the tiny pups

I am still amazed at the size of Misty's 4 little puppies, they are so very tiny and look so delicate.  I know they are not as I watch them behave the way other pups have behaved with climbing over each other and scooting around the bed, and the runt makes sure she gets her fair share at feeding time. Mom is so gentle with her babies and I love the way she will try to hide them from view. She is torn between wanting to be with us and her babies and now and then we will get a 5 second visit from her.  Just to give you a idea on the size of the pups, I have taken photos of them with a pen and quarter.

 Cream colored boy 3.8 ozs

Dark Sable Girl 3.9 ozs

Sable Girl 3.2 ozs

And the little kid of the litter, she weighs 2.4 ozs

new pups

These 4 little tiny creatures are  the reason I didn't make it to bed last night.  The Mom started acting up yesterday and by last night she was in the early stages of labor.  Hubs stayed up with me until 3 am and then he went to bed as we still didn't have any pups... she was working on delivering them but not yet. She is the smallest dog we have and I was so afraid of her delivering, but she did fine.. first one at 4 am, next at 5 am, then 7 am and last one at 9:30 am.. and still I didn't sleep.  I finally got a nap in the afternoon after getting mom and the babies settled.  These are such tiny little kids, they weighed in between 2.4 and 3.7 .ozs 

progress

I have been working on trying to clear out some UFOs from last year... I assemble quilt tops, quilt and finish the quilts. November and December were quite busy for me with the charity work as I finished 12 quilts for a nursing home and 4 for ill children.. There were three left behind, a Monster quilt that another member sewed and sent to me for quilting, the butterfly quilt that we had 36 squares for and a special request for a bird and cross quilt for a lady with MS.  Once the hustle and bustle of the holidays was over it was now time to get back to work and finish these quilts, of course I did take time to make a quilt for Hubs birthday but here is a progress report on the others.

Butterfly quilt is waiting for quilting

Cross and bird quilt is waiting for quilting

I also have a Orange County Chopper quilt ready to be quilted for a young man who has cancer, I haven't gotten to take photos of that one yet.

this is the MONSTER Quilt, which was stitched by Nikki and the top was assembled by Dona who sent it to me to quilt.. I just know some lucky child will be thrilled with this colorful quilt.

The same member who sent me the monster quilt just sent another quilt for quilting it was stitched by WOCS members and the top was assembled by Dona...

I would have gotten more done this week in the quilting department, but I am keeping a watchful eye on my littlest Pom as she is getting ready to become a mom any day now.

Getting ready for Valentines Day

I have been busy these past weeks stitching hearts, making cards and sachets which will all be going to the nursing home. My charity group came up with this wonderful idea to send a little love to our seniors. The members started stitching all kinds of little hearts that would be made in to beautiful cards by myself, and two other of our finishers.. Some of our members not only stitched hearts but they made the cards which was a really big help.. Here are a few of the cards I made with the hearts our members stitched..

These are the strawberry shaped, lavender filled sachets that will be given with the cards.  The seniors love the smelly good stuff, and these smell really good.

and last is a update on my New Year's Day Start.  I have finished the first house in my Welcome sampler.  I don't get much time to work on my stitching as lately I have been busy with other projects. My goal is to finish my Welcome Sampler this year and it might just take the entire year.

bad day with Mortage Investors Corporation appt.

Hubs is getting ready to retire this year and he thought he might want to remortgage the house to lower payments... Well, we had a company call, ask for him and they said they were VA and wanted to look into reducing payments with a refinance.  So he made a appointment today at noon..  He searched for the house documents, and we were ready... WELL, at 10 am there was a knock on the door, it was the guy from this company, not a VA company but Mortgage Investors Corporation. The guy knew he was early but his other appointment cancelled.. OK, now Hubs works night and he was still in bed, so I went to get him up. The man came in and started his presentation.. I really hate those canned presentations from these companies... they have this notebook that folds for display and they have to read word for word what is on the page, give me a break, I can read and I really don't need anyone reading to me.. so I ask if he could get down to the business at hand as I could read. He did and the numbers looked good, real good, the closing costs weren't that bad, BUT I am also sceptical of these type companies and I ask Hubs if he wanted to do the application or if he wanted to wait a week so I could do some research.. Guess what, that ticked off the salesman, and I will call him a salesman's as he was in a big hurry to close the deal.  NOT ME, I want to research the company and check BBB as well.  The salesman got really huffy, he reminded me of those salesman who try to sell time shares, you listen to the presentation and if you don't sign on the dotted line they turn nasty.. but they do work on commission, so I guess our salesman did to, even though he denied it. He said he was salary, which was another flag... I was told he couldn't come back he was to busy, now they called Tuesday for a Thursday appt... real busy... I was told they couldn't give the low rate unless we signed today, no pressure here at all *right*... The red flags kept flying all over the place, can't come back, can't give the rate unless signed today, Then he said Why did you wait 14 years to refinance... I mean this guy was nasty, rude, and just over the top trying to make his sale, but you won't make a sale with pissing me off.  So he had to call his supervisor, even though his card said regional manager... That man wanted to talk to me and he did and I told him I did not appreciate a rude salesman in my house.. I would look into the program and if it was what we needed we would get back to them.. I don't jump into things blindly. I mean I was just about at the point I was ready to kick the guy out.  After the salesman left, I checked out Mortgage Investors Corp. online and all I found was bad things about them. I found a site with so many complaints like how they are rude and nasty and don't take no for a answer, they will do a bait and switch, they keep finding new costs that must be paid before the loan goes through,  they don't close on time, they sell the loan after they get it. I also went to BBB and they have 400 plus complaints against them... good thing we didn't sign on the dotted line...  But I do wonder what some of these elderly people do when they run into a bad company like this... They get the loan and find out it is worse then what they have and there is nothing they can do... where is the honest businessman these days, the guys that will help you and still make money. This company only caters to vets, They want to contact every Veteran. What a way to treat our men and women who fought to protect and then get guys like this to deal with, a enemy at home..
We had a similar incident last year with a contract representative for AT&T  trying to get us to switch, the gal promised the world and when the installer came out he said that what she ordered isn't what she showed us on paper, see I was again watching as I kept her paperwork on what she was selling. I called her with the problem and her response was to have it installed and she would take care of things afterward, NO way am I going to agree to something different and wait for it to be fixed. Took to AT&T and was told that if I had did what the gal told me to do I would have been stuck as there was no fixing anything, she couldn't offer and back the deal, that gal and that contractor firm is no longer selling for AT&T.
Bottom line, PLEASE be careful... Don't jump into a deal on a salesman's word, don't let them high pressure you into anything.. Stand your ground... check them out,  we have a great information highway and can find out almost any information on a company, the good ones and the bad ones, BE INFORMED and make decisions on what you learn not what they tell you.


 Anyway, looks like we will be on the hunt for the best rate on a refinance.....

Happy Birthday DH

Today is my husbands birthday, but there will be no special events happening today... Poor thing he is currently at the hospital have a scan done on his neck... and tonight he has to work. So no special Birthday Dinner, No Cake with Candles, No gathering of family wishing him well.. 

But  Last night I baked him a Apple Pie, you see he is really not a big cake fan, give him a Lemon Meringue or a Apple Pie and he is Happy..  We will go out this weekend for his birthday dinner, maybe Red Lobster as he has been wanting lobster for some time now and he is supposed to cut out red meat which means NO Steak House.  As for his gift, he got the Blade runner for Christmas, and he has all kinds of power tools, so this year I made him a quilt.. Not the one I had planned but I was running out of time and needed to make one fast. The planned one is a applique and embroidered and there wasn't enough time for that one. I was really running out of time on this one to, as I sewed the quilt top last week and Friday I made the quilt sandwich, took it out to the quilting machine with the intention of quilting in Monday and Tuesday putting on the binding... BUT he was off Monday so the minute he left for work yesterday I headed to the machine, did the quilting, trimmed, added the binding and then proceeded to hand sew the binding down.  By the time I was done it was 9 PM whew I finished with two hours to spare. Which was good as I also baked his pie and managed to get the laundry done as well.  I wrapped the quilt and waited for him to come home, I had things set up in the dinning room and don't you know he never turned that light on, he walked right by things in the dark. I had to tell him to turn on the dinning room light so he could find things.  OK, so he got his gift the day before his birthday, but I knew today was going to be a busy day for him and I was only 1/2 hour early.  He loved it, and the pie was a big hit too.. I'm tired, and now I wait for our littlest Pom to deliver her pups, she is due the 24 but could go anytime... my luck she will decided to deliver late at night


Of all the quilts I have made, this is the first one that has stayed at the house... I have made many quilts for the nursing home, and other charities, I made quilts for the girls, the grand children and new babies in the family, but none for us.  Now there are two quilts for us in the UFO basket waiting to be quilted, so this year I will finish my quilts.

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th

A day most are superstitious of..

But not me,

No Ladders did I walk under

No Black Cats walked in front of me

No Broken Mirrors did I see

So I guess it was a good day indeed

Valentine Cards

My charity (The World of Charity Stitchers) group decided to make Valentines Day Cards for the residents of Century Care Center. We thought the seniors would love to receive a little love note... So our members will be stitching hearts in all colors and they can make the cards or they can send to one of our finishing ladies who will make the card..  This is a very quick project to stitch, I did three hearts as samples in one night.

                                                         My counted cross stitch hearts


and tonight I made the card samples and posted on our charity site.  We are hoping to get 83 cards which is the number of residents and if we get more that would be great as there are always new residents coming in the home... 

Pink Pearl Heart Card

Red Heart Card

Pink Heart Card

Now there isn't a pattern for these hearts, I just made the design as I went.

If you would like to stitch a Valentine Heart or Make a Card for a Senior you can send me a email or reply to this post and I will send you the address to send the hearts or cards.

Also The World of Charity Stitchers blog is having another giveaway. This time you can win  designs for Precious Patterns, there are bib patterns, stuffed animal patterns, purse and little shoe patterns, well lets say there are lots of patterns to choose from.

See, these little stuffies are just precious..

to enter click World of Charity Stitching

Mail Call

This was the grab bag contents

I just love getting packages in the mail and I love winning contests online... I had answered a monthly question on This N That blog and I won a Gift Certificate for $20.00  So I went  shopping..  This n That online quilt store was having a going out of business sale, but at the last minute something happened and they were saved and will continue operating their online store... BUT they were still selling at the sale prices to make way for new items... So the $ 20.00 I won went so much further... I got a Pearl Louise April Showers banner kit, The pattern for October Pumpkin Patch, August Sunny Days, and Mays Home Sweet Home Banners.. Now I also have the December Santa Claus Kit, so it looks like I will be working on Pearl Louise banners for some time this summer.. I also ordered one of the $ 6.50 grab bags as I like collecting FQs for my charity quilts..  I did look for Black and White and White and Black fabrics as I have a wall hanging I want to make for a friend in memory of her father...but you don't have a choice on the grab bags...  If you are in search of a bargain, you might want to check out This n That web site and see if you can get some deals... oh and yes I went over the $ 20.00 but that is OK as I got a great deal on all the goodies... 

Home Sweet Home pattern

Sunny Days Pattern

Pumpkin Patch Pattern

April Showers Kit.

Strange things

The cold is losing its grip on me, guess the cold medications are working... So this weekend we will be taking down the outdoor decorations... Just didn't have it in me last weekend to tackle that chore...

Now I bet you are wondering why the title strange things... I will explain...
 It was New Years Day and I was in the kitchen making our dinner of pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes... As I was making our dinner I couldn't help but remember how many times I stood beside my Nanny or my Mother as they prepared this New Year's Day traditional meal.  I was remembering the love and laughter in their kitchens as we peeled potatoes and remembered the events of that year and what we looked forward to in the new year... I miss those ladies so much, all the ladies I learned from are now gone... As I was remembering those wonderful times and peeling potatoes I stopped and had to do a double take, was this a message from those wonderful ladies, letting me know that while they were no longer with me their love was....

This is what I found....

Thanks Mom, Nanny, Nan, Grammy, Aunt Kit and Aunt Sis... I love you too...

Congratulations are in order for my niece

 who became a mother yesterday to a 7 lb 8 oz baby girl. You saw the frog and dragonfly quilt that I made for her and it was mailed yesterday.   I knew I should have waited to send that box, I just had a feeling she was going to have the baby early. Today I will mail out the Baby Name blanket that I made last night...  I was in such a hurry to get it in the mail that I packed it and got it ready to mail and then realized that I hadn't take any pictures of it.. Sorry, maybe when she gets it she will send me a photo of the little one with her blanket..

I got a cold

I knew it, I really knew I shouldn't have kissed hubby for the New Year... He has a cold and NOW so do I... Of course I know it wasn't from the kiss, it was just from living in the same house and sharing all we have... So today, I am the ache one, with a sore throat, coughing and just feel yucky... So I will take Medicine, Take a Hot Bath, Drink lots of Tea, Go through a bag of Hall's cough drops.. and sit and stitch..  I am working on my New Year's Project the Village Alphabet.. coming along quite nicely... 

Happy New Year 2012

Happy 2012

My project pattern for the New Year

I will be stitching the middle one, Welcome To sign with our last name spelled out with the houses

                           Pork and Saur Kraut to ensure good luck in the coming New Year.

I hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve. We stayed home and watched movies. Hubby seems to be coming down with a cold, he is ache and sneezing and just not himself, so I will stay away from him as I don't want a cold.

Today I will be making a traditional Pa. Dutch New Year's Eve dinner of Pork and Saur Kraut, other then that not much is planned for today. I will once again start my New Year's Tradition of starting a New Counted Cross Stitch.  This year I have chosen to stitch a family name plaque using the Village Alphabet Chart. You just stitch out the letters in your name, each letter is a different house or tree. If your name has double letters each pattern has a second color choice. I think I will stitch this on a hand dyed sky blue background. Last year my first cross stitch of the year was for my charity group, it was a sailboat pattern that went into a quilt for the nursing home. This year I am stitching for my home.

 Tomorrow (Monday) we will watch the Rose Parade and I sure hope they don't change their coverage like they did for  Macy's Thanksgiving parade. That parade was awful to watch as it was more performances then parade 

January 1, 2012

I wrote the above post yesterday and planned on posting it at midnight, but hubs was on the computer playing the new games I bought for him.. We did get to watch a movie last night, missed the ball drop at Times Square. I was busy stitching on Lavender and Laces Enchanted Alphabet hoping to finish, but I didn't get it done in 2011.  So at 6 minutes after midnight, I interrupted Hubs game, kissed him and wished him a Happy New Year... That was our BIG night.

I did hear from Jen as she posted on yesterday's blog and all is fine at her house, but then it always is. Jen has the most calm personality, the house could be falling down around her and she would say ever things OK. It is a good thing that she is so calm as she has 6 children, three of them in their teens. She has been thru the sibling fights, the injuries, the medical problems and has come through it all being her calm self.

I also talked to Mel yesterday and she was home alone, her husband took the kids out shopping. I guess he did it so Mel could have some peace and quiet which was so nice of him... She is feeling miserable trying to fight a nasty cold. She went to the doctor and has antibiotics to fight the cold, she also got a injection but she ended up having a bad reaction to that and she said she is still red from it.  What a way to start the new year.