Kathy's Stitching and other comments

Busy, Busy, Busy

2012-02-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger. I blame it on two things. Facebook, which is so easy to get lost in, and being very busy. Busy stitching, busy working, busy with Rory and just busy with life. That's the story of the last month. Whew. Time for a breather but it sure doesn't look like that is happening any time soon. The first dog shows of the year are this weekend. Than my great nephew's Birthday and party the following weekend. Deadlines are fast approaching at work and another stitching exchange to get finished soon. Oh well, I can't complain about being bored.Since I posted last I have actually had two stitching finishes for me. Both are the pieces I started on Christmas day and new Year's day. I also finished one exchange piece but since I only mailed it today I can't show any pics yet.
My first finish is La D Da's My Sunshine. I just loved stitching this. A quick stitch and one that makes me smile every time I see it. I sing this song to Rory all the time. This chart was generously passed on to me by Kat G of Flopsykitten stitchin'. Thank you so very much for letting me stitch this. And continuing with that spirit I would like to pass it on to another stitcher. Leave a comment and if there are more than one wanting it I will put your names in a hat. Make sure you leave your email so I can contact you.The second finish is Hooked on Dogs. Rather appropriate don't you think? I want to find a couple of Irish setter charms instead of the ones that came with it. So framing this will be a little while.I also started two new pieces.Now for the Rory portion of the posting. Even though we haven't done any showing the past few months we have been keeping busy. Rory was asked to be a model for a local company, Mighty Mite Dog Gear, (click on the company name to see the whole page.) that sells Agility equipment, among other things. He was also asked (by the same woman) to help a little poodle overcome her fear of big dogs and me to play with my camera and help her with that fear. We all spent a couple of afternoons having a grand old time. Little Phoebe, the toy poodle, got so that she kept running up to Rory and teasing him something terrible. And poor Rory couldn't go chasing her. After all she is only 4 pounds and Rory is 74 so we did keep Rory on a leash. He was such a gentleman. Every time she came up to him he would lay down so he didn't scare her.We had our first snow of the winter. One of Rory's favorite things. Catching snowballs! It didn't last but it was fun while it did.And last but not least Rory had to have his Valentine photos taken. He so wants a sweetheart.

Until next time......................Rory and I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

Let the New Year begin!

2012-01-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year one and all. Rory and I wish you all a healthy, happy 2012. A year filled with love and laughter and dreams come true.

I look back on 2011 and even though the year had some sad moments. My Rosie going to the Rainbow Bridge in January. my Mom's sister passing in March and the awful break-in and robbery of my home. 2011 will always be remember by me as the year one of my dreams came true. A dream I had since I was 8 years old. (We won't say exactly how old that dream is!) When I showed Rory to his Championship in July. His huge show wins that began in January. Then again in April, May and finally July. So overall 2011 wasn't a bad year. And now to look forward to what 2012 will bring. Another Rory dream come true? A Best in Show win? We'll see and I will keep this dream alive.

My Christmas stitching this year was pretty busy. Below are some photos of some of it. Silly me I forgot to take pics of the two baby samplers and of the finished setter ornaments. Sigh. The first piece is Lizzie Kate's Life's a Beach. I framed it with a photo of my brother and sister-in-law as a memory piece of our family vacation in June 2011 to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I love how it turned out. The next three are also Lizzie Kate. From her First Christmas pattern. I did three of these. And finally two photos showing the stitching of 6 Irish Setter heads. There were actually 7 that I finished as ornaments for my setter show friends.

Below is a photo from the December sit and stitch at the Lazy Daisy, my LNS. This was our annual Holiday gathering. For those who like to we stitch and ornament for a small grab bag. This is the one I stitched.

Christmas day was quiet. Rory was spoiled rotten of course and we spent a lovely slow morning being lazy while he checked out his new toys. Later in the day I went over to one of my niece's for dessert and gifts. Here is my adorable 10 month old great-nephew. Isn't he just the cutest? I love the way he was posing for the camera. He already has my number. Below that is my three nieces with their brother, who decided he was going to be Santa and spent the day dressed. Everyone had a great time. Especially my nephew, Santa Nick.

The weather between Christmas and New Years was unseasonably warm so I spent a lot of time outside with Rory enjoying it. And of course taking photos. I am having so much fun with my new camera and Rory is such a good model.

Catch me if you can!

One of his favorite new toys from Santa.

A late Christmas present from his "Aunt" Penny. This hat is adorable and will make a fabulous look to his Christmas outfits next year.

I always like to start a new project on Christmas day and another one on New Years. First up is my New Years one. Handblessings, Hooked on Dogs. Rather appropriate don't you think? And the second piece is my Christmas start. My Sunshine by La D Da. I sing this to Rory all the time. A perfect piece for me.

And one more bit of stitching. Here is one I finished during the Christmas break. The Raven also by La D Da.

I have a number of bird feeders in my yard and love watching the birds to see how many different ones come. For a long while now I haven't been feeding the birds. Why? The feral cats in the neighborhood stalk and kill the birds and leave the kills around my yard. Well, I really don't like having to chase Rory to get a bird wing or body part so to lessen those incidents I stopped filling my feeders. Christmas is my exception. I enjoy bringing a little Christmas Cheer to God's creatures as well as family and friends. This year Rory was absolutely intrigued by the birds but more so by the squirrels who also come to the feeders. And one feeder in particular. One I hang in a huge spruce tree and fill with corn just for the squirrels. Rory spent hours one day trying his darndest to jump high enough to reach the feeder where he had seen those squirrels. Of course the whole time Rory was jumping the squirrels were long gone and probably a block away! I laughed so hard I almost didn't get any photos.

I am really looking forward to this weekend. A nice three day weekend and no plans. The house is cleaned and all the Christmas things are put away so I am planning on stitching and stitching and maybe kit up a couple more projects to work on. I hope you all have a wonderful stitched filled weekend too.

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

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

Merry Christmas to all! And stitching too!

2011-12-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

First. I want to thank all of you for the wonderful comments to my blog. Especially the ones about my Rory. I try to thank you as I get each one but sometimes your email address isn't available. But I do love your comment just the same.
Second. I want to say sorry for being such a bad blogger lately. Sigh. Life just seems to fly by and before I know it another week has past. Now here it is almost Christmas and almost the end on another year. My oh my.Stitchers are such warm, kind and generous people. Not only are you all who read my blog dear to my heart but imagine my surprise when a package arrived from an address I didn't recognize. A fellow stitcher and blogger had gifted me with some jewelry to help replace some of what was stolen in the robbery. I can never thank Cindy enough. Such a sweet and generous thing to do and one that I will cherish always. This photo does not do justice to the lovely things she sent me. Thank you Cindy from the bottom of my heart.

Rory even tried to help with my stitching!

For the past month or so I have been stitching like crazy (when Rory lets me) but I can't show you any of it yet. I've stitched 8 ornaments so far and have two more to go by New Year's. I've also stitched two samplers and another piece for one of my brothers. I am never sure who looks at my blog and who doesn't so after Christmas there will be lots of stitchy photos. I am looking forward to Christmas Day and a new start. I have it all kitted up and waiting. What, you ask? I am going to stitch up You are my Sunshine by La D Da. A song I have always sung to my nieces and nephews when they were little and now sing to Rory.

I knew I had a number of things to get done before Christmas so I didn't sign up for any exchanges. I hope to get back to them in the New Year. I only have a few photos of the ones I did in October. Unfortunately the other photos were on the camera that was stolen. Here are some of the pieces I did before the Christmas stitching rush began. Including a finish that I did in October.

HOE Autumn exchange stitched by Edgar

HOE Words of Christmas from Meari

HOE Autumn exchange stitched by me.

I have had a very hard time getting into the spirit of the season this year. Even though it has been three years since my Mom passed I seem to miss her more each Christmas. In her memory I did put up the Christmas village. That was always her favorite part of decorating. I have many photos of her sitting on the floor both putting the village out and showing it to the grandchildren. Here is my version for this year.

Last weekend I finally put up the tree. It's for Rory. Really it is. If you look carefully you'll see that all or almost all the ornaments are dog related. So it is Rory's tree.
Until next time Rory and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with love and laughter. And may the New Year Bless us all with good healthy and many happy times.

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

A Rory story for the holidays

2011-12-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a good little red haired pup named Rory. He wanted so much to be a good boy for his Mommy. On Thanksgiving he helped her cook a turkey with all the trimmings. He nicely sat and said Grace before he quietly waited for his turkey. He didn't beg or whine for more.

The day after this feast he knew Mommy wanted to start getting into the Christmas season by taking those silly photos for her cards. He posed and smiled and was such a very good boy.

Then it was time to go see Santa. This redheaded boy knew just what he wanted to ask Santa for. More toys and lots of yummy bones to chew on. While waiting to see Santa he even made a new friend, Dreamer the mini-horse, who was waiting to have his picture taken too!

Santa was so nice and patient and Rory posed with antlers on and finally with his Santa hat.
The next weekend he went to see Santa again. But this time Rory wasn't as good at posing for the camera. He decided to let Santa rub his belly instead.
That should have been his Mommy's warning. Not 20 minutes after they got home there was a CRASH!!@##$% Uh Oh.

Rory swears he didn't do it. Hmmmmmmmmmm. His Mommy doesn't believe that. She tells him he better behave or she is going to have to talk to Santa again.

The very next day his Mommy is doing some more decorating and Rory just wanted to play. Well, this time he got a little tangled in the garland. But this time his Mommy laughed and made him lay down while she got the Santa hat and the camera.

Rory and I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and are almost ready for Christmas. I know I'm not. But I'm working on it. Now if only a certain four-footed little boy of mine would only let me stitch.

Until next time..........................
Love and stitches
Kathy
and Rory too

Catch up part 2

2011-11-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

In my previous post I told you about my awful September. And was I thankful when that month was over.

Rory's new trick. His idea of giving a hug!

Getting ready for the show

October began with two busy weekends of dog shows. Just what I needed to help put September behind me. Both weekends were wonderful. Getting together with good friends and spending all that quality time with Rory. Rory didn't win but did get one point towards his Grand Championship. (He'll need 25 points for that title.) It had been a couple of months since his last show and the first weekend of shows Rory decided to play games in the ring. Dancing and sitting and just being obnoxious! He was so bad that my local setter friends now call it a Rory when their dogs decide not to behave in the show ring!! Rory and I had a long talk and I had to be rather stern but he was a good boy in the ring the next weekend. I was happy with that. Since Rory is still very young I am not going to enter him in anything until after New Years. I'm giving him a little time to mature and grow coat. Then in late January/early February he should be ready to get back into the show ring. I can't wait.

Ferry Ride Home After the Shows

October also meant Halloween and what would any holiday be without some silly costume photos of Rory? A local pet store held a Howl-o-ween parade and costume contest so of course we had to go. Rory won third prize. Not bad. Of course first would have been better. Just kidding. I had three different costumes this year for Rory. So here are some photos. He is such a good model. :)His Royal Highness -- King Rory!

Sir Rory -- My Knight in Shining Armor

Super Rory--My Hero

This brings us to November. I have been spending my weekends relaxing and stitching and playing with my new camera. And of course taking photos of my favorite subject. As for stitching I did the bulk of my exchange stitching in late September and October. Unfortunately I don't have many photos since I didn't get the new camera until the end of October and most of my stitching photos were on the camera and laptop that was stolen. I promise to take some new stitching photos for my next update. Instead I'll leave you with some of Rory in the fall foliage.
Until next time Rory and I wish each and everyone of you a Happy Thanksgiving filled with good food, love and laughter.

Love and stitches
Kathy
and Licks from Rory too

PS. One other nice thing that happened in October was that a former co-worker interviewed me about my love of my Irish setters for his blog. If you like you can find the article HERE. The article is called Kathy and her Irish Setters. What else?

Catching up - Part One

2011-11-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I last posted hasn't it? For that I apologize. I have a good excuse too. I just didn't have it in me. For a while there I lost my blogging spirit. I miss it. I do and I have started this post many times. It's just that none of the words I wrote sounded right. Well this time I will post right words or not.

So much has happened in the last two months. So much that I am not sure where to begin. So I'll start with where I left off. The last weekend in August was my weekend trip to Rochester, NY, for my nephews wedding. It was beautiful and always a great time visiting with the siblings and family who were able to make it. Unfortunately many couldn't due to Hurricane Irene. And yes, she sure left an impact that was felt by thousands. I ended up staying at my brothers home in Rochester, which only experienced some clouds and wind, for an extra day since many roads back home were flooded or closed. I made it home late on Monday only to find that there was no electricity in my neighborhood. I had a few tree limbs down but thankfully no other damage. Being without power was bad enough. Power was finally restored on Friday! Six days without power. No hot water and no stove (it's electric) and no lights! I managed to get some stitching done during the daylight and found that trying to stitch by candlelight was impossible.

After my Irene mini-vacation it was time to get back to work. September is traditionally a very stressful and busy month for me. I am in the publishing business and the end of September is my closing of the latest edition of the book I work for. Lots of proof reading and updating going on throughout the month. And this stress was only made worse by an event that shook me to my core.

Monday, September 12th, someone (or two) broke into my home while I was at work. They kicked in a screen in my dining room and squeezed right past Rory who was in his crate. They stole my laptop (with ALL my photos!), my digital camera (with an almost full memory card), and 90 percent of my jewelry. That included all the pieces my Mother had bought me over the years, pieces that belonged to my grandmothers and a few that my cousin had recently given me that were my great-grandmothers!!! They dumped my dresser draws scattering my underwear and nightgowns all over. They stole entire jewelry boxes! You see I always considered myself a bit of a tom-boy but when it came to jewelry I was a true girly girl! And I love boxes. All kinds of trinket boxes. All sizes and shapes. Many of those are now gone and they broke many of those they didn't take.Above is a pendant that many of you help me win in the Facebook contest in July. One of the few things the thieves did NOT get because I had left it on the kitchen table after I took this photo and forgot to put it away in one of my jewelry boxes.

I am so very thankful that they didn't hurt Rory. Just snuck right past him. I have also discovered that Rory doesn't make any noise when he is in his crate so I imagine that they didn't even know he was in the house. And of course when they did they could see he was no threat. And before you say it, Yes, I have an alarm system but not the windows. This whole thing has really been devastating for me. The sense of invasion that you feel is sometimes over whelming. It took a while before I could sleep a full night. Now my main worry is every morning when I leave for work. I don't completely relax until after I know Rory's babysitter has been by. He would call if anything were out of place. I know that since he feels so guilty for not noticing the broken window that day.

After fighting with the insurance company for weeks I finally got my settlement. Not nearly enough but enough to get a new laptop and a new camera. I also had to buy a new fridge since that decided to die on me. After Irene it never got cold enough. I guess the week of no power or a surge or something was too much for the 25 year old appliance. Oh well, I now have a nice new one. Mentally I still jump at some noises. Worry when I leave Rory alone. Mourn a piece of jewelry when I put on an outfit and think of the set I would have worn with it. I know life moves on and I'm getting there.

Rory continues to help me through all my down in the dumps moments. It is so hard to keep a frown when you have this silly guy with you. The only effect from the robbery I find is that he wants to be in my lap more than usual. Which means less stitching. (Hard to stitch with a 75 pound lump in you lap. But I wouldn't have it any other way.)

Many of you who are on facebook with me and have seen the Rory photos I post there. Facebook is my addiction. And thank goodness for those Facebook photos because of them I still have some of the ones that were on the stolen camera and laptop.

So that more or less brings us to the end of September and I am going to end part one of catching up right here with a few September "Back to School" Rory photos for you.

A special thank you to those who have sent me emails, you know who you are, asking after Rory and I. I really do appreciate them. It is always heartwarming to know that people miss you.

Next up will be some stitching and October. Then maybe things will almost be back to normal.
Until next time...........

Love and stitches,
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

Mother Nature, a Rory story and some stitching

2011-08-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

A lot of stuff going one so I better get this post done before more happens.

As you saw in the previous post I have been stitching and starting new project and stitching some more. Well it was bound to happen. I have a finish!! Woo0oo Hooooo

Her Majesty was a really fast stitch. I used the recommended thread but don't ask me about the fabric. All I can remember is that it is a 28 ct white. I am terrible about remembering the fabric. Mostly because when I go to my LNS to buy it she rarely has the called for fabric and we usually just find one that works with the colors I have chosen. Then when it is cut I never write down the name or manufacturer. One of these days I have to start doing that.

I also made a lot of progress on Dandy Dreams. With luck and the extra time I might have this one finished by next week. I doubt it but I plan on trying. Here is the progress so far.

I have also been working on three different exchange pieces. The stitching is finished on one and I just need to finish it off and mail it. And also get ready to go visit my brother in Rochester, NY, this weekend for my nephew's wedding (August 27th).

Now this should be an interesting trip to say the least. I am leaving early Friday and it is an 8 hour drive. Rehearsal dinner for the wedding party and out of town guests (including Moi) on Friday night. The wedding and reception on Saturday and leave for home as early as I can on Sunday. Why leave early you ask? Well, Hurricane Irene is expected to grace us with her presence here on the east coast and particularly Long Island, NY, on Sunday. I am hoping and praying that the hurricane arrives AFTER I make it home. I really don't want to be stuck on the road during a hurricane. And of course Rory will be with me. So if you think of it Sunday cross your toes and whisper a prayer and ask Mother Nature nicely to hold back the main part of the storm until I make it home.

Speaking of weather and Mother Nature I hope all those in the area of yesterday's earthquake are safe and damage free. The earthquake that struck Virginia was felt all the way here in NY. It was the strangest feeling I have ever had. I was sitting at my desk at work when I felt myself rocking. I felt odd (hard to explain it even) and thought I was rocking my desk chair involuntarily. Very weird. (You see, I often hum to myself when I concentrate and thought, Oh no, now I am going to start rocking too?!?!) I decided to go out and talk a walk around the block to clear my head. It was when I got back a few minutes later that I heard about the earthquake and realized that it was the quake that made my chair rock not me. I have family in the area of the quake and while one of my cousins had some damage to her home everyone is fine. So there were some worrisome tense moments yesterday.

On a much lighter note I bring you a new Rory Story. Sit back and relax. I hope you enjoy it.

Rory on an August afternoon.

Gee, Mom, I am such a good boy aren't I? See how nicely I pose for the camera.
(A few minutes later)

Okay. I think I have been good long enough. Is Mom looking?
I don't see her.Now which one should I grab first?

I see one I can grab.

Now where did these come from?

But Mom, they fell off the line all by themselves.

Honest, they did.

Here you go Mom. And they only have a few holes in them.

The end.

What a silly boy. How can I ever stay angry when you make me laugh so.

To all who are in the projected path of Hurricane Irene (and I have family from Norfolk, VA, to New York. Many in the Hurricane's path.) May we all stay dry and may our electricity stay on!

Until next time.............
Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

I've been stitching.

2011-08-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Poor Rory. After weeks of hot and humid weather where it was just too hot to go outside to play, we finally had a couple of gorgeous weather days. And then the rain. Rain and more rain. We are both looking forward to the dryer, cooler weather. But since it is either too hot or too wet to play outside with Rory I have been on a stitching roll. More new starts and more progress. I do have one finish to show. The exchange piece that is in it's new home.
On a rainy day like this past Sunday when I'm not in my stitching chair I'm here in the kitchen at the computer. And Rory follows me from room to room. Here is Rory stretched out under the kitchen table. Notice how he has to lay on my foot to make sure I don't try and go any where.
Progress as of Sunday on Winifred Gardner--A Stitcher's Home by Crown & Thistle.

And progress on Dandy Dreams.

Next up are three new starts! I have a severe case of startitis. Does anyone know if there is a cure? In the past week I have started a total of FIVE. (There are two more not pictured which are exchange pieces as well as these three!)

Finishes? Well, none except for this one which was my Seasonal Exchange piece that I sent to Angela. But with luck and lots of stitching time I may have another soon. I hope so because I have a couple more things I want to start.

Don't forget my Kitty giveaway. I have 11 kitty cat kits to give away to one lucky person. No gimmicks. Just leave me a comment on the previous post. Or click HERE to leave a comment. Make sure I can find your email address either on your blog or leave it in your comment.

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

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

A kitty cat giveaway

2011-08-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Do you love cats? Then this post is for you.

While I was doing some stash organizing this weekend I found a bunch of kits that I know I will never stitch. They are all unopened and all have a cat theme. While I don't hate cats I really am more of a dog person. I bought these when my Mom was alive to stitch for her. She was the cat person. I would like these to go to a new home where they might be more appreciated and possibly even stitched.

There are 11 new unopened kits. And you can win all of them. Just leave a comment. You also need to make sure I can find your email or leave it in your comment. I'll draw a name on August 31st.

That's it.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Do you stitch on aida?

2011-08-14T05:38:00.001-07:00

If you do I have something for you. In 2007 I stitched my very first piece on linen. I had been terrified to try it. To me it looked soooooooooo hard. Counting threads and trying to find those tiny holes. Just thinking about it gave me a headaches. But I had seen so many gorgeous stitched pieces on linen I had decided to give it a try.

In January of 2007, while my Mom was recovering from a broken hip and I spent a lot of time sitting with her both in rehab and at home I got the courage to try. Lots of time to stitch. I finally tackled a small project which had come with some beautiful hand dyed fabric. And I learned something wonderful Stitching on linen was fabulous. It wasn't that hard. A challenge but not a terribly difficult one.

From then on more and more of my stitching was done on linen. And less and less on aida.

I am now an official linen snob. I swore I would never become one but I did. The thought of stitching on aida gives me the heebie jeebies. (Just kidding!) Now for the main reason of this post.

I spent part of my weekend organizing (or trying to) my stash. In particular my fabrics. In the closet and cupboard where I keep my finishing things and miscellaneous fabrics I found a ton of aida. I would like to get rid of it.

Some of what I have:

7 round tubes, 15 X 18 inches

2 packages of DMC 20X 30

9 package of DMC 14 X 18

20 square tubes of Charles Craft 15 X 18

31 packages of Charles Craft 12 X 18

6 packages of Silkweaver solos

a large pile of loose pieces of various sizes, counts and colors, some are hand dyed

plus 3 very large pieces that I bought when Joanns Fabrics was discontinuing aida by the yard. I haven't measured the pieces but I know one is 2 or 3 yards!!

I would like to give my aida collection to someone who will be able to use it. This has all been taking up precious stash space for a few years now.

My plan is to fill a large priority postage box to send to those who might like to have some. I have two conditions. One is that I can only send to the US. Sorry but it would be way to expensive to send overseas. And two. Unfortunately money is rather tight right now and there really is a lot of aida and it is going to fill 5 or more boxes I ask that those who would like the aida to pay for the postage. If I could I would pay for the postage but it will add up to more than I can afford at the moment. A large priority box is $14.95. I like to use confirmation and tracking to make sure things arrive and that is another 70 cents. So I am asking for $15 for each package.

If you are at all interested I ask that you email me privately at katkiley at aol.com. (take out the spaces and change at to @) Then I will send you my address to send me the postage amount. Sorry I don't use PayPal. These will be sent to first come, first serve. Thanks.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

As of 2:45 PM EST all the aida is spoken for. Thank you for such a great response. Those who have asked for it have the details. If they have not sent me the postage by August 29, two weeks from today, and I still have aida left I will open it back up.

Another busy week

2011-08-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

Whew. Another busy week gone by. I can't believe it is August already. Though, to tell you the truth, I really wish it were October with cooler temps. I am finding that each summer the heat bothers me more and more. It is official! Rory is now Ch. Beaubriar's Master of Arts! Oh my but that sounds so good to me. I still find it hard to believe but I now have the certificate to prove it.

This past weekend I had a very lovely visit with my niece, her SO, and their 5 month old baby, Alex. Isn't he just too cute for words! I want to kiss those cutie pie cheeks to pieces. Since they came to my house it was Rory's very first up close and personal visit with a baby this small. OMG! He was soooooooo good. He kept reminding me of my setter Kara who has been gone for 18 years! He would not leave the baby's side. My niece and I went outside for a few minutes and took Rory with us and he jumped at the door to go back in. I have to tell you, his behavior just gave me the chills. It was like Kara was back with me. I have been saying this for a while now but it is truer every day. Every dog lover has at least one very special dog in their lives. We call it our heart dog. I am Blessed because I have two. Kara will always be my first heart dog and Rory is most definitely my second.

Then on Sunday Rory and I spent the day at something called and AKC Canine Experience. Different breed clubs had tents set up and answered questions about their dogs. Rory was Irish setter representative. A fun day out in the sunshine with lots of doggie friends.Other highlights of the past week. I like to read a number of doggie blogs as well as stitching blogs. I also love entering giveaways at both. Everyone loves to win things. Right? Well, Rory seems to be a kind of lucky charm.

We won a bath package from All Things Dog Blog. That arrived during the week. The prize was a bath towel, a tote bag, bath sponges and mitts with a paw print motif. Rory also got a neat bandana. Here he is modeling it.

Remember the silly Independence photos I took of Rory in costume? (click HERE to see that post.) Well, I entered a facebook contest on Pet Portraits by Manda with one of them and totally forgot about it! She runs monthly contest and paints water color portraits. And she picked Rory as July's winner!! So Rory is being painted again!

But the best thing for the week is that he/we won second place, with 222 votes/likes, in the facebook contest for the 14k-9 jewelery. A 200 dollar prize is not bad at all. Especially considering that I would never have been able to afford anything they carry nor would I take the money to buy it. Rory needs his treats and fancy food and vitamins and a new beaded leather show lead and toys. Well, you get the picture. To those who voted and asked their family and friends to vote I can never thank you enough. And to those who may have been annoyed (but graciously never said so) by my more than once a day pleas, I'm sure you are glad it's over. Rory may have been second but he is first in my heart. Thank you all who voted and liked his photo.

On to the stitching part of this post. I started another piece and really made some lovely progress on it. I love this pattern and, well, right now in my life it seems so appropriate.

And my July-August entry for TUSAL. Take Sunday, July 31. The jar is filling up fast now that I'm stitching again.

I also received my Summer Exchange from Lucie on the Seasonal exchange blog. She stitched the cutest summer pattern from Lizzie Kate and I love the pom pom finish she did. It is just darling. I finished and mailed my exchange out but no photos until it arrives at its new home.And now for the part of this post that everyone has been waiting for. The winners of my giveaways! I only wish I had won the lottery and could give everyone who entered a gift. Your comments (all 178!! of them) were so wonderful. Thank you each and everyone one of you.

Giveaway 1. my Birthday surprise stash giveaway is: Shar!
(I have no idea why this photo is sideways. It is right before I downloaded it.)Giveaway number 2. The Celebrate Rory's Championship Giveaway. A 30 dollar gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane goes to: Julie!!

And finally. Giveaway number 3. The Thank you for voting in the facebook contest giveaway. And the winner is: Penny I.

I have emailed each of the ladies and as soon as I hear from them their giveaway prizes will be on their way. Congratulations. And again, to all who entered, Thank you.

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

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Champion Rory too

A reminder, a finish and a plea

2011-07-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! 129 comments! Wow that's a lot of comments. And each and everyone of them brought a smile. Thank you all.

For those that don't know or haven't read the previous posting, I am having a giveaway. Actually three! So this is a reminder to go and leave a comment if you want a chance to win one of them. There is still time. The deadline is this Saturday and the winner will be notified on Monday, August 1. You must leave the comment on the original giveaway p ost.

The reminder part of this post. Just to recap:
Giveaway one is in celebration of my birthday. I was so busy in June that I never had the chance to celebrate with you all so it is a belated Birthday present from me. A surprise stash giveaway. At least four patterns. Some fabric. Some overdyed floss and a few other goodies. Let's just leave it at that because who knows what I'll put in the pile.

Giveaway two. I want to share my happiness of achieving Rory's Championship, a long held dream, with you all. The photo at the head of this post is the official New Champion photo from the show! What better way to share that special moment with you all than with a giveaway. A 30 dollar gift certificate to one of my favorite ONS, Down Sunshine L ane.

And last but not least, Giveaway three. This will also be a 30 dollar gift certificate. But the winner will be taken from the list of those facebook users who go and vote for Rory's photo in the contest. This will be one way for me to say "Thank you" and, oh okay, it's a bribe. No really I am thankful to all those who continue to leave me comments here and on facebook. So that you get credit make sure you mention that you voted on Rory's face book photo in your comment here.

(This is the contest photo)

What facebook photo you ask? Again the details are on the previous post. (click HERE) But to sum up. I have entered one of Rory's photos in a Facebook contest. Many of you have already voted (liked his photo) and I thank you from the bottom of my heart but Rory is still in third place. He needs more votes/likes! If you can help him (and me) win by asking your friends, husband, children, Heck, even strangers on the street to vote I would be so grateful. If you can get more to vote please make sure to leave a comment on the previous giveaway post. Each vote counts as another chance to win the giveaway.

Now that the important business is over on to what else has been happening this past week. Like everyone else it has been hot, hot, and hotter. Add the humidity into the mix and I have not felt like moving. Even Rory went out and did what was necessary and came right back to the door to come in. We had a little excitement the weekend before last which gave me an extra day off this past week. My basement has fluorescent lights. Well, earlier Sunday morning one (or more, who knows) of the ballast went. With a huge cloud of smoke and a stench so bad it stunk for hours. I ended up getting the fire department to come and check for possible hot wires. They did. There weren't. But they turned off the circuits for the electric in the basement. Which also turned off the hot water heater! It took a few days of washing my hair in cold water before I could get an electrician to come and replace the lights in the basement. So Thursday I stayed home for that job. Since it was hotter than heck Rory and I both stayed in with the fans blowing to find relief. For me it was cold drinks and lots of stitching time. Including two new starts.

Friday was time for Rory to go and get his hip x-rays done. (more on that in last weeks post) That was pretty much an all day thing. But I was a nervous wreck. It was the first time I had left him anywhere for any length of time. His crying when I left the vets office was heart breaking. I decided I needed to keep busy so first I went grocery shopping. Took that home and put it away. Then a trip to Joann's Fabrics to pick up a few things for the giveway. Then I got my hair trimmed and my very first ever pedicure! Oh, was that nice. And for the first time my toes actually look nice! And since they weren't too busy I got a matching manicure too! Next stop was the library to take out some dvd's to watch over the long hot weekend. And finally it was time to bring Rory home. He was fine. A little tired from the anesthetic but otherwise fine.

Even though it was 100 degrees on Friday I had kept busy enough that I managed. Saturday was more of the same weather wise. A perfect day to try and stay as cool as possible and not leave the house. So I put in the dvd's and stitched away. I finished one of my upcoming exchange pieces and a small piece for myself. The one I have been waiting to do and that brought back my stitching mojo. I think it turned out too cute. I want to frame it side by side with one of the photos from out trip to the beach. I haven't quite decided which photo yet but one of these two.

After I get mine framed up I want to stitch this one a few more times. Christmas gifts for a few members of the family.

I leave you with a few photos of, who else, Rory keeping cool on a lazy hot Sunday afternoon. And a butterfly I found floating among the Tiger Lilies Sunday afternoon.

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

The Plea: Get anyone you know who is on facebook and tell them to Like 14k-9, Designers of Quality Gold & Silver Dog Breed & Designer Jewelry . Then to go to Rory's photo and Like his photo! Go Rory! If you do get someone else to vote please email me at katkiley@aol.com and let me know their name so you will get another chance in the giveaway.

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Champion Rory too

A finish, a favor and a celebration giveaway!! (or two)

2011-07-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

The finish. Actually I have had two finishes in the past two weeks but I can only show one right now. The second hasn't reached it's new home yet. And I have two almost finished that will be done by the next post and those I can show you then. My needles are making up for lost time.
The stitching that was shown in my last post was NOT stitched by me. That was the exchange I received from Melissa. I'm sorry if a number of you misread my posting or I wasn't clear. Melissa stitched that piece and beautifully too. Now the one pictured above IS the one I stitched for the exchange. This is Summer from the Lizzie Kate Banner series. My partner was Laura RS and she said she liked it. I think it turned out darling. I really need to get the rest of this series and do them all!

The favor.
And this is a really big favor to me. I hope that if you are a follower here on my blog and are also on face book that you can spare a minute or two to a fellow stitcher. If you aren't on face book than skip this. If you are please read on. You don't need to friend me on face book but I would ask that you "Like" the following page: 14k-9, Designers of Quality Gold & Silver Dog Breed & Designer Jewelry (Click on the name and click on Like) You can always block their posts or delete them later. Then go to Rory's photo and click Like under his photo. (Click HERE to go directly to the photo) They are holding a photo contest and the winning prize is something I would love to win. I could never afford to buy their jewelery and would love something to celebrate Rory's Championship. Oh, here is the photo to look for if you don't follow the above link.
Speaking of celebrations. How about a giveaway? Or two. Or three. That's right three in total.

Giveaway one is in celebration of my birthday. I was so busy in June that I never had the chance to celebrate with you all so it is a belated Birthday present from me. A surprise stash giveaway. At least four patterns. Some fabric. Some overdyed floss and a few other goodies. Let's just leave it at that because who knows what I'll put in the pile.

Giveaway two. I want to share my happiness of achieving Rory's Championship, a long held dream, with you all. The photo at the head of this post is the official New Champion photo from the show! What better way to share that special moment with you all than with a giveaway. A 30 dollar gift certificate to one of my favorite ONS, Down Sunshine Lane.

And last but not least, Giveaway three. This will also be a 30 dollar gift certificate. But the winner will be taken from the list of those face book users who go and vote for Rory's photo in the contest. This will be one way for me to say "Thank you" and, oh okay, it's a bribe. No really I am thankful to all those who continue to leave me comments here and on face book. So that you get credit make sure you mention that you voted on Rory's face book photo in your comment here.

To sum it up.
Giveaway One: Happy birthday from me surprise stash package.
Giveaway Two: Celebrating Champion Rory is a 30 gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane
Giveaway Three: Thank you for voting for Rory's photo is a 30 gift certificate also to Down Sunshine Lane.

Rules for the giveaways? Only that you leave a comment as to which giveaway you want to be entered in. And yes you can enter all three. (But make sure you tell me you voted if you enter giveaway three.) Just leave a separate comment for each giveaway. And the most important rule of all is that I can find your email address to notify you.

I will announce the winners of all three giveaways on August 1st. The deadline to leave a comment will be July 30th. Rory will draw the winner on the 31st.

Good luck.And thank you to all you commented to my previous post. Your comments mean so much to me. And just saying Thank you doesn't seem like enough. But I'll start tearing up and won't be able to type if I continue. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Until next time.........
Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Champion Rory too

PS. To those who are already on Facebook and have voted/liked Rory's photo for the contest please leave a comment so I can include you in the Thank You giveaway.

Stitching, exchanges and a Championship

2011-07-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

I'm floating on air. I'm tickled to pieces. I am still pinching myself to make sure I'm awake. Why you ask? This past Friday was an important dog show. The Western New York Irish Setter Club specialty. There were 18 class dogs entered making it a 4 point major to the Winners dog. This was the first time I had entered Rory in the "big boy" class, also known as the open class. The judge shocked me and gave him first in the class of four. (Rory was the youngest.) Then we moved on to the next level which is all the winners of the other classes. The winner of that level gets the points toward their Championship. We do our run around the ring and the judge steps in front of me and says, "Would you like to be Winners?" Of course I am stunned and mumble something like "Uh, Yes?"

And that was it! Rory WON!! This was the win he needed. His first and last time in the big boy class. He is now Champion Beaubriar's Master of Arts. Aka, Champion Rory!!!!! WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Many years ago as a little girl I read a book titled, Champion Dog:Prince Tom, about a cocker spaniel show dog. I fell in love with the idea of owning and showing a dog. Many books and years later I bought a beautiful Irish Setter named Kara. This was thirty years ago and I learned a lot with Kara. I learned about grooming and showing. She hated the show dog life and didn't do well but the experience only whetted my appetite for more. Time and life moves on. Then Maggie came into my life. Unfortunately she had health issues that prevented her from fulfilling my show dog dreams. And other life issues came up the prevented the dog show dream from happening.

Then came Rory. He has and continues to be a joy. And best of all he has made my dreams come true! My very first Champion! And the best part, even the surprising part, is that I have shown him. I have groomed him. Me. Thirty pounds or so over-weight. No longer a spring chicken. With lousy arthritic knees and hands that can no longer make a fist! I DID IT!! Oh, okay Rory helped. Seriously, showing a dog is team work. The handler can make the dog look good or bad. For a while I did think that I would have to hire a handler to show Rory but I so wanted to do it myself. AND I DID!

Now we take a break for a couple of months. Rory will get his hips x-rayed and checked. (Many large breed dogs can suffer from something called hip dysplaysia. Before we even think of breeding we need to make sure Rory's hips are good.) Then Rory and I will continue to show and work on his Grand Championship title. Another step closer to being able to enter the Westminster at Madison Square Garden someday. In the meanwhile we will rest for the summer and let Rory grow more coat and mature some more. And just be my silly baby boy.

Oh yes, before I forget. Rory also won a photo contest on facebook. An organization called Pets for Patriots sponsored a 4th of July photo contest. Of course I had to dress Rory up and submit a photo. thanks to Rory's many facebook friends he tied for first place. I love entering him in these silly contests. Win or lose they are always fun. Here are some of the photos I took to celebrate Independence day.

Now on to some stitching. My mojo is returning. And I owe it all to a dear stitching friend, Cynthia. I originally met her through a yahoo stitching group. Only to discover that she grew up about 5 miles from where I live. She moved away from the area but does come to visit family on occasions. Well, long story short. She was visiting family a couple of weeks ago and stopped for a visit to meet Rory and chat. Of course we were discussing stitching and I mentioned that I really wanted the new Lizzie Kate, Life's a Beach. You know when you must have a certain pattern and you can't really stitch anything else until you get it? Well that was happening to me. A few days later was the July 4th weekend. My local LNS, Lazy Daisy, was having a sale and I thought I would check to see if that LK pattern had come in. It had. And not only that but Cynthia had bought it for me! Along with a skein of Crescent Colors that she couldn't resist called Frogs Legs. Thank you Cynthia. You are the best. My mojo is back. Oh and I had to pick up a few other things that were on sale too.

Cynthia and Rory

Once I had that pattern in my hot little hands I started stitching like a mad woman. Not that new LK but something else entirely!! But that's okay at least I'm stitching and this piece was for the exchange that needed to be done. I finished the piece in three days. Now to finish up another exchange piece and then I can work on my new Lizzie Kate.

Speaking of Lizzie Kate. I am part of the Lizzie Kate exchange blog and received my Round C exchange from Melissa. It is a darling pin pillow. Thank you Melissa it is just adorable. I finished and sent out my part of the exchange but no photos until it reaches its new home.

I only have a couple of photos from the fabulous show weekend (the ones at the beginning of this post.) but hope to have more soon. When they are emailed to me I will be sure to post them. As well as a celebration giveaway. Soon. I promise.

And before I forget again here are my TUSAL entries for June and July. June on the left and July on the right.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and Licks from Champion Rory too.

Mostly Rory

2011-06-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. Time is flying by.

First it was my birthday on June 1. A quiet day since I had to work but I did celebrate with my favorite sweet treat. I am not a big fan of cake but there is a bakery near me that makes this outrageous chocolate cake with a raspberry filling and covered in a semi-hard dark chocolate. Along it is divine but top it with chocolate ice cream and you've got chocolate heaven.

Then on my Birthday I got the nicest gift. Well, not really a gift but something I had been waiting for since January. Some of you may remember when I entered Rory in a photo contest on a local pet website. With your help he won and the prize was a custom portrait. It took a while but the artist finally let me know it was finished. Well, almost. It seemed she didn't think the color of Rory's coat was correct in the photos I sent so she painted him a very light organge-ish color. Well, I brought Rory along when I picked up the painting and she was a little upset that she was so off on his color. She is taking the painting back later this summer and will correct the color. I think she did a lovely job capturing Rory's head and can't wait until it is complete. In the meantime here it is so far.

A couple of days later Rory and I were on our way to Massachusetts for a weekend of dog shows. We stayed with a dear friend and Rory had a great time playing with his setter friends. He didn't win at these shows but we both had fun anyway.

Next up was a weekend of cleaning, laundry and planning because a few days later Rory and I were heading to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week at the ocean with about 35 other family members. (I have 8 siblings, their spouses, 17 nieces and nephews and their spouses, fiances and SO's. Add to that the next generation-4 great nephews and 3 great-nieces!) Not the whole family but a pretty sizable noisy bunch. The weather was beautiful. And Rory had a fantastic time. All that attention. All those hugs and pats. From the littlest to the grown-ups. We had long walks and romps in the surf. Collecting shells and watching kites and pelicans. No stitching but lots of sun and sand.

Speaking of stitching. I haven't really done any. I did start a couple of things but haven't made all that much progress. I have two exchanges I must get done so I am hoping to spend most of the upcoming July 4th weekend stitching. Well, I kind of have to since one of the exchanges needs to be in the mail by the 5th. My stitching mojo seems to have flown the coop. I do miss it but can't seem to find the urge to pick up the needle. Anyone have any ideas on how to jump start my stitching mojo again?

I am overdue with a giveaway. Especially since I like to do one for my Birthday. Well, that has come and gone so I will have to think up another idea. I will too as soon as the weekend of July 8 to 10th is over. That will be the next dog show weekend and probably the last one until October. So keep your eye out for giveaway goodness soon. Just as soon as I get inspired again.

I hope I haven't bored you too much with all the photos and non-stitchy happenings. With luck I'll have something stitchy to share next time. And with even more luck some good news from the next weekend of shows with Rory.
Until next time.......................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

PS. I tried to post this yesterday but for some strange reason blogger wouln't let me publish.

Winners and weekends and Whew.

2011-05-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Above: official winners photo from Easter weekend

I really thought that after my work deadline was over I would have time to relax, stitch and breathe. Nope. It has been another busy few weeks. Rory and I have been traveling and dog showing three weekends in a row. And we have three more weekends coming up. They are tiring. Both physically and mentally but, oh, so much fun! More on that later.

On to the stitching portion of this post. I had participated in a couple of exchanges that wrapped up in May. I showed you one in the last post. I also took part in a Lizzie Kate exchange and the Seasonal exchange. Both of the pieces I received are fabulous. But my favorite just has to be the one I received from Jill in the Lizzie Kate exchange. She stitched me the perfect piece. The LK design "I love my dog."

For the Lizzie Kate round B exchange on I stitched a pattern from Lizzie Kate's Spring crazy and finished it as a needleroll.

I stitched this small design from Prairie Schooler for Brenda for the Spring Seasonal exchange.

And this is what she stitched for me.

Rory at the Irish Setter Club of Central Connecticut Specialty

The biggest and best news is that my silly boy, Rory, is two points closer to his championship! The weekend of the 14th found us in Bucks County, PA, where Rory went Reserve. (Second place of all the boy Irish setters entered.) On to Trenton, NJ, where the judge didn't like him but it was still good experience. The next weekend we went to Connecticut for a specialty show (all Irish setters) in the pouring rain. Fun it was not! At least for me. Rory doesn't care and loves the rain. Again Rory wasn't this judges cuppa. A ferry ride home was Rory's reward for trying hard. Once home Rory made sure he had his version of fun in the rain and mud. After these photos you can see why I am amazed at how handsome he looks all cleaned up.

This past weekend was the busiest of all with three shows, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now the past few months Rory has been a bit of a brat in the ring. Probably one reason too that he wasn't winning. He had been dancing and moving his feet to look wrong instead of standing nice and still in a perfect stack. Prior to February we hadn't had this problem and I have been working with him at home to get him back to stacking. Well this weekend he finally got it right. Friday he won first place, Winners dog and Best of winners. No point though since he was the only male dog enter in the classes. Saturday Rory and I again went Winners dog and Best of Winners. This time he won one point. Making his point total 11. (He needs 15 to finish his Championship.) Rory: Best of Winners, Sat. May 21st

And then came Sunday. Yesterday. The day started out fine. Got up and ready to leave the house. A gray, damp and dreary looking day weather wise. But I made sure I had my extra sneaker to run in. Got Rory's collar on him and he was dancing and jumping and so excited to be going. Get out to the car and the doors won't unlock. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Then I notice that one of the doors isn't quite closed. Yup, you guessed it. The car won't start. The battery is dead. So back in the house we go. Rory is not happy about this. But I calm him down and call AAA. Thank goodness I am always ready to leave for a show extra early. Triple A shows up and gets the car going. We made it to the show grounds an hour later than I had planned but still in plenty of time to get Rory ready.

Now even though I have been stressing a bit all morning Rory looked great. The judge thought so too. The judge, a Mr. Geoffrey Kill from Australia, liked Rory so much that he picked him for the Best of Breed!!! And that meant Rory was the Best Irish setter at this show. Over other Irish that are mature champions. Talk about being in shock! I am still wondering if I dreamed it. Heck, when the judge pointed to me I must have looked truly puzzled and I didn't have a clue until one of the others (the one who went Best of Opposite sex) had to tell me "You won Breed! Congratulations!" I sputtered and stuttered and muttered, WHAT??? ME?? Then the judge handed me the ribbon and told me what a great looking dog I had. All I could do was mumble Thank you so much. Speechless. That's what I was. Speechless.
The sporting group line up.

Since this was the third show in as many days I was (and still am) a tad tired. I had figured that once we were finished with the classes we would head home early. But not after winning Breed. You see, that means Rory had to go back in the ring for the Sporting group. ( All those dogs that are bird dogs are classified as sporting dogs. The best in that group then goes in with the best of the working, herding, toy, terrier, non-sporting and hounds groups to vie for Best in Show. ) What an honor for Rory and I. To be chosen Best in Breed and try for a placement in the group. I was and still am thrilled to pieces. Now Rory did not win the group. But he made the cut. Meaning he was in the judge's favorite 5 to 8 in the group. There are only four place ribbons but to even be a possible candidate is awesome.

I only hope that Rory continues to win like this. We have shows coming up in Wrentham, MA, at the beginning of June. Followed by one in Norwalk, CT, the next weekend. I'm not sure yet but I think the one after that will be July in Rochester, NY. Anyone living in those areas and wants to watch us run in circles is more than welcome. Rory loves to hear the WOOOOOO WOOOOO of the crowd as we run around the ring.

I am having a blast showing him and he is everything I had hoped for. Showing and winning and doing it myself has been a long, long time dream of mine. One I had never thought would come true. But it is! Next step is for him to win his championship. Then we move on to win more Best of Breeds and with some more maturity he will start winning the group and when the day comes he actually wins Best in Show......... Well, folks, you will hear my scream of surprise and joy throughout blogdom. Then Westminster here we come!!

I'll leave you with one last photo. This is Rory and his sister Terri at the Easter weekend specialty when they both went winners for the 5 points.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Apologies, TUSAL and catching up.

2011-05-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since my last post. I apologize for being away for so long. I also apologize for not commenting on your blogs. The past six weeks or so have been insanely busy, mostly at work, that when I had time to update I was just way too tired to come up with a single sentence that made sense. Late March to the end of April is always a busy time for me at work and this year was busier than usual. And no, I am not an accountant but an editor and the end of April is my first publishing deadline of the year. The next is early October. So I am hoping to catch up on my blog reading soon. Goodness but I missed you all.

So what have I been doing besides work? Not a heck of a lot stitching wise. I did manage to stitch up my three exchange pieces. I can show you one since I know it has arrived at its new home. I used part of a design from one of the Just Cross Stitch ornament issues for my Quaker design ornament exchange on HoE. And I received my Quaker ornament from Suzanne. Isn't it beautiful? I love birds and swans are one of my favorites. This one will look wonderful on my tree this year.
I never updated my TUSAL from April. I did take the photo. But just never updated here. So here is both the April photo and the May photo for the Totally useless Stitch-a-Long.

April on the left and May on the right.

I was lucky enough to be the winner in two giveaways. The first is a pin pillow stitched by Mouse. It is perfect! Since Lily of the Valley, which are just starting to bloom in my yard, is one of my favorite flowers this pin pillow is so pretty and so me.

The second one is from Blu. I won her giveaway back in January and had actually forgotten about it. When this stunning work of art arrived in the mail I just couldn't think who it was from. Until I got an email from Blu asking me if I had gotten it. Apparently the note she included slipped down in one of the pockets and I didn't see it right away. I'm glad that mystery was solved since this is just too beautiful not to show and give the proper credit. Thank you so very much Blu. It is gorgeous. And she included a pin pillow, a pair of scissors, needles, and the most beautiful Christmas color silk. Everything I need to start a Christmas pattern.

Other stitchy news? Not much since my hands have been bothering me a lot. I have arthritis in my hands and every once in a while my fingers hurt terribly. Especially during damp and rainy days or when the knuckles are building the calcium deposits. Since My Mom had bad arthritis in her hands I guess this is just one of the gifts she gave me. I do think that stitching helps to keep my fingers nimble but this past month it has been a chore trying to hold on to the needle. With luck the spring showers will start to clear out and my fingers will start to cooperate.
Rory giving his "dog-father", Greg, a hug. Notice how he looks to see if everyone is watching.

Rory news. Well, that's has been the best part of this past month. We went to visit my niece and her fiance for the Easter weekend down near Baltimore. It was also a dog show weekend. Since my niece lives 10 minutes from the show site we stayed with her. Three days of shows. I was so excited thinking that both my niece and my brother (who lives in Washington, DC, and hour away) would be coming to watch Rory and I run in circles! We did (run in circles) and they did (watch us) too. And I had another visitor come to cheer Rory and me on to possible victory. A

fellow stitcher, Beth and her service dog, Kasey, her blog is Crossed Purposes! How fun to meet a fellow stitcher and blogger face to face after being online friends for a number of years. Even though Rory and I didn't win anything the days we had company watch us it was wonderful seeing family and friends. Spending Easter Sunday at a dog show and part of it with Beth and Kasey was such fun for me. Oh, and they even had services before the show started.

But the best part of that weekend is that Rory and I won FIVE more points toward his championship at the first show of the weekend!!! (Of course it was the show that no one came to watch!) For those that don't know, in order to become and AKC Champion a dog has to win 15 points. (Rory now has 10.) Out of that 15 two wins have to be 3 - 5 points in one show. Those are called majors. (The more dogs entered and you defeat the more points awarded. With a maximum of 5 points.) Well, I never ever thought that I could handle Rory in the ring for one of those majors. With more competition to beat and me being pretty much a beginner. Imagine my surprise and elation and shock when at the Potomac Irish Setter Specialty the judge pointed to me and Rory as the Winners Dog!! At a specialty!!! That meant that Rory beat the other 18 class dogs entered and won the 5 points!! I am still beaming when I stop and think about it. I mean showing a dog is team work between you and the dog. Me! I did it! I really did! Now to win one more major win and my little boy will fulfill another dream of mine by becoming a Champion in title as well as the champion of my heart.

"Wake me when it's time to go"

So many other things happened but nothing as wonderful as that show win. We have more shows lined up over the next three weekends. And the rest of the summer season. I have tons of stitching I want to get to and the gardens need cleaning badly. So much to do and definately not enough time. But I promise not to be away so long.

So until next time..............
Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

"So where are you sleeping?"

Stitching, TUSAL and wearing the green

2011-03-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

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.....................

2011-03-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-03-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

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

2011-03-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

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!

Rory, exchanges, a rak and giveaways

2011-02-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

Pictures, pictures, lots of pictures.

What a busy week it has been. To start Rory and I went to our first shows of the year. Four back to back shows. And one show too many. Rory behaved and performed well the first three days. But the judges weren't in our favor so he came home with a third place in his class all three days. On the fourth day there was hope that he might do better since that judge liked Rory's type. EXCEPT Rory decided he wasn't going to behave and began to jump and dance and sit. Everything but stack as he should. I was ready to brain him! (As you can see from some of the photos he does know how to stack properly!) I guess the judge felt sorry for me because he gave us a second place anyway. Maybe next show...............

Then it was time to get back to normal life. Whatever that is. Of course Rory was so happy to be home again where he can run and run and run. And get as wet and messy (within limits believe me.) as he wants. Photo above he is nicely groomed, clean, bathed and stacking beautifully. Photos below after 20 minutes of running in whats left of the melting snow. What a difference!

I did come home to some wonderful mail. Two of my exchanges had arrived. Both those I sent and those that were sent to me! The ones I received are just gorgeous. Both my partners in the HoE Reindeer ornament exchange and the Lizzie Kate exchange sent me some beautiful pieces.

The Lizzie Kate was stitched and finished by Michele W. The reindeer ornament, a PS design, was stitched by Jayne.

And there is more! I was the winner of Joanie's World snowman winter giveaway. Oh my goodness but she spoiled me rotten. I actually received this right before I left for my long weekend but didn't have time to take photos. Can you see all the wonderful goodies she included? And there is more. She also sent some patterns that I forgot to photograph--a Little House, a BBD (Pink House), a Prairie Schooler and another that I can't remember at the moment. She stitched the cutest pin pillow and didn't forget Rory because there was a bag of treat for him. Ones that he actually likes! And believe me he is such a picky eater so that is hard to do.

The piece I stitched for the Lizzie Kate round A also arrived at its new home so here is a photo of what I sent. As well as my HoE Stitch Red exchange. For that one I stitched a JBW pattern and finished it as a pin pillow. There is one more exchange out so I should be able to show you that one next time.

One other surprise in the mail was the sweetest RAK from one of the sweetest ladies. It made me cry. I am deeply touched. Trecie stitched a band for a candle in memory of my Rorie. Trecie has three beautiful kitties and has always loved seeing Rosie's photos. Even though they were few she always dubbed her kittie as Rosie's fan club. Thank you Trecie from the bottom of my heart.

As you can see from these photos Rory is really growing up and looking so well groomed. He made more friends at the dog shows and we met a woman from Australia who just fell in love with him. (I even thought I might have to get a lock for his crate so he wouldn't disappear!) She along with a couple of others took a bunch of photos and I am just waiting to see those. I hope some came out so I can share them with you all.

And now for some giveaway news. I am still planning on doing two but thought I would start things off with this one.

A 25 dollar gift certificate to one of my favorite online stitching stores. Down Sunshine Lane. This giveaway is to say Thank you. Thank you for all for the support and votes you gave Rory in his recent photo contest. Thank you for all the wonderful comments you all leave me. Thank you.

Below are two of the photos that I am giving the artist who will paint his portrait. Aren't they just gorgeous!!

The rules for this giveaway are simple. Leave a comment stating you want to be included in the giveaway. Please make sure your email address can be found by me. If I can't locate your email I can't send you an online gift certificate. Easy as pie.

The deadline for this giveaway will be next Saturday, March 5th. Rory's Birthday.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Another Wooo Hooo, an exchange and TUSAL

2011-02-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

It has been another busy week. And it doesn't look like it's slowing down for a while. No rest for the weary as the saying goes.

I know I let you all know that Rory won the photo contest. To those who helped by voting for Rory I can never thank you enough. I can't wait to show you all the painting once it is done. We picked up his prize which included the gift certificate for the painting, a package from Mortons Salts (in a bag with pet safe salt for the ice!) and a bunch of treats for Rory. Rory loved digging in the bag for his treats.

Next up was a full weekend. And Rory's second Match show of the year. (To those who are curious: A Match show is the same as a regular dog show but there are no points awarded. It is more for experience and practice.) So that meant grooming, bathing and blow drying to get ready. Rory was so good at the show. I really do think that he knows what a show is all about. But the Wooooo Hooooooo part of this posting is that............ wait for it............

Rory won Best Adult in Show!!!!!!!!!! The Best. When the judge said "the Irish setter" I stood there puzzled not knowing what he wanted me to do. it wasn't until the others in the ring (a beautiful Great Dane, a Dalmatian and two more) started saying Congratulations that I realized what happened. I was stunned. Flabbergasted. Speechless. Beyond happy. You could have knocked me over with a feather. To say I was flying on a cloud since Sunday is right!! I am soooooooo proud of my little boy.

But wait. The good stuff with Rory didn't stop there. You see my sister and my nieces came to watch us and my one niece brought her son, my six year old great-nephew. Well, he had the time of his life. I don't get to see them too often and this was only the second time that Devin, my great-nephew, and Rory had met. Rory was oh so gentle with Devin who is a VERY active little boy. My niece and Devin came back to my house after the show. Devin and Rory ran and played for two hours. They both had the grandest time. But what impressed me the most was the fact that Rory never once jumped on Devin or knocked him down. That was my fear. Rory would run up to Devin and then around him and wait. You see this was Rory's first real one on one time off leash with a child. He just amazed me. He is such a good boy.

Okay, now for a little stitching. I received my Winter exchange from Ann (no blog). She stitched and finished one of the BBD stockings. It is absolutely gorgeous!! I love, love, love it. My exchange has been mailed but hasn't arrived so no photos of my stitching. I also have two other exchanges in the mail. Maybe by next week I can show you some photos.

I also took my TUSAL photo. I took it on the correct date but didn't download it until now.

And that brings us to today. A short day at work since I need to get home and groom Rory. Give him a bath and blow him dry. The I need to finish packing so we can leave early tomorrow morning for the first big shows of the season. Four days, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Irish setter specialties. (90 or more Irish each day!) These are always the biggest of the year. The shows that lead up to the Westminster dog show on this coming Monday and Tuesday. (And no Rory isn't entered in that. Every dog entered is a Champion and Rory isn't yet.) I am looking forward to seeing all my dog show friends and four days of nothing but dogs. Well, I do hope to stitch a little here and there. Wish us luck.

If you have lasted this long and are still here I will let you in on a little secret. March 5th is Rory's second Birthday so stay tuned for a special giveaway. I'm still thinking of what I want to do because this will also be a thank you giveaway and if the magic 300 follower number appears then it will have to be a triple giveaway. Hmmmmmmm. It will have to be something really special.

Details to follow next week.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

Wooooo Hooooo.

2011-02-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to tell you all that Rory WON!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO

I am so thrilled and tickled to pieces at the wonderful response my blogger buddies came through with. Rory ended up with 430 votes!! You all ROCK!! I can never thank you enough.

I am hoping to pick up part of his prize tomorrow and will be sure to take photos. Actually I have some stitching to share but will do that soon. I just had to share this news first.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

Rory needs your help

2011-01-27T06:49:00.001-08:00

I entered Rory in a Winter photo contest on a local pet website. The main prize is a custom painting which I would LOVE to win. There is also a basket of toys and treats for Rory. But we need your help. The photo with the most votes wins. Rory needs your vote!

All you need to do is click HERE. That will take you to his photo page. Enter your email, click on the five stars, enter the "captcha" code and send. They will send you a confirmation email that you need to click to confirm your vote.

That's it. Easy Peasy.

We know that stitchers are fantastic people so Rory and I hope you can help.

Thank you all so much.

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

Love and stitches
Kathy
and cold snowy licks from Rory too

A brrrrrrrrrrr Monday

2011-01-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

Snow, bone numbing cold and more snow. (Only two things warms me up. Rory in my lap and all of your sweet and wonderful comments!) That seems to sum up the past week and a half. I know it is winter but, geez, do we really need this much snow? And the record cold? It was 5 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning! I didn't even want to know what it was with the wind chill I was cold enough! The only good thing about this morning was that the car started. Unlike Saturday. But that's for later.

Rory continues to enjoy the snow. I tell you he must be wishing for all this white stuff so I can stay home and he can run and run and run in it. Last week I ended up home on Thursday due to a migraine. (I'm fine but the medication side effects are nasty and I would rather be home when one hits.) So Rory got to run and play in the snow for three hours straight! He just loves it. And I could not get him to come in! It also made for a nice quiet afternoon since he exhausted himself in the morning. And they are calling for MORE SNOW this week! Sigh. I don't mind staying home but then I also have to shovel the stuff. And it is only January.

The one thing about snow days is that I do get a bit more stitching done. I have the stitching all finished for my February exchanges. I just need to finish finish them and then mail them off. I hope to get to that this weekend. I have worked a little more on my first Flip'n challenge wip. Here is CCN's Christmas Carols as of January 22.

I started working on another wip for the challenge. This one I originally started about 4 years ago on aida. (My pre-linen days.) Since I had barely started it I decided to change it to linen. I'm not sure if this one would be counted as a start or an old wip but I'm calling it an old wip since it has been sitting in my wip basket for way too long. So here are photos of where it was and where it is now.

Other stitchy goodness: I had two very pleasant surprises in the mail last week. On Friday I received a package from Veronica. I had won her Birthday giveaway earlier this month. What a delightful package. Filled with all kinds of stitching things. Fabric, ribbons, laces galore, a few Crescent Colors, and variegated DMCs (I am already stitching with one of them.), a tatted bookmark that is just gorgeous and a little burlap bag that she stitched on. Thank you so very, very much for everything Veronica!

The second parcel came all the way from Australia. I was next in line for the BBD pattern, Their Song. (I can't wait to start this but need to get the WDW first.) So Gabi sent it on to me. But she also included one of her foot warmers! It looks so warm and comfy. I just need to get some rice to fill it. She included the muslin bag that you fill with rice (or wheat) and heat up in the microwave. Then put that inside the cozy fleecy warmer and insert your cold tootsies. I am picking up the rice tonight! I wonder how long it will stay warm? It would be ideal for the icy morning train ride.

Rory and I had our first show of the new year on Saturday. It was a local match show, a practice show with no points for the winners. Rory is entered in four shows in February but we both need to get our show feet back under us since we haven't been since Thanksgiving. The match show was set to start at 10 am. I got up very early, gave Rory a quick bath and blow dry and by 8:30 am we are ready to go. I go out to start the car and nothing. Nada. Dead as a doornail! ARGHHHHHHHHH!! So I go back in and call AAA (Thank you brother Bill for convincing me to sign up!) I tell them that I really need to be somewhere by 10 at the latest. (That is when the show is supposed to start.) They tell me, no problem someone will be there shortly. 9:40 the truck arrives. Jumps my car battery and gets it running. Thank you. The guy leaves. I called and found that there will be a delay in the show so I am still on time. We get set, in the car and I stop for gas. Only to find that one of my tires is almost flat!! NO! Oh, yes. So I back track to the used tire place. I have to get a new tire! Get that done and we are finally on our way. Thank goodness the show site isn't far. We arrived with about 20 minutes to spare. Rory was a real trooper and performed beautifully! He won the breed and was such a good boy. Me? I was stressed beyond stressed. Maybe that was why Rory behaved so well? No photos because I forgot my camera.

That leaves yesterday. Both Rory and I decided it was a day to rest, relax, me to stitch and him to nap. But before I got too busy with all that it was the perfect day to take some new photos. After all Valentine's Day is coming up and the blog needed a new header photo. So which one is your favorite?

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

The New Year So Far

2011-01-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Here it is almost mid January. So far the New Year hasn't been the best. I ended the old year and started the New Year sick, sick, sick. I was hit by the nasty cold/flu bug that is making the rounds. Just before New Years Day my throat was so swollen that it felt like I had a bowling ball in my throat! Fever, chills, ear ache, swollen glands the whole nine yards. Of course being the holiday the doctor wasn't in so I waited it out until Monday and than went and got an antibiotic. Two days of the med and I was feeling so much better. I could swallow and eat! That is until later Tuesday morning. (see previous post.) I spent the next two days cleaning and crying and napping and trying to stitch. I finally went back to work on Thursday.

Friday the forecast called for more snow. The weather people are beginning to drive me bonkers! They keep calling for the "significant" snows. Two inches?? I think significant snow would be a foot or more. Not TWO inches! Hey, I live in New York. Not Alabama or Mississippi or Florida where they so rarely get snow that two inches IS significant for them. Oh well with all the panicky forecasts and the railroad (my means of transportation) threatening to stop service I headed home early. Of course the snow didn't start falling until about 7 PM. Big fat flakes. Oh my but it looked so pretty. And even prettier the next morning with every branch outlined in white.We will come back to more snowy news in a bit. But first I want to play catch up on my stitching.

I joined a couple of stitching blogs for 2011. One is the Totally Useless Stitch-a-long. I have been collecting my orts for a number of years. Don't ask me why. They just look so neat in the jar or, as I displayed some of my orts from 2010, in a glass ornament. So since I collect my orts anyway i figured why not join in the fun officially. Then I go and miss the first official day. I did take a photo on the correct day so here is my TUSAL for January. A little late.

To the left is my ort jar empty on January 1st.

When I emptied the jar I put my 2010 orts in this clear glass ornament.

My TUSAL for January 4th.

I also joined in the Flip 'n Crazy January Challenge. The one where you choose 15 older wips or ufos to work on. I have posted a list of the ones I hope to finish this year on my side bar. I am currently working on CCN's Christmas Carols. This is my newest wip. I started it in early December but didn't get very far by the new year. So I have made a bit of progress on it since.

Basket containing my 15 wips/ufos

CCn's Christmas Carols as of Jan 1st.

As of January 8th.

I have also been working on a gift and my upcoming exchanges so no photos of those yet.

I do have two giveaways to show you. One I am late in posting photos (sorry DSL Santa.). I won the Down Sunshine Lane blog Christmas giveaway. And the DSL Santa sent me some fabulous gifts. All wrapped up for Christmas morning. I just love everything! But especially the scissors and fob. I also won a lovely piece of linen from Sheri. I know just the piece I am going to use this for. Another gift for a dear friend.

Another giveaway was won but not by me. By Rory! Some of you may remember the silly photos I took of Rory for Thanksgiving.

Well, he won a photo contest with this photo! His prize arrived just after New Years. He adores the toys and especially one. The box also contained a book for me but Rory decided he would read it first. (I haven't read it yet but will soon.)

Now if you have stuck around and read everything so far I would like to leave you with something that should make you smile if not laugh out loud. While 2011 hasn't been all that great it is impossible to stay down for long. Especially when you have the silliest dog ever! I mentioned the little bit of snow we had this past weekend. Well, Friday evening the snow drifted gently with these huge snowflakes. Rory being Rory just had to stay out and play even though it was 7 pm, cold and pitch dark. After a little bit I looked out the window to check on him and saw the funniest thing. There is Rory on the deck jumping straight up and twisting and trying his darnedest to catch snowflakes! Yup snowflakes! I got my camera and spent the next half hour or so trying to get a good photo of his antics. These are a little dark but I hope you get the idea. I have seen children do this. Heck I have done it. But I have never seen a dog try it. Just too too funny.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

PS. I can never thank you all enough for the warm and caring comments. For the cyber hugs and sympathy. For your friendship and love. Know that each and every comment help ease my heartache and sorrow. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Stormwatch Sunset Kiley Rose

2011-01-05T04:10:00.000-08:00

Stormwatch Sunset Kiley Rose

Jan. 2001 - Jan. 2011

My Mom had just turned 71 when she asked me, "Can I get a cat?" I told her that of course she could get a cat. What a silly question. We looked at different kinds of cats. We looked at different cat rescues. We talked to cat breeders. And I even took her to a cat show to talk to different cat people. My Mom had her heart set on a long hair and fell in love with the Maine Coon cat breed. Well none of the rescues worked out but we met a wonderful woman who bred, showed and sold Maine Coons. She took a liking to my Mom (and who wouldn't!) and bumped her up the waiting list. Fast forward two months and the first meeting of my Mom and this tiny kitten with the half black and half red face. While looking at the available kittens this little bit if a thing came and started climbing up my Mom's leg. A few weeks later Stormwatch Sunset Kiley Rose (Her official name), better known as Rosie, came to live with Mom and me.

Rosie was the light of my Mom's life and spoiled rotten. Whatever Rosie wanted Rosie got! When my Mom became ill Rosie would lay on Mom's lap for most of the day. Rosie even went to the rehab/nursing facilities the three times my Mom stayed at them. And somewhere in my photo files there is a picture of Rosie in Mom's lap the day my Mom died.

After Mom passed Rosie became my cat. She would greet me when I came home from work and sit on the back on my chair while I stitched. Her purr would get so loud I would have to turn up the volume on the tv! Of course that meant she had to purr louder!

Rosie got along with my dogs. Well, most of the time she ignored them. When she came to us I had my 7 year old Irish setter, Maggie. Rosie would tease Maggie and use those extra long whiskers on Maggie's nose or feet to wake Maggie up and move from whichever comfortable pillow Maggie was sleeping on. Eighteen months after Maggie passed I brought Rory home. Now it was poor Rosie. He would chase her around the house and chase her and chase her. She never put out a claw but always jumped on a table to get way and swat at his nose when he came near.

Rosie left us sometime during the night on January 3-4. Around 6 pm on the 3rd I had heard her doing her hairball hack and had to yell at Rory since he always thought that was the time to bother her. I didn't see her before bed but that wasn't unusual. Hairball days (as I called them) were always times she would hide. Yesterday morning I went to get my clothes and found her at the foot of the bed she had shared with my Mom. To say I was devastated is an understatement. I am heartbroken. It feels like I have lost my Mom all over again. Mom and Rosie were always together. I spent quite a few hours yesterday crying. After a few phone calls with my sister (Thank you Sharon) I calmed enough to realize that Rosie is now where she belongs.

With my Mom. Her Mom. I miss you both.

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

Love and stitches and tears

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

New Years is almost here

2010-12-29T10:16:00.000-08:00

And as you can see Rory is all dresses up with no where to go. But that's okay since I am not a big fan of New Years eve celebrations. A nice quiet night with a bottle of wine (a gift from one of my Goddaughters. Thank you Erin!) is fine by me.

But I am getting ahead of myself on this post. So let's go back to Christmas Eve. I run around like a nut case running errands and getting those last minutes gifts for Rory and Rosie. Got all that done and I still had to finish the stitching and finishing on two last gifts. As you can see both Rory and Rosie were on their bestest behavior! They even stayed close enough so I could take a few photo! My very own Christmas miracle!! Now don't get me wrong, they don't fight or anything (though I wouldn't blame Rosie in the least for scratching Rory) but they are rarely ever this close to one another and sitting still no less. (Rory thinks Rosie is his own personal chase toy! Round and round the house!)

Christmas morning. Rory was so good waiting until I was ready before heading into the living room to see what Santa brought. (Oh, okay I kept him on a leash until I was ready. LOL) I think Santa may have gotten too much for him. (Rosie got hers early because Rory tends to steal her toys.) What do you think?

Following a nice quiet morning watching Rory play and a few hundred tosses of his new favorite toy, the cow that moos, I headed out to celebrate Christmas and have dinner with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. Little Matthew is such a doll. And he just loved the Buzz Lightyear things his Aunt Erin and Uncle Ian had bought him. (The cars I gave him were pushed aside when he saw this gift!) For Erin and Ian I gave them one of the ornaments I was working on so feverishly the night before. I actually made three of these. One for each of this past years newlyweds. And. silly, me I only got a photo of this one. Oh well, the other two, except for the names, look and are finished the same way.

Next was a visit to my nieces home. There my sister and her children were all together. A rare occasion so I made sure to get a photo of them all. And one of them insisted that I be in a photo of me, my sister and her middle daughter, who is also one of my Goddaughters and soon to be a mother herself. (Her baby is due in mid February.)

Back home Rory was finally tired and just crashed. And so did I. After all my frantic stitching and finishing the week before I was too tired to even stitch!

Sunday brought this winters first (and I hope last!) major snowstorm, well, actually it was a blizzard. Sunday into Monday we got somewhere between 15 and 24 inches of snow! Yes, that is a lot but in many areas it is hard to tell. The winds both days were wicked with gusts up 50 miles and hour! Which piled the snow in drifts. Thank goodness I didn't need anything. Well, nothing except patience. Why you ask? Rory adores the snow. He is worse than any snow crazy child. In and out and in and out but mostly out until I can coax him in. Then after 20 minutes of all the snow melting out of his coat he wants back out again.

To say I haven't gotten much done the past few days is an understatement. As soon a I get settled to try and stitch he either wants out. Or is it in? Usually about now he has exhausted himself so that is why I am able to update and I am so hoping that I will now be able to go stitch. Or even start getting my 15 wip together for the January challenge which will be here before you know it!

And until then I wish you all the healthiest and happiest of New Years. May 2011 bring you everything you wish for. From Rory, Rosie and me.

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love and stitches,

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

I finally got a decent photo of the angel at the top of my tree.

PS. I also want to thank all of you who have left such wonderful comments on my last few posts. You have helped me through a difficult time more than you know. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

Christmas past and present

2010-12-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

An Irish Manger given to me by a very dear friend.

For the past week or so memories of Christmas have filled my mind and heart. Many bring a smile. Some a tear.

This little ornament was painted by my Mom. Dated 2001.

My very first stitched ornament. I had never made an ornament before this. The date on it is 2007.

As I decorated my trees (see the last post) and put up my Christmas village each piece had a special memory attached.

The village is especially dear to me. My Mom always had a village under the tree. I have many photos of her sitting on the floor creating that years scene. As a young child I loved watching the train she had under the tree circling the Manger. One of my treasured memories, though it sounds sacrilegious, was giving the baby Jesus a ride in the coal car on Christmas day! My Christmas village collection started about 10 years ago. And one of the first things was this tree with the people that my Mom painted. (She loved to paint plaster pieces. I think we all have at least one that she painted.) Notice that she painted to dog as close to Irish setter red as she could. Over the years I have added houses to my village. I only wish I could live in a town like this, a pub, a bookstore, a pet store, a sweet shop, a market, and best of all a sewing and craft store! My ideal town!

This is the set my Mom painted for me.

The skaters are cast iron and belonged to my Grandmother.

A couple of very special decorations. These were also plaster pieces that my Mom painted for me.

Last week was also the Christmas get together at my LNS, The Lazy Daisy. We had an ornament exchange. Those are always fun. I have so enjoyed these monthly gatherings.

All the ornaments from the LNS ornament exchange.

This is the ornament I stitched for the exchange.

I also heard that both my partners from the HoE ornament and smalls exchanges have received their pieces. So I can now show what I stitched.LHN's Fa La La I made into a small pillow. Amy said she like it.

And another LHN ornament I sent to Gabi. I like how they both turned out. I just may need to do them again for myself.

Last but not least is the ornament I receive in the HoE exchange. This one came from Ina in the Netherlands. It is just beautiful and looks gorgeous on my stitchy tree. Thank you Ina.

This past weekend and the past few days have been a whirlwind of finishing, wrapping, stitching and mailing. As mentioned in an earlier post, money for gifts is pretty scarce. I love to give but was getting so depressed realizing that I just couldn't do my usual for each and every member of my family. Until I had a brainstorm. And at this point I think it was a nor'easter! I have a largish storage container of stitched pieces that have been sitting there. Some for almost 5 years! Sitting there waiting to be finished or framed. So I thought I would use these. There were more than enough. So between the few ornaments I had stitched this year (9 of those) that were specially stitched for certain people and those older pieces I spent all day Sunday and most of Monday finishing them and making pillows and ornaments. Here are some of them. I was so crazed to get them done and wrapped that I actually forgot to take photos of some so they will have to wait until I can ask for a picture. Even if they read my blog (and I know most don't.) they won't know who gets what.

As you can see Rory was just exhausted after all this work. Either that or he is trying to be a good boy so Santa will bring him something good.

I want to thank each and everyone of you who have left me comments in my last few posts. I appreciate them more than you know.

And just in case I don't find time between now and Friday.........A very Merry Christmas to you all!

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Thank you, a favor and Christmas part one

2010-12-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

I have so much to say that I don't know where to start. I take that back. I do but have had a hard time finding the words to express how much all your comments and emails on my previous post have meant to me. I am moved. You all have touched my heart more than you know. The warmth and caring that you shared with me. The love and prayers. The peace and understanding. Stitchy bloggers ROCK! From the bottom of my heart I thank you.

That weekend following my post wasn't all tears and sadness. The mail on Saturday brought a surprise that cheered my aching heart. A fellow blogger had sent out wonderful packages of Christmas cheer to a number of his blogging buddies. And I was one of the lucky ones to get one. Edgar, you have no idea how much your treats lifted my spirit. But of course, chocolate will always lift you up. And that darling photo card. I LOVE it! You can see that there is also a jar of delicious peach jam and some chewies for Rory too. (He loved them!)

In trying to get myself out of my dark cloud I had taken Rory to go see Santa. He behaved much better this year. And I am sure Santa will be bringing him bunches of toys and chewies.

I managed to get some stitching done. Not as much as I would like but it is coming along. I still have a few more gifts to finish stitching and then there will be a finishing marathon so I can get these things in the mail. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Last week also found me home for a few days with a terrible head cold. I can't remember the last time I had one this bad. I am feeling much better but still not a hundred percent. If I hadn't had the flu shot this year I would say that I had the flu and not just a cold. But then I rarely get colds so I tend to be a big baby when I do. But with that time at home I did manage to get my Christmas decorations up. I put up my Christmas village and two trees. One tree is Rory's tree. Ninety percent of the ornaments are dog related. Including the Angel tree topper which has the head of an Irish setter. (The other ten percent are kitty ornaments for Rosie. See her photo in her favorite spot under the tree.) The second tree is a small three footer that is my stitchy tree with all my stitched ornaments. Not as many decorations as years past but it does look pretty. Between putting up the trees and all those sappy Hallmark Christmas movies I have no choice but to get in the Christmas spirit. Here are some photos of the tree. I'll share the village in my next post.

Now I have a favor to ask. I need to get some Christmas cards made and get them out in the mail this weekend. I just can't decide which photo of Rory to use for my cards. Below are the ones I think would work. Also the two with Santa above. I just can't seem to pick just one. Which one do you like?
Thank you again for all your wonderful comments. For your caring and your friendship.
Until next time...........

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too.

Where are you.........

2010-12-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

Where are you stitching mojo? Where are you Christmas spirit? Where are you cheery smiles? I seem to have misplaced all of them. I am normally an optimist. And try to find a smile in everything. But it isn't easy right now. I had hoped that spending Thanksgiving with my dog show friends would help. It did for a little bit. Rory and I had a great time at the shows. No big wins for Rory but we still had fun. And that is what counts. But then it was back home to the money worries, the bills, and the fact that two years ago this Monday, the 6th, is the second anniversary of my Mom's passing. (Deep breath so I don't start crying.)

Today has been rough. It started with my train being canceled and having to stand outside at 7 am this morning in 36 degrees for 35 minutes until the next train came. My feet were frozen and here it is almost 2 and they finally feel thawed. Then I open up Facebook and read this posting by my sister.

I wish heaven had a phone so I could hear your voice again. I thought of you today, but that's nothing new. I thought of you yesterday and days before that too. I think of you in silence and often speak your name. All I have is memories and pictures of you in a frame. I miss you Mom.~ repost if you have someone in heaven that you miss on earth

My Mom, me and my dog, Maggie. Christmas 1998

That did me in. (Another deep breath.) Sorry folks. I'll try not to get the keyboard wet.

Stitching mojo. I haven't picked up a needle in 9 days! Yup, you read right. 9 days. I keep looking at all the stitching I want to get finished for Christmas. The gifts I need to stitch up. And just look at it. Sigh. I really should be stitching now during my lunch break but instead I thought I would type a blog post. Procrastination. Yup, that's me. Maybe this weekend. We'll see. I do need to get those pieces stitched.

I am now so glad I had my last exchanges of the year all stitched up before Thanksgiving. They are on their way to their new homes so no photos yet. I did have a bright spot that helped a little. Yesterday I came home to my exchange! Paula was my partner in the HoE Christmas smalls exchange. She stitched up the Love and Joy pattern by Plum Street Sampler from this years JCS Ornament issue. She finished it a pillow. I just love it. (Funny thing is that I am half way finished stitching this pattern myself. Now if I can finish it it will be a gift. ) She also included a few extras. Including a LHN pattern that I don't have and three Just Nan Christmas patterns! And of course Rory just loved the toy and chewie she included for him. Thank you so very much Paula!

As for the Christmas spirit? I have always loved Christmas. I have a huge Christmas ornament collection as well as many house decorations and a large village. I haven't even begun to put anything out. And I just can't find the enthusiasm to do it. This will be my third Christmas without Mom. Maybe that plays a part of no Christmas spirit. Well, no maybe about it. It does. We always did those things together. (The village was always her favorite thing to put up.) Plus I have always loved shopping for gifts and buying something special for everyone. But this year finances are even tighter than last. And I just don't have the extra to spend. And that hurts.

I just have to find my way out of this dark time. I know I will. I hate feeling this way. Just bear with me.

With luck Rory may help bring back the smiles when I take him to see Santa tomorrow. At least for a little while. I leave you with a few photos from our Thanksgiving show weekend.

The group I show with. (I'm in the gray in the back)

Rory and me hanging out.

Sunset on the ferry ride home.

May the spirit of Christmas light your world with love and laughter. Until next time.........

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

PS. I really do appreciate all the comments you leave for me. They mean so much. Especially this time of year. So thank you all for taking the time. I apologize for not commenting lately on your blogs. My computer at work is acting weird. It will only allow a few blogs to open. I keep getting an error message on many blogs. I hope to catch up with more of you over the weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-23T07:03:00.000-08:00

In just a day and a half it will be Thanksgiving. A time to reflect and give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. Just a couple of things that I am thankful for: my silly, goofy, handsome boy, Rory, and the friendship of so many of you here in the blogging world. Your comments always make me smile. I thank you all for each and every one. You brighten my day and lighten my heart.

Thanksgiving is also a time for families. I sit here trying to think of what to write and remembering so many Thanksgivings from my past. The smells of desserts baking as I made umpteen pies, cookies, brownies and cheesecakes. (I would bake for five days to prepare the goodies for the holidays.) Peeling potatoes, sweet potatoes and the turnip and the smell of Mom's chestnut sausage stuffing and the turkey cooking. The warmth of the kitchen and the laughter as we got the meal prepared. All that work for the best tasting meal of the year. Thanksgiving at our house was all about family. As we grew older and my siblings married and began their own families it was Thanksgiving that often brought us all together. Dessert at our house was a must. And then there was the year when we had 35 sit down for dinner! As time went by more of my siblings and their families moved away and our Thanksgiving dinners became smaller affairs but Mom and I always made the same meal and still celebrated. This marks my second Thanksgiving without my Mom. Last year I spent part of the day with my Aunt and Uncle (Mom's baby brother). It was difficult and I will be honest and say that it wasn't an easy day for me. And when I walked into my Aunt and Uncle's home the delicious smells were what put me over the edge. I do miss my Mom everyday but more so on the holidays that we both loved.

This year I am doing something different for this holiday. No turkey cooking and filling the house with its yummy fragrance. (I did cook one this past Sunday. Just for the leftovers.)

No Black Friday shopping. (I have done that in the past and had a blast! Especially the ones I made my Mom get up at 3 AM so we could be at the mall by 4!)

Instead I am going to be at a dog show!! (No, not the one on TV after the parade. That one was taped last Sunday. Oh, I know who won already. LOL) Four days of shows. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm bringing my turkey leftovers for turkey sandwiches and Rory and I are off tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. Here's hoping that Rory shows well and maybe even wins a couple more points! My dog show friends will be there too. I am really looking forward to it. We should have fun.

My stitching news for this posting is that I have been working on two exchanges and a few more ornaments for gifts and my LNS grab bag that's coming up in a few weeks. So no photos yet.

I did receive a few lovely things in the mail. A small giveaway/thank you from Maggie O. It is an ornament frame. Isn't it neat? Thank you Maggie. I'm still trying to decide what ornament to use it for. I also receive my winnings from a giveaway that BeckySC had. Thirteen different charts! I am all set for next years Halloween exchanges and stitching. Thank you Becky! Next up is a small thank you/rak from Alison. She had me as her exchange partner and she must have really liked what I sent her because she sent me this in return! The handmade tree is just beautiful and the fabrics (there are two more I forgot to include in the photo) will really come in handy. Thank you so much Alison.

And last but not least are two exchanges. It turns out the April was my partner in both the Seasonal exchange and the HoE exchange. She sent both in the same package! I'm not sure which is for which so I took photos of them together. Thank you April.

It wouldn't be any kind of holiday if I didn't make Rory wear something silly. I couldn't find a pilgrim hat so I figured he could be a native American. Complete with his trusty Indian pony. :)

(yeah, yeah, I know it looks just like a Cabbage Patch kid horse. That's because it is! And don't ask me it's name. My nieces have played with this for years and Heavens knows where the papers are.)

So that's all the news that's fit to print. At least right now. So until next time......................

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving filled with love and laughter.
Rory wishes you one filled with all kinds of good things to eat.
And Rosie just wishes you peace and quiet! Love and stitches,
Kathy
and licks from Rory too

PS. Rosie is in one of her favorite places. Rory's crate! Esoecially when he is not in it! Silly kitty.

Finishes and exchanges

2010-11-11T11:14:00.000-08:00

Rory wants to know if he can help. Notice the toy on the cutting board.

Time flys when you're having fun. Well, that is what they say. And fun or not time always seems to fly by at this time of year. I always say I'm going to have all my Christmas gifts ready by Thanksgiving. Every December I say that. And guess what? Here it is two weeks until Thanksgiving and I haven't really started. Sigh. Maybe next year.........

At least I am up to date on my exchange stitching. I so enjoy these exchanges.

First up is my exchange for the Seasonal exchange blog. I stitched a Prairie Schooler design and finished it as a small pillow. I just love the way this one turned. I have to make one for myself one of these days. My exchange partner was Alison and she seemed pleased with it. So without further ado here are some photos of what I sent her.

Next exchange was the Fall exchange on Hooked on Exchanging. For this one I stitched one of Little House Needleworks Season charts, Season of Plenty. What a joy this one was. (I stitched this one a few years ago, in my aida only stitching days. I am definitely restitching them on linen. ) I also finished this as a small pillow for my partner, Leigh. (She has a cute photo of her kitty inspecting the package.) I am loving this method of finishing. My only problem with it is making sure I sew in a straight line. Not an easy task for me. But it doesn't look too bad now does it?

My third exchange piece was for the Lizzie Kate exchange blog. Sadly it was the last round of exchanges for this blog. My partner this time was Diane. And not only did I send to her but she sent to me. First set of photos are the two pieces I stitched and finished for her. I started with the new LK from the current JCS Christmas issue. It was so tiny that I decided to stitch something else. So I picked up the latest of Lizzie Kate's Tiny Tiding and stitched up "Dear Santa, I can explain". And Diane stitched LK's Turkey time and finished it as a pinkeep/flatfold. It is just perfect! I love it. (Notice that Rory likes it too. So much that I had to move it way up high!)

In other stitching news I have been stitching a bunch of ornaments. No photos since they are all for either exchanges or Christmas gifts.

Since I last posted Rory and I have only had one dog show. After my fall a few weeks ago he acted a bit skittish but we still did well. There is a fun fundraiser and photo shoot this weekend at the local dog training academy. It will be good for him and maybe help bring back his confidence. And I have some interesting Thanksgiving plans! Four whole days starting on Thanksgiving of dog shows! That will be a different way to spend Thanksgiving.

All this stitching and finishing and talk of dog shows is sooooooooo exhausting!

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Winners, winnings and more winning.

2010-10-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

I know I am a day late with this announcement. The reason why will be mentioned a little later. So without further ado here is the announcement you have all been waiting for. I made two lists, on for each giveaway, and then used Random Generator to find the winners.

The winner of the DMC "Think Pink" kit is number 25-- MAGGEE !!
The winner of the Just Cross Stitch magazines id number 9---LIBBIE!!

I emailed both ladies yesterday and will be getting their prizes out to them asap. Congratulations Maggee and Libbie! And thank you all so very much for entering and for your kind and generous comments. I was so tickled that so many of you entered my giveaway. 112 comments!!! Wow! 37 comments were entries for the magazines. 63 were for the DMC kit. The others were just because comments. Rory's pirate costume seems to have been a hit.

Speaking of Rory (and don't I always?) we had another busy show weekend. (and the reason why I am a day late with my giveaway announcement.) It actually stared Friday when I finally had gotten paid so I could call the oil company to come fix the hot water. I had been washing my hair in cold (shiver) water all week but Rory needed his bath before Saturdays show and I just couldn't bathe him in cold water! The oil guy shows up at 9AM. Takes an hour to clean the furnace and blow out the pipes or whatever else they do. $130.35 for an hours work! Okay, he says I now have hot water. Hey, it is early so I did some house work and a load of laundry. Around noon I take Rory down to my grooming area in the basement. (I need to trim his ears and neck before the bath.) Guess what? No hot water! The oil burner light is on telling me it isn't working. I press the button and it turns on for 30 seconds and pops off again. So it is back to the phone to tell them my hot water burner is out again. The send someone back and it is now 3PM. An hour and $200.96 later I have hot water back. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to a nice long hot shower after cold sponge bathes all week. But first I needed to run to the grocery store. Back home and give Rory his bath. Blow him dry and put his towel on to help keep his coat clean until the next day. Now it is time for dinner and then I need to finish packing since we will be gone overnight. I'm all finished by 9 and ready to collapse. Especially since I know I need to get up around 3AM to be on the road by 4AM to be at the show grounds by 7-7:30 AM.

Saturday dawns half an hour before we reach out destination. All goes well for ringtime at 10:45 AM. Rory behaves for the most part and takes his class. A fair showing for us both. The rest of the day is spent visiting with friends, getting Rory's grooming touched up, watching his cousin go in the group and then calling it an early day and checking into the motel to crash. (As you can see Rory was so tired he didn't even want to get off the bed!)
Sunday morning we are on the show grounds by 7. Exercising and getting Rory ready for ring time. He goes in at 9:30. I'm feeling good, he is raring to go. Our class is called. The judge tells me to take him around the ring. Off we go.......Wow! Ooops! Ouch! No! Down I go! Instead of Rory running to my left I let out a little extra lead and he ran RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!! There was no way I could stop and I fell right over him. Landing on my right shoulder and rib cage. And never letting go of the lead! The judge was as nice as could be. I didn't stop to think but got up and started all over. This time I made sure to keep the lead short. Rory and I finished our turn without any further fuss. Except to my pride. All I could think of was that it was a good thing I had tights on. Embarrassing moment 101. We came home from the two shows with two more blue ribbons but no more points. It looks like we have more practicing to do. I am okay. Much better today than I was yesterday. A little sore but okay. And with luck that will be gone by this coming weekend when we have another show on Sunday, Halloween.

Here is the other winning news making this a pretty good week, except for the fall. I am sure most of spent a few minutes at the Online Needlework Show this past weekend. It had started on Thursday and I know I tried to enter as many of the doorprize contests as possible. Some I even managed to enter a couple of days. And guess what? I won one! I won a doorprize from Of Generations Past. They have a few lighthouse type patterns that I know I can do for a couple of my brothers. They love those kinds of things.

Then I was the winner of day 17 at Annette's Halloween giveaway. She and Missie's alternate days for the 31 Days of Halloween giveaways. (If you haven't seen these there are still a few days left to enter.) My prize was waiting for me when I got home on Sunday. In it were the cutest beaded scissor fob, a floss ring, a little duckie, a Halloween pencil and stamp, some candy, a really pretty card and the cutest Halloween bag. Thank you Annette!

And the bestest stitchy news of all was when I read this blog post from Ellen of With my Needle. (click on the words this blog post) Talk about being thrilled and honored! She used the name I submitted to her name this pattern/needle hornbook. I am just tickled to pieces. My prize will be a needle primer and pattern as soon as they are ready to go. She says that should be early next week. I can't wait!

I have no other stitching to show. My exchanges are all stitched but I have to finish them and get them out. So I will leave you with a couple more of photos of Rory.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Tricks and treats ( and a giveaway too!)

2010-10-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! So far this week has started off great. I just got an email telling me that I'm the winner of the 17 th day of Halloween giveaway hosted by Annette (on odd number days) and Missy (on even numbers). WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO Now that's the way to start off the week.

The weekend was pretty quiet. Catching up on things like sleep and laundry. And finishing up an exchange. One more to go. Speaking of exchanges, my exchange from HoE Halloween exchange arrived Friday. Marie was my partner and she stitched me the cutest Halloween tree design from this years JCS Halloween magazine. She finished it into an ornament and also included a few extras. Three pieces of Halloween fabric, two trims, the pumpkin pattern by JBW (not pictured) and a skein if DMC. Heck, she spoiled me rotten. Thank you so very, very much Marie.

My partner that I sent to in the same exchange was Lily. She received hers last week also. I really like the way this one turned out and may have to stitch this one for myself one day. It is an older freebie. Sorry I can't remember who.

I also stitched up another little Halloween freebie and turned it into a little pillow ornament.

The weather was just beautiful on Sunday and with all the Halloween stitching and exchanges I guess I was in a Halloween frame of mind so I used the bright sun as an excuse to try on Rory's Halloween costume and take some photos. What do you think? (Besides that I am some kind of nut case!) Do you think he should be a doggy pirate? Or maybe something else?

Well if you made it this far I will make it worth your while. So how about another giveaway? This one is in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. DMC's Think Pink needlework accessory kit is my Think Pink giveaway.

How about another giveaway? Yes? For the second giveaway I have an extra copy of both the JCS 2010 Halloween issue and this years Christmas issue. So if you haven't gotten yours maybe you will be lucky enough to win them

Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment on this post.

2. State which giveaway you want to enter. The Think Pink or the magazines. You MUST state which giveaway. If you want to be included in both you will need to leave 2 comments. If you don't say which one that I won't include your name. Sorry.

3. Please make sure I can contact you. If your email is not attached to your blog profile than leave it with your comment.

That's it. Easy Peasy. I will choose a winner next Monday morning so you have until midnight Sunday to post your comments.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

Whew and a winner!

2010-10-11T15:24:00.001-07:00

What a weekend. I'm not sure I will ever recover or catch up on my sleep. But it sure had its ups and downs.

Bright and early, well not so bright at 3 AM, I got up Thursday and was on the road to dog show number one for the weekend. We arrived and Rory looked great, behaved and won his class. We walked around and he was petted and fussed over by many. This happens a lot and he just loves it! Well, who wouldn't love be the center of attention. Early afternoon we were back on the road heading for Connecticut and the next dog show. I even managed to stitch a little that night!

Friday, a relaxing morning with no fuss, Rory had a great time visiting old friends at the show. He was a good boy in the ring but the judge didn't pick him this time. I was a bit disappointed since she had liked him and gave him Best of Winners back in July. Oh well, win some - lose some. We stayed long enough to watch his cousins do a little winning and were back on the road home at 12:30. We took the ferry across the Long Island Sound. Something that Rory just loves. Again more attention and people stopping to pet him. He is such a ham but amazes me at how gentle he is with the children. I don't have children myself and most of my younger nieces and nephews all live states away therefore he really has very little experience with children. I know Irish setters are supposed to be good with children and my others were but they had little ones around all the time. Rory just seems to be a natural!

Friday night after we got home and Rory ate I went over to the hotel my brothers, sister, niece, nephews and sister-in-law, niece-in-law and future niece-in-law were all staying for the wedding on Saturday. Saturday morning was busy as I quickly cleaned the house before all of the above came over to visit with Rory and I. Washed the kitchen floor, (my kitchen floor is white and if you look at the photos in the previous post you can well imagine what it looked like after a week of rain!!! Don't EVER have a dog and a white floor!! LOL) vacuumed and did a little dusting. After that it was time to dress and get ready for my cousin (also my God-daughter) Erin's wedding.
Blue skies and warmish temps. What a picture perfect day! For a picture perfect wedding. The reception followed and everyone had a fabulous time. I was going to try to leave early but being with family and friends was too delightful.

Sunday morning began at 3AM when my alarm went off. Rory and I were back on the road for the 3 and a half hour drive back to Connecticut for the last dog show of the weekend. After only two hours sleep I was doing pretty good! (I got home from the reception at 12:30 AM!) We were about 40 minutes away from the show when my front tire blew. It was a pretty scary few minutes and a longer more tense wait for the State Trooper and then the tow truck to come change the tire. I would have and did try but just could not loosen the lug nuts for the life of me! And I have the nicks and cuts on my hands to prove it! Rory and I should have been at the show site by 7AM. So he could run a bit and I could groom him, wash his belly feathers and blow him dry. His ring time was 10! Instead we got there at 9!! Talk about running around and being stressed to the max!! We did make it in the ring on time but I was shaking with stress and nerves. And guess what? Rory did fantastic! He moved great. Stacked (stood at attention) for the judge and got second place in his class of 6. Much better than Fridays results! We then just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the show.

We were on our way home by 2:30 PM. Again took the ferry. I love it since it saves driving around New York City and all that traffic. And this time even more since I was driving on the bike tire spare. You know those half size tires that they now put in cars? I drove all the way praying that we would make it home. You aren't supposed to drive far on them. I really didn't have much choice since it was Sunday and I didn't know any places open there that would be able to sell me a new tire. The prayers worked and we made it home in one piece at 6PM. I fed Rory and promptly sat in my chair and fell asleep. Rory woke me at 9:30 and after a quick trip outside we both went back to sleep.

So that brings us to today. I found a tire place and got the tire fixed. Now I can drive without the fear of the tire going flat. I did some laundry and played with the photos from the wedding and weekend. Still no stitching!!
Oh and now for the news you have all been waiting for. I had the random number generator thingy do the work for me. (Rory is just too tired to pick out a winner.)

The winner is.....................................

Jennifer!!!!!!!!!

Now I am off to stitch. Have to make up for the past few days and still have an exchange to finish. Until next time..............................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

A quickie update and a giveaway reminder

2010-10-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

Before the madness begins. This weekend, which starts tomorrow for me, will be a whirlwind. I will probably be exhausted but it should be a fun filled weekend.

Today's chores include grooming a very muddy, dirty Rory, giving him a bath and blowing his coat dry. (We have had so much rain in this past week that my backyard is one giant mud puddle!) Then I have to pack both for myself and for Rory. Tomorrow at 4 in the morning (actually more like the middle of the night!) we are off to a dog show. This one is pretty special since it is only held every five years! There are 3,091 dogs entered!! Can you imagine? It should be an experience to say the least. Sometime tomorrow afternoon, once Rory is finished, we are heading to Connecticut for another show on Friday. This one is an Irish setter specialty. More than 75 Irish all in one place.

Friday will be crazy. After Rory shows around 11 - 11:30 we head back home. A few of my siblings are coming up to my neck of the woods for a wedding on Saturday. Plans are to meet Friday night for dinner and whatever. Saturday is my God-daughter's wedding. Sometime that night I hope to find a few hours to sleep since I'm back on the road at 4AM for another show on Sunday.

left: chasing the garbage truck in the rain and mud is hot work!

I don't see much stitching on tap for this weekend. But thanks to the generosity of my super wonderful cousins I am now hooked up with a new lap top and high speed internet!! I am taking my new laptop with me so if the wifi works I might be able to post an update. And come Monday if I am very lucky when I get to work I can close my office door and hang up a Do Not Disturb sign.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to be included in my pre-blogaversary giveaway this coming Monday. Leave the comment on the previous post. NOT THIS ONE if you want to be included. Also don't forget to leave your email is it isn't in your profile. I will pick the winner on Monday October 11.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

My return and a giveaway

2010-09-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been almost four weeks since I posted? Yes, I guess it has. I'm sorry to heave been away so long but work was absolutely nuts. (Deadline is over until next time.) And not having a computer at home meant I couldn't even catch up on the weekend. But that is going to change. After this Monday I should be up and running due to the generosity of my Texas cousins for the new laptop (well, new to me!) and to Optimum coming to install the new Internet line. WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!

One good thing about not having a computer is I had more time to stitch. And stitch I did. I am signed up for four exchanges between now and early November. All but one is stitched. So that means three finishes that I can't show you yet. I can show you the last one I sent out. This was my floss keeper for Exchanging with BeckySC blog. The pattern is by Stitcherhood. I call it a stitchers companion since you can use it to hold your floss, needles and scissors. Or even a small pattern. My partner loved it. (So did I and really didn't want to send it away! Guess I will have to make one for myself one day.)

And this is the one I received from CJ. (her blog.) Isn't it cute?

Other stitching. I finished stitching another LHN ornament, Peppermint. I just love this one. And actually like it without the little charm/button that came with the pattern. I started and am almost finished with Peace, another LHN ornament. I am really making progress on my BBD Moonlit Garden. Sorry but the photo I took just doesn't want to post here. Weird, I can't figure out why. Oh well, I include a better one next time.

Next up is the darling Halloween biscornu I won from Barbara, To Stitch or not to Stitch. It is just adorable. I love her finishing. And she is having another giveaway right now!

You may have noticed the photo at the beginning of this entry. Well, in stitching a Halloween design for an exchange I stitched up a couple of extra things. Since October 27th marks my second year of blogging I thought I would hold a couple of giveaways to celebrate. This is the first giveaway.

The rules are simple. Leave a comment on this post saying you would like to be included in the giveaway for my little Halloween pillow ornament. Make sure your email is either in your comment or part of your profile so I can email you if you win.
That's it. No special things to do except let me know you are interested.

And of course it wouldn't be a complete blog post without some photos of Rory. By way of explanation of his "new toy." I used to have an old laundry basket on the deck outside to collect and keep his outside toys in. Notice I said used to. The basket had been sitting there for months and all of a sudden Rory decided it was more fun to play with the basket rather than the toys. He dumped the toys and proceeded to throw the basket and chew it to pieces. Thank goodness he didn't want to eat any of the pieces. Watching him chew off pieces and spit them out was a hoot. And the basket sure kept him busy. These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago. The basket is now completely flat and heading for the garbage. Now to figure out something else to keep his toys in.

This weekend should be a fun one. After two months of work and deadlines and staying home Rory and I are back on the dog show road. The three this weekend are close to home. Hope we have some more good news next after the weekend. Wish us luck.

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

Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too.

PS Silly me. I forgot to put a date on the giveaway. Entries close on October 10. I will draw a winner on October 11. Don't forget to let me know in your comment that you want to be entered.

Finishes and Smoking Needles

2010-09-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hearts Left Behind by Hester's Needle

stitched with HDF on HDF Jackaloupe 32 ct linen

I have really been in a stitching mood. My needles have been smoking! I have not one but two finishes to show you! And there is another which I can show you at a later date. It is an exchange and hasn't arrived at its new home yet. Things have been quiet on the home front. No dog shows for Rory so my weekends have been quiet. A good thing. Especially since I know it won't last.

The biggest finish is Hearts Left Behind by Hester's Needle. An OOP chart that was generously lent to me by Missy at Deep inside Missy. Missy , I can't thank you enough for letting me borrow this. This piece did take me longer than I thought to stitch it. Many tears as well as sweet memories filled my heart as I stitched. Well, all except the lazy daisy stitches that are the leaves of the willow trees. Those produced a bit of unlady like language. But over all I loved stitching this in memory of my Mom, my best friend. I miss her so much.

Oh, I did make a change. I reversed the two lines with the name and date. The pattern calls for an all numerical date (10-5-29) and then the second line to have your initials plus the year. While my dates may be a little squished I felt it made more sense than the other way. What do you think?

Next finish is a Lizzie Kate piece. This saying is so me! While I don't mind vacuuming and straightening up I abhor dusting. I hate it! Do you hear me? I HATE TO DUST! Heck, I will even wash windows, clean the bathroom or wash the floors instead of dusting. So now you see why this one is so me? I used the fabric provided with the pattern. But I know I will stitch this one again and used something else. The pattern comes with a 27 count Northern Cross linen which I didn't like. But since I had started it on that piece I figured I might as well use it.

I am so looking forward to this three day weekend. Of course if Hurricane Earl gets close enough than I will make it a four day weekend. But as of right now Earl has been showing a path that will pass Long Island with minimal force. They are saying a tropical storm warning. 20 to 30 mile an hour winds and light rain. Sigh. Not a bad enough storm to warrant me calling in. Oh well. I do hope that those who are closer to Earl's path stay safe and dry. And more importantly keep their electricity so they have lights to stitch by.

I have two pieces that I am working on. One is BBD's Moonlit Garden that I started earlier this year then got side tracked with other things. Since this is a fall piece it is perfect for stitching on now. Here's hoping I can get a big chunk of this one done this weekend.

The second piece is one of LHN's ornaments. It is adorable and is stitching up so quick. I should have this one done this weekend.

Like I said earlier it has been rather quiet here but I can't end a post without a mention or a photo of you-know-who. So here is what Rory has been up to.

Sorry about the dark photo but I couldn't resist this one. Rory keeps trying to beat into my stitching chair. And sometimes he succeeds.

Rory and my great nephew, Devin. Rory insists that he is a lap dog.

Rory enjoying a good book. Oh, it really is. One of my favorite noir mystery authors and a good friend.

Rory in his new portrait from the photographers at Petco. I love how this one turned out.

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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too