Stitching, TUSAL and wearing the green

St. Patrick's Day has always been a big day at my house. Parades and corned beef. Soda Bread and wearing of the green. The Irish tenors and Bing singing Too-ra-loora Loora. So I can't let this one be any different. Since I have to work on Thursday I made my corned beef and cabbage dinner yesterday. And I can't wait to make my homemade has with the leftover. I'll be wearing my green of course but I had Rory wear his a bit early. I know he would never keep it on without me and the treats right there. So here are a few more photos of Rory all decked out for St. Patrick's Day.

The weekend was one of the many local St. Patrick's day parades. And since the sun was shining and it wasn't too cold I thought it would be great fun to go to the parade with Rory. Let me say he has a blast! Besides meeting my nieces and my great-nephew (Rory's best bud.) Rory got so many pets and hugs. The parade was packed. And in many places along the route it was ten people deep! We found a nice sunny spot that wasn't too crowded to watch and everyone had a great time.

Pictured above is my netry for the March TUSAL. (totally useless stitch-a-long) I did take the photo onMarch 4th. But forgot to post it in my last entry. Better late than never.

My neice asked me to stitch a baby sampler for little Alexander. Actually she first told me she thought I would stitch something for the baby shower! Who knew? So I let her pick out the sampler. We looked over a bunch and this is the one we both loved. Only problem is the designer only charted it for a girl so I will have to sit and change it to It's a Boy. That shouldn't be too difficult. I love the fabric (a light blue) and am using three different blues for the floss. It is stitching up pretty quickly. Isn't that little foot cute?

I also stitched on an exchange project only to be two thirds finished and realize that I have completely measured wrong and won't have enough fabric. UGH! Now to start all over again on that one.

My finish from the past week. This is called Girls Best Friend from the Stitcherhood. The patterns calls for the dog to be stitched in black but, hey, I have a red dog so red it is.

I'm not sure how I'll finish it yet. I also don't know why the color is off in my photos. Weird.

Rory and I wish you all a Blessed and Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Until next time.............

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

And the winners are.....................

So many wonderful comments from so many wonderful people. I have been overwhelmed by all the lovely and caring words that have been left on my last few posts. Stitching bloggers (and commenters!) ROCK!! I love you all. You make my day and brighten my world. I have to tell you all that you really make a difference in my life. Occasionaly in the evening I will get a little lonely and maybe just a little blue. But all I have to do is come to my blog and read the comments that are left here and a smile starts that will chase those blues away. I thank you all so very much.

Giveaway winners. I only wish I could send something to you all! These giveaways, in honor of Rory's second Birthday, introduced Rory and I to a number of wonderful new canine friends. Sounds like we will have to do this kind of giveaway more often.

Okay enough gab. On to the winners.

For the stitchy giveaway. Most items are doggie related, patterns, fabrics and buttons. The winner is: Edgar of Blacksheep's Bit of the Web.

Here is a photo of what he will be getting.

Now for the doggie giveaway. Toys, treat, and a few other doggie related items. The winner is:

CalamityJr, actually her pup Woody is the winner. :) I didn't find a blog for CalamityJr so I am asking her to send me a photo if possible of her furbaby to psot here on my blog.

Congratulations winners. As soon as I hear from you I will have your winnings in the mail. Again I am sorry I couldn't pick you all. So I guess that means I'll have to have more giveaways.

There is much more news from the past week so stay tuned for another post and more fun stuff.

Until next time.............

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

Birthdays and a winner!

This past weekend was restful and fun. I also had an unexpected three day weekend which made it better. I got up at my usual 4:40 am. (Yeah, I know the butt crack of dawn or, like I told my little nephew, at o' dark o'clock. He thought that was hysterical. But then he is only 6 yrs old.) Did all my normal work day things. Played with Rory and let him run a bit. At 6:30 I go to the car to drive to the train and back out of the drive. I drive about 20 feet and think that, gee, the car feels odd. Get out and look. Another flat tire! It seems like I have had more flats in this past year than I have in thirty! By the time I call AAA and they come. Go to the tire store who put on that very tire four months ago and then get a train it would be late afternoon before I got to work. So I just stayed home. Made Rory's day.

Since Saturday was Rory's actual Birthday I gave him one of the two doggie birthday cookies that I had bought him. Sunday would be his birthday party. Two of my nieces and my 6 yr old great nephew came to have cupcakes and ice cream with Rory. Well, really it was Devin who was all excited about coming to Rory's party. Devin and Rory had a blast together. I am still amazed at how wonderful Rory is with Devin. Again, remember, I don't have small children around all the time. So watching Rory run and play with Devin and never jumping up or knocking him down, even by accident, just makes me choke up. You see that is how my old girl, Kara, the first dog of my heart, was with children.

Rory and Devin running races together. Rory kept winning.

Then Devin tried to read Rory a story.

Rory loved his giant birthday cookie. And loved the ice cream more. Now some of you may be wondering about the fabric around his neck. You see show dogs, like Rory, who have long ears need to protect that lovely hair when they eat. Especially since Rory tends to be a bit of a slob. The fabric is called a snood and are easy to make. I decided to make him one just for his birthday. I already have more fabric so I'm sure to be making more. Hmmmmmmm, one for every holiday? Just like his photo collection. What do you think?

Now for a little stitching news. Very little. Even with the nice long weekend I seemed to be so tired and just picking up the needle made me yawn. I did get some more stitched on an upcoming exchange and managed to start the baby sampler my niece picked out for little Alex. No photos yet. Also, back in January it was one of my sister's birthdays. I had stitched her something but it seemed to take forever to finally finish it. Well I did that last week and got it off to her. I think it came out cute. She likes it and has it sitting with the one I made her for Christmas. (I never got a photo of it and she just sent it to me over the weekend. ) That's it for stitching news.

For Christmas: CCNs Home is where your flowers grow.

For my sister's birthday: LK's Sisters Now the moment you have all been waiting for.........................

The winner of my "Thank you" giveaway. A $25 gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane.

And the winner is............................

Gracie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gracie's blog is called Needles, pins, and dragonflies. Congratulations Gracie. Do let us know what wonderful stash you get with your gc. I only regret that I am not independently wealthy so I could give each and every one of you a gift certificate. While I love doing giveaways I so hate disappointing people.

Speaking of not disappointing..... Don't forget that I am (or Rory is) drawing names for two more giveaways this coming Saturday, March 12th. Winnners will be announced on Monday. See the previous post for details or to enter. Or just click HERE.

I will leave you with a sneak peak of Rory's St. Patrick's Day photos. I am hoping the weather cooperates for this coming weekend so we can go to the local parade. Should be lots of fun.

Until next time.........................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

PS. Just as I was finishing this post up I received a phone call from my dear, dear friend and BFF, Deborah. Many of my readers know Deborah, from both yahoo stitching groups and her blog, and know about her husband's recent ill health. Deborah's beloved Max passed away this morning and is now at peace with the Lord. Deborah is devastated and will need the support of her stitching friends in the coming weeks. If you can find a moment please send a prayer that she can find the strenghth to get through the next few days. For her blog, click here.

Beginnings, Endings and Giveaway fun

The past week or so has just flown by. Filled with beginnings and endings. Work and play. Visits and somewhere in there I managed to finished a stitching project, mail out and receive an exchange and get my laundry done! I think I did get some sleep but I don't remember that.

To start off my niece gave birth to her first child. A baby boy who is simply adorable. Alexander William. (Don't you just love that name. A fabulous combination of his parents. Sandra, the feminine of Alexander, and William.) I couldn't resist including a couple of photos of my newest great nephew. Oh, and I just heard that another niece is also having a boy this year. Her baby is due in July. That will make great nephew number 5. Oh my, but the Christmas gift list is getting longer.

My Aunt Eleanor (on the left) and my Mom. Fifty years apart. Aunt Eleanor's wedding photo, 1947, and Christmas 1997

Two days after baby Alex was born my family lost our Aunt. Aunt Eleanor was my Mom's older sister. I received this news while I was visiting the newest family member. And the next few days were spent cleaning house for company who came to attend the wake and funeral. We all took comfort that Aunt Eleanor was now at peace and in a better place. And that she was with her other sisters who had gone on before her. The Murray girls are together again.

The Murray Sisters,

Eleanor, Muriel, Pat and Viola

My Aunt was not only a wonderful lady but one of the women in my life who encouraged crafts. (My Mom was not a crafty type.) She too was once a cross stitcher. And I well remember her trying to teach me to crochet and knit. I did try both and only ever finished one crochet project. An afghan that took 5 years and was so bad I gave it to my dog to sleep on! Those two needle arts didn't last with me once I found cross stitch. While cleaning last weekend I found two pieces my Aunt had stitched for my Mom. Aren't they sweet? (I am giving one of my sisters the "Sisters are Love" piece. I know she will appreciate it.)

I did get some stitching in this past week. I finished a Lizzie Kate piece, "Bless Our Home."

And I received my HoE stitch red for your heart exchange. Deanne stitched me the prettiest pin pillow. The photo really doesn't show you how lovely and sparkly the fabric is. She also sent me a few extras. She didn't have to but I love them. Especially the cute buttons!

Next the reindeer themed ornament that I stitched for that HoE exchange arrived at its new home. Gwen was kind enough to let me use her photo since, silly me, I forgot to take one before I mailed it. It is a Sampler Girl free pattern. And instead of putting Christmas Eve on it I stitched Gwen's initials and the year. I love the way it turned out and may have to stitch this one again.

Are you still here? Good. Now it's time for the Rory part of this update. No shows but Rory is still keeping busy and provided me with hours of joy and laughter. He also learned a new trick since my last post. I mentioned earlier that company came to stay with me for my Aunt's wake and funeral right? Well, my dear sweet brother, Tim, taught Rory how to sit in a chair at the kitchen table. Okay, so Rory already knew how since he would use the chair to get on the table and steal Rosies food when she was alive. But I never ever encouraged it. And usually had the chairs blocked. Now whenever I get up from the table Rory jumps on the chair and sits there.

I decided to put this new trick to good use and did a pre-Birthday photo shoot so he will be all ready for this Saturday, March 5th, his second Birthday. I can't believe he will be two already. Wow, it has been a fun time watching him grow.

Also this Saturday will be the drawing for my "Thank you Giveaway." A $25 gift certificate for the online LNS, Down Sunshine Lane. You have to comment on the previous post to be included. (Or click HERE and it will take you to the correct post.) A number of you have left me comments (which I love! Thank you.) but did not mention that you want to be included in the giveaway. If you do wish to be in the running than please go back and leave a comment saying so.

Now I would like to offer two more special giveaways. Both are in honor of Rory's second Birthday. That's right TWO giveaways. One will be a stitchy giveaway for dog lovers. Including some doggie fabric, at least two doggie patterns, and various other dog themed items a stitcher can use. The second one is for your dog from Rory. It will include a couple of toys and treats and, well, I haven't figured out what else. But your furry pup should love it.

The rules? 1. You must leave a comment on this post and your MUST be sure to tell me you want to be in the giveaway.

2. You must tell me which giveaway. The Pup one or the Stitchy one. And yes, you can enter both but must leave a comment for each.

3. If you enter the Pup giveaway you need to tell me about your canine furbaby.

4. I must have a way to contact you if your email is not in your profile.

5. That's it. No other hoops to go through. Oh, and international readers are welcome.

The drawing for this giveaway will be Saturday, March 12th. I had hoped to do it earlier but with everything going on I didn't get the chance to post this until today. (I actually started this post yesterday on the 1st but didn't get to finish it!) And the following weekend Rory and I will be at dog shows. So the 12th it is.

Thank you again for all you wonderful comments and I look forward to reading about your four-footed babies.

Until next time................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

PS. Edited 3/2 . Another gift in the Stitchy giveaway will be a copy of A Dog's Purpose:A Novel for Humans by W. Bruce Cameron . A fabulous book that I won in a giveaway and want to pass on. Any dog lover will adore this book!

PSS. edited again to add: IMPORTANT!! You must say which giveaway you are entering. The stitchy one. Or the Doggie one!