May 11-17

Mother's Day. I woke up at 11:00 this morning and started working on America right away. I finished two sides of the outer border and realized it wasn't centered on the fabric. There was only about an inch of fabric on the bottom, yet there were two inches on top. I was totally confused, because there were supposed to be an extra four inches when I cut the fabric. So I frogged everything! 154 stitches. It would be an understatement to say I was ticked off. I just put the fabric and the chart back in the bag and took it upstairs; it needed to get out of my sight before I did it bodily harm!

Ian and Sara went to her mother's for the day. Mom, Dad, and I left to go to breakfast and then Lowe's in Delaware. Ben called while we were at Waffle House to say that he was already at Mom and Dad's. He wasn't expected until tonight and was supposed to stay until tomorrow. He told Mom that his shift got changed and he had to work tonight instead of this afternoon. Since he was only going to be here for a couple hours, we went home after breakfast, skipping the trip to Lowe's to get Mom's chimenea.

Ben ended up staying later than expected after he called his work and was told he didn't have to be there until 6:30. Sarah and the kids came over around 3:00, too. Anna helped me stitch by pulling my needle through to the front of the fabric. There was no fooling her about where that needle was going, either! I asked her "where'd it go?" and she leaned forward and pointed right to the back of my Q-snap. She's a smart little cookie, that one!

I gave her the Ariel "Room To Go" with the lamp, sleeping bag, pillow, and pop-up hamper. All she wanted was that lamp! She practically ignored the blanket and tossed the pillow aside.

As she was helping me stitch, I told her I had another tree she could see, but it was upstairs. We went up to my room and she munched on Bugles while I got the portifolio with my finishes in it. I asked her if she wanted the tree with candles to have at her house and she nodded and said "umm-hmm." I told her we needed to go in the craft room to make her tree into a hanging ornament. I realized very quickly that I didn't have any mounting boards to keep the ornament rigid, so I asked Anna if she wanted me to make her a pillow instead. Again I heard a little "umm-hmm" accompanied by a head-nod.

Sarah got the DVD's of Shrek and Disney's The Little Mermaid for Anna to watch while I made her pillow. She even picked out her own fabric! I put all the fabric pieces that were big enough to make a pillow on the work table and told her to pick one. She immediately pointed at the new patriotic fabby I found at JoAnn's yesterday and said "dat!" I asked her if she was sure and she nodded again. I pointed to each of the others in turn and asked if she wanted them, but she was stuck on the tan fabric with the miniature flags. That apple didn't fall far from the tree, did it? I've got her trained at an early age!

Just to explain quickly: Anna has been a "slow talker." A year ago, all she did was use sign language. While she does have and uses many more words now, her speach is accompanied most of the time by sign language and other visible signals. She has a speech therapist that sees her at daycare to help expand her vocabulary.

Anna sat on one of Mom's work chairs and watched The Little Mermaid while I cut the fabric and stitched the two sides together with Mom's sewing machine. I sat on the floor beside Anna's chair and stuffed the pillow. Anna said "help?" a couple times, so I gave her handfuls of poly-fill to put in the pillow. She wasn't very exact about getting it in the hole so Aunt Beth was in reality the one pusing the poly-fill into the pillow, but it was a way to keep her involved.

As soon as I said it had enough stuffing, Anna took it and tucked it under her arm. I told her I had to finish closing the hole and she gave it back. I don't know where she learned to do it, but she tucks things under her arm and carries them around like that all the time. She's just so cute!

Sarah called us down to dinner and we had hamburgers and hotdogs. Well, I didn't have a hotdog because they have "the ice cream effect" on me. Anna started acting up a little and I said I was going to take her pillow back. That straightened her right out, boy!

We went back upstairs to the craft room where Anna resumed her movie. I finished sewing up her pillow and she got down on the floor. Dad brought her new sleeping bag to me and Anna crawled right in and put her pillow under her head. I guess Aunt Beth's custom-made pillows are a hit with both neices because Anna wanted to take it and "Nite-Nite" home with her. FYI: she promptly named her new blanket "Nite-Nite." We were able to convince her to leave Nite-Nite at Nana's, but she wasn't letting go of the pillow! She even forgot all about the lamp, so that stayed in the craft room.

Mom zonked out in the recliner and Dad and I worked at the kitchen table. I had him look at both my cameras and wouldn't you know it? My Kodak started working correctly! I haven't used it in over a month, so I'm wondering if it doesn't like taking pictures all the time. At least the old phots were on the memory card so Dad could see I wasn't making it up! Miss Deborah's camera, however, is most porbably "FUBAR" as Dad put it.

I can take pictures again! I'm missed so many opportunities in the last month. Bre, Anna, the flowers blooming all over the yard...the list goes on and on.

I started Southern Stars by Dinky-Dyes Designs at 7:00pm. I was supposed to start at 2:00pm as a Stitch-Along (SAL) with Debi Murray, but I knew she wouldn't mind that I started late. After a couple hours, though, my back and shoulders tightened up so much they hurt. I grabbed some DVD's from the family room, packed up my stitching, and headed to my room. I put in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. While it was full of action, which I like, the ending left me dissatisfied. Is there to be a fourth film? I was under the impression it was a trilogy. If that's the case and this is the last PotC, I didn't like it!

After PotC ended I started watching Enchanted. I was too tired to see the whole thing, so I can't tell you how I feel about it yet. I realized it was almost 2:00am so I shut down the laptop and fell asleep.

I left for home Monday and stopped by the house to drop off my refrigerated food before I went to dialysis. Unfortunately, my needle was too close to the crease of my elbow so I couldn't get any stitching done.

Tuesday evening was my Heirloom Stitchers meeting at the Provinces Library. I totally forgot! I was stuck in traffic less than two miles from home and it took me 40 minutes to get back to the house and change. I was going out to return some books to the Annapolis Library. It's only 2 miles from home, so it just takes a few minutes to get there. There was traffic EVERYWHERE! It was lots worse than a regular rush-hour. All of the streets around the stadium were gridlocked. I found out later that there was a fire at the Audi dealership on West St, so everyone had to use Rowe Blvd instead.

I was almost to the library when I realized it was Tuesday and I needed to leave for my meeting in 15 minutes! It took me another half-hour to get home. Lucky for me, there wasn't alot of traffic going north on I-97, so I arrived at Provinces by 6:30pm.

We had a nice time at HS, as usual. I stitched on Southern Stars while there. There was alot of talk about needlework shows and shops. I found out that the other needlework shop Mom found in Delaware isn't as good as the one I have been to, so I don't have to waste my gas checking it out. As usual, our time was up way too soon and we headed out to the parking lot together. We did a little more talking and show-and-tell out there. I've begun to really look forward the meetings and getting together with all the other ladies. The one thing I forgot, though, was all the knitting stuff I wanted to take for Carol B and Katie to look through. I have to remember to take it next month. It's taking up room in my house!

Here's a picture of Southern Stars that I took Friday night. I have to apologize, but I got out of "the groove" of taking a picture each night at midnight, so this is the first update I have for Southern Stars.

I can't believe what an easy stitch this is! It just zips along! I'm doing mine in the Dinky-Dyes silks called for in the chart: Yallingup and Saltbush. I did change the color of fabric, however. The chart calls for antique white, but everyone I've shown the chart to thinks the model is stitched on white. I like the stark contrast the white provides so I'm using white evenweave. I fell in love with this chart at last fall's Online Needlework Show and finally bought it in January. It just matches perfectly with the colors I want to use for my bedroom when we finally move. I already have all my bathroom and bed linens in sage green and purples.

Since Debi and I are both enjoying stitching Southern Stars so much, we've decided to do the rest of the quilt squares. We both already have Terra Australis, so that's the next project on our list to stitch together. Debi's Southern Stars is on navy blue evenweave using Carrie's Creations threads in Sunburst and Cherry. I have to say it is STUNNING! She wasn't too happy with the reds not matching when she first started, but I convinced her to keep going with it. She admitted that I was right; it is turning out beautifully. It's going to be so neat to have all the squares done in the same colors and fabric and finally see them all together. I just can't wait!
Just to prove what a quick stitch this is, here's a picture I took on Saturday night. You can see how much farther I've gotten after just a couple hours of stitching.

Uncle Wes was gone for the weekend to go on his annual camping and Kayak trip, so I had the house to myself and slept and stitched the weekend away. I did go out Saturday night, though, to see Mom and Dad. They were down here because Dad was playing music at the Mayo American Legion for a fundraiser.

Dad's brother and his family were there as well because James was playing drums. Apparently this was a last-minute thrown-together band, and unfortunately you could hear it. The guitar and keyboard players were just not in sync with Dad (playing bass) and James; they were just too busy trying to show off. I used Kasey and Chet as an excuse to leave early just to avoid abusing my ears any longer. But I didn't fib! I really did need to get home to feed them! It was 9:00 and their dinner time is 8:00 sharp! I spent the remainder of the evening stitching and watching tv.