A Look Back at 2011

Gosh has it really been 5 months since I updated my blog????  I don't know where to start, do I start at the beginning or work my way back through the year????  I normally don't share a lot of personal stuff on my blog but I don't know how to talk about this year without revealing something of my life.  

The year started happily, our son got married in March and we welcomed a sweet daughter-in-law to our family.  They decided to to do a weekend wedding in Las Vegas since JD was deploying in May.  They are settling into married life, JD is a Load Master in the Air Force Reserves and Krystal is a Pharmacist so they are busy with work and fun :-).  This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them.

JD and Krystal

In May I finished Anniversaries of the Heart!!!!  I still love to look at it :-).  I sent it to Jill Rensel for framing and as always she did a beautiful job.

In June we got the call everyone dreads.  After a long battle with ovarian cancer, my FIL's wife had died at only 52 years old.  Cathy and my FIL would have been married 28 years today, they were such a devoted couple.  I loved her dearly, she was such a smart, wonderful, happy woman.  I miss her so much and honestly I still can't believe she is gone.  

Meggie, my DD, crushing grapes with Cathy, Cathy loved Halloween, my favorite picture of her and my FIL and a pretty picture of Cathy!!!!

Through the rest of the summer, I did manage to work a bit on some projects, Jane Tindall, Melicent Turner and the new Loose Feathers piece.

In between everything else my DH, Jeff, had been having steadily worsening issues with his gallbladder so in September we started going through all the testing and appointments to get it removed.  Unfortunately two days after the referral for the surgery was approved, several stones blocked his bile and pancreatic ducts causing pancreatitis necrosis.  He was admitted to the hospital in the beginning of October and 4 weeks later he was finally released to come home.  I won't go into the nitty, gritty details except to say he had numerous complications, lost over 40 lbs, and ended up with a very badly damaged pancreas.  It was very scary month for us.  The beginning of December he was readmitted to the hospital because of a high fever.  After a bunch of test we got a good news, bad news diagnosis, thankfully the pancreas hadn't gotten worse but his gallbladder was more inflamed.  Fortunately, we saw all the same doctors who had been with us through the entire ordeal after the original hospitalization and after another week in the hospital and a three hour surgery to remove a ruptured gallbladder he is on the mend and feeling much better.  We can see God's hand through all of this, we were blessed with wonderful doctors, a miraculous recovery, and the help of family and friends, things could have been so much worse!  Because Jeff was very ill and I was so worried and at the hospital almost all my waking hours I didn't get much done stitching wise.  When I could concentrate enough to pick up my needle I tended towards small projects.  I have lots of new scissor fobs ;-).

Thankfully things have calmed down a bit and I found time to start a new project on Christmas weekend!  I fell in love with Examplars of the Heart Dames Boarding School after seeing it on Paulette's blog.  Her mom, Marsha, stitched it for her.  I only made a tiny start on it, we had my DH's parents here for Christmas along with my parents, our kids and friends so it was a busy weekend.

I am hoping and praying for a much quieter 2012!!!!  I have sorted through my projects and prioritized things for the new year :-).  My friend Laurie has convinced me to start a new project every weekend in January.  This weekend I am going to start Elizabeth Sheffield.  I love how bright the colors are and the sweet colonial couples and birds.  It's just gorgeous.  I am using the Attic conversion on a gorgeous cut of R&R Straw.

Next weekend I will share my progress on Elizabeth and my new start.  I also have several gifts I've received through the year and one I made for my friend Karin :-).  

Praying a wonderful, happy, stitchy 2012 for everyone!!!!!  I hope this finds you all well and enjoying your holidays.

Happy Stitches,

Katrina

Hodgepodge, Mishmash, Patchwork...

I am a little bit of a perfectionist and I like when things "go together" which means my posts generally have a theme :-).  I have had such a busy, busy summer I haven't had a chance to update my blog so this will be a bit all over the place as I try to play catch-up!!!!

First up is framing. I've received two boxes from Jill Rensel in the past few months and as always everything is completely gorgeous. 

Reproduction Round Robin

Blackbird Designs Where My Heart Blooms

Blackbird Designs Summer House

Shepherd's Bush Quaker Heart

And last but not least, the pièce de résistance, my Anniversaries of the Heart!

In between trips, my DH and I went to Tampa and Miami and I went to Breckenridge for a stitching weekend, company, friends from Germany and my MIL, and just the general busyness of summer I have managed to stitch a bit and acquire stash :-).

I've been dying to start Jane Tindall, I decided to do my own conversion to overdyed GAST, WDW and Crescent Colours along with the Gloriana Silks as charted on 40 count Lakeside Vintage Meadow Rue. 

I also started Melicent Turner, what a fun piece.  I am seriously considering committing Sampler Sacrilege and changing the name and intitial.  I'd love to use one of my great-grandmother's names.

I love mystery samplers so it goes without saying I couldn't resist the With Thy Needle and Thread Birds of Feather piece.  I had a fair start on it and decided to change from 40 count to 35 count linen.  I love the WDW linen in the 30 and 35 count but I think the 40 count is a bit flimsy and I don't enjoy stitching on it. 

On my "I want to start it now" list is the new Loose Feather!!!!  As you can probably guess I think mysteries are so much fun :-).  I am going to use 35 count WDW Parchment linen.

And wow if you've stuck with me this long, thank you!!!!!  I promise will do my best to update more often :-).  I hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their summer.  I will leave you with a picture of my funny puppies and what they were staring at out the living room window, LOL.

Hugs,

Katrina

Anniversaries of the Heart Finish!!!!

I have loved this piece so, so much! It was such a joy to think about my family as I stitched on each section. I also thought it was so much fun waiting and wondering what the next chart was going to look like. It's bittersweet to see it come to an end but I think it is time to move on to a different project :-). I stitched this piece as charted on 40 count R&R Olde Town Blend. I've blogged about several of the blocks previously but I wanted to do a quick rundown for myself, don't feel badly about skipping it and just looking at pictures, LOL. 

Snow Garden is dedicated to my FIL, his wife and parents. He is just the sweetest man and I love his wife Cathy so much. I also included his parents intials and the year he was born.

Valentine Rose honors my maternal great grandmother, Elizabeth McCully, and my great Grandfather John Gibson.  They owned a farm in Northern Ireland near Belfast.

A Wish for You has my son, J.D., and his new wife's initials and the date they married. I am still getting use to the idea that I am someone's MIL, LOL. I couldn't ask for a sweeter DIL, we just love Krystal to death :-). I thought it was perfect piece for them.

Pink Hill Manor was stitched for my paternal grandmother, Audie Pearl. So many of my childhood memories center around visiting her in her little pink house :-). 

Farm House is stitched to remember my maternal grandfather, Sidney Frederick and his parents, Annie and Edward. He was an English soldier during WWII and met my grandmother when he was stationed in Northern Ireland. I always remember him coming home with candy for my sister and me. 

Happy Birthday was probably gave me the most difficulty when it came to personalizing a block. Nothing felt right. When I found the saying, 'Two hearts, one soul." it finally fell into place. I stitched it for my DH and me. I am so blessed to be married to someone who understands me completely and loves me in spite of my weirdness, LOL.



Swan Lake is for stitched for my MIL, Jacque. I included the year she was born her initials. Her father, Jack Pershing Wilbur died when she was a small child and she never had a chance to really know him. I wanted to honor him as well so his initials are stitched in this block too.

Clara Allen was stitched for my maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Allen, she was a funny, lively Irish woman :-). I stitched year she was born and married to my grandfather and my mom's initials.

Moonlight Visitor is dedicated to my daughter, Megan Kathleen. I love this block, it reminds me so much of Colorado. We have a Miller mother migration every year and pine trees in abundance.

Pumpkin Farm honors my DH's Granny and Paw. Another funny story about them, for years and years they lived on a property they named Belliacres up in the mountains. The first time we went to visit them I was so surprised to see a toilet in their yard, they used it as a planter, LOL. It was just too funny :-).

Evergreen Lane is dedicated to my parents, Grover and Sandra. We are so fortunate to have them living close by. We get to spend lots of time with them which is so much fun.

Elizabeth Jane was stitched in honor of my paternal great grandmother. She was born Delilah Francis but went by Peach her whole life. It's funny to look at the old census forms, she is always listed as Peach. I also stitched my great grandfather's initials on it, his name was Moses Ezekiel Wallace.

Finally, the last block has the dedication and also includes all my pets' initials.  After all they are a big part of my family too.  There is an S for Shelby, and S for Sophie and a C for Chloe :-).  I am crazy about my girls, LOL.  This project is hands down one my favorites ever.  I hope Alma and Barb decided to do another mystery piece.  I loved the aniticipation of waiting on each installment, checking their blog for pictures, it was so much fun.

I am so excited to see what Jill Rensel does with this piece.  Truthfully I normally just send my project and wait to see what comes back.  I think that I am going to make a special request for AotH.  In my mind's eye I can see a painted mat, the top mat being a color similar to the linen. 

I hope you all are happy and healthy and finding lots of time to stitch ;-).  We've been very busy, my DH has been traveling a lot for work, we married our son off in Vegas and my friend Karin surprised me with a visit while Jeff was gone.  The summer round of visitors and vacations and my DH's travel promises to make for a hectic summer. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to celebrate this finish with me, I so appreceiate it!  I have been happy dancing for two days now, LOL.

Granny and Paw and Anniversaries of the Heart

I have really loved stitching Blackbird's Anniversaries of the Heart!!! It is such a fun piece. I am still waiting on the Evergreen Lane chart, I've been haunting my LNS :-). My DH has been traveling a lot so I took advantage of not needing to cook to stitch, LOL.

Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart

This is a closeup of Moonlight Visitor, I love it because it reminds me of Colorado where I live. Every May we have a huge Miller moth migration and there are pine trees everywhere. I still haven't decided how I want to personalize this particular block. I think I know but I want to wait to see the December chart as well as the last bonus design.

Midnight Visitor

I had no trouble deciding who I wanted to remember when I stitched Pumpkin Farm. My DH's Granny, Annette, was born in October and she married Paw in October which made this block perfect for honoring her and Paw. She was a young widow with three small daughters, including my MIL, when she married Frank McLellan. They went on to have a fourth daughter and have been married 65 years in October. My DH's grandparents are wonderful, they are both fiesty, funny and artistic and a joy to their family and friends.

Pumpkin Farm

Granny and Paw's 60th Wedding Anniversary

The Cake (isn't the picture gorgeous)

A Painting by Granny

I think that I am going to get the Primitive Needle's A&E out and finish it and by then hopefully I will have the next AotH chart in my hot little hands, LOL. I hope everyone is finding lots of time to stitch and you are all happy and healthy :-). Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my blog.

Hugs and Stitches, Katrina

A Little Bit of This and Little Bit of That...

I hope you all had a merry, merry Christmas and your New Year is perfect. I've been busy, busy, lots of stitching and all the usual things that make life fun but crazy. I have managed to stitch every day so far this year, even if it's a few stitches some days.

I was ready to change my blog template again. It was fun playing with it and I am happy with the new look. I couldn't have done it without Siobhan's help. I am hoping it's not over the top, I just really wanted to have my own background and a template that was simple but me :-).

I've already modified the crazy 15 challenge yet again. I started thinking about actually starting all those projects, you probably heard the wheels turning and my head exploding, LOL. I was worried about the chaos of starting 15 projects and freaking out a tiny bit ;-). I love my list and I definitely plan to stitch all of them this year but I want to work on ornaments, BBD stockings, and a few tiny projects. I also want to finish my current WIPs and my BBD class project. Sooooooo, here’s what I came up with, start one at a time, work on it until it’s finished and continue on all the other things I want to do. I hope I am still keeping with the spirit of the challenge, but does it really matter if I am not :-)?

I've been in the mood to stitch the little BBD stockings. I stitched 6 and chose backing fabric, I think I've mentioned I am using Blackbird fabric for that. I did actually stitch the Souvenir of Paris stocking twice, it's my first ornament for Karin's and my exchange. Everything is packaged and ready to go to Deb for finishing.

The first project from my list of 15 is Ann Pennsylvania Peacock. I've actually stitched a bit more on it but I didn't feel like pulling it out to take another picture, LOL. I am considering whether or not to try and use a family name on it. My great grandmother's name was Delilah Frances Wallace, I am thinking that might be a nice fit.

I just love this little Shepherd's Bush pin cushion, it was such an easy stitch, one evening and it was finished.

Every year I stitch the Shepherd's Bush scissor fob and this year was no exception. They are so sweet. I didn't finish it with the ribbon because occasionally Chloe likes to steal my scissors and the whipstitched edge holds up better, LOL.

For Christmas I got the nicest presents, Polish pottery and 3 new Pandora beads for my bracelet from my DH, a gorgeous pair of earrings from my parents and the prettiest redware plate from my Mother-in-Law, I love it. She ordered it from Circa Home Living.

Last but certainly not least, my friend, Natalia, has started making Stitching Wallets. I am in love with them so I wanted to share with you all. I have already bought two of them, they are so beautifully made and her color choices are fabulous :-). The wallets are perfect for holding projects. She has more info on her blog if anyone is interested in getting one.

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my blog, I so appreciate it. I want to try and post more often, at least every couple weeks. Hopefully life won't get in the way :-).

Hugs and Stitches, Katrina