Christmas..Gifts, Family and Friends

I hope everyone is enjoying the last little bit of the holiday season as we are about to say goodbye to 2010.

I know this year has been very much a roller coaster ride for me. I have reconnected with my dad's family after a 30 year absence, which has been good and difficult, facing some very tough issues and figure out how to deal with them but I am getting there. Rex has been my rock as have been my wonderful friends that mean the world to me and have been there whenever I have needed them. Where would a gal be without their gal pals?

I am also learning about Alzheimer's. One of my dearest friends, Jean, whom I have known for 23 years, who at 66 years old, has it. She started out as my boss when I was 20, I was her admin. asst. at a CPA when she was a recruiting director. A special friendship developed and through the years we stayed in touch and I have gotten to know her family as well. She ended her career as a college professor and now, a bright, energetic, classy, funny, gracious woman has this awful disease. I am fortunate that I live only 1 hour away and I am trying to spend as much time with her as I can. She was the best boss I have ever had.

I do have some pics to show.

Gifts to Staci and from Staci are below:



Since I didn't get to meet up with Julie in Sioux City a few weeks ago, we each mailed our packages to each other and in the package I received, Julie's son sent me.....a hockey puck! A real one! "Wichita Warriors" is what his team is called. He wrote the cutest little note. I have it proudly displayed! Now I know what a hockey puck looks like! (Okay...I know it was round but...didn't realize it was so darn heavy!)

So..Here is my gift to Julie and then Julie's gift to me:



Cathy sent me a darling tatted ornament. Thank you Cathy! (Be watching your mailbox early next week!)


My friend Pam sent me a cute little notebook that will come in handy for keeping track of my blogging friends, etc. Its absolutely adorable. Thanks Pam!


I sent Pam a cute little snowman tag.


On Christmas Day, Rex and I went to his brother, Ernie and his wife Jane's house and stayed overnight. We did a white elephant exchange. We were to find something in our home that we wanted to get rid of so...there were some interesting things that were given away..GLADLY! Here is a pic of what Rex's brother Ernie got from me...a lovely apron...quite appropriate actually because he does alot of baking at Christmas time!


Jane, Ernie's wife, she received a pink flamingo birdhouse from Neal (another brother of Rex's) and again...appropriate because she does like birdhouses, but she tells us it won't stay at her house...she sees her boys and their families in 2 weeks! LOLOL



Neal received from Rex and he received the family portrait taken for their parent's 40th anniversary. There were 50th and 60th anniversary portraits taken before they passed away but no one wanted this 40th anniversary portrait so Rex ended up with it.

Rex got creative with the box...he made it...yep...we had purchased a new shower door a while back so...Rex decided to cut the cardboard it came in and used duct tape to put it together and then wrapped it only the finest of paper...newspaper that is. Neal was...umm...speechless! It was quite funny to say the least! As you can tell...my SIL Jane certainly thought it was!




Rex received from Jane some fine albums...all we need now is a stereo to play them on and we'll be ready to rock and roll!LOLOLOL One of the albums Rex got was by The Carpenters. My other SIL, Barb, LOVES the Carpenters so...when she came in the room Rex had it somewhat wrapped up and gave it to her and as you can see...she thought it was hiliarous. But...she, sadly, didn't take it home with her...she already had it! LOL



No pics of me...I got...from Ernie, a can of asparagus and a book called Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons. Not sure if that will be on my "must read" list or not. I'll have to give that some thought. But if anyone is interested in reading it...just e-mail me...I'd be happy to send it to you!

I had a fun afternoon today with a couple of gal pals. Margaret and Pam came to town and we went to lunch at The Button Factory and did a bit of shopping and then headed back to my house and had some coffee and carrot cake and chatted. A great afternoon. Rex played photographer and took a pic of us: (Margaret, me, and Pam)


Well, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the year as it draws to a close and wishing you a happy, healthy new year with LOTS of stitching in the new year!!!!!!!

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stitching
Wendy Jo

Birthday Gift to CO and...my overnight stay at a high school

My dear friend Staci had a birthday last week so I stitched her up a Pine Mountain Pillow design called "Girlfriends" and sent some chocolate too! Staci and I chatted on the phone and she loves the package. It was alot of fun to stitch and we had some great times when Rex and I were in Colorado for his job so the words fit us to a "t".


Well, last Saturday I attempted to go to Sioux City to meet Julie since her son was going to be in a hockey tournament there all weekend. I was going just for the day since Rex and I were planning to spend some time in Des Moines with his brother and our SIL. Well...when I was about 20 miles outside of Sioux City, there was a complete white out. I had just gotten gas in Sloan and got on the ramp to get onto I-29 north and there was a semi right there! So I hit the ditch otherwise I would have hit the semi. A trucker, who watched the whole thing, waved me over and I sat in his rig until the fire and rescue came around picking people up and taking us into Sloan to the firehouse. After that we were transported to the high school for the night. The American Red Cross was absolutely FABULOUS to us all. Very caring and patient and made us feel very comfortable and were on top of the weather reports as were the highway patrol. They provided sandwiches, pop, coffee, hot chocolate, etc.

I was finally able to head back to Des Moines (where I left Rex at his brother's house) around noon on Sunday.

There hadn't been any predictions of heavy snow or even a blizzard on Saturday I guess. Oh well...Julie and I at least chatted a few times on the phone. We'll meet some day!

Well, I need to get my stitching finished up this week as I am having a cyst removed from my right palm Friday morning. The surgeon said its a pretty deep cyst but feels that I won't have many stitches and it should not keep me away from my stitching for long.

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about my pinkeeps I sent to Lori and Cathy. I really do appreciate them alot!

Take care and happy stitching.

Wendy Jo

A Gift to Minnesota and a Gift to Ohio

My dear friend Cathy had a birthday last week so I decided to stitch her a design by Pine Mountain Designs called "Sew Glad We're Friends" and finished into a pinkeep. I purchased the backing fabric at a new quilt shop (Quilts-n-More) that opened in my DH's hometown of Albia, IA. I just love the fabric and it is so perfect for the design I stitched. I am so glad Cathy is enjoying the pinkeep!



I also sent a surprise gift to my dear friend Lori (no blog) in Ohio. Lori and I have been internet buddies for about 10 years now and I haven't stitched her anything in a very long time so I thought I'd put a little surprise in her mailbox! I stitched another Pine Mountain Design called "Friendship is the Sweetest Flower". Her favorite color is purple so I change colors to coordinate with the backing fabric. Lori loves the pinkeep..so, of course, it made my day :)



I think that is about it for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and is making some time to sit and spend some time with their needle and thread.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,
Wendy Jo

A Lovely Mesh Bag

Mama Joan sent me one of her beautiful mesh bags and I just love it! How pretty is this? Thanks so much Joan. I'm taking it to stitch group today and show the girls!



Every Tuesday six of us get together to stitch. We take turns hosting each week. The hostess provides the beverage (all of seem to drink diet pepsi), munchies and dessert. We even tend to try to make doctor, dental, etc, appointments around our stitch group time! So you can tell we have a great time and look forward to Tuesdays.


I plan to put the finishing touches on two gifts today and get them mailed tomorrow so I should have pics early next week.

Well, thanks for visiting and have a great week.

Hugs,
Wendy Jo

A Gift Received and A Gift Sent

I received a lovely surprise package in the mail on Friday from Staci and teared up! I definitely needed “a little hug”. Thank you Staci for your friendship. You are a kind, thoughtful, and a very special friend to me. Thanks for “being there” it means A LOT!

My friend, Pam (no blog), had a birthday last week so I stitched her a freebie design by My Big Toe designs and finished it into a pinkeep. She e-mailed me that she loves it and I am so happy. See you soon Pam!



I am off to sit and stitch. I am working on some gifts. I can’t believe next month is Christmas! Gosh…I can’t believe Thursday is Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has some time to sit with their needle and thread.

Thanks for visiting. Happy stitching.

Hugs,
Wendy Jo

Home From Denver

We are home and getting back into our old routine after being gone 5 weeks. I had a great time in Denver. I was able to see Staci alot! What a great friendship I treasure. I had made her a scissor fob, attached to a pair of scissors and made 2 magnetic needle minders that could also be used as magnets on the refrigerator (I forgot to take a pic so please check Staci's blog for a pic). Staci also had a gift waiting for me as well! I was absolutely tickled by what she had for me...she knows me so well!!!!

Thank you Staci :) You know I love it very much!

While out in Denver I decided to take a sewing/quilting class and learn how to make a purse! It still needs to be finished but here is a pic also in the picture is a penny rug...I also took a penny rug class...as I wanted to learn how to make those too! I didn't think I did too badly of a job on either of them. I still need to finish putting in the grommets and finish with the strap and then the purse will be done and the penny rug just needs to have some more stitching done on it and it'll be finished. Both classes were taken at High Prairie Quilts in Parker, CO. It is absolutely a wonderful shop and the ladies that work there are so warm and friendly. I really had a great time. If you are ever in the area...stop by..you won't be disappointed! Oh..I also bought a "few" fat quarters as well while I was there:) Couldn't help myself.


Rex and I enjoyed going to the farmer's market on Saturdays, we loved the bakery goods!!! We traveled to a Peach Festival in Palisades, CO (on the other side of the state) one weekend, we traveled down to Colorado Springs and I even went to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival, which turned out to be a dangerous place for me! We also went to a Colorado Rockies baseball game and 2 of the Colorado Rapids soccer games (our friends have season tickets) so we really enjoyed our trip, even though it was work for Rex.

I didn't get alot of stitching completed. But that was okay. Now that I'm back home I'll pull it out and get going on it. Its starting to get a bit more chilly here so I think fall is starting to arrive. The leaves have started to change a wee bit anyway.

Well, I need to get some housework done so, guess I'll close for now. Thanks so much for stopping by and for leaving comments. I really appreciate them alot!!

Happy stitching to you.

Wendy Jo

My Summer Exchange From Julie!

I received my exchange from Julie and I am just in love with everything! I love sunflowers so she really picked some great things to make for me and stitched me the cutest LK pinkeep! The pocket pouch Julie made is just the right size for my camera and the scissor fob she made is on a pair of scissors and packed in my bag for Colorado already as is the Crystal Light Lemonade and gum too!




Julie, thank you so much for a wonderful exchange!!

Rex and I are headed to Denver tomorrow for a while and I am pretty excited. I have alot of things planned to do and will be seeing Staci again...so I'm really looking forward to that. I have packed my stitching bag pretty full with lots of fall things to stitch..I have probably overpacked but I would rather have more than enough to stitch and pick from to stitch than not enough to stitch.

So...in the meantime..thanks for stopping by and happy stitching to you.

Hugs,
Wendy Jo

A Summer Exchange

Julie and I did a personal summer exchange and she received hers. I stitched her the new freebie from Waxing Moon Designs called "Summer is Sweet" and finished it into a pinkeep. I also sent some other goodies like my new favorite hard candy "Countrytime Hard Lemonade" (I am so addicted to them! LOL), a scissor sack, watermelon ornament, and a package of Mary Engelbreit emery boards.





I am so glad you like the whole package Julie..it was so much fun to stitch and put togehter for you!

Other than working on Julie's exchange, I have been working on a couple of Lizzie Kate projects. I stitched, not finished the summer "fab" fob and am starting on Live Simply.

Rex and I are getting ready to head back to Denver in another week for a while so I have been pretty busy getting ready for that. Of course my stitching bag was my top priority! LOL But now that I have that pretty much packed, I am working on the other things to take and checking off the lists I have made of what needs to be done before we go as well.

Well, I think that is about all for now. Thanks for stopping by and happy stitching.

Wendy Jo

A Gift for a Colorado Friend

I have been slacking in the blogging department (both posting and visiting other blogs) big time! I just haven't felt like myself lately.

I haven't done a whole lot of stitching lately. I did start Heart in Hand's Spring Day but I am feeling like I am losing my stitching mojo! Not a good thing....

I wanted to stitch something special for Staci so I chose a design by Pine Mountain called "Friendship is the Sweetest Flower" and finished it as a pinkeep. I had such a great time meeting her and can't wait to get back to Colorado again.



Well, I think I'll close for now. Happy stitching to everyone and thank you all so much for your wonderful comments on my rr and Edgar's as well. I really love mine and it was fun to stitch on everybody's.

Hugs,
Wendy Jo

Emblem of Love Round Robin

The Emblem of Love Round Robin I have been participating in over the past several months is winding down.

Mine arrived home from Margaret last week and its gorgeous. Its stitched on 36 ct. white edinborough over 2 with Crescent Colors Wavy Navy.

I received Edgar's round robin and was the last person to stitch on his and will be mailing his home to him today.



Now since I haven't signed up for any other exchanges I can start working on some things for myself! I just don't know where to start. I have so many patterns that its kind of mind blogging. Guess I will just pull stuff out and see what looks good!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy stitching.
Wendy Jo