure what I will do in the future, I am hoping to set up a work room for charity projects in her room and invite others to help, as well. For now, I am just being and following my heart when I can and getting the house cleaned out, so we can redo the room and basement.

And now for the winner of my giveaway. The winner is Jacqueline! Jacqueline, please email me with your choice of epattern from my ecrater site. Thank you all for playing along. I was trying to get a photo of the moon as it was rising through the trees, it was a beautiful orange red shade, but with the slow shutter speed, I got blurry photos. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, we will be spending Mother's day with my son and grandson.