New Finish and New Friends

Wow, it’s February already!!!!

Where has the month gone?
Well I will tell you….we went from swine flu to a very virulent stomach virus. It took forever to get over it!
Stitching kept me sane 
Here is my Examplar Dames Quaker Black Swan finish. I love the colors in it, it’s done with Vikki Clayton’s silks.

And these are friends of my daughter’s that we had over at Christmas time.   After dinner we all (ok. THEY all. Not me…) went skating in our backyard. They look so cute here I had to put them in:

Don’t they look happy???

And this is our new friend! We haven’t named him yet…but this little guy was given to us by an area farmer…apparently times are hard for the farmers and they don’t need the expense of feeding the bull calves…

the kids take turns feeding him. Isn’t he cute?

Hope your January went well and that your February is even better!

Happy Stitching,

Theresa

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas dinner photo of the whole family and a couple of friends we had over for Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Stitching,

Theresa

Sampler Stitching

Here it is, This is the Day:

and here is the quilt I’m doing:

and here is our tree:

Oops! That’s not it. Here is is:

There.

Merry Christmas!

(and Happy Stitching),

Theresa

Catching Up

On Fall!

Here are more family things that happened this Fall. I’m still catching up to Christmas!

Stephen shot a deer, his FIRST!  it was a big event and he got it with his bow:

And Megan had her birthday also. Megan loves animals, work, school, and animals. And work (she works at the animal hospital). Oh, and horses…she really loves horses…and school (she is taking equine science.  Not my cup of tea…but she does love horses…)

Somehow Megan manages to keep up her violin practice enough to participate in orchestra when we have hymn Sunday at church.

Happy Birthday Megan!

(did I mention she loves horses?)

Happy Birthday to You

Jennifer, our oldest daughter, had a birthday in early December.
Here she is with all nine of her siblings and Grandpa Dave:

And here is Frank (hubby) with his dad, Grandpa Dave:

Jennifer likes to cook, play piano, and works very hard both at her job, finishing her last year of school, and at church. She even manages to go on hikes on weekends:

And now just so you know that she REALLY went on a hike and I didn’t steal this photo of a pretty mountain off the web somewhere….here they are actually HIKING. In real life.  And the mountain is real too.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

(Photo used by permission, taken by a real person (thanks Gregg!) who was really really there. Not pretend.)

Wait for Me

Christmas is coming! Fast!

And I haven’t even updated my Thanksgiving photos yet.

So, here goes!

We had a 86th birthday party for Grandpa Dave at our home over Thanksgiving weekend. Happy Birthday, Grandpa Dave!  We all put on party hats and sang to him.

And we had a nice dinner that weekend for Thansgiving.  Here I am directing traffic (or food, whichever came first:)

Here are Patty and David, Frank’s brother and sister, and Patty’s son Mark, getting ready to say the blessing:

and more family pictures, at one of the tables set up:

Jennifer (our oldest) with her Aunt Robin:

and another getting-ready-to-eat picture! (This is supposed to be a needlework blog, after all…so where are all the pictures of the many projects I’ve done this month????

 maybe next year…)

Here is Frank’s sister Beth who lives to far away for us to see more than a couple of times a year! Not enough but better than nothing…

And tomorrow I WILL show pictures of the quilt(s) I’ve been working on for Christmas, and the sampler I’ve been stitching!

And, maybe I’ll even show a picture of the Christmas tree 

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy Stitching,

Theresa

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.

Thanksgiving week

well folks Thanksgiving is upon us!

We are having the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings and some friends over…and then on the weekend having hubby’s family for a combined Thanksgiving/Christmas reunion. It will be busy but fun!

I’ve managed to do a little stitching but nothing spectactular so far to show. So instead I’ll show more pictures of the kids 

these boys are all cousins:

and here are the girl cousins (some of them are my kids…)

and here is the whole gang! They all went on a hike together and had a great day for it.

I am working on getting the house ready for the holidays and I hope to get some stitching in this weekend.

It’s hard to believe winter is on its way…but it won’t be long.

Happy Stitching,

Theresa

New Things

Christina competed recently at the National 4H competition in Kentucky and came home with four ribbons! Go Christina! (she’s the one in the beige blazer standing in the back…)

She had to study so hard for this, three huge binders full of horse questions (anatomy, medical terminology and treatments, pharmaceutical horse info, etc!) not my cup of tea…

Here she is again:

And I’ve started Ex. Dames Quaker Black Swan. I’m using Vikki Clayton’s Be series of silk and her linen. The tulip color is faded roses, I really like that color!

It’s a gorgeous day here, the sun is out and it’s actually warm! Jennifer made us some banana bread…time for a coffee break.

Until next time,

Happy Stitching,

Theresa

November

Brr it’s November! Cool mornings, frost on the ground…snow is coming!

At least it’s good stitching weather 
Here’s my progress on Examplar Dames Quaker Honesty. Her samplers are all so lovely I want to do a whole wall of them! I’m close to a finish on this one:

I’ve started my Christmas shopping early this year. I do not want to end up like I did last year with last minute shopping to do! I want to enjoy the season this year and focus on the reason behind it all!

And Thanksgiving is coming also. This is a great time of year (despite the weather)!  We still have so much to be thankful for…with all the economy woes, those with illnesses, family struggles, all kinds of hardships…my heart goes out to those who are burdened. Often in our own strength, we are so helpless.  But we serve a mighty God who comes alongside of us with arms of love.

May you find time to feel His comforts and mercies this day!

Happy Stitching,

Theresa