Two Hearts for Two Angels

Recently, a friend's daughter gave birth to twins, a boy, Dayne, and a girl, Danielle. They were born very prematurely, and both only lived a few hours. I have stitched two squares that will be part of two quilts in memory of these two little angels. Hopefully the quilts will bring comfort to the grieving family.

Just in time for St. Valentine's Day!

Here is the hardanger piece that I received in the hardanger exchange that I posted about a few weeks ago. I received this lovely heart ornament from Kate from Massachusetts. The stitching is beautiful, and the filling stitches are expertly done. I need to learn how to do picots, Kate's are just perfect! Her finishing is amazing! Thank you Kate!

The next time I see this piece, it will be all finished!

This is Quilt Sampler 1 by Linda Myers, and I am doing it as my piece for a Color Round Robin. For you non-stitchers out there, a Round Robin, or RR, is a piece that is sent around to the members of a group and everyone stitches a part of it.

This is a Color RR, and I have chosen blue. There are 8 of us in this group, and since the piece has 9 squares, I did 2 of them and the border.

Before it is finished, it will travel all across the US, and to England and Australia. Every 6 weeks, a new piece will show up in the mail for me to stitch on, and then send it on. When finished, all 8 of us will end up with some beautiful pieces.

Eva

Thoughts on running a youth hostel......



There must be sign on the expressway somewhere that says " please take the next exit for Jugendherberge Rill" This is the only explaination for the visitors that keep showing up at my door for a few nights lodging. Either that, or one or more of my children have put an ad somewhere on the internet to that affect.



We had visitors this weekend from the Donauschwaben Youthgroup from Cleveland, Ohio. Lisa Rimpf, brought her brother Tony and his girlfriend Gretchen, and their friends Manny and Kristian. Kristian was supposed to stay at the Mayer's but he spent at least part of one night at our house.



The reason for their visit was to attend Trachtenball, an event at our German Club, where all the young ladies (and some not so young ones) wear very old traditional garments that their grandmothers wore. It gives them a real appreciation for the comforts of modern clothing, and teaches history and tradition.



I should add that Lisa has been here before....a number of times.....and I don't think it is because she enjoys my company. Tony is the only other person that lives in this house. Could it be that she is really visiting him?

What's in the works?

My daughter asked what I was working on. Now, Viki, when have you known me to not have a stitching project going?

Usually I have three projects in the works. Rocky Mountain Christmas, which I work on for 10 hours each month (well, 20 hours until I am caught up), a medium sized piece (currently ducky borders on bath towels for JC's Birthday in August) and a medium-small piece (currently a model for Sue Hillis).

As soon as I get the model piece and two quilt squares done, I will be stitching on the American Soldier Memorial project exclusively until it is finished.

What is it?



I finished this hardanger piece last evening. I needed to do a small piece for an exchange, so I chose this one because I wanted to learn how to do the Scandanavian four-sided edge stitch. I am happy with the results. But, I need to figure out what it is I made. Is it a coaster, or is it an ornament, or is it something else?

Did you know that I am inspiring?

This chart is named Eva's Garden. Laura Tilson of Snapdragon designs, designed this a few months ago, and named it after me! She said I inspired her! I got my autographed chart before Christmas, so now I must make time to stitch it.

To Honor the First Responders:

This quilt square is for the Hurricane Katrina Quilt project, to honor all the rescue workers from around the country who went to help. It is being organized by the same person that did the World Trade Center Memorial Quilts, which are very moving. I saw them in person in Nashville in August of 2005. Kathie Baumgardner does a remarkable job, and you can read about her work here: http://www.wtcquilt.com/

Thank goodness for bad weather!

Yes, that's right, I am thankful for bad weather today.

The bad weather prevented the protesters from protesting at today's funeral for a young man killed in Iraq. 10 or 11 were scheduled to fly in today, but the ice and snow grounded their flight.

Fred Phelps and his small group have been in the news garnering disrepute as they cross America and stage vulgar demonstrations at funerals of American soldiers killed in the Iraq war. Phelps, a disbarred attorney, calls himself the reverend of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas. While they call themselves Baptists, there are no other recognized Baptist churches associated with them.

These zealots have now staged well over 100 of these funeral protests in the name of God. They are delusional because their methods are not projecting God’s love, but rather their own hatred. During the protests, Phelps’ zealots hold up offensive and profane placards protesting the war in Iraq, abortion, homosexuality and even the Catholic Church.

As mourners arrive at the funerals of their loved one, they are faced with scripture quotes, vulgar slurs and offensive signs stating that the death of their loved one is God’s wrath on America because of our sins.

We are thankful that the weather prevented their coming to St. James. The family and friends of this young man are having a difficult time as it is, and didn't need to see these idiots.

Poor Tony!

The imaginary girl friend thing just wasn't working for him! So now, by his own admission, his "new girl" is Cassie, the new dog whose ownership is still unclear. Tony's relationship with Cassie is working out rather well. She seems to be rather low maintenance, and is not very demanding. It will be rather difficult for Tony though, when he needs to bring a date to his sister's wedding.....

American Soldier Memorial Project

War is hell. Every mother (as well as other family members) lives in constant fear of a visit from the military when they have a son or daughter in the service. One of the women who is active at the church where I work lost her 20 year old son when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq a few weeks ago. I have been involved in the planning of the services for this young man, but really wanted to do something more concrete as a memorial to him. The American Soldier Memorial Project is an effort by stitchers to make a memorial piece for the families of our fallen servicemen and women. I will be stitching this piece in memory of Pfc William "Will" Newgard.

Once it is finished and framed, it will be presented to his family. They can choose to keep in their home, or have it hung at the church or in the Illinois state capital.

If you would like more information about the American Soldier Memorial Project, please visit their website: http://crossstitch.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=crossstitch&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fgeocities.com%2Famericansoldiermemorialproject%2F

Another Rocky Mountain Christmas update

Here we are after 80 hours of stitching. I should have been at this point at the end of September, but wedding and Christmas got in the way. I stitched 970 stitches this 10 hour session, and have completed 9953 stitches total so far.

I have completed pages 2 and 5 of the chart, (there are 6 pages total) and am more than 1/3 finished with the project. If all goes well, I should be done around August of 2008.

Tony and his new girlfriend:

Please don't tell him there is no one there. He has never had an imaginary friend before, and we don't want to burst his bubble. He looks so happy.

The great thing about this imaginary girlfriend, is that she hardly eats a thing, and doesn't take up much space. She's a real cheap date, too.

Rocky Mountain Christmas.

Last February, Nancy Jantz and I started this piece together. The plan is to stitch 10 hours on it each month. If we keep it up here is what it will look like when finished.

I am a bit behind. I just completed 70 hours, so here is where I should have been at the end of August. So far I have put in 8983 stiches and am almost 1/3 finished.

Hopefully I will catch up soon. I estimate the project should take about 2 1/2 years to complete if I stitch 10 hours each month. Watch this space for future updates.

One last ornament for the year.

Finished ornamentifying this one the other night. It is stitched on moss green 25 count lugana over one thread with weeks dye works overdyed fibres. It was designed by Val's Stuff, and the chart was in the Just Cross Stitch 2006 Ornaments Issue.

Meet Cassie!

Cassie is a 1 year old rescue. I thought she was just coming to visit for a few days. I was wrong, she now lives here!

Another ornament finished and mailed!

Ornamentifying

One down!


Lots more to go! This one is by Val's Stuff, from the october 2006 Just Cross Stitch Magazine. It is stitching on 25 count moss green lugana, over one thread. (for you non-stitcher, that means the stitches are really tiny)

Winter Seasonal Exchange

In my last post, I showed you a picture of the piece I stitched for the above mentioned exchange. To explain further, the exchange was for a seasonal (winter) band sampler and there were four of us in the exchange. It worked like this: A sent to B, B sent to C, C sent to D, and D sent to A, so everyone was surprised by who their piece was coming from and what the piece was. I have done a bunch of this type of exchange, usually involving lots more people, and the stitched pieces were always wonderful and no two were ever alike.

That is until now. Imagine my surprise, when I opened my exchange package last Friday to find the same piece I had sent! At first I thought it had been returned to me and I was cunfused, but when I looked more closely, it was a little bit different. I was stunned! and I laughed! I don't think this has ever happened. Clare obviously has excellent taste!

Winter Band Sampler by Elizabeth's Designs.



It's finally finished! I had a real hard time getting this done. I had to wait forever for one of the Needle Necessities overdyed flosses, and working around was a pain. The floss finally came, and it is done! It has been mailed and is winging its way over to the Netherlands, as an exchange piece. Can't wait to see what I will be getting in this exchange.