Cinderella

This week I have been working on Cinderella by Mirabillia designs. I have to bead as I go because I can't handle having missing places in my design. Right now I have it on the q-snaps and I can't remove it because I am not sure I can get it on again!! My friend Debbie has loaned a GIANT q-snap set that I will eventually have to move the design too. This is the back part of her dress and I love how the colors are turning out!!!

Favorite Things:

Bagel Flavor: Asigo Cheese

Acade Game: Mrs. Pac-man

A few of my favorite things....

I LOVE Mary Poppins!!! I watched it again tonight. There is just something about her that I just love!! Everytime I watch it, I just smile. She is just so darn cheerful. I have to admit...I want a carpet bag like hers!!! It is just so cool....When it came to the song "A Few of my Favorite things" I remembered that I had a really cool book about favorite things....so I thought we find out what our favorite things are...

If you had to pick your favorites of the following what would it be:

Favorite Appetizer and your Favorite style of apples

Mine are:
1) Artichoke and Spinach dip

2) Granny Smith

Project Linus

My family decided to join the Disney Give a Day Get a Day program. We volunteered to make 10 blankets for the Springfield, MO area chapter of Project Linus. I tried to do our volunteering for the Northwest, AR chapter for Project Linus but they didn't registar on the Disney Site.
Everyone has to participate in the Give a Day get a program..it can't be just one person so I had Beth and the kids make cards for each person who will be getting a blanket. Mom and I bought the fabric at HL. I stitched them all together. They were so cute! We went with an alphabet theme and a pale green backing. The blankets could be for a girl or boy since we weren't sure who would be receiving them.
If you like to make fleece blankets, quilts, or afghans and would like to donate some time, then you should check out the Project linus headquarters website. It is for a VERY good cause.

New Bookshelves!!

DH had Bookshelves put in our guest room for me. As you can see they cover the entire wall. I spent today painting the shelves. My bedroom is a coffee rose color so I painted the bookshelves Romantic Smoke. This is a lighter rose color. I still have some painting touch-ups to do. I just LOVE the bench in front of the window. I have to say I have a fabulous DH for doing this!!! I hope to have my room together before spring break is over this week.

Winchester House is Finished!!!!!

I put the final stitches in at 3:10 am Sunday Morning!!! I was so close to finishing last night that I just couldn't put it down. I spent the evening stitching while watching Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. This is was the one that was on Masterpiece Theater. After that, I turned on my Discovery Dateline ID channel and spent the rest of the night watching "I (almost) got a away with it" and "Dateline: 48 hours mystery". For some strange reason I can watch these shows all night. BTW...if you click the title of this post...it will take you to the Winchester House Website so you can read more about it....if you are interested.

Today....I am either going to read all day long curled up in my warm wedding quilt or I will pull out one of my stitching projects. I have so many started that I don't know what to do with myself.

My Ozark Sampler group is starting a new RR in May. I have decided to do an afghan for my project. Not just any ol' afghan either. It is going to be a disney afghan!!! Most of you know that I have bought almost all the Disney Ornaments so I am going to put at least 26 of them on one afghan. I bought a cream colored Charles Craft afghan with a large stitchable center. I dyed this afghan a pale blue color. Once I get all the ornaments on the side....I am going to stitch Sorcerer Mickey right in the middle. This is going to be so pretty!!!!

As you can see....it is still snowing...in MARCH!!!

Winchester House

As you can see this design is almost complete!! I need to stitch 4 colors: one pink, light green, medium green and grey. I have to say I am VERY excited that I may finish this tomorrow. Since it actually SNOWED all day here I was able to sit in my bedroom and stitch. Mark watched the NCAA basketball tournament and Gibbs so I was able to stitch.

My sister called me last night to tell me that she bought our plane tickets for Disney. This is something I put her in charge of our trip since I did the other stuff. Now I just have to send her the money. We are flying southwest where they like bags and bags fly FREE!!! I have 82 days until my vacation and I cannot wait!!!!! Off to work on Winchester...maybe I will finish it soon.

Patchwork Sampler and my puppies...

I haven't been feeling all that great for the past couple of days so I decided to take a sick day today so I could rest. I slept in until Gibbs started whining in his kennel. He had already gone to work with Mark and been brought back up for his morning nap. I got him up and took him to potty. Then, I decided to be somewhat productive and finish up my project linus blankets. It didn't take much..just had to do the finishing part....stitching the small opening together. They are currently in the dryer so I will post a picture later this week. I did pull out my patchwork sampler to work on today. I stitched the majority of the butter color and all the backstitching on it. It took almost all evening. The color is called "Butter" and it is from Ozark Samplers.

Gibbs is finally starting to fit in with the boys. He has also found a new spot to sleep. He loves the bottom shelf of the coffee table. I had some really cute little baskets there but since he started sleeping there, I had to move everything.

I got a phone call from my sister telling me that she had to take college classes this summer so she wouldn't be able to go to Disney with us. We are still taking the kids. However, she does plan on coming up for Friday-Sunday. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge so she is going to book a room only reservation for her weekend trip. This should be a very fun weekend!!

Dreams come true!

This kit of Cinderella's Castle has been retired for YEARS!! I posted on the 123 boards to see if anyone had it for sale just as a long shot. The next day I got an email telling me they had one they would send me if I wanted it!!!! The only catch was that the stitcher had started it and decided she didn't like it. I was not going to complain...she just sent me the Chart, the metallics and her partly stitched design!!! I pulled it out of my too be stitched pile and started working on it. The only thing I have stitched on this design is the Green fireworks. I thought about starting over but then again...why re-invent the wheel....I just started where she left off. The green fireworks took a while because GIBBS needs lots of attention.

We did decide to name the puppy Gibbs!! It was the name Mark liked the best so we named him that. He is doing well on getting along with everyone in the house. Jag keeps beating him up....Munch hisses and spits at him. Tusk growls alot and Brigen will play with him. The potty training is going ok..he still has some accidents but he is doing better. He loves his treats! He does have a tendancy to pull on Marks sweats and has almost pulled them down a few times!! HEE HEE

Here are some pictures of our stitching class this weekend. In one of the pictures they are holding up their finishes! Everyone enjoyed the class and I had fun teaching it.

Stitching Class Today

Today my LNS held a stitching class that I taught!!! I taught the girls how to make Scissor Fobs. Everyone had a wonderful time!! I think I created a monster though....everyone made at least two for themselves and possibly more! We were able to view the Nashville items and I was really tempted to buy some but with getting GIBBS and all...I refrained myself..

We Named the puppy GIBBS....He is doing well in our home. Tusk is really not happy with him but Brigen loves him. He is doing ok on the potty training...better with Mark than with me. We will get it though!!!

The Video is of our class today.

Bennet or Gibbs???

I emailed Mark today and asked if we could get a new puppy. I was actually expecting the same answer I always get...NO!!! But this time he said "If it makes you happy!" So I went and picked up this beautiful little puppy!! Now...do I name him: Bennet - from my favorite book Pride and Prejudice or do I name him Gibbs (Marks suggestion) off the TV show NCIS (our favorite show)???? What do you think???

February Reads

Reading Goal: 150 books
Books read to date: 19

I am a little late but I did want to share what I have read this past month. I read some really fantastic must reads. I am going to give a small review and just to torment you I am going to hyperlink them to the BN website.

Cozy Mysteries:

Eggs in Purgatory by Laura Childs: Suzanne and her two friends run the local cafe/bookstore/knitting store. They have afternoon tea's where big ole' trucker men just love to attend (it's all about the scones!). They have weekly booktalks and knitting nights. On top of all this, they have the cheapest breakfast around that if you ate if would probably give you a heart attack. Suzanne and her friends are learning to stand on their own feet after their husbands died, placed in a nursing home or ran off with the local hoochi-mama. Of course there is the murder of a very prominant citizen that leads Suzanne on a sluething mission to find out who did it. Great book...characters make you laugh. I recommend this read and I can't wait to read the second book!!!

Mourning in Minature by Margart Grace: I just love this series probably because I have always wanted to put together a Victorian dollhouse. Gerry is off to the local High Schools 30th reunion with her friend Rosie. Rosie is excited to see one person: David, the high school quarterback and her first kiss. Unfortuantely there is a murder at the reunion and Gerry must solve the crime with the help of her granddaughter Madison. The minitures they build in this book sound just heavenly. I would just love to build one!! This is book 4 of this series.

Murder of a Small Town Honey by Denise Swanson: Skye left Scumble River in a HUGE fashion by insulting basically the entire town. She has now been fired from her job and came home with her tail between her legs. The town has really been less then welcoming with her. Her Uncle Charlie, big man in a small town, basically forced the school board to hire her as the school psychologist. None of the principals like her and do not have a problem letting her know about it. She is helping out at the local county fair and happens upon a dead body. She is then sucked into this twisty mystery that if she doesn't solve, her brother will be tried for murder!! I really liked this book... I think because I work with School Psychologists all the time and I understand the workings of the good ole' boy club. I recommend this book....

Murder of a sweet old lady by Denise Swanson: Skye is back to solve another murder!! This is just not any old murder...it is of her sweet granny who Skye has been visiting everyday so she can learn the family history. Skye's family is driving her insane. The police chief is very upset with her and the local funeral director is no longer her bridge partner. I have to say...I enjoyed the second book just as much as the first one!

Romance Books:

Don't Bargin with the Devil by Sabrina Jeffries: Charolette Harris finishing school for young ladies is turned upside down!! She finds out her dashing spanish neighbor is about to put in a pleasure garden next door to her school. She has a new teacher, Lucy, spend time with Diego so he can understand why he shouldn't put in a pleasure garden. Well...Diego has his own mission and it does involve some pleasure!! This is the 5th book in this series and I love it!!

Wed Him before you Bed him by Sabrina Jeffries: With the tragic death of one her former students, Charolette is forced to spend time with the man she jilted years ago! She didn't just jilt him, she bascially made him the town scandal for years!!! We also finally find out who the mysterious cousin Michael is and why he has remained so secretative all these years!! This is the final book in the series and I am sad that it is over!

Teen Books:

No Choirboy-Murder, Violence and teens on Death Row by Susan Kuklin: Wow!! What a very powerful read! This is a book of 6 teenagers who killed someone and have been placed on death row. The first 4 stories are from the teens themselves, one story is from a teen that has already been excuted family, the next story is from the victims family and their thoughts. The final chapter is of the lawyer who represented them all on appeals and such. I didn't get to read the last chapter because one of my really tough, wants to be in a gang, kids saw it and they asked to read it (this is a BIG DEAL) so I just handed him the book. He loved it!!! Now one of my seniors is reading it (this is the kid no one thought would graduate) and he says it Kicks ASS...so that is a good thing. I recommend this one!!!!!

Inside Out by Terry Trueman: Another moving very quick, very quick read!!! Zach is a very troubled young man who happens to be in the local diner when it is robbed. You get pulled into this story and you actually feel sorry for the boys who robbed the store. FANTASIC READ!!!! My kiddo's LOVE THIS AUTHOR!!

Response by Paul Volponi This is a real eye opener. This is a total HATE CRIME book. Noah and his buddies are in a "white" neighbor where he planned to boost a car. However, he is attacked by 3 white boys and beaten with a bat. This story goes into how the boys are prosecuted, he has to go to school with all these kids who believe the boys were innocent. It just shows his life and how unjust and downright mean this world can be to people of different races. Once again, my streetwise kids LOVE this book! They told me I HAD to read it!!

Winchestor House, Historical Fashions and a House

You know, I should get some snappier titles for my blog posts. I just realiezed all I use are my stitching projects! I have been very busy trying to stitch on Winchestor House and Fashions. I had tried to finish Winchestor House before the end of February...but I got tired of stitching all that green! So my goal didn't happen.

I also worked on fashions and my couple is half way finished. The guys mustache looks so funny. I love the colors of the womans dress.

I also finished Kim's Round Robin piece. I stitched a house quilt block for her. It turned out so cute!!! Kim plans on making a wall hanging from her quilt blocks.

I want to say thank you to everyone who offered to stitch on my RR!!! My cyber-stitching friends are so wonderful!! I will probably take you up on the offer. Another group I am in is doing a RR so I am going to be using this piece for that RR. As soon as it comes home again then I hope to send it to those who volunteered to work on it if they still want to stitch on it.

I am also getting ready to start two new HUGE projects...they are in the works of my little mind....so I will be posting more information on it later. Tomorrow I will post all of my february reads...I didn't read as much this month but I mangaged to get in a few books.