Here Again !.,

This year has flown by so fast that it is often hard to keep up. The biggest event is the most recent. Two days ago I became a great grandmother !! Yikes !! How did that happen !! Thursday morning at 7 AM, Ophelia Wren made her appearance into this world. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and is 20 inches long. Of course I think she is beautiful.

She is just a few hours old here

This one was taken today !!

I wish I lived closer so I could give her cuddles but my grand daughter sends me pictures and updates.

I will post tomorrow with my stitching. Thanks for looking.

February First !!

Today has been a quiet day. But yesterday was a good one. Charlie (my son) came over ad took me out to lunch. We went to Red Robin. We ate chatted and had a wonderful time together.

After I got home I just sat and relaxed and stitched. I started my Spring SAL for the Needlecraft Haven. It is a chart from Lizzie Kate and I am really enjoying it. A very relaxing stitch.

I also finished a scarf for my friend

Well I think that is all for today. Thank you for visiting and have a great day !!

January 2015 yikes !!

Well 2015 has snuck up on me and now January is almost over. It is hard to believe how fast time does go by. A lot has happened to me since Rich's death this past July. I still miss him and sometimes get down in the doldrums. I can hear him coming down the hallway only to turn and find no one there. I guess this is all normal and will eventually get better. I have been traveling. As you saw in my last post I went to Maryland to see family in August. In November I made a long trip to England to meet stitching friends of about 7-8 years. It was nice to finally see them in person after chatting with them for so long.clare and her husband offered their home to me while I was there and I had a wonderful time getting to know them both. They have a lovely home.

This a view from the garden. Clare and I roamed all over most days to see the sites. It is such a beautiful country. On Thursday we went o London for the day and saw Buckingham Place, Harrods,Big Ben and the Parlament building, the Eye of London, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. It was all breathtaking. During the afternoon we stopped at Knighsbridge Green Hotel for tea. So wonderful. Here we sat at 3in the afternoon drinking champagne, I felt like royalty.

Clare and I having tea!

A toast !!

Buckingham palace 

Us !!

Big Ben !!

The Eye of London 

Tower Bridge 

The Tower of London !

What a wonderful trip!!

Hanging in !!

It has been two months since Rich passed away. I won't say it has been easy. I miss him and look for him often to find him not there. I have been assured that this is normal , but it is still daunting. Several weeks ago I did make a trip by train to see my Father and Sister in Maryland. The Old Lady with cane in hand boarded a train and away we went. I hadn't been on a train in about fifty years. LOL  It was long, nine hours, but not bad. Amtrak was wonderful in how they helped me along. Kudos to them. I will definitely travel by them again. Anyway I had a great visit with my sister and her family and spent time with my dad. I hadn't been able to get to see him for the last five or six years. He turned 90 this year, I wanted to see him before he was gone. My family lives in the country in Western Maryland, in the mountains. Beautiful country. Here is some pictures of my dad's yard and of course him and I.

Dad and I , he looks great for his age.

This is the view out his picture window. The back of the house faces a meadow, only trees and woods as far as you can see.

This is the side yard and a picture of his grape arbor, it used to produced large dark purple grapes that he used to make wine and jellies from. It doesn't produce any longer.

This is my sister acting silly while doing the dishes. 

We ended the evening around the fire pit making making s'mores, after playing in the swimming pool.

I was tired when I got home but a good tired. Rich would have enjoyed himself but he was unable to travel the last few years of his illness and I didn't feel good about leaving him home alone.

Thank you for visiting and I will try to post a little more regularly. Take care and have a great day !!

Sad day !!

Last night at 11:30, my friend, my husband, my love came to the end of his suffering and left this earth. He is now in a better place with no worries, care, or strife, he is at rest. I miss him now and will always miss him.we have only had seventeen years together. Not enough time to my way of thinking but we laughed a lot together. He was good to me and good to my mother and friends with my son. I wa his wife, friend, care giver, and bottle washer lol. (not to mention all the laundry)

Happy journey my love, be at peace !

A Busy Week !!

Rich was admitted to the hospital again this past Monday and was there until yesterday. He is recovering from pneumonia and we found out that he only has 15 % of his kidney function. That along with 15% of his heart function and 40% of his lung function and he is a sick man. He went back to the nursing home yesterday after a horrible day at the hospital. We were treated terribly. And I had to tranort this sick man back to the nursing home in my car. It is a long story. Needless to say, I was and still am very upset.

Today, he is still feeling unwell and slept most of my visit this afternoon. My girlfriend cam over for supper and we had hamburgers and corn on the cob. Yummy !! We also ad a wonderful visit.

Last evening I was amazed at how lovely the sky was at sunset. Here are some pictures.

Such lovely colors.

As far as my stitching, it has been almost non-existent. I did mange to finish a small part on the RR from Needlecraft Haven and sent it off to the next person.

Here is the entire piece so far

And this is the little bit that I got done, I felt bad that I was unable to get more done.

I did the grey floor and part of the quilt. It was a fun piece to work on.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day !!

News

Life continues to be crazy around here. Saturday a week ago Rich was in the hospital again for his heart and other things. They discharged him to a rehab nursing home for Cardiac Rehab and to try to change his meds around.i was told that the rehab part was from 8-10 weeks. He seems to be doing well with it so far. His long term outlook is not good I am afraid. His heart function as well as his kidney function is declining. The doctor said he may have to come home on Hospice. So we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

As far as me, I am dealing and running back and forth. I am tired. But like the Energiser Bunny I just keep going. My stitching time have suffered I am afraid. I am doing well to keep up with RR and exchanges that I am involved in. Someday there may be time but until then I do what I can do.

 I am including some pictures of recent stitching and exchanges.

This is the Summer Exchange I sent to my partner with the Needlecraft Haven group. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I even made the cording that I used around it. I have been trying my hand at Kumihimo braiding and find that I enjoy it.

This is the gift I received from my partner. The berries are beads. So lovely. Now to find a place on my limited wall space to display it.

This is the front and back of a Needlebook I did for an exchange on UK Stitchers another group I am in. This one was a pleasure to stitch and I may make more in other colors. There is a scissor keep to match but that is not finished as of yet stitched but not finished.

This is the inside of the Needlebook. The lining is hand stitched along the edges.

I am also finishing up my part on a RR that I am stitching , I will post pictures another time.

Thank you for stopping by and have a nice day !!

Quick Post !!

This post will be a short one for today. I will be going to bed shortly as we need to be up and out early tomorrow. Rich is haveing a Nuclear Stress Test tomorrow. They are doing it in two parts, tomorrow and the last part on Monday. They are trying to decide if there is anything they can do to improve his heart function, even a little will help. Take care and have a great week end !!

A Beautiful Day !!

Finally, I think warm weather is here for a while. Today was beautiful !! The sun was shining with not a cloud in site. I sure hope it lasts.

We had an appointment with the Cardiologist today, they have scheduled him for a Nuclear Stress Test on Friday and Monday. And he had labs drawn today.  Rich actually had a fairly good day today. He was a little weak but over all ok. Trips from home do tire him out though.

I have a little stitching to show you today. One is a small one of Joan Elliott's, my aunt found the chart in a consignment shop along with two others. There was no threads or fabric, just a chart so I had to pick my own colors. All the chart listed was a color name. I am pleased with the results.

The next one is a small one by Ink Circles. I used my own color combination and like the results. I did the outlines in 762 instead of the black that is usual. I think I will make a small pillow or a small bag for my iPad. I haven't decided yet.

This last one is a freebie Hardanger piece from Nordic Needle. I was a good girl and used fabric and thread from my stash. I think I will send it to my sister as a little "thinking of you" gift.

Well I think that is all for today. So enjoy the lovely weather and have a wonderful day !!

Resurfaced !!

Hello my friends !! I know I have been gone for almost a year. Time goes by fast and things around here have been very hectic . As most of you know my husband has quite a few health issues and they have not improved. This has been a year of doctors, hospitals and a lot of worry. His heart continues to get weaker but he is a tough old bird and continues to fight the fight. So life is usually a day by day thing. I know I haven't been here but I still think of all of you often. For those of you that know me from Facebook and have posted comments, I thank you. The support means a great deal.

As far as stitching, it has been slow and sporadic. But I do what I can. I did manage to make deadline on several exchanges and RR !!  So I guess I am not totally out of things.
Here is my offering to my partner for the Easter exchange and the gift I received.

This my offering to my partner, the Hardanger chart was a freebie from the web quite a while ago and the card is a freebie from Just Cross Stitch mag

This is the Easter egg and the card that I received from my partner, I love it !! The egg is a chart from The Cross Eyed Cricket.

I was also in a Spring exchange, both of these exchanges are through Needlecraft Haven, a great group.

This is the tote bag and goodies that I made and sent to my partner. The basket is a chart from Lizzie Kate.

Here is the lovely pillow I received from my partner. Isn't it cute !!

I am also in a Welcome Round Robin through the same group. Here is the design I chose for mine. It is an old chart from Debra Designs, I don 't think it is even in print any longer, but I love the colors.

This is after two people stitched on it. Doesn't it look wonderful !!

Well you have been patient with this long post , so I will stop for now and try not to be gone for so long. Take care my friends and have a wonderful day !!